Job 16:9

16:9 His ¹  anger has torn me ²  and persecuted ³  me;

he has gnashed at me with his teeth;

my adversary locks ⁴  his eyes on me.

Job 19:11

19:11 Thus ⁵  his anger burns against me,

and he considers me among his enemies. ⁶ 

Job 30:21

30:21 You have become cruel to me; ⁷ 

with the strength of your hand you attack me. ⁸ 

Job 31:35

Job’s Appeal

31:35 “If only I had ⁹  someone to hear me!

Here is my signature – ¹⁰ 

let the Almighty answer me!

If only I had an indictment ¹¹ 

that my accuser had written. ¹² 

Job 33:10

33:10 ¹³ Yet God ¹⁴  finds occasions ¹⁵  with me;

he regards me as his enemy!

Job 33:1

Elihu Invites Job’s Attention

33:1 “But now, O Job, listen to my words,

and hear ¹⁶  everything I have to say! ¹⁷ 

Job 28:16

28:16 It cannot be measured out for purchase ¹⁸  with the gold of Ophir,

with precious onyx ¹⁹  or sapphires.

Lamentations 2:5

ה (He)

2:5 The Lord, ²⁰  like an enemy,

destroyed ²¹  Israel.

He destroyed ²²  all her palaces;

he ruined her ²³  fortified cities.

He made everyone in Daughter Judah

mourn and lament. ²⁴ 

Lamentations 2:2

ב (Bet)

2:2 The Lord ²⁵  destroyed ²⁶  mercilessly ²⁷ 

all the homes of Jacob’s descendants. ²⁸ 

In his anger he tore down

the fortified cities ²⁹  of Daughter Judah.

He knocked to the ground and humiliated

the kingdom and its rulers. ³⁰ 

Lamentations 3:15

3:15 He has given me my fill of bitter herbs

and made me drunk with bitterness. ³¹ 

[16:9]  ¹ tn The referent of these pronouns in v. 9 (“his anger…he has gnashed…his teeth…his eyes”) is best taken as God.

[16:9]  ² sn The figure used now is that of a wild beast. God’s affliction of Job is compared to the attack of such an animal. Cf. Amos 1:11.

[16:9]  ³ tn The verb שָׂטַם (satam) is translated “hate” in the RSV, but this is not accepted by very many. Many emend it to שָׁמט (shamat), reading “and he dropped me” (from his mouth). But that suggests escape. D. J. A. Clines notes that usage shows it reflects ongoing hatred represented by an action such as persecution or attack (Job [WBC], 370).

[16:9]  ⁴ tn The verb is used of sharpening a sword in Ps 7:12; here it means “to look intently” as an animal looks for prey. The verse describes God’s relentless pursuit of Job.

[19:11]  ⁵ tn The verb is a nonpreterite vayyiqtol perhaps employed to indicate that the contents of v. 11 are a logical sequence to the actions described in v. 10.

[19:11]  ⁶ tn This second half of the verse is a little difficult. The Hebrew has “and he reckons me for him like his adversaries.” Most would change the last word to a singular in harmony with the versions, “as his adversary.” But some retain the MT pointing and try to explain it variously: Weiser suggests that the plural might have come from a cultic recitation of Yahweh’s deeds against his enemies; Fohrer thinks it refers to the primeval enemies; Gordis takes it as distributive, “as one of his foes.” If the plural is retained, this latter view makes the most sense.

[30:21]  ⁷ tn The idiom uses the Niphal verb “you are turned” with “to cruelty.” See Job 41:20b, as well as Isa 63:10.

[30:21]  ⁸ tc The LXX reads this verb as “you scourged/whipped me.” But there is no reason to adopt this change.

[31:35]  ⁹ tn The optative is again introduced with “who will give to me hearing me? – O that someone would listen to me!”

[31:35]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “here is my ‘tav’” (הֵן תָּוִי, hen tavi). The letter ת (tav) is the last letter of the alphabet in Hebrew. In paleo-Hebrew the letter was in the form of a cross or an “X,” and so used for one making a mark or a signature. In this case Job has signed his statement and delivered it to the court – but he has yet to be charged. Kissane thought that this being the last letter of the alphabet, Job was saying, “This is my last word.” Others take the word to mean “desire” – “this is my desire, that God would answer me” (see E. F. Sutcliffe, “Notes on Job, textual and exegetical,” Bib 30 [1949]: 71-72; G. R. Driver, AJSL 3 [1935/36]: 166; P. P. Saydon, “Philological and Textual Notes to the Maltese Translation of the Old Testament,” CBQ 23 [1961]: 252). R. Gordis (Job, 355) also argues strongly for this view.

[31:35]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a scroll,” in the context referring to a scroll containing the accusations of Job’s legal adversary (see the next line).

[31:35]  ¹² tn The last line is very difficult; it simply says, “a scroll [that] my [legal] adversary had written.” The simplest way to handle this is to see it as a continuation of the optative (RSV).

[33:10]  ¹³ sn See Job 10:13ff.; 19:6ff.; and 13:24.

[33:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:10]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew means “frustrations” or “oppositions.” The RSV has “displeasure,” NIV “faults,” and NRSV “occasions.” Rashi chose the word found in Judg 14:4 – with metathesis – meaning “pretexts” (תֹּאֲנוֹת, to’anot); this is followed by NAB, NASB.

[33:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “give ear,” the Hiphil denominative verb from “ear.”

[33:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “hear all my words.”

[28:16]  ¹⁸ tn The word actually means “weighed,” that is, lifted up on the scale and weighed, in order to purchase.

[28:16]  ¹⁹ tn The exact identification of these stones is uncertain. Many recent English translations, however, have “onyx” and “sapphires.”

[2:5]  ²⁰ tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”). See the tc note at 1:14.

[2:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “swallowed up.”

[2:5]  ²² tn Heb “swallowed up.”

[2:5]  ²³ tn Heb “his.” For consistency this has been translated as “her.”

[2:5]  ²⁴ tn Heb “He increased in Daughter Judah mourning and lamentation.”

[2:2]  ²⁵ tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”). See the tc note at 1:14.

[2:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “has swallowed up.”

[2:2]  ²⁷ tc The Kethib is written לֹא חָמַל (lo’ khamal, “without mercy”), while the Qere reads וְלֹא חָמַל (vÿlo’ khamal, “and he has shown no mercy”). The Kethib is followed by the LXX, while the Qere is reflected in many Hebrew mss and the ancient versions (Syriac Peshitta, Aramaic Targum, Latin Vulgate). The English versions are split between the Kethib: “The Lord swallowed all the dwellings of Jacob without mercy” (cf. RSV, NRSV, NIV, TEV, NJPS) and the Qere: “The Lord swallowed all the dwellings of Jacob, and has shown no mercy” (cf. KJV, NASB, CEV). As these words occur between a verb and its object (חָמַל [khamal] is not otherwise followed by אֵת [’et, direct object marker]), an adverbial reading is the most natural, although interrupting the sentence with an insertion is possible. Compare 2:17, 21; 3:43. In contexts of harming, to show mercy often means to spare from harm.

[2:2]  ²⁸ tn Heb “all the dwellings of Jacob.”

[2:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the strongholds.”

[2:2]  ³⁰ tn Heb “He brought down to the ground in disgrace the kingdom and its princes.” The verbs חִלֵּל…הִגִּיע (higgi’…khillel, “he has brought down…he has profaned”) function as a verbal hendiadys, as the absence of the conjunction ו (vav) suggests. The first verb retains its full verbal force, while the second functions adverbially: “he has brought down [direct object] in disgrace.”

[3:15]  ³¹ tn Heb “wormwood” or “bitterness” (BDB 542 s.v. לַעֲנָה; HALOT 533 s.v. לַעֲנָה).