Job 16:10

People ¹  have opened their mouths against me, they have struck my cheek in scorn; ²  they unite ³  together against me.

1Ki 22:24; 2Ch 18:23; Ps 22:13,16,17; Ps 35:15; Ps 35:21; Ps 94:21; Isa 50:6; La 3:30; Mic 5:1; Mt 26:67; Lu 23:35,36; Joh 18:22; Ac 4:27; Ac 23:2; 2Co 11:20

¹ tn “People” is supplied; the Hebrew verb is third plural. The colon reads, “they have opened against me with [the preposition is instrumental] their mouth.” The gestures here follow the animal imagery; they reflect destructive opposition and attack (see Ps 22:13 among others).

² tn This is an “insult” or a “reproach.”

³ tn The verb יִתְמַלָּאוּן (yitmalla’un) is taken from מָלֵא (male’), “to be full,” and in this stem, “to pile up; to press together.” The term has a military connotation, such as “to mobilize” (see D. W. Thomas, “ml'w in Jeremiah 4:5 : a military term,” JJS 3 [1952]: 47-52). Job sees himself surrounded by enemies who persecute him and mock him.