Job 21:32

21:32 And when he is carried to the tombs,

and watch is kept ¹  over the funeral mound, ² 

Job 24:9

24:9 The fatherless child is snatched ³  from the breast, ⁴ 

the infant of the poor is taken as a pledge. ⁵ 

Job 34:29

34:29 But if God ⁶  is quiet, who can condemn ⁷  him?

If he hides his face, then who can see him?

Yet ⁸  he is over the individual and the nation alike, ⁹ 

Job 6:28

Other Explanation

6:28 “Now then, be good enough to look ¹⁰  at me; ¹¹ 

and I will not ¹²  lie to your face!

Job 8:16

8:16 He is a well-watered plant ¹³  in ¹⁴  the sun,

its shoots spread ¹⁵  over its garden. ¹⁶ 

Job 16:11

16:11 God abandons me to evil ¹⁷  men, ¹⁸ 

and throws ¹⁹  me into the hands of wicked men.

Job 16:16

16:16 my face is reddened ²⁰  because of weeping, ²¹ 

and on my eyelids there is a deep darkness, ²² 

Job 18:8

18:8 For he has been thrown into a net by his feet ²³ 

and he wanders into a mesh. ²⁴ 

Job 19:8

19:8 He has blocked ²⁵  my way so I cannot pass,

and has set darkness ²⁶  over my paths.

Job 22:28

22:28 Whatever you decide ²⁷  on a matter,

it will be established for you,

and light will shine on your ways.

Job 25:3

25:3 Can his armies be numbered? ²⁸ 

On whom does his light ²⁹  not rise?

Job 39:14

39:14 For she leaves ³⁰  her eggs on the ground,

and lets them be warmed on the soil.

Job 10:3

10:3 Is it good for you ³¹  to oppress, ³² 

to ³³  despise the work of your hands,

while ³⁴  you smile ³⁵ 

on the schemes of the wicked?

Job 31:9

31:9 If my heart has been enticed by a woman,

and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door, ³⁶ 

[21:32]  ¹ tn The verb says “he will watch.” The subject is unspecified, so the translation is passive.

[21:32]  ² tn The Hebrew word refers to the tumulus, the burial mound that is erected on the spot where the person is buried.

[24:9]  ³ tn The verb with no expressed subject is here again taken in the passive: “they snatch” becomes “[child] is snatched.”

[24:9]  ⁴ tn This word is usually defined as “violence; ruin.” But elsewhere it does mean “breast” (Isa 60:16; 66:11), and that is certainly what it means here.

[24:9]  ⁵ tc The MT has a very brief and strange reading: “they take as a pledge upon the poor.” This could be taken as “they take a pledge against the poor” (ESV). Kamphausen suggested that instead of עַל (’al, “against”) one should read עוּל (’ul, “suckling”). This is supported by the parallelism. “They take as pledge” is also made passive here.

[34:29]  ⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:29]  ⁶ tn The verb in this position is somewhat difficult, although it does make good sense in the sentence – it is just not what the parallelism would suggest. So several emendations have been put forward, for which see the commentaries.

[34:29]  ⁷ tn The line simply reads “and over a nation and over a man together.” But it must be the qualification for the points being made in the previous lines, namely, that even if God hides himself so no one can see, yet he is still watching over them all (see H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 222).

[34:29]  ⁸ tn The word translated “alike” (Heb “together”) has bothered some interpreters. In the reading taken here it is acceptable. But others have emended it to gain a verb, such as “he visits” (Beer), “he watches over” (Duhm), “he is compassionate” (Kissane), etc. But it is sufficient to say “he is over.”

[6:28]  ⁷ tn The second verb, the imperative “turn,” is subordinated to the first imperative even though there is no vav present (see GKC 385-87 §120.a, g).

[6:28]  ⁸ tn The line has “and now, be pleased, turn to me [i.e., face me].” The LXX reverses the idea, “And now, having looked upon your countenances, I will not lie.” The expression “turn to me” means essentially to turn the eyes toward someone to look at him.

[6:28]  ⁹ tn The construction uses אִם (’im) as in a negative oath to mark the strong negative. He is underscoring his sincerity here. See M. R. Lehmann, “Biblical Oaths,” ZAW 81 (1969): 74-92.

[8:16]  ⁹ tn The figure now changes to a plant that is flourishing and spreading and then suddenly cut off. The word רָטַב (ratav) means “to be moist; to be watered.” The word occurs in Arabic, Aramaic, and Akkadian, but only twice in the Bible: here as the adjective and in 24:8 as the verb.

[8:16]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew is לִפְנֵי (lifne, “before”). Does this mean “in the presence of the sun,” i.e., under a sweltering sun, or “before” the sun rises? It seems more natural to take לִפְנֵי (lifne) as “in the presence of” or “under.”

[8:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “its shoot goes out.”

[8:16]  ¹² tc Some have emended this phrase to obtain “over the roofs.” The LXX has “out of his corruption.” H. M. Orlinsky has shown that this reading arose from an internal LXX change, saprias having replaced prasias, “garden” (JQR 26 [1935/36]: 134-35).

[16:11]  ¹¹ tn The word עֲוִיל (’avil) means “child,” and this cannot be right here. If it is read as עַוָּל (’avval) as in Job 27:7 it would be the unrighteous.

[16:11]  ¹² sn Job does not refer here to his friends, but more likely to the wicked men who set about to destroy him and his possessions, or to the rabble in ch. 30.

[16:11]  ¹³ tn The word יִרְטֵנִי (yirteni) does not derive from the root רָטָה (ratah) as would fit the pointing in the MT, but from יָרַט (yarat), cognate to Arabic warrata, “to throw; to hurl.” E. Dhorme (Job, 236) thinks that since the normal form would have been יִירְטֵנִי (yirÿteni), it is probable that one of the yods (י) would have affected the word עֲוִיל (’avil) – but that does not make much sense.

[16:16]  ¹³ tn An intensive form, a Qetaltal form of the root חָמַר (khamar, “red”) is used here. This word has as probable derivatives חֹמֶר (khomer, “[red] clay”) and חֲמוֹר (khamor, “[red] ass”) and the like. Because of the weeping, his whole complexion has been reddened (the LXX reads “my belly”).

[16:16]  ¹⁴ sn A. B. Davidson (Job, 122) notes that spontaneous and repeated weeping is one of the symptoms of elephantiasis.

[16:16]  ¹⁵ sn See Job 3:5. Just as joy brings light and life to the eyes, sorrow and suffering bring darkness. The “eyelids” here would be synecdoche, reflecting the whole facial expression as sad and sullen.

[18:8]  ¹⁵ tn See Ps 25:15.

[18:8]  ¹⁶ tn The word שְׂבָכָה (sÿvakhah) is used in scripture for the lattice window (2 Kgs 1:2). The Arabic cognate means “to be intertwined.” So the term could describe a net, matting, grating, or lattice. Here it would be the netting stretched over a pit.

[19:8]  ¹⁷ tn The verb גָּדַר (gadar) means “to wall up; to fence up; to block.” God has blocked Job’s way so that he cannot get through. See the note on 3:23. Cf. Lam 3:7.

[19:8]  ¹⁸ tn Some commentators take the word to be חָשַׁךְ (hasak), related to an Arabic word for “thorn hedge.”

[22:28]  ¹⁹ tn The word is גָּזַר (gazar, “to cut”), in the sense of deciding a matter.

[25:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “Is there a number to his troops?” The question is rhetorical: there is no number to them!

[25:3]  ²² tc In place of “light” here the LXX has “his ambush,” perhaps reading אֹרְבוֹ (’orÿvo) instead of אוֹרֵהוּ (’orehu, “his light”). But while that captures the idea of troops and warfare, the change should be rejected because the armies are linked with stars and light. The expression is poetic; the LXX interpretation tried to make it concrete.

[39:14]  ²³ tn The meaning may have the connotation of “lays; places,” rather than simply abandoning (see M. Dahood, “The Root ’zb II in Job,” JBL 78 [1959]: 307f.).

[10:3]  ²⁵ tn Or “Does it give you pleasure?” The expression could also mean, “Is it profitable for you?” or “Is it fitting for you?”

[10:3]  ²⁶ tn The construction uses כִּי (ki) with the imperfect verb – “that you oppress.” Technically, this clause serves as the subject, and “good” is the predicate adjective. In such cases one often uses an English infinitive to capture the point: “Is it good for you to oppress?” The LXX changes the meaning considerably: “Is it good for you if I am unrighteous, for you have disowned the work of your hands.”

[10:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “that you despise.”

[10:3]  ²⁸ tn Now, in the second half of the verse, there is a change in the structure. The conjunction on the preposition followed by the perfect verb represents a circumstantial clause.

[10:3]  ²⁹ tn The Hiphil of the verb יָפַע (yafa’) means “shine.” In this context the expression “you shine upon” would mean “have a glowing expression,” be radiant, or smile.

[31:9]  ²⁷ tn Gordis notes that the word פֶּתַח (petakh, “door”) has sexual connotations in rabbinic literature, based on Prov 7:6ff. (see b. Ketubbot 9b). See also the use in Song 4:12 using a synonym.