Job 15:34

15:34 For the company of the godless is barren, ¹ 

and fire ²  consumes the tents of those who accept bribes. ³ 

Job 18:5

18:5 “Yes, ⁴  the lamp ⁵  of the wicked is extinguished;

his flame of fire ⁶  does not shine.

Job 22:20

22:20 ‘Surely our enemies ⁷  are destroyed,

and fire consumes their wealth.’

Job 28:5

28:5 The earth, from which food comes,

is overturned below as though by fire; ⁸ 

Job 41:19

41:19 Out of its mouth go flames, ⁹ 

sparks of fire shoot forth!

[15:34]  ¹ tn The LXX renders this line: “for death is the witness of an ungodly man. “Death” represents “barren/sterile,” and “witness” represents “assembly.”

[15:34]  ² sn This may refer to the fire that struck Job (cf. 1:16).

[15:34]  ³ tn Heb “the tents of bribery.” The word “bribery” can mean a “gift,” but most often in the sense of a bribe in court. It indicates that the wealth and the possessions that the wicked man has gained may have been gained unjustly.

[18:5]  ⁴ tn Hebrew גַּם (gam, “also; moreover”), in view of what has just been said.

[18:5]  ⁵ sn The lamp or the light can have a number of uses in the Bible. Here it is probably an implied metaphor for prosperity and happiness, for the good life itself.

[18:5]  ⁶ tn The expression is literally “the flame of his fire,” but the pronominal suffix qualifies the entire bound construction. The two words together intensify the idea of the flame.

[22:20]  ⁷ tc The word translated “our enemies” is found only here. The word means “hostility,” but used here as a collective for those who are hostile – “enemies.” Some commentators follow the LXX and read “possessions,” explaining its meaning and derivation in different ways. Gordis simply takes the word in the text and affirms that this is the meaning. On the other hand, to get this, E. Dhorme (Job, 336) repoints קִימָנוּ (qimanu) of the MT to יְקוּמַם (yÿqumam), arguing that יְקוּם (yÿqum) means “what exists [or has substance]” (although that is used of animals). He translates: “have not their possessions been destroyed.”

[28:5]  ¹⁰ sn The verse has been properly understood, on the whole, as comparing the earth above and all its produce with the upheaval down below.

[41:19]  ¹³ sn For the animal, the image is that of pent-up breath with water in a hot steam jet coming from its mouth, like a stream of fire in the rays of the sun. The language is hyperbolic, probably to reflect the pagan ideas of the dragon of the deep in a polemical way – they feared it as a fire breathing monster, but in reality it might have been a steamy crocodile.