Job 3:12

3:12 Why did the knees welcome me, ¹ 

and why were there ²  two breasts ³ 

that I might nurse at them? ⁴ 

Job 30:27

30:27 My heart ⁵  is in turmoil ⁶  unceasingly; ⁷ 

the days of my affliction confront me.

Job 41:11

41:11 (Who has confronted ⁸  me that I should repay? ⁹ 

Everything under heaven belongs to me!) ¹⁰ 

[3:12]  ¹ tn The verb קִדְּמוּנִי (qiddÿmuni) is the Piel from קָדַם (qadam), meaning “to come before; to meet; to prevent.” Here it has the idea of going to meet or welcome someone. In spite of various attempts to connect the idea to the father or to adoption rites, it probably simply means the mother’s knees that welcome the child for nursing. See R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 42.

[3:12]  ² tn There is no verb in the second half of the verse. The idea simply has, “and why breasts that I might suck?”

[3:12]  ³ sn The commentaries mention the parallel construction in the writings of Ashurbanipal: “You were weak, Ashurbanipal, you who sat on the knees of the goddess, queen of Nineveh; of the four teats that were placed near to your mouth, you sucked two and you hid your face in the others” (M. Streck, Assurbanipal [VAB], 348).

[3:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “that I might suckle.” The verb is the Qal imperfect of יָנַק (yanaq, “suckle”). Here the clause is subordinated to the preceding question and so function as a final imperfect.

[30:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “my loins,” “my bowels” (archaic), “my innermost being.” The latter option is reflected in the translation; some translations take the inner turmoil to be literal (NIV: “The churning inside me never stops”).

[30:27]  ⁶ tn Heb “boils.”

[30:27]  ⁷ tn The last clause reads “and they [it] are not quiet” or “do not cease.” The clause then serves adverbially for the sentence – “unceasingly.”

[41:11]  ⁹ tn The verb קָדַם (qadam) means “to come to meet; to come before; to confront” to the face.

[41:11]  ¹⁰ sn The verse seems an intrusion (and so E. Dhorme, H. H. Rowley, and many others change the pronouns to make it refer to the animal). But what the text is saying is that it is more dangerous to confront God than to confront this animal.

[41:11]  ¹¹ tn This line also focuses on the sovereign God rather than Leviathan. H. H. Rowley, however, wants to change לִי־חוּא (li-hu’, “it [belongs] to me”) into לֹא הוּא (lo’ hu’, “there is no one”). So it would say that there is no one under the whole heaven who could challenge Leviathan and live, rather than saying it is more dangerous to challenge God to make him repay.