Job 16:5

16:5 But ¹  I would strengthen ²  you with my words; ³ 

comfort from my lips would bring ⁴  you relief.

Job 21:30

21:30 that the evil man is spared

from the day of his misfortune,

that he is delivered ⁵ 

from the day of God’s wrath?

Job 33:18

33:18 He spares a person’s life from corruption, ⁶ 

his very life from crossing over ⁷  the river.

[16:5]  ¹ tn “But” has been added in the translation to strengthen the contrast.

[16:5]  ² tn The Piel of אָמַץ (’amats) means “to strengthen, fortify.”

[16:5]  ³ tn Heb “my mouth.”

[16:5]  ⁴ tn The verb יַחְשֹׂךְ (yakhsokh) means “to restrain; to withhold.” There is no object, so many make it first person subject, “I will not restrain.” The LXX and the Syriac have a different person – “I would not restrain.” G. R. Driver, arguing that the verb is intransitive here, made it “the solace of my lips would not [added] be withheld” (see JTS 34 [1933]: 380). D. J. A. Clines says that what is definitive is the use of the verb in the next line, where it clearly means “soothed, assuaged.”

[21:30]  ⁵ tn The verb means “to be led forth.” To be “led forth in the day of trouble” means to be delivered.

[33:18]  ⁹ tn A number of interpreters and translations take this as “the pit” (see Job 17:14; cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[33:18]  ¹⁰ tc Here is another difficult line. The verb normally means “to pass through; to pass over,” and so this word would normally mean “from passing through [or over].” The word שֶׁלַח (shelakh) does at times refer to a weapon, but most commentators look for a parallel with “the pit [or corruption].” One suggestion is שְׁאוֹלָה (shÿ’olah, “to Sheol”), proposed by Duhm. Dhorme thought it was שַׁלַח (shalakh) and referred to the passageway to the underworld (see M. Tsevat, VT 4 [1954]: 43; and Svi Rin, BZ 7 [1963]: 25). See discussion of options in HALOT 1517-18 s.v. IV שֶׁלַח. The idea of crossing the river of death fits the idea of the passage well, although the reading “to perish by the sword” makes sense and was followed by the NIV.