Job 34:24-29

34:24 He shatters the great without inquiry, ¹ 

and sets up others in their place.

34:25 Therefore, he knows their deeds,

he overthrows them ²  in the night ³ 

and they are crushed.

34:26 He strikes them for their wickedness, ⁴ 

in a place where people can see, ⁵ 

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

and have not understood ⁶  any of his ways,

34:28 so that they caused ⁷  the cry of the poor

to come before him,

so that he hears ⁸  the cry of the needy.

34:29 But if God ⁹  is quiet, who can condemn ¹⁰  him?

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

Yet ¹¹  he is over the individual and the nation alike, ¹² 

[34:24]  ¹ tn Heb “[with] no investigation.”

[34:25]  ² tn The direct object “them” is implied and has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[34:25]  ³ tn The Hebrew term “night” is an accusative of time.

[34:26]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn The text simply uses רֹאִים (ro’im): “[in the place where there are] seers,” i.e., spectators.

[34:27]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn The verse begins with the infinitive construct of בּוֹא (bo’, “go”), showing the result of their impious actions.

[34:28]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:29]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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.”