7:6 Joshua tore his clothes; 1 he and the leaders 2 of Israel lay face down on the ground before the ark of the Lord until evening 3 and threw dirt on their heads. 4
7:2 Joshua sent men from Jericho 5 to Ai (which is located near Beth Aven, east of Bethel 6 ) and instructed them, “Go up and spy on the land.” So the men went up and spied on Ai.
18:1 The entire Israelite community assembled at Shiloh and there they set up the tent of meeting. 7 Though they had subdued the land, 8
19:1 The second lot belonged to the tribe of Simeon by its clans. 9
1:20 Then Job got up 10 and tore his robe. 11 He shaved his head, 12 and then he threw himself down with his face to the ground. 13
1 sn Tearing one’s clothes was an outward expression of extreme sorrow (see Gen 37:34; 44:13).
2 tn Or “elders.”
3 tn Heb “and fell on his face to the ground before the ark of the
4 sn Throwing dirt on one’s head was an outward expression of extreme sorrow (see Lam 2:10; Ezek 27:30).
5 map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.
6 map For the location of Bethel see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.
7 tn Heb “the tent of assembly.”
8 tn Heb “and the land was subdued before them.”
9 tn Heb “and the second lot came out for Simeon, for the tribe of the sons of Simeon by their clans.”
10 tn The verb וַיָּקָם (vayyaqom, “and he arose”) indicates the intentionality and the rapidity of the actions to follow. It signals the beginning of his response to the terrible news. Therefore, the sentence could be translated, “Then Job immediately began to tear his robe.”
11 sn It was the custom to tear the robe in a time of mourning, to indicate that the heart was torn (Joel 2:13). The “garment, mantel” here is the outer garment frequently worn over the basic tunic. See further D. R. Ap-Thomas, “Notes on Some Terms Relating to Prayer,” VT 6 (1956): 220-24.
12 sn In mourning one normally put off every adornment that enhanced or embellished the person, including that which nature provided (Jer 7:29; Mic 1:16).
13 tn This last verb is the Hishtaphel of the word חָוָה (khavah; BDB 1005 s.v. שָׁחָה); it means “to prostrate oneself, to cause oneself to be low to the ground.” In the OT it is frequently translated “to worship” because that is usually why the individual would kneel down and then put his or her forehead to the ground at the knees. But the word essentially means “to bow down to the ground.” Here “worship” (although employed by several English translations, cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, CEV) conveys more than what is taking place – although Job’s response is certainly worshipful. See G. I. Davies, “A Note on the Etymology of histahawah,” VT 29 (1979): 493-95; and J. A. Emerton, “The Etymology of histahawah,” OTS (1977): 41-55.
14 tn Heb “Neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words were afraid or tore their clothes.” The sentence has been broken up into two shorter sentences to better conform to English style and some of the terms explained (e.g., tore their clothes) for the sake of clarity.