Job 6:23

6:23 Or ‘Deliver me ¹  from the enemy’s power, ² 

and from the hand of tyrants ³  ransom ⁴  me’?

Job 15:20

15:20 All his days ⁵  the wicked man suffers torment, ⁶ 

throughout the number of the years

that ⁷  are stored up for the tyrant. ⁸ 

Job 27:13

27:13 This is the portion of the wicked man

allotted by God, ⁹ 

the inheritance that evildoers receive

from the Almighty.

[6:23]  ¹ tn The verse now gives the ultimate reason why Job might have urged his friends to make a gift – if it were possible. The LXX, avoiding the direct speech in the preceding verse and this, does make this verse the purpose statement – “to deliver from enemies….”

[6:23]  ² tn Heb “hand,” as in the second half of the verse.

[6:23]  ³ tn The עָרִיצִים (’aritsim) are tyrants, the people who inspire fear (Job 15:20; 27:13); the root verb עָרַץ (’arats) means “to terrify” (Job 13:25).

[6:23]  ⁴ tn The verb now is the imperfect; since it is parallel to the imperative in the first half of the verse it is imperfect of instruction, much like English uses the future for instruction. The verb פָּדָה (padah) means “to ransom, redeem,” often in contexts where payment is made.

[15:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “all the days of the wicked, he suffers.” The word “all” is an adverbial accusative of time, stating along with its genitives (“of the days of a wicked man”) how long the individual suffers. When the subject is composed of a noun in construct followed by a genitive, the predicate sometimes agrees with the genitive (see GKC 467 §146.a).

[15:20]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew term מִתְחוֹלֵל (mitkholel) is a Hitpolel participle from חִיל (khil, “to tremble”). It carries the idea of “torment oneself,” or “be tormented.” Some have changed the letter ח (khet) for a letter ה (he), and obtained the meaning “shows himself mad.” Theodotion has “is mad.” Syriac (“behave arrogantly,” apparently confusing Hebrew חול with חלל; Heidi M. Szpek, Translation Technique in the Peshitta to Job [SBLDS], 277), Symmachus, and Vulgate have “boasts himself.” But the reading of the MT is preferable.

[15:20]  ⁷ tn It is necessary, with Rashi, to understand the relative pronoun before the verb “they are stored up/reserved.”

[15:20]  ⁸ tn This has been translated with the idea of “oppressor” in Job 6:23; 27:13.

[27:13]  ⁹ tn The expression “allotted by God” interprets the simple prepositional phrase in the text: “with/from God.”