Job 6:24

No Sin Discovered

6:24 “Teach ¹  me and I, for my part, ²  will be silent;

explain to me ³  how I have been mistaken. ⁴ 

Job 6:30

6:30 Is there any falsehood ⁵  on my lips?

Can my mouth ⁶  not discern evil things? ⁷ 

Job 13:1

Job Pleads His Cause to God ⁸ 

13:1 “Indeed, my eyes have seen all this, ⁹ 

my ears have heard and understood it.

Job 14:21

14:21 If ¹⁰  his sons are honored, ¹¹ 

he does not know it; ¹² 

if they are brought low,

he does not see ¹³  it.

Job 15:9

15:9 What do you know that we don’t know?

What do you understand that we don’t understand? ¹⁴ 

Job 18:2

18:2 “How long until you ¹⁵  make an end of words? ¹⁶ 

You must consider, ¹⁷  and then ¹⁸  we can talk.

Job 23:5

23:5 I would know with what words ¹⁹  he would answer me,

and understand what he would say to me.

Job 23:8

The Inaccessibility and Power of God

23:8 “If I go to the east, he is not there,

and to the west, yet I do not perceive him.

Job 23:15

23:15 That is why I am terrified in his presence;

when I consider, I am afraid because of him.

Job 28:23

28:23 God understands the way to it,

and he alone knows its place.

Job 30:20

30:20 I cry out to you, ²⁰  but you do not answer me;

I stand up, ²¹  and you only look at me. ²² 

Job 31:1

Job Vindicates Himself

31:1 “I made a covenant with ²³  my eyes;

how then could I entertain thoughts against a virgin? ²⁴ 

Job 32:8

32:8 But it is a spirit in people,

the breath ²⁵  of the Almighty,

that makes them understand.

Job 36:29

36:29 Who can understand the spreading of the clouds,

the thunderings of his pavilion? ²⁶ 

Job 37:14

37:14 “Pay attention to this, Job!

Stand still and consider the wonders God works.

Job 38:18

38:18 Have you considered the vast expanses of the earth?

Tell me, if you know it all!

Job 38:20

38:20 that you may take them to their borders

and perceive the pathways to their homes? ²⁷ 

[6:24]  ¹ tn The verb “teach” or “instruct” is the Hiphil הוֹרוּנִי (horuni), from the verb יָרָה (yarah); the basic idea of “point, direct” lies behind this meaning. The verb is cognate to the noun תּוֹרָה (torah, “instruction, teaching, law”).

[6:24]  ² tn The independent personal pronoun makes the subject of the verb emphatic: “and I will be silent.”

[6:24]  ³ tn The verb is הָבִינוּ (havinu, “to cause someone to understand”); with the ל (lamed) following, it has the sense of “explain to me.”

[6:24]  ⁴ tn The verb שָׁגָה (shagah) has the sense of “wandering, getting lost, being mistaken.”

[6:30]  ⁵ tn The word עַוְלָה (’avlah) is repeated from the last verse. Here the focus is clearly on wickedness or injustice spoken.

[6:30]  ⁶ tn Heb “my palate.” Here “palate” is used not so much for the organ of speech (by metonymy) as of discernment. In other words, what he says indicates what he thinks.

[6:30]  ⁷ tn The final word, הַוּוֹת (havvot) is usually understood as “calamities.” He would be asking if he could not discern his misfortune. But some argue that the word has to be understood in the parallelism to “wickedness” of words (D. J. A. Clines, Job [WBC], 162). Gordis connects it to Mic 7:3 and Ps 5:10 [9] where the meaning “deceit, falsehood” is found. The LXX has “and does not my throat meditate understanding?”

[13:1]  ⁹ sn Chapter 13 records Job’s charges against his friends for the way they used their knowledge (1-5), his warning that God would find out their insincerity (6-12), and his pleading of his cause to God in which he begs for God to remove his hand from him and that he would not terrify him with his majesty and that he would reveal the sins that caused such great suffering (13-28).

[13:1]  ¹⁰ tn Hebrew has כֹּל (kol, “all”); there is no reason to add anything to the text to gain a meaning “all this.”

[14:21]  ¹³ tn The clause may be interpreted as a conditional clause, with the second clause beginning with the conjunction serving as the apodosis.

[14:21]  ¹⁴ tn There is no expressed subject for the verb “they honor,” and so it may be taken as a passive.

[14:21]  ¹⁵ sn Death is separation from the living, from the land of the living. And ignorance of what goes on in this life, good or bad, is part of death. See also Eccl 9:5-6, which makes a similar point.

[14:21]  ¹⁶ tn The verb is בִּין (bin, “to perceive; to discern”). The parallelism between “know” and “perceive” stress the point that in death a man does not realize what is happening here in the present life.

[15:9]  ¹⁷ tn The last clause simply has “and it is not with us.” It means that one possesses something through knowledge. Note the parallelism of “know” and “with me” in Ps 50:11.

[18:2]  ²¹ tn The verb is plural, and so most commentators make it singular. But it seems from the context that Bildad is addressing all of them, and not just Job.

[18:2]  ²² tn The construction is קִנְצֵי לְמִלִּין (qintse lÿmillin), which is often taken to be “end of words,” as if the word was from קֵץ (qets, “end”). But a plural of “end” is not found in the OT. Some will link the word to Arabic qanasa, “to hunt; to give chase,” to get an interpretation of “snares for words.” But E. Dhorme (Job, 257) objects that this does not fit the speech of Bildad (as well as it might Job’s). He finds a cognate qinsu, “fetters, shackles,” and reads “how long will you put shackles on words.” But G. R. Driver had pointed out that this cognate does not exist (“Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 72-93). So it would be preferable to take the reading “ends” and explain the ן (nun) as from a Aramaizing by-form. This is supported by 11QtgJob that uses סוֹף (sof, “end”). On the construction, GKC 421 §130.a explains this as a use of the construct in rapid narrative to connect the words; in such cases a preposition is on the following noun.

[18:2]  ²³ tn The imperfect verb, again plural, would be here taken in the nuance of instruction, or a modal nuance of obligation. So Bildad is telling his listeners to be intelligent. This would be rather cutting in the discourse.

[18:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “afterward.”

[23:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the words he would answer me.”

[30:20]  ²⁹ sn The implication from the sentence is that this is a cry to God for help. The sudden change from third person (v. 19) to second person (v. 20) is indicative of the intense emotion of the sufferer.

[30:20]  ³⁰ sn The verb is simple, but the interpretation difficult. In this verse it probably means he stands up in prayer (Jer 15:1), but it could mean that he makes his case to God. Others suggest a more figurative sense, like the English expression “stand pat,” meaning “remain silent” (see Job 29:8).

[30:20]  ³¹ tn If the idea of prayer is meant, then a pejorative sense to the verb is required. Some supply a negative and translate “you do not pay heed to me.” This is supported by one Hebrew ms and the Vulgate. The Syriac has the whole colon read with God as the subject, “you stand and look at me.”

[31:1]  ³³ tn The idea of cutting a covenant for something may suggest a covenant that is imposed, except that this construction elsewhere argues against it (see 2 Chr 29:10).

[31:1]  ³⁴ tn This half-verse is the effect of the covenant. The interrogative מָה (mah) may have the force of the negative, and so be translated “not to pay attention.”

[32:8]  ³⁷ tn This is the word נְשָׁמָה (nÿshamah, “breath”); according to Gen 2:7 it was breathed into Adam to make him a living person (“soul”). With that divine impartation came this spiritual understanding. Some commentators identify the רוּחַ (ruakh) in the first line as the Spirit of God; this “breath” would then be the human spirit. Whether Elihu knew that much, however, is hard to prove.

[36:29]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “his booth.”

[38:20]  ⁴⁵ tn The suffixes are singular (“that you may take it to its border…to its home”), referring to either the light or the darkness. Because either is referred to, the translation has employed plurals, since singulars would imply that only the second item, “darkness,” was the referent. Plurals are also employed by NAB and NIV.