Job 6:11

6:11 What is my strength, that I should wait? ¹ 

and what is my end, ² 

that I should prolong my life?

Job 9:16

9:16 If I summoned him, and he answered me, ³ 

I would not believe ⁴ 

that he would be listening to my voice –

Job 9:2

9:2 “Truly, ⁵  I know that this is so.

But how ⁶  can a human ⁷  be just before ⁸  God? ⁹ 

Job 6:1

Job Replies to Eliphaz

6:1 Then Job responded: ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 8:21-22

8:21 They will pass through the land ¹¹  destitute and starving. Their hunger will make them angry, ¹²  and they will curse their king and their God ¹³  as they look upward. 8:22 When one looks out over the land, he sees ¹⁴  distress and darkness, gloom ¹⁵  and anxiety, darkness and people forced from the land. ¹⁶ 

Matthew 27:5

27:5 So ¹⁷  Judas threw the silver coins into the temple and left. Then he went out and hanged himself.

[6:11]  ¹ 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]  ² 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.

[9:16]  ³ sn The idea of “answer” in this line is that of responding to the summons, i.e., appearing in court. This preterite and the perfect before it have the nuance of hypothetical perfects since they are in conditional clauses (GKC 330 §111.x). D. J. A. Clines (Job [WBC], 219) translates literally, “If I should call and he should answer.”

[9:16]  ⁴ tn The Hiphil imperfect in the apodosis of this conditional sentence expresses what would (not) happen if God answered the summons.

[9:2]  ⁵ tn The adverb אָמְנָם (’omnam, “in truth”) is characteristic of the Book of Job (12:2; 19:4; 34:12; 36:4). The friends make commonplace statements, general truths, and Job responds with “truly I know this is so.” Job knows as much about these themes as his friends do.

[9:2]  ⁶ sn The interrogative is used to express what is an impossibility.

[9:2]  ⁷ tn The attempt to define אֱנוֹשׁ (’enosh) as “weak” or “mortal” man is not compelling. Such interpretations are based on etymological links without the clear support of usage (an issue discussed by J. Barr, Comparative Philology and the Text of the Old Testament). This seems to be a poetic word for “human” (the only nonpoetic use is in 2 Chr 14:10).

[9:2]  ⁸ tn The preposition is אִם (’im, “with, before, in the presence of”). This is more specific than מִן (min) in 4:17.

[9:2]  ⁹ sn The point of Job’s rhetorical question is that man cannot be justified as against God, because God is too powerful and too clever – he controls the universe. He is discussing now the question that Eliphaz raised in 4:17. Peake observes that Job is raising the question of whether something is right because God says it is right, or that God declares it right because it is right.

[6:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “answered and said.”

[8:21]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he will pass through it.” The subject of the collective singular verb is the nation. (See the preceding note.) The immediately preceding context supplies no antecedent for “it” (a third feminine singular suffix in the Hebrew text); the suffix may refer to the land, which would be a reasonable referent with a verb of motion. Note also that אֶרֶץ (’erets, “land”) does appear at the beginning of the next verse.

[8:21]  ¹² tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[8:21]  ¹³ tn Or “gods” (NAB, NRSV, CEV).

[8:22]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and behold” (so KJV, ASV, NASB).

[8:22]  ¹⁵ tn The precise meaning of מְעוּף (mÿ’uf) is uncertain; the word occurs only here. See BDB 734 s.v. מָעוּף.

[8:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “ and darkness, pushed.” The word מְנֻדָּח (mÿnudakh) appears to be a Pual participle from נדח (“push”), but the Piel is unattested for this verb and the Pual occurs only here.

[27:5]  ¹⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the leaders’ response to Judas.