Job 14:4

14:4 Who can make ¹  a clean thing come from an unclean? ² 

No one!

Job 36:3

36:3 With my knowledge I will speak comprehensively, ³ 

and to my Creator I will ascribe righteousness. ⁴ 

Job 36:6

36:6 He does not allow the wicked to live, ⁵ 

but he gives justice to the poor.

Job 39:19

39:19 “Do you give the horse its strength?

Do you clothe its neck with a mane? ⁶ 

[14:4]  ¹ tn The expression is מִי־יִתֵּן (mi-yitten, “who will give”; see GKC 477 §151.b). Some commentators (H. H. Rowley and A. B. Davidson) wish to take this as the optative formula: “O that a clean might come out of an unclean!” But that does not fit the verse very well, and still requires the addition of a verb. The exclamation here simply implies something impossible – man is unable to attain purity.

[14:4]  ² sn The point being made is that the entire human race is contaminated by sin, and therefore cannot produce something pure. In this context, since man is born of woman, it is saying that the woman and the man who is brought forth from her are impure. See Ps 51:5; Isa 6:5; and Gen 6:5.

[36:3]  ³ tn Heb “I will carry my knowledge to-from afar.” The expression means that he will give a wide range to knowledge, that he will speak comprehensively.

[36:3]  ⁴ tn This line gives the essence of all of Elihu’s speech – to give or ascribe righteousness to God against the charges of Job. Dhorme translates this “I will justify my Maker,” and that is workable if it carries the meaning of “declaring to be right.”

[36:6]  ⁵ tn Or “he does not keep the wicked alive.”

[39:19]  ⁷ tn The second half of the verse contains this hapax legomenon, which is usually connected with the word רַעְמָה (ra’mah, “thunder”). A. B. Davidson thought it referred to the quivering of the neck rather than the mane. Gray thought the sound and not the movement was the point. But without better evidence, a reading that has “quivering mane” may not be far off the mark. But it may be simplest to translate it “mane” and assume that the idea of “quivering” is part of the meaning.