Discovery BoxJob 10:2 
Context10:2 I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn 1 me;
tell me 2 why you are contending 3 with me.’
Job 12:7
Context12:7 “But now, ask the animals and they 5 will teach you,
or the birds of the sky and they will tell you.
Job 31:30
Context31:30 I 6 have not even permitted my mouth 7 to sin
by asking 8 for his life through a curse –
1 tn The negated jussive is the Hiphil jussive of רָשַׁע (rasha’); its meaning then would be literally “do not declare me guilty.” The negated jussive stresses the immediacy of the request.
2 tn The Hiphil imperative of יָדַע (yada’) would more literally be “cause me to know.” It is a plea for God to help him understand the afflictions.
3 tn The verb is רִיב (riv), meaning “to dispute; to contend; to strive; to quarrel” – often in the legal sense. The precise words chosen in this verse show that the setting is legal. The imperfect verb here is progressive, expressing what is currently going on.
4 sn As J. E. Hartley (Job [NICOT], 216) observes, in this section Job argues that respected tradition “must not be accepted uncritically.”
5 tn The singular verb is used here with the plural collective subject (see GKC 464 §145.k).
6 tn This verse would then be a parenthesis in which he stops to claim his innocence.
7 tn Heb “I have not given my palate.”
8 tn The infinitive construct with the ל (lamed) preposition (“by asking”) serves in an epexegetical capacity here, explaining the verb of the first colon (“permitted…to sin”). To seek a curse on anyone would be a sin.
