Job 16:7-9 New English Translation
7 Surely now he[a] has worn me out,
you have devastated my entire household.
8 You have seized me,[b]
and it[c] has become a witness;
my leanness[d] has risen up against me
and testifies against me.
9 His[e] anger has torn me[f] and persecuted[g] me;
he has gnashed at me with his teeth;
my adversary locks[h] his eyes on me.
Footnotes
- 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”).
- 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.
- Job 16:8 tn The subject is “my calamity.”
- 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).
- 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.
- 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.
- 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).
- 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.
New English Translation (NET)
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