Job 35:9

35:9 “People ¹  cry out

because of the excess of oppression; ² 

they cry out for help

because of the power ³  of the mighty. ⁴ 

Job 19:7

Job’s Abandonment and Affliction

19:7 “If ⁵  I cry out, ⁶  ‘Violence!’ ⁷ 

I receive no answer; ⁸ 

I cry for help,

but there is no justice.

Job 29:12

29:12 for I rescued the poor who cried out for help,

and the orphan who ⁹  had no one to assist him;

Job 30:20

30:20 I cry out to you, ¹⁰  but you do not answer me;

I stand up, ¹¹  and you only look at me. ¹² 

Job 30:28

30:28 I go about blackened, ¹³  but not by the sun;

in the assembly I stand up and cry for help.

Job 36:13

36:13 The godless at heart ¹⁴  nourish anger, ¹⁵ 

they do not cry out even when he binds them.

Job 24:12

24:12 From the city the dying ¹⁶  groan,

and the wounded ¹⁷  cry out for help,

but God charges no one with wrongdoing. ¹⁸ 

Job 38:41

38:41 Who prepares prey for the raven,

when its young cry out to God

and wander about ¹⁹  for lack of food?

[35:9]  ¹ tn The word “people” is supplied, because the sentence only has the masculine plural verb.

[35:9]  ² tn The final noun is an abstract plural, “oppression.” There is no reason to change it to “oppressors” to fit the early versions. The expression is literally “multitude of oppression.”

[35:9]  ³ tn Heb “the arm,” a metaphor for strength or power.

[35:9]  ⁴ tn Or “of the many” (see HALOT 1172 s.v. I רַב 6.a).

[19:7]  ⁵ tn The particle is used here as in 9:11 (see GKC 497 §159.w).

[19:7]  ⁶ tc The LXX has “I laugh at reproach.”

[19:7]  ⁷ tn The same idea is expressed in Jer 20:8 and Hab 1:2. The cry is a cry for help, that he has been wronged, that there is no justice.

[19:7]  ⁸ tn The Niphal is simply “I am not answered.” See Prov 21:13b.

[29:12]  ⁹ tn The negative introduces a clause that serves as a negative attribute; literally the following clause says, “and had no helper” (see GKC 482 §152.u).

[30:20]  ¹³ sn The implication from the sentence is that this is a cry to God for help. The sudden change from third person (v. 19) to second person (v. 20) is indicative of the intense emotion of the sufferer.

[30:20]  ¹⁴ sn The verb is simple, but the interpretation difficult. In this verse it probably means he stands up in prayer (Jer 15:1), but it could mean that he makes his case to God. Others suggest a more figurative sense, like the English expression “stand pat,” meaning “remain silent” (see Job 29:8).

[30:20]  ¹⁵ tn If the idea of prayer is meant, then a pejorative sense to the verb is required. Some supply a negative and translate “you do not pay heed to me.” This is supported by one Hebrew ms and the Vulgate. The Syriac has the whole colon read with God as the subject, “you stand and look at me.”

[30:28]  ¹⁷ tn The construction uses the word קֹדֵר (qoder) followed by the Piel perfect of הָלַךְ (halakh, “I go about”). The adjective “blackened” refers to Job’s skin that has been marred by the disease. Adjectives are often used before verbs to describe some bodily condition (see GKC 374-75 §118.n).

[36:13]  ²¹ tn The expression “godless [or hypocrite] in heart” is an intensification of the description. It conveys that they are intentionally godless. See Matt 23:28.

[36:13]  ²² tn Heb “they put anger.” This is usually interpreted to mean they lay up anger, or put anger in their hearts.

[24:12]  ²⁵ tc The MT as pointed reads “from the city of men they groan.” Most commentators change one vowel in מְתִים (mÿtim) to get מֵתִים (metim) to get the active participle, “the dying.” This certainly fits the parallelism better, although sense could be made out of the MT.

[24:12]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the souls of the wounded,” which here refers to the wounded themselves.

[24:12]  ²⁷ tc The MT has the noun תִּפְלָה (tiflah) which means “folly; tastelessness” (cf. 1:22). The verb, which normally means “to place; to put,” would then be rendered “to impute; to charge.” This is certainly a workable translation in the context. Many commentators have emended the text, changing the noun to תְּפִלָּה (tÿfillah, “prayer”), and so then also the verb יָשִׂים (yasim, here “charges”) to יִשְׁמַע (yishma’, “hears”). It reads: “But God does not hear the prayer” – referring to the groans.

[38:41]  ²⁹ tn The verse is difficult, making some suspect that a line has dropped out. The little birds in the nest hardly go wandering about looking for food. Dhorme suggest “and stagger for lack of food.”