Job 2:12

2:12 But when they gazed intently 1  from a distance but did not recognize 2  him, they began to weep loudly. Each of them tore his robes, and they threw dust into the air over their heads. 3 

Job 7:21

7:21 And why do you not pardon my transgression,

and take away my iniquity?

For now I will lie down in the dust, 4 

and you will seek me diligently, 5 

but I will be gone.”

1 tn Heb “they lifted up their eyes.” The idiom “to lift up the eyes” (or “to lift up the voice”) is intended to show a special intensity in the effort. Here it would indicate that they were trying to see Job from a great distance away.

2 tn The Hiphil perfect here should take the nuance of potential perfect – they were not able to recognize him. In other words, this does not mean that they did not know it was Job, only that he did not look anything like the Job they knew.

3 tn Heb “they tossed dust skyward over their heads.”

4 tn The LXX has, “for now I will depart to the earth.”

5 tn The verb שָׁחַר (shakhar) in the Piel has been translated “to seek early in the morning” because of the possible link with the word “dawn.” But the verb more properly means “to seek diligently” (by implication).