Job 7:17

Insignificance of Humans

7:17 “What is mankind ¹  that you make so much of them, ² 

and that you pay attention ³  to them?

Job 8:10

8:10 Will they not ⁴  instruct you and ⁵  speak to you,

and bring forth words ⁶ 

from their understanding? ⁷ 

Job 11:13

11:13 “As for you, ⁸  if you prove faithful, ⁹ 

and if ¹⁰  you stretch out your hands toward him, ¹¹ 

Job 17:4

17:4 Because ¹²  you have closed their ¹³  minds to understanding,

therefore you will not exalt them. ¹⁴ 

Job 29:13

29:13 the blessing of the dying man descended on me, ¹⁵ 

and I made the widow’s heart rejoice; ¹⁶ 

Job 33:3

33:3 My words come from the uprightness of my heart, ¹⁷ 

and my lips will utter knowledge sincerely. ¹⁸ 

Job 34:14

34:14 If God ¹⁹  were to set his heart on it, ²⁰ 

and gather in his spirit and his breath,

Job 36:5

36:5 Indeed, God is mighty; and he does not despise people, ²¹ 

he ²²  is mighty, and firm ²³  in his intent. ²⁴ 

Job 36:13

36:13 The godless at heart ²⁵  nourish anger, ²⁶ 

they do not cry out even when he binds them.

Job 37:24

37:24 Therefore people fear him,

for he does not regard all the wise in heart.” ²⁷ 

Job 41:24

41:24 Its heart ²⁸  is hard as rock,

hard as a lower millstone.

[7:17]  ¹ tn The verse is a rhetorical question; it is intended to mean that man is too little for God to be making so much over him in all this.

[7:17]  ² tn The Piel verb is a factitive meaning “to magnify.” The English word “magnify” might not be the best translation here, for God, according to Job, is focusing inordinately on him. It means to magnify in thought, appreciate, think highly of. God, Job argues, is making too much of mankind by devoting so much bad attention on them.

[7:17]  ³ tn The expression “set your heart on” means “concentrate your mind on” or “pay attention to.”

[8:10]  ⁴ tn The sentence begins emphatically: “Is it not they.”

[8:10]  ⁵ tn The “and” is not present in the line. The second clause seems to be in apposition to the first, explaining it more thoroughly: “Is it not they [who] will instruct you, [who] will speak to you.”

[8:10]  ⁶ tn The noun may have been left indeterminate for the sake of emphasis (GKC 401-2 §125.c), meaning “important words.”

[8:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “from their heart.”

[11:13]  ⁷ tn The pronoun is emphatic, designed to put Job in a different class than the hollow men – at least to raise the possibility of his being in a different class.

[11:13]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew uses the perfect of כּוּן (kun, “establish”) with the object “your heart.” The verb can be translated “prepare, fix, make firm” your heart. To fix the heart is to make it faithful and constant, the heart being the seat of the will and emotions. The use of the perfect here does not refer to the past, but should be given a future perfect sense – if you shall have fixed your heart, i.e., prove faithful. Job would have to make his heart secure, so that he was no longer driven about by differing views.

[11:13]  ⁹ tn This half-verse is part of the protasis and not, as in the RSV, the apodosis to the first half. The series of “if” clauses will continue through these verses until v. 15.

[11:13]  ¹⁰ sn This is the posture of prayer (see Isa 1:15). The expression means “spread out your palms,” probably meaning that the one praying would fall to his knees, put his forehead to the ground, and spread out his hands in front of him on the ground.

[17:4]  ¹⁰ tn This half-verse gives the reason for the next half-verse.

[17:4]  ¹¹ sn The pronoun their refers to Job’s friends. They have not pledged security for him because God has hidden or sealed off their understanding.

[17:4]  ¹² tn The object “them” is supplied. This is the simplest reading of the line, taking the verb is an active Polel. Some suggest that the subject is “their hand” and the verb is to be translated “is not raised.” This would carry through the thought of the last verse, but it is not necessary to the point.

[29:13]  ¹³ tn The verb is simply בּוֹא (bo’, “to come; to enter”). With the preposition עַל (’al, “upon”) it could mean “came to me,” or “came upon me,” i.e., descended (see R. Gordis, Job, 320).

[29:13]  ¹⁴ tn The verb אַרְנִן (’arnin) is from רָנַן (ranan, “to give a ringing cry”) but here “cause to give a ringing cry,” i.e., shout of joy. The rejoicing envisioned in this word is far greater than what the words “sing” or “rejoice” suggest.

[33:3]  ¹⁶ tc This expression is unusual; R. Gordis (Job, 371) says it can be translated, “the purity of my heart [is reflected] in my words,” but that is far-fetched and awkward. So there have been suggestions for emending יֹשֶׁר (yosher, “uprightness”). Kissane’s makes the most sense if a change is desired: “shall reveal” (an Arabic sense of yasher), although Holscher interpreted “shall affirm” (yasher, with a Syriac sense). Dhorme has “my heart will repeat” (יָשׁוּר, yashur), but this is doubtful. If Kissane’s view is taken, it would say, “my heart will reveal my words.” Some commentators would join “and knowledge” to this colon, and read “words of knowledge” – but that requires even more emendations.

[33:3]  ¹⁷ tn More literally, “and the knowledge of my lips they will speak purely.”

[34:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:14]  ²⁰ tc This is the reading following the Qere. The Kethib and the Syriac and the LXX suggest a reading יָשִׂים (yasim, “if he [God] recalls”). But this would require leaving out “his heart,” and would also require redividing the verse to make “his spirit” the object. It makes better parallelism, but may require too many changes.

[36:5]  ²² tn The object “people” is not in the Hebrew text but is implied.

[36:5]  ²³ tn The text simply repeats “mighty.”

[36:5]  ²⁴ tn The last two words are simply כֹּחַ לֵב (koakh lev, “strong in heart”), meaning something like “strong; firm in his decisions.”

[36:5]  ²⁵ tc There are several problems in this verse: the repetition of “mighty,” the lack of an object for “despise,” and the meaning of “strength of heart.” Many commentators reduce the verse to a single line, reading something like “Lo, God does not reject the pure in heart” (Kissane). Dhorme and Pope follow Nichols with: “Lo, God is mighty in strength, and rejects not the pure in heart.” This reading moved “mighty” to the first line and took the second to be בַּר (bar, “pure”).

[36:13]  ²⁵ tn The expression “godless [or hypocrite] in heart” is an intensification of the description. It conveys that they are intentionally godless. See Matt 23:28.

[36:13]  ²⁶ tn Heb “they put anger.” This is usually interpreted to mean they lay up anger, or put anger in their hearts.

[37:24]  ²⁸ sn The phrase “wise of heart” was used in Job 9:4 in a negative sense.

[41:24]  ³¹ tn The description of his heart being “hard” means that he is cruel and fearless. The word for “hard” is the word encountered before for molten or cast metal.