Job 1:2

1:2 Seven ¹  sons and three daughters were born to him. ² 

Job 42:13

42:13 And he also had seven sons ³  and three daughters.

Job 33:29

Elihu’s Appeal to Job ⁴ 

33:29 “Indeed, God does all these things,

twice, three times, in his dealings ⁵  with a person,

Job 32:1

V. The Speeches of Elihu (32:1-37:24)

Elihu’s First Speech ⁶ 

32:1 So these three men refused to answer ⁷  Job further, because he was righteous in his ⁸  own eyes.

Job 32:5

32:5 But when Elihu saw ⁹  that the three men had no further reply, ¹⁰  he became very angry.

Job 32:3

32:3 With Job’s ¹¹  three friends he was also angry, because they could not find ¹²  an answer, and so declared Job guilty. ¹³ 

Job 1:4

1:4 Now his sons used to go ¹⁴  and hold ¹⁵  a feast in the house of each one in turn, ¹⁶  and they would send and invite ¹⁷  their three ¹⁸  sisters to eat and to drink with them.

Job 1:17

1:17 While this one was still speaking another messenger arrived and said, “The Chaldeans ¹⁹  formed three bands and made a raid ²⁰  on the camels and carried them all away, and they killed the servants with the sword! ²¹  And I – only I alone – escaped to tell you!”

Job 2:11

The Visit of Job’s Friends ²² 

2:11 When Job’s three friends heard about all this calamity that had happened to him, each of them came from his own country ²³  – Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. ²⁴  They met together ²⁵  to come to show sympathy ²⁶  for him and to console ²⁷  him.

Job 1:3

1:3 His possessions ²⁸  included ²⁹  7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys; in addition he had a very great household. ³⁰  Thus he ³¹  was the greatest of all the people in the east. ³² 

Job 27:5

27:5 I will never ³³  declare that you three ³⁴  are in the right;

until I die, I will not set aside my integrity!

[1:2]  ¹ sn The numbers used in the chapter, seven, three, and five, carry the symbolism in the Bible of perfection and completeness (see J. J. Davis, Biblical Numerology). Job’s “seven sons” are listed first because in the East sons were considered more valuable than daughters (recall Ruth, who is “better than seven sons” [Ruth 4:15]).

[1:2]  ² tn The verb begins the sentence: “and there were born.” This use of the preterite with vav (ו) consecutive, especially after the verb הָיָה (hayah, “to be”), is explanatory: there was a man…and there was born to him…” (IBHS 551-52 §33.2.2b).

[42:13]  ³ tn The word for “seven” is spelled in an unusual way. From this some have thought it means “twice seven,” or fourteen sons. Several commentators take this view; but it is probably not warranted.

[33:29]  ⁵ sn Elihu will repeat these instructions for Job to listen, over and over in painful repetition. See note on the heading to 32:1.

[33:29]  ⁶ tn The phrase “in his dealings” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[32:1]  ⁷ sn There are now four speeches from another friend of Job, Elihu. But Job does not reply to any of these, nor does the Lord. The speeches show a knowledge of the debate that has gone on, but they take a different approach entirely. Elihu’s approach is that suffering is a discipline from God, to teach his people. In other words, Job was suffering to vindicate God’s confidence in him. His speeches are an interesting part of the book, but they too are irrelevant to Job’s actual case. In the first speech, there is a short introduction (32:1-5), and then the speech proper with these sections: Elihu will speak because his youth is wiser (32:6-14), and his friends arguments failed (32:15-22); he calls for Job’s attention (33:1-7), claims Job’s case is wrong (33:8-13), and Job’s argument that God does not answer is false (33:14-28), and then makes an appeal to Job (33:29-33). It becomes evident that Elihu correctly identified Job’s determination to maintain his integrity at God’s expense as the primary problem in at least the latter stages of the dialogues (32:1-3; 34:37; 35:16; cf. 38:2; 40:8; 42:3). Elihu was respectful of his elders (32:4), but remained uninfected by their error (32:14). He sought to maintain impartiality (32:21-22) and to offer true wisdom (33:33), believed like Job that a mediator existed (33:23-24), and desired Job’s vindication (33:32). In addition, Elihu focused on vindicating God’s actions (34:12; 35:10-11; 36:2-3, 22-26) and announced the coming theophany (37:1-5, 22). It appears that he was not included in the divine condemnation of Job’s friends (42:7-9) and was excluded from Job’s prayer of intercession (42:8-10) – both perhaps implying divine approval of his behavior and words.

[32:1]  ⁸ tn The form is the infinitive construct (“answer”) functioning as the object of the preposition; the phrase forms the complement of the verb “they ceased to answer” (= “they refused to answer further”).

[32:1]  ⁹ tc The LXX, Syriac, and Symmachus have “in their eyes.” This is adopted by some commentators, but it does not fit the argument.

[32:5]  ⁹ tn The first clause beginning with a vav (ו) consecutive and the preterite can be subordinated to the next similar verb as a temporal clause.

[32:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “that there was no reply in the mouth of the three men.”

[32:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Job) has been specified in the translation to indicate whose friends they were.

[32:3]  ¹² tn The perfect verb should be given the category of potential perfect here.

[32:3]  ¹³ tc This is one of the eighteen “corrections of the scribes” (tiqqune sopherim); it originally read, “and they declared God [in the wrong].” The thought was that in abandoning the debate they had conceded Job’s point.

[1:4]  ¹³ tn The perfect verb with the ו (vav), וְהָלְכוּ (vÿhalÿkhu, “they went”) indicates their characteristic action, actions that were frequently repeated (GKC 335-36 §112.dd).

[1:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “make a feast.”

[1:4]  ¹⁵ tn The sense is cryptic; it literally says “house – a man – his day.” The word “house” is an adverbial accusative of place: “in the house.” “Man” is the genitive; it also has a distributive sense: “in the house of each man.” And “his day” is an adverbial accusative: “on his day.” The point is that they feasted every day of the week in rotation.

[1:4]  ¹⁶ tn The use of קָרָא (qara’, “to call, invite”) followed by the ל (lamed) usually has the force of “to summon.” Here the meaning would not be so commanding, but would refer to an invitation (see also 1 Kgs 1:19, 25, 26).

[1:4]  ¹⁷ tn Normally cardinal numerals tend to disagree in gender with the numbered noun. In v. 2 “three daughters” consists of the masculine numeral followed by the feminine noun. However, here “three sisters” consists of the feminine numeral followed by the feminine noun. The distinction appears to be that the normal disagreement between numeral and noun when the intent is merely to fix the number (3 daughters as opposed to 2 or 4 daughters). However, when a particular, previously known group is indicated, the numeral tends to agree with the noun in gender. A similar case occurs in Gen 3:13 (“three wives” of Noah’s sons).

[1:17]  ¹⁵ sn The name may have been given to the tribes that roamed between the Euphrates and the lands east of the Jordan. These are possibly the nomadic Kaldu who are part of the ethnic Aramaeans. The LXX simply has “horsemen.”

[1:17]  ¹⁶ tn The verb פָּשַׁט (pashat) means “to hurl themselves” upon something (see Judg 9:33, 41). It was a quick, plundering raid to carry off the camels.

[1:17]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “with the edge/mouth of the sword.”

[2:11]  ¹⁷ sn See N. C. Habel, “‘Only the Jackal is My Friend,’ On Friends and Redeemers in Job,” Int 31 (1977): 227-36.

[2:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “a man from his place”; this is the distributive use, meaning “each man came from his place.”

[2:11]  ¹⁹ sn Commentators have tried to analyze the meanings of the names of the friends and their locations. Not only has this proven to be difficult (Teman is the only place that is known), it is not necessary for the study of the book. The names are probably not symbolic of the things they say.

[2:11]  ²⁰ tn The verb can mean that they “agreed together”; but it also (and more likely) means that they came together at a meeting point to go visit Job together.

[2:11]  ²¹ tn The verb “to show grief” is נוּד (nud), and literally signifies “to shake the head.” It may be that his friends came to show the proper sympathy and express the appropriate feelings. They were not ready for what they found.

[2:11]  ²² tn The second infinitive is from נָחָם (nakham, “to comfort, console” in the Piel). This word may be derived from a word with a meaning of sighing deeply.

[1:3]  ¹⁹ tn The word means “cattle, livestock, possessions” (see also Gen 26:14). Here it includes the livestock, but also the entire substance of his household.

[1:3]  ²⁰ tn Or “amounted to,” “totaled.” The preterite of הָיָה (hayah, “to be”) is sometimes employed to introduce a total amount or an inventory (see Exod 1:5; Num 3:43).

[1:3]  ²¹ tn The word עֲבֻדָּה (’avuddah, “service of household servants”) indicates that he had a very large body of servants, meaning a very large household.

[1:3]  ²² tn Heb “and that man.”

[1:3]  ²³ tn The expression is literally “sons of the east.” The use of the genitive after “sons” in this construction may emphasize their nature (like “sons of belial”); it would refer to them as easterners (like “sons of the south” in contemporary American English). BDB 869 s.v. קֶדֶם says “dwellers in the east.”

[27:5]  ²¹ tn The text uses חָלִילָה לִּי (khalilah li) meaning “far be it from me,” or more strongly, something akin to “sacrilege.”

[27:5]  ²² tn In the Hebrew text “you” is plural – a reference to Eliphaz, Zophar, and Bildad. To make this clear, “three” is supplied in the translation.