Job 4:11

4:11 The mighty lion ¹  perishes ²  for lack of prey,

and the cubs of the lioness ³  are scattered.

Job 29:13

29:13 the blessing of the dying man descended on me, ⁴ 

and I made the widow’s heart rejoice; ⁵ 

Job 30:2

30:2 Moreover, the strength of their ⁶  hands –

what use was it to me?

Men whose strength ⁷  had perished;

Job 4:7

4:7 Call to mind now: ⁸ 

Who, ⁹  being innocent, ever perished? ¹⁰ 

And where were upright people ¹¹  ever destroyed? ¹² 

Job 11:20

11:20 But the eyes of the wicked fail, ¹³ 

and escape ¹⁴  eludes them;

their one hope ¹⁵  is to breathe their last.” ¹⁶ 

Job 18:17

18:17 His memory perishes from the earth,

he has no name in the land. ¹⁷ 

[4:11]  ¹ tn The word לַיִשׁ (layish) traditionally rendered “strong lion,” occurs only here and in Prov 30:30 and Isa 30:6. It has cognates in several of the Semitic languages, and so seems to indicate lion as king of the beasts.

[4:11]  ² tn The form of the verb is the Qal active participle; it stresses the characteristic action of the verb as if a standard universal truth.

[4:11]  ³ tn The text literally has “sons of the lioness.”

[29:13]  ⁴ tn The verb is simply בּוֹא (bo’, “to come; to enter”). With the preposition עַל (’al, “upon”) it could mean “came to me,” or “came upon me,” i.e., descended (see R. Gordis, Job, 320).

[29:13]  ⁵ tn The verb אַרְנִן (’arnin) is from רָנַן (ranan, “to give a ringing cry”) but here “cause to give a ringing cry,” i.e., shout of joy. The rejoicing envisioned in this word is far greater than what the words “sing” or “rejoice” suggest.

[30:2]  ⁷ tn The reference is to the fathers of the scorners, who are here regarded as weak and worthless.

[30:2]  ⁸ tn The word כֶּלַח (kelakh) only occurs in Job 5:26; but the Arabic cognate gives this meaning “strength.” Others suggest כָּלַח (kalakh, “old age”), ֹכּל־חַיִל (kol-khayil, “all vigor”), כֹּל־לֵחַ (kol-leakh, “all freshness”), and the like. But there is no reason for such emendation.

[4:7]  ¹⁰ sn Eliphaz will put his thesis forward first negatively and then positively (vv. 8ff). He will argue that the suffering of the righteous is disciplinary and not for their destruction. He next will argue that it is the wicked who deserve judgment.

[4:7]  ¹¹ tn The use of the independent personal pronoun is emphatic, almost as an enclitic to emphasize interrogatives: “who indeed….” (GKC 442 §136.c).

[4:7]  ¹² tn The perfect verb in this line has the nuance of the past tense to express the unique past – the uniqueness of the action is expressed with “ever” (“who has ever perished”).

[4:7]  ¹³ tn The adjective is used here substantivally. Without the article the word stresses the meaning of “uprightness.” Job will use “innocent” and “upright” together in 17:8.

[4:7]  ¹⁴ tn The Niphal means “to be hidden” (see the Piel in 6:10; 15:18; and 27:11); the connotation here is “destroyed” or “annihilated.”

[11:20]  ¹³ tn The verb כָּלָה (kalah) means “to fail, cease, fade away.” The fading of the eyes, i.e., loss of sight, loss of life’s vitality, indicates imminent death.

[11:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb a “place of escape” (with this noun pattern). There is no place to escape to because they all perish.

[11:20]  ¹⁵ tn The word is to be interpreted as a metonymy; it represents what is hoped for.

[11:20]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the breathing out of the soul”; cf. KJV, ASV “the giving up of the ghost.” The line is simply saying that the brightest hope that the wicked have is death.

[18:17]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “outside.” Cf. ESV, “in the street,” referring to absence from his community’s memory.