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Job 16-18  New English Translation

Job’s Reply to Eliphaz[a]

16 Then Job replied:

2 “I have heard many things like these before.
What miserable comforters[b] are you all!
3 Will[c] there be an end to your[d] windy words?[e]
Or what provokes[f] you that you answer?[g]
4 I also could speak[h] like you,
if[i] you were in my place;
I could pile up[j] words against you
and I could shake my head at you.[k]
5 But[l] I would strengthen[m] you with my words;[n]
comfort from my lips would bring[o] you relief.

Abandonment by God and Man

6 “But[p] if I speak, my pain is not relieved,[q]
and if I refrain from speaking,
how much[r] of it goes away?
7 Surely now he[s] has worn me out,
you have devastated my entire household.
8 You have seized me,[t]
and it[u] has become a witness;
my leanness[v] has risen up against me
and testifies against me.
9 His[w] anger has torn me[x] and persecuted[y] me;
he has gnashed at me with his teeth;
my adversary locks[z] his eyes on me.
10 People[aa] have opened their mouths against me,
they have struck my cheek in scorn;[ab]
they unite[ac] together against me.
11 God abandons me to evil men,[ad]
and throws[ae] me into the hands of wicked men.
12 I was in peace, and he has shattered me.[af]
He has seized me by the neck and crushed me.[ag]
He has made me his target;
13 his archers[ah] surround me.
Without pity[ai] he pierces[aj] my kidneys
and pours out my gall[ak] on the ground.
14 He breaks through against me, time and time again;[al]
he rushes[am] against me like a warrior.
15 I have sewed sackcloth on my skin,[an]
and buried[ao] my horn[ap] in the dust;
16 my face is reddened[aq] because of weeping,[ar]
and on my eyelids there is a deep darkness,[as]
17 although[at] there is no violence in my hands
and my prayer is pure.

An Appeal to God as Witness

18 “O earth, do not cover my blood,[au]
nor let there be a secret[av] place for my cry.
19 Even now my witness[aw] is in heaven;
my advocate[ax] is on high.
20 My intercessor is my friend[ay]
as my eyes pour out tears[az] to God;
21 and[ba] he contends with God on behalf of man
as a man[bb] pleads[bc] for his friend.
22 For the years that lie ahead are few,[bd]
and then I will go on the way of no return.[be]
17 My spirit is broken,[bf]
my days have faded out,[bg]
the grave[bh] awaits me.
2 Surely mockery[bi] is with me;[bj]
my eyes must dwell on their hostility.[bk]
3 Set my pledge[bl] beside you.
Who else will put up security for me?[bm]
4 Because[bn] you have closed their[bo] minds to understanding,
therefore you will not exalt them.[bp]
5 If a man denounces his friends for personal gain,[bq]
the eyes of his children will fail.
6 He has made me[br] a byword[bs] to people,
I am the one in whose face they spit.[bt]
7 My eyes have grown dim[bu] with grief;
my whole frame[bv] is but a shadow.
8 Upright men are appalled[bw] at this;
the innocent man is troubled[bx] with the godless.
9 But the righteous man holds to his way,
and the one with clean hands grows stronger.[by]

Anticipation of Death

10 “But turn, all of you,[bz] and come[ca] now![cb]
I will not find a wise man among you.
11 My days have passed, my plans[cc] are shattered,
even[cd] the desires[ce] of my heart.
12 These men[cf] change[cg] night into day;
they say,[ch] ‘The light is near
in the face of darkness.’[ci]
13 If[cj] I hope for the grave to be my home,
if I spread out my bed in darkness,
14 if I cry out[ck] to corruption,[cl] ‘You are my father,’
and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
15 where then[cm] is my hope?
And my hope,[cn] who sees it?
16 Will[co] it[cp] go down to the barred gates[cq] of death?
Will[cr] we descend[cs] together into the dust?”

Bildad’s Second Speech[ct]

18 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:

2 “How long until you[cu] make an end of words?[cv]
You must consider,[cw] and then[cx] we can talk.
3 Why should we be regarded as beasts,
and considered stupid[cy] in your sight?
4 You who tear yourself[cz] to pieces in your anger,
will the earth be abandoned[da] for your sake?
Or will a rock be moved from its place?[db]
5 “Yes,[dc] the lamp[dd] of the wicked is extinguished;

his flame of fire[de] does not shine.
6 The light in his tent grows dark;
his lamp above him is extinguished.[df]
7 His vigorous steps[dg] are restricted,[dh]
and his own counsel throws him down.[di]
8 For he has been thrown into a net by his feet[dj]
and he wanders into a mesh.[dk]
9 A trap[dl] seizes him by the heel;
a snare[dm] grips him.
10 A rope is hidden for him[dn] on the ground
and a trap for him[do] lies on the path.
11 Terrors[dp] frighten him on all sides
and dog[dq] his every step.
12 Calamity is[dr] hungry for him,[ds]
and misfortune is ready at his side.[dt]
13 It eats away parts of his skin;[du]
the most terrible death[dv] devours his limbs.
14 He is dragged from the security of his tent,[dw]
and marched off[dx] to the king of terrors.[dy]
15 Fire resides in his tent;[dz]
over his residence burning sulfur is scattered.
16 Below his roots dry up,
and his branches wither above.
17 His memory perishes from the earth,
he has no name in the land.[ea]
18 He is driven[eb] from light into darkness
and is banished from the world.
19 He has neither children nor descendants[ec] among his people,
no survivor in those places he once stayed.[ed]
20 People of the west[ee] are appalled at his fate;[ef]
people of the east are seized with horror,[eg] saying,[eh]
21 ‘Surely such is the residence[ei] of an evil man;
and this is the place of one who has not known God.’”[ej]

Footnotes

  1. Job 16:1 sn In the next two chapters we have Job’s second reply to Eliphaz. Job now feels abandoned by God and by his friends, and so complains that this all intensifies his sufferings. But he still holds to his innocence as he continues his appeal to God as his witness. There are four sections to this speech: in vv. 2-5 he dismisses the consolation his friends offered; in vv. 6-17 he laments that he is abandoned by God and man; in 16:8-17:9 he makes his appeal to God in heaven as a witness; and finally, in 10-16 he anticipates death.
  2. Job 16:2 tn The expression uses the Piel participle in construct: מְנַחֲמֵי עָמָל (menahame ʿamal, “comforters of trouble”), i.e., comforters who increase trouble instead of relieving it. D. W. Thomas translates this “breathers out of trouble” (“A Note on the Hebrew Root naham,” ExpTim 44 [1932/33]: 192).
  3. Job 16:3 tn Disjunctive questions are introduced with the sign of the interrogative; the second part is introduced with אוֹ (ʾo, see GKC 475 §150.g).
  4. Job 16:3 tn In v. 3 the second person singular is employed rather than the plural as in vv. 2 and 4. The singular might be an indication that the words of v. 3 were directed at Eliphaz specifically.
  5. Job 16:3 tn Heb “words of wind.”
  6. Job 16:3 tn The Hiphil of מָרַץ (marats) does not occur anywhere else. The word means “to compel; to force” (see 6:25).
  7. Job 16:3 tn The LXX seems to have gone a different way: “What, is there any reason in vain words, or what will hinder you from answering?”
  8. Job 16:4 tn For the use of the cohortative in the apodosis of conditional sentences, see GKC 322 §109.f.
  9. Job 16:4 tn The conjunction לוּ (lu) is used to introduce the optative, a condition that is incapable of fulfillment (see GKC 494-95 §159.l).
  10. Job 16:4 tn This verb אַחְבִּירָה (ʾakhbirah) is usually connected to חָבַר (khavar, “to bind”). There are several suggestions for this word. J. J. Finkelstein proposed a second root, a homonym, meaning “to make a sound,” and so here “to harangue” (“Hebrew habar and Semitic HBR,” JBL 75 [1956]: 328-31; see also O. Loretz, “HBR in Job 16:4, ” CBQ 23 [1961]: 293-94, who renders it “I could make noisy speeches”). Other suggestions have been for new meanings based on cognate studies, such as “to make beautiful” (i.e., make polished speeches).
  11. Job 16:4 sn The action is a sign of mockery (see Ps 22:7 [8]; Isa 37:22; Matt 27:39).
  12. Job 16:5 tn “But” has been added in the translation to strengthen the contrast.
  13. Job 16:5 tn The Piel of אָמַץ (ʾamats) means “to strengthen, fortify.”
  14. Job 16:5 tn Heb “my mouth.”
  15. Job 16:5 tn The verb יַחְשֹׂךְ (yakhsokh) means “to restrain; to withhold.” There is no object, so many make it first person subject, “I will not restrain.” The LXX and the Syriac have a different person—“I would not restrain.” G. R. Driver, arguing that the verb is intransitive here, made it “the solace of my lips would not [added] be withheld” (see JTS 34 [1933]: 380). D. J. A. Clines says that what is definitive is the use of the verb in the next line, where it clearly means “soothed, assuaged.”
  16. Job 16:6 tn “But” is supplied in the translation to strengthen the contrast.
  17. Job 16:6 tn The Niphal יֵחָשֵׂךְ (yekhasekh) means “to be soothed; to be assuaged.”
  18. Job 16:6 tn Some argue that מָה (mah) in the text is the Arabic ma, the simple negative. This would then mean “it does not depart far from me.” The interrogative used rhetorically amounts to the same thing, however, so the suggestion is not necessary.
  19. Job 16:7 tn In poetic discourse there is often an abrupt change from one person to another. See GKC 462 §144.p. Some take the subject of this verb to be God, others the pain (“surely now it has worn me out”).
  20. Job 16:8 tn The verb is קָמַט (qamat) which is used only here and in 22:16; it means “to seize; to grasp.” By God’s seizing him, Job means his afflictions.
  21. Job 16:8 tn The subject is “my calamity.”
  22. Job 16:8 tn The verb is used in Ps 109:24 to mean “to be lean”; and so “leanness” is accepted here for the noun by most. Otherwise the word is “lie, deceit.” Accordingly, some take it here as “my slanderer” or “my liar” (gives evidence against me).
  23. Job 16:9 tn The referent of these pronouns in v. 9 (“his anger…he has gnashed…his teeth…his eyes”) is best taken as God.
  24. Job 16:9 sn The figure used now is that of a wild beast. God’s affliction of Job is compared to the attack of such an animal. Cf. Amos 1:11.
  25. Job 16:9 tn The verb שָׂטַם (satam) is translated “hate” in the RSV, but this is not accepted by very many. Many emend it to שָׁמט (shamat), reading “and he dropped me” (from his mouth). But that suggests escape. D. J. A. Clines notes that usage shows it reflects ongoing hatred represented by an action such as persecution or attack (Job [WBC], 370).
  26. Job 16:9 tn The verb is used of sharpening a sword in Ps 7:12; here it means “to look intently” as an animal looks for prey. The verse describes God’s relentless pursuit of Job.
  27. Job 16:10 tn “People” is supplied; the Hebrew verb is third plural. The colon reads, “they have opened against me with [the preposition is instrumental] their mouth.” The gestures here follow the animal imagery; they reflect destructive opposition and attack (see Ps 22:13 among others).
  28. Job 16:10 tn This is an “insult” or a “reproach.”
  29. Job 16:10 tn The verb יִתְמַלָּאוּן (yitmallaʾun) is taken from מָלֵא (maleʾ), “to be full,” and in this stem, “to pile up; to press together.” The term has a military connotation, such as “to mobilize” (see D. W. Thomas, “mlʾw in Jeremiah 4:5 : a military term,” JJS 3 [1952]: 47-52). Job sees himself surrounded by enemies who persecute him and mock him.
  30. Job 16:11 tn The word עֲוִיל (ʿavil) means “child,” and this cannot be right here. If it is read as עַוָּל (ʿavval) as in Job 27:7 it would be the unrighteous.sn Job does not refer here to his friends, but more likely to the wicked men who set about to destroy him and his possessions, or to the rabble in ch. 30.
  31. Job 16:11 tn The word יִרְטֵנִי (yirteni) does not derive from the root רָטָה (ratah) as would fit the pointing in the MT, but from יָרַט (yarat), cognate to Arabic warrata, “to throw; to hurl.” E. Dhorme (Job, 236) thinks that since the normal form would have been יִירְטֵנִי (yireteni), it is probable that one of the yods (י) would have affected the earlier word עֲוִיל (ʿavil)—but that seems out of place.
  32. Job 16:12 tn The verb פָּרַר (parar) means “to shake.” In the Hiphil it means “to break; to shatter” (5:12; 15:4). The Pilpel means “to break in pieces,” and in the Poel in Jer 23:29 “to smash up.” So Job was living at ease, and God shattered his life.
  33. Job 16:12 tn Here is another Pilpel, now from פָּצַץ (patsats) with a similar meaning to the other verb. It means “to dash into pieces” and even scatter the pieces. The LXX translates this line, “he took me by the hair of the head and plucked it out.”
  34. Job 16:13 tn The meaning of “his archers” is supported for רַבָּיו (rabbayv) in view of Jer 50:29. The LXX, Syriac, Vulgate, Targum Job, followed by several translations and commentators prefer “arrows.” They see this as a more appropriate figure without raising the question of who the archers might be (see 6:4). The point is an unnecessary distinction, for the figure is an illustration of the affliction that God has brought on him.
  35. Job 16:13 tn Heb “and he does not pity,” but the clause is functioning adverbially in the line.
  36. Job 16:13 tn The verb פָּלַח (palakh) in the Piel means “to pierce” (see Prov 7:23). A fuller comparison should be made with Lam 3:12-13.
  37. Job 16:13 tn This word מְרֵרָתִי (mererati, “my gall”) is found only here. It is close to the form in Job 13:26, “bitter things.” In Job 20:14 it may mean “poison.” The thought is also found in Lam 2:11.
  38. Job 16:14 tn The word פָּרַץ (parats) means “to make a breach” in a wall (Isa 5:5; Ps 80:13). It is used figuratively in the birth and naming of Peres in Gen 38:29. Here the image is now of a military attack that breaks through a wall. The text uses the cognate accusative, and then with the addition of עַל־פְּנֵי (ʿal pene, “in addition”) it repeats the cognate noun. A smooth translation that reflects the three words is difficult. E. Dhorme (Job, 237) has “he batters me down, breach upon breach.”
  39. Job 16:14 tn Heb “runs.”
  40. Job 16:15 sn The language is hyperbolic; Job is saying that the sackcloth he has put on in his lamentable state is now stuck to his skin as if he had stitched it into the skin. It is now a habitual garment that he never takes off.
  41. Job 16:15 tn The Poel עֹלַלְתִּי (ʿolalti) from עָלַל (ʿalal, “to enter”) has here the meaning of “to thrust in.” The activity is the opposite of “raising high the horn,” a picture of dignity and victory.
  42. Job 16:15 tn There is no English term that captures exactly what “horn” is meant to do. Drawn from the animal world, the image was meant to convey strength and pride and victory. Some modern commentators have made other proposals for the line. Svi Rin suggested from Ugaritic that the verb be translated “lower” or “dip” (“Ugaritic—Old Testament Affinities,” BZ 7 [1963]: 22-33).
  43. Job 16:16 tn An intensive form, a Qetaltal form of the root חָמַר (khamar, “red”) is used here. This word has as probable derivatives חֹמֶר (khomer, “[red] clay”) and חֲמוֹר (khamor, “[red] ass”) and the like. Because of the weeping, his whole complexion has been reddened (the LXX reads “my belly”).
  44. Job 16:16 sn A. B. Davidson (Job, 122) notes that spontaneous and repeated weeping is one of the symptoms of elephantiasis.
  45. Job 16:16 sn See Job 3:5. Just as joy brings light and life to the eyes, sorrow and suffering bring darkness. The “eyelids” here would be synecdoche, reflecting the whole facial expression as sad and sullen.
  46. Job 16:17 tn For the use of the preposition עַל (ʿal) to introduce concessive clauses, see GKC 499 §160.c.
  47. Job 16:18 sn Job knows that he will die, and that his death, signified here by blood on the ground, will cry out for vindication.
  48. Job 16:18 tn The word is simply “a place,” but in the context it surely means a hidden place, a secret place that would never be discovered (see 18:21).
  49. Job 16:19 sn The witness in heaven must be God, to whom the cries and prayers come. Job’s dilemma is serious, but common to the human experience: the hostility of God toward him is baffling, but he is conscious of his innocence and can call on God to be his witness.
  50. Job 16:19 tn The parallelism now uses the Aramaic word “my advocate”—the one who testifies on my behalf. The word again appears in Gen 31:47 for Laban’s naming of the “heap of witness” in Aramaic—“Sahadutha.”
  51. Job 16:20 tn The first two words of this verse are problematic: מְלִיצַי רֵעָי (melitsay reʿay, “my scorners are my friends”). The word מֵלִיץ (melits), from or related to the word for “scorner” (לִיץ, lits) in wisdom literature especially, can also mean “mediator” (Job 33:23), “interpreter” (Gen 42:23). This gives the idea that “scorn” has to do with the way words are used. It may be that the word here should have the singular suffix and be taken as “my spokesman.” This may not be from the same root as “scorn” (see N. H. Richardson, “Some Notes on lis and Its Derivatives,” VT 5 [1955]: 434-36). This is the view of the NIV, NJPS, JB, NAB, as well as a number of commentators. The idea of “my friends are scorners” is out of place in this section, unless taken as a parenthesis. Other suggestions are not convincing. The LXX has “May my prayer come to the Lord, and before him may my eye shed tears.” Some have tried to change the Hebrew to fit this. The word “my friends” also calls for some attention. Instead of a plural noun suffix, most would see it as a singular, a slight vocalic change. But others think it is not the word “friend.” D. J. A. Clines accepts the view that it is not “friends” but “thoughts” (רֵעַ, reaʿ). E. Dhorme takes it as “clamor,” from רוּעַ (ruaʿ) and so interprets “my claimant word has reached God.” J. B. Curtis tries “My intercessor is my shepherd,” from רֹעִי (roʿi). See “On Job’s Witness in Heaven,” JBL 102 [1983]: 549-62.
  52. Job 16:20 tn The Hebrew verb means “to drip; to stream; to flow”; the expression is cryptic, but understandable: “my eye flows [with tears as I cry out] to God.” But many suggestions have been made for this line too. Driver suggested in connection with cognate words that it be given the meaning “sleepless” (JTS 34 [1933]: 375-85), but this would also require additional words for a smooth reading. See also E. A. Speiser, “The Semantic Range of dalapu,” JCS 5 (1951): 64-66, for the Akkadian connection. But for the retention of “dripping eyes” based on the Talmudic use, see J. C. Greenfield, “Lexicographical Notes I,” HUCA 29 (1958): 203-28.
  53. Job 16:21 tn E. Dhorme (Job, 240) alters this slightly to read “Would that” or “Ah! if only.”
  54. Job 16:21 tn This is the simple translation of the expression “son of man” in Job. But some commentators wish to change the word בֵּן (ben, “son”) to בֵּין (ben, “between”). It would then be “[as] between a man and [for] his friend.” Even though a few mss have this reading, it is to be rejected. But see J. Barr, “Some Notes on ‘ben’ in Classical Hebrew,” JSS 23 (1978): 1-22.
  55. Job 16:21 tn The verb is supplied from the parallel clause.
  56. Job 16:22 tn The expression is “years of number,” meaning that they can be counted, and so “the years are few.” The verb simply means “comes” or “lie ahead.”
  57. Job 16:22 tn The verbal expression “I will not return” serves here to modify the journey that he will take. It is “the road [of] I will not return.”
  58. Job 17:1 tn The verb חָבַל (khaval, “to act badly”) in the Piel means “to ruin.” The Pual translation with “my spirit” as the subject means “broken” in the sense of finished (not in the sense of humbled as in Ps 51).
  59. Job 17:1 tn The verb זָעַךְ (zaʿaq, equivalent of Aramaic דָעַק [daʿaq]) means “to be extinguished.” It only occurs here in the Hebrew.
  60. Job 17:1 tn The plural “graves” could be simply an intensification, a plural of extension (see GKC 397 §124.c), or a reference to the graveyard. Coverdale had: “I am harde at deathes dore.” The Hebrew expression simply reads “graves for me.” It probably means that graves await him.
  61. Job 17:2 tn The noun is the abstract noun, “mockery.” It indicates that he is the object of derision. But many commentators either change the word to “mockers” (Tur-Sinai, NEB), or argue that the form in the text is a form of the participle (Gordis).
  62. Job 17:2 tn E. Dhorme (Job, 243) interprets the preposition to mean “aimed at me.”
  63. Job 17:2 tn The meaning of הַמְּרוֹתָם (hammerotam) is unclear, and the versions offer no help. If the MT is correct, it would probably be connected to מָרָה (marah, “to be rebellious”) and the derived form something like “hostility; provocation.” But some commentators suggest it should be related to מָרֹרוֹת (marorot, “bitter things”). Others have changed both the noun and the verb to obtain something like “My eye is weary of their contentiousness” (Holscher), or “mine eyes are wearied by your stream of peevish complaints” (G. R. Driver, “Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 78). There is no alternative suggestion that is compelling.
  64. Job 17:3 tc The MT has two imperatives: “Set (down), pledge me, with you.” Most commentators think that the second imperative, עָרְבֵנִי (ʿareveni, “pledge security for), should be repointed as a noun, עֵרְבֹנִי (ʿerevoni, “my pledge of security”) and take it to say, “Set my pledge beside you.” A. B. Davidson (Job, 126) suggests that the first verb means “give a pledge,” and so the two similar verbs would be emphatic: “Give a pledge, be my surety.” However, the verb שִׂים (sim, “set”) does not work with other verbs in this manner in any other contexts.sn Job shows his desperation in lacking anyone to act as a guarantor on his behalf by asking God to accept himself as his own guarantor, a somewhat self-contradictory notion.
  65. Job 17:3 sn The idiom is “to strike the hand.” Here the wording is a little different, “Who is he that will strike himself into my hand?”
  66. Job 17:4 tn This half-verse gives the reason for the next half-verse.
  67. Job 17:4 sn The pronoun their refers to Job’s friends. They have not pledged security for him because God has hidden or sealed off their understanding.
  68. Job 17:4 tn The object “them” is supplied. This is the simplest reading of the line, taking the verb as an active Polel. Some suggest that the subject is “their hand” and the verb is to be translated “is not raised.” This would carry through the thought of the last verse, but it is not necessary to the point.
  69. Job 17:5 tn Heb “for a portion.” This verse is rather obscure. The words are not that difficult, but the sense of them in this context is. Some take the idea to mean “he denounces his friends for a portion,” and others have a totally different idea of “he invites his friends to share with him.” The former fits the context better, indicating that Job’s friends speak out against him for some personal gain. The second half of the verse then promises that his children will suffer loss for this attempt at gain. The line is surely proverbial. A number of other interpretations can be found in the commentaries.
  70. Job 17:6 tn The verb is the third person, and so God is likely the subject. The LXX has “you have made me.” So most commentators clarify the verb in some such way. However, without an expressed subject it can also be taken as a passive.
  71. Job 17:6 tn The word “byword” is related to the word translated “proverb” in the Bible (מָשָׁל, mashal). Job’s case is so well known that he is synonymous with afflictions and with abuse by people.
  72. Job 17:6 tn The word תֹפֶת (tofet) is a hapax legomenon. The expression is “and a spitting in/to the face I have become,” i.e., “I have become one in whose face people spit.” Various suggestions have been made, including a link to Tophet, but they are weak. The verse as it exists in the MT is fine, and fits the context well.
  73. Job 17:7 tn See the usage of this verb in Gen 27:1 and Deut 34:7. Usually it is age that causes the failing eyesight, but here it is the grief.
  74. Job 17:7 tn The word יְצֻרִים (yetsurim), here with a suffix, occurs only here in the Bible. The word is related to יָצַר (yatsar, “to form, fashion”). And so Targum Job has “my forms,” and the Vulgate “my members.” The Syriac uses “thoughts” to reflect יֵצֶר (yetser). Some have followed this to interpret, “all my thoughts have dissolved into shadows.” But the parallel with “eye” would suggest “form.” The plural “my forms, all of them” would refer to the whole body.
  75. Job 17:8 tn This verb שָׁמַם (shamam, “appalled”) is the one found in Isa 52:14, translated there “astonished.”
  76. Job 17:8 tn The verb means “to rouse oneself to excitement.” It naturally means “to be agitated; to be stirred up.”
  77. Job 17:9 tn The last two words are the imperfect verb יֹסִיף (yosif) which means “he adds,” and the abstract noun “energy, strength.” This noun is not found elsewhere; its Piel verb occurs in Job 4:4 and 16:5. “he increases strength.”
  78. Job 17:10 tn The form says “all of them.” Several editors would change it to “all of you,” but the lack of concord is not surprising; the vocative elsewhere uses the third person (see Mic 1:2; see also GKC 441 §135.r).
  79. Job 17:10 tn The first verb, the jussive, means “to return”; the second verb, the imperative, means “to come.” The two could be taken as a hendiadys, the first verb becoming adverbial: “to come again.”
  80. Job 17:10 tn Instead of the exact correspondence between coordinate verbs, other combinations occur—here we have a jussive and an imperative (see GKC 386 §120.e).
  81. Job 17:11 tn This term usually means “plans; devices” in a bad sense, although it can be used of God’s plans (see e.g., Zech 8:15).
  82. Job 17:11 tn Although not in the Hebrew text, “even” is supplied in the translation, because this line is in apposition to the preceding.
  83. Job 17:11 tn This word has been linked to the root יָרַשׁ (yarash, “to inherit”) yielding a meaning “the possessions of my heart.” But it is actually to be connected to אָרַשׁ (ʾarash, “to desire”) cognate to the Akkadian eresu, “desire.” The LXX has “limbs,” which may come from an Aramaic word for “ropes.” An emendation based on the LXX would be risky.
  84. Job 17:12 tn The verse simply has the plural, “they change.” But since this verse seems to be a description of his friends, a clarification of the referent in the translation is helpful.
  85. Job 17:12 tn The same verb שִׂים (sim, “set”) is used this way in Isa 5:20: “…who change darkness into light.”
  86. Job 17:12 tn The rest of the verse makes better sense if it is interpreted as what his friends say.
  87. Job 17:12 tn This expression is open to alternative translations: (1) It could mean that they say in the face of darkness, “Light is near.” (2) It could also mean “The light is near the darkness” or “The light is nearer than the darkness.”
  88. Job 17:13 tn The clause begins with אִם (ʾim) which here has more of the sense of “since.” E. Dhorme (Job, 253) takes a rather rare use of the word to get “Can I hope again” (see also GKC 475 §150.f for the caveat).
  89. Job 17:14 tn This is understood because the conditional clauses seem to run to the apodosis in v. 15.
  90. Job 17:14 tn The word שַׁחַת (shakhat) may be the word “corruption” from a root שָׁחַת (shakhat, “to destroy”) or a word “pit” from שׁוּחַ (shuakh, “to sink down”). The same problem surfaces in Ps 16:10, where it is parallel to “Sheol.” E. F. Sutcliffe, The Old Testament and the Future Life, 76ff., defends the meaning “corruption.” But many commentators here take it to mean “the grave” in harmony with “Sheol.” But in this verse “worms” would suggest “corruption” is better.
  91. Job 17:15 tn The adverb אֵפוֹ (ʾefo, “then”) plays an enclitic role here (see Job 4:7).
  92. Job 17:15 tn The repetition of “my hope” in the verse has thrown the versions off, and their translations have led commentators also to change the second one to something like “goodness,” on the assumption that a word cannot be repeated in the same verse. The word actually carries two different senses here. The first would be the basic meaning “hope,” but the second a metonymy of cause, namely, what hope produces, what will be seen.
  93. Job 17:16 sn It is natural to assume that this verse continues the interrogative clause of the preceding verse.
  94. Job 17:16 tn The plural form of the verb probably refers to the two words, or the two senses of the word in the preceding verse. Hope and what it produces will perish with Job.
  95. Job 17:16 tn The Hebrew word בַּדִּים (baddim) describes the “bars” or “bolts” of Sheol, referring (by synecdoche) to the “gates of Sheol.” The LXX has “with me to Sheol,” and many adopt that as “by my side.”
  96. Job 17:16 tn The conjunction אִם (ʾim) confirms the interrogative interpretation.
  97. Job 17:16 tn The translation follows the LXX and the Syriac versions with the change of vocalization in the MT. The MT has the noun “rest,” yielding, “will our rest be together in the dust?” The verb נָחַת (nakhat) in Aramaic means “to go down; to descend.” If that is the preferred reading—and it almost is universally accepted here—then it would be spelled נֵחַת (nekhat). In either case the point of the verse is clearly describing death and going to the grave.
  98. Job 18:1 sn Bildad attacks Job with less subtlety than Eliphaz. He describes the miserable existence of the wicked, indicating that it is the proof of sin. His speech falls into two main parts: why is Job so contemptuous toward his friends (Job 18:2-4), and the fate of the wicked (18:5-21). On this chapter see N. M. Sarna, “The Mythological Background of Job 18,” JBL 82 (1963): 315-18; and W. A. Irwin, “Job’s Redeemer,” JBL 81 (1962): 217-29.
  99. Job 18:2 tn The verb is plural, and so most commentators make it singular. But it seems from the context that Bildad is addressing all of them, and not just Job.
  100. Job 18:2 tn The construction is קִנְצֵי לְמִלִּין (qintse lemillin), which is often taken to be “end of words,” as if the word was from קֵץ (qets, “end”). But a plural of “end” is not found in the OT. Some will link the word to Arabic qanasa, “to hunt; to give chase,” to get an interpretation of “snares for words.” But E. Dhorme (Job, 257) objects that this does not fit the speech of Bildad (as well as it might Job’s). He finds a cognate qinsu, “fetters, shackles,” and reads “how long will you put shackles on words.” But G. R. Driver had pointed out that this cognate does not exist (“Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 72-93). So it would be preferable to take the reading “ends” and explain the ן (nun) as from a Aramaizing by-form. This is supported by 11QtgJob that uses סוֹף (sof, “end”). On the construction, GKC 421 §130.a explains this as a use of the construct in rapid narrative to connect the words; in such cases a preposition is on the following noun.
  101. Job 18:2 tn The imperfect verb, again plural, would be here taken in the nuance of instruction, or a modal nuance of obligation. So Bildad is telling his listeners to be intelligent. This would be rather cutting in the discourse.
  102. Job 18:2 tn Heb “afterward.”
  103. Job 18:3 tn The verb נִטְמִינוּ (nitminu) has been explained from different roots. Some take it from תָּמֵא (tameʾ, “to be unclean”), and translate it “Why should we be unclean in your eyes?” Most would connect it to טָמַם (tamam, “to stop up”), meaning “to be stupid” in the Niphal. Another suggestion is to follow the LXX and read from דָּמַם (damam, “to be reduced to silence”). Others take it from דָּמָּה (damah) with a meaning “to be like.” But what is missing is the term of comparison—like what? Various suggestions have been made, but all are simply conjectures.
  104. Job 18:4 tn The construction uses the participle and then third person suffixes: “O tearer of himself in his anger.” But it is clearly referring to Job, and so the direct second person pronouns should be used to make that clear. The LXX is an approximation or paraphrase here: “Anger has possessed you, for what if you should die—would under heaven be desolate, or shall the mountains be overthrown from their foundations?”
  105. Job 18:4 tn There is a good deal of study on this word in this passage, and in Job in general. M. Dahood suggested a root עָזַב (ʿazav) meaning “to arrange; to rearrange” (“The Root ʿzb II in Job,” JBL 78 [1959]: 303-9). But this is refuted by H. G. M. Williamson, “A Reconsideration of ʿzb II in Biblical Hebrew,” ZAW 97 (1985): 74-85.
  106. Job 18:4 sn Bildad is asking if Job thinks the whole moral order of the world should be interrupted for his sake, that he may escape the punishment for wickedness.
  107. Job 18:5 tn Hebrew גַּם (gam, “also; moreover”), in view of what has just been said.
  108. Job 18:5 sn The lamp or the light can have a number of uses in the Bible. Here it is probably an implied metaphor for prosperity and happiness, for the good life itself.
  109. Job 18:5 tn The expression is literally “the flame of his fire,” but the pronominal suffix qualifies the entire bound construction. The two words together intensify the idea of the flame.
  110. Job 18:6 tn The LXX interprets a little more precisely: “his lamp shall be put out with him.”sn This thesis of Bildad will be questioned by Job in 21:17—how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out?
  111. Job 18:7 tn Heb “the steps of his vigor,” the genitive being the attribute.
  112. Job 18:7 tn The verb צָרַר (tsarar) means “to be cramped; to be straitened; to be hemmed in.” The trouble has hemmed him in, so that he cannot walk with the full, vigorous steps he had before. The LXX has “Let the meanest of men spoil his goods.”
  113. Job 18:7 tn The LXX has “causes him to stumble,” which many commentators accept, but this involves the transposition of the three letters. The verb is שָׁלַךְ (shalakh, “throw”) not כָּשַׁל (kashal, “stumble”).
  114. Job 18:8 tn See Ps 25:15.
  115. Job 18:8 tn The word שְׂבָכָה (sevakhah) is used in scripture for the lattice window (2 Kgs 1:2). The Arabic cognate means “to be intertwined.” So the term could describe a net, matting, grating, or lattice. Here it would be the netting stretched over a pit.
  116. Job 18:9 tn This word פָּח (pakh) specifically refers to the snare of the fowler—thus a bird trap. But its plural seems to refer to nets in general (see Job 22:10).
  117. Job 18:9 tn This word does not occur elsewhere. But another word from the same root means “plait of hair,” and so this term has something to do with a net like a trellis or lattice.
  118. Job 18:10 tn Heb “his rope.” The suffix must be a genitive expressing that the trap was for him, to trap him, and so an objective genitive.
  119. Job 18:10 tn Heb “his trap.” The pronominal suffix is objective genitive here as well.
  120. Job 18:11 sn Bildad is referring here to all the things that afflict a person and cause terror. It would then be a metonymy of effect, the cause being the afflictions.
  121. Job 18:11 tn The verb פּוּץ (puts) in the Hiphil has the meaning “to pursue” and “to scatter.” It is followed by the expression “at his feet.” So the idea is easily derived: they chase him at his feet. But some commentators have other proposals. The most far-fetched is that of Ehrlich and Driver (ZAW 24 [1953]: 259-60) which has “and compel him to urinate on his feet,” one of many similar readings the NEB accepted from Driver.
  122. Job 18:12 tn The jussive is occasionally used without its normal sense and only as an imperfect (see GKC 323 §109.k).
  123. Job 18:12 tn There are a number of suggestions for אֹנוֹ (ʾono). Some take it as “vigor”: thus “his strength is hungry.” Others take it as “iniquity”: thus “his iniquity/trouble is hungry.”
  124. Job 18:12 tn The expression means that misfortune is right there to destroy him whenever there is the opportunity.
  125. Job 18:13 tn The expression “the limbs of his skin” makes no sense, unless a poetic meaning of “parts” (or perhaps “layers”) is taken. The parallelism has “his skin” in the first colon, and “his limbs” in the second. One plausible suggestion is to take בַּדֵּי (badde, “limbs of”) in the first part to be בִּדְוָי (bidvay, “by a disease”; Dhorme, Wright, RSV). The verb has to be made passive, however. The versions have different things: The LXX has “let the branches of his feet be eaten”; the Syriac has “his cities will be swallowed up by force”; the Vulgate reads “let it devour the beauty of his skin”; and Targum Job has “it will devour the linen garments that cover his skin.”
  126. Job 18:13 tn The “firstborn of death” is the strongest child of death (Gen 49:3), or the deadliest death (like the “firstborn of the poor, the poorest”). The phrase means the most terrible death (A. B. Davidson, Job, 134).
  127. Job 18:14 tn Heb “from his tent, his security.” The apposition serves to modify the tent as his security.
  128. Job 18:14 tn The verb is the Hiphil of צָעַד (tsaʿad, “to lead away”). The problem is that the form is either a third feminine (Rashi thought it was referring to Job’s wife) or the second person. There is a good deal of debate over the possibility of the prefix t- being a variant for the third masculine form. The evidence in Ugaritic and Akkadian is mixed, stronger for the plural than the singular. Gesenius has some samples where the third feminine form might also be used for the passive if there is no expressed subject (see GKC 459 §144.b), but the evidence is not strong. The simplest choices are to change the prefix to a י (yod), or argue that the ת (tav) can be masculine, or follow Gesenius.
  129. Job 18:14 sn This is a reference to death, the king of all terrors. Other identifications are made in the commentaries: Mot, the Ugaritic god of death; Nergal of the Babylonians; Molech of the Canaanites, the one to whom people sent emissaries.
  130. Job 18:15 tn This line is difficult as well. The verb, again a third feminine form, says “it dwells in his tent.” But the next part (מִבְּלִי לוֹ, mibbeli lo) means something like “things of what are not his.” The best that can be made of the MT is “There shall live in his tent they that are not his” (referring to persons and animals; see J. E. Hartley, Job [NICOT], 279). G. R. Driver and G. B. Gray (Job [ICC], 2:161) refer “that which is naught of his” to weeds and wild animals. M. Dahood suggested a reading מַבֶּל (mabbel) and a connection to Akkadian nablu, “fire” (cf. Ugaritic nbl). The interchange of m and n is not a problem, and the parallelism with the next line makes good sense (“Some Northwest Semitic words in Job,” Bib 38 [1957]: 312ff.). Others suggest an emendation to get “night-hag” or vampire. This suggestion, as well as Driver’s “mixed herbs,” are linked to the idea of exorcism. But if a change is to be made, Dahood’s is the most compelling.
  131. Job 18:17 tn Heb “outside.” Cf. ESV, “in the street,” referring to absence from his community’s memory.
  132. Job 18:18 tn The verbs in this verse are plural; without the expressed subject they should be taken in the passive sense.
  133. Job 18:19 tn The two words נִין (nin, “offspring”) and נֶכֶד (nekhed, “posterity”) are always together and form an alliteration. This is hard to capture in English, but some have tried: Moffatt had “son and scion,” and Tur-Sinai had “breed or brood.” But the words are best simply translated as “lineage and posterity” or as in the NIV “offspring or descendants.”
  134. Job 18:19 tn Heb “in his sojournings.” The verb גּוּר (gur) means “to reside; to sojourn” temporarily, without land rights. Even this word has been selected to stress the temporary nature of his stay on earth.
  135. Job 18:20 tn The word אַחֲרֹנִים (ʾakharonim) means “those [men] coming after.” And the next word, קַדְמֹנִים (qadmonim), means “those [men] coming before.” Some commentators have tried to see here references to people who lived before and people who lived after, but that does not explain their being appalled at the fate of the wicked. So the normal way this is taken is in connection to the geography, notably the seas—“the hinder sea” refers to the Mediterranean, the West, and “the front sea” refers to the Dead Sea (Zech 14:8), namely, the East. The versions understood this as temporal: “the last groaned for him, and wonder seized the first” (LXX).
  136. Job 18:20 tn Heb “his day.”
  137. Job 18:20 tn The expression has “they seize horror.” The RSV renders this “horror seizes them.” The same idiom is found in Job 21:6: “laid hold on shuddering.” The idiom would solve the grammatical problem and not change the meaning greatly, but it would change the parallelism.
  138. Job 18:20 tn The word “saying” is supplied in the translation to mark and introduce the following as a quotation of these people who are seized with horror. The alternative is to take v. 21 as Bildad’s own summary statement (cf. G. R. Driver and G. B. Gray, Job [ICC], 2:162; J. E. Hartley, Job [NICOT], 280).
  139. Job 18:21 tn The term is in the plural, “the tabernacles”; it should be taken as a plural of local extension (see GKC 397 §124.b).
  140. Job 18:21 tn The word “place” is in construct; the clause following it replaces the genitive: “this is the place of—he has not known God.”
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