Discovery BoxJob 3:9 
Context3:9 Let its morning stars 1 be darkened;
let it wait 2 for daylight but find none, 3
nor let it see the first rays 4 of dawn,
Job 7:8
Context7:8 The eye of him who sees me now will see me no more; 5
your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone. 6
Job 19:27
Context19:27 whom I will see for myself, 7
and whom my own eyes will behold,
and not another. 8
My heart 9 grows faint within me. 10
Job 20:9
Context20:9 People 11 who had seen him will not see him again,
and the place where he was
will recognize him no longer.
Job 22:14
Context22:14 Thick clouds are a veil for him, so he does not see us, 12
as he goes back and forth
in the vault 13 of heaven.’ 14
Job 24:15
Context24:15 And the eye of the adulterer watches for the twilight,
thinking, 15 ‘No eye can see me,’
and covers his face with a mask.
1 tn Heb “the stars of its dawn.” The word נֶשֶׁף (neshef) can mean “twilight” or “dawn.” In this context the morning stars are in mind. Job wishes that the morning stars – that should announce the day – go out.
2 tn The verb “wait, hope” has the idea of eager expectation and preparation. It is used elsewhere of waiting on the
3 tn The absolute state אַיִן (’ayin, “there is none”) is here used as a verbal predicate (see GKC 480 §152.k). The concise expression literally says “and none.”
4 sn The expression is literally “the eyelids of the morning.” This means the very first rays of dawn (see also Job 41:18). There is some debate whether it refers to “eyelids” or “eyelashes” or “eyeballs.” If the latter, it would signify the flashing eyes of a person. See for the Ugaritic background H. L. Ginsberg, The Legend of King Keret (BASORSup), 39; see also J. M. Steadman, “‘Eyelids of Morn’: A Biblical Convention,” HTR 56 (1963): 159-67.
5 sn The meaning of the verse is that God will relent, but it will be too late. God now sees him with a hostile eye; when he looks for him, or looks upon him in friendliness, it will be too late.
6 tn This verse is omitted in the LXX and so by several commentators. But the verb שׁוּר (shur, “turn, return”) is so characteristic of Job (10 times) that the verse seems appropriate here.
7 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.
8 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.
9 tn Heb “kidneys,” a poetic expression for the seat of emotions.
10 tn Heb “fail/grow faint in my breast.” Job is saying that he has expended all his energy with his longing for vindication.
11 tn Heb “the eye that had seen him.” Here a part of the person (the eye, the instrument of vision) is put by metonymy for the entire person.
12 tn Heb “and he does not see.” The implied object is “us.”
13 sn The word is “circle; dome”; here it is the dome that covers the earth, beyond which God sits enthroned. A. B. Davidson (Job, 165) suggests “on the arch of heaven” that covers the earth.
14 sn The idea suggested here is that God is not only far off, but he is unconcerned as he strolls around heaven – this is what Eliphaz says Job means.
15 tn Heb “saying.”
