5:23 For you will have a pact with the stones 1 of the field,
and the wild animals 2 will be at peace 3 with you.
24:5 Like 4 wild donkeys in the desert
they 5 go out to their labor, 6
seeking diligently for food;
the wasteland provides 7 food for them
and for their children.
35:11 who teaches us 8 more than 9 the wild animals of the earth,
and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?’
39:1 “Are you acquainted with the way 10
the mountain goats 11 give birth?
Do you watch as the wild deer give birth to their young?
1 tn Heb “your covenant is with the stones of the field.” The line has been variously interpreted and translated. It is omitted in the LXX. It seems to mean there is a deep sympathy between man and nature. Some think it means that the boundaries will not be violated by enemies; Rashi thought it represented some species of beings, like genii of the field, and so read אֲדֹנֵי (’adone, “lords”) for אַבְנֵי (’avne, “stones”). Ball takes the word as בְּנֵי (bÿne, “sons”), as in “sons of the field,” to get the idea that the reference is to the beasts. E. Dhorme (Job, 71) rejects these ideas as too contrived; he says to have a pact with the stones of the field simply means the stones will not come and spoil the ground, making it less fertile.
2 tn Heb “the beasts of the field.”
3 tn This is the only occurrence of the Hophal of the verb שָׁלֵם (shalem, “to make or have peace” with someone). Compare Isa 11:6-9 and Ps 91:13. The verb form is the perfect; here it is the perfect consecutive following a noun clause (see GKC 494 §159.g).
4 tc The verse begins with הֵן (hen); but the LXX, Vulgate, and Syriac all have “like.” R. Gordis (Job, 265) takes הֵן (hen) as a pronoun “they” and supplies the comparative. The sense of the verse is clear in either case.
5 tn That is, “the poor.”
6 tc The MT has “in the working/labor of them,” or “when they labor.” Some commentators simply omit these words. Dhorme retains them and moves them to go with עֲרָבָה (’aravah), which he takes to mean “evening”; this gives a clause, “although they work until the evening.” Then, with many others, he takes לוֹ (lo) to be a negative and finishes the verse with “no food for the children.” Others make fewer changes in the text, and as a result do not come out with such a hopeless picture – there is some food found. The point is that they spend their time foraging for food, and they find just enough to survive, but it is a day-long activity. For Job, this shows how unrighteous the administration of the world actually is.
7 tn The verb is not included in the Hebrew text but is supplied in the translation.
8 tn The form in the text, the Piel participle from אָלַף (’alaf, “teach”) is written in a contracted form; the full form is מְאַלְּפֵנוּ (mÿ’allÿfenu).
9 tn Some would render this “teaches us by the beasts.” But Elihu is stressing the unique privilege humans have.
10 tn The text uses the infinitive as the object: “do you know the giving birth of?”
11 tn Or “ibex.”