Job 13:6

13:6 “Listen now to my argument, ¹ 

and be attentive to my lips’ contentions. ² 

Job 15:8

15:8 Do you listen in on God’s secret council? ³ 

Do you limit ⁴  wisdom to yourself?

Job 15:17

15:17 “I will explain to you;

listen to me,

and what ⁵  I have seen, I will declare, ⁶ 

Job 16:2

16:2 “I have heard many things like these before.

What miserable comforters ⁷  are you all!

Job 20:3

20:3 When ⁸  I hear a reproof that dishonors ⁹  me,

then my understanding ¹⁰  prompts me to answer. ¹¹ 

Job 22:27

22:27 You will pray to him and he will hear you,

and you will fulfill your vows to him. ¹² 

Job 28:22

28:22 Destruction ¹³  and Death say,

‘With our ears we have heard a rumor about where it can be found.’ ¹⁴ 

Job 29:21

Job’s Reputation

29:21 “People ¹⁵  listened to me and waited silently; ¹⁶ 

they kept silent for my advice.

Job 33:8

Elihu Rejects Job’s Plea of Innocence

33:8 “Indeed, you have said in my hearing ¹⁷ 

(I heard the sound of the words!):

Job 34:2

34:2 “Listen to my words, you wise men;

hear ¹⁸  me, you learned men. ¹⁹ 

Job 42:4-5

42:4 You said, ²⁰ 

‘Pay attention, and I will speak;

I will question you, and you will answer me.’

42:5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,

but now my eye has seen you. ²¹ 

[13:6]  ¹ 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]  ² 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.

[15:8]  ³ tn The meaning of סוֹד (sod) is “confidence.” In the context the implication is “secret counsel” of the Lord God (see Jer 23:18). It is a question of confidence on the part of God, that only wisdom can know (see Prov 8:30,31). Job seemed to them to claim to have access to the mind of God.

[15:8]  ⁴ tn In v. 4 the word meant “limit”; here it has a slightly different sense, namely, “to reserve for oneself.”

[15:17]  ⁵ tn The demonstrative pronoun is used here as a nominative, to introduce an independent relative clause (see GKC 447 §138.h).

[15:17]  ⁶ tn Here the vav (ו) apodosis follows with the cohortative (see GKC 458 §143.d).

[16:2]  ⁷ tn The expression uses the Piel participle in construct: מְנַחֲמֵי עָמָל (mÿnahame ’amal, “comforters of trouble”), i.e., comforters who increase trouble instead of relieving it. D. W. Thomas translates this “breathers out of trouble” (“A Note on the Hebrew Root naham,” ExpTim 44 [1932/33]: 192).

[20:3]  ⁹ tn There is no indication that this clause is to be subordinated to the next, other than the logical connection, and the use of the ו (vav) in the second half.

[20:3]  ¹⁰ tn See Job 19:3.

[20:3]  ¹¹ tn The phrase actually has רוּחַ מִבִּינָתִי (ruakh mibbinati, “a spirit/wind/breath/impulse from my understanding”). Some translate it “out of my understanding a spirit answers me.” The idea is not that difficult, and so the many proposals to rewrite the text can be rejected. The spirit of his understanding prompts the reply.

[20:3]  ¹² tn To take this verb as a simple Qal and read it “answers me,” does not provide a clear idea. The form can just as easily be taken as a Hiphil, with the sense “causes me to answer.” It is Zophar who will “return” and who will “answer.”

[22:27]  ¹¹ tn The words “to him” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.

[28:22]  ¹³ tn Heb “Abaddon.”

[28:22]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “heard a report of it,” which means a report of its location, thus “where it can be found.”

[29:21]  ¹⁵ tn “People” is supplied; the verb is plural.

[29:21]  ¹⁶ tc The last verb of the first half, “wait, hope,” and the first verb in the second colon, “be silent,” are usually reversed by the commentators (see G. R. Driver, “Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 86). But if “wait” has the idea of being silent as they wait for him to speak, then the second line would say they were silent for the reason of his advice. The reading of the MT is not impossible.

[33:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “in my ears.”

[34:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “give ear to me.”

[34:2]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew word means “the men who know,” and without a complement it means “to possess knowledge.”

[42:4]  ²¹ tn This phrase, “you said,” is supplied in the translation to introduce the recollection of God’s words.

[42:5]  ²³ sn This statement does not imply there was a vision. He is simply saying that this experience of God was real and personal. In the past his knowledge of God was what he had heard – hearsay. This was real.