Job 21:4
Context21:4 Is my 1 complaint against a man? 2
If so, 3 why should I not be impatient? 4
Job 28:28
Context28:28 And he said to mankind,
‘The fear of the Lord 5 – that is wisdom,
and to turn away from evil is understanding.’” 6
Job 33:23
Context33:23 If there is an angel beside him,
one mediator 7 out of a thousand,
to tell a person what constitutes his uprightness; 8


[21:4] 1 tn The addition of the independent pronoun at the beginning of the sentence (“Is it I / against a man / my complaint”) strengthens the pronominal suffix on “complaint” (see GKC 438 §135.f).
[21:4] 2 sn The point seems to be that if his complaint were merely against men he might expect sympathy from other men; but no one dares offer him sympathy when his complaint is against God. So he will give free expression to his spirit (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 147).
[21:4] 3 tn On disjunctive interrogatives, see GKC 475 §150.g.
[21:4] 4 tn Heb “why should my spirit/breath not be short” (see Num 21:4; Judg 16:16).
[28:28] 5 tc A number of medieval Hebrew manuscripts have YHWH (“
[28:28] 6 tc Many commentators delete this verse because (1) many read the divine name Yahweh (translated “
[33:23] 9 sn The verse is describing the way God can preserve someone from dying by sending a messenger (translated here as “angel”), who could be human or angelic. This messenger will interpret/mediate God’s will. By “one … out of a thousand” Elihu could have meant either that one of the thousands of messengers at God’s disposal might be sent or that the messenger would be unique (see Eccl 7:28; and cp. Job 9:3).
[33:23] 10 tn This is a smoother reading. The MT has “to tell to a man his uprightness,” to reveal what is right for him. The LXX translated this word “duty”; the choice is adopted by some commentaries. However, that is too far from the text, which indicates that the angel/messenger is to call the person to uprightness.