Discovery BoxJob 16:22 
Context16:22 For the years that lie ahead are few, 1
and then I will go on the way of no return. 2
Job 17:16
Context17:16 Will 3 it 4 go down to the barred gates 5 of death?
Will 6 we descend 7 together into the dust?”
Job 20:13
Context20:13 if he retains it for himself
and does not let it go,
and holds it fast in his mouth, 8
Job 23:8
Context23:8 “If I go to the east, he is not there,
and to the west, yet I do not perceive him.
Job 30:28
Context30:28 I go about blackened, 9 but not by the sun;
in the assembly I stand up and cry for help.
Job 37:3
Context37:3 Under the whole heaven he lets it go,
even his lightning to the far corners 10 of the earth.
Job 38:35
Context38:35 Can you send out lightning bolts, and they go?
Will they say to you, ‘Here we are’?
Job 39:4
Context39:4 Their young grow strong, and grow up in the open; 11
they go off, and do not return to them.
1 tn The expression is “years of number,” meaning that they can be counted, and so “the years are few.” The verb simply means “comes” or “lie ahead.”
2 tn The verbal expression “I will not return” serves here to modify the journey that he will take. It is “the road [of] I will not return.”
3 sn It is natural to assume that this verse continues the interrogative clause of the preceding verse.
4 tn The plural form of the verb probably refers to the two words, or the two senses of the word in the preceding verse. Hope and what it produces will perish with Job.
5 tn The Hebrew word בַּדִּים (baddim) describes the “bars” or “bolts” of Sheol, referring (by synecdoche) to the “gates of Sheol.” The LXX has “with me to Sheol,” and many adopt that as “by my side.”
6 tn The conjunction אִם (’im) confirms the interrogative interpretation.
7 tn The translation follows the LXX and the Syriac versions with the change of vocalization in the MT. The MT has the noun “rest,” yielding, “will our rest be together in the dust?” The verb נָחַת (nakhat) in Aramaic means “to go down; to descend.” If that is the preferred reading – and it almost is universally accepted here – then it would be spelled נֵחַת (nekhat). In either case the point of the verse is clearly describing death and going to the grave.
8 tn Heb “in the middle of his palate.”
9 tn The construction uses the word קֹדֵר (qoder) followed by the Piel perfect of הָלַךְ (halakh, “I go about”). The adjective “blackened” refers to Job’s skin that has been marred by the disease. Adjectives are often used before verbs to describe some bodily condition (see GKC 374-75 §118.n).
10 tn Heb “wings,” and then figuratively for the extremities of garments, of land, etc.
11 tn The idea is that of the open countryside. The Aramaism is found only here.
