Job 31:31-33 New English Translation
31 if[a] the members of my household[b] have never said,[c]
‘If only there were[d] someone
who has not been satisfied from Job’s[e] meat!’—
32 But[f] no stranger[g] had to spend the night outside,
for I opened my doors to the traveler[h]—
33 if[i] I have covered my transgressions as men do,[j]
by hiding[k] iniquity in my heart,[l]
Footnotes
- Job 31:31 tn Now Job picks up the series of clauses serving as the protasis.
- Job 31:31 tn Heb “the men of my tent.” In context this refers to members of Job’s household.
- Job 31:31 sn The line is difficult to sort out. Job is saying it is sinful “if his men have never said, ‘O that there was one who has not been satisfied from his food.’” If they never said that, it would mean there were people out there who needed to be satisfied with his food.
- Job 31:31 tn The optative is again expressed with “who will give?”
- Job 31:31 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Job) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Job 31:32 tn This verse forms another parenthesis. Job stops almost at every point now in the conditional clauses to affirm his purity and integrity.
- Job 31:32 tn Or “[resident] foreigner.” The term גֵּר (ger) refers to a foreign resident, but with different social implications in different settings. Here the “stranger” stands in need of the hospitality of lodgings.
- Job 31:32 tn The word in the MT, אֹרחַ (ʾorakh, “way”), is a contraction from אֹרֵחַ (ʾoreakh, “wayfarer”); thus, “traveler.” The same parallelism is found in Jer 14:8. The reading here “on/to the road” is meaningless otherwise.
- Job 31:33 tn Now the protasis continues again.
- Job 31:33 sn Some commentators suggest taking the meaning here to be “as Adam,” referring to the Paradise story of the sin and denial.
- Job 31:33 tn The infinitive is epexegetical, explaining the first line.
- Job 31:33 tn The MT has “in my bosom.” This is the only place in the OT where this word is found. But its meaning is well attested from Aramaic.
New English Translation (NET)
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