Job 4:6

4:6 Is not your piety ¹  your confidence, ² 

and your blameless ways your hope? ³ 

Job 10:10

10:10 Did you not pour ⁴  me out like milk,

and curdle ⁵  me like cheese? ⁶ 

Job 22:5

22:5 Is not your wickedness great ⁷ 

and is there no end to your iniquity?

Job 31:3

31:3 Is it not misfortune for the unjust,

and disaster for those who work iniquity?

[4:6]  ¹ tn The word יִרְאָה (yir’ah, “fear”) in this passage refers to Job’s fear of the Lord, his reverential devotion to God. H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 46) says that on the lips of Eliphaz the word almost means “your religion.” He refers to Moffatt’s translation, “Let your religion reassure you.”

[4:6]  ² tn The word כִּסְלָתֶךָ (kislatekha, “your confidence”) is rendered in the LXX by “founded in folly.” The word כֶּסֶל (kesel) is “confidence” (see 8:14) and elsewhere “folly.” Since it is parallel to “your hope” it must mean confidence here.

[4:6]  ³ tn This second half of the verse simply has “your hope and the integrity of your ways.” The expression “the perfection of your ways” is parallel to “your fear,” and “your hope” is parallel to “your confidence.” This sentence is an example of casus pendens or extraposition: “as for your hope, it is the integrity of your ways” (see GKC 458 §143.d).

[10:10]  ⁴ tn The verb נָתַךְ (natakh) means “to flow,” and in the Hiphil, “to cause to flow.”

[10:10]  ⁵ tn This verb קָפָא (qafa’) means “to coagulate.” In the Hiphil it means “to stiffen; to congeal.”

[10:10]  ⁶ tn The verbs in v. 10 are prefixed conjugations; since the reference is to the womb, these would need to be classified as preterites.

[22:5]  ⁷ tn The adjective רַבָּה (rabbah) normally has the idea of “great” in quantity (“abundant,” ESV) rather than “great” in quality.