Job 12:13

12:13 “With God ¹  are wisdom and power;

counsel and understanding are his. ² 

Job 38:2

38:2 “Who is this ³  who darkens counsel ⁴ 

with words without knowledge?

Job 42:3

42:3 you asked, ⁵ 

‘Who is this who darkens counsel

without knowledge?’

But ⁶  I have declared without understanding ⁷ 

things too wonderful for me to know. ⁸ 

[12:13]  ¹ tn Heb “him”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:13]  ² sn A. B. Davidson (Job, 91) says, “These attributes of God’s [sic] confound and bring to nought everything bearing the same name among men.”

[38:2]  ³ tn The demonstrative pronoun is used here to emphasize the interrogative pronoun (see GKC 442 §136.c).

[38:2]  ⁴ sn The referent of “counsel” here is not the debate between Job and the friends, but the purposes of God (see Ps 33:10; Prov 19:21; Isa 19:17). Dhorme translates it “Providence.”

[42:3]  ⁵ tn The expression “you asked” is added here to clarify the presence of the line to follow. Many commentators delete it as a gloss from Job 38:2. If it is retained, then Job has to be recalling God’s question before he answers it.

[42:3]  ⁶ tn The word לָכֵן (lakhen) is simply “but,” as in Job 31:37.

[42:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “and I do not understand.” The expression serves here in an adverbial capacity. It also could be subordinated as a complement: “I have declared [things that] I do not understand.”

[42:3]  ⁸ tn The last clause is “and I do not know.” This is also subordinated to become a dependent clause.