20:23 “While he is 1 filling his belly,
God 2 sends his burning anger 3 against him,
and rains down his blows upon him. 4
29:23 They waited for me as people wait 5 for the rain,
and they opened their mouths 6
as for 7 the spring rains.
38:25 Who carves out a channel for the heavy rains,
and a path for the rumble of thunder,
1 tn D. J. A. Clines observes that to do justice to the three jussives in the verse, one would have to translate “May it be, to fill his belly to the full, that God should send…and rain” (Job [WBC], 477). The jussive form of the verb at the beginning of the verse could also simply introduce a protasis of a conditional clause (see GKC 323 §109.h, i). This would mean, “if he [God] is about to fill his [the wicked’s] belly to the full, he will send….” The NIV reads “when he has filled his belly.” These fit better, because the context is talking about the wicked in his evil pursuit being cut down.
2 tn “God” is understood as the subject of the judgment.
3 tn Heb “the anger of his wrath.”
4 tn Heb “rain down upon him, on his flesh.” Dhorme changes עָלֵימוֹ (’alemo, “upon him”) to “his arrows”; he translates the line as “he rains his arrows upon his flesh.” The word בִּלְחוּמוֹ (bilkhumo,“his flesh”) has been given a wide variety of translations: “as his food,” “on his flesh,” “upon him, his anger,” or “missiles or weapons of war.”
5 tn The phrase “people wait for” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation.
6 sn The analogy is that they received his words eagerly as the dry ground opens to receive the rains.
7 tn The כּ (kaf) preposition is to be supplied by analogy with the preceding phrase. This leaves a double proposition, “as for” (but see Job 29:2).