Job 29:2-4 New English Translation
2 “O that I could be[a] as[b] I was
in the months now gone,[c]
in the days[d] when God watched over[e] me,
3 when[f] he caused[g] his lamp[h]
to shine upon my head,
and by his light
I walked[i] through darkness;[j]
4 just as I was in my most productive time,[k]
when God’s intimate friendship[l] was experienced in my tent,
Footnotes
- Job 29:2 tn The optative is here expressed with מִי־יִתְּנֵנִי (mi yitteneni, “who will give me”), meaning, “O that I [could be]…” (see GKC 477 §151.b).
- Job 29:2 tn The preposition כ (kaf) is used here in an expression describing the state desired, especially in the former time (see GKC 376 §118.u).
- Job 29:2 tn The expression is literally “months of before [or of old; or past].” The word קֶדֶם (qedem) is intended here to be temporal and not spatial; it means days that preceded the present.
- Job 29:2 tn The construct state (“days of”) governs the independent sentence that follows (see GKC 422 §130.d): “as the days of […] God used to watch over me.”
- Job 29:2 tn The imperfect verb here has a customary nuance—“when God would watch over me” (back then), or “when God used to watch over me.”
- Job 29:3 tn This clause is in apposition to the preceding (see GKC 426 §131.o). It offers a clarification.
- Job 29:3 tn The form בְּהִלּוֹ (behillo) is unusual; it should be parsed as a Hiphil infinitive construct with the elision of a ה (he). The proper spelling would have been בַּהֲהִלּוֹ (bahahillo). If it were Qal, it would just mean “when his light shone.”
- Job 29:3 sn Lamp and light are symbols of God’s blessings of life and all the prosperous and good things it includes.
- Job 29:3 tn Here too the imperfect verb is customary—it describes action that was continuous, but in a past time.
- Job 29:3 tn The accusative (“darkness”) is here an adverbial accusative of place, namely, “in the darkness,” or because he was successfully led by God’s light, “through the darkness” (see GKC 374 §118.h).
- Job 29:4 tn Heb “in the days of my ripeness.” The word חֹרֶף (khoref) denotes the time when the harvest is gathered in because the fruit is ripe. Since this is the autumn, many translate that way here—but “autumn” has a different connotation now. The text is pointing to a time when the righteous reaps what he has sown, and can enjoy the benefits. The translation “most productive time” seems to capture the point better than “autumn” or even “prime.”
- Job 29:4 tc The word סוֹד (sod) in this verse is an infinitive construct, prefixed with the temporal preposition and followed by a subjective genitive. It forms a temporal clause. There is some disagreement about the form and its meaning. The confusion in the versions shows that they were paraphrasing to get the general sense. In the Bible the derived noun (from יָסַד, yasad) means (a) a circle of close friends; (b) intimacy. Others follow the LXX and the Syriac with a meaning of “protect,” based on a change from ד (dalet) to כ (kaf), and assuming the root was סָכַךְ (sakhakh). This would mean, “when God protected my tent” (cf. NAB). D. W. Thomas tries to justify this meaning without changing the text (“The Interpretation of BSŌD in Job 29:4, ” JBL 65 [1946]: 63-66).
New English Translation (NET)
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