Job 36:18-20 New English Translation
18 Be careful that[a] no one entices you with riches;
do not let a large bribe[b] turn you aside.
19 Would your wealth[c] sustain you,
so that you would not be in distress,[d]
even all your mighty efforts?[e]
20 Do not long for the cover of night
to drag people away from their homes.[f]
Footnotes
- Job 36:18 tn The first expression is idiomatic: the text says, “because wrath lest it entice you”—thus, beware.
- Job 36:18 tn The word is כֹּפֶר (kofer), often translated “ransom,” but frequently in the sense of a bribe.
- Job 36:19 tn The form in the MT is “your cry (for help).” See J. E. Hartley (Job [NICOT], 472-73) and E. Dhorme (Job, 547-48) on the difficulties.
- Job 36:19 tn This part has only two words לֹא בְצָר (loʾ betsar, “not in distress”). The negated phrase serves to explain the first colon.
- Job 36:19 tc For the many suggestions and the reasoning here, see the commentaries.
- Job 36:20 tn The meaning of this line is difficult. There are numerous suggestions for emending the text. Kissane takes the first verb in the sense of “oppress,” and for “the night” he has “belonging to you,” meaning “your people.” This reads: “Oppress not them that belong not to you, that your kinsmen may mount up in their place.”
New English Translation (NET)
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