Job 6:16

6:16 They ¹  are dark ²  because of ice;

snow is piled ³  up over them. ⁴ 

Job 11:9

11:9 Its measure is longer than the earth,

and broader than the sea.

Job 30:5

30:5 They were banished from the community ⁵  –

people ⁶  shouted at them

like they would shout at thieves ⁷  –

Job 37:9

37:9 A tempest blows out from its chamber,

icy cold from the driving winds. ⁸ 

Job 38:13

38:13 that it might seize the corners of the earth, ⁹ 

and shake the wicked out of it?

[6:16]  ¹ tn The article on the participle joins this statement to the preceding noun; it can have the sense of “they” or “which.” The parallel sense then can be continued with a finite verb (see GKC 404 §126.b).

[6:16]  ² tn The participle הַקֹּדְרים (haqqodÿrim), often rendered “which are black,” would better be translated “dark,” for it refers to the turbid waters filled with melting ice or melting snow, or to the frozen surface of the water, but not waters that are muddied. The versions failed to note that this referred to the waters introduced in v. 15.

[6:16]  ³ tn The verb יִתְעַלֶּם (yit’allem) has been translated “is hid” or “hides itself.” But this does not work easily in the sentence with the preposition “upon them.” Torczyner suggested “pile up” from an Aramaic root עֲלַם (’alam), and E. Dhorme (Job, 87) defends it without changing the text, contending that the form we have was chosen for alliterative value with the prepositional phrase before it.

[6:16]  ⁴ tn The LXX paraphrases the whole verse: “They who used to reverence me now come against me like snow or congealed ice.”

[30:5]  ⁵ tn The word גֵּו (gev) is an Aramaic term meaning “midst,” indicating “midst [of society].” But there is also a Phoenician word that means “community” (DISO 48).

[30:5]  ⁶ tn The form simply is the plural verb, but it means those who drove them from society.

[30:5]  ⁷ tn The text merely says “as thieves,” but it obviously compares the poor to the thieves.

[37:9]  ⁹ tn The “driving winds” reflects the Hebrew “from the scatterers.” This refers to the north winds that bring the cold air and the ice and snow and hard rains.

[38:13]  ¹³ sn The poetic image is that darkness or night is like a blanket that covers the earth, and at dawn it is taken by the edges and shaken out. Since the wicked function under the cover of night, they are included in the shaking when the dawn comes up.