Job 10:17

10:17 You bring new witnesses ¹  against me,

and increase your anger against me;

relief troops ²  come against me.

Job 13:26

13:26 For you write down ³  bitter things against me

and cause me to inherit the sins of my youth. ⁴ 

Job 16:8

16:8 You have seized me, ⁵ 

and it ⁶  has become a witness;

my leanness ⁷  has risen up against me

and testifies against me.

Malachi 3:5

3:5 “I ⁸  will come to you in judgment. I will be quick to testify against those who practice divination, those who commit adultery, those who break promises, ⁹  and those who exploit workers, widows, and orphans, ¹⁰  who refuse to help ¹¹  the immigrant ¹²  and in this way show they do not fear me,” says the Lord who rules over all.

[10:17]  ¹ tn The text has “you renew/increase your witnesses.” This would probably mean Job’s sufferings, which were witness to his sins. But some suggested a different word here, one that is cognate to Arabic ’adiya, “to be an enemy; to be hostile”: thus “you renew your hostility against me.” Less convincing are suggestions that the word is cognate to Ugaritic “troops” (see W. G. E. Watson, “The Metaphor in Job 10,17,” Bib 63 [1982]: 255-57).

[10:17]  ² tn The Hebrew simply says “changes and a host are with me.” The “changes and a host” is taken as a hendiadys, meaning relieving troops (relief troops of the army). The two words appear together again in 14:14, showing that emendation is to be avoided. The imagery depicts blow after blow from God – always fresh attacks.

[13:26]  ³ tn The meaning is that of writing down a formal charge against someone (cf. Job 31:15).

[13:26]  ⁴ sn Job acknowledges sins in his youth, but they are trifling compared to the suffering he now endures. Job thinks it unjust of God to persecute him now for those – if that is what is happening.

[16:8]  ⁵ tn The verb is קָמַט (qamat) which is used only here and in 22:16; it means “to seize; to grasp.” By God’s seizing him, Job means his afflictions.

[16:8]  ⁶ tn The subject is “my calamity.”

[16:8]  ⁷ tn The verb is used in Ps 109:24 to mean “to be lean”; and so “leanness” is accepted here for the noun by most. Otherwise the word is “lie, deceit.” Accordingly, some take it here as “my slanderer” or “my liar” (gives evidence against me).

[3:5]  ⁸ tn The first person pronoun (a reference to the Lord) indicates that the Lord himself now speaks (see also v. 1). The prophet speaks in vv. 2-4 (see also 2:17).

[3:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “those who swear [oaths] falsely.” Cf. NIV “perjurers”; TEV “those who give false testimony”; NLT “liars.”

[3:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and against the oppressors of the worker for a wage, [the] widow and orphan.”

[3:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “those who turn aside.”

[3:5]  ¹² tn Or “resident foreigner”; NIV “aliens”; NRSV “the alien.”