Job 9:26

9:26 They glide by ¹  like reed ²  boats,

like an eagle that swoops ³  down on its prey. ⁴ 

Job 19:10

19:10 He tears me down ⁵  on every side until I perish; ⁶ 

he uproots ⁷  my hope ⁸  like one uproots ⁹  a tree.

Job 31:2

31:2 What then would be one’s lot from God above,

one’s heritage from the Almighty ¹⁰  on high?

[9:26]  ¹ tn Heb “they flee.”

[9:26]  ² tn The word אֵבֶה (’eveh) means “reed, papyrus,” but it is a different word than was in 8:11. What is in view here is a light boat made from bundles of papyrus that glides swiftly along the Nile (cf. Isa 18:2 where papyrus vessels and swiftness are associated).

[9:26]  ³ tn The verb יָטוּשׂ (yatus) is also a hapax legomenon; the Aramaic cognate means “to soar; to hover in flight.” The sentence here requires the idea of swooping down while in flight.

[9:26]  ⁴ tn Heb “food.”

[19:10]  ⁵ tn The metaphors are changed now to a demolished building and an uprooted tree. The verb is נָתַץ (natats, “to demolish”). Since it is Job himself who is the object, the meaning cannot be “demolish” (as of a house so that an inhabitant has to leave), but more of the attack or the battering.

[19:10]  ⁶ tn The text has הָלַךְ (halakh, “to leave”). But in view of Job 14:20, “perish” or “depart” would be a better meaning here.

[19:10]  ⁷ tn The verb נָסַע (nasa’) means “to travel” generally, but specifically it means “to pull up the tent pegs and move.” The Hiphil here means “uproot.” It is used of a vine in Ps 80:9. The idea here does not contradict Job 14:7, for there the tree still had roots and so could grow.

[19:10]  ⁸ tn The NEB has “my tent rope,” but that seems too contrived here. It is absurd to pull up a tent-rope like a tree.

[19:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “like a tree.” The words “one uproots” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[31:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “lot of Shaddai,” which must mean “the lot from Shaddai,” a genitive of source.