Job 10:8

Contradictions in God’s Dealings

10:8 “Your hands have shaped ¹  me and made me,

but ²  now you destroy me completely. ³ 

Psalms 95:6

95:6 Come! Let’s bow down and worship! ⁴ 

Let’s kneel before the Lord, our creator!

Psalms 100:3

100:3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God!

He made us and we belong to him; ⁵ 

we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Psalms 149:2

149:2 Let Israel rejoice in their Creator!

Let the people ⁶  of Zion delight in their king! ⁷ 

Isaiah 27:11

27:11 When its branches get brittle, ⁸  they break;

women come and use them for kindling. ⁹ 

For these people lack understanding, ¹⁰ 

therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them;

the one who formed them has no mercy on them.

Isaiah 43:7

43:7 everyone who belongs to me, ¹¹ 

whom I created for my glory,

whom I formed – yes, whom I made!

Isaiah 44:2

44:2 This is what the Lord, the one who made you, says –

the one who formed you in the womb and helps you:

“Don’t be afraid, my servant Jacob,

Jeshurun, ¹²  whom I have chosen!

[10:8]  ¹ tn The root עָצַב (’atsav) is linked by some to an Arabic word meaning “to cut out, hew.” The derived word עֲצַבִּים (’atsabbim) means “idols.” Whatever the precise meaning, the idea is that God formed or gave shape to mankind in creation.

[10:8]  ² tn The verb in this part is a preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive. However, here it has merely an external connection with the preceding perfects, so that in reality it presents an antithesis (see GKC 327 §111.e).

[10:8]  ³ tn Heb “together round about and you destroy me.” The second half of this verse is very difficult. Most commentators follow the LXX and connect the first two words with the second colon as the MT accents indicate (NJPS, “then destroyed every part of me”), rather than with the first colon (“and made me complete,” J. E. Hartley, Job [NICOT], 185). Instead of “together” some read “after.” Others see in סָבִיב (saviv) not so much an adjectival use but a verbal or adverbial use: “you turn and destroy” or “you destroy utterly (all around).” This makes more sense than “turn.” In addition, the verb form in the line is the preterite with vav consecutive; this may be another example of the transposition of the copula (see 4:6). For yet another option (“You have engulfed me about altogether”), see R. Fuller, “Exodus 21:22: The Miscarriage Interpretation and the Personhood of the Fetus,” JETS 37 (1994): 178.

[95:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “kneel down.”

[100:3]  ⁵ tn The present translation (like most modern translations) follows the Qere (marginal reading), which reads literally, “and to him [are] we.” The Kethib (consonantal text) has “and not we.” The suffixed preposition לו (“to him”) was confused aurally with the negative particle לא because the two sound identical.

[149:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “sons.”

[149:2]  ⁷ sn The Lord is the king here, as the parallelism in the previous line (“their creator”) indicates.

[27:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “are dry” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[27:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “women come [and] light it.” The city is likened to a dead tree with dried up branches that is only good for firewood.

[27:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for not a people of understanding [is] he.”

[43:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “everyone who is called by my name” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[44:2]  ¹² sn Jeshurun is a poetic name for Israel; it occurs here and in Deut 32:15; 33:5, 26.