Job 7:10

7:10 He returns no more to his house,

nor does his place of residence ¹  know him ²  any more.

Job 12:12

12:12 Is not wisdom found among the aged? ³ 

Does not long life bring understanding?

Job 20:21

20:21 “Nothing is left for him to devour; ⁴ 

that is why his prosperity does not last. ⁵ 

Job 21:10

21:10 Their bulls ⁶  breed ⁷  without fail; ⁸ 

their cows calve and do not miscarry.

Job 31:3

31:3 Is it not misfortune for the unjust,

and disaster for those who work iniquity?

[7:10]  ¹ tn M. Dahood suggests the meaning is the same as “his abode” (“Hebrew-Ugaritic Lexicography V,” Bib 48 [1967]: 421-38).

[7:10]  ² tn The verb means “to recognize” by seeing. “His place,” the place where he was living, is the subject of the verb. This personification is intended simply to say that the place where he lived will not have him any more. The line is very similar to Ps 103:16b – when the wind blows the flower away, its place knows it no more.

[12:12]  ³ tn The statement in the Hebrew Bible simply has “among the aged – wisdom.” Since this seems to be more the idea of the friends than of Job, scholars have variously tried to rearrange it. Some have proposed that Job is citing his friends: “With the old men, you say, is wisdom” (Budde, Gray, Hitzig). Others have simply made it a question (Weiser). But others take לֹא (lo’) from the previous verse and make it the negative here, to say, “wisdom is not….” But Job will draw on the wisdom of the aged, only with discernment, for ultimately all wisdom is with God.

[20:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “for his eating,” which is frequently rendered “for his gluttony.” It refers, of course, to all the desires he has to take things from other people.

[20:21]  ⁶ sn The point throughout is that insatiable greed and ruthless plundering to satisfy it will be recompensed with utter and complete loss.

[21:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “his bull,” but it is meant to signify the bulls of the wicked.

[21:10]  ⁸ tn The verb used here means “to impregnate,” and not to be confused with the verb עָבַר (’avar, “to pass over”).

[21:10]  ⁹ tn The use of the verb גָּעַר (ga’ar) in this place is interesting. It means “to rebuke; to abhor; to loathe.” In the causative stem it means “to occasion impurity” or “to reject as loathsome.” The rabbinic interpretation is that it does not emit semen in vain, and so the meaning is it does not fail to breed (see E. Dhorme, Job, 311; R. Gordis, Job, 229).