Job 2:8

2:8 Job took a shard of broken pottery to scrape ¹  himself ²  with while he was sitting ³  among the ashes. ⁴ 

Job 15:28

15:28 he lived in ruined towns ⁵ 

and in houses where ⁶  no one lives,

where they are ready to crumble into heaps. ⁷ 

Job 24:13

24:13 There are those ⁸  who rebel against the light;

they do not know its ways

and they do not stay on its paths.

Job 29:25

29:25 I chose ⁹  the way for them ¹⁰ 

and sat as their chief; ¹¹ 

I lived like a king among his troops;

I was like one who comforts mourners. ¹² 

Job 36:7

36:7 He does not take his eyes ¹³  off the righteous;

but with kings on the throne

he seats the righteous ¹⁴  and exalts them forever. ¹⁵ 

[2:8]  ¹ tn The verb גָּרַד (garad) is a hapax legomenon (only occurring here). Modern Hebrew has retained a meaning “to scrape,” which is what the cognate Syriac and Arabic indicate. In the Hitpael it would mean “scrape himself.”

[2:8]  ² sn The disease required constant attention. The infection and pus had to be scraped away with a piece of broken pottery in order to prevent the spread of the infection. The skin was so disfigured that even his friends did not recognize him (2:12). The book will add that the disease afflicted him inwardly, giving him a foul breath and a loathsome smell (19:17, 20). The sores bred worms; they opened and ran, and closed and tightened (16:8). He was tormented with dreams (7:14). He felt like he was choking (7:14). His bones were racked with burning pain (30:30). And he was not able to rise from his place (19:18). The disease was incurable; but it would last for years, leaving the patient longing for death.

[2:8]  ³ tn The construction uses the disjunctive vav (ו) with the independent pronoun with the active participle. The construction connects this clause with what has just been said, making this a circumstantial clause.

[2:8]  ⁴ sn Among the ashes. It is likely that the “ashes” refers to the place outside the city where the rubbish was collected and burnt, i.e., the ash-heap (cf. CEV). This is the understanding of the LXX, which reads “dung-hill outside the city.”

[15:28]  ⁵ sn K&D 11:266 rightly explains that these are not cities that he, the wicked, has destroyed, but that were destroyed by a judgment on wickedness. Accordingly, Eliphaz is saying that the wicked man is willing to risk such a curse in his confidence in his prosperity (see further H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 113).

[15:28]  ⁶ tn The verbal idea serves here to modify “houses” as a relative clause; so a relative pronoun is added.

[15:28]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew has simply “they are made ready for heaps.” The LXX translates it, “what they have prepared, let others carry away.” This would involve a complete change of the last word.

[24:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “They are among those who.”

[29:25]  ¹³ tn All of these imperfects describe what Job used to do, and so they all fit the category of customary imperfect.

[29:25]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “their way.”

[29:25]  ¹⁵ tn The text simply has “and I sat [as their] head.” The adverbial accusative explains his role, especially under the image of being seated. He directed the deliberations as a king directs an army.

[29:25]  ¹⁶ tc Most commentators think this last phrase is odd here, and so they either delete it altogether, or emend it to fit the idea of the verse. Ewald, however, thought it appropriate as a transition to the next section, reminding his friends that unlike him, they were miserable comforters. Herz made the few changes in the text to get the reading “where I led them, they were willing to go” (ZAW 20 [1900]: 163). The two key words in the MT are אֲבֵלִים יְנַחֵם (’avelim yÿnakhem, “he [one who] comforts mourners”). Following Herz, E. Dhorme (Job, 422) has these changed to אוֹבִילֵם יִנַּחוּ (’ovilem yinnakhu). R. Gordis has “like one leading a camel train” (Job, 324). But Kissane also retains the line as a summary of the chapter, noting its presence in the versions.

[36:7]  ¹⁷ tc Many commentators accept the change of “his eyes” to “his right” (reading דִּינוֹ [dino] for עֵינָיו [’enayv]). There is no compelling reason for the change; it makes the line commonplace.

[36:7]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the righteous) has been repeated from the first part of the verse for clarity.

[36:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “he seats them forever and exalts them.” The last verb can be understood as expressing a logical consequence of the preceding action (cf. GKC 328 §111.l = “he seats them forever so that he exalts them”). Or the two verbs can be taken as an adverbial hendiadys whereby the first modifies the second adverbially: “he exalts them by seating them forever” or “when he seats them forever” (cf. GKC 326 §111.d). Some interpret this verse to say that God seats kings on the throne, making a change in subject in the middle of the verse. But it makes better sense to see the righteous as the subject matter throughout – they are not only protected, but are exalted.