Job 12:3

12:3 I also have understanding ¹  as well as you;

I am not inferior to you. ² 

Who does not know such things as these? ³ 

Job 23:4-5

23:4 I would lay out my case ⁴  before him

and fill my mouth with arguments.

23:5 I would know with what words ⁵  he would answer me,

and understand what he would say to me.

Job 24:25

24:25 “If this is not so, who can prove me a liar

and reduce my words to nothing?” ⁶ 

Job 26:3

26:3 How you have advised the one without wisdom,

and abundantly ⁷  revealed your insight!

Job 27:11

27:11 I will teach you ⁸  about the power ⁹  of God;

What is on the Almighty’s mind ¹⁰  I will not conceal.

Job 34:35

34:35 that ¹¹  Job speaks without knowledge

and his words are without understanding. ¹² 

Job 35:16

35:16 So Job opens his mouth to no purpose; ¹³ 

without knowledge he multiplies words.”

Job 42:3

42:3 you asked, ¹⁴ 

‘Who is this who darkens counsel

without knowledge?’

But ¹⁵  I have declared without understanding ¹⁶ 

things too wonderful for me to know. ¹⁷ 

Job 42:1

Job’s Confession

42:1 Then Job answered the Lord:

Job 1:7

1:7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” ¹⁸  And Satan answered the Lord, ¹⁹  “From roving about ²⁰  on the earth, and from walking back and forth across it.” ²¹ 

[12:3]  ¹ tn The word is literally “heart,” meaning a mind or understanding.

[12:3]  ² tn Because this line is repeated in 13:2, many commentators delete it from this verse (as does the LXX). The Syriac translates נֹפֵל (nofel) as “little,” and the Vulgate “inferior.” Job is saying that he does not fall behind them in understanding.

[12:3]  ³ tn Heb “With whom are not such things as these?” The point is that everyone knows the things that these friends have been saying – they are commonplace.

[23:4]  ⁴ tn The word מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) is normally “judgment; decision.” But in these contexts it refers to the legal case that Job will bring before God. With the verb עָרַךְ (’arakh, “to set in order; to lay out”) the whole image of drawing up a lawsuit is complete.

[23:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “the words he would answer me.”

[24:25]  ⁶ tn The word אַל (’al, “not”) is used here substantivally (“nothing”).

[26:3]  ⁷ tc The phrase לָרֹב (larov) means “to abundance” or “in a large quantity.” It is also used ironically like all these expressions. This makes very good sense, but some wish to see a closer parallel and so offer emendations. Reiske and Kissane thought “to the tender” for the word. But the timid are not the same as the ignorant and unwise. So Graetz supplied “to the boorish” by reading לְבָעַר (lÿba’ar). G. R. Driver did the same with less of a change: לַבּוֹר (labbor; HTR 29 [1936]: 172).

[27:11]  ⁸ tn The object suffix is in the plural, which gives some support to the idea Job is speaking to them.

[27:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “the hand of.”

[27:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[what is] with Shaddai.”

[34:35]  ¹¹ tn Adding “that” in the translation clarifies Elihu’s indirect citation of the wise individuals’ words.

[34:35]  ¹² tn The Hiphil infinitive construct is here functioning as a substantive. The word means “prudence; understanding.”

[35:16]  ¹³ tn The word הֶבֶל (hevel) means “vanity; futility; to no purpose.”

[42:3]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn The word לָכֵן (lakhen) is simply “but,” as in Job 31:37.

[42:3]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ tn The last clause is “and I do not know.” This is also subordinated to become a dependent clause.

[1:7]  ¹⁸ tn The imperfect may be classified as progressive imperfect; it indicates action that although just completed is regarded as still lasting into the present (GKC 316 §107.h).

[1:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “answered the Lord and said” (also in v. 9). The words “and said” here and in v. 9 have not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[1:7]  ²⁰ tn The verb שׁוּט (shut) means “to go or rove about” (BDB 1001-2 s.v.). Here the infinitive construct serves as the object of the preposition.

[1:7]  ²¹ tn The Hitpael (here also an infinitive construct after the preposition) of the verb הָלַךְ (halakh) means “to walk to and fro, back and forth, with the sense of investigating or reconnoitering (see e.g. Gen 13:17).