Job 24:9

24:9 The fatherless child is snatched ¹  from the breast, ² 

the infant of the poor is taken as a pledge. ³ 

Job 36:8

36:8 But if they are bound in chains, ⁴ 

and held captive by the cords of affliction,

Job 36:15

36:15 He delivers the afflicted by ⁵  their ⁶  afflictions,

he reveals himself to them ⁷  by their suffering.

Job 29:12

29:12 for I rescued the poor who cried out for help,

and the orphan who ⁸  had no one to assist him;

Job 30:16

Job’s Despondency

30:16 “And now my soul pours itself out within me; ⁹ 

days of suffering take hold of me.

Job 30:27

30:27 My heart ¹⁰  is in turmoil ¹¹  unceasingly; ¹² 

the days of my affliction confront me.

Job 24:14

24:14 Before daybreak ¹³  the murderer rises up;

he kills the poor and the needy;

in the night he is ¹⁴  like a thief. ¹⁵ 

[24:9]  ¹ tn The verb with no expressed subject is here again taken in the passive: “they snatch” becomes “[child] is snatched.”

[24:9]  ² tn This word is usually defined as “violence; ruin.” But elsewhere it does mean “breast” (Isa 60:16; 66:11), and that is certainly what it means here.

[24:9]  ³ tc The MT has a very brief and strange reading: “they take as a pledge upon the poor.” This could be taken as “they take a pledge against the poor” (ESV). Kamphausen suggested that instead of עַל (’al, “against”) one should read עוּל (’ul, “suckling”). This is supported by the parallelism. “They take as pledge” is also made passive here.

[36:8]  ⁴ tn Dhorme thinks that the verse is still talking about kings, who may be in captivity. But this diverts attention from Elihu’s emphasis on the righteous.

[36:15]  ⁷ tn The preposition בּ (bet) in these two lines is not location but instrument, not “in” but “by means of.” The affliction and the oppression serve as a warning for sin, and therefore a means of salvation.

[36:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “his.”

[36:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “he uncovers their ear.”

[29:12]  ¹⁰ tn The negative introduces a clause that serves as a negative attribute; literally the following clause says, “and had no helper” (see GKC 482 §152.u).

[30:16]  ¹³ tn This line can either mean that Job is wasting away (i.e., his life is being poured out), or it can mean that he is grieving. The second half of the verse gives the subordinate clause of condition for this.

[30:27]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “my loins,” “my bowels” (archaic), “my innermost being.” The latter option is reflected in the translation; some translations take the inner turmoil to be literal (NIV: “The churning inside me never stops”).

[30:27]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “boils.”

[30:27]  ¹⁸ tn The last clause reads “and they [it] are not quiet” or “do not cease.” The clause then serves adverbially for the sentence – “unceasingly.”

[24:14]  ¹⁹ tn The text simply has לָאוֹר (la’or, “at light” or “at daylight”), probably meaning just at the time of dawn.

[24:14]  ²⁰ tn In a few cases the jussive is used without any real sense of the jussive being present (see GKC 323 §109.k).

[24:14]  ²¹ sn The point is that he is like a thief in that he works during the night, just before the daylight, when the advantage is all his and the victim is most vulnerable.