Job 9:3

9:3 If someone wishes ¹  to contend ²  with him,

he cannot answer ³  him one time in a thousand.

Job 9:22

Accusation of God’s Justice

9:22 “It is all one! ⁴  That is why I say, ⁵ 

‘He destroys the blameless and the guilty.’

Job 33:23

33:23 If there is an angel beside him,

one mediator ⁶  out of a thousand,

to tell a person what constitutes his uprightness; ⁷ 

Job 42:14

42:14 The first daughter he named Jemimah, ⁸  the second Keziah, ⁹  and the third Keren-Happuch. ¹⁰ 

[9:3]  ¹ tn Some commentators take God to be the subject of this verb, but it is more likely that it refers to the mortal who tries to challenge God in a controversy. The verb is used of Job in 13:3.

[9:3]  ² tn The verb רִיב (riv) is a common one; it has the idea of “contention; dispute; legal dispute or controversy; go to law.” With the preposition אִם (’im) the idea must be “to contend with” or “to dispute with.” The preposition reflects the prepositional phrase “with God” in v. 2, supporting the view that man is the subject.

[9:3]  ³ tn This use of the imperfect as potential imperfect assumes that the human is the subject, that in a dispute with God he could not answer one of God’s questions (for which see the conclusion of the book when God questions Job). On the other hand, if the interpretation were that God does not answer the demands of mortals, then a simple progressive imperfect would be required. In support of this is the frustration of Job that God does not answer him.

[9:22]  ⁴ tc The LXX omits the phrase “It is all one.” Modern scholars either omit it or transpose it for clarity.

[9:22]  ⁵ 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.

[33:23]  ⁷ sn The verse is describing the way God can preserve someone from dying by sending a messenger (translated here as “angel”), who could be human or angelic. This messenger will interpret/mediate God’s will. By “one … out of a thousand” Elihu could have meant either that one of the thousands of messengers at God’s disposal might be sent or that the messenger would be unique (see Eccl 7:28; and cp. Job 9:3).

[33:23]  ⁸ tn This is a smoother reading. The MT has “to tell to a man his uprightness,” to reveal what is right for him. The LXX translated this word “duty”; the choice is adopted by some commentaries. However, that is too far from the text, which indicates that the angel/messenger is to call the person to uprightness.

[42:14]  ¹⁰ sn The Hebrew name Jemimah means “dove.”

[42:14]  ¹¹ sn The Hebrew name Keziah means “cassia.”

[42:14]  ¹² sn The Hebrew name Keren-Happuch means “horn of eye-paint.”