Job 26:5

“The dead ²  tremble ³  – those beneath the waters and all that live in them. ⁴ 

"The dead are in deep anguish, those beneath the waters and all that live in them.

"The departed spirits tremble Under the waters and their inhabitants.

"The dead tremble in their place beneath the waters.

"All the buried dead are in torment, and all who've been drowned in the deep, deep sea.

The shades in the underworld are shaking; the waters and those living in them.

The shades below tremble, the waters and their inhabitants.

"The dead tremble, Those under the waters and those inhabiting them.

“The dead ²  tremble ³  – those beneath the waters and all that live in them. ⁴ 

¹ sn This is the section, Job 26:5-14, that many conclude makes better sense coming from the friend. But if it is attributed to Job, then he is showing he can surpass them in his treatise of the greatness of God.

² tn The text has הָרְפָאִים (harÿfa’im, “the shades”), referring to the “dead,” or the elite among the dead (see Isa 14:9; 26:14; Ps 88:10 [11]). For further discussion, start with A. R. Johnson, The Vitality of the Individual, 88ff.

³ tn The verb is a Polal from חִיל (khil) which means “to tremble.” It shows that even these spirits cannot escape the terror.

⁴ tc Most commentators wish to lengthen the verse and make it more parallel, but nothing is gained by doing this.