Job 24:5
ContextNETBible | Like 1 wild donkeys in the desert they 2 go out to their labor, 3 seeking diligently for food; the wasteland provides 4 food for them and for their children. |
XREF | Ge 16:12; Ge 27:40; Job 5:5; Job 12:6; Job 24:14; Job 39:5-7; Pr 4:16; Jer 2:24; Ho 7:6; Ho 8:9; Mic 2:1; Zep 3:3; Joh 18:28; Ac 23:12 |
NET © Notes |
1 tc The verse begins with הֵן (hen); but the LXX, Vulgate, and Syriac all have “like.” R. Gordis (Job, 265) takes הֵן (hen) as a pronoun “they” and supplies the comparative. The sense of the verse is clear in either case. 2 tn That is, “the poor.” 3 tc The MT has “in the working/labor of them,” or “when they labor.” Some commentators simply omit these words. Dhorme retains them and moves them to go with עֲרָבָה (’aravah), which he takes to mean “evening”; this gives a clause, “although they work until the evening.” Then, with many others, he takes לוֹ (lo) to be a negative and finishes the verse with “no food for the children.” Others make fewer changes in the text, and as a result do not come out with such a hopeless picture – there is some food found. The point is that they spend their time foraging for food, and they find just enough to survive, but it is a day-long activity. For Job, this shows how unrighteous the administration of the world actually is. 4 tn The verb is not included in the Hebrew text but is supplied in the translation. |