Job 15:18

15:18 what wise men declare,

hiding nothing,

from the tradition of ¹  their ancestors, ² 

Job 17:5

17:5 If a man denounces his friends for personal gain, ³ 

the eyes of his children will fail.

Job 31:37

31:37 I would give him an accounting of my steps;

like a prince I would approach him.

Job 36:9

36:9 then he reveals ⁴  to them what they have done, ⁵ 

and their transgressions,

that they were behaving proudly.

Job 26:4

26:4 To whom ⁶  did you utter these words?

And whose spirit has come forth from your mouth? ⁷ 

Job 36:33

36:33 ⁸ His thunder announces the coming storm,

the cattle also, concerning the storm’s approach.

Job 38:4

God’s questions to Job

38:4 “Where were you

when I laid the foundation ⁹  of the earth?

Tell me, ¹⁰  if you possess understanding!

Job 38:18

38:18 Have you considered the vast expanses of the earth?

Tell me, if you know it all!

Job 12:7

Knowledge of God’s Wisdom ¹¹ 

12:7 “But now, ask the animals and they ¹²  will teach you,

or the birds of the sky and they will tell you.

Job 21:31

21:31 No one denounces his conduct to his face;

no one repays him for what ¹³  he has done. ¹⁴ 

Job 33:23

33:23 If there is an angel beside him,

one mediator ¹⁵  out of a thousand,

to tell a person what constitutes his uprightness; ¹⁶ 

Job 1:15

1:15 and the Sabeans ¹⁷  swooped down ¹⁸  and carried them all away, and they killed ¹⁹  the servants with the sword! ²⁰  And I – only I alone ²¹  – escaped to tell you!”

Job 11:6

11:6 and reveal to you the secrets of wisdom –

for true wisdom has two sides ²²  –

so that you would know ²³ 

that God has forgiven some of your sins. ²⁴ 

Job 42:3

42:3 you asked, ²⁵ 

‘Who is this who darkens counsel

without knowledge?’

But ²⁶  I have declared without understanding ²⁷ 

things too wonderful for me to know. ²⁸ 

Job 1:16-17

1:16 While this one was still speaking, ²⁹  another messenger arrived ³⁰  and said, “The fire of God ³¹  has fallen from heaven ³²  and has burned up the sheep and the servants – it has consumed them! And I – only I alone – escaped to tell you!”

1:17 While this one was still speaking another messenger arrived and said, “The Chaldeans ³³  formed three bands and made a raid ³⁴  on the camels and carried them all away, and they killed the servants with the sword! ³⁵  And I – only I alone – escaped to tell you!”

Job 1:19

1:19 and suddenly ³⁶  a great wind ³⁷  swept across ³⁸  the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they died! And I – only I alone – escaped to tell you!”

[15:18]  ¹ tn The word “tradition” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation.

[15:18]  ² tn Heb “their fathers.” Some commentators change one letter and follow the reading of the LXX: “and their fathers have not hidden.” Pope tries to get the same reading by classifying the מ (mem) as an enclitic mem. The MT on first glance would read “and did not hide from their fathers.” Some take the clause “and they did not hide” as adverbial and belonging to the first part of the verse: “what wise men declare, hiding nothing, according to the tradition of their fathers.”

[17:5]  ³ tn Heb “for a portion.” This verse is rather obscure. The words are not that difficult, but the sense of them in this context is. Some take the idea to mean “he denounces his friends for a portion,” and others have a totally different idea of “he invites his friends to share with him.” The former fits the context better, indicating that Job’s friends speak out against him for some personal gain. The second half of the verse then promises that his children will suffer loss for this attempt at gain. The line is surely proverbial. A number of other interpretations can be found in the commentaries.

[36:9]  ⁵ tn The verb נָגַד (nagad) means “to declare; to tell.” Here it is clear that God is making known the sins that caused the enslavement or captivity, so “reveal” makes a good interpretive translation.

[36:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “their work.”

[26:4]  ⁷ tn The verse begins with the preposition and the interrogative: אֶת־מִי (’et-mi, “with who[se help]?”). Others take it as the accusative particle introducing the indirect object: “for whom did you utter…” (see GKC 371 §117.gg). Both are possible.

[26:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “has gone out from you.”

[36:33]  ⁹ tn Peake knew of over thirty interpretations for this verse. The MT literally says, “He declares his purpose [or his shout] concerning it; cattle also concerning what rises.” Dhorme has it: “The flock which sniffs the coming storm has warned the shepherd.” Kissane: “The thunder declares concerning him, as he excites wrath against iniquity.” Gordis translates it: “His thunderclap proclaims his presence, and the storm his mighty wrath.” Many more could be added to the list.

[38:4]  ¹¹ tn The construction is the infinitive construct in a temporal clause, using the preposition and the subjective genitive suffix.

[38:4]  ¹² tn The verb is the imperative; it has no object “me” in the text.

[12:7]  ¹³ sn As J. E. Hartley (Job [NICOT], 216) observes, in this section Job argues that respected tradition “must not be accepted uncritically.”

[12:7]  ¹⁴ tn The singular verb is used here with the plural collective subject (see GKC 464 §145.k).

[21:31]  ¹⁵ tn The expression “and he has done” is taken here to mean “what he has done.”

[21:31]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Who declares his way to his face? // Who repays him for what he has done?” These rhetorical questions, which expect a negative answer (“No one!”) have been translated as indicative statements to bring out their force clearly.

[33:23]  ¹⁷ sn The verse is describing the way God can preserve someone from dying by sending a messenger (translated here as “angel”), who could be human or angelic. This messenger will interpret/mediate God’s will. By “one … out of a thousand” Elihu could have meant either that one of the thousands of messengers at God’s disposal might be sent or that the messenger would be unique (see Eccl 7:28; and cp. Job 9:3).

[33:23]  ¹⁸ tn This is a smoother reading. The MT has “to tell to a man his uprightness,” to reveal what is right for him. The LXX translated this word “duty”; the choice is adopted by some commentaries. However, that is too far from the text, which indicates that the angel/messenger is to call the person to uprightness.

[1:15]  ¹⁹ tn The LXX has “the spoilers spoiled them” instead of “the Sabeans swooped down.” The translators might have connected the word to שְָׁבָה (shavah, “to take captive”) rather than שְׁבָא (shÿva’, “Sabeans”), or they may have understood the name as general reference to all types of Bedouin invaders from southern Arabia (HALOT 1381 s.v. שְׁבָא 2.c).

[1:15]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew is simply “fell” (from נָפַל, nafal). To “fall upon” something in war means to attack quickly and suddenly.

[1:15]  ²¹ sn Job’s servants were probably armed and gave resistance, which would be the normal case in that time. This was probably why they were “killed with the sword.”

[1:15]  ²² tn Heb “the edge/mouth of the sword”; see T. J. Meek, “Archaeology and a Point of Hebrew Syntax,” BASOR 122 (1951): 31-33.

[1:15]  ²³ tn The pleonasms in the verse emphasize the emotional excitement of the messenger.

[11:6]  ²¹ tn The text seems to be saying “that it [wisdom] is double in understanding.” The point is that it is different than Job conceived it – it far exceeded all perception. But some commentators have thought this still too difficult, and so have replaced the word כִפְלַיִם (khiflayim, “two sides”) with כִפְלָאִים (khifla’im, “like wonders,” or, more simply, “wonders” without the preposition). But it is still a little strange to talk about God’s wisdom being like wonders. Others have had more radical changes in the text; J. J. Slotki has “for sound wisdom is his. And know that double [punishment] shall God exact of you” (“Job 11:6,” VT 35 [1985]: 229-30).

[11:6]  ²² tn The verb is the imperative with a ו (vav). Following the jussive, this clause would be subordinated to the preceding (see GKC 325 §110.i).

[11:6]  ²³ tn Heb “God causes to be forgotten for you part of your iniquity.” The meaning is that God was exacting less punishment from Job than Job deserved, for Job could not remember all his sins. This statement is fitting for Zophar, who is the cruelest of Job’s friends (see H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 88). Others in an attempt to improve the text make too many unwarranted changes. Some would read יִשְׁאָלְךָ (yish’alkha, “he asks of you”) instead of יַשֶּׂה לְךָ (yasseh lÿka, “he causes to be forgotten for you”). This would mean that God demands an account of Job’s sin. But, as D. J. A. Clines says, this change is weak and needless (Job [WBC], 254-55).

[42:3]  ²³ tn The expression “you asked” is added here to clarify the presence of the line to follow. Many commentators delete it as a gloss from Job 38:2. If it is retained, then Job has to be recalling God’s question before he answers it.

[42:3]  ²⁴ tn The word לָכֵן (lakhen) is simply “but,” as in Job 31:37.

[42:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and I do not understand.” The expression serves here in an adverbial capacity. It also could be subordinated as a complement: “I have declared [things that] I do not understand.”

[42:3]  ²⁶ tn The last clause is “and I do not know.” This is also subordinated to become a dependent clause.

[1:16]  ²⁵ tn The particle עוֹד (’od, “still”) is used with the participle to express the past circumstances when something else happened (IBHS 625-26 §37.6d).

[1:16]  ²⁶ tn The Hebrew expression is literally “yet/this/speaking/and this/ arrived.” The sentence uses the two demonstratives as a contrasting pair. It means “this one was still speaking when that one arrived” (IBHS 308-9 §17.3c). The word “messenger” has been supplied in the translation in vv. 16, 17, and 18 for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[1:16]  ²⁷ sn The “fire of God” would refer to lightning (1 Kgs 18:38; 2 Kgs 1:12; cf. NAB, NCV, TEV). The LXX simply has “fire.” The first blow came from enemies; the second from heaven, which might have confused Job more as to the cause of his troubles. The use of the divine epithet could also be an indication of the superlative degree; see D. W. Thomas, “A Consideration of Some Unusual Ways of Expressing the Superlative in Hebrew,” VT 3 (1953): 209-24.

[1:16]  ²⁸ tn Or “from the sky.” The Hebrew word שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven[s]” or “sky” depending on the context.

[1:17]  ²⁷ sn The name may have been given to the tribes that roamed between the Euphrates and the lands east of the Jordan. These are possibly the nomadic Kaldu who are part of the ethnic Aramaeans. The LXX simply has “horsemen.”

[1:17]  ²⁸ tn The verb פָּשַׁט (pashat) means “to hurl themselves” upon something (see Judg 9:33, 41). It was a quick, plundering raid to carry off the camels.

[1:17]  ²⁹ tn Heb “with the edge/mouth of the sword.”

[1:19]  ²⁹ tn The use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “behold”) in this sentence is deictic, pointing out with excitement the events that happened as if the listener was there.

[1:19]  ³⁰ sn Both wind and lightning (v. 16) were employed by Satan as his tools. God can permit him such control over factors of the weather when it suits the divine purpose, but God retains ultimate control (see 28:23-27; Prov 3:4; Luke 8:24-25).

[1:19]  ³¹ tn The word מֵעֵבֶר (me’ever) is simply “from the direction of”; the word עֵבֶר (’ever) indicates the area the whirlwind came across.