Job 29:10

29:10 the voices of the nobles fell silent, ¹ 

and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

Job 38:38

38:38 when the dust hardens ²  into a mass,

and the clumps of earth stick together?

Job 19:20

19:20 My bones stick to my skin and my flesh; ³ 

I have escaped ⁴  alive ⁵  with only the skin of my teeth.

Job 41:17

41:17 They lock tightly together, one to the next; ⁶ 

they cling together and cannot be separated.

Job 41:23

41:23 The folds ⁷  of its flesh are tightly joined;

they are firm on it, immovable. ⁸ 

Job 31:7

31:7 If my footsteps have strayed from the way,

if my heart has gone after my eyes, ⁹ 

or if anything ¹⁰  has defiled my hands,

[29:10]  ¹ tn The verb here is “hidden” as well as in v. 8. But this is a strange expression for voices. Several argue that the word was erroneously inserted from 8a and needs to be emended. But the word “hide” can have extended meanings of “withdraw; be quiet; silent” (see Gen 31:27). A. Guillaume relates the Arabic habi’a, “the fire dies out,” applying the idea of “silent” only to v. 10 (it is a form of repetition of words with different senses, called jinas). The point here is that whatever conversation was going on would become silent or hushed to hear what Job had to say.

[38:38]  ² tn The word means “to flow” or “to cast” (as in casting metals). So the noun developed the sense of “hard,” as in cast metal.

[19:20]  ³ tn The meaning would be “I am nothing but skin and bones” in current English idiom. Both lines of this verse need attention. The first half seems to say, “My skin and my flesh sticks to my bones.” Some think that this is too long, and that the bones can stick to the skin, or the flesh, but not both. Dhorme proposes “in my skin my flesh has rotted away” (רָקַב, raqav). This involves several changes in the line, however. He then changes the second line to read “and I have gnawed my bone with my teeth” (transferring “bone” from the first half and omitting “skin”). There are numerous other renderings of this; some of the more notable are: “I escape, my bones in my teeth” (Merx); “my teeth fall out” (Duhm); “my teeth fall from my gums” (Pope); “my bones protrude in sharp points” (Kissane). A. B. Davidson retains “the skin of my teeth,” meaning “gums. This is about the last thing that Job has, or he would not be able to speak. For a detailed study of this verse, D. J. A. Clines devotes two full pages of textual notes (Job [WBC], 430-31). He concludes with “My bones hang from my skin and my flesh, I am left with only the skin of my teeth.”

[19:20]  ⁴ tn Or “I am left.”

[19:20]  ⁵ tn The word “alive” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[41:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “a man with his brother.”

[41:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “fallings.”

[41:23]  ⁶ tn The last clause says “it cannot be moved.” But this part will function adverbially in the sentence.

[31:7]  ⁶ sn The meaning is “been led by what my eyes see.”

[31:7]  ⁷ tc The word מֻאוּם (mu’um) could be taken in one of two ways. One reading is to represent מוּם (mum, “blemish,” see the Masorah); the other is for מְאוּמָה (mÿ’umah, “anything,” see the versions and the Kethib). Either reading fits the passage.