Job 3:3

3:3 “Let the day on which ¹  I was born ²  perish,

and the night that said, ³ 

‘A man ⁴  has been conceived!’ ⁵ 

Job 8:18

8:18 If he is uprooted ⁶  from his place,

then that place ⁷  will disown him, saying, ⁸ 

‘I have never seen you!’

Job 36:25

36:25 All humanity has seen it;

people gaze on it from afar.

Job 39:11-12

39:11 Will you rely on it because its strength is great?

Will you commit ⁹  your labor to it?

39:12 Can you count on ¹⁰  it to bring in ¹¹  your grain, ¹² 

and gather the grain ¹³  to your threshing floor? ¹⁴ 

[3:3]  ¹ tn The relative clause is carried by the preposition with the resumptive pronoun: “the day [which] I was born in it” meaning “the day on which I was born” (see GKC 486-88 §155.f, i).

[3:3]  ² tn The verb is the Niphal imperfect. It may be interpreted in this dependent clause (1) as representing a future event from some point of time in the past – “the day on which I was born” or “would be born” (see GKC 316 §107.k). Or (2) it may simply serve as a preterite indicating action that is in the past.

[3:3]  ³ tn The MT simply has “and the night – it said….” By simple juxtaposition with the parallel construction (“on which I was born”) the verb “it said” must be a relative clause explaining “the night.” Rather than supply “in which” and make the verb passive (which is possible since no specific subject is provided, but leaves open the question of who said it), it is preferable to take the verse as a personification. First Job cursed the day; now he cursed the night that spoke about what it witnessed. See A. Ehrman, “A Note on the Verb ‘amar,” JQR 55 (1964/65): 166-67.

[3:3]  ⁴ tn The word is גֶּבֶר (gever, “a man”). The word usually distinguishes a man as strong, distinct from children and women. Translations which render this as “boy” (to remove the apparent contradiction of an adult being “conceived” in the womb) miss this point.

[3:3]  ⁵ sn The announcement at birth is to the fact that a male was conceived. The same parallelism between “brought forth/born” and “conceived” may be found in Ps 51:7 HT (51:5 ET). The motifs of the night of conception and the day of birth will be developed by Job. For the entire verse, which is more a wish or malediction than a curse, see S. H. Blank, “‘Perish the Day!’ A Misdirected Curse (Job 3:3),” Prophetic Thought, 61-63.

[8:18]  ⁶ tc Ball reads אֵל (’el, “God”) instead of אִם (’im, “if”): “God destroys it” – but there is no reason for this. The idea would be implied in the context. A. B. Davidson rightly points out that who destroys it is not important, but the fact that it is destroyed.

[8:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “it”; the referent (“his place” in the preceding line) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:18]  ⁸ tn Here “saying” is supplied in the translation.

[39:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “leave.”

[39:12]  ¹⁶ tn The word is normally translated “believe” in the Bible. The idea is that of considering something dependable and acting on it. The idea of reliability is found also in the Niphal stem usages.

[39:12]  ¹⁷ tc There is a textual problem here: יָשׁוּב (yashuv) is the Kethib, meaning “[that] he will return”; יָשִׁיב (yashiv) is the Qere, meaning “that he will bring in.” This is the preferred reading, since the object follows it. For commentators who think the line too unbalanced for this, the object is moved to the second colon, and the reading “returns” is taken for the first. But the MT is perfectly clear as it stands.

[39:12]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “your seed”; this must be interpreted figuratively for what the seed produces.

[39:12]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “gather it”; the referent (the grain) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[39:12]  ²⁰ tn Simply, the MT has “and your threshing floor gather.” The “threshing floor” has to be an adverbial accusative of place.