Job 30:5-7

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.

30:7 They brayed ⁶  like animals among the bushes

and were huddled together ⁷  under the nettles.

[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).

[30:7]  ⁶ tn The verb נָהַק (nahaq) means “to bray.” It has cognates in Arabic, Aramaic, and Ugaritic, so there is no need for emendation here. It is the sign of an animal’s hunger. In the translation the words “like animals” are supplied to clarify the metaphor for the modern reader.

[30:7]  ⁷ tn The Pual of the verb סָפַח (safakh, “to join”) also brings out the passivity of these people – “they were huddled together” (E. Dhorme, Job, 434).