2:4 But 1 Satan answered the Lord, “Skin for 2 skin! 3 Indeed, a man will give up 4 all that he has to save his life! 5 2:5 But extend your hand and strike his bone and his flesh, 6 and he will no doubt 7 curse you to your face!”
3:9 Let its morning stars 8 be darkened;
let it wait 9 for daylight but find none, 10
nor let it see the first rays 11 of dawn,
4:10 There is 12 the roaring of the lion 13
and the growling 14 of the young lion,
but the teeth of the young lions are broken. 15
4:16 It stands still, 16
but I cannot recognize 17 its appearance;
an image is before my eyes,
and I hear a murmuring voice: 18
7:8 The eye of him who sees me now will see me no more; 19
your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone. 20
12:6 But 21 the tents of robbers are peaceful,
and those who provoke God are confident 22 –
who carry their god in their hands. 23
12:7 “But now, ask the animals and they 25 will teach you,
or the birds of the sky and they will tell you.
14:7 “But there is hope for 26 a tree: 27
If it is cut down, it will sprout again,
and its new shoots will not fail.
16:6 “But 28 if I speak, my pain is not relieved, 29
and if I refrain from speaking
– how 30 much of it goes away?
22:18 But it was he 31 who filled their houses
with good things –
yet the counsel of the wicked 32
was far from me. 33
24:16 In the dark the robber 34 breaks into houses, 35
but by day they shut themselves in; 36
they do not know the light. 37
24:22 But God 38 drags off the mighty by his power;
when God 39 rises up against him, he has no faith in his life. 40
30:1 “But now they mock me, those who are younger 41 than I,
whose fathers I disdained too much 42
to put with my sheep dogs. 43
31:18 but from my youth I raised the orphan 44 like a father,
and from my mother’s womb 45
I guided the widow! 46
33:27 That person sings 47 to others, 48 saying:
‘I have sinned and falsified what is right,
but I was not punished according to what I deserved. 49
34:33 Is it your opinion 50 that God 51 should recompense it,
because you reject this? 52
But you must choose, and not I,
so tell us what you know.
36:7 He does not take his eyes 53 off the righteous;
but with kings on the throne
he seats the righteous 54 and exalts them forever. 55
37:21 But now, the sun 56 cannot be looked at 57 –
it is bright in the skies –
after a wind passed and swept the clouds away. 58
37:23 As for the Almighty, 59 we cannot attain to him!
He is great in power,
but justice 60 and abundant righteousness he does not oppress.
42:3 you asked, 61
‘Who is this who darkens counsel
without knowledge?’
But 62 I have declared without understanding 63
things too wonderful for me to know. 64
1 tn The form is the simply preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive. However, the speech of Satan is in contrast to what God said, even though in narrative sequence.
2 tn The preposition בְּעַד (bÿ’ad) designates interest or advantage arising from the idea of protection for (“for the benefit of”); see IBHS 201-2 §11.2.7a.
3 sn The meaning of the expression is obscure. It may come from the idea of sacrificing an animal or another person in order to go free, suggesting the expression that one type of skin that was worth less was surrendered to save the more important life. Satan would then be saying that Job was willing for others to die for him to go free, but not himself. “Skin” would be a synecdoche of the part for the whole (like the idiomatic use of skin today for a person in a narrow escape). The second clause indicates that God has not even scratched the surface because Job has been protected. His “skin” might have been scratched, but not his flesh and bone! But if his life had been put in danger, he would have responded differently.
4 tc The LXX has “make full payment, pay a full price” (LSJ 522 s.v. ἐκτίνω).
5 tn Heb “Indeed, all that a man has he will give for his life.”
6 sn The “bones and flesh” are idiomatic for the whole person, his physical and his psychical/spiritual being (see further H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 26-28).
7 sn This is the same oath formula found in 1:11; see the note there.
8 tn Heb “the stars of its dawn.” The word נֶשֶׁף (neshef) can mean “twilight” or “dawn.” In this context the morning stars are in mind. Job wishes that the morning stars – that should announce the day – go out.
9 tn The verb “wait, hope” has the idea of eager expectation and preparation. It is used elsewhere of waiting on the
10 tn The absolute state אַיִן (’ayin, “there is none”) is here used as a verbal predicate (see GKC 480 §152.k). The concise expression literally says “and none.”
11 sn The expression is literally “the eyelids of the morning.” This means the very first rays of dawn (see also Job 41:18). There is some debate whether it refers to “eyelids” or “eyelashes” or “eyeballs.” If the latter, it would signify the flashing eyes of a person. See for the Ugaritic background H. L. Ginsberg, The Legend of King Keret (BASORSup), 39; see also J. M. Steadman, “‘Eyelids of Morn’: A Biblical Convention,” HTR 56 (1963): 159-67.
12 tn “There is” has been supplied to make a smoother translation out of the clauses.
13 sn Eliphaz takes up a new image here to make the point that the wicked are destroyed – the breaking up and scattering of a den of lions. There are several words for “lion” used in this section. D. J. A. Clines observes that it is probably impossible to distinguish them (Job [WBC], 109, 110, which records some bibliography of those who have tried to work on the etymologies and meanings). The first is אַרְיֵה (’aryeh) the generic term for “lion.” It is followed by שַׁחַל (shakhal) which, like כְּפִיר (kÿfir), is a “young lion.” Some have thought that the שַׁחַל (shakhal) is a lion-like animal, perhaps a panther or leopard. KBL takes it by metathesis from Arabic “young one.” The LXX for this verse has “the strength of the lion, and the voice of the lioness and the exulting cry of serpents are quenched.”
14 tn Heb “voice.”
15 tn The verb belongs to the subject “teeth” in this last colon; but it is used by zeugma (a figure of speech in which one word is made to refer to two or more other words, but has to be understood differently in the different contexts) of the three subjects (see H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 46-47).
16 tc The LXX has the first person of the verb: “I arose and perceived it not, I looked and there was no form before my eyes; but I only heard a breath and a voice.”
17 tn The imperfect verb is to be classified as potential imperfect. Eliphaz is unable to recognize the figure standing before him.
18 sn The colon reads “a silence and a voice I hear.” Some have rendered it “there is a silence, and then I hear.” The verb דָּמַם (damam) does mean “remain silent” (Job 29:21; 31:34) and then also “cease.” The noun דְּמָמָה (dÿmamah, “calm”) refers to the calm after the storm in Ps 107:29. Joined with the true object of the verb, “voice,” it probably means something like stillness or murmuring or whispering here. It is joined to “voice” with a conjunction, indicating that it is a hendiadys, “murmur and a voice” or a “murmuring voice.”
19 sn The meaning of the verse is that God will relent, but it will be too late. God now sees him with a hostile eye; when he looks for him, or looks upon him in friendliness, it will be too late.
20 tn This verse is omitted in the LXX and so by several commentators. But the verb שׁוּר (shur, “turn, return”) is so characteristic of Job (10 times) that the verse seems appropriate here.
21 tn The verse gives the other side of the coin now, the fact that the wicked prosper.
22 tn The plural is used to suggest the supreme degree of arrogant confidence (E. Dhorme, Job, 171).
23 sn The line is perhaps best understood as describing one who thinks he is invested with the power of God.
24 sn As J. E. Hartley (Job [NICOT], 216) observes, in this section Job argues that respected tradition “must not be accepted uncritically.”
25 tn The singular verb is used here with the plural collective subject (see GKC 464 §145.k).
26 tn The genitive after the construct is one of advantage – it is hope for the tree.
27 sn The figure now changes to a tree for the discussion of the finality of death. At least the tree will sprout again when it is cut down. Why, Job wonders, should what has been granted to the tree not also be granted to humans?
28 tn “But” is supplied in the translation to strengthen the contrast.
29 tn The Niphal יֵחָשֵׂךְ (yekhasekh) means “to be soothed; to be assuaged.”
30 tn Some argue that מָה (mah) in the text is the Arabic ma, the simple negative. This would then mean “it does not depart far from me.” The interrogative used rhetorically amounts to the same thing, however, so the suggestion is not necessary.
31 tn The pronoun is added for this emphasis; it has “but he” before the verb.
32 tn See Job 10:3.
33 tc The LXX has “from him,” and this is followed by several commentators. But the MT is to be retained, for Eliphaz is recalling the words of Job. Verses 17 and 18 are deleted by a number of commentators as a gloss because they have many similarities to 21:14-16. But Eliphaz is recalling what Job said, in order to say that the prosperity to which Job alluded was only the prelude to a disaster he denied (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 156).
34 tn The phrase “the robber” has been supplied in the English translation for clarification.
35 tc This is not the idea of the adulterer, but of the thief. So some commentators reverse the order and put this verse after v. 14.
36 tc The verb חִתְּמוּ (khittÿmu) is the Piel from the verb חָתַם (khatam, “to seal”). The verb is now in the plural, covering all the groups mentioned that work under the cover of darkness. The suggestion that they “seal,” i.e., “mark” the house they will rob, goes against the meaning of the word “seal.”
37 tc Some commentators join this very short colon to the beginning of v. 17: “they do not know the light. For together…” becomes “for together they have not known the light.”
38 tn God has to be the subject of this clause. None is stated in the Hebrew text, but “God” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
39 tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity. See the note on the word “life” at the end of the line.
40 tn This line has been given a number of interpretations due to its cryptic form. The verb יָקוּם (yaqum) means “he rises up.” It probably is meant to have God as the subject, and be subordinated as a temporal clause to what follows. The words “against him” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation to specify the object and indicate that “rise up” is meant in a hostile sense. The following verb וְלֹא־יַאֲמִין (vÿlo’-ya’amin), by its very meaning of “and he does not believe,” cannot have God as the subject, but must refer to the wicked.
41 tn Heb “smaller than I for days.”
42 tn Heb “who I disdained their fathers to set…,” meaning “whose fathers I disdained to set.” The relative clause modifies the young fellows who mock; it explains that Job did not think highly enough of them to put them with the dogs. The next verse will explain why.
43 sn Job is mocked by young fellows who come from low extraction. They mocked their elders and their betters. The scorn is strong here – dogs were despised as scavengers.
44 tn Heb “he grew up with me.” Several commentators have decided to change the pronoun to “I,” and make it causative.
45 tn The expression “from my mother’s womb” is obviously hyperbolic. It is a way of saying “all his life.”
46 tn Heb “I guided her,” referring to the widow mentioned in v. 16.
47 tc The verb יָשֹׁר (yashor) is unusual. The typical view is to change it to יָשִׁיר (yashir, “he sings”), but that may seem out of harmony with a confession. Dhorme suggests a root שׁוּר (shur, “to repeat”), but this is a doubtful root. J. Reider reads it יָשֵׁיר (yasher) and links it to an Arabic word “confesses” (ZAW 24 [1953]: 275).
48 tn Heb “to men.”
49 tn The verb שָׁוָה (shavah) has the impersonal meaning here, “it has not been requited to me.” The meaning is that the sinner has not been treated in accordance with his deeds: “I was not punished according to what I deserved.”
50 tn Heb “is it from with you,” an idiomatic expression meaning “to suit you” or “according to your judgment.”
51 tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
52 tn There is no object on the verb, and the meaning is perhaps lost. The best guess is that Elihu is saying Job has rejected his teaching.
53 tc Many commentators accept the change of “his eyes” to “his right” (reading דִּינוֹ [dino] for עֵינָיו [’enayv]). There is no compelling reason for the change; it makes the line commonplace.
54 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the righteous) has been repeated from the first part of the verse for clarity.
55 tn Heb “he seats them forever and exalts them.” The last verb can be understood as expressing a logical consequence of the preceding action (cf. GKC 328 §111.l = “he seats them forever so that he exalts them”). Or the two verbs can be taken as an adverbial hendiadys whereby the first modifies the second adverbially: “he exalts them by seating them forever” or “when he seats them forever” (cf. GKC 326 §111.d). Some interpret this verse to say that God seats kings on the throne, making a change in subject in the middle of the verse. But it makes better sense to see the righteous as the subject matter throughout – they are not only protected, but are exalted.
56 tn The light here must refer to the sun in the skies that had been veiled by the storm. Then, when the winds blew the clouds away, it could not be looked at because it was so dazzling. Elihu’s analogy will be that God is the same – in his glory one cannot look at him or challenge him.
57 tn The verb has an indefinite subject, and so should be a passive here.
58 tn Heb “and cleaned them.” The referent is the clouds (v. 18), which has been supplied in the translation for clarity. There is another way of reading this verse: the word translated “bright” means “dark; obscured” in Syriac. In this interpretation the first line would mean that they could not see the sun, because it was darkened by the clouds, but then the wind came and blew the clouds away. Dhorme, Gray, and several others take it this way, as does the NAB.
59 tn The name “Almighty” is here a casus pendens, isolating the name at the front of the sentence and resuming it with a pronoun.
60 tn The MT places the major disjunctive accent (the atnach) under “power,” indicating that “and justice” as a disjunctive clause starting the second half of the verse (with ESV, NASB, NIV, NLT). Ignoring the Masoretic accent, NRSV has “he is great in power and justice.”
61 tn The expression “you asked” is added here to clarify the presence of the line to follow. Many commentators delete it as a gloss from Job 38:2. If it is retained, then Job has to be recalling God’s question before he answers it.
62 tn The word לָכֵן (lakhen) is simply “but,” as in Job 31:37.
63 tn Heb “and I do not understand.” The expression serves here in an adverbial capacity. It also could be subordinated as a complement: “I have declared [things that] I do not understand.”
64 tn The last clause is “and I do not know.” This is also subordinated to become a dependent clause.