Job 39:2

39:2 Do you count the months they must fulfill,

and do you know the time they give birth? ¹ 

Job 5:24-25

5:24 And ²  you will know ³  that your home ⁴ 

will be secure, ⁵ 

and when you inspect ⁶  your domains,

you will not be missing ⁷  anything.

5:25 You will also know that your children ⁸  will be numerous,

and your descendants ⁹  like the grass of the earth.

[39:2]  ¹ tn Here the infinitive is again a substantive: “the time of their giving birth.”

[5:24]  ² sn Verses 19-23 described the immunity from evil and trouble that Job would enjoy – if he were restored to peace with God. Now, v. 24 describes the safety and peace of the homestead and his possessions if he were right with God.

[5:24]  ³ tn The verb is again the perfect, but in sequence to the previous structure so that it is rendered as a future. This would be the case if Job were right with God.

[5:24]  ⁴ tn Heb “tent.”

[5:24]  ⁵ tn The word שָׁלוֹם (shalom) means “peace; safety; security; wholeness.” The same use appears in 1 Sam 25:6; 2 Sam 20:9.

[5:24]  ⁶ tn The verb is פָּקַד (paqad, “to visit”). The idea here is “to gather together; to look over; to investigate,” or possibly even “to number” as it is used in the book of Numbers. The verb is the perfect with the vav consecutive; it may be subordinated to the imperfect verb that follows to form a temporal clause.

[5:24]  ⁷ tn The verb is usually rendered “to sin”; but in this context the more specific primary meaning of “to miss the mark” or “to fail to find something.” Neither Job’s tent nor his possessions will be lost.

[5:25]  ³ tn Heb “your seed.”

[5:25]  ⁴ tn The word means “your shoots” and is parallel to “your seed” in the first colon. It refers here (as in Isa 34:1 and 42:5) to the produce of the earth. Some commentators suggest that Eliphaz seems to have forgotten or was insensitive to Job’s loss of his children; H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 57) says his conventional theology is untouched by human feeling.