Job 34:18-22

34:18 who says to a king, ¹  ‘Worthless man’ ² 

and to nobles, ‘Wicked men,’

34:19 who shows no partiality to princes,

and does not take note of ³  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, ⁴ 

people ⁵  are shaken ⁶  and they pass away.

The mighty are removed effortlessly. ⁷ 

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

he observes all a person’s ⁸  steps.

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

where evildoers can hide themselves. ⁹ 

[34:18]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn R. Gordis (Job, 389) thinks “people” here mean the people who count, the upper class.

[34:20]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “not by hand.” This means without having to use force.

[34:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “his”; the referent (a person) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:22]  ⁹ 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.”