Job 12:22

12:22 He reveals the deep things of darkness,

and brings deep shadows ¹  into the light.

Job 14:4

14:4 Who can make ²  a clean thing come from an unclean? ³ 

No one!

Job 28:2

28:2 Iron is taken from the ground, ⁴ 

and rock is poured out ⁵  as copper.

Job 28:10

28:10 He has cut out channels ⁶  through the rocks;

his eyes have spotted ⁷  every precious thing.

Job 31:38

Job’s Final Solemn Oath ⁸ 

31:38 “If my land cried out against me ⁹ 

and all its furrows wept together,

[12:22]  ¹ tn The Hebrew word is traditionally rendered “shadow of death” (so KJV, ASV); see comments at Job 3:3.

[14:4]  ² tn The expression is מִי־יִתֵּן (mi-yitten, “who will give”; see GKC 477 §151.b). Some commentators (H. H. Rowley and A. B. Davidson) wish to take this as the optative formula: “O that a clean might come out of an unclean!” But that does not fit the verse very well, and still requires the addition of a verb. The exclamation here simply implies something impossible – man is unable to attain purity.

[14:4]  ³ sn The point being made is that the entire human race is contaminated by sin, and therefore cannot produce something pure. In this context, since man is born of woman, it is saying that the woman and the man who is brought forth from her are impure. See Ps 51:5; Isa 6:5; and Gen 6:5.

[28:2]  ³ tn Heb “from dust.”

[28:2]  ⁴ tn The verb יָצוּק (yatsuq) is usually translated as a passive participle “is smelted” (from יָצַק [yatsaq, “to melt”]): “copper is smelted from the ore” (ESV) or “from the stone, copper is poured out” (as an imperfect from צוּק [tsuq]). But the rock becomes the metal in the process. So according to R. Gordis (Job, 304) the translation should be: “the rock is poured out as copper.” E. Dhorme (Job, 400), however, defines the form in the text as “hard,” and simply has it “hard stone becomes copper.”

[28:10]  ⁴ tn Or “tunnels.” The word is יְאֹרִים (yÿ’orim), the word for “rivers” and in the singular, the Nile River. Here it refers to tunnels or channels through the rocks.

[28:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “his eye sees.”

[31:38]  ⁵ sn Many commentators place vv. 38-40b at the end of v. 34, so that there is no return to these conditional clauses after his final appeal.

[31:38]  ⁶ sn Some commentators have suggested that the meaning behind this is that Job might not have kept the year of release (Deut 15:1), and the law against mixing seed (Lev 19:19). But the context will make clear that the case considered is obtaining the land without paying for it and causing the death of its lawful owner (see H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 206). Similar to this would be the case of Naboth’s vineyard.