8:7 Your beginning 1 will seem so small,
since your future will flourish. 2
9:6 he who shakes the earth out of its place 3
so that its pillars tremble; 4
13:28 So I 5 waste away like something rotten, 6
like a garment eaten by moths.
36:19 Would your wealth 7 sustain you,
so that you would not be in distress, 8
even all your mighty efforts? 9
41:4 Will it make a pact 10 with you,
so you could take it 11 as your slave for life?
1 tn The reference to “your beginning” is a reference to Job’s former estate of wealth and peace. The reference to “latter end” is a reference to conditions still in the future. What Job had before will seem so small in comparison to what lies ahead.
2 tn The verb has the idea of “to grow”; here it must mean “to flourish; to grow considerably” or the like. The statement is not so much a prophecy; rather Bildad is saying that “if Job had recourse to God, then….” This will be fulfilled, of course, at the end of the book.
3 sn Shakes the earth out of its place probably refers to earthquakes, although some commentators protest against this in view of the idea of the pillars. In the ancient world the poetical view of the earth is that it was a structure on pillars, with water around it and under it. In an earthquake the pillars were shaken, and the earth moved.
4 tn The verb הִתְפַלָּצ (hitfallats) is found only here, but the root seems clearly to mean “to be tossed; to be thrown about,” and so in the Hitpael “quiver; shake; tremble.” One of the three nouns from this root is פַּלָּצוּת (pallatsut), the “shudder” that comes with terror (see Job 21:6; Isa 21:4; Ezek 7:18; and Ps 55:6).
5 tn Heb “and he.” Some of the commentators move the verse and put it after Job 14:2, 3 or 6.
6 tn The word רָקָב (raqav) is used elsewhere in the Bible of dry rot in a house, or rotting bones in a grave. It is used in parallelism with “moth” both here and in Hos 5:12. The LXX has “like a wineskin.” This would be from רֹקֶב (roqev, “wineskin”). This word does not occur in the Hebrew Bible, but is attested in Sir 43:20 and in Aramaic. The change is not necessary.
7 tn The form in the MT is “your cry (for help).” See J. E. Hartley (Job [NICOT], 472-73) and E. Dhorme (Job, 547-48) on the difficulties.
8 tn This part has only two words לֹא בְצָר (lo’ bÿtsar, “not in distress”). The negated phrase serves to explain the first colon.
9 tc For the many suggestions and the reasoning here, see the commentaries.
9 tn Heb “will he cut a covenant.”
10 tn The imperfect verb serves to express what the covenant pact would cover, namely, “that you take.”