Discovery BoxJob 9:13 
Context9:13 God does not restrain his anger; 1
under him the helpers of Rahab 2 lie crushed. 3
Job 20:12
Context20:12 “If 4 evil is sweet in his mouth
and he hides it under his tongue, 5
Job 28:24
Context28:24 For he looks to the ends of the earth
and observes everything under the heavens.
Job 30:7
Context30:7 They brayed 6 like animals among the bushes
and were huddled together 7 under the nettles.
Job 38:14
Context38:14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; 8
its features 9 are dyed 10 like a garment.
Job 40:21
Context40:21 Under the lotus trees it lies,
in the secrecy of the reeds and the marsh.
Job 41:11
Context41:11 (Who has confronted 11 me that I should repay? 12
Everything under heaven belongs to me!) 13
1 sn The meaning of the line is that God’s anger will continue until it has accomplished its purpose (23:13-14).
2 sn “Rahab” is not to be confused with the harlot of the same name from Jericho. “Rahab” is identified with Tiamat of the Babylonian creation epic, or Leviathan of the Canaanite myths. It is also used in parallelism to the sea (26:12), or the Red Sea (Ps 74:13), and so comes to symbolize Egypt (Isa 30:7). In the Babylonian Creation Epic there is reference to the helpers of Tiamat. In the Bible the reference is only to the raging sea, which the
3 tn The verb שָׁחַח (shakhakh) means “to be prostrate” or “to crouch.” Here the enemies are prostrate under the feet of God – they are crushed.
4 tn The conjunction אִם (’im) introduces clauses that are conditional or concessive. With the imperfect verb in the protasis it indicates what is possible in the present or future. See GKC 496 §159.q).
5 sn The wicked person holds on to evil as long as he can, savoring the taste or the pleasure of it.
6 tn The verb נָהַק (nahaq) means “to bray.” It has cognates in Arabic, Aramaic, and Ugaritic, so there is no need for emendation here. It is the sign of an animal’s hunger. In the translation the words “like animals” are supplied to clarify the metaphor for the modern reader.
7 tn The Pual of the verb סָפַח (safakh, “to join”) also brings out the passivity of these people – “they were huddled together” (E. Dhorme, Job, 434).
8 sn The verse needs to be understood in the context: as the light shines in the dawn, the features of the earth take on a recognizable shape or form. The language is phenomenological.
9 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the objects or features on the earth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
10 tc The MT reads “they stand up like a garment” (NASB, NIV) or “its features stand out like a garment” (ESV). The reference could be either to embroidered decoration on a garment or to the folds of a garment (REB: “until all things stand out like the folds of a cloak”; cf. J. E. Hartley, Job [NICOT], 497, “the early light of day makes the earth appear as a beautiful garment, exquisite in design and glorious in color”). Since this is thought to be an odd statement, some suggest with Ehrlich that the text be changed to תִּצָּבַּע (titsabba’, “is dyed [like a garment]”). This reference would be to the colors appearing on the earth’s surface under daylight. The present translation follows the emendation.
11 tn The verb קָדַם (qadam) means “to come to meet; to come before; to confront” to the face.
12 sn The verse seems an intrusion (and so E. Dhorme, H. H. Rowley, and many others change the pronouns to make it refer to the animal). But what the text is saying is that it is more dangerous to confront God than to confront this animal.
13 tn This line also focuses on the sovereign God rather than Leviathan. H. H. Rowley, however, wants to change לִי־חוּא (li-hu’, “it [belongs] to me”) into לֹא הוּא (lo’ hu’, “there is no one”). So it would say that there is no one under the whole heaven who could challenge Leviathan and live, rather than saying it is more dangerous to challenge God to make him repay.
