Job 18:10

18:10 A rope is hidden for him ¹  on the ground

and a trap for him ²  lies on the path.

Job 19:11

19:11 Thus ³  his anger burns against me,

and he considers me among his enemies. ⁴ 

Job 21:27

Futile Words, Deceptive Answers

21:27 “Yes, I know what you are thinking, ⁵ 

the schemes ⁶  by which you would wrong me. ⁷ 

[18:10]  ¹ tn Heb “his rope.” The suffix must be a genitive expressing that the trap was for him, to trap him, and so an objective genitive.

[18:10]  ² tn Heb “his trap.” The pronominal suffix is objective genitive here as well.

[19:11]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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.

[21:27]  ⁵ tn The word is “your thoughts.” The word for “thoughts” (from חָצַב [khatsav, “to think; to reckon; to plan”]) has more to do with their intent than their general thoughts. He knows that when they talked about the fate of the wicked they really were talking about him.

[21:27]  ⁶ tn For the meaning of this word, and its root זָמַם (zamam), see Job 17:11. It usually means the “plans” or “schemes” that are concocted against someone.

[21:27]  ⁷ tn E. Dhorme (Job, 321) distinguishes the verb חָמַס (khamas) from the noun for “violence.” He proposes a meaning of “think, imagine”: “and the ideas you imagined about me.”