3:18 There 1 the prisoners 2 relax 3 together; 4
they do not hear the voice of the oppressor. 5
37:2 Listen carefully 6 to the thunder of his voice,
to the rumbling 7 that proceeds from his mouth.
37:5 God thunders with his voice in marvelous ways; 8
he does great things beyond our understanding. 9
38:34 Can you raise your voice to the clouds
so that a flood of water covers you? 10
1 tn “There” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied from the context.
2 tn The LXX omits the verb and translates the noun not as prisoners but as “old men” or “men of old time.”
3 tn The verb שַׁאֲנָנוּ (sha’ananu) is the Pilpel of שָׁאַן (sha’an) which means “to rest.” It refers to the normal rest or refreshment of individuals; here it is contrasted with the harsh treatment normally put on prisoners.
4 sn See further J. C. de Moor, “Lexical Remarks Concerning yahad and yahdaw,” VT 7 (1957): 350-55.
5 tn Or “taskmaster.” The same Hebrew word is used for the taskmasters in Exod 3:7.
6 tn The imperative is followed by the infinitive absolute from the same root to express the intensity of the verb.
7 tn The word is the usual word for “to meditate; to murmur; to groan”; here it refers to the low building of the thunder as it rumbles in the sky. The thunder is the voice of God (see Ps 29).
8 tn The form is the Niphal participle, “wonders,” from the verb פָּלָא (pala’, “to be wonderful; to be extraordinary”). Some commentators suppress the repeated verb “thunders,” and supply other verbs like “shows” or “works,” enabling them to make “wonders” the object of the verb rather than leaving it in an adverbial role. But as H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 236) notes, no change is needed, for one is not surprised to find repetition in Elihu’s words.
9 tn Heb “and we do not know.”
10 tc The LXX has “answer you,” and some editors have adopted this. However, the reading of the MT makes better sense in the verse.