Discovery BoxJob 12:3 
Context12:3 I also have understanding 1 as well as you;
I am not inferior to you. 2
Who does not know such things as these? 3
Job 22:18
Context22:18 But it was he 4 who filled their houses
with good things –
yet the counsel of the wicked 5
was far from me. 6
Job 29:11
Context29:11 “As soon as the ear heard these things, 7 it blessed me, 8
and when the eye saw them, it bore witness to me,
Job 42:3
Context‘Who is this who darkens counsel
without knowledge?’
But 10 I have declared without understanding 11
things too wonderful for me to know. 12
1 tn The word is literally “heart,” meaning a mind or understanding.
2 tn Because this line is repeated in 13:2, many commentators delete it from this verse (as does the LXX). The Syriac translates נֹפֵל (nofel) as “little,” and the Vulgate “inferior.” Job is saying that he does not fall behind them in understanding.
3 tn Heb “With whom are not such things as these?” The point is that everyone knows the things that these friends have been saying – they are commonplace.
4 tn The pronoun is added for this emphasis; it has “but he” before the verb.
6 tc The LXX has “from him,” and this is followed by several commentators. But the MT is to be retained, for Eliphaz is recalling the words of Job. Verses 17 and 18 are deleted by a number of commentators as a gloss because they have many similarities to 21:14-16. But Eliphaz is recalling what Job said, in order to say that the prosperity to which Job alluded was only the prelude to a disaster he denied (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 156).
7 tn The words “these things” and “them” in the next colon are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
8 tn The main clause is introduced by the preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive (see GKC 327 §111.h); the clause before it is therefore temporal and circumstantial to the main clause.
9 tn The expression “you asked” is added here to clarify the presence of the line to follow. Many commentators delete it as a gloss from Job 38:2. If it is retained, then Job has to be recalling God’s question before he answers it.
10 tn The word לָכֵן (lakhen) is simply “but,” as in Job 31:37.
11 tn Heb “and I do not understand.” The expression serves here in an adverbial capacity. It also could be subordinated as a complement: “I have declared [things that] I do not understand.”
12 tn The last clause is “and I do not know.” This is also subordinated to become a dependent clause.
