Job 37:19

37:19 Tell us what we should say to him.

We cannot prepare a case

because of the darkness.

Job 37:23

37:23 As for the Almighty, we cannot attain to him!

He is great in power,

but justice and abundant righteousness he does not oppress.


tn The imperfect verb here carries the obligatory nuance, “what we should say?”

tn The verb means “to arrange; to set in order.” From the context the idea of a legal case is included.

tn The name “Almighty” is here a casus pendens, isolating the name at the front of the sentence and resuming it with a pronoun.

tn The MT places the major disjunctive accent (the atnach) under “power,” indicating that “and justice” as a disjunctive clause starting the second half of the verse (with ESV, NASB, NIV, NLT). Ignoring the Masoretic accent, NRSV has “he is great in power and justice.”