Job 9:19-20

9:19 If it is a matter of strength, ¹ 

most certainly ²  he is the strong one!

And if it is a matter of justice,

he will say, ‘Who will summon me?’ ³ 

9:20 Although I am innocent, ⁴ 

my mouth ⁵  would condemn me; ⁶ 

although I am blameless,

it would declare me perverse. ⁷ 

Job 9:32

9:32 For he ⁸  is not a human being like I am,

that ⁹  I might answer him,

that we might come ¹⁰  together in judgment.

Job 13:27

13:27 And you put my feet in the stocks ¹¹ 

and you watch all my movements; ¹² 

you put marks ¹³  on the soles of my feet.

Psalms 143:2

143:2 Do not sit in judgment on ¹⁴  your servant,

for no one alive is innocent before you. ¹⁵ 

Romans 3:19

3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under ¹⁶  the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

[9:19]  ¹ tn The MT has only “if of strength.”

[9:19]  ² tn “Most certainly” translates the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh).

[9:19]  ³ tn The question could be taken as “who will summon me?” (see Jer 49:19 and 50:44). This does not make immediate sense. Some have simply changed the suffix to “who will summon him.” If the MT is retained, then supplying something like “he will say” could make the last clause fit the whole passage. Another option is to take it as “Who will reveal it to me?” – i.e., Job could be questioning his friends’ qualifications for being God’s emissaries to bring God’s charges against him (cf. KJV, NKJV; and see 10:2 where Job uses the same verb in the Hiphil to request that God reveal what his sin has been that has led to his suffering).

[9:20]  ⁴ tn The idea is the same as that expressed in v. 15, although here the imperfect verb is used and not the perfect. Once again with the concessive clause (“although I am right”) Job knows that in a legal dispute he would be confused and would end up arguing against himself.

[9:20]  ⁵ tn Some commentators wish to change this to “his mouth,” meaning God’s response to Job’s complaints. But the MT is far more expressive, and “my mouth” fits the context in which Job is saying that even though he is innocent, if he spoke in a court setting in the presence of God he would be overwhelmed, confused, and no doubt condemn himself.

[9:20]  ⁶ tn The verb has the declarative sense in the Hiphil, “to declare guilty [or wicked]” or “to condemn.”

[9:20]  ⁷ tn The verb עָקַשׁ (’aqash) means “to be twisted; to be tortuous.” The Piel has a meaning “to bend; to twist” (Mic 3:9) and “to pervert” (Jer 59:8). The form here is classified as a Hiphil, with the softening of the vowel i (see GKC 147 §53.n). It would then also be a declarative use of the Hiphil.

[9:32]  ⁸ tn The personal pronoun that would be expected as the subject of a noun clause is sometimes omitted (see GKC 360 §116.s). Here it has been supplied.

[9:32]  ⁹ tn The consecutive clause is here attached without the use of the ו (vav), but only by simple juxtaposition (see GKC 504-5 §166.a).

[9:32]  ¹⁰ tn The sense of the verb “come” with “together in judgment” means “to confront one another in court.” See Ps 143:2.

[13:27]  ¹¹ tn The word occurs here and in Job 33:11. It could be taken as “stocks,” in which the feet were held fast; or it could be “shackles,” which allowed the prisoner to move about. The parallelism favors the latter, if the two lines are meant to be referring to the same thing.

[13:27]  ¹² tn The word means “ways; roads; paths,” but it is used here in the sense of the “way” in which one goes about his activities.

[13:27]  ¹³ tn The verb תִּתְחַקֶּה (titkhaqqeh) is a Hitpael from the root חָקָה (khaqah, parallel to חָקַק, khaqaq). The word means “to engrave” or “to carve out.” This Hitpael would mean “to imprint something on oneself” (E. Dhorme [Job, 192] says on one’s mind, and so derives the meaning “examine.”). The object of this is the expression “on the roots of my feet,” which would refer to where the feet hit the ground. Since the passage has more to do with God’s restricting Job’s movement, the translation “you set a boundary to the soles of my feet” would be better than Dhorme’s view. The image of inscribing or putting marks on the feet is not found elsewhere. It may be, as Pope suggests, a reference to marking the slaves to make tracking them easier. The LXX has “you have penetrated to my heels.”

[143:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “do not enter into judgment with.”

[143:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “for no one living is innocent before you.”

[3:19]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “in,” “in connection with.”