Job 1:15

1:15 and the Sabeans ¹  swooped down ²  and carried them all away, and they killed ³  the servants with the sword! ⁴  And I – only I alone ⁵  – escaped to tell you!”

Job 2:1

Satan’s Additional Charge

2:1 Again the day came when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also arrived among them to present himself before the Lord. ⁶ 

Job 14:13

The Possibility of Another Life

14:13 “O that ⁷  you would hide me in Sheol, ⁸ 

and conceal me till your anger has passed! ⁹ 

O that you would set me a time ¹⁰ 

and then remember me! ¹¹ 

Job 21:19

21:19 You may say, ¹²  ‘God stores up a man’s ¹³  punishment for his children!’ ¹⁴ 

Instead let him repay ¹⁵  the man himself ¹⁶ 

so that ¹⁷  he may know it!

Job 24:15

24:15 And the eye of the adulterer watches for the twilight,

thinking, ¹⁸  ‘No eye can see me,’

and covers his face with a mask.

Job 29:25

29:25 I chose ¹⁹  the way for them ²⁰ 

and sat as their chief; ²¹ 

I lived like a king among his troops;

I was like one who comforts mourners. ²² 

Job 33:23-24

33:23 If there is an angel beside him,

one mediator ²³  out of a thousand,

to tell a person what constitutes his uprightness; ²⁴ 

33:24 and if ²⁵  God ²⁶  is gracious to him and says,

‘Spare ²⁷  him from going down

to the place of corruption,

I have found a ransom for him,’ ²⁸ 

Job 33:26

33:26 He entreats God, and God ²⁹  delights in him,

he sees God’s face ³⁰  with rejoicing,

and God ³¹  restores to him his righteousness. ³² 

Job 34:20

34:20 In a moment they die, in the middle of the night, ³³ 

people ³⁴  are shaken ³⁵  and they pass away.

The mighty are removed effortlessly. ³⁶ 

[1:15]  ¹ tn The LXX has “the spoilers spoiled them” instead of “the Sabeans swooped down.” The translators might have connected the word to שְָׁבָה (shavah, “to take captive”) rather than שְׁבָא (shÿva’, “Sabeans”), or they may have understood the name as general reference to all types of Bedouin invaders from southern Arabia (HALOT 1381 s.v. שְׁבָא 2.c).

[1:15]  ² tn The Hebrew is simply “fell” (from נָפַל, nafal). To “fall upon” something in war means to attack quickly and suddenly.

[1:15]  ³ sn Job’s servants were probably armed and gave resistance, which would be the normal case in that time. This was probably why they were “killed with the sword.”

[1:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “the edge/mouth of the sword”; see T. J. Meek, “Archaeology and a Point of Hebrew Syntax,” BASOR 122 (1951): 31-33.

[1:15]  ⁵ tn The pleonasms in the verse emphasize the emotional excitement of the messenger.

[2:1]  ⁶ tc This last purpose clause has been omitted in some Greek versions.

[14:13]  ¹¹ tn The optative mood is introduced here again with מִי יִתֵּן (mi yitten), literally, “who will give?”

[14:13]  ¹² sn Sheol in the Bible refers to the place where the dead go. But it can have different categories of meaning: death in general, the grave, or the realm of the departed spirits [hell]. A. Heidel shows that in the Bible when hell is in view the righteous are not there – it is the realm of the departed spirits of the wicked. When the righteous go to Sheol, the meaning is usually the grave or death. See chapter 3 in A. Heidel, The Gilgamesh Epic and the Old Testament Parallels.

[14:13]  ¹³ tn The construction used here is the preposition followed by the infinitive construct followed by the subjective genitive, forming an adverbial clause of time.

[14:13]  ¹⁴ tn This is the same word used in v. 5 for “limit.”

[14:13]  ¹⁵ tn The verb זָכַר (zakhar) means more than simply “to remember.” In many cases, including this one, it means “to act on what is remembered,” i.e., deliver or rescue (see Gen 8:1, “and God remembered Noah”). In this sense, a prayer “remember me” is a prayer for God to act upon his covenant promises.

[21:19]  ¹⁶ tn These words are supplied. The verse records an idea that Job suspected they might have, namely, that if the wicked die well God will make their children pay for the sins (see Job 5:4; 20:10; as well as Exod 20:5).

[21:19]  ¹⁷ tn The text simply has אוֹנוֹ (’ono, “his iniquity”), but by usage, “the punishment for the iniquity.”

[21:19]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “his sons.”

[21:19]  ¹⁹ tn The verb שָׁלַם (shalam) in the Piel has the meaning of restoring things to their normal, making whole, and so reward, repay (if for sins), or recompense in general.

[21:19]  ²⁰ tn The text simply has “let him repay [to] him.”

[21:19]  ²¹ tn The imperfect verb after the jussive carries the meaning of a purpose clause, and so taken as a final imperfect: “in order that he may know [or realize].”

[24:15]  ²¹ tn Heb “saying.”

[29:25]  ²⁶ tn All of these imperfects describe what Job used to do, and so they all fit the category of customary imperfect.

[29:25]  ²⁷ tn Heb “their way.”

[29:25]  ²⁸ tn The text simply has “and I sat [as their] head.” The adverbial accusative explains his role, especially under the image of being seated. He directed the deliberations as a king directs an army.

[29:25]  ²⁹ tc Most commentators think this last phrase is odd here, and so they either delete it altogether, or emend it to fit the idea of the verse. Ewald, however, thought it appropriate as a transition to the next section, reminding his friends that unlike him, they were miserable comforters. Herz made the few changes in the text to get the reading “where I led them, they were willing to go” (ZAW 20 [1900]: 163). The two key words in the MT are אֲבֵלִים יְנַחֵם (’avelim yÿnakhem, “he [one who] comforts mourners”). Following Herz, E. Dhorme (Job, 422) has these changed to אוֹבִילֵם יִנַּחוּ (’ovilem yinnakhu). R. Gordis has “like one leading a camel train” (Job, 324). But Kissane also retains the line as a summary of the chapter, noting its presence in the versions.

[33:23]  ³¹ sn The verse is describing the way God can preserve someone from dying by sending a messenger (translated here as “angel”), who could be human or angelic. This messenger will interpret/mediate God’s will. By “one … out of a thousand” Elihu could have meant either that one of the thousands of messengers at God’s disposal might be sent or that the messenger would be unique (see Eccl 7:28; and cp. Job 9:3).

[33:23]  ³² tn This is a smoother reading. The MT has “to tell to a man his uprightness,” to reveal what is right for him. The LXX translated this word “duty”; the choice is adopted by some commentaries. However, that is too far from the text, which indicates that the angel/messenger is to call the person to uprightness.

[33:24]  ³⁶ tn This verse seems to continue the protasis begun in the last verse, with the apodosis coming in the next verse.

[33:24]  ³⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:24]  ³⁸ tc The verb is either taken as an anomalous form of פָּדַע (pada’, “to rescue; to redeem,” or “to exempt him”), or it is emended to some similar word, like פָּרַע (para’, “to let loose,” so Wright).

[33:24]  ³⁹ sn This verse and v. 28 should be compared with Ps 49:7-9, 15 (8-10, 16 HT) where the same basic vocabulary and concepts are employed.

[33:26]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:26]  ⁴² tn Heb “his face”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:26]  ⁴³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:26]  ⁴⁴ tc Many commentators think this line is superfluous and so delete it. The RSV changed the verb to “he recounts,” making the idea that the man publishes the news of his victory or salvation (taking “righteousness” as a metonymy of cause).

[34:20]  ⁴⁶ tn Dhorme transposes “in the middle of the night” with “they pass away” to get a smoother reading. But the MT emphasizes the suddenness by putting both temporal ideas first. E. F. Sutcliffe leaves the order as it stands in the text, but adds a verb “they expire” after “in the middle of the night” (“Notes on Job, textual and exegetical,” Bib 30 [1949]: 79ff.).

[34:20]  ⁴⁷ tn R. Gordis (Job, 389) thinks “people” here mean the people who count, the upper class.

[34:20]  ⁴⁸ tn The verb means “to be violently agitated.” There is no problem with the word in this context, but commentators have made suggestions for improving the idea. The proposal that has the most to commend it, if one were inclined to choose a new word, is the change to יִגְוָעוּ (yigva’u, “they expire”; so Ball, Holscher, Fohrer, and others).

[34:20]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “not by hand.” This means without having to use force.