Job 14:22

14:22 Only his flesh has pain for himself, ¹ 

and he mourns for himself.” ² 

Job 19:13

Job’s Forsaken State

19:13 “He has put my relatives ³  far from me;

my acquaintances only ⁴  turn away from me.

Job 35:13

35:13 Surely it is an empty cry ⁵  – God does not hear it;

the Almighty does not take notice of it.

[14:22]  ¹ tn The prepositional phrases using עָלָיו (’alayv, “for him[self]”) express the object of the suffering. It is for himself that the dead man “grieves.” So this has to be joined with אַךְ (’akh), yielding “only for himself.” Then, “flesh” and “soul/person” form the parallelism for the subjects of the verbs.

[14:22]  ² sn In this verse Job is expressing the common view of life beyond death, namely, that in Sheol there is no contact with the living, only separation, but in Sheol there is a conscious awareness of the dreary existence.

[19:13]  ³ tn Heb “brothers.”

[19:13]  ⁴ tn The LXX apparently took אַךְ־זָרוּ (’akh, “even, only,” and zaru, “they turn away”) together as if it was the verb אַכְזָרוּ (’akhzaru, “they have become cruel,” as in 20:21). But the grammar in the line would be difficult with this. Moreover, the word is most likely from זוּר (zur, “to turn away”). See L. A. Snijders, “The Meaning of zar in the Old Testament,” OTS 10 (1964): 1-154 (especially p. 9).

[35:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “surely – vanity, he does not hear.” The cry is an empty cry, not a prayer to God. Dhorme translates it, “It is a pure waste of words.”