12By his power he stilled the Sea;
by his understanding he struck down Rahab.
13By his wind the heavens were made fair;
his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
14These are indeed but the outskirts of his ways;
and how small a whisper do we hear of him!
But the thunder of his power who can understand?”
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a Or the North
26.6 This designation of Death as Abaddon probably comes from the Hebrew verb for “perishing.”
26.7 In Canaanite mythology Zaphon was a mountain in the north on which the gods (esp. Baal) dwelt, like Mount Olympus in Greek literature.
26.9 The Hebrew has “throne” instead of moon.
26.13 The fleeing serpent occurs in Isa 27.1 with reference to Leviathan.
JOB 27
Job Maintains His Integrity
1Job again took up his discourse and said:
2“As God lives, who has taken away my right,
and the Almighty,b who has made my soul bitter,
3as long as my breath is in me
and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,
4my lips will not speak falsehood,
and my tongue will not utter deceit.
5Far be it from me to say that you are right;
until I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
6I hold fast my righteousness, and will not let it go;
my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.
7“May my enemy be like the wicked,
and may my opponent be like the unrighteous.
8For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts them off,
when God takes away their lives?
9Will God hear their cry
when trouble comes upon them?
10Will they take delight in the Almighty?b
Will they call upon God at all times?
11I will teach you concerning the hand of God;
that which is with the Almightyb I will not conceal.
12All of you have seen it yourselves;
why then have you become altogether vain?
13“This is the portion of the wicked with God,
and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty:a
14If their children are multiplied, it is for the sword;
and their offspring have not enough to eat.
15Those who survive them the pestilence buries,
and their widows make no lamentation.
16Though they heap up silver like dust,
and pile up clothing like clay—
17they may pile it up, but the just will wear it,
and the innocent will divide the silver.
18They build their houses like nests,
like booths made by sentinels of the vineyard.
19They go to bed with wealth, but will do so no more;
they open their eyes, and it is gone.
20Terrors overtake them like a flood;
in the night a whirlwind carries them off.
21The east wind lifts them up and they are gone;
it sweeps them out of their place.
22Itb hurls at them without pity;
they flee from itsc power in headlong flight.
23Itb claps itsc hands at them,
and hisses at them from itsc place.
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a Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
b Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
c Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
d Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
e Or He (that is God)
f Or his
g Or He (that is God)
h Or his
i Or his
27.1 The introductory formula here and in 29.1 differs from the previous ones; the earlier Then Job [Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar] answered gives way to Job again took up his discourse and said. The Hebrew word translated discourse is the usual one for “likeness,” “proverb,” or “analogy,” sometimes translated “parable.”
27.2 As God lives. Curiously, the oath is in the name of the deity who has, in Job’s view, demonstrated a lack of justice. Similarly, Job hopes for justice from God, who does not act justly. Contradictions may result from his dire circumstances. Hence he thinks that God cannot be found, yet that God attacks viciously from all quarters.
27.7–23 The speech, if from Job, must be fully ironic, for he does not trust in divine justice.
27.14–17 Echoes of a curse formula can be heard in these verses.
27.15 The word pestilence is also the name of a Canaanite deity. Job’s reference to widows indicates a society in which polygyny was practiced.
27.16–17 Silver and gold are usually paired, but cf. Zech 9.3.
JOB 28
Interlude: Where Wisdom Is Found
1“Surely there is a mine for silver,
and a place for gold to be refined.
2Iron is taken out of the earth,
and copper is smelted from ore.
3Miners putd an end to darkness,
and search out to the farthest bound
the ore in gloom and deep darkness.
4They open shafts in a valley away from human habitation;
they are forgotten by travelers,
they sway suspended, remote from people.
5As for the earth, out of it comes bread;
but underneath it is turned up as by fire.
6Its stones are the place of sapphires,e
and its dust contains gold.
7“That path no bird of prey knows,
and the falcon’s eye has not seen it.
8The proud wild animals have not trodden it;
the lion has not passed over it.
9“They put their hand to the flinty rock,
and overturn mountains by the roots.
10They cut out channels in the rocks,
and their eyes see every precious thing.
11The sources of the rivers they probe;f
hidden things they bring to light.
12“But where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
13Mortals do not know the way to it,g
and it is not found in the land of the living.
14The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’
and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
15It cannot be gotten for gold,
and silver cannot be weighed out as its price.
16It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
in precious onyx or sapphire.e
17Gold and glass cannot equal it,
nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
18No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal;
the price of wisdom is above pearls.
19The chrysolite of Ethiopiah cannot compare with it,
nor can it be valued in pure gold.
20“Where then does wisdom come from?
And where is the place of understanding?
21It is hidden from the eyes of all living,
and concealed from the birds of the air.
22Abaddon and Death say,
‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’
23“God understands the way to it,
and he knows its place.
24For he looks to the ends of the earth,
and sees everything under the heavens.
25When he gave to the wind its weight,
and apportioned out the waters by measure;
26when he made a decree for the rain,
and a way for the thunderbolt;
27then he saw it and declared it;
he established it, and searched it out.
28And he said to humankind,
‘Truly, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
and to depart from evil is understanding.’”
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b Or lapis lazuli
c Gk Vg: Heb bind
d Gk: Heb its price
e Or lapis lazuli
f Or Nubia; Heb Cush
28.15–19 Four different words for gold occur in these verses, and the exact classification of gems remains unclear. Translation of flora, fauna, and the like present special difficulty. The fleeting nature of wealth is noted in an Egyptian proverb also found in Prov 23.4–5.
28.23–24 Emphasis falls on God and he.
28.28 Lord, the only use of Adonai in the book. In Jewish tradition one reads Adonai wherever the Tetragrammaton, YHWH (Yahweh), appears. The Hebrew word ’adonay refers to a human master but also to the Lord.
JOB 29
1Job again took up his discourse and said:
2“O that I were as in the months of old,
as in the days when God watched over me;
3when his lamp shone over my head,
and by his light I walked through darkness;
4when I was in my prime,
when the friendship of God was upon my tent;
5when the Almightya was still with me,
when my children were around me;
6when my steps were washed with milk,
and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!
7When I went out to the gate of the city,
when I took my seat in the square,
8the young men saw me and withdrew,
and the aged rose up and stood;
9the nobles refrained from talking,
and laid their hands on their mouths;
10the voices of princes were hushed,
and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.
11When the ear heard, it commended me,
and when the eye saw, it approved;
12because I delivered the poor who cried,
and the orphan who had no helper.
13The blessing of the wretched came upon me,
and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
14I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
my justice was like a robe and a turban.
15I was eyes to the blind,
and feet to the lame.
16I was a father to the needy,
and I championed the cause of the stranger.
17I broke the fangs of the unrighteous,
and made them drop their prey from their teeth.
18Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest,
and I shall multiply my days like the phoenix;b
19my roots spread out to the waters,
with the dew all night on my branches;
20my glory was fresh with me,
and my bow ever new in my hand.’
21“They listened to me, and waited,
and kept silence for my counsel.
22After I spoke they did not speak again,
and my word dropped upon them like dew.c
23They waited for me as for the rain;
they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
24I smiled on them when they had no confidence;
and the light of my countenance they did not extinguish.d
25I chose their way, and sat as chief,
and I lived like a king among his troops,
like one who comforts mourners.
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a Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
b Or like sand
c Heb lacks like dew
d Meaning of Heb uncertain
29.2–4 The Hebrew alludes to autumn days, which, contrary to Western notions, refer to vigor. In the Near East, summer’s drought gives way to new growth as the rains during autumn and winter descend on a parched earth. The fall is therefore an appropriate season for the New Year.
29.7 Judicial decisions took place at the city gate; here Job represents himself as a city dweller rather than the desert sheik of the prose.
29.12–13 Wisdom literature champions the cause of these three groups: widows, orphans, and the poor. Kings were charged with their welfare, and neglect of these subjects was cause for abdication of the throne, according to the Canaanite “Tale of Aqhat.”
29.18 In Greek mythology the phoenix rises from its own ashes. The Hebrew text has “sand,” which makes sense in this context, for the Abraham tradition uses this image to indicate a countless host of descendants. The allusion to a nest invites, but does not demand, thought of a bird.
29.20 The warrior’s bow has sexual overtones in the Canaanite Aqhat tale, where the goddess Anat desires a bow in the possession of the mighty warrior.
JOB 30
Job Finishes His Defense
1“But now they make sport of me, those who are younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
to set with the dogs of my flock.
2What could I gain from the strength of their hands?
All their vigor is gone.
3Through want and hard hunger
they gnaw the dry and desolate ground,
4they pick mallow and the leaves of bushes,
and to warm themselves the roots of broom.
5They are driven out from society;
people shout after them as after a thief.
6In the gullies of wadis they must live,
in holes in the ground, and in the rocks.
7Among the bushes they bray;
under the nettles they huddle together.
8A senseless, disreputable brood,
they have been whipped out of the land.
9“And now they mock me in song;
I am a byword to them.
10They abhor me, they keep aloof from me;
they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.
11Because God has loosed my bowstring and humbled me,
they have cast off restraint in my presence.
12On my right hand the rabble rise up;
they send me sprawling,
and build roads for my ruin.
13They break up my path,
they promote my calamity;
no one restrainsa them.
14As through a wide breach they come;
amid the crash they roll on.
15Terrors are turned upon me;
my honor is pursued as by the wind,
and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.
16“And now my soul is poured out within me;
days of affliction have taken hold of me.
17The night racks my bones,
and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.
18With violence he seizes my garment;b
he grasps me byc the collar of my tunic.
19He has cast me into the mire,
and I have become like dust and ashes.
20I cry to you and you do not answer me;
I stand, and you merely look at me.
21You have turned cruel to me;
with the might of your hand you persecute me.
22You lift me up on the wind, you make me ride on it,
and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.
23I know that you will bring me to death,
and to the house appointed for all living.
24“Surely one does not turn against the needy,d
when in disaster they cry for help.e
25Did I not weep for those whose day was hard?
Was not my soul grieved for the poor?
26But when I looked for good, evil came;
and when I waited for light, darkness came.
27My inward parts are in turmoil,
and are never still; days of affliction come to meet me.
28I go about in sunless gloom;
I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
29I am a brother of jackals,
and a companion of ostriches.
30My skin turns black and falls from me,
and my bones burn with heat.
31My l
yre is turned to mourning,
and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.
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a Cn: Heb helps
b Gk: Heb my garment is disfigured
c Heb like
d Heb ruin
e Cn: Meaning of Heb uncertain
30.1–15 Job’s disdain for the poor in these verses conflicts with 30.25 and his attitude expressed in 31.16–23.
JOB 31
1“I have made a covenant with my eyes;
how then could I look upon a virgin?
2What would be my portion from God above,
and my heritage from the Almightya on high?
3Does not calamity befall the unrighteous,
and disaster the workers of iniquity?
4Does he not see my ways,
and number all my steps?
5“If I have walked with falsehood,
and my foot has hurried to deceit—
6let me be weighed in a just balance,
and let God know my integrity!—
7if my step has turned aside from the way,
and my heart has followed my eyes,
and if any spot has clung to my hands;
8then let me sow, and another eat;
and let what grows for me be rooted out.
9“If my heart has been enticed by a woman,
and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door;
10then let my wife grind for another,
and let other men kneel over her.
11For that would be a heinous crime;
that would be a criminal offense;
12for that would be a fire consuming down to Abaddon,
and it would burn to the root all my harvest.
13“If I have rejected the cause of my male or female slaves,
when they brought a complaint against me;
14what then shall I do when God rises up?
When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?
15Did not he who made me in the womb make them?
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