Job 23:7-9

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Job 23:7 tn The adverb “there” has the sense of “then”—there in the future.
2. Job 23:7 tn The form of the verb is the Niphal נוֹכָח (nokhakh, “argue, present a case”). E. Dhorme (Job, 346) is troubled by this verbal form and so changes it and other things in the line to say, “he would observe the upright man who argues with him.” The Niphal is used for “engaging discussion,” “arguing a case,” and “settling a dispute.”
3. Job 23:9 sn The text has “the left hand,” the Semitic idiom for directions. One faces the rising sun, and so left is north, right is south.
4. Job 23:9 tc The form בַּעֲשֹׂתוֹ (baʿasoto) would be the temporal clause using the infinitive construct with a pronoun (subject genitive). This would be “when he works.” Several follow the Syriac with “I seek him.” The LXX has “[when] he turns.” R. Gordis (Job, 261) notes that there is no need to emend the text; he shows a link to the Arabic cognate ghasa, “to cover.” To him this is a perfect parallel to יַעְטֹף (yaʿtof, “covers himself”).
5. Job 23:9 tn The verb is the apocopated form of the imperfect. The object is supplied.
6. Job 23:9 tn The MT has “he turns,” but the Syriac and Vulgate have “I turn.”