9:23 If a scourge brings sudden death, 1
he mocks 2 at the despair 3 of the innocent. 4
22:10 That is why snares surround you,
and why sudden fear terrifies you,
1 tc The LXX contains a paraphrase: “for the worthless die, but the righteous are laughed to scorn.”
sn The point of these verses is to show – rather boldly – that God does not distinguish between the innocent and the guilty.
2 sn This bold anthropomorphism means that by his treatment of the despair of the innocent, God is in essence mocking them.
3 tn The term מַסַּת (massat), a hapax legomenon, was translated “trial” in the older versions; but it is not from נָסָה (nasah, “to tempt; to test; to try”), but from מָסַס (masas, “to flow”). It is used in the Niphal to speak of the heart “melting” in suffering. So the idea behind this image is that of despair. This is the view that most interpreters adopt; it requires no change of the text whatsoever.
4 sn Job uses this word to refute Eliphaz; cf. 4:7.