3:11 “Why did I not 2 die 3 at birth, 4
and why did I not expire
as 5 I came out of the womb?
6:13 Is 6 not my power to help myself nothing,
and has not every resource 7 been driven from me?
7:1 “Does not humanity have hard service 8 on earth?
Are not their days also
like the days of a hired man? 9
14:21 If 10 his sons are honored, 11
he does not know it; 12
if they are brought low,
he does not see 13 it.
15:29 He will not grow rich,
and his wealth will not endure,
nor will his possessions 14 spread over the land.
23:8 “If I go to the east, he is not there,
and to the west, yet I do not perceive him.
24:1 “Why are times not appointed by 15 the Almighty? 16
Why do those who know him not see his days?
25:5 If even the moon is not bright,
and the stars are not pure as far as he is concerned, 17
28:14 The deep 18 says, ‘It is not with 19 me.’
And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
32:14 Job 20 has not directed 21 his words to me,
and so I will not reply to him with your arguments. 22
35:13 Surely it is an empty cry 23 – God does not hear it;
the Almighty does not take notice of it.
35:15 And further, 24 when you say
that his anger does not punish, 25
and that he does not know transgression! 26
1 sn Job follows his initial cry with a series of rhetorical questions. His argument runs along these lines: since he was born (v. 10), the next chance he had of escaping this life of misery would have been to be still born (vv. 11-12, 16). In vv. 13-19 Job considers death as falling into a peaceful sleep in a place where there is no trouble. The high frequency of rhetorical questions in series is a characteristic of the Book of Job that sets it off from all other portions of the OT. The effect is primarily dramatic, creating a tension that requires resolution. See W. Watson, Classical Hebrew Poetry, 340-41.
2 tn The negative only occurs with the first clause, but it extends its influence to the parallel second clause (GKC 483 §152.z).
3 tn The two verbs in this verse are both prefix conjugations; they are clearly referring to the past and should be classified as preterites. E. Dhorme (Job, 32) notes that the verb “I came out” is in the perfect to mark its priority in time in relation to the other verbs.
4 tn The translation “at birth” is very smooth, but catches the meaning and avoids the tautology in the verse. The line literally reads “from the womb.” The second half of the verse has the verb “I came out/forth” which does double duty for both parallel lines. The second half uses “belly” for the womb.
5 tn The two halves of the verse use the prepositional phrases (“from the womb” and “from the belly I went out”) in the temporal sense of “on emerging from the womb.”
6 tn For the use of the particle אִם (’im) in this kind of interrogative clause, see GKC 475 §150.g, note.
7 tn The word means something like “recovery,” or the powers of recovery; it was used in Job 5:12. In 11:6 it applies to a condition of the mind, such as mental resource. Job is thinking not so much of relief or rescue from his troubles, but of strength to bear them.
8 tn The word צָבָא (tsava’) is actually “army”; it can be used for the hard service of military service as well as other toil. As a military term it would include the fixed period of duty (the time) and the hard work (toil). Job here is considering the lot of all humans, not just himself.
9 tn The שָׂכִיר (sakhir) is a hired man, either a man who works for wages, or a mercenary soldier (Jer 46:21). The latter sense may be what is intended here in view of the parallelism, although the next verse seems much broader.
10 tn The clause may be interpreted as a conditional clause, with the second clause beginning with the conjunction serving as the apodosis.
11 tn There is no expressed subject for the verb “they honor,” and so it may be taken as a passive.
12 sn Death is separation from the living, from the land of the living. And ignorance of what goes on in this life, good or bad, is part of death. See also Eccl 9:5-6, which makes a similar point.
13 tn The verb is בִּין (bin, “to perceive; to discern”). The parallelism between “know” and “perceive” stress the point that in death a man does not realize what is happening here in the present life.
14 tn This word מִנְלָם (minlam) also is a hapax legomenon, although almost always interpreted to mean “possession” (with Arabic manal) and repointed as מְנֹלָם (mÿnolam). M. Dahood further changes “earth” to the netherworld, and interprets it to mean “his possessions will not go down to the netherworld (“Value of Ugaritic for Textual Criticism,” Bib 40 [1959]: 164-66). Others suggest it means “ear of grain,” either from the common word for “ears of grain” or a hapax legomenon in Deuteronomy 23:26 [25].
15 tn The preposition מִן (min) is used to express the cause (see GKC 389 §121.f).
16 tc The LXX reads “Why are times hidden from the Almighty?” as if to say that God is not interested in the events on the earth. The MT reading is saying that God fails to set the times for judgment and vindication and makes good sense as it stands.
17 tn Heb “not pure in his eyes.”
18 sn The תְּהוֹם (tÿhom) is the “deep” of Gen 1:2, the abyss or primordial sea. It was always understood to be a place of darkness and danger. As remote as it is, it asserts that wisdom is not found there (personification). So here we have the abyss and the sea, then death and destruction – but they are not the places that wisdom resides.
19 tn The בּ (bet) preposition is taken here to mean “with” in the light of the parallel preposition.
20 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Job) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
21 tn The verb עַרַךְ (’arakh) means “to arrange in order; to set forth; to direct; to marshal.” It is used in military contexts for setting the battle array; it is used in legal settings for preparing the briefs.
22 tn Heb “your words.”
23 tn Heb “surely – vanity, he does not hear.” The cry is an empty cry, not a prayer to God. Dhorme translates it, “It is a pure waste of words.”
24 tn The expression “and now” introduces a new complaint of Elihu – in addition to the preceding. Here the verb of v. 14, “you say,” is understood after the temporal ki (כִּי).
25 tn The verb פָקַד (paqad) means “to visit” (also “to appoint; to muster; to number”). When God visits, it means that he intervenes in one’s life for blessing or cursing (punishing, destroying).
26 tn The word פַּשׁ (pash) is a hapax legomenon. K&D 12:275 derived it from an Arabic word meaning “belch,” leading to the idea of “overflow.” BDB 832 s.v. defines it as “folly.” Several define it as “transgression” on the basis of the versions (Theodotion, Symmachus, Vulgate). The RSV took it as “greatly heed,” but that is not exactly “greatly know,” when the text beyond that requires “not know at all.” The NIV has “he does not take the least notice of wickedness.”