Job 19:27
Context19:27 whom I will see for myself, 1
and whom my own eyes will behold,
and not another. 2
My heart 3 grows faint within me. 4
Job 26:14
Context26:14 Indeed, these are but the outer fringes of his ways! 5
How faint is the whisper 6 we hear of him!
But who can understand the thunder of his power?”
1 tn The emphasis is on “I” and “for myself.” No other will be seeing this vindication, but Job himself will see it. Of that he is confident. Some take לִי (li, “for myself”) to mean favorable to me, or on my side (see A. B. Davidson, Job, 143). But Job is expecting (not just wishing for) a face-to-face encounter in the vindication.
2 tn Hitzig offered another interpretation that is somewhat forced. The “other” (זָר, zar) or “stranger” would refer to Job. He would see God, not as an enemy, but in peace.
3 tn Heb “kidneys,” a poetic expression for the seat of emotions.
4 tn Heb “fail/grow faint in my breast.” Job is saying that he has expended all his energy with his longing for vindication.
5 tn Heb “the ends of his ways,” meaning “the fringes.”
6 tn Heb “how little is the word.” Here “little” means a “fraction” or an “echo.”