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,
and hear 7 everything I have to say! 8
Job 12:7
Context12:7 “But now, ask the animals and they 10 will teach you,
or the birds of the sky and they will tell you.
Job 17:10
Context17:10 “But turn, all of you, 11 and come 12 now! 13
I will not find a wise man among you.
Job 1:11
Context1:11 But 14 extend your hand and strike 15 everything he has, and he will no doubt 16 curse you 17 to your face!”
[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.”
[33:1] 8 tn Heb “hear all my words.”
[12:7] 9 sn As J. E. Hartley (Job [NICOT], 216) observes, in this section Job argues that respected tradition “must not be accepted uncritically.”
[12:7] 10 tn The singular verb is used here with the plural collective subject (see GKC 464 §145.k).
[17:10] 11 tn The form says “all of them.” Several editors would change it to “all of you,” but the lack of concord is not surprising; the vocative elsewhere uses the third person (see Mic 1:2; see also GKC 441 §135.r).
[17:10] 12 tn The first verb, the jussive, means “to return”; the second verb, the imperative, means “to come.” The two could be taken as a hendiadys, the first verb becoming adverbial: “to come again.”
[17:10] 13 tn Instead of the exact correspondence between coordinate verbs, other combinations occur – here we have a jussive and an imperative (see GKC 386 §120.e).
[1:11] 13 tn The particle אוּלָם (’ulam, “but”) serves to restrict the clause in relation to the preceding clause (IBHS 671-73 §39.3.5e, n. 107).
[1:11] 14 tn The force of the imperatives in this sentence are almost conditional – if God were to do this, then surely Job would respond differently.
[1:11] 15 sn The formula used in the expression is the oath formula: “if not to your face he will curse you” meaning “he will surely curse you to your face.” Satan is so sure that the piety is insincere that he can use an oath formula.
[1:11] 16 tn See the comments on Job 1:5. Here too the idea of “renounce” may fit well enough; but the idea of actually cursing God may not be out of the picture if everything Job has is removed. Satan thinks he will denounce God.
