7:7 Remember 1 that my life is but a breath,
that 2 my eyes will never again 3 see happiness.
16:14 He breaks through against me, time and time again; 4
he rushes 5 against me like a warrior.
1 sn Job is probably turning here to God, as is clear from v. 11 on. The NIV supplies the word “God” for clarification. It was God who breathed breath into man’s nostrils (Gen 2:7), and so God is called to remember that man is but a breath.
2 tn The word “that” is supplied in the translation.
3 tn The verb with the infinitive serves as a verbal hendiadys: “return to see” means “see again.”
4 tn The word פָּרַץ (parats) means “to make a breach” in a wall (Isa 5:5; Ps 80:13). It is used figuratively in the birth and naming of Peres in Gen 38:29. Here the image is now of a military attack that breaks through a wall. The text uses the cognate accusative, and then with the addition of עַל־פְּנֵי (’al-pÿne, “in addition”) it repeats the cognate noun. A smooth translation that reflects the three words is difficult. E. Dhorme (Job, 237) has “he batters me down, breach upon breach.”
5 tn Heb “runs.”