Job 3:16-18

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Job 3:16 tn The verb is governed by the interrogative of v. 12 that introduces this series of rhetorical questions.
2. Job 3:16 tn The verb is again the prefix conjugation, but the narrative requires a past tense, or preterite.
3. Job 3:16 tn Heb “hidden.” The LXX paraphrases: “an untimely birth, proceeding from his mother’s womb.”
4. Job 3:16 tn The noun נֵפֶל (nefel, “miscarriage”) is the abortive thing that falls (hence the verb) from the womb before the time is ripe (Ps 58:9). The idiom using the verb “to fall” from the womb means to come into the world (Isa 26:18). The epithet טָמוּן (tamun, “hidden”) is appropriate to the verse. The child comes in vain, and disappears into the darkness—it is hidden forever.
5. Job 3:16 tn The word עֹלְלִים (ʿol^elim) normally refers to “nurslings.” Here it must refer to infants in general since it refers to a stillborn child.
6. Job 3:16 tn The relative clause does not have the relative pronoun; the simple juxtaposition of words indicates that it is modifying the infants.
7. Job 3:17 sn The reference seems to be death, or Sheol, the place where the infant who is stillborn is either buried (the grave) or resides (the place of departed spirits) and thus does not see the light of the sun.
8. Job 3:17 sn The wicked are the ungodly, those who are not members of the covenant (normally) and in this context especially those who oppress and torment other people.
9. Job 3:17 tn The parallelism uses the perfect verb in the first parallel part, and the imperfect opposite it in the second. Since the verse projects to the grave or Sheol (“there”) where the action is perceived as still continuing or just taking place, both receive an English present tense translation (GKC 312 §106.l).
10. Job 3:17 tn Here the noun רֹגז (rogez) refers to the agitation of living as opposed to the peaceful rest of dying. The associated verb רָגַז (ragaz) means “to be agitated, excited.” The expression indicates that they cease from troubling, meaning all the agitation of their own lives.
11. Job 3:17 tn The word יָגִיעַ (yagiaʿ) means “exhausted, wearied”; it is clarified as a physical exhaustion by the genitive of specification (“with regard to their strength”).
12. Job 3:18 tn “There” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied from the context.
13. Job 3:18 tn The LXX omits the verb and translates the noun not as prisoners but as “old men” or “men of old time.”
14. Job 3:18 tn The verb שַׁאֲנָנוּ (shaʾananu) is the Palel of שָׁאַן (shaʾan) which means “to rest.” It refers to the normal rest or refreshment of individuals; here it is contrasted with the harsh treatment normally put on prisoners.
15. Job 3:18 sn See further J. C. de Moor, “Lexical Remarks Concerning yahad and yahdaw,” VT 7 (1957): 350-55.
16. Job 3:18 tn Or “taskmaster.” The same Hebrew word is used for the taskmasters in Exod 3:7.