Job 34:16-27

God Is Impartial and Omniscient

34:16 “If you have ¹  understanding, listen to this,

hear what I have to say. ² 

34:17 Do you really think ³ 

that one who hates justice can govern? ⁴ 

And will you declare guilty

the supremely righteous ⁵  One,

34:18 who says to a king, ⁶  ‘Worthless man’ ⁷ 

and to nobles, ‘Wicked men,’

34:19 who shows no partiality to princes,

and does not take note of ⁸  the rich more than the poor,

because all of them are the work of his hands?

34:20 In a moment they die, in the middle of the night, ⁹ 

people ¹⁰  are shaken ¹¹  and they pass away.

The mighty are removed effortlessly. ¹² 

34:21 For his eyes are on the ways of an individual,

he observes all a person’s ¹³  steps.

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

where evildoers can hide themselves. ¹⁴ 

34:23 For he does not still consider a person, ¹⁵ 

that he should come before God in judgment.

34:24 He shatters the great without inquiry, ¹⁶ 

and sets up others in their place.

34:25 Therefore, he knows their deeds,

he overthrows them ¹⁷  in the night ¹⁸ 

and they are crushed.

34:26 He strikes them for their wickedness, ¹⁹ 

in a place where people can see, ²⁰ 

34:27 because they have turned away from following him,

and have not understood ²¹  any of his ways,

[34:16]  ¹ tn The phrase “you have” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.

[34:16]  ² tn Heb “the sound of my words.”

[34:17]  ³ tn The force of הַאַף (ha’af) is “Is it truly the case?” The point is being made that if Job were right God could not be judging the world.

[34:17]  ⁴ tn The verb חָבַשׁ (khavash) has the basic idea of “to bind,” as in binding on the yoke, and then in the sense of subduing people under authority (cf. Assyrian absanu). The imperfect verb here is best expressed with the potential nuance.

[34:17]  ⁵ tn The two words could be taken separately, but they seem to form a fine nominal hendiadys, because the issue is God’s justice. So the word for power becomes the modifier.

[34:18]  ⁶ tc Heb “Does one say,” although some smooth it out to say “Is it fit to say?” For the reading “who says,” the form has to be repointed to הַאֹמֵר (ha’omer) meaning, “who is the one saying.” This reading is supported by the LXX, Vulgate, and Syriac. Also it seems to flow better with the following verse. It would be saying that God is over the rulers and can rebuke them. The former view is saying that no one rebukes kings, much less Job rebuking God.

[34:18]  ⁷ tn The word בְּלִיָּעַל (bÿliyya’al) means both “worthless” and “wicked.” It is common in proverbial literature, and in later writings it became a description of Satan. It is usually found with “son of.”

[34:19]  ⁸ tn The verb means “to give recognition; to take note of” and in this passage with לִפְנֵי (lifne, “before”) it means to show preferential treatment to the rich before the poor. The word for “rich” here is an unusual word, found parallel to “noble” (Isa 32:2). P. Joüon thinks it is a term of social distinction (Bib 18 [1937]: 207-8).

[34:20]  ⁹ tn Dhorme transposes “in the middle of the night” with “they pass away” to get a smoother reading. But the MT emphasizes the suddenness by putting both temporal ideas first. E. F. Sutcliffe leaves the order as it stands in the text, but adds a verb “they expire” after “in the middle of the night” (“Notes on Job, textual and exegetical,” Bib 30 [1949]: 79ff.).

[34:20]  ¹⁰ tn R. Gordis (Job, 389) thinks “people” here mean the people who count, the upper class.

[34:20]  ¹¹ tn The verb means “to be violently agitated.” There is no problem with the word in this context, but commentators have made suggestions for improving the idea. The proposal that has the most to commend it, if one were inclined to choose a new word, is the change to יִגְוָעוּ (yigva’u, “they expire”; so Ball, Holscher, Fohrer, and others).

[34:20]  ¹² tn Heb “not by hand.” This means without having to use force.

[34:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “his”; the referent (a person) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:22]  ¹⁴ 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.”

[34:23]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “for he does not put upon man yet.” This has been given a wide variety of interpretations, all of which involve a lot of additional thoughts. The word עוֹד (’od, “yet, still”) has been replaced with מוֹעֵד (mo’ed, “an appointed time,” Reiske and Wright), with the ם (mem) having dropped out by haplography. This makes good sense. If the MT is retained, the best interpretation would be that God does not any more consider (from “place upon the heart”) man, that he might appear in judgment.

[34:24]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “[with] no investigation.”

[34:25]  ¹⁷ tn The direct object “them” is implied and has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[34:25]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew term “night” is an accusative of time.

[34:26]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “under wicked men,” or “under wickednesses.” J. C. Greenfield shows that the preposition can mean “among” as well (“Prepositions B Tachat in Jes 57:5,” ZAW 32 [1961]: 227). That would allow “among wicked men.” It could also be “instead of” or even “in return for [their wickedness]” which is what the RSV does.

[34:26]  ²⁰ tn The text simply uses רֹאִים (ro’im): “[in the place where there are] seers,” i.e., spectators.

[34:27]  ²¹ tn The verb הִשְׂכִּילוּ (hiskilu) means “to be prudent; to be wise.” From this is derived the idea of “be wise in understanding God’s will,” and “be successful because of prudence” – i.e., successful with God.