Discovery BoxJob 21:19 
Context21:19 You may say, 1 ‘God stores up a man’s 2 punishment for his children!’ 3
Instead let him repay 4 the man himself 5
so that 6 he may know it!
Job 27:6
Context27:6 I will maintain my righteousness
and never let it go;
my conscience 7 will not reproach me
for as long as I live. 8
Job 31:35
Context31:35 “If only I had 9 someone to hear me!
Here is my signature – 10
let the Almighty answer me!
If only I had an indictment 11
that my accuser had written. 12
Job 31:40
Context31:40 then let thorns sprout up in place of wheat,
and in place of barley, weeds!” 13
The words of Job are ended.
1 tn These words are supplied. The verse records an idea that Job suspected they might have, namely, that if the wicked die well God will make their children pay for the sins (see Job 5:4; 20:10; as well as Exod 20:5).
2 tn The text simply has אוֹנוֹ (’ono, “his iniquity”), but by usage, “the punishment for the iniquity.”
3 tn Heb “his sons.”
4 tn The verb שָׁלַם (shalam) in the Piel has the meaning of restoring things to their normal, making whole, and so reward, repay (if for sins), or recompense in general.
5 tn The text simply has “let him repay [to] him.”
6 tn The imperfect verb after the jussive carries the meaning of a purpose clause, and so taken as a final imperfect: “in order that he may know [or realize].”
7 tn Heb “my heart.”
8 tn The prepositional phrase “from my days” probably means “from the days of my birth,” or “all my life.”
9 tn The optative is again introduced with “who will give to me hearing me? – O that someone would listen to me!”
10 tn Heb “here is my ‘tav’” (הֵן תָּוִי, hen tavi). The letter ת (tav) is the last letter of the alphabet in Hebrew. In paleo-Hebrew the letter was in the form of a cross or an “X,” and so used for one making a mark or a signature. In this case Job has signed his statement and delivered it to the court – but he has yet to be charged. Kissane thought that this being the last letter of the alphabet, Job was saying, “This is my last word.” Others take the word to mean “desire” – “this is my desire, that God would answer me” (see E. F. Sutcliffe, “Notes on Job, textual and exegetical,” Bib 30 [1949]: 71-72; G. R. Driver, AJSL 3 [1935/36]: 166; P. P. Saydon, “Philological and Textual Notes to the Maltese Translation of the Old Testament,” CBQ 23 [1961]: 252). R. Gordis (Job, 355) also argues strongly for this view.
11 tn Heb “a scroll,” in the context referring to a scroll containing the accusations of Job’s legal adversary (see the next line).
12 tn The last line is very difficult; it simply says, “a scroll [that] my [legal] adversary had written.” The simplest way to handle this is to see it as a continuation of the optative (RSV).
13 tn The word בָּאְשָׁה (bo’shah, from בָּאַשׁ [ba’as, “to have a foul smell”]) must refer to foul smelling weeds.
