5:1 “Call now! 1 Is there anyone who will answer you? 2
To which of the holy ones 3 will you turn? 4
9:12 If he snatches away, 5 who can turn him back? 6
Who dares to say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
13:9 Would it turn out well if he would examine 7 you?
Or as one deceives 8 a man would you deceive him?
17:10 “But turn, all of you, 9 and come 10 now! 11
I will not find a wise man among you.
21:14 So they say to God, ‘Turn away from us!
We do not want to 12 know your ways. 13
22:17 They were saying to God, ‘Turn away from us,’
and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’ 14
31:10 then let my wife turn the millstone 15 for another man,
and may other men have sexual relations with her. 16
33:30 to turn back his life from the place of corruption,
that he may be enlightened with the light of life.
36:18 Be careful that 17 no one entices you with riches;
do not let a large bribe 18 turn you aside.
36:21 Take heed, do not turn to evil,
for because of this you have been tested 19 by affliction.
1 tn Some commentators transpose this verse with the following paragraph, placing it after v. 7 (see E. Dhorme, Job, 62). But the reasons for this are based on the perceived development of the argument and are not that compelling.
sn The imperative is here a challenge for Job. If he makes his appeal against God, who is there who will listen? The rhetorical questions are intended to indicate that no one will respond, not even the angels. Job would do better to realize that he is guilty and his only hope is in God.
2 tn The participle with the suffix could be given a more immediate translation to accompany the imperative: “Call now! Is anyone listening to you?”
3 tn The LXX has rendered “holy ones” as “holy angels” (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT). The LXX has interpreted the verb in the colon too freely: “if you will see.”
4 sn The point being made is that the angels do not represent the cries of people to God as if mediating for them. But if Job appealed to any of them to take his case against God, there would be no response whatsoever for that.
5 tn E. Dhorme (Job, 133) surveys the usages and concludes that the verb חָתַף (khataf) normally describes the wicked actions of a man, especially by treachery or trickery against another. But a verb חָתַף (khataf) is found nowhere else; a noun “robber” is found in Prov 23:28. Dhorme sees no reason to emend the text, because he concludes that the two verbs are synonymous. Job is saying that if God acts like a plunderer, there is no one who can challenge what he does.
6 tn The verb is the Hiphil imperfect (potential again) from שׁוּב (shuv). In this stem it can mean “turn back, refute, repel” (BDB 999 s.v. Hiph.5).
7 tn The verb חָפַר (khafar) means “to search out, investigate, examine.” In the conditional clause the imperfect verb expresses the hypothetical case.
8 tn Both the infinitive and the imperfect of תָּלַל (talal, “deceive, mock”) retain the ה (he) (GKC 148 §53.q). But for the alternate form, see F. C. Fensham, “The Stem HTL in Hebrew,” VT 9 (1959): 310-11. The infinitive is used here in an adverbial sense after the preposition.
9 tn The form says “all of them.” Several editors would change it to “all of you,” but the lack of concord is not surprising; the vocative elsewhere uses the third person (see Mic 1:2; see also GKC 441 §135.r).
10 tn The first verb, the jussive, means “to return”; the second verb, the imperative, means “to come.” The two could be taken as a hendiadys, the first verb becoming adverbial: “to come again.”
11 tn Instead of the exact correspondence between coordinate verbs, other combinations occur – here we have a jussive and an imperative (see GKC 386 §120.e).
12 tn The absence of the preposition before the complement adds greater vividness to the statement: “and knowing your ways – we do not desire.”
13 sn Contrast Ps 25:4, which affirms that walking in God’s ways means to obey God’s will – the Torah.
14 tn The form in the text is “to them.” The LXX and the Syriac versions have “to us.”
15 tn Targum Job interpreted the verb טָחַן (takhan, “grind”) in a sexual sense, and this has influenced other versions and commentaries. But the literal sense fits well in this line. The idea is that she would be a slave for someone else. The second line of the verse then might build on this to explain what kind of a slave – a concubine (see A. B. Davidson, Job, 215).
16 tn Heb “bow down over her,” an idiom for sexual relations.
sn The idea is that if Job were guilty of adultery it would be an offense against the other woman’s husband, and so by talionic justice another man’s adultery with Job’s wife would be an offense against him. He is not wishing something on his wife; rather, he is simply looking at what would be offenses in kind.
17 tn The first expression is idiomatic: the text says, “because wrath lest it entice you” – thus, beware.
18 tn The word is כֹּפֶר (kofer), often translated “ransom,” but frequently in the sense of a bribe.
19 tn Normally “tested” would be the translation for the Niphal of בָּחַר (bakhar). Although the Qal is employed here, the context favors “tested” rather than “chose.”