Job 8:2

8:2 “How long will you speak these things, ¹ 

seeing ²  that the words of your mouth

are like a great ³  wind? ⁴ 

Job 12:9

12:9 Which of all these ⁵  does not know

that the hand of the Lord ⁶  has done ⁷  this,

Job 18:21

18:21 ‘Surely such is the residence ⁸  of an evil man;

and this is the place of one who has not known God.’” ⁹ 

Job 33:29

Elihu’s Appeal to Job ¹⁰ 

33:29 “Indeed, God does all these things,

twice, three times, in his dealings ¹¹  with a person,

Job 12:3

12:3 I also have understanding ¹²  as well as you;

I am not inferior to you. ¹³ 

Who does not know such things as these? ¹⁴ 

Job 26:14

26:14 Indeed, these are but the outer fringes of his ways! ¹⁵ 

How faint is the whisper ¹⁶  we hear of him!

But who can understand the thunder of his power?”

[8:2]  ¹ sn “These things” refers to all of Job’s speech, the general drift of which seems to Bildad to question the justice of God.

[8:2]  ² tn The second colon of the verse simply says “and a strong wind the words of your mouth.” The simplest way to treat this is to make it an independent nominal sentence: “the words of your mouth are a strong wind.” Some have made it parallel to the first by apposition, understanding “how long” to do double duty. The line beginning with the ו (vav) can also be subordinated as a circumstantial clause, as here.

[8:2]  ³ tn The word כַּבִּיר (kabbir, “great”) implies both abundance and greatness. Here the word modifies “wind”; the point of the analogy is that Job’s words are full of sound but without solid content.

[8:2]  ⁴ tn See, however, G. R. Driver’s translation, “the breath of one who is mighty are the words of your mouth” (“Hebrew Studies,” JRAS 1948: 170).

[12:9]  ⁵ tn This line could also be translated “by all these,” meaning “who is not instructed by nature?” (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 93). But D. J. A. Clines points out that the verses have presented the animals as having knowledge and communicating it, so the former reading would be best (Job [WBC], 279).

[12:9]  ⁶ tc Some commentators have trouble with the name “Yahweh” in this verse, which is not the pattern in the poetic section of Job. Three mss of Kennicott and two of de Rossi have “God.” If this is so the reminiscence of Isaiah 41:20 led the copyist to introduce the tetragrammaton. But one could argue equally that the few mss with “God” were the copyists’ attempt to correct the text in accord with usage elsewhere.

[12:9]  ⁷ sn The expression “has done this” probably refers to everything that has been discussed, namely, the way that God in his wisdom rules over the world, but specifically it refers to the infliction of suffering in the world.

[18:21]  ⁹ tn The term is in the plural, “the tabernacles”; it should be taken as a plural of local extension (see GKC 397 §124.b).

[18:21]  ¹⁰ tn The word “place” is in construct; the clause following it replaces the genitive: “this is the place of – he has not known God.”

[33:29]  ¹³ sn Elihu will repeat these instructions for Job to listen, over and over in painful repetition. See note on the heading to 32:1.

[33:29]  ¹⁴ tn The phrase “in his dealings” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[12:3]  ¹⁷ tn The word is literally “heart,” meaning a mind or understanding.

[12:3]  ¹⁸ tn Because this line is repeated in 13:2, many commentators delete it from this verse (as does the LXX). The Syriac translates נֹפֵל (nofel) as “little,” and the Vulgate “inferior.” Job is saying that he does not fall behind them in understanding.

[12:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “With whom are not such things as these?” The point is that everyone knows the things that these friends have been saying – they are commonplace.

[26:14]  ²¹ tn Heb “the ends of his ways,” meaning “the fringes.”

[26:14]  ²² tn Heb “how little is the word.” Here “little” means a “fraction” or an “echo.”