Job 19:29

19:29 Fear the sword yourselves,

for wrath ¹  brings the punishment ²  by the sword,

so that you may know

that there is judgment.” ³ 

Job 5:20

5:20 In time of famine ⁴  he will redeem you from death,

and in time of war from the power of the sword. ⁵ 

Job 30:30

30:30 My skin has turned dark on me; ⁶ 

my body ⁷  is hot with fever. ⁸ 

Job 39:22

39:22 It laughs at fear and is not dismayed;

it does not shy away from the sword.

Job 41:26

41:26 Whoever strikes it with a sword ⁹ 

will have no effect, ¹⁰ 

nor with the spear, arrow, or dart.

Job 15:22

15:22 He does not expect ¹¹  to escape from darkness; ¹² 

he is marked for the sword; ¹³ 

Job 27:14

27:14 If his children increase – it is for the sword! ¹⁴ 

His offspring never have enough to eat. ¹⁵ 

Job 1:15

1:15 and the Sabeans ¹⁶  swooped down ¹⁷  and carried them all away, and they killed ¹⁸  the servants with the sword! ¹⁹  And I – only I alone ²⁰  – escaped to tell you!”

Job 1:17

1:17 While this one was still speaking another messenger arrived and said, “The Chaldeans ²¹  formed three bands and made a raid ²²  on the camels and carried them all away, and they killed the servants with the sword! ²³  And I – only I alone – escaped to tell you!”

[19:29]  ¹ tn The word “wrath” probably refers to divine wrath for the wicked. Many commentators change this word to read “they,” or more precisely, “these things.”

[19:29]  ² tn The word is “iniquities”; but here as elsewhere it should receive the classification of the punishment for iniquity (a category of meaning that developed from a metonymy of effect).

[19:29]  ³ tc The last word is problematic because of the textual variants in the Hebrew. In place of שַׁדִּין (shaddin, “judgment”) some have proposed שַׁדַּי (shadday, “Almighty”) and read it “that you may know the Almighty” (Ewald, Wright). Some have read it יֵשׁ דַּיָּן (yesh dayyan, “there is a judge,” Gray, Fohrer). Others defend the traditional view, arguing that the שׁ (shin) is the abbreviated relative particle on the word דִּין (din, “judgment”).

[5:20]  ⁴ sn Targum Job here sees an allusion to the famine of Egypt and the war with Amalek.

[5:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “from the hand of the sword.” This is idiomatic for “the power of the sword.” The expression is also metonymical, meaning from the effect of the sword, which is death.

[30:30]  ⁷ tn The MT has “become dark from upon me,” prompting some editions to supply the verb “falls from me” (RSV, NRSV), or “peels” (NIV).

[30:30]  ⁸ tn The word “my bones” may be taken as a metonymy of subject, the bony framework indicating the whole body.

[30:30]  ⁹ tn The word חֹרֶב (khorev) also means “heat.” The heat in this line is not that of the sun, but obviously a fever.

[41:26]  ¹⁰ tn This is the clearest reading, following A. B. Davidson, Job, 285. The versions took different readings of the construction.

[41:26]  ¹¹ tn The verb קוּם (qum, “stand”) with בְּלִי (bÿli, “not”) has the sense of “does not hold firm,” or “gives way.”

[15:22]  ¹³ tn This is the meaning of the Hiphil imperfect negated: “he does not believe” or “he has no confidence.” It is followed by the infinitive construct functioning as the direct object – he does not expect to return (to escape) from darkness.

[15:22]  ¹⁴ sn In the context of these arguments, “darkness” probably refers to calamity, and so the wicked can expect a calamity that is final.

[15:22]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he is watched [or waited for] by the sword.” G. R. Driver reads it, “he is marked down for the sword” (“Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 78). Ewald suggested “laid up for the sword.” Ball has “looks for the sword.” The MT has a passive participle from צָפָה (tsafah, “to observe, watch”) which can be retained in the text; the meaning of the form can then be understood as the result of the inspection (E. Dhorme, Job, 217).

[27:14]  ¹⁶ tn R. Gordis (Job, 294) identifies this as a breviloquence. Compare Ps 92:8 where the last two words also constitute the apodosis.

[27:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “will not be satisfied with bread/food.”

[1:15]  ¹⁹ tn The LXX has “the spoilers spoiled them” instead of “the Sabeans swooped down.” The translators might have connected the word to שְָׁבָה (shavah, “to take captive”) rather than שְׁבָא (shÿva’, “Sabeans”), or they may have understood the name as general reference to all types of Bedouin invaders from southern Arabia (HALOT 1381 s.v. שְׁבָא 2.c).

[1:15]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew is simply “fell” (from נָפַל, nafal). To “fall upon” something in war means to attack quickly and suddenly.

[1:15]  ²¹ sn Job’s servants were probably armed and gave resistance, which would be the normal case in that time. This was probably why they were “killed with the sword.”

[1:15]  ²² tn Heb “the edge/mouth of the sword”; see T. J. Meek, “Archaeology and a Point of Hebrew Syntax,” BASOR 122 (1951): 31-33.

[1:15]  ²³ tn The pleonasms in the verse emphasize the emotional excitement of the messenger.

[1:17]  ²² sn The name may have been given to the tribes that roamed between the Euphrates and the lands east of the Jordan. These are possibly the nomadic Kaldu who are part of the ethnic Aramaeans. The LXX simply has “horsemen.”

[1:17]  ²³ tn The verb פָּשַׁט (pashat) means “to hurl themselves” upon something (see Judg 9:33, 41). It was a quick, plundering raid to carry off the camels.

[1:17]  ²⁴ tn Heb “with the edge/mouth of the sword.”