Job 9:22

Accusation of God’s Justice

9:22 “It is all one! ¹  That is why I say, ² 

‘He destroys the blameless and the guilty.’

Job 9:24

9:24 If a land ³  has been given

into the hand of a wicked man, ⁴ 

he covers ⁵  the faces of its judges; ⁶ 

if it is not he, then who is it? ⁷ 

Job 10:3

10:3 Is it good for you ⁸  to oppress, ⁹ 

to ¹⁰  despise the work of your hands,

while ¹¹  you smile ¹² 

on the schemes of the wicked?

Job 11:20

11:20 But the eyes of the wicked fail, ¹³ 

and escape ¹⁴  eludes them;

their one hope ¹⁵  is to breathe their last.” ¹⁶ 

Job 15:20

15:20 All his days ¹⁷  the wicked man suffers torment, ¹⁸ 

throughout the number of the years

that ¹⁹  are stored up for the tyrant. ²⁰ 

Job 21:17

How Often Do the Wicked Suffer?

21:17 “How often ²¹  is the lamp of the wicked extinguished?

How often does their ²²  misfortune come upon them?

How often does God apportion pain ²³  to them ²⁴  in his anger?

Job 21:28

21:28 For you say,

‘Where now is the nobleman’s house, ²⁵ 

and where are the tents in which the wicked lived?’ ²⁶ 

Job 27:13

27:13 This is the portion of the wicked man

allotted by God, ²⁷ 

the inheritance that evildoers receive

from the Almighty.

[9:22]  ¹ tc The LXX omits the phrase “It is all one.” Modern scholars either omit it or transpose it for clarity.

[9:22]  ² tn The relationships of these clauses is in some question. Some think that the poet has inverted the first two, and so they should read, “That is why I have said: ‘It is all one.’” Others would take the third clause to be what was said.

[9:24]  ³ tn Some would render this “earth,” meaning the whole earth, and having the verse be a general principle for all mankind. But Job may have in mind the more specific issue of individual land.

[9:24]  ⁴ sn The details of the verse are not easy to explain, but the meaning of the whole verse seems to be about the miscarriage of justice in the courts and the failure of God to do anything about it.

[9:24]  ⁵ tn The subject of the verb is God. The reasoning goes this way: it is the duty of judges to make sure that justice prevails, that restitution and restoration are carried through; but when the wicked gain control of the land of other people, and the judges are ineffective to stop it, then God must be veiling their eyes.

[9:24]  ⁶ sn That these words are strong, if not wild, is undeniable. But Job is only taking the implications of his friends’ speeches to their logical conclusion – if God dispenses justice in the world, and there is no justice, then God is behind it all. The LXX omitted these words, perhaps out of reverence for God.

[9:24]  ⁷ tn This seems to be a broken-off sentence (anacoluthon), and so is rather striking. The scribes transposed the words אֵפוֹא (’efo’) and הוּא (hu’) to make the smoother reading: “If it is not he, who then is it?”

[10:3]  ⁵ tn Or “Does it give you pleasure?” The expression could also mean, “Is it profitable for you?” or “Is it fitting for you?”

[10:3]  ⁶ tn The construction uses כִּי (ki) with the imperfect verb – “that you oppress.” Technically, this clause serves as the subject, and “good” is the predicate adjective. In such cases one often uses an English infinitive to capture the point: “Is it good for you to oppress?” The LXX changes the meaning considerably: “Is it good for you if I am unrighteous, for you have disowned the work of your hands.”

[10:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “that you despise.”

[10:3]  ⁸ tn Now, in the second half of the verse, there is a change in the structure. The conjunction on the preposition followed by the perfect verb represents a circumstantial clause.

[10:3]  ⁹ tn The Hiphil of the verb יָפַע (yafa’) means “shine.” In this context the expression “you shine upon” would mean “have a glowing expression,” be radiant, or smile.

[11:20]  ⁷ tn The verb כָּלָה (kalah) means “to fail, cease, fade away.” The fading of the eyes, i.e., loss of sight, loss of life’s vitality, indicates imminent death.

[11:20]  ⁸ tn Heb a “place of escape” (with this noun pattern). There is no place to escape to because they all perish.

[11:20]  ⁹ tn The word is to be interpreted as a metonymy; it represents what is hoped for.

[11:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the breathing out of the soul”; cf. KJV, ASV “the giving up of the ghost.” The line is simply saying that the brightest hope that the wicked have is death.

[15:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “all the days of the wicked, he suffers.” The word “all” is an adverbial accusative of time, stating along with its genitives (“of the days of a wicked man”) how long the individual suffers. When the subject is composed of a noun in construct followed by a genitive, the predicate sometimes agrees with the genitive (see GKC 467 §146.a).

[15:20]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew term מִתְחוֹלֵל (mitkholel) is a Hitpolel participle from חִיל (khil, “to tremble”). It carries the idea of “torment oneself,” or “be tormented.” Some have changed the letter ח (khet) for a letter ה (he), and obtained the meaning “shows himself mad.” Theodotion has “is mad.” Syriac (“behave arrogantly,” apparently confusing Hebrew חול with חלל; Heidi M. Szpek, Translation Technique in the Peshitta to Job [SBLDS], 277), Symmachus, and Vulgate have “boasts himself.” But the reading of the MT is preferable.

[15:20]  ¹¹ tn It is necessary, with Rashi, to understand the relative pronoun before the verb “they are stored up/reserved.”

[15:20]  ¹² tn This has been translated with the idea of “oppressor” in Job 6:23; 27:13.

[21:17]  ¹¹ tn The interrogative “How often” occurs only with the first colon; it is supplied for smoother reading in the next two.

[21:17]  ¹² tn The pronominal suffix is objective; it re-enforces the object of the preposition, “upon them.” The verb in the clause is בּוֹא (bo’) followed by עַל (’al), “come upon [or against],” may be interpreted as meaning attack or strike.

[21:17]  ¹³ tn חֲבָלִים (khavalim) can mean “ropes” or “cords,” but that would not go with the verb “apportion” in this line. The meaning of “pangs (as in “birth-pangs”) seems to fit best here. The wider meaning would be “physical agony.”

[21:17]  ¹⁴ tn The phrase “to them” is understood and thus is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[21:28]  ¹³ sn The question implies the answer will be “vanished” or “gone.”

[21:28]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “And where is the tent, the dwellings of the wicked.” The word “dwellings of the wicked” is in apposition to “tent.” A relative pronoun must be supplied in the translation.

[27:13]  ¹⁵ tn The expression “allotted by God” interprets the simple prepositional phrase in the text: “with/from God.”