Job 21:34

21:34 So how can you console me with your futile words?

Nothing is left of your answers but deception!” ¹ 

Job 15:35

15:35 They conceive ²  trouble and bring forth evil;

their belly ³  prepares deception.”

Job 17:16

17:16 Will ⁴  it ⁵  go down to the barred gates ⁶  of death?

Will ⁷  we descend ⁸  together into the dust?”

Job 24:25

24:25 “If this is not so, who can prove me a liar

and reduce my words to nothing?” ⁹ 

Job 33:33

33:33 If not, you listen to me;

be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”

Job 18:21

18:21 ‘Surely such is the residence ¹⁰  of an evil man;

and this is the place of one who has not known God.’” ¹¹ 

Job 19:29

19:29 Fear the sword yourselves,

for wrath ¹²  brings the punishment ¹³  by the sword,

so that you may know

that there is judgment.” ¹⁴ 

Job 28:28

28:28 And he said to mankind,

‘The fear of the Lord ¹⁵  – that is wisdom,

and to turn away from evil is understanding.’” ¹⁶ 

Job 34:37

34:37 For he adds transgression ¹⁷  to his sin;

in our midst he claps his hands, ¹⁸ 

and multiplies his words against God.”

Job 41:34

41:34 It looks on every haughty being;

it is king over all that are proud.” ¹⁹ 

Job 26:14

26:14 Indeed, these are but the outer fringes of his ways! ²⁰ 

How faint is the whisper ²¹  we hear of him!

But who can understand the thunder of his power?”

Job 42:15

42:15 Nowhere in all the land could women be found who were as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance alongside their brothers.

Job 42:11

42:11 So they came to him, all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they dined ²²  with him in his house. They comforted him and consoled him for all the trouble the Lord had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver ²³  and a gold ring. ²⁴ 

[21:34]  ¹ tn The word מָעַל (ma’al) is used for “treachery; deception; fraud.” Here Job is saying that their way of interpreting reality is dangerously unfaithful.

[15:35]  ² tn Infinitives absolute are used in this verse in the place of finite verbs. They lend a greater vividness to the description, stressing the basic meaning of the words.

[15:35]  ³ tn At the start of the speech Eliphaz said Job’s belly was filled with the wind; now it is there that he prepares deception. This inclusio frames the speech.

[17:16]  ³ sn It is natural to assume that this verse continues the interrogative clause of the preceding verse.

[17:16]  ⁴ tn The plural form of the verb probably refers to the two words, or the two senses of the word in the preceding verse. Hope and what it produces will perish with Job.

[17:16]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew word בַּדִּים (baddim) describes the “bars” or “bolts” of Sheol, referring (by synecdoche) to the “gates of Sheol.” The LXX has “with me to Sheol,” and many adopt that as “by my side.”

[17:16]  ⁶ tn The conjunction אִם (’im) confirms the interrogative interpretation.

[17:16]  ⁷ tn The translation follows the LXX and the Syriac versions with the change of vocalization in the MT. The MT has the noun “rest,” yielding, “will our rest be together in the dust?” The verb נָחַת (nakhat) in Aramaic means “to go down; to descend.” If that is the preferred reading – and it almost is universally accepted here – then it would be spelled נֵחַת (nekhat). In either case the point of the verse is clearly describing death and going to the grave.

[24:25]  ⁴ tn The word אַל (’al, “not”) is used here substantivally (“nothing”).

[18:21]  ⁵ tn The term is in the plural, “the tabernacles”; it should be taken as a plural of local extension (see GKC 397 §124.b).

[18:21]  ⁶ tn The word “place” is in construct; the clause following it replaces the genitive: “this is the place of – he has not known God.”

[19:29]  ⁶ tn The word “wrath” probably refers to divine wrath for the wicked. Many commentators change this word to read “they,” or more precisely, “these things.”

[19:29]  ⁷ tn The word is “iniquities”; but here as elsewhere it should receive the classification of the punishment for iniquity (a category of meaning that developed from a metonymy of effect).

[19:29]  ⁸ tc The last word is problematic because of the textual variants in the Hebrew. In place of שַׁדִּין (shaddin, “judgment”) some have proposed שַׁדַּי (shadday, “Almighty”) and read it “that you may know the Almighty” (Ewald, Wright). Some have read it יֵשׁ דַּיָּן (yesh dayyan, “there is a judge,” Gray, Fohrer). Others defend the traditional view, arguing that the שׁ (shin) is the abbreviated relative particle on the word דִּין (din, “judgment”).

[28:28]  ⁷ tc A number of medieval Hebrew manuscripts have YHWH (“Lord”); BHS has אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “Lord”). As J. E. Hartley (Job [NICOT], 383) points out, this is the only occurrence of אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “Lord”) in the book of Job, creating doubt for retaining it. Normally, YHWH is avoided in the book. “Fear of” (יִרְאַת, yir’at) is followed by שַׁדַּי (shadday, “Almighty”) in 6:14 – the only other occurrence of this term for “fear” in construct with a divine title.

[28:28]  ⁸ tc Many commentators delete this verse because (1) many read the divine name Yahweh (translated “Lord”) here, and (2) it is not consistent with the argument that precedes it. But as H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 185) points out, there is inconsistency in this reasoning, for many of the critics have already said that this chapter is an interpolation. Following that line of thought, then, one would not expect it to conform to the rest of the book in this matter of the divine name. And concerning the second difficulty, the point of this chapter is that wisdom is beyond human comprehension and control. It belongs to God alone. So the conclusion that the fear of the Lord is wisdom is the necessary conclusion. Rowley concludes: “It is a pity to rob the poem of its climax and turn it into the expression of unrelieved agnosticism.”

[34:37]  ⁸ tn Although frequently translated “rebellion,” the basic meaning of this Hebrew term is “transgression.”

[34:37]  ⁹ tc If this reading stands, it would mean that Job shows contempt, meaning that he mocks them and accuses God. It is a bold touch, but workable. Of the many suggested emendations, Dhorme alters some of the vowels and obtains a reading “and casts doubt among us,” and then takes “transgression” from the first colon for the complement. Some commentators simply delete the line.

[41:34]  ⁹ tn Heb “the sons of pride.” Dhorme repoints the last word to get “all the wild beasts,” but this misses the point of the verse. This animal looks over every proud creature – but he is king of them all in that department.

[26:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the ends of his ways,” meaning “the fringes.”

[26:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “how little is the word.” Here “little” means a “fraction” or an “echo.”

[42:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “ate bread.”

[42:11]  ¹² tn The Hebrew word קְשִׂיטָה (qÿsitah) is generally understood to refer to a unit of money, but the value is unknown.

[42:11]  ¹³ sn This gold ring was worn by women in the nose, or men and women in the ear.