Job 24:18-21

24:18 ¹ “You say, ²  ‘He is foam ³  on the face of the waters; ⁴ 

their portion of the land is cursed

so that no one goes to their vineyard. ⁵ 

24:19 The drought as well as the heat carry away

the melted snow; ⁶ 

so the grave ⁷  takes away those who have sinned. ⁸ 

24:20 The womb ⁹  forgets him,

the worm feasts on him,

no longer will he be remembered.

Like a tree, wickedness will be broken down.

24:21 He preys on ¹⁰  the barren and childless woman, ¹¹ 

and does not treat the widow well.

[24:18]  ¹ tc Many commentators find vv. 18-24 difficult on the lips of Job, and so identify this unit as a misplaced part of the speech of Zophar. They describe the enormities of the wicked. But a case can also be made for retaining it in this section. Gordis thinks it could be taken as a quotation by Job of his friends’ ideas.

[24:18]  ² tn The verb “say” is not in the text; it is supplied here to indicate that this is a different section.

[24:18]  ³ tn Or “is swift.”

[24:18]  ⁴ sn The wicked person is described here as a spray or foam upon the waters, built up in the agitation of the waters but dying away swiftly.

[24:18]  ⁵ tn The text reads, “he does not turn by the way of the vineyards.” This means that since the land is cursed, he/one does not go there. Bickell emended “the way of the vineyards” to “the treader of the vineyard” (see RSV, NRSV). This would mean that “no wine-presser would turn towards” their vineyards.

[24:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “the waters of the snow.”

[24:19]  ⁷ tn Or “so Sheol.”

[24:19]  ⁸ tn This is the meaning of the verse, which in Hebrew only has “The grave / they have sinned.”

[24:20]  ¹¹ tn Here “womb” is synecdoche, representing one’s mother.

[24:21]  ¹⁶ tc The form in the text is the active participle, “feed; graze; shepherd.” The idea of “prey” is not natural to it. R. Gordis (Job, 270) argues that third he (ה) verbs are often by-forms of geminate verbs, and so the meaning here is more akin to רָעַע (ra’a’, “to crush”). The LXX seems to have read something like הֵרַע (hera’, “oppressed”).

[24:21]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the childless [woman], she does not give birth.” The verbal clause is intended to serve as a modifier here for the woman. See on subordinate verbal clauses GKC 490 §156.d, f.