3:16 Or why 1 was 2 I not buried 3
like a stillborn infant, 4
like infants 5 who have never seen the light? 6
7:19 Will you never 7 look away from me, 8
will you not let me alone 9
long enough to swallow my spittle?
8:18 If he is uprooted 10 from his place,
then that place 11 will disown him, saying, 12
‘I have never seen you!’
41:8 If you lay your hand on it,
you will remember 13 the fight,
and you will never do it again!
1 tn The verb is governed by the interrogative of v. 12 that introduces this series of rhetorical questions.
2 tn The verb is again the prefix conjugation, but the narrative requires a past tense, or preterite.
3 tn Heb “hidden.” The LXX paraphrases: “an untimely birth, proceeding from his mother’s womb.”
4 tn The noun נֵפֶל (nefel, “miscarriage”) is the abortive thing that falls (hence the verb) from the womb before the time is ripe (Ps 58:9). The idiom using the verb “to fall” from the womb means to come into the world (Isa 26:18). The epithet טָמוּן (tamun, “hidden”) is appropriate to the verse. The child comes in vain, and disappears into the darkness – it is hidden forever.
5 tn The word עֹלְלִים (’olÿlim) normally refers to “nurslings.” Here it must refer to infants in general since it refers to a stillborn child.
6 tn The relative clause does not have the relative pronoun; the simple juxtaposition of words indicates that it is modifying the infants.
7 tn Heb “according to what [= how long] will you not look away from me.”
8 tn The verb שָׁעָה (sha’ah, “to look”) with the preposition מִן (min) means “to look away from; to avert one’s gaze.” Job wonders if God would not look away from him even briefly, for the constant vigilance is killing him.
9 tn The Hiphil of רָפָה (rafah) means “to leave someone alone.”
10 tc Ball reads אֵל (’el, “God”) instead of אִם (’im, “if”): “God destroys it” – but there is no reason for this. The idea would be implied in the context. A. B. Davidson rightly points out that who destroys it is not important, but the fact that it is destroyed.
tn The Hebrew has “if one destroys it”; the indefinite subject allows for a passive interpretation. The verb means “swallow” in the Qal, but in the Piel it means “to engulf; to destroy; to ruin” (2:3; 10:8). It could here be rendered “removed from its place” (the place where it is rooted); since the picture is that of complete destruction, “uprooted” would be a good rendering.
11 tn Heb “it”; the referent (“his place” in the preceding line) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
sn The place where the plant once grew will deny ever knowing it. Such is the completeness of the uprooting that there is not a trace left.
12 tn Here “saying” is supplied in the translation.
13 tn The verse uses two imperatives which can be interpreted in sequence: do this, and then this will happen.