Job 4:3

4:3 Look, ¹  you have instructed ²  many;

you have strengthened ³  feeble hands. ⁴ 

Job 6:7

6:7 I ⁵  have refused ⁶  to touch such things; ⁷ 

they are like loathsome food to me. ⁸ 

Job 20:21

20:21 “Nothing is left for him to devour; ⁹ 

that is why his prosperity does not last. ¹⁰ 

Job 34:26

34:26 He strikes them for their wickedness, ¹¹ 

in a place where people can see, ¹² 

Job 36:22

36:22 Indeed, God is exalted in his power;

who is a teacher ¹³  like him?

Job 36:30

36:30 See how he scattered ¹⁴  his lightning ¹⁵  about him;

he has covered the depths ¹⁶  of the sea.

Job 39:8

39:8 It ranges the hills as its pasture,

and searches after every green plant.

[4:3]  ¹ tn The deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “behold”) summons attention; it has the sense of “consider, look.”

[4:3]  ² tn The verb יָסַר (yasar) in the Piel means “to correct,” whether by words with the sense of teach, or by chastening with the sense of punish, discipline. The double meaning of “teach” and “discipline” is also found with the noun מוּסָר (musar).

[4:3]  ³ tn The parallelism again uses a perfect verb in the first colon and an imperfect in the second; but since the sense of the line is clearly what Job has done in the past, the second verb may be treated as a preterite, or a customary imperfect – what Job repeatedly did in the past (GKC 315 §107.e). The words in this verse may have double meanings. The word יָסַר (yasar, “teach, discipline”) may have the idea of instruction and correction, but also the connotation of strength (see Y. Hoffmann, “The Use of Equivocal Words in the First Speech of Eliphaz [Job IV–V],” VT 30 [1980]: 114-19).

[4:3]  ⁴ tn The “feeble hands” are literally “hands hanging down.” This is a sign of weakness, helplessness, or despondency (see 2 Sam 4:1; Isa 13:7).

[6:7]  ⁵ tn The traditional rendering of נַפְשִׁי (nafshi) is “my soul.” But since נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) means the whole person, body and soul, it is best to translate it with its suffix simply as an emphatic pronoun.

[6:7]  ⁶ tn For the explanation of the perfect verb with its completed action in the past and its remaining effects, see GKC 311 §106.g.

[6:7]  ⁷ tn The phrase “such things” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied.

[6:7]  ⁸ tn The second colon of the verse is difficult. The word דְּוֵי (dÿve) means “sickness of” and yields a meaning “like the sickness of my food.” This could take the derived sense of דָּוָה (davah) and mean “impure” or “corrupt” food. The LXX has “for I loathe my food as the smell of a lion” and so some commentators emend “they” (which has no clear antecedent) to mean “I loathe it [like the sickness of my food].” Others have more freely emended the text to “my palate loathes my food” (McNeile) or “my bowels resound with suffering” (I. Eitan, “An unknown meaning of RAHAMIÝM,” JBL 53 [1934]: 271). Pope has “they are putrid as my flesh [= my meat].” D. J. A. Clines (Job [WBC], 159) prefers the suggestion in BHS, “it [my soul] loathes them as my food.” E. Dhorme (Job, 80) repoints the second word of the colon to get כְּבֹדִי (kÿvodi, “my glory”): “my heart [glory] loathes/is sickened by my bread.”

[20:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “for his eating,” which is frequently rendered “for his gluttony.” It refers, of course, to all the desires he has to take things from other people.

[20:21]  ¹⁰ sn The point throughout is that insatiable greed and ruthless plundering to satisfy it will be recompensed with utter and complete loss.

[34:26]  ¹³ tn Heb “under wicked men,” or “under wickednesses.” J. C. Greenfield shows that the preposition can mean “among” as well (“Prepositions B Tachat in Jes 57:5,” ZAW 32 [1961]: 227). That would allow “among wicked men.” It could also be “instead of” or even “in return for [their wickedness]” which is what the RSV does.

[34:26]  ¹⁴ tn The text simply uses רֹאִים (ro’im): “[in the place where there are] seers,” i.e., spectators.

[36:22]  ¹⁷ tn The word מוֹרֶה (moreh) is the Hiphil participle from יָרַה (yarah). It is related to the noun תּוֹרָה (torah, “what is taught” i.e., the law).

[36:30]  ²¹ tn The word actually means “to spread,” but with lightning as the object, “to scatter” appears to fit the context better.

[36:30]  ²² tn The word is “light,” but taken to mean “lightning.” Theodotion had “mist” here, and so most commentators follow that because it is more appropriate to the verb and the context.

[36:30]  ²³ tn Heb “roots.”