Job 5:2

5:2 For ¹  wrath kills the foolish person, ² 

and anger ³  slays the silly one.

Job 6:27

6:27 Yes, you would gamble ⁴  for the fatherless,

and auction off ⁵  your friend.

Job 13:8

13:8 Will you show him partiality? ⁶ 

Will you argue the case ⁷  for God?

Job 20:16

20:16 He sucks the poison ⁸  of serpents; ⁹ 

the fangs ¹⁰  of a viper ¹¹  kill him.

Job 20:21

20:21 “Nothing is left for him to devour; ¹² 

that is why his prosperity does not last. ¹³ 

Job 22:10

22:10 That is why snares surround you,

and why sudden fear terrifies you,

Job 24:7

24:7 They spend the night naked because they lack clothing;

they have no covering against the cold.

Job 27:23

27:23 It claps ¹⁴  its hands at him in derision

and hisses him away from his place. ¹⁵ 

Job 33:5

33:5 Reply to me, if you can;

set your arguments ¹⁶  in order before me

and take your stand!

Job 33:10

33:10 ¹⁷ Yet God ¹⁸  finds occasions ¹⁹  with me;

he regards me as his enemy!

Job 34:24

34:24 He shatters the great without inquiry, ²⁰ 

and sets up others in their place.

Job 38:38

38:38 when the dust hardens ²¹  into a mass,

and the clumps of earth stick together?

Job 42:6

42:6 Therefore I despise myself, ²² 

and I repent in dust and ashes!

[5:2]  ¹ tn One of the reasons that commentators transpose v. 1 is that the כִּי (ki, “for”) here seems to follow 4:21 better. If people die without wisdom, it is folly that kills them. But the verse also makes sense after 5:1. He is saying that complaining against God will not bring deliverance (v. 1), but rather, by such impatience the fool will bring greater calamity on himself.

[5:2]  ² tn The two words for “foolish person” are common in wisdom literature. The first, אֱוִיל (’evil), is the fool who is a senseless person; the פֹּתֶה (poteh) is the naive and silly person, the simpleton, the one who is easily led astray. The direct object is introduced with the preposition ל (lamed) in this verse (see GKC 366 §117.n).

[5:2]  ³ tn The two parallel nouns are similar; their related verbs are also paralleled in Deut 32:16 with the idea of “vex” and “irritate.” The first word כַּעַשׂ (ka’as) refers to the inner irritation and anger one feels, whereas the second word קִנְאָה (qin’ah) refers to the outward expression of the anger. In Job 6:2, Job will respond “O that my impatience [ka’as] were weighed….”

[6:27]  ⁴ tn The word “lots” is not in the text; the verb is simply תַּפִּילוּ (tappilu, “you cast”). But the word “lots” is also omitted in 1 Sam 14:42. Some commentators follow the LXX and repoint the word and divide the object of the preposition to read “and fall upon the blameless one.” Fohrer deletes the verse. Peake transfers it to come after v. 23. Even though it does not follow quite as well here, it nonetheless makes sense as a strong invective against their lack of sympathy, and the lack of connection could be the result of emotional speech. He is saying they are the kind of people who would cast lots over the child of a debtor, who, after the death of the father, would be sold to slavery.

[6:27]  ⁵ tn The verb תִכְרוּ (tikhru) is from כָּרָה (karah), which is found in 40:30 with עַל (’al), to mean “to speculate” on an object. The form is usually taken to mean “to barter for,” which would be an expression showing great callousness to a friend (NIV). NEB has “hurl yourselves,” perhaps following the LXX “rush against.” but G. R. Driver thinks that meaning is very precarious. As for the translation, “to speculate about [or “over”] a friend” could be understood to mean “engage in speculation concerning,” so the translation “auction off” has been used instead.

[13:8]  ⁷ sn The idiom used here is “Will you lift up his face?” Here Job is being very sarcastic, for this expression usually means that a judge is taking a bribe. Job is accusing them of taking God’s side.

[13:8]  ⁸ tn The same root is used here (רִיב, riv, “dispute, contention”) as in v. 6b (see note).

[20:16]  ¹⁰ tn The word is a homonym for the word for “head,” which has led to some confusion in the early versions.

[20:16]  ¹¹ sn To take the possessions of another person is hereby compared to sucking poison from a serpent – it will kill eventually.

[20:16]  ¹² tn Heb “tongue.”

[20:16]  ¹³ tn Some have thought this verse is a gloss on v. 14 and should be deleted. But the word for “viper” (אֶפְעֶה, ’ef’eh) is a rare word, occurring only here and in Isa 30:6 and 59:5. It is unlikely that a rarer word would be used in a gloss. But the point is similar to v. 14 – the wealth that was greedily sucked in by the wicked proves to be their undoing. Either this is totally irrelevant to Job’s case, a general discussion, or the man is raising questions about how Job got his wealth.

[20:21]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ sn The point throughout is that insatiable greed and ruthless plundering to satisfy it will be recompensed with utter and complete loss.

[27:23]  ¹⁶ tn If the same subject is to be carried through here, it is the wind. That would make this a bold personification, perhaps suggesting the force of the wind. Others argue that it is unlikely that the wind claps its hands. They suggest taking the verb with an indefinite subject: “he claps” means “one claps. The idea is that of people rejoicing when the wicked are gone. But the parallelism is against this unless the second line is changed as well. R. Gordis (Job, 296) has “men will clap their hands…men will whistle upon him.”

[27:23]  ¹⁷ tn Or “hisses at him from its place” (ESV).

[33:5]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew text does not contain the term “arguments,” but this verb has been used already for preparing or arranging a defense.

[33:10]  ²² sn See Job 10:13ff.; 19:6ff.; and 13:24.

[33:10]  ²³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:10]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew means “frustrations” or “oppositions.” The RSV has “displeasure,” NIV “faults,” and NRSV “occasions.” Rashi chose the word found in Judg 14:4 – with metathesis – meaning “pretexts” (תֹּאֲנוֹת, to’anot); this is followed by NAB, NASB.

[34:24]  ²⁵ tn Heb “[with] no investigation.”

[38:38]  ²⁸ tn The word means “to flow” or “to cast” (as in casting metals). So the noun developed the sense of “hard,” as in cast metal.

[42:6]  ³¹ tn Or “despise what I said.” There is no object on the verb; Job could be despising himself or the things he said (see L. J. Kuyper, “Repentance of Job,” VT 9 [1959]: 91-94).