Job 5:18

For ¹  he ²  wounds, ³  but he also bandages; he strikes, but his hands also heal.

De 32:39; 1Sa 2:6; Ps 147:3; Isa 30:26

¹ sn Verses 18-23 give the reasons why someone should accept the chastening of God – the hand that wounds is the same hand that heals. But, of course, the lines do not apply to Job because his suffering is not due to divine chastening.

² tn The addition of the independent pronoun here makes the subject emphatic, as if to say, “For it is he who makes….”

³ tn The imperfect verbs in this verse describe the characteristic activities of God; the classification as habitual imperfect fits the idea and is to be rendered with the English present tense.