Job 24:6

24:6 They reap fodder ¹  in the field,

and glean ²  in the vineyard of the wicked.

Job 34:18

34:18 who says to a king, ³  ‘Worthless man’ ⁴ 

and to nobles, ‘Wicked men,’

Job 36:6

36:6 He does not allow the wicked to live, ⁵ 

but he gives justice to the poor.

Job 36:17

36:17 But now you are preoccupied with the judgment due the wicked,

judgment and justice take hold of you.

Job 20:29

20:29 Such is the lot God allots the wicked,

and the heritage of his appointment ⁶  from God.”

Job 9:24

9:24 If a land ⁷  has been given

into the hand of a wicked man, ⁸ 

he covers ⁹  the faces of its judges; ¹⁰ 

if it is not he, then who is it? ¹¹ 

Job 15:20

15:20 All his days ¹²  the wicked man suffers torment, ¹³ 

throughout the number of the years

that ¹⁴  are stored up for the tyrant. ¹⁵ 

Job 27:13

27:13 This is the portion of the wicked man

allotted by God, ¹⁶ 

the inheritance that evildoers receive

from the Almighty.

Job 34:8

34:8 He goes about ¹⁷  in company ¹⁸  with evildoers,

he goes along ¹⁹  with wicked men. ²⁰ 

[24:6]  ¹ tc The word בְּלִילוֹ (bÿlilo) means “his fodder.” It is unclear to what this refers. If the suffix is taken as a collective, then it can be translated “they gather/reap their fodder.” The early versions all have “they reap in a field which is not his” (taking it as בְּלִי לוֹ, bÿli lo). A conjectural emendation would change the word to בַּלַּיְלָה (ballaylah, “in the night”). But there is no reason for this.

[24:6]  ² tn The verbs in this verse are uncertain. In the first line “reap” is used, and that would be the work of a hired man (and certainly not done at night). The meaning of this second verb is uncertain; it has been taken to mean “glean,” which would be the task of the poor.

[34:18]  ³ tc Heb “Does one say,” although some smooth it out to say “Is it fit to say?” For the reading “who says,” the form has to be repointed to הַאֹמֵר (ha’omer) meaning, “who is the one saying.” This reading is supported by the LXX, Vulgate, and Syriac. Also it seems to flow better with the following verse. It would be saying that God is over the rulers and can rebuke them. The former view is saying that no one rebukes kings, much less Job rebuking God.

[34:18]  ⁴ tn The word בְּלִיָּעַל (bÿliyya’al) means both “worthless” and “wicked.” It is common in proverbial literature, and in later writings it became a description of Satan. It is usually found with “son of.”

[36:6]  ⁵ tn Or “he does not keep the wicked alive.”

[20:29]  ⁷ tn For the word אִמְרוֹ (’imro) some propose reading “his appointment,” and the others, “his word.” Driver shows that “the heritage of his appointment” means “his appointed heritage” (see GKC 440 §135.n).

[9:24]  ⁹ tn Some would render this “earth,” meaning the whole earth, and having the verse be a general principle for all mankind. But Job may have in mind the more specific issue of individual land.

[9:24]  ¹⁰ sn The details of the verse are not easy to explain, but the meaning of the whole verse seems to be about the miscarriage of justice in the courts and the failure of God to do anything about it.

[9:24]  ¹¹ tn The subject of the verb is God. The reasoning goes this way: it is the duty of judges to make sure that justice prevails, that restitution and restoration are carried through; but when the wicked gain control of the land of other people, and the judges are ineffective to stop it, then God must be veiling their eyes.

[9:24]  ¹² sn That these words are strong, if not wild, is undeniable. But Job is only taking the implications of his friends’ speeches to their logical conclusion – if God dispenses justice in the world, and there is no justice, then God is behind it all. The LXX omitted these words, perhaps out of reverence for God.

[9:24]  ¹³ tn This seems to be a broken-off sentence (anacoluthon), and so is rather striking. The scribes transposed the words אֵפוֹא (’efo’) and הוּא (hu’) to make the smoother reading: “If it is not he, who then is it?”

[15:20]  ¹¹ tn Heb “all the days of the wicked, he suffers.” The word “all” is an adverbial accusative of time, stating along with its genitives (“of the days of a wicked man”) how long the individual suffers. When the subject is composed of a noun in construct followed by a genitive, the predicate sometimes agrees with the genitive (see GKC 467 §146.a).

[15:20]  ¹² tn The Hebrew term מִתְחוֹלֵל (mitkholel) is a Hitpolel participle from חִיל (khil, “to tremble”). It carries the idea of “torment oneself,” or “be tormented.” Some have changed the letter ח (khet) for a letter ה (he), and obtained the meaning “shows himself mad.” Theodotion has “is mad.” Syriac (“behave arrogantly,” apparently confusing Hebrew חול with חלל; Heidi M. Szpek, Translation Technique in the Peshitta to Job [SBLDS], 277), Symmachus, and Vulgate have “boasts himself.” But the reading of the MT is preferable.

[15:20]  ¹³ tn It is necessary, with Rashi, to understand the relative pronoun before the verb “they are stored up/reserved.”

[15:20]  ¹⁴ tn This has been translated with the idea of “oppressor” in Job 6:23; 27:13.

[27:13]  ¹³ tn The expression “allotted by God” interprets the simple prepositional phrase in the text: “with/from God.”

[34:8]  ¹⁵ tn The perfect verb with the vav (ו) consecutive carries the sequence forward from the last description.

[34:8]  ¹⁶ tn The word חֶבְרַה (khevrah, “company”) is a hapax legomenon. But its meaning is clear enough from the connections to related words and this context as well.

[34:8]  ¹⁷ tn The infinitive construct with the ל (lamed) preposition may continue the clause with the finite verb (see GKC 351 §114.p).

[34:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “men of wickedness”; the genitive is attributive (= “wicked men”).