Discovery Box| (0.31) | (Job 34:18) | 2 tn The word בְּלִיָּעַל (beliyyaʿal) means both “worthless” and “wicked.” It is common in proverbial literature, and in later writings it became a description of Satan. It is usually found with “son of.” |
| (0.31) | (Job 33:9) | 2 tn The word is a hapax legomenon; חַף (khaf) is from חָפַף (khafaf). It is used in New Hebrew in expressions like “to wash” the head. Cognates in Syriac and Akkadian support the meaning “to wash; to clean.” |
| (0.31) | (Job 33:17) | 1 tc The MT simply has מַעֲשֶׂה (maʿaseh, “deed”). The LXX has “from his iniquity” which would have been מֵעַוְלָה (meʿavlah). The two letters may have dropped out by haplography. The MT is workable, but would have to mean “[evil] deeds.” |
| (0.31) | (Job 32:18) | 2 tn The verb צוּק (tsuq) means “to constrain; to urge; to press.” It is used in Judg 14:17; 16:16 with the sense of wearing someone down with repeated entreaties. Elihu cannot restrain himself any longer. |
| (0.31) | (Job 32:21) | 2 tn The verb means “to confer an honorary title; to give a mark of distinction,” but it is often translated with the verb “flatter.” Elihu will not take sides; he will not use pompous titles. |
| (0.31) | (Job 32:14) | 2 tn The verb עַרַךְ (ʿarakh) means “to arrange in order; to set forth; to direct; to marshal.” It is used in military contexts for setting the battle array; it is used in legal settings for preparing the briefs. |
| (0.31) | (Job 32:15) | 2 tn The verb חַתּוּ (khattu) is from חָתַת (khatat) which means “to be terrified.” But here it stresses the resulting dilemma. R. Gordis (Job, 369) renders it, “they are shattered, beaten in an argument.” |
| (0.31) | (Job 31:39) | 3 tn There is some debate over the meaning of בְּעָלֶיהָ (beʿaleha), usually translated “its owners.” Dahood, following others (although without their emendations), thought it referred to “laborers” (see M. Dahood, Bib 41 [1960]: 303; idem, Bib 43 [1962]: 362). |
| (0.31) | (Job 31:12) | 2 tn The verb means “to root out,” but this does not fit the parallelism with fire. Wright changed two letters and the vowels in the verb to get the root צָרַף (tsaraf, “to burn”). The NRSV has “burn to the root.” |
| (0.31) | (Job 31:8) | 2 tn The word means “what sprouts up” (from יָצָא [yatsaʾ] with the sense of “sprout forth”). It could refer metaphorically to children (and so Kissane and Pope), as well as in its literal sense of crops. The latter fits here perfectly. |
| (0.31) | (Job 30:22) | 2 tn The verb means “to melt.” The imagery would suggest softening the ground with the showers (see Ps 65:10 [11]). The translation “toss…about” comes from the Arabic cognate that is used for the surging of the sea. |
| (0.31) | (Job 30:9) | 1 tn The idea is that Job has become proverbial, people think of misfortune and sin when they think of him. The statement uses the ordinary word for “word” (מִלָּה, millah), but in this context it means more: “proverb; byword.” |
| (0.31) | (Job 30:11) | 2 sn People throw off all restraint in my presence means that when people saw how God afflicted Job, robbing him of his influence and power, then they turned on him with unrestrained insolence (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 193). |
| (0.31) | (Job 30:11) | 1 tn The verb פָּתַח (patakh) means “to untie [or undo]” a rope or bonds. In this verse יִתְרוֹ (yitro, the Kethib, LXX, and Vulgate) would mean “his rope” (see יֶתֶר [yeter] in Judg 16:7-9). The Qere would be יִתְרִי (yitri, “my rope [or cord]”), meaning “me.” The word could mean “rope,” “cord,” or “bowstring.” If the reading “my cord” is accepted, the cord would be something like “my tent cord” (as in Job 29:20), more than K&D 12:147 “cord of life.” This has been followed in the present translation. If it were “my bowstring,” it would give the sense of disablement. If “his cord” is taken, it would signify that the restraint that God had in afflicting Job was loosened—nothing was held back. |
| (0.31) | (Job 29:16) | 1 sn The word “father” does not have a wide range of meanings in the OT. But there are places that it is metaphorical, especially in a legal setting like this where the poor need aid. |
| (0.31) | (Job 29:17) | 1 tn The word rendered “fangs” actually means “teeth,” i.e., the molars probably; it is used frequently of the teeth of wild beasts. Of course, the language is here figurative, comparing the oppressing enemy to a preying animal. |
| (0.31) | (Job 29:13) | 1 tn The verb is simply בּוֹא (boʾ, “to come; to enter”). With the preposition עַל (ʿal, “upon”) it could mean “came to me,” or “came upon me,” i.e., descended (see R. Gordis, Job, 320). |
| (0.31) | (Job 29:6) | 1 tn The word is a hapax legomenon, but the meaning is clear enough. It refers to the walking, the steps, or even the paths where one walks. It is figurative of his course of life. |
| (0.31) | (Job 29:6) | 2 tn The Hebrew word means “to wash; to bathe”; here it is the infinitive construct in a temporal clause, “my steps” being the genitive: “in the washing of my steps in butter.” |
| (0.31) | (Job 29:2) | 3 tn The expression is literally “months of before [or of old; or past].” The word קֶדֶם (qedem) is intended here to be temporal and not spatial; it means days that preceded the present. |
