Job 5:21-22

5:21 You will be protected ¹  from malicious gossip, ² 

and will not be afraid of the destruction ³  when it comes.

5:22 You will laugh at destruction and famine ⁴ 

and need not ⁵  be afraid of the beasts of the earth.

Job 6:21

6:21 For now ⁶  you have become like these streams that are no help; ⁷ 

you see a terror, ⁸  and are afraid.

Job 9:35

9:35 Then ⁹  would I speak and not fear him,

but it is not so with me. ¹⁰ 

Job 37:22

37:22 From the north he comes in golden splendor; ¹¹ 

around God is awesome majesty.

Job 37:24

37:24 Therefore people fear him,

for he does not regard all the wise in heart.” ¹² 

Job 1:9

1:9 Then Satan answered the Lord, “Is it for nothing that Job fears God? ¹³ 

Job 11:15

11:15 For ¹⁴  then you will lift up your face

without ¹⁵  blemish; ¹⁶ 

you will be securely established ¹⁷ 

and will not fear.

Job 32:6

Elihu Claims Wisdom

32:6 So Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite spoke up: ¹⁸ 

“I am young, ¹⁹  but you are elderly;

that is why I was fearful, ²⁰ 

and afraid to explain ²¹  to you what I know.

[5:21]  ¹ tn The Hebrew verb essentially means “you will be hidden.” In the Niphal the verb means “to be hidden, to be in a hiding place,” and protected (Ps 31:20).

[5:21]  ² tn Heb “from the lash [i.e., whip] of the tongue.” Sir 26:9 and 51:2 show usages of these kinds of expressions: “the lash of the tongue” or “the blow of the tongue.” The expression indicates that a malicious gossip is more painful than a blow.

[5:21]  ³ tn The word here is שׁוֹד (shod); it means “destruction,” but some commentators conjecture alternate readings: שׁוֹאָה (sho’ah, “desolation”); or שֵׁד (shed, “demon”). One argument for maintaining שׁוֹד (shod) is that it fits the assonance within the verse שׁוֹד…לָשׁוֹן…שׁוֹט (shot…lashon…shod).

[5:22]  ⁴ tc The repetition of “destruction” and “famine” here has prompted some scholars to delete the whole verse. Others try to emend the text. The LXX renders them as “the unrighteous and the lawless.” But there is no difficulty in having the repetition of the words as found in the MT.

[5:22]  ⁵ tn The negated jussive is used here to express the conviction that something cannot or should not happen (GKC 322 §109.e).

[6:21]  ⁷ tn There is a textual problem in this line, an issue of Kethib-Qere. Some read the form with the Qere as the preposition with a suffix referring to “the river,” with the idea “you are like it.” Others would read the form with the Kethib as the negative “not,” meaning “for now you are nothing.” The LXX and the Syriac read the word as “to me.” RSV follows this and changes כִּי (ki, “for”) to כֵּן (ken, “thus”). However, such an emendation is unnecessary since כִּי (ki) itself can be legitimately employed as an emphatic particle. In that case, the translation would be, “Indeed, now you are” in the sense of “At this time you certainly are behaving like those streams.” The simplest reading is “for now you have become [like] it.” The meaning seems clear enough in the context that the friends, like the river, proved to be of no use. But D. J. A. Clines (Job [WBC], 161) points out that the difficulty with this is that all references so far to the rivers have been in the plural.

[6:21]  ⁸ tn The perfect of הָיָה (hayah) could be translated as either “are” or “have been” rather than “have become” (cf. Joüon 2:373 §113.p with regard to stative verbs). “Like it” refers to the intermittent stream which promises water but does not deliver. The LXX has a paraphrase: “But you also have come to me without pity.”

[6:21]  ⁹ tn The word חֲתַת (khatat) is a hapax legomenon. The word חַת (khat) means “terror” in 41:25. The construct form חִתַּת (khittat) is found in Gen 35:5; and חִתִּית (khittit) is found in Ezek 26:17, 32:23). The Akkadian cognate means “terror.” It probably means that in Job’s suffering they recognized some dreaded thing from God and were afraid to speak any sympathy toward him.

[9:35]  ¹⁰ tn There is no conjunction with this cohortative; but the implication from the context is that if God’s rod were withdrawn, if the terror were removed, then Job would speak up without fear.

[9:35]  ¹¹ tn The last half of the verse is rather cryptic: “but not so I with me.” NIV renders it “but as it now stands with me, I cannot.” This is very smooth and interpretive. Others transpose the two halves of the verse to read, “Since it is not so, I with myself // will commune and not fear him.” Job would be saying that since he cannot contend with God on equal terms, and since there is no arbiter, he will come on his own terms. English versions have handled this differently: “for I know I am not what I am thought to be” (NEB); “since this is not the case with me” (NAB); “I do not see myself like that at all” (JB).

[37:22]  ¹³ tn The MT has “out of the north comes gold.” Left in that sense the line seems irrelevant. The translation “golden splendor” (with RV, RSV, NRSV, NIV) depends upon the context of theophany. Others suggest “golden rays” (Dhorme), the aurora borealis (Graetz, Gray), or some mythological allusion (Pope), such as Baal’s palace. Golden rays or splendor is what is intended, although the reference is not to a natural phenomenon – it is something that would suggest the glory of God.

[37:24]  ¹⁶ sn The phrase “wise of heart” was used in Job 9:4 in a negative sense.

[1:9]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew form has the interrogative ה (he) on the adverb חִנָּם (khinnam, “gratis”), a derivative either of the verb חָנַן (khanan, “to be gracious, show favor”), or its related noun חֵן (khen, “grace, favor”). The adverb has the sense of “free; gratis; gratuitously; for nothing; for no reason” (see BDB 336 s.v. חִנָּם). The idea is that Satan does not disagree that Job is pious, but that Job is loyal to God because of what he receives from God. He will test the sincerity of Job.

[11:15]  ²² tn The absolute certainty of the statement is communicated with the addition of כִּי (ki) (see GKC 498 §159.ee).

[11:15]  ²³ tn For this use of the preposition מִן (min) see GKC 382 §119.w.

[11:15]  ²⁴ tn The word “lift up” is chosen to recall Job’s statement that he could not lift up his head (10:15); and the words “without spot” recall his words “filled with shame.” The sentence here says that he will lift up his face in innocence and show no signs of God’s anger on him.

[11:15]  ²⁵ tn The form מֻצָק (mutsaq) is a Hophal participle from יָצַק (yatsaq, “to pour”). The idea is that of metal being melted down and then poured to make a statue, and so hard, firm, solid. The LXX reads the verse, “for thus your face shall shine again, like pure water, and you shall divest yourself of uncleanness, and shall not fear.”

[32:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “answered and said.”

[32:6]  ²⁶ tn The text has “small in days.”

[32:6]  ²⁷ tn The verb זָחַלְתִּי (zakhalti) is found only here in the OT, but it is found in a ninth century Aramaic inscription as well as in Biblical Aramaic. It has the meaning “to be timid” (see H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 208).

[32:6]  ²⁸ tn The Piel infinitive with the preposition (מֵחַוֹּת, mekhavvot) means “from explaining.” The phrase is the complement: “explain” what Elihu feared.