Job 22:4

22:4 Is it because of your piety ¹  that he rebukes you

and goes to judgment with you? ² 

Job 35:4

35:4 I ³  will reply to you, ⁴ 

and to your friends with you.

Job 10:13

10:13 “But these things ⁵  you have concealed in your heart;

I know that this ⁶  is with you: ⁷ 

Job 11:5

11:5 But if only God would speak, ⁸ 

if only he would open his lips against you, ⁹ 

Job 15:11

15:11 Are God’s consolations ¹⁰  too trivial for you; ¹¹ 

or a word spoken ¹²  in gentleness to you?

Job 17:3

17:3 Make then my pledge ¹³  with you.

Who else will put up security for me? ¹⁴ 

Job 36:4

36:4 For in truth, my words are not false;

it is one complete ¹⁵  in knowledge

who is with you.

Job 41:4

41:4 Will it make a pact ¹⁶  with you,

so you could take it ¹⁷  as your slave for life?

Job 14:3

14:3 Do you fix your eye ¹⁸  on such a one? ¹⁹ 

And do you bring me ²⁰  before you for judgment?

Job 40:15

The Description of Behemoth ²¹ 

40:15 “Look now at Behemoth, ²²  which I made as ²³  I made you;

it eats grass like the ox.

[22:4]  ¹ tn The word “your fear” or “your piety” refers to Job’s reverence – it is his fear of God (thus a subjective genitive). When “fear” is used of religion, it includes faith and adoration on the positive side, fear and obedience on the negative.

[22:4]  ² sn Of course the point is that God does not charge Job because he is righteous; the point is he must be unrighteous.

[35:4]  ³ tn The emphatic pronoun calls attention to Elihu who will answer these questions.

[35:4]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text adds, “with words,” but since this is obvious, for stylistic reasons it has not been included in the translation.

[10:13]  ⁵ sn “These things” refers to the affliction that God had brought on Job. They were concealed by God from the beginning.

[10:13]  ⁶ sn The meaning of the line is that this was God’s purpose all along. “These things” and “this” refer to the details that will now be given in the next few verses.

[10:13]  ⁷ sn The contradiction between how God had provided for and cared for Job’s life and how he was now dealing with him could only be resolved by Job with the supposition that God had planned this severe treatment from the first as part of his plan.

[11:5]  ⁷ tn The wish formula מִי־יִתֵּן (mi yitten, “who will give”; see GKC 477 §151.b) is followed here by an infinitive (Exod 16:3; 2 Sam 19:1).

[11:5]  ⁸ sn Job had expressed his eagerness to challenge God; Zophar here wishes that God would take up that challenge.

[15:11]  ⁹ sn The word תַּנְחֻמוֹת (tankhumot) occurs here and only in Job 21:34. The words of comfort and consolation that they have been offering to Job are here said to be “of God.” But Job will call them miserable comforters (16:2).

[15:11]  ¹⁰ tn The formula “is it too little for you” or “is it too slight a matter for you” is also found in Isa 7:13 (see GKC 430 §133.c).

[15:11]  ¹¹ tn The word “spoken” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation.

[17:3]  ¹¹ tn The MT has two imperatives: “Lay down, pledge me, with me.” Most commentators think that the second imperative should be a noun, and take it to say, “Lay my pledge with/beside you.” A. B. Davidson (Job, 126) suggests that the first verb means “give a pledge,” and so the two similar verbs would be emphatic: “Give a pledge, be my surety.” Other than such a change (which would involve changing the vowels) one would have to interpret similarly by seeing the imperatives as a kind of hendiadys, with the main emphasis being on the second imperative, “make a pledge.”

[17:3]  ¹² sn The idiom is “to strike the hand.” Here the wording is a little different, “Who is he that will strike himself into my hand?”

[36:4]  ¹³ tn The word is תְּמִים (tÿmim), often translated “perfect.” It is the same word used of Job in 2:3. Elihu is either a complete stranger to modesty or is confident regarding the knowledge that he believes God has revealed to him for this situation. See the note on the heading before 32:1.

[41:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “will he cut a covenant.”

[41:4]  ¹⁶ tn The imperfect verb serves to express what the covenant pact would cover, namely, “that you take.”

[14:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “open the eye on,” an idiom meaning to prepare to judge someone.

[14:3]  ¹⁸ tn The verse opens with אַף־עַל־זֶה (’af-’al-zeh), meaning “even on such a one!” It is an exclamation of surprise.

[14:3]  ¹⁹ tn The text clearly has “me” as the accusative; but many wish to emend it to say “him” (אֹתוֹ, ’oto). But D. J. A. Clines rightly rejects this in view of the way Job is written, often moving back and forth from his own tragedy and others’ tragedies (Job [WBC], 283).

[40:15]  ¹⁹ sn The next ten verses are devoted to a portrayal of Behemoth (the name means “beast” in Hebrew). It does not fit any of the present material very well, and so many think the section is a later addition. Its style is more like that of a textbook. Moreover, if the animal is a real animal (the usual suggestion is the hippopotamus), then the location of such an animal is Egypt and not Palestine. Some have identified these creatures Behemoth and Leviathan as mythological creatures (Gunkel, Pope). Others point out that these creatures could have been dinosaurs (P. J. Maarten, NIDOTTE, 2:780; H. M. Morris, The Remarkable Record of Job, 115-22). Most would say they are real animals, but probably mythologized by the pagans. So the pagan reader would receive an additional impact from this point about God’s sovereignty over all nature.

[40:15]  ²⁰ sn By form the word is the feminine plural of the Hebrew word for “beast.” Here it is an abstract word – a title.

[40:15]  ²¹ tn Heb “with you.” The meaning could be temporal (“when I made you”) – perhaps a reference to the sixth day of creation (Gen 1:24).