Job 29:2--30:1

29:2 “O that I could be ¹  as ²  I was

in the months now gone, ³ 

in the days ⁴  when God watched ⁵  over me,

29:3 when ⁶  he caused ⁷  his lamp ⁸ 

to shine upon my head,

and by his light

I walked ⁹  through darkness; ¹⁰ 

29:4 just as I was in my most productive time, ¹¹ 

when God’s intimate friendship ¹²  was experienced in my tent,

29:5 when the Almighty ¹³  was still with me

and my children were ¹⁴  around me;

29:6 when my steps ¹⁵  were bathed ¹⁶  with butter ¹⁷ 

and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil! ¹⁸ 

29:7 When I went out to the city gate

and secured my seat in the public square, ¹⁹ 

29:8 the young men would see me and step aside, ²⁰ 

and the old men would get up and remain standing;

29:9 the chief men refrained from talking

and covered their mouths with their hands;

29:10 the voices of the nobles fell silent, ²¹ 

and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

Job’s Benevolence

29:11 “As soon as the ear heard these things, ²²  it blessed me, ²³ 

and when the eye saw them, it bore witness to me,

29:12 for I rescued the poor who cried out for help,

and the orphan who ²⁴  had no one to assist him;

29:13 the blessing of the dying man descended on me, ²⁵ 

and I made the widow’s heart rejoice; ²⁶ 

29:14 I put on righteousness and it clothed me, ²⁷ 

my just dealing ²⁸  was like a robe and a turban;

29:15 I was eyes for the blind

and feet for the lame;

29:16 I was a father ²⁹  to the needy,

and I investigated the case of the person I did not know;

29:17 I broke the fangs ³⁰  of the wicked,

and made him drop ³¹  his prey from his teeth.

Job’s Confidence

29:18 “Then I thought, ‘I will die in my own home, ³² 

my days as numerous as the grains of sand. ³³ 

29:19 My roots reach the water,

and the dew lies on my branches all night long.

29:20 My glory ³⁴  will always be fresh ³⁵  in me,

and my bow ever new in my hand.’

Job’s Reputation

29:21 “People ³⁶  listened to me and waited silently; ³⁷ 

they kept silent for my advice.

29:22 After I had spoken, they did not respond;

my words fell on them drop by drop. ³⁸ 

29:23 They waited for me as people wait ³⁹  for the rain,

and they opened their mouths ⁴⁰ 

as for ⁴¹  the spring rains.

29:24 If I smiled at them, they hardly believed it; ⁴² 

and they did not cause the light of my face to darken. ⁴³ 

29:25 I chose ⁴⁴  the way for them ⁴⁵ 

and sat as their chief; ⁴⁶ 

I lived like a king among his troops;

I was like one who comforts mourners. ⁴⁷ 

Job’s Present Misery

30:1 “But now they mock me, those who are younger ⁴⁸  than I,

whose fathers I disdained too much ⁴⁹ 

to put with my sheep dogs. ⁵⁰ 

Psalms 42:4

42:4 I will remember and weep! ⁵¹ 

For I was once walking along with the great throng to the temple of God,

shouting and giving thanks along with the crowd as we celebrated the holy festival. ⁵² 

Psalms 77:3

77:3 I said, “I will remember God while I groan;

I will think about him while my strength leaves me.” ⁵³  (Selah)

Psalms 77:5-9

77:5 I thought about the days of old,

about ancient times. ⁵⁴ 

77:6 I said, “During the night I will remember the song I once sang;

I will think very carefully.”

I tried to make sense of what was happening. ⁵⁵ 

77:7 I asked, ⁵⁶  “Will the Lord reject me forever?

Will he never again show me his favor?

77:8 Has his loyal love disappeared forever?

Has his promise ⁵⁷  failed forever?

77:9 Has God forgotten to be merciful?

Has his anger stifled his compassion?”

Hosea 2:7

2:7 Then she will pursue her lovers, but she will not catch ⁵⁸  them;

she will seek them, but she will not find them. ⁵⁹ 

Then she will say,

“I will go back ⁶⁰  to my husband, ⁶¹ 

because I was better off then than I am now.” ⁶² 

Luke 15:17

15:17 But when he came to his senses ⁶³  he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have food ⁶⁴  enough to spare, but here I am dying from hunger!

Luke 16:25

16:25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, ⁶⁵  remember that in your lifetime you received your good things and Lazarus likewise bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in anguish. ⁶⁶ 

[29:2]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn This clause is in apposition to the preceding (see GKC 426 §131.o). It offers a clarification.

[29:3]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ sn Lamp and light are symbols of God’s blessings of life and all the prosperous and good things it includes.

[29:3]  ⁹ tn Here too the imperfect verb is customary – it describes action that was continuous, but in a past time.

[29:3]  ¹⁰ 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).

[29:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in the days of my ripeness.” The word חֹרֶף (khoref) denotes the time when the harvest is gathered in because the fruit is ripe. Since this is the autumn, many translate that way here – but “autumn” has a different connotation now. The text is pointing to a time when the righteous reaps what he has sown, and can enjoy the benefits. The translation “most productive time” seems to capture the point better than “autumn” or even “prime.”

[29:4]  ¹² tc The word סוֹד (sod) in this verse is an infinitive construct, prefixed with the temporal preposition and followed by a subjective genitive. It forms a temporal clause. There is some disagreement about the form and its meaning. The confusion in the versions shows that they were paraphrasing to get the general sense. In the Bible the derived noun (from יָסַד, yasad) means (a) a circle of close friends; (b) intimacy. Others follow the LXX and the Syriac with a meaning of “protect,” based on a change from ד (dalet) to כּ (kaf), and assuming the root was סָכַךְ (sakhakh). This would mean, “when God protected my tent” (cf. NAB). D. W. Thomas tries to justify this meaning without changing the text (“The Interpretation of BSOÝD in Job 29:4,” JBL 65 [1946]: 63-66).

[29:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “Shaddai.”

[29:5]  ¹⁴ tc Some commentators suggest that עִמָּדִי (’immadi, “with me”) of the second colon of v. 6 (which is too long) belongs to the second colon of v. 5, and should be pointed as the verb עָמָדוּ (’amadu, “they stood”), meaning the boys stood around him (see, e.g., E. Dhorme, Job, 417). But as R. Gordis (Job, 319) notes, there is a purpose for the imbalance of the metric pattern at the end of a section.

[29:6]  ¹⁵ tn The word is a hapax legomenon, but the meaning is clear enough. It refers to the walking, the steps, or even the paths where one walks. It is figurative of his course of life.

[29:6]  ¹⁶ tn The Hebrew word means “to wash; to bathe”; here it is the infinitive construct in a temporal clause, “my steps” being the genitive: “in the washing of my steps in butter.”

[29:6]  ¹⁷ tn Again, as in Job 21:17, “curds.”

[29:6]  ¹⁸ tn The MT reads literally, “and the rock was poured out [passive participle] for me as streams of oil.” There are some who delete the word “rock” to shorten the line because it seems out of place. But olive trees thrive in rocky soil, and the oil presses are cut into the rock; it is possible that by metonymy all this is intended here (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 186).

[29:7]  ¹⁹ sn In the public square. The area referred to here should not be thought of in terms of modern western dimensions. The wide space, plaza, or public square mentioned here is the open area in the gate complex where legal and business matters were conducted. The area could be as small as a few hundred square feet.

[29:8]  ²⁰ tn The verb means “to hide; to withdraw.” The young men out of respect would withdraw or yield the place of leadership to Job (thus the translation “step aside”). The old men would rise and remain standing until Job took his seat – a sign of respect.

[29:10]  ²¹ 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.

[29:11]  ²² tn The words “these things” and “them” in the next colon are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[29:11]  ²³ tn The main clause is introduced by the preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive (see GKC 327 §111.h); the clause before it is therefore temporal and circumstantial to the main clause.

[29:12]  ²⁴ tn The negative introduces a clause that serves as a negative attribute; literally the following clause says, “and had no helper” (see GKC 482 §152.u).

[29:13]  ²⁵ tn The verb is simply בּוֹא (bo’, “to come; to enter”). With the preposition עַל (’al, “upon”) it could mean “came to me,” or “came upon me,” i.e., descended (see R. Gordis, Job, 320).

[29:13]  ²⁶ tn The verb אַרְנִן (’arnin) is from רָנַן (ranan, “to give a ringing cry”) but here “cause to give a ringing cry,” i.e., shout of joy. The rejoicing envisioned in this word is far greater than what the words “sing” or “rejoice” suggest.

[29:14]  ²⁷ tn Both verbs in this first half-verse are from לָבַשׁ (lavash, “to clothe; to put on clothing”). P. Joüon changed the vowels to get a verb “it adorned me” instead of “it clothed me” (Bib 11 [1930]: 324). The figure of clothing is used for the character of the person: to wear righteousness is to be righteous.

[29:14]  ²⁸ tn The word מִשְׁפָּטִי (mishpati) is simply “my justice” or “my judgment.” It refers to the decisions he made in settling issues, how he dealt with other people justly.

[29:16]  ²⁹ sn The word “father” does not have a wide range of meanings in the OT. But there are places that it is metaphorical, especially in a legal setting like this where the poor need aid.

[29:17]  ³⁰ tn The word rendered “fangs” actually means “teeth,” i.e., the molars probably; it is used frequently of the teeth of wild beasts. Of course, the language is here figurative, comparing the oppressing enemy to a preying animal.

[29:17]  ³¹ tn “I made [him] drop.” The verb means “to throw; to cast,” throw in the sense of “to throw away.” But in the context with the figure of the beast with prey in its mouth, “drop” or “cast away” is the idea. Driver finds another cognate meaning “rescue” (see AJSL 52 [1935/36]: 163).

[29:18]  ³² tc The expression in the MT is “with my nest.” The figure is satisfactory for the context – a home with all the young together, a picture of unity and safety. In Isa 16:2 the word can mean “nestlings,” and with the preposition “with” that might be the meaning here, except that his children had grown up and lived in their own homes. The figure cannot be pushed too far. But the verse apparently has caused enormous problems, because the versions offer a variety of readings and free paraphrases. The LXX has “My age shall grow old as the stem of a palm tree, I shall live a long time.” The Vulgate has, “In my nest I shall die and like the palm tree increase my days.” G. R. Driver found an Egyptian word meaning “strength” (“Birds in the Old Testament,” PEQ 87 [1955]: 138-39). Several read “in a ripe old age” instead of “in my nest” (Pope, Dhorme; see P. P. Saydon, “Philological and Textual Notes to the Maltese Translation of the Old Testament,” CBQ 23 [1961]: 252). This requires the verb זָקַן (zaqan, “be old”), i.e., בִּזְקוּנַי (bizqunay, “in my old age”) instead of קִנִּי (qinni, “my nest”). It has support from the LXX.

[29:18]  ³³ tc For חוֹל (khol, “sand”) the LXX has a word that is “like the palm tree,” but which could also be translated “like the phoenix” (cf. NAB, NRSV). This latter idea was developed further in rabbinical teaching (see R. Gordis, Job, 321). See also M. Dahood, “Nest and phoenix in Job 29:18,” Bib 48 (1967): 542-44. But the MT yields an acceptable sense here.

[29:20]  ³⁴ tn The word is “my glory,” meaning his high respect and his honor. Hoffmann proposed to read כִּידוֹן (kidon) instead, meaning “javelin” (as in 1 Sam 17:6), to match the parallelism (RQ 3 [1961/62]: 388). But the parallelism does not need to be so tight.

[29:20]  ³⁵ tn Heb “new.”

[29:21]  ³⁶ tn “People” is supplied; the verb is plural.

[29:21]  ³⁷ tc The last verb of the first half, “wait, hope,” and the first verb in the second colon, “be silent,” are usually reversed by the commentators (see G. R. Driver, “Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 86). But if “wait” has the idea of being silent as they wait for him to speak, then the second line would say they were silent for the reason of his advice. The reading of the MT is not impossible.

[29:22]  ³⁸ tn The verb simply means “dropped,” but this means like the rain. So the picture of his words falling on them like the gentle rain, drop by drop, is what is intended (see Deut 32:2).

[29:23]  ³⁹ tn The phrase “people wait for” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation.

[29:23]  ⁴⁰ sn The analogy is that they received his words eagerly as the dry ground opens to receive the rains.

[29:23]  ⁴¹ tn The כּ (kaf) preposition is to be supplied by analogy with the preceding phrase. This leaves a double proposition, “as for” (but see Job 29:2).

[29:24]  ⁴² tn The connection of this clause with the verse is difficult. The line simply reads: “[if] I would smile at them, they would not believe.” Obviously something has to be supplied to make sense out of this. The view adopted here makes the most sense, namely, that when he smiled at people, they could hardly believe their good fortune. Other interpretations are strained, such as Kissane’s, “If I laughed at them, they believed not,” meaning, people rejected the views that Job laughed at.

[29:24]  ⁴³ tn The meaning, according to Gordis, is that they did nothing to provoke Job’s displeasure.

[29:25]  ⁴⁴ tn All of these imperfects describe what Job used to do, and so they all fit the category of customary imperfect.

[29:25]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “their way.”

[29:25]  ⁴⁶ tn The text simply has “and I sat [as their] head.” The adverbial accusative explains his role, especially under the image of being seated. He directed the deliberations as a king directs an army.

[29:25]  ⁴⁷ tc Most commentators think this last phrase is odd here, and so they either delete it altogether, or emend it to fit the idea of the verse. Ewald, however, thought it appropriate as a transition to the next section, reminding his friends that unlike him, they were miserable comforters. Herz made the few changes in the text to get the reading “where I led them, they were willing to go” (ZAW 20 [1900]: 163). The two key words in the MT are אֲבֵלִים יְנַחֵם (’avelim yÿnakhem, “he [one who] comforts mourners”). Following Herz, E. Dhorme (Job, 422) has these changed to אוֹבִילֵם יִנַּחוּ (’ovilem yinnakhu). R. Gordis has “like one leading a camel train” (Job, 324). But Kissane also retains the line as a summary of the chapter, noting its presence in the versions.

[30:1]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “smaller than I for days.”

[30:1]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “who I disdained their fathers to set…,” meaning “whose fathers I disdained to set.” The relative clause modifies the young fellows who mock; it explains that Job did not think highly enough of them to put them with the dogs. The next verse will explain why.

[30:1]  ⁵⁰ sn Job is mocked by young fellows who come from low extraction. They mocked their elders and their betters. The scorn is strong here – dogs were despised as scavengers.

[42:4]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “These things I will remember and I will pour out upon myself my soul.” “These things” are identified in the second half of the verse as those times when the psalmist worshiped in the Lord’s temple. The two cohortative forms indicate the psalmist’s resolve to remember and weep. The expression “pour out upon myself my soul” refers to mourning (see Job 30:16).

[42:4]  ⁵² tc Heb “for I was passing by with the throng [?], I was walking with [?] them to the house of God; with a voice of a ringing shout and thanksgiving a multitude was observing a festival.” The Hebrew phrase בַּסָּךְ אֶדַּדֵּם (bassakh ’eddaddem, “with the throng [?] I was walking with [?]”) is particularly problematic. The noun סָךְ (sakh) occurs only here. If it corresponds to הָמוֹן (hamon, “multitude”) then one can propose a meaning “throng.” The present translation assumes this reading (cf. NIV, NRSV). The form אֶדַּדֵּם (“I will walk with [?]”) is also very problematic. The form can be taken as a Hitpael from דָּדָה (dadah; this verb possibly appears in Isa 38:15), but the pronominal suffix is problematic. For this reason many emend the form to ם[י]אַדִּרִ (’adirim, “nobles”) or ם-רִ[י]אַדִ (’adirim, “great,” with enclitic mem [ם]). The present translation understands the latter and takes the adjective “great” as modifying “throng.” If one emends סָךְ (sakh, “throng [?]”) to סֹךְ (sokh, “shelter”; see the Qere of Ps 27:5), then ר[י]אַדִּ (’addir) could be taken as a divine epithet, “[in the shelter of] the majestic one,” a reading which may find support in the LXX and Syriac Peshitta.

[77:3]  ⁵³ tn Heb “I will remember God and I will groan, I will reflect and my spirit will grow faint.” The first three verbs are cohortatives, the last a perfect with vav (ו) consecutive. The psalmist’s statement in v. 4 could be understood as concurrent with v. 1, or, more likely, as a quotation of what he had said earlier as he prayed to God (see v. 2). The words “I said” are supplied in the translation at the beginning of the verse to reflect this interpretation (see v. 10).

[77:5]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “the years of antiquity.”

[77:6]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “I will remember my song in the night, with my heart I will reflect. And my spirit searched.” As in v. 4, the words of v. 6a are understood as what the psalmist said earlier. Consequently the words “I said” are supplied in the translation for clarification (see v. 10). The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive at the beginning of the final line is taken as sequential to the perfect “I thought” in v. 6.

[77:7]  ⁵⁶ tn As in vv. 4 and 6a, the words of vv. 7-9 are understood as a quotation of what the psalmist said earlier. Therefore the words “I asked” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[77:8]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “word,” which may refer here to God’s word of promise (note the reference to “loyal love” in the preceding line).

[2:7]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “overtake” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NLT “be able to catch up with.”

[2:7]  ⁵⁹ tn In the Hebrew text the accusative direct object pronoun אֹתָם (’otam, “them”) is omitted/elided for balanced poetic parallelism. The LXX supplies αὐτους (autous, “them”); but it is not necessary to emend the MT because this is a poetic literary convention rather than a textual problem.

[2:7]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “I will go and return” (so NRSV). The two verbs joined with vav form a verbal hendiadys. Normally, the first verb functions adverbially and the second retains its full verbal sense (GKC 386-87 §120.d, h). The Hebrew phrase אֵלְכָה וְאָשׁוּבָה (’elkhah vÿ’ashuvah, “I will go and I will return”) connotes, “I will return again.” As cohortatives, both verbs emphasize the resolution of the speaker.

[2:7]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “to my man, the first.” Many English translations (e.g., KJV, NAB, NRSV, TEV) take this as “my first husband,” although this implies that there was more than one husband involved. The text refers to multiple lovers, but these were not necessarily husbands.

[2:7]  ⁶² tn Or “because it was better for me then than now” (cf. NCV).

[15:17]  ⁶³ tn Grk “came to himself” (an idiom).

[15:17]  ⁶⁴ tn Grk “bread,” but used figuratively for food of any kind (L&N 5.1).

[16:25]  ⁶⁵ tn The Greek term here is τέκνον (teknon), which could be understood as a term of endearment.

[16:25]  ⁶⁶ tn Or “in terrible pain” (L&N 24.92). Here is the reversal Jesus mentioned in Luke 6:20-26.