Job 27:2

“As surely as God lives, ¹  who has denied me justice, ²  the Almighty, who has made my life bitter ³  –

Nu 14:21; Ru 1:20,21; Ru 3:13; 1Sa 14:39,45; 1Sa 20:21; 1Sa 25:26,34; 2Sa 2:27; 1Ki 17:1; 1Ki 18:15; 2Ki 4:27; Job 10:3; Job 34:5; Isa 40:27; Jer 4:2; Jer 5:2; Jer 12:16; Eze 33:11

¹ tn The expression חַי־אֵל (khay-’el) is the oath formula: “as God lives.” In other words, the speaker is staking God’s life on the credibility of the words. It is like saying, “As truly as God is alive.”

² tn “My judgment” would here, as before, be “my right.” God has taken this away by afflicting Job unjustly (A. B. Davidson, Job, 187).

³ tn The verb הֵמַר (hemar) is the Hiphil perfect from מָרַר (marar, “to be bitter”) and hence, “to make bitter.” The object of the verb is “my soul,” which is better translated as “me” or “my life.”