Job 4:10
Context4:10 There is 1 the roaring of the lion 2
and the growling 3 of the young lion,
but the teeth of the young lions are broken. 4
Job 21:21
Context21:21 For what is his interest 5 in his home
after his death, 6
when the number of his months
has been broken off? 7
Job 24:20
Contextthe worm feasts on him,
no longer will he be remembered.
Like a tree, wickedness will be broken down.
1 tn “There is” has been supplied to make a smoother translation out of the clauses.
2 sn Eliphaz takes up a new image here to make the point that the wicked are destroyed – the breaking up and scattering of a den of lions. There are several words for “lion” used in this section. D. J. A. Clines observes that it is probably impossible to distinguish them (Job [WBC], 109, 110, which records some bibliography of those who have tried to work on the etymologies and meanings). The first is אַרְיֵה (’aryeh) the generic term for “lion.” It is followed by שַׁחַל (shakhal) which, like כְּפִיר (kÿfir), is a “young lion.” Some have thought that the שַׁחַל (shakhal) is a lion-like animal, perhaps a panther or leopard. KBL takes it by metathesis from Arabic “young one.” The LXX for this verse has “the strength of the lion, and the voice of the lioness and the exulting cry of serpents are quenched.”
3 tn Heb “voice.”
4 tn The verb belongs to the subject “teeth” in this last colon; but it is used by zeugma (a figure of speech in which one word is made to refer to two or more other words, but has to be understood differently in the different contexts) of the three subjects (see H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 46-47).
5 tn Heb “his desire.” The meaning is that after he is gone he does not care about what happens to his household (“house” meaning “family” here).
6 tn Heb “after him,” but clearly the meaning is “after he is gone.”
7 tc The rare word חֻצָּצוּ (khutsatsu) is probably a cognate of hassa in Arabic, meaning “to cut off.” There is also an Akkadian word “to cut in two” and “to break.” These fit the context here rather well. The other Hebrew words that are connected to the root חָצַצ (khatsats) do not offer any help.
8 tn Here “womb” is synecdoche, representing one’s mother.