Job 30:5-6

30:5 They were banished from the community ¹  –

people ²  shouted at them

like they would shout at thieves ³  –

30:6 so that they had to live ⁴ 

in the dry stream beds, ⁵ 

in the holes of the ground, and among the rocks.

[30:5]  ¹ tn The word גֵּו (gev) is an Aramaic term meaning “midst,” indicating “midst [of society].” But there is also a Phoenician word that means “community” (DISO 48).

[30:5]  ² tn The form simply is the plural verb, but it means those who drove them from society.

[30:5]  ³ tn The text merely says “as thieves,” but it obviously compares the poor to the thieves.

[30:6]  ⁴ tn This use of the infinitive construct expresses that they were compelled to do something (see GKC 348-49 §114.h, k).

[30:6]  ⁵ tn The adjectives followed by a partitive genitive take on the emphasis of a superlative: “in the most horrible of valleys” (see GKC 431 §133.h).