Job 8:8

8:8 “For inquire now of the former ¹  generation,

and pay attention ²  to the findings ³ 

of their ancestors; ⁴ 

Job 17:16

17:16 Will ⁵  it ⁶  go down to the barred gates ⁷  of death?

Will ⁸  we descend ⁹  together into the dust?”

Job 12:7

Knowledge of God’s Wisdom ¹⁰ 

12:7 “But now, ask the animals and they ¹¹  will teach you,

or the birds of the sky and they will tell you.

[8:8]  ¹ sn Bildad is not calling for Job to trace through the learning of antiquity, but of the most recent former generation. Hebrews were fond of recalling what the “fathers” had taught, for each generation recalled what their fathers had taught.

[8:8]  ² tn The verb כוֹנֵן (khonen, from כּוּן, kun) normally would indicate “prepare yourself” or “fix” one’s heart on something, i.e., give attention to it. The verb with the ל (lamed) preposition after it does mean “to think on” or “to meditate” (Isa 51:13). But some commentators wish to change the כּ (kaf) to a בּ (bet) in the verb to get “to consider” (from בִּין, bin). However, M. Dahood shows a connection between כּנן (knn) and שׁאל (sh’l) in Ugaritic (“Hebrew-Ugaritic Lexicography,” Bib 46 [1965]: 329).

[8:8]  ³ tn The Hebrew has “the search of their fathers,” but the word is probably intended to mean what that observation or search yielded (so “search” is a metonymy of cause).

[8:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “fathers.”

[17:16]  ⁵ sn It is natural to assume that this verse continues the interrogative clause of the preceding verse.

[17:16]  ⁶ tn The plural form of the verb probably refers to the two words, or the two senses of the word in the preceding verse. Hope and what it produces will perish with Job.

[17:16]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew word בַּדִּים (baddim) describes the “bars” or “bolts” of Sheol, referring (by synecdoche) to the “gates of Sheol.” The LXX has “with me to Sheol,” and many adopt that as “by my side.”

[17:16]  ⁸ tn The conjunction אִם (’im) confirms the interrogative interpretation.

[17:16]  ⁹ tn The translation follows the LXX and the Syriac versions with the change of vocalization in the MT. The MT has the noun “rest,” yielding, “will our rest be together in the dust?” The verb נָחַת (nakhat) in Aramaic means “to go down; to descend.” If that is the preferred reading – and it almost is universally accepted here – then it would be spelled נֵחַת (nekhat). In either case the point of the verse is clearly describing death and going to the grave.

[12:7]  ⁹ sn As J. E. Hartley (Job [NICOT], 216) observes, in this section Job argues that respected tradition “must not be accepted uncritically.”

[12:7]  ¹⁰ tn The singular verb is used here with the plural collective subject (see GKC 464 §145.k).