Job 5:24

5:24 And ¹  you will know ²  that your home ³ 

will be secure, ⁴ 

and when you inspect ⁵  your domains,

you will not be missing ⁶  anything.

Job 6:11

6:11 What is my strength, that I should wait? ⁷ 

and what is my end, ⁸ 

that I should prolong my life?

Job 7:8

7:8 The eye of him who sees me now will see me no more; ⁹ 

your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone. ¹⁰ 

Job 8:15

8:15 He leans against his house but it does not hold up, ¹¹ 

he takes hold ¹²  of it but it does not stand.

Job 11:18

11:18 And you will be secure, because there is hope;

you will be protected ¹³ 

and will take your rest in safety.

Job 30:26

30:26 But when I hoped for good, trouble came;

when I expected light, then darkness came.

Job 31:1

Job Vindicates Himself

31:1 “I made a covenant with ¹⁴  my eyes;

how then could I entertain thoughts against a virgin? ¹⁵ 

Job 31:16

31:16 If I have refused to give the poor what they desired, ¹⁶ 

or caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

Job 39:12

39:12 Can you count on ¹⁷  it to bring in ¹⁸  your grain, ¹⁹ 

and gather the grain ²⁰  to your threshing floor? ²¹ 

[5:24]  ¹ sn Verses 19-23 described the immunity from evil and trouble that Job would enjoy – if he were restored to peace with God. Now, v. 24 describes the safety and peace of the homestead and his possessions if he were right with God.

[5:24]  ² tn The verb is again the perfect, but in sequence to the previous structure so that it is rendered as a future. This would be the case if Job were right with God.

[5:24]  ³ tn Heb “tent.”

[5:24]  ⁴ tn The word שָׁלוֹם (shalom) means “peace; safety; security; wholeness.” The same use appears in 1 Sam 25:6; 2 Sam 20:9.

[5:24]  ⁵ tn The verb is פָּקַד (paqad, “to visit”). The idea here is “to gather together; to look over; to investigate,” or possibly even “to number” as it is used in the book of Numbers. The verb is the perfect with the vav consecutive; it may be subordinated to the imperfect verb that follows to form a temporal clause.

[5:24]  ⁶ tn The verb is usually rendered “to sin”; but in this context the more specific primary meaning of “to miss the mark” or “to fail to find something.” Neither Job’s tent nor his possessions will be lost.

[6:11]  ⁷ sn Now, in vv. 11-13, Job proceeds to describe his hopeless condition. In so doing, he is continuing his defense of his despair and lament. The section begins with these rhetorical questions in which Job affirms that he does not have the strength to wait for the blessings that Eliphaz is talking about.

[6:11]  ⁸ tn The word translated “my end” is קִצִּי (qitsi). It refers to the termination of his life. In Ps 39:5 it is parallel to “the measure of my days.” In a sense, Job is asking what future he has. To him, the “end” of his affliction can only be death.

[7:8]  ¹³ sn The meaning of the verse is that God will relent, but it will be too late. God now sees him with a hostile eye; when he looks for him, or looks upon him in friendliness, it will be too late.

[7:8]  ¹⁴ tn This verse is omitted in the LXX and so by several commentators. But the verb שׁוּר (shur, “turn, return”) is so characteristic of Job (10 times) that the verse seems appropriate here.

[8:15]  ¹⁹ tn The verb עָמַד (’amad, “to stand”) is almost synonymous with the parallel קוּם (qum, “to rise; to stand”). The distinction is that the former means “to remain standing” (so it is translated here “hold up”), and the latter “rise, stand up.”

[8:15]  ²⁰ sn The idea is that he grabs hold of the house, not to hold it up, but to hold himself up or support himself. But it cannot support him. This idea applies to both the spider’s web and the false security of the pagan.

[11:18]  ²⁵ tn The Hebrew verb means “to dig”; but this does not provide a good meaning for the verse. A. B. Davidson offers an interpretation of “search,” suggesting that before retiring at night Job would search and find everything in order. Some offer a better solution, namely, redefining the word on the basis of Arabic hafara, “to protect” and repointing it to וְחֻפַרְתָּ (vÿkhufarta, “you will be protected”). Other attempts to make sense of the line have involved the same process, but they are less convincing (for some of the more plausible proposals, see D. J. A. Clines, Job [WBC], 257).

[31:1]  ³¹ tn The idea of cutting a covenant for something may suggest a covenant that is imposed, except that this construction elsewhere argues against it (see 2 Chr 29:10).

[31:1]  ³² tn This half-verse is the effect of the covenant. The interrogative מָה (mah) may have the force of the negative, and so be translated “not to pay attention.”

[31:16]  ³⁷ tn Heb “kept the poor from [their] desire.”

[39:12]  ⁴³ tn The word is normally translated “believe” in the Bible. The idea is that of considering something dependable and acting on it. The idea of reliability is found also in the Niphal stem usages.

[39:12]  ⁴⁴ tc There is a textual problem here: יָשׁוּב (yashuv) is the Kethib, meaning “[that] he will return”; יָשִׁיב (yashiv) is the Qere, meaning “that he will bring in.” This is the preferred reading, since the object follows it. For commentators who think the line too unbalanced for this, the object is moved to the second colon, and the reading “returns” is taken for the first. But the MT is perfectly clear as it stands.

[39:12]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “your seed”; this must be interpreted figuratively for what the seed produces.

[39:12]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “gather it”; the referent (the grain) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[39:12]  ⁴⁷ tn Simply, the MT has “and your threshing floor gather.” The “threshing floor” has to be an adverbial accusative of place.