Job 16:6

Abandonment by God and Man

16:6 “But ¹  if I speak, my pain is not relieved, ² 

and if I refrain from speaking

– how ³  much of it goes away?

Job 31:7

31:7 If my footsteps have strayed from the way,

if my heart has gone after my eyes, ⁴ 

or if anything ⁵  has defiled my hands,

Job 34:8

34:8 He goes about ⁶  in company ⁷  with evildoers,

he goes along ⁸  with wicked men. ⁹ 

Job 34:23

34:23 For he does not still consider a person, ¹⁰ 

that he should come before God in judgment.

[16:6]  ¹ tn “But” is supplied in the translation to strengthen the contrast.

[16:6]  ² tn The Niphal יֵחָשֵׂךְ (yekhasekh) means “to be soothed; to be assuaged.”

[16:6]  ³ tn Some argue that מָה (mah) in the text is the Arabic ma, the simple negative. This would then mean “it does not depart far from me.” The interrogative used rhetorically amounts to the same thing, however, so the suggestion is not necessary.

[31:7]  ⁴ sn The meaning is “been led by what my eyes see.”

[31:7]  ⁵ tc The word מֻאוּם (mu’um) could be taken in one of two ways. One reading is to represent מוּם (mum, “blemish,” see the Masorah); the other is for מְאוּמָה (mÿ’umah, “anything,” see the versions and the Kethib). Either reading fits the passage.

[34:8]  ⁷ tn The perfect verb with the vav (ו) consecutive carries the sequence forward from the last description.

[34:8]  ⁸ tn The word חֶבְרַה (khevrah, “company”) is a hapax legomenon. But its meaning is clear enough from the connections to related words and this context as well.

[34:8]  ⁹ tn The infinitive construct with the ל (lamed) preposition may continue the clause with the finite verb (see GKC 351 §114.p).

[34:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “men of wickedness”; the genitive is attributive (= “wicked men”).

[34:23]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for he does not put upon man yet.” This has been given a wide variety of interpretations, all of which involve a lot of additional thoughts. The word עוֹד (’od, “yet, still”) has been replaced with מוֹעֵד (mo’ed, “an appointed time,” Reiske and Wright), with the ם (mem) having dropped out by haplography. This makes good sense. If the MT is retained, the best interpretation would be that God does not any more consider (from “place upon the heart”) man, that he might appear in judgment.