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?

Job 4:21

4:21 Is not their excess wealth ⁸  taken away from them? ⁹ 

They die, ¹⁰  yet without attaining wisdom. ¹¹ 

Job 7:1

The Brevity of Life

7:1 “Does not humanity have hard service ¹²  on earth?

Are not their days also

like the days of a hired man? ¹³ 

Job 8:10

8:10 Will they not ¹⁴  instruct you and ¹⁵  speak to you,

and bring forth words ¹⁶ 

from their understanding? ¹⁷ 

Job 12:11

12:11 Does not the ear test words,

as ¹⁸  the tongue ¹⁹  tastes food? ²⁰ 

Job 13:11

13:11 Would not his splendor ²¹  terrify ²²  you

and the fear he inspires ²³  fall on you?

Job 21:29

21:29 Have you never questioned those who travel the roads?

Do you not recognize their accounts ²⁴  –

Job 31:4

31:4 Does he not see my ways

and count all my steps?

Job 31:15

31:15 Did not the one who made me in the womb make them? ²⁵ 

Did not the same one form us in the womb?

Job 10:20

10:20 Are not my days few? ²⁶ 

Cease, ²⁷  then, and leave ²⁸  me alone, ²⁹ 

that I may find a little comfort, ³⁰ 

Job 22:12

22:12 “Is not God on high in heaven? ³¹ 

And see ³²  the lofty stars, ³³  how high they are!

Job 1:10

1:10 Have you ³⁴  not made a hedge ³⁵  around him and his household and all that he has on every side? You have blessed ³⁶  the work of his hands, and his livestock ³⁷  have increased ³⁸  in the land.

[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.

[4:21]  ¹⁰ tn The word יֶתֶר (yeter, here with the suffix, יִתְרָם [yitram]) can mean “what remains” or “rope.” Of the variety of translations, the most frequently used idea seems to be “their rope,” meaning their tent cord. This would indicate that their life was compared to a tent – perfectly reasonable in a passage that has already used the image “houses of clay.” The difficulty is that the verb נָסַע (nasa’) means more properly “to tear up; to uproot.” and not “to cut off.” A similar idea is found in Isa 38:12, but there the image is explicitly that of cutting the life off from the loom. Some have posited that the original must have said their tent peg was pulled up” as in Isa 33:20 (A. B. Davidson, Job, 34; cf. NAB). But perhaps the idea of “what remains” would be easier to defend here. Besides, it is used in 22:20. The wealth of an individual is what has been acquired and usually is left over when he dies. Here it would mean that the superfluous wealth would be snatched away. The preposition בּ (bet) would carry the meaning “from” with this verb.

[4:21]  ¹¹ tc The text of the LXX does not seem to be connected to the Hebrew of v. 21a. It reads something like “for he blows on them and they are withered” (see Isa 40:24b). The Targum to Job has “Is it not by their lack of righteousness that they have been deprived of all support?”

[4:21]  ¹² sn They die. This clear verb interprets all the images in these verses – they die. When the house of clay collapses, or when their excess perishes – their life is over.

[4:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “and without wisdom.” The word “attaining” is supplied in the translation as a clarification.

[7:1]  ¹³ tn The word צָבָא (tsava’) is actually “army”; it can be used for the hard service of military service as well as other toil. As a military term it would include the fixed period of duty (the time) and the hard work (toil). Job here is considering the lot of all humans, not just himself.

[7:1]  ¹⁴ tn The שָׂכִיר (sakhir) is a hired man, either a man who works for wages, or a mercenary soldier (Jer 46:21). The latter sense may be what is intended here in view of the parallelism, although the next verse seems much broader.

[8:10]  ¹⁶ tn The sentence begins emphatically: “Is it not they.”

[8:10]  ¹⁷ tn The “and” is not present in the line. The second clause seems to be in apposition to the first, explaining it more thoroughly: “Is it not they [who] will instruct you, [who] will speak to you.”

[8:10]  ¹⁸ tn The noun may have been left indeterminate for the sake of emphasis (GKC 401-2 §125.c), meaning “important words.”

[8:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “from their heart.”

[12:11]  ¹⁹ tn The ו (vav) introduces the comparison here (see 5:7; 11:12); see GKC 499 §161.a.

[12:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the palate.”

[12:11]  ²¹ tn The final preposition with its suffix is to be understood as a pleonastic dativus ethicus and not translated (see GKC 439 §135.i).

[13:11]  ²² sn The word translated “his majesty” or “his splendor” (שְׂאֵתוֹ, sÿ’eto) forms a play on the word “show partiality” (תִּשָּׂאוּן, tissa’un) in the last verse. They are both from the verb נָשַׂא (nasa’, “to lift up”).

[13:11]  ²³ tn On this verb in the Piel, see 7:14.

[13:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “His dread”; the suffix is a subjective genitive.

[21:29]  ²⁵ tc The LXX reads, “Ask those who go by the way, and do not disown their signs.”

[31:15]  ²⁸ tn Heb “him,” but the plural pronoun has been used in the translation to indicate that the referent is the servants mentioned in v. 13 (since the previous “him” in v. 14 refers to God).

[10:20]  ³¹ tn Heb “are not my days few; cease/let it cease….” The versions have “the days of my life” (reading יְמֵי חֶלְדִי [yÿme kheldi] instead of יָמַי וַחֲדָל [yamay vakhadal]). Many commentators and the RSV, NAB, and NRSV accept this reading. The Kethib is an imperfect or jussive, “let it cease/ it will cease.” The Qere is more intelligible for some interpreters – “cease” (as in 7:16). For a discussion of the readings, see D. W. Thomas, “Some Observations on the Hebrew Root hadal,” VTSup 4 [1057]: 14). But the text is not impossible as it stands.

[10:20]  ³² tn Taking the form as the imperative with the ו (vav), the sentence follows the direct address to God (as in v. 18 as well as 7:16). This requires less changes. See the preceding note regarding the plausibility of the jussive. The point of the verse is clear in either reading – his life is short, and he wants the suffering to stop.

[10:20]  ³³ tn In the different suggestions for the line, the י (yod) of this word is believed to belong to the preceding word making “my life.” That would here leave an imperative rather than an imperfect. But if the Qere is read, then it would be an imperative anyway, and there would be no reason for the change.

[10:20]  ³⁴ tn Heb “put from me,” an expression found nowhere else. The Qere has a ו (vav) and not a י (yod), forming an imperative rather than an imperfect. H. H. Rowley suggests that there is an ellipsis here, “hand” needing to be supplied. Job wanted God to take his hand away from him. That is plausible, but difficult.

[10:20]  ³⁵ tn The verb בָּלַג (balag) in the Hiphil means “to have cheer [or joy]” (see 7:27; Ps 39:14). The cohortative following the imperatives shows the purpose or result – “in order that.”

[22:12]  ³⁴ tn This reading preserves the text as it is. The nouns “high” and “heavens” would then be taken as adverbial accusatives of place (see GKC 373-74 §118.g).

[22:12]  ³⁵ tn The parallel passage in Isa 40:26-27, as well as the context here, shows that the imperative is to be retained here. The LXX has “he sees.”

[22:12]  ³⁶ tn Heb “head of the stars.”

[1:10]  ³⁷ tn The use of the independent personal pronoun here emphasizes the subject of the verb: “Have you not put up a hedge.”

[1:10]  ³⁸ tn The verb שׂוּךְ (sukh) means “to hedge or fence up, about” something (BDB 962 s.v. I שׂוּךְ). The original idea seems to have been to surround with a wall of thorns for the purpose of protection (E. Dhorme, Job, 7). The verb is an implied comparison between making a hedge and protecting someone.

[1:10]  ³⁹ sn Here the verb “bless” is used in one of its very common meanings. The verb means “to enrich,” often with the sense of enabling or empowering things for growth or fruitfulness. See further C. Westermann, Blessing in the Bible and the Life of the Church (OBT).

[1:10]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “substance.” The herds of livestock may be taken by metonymy of part for whole to represent possessions or prosperity in general.

[1:10]  ⁴¹ tn The verb פָּרַץ (parats) means “to break through.” It has the sense of abundant increase, as in breaking out, overflowing (see also Gen 30:30 and Exod 1:12).