Job 20:4-6

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Job 20:4 tn The MT has “Do you not know?” The question can be interpreted as a rhetorical question affirming that Job must know this. The question serves to express the conviction that the contents are well-known to the audience (see GKC 474 §150.e).
2. Job 20:4 tn Heb “from the putting of man on earth.” The infinitive is the object of the preposition, which is here temporal. If “man” is taken as the subjective genitive, then the verb would be given a passive translation. Here “man” is a generic, referring to “mankind” or “the human race.”
3. Job 20:5 tn The expression in the text is “quite near.” This indicates that it is easily attained, and that its end is near.
4. Job 20:5 tn For the discussion of חָנֵף (khanef, “godless”) see Job 8:13.
5. Job 20:5 tn The phrase is “until a moment,” meaning it is short-lived. But see J. Barr, “Hebrew ʿad, especially at Job 1:18 and Neh 7:3, ” JSS 27 (1982): 177-88.
6. Job 20:6 tn The word שִׂיא (siʾ) has been connected with the verb נָשָׂא (nasaʾ, “to lift up”), and so interpreted here as “pride.” The form is parallel to “head” in the next part, and so here it refers to his stature, the part that rises up and is crowned. But the verse does describe the pride of such a person, with his head in the heavens.