Job 2:12

2:12 But when they gazed intently ¹  from a distance but did not recognize ²  him, they began to weep loudly. Each of them tore his robes, and they threw dust into the air over their heads. ³ 

Job 17:8

17:8 Upright men are appalled ⁴  at this;

the innocent man is troubled ⁵  with the godless.

Job 19:20-21

19:20 My bones stick to my skin and my flesh; ⁶ 

I have escaped ⁷  alive ⁸  with only the skin of my teeth.

19:21 Have pity on me, my friends, have pity on me,

for the hand of God has struck me.

[2:12]  ¹ tn Heb “they lifted up their eyes.” The idiom “to lift up the eyes” (or “to lift up the voice”) is intended to show a special intensity in the effort. Here it would indicate that they were trying to see Job from a great distance away.

[2:12]  ² tn The Hiphil perfect here should take the nuance of potential perfect – they were not able to recognize him. In other words, this does not mean that they did not know it was Job, only that he did not look anything like the Job they knew.

[2:12]  ³ tn Heb “they tossed dust skyward over their heads.”

[17:8]  ⁴ tn This verb שָׁמַם (shamam, “appalled”) is the one found in Isa 52:14, translated there “astonished.”

[17:8]  ⁵ tn The verb means “to rouse oneself to excitement.” It naturally means “to be agitated; to be stirred up.”

[19:20]  ⁶ tn The meaning would be “I am nothing but skin and bones” in current English idiom. Both lines of this verse need attention. The first half seems to say, “My skin and my flesh sticks to my bones.” Some think that this is too long, and that the bones can stick to the skin, or the flesh, but not both. Dhorme proposes “in my skin my flesh has rotted away” (רָקַב, raqav). This involves several changes in the line, however. He then changes the second line to read “and I have gnawed my bone with my teeth” (transferring “bone” from the first half and omitting “skin”). There are numerous other renderings of this; some of the more notable are: “I escape, my bones in my teeth” (Merx); “my teeth fall out” (Duhm); “my teeth fall from my gums” (Pope); “my bones protrude in sharp points” (Kissane). A. B. Davidson retains “the skin of my teeth,” meaning “gums. This is about the last thing that Job has, or he would not be able to speak. For a detailed study of this verse, D. J. A. Clines devotes two full pages of textual notes (Job [WBC], 430-31). He concludes with “My bones hang from my skin and my flesh, I am left with only the skin of my teeth.”

[19:20]  ⁷ tn Or “I am left.”

[19:20]  ⁸ tn The word “alive” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.