Job 34:7-9

34:7 What man is like Job,

who ¹  drinks derision ²  like water!

34:8 He goes about ³  in company ⁴  with evildoers,

he goes along ⁵  with wicked men. ⁶ 

34:9 For he says, ‘It does not profit a man

when he makes his delight with God.’ ⁷ 

[34:7]  ¹ tn Heb “he drinks,” but coming after the question this clause may be subordinated.

[34:7]  ² tn The scorn or derision mentioned here is not against Job, but against God. Job scorns God so much, he must love it. So to reflect this idea, Gordis has translated it “blasphemy” (cf. NAB).

[34:8]  ³ tn The perfect verb with the vav (ו) consecutive carries the sequence forward from the last description.

[34:8]  ⁴ tn The word חֶבְרַה (khevrah, “company”) is a hapax legomenon. But its meaning is clear enough from the connections to related words and this context as well.

[34:8]  ⁵ tn The infinitive construct with the ל (lamed) preposition may continue the clause with the finite verb (see GKC 351 §114.p).

[34:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “men of wickedness”; the genitive is attributive (= “wicked men”).

[34:9]  ⁷ tn Gordis, however, takes this expression in the sense of “being in favor with God.”