Job 1:12

1:12 So the Lord said to Satan, “All right then, 1  everything he has is 2  in your power. 3  Only do not extend your hand against the man himself!” 4  So Satan went out 5  from the presence of the Lord. 6 

Job 2:2

2:2 And the Lord said to Satan, “Where do you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, 7  “From roving about on the earth, and from walking back and forth across it.” 8 

Job 7:21

7:21 And why do you not pardon my transgression,

and take away my iniquity?

For now I will lie down in the dust, 9 

and you will seek me diligently, 10 

but I will be gone.”

1 tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “behold”) introduces a foundational clause upon which the following volitional clause is based.

2 tn The versions add a verb here: “delivered to” or “abandoned to” the hand of Satan.

3 tn Heb “in your hand.” The idiom means that it is now Satan’s to do with as he pleases.

4 tn The Hebrew word order emphatically holds out Job’s person as the exception: “only upon him do not stretch forth your hand.”

5 tn The Targum to Job adds “with permission” to show that he was granted leave from God’s presence.

6 sn So Satan, having received his permission to test Job’s sincerity, goes out from the Lord’s presence. But Satan is bound by the will of the Most High not to touch Job himself. The sentence gives the impression that Satan’s departure is with a certain eagerness and confidence.

7 tn Heb “answered the Lord and said” (also in v. 4). The words “and said” here and in v. 9 have not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

8 tn See the note on this phrase in 1:7.

9 tn The LXX has, “for now I will depart to the earth.”

10 tn The verb שָׁחַר (shakhar) in the Piel has been translated “to seek early in the morning” because of the possible link with the word “dawn.” But the verb more properly means “to seek diligently” (by implication).