Job 34:19-29

34:19 who shows no partiality to princes,

and does not take note of ¹  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, ² 

people ³  are shaken ⁴  and they pass away.

The mighty are removed effortlessly. ⁵ 

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

he observes all a person’s ⁶  steps.

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

where evildoers can hide themselves. ⁷ 

34:23 For he does not still consider a person, ⁸ 

that he should come before God in judgment.

34:24 He shatters the great without inquiry, ⁹ 

and sets up others in their place.

34:25 Therefore, he knows their deeds,

he overthrows them ¹⁰  in the night ¹¹ 

and they are crushed.

34:26 He strikes them for their wickedness, ¹² 

in a place where people can see, ¹³ 

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

and have not understood ¹⁴  any of his ways,

34:28 so that they caused ¹⁵  the cry of the poor

to come before him,

so that he hears ¹⁶  the cry of the needy.

34:29 But if God ¹⁷  is quiet, who can condemn ¹⁸  him?

If he hides his face, then who can see him?

Yet ¹⁹  he is over the individual and the nation alike, ²⁰ 

[34:19]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ tn R. Gordis (Job, 389) thinks “people” here mean the people who count, the upper class.

[34:20]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “not by hand.” This means without having to use force.

[34:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “his”; the referent (a person) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:22]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Heb “[with] no investigation.”

[34:25]  ¹⁰ tn The direct object “them” is implied and has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[34:25]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew term “night” is an accusative of time.

[34:26]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn The text simply uses רֹאִים (ro’im): “[in the place where there are] seers,” i.e., spectators.

[34:27]  ¹⁴ 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.

[34:28]  ¹⁵ tn The verse begins with the infinitive construct of בּוֹא (bo’, “go”), showing the result of their impious actions.

[34:28]  ¹⁶ tn The verb here is an imperfect; the clause is circumstantial to the preceding clause, showing either the result, or the concomitant action.

[34:29]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:29]  ¹⁸ tn The verb in this position is somewhat difficult, although it does make good sense in the sentence – it is just not what the parallelism would suggest. So several emendations have been put forward, for which see the commentaries.

[34:29]  ¹⁹ tn The line simply reads “and over a nation and over a man together.” But it must be the qualification for the points being made in the previous lines, namely, that even if God hides himself so no one can see, yet he is still watching over them all (see H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 222).

[34:29]  ²⁰ tn The word translated “alike” (Heb “together”) has bothered some interpreters. In the reading taken here it is acceptable. But others have emended it to gain a verb, such as “he visits” (Beer), “he watches over” (Duhm), “he is compassionate” (Kissane), etc. But it is sufficient to say “he is over.”