Job 28:11

28:11 He has searched ¹  the sources ²  of the rivers

and what was hidden he has brought into the light.

Job 38:8

38:8 “Who shut up ³  the sea with doors

when it burst forth, ⁴  coming out of the womb,

Job 14:2

14:2 He grows up ⁵  like a flower and then withers away; ⁶ 

he flees like a shadow, and does not remain. ⁷ 

Job 28:5

28:5 The earth, from which food comes,

is overturned below as though by fire; ⁸ 

Job 37:2

37:2 Listen carefully ⁹  to the thunder of his voice,

to the rumbling ¹⁰  that proceeds from his mouth.

Job 38:29

38:29 From whose womb does the ice emerge,

and the frost from the sky, ¹¹  who gives birth to it,

Job 39:21

39:21 It ¹²  paws the ground in the valley, ¹³ 

exulting mightily, ¹⁴ 

it goes out to meet the weapons.

Job 41:20-21

41:20 Smoke streams from its nostrils

as from a boiling pot over burning ¹⁵  rushes.

41:21 Its breath sets coals ablaze

and a flame shoots from its mouth.

Job 5:6

5:6 For evil does not come up from the dust, ¹⁶ 

nor does trouble spring up from the ground,

Job 31:40

31:40 then let thorns sprout up in place of wheat,

and in place of barley, weeds!” ¹⁷ 

The words of Job are ended.

[28:11]  ¹ tc The translation “searched” follows the LXX and Vulgate; the MT reads “binds up” or “dams up.” This latter translation might refer to the damming of water that might seep into a mine (HALOT 289 s.v. חבשׁ; cf. ESV, NJPS, NASB, REB, NLT).

[28:11]  ² tc The older translations had “he binds the streams from weeping,” i.e., from trickling (מִבְּכִי, mibbÿkhi). But the Ugaritic parallel has changed the understanding, reading “toward the spring of the rivers” (`m mbk nhrm). Earlier than that discovery, the versions had taken the word as a noun as well. Some commentators had suggested repointing the Hebrew. Some chose מַבְּכֵי (mabbÿkhe, “sources”). Now there is much Ugaritic support for the reading (see G. M. Landes, BASOR 144 [1956]: 32f.; and H. L. Ginsberg, “The Ugaritic texts and textual criticism,” JBL 62 [1943]: 111).

[38:8]  ³ tn The MT has “and he shut up.” The Vulgate has “Who?” and so many commentaries and editions adopt this reading, if not from the Vulgate, then from the sense of the sequence in the text itself.

[38:8]  ⁴ tn The line uses two expressions, first the temporal clause with גִּיחַ (giakh, “when it burst forth”) and then the finite verb יֵצֵא (yetse’, “go out”) to mark the concomitance of the two actions.

[14:2]  ⁵ tn Heb יָצָא (yatsa’, “comes forth”). The perfect verb expresses characteristic action and so is translated by the present tense (see GKC 329 §111.s).

[14:2]  ⁶ tn The verb וַיִּמָּל (vayyimmal) is from the root מָלַל (malal, “to languish; to wither”) and not from a different root מָלַל (malal, “to cut off”).

[14:2]  ⁷ tn The verb is “and he does not stand.” Here the verb means “to stay fixed; to abide.” The shadow does not stay fixed, but continues to advance toward darkness.

[28:5]  ⁷ sn The verse has been properly understood, on the whole, as comparing the earth above and all its produce with the upheaval down below.

[37:2]  ⁹ tn The imperative is followed by the infinitive absolute from the same root to express the intensity of the verb.

[37:2]  ¹⁰ tn The word is the usual word for “to meditate; to murmur; to groan”; here it refers to the low building of the thunder as it rumbles in the sky. The thunder is the voice of God (see Ps 29).

[38:29]  ¹¹ tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[39:21]  ¹³ tc The Hebrew text has a plural verb, “they paw.” For consistency and for stylistic reasons this is translated as a singular.

[39:21]  ¹⁴ tn The armies would prepare for battles that were usually fought in the valleys, and so the horse was ready to charge. But in Ugaritic the word `mk means “force” as well as “valley.” The idea of “force” would fit the parallelism here well (see M. Dahood, “Value of Ugaritic for textual criticism,” Bib 40 [1959]: 166).

[39:21]  ¹⁵ tn Or “in strength.”

[41:20]  ¹⁵ tn The word “burning” is supplied. The Syriac and Vulgate have “a seething and boiling pot” (reading אֹגֵם [’ogem] for אַגְמֹן [’agmon]). This view is widely accepted.

[5:6]  ¹⁷ sn The previous discussion shows how trouble rises, namely, from the rebelliousness of the fool. Here Eliphaz simply summarizes the points made with this general principle – trouble does not come from outside man, nor does it come as a part of the natural order, but rather it comes from the evil nature of man.

[31:40]  ¹⁹ tn The word בָּאְשָׁה (bo’shah, from בָּאַשׁ [ba’as, “to have a foul smell”]) must refer to foul smelling weeds.