Discovery BoxJob 38:20 
Context38:20 that you may take them to their borders
and perceive the pathways to their homes? 1
Job 9:11
Context9:11 If 2 he passes by me, I cannot see 3 him, 4
if he goes by, I cannot perceive him. 5
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 33:14
Context33:14 “For God speaks, the first time in one way,
the second time in another,
though a person does not perceive 6 it.
Job 35:14
Context35:14 How much less, then,
when you say that you do not perceive him,
that the case is before him
and you are waiting for him! 7
1 tn The suffixes are singular (“that you may take it to its border…to its home”), referring to either the light or the darkness. Because either is referred to, the translation has employed plurals, since singulars would imply that only the second item, “darkness,” was the referent. Plurals are also employed by NAB and NIV.
2 tn The NIV has “when” to form a temporal clause here. For the use of “if,” see GKC 497 §159.w.
3 tn The imperfect verbs in this verse are consistent with the clauses. In the conditional clauses a progressive imperfect is used, but in the following clauses the verbs are potential imperfects.
4 tn The pronoun “him” is supplied here; it is not in MT, but the Syriac and Vulgate have it (probably for translation purposes as well).
5 sn Like the mountains, Job knows that God has passed by and caused him to shake and tremble, but he cannot understand or perceive the reasons.
6 tn The Syriac and the Vulgate have “and he does not repeat it,” a reading of the text as it is, according to E. Dhorme (Job, 403). But his argument is based on another root with this meaning – a root which does not exist (see L. Dennefeld, RB 48 [1939]: 175). The verse is saying that God does speak to man.
7 sn The point is that if God does not listen to those who do not turn to him, how much less likely is he to turn to one who complains against him.
