Job 22:12

22:12 “Is not God on high in heaven? ¹ 

And see ²  the lofty stars, ³  how high they are!

Job 25:5-6

25:5 If even the moon is not bright,

and the stars are not pure as far as he is concerned, ⁴ 

25:6 how much less a mortal man, who is but a maggot ⁵  –

a son of man, who is only a worm!”

Job 36:26--37:5

The Work and Wisdom of God

36:26 “Yes, God is great – beyond our knowledge! ⁶ 

The number of his years is unsearchable.

36:27 He draws up drops of water;

they distill ⁷  the rain into its mist, ⁸ 

36:28 which the clouds pour down

and shower on humankind abundantly.

36:29 Who can understand the spreading of the clouds,

the thunderings of his pavilion? ⁹ 

36:30 See how he scattered ¹⁰  his lightning ¹¹  about him;

he has covered the depths ¹²  of the sea.

36:31 It is by these that he judges ¹³  the nations

and supplies food in abundance.

36:32 With his hands ¹⁴  he covers ¹⁵  the lightning,

and directs it against its target.

36:33 ¹⁶ His thunder announces the coming storm,

the cattle also, concerning the storm’s approach.

37:1 At this also my heart pounds

and leaps from its place.

37:2 Listen carefully ¹⁷  to the thunder of his voice,

to the rumbling ¹⁸  that proceeds from his mouth.

37:3 Under the whole heaven he lets it go,

even his lightning to the far corners ¹⁹  of the earth.

37:4 After that a voice roars;

he thunders with an exalted voice,

and he does not hold back his lightning bolts ²⁰ 

when his voice is heard.

37:5 God thunders with his voice in marvelous ways; ²¹ 

he does great things beyond our understanding. ²² 

Job 37:22-23

37:22 From the north he comes in golden splendor; ²³ 

around God is awesome majesty.

37:23 As for the Almighty, ²⁴  we cannot attain to him!

He is great in power,

but justice ²⁵  and abundant righteousness he does not oppress.

Job 37:1

37:1 At this also my heart pounds

and leaps from its place.

Job 8:1

Bildad’s First Speech to Job ²⁶ 

8:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite spoke up and said:

Psalms 8:3-4

8:3 When I look up at the heavens, which your fingers made,

and see the moon and the stars, which you set in place, ²⁷ 

8:4 Of what importance is the human race, ²⁸  that you should notice ²⁹  them?

Of what importance is mankind, ³⁰  that you should pay attention to them, ³¹ 

Isaiah 40:22-23

40:22 He is the one who sits on the earth’s horizon; ³² 

its inhabitants are like grasshoppers before him. ³³ 

He is the one who stretches out the sky like a thin curtain, ³⁴ 

and spreads it out ³⁵  like a pitched tent. ³⁶ 

40:23 He is the one who reduces rulers to nothing;

he makes the earth’s leaders insignificant.

Isaiah 55:9

55:9 for just as the sky ³⁷  is higher than the earth,

so my deeds ³⁸  are superior to ³⁹  your deeds

and my plans ⁴⁰  superior to your plans.

[22:12]  ¹ tn This reading preserves the text as it is. The nouns “high” and “heavens” would then be taken as adverbial accusatives of place (see GKC 373-74 §118.g).

[22:12]  ² tn The parallel passage in Isa 40:26-27, as well as the context here, shows that the imperative is to be retained here. The LXX has “he sees.”

[22:12]  ³ tn Heb “head of the stars.”

[25:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “not pure in his eyes.”

[25:6]  ⁵ tn The text just has “maggot” and in the second half “worm.” Something has to be added to make it a bit clearer. The terms “maggot” and “worm” describe man in his lowest and most ignominious shape.

[36:26]  ⁶ tn The last part has the verbal construction, “and we do not know.” This clause is to be used adverbially: “beyond our understanding.”

[36:27]  ⁷ tn The verb means “to filter; to refine,” and so a plural subject with the drops of water as the subject will not work. So many read the singular, “he distills.”

[36:27]  ⁸ tn This word עֵד (’ed) occurs also in Gen 2:6. The suggestion has been that instead of a mist it represents an underground watercourse that wells up to water the ground.

[36:29]  ⁹ tn Heb “his booth.”

[36:30]  ¹⁰ tn The word actually means “to spread,” but with lightning as the object, “to scatter” appears to fit the context better.

[36:30]  ¹¹ tn The word is “light,” but taken to mean “lightning.” Theodotion had “mist” here, and so most commentators follow that because it is more appropriate to the verb and the context.

[36:30]  ¹² tn Heb “roots.”

[36:31]  ¹³ tn The verb is יָדִין (yadin, “he judges”). Houbigant proposedיָזוּן (yazun, “he nourishes”). This has found wide acceptance among commentators (cf. NAB). G. R. Driver retained the MT but gave a meaning “enriches” to the verb (“Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 88ff.).

[36:32]  ¹⁴ tn R. Gordis (Job, 422) prefers to link this word with the later Hebrew word for “arch,” not “hands.”

[36:32]  ¹⁵ tn Because the image might mean that God grabs the lightning and hurls it like a javelin (cf. NLT), some commentators want to change “covers” to other verbs. Dhorme has “lifts” (נִשָּׂא [nissa’] for כִּסָּה [kissah]). This fit the idea of God directing the lightning bolts.

[36:33]  ¹⁶ tn Peake knew of over thirty interpretations for this verse. The MT literally says, “He declares his purpose [or his shout] concerning it; cattle also concerning what rises.” Dhorme has it: “The flock which sniffs the coming storm has warned the shepherd.” Kissane: “The thunder declares concerning him, as he excites wrath against iniquity.” Gordis translates it: “His thunderclap proclaims his presence, and the storm his mighty wrath.” Many more could be added to the list.

[37:2]  ¹⁷ tn The imperative is followed by the infinitive absolute from the same root to express the intensity of the verb.

[37:2]  ¹⁸ tn The word is the usual word for “to meditate; to murmur; to groan”; here it refers to the low building of the thunder as it rumbles in the sky. The thunder is the voice of God (see Ps 29).

[37:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “wings,” and then figuratively for the extremities of garments, of land, etc.

[37:4]  ²⁰ tn The verb simply has the pronominal suffix, “them.” The idea must be that when God brings in all the thunderings he does not hold back his lightning bolts either.

[37:5]  ²¹ tn The form is the Niphal participle, “wonders,” from the verb פָּלָא (pala’, “to be wonderful; to be extraordinary”). Some commentators suppress the repeated verb “thunders,” and supply other verbs like “shows” or “works,” enabling them to make “wonders” the object of the verb rather than leaving it in an adverbial role. But as H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 236) notes, no change is needed, for one is not surprised to find repetition in Elihu’s words.

[37:5]  ²² tn Heb “and we do not know.”

[37:22]  ²³ tn The MT has “out of the north comes gold.” Left in that sense the line seems irrelevant. The translation “golden splendor” (with RV, RSV, NRSV, NIV) depends upon the context of theophany. Others suggest “golden rays” (Dhorme), the aurora borealis (Graetz, Gray), or some mythological allusion (Pope), such as Baal’s palace. Golden rays or splendor is what is intended, although the reference is not to a natural phenomenon – it is something that would suggest the glory of God.

[37:23]  ²⁴ tn The name “Almighty” is here a casus pendens, isolating the name at the front of the sentence and resuming it with a pronoun.

[37:23]  ²⁵ tn The MT places the major disjunctive accent (the atnach) under “power,” indicating that “and justice” as a disjunctive clause starting the second half of the verse (with ESV, NASB, NIV, NLT). Ignoring the Masoretic accent, NRSV has “he is great in power and justice.”

[8:1]  ²⁶ sn This speech of Bildad ignores Job’s attack on his friends and focuses rather on Job’s comments about God’s justice. Bildad cannot even imagine saying that God is unjust. The only conclusion open to him is that Job’s family brought this on themselves, and so the only recourse is for Job to humble himself and make supplication to God. To make his point, Bildad will appeal to the wisdom of the ancients, for his theology is traditional. The speech has three parts: vv. 2-7 form his affirmation of the justice of God; vv. 8-19 are his appeal to the wisdom of the ancients, and vv. 20-22 are his summation. See N. C. Habel, “Appeal to Ancient Tradition as a Literary Form,” ZAW 88 (1976): 253-72; W. A. Irwin, “The First Speech of Bildad,” ZAW 51 (1953): 205-16.

[8:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “when I see your heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and stars which you established.” The verb “[and] see” is understood by ellipsis in the second half of the verse.

[8:4]  ²⁸ tn Heb “What is man[kind]?” The singular noun אֱנוֹשׁ (’enosh, “man”) is used here in a collective sense and refers to the human race.

[8:4]  ²⁹ tn Heb “remember him.”

[8:4]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and the son of man.” The phrase “son of man” is used here in a collective sense and refers to human beings. For other uses of the phrase in a collective or representative manner, see Num 23:19; Ps 146:3; Isa 51:12.

[8:4]  ³¹ tn The two imperfect verbal forms in v. 4 describe God’s characteristic activity.

[40:22]  ³² tn Heb “the circle of the earth” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[40:22]  ³³ tn The words “before him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[40:22]  ³⁴ tn The otherwise unattested noun דֹּק (doq), translated here “thin curtain,” is apparently derived from the verbal root דקק (“crush”) from which is derived the adjective דַּק (daq, “thin”; see HALOT 229 s.v. דקק). The nuance “curtain” is implied from the parallelism (see “tent” in the next line).

[40:22]  ³⁵ tn The meaning of the otherwise unattested verb מָתַח (matakh, “spread out”) is determined from the parallelism (note the corresponding verb “stretch out” in the previous line) and supported by later Hebrew and Aramaic cognates. See HALOT 654 s.v. *מתה.

[40:22]  ³⁶ tn Heb “like a tent [in which] to live”; NAB, NASB “like a tent to dwell (live NIV, NRSV) in.”

[55:9]  ³⁷ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[55:9]  ³⁸ tn Heb “ways” (so many English versions).

[55:9]  ³⁹ tn Heb “are higher than.”

[55:9]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “thoughts” (so many English versions).