Discovery BoxJob 1:15
Context1:15 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 2:7
Context2:7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and he afflicted 6 Job with a malignant ulcer 7 from the sole of his feet to the top of his head. 8
[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.
[2:7] 6 tn The verb is נָכָה (nakhah, “struck, smote”); it can be rendered in this context as “afflicted.”
[2:7] 7 sn The general consensus is that Job was afflicted with a leprosy known as elephantiasis, named because the rough skin and the swollen limbs are animal-like. The Hebrew word שְׁחִין (shÿkhin, “boil”) can indicate an ulcer as well. Leprosy begins with such, but so do other diseases. Leprosy normally begins in the limbs and spreads, but Job was afflicted everywhere at once. It may be some other disease also characterized by such a malignant ulcer. D. J. A. Clines has a thorough bibliography on all the possible diseases linked to this description (Job [WBC], 48). See also HALOT 1460 s.v. שְׁחִין.
