Job 9:10-12

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Job 9:10 tn Only slight differences exist between this verse and 5:9 which employs the simple ו (vav) conjunction before אֵין (ʾen) in the first colon and omits the ו (vav) conjunction before נִפְלָאוֹת (niflaʾot, “wonderful things”) in the second colon.sn There is probably great irony in Job’s using this same verse as in 5:9. But Job’s meaning here is different than that of Eliphaz.
2. Job 9:11 tn The NIV has “when” to form a temporal clause here. For the use of “if,” see GKC 497 §159.w.
3. Job 9:11 tn The imperfect verbs in this verse are consistent with the clauses. In the conditional clauses a progressive imperfect is used, but in the following clauses the verbs are potential imperfects.
4. Job 9:11 tn The pronoun “him” is supplied here; it is not in MT, but the Syriac and Vulgate have it (probably for translation purposes as well).
5. Job 9:11 sn Like the mountains, Job knows that God has passed by and caused him to shake and tremble, but he cannot understand or perceive the reasons.
6. Job 9:12 tn E. Dhorme (Job, 133) surveys the usages and concludes that the verb חָתַף (khataf) normally describes the wicked actions of a man, especially by treachery or trickery against another. But a verb חָתַף (khataf) is found nowhere else; a noun “robber” is found in Prov 23:28. Dhorme sees no reason to emend the text, because he concludes that the two verbs are synonymous. Job is saying that if God acts like a plunderer, there is no one who can challenge what he does.
7. Job 9:12 tn The verb is the Hiphil imperfect (potential again) from שׁוּב (shuv). In this stem it can mean “turn back, refute, repel” (BDB 999 s.v. Hiph.5).