Job 27:15

27:15 Those who survive him are buried by the plague, ¹ 

and their ²  widows do not mourn for them.

Job 9:23

9:23 If a scourge brings sudden death, ³ 

he mocks ⁴  at the despair ⁵  of the innocent. ⁶ 

Job 7:19

7:19 Will you never ⁷  look away from me, ⁸ 

will you not let me alone ⁹ 

long enough to swallow my spittle?

Job 10:17

10:17 You bring new witnesses ¹⁰  against me,

and increase your anger against me;

relief troops ¹¹  come against me.

Job 16:3

16:3 Will ¹²  there be an end to your ¹³  windy words? ¹⁴ 

Or what provokes ¹⁵  you that you answer? ¹⁶ 

[27:15]  ¹ tn The text says “will be buried in/by death.” A number of passages in the Bible use “death” to mean the plague that kills (see Jer 15:2; Isa 28:3; and BDB 89 s.v. בְּ 2.a). In this sense it is like the English expression for the plague, “the Black Death.”

[27:15]  ² tc The LXX has “their widows” to match the plural, and most commentators harmonize in the same way.

[9:23]  ³ tc The LXX contains a paraphrase: “for the worthless die, but the righteous are laughed to scorn.”

[9:23]  ⁴ sn This bold anthropomorphism means that by his treatment of the despair of the innocent, God is in essence mocking them.

[9:23]  ⁵ tn The term מַסַּת (massat), a hapax legomenon, was translated “trial” in the older versions; but it is not from נָסָה (nasah, “to tempt; to test; to try”), but from מָסַס (masas, “to flow”). It is used in the Niphal to speak of the heart “melting” in suffering. So the idea behind this image is that of despair. This is the view that most interpreters adopt; it requires no change of the text whatsoever.

[9:23]  ⁶ sn Job uses this word to refute Eliphaz; cf. 4:7.

[7:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “according to what [= how long] will you not look away from me.”

[7:19]  ⁶ tn The verb שָׁעָה (sha’ah, “to look”) with the preposition מִן (min) means “to look away from; to avert one’s gaze.” Job wonders if God would not look away from him even briefly, for the constant vigilance is killing him.

[7:19]  ⁷ tn The Hiphil of רָפָה (rafah) means “to leave someone alone.”

[10:17]  ⁷ tn The text has “you renew/increase your witnesses.” This would probably mean Job’s sufferings, which were witness to his sins. But some suggested a different word here, one that is cognate to Arabic ’adiya, “to be an enemy; to be hostile”: thus “you renew your hostility against me.” Less convincing are suggestions that the word is cognate to Ugaritic “troops” (see W. G. E. Watson, “The Metaphor in Job 10,17,” Bib 63 [1982]: 255-57).

[10:17]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew simply says “changes and a host are with me.” The “changes and a host” is taken as a hendiadys, meaning relieving troops (relief troops of the army). The two words appear together again in 14:14, showing that emendation is to be avoided. The imagery depicts blow after blow from God – always fresh attacks.

[16:3]  ⁹ tn Disjunctive questions are introduced with the sign of the interrogative; the second part is introduced with אוֹ (’o, see GKC 475 §150.g).

[16:3]  ¹⁰ tn In v. 3 the second person singular is employed rather than the plural as in vv. 2 and 4. The singular might be an indication that the words of v. 3 were directed at Eliphaz specifically.

[16:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “words of wind.”

[16:3]  ¹² tn The Hiphil of מָרַץ (marats) does not occur anywhere else. The word means “to compel; to force” (see 6:25).

[16:3]  ¹³ tn The LXX seems to have gone a different way: “What, is there any reason in vain words, or what will hinder you from answering?”