Discovery Box| (0.20) | (Job 38:21) | 1 tn The imperfect verb after the adverb אָז (ʾaz, “then”) functions as a preterite (“you were born”); אָז has been left untranslated because the past tense translation itself suffices to reflect the idiom. The pronoun “them,” referring to light and darkness mentioned in v. 19, has been added to clarify the sense of the statement. Clearly the line is sarcastic. |
| (0.20) | (Job 38:27) | 1 tn Heb “to cause to sprout a source of vegetation.” The word מֹצָא (motsaʾ) is rendered “mine” in Job 28:1. The suggestion with the least changes is Wright’s: צָמֵא (tsameʾ, “thirsty”). But others choose מִצִּיָּה (mitsiyyah, “from the steppe”). |
| (0.20) | (Job 38:13) | 1 sn The poetic image is that darkness or night is like a blanket that covers the earth, and at dawn it is taken by the edges and shaken out. Since the wicked function under the cover of night, they are included in the shaking when the dawn comes up. |
| (0.20) | (Job 38:7) | 2 tn The construction, an adverbial clause of time, uses רָנָן (ranan), which is often a ringing cry, an exultation. The parallelism with “shout for joy” shows this to be enthusiastic acclamation. The infinitive is then continued in the next colon with the vav (ו) consecutive preterite. |
| (0.20) | (Job 37:23) | 2 tn The MT places the major disjunctive accent (the atnach) under “power,” indicating that “and justice” starts the second half of the verse as a disjunctive clause (with ESV, NASB, NIV, NLT). Ignoring the Masoretic accent, NRSV has “he is great in power and justice.” |
| (0.20) | (Job 37:7) | 2 tc This reading involves a change in the text, for in MT “men” is in the construct. It would be translated “all men whom he made” (i.e., “all men of his making”). This is the translation followed by the NIV and NRSV. Olshausen suggested that the word should have been אֲנָשִׁים (ʾanashim) with the final ם (mem) being lost to haplography. |
| (0.20) | (Job 37:11) | 1 tn The word “moisture” is drawn from רִי (ri) as a contraction for רְוִי (revi). Others emended the text to get “hail” (NAB) or “lightning,” or even “the Creator.” For these, see the various commentaries. There is no reason to change the reading of the MT when it makes perfectly good sense. |
| (0.20) | (Job 36:32) | 2 tn Because the image might mean that God grabs the lightning and hurls it like a javelin (cf. NLT), some commentators want to change “covers” to other verbs. Dhorme has “lifts” (נִשָּׂא [nissaʾ] for כִּסָּה [kissah]). This fit the idea of God directing the lightning bolts. |
| (0.20) | (Job 36:31) | 1 tn The verb is יָדִין (yadin, “he judges”). Houbigant proposed יָזוּן (yazun, “he nourishes”). This has found wide acceptance among commentators (cf. NAB). G. R. Driver retained the MT but gave a meaning “enriches” to the verb (“Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 88ff.). |
| (0.20) | (Job 36:16) | 3 tn The word נַחַת (nakhat) could be translated “set” if it is connected with the verb נוּחַ (nuakh, “to rest,” but then “to lay to rest, to set”). Kissane translates it “comfort.” Dhorme thinks it could come from נוּחַ (nuakh, “to rest”) or נָחַת (nakhat, “to descend”). But his conclusion is that it is a dittography after “under it” (p. 545). |
| (0.20) | (Job 36:12) | 1 tn This is a similar expression to the one in Job 33:18, where the suggestion was made by many that it means crossing over the canal or river of death. Some retain the earlier interpretation of “perish by the sword” (cf. NIV). |
| (0.20) | (Job 36:4) | 1 tn The word is תְּמִים (temim), often translated “perfect.” It is the same word used of Job in 2:3. Elihu is either a complete stranger to modesty or is confident regarding the knowledge that he believes God has revealed to him for this situation. See the note on the heading before 32:1. |
| (0.20) | (Job 36:2) | 1 tn The verb כָּתַּר (kattar) is the Piel imperative; in Hebrew the word means “to surround” and is related to the noun for crown. But in Syriac it means “to wait.” This section of the book of Job will have a few Aramaic words. |
| (0.20) | (Job 35:5) | 1 tn The preposition is taken here as a comparative min (מִן). The line could also read “that are high above you.” This idea has appeared in the speech of Eliphaz (22:12), Zophar (11:7-8), and even Job (9:8-11). |
| (0.20) | (Job 34:29) | 4 tn The word translated “alike” (Heb “together”) has bothered some interpreters. In the reading taken here it is acceptable. But others have emended it to gain a verb, such as “he visits” (Beer), “he watches over” (Duhm), “he is compassionate” (Kissane), etc. But it is sufficient to say “he is over.” |
| (0.20) | (Job 34:19) | 1 tn The verb means “to give recognition; to take note of” and in this passage with לִפְנֵי (lifne, “before”) it means to show preferential treatment to the rich before the poor. The word for “rich” here is an unusual word, found parallel to “noble” (Isa 32:2). P. Joüon thinks it is a term of social distinction (Bib 18 [1937]: 207-8). |
| (0.20) | (Job 34:20) | 3 tn The verb means “to be violently agitated.” There is no problem with the word in this context, but commentators have made suggestions for improving the idea. The proposal that has the most to commend it, if one were inclined to choose a new word, is the change to יִגְוָעוּ (yigvaʿu, “they expire”; so Ball, Holscher, Fohrer, and others). |
| (0.20) | (Job 34:14) | 2 tc This is the reading following the Qere. The Kethib and the Syriac and the LXX suggest a reading יָשִׂים (yasim, “if he [God] recalls”). But this would require leaving out “his heart,” and would also require redividing the verse to make “his spirit” the object. It makes better parallelism, but may require too many changes. |
| (0.20) | (Job 33:25) | 1 tc The word רֻטֲפַשׁ (rutafash) is found nowhere else. One suggestion is that it should be יִרְטַב (yirtav, “to become fresh”), connected to רָטַב (ratav, “to be well watered [or moist]”). It is also possible that it was a combination of רָטַב (ratav, “to be well watered”) and טָפַשׁ (tafash, “to grow fat”). But these are all guesses in the commentaries. |
| (0.20) | (Job 33:26) | 2 sn This is usually taken to mean that as a worshiper this individual comes into the presence of the Lord in prayer, and in the sanctuary he sees God’s face, i.e., he sees the evidence of God’s presence. |
