Job 11:13-20
13 “As for you, ▼▼ The pronoun is emphatic, designed to put Job in a different class than the hollow men – at least to raise the possibility of his being in a different class.
if you prove faithful, ▼▼ The Hebrew uses the perfect of כּוּן (kun, “establish”) with the object “your heart.” The verb can be translated “prepare, fix, make firm” your heart. To fix the heart is to make it faithful and constant, the heart being the seat of the will and emotions. The use of the perfect here does not refer to the past, but should be given a future perfect sense – if you shall have fixed your heart, i.e., prove faithful. Job would have to make his heart secure, so that he was no longer driven about by differing views.
and if ▼ you stretch out your hands toward him, ▼
14 if ▼ iniquity is in your hand – put it far away, ▼
▼ Many commentators follow the Vulgate and read the line “if you put away the sin that is in your hand.” They do this because the imperative comes between the protasis (v. 13) and the apodosis (v. 15) and does not appear to be clearly part of the protasis. The idea is close to the MT, but the MT is much more forceful – if you find sin in your hand, get rid of it.
and do not let evil reside in your tents.
15 For ▼
▼ The absolute certainty of the statement is communicated with the addition of כִּי (ki) (see GKC 498 #159.ee).
then you will lift up your face without ▼
▼ For this use of the preposition מִן (min) see GKC 382 #119.w.
blemish; ▼ you will be securely established ▼
▼ The form מֻצָק (mutsaq) is a Hophal participle from יָצַק (yatsaq, “to pour”). The idea is that of metal being melted down and then poured to make a statue, and so hard, firm, solid. The LXX reads the verse, “for thus your face shall shine again, like pure water, and you shall divest yourself of uncleanness, and shall not fear.”
and will not fear.
16 For you ▼ will forget your trouble; ▼
▼ It is interesting to note in the book that the resolution of Job’s trouble did not come in the way that Zophar prescribed it.
you will remember it
like water that ▼
▼ The perfect verb forms an abbreviated relative clause (without the pronoun) modifying “water.”
has flowed away. 17 And life ▼
▼ Some translations add the pronoun to make it specifically related to Job (“your life”), but this is not necessary. The word used here has the nuance of lasting life.
will be brighter ▼▼ Heb “and more than the noonday life will arise.” The present translation is an interpretation in the context. The connotation of “arise” in comparison with the noonday, and in contrast with the darkness, supports the interpretation.
than the noonday; though there be darkness, ▼
▼ The form in the MT is the 3fsg imperfect verb, “[though] it be dark.” Most commentators revocalize the word to make it a noun (תְּעֻפָה, te’ufah), giving the meaning “the darkness [of your life] will be like the morning.” The contrast is with Job 10:22; here the darkness will shine like the morning.
it will be like the morning.
18 And you will be secure, because there is hope;
you will be protected ▼
▼ The Hebrew verb means “to dig”; but this does not provide a good meaning for the verse. A. B. Davidson offers an interpretation of “search,” suggesting that before retiring at night Job would search and find everything in order. Some offer a better solution, namely, redefining the word on the basis of Arabic hafara, “to protect” and repointing it to וְחֻפַרְתָּ (vekhufarta, “you will be protected”). Other attempts to make sense of the line have involved the same process, but they are less convincing (for some of the more plausible proposals, see D. J. A. Clines, Job [WBC], 257).
and will take your rest in safety.
19 You will lie down with ▼ no one to make you afraid,
and many will seek your favor. ▼
▼ Heb “they will stroke your face,” a picture drawn from the domestic scene of a child stroking the face of the parent. The verb is a Piel, meaning “stroke, make soft.” It is used in the Bible of seeking favor from God (supplication); but it may on the human level also mean seeking to sway people by flattery. See further D. R. Ap-Thomas, “Notes on Some Terms Relating to Prayer,” VT 6 (1956): 225-41.
20 But the eyes of the wicked fail, ▼
▼ The verb כָּלָה (kalah) means “to fail, cease, fade away.” The fading of the eyes, i.e., loss of sight, loss of life’s vitality, indicates imminent death.
and escape ▼
▼ Heb a “place of escape” (with this noun pattern). There is no place to escape to because they all perish.
eludes them; their one hope ▼
▼ The word is to be interpreted as a metonymy; it represents what is hoped for.
is to breathe their last.” ▼▼ Heb “the breathing out of the soul”; cf. KJV, ASV “the giving up of the ghost.” The line is simply saying that the brightest hope that the wicked have is death.
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