Job 26:4-6 New English Translation
A Better Description of God’s Greatness[c]
5 “The dead[d] tremble[e]—
those beneath the waters
and all that live in them.[f]
6 The underworld[g] is naked before God;[h]
the place of destruction lies uncovered.[i]
Footnotes
- Job 26:4 tn The verse begins with the preposition and the interrogative: אֶת־מִי (ʾet mi, “with who[se help]?”). Others take it as the accusative particle introducing the indirect object: “for whom did you utter…” (see GKC 371 §117.gg). Both are possible.
- Job 26:4 tn Heb “has gone out from you.”
- Job 26:5 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.
- Job 26:5 tn The text has הָרְפָאִים (harefaʾim, “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.
- Job 26:5 tn The verb is a Polal from חִיל (khil) which means “to tremble.” It shows that even these spirits cannot escape the terror.
- Job 26:5 tc Most commentators wish to lengthen the verse and make it more parallel, but nothing is gained by doing this.
- Job 26:6 tn Heb “Sheol.”
- Job 26:6 tn Heb “before him.”
- Job 26:6 tn The line has “and there is no covering for destruction.” “Destruction” here is another name for Sheol: אֲבַדּוֹן (ʾavaddon, “Abaddon”).
New English Translation (NET)
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