Job 9:31

9:31 then you plunge me into a slimy pit ¹ 

and my own clothes abhor me.

Job 15:16

15:16 how much less man, who is abominable and corrupt, ² 

who drinks in evil like water! ³ 

Job 19:19

19:19 All my closest friends ⁴  detest me;

and those whom ⁵  I love have turned against me. ⁶ 

Job 30:10

30:10 They detest me and maintain their distance; ⁷ 

they do not hesitate to spit in my face.

[9:31]  ¹ tn The pointing in the MT gives the meaning “pit” or “ditch.” A number of expositors change the pointing to שֻׁחוֹת (shukhot) to obtain the equivalent of שֻׂחוֹת (sukhot) / סֻחוֹת (sukhot): “filth” (Isa 5:25). This would make the contrast vivid – Job has just washed with pure water and soap, and now God plunges him into filth. M. H. Pope argues convincingly that the word “pit” in the MT includes the idea of “filth,” making the emendation unnecessary (“The Word sahat in Job 9:31,” JBL 83 [1964]: 269-78).

[15:16]  ² tn The two descriptions here used are “abominable,” meaning “disgusting” (a Niphal participle with the value of a Latin participle [see GKC 356-57 §116.e]), and “corrupt” (a Niphal participle which occurs only in Pss 14:3 and 53:4), always in a moral sense. On the significance of the first description, see P. Humbert, “Le substantif toáe„ba„ et le verbe táb dans l’Ancien Testament,” ZAW 72 [1960]: 217ff.). On the second word, G. R. Driver suggests from Arabic, “debauched with luxury, corrupt” (“Some Hebrew Words,” JTS 29 [1927/28]: 390-96).

[15:16]  ³ sn Man commits evil with the same ease and facility as he drinks in water – freely and in large quantities.

[19:19]  ³ tn Heb “men of my confidence,” or “men of my council,” i.e., intimate friends, confidants.

[19:19]  ⁴ tn The pronoun זֶה (zeh) functions here in the place of a nominative (see GKC 447 §138.h).

[19:19]  ⁵ tn T. Penar translates this “turn away from me” (“Job 19,19 in the Light of Ben Sira 6,11,” Bib 48 [1967]: 293-95).

[30:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “they are far from me.”