Job 21:11

21:11 They allow their children to run ¹  like a flock;

their little ones dance about.

Job 39:30

39:30 And its young ones devour the blood,

and where the dead carcasses ²  are,

there it is.”

Job 5:1

5:1 “Call now! ³  Is there anyone who will answer you? ⁴ 

To which of the holy ones ⁵  will you turn? ⁶ 

Job 15:15

15:15 If God places no trust in his holy ones, ⁷ 

if even the heavens ⁸  are not pure in his eyes,

Job 38:41

38:41 Who prepares prey for the raven,

when its young cry out to God

and wander about ⁹  for lack of food?

Job 39:4

39:4 Their young grow strong, and grow up in the open; ¹⁰ 

they go off, and do not return to them.

Job 39:3

39:3 They crouch, they bear ¹¹  their young,

they bring forth the offspring they have carried. ¹² 

Job 39:16

39:16 She is harsh ¹³  with her young,

as if they were not hers;

she is unconcerned

about the uselessness of her labor.

Job 12:19-20

12:19 He leads priests away stripped ¹⁴ 

and overthrows ¹⁵  the potentates. ¹⁶ 

12:20 He deprives the trusted advisers ¹⁷  of speech ¹⁸ 

and takes away the discernment ¹⁹  of elders.

Job 31:2

31:2 What then would be one’s lot from God above,

one’s heritage from the Almighty ²⁰  on high?

Job 3:14

3:14 with kings and counselors of the earth

who built for themselves places now desolate, ²¹ 

Job 6:23

6:23 Or ‘Deliver me ²²  from the enemy’s power, ²³ 

and from the hand of tyrants ²⁴  ransom ²⁵  me’?

Job 21:33

21:33 The clods of the torrent valley ²⁶  are sweet to him;

behind him everybody follows in procession,

and before him goes a countless throng.

Job 21:19

21:19 You may say, ²⁷  ‘God stores up a man’s ²⁸  punishment for his children!’ ²⁹ 

Instead let him repay ³⁰  the man himself ³¹ 

so that ³²  he may know it!

[21:11]  ¹ tn The verb שָׁלַח (shalakh) means “to send forth,” but in the Piel “to release; to allow to run free.” The picture of children frolicking in the fields and singing and dancing is symbolic of peaceful, prosperous times.

[39:30]  ² tn The word חֲלָלִים (khalalim) designates someone who is fatally wounded, literally the “pierced one,” meaning anyone or thing that dies a violent death.

[5:1]  ³ tn Some commentators transpose this verse with the following paragraph, placing it after v. 7 (see E. Dhorme, Job, 62). But the reasons for this are based on the perceived development of the argument and are not that compelling.

[5:1]  ⁴ tn The participle with the suffix could be given a more immediate translation to accompany the imperative: “Call now! Is anyone listening to you?”

[5:1]  ⁵ tn The LXX has rendered “holy ones” as “holy angels” (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT). The LXX has interpreted the verb in the colon too freely: “if you will see.”

[5:1]  ⁶ sn The point being made is that the angels do not represent the cries of people to God as if mediating for them. But if Job appealed to any of them to take his case against God, there would be no response whatsoever for that.

[15:15]  ⁴ tn Eliphaz here reiterates the point made in Job 4:18.

[15:15]  ⁵ sn The question here is whether the reference is to material “heavens” (as in Exod 24:10 and Job 25:5), or to heavenly beings. The latter seems preferable in this context.

[38:41]  ⁵ tn The verse is difficult, making some suspect that a line has dropped out. The little birds in the nest hardly go wandering about looking for food. Dhorme suggest “and stagger for lack of food.”

[39:4]  ⁶ tn The idea is that of the open countryside. The Aramaism is found only here.

[39:3]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew verb used here means “to cleave,” and this would not have the object “their young.” Olshausen and others after him change the ח (khet) to ט (tet) and get a verb “to drop,” meaning “drop [= give birth to] young” as used in Job 21:10. G. R. Driver holds out for the MT, arguing it is an idiom, “to breach the womb” (“Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 92-93).

[39:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “they cast forth their labor pains.” This word usually means “birth pangs” but here can mean what caused the pains (metonymy of effect). This fits better with the parallelism, and the verb (“cast forth”). The words “their offspring” are supplied in the translation for clarity; direct objects were often omitted when clear from the context, although English expects them to be included.

[39:16]  ⁸ sn This verb, “to deal harshly; to harden; to treat cruelly,” is used for hardening the heart elsewhere (see Isa 63:17).

[12:19]  ⁹ tn Except for “priests,” the phraseology is identical to v. 17a.

[12:19]  ¹⁰ tn The verb has to be defined by its context: it can mean “falsify” (Exod 23:8), “make tortuous” (Prov 19:3), or “plunge” into misfortune (Prov 21:12). God overthrows those who seem to be solid.

[12:19]  ¹¹ tn The original meaning of אֵיתָן (’eytan) is “perpetual.” It is usually an epithet for a torrent that is always flowing. It carries the connotations of permanence and stability; here applied to people in society, it refers to one whose power and influence does not change. These are the pillars of society.

[12:20]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew נֶאֱמָנִים (ne’emanim) is the Niphal participle; it is often translated “the faithful” in the Bible. The Rabbis rather fancifully took the word from נְאֻם (nÿ’um, “oracle, utterance”) and so rendered it “those who are eloquent, fluent in words.” But that would make this the only place in the Bible where this form came from that root or any other root besides אָמַן (’aman, “confirm, support”). But to say that God takes away the speech of the truthful or the faithful would be very difficult. It has to refer to reliable men, because it is parallel to the elders or old men. The NIV has “trusted advisers,” which fits well with kings and judges and priests.

[12:20]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he removes the lip of the trusted ones.”

[12:20]  ¹² tn Heb “taste,” meaning “opinion” or “decision.”

[31:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “lot of Shaddai,” which must mean “the lot from Shaddai,” a genitive of source.

[3:14]  ¹² tn The difficult term חֳרָבוֹת (khoravot) is translated “desolate [places]”. The LXX confused the word and translated it “who gloried in their swords.” One would expect a word for monuments, or tombs (T. K. Cheyne emended it to “everlasting tombs” [“More Critical Gleanings in Job,” ExpTim 10 (1898/99): 380-83]). But this difficult word is of uncertain etymology and therefore cannot simply be made to mean “royal tombs.” The verb means “be desolate, solitary.” In Isa 48:21 there is the clear sense of a desert. That is the meaning of Assyrian huribtu. It may be that like the pyramids of Egypt these tombs would have been built in the desert regions. Or it may describe how they rebuilt ruins for themselves. He would be saying then that instead of lying here in pain and shame if he had died he would be with the great ones of the earth. Otherwise, the word could be interpreted as a metonymy of effect, indicating that the once glorious tomb now is desolate. But this does not fit the context – the verse is talking about the state of the great ones after their death.

[6:23]  ¹³ tn The verse now gives the ultimate reason why Job might have urged his friends to make a gift – if it were possible. The LXX, avoiding the direct speech in the preceding verse and this, does make this verse the purpose statement – “to deliver from enemies….”

[6:23]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “hand,” as in the second half of the verse.

[6:23]  ¹⁵ tn The עָרִיצִים (’aritsim) are tyrants, the people who inspire fear (Job 15:20; 27:13); the root verb עָרַץ (’arats) means “to terrify” (Job 13:25).

[6:23]  ¹⁶ tn The verb now is the imperfect; since it is parallel to the imperative in the first half of the verse it is imperfect of instruction, much like English uses the future for instruction. The verb פָּדָה (padah) means “to ransom, redeem,” often in contexts where payment is made.

[21:33]  ¹⁴ tn The clods are those that are used to make a mound over the body. And, for a burial in the valley, see Deut 34:6. The verse here sees him as participating in his funeral and enjoying it. Nothing seems to go wrong with the wicked.

[21:19]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn The text simply has אוֹנוֹ (’ono, “his iniquity”), but by usage, “the punishment for the iniquity.”

[21:19]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “his sons.”

[21:19]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ tn The text simply has “let him repay [to] him.”

[21:19]  ²⁰ 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].”