Job 34:13

34:13 Who entrusted ¹  to him the earth?

And who put him over ²  the whole world?

Job 28:3

28:3 Man puts an end to the darkness; ³ 

he searches the farthest recesses

for the ore in the deepest darkness. ⁴ 

Job 38:5

38:5 Who set its measurements – if ⁵  you know –

or who stretched a measuring line across it?

[34:13]  ¹ tn The verb פָּקַד (paqad) means “to visit; to appoint; to number.” Here it means “to entrust” for care and governing. The implication would be that there would be someone higher than God – which is what Elihu is repudiating by the rhetorical question. No one entrusted God with this.

[34:13]  ² tn The preposition is implied from the first half of the verse.

[28:3]  ³ sn The text appears at first to be saying that by opening up a mine shaft, or by taking lights down below, the miner dispels the darkness. But the clause might be more general, meaning that man goes deep into the earth as if it were day.

[28:3]  ⁴ tn The verse ends with “the stone of darkness and deep darkness.” The genitive would be location, describing the place where the stones are found.

[38:5]  ⁵ tn The particle כּ (ki) is taken here for a conditional clause, “if you know” (see GKC 498 §159.dd). Others take it as “surely” with a biting irony.