Job 17:14

17:14 If I cry ¹  to corruption, ²  ‘You are my father,’

and to the worm, ‘My Mother,’ or ‘My sister,’

Job 19:7

Job’s Abandonment and Affliction

19:7 “If ³  I cry out, ⁴  ‘Violence!’ ⁵ 

I receive no answer; ⁶ 

I cry for help,

but there is no justice.

Job 29:11

Job’s Benevolence

29:11 “As soon as the ear heard these things, ⁷  it blessed me, ⁸ 

and when the eye saw them, it bore witness to me,

Job 31:24

31:24 “If I have put my confidence in gold

or said to pure gold,

‘You are my security!’

[17:14]  ¹ tn This is understood because the conditional clauses seem to run to the apodosis in v. 15.

[17:14]  ² tn The word שַׁחַת (shakhat) may be the word “corruption” from a root שָׁחַת (shakhat, “to destroy”) or a word “pit” from שׁוּחַ (shuakh, “to sink down”). The same problem surfaces in Ps 16:10, where it is parallel to “Sheol.” E. F. Sutcliffe, The Old Testament and the Future Life, 76ff., defends the meaning “corruption.” But many commentators here take it to mean “the grave” in harmony with “Sheol.” But in this verse “worms” would suggest “corruption” is better.

[19:7]  ³ tn The particle is used here as in 9:11 (see GKC 497 §159.w).

[19:7]  ⁴ tc The LXX has “I laugh at reproach.”

[19:7]  ⁵ tn The same idea is expressed in Jer 20:8 and Hab 1:2. The cry is a cry for help, that he has been wronged, that there is no justice.

[19:7]  ⁶ tn The Niphal is simply “I am not answered.” See Prov 21:13b.

[29:11]  ⁵ tn The words “these things” and “them” in the next colon are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[29:11]  ⁶ tn The main clause is introduced by the preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive (see GKC 327 §111.h); the clause before it is therefore temporal and circumstantial to the main clause.