Discovery BoxJob 11:5
Context11:5 But if only God would speak, 1
if only he would open his lips against you, 2
Job 13:4
Context13:4 But you, however, are inventors of lies; 3
all of you are worthless physicians! 4
Job 14:18
Context14:18 But as 5 a mountain falls away and crumbles, 6
and as a rock will be removed from its place,
Job 33:1
Context33:1 “But now, O Job, listen to my words,
[11:5] 1 tn The wish formula מִי־יִתֵּן (mi yitten, “who will give”; see GKC 477 §151.b) is followed here by an infinitive (Exod 16:3; 2 Sam 19:1).
[11:5] 2 sn Job had expressed his eagerness to challenge God; Zophar here wishes that God would take up that challenge.
[13:4] 3 tn The טֹפְלֵי־שָׁקֶר (tofÿle shaqer) are “plasterers of lies” (Ps 119:69). The verb means “to coat, smear, plaster.” The idea is that of imputing something that is not true. Job is saying that his friends are inventors of lies. The LXX was influenced by the next line and came up with “false physicians.”
[13:4] 4 tn The literal rendering of the construct would be “healers of worthlessness.” Ewald and Dillmann translated it “patchers” based on a meaning in Arabic and Ethiopic; this would give the idea “botchers.” But it makes equally good sense to take “healers” as the meaning, for Job’s friends came to minister comfort and restoration to him – but they failed. See P. Humbert, “Maladie et medicine dans l’AT,” RHPR 44 (1964): 1-29.
[14:18] 5 tn The indication that this is a simile is to be obtained from the conjunction beginning 19c (see GKC 499 §161.a).
[14:18] 6 tn The word יִבּוֹל (yibbol) usually refers to a flower fading and so seems strange here. The LXX and the Syriac translate “and will fall”; most commentators accept this and repoint the preceding word to get “and will surely fall.” Duhm retains the MT and applies the image of the flower to the falling mountain. The verb is used of the earth in Isa 24:4, and so NIV, RSV, and NJPS all have the idea of “crumble away.”
[33:1] 7 tn Heb “give ear,” the Hiphil denominative verb from “ear.”
