Discovery BoxJob 31:1-21
Context31:1 “I made a covenant with 1 my eyes;
how then could I entertain thoughts against a virgin? 2
31:2 What then would be one’s lot from God above,
one’s heritage from the Almighty 3 on high?
31:3 Is it not misfortune for the unjust,
and disaster for those who work iniquity?
31:4 Does he not see my ways
and count all my steps?
31:5 If 4 I have walked in falsehood,
and if 5 my foot has hastened 6 to deceit –
31:6 let him 7 weigh me with honest 8 scales;
then God will discover 9 my integrity.
31:7 If my footsteps have strayed from the way,
if my heart has gone after my eyes, 10
or if anything 11 has defiled my hands,
31:8 then let me sow 12 and let another eat,
and let my crops 13 be uprooted.
31:9 If my heart has been enticed by a woman,
and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door, 14
31:10 then let my wife turn the millstone 15 for another man,
and may other men have sexual relations with her. 16
31:11 For I would have committed 17 a shameful act, 18
an iniquity to be judged. 19
31:12 For it is a fire that devours even to Destruction, 20
and it would uproot 21 all my harvest.
31:13 “If I have disregarded the right of my male servants
or my female servants
when they disputed 22 with me,
31:14 then what will I do when God confronts me in judgment; 23
when he intervenes, 24
how will I respond to him?
31:15 Did not the one who made me in the womb make them? 25
Did not the same one form us in the womb?
31:16 If I have refused to give the poor what they desired, 26
or caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
31:17 If I ate my morsel of bread myself,
and did not share any of it with orphans 27 –
31:18 but from my youth I raised the orphan 28 like a father,
and from my mother’s womb 29
I guided the widow! 30
31:19 If I have seen anyone about to perish for lack of clothing,
or a poor man without a coat,
31:20 whose heart did not bless me 31
as he warmed himself with the fleece of my sheep, 32
31:21 if I have raised my hand 33 to vote against the orphan,
when I saw my support in the court, 34
[31:1] 1 tn The idea of cutting a covenant for something may suggest a covenant that is imposed, except that this construction elsewhere argues against it (see 2 Chr 29:10).
[31:1] 2 tn This half-verse is the effect of the covenant. The interrogative מָה (mah) may have the force of the negative, and so be translated “not to pay attention.”
[31:2] 3 tn Heb “lot of Shaddai,” which must mean “the lot from Shaddai,” a genitive of source.
[31:5] 4 tn The normal approach is to take this as the protasis, and then have it resumed in v. 7 after a parenthesis in v. 6. But some take v. 6 as the apodosis and a new protasis in v. 7.
[31:5] 5 tn The “if” is understood by the use of the consecutive verb.
[31:5] 6 sn The verbs “walk” and “hasten” (referring in the verse to the foot) are used metaphorically for the manner of life Job lived.
[31:6] 7 tn “God” is undoubtedly the understood subject of this jussive. However, “him” is retained in the translation at this point to avoid redundancy since “God” occurs in the second half of the verse.
[31:6] 8 tn The word צֶדֶךְ (tsedeq, “righteousness”) forms a fitting genitive for the scales used in trade or justice. The “scales of righteousness” are scales that conform to the standard (see the illustration in Deut 25:13-15). They must be honest scales to make just decisions.
[31:6] 9 tn The verb is וְיֵדַע (vÿyeda’, “and [then] he [God] will know”). The verb could also be subordinated to the preceding jussive, “so that God may know.” The meaning of “to know” here has more the idea of “to come to know; to discover.”
[31:7] 10 sn The meaning is “been led by what my eyes see.”
[31:7] 11 tc The word מֻאוּם (mu’um) could be taken in one of two ways. One reading is to represent מוּם (mum, “blemish,” see the Masorah); the other is for מְאוּמָה (mÿ’umah, “anything,” see the versions and the Kethib). Either reading fits the passage.
[31:8] 12 tn The cohortative is often found in the apodosis of the conditional clause (see GKC 320 §108.f).
[31:8] 13 tn The word means “what sprouts up” (from יָצָא [yatsa’] with the sense of “sprout forth”). It could refer metaphorically to children (and so Kissane and Pope), as well as in its literal sense of crops. The latter fits here perfectly.
[31:9] 14 tn Gordis notes that the word פֶּתַח (petakh, “door”) has sexual connotations in rabbinic literature, based on Prov 7:6ff. (see b. Ketubbot 9b). See also the use in Song 4:12 using a synonym.
[31:10] 15 tn Targum Job interpreted the verb טָחַן (takhan, “grind”) in a sexual sense, and this has influenced other versions and commentaries. But the literal sense fits well in this line. The idea is that she would be a slave for someone else. The second line of the verse then might build on this to explain what kind of a slave – a concubine (see A. B. Davidson, Job, 215).
[31:10] 16 tn Heb “bow down over her,” an idiom for sexual relations.
[31:11] 17 tn Heb “for that [would be].” In order to clarify the referent of “that,” which refers to v. 9 rather than v. 10, the words “I have committed” have been supplied in the translation.
[31:11] 18 tn The word for “shameful act” is used especially for sexual offenses (cf. Lev 18:27).
[31:11] 19 tc Some have deleted this verse as being short and irrelevant, not to mention problematic. But the difficulties are not insurmountable, and there is no reason to delete it. There is a Kethib-Qere reading in each half verse; in the first the Kethib is masculine for the subject but the Qere is feminine going with “shameless deed.” In the second colon the Kethib is the feminine agreeing with the preceding noun, but the Qere is masculine agreeing with “iniquity.”
[31:12] 20 tn Heb “to Abaddon.”
[31:12] 21 tn The verb means “to root out,” but this does not fit the parallelism with fire. Wright changed two letters and the vowels in the verb to get the root צָרַף (tsaraf, “to burn”). The NRSV has “burn to the root.”
[31:13] 22 tn This construction is an adverbial clause using the temporal preposition, the infinitive from רִיב (riv, “contend”), and the suffix which is the subjective genitive.
[31:14] 23 tn Heb “arises.” The LXX reads “takes vengeance,” an interpretation that is somewhat correct but unnecessary. The verb “to rise” would mean “to confront in judgment.”
[31:14] 24 tn The verb פָקַד (paqad) means “to visit,” but with God as the subject it means any divine intervention for blessing or cursing, anything God does that changes a person’s life. Here it is “visit to judge.”
[31:15] 25 tn Heb “him,” but the plural pronoun has been used in the translation to indicate that the referent is the servants mentioned in v. 13 (since the previous “him” in v. 14 refers to God).
[31:16] 26 tn Heb “kept the poor from [their] desire.”
[31:17] 27 tn Heb “and an orphan did not eat from it.”
[31:18] 28 tn Heb “he grew up with me.” Several commentators have decided to change the pronoun to “I,” and make it causative.
[31:18] 29 tn The expression “from my mother’s womb” is obviously hyperbolic. It is a way of saying “all his life.”
[31:18] 30 tn Heb “I guided her,” referring to the widow mentioned in v. 16.
[31:20] 31 tn The MT has simply “if his loins did not bless me.” In the conditional clause this is another protasis. It means, “if I saw someone dying and if he did not thank me for clothing them.” It is Job’s way of saying that whenever he saw a need he met it, and he received his share of thanks – which prove his kindness. G. R. Driver has it “without his loins having blessed me,” taking “If…not” as an Aramaism, meaning “except” (AJSL 52 [1935/36]: 164f.).
[31:20] 32 tn This clause is interpreted here as a subordinate clause to the first half of the verse. It could also be a separate clause: “was he not warmed…?”
[31:21] 33 tn The expression “raised my hand” refers to a threatening manner or gesture in the court rather than a threat of physical violence in the street. Thus the words “to vote” are supplied in the translation to indicate the setting.
[31:21] 34 tn Heb “gate,” referring to the city gate where judicial decisions were rendered in the culture of the time. The translation uses the word “court” to indicate this to the modern reader, who might not associate a city gate complex with judicial functions.
