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 6:2

6:2 “Oh, ⁷  if only my grief ⁸  could be weighed, ⁹ 

and my misfortune laid ¹⁰  on the scales too! ¹¹ 

Job 9:33

9:33 Nor is there an arbiter ¹²  between us,

who ¹³  might lay ¹⁴  his hand on us both, ¹⁵ 

Job 10:20

10:20 Are not my days few? ¹⁶ 

Cease, ¹⁷  then, and leave ¹⁸  me alone, ¹⁹ 

that I may find a little comfort, ²⁰ 

Job 13:19

13:19 Who ²¹  will contend with me?

If anyone can, I will be silent and die. ²² 

Job 17:11

17:11 My days have passed, my plans ²³  are shattered,

even ²⁴  the desires ²⁵  of my heart.

Job 19:8

19:8 He has blocked ²⁶  my way so I cannot pass,

and has set darkness ²⁷  over my paths.

Job 31:25

31:25 if I have rejoiced because of the extent of my wealth,

or because of the great wealth my hand had gained,

Job 36:12

36:12 But if they refuse to listen,

they pass over the river of death, ²⁸ 

and expire without knowledge.

Job 38:5

38:5 Who set its measurements – if ²⁹  you know –

or who stretched a measuring line across it?

Job 39:11

39:11 Will you rely on it because its strength is great?

Will you commit ³⁰  your labor to it?

Job 39:24

39:24 In excitement and impatience it consumes the ground; ³¹ 

it cannot stand still ³²  when the trumpet is blown.

Job 41:30

41:30 Its underparts ³³  are the sharp points of potsherds,

it leaves its mark in the mud

like a threshing sledge. ³⁴ 

[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.

[6:2]  ⁷ tn The conjunction לוּ (lu, “if, if only”) introduces the wish – an unrealizable wish – with the Niphal imperfect.

[6:2]  ⁸ tn Job pairs כַּעְסִי (ka’si, “my grief”) and הַיָּתִי (hayyati, “my misfortune”). The first word, used in Job 4:2, refers to Job’s whole demeanor that he shows his friends – the impatient and vexed expression of his grief. The second word expresses his misfortune, the cause of his grief. Job wants these placed together in the balances so that his friends could see the misfortune is greater than the grief. The word for “misfortune” is a Kethib-Qere reading. The two words have essentially the same meaning; they derive from the verb הָוַה (havah, “to fall”) and so mean a misfortune.

[6:2]  ⁹ tn The Qal infinitive absolute is here used to intensify the Niphal imperfect (see GKC 344-45 §113.w). The infinitive absolute intensifies the wish as well as the idea of weighing.

[6:2]  ¹⁰ tn The third person plural verb is used here; it expresses an indefinite subject and is treated as a passive (see GKC 460 §144.g).

[6:2]  ¹¹ tn The adverb normally means “together,” but it can also mean “similarly, too.” In this verse it may not mean that the two things are to be weighed together, but that the whole calamity should be put on the scales (see A. B. Davidson, Job, 43).

[9:33]  ¹³ tn The participle מוֹכִיחַ (mokhiakh) is the “arbiter” or “mediator.” The word comes from the verb יָכַח (yakhakh, “decide, judge”), which is concerned with legal and nonlegal disputes. The verbal forms can be used to describe the beginning of a dispute, the disputation in progress, or the settling of it (here, and in Isa 1:18).

[9:33]  ¹⁴ tn The relative pronoun is understood in this clause.

[9:33]  ¹⁵ tn The jussive in conditional sentences retains its voluntative sense: let something be so, and this must happen as a consequence (see GKC 323 §109.i).

[9:33]  ¹⁶ sn The idiom of “lay his hand on the two of us” may come from a custom of a judge putting his hands on the two in order to show that he is taking them both under his jurisdiction. The expression can also be used for protection (see Ps 139:5). Job, however, has a problem in that the other party is God, who himself will be arbiter in judgment.

[10:20]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “are not my days few; cease/let it cease….” The versions have “the days of my life” (reading יְמֵי חֶלְדִי [yÿme kheldi] instead of יָמַי וַחֲדָל [yamay vakhadal]). Many commentators and the RSV, NAB, and NRSV accept this reading. The Kethib is an imperfect or jussive, “let it cease/ it will cease.” The Qere is more intelligible for some interpreters – “cease” (as in 7:16). For a discussion of the readings, see D. W. Thomas, “Some Observations on the Hebrew Root hadal,” VTSup 4 [1057]: 14). But the text is not impossible as it stands.

[10:20]  ²⁰ tn Taking the form as the imperative with the ו (vav), the sentence follows the direct address to God (as in v. 18 as well as 7:16). This requires less changes. See the preceding note regarding the plausibility of the jussive. The point of the verse is clear in either reading – his life is short, and he wants the suffering to stop.

[10:20]  ²¹ tn In the different suggestions for the line, the י (yod) of this word is believed to belong to the preceding word making “my life.” That would here leave an imperative rather than an imperfect. But if the Qere is read, then it would be an imperative anyway, and there would be no reason for the change.

[10:20]  ²² tn Heb “put from me,” an expression found nowhere else. The Qere has a ו (vav) and not a י (yod), forming an imperative rather than an imperfect. H. H. Rowley suggests that there is an ellipsis here, “hand” needing to be supplied. Job wanted God to take his hand away from him. That is plausible, but difficult.

[10:20]  ²³ tn The verb בָּלַג (balag) in the Hiphil means “to have cheer [or joy]” (see 7:27; Ps 39:14). The cohortative following the imperatives shows the purpose or result – “in order that.”

[13:19]  ²⁵ tn The interrogative is joined with the emphatic pronoun, stressing “who is he [who] will contend,” or more emphatically, “who in the world will contend.” Job is confident that no one can bring charges against him. He is certain of success.

[13:19]  ²⁶ sn Job is confident that he will be vindicated. But if someone were to show up and have proof of sin against him, he would be silent and die (literally “keep silent and expire”).

[17:11]  ³¹ tn This term usually means “plans; devices” in a bad sense, although it can be used of God’s plans (see e.g., Zech 8:15).

[17:11]  ³² tn Although not in the Hebrew text, “even” is supplied in the translation, because this line is in apposition to the preceding.

[17:11]  ³³ tn This word has been linked to the root יָרַשׁ (yarash, “to inherit”) yielding a meaning “the possessions of my heart.” But it is actually to be connected to אָרַשׁ (’arash, “to desire”) cognate to the Akkadian eresu, “desire.” The LXX has “limbs,” which may come from an Aramaic word for “ropes.” An emendation based on the LXX would be risky.

[19:8]  ³⁷ tn The verb גָּדַר (gadar) means “to wall up; to fence up; to block.” God has blocked Job’s way so that he cannot get through. See the note on 3:23. Cf. Lam 3:7.

[19:8]  ³⁸ tn Some commentators take the word to be חָשַׁךְ (hasak), related to an Arabic word for “thorn hedge.”

[36:12]  ⁴³ tn This is a similar expression to the one in Job 33:18, where the suggestion was made by many that it means crossing over the canal or river of death. Some retain the earlier interpretation of “perish by the sword” (cf. NIV).

[38:5]  ⁴⁹ tn The particle כּ (ki) is taken here for a conditional clause, “if you know” (see GKC 498 §159.dd). Others take it as “surely” with a biting irony.

[39:11]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “leave.”

[39:24]  ⁶¹ tn “Swallow the ground” is a metaphor for the horse’s running. Gray renders the line: “quivering and excited he dashes into the fray.”

[39:24]  ⁶² tn The use of אָמַן (’aman) in the Hiphil in this place is unique. Such a form would normally mean “to believe.” But its basic etymological meaning comes through here. The verb means “to be firm; to be reliable; to be dependable.” The causative here would mean “to make firm” or “to stand firm.”

[41:30]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “under him.”

[41:30]  ⁶⁸ tn Here only the word “sharp” is present, but in passages like Isa 41:15 it is joined with “threshing sledge.” Here and in Amos 1:3 and Isa 28:27 the word stands alone, but represents the “sledge.”