Job 23:4

23:4 I would lay out my case ¹  before him

and fill my mouth with arguments.

Job 32:9

32:9 It is not the aged ²  who are wise,

nor old men who understand what is right.

Job 8:3

8:3 Does God pervert ³  justice? ⁴ 

Or does the Almighty pervert ⁵  what is right?

Job 13:18

13:18 See now, ⁶  I have prepared ⁷  my ⁸  case; ⁹ 

I know that I am right. ¹⁰ 

Job 19:7

Job’s Abandonment and Affliction

19:7 “If ¹¹  I cry out, ¹²  ‘Violence!’ ¹³ 

I receive no answer; ¹⁴ 

I cry for help,

but there is no justice.

Job 31:13

31:13 “If I have disregarded the right of my male servants

or my female servants

when they disputed ¹⁵  with me,

Job 34:4

34:4 Let us evaluate ¹⁶  for ourselves what is right; ¹⁷ 

let us come to know among ourselves what is good.

Job 34:17

34:17 Do you really think ¹⁸ 

that one who hates justice can govern? ¹⁹ 

And will you declare guilty

the supremely righteous ²⁰  One,

Job 34:12

34:12 Indeed, in truth, God does not act wickedly,

and the Almighty does not pervert justice.

[23:4]  ¹ tn The word מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) is normally “judgment; decision.” But in these contexts it refers to the legal case that Job will bring before God. With the verb עָרַךְ (’arakh, “to set in order; to lay out”) the whole image of drawing up a lawsuit is complete.

[32:9]  ² tn The MT has “the great” or “the many,” meaning great in years according to the parallelism.

[8:3]  ³ tn The Piel verb יְעַוֵּת (yÿ’avvet) means “to bend; to cause to swerve from the norm; to deviate; to pervert.” The LXX renders the first colon as “will the Lord be unjust when he judges?”

[8:3]  ⁴ tn The first word is מִשְׁפָּת (mishpat, “justice”). It can mean an act of judgment, place of judgment, or what is just, that is, the outcome of the decision. It basically describes an umpire’s decision. The parallel word is צֶדֶק (tsedeq, “righteousness,” or “what is right”). The basic idea here is that which conforms to the standard, what is right. See S. H. Scholnick, “The Meaning of Mishpat in the Book of Job,” JBL 101 (1982): 521-29.

[8:3]  ⁵ tn Some commentators think that the second verb should be changed in order to avoid the repetition of the same word and to reflect the different words in the versions. The suggestion is to read יְעַוֵּה (yÿ’avveh) instead; this would mean “to cause someone to deviate,” for the root means “to bend.” The change is completely unwarranted; the LXX probably chose different words for stylistic reasons (see D. J. A. Clines, Job [WBC], 198). The repetition in the Hebrew text is a common type; it strengthens the enormity of the charge Job seems to be making.

[13:18]  ⁴ tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) functions almost as an imperative here, calling attention to what follows: “look” (archaic: behold).

[13:18]  ⁵ tn The verb עָרַךְ (’arakh) means “to set in order, set in array [as a battle], prepare” in the sense here of arrange and organize a lawsuit.

[13:18]  ⁶ tn The pronoun is added because this is what the verse means.

[13:18]  ⁷ tn The word מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) usually means “judgment; decision.” Here it means “lawsuit” (and so a metonymy of effect gave rise to this usage; see Num 27:5; 2 Sam 15:4).

[13:18]  ⁸ tn The pronoun is emphatic before the verb: “I know that it is I who am right.” The verb means “to be right; to be righteous.” Some have translated it “vindicated,” looking at the outcome of the suit.

[19:7]  ⁵ tn The particle is used here as in 9:11 (see GKC 497 §159.w).

[19:7]  ⁶ tc The LXX has “I laugh at reproach.”

[19:7]  ⁷ tn The same idea is expressed in Jer 20:8 and Hab 1:2. The cry is a cry for help, that he has been wronged, that there is no justice.

[19:7]  ⁸ tn The Niphal is simply “I am not answered.” See Prov 21:13b.

[31:13]  ⁶ tn This construction is an adverbial clause using the temporal preposition, the infinitive from רִיב (riv, “contend”), and the suffix which is the subjective genitive.

[34:4]  ⁷ sn Elihu means “choose after careful examination.”

[34:4]  ⁸ tn The word is מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) again, with the sense of what is right or just.

[34:17]  ⁸ tn The force of הַאַף (ha’af) is “Is it truly the case?” The point is being made that if Job were right God could not be judging the world.

[34:17]  ⁹ tn The verb חָבַשׁ (khavash) has the basic idea of “to bind,” as in binding on the yoke, and then in the sense of subduing people under authority (cf. Assyrian absanu). The imperfect verb here is best expressed with the potential nuance.

[34:17]  ¹⁰ tn The two words could be taken separately, but they seem to form a fine nominal hendiadys, because the issue is God’s justice. So the word for power becomes the modifier.