Job 21:2-6
2 “Listen carefully ▼ to my words;let this be ▼
▼ The LXX negates the sentence, “that I may not have this consolation from you.”
the consolation you offer me. ▼ 3 Bear with me ▼ and I ▼
▼ The conjunction and the independent personal pronoun draw emphatic attention to the subject of the verb: “and I on my part will speak.”
will speak, and after I have spoken ▼
▼ The adverbial clauses are constructed of the preposition “after” and the Piel infinitive construct with the subjective genitive suffix: “my speaking,” or “I speak.”
you may mock. ▼▼ The verb is the imperfect of לָעַג (la’ag). The Hiphil has the same basic sense as the Qal, “to mock; to deride.” The imperfect here would be modal, expressing permission. The verb is in the singular, suggesting that Job is addressing Zophar; however, most of the versions put it into the plural. Note the singular in 16:3 between the plural in 16:1 and 16:4.
4 Is my ▼
▼ The addition of the independent pronoun at the beginning of the sentence (“Is it I / against a man / my complaint”) strengthens the pronominal suffix on “complaint” (see GKC 438 #135.f).
complaint against a man? ▼▼ The point seems to be that if his complaint were merely against men he might expect sympathy from other men; but no one dares offer him sympathy when his complaint is against God. So he will give free expression to his spirit (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 147).
If so, ▼
▼ On disjunctive interrogatives, see GKC 475 #150.g.
why should I not be impatient? ▼ 5 Look ▼
▼ The verb פְּנוּ (penu) is from the verb “to turn,” related to the word for “face.” In calling for them to turn toward him, he is calling for them to look at him. But here it may be more in the sense of their attention rather than just a looking at him.
at me and be appalled; put your hands over your mouths. ▼
6 For, when I think ▼
▼ The verb is זָכַר (zakhar, “to remember”). Here it has the sense of “to keep in memory; to meditate; to think upon.”
about this, I am terrified ▼▼ The main clause is introduced here by the conjunction, following the adverbial clause of time.
and my body feels a shudder. ▼
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