Job 34:27-29

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Job 34:27 tn The verb הִשְׂכִּילוּ (hiskilu) means “to be prudent; to be wise.” From this is derived the idea of “be wise in understanding God’s will,” and “be successful because of prudence”—i.e., successful with God.
2. Job 34:28 tn The verse begins with the infinitive construct of בּוֹא (boʾ, “go”), showing the result of their impious actions.
3. Job 34:28 tn The verb here is an imperfect; the clause is circumstantial to the preceding clause, showing either the result, or the concomitant action.
4. Job 34:29 tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5. Job 34:29 tn The verb in this position is somewhat difficult, although it does make good sense in the sentence—it is just not what the parallelism would suggest. So several emendations have been put forward, for which see the commentaries.
6. Job 34:29 tn The line simply reads “and over a nation and over a man together.” But it must be the qualification for the points being made in the previous lines, namely, that even if God hides himself so no one can see, yet he is still watching over them all (see H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 222).
7. Job 34:29 tn The word translated “alike” (Heb “together”) has bothered some interpreters. In the reading taken here it is acceptable. But others have emended it to gain a verb, such as “he visits” (Beer), “he watches over” (Duhm), “he is compassionate” (Kissane), etc. But it is sufficient to say “he is over.”