Job 6:17

6:17 When they are scorched, ¹  they dry up,

when it is hot, they vanish ²  from their place.

Job 18:6

18:6 The light in his tent grows dark;

his lamp above him is extinguished. ³ 

Job 18:5

18:5 “Yes, ⁴  the lamp ⁵  of the wicked is extinguished;

his flame of fire ⁶  does not shine.

Job 21:17

How Often Do the Wicked Suffer?

21:17 “How often ⁷  is the lamp of the wicked extinguished?

How often does their ⁸  misfortune come upon them?

How often does God apportion pain ⁹  to them ¹⁰  in his anger?

[6:17]  ¹ tn The verb יְזֹרְבוּ (yÿzorÿvu, “burnt, scorched”) occurs only here. A good number of interpretations take the root as a by-form of צָרַב (tsarav) which means in the Niphal “to be burnt” (Ezek 21:3). The expression then would mean “in the time they are burnt,” a reference to the scorching heat of the summer (“when the great heat comes”) and the rivers dry up. Qimchi connected it to the Arabic “canal,” and this has led to the suggestion by E. Dhorme (Job, 88) that the root זָרַב (zarav) would mean “to flow.” In the Piel it would be “to cause to flow,” and in the passive “to be made to flow,” or “melt.” This is attractive, but it does require the understanding (or supplying) of “ice/snow” as the subject. G. R. Driver took the same meaning but translated it “when they (the streams) pour down in torrents, they (straightway) die down” (ZAW 65 [1953]: 216-17). Both interpretations capture the sense of the brooks drying up.

[6:17]  ² tn The verb נִדְעֲכוּ (nid’akhu) literally means “they are extinguished” or “they vanish” (cf. 18:5-6; 21:17). The LXX, perhaps confusing the word with the verb יָדַע (yada’, “to know”) has “and it is not known what it was.”

[18:6]  ³ tn The LXX interprets a little more precisely: “his lamp shall be put out with him.”

[18:5]  ⁵ tn Hebrew גַּם (gam, “also; moreover”), in view of what has just been said.

[18:5]  ⁶ sn The lamp or the light can have a number of uses in the Bible. Here it is probably an implied metaphor for prosperity and happiness, for the good life itself.

[18:5]  ⁷ tn The expression is literally “the flame of his fire,” but the pronominal suffix qualifies the entire bound construction. The two words together intensify the idea of the flame.

[21:17]  ⁷ tn The interrogative “How often” occurs only with the first colon; it is supplied for smoother reading in the next two.

[21:17]  ⁸ tn The pronominal suffix is objective; it re-enforces the object of the preposition, “upon them.” The verb in the clause is בּוֹא (bo’) followed by עַל (’al), “come upon [or against],” may be interpreted as meaning attack or strike.

[21:17]  ⁹ tn חֲבָלִים (khavalim) can mean “ropes” or “cords,” but that would not go with the verb “apportion” in this line. The meaning of “pangs (as in “birth-pangs”) seems to fit best here. The wider meaning would be “physical agony.”

[21:17]  ¹⁰ tn The phrase “to them” is understood and thus is supplied in the translation for clarification.