Job 21:29

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

Do you not recognize their accounts ¹  –

Job 23:10

23:10 But he knows the pathway that I take; ² 

if he tested me, I would come forth like gold. ³ 

Job 12:24

12:24 He deprives the leaders of the earth ⁴ 

of their understanding; ⁵ 

he makes them wander

in a trackless desert waste. ⁶ 

Job 24:18

24:18 ⁷ “You say, ⁸  ‘He is foam ⁹  on the face of the waters; ¹⁰ 

their portion of the land is cursed

so that no one goes to their vineyard. ¹¹ 

[21:29]  ¹ tc The LXX reads, “Ask those who go by the way, and do not disown their signs.”

[23:10]  ² tn The expression דֶּרֶךְ עִמָּדִי (derekh ’immadi) means “the way with me,” i.e., “the way that I take.” The Syriac has “my way and my standing.” Several commentators prefer “the way of my standing,” meaning where to look for me. J. Reider offers “the way of my life” (“Some notes to the text of the scriptures,” HUCA 3 [1926]: 115). Whatever the precise wording, Job knows that God can always find him.

[23:10]  ³ tn There is a perfect verb followed by an imperfect in this clause with the protasis and apodosis relationship (see GKC 493 §159.b).

[12:24]  ³ tn Heb “the heads of the people of the earth.”

[12:24]  ⁴ tn Heb “heart.”

[12:24]  ⁵ tn The text has בְּתֹהוּ לֹא־דָרֶךְ (bÿtohu lo’ darekh): “in waste – no way,” or “in a wasteland [where there is] no way,” thus, “trackless” (see the discussion of negative attributes using לֹא [lo’] in GKC 482 §152.u).

[24:18]  ⁴ tc Many commentators find vv. 18-24 difficult on the lips of Job, and so identify this unit as a misplaced part of the speech of Zophar. They describe the enormities of the wicked. But a case can also be made for retaining it in this section. Gordis thinks it could be taken as a quotation by Job of his friends’ ideas.

[24:18]  ⁵ tn The verb “say” is not in the text; it is supplied here to indicate that this is a different section.

[24:18]  ⁶ tn Or “is swift.”

[24:18]  ⁷ sn The wicked person is described here as a spray or foam upon the waters, built up in the agitation of the waters but dying away swiftly.

[24:18]  ⁸ tn The text reads, “he does not turn by the way of the vineyards.” This means that since the land is cursed, he/one does not go there. Bickell emended “the way of the vineyards” to “the treader of the vineyard” (see RSV, NRSV). This would mean that “no wine-presser would turn towards” their vineyards.