Discovery BoxJob 4:13 
Context4:13 In the troubling thoughts 1 of the dreams 2 in the night
when a deep sleep 3 falls on men,
Job 7:12
Context7:12 Am I the sea, or the creature of the deep, 4
that you must put 5 me under guard? 6
Job 24:17
Context24:17 For all of them, 7 the morning is to them
like deep darkness;
they are friends with the terrors of darkness.
Job 28:14
Context28:14 The deep 8 says, ‘It is not with 9 me.’
And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
Job 33:15
Context33:15 In a dream, a night vision,
when deep sleep falls on people
as they sleep in their beds.
Job 38:16
Context38:16 Have you gone to the springs that fill the sea, 10
or walked about in the recesses of the deep?
Job 41:31-32
Context41:31 It makes the deep boil like a cauldron
and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment, 11
41:32 It leaves a glistening wake behind it;
one would think the deep had a head of white hair.
1 tn Here too the word is rare. The form שְׂעִפִּים (sÿ’ippim, “disquietings”) occurs only here and in 20:2. The form שַׂרְעַפִּים (sar’appim, “disquieting thoughts”), possibly related by dissimilation, occurs in Pss 94:19 and 139:23. There seems to be a connection with סְעִפִּים (sÿ’ippim) in 1 Kgs 18:21 with the meaning “divided opinion”; this is related to the idea of סְעִפָּה (sÿ’ippah, “bough”). H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 47) concludes that the point is that like branches the thoughts lead off into different and bewildering places. E. Dhorme (Job, 50) links the word to an Arabic root (“to be passionately smitten”) for the idea of “intimate thoughts.” The idea here and in Ps 139 has more to do with anxious, troubling, disquieting thoughts, as in a nightmare.
2 tn Heb “visions” of the night.
3 tn The word תַּרְדֵּמָה (tardemah) is a “deep sleep.” It is used in the creation account when the
4 tn The word תַּנִּין (tannin) could be translated “whale” as well as the more mythological “dragon” or “monster of the deep” (see E. Dhorme, Job, 105). To the Hebrews this was part of God’s creation in Gen 1; in the pagan world it was a force to be reckoned with, and so the reference would be polemical. The sea is a symbol of the tumultuous elements of creation; in the sea were creatures that symbolized the powerful forces of chaos – Leviathan, Tannin, and Rahab. They required special attention.
5 tn The imperfect verb here receives the classification of obligatory imperfect. Job wonders if he is such a threat to God that God must do this.
6 tn The word מִשְׁמָר (mishmar) means “guard; barrier.” M. Dahood suggested “muzzle” based on Ugaritic, but that has proven to be untenable (“Mismar, ‘Muzzle,’ in Job 7:12,” JBL 80 [1961]: 270-71).
7 tn Heb “together.”
8 sn The תְּהוֹם (tÿhom) is the “deep” of Gen 1:2, the abyss or primordial sea. It was always understood to be a place of darkness and danger. As remote as it is, it asserts that wisdom is not found there (personification). So here we have the abyss and the sea, then death and destruction – but they are not the places that wisdom resides.
9 tn The בּ (bet) preposition is taken here to mean “with” in the light of the parallel preposition.
10 tn Heb “the springs of the sea.” The words “that fill” are supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning of the phrase.
11 sn The idea is either that the sea is stirred up like the foam from beating the ingredients together, or it is the musk-smell that is the point of comparison.
