Job 7:12

7:12 Am I the sea, or the creature of the deep, ¹ 

that you must put ²  me under guard? ³ 

Job 9:8

9:8 he alone spreads out the heavens,

and treads ⁴  on the waves of the sea; ⁵ 

Job 12:8

12:8 Or speak ⁶  to the earth ⁷  and it will teach you,

or let the fish of the sea declare to you.

Job 14:11

14:11 As ⁸  water disappears from the sea, ⁹ 

or a river drains away and dries up,

Job 36:30

36:30 See how he scattered ¹⁰  his lightning ¹¹  about him;

he has covered the depths ¹²  of the sea.

Job 38:16

38:16 Have you gone to the springs that fill the sea, ¹³ 

or walked about in the recesses of the deep?

Job 41:31

41:31 It makes the deep boil like a cauldron

and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment, ¹⁴ 

[7:12]  ¹ tn The word תַּנִּין (tannin) could be translated “whale” as well as the more mythological “dragon” or “monster of the deep” (see E. Dhorme, Job, 105). To the Hebrews this was part of God’s creation in Gen 1; in the pagan world it was a force to be reckoned with, and so the reference would be polemical. The sea is a symbol of the tumultuous elements of creation; in the sea were creatures that symbolized the powerful forces of chaos – Leviathan, Tannin, and Rahab. They required special attention.

[7:12]  ² tn The imperfect verb here receives the classification of obligatory imperfect. Job wonders if he is such a threat to God that God must do this.

[7:12]  ³ tn The word מִשְׁמָר (mishmar) means “guard; barrier.” M. Dahood suggested “muzzle” based on Ugaritic, but that has proven to be untenable (“Mismar, ‘Muzzle,’ in Job 7:12,” JBL 80 [1961]: 270-71).

[9:8]  ⁴ tn Or “marches forth.”

[9:8]  ⁵ tn The reference is probably to the waves of the sea. This is the reading preserved in NIV and NAB, as well as by J. Crenshaw, “Wÿdorek `al-bamote ‘ares,” CBQ 34 (1972): 39-53. But many see here a reference to Canaanite mythology. The marginal note in the RSV has “the back of the sea dragon.” The view would also see in “sea” the Ugaritic god Yammu.

[12:8]  ⁷ tn The word in the MT means “to complain,” not simply “to speak,” and one would expect animals as the object here in parallel to the last verse. So several commentators have replaced the word with words for animals or reptiles – totally different words (cf. NAB, “reptiles”). The RSV and NRSV have here the word “plants” (see 30:4, 7; and Gen 21:15).

[12:8]  ⁸ tn A. B. Davidson (Job, 90) offers a solution by taking “earth” to mean all the lower forms of life that teem in the earth (a metonymy of subject).

[14:11]  ¹⁰ tn The comparative clause may be signaled simply by the context, especially when facts of a moral nature are compared with the physical world (see GKC 499 §161.a).

[14:11]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew word יָם (yam) can mean “sea” or “lake.”

[36:30]  ¹³ tn The word actually means “to spread,” but with lightning as the object, “to scatter” appears to fit the context better.

[36:30]  ¹⁴ tn The word is “light,” but taken to mean “lightning.” Theodotion had “mist” here, and so most commentators follow that because it is more appropriate to the verb and the context.

[36:30]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “roots.”

[38:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the springs of the sea.” The words “that fill” are supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning of the phrase.

[41:31]  ¹⁹ sn The idea is either that the sea is stirred up like the foam from beating the ingredients together, or it is the musk-smell that is the point of comparison.