Job 19:7-12
Job’s Abandonment and Affliction
7 “If ▼ I cry out, ▼▼ The LXX has “I laugh at reproach.”
‘Violence!’ ▼ I receive no answer; ▼
▼ The Niphal is simply “I am not answered.” See Prov 21:13b.
I cry for help,
but there is no justice.
8 He has blocked ▼ my way so I cannot pass,
and has set darkness ▼
▼ Some commentators take the word to be חָשַׁךְ (hasak), related to an Arabic word for “thorn hedge.”
over my paths. 9 He has stripped me of my honor
and has taken the crown off my head. ▼
10 He tears me down ▼
▼ The metaphors are changed now to a demolished building and an uprooted tree. The verb is נָתַץ (natats, “to demolish”). Since it is Job himself who is the object, the meaning cannot be “demolish” (as of a house so that an inhabitant has to leave), but more of the attack or the battering.
on every side until I perish; ▼ he uproots ▼ my hope ▼
▼ The NEB has “my tent rope,” but that seems too contrived here. It is absurd to pull up a tent-rope like a tree.
like one uproots ▼▼ Heb “like a tree.” The words “one uproots” are supplied in the translation for clarity.
a tree. 11 Thus ▼ his anger burns against me,
and he considers me among his enemies. ▼
▼ This second half of the verse is a little difficult. The Hebrew has “and he reckons me for him like his adversaries.” Most would change the last word to a singular in harmony with the versions, “as his adversary.” But some retain the MT pointing and try to explain it variously: Weiser suggests that the plural might have come from a cultic recitation of Yahweh’s deeds against his enemies; Fohrer thinks it refers to the primeval enemies; Gordis takes it as distributive, “as one of his foes.” If the plural is retained, this latter view makes the most sense.
12 His troops ▼
▼ Now the metaphor changes again. Since God thinks of Job as an enemy, he attacks with his troops, builds the siege ramp, and camps around him to besiege him. All the power and all the forces are at God’s disposal in his attack of Job.
advance together; they throw up ▼
▼ Heb “they throw up their way against me.” The verb סָלַל (salal) means “to build a siege ramp” or “to throw up a ramp”; here the object is “their way.” The latter could be taken as an adverbial accusative, “as their way.” But as the object it fits just as well. Some delete the middle clause; the LXX has “Together his troops fell upon me, they beset my ways with an ambush.”
a siege ramp against me, and they camp around my tent.
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