Job 31:3

31:3 Is it not misfortune for the unjust,

and disaster for those who work iniquity?

Job 36:3

36:3 With my knowledge I will speak comprehensively, ¹ 

and to my Creator I will ascribe righteousness. ² 

Job 11:8

11:8 It is higher ³  than the heavens – what can you do?

It is deeper than Sheol ⁴  – what can you know?

Job 22:17

22:17 They were saying to God, ‘Turn away from us,’

and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’ ⁵ 

Job 34:22

34:22 There is no darkness, and no deep darkness,

where evildoers can hide themselves. ⁶ 

Job 36:23

36:23 Who has prescribed his ways for him?

Or said to him, ‘You have done what is wicked’?

Job 33:29

Elihu’s Appeal to Job ⁷ 

33:29 “Indeed, God does all these things,

twice, three times, in his dealings ⁸  with a person,

Job 34:8

34:8 He goes about ⁹  in company ¹⁰  with evildoers,

he goes along ¹¹  with wicked men. ¹² 

Job 34:32

34:32 Teach me what I cannot see. ¹³ 

If I have done evil, I will do so no more.’

Job 35:6

35:6 If you sin, how does it affect God? ¹⁴ 

If your transgressions are many,

what does it do to him? ¹⁵ 

Job 7:20

7:20 If ¹⁶  I have sinned – what have I done to you, ¹⁷ 

O watcher of men? ¹⁸ 

Why have you set me as your target? ¹⁹ 

Have I become a burden to you? ²⁰ 

[36:3]  ¹ tn Heb “I will carry my knowledge to-from afar.” The expression means that he will give a wide range to knowledge, that he will speak comprehensively.

[36:3]  ² tn This line gives the essence of all of Elihu’s speech – to give or ascribe righteousness to God against the charges of Job. Dhorme translates this “I will justify my Maker,” and that is workable if it carries the meaning of “declaring to be right.”

[11:8]  ¹ tn The Hebrew says “heights of heaven, what can you do?” A. B. Davidson suggested this was an exclamation and should be left that way. But most commentators will repoint גָּבְהֵי שָׁמַיִם (govhe shamayim, “heights of heaven”) to גְּבֹהָה מִשָּׁמַיִם (gÿvohah mishamayim, “higher than the heavens”) to match the parallel expression. The LXX may have rearranged the text: “heaven is high.”

[11:8]  ² tn Or “deeper than hell.” The word “Sheol” always poses problems for translation. Here because it is the opposite of heaven in this merism, “hell” would be a legitimate translation. It refers to the realm of the dead – the grave and beyond. The language is excessive; but the point is that God’s wisdom is immeasurable – and Job is powerless before it.

[22:17]  ¹ tn The form in the text is “to them.” The LXX and the Syriac versions have “to us.”

[34:22]  ¹ tn The construction of this colon uses the Niphal infinitive construct from סָתַר (satar, “to be hidden; to hide”). The resumptive adverb makes this a relative clause in its usage: “where the evildoers can hide themselves.”

[33:29]  ¹ sn Elihu will repeat these instructions for Job to listen, over and over in painful repetition. See note on the heading to 32:1.

[33:29]  ² tn The phrase “in his dealings” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[34:8]  ¹ tn The perfect verb with the vav (ו) consecutive carries the sequence forward from the last description.

[34:8]  ² tn The word חֶבְרַה (khevrah, “company”) is a hapax legomenon. But its meaning is clear enough from the connections to related words and this context as well.

[34:8]  ³ tn The infinitive construct with the ל (lamed) preposition may continue the clause with the finite verb (see GKC 351 §114.p).

[34:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “men of wickedness”; the genitive is attributive (= “wicked men”).

[34:32]  ¹ tn Heb “what I do not see,” more specifically, “apart from [that which] I see.”

[35:6]  ¹ tn Heb “him” (also in v. 7); the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[35:6]  ² tn See Job 7:20.

[7:20]  ¹ tn The simple perfect verb can be used in a conditional sentence without a conditional particle present (see GKC 494 §159.h).

[7:20]  ² sn Job is not here saying that he has sinned; rather, he is posing the hypothetical condition – if he had sinned, what would that do to God? In other words, he has not really injured God.

[7:20]  ³ sn In the Bible God is often described as watching over people to protect them from danger (see Deut 32:10; Ps 31:23). However, here it is a hostile sense, for God may detect sin and bring it to judgment.

[7:20]  ⁴ tn This word is a hapax legomenon from the verb פָּגָע (paga’, “meet, encounter”); it would describe what is hit or struck (as nouns of this pattern can indicate the place of the action) – the target.

[7:20]  ⁵ tn In the prepositional phrase עָלַי (’alay) the results of a scribal change is found (these changes were called tiqqune sopherim, “corrections of the scribes” made to avoid using improper language about God). The prepositional phrase would have been עָלֶךָ (’alekha, “to you,” as in the LXX). But it offended the Jews to think of Job’s being burdensome to God. Job’s sin could have repercussions on him, but not on God.