Job 7:9

7:9 As ¹  a cloud is dispersed and then disappears, ² 

so the one who goes down to the grave ³ 

does not come up again. ⁴ 

Job 10:21

10:21 before I depart, never to return, ⁵ 

to the land of darkness

and the deepest shadow, ⁶ 

Job 16:22

16:22 For the years that lie ahead are few, ⁷ 

and then I will go on the way of no return. ⁸ 

Job 18:8

18:8 For he has been thrown into a net by his feet ⁹ 

and he wanders into a mesh. ¹⁰ 

Job 20:25

20:25 When he pulls it out ¹¹  and it comes out of his back,

the gleaming point ¹²  out of his liver,

terrors come over him.

Job 22:14

22:14 Thick clouds are a veil for him, so he does not see us, ¹³ 

as he goes back and forth

in the vault ¹⁴  of heaven.’ ¹⁵ 

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 24:10

24:10 They go about naked, without clothing,

and go hungry while they carry the sheaves. ¹⁶ 

Job 29:3

29:3 when ¹⁷  he caused ¹⁸  his lamp ¹⁹ 

to shine upon my head,

and by his light

I walked ²⁰  through darkness; ²¹ 

Job 30:28

30:28 I go about blackened, ²²  but not by the sun;

in the assembly I stand up and cry for help.

Job 31:5

31:5 If ²³  I have walked in falsehood,

and if ²⁴  my foot has hastened ²⁵  to deceit –

Job 31:26

31:26 if I looked at the sun ²⁶  when it was shining,

and the moon advancing as a precious thing,

Job 38:16

38:16 Have you gone to the springs that fill the sea, ²⁷ 

or walked about in the recesses of the deep?

Job 41:19

41:19 Out of its mouth go flames, ²⁸ 

sparks of fire shoot forth!

[7:9]  ¹ tn The comparison is implied; “as” is therefore supplied in the translation.

[7:9]  ² tn The two verbs כָּלַה (kalah) and הָלַךְ (halakh) mean “to come to an end” and “to go” respectively. The picture is of the cloud that breaks up, comes to an end, is dispersed so that it is no longer a cloud; it then fades away or vanishes. This line forms a good simile for the situation of a man who comes to his end and disappears.

[7:9]  ³ tn The noun שְׁאוֹל (shÿ’ol) can mean “the grave,” “death,” or “Sheol” – the realm of departed spirits. In Job this is a land from which there is no return (10:21 and here). It is a place of darkness and gloom (10:21-22), a place where the dead lie hidden (14:13); as a place appointed for all no matter what their standing on earth might have been (30:23). In each case the precise meaning has to be determined. Here the grave makes the most sense, for Job is simply talking about death.

[7:9]  ⁴ sn It is not correct to try to draw theological implications from this statement or the preceding verse (Rashi said Job was denying the resurrection). Job is simply stating that when people die they are gone – they do not return to this present life on earth. Most commentators and theologians believe that theological knowledge was very limited at such an early stage, so they would not think it possible for Job to have bodily resurrection in view. (See notes on ch. 14 and 19:25-27.)

[10:21]  ⁵ sn The verbs are simple, “I go” and “I return”; but Job clearly means before he dies. A translation of “depart” comes closer to communicating this. The second verb may be given a potential imperfect translation to capture the point. The NIV offered more of an interpretive paraphrase: “before I go to the place of no return.”

[10:21]  ⁶ tn See Job 3:5.

[16:22]  ⁹ tn The expression is “years of number,” meaning that they can be counted, and so “the years are few.” The verb simply means “comes” or “lie ahead.”

[16:22]  ¹⁰ tn The verbal expression “I will not return” serves here to modify the journey that he will take. It is “the road [of] I will not return.”

[18:8]  ¹³ tn See Ps 25:15.

[18:8]  ¹⁴ tn The word שְׂבָכָה (sÿvakhah) is used in scripture for the lattice window (2 Kgs 1:2). The Arabic cognate means “to be intertwined.” So the term could describe a net, matting, grating, or lattice. Here it would be the netting stretched over a pit.

[20:25]  ¹⁷ tn The MT has “he draws out [or as a passive, “it is drawn out/forth”] and comes [or goes] out of his back.” For the first verb שָׁלַף (shalaf, “pull, draw”), many commentators follow the LXX and use שֶׁלַח (shelakh, “a spear”). It then reads “and a shaft comes out of his back,” a sword flash comes out of his liver.” But the verse could also be a continuation of the preceding.

[20:25]  ¹⁸ tn Possibly a reference to lightnings.

[22:14]  ²¹ tn Heb “and he does not see.” The implied object is “us.”

[22:14]  ²² sn The word is “circle; dome”; here it is the dome that covers the earth, beyond which God sits enthroned. A. B. Davidson (Job, 165) suggests “on the arch of heaven” that covers the earth.

[22:14]  ²³ sn The idea suggested here is that God is not only far off, but he is unconcerned as he strolls around heaven – this is what Eliphaz says Job means.

[24:10]  ²⁵ sn The point should not be missed – amidst abundant harvests, carrying sheaves about, they are still going hungry.

[29:3]  ²⁹ tn This clause is in apposition to the preceding (see GKC 426 §131.o). It offers a clarification.

[29:3]  ³⁰ tn The form בְּהִלּוֹ (bÿhillo) is unusual; it should be parsed as a Hiphil infinitive construct with the elision of the ה (he). The proper spelling would have been with a ַ (patakh) under the preposition, reflecting הַהִלּוֹ (hahillo). If it were Qal, it would just mean “when his light shone.”

[29:3]  ³¹ sn Lamp and light are symbols of God’s blessings of life and all the prosperous and good things it includes.

[29:3]  ³² tn Here too the imperfect verb is customary – it describes action that was continuous, but in a past time.

[29:3]  ³³ tn The accusative (“darkness”) is here an adverbial accusative of place, namely, “in the darkness,” or because he was successfully led by God’s light, “through the darkness” (see GKC 374 §118.h).

[30:28]  ³³ tn The construction uses the word קֹדֵר (qoder) followed by the Piel perfect of הָלַךְ (halakh, “I go about”). The adjective “blackened” refers to Job’s skin that has been marred by the disease. Adjectives are often used before verbs to describe some bodily condition (see GKC 374-75 §118.n).

[31:5]  ³⁷ tn The normal approach is to take this as the protasis, and then have it resumed in v. 7 after a parenthesis in v. 6. But some take v. 6 as the apodosis and a new protasis in v. 7.

[31:5]  ³⁸ tn The “if” is understood by the use of the consecutive verb.

[31:5]  ³⁹ sn The verbs “walk” and “hasten” (referring in the verse to the foot) are used metaphorically for the manner of life Job lived.

[31:26]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “light”; but parallel to the moon it is the sun. This section speaks of false worship of the sun and the moon.

[38:16]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “the springs of the sea.” The words “that fill” are supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning of the phrase.

[41:19]  ⁴⁹ sn For the animal, the image is that of pent-up breath with water in a hot steam jet coming from its mouth, like a stream of fire in the rays of the sun. The language is hyperbolic, probably to reflect the pagan ideas of the dragon of the deep in a polemical way – they feared it as a fire breathing monster, but in reality it might have been a steamy crocodile.