13:8 Will you show him partiality? 1
Will you argue the case 2 for God?
13:9 Would it turn out well if he would examine 3 you?
Or as one deceives 4 a man would you deceive him?
1 sn The idiom used here is “Will you lift up his face?” Here Job is being very sarcastic, for this expression usually means that a judge is taking a bribe. Job is accusing them of taking God’s side.
2 tn The same root is used here (רִיב, riv, “dispute, contention”) as in v. 6b (see note).
3 tn The verb חָפַר (khafar) means “to search out, investigate, examine.” In the conditional clause the imperfect verb expresses the hypothetical case.
4 tn Both the infinitive and the imperfect of תָּלַל (talal, “deceive, mock”) retain the ה (he) (GKC 148 §53.q). But for the alternate form, see F. C. Fensham, “The Stem HTL in Hebrew,” VT 9 (1959): 310-11. The infinitive is used here in an adverbial sense after the preposition.