22:11 why it is so dark you cannot see, 1
and why a flood 2 of water covers you.
27:20 Terrors overwhelm him like a flood; 3
at night a whirlwind carries him off.
38:34 Can you raise your voice to the clouds
so that a flood of water covers you? 4
1 tn Heb “or dark you cannot see.” Some commentators and the RSV follow the LXX in reading אוֹ (’o, “or”) as אוֹר (’or, “light”) and translate it “The light has become dark” or “Your light has become dark.” A. B. Davidson suggests the reading “Or seest thou not the darkness.” This would mean Job does not understand the true meaning of the darkness and the calamities.
2 tn The word שִׁפְעַת (shif’at) means “multitude of.” It is used of men, camels, horses, and here of waters in the heavens.
3 tn Many commentators want a word parallel to “in the night.” And so we are offered בַּיּוֹם (bayyom, “in the day”) for כַמַּיִם (khammayim, “like waters”) as well as a number of others. But “waters” sometimes stand for major calamities, and so may be retained here. Besides, not all parallel structures are synonymous.
4 tc The LXX has “answer you,” and some editors have adopted this. However, the reading of the MT makes better sense in the verse.