Job 30:29

30:29 I have become a brother to jackals

and a companion of ostriches. ¹ 

Job 11:2

11:2 “Should not this ²  abundance of words be answered, ³ 

or should this ⁴  talkative man ⁵ 

be vindicated? ⁶ 

Job 15:2

15:2 “Does a wise man answer with blustery knowledge, ⁷ 

or fill his belly ⁸  with the east wind? ⁹ 

Job 16:8

16:8 You have seized me, ¹⁰ 

and it ¹¹  has become a witness;

my leanness ¹²  has risen up against me

and testifies against me.

Job 19:16

19:16 I summon ¹³  my servant, but he does not respond,

even though I implore ¹⁴  him with my own mouth.

Job 33:13

33:13 Why do you contend against him,

that he does not answer all a person’s ¹⁵  words?

Job 35:12

35:12 Then ¹⁶  they cry out – but he does not answer –

because of the arrogance of the wicked.

Job 37:23

37:23 As for the Almighty, ¹⁷  we cannot attain to him!

He is great in power,

but justice ¹⁸  and abundant righteousness he does not oppress.

[30:29]  ¹ sn The point of this figure is that Job’s cries of lament are like the howls and screeches of these animals, not that he lives with them. In Job 39:13 the female ostrich is called “the wailer.”

[11:2]  ² tc The LXX, Targum Job, Symmachus, and Vulgate all assume that the vocalization of רֹב (rov, “abundance”) should be רַב (rav, “great”): “great of words.” This would then mean “one who is abundant of words,” meaning, “a man of many words,” and make a closer parallel to the second half. But the MT makes good sense as it stands.

[11:2]  ³ tn The Niphal verb יֵעָנֶה (ye’aneh, “he answered”) would normally require a personal subject, but “abundance” functions as the subject in this sentence. The nuance of the imperfect is obligatory.

[11:2]  ⁴ tn The word is supplied here also for clarification.

[11:2]  ⁵ tn The bound construction “man of lips” means “a boaster” or “proud talker” (attributive genitive; and see GKC 417 §128.t). Zophar is saying that Job pours out this stream of words, but he is still not right.

[11:2]  ⁶ tn The word is literally “be right, righteous.” The idea of being right has appeared before for this word (cf. 9:15). The point here is that just because Job talks a lot does not mean he is right or will be shown to be right through it all.

[15:2]  ³ tn The Hebrew is דַעַת־רוּחַ (da’at-ruakh). This means knowledge without any content, vain knowledge.

[15:2]  ⁴ tn The image is rather graphic. It is saying that he puffs himself up with the wind and then brings out of his mouth blasts of this wind.

[15:2]  ⁵ tn The word for “east wind,” קָדִים (qadim), is parallel to “spirit/wind” also in Hos 12:2. The east wind is maleficent, but here in the parallelism it is so much hot air.

[16:8]  ⁴ tn The verb is קָמַט (qamat) which is used only here and in 22:16; it means “to seize; to grasp.” By God’s seizing him, Job means his afflictions.

[16:8]  ⁵ tn The subject is “my calamity.”

[16:8]  ⁶ tn The verb is used in Ps 109:24 to mean “to be lean”; and so “leanness” is accepted here for the noun by most. Otherwise the word is “lie, deceit.” Accordingly, some take it here as “my slanderer” or “my liar” (gives evidence against me).

[19:16]  ⁵ tn The verb קָרָא (qara’) followed by the ל (lamed) preposition means “to summon.” Contrast Ps 123:2.

[19:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “plead for grace” or “plead for mercy” (ESV).

[33:13]  ⁶ tc The MT has “all his words.” This must refer to “man” in the previous verse. But many wish to change it to “my words,” since it would be summarizing Job’s complaint to God.

[35:12]  ⁷ tn The adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) connects this verse to v. 11. “There” can be locative or temporal – and here it is temporal (= “then”).

[37:23]  ⁸ tn The name “Almighty” is here a casus pendens, isolating the name at the front of the sentence and resuming it with a pronoun.

[37:23]  ⁹ tn The MT places the major disjunctive accent (the atnach) under “power,” indicating that “and justice” as a disjunctive clause starting the second half of the verse (with ESV, NASB, NIV, NLT). Ignoring the Masoretic accent, NRSV has “he is great in power and justice.”