Discovery BoxJob 13:23
Context13:23 How many are my 1 iniquities and sins?
Show me my transgression and my sin. 2
Job 7:19
Context7:19 Will you never 3 look away from me, 4
will you not let me alone 5
long enough to swallow my spittle?
Job 21:17
Context21:17 “How often 6 is the lamp of the wicked extinguished?
How often does their 7 misfortune come upon them?
[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.
[7:19] 3 tn Heb “according to what [= how long] will you not look away from me.”
[7:19] 4 tn The verb שָׁעָה (sha’ah, “to look”) with the preposition מִן (min) means “to look away from; to avert one’s gaze.” Job wonders if God would not look away from him even briefly, for the constant vigilance is killing him.
[7:19] 5 tn The Hiphil of רָפָה (rafah) means “to leave someone alone.”
[21:17] 5 tn The interrogative “How often” occurs only with the first colon; it is supplied for smoother reading in the next two.
[21:17] 6 tn The pronominal suffix is objective; it re-enforces the object of the preposition, “upon them.” The verb in the clause is בּוֹא (bo’) followed by עַל (’al), “come upon [or against],” may be interpreted as meaning attack or strike.
[21:17] 7 tn חֲבָלִים (khavalim) can mean “ropes” or “cords,” but that would not go with the verb “apportion” in this line. The meaning of “pangs (as in “birth-pangs”) seems to fit best here. The wider meaning would be “physical agony.”
[21:17] 8 tn The phrase “to them” is understood and thus is supplied in the translation for clarification.
