translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: JOB

label: NET translator note

text: The expression “you asked” is added here to clarify the presence of the line to follow. Many commentators delete it as a gloss from Job 38:2 . If it is retained, then Job has to be recalling God’s question before he answers it.


text: The word לָכֵן ( lakhen ) is simply “but,” as in Job 31:37 .


text: Heb “and I do not understand.” The expression serves here in an adverbial capacity. It also could be subordinated as a complement: “I have declared [things that] I do not understand.”


text: The last clause is “and I do not know.” This is also subordinated to become a dependent clause.


text: This phrase, “you said,” is supplied in the translation to introduce the recollection of God’s words.


text: Or “despise what I said.” There is no object on the verb; Job could be despising himself or the things he said (see L. J. Kuyper, “Repentance of Job,” VT 9 [1959]: 91-94).


text: Heb “the Lord .” The title has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.


text: Heb “is kindled.”


text: The form נְכוֹנָה ( nÿkhonah ) is from כּוּן ( kun , “to be firm; to be fixed; to be established”). Here it means “the right thing” or “truth.” The Akkadian word kenu (from כּוּן , kun ) connotes justice and truth.


text: The imperatives in this verse are plural, so all three had to do this together.


text: The verb “pray” is the Hitpael from the root פָּלַל ( palal ). That root has the main idea of arbitration; so in this stem it means “to seek arbitration [for oneself],” or “to pray,” or “to intercede.”


text: Heb “I will lift up his face,” meaning, “I will regard him.”


text: This clause is a result clause, using the negated infinitive construct.


text: The word “folly” can also be taken in the sense of “disgrace.” If the latter is chosen, the word serves as the direct object. If the former, then it is an adverbial accusative.


text: The expression “had respect for Job” means God answered his prayer.


text: The paragraph begins with the disjunctive vav , “Now as for the Lord , he….”


text: This is a temporal clause, using the infinitive construct with the subject genitive suffix. By this it seems that this act of Job was also something of a prerequisite for restoration – to pray for them.


text: The construction uses the verb “and he added” with the word “repeat” (or “twice”).


text: Heb “ate bread.”


text: The Hebrew word קְשִׂיטָה ( qÿsitah ) is generally understood to refer to a unit of money, but the value is unknown. sn The Hebrew word refers to a piece of silver, yet uncoined. It is the kind used in Gen 33:19 and Josh 24:32 . It is what would be expected of a story set in the patriarchal age.


text: The word for “seven” is spelled in an unusual way. From this some have thought it means “twice seven,” or fourteen sons. Several commentators take this view; but it is probably not warranted.