Job 41-42

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Job 41:1 sn Beginning with 41:1, the verse numbers through 41:9 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 41:1 ET = 40:25 HT, 41:2 ET = 40:26 HT, etc., through 41:34 ET = 41:26 HT. The Hebrew verse numbers in the remainder of the chapter differ from the verse numbers in the English Bible. Beginning with 42:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.
2. Job 41:1 tn The verb מָשַׁךְ (mashakh) means “to extract from the water; to fish.” The question here includes the use of a hook to fish the creature out of the water so that its jaws can be tied safely.
3. Job 41:1 tn The verb שָׁקַע (shaqaʿ) means “to cause to sink,” if it is connected with the word in Amos 8:8 and 9:5. But it may have the sense of “to tie; to bind.” If the rope were put around the tongue and jaw, binding tightly would be the sense.
4. Job 41:3 tn The line asks if the animal, when caught and tied and under control, would keep on begging for mercy. Absolutely not. It is not in the nature of the beast. The construction uses יַרְבֶּה (yarbeh, “[will] he multiply” [= “make numerous”]), with the object, “supplications” i.e., prayers for mercy.
5. Job 41:3 tn The rhetorical question again affirms the opposite. The poem is portraying the creature as powerful and insensitive.
6. Job 41:4 tn Heb “will he cut a covenant.”
7. Job 41:4 tn The imperfect verb serves to express what the covenant pact would cover, namely, “that you take.”
8. Job 41:5 tn The Hebrew verb is שָׂחַק (sakhaq, “to sport; to trifle; to play,” Ps 104:26).
9. Job 41:5 tn The idea may include putting Leviathan on a leash. D. W. Thomas suggested on the basis of an Arabic cognate that it could be rendered “tie him with a string like a young sparrow” (“Job XL 29b: Text and Translation,” VT 14 [1964]: 114-16).
10. Job 41:6 tn The word חָבַּר (khabbar) is a hapax legomenon, but the meaning is “to associate” since it is etymologically related to the verb “to join together.” The idea is that fishermen usually work in companies or groups, and then divide up the catch when they come ashore—which involves bargaining.
11. Job 41:6 tn The word כָּרַה (karah) means “to sell.” With the preposition עַל (ʿal, “upon”) it has the sense “to bargain over something.”
12. Job 41:6 tn The verb means “to cut up; to divide up” in the sense of selling the dead body (see Exod 21:35). This will be between them and the merchants (כְּנַעֲנִים, k^enaʿanim).
13. Job 41:8 tn The verse uses two imperatives which can be interpreted in sequence: do this, and then this will happen.
14. Job 41:8 tc The LXX reads “You will lay a hand on it, [though] remembering the battle that [be]comes in its body, don’t let it happen again.” The LXX appear to have read the first verb as an imperfect, implying the addition of a yod, rather than an imperative. If that is correct, it could be read as another question in the series. Also the LXX reading “a hand” rather than “your hand” The LXX could imply a different verb division with the כ (kaf) of the pronominal suffix going instead with the following word. This doesn’t work in the MT, which reads an imperative, but the LXX assumes different vowels for the second verb, treating it as a participle. If these cues are correct, the verse may have originally read, “Will you lay a hand on it? Like one remembering the fight, do not do it again.”
15. Job 41:9 sn Job 41:9 in the English Bible is 41:1 in the Hebrew text (BHS). From here to the end of the chapter the Hebrew verse numbers differ from those in the English Bible, with 41:10 ET = 41:2 HT, 41:11 ET = 41:3 HT, etc. See also the note on 41:1.
16. Job 41:9 tn The line is difficult. “His hope [= expectation]” must refer to any assailant who hopes or expects to capture the creature. Because there is no antecedent, Dhorme and others transpose it with the next verse. The point is that the man who thought he was sufficient to confront Leviathan soon finds his hope—his expectation—false (a derivative from the verb כָּזַב [kazav, “lie”] is used for a mirage).
17. Job 41:9 tn There is an interrogative particle in this line, which most commentators ignore. But others freely emend the MT. Gunkel, following the mythological approach, has “his appearance casts down even a god.” Cheyne likewise has: “even divine beings the fear of him brings low” (JQR 9 [1896/97]: 579). Pope has, “Were not the gods cast down at the sight of him?” There is no need to bring in this mythological element.
18. Job 41:10 sn The description is of the animal, not the hunter (or fisherman). Leviathan is so fierce that no one can take him on alone.
19. Job 41:10 tc MT has “before me” and can best be rendered as “Who then is he that can stand before me?” (ESV, NASB, NIV, NLT, NJPS). The following verse (11) favors the MT since both express the lesson to be learned from Leviathan: If a man cannot stand up to Leviathan, how can he stand up to its creator? The translation above has chosen to read the text as “before him” (cf. NRSV, NJB).
20. Job 41:11 tn The verb קָדַם (qadam) means “to come to meet; to come before; to confront” to the face.
21. Job 41:11 sn The verse seems an intrusion (and so E. Dhorme, H. H. Rowley, and many others change the pronouns to make it refer to the animal). But what the text is saying is that it is more dangerous to confront God than to confront this animal.
22. Job 41:11 tn This line also focuses on the sovereign God rather than Leviathan. H. H. Rowley, however, wants to change לִי־חוּא (li huʾ, “it [belongs] to me”) into לֹא הוּא (loʾ huʾ, “there is no one”). So it would say that there is no one under the whole heaven who could challenge Leviathan and live, rather than saying it is more dangerous to challenge God to make him repay.
23. Job 41:12 tn Dhorme changes the noun into a verb, “I will tell,” and the last two words into אֵין עֶרֶךְ (ʾen ʿerekh, “there is no comparison”). The result is “I will tell of his incomparable might.”
24. Job 41:13 tn Heb “the face of his garment,” referring to the outer garment or covering. Some take it to be the front as opposed to the back.
25. Job 41:13 tc The word רֶסֶן (resen) has often been rendered “bridle” (cf. ESV), but that leaves a number of unanswered questions. The LXX reads סִרְיוֹן (siryon), with the transposition of letters, but that means “coat of armor.” If the metathesis stands, there is also support from the cognate Akkadian.
26. Job 41:14 tn Heb “his face.”
27. Job 41:15 tc The MT has גַּאֲוָה (gaʾavah, “his pride”), but the LXX, Aquila, and the Vulgate all read גַּוּוֹ (gavvo, “his back”). Almost all the modern English versions follow the variant reading, speaking about “his [or its] back.”
28. Job 41:15 tn Instead of צָר (tsar, “closely”) the LXX has צֹר (tsor, “stone”) to say that the seal was rock hard.
29. Job 41:16 tn The expression “each one…to the next” is literally “one with one.”
30. Job 41:17 tn Heb “a man with his brother.”
31. Job 41:18 tn Heb “the eyelids,” but it represents the early beams of the dawn as the cover of night lifts.
32. Job 41:19 sn For the animal, the image is that of pent-up breath with water in a hot steam jet coming from its mouth, like a stream of fire in the rays of the sun. The language is hyperbolic, probably to reflect the pagan ideas of the dragon of the deep in a polemical way—they feared it as a fire breathing monster, but in reality it might have been a steamy crocodile.
33. Job 41:20 tn The word “burning” is supplied. The Syriac and Vulgate have “a seething and boiling pot” (reading אֹגֵם [ʾogem] for אַגְמֹן [ʾagmon]). This view is widely accepted.
34. Job 41:22 tn This word, דְּאָבָה (d^eʾavah) is a hapax legomenon. But the verbal root means “to languish; to pine.” A related noun talks of dejection and despair in Deut 28:65. So here “despair” as a translation is preferable to “terror.”
35. Job 41:23 tn Heb “fallings.”
36. Job 41:23 tn The last clause says “it cannot be moved.” But this part will function adverbially in the sentence.
37. Job 41:24 tn The description of his heart being “hard” means that he is cruel and fearless. The word for “hard” is the word encountered before for molten or cast metal.
38. Job 41:25 tc This verse has created all kinds of problems for the commentators. The first part is workable: “when he raises himself up, the mighty [the gods] are terrified.” The mythological approach would render אֵלִים (ʾelim) as “gods.” But the last two words, which could be rendered “at the breaking [crashing, or breakers] they fail,” receive much attention. E. Dhorme (Job, 639) suggests “majesty” for “raising up” and “billows” (גַּלִּים, gallim) for אֵלִים (ʾelim), and gets a better parallelism: “the billows are afraid of his majesty, and the waves draw back.” But H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 263) does not think this is relevant to the context, which is talking about the creature’s defense against attack. The RSV works well for the first part, but the second part need some change; so Rowley adopts “in their dire consternation they are beside themselves.”
39. Job 41:26 tn This is the clearest reading, following A. B. Davidson, Job, 285. The versions took different readings of the construction.
40. Job 41:26 tn The verb קוּם (qum, “stand”) with בְּלִי (b^eli, “not”) has the sense of “does not hold firm,” or “gives way.”
41. Job 41:28 tn Heb “the son of the bow.”
42. Job 41:29 tn The verb is plural, but since there is no expressed subject it is translated as a passive here.
43. Job 41:30 tn Heb “under him.”
44. Job 41:30 tn Here only the word “sharp” is present, but in passages like Isa 41:15 it is joined with “threshing sledge.” Here and in Amos 1:3 and Isa 28:27 the word stands alone, but represents the “sledge.”
45. Job 41:31 sn The idea is either that the sea is stirred up like the foam from beating the ingredients together, or it is the musk-smell that is the point of comparison.
46. Job 41:33 tn Heb “one who was made.”
47. Job 41:34 tn Heb “the sons of pride.” Dhorme repoints the last word to get “all the wild beasts,” but this misses the point of the verse. This animal looks over every proud creature—but he is king of them all in that department.
48. Job 42:3 tn The expression “you asked” is added here to clarify the presence of the line to follow. Many commentators delete it as a gloss from Job 38:2. If it is retained, then Job has to be recalling God’s question before he answers it.
49. Job 42:3 tn The word לָכֵן (lakhen) is simply “but,” as in Job 31:37.
50. Job 42:3 tn Heb “and I do not understand.” The expression serves here in an adverbial capacity. It also could be subordinated as a complement: “I have declared [things that] I do not understand.”
51. Job 42:3 tn The last clause is “and I do not know.” This is also subordinated to become a dependent clause.
52. Job 42:4 tn This phrase, “you said,” is supplied in the translation to introduce the recollection of God’s words.
53. Job 42:5 sn This statement does not imply there was a vision. He is simply saying that this experience of God was real and personal. In the past his knowledge of God was what he had heard—hearsay. This was real.
54. Job 42:6 tn Or “despise what I said.” There is no object on the verb; Job could be despising himself or the things he said (see L. J. Kuyper, “Repentance of Job,” VT 9 [1959]: 91-94).
55. Job 42:7 tn Heb “the Lord.” The title has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
56. Job 42:7 tn Heb “is kindled.”
57. Job 42:7 tn The form נְכוֹנָה (n^ekhonah) is from כּוּן (kun, “to be firm; to be fixed; to be established”). Here it means “the right thing” or “truth.” The Akkadian cognate kīnu means “true, just, honest, firm” (CAD K: 389).
58. Job 42:8 tn The imperatives in this verse are plural, so all three had to do this together.
59. Job 42:8 tn The verb “pray” is the Hitpael from the root פָּלַל (palal). That root has the main idea of arbitration; so in this stem it means “to seek arbitration [for oneself],” or “to pray,” or “to intercede.”
60. Job 42:8 tn Heb “I will lift up his face,” meaning, “I will regard him.”
61. Job 42:8 tn This clause is a result clause, using the negated infinitive construct.
62. Job 42:8 tn The word “folly” can also be taken in the sense of “disgrace.” If the latter is chosen, the word serves as the direct object. If the former, then it is an adverbial accusative.
63. Job 42:8 sn The difference between what they said and what Job said, therefore, has to do with truth. Job was honest, spoke the truth, poured out his complaints, but never blasphemed God. For his words God said he told the truth. He did so with incomplete understanding, and with all the impatience and frustration one might expect. Now the friends, however, did not tell what was right about God. They were not honest; rather, they were self-righteous and condescending. They were saying what they thought should be said, but it was wrong.
64. Job 42:9 tn The expression “had respect for Job” means God answered his prayer.
65. Job 42:10 tn The paragraph begins with the disjunctive vav, “Now as for the Lord, he….”
66. Job 42:10 sn The expression here is interesting: “he returned the captivity of Job,” a clause used elsewhere in the Bible of Israel (see e.g., Ps 126). Here it must mean “the fortunes of Job,” i.e., what he had lost. There is a good deal of literature on this; for example, see R. Borger, “Zu šub šb(ī)t,” ZAW 25 (1954): 315-16; and E. Baumann, ZAW 6 (1929): 17ff.
67. Job 42:10 tn This is a temporal clause, using the infinitive construct with the subject genitive suffix. By this it seems that this act of Job was also something of a prerequisite for restoration—to pray for them.
68. Job 42:10 tn The construction uses the verb “and he added” with the word “repeat” (or “twice”).
69. Job 42:11 tn Heb “ate bread.”
70. Job 42:11 tn The Hebrew word קְשִׂיטָה (q^esitah) is generally understood to refer to a unit of money, but the value is unknown.sn The Hebrew word refers to a piece of silver, yet uncoined. It is the kind used in Gen 33:19 and Josh 24:32. It is what would be expected of a story set in the patriarchal age.
71. Job 42:11 sn This gold ring was worn by women in the nose, or men and women in the ear.
72. Job 42:13 tn The word for “seven” is spelled in an unusual way. From this some have thought it means “twice seven,” or fourteen sons. Several commentators take this view, but it is probably not warranted.
73. Job 42:14 sn The Hebrew name Jemimah means “dove.”
74. Job 42:14 sn The Hebrew name Keziah means “cassia.”
75. Job 42:14 sn The Hebrew name Keren-Happuch means “horn of eye-paint.”