Job 18:7-8

18:7 His vigorous steps ¹  are restricted, ² 

and his own counsel throws him down. ³ 

18:8 For he has been thrown into a net by his feet ⁴ 

and he wanders into a mesh. ⁵ 

[18:7]  ¹ tn Heb “the steps of his vigor,” the genitive being the attribute.

[18:7]  ² tn The verb צָרַר (tsarar) means “to be cramped; to be straitened; to be hemmed in.” The trouble has hemmed him in, so that he cannot walk with the full, vigorous steps he had before. The LXX has “Let the meanest of men spoil his goods.”

[18:7]  ³ tn The LXX has “causes him to stumble,” which many commentators accept; but this involves the transposition of the three letters. The verb is שָׁלַךְ (shalakh, “throw”) not כָּשַׁל (kashal, “stumble”).

[18:8]  ⁴ tn See Ps 25:15.

[18:8]  ⁵ tn The word שְׂבָכָה (sÿvakhah) is used in scripture for the lattice window (2 Kgs 1:2). The Arabic cognate means “to be intertwined.” So the term could describe a net, matting, grating, or lattice. Here it would be the netting stretched over a pit.