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.

Men open their mouths to jeer at me; they strike my cheek in scorn and unite together against me.

"They have gaped at me with their mouth, They have slapped me on the cheek with contempt; They have massed themselves against me.

People jeer and laugh at me. They slap my cheek in contempt. A mob gathers against me.

People take one look at me and gasp. Contemptuous, they slap me around and gang up against me.

Their mouths are open wide against me; the blows of his bitter words are falling on my face; all of them come together in a mass against me.

They have gaped at me with their mouths; they have struck me insolently on the cheek; they mass themselves together against me.

They gape at me with their mouth, They strike me reproachfully on the cheek, They gather together against me.

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

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.