Job 28:12

No Price Can Buy Wisdom

28:12 “But wisdom – where can it be found?

Where is the place of understanding?

Job 28:20

God Alone Has Wisdom

28:20 “But wisdom – where does it come from? ¹ 

Where is the place of understanding?

Job 34:16

God Is Impartial and Omniscient

34:16 “If you have ²  understanding, listen to this,

hear what I have to say. ³ 

Job 38:4

God’s questions to Job

38:4 “Where were you

when I laid the foundation ⁴  of the earth?

Tell me, ⁵  if you possess understanding!

Job 28:28

28:28 And he said to mankind,

‘The fear of the Lord ⁶  – that is wisdom,

and to turn away from evil is understanding.’” ⁷ 

Job 38:36

38:36 Who has put wisdom in the heart, ⁸ 

or has imparted understanding to the mind?

[28:20]  ¹ tn The refrain is repeated, except now the verb is תָּבוֹא (tavo’, “come”).

[34:16]  ¹ tn The phrase “you have” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.

[34:16]  ² tn Heb “the sound of my words.”

[38:4]  ¹ tn The construction is the infinitive construct in a temporal clause, using the preposition and the subjective genitive suffix.

[38:4]  ² tn The verb is the imperative; it has no object “me” in the text.

[28:28]  ¹ tc A number of medieval Hebrew manuscripts have YHWH (“Lord”); BHS has אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “Lord”). As J. E. Hartley (Job [NICOT], 383) points out, this is the only occurrence of אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “Lord”) in the book of Job, creating doubt for retaining it. Normally, YHWH is avoided in the book. “Fear of” (יִרְאַת, yir’at) is followed by שַׁדַּי (shadday, “Almighty”) in 6:14 – the only other occurrence of this term for “fear” in construct with a divine title.

[28:28]  ² tc Many commentators delete this verse because (1) many read the divine name Yahweh (translated “Lord”) here, and (2) it is not consistent with the argument that precedes it. But as H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 185) points out, there is inconsistency in this reasoning, for many of the critics have already said that this chapter is an interpolation. Following that line of thought, then, one would not expect it to conform to the rest of the book in this matter of the divine name. And concerning the second difficulty, the point of this chapter is that wisdom is beyond human comprehension and control. It belongs to God alone. So the conclusion that the fear of the Lord is wisdom is the necessary conclusion. Rowley concludes: “It is a pity to rob the poem of its climax and turn it into the expression of unrelieved agnosticism.”

[38:36]  ¹ tn This verse is difficult because of the two words, טֻחוֹת (tukhot, rendered here “heart”) and שֶׂכְוִי (sekhvi, here “mind”). They have been translated a number of ways: “meteor” and “celestial appearance”; the stars “Procyon” and “Sirius”; “inward part” and “mind”; even as birds, “ibis” and “cock.” One expects them to have something to do with nature – clouds and the like. The RSV accordingly took them to mean “meteor” (from a verb “to wander”) and “a celestial appearance.” But these meanings are not well-attested.