Job 21:27-29

Futile Words, Deceptive Answers

21:27 “Yes, I know what you are thinking, ¹ 

the schemes ²  by which you would wrong me. ³ 

21:28 For you say,

‘Where now is the nobleman’s house, ⁴ 

and where are the tents in which the wicked lived?’ ⁵ 

21:29 Have you never questioned those who travel the roads?

Do you not recognize their accounts ⁶  –

[21:27]  ¹ tn The word is “your thoughts.” The word for “thoughts” (from חָצַב [khatsav, “to think; to reckon; to plan”]) has more to do with their intent than their general thoughts. He knows that when they talked about the fate of the wicked they really were talking about him.

[21:27]  ² tn For the meaning of this word, and its root זָמַם (zamam), see Job 17:11. It usually means the “plans” or “schemes” that are concocted against someone.

[21:27]  ³ tn E. Dhorme (Job, 321) distinguishes the verb חָמַס (khamas) from the noun for “violence.” He proposes a meaning of “think, imagine”: “and the ideas you imagined about me.”

[21:28]  ⁴ sn The question implies the answer will be “vanished” or “gone.”

[21:28]  ⁵ tn Heb “And where is the tent, the dwellings of the wicked.” The word “dwellings of the wicked” is in apposition to “tent.” A relative pronoun must be supplied in the translation.

[21:29]  ⁷ tc The LXX reads, “Ask those who go by the way, and do not disown their signs.”