Job 1:7

1:7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” ¹  And Satan answered the Lord, ²  “From roving about ³  on the earth, and from walking back and forth across it.” ⁴ 

Job 2:6

2:6 So the Lord said to Satan, “All right, ⁵  he is ⁶  in your power; ⁷  only preserve ⁸  his life.”

Job 12:9

12:9 Which of all these ⁹  does not know

that the hand of the Lord ¹⁰  has done ¹¹  this,

[1:7]  ¹ tn The imperfect may be classified as progressive imperfect; it indicates action that although just completed is regarded as still lasting into the present (GKC 316 §107.h).

[1:7]  ² tn Heb “answered the Lord and said” (also in v. 9). The words “and said” here and in v. 9 have not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[1:7]  ³ tn The verb שׁוּט (shut) means “to go or rove about” (BDB 1001-2 s.v.). Here the infinitive construct serves as the object of the preposition.

[1:7]  ⁴ tn The Hitpael (here also an infinitive construct after the preposition) of the verb הָלַךְ (halakh) means “to walk to and fro, back and forth, with the sense of investigating or reconnoitering (see e.g. Gen 13:17).

[2:6]  ⁵ tn The particle הִנּוֹ (hinno) is literally, “here he is!” God presents Job to Satan, with the restriction on preserving Job’s life.

[2:6]  ⁶ tn The LXX has “I deliver him up to you.”

[2:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “hand.”

[2:6]  ⁸ sn The irony of the passage comes through with this choice of words. The verb שָׁמַר (shamar) means “to keep; to guard; to preserve.” The exceptive clause casts Satan in the role of a savior – he cannot destroy this life but must protect it.

[12:9]  ⁹ tn This line could also be translated “by all these,” meaning “who is not instructed by nature?” (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 93). But D. J. A. Clines points out that the verses have presented the animals as having knowledge and communicating it, so the former reading would be best (Job [WBC], 279).

[12:9]  ¹⁰ tc Some commentators have trouble with the name “Yahweh” in this verse, which is not the pattern in the poetic section of Job. Three mss of Kennicott and two of de Rossi have “God.” If this is so the reminiscence of Isaiah 41:20 led the copyist to introduce the tetragrammaton. But one could argue equally that the few mss with “God” were the copyists’ attempt to correct the text in accord with usage elsewhere.

[12:9]  ¹¹ sn The expression “has done this” probably refers to everything that has been discussed, namely, the way that God in his wisdom rules over the world, but specifically it refers to the infliction of suffering in the world.