Job 29:1-3

IV. Job’s Concluding Soliloquy (29:1-31:40)

Job Recalls His Former Condition ¹ 

29:1 Then Job continued ²  his speech:

29:2 “O that I could be ³  as ⁴  I was

in the months now gone, ⁵ 

in the days ⁶  when God watched ⁷  over me,

29:3 when ⁸  he caused ⁹  his lamp ¹⁰ 

to shine upon my head,

and by his light

I walked ¹¹  through darkness; ¹² 

Job 29:2

29:2 “O that I could be ¹³  as ¹⁴  I was

in the months now gone, ¹⁵ 

in the days ¹⁶  when God watched ¹⁷  over me,

Job 7:1

The Brevity of Life

7:1 “Does not humanity have hard service ¹⁸  on earth?

Are not their days also

like the days of a hired man? ¹⁹ 

Isaiah 14:3-8

14:3 When the Lord gives you relief from your suffering and anxiety, ²⁰  and from the hard labor which you were made to perform, 14:4 you will taunt the king of Babylon with these words: ²¹ 

“Look how the oppressor has met his end!

Hostility ²²  has ceased!

14:5 The Lord has broken the club of the wicked,

the scepter of rulers.

14:6 It ²³  furiously struck down nations

with unceasing blows. ²⁴ 

It angrily ruled over nations,

oppressing them without restraint. ²⁵ 

14:7 The whole earth rests and is quiet;

they break into song.

14:8 The evergreens also rejoice over your demise, ²⁶ 

as do the cedars of Lebanon, singing, ²⁷ 

‘Since you fell asleep, ²⁸ 

no woodsman comes up to chop us down!’ ²⁹ 

Isaiah 26:3

26:3 You keep completely safe the people who maintain their faith,

for they trust in you. ³⁰ 

Isaiah 32:17

32:17 Fairness will produce peace ³¹ 

and result in lasting security. ³² 

John 14:27

14:27 “Peace I leave with you; ³³  my peace I give to you; I do not give it ³⁴  to you as the world does. ³⁵  Do not let your hearts be distressed or lacking in courage. ³⁶ 

Romans 8:31-34

8:31 What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 8:32 Indeed, he who ³⁷  did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things? 8:33 Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? ³⁸  It is God who justifies. 8:34 Who is the one who will condemn? Christ ³⁹  is the one who died (and more than that, he was raised), who is at the right hand of God, and who also is interceding for us.

Philippians 4:7

4:7 And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds ⁴⁰  in Christ Jesus.

[29:1]  ¹ sn Now that the debate with his friends is over, Job concludes with a soliloquy, just as he had begun with one. Here he does not take into account his friends or their arguments. The speech has three main sections: Job’s review of his former circumstances (29:1-25); Job’s present misery (30:1-31); and Job’s vindication of his life (31:1-40).

[29:1]  ² tn The verse uses a verbal hendiadys: “and he added (וַיֹּסֶף, vayyosef)…to raise (שְׂאֵת, sÿ’et) his speech.” The expression means that he continued, or he spoke again.

[29:2]  ³ tn The optative is here expressed with מִי־יִתְּנֵנִי (mi-yittÿneni, “who will give me”), meaning, “O that I [could be]…” (see GKC 477 §151.b).

[29:2]  ⁴ tn The preposition כּ (kaf) is used here in an expression describing the state desired, especially in the former time (see GKC 376 §118.u).

[29:2]  ⁵ tn The expression is literally “months of before [or of old; or past].” The word קֶדֶם (qedem) is intended here to be temporal and not spatial; it means days that preceded the present.

[29:2]  ⁶ tn The construct state (“days of”) governs the independent sentence that follows (see GKC 422 §130.d): “as the days of […] God used to watch over me.”

[29:2]  ⁷ tn The imperfect verb here has a customary nuance – “when God would watch over me” (back then), or “when God used to watch over me.”

[29:3]  ⁸ tn This clause is in apposition to the preceding (see GKC 426 §131.o). It offers a clarification.

[29:3]  ⁹ tn The form בְּהִלּוֹ (bÿhillo) is unusual; it should be parsed as a Hiphil infinitive construct with the elision of the ה (he). The proper spelling would have been with a ַ (patakh) under the preposition, reflecting הַהִלּוֹ (hahillo). If it were Qal, it would just mean “when his light shone.”

[29:3]  ¹⁰ sn Lamp and light are symbols of God’s blessings of life and all the prosperous and good things it includes.

[29:3]  ¹¹ tn Here too the imperfect verb is customary – it describes action that was continuous, but in a past time.

[29:3]  ¹² tn The accusative (“darkness”) is here an adverbial accusative of place, namely, “in the darkness,” or because he was successfully led by God’s light, “through the darkness” (see GKC 374 §118.h).

[29:2]  ¹³ tn The optative is here expressed with מִי־יִתְּנֵנִי (mi-yittÿneni, “who will give me”), meaning, “O that I [could be]…” (see GKC 477 §151.b).

[29:2]  ¹⁴ tn The preposition כּ (kaf) is used here in an expression describing the state desired, especially in the former time (see GKC 376 §118.u).

[29:2]  ¹⁵ tn The expression is literally “months of before [or of old; or past].” The word קֶדֶם (qedem) is intended here to be temporal and not spatial; it means days that preceded the present.

[29:2]  ¹⁶ tn The construct state (“days of”) governs the independent sentence that follows (see GKC 422 §130.d): “as the days of […] God used to watch over me.”

[29:2]  ¹⁷ tn The imperfect verb here has a customary nuance – “when God would watch over me” (back then), or “when God used to watch over me.”

[7:1]  ¹⁸ tn The word צָבָא (tsava’) is actually “army”; it can be used for the hard service of military service as well as other toil. As a military term it would include the fixed period of duty (the time) and the hard work (toil). Job here is considering the lot of all humans, not just himself.

[7:1]  ¹⁹ tn The שָׂכִיר (sakhir) is a hired man, either a man who works for wages, or a mercenary soldier (Jer 46:21). The latter sense may be what is intended here in view of the parallelism, although the next verse seems much broader.

[14:3]  ²⁰ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[14:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “you will lift up this taunt over the king of Babylon, saying.”

[14:4]  ²² tc The word in the Hebrew text (מַדְהֵבָה, madhevah) is unattested elsewhere and of uncertain meaning. Many (following the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a) assume a dalet-resh (ד-ר) confusion and emend the form to מַרְהֵבָה (marhevah, “onslaught”). See HALOT 548 s.v. II *מִדָּה and HALOT 633 s.v. *מַרְהֵבָה.

[14:6]  ²³ tn Or perhaps, “he” (cf. KJV; NCV “the king of Babylon”). The present translation understands the referent of the pronoun (“it”) to be the “club/scepter” of the preceding line.

[14:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “it was striking down nations in fury [with] a blow without ceasing.” The participle (“striking down”) suggests repeated or continuous action in past time.

[14:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “it was ruling in anger nations [with] oppression without restraint.” The participle (“ruling”) suggests repeated or continuous action in past time.

[14:8]  ²⁶ tn Heb “concerning you.”

[14:8]  ²⁷ tn The word “singing” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. Note that the personified trees speak in the second half of the verse.

[14:8]  ²⁸ tn Heb “lay down” (in death); cf. NAB “laid to rest.”

[14:8]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the [wood]cutter does not come up against us.”

[26:3]  ³⁰ tn Heb “[one of] firm purpose you will keep [in] peace, peace, for in you he possesses trust.” The Hebrew term יֵצֶר (yetser) refers to what one devises in the mind; סָמוּךְ (samukh) probably functions here like an attributive adjective and carries the nuance “firm.” So the phrase literally means, “a firm purpose,” but as the object of the verb “keep, guard,” it must stand by metonymy for the one(s) who possess a firm purpose. In this context the “righteous nation” (v. 2) is probably in view and the “firm purpose” refers to their unwavering faith in God’s vindication (see 25:9). In this context שָׁלוֹם (shalom, “peace”), which is repeated for emphasis, likely refers to national security, not emotional or psychological composure (see vv. 1-2). The passive participle בָּטוּחַ (batuakh) expresses a state that results from the subject’s action.

[32:17]  ³¹ tn Heb “and the product of fairness will be peace.”

[32:17]  ³² tn Heb “and the work of fairness [will be] calmness and security forever.”

[14:27]  ³³ sn Peace I leave with you. In spite of appearances, this verse does not introduce a new subject (peace). Jesus will use the phrase as a greeting to his disciples after his resurrection (20:19, 21, 26). It is here a reflection of the Hebrew shalom as a farewell. But Jesus says he leaves peace with his disciples. This should probably be understood ultimately in terms of the indwelling of the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, who has been the topic of the preceding verses. It is his presence, after Jesus has left the disciples and finally returned to the Father, which will remain with them and comfort them.

[14:27]  ³⁴ tn The pronoun “it” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context.

[14:27]  ³⁵ tn Grk “not as the world gives do I give to you.”

[14:27]  ³⁶ tn Or “distressed or fearful and cowardly.”

[8:32]  ³⁷ tn Grk “[he] who.” The relative clause continues the question of v. 31 in a way that is awkward in English. The force of v. 32 is thus: “who indeed did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – How will he not also with him give us all things?”

[8:33]  ³⁸ sn An allusion to Isa 50:8 where the reference is singular; Paul applies this to all believers (“God’s elect” is plural here).

[8:34]  ³⁹ tc ‡ A number of significant and early witnesses, along with several others (Ì^46vid א A C F G L Ψ 6 33 81 104 365 1505 al lat bo), read ᾿Ιησοῦς (Ihsous, “Jesus”) after Χριστός (Cristos, “Christ”) in v. 34. But the shorter reading is not unrepresented (B D 0289 1739 1881 Ï sa). Once ᾿Ιησοῦς got into the text, what scribe would omit it? Although the external evidence is on the side of the longer reading, internally such an expansion seems suspect. The shorter reading is thus preferred. NA²⁷ has the word in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.

[4:7]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “will guard the hearts of you and the minds of you.” To improve the English style, the second occurrence of ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “of you”) has not been translated, since it is somewhat redundant in English.