Chronological

Footnotes

1. Job 35:1 sn This short speech falls into two sections: Elihu refutes Job’s claim that goodness avails nothing (35:2-8), asserting that when the cry of the afflicted goes unanswered they have not learned their lesson (35:9-16).
2. Job 35:2 tn The line could be read as “do you reckon this for justice? Here “to be” is understood.
3. Job 35:2 tn The word “when” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.
4. Job 35:2 tn The brief line could be interpreted in a number of ways. The MT simply has “my right from God.” It could be “I am right before God,” “I am more just/right than God” (identifying the preposition as a comparative min (מִן); cf. J. E. Hartley, Job [NICOT], 463), “I will be right before God,” or “My just cause against God.”
5. Job 35:3 tn The referent of “you” is usually understood to be God.
6. Job 35:3 tn The Hebrew text merely says, “What do I gain from my sin?” But Job has claimed that he has not sinned, and so this has to be elliptical: “more than if I had sinned” (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 224). It could also be, “What do I gain without sin?”
7. Job 35:4 tn The emphatic pronoun calls attention to Elihu who will answer these questions.
8. Job 35:4 tn The Hebrew text adds, “with words,” but since this is obvious, for stylistic reasons it has not been included in the translation.
9. Job 35:5 tn The preposition is taken here as a comparative min (מִן). The line could also read “that are high above you.” This idea has appeared in the speech of Eliphaz (22:12), Zophar (11:7-8), and even Job (9:8-11).
10. Job 35:6 tn Heb “him” (also in v. 7); the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11. Job 35:6 tn See Job 7:20.
12. Job 35:8 tn The phrase “affects only” is supplied in the translation of this nominal sentence.sn According to Strahan, “Elihu exalts God’s greatness at the cost of His grace, His transcendence at the expense of His immanence. He sets up a material instead of a spiritual stand of profit and loss. He does not realize that God does gain what He desires most by the goodness of men, and loses what He most loves by their evil.”
13. Job 35:8 tn Heb “and to [or for] a son of man, your righteousness.”
14. Job 35:9 tn The word “people” is supplied, because the sentence only has the masculine plural verb.
15. Job 35:9 tn The final noun is an abstract plural, “oppression.” There is no reason to change it to “oppressors” to fit the early versions. The expression is literally “multitude of oppression.”
16. Job 35:9 tn Heb “the arm,” a metaphor for strength or power.
17. Job 35:9 tn Or “of the many” (see HALOT 1172 s.v. I רַב 6.a).
18. Job 35:10 tn There have been several attempts to emend the line, none of which are particularly helpful or interesting. H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 225) says, “It is a pity to rob Elihu of a poetic line when he creates one.”
19. Job 35:11 tn The form in the text, the Piel participle from אָלַף (ʾalaf, “teach”) is written in a contracted form; the full form is מְאַלְּפֵנוּ (m^eʾall^efenu).
20. Job 35:11 tn Some would render this “teaches us by the beasts.” But Elihu is stressing the unique privilege humans have.
21. Job 35:12 tn The adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) connects this verse to v. 11. “There” can be locative or temporal—and here it is temporal (= “then”).
22. Job 35:13 tn Heb “surely—vanity, he does not hear.” The cry is an empty cry, not a prayer to God. Dhorme translates it, “It is a pure waste of words.”
23. Job 35:14 sn The point is that if God does not listen to those who do not turn to him, how much less likely is he to turn to one who complains against him.
24. Job 35:15 tn The expression “and now” introduces a new complaint of Elihu—in addition to the preceding. Here the verb of v. 14, “you say,” is understood after the temporal ki (כִּי).
25. Job 35:15 tn The verb פָּקַד (paqad) means “to visit” (also “to appoint; to muster; to number”). When God visits, it means that he intervenes in one’s life for blessing or cursing (punishing, destroying).
26. Job 35:15 tn The word פַּשׁ (pash) is a hapax legomenon. K&D 12:275 derived it from an Arabic word meaning “belch,” leading to the idea of “overflow.” BDB 832 s.v. defines it as “folly.” Several define it as “transgression” on the basis of the versions (Theodotion, Symmachus, Vulgate). The RSV took it as “greatly heed,” but that is not exactly “greatly know,” when the text beyond that requires “not know at all.” The NIV has “he does not take the least notice of wickedness.”
27. Job 35:16 tn The word הֶבֶל (hevel) means “vanity; futility; to no purpose.”
28. Job 36:1 sn This very lengthy speech can be broken down into the following sections: the discipline of suffering (36:2-25), the work and wisdom of God (36:26-37:24).
29. Job 36:1 tn The use of וַיֹּסֶף (vayyosef) is with the hendiadys construction: “and he added and said,” meaning “and he said again, further.”
30. Job 36:2 tn The verb כָּתַּר (kattar) is the Piel imperative; in Hebrew the word means “to surround” and is related to the noun for crown. But in Syriac it means “to wait.” This section of the book of Job will have a few Aramaic words.
31. Job 36:2 tn The Hebrew text simply has “for yet for God words.”
32. Job 36:3 tn Heb “I will carry my knowledge to-from afar.” The expression means that he will give a wide range to knowledge, that he will speak comprehensively.
33. Job 36:3 tn This line gives the essence of all of Elihu’s speech—to give or ascribe righteousness to God against the charges of Job. Dhorme translates this “I will justify my Maker,” and that is workable if it carries the meaning of “declaring to be right.”
34. Job 36:4 tn The word is תְּמִים (t^emim), often translated “perfect.” It is the same word used of Job in 2:3. Elihu is either a complete stranger to modesty or is confident regarding the knowledge that he believes God has revealed to him for this situation. See the note on the heading before 32:1.
35. Job 36:5 tn The object “people” is not in the Hebrew text but is implied.
36. Job 36:5 tn The text simply repeats “mighty.”
37. Job 36:5 tn The last two words are simply כֹּחַ לֵב (koakh lev, “strong in heart”), meaning something like “strong; firm in his decisions.”
38. Job 36:5 tc There are several problems in this verse: the repetition of “mighty,” the lack of an object for “despise,” and the meaning of “strength of heart.” Many commentators reduce the verse to a single line, reading something like “Lo, God does not reject the pure in heart” (Kissane). Dhorme and Pope follow Nichols with: “Lo, God is mighty in strength, and rejects not the pure in heart.” This reading moved “mighty” to the first line and took the second to be בַּר (bar, “pure”).
39. Job 36:6 tn Or “he does not keep the wicked alive.”
40. Job 36:7 tc Many commentators accept the change of “his eyes” to “his right” (reading דִּינוֹ [dino] for עֵינָיו [ʿenayv]). There is no compelling reason for the change; it makes the line commonplace.
41. Job 36:7 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the righteous) has been repeated from the first part of the verse for clarity.
42. Job 36:7 tn Heb “he seats them forever and exalts them.” The last verb can be understood as expressing a logical consequence of the preceding action (cf. GKC 328 §111.l = “he seats them forever so that he exalts them”). Or the two verbs can be taken as an adverbial hendiadys whereby the first modifies the second adverbially: “he exalts them by seating them forever” or “when he seats them forever” (cf. GKC 326 §111.d). Some interpret this verse to say that God seats kings on the throne, making a change in subject in the middle of the verse. But it makes better sense to see the righteous as the subject matter throughout—they are not only protected, but are exalted.
43. Job 36:8 tn Dhorme thinks that the verse is still talking about kings, who may be in captivity. But this diverts attention from Elihu’s emphasis on the righteous.
44. Job 36:9 tn The verb נָגַד (nagad) means “to declare; to tell.” Here it is clear that God is making known the sins that caused the enslavement or captivity, so “reveal” makes a good interpretive translation.
45. Job 36:9 tn Heb “their work.”
46. Job 36:10 tn The idiom once again is “he uncovers their ear.”
47. Job 36:10 tn The revelation is in the preceding verse, and so a pronoun must be added to make the reference clear.
48. Job 36:10 tn The verb שׁוּב (shuv, “to turn; to return”) is one of the two major words in the OT for “repent”—to return from evil. Here the imperfect should be obligatory—they must do it.
49. Job 36:11 tc Some commentators delete this last line for metrical considerations. But there is no textual evidence for the deletion; it is simply the attempt by some to make the meter rigid.
50. Job 36:12 tn This is a similar expression to the one in Job 33:18, where the suggestion was made by many that it means crossing over the canal or river of death. Some retain the earlier interpretation of “perish by the sword” (cf. NIV).
51. Job 36:13 tn The expression “godless [or hypocrite] in heart” is an intensification of the description. It conveys that they are intentionally godless. See Matt 23:28.
52. Job 36:13 tn Heb “they put anger.” This is usually interpreted to mean they lay up anger, or put anger in their hearts.
53. Job 36:14 tn The text expresses this with “their soul dies.”
54. Job 36:14 tn Heb “among the male prostitutes” who were at the temple—the “holy ones,” with “holy” being used in that sense of “separated to that form of temple service.” So uncleanness and shame are some of the connotations of the reference. Some modern translations give the general sense only: “their life ends in shame” (NRSV); “and perish among the reprobate” (NAB); “die…after wasting their lives in immoral living” (NLT).
55. Job 36:15 tn The preposition ב (bet) in these two lines is not location but instrument, not “in” but “by means of.” The affliction and the oppression serve as a warning for sin, and therefore a means of salvation.
56. Job 36:15 tn Heb “his.”
57. Job 36:15 tn Heb “he uncovers their ear.”
58. Job 36:16 tn The Hebrew verb means “to entice; to lure; to allure; to seduce,” but these have negative connotations. The English “to persuade; to draw” might work better. The verb is the Hiphil perfect of סוּת (sut). But the nuance of the verb is difficult. It can be equivalent to an English present expressing what God is doing (Peake). But the subject is contested as well. Since the verb usually has an evil connotation, there have been attempts to make the “plaza” the subject—“the wide place has led you astray” (Ewald).
59. Job 36:16 tn Heb “a broad place where there is no cramping beneath [or under] it.”
60. Job 36:16 tn The word נַחַת (nakhat) could be translated “set” if it is connected with the verb נוּחַ (nuakh, “to rest,” but then “to lay to rest, to set”). Kissane translates it “comfort.” Dhorme thinks it could come from נוּחַ (nuakh, “to rest”) or נָחַת (nakhat, “to descend”). But his conclusion is that it is a dittography after “under it” (p. 545).
61. Job 36:16 tn Heb “filled with fat.”
62. Job 36:18 tn The first expression is idiomatic: the text says, “because wrath lest it entice you”—thus, beware.
63. Job 36:18 tn The word is כֹּפֶר (kofer), often translated “ransom,” but frequently in the sense of a bribe.
64. Job 36:19 tn The form in the MT is “your cry (for help).” See J. E. Hartley (Job [NICOT], 472-73) and E. Dhorme (Job, 547-48) on the difficulties.
65. Job 36:19 tn This part has only two words לֹא בְצָר (loʾ b^etsar, “not in distress”). The negated phrase serves to explain the first colon.
66. Job 36:19 tc For the many suggestions and the reasoning here, see the commentaries.
67. Job 36:20 tn The meaning of this line is difficult. There are numerous suggestions for emending the text. Kissane takes the first verb in the sense of “oppress,” and for “the night” he has “belonging to you,” meaning “your people.” This reads: “Oppress not them that belong not to you, that your kinsmen may mount up in their place.”
68. Job 36:21 tn Normally “tested” would be the translation for the Niphal of בָּחַר (bakhar). Although the Qal is employed here, the context favors “tested” rather than “chose.”
69. Job 36:22 tn The word מוֹרֶה (moreh) is the Hiphil participle from יָרַה (yarah). It is related to the noun תּוֹרָה (torah, “what is taught” i.e., the law).
70. Job 36:24 tn The expression is “that you extol,” serving as an object of the verb.
71. Job 36:26 tn The last part has the verbal construction, “and we do not know.” This clause is to be used adverbially: “beyond our understanding.”
72. Job 36:27 tn The verb means “to filter; to refine,” and so a plural subject with the drops of water as the subject will not work. So many read the singular, “he distills.”
73. Job 36:27 tn This word עֵד (ʿed) occurs also in Gen 2:6. The suggestion has been that instead of a mist it represents an underground watercourse that wells up to water the ground.
74. Job 36:29 tn Heb “his booth.”
75. Job 36:30 tn The word actually means “to spread,” but with lightning as the object, “to scatter” appears to fit the context better.
76. Job 36:30 tn The word is “light,” but taken to mean “lightning.” Theodotion had “mist” here, and so most commentators follow that because it is more appropriate to the verb and the context.
77. Job 36:30 tn Heb “roots.”
78. Job 36:31 tn The verb is יָדִין (yadin, “he judges”). Houbigant proposed יָזוּן (yazun, “he nourishes”). This has found wide acceptance among commentators (cf. NAB). G. R. Driver retained the MT but gave a meaning “enriches” to the verb (“Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 88ff.).
79. Job 36:32 tn R. Gordis (Job, 422) prefers to link this word with the later Hebrew word for “arch,” not “hands.”
80. Job 36:32 tn Because the image might mean that God grabs the lightning and hurls it like a javelin (cf. NLT), some commentators want to change “covers” to other verbs. Dhorme has “lifts” (נִשָּׂא [nissaʾ] for כִּסָּה [kissah]). This fit the idea of God directing the lightning bolts.
81. Job 36:33 tn Peake knew of over thirty interpretations for this verse. The MT literally says, “He declares his purpose [or his shout] concerning it; cattle also concerning what rises.” Dhorme has it: “The flock which sniffs the coming storm has warned the shepherd.” Kissane: “The thunder declares concerning him, as he excites wrath against iniquity.” Gordis translates it: “His thunderclap proclaims his presence, and the storm his mighty wrath.” Many more could be added to the list.
82. Job 36:33 tn The meaning of this verse is disputed; it may refer to cattle sensing the approaching storm.
83. Job 37:2 tn The imperative is followed by the infinitive absolute from the same root to express the intensity of the verb.
84. Job 37:2 tn The word is the usual word for “to meditate; to murmur; to groan”; here it refers to the low building of the thunder as it rumbles in the sky. The thunder is the voice of God (see Ps 29).
85. Job 37:3 tn Heb “wings,” and then figuratively for the extremities of garments, of land, etc.
86. Job 37:4 tn The verb simply has the pronominal suffix, “them.” The idea must be that when God brings in all the thunderings he does not hold back his lightning bolts either.
87. Job 37:5 tn The form is the Niphal participle, “wonders,” from the verb פָּלָא (palaʾ, “to be wonderful; to be extraordinary”). Some commentators suppress the repeated verb “thunders,” and supply other verbs like “shows” or “works,” enabling them to make “wonders” the object of the verb rather than leaving it in an adverbial role. But as H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 236) notes, no change is needed, for one is not surprised to find repetition in Elihu’s words.
88. Job 37:5 tn Heb “and we do not know.”
89. Job 37:6 tn The verb actually means “be” (found here in the Aramaic form). The verb “to be” can mean “to happen, to fall, to come about.”
90. Job 37:6 tn Heb “and [to the] shower of rain and shower of rains, be strong.” Many think the repetition grew up by variant readings; several Hebrew mss delete the second pair, and so many editors do. But the repetition may have served to stress the idea that the rains were heavy.
91. Job 37:6 tn Heb “Be strong.”
92. Job 37:7 tn Heb “by the hand of every man he seals.” This line is intended to mean that with the heavy rains God suspends all agricultural activity.
93. Job 37:7 tc This reading involves a change in the text, for in MT “men” is in the construct. It would be translated “all men whom he made” (i.e., “all men of his making”). This is the translation followed by the NIV and NRSV. Olshausen suggested that the word should have been אֲנָשִׁים (ʾanashim) with the final ם (mem) being lost to haplography.
94. Job 37:7 tn D. W. Thomas suggested a meaning of “rest” for the verb, based on Arabic. He then reads אֱנוֹשׁ (ʾenosh) for man, and supplies a ם (mem) to “his work” to get “that every man might rest from his work [in the fields].”
95. Job 37:9 tn The “driving winds” reflects the Hebrew “from the scatterers.” This refers to the north winds that bring the cold air and the ice and snow and hard rains.
96. Job 37:11 tn The word “moisture” is drawn from רִי (ri) as a contraction for רְוִי (r^evi). Others emended the text to get “hail” (NAB) or “lightning,” or even “the Creator.” For these, see the various commentaries. There is no reason to change the reading of the MT when it makes perfectly good sense.
97. Job 37:12 tn The words “the clouds” are supplied from v. 11; the sentence itself actually starts: “and it goes round,” referring to the cloud.
98. Job 37:12 tn Heb “that it may do.”
99. Job 37:13 tn Heb “rod,” i.e., a rod used for punishment.
100. Job 37:13 tn This is interpretive; Heb “he makes find it.” The lightning could be what is intended here, for it finds its mark. But R. Gordis (Job, 429) suggests man is the subject—let him find what it is for, i.e., the fate appropriate for him.
101. Job 37:15 tn The verb is בְּשׂוּם (b^esum, from שִׂים [sim, “set”]), so the idea is how God lays [or sets] [a command] for them. The suffix is proleptic, to be clarified in the second colon.
102. Job 37:15 tn Dhorme reads this “and how his stormcloud makes lightning to flash forth?”
103. Job 37:16 tn As indicated by HALOT 618 s.v. מִפְלָשׂ, the concept of “balancing” probably refers to “floating” or “suspension” (cf. NIV’s “how the clouds hang poised” and J. E. Hartley, Job [NICOT], 481-82, n. 2).
104. Job 37:18 tn The verb means “to beat out; to flatten,” and the analogy in the next line will use molten metal. From this verb is derived the word for the “firmament” in Gen 1:6-8, that canopy-like pressure area separating water above and water below.
105. Job 37:19 tn The imperfect verb here carries the obligatory nuance, “what we should say?”
106. Job 37:19 tn The verb means “to arrange; to set in order.” From the context the idea of a legal case is included.
107. Job 37:20 tn This imperfect works well as a desiderative imperfect.
108. Job 37:21 tn The light here must refer to the sun in the skies that had been veiled by the storm. Then, when the winds blew the clouds away, it could not be looked at because it was so dazzling. Elihu’s analogy will be that God is the same—in his glory one cannot look at him or challenge him.
109. Job 37:21 tn The verb has an indefinite subject, and so should be a passive here.
110. Job 37:21 tn Heb “and cleaned them.” The referent is the clouds (v. 18), which has been supplied in the translation for clarity. There is another way of reading this verse: the word translated “bright” means “dark; obscured” in Syriac. In this interpretation the first line would mean that they could not see the sun, because it was darkened by the clouds, but then the wind came and blew the clouds away. Dhorme, Gray, and several others take it this way, as does the NAB.
111. Job 37:22 tn The MT has “out of the north comes gold.” Left in that sense the line seems irrelevant. The translation “golden splendor” (with RV, RSV, NRSV, NIV) depends upon the context of theophany. Others suggest “golden rays” (Dhorme), the aurora borealis (Graetz, Gray), or some mythological allusion (Pope), such as Baal’s palace. Golden rays or splendor is what is intended, although the reference is not to a natural phenomenon—it is something that would suggest the glory of God.
112. Job 37:23 tn The name “Almighty” is here a casus pendens, isolating the name at the front of the sentence and resuming it with a pronoun.
113. Job 37:23 tn The MT places the major disjunctive accent (the atnach) under “power,” indicating that “and justice” starts the second half of the verse as a disjunctive clause (with ESV, NASB, NIV, NLT). Ignoring the Masoretic accent, NRSV has “he is great in power and justice.”
114. Job 37:24 sn The phrase “wise of heart” was used in Job 9:4 in a negative sense.