13:23 How many are my 1 iniquities and sins?
Show me my transgression and my sin. 2
33:9 3 ‘I am pure, without transgression;
I am clean 4 and have no iniquity.
34:6 Concerning my right, should I lie? 5
My wound 6 is incurable,
although I am without transgression.’ 7
1 tn The pronoun “my” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied here in the translation.
2 sn Job uses three words for sin here: “iniquities,” which means going astray, erring; “sins,” which means missing the mark or the way; and “transgressions,” which are open rebellions. They all emphasize different kinds of sins and different degrees of willfulness. Job is demanding that any sins be brought up. Both Job and his friends agree that great afflictions would have to indicate great offenses – he wants to know what they are.
3 sn See Job 9:21; 10:7; 23:7; 27:4; ch. 31.
4 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.”
5 tn The verb is the Piel imperfect of כָּזַב (kazav), meaning “to lie.” It could be a question: “Should I lie [against my right?] – when I am innocent. If it is repointed to the Pual, then it can be “I am made to lie,” or “I am deceived.” Taking it as a question makes good sense here, and so emendations are unnecessary.
6 tn The Hebrew text has only “my arrow.” Some commentators emend that word slightly to get “my wound.” But the idea could be derived from “arrows” as well, the wounds caused by the arrows. The arrows are symbolic of God’s affliction.
7 tn Heb “without transgression”; but this is parallel to the first part where the claim is innocence.