Job 23:6-8 New English Translation
6 Would he contend[a] with me with great power?
No, he would only pay attention to me.[b]
7 There[c] an upright person
could present his case[d] before him,
and I would be delivered forever from my judge.
The Inaccessibility and Power of God
8 “If I go to the east, he is not there,
and to the west, yet I do not perceive him.
Footnotes
- Job 23:6 tn The verb is now רִיב (riv) and not יָכַח (yakhakh, “contend”); רִיב (riv) means “to quarrel; to dispute; to contend,” often in a legal context. Here it is still part of Job’s questioning about this hypothetical meeting—would God contend with all his power?
- Job 23:6 tn The verbal clause יָשִׂם בִּי (yasim bi) has been translated “he would pay [attention] to me.” Job is saying that God will not need all his power—he will only have to pay attention to Job’s complaint. Job does not need the display of power—he just wants a hearing.
- Job 23:7 tn The adverb “there” has the sense of “then”—there in the future.
- Job 23:7 tn The form of the verb is the Niphal נוֹכָח (nokhakh, “argue, present a case”). E. Dhorme (Job, 346) is troubled by this verbal form and so changes it and other things in the line to say, “he would observe the upright man who argues with him.” The Niphal is used for “engaging discussion,” “arguing a case,” and “settling a dispute.”
New English Translation (NET)
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