Job 7:20 
Context| NET © | If 1 I have sinned – what have I done to you, 2 O watcher of men? 3 Why have you set me as your target? 4 Have I become a burden to you? 5 |
| NIV © | If I have sinned, what have I done to you, O watcher of men? Why have you made me your target? Have I become a burden to you? |
| NASB © | "Have I sinned? What have I done to You, O watcher of men? Why have You set me as Your target, So that I am a burden to myself? |
| NLT © | Have I sinned? What have I done to you, O watcher of all humanity? Why have you made me your target? Am I a burden to you? |
| MSG © | Even suppose I'd sinned--how would that hurt you? You're responsible for every human being. Don't you have better things to do than pick on me? Why make a federal case out of me? |
| BBE © | If I have done wrong, what have I done to you, O keeper of men? why have you made me a mark for your blows, so that I am a weariness to myself? |
| NRSV © | If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of humanity? Why have you made me your target? Why have I become a burden to you? |
| NKJV © | Have I sinned? What have I done to You, O watcher of men? Why have You set me as Your target, So that I am a burden to myself? |
| KJV | |
| NASB © | |
| HEBREW | |
| LXXM | |
| NET © [draft] ITL | |
| NET © | If 1 I have sinned – what have I done to you, 2 O watcher of men? 3 Why have you set me as your target? 4 Have I become a burden to you? 5 |
| NET © Notes |
1 tn The simple perfect verb can be used in a conditional sentence without a conditional particle present (see GKC 494 §159.h). 2 sn Job is not here saying that he has sinned; rather, he is posing the hypothetical condition – if he had sinned, what would that do to God? In other words, he has not really injured God. 3 sn In the Bible God is often described as watching over people to protect them from danger (see Deut 32:10; Ps 31:23). However, here it is a hostile sense, for God may detect sin and bring it to judgment. 4 tn This word is a hapax legomenon from the verb פָּגָע (paga’, “meet, encounter”); it would describe what is hit or struck (as nouns of this pattern can indicate the place of the action) – the target. 5 tn In the prepositional phrase עָלַי (’alay) the results of a scribal change is found (these changes were called tiqqune sopherim, “corrections of the scribes” made to avoid using improper language about God). The prepositional phrase would have been עָלֶךָ (’alekha, “to you,” as in the LXX). But it offended the Jews to think of Job’s being burdensome to God. Job’s sin could have repercussions on him, but not on God. |
