Job 9:34

9:34 who would take his rod away from me

so that his terror would not make me afraid.

Job 13:21

13:21 Remove your hand far from me

and stop making me afraid with your terror.

Psalms 88:16

88:16 Your anger overwhelms me;

your terrors destroy me.


tn The verse probably continues the description from the last verse, and so a relative pronoun may be supplied here as well.

tn According to some, the reference of this suffix would be to God. The arbiter would remove the rod of God from Job. But others take it as a separate sentence with God removing his rod.

sn The “rod” is a symbol of the power of God to decree whatever judgments and afflictions fall upon people.

tn “His terror” is metonymical; it refers to the awesome majesty of God that overwhelms Job and causes him to be afraid.

tn The imperative הַרְחַק (harkhaq, “remove”; GKC 98 §29.q), from רָחַק (rakhaq, “far, be far”) means “take away [far away]; to remove.”

sn This is a common, but bold, anthropomorphism. The fact that the word used is כַּף (kaf, properly “palm”) rather than יָד (yad, “hand,” with the sense of power) may stress Job’s feeling of being trapped or confined (see also Ps 139:5, 7).

tn See Job 9:34.

tn Heb “passes over me.”