Job 8:10

8:10 Will they not ¹  instruct you and ²  speak to you,

and bring forth words ³ 

from their understanding? ⁴ 

Job 10:4

Motivations of God

10:4 “Do you have eyes of flesh, ⁵ 

or do you see ⁶  as a human being sees? ⁷ 

Job 12:8

12:8 Or speak ⁸  to the earth ⁹  and it will teach you,

or let the fish of the sea declare to you.

Job 22:28

22:28 Whatever you decide ¹⁰  on a matter,

it will be established for you,

and light will shine on your ways.

Job 35:3

35:3 But you say, ‘What will it profit you,’ ¹¹ 

and, ‘What do I gain by not sinning?’ ¹² 

Job 38:17

38:17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? ¹³ 

Have you seen the gates of deepest darkness? ¹⁴ 

Job 40:9

40:9 Do you have an arm as powerful as God’s, ¹⁵ 

and can you thunder with a voice like his?

Job 40:14

40:14 Then I myself will acknowledge ¹⁶  to you

that your own right hand can save you. ¹⁷ 

[8:10]  ¹ tn The sentence begins emphatically: “Is it not they.”

[8:10]  ² 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]  ³ tn The noun may have been left indeterminate for the sake of emphasis (GKC 401-2 §125.c), meaning “important words.”

[8:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “from their heart.”

[10:4]  ⁵ tn Here “flesh” is the sign of humanity. The expression “eyes of flesh” means essentially “human eyes,” i.e., the outlook and vision of humans.

[10:4]  ⁶ sn The verb translated “see” could also include the figurative category of perceive as well. The answer to Job’s question is found in 1 Sam 16:7: “The Lord sees not as a man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

[10:4]  ⁷ sn In this verse Job asks whether or not God is liable to making mistakes or errors of judgment. He wonders if God has no more insight than his friends have. Of course, the questions are rhetorical, for he knows otherwise. But his point is that God seems to be making a big mistake here.

[12:8]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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).

[22:28]  ¹³ tn The word is גָּזַר (gazar, “to cut”), in the sense of deciding a matter.

[35:3]  ¹⁷ tn The referent of “you” is usually understood to be God.

[35:3]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew text merely says, “What do I gain from my sin?” But Job has claimed that he has not sinned, and so this has to be elliptical: “more than if I had sinned” (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 224). It could also be, “What do I gain without sin?”

[38:17]  ²¹ tn Heb “uncovered to you.”

[38:17]  ²² tn Some still retain the traditional phrase “shadow of death” in the English translation (cf. NIV). The reference is to the entrance to Sheol (see Job 10:21).

[40:9]  ²⁵ tn Heb “do you have an arm like God?” The words “as powerful as” have been supplied in the translation to clarify the metaphor.

[40:14]  ²⁹ tn The verb is usually translated “praise,” but with the sense of a public declaration or acknowledgment. It is from יָדָה (yadah, in the Hiphil, as here, “give thanks, laud”).

[40:14]  ³⁰ tn The imperfect verb has the nuance of potential imperfect: “can save; is able to save.”