Job 22:18

22:18 But it was he ¹  who filled their houses

with good things –

yet the counsel of the wicked ² 

was far from me. ³ 

Job 23:13

23:13 But he is unchangeable, ⁴  and who can change ⁵  him?

Whatever he ⁶  has desired, he does.

Job 28:23

28:23 God understands the way to it,

and he alone knows its place.

Job 31:11

31:11 For I would have committed ⁷  a shameful act, ⁸ 

an iniquity to be judged. ⁹ 

[22:18]  ¹ tn The pronoun is added for this emphasis; it has “but he” before the verb.

[22:18]  ² tn See Job 10:3.

[22:18]  ³ tc The LXX has “from him,” and this is followed by several commentators. But the MT is to be retained, for Eliphaz is recalling the words of Job. Verses 17 and 18 are deleted by a number of commentators as a gloss because they have many similarities to 21:14-16. But Eliphaz is recalling what Job said, in order to say that the prosperity to which Job alluded was only the prelude to a disaster he denied (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 156).

[23:13]  ⁴ tc The MT has “But he [is] in one.” Many add the word “mind” to capture the point that God is resolute and unchanging. Some commentators find this too difficult, and so change the text from בְאֶחָד (bÿ’ekhad, here “unchangeable”) to בָחָר (bakhar, “he has chosen”). The wording in the text is idiomatic and should be retained. R. Gordis (Job, 262) translates it “he is one, i.e., unchangeable, fixed, determined.” The preposition בּ (bet) is a bet essentiae – “and he [is] as one,” or “he is one” (see GKC 379 §119.i).

[23:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “cause him to return.”

[23:13]  ⁶ tn Or “his soul.”

[31:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “for that [would be].” In order to clarify the referent of “that,” which refers to v. 9 rather than v. 10, the words “I have committed” have been supplied in the translation.

[31:11]  ⁸ tn The word for “shameful act” is used especially for sexual offenses (cf. Lev 18:27).

[31:11]  ⁹ tc Some have deleted this verse as being short and irrelevant, not to mention problematic. But the difficulties are not insurmountable, and there is no reason to delete it. There is a Kethib-Qere reading in each half verse; in the first the Kethib is masculine for the subject but the Qere is feminine going with “shameless deed.” In the second colon the Kethib is the feminine agreeing with the preceding noun, but the Qere is masculine agreeing with “iniquity.”