Job 5:16

5:16 Thus the poor have hope,

and iniquity ¹  shuts its mouth. ² 

Job 8:7

8:7 Your beginning ³  will seem so small,

since your future will flourish. ⁴ 

Job 11:4

11:4 For you have said, ‘My teaching ⁵  is flawless,

and I am pure in your sight.’

Job 11:17

11:17 And life ⁶  will be brighter ⁷  than the noonday;

though there be darkness, ⁸ 

it will be like the morning.

Job 17:6

17:6 He has made me ⁹  a byword ¹⁰  to people,

I am the one in whose face they spit. ¹¹ 

Job 18:12

18:12 Calamity is ¹²  hungry for him, ¹³ 

and misfortune is ready at his side. ¹⁴ 

Job 21:2

21:2 “Listen carefully ¹⁵  to my words;

let this be ¹⁶  the consolation you offer me. ¹⁷ 

Job 22:25

22:25 then the Almighty himself will be your gold, ¹⁸ 

and the choicest ¹⁹  silver for you.

Job 27:7

The Condition of the Wicked

27:7 “May my enemy be like the wicked, ²⁰ 

my adversary ²¹  like the unrighteous. ²² 

Job 29:15

29:15 I was eyes for the blind

and feet for the lame;

Job 30:29

30:29 I have become a brother to jackals

and a companion of ostriches. ²³ 

Job 30:31

30:31 My harp is used for ²⁴  mourning

and my flute for the sound of weeping.

Job 42:13

42:13 And he also had seven sons ²⁵  and three daughters.

[5:16]  ¹ tn Other translations render this “injustice” (NIV, NRSV, CEV) or “unrighteousness” (NASB).

[5:16]  ² tn The verse summarizes the result of God’s intervention in human affairs, according to Eliphaz’ idea that even-handed justice prevails. Ps 107:42 parallels v. 16b.

[8:7]  ³ tn The reference to “your beginning” is a reference to Job’s former estate of wealth and peace. The reference to “latter end” is a reference to conditions still in the future. What Job had before will seem so small in comparison to what lies ahead.

[8:7]  ⁴ tn The verb has the idea of “to grow”; here it must mean “to flourish; to grow considerably” or the like. The statement is not so much a prophecy; rather Bildad is saying that “if Job had recourse to God, then….” This will be fulfilled, of course, at the end of the book.

[11:4]  ⁵ tn The word translated “teaching” is related etymologically to the Hebrew word “receive,” but that does not restrict the teaching to what is received.

[11:17]  ⁷ tn Some translations add the pronoun to make it specifically related to Job (“your life”), but this is not necessary. The word used here has the nuance of lasting life.

[11:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “and more than the noonday life will arise.” The present translation is an interpretation in the context. The connotation of “arise” in comparison with the noonday, and in contrast with the darkness, supports the interpretation.

[11:17]  ⁹ tn The form in the MT is the 3fsg imperfect verb, “[though] it be dark.” Most commentators revocalize the word to make it a noun (תְּעֻפָה, tÿ’ufah), giving the meaning “the darkness [of your life] will be like the morning.” The contrast is with Job 10:22; here the darkness will shine like the morning.

[17:6]  ⁹ tn The verb is the third person, and so God is likely the subject. The LXX has “you have made me.” So most commentators clarify the verb in some such way. However, without an expressed subject it can also be taken as a passive.

[17:6]  ¹⁰ tn The word “byword” is related to the word translated “proverb” in the Bible (מָשָׁל, mashal). Job’s case is so well known that he is synonymous with afflictions and with abuse by people.

[17:6]  ¹¹ tn The word תֹפֶת (tofet) is a hapax legomenon. The expression is “and a spitting in/to the face I have become,” i.e., “I have become one in whose face people spit.” Various suggestions have been made, including a link to Tophet, but they are weak. The verse as it exists in the MT is fine, and fits the context well.

[18:12]  ¹¹ tn The jussive is occasionally used without its normal sense and only as an imperfect (see GKC 323 §109.k).

[18:12]  ¹² tn There are a number of suggestions for אֹנוֹ (’ono). Some take it as “vigor”: thus “his strength is hungry.” Others take it as “iniquity”: thus “his iniquity/trouble is hungry.”

[18:12]  ¹³ tn The expression means that misfortune is right there to destroy him whenever there is the opportunity.

[21:2]  ¹³ tn The intensity of the appeal is again expressed by the imperative followed by the infinitive absolute for emphasis. See note on “listen carefully” in 13:17.

[21:2]  ¹⁴ tc The LXX negates the sentence, “that I may not have this consolation from you.”

[21:2]  ¹⁵ tn The word תַּנְחוּמֹתֵיכֶם (tankhumotekhem) is literally “your consolations,” the suffix being a subjective genitive. The friends had thought they were offering Job consolation (Job 14:11), but the consolation he wants from them is that they listen to him and respond accordingly.

[22:25]  ¹⁵ tn The form for “gold” here is plural, which could be a plural of extension. The LXX and Latin versions have “The Almighty will be your helper against your enemies.”

[22:25]  ¹⁶ tn E. Dhorme (Job, 339) connects this word with an Arabic root meaning “to be elevated, steep.” From that he gets “heaps of silver.”

[27:7]  ¹⁷ sn Of course, he means like his enemy when he is judged, not when he is thriving in prosperity and luxury.

[27:7]  ¹⁸ tn The form is the Hitpolel participle from קוּם (qum): “those who are rising up against me,” or “my adversary.”

[27:7]  ¹⁹ tc The LXX made a free paraphrase: “No, but let my enemies be as the overthrow of the ungodly, and they that rise up against me as the destruction of transgressors.”

[30:29]  ¹⁹ sn The point of this figure is that Job’s cries of lament are like the howls and screeches of these animals, not that he lives with them. In Job 39:13 the female ostrich is called “the wailer.”

[30:31]  ²¹ tn The verb הָיָה (hayah, “to be”) followed by the preposition ל (lamed) means “to serve the purpose of” (see Gen 1:14ff., 17:7, etc.).

[42:13]  ²³ tn The word for “seven” is spelled in an unusual way. From this some have thought it means “twice seven,” or fourteen sons. Several commentators take this view; but it is probably not warranted.