Job 14:5

14:5 Since man’s days ¹  are determined, ² 

the number of his months is under your control; ³ 

you have set his limit ⁴  and he cannot pass it.

Job 24:18

24:18 ⁵ “You say, ⁶  ‘He is foam ⁷  on the face of the waters; ⁸ 

their portion of the land is cursed

so that no one goes to their vineyard. ⁹ 

Job 28:4

28:4 Far from where people live ¹⁰  he sinks a shaft,

in places travelers have long forgotten, ¹¹ 

far from other people he dangles and sways. ¹² 

Job 33:24

33:24 and if ¹³  God ¹⁴  is gracious to him and says,

‘Spare ¹⁵  him from going down

to the place of corruption,

I have found a ransom for him,’ ¹⁶ 

Job 34:33

34:33 Is it your opinion ¹⁷  that God ¹⁸  should recompense it,

because you reject this? ¹⁹ 

But you must choose, and not I,

so tell us what you know.

[14:5]  ¹ tn Heb “his days.”

[14:5]  ² tn The passive participle is from חָרַץ (kharats), which means “determined.” The word literally means “cut” (Lev 22:22, “mutilated”). E. Dhorme, (Job, 197) takes it to mean “engraved” as on stone; from a custom of inscribing decrees on tablets of stone he derives the meaning here of “decreed.” This, he argues, is parallel to the way חָקַק (khaqaq, “engrave”) is used. The word חֹק (khoq) is an “ordinance” or “statute”; the idea is connected to the verb “to engrave.” The LXX has “if his life should be but one day on the earth, and his months are numbered by him, you have appointed him for a time and he shall by no means exceed it.”

[14:5]  ³ tn Heb “[is] with you.” This clearly means under God’s control.

[14:5]  ⁴ tn The word חֹק (khoq) has the meanings of “decree, decision, and limit” (cf. Job 28:26; 38:10).

[24:18]  ⁵ tc Many commentators find vv. 18-24 difficult on the lips of Job, and so identify this unit as a misplaced part of the speech of Zophar. They describe the enormities of the wicked. But a case can also be made for retaining it in this section. Gordis thinks it could be taken as a quotation by Job of his friends’ ideas.

[24:18]  ⁶ tn The verb “say” is not in the text; it is supplied here to indicate that this is a different section.

[24:18]  ⁷ tn Or “is swift.”

[24:18]  ⁸ sn The wicked person is described here as a spray or foam upon the waters, built up in the agitation of the waters but dying away swiftly.

[24:18]  ⁹ tn The text reads, “he does not turn by the way of the vineyards.” This means that since the land is cursed, he/one does not go there. Bickell emended “the way of the vineyards” to “the treader of the vineyard” (see RSV, NRSV). This would mean that “no wine-presser would turn towards” their vineyards.

[28:4]  ⁹ tc The first part of this verse, “He cuts a shaft far from the place where people live,” has received a lot of attention. The word for “live” is גָּר (gar). Some of the proposals are: “limestone,” on the basis of the LXX; “far from the light,” reading נֵר (ner); “by a foreign people,” taking the word to means “foreign people”; “a foreign people opening shafts”; or taking gar as “crater” based on Arabic. Driver puts this and the next together: “a strange people who have been forgotten cut shafts” (see AJSL 3 [1935]: 162). L. Waterman had “the people of the lamp” (“Note on Job 28:4,” JBL 71 [1952]: 167ff). And there are others. Since there is really no compelling argument in favor of one of these alternative interpretations, the MT should be preserved until shown to be wrong.

[28:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “forgotten by the foot.” This means that there are people walking above on the ground, and the places below, these mines, are not noticed by the pedestrians above.

[28:4]  ¹¹ sn This is a description of the mining procedures. Dangling suspended from a rope would be a necessary part of the job of going up and down the shafts.

[33:24]  ¹³ tn This verse seems to continue the protasis begun in the last verse, with the apodosis coming in the next verse.

[33:24]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:24]  ¹⁵ tc The verb is either taken as an anomalous form of פָּדַע (pada’, “to rescue; to redeem,” or “to exempt him”), or it is emended to some similar word, like פָּרַע (para’, “to let loose,” so Wright).

[33:24]  ¹⁶ sn This verse and v. 28 should be compared with Ps 49:7-9, 15 (8-10, 16 HT) where the same basic vocabulary and concepts are employed.

[34:33]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “is it from with you,” an idiomatic expression meaning “to suit you” or “according to your judgment.”

[34:33]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:33]  ¹⁹ tn There is no object on the verb, and the meaning is perhaps lost. The best guess is that Elihu is saying Job has rejected his teaching.