9:18 He does not allow 1 me to recover 2 my breath,
for he fills 3 me with bitterness.
15:13 when you turn your rage 4 against God
and allow such words to escape 5 from your mouth?
21:11 They allow their children to run 6 like a flock;
their little ones dance about.
36:6 He does not allow the wicked to live, 7
but he gives justice to the poor.
1 tn The verb נָתַן (natan) essentially means “to give”; but followed by the infinitive (without the ל [lamed] here) it means “to permit; to allow.”
2 tn The Hiphil of the verb means “to bring back”; with the object “my breath,” it means “get my breath” or simply “breathe.” The infinitive is here functioning as the object of the verb (see GKC 350 §114.m).
3 sn The meaning of the word is “to satiate; to fill,” as in “drink to the full, be satisfied.” Job is satiated – in the negative sense – with bitterness. There is no room for more.
4 tn The Hebrew is רוּחֶךָ (rukhekha, “your spirit” or “your breath”). But the fact that this is turned “against God,” means that it must be given a derived meaning, or a meaning that is metonymical. It is used in the Bible in the sense of anger – what the spirit vents (see Judg 8:3; Prov 16:32; and Job 4:9 with “blast”).
5 tn The verb is a Hiphil perfect of yasa’, “to go out, proceed, issue forth.”
6 tn The verb שָׁלַח (shalakh) means “to send forth,” but in the Piel “to release; to allow to run free.” The picture of children frolicking in the fields and singing and dancing is symbolic of peaceful, prosperous times.
7 tn Or “he does not keep the wicked alive.”