Discovery BoxJob 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 31:7
Context31:7 If my footsteps have strayed from the way,
if my heart has gone after my eyes, 5
or if anything 6 has defiled my hands,
Job 31:9
Context31:9 If my heart has been enticed by a woman,
and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door, 7
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 sn The meaning is “been led by what my eyes see.”
6 tc The word מֻאוּם (mu’um) could be taken in one of two ways. One reading is to represent מוּם (mum, “blemish,” see the Masorah); the other is for מְאוּמָה (mÿ’umah, “anything,” see the versions and the Kethib). Either reading fits the passage.
7 tn Gordis notes that the word פֶּתַח (petakh, “door”) has sexual connotations in rabbinic literature, based on Prov 7:6ff. (see b. Ketubbot 9b). See also the use in Song 4:12 using a synonym.
