Job 38:11

38:11 when I said, ‘To here you may come ¹ 

and no farther, ² 

here your proud waves will be confined’? ³ 

Job 38:35

38:35 Can you send out lightning bolts, and they go?

Will they say to you, ‘Here we are’?

Job 31:35

Job’s Appeal

31:35 “If only I had ⁴  someone to hear me!

Here is my signature – ⁵ 

let the Almighty answer me!

If only I had an indictment ⁶ 

that my accuser had written. ⁷ 

Job 33:2

33:2 See now, I have opened ⁸  my mouth;

my tongue in my mouth has spoken. ⁹ 

Job 28:14

28:14 The deep ¹⁰  says, ‘It is not with ¹¹  me.’

And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’

Job 16:15

16:15 I have sewed sackcloth on my skin, ¹² 

and buried ¹³  my horn ¹⁴  in the dust;

Job 27:13

27:13 This is the portion of the wicked man

allotted by God, ¹⁵ 

the inheritance that evildoers receive

from the Almighty.

Job 32:13

32:13 So do not say, ¹⁶  ‘We have found wisdom!

God will refute ¹⁷  him, not man!’

Job 9:19

9:19 If it is a matter of strength, ¹⁸ 

most certainly ¹⁹  he is the strong one!

And if it is a matter of justice,

he will say, ‘Who will summon me?’ ²⁰ 

[38:11]  ¹ tn The imperfect verb receives the permission nuance here.

[38:11]  ² tn The text has תֹסִיף (tosif, “and you may not add”), which is often used idiomatically (as in verbal hendiadys constructions).

[38:11]  ³ tn The MT literally says, “here he will put on the pride of your waves.” The verb has no expressed subject and so is made a passive voice. But there has to be some object for the verb “put,” such as “limit” or “boundary”; the translations “confined; halted; stopped” all serve to paraphrase such an idea. The LXX has “broken” at this point, suggesting the verse might have been confused – but “breaking the pride” of the waves would mean controlling them. Some commentators have followed this, exchanging the verb in v. 11 with this one.

[31:35]  ⁴ tn The optative is again introduced with “who will give to me hearing me? – O that someone would listen to me!”

[31:35]  ⁵ tn Heb “here is my ‘tav’” (הֵן תָּוִי, hen tavi). The letter ת (tav) is the last letter of the alphabet in Hebrew. In paleo-Hebrew the letter was in the form of a cross or an “X,” and so used for one making a mark or a signature. In this case Job has signed his statement and delivered it to the court – but he has yet to be charged. Kissane thought that this being the last letter of the alphabet, Job was saying, “This is my last word.” Others take the word to mean “desire” – “this is my desire, that God would answer me” (see E. F. Sutcliffe, “Notes on Job, textual and exegetical,” Bib 30 [1949]: 71-72; G. R. Driver, AJSL 3 [1935/36]: 166; P. P. Saydon, “Philological and Textual Notes to the Maltese Translation of the Old Testament,” CBQ 23 [1961]: 252). R. Gordis (Job, 355) also argues strongly for this view.

[31:35]  ⁶ tn Heb “a scroll,” in the context referring to a scroll containing the accusations of Job’s legal adversary (see the next line).

[31:35]  ⁷ tn The last line is very difficult; it simply says, “a scroll [that] my [legal] adversary had written.” The simplest way to handle this is to see it as a continuation of the optative (RSV).

[33:2]  ⁷ tn The perfect verbs in this verse should be classified as perfects of resolve: “I have decided to open…speak.”

[33:2]  ⁸ sn H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 210) says, “The self-importance of Elihu is boundless, and he is the master of banality.” He adds that whoever wrote these speeches this way clearly intended to expose the character rather than exalt him.

[28:14]  ¹⁰ sn The תְּהוֹם (tÿhom) is the “deep” of Gen 1:2, the abyss or primordial sea. It was always understood to be a place of darkness and danger. As remote as it is, it asserts that wisdom is not found there (personification). So here we have the abyss and the sea, then death and destruction – but they are not the places that wisdom resides.

[28:14]  ¹¹ tn The בּ (bet) preposition is taken here to mean “with” in the light of the parallel preposition.

[16:15]  ¹³ sn The language is hyperbolic; Job is saying that the sackcloth he has put on in his lamentable state is now stuck to his skin as if he had stitched it into the skin. It is now a habitual garment that he never takes off.

[16:15]  ¹⁴ tn The Poel עֹלַלְתִּי (’olalti) from עָלַל (’alal, “to enter”) has here the meaning of “to thrust in.” The activity is the opposite of “raising high the horn,” a picture of dignity and victory.

[16:15]  ¹⁵ tn There is no English term that captures exactly what “horn” is meant to do. Drawn from the animal world, the image was meant to convey strength and pride and victory. Some modern commentators have made other proposals for the line. Svi Rin suggested from Ugaritic that the verb be translated “lower” or “dip” (“Ugaritic – Old Testament Affinities,” BZ 7 [1963]: 22-33).

[27:13]  ¹⁶ tn The expression “allotted by God” interprets the simple prepositional phrase in the text: “with/from God.”

[32:13]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “lest you say.” R. Gordis (Job, 368) calls this a breviloquence: “beware lest [you say].” He then suggests the best reading for their quote to be, “We have attained wisdom, but only God can refute him, not man.” H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 209) suggests the meaning is a little different, namely, that they are saying they have found wisdom in Job, and only God can deal with it. Elihu is in effect saying that they do not need God, for he is quite capable for this.

[32:13]  ²⁰ tn The root is נָדַף (nadaf, “to drive away; to drive off”). Here it is in the abstract sense of “succeed in doing something; confound,” and so “refute; rebut.” Dhorme wants to change the meaning of the word with a slight emendation in the text, deriving it from אָלַף (’alaf, “instruct”) the form becoming יַלְּפֶנוּ (yallÿfenu) instead of יִדְּפֶנּוּ (yiddÿfenu), obtaining the translation “God will instruct us.” This makes a smoother reading, but does not have much support for it.

[9:19]  ²² tn The MT has only “if of strength.”

[9:19]  ²³ tn “Most certainly” translates the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh).

[9:19]  ²⁴ tn The question could be taken as “who will summon me?” (see Jer 49:19 and 50:44). This does not make immediate sense. Some have simply changed the suffix to “who will summon him.” If the MT is retained, then supplying something like “he will say” could make the last clause fit the whole passage. Another option is to take it as “Who will reveal it to me?” – i.e., Job could be questioning his friends’ qualifications for being God’s emissaries to bring God’s charges against him (cf. KJV, NKJV; and see 10:2 where Job uses the same verb in the Hiphil to request that God reveal what his sin has been that has led to his suffering).