Job 13:18-23

13:18 See now, ¹  I have prepared ²  my ³  case; ⁴ 

I know that I am right. ⁵ 

13:19 Who ⁶  will contend with me?

If anyone can, I will be silent and die. ⁷ 

13:20 Only in two things spare me, ⁸  O God, ⁹ 

and then I will not hide from your face:

13:21 Remove ¹⁰  your hand ¹¹  far from me

and stop making me afraid with your terror. ¹² 

13:22 Then call, ¹³  and I will answer,

or I will speak, and you respond to me.

13:23 How many are my ¹⁴  iniquities and sins?

Show me my transgression and my sin. ¹⁵ 

Job 23:3-7

23:3 O that I knew ¹⁶  where I might find him, ¹⁷ 

that I could come ¹⁸  to his place of residence! ¹⁹ 

23:4 I would lay out my case ²⁰  before him

and fill my mouth with arguments.

23:5 I would know with what words ²¹  he would answer me,

and understand what he would say to me.

23:6 Would he contend ²²  with me with great power?

No, he would only pay attention to me. ²³ 

23:7 There ²⁴  an upright person

could present his case ²⁵  before him,

and I would be delivered forever from my judge.

Psalms 143:2

143:2 Do not sit in judgment on ²⁶  your servant,

for no one alive is innocent before you. ²⁷ 

[13:18]  ¹ tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) functions almost as an imperative here, calling attention to what follows: “look” (archaic: behold).

[13:18]  ² tn The verb עָרַךְ (’arakh) means “to set in order, set in array [as a battle], prepare” in the sense here of arrange and organize a lawsuit.

[13:18]  ³ tn The pronoun is added because this is what the verse means.

[13:18]  ⁴ tn The word מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) usually means “judgment; decision.” Here it means “lawsuit” (and so a metonymy of effect gave rise to this usage; see Num 27:5; 2 Sam 15:4).

[13:18]  ⁵ tn The pronoun is emphatic before the verb: “I know that it is I who am right.” The verb means “to be right; to be righteous.” Some have translated it “vindicated,” looking at the outcome of the suit.

[13:19]  ⁶ tn The interrogative is joined with the emphatic pronoun, stressing “who is he [who] will contend,” or more emphatically, “who in the world will contend.” Job is confident that no one can bring charges against him. He is certain of success.

[13:19]  ⁷ sn Job is confident that he will be vindicated. But if someone were to show up and have proof of sin against him, he would be silent and die (literally “keep silent and expire”).

[13:20]  ⁸ tn The line reads “do not do two things.”

[13:20]  ⁹ tn “God” is supplied to the verse, for the address is now to him. Job wishes to enter into dispute with God, but he first appeals that God not take advantage of him with his awesome power.

[13:21]  ¹⁰ tn The imperative הַרְחַק (harkhaq, “remove”; GKC 98 §29.q), from רָחַק (rakhaq, “far, be far”) means “take away [far away]; to remove.”

[13:21]  ¹¹ sn This is a common, but bold, anthropomorphism. The fact that the word used is כַּף (kaf, properly “palm”) rather than יָד (yad, “hand,” with the sense of power) may stress Job’s feeling of being trapped or confined (see also Ps 139:5, 7).

[13:21]  ¹² tn See Job 9:34.

[13:22]  ¹³ tn The imperatives in the verse function like the future tense in view of their use for instruction or advice. The chiastic arrangement of the verb forms is interesting: imperative + imperfect, imperfect + imperative. The imperative is used for God, but the imperfect is used when Job is the subject. Job is calling for the court to convene – he will be either the defendant or the prosecutor.

[13:23]  ¹⁴ tn The pronoun “my” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied here in the translation.

[13:23]  ¹⁵ sn Job uses three words for sin here: “iniquities,” which means going astray, erring; “sins,” which means missing the mark or the way; and “transgressions,” which are open rebellions. They all emphasize different kinds of sins and different degrees of willfulness. Job is demanding that any sins be brought up. Both Job and his friends agree that great afflictions would have to indicate great offenses – he wants to know what they are.

[23:3]  ¹⁶ tn The optative here is again expressed with the verbal clause, “who will give [that] I knew….”

[23:3]  ¹⁷ tn The form in Hebrew is וְאֶמְצָאֵהוּ (vÿ’emtsa’ehu), simply “and I will find him.” But in the optative clause this verb is subordinated to the preceding verb: “O that I knew where [and] I might find him.” It is not unusual to have the perfect verb followed by the imperfect in such coordinate clauses (see GKC 386 §120.e). This could also be translated making the second verb a complementary infinitive: “knew how to find him.”

[23:3]  ¹⁸ tn This verb also depends on מִי־יִתֵּן (mi-yitten, “who will give”) of the first part, forming an additional clause in the wish formula.

[23:3]  ¹⁹ tn Or “his place of judgment.” The word is from כּוּן (kun, “to prepare; to arrange”) in the Polel and the Hiphil conjugations. The noun refers to a prepared place, a throne, a seat, or a sanctuary. A. B. Davidson (Job, 169) and others take the word to mean “judgment seat” or “tribunal” in this context.

[23:4]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ tn Heb “the words he would answer me.”

[23:6]  ²² tn The verb is now רִיב (riv) and not יָכַח (yakhakh, “contend”); רִיב (riv) means “to quarrel; to dispute; to contend,” often in a legal context. Here it is still part of Job’s questioning about this hypothetical meeting – would God contend with all his power?

[23:6]  ²³ tn The verbal clause יָשִׂם בִּי (yasim bi) has been translated “he would pay [attention] to me.” Job is saying that God will not need all his power – he will just have pay attention to Job’s complaint. Job does not need the display of power – he just wants a hearing.

[23:7]  ²⁴ tn The adverb “there” has the sense of “then” – there in the future.

[23:7]  ²⁵ tn The form of the verb is the Niphal נוֹכָח (nokkakh, “argue, present a case”). E. Dhorme (Job, 346) is troubled by this verbal form and so changes it and other things in the line to say, “he would observe the upright man who argues with him.” The Niphal is used for “engaging discussion,” “arguing a case,” and “settling a dispute.”

[143:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “do not enter into judgment with.”

[143:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “for no one living is innocent before you.”