Job 4:2

4:2 “If someone ¹  should attempt ²  a word with you,

will you be impatient? ³ 

But who can refrain from speaking ⁴ ?

Job 4:5

4:5 But now the same thing ⁵  comes to you,

and you are discouraged; ⁶ 

it strikes you,

and you are terrified. ⁷ 

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 7:7

7:7 Remember ¹³  that my life is but a breath,

that ¹⁴  my eyes will never again ¹⁵  see happiness.

Job 8:13

8:13 Such is the destiny ¹⁶  of all who forget God;

the hope of the godless ¹⁷  perishes,

Job 9:27

9:27 If I say, ¹⁸  ‘I will ¹⁹  forget my complaint,

I will change my expression ²⁰  and be cheerful,’ ²¹ 

Job 9:35

9:35 Then ²²  would I speak and not fear him,

but it is not so with me. ²³ 

Job 10:9

10:9 Remember that you have made me as with ²⁴  the clay;

will ²⁵  you return me to dust?

Job 10:13

10:13 “But these things ²⁶  you have concealed in your heart;

I know that this ²⁷  is with you: ²⁸ 

Job 13:13

13:13 “Refrain from talking ²⁹  with me so that ³⁰  I may speak;

then let come to me ³¹  what may. ³² 

Job 15:9

15:9 What do you know that we don’t know?

What do you understand that we don’t understand? ³³ 

Job 16:6

Abandonment by God and Man

16:6 “But ³⁴  if I speak, my pain is not relieved, ³⁵ 

and if I refrain from speaking

– how ³⁶  much of it goes away?

Job 29:22

29:22 After I had spoken, they did not respond;

my words fell on them drop by drop. ³⁷ 

Job 32:20

32:20 I will speak, ³⁸  so that I may find relief;

I will open my lips, so that I may answer.

Job 40:5

40:5 I have spoken once, but I cannot answer;

twice, but I will say no more.” ³⁹ 

Job 42:4

42:4 You said, ⁴⁰ 

‘Pay attention, and I will speak;

I will question you, and you will answer me.’

[4:2]  ¹ tn The verb has no expressed subject, and so may be translated with “one” or “someone.”

[4:2]  ² tn The Piel perfect is difficult here. It would normally be translated “has one tried (words with you)?” Most commentaries posit a conditional clause, however.

[4:2]  ³ tn The verb means “to be weary.” But it can have the extended sense of being either exhausted or impatient (see v. 5). A. B. Davidson (Job, 29) takes it in the sense of “will it be too much for you?” There is nothing in the sentence that indicates this should be an interrogative clause; it is simply an imperfect. But in view of the juxtaposition of the first part, this seems to make good sense. E. Dhorme (Job, 42) has “Shall we address you? You are dejected.”

[4:2]  ⁴ tn The construction uses a noun with the preposition: “and to refrain with words – who is able?” The Aramaic plural of “words” (מִלִּין, millin) occurs 13 times in Job, with the Hebrew plural ten times. The commentaries show that Eliphaz’s speech had a distinctly Aramaic coloring to it.

[4:5]  ⁵ tn The sentence has no subject, but the context demands that the subject be the same kind of trouble that has come upon people that Job has helped.

[4:5]  ⁶ tn This is the same verb used in v. 2, meaning “to be exhausted” or “impatient.” Here with the vav (ו) consecutive the verb describes Job’s state of mind that is a consequence of the trouble coming on him. In this sentence the form is given a present tense translation (see GKC 329 §111.t).

[4:5]  ⁷ tn This final verb in the verse is vivid; it means “to terrify, dismay” (here the Niphal preterite). Job will go on to speak about all the terrors that come on him.

[4:7]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ 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.”

[7:7]  ¹³ sn Job is probably turning here to God, as is clear from v. 11 on. The NIV supplies the word “God” for clarification. It was God who breathed breath into man’s nostrils (Gen 2:7), and so God is called to remember that man is but a breath.

[7:7]  ¹⁴ tn The word “that” is supplied in the translation.

[7:7]  ¹⁵ tn The verb with the infinitive serves as a verbal hendiadys: “return to see” means “see again.”

[8:13]  ¹⁷ tn The word אָרְחוֹת (’orkhot) means “ways” or “paths” in the sense of tracks of destiny or fate. The word דֶּרֶךְ (derekh, “way, road, path”) is used in a similar way (Isa 40:27; Ps 37:5). However, many commentators emend the text to read אַחֲרִית (’akharit, “end”) in harmony with the LXX. But Prov 1:19 (if not emended as well) confirms the primary meaning here without changing the text (see D. J. A. Clines, Job [WBC], 199).

[8:13]  ¹⁸ tn The word חָנֵף (khanef) is often translated “hypocrite.” But the root verb means “to be profane,” and this would be done by idolatry or bloodshed. It describes an irreligious person, a godless person. In Dan 11:32 the word seems to mean “make someone pagan.” The word in this verse is parallel to “those who forget God.”

[9:27]  ²¹ tn The construction here uses the infinitive construct with a pronominal suffix – “if my saying” is this, or “if I say.” For the conditional clause using אִם (’im) with a noun clause, see GKC 496 §159.u.

[9:27]  ²² tn The verbal form is a cohortative of resolve: “I will forget” or “I am determined to forget.” The same will be used in the second colon of the verse.

[9:27]  ²³ tn Heb “I will abandon my face,” i.e., change my expression. The construction here is unusual; G. R. Driver connected it to an Arabic word ‘adaba, “made agreeable” (IV), and so interpreted this line to mean “make my countenance pleasant” (“Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 76). M. Dahood found a Ugaritic root meaning “make, arrange” (“The Root ’zb II in Job,” JBL 78 [1959]: 303-9), and said, “I will arrange my face.” But see H. G. Williamson, “A Reconsideration of `azab II in Ugaritic,” ZAW 87 (1985): 74-85; Williamson shows it is probably not a legitimate cognate. D. J. A. Clines (Job [WBC], 219) observes that with all these suggestions there are too many homonyms for the root. The MT construction is still plausible.

[9:27]  ²⁴ tn In the Hiphil of בָּלַג (balag) corresponds to Arabic balija which means “to shine” and “to be merry.” The shining face would signify cheerfulness and smiling. It could be translated “and brighten [my face].”

[9:35]  ²⁵ tn There is no conjunction with this cohortative; but the implication from the context is that if God’s rod were withdrawn, if the terror were removed, then Job would speak up without fear.

[9:35]  ²⁶ tn The last half of the verse is rather cryptic: “but not so I with me.” NIV renders it “but as it now stands with me, I cannot.” This is very smooth and interpretive. Others transpose the two halves of the verse to read, “Since it is not so, I with myself // will commune and not fear him.” Job would be saying that since he cannot contend with God on equal terms, and since there is no arbiter, he will come on his own terms. English versions have handled this differently: “for I know I am not what I am thought to be” (NEB); “since this is not the case with me” (NAB); “I do not see myself like that at all” (JB).

[10:9]  ²⁹ tn The preposition “like” creates a small tension here. So some ignore the preposition and read “clay” as an adverbial accusative of the material (GKC 371 §117.hh but cf. 379 §119.i with reference to beth essentiae: “as it were, by clay”). The NIV gets around the problem with a different meaning for the verb: “you molded me like clay.” Some suggest the meaning was “as [with] clay” (in the same manner that we have “as [in] the day of Midian” [Isa 9:4]).

[10:9]  ³⁰ tn The text has a conjunction: “and to dust….”

[10:13]  ³³ sn “These things” refers to the affliction that God had brought on Job. They were concealed by God from the beginning.

[10:13]  ³⁴ sn The meaning of the line is that this was God’s purpose all along. “These things” and “this” refer to the details that will now be given in the next few verses.

[10:13]  ³⁵ sn The contradiction between how God had provided for and cared for Job’s life and how he was now dealing with him could only be resolved by Job with the supposition that God had planned this severe treatment from the first as part of his plan.

[13:13]  ³⁷ tn The Hebrew has a pregnant construction: “be silent from me,” meaning “stand away from me in silence,” or “refrain from talking with me.” See GKC 384 §119.ff. The LXX omits “from me,” as do several commentators.

[13:13]  ³⁸ tn The verb is the Piel cohortative; following the imperative of the first colon this verb would show purpose or result. The inclusion of the independent personal pronoun makes the focus emphatic – “so that I (in my turn) may speak.”

[13:13]  ³⁹ tn The verb עָבַר (’avar, “pass over”) is used with the preposition עַל (’al, “upon”) to express the advent of misfortune, namely, something coming against him.

[13:13]  ⁴⁰ tn The interrogative pronoun מָה (mah) is used in indirect questions, here introducing a clause [with the verb understood] as the object – “whatever it be” (see GKC 443-44 §137.c).

[15:9]  ⁴¹ tn The last clause simply has “and it is not with us.” It means that one possesses something through knowledge. Note the parallelism of “know” and “with me” in Ps 50:11.

[16:6]  ⁴⁵ tn “But” is supplied in the translation to strengthen the contrast.

[16:6]  ⁴⁶ tn The Niphal יֵחָשֵׂךְ (yekhasekh) means “to be soothed; to be assuaged.”

[16:6]  ⁴⁷ tn Some argue that מָה (mah) in the text is the Arabic ma, the simple negative. This would then mean “it does not depart far from me.” The interrogative used rhetorically amounts to the same thing, however, so the suggestion is not necessary.

[29:22]  ⁴⁹ tn The verb simply means “dropped,” but this means like the rain. So the picture of his words falling on them like the gentle rain, drop by drop, is what is intended (see Deut 32:2).

[32:20]  ⁵³ tn The cohortative expresses Elihu’s resolve to speak.

[40:5]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “I will not add.”

[42:4]  ⁶¹ tn This phrase, “you said,” is supplied in the translation to introduce the recollection of God’s words.