translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: JOB

label: NET translator note

text: Some do not take this to be parallel to the first colon, taking this line as a statement, but the parallel expressions here suggest the question is repeated.


text: The word חֵפֶץ ( khefets ) in this passage has the nuance of “special benefit; favor.” It does not just express the desire for something or the interest in it, but the profit one derives from it.


text: The verb תַתֵּם ( tattem ) is the Hiphil imperfect of תָּמַם ( tamam , “be complete, finished”), following the Aramaic form of the geminate verb with a doubling of the first letter.


text: The word “your fear” or “your piety” refers to Job’s reverence – it is his fear of God (thus a subjective genitive). When “fear” is used of religion, it includes faith and adoration on the positive side, fear and obedience on the negative.


text: The adjective רַבָּה ( rabbah ) normally has the idea of “great” in quantity (“abundant,” ESV) rather than “great” in quality.


text: The verb חָבַל ( khaval ) means “to take pledges.” In this verse Eliphaz says that Job not only took as pledge things the poor need, like clothing, but he did it for no reason.


text: The “naked” here refers to people who are poorly clothed. Otherwise, a reading like the NIV would be necessary: “you stripped the clothes…[leaving them] naked.” So either he made them naked by stripping their garments off, or they were already in rags.


text: The term עָיֵף (’ ayef ) can be translated “weary,” “faint,” “exhausted,” or “tired.” Here it may refer to the fainting because of thirst – that would make a good parallel to the second part.


text: The idiom is “a man of arm” (= “powerful”; see Ps 10:15 ). This is in comparison to the next line, “man of face” (= “dignity; high rank”; see Isa 3:5 ).


text: Heb “and a man of arm, to whom [was] land.” The line is in contrast to the preceding one, and so the vav here introduces a concessive clause.


text: The expression is unusual: “the one lifted up of face.” This is the “honored one,” the one to whom the dignity will be given.


text: Many commentators simply delete the verse or move it elsewhere. Most take it as a general reference to Job, perhaps in apposition to the preceding verse.


text: The “arms of the orphans” are their helps or rights on which they depended for support.


text: The verb in the text is Pual: יְדֻכָּא ( yÿdukka ’, “was [were] crushed”). GKC 388 §121. b would explain “arms” as the complement of a passive imperfect. But if that is too difficult, then a change to Piel imperfect, second person, will solve the difficulty. In its favor is the parallelism, the use of the second person all throughout the section, and the reading in all the versions. The versions may have simply assumed the easier reading, however.


text: Heb “or dark you cannot see.” Some commentators and the RSV follow the LXX in reading אוֹ (’ o , “or”) as אוֹר (’ or , “light”) and translate it “The light has become dark” or “Your light has become dark.” A. B. Davidson suggests the reading “Or seest thou not the darkness.” This would mean Job does not understand the true meaning of the darkness and the calamities.


text: The word שִׁפְעַת ( shif ’ at ) means “multitude of.” It is used of men, camels, horses, and here of waters in the heavens.


text: This reading preserves the text as it is. The nouns “high” and “heavens” would then be taken as adverbial accusatives of place (see GKC 373-74 §118. g ).


text: The parallel passage in Isa 40:26-27 , as well as the context here, shows that the imperative is to be retained here. The LXX has “he sees.”


text: Heb “head of the stars.”


text: Heb “and he does not see.” The implied object is “us.”


text: The “old path” here is the way of defiance to God. The text in these two verses is no doubt making reference to the flood in Genesis, one of the perennial examples of divine judgment.


text: The word “men” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied to clarify the relative pronoun “who.”


text: The verb קָמַט ( qamat ) basically means “to seize; to tie together to make a bundle.” So the Pual will mean “to be bundled away; to be carried off.”


text: The clause has “and [it was] not the time.” It may be used adverbially here.


text: The word is נָהַר ( nahar , “river” or “current”); it is taken here in its broadest sense of the waters on the earth that formed the current of the flood ( Gen 7:6, 10 ).


text: The verb יָצַק ( yatsaq ) means “to pour out; to shed; to spill; to flow.” The Pual means “to be poured out” (as in Lev 21:10 and Ps 45:3 ).


text: This word is then to be taken as an adverbial accusative of place. Another way to look at this verse is what A. B. Davidson ( Job , 165) proposes “whose foundation was poured away and became a flood.” This would mean that that on which they stood sank away.


text: The form in the text is “to them.” The LXX and the Syriac versions have “to us.”


text: The pronoun is added for this emphasis; it has “but he” before the verb.


text: See Job 10:3 .


label: NET textual note

text: The LXX has “from him,” and this is followed by several commentators. But the MT is to be retained, for Eliphaz is recalling the words of Job. Verses 17 and 18 are deleted by a number of commentators as a gloss because they have many similarities to 21:14-16 . But Eliphaz is recalling what Job said, in order to say that the prosperity to which Job alluded was only the prelude to a disaster he denied (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 156).


text: The line is talking about the rejoicing of the righteous when judgment falls on the wicked. An object (“destruction”) has to be supplied here to clarify this (see Pss 52:6 [8]; 69:32 [33]; 107:42 ).


text: The word translated “our enemies” is found only here. The word means “hostility,” but used here as a collective for those who are hostile – “enemies.” Some commentators follow the LXX and read “possessions,” explaining its meaning and derivation in different ways. Gordis simply takes the word in the text and affirms that this is the meaning. On the other hand, to get this, E. Dhorme ( Job , 336) repoints קִימָנוּ ( qimanu ) of the MT to יְקוּמַם ( yÿqumam ), arguing that יְקוּם ( yÿqum ) means “what exists [or has substance]” (although that is used of animals). He translates: “have not their possessions been destroyed.”


text: The verb סָכַן ( sakhan ) meant “to be useful; to be profitable” in v. 2 . Now, in the Hiphil it means “to be accustomed to” or “to have experience with.” Joined by the preposition “with” it means “to be reconciled with him.” W. B. Bishai cites Arabic and Ugaritic words to support a meaning “acquiesce” (“Notes on hskn in Job 22:21 ,” JNES 20 [1961]: 258-59).


text: Heb “him”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: The two imperatives in this verse imply a relationship of succession and not consequence.


text: The Hebrew word here is תּוֹרָה ( torah ), its only occurrence in the book of Job.


text: M. Dahood has “write his words” (“Metaphor in Job 22:22 ,” Bib 47 [1966]: 108-9).


text: The MT has “you will be built up” ( תִּבָּנֶה , tibbaneh ). But the LXX has “humble yourself” (reading תְּעַנֶּה [ tÿ ’ anneh ] apparently). Many commentators read this; Dahood has “you will be healed.”


text: The form is the imperative. Eliphaz is telling Job to get rid of his gold as evidence of his repentance. Many commentators think that this is too improbable for Eliphaz to have said, and that Job has lost everything anyway, and so they make proposals for the text. Most would follow Theodotion and the Syriac to read וְשָׁתָּ ( vÿshatta , “and you will esteem….”). This would mean that he is promising Job restoration of his wealth. tn Heb “place.”


text: The word for “gold” is the rare בֶּצֶר ( betser ), which may be derived from a cognate of Arabic basara , “to see; to examine.” If this is the case, the word here would refer to refined gold. The word also forms a fine wordplay with בְצוּר ( bÿtsur , “in the rock”).


text: The Hebrew text simply has “Ophir,” a metonymy for the gold that comes from there.


text: The form for “gold” here is plural, which could be a plural of extension. The LXX and Latin versions have “The Almighty will be your helper against your enemies.”


text: E. Dhorme ( Job , 339) connects this word with an Arabic root meaning “to be elevated, steep.” From that he gets “heaps of silver.”


text: This is the same verb as in Ps 37:4 . G. R. Driver suggests the word comes from another root that means “abandon oneself to, depend on” (“Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 84).


text: The words “to him” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.


text: The word is גָּזַר ( gazar , “to cut”), in the sense of deciding a matter.


text: There is no expressed subject here, and so the verb is taken as a passive voice again.


text: The word גֵּוָה ( gevah ) means “loftiness; pride.” Here it simply says “up,” or “pride.” The rest is paraphrased. Of the many suggestions, the following provide a sampling: “It is because of pride” (ESV), “he abases pride” (H. H. Rowley); “[he abases] the lofty and the proud” (Beer); “[he abases] the word of pride” [Duhm]; “[he abases] the haughtiness of pride” [Fohrer and others]; “[he abases] the one who speaks proudly” [Weiser]; “[he abases] the one who boasts in pride” [Kissane]; and “God [abases] pride” [Budde, Gray].


text: Or “humble”; Heb “the lowly of eyes.”


text: The Hebrew has אִי־נָקִי (’ i naqi ), which could be taken as “island of the innocent” (so Ibn-Ezra), or “him that is not innocent” (so Rashi). But some have changed אִי (’ i ) to אִישׁ (’ ish , “the innocent man”). Others differ: A. Guillaume links אִי (’ i ) to Arabic ‘ ayya “whosoever,” and so leaves the text alone. M. Dahood secures the same idea from Ugaritic, but reads it אֵי (’ e ).


text: The MT has “he will escape [or be delivered].” Theodotion has the second person, “you will be delivered.”