Job 11:7-9

11:7 “Can you discover ¹  the essence ²  of God?

Can you find out ³ 

the perfection of the Almighty? ⁴ 

11:8 It is higher ⁵  than the heavens – what can you do?

It is deeper than Sheol ⁶  – what can you know?

11:9 Its measure is longer than the earth,

and broader than the sea.

Job 26:14

26:14 Indeed, these are but the outer fringes of his ways! ⁷ 

How faint is the whisper ⁸  we hear of him!

But who can understand the thunder of his power?”

Job 37:23

37:23 As for the Almighty, ⁹  we cannot attain to him!

He is great in power,

but justice ¹⁰  and abundant righteousness he does not oppress.

Job 37:1

37:1 At this also my heart pounds

and leaps from its place.

Job 8:1

Bildad’s First Speech to Job ¹¹ 

8:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite spoke up and said:

[11:7]  ¹ tn The verb is מָצָא (matsa’, “to find; to discover”). Here it should be given the nuance of potential imperfect. And, in the rhetorical question it is affirming that Job cannot find out the essence of God.

[11:7]  ² tn The word means “search; investigation”; but it here means what is discovered in the search (so a metonymy of cause for the effect).

[11:7]  ³ tn The same verb is now found in the second half of the verse, with a slightly different sense – “attain, reach.” A. R. Ceresko notes this as an example of antanaclasis (repetition of a word with a lightly different sense – “find/attain”). See “The Function of Antanaclasis in Hebrew Poetry,” CBQ 44 (1982): 560-61.

[11:7]  ⁴ tn The abstract תַּכְלִית (takhlit) from כָּלָה (kalah, “to be complete; to be perfect”) may mean the end or limit of something, perhaps to perfection. So the NIV has “can you probe the limits of the Almighty?” The LXX has: “have you come to the end of that which the Almighty has made?”

[11:8]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew says “heights of heaven, what can you do?” A. B. Davidson suggested this was an exclamation and should be left that way. But most commentators will repoint גָּבְהֵי שָׁמַיִם (govhe shamayim, “heights of heaven”) to גְּבֹהָה מִשָּׁמַיִם (gÿvohah mishamayim, “higher than the heavens”) to match the parallel expression. The LXX may have rearranged the text: “heaven is high.”

[11:8]  ⁶ tn Or “deeper than hell.” The word “Sheol” always poses problems for translation. Here because it is the opposite of heaven in this merism, “hell” would be a legitimate translation. It refers to the realm of the dead – the grave and beyond. The language is excessive; but the point is that God’s wisdom is immeasurable – and Job is powerless before it.

[26:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “the ends of his ways,” meaning “the fringes.”

[26:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “how little is the word.” Here “little” means a “fraction” or an “echo.”

[37:23]  ⁹ tn The name “Almighty” is here a casus pendens, isolating the name at the front of the sentence and resuming it with a pronoun.

[37:23]  ¹⁰ tn The MT places the major disjunctive accent (the atnach) under “power,” indicating that “and justice” as a disjunctive clause starting the second half of the verse (with ESV, NASB, NIV, NLT). Ignoring the Masoretic accent, NRSV has “he is great in power and justice.”

[8:1]  ¹¹ sn This speech of Bildad ignores Job’s attack on his friends and focuses rather on Job’s comments about God’s justice. Bildad cannot even imagine saying that God is unjust. The only conclusion open to him is that Job’s family brought this on themselves, and so the only recourse is for Job to humble himself and make supplication to God. To make his point, Bildad will appeal to the wisdom of the ancients, for his theology is traditional. The speech has three parts: vv. 2-7 form his affirmation of the justice of God; vv. 8-19 are his appeal to the wisdom of the ancients, and vv. 20-22 are his summation. See N. C. Habel, “Appeal to Ancient Tradition as a Literary Form,” ZAW 88 (1976): 253-72; W. A. Irwin, “The First Speech of Bildad,” ZAW 51 (1953): 205-16.