15:19 to whom alone the land was given
when no foreigner passed among them. 1
19:19 All my closest friends 2 detest me;
and those whom 3 I love have turned against me. 4
25:3 Can his armies be numbered? 5
On whom does his light 6 not rise?
26:4 To whom 7 did you utter these words?
And whose spirit has come forth from your mouth? 8
39:6 to whom I appointed the steppe for its home,
the salt wastes as its dwelling place?
1 sn Eliphaz probably thinks that Edom was the proverbial home of wisdom, and so the reference here would be to his own people. If, as many interpret, the biblical writer is using these accounts to put Yahwistic ideas into the discussion, then the reference would be to Canaan at the time of the fathers. At any rate, the tradition of wisdom to Eliphaz has not been polluted by foreigners, but has retained its pure and moral nature from antiquity.
2 tn Heb “men of my confidence,” or “men of my council,” i.e., intimate friends, confidants.
3 tn The pronoun זֶה (zeh) functions here in the place of a nominative (see GKC 447 §138.h).
4 tn T. Penar translates this “turn away from me” (“Job 19,19 in the Light of Ben Sira 6,11,” Bib 48 [1967]: 293-95).
5 tn Heb “Is there a number to his troops?” The question is rhetorical: there is no number to them!
6 tc In place of “light” here the LXX has “his ambush,” perhaps reading אֹרְבוֹ (’orÿvo) instead of אוֹרֵהוּ (’orehu, “his light”). But while that captures the idea of troops and warfare, the change should be rejected because the armies are linked with stars and light. The expression is poetic; the LXX interpretation tried to make it concrete.
7 tn The verse begins with the preposition and the interrogative: אֶת־מִי (’et-mi, “with who[se help]?”). Others take it as the accusative particle introducing the indirect object: “for whom did you utter…” (see GKC 371 §117.gg). Both are possible.
8 tn Heb “has gone out from you.”