Job 14:8-9

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Job 14:8 tn The Hiphil of זָקַן (zaqan, “to be old”) is here an internal causative, “to grow old.”
2. Job 14:8 tn The Hiphil is here classified as an inchoative Hiphil (see GKC 145 §53.e), for the tree only begins to die. In other words, it appears to be dead, but actually is not completely dead.
3. Job 14:8 tn The LXX translates “dust” [soil] with “rock,” probably in light of the earlier illustration of the tree growing in the rocks.sn Job is thinking here of a tree that dies or decays because of a drought rather than being uprooted, because the next verse will tell how it can revive with water.
4. Job 14:9 tn The personification adds to the comparison with people—the tree is credited with the sense of smell to detect the water.
5. Job 14:9 tn The sense of “flourish” for this verb is found in Ps 92:12, 13 [13, 14 HT], and Prov 14:11. It makes an appropriate parallel with “bring forth boughs” in the second half.
6. Job 14:9 tn Heb “and will make.”