Job 18:7

18:7 His vigorous steps ¹  are restricted, ² 

and his own counsel throws him down. ³ 

Job 20:10

20:10 His sons must recompense ⁴  the poor;

his own hands ⁵  must return his wealth.

Job 21:19

21:19 You may say, ⁶  ‘God stores up a man’s ⁷  punishment for his children!’ ⁸ 

Instead let him repay ⁹  the man himself ¹⁰ 

so that ¹¹  he may know it!

[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”).

[20:10]  ⁴ tn The early versions confused the root of this verb, taking it from רָצַץ (ratsats, “mistreat”) and not from רָצָה (ratsah, “be please with”). So it was taken to mean, “Let inferiors destroy his children.” But the verb is רָצָה (ratsah). This has been taken to mean “his sons will seek the favor of the poor.” This would mean that they would be reduced to poverty and need help from even the poor. Some commentators see this as another root רָצָה (ratsah) meaning “to compensate; to restore” wealth their father had gained by impoverishing others. This fits the parallelism well, but not the whole context that well.

[20:10]  ⁵ tn Some commentators are surprised to see “his hands” here, thinking the passage talks about his death. Budde changed it to “his children,” by altering one letter. R. Gordis argued that “hand” can mean offspring, and so translated it that way without changing anything in the text (“A note on YAD,” JBL 62 [1943]: 343).

[21:19]  ⁷ tn These words are supplied. The verse records an idea that Job suspected they might have, namely, that if the wicked die well God will make their children pay for the sins (see Job 5:4; 20:10; as well as Exod 20:5).

[21:19]  ⁸ tn The text simply has אוֹנוֹ (’ono, “his iniquity”), but by usage, “the punishment for the iniquity.”

[21:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “his sons.”

[21:19]  ¹⁰ tn The verb שָׁלַם (shalam) in the Piel has the meaning of restoring things to their normal, making whole, and so reward, repay (if for sins), or recompense in general.

[21:19]  ¹¹ tn The text simply has “let him repay [to] him.”

[21:19]  ¹² tn The imperfect verb after the jussive carries the meaning of a purpose clause, and so taken as a final imperfect: “in order that he may know [or realize].”