12:15 If he holds back the waters, then they dry up; 1
if he releases them, 2 they destroy 3 the land.
14:19 as water wears away stones,
and torrents 4 wash away the soil, 5
so you destroy man’s hope. 6
1 tc The LXX has a clarification: “he will dry the earth.”
2 sn The verse is focusing on the two extremes of drought and flood. Both are described as being under the power of God.
3 tn The verb הָפַךְ (hafakh) means “to overthrow; to destroy; to overwhelm.” It was used in Job 9:5 for “overturning” mountains. The word is used in Genesis for the destruction of Sodom.
4 tn Heb “the overflowings of it”; the word סְפִיחֶיהָ (sÿfikheyha) in the text is changed by just about everyone. The idea of “its overflowings” or more properly “its aftergrowths” (Lev 25:5; 2 Kgs 19:29; etc.) does not fit here at all. Budde suggested reading סְחִפָה (sÿkhifah), which is cognate to Arabic sahifeh, “torrential rain, rainstorm” – that which sweeps away” the soil. The word סָחַף (sakhaf) in Hebrew might have a wider usage than the effects of rain.
5 tn Heb “[the] dust of [the] earth.”
6 sn The meaning for Job is that death shatters all of man’s hopes for the continuation of life.