Job 4:18

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Job 4:18 tn The particle הֵן (hen) introduces a conditional clause here, although the older translations used “behold.” The clause forms the foundation for the point made in the next verse, an argument by analogy—if this be true, then how much more/less the other.
2. Job 4:18 tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3. Job 4:18 tn The verb יַאֲמִין (yaʾamin), a Hiphil imperfect from אָמַן (ʾaman) followed by the preposition ב (bet), means “trust in.”
4. Job 4:18 sn The servants here must be angels in view of the parallelism. The Targum to Job interpreted them to be the prophets. In the book we have already read about the “sons of God” who take their stand as servants before the Lord (1:6; 2:1), and Ps 104:4 identifies the angels as attendants (using שָׁרַת, sharat).
5. Job 4:18 tn The verb שִׂים (sim, “set”) with the preposition ב (bet) has the sense of “impute” or “attribute something to someone.”
6. Job 4:18 tn The word תָּהֳלָה (toholah) is a hapax legomenon, and so has created some confusion in the various translations. It seems to mean “error; folly.” The word is translated “perverseness” in the LXX, but Symmachus connects it with the word for “madness.” Some commentators have repointed the word to תְּהִלָּה (t^ehillah, “praise”) making the line read: “he finds no [cause for] praise in his angels.” Others suggest תִּפְלָה (tiflah, “offensiveness, silliness”) a bigger change; this matches the idiom in Job 24:12. But if the etymology of the word is הָלַל (halal, “to be mad”) then that change is not necessary. The feminine noun “madness” still leaves the meaning of the line a little uncertain: “[if] he does not impute madness to his angels.” The point of the verse is that God finds flaws in his angels and does not put his trust in them.