Job 4:7-11

4:7 Call to mind now: ¹ 

Who, ²  being innocent, ever perished? ³ 

And where were upright people ⁴  ever destroyed? ⁵ 

4:8 Even as I have seen, ⁶  those who plow ⁷  iniquity ⁸ 

and those who sow trouble reap the same. ⁹ 

4:9 By the breath ¹⁰  of God they perish, ¹¹ 

and by the blast ¹²  of his anger they are consumed.

4:10 There is ¹³  the roaring of the lion ¹⁴ 

and the growling ¹⁵  of the young lion,

but the teeth of the young lions are broken. ¹⁶ 

4:11 The mighty lion ¹⁷  perishes ¹⁸  for lack of prey,

and the cubs of the lioness ¹⁹  are scattered.

Job 11:14

11:14 if ²⁰  iniquity is in your hand – put it far away, ²¹ 

and do not let evil reside in your tents.

Job 15:5-6

15:5 Your sin inspires ²²  your mouth;

you choose the language ²³  of the crafty. ²⁴ 

15:6 Your own mouth condemns ²⁵  you, not I;

your own lips testify against ²⁶  you.

Job 15:31-34

15:31 Let him not trust in what is worthless, ²⁷ 

deceiving himself;

for worthlessness will be his reward. ²⁸ 

15:32 Before his time ²⁹  he will be paid in full, ³⁰ 

and his branches will not flourish. ³¹ 

15:33 Like a vine he will let his sour grapes fall, ³² 

and like an olive tree

he will shed his blossoms. ³³ 

15:34 For the company of the godless is barren, ³⁴ 

and fire ³⁵  consumes the tents of those who accept bribes. ³⁶ 

Job 21:27

Futile Words, Deceptive Answers

21:27 “Yes, I know what you are thinking, ³⁷ 

the schemes ³⁸  by which you would wrong me. ³⁹ 

Job 32:3

32:3 With Job’s ⁴⁰  three friends he was also angry, because they could not find ⁴¹  an answer, and so declared Job guilty. ⁴² 

[4:7]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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.”

[4:8]  ⁶ tn The perfect verb here represents the indefinite past. It has no specific sighting in mind, but refers to each time he has seen the wicked do this.

[4:8]  ⁷ sn The figure is an implied metaphor. Plowing suggests the idea of deliberately preparing (or cultivating) life for evil. This describes those who are fundamentally wicked.

[4:8]  ⁸ tn The LXX renders this with a plural “barren places.”

[4:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “reap it.”

[4:9]  ¹⁰ tn The LXX in the place of “breath” has “word” or “command,” probably to limit the anthropomorphism. The word is מִנִּשְׁמַת (minnishmat) comprising מִן (min) + נִשְׁמַת (nishmat, the construct of נְשָׁמָה [nÿshamah]): “from/at the breath of.” The “breath of God” occurs frequently in Scripture. In Gen 2:7 it imparts life; but here it destroys it. The figure probably does indicate a divine decree from God (e.g., “depart from me”) – so the LXX may have been simply interpreting.

[4:9]  ¹¹ sn The statement is saying that if some die by misfortune it is because divine retribution or anger has come upon them. This is not necessarily the case, as the NT declares (see Luke 13:1-5).

[4:9]  ¹² tn The word רוּחַ (ruakh) is now parallel to נְשָׁמָה (nÿshamah); both can mean “breath” or “wind.” To avoid using “breath” for both lines, “blast” has been employed here. The word is followed by אַפוֹ (’afo) which could be translated “his anger” or “his nostril.” If “nostril” is retained, then it is a very bold anthropomorphism to indicate the fuming wrath of God. It is close to the picture of the hot wind coming off the desert to scorch the plants (see Hos 13:15).

[4:10]  ¹³ tn “There is” has been supplied to make a smoother translation out of the clauses.

[4:10]  ¹⁴ sn Eliphaz takes up a new image here to make the point that the wicked are destroyed – the breaking up and scattering of a den of lions. There are several words for “lion” used in this section. D. J. A. Clines observes that it is probably impossible to distinguish them (Job [WBC], 109, 110, which records some bibliography of those who have tried to work on the etymologies and meanings). The first is אַרְיֵה (’aryeh) the generic term for “lion.” It is followed by שַׁחַל (shakhal) which, like כְּפִיר (kÿfir), is a “young lion.” Some have thought that the שַׁחַל (shakhal) is a lion-like animal, perhaps a panther or leopard. KBL takes it by metathesis from Arabic “young one.” The LXX for this verse has “the strength of the lion, and the voice of the lioness and the exulting cry of serpents are quenched.”

[4:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “voice.”

[4:10]  ¹⁶ tn The verb belongs to the subject “teeth” in this last colon; but it is used by zeugma (a figure of speech in which one word is made to refer to two or more other words, but has to be understood differently in the different contexts) of the three subjects (see H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 46-47).

[4:11]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ tn The text literally has “sons of the lioness.”

[11:14]  ²⁰ tn Verse 14 should be taken as a parenthesis and not a continuation of the protasis, because it does not fit with v. 13 in that way (D. J. A. Clines, Job [WBC], 256).

[11:14]  ²¹ tn Many commentators follow the Vulgate and read the line “if you put away the sin that is in your hand.” They do this because the imperative comes between the protasis (v. 13) and the apodosis (v. 15) and does not appear to be clearly part of the protasis. The idea is close to the MT, but the MT is much more forceful – if you find sin in your hand, get rid of it.

[15:5]  ²² tn The verb אַלֵּף (’allef) has the meaning of “to teach; to instruct,” but it is unlikely that the idea of revealing is intended. If the verb is understood metonymically, then “to inspire; to prompt” will be sufficient. Dahood and others find another root, and render the verb “to increase,” reversing subject and object: “your mouth increases your iniquity.”

[15:5]  ²³ tn Heb “tongue.”

[15:5]  ²⁴ tn The word means “shrewd; crafty; cunning” (see Gen 3:1). Job uses clever speech that is misleading and destructive.

[15:6]  ²⁵ tn The Hiphil of this root means “declare wicked, guilty” (a declarative Hiphil), and so “condemns.”

[15:6]  ²⁶ tn The verb עָנָה (’anah) with the ל (lamed) preposition following it means “to testify against.” For Eliphaz, it is enough to listen to Job to condemn him.

[15:31]  ²⁷ tn The word, although difficult in its form, is “vanity,” i.e., that which is worthless. E. Dhorme (Job, 224) thinks that the form שָׁוְא (shav’) conceals the word שִׁיאוֹ (shi’o, “his stature”). But Dhorme reworks most of the verse. He changes נִתְעָה (nit’ah, “deceived”) to נֵדַע (neda’, “we know”) to arrive at “we know that it is vanity.” The last two words of the verse are then moved to the next. The LXX has “let him not think that he shall endure, for his end shall be vanity.”

[15:31]  ²⁸ tn This word is found in Job 20:18 with the sense of “trading.” It can mean the exchange of goods or the profit from them. Some commentators change תְמוּרָתוֹ (tÿmurato, “his reward”) because they wish to put it with the next verse as the LXX seems to have done (although the LXX does not represent this). Suggestions include תִּמֹרָתוֹ (timorato, “his palm tree”) and זְמֹרָתוֹ (zÿmorato, “his vine shoot”). A number of writers simply delete all of v. 31. H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 115) suggests the best reading (assuming one were going to make changes) would be, “Let him not trust in his stature, deceiving himself, for it is vanity.” And then put “his palm tree” with the next verse, he thinks that achieves the proper balance.

[15:32]  ²⁹ tn Heb “before his day.”

[15:32]  ³⁰ tn Those who put the last colon of v. 31 with v. 32 also have to change the verb תִּמָּלֵא (timmale’, “will be fulfilled”). E. Dhorme (Job, 225) says, “a mere glance at the use of yimmal…abundantly proves that the original text had timmal (G, Syr., Vulg), which became timmale’ through the accidental transposition of the ‘alep of bÿsi’o…in verse 31….” This, of course, is possible, if all the other changes up to now are granted. But the meaning of a word elsewhere in no way assures it should be the word here. The LXX has “his harvest shall perish before the time,” which could translate any number of words that might have been in the underlying Hebrew text. A commercial metaphor is not out of place here, since parallelism does not demand that the same metaphor appear in both lines.

[15:32]  ³¹ tn Now, in the second half of the verse, the metaphor of a tree with branches begins.

[15:33]  ³² tn The verb means “to treat violently” or “to wrong.” It indicates that the vine did not nourish the grapes well enough for them to grow, and so they dry up and drop off.

[15:33]  ³³ sn The point is that like the tree the wicked man shows signs of life but produces nothing valuable. The olive tree will have blossoms in the years that it produces no olives, and so eventually drops the blossoms.

[15:34]  ³⁴ tn The LXX renders this line: “for death is the witness of an ungodly man. “Death” represents “barren/sterile,” and “witness” represents “assembly.”

[15:34]  ³⁵ sn This may refer to the fire that struck Job (cf. 1:16).

[15:34]  ³⁶ tn Heb “the tents of bribery.” The word “bribery” can mean a “gift,” but most often in the sense of a bribe in court. It indicates that the wealth and the possessions that the wicked man has gained may have been gained unjustly.

[21:27]  ³⁷ tn The word is “your thoughts.” The word for “thoughts” (from חָצַב [khatsav, “to think; to reckon; to plan”]) has more to do with their intent than their general thoughts. He knows that when they talked about the fate of the wicked they really were talking about him.

[21:27]  ³⁸ tn For the meaning of this word, and its root זָמַם (zamam), see Job 17:11. It usually means the “plans” or “schemes” that are concocted against someone.

[21:27]  ³⁹ tn E. Dhorme (Job, 321) distinguishes the verb חָמַס (khamas) from the noun for “violence.” He proposes a meaning of “think, imagine”: “and the ideas you imagined about me.”

[32:3]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Job) has been specified in the translation to indicate whose friends they were.

[32:3]  ⁴¹ tn The perfect verb should be given the category of potential perfect here.

[32:3]  ⁴² tc This is one of the eighteen “corrections of the scribes” (tiqqune sopherim); it originally read, “and they declared God [in the wrong].” The thought was that in abandoning the debate they had conceded Job’s point.