Psalms 130:3

130:3 If you, O Lord, were to keep track of ¹  sins,

O Lord, who could stand before you? ² 

Job 14:3

14:3 Do you fix your eye ³  on such a one? ⁴ 

And do you bring me ⁵  before you for judgment?

[130:3]  ¹ tn Heb “observe.”

[130:3]  ² tn The words “before you” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The psalmist must be referring to standing before God’s judgment seat. The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No one.”

[14:3]  ³ tn Heb “open the eye on,” an idiom meaning to prepare to judge someone.

[14:3]  ⁴ tn The verse opens with אַף־עַל־זֶה (’af-’al-zeh), meaning “even on such a one!” It is an exclamation of surprise.

[14:3]  ⁵ tn The text clearly has “me” as the accusative; but many wish to emend it to say “him” (אֹתוֹ, ’oto). But D. J. A. Clines rightly rejects this in view of the way Job is written, often moving back and forth from his own tragedy and others’ tragedies (Job [WBC], 283).