Job 3:10

3:10 because it ¹  did not shut the doors ²  of my mother’s womb on me, ³ 

nor did it hide trouble ⁴  from my eyes!

Job 12:14

12:14 If ⁵  he tears down, it cannot be rebuilt;

if he imprisons a person, there is no escape. ⁶ 

Job 27:19

27:19 He goes to bed wealthy, but will do so no more. ⁷ 

When he opens his eyes, it is all gone. ⁸ 

Job 29:23

29:23 They waited for me as people wait ⁹  for the rain,

and they opened their mouths ¹⁰ 

as for ¹¹  the spring rains.

Job 36:15

36:15 He delivers the afflicted by ¹²  their ¹³  afflictions,

he reveals himself to them ¹⁴  by their suffering.

[3:10]  ¹ tn The subject is still “that night.” Here, at the end of this first section, Job finally expresses the crime of that night – it did not hinder his birth.

[3:10]  ² sn This use of doors for the womb forms an implied comparison; the night should have hindered conception (see Gen 20:18 and 1 Sam 1:5).

[3:10]  ³ tn The Hebrew has simply “my belly [= womb].” The suffix on the noun must be objective – it was the womb of Job’s mother in which he lay before his birth. See however N. C. Habel, “The Dative Suffix in Job 33:13,” Bib 63 (1982): 258-59, who thinks it is deliberately ambiguous.

[3:10]  ⁴ tn The word עָמָל (’amal) means “work, heavy labor, agonizing labor, struggle” with the idea of fatigue and pain.

[12:14]  ⁵ tn The use of הֵן (hen, equivalent to הִנֵּה, hinneh, “behold”) introduces a hypothetical condition.

[12:14]  ⁶ tn The verse employs antithetical ideas: “tear down” and “build up,” “imprison” and “escape.” The Niphal verbs in the sentences are potential imperfects. All of this is to say that humans cannot reverse the will of God.

[27:19]  ⁹ tc The verb is the Niphal יֵאָסֵף (ye’asef), from אָסַף (’asaf, “to gather”). So, “he lies down rich, but he is not gathered.” This does not make much sense. It would mean “he will not be gathered for burial,” but that does not belong here. Many commentators accept the variant יֹאסִף (yo’sif) stood for יוֹסִיף (yosif, “will [not] add”). This is what the LXX and the Syriac have. This leads to the interpretive translation that “he will do so no longer.”

[27:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and he is not.” One view is that this must mean that he dies, not that his wealth is gone. R. Gordis (Job, 295) says the first part should be made impersonal: “when one opens one’s eyes, the wicked is no longer there.” E. Dhorme (Job, 396) has it more simply: “He has opened his eyes, and it is for the last time.” But the other view is that the wealth goes overnight. In support of this is the introduction into the verse of the wealthy. The RSV, NRSV, ESV, and NLT take it that “wealth is gone.”

[29:23]  ¹³ tn The phrase “people wait for” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation.

[29:23]  ¹⁴ sn The analogy is that they received his words eagerly as the dry ground opens to receive the rains.

[29:23]  ¹⁵ 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).

[36:15]  ¹⁷ tn The preposition בּ (bet) in these two lines is not location but instrument, not “in” but “by means of.” The affliction and the oppression serve as a warning for sin, and therefore a means of salvation.

[36:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “his.”

[36:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “he uncovers their ear.”