Job 21:14-16

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Job 21:14 sn Contrast Ps 25:4, which affirms that walking in God’s ways means to obey God’s will—the Torah.
2. Job 21:15 tn The interrogative clause is followed by ki, similar to Exod 5:2, “Who is Yahweh, that I should obey him?”
3. Job 21:15 tn The verb פָּגַע (pagaʿ) means “to encounter; to meet,” but also “to meet with request; to intercede; to interpose.” The latter meaning is a derived meaning by usage.
4. Job 21:15 tn The verse is not present in the LXX. It may be that it was considered too blasphemous and therefore omitted.
5. Job 21:16 tn Heb “is not in their hand.”sn The implication of this statement is that their well-being is from God, which is the problem Job is raising in the chapter. A number of commentators make it a question, interpreting it to mean that the wicked enjoy prosperity as if it is their right. Some emend the text to say “his hands”—Gordis reads it, “Indeed, our prosperity is not in his hands.”
6. Job 21:16 sn Even though their life seems so good in contrast to his own plight, Job cannot and will not embrace their principles—“far be from me their counsel.”