13:4 But you, however, are inventors of lies; 1
all of you are worthless physicians! 2
26:6 The underworld 3 is naked before God; 4
the place of destruction lies uncovered. 5
29:19 My roots reach the water,
and the dew lies on my branches all night long.
40:21 Under the lotus trees it lies,
in the secrecy of the reeds and the marsh.
1 tn The טֹפְלֵי־שָׁקֶר (tofÿle shaqer) are “plasterers of lies” (Ps 119:69). The verb means “to coat, smear, plaster.” The idea is that of imputing something that is not true. Job is saying that his friends are inventors of lies. The LXX was influenced by the next line and came up with “false physicians.”
2 tn The literal rendering of the construct would be “healers of worthlessness.” Ewald and Dillmann translated it “patchers” based on a meaning in Arabic and Ethiopic; this would give the idea “botchers.” But it makes equally good sense to take “healers” as the meaning, for Job’s friends came to minister comfort and restoration to him – but they failed. See P. Humbert, “Maladie et medicine dans l’AT,” RHPR 44 (1964): 1-29.
3 tn Heb “Sheol.”
4 tn Heb “before him.”
5 tn The line has “and there is no covering for destruction.” “Destruction” here is another name for Sheol: אֲבַדּוֹן (’avaddon, “Abaddon”).