10:6 that 1 you must search out 2 my iniquity,
and inquire about my sin,
20:27 The heavens reveal his iniquity;
the earth rises up against him.
22:5 Is not your wickedness great 3
and is there no end to your iniquity?
31:3 Is it not misfortune for the unjust,
and disaster for those who work iniquity?
31:33 if 4 I have covered my transgressions as men do, 5
by hiding 6 iniquity in my heart, 7
33:9 8 ‘I am pure, without transgression;
I am clean 9 and have no iniquity.
1 tn The clause seems to go naturally with v. 4: do you have eyes of flesh…that you have to investigate? For that reason some like Duhm would delete v. 5. But v. 5 adds to the premise: are you also like a human running out of time that you must try to find out my sin?
2 tn The imperfect verbs in this verse are best given modal nuances. Does God have such limitations that he must make such an investigation? H. H. Rowley observes that Job implies that God has not yet found the iniquity, or extracted a confession from him (Job [NCBC], 84).
3 tn The adjective רַבָּה (rabbah) normally has the idea of “great” in quantity (“abundant,” ESV) rather than “great” in quality.
4 tn Now the protasis continues again.
5 sn Some commentators suggest taking the meaning here to be “as Adam,” referring to the Paradise story of the sin and denial.
6 tn The infinitive is epexegetical, explaining the first line.
7 tn The MT has “in my bosom.” This is the only place in the OT where this word is found. But its meaning is well attested from Aramaic.
8 sn See Job 9:21; 10:7; 23:7; 27:4; ch. 31.
9 tn The word is a hapax legomenon; hap is from חָפַף (khafaf). It is used in New Hebrew in expressions like “to wash” the head. Cognates in Syriac and Akkadian support the meaning “to wash; to clean.”