Job 22:30

22:30 he will deliver even someone who is not innocent, ¹ 

who will escape ²  through the cleanness of your hands.”

Job 9:30

9:30 If I wash myself with snow water, ³ 

and make my hands clean with lye, ⁴ 

Job 39:4

39:4 Their young grow strong, and grow up in the open; ⁵ 

they go off, and do not return to them.

[22:30]  ¹ tc The Hebrew has אִי־נָקִי (’i naqi), which could be taken as “island of the innocent” (so Ibn-Ezra), or “him that is not innocent” (so Rashi). But some have changed אִי (’i) to אִישׁ (’ish, “the innocent man”). Others differ: A. Guillaume links אִי (’i) to Arabic ‘ayya “whosoever,” and so leaves the text alone. M. Dahood secures the same idea from Ugaritic, but reads it אֵי (’e).

[22:30]  ² tc The MT has “he will escape [or be delivered].” Theodotion has the second person, “you will be delivered.”

[9:30]  ³ tn The Syriac and Targum Job read with the Qere “with water of [בְמֵי, bÿme] snow.” The Kethib simply has “in [בְמוֹ, bÿmo] snow.” In Ps 51:9 and Isa 1:18 snow forms a simile for purification. Some protest that snow water is not necessarily clean; but if fresh melting snow is meant, then the runoff would be very clear. The image would work well here. Nevertheless, others have followed the later Hebrew meaning for שֶׁלֶג (sheleg) – “soap” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT). Even though that makes a nice parallelism, it is uncertain whether that meaning was in use at the time this text was written.

[9:30]  ⁴ tn The word בֹּר (bor, “lye, potash”) does not refer to purity (Syriac, KJV, ASV), but refers to the ingredient used to make the hands pure or clean. It has the same meaning as בֹּרִית (borit), the alkali or soda made from the ashes of certain plants.

[39:4]  ⁵ tn The idea is that of the open countryside. The Aramaism is found only here.