9:26 They glide by 1 like reed 2 boats,
like an eagle that swoops 3 down on its prey. 4
19:10 He tears me down 5 on every side until I perish; 6
he uproots 7 my hope 8 like one uproots 9 a tree.
31:2 What then would be one’s lot from God above,
one’s heritage from the Almighty 10 on high?
1 tn Heb “they flee.”
2 tn The word אֵבֶה (’eveh) means “reed, papyrus,” but it is a different word than was in 8:11. What is in view here is a light boat made from bundles of papyrus that glides swiftly along the Nile (cf. Isa 18:2 where papyrus vessels and swiftness are associated).
3 tn The verb יָטוּשׂ (yatus) is also a hapax legomenon; the Aramaic cognate means “to soar; to hover in flight.” The sentence here requires the idea of swooping down while in flight.
4 tn Heb “food.”
5 tn The metaphors are changed now to a demolished building and an uprooted tree. The verb is נָתַץ (natats, “to demolish”). Since it is Job himself who is the object, the meaning cannot be “demolish” (as of a house so that an inhabitant has to leave), but more of the attack or the battering.
6 tn The text has הָלַךְ (halakh, “to leave”). But in view of Job 14:20, “perish” or “depart” would be a better meaning here.
7 tn The verb נָסַע (nasa’) means “to travel” generally, but specifically it means “to pull up the tent pegs and move.” The Hiphil here means “uproot.” It is used of a vine in Ps 80:9. The idea here does not contradict Job 14:7, for there the tree still had roots and so could grow.
8 tn The NEB has “my tent rope,” but that seems too contrived here. It is absurd to pull up a tent-rope like a tree.
9 tn Heb “like a tree.” The words “one uproots” are supplied in the translation for clarity.
9 tn Heb “lot of Shaddai,” which must mean “the lot from Shaddai,” a genitive of source.