Job 13:1-14

Job Pleads His Cause to God ¹ 

13:1 “Indeed, my eyes have seen all this, ² 

my ears have heard and understood it.

13:2 What you know, ³  I ⁴  know also;

I am not inferior ⁵  to you!

13:3 But I wish to speak ⁶  to the Almighty, ⁷ 

and I desire to argue ⁸  my case ⁹  with God.

13:4 But you, however, are inventors of lies; ¹⁰ 

all of you are worthless physicians! ¹¹ 

13:5 If only you would keep completely silent! ¹² 

For you, that would be wisdom. ¹³ 

13:6 “Listen now to my argument, ¹⁴ 

and be attentive to my lips’ contentions. ¹⁵ 

13:7 Will you speak wickedly ¹⁶  on God’s behalf? ¹⁷ 

Will you speak deceitfully for him?

13:8 Will you show him partiality? ¹⁸ 

Will you argue the case ¹⁹  for God?

13:9 Would it turn out well if he would examine ²⁰  you?

Or as one deceives ²¹  a man would you deceive him?

13:10 He would certainly rebuke ²²  you

if you secretly ²³  showed partiality!

13:11 Would not his splendor ²⁴  terrify ²⁵  you

and the fear he inspires ²⁶  fall on you?

13:12 Your maxims ²⁷  are proverbs of ashes; ²⁸ 

your defenses ²⁹  are defenses of clay. ³⁰ 

13:13 “Refrain from talking ³¹  with me so that ³²  I may speak;

then let come to me ³³  what may. ³⁴ 

13:14 Why ³⁵  do I put myself in peril, ³⁶ 

and take my life in my hands?

[13:1]  ¹ sn Chapter 13 records Job’s charges against his friends for the way they used their knowledge (1-5), his warning that God would find out their insincerity (6-12), and his pleading of his cause to God in which he begs for God to remove his hand from him and that he would not terrify him with his majesty and that he would reveal the sins that caused such great suffering (13-28).

[13:1]  ² tn Hebrew has כֹּל (kol, “all”); there is no reason to add anything to the text to gain a meaning “all this.”

[13:2]  ³ tn Heb “Like your knowledge”; in other words Job is saying that his knowledge is like their knowledge.

[13:2]  ⁴ tn The pronoun makes the subject emphatic and stresses the contrast: “I know – I also.”

[13:2]  ⁵ tn The verb “fall” is used here as it was in Job 4:13 to express becoming lower than someone, i.e., inferior.

[13:3]  ⁶ tn The verb is simply the Piel imperfect אֲדַבֵּר (’adabber, “I speak”). It should be classified as a desiderative imperfect, saying, “I desire to speak.” This is reinforced with the verb “to wish, desire” in the second half of the verse.

[13:3]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew title for God here is אֶל־שַׁדַּי (’el shadday, “El Shaddai”).

[13:3]  ⁸ tn The infinitive absolute functions here as the direct object of the verb “desire” (see GKC 340 §113.b).

[13:3]  ⁹ tn The infinitive הוֹכֵחַ (hokheakh) is from the verb יָכַח (yakhakh), which means “to argue, plead, debate.” It has the legal sense here of arguing a case (cf. 5:17).

[13:4]  ¹⁰ tn The טֹפְלֵי־שָׁקֶר (tofÿle shaqer) are “plasterers of lies” (Ps 119:69). The verb means “to coat, smear, plaster.” The idea is that of imputing something that is not true. Job is saying that his friends are inventors of lies. The LXX was influenced by the next line and came up with “false physicians.”

[13:4]  ¹¹ tn The literal rendering of the construct would be “healers of worthlessness.” Ewald and Dillmann translated it “patchers” based on a meaning in Arabic and Ethiopic; this would give the idea “botchers.” But it makes equally good sense to take “healers” as the meaning, for Job’s friends came to minister comfort and restoration to him – but they failed. See P. Humbert, “Maladie et medicine dans l’AT,” RHPR 44 (1964): 1-29.

[13:5]  ¹² tn The construction is the imperfect verb in the wish formula preceded by the infinitive that intensifies it. The Hiphil is not directly causative here, but internally – “keep silent.”

[13:5]  ¹³ tn The text literally reads, “and it would be for you for wisdom,” or “that it would become your wisdom.” Job is rather sarcastic here, indicating if they shut up they would prove themselves to be wise (see Prov 17:28).

[13:6]  ¹⁴ sn Job first will argue with his friends. His cause that he will plead with God begins in v. 13. The same root יָכַח (yakhakh, “argue, plead”) is used here as in v. 3b (see note). Synonymous parallelism between the two halves of this verse supports this translation.

[13:6]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew word רִבוֹת (rivot, “disputes, contentions”) continues the imagery of presenting a legal case. The term is used of legal disputations and litigation. See, also, v. 19a.

[13:7]  ¹⁶ tn The construction literally reads “speak iniquity.” The form functions adverbially. The noun עַוְלָה (’avlah) means “perversion; injustice; iniquity; falsehood.” Here it is parallel to רְמִיָּה (rÿmiyyah, “fraud; deceit; treachery”).

[13:7]  ¹⁷ tn The expression “for God” means “in favor of God” or “on God’s behalf.” Job is amazed that they will say false things on God’s behalf.

[13:8]  ¹⁸ sn The idiom used here is “Will you lift up his face?” Here Job is being very sarcastic, for this expression usually means that a judge is taking a bribe. Job is accusing them of taking God’s side.

[13:8]  ¹⁹ tn The same root is used here (רִיב, riv, “dispute, contention”) as in v. 6b (see note).

[13:9]  ²⁰ tn The verb חָפַר (khafar) means “to search out, investigate, examine.” In the conditional clause the imperfect verb expresses the hypothetical case.

[13:9]  ²¹ tn Both the infinitive and the imperfect of תָּלַל (talal, “deceive, mock”) retain the ה (he) (GKC 148 §53.q). But for the alternate form, see F. C. Fensham, “The Stem HTL in Hebrew,” VT 9 (1959): 310-11. The infinitive is used here in an adverbial sense after the preposition.

[13:10]  ²² tn The verbal idea is intensified with the infinitive absolute. This is the same verb used in v. 3; here it would have the sense of “rebuke, convict.”

[13:10]  ²³ sn The use of the word “in secret” or “secretly” suggests that what they do is a guilty action (31:27a).

[13:11]  ²⁴ sn The word translated “his majesty” or “his splendor” (שְׂאֵתוֹ, sÿ’eto) forms a play on the word “show partiality” (תִּשָּׂאוּן, tissa’un) in the last verse. They are both from the verb נָשַׂא (nasa’, “to lift up”).

[13:11]  ²⁵ tn On this verb in the Piel, see 7:14.

[13:11]  ²⁶ tn Heb “His dread”; the suffix is a subjective genitive.

[13:12]  ²⁷ tn The word is זִכְרֹנֵיכֶם (zikhronekhem, “your remembrances”). The word זִכָּרֹן (zikkaron) not only can mean the act of remembering, but also what is remembered – what provokes memory or is worth being remembered. In the plural it can mean all the memorabilia, and in this verse all the sayings and teachings. H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 99) suggests that in Job’s speech it could mean “all your memorized sayings.”

[13:12]  ²⁸ tn The parallelism of “dust” and “ashes” is fairly frequent in scripture. But “proverbs of ashes” is difficult. The genitive is certainly describing the proverbs; it could be classified as a genitive of apposition, proverbs that are/have become ashes. Ashes represent something that at one time may have been useful, but now has been reduced to what is worthless.

[13:12]  ²⁹ tn There is a division of opinion on the source of this word. Some take it from “answer”, related to Arabic, Aramaic, and Syriac words for “answer,” and so translate it “responses” (JB). Others take it from a word for “back,” with a derived meaning of the “boss” of the shield, and translate it bulwark or “defenses” (NEB, RSV, NIV). The idea of “answers” may fit the parallelism better, but “defenses” can be taken figuratively to refer to verbal defenses.

[13:12]  ³⁰ sn Any defense made with clay would crumble on impact.

[13:13]  ³¹ tn The Hebrew has a pregnant construction: “be silent from me,” meaning “stand away from me in silence,” or “refrain from talking with me.” See GKC 384 §119.ff. The LXX omits “from me,” as do several commentators.

[13:13]  ³² tn The verb is the Piel cohortative; following the imperative of the first colon this verb would show purpose or result. The inclusion of the independent personal pronoun makes the focus emphatic – “so that I (in my turn) may speak.”

[13:13]  ³³ tn The verb עָבַר (’avar, “pass over”) is used with the preposition עַל (’al, “upon”) to express the advent of misfortune, namely, something coming against him.

[13:13]  ³⁴ tn The interrogative pronoun מָה (mah) is used in indirect questions, here introducing a clause [with the verb understood] as the object – “whatever it be” (see GKC 443-44 §137.c).

[13:14]  ³⁵ tc Most editors reject עַל־מָה (’al mah) as dittography from the last verse.

[13:14]  ³⁶ tn Heb “why do I take my flesh in my teeth?” This expression occurs nowhere else. It seems to be drawn from animal imagery in which the wild beast seizes the prey and carries it off to a place of security. The idea would then be that Job may be destroying himself. An animal that fights with its flesh (prey) in its mouth risks losing it. Other commentators do not think this is satisfactory, but they are unable to suggest anything better.