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 26:14

26:14 Indeed, these are but the outer fringes of his ways! ⁴ 

How faint is the whisper ⁵  we hear of him!

But who can understand the thunder of his power?”

Job 31:35

Job’s Appeal

31:35 “If only I had ⁶  someone to hear me!

Here is my signature – ⁷ 

let the Almighty answer me!

If only I had an indictment ⁸ 

that my accuser had written. ⁹ 

Job 42:3

42:3 you asked, ¹⁰ 

‘Who is this who darkens counsel

without knowledge?’

But ¹¹  I have declared without understanding ¹² 

things too wonderful for me to know. ¹³ 

[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.

[26:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “the ends of his ways,” meaning “the fringes.”

[26:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “how little is the word.” Here “little” means a “fraction” or an “echo.”

[31:35]  ⁷ tn The optative is again introduced with “who will give to me hearing me? – O that someone would listen to me!”

[31:35]  ⁸ tn Heb “here is my ‘tav’” (הֵן תָּוִי, hen tavi). The letter ת (tav) is the last letter of the alphabet in Hebrew. In paleo-Hebrew the letter was in the form of a cross or an “X,” and so used for one making a mark or a signature. In this case Job has signed his statement and delivered it to the court – but he has yet to be charged. Kissane thought that this being the last letter of the alphabet, Job was saying, “This is my last word.” Others take the word to mean “desire” – “this is my desire, that God would answer me” (see E. F. Sutcliffe, “Notes on Job, textual and exegetical,” Bib 30 [1949]: 71-72; G. R. Driver, AJSL 3 [1935/36]: 166; P. P. Saydon, “Philological and Textual Notes to the Maltese Translation of the Old Testament,” CBQ 23 [1961]: 252). R. Gordis (Job, 355) also argues strongly for this view.

[31:35]  ⁹ tn Heb “a scroll,” in the context referring to a scroll containing the accusations of Job’s legal adversary (see the next line).

[31:35]  ¹⁰ tn The last line is very difficult; it simply says, “a scroll [that] my [legal] adversary had written.” The simplest way to handle this is to see it as a continuation of the optative (RSV).

[42:3]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn The word לָכֵן (lakhen) is simply “but,” as in Job 31:37.

[42:3]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn The last clause is “and I do not know.” This is also subordinated to become a dependent clause.