21:32 And when he is carried to the tombs,
and watch is kept 1 over the funeral mound, 2
29:21 “People 3 listened to me and waited silently; 4
they kept silent for my advice.
1 tn The verb says “he will watch.” The subject is unspecified, so the translation is passive.
2 tn The Hebrew word refers to the tumulus, the burial mound that is erected on the spot where the person is buried.
3 tn “People” is supplied; the verb is plural.
4 tc The last verb of the first half, “wait, hope,” and the first verb in the second colon, “be silent,” are usually reversed by the commentators (see G. R. Driver, “Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 86). But if “wait” has the idea of being silent as they wait for him to speak, then the second line would say they were silent for the reason of his advice. The reading of the MT is not impossible.