7:20 If 1 I have sinned – what have I done to you, 2
O watcher of men? 3
Why have you set me as your target? 4
Have I become a burden to you? 5
16:11 God abandons me to evil 6 men, 7
and throws 8 me into the hands of wicked men.
16:12 I was in peace, and he has shattered me. 9
He has seized me by the neck and crushed me. 10
He has made me his target;
16:13 his archers 11 surround me.
Without pity 12 he pierces 13 my kidneys
and pours out my gall 14 on the ground.
16:14 He breaks through against me, time and time again; 15
he rushes 16 against me like a warrior.
44:9 But 17 you rejected and embarrassed us!
You did not go into battle with our armies. 18
44:10 You made us retreat 19 from the enemy.
Those who hate us take whatever they want from us. 20
44:11 You handed us 21 over like sheep to be eaten;
you scattered us among the nations.
44:12 You sold 22 your people for a pittance; 23
you did not ask a high price for them. 24
44:13 You made us 25 an object of disdain to our neighbors;
those who live on our borders taunt and insult us. 26
44:14 You made us 27 an object of ridicule 28 among the nations;
foreigners treat us with contempt. 29
66:10 For 30 you, O God, tested us;
you purified us like refined silver.
66:11 You led us into a trap; 31
you caused us to suffer. 32
66:12 You allowed men to ride over our heads;
we passed through fire and water,
but you brought us out into a wide open place. 33
1 tn The simple perfect verb can be used in a conditional sentence without a conditional particle present (see GKC 494 §159.h).
2 sn Job is not here saying that he has sinned; rather, he is posing the hypothetical condition – if he had sinned, what would that do to God? In other words, he has not really injured God.
3 sn In the Bible God is often described as watching over people to protect them from danger (see Deut 32:10; Ps 31:23). However, here it is a hostile sense, for God may detect sin and bring it to judgment.
4 tn This word is a hapax legomenon from the verb פָּגָע (paga’, “meet, encounter”); it would describe what is hit or struck (as nouns of this pattern can indicate the place of the action) – the target.
5 tn In the prepositional phrase עָלַי (’alay) the results of a scribal change is found (these changes were called tiqqune sopherim, “corrections of the scribes” made to avoid using improper language about God). The prepositional phrase would have been עָלֶךָ (’alekha, “to you,” as in the LXX). But it offended the Jews to think of Job’s being burdensome to God. Job’s sin could have repercussions on him, but not on God.
6 tn The word עֲוִיל (’avil) means “child,” and this cannot be right here. If it is read as עַוָּל (’avval) as in Job 27:7 it would be the unrighteous.
7 sn Job does not refer here to his friends, but more likely to the wicked men who set about to destroy him and his possessions, or to the rabble in ch. 30.
8 tn The word יִרְטֵנִי (yirteni) does not derive from the root רָטָה (ratah) as would fit the pointing in the MT, but from יָרַט (yarat), cognate to Arabic warrata, “to throw; to hurl.” E. Dhorme (Job, 236) thinks that since the normal form would have been יִירְטֵנִי (yirÿteni), it is probable that one of the yods (י) would have affected the word עֲוִיל (’avil) – but that does not make much sense.
9 tn The verb פָּרַר (parar) means “to shake.” In the Hiphil it means “to break; to shatter” (5:12; 15:4). The Pilpel means “to break in pieces,” and in the Poel in Jer 23:29 “to smash up.” So Job was living at ease, and God shattered his life.
10 tn Here is another Pilpel, now from פָּצַץ (patsats) with a similar meaning to the other verb. It means “to dash into pieces” and even scatter the pieces. The LXX translates this line, “he took me by the hair of the head and plucked it out.”
11 tn The meaning of “his archers” is supported for רַבָּיו (rabbayv) in view of Jer 50:29. The LXX, Syriac, Vulgate, Targum Job, followed by several translations and commentators prefer “arrows.” They see this as a more appropriate figure without raising the question of who the archers might be (see 6:4). The point is an unnecessary distinction, for the figure is an illustration of the affliction that God has brought on him.
12 tn Heb “and he does not pity,” but the clause is functioning adverbially in the line.
13 tn The verb פָּלַח (palakh) in the Piel means “to pierce” (see Prov 7:23). A fuller comparison should be made with Lam 3:12-13.
14 tn This word מְרֵרָתִי (mÿrerati, “my gall”) is found only here. It is close to the form in Job 13:26, “bitter things.” In Job 20:14 it may mean “poison.” The thought is also found in Lam 2:11.
15 tn The word פָּרַץ (parats) means “to make a breach” in a wall (Isa 5:5; Ps 80:13). It is used figuratively in the birth and naming of Peres in Gen 38:29. Here the image is now of a military attack that breaks through a wall. The text uses the cognate accusative, and then with the addition of עַל־פְּנֵי (’al-pÿne, “in addition”) it repeats the cognate noun. A smooth translation that reflects the three words is difficult. E. Dhorme (Job, 237) has “he batters me down, breach upon breach.”
16 tn Heb “runs.”
17 tn The particle אַף (’af, “but”) is used here as a strong adversative contrasting the following statement with what precedes.
18 tn Heb “you did not go out with our armies.” The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).
19 tn Heb “you caused us to turn backward.”
20 tn Heb “plunder for themselves.” The prepositional phrase לָמוֹ (lamo, “for themselves”) here has the nuance “at their will” or “as they please” (see Ps 80:6).
21 tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).
22 tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).
23 tn Heb “for what is not wealth.”
24 tn Heb “you did not multiply their purchase prices.”
25 tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).
26 tn Heb “an [object of] taunting and [of] mockery to those around us.”
27 tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).
28 tn Heb “a proverb,” or “[the subject of] a mocking song.”
29 tn Heb “a shaking of the head among the peoples.” Shaking the head was a derisive gesture (see Jer 18:16; Lam 2:15).
30 tn Or “indeed.”
31 tn Heb “you brought us into a net.” This rare word for “net” also occurs in Ezek 12:13; 13:21; 17:20.
32 tn Heb “you placed suffering on our hips.” The noun מוּעָקָה (mu’aqah, “suffering”) occurs only here in the OT.
33 tc The MT reads רְוָיָה (“saturation”) but this should be emended to רְוָחָה (rÿvakhah, “wide open place”; i.e., “relief”), a reading supported by several ancient versions (LXX, Syriac, Jerome, Targum).