Job 28:21-22

28:21 For ¹  it has been hidden

from the eyes of every living creature,

and from the birds of the sky it has been concealed.

28:22 Destruction ²  and Death say,

‘With our ears we have heard a rumor about where it can be found.’ ³ 

Psalms 52:5

52:5 Yet ⁴  God will make you a permanent heap of ruins. ⁵ 

He will scoop you up ⁶  and remove you from your home; ⁷ 

he will uproot you from the land of the living. (Selah)

Isaiah 38:11

38:11 “I thought,

‘I will no longer see the Lord ⁸  in the land of the living,

I will no longer look on humankind with the inhabitants of the world. ⁹ 

Isaiah 53:8

53:8 He was led away after an unjust trial ¹⁰  –

but who even cared? ¹¹ 

Indeed, he was cut off from the land of the living; ¹² 

because of the rebellion of his own ¹³  people he was wounded.

[28:21]  ¹ tn The vav on the verb is unexpressed in the LXX. It should not be overlooked, for it introduces a subordinate clause of condition (R. Gordis, Job, 310).

[28:22]  ² tn Heb “Abaddon.”

[28:22]  ³ tn Heb “heard a report of it,” which means a report of its location, thus “where it can be found.”

[52:5]  ⁴ tn The adverb גַּם (gam, “also; even”) is translated here in an adversative sense (“yet”). It highlights the contrastive correspondence between the evildoer’s behavior and God’s response.

[52:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “will tear you down forever.”

[52:5]  ⁶ tn This rare verb (חָתָה, khatah) occurs only here and in Prov 6:27; 25:22; Isa 30:14.

[52:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “from [your] tent.”

[38:11]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew text has יָהּ יָהּ (yah yah, the abbreviated form of יְהוָה [yÿhvah] repeated), but this is probably a corruption of יְהוָה.

[38:11]  ⁹ tc The Hebrew text has חָדֶל (khadel), which appears to be derived from a verbal root meaning “to cease, refrain.” But the form has probably suffered an error of transmission; the original form (attested in a few medieval Hebrew mss) was likely חֶלֶד (kheled, “world”).

[53:8]  ¹⁰ tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. The present translation assumes that מִן (min) here has an instrumental sense (“by, through”) and understands עֹצֶר וּמִמִּשְׁפָּט (’otser umimmishpat, “coercion and legal decision”) as a hendiadys meaning “coercive legal decision,” thus “an unjust trial.” Other interpretive options include: (1) “without [for this sense of מִן, see BDB 578 s.v. 1.b] hindrance and proper judicial process,” i.e., “unfairly and with no one to defend him,” (2) “from [in the sense of “after,” see BDB 581 s.v. 4.b] arrest and judgment.”

[53:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and his generation, who considers?” (NASB similar). Some understand “his generation” as a reference to descendants. In this case the question would suggest that he will have none. However, אֶת (’et) may be taken here as specifying a new subject (see BDB 85 s.v. I אֵת 3). If “his generation” refers to the servant’s contemporary generation, one may then translate, “As for his contemporary generation, who took note?” The point would be that few were concerned about the harsh treatment he received.

[53:8]  ¹² sn The “land of the living” is an idiom for the sphere where people live, in contrast to the underworld realm of the dead. See, for example, Ezek 32:23-27.

[53:8]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew text reads “my people,” a reading followed by most English versions, but this is problematic in a context where the first person plural predominates, and where God does not appear to speak again until v. 11b. Therefore, it is preferable to read with the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a עמו (“his people”). In this case, the group speaking in these verses is identified as the servant’s people (compare פְּשָׁעֵנוּ [pÿsha’enu, “our rebellious deeds”] in v. 5 with פֶּשַׁע עַמִּי [pesha’ ’ammi, “the rebellion of his people”] in v. 8).