Job 12:17

12:17 He ¹  leads ²  counselors away stripped ³ 

and makes judges ⁴  into fools. ⁵ 

Job 29:3

29:3 when ⁶  he caused ⁷  his lamp ⁸ 

to shine upon my head,

and by his light

I walked ⁹  through darkness; ¹⁰ 

Job 31:26

31:26 if I looked at the sun ¹¹  when it was shining,

and the moon advancing as a precious thing,

Job 41:18

41:18 Its snorting throws out flashes of light;

its eyes are like the red glow ¹²  of dawn.

[12:17]  ¹ tn The personal pronoun normally present as the subject of the participle is frequently omitted (see GKC 381 §119.s).

[12:17]  ² tn GKC 361-62 §116.x notes that almost as a rule a participle beginning a sentence is continued with a finite verb with or without a ו (vav). Here the participle (“leads”) is followed by an imperfect (“makes fools”) after a ו (vav).

[12:17]  ³ tn The word שׁוֹלָל (sholal), from the root שָׁלַל (shalal, “to plunder; to strip”), is an adjective expressing the state (and is in the singular, as if to say, “in the state of one naked” [GKC 375 §118.o]). The word is found in military contexts (see Mic 1:8). It refers to the carrying away of people in nakedness and shame by enemies who plunder (see also Isa 8:1-4). They will go away as slaves and captives, deprived of their outer garments. Some (cf. NAB) suggest “barefoot,” based on the LXX of Mic 1:8; but the meaning of that is uncertain. G. R. Driver wanted to derive the word from an Arabic root “to be mad; to be giddy,” forming a better parallel.

[12:17]  ⁴ sn The judges, like the counselors, are nobles in the cities. God may reverse their lot, either by captivity or by shame, and they cannot resist his power.

[12:17]  ⁵ tn Some translate this “makes mad” as in Isa 44:25, but this gives the wrong connotation today; more likely God shows them to be fools.

[29:3]  ⁶ tn This clause is in apposition to the preceding (see GKC 426 §131.o). It offers a clarification.

[29:3]  ⁷ tn The form בְּהִלּוֹ (bÿhillo) is unusual; it should be parsed as a Hiphil infinitive construct with the elision of the ה (he). The proper spelling would have been with a ַ (patakh) under the preposition, reflecting הַהִלּוֹ (hahillo). If it were Qal, it would just mean “when his light shone.”

[29:3]  ⁸ sn Lamp and light are symbols of God’s blessings of life and all the prosperous and good things it includes.

[29:3]  ⁹ tn Here too the imperfect verb is customary – it describes action that was continuous, but in a past time.

[29:3]  ¹⁰ tn The accusative (“darkness”) is here an adverbial accusative of place, namely, “in the darkness,” or because he was successfully led by God’s light, “through the darkness” (see GKC 374 §118.h).

[31:26]  ¹¹ tn Heb “light”; but parallel to the moon it is the sun. This section speaks of false worship of the sun and the moon.

[41:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the eyelids,” but it represents the early beams of the dawn as the cover of night lifts.