Job 11:11

Context

11:11 For he¹ knows deceitful² men;

when he sees evil, will he not³ consider it?⁴

Job 32:5

Context
32:5 But when Elihu saw⁵ that the three men had no further reply,⁶ he became very angry.

Job 33:26

Context

33:26 He entreats God, and God⁷ delights in him,

he sees God’s face⁸ with rejoicing,

and God⁹ restores to him his righteousness.¹⁰

[11:11] ¹tn The pronoun is emphatic implying that Zophar indicates that God indeed knows Job’s sin even if Job does not.

[11:11] ²tn The expression is literally “men of emptiness” (see Ps 26:4). These are false men, for שָׁוְא (shavÿ’) can mean “vain, empty, or false, deceitful.”

[11:11] ³tn E. Dhorme (Job, 162) reads the prepositional phrase “to him” rather than the negative; he translates the line as “he sees iniquity and observes it closely.”

[11:11] ⁴tn Some commentators do not take this last clause as a question, but simply as a statement, namely, that when God sees evil he does not need to ponder or consider it – he knows it instantly. In that case it would be a circumstantial clause: “without considering it.” D. J. A. Clines lists quite an array of other interpretations for the line (Job [WBC], 255); for example, “and he is himself unobserved”; taking the word לֹא (lo’) as an emphatic; taking the negative as a noun, “considering them as nothing”; and others that change the verb to “they do not understand it.” But none of these are compelling; they offer no major improvement.

[32:5] ⁵tn 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] ⁶tn Heb “that there was no reply in the mouth of the three men.”

[33:26] ⁹tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:26] ¹⁰tn Heb “his face”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:26] ¹¹tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:26] ¹²tc Many commentators think this line is superfluous and so delete it. The RSV changed the verb to “he recounts,” making the idea that the man publishes the news of his victory or salvation (taking “righteousness” as a metonymy of cause).