Job 27:19

27:19 He goes to bed wealthy, but will do so no more. ¹ 

When he opens his eyes, it is all gone. ² 

Job 34:14

34:14 If God ³  were to set his heart on it, ⁴ 

and gather in his spirit and his breath,

Job 39:12

39:12 Can you count on ⁵  it to bring in ⁶  your grain, ⁷ 

and gather the grain ⁸  to your threshing floor? ⁹ 

[27:19]  ¹ tc The verb is the Niphal יֵאָסֵף (ye’asef), from אָסַף (’asaf, “to gather”). So, “he lies down rich, but he is not gathered.” This does not make much sense. It would mean “he will not be gathered for burial,” but that does not belong here. Many commentators accept the variant יֹאסִף (yo’sif) stood for יוֹסִיף (yosif, “will [not] add”). This is what the LXX and the Syriac have. This leads to the interpretive translation that “he will do so no longer.”

[27:19]  ² tn Heb “and he is not.” One view is that this must mean that he dies, not that his wealth is gone. R. Gordis (Job, 295) says the first part should be made impersonal: “when one opens one’s eyes, the wicked is no longer there.” E. Dhorme (Job, 396) has it more simply: “He has opened his eyes, and it is for the last time.” But the other view is that the wealth goes overnight. In support of this is the introduction into the verse of the wealthy. The RSV, NRSV, ESV, and NLT take it that “wealth is gone.”

[34:14]  ³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:14]  ⁴ tc This is the reading following the Qere. The Kethib and the Syriac and the LXX suggest a reading יָשִׂים (yasim, “if he [God] recalls”). But this would require leaving out “his heart,” and would also require redividing the verse to make “his spirit” the object. It makes better parallelism, but may require too many changes.

[39:12]  ⁵ tn The word is normally translated “believe” in the Bible. The idea is that of considering something dependable and acting on it. The idea of reliability is found also in the Niphal stem usages.

[39:12]  ⁶ tc There is a textual problem here: יָשׁוּב (yashuv) is the Kethib, meaning “[that] he will return”; יָשִׁיב (yashiv) is the Qere, meaning “that he will bring in.” This is the preferred reading, since the object follows it. For commentators who think the line too unbalanced for this, the object is moved to the second colon, and the reading “returns” is taken for the first. But the MT is perfectly clear as it stands.

[39:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “your seed”; this must be interpreted figuratively for what the seed produces.

[39:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “gather it”; the referent (the grain) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[39:12]  ⁹ tn Simply, the MT has “and your threshing floor gather.” The “threshing floor” has to be an adverbial accusative of place.