Job 24:18

¹ “You say, ²  ‘He is foam ³  on the face of the waters; ⁴  their portion of the land is cursed so that no one goes to their vineyard. ⁵ 

De 28:16-20; Ps 58:7; Ps 69:22; Ps 73:18-20; Pr 3:33; Isa 23:10; Mal 2:2

¹ tc Many commentators find vv. 18-24 difficult on the lips of Job, and so identify this unit as a misplaced part of the speech of Zophar. They describe the enormities of the wicked. But a case can also be made for retaining it in this section. Gordis thinks it could be taken as a quotation by Job of his friends’ ideas.

² tn The verb “say” is not in the text; it is supplied here to indicate that this is a different section.

³ tn Or “is swift.”

⁴ sn The wicked person is described here as a spray or foam upon the waters, built up in the agitation of the waters but dying away swiftly.

⁵ tn The text reads, “he does not turn by the way of the vineyards.” This means that since the land is cursed, he/one does not go there. Bickell emended “the way of the vineyards” to “the treader of the vineyard” (see RSV, NRSV). This would mean that “no wine-presser would turn towards” their vineyards.