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Job 12:5-7
New English Translation
Job 12:5-7
New English Translation
5 For calamity,[a] there is derision
(according to the ideas of the fortunate[b])—
a fate[c] for those whose feet slip.
6 But[d] the tents of robbers are peaceful,
and those who provoke God are confident[e]—
who carry their god in their hands.[f]
Knowledge of God’s Wisdom[g]
7 “But now, ask the animals and they[h] will teach you,
or the birds of the sky and they will tell you.
Footnotes
- Job 12:5 tn The first word, לַפִּיד (lapid), could be rendered “a torch of scorn,” but this gives no satisfying meaning. The ל (lamed) is often taken as an otiose letter, and the noun פִּיד (pid) is “misfortune, calamity” (cf. Job 30:24; 31:29).
- Job 12:5 tn The noun עַשְׁתּוּת (ʿashtut, preferably עַשְׁתּוֹת, ʿashtot) is an abstract noun from עָשַׁת (ʿashat, “to think”). The word שַׁאֲנָן (shaʾanan) means “easy in mind, carefree,” and “happy.”
- Job 12:5 tn The form has traditionally been taken to mean “is ready” from the verb כּוּן (kun, “is fixed, sure”). But many commentators look for a word parallel to “calamity.” So the suggestion has been put forward that נָכוֹן (nakhon) be taken as a noun from נָכָה (nakhah, “strike, smite”): “a blow” (Schultens, Dhorme, Gordis), “thrust” or “kick” (HALOT 698 s.v. I נָכוֹן).
- Job 12:6 tn The verse gives the other side of the coin now, the fact that the wicked prosper.
- Job 12:6 tn The plural is used to suggest the supreme degree of arrogant confidence (E. Dhorme, Job, 171).
- Job 12:6 sn The line is perhaps best understood as describing one who thinks he is invested with the power of God.
- Job 12:7 sn As J. E. Hartley (Job [NICOT], 216) observes, in this section Job argues that respected tradition “must not be accepted uncritically.”
- Job 12:7 tn The singular verb is used here with the plural collective subject (see GKC 464 §145.k).
New English Translation (NET)
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