Job 13:15

New English Translation

¹⁵Even if he slays me, I will hope in him;^[a]
I will surely^[b] defend^[c] my ways to his face.

Job 13:15 tn There is a textual difficulty here that factors into the interpretation of the verse. The Kethib is לֹא (loʾ, “not”), but the Qere is לוֹ (lo, “to him”). The RSV takes the former: “Behold, he will slay me, I have no hope.” The NIV takes it as “though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.” Job is looking ahead to death, which is not an evil thing to him. The point of the verse is that he is willing to challenge God at the risk of his life; and if God slays him, he is still confident that he will be vindicated—as he says later in this chapter. Other suggestions are not compelling. E. Dhorme (Job, 187) makes a slight change of אֲיַחֵל (ʾayakhel, “I will hope”) to אַחִיל (ʾakhil, “I will [not] tremble”). A. B. Davidson (Job, 98) retains the MT, but interprets the verb more in line with its use in the book: “I will not wait” (cf. NLT).
Job 13:15 tn On אַךְ (ʾakh, “surely”) see GKC 483 §153 on intensive clauses.
Job 13:15 tn The verb once again is יָכָה (yakhah, in the Hiphil, “argue a case, plead, defend, contest”). But because the word usually means “accuse” rather than “defend,” I. L. Seeligmann proposed changing “my ways” to “his ways” (“Zur Terminologie für das Gerichtsverfahren im Wortschatz des biblischen Hebräisch,” VTSup 16 [1967]: 251-78). But the word can be interpreted appropriately in the context without emendation.

Job 13:16

New English Translation

¹⁶Moreover, this will become my deliverance,
for no godless person would come before him.^[a]

Job 13:16 sn The fact that Job will dare to come before God and make his case is evidence—to Job at least—that he is innocent.

¹⁸See now,^[a] I have prepared^[b] my^[c] case;^[d]
I know that I am right.^[e]

Job 13:18 tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) functions almost as an imperative here, calling attention to what follows: “look” (archaic: behold).
Job 13:18 tn The verb עָרַךְ (ʿarakh) means “to set in order, set in array [as a battle], prepare” in the sense here of arrange and organize a lawsuit.
Job 13:18 tn The pronoun is added because this is what the verse means.
Job 13:18 tn The word מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) usually means “judgment; decision.” Here it means “lawsuit” (and so a metonymy of effect gave rise to this usage; see Num 27:5; 2 Sam 15:4).
Job 13:18 tn The pronoun is emphatic before the verb: “I know that it is I who am right.” The verb means “to be right; to be righteous.” Some have translated it “vindicated,” looking at the outcome of the suit.