Job 13:23

13:23 How many are my ¹  iniquities and sins?

Show me my transgression and my sin. ² 

Job 13:26

13:26 For you write down ³  bitter things against me

and cause me to inherit the sins of my youth. ⁴ 

Job 19:29

19:29 Fear the sword yourselves,

for wrath ⁵  brings the punishment ⁶  by the sword,

so that you may know

that there is judgment.” ⁷ 

[13:23]  ¹ tn The pronoun “my” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied here in the translation.

[13:23]  ² 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.

[13:26]  ³ tn The meaning is that of writing down a formal charge against someone (cf. Job 31:15).

[13:26]  ⁴ sn Job acknowledges sins in his youth, but they are trifling compared to the suffering he now endures. Job thinks it unjust of God to persecute him now for those – if that is what is happening.

[19:29]  ⁵ tn The word “wrath” probably refers to divine wrath for the wicked. Many commentators change this word to read “they,” or more precisely, “these things.”

[19:29]  ⁶ tn The word is “iniquities”; but here as elsewhere it should receive the classification of the punishment for iniquity (a category of meaning that developed from a metonymy of effect).

[19:29]  ⁷ tc The last word is problematic because of the textual variants in the Hebrew. In place of שַׁדִּין (shaddin, “judgment”) some have proposed שַׁדַּי (shadday, “Almighty”) and read it “that you may know the Almighty” (Ewald, Wright). Some have read it יֵשׁ דַּיָּן (yesh dayyan, “there is a judge,” Gray, Fohrer). Others defend the traditional view, arguing that the שׁ (shin) is the abbreviated relative particle on the word דִּין (din, “judgment”).