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Job 15:4-6
New English Translation
Job 15:4-6
New English Translation
4 But you even break off[a] piety,[b]
and hinder[c] meditation[d] before God.
5 Your sin inspires[e] your mouth;
you choose the language[f] of the crafty.[g]
6 Your own mouth condemns[h] you, not I;
your own lips testify against[i] you.
Footnotes
- Job 15:4 tn The word פָּרַר (parar) in the Hiphil means “to annul; to frustrate; to destroy; to break,” and this fits the line quite well. The NEB reflects G. R. Driver’s suggestion of an Arabic cognate meaning “to expel; to banish” (“Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 77).
- Job 15:4 tn Heb “fear, reverence.”
- Job 15:4 tn The word גָּרַע (garaʿ) means “to diminish,” regard as insignificant, occasionally with the sense of “pull down” (Deut 4:2; 13:1). It is here that Eliphaz is portraying Job as a menace to the religion of society because he dissuades people from seeking God.
- Job 15:4 tn The word שִׂיחָה (sikhah) is “complaint; cry; meditation.” Job would be influencing people to challenge God and not to meditate before or pray to him.
- Job 15:5 tn The verb אַלֵּף (ʾallef) has the meaning of “to teach; to instruct,” but it is unlikely that the idea of revealing is intended. If the verb is understood metonymically, then “to inspire; to prompt” will be sufficient. Dahood and others find another root, and render the verb “to increase,” reversing subject and object: “your mouth increases your iniquity.”
- Job 15:5 tn Heb “tongue.”
- Job 15:5 tn The word means “shrewd; crafty; cunning” (see Gen 3:1). Job uses clever speech that is misleading and destructive.
- Job 15:6 tn The Hiphil of this root means “declare wicked, guilty” (a declarative Hiphil), and so “condemns.”
- Job 15:6 tn The verb עָנָה (ʿanah) with the ל (lamed) preposition following it means “to testify against.” For Eliphaz, it is enough to listen to Job to condemn him.
New English Translation (NET)
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