Job 16:16-18

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Job 16:16 tn An intensive form, a Qetaltal form of the root חָמַר (khamar, “red”) is used here. This word has as probable derivatives חֹמֶר (khomer, “[red] clay”) and חֲמוֹר (khamor, “[red] ass”) and the like. Because of the weeping, his whole complexion has been reddened (the LXX reads “my belly”).
2. Job 16:16 sn A. B. Davidson (Job, 122) notes that spontaneous and repeated weeping is one of the symptoms of elephantiasis.
3. Job 16:16 sn See Job 3:5. Just as joy brings light and life to the eyes, sorrow and suffering bring darkness. The “eyelids” here would be synecdoche, reflecting the whole facial expression as sad and sullen.
4. Job 16:17 tn For the use of the preposition עַל (ʿal) to introduce concessive clauses, see GKC 499 §160.c.
5. Job 16:18 sn Job knows that he will die, and that his death, signified here by blood on the ground, will cry out for vindication.
6. Job 16:18 tn The word is simply “a place,” but in the context it surely means a hidden place, a secret place that would never be discovered (see 18:21).