Job 35:2-4

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Job 35:2 tn The line could be read as “do you reckon this for justice? Here “to be” is understood.
2. Job 35:2 tn The word “when” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.
3. 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.”
4. Job 35:3 tn The referent of “you” is usually understood to be God.
5. 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?”
6. Job 35:4 tn The emphatic pronoun calls attention to Elihu who will answer these questions.
7. 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.