Job 9:17

9:17 he who ¹  crushes ²  me with a tempest,

and multiplies my wounds for no reason. ³ 

Job 29:18

Job’s Confidence

29:18 “Then I thought, ‘I will die in my own home, ⁴ 

my days as numerous as the grains of sand. ⁵ 

Job 39:4

39:4 Their young grow strong, and grow up in the open; ⁶ 

they go off, and do not return to them.

Job 41:3

41:3 Will it make numerous supplications to you, ⁷ 

will it speak to you with tender words? ⁸ 

Job 10:17

10:17 You bring new witnesses ⁹  against me,

and increase your anger against me;

relief troops ¹⁰  come against me.

Job 27:14

27:14 If his children increase – it is for the sword! ¹¹ 

His offspring never have enough to eat. ¹² 

Job 33:12

33:12 Now in this, you are not right – I answer you, ¹³ 

for God is greater than a human being. ¹⁴ 

Job 34:37

34:37 For he adds transgression ¹⁵  to his sin;

in our midst he claps his hands, ¹⁶ 

and multiplies his words against God.”

[9:17]  ¹ tn The relative pronoun indicates that this next section is modifying God, the Judge. Job does not believe that God would respond or listen to him, because this is the one who is crushing him.

[9:17]  ² tn The verb יְשׁוּפֵנִי (yÿshufeni) is the same verb that is used in Gen 3:15 for the wounding of the serpent. The Targum to Job, the LXX, and the Vulgate all translate it “to crush; to pound,” or “to bruise.” The difficulty for many exegetes is that this is to be done “with a tempest.” The Syriac and Targum Job see a different vocalization and read “with a hair.” The text as it stands is understandable and so no change is needed. The fact that the word “tempest” is written with a different sibilant in other places in Job is not greatly significant in this consideration.

[9:17]  ³ tn חִנָּם (khinnam) is adverbial, meaning “gratuitously, without a cause, for no reason, undeservedly.” See its use in 2:4.

[29:18]  ⁴ tc The expression in the MT is “with my nest.” The figure is satisfactory for the context – a home with all the young together, a picture of unity and safety. In Isa 16:2 the word can mean “nestlings,” and with the preposition “with” that might be the meaning here, except that his children had grown up and lived in their own homes. The figure cannot be pushed too far. But the verse apparently has caused enormous problems, because the versions offer a variety of readings and free paraphrases. The LXX has “My age shall grow old as the stem of a palm tree, I shall live a long time.” The Vulgate has, “In my nest I shall die and like the palm tree increase my days.” G. R. Driver found an Egyptian word meaning “strength” (“Birds in the Old Testament,” PEQ 87 [1955]: 138-39). Several read “in a ripe old age” instead of “in my nest” (Pope, Dhorme; see P. P. Saydon, “Philological and Textual Notes to the Maltese Translation of the Old Testament,” CBQ 23 [1961]: 252). This requires the verb זָקַן (zaqan, “be old”), i.e., בִּזְקוּנַי (bizqunay, “in my old age”) instead of קִנִּי (qinni, “my nest”). It has support from the LXX.

[29:18]  ⁵ tc For חוֹל (khol, “sand”) the LXX has a word that is “like the palm tree,” but which could also be translated “like the phoenix” (cf. NAB, NRSV). This latter idea was developed further in rabbinical teaching (see R. Gordis, Job, 321). See also M. Dahood, “Nest and phoenix in Job 29:18,” Bib 48 (1967): 542-44. But the MT yields an acceptable sense here.

[39:4]  ⁷ tn The idea is that of the open countryside. The Aramaism is found only here.

[41:3]  ¹⁰ tn The line asks if the animal, when caught and tied and under control, would keep on begging for mercy. Absolutely not. It is not in the nature of the beast. The construction uses יַרְבֶּה (yarbeh, “[will] he multiply” [= “make numerous”]), with the object, “supplications” i.e., prayers for mercy.

[41:3]  ¹¹ tn The rhetorical question again affirms the opposite. The poem is portraying the creature as powerful and insensitive.

[10:17]  ¹³ tn The text has “you renew/increase your witnesses.” This would probably mean Job’s sufferings, which were witness to his sins. But some suggested a different word here, one that is cognate to Arabic ’adiya, “to be an enemy; to be hostile”: thus “you renew your hostility against me.” Less convincing are suggestions that the word is cognate to Ugaritic “troops” (see W. G. E. Watson, “The Metaphor in Job 10,17,” Bib 63 [1982]: 255-57).

[10:17]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew simply says “changes and a host are with me.” The “changes and a host” is taken as a hendiadys, meaning relieving troops (relief troops of the army). The two words appear together again in 14:14, showing that emendation is to be avoided. The imagery depicts blow after blow from God – always fresh attacks.

[27:14]  ¹⁶ tn R. Gordis (Job, 294) identifies this as a breviloquence. Compare Ps 92:8 where the last two words also constitute the apodosis.

[27:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “will not be satisfied with bread/food.”

[33:12]  ¹⁹ tn The meaning of this verb is “this is my answer to you.”

[33:12]  ²⁰ tc The LXX has “he that is above men is eternal.” Elihu is saying that God is far above Job’s petty problems.

[34:37]  ²² tn Although frequently translated “rebellion,” the basic meaning of this Hebrew term is “transgression.”

[34:37]  ²³ tc If this reading stands, it would mean that Job shows contempt, meaning that he mocks them and accuses God. It is a bold touch, but workable. Of the many suggested emendations, Dhorme alters some of the vowels and obtains a reading “and casts doubt among us,” and then takes “transgression” from the first colon for the complement. Some commentators simply delete the line.