Job 21:2-4

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Job 21:2 tn The intensity of the appeal is again expressed by the imperative followed by the infinitive absolute for emphasis. See note on “listen carefully” in 13:17.
2. Job 21:2 tc The LXX negates the sentence, “that I may not have this consolation from you.”
3. Job 21:2 tn The word תַּנְחוּמֹתֵיכֶם (tankhumotekhem) is literally “your consolations,” the suffix being a subjective genitive. The friends had thought they were offering Job consolation (Job 15:11), but the consolation he wants from them is that they listen to him and respond accordingly.
4. Job 21:3 tn The verb נָשָׂא (nasaʾ) means “to lift up; to raise up,” but in this context it means “to endure; to tolerate” (see Job 7:21).
5. Job 21:3 tn The conjunction and the independent personal pronoun draw emphatic attention to the subject of the verb: “and I on my part will speak.”
6. Job 21:3 tn The adverbial clauses are constructed of the preposition “after” and the Piel infinitive construct with the subjective genitive suffix: “my speaking,” or “I speak.”
7. Job 21:3 tn The verb is the imperfect of לָעַג (laʿag). The Hiphil has the same basic sense as the Qal, “to mock; to deride.” The imperfect here would be modal, expressing permission. The verb is in the singular, suggesting that Job is addressing Zophar; however, most of the versions put it into the plural. Note the singular in 16:3 between the plural in 16:1 and 16:4.
8. Job 21:4 tn The addition of the independent pronoun at the beginning of the sentence (“Is it I / against a man / my complaint”) strengthens the pronominal suffix on “complaint” (see GKC 438 §135.f).
9. Job 21:4 sn The point seems to be that if his complaint were merely against men he might expect sympathy from other men, but no one dares offer him sympathy when his complaint is against God. So he will give free expression to his spirit (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 147).
10. Job 21:4 tn On disjunctive interrogatives, see GKC 475 §150.g.
11. Job 21:4 tn Heb “why should my spirit/breath not be short” (see Num 21:4; Judg 16:16).