YALE DIVINITY SCHOOL LIBRARY Gift of Estate of Professor George Dahl THE BOOK OF JOB THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., Limited LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO THE BOOK OF JOB BY MOSES BUTTENWIESER, Ph.D. PROFESSOR OF BIBLICAL EXEGESIS HEBREW UNION COLLEGE CINCINNATI AUTHOR OF "THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL" Neto fgurfe THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1922 AU rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Gopyeisht, 1922, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published March, 1923. Hottoooo W»W J. 8. Cuahuig Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. TO THE BOYS WHO HAVE BEEN MY PUPILS AT THE HEBREW UNION COLLEGE IN AFFECTION AND ESTEEM PREFACE Populae appreciation of the Book of Job was slow to come. It was not until modern times that the book became generally accepted as "one of the grandest things ever written with pen," and that the hope expressed by its writer became realized that later ages might bring to his words the understanding to which the minds of his contemporaries were closed. Strange though it may seem, this is in reality not surprising, for up to the last decades of the eighteenth century the selfsame theology prevailed against which Job is depicted as in revolt. It was a theology which accepted as axiomatic the belief in indi vidual material retribution, a theology which discredited human reason, and attributed divine authority to traditional lore or inherited beliefs, and because of the complete sway which this theology held over their minds, men through the ages were as unable to understand the spiritual issues described in the Book of Job as were the orthodox friends of Job in the writer's own day. Another serious theological barrier to the understanding of Job through the centuries was the dualistic conception rooted in paganism, with its Nature-worship and deification of physical forces, which from about the time the Book of Job was written, exercised an ever-growing influence over the thought of the world. By setting up the other world against this one and exalting the supernatural above the natural, Dualism fostered modes of thought and a spiritual outlook which were fundamentally opposed to the religious spirit and ideals of Job. It is plain that as long as the goal of human endeavor was seen in the life to come, and as long as the pursuit of truth was looked upon as mere presumptuousness inspired, by the viii PREFACE Devil, men could not possibly have any real understanding of the soul struggle depicted in the drama of Job. They were perforce incapable of understanding how Job could yield, as he did momentarily, to doubt and despair, and yet maintain his faith in God, or how he should emphatically deny all hope in an hereafter, when obviously the solution of his enigma lay in immortality or resurrection. Above all, they were unable to grasp the positive reasoning that runs through the whole drama. And so they missed the two essential points, the hero's staunch assurance of God's presence in him, withal his realiza tion of the overwhelming majesty of God, and his conviction that the moral law inherent in man is the supreme reality, the absolute guide for human life and conduct. Through the two thousand years during which Dualism held sway over the minds of men, the Book of Job was, of necessity, "a sealed book," even as were the writings of the prophets ; and not until men's minds became liberated from the dualistic thrall, and a new era in the progress of human thought set in with the thought and tendencies which came to expression in the second half of the eighteenth century, was any adequate understanding of the book possible. The interpretation of Job which prevailed through the centuries previous to the middle of the eighteenth century shows this beyond peradventure of a doubt. As early as the Greek translation of Job, we have, I believe, evidence that a fixed interpretation must have been current. Many of the astounding renderings of the Greek, many of the most perplexing deviations from the Hebrew, are due, not as is generally assumed, to any ignorance of Hebrew on the part of the translators, nor yet to the circumstance that their Hebrew copy differed materially from the Masoretic text, but to the fact that the Alexandrian translators were guided in their work by a traditional interpretation, which they accepted without question and followed as a matter of course. (It may be remarked in passing that the translators often show an ad- PREFACE ix mirable knowledge of subtle syntactical points, and also that those passages which are innocuous from the point of view of the dogmatic beliefs and religious sentiments of the age are, on the whole, well translated.) Proof of this may be seen in the fact that the strange renderings referred to are met with again in the Targumim and Mediaeval Jewish Commentaries, neither of which can have been dependent upon the Greek ; their agree ment with the latter can, to my mind, be satisfactorily explained only on the ground of a traditional interpretation as source for all three. The renderings in question are much after the manner of the Midrash ; they are arbitrary and fanciful, showing no regard for the grammatical structure or for the meaning of the words. An especially instructive example illustrating this is 12. 5-6. If we had only the Greek Version of these verses to go T>y, we could not but conclude, as Biblical scholars have invariably done, that the Greek had a radically different reading from that of the Masoretic text. The fact, however, that the rendering of these verses in the Greek is substantially the same as in Targum I and II and also in line with Rashi's interpretation, a thousand years later, and that in the case of these latter it is absolutely certain that it is the Masoretic text which is so arbitrarily interpreted, leaves no doubt as to the true character of the reading of 12. 5-6 in the Greek. Another in teresting instance of the influence of the traditional interpreta tion is presented by 14. 12, 14, in which the Greek, and later the Christian and Jewish exegetes, did away with Job's denial of a hereafter — a proceeding, it may be remarked, which has found emulation among modern scholars. In this latter connection, 19. 25^27 may be cited, although not directly illustrating the point in question. Into these verses the belief in resurrection was carried by the Occidental Church, and here again the forced interpretation has been upheld by a number of modern scholars, among others even by some of those who correctly interpret 14. 12, 14. The fact that as early as the Greek translation a x PREFACE distinctly biased and arbitrary interpretation of Job was es tablished is of the utmost importance from the point of view of sound text-criticism. It dare not be lost sight of for a mo ment. It is of interest to us also in quite another respect, for who knows, anomalous as this may seem, whether the book would ever have found a place in Sacred Literature, would ever have come down to us at all, were it not for this same biased in terpretation which it received at a comparatively early age. There can be no question that the book must have met with violent disfavor from the writer's contemporaries, whose atti tude, we may guess, was much like that of the friends in the poem. It is not improbable, indeed, that we have actual evi dence of the hostility with which the book was regarded in the extreme text-disorder which mars a large part of it, chaps. 16-37. Text-disorder on a lesser scale is of course nothing unusual in ancient and mediaeval literature, whether of the Orient or the Occident. The oftener a manuscript was copied, the more likely were mistakes and omissions to occur, and since writing was a most laborious operation in those days and writing ma terial very costly, a cogykt who happened to omit a line or more would not think of mating a new copy on that account, but in the case of a short omission would add it in the margin of the page on which it occurred, and in the case of a lengthy one, in any available blank space in the manuscript. There were various methods employed to indicate where the omitted passage belonged, the commonest one, as far as we can judge, being the repetition of the last preceding or next following iword or words of its context. Later copyists, however, working mechanically, after the mariner of copyists, did not catch this point, and in the new copy which they were making simply inserted the omitted passage, cue-word and all, in the body of the page at the point where it happened to be found, instead of at the point, whether of the same or some other page, where it properly belonged. Now in the Book of Job, as well as in PREFACE xi the other Biblical books,1 quite a number of passages became misplaced in this way, but they are by no means sufficient to account for the text-disorder which runs pretty well through chaps. 16-37. It seems to me more than probable, as I have ^featry~guggested, that this text-disorder is in large measure the result of the hostility with which the book met in the writer's own day. Without a doubt the book was considered sacrile gious, and it is not inconceivable, in fact it is easily possible, that the scroll may have been torn up to be publicly burned,^ just as two hundred years previously the prophecies of Jeremiah were torn up by Jehojakim before being consigned to the flames.2 And to carry the parallel to the prophet himself, even as Jere miah was spirited away by Shafan and so saved from the execu tion of the death-sentence,2 may not possibly the Book of Job, by some means, have been saved from utter destruction by some devoted disciple, who, though unable to restore the original order, faithfully preserved every fragment of the mutilated copy. But about all this we can have no positive knowledge whatever. The only point of which we may feel certain is that the book was contrary to the orthodox, spirit of jthe times ; — a fact which makes its acceptance in the Old Testament Canon a most perplexing problem. If we had but some record of the circumstances which brought about the inclusion of the book in Sacred Literature, we would be afforded an insight into the crosscurrents of thought and the spiritual life of those times which is at present denied us. The great diversity of views on the part of modern scholars regarding the meaning of Job is attributable in large measure to the text confusion of chaps. 16-37 and to the distorted reading of 38. 2 and 40. 8 in the Hebrew. As to the latter, I believe my discovery in the Greek version of what is indubitably 1 1 have pointed out a number of such instances in prophetic hterature in The Prophets of Israel, p. 260f . 2 See The Prophets of Israel, pp. 25-41. xii PREFACE the original text of these two lines throws an altogether new light on God's revelation amidst the storm and illuminates the drama as a whole. Common sense and poetic justice have been confounded by the accepted reading of 38^ 2 and 40^8. Taking the Greek reading of these verses, however, for the correct one, I believe that we get a meaning of Job that is at once logical, consistent and satisfying. As to the text con fusion of chaps. 16-37 it must be granted that this has been a large factor in obscuring the meaning of the poem and leading the student astray, but it is important to recognize that theo logical bias and sundry preconceived conclusions have also played no small part in beclouding the thought which the author meant to convey. An instance of theological bias has already been referred to; various other instances might be adduced. It may not be amiss to mention that even to-day the belief in material retribution is occasionally found lingering in the minds of modern interpreters. An excellent illustration of how an interpretation may be determined by a preconceived theory is furnished by the prevalent misinterpretation of chap. 28. This chapter, which is of central importance for the proper interpretation of Job, has as a rule been taken, quite in the way of a foregone conclusion, to express the Logos-idea, and in consequence has been discarded by the majority of modern scholars as an interpolation. The reconstruction of chaps. 16-37, which I present in this volume, is based on a careful study, covering many years, of both the Hebrew text and the Ancient Versions, chief among the latter being the Greek with its various daughter transla tions, the Syro-Hexaplar, the Latin translation by St. Jerome, the fragments of the Vetus Latina, the Coptic-Bohairic, and especially the Coptic-Sahidic translation. I have, through the years, as it suggested itself to me, presented this reconstruc tion to the students in my Job class at the Hebrew Union Col lege. By the fall of 1915 I felt that I had it fairly complete, PREFACE xiii with the exception of the last speech of Bildad. As to this speech, I had been long convinced that it must originally have included the greater part of chaps. 34-36; the difference in style and tenor between chaps. 34-36 and chaps. 32 and 33 — added to my discovery of a large part of Job's concluding speech in chaps. 36 and 37 — pointed to such a conclusion. But I hardly dared entertain the hope that I should ever be able to dig out from the Elihu speech the constituent parts of the Bildad speech in any sort of continuity, until in the summer of 1919, while making a last attempt, I happily came upon the beginning of the speech, and after that it was comparatively easy to dis entangle the remaining parts. To what extent I have been successful in restoring sequence and order in chaps. 16-37 — and this, when all is said and done, must be the final test — I must leave it to the critical reader to judge for himself. Biblical scholars will, I trust, be materially aided in forming a judgment by the inclusion in the present volume of the Hebrew text of Job, revised and rearranged according to my findings. The emendations in this text will be readily distinguished by reason of their being vocalized. I venture to hope that the interpretation which follows naturally and logically, as it seems to me, from the rearranged text may be found to bring out and sustain a deeper and a more satisfying meaning of the poem than do the various in terpretations of Job that have been hitherto presented — more satisfying, I should say, both to the reason and the literary sense. As to my translations, which in not a few places are radically different not only from those of the English Bible but also from those prevailing in modern Commentaries, Biblical scholars, I believe, will find them in each case to be the result of a minute study of the text, in particular of the subtle syntactical points often involved. My aim throughout has been to accomplish not only an accurate, but an idiomatic rendering, that is to say, xiv PREFACE wherever possible I have translated Hebrew idiomatic expres sions by their English equivalents. A literal translation of idiomatic expressions is by no means a true translation. My translations, as they appear in the following pages, have for many years been given in substantially the same form in my classroom. I have purposely refrained from any attempt to consider the meter of Job, for the reason that in my opinion all theories about the Hebrew meter are bound to be conjectural as long, for one thing, as we are in the dark about the word- and sen tence-accent of Hebrew while it was a spoken language, to say nothing of other important points of Hebrew prosody which would have a distinct bearing on the Hebrew meter. I wish here to acknowledge my indebtedness to the young men who from year to year have formed my classes at the He brew Union College. I have found a constant stimulus in their open minds, their vigorous enthusiasm, and, I must not omit, their ready wit. To the Class of 1921 especially I wish to express my gratitude for the earnest appreciation and the cheering loyalty with which they have followed the progress of this work. Were it possible, I should wish also to acknowl edge what I owe to my wife through the years these Job-studies have been under way. Her sympathy has been so generous, however, her help so manifold, that it were vain to try to estimate the measure of my debt. M. B. September, 1920. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Abbreviations and Signatures xvii PART 1 INTRODUCTION CHAPTER I The Relation of the Prologue to the Dialogues . . 3 1. The View that the Prologue is a Foreign Body in the Book is Unsound . . 5 2. No Proof that the Job Narrative was Known in the Days of Ezekiel . . . . .... 7 3. The Babylonian Assyrian Poem : "I Will Praise the Lord of Wisdom," not a Source of the Job Story .... 10 4. No Relation between the Book of Job and the Egyptian Poem, "The Discourse between a Man Weary of Life and his Own Soul" ... ... . . 11 5. The Typical Form of the Job Narrative . . .12 6. The Narrative a Product of Finished Art . . . 16 7. The Prologue and Dialogues Tally in the Details about Job 24 8. Unity of Character and Action 26 9. The Figure of the Satan 31 10. Metaphorical Language 34 11. The Names of God in Job 35 CHAPTER II The Meaning of Job . . 38 The Happy Ending, 42.10, 12-17, a Later Addition ... 67 xv xvi CONTENTS CHAPTER HI PAGE 1. The Date of the Book of Job .... 70 2. Relation of Job to Other Biblical Books o. Proverbs 80 b. Deutero-Isaiah . . .83 CHAPTER IV The Elihu Interpolation 85 PART II THE BOOK OF JOB: TRANSLATION. . 89 PART III NOTES AND SYNOPSES . .155 PART IV THE BOOK OF JOB: HEBREW TEXT nVK 1BD 295 Krrtw nsDii 337 rmnx neon 341 APPENDIX The Elihu Interpolation: Translation and Notes . . 347 The Later Additions to the Speech of God : Translation and Notes . . 353 Index of Subjects . 359 Index and Glossary of Hebrew Words, Idioms, and Forms . 364 ABBREVIATIONS AND SIGNATURES I. TEXT AND VERSIONS Aq. Aquila AV. Authorized Version Field Origenis Hexaplorum quae supersuni, Vol. II, Oxonii, 1875 G, Gk. The Old Testament in Greek According to the Septuagint, ed. Swete, Vol. II, 2nd ed., Cambridge, 1896 A Codex Alexandrinus B Codex Vaticanus C Codex Ephraemi Syri rescriptus Parisiensis S Codex Sinaiticus S1, S2, etc., represent the various stages in the correction of the cod. j8 Codex Vaticanus 346 = Prs. 248 * Codex Colbertinus, Paris 1952 Aid. Aldine Edition, 1518 Compl. Complutensis Polyglott, 1514-17 Prs. Cursive Codices as collated in R. Holmes and J. Parsons, Vetus Testamentum Graecum, Vol. Ill, Oxonii, 1828 Hie. St. Jerome's Latin Hexaplaric Version in 3 MSS, (1) Bod- leianus 2426, (2) Turonensis 18: ed. P. de Lagarde in Mitteilungen II, pp. 193-237. Goettingen, 1887; (3) Sangallensis 11 : ed. C. P. Caspari, Bos Buch Hiob in Hieronymus' Ubersetzung, Christiania, 1893 Sah. Coptic-Sahidic pre-Origenic Version in Sacrorum Bib- liorum Fragmenta Copto-Sahidica, ed. A. Ciasca, Vol. II, pp. 1-68, Rome, 1889 Boh. Coptic-Bohairic Hexaplaric Version : The Ancient Coptic Version of Job, ed. and transl. by H. Tattam, London, 1846 xviii ABBREVIATIONS AND SIGNATURES S11 Syro-Hexaplar Version : Codex Syro-Hexapiaris, ed. Middeldorpf, Berlin, 1835; Codex Syro-Hexaplaris Ambrosianus, publ. A. M. Ceriani, Milan, 1874 Vet. Lat. Versio Vetus Latina H, Heb. Hebrew, Masoretic text MS(S) Ken. or de Rossi Hebrew Manuscripts as collated by B. Kennicott, Vetus Testamentum Hebraicum, Vol. II, Oxonii, 1780; or J. de Rossi, Variae Lectiones Veteris Testamenti, Vol. Ill, Parma, 1786 RV Revised Version Sym. Symmachus Syr. Syriac Version (Peshitta), ed. Lee, London, 1826 Syr.3 Translatio Syra Pescitto Vet. Test, ex Cod. Ambrosiano, publ. A. M. Ceriani, Milan, 1876 Targ. Targum : Hagiographa Chaldaice, ed. P. de Lagarde, Leipzig, 1873 Theod. Theodotion Vulg. Vulgata AUTHORS' NAMES; BOOKS; PERIODICALS1 AJTh American Journal of Theology ARW Archiv fur Religionswissenschaft Beer-K lob in R. Kittel, Biblia Hebraica Bickell Kritische Bearbeitung des Jobdialogs in Wiener Zeitschrift fiir die Kunde der Morgenlands, 1892, pp. 137ff., 241ff., 327ff. ; 1893, pp. Iff., 153ff. Carey The Book of Job, 1858 Dillmann Textcritisches zum Buche Ijob in Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, 1890, pp. 1345ff. Enc. Bibl. Encyclopaedia Biblica, ed. T. K. Cheyne and J. S. Black, 1899-1903 Eur. Or. Euripides Orestes 1 See also the hterature given on pp. 5, 8, 26. ABBREVIATIONS AND SIGNATURES xix Ges.-Buhl Gesenius' Hebraisches und Aramaisches Handworterbuch bearbeitet von F. Buhl, 15th ed. Ges.-Kautzsch Gesenius' Hebrdische Grammatik, umgearbeitet von E. Kautzsch, 28th ed. Gratz Emendationes in plerosque Veteris Testamenti libros, 1892 Grimme Metrische und Kritische Emendationen zum Buche Hiob, in Theologische Quartalschrift, 1898, pp. 295ff ., 421ff. ; 1899, pp. 112ff., 259ff. Hitzig Das Buch Hiob, 1874 Hoffmann Hiob, 1891 II. Iliad JAOS Journal of American Oriental Society JBL Journal of Biblical Literature JdTh Jahrbiicher fiir deutsche Theologie JQ Jewish Quarterly Review Kamphausen Hiob in Bunsen's Bibelwerk, I, 3, 1865 KB Keilschriftliche Bibliothek, 1889-1901 KSGW Konigliche Sachsische Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften Od. Odyssey Olshausen Hiob, 1852 Plaut. Capt. Plautus Captivi Protest. RE Real-Encyclopadie fur Protestantische Theologie und Kirche, 3rd ed., ed. A. Hauck SBOT Sacred Books of the Old Testament, ed. P. Haupt Siegfried The Book of Job in SBOT, 1893 Soph. Ant. Sophocles, Antigone Trach. Trachiniae ThStK Theologische Studien und Kritiken Voigt Einige Stellen des Buches Hiob, 1895 Wetzstein See Frz. Delitzsch, Das Buch Job Wright The Book of Job, 1883 ZATW Zeitschrift der Alttestamentlichen Wissenschaft ZDMG Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenlandischen Gesellschaft PART I INTRODUCTION THE BOOK OF JOB CHAPTER I THE RELATION OF THE PROLOGUE TO THE DIALOGUES The Book of Job occupies a unique position in the literature of the world. Of the masterpieces which time has handed down, of the Biblical books in especial, it is the one which in every age is felt to be the most modern. The author, we are bound to believe, was a man who in his own life had sounded the depths of human suffering, and who had been awakened by his experience to a larger consideration of the problems of the universe. Into the mouth and mind of Job, we must conclude, he put the doubts and obstinate questionings which had beset his own soul, the sorrow, the anger, the irony, the revolt, which in his dark hours had filled his heart, the sense of the maj esty of God, of the beauty of Nature, and of the dignity of man, which native and ever resurgent within him had served to save him from despair, and finally, the understanding and reconcilement to which through this saving sense he had been led, with the crowning consciousness of security and fellowship with God. The author's own, we doubt not, was the refusal of Job to gloss over the weaknesses and discrepancies of the ac cepted system, his own the scorn of compromise, the insistence on the naked truth, the yearning for the personal approval of his God. 3 4 THE BOOK OF JOB Human, poetic, dramatic, philosophic, and deeply spiritual, the Book of Job makes an appeal to all classes and conditions of men. Written fully four hundred years B.C., it still, after all the centuries, challenges the intellect and stirs the heart as if it had been written but yesterday. The interest which the book commands for us as a spiritual drama is enhanced by the effectiveness of the plan and structure and by the imaginative fervor and poetic beauty of the lines. The student, who has learned that the spiritual content of every work of art is so closely dependent on its artistic expression that it is well-nigh impossible to dissociate the two for separate study, will find this particularly true of the Book of Job. A study of the re ligious significance of the book, if it is to be intelligent and thoroughgoing, must go hand in hand with a careful literary analysis, which in turn must be based on a rigid examination of the text and a tedious collation of versions. Viewed from its structural side, the Book of Job consists of two distinct parts, the Narrative and the Dialogues. The Narrative comprises the two opening chapters, usually spoken of as the Prologue, and the closing chapter, 42. 7-17, com monly known as the Epilogue, while the Dialogues form the main body of the book. The Dialogues consist of the speeches or the dramatic discourse between Job and his three friends and the revelation of God amidst the storm with the discourse attending it. The speech of Elihu is not an original part of the work, but the addition of an interpolator.1 The question as to the relation of the Narrative to the Dia logues is of basic importance for the interpretation of the Book of Job. The question hinges on whether the Narrative is an integral, harmonious part of the book, or whether it is an al- 1 The Elihu interpolation was originally only one speech, consisting of chapters 32-33 and some verses of chapters 34-37. The remainder of chapters 34-37 belonged partly to the last speech of Bildad, partly to the concluding speech of Job. THE PROLOGUE 5 together foreign body, a product of folk literature, which existed centuries before the Dialogues were composed, and which was combined with these by their author in a very crude and mechanical way. In view of the fact that the case presented by the Epilogue is, as will be shown later, essentially different from that met with in the Prologue, it will be more to the purpose to consider the two separately and to take up the relation of the Epilogue to the Dialogues only after an analysis of the latter has been completed. 1. The View that. the Prologue Is a Foreign Body in the Book Is Unsound Strange as it may seem, the view that the Prologue, far from being a foreign body in the Book of Job, is a really inte gral part of the author's design, and that it constitutes with the Dialogues a uniform piece of work, has comparatively few adherents.1 The view that at present prevails among Biblical scholars is that there is such a patent lack of unity, such a marked difference both in thought and form between the Prologue and the Dialogues, that the two cannot possibly be the work of one and the same author. Yet it requires but a moment's reflection to see how unlikely 1 Cf. H. Ewald, Die Poetischen Biicher des Alten Bundes, III. "Das Buch Job" (1836) pp. 28ff. ; A. Merx, Das Gedicht von Hiob (1871) pp XXXIVff. ; O. Zockler, Das Buch Job (1872) pp. 36ff. ; Franz Delitzsch Das Buch Job (1876) p. 3f . ; E. Reuss, Hiob (1888) , p. lif. ; A. Dillmann, Hiob, 4th. ed. (1891), p. XXIVf. ; A. B. Davidson, The Book of Job, pp. XXXff ., and Encycl. Brit. 11th. ed. Art. Job ; J. F. Genung, The Epic of the Inner Life (1891) pp. 17ff- ; J- Meinhold, Das Problem des Buches Hiob in Jahrbb f . deutsche Theologie, 1892, pp. 63ff. ; A. Klostermann, Protest. RE. 3d. ed. Art. Hiob, pp. 114ff. ; K. Kautzsch, Das Sogenannte Volksbuch von Hiob und der Ursprung von Hiob, Cap. I-II. XLII, 1-17 (1900) ; J. Hontheim, Das Buch Job (1904), p. 16f . ; Steuernagel, "Das Buch Hiob" in Die Heilige Schrift des Alt. Test. ed. E. Kautzsch, 3d. ed., p. 296. All these scholars consider also the Epilogue, as we have it, an integral part of the writer's work. 6 THE BOOK OF JOB it is that a masterpoet, like the author of the Book of Job, should combine a current story with the creation of his own genius, without any attempt to harmonize the two. By such a procedure he would spoil the effect of his work and defeat his own literary ends. The scholars who hold, nevertheless, that this was exactly the procedure followed by the author of Job overlook the fact that as regards the manner of its composition the Book of Job presents a different case from that presented by the Hexateuch and the Historical books of the Bible, or even by the speech of Elihu and other additions to the original Book of Job. Very different factors entered into the two cases. The stories of the Hexateuch and to some extent those of the Historical books belonged to the common stock of the nation's literary wealth, which for centuries had been handed down, principally by oral tradition, from generation to generation. Like all stories and products of that kind, they were subject to growth and development, to more or less thoroughgoing changes and metamorphoses. Different versions arose spontaneously, at various times and in various parts of the country, and each generation contributed its share to their constant flux and grad ual growth. These stories were bound in time to grow into composite products reflecting often the conflicting views of successive ages and containing divergent elements more or less crudely united. When later these stories were collected or com piled, little critical judgment was displayed by the compilers or collectors. Quite aside from their attitude of reverence to ward the cherished heritage of the past, their mere function as compilers precluded that they should subject their material to any really critical scrutiny. It will readily be seen that an entirely different case is pre sented by the author of the Book of Job, who, inspired to his great work by the problem of suffering, chose for the hero of his poem the Job of the legend whose piety had been proverbial THE PROLOGUE 7 for centuries. In his case we could not but be at a loss to ex plain what should have induced him to attach to his poem, in the thoughtless, mechanical manner of a compiler, a story which in spirit and character was diametrically opposed (as is thought) to his presentation of the subject. It cannot be argued that he lacked the critical insight to see that he would thus be robbing his work of its most essential requirement, that of unity of character and action. Every line of his poem shows that he possessed rare analytic acumen and that he probed and pene trated other minds, even as he searched and laid bare the in most recesses of his own. Nor can the theory be upheld that it was out of regard for an old and favorite story that the author refrained from subjecting it to any revision or alteration, how ever desirable ; for he shows his independence of mind through out. Untrammeled by time-honored notions and the traditions of the past, he deals with his subject with perfect freedom of spirit. Least of all can it be argued that he was so lacking in resourcefulness that he did not feel equal to the task of remodel ing the ancient narrative to make it fit in with his plan and poetic purpose. In genius and skill he stands fair comparison with the great masters of the world literature, who in using a well-known legend as material for their creative works invari ably transformed it and made it harmonize in every essential respect with their own presentation of the subject. As a matter of fact, the author of the Book of Job set about his work in precisely the same way. The differences commonly pointed out between the Prologue and the Dialogues have in reality no existence except in the minds of the critics. 2. No Proof that the Job-Narrative was Generally Known in the Days of Ezekiel Before adducing proof for the statement just made, the ques tion must be considered whether the view that the Job-narra- 8 THE BOOK OF JOB tive existed as folk-tale centuries before the Dialogues were composed, is supported by evidence outside of the Book of Job. Ezek. 14. 14-20 has been pointed to as direct evidence of the existence of such a tale in the days of Ezekiel.1 This deduction from Ezek. 14. 14-20 may serve as a typical illustration of the arguments advanced in support of the theory of a folk-tale of Job. The passage contains nothing beyond the statement, repeated three times without material modification : "Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in her midst, they should save neither sons nor daughters; they should save themselves alone by their righteousness." All that follows from this bare reference is that alongside of Noah and Daniel, Job had enjoyed the renown of exemplary piety. About any other details of the story told of him, particularly of how he proved his piety, the passage in Ezekiel permits no inference whatever ; least of all does it permit the inference that he proved his piety by steadfastness and pious submission under great suffering. And the likelihood must be granted that the Job of the story current at the time of Ezekiel had little, if anything, in common with the suffering hero of the Book of Job, since it is absolutely certain that the Daniel of the hoary past, of whom 5 ' The latter conclusion, strange to say, is expressed by Budde, Das Buch Hiob, 2d. ed. (1913) p. XHf. ; after stating that "An Ez. 14. 14-20, haben wir ein ausdruckliches Zeugniss" that the writer of Job got the ma terial for his work from a current folk-story, he continues : "Diese volks- tumliche Erzahlung von Hiob, so bekannt, dass der Prophet sie mit blossem Namen anziehen darf, muss unser Dichter benutzt haben. . . . Alles Wesentliche von C. 1. 1-2. 10 (ausser dem letzten Worte) und von 42. 7-17 (ausser v. 10a) muss zum Bestande des Volksbuchs von Hiob gehort haben. . . und wurde von ihm im wesentlichen so benutzt, dass er seine Teile lediglich von einander loste, um sein eigenes Werk zwischen Anfang und Ende einzuschieben und mit dem Uberlieferten zu verklamm- ern." See also p. XlXf. A similar view is expressed by Duhm, Das Buch Hiob, p. VIII : "Aus der Anspielung Hezekiels (Hes. 14. 14ff.) auf Hiob Cap. 42. 7ff. durfen wir schliessen, dass das Buch (i.e. das Volksbuch), von dem uns noch der Eingang Cap. 1 u. 2 und Cap. 42. 7-17 erhalten sind, zur Zeit dieses Propheten schon allbekannt ward." THE PROLOGUE 9 the people told in the days of Ezekiel, cannot even remotely have resembled the Daniel of the Book of Daniel, who, presum ably, lived and attained great honors at the court of Nebuchad nezzar and his successors, and who proved his piety by refusing to defile himself by eating forbidden food or by paying homage to any one save God. In this figure it is not difficult to recognize the Maccabaean ideal of piety as portrayed through out the literature of that age. It is clear that the writer of Daniel can have retained nothing of the old legend beyond the name of the hero and his reputa tion for exemplary piety ; with this minor exception he created a new story. There is sufficient ground for the conclusion that the writer of the Job-story proceeded in a similar way. The obvious inference from Ezekiel's declaration, "Verily, neither son nor daughter shall they save, they by their righteousness shall save only themselves," is that in Ezekiel's days Job and Daniel were reputed, like Noah, to have been saved amidst general calamity because of their righteousness. Further, the present Job-story, in which Job suffers great affliction unjustly, would have completely upset Ezekiel's theory of strict individual retribution, since it directly contradicts his view that prosperity is the result of pious living and adversity the result of sin. Ezekiel could not possibly have referred to Job in illustration of his principle of retributive justice, if the story current about > Job in his age had coincided in essential particulars with that ofg the Book of Job. Nor is it likely that he would have considered the Job of the Job-story a paragon of piety. Ezekiel, who most consistently developed the view that there can be no punish ment without sin and who made this the basis of his preach ing, could not but have viewed Job's calamity in exactly the same light as the friends did. For him, as for them, the fact that Job was not only plunged suddenly from perfect prosperity into abject misery, but was moreover stricken with leprosy, would have been indisputable proof that he was "the 10 THE BOOK OF JOB smitten and afflicted by God," — " smitten," that is, for a grave sin. 3. The Babylonian Assyrian Poem: "I WiU Praise the Lord of Wisdom," not a Source of the Job Story Nor does the Babylonian poem, I Will Praise the Lord of Wisdom, which tells about the suffering of King Shubshi-meshri- Bel, furnish any proof that the Job-narrative existed as folk tale centuries before the Book of Job was written. This poem, though it has in common with the Job-story the feature that its erstwhile prosperous and god-fearing king is suddenly stricken with a terrible disease, but is ultimately restored to perfect health, lacks all those essential points that give the Job- story its distinct character and tendency — the plot in Heaven, the dramatic report of Job's sudden material ruin and the loss of his children, followed by Job's expression of pious surrender to God, Job's temptation by his wife, and finally the silent visit of the friends and their ensuing condemnation by God. On the other hand, in the Job-story all the features are ab sent that give the Babylonian poem its particular coloring — the royal rank of the sufferer, Ur-Bau's appearing to Tabi-utul- Bel in a dream and instructing him to bring healing to Shubshi- meshri-Bel, the r61e which magical intercession plays in the healing and, boiind up therewith, the elaborate description of Shubshi-meshri-BeTs restoration to health. As far as the form is concerned, the two products have nothing whatever in common with each other. The Babylonian poem has no narra tion; unlike the Job-story, which circumstantially relates the misfortunes which befell Job, it tells only indirectly about the vicissitudes suffered by King Shubshi-meshri-Bel — by his re ferring to them in his contemplations. In view of these essen tial differences both in contents and form, the idea of literary THE PROLOGUE 11 relation between the Job-story and the Babylonian poem is excluded.1 4. No Relation between the Book of Job and the Egyptian Poem, " The Discourse between a Man Weary of Life and his Own Soul"2 Still less can the Egyptian poem, The Discourse between a Man Weary of Life and his Own Soul, be considered a source of the Job-story. The poem leaves us altogether in the dark as to the personal fortunes which gave rise to the pessimism and despair of "the man weary of life"; there is not the slightest hint that he suffered a fate similar to that of Job. As a matter of fact, nothing in this poetic fragment, with the exception of a few chance parallels, could suggest comparison with the Book of Job.3 The purport of the poem, as the dis- 1 Cf. S. Landersdorfer, Eine Babylonische Quelle fur das Buch Job f 1911, (Biblische Studien, Freiburg, i. B. XVI, 2) ; also M. Jastrow, A Babylonian Parallel to the Story of Job (JBL. XXV, pp. 135ff.), and Die Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens, II, pp. 120ff. Landersdorfer's exhaustive treatise on the subject leaves no room for the theory of either direct or indirect dependence of the Book of Job upon the Babylonian-Assyrian poem. In regard to the attempt of Cheyne (Enc. Bibl. II, col. 2464 and 2469) and others to prove from the name Ijjob the Babylonian origin of the story (as well as to other speculations about the etymology of the name Job), it cannot be too strongly emphasized that etymologies in general, and of proper names in particular, unless substantiated by concrete facts, are valueless. Who could ever guess that the etymology of French bonheur and rnalheur is bonum augurium and malum augurium, or that Enghsh sin, German S'inde is the present participle of the verb to bet That similar etymological intricacies are not uncommon in Hebrew has in recent years become widely recognized; cf. e.g. mallah, "sailor," a Sumerian composite of ma, " ship," and lah, " to steer." a The poem has been edited with a translation and an exhaustive com mentary by A. Erman, Gesprdch eines Lebensmilden mit seiner Seele (1896). A translation of the poem by Griffith is found in World's Best Literature, p., 5319, and one by Ranke in Gressmann, Altorientalische Texte und Bilker, pp. 195ff. 3 The opposite conclusion of Friess, Dos Philosophische Gesprdch von Plato bis Hiob (1904) pp. 12-26, rests on conjectures as to the contents of 12 THE BOOK OF JOB tinguished Egyptologist Erman states, is unmistakably this: For him who has seen the wickedness of men and the ways of the world, death holds no terrors ; death is to him a home coming from a strange land, a recovering from heavy sickness.1 5. The Typical Form of the Job-Narrative It has been generally pointed out as a difference in form be tween the Prologue and the Dialogues that the latter are in poetry, while the former is in prose. This view, however, must be modified. The narrative is not written in prose through out, but consists of a mixture of prose and verse. Job's expres sion of grief and of submission to God is generally acknowledged to have poetic form. And equally apparent, to my mind, is the rhythm of the rejoinder of the Satan, 2. 4 6 : 'or be' ad 'or wekoW asher la'ish jitten be' ad nafsho. Not only this ; the immediate continuation of Satan's rejoinder, 2. 5, the entire dialogue in both scenes in Heaven, i.e. 1. 7-11, and 2. 2-6, the brief dialogue between Job and his wife, 2. 9-10 a-b, with its concluding half-line, 10 c, the reports of Job's calamities, with their refrain-like 'od zos medabber wezm ba' wajjomar, 1. 14-19, and the brief utterance of Job in 1. 5 are all distinguished from the remaining verses by their rhythmic flow and poetic diction. Finally, the conclusion of Job's first trial, 1. 22, and the parallel half verse, 2. 10 c, have poetic form. Now, if we ask whether these poetic passages have anything in common, the answer is that with exception of 1. 22 and 2. 10 c, which in reality constitute only one exception, they are direct discourse ; in other words they form short dialogues or mono- the missing and obscure parts and as to the fate and personal experiences of the despondent speaker. Budde, though in no wise sharing the extreme view of Friess, points to this poem as another model which may have influenced the poetic technique of the Book of Job (op. cit. p. XVI). 1 Op. cit. p. 5. THE PROLOGUE 13 logues. At once an important point of similarity between the body of the book and the narrative is established: in both_the direct discourse has poetic form. This type of narrative art is not peculiar to the Book of Job alone, nor to Biblical narrative literature in general (numerous examples occur in both the Hexateuch and the Historical books x), but must at one time, in the more remote stages of literary production, have been common to all literatures, those of the Occident as well as of the Orient. Attention was first drawn to this primi tive type of narrative art, about forty years ago, by two dis tinguished Sanskritists, Windisch and Oldenberg, who made their discovery independently of each other.2 In view of the importance of this point, not only for our immediate purposes, but beyond these for Biblical narrative literature in general, I shall quote from Oldenberg's discussion of this type : "The Rigveda also contains the oldest specimens of Hindu narrative poetry. These show a peculiar incompleteness. The typical form of the narratives was a mixture of prose and verse, but, as a rule, only the parts in verse have been preserved. . . . Fortunately, however, owing to special circumstances, a very few of the narratives of this type have been preserved complete. It is from these that we get a clear idea of the essential fea- 1 See below. 2 E. Windisch touched briefly upon the occurrence of this type in Celti and in old-Hindu hterature in Uber die Irische Sage und die Ossianfrage (in Verhandlungen der Geraer Philologenversammlung 1879, p. 27f. ; the article is more accessible in the French translation in Revue Celtique, V, pp. 70ff., the point in question being found p. 86f.) ; in a later work, Mara und Buddha (1895), pp. 24, 222ff., he deals more fully with it, particu larly with its occurrence in Buddhistic hterature. H. Oldenberg treats this hterary type at great length in Das altindische Akhyana (in ZDMG., 1883, XXXVII, pp. 67-86 and in Akhyana Hymnen in Rigveda (ib. XXXLX, pp. 52-83), and again in Die Literatur des Alten Indien (1903), pp. 44ff., 53f ., 103, 125ff., 231. Cf. also Geldner, PurUravas und Urvaci in Pischel und Geldner, Vedische Studien I (1889), pp. 288ff., where Geldner shows that we have this type also in the one and only example of a nar rative found (in fragmentary form) in the Avesta. 14 THE BOOK OF JOB tures of this ancient form of narrative art, in which prose and poetry are interwoven. . . . The intermixture of prose -and verse would seem, at a very early period, to have suggested itself to the human fancy as the natural form of artistic narration, and once firmly enrooted, to have maintained itself through the centuries, even in the most remote centers of civilization. We find it with striking similarity at the very opposite ends of the Indo-European world, in the extreme North, the extreme West, and the extreme Southeast. The Scandinavian Skalds and the Irish poets use it in exactly the same way as the Brahman poets of Vedic India, or as centuries later the great story tellers of the Buddhistic monastic order. It would seem, indeed, that we have here one of those primitive forms from the time of the dawn of literary art which, thousands of years before recorded history begins, were the property of the as yet undivided Indo- European people. . . . But what parts of the narrative are in distinction from the rest put in poetic form ? We find exactly the same scheme in the literature of India as in those of the Occident. What is put in verse is exclusively, or almost ex clusively, monologues and dialogues spoken by the characters appearing. The occurrences that give rise to the discourses are related in prose." 1 Oldenberg's reason for his modification, or almost exclusively, is that in addition to the dramatic parts, the climax in the narration and the conclusion bearing out the moral are often put in verse.2 It will be seen that exactly the same type of narrative art is met with in the Prologue, where besides the dialogues and monologues, the concluding verse of Job's first trial has poetic form. The latter verse marks the first climax in the narration. In the second trial the dialogue between Job and his wife, with the succeeding half line (likewise in poetic form), "In spite of all this Job sinned not with his lips," forms the climax. 1 Die Literatur des Alten Indien, pp. 44ff. 2 See Oldenberg in ZDMG., XXXVII, p. 79f ., and Geldner, op. cit.,pp. 91ff . THE PROLOGUE 15 As I have already indicated, the type is found throughout Biblical narrative literature. It is not limited to such isolated cases as the curse pronounced upon the serpent and man (Gen. 3. 14-19), Lemech's self-condemnation (ib. 4. 23 f.), the Blessing of Isaac (ib. 27. 27-29, 39f.), the blessings of Balaam (in Nu. 23 and 24), and a few similar curses and blessings, the poetic form of which, though incorrectly accounted for, has generally been recognized — even in the ancient manuscripts of both the Hebrew text and the Greek version. Numerous other examples of diverse contents occur.1 1 The following examples, chosen at random, to which many others might be added, will suffice to show how prevalent this type is in Old Testament hterature: (1) The dialogue between God and Cain, Gen. 4. 6-7, 9-14 ; (2) Jacob's protest and account of himself to Laban, ib. 31. 36-44 ; (3) Jacob's prayer for deliverance from Esau, ib. 32. 10-13 ; (4) The butler and baker telling Joseph their dreams, ib. 40. 9-19 ; (5) God's instructions to Moses preparatory to His revelation on Sinai, together with the Decalogue, Ex. 19. 3 6-6, 9-13, 20. 1-17; (6) The announcement of divine punishment to Eh, I Sam. 2. 27-36 ; (7) The Philistines expressing their fear at the appearance of the ark, ib. 4. 7-9 ; (8) The dialogue between David and Saul after David had spared Saul's life, ib. 24. 10-22 ; (9) The plea of the wise woman of Tekoa for Absalom's recall, II Sam. 14. 5-20 ; (10) Elijah's Theophany, I Ki. 19. 4 6,96-18; (11) The four hundred proph ets and Micajah ben Jimlah prophesying before Ahab, ib. 22. 11 6-13, 15-17, 19-23; (12) Rabshekah's address to the people of Jerusalem together with Hezekiah's message to Isaiah and the answer of the latter, II Ki. 18. 19-36, 19. 3-4, 6-7. This is not the place to enter into an analysis of the formal character and structure that differentiate these pieces from their surrounding prose. Only briefly may it be noted that they are all marked by that rhythmic- melodic element which is the chief characteristic of all poetry — the deter mining factor in the even balance or symmetry of the various syntactical parts that make up the poetic line or sentence. This element is so on the surface that it is inevitably detected even though one may know nothing about the meter employed. Even a child whose ear has been only slightly trained to poetry cannot fail to notice it. It should be added that this in termixture of prose and poetry in Hebrew narrative literature furnishes conclusive proof that" there is a basic mistake somewhere in the metrical system of Sievers, according to which the entire Old Testament would be written in verse (cf. his Studien zur Hebrdischen Metrik, I. pp. 373-399, II. Die Hebrdische Genesis) . 16 THE BOOK OF JOB The fact that the words addressed to Eliphaz by God in 42. 7f. of the Epilogue are in prose does not invalidate what has been remarked about the literary type of the Prologue, nor does it in any way permit the inference that these verses of the Epilogue are by another writer, for not all dialogues or direct discourse have metrical form, but as may be seen from the examples enumerated, only those that have enough of the dramatic or imaginative element to warrant poetic diction. 6. The Narrative a Product of Finished Art It has further been claimed that the narrative bears all the earmarks of a folk-tale, the use or quotation of what to all appearances are proverbial phrases, the verbatim repetition of whole sentences, and the other stylistic peculiarities of popular stories.1 As to the use of proverbial phrases or adages, this is not a peculiarity of the narrative parts of Job; such phrases and adages occur very frequently also in the Dialogues. Indubitable examples are : "To go to the land of darkness whence there is no return," 10. 21, or "To go the way whence there is no return," 16. 22, both being com mon expressions in Babylonian- Assyrian literature; 2 "I hold my life in my teeth," 13. 14, the Arabic parallel of which is "His lif e is be tween bis jaws," 3 both meaning to be at the point of death ; "I take my life in my hands " (ib.), a common expression in Hebrew 4 as well as in many other languages; "His roots beneath will be dried up, and his harvest above will wither," 18. 16 — a common Semitic pro verbial expression, as, e.g., the parallel "May they not produce roots 1 Cf. Wellhausen's Review of Dillmann, Das Buch Hiob in JdTh., XVI (1871)-, p. 555, Budde, op. dt., p. XIII, Laue, Die Composition des Buches Hiob, p. 123. 2 Cf. "Ishtar's Descent to Hell" in KB. VI, pp. 80ff. Obverse I, 4-6, 12, 41, 63. 76. Reverse 6, 13f. 3 an-nafsu minhu bi-shidkihi, Hudheil 106, 16. 4 It occurs again Judg. 12. 3, I Sam. 19. 5, 28. 21. THE PROLOGUE 17 beneath nor fruit above" in the Phoenician tomb-inscription of Esh- munazar shows (note also the parallels Am. 2. 9 and Is. 37. 31) ; " Long enough even to swallow my spittle," 7.19 — another common Semitic proverbial phrase, as may be inferred from its repeated occurrence in Arabic ; x " My bones stick through my skin," 19. 20,2 which occurs again Ps. 102. 6, and to which parallels are found in many languages ; 3 "Like straw driven by the wind, like chaff which the storm carrieth away," 21. 18, which are common Biblical phrases; 4 "The hand of God worketh this," 12. 9, which with a different implication occurs again Is. 41. 20; "Let the earth not cover my blood," 16. 18 — a uni versal stock phrase; 5 and probably also "The clods of the valley are sweet unto him," 21. 33.6 In addition to these another group of phrases must be mentioned : "The roaring of the lion, the cry of the jungle king is stilled, And the teeth of the vigorous young lions are knocked out ; For lack of prey the hon perisheth, And the brood of the lion is scattered." 4. 10 f . "Impetuous spirits soar high," 5. 7; "Doth the wild ass bray amidst green grass? Or doth the ox low at bis fodder?" 6.5. "Contempt to him who suffereth misfortune, A kick to those that have lost their footing ! " 12. 5 ; "Wilt thou scare a leaf driven by the wind? Or wilt thou pursue dry straw?" 13.25; "A person inviteth his friends to a portion, Whilst his children are weeping their eyes out," 17. 5 ; "I have escaped by the skin of my teeth," 19. 20. 1 Cf. Schultens, Liber Jobi, ad loc. ; De Sacy, Chrestomathie Arabe, III, p. 259 ; Fleischer, Kleinere Schriften, II, p. 265. 2 See comment on Job 19. 20. 3 Cf. e.g. "His skin sticks to his bones," Apastampa Sr. X. 14, 9 (quoted by Hillebrandt, Ritualliteratur, Vedische Opfer und Zauber, p. 146, and Oldenberg, Religion des Veda, p. 402 ; cf. to this Vedic paraUel Lament. 4.8) ; Latin Pellis et ossa sum, Plaut. Capt. I. 2, 32; Enghsh, "He is all skin and bones." < Cf. Is. 17. 13, 40. 24; Jer. 13. 24; Ps. 1. 4, 35. 5, 83. 14; also Is. 29. 5, 41. 2, 15f. ; Hos. 13. 3. 6 See commentary to this verse and M. Buttenwieser, Blood-revenge ami- Burial Rites in Ancient Israel, in JAOS., XXXIX, 1919, p. 317f. 6 Cf. among other parallels Latin, Terra sit super ossa levis, Enghsh, "May the earth he hght on him." 18 THE BOOK OF JOB It cannot be decided whether all the examples of this group, though possessing every characteristic of the proverb, are to be classed as adages current in that age, or whether some of them at least, are not original with the author of Job. It is a well- known fact that, while every great writer draws from the ex isting stock of proverbial expressions and colloquialisms, he quite as often coins apt phrases, which in their turn become proverbial. A classical example is Shakespeare. Not only, however, are proverbial phrases not confined to the parts of Job which have been claimed to be of folk origin, they are in no way specifically characteristic of folk-tales. They are quite a common feature of Biblical narratives,1 and not only of these, but also of Hindu narratives, and for that matter of ancient narrative literature in general, irrespective of whether folk stories or products of reflective art come in question.2 The presence then of adages or proverbial phrases 1 Cf. e.g. I Sam. 15. 22f., "To obey is better than sacrifice, to hearken better than the fat of rams. Yea, rebelliousness is hke the sin of witchcraft, stubbornness is like impious Teraphim-worship ; " 16. 7, "Man looketh at the outward appearance, but God looketh at the heart ; " 24. 13, " From the wicked wickedness may come forth, but let not my hand be against thee ; " v. 14, "After whom art thou in pursuit,- after a dead dog, after a single flea?" (The quotation of the proverb explains the change from the third to the second person) ; II Sam. 20. 1 and I Ki. 12. 16, "We have no por tion in David, nor any heritage in the son of Jesse. Every man to his tent, O Israel !" (cf. also Gen. 31. 14, "Have we still any portion or heritage in our father's house? ") ; I Ki. 12. 10, "My httle finger is thicker than my father's loins;" v. 11, "My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions;" II Ki. 19. 3, "The children have come to the neck of the womb, but strength faileth her that is in travail." Like the type of narrative art, discussed pp. 10-14, this peculiarity of Biblical hterature is interesting not only in itself, but because of its general importance for hterary criticism. 2 Even in prophetic hterature proverbial phrases are not infrequent. Unmistakable examples are: — Is. 22. 14, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die;" 23. 16, "Take a harp, and walk about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; play skillfully, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered;" 28. 20, "The bed is too short to stretch oneself out in, the covering is too narrow to wrap oneself in;" 56. 12, THE PROLOGUE 19 does not justify the inference drawn by Wellhausen and others that the Job-story is a product of folk literature. The same statement applies to the repetition of whole sen tences. Repetitions are not a special characteristic of folk tales; they are a feature of ancient narrative literature in general. They occur with frequency throughout Biblical narrative literature — Old and New Testament alike — and with still greater frequency in Egyptian and Hindu literature. To mention a few examples from the Old Testament : In the story of Creation (Gen. 1) "God saw that it was good" re curs five times.1 In "Pharaoh's dreams," (Gen. 41) the dreams are related by Pharaoh word for word as they have been told before.2 In the story "The Golden Calf" (Ex. 32), "Make us a god which will go before us, for as for the man Moses who btought us up out of Egypt, we know not what has happened to him," and "This is thy God, O "Come, let us fetch wine, and let us carouse, and to-morrow shall be as to-day, an exceeding high day;" Jer. 13. 12, "Skins are wont to be filled with wine ; " 15. 10, " I have not lent to them, nor have they lent tome;" 31. 29 (Ezk. 18. 2) "The fathers eat sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge" (cf. the Arabic parallel "He who eats not sour grapes, his teeth are not set on edge," Socin, Arabische Spruchworter, No. 412) ; 48. 11, "He has settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from ves sel to vessel;" "He has retained his taste, his flavor has not changed" (cf. also Zeph. 1. 12) ; Am. 5. 19, "He fled from the hon, and the bear attacked him, and when he entered the house and leaned his arm against the wall, a serpent bit him" (compare the Arabic parallel, "He fled from the bear, but feU in the well," Freytag, Proverbia Arabum, III, No. 3165, also 2315) ; Hos. 4. 11, "Whoredom and wine deprive a man of his senses ; " 9. 7, "The prophet is a fool, the man inspired by the spirit is crazy;" 13. 13, "He is an unwise son, at the proper time he did not enter the neck of the womb" (cf. H Ki. 19. 3, quoted above) ; Mic. 2. 4 (as reconstructed by Stade on the basis of the Grk), "The land of my people is being meas ured with a line, there is none to restore it ; our fields are distributed among our captors, we have been utterly destroyed" (note that the lines are spoken of as a proverb) ; 3.3 6 (and its variant v. 26), "They flay the people and lay bare their bones" (cf. Latin ossa nudare) ; Hab. 2. 11, "The stone in the wall cries out and the timber joins in;" also Am. 1. 2, "Yahweh shall roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem" (cf. M. Buttenwieser, The Prophets of Israel, p. 227ff.). 1 Cf. Gen. 1. 10, 12, 18, 25. 2 Cf. Gen. 41. 2-7 and 17-24. 20 THE BOOK OF JOB Israel, that brought thee up out of the land of Egypt," are verbatim repeated.1 In the story "The Fall of Jericho" (Josh. 6), "Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark," and "The seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord" occur each twice,2 while v. 20 b-c is an almost verbatim repetition of v. 5 b-c. And in the story "Samuel's CaU" (I Sam. 3), "He said, 'Here am I, thou hast called me.' And he said, 'I did not call, he down again' " occurs twice, the first part, three times.8 As an example from the New Testament, the parable Matth. 25. 20-23 may be cited. Finally, as to the view that the story has all the other traits of popular tales, it is important to note that popular tales, es pecially when transmitted orally for centuries, invariably show signs of growth and amplification. A typical illustration of amplification is furnished by the Greek version of the Job-story in the altered taunt and in the added lamentation of Job's wife (because of the privation that has come to her through Job's affliction), as also in a number of minor additions and alterations.4 Along with such amplifications go a certain diffuseness in narra tion and a tendency to elaborate details. In the Job-story of the Hebrew original there is nothing of this sort. Everything is vivid and concise. At no point of the narration is the prog ress retarded or the attention distracted by ornamental de scription or accessory details. The narration proceeds with great rapidity and is intensely dramatic. The fourfold repeti tion, " While he was still speaking, another one came and said," brings home the suddenness with which the disaster overtook Job and with which blow upon blow was dealt to him. So quickly do the reports of his misfortune succeed one another that he has scarcely time to realize his various losses before their culmination is reached in the death of his children. Then 1 Cf. Ex. 32. 1, 4, 8, 23. 2 Cf. Josh. 6. 4, 6, 8, 13. * I Sam. 3. 5, 6, 8. 4 The amplification in the taunt and the lamentation comprises Ave verses, 2. 9-9 d of the Greek. Of the minor additions and alterations, note the redundant Gk. 1. 5 d, 1. 21 d, the last clause of 2. 3, and the royal rank of the friends. THJ PROLOGUE 21 all thought of material loss is swept from his mind, and he gives way to an outburst of grief over his bereavement. The repeti tion adds wonderfully to the vividness of the narration, and sharpens the suspense of the reader in preparation for the mo ment when Job will give expression to his feelings.1 Job's grief over the sudden loss of his children could not be more effectively described than by the one line : " Naked came I from my mother's womb And naked shall I return thither." The euphemism thither Jot Sheol 2 suggesting, as it does, the natural shudder at the thought of the realm of the dead, adds to the impression of loneliness and desolation which the whole line conveys. The following line in the contrast it calls up and in its utter simplicity produces a highly dramatic effect: "The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away, Praised be the name of the Lord I" With this the first climax toward which the story has been mov ing is reached. His every hope in life has been shattered, yet 1 That Job in expressing his grief and submission has reference only to the death of his children foUows from the fact that "The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away" is a common Semitic prayer which was recited on a person's death by his nearest of kin. See below, p. 36. 2 This euphemistic expression occurs again 3. 17. There can be no doubt that this is the explanation of shama, for this euphemism is not restricted to Hebrew, but is common to ancient literature in general. In Egyptian ntj 'im, "he who is" or "they who are there," is a very frequent euphemism for those in the netherworld or the dead; in the poem quoted above, "The Discourse between a Man Weary of Life and his Own_Soul," it occurs three times (w. 51-53) . Correspondingly in Coptic pma etmmaw, "that place, " literally "the place which is there, " occurs as euphemism for the other world or the netherworld (see E. A. W. Budge, Coptic Homilies in the Dialect of Upper Egypt (1910), p. 151, note 1). And in Greek feel "there" and exeTire "thither" are common euphemisms for in Hades and to Hades or to the other world, and oi «« is equally common as euphemism for the dead. 22 THE BOOK OF JOB with unshaken faith Job expresses his submission to God, and for the time being Satan stands defeated. The second part is on the same high level as the first. Note the effect produced by having Yahweh disclose that He has been moved by the Satan to ruin Job, contrary to his deserts, "without cause," and by the contrast so subtly brought out between God's complete confidence in Job and the Satan's sneering attempt to make out that Job's piety is mere pre tense, that at bottom he is glad to have saved his own skin. Let him be put to a real test, he tells Yahweh, let him be stricken in his own person, "verily he will curse Thee to Thy very face." Accordingly, in order that virtue may be shown triumphant, the Satan is empowered to smite Job with the most hideous of all diseases, black leprosy. The magnitude of Job's suffer ing and his colossal patience are emphasized by the taunt of his wife : "Dost thou still cling to thy piety? Curse God and die!" Yet, " in spite of all this Job doth not sin with his lips." Equally dramatic and suggestive is the brief description of the friends' visit. They came for the purpose of comforting Job. But when on their arrival they learn the true nature of his afflic tion, they suffer a change of purpose. And in ominous silence they sit before him for seven days and seven nights.1 Throughout the story, the diverse incidents narrated and the various emotions revealed all converge to a common center; the genuineness of Job's piety. Unlike the Greek version, where the unity in the narration is marred by the self-com miseration of Job's wife,2 the Hebrew original contains nothing that is not directly bound up with the main theme of the story. It shows nowhere any redundancy or diffuseness. 1 See Chapter II, pp. 43 ff . 2 It should be added that many similar examples might be offered from popular versions of the stories of the Pangatantra and from the popular tales of ancient Egypt. THE PROLOGUE 23 Everything is expressed in the most concise way — the form fits the thought perfectly. What Theodore Benfey, the fore most authority on fable-literature, pointed out sixty years ago in regard to the features distinguishing products of re flective art from folk stories x applies with special fitness to the Job-narrative. Such complete harmony of form and thought must be the work of an individual genius of the highest order. The Job-story is a product of reflective art just as are the story of Ruth and the story of Jonah, two other masterpieces dating from the same period. In these, as in Job, the vivid ness and lofty simplicity of presentation, the depth of thought and the subtle harmony of thought and form are the out standing literary features. In all three, psychological analysis, moral preachment, and literary ornament are so dexterously woven into the fabric, so made a vital part of it, that the reader is not aware of the process but conscious only of the effect. 1 In view of the radically wrong view predominating at the present time, I deem it advisable to quote Benfey in full. Discussing the question whether the Greek fable, "The Rescue of the Lion by the Mouse," or its Hindu versions, "The Elephants and the Mice," have claim to priority, Benfey remarks : "Die Schonheit, vollstandige Congruenz der Idee und der Form ergibt sich in diesen und ahnlichen, urspriinglich vielleicht im Schose des Volks gedichteten und lange darin lebenden. • . • Geistesschopfungen gewohn- lich erst als Product einer lange fortwirkenden gewissermassen reflexiven kritischen Umgestaltung — • an welcher das Volk mehr urteilend als schaffend teilnimmt. Wenn wir die Geschichte aller Fabeln, Erzahlungen, Volks- gedichte, VoLksepen u.s.w. bis zu ihrem ersten Ursprunge verfolgen konnten, wiirden wir, glaube ich, erkennen, dass die schonsten Werke derart, die wir besitzen, aus oft sehr unformlichen Anfangen hervorgegangen, dass sie erst durch langes Treiben im Strome des Volkslebens zu der denselben homogenen Form abgerundet sind und alsdann ihre hochste VoUendung dadurch erhielten, dass sie durch eine fiir die oder fiir die andere dieser Formen hochbegabte Individualitat als lebendiger Ausdruck des Volks- geistes ergriffen und mit dem Geprage eines hochstehenden individuellen Geistes bezeichnet wurden." Pantschatantra, I, 325f . ; cf. also p. 328f . 24 THE BOOK OF JOB 7. The Prologue and the Dialogues Tally in the Details about Job The view in regard to the alleged lack of unity and the ap parent contradictions between the Prologue and the Dialogues is not sustained by a careful analysis of the two, any more than is the theory of a difference in form and literary quality. "My stench is loathsome libene bitni" (19. 17) has repeatedly been pointed out as proof that for the time being the writer of the Dialogues must have been oblivious of the happenings told in the Prologue, and that he cannot, therefore, have been the author of the latter.1 If by bene bitni "my offspring" were meant, the expression in the mouth of Job would cer tainly be strange, as by the nature of the case " children of my womb" can be said only by a woman. It is never used by a man.2 The corresponding Biblical phrase for a man to use is jose'e jarki or jose'e halasaj, "the issue of my loins." The ex planation of the phrase bene bitni, a number of Biblical scholars rightly hold, is furnished by Job 3. 10 where bitni is used elliptically for beten 'immi. By bene bitni either "my brothers" is meant, or if the omitted 'em is used of " ancestress," as e.g. Gen. 27. 29, Ezk. 16. 3, "my kinsmen." This elliptical use of beten explains the meaning "clan" with which the word is found in Arabic.3 Neither does se'esa'aj, 31. 8, permit the inference that the writer of the Dialogues speaks of Job's children as still living, 1 This view is still expressed by Duhm, op. cit., p. 100, and Cheyne, op. cit, col. 2467. 2 Neither Mic. 6. 7 nor Ps. 132. 11 is an exception to this rule, Brown, Driver, and Briggs to the contrary; in the former passage, the writer, in using the phrase, pe'ri bitni, was naturaUy thinking of a mother, while in the latter passage we have the same elliptical use of the phrase as here in Job.3 It foUows from the above explanation that matriarchy has nothing to do with this meaning of the phrase. THE PROLOGUE 25 the word being used with the meaning, "produce," as the paral lelism, "Let me sow, and let another reap," shows. But while from all this it follows only that the argument advanced on the ground of 19. 17 and 31. 8 against the unity of the book is without basis, other passages may be referred to as positive evidence that the Dialogues and the Prologue con stitute together a uniform work. Thus in 29. 5, "When the Almighty was yet with me, when I was still surrounded by my boys," we have a direct reference to the death of Job's children. The passage is the more conclusive, since it has in common with 1. 19 the use of na'ar in the sense of "son," equivalent to the use of our English boy.1 Another reference in the Dialogues to the death of Job's children is found 8. 4, where Bildad says, "If thy children sinned against Him, then He cast them out of His presence in penalty for their sins." a Further, the picture that is sketched in chap. 29 of the former Job, of Job when he still enjoyed prosperity, tallies in every respect with the description in the Prologue of the venerable, god-fearing sheik revered far and wide for his blameless, pious life. Note also the way in which Job speaks of himself in 12. 4 : "A laughing-stock to his friends hath he become Whose prayer, when he called upon Him, God would answer — A laughing-stock, the righteous, perfect man." These words would savor of self-righteousness, were it not that they recall the almost identical words with which God bears testimony to Job's virtuous life in the Prologue. Finally, it is not from the mere statement in the Prologue, "He smote Job 1 Na'ar occurs again with the meaning son in Genesis 22. 5; "I and my boy (hanna'ar) shall go thither." 2 With the same meaning shallah occurs again 14. 20, " Thou over- powerest him forever, so that he passeth away; changing his features, Thou castest him off." In both verses shallah is elliptical for shallah me'al panaw or paneka (cf. Jer. 15. 1) and connotes to deliver up to death. 26 THE BOOK OF JOB with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head," but from Job's repeated references in the Dialogues to the symptoms and nature of his disease that we learn that he was stricken with elephantiasis. 8. Unity of Character and Action Yet notwithstanding this subtle harmony by which they are bound together, the critics consider the Prologue and the Dialogues irreconcilable for the following reasons : (1) The Job of the Prologue and the Job of the Dialogues, they argue, contradict each other, since in the former Job accepts his reverses in a spirit of pious submission, while in the latter "he hurls invectives at God, and subjects the divine world-rule to the most scathing criticism." (2) The Pro logue, they maintain, is concerned with the question whether such a thing as disinterested piety or true virtue exists, while the Dialogues deal with the problem of suffering — why the righteous are afflicted, and how their affliction is to be recon ciled with the justice of God. (3) Finally, they point out that " in the Prologue the Satan is the instigator of Job's trials and the agent of his suffering, but in the Dialogues the discus sion of the moral government of the world proceeds without a single reference to Satanic agency." "Neither Job nor his friends know anything of such a being," but see in God the sole cause of Job's affliction as well as of human suffering in general. Nor do the Dialogues contain the slightest allusion to the wager in Heaven.1 1 See among others Studer, Das Buch Hiob (1881), pp. 171ff. ; Cheyne, Job and Solomon (1893), pp. 15f., 66ff., Jewish Religious Life after the Exile, pp. 160ff., 164ff., and op. cit, col. 2466f. ; L. Laue, op. cit, pp. 77, 120ff. ; Budde, op. cit, pp. XHff., XXIXff. ; Duhm, op. cit., pp. Vllf., IXf. ; Friedr. Delitzsch, Das Buch Hiob (1902), pp. 13ff . ; Volz, Das Buch Hiob (in Schriften des Alt. Test. ed. Gressmann), pp. If., 17; G. A. Barton, The Book of Job (1911), pp. 2, 7; J. Strahan, The Book of Job (1913), p. 23. THE PROLOGUE 27 As the refutation of this view of the book will be included in the next chapter (and also in the synopses of the various speeches of Job), where it will be shown that the Prologue and the Dialogues are knit together by unity of character and action, we may limit ourselves here to a brief discussion, for the purpose of disposing of certain preliminary matters : (1) The Job of the Dialogues is no less at one with his God than the Job of the Prologue ; in a sense, indeed, he enjoys a deeper union. His old tranquillity of mind has of necessity given way to anguish and bitterness, but he clings the more closely to his God. To Him he turns for comfort, and to Him he looks for vindication — He is his refuge and his strength. Even at the very beginning of the debate, when the friends are shocked at what they consider his blasphemy, Job makes it clear that their judgment wrongs him, that his aim in life is to know that he is in harmony with "the requirements of the Holy One:" "Would that my prayer might be fulfilled, That God might grant that for which I yearn, That it might please God to crush out my life, That He might loose His hand and cut me off : And I should still have the consolation, So that I could leap for joy withal my relentless anguish, That I have not denied the requirements of the Holy One." (6. 8-10.) His challenge that God make known to him his sin he prefaces with the declaration : "This indeed hath been my support (i.e., that he can account to God for his conduct), For the godless cannot approach Him." (13. 16.) And his passionate description of God's merciless attack on him he follows up with the fervent prayer : 28 THE BOOK OF JOB "Let the earth not cover my blood, Let there be no place for my outcry. Even now my witness is in Heaven, He that voucheth for me is on high. And since my friends deride me, My streaming eyes are turned to God That He may plead for a man with God And take sides in the conflict between a man and his fellow men. Give Thou surety for me before Thee ! Who else would pledge himself for me?" (16. 18-21, 17. 3.) This assurance that he has God on his side runs through the entire poem; it receives more emphatic expression in each successive part, until the climax is reached in the triumphant declaration : "Would that He might hear me ! I stake my life on it that the Almighty will hear my prayer. Then verily, I will carry upon my shoulders The bill of indictment that my opponent hath preferred ; I will adorn myself with it as with a crown. I will account to Him for every one of my steps. He will weigh me in the balance of righteousness, God will acknowledge my integrity." (31. 35-37, 6.) These declarations show that though Job wrestles with God, his faith in Him is at bottom unshaken. His oft repeated cry that God has wronged him, has robbed him of his right, does not admit of the interpretation that the Job of the Dialogues is in revolt against God. It is against the wrong conclusions which have been drawn from his affliction that Job rebels. His invectives are not directed against God, but against the un tenable theological views of his age, in particular, and most vehemently, against the belief in retributive justice; To show THE PROLOGUE 29 the injustice of this belief and to rouse compassion for his own fate, he protests again and again that his affliction has not been incurred by guilt, but that he is the victim of God's cruel attack ; for Job's keenest suffering is not caused by his physical misery, but by the stigma which his visitation has cast upon him in the eyes of his fellow men. His pathetic pleading with his friends for sympathy (19. 19, 21f.) is especially enlightening in this regard : "My intimate friends abhor me, Those I have loved have turned against me. Have pity, have pity on me, O my friends, For the hand of God hath struck me ! Why do ye persecute me like God, Why can ye not get enough of feasting on my body?" Equally illuminating is the wish with which he follows up this appeal : "Oh, let my words be written down, Let them be inscribed in a book ; Oh, let them be written in lead with an iron pen, Or be cut in the rock to be preserved forever !" J He is unable to make any impression on his own age, as repre sented by his cultured friends — "their hearts," he says, " God hath closed to understanding." 2 But he is none the less de termined that his innocence shall be recognized. He would, therefore, have his words preserved, in the hope that some future, more spiritually minded age may bring to them the understanding they deserve. (2) The Dialogues are primarily concerned, just as the Prologue is, with the question whether such a thing as dis- 1 As Deut. 5. 26, Ps. 14. 7, mi jitten expresses a wish, but not a wish past realization. 2 17. 4. 30 THE BOOK OF JOB interested piety or love of virtue for virtue's sake exists. As a matter of fact, the Dialogues are far more unequivocal in their answer to this question than is the Prologue, for in them Job repeatedly affirms that his clear conscience is the one link which still binds him to his Maker, and says, in effect, that the knowledge of his virtuous life outbalances his shame, and is a source of comfort, even of happiness to him, in his suffer ing. The detailed proof of this point will be contained in the next chapter and in the synopses of the various speeches of Job ; one passage, however, may be cited here in order to show the prominence given this thought of love of virtue for virtue's sake even in such speeches as chaps. 16-17. Job, after describ ing how God has stricken him with death, although his hands have committed no wrong and although his prayer has been genuine, concludes: "Yet the righteous man will cling to his way, And he who hath pure hands will gain in strength." 1 (3) As to "Satanic agency," it does not figure in the Pro logue any more than in the Dialogues. As in the latter, so in the former, Job considers God the author of his affliction, as may be seen from his expression of submission to God, "The Lord hath given, the Lord hath taken away, Praised be the name of the Lord ! " and from his answer when tempted by his wife, " Shall we accept the good at God's hands, and not also the evil ?" In the mind of the writer of the story, too, it is in reality God, and not the Satan, who inflicts all the suffering on Job. This is shown by the words he puts in the mouth of Yahweh when addressing the Satan in the second Scene in Heaven : "Thou didst incite me to ruin him without cause." 1 See 16. 9, 12-17, 17. 8-9. THE PROLOGUE 31 9. The Figure of the Satan There is nothing strange or contradictory in this. On the contrary, it harmonizes with the fact that the Satan as repre sented in the scene in Heaven is essentially different from the Satan met with in the later Jewish and in Christian literature. Unlike the latter, who, cast out of Heaven for his rebellion against God, has set up an independent dominion, and who for the pro motion of his evil power seeks to accomplish men's spiritual ruin by tempting them to sin, the Satan of the Prologue oc cupies rank and place in the heavenly entourage, and is under orders from God, doing only what God has empowered him to do. Furthermore, the name Satan is in our story, unlike the usage in I Chron. 21. I,1 as yet not a proper name, but, as the prefixed article shows, an appellative, denoting the prov ince of this agent of God. The case is analogous to Zech. 3. If. The figure of the Satan in Zechariah, as Marti points out, was not taken over from the popular belief of the time, but is an invention of the prophet. It is a piece of symbolism, a personification of the troubled conscience of the people — troubled because their unexpiated guilt must militate against their restoration.2 In like manner the Prelude in Heaven in Job is an invention of the writer. It is a dramatic expedient employed to bring out the purpose and central idea of the drama.3 The name the Satan was in all probability suggested to both Zechariah and the writer of Job by the story, Nu. 22. 22- 35, of the angel who placed himself as satan, i.e., as "an adver sary," in Balaam's way, while the idea of a heavenly council and 1 1 Chron. 21. 1 is the first evidence of Satan's being conceived of as the tempter of men. In the older version, II Sam. 24. 1, it is important to note, David's temptation is charged to Yahweh (as is similarly Pharaoh's obstinacy in Exod. 4. 21, 7. 3, 9. 12). 2 See Marti, Zwei Studien zu Sacharja in ThStK. LXVI, 1 (1892), pp. 209-219, 225-236, and Das Dodekapropheton, p. 408. 3 See Chapter II. 32 THE BOOK OF JOB entourage was furnished to our author by popular notions of his age about God and the heavenly beings surrounding Him. As an earlier parallel to the Scene in Heaven, Micah ben Jimlah's vision, I Ki. 22. 19-23, may be mentioned. It must be added, however, that except for the idea of the heavenly council it self, the two are so different that the Scene in Heaven cannot possibly have been modeled after Micah's description. The view just expressed about Satan and the Scene in Heaven receives additional support from the verse, "May it be cursed by those skilled in cursing the day, by those expert in arousing Leviathan," 3. 8, when taken in conjunction with 7. 12, 9. 13, 26. 12 f., and Is. 51. 9, and 27. 1. These passages show that the later belief in Satan developed out of the Assyrian-Baby lonian Ti&mat-myth, probably through fusion with the Per sian Ahriman-myth ; 1 and further, that although the Tiamat- myth was known in Israel as early as the time of Deutero- Isaiah, the name Satan had as yet no place in it when Job was written, nor even fifty years or more later, when the apocalypse Isaiah 24-27 originated. The proper names by which this demon of darkness and evil was known were Rahab and Leviathan, and its appellatives were the Dragon, and the fleeing dragon or serpent, and also the coiled serpent. The name Satan was not applied to the demon until later, when the import of the Scene in Heaven and of Zech. 3. If. was no longer understood, and what was meant to be imaginative and poetic was taken literally. The first evidence of the fusion of the Tiamat- with the Ahriman-myth and of the conquest of Jewish thought by Dualism is found in the apocalypse Isaiah 24727. In this apocalypse, though Tiamat is not yet called Satan, her transformation to Ahriman-Satan is completed. This is shown by the fact that the two notions characteristic of the transformation are met with in the apocalypse : — (1) that the conflict between the god of light and the god of dark- 1 See commentary on Job 3. 8. THE PROLOGUE 33 ness would reach its consummation at the end of time when the latter would be definitely vanquished by the former ; and (2) that Tiamat- or Ahriman-Satan, the god of darkness and evil, is the cause of the supreme evil of the world, death,1 and that in the realm of death he holds rule. The second notion is indirectly brought out by the fact that the hope expressed in 26. 19-21 for the resurrection of the nation's dead 2 is followed with the declaration : "In that day God will punish Leviathan, the fleeing ser pent, and Leviathan, the coiled serpent, with His fierce, great, and mighty sword, and He will kill the Dragon in the sea." 3 With this apocalypse a retrogressive movement sets in in the re ligious development of Israel. The consistent monotheism of the prophets, which had maintained itself for four centuries, and which produced its ripest fruit in the Book of Job, yields to Dualism. The new doctrine gained entrance into Jewish religious thought hand in hand with Eschatology,4 the central hope of which, the belief in a resurrection and a life after death, is emphatically denied in the Book of Job. 1 Note the way death is spoken of in this apocalypse in 25. 7f. 2 That resurrection in the literal sense is meant foUows also from 25. 8, "He wiU annihilate death forever." 3 The original domain of Tiamat was the primeval sea, and the identi fication of the two explains not only "the Dragon in the sea," but also "Leviathan, the coUed serpent," the latter being a mythological term for the ocean which surrounds the earth. In Is. 26. 21 the original text read piha for damoeha, as may safely be concluded from 2 Rabbu gabu, rabbu adahu; the words open with melluh, "cover him'' (i.e. with earth). The opening phrase, melluh, to my mind, points to the conclusion that in this Arabic variant the original form of the hturgical formula has been preserved. (The formula has been published together with other litanies by A. Musil, Arabia Petraea, III, p. 427.) 3 See on this point Musil, ib., p. 227f., and Noldeke, in Gottingsche Gelehrte Anzeigen, 1908, pp. 758ff. THE PROLOGUE 37 fact that Job is quoting a proverbial phrase.1 (3) As to the composite jir'ath jhwh of 28. 28, it is a stereotyped phrase, oc curring in twenty-two other instances, while jir'ath 'elohim is found only three times,2 and jir'ath 'ehhenu 3 and jir'ath shaddaj each only once, the latter in Job 6. 14. Since in the days of our writer this phrase was constantly in the mouth of the people, just -as our word religion is to-day, it was but natural that he should have followed the common usage in this particular case, where he has Job express the central truth of the book. (4) Finally, as to the use of the name Yahweh in the Scene in Heaven and in the formulary verses of God's revelation amidst the storm, of which 42. 7-9, 11 forms the original con clusion, it requires but a moment's reflection to see that, in asmuch as both scenes are based on primitive notions about Yahweh, the writer, by using the name Yahweh, showed his fine sense of what was fitting to the situation. 1 See above, p. 17. 2 Gen. 20. 11, II Sam. 23. 3, and Neh. 5. 15. 3 Neh. 6. 9. CHAPTER II THE MEANING OF JOB The customary classification of the Book of Job as "Wis dom-Literature" is a mistake. The book does not belong with the didactic poetry of the Bible ; rather, as a number of scholars have pointed out, it is a drama 2 — not, to be sure, a finished drama conforming to set rules of structure as in the Greek and the modern sense of the term, but a true drama, none the less, in spirit and purpose. The irregularity of form which it shows, especially the combination of the epic with the dramatic form, has many parallels in the earlier and cruder stages of dramatic production. It is quite a common feature in the Miracle-plays of mediaeval times,2 and is to be found in the English drama as late even as Shakespeare's time.3 It occurs also in the ancient Hindu drama.4 The Job-drama proper is presented in the Dialogues. True, the Dialogues abound in speculation and reflection, and convey 1 The first to recognize it as such was Theodore of Mopsuestia ; Luther also observed that it was essentially dramatic: "es ist schier, wie man ein Spiel agiret." Of modern scholars that hold this view, cf. Ewald, op. cit, pp. 15 and 60 ; Umbreit, Das Buch Hiob, p. XXXIII ; Hupfeld in Zeitschr. f. christhche Wissenschaft, 1850, No. 35ff., Frz. Delitzsch, op. cit, p. 15 ; Zockler, op. cit, p. 7 ; Klostermann, op. cit, p. Ill ; Strahan, op. cit, p. 22. 2 Cf. e.g. Harrowing of Hell (in English Miracle-plays ed. A. W. PoUard) and Resurrection (in The Towneley-plays ed. G. England), both of which have a prologue in narrative form. 8 Cf. Old Wives' Tale of George Peele, the opening part of which consists of narration.* Cf. the melodrama Gitagovinda, the various parts of which are intro duced with narrative verses explaining the situation. 38 THE MEANING OF JOB 39 certain moral conclusions of the author, and for this reason they bear on the surface something of a didactic character. They are, however, in essential respects far from being a didactic poem. They do not set forth abstract truth or morality per se, as do for instance the Dialogues of Plato, or as does the book of Ecclesiastes ; instead, they unroll before our eyes the con flict waged in the soul of a man whom we feel to be a living, sentient human being like ourselves. They present truth and morality, but they present it through the mind and life of the suffering hero Job. They are essentially a drama of the human soul. With the opening of the Dialogues the center of interest is shifted from the outer to the inner world, from rapidly moving events to concentrated thought and reasoning ; and from this point on we find ourselves no longer concerned with the suc cessive strokes of misfortune which have befallen the hero, but with the struggle which these calamities produce in his mind. The swiftness of movement and the diversity of scene and incident which mark the Prologue give way to psycho logical effects, to emotional climaxes and trenchant reasoning, accompanied withal by a wealth of poetic imagery and an intensely dramatic development of the ideas, which take the place of plot. Step by step the conflict in Job's soul is revealed to us. We see him bewildered at God's inexplicable harshness, weighed down by his appalling afflictions, goaded beyond endurance by the coldness and suspicion of his friends, those one-time chosen friends of his spirit of whose understanding and sym pathy he had felt confident. We see him passionately re pudiating the suspicion cast on his integrity by the undeserved calamities with which God has visited him, proclaiming his inno cence again and yet again, and asserting that it is God's treat ment of him which requires explanation, not his own thoughts or conduct — these are open and above reproach. We see him 40 THE BOOK OF JOB searching, reasoning, wrestling, until it comes to him that in spite of all appearances he is not really cut off from his God. We see him thus through the sheer force of his own moral sense rising to a larger conception of God and of His rule of the world, ., and as the intolerance of the friends becomes more fanatic, and ; their distrust and disaffection more pronounced, finding ever greater comfort in the reflection that in spite of his afflictions God is on his side, and in the conviction that grows on him that He will one day vindicate him before his fellowmen. We see him, finally, transported by this assurance, rising above bis fate and humbly rejoicing in the knowledge of his one ness with God. His trials are still with him, but what are physical suffering and material losses to him who has sur rendered himself to the unfathomable wisdom of an infinite God? This unfolding of the processes going on in the mind of Job constitutes the sole action of the drama. The dramatic in cidents narrated in the Prologue, the plot laid in Heaven and its execution on earth, are but the means employed to set the real drama in motion and to illuminate its general purpose, which might otherwise be dark. (A similar dramatic expedient is God's revelation amidst the storm in the concluding act.) By the altercation between God and the Satan the purpose and tendency are at once disclosed. God in vouching for the steadfastness of Job defends, in effect, the proposition that there is such a thing as disinterested piety in man, such a thing as real, unselfish love for the good — with the corollary that once the love for the good is firmly implanted in the human heart, no power in heaven or on earth can avail to uproot it. The Satan for his part scoffs at the idea of disinterested piety, or any real nobility of soul in man, and claims that material considerations, the hope of reward and the fear of punishment are the sole motive power back of human virtue. The contention of the Satan that man in his service of God THE MEANING OF JOB 41 is actuated by ulterior motives was not entirely without basis. The Satan had the theology of those times back of. him to bear him out. The current theology was permeated with the be lief that the good are rewarded with material prosperity and the wicked punished with adversity. If a man succeeded in pleas ing God, he might hope to be prosperous ; if he displeased Him, he must expect His vengeance. By reason of this belief piety was little more than a selfish bartering with God, as the Satan maintained. It was the piety inspired by utilitarian motives, the do ut des worship of God characteristic of all primitive religion. To relegate this notion of piety to the scrap-heap of an out- w6rn theology, and to establish? in its" place a larger concep tion, more particularly to show that there Js a service of God not prompted by hope of reward or fear of punishment, but \ springing eternal from the divine depths of man's being, was j the author's purpose in writing the Book of Job. The heavenly scene in the Prologue, by which with poetic audacity he makes God his ally in this undertaking, is nothing short of a master stroke. If this purpose of the drama is kept in mind, the introduc tion of the friends will appear in the proper perspective. The three friends are subordinate figures, engaging our attention only in so far as they serve to provoke the mental reactions of the hero. Their business is to state the doctrine which Job is meant to refute. They are the exponents of the re ligious views of their age, upholders of tradition, and as such, all three, without appreciable difference, tenaciously defend the doctrine of retributive justice. Disavowing the right to independent judgment, they insist that traditional lore alone can lay claim to authority ; it possesses to their minds the divine sanction inasmuch as it embodies the wisdom im parted to the past by revelation, while human judgment or individual opinion, lacking this sanction, is of necessity fallible and deceptive. 42 THE BOOK OF JOB "Inquire of the bygone ages," Bildad admonishes, "Turn to the wisdom of the fathers, For we are but of yesterday and know nothing ; But they, they will be able to teach thee, Will be able to draw from their minds words of authority." (8. 8-10.) And Eliphaz says : "I will impart knowledge unto thee — hear me ! That which my mind hath perceived I will tell, That which the wise have recorded of the lore received from their forefathers." (15. 17-18.) For Job, however, inherited beliefs do not possess this in violate character. He assumes the right to test the validity of the fathers' wisdom, and to reject what does not coincide with his experience. So we find him referring contemptuously to the cherished beliefs of his age as "time-honored notions," and boldly calling them "rubbish." * This fact, that the friends insist on the infallible authority of traditional belief, while Job relies on his own judgment as the final arbiter, accounts for the essential difference between the attitude of Job and that of his friends on the question of how to explain the sudden calamity that has befallen him. The stricken Job is bewildered at God's visitation, but not so the friends. They are not for a moment at a loss how to ac count for his affliction. For them, there is only one conclu sion possible in accordance with the doctrine of retributive justice. Of a certainty, he has offended God! Adversity in Job's day was the sure proof of guilt — this must be re membered. The more crushing a man's calamity, the plainer it was that he was suffering the Divine wrath incurred by his sins. 1 See 13. 12. THE MEANING OF JOB 43 This is the light in which the friends view Job's misfortunes, not only in the Dialogues, but also in the Prologue. In the Prologue, indeed, they express their verdict more effectively than they do by their tirades later — their silence is far more eloquent than words. They come with the avowed inten tion of offering consolation to Job, but when they behold his "most terrible affliction," when they find him smitten with leprosy, they see the unmistakable proof of God's displeasure,1 and instead of showing sympathy, "they rend their garments," before they venture into his presence, " and sprinkle dust over their heads by casting it heavenward." By this strange per formance they mean to express, not grief on Job's account, but rather solicitude on their own ; they seek to ward off the danger of becoming affected themselves by the curse that has been visited upon Job. That this is the significance of the rites performed by the friends may be deduced from various sources which supple ment one another, notably Acts 22. 22f. These verses tell how, when Paul by his own confession had been proved guilty of apostasy, the people, demanding that he be put to death, "cried, and rent2 their garments, and threw dust into the air." The customary explanation that this behavior on the 12. 13. HakkS'eb does not mean, as generally translated, "his grief" (in this case the writer would have said ke'ebo), but "the affliction" as the Greek, in fact, understood the phrase, £6pwv -yap ttjv irKrry^v Seiv^v oiaav; with this meaning Web occurs again, Is. 17. 11. The words, "for they saw that the affliction was very terrible," have reference, not to Job's erstwhUe calamities, but to the affliction they have beheld with their own eyes, his affliction with leprosy, that is. The leper, it must be remembered, was considered "the one smitten and afflicted by God" par excellence (Is. 53. 4), or as he is caUed in Arabic "the cursed by God" (mukatalatu 'Uahi). He has, like Job, to sit outside the city or yfflage on the ash-heap of burned animal-dung (the mazbala), and exhibit himself as an accursed one and caU out "Unclean, unclean !" so as to warn passers- by not to approach him. 'According to the more accurate rendering of K. Weizsacker, Das Neue Testament. 44 THE BOOK OF JOB part of the people was merely the expression of wild fanati cism 1 is far afield. The people were in reality performing the rites customary under such circumstances. This follows from the Talmudic law in Mishna Synhedrin 7. 5 pertaining to the related case of blasphemy. The law specifies that in a trial when the witnesses testify that the offense was committed, the court and the bystander must rend their garments. The Gemara, 60 a, significantly adds that the reason that the wit nesses are not required to do likewise is that they naturally performed these rites at the time the offense happened. On the question, why these rites are performed both by those that have been witnesses of the act of apostasy or blasphemy and by the friends before venturing into Job's presence, light is shed by the precept attributed to Mohammed by Abdallah b. Umar: "The prophet said, 'Do not enter these places that have been visited with punishment, except you weep. If you do not weep, you shall not enter them lest that which has be fallen them befall you also.' " 2 J. Pedersen correctly remarks in explanation : "The places visited with punishment are those upon which a curse rests. If any person were to enter there, he would become affected by the curse. He, however, who puts himself in a state as of one accursed will not be harmed by the curse, having made himself immune against it." 3 It is safe to deduce that the rending of his garments by the person wit nessing an act of blasphemy, or as in the case of Paul's apostasy, the rending of his garments accompanied by crying and the throwing of dust into the air,4 was meant to serve as a safeguard against the curse which, it was believed, would be visited on the offender.5 This deduction is further established by the 1 Cf. e.g., J. Holtzmann, Hand-Commentar z. Neuen Testament 2 Al-Buhari, K. al-salat, no. 53. ' * Der Eid bei den Semiten (1914), p. 102. 4 By "threw dust into the air" is reaUy meant that, as in Job 2. 12, they cast it upward in such a way that it would fall on their heads. 6 By any or all of these practices, crying, throwing dust over his head, THE MEANING OF JOB 45 fact that the law applying to blasphemy in Synhedrin is supple mented in Nedarim babli 7 6 by the regulation that "he who hears his fellowman commit blasphemy must put him under the ban else he himself shall be put under the ban." In the light of these facts, the real meaning of Job's re proach to his friends, " When ye saw the terror, ye were seized with fear," (6. 21) is at once plain. His words are a clear ref erence to their behavior when they first behold Job's terrible visitation. They are shocked, not by the extent of his misery or by the sight of his horrible suffering, but by the certainty that he is under a curse. They fear for their own safety, and seek to divert God's wrath by the rites which they perform. This without a doubt is the significance of the friends' demon stration and their ensuing silence. Job knows this well, and the knowledge cuts him to the quick. He understands the friends. They believe him guilty and accursed. He will receive no sympathy from them. In a most beautiful passage, Job com pares his experience with his friends, who on their arrival deny him the sympathy for which he has been hoping, to the disap pointment of the Arabian traders, who on their homeward stripping off or tearing his garments, the person meant to put himself in a state as of one accursed. There is ample proof of this throughout Semitic hterature, as Pedersen, op. cit, pp. 97ff., has shown. Of the many examples given by him I shaU cite only the following : "When Amir was unable to procure blood-revenge for his slain brother Amr, he stripped off his garment, and sprinkled dust upon his head, like a man who has been outlawed or put under the ban, and cried, Wo unto Amr ! " (Ibn Hisham, 442, 8, Al-Wakidi, 52). Further, as Pedersen points out, "to throw dust 'I or gravel at a person was" among the Semites "considered an especially) / effective means of cursing him." To Pedersen's detafled discussion of this point it need only be added that the explanation of this custom is found in the common Semitic curse, "Dust in thy mouth! " which means really May the dust of the grave cover thy face — as frequently elsewhere, 'afar is ellipsis for afar maweth. Proof of this may be seen in the verse which Hudba recited when, after he had carried on a series of feuds, he gave himself up to the enemy-tribe : "Has not the raven (the bird of ill omen) croaked at thee, at midday? Shall not, therefore, the dust of the grave be in thy mouth?" (Hamasa, Scholion, 235, 1. 15.) 46 THE BOOK OF JOB journey in the summer, find dried up the rivers which, when they set out on their expedition in the fall, were full and over flowing : "My brethren have disappointed me like mountain streams, Like watercourses that pass away. Once turbid from icewater, flooded by the melting snow, When scorched by the sun, they dwindle, When it groweth warm, they disappear from their place. The paths of their course wind, they rise into the void and vanish. The caravans of Teima look for them, the traders of Sheba long for them. They are disappointed because they trusted in them ; When they come to them, they are confounded. So have ye been disappointing to me : When ye saw the terror, ye were seized with fear." (6. 15-21.) Against the injustice and cruelty of the friends' belief in his guilt and their silent condemnation Job's heart revolts, and after enduring the tension for several days, he finally gives vent to his feelings in the passionate outburst which opens the poem 1 : " Perish the day that I was born, The night that it was said, ' It is a boy !' May that day be dark ; may God above take no heed of it, May no light shine on it." (3. 3-4.) Job's cursing of his day increases in dramatic intensity as he proceeds. Better never to have been born than to endure such 1 The abruptness of this opening iUustrates a peculiarity of Biblical style, which I discussed at length in The Prophets of Israel, pp. 37, 91 ff . In the present case, however, the abruptness is not reaUy so pronounced as it seems to be to the modern reader. At the time the book was written, the purpose of the friends' rites was perfectly clear to everybody. No explana tion of the rites was necessary, nor of the bitter indignation they excited in Job. THE MEANING OF JOB 47 misery. Pleasant and alluring, in contrast, is death — death, he continues, extending his reflections to mankind in general, wliich puts an end to weariness and drudgery, which wipes out all class-distinctions, and brings rest and freedom to the op pressed. He concludes his reflections with the bitter question : "Why is light given to the wretched, life to those weary of soul, Who yearn in vain for death, who seek it more eagerly than hidden treasure, Who would rejoice beyond measure, would exult if they could find the grave ? Why is Ught given to a man whose way hath become dark Because God hath hedged him in ? " (3. 20-23.) By this question, which touches on the destiny of man, or what in the author's mind was equivalent to this, the dealings of God with man, we get a hint of the purpose of the book (as unfolded in the Prologue) in its larger and more philosophic aspects. The question, it is important to note, shows Job, not rebelling against God, but mystified by the inexplicableness of His ways with man, and casting about for some explanation.1 The friends, however, look upon Job's outburst as little short of blasphemy, and feel confirmed in the suspicions they have entertained of him from the start. They consider his reflec tions as equivalent to a denial of retributive justice, and ac cordingly, deem it their religious duty to take him to task. After the manner of fanatics they, Eliphaz like the others, heap upon him the most heartless taunts and accusations. One after another, they expatiate on the doctrine of retributive justice, showing how really unassailable (to their way of thinking) it is. They concede, in accordance with the view of their day, that temporarily the righteous may suffer, or the wicked prosper, 1 For the fuUer discussion of this point see comment on 3. 23. 48 THE BOOK OF JOB but in the end, they aver, justice will surely be established — the righteous will be vindicated, the wicked will meet with dis aster. In explanation of the temporary suffering of the right eous, they advance another current idea of their age : " Can mortal be just in the presence of God, Can man be pure before his Maker ? " (4. 17.) x Eliphaz asks in his first discourse, and again, in a somewhat modified form, in his second.2 And Bildad in his concluding discourse reverts to this idea as if it were an absolute truth.3 They mean to say that man is necessarily imperfect in the sight of God, and that suffering and adversity are but the consequences of this human imperfection, but the means God employs to tell men that they have — whether consciously or unconsciously — fallen into sin. In having Eliphaz introduce the thought as a revelation, the writer has in view a twofold end — to lend color to Eliphaz's character, which he is portraying at the moment, and to make it plain that the thought in the mind of his con temporaries was invested with the authority of divine truth. According to the views of those days, any fundamental belief could be supplemented or modified only by new revelation. It is Job's task in the book, we know, to show the fallacy of the friends' views. Inasmuch, however, as up to the time of his affliction he had held these views himself, it is in reality his own search after the truth that is portrayed in the dramatic dialogue between him and his friends. The first part of the dialogue centers in the mental struggle which Job is undergoing. The creed which he inherited from his fathers has been shaken, his old beliefs are vanishing and new ideas taking shape in their 1 Note that this idea occurs, with a different application and differently expressed, in Ps. 143. 2, a psalm which is in no wise dependent on or other wise related to the Book of Job : "Do not deal with Thy servant according to the standard of strict justice, for in Thy sight no hving man can be righteous." 2 15. 14. » 25. 4. THE MEANING OF JOB 49 place ; yet his faith in God remains firm. Though he wrestles with, even challenges God, yet he turns to Him as to a refuge and pleads for light upon his darkened path.1 Job finds himself no longer able to answer in the affirmative the question whether the infinite God directs man's destiny in accordance with man's idea of justice. His own particular case, as well as careful observation of life in general, have taught him that the ills of nature fall indiscriminately upon the good and the wicked, that no trace of justice is to be found in the distri bution of disease, accident, or any of the scourges incidental to human life. It is as if the relentless power back of all were but mocking the innocent victim: " Innocent am I ! . . . Yet it is all the same ! Therefore do I maintain, The innocent and the wicked alike doth He annihilate. If the scourge slayeth its victims suddenly, He mocketh at the despair of the innocent." (9. 21-23.) In answer to the view expressed by the friends that human suffering is justified by the sinful nature of man, Job urges that since God chose to make man frail, and unstable of nature, it would better befit Him to be indulgent, and forgive man's sins than to be ever intent on punishing him for his errors, and meting out vengeance for his shortcomings : " Doth it become Thee to crush me, And to despise the work of Thy hands ? " he exclaims. "Life and love Thou hast bestowed upon me, And Thy care hath guarded my spirit. Yet this Thou hast kept concealed in Thy heart, This, I know, Thou hast had in mind : Should I sin — and Thou art watching me for thai — 1 For the detaUed analysis on which my interpretation rests, see the Synopses of Job's speeches, 171ff., 179ff., 190ff., 206ff., 231ff. <50 THE BOOK OF JOB Thou wouldst not absolve me from my guilt. If I incur guilt, woe unto me ! And yet, if I am righteous, I may not lift up my head — I, sated with ignominy and steeped in misery." (10. 3, 12-15.) But more important than these negative thoughts is the positive reasoning that goes with them. A dim idea of the im measurable distance between the finite and the Infinite dawns upon Job's mind, and he perceives the essential fallacy involved in all man's thinking about God; for by reason of his finite intelligence, man is unable to conceive of God otherwise than as with human semblance, and as possessing human attributes. As yet, Job is unable to grasp the full import of this truth, as yet he does not see it in its relation to the problem of man's destiny. All that he can do at present is to take the com monly accepted thought that man cannot be just in the sight of God and present it in a new light. Unable to comprehend infinity, man, he says, cannot but be confounded at the thought of the infinite majesty of God. "Indeed I know that it is so : How could man be just in the presence of God ? If God consented to argue with him, Man could not answer Him one out of a thousand questions. Howsoever wise and courageous, Who could defy Him and escape unscathed — Him who shaketh the earth in its foundations, So that the pillars thereof totter ; Who enjoineth the sun not to rise And sealeth up the stars ; Who alone spreadeth out the heavens, And holdeth dominion over the billows of the sea ? If He passed by me, I should not perceive Him. If He swept past, I should not be aware of Him. • If I called and He answered, THE MEANING OF JOB 51 I should not believe that He had given ear unto my voice. Even if my cause were just, I could not respond, I should have to implore the mercy of my opponent." (9. 2-8, 11, 15-16.) Quite as important is Job's discovery of another truth while this conflict is raging in his heart. It is borne in upon him that there is nothing irreligious about revealing one's doubt and pouring out one's despair to God. On the contrary, the fact that he can speak out his mind to Him even now when bowed down under his mysterious affliction, proves how clear is his conscience, and how really close he is to God. So convinced is Job that his wrestling with God is a sign, not of estrange ment, but of intimacy, that he now more emphatically than ever asserts his innocence. Though he realizes that his life has been far from perfect, that time and again he has of necessity fallen short of his aspirations, he yet claims that, as far as such a thing is humanly possible, he has lived in conformity with God's moral law. Come what may, even let God, in His omnipotence, kill him, he will still aver that his conduct has been beyond reproach : " If He killeth me — well and good ! I have nothing to hope for. Only my conduct I desire to justify to His face. This indeed hath been my support, For the godless cannot approach Him. Behold I have set forth a just case, I know that I am guiltless. Who dare gainsay me ? Verily then I should have to die in silence." (13. 15-16, 18-19.) The consolation that Job finds in the knowledge that his con science is guiltless, and that he can face God without fear, grows 52 THE BOOK OF JOB' soon into something far more positive. His earlier bewilder ment vanishes, the feeling that God is bent on crushing him without reason or relenting gives way to an ever growing con viction that, in spite of what men would have him believe, God is really on his side and ultimately will champion his cause before the world. As this assurance reaches its height, it finds exultant expression in the famous outburst : " But I know that my Redeemer liveth, And that at last He will appear on earth. Even after my skin hath been torn from my flesh, Still will I cherish the hope that I shall see God. The heart in my bosom pineth That I may see Him, a champion in my behalf, Thatmyeyes may see Him, and not as an enemy." (19. 25-27.) Into this classic passage the Occidental Church, following Origines, has read a jselief in immortality and resurrection, ijan interpretation which not only has no basis in the passage itself, but which is, in fact, contradicted by the rest of the dramatic poem — by Job's emphatic denial of a life after death, 14. lif., 14, and by the fact that no cognizance of such a hope is taken in the denouement. It is for vindication in his lifetime, not after his death, that Job hopes. Not that he expects to be restored to health and prosperity — this he knows cannot be. He expresses the hope that God may reveal Himself to justify him and to attest to his innocence before all the world — a hope which is fulfilled in the denouement. All along Job has been assailing, more or less indirectly, the belief in retributive justice. Now the psychological moment has arrived for him to make a direct attack. Contrary to the view which the friends are untiringly reasserting, that sooner or later the wicked are overtaken by disaster, Job points out that they enjoy undisturbed prosperity to the end. Nay more, he tells them, the world is ruled by tyrants, and there is no THE MEANING OF JOB 53 chance of redress for the downtrodden masses from their power ful oppressors. Experience of life, he says in effect, will teach any one that in times of disaster it is the wicked upper classes that are spared, it is they who manage " to swim on the top " when the world is visited by appalling calamity. And not only do they retain their power and wealth through their lifetime, they are buried with pomp and ceremony at the end — their bier is followed by their fellowmen, and even their tomb is cared for long after they are dead. Then he describes the wickedness of every sort that is allowed to go on in the world, the fraud and oppression, the murder and rapine ; he dwells particularly on the cruel exploitation of the poor. "Yet God taketh no um brage." "There are those that commit land-robbery, That steal herds with the shepherd, That carry off the donkey of the orphan, And seize the ox of the widow, That even take the orphan from the mother's breast, And attach the infant of the poor. They thrust aside the needy. The poor of the land must hide. Lonely as wild asses in the wilderness, They go forth to their labor ; They must hunt the desert for sustenance, There is no harvest of their own for the homeless. They must harvest fields that are not theirs, The vineyard of the tyrant they must pick clean. • Naked must they pass the night for lack of clothes ; They have no covering to protect them from the cold. From the downpour of the mountains they are drenched, They must embrace the bare rock for want of shelter. They must go naked, without garments, Hungry, they must carry the sheaves. 54 THE BOOK OF JOB Shut in by walls they must press the oil, Thirsty, they must tread the winepress. There are still others that shun the daylight, That know not its path, that abide not in its way ; In the dark the murderer riseth, killeth the poor and needy, And the thief goeth about in the night, Breaketh into houses under cover of the darkness. Out of the city come the groans of the dying, And the cries of the souls of the slain, calling for vengeance — Yet God taketh no umbrage." (24. 2-3, 9, 4-8, 10-11, 13-14, 16, 12.) These statements of Job very naturally stir the friends to wrath. More than ever convinced that their suspicions are well founded — do not his own words prove him a sinner? — they throw off the mask they have been wearing and give free rein to their fanaticism. Eliphaz wildly charges him with "sins without number," he specifies that he has unjustly at tached his brother's holdings and stripped people naked, that he has withheld his bread from the hungry, sent away the widow empty-handed, and crushed the arm of the orphan.1 In reply to these baseless charges, Job under oath asseverates his innocence. He calls God's unceasing punishment down upon his head if his conduct has been otherwise than blameless, if he has not rigidly lived up to the demands of morality, if his life has not been one of purity, and of love and service to his fellowmen. To admit that he has sinned would be to do vio lence to his inmost convictions and shatter his soul's integrity. On the contrary, with greater assurance than ever he declares that he treasures the knowledge of his virtuous life, and that he will cling to it while he lives : 1 22. 4-9. THE MEANING OF JOB 55 "As God liveth who hath robbed me of my right, The Almighty, who hath grieved my soul, As long as my spirit is within me, The breath of God in my nostrils, Verily my lips shall not speak untruth, Nor my tongue utter falsehood. God forbid that I concede that ye are right ! Till I die, I will not part with my integrity. My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go. My heart need not blame any of my days." (27. 2-6.) To grasp the full import of these verses one must bear in mind the view that prevailed in those days in regard to sin and piety. For the friends, as for the world in general, sin_ was far from Joeing well defined in the abstract, or easy of detection m particular instances. It was a most troublesome, elusive thing. A man could never be sure just how he might have offended the deity. The fear of having provoked the wrath of God by some secret sin looms up large in the literature of those times. Besides, there was always the danger of com mitting sin in one's thoughts. To permit doubt to enter one's mind, to question or deny (as Job has been doing) the validity of any religious belief was the worst kind of impiety, equivalent to renouncing God. But for Job all this uncertainty about sin, in fact, the whole false conception of sin and piety, has ceased to exist. The only sin he recognizes is disobedience to God's moral law, as we see from the detailed list of sins in the oath in which he asseverates his innocence. TJms Job shows himself the spiritual heir of the prophets. Like them, he comes to realize that the relation between God and man is a purely moral relation, that righteousness is the one bond which can bring man close to God. Accordingly, he avers that the conscious ness of his righteous life, the knowledge that his "heart need not blame any of his days," fills him with strength and assurance, 56 THE BOOK OF JOB so that now in his extreme misery he can face his fellowmen with composure and turn to God in prayer. Were it not that he knows he has been living "in the presence of the Almighty," that he has kept to His way and "has not swerved from it," he would be completely crushed by his affliction : "If I hid transgressions, as men are wont to do, If I sought to conceal iniquity in my bosom, Truly I should have to dread the great crowd, The contempt of the people would terrify me, I should have to be silent, I could not venture out of doors. And what should I do when God appeareth, When He visiteth the earth, what should I answer Him ? Verily, the fear of God would overcome me, I could not endure the apparition." (31. 33-34, 14, 23.) Job's tenacious assurance that he is blameless, that his life is in full harmony with God's behests, mounts in the closing words of his speech to the triumphant hope that God Himself will appear and approve his innocence : "Would that He might hear me ! (to reveal Himself) I stake my life on it that the Almighty will hear my prayer. Then verily I will carry upon my shoulders the bill of indictment That my opponent hath preferred (i.e. Eliphaz in his preceding speech), I will adorn myself with it as with a crown ; I will account to Him for every one of my steps, Like a prince will I approach Him. He will weigh me in the balance of righteousness, God will acknowledge my integrity." (31. 35-37, 6.) It is interesting to mark how this climax confirms the corre sponding climax at the close of Job's speech, chap. 19, and how both serve as an index at once to the mind of Job and the design of the author. THE MEANING OF JOB 57 To summarize the situation — Job, by his great calamity having found all his previous experience reversed, all his in herited notions belied, has come to search in thye_ depths x»f his own being for some clue that might lead to the stabiliza tion of his moral world. He has found this clue in his own moral consciousness, and from the uncertainty and confusion in which he has been floundering, following the collapse of his old world, he now emerges clear and assured, with a new and surer base beneath his feet. From this new and solid base he now proceeds to find the solution" of his problem, the prob lem of God's ways with man, which has been weighing upon him all along. He considers this question from two aspects : (1) Is there any retributive justice in this world? (2) What is the governing principle of the Divine world economy ? (1) We find that Job himselLbelieyes in retributive justice, but witfiT a very significant difference. He believes in retribu tion of a spiritual, not of a material, nature. We have just heard him declare that his clear conscience is his priceless good, in that it gives him strength to endure his affliction, and so fills his heart with comfort and joy, that he can at all times feel assured in the presence of God. And this he follows up with the complementary assertion that of this trust and assur ance the wicked man knows nothing — for him the omnipotent God is a tormenting presence, threatening him with destruction. By this twofold declaration Job makes it plain that retribution is no longer for him a matter of outer fortune but of inner expe rience. The wicked man, notwithstanding his material pros perity and selfish enjoyment of life, pays the penalty for his wrong-doing and wrong-thinking in his uneasy conscience and his unsatisfied soul : "What fellowship hath he with God on high, What communion with the Almighty in the heavens above ? Is He not a terror for the wicked, a dread for evil-doers? " 58 THE BOOK OF JOB The righteous man, however, whose foot " hath held fast to His path," possesses in the knowledge of his fellowship with God a source of infinite happiness, which remains un affected by bodily suffering and material privation. In other words, Job declares, as did Jeremiah two centuries earlier, that not material prosperity constitutes man's happiness, but rather the strength and peace of soul which come to him who lives a life of righteousness and purity, and is at one with God. This at-oneness with God, Job has learned through his suffering, is the only thing that counts, and the consciousness that he possesses this supreme good has been his mainstay under a well-nigh crushing fate. (2) As to the second side of the question, that of the principle governing the Divine world economy, Job answers that God's ways are beyond human comprehension — the Divine world economy must forever be a mystery. Absolute wisdom is not within the power of man to attain, it rests with God alone : "But where is wisdom to be found, And where is the home of knowledge? Man doth not know the way to it, It is not found in the land of mortals. It is hidden from the eyes of all living beings. God understandeth the way to it, He knoweth its home ; For He seeth to the ends of the earth, He beholdeth the vastness of the heavens." (28. 12 f ., 21, 23-24.) Even the material order of things is for man enshrouded in impenetrable mystery ; how much more then must the laws of the spiritual world surpass his understanding ? With his finite vision, man can never succeed in "penetrating the limits of the Godhead:" THE MEANING OF JOB 59 "Oh that I might know how to find Him, Oh that I might get to His abode ! If I go to the East, He is not there, To the West, I cannot perceive Him. If I seek Him in the North, I cannot behold Him, Nor can I see Him by turning to the South." (23. 3, 8-9.) "The Almighty we cannot find. He that is almighty in power and supreme in justice, He that aboundeth in righteousness, giveth no accounting." (37. 23.) And his description of the mystery in which the visible material world is veiled, Job concludes with the following words : "Lo, these wonders are but the outer edges of His ways; Only a whisper of Him do we catch. Who can perceive the thunder of His omnipotence?" (26. 14.) By thus emphasizing the immeasurable distance between the finite and the Infinite, Job implies that if man could comprehend the mysterious^ ultimate relations of all things, if he could see the laws governing this limitless universe in the light of infinity, then those things which by reason of his finite point of view must now seem to him unjust would appear infinitely just and wise. Though from thelnetaphysical viewpoint Job does not get beyond this, though he finds no real solution to the problem of God's ways with man, and the question of human suffering remains a mystery to him, he does, nevertheless, in the light of his own spiritual experience reach a positive conclusion, a con clusion which is as final for us to-day as it was for him twenty- three hundred years ago. The abiding trust in God which fills his heart (and to which he has given expression times without number), together with ^ his new realization of the limitations of the human intellect, lead him to the recognition that there is a divine purpose at the 60 THE BOOK OF JOB root of man's nature and destiny, and that only in the absolute surrender to this divine purpose is the true aim of human ex istence fulfilled. Accordingly, he concludes his reflections on the immensity of God, "which mocketh understanding," with the pregnant words : vfr > "The fear of God, that is wisdom, / And to shun evil is understanding." The recognition of this eternal verity by Job marks the highest of the many high points of the book. It also marks the end of his titanic conflict. Through adversity and suffering, through affliction and doubt, amidst darkness and the shadow of death, Job has wrestled for an explanation of God's ways with man, and now from "the still small voice" in his heart comes the only positive answer that the human soul may ever hope to receive, the enunciation of the moral law. Only by the full quotation of the passage does its wonderful force become clear. God in His infinite wisdom, the wisdom " hidden from the eyes of all living beings," created the universe and fixed its laws. He prescribed the course for the wind and the thunderbolt, for every force in nature, but to man for his guidance He gave the moral law. In other words, Job says that the moral law inherent Jn man, with its absolute claim to obedience and its peremptory call to duty, is the one reality that constitutes human wisdom — it is the voice of God. "When He fixed the force of the wind, And measured the volume of the water, When He made the law for the rain, And laid down the course for the thunderbolt, Then did He see it (wisdom) and reveal it, Then did He enact it, yea, He plumbed its depths. And concerning man He said : 'The fear of God, that is wisdom, And to shun evil is understanding.'" (28. 25-28.) THE MEANING OF JOB 61 Thus Job's suffering is transmuted into spiritual triumph. Dramatic evidence of the transfiguration wrought in him is given in the closing scene of the drama, when in true humility of heart he falls down in worship of God, who has revealed Himself to him amidst the storm, and seals his act of worship by asking God's forgiveness for the friends who have maligned him. God's vindication of Job amidst the storm, which follows the spiritual climax of Job's discovery of the moral law, constitutes, so to speak, the grand climax of the drama. As a dramatic expedient, God's revelation amidst the storm ranks next to the Scene in Heaven, and contributes not a little to the poetic grandeur of the poem. Due largely to radical changes which the speeches of God suffered in the original, the purport of God's revelation is generally misunderstood. Fortunately, the Greek version has preserved the most important passages, which, in the f Hebrew, were tampered with by later editors. To understand the object of God's revelation as indicated by the plan and pur pose of the book, one must bear in mind that Job's fervid prayer, which he utters at the various heights of the dramatic action, is that God may reveal Himself to vindicate him and to attest to his innocence before all the world. So, when God does appear in the end, it is not in order to reprove Job, to humble him in the dust, but rather in order to comply with Job's prayer, to bear testimony to the truth of his claim that he has always lived in harmony with "God's holy behests." This is borne out, first of all, by the original opening of the speech of God as preserved in the Greek version. This original opening contains no disapproval of Job, but rather of the friends. Moreover, in its general tenor, it is strikingly in accord with Job's censure and warning to the friends expressed in Chap. 13 : "Do ye mean to defend falsehood in behalf of God, Or to uphold untruth for His sake ? Will ye be partial to Him? 62 THE BOOK OF JOB Will ye defend God ? Will it be well with you when He searcheth you out? Or do ye think that ye could deceive Him as ye can man? He shall judge you severely If ye secretly show Him partiality. Will ye not be terrified when He appeareth? Will ye not then be seized with fear of Him?" (vv. 7-11.) As if in fulfillment of this prediction of Job, God now from the stormcloud opens his speech with the following words of censure to the friends : " Who is it that seeketh to conceal his design from me, By holding back his words in his mind? '"- "'" Doth he think that he can hide them from me?" (Gk. 38. 2.) The genuineness of this opening is beyond suspicion. Such agreement with an essential and characteristic passage of the book, with the very inner sense of that passage, can be the work only of the original writer. Nothing so inherently fitting could have been produced by an interpolator.1 Still more conclusive than this opening is another verse of the speeches of God, found in the Greek version. Turning to Job, after He has finished His ironical address to the friends on the mysteries of the universe, God says : "Despise not my chastisement ! Dost thou think I would have revealed myself to thee, ! ., it- Were it not that thou mightst be proven righteous !" (Gk. 40. 8.) 1 It should be added that in the one example known of an interpolation expressing the writer's idea, the interpolation is limited to two words which are of no relevancy beyond the sentence in which they occur. It is found in an oration of Demosthenes and reads: ,"Ye wiU never accede to this" &s avSpes ikevOepoi Kal tinjOa.'s "as liberal and educated people." By a papyrus discovered in recent years, written several centuries before any of the other manuscripts, it has been shown that the original text read &s otpSpcs 'A&jvaToi ovres. THE MEANING OF JOB 63 In this verse, which is replaced in the Hebrew by a verse of the very opposite tenor,1 we have direct proof that the vindica tion of Job is the real purpose of God's apparition amidst the storm. This verse clears up so much that has been dark, and reconciles so much that has been at odds, that its im portance in the present stage of Job-criticism can hardly be overstated. It will be seen that God's appearance forms the true culmination toward which the entire action moves. As soon as 38. 2 and 40. 8 are substituted for the interpolated verses, the unity of action leaves nothing to be desired. With His ironical questions regarding the laws of nature and the conduct of the universe, God takes up the thread where Job left off, and brings into greater emphasis the thought enun ciated by Job, that absolute wisdom is found with God alone, and that man by reason of his finite intelligence cannot fathom the infinite wisdom of God, or comprehend the mystery of His rule. God's questions are addressed to the friends. Their original opening shows this beyond the possibility of a doubt. They would indeed have no raison d'etre if addressed to Job, since their burden is precisely that of Job's concluding speech which immediately precedes them, whereas, directed to the friends, who claim to have a full understanding of God's plan, they are most appropriate. The questions are calculated to show the puny friends the limitations of their mental horizon, the mockery of their belief that God's rule of the world could be reduced to such a simple formula as that of material retribution. This part of the speech of God is brought to an effective close with 40. 9-14.2 God, whose address to the friends so far has been a withering rebuke to them for their arrogance and cock- 1 "WUt thou annul my judgment? Wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be justified?" 2 40. 9-14, as both the interrogative form and the contents of 40. 9 indi cate, must originaUy have followed immediately after the series of ques tions addressed to the friends in chs. 38-39. 64 THE BOOK OF JOB sureness, now bids them put on the mantle of divine majesty and act the part of God (as they conceive it), pour out their wrath on the proud and mighty, and send the wicked straight way to their doom. By this piece of irony, even more than by His questions about the mysterious laws governing the universe, He gives the friends to understand that the inscrutable prin ciples of His method of dealing with the world and human affairs far transcend the naive principle of material retribution on which the system they conceive of is based. No argument against this view can be advanced from the formulary verse, 38. 1, "And God answered Job amidst the storm and said," for this verse in the form in which we have it, originated in aU probability with a later editor. Note in the first place the recurrence of the verse in 40. 6, where Job himself is addressed. It is safe to assume that the highly dramatic apparition of God must originaUy have been more fittingly introduced than by the mere words, "And God an swered . . . amidst the storm and said;" and, as a matter of fact, we have a direct indication of such an introduction in the definite article of se'ara; storm, being neither a name of matter or species, nor forming a comparison, could in Hebrew be used with the definite article only if it had already been mentioned. The fact that the questions are apparently addressed to one person, rather than to several, can in no wise invalidate our conclusions. It may be noted that when pronouncing His verdict against the friends God again does not ad dress the three conjointly, but EUphaz, as the eldest of the three. 38. 21 points to the assumption that here too it is EUphaz who is addressed : "Thou knowest it, dost thou not? For of yore thou wast born, and the number of thy years is many." The verse is clearly an ironical reference to EUphaz' claim (15. 10) to superior wisdom by reason of his advanced age. The explanation seems to lie in the fact that in cases of revelation or apparition it was the almost invariable custom to repre sent the Spirit or Deity as addressing only one person at a time. A final proof that the object of God's revelation is the vin dication of Job is furnished by the condemnation of the friends in 42. 7-9, which together with its sequel, v. 11, constitutes the original conclusion at once of the revelation-scene and of the book: THE MEANING OF JOB 65 "After Job x had spoken all these words, Yahweh said to Eli phaz, ' My wrath is roused against thee and thy friends, because ye have not spoken truthfully 2 to me as hath my servant Job. Now, take seven bullocks and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up burnt offerings for yourselves, and my servant Job shall pray for you. Verily, it is because I respect him that I brand you not as infamous for not having spoken truthfully 2 to me like my servant Job.' " This judgment pronounced by God against the friends for their intellectual dishonesty confirms more pointedly even than do His opening words the accusations made by Job. It will be remembered how in chap. 13 Job refers to the friends' de fense of the retributive justice theory as a defense of falsehood in behalf of God, an upholding of untruth for His sake, and how he stamps their defense as hypocrisy, for which they will be severely judged by God; and how again in chap. 27 he declares that his lips would "speak untruth," his "tongue utter falsehood," were he to admit that his affliction is war ranted by any personal guilt. It is obvious that, like the Prologue, this pronouncement of judgment by God against the friends must be an integral part of the author's design — without it God's vindication of Job would be less complete. It adds materially to the unity and dramatic effect of the whole. Following this complete vindication of his integrity, Job's act of worship hardly requires explanation : " I know that Thou canst do all things, That nothing is impossible with Thee. I have heard of Thee by report, 1 This original reading (instead of "After Yahweh had spoken ... to Job") has been preserved in both the Sahidic and the Bohairic translation of the Greek version. i 2 As to this meaning of nekhona, which forms here an adverbial accusa tive, cf. Ps. 5.10, "No truthfulness is in their mouth," et alit 66 THE BOOK OF JOB But now my eye hath beheld Thee, Therefore, though I am wasting away, I am comforted for my lot of dust and ashes." (42. 2, 5-6.) With a true sense of humility, and in his heart "the peace that passeth understanding," Job confesses that, however in explicable to him His dealings needs must be, he now knows God more profoundly than ever ; that though humbled by Him in the very dust, yet through sorrow and suffering he has come to know Him as the God of morality and boundless love. From the fullness of his heart he even prays to God to forgive the friends their insincerity. In the words of the sage, "The true hero is he who conquers all selfish desire " — Job has won the victory. By humbly searching after the truth, by ridding himself of all pride and egoism, he has lost his old self, and in so doing he has found his real self, and attained the true vision of life. And in this transport of self-realization, he embraces those who in their blind fanaticism have vied with one another in accusing him. This is the end — the end of the conflict and the end of the book ; and what a fitting end it is ! It will be remembered that it was on the thesis of the invincible power of the good that God had staked His honor in the opening scene in Heaven, and now, by this crowning victory of Job's, His thesis is vindicated, His confidence fulfilled. It is not merely a victory of Job's; we are made to feel it is God's victory — the triumph of the Eternal goodness that rules the world. Unfortunately, a later editor with little understanding for such spiritual conflict as is delineated in the book, and with a strong bias for some of the doctrines which Job was at such pains to refute, completely mistook the spirit and the purpose of this ending. He found it irreconcilable with his own belief in retributive justice. So to supply what he considered a de ficiency, he added the present conclusion of the book, in which THE MEANING OF JOB 67 Job is restored to health and prosperity and lives happily with his family forever after. We must forget this happy ending, and remember Job as the real author leaves him — still afflicted in body, but serene of soul, still shaken in his worldly fortunes, but issuing victorious from his moral encounters, and enjoying in consequence the approval of God. The Happy Ending, 42.10, 12-17, a Later Addition It has heretofore remained unnoticed that 42. 10 with its original continuation, w. 12-17, and v. 11 exclude each other; yet it requires only a moment's reflection to see that this is so. Verse 11 states, "Thereupon, all his brethren and sisters and all his former friends came to Job and ate bread with him in his house, and condoled with him and comforted him for all the affliction that God had brought upon him, and they gave him each a piece of money and a golden earring." If Job, however, as v. 10 tells, had really been restored to health and prosper ity, such condolence would have been absurd. His relatives and friends would not have condoled with Job and comforted him, but would have come to congratulate him and rejoice with him over his restoration to health and prosperity. It is self- evident that of these two endings that of vv. 10, 12-17 must be an addition by a later editor, and that v. 11 is the real and orig inal ending, for not only is this ending the only one consistent with the contents of the Dialogues, but it also fits in well with the Prologue, from which it receives meaning and point. The friends, the Prologue tells us, when they saw Job smitten with leprosy, sternly withheld their sympathy, but now that he has been vindicated by God, and they themselves denounced, they seek to make amends for the wrong they have done him. " They condole with him and comfort him," and seal their rec onciliation with him by holding a peace-feast in his house and by presenting him with gifts. Similarly, Gen. 31. 54 tells how 68 THE BOOK OF JOB Laban and Jacob celebrated their reconciliation with a peace- feast, and for our purposes it is important to note that the parallel version, v. 46, refers, like our verse in Job, to the meal only, making no mention of the animal-slaughter. This cus tom of sealing the reconciliation of two enemies with a peace- feast in the house of the one that has been wronged prevails to the present day among the Arabs in Syria.1 Not only the three friends, but all Job's friends and relatives make amends in like manner. All along they "have abhorred him and held aloof from him, and even forgotten him," 2 just as to this day, in the Orient, everyone refrains as a matter of course, even the nearest relatives, from visiting the leper on his ash-heap. As to the fact that the ending as we have it in v. 11 is the only one consistent with the Dialogues, it must be remembered that the object of the writer of Job was to disprove the age-long belief in retributive justice, and to show instead that there was such a thing as disinterested worship of God. By a happy ending of the drama he would have defeated his purpose and acknowledged the very principle he had been at such pains to refute. Furthermore, throughout the poem Job refuses to entertain the hope of recovery held out to him by the friends, if he but repent, insisting that he is fatally stricken, and that all hope is gone from him. The difference of opinion between Job and the friends on this point proceeds from a radical difference in their religious views. The friends believe in miracles; for them God manifests His omnipotence preeminently by suspend ing the course of Nature, whether in arresting the sun in its downward course, or in reviving the dead or dying. For Job the laws of Nature are immutable ; for him God's omnipotence manifests itself in His control of the universe in accordance 1 See S. I. Curtiss, Ursemitische Religion des Heutigen Orients (1903), p. 244f. » 19.13f., 19. THE MEANING OF JOB 69 with these eternal laws.1 Particularly instructive in this respect is 17. 12-16 with the parts originally belonging to it. For a moment Job's unshaken faith in God has triumphed over the grim reality, and he prays : "Let the earth not cover my blood, Let there be no place for my outcry !" But no sooner has he uttered his prayer than he realizes that he has been crying for the impossible. Referring to the friends' blindness in holding out hope to him, he says : " Night they pronounce day, In the face of darkness, they declare light to be nigh;" then he proceeds to describe how nothing is left him but the grave. Still more conclusive is 42. 6 : "Therefore, though I am wasting away, I am comforted for my lot of dust and ashes." This utterance shows that even after God's appearing and vin dicating him, Job has not changed his view about his fate, but considers his disease incurable. It follows from what has been remarked about the real ending of the book that the name Epilogue cannot be applied to it. 1 That this was the writer's view of God's control of the universe is brought out most convincingly by the speech of God. CHAPTER III 1. The Date of the Book of Job No unanimity prevails on the question of the date of the Book of Job. Opinions are divided as to whether the book was written during the last period of preexilic times, or during the exile, or in postexilic times.1 Further, those who hold that it is a product of postexilic times disagree in their turn as to the exact date. Some place it in the early Persian period (about 500 B.C.), while others rightly consider the later Persian period (about 400 B.C.) the most probable date. A few would place it as late as the third or even the second century B.C. This diversity of opinion is due to the fact that all direct evi dence about the time of origin is lacking. The book has no title- verse informing us about the name and time of the writer; neither does it contain any direct information on these matters in the body of the book. Nor has it such a patent historical background as we find e.g. in Isaiah 40-55 — a feature which makes the date of this latter work certain beyond doubt even though it was transmitted as the writings of Isaiah b. Amos. These remarks about the lack of direct data bearing on the time of origin of the book would be subject to modification, if from the mention of Job in Ezek. 14. 14-20 it followed that Ezekiel must have been familiar with the Book of Job. But this men tion, as we have seen, does not show that Ezekiel had any knowledge of it, in whole or in part.2 1 The older view which considered Job a product of the age of Solomon may be ignored as being untenable in the light of our present knowledge of the historico-religious development of Israel. 4 See pp. 8ff.j 70 DATE 71 For determining the date of the Book of Job we have to de pend altogether on indirect evidence, particularly on the pro gress of religious thought as illustrated in the book. For ascer taining this progress the problem and purpose of the book are of chief importance. The problem treated in Job, how the suffering of the righteous is to be reconciled with the postulate of a just God, presupposes the belief in individual retribution, a belief which was the direct j)utcoihe ofliterary prophecy. In ancient, preprophetic Israel religion was inseparahly bound up with the material and political conditions of the people's existence and was primarily the concern of the community ; its chief object was not the promotion of individual well-being but the furtherance of the common weal. This aim and this province of religion were determined by the principle of tribal solidarity and collective responsibility which held sway in those times. The whole conception of religion and society was shot through and through with this principle. It led to the effacement of the individual by merging him in the community, and made all members of the community alike responsible for the sins committed in its midst, whether in the present or in the past.1 As the current adage quoted by Jeremiah expressed it, "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge." With the ap pearance of the literary prophets, however, all this was changed. Through their basic conception of the Divine immanence, the presence of God in the human heart, religion became disso ciated from the confines of nation and country ; it ceased to be a constituent part of the politico-social order into which a man was born and became preeminently the concern of the individ ual. For the prophets, religion meant individual righteous ness. They laid emphasis on the absolute justice of God and on the necessity of right living for man. But while, by reason 1 Cf. Exod. 34. 7, Nu. 14. 18; 16. 21f.; Josh. 7. 10-15, and 22. 20; *., v. 17 ; II Sam. 21. 1-9 ; 24. 1-17. 72 THE BOOK OF JOB of this conception of things, the belief in individual retribution was tacitly comprised in literary prophecy from the very be ginning, it was not definitely formulated until Jeremiah, in refu tation of the popular adage, declared, "Every man shall die for his own sin ; he that eateth sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge." x Thus we get the time of Jeremiah as the terminus a quo for the origin of the Book of Job. Prior to this time the problem with which the book is concerned could not well have risen. The answer to the question, why the righteous man must suffer, would have been, because his destiny is bound up with that of the race. Being accountable for the sin committed by any of his people, he needs must suffer the consequences of their guilt, however innocent he may be himself. Before attempting to fix the date of Job more exactly, it may be well to inquire into the terminus ad quern. The book must have been written prior to the belief in a hereafter or a world to come, for as soon as this belief became generally accepted, the problem raised in Job ceased to exist. Later Judaism (as well as Christianity) answered the question, how the suffering of the righteous and the prosperity of the wicked are to be rec onciled with the idea of a just God, in the words of Mishna Abot: "Better one hour of bliss in the life to come than the whole present life-time. Prepare thyself in the ante-chamber, that thou mayest enter the palace." In other words, man's life on earth is preparatory to the life everlasting; the true reward and punishment are meted out, not in this world, but in the world to come — there the righteous will enjoy everlasting bliss and the wicked suffer eternal damnation.2 That the accept ance of this belief leaves no room for the problem of suffering is confirmed by the book itself. Job declares if there were such a thing as life after death, he would bear his present lot with 1 Cf. M. Buttenwieser, The Prophets of Israel, pp. 318-322, 146ff., 156. 2 Cf. also Is. 25. 8, and Dan. 12. 2f. DATE 73 patience (14. 14). Though we do not know when the belief in the world to come became generally accepted, it is positively certain that at the time of the Maccabees and even earlier it was a tenet of faith, permeating the religious life and thought of the Jews. Accordingly we get 200 B.C. as the terminus ad quern for the origin of the Book of Job. As to the fixing of the date between the upper and the lower time-limit, it must be admitted that if for the decision "only the problem presented by the book came in question, Job might well have been written in the days of Jeremiah. As a matter of fact, Jeremiah himself was the first to touch upon the problem of suffering.1 But the purpose and the atmosphere of the book, both of which disclose the veneration in which the view of individual retribution was held by the writer's age, exclude such a date. The view must have held sway for gen erations, for not only was it regarded as a fundamental belief, the denial of which branded a man as an infidel, but it was considered as an integral part of the traditional lore handed down from the remote past.2 So ingrained was the belief in the minds of the people in our writer's day, that they naturally drew their conclusions regarding a man's past life from his pres ent circumstances, particularly from his adverse circumstances. Sudden adversity was always a sure proof of guilt. The more crushing the man's calamity, the greater his need for human sympathy, the more convinced were the people that God's punishment had been visited upon him for some great sin. It was to protest 'against this view of individual retribution, and to arouse pity for human suffering, that the book was written. In the age of Jeremiah, however, the view of individual ret ribution had as yet taken no hold on the minds of the masses. This is shown by the fact that Jeremiah does not look for the * Jer. 12. 1-3 a, 5-6. Cf. Buttenwieser, op. cit., pp. 119ff . 2 Cf. 8. 8-12, 15. 17-24, and also 20. 4f . 74 THE BOOK OF JOB view to be accepted by his own age, but states that it will ob tain recognition in the regenerated Israel of the future.1 Besides, Jeremiah does not carry the view to the extreme conclusion that suffering is the result of sin. On the contrary, he recognizes that the righteous may suffer innocently; this was the kernel of the problem of suffering for him. It was Ezekiel, at the time of the exile, who gave the view the turn which led to its final development as exemplified by the friends in the Book of Job. Ezekiel expounds the theory that there is no suffering without sin, that suffering follows sin, or more specifically, that reward and punishment follow directly on the heels of righteous and unrighteous living respectively (Ezek. 18 and 33. 12-20). He goes so far as to say that if punishment is visited upon a guilty community the righteous will be spared (ib. 14. 13-20). He makes it appear, indeed, that this is what happened when Jerusalem was destroyed (ib. 9. 4-6). The preexilic prophets, however, know of no such discrimination. While they view the catastrophe as just retribution for the people's sins, they describe it as involving the guilty and inno cent alike. As to Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomistic redactors of Judges and Kings, who interpret Israel's past rigidly from the prophetic point of view, that calamities are the just retribution for the people's apostasy, they think only of the people as a whole. All appeals to the individual are made in the interest of the nation, the welfare of which depends on the godly life of the individual members. The sins of Jeroboam and Ahab, or of any other Israelitish and Judaean king, are viewed altogether from the aspect of their disastrous conse quences for the nation. It was not until the Law of Holi- 1 From this it foUows that the story of Abraham's intercession for Sodom (Gen. 18. 23-33) is of no help to us in fixing more exactly the date of Job, for though the writer considers it incompatible with the justice of God that the innocent and gmlty alike be destroyed for the wickedness of the city, there is nothing to show that this view was generaUy entertained by his age. DATE 75 i ness and the Priestly Code that the individualistic pomt of view, on which Ezekiel laid such stress, came into prominence, and that the law-giver addressed himself to the individual as such. But although Ezekiel ascribed the sanction of divine author ity to the belief in a rigidly individual retribution, declaring the old view of collective retribution null and void, the new belief did not take root in the minds of the people during the exile. This may be geen from the picture Deutero-Isaiah gives of the spiritual blindness still prevailing among the people towards the close of the exile. The masses fail as yet to under stand the meaning of their destruction. Dazed and despondent, they took a view of the situation not essentially different from that taken by Ezekiel's contemporaries (Ezek. 37. II).1 Nor did the belief in individual retribution take firm root during the first three decades of postexilic times, for from Zechariah, who wrote between 520 to 518 B.C., we know that the people in his days still viewed the ancient guilt, for which the nation had suffered destruction and exile, as unexpiated and as mili tating against them with Yahweh.2 And since in the days of the writer of Job the belief in a rigidly individual retribution was not only the dominant dogma, determining the trend of the life and thought of the age, but was believed always to have been an accepted tenet of faith, handed down from generation to generation, it follows that, at the very least, a century must have intervened between the time of Zechariah and that of our writer. In this way we get 400 B.C. as the approximate date of the Book of Job. This conclusion is further borne out by the fact that far from 1 Cf. Is. 40. 27, 49. 14, 42. 19-25, 43. 8, 46. 12 (in the last verse read, with Gk., 'obe'de leb). The real import of Ezek. 37. 11 and also of the refer ences from Deutero-Isaiah is shown by the related passages from pre- exilic prophetic writings, which I discussed in The Prophets of Israel, p. 113 f. 2 Cf. above, p. 31. 76 THE BOOK OF JOB a belief in a hereafter being expressed in the book, such a be lief is emphatically denied in 7. 9-10 : "As a cloud that passeth by vanisheth, So he that goeth down to Sheol ascendeth no more. Never again will he return to his home, Neither will his place behold him any more ;" and still more emphatically in 14. 10-12, 14 : " If a man dieth, no vital spark is left ; If a mortal passeth away, where is there a trace of him ? As the water disappeareth from the sea, And the river drieth up and vanisheth, So when a man dieth, he doth not rise again. Even should the heavens be no more, He will not awake, nor stir from his sleep. When a man dieth, doth he come to life again ? All the days of my bondage I would wait In patience until the change in my lot came." Job's emphatic denial of a resurrection shows that such a hope must have found entrance and been gaining ground among the Jewish people. It must have been in the incipient stage of a belief in a hereafter that the book was written. It cannot be argued that a denial of resurrection on the part of Job might have been possible even though the belief had found acceptance, since as late as the first century B.C., and even later, we find the Sadokites not believing in resurrection. It must be remembered that not only is the belief emphatically denied by Job, but that there is no reference to it by the friends. If it had had an established place in the religious thought of the times, the friends, as the chosen exponents of the views of their age, would have been bound to introduce it into the argumentation. Though we have no direct means of ascertaining the exact date of the belief in its incipiency, we do know that at the DATE 77 time the apocalypse Isaiah 24-27 was written the belief in a resurrection had an established place in Jewish religious thought. This belief and the notion of Tiamat-Satan's anni hilation, which is bound up with it,1 can in no case have found entrance until after the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. About the religious development down to the conclusion of Ezra and Nehemiah's activity (ab. 430 B.C.) we are fairly well informed. The sources of this period are Haggai, Zechariah 1-8, Malachi, various parts of Trito-Isaiah, the Priestly Code, Chronicles, and Ezra and Nehemiah. In none of these writings is there any trace of a belief in a resurrection or in Tiamat-Satan's annihilation at the end of time. Their silence on these points is conclusive, in view of the fact that Trito-Isaiah and Malachi deal respectively with the hope of the future glory of Zion and the nation and with Yahweh's future appearance for judgment in behalf of His righteous people. In contrast to this first period of postexilic times, we are but scantily informed on both the religious development and the politico-social conditions of the following two centuries, i.e. on the conditions during the reign of Artaxerxes II Mnemon (404-358 b.c.) and of Artaxerxes III Ochus (358-336 B.C.), and during the first century and a half of the Hellenistic period. About the conditions and influences which gave rise in Jewish religious thought to the belief in resurrection and the other eschatological notions bound up with it, nothing definite can be stated, except that these notions cannot have directly developed out of the prophetic future hope, but must have been of foreign origin. We do not meet with them until they have been completely assimilated, that is, until they have become blended with the indigenous prophetic hope of a better world to come. But although it is impossible to arrive at a positive conclusion regarding the date of Isaiah 24-27, it is excluded that it should date from the Maccabaean period, as a number of scholars hold, for the reason that, though 1 See above, p. 32f. 78 THE BOOK OF JOB unquestionably produced in a period of literary decadence, the apocalypse is written in idiomatic, faultless Hebrew. In the age of the Maccabees, however, people no longer knew how to write Hebrew properly, Hebrew having ceased to be a spoken language (see below). The apocalypse, in all probability, was either written in the distressing years of 348-340 B.C. when Artaxerxes Ochus put down with an iron hand the revolt of Syria, Phoenicia, and Egypt against Persia and led away many Jews captive to Hyrcania, as punishment for their participation in the revolt; or it dates from the troublous times of the last decade of the fourth century when, after the battle of Gaza (312 B.C.), Jerusalem was captured and razed by Ptolemy I, and great numbers of the people, including the High Priest, were deported to Egypt.1 Since, then, in the second half of the fourth century the belief in a hereafter had an established place in Jewish religious thought, we get 400 B.C. or thereabout as the date for the incipient stage of this belief. Another clue pointing to 400 B.C. as the approximate date of Job is found in 15. 19: "To them (the fathers) alone the land was given, no strangers lived among them." By this statement Eliphaz implies that the foreigners living in the country, ob viously in no mean numbers, are responsible for Job's heresy. On this statement light is thrown (as I have shown in my article just mentioned, pp. 243f. and 246) by the record from Heca taeus of Abdera in Josephus, contra Apion. I, § 191 and 193. In this record Hecataeus tells about the oppression the Jews suf fered from the Persian kings — Artaxerxes Mnemon and Arta xerxes Ochus must be meant2 — and at the same time from their 1 The authenticity of the record in Eusebius, Chronicon II, 112f. (ed. Schone) about the deportation by Artaxerxes Ochus, and of that in The Letter of Aristeas, 12f., 35, taken from Hecataeus of Abdera, about the deportation by Ptolemy I, admits of no doubt, as I showed in the article, Are There Any Maccabaean Psalms t in JBL., 1917, pp. 237f, 243ff ., and 247. 2 The predecessors of these two kings had bestowed their special favor on the Jews. DATE 79 immediate Palestinian neighbors, and adds that the neighbors who had come into the country built themselves temples and altars, for demolishing which the Jews were fined by the satraps. The obvious inference from the latter statement is that these resident strangers must have had a direct share in the politico- social control of the country, else they could not have erected temples and altars in the land, nor would the Persian satraps have punished the Jews for destroying them. The record pre supposes further that the relations between Persia and the Palestinian neighbors of the Jews must as yet have been of a friendly nature ; it must refer therefore to the conditions which prevailed in the first thirty-five years of Artaxerxes Mnemon's reign, i.e., from 404 to 368, for from that time, until finally vanquished by Artaxerxes Ochus, the whole of Syria was in open revolt against Persia. A final proof that Job cannot well have been written later than the beginning of the fourth century is furnished by its literary character. Though containing, very naturally, a num ber of Aramaisms,1 it is a work of such literary perfection that it must have been produced while Hebrew literature was at its height. Not only must Hebrew have been a living, flourishing language, but its conquest by Aramaic could not have as yet begun. The close of the fourth century, however, marks the beginning of the encroachment of Aramaic on Hebrew — an encroachment which resulted first in the rapid decadence of the Hebrew language, and finally in its dying out altogether as a spoken tongue. If nevertheless the view is taken by some scholars that Job was written around 300 B.C.,2 or even later, it is due to the fact that the dying out of Hebrew, though 1 They are not nearly as numerous as Kautzsch, Die Aramaismen im Alt. Test., and others think. It goes without saying that the several in stances of the Aramaic plural ending of the noun are, hke the various cases of Aramaic orthography, to be charged to later copyists. 2 The latest exponent of this view is Steuernagel in Kautzsch, Die Heir lige Schrift des Alten Testaments, 3d. ed (1910), II, p. 296. : 80 THE BOOK OF JOB an event of extraordinary importance, is commonly ignored in the historical surveys of postexilic times, or mentioned only cursorily, as if it were a fact of little consequence. This event must be kept in mind in determining, not alone the date of Job, but the date of many other postexilic products. The fact that the importance of this event has been overlooked has interfered seriously with our understanding of postexilic Jewish history from the closing decades of the Persian down to the Maccabaean period. As I showed from the linguistic character of the Hebrew original of Ben Sira and that of the Book of Daniel,1 Hebrew had ceased between 190 and 165 B.C. to be the language of the people, and Aramaic had taken its place. The conditions that brought about this momentous event, I showed further,2 were probably very like those which prevailed in England under Norman rule. The Jews must have lost their social as well as their political independence, and the Syrians constituted the ruling classes and upper strata of society, holding not only all the official positions, but monopolizing all the trade and com merce. It was the persistence through generations of the untoward social and political conditions which became the lot of the Jews after the death of Alexander the Great that finally led to the passing of Hebrew as the language of the people. 2. Relation of Job to Other Biblical Books A. To Proverbs In discussing the date of Job I have purposely omitted all reference to the bearing which Proverbs and Deutero-Isaiah are commonly thought to have on this question, because, as a matter of fact, no connection exists between these books and the Book of Job. The view of Dillmann 3 and many others that 1 In the aforementioned article, Are There Any Maccabaean Psalms f pp. 226-232. 2 Ib. pp. 236-248. 8 Op. cit, p. XXX. DATE 81 there is a close relation between Job and Proverbs 1-9 is not sustained by a careful examination of the facts. The inferences of these scholars as to the similarity in language between the two books rests on an altogether mechanical comparison of their vocabularies. The expressions pointed out by them as peculiar to both belong to the common vocabulary, being such as might be found in any two authors who express themselves naturally and simply; in a few instances they may be classed as stock phrases known and used by all the writers of the time. This holds good also of the comparison of the language of Job with that of the other Biblical books. Thus e.g. Dillmann de duces from the mention in Job of the Pleiades and Orion (the most conspicuous and best known constellations) the writer's dependence on Amos 5. 8,1 and Budde points to the fact that adultery is spoken of as zimma, " wickedness," as a sign of de pendence on Lev. 18. 17, 19. 29, 20. 14.2 As to the similarity in thought between Job and Proverbs, it is generally held, but wrongly so, that Job 28 and 15. 7 and Prov. 8. 22-31 have the Logos-idea in common. Neither of the Job passages contains the Logos-idea proper, i.e. the idea of the Divine creative Wisdom or Word as the intermediate being between God and the world ; nor does either of them ex press the view of Wisdom as the governing principle of the uni verse. The gist of chap. 28 is that absolute wisdom cannot be attained by man, but rests with God alone. In 15. 7 Eliphaz asks Job if the wisdom of the ages is embodied in him : "Wast thou born as the first of man? Wast thou created with the hills ? " or — growing still more ironical — whether his wisdom has come to him through divine revelation. The scholars who find in these verses a reference to the Primeval Man, identical with the Logos, have overlooked the fact that such an explana tion is grammatically untenable : ri'shon 'adam can only mean "the first of men," whereas the expression for the Primeval 1 Op. cit., p. XXXI. 2 Op. cit., p. LIII. 82 THE BOOK OF JOB Man in the later Jewish literature dealing with this notion is invariably adam hakadmon. The similarity widely believed to exist between Job and Pro verbs is more seeming than real. It is limited to a certain re semblance between the r61e of admonishers played by the friends toward Job and that assumed by the writer of Proverbs 1-9 in urging his readers to adhere to a virtuous, god-fearing life ; and to the similarity in motive which actuates both the friends and the author of the introductory chapters of Proverbs, namely, their firm belief in retributive justice. With the exception of this incidental point of contact, there is such a difference be tween the two books in spirit and literary character that they can hardly be compared. The Book of Proverbs preaches utilitarian piety, recommends a life of virtue as the road to material well-being, whereas the Book of Job sets up the idea of unselfish devotion to the good, of love of virtue without thought of material reward. And the difference in ethical standards is quite as marked as the con trast in religious ideals. The Book of Proverbs advocates that one refrain from rejoicing over the fall of one's enemy for fear of God's displeasure (Prov. 24. Hi.),1 but the Book of Job insists on genuine nobility toward one's enemy (Job 31. 29ff.), and exemplifies the truth that evil must be conquered with good. The Book of Proverbs warns against intercourse with an adul teress, but the Book of Job considers it immoral to "look with lust upon a woman" (Job 31. 1). As to literary character, the Book of Proverbs is an eclectic work, devoid of any trace of genius or originality. The Book of Job, as Thomas Carlyle has put it, " is the greatest thing ever written with pen . . . there is nothing written, in the Bible or out of it, of equal literary merit." 1 The motive urged in Prov. 25. 21f . for giving food to an enemy is iUuminated by the Egyptian tale of Setne-Khamuas, who, to expiate his guilt, carries " a brazier of fire on his head." DATE 83 B. To Deutero-Isaiah It is generally thought that Deutero-Isaiah offers in the songs of the servants of Yahweh a striking parallel to the Book of Job. The exponents of this view argue that both writings are per vaded by the idea of a servant of God who though righteous suffers. They maintain further that in. Deutero-Isaiah this idea reaches its climax in Is. 52. 13-53. 12, where this servant of God is described as so sorely afflicted that men, horrified, hide their faces from him, believing him "stricken and smitten by God." Such a view, however, is far from correct. Deutero- Isaiah and Job furnish material for contrast rather than for comparison. In Job, although considerable prominence is given to universal suffering, the main interest is made to center about the personal suffering of the hero himself ; the problem of suffering is considered altogether from the mdividualiiScjpint of view, that is from the aspect of its effect on the individual human soul. In Deutero-Isaiah this side of the question re mains in the background; suffering is considered chiefly from the aspect of the good that accrues through it to others. But the heart of the question is left untouched. Deutero-Isaiah is not directly concerned with this problem. If Is. 52. 13-53. 12 is considered, as it must be, as a part of the whole writing,1 it can be said to contain only incidentally an answer to the question of suffering. It must be remembered that Deutero- Isaiah throughout his writings speaks of the suffering of Israel, personified by the servant, as deserved, and declares that Israel is as yet steeped in sin, and that its deliverance will be an act of God's grace. The apparent contradiction to this view in 1 In regard to the view that the servant is the personification of Israel, and that the Ebed-Yahweh-songs are an integral part of the book, see Budde, The So-called Ebed-Yahweh-songs and the Meaning of the Term Servant of Yahweh (in AJTh., 1899, pp. 499ff.,) Marti, Das Buch Jesaia, Giesebrecht, Der Knecht Yahves, also my article, Where Did Deutero- Isaiah Live? (in JBL., 1919, pp. lOlff.). 84 THE BOOK OF JOB our Ebed-Yahweh-song is to be explained by the fact that Israel's suffering is considered, not so much from the writer's own point of view as from that of the heathen nations. These nations speak of Israel as guiltless in comparison with them, since they have strayed much further from the ways of God than Israel. In Deutero-Isaiah the suffering of the people is totally eclipsed by the writer's exultant vision of Israel's restoration to glory and the regeneration of mankind. Deutero-Isaiah is so carried away by this vision that the casual reader of his book is alto gether oblivious of the problem of suffering. It was not until much later, when the condition of the new community had become most pitiable, and the despairing cry, "How long, O Lord ! " was heard on every hand, that the problem of suf fering became, so to speak, the problem of the day. In the Psalms and in Trito-Isaiah it is a familiar theme. CHAPTER IV The Elihu Interpolation The speech of Elihu, as restored by our critical analysis, is in both style and content so inferior to the Job-poem that there can be no doubt that it is the addition of a later writer. It is pompous and diffuse, with much empty repetition, in marked contrast to the Job-dialogues, which are meaty, compact, and concise. Of the seventy-two verses which make up the inter polation, thirty, or almost half, are taken up with a tiresome and vainglorious introduction. The rest of the speech contains nothing new — nothing that has not already been more ably said by the three friends. What Elihu presents with such as surance and finality, as drawn from hitherto unexplored depths of wisdom, is but a shallow restatement of the orthodox view of suffering which the friends have defended with incomparably greater skill and effect. The difference in style from the genuine dialogues is illus trated also by another feature of the interpolation. In the dialogues the direct quotation of Job's words by the friends, or of the friends' words by Job, is avoided. Thus, when Eliphaz in 22. 13 repeats Job's question, 21. 22, he is careful to employ different phraseology, as is also Job when making direct answer to the question put to him by Bildad in 36. 28 6 (G). Elihu, however, quotes Job's words with great exactness, much after the manner of a learned pedant, who is more concerned about literal accuracy than about style (cf . 34. 5 b quoted from 27. 2 a, and 33. 10 6-11 from 13. 246 and 27a-6). Other verbatim quo- 85 86 THE BOOK OF JOB tations from the original Job-poem are 34. 3 from 12. 11, 33. 15 c from 4. 136, and 36. 116 from 21. 136, to which must be added 33. 7, "My terror need not affright thee, And my hand will not be heavy upon thee." This ludicrous assurance spoken by Elihu to Job, is a thoughtless adaptation of 13. 21 6, " Let not thy terror affright me," and 23. 2 6, "His hand is heavy," the one addressed to God, the other said of Him by Job. Note also that Job's statement in 37. 23 6, " He . . . giveth no account ing," is absurdly altered in 33. 13 to "He giveth no account of any of His matters." Instances of this kind are so frequent in interpolations that they may be considered a characteristic feature. PART II THE BOOK OF JOB 1 There was a man in the land of Us whose name was Job ; this man was pious, upright, and god-fearing, and he shunned evil. 2 Seven sons and three daughters were born unto him. 3 His substance was seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred asses, and a great many servants, so that this man was richer than any man of the East. 4 Now it was the custom of his sons to hold a feast in the house of each in turn, for a day, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 And when the days of their feasting had taken their round, Job would send for them and have them sanc tify themselves, and he would rise early in the morning and offer sacrifices according to their number; for Job thought, 'It may be that my children have sinned And blasphemed God in their hearts.' Thus would Job do at all times. 6 Now one day when the heavenly beings had come to present themselves to Yahweh for service, and among them had come also the Satan, 7 Yahweh said unto the Satam, 'Whence comest thou?' And the Satan answered Yahweh and said, 'From roaming and roving about the earth.' 89 90 BOOK OF JOB 8 Then said Yahweh unto the Satan, ' Hast thou taken note of my servant Job ? His like is not on earth — A man pious and upright, god-fearing and shunning evil.' 9 But the Satan answered Yahweh and said : ' Doth Job fear God for naught ? 10 Hast Thou not hedged him about, And his house, and all that belongeth to him ? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, And his wealth hath increased in the land. 11 But stretch forth Thy hand, And touch what belongeth to him, I wager that he will curse Thee to Thy very face !' 12 And Yahweh said unto the Satan : , 'All that he hath is surrendered to thy power, Only upon himself thou shalt lay no hand.' Whereupon the Satan left Yahweh. 13 Now one day as his sons and daughters were eating and drinking in the house of their eldest brother, 14 a messenger came unto Job and said : 'While the oxen were plowing, And the asses grazing near by, 15 The Sabaeans made a raid and carried them off ; They slew the servants with the sword, And I alone escaped to tell thee.' 16 While he was still speaking, another came and said : ' The fire of God fell from heaven And struck the flock and the servants and consumed them, I alone escaped to tell thee.' 17 While he was still speaking, another came and said : 'The Chaldaeans in three divisions Fell upon the camels and carried them off, They slew the servants with the sword ; And I alone escaped to tell thee.' BOOK OF JOB 91 18 While he was still speaking, another came and said : 'Thy sons and daughters were eating And drinking in the house of their eldest brother, 19 When a great wind swept over from the desert, And struck the four corners of the house, So that it fell upon the young people and they died ; I alone escaped to tell thee.' 20 Thereupon Job arose, rent his robe, and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground in worship, 21 and said : 'Naked came I from my mother's womb, And naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, Praised be the name of the Lord.' 22 In spite of all this Job did not sin, Nor impute blame to God. One day when the heavenly beings had come again to present themselves to Yahweh for service and among them had come also the Satan, Yahweh said unto the Satan : ' Whence comest thou ? ' And the Satan answered Yahweh and said : ' From roaming and roving about the earth.' Then said Yahweh unto the Satan : ' Hast thou taken note of my servant Job ? Verily, his like is not on earth — A man pious and upright, god-fearing and shunning evil. He still clingeth to his piety, • Although thou didst incite me to ruin him without cause.5 But the Satan answered Yahweh and said : 'Skin for skin! All that a man hath he will give for his life. 92 BOOK OF JOB 5 But stretch forth thy hand, And touch his bone and his flesh, I wager that he will curse Thee to Thy very face.' 6 Then said Yahweh unto the Satan : 'He is in thy power, only spare his life.' 7 Whereupon the Satan left Yahweh, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he (Job) took a potsherd to scrape himself with as he sat on the ash-heap. 9 And his wife said unto him : 'Wilt thou still cling to thy piety? Curse God and die ! ' 10 But he said unto her : 'Thou speakest as an impious woman might speak. Should we accept the good at God's hand, And not also the evil ? ' In spite of all this Job did not sin with his lips. 11 When Job's three friends heard of all the evil that had be fallen him, they came each from his place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, and met as agreed to go together to condole with Job and comfort him, 12 But when they looked from a distance and could not recognize him, they raised their voice and wept, and rent each his robe, and strewed dust over their heads by casting it heavenward, 13 And they sat beside him for seven days and seven nights without any one speaking a word to him, for they saw that the affliction was very great. Job 3 1 Whereupon Job opened his mouth and cursed his day. 2 And Job spoke and said : BOOK OF JOB 93 3 Perish the day that I was born, The night that it was said, 'It is a boy !' 4 May that day be dark ; May God above take no heed of it, Nor light shine on it. 5 May darkness and the shadow of death claim it. May clouds hover over it ; May the darkening of daylight affright it. 6 May that night be seized by utter darkness, May it not be counted among the days of the year, Nor included in the number of the moons. 7 May that night be sad, May no sound of joy peal forth on it. 8 May it be cursed by those skilled in cursing the day, By those expert in rousing Leviathan. 9 May the stars of its dusk remain dark, May it hope for light in vain, May it not behold the eyelids of the dawn, 10 Because the door of my mother's womb was not closed, So that misery might be hidden from mine eyes. 11 Why did I not die at birth, Why did I not expire as I came forth from the womb ? 16 Or why was I not like an untimely birth, that is buried, Like the still-born, that never see the light ? 12 Why did knees receive me ? Why did I suck the breast ? 13 For then might I lie in peace, Sleep, and be at rest, 14 With kings and counsellors of the earth, Who built pyramids for themselves, ' 15 Or with grandees, who are provided with gold, Who have their tombs filled with treasure. 17 There the wicked cease from troubling, There the weary are at rest. 94 BOOK OF JOB 18 There the prisoners enjoy comfort — They hear not the voice of the taskmaster. 19 There the lowly and the great are equals, And the slave is free from his master. 20 Why is light given to the wretched, Life to the weary of soul ; 21 Who yearn in vain for death, Who seek it more eagerly than treasure ; 22 Who would rejoice beyond measure, Would exult if they could find the grave ? 23 Why is life given to a man whose way is dark, Because God hath hedged him in ? 24 My sobs take the place of my bread, And my groans flow forth like water. 25 The fears that enter my mind take bodily shape ; The torments that I dread lay hold of me. 26 I have no peace, no rest, no respite, Agony cometh ever afresh. Eliphaz 4 1 And Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said : 2 If one should venture to say a word to thee, wouldst thou be wearied ? But who could refrain from speech ? 3 Behold, thou hast admonished many, And hast given strength unto weak hands ; 4 Thy words have given support to those that were tottering, And thou hast made firm the feeble knees. 5 Now that calamity hath come to thee thou despairest, Now that it hath touched thee thou art confounded. BOOK OF JOB 95 6 Was not thy fear of God thy reliance, The integrity of thy ways thy hope ? 7 Consider, who ever perished innocent, And when were the upright ever destroyed ? 8 I have seen — they that plow evil and sow trouble Reap the fruit thereof. 9 At the breath of God they perish, At the blast of His anger they vanish. 10 The roaring of the lion, the cry of the mighty lion, is stilled ; And the teeth of the strong young lions are knocked out : 11 For lack of prey the lion perisheth, And the brood of the lioness is scattered. 12 Now to me a message stole, My ear caught a whisper thereof ; 13 In the reveries of night-visions When deep sleep lay on men, 14 Fear seized me and trembling, Filled all my bones with dread ; 15 A spirit flitted past my face ; The hair of my flesh stood on end : 16 It paused, but I could not discern the countenance thereof, A form before my eyes. A faint whisper did I perceive : 17 ' Can mortal be just in the presence of God ? Can man be pure before his Maker ? ' 18 Even in His servants He putteth no trust, His angels He chargeth with error ; 19 How much more those that dwell in tenements of clay, Whose substance is dust, Who are crushed like a moth ; 20 Between morning and evening they are shattered, Unheeded they perish forever. 96 BOOK OF JOB 21 When their life-thread is broken off, Verily, do they not die in ignorance ? 1 Call then, if there be any one to answer thy prayer ! To which of the holy beings wilt thou turn ? 2 Rage killeth the fool, Passion destroyeth the impetuous man. 3 True, I have seen the fool taking root, But suddenly his habitation was found cursed ; 4 His children were cut off from salvation, They were crushed in the gate, while there was none to come to their rescue. 5 What they harvested the hungry would eat. 6 Verily, misery springeth not up out of the soil, Nor doth affliction sprout from the ground ; 7 Man it is that begetteth trouble — Impetuous spirits soar high. 8 Were it I, I should seek God, I should commit my cause to God, 9 Who worketh great, inscrutable things, Wonders without number ; 10 Who giveth rain unto the earth, Sendeth down water unto the fields ; 11 Who hath power to exalt the lowly, So that the griefstricken find happiness. 12 He frustrateth the schemes of the crafty, So that their hands can accomplish nothing substantial. 13 He ensnareth the wise in their own cunning, So that the plot of the schemers is confounded — 14 They encounter darkness in the daytime, Grope at midday as if it were night. BOOK OF JOB 97 15 Thus from the weapon of their crafty mouths He delivereth the poor, And from the power of the mighty. 16 There is then hope for the poor — Iniquity will be quelled. 17 Verily, blessed is the man whom God correcteth ; Therefore, despise not thou the chastisement of the Almighty ! 18 For though He maketh sore, He bindeth up, Though He woundeth, He maketh whole. 19 He will deliver thee in six troubles, Yea, in seven no evil will touch thee : 20 In famine He will save thee from death, In war from the power of the sword ; 21 Thou wilt be shielded from the scourge of the tongue, And when destruction cometh, thou needst have no fear. 22 At destruction and famine thou wilt laugh, Of the wild animals thou wilt have no dread. 23 Even with the earth-demons thou wilt be in league, And the wild animals will be at peace with thee. 24 Thou wilt find thy tent prosperous, And when thou dost inspect thy home, thou wilt miss nothing. 25 Thou wilt find thy descendants numerous, Thy offspring as the grass of the earth. 26 Thou wilt go down to the grave in ripe old age, As the shocks of grain are brought in in season. 27 This we have found by diligent search ; That it is true we have always heard affirmed — Impress it then on thy mind ! 198 BOOK OF JOB «7o6 6 1 Job answered and said : 2 Would that my anguish might be weighed, With my calamity laid against it in the balance ! 3 Verily then, it would be found heavier than the sand of the sea ; Therefore are my words frenzied. 4 The arrows of the Almighty have pierced me, My soul hath sucked in their venom ; The terrors of God are arrayed against me. 5 Doth the wild ass bray amidst green grass ? Or doth the ox low at his fodder ? 6 Can that which hath no savor be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the slimy juice of the milkweed? 7 My soul refuseth to touch them : They are as loathsome as the disease which is my daily food. 8 Would that my prayer might be fulfilled, That God might grant that for which I yearn, 9 That it might please God to crush out my life, That He might loose His hand and cut me off : 10 And I should still have the consolation — So that I could leap for joy withal my relentless anguish — That I have not denied the requirements of the Holy One. 11 What is my strength that I should still hope? What the end in store for me that I should be patient? 12 Is my strength the strength of iron ? Or is my flesh of brass ? 13 Verily, there is no help for me, Salvation hath fled from me. BOOK OF JOB 99 14 To him who is in despair sympathy should be shown by his friends, Even though he departed from the fear of the Almighty. 15 My brethren have disappointed me like the mountain streams, Like water courses that pass away. 16 Once turbid from icewater, flooded by the melting snow, 17 When scorched by the sun, they dwindle, When it groweth warm, they disappear from their place. 18 The paths of their course wind, They rise into the void and vanish. 19 The caravans of Teima look for them, The traders of Sheba long for them ; 20 They are disappointed, because they trusted in them, When they come to them, they are confounded : 21 So have ye been disappointing to me ; When ye saw the terror, ye were seized with fear. 22 Did I say, Give unto me of your substance, Or ransom me with your wealth ? 23 Or deliver me from the hands of the enemy, And save me from the power of the tyrants ? 24 Enlighten me, and I shall listen, Make clear unto me wherein I have failed : 25 How forcible are sincere words ; But what doth your reasoning prove ? 26 Do ye think to juggle with words, And do ye account as wind the words of him who is in despair? 27 Ye would even cast dice over an orphan, Or barter your friend. 28 Now be pleased to look at me ! Could I really dissemble to your face? 30 Hath there been any deadly sin in my tongue ? Would not my palate discern such abysmal evil? 100 BOOK OF JOB 29 Oh, turn from your wicked course ! Let there be no in justice I Yea, turn from your wicked course ! I am right in this still: 1 Is not man's stay on earth continuous toil ? Are not his days like the days of one laboring for hire, 2 Like those of the slave who panteth for the shade, Or those of the hireling who looketh for his wage ? 3 I, too, have received months of wretchedness as my portion, And nights of misery have been allotted to me. 4 When I lie down, I think, When can I arise ? Then the night draggeth on, and I become weary of tossing until dawn. 5 My body is covered with worms and as if with clods of earth. My skin scabbeth and breaketh out afresh. 6 My days pass more swiftly than a loom-shuttle,1 They vanish without hope. 76 Never again will they see happiness.1 26 They shoot by like skiffs of reed, Like the eagle that swoopeth down on his prey. 7 a Consider that my life is but a breath ! 8 The eye of him who cometh to see me is not likely to behold me; While one's eyes rest upon me, I may cease to be. 9 As the cloud that passeth by vanisheth, So he that goeth down to Sheol ascendeth no more. 10 Never again will he return to his home ; Neither will his place behold him any more. 1 Variant 9. 25 My days pass more swiftly than a runner ; They fly away, never again wiU they see happiness. BOOK OF JOB 101 11 Therefore, I will not restrain my mouth, I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, Will complain in the bitterness of my soul. 12 Am I the primeval sea or the dragon That Thou placest a guard around me ? 13 When I think, My bed will comfort me, My couch relieve my suffering, 14 Then Thou startlest me with dreams, Terrifiest me with nightmares, 15 So that I desire to be choked to death, That I prefer death to my pains. 16 I loathe my life ! I shall not live for ever. Cease Thy attack on me, since my days are fleeting ! 17 What is man that Thou shouldst hold him worthy of esteem, Or pay heed unto him ? 18 Yet Thou visitest punishment on him day after day, And triest him every moment. 19 Why dost Thou not turn away from me, Or grant me respite — long enough at least to swallow my spittle ? 20 If I have sinned, what have I done unto Thee, Thou, who keepest constant watch on man ? Why hast Thou made me Thy target So that I have become a burden to myself ? 1 21 Why dost Thou not forgive my transgression and pardon my sin ? For then might I lie at rest in the grave, And if Thou wouldst search for me, I should be no more. 1 Variant : Why must I serve as object of Thy attack? 102 BOOK OF JOB Bildad 8 1 Bildad the Shuhite answered and said, 2 How long wilt thou speak in this strain ? How long will the words of thy mouth be as boisterous wind? 3 Doth God pervert justice, the Almighty, righteousness ? 4 If thy children sinned against Him, He cast them out of His presence in penalty for their trans gression. 5 Now, if thou wouldst diligently seek God, Wouldst implore the mercy of the Almighty, 6 Verily, God would be moved in thy favor — Provided thou art pure and upright — And would make thy home to prosper again in proof of thy righteousness. 7 Then, even had thy former life been humble, Thy future would be great. 8 Inquire of the bygone ages, turn to the wisdom of the fathers, 9 For we are but of yesterday and know nothing, Yea, a mere shadow are our days on earth ; 10 But they, they will teach thee and tell thee, They can draw from their minds words of authority. 11 Can the papyrus grow up where there is no swamp? The reed thrive without water ? 12 Would it not be nipped while yet in blossom? Wither sooner than any other herb ? 13 Such is the fate of all that forget God : The hope of the godless man must perish. 14 His reliance is a gossamer, His trust is a spider's web, BOOK OF JOB 103 15 Which will not stand if one leaneth against it, Nor hold if one clingeth to it. 16 Though he blossom in the sun, And his shoots spread over his garden, 17 Though his roots wind round the rocks, And penetrate the stones ; 18 Yet when he is wiped out from his place, It will deny him, saying, ' I have never seen thee.' 19 Such, truly, will be the end of his career, And out of the soil will others spring up. 20 Verily, God will not cast away the pious man, Neither will he uphold the evildoers. 21 He will yet fill thy mouth with laughter, And thy lips with shouting ; 22 Thy enemies will be clothed with shame. But the tent of the wicked will cease to be. Job 1 Job answered and said : 2 Indeed I know that it is so : How could man be just in the presence of God? 3 H He (God) consented to argue with him, He (man) could not answer Him one out of a thousand (questions). 4 Howsoever wise and courageous, Who could defy Him and escape unscathed ? — 5 Him who removeth the mountains, And they know it not when He overturneth them in His wrath; 6 Who shaketh the earth in its foundations So that the pillars thereof totter ; 104 BOOK OF JOB 7 Who commandeth the sun to rise not And sealeth up the stars ; 8 Who alone spread out the heavens And hath dominion over the billows of the sea ; 9 Who made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, And the Chambers of the South ; 10 Who worketh great unfathomable things, Wonders without number. 11 If He passed by me, I should not perceive Him, If He swept past, I should not be aware of Him. 11. 10 If He sweepeth by and casteth one into fetters and sum- moneth one to tribunal, 9. 12 Who can restrain Him, who can say unto Him, What doest Thou? 13 God need not restrain His wrath — Subdued by Him, the helpers of Rahab crouched. 14 How much less could I answer Him, Should I know how to choose my words before Him. 15 Even if my cause were just, I could not answer, I should have to implore the mercy of my opponent. 16 If I called and He answered, I should not believe that He had given ear unto my voice — 17 He who threateneth to crush me in the tempest, And who hath inflicted upon me many wounds for no cause. 18 He giveth me no pause to breathe, But feedeth me ever with anguish. 19 If it is a question of the power of the mighty — behold Him! And if it is a question of right, who dare summon Him ? 20 Even though I am righteous, My own mouth must condemn me ; Though I am innocent, It cannot but declare me at fault. BOOK OF JOB 105 21 I am innocent ! I do not care for my life, I loathe my life. 22 It is all the same ! Therefore do I maintain, The innocent and the wicked alike doth He annihilate. 23 If the scourge slayeth its victims suddenly, He mocketh at the despair of the innocent. 27 If I think, I will forget my anguish, I will dispel my gloom, and appear cheerful, 28 Even then I am wrought up because of my suffering : I know that Thou wilt not absolve me, 29 I needs must stand condemned — Why make vain efforts ? 30 If I washed myself with snow, And cleansed my hands with lye, 31 Thou wouldst plunge me in the mire So that my clothes would abhor me. 32 He is not a man, as I am, that I could give accounting to Him, That we could go together to the tribunal. 33 Would that there were an umpire between us, Who would arbitrate between us both, 34 So that He might remove His scourge from me. And His terror no longer affright me. 35 Then might I speak without dreading Him. As it is, my mind is thrown into confusion, 10. la I am loath to live. 10 16 I will give way to my despair, I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. 2 I will say unto God, Do not condemn me, Tell me wherefore Thou hast attacked me, 106 BOOK OF JOB 3 Doth it become Thee to crush, To despise the work of Thy hands ? * 4 Hast Thou human eyes ? Or dost Thou see as man seeth ? 5 Are thy days like the days of man, Thy years, like unto the span of man's life, 6 That Thou seekest my guilt And searchest for my sin, 7 Although Thou knowest that I am not guilty, And that there is none who can deliver one from Thy hand ? 8 Thy hands have shaped and made me ; Yet Thou hast turned against me to destroy me. 9 Remember that Thou hast made me as clay, And that Thou wilt turn me into dust. 10 Didst Thou not cast me in a mold like milk And curdle me like cheese, 11 Clothe me with skin and flesh And intertwine me with bones and sinews? 12 Life and love Thou hast bestowed upon me, And Thy care hath guarded my spirit ; 13 Yet this Thou hast kept concealed in Thy heart, This, I know, Thou hast had in mind : 14 Should I sin — and Thou art watching me for that Thou wouldst not absolve me from my guilt. 15 If I incur guilt, woe unto me ! And yet, if I am righteous, I may not lift up my head — I, sated with ignominy, and steeped in misery. 16 And should it (my head) exalt itself, Like a lion Thou wouldst hunt me, and again and again Thou wouldst deal with me mysteriously. 17 Thou wouldst summon ever new witnesses against me, Wouldst ever increase Thy anger towards me, Wouldst heap upon me ever new relays of misery. 1 WhUe Thou shinest upon the counsel of the wicked. BOOK OF JOB 107 18 Wherefore didst Thou bring me forth from the womb? Why did I not die before any eye had seen me, 19 So that I might be as if I had never existed — Carried from the womb to the grave ? 20 Are not the days of my life few ? Leave me in peace, that I may have cheer for a short while, 21 Before I go, never to return, to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death, 22 The land of gloom and chaos, where, even when it groweth light, Is the gloom of the shadow of death. Zophar 11 1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite and said : 2 Should the wordy person remain unanswered ? Or should the vain talker be in the right ? 3 Should thy chatter put men to silence, And should there be none to censure thee when thou scoffest 4 And sayest, My words are honest, And I am innocent in Thine eyes? 5 Would that God might speak, And open His mouth in reply to thee, 6 That He might reveal to thee the things hidden from wisdom, Too mysterious for understanding ! Then wouldst thou know that He reckoneth not many of thy sins. 7 Wilt thou seek to fathom the inscrutable Godhead ? Wilt thou plumb the depths of the Almighty ? 8 Higher is He than the heavens — what would thy efforts avail ? Deeper is He than the nether world — what wouldst thou find out ? 1108 BOOK OF JOB 9 Longer is He than the earth in extension, Vaster is He than the sea. 11 Verily, He knoweth the wicked people, He seeth iniquity, and giveth heed to it. 12 So the empty-headed man gaineth understanding, And the wild-ass colt is reborn as man. 13 If thou wouldst turn thy heart to Him, And spread forth thy hands toward Him, 14 And if evil is in thy hand, if thou wouldst cast it away, And not let wickedness dwell in thy tent, 15 Surely, then mightst thou lift up thy head without harm ; Thou wouldst be established as on a rock, And mightst fear no more. 16 Thou mightst forget thy trouble, And think of it but as water that hath flowed away. 17 Thy life would come up brighter than the noonday ; Darkness would change to daylight. 18 Thou mightst feel secure, because there would be hope, And having searched (thy premises) thou mightst lie down in safety, 19 And rest with none to alarm thee. Many would seek thy favor. 20 However, the eyes of the wicked will waste away ; Their refuge will be gone from them, Their hope will be snuffed out like the breath of life. Job 12 1 Then Job answered and said : 2 No doubt ye are the people, And wisdom will die with you. 3 a I have a mind as well as you BOOK OF JOB 109 13. 2 a And what ye know I know, too, 12. 3 6 1 do not fall short of you — 3 c Who hath not such wisdom ? 4 A laughing-stock to his friends hath he become, Whose prayer, when he called unto Him, God would answer — A laughing-stock, the righteous, perfect man. 5 To the mind of the prosperous man, contempt should be dealt out to him who suffereth misfortune, A kick be given them that have lost their footing. 6 The tents of robbers enjoy peace, They that provoke God live in security, They whose god is in their fist. 9. 24 The world is given into the power of the wicked : He blindf oldeth her rulers — if not He, who then ? 12. 7 Ask but the animals, they can show thee, Or the birds of the sky, they can tell thee, 8 Or the reptiles of the earth, they can show thee ; And the fish of the sea can tell thee : 9 Who among all these doth not know That the hand of the Lord worketh this, 10 In whose hand is the life of all living beings And the spirit of all flesh ? 11 Doth not the ear discern words, And the palate taste food? 12 'With gray beards is wisdom, With aged people is understanding,' (ye say) 13 (But I say) Wisdom and might is with God, and counsel and understanding. 14 What He teareth down cannot be rebuilt ; If He fettereth a man, the fetters cannot be loosed. 15 If He withholdeth the rains, the earth drieth up, And if He letteth them loose, they overturn the earth. 16 Power and providence are with Him ; 110 BOOK OF JOB He that falleth into error, and he that leadeth into error, are both His work. 17 He driveth away councilors stripped of their power, And confoundeth rulers. 18 He looseth the bonds imposed by kings, And bindeth a rope around their loins. 19 He driveth away priests bereft of their power, And overthroweth the mighty. 20 He robbeth the self-reliant of their speech, And taketh away judgment from the elders. 21 He poureth contempt upon noblemen, And looseneth the girdle of the mighty. 22 He uncovereth out of darkness hidden plans, And bringeth to light things dark as the shadow of death. 23 He maketh nations great and destroyeth them, He causeth nations to spread and layeth them low. 24 He robbeth the chiefs of the land of understanding, And sendeth them forth to wander in trackless desert-land — 25 Then they grope in the dark without light, And stagger as if drunk. 13 1 All this mine eye hath seen, mine ear hath heard and per ceived. 3 Nevertheless I will speak out unto the Almighty, I desire to plead my case before God. 21. 4 Should I pour out my grief to men ? And why should I not be impatient? 13. 4 Ye are but forgers of lies, quacks, all of you. 5 If ye would only keep silent, It might be accounted to you as wisdom ! 6 Listen now to my reasoning, and give attention to the pleading of my lips ! BOOK OF JOB 111 7 Do ye mean to defend falsehood in behalf of God? Or to uphold untruth for His sake ? 8 Will ye be partial to Him? Will ye defend God ? 9 Will it be well with you when He searcheth you out ? Or do ye think that ye could deceive Him as ye can men ? 10 He will judge you severely If ye secretly show Him partiality. 11 Will ye not be terrified when He appeareth? Will ye not then be seized with fear of Him? 12 Your time-honored notions are rubbish, Your arguments are as breastworks of clay. 13 Be silent, that I may speak — happen what may. 14 I hold my life in my teeth, Hence I can afford to take it in my hand. 15 If He killeth me — well and good ! I have nothing to hope for. Only my conduct I desire to justify to His face. 16 This indeed hath been my support ; For the godless cannot approach Him. 17 Listen ye to my words, and let what I say reach your ears! 18 Behold I have set forth a just case, I know that I am guiltless. 19 Who dare gainsay me ? Verily then I should have to die in silence. 20 But two things Thou must not do unto me, Then shall I not need to hide from Thy face any more : 21 Remove Thy hand from me, Let not Thy terror affright me ! 22 Call me, and I will answer, Or let me speak, and answer Thou me : 23 How many are my sins and my iniquities? . Let me know my transgression and my sin ! 112 BOOK OF JOB 24 Why hidest Thou Thy face ? Why holdest Thou me for Thine enemy? 25 Wilt Thou scare a leaf driven by the wind ? Or wilt Thou pursue dry straw? 26 For Thou hast decreed bitterness for me, And makest me suffer for the transgressions of my youth. 27 Thou hast put my feet in the stocks, Thou keepest close watch on all my ways, . And dost draw Thy line tight around my feet. 14 1 Man is born of woman, brief is his life, and full of trouble. 2 Like a flower he unf oldeth, and f adeth away ; Like a shadow he flitteth past and hath no substance.1 3 Yet over such a one Thou keepest constant watch And him Thou dost summon to judgment. 4 Oh, if there might be found but one pure man among the impure — But not even one ! 5 If his days are limited, the number of his moons determined by Thee; If Thou hast fixed the bounds beyond which he cannot pass, 6 Turn Thou away from him, that he may rest, That at least he may enjoy his day like the hired laborer. 7 There is hope for a tree : — If it is cut down, It will sprout anew, and send forth its shoots unceasingly. 8 Even should its roots be decayed in the ground, And its stock be dead in the soil, 1 13.28 And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is motheaten. BOOK OF JOB 113 9 As soon as it scenteth water, it will bud again And send forth sprouts as if newly planted. 10 But when a man dieth, no vital spark is left ; If a mortal passeth away, where is there a trace of him? 11 As the water disappeareth from the sea, And the river drieth up and vanisheth, 12 So when a man dieth, he doth not rise again. Even should the heavens be no more, He will not awake, nor stir from his sleep. 14 When a man dieth, doth he come to life again? All the days of my bondage I would wait In patience until the change in my lot came. 13 Oh, that Thou mightst hide me in the nether world, Mighist conceal me until Thy wrath had subsided ; That Thou mightst set a time when Thou wouldst remem ber me in kindness. 15 If Thou didst call me, I would answer Thee, If Thou didst long for the work of Thy hands ; 16 For then wouldst Thou take full account of my steps, Not merely watch for my sin ; 17 My transgression would be sealed up, as in a bag, Thou wouldst whitewash my sin. 18 But as the mountain collapseth, And the rock is removed from its place, 19 As water weareth away the stone, And the ^orrent carrieth off the soil, Even so dost Thou destroy the hope of man. 20 Thou overpowerest him forever, and he passeth away ; Thou changest his features, and castest him off. 21 If his children are wealthy, he doth not know it, Neither is he concerned about them if they are poor. 22 Only his kin grieve after him, And his servants mourn for him. 114 BOOK OF JOB Eliphaz 15 1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said : 2 Doth the wise man answer with empty knowledge, And swell his chest with east wind? 3 Doth he put forward arguments that have no weight, Reasons that are not sound ? 4 Thou even underminest the fear of God, and utterest threats against God. 5 It is thy guilty conscience that prompteth thy mouth, So that thou choosest artful language. 6 Thy own mouth condemneth thee, not I, Thy own lips testify against thee. 7 Wast thou born the first of men ? Wast thou created with the hills ? 8 Hast thou listened to wisdom And made it thy own in the council of God ? 9 What knowest thou that we do not know ? What insight hast thou that we have not ? 10 I am an old, grayhaired man, More advanced in years than thy father. 11 Have the consolations of God expressed to thee, And the word revealed in whispers, have they no weight with thee ? 12 Why doth thy passion carry thee away ? And why do thine eyes flash, 13 That thou turnest thy spirit against God, And utterest unheard of words ? 14 What is man ? Could such as he be pure ? Could he that is born of woman be just ? 15 Even in His holy ones He putteth no trust, And in His sight the heavens are not pure ; BOOK OF JOB 115 16 How much less he that is loathsome and corrupt, Man, who drinketh wickedness like water. 17 I will impart wisdom to thee, hear me ! That which my mind hath perceived I will tell, 18 That which the wise have recorded — not kept concealed — of the lore received from their forefathers. 19 To them alone the land was given, no strangers lived among them. 20 The wicked man liveth in trembling all his life ; Through all the years that are allotted the tyrant 21 His ears are filled with dreadful sounds ; The destroyer cometh upon him when he feeleth most secure. 22 & 30 a He cannot hope to escape darkness, He is held for the sword, 23 He is destined as food for the vulture ; He knoweth that he is kept ready for disaster. 24 The day of darkness terrifieth him, Trouble and anxiety charge on him like a king equipped for battle ; 25 Because his hand is raised against God and he defieth the Almighty — 26 He rusheth against Him with arrogant neck, With the stout bosses of his shield ; 27 Because he hath covered his face with his fatness, And hath it in abundance upon his loins ; 28 And because he dwelleth in ruined cities, in houses for bidden to be inhabited, Which were destined to become ruins. 29 He will not remain rich, his substance will not last, And his harvest will not bend to the ground. 30 6 c The scorching heat will dry up his branches, And the wind will carry off his fruit. 116 BOOK OF JOB 31 6/3, 32 His palm-leaf will wither prematurely, His palm-branch will not flourish. 33 He will wrong his immature young, as a vine its unripe grapes, Like the olive tree he will cast off his blossoms. 34 The tribe of the godless man will be barren, And fire will consume the tents built with bribes ; 35 They will be pregnant with trouble, and will beget misery ; They will harbor disappointment in their bosom. Jo6 Original Order op Chapters 16 and 17 and their Constituent Parts prom Chapters 29 and 30 16.1-3; 17.10; 16.4-6; 29.2-6, 19-20, 18, 11, 7-10, 21-25 30. 9-10, 1 ; 16. 10-11 ; 30. 11 ; 16. 7 & 1st word of 8 ; 17. 7, 6 16.8-9, 12-17; 17.8-9; 30.28 6; 16.18-22; 17.3-5, 12 30.26; 17.11; 30. 22 = 17. 1 a G; 17.16-2; 30.24; 17.13-16 16. 1 Job answered and said : 2 I have heard enough of this ; Tiresome comforters are ye all. 3 Is there no end to your windy words ? What aileth thee that thou makest answer ? 17. 10 No matter how ye keep on arguing I can find no wise one among you. 16. 4 I too might talk as ye do, if ye were in my place; I might inveigh against you in elegant phrases, I might shake my head at you, 5 I might give you comfort with my mouth, And be generous with my lip-sympathy. 6 But if I speak, my suffering is not alleviated, Nor doth it leave me if I am silent. BOOK OF JOB 117 29. 2 Oh, for the return of the days that are gone, The days when God kept guard over me ; 3 When His lamp shone over my head, So that by His light I walked through darkness. 4 Oh, that I might be as in the days of my prime When God sheltered my tent ; 5 When the Almighty was with me, When I was surrounded by my boys ; 6 When my steps were bathed in cream, When the rock poured out to me streams of oil, 19 When my roots reached out to the waters, And the dew lay at night upon my harvest ; 20 When ever new glory surrounded me, And the bow in my hand took on ever new strength. 18 And I thought I should die amidst my brood, And should live to old age like the phoenix. 11 Yea, the ear that heard of me pronounced me happy, The eye that saw me bore witness to my worth. 7 When I went out to the city gate, Or took my seat in the marketplace, 8 The youths, as soon as they saw me, hid, While the old men stood up ; 9 The nobles refrained from speaking, And laid their hands upon their mouths.1 21 Attentively they listened to me, Silently they gave ear to my counsel. 22 Once I had spoken, they spoke no more ; They showed delight when my words were addressed to them. 23 They waited for my speech, Even as the parched earth gapeth for the rain. 1 Variant 10 The voices of the nobles became hushed, Their tongues dove to the roof of their mouths. 118 BOOK OF JOB 24 If I smiled at them when they had lost confidence, The light of their faces remained no longer overcast. 25 Whenever I chose to take my way to them, I sat at the head, I sat enthroned like a king among his warriors, Like ... I led them ... I guided them. 30. 9 But now I am the object of their derisive songs I have become a byword to them. 10 They abhor me, they hold aloof from me, They do not refrain from spitting in my face ; 1 The lowest people deride me, People whom I hold unworthy to be placed with the dogs of my flock. 16. 10 They stare at me with open mouth, They smite me on the cheek with affront, They are banded together against me. 11 God hath given me into the power of impudent youths, And hath delivered me into the hands of wicked people. 30. 11 Since He hath loosened my bowstring And brought afflictions upon me, They have cast off all restraint in my presence. 16. 7, 8 aa He hath sapped my strength, hath brought ruin upon me; His whole legion holdeth me fast. 17. 7 Mine eyes have grown dim from weariness, And my body hath become a shadow. 6 He hath made me a byword to the people : To them I am a manifest example. 16. 8 My disease hath arisen as a maligner and beareth witness against me, It testifieth to my face. BOOK OF JOB 119 9 He hath become my foe, and assailed me with unrelenting anger. He gnashed His teeth at me, cast murderous glances at me. 12 I was prosperous when suddenly He ruined me, When He seized me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces, When He set me up as His target. 13 His missiles have rained upon me, He hath struck my reins mercilessly, Hath poured my gall upon the ground. 14 Blow upon blow He hath dealt me, He hath rushed upon me like a warrior. 15 I have tied sackcloth around my body, And have thrust my horn into the dust. 16 My face is red with weeping, And on my eyelids is the shadow of death, 17 Though my hands have committed no wrong, And my prayer is sincere. 17. 8 Let the upright be appalled at this, And the innocent be roused to confute the hypo crite. 9 Yet the righteous man will cling to his way, And he who hath pure hands will gain in strength. 30. 28 6 1 stand up in the assembly and I pray : 16. 18 Let the earth not cover my blood ! And let there be no place for my outcry 1 19 Even now my witness is in Heaven, He that voucheth for me is on high. 20 And since my friends deride me, ¦'My streaming eyes are turned to God, 21 That He may plead for a man with God, And take sides in the conflict between a man and his fellowmen. 120 BOOK OF JOB 22 For the allotted years near their end, And I shall go the way whence I shall not return. 17. 3 Give surety for me unto Thyself ! Who else would pledge himself for me ? 4 Their minds Thou hast closed to understanding ; Therefore, canst Thou not permit them to triumph. 5 It is as if a man should invite his friends to a portion, While his children were weeping their eyes out. 12 They pronounce night day, In the face of darkness they declare light to be nigh. 30. 26 I was confident of my happiness when disaster came, I was looking for light when darkness set in. 17. 11 My days pass by as quickly as thought, The strings of my heart are torn ; 30. 22 = 17.1 a G The wind is bearing me aloft, it is carrying me away ; It will dissolve me into nothingness. 17. 161 pray for the grave, but find it not, 2 I pray until I am weary, but what do I achieve ? 30. 24 Oh that I might lay violent hands on myself, Or that I might beg another to do this for me. 17. 13 Verily I have to look to Sheol for my abode, In the darkness must I spread my bed. 14 I must call the pit father, the worms mother and sister. 15 Where then is my hope? And who can see happiness for me ? 16 To the bars of Sheol will they go down When together we sink into the grave. BOOK OF JOB 121 Bildad 18 1 Bildad the Shuhite answered and said : 2 How long wilt thou seek after rhetorical effect? Be sensible, and then we might speak. 3 Why are we counted as brutes, Why are we stupid in thine eyes ? 4 Thou who rendest thyself in thy rage, Shall the earth be made desolate because of thy outcry, Or the mountain be removed from its place ? 5 Nay, the light of the wicked will be put out, The spark of his fire will not shine. 6 The light in his tent will grow dark, And the lamp around his head will be extinguished. 7 His firm steps will be hindered, And his own counsel will bring him to fall. 8 Yea, he will rush headlong into the trap, Upon the toils he walketh. 9 The trap will catch him by the heel, The snare will hold him tight. 10 A rope is hidden for him in the ground, By the wayside the pitfall is laid for him 11 Terrors affright him on all sides And press close upon his heels. 12 Evil threatens him, Disaster is near at hand to ruin him. 13 Disease will consume his skin, The first-born of deadly plagues will consume his members. 14 He will be routed out from his tent in which he placed his trust, He must march forth to the king of terrors. 15 Lilith will inhabit his tent, And Brimstone will be scattered over his habitation. 122 BOOK OF JOB 16 His roots beneath will be dried up, His harvest above will wither. 17 His memory will perish from the earth, He will leave no name in the land. 18 He will be thrust from light into darkness And will be cast out of the world. 19 No offspring or progeny will be left him among his tribe, No survivor will remain in his homestead. 20 Over his end coming generations will be appalled, And his contemporaries will be seized with shuddering. 21 Verily, this will be the fate of the dwellings of the un righteous, This will befall the place of him that knoweth not God. Job Original Order of Chapter 19 and of Its Constituent Parts from Chapter 30 19. 1-6, 8-10, 12 a & c ; 30. 12 a & c, 13 6, 14 ; 19.7; 30. 20, 21, 15 b-c, 15 a, 16 (27 6), 27 a, 17 6, 30 a, 17 a, 30 6; 19. 20; 30. 28 a ... , 29, 31 ; 19. 13-19, 21-29 19. 1 And Job answered and said : 2 How long will ye torment my soul, And crush me with your words ? 3 Ten times have ye insulted me, Have wronged me without blushing. 4 Be it indeed that I have erred, my error resteth with me, 5 But if ye mean to contemn me in your selfrighteousness, And seek to convict me of shameful sin, 6 Know then that God hath wronged me And drawn His net close around me. 8 He hath hemmed in my path, so that I cannot move, And hath enveloped my way in darkness ; BOOK OF JOB 123 9 He hath stripped me of my honor, And hath taken the crown from my head. 10 He hath destroyed me utterly, and I must go ; He hath plucked up my hope like a tree. 12 a & c His hosts close in on all sides, They are encamped around my tent. 30. 12 o & c At my right they rise in swarms And erect their sinister ramparts against me 13 6 To effect my ruin. 14 As through a wide breach they come, Wave upon wave, they sweep in amidst crash and ruin. 19. 7 I complain of violence, but I receive no answer ; I cry out, but I obtain not justice. 30. 20 I cry unto Thee, but Thou dost not hear me ; I stand before Thee, but Thou regardest me not. 21 Thou hast changed into a cruel enemy toward me, Thou persecutest me with relentless hand. 15 b-c My hope hath flown away like the wind, My salvation hath vanished like a cloud. 15 o, 16 (27 6) I am overwhelmed by terrors, my soul must succumb ; My days of misery hold me fast. 27 a My vitals burn at fever-heat without cease ; 17 6 The pains that torment me take no rest. 30 a, 17 a My blackened skin falleth from me, 30 6 And my body is consumed with heat. 19. 20 My bones stick through my skin, And I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. 30. 28 a I walk about in gloom, . . . 29 I am become a brother to jackals, a companion to os triches. i 31 My harp is turned to mourning, My flute to lamentation. 124 BOOK OF JOB 19. 13 My brethren hold aloof from me, And my acquaintances have estranged themselves from me. 14 My relatives have failed me, And my familiar friends have forgotten me. 15 My serfs and maidservants consider me a stranger ; They look upon me as an alien. 16 If I call my servant, he doth not answer, With humble words I must implore him. 17 My breath is disgusting to my wife, And I am loathsome to my kinsmen. 18 Even insolent youths treat me with contempt, When I rise, they insult me. 19 My intimate friends abhor me, Those I love have turned against me. 21 Have pity, have pity on me, 0 my friends, For the hand of God hath struck me. 22 Why do ye persecute me like God, Why can ye not get enough of feasting on my body? 23 Oh, let my words be written down, Let them be inscribed in a book. 24 Oh, let them be written with an iron pen in lead, Or be cut in the rock to be preserved forever. 25 But I know that my Redeemer liveth, And that at last He will appear on earth. 26 Even after my skin hath been torn from my flesh, Still will I cherish the hope that I shall see God ; 27 The heart in my bosom pineth That I may see Him, a champion in my behalf, That mine eyes may see Him, and not as an enemy. 28 If ye say, How we will persecute him ! And, The root of the matter is to be found in him, BOOK OF JOB 125 29 Then beware the sins that bring down the sword 1 For the Divine wrath will fall on the wrongdoers — Wherefore will ye know there is a Judge. Zophar 20 1 And Zophar the Naamathite answered and said : 2 a My own reason telleth me otherwise, 3 6 My common sense giveth me a different answer. 3 a I must listen to teaching at which I take offense, 2 6 Therefore am I wrought up. 4 Knowest thou not this, from time immemorial, Since man hath been on the earth, 5 That the triumph of the wicked is short-lived, And the joy of the godless lasteth but for a moment. 6 Though his pride mount up to the heavens, And his head reach unto the clouds, 7 He will perish forever like his own dung : They that have seen him will say, ' What is left of him now ? ' 8 He will vanish like a dream, no trace of him will be found ; Like a vision of the night he will disappear. 9 The eye that saw him will see him no more, Neither will his place any more behold him. 10 His children, left poor, will be crushed : His hands must give up his wealth. 11 Though youthful vigor filleth his bones, It will be buried with him in the dust. 12 Though wickedness tasteth sweet in his mouth, So that he holdeth it on his tongue, 13 That he spareth it and will not let it go, But keepeth it under his palate ; 14 Yet his food in his bowels will be turned As to adder-venom in his body. 126 BOOK OF JOB 15 He hath swallowed down riches, But must vomit them up ; God will cast them out of his belly. 16 He will suck the venom of adders, The viper's tongue will slay him. 17 He will not look upon the herds in the valley, Nor upon the flowing streams of honey and cream. 18 He must give up his possessions, he cannot swallow them, The wealth which he got by barter he will not enjoy ; 19 Because he hath ground down the poor with toil, and then cast them aside. He hath stolen houses, instead of building them himself. 20 a His greed hath been insatiable 21 6 Therefore his prosperity will not endure. 22 In the fulness of his prosperity trouble will beset him, Affliction will descend upon him with unsparing hand. 23, 25 6/3, & 27. 22 a God will cast His burning wrath upon him to fill his belly, And will pour down terrors upon him without mercy. 20. 24, & 27. 22 6 He will be unable to flee from the iron weapon, The bow of brass will pierce him through. 20. 25 The missile will penetrate his back, The glittering sword will enter his gall. 26, 20 6, 21 a Utter darkness is in store for those whom he cherisheth, Fire not blown by human breath will consume them, No survivor will be left in his tent. 28 The foundations of his house will be laid bare, They will be destroyed forever on the day of God's wrath. 27 So Heaven will reveal his iniquity, And the earth will rise up against him. BOOK OF JOB 127 Jo6 Original Order of 21 + 22. 17-18, and 24. 1-18, 22-23, 25 (30. 2-8) 21. 1-3, 5-14; 22. 17 6, 21. 15; 21. 16 a, 22. 18 a, 21. 16 6, 17, 24. 18 6, 21. 18-26, 28-30 ; 24. 18 a, 22 a, 23 ; 21. 31, 32 a, 33 6, 33 a, 32 6, 34, 27; 24. 1-3, 9, 4-8, 10-11, 13-14, 16- 17, 12, 25. 21. 1 Then Job answered and said : 2 Listen well to my words ; Let this be the consolation ye give. 3 Suffer me to speak : After I have spoken ye will mock no more. 5 Give heed to me and be dumbfounded, And lay your fingers upon your lips. 6 When I think of it, I am aghast, And shudders creep over my flesh. 7 Wherefore do the wicked live, Grow old, yea, wax mighty in power? 8 Their posterity is established with them, Their offspring flourish before their eyes ; 9 Their houses are safe from disaster, The rod of God descendeth not upon them. 10 Their bull gendereth and doth not show aversion ; Their cow calveth, and casteth not the calf. 11 They let their boys frolic like lambs, Their children dance about merrily; 12 They sing to the timbrel and harp, And rejoice to the sound of the flute. 13 They spend their days in comfort, And in peace they go down to Sheol, 14 The while they say unto God : 'Begone 1 We do not care to know Thy ways ; 128 BOOK OF JOB 22. 17 6, 21. 15 What doeth the Almighty for us that we should serve Him ? And what would it profit us if we prayed to Him ? ' 21. 16 a, 22. 18 a, 21. 16 6 Truly, their prosperity is not wrought by their own hands ; He filleth their houses with wealth — Far be from me the view taken by the wicked. 21. 17 How often is it that the light of the wicked is extinguished, Or that calamity befalleth them, That God distributeth sorrows to them in His anger, 24. 18 6 That their lot on earth is accursed, . . . 21. 18 That they become like straw driven by the wind, Like chaff which the storm carrieth away ? 19 God layeth up for a man's children the disaster due him (is the saying) ; Let Him pay it to the man himself that he may feel it. 20 His eye should see his own destruction, He should drink of the fury of the Almighty. 21 For what careth he for his family after him, When the number of his months is completed ? 22 Doth God practise discrimination ? Doth He judge in His abode on high ? 23 One dieth in perfect comfort, Completely prosperous and at ease, 24 His pails full of milk, And the marrow of his bones well nourished. 25 Another dieth sad of soul, Who never tasted happiness. 26 Alike they are laid in the grave, And worms cover them. 28 Ye say, 'Where is the house of the despot, And where are the habitations of the wicked?' 29 Have ye not asked travellers ? And will ye disregard their evidence BOOK OF JOB 129 30, 24. 18 a That on the day of calamity the wicked man is spared, That on the day of wrath he is light upon the surface of the water? 24. 22 a The tyrant liveth long, he remaineth in his strength ; 23 He enjoyeth safety and is full of hope, And the eyes of God watch over his ways. 21. 31 Who then casteth his conduct up to his face, Or who requiteth him for what he doeth ? 32 a Nay he is carried to the grave in pomp, 33 6 And every man followeth his bier. 1 33 a The clods of the valley are sweet unto him, 32 6 And care is taken of his tomb. 34 How then can ye comfort me with delusions? Your answers remain infamy. 27 I see through your thoughts, Through your cunning thoughts, with which ye wrong me. 24. 1-17, 25 (30. 2-8) 1 Why are not sessions of judgment set apart by the Al mighty? Why do they that know Him not see His days? 2 There are those that commit land-robbery, That steal herds with their shepherd ; 3 That carry off the donkey of the orphan, And seize the ox of the widow ; 9 That even take the orphan from the mother's breast, And attach the infant of the poor ; 4 That thrust aside the needy. The poor of the land must hide 5 Lonely as wild asses in the wilderness They go forth to their labor ; 1 And before him they are without number. 130 BOOK OF JOB They must hunt the desert for sustenance, There is no harvest for the homeless. 6 They must harvest fields that are not theirs, The vineyard of the wicked they must pick clean. 7 Naked must they pass the night for lack of clothes, They have no covering from the cold. 8 They are drenched by the downpour of the mountains, They must embrace the bare rock for want of shelter. 10 They must go naked, without garments, Hungry, they must carry the sheaves. 11 Shut in by walls, they must press the oil, Thirsty, they must tread the wine-press.1 13 There are still others that shun the daylight, That know not its path, that abide not in its way ; 14 In the dark the murderer riseth, Killeth the poor and the needy ; And the thief goeth about in the night,2 16 He breaketh into the houses under cover of the dark. By day they shut themselves up, They, neither of them, care for the light. 17 Black night taketh with them the place of the morning ; Indeed, they know well the terrors of the darkness : — »30.2 ... 3 ... in want and gaunt famine, Who gnaw the dry desert ground, . . . desolation and waste ; 4 Who pluck salt-wort and artemisia, The roots of the broom-shrub are their food. 5 They are driven out of hearth and home, One shouteth at them as at thieves. 6 They must dweU in frightful hovels, In holes of the earth and of the rocks. 7 Cowering among bushes they groan, Under nettles they are huddled together. 8 As pariahs, enjoying no caste, They are thrust out of the land. s 15 And the eye of the adulterer watcheth for the dusk, He putteth a mask over his face saying no eye shaU spy me. BOOK OF JOB 131 12 Out of the city come the groans of the dying, And the cries of the souls of the slain, calling for vengeance. Yet God taketh no umbrage. 25 And since He doth not, who will accuse me of falsehood, Or show my words to be empty ? Eliphaz 22. 1, 3-16; 27. 13-21, 23; 22. 19-30. 22. 1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said : 3 Is it to the mterest of the Almighty that thou art righteous ? Or is it any profit to Him that thou makest thy ways perfect? 4 Is it for thy fear of God that He chasteneth thee, That He meteth out judgment to thee ? 5 Must not thy wickedness be great, And thy sins without end ? 6 Thou hast attached thy brother's holdings unjustly, And hast stripped people naked ; 7 Thou hast not given water to those that were faint, And from the hungry thou hast withheld thy bread. 8 That the man of power might possess the land, And the man of eminence dwell therein, 9 Thou hast sent away widows empty-handed And thou hast crushed the arm of the orphan. 10 Therefore snares are round about thee, And sudden disaster striketh thee with terror. 11 Thy light hath grown dark, so that thou canst not see, And the deluge hath engulfed thee. 12 Is not God exalted even as the heavens ? Behold the starry dome, how high it is ! 13 Yet thou askest, ' What doth God know ? Doth He judge behind the clouds ? ' 132 BOOK OF JOB 14 Clouds envelop Him, so that He doth not see ! And He walketh along the vault of the heavens ! 15 Wilt thou keep to the old road that wicked men have trodden, 16 Who are snatched away before their time, Under whose feet the ground floweth away as swiftly as a stream? 27. 13 This is the portion meted out to the wicked man by God, The share which the tyrant receiveth from the Almighty. 14 If his sons be many, it is that they may be delivered to the sword, And his offspring will not be satisfied with bread. 15 Those that remain of him will be buried, victims of the plague, And their widows will not weep. 16 Though he heap up silver like dust And pile up raiments like clay, 17 He will only pile them up — the righteous will wear them And the innocent will divide the silver. 18 He hath built his home as frail as a spider-web, Like a hut put up for a guard. 19 He will lie down rich, but will not do so again ; When he openeth his eyes, he will be no more. 20 Terrors will overtake him as swift as water, The tempest will carry him off in the night. 21 The east wind will whirl him aloft, And sweep him away from his place. 23 Men will clap their hands at him, They will deride him in his place. 22. 19 The righteous will see it and rejoice, The innocent will mock at him. BOOK OF JOB 133 20 Verily, our enemies will be effaced, And the fire will consume what they leave. 21 Become reconciled with Him and be at peace, Thereby good will come unto thee. 22 Accept the instruction from His mouth And bear His words in thy heart. 23 If thou wilt return to the Almighty, and humble thyself before Him, If thou wilt put unrighteousness far from thy tent, 24 And cast gold-ore in the dust, Ophir-gold among the pebbles of the brook, 25 And wilt let the Almighty be thy gold-ore and glittering silver bars, 26 Verily, then mayest thou find delight in the Almighty, And mayest lift up thy face unto God. 27 When thou prayest unto Him, he will hear thee, And thou wilt have occasion to fulfil thy vows. 28 K thou formest a plan, it will succeed, And the light will shine upon thy ways. 29 He that humbleth himself will be exalted, He that is meek will be saved. 30 The innocent man will be delivered, He will be delivered through the cleanness of his hands. Job 27. 1-8; 31. 2-3; 27. 9-12; 23. 11-12; 31. 1; 29. 14-17, 12; 31. 18, 32; 29. 13; 31. 5, 7-12 a, 38-40, 12 6, 13, 15-17; 30. 25; 31. 19-22, 24-31, 33-34, 14, 23; 23. 3-7, 10; 31. 4, 35-37, 6. 27. 1 Job answered and said : 2 As God liveth who hath robbed me of my right, The Almighty, who hath grieved my soul, 134 BOOK OF JOB 3 As long as my spirit is within me, The breath of God in my nostrils, 4 Verily, my lips shall not speak untruth, Nor my tongue utter falsehood. 5 God forbid that I should grant that ye are right ; Till I die, I will not part with my integrity. 6 My righteousness I hold fast, And will not let it go. My heart need not blame any of my days. 7 May my enemy fare like the wicked, My adversary like the unrighteous ! 8 For what would be the hope of the godless If God were to cut off, were to pluck out his life ? 31. 2 What fellowship hath he with God on high, What communion ,with the Almighty in the heavens above ? 3 Is He not a terror for the wicked, A dread for evil-doers ? 27. 9 Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh to him ? 10 Or will he find delight in the Almighty, Be able to call unto God at all times ? 11 I can show you who is in the hand of God, Reveal to you who liveth in the presence of the Almighty. 12 Verily, all of you behold him — Why then do ye hold to your delusions? 23. 11 My foot hath held fast to His path, His way have I kept and swerved not therefrom. 12 I have not departed from the command of His lips, I have cherished the behests of His mouth in my bosom. 31. 1 I have made a covenant with mine eyes, I have never looked with lust on a maid. 29. 14 I am attired in righteousness, My uprightness adorneth me as a robe and a turban. 15 I have been eyes to the blind, feet to the lame. BOOK OF JOB 135 16 I have been a father to the poor, I have searched the cause of those that were strangers to me. 17 I have smashed the jaws of the evil-doer, And snatched the prey out of his teeth. _ 12 I have saved the poor from the tyrant, And the orphan who had none to protect him. 31. 18 Yea, from my early youth I have brought him up as would a father. From my mother's womb I have guided him. 32 The stranger hath not passed the night out-doors, I have kept open my doors for the wayfarer. 29. 13 The blessing of the wretched hath been bestowed upon me, I have gladdened the heart of the widow. 31. 5 If I have walked in the path of falsehood, And my feet have run after deceit, 7 If my steps have swerved from the path And my heart hath followed the lust of mine eyes ; If any stain doth stick to my hand, 8 Then let me sow and let another reap, Let the produce of my soil be uprooted. 9 If my heart was ever infatuated by a woman, And I lay in wait at my neighbor's door, 10 Then let my wife grind grain for another, Let others bow down to embrace her — 11 For that is a crime, a heinous sin, 12 a It is a fire that consumeth even unto hell. 38 If my land crieth out against me, And all its furrows weep ; 39 If I ate the fruit thereof without paying for it, Or if I snuffed out the life of its owners ; 40 Then let thistles grow up instead of wheat And weeds instead of barley, 12 6 Let all the growth of it be rooted out. 136 BOOK OF JOB 13 If I respected not the right of my man-servant Or of my maid-servant when they made claims against me — 15 Did not He that created me in the womb create him too ? Did not One God fashion us both in the womb ? — 16 If I ever refused the poor aught for which they prayed, Or suffered the eyes of the widow to pine away ; 17 If I ever ate my bread alone, And shared it not with the orphan ; 30. 25 If I wept not with him whose days were troubled, If my soul grieved not with the needy ; 31. 19 If I ever saw a wretched person without clothing, A poor man without garments, 20 And his body did not bless me When he was warmed by the wool of my sheep ; 21 If I ever shook my fist at an orphan, Even though I saw ready support in the court : 22 Then let my shoulder blade drop from my shoulder, And my arm be rent from the socket. 24 If I ever placed my reliance upon gold, Or called fine gold my hope ; 25 If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, Because my hands had acquired riches in abundance ; 26 & 27 If my heart was ever mysteriously enticed, And my hand touched my lips to waft a kiss When I saw the sunlight shining brightly, Or the moon growing luminous — 28 That too would have been a grave sin, For I should have been denying God above — 29 If I ever rejoiced over the misfortune of my enemy, Or triumphed when evil befell him — 30 Rather, I allowed not my mouth to sin by cursing him, 31 Even when the inmates of my tent said, 'Oh, that we might have the opportunity to feast without stint on his body ; ' BOOK OF JOB 137 33 If I hid transgressions, as men are wont to do, If I sought to conceal iniquity in my bosom, 34 Truly I should have to dread the great crowd The contempt of the people would terrify me, I should have to be silent, I could not venture out of doors. 14 And what should I do when God appeareth, When He visiteth the earth, what should I answer Him ? 23 Verily, the fear of God would overcome me, I could not endure the apparition. 23. 3 Oh that I might know how to find Him ! Oh that I might get to His abode, 4 So that I could plead my just cause before Him, And fill my mouth with arguments ! 5 Oh that I might understand the words with which He would answer me, That I might comprehend what He would say unto me ! 6 Would He contend with me with overwhelming power ? Oh if He would only pay heed unto me ! 7 Then would an upright man plead with Him, And I should forever obtain my right. 10 For He knoweth my ways and my conduct — When He testeth me, I shall prove true as gold. 31. 4 Doth He not see my ways, and count all- my steps? 35 Would that He might hear me ! I stake my life on it that the Almighty will hear my prayer. 36 Then verily will I carry upon my shoulders The bill of indictment that my opponent hath preferred, I will adorn myself with it as with a crown ; 37 I will account to Him for every one of my steps, Like a prince will I approach Him. 6 He will weigh me in the balance of righteousness ; God will acknowledge my integrity. 138 BOOK OF JOB Bildad 25. 1 ; 35. 2-3, 6-8 ; 34. 10 6-12, 13 6, 18-19 6, 30, 14, 25 ba, 24 a, 20 c, 24 6, 20 a, 25 6/3, 20 6/3, 20 ba, 25 aa, 26 aa, 28 ; 35.9 ; 34. 21(G), 22; 35. 14; 34. 23, 29; 36. 23; 34. 16, 17(G); 36. 5 a, 17 (G), 15 ; 35. 13, 36, 12 a (G), & first word of 36. 13, 36. 12 6 (G), 34. 27 6, 36. 13 ; 35. 10 ; 36. 14, 16, 17, 21, 24, 25, 22, 27 a, 28 6, 31; 37. 6 a, 7-10, 14-18; 36. 28 6(G); 35. 5; 37. 24; 25. 2-6; 24. 24, 19-20. 25. 1 Bildad the Shuhite answered and said : 35. 2 Dost thou consider it a proof of innocence When thou sayest, 'I shall be found righteous before God?' 3 Dost thou think it right to say, 'What profiteth it me, what availeth it that I have not sinned?' 6 If thou sinnest what injury causest thou Him ? Even if thy transgressions are many what doest thou unto Him ? 7 And if thou art righteous what givest thou Him, What receiveth He from thy hands ? 8 A man such as thou, he may be harmed by thy wicked ness, A human being may be benefited by thy righteousness. 34. 10 6 Far be it from God to do wickedness, From the Almighty, to work unrighteousness. 11 Nay, He requiteth a man his deeds, He maketh each man to find according to his ways. 12 Verily, God condemneth not wrongly, The Almighty perverteth not justice ; 13 6 He who hath made the universe, the earth, and all that is therein, 18 Who saith to a king, thou art vile, Or to nobles, ye are wicked ; BOOK OF JOB 139 19 Who respecteth not princes, Nor regardeth the high-born more than the lowly,1 30 He setteth up a godless man as ruler Because of the stubbornness of the people. 14 When He chooseth to take back His spirit And to gather His breath unto Himself, 25 ba, 24 a He will overturn the mighty unawares, 20 c And remove the tyrants, but not with human hand ; 24 6 In their places He will set others. 20 a, 25 6(8, 20 6/3 Of a sudden they will die, In the deep of the night they will be destroyed and pass away; 20 ba, 25 aa, 26 aa The people will be staggered when they see the terror. 28 The cry of the poor will reach Him, He will hear the complaint of the needy 35. 9 When they cry out against great oppression, When they pray to be delivered out of the power of the mighty. 34. 21(G) For He seeth them that work evil, And naught that they do is hidden from Him. 22 They that practice iniquity may not hide Under cover of darkness or the shadow of death. 35. 14 Although thou sayest that thou seest it not, His province is it to render judgment, And thou must wait in fear and trembling for Him. 34. 23 For not to man hath He given the right To approach God to demand a tribunal. 29 If He be silent, who can condemn Him? And if He hide His face, whether from a nation or from a man, Who can reprove Him ? 1 For they are aU the work of his hands. 140 BOOK OF JOB 36. 23 Who can call Him to account for His ways ? Who can say unto Him, 'Thou hast wrought unrighteous ness?' 34. 16 If thou art wise, hear this, And pay heed to my words ! 17(GA) Surely thou dost not think that thou art forever righteous, Because thou hatest iniquity and destroyest the wicked. 36. 5 a(G) Know that God rejecteth not the guiltless man, 17(G) Nor withholdeth He justice from the just. 15 He delivereth the sufferer from trouble, And openeth His ear to him in his affliction. 35. 13 (36. 12a G) But the cry of the impious God will not hear, The Almighty will not deliver them ; 36. 12 6 (G) For they desire not the knowledge of God, 34. 27 6 Neither do they comprehend His ways. 36. 13 Though they have been chastened, they heed not, They do not pray when He bindeth them, 35. 10 Nor say, ' Where is God, our Maker, Who giveth songs in the night ? ' 36. 14 They die in youth, their life perisheth among the un clean. 16 Boundless pride hath beguiled thee, And the comfort of thy table laden with fat foods. 17 Now hast thou thy fill of the judgment that pursueth the wicked. Just judgment hath laid hold on thee. 21 Beware lest thou turn to sin ! Yea, for that hast thou been tried with affliction. 24 Remember that thou magnify His work Whereof men have sung ; BOOK OF JOB 141 25 All men behold it, they see it from afar. 22 Verily God is exalted in His might, Who is to be feared like Him ? 27 a He draweth up the drops of water, 28 6 They fall as rain upon many men. 31 He provideth food therewith for the people, Giveth food in abundance. 37. 6 a He saith to the snow, 'Fall thou on the earth !' 7 Then He sealeth up the hand of every man, That all men may know His works ; 8 The beasts seek shelter, And remain in their lairs ; 9 Out of the chambers of the Southern sky cometh the storm, And cold from the Arctic circle : 10 By the breath of God ice is formed, And the wide waters become a solid mass. 14 Hark to all this, hold, Ponder the wonders of God ! 15 Dost thou know how God hath given them His commands, How He maketh the lightning flash forth from His clouds ? 16 Dost thou know what keepeth the clouds poised, Understand the wonders of Absolute Wisdom — 17 Thou whose clothes are warm When the earth lieth still before the South wind ? 18 Canst thou, like Him, spread out the skies, Firm as a molten mirror ? 36. 28 6(G) Doth not thy spirit marvel at all this, And is not thy heart stirred within thee ? 35. 5 Look unto the heavens and see, Behold the banks of clouds — how far they are beyond thee. 37. 24 Therefore do men fear Him ; All fear Him that are wise of heart. 25. 2 Dominion is His and fear is His due Who hath established harmony in His heavens above. 142 BOOK OF JOB 3 Is there any limit to His hosts? And on whom doth His light not shine? ^ 4 How can man be just before God ? How can he be pure that is born of woman? 5 Even the moon hath no luster, And the stars have no brightness in His eyes. 6 How much less men, who are but maggots, Man, the earthborn, who is but a worm ? 24. 24 Exalted though they be, In a little while they are no more ; They are brought low and like all others pass away, Like the ears of grain they are cut off. 19 Drought and heat carry off the snow waters, Even so doth Sheol the sinner. 20 The lap that cherished him will forget him ; His greatness will no longer be remembered, And wickedness will be broken like a tree. Jo6 26. 1 (=23. 1) ; 23. 2; 26. 2-4; 37. 1-2; 36. 26 a, 37. 5 6, 36. 26 6, 27 6, 28 a, 29-30, 32 ; 37. 3-5 a, 6 6, 11-13, 21-22 ; 26. 6-11, 5, 12-14; 37. 23; 23. 8-9; 37. 20; 23. 13-15, 17; 28. 1-13, 21, 14, 22-28. 26. 1 (=23. 1) And Job answered and said : 23. 2 Indeed, I know that my chastisement hath come from Him;1 His hand is heavy — more heavy than my groans can express. 26. 2 What a help thou hast been to one without strength ! What support thou hast lent to a powerless arm ! 3 What counsels thou hast given to one void of knowledge ! What an abundance of profound wisdom thou hast re vealed ! 1 Or from the Almighty. THE BOOK OF JOB 143 4 To whom hast thou taught anything? And whose spirit hath gone forth from thee? 37. 1 My heart is awed at these wonders, too, It leapeth within me 2 When I harken to the rumbling of His thunder And the roar from His mouth. 36. 26 a, 37. 5 6 Lo, God is exalted, wondrous things He worketh, which we cannot comprehend, 36. 26 6 The number of His years is unsearchable. 27 6 He distilleth rain from His mist, 28 a Which the skies pour down. 29 Who can understand what keepeth the clouds balanced, Or comprehend the poise of His pavilion ? 30 Behold, He spreadeth out His mist around Him, And covereth with it the mountain tops. 32 He wrappeth the lightning about His hands And directeth it to its goal. 37. 3 He sendeth it through the whole heavens, His lightning reacheth to the ends of the earth. 4 a In its wake there is a furious roaring, 4 6, 5 a God thundereth with a majestic voice. 4 c He stayeth not the rainpour when His thunder is heard, 6 6 The torrents of rain become heavier. 11 When the clouds send forth His lightning, He hurleth the thunder-bolt through the clouded sky ; 12 At His direction, it followeth its zigzag course, To carry out on His inhabited earth whatsoever He commandeth it, 13 Whether He maketh it to descend as a scourge or for the sake of mercy. 21-22 All the while the sunlight hath not been visible, It hath been obscured by the clouds ; But when the wind riseth from the North 144 THE BOOK OF JOB And cleareth them away, it cometh out in golden splendor. An awful majesty adorneth God. 26. 6 Sheol lieth bare before Him, The nether world is unveiled. 7 He hath arched the North over the void, Hath suspended the earth over the vacuum. 8 He hath bound up the water in His clouds, Yet the clouds burst not under its weight. 9 He hath veiled the throne by spreading His clouds around it. 10 He hath arched the dome of heaven over the deep, Where light and darkness border on each other. 11 The pillars of the sky tremble And are confounded at his rebuke. 5 The shades beneath shudder, The water and its denizens. 12 By His might the sea was stilled, By His wisdom Rahab was smitten. 13 At His breath the sky was cleared, His hand slew the fleeing dragon. 14 Behold, these are but the outer edges of His ways, Only a whisper of Him do we catch ; Who can perceive the thunder of His Omnipotence ? 37. 23 The Almighty we cannot find, He that is almighty in power and supreme in justice, He that aboundeth in righteousness, giveth no accounting. 23. 18 If I go to the East, He is not there, To the West, I cannot perceive Him ; 9 If I seek Him in the North, I cannot behold Him, Nor can I see Him by turning to the South. 37. 20 When He ordaineth that one be destroyed, Could a writ or a recorder plead my case, So that I might approach and silence Him, As I should a human being? THE BOOK OF JOB 145 23. 13 And since He hath thus ordained for me, who can re strain Him? What He desireth He will do. 14 Yea He will execute His decree And many others which He hath in mind. 15 Therefore I am confounded before Him, (G) Because I know not why the affliction hath come upon me ; When I think of it, I am dismayed ; 17 I am overwhelmed by the darkness, By the heavy darkness which envelopeth my vision. 28. 1 There is a mine for silver, And a place for gold to be refined. 2 Out of the earth iron is taken, And copper tough-tissued as stone. 3 Man putteth an end to darkness, And penetrateth to the furthest bounds of obscurity and the shadow of death. 4 Slave-people bore shafts which wind unfrequented by feet, And wander afar from men ; 5 They lay open the earth, from which the grain cometh, Her depths are upheaved as if by fire. 6 In her stones the sapphire is embedded, And dust of gold is in her paths — 7 It is a path that is not known to the vulture. Not spied by the falcon's eye ; 8 The proud beasts have not trodden it, Nor hath the fierce lion crossed it. 9 Man putteth forth his hand upon the flinty rock, He overturneth the mountains from their base. 10 He cutteth tunnels through the rock, And his eye seeth all sorts of precious things. 11 He bindeth up the sources of rivers, And he bringeth to light what is hidden. 146 THE BOOK OF JOB 12 But where is wisdom to be found ? And where is the home of knowledge ? x 13 Man doth not know the way to it, It is not found in the land of mortals. 21 It is hidden from the eyes of all living beings, And concealed from the birds of the sky. 14 The deep saith, It is not in me, And the sea, It doth not abide with me. 22 The nether world and death say, With our ears we have heard a rumor of it. 23 God understandeth the way to it, He knoweth its home ; 24 For He seeth to the ends of the earth, He beholdeth the vastness of the heavens. 25 When He fixed the force of the wind, And measured the volume of the water, 26 When He made the law for the rain, And laid down the course for the thunderbolt, 27 Then did He see it, and reveal it, Then did He enact it, yea, He plumbed its depths. 28 And concerning man He said : The fear of God, that is wisdom, And to shun evil is understanding. 1 15 Fine gold cannot be given for it, Neither can it be traded for silver. 16 It cannot be bartered for Ophir-gold, For precious onyx or sapphire. 17-18 Gold and glass cannot equal it, Golden vessels, corals, and crystal cannot be thought of as ex change for it ; The acquisition of wisdom is beyond that of pearls. 19 Ethiopian topaz cannot equal it, Nor can it be bartered for pure gold. THE BOOK OF JOB 147 God Reveals Himself 38. 1 And God answered amidst the storm and said : 2 (G) Who is it that seeketh to conceal his design from me, By holding back his words in his mind? Doth he think that he can hide them from me? 40. 2 Will he shun dispute with the Almighty? God will answer him that dealt rebuke. 38. 3 Gird now thy loins like a man ! I will ask thee, and answer thou me ! 4 Where wast thou when I founded the earth ? Tell if thou hast understanding ! 5 Who determined its dimensions, if thou knowest? Or who stretched the measuring line over it ? 6 Whereon were its foundations set ? Or who laid its cornerstone, 7 The while the morning-stars sang together, And the gods shouted for joy? 8 Who shut up the sea behind the gates When with a mad rush it poured forth from the lap of Mother Earth, 9 And when I gave it clouds for a garment, And misty darkness for swaddling clothes ; 10 When I marked for it a boundary, And set up bars and gates, 11 And said, 'So far shalt thou come, but no farther, And here shall thy proud waves be stayed?' 12 Hast thou ever given orders to the morning, Assigned to the dawn its place, 13 That it graspeth the wings of the earth, And the stars are shaken out of it,x 14 And it turneth red as sealing-wax, Standeth robed as in a garment? * Variant : 15 a And from the stars is withdrawn their light. 148 THE BOOK OF JOB 16 Hast thou penetrated to the sources of the ocean, Walked in the fathomless depths of the sea ? 17 Have the gates of death been opened to thee ? Hast thou beheld the doorkeepers of the realm of the shadow of death? 18 Hast thou found out the extent of the earth ? Tell if thou knowest what it is ! 19 Where is the way to the dwelling of light, And where is the habitation of darkness, 20 That thou mightst take it to its boundaries, And lead it in the paths to its home ? 21 Thou knowest it, doubtless! For of yore wast thou born, And the number of thy years is great. 22 Hast thou been at the storehouses of snow, Or hast thou seen the storehouses of hail, 23 Which I have reserved for the time of trouble, The day of battle and war? 24 What road leadeth to where the wind is parted, Whence the east wind sweepeth over the earth ?j 25 Who hath cleft a channel for the torrential rain, And a way for the thunder-bolt, 26 That the rain falleth on land where no man liveth, On the desert uninhabited by man, 27 To satisfy the waste and desolate ground, And to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth? 28 Hath the rain a father? Or who begetteth the drops of dew? 29 Out of whose womb cometh the ice, And who giveth birth to the hoary frost of the heavens, 30 When the water freezeth hard as stone, And the deep is covered with ice ? 31 Canst thou tie the lustrous band of the Pleiades Or loose the girdle of Orion? THE BOOK OF JOB 149 32 Canst thou lead forth in season the signs of the Zodiac? And canst thou guide the Bear with her young? 33 Knowest thou the laws that govern the heavens ? And canst thou direct their dominion over the earth? 34 Canst thou bid the cloud pour down abundance of rain upon thee? 35 Canst thou send forth thunder-bolts, That in ready obedience they flash through the skies'? 36 Who hath put wisdom in the Phoenix? Or who hath given understanding to the cock? 37 Who in his wisdom can count the clouds ? And who can pour out the pitchers of the heavens 38 When the ground is hardened to the firmness of rock, And the clods form a solid mass ? 39 Canst thou hunt prey for the lion, Satisfy the appetite of vigorous young lions, 40 When they couch in their den, lurk in their covert? 41 Who provideth food for the raven When his young, circling through the air, Cry to God for lack of bread? 39. 1 Knowest thou the time when the chamois of the mountain- peak calve ? Canst thou watch for the travail of the hinds, 2 Number the moons which they fulfill, And fix the time when they will bring forth ? 3 They He down, let their young cut through and pass out. 4 Their young grow up vigorous in the open, Leave them, and never come back. 5 Who gave the wild-ass his freedom, Released from all bonds the onager, 6 To whom I assigned the wilderness for a home, The barren desert for a habitation? 150 THE BOOK OF JOB 7 He laugheth at the tumult of the city, The cries of the slave driver he doth not hear. 8 He exploreth the mountains as his pasture, And hunteth out every green herb. 9 Will the wild ox be content to serve thee ? Or will he abide by thy crib ? 10 Canst thou bind him with ropes to the furrow ? Or will he, led by thee, harrow the valleys ? 11 Wilt thou depend on him, because his strength is great, And entrust to him thy produce ? 12 Wilt thou rely on him to bring home thy harvest, To gather it in to thy threshing floor ? 19 Hast thou given strength to the horse, Clothed his neck with the quivering mane ? 20 Dost thou make him sweep on like a swarm of locusts With majestic and furious snorting ? 21 He paweth the battle-field and exulteth, Full of mettle, he goeth forth to battle. 22 He laugheth at fear and is not dismayed, He draweth not back from the sword. 23 Over his sides rattle the quiver, The flashing spear and the shield. 24 With rage and fury he devoureth the ground, He standeth not still at the sound of the battle- horn. 25 As oft as the battle-horn soundeth, he saith, aha ! And he scenteth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains and the shouting. 26 Is it by thy wisdom that the hawk soareth, And stretcheth her wing to the storm from the South? 27 Is it at thy command that the eagle mounteth, And buildeth her nest on high, 28 That she dwelleth and maketh her home on the cliff, On the jag of the cliff, or on the peak of the fortress ? THE BOOK OF JOB 151 29 Thence she spieth food, Her eyes discern it from afar. 30 Her young suck blood, And where the slain are, there is she. 40. 9 Or hast thou an arm like God's ? Canst thou thunder in a voice like His ? 10 Then deck thyself with grandeur and sublimity, And array thyself with splendor and majesty. 11 Let out the rage of thy wrath ! Abase the proud ! 12 Bring low the high and crush the mighty ! Tread down the wicked where they stand ! 13 Hide them all in the dust of the grave ! 14 Then will I give praise to thee and acknowledge That thine own right hand can save thee. 6 And God answered Job amidst the storm and said : 8(G) Despise not my chastisement ! Dost thou think I would have revealed myself to thee Were it not that thou mightest be proven righteous ? 40. 3 (42. 1) And Job answered God and said : 40. 4 Behold, I am of small account I What shall I answer Thee ? I lay my hand upon my mouth. 5 Once have I spoken, but will not again, Yea twice, but I will proceed no further. 42. 2 I know that Thou canst do all things, That nothing is impossible with Thee. 3(G) Who can hide his thoughts from Thee? Doth any one think to hide them by forbearing to speak? Who hath told me anything that I did not know, Any great and wonderful thing to which I had not given thought? 152 THE BOOK OF JOB 5 I had heard of Thee by report, But now mine eye hath beheld Thee. 6 Therefore, though I am wasting away. I am comforted for my lot of dust and ashes. 7 After Job had spoken all these words, God said to Eliphaz : 'My wrath is roused against thee and thy two friends, because ye have not spoken truthfully to me as hath my servant Job. 8 Now, take seven bullocks and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up burnt offer ings for yourselves, and my servant Job shall pray for you. Verily, it is because I respect him that I brand you not as infamous for not having spoken truthfully to me like my servant Job. 9 And Eliphaz, the Temanite, and Bildad, the Shuhite, and Zophar, the Naamathite, did as God com manded them, and God, respecting Job, forgave them (G). 11 Thereupon, all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all his former friends came to Job, and ate bread with him in his house, and condoled with him and comforted him for all the affliction that God had brought upon him; and they gave him each a piece of money and a golden earring. PART III NOTES AND SYNOPSES I-II I. 3 The land of TJs . . . man of the East. All doubt about the* location of TJs has been removed since MusU identified the place some thirty years ago. He found the ruin el'Is north of Petra, in the same locality where, according to Eusebius, Onomasticon, had stood Ausitis, as TJs is caUed in the Greek Version.1 Such a location of TJs has all along been considered as contradictory to the statement in v. 3 that Job be longed to the men of the East, bene kedem, from which it was concluded that the place of TJs must have been east or northeast of Palestine. This objection is cleared up by MusU's observation in regard to the present day occurrence of the expression people of the East in Arabia Petraea, the ancient Edom and Moab : " The inhabitants of the desert are occasionaUy called people of the East, ahali esh-sherk, in contrast to ahali el-'arb, people of the West, by which name the Bedouin call the feUaheen and also the Egyptian Bedouin." 2 I may add to this, that likewise, in Is. 11. 14 Edom and Moab are spoken of as the people of the East. The explanation lies undoubtedly in the fact that the term is ap phed to the Bedouin of Edom and Moab as distinguished from the Bedouin of Egypt. Obviously, we must look to Egypt for the origin of the phrase, since the people of ancient Edom and Moab were the eastern neighbors of the Egyptians. This conclusion is borne out by the fact that in the Egyptian story of Sinuhe,3 dating from about 2000 B.C., kedem is used for the countries southeast and east of the Dead Sea, i.e. for the later Edom and Moab. The expression, first used to denote direction, became in time a geographical term, like our Orient and Occident. 5 And blasphemed God. By way of antiphrasis, berak, " bless " is used instead of killel, " curse," both here and in w. 11, 2. 5 and 9. An other example of this euphemism occurs in I Ki. 21. 10, 13. There is no reason to charge this euphemism to later scribes. The rendering of the 1 Arabia Petraea, II, 1, pp. 337, 339, note 6. 2 Op. cit, III, p. 22. 3 See Maspero, Popular Stories of Egypt, 4th ed., pp. 77, 85, 89. 155 156 THE BOOK OF JOB phrase in our verses in Job by the Greek furnishes no proof to the con trary. The Greek read the euphemism not only in v. 11 and 2. 5, but also in 2. 9, where dirov n prj/m is the translators' attempt to paraphrase berak with an analagous Greek euphemistic expression (for correspond- ingexamples of the euphemistic use of n in classic writ see Liddell-Scott, Greek-English Lexicon, s.v. n and Tr&oxai). This being the case, it may safely be concluded that KaK i-ijs mkem ; see above, p. 43, n. 1. By this statement the writer, in an indirect manner, made it clear to his readers that Job was stricken with leprosy. 11 of all the evil. Omit hazzo'th, in accordance with Gk. and Vulg. 12 In regard to the significance of the rites performed by the friends see pp. 43 ff. 13 They sat beside him. As two Mss. Ken. and Gk. show, la'ares is not origmal reading ; it is the addition by a later coypist who did not understand either the significance of the rites or the friends' sUence. The affliction was very great: see p. 43, n. 1. The phrase has been rendered twice in Gk. ; of the two renderings the first is the original, while the second is Hexaplaric, being sub * in Hier. Ill jfor synopsis see p. 46f., also comment on vv. 20, 23. III. 3 It is a boy! Read, in accordance with Gk., nan for hora. That this was the origmal reading is shown by the paraUelism : Job speaks of the day that he was born, and not of the night that he was conceived. Since this is the original reading, it is obvious that 'amar is used impersonaUy, and is not predicate of night. 5 The shadow of death : salmaweth is, according to the Masorites and aU ancient versions, a composite noun. Noldeke has conclusively proved that there is no ground for questioning this tradition; the widely accepted emendation salmuth, he points out, is most assailable (ZATW., XVII, pp. 183 ff.).' May the darkening of daylight affright it. VocaUze kamrlre; the total eclipse of the sun is referred to, a phenomenon which up to this day is viewed with awe and terror by the people in the Orient, just as it is by savages. 6 be counted. Vocalize, in accordance with Sym. and Targ., "NT. 7 be sad : galmud is used here with the meaning " sad " (a natural development out of the meaning " barren " and " lonely "), in which sense, in fact, both the Gk. and the Targ. understood it. 158 THE BOOK OF JOB 8 by those skilled in cursing. 'orSre is potential participle ; ' — 'athid means " to be ready," " be prepared " (Est. 8. 13), " be equipped for " (Job 15. 24) or " expert in." As stated above, p. 32, both Leviathan and Rahab are Biblical proper names for Ti&mat, the Assyrian-Baby lonian goddess of darkness and evil. This follows from the fact that the common appeUatives of Tiamat-Rahab, " the dragon," and " the fleeing dragon," (see Job 7. 12, 26. 12f., and Is. 51. 9) are applied to Leviathan in Is. 27. 1. The fact that Tiamat was the goddess of darkness and evil explains why she was depended upon for the practice of the dark arts. 10 Because the door of my mother's womb was not closed, so that misery might have been hidden. In regard to the ellipsis bitni see p. 24. Night is not the subject of sagar and jaster, both verbs are used impersonaUy. By this construction the effect is heightened; for similar examples cf. 8. 18 and Jer. 13. 16. 11, 16 at birth : merehem is an eUipsis for bSsethi mereh&m, cf . Nu. 12. 12, where the fuU phrase is found ; the ellipsis occurs again Jer. 20. 17. Verse 16, which in its present place interrupts the sequence of thought, originaUy foUowed v. 11, as Beer and Duhm recognized. This is shown by the negative lo' which depends on lamma; in the present position of the verse lo' has no meaning. 12 Were it not for the far-fetched interpretation which is commonly given, it would not be necessary to remark that Why did knees receive me, is like Why did I suck the breast, the poet's concrete expression for ' why did I receive motherly love and care ? ' 13 For then, i.e., if I had died at birth, or been stiU-born, instead of having received a mother's tender care. The change from the perfect to the imperfect in the last clause is explained by the fact that the latter forms a circumstantial clause. 14 The traditional rendering of v. 14 6 is incorrect from the point of view of sense and of grammar : if it meant " who rebuild ruins " the dative lamo would not have been used. The context leads one to expect a reference to the grave. It is safe to conclude with Ewald and others that the text originaUy read the Egyptian-Arabic word hiram; hdraboth is either mistaken reading for Mr am, or the word, when adopted, underwent the phonetic change of m to b? 1 By this (as I pointed out in The Prophets of Israel, p. 108 f.) is meant the use of the participle to denote, not the occurrence of the action as such, but the disposition of, or tendency of the subject to, or its quahfication for, the action. 2 In regard to this frequent phonetic change of Arabic m to Hebrew 6 NOTES 159 15 Who have their tombs filled with treasure. The specific meaning here of baith, " tomb," or " grave," is common to aU Semitic languages and also to Egyptian ; it occurs again Is. 14. 18. It is in all probability an eUipsis for beth 'olam (" eternal dweUing-place "), which occurs Eccl. 12. 5 and frequently also in Egyptian. The custom among the privUeged classes of the ancient Orient of placing jewels and other valuables in the graves of their dead is too weU known to require lengthy discussion. Fresh evidence of its prevalence in Canaan from the earii- est times on has been brought to Ught in recent years by the excava tions carried on at el-Ta'anak. The Phoenician tomb-inscription of the priest Tebnet (dating from about 400 b.c) contains an interesting reference to this custom. To protect himself from grave-robbers, the priest takes the precaution to announce, " I have neither sUver nor gold here." 17 There. This phrase does not refer to the grave, but, as stated before, is a euphemism for Sheol. 19 There the lowly and the great are equals. As Is. 43. 13, 46. 4, Ps. 102. 28, hu' means " the same." This meaning developed out of the common Semitic use of hu' as emphatic or intensive pronoun — a use which is common also to Biblical Hebrew, cf. II Chron. 28. 22, " that same king," and Is. 7. 14, " the Lord Himself." In declaring that in Sheol aU class distinctions are removed, and that the lowly and the great are equals, the author of Job does not voice the common beUef of his age, but rather the opposite. PostexUic as well as pre- exUic Israel shared the beUef of their times that social caste exists even in the nether world, that the dead carry on the very occupation and existence which was theirs in life, and that those who die griefstricken, or mutilated in body, continue in Sheol to suffer the sorrow or the mutUation which they bore at death (cf. Is. 14. 9ff., Ezek. 32. 18-32, Gen. 37. 35, 42. 38, 44. 29, 1 Ki. 2. 6, 9). It is a mistake to generalize from our passage, as has generaUy been done.1 Our author's declara tion is the direct outcome of his advanced views on this question. As we shaU see later, he even denies that there is such a thing as the shadowy continuance of existence after a man's death (see 14. 21f., and 21. 21). 20, 23 Why is light given. This is another case of impersonal con- cf. Barth, Etymologische Studien, p. 32, and Fraenkel, Sporadischer Laut- wandel (in Beitrage z. Assyriologie, III, 1, p. 76). 1 Cf . among others, A. Bertholet, Die Israelitischen Vorstellungen vom Zustande nach dem Tode, 2d. ed. (1914), pp. 45ff. ; P. Torge, Seelenglaube und Unsterblichkeitshoffnung im Alten Testament (1909), p. 55f. 160 THE BOOK OF JOB struction. The author of light and life, who is left unmentioned, is God. Job shrinks from naming him so as not to appear to cast reflec tions on the Divine world rule. This intention is stiU more apparent in the passive construction (juttan) which is read by aU the versions. The impersonal construction tends to bring out the spirit of the chapter, which portrays Job's perplexity of soul at God's inexplicable dealings with him, but does not show him in revolt against God. Verse 23 cor roborates this assumption in regard to the frame of mind from which his reflections proceed : " Why is life given to a man whose way hath become dark, because God hath hedged him in? " This verse is eluci dated by 19. 8-9 and by chap. 29, where the thought touched upon here is fully developed. In the former passage Job says : " He hath hemmed in my path, so that I cannot move, And hath enveloped my way in darkness. He hath stripped me of mine honor, And hath taken my crown from my head." And in the second passage he describes how he, and his fellowmen as weU, had taken his prosperity as a sign of God's approval, and how in those days life had seemed a clear path to him, radiant with hope. All this has suddenly changed ; plunged from the height of prosperity, without apparent cause, into the depths of misery, he can no longer cherish the feelings of assurance and trust which formerly filled his heart. He finds himself in a maze from which he sees no way out. Why is life given to a man. The indirect object ISgeber of v. 23 depends on jitten of v. 20. Verse 23 b with its imperfect with waw consecuti- vum forms a circumstantial clause to 23 a. 22 rejoice beyond measure. 'Sie gil has here the same function that the cognate accusative has, to lend emphasis to the verb : cf . the similar example in Hos. 9. 1. 24 Kl is introductory ki leading up to a new thought. The meaning of lifne is practicaUy the same as 4. 19 and I Sam. 1. 16, viz. " like," " as," " for," " in place of." 25, 26 The fears that enter my mind take bodily shape. V. 25 a, in order to be adequately expressed, has to be translated rather freely. This translation of v. 25 is correct according to the syntax and agrees with the meaning of v. 26. Verse 26 completing the thought of v. 25 speaks of the constant delirium from which Job is suffering — one of the worst features of elephantiasis. Now the statement of v. 26 is properly introduced by a concise description of the frequency with NOTES 161 which the delirium recurs ; Job says that no sooner does he think with shuddering of his agonies than they take shape in the form of dreadful dreams. V. 25 a is a conditional sentence, the apodosis of which is formed with the imperfect with waw consecutivum — a construction which occurs repeatedly in Job and also in other books of the Bible ; jabo' of 25 6 is imperfect of reiterated action, wajjabo' rogez of 26 6 is a circumstantial clause, stating the reason why there is no respite for him. The traditional translation of vv. 25-26 is not supported either by grammar or by the context. IV-V Synopsis. — The pseudo-apology with which Eliphaz begins his speech is indicative of his character. It is obviously insincere as far as any consideration for Job is concerned. Eliphaz is plainly incensed, because he sees in Job's utterances an irreverent attack on his most cherished religious beliefs (he later states this directly, 15. 4), and utterly unmoved by his friend's terrible suffering, he thinks only of answering his arguments and setting him right. — "Who could refrain from speech?" The author's own interpretation of this speech, 6. 14, shows that Eliphaz is not moved by the desire to comfort Job, or the wish to spare him, as has been generally supposed. The conciliatory tone which he occasionally uses, and which has been thought to show consideration, is simply prompted by the hypocritical desire to appear friendly. Throughout the second part of his speech he is openly unkind, throwing out the broadest hints that Job must be guilty of sin and that it behooves him to make his peace with God. See also comment on 5. 6-7, 8-27, and p. 47f. IV. 2 If one should venture to say a word: dabar requires no emendation ; it is ellipsis for dabber dabar (cf. Gen. 44. 18, Is. 58. 13), just as Engl. " may I venture a word, " or " may I be aUowed aVord ; " another case of this eUipsis is rob debarlm, 11. 2, where, in fact, it has been understood as such by the Greek and also by Vulg. The perfect 162 THE BOOK OF JOB in the first clause is perfect used in the protasis of conditional sentences. The Aramaic plural ending of millin is the mistake of a copyist. 3, 4 Verses 3 b and 4, as the change from perfect to imperfect shows, are not coordinate with 3 a, but are circumstantial clauses expressing result. 5 Calamity hath come to thee, it hath touched thee: tabo' and tigga' are ellipses for ra'a tabo' etc., and are to be classed as euphemisms ; compare the similar Homeric euphemistic expressions 7roAAa iraO&v for ttoXXA nana ir., and /«7 ™ iraBn, " lest he suffer any Ul." 6 Fear of God : jir'a is eUipsis for jir'at jahweh, just as in 15. 4, 22. 4. In the second clause, place tiqwathka after torn derakeka. 8 Reap the fruit thereof. The objective suffix of reap does not refer to evil and trouble, but to the entire participial clauses, meaning they reap what they sow. 10, 11 In v. 10 we have a"case of zeugma, the subjects roaring and cry of the first clause and teeth of the second, depending on one and the same verb, kefir is the young Uon grown to fuU strength. The two verses were, in aU probabUity, an adage Ulustrating the belief of the time that sooner or later the powerful wicked wUl be overthrown; for the meaning 11 6 compare 5. 4. Verses 12-16, which describe the mystic agitation attending revela tion, are of singular beauty.1 They attest alike to the analytic faculty and the poetic skUl of the writer. 13 In the reveries of night-visions. Its qualificative mehezjonoth gives se'ippvm the connotation reveries. 16 A faint whisper : d&mama w&qol is a case of hendiadys; the phrase is altogether distinct from I Ki. 19. 12, qol d&mama daqqa, " the stUl, smaU voice." 17-21 For the idea expressed in these verses see p. 48. 17 Be just in the presence of God . . . pure before his Maker. The preposition min in this verse is not min of comparison, but, as in Gen. 38. 26, Nu. 32. 22, and Jer. 51. 5, means " measured with," " viewed by," and then " in the presence of " or " before : "J in this sense it was in fact understood by Gk. iavriov tov K.2 The interpretation and rendering by Rashi, Luther, and RV., "ShaU mortal man be more just than God? ShaU a man be more pure than his Maker? " is by 1 See The Prophets of Israel, p. 139f. 2 In the second part of the verse Gk. erroneously read ma'asehU for me'dsehu : f) &irb rwv epyav aArov. NOTES 163 modern scholars rightly considered out of the question for the following reasons : (1) Such a statement would be a mere platitude, and that it should be introduced as a revealed truth in the sublime language of verses 12-16 would be conceivable only if a comical or satirical effect were aimed at. Neither, however, is intended. On the contrary, verses 12-16 are calculated to put the hearer in a serious mood, and to make him listen with absorbed interest to the truth revealed, for Eliphaz is convinced that the answer to Job's question in 3. 20-23 has been disclosed to him. (2) The translation now accepted of v. 17 is borne out by w. 18-20, which expatiate on v. 17. By the translation of v. 17 in the RV. w. 18-20 have no point. (3) Conclusive proof that the translation now prevailing gives the real meaning of v. 17 is furnished by the recurrence, in a varied form, of the first part of the verse in 9. 2, and of the two parts in 15. 14 and 25. 4. Now the question in 9. 2 by Job has instead of min the preposition 'im, " viewed by," or " meas ured with," whUe the restatement of the verse in 15. 14 by EUphaz omits the prepositional phrases entirely and asks : " What is man ? Could such as he be pure ? Could he that is born of woman be just? " That in this latter verse Eliphaz reiterates 4. 17 is shown, first, by the fact that 15. 15-16 corresponds to 4. 18-19, and second, by 25. 4, where BUdad, in revoking the view expressed in 4. 17 by EUphaz, com bines 9. 2 with 15. 14. 18-21 These verses are not a part of the revelation, but are Eliphaz' comment on it. Even in His servants He putteth no trust, His angels He chargeth with error. By His servants the heavenly ministers are meant, as is shown by the paraUel expression His angels. The popular notion expressed here throws an interesting side-Hght on the develop ment of the angel-conception, and has also an accidental bearing on the question of the unity of the Prologue and the Dialogues. The idea of angels in general not measuring up to the Divine standard, but exhibiting imperfection, is not compatible with later Jewish speculation, which draws a sharp distinction between the angels that have fallen from grace and the angels without sin or blemish.1 The view, how ever, is in striking accord with the Prologue, where the Satan appears as a member of the heavenly entourage, and shows himself subject to 1 The first evidence of this conception is found in the oldest part of the Ethiopic Book of Enoch, which dates from about 170 b.c. 164 THE BOOK OF JOB error and human foible. The meaning of tahala, fault, error, is estab lished by Ethiopic tahala, " to err," which in its turn probably is re lated to Arabic wahila, " to err " or " to faU." 19 How much more. Read 'of ki, there being no other example of 'af by itself meaning " how much more," or " how much less." The ki in aU probabUity, when omitted, was added in the margin, whence it was wrongly inserted at the beginning of 5. 2. As often, the pasek after 'af was put to indicate the omission, is dust : be of be' afar is be essentiae. like a moth. In regard to lifne, see 3. 24. 20 Unheeded : mesim is eUipsis for mesim leb. 21 When their life-thread is broken off, verily, do they not die ? As in v. 2, the interrogative particle belonging to the apodosis is placed at the head of the sentence. The customary translation of v. 21 a, "Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them? " is untenable for the reason that, aside from the fact that the technical term for " tent- cord " is methar, not jether, " their tent-cord within " or " in them " hardly conveys any sense. As a matter of fact, a number of exegetes have arbitrarUy emended the text, changing jether to jethedam and bam to mehem, or omitting the latter entirely. The clew to the interpreta tion of the half-verse is furnished by bam, which shows that we have a figure of speech simUar to that found in 6. 9, 27. 8, and Is. 38. 12 6. Though the myth of the Parcae, who spin and sever the thread of life, was unknown among the Semitic peoples, the comparison of life to a thread or a web, and of death to the severing of the thread or web, occurs both in Hebrew and Arabic literature. In Is. 38. 12 b the com parison is carried out fully : " I have roUed up, like a weaver, my life; from the thrum He severeth me." The frequent occurrence of the comparison in Arabic has been pointed out by A. Fischer, Zauw al-manija, ZDMG., LXVII, p. 121 f. Of the examples quoted by him I shall cite : " Everyone living must perish, And every cord (ukullu hablin), however tightly twisted, some day wUl break off," Hansa', 132, 7 ; karada ribdtahu, " he severed " or " cut off his bond." Karada alone is used ellipticaUy with the same meaning.1 A Hebrew paraUel to this eUipsis we have in jebasseem, " He might cut me off," Job 6. 9, and again 27. 8. Compare with the meaning is broken off, with which nissa is used in our verse here, its similar meaning in Judg. 16. 14, 1 See Lane, Arab. Diet., s.v. NOTES 165 " He tore away the loom with the web." x in ignorance. The author refers probably to the universal notion that in the hour of death the veU is lifted from men's eyes ; he maintains the contrary, that men die as they Uve, in ignorance. V. 1 To which of the Holy beings (qeddshim) wUt thou turn? The term q&ddshim is a common Semitic appeUative of God or the gods, as the case may be. It denotes primarUy the sublimity or exaltation of God and divine beings. It is generally thought that the idea of angelic mediation is referred to in this verse. But as the notion is not met with anywhere else in Old Testament Uterature (about 33. 23 see p. 352), and is not likely to have become prevalent among the Jews prior to the close of the third century B.C., this interpretation is hardly admissible. The notion referred to is, to my mind, the common Semitic notion of the intercession of Welis 2 or Saints — a notion which has continued to hold sway tlrroughou'T^mffic countries down to the present day. The WeU is conceived of as the intermediary through whom men may approach God ; to him the people appeal when in dis tress, that he may intercede for them with God, or act himself as their savior. So deeply rooted in the religious consciousness of the people was the WeK-worship, that Mohammed and early Islam fought in vain for its eradication. The cult reaches far back in Semitic antiquity, and though many elements of primitive religious belief entered into its make-up, there can be no doubt that it has its roots in ancestral worship. Wherever, owing to favorable conditions, the cult has maintained its primitive character, as, e.g., in Arabia Petraea, the Welis, as a rule, are the departed spirits of either historical or legendary heroes raised to the rank of progenitors of the tribes among wliich they are worshipped.3 The origin of the WeM-cxAt in ancestor worship foUows also from the very name Well, which, like Hebrew go' el, means one who is protector or patron by virtue of his being next of kin. There is ample proof of 1 ha-j8sad is a gloss ; see Moore, Judges, and Kittel, Biblia Hebraica, ad loc. 2 The proper plural of Well is AulijG. 3 Cf . A. Jaussen, Coutumes des Arabes au Pays de Moab, pp. 294-312 ; A. MusU, Arabia Petraea, II, 1, p. 229 f., IH, pp. 329-334; S. I. Curtis, Ursemitische Religion im Volksleben des heutigen Orients, pp. 62 f., 66-69, 81-88,90, 100-105, 110 f., 124 f., 128, 132 f., 188 f., 199, 282-286 (in the original Enghsh edition, Primitive Semitic Religion To-day, the ma terial on this point is less complete) ; I. Goldziher, "Die HeUigenverehrung im Islam" in Muhammedanische Studien, II, pp. 281-289, 305-322, 372; also I, 234-239. 166 THE BOOK OF JOB the existence of the Weli-cvUt in Israel. In the first place there was ancestor worship, in which the cuTt is rooted. Isaiah, upbraiding his contemporaries for appeaUng to their ancestral spirits for help, repre sents the people as defending their practice with the words : " Do not people seek their ancestral spirits, entreat the dead in behalf of the living? " Is. 8. 19 — 'elohim denotes here " ancestral spirit," just as I Sam. 28. 13, in the story of Samuel's being conjured up by the witch of Endor. Further, in Talmud Babli, Sotah 34 6, and Ekah Rabbati, Petihta, sect. 55f ., we have evidence that as late as Talmudic times the patriarchs and Moses were worshipped as Welis. In the former it is told that when Caleb was sent to explore Canaan, he went to Hebron, to the grave of the patriarchs, and prayed to them to intercede in his behalf with God, so that he should not become a party to the plan of the other spies. The latter contains a naive story, which teUs diffusely how at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, Jeremiah went to the graves of the patriarchs and Moses, and appealed to them to intercede with God in be half of exiled Israel, and how in this way the people's ultimate return to their country was brought about. One might be inclined to attribute these stories to the influence of the Arabic or other Semitic literature of the time, were it not for the fact that Is. 63. 16 furnishes indisputable proof that, in spite of the efforts of the prophets and the subsequent religious reformation, Abraham and Jacob-Israel were worshipped as Welis in postexUic times as late as the closing decade of the Persian period.1 Is. 63. 16 we read : " Thou art our Father ! Abraham knoweth us not, Nor doth Israel acknowledge us : Thou, Yahweh, art our Father Our go'el hath been Thy name from time immemorial." The writer's protestation that Abraham and Israel do not know or acknowledge them, that it is Yahweh whom they (he and the people of like faith) profess as their Father, has point only if Abraham and Israel, at the time, were, as the progenitors of the race, objects of di'vine worship. The author's declaration that Yahweh's name has always been " our go'el " points to the same conclusion. Only in the light of what has been said about the WeU can we understand the meaning of this declaration, that is, that Yahweh, not the progenitors of the race, Abraham and Israel, has always been acknowledged as the 1 Isaiah 63. 7-64. 11 dates from the rule of Artaxerxes Ochus ; cf . Cheyne, Introduction to the Book of Isaiah, p. 356f., and my article, Are There Any Maccabaean Psalms ? p. 245. NOTES 167 sole go'el, or Weli, of the people. Note that in the Arabic version, go'el in Job 19. 25 is rendered by weli. 2 killeth the fool. The construction of the direct object with IS, which occurs several times in Job (cf. 12. 23, 19. 28, and also 5. 7), is not, as widely thought,1 a peculiarity of the late literature due to Aramaic influence, but is a common construction also in the older Uter- ture (cf . e.g., Ex. 32. 13, Nu. 32. 15, Deut. 9. 27, 1 Sam. 22. 7, 23. 10, II Sam. 3. 30, Jer. 40. 2, Ezek. 34. 4). It is found likewise in Arabic and Assyrian : in fact, as A. Fischer has pointed out, it is a common Se mitic usage, the beghmings of which must lie far back in the t/r-Semitic language.2 3 True, I have seen the fool taking root, but suddenly his habitation was found cursed, 'eqqob, it is generally held, is not the original reading : read instead 2p_l\3 Ps. 37. 35f. may be quoted as a paraUel to this verse : "I have seen the wicked man powerful and thriving like a green tree in its native soU, but when I passed by, he was no more, when I looked for him, he was not to be found." 4 They were crushed in the gate, i.e. in the court of justice, the seat of which is at the city gate, cf . 29. 7, 31. 21, and II Sam. 15. 2. 5 What they harvested. Read 'Tip.' 5 instead of IVJfp ; the present reading was brought about by the transposition of ' from the begin ning into the body of the word. The reading of G, a yap Ik&voi o-vvrjya- yov (Prs. 252 ^roijuacrav) Sticatot ISovtoi is the result of contamination with 27. 16-17. The second part of the verse is hopelessly cor rupt ; the customary translation, " And taketh it even out of the thorns, and the snare gapeth for their substance," is mere guesswork. The readings of this part in the versions differ not only from the Hebrew, but also from one another. Under these circumstances no attempt can be made to emend the text. But it must be mentioned that the reading of 5 c in the Targ., " Robbers wiU make spoU of their wealth," is a striking parallel to Ps. 109. 11, " Let strangers make spoU of the fruit of his labor." 6, 7 Verily, misery springeth not up out of the soil, nor doth affliction sprout from the ground. Summarizing, Eliphaz denies that misfor tune is merely a matter of fate, that affliction and misery befaU men 1 Cf . Ges.-Kautzsch, 28th ed. § 117, n, Brown Driver Briggs, Hebr. Lex., p. 512, Franz Delitzsch, ad loc. 2 Auflosung der Accusativrection des transitiven Verbs durch die Pro position li im Klassischen Arabisch (in Verhandl. d. KSGW., phU.-hist. KI. LXII (1906), 6, pp. 186ff.) 3 Cheyne, JQ., 1897, p. 575. 168 THE BOOK OF JOB without their being in any way responsible, just as vegetation springs up from the soil spontaneously. Verse 7, as it reads at present, says just the opposite, that man is fated to suffer, " But man is born unto trouble." It is safe to conclude, however, with Bottcher and others, that the vocalization julad is a mistake for original yi'1, Man it is that begetteth trouble. Such an assertion is perfectly consistent with Eliphaz' reasoning throughout. As a firm believer in retributive justice he insists that misfortune is a proof of wrongdoing, and therefore a warning to return to God with penitent heart. Not to accept afflic tion in this submissive spirit is open rebellion against God, and must have the gravest consequences. The last thought foUows by Implica tion from v. 7 b, Impetuous spirits soar high. The customary transla tion of the half-verse, " as the sparks fly upward," is incorrect. Con trary to grammatical rules, it renders the conjunctive waw with " as," confusing the waw of connection with the waw of association, used to join another subject or object to a complete clause. This mistake is due to the fact that bene reshef, which already puzzled the ancient exegetes, has wrongly been taken to mean " sparks." To ascertain the true meaning of the phrase, it must be remembered that reshef means 1. heat, glow (in the physical sense) ; 2. (a) intense heat-ray or (Yahweh's) fire-bolt, bringing pestilence, Deut. 32. 24, Hab. 3. 5 (simUarly in Greek literature the heat-rays, ApoUo's missUes, are thought to bring pestUence), (b) thunderbolt, Ps. 78. 48, (e) arrow, Ps. 76. 4 (since the thunderbolt is Yahweh's arrow, cf. Ps. 18. 15) ; 3. heat or fire of passion. In accordance with this last meaning, ben reshef means one characterized or governed by passion or impetuousness (cf. above, p. 156, ben shemen and ben lajla) ; the expression is equivalent to Engl, hotspur. Arab, rasafa, " go along in leaps," and in the ninth conjugation " be borne aloft," may be pointed out as further proof of this meaning. Eliphaz means to say that impetuous spirits, like Job, try to soar beyond aU human bounds, but that their fall wUl be aU the more precipitous. As stated p. 17, Eliphaz in aU probabUity quotes an adage to point his meaning, higbi&h, with the meaning soar high, occurs again 39. 27, Ob. v. 4 where, however, it is used elliptically. 8-27 In his characteristic manner, EUphaz refrains from mentioning Job directly, nevertheless he plainly intimates that if he were in his place, he would seek God. God's ways, he adds, have no other purpose than to deliver the afflicted from suffering and tyranny ; His chastise ment, if willingly accepted, will turn into a blessing. Verses 9-16, in which Eliphaz expresses the hope that deliverance from tyranny and injustice will finally come, are not aside from his purpose, but serve as NOTES 169 a reply to Job's assertion (in ch. 3) that most men are born to drudgery and oppression. 10 the fields : husBth is properly the open country, the area outside the walled city. 11 Who hath power to exalt: lasum is emphatic infinitive (cf. e.g., Hos. 9. 13, Ps. 104. 21). x the grief stricken : qadar, in addition to " mourn," means " to be gloomy," and " to be griefstricken " (cf . 30. 28, Ps. 38. 7, 42. 10, Jer. 8. 21). 12 nothing substantial: tushija, the abstract of the verbum sub- stantivum jesh, is here used with its primary meaning, " being," " ex istence," " substance." 13 is confounded. With this meaning nimhar occurs again Is. 32.4. 15 The object 'ebjbn is to be construed with both from the weapon etc. and from the power etc., provided that the verse is intact. From the weapon of their crafty mouths : mippihem, for which some Mss. have the variant pihem, is a very common construction, cf . 4. 13 " rev eries of night-visions," Ps. 10. 18 'enosh min ha'ares, " terrestrial man," 80. 14 hazir mijja'ar, " wUd boar." AU of these are cases of explicative min; 2 the real meaning of hereb mippihem is " the weapon into which they have converted their mouths." Note that the imperfects with waw consecutivum of w. 15, 16, form result-clauses. 19 In six troubles . . . yea, in seven. The number the writer wishes to express is seven. A peculiarity common to all Semitic languages • is the expression of numbers, especiaUy of typical and mystic numbers, by two numbers the second of which is the real number meant, whUe the first is in numerical value next to it. For other examples of the kind cf. Prov. 6. 16, 30. 15, 18, 21 ; Amos 1. 3-2. 6. " Seven," as the specification of the evils in w. 20-23 shows, is not to be taken literaUy, but is used to characterize the evils as cardinal evUs. This use of the number seven to denote the consummate character of things is quite frequent in the Bible, as in fact throughout ancient literature : it has its origin in the ancient conception of the universe as made up of seven planets or spheres, and in the seven planetary deities of the Assyrian- Babylonian Pantheon that developed out of this conception. 21 By the scourge of the tongue plotting and slanderous charges are meant. That these should be classed among the cardinal evUs is not 1 Emphatic infinitive seems to me an appropriate term for the infinitive, either absolute or construct, when used with the force of the finite verb for the purpose of emphasis. 2 The term has been coined by Fleischer to apply to the simUar case in Arabic, Kleinere Schriften, II, p. 7 f . 170 THE BOOK OF JOB surprising, when it is remembered that plotting and slanderous charges have in Oriental history been at aU times resorted to as a powerful weapon against an enemy or troublesome opponent. Thus Jeremiah teUs that his contemporaries sought " to smite him with the tongue " (Jer. 18. 18), meaning that they sought to rid themselves of him by pre ferring slanderous charges against him, cf. Jer. 20. 10. Cf. Ps. 31. 21, " attack by tongues," which is explained by the paraUelism as " con spiracy," and 140. 4ff., 12. 23 Even with the earth-demons thou wttt be in league. Ki is em phatic particle. The present reading, " with the stones of the field," cannot be the original text, as it is obvious that the stones of the field cannot have been considered an illustration of cardinal evils, 'abne is a mistake for 'JVW, which reading as K. Kohler has shown, is found in an Oxford fragment of Midrash Tanhuma; it is also quoted as a variant by Rashi from Sifra, Lev. 11. 27, and Mishna Kilaim VIII. 5. In explanation of 'adone hassade Kohler quotes from Doughty, Arabia Deserta, I, p. 166 : " The fatness of the Hejr loam is weU known in the country ; many have sown here, and awhile, the Arabs told me, they fared weU, but always in the reaping time there has died one of them. A hidden mis chief they think to be in aU this soU once subverted by divine judg ment, that it may never be tUled again or inhabited. Malignity of the soU is otherwise ascribed by the people of Arabia to the ground- demons, jan, 'ahl el-' ardor earth-folk. Therefore husbandmen in these parts used to sprinkle new break-land with the blood of a peace offer ing." Kohler rightly concludes that the 'ahl el- ard are identical with the 'ddone hassade of Job, with which the pious man wiU be in league, even if he does not propitiate them with the blood of a sacrifice, and that both are akin to the se'irim, " the Satyrs " of the fields or the woodlands of Lev. 17. 5-7.1 24 miss nothing. As in Prov. 8. 36, Is. 65. 20, hata' is used with its primary meaning. 27 This we have found by diligent search; That it is true we have always heard affirmed. Impress it then on thy mind. Instead of the imper. with nun energicum, of which no parallel example occurs, Gk. and Syr. read first plur. perfect njjratp. That this must have been the original reading is absolutely certain from the emphatic pro noun we'atta, which precludes the possibUity that an imperative pre- 1 "Das Erdmannlein" in ARW., XIII, pp. 75-79. NOTES 171 ceded. From this generaUy accepted reading it follows that ken hu' is not coordinate with haqarnuha, meaning " so it is," but objective clause of sema'nuha, and that ken is the verbal adjective of kun, used with the meaning true, as Nu. 27. 7, 1 Ki. 1. 36, " may the Lord verify it." Eliphaz means to say that not only does his reason tell him there is retributive justice, but that this beUef has been handed down as truth from bygone ages. The two statements are in no wise con tradictory ; reUgious phUosophy has ever made it its task to show that rehgious beUefs are founded on reason. VI-VII Synopsis. — ¦ For the present, Job does not enter into the argu ments advanced by Eliphaz, nor does he continue the line of reasoning begun in ch. 3 ; instead he gives expression to the dis appointment he feels because of his friends' harsh and unfeeling attitude toward him in his misery. He urges that his words were not the outcome of impiety, but the frenzied outpouring of a despairing heart. He compares his friends to the ox and the ass that are content amidst plentiful pasture, implying that their own prosperity has made them incapable of sympathy and the larger understanding. By the use of another figure he says that Eliphaz' commonplaces are as repugnant to him as his own loathsome disease — repugnant because they are shallow and unjust. As to Eliphaz' insinuation that he must have com mitted sin, he declares that if God would but grant his prayer to put an end to his life, instead of subjecting him to this protracted torture, he would have the supreme consolation of knowing that he had lived his life to the end in conformity with God's requirements. Referring to Eliphaz' exhortation that he repent, with the view to being restored to health, he shows by a few burning questions the mockery of holding out hope to one so hopelessly incurable. He amplifies this thought a little later on in his speech. For the present he allows his mind to be taken up with the thought of the disappointment he has suffered in his friends who, instead of being loyal to him and 172 THE BOOK OF JOB sympathetic when they beheld his terrible misfortune, have shown themselves cold and selfish. He asked so little of them, neither money nor service, just ordinary human sympathy, but even this little they did not give him. Instead, they thought of their own safety (see pp. 43ff.). His own impersonal view of what the friendly and the loyal attitude should be in such a case he has stated at the outset : "To him who is in despair sympathy should be shown by his friends, Even though he departed from the fear of the Almighty." His indignation grows as he describes how the friends have failed him, and he tells them plainly what he thinks of them. They are cold and hard and calculating, capable of bartering a friend, or of casting dice over an orphan (whose father should happen to die in their debt). There is no sincerity in their reasoning nor conviction in their words. Then abruptly dropping his note of scorn, he falls into a gentler mood. He begs the friends but to look at him, they will see the truth written on his counte nance. Could he have been guilty of any great wrong and not be conscious of it ? No, they should change their attitude, and not do him this infinite injustice. At this point Job takes up again the thread of thought which he broke off in ch. 3, and declares that he is still right (that is, unrefuted) in maintaining that man's life is continuous toil and trouble. Nothing that Eliphaz has been able to say has changed this. He describes his own extreme case, his days and nights of suffering, his utter despair. It is absurd to speak of hope to him on this side of the grave or beyond. He may die at any moment, and there is no return for any one from Sheol. He will give vent to his anguish without restraint, and he does. He complains to God of his terrible suffering, in preference to which he would welcome death; he begs God to let him die. Why should he be punished continuously, why be granted no NOTES 173 respite whatever? Then referring in conclusion to Eliphaz' endeavor to enlighten him as to the cause of his suffering, he admits his imperfection. But even if he has (unwittingly) been guilty of errors and transgressions, why should God persecute him so relentlessly ? Why does God not forgive his sins and let him die in peace ? This thought, that the ordinary frailty of man should not warrant the extreme vengeance of God, which is merely touched on here, is developed fully in the two next speeches of Job. VI. 2 With my calamity laid against it in the balance. The half verse is a circumstantial clause : the particle jahad denotes that the action spoken of is to be carried out simultaneously with that stated in the first clause. 3 are frenzied. This meaning of la'a, given also by Ges.-Buhl and others, is closely related to the meaning " talk rashly," Prov. 20. 25. 4 are arrayed against me. As often, the accusative suffix is used in place of a prepositional phrase ; for other examples cf . e.g., Ps. 5. 5, 85. 8 ; 'arak alone, meaning "to be hostilely arrayed," occurs again I Sam. 4. 2, et alit. 7 to touch them, they are. The pronoun hema, being a case of brachylogy, is to be construed both as object with lingo'a and as sub ject with the nominal predicate of the second clause. 12, 13 Or is my flesh of brass ? Verily, there is no help. t's CNri is an impossible construction ; on the other hand, a mascuUne form of the word for copper occurs neither in Hebrew, nor in any other Semitic language. Both forms are due to mistaken word- or rather verse- division. The n originally belonged to the last word of v. 12, which is to be read ntsnm — a form which occurs again 28. 2.1 DX of v. 13 is em phatic particle (cf . v. 28). This emendation and explanation is, in fact, as I have found quite recently, supported by the Syr., which for ha'im reads the emphatic particle ha. Salvation : tushija, with the meaning deliverance, salvation, occurs again Prov. 2. 7; it was so understood in both verses by the Greek, and in our Job-verse, also by the Syriac. 14 Even though he departed, etc. The verse presents no difficulty 1 1 made this emendation as early as 1905, and have used it ever since in my class lectures ; in the meantime the emendation has been made also by Ehrlich, Randglossen, ad loc, who, however, did not recognize the emphatic force of 'im. 174 THE BOOK OF JOB whatever if the second clause is taken, as it must be, as a concessive clause. As to the construction of the first clause, it is extremely simple ; the clause forms a nominal sentence, the subject of which is hesed, and the predicate lamas, and mere'ehu is a quaUficative of fyesed (for simUar quaUficatives, they are quite numerous, cf. v. 25, " the arguments advanced by you," 20. 29, Ps. 9. 14, " the injury done me by my enemies," 74. 22, " the insult put upon Thee by the godless"). FinaUy, it must be remarked that nominal sentences may have either indicative or subjunctive mode.1 15-21 In Palestine, where there are but two seasons, summer and winter, only the large rivers carry water throughout the year. The smaU streams flow only during the winter months, or rainy season, when they are flooded by the rain and snow. In the nine months of intense summer heat, they form for a while shaUow winding streams and finally disappear altogether. The Nabataean and Sabaean caravans start on their expedition east in the winter and return in the summer. 15 Like water courses. Instead of 'afiq n&halim, read, with Budde, D'D 'p'SK ; the present reading is due primarUy to dittography of nahal of 15a. 16 Flooded by the melting snow. The customary translation " wherein the snow hideth itself," it has repeatedly been acknowledged, is hardly accurate. As the preposition 'al shows, the phrase impUes the pouring of the melting snow into the rivers and the consequent increase of the river's volume. The exact meaning, however, of 'alemo jith'alem is not known. I have rendered the phrase in keeping with the phenomenon described by it. It may be added that in all languages the verb primarily denoted a series of actions, and that in Semitic languages this primary character of the verb is often quite apparent. Note in this connection the rendering of jith'alem 'al with irruet and sagl by Vulg. and Syr. respectively. 17 When it groweth warm, they disappear. The present reading in the second clause is due to mistaken word-division: divide ~\ D'na (Budde and others). 20 they trusted. Read ?nB3, in accordance with Syr. and Targ. As often, the third plural was written defectively, and was not recog nized by the Masorites. 21 So have ye been disappointing to me. V. 21 a is, in accordance 1 Even a command may be expressed by a nominal sentence, cf . e.g. II Sam. 20. 1, 'ish Wohalaw, "let every man return to his tent." NOTES 175 with Syr. and Gk. to be emended ,l7 • • • Dnx p -l. an emendation which has been widely accepted. When ye saw the terror, ye were seized with fear. The two clauses in 21 b are not coordinate, but are in relation of protasis and apodosis, the apodosis being formed by the imperfect with waw consecutivum. 22 Give me of your substance : mikkohakem is to be construed also with the verb of the first clause, ki is a nice example of introductory ki. 25 How forcible are : nimras is in itself equivocal ; it may be used either in a bad or in a good sense ; used in the former sense it means " vehement " (I Ki. 2. 8, " a vehement curse ") and " grievous " (Mic. 2. 10, " grievous destruction "). Your reasoning: mikkem is a quali- ficative of hokeah. 26 Do you mean to juggle with words ? Or to account as wind the words. The customary translation of the verse is incorrect ; it is due to the fact that the grammatical construction has not been understood. In the first place, milUm is not object of hokah, but accusative of speci fication ; we have an idiom equivalent to our " juggle with words." In the second place, tahshobu is a case of zeugma, both the comple mentary infinitive lehokah of the first clause and the object 'imre of the second depending on it. 28 Could I reaUy dissemble ? V. 28 6 is an interrogative clause and 'im is emphatic particle, just as 17. 13, Prov. 3. 34, et alii; this emphatic 'im is not to be confounded with 'im used in an oath. 30 Verse 28 was originaUy foUowed by v. 30, and v. 30 by v. 29. This is shown by the fact that the pronominal suffix of bah of v. 29 6 refers to 7. 1. Would not etc. 'im is not interrogative 'im but v. 30 6 is an elliptical conditional sentence, the protasis being omitted ; the trans lation of 'im properly should be " if so." Job uses metaphorical lan guage. He asks if any deadly poison were on his tongue, would he not notice it? Even so, if he had committed any grave sin, would his conscience not be aware of it? 29 Turn from your wicked course. This meaning of shubu is estab lished by the parallel admonition of Job to the friends in 13. 9-11, and particularly in 19. 28-29 : " If ye say, How we will persecute him, And the root of the matter is to be found in him, Then beware the sins that bring down the sword ! For the Divine wrath will fall on wrongdoers : Wherefore wiU ye know there is a Judge.'.' 176 THE BOOK OF JOB For Job the friends' heartlessness and the false suspicion they entertain about him constitute sin. VII. 1 Is not man's stay on earth continuous toil ? The prepositional phrase 'ale 'ares is a qualificative of 'enosh; §aba' with the meaning " serfdom " or " toil " occurs again 14. 14 and Is. 40. 2. 2 of the hireling who looketh for his wage, that is to say, who works to eke out an existence, as it is well expressed Prov. 16. 26, " The hunger of the toiler toils for him, it is his mouth that impels him to work." 3 wretchedness : shaw', which 11. 11, 31. 5 denotes moral evil, is here used in the sense of physical evU. 5 as if with clods of earth. In elephantiasis, the hardened boils make the skin look as if it were covered with dirt ; hence the suggestion of an elephant skin, from which the disease derives its name, and breaketh out afresh. Vocalize DNS'l, as Targ. and Syr. and one Heb. Ms. read ; the verb is derived from masas and the alef is vowel-letter to indicate the tone-long vowel — a spelling introduced by later copy ists due to the influence of Aramaic. 6, 7 6, 9. 25, 26 Job's reflections about the fleetness of his life, 9. 25f., do not belong in ch. 9, the subject of that chapter being the chasm be tween God and man ; they make a break in the thought, as 9. 27 is the continuation of 9. 23. Originally 9. 25, 26 must have stood here, for 9. 25 a is a variant of 7. 6 a, while 25 6 is a variant of 7. 7 b. In regard to 9. 25 a, we have direct evidence that it is a variant of 7.6 a, since in the latter verse Gk. Codd. AS and Prs. 249, 257 read Spo/xiws, that is, runner (ras) of 9. 25 a, and Sh has both readings, as has also MS. Ken. 117 : loom-shuttle runner. Proof that 9. 25 6 is variant of 7. 7 6 may be seen in the fact that in the latter verse the Boh. read life as subject of see ; my eyes (plur.) follows happiness, forming a meaningless genitive of the latter : ehan ayaOov nte nabal. From this it may be concluded that my eye got in v. 7 6 through dittography from v. 8. Verse 7 b, as 9. 25 6 shows, originally followed 7. 6 b, and had my days for its subject ; accordingly omit in v. 7 6 ,Jly and read 131W. Like v. 4 and 11, v. 6 together with v. 7 6 is a ternary. As to 'im, like, cf. 37. 18, Ps. 28. 1. 7 a, 8 Another ternary, that cometh to see me : ro'i is a nice ex ample of a potential participle, which has passed unrecognized ; as an analogous example cf. Jon. 1. 3, ba'a, "bound for." While one's eyes rest upon me, I may cease to be. That this is the meaning of the half verse follows from the parallelism. As often, the pronominal suffix of the second sing, is used impersonally, cf . e.g., Jer. 4. 18, Judg. 6. 4. The two nominal clauses are in relation of protasis and apodosis ; in regard NOTES 177 to I may cease, see the remarks on 6. 14. This interpretation of v. 8 6 is borne out also by the parallel thought of v. 8 a, and is the only one consistent with it. 9 As the cloud that passeth by vanisheth : wajjelak is a circumstantial clause, not coordinate with kald. 12 Am I the primeval sea or the dragon. The writer has reference to the Babylonian- Assyrian creation-myth, the attack by Marduk and his hosts on Tiamat, who held dominion over the primeval sea. 13 suffering : sih is used to denote " grief," " misery," " suffering " not only in Job but also I Sam. 1. 16, Ps. 102. 1, 142. 3. 14 nightmares : hezjonoth does not denote " visions " here, but " nightmares." 15 So that I desire to be choked to death : nafshi is subject, and the infinitive mahanaq is used in a passive sense, to my pains : read Tflaxj/D. 16 I loathe my life : ma'asti is elUpsis for ma'astl behajjaj ; the full phrase is found 9. 21 ; cf . also the parallel expressions, 10. 1 a, and Gen. 27. 46, qasti bShajjaj. 17 hold . . . worthy of esteem : tSgaddel is here a declarative Pi'el. 19 Long enough at least to swaUow my spittle is a proverbial expres sion common also to Arabic ; see p. 17. 20 Thou who keepest constant watch on man. Cf. 10. 14, 14. 16. So that I have become a burden unto myself. According to the Masoretic tradition, unto myself is a correction for unto Thyself made by the Scribes for dogmatic reasons. They considered the plirase as casting reflections on God's omnipotence ; unto Thyself is the reading also of Gk. 21 For then, might I lie at rest in the grave, etc. The verbs of v. 21 b are not indicative, as generaUy thought, but subjunctive. In the grave ; 'afar is a very common eUipsis for 'afar mawet, which Is found Ps. 22. 16: in both 17. 16 and 20. 11, where the ellipsis occurs again, the Greek understood it as the rendering xfy"*) " sepulchral mound," shows. VIII Synopsis. — Bildad, like Zophar later, advances no new argu ment on the question at issue, but reaffirms the traditional belief in retributive justice, more positively even than Eliphaz had done. That retribution follows a sinful life can in his opinion be doubted no more than that the papyrus or reed withers without moisture. He differs from Eliphaz only in temperament and 178 THE BOOK OF JOB method, being more aggressive and outspoken than the elder man. He calls Job's utterances "boisterous wind," reminds him that justice is the foundation of the Divine world-rule, and declares that the tragic fate of Job's children was but God's punishment for their sins. He makes no attempt to disguise his opinion of Job's own case, but exhorts him to implore God's mercy, adding that if he is pure and upright he need not fear, God will make him prosperous again. The wisdom of the fathers should teach him that "God will not cast away the pious, nor uphold the evildoer." VIII. 2 In this strain; 'elm is adverbial accusative, and not object, as usuaUy taken. 4 He cast them out of his presence. As 14. 20, shallah is ellipsis for shallah me'al panaw, cf . Jer. 15. 1 ; it connotes to deliver up to death. Note the imperfect with waw consecutivum in the apodosis of the con ditional sentence. 6 As often the temporal particle 'atta is used of a future happening. And would make thy home prosper again in proof of thy righteousness : sidqeka is descriptive genitive, cf. Is. 53. 5, musar shelomenu, " chas tisement which brought salvation to us." 9 as a mere shadow ; sel is accusative of comparison, as the paraUel case I Chron. 29. 15 shows. 10 words of authority : milUm is a case of emphatic indetermination. 13 the fate. This meaning of 'orhoth admits of no doubt, as the word is used with the same meaning Prov. 1. 19, and Jer. 12. 4 (where the text originally read 'orhothenu), with the simUar meaning "plight "; the emendation made by Beer-Kittel and others is unwarranted; to, lo-xara of Gk. is paraphrase, in Prov. 1. 19 Gk. rendered accurately fj KaraoTpotpiy. 14 as gossamer ; jaqot is not a verb but on the authority of Saadia a substantive. 15 Which will not stand if one leaneth against it, etc. The verse is a composite relative clause the antecedent of which is spider's web, beth 'akabish of v. 14 ; the first part of this composite substantive is repeated in the relative clause, and the verbs are used impersonaUy. The difficulty the exegetes found with the verse is due to the fact that they failed to recognize its construction. 17 penetrate the stones : jehezm is, as many hold, not from haza, " to NOTES 179 behold," but is either from haza, meaning " to pierce," or more probably from hazaz (the verb from which hazlz," thunderbolt," is derived), in which case jahoza — with cohortative he — is to be vocalized. As Ezek. 41. 9, bet sSla'oth " intervening space," Prov. 8. 2, bet nUhiboth " cross-roads, " bet is the contracted form of bajnat, the fern, of ben. The form is neither due to a mistake, nor is it an Aramaism, but a genuine Hebrew form : this is obvious both from the fern. plur. benoth and the dual benajim. AU three examples are cases of ben, which is primarily a substantive, having stUl preserved its nominal declension ; simUar cases with the masculine form are 24. 11, ben shurotham, " shut in by waUs," Prov. 26. 13, ben harghoboth, " abroad," and the frequent ben 'enajim, " forehead." The use of the preposition in our case here has its exact analogy in Zech. 13. 6 " the scars " ben jadaeka " on thy hand " : ben finds its explanation in the space which the roots and the scars take up on the stone and the hand respectively.1 19 Such, truly, will be the end. As Is. 8. 6, mesos is construct in finitive of masas with samek : the spelling with sin is due to Aramaic orthography; it was correctly understood by Gk. which renders KaTaoTporj. 21 He will yet fiU. No emendation is required ; 'ad here is not con junction but adverb meaning at last, finally, yet, just as Exod. 15. 16, Is. 32. 15 et alii. IX-X See Introduction, Chapter II, pp. 48-50. To the analysis given there a few remarks are to be added. The speech is a continuation of the line of thought with which Job was occupied in the conclusion of his previous speech. In opening it with the admission, " Indeed I know that it is so — How could man be just in the presence of God?" Job has not reference to anything Bildad says — he ignores Bildad's speech altogether, since it advances no new argument — but to the main point urged by Eliphaz, that man cannot be just in the sight of God. Job takes this idea, a familiar one to his contemporaries, but unfolds it in a way quite foreign to their mode of thought. 1 For simUar examples in Arabic and Syriac see Brockelmann, Ver- gleichende Grammatik d. Semit. Sprachen, II, p. 360f . ; the cases in Hebrew escaped Brockelmann's notice. 180 THE BOOK OF JOB With the disillusionment that has come to him through his suffering, has come also a deeper insight into spiritual problems, and he perceives, though for the present dimly and gropingly, the fallacy involved in his former reasoning about God. He feels his mind confounded by the mystery attending God's dealings with man, by the contemplation of the unbridgeable chasm between the finite and the infinite ; and he declares that, even though he knows himself innocent of wrongdoing, if con fronted by the infinite majesty of God, he would have to con demn himself (9. 19 6, 20). He describes his perplexity more fully in the verses with which he concludes his reflections on this point : " If I think, I will forget my anguish, I will dispel my gloom and appear cheerful, Even then I am wrought up because of my suffering I know that Thou wilt not absolve me. I needs must stand condemned, Why make vain efforts ? If I washed myself with snow, And cleansed my hands with lye, Thou wouldst plunge me in the mire, So that my clothes would abhor me. He is not a man, as I am, that I could give accounting to Him, That we could go together to the tribunal. Would that there were an umpire between us, Who could arbitrate between us both, So that He might remove His scourge from me. Then I might speak without dreading Him. As it is my mind is thrown into confusion, I am loath to live." Job proceeds now to amplify the thought which he but touched upon in the conclusion of his previous speech (incidentally he brings out a new aspect of the problem of suffering), that God NOTES 181 should not mete out such extreme punishment for unintentional sins. He argues that by avenging every wrong and error into which man by reason of his human imperfection is bound to fall, God renders void the gift of life and love which he bestowed upon man. The chapter, which is marked by a certain tone, as of intimacy with God, forms a striking contrast to the preceding chapter, in which the prevailing strain is the aloofness which Job feels exists between God and man. The change of tone is brought out by a very simple device, by Job's appealing directly to God, and addressing Him throughout the chapter in the second person. Cf. also comment on 10. 12. IX. 4 Howsoever wise and courageous. The attributives, v. 4 a, can be in apposition only to the subject mi, their position leaves no doubt about this. Who could defy Him and escape unscathed : hiqsha is eUipsis for. hiqsha 'oref; wajjishlam is a case of imperfect with waw consecutivum, forming a circumstantial clause. 6 the piUars thereof totter. This expression, which occurs repeatedly in Biblical literature (cf . 38. 6, Ps. 75. 4, 104. 5, Prov. 8. 29) , has its origin in the prevailing view of antiquity that the earth forms a disk resting on piUars erected in the sea. The location of these piUars was thought to be in the gap between Africa and Eurasia or the Straits of Gibraltar ; cf. the pillars of Hercules. The writer of Job, however, had attained a more advanced view about the universe, as 26. 7 shows : he uses the popular expression here merely for the poetic effect. 7 Who commandeth the sun not to rise and sealeth up the stars. From the second clause it is clear that the writer has reference, not only to astronomical, but also to atmospheric obscuration of the celestial bodies. Sirxularly, in Assyrian astrological texts the writers do not distinguish between astronomical and atmospheric obscuration of sun and moon.1 8 Who . . . hath dominion over the billows of the sea. In regard to the meaning of bdmothe jam, billows of the sea, cf . the analogous expression Is. 14. 14 bdmothe 'ab, " biUowy clouds," and German " WeUenberg " and " Wolkenberg." darak with 'al rei means " to have dominion over," cf. Deut. 33. 29, Am. 4. 13, Mic. 1. 3. In proof of this meaning note that hidrik, like the synonymous hirqib 1 Cf . Kugler, Astronomische und Meteorologische Finsternisse (Eine Assy- riologische Untersuchung), ZDMG., LVI (1902), pp. 61ff. 182 THE BOOK OF JOB with ace. pers. and 'al rei denotes " to give a person control " or " su premacy over" (cf. Deut. 32. 13, Is. 58. 14, Hab. 3. 19). There is but a shade of difference between this meaning of the two phrases and that with which the second is used Ps. 66. 12, " You let men domineer over us," or " ride over us," as the RV. translates well. The last passage is not in the least obscure, Ges.-Buhl to the contrary; nor can it be explained on the ground of the custom of the victor's passmg over the body of the vanquished person ; this could not possibly have been expressed by h. lera'shenu; the expression for this custom is either " to walk over a person," 'abar 'al (Is. 51. 23) or " to put one's feet upon the neck of the person " (Josh. 10. 24). 9 The Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades. It is generally thought to be as good as certain that Orion is meant by Kesil, but that it is quite doubtful what consteUations are meant by Kima and 'Ash. It may be pointed out, however, that the traditional rendering of these two names is well founded. (1) Kima or Kema as name of the Pleiades has up to this day been preserved among the Bedouin of North- Abyssinia ; * Kima, which means a group or bundle of stars, is a most appropriate name for the Pleiades ; simUarly the Babylonian ideogram Mul Mul for the Pleiades signifies a bundle of stars.2 Further in Talm. Berak. 58 6, Kima is spoken of as the constellation of the winter season when the rivers of Palestine are flooded, and in Babylonian-Assyrian texts the Pleiades are caUed the constellation of the floods.3 (2) The constellation ' Ash is spoken of 38. 32 as 'ajsh 'al banwha " with her sons " or " young," which corresponds to the banat na'sh, " the daughters of na'sh," by which in Arabic either the three front stars of Ursa Maior are meant, or the entire constellation ; note that in North- Abyssinian folklore the seven stars of Ursa Maior are caUed the Seven Brothers.* No argument against these deductions can be advanced from the names nXeiaSa ko.1 "Eo-rrepov Kal Apxrovpov of Gk. : for since in 38. 31 Gk. renders Kima and Kesil correctly nA«aSos . . . 'OpiWos, it is obvious that nXetaSa here cannot be the rendering of 'Ash, nor "EoTrepov and 'ApKrovpov of Kesil and Kima ; rather the former is the rendering of Kima, and the latter are substituted for 'Ash and Kesil. The substitution was made at a time when, owing 1 Cf . Littmann, Sternensagen und Astrologisches aus Nordabessinien in ARW., XI (1908), p. 299. 2 Cf. Kugler, Sternkunde und Sterndienst in Babel, Erganzungen, II. Teil (1914), p. 151f. 3 Cf . Kugler, ib. p. 153. 4 Cf. Littmann, ib. and pp. 303, 309f. NOTES, 183 to the influence of apocalyptic notions, constellations represent ing the four points of the compass were looked for in our verse. The Chambers of the South, i.e., the Chambers of the Southern Sky, Tafx.ua tov NoVou, from which, according to 37. 9, the warm South-wind comes that brings heat and storms. In later astrological and apocalyptic literature the Chambers of the South are identified with the consteUation Altar, near the Southern horizon, where Hades was believed to be located, and where, according to Rev. 6. 9, IV Ezra 4. 35f ., 7. 95, Syr. Baruch 30. 2, the souls of the righteous were kept.1 11 If He passed by me : hen, as already understood by Gk., is con ditional particle, but not an Aramaism. To consider every case of the use of hen as conditional particle in Biblical Hebrew as an Aramaism would necessitate resorting to an unwarranted method of criticism. I should not perceive Him. No emendation of 'er'm is required, the subject of ja'abor being the implied object of 'er'w — a construction which occurs quite frequently, cf . Exod. 32. 24, Is. 47. 11-12, Jer. 13. 19, Ezek. 5. 11, aU of which are to be classed as examples of brachylogy. 11. 10, 9. 12 Verse 10 of ch. 11, which does not fit in its present con text, formed originally a part of v. 12 of ch. 9. At one time in the transmission of the text, wSjasgir wejaqhil had been omitted, and the copyist put the omission, together with the two preceding and the two following words as a cue, in the margin, whence the whole was wrongly inserted in 11. 10 by a subsequent copyist. 13 God need not restrain His wrath, etc. The customary rendering " doth not restrain " is not permissible, for if the writer had meant to express a general truth proved by experience, he would have used the perfect. The writer implies that God cannot be held in check by any external power, he overpowered even Rahab and her helpers. The defeat which at the time of creation Marduk dealt Tiamat and the monsters fighting at her side is transferred to Yahweh, just as in 26. 12f . and Is. 51. 9, both of which have in common with our v. 13 the name Rahab for Tiamat. As an interesting parallel to our verse the foUowing line from the Babylonian Creation-hymn may be quoted ; " Against his (Marduk's) mighty attack no resistance avails." subdued by Him : tahtaw is adverbial accusative, properly speaking Hal; as often elsewhere, tahath has still retained its primary function as substantive. 14 Would I know how to choose. Any sort of modal statement may in Hebrew be expressed by the imperfect; the exact meaning with which it is used must in each case be determined by the context. 1 See Fr. BoU, Aus der Offenbarung Johannis, pp. 33ff. 184 THE BOOK OF JOB 15 of my opponent, meshofet is participle po'el, by which reciprocal action is expressed. That Theod.'s reading mishpaii rests on a mis understanding is shown by the fact that hithhannen can only mean implore mercy or favor ; the emendation of the text on the strength of Theod. by some scholars has been a serious mistake. 17 Who threateneth to crush me. Cf. the remark to v. 14. Why any one should question the meaning to crush of shuf, either here or Gen. 3. 15, one fails to see. for no cause : hinnam is adverbial accusa tive. 19 Behold Him! or There He is. The text is perfect ; as Jer. 4. 16, Gen. 16. 14 (also 18. 9 and I Sam. 9. 12) hinne forms an elliptical sentence, the subject being omitted. The elliptical use of the emphatic particle is common also to Arabic, as the examples quoted by Lane (Arab. Diet., I, p. llOf.) show. The objection raised by the Arabian grammarians against such sentences does not hold, since the emphatic particle is pri marUy a verbum substantivum. who dare summon Him. Instead of io'ideni read, in accordance with Gk. & Syr., 'HUH1 (Beer and others). 20, 21 Even though I am righteous . . . though I am innocent. That the customary translation which takes these two clauses as hy pothetical is wrong is conclusively shown by Job's emphatic reitera tion in v. 21, innocent am I. By I do not care for my life Job means to say that he wiU insist on his innocence even though, as the friends maintain, this might have serious consequences. 23 its victims. The genitive neqijim of v. 23 6 is to be construed also as object with the verb of v. 23 a, being a case of brachylogy. at the despair, massath is derived from masas; with the same meaning the verb is used 6. 14. Verse 24 I should be inclined to place after 12. 6 ; not only does the thought of the latter verse then become more rounded and complete, but also 12. 7-8 becomes more pointed. It cannot be said that v. 24 is entirely out of place here, but the chapter is certainly more coherent without it. The subject matter is the chasm between the finite and the Infinite, and bound up with it the mystery of God's dealings with man in view of the fact that the ills of nature fall indiscriminately upon the good and the wicked. 25, 26. See 7. 6. 28 I am wrought up. With this meaning gur is used again Hos. 10. 5. This meaning follows from w. 27-35 : note the emphatic re- assertion of the idea in the concluding verse, " my mind is thrown into confusion." 29 Why make vain efforts ? hebel is adverbial accusative. NOTES 185 30 with snow. Read, in accordance with the KeViib, blmo; the Kere beme just Ulustrates the Masorites' lack of critical acumen in changing the reading. 31 in the mire. By shahat a pit with marshy bottom is meant. 33 Would that there might be. Read, in accordance with 13 Mss., Gk. and Syr., «? (Beer-Kittel and others). That this must have been the original reading is self-evident, lo' jesh being impossible Hebrew ; " there is not " would have been expressed by 'en. As II Sam. 18. 12, 19. 7, lu was written with alef, which the Masorites faUed to recognize ; lu jesh occurs again 16.4. Who might arbitrate between us both. Ps. 139. 5, wattasheth 'alaj kappeka means " Thou holdst me in re straint " or " in check " ; accordingly jasheth jadd 'al shenenu means " exert restraining power on either of the contending parties," i.e. act as an arbiter. 35 My mind is thrown into confusion. Like 'im with a pronominal suffix in 10. 13, 23. 14, I Ki. 11. 11, 'immadi is used as equivalent to my mind, ken is not the particle ken, as it is generaUy thought to be, but verbal adjective of kun; it forms with 'immadi a compound, meaning " mental poise," and with the negative Id', a compound mean ing mental confusion. Taken in this way, lo' ken 'immadi makes exceUent sense, whereas the customary translation, " for I am not so in myself," hardly conveys any meaning. How the specific meaning of the adjective phrase lo' ken is In each case determined by the con text may be seen from the foUowing examples : II Ki. 17. 9, debarim 'asher lo' ken, " wrong things," Is, 16. 6, lo' ken baddaw, " their talk is insincere," Jer. 23. 10, geburatham Id' ken, " their power is pernicious," Prov. 15. 7, leb hakkesil lo' ken, " the heart of fools is fickle." X. 1 1 will give way to my despair. The pronominal suffix of 'alaj is reflexive ; similar examples are 30. 16, Ps. 42. 5, 6, 7, Lam. 3. 20, Jon. 2. 8, Jer. 8. 18. 3 And thou shinest upon the council of the wicked has no bearing whatever on the subject of ch. 10 ; it is by many scholars rightly con sidered a gloss. 4 as man seeth : 'enosh is accusative of comparison. 7 Although. As 16. 17, 34. 6, Am. 5. 9, 'al means in spite of. can deliver : massil is a case of potential participle. 8 Yet thou hast turned. Instead of jahad sabib read, in accordance with Gk. & Syr. £130 ins -- an emendation which has been widely accepted : in a similar sense, so6o6 is used I Sam. 22. 17f. 9 perishable as clay. Cf. Dan. 2. 42. 10, 11 Didst Thou not cast me in a mold like milk, and curdle me 186 THE BOOK OF JOB like cheese, clothe me with skin and flesh, and intertwine me with bones and sinews. Unexpected light is thrown on these two verses from the medical passage in Burzujeh's Introduction to Kallilah and Dimnah (the Pahlavi Version of Pangatantra) : " When the moisture out of which the complete chUd is to be formed enters the uterus, it becomes fused with her moisture and blood, curdles, and becomes clotted. Thereupon, a wind stirs this moisture, and it becomes like whey ( Kdsewasser), and then like solid thick mUk. After a certain number of days, the different members of the body separate themselves." This description of the Pahlavi physician Burzujeh, as J. Hertel has pointeu out, is based on the Hindu view of the formation and growth of the fcetus in the mother's womb.1 The parallel description in Job shows that this view must have been generaUy entertained in an cient times. These verses, like 26. 7 and the questions of chs. 38-39 as to the physical laws governing nature, show that the writer of Job was fully versed in the science of his age. 12 Life and love Thou hast bestowed upon me, and Thy care hath guarded my spirit. The view expressed in the verse is of extreme importance for the interpretation of chs. 9-10. It shows that, although Job wrestles with God, he is conscious of his absolute dependence upon Him. Similarly in 21. 16 he declares " Far be from me the view taken by the wicked " that their prosperity is the work of their own hands. 13 Thou hast had in mind. As a parallel to this meaning of zo'th 'immak the Koran expression dhdtu 'l-sudur, " what is in one's mind," or " thought," may be mentiond. 15 steeped in misery. Read, as commonly emended, Hp. 16 deal mysteriously: cf. the similar meaning with which hafll is used Is. 29. 14. Wouldst summon ever new witnesses. By witnesses his affliction is meant, cf. 16. 8, where this is expressly stated. 17 Wouldst ever increase thy anger with me, wouldst heap ever new relays of misery upon me. The half verse is perfect, requiring no emendation : thereb is a case of zeugma, hdlifoth wesaba' being another object of it, and the latter phrase is a hendiadys; haMfoth with the meaning relays occurs again I Ki. 5. 28, and as to saba' meaning misery, cf. 7. 1. 18 Why did I not die ? At the beginning of v. 18 6 insert (as widely emended) in accordance with Gk., sSi ; lamma governs both clauses. 1 See Das Pangatantra. Seine Geschichte und seine Verbreitung (1914), pp. 367ff. NOTES 187 19 Carried from the womb to the grave. Verse 19 6 is a nice example of a circumstantial clause. 20 the days of my life . . . leave me in peace. Read, in accordance with Gk. and Syr., n't? '"VW 'O1, the first part of which is widely accepted. The present reading is due in the first place to dittography of the final jod of jeme, and in the second, to mistaken word division, the final jod of heldi being joined to shith; in consequence of these two mistakes the I and d of heldi were transposed to read jehdal. shith is eUiptical for shith libka ; the preposition min gives the phrase the oppo site meaning from that which it has when construed with 'el. 22 The land of gloom and chaos, where, even when it groweth light, the gloom of the shadow of death prevaileth. The verse originally read : ninSx Sas ina yarn omD »n nnaj; 71s — wgh' sSdarim wattofa' were omitted, and then put in the margin, together with the two foUowing words as a cue, and the whole was subsequently joined to the end of the verse, instead of being inserted in its proper place. Note that the copyist who was responsible for the omission, not only added kemo 'of el as a cue, but indicated the place of the omission also by a pasek; there are many examples of this function of the pasek. The third fern. sing, wattofa', is used impersonally; the imperfect with waw consecutivum in the protasis occurs again 11. 3, 14. 10. When it groweth light : it was believed that day and night alternated even in the nether world. XI Synopsis. — Zophar surpasses even Bildad in fanaticism and ruthlessness. The utterances of Job, which, wrung from the depths of his tortured soul, are in reality more of a cry to God than an answer to the friends, are to Zophar mere chatter, his in sistent declaration of innocence, a scoffing at religion. He wishes that God might speak to teach Job humility, and to make him realize that He has not exacted punishment from him for the full measure of his sin. By "the empty-headed" and "the wild ass colt" that will be cured from their folly and have their obstinacy broken by suffering, he means Job himself. He does not bring out any new idea. His remarks about the unfathomableness of God, following Job's description of the omnipotence and 188 THE BOOK OF JOB infinite majesty of God, sound like mere commonplaces. He concludes with an unkind thrust at Job's affliction. See also comment on vv. 3-4. XI. 2 the wordy person. As pointed out before (4. 2) rob debarim is elliptical for hamedabber rob d&barim; it was recognized as such by both Gk., 6 ra iroAAct Aeyan/, and Vulg., qui multa loquitur. Both versions correctly took the phrase as adverbial accusative •; the con clusion drawn by some scholars from 7roAAd and multa that Gk. and Vulg. read rab was hasty. The Hebrew phrase 'ish sefathajim is equiv alent to German " Maulheld," and to Engl, vain talker. 3, 4 when thou scoffest, i.e. at religion, by maintaining, as the follow ing verse states, My words are honest, and I am innocent in Thine eyes : wattomer is a circumstantial clause. In addition to Job's decla ration 9. 21, 10. 15, Zophar has reference to what Job asserted 6. 28, 30. Inasmuch as Job by these declarations was denying the validity of the belief in retributive justice, he was in Zophar's opinion scoffing at reh gion. The version of v. 3 in the Greek differs essentiaUy from that of the Hebrew original, being more conciliatory. Attention may also be drawn to Gk. v. 3 a, evXoy7?/*eVos yevvryrbs yvvaiubs 6Xiyo/?ios. This sentence can in no wise be explained as being due to misreading of the Hebrew of v. 3 a, Beer to the contrary, but must originally have been added by a reader either as a marginal correction or as a com ment to 14. 1, whence it must have gotten in here. 6 the things hidden from wisdom. The customary translation, " the secrets of wisdom," which obscures the meanmg, is due to the fact that the translators failed to recognize that hokma is objective genitive. Too mysterious for understanding. Read, as generaUy emended, on3 omitting 3 ; the present reading, which makes absolutely no sense, is due to dittography of the preceding ki written originaUy without vowel- letter. He reckoneth not renders jashshw according to its sense ; the word means properly He casts into oblivion or obliterates from memory; by the use of the imperfect Zophar means to imply that not only in the present case, but again and again God has been similarly indulgent to Job. Many of thy sins ; min is partitive min. 8, 9 Higher is He . . . deeper is He . . . longer is He . . . vaster is He. The adjective phrases of these two verses are in apposition to taklith shaddaj of v. 7 ; in v. 9 iTHD is to be vocalized, as the paraUel- ism rehaba shows (Ewald and others). 11 Giveth heed to it. lo' is ono of the many cases where the pronom- NOTES 189 inal suffix of the third sing. masc. with U is written with alef; both Gk. and Syr. read it as such. That this is the original reading cannot be doubted. It continues the thought more surely, intensifies it, whereas the customary translation weakens the thought. Zophar emphasizes that God keeps a vigUant eye on the evU doer, and closely marks his evU deeds in order, as the following verse implies, that he may mete out corrective punishment. By the customary translation of the last clause, " even though He considereth it not," the point of the verse is lost : the main stress faUs on the statement that God notices the evU even without paying attention to it, and the sequence of thought between v. 11 and 12 is seriously impaired. 12 So the empty-headed man gaineth understanding, and $ie wild- ass colt is reborn as man. As to the grammar of this much debated verse, the foUowing may be remarked : nabub is attributive to 'ish; jillabeb is a denominative verb meaning one has or attains understanding; in the second clause 'ajir is subject and 'adam is adverbial accusative (Hal). That this translation and interpretation of v. 12 is the only consistent one is rightly the view of many scholars. Verse 12 supple ments v. 11 : it brings out for what purpose God pays close attention to the sinners. By inflicting punishment upon them He seeks to break their obstinacy and to effect a change of heart, so that they may humble themselves before Him, as Zophar admonishes Job to do in the foUowing verses 13-14. By the translation given of v. 12 the trend of thought of w. 11-14 is perfect, whereas by the traditional translation the sequence is missing. 15 Surely, then, mightest thou Uft up thy head without harm is in refutation of Job's complaint in 10. 15f ., " If I am righteous, I may not dare lift up my head " etc. Thou wouldst be established as on a rock. The passive participle Qal jasuq and the participle Hof'al musaq, as weU as the substantive musaq, which mean elsewhere respectively cast or molten (metal), and casting, are used in Job to denote firm as stone and firmness of stone; cf. 41. 15f., "His fleshy flakes form a soUd mass,1 they are firm as stone upon him without moving ; his heart is as firm as stone, as firm as the lower mUlstone " (which in contrast to the upper is immovable) ; and 38. 38, " When the ground is hardened to the firmness of rock, and the clods form a solid mass." In 41. 16 we have the fuU phrase, jasuq kemd 'eben, while in 41. 15, 38. 38, and in the verse here jasuq and musaq are used eUipticaUy, 'eben being omitted. Another case of the fuU phrase is in aU probabUity 28. 2, " tough-tissued as stone " ; cf. also 37. 10. 1 In accordance with Gk. and Targ. dubbagu is to be read, as in 38. 38. 190 THE BOOK OF JOB 17 Thy life. As Ps. 89. 48, heled, without suffix, denotes " one's span of life." Darkness: vocalize, in accordance with 3 Mss., Syr. and Targ. nayrn (Beer-Kittel and others). 20 Their hope will be snuffed out like the last breath of life : mappah is a case of brachylogy, being construed both as predicate and as accu sative of comparison. This meaning for the half verse is far more satisfactory than the customary translation, " Their hope shaU be the giving up of the ghost," which is explained as meaning ' death is what they have to look for.' XII-XIV Synopsis. — Referring especially to Zophar's remarks about the inscrutable wisdom of God, Job tells the friends ironically that what they state with such finality is but a shallow truism, a mere begging of the question. What he wants to know is why he, the earnest righteous man, should be visited with un deserved suffering, why he should be made the laughing-stock of his friends, an object of scorn in the community. He quotes what is presumably a well-known adage as expressive of the attitude of his fellowmen toward him in his adversity : "Contempt should be dealt out to him who suffereth mis fortune, A kick be given them that have lost their footing." In the following verses, we find him very naturally again grappling with the thought that occupied him in his previous discourse, the thought that justice does not enter into God's dealings with man. God lets the wicked prosper, and makes brute force to rule in the world — in society and in nature. Even the dumb animals will bea'r him out in this. They, too, can tell a story of the predatory system that prevails among them. This is the meaning, not only of 12. 7-8, but also of v. 9. "Who among all those doth not know That the hand of God worketh this?" l 1 In v. 9 6, which occurs verbatim Is. 41. 20, Job quotes a proverbial phrase (see p. 17). NOTES 191 That is to say, God lets tyranny and brute force hold sway in the world. The widely prevailing interpretation of the latter verse, who among the animals does not know that God is the Creator and Ruler of the universe, cannot be entertained. The thought is not of the creation and dominion of the uni verse, but of the unjust system which is permitted by God to prevail in it. It is far-fetched to make this refer to the visible world. The emphasis is altogether on the fact — irreconcilable to the author — that the wicked enjoy prosperity, while the innocent are allowed to suffer. Verse 11, "Does not the ear discern words and the palate taste food?" contains another argument along the same line as vv. 7-9. Job means to say one cannot be endowed with senses, and not know that the predatory system holds sway in the universe. Before drawing from all this the obvious inference that God's ways are mysterious and perplexing, not plain and in telligent, as the belief in retributive justice naively assumes, Job returns for a moment to his starting-point. The friends justify their persistent claim to superior knowledge with the time-honored notion that wisdom is found among the aged (v. 12 is evidently another adage), but Job rejects this view, main taining that absolute wisdom and authority is found with God alone. To show the omnipotence of God, which is beyond all human understanding, he draws a many-sided picture of His destructive and despotic dealings with men, the central idea being that men and nations prosper or decay as God chooses to ordain. This ruthless omnipotence by which man is overawed is, however, only one side of God. There is another side to His Being — a side of which man can have cognizance, not through the contemplation of nature or history, but through his own moral consciousness. It is to the God thus revealed to him through his inner, spiritual faculties that Job now turns, as to 192 THE BOOK OF JOB a refuge, from the mysterious, transcendent God everywhere so painfully manifest to the outer senses. Before this God he will plead his case. The God-belief of the friends, of his age, he characterizes as mere conventional piety contradicting both reason and experience. He scores the friends for their shallow ness and hypocrisy in approving injustice, because it is God's injustice. Do they think to deceive Him as they do men? Should they not beware of His judgment? They have cause to fear His wrath when He shall appear. But he, Job, can af ford to speak out unafraid — whatever the consequences. He is innocent, he will justify his conduct to His face. Here fol lows the exquisite, heart-searching verse : "This indeed hath been my support, For the godless cannot approach Him." The knowledge that his conscience is clear is Job's strength. In spite of his terrible visitation, he is nearer to God than the friends. He dares to speak. Were he guilty he would have to accept his fate in silence. Then humbly, intimately, he turns to God and pleads with him for mercy : " Remove Thy hand from me, Let not Thy terror affright me," or at least for enlightenment as to the transgressions for which he is paying the penalty : " Call me, and I will answer, Or let me speak, and answer Thou me ! How many are my sins and my iniquities ? Let me know my transgression and my sin." Only let Him not show such estrangement, such extreme sever ity to one so poor and helpless : NOTES 193 "Why hidest Thou Thy face, Why holdest Thou me for Thine enemy ? Wilt Thou scare a leaf driven by the wind? Or wilt Thou pursue dry straw?" He reminds God how frail is man, how brief his existence, how far from perfect. Why be so exacting with a being that is so utterly transitory and dependent ? Job's longing for mercy, for some act or sign of assurance from God, is rendered more poignant by the reflection that there is no hope for man beyond the grave. With infinite pathos he describes how a tree that has decayed may sprout anew, but how man when he dies must perish forever, must vanish com pletely like the stone that is worn away by water or like the soil that is carried off by torrents. Does not death mean extinc tion ? Otherwise how gladly should he await the change death might bring in his lot : "As the water disappeareth from the sea, And the river drieth up and vanisheth, So when a man dieth, he doth not rise again. Even should the heavens be no more, He will not awake, nor stir from his sleep." The impassioned wish, 14. 13, 15-17 — impassioned, for all he knows it to be futile — is not a part of Job's reflections on the question of a life after death, but rather is suggested by them. If God might but hide him in the netherworld until such time as He should remember him in kindness, and take account of all his doings, not merely of his sins ! This outburst reveals the conflicting emotions to which Job is a prey. He realizes that there is no hope for him on this side of the grave or beyond, yet with a tragic intensity he craves for vindication. The intensity of Job's feelings is to be explained in a measure by the fact, frequently overlooked, that he was stricken, not 194 THE BOOK OF JOB in his declining years, but in the full vigor of his manhood. Note Eliphaz' reminder in the following chapter, " I am more ad vanced in years than thy father" ; cf. also 29. 4, and 36. 14. XII. 2 Ye are the people : 'am is a case of emphatic indetermi- nation ; it was understood by both Gk. Cod. A, Vet. Lat. and Vulg., and excellently rendered by them with avOpomoi. iiovoi and soli homines respectively. 3, XIII. 2. The original place of 13. 2 a was after 12. 3a; it was omitted, and together with 3 6 ( = 13. 2 6) as a cue, was inserted in the margin, whence it was wrongly put after 13. 1. XII. 4 hath he become. Read, in accordance with Gk. and Syr., oovol yepas " if they shah give me a prize, it will be well." l 19 Verily then I should have to die in silence. Ki is emphatic parti cle, and 'atta has consecutive force just as in 3. 13 and 7. 21 ; 'ahdrish is a circumstantial clause. 20, 21 But two things Thou must not do unto me. What is meant by two things is stated in v. 21 : Remove Thy hand from me, let not Thy terror affright me ! Though actuaUy meaning one and the same thing, the writer speaks of it as of two. Other examples of this stylistic pecuUarity are Is. 51. 19, Jer. 2. 13. 25 a leaf driven by the wind, niddaf is eUipsis for niddaf lifne ruh. 27 Thou hast put my feet in the stocks . . . and dost draw Thy line close around my feet. Job pursues a Une of reasoning similar to that in 3. 23 and 19. 8 f . ; cf . these passages. By sharshe, rendered by Vulg. with vestigia, and similarly by Targ., the outer edge of the foot is in aU probabUity meant. 28 Verse 28 has no thought relation with w. 20-27 but with 14.1-2. It cannot possibly, however, be an original part of this passage. The similes are incompatible in the same piece of description. Verse 28 would destroy the effectiveness of the highly poetic figure in v. 2, " Like a flower he unfoldeth, and fadeth away ; Like a shadow he flitteth past and hath no substance." It must be the marginal com ment of a reader. XIV. 3 Yet over such a one. Read, in accordance with Gk. Vulg. and Syr., uiik — an emendation generaUy accepted. 4 Oh, if there might be found but one pure man among the impure. The correctness of this translation cannot be questioned : the partitive min is used again with the singular of a substantive, which is not a col lective, 11. 6 ; further the singular tame', referring to many, occurs again Lam. 4. 15. But not only is this meaning above suspicion, it is the only one possible. A careful examination of the examples with mi jitten both in Job 2 and in the other BibUcal books 3 wUl convince any one that mi jitten tahor mittame' cannot mean either "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? " or "Oh that a clean thing would come out of an unclean ! " The latter would have been expressed mi jitten jese' or wejese' tahor etc., and the former, mi jdsi' etc. (without 1 See LiddeU-Scott, Greek English Lexicon, s. v. el, where this and other examples are quoted. 2 They are 6. 8, 11. 5, 13. 5, 14. 13, 19. 23, 23. 3, 29. 2, 31. 31, 35. 3 These examples are Exod. 16. 3, Nu. 11. 29, Deut. 5. 26, 28. 67, Judg. 9. 29, II Sam. 19. 1, Is. 27. 4, Jer. 8. 23, 9. 1, Ps. 14. 7, 55. 7. 198 THE BOOK OF JOB jitten). The thought emphasized by Job is expressed in different lan guage Prov. 20. 9, " Who can say I have kept my heart clean, I am pure from sin? " 5 determined by Thee : harusim is predicate of both jamaw and mis- par hddashaw. the bounds : the pronominal suffix of hoq has the force of an objective genitive. 7-9 ki is introductory ki, used in passing over to a new thought, cut down. The reference is to the custom in Palestine of cutting off the tops or even the trunks of trees that have become old and decayed in order to produce a new growth. 9 as if newly planted. As Is. 17. 11, nafa' is used here not as a con crete substantive, but as verbal noun ; in the present case the infin itive has the passive sense. 10 no vital spark is left. This seems to me the meaning of halash, used here intransitively ; it is made probable by the context and by the fact that the meanmg of the verb, used transitively, is " to van quish." Where is there a trace of him ? Gk., ovKen io-Ttv, paraphrases the Hebrew ; to emend on the strength of this paraphrase is un warranted, especiaUy since the origmal is far more expressive, cf . 20. 7. Verses 11-12 describe man's complete extinction in death stUl more graphically. The majority of present-day scholars are agreed on Job's emphatic denial of a life after death in this chapter. To quote for example Strahan on w. 10-12 — " Here the denial of a second life is absolute. Man lies down not to rise again; he falls asleep not to wake tUl the heavens be no more, i.e. never. Job shares the ordinary Hebrew belief that this life is all, and his ignorance of immortality is one of the presuppositions of the drama. Faith in a future life would completely alter the data of the problem of suffering." 12 Even should the heavens be no more, 'ad is here not conjunction, but is another case of its adverbial use ; simUarly the corresponding Arabic hatta, when used as an adverb, may mean " even." 1 The clause is hypothetical altogether, and not indicative of any eschatological notion, such as we meet with in later literature. Wishing to be most emphatic, Job says that he can sooner conceive of the disappearance of the heavens (which in both the older and contemporary literature are spoken of as established forever 2) than of the resurrection of man. He will not awake nor stir etc. The plural of the verbs in the Hebrew 1 See Reckendorf, Syntaktische Verhaltnisse des Arabischen, p. 671 f. 2 Cf. Jer. 31. 35-37, Ps. 72. 5, 7, 17, 89. 30, 37. Is. 51. 6, and Ps. 102. 27 are two other cases where the disappearance of the heavens is spoken of in a purely hypothetical way. NOTES 199 is the original reading and should not be emended ; the writer purposely changed from the singular to the plural for the sake of generalization. I retain the singular in the mterest of English construction. 14, 13. Verse 13 must originaUy have foUowed v. 14, since v. 15 is its direct continuation. Referring to the hope in which some of his contemporaries saw the solution of life's riddle, Job asks, When man dieth, doth he come to life again ? and answers that in such a case he would patiently endure his present life in the hope of the change await ing him in the after-Ufe. the change in my lot. The suffix of h&lifa has the force of an objective genitive. 15 If Thou didst call me. Verse 15 is not declarative, but a com pound conditional sentence ; v. 15 a is a case of brachylogy, 'andkl supplying the object of tiqra'. 16, 17 For then wouldst Thou take full account of my steps, not merely watch for my sin; my transgression would be sealed up as in a bag, Thou wouldst whitewash my sin. As has been pointed out by several scholars, this is the only acceptable translation of w. 16- 17. The traditional translation is grammatically untenable; con trary to aU rule, it takes v. 16 6 as a rhetorical question, and renders v. 17 6, " And thou fastenest up my iniquity." However, since tafal in Hebrew and the cognate languages alike means only " to daub," " smear over," or " plaster," tafal 'al 'awon, it is obvious, can have no other meaning than " to whitewash," or " plaster over one's sin " (with this accord both 13. 4 {of ele sheqer, " forgers of lies," and Ps. 119. 69 taMu 'alai sheqer, " they spread lies about me "). Accordingly hathum of v. 17a must mean sealed up, not for the purpose of keeping it secure, but for the purpose of keeping it concealed, so as to be no longer manifest (cf. the similar meaning of hatham 9. 7, and Cant. 4. 12 ma' jan hathum, " a closed weU "). And since v. 16 6 can only mean Thou wouldst not merely watch for my sin, 'atta of 16 a cannot mean " now," but, as in 3. 13, 7. 21, it must have consecutive force, whUe se'adaj tispor must mean wouldst take full account of my steps. Additional proof of this meaning of sS'adaj tispor is furnished by the fact that it is exactly in this sense that the phrase is used in 31. 4, 37. 18 But as the mountain collapseth. Read, on the basis of Gk. and Syr., ^iS' ^ISJ ; this widely accepted emendation is borne out also by the paraUelism. 19 the torrent. Since the fem. suffix of sefihceha has no antecedent, majim being masculine, it is clear that the text must have originally read nrrao, which is to be explamed as a metathesis-form ; the word is fem. also in Arabic, sahifai. 200 THE BOOK OF JOB 20 Thou changest his features, i.e., in the rigidness of death ; and castest him off, cf . the remarks on 8. 4. He passeth away : jahalok is euphemism for jamuth ; cf . the similar Greek euphemism ot'xerai, " he is gone hence," " is dead." 21, 22. The customary translation of v. 22, " But his flesh upon him hath pain, and his soul within him mourneth," makes strange sense ; " his soul within him," moreover, is grammaticaUy impossible. Nor is the translation, " Only for himself his flesh has pain, and for himself his soul mourneth," any improvement on the customary one. The same applies to the emendations proposed. No emendation is neces sary : basar means here kin, and nefesh, serfs (cf . German " Gesinde ") : basar is used with the same meaning Is. 58. 7, " from thy kin thou shalt not withhold thy help," and is, in fact, so rendered by Gk., awb tS>v olkuiov " from thy kinsmen " (to which tov o-7repp.aTos oov is super fluously added), also Gen. 37. 27 " he is our brother and kins man " ; and nefesh occurs again with the meaning " servants " or " slaves " Gen. 12. 5, 36. 6 (in the plural), and Ezek. 27. 13. Taken in this sense, verse 22 rounds out the thought expressed in v. 21. In these two verses, as in 21. 21 later, the writer of Job expresses a view far in advance of his age. The prevaUing belief of the time was that the shades in Sheol not only retain memory of their own life on earth, but have knowledge of the fortunes of their kin after their death ; and they were thought to be able to exert influence on the affairs of the living (see the remarks on 5. 1). In contrast to this, the writer of Job denies that there is such a thing as a shadowy continuance of one's existence after death ; for him when a man dies, he ceases to be. He has no longer any knowledge of the Life and happenings on earth, and he is altogether unconcerned about those he leaves behind ; whether they are prosperous or poor does not affect him. It is interesting to note that a simUar advanced view is found in Euripides Alcestis and Troades. In the former it is said that the dead no longer have sensa tions of either pain or pleasure ; they do not care whether they are honored or dishonored; they are absolutely no more (w. 322, 381, 725f., 935ff. ed. Long & MacLeane) ; and in the latter, that the dead have no interest in aU the costly funeral honors, that only the vanity of those left behind is served by this custom (w. 1247ff. ed. Long & MacLeane). XV Synopsis. — Eliphaz no longer makes any attempt to disguise his real feelings toward Job. He tells him that his utterances NOTES 201 are blasphemous — by them he "undermines the fear of God" — that they spring from a guilty conscience, and effectually convict him as a sinner. Relying complacently on his advanced years and superior wisdom, he proceeds to rail at Job. For like Bildad and Zophar before him, he does not undertake to refute Job's arguments, or even to bring out any new side of his own belief ; all he does is to reiterate his former views with greater fanat icism. This is a point that cannot be too strongly emphasized. While the discourses of Job are marked by a steady progress in thought — back of them is a live mind earnestly seeking a solution — the speeches of the friends all proceed from the same fixed viewpoint, and show no growth or development in the thought. There is a tendency to overlook this blind inflexibility of the friends, and to regard their character in general in a more favorable light than the author intended. It has become al most a rule with interpreters of Job to apologize for the friends, and to paint them in a quite friendly light, whereas the writer of Job was intent on portraying them as fanatics pure and simple. Very skilfully and with fine psychological insight he shows how, with each successive speech, they become more intolerant and blindly fanatic, until at last their judgment has become so clouded that we find them even distorting the facts, and making the most unfounded charges against Job.1 It is especially worthy of note that, after the first round of speeches, the friends (excepting Eliphaz in 22. 21-28) no longer speak of hope to Job. Stirred to resentment by his unbowed pride, and goaded to intolerance by his (to them) defiant claims to righteousness, they concentrate, all three, on depicting ever more luridly the fate that stands in wait for the wicked, Job's misfortunes evidently serving in their minds for a model. XV. 3 Doth he put forward arguments that have no weight, reasons etc. hdkeh is a case of emphatic infinitive ; it is to be construed with 1 Cf . the last speech of Eliphaz and of BUdad. 202 THE BOOK OF JOB ' both bedabar and millim. Mention must be made of the reading of v. 3 in Vulg., Arguis verbis eum qui non est equalis tibi, et loqueris quod tibi non expedit. The second part is a variant of v. 3 Heb. ; as to the first, to which supplementary parts are found both in Vulg. and Syr. of 22. 2 (see p. 259), we have preserved in it a direct reply of Eliphaz to Job's declaration in 13. 3. 4 the fear of God. jir'a is eUipsis for jir'ath 'Slohlm. Thou utterest threats against God. V. 4 b, as it reads at present, does not admit of translation. The customary rendering, " restrainest," or " hinder- est devotion before God," is a mere conjecture; gara' cannot mean " hinder," " restrain," nor siha, " devotion." tigra' cannot be the original reading, but must be mistake for "VJn due to transposition of V and "i ; tig'ar siha means thou makest threatening utterances, or utterest threats. This charge is appropriate, when one considers Eliphaz' -viewpoint. 5 thy guUty conscience. Like pesha', Ps. 36. 2, 'awdn denotes here consciousness of sin; the exact meaning of je'attef here is prompteth. 7, 8 Wast thou created with the hills ? lifne does not mean here " be fore," but as in Ps. 72. 5, 17, it is used with the meaning as long as. Hast thou listened to wisdom and appropriated it in the council of God? Both the object, fyokma, and the adverbial phrase, besdd, are to be construed with both verbs ; it is the preposition 'el, in conjunction with the reflexive pronoun ka that gives tigra' the meaning hast thou appropriated, or made it thy own. By the ironic question in v. 7 EUphaz means to ask Job if the wisdom of the ages is embodied in him. Work ing up to a climax, he continues, in v. 8, or whether his wisdom has come to him through revelation. The verses contain no reference either to the Demiurgic Wisdom, the Logos-idea, or, what is practicaUy the same notion in another form, the notion of the Primeval Man brought into being before the creation of the universe, and endowed with the creative wisdom of God. As stated before, the scholars who find in these verses a reference to the Primeval Man have overlooked the fact that such an explanation is grammaticaUy untenable : ri'shon 'adam can only mean the first of men, whereas the expression for the Primeval Man, in the later Jewish Uterature dealing with this notion, is 'adam haqadmon, or more frequently the Aramaic 'adam qadma'a. 10 I am an old, grayhaired man, more advanced in years etc. In this verse we have another case of brachylogy ; the pronominal suffix of banu of the first clause is at the same time to be construed as nomina tive, or subject, with the second clause. The original has not I, but we, which is to be explained as editorial we. NOTES 203 11 Have the consolations of God expressed to thee, and the word revealed in whispers, have they no weight with thee? is a compound sentence: the prepositional phrase 'immak is a quaUficative which modifies tanhumdth as weU as dabar la'at ; also the objective mimka is to be construed with both clauses. The customary translation of dabar la'at, " the word that dealeth gently with thee," cannot be accepted, for the reason that EUphaz' unsparing attack on Job would make such an expression ludicrous — even Eliphaz' first speech was not characterized by gentleness. The meanmg of la'at is indicated by the fact that Eliphaz' reference, as w. 15ff. show, is to the thought 4. 17, which he had presented as a revelation, and regarding which he had said in his previous speech, " My ear caught a whisper thereof," " A faint whisper did I perceive." The meaning, revealed in whispers, is further supported by 'iti, " soothsayer," " mutterer," and by Arab 'atta, which denotes " to creak," " moan," " murmur." Finally this meaning of dabar la'at gives point to the consolation of God, and makes the paraUeUsm of the verse perfect.. On the strength of the revelation he beUeves to have received, Eliphaz considers himself as the chosen instrument for conveying God's message to Job, and ex plaining to him the meaning of his suffering. 12 Why do thine eyes flash ? Although we have no other example of razam, there is no ground for questioning either the word itself or its meaning " flash " or " roU," since Arab, ramaza is used in the derived stems with the meaning " to be in commotion " or " agitated," and the etymologicaUy corresponding Coptic sdrm means in addition to " wink " and " beckon," movere and agere. 13 unheard of words, millim, as is to be read for millin, is another case of emphatic indetermination. 17 I shall impart wisdom to thee, hawwm is eUipsis for hawwae da'ath; the fuU phrase occurs 32. 6, 10, 17, Ps. 19. 3. 19 Wo strangers lived among them. By this statement, the context shows, Eliphaz impUes that the foreigners living in their midst are responsible for Job's heresy. 20, 21 Through all the years that are allotted the tyrant is not another adverbial complement of liveth in trembling, but is to be construed with v. 21 a, his ears are filled with dreadful sounds. When he feeleth most secure. The preposition be of bashaldm is be essentiae, bashaldm being an appositive to the objective suffix of jSbd'ennu ; it was understood as such by Gk. and exceUently rendered orav Soiqj 17*817 dprjvevew "when he seems to Uve peaceably." 22, 30 a, 31 a. Verse 30 a, which has no logical connection either 204 THE BOOK OF JOB with v. 29 or with the rest of v. 30, is a variant of v. 22 a, as has been pointed out by a number of scholars : ('al) ja'&men of v. 31 was origi naUy another part of the variant, which read lo' ja'amin jasur mini hoshek; "iiD', which is Hal-clause ot ja'amin, is to be substituted as the original reading for shub. The insertion of the variant in the wrong place and the separation of ja'amin from the variant mark successive errata in the text transmission. The first mistake was the insertion of the variant from the margin in v. 30 : when later the book was recopied, ja'&min was omitted from v. 30 and then put, together with lo' (changed subsequently to 'al), as a cue, in the margin, whence both were finally inserted at the beginning of v. 31. He cannot hope to ; cf . the simUar meaning " despair of," with which lo' ja'&min is used 24. 22 and Deut. 28. 66. Being spared ; 13* is abbreviated writ ing of pax, as is to be read. 23, 24 He is destined to serve as food for the vulture. Read, in accordance with Gk., n;x urhS sin Tjnj (Duhm and Beer-Kittel). for disaster. Read, in accordance with Gk., ~PVP, (Beer-K.), and cf. 18. 12. The day of darkness terrifieth him. Contrary to the present verse division jam hoshek is to be taken with v. 24, as subject of lnrtyj'1, as is to be read, in accordance with Gk., instead of the present plural ; that the original text read the sing, may be seen also from the consonan tal text, charge on: cf. Eccl. 4. 12. 26 arrogant neck, sawwa'r is ellipsis for s.'athaq : cf. Ps. 75. 6. 28. In interpreting the verse, exegetes have laid undue stress on Which were destined to become ruins, and accordingly concluded that the places referred to are " places that were under the curse of God and destined by Him for perpetual desolation." Such an inter pretation, however, leaves the first, reaUy essential, part of the verse unexplained : Because he dwelleth in ruined cities, in houses forbidden to be inhabited. The verse finds its explanation in the common Semitic notion that ruins are haunted by evU spirits — primarily by the spirits of those that were killed and left unburied at the time the ruin was accomplished.1 This notion is met with throughout Semitic 1 In Babylonian and Assyrian hterature the spirits of unburied bodies and of those that met with a violent death figured prominently among the dreaded Utukki limnuti, "EvU Spirits," which were thought to haunt mankind and to work all sorts of evU. SimUarly in Greek literature, those wretched spirits that could not find rest in the nether world constituted the nightly swarm of Hecate. As I pointed out in the article, Blood Re venge and Burial Rites, pp. 306 ff., the rites and beliefs pertaining to death and burial belong to the stock of religious notions common to aU nations. NOTES 205 literature. Is. 34. 14, in speaking of the everlasting ruins into which Basra would be converted, says : " Yea, LUith (Babylonian female evU spirit) shaU repose there, and find for herself a place of rest." SimUarly, Bar. 4. 34, in speaking of the prospective destruction of Babylon, says : " And demons wUl for a long time abide there." In the Babylonian and Assyrian Utuki Limnuti texts we read : " O evU Demon, hie thee under the ruins, Where thou standest is forbidden ground, A ruined, desolate house is thy home." x As in this text the place occupied by an evil Demon is spoken of as " forbidden ground," so in Talmud babli Berak. 3, it is forbidden to enter ruins, " because they are haunted by evil Spirits." Also the foUowing Syriac story attests to this belief : " WhUe a certain man was passing at night along the road by the side of a fire-temple of Magians, which had been ruined for some time, devUs sprang out upon him in the form of black ravens, and they entered into him and convulsed him." 2 Another instance of this belief is an Ethiopic magical prayer, which was to be recited " at the doors before entering into a house which was old or in ruins or unclean." 3 29 His harvest wiU not bend to the ground. The derivation of minla from nala (= Arab, nala) is rightly considered by many scholars to be out of the question. The origmal form of the word seems to me to have been inyJn, manle being a composite of man, byform of md (as in man hu', Exod. 16. 5), and of le, just as Arab, mal is composed of md + li; like the latter it means " possessions " (of whatever sort, whether herds, land, or chattel) ; cf. the analogous formations belli, Job 24. 6 and bellma, 26. 7 : the suffix amo is to be considered as singu lar as in the case of 'alemd 20. 23, 22. 2, 27. 23, and of lamd, Is. 44. 15. 30 The wind will carry off his fruit. Read, as the text has on the basis of the paraUelism been emended, pa ni"D "igB,.l. 31, 32. The last word of v. 31 is, in accordance with Gk., to be com bined with v. 32, which originally formed the immediate continuation of v. 30. Verse 31 consists of disconnected phrases which do not admit 1 See R. C. Thompson, The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia, I, p. 139. 2 See E. A. W. Budge, Thomas of Marga, II, p. 599, Thompson, op. cit, I, p. xii. 3 See Budge, Lady Meux MSS., Nos. 2-5, p. 216, Thompson, op. cit. I, p. xlii 206 THE BOOK OF JOB of intelligible translation. The two first words have already been explained. The reading of Gk. of what remains is as foUows : on wro/ievei, Kcva yap airoBrjo-erai a{iT3: 0f tashubu uba'u nd', which cannot connote, as generaUy interpreted, resume the argument, uba'u Ha' is not original text. It was not read by Gk., Kal Sevtc S17 being Hexaplaric, as is shown by its omission in Sah. and its being sub * in Sh. The original reading has been preserved by Gk., epei'SeTe which, as Beer has pointed out, is mistake for original ipi^ere;1 this is shown by etetntitdn (" contend," " dispute ") of Sah., metheren anion of Sh. From this reading of Gk. it may be concluded that for uba'u nd the text originally read '^{J1.. 17. 10, which in its present place has no logical connection, fits in weU here, and makes the thought expressed in 16. 2-3 more complete. XVI. 4 if ye were in my place. As often, nefesh with the pronominal suffix is used as the equivalent of the personal pronoun. I might inveigh against you in eloquent phrases, 'ahbira is used here with the same meaning as Arab, habbara (pa"al) " to compose in skillful language ; " 2 with this meaning of the word also Neo-hebraic mShabber, " author," may be compared. 5 '& ammiskem denotes here I might give you comfort, as the paraUel- ism shows. And be generous in my lip-sympathy. Read, in accord ance with Gk. and Syr., "]t?rw N ? — a widely accepted emendation. 6 As it is or but. nny ~\« of v. 7 must originaUy have introduced v. 6 : the phrase has no force in v. 7, no matter whether the verse is read as continuation of v. 6 or in the place assigned to it by me. Proof that the phrase originally belonged to v. 6 may be seen in Vulg., Sed quid agamf which is a very good paraphrase. Nor doth it leave me ; as in 31. 1, 1 Sam. 9. 7, ma 'ittanu, I Ki. 12. 16, md lanu heleq (cf. II Sam. 20. 1), md is used as a negative particle. XXIX. 2ff . The view that ch. 29 is not in its original place has been repeatedly expressed. To my mind it followed 16. 6. It is also widely acknowledged that the chapter has not come down in its original order. By the rearrangement proposed here the verses, as will be seen, read most coherently. The omitted verses 12-17 belonged originaUy to ch. 31. 3 When His lamp shone over my head. The idea underlying these 1 Der Text des Buches Hiob. , 2 See Barth, Wurzeluntersuchungen, p. 17f. NOTES 211 words is the same notion to which the origin of the halo is to be traced. through darkness : hoshek is adverbial accusative. 4 in the days of my prime. As to the meaning prime of life, vigor of manhood, with which horef is used here, it must be remembered that the word means primarUy " the fuU ripeness of the fruit," then " the season of the fruit ripening," i.e. " faU," and that South-Arab. hrf, " faU," means also " year " ; simUarly Ethiopic harlf means " current year." As an interesting paraUel, Greek i?Xi£ and its de rivative •gXiKta may be pointed out; the former means primarily " mature," then " of fuU age," and the latter, " age," " time," then " time of life," i.e., an age = Lat. seculum, and speclficaUy " adult age," " maturity," signifying both " manhood " and " youth." It wUl accordingly be seen that veoVirros pxru of Theod. and Sym., adolescentiae meae of Vulg., hSrifuthl of Targ. are aU three correct ren derings, and that the various emendations proposed are unwarranted. As has been pointed out before, Job was stricken in the vigor of his manhood; in this verse we have an express statement to this effect. When God sheltered my tent. Instead of the impossible Hebrew Msod construed with 'al, read, in accordance with Gk., Sym., Syr., }iD3 (Buhl and many others) ; this reading is further supported by " Hast Thou not hedged him about and his house " (1. 10) of the Prologue, which the writer doubtless had in mind. 5 my boys, see p. 25. 6 When my steps were bathed in cream and When the rock poured out to me streams of oil are hyperbolic. 19 And the dew lay at night on my harvest. Like jasuq of v. 6, jalin is imperfect of reiterated action ; qasir denotes here harvest ready to be gathered in, just as Is. 17. 5, 18. 5, Joel 4. 13. 20 And the bow in my hand took on ever new strength: tah&lif, another imperfect of reiterated action, is eUipsis for tah&lif koh (cf. Is. 40. 31, 41. 1) ; bow, as symbol of victory or power, is quite common in the Bible (cf. Gen. 49. 24, 1 Sam. 2. 4, Jer. 49. 35, Hos. 1. 5). 18 So that I thought I should die amidst my brood. Just as bajith may be used with the meaning " famUy," " chUdren " or " offspring " (cf. Gen. 7. 1, 42. 19, Exod. 1. 1, Prov. 24. 27), so qen may denote " young ones " (cf . Deut. 32. 11, Is. 16. 2). Having in mind the prema ture death of his children, Job says that he had hoped to die in the bosom of his famUy, that is to say, surrounded by his children. It has been thought by some that this half verse, too, has reference to the Phoenix, which according to the fable consumed himself in the flames of his own nest in order to arise to new ltfe out of the ashes. But such an 212 THE BOOK OF JOB interpretation is disproved by the second part of the verse, And should live to old age like the Phoenix — Job does not say that he hoped to live forever, but that (in the days of his prosperity) he hoped to reach the utmost limit of life ; note that the paraUel Greek expression, oivi- kos Irn Biovv, is proverbial for longevity. There is no legitimate reason for questioning the ancient Jewish tradition, pointed out es pecially by the Masora, that by ftoZ the Phoenix is meant, since the form of the Phoenix-fable met with here is not the younger form of later Greek and Roman literature, but the older form as current in Egypt, according to which the old bird dies, and out of the larva which he leaves behind the young bird creeps out, or arises out of his blood. 11 Yea the ear that heard of me pronounced me happy, The eye that saw me bore witness to my worth. Both parts of the verse are cases of brachylogy, the suffix of te'ashreni being object also of shame'a, and that of tS'ideni, also of ra'atha. The accusative personae with shama, used with the meaning " to hear of " or " about " a person occurs again 42. 5 ; Gk. Cod. A, ol Se d/coixravTes ircpl ip.ov, understood, in fact, v. 11 a in this sense. Like papTvpuv in the New Test. (cf. Lk. 4. 22, Acts 6. 3, I Tim. 5. 10), he'id is used here with the meaning " to bear good testimony about " a person, " to attest to his worth," or " express one's approval of him." 7 the city-gate : sha'ar 'ale qareth is a composite formed with a prepo sitional phrase, like simhath baqasir, Is. 9. 2, et al. 8 stood up : qamu 'amadii, are a grammatical unit, like qum hithalek, lek red. 10 Verse 10, which is in thought identical with v. 9, is a variant of the latter. Proof of this may be seen also in the fact that the origi nal Greek did not read it, but read v. 11 as continuation of v. 9 ; the present v. 10 6 of Gk. ( = 10 6 of Heb.) is from Theod., as is also the present v. 11 a of Gk. which is another rendering of Heb. v. 11 a, both being missing in Sah. and sub * in Sh- 21 Attentively they listened to me : wejihellii is not original text, but dittography of the same word with which v. 23 begins ; the original reading has been preserved by Gk., wpoo-arxov, which is W^pll. Silently they gave ear : wejiddemu is another complementary verb to shame'u. 22 Once I had spoken, they spoke no more. Instead of dSbari, vocalize P^ro (Merx and many others) ; the haU verse is a case of brachylogy : the infinitive dabber being likewise complementary verb of jishnu. They showed delight when my words were addressed to them. The original first part of v. 22 6 is missing in Heb.t but has NOTES 213 been preserved in Gk. mpixapds 81 kyLvovro birort,1 the Hebrew of which must have been '3 '* '%], which was followed by 1D,17^ (without ') etc. ; the omission in the Hebrew text is to be ex plained as an oversight caused by the identity of the first two letters of 'aWsu and 'alemo. 23 They waited for my speech, even as the parched earth gapeth for the rain. Also in the case of this verse, the present Hebrew is altogether inferior to its reading in Gk., dWep yrj 8uj/5>oa w-poo-Sexo/xej/i/ tov ierov, ovtws ovtoi ttjv ipyv XaXtav Trpoo-e8£)(ovTO [Cod. A, Sah. Boh. Prs 249]. WhUe the text of the Hebrew is decidedly prosaic, that of the Greek is highly poetic, and the symmetry of vv. 21-23 leaves nothing to be desired. As a tentative reconstruction of the Hebrew I suggest: tfip1?'?1? rra nTga n;y pssa na-jb hiy>\ 24 when they lacked confidence : lo' ja'amlnu is used with a mean ing similar to 15. 22, 24. 22. The light of their faces remained no longer overcast. Verse 24 b, as it reads at present, cannot be the original reading. Not that the expression hippil 'or panaw is in itself objec tionable, as Budde and Duhm think: on the contrary it is a good Hebrew idiom, being the antithesis of nasa' 'or panaw. The latter is identical with nasa' panaw, or to state it correctly, nasa' panaw is eUipsis of nasa' 'or panaw, construed with 'el or 'al personae, both mean " to look graciously at " (cf. Nu. 6. 26, Ps. 4. 7 2) ; simUarly hippil 'or panaw is identical with hippil panaw, the latter, which occurs Jer. 3. 12, being eUipsis of the former. The mistake lies with the pronominal suffix of the first sing., for as in the case of the repeatedly occurring nasa' panaw,3 so in tha+ of hippil panaw the pronominal suffix of pSne is by the nature of the case always reflexive. The text must originaUy have read D"TJ3; which was written in abbreviated form 'J3 and not recognized. The plural of the verb is to be explamed as constructio ad sensum ; and as to the Hifil both here and Jer. 2. 12, it belongs in the same class as hdblsh, hashqet, hashmem, the meaning of which in Hifil is practically identical with Qal. Verse 24 6 might also be rendered in positive form, their faces lit up. 1 As Cod. A, Sah. Sh. Hie. Prs. 249 read correctly for &ir&ra.v of Cod. B. 2 In Ps. 4. 7 n&sa, with samek, is another speUing for nesa', with sin, due to Aramaic. 3 In addition to the examples aheady mentioned, cf. Job 22. 26, "thou mayest look trustfully to God"; also the like phrase II Ki. 19. 22 (Is. 37. 23) 'al mi . . . wattisd' marom 'enmka, "at whom dost thou look de fiantly" (marom is adverbial accusative). 214 THE BOOK OF JOB 25 Whenever I chose to take my way to them. The pronoun darkam has the force of an objective genitive (cf . the parallel example 28. 23) ; it was already understood as such by Vulg. Si voluissem ire ad eos. I led them . . I guided them. Read DDJK D1?^; the emenda tion is based, on the one hand, on the fact that Sah. Cod. D read in the case of the second verb the first sing., eietinomte naw ("I comforted them "), and on the other, on Sym. Kadias dirdya airoiis 6'Siryw wliich shows that Sym. read, instead of dbhelim, Hif 'U of jabal, and instead of jSnahem, Hif 'U of naha. This part of v. 25 is clearly fragmentary. XXX. 9ff. I shaU not discuss the internal evidence in support of my rearrangement of the parts of chaps. 30. 16. and 17. describing Job's present humiliation. I merely ask that the student read them in their present disjointed text-order, then in the order in which I placed them. It seems to me that there can be no doubt in any one's mind after such a comparative reading that the latter is more nearly the original sequence in which the author wrote them. i XXX. 9, 10, 1. External evidence that 30. 9-10 foUowed originally 29. 25, and that they were followed by v. 1 may be seen in we'atta with which both the latter and v. 9 now begin. Since obviously the adverb can have been read in one of the two verses only, the present reading of it in both verses is to be explained as foUows : w. 9-10 were omitted by a copyist after 29. 25, with the exception of their first word wS'atta; they were put, together with we'atta as a cue, in the margin, whence they, with the cue, were later inserted in their present place. Note that, as in the case of 10. 22, 16. 9 et al., the copyist responsible for the omission further indicated the place where the omitted verses belong by a pasek after we'atta. Verses 2-8 of ch. 30 belonged origi nally to ch. 24. 9 I am the object of their derisive songs. As in Ps. 69. 13, Lam. 3. 14, derisive songs are meant by nSgina. Such songs, it is important to note, had often little in common with what in Occidental Uterature is understood by derisive songs, but, like the Higa in Arabic Uterature later, were songs of imprecation, calling down curses and destruction upon the person at whom they were directed. Examples of such songs are Ps. 58 and 109. 1 The lowest people deride me, people whom I hold unworthy to be placed with the dogs of my flock. In v. 1 a mimmenni lejamim is not original text, as is shown by its omission in Gk. : whether what Gk. has in its place, vovderovolv pe iv p-epti, " they take turns in admonishing me," was read by the original or not cannot be ascer tained. Neither is 'abdtham of v. 1 6 original text : this may be seen NOTES 215 from the fact that 'dsher ma'asti is rendered in the present Greek twice, (1) v i£ov8ivow, and (2) ovs ofy yiyr)oap,nv d&bvs, and that the first of these, together with irarepas avrw is Hexaplaric, being sub * in Sh and missing in Sah. Cod. XXIV and IC. 'abdiham is evidently the addition of a prosaic editor to whom, in view of Job's changed circumstances, the reference to the dogs of his flock seemed incongruous ; due to this addition, sS'irim was taken to mean " younger people," and consequently mimmenni ISjamim was added. Sa'lr is used again with the meaning " low," " contemptible," Ps. 119. 141. XVI. 10 They are banded together against me. This meaning of 'alai jithmalla'un is supported by the fact that simUarly Arab, tamala'u with 'ala 'l-'amri means " they are banded together against " or " conspire against a person." 11 impudent youths. As in 19. 18, 'aunl is used in an odious sense. Similarly, German Bube, the equivalent of English " boy," may be used in the sense of impudent boy. XXX. 11 Since He loosened my bow string through the afflictions He hath brought upon me, they have cast off all restraint in my presence. If the Masoretic reading pJV, supported also by Syr. and Targ., is accepted, the verse presents no difficulty. In v. 11a waj'annent is a circumstantial clause to pittah ; both together form a causal clause dependent on 116. Further, jithri is eUipsis for jether qashti, and with loosened, is a metaphor expressing just the opposite of 29. 18 6, " The bow in my uplifted hand renewed vigor unceasingly." Also resen, " bridle," is used here figuratively. The meaning of the verse is obvious. Concluding the first part of the description of his present humUiation and misery, Job points out, how there is now no trace of the veneration he once enjoyed ; in consequence of God's visitation which has wrought ruin with him, the people have thrown off all restraint in his presence. XVI. 7 and first phrase of 8 He hath sapped my strength seems to me the meaning of hel'ani here. He hath brought ruin upon me: hashimmdtha has been rightly emended by Duhm and also Beer-K. to 'JBt^O ; a certain support of this emendation may be seen in Gk., oeo-rfKora, which is used 40. 12 with the meaning " to crush " or " demolish " ; hesham occurs with the meaning " destroy " or " ruin " (a person) again I Sam. 5. 6, Ezek. 20. 26. His whole legion holdeth me fast. Join the first word of v. 8 to v. 7 and read, as Bickell correctly emended, 'JBDpn irru>; there is excellent support of this emenda tion in Theod., since from Cod. B, Compl. Prs. 157, 161, 254 and also 106, 261 it may safely be concluded that not imXdBov but eireXa/JeTo 216 THE BOOK OF JOB /ae is the origmal reading of Theod. The reading of the present Hebrew is in the first place due to mistaken word-division, the suffix of 'adathd, i.e., \ being wrongly joined to tiqmMenl; the present suffix of the first sing, of 'ddath was added subsequently. Note that in 19. 12, 30. 12-14 Job elaborates the figure, his whole legion, by which he refers here to his affliction by God. It may be added that there are many examples of the use of 'eda to denote " host," " legion," or " multi tude " of any kind (cf. Nu. 16. 5 f., Judg. 14. 8, Ps. 7. 8, 22. 17, 86. 14). XVII. 7 And my body hath become a shadow. One cannot under stand why the genuineness of jesuraj should have been questioned by anyone ; it is the equivalent of Engl. " frame." External evidence that 17. 7 originaUy followed 16. 7 may be seen in the fact that Vulg. read 17.7 6 twice, in its present place, et membra mea quasi in nihilum redacta sunt, and at the end of 16. 7, et in nihilum redacti sunt omnes artus mei. This fact that Vulg. read the half verse in both places points to the conclusion that in the Hebrew archetype to which it must ultimately be traced only 17. 7 a was omitted, and that 17.7 6 was added as a cue when the omission was put in the margin. One might be inclined to hesitate about drawing this conclusion, were it not that it receives additional weight from the fact that the Greek did not read 17. 7 6. What Gk. reads in its place TrerroXiopK-qpai p.eya\a>s to irdvTasv, is not even remotely related to Heb. 17. 7 6. Beer's attempt to show that the Greek is due to a misreading of the Hebrew must be considered unsuccessful, like his simUar attempts in a number of other cases, conspicuous among which are 38. 2 and 40.8.1 6 He hath made me a byword. Instead of mSshol vocalize b^"?, as the versions, with the exception of Syr., read. To them I am a mani fest example. With Perles and others either tdfeth (with • • ) is to be considered as a byform of mdfeth, or the latter is to be read2 ; the word was understood in this sense by Vulg. which renders exemplum. As here, mdfeth means example, that is, of God's wrath, Ps. 71. 7, " I have become an example to many," and Deut. 28. 46. To emend lefanim, as do Perles and others, is wholly unwarranted ; the prepositional phrase is a quaUficative of mdfeth, it corresponds to Lat. ante oculos, Engl, conspicuous. It wUl be noticed that if 17. 7, 6 is placed in here, the sequence is greatly improved.' 17. 6 lends point to 16. 8. XVI. 8 As my maligner my disease hath arisen and beareth witness against me. Since his disease has wrongly been looked upon as evi dence of guilt, Job caUs it bitterly his maligner. This meaning of kah&shi cannot be doubted, since the versions uniformly understood 1 Op. cit. 2 Op. cit. NOTES 217 it in this sense. Their unanimity on this point is doubtless the result of a reliable tradition. GrammaticaUy, kahashi is not subject, but appositive to the subject of hajd and jaqum, which is disease ; that this is its grammatical force is shown by its position in the sentence. 9 Having become my foe, He hath assaUed me with unrelenting anger. The original place of sari was after 'appo taraf ; it was omitted and put in the margin in front of the next line, from which it was separated by a pasek ; to indicate the place where it belonged another pasek was put after taraf.1 sari is appositive to the subject of wajjiste1- meni; cf. the similar example kahashi of the previous verse. This interpretation of sari is supported by the parallel statement in Job's foUowing speech, " Thou hast changed into a cruel enemy toward me, With relentless hand Thou persecutest me," 30. 21, as well as by the antithetic declaration, " That mine eyes may see Him, but not as an enemy," 19. 27. 'appaw taraf is not coordinate with, but is a circum stantial clause to wajjistemeni ; in this sense it was understood by both Gk., opyrj xpijodpAvos, "indulging His anger," and Vulg., colle- git furorem suum. Engl. " a tearing rage " may be mentioned as its equivalent. He cast murderous glances at me, to my mind, accurately expresses the Hebrew idiom. 13 His missiles. This meaning of rabbaw may be considered as cer tain, since the versions without exception understood it in this sense. He hath struck or thrust through my reins — struck them, that is, with His missile — is a paraUel expression to " Whose liver an arrow hath struck," Prov. 7. 23, the original text of which, as Gk. Targ. and Syr. show, read " Like a hart whose liver an arrow hath struck." Proof that " strike " or " thrust through," and not " to cleave," as is generally translated, is the meanmg of pallah is furnished by the fact that the versions, without exception, so render pallah, both here and Prov. 8. 23 : Gk. BdXXmv and irc7rXiryu>s respectively; Vulg. convulneravit and transfigat; Syr. sheda' and mafreh, both meanmg "to thrust;" and Targ. mafreh (Prov. 8. 23) . Both expressions " to strike the reins " and " thrust through the liver " are to be classed as stock phrases common not only to Semitic but also to Indo-European languages. The foUowing Greek examples are especiaUy pertinent : 6 pkv rjirreTo xe''p£0"' yovvatv te'/xevos Xiao-toff, 6 Se 8e Ka7reXiJ(TaT iv tftoval'S rpoira) iraLoao v' rjirap airo^etp avTrjv, Soph. Ant. 1314f. ; Kayo) p.ev eiyeveuiv diro8et£o> iroXei, iratcras 7rpos ^irap (pao-ydvui, Eur. Or. 1062f . ; bpwiiev airr/v ap.LirXrjyi c/>ao-yaya> TrXevpav v nirap /cat c/>pevas ireirXwy p.ivr]v, Soph. Trach. 930f. » These examples show that " to strike a person upon the liver " really means to wound a person mortally, or to deal him a death blow, and that the phrase is used even for killing oneself. Further, since one of the meanings of c^peVes in the physical sense is the organs adjoining the liver, it may safely be concluded that in W . . . c/>peVas irorX^y/xeV); of the last example we have the Greek equivalent to Biblical jefallah kiljdthaj. It should be added that " The hart whose liver has been thrust through with an arrow " is al^o a famUiar picture of medieval art and literature. These stock-expressions have their origin in the popular notion prevaUing throughout antiquity, in medi cine and phUosophy as weU as in religion, that the liver and its adjoin ing organs, the gall and the kidneys, are the seat of both the animal and the intellectual and emotional life. To what extent this notion held sway in ancient rehgion is shown by the prominent rdle which liver-augury played among the Greeks and Romans no less than among the Babylonians and Assyrians. From all this it is clear then that He hath struck my kidneys, and He hath poured my gall upon the ground are synonymous expressions, either of which means that God has dealt him a death blow. We have thus in w. 12-13 one continu ous thought developed. In highly poetic language Job describes how he has been stricken by God with a fatal disease : the imperfects are imperfects of progressive duration, and as such are descriptive of the nature of the disease from which Job was suffering. A person stricken by elephantiasis actually dies by inches : the members of the body rot away, and drop off one by one. 14 Blow upon blow He hath dealt me. Note that paras is used with the meaning " to work destruction " or " inflict calamity," II Sam. 6. 8 (cf. v. 7), Ps. 106. 29, and with the meanmg " to demolish," II Chron. 20. 37 (cf. paraUelism), and that peres has the meaning " catastrophe " or " calamity," Judg. 21. 15, II Sam. 6. 8. 15 I have thrust my horn into the dust, 'alal is the same verb as Aram, 'al, Arab, 'alia, meaning " to enter," " insert," " thrust." The half verse is figurative for I have abandoned all hope, horn being symbol NOTES 219 of both strength and prosperity, cf. Ps. 148. 14, " He hath lifted up the horn of His people." XVII. 8, 9 That the original place of these two verses must have been after 16. 17 has already been noted by Hontheim. Let the inno cent be roused to confute the hypocrite : jith'drar 'al means " be roused in opposition to," and here, it follows from the context, it means specifi- caUy be roused to rebut or to confute. XXX. 28 6, which is not logically related either to 30. 28 a or 30. 29 ff., is a suitable introductory formula to Job's prayer 16. 18. XVI. 18 Let the earth not cover my blood, Let there be no place for my outcry. The prevaUing interpretation of the verse is based on the erroneous view that in ancient Israel bloodshed called for vengeance only when the murdered person was left unburied, or in Biblical phraseology, when his blood was left uncovered, unabsorbed by the earth. I discussed this point at length in the article, Blood Revenge and Burial Rites in Ancient Israel (in JAOS. 1919, pp. 303- 321), which I worked out originally in order to show the basis for the interpretation of this verse, but which, as it grew beyond permissible length, I published separately. I shall limit myself to a few brief references to this article. " Let the earth not cover my blood " has generaUy been explained to mean that Job prays that, when he dies, his blood, i.e. his body, may be left unburied to appeal to Heaven for vengeance for his premature and unjust death. In line with this interpretation the second part of the verse is as a rule translated: " And let my cry have no resting-place," and is explamed to mean that Job prays that his post mortem cry for vengeance may not be inter cepted, but that it may penetrate unto God. This translation of the second half verse, it may readUy be seen, is unfounded, for in addition to the fact that the interpretation reads far more into resting-place than the word can possibly imply, there is the far weightier objection that maqdm does not mean resting-place at all, either in Hebrew or in any of the cognate languages. The translation of the AV. " And let my cry have no place," is decidedly superior to that adopted by the RV. and the exegetes. But this is a minor point compared with the fact that, even if the notion on which the prevaUing interpretation of the verse is based were a real, instead of a purely imaginary one, it would have no relevancy to the case in question ; for since Job was threatened, not with a violent, but with a natural death from disease at the hand of God, it is obvious that his death, however premature and unjust, was not a case for blood-revenge. It is absurd to represent Job as appealing to God to avenge his unjust death — avenge it on 220 THE BOOK OF JOB whom ? on God himself ? The situation would be quite different from that met with later on in w. 20-22, 17. 3, where Job, praying for his vindication, appeals from the God who has mercUessly smitten him to the God of love and compassion — the God of his faith. The decisive point is that neither in Israel nor among any other people of ancient times did the notion exist that violent death called for vengeance only as long as the blood remamed uncovered, or, what is the same thing, as long as the slain one was left unburied. As in pre-Mohammedan Arabia, so in Israel, blood-revenge was sought for those slain in blood-feuds or for those deUberately mur dered (and at one time for those kUled without premeditation or de sign), irrespective of whether the slain person was duly buried or not. Thus Joab avenged the blood of his brother Asahel on Abner after Asahel's remains had been buried (II Sam. 2. 14-32, 3. 27-30). Fur ther, David on his death-bed enjoined upon Solomon to avenge the blood of Abner (slain thirty years previously), and of Amasa, on their slayer Joab (for David himself it would have been too risky a matter to seek vengeance for either of them) ; yet of Abner we are told that he was buried immediately after his death, and moreover that the burial ceremonies were performed by the king and the entire nation (II Sam. 3. 29f., 31-39 ; I Ki. 2. 5f., 31ff.). Note finally that in the story of Genesis about Gain's being called to account for the blood of his brother crying for vengeance, commonly quoted in support of the pre vaUing interpretation of Job 16. 18, the very opposite is stated, that Abel's blood had been absorbed by the earth : " Be thou cursed from the ground which opened its mouth to receive the blood of thy brother from thy hands " (Gen. 4. 10-11). Arabic literature, I showed, furnishes abundant proof to the same effect. I showed further that among the Semites blood-revenge was governed by the same primitive belief as in ancient Greece — the belief that the souls of those who have met with a violent death cannot find rest in the nether world, but are condemned to haunt the earth as wretched spirits untU their death has been duly avenged on their slayers. Finally I showed that the customary interpretation of Job 16. 18 has no basis either in Is. 26. 21 or in Ezek. 24. 7-8. The meaning of Let the earth not cover my blood becomes very plain, when it is remembered that the blood was thought to be the seat of life, or of the soul, of every being, and that accordingly dam occurs in Gen. 9. 4, and Lev. 17. 14, and also Deut. 27. 25, as an equivalent term of nefesh, meaning " life," " person," " self." It is in this same sense that it is used here in Job. Similarly dam is used Ps. 72. 14, NOTES 221 " May their life (damam) be precious in his eyes," as is shown by naf- sham of the parallel clause, and again Ps. 30. 10, " What profit is there if my life is sacrificed " (bedami) ; l and finaUy I Sam. 26. 20, " 'aljippol dami 'arsa away from the presence of God." Neither in Ps. 30. 10 and 72. 14 nor in I Sam. 26. 20 does dam imply a violent death. In I Sam. 26. 20 David does not express the fear that if he were to be killed hi a foreign land there would be none to avenge his blood (as the verse is generaUy explamed), but expresses the wish that he may not die in a foreign land. As I showed, p. 316 of the article, the belief which pre vaUed in Greece that not to be buried in one's native country was a terrible punishment, was shared by ancient Israel, and still prevails among the Bedouin of Arabia Petraea. 'al jippol dami 'arsa means Let me not sink into the grave, i.e. let me not die. The expression be longs in the category of stock phrases not limited to Hebrew and Semitic languages, but common also to Indo-European languages ; its Greek equivalent is yatav or y66va 8vvai " to sink into the earth," or " to go to the grave," II. 6. 19 and 411. A simUar stock phrase is 'eres 'al tekassi dami, meanmg Let me not (die and) be laid in the earth; for its numerous 'Arabic and Greek equivalents see p. 317f. of the article. The origin of Let the earth not cover my blood and its parallels in Arabic and Greek is to be sought, it seems to me, not so much in the fact that interment was the oldest method of burial the world over, as in the universal practice that went with it of embedding the body in a layer of gravel and clay and of covering it with clay and gravel, or with sand and dust, even when placed in an urn or immured. This prac tice prevaUed in Greece in the Mycenaean Age as well as throughout Northern Europe in prehistoric times ; and the excavations of recent years have shown that it was also common in Canaan for over a thou sand years prior to its conquest by Israel, and that it continued to pre- vaU among the conquerors throughout preexUic times, if not throughout their entire history. The meaning of the second part of Job 16. 18 is as simple as the first part, maqdm le means " place for," " room for," or " occasion for " ; with this meanmg maqdm IS occurs again Sir. 4. 5, lo' titten Id maqdm leqalelka, " give him no occasion for cursing thee." This mean ing of maqom le requires no further discussion, as it has its exact analo- 1 The preposition be is be of price ; b&lami of this example is akin to benafsho, "at the risk," and "at the peril of his hfe," I Ki. 2. 23 and Prov. 7. 23 respectively, et alit. dam with the meaning "life" is found also in Talmudic Aramaic and Neo-Hebraic and in Arabic. 222 THE BOOK OF JOB gon in English place for, or room for, in Greek totto<; and in many other languages. The translation of Job 16. 18 6 is Let there be no place for my outcry. Instead of the unnatural prayer which the prevaUing in terpretation carries into the verse, the momentary prayer which Job really utters is the simplest, the most natural, that can be imagined. He prays that he may be saved from the grave, so that there may be no place any more for his complaint that, notwithstanding his blame less life, he has been stricken with death. 21 And take sides in the conflict between a man and his fellowmen. Read, in accordance with 5 Mss., fS' — a reading which has been widely accepted ; the mistaken vocalization |3 has been caused by the scriptio defectiva. wejdkah is a case of zeugma, both the object legeber and the prepositional phrase ben 'adam etc., being dependent on it. That He may plead for a man with God, and its paraUel 17. 3, " Give surety for me before Thee," are highly effective ; they find their ex planation in the fact that Job is appealing from the God who has merci lessly smitten him to the God of love and compassion — the God of his faith. 22 For the allotted years near their end etc. The verse shows that Job entertains no doubt whatever as to the fatal nature of his disease. XVII. 3 Give surety for me. VocaUze, as many scholars have emended, 'toij? ; that this must have been the origmal reading follows from the fact that according to the present text sima would be without an object ; the reading is supported also by Syr. and Targ. 4 Thou canst not permit them to triumph. The verse presents no difficulty whatever; libbam, which is to be construed as object also with terdmem is a case of brachylogy. Theod. and Targ. understood the construction perfectly, but supplied the object in accordance with the sense rather than with the grammatical construction. 5 to a portion. The substantive ISheleq is faultless text ; it is to be explained by the fact that distribution of the portions by lot is referred to (see the Synopsis). 12 Night they pronounce day, in the face of darkness they declare light to be nigh. The verse is perfect, though it has generaUy been misunderstood, and even unwarrantedly been amended : jasimu is a case of zeugma, both lajla and 'or being dependent on it as object (cf. Is. 5. 20 where sim is used as a synonym of 'amar) ; the specific meaning, in the face of, which mippene has here, is closely related to the meaning it often has, " in the presence of," as e.g. Lev. 19. 32, " In the presence of an aged man thou shalt stand up," Mic. 1. 4, " As wax melts in contact with fire." The verse, which in its present place NOTES 223 is connected neither with the preceding nor with the foUowing verses, fits in well here ; it furnishes additional iUustration of the blindness of the friends who hold out hope to Job even though the night of death is graduaUy setting in on him. XXX. 26 forms a suitable connecting link between 17. 12 and 17. llff. The idle hope which his friends have held out to him recalls to Job's mind how he himself had been full of confidence, but that while he trusted that his prosperity would be enduring (see 29. 18), irretriev able disaster overtook him. XVII. 11 My days pass by as quickly as thought. Like mezimmdth 21. 27, zimmdth here means thought, and was understood in this sense by Vulg., Targ., and Syr. : zimmoth, the suffix of which is to be omitted, in accordance with Syr., is accusative of comparison ; cf . the parallel Ps. 90. 9, " We finish our years as quickly as thought," where the com parison is expressed by the particle k&md. This meanmg of zimmoth is also supported by Gk., iv 8p6p.u> " swUtly " — as Cod. A, 7 Prs. and Aid. correctly read instead of iv Bpo/jw — which paraphrases the adverbial accusative zimmoth. It may be noted that iv 8p6ixa> is ver nacular (koivti) Greek usage for the dative of manner of classical writ,1 and that Beer's emendation besimma on the strength of iv of Gk.2 was too hasty. The strings of my heart are torn. Beer rightly inferred from Gk. to. avOpa that mdrashe must be identical with Babyl. mahrashu, Syr. marsha, Arab, marasat, " rope," " cord," " string " ; 3 vocalize, therefore, instead of md of the first syllable, ma. This con clusion is further supported by the fact that Saadja paraphrases the word with najat, " the veins from which the'heart is suspended." The figurative meaning of the cords or the strings of my heart is beyond doubt, since, as has been pointed out in connection with 4. 21, in both Hebrew and Arabic the words for " rope," " band," and " thread " are used metaphoricaUy, even without any additional qualificative, to denote " lUestring." Heb. XXX. 22, Gk. and Heb. XVII. 1 a The wind is bearing me aloft and carrying me away. Direct proof that the original place of 30. 22 was in 17. 1 is furnished by the fact that while Heb. 20. 22 is miss ing in Gk. (in ch. 30), Gk. 17. 1 a oXe'/cofiai wvevpun v, Kal ti iroirjo-a),2 supplements Heb. and Gk. v. 1 6 in such a perfect manner, that there can be no doubt about its being the original con tinuation. The Hebrew of this verse (with exclusion of 'im lo') is, as widely granted, altogether obscure, the translations given have merely the value of guesswork. All that may be said is that for h&thullm and talan the text originaUy read, in all probability, some deri vatives from la'a, the Nifal of which is used Is. 16. 12 to connote hope lessness of prayer. This conclusion is further borne out by the fact that Sym. read for h&thulim wapaXeXoyicr/uu which shows that he must have read first pers. sing, from talal, though mistaking it for Hifil.3 The following retranslation into Hebrew may be attempted : * hys? r\m £«ih|n '{vkSj nxbri This reading undoubtedly supplies the correct thought, but the data are insufficient to deduce with certainty the correct wording of the thought. Gk. 3 a. tKXafrav 8e p,ov to, vvdp\ovTa dXXdrpioi is another interest ing example of text contamination in the Greek. There is nothing at all corresponding to this text in the Hebrew ; for it can neither be taken as rendering of v. 3 a nor of v. 5 a, as Dillmann 5 and Beer e take it to be, but, p.ot> excepted, it is a variant of Gk. 18. 7 a, dnpevoaio-av i\d\io-Toi to. virdp^ovra airov. The variant was added in the margin whence it got subsequently in the text here ; p.ov was added to harmonize it with its new surroundings.7 1 Cf. e.g. 1. 11, I Ki. 20. 23, Is. 5. 9, which are aU cases of ellipsis, the verb "swear" governing 'im lo' being omitted. 2 That iroiija-w, and not iroiijo-as of Codd. B S2 C is the original read ing is probable, though not beyond doubt ; it has for its text-authorities, Codd. A S4 23 Prs., Aid. Compl., and is further attested by the Syro- Hexaplar. 3 Note that 13. 9 hathel is rendered by Aq. with ira.pa\oyll;e is abbreviation of TUW ; direct proof of this is to be seen in ge'ith, " I cry," of Syr. Further, 'im is mistake for original 'o, and befidd is mistaken reading for original befi lu, due, on the one hand, to wrong word-division, and on the other to b being mis taken for 1. FinaUy, omit lahen, and read after shiwwa'ti : — we'aher ja'asenna li. The verse as a whole reads : as r, they mistook the word as abbreviation of se'irim; 'on they took as meaning "wealth." 1 There are quite a number of cases of lu being spelt with 'alef, which have been similarly misread: cf. Job 9. 33, 23. 6, Gen. 23. 11, Judg. 21, 22, I Sam. 13. 13, 20. 14 (twice). 228 THE BOOK OF JOB 1 ,l? ™^; nriKi 'ryw 21, which was, in fact, the reading of both Gk. and Vulg. nafsheka is not omitted in Gk., as Beer thinks,1 but, being reflexive pronoun, was correctly rendered o-oi [ with 16. 9 aa. 12, XXX. 12-14. It may be noticed almost at a glance that 30. 12 c, And erect their sinister ramparts against me, must be a variant of 19. 12 6, And erect their ramparts against me, and being the more poetic expression of the two, there can be no doubt that 30. 12 c is the origmal reading. The occurrence of the half verse both here and in 30. 12 is to be explamed by the fact that when the latter and the verses follow ing it were omitted from their original place after 19. 12, they were put in an avaUable blank space of the manuscript, with the half verse repeated as a cue. Further evidence that the original place of these verses was in ch. 19 may be seen in Gk. 30. 13 6 iieSvo-cv 2 yap p.ou ttjv o-ToXyv, which is a variant of 19. 9a; it was originally written in the margin of ch. 19, whence, together with the other verses omitted from that chapter, it got in ch. 30. In explanation of the change So£av to o-toXijV in the variant, it may be mentioned 1 As Codd. S P 16 Prs. Sah. Sa Vet. Lat. Hie. Aid. and Compl. read correctly for Qtdvoav of Codd. A B and Boh. 234 THE BOOK OF JOB that the stola, even as the turban up to this day, was worn only by people enjoying social caste, and hence was a badge of distinction. As to 30. 13 a, nathesu is undoubtedly a corruption of nathesu caused by dittography of jitt&seni of 19. 10, whUe nethibathi, for which the ver sions without exception read plural, either is dittography of the same word of 19. 8, or, since Greek read instead of nethibdthaj of the latter verse panaj, it may primarily have been marginal correction for this mistaken reading. 30. 13 c, which was not read by Gk., and is missing also in Ms. Ken. 30, is a variant of 29. 12 6, as has already been ob served by Voigt and Beer (see remarks to 29. 12). FinaUy as to 30. 12 6, shillehu is dittography of the same word of the preceding v. 11, whUe in raglaj a fragment may be seen of pedes meos vinxerunt compedi- bus, read here by Vet. Lat. The clause, the close resemblance of which to 13. 27 a wiU be noticed at once, presents no doubt a paraUel case to 19. 11 : originaUy it was probably added as a marginal comment to 19. 8 a, suggested by 13. 27 a, just as 19. 11 6 was copied after 13. 24 6 ; from the margin of ch. 19 it got, with the other verses from this chap ter, in ch. 30. XXX. 12 At my right they rise in swarms. Read, in accordance with 25 Mss. pirha, feminine ; the reading pirhah of some of the edi tions is etymologicaUy excluded ; such a formation (reduplication of a final heth) would be without a parallel. The masc. plural of jaqumu, following pirha directly, precludes that pirha should be its subject ; pirha can only be adverbial accusative. 13 6 to effect my ruin is a circumstantial clause, dependent on v. 12 c. 14 amidst crash and ruin accurately expresses tahath sho'a, and they sweep in, wave upon wave, hithgalgaiu. It is hardly necessary to re mark that 30. 12-14 when taken as a part of Job's figurative description, 19. 12, of God's assault on him, are enhanced beyond measure. XXX. 20 I stand before Thee. Construe 'eloeka, which is a case of brachylogy, also with 'amadtl, and cf. II Ki. 5. 25, Ezek. 21. 26. Thou regardest me not. In accordance with Vulg., et non respiciis, and de Rossi Ms. 593, read .^n ahl, as a number of scholars have rightly emended. 15 b-c My hope hath flown away like the wind. That tirdof cannot be original text is widely acknowledged, but the emendations proposed are far afield. From Gk., X£T0> rendered by Sah., a . . . hoi, " has flown away," it may be concluded that, instead of tirdof, the text originaUy read ^VA — a reading the fitness of which is self-evident ; cf. the simUar example Is. 60, 8, " Who are these that fly (te'ufosna) like a cloud " ; besides, by this reading the paraUelism is perfect. In NOTES 235 further support of my conclusion from a>xeTo note the Homeric phrase $x£T' dinwrTdp,evos, " He has taken flight and gone," mean ing he disappeared swiftly (II. 2. 71) and otx^rai <£euya>y (Od. 8. 356) expressing the same. At the inference of Siegfried and Beer-K. that ¥XeT0 points to the. reading teradef, one cannot but express surprise. 15 a Overwhelmed by terrors. This meaning of hohpak 'alaj etc., is borne out by the fact that Dan. 10. 16 nehephku a'laj siraj is used with practicaUy the same meaning (cf . " and I have no strength left " foUowing it). Though in the latter example siraj is construed with the plural of the verb, the construction here of ballahdth with the singular of the passive is perfect grammar. It is possible that the reading hoppakh is due to dittography of h, and that the original text read hohpak, passive Qal, but since the Af'al is found of Aramaic hepak, it is difficult to arrive at a positive conclusion on this point. It is self- evident that v. 15 a cannot originaUy have formed a part of v. 15 b-c, but must have belonged to v. 16. 16 my soul must succumb. Omit, in accordance with Syr., ' alaj ; also 'atta is to be omitted, as already suggested by Grimme, and we" is to be joined to the verb, reading wattishtappek. With the meaning of v. 16 a compare the simUar meanmg of hishtappek nafsham, " they expire," Lam. 2. 12. 27, 17 6. Verse 27 6 is a variant of v. 166, and may be considered as external evidence that v. 27 a followed originally v. 16. When omitted after the latter verse, v. 27 a was put in the margin, with v. 16 6 re peated as a cue : jd'h&zuni was subsequently changed to qidmuni. V. 17 6 forms with 27 a a perfect couplet ; there is besides, as we shall see presently, external proof that it followed the latter immediately. 30, 17 a. Verse 30 a is incomplete. The customary translation shows the right feeling on the point, and supplies the missing word, " My skin is black, and falleth from me." It should, however, be understood that the Hebrew, as it stands at present, does not warrant such a translation, since we have not here a case of ellipsis. OriginaUy me' alaj was fol lowed by ""p} found at present in v. 17 a. The word was omitted from v. 30, prior to the omission of the verse from its original place after v. 17 6 ; it was put in the margin right in front of the verse, with the fol lowing word (w)'dsamaj 1 as a cue, and from the margin both were later taken to 17 6. me'alai in v. 17 a, which was read neither by Gk. nor Vulg., is a subsequent addition, as is also, as various scholars have 1 It is hardly necessary to remark that when meaning body either the singular or the plural of 'esem may be used. 236 THE BOOK OF JOB pointed out, lajla, the addition of which was suggested by the verb of 17 6. Blackened, my skin falleth from me. In the Hebrew, niqqar me'alaj depends as a circumstantial clause on shahar. XIX. 20. The verse, which in its present place interrupts the thought, fits in weU after 30. 30. My bones stick through my skin. Omit ubibesari as a later addition, as Budde and others have pointed out (for paraUels of this stock phrase see p. 17) ; the word was probably added as a gloss from Ps. 102. 6. German scholars unfamiliar with the fact that I have escaped by or with the skin of my teeth has in English become proverbial for " I have barely escaped " have found this expression meaningless, and have unwarrantedly emended the text. XXX. 28 a I walk about in gloom is an incomplete half verse. The meaningless phrase, " without sun," is aU that is left of the rest of the verse, any emendation of it must under the circumstances be con sidered futUe. Sym. dOvp.S>v Vulg. sine furore rest on the vocaliza tion hema. Gk. avev Lpx>v is not mistake for a. 6vpu>v as generaUy thought, and as Compl. wrongly corrected, but <£ip.oC is mistake for ip.ovv stUl recognizable in the corrupt Tjpiovv of Prs. 55. Proof of this is Sah. e^n (Cod. IC a$n) karoi, " without sUence," Boh. ntikd nrdi an, " I am not sUent," and Vet. Lat. sine silentio ; it is rendering of wSld'dammu of the preceding v. 27 a, which but for this is missing in the Greek. "St/iow " silence," pass. " be sUent," is quite common in the New Test. ; the use of the active here in a passive or middle sense is nothing unusual in Hellenistic Greek. In regard to v. 28 6 see 16. 18. XXX. 29, 31, XIX. 13ff. I am become a brother to jackals,. a com panion to ostriches. The jackals as weU as the ostriches, because of their weird cries and dismal howling, are a common Biblical metaphor of loneliness and utter desolation. It wiU thus be seen that v. 31, My harp is turned to mourning, my flute to lamentation, forms a most fitting continuation of v. 29 ; it reaUy supplements the figure employed in the latter ; cf. Mic. 1. 8, " I wUl make a wailing like jackals, a lamentation like ostriches," also Is. 13. 21, 34. 13. It may also be noted that Job's description, 19. 13ff ., of his desertion by his kin and friends could not be more fittingly introduced than by 30. 29, 31. XIX. 13 My brethren hold aloof. Read, in accordance with Ms. Ken. 30, Gk., Aq., Sym., Syr., plural of the verb, hirhiqu (Beer-K. and others) ; the present reading is due to the fact that the third plural was written without a final vowel letter, which the Masorites failed to recognize. The particle 'ak in the second clause has emphatic force (cf . Deut. 16. 15) ; the Greek, owing to mistaken word-division in the Hebrew copy, read 'ak and zaru, as one word — a reading which, as NOTES 237 both the parallelism and the preposition min show, cannot possibly be considered as origmal. Nor is there any other ground for emend ing 13 6. 14 My relatives have failed me. A case of brachylogy; the suffix nl of the verb of the second clause is to be construed also with hadelu. 15 My serfs. The gar was in ancient Israel what the client was in Rome, a stranger or other dependent under a person's protection, and the gar bajit is a dependent that in due course has become a person's serf (this is the meaning of the term also in Exod. 3. 22). 16 With humble words seems to me to express the meaning of bemd ft, for which we have no exact equivalent. 17 I am loathsome, hannothl is perf. Qal of hanan, meaning " to stink." to my kinsmen. As explained p. 24 bi{nl is used elliptically for beten 'imml. 18 when I rise, i.e. in defense. They insult me. It is the preposi tion be that gives dabber this meaning ; with the same meaning dabber be is used Nu. 12. 1, 8, Ps. 50. 20, whUe Nu. 21. 5, 7 it means " re proach." 22 Why can ye not get enough of feasting on my body? The mean ing of this half verse is clearly indicated by its paraUel 31. 31 6, yet both half verses have always been erroneously translated and inter preted. The scholars considered mibbesari lo' tisba'u the equivalent of Arab, 'akala lahmahu 'l-mar'i, Aram, 'akal qarsdhi, " defame " or " malign a person," overlooking the essential difference between 'akal and sa6a'. In Arabic saba'a, construed either with min or the accusa tive, in addition to " be satiated," " sated," or " satisfied with," means figuratively " to be satiated to loathing with a thing," " to get enough of," or " to have one's fiU of." x It is with this meaning that sa6a' min is used both here and 31. 31 6, " O, that we might have the opportunity to feast without stint on his body." In further support of this mean ing of the two half verses note Eccl. 6. 3 lo' tisba' min hattdba, " he will not have his fiU of happiness," 4. 8 gam 'enaw lo' tisba' 'osher (ace.) " nor can his eyes feast enough on wealth," and 5. 9 (" He who loves money ") lo' tisba' kesef, " cannot get enough of money." 23 Oh let my words be written down etc. As Deut. 5. 26, Ps. 14.7, ml jitten expresses a wish, but not a wish past reaUzation. The repetition of mi jitten is an effective instance of paronomasia, and millaj, being a case of brachylogy, is to be construed also with 23 6 and the following verse. Beer's emendation of v. 23 mars the beauty of it. 1 See the Arabic Lexica of Freytag and Lane. 238 THE BOOK OF JOB 25-27. In the entire book of Job, there is no other group of verses about the interpretation of which there is such diversity of opinion as about w. 25-27. AU sorts of. emendations have been proposed. Yet these verses require no emendation, being perfect both in thought and grammatical structure. This astonishing fact is psychologically interesting ; there can be no doubt that the confusion is due, not to the inherent difficulties of the verses, but to the bias with which they have been approached. 25 My Redeemer, go'el, " protector," " redeemer," is such a common term, as applied to God, in the Old Test., that no comment is necessary. 'ahardn is adverbial case (Hal) meanmg last or at last (cf . II Sam. 19. 12 f.). on earth : this is plainly the meaning of 'al 'afar also in 41. 25. 26 Even after my skin hath been torn from my flesh, i.e., when his illness has reached the very last stage. Other cases of the use of 'ahar as conjunction are 42. 7, Lev. 14. 43, Jer. 41. 16. The plural of niqqefu, referring to the ravages of his disease, finds its explanation in the meta phor Job used in w. 12, 30. 12-14. zo'th is a case of the so-caUed interjectional use of the demonstrative, which the grammarians and exegetes have here as weU as in a number of other cases faUed to recog nize, and either unwarrantedly emended or wrongly interpreted. Such other cases are Lev. 26. 44,1 Ezek. 20. 27, 36. 37.2 The function of zo'th in these examples and our verse of Job belongs in one and the same category with that of zm and zo'th in the following examples: Gen. 31. 41, Exod. 32. 1, Nu. 13. 17, Josh. 9. 12, IKi. 17. 24, II Ki. 6. 33, Is. 21. 9, Ps. 56. 10 (note that, as in the case of 'atta zw, I Ki. 17. 24, Gk. renders zm well with ISov), 104. 25, Cant. 7. 8, et al. Its use in all the examples is analogous to that of interjectional hadha in Arabic, and what Noldeke remarks with reference to the latter 3 may be applied to zee and zo'th Exod. 32. 1, Josh. 9. 12, II Ki. 6. 33, Ps. 104. 25, Cant. 7. 8 et al., the position of the demonstrative shows that in none of these examples can it be attributive to the substantive fol lowing it. Even . . . still is an attempt to express the force of the 1 Emended by Driver, SBOT., Baentsch, Exodus, Bertholet, Exodus, and also, but with some hesitation, by Ryssel in Kittel, Biblia Hebraica. 2 The first of these two identical examples in Ezekiel has inconsistently been emended by Rothstein in Kittel, op. cit, and in Kautzsch, Die Heilige Schrift des Alt Test. 3d ed. 3 Zur Grammatik des Klassischen Arabisch, § 41, pp. 48ff. This is not the place for the discussion of interjectional zee or zo'th, the point has only been touched upon, as far as absolutely necessary for the interpreta tion of the verse. NOTES 239 interjectional zo'th here. As to the joining of mibMsari by u to the rest of the clause compare the similar cases II Sam. 13. 20, Is. 57. 11, Am. 4. 10 ; the function of the conjunctive particle in aU these cases is to add emphasis to the prepositional phrase. Still I wUl cherish the hope that I shall see, cf. 13. 15, " I desire to justify," and also what has been remarked in regard to 9. 14. 27 My heart in my bosom pineth that I may see Him etc. The 'asfter-clauses are not relative sentences but objective clauses, depend ent on kalu; they are put in dominant position, at the head of the sentence, for the sake of emphasis, and also for the reason that the object of 'Sldha of the preceding verse is to be construed also with them — a case of brachylogy of which we have already had many examples. With the meanmg and construction of kalu cf . kaletha nafshi and kalu 'enaj with le rei as objective, " My soul pineth for," " My eyes pine for," Ps. 84. 3, 119. 81f., 123. a champion in my behalf, li is dativus commodi, and is so taken by the prevailing translation, " on my side ; " uelo' zar, and not as an enemy, is adverbial accusative (Hal), expressing negatively what is asserted positively by li; the meaning enemy of zar is so common, that paraUel examples need not be cited. The per fect ra'u is precative perfect. It wUl be seen that the accurate grammatical analysis of vv. 25-27 leaves room for one interpretation only, that as in the parallel passages 16. 19-22, 17. 3, and 31. 35-37, 6, Job gives expression to his ever growing conviction that in the end God himself will appear as his vindicator, and as the paraUel passages state explicitly, vouch for his innocence. It should be added that the view that the verses express the hope in immortality or resurrection has been refuted again and again in modern times as incompatible with the text, the first to do so being Eichhorn in 1787,1 also that it has no basis either in the Greek version or in the Syriac and Targum. The first to carry this mistaken interpretation into the verses was Origines, whose interpretation, though refuted at the time by Chrysostomus (who pointed to 14. 12ft. as precluding it), was later adopted by Augustine and Jerome. The latter made it the basis for his translation of the verse in the Vulgata, whence it found its way into the Lutheran and into the English Bible.2 28 in him. Read, in accordance with many Mss., Theod., Targ., Vulg., to — a generally accepted emendation. 1 Biblische Litteratur, I. 3 p. 367f . 2 The history of the interpretation of these verses has been exhaustively treated by J. Speer, Zur Exegese von Hiob 19. 25-27 in ZAW., XXV (1905), pp. 47ff. 240 THE BOOK OF JOB 29 the sins that bring down the sword. Omit hereb in 29 6, and insert 'awondth after hereb of 29 a reading 3in fiUlj? 'JBD; 'awd- noth was omitted, and together with hereb, as a cue, was added in the margin, whence both were later wrongly joined to the end of the line. The words which originally foUowed hema are missing in Hebrew, but have been preserved in Gk., 0tyxds yap eV dropous eireXeuo-erai, the Hebrew of which is Kian tf^X hy .n O. Further proof of this reading is furnished by Targ., 'arum kideragez 'eldha 'al surhanutha mSgare qaddlin dSharba, " For when God is wroth because of sinfulness He incites wars," which is a contamination of the reading of Gk. and the present Heb. text. Note that Targ. correctly understood hema to connote " Divine wrath." A trace of this reading of Gk. and Targ. is found also in Vulg., quoniam ultor iniquitatum gladius est. Hereb is a qualificative genitive, as e.g. 'awdn qes, " guilt bringing about the end," Ezek. 21. 30, 34, 35. 5. By "the sword," the sword of God is meant; cf. Is. 31. 8, 34. 5-6, 27. 1, Jer. 12. 12, 47. 6, I Chron. 21. 12, 30. The idea of the sword as a divine symbol, met with in these pas sages, has its origin in primitive religious notions, in elucidation of which it may briefly be mentioned that in Babylonian literature, e.g., the sword is a frequent ideograph of Nergal, the god of war and pesti lence.1 The fact that the sword is a divine symbol, the emblem of the deity, explains the use of the word without the article in our verse and in Is. 31. 8 : in both cases the word stUl shows its original character as a proper name, which it is in the BabylonianjAssyrian Nergal-hymns. Wherefore ye will know that there is a Judge. The idea of 29 c is brought out well by Targ. : " Wherefore ye wiU know that the Supreme Judge is a righteous Judge." One cannot help wondering whether this rendering rests on an original, more complete text, or if the Targumist simply caught the spirit of the words. XXX. 18. This verse is generaUy acknowledged to be obscure. Light is thrown on v. 18 a by the Greek, which read eircXa/JeTo, that is, itfan' for jithhappes. This reading makes the half verse a variant of Gk. 30. 13, which in its turn we found to be a repetition of 19. 13 a. This original reading of 30. 18 a lends weight to the fact that 18 6 was not read in the original Greek, being missing in Sah. and sub * in Sh and Alex. ; it is, in all probabUity, the corrupt Hebrew of another of the glosses which the Greek of ch. 30 has in excess of the Hebrew. XXX. 19. The customary translation of 19 a, " He hath cast me into 1 See M. Jastrow, Jr., Die Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens, I, pp. 65, 461f., 470f. NOTES 241 the mire," is grammaticaUy impossible, as has been recognized by a number of scholars. The emendations proposed by these are, however, not acceptable. The origmal reading of the entire verse has, but for one exception, been preserved by Gk., ijyrjo-ai Se' p.e to-a irnXu, iv yfj Kal crn-oStu p.ov fj p.epts ; instead of 137170-01 the original Gk. read i?yi?/««, as may be inferred from aestimavi me of Vet. Lat., Hie.1-2 and awkaat J of Sah., and also from comparatus sum of Vulg. The verse formed originally a variant of 42. 6 6, as may be seen from the reading of the latter in Gk., rjyqpm Se eyu> ifiavrbv yrjv Kal ottoSov. XXX. 23. The second clause " To the house appointed to aU living beings," formed originaUy, in aU probabUity, a comment to 10. 9, as may be deduced from Gk. oIkux yap iraiTi OvrjrtS yrj. About v. 23 a nothing positive can be said except that maweth tSshlbeni does not seem to be the original reading; the phrase cannot mean either " Thou wUt bring me to death," or " in den Tod wUlst du mich heimbringen," (note that 10. 9 6 means, Uke its paraUel Ps. 90. 3, " Thou wUt turn . . . to dust"). If the text originaUy read 'afar for maweth, the phrase might be considered a repetition of 10. 9 6 ; if, however, Gk., 0dVaTos p.e iKTpopa, has preserved the original reading, it may have been a gloss to 30. 22 6. XXX. 25 belongs to ch. 31. XX Synopsis. — The writer could not have better characterized the friends' lack of understanding of the spiritual conflict going on in Job's mind than by the two opening verses of Zophar's speech. The exultant burst of faith in the conclusion of Job's previous speech had no effect on Zophar except to stir up his impatience and make him feel righteously indignant. His entire speech is taken up with a picture of the wicked man who in the prime of life, at the height of his power, is suddenly overtaken by disaster — a picture which is even more openly descriptive of Job and his afflictions than was the earlier picture drawn by Bildad. Zophar's references throughout are both pointed and malicious ; he uses practically the same words as Job did, 1 The third plur. passive with objective suffix serves as paraphrastic passive in Coptic ; see Steindorff, Koptische Grammatik, 2d ed., § 373. 242 THE BOOK OF JOB when reminiscing about his former prosperity (29. 6), to show that his prosperity is gone forever, and employs the same figure that Job used in 16. 13, to express that he will be fatally stricken : "He will not look upon the herds grazing in the valley, Nor upon the flowing streams of honey and cream. The missile will penetrate his back, The glittering sword will enter his gall." It is interesting to notice in this speech how Zophar inter weaves with his description certain insinuations against Job's character which serve to prepare the mind for the baseless charges which Eliphaz, in his next speech, brings forward against Job : " Because he has ground down the poor with toil, and then cast them aside, He has stolen houses, instead of building them himself." (v. 19.) Having so persistently harbored false suspicions of Job, the friends are now at the point where they are ready to take their suspicions for actual facts. XX. 2, 3. The two verses as at present arranged convey no intelligent meaning, no matter whether of v. 2 a the reading of the Hebrew or that of the Greek is accepted. If, however, v. 3 6 is read after 2 a, and 2 6 after 3 a, the verses make perfect sense ; this was doubtless the original order. My own reason telleth me otherwise, my common sense giveth me a different answer. Read, in accordance with Gk., p *< ' instead of P', as a number of scholars have emended, and construe lo'ken also with the verb of v. 3 6. The present reading taken is to be ex plained by the fact that lo' was written without a vowel-letter, and in consequence, was read with the following ken as one word, cf. the similar case 24. 14. The preposition min of ruh mibbinathl is expletive min (see 5. 15), just as it is in the opposite expression ruh mimmardm, " Divine spirit " (Is. 32. 15) ; in contradistinction to the latter, ruh NOTES 243 mibbinathl means the spirit, the source of which is one's intuition or experience,1 cf . the related ruh bitni, 32. 18. Teaching at which I take offense, musar kSlimmathi is a case of qualificative genitive, similar to nSwath sidqeka, 8. 6. Therefore I am wrought up. No emendation of hushi bi is necessary ; as stated before, the verbs expressing haste denote also " to be excited," or " act excitedly," and vice versa, the verbs expressing excitement, as e.g. bahal, harad, have the secondary meaning " to do things in haste " ; the psychological explanation is obvious. The repetition of the pronoun by means of the preposition be is for the sake of emphasis ; cf . the simUar examples 4. 21, 6. 13, II Sam. 22. 2, Ps. 27. 2, 144. 2. 4 Dost thou not know this. Read, in accordance with Ms. de Rossi 379 and Gk. •» ^0 (Beer-K.). 5. That miqqardb by itself can mean short-lived seems to me doubt ful : it was originaUy preceded, in all probabUity, by n"OK, as may be inferred from she?ejath of Targ. ; 'dbeda is to be construed with both parts of the verse. 6 What is left of him now? Cf. 14. 10. 9 Neither will his place see him any more. Instead of the third fem. of the verb, the third masc. is to be read :•&. 10 His children left poor, dallim is appositive. 11 It will be buried. The subject of tishkab is the pluralia tanlum 'alumaw, which, being an abstract, may be construed with the third sing. fem. 14 as to adder-venom, merorath is not subject, but accusative of comparison. 17 He will not look upon the herds grazing in the valley, pelaggoth is customarily rendered "brooks " — a meaning which the word is not likely to have. Since Judg. 5. 15f., where the word occurs again, it means " sections " or " divisions " of tribes, and since here Gk. renders pelaggoth with vop.d8mv, I conclude that it is used with the mean ing " droves " or " herds " ; further, that instead of the plural nah&le, the text read ''til, the original place of which was after pelaggoth ; nahal is either genitive, or accusative of place (cf. Is. 30. 23). 18 his possessions. Join the i of welo' to the preceding word, read ing tyJ' ; the reading of the present text is due to mistaken word- division. The wealth which he got by barter he will not enjoy. Read, 1 Budde rightly refuted Beer's translation, "Ein Geist, der mehr als ich wissen wiU," as impossible, but his own translation, "Und Wind fiir meine Einsicht," is just as impossible. 244 THE BOOK OF JOB in accordance with about 50 Mss. and Syr., Vna and omit ' of welo' which is dittography of the final 1 of the preceding word. Mention must be made of the reading of the verse in Gk., " Vainly and fruit lessly has he labored for wealth which he wUl not enjoy, Like sinewy meat which cannot be chewed or swaUowed." The first part of this reading is without question superior to that of Heb., it may be retrans lated oya\ a1? Vna yr ppr ^an The retranslation of the second part cannot be attempted. 19 He hath stolen houses, instead of building them himself. The imperfect jibnehu is imprf. of reiterated action ; note that also in 21. 10, 22. 9, 24. 2 the perfect is used alongside of the imperfect, although by both actions occurring repeatedly are described. 20, 21. The translation at present prevaUing of v. 21 a, " There was nothing left that he devoured not," or " Nothing escaped his voracity," is grammatically untenable. If this were the meaning, the substan tive governed by sarld would either have to be a genitive or else have to be construed with sarid by means of the preposition min; moreover, it is even doubtful whether sarld could be said at aU of things. Verse 21 a as it reads at present is untranslatable, it had originaUy no place here, but, together with v. 20 6, formed part of v. 26. His greed has been insatiable. The customary translation of v. 20 a, " Because he knew not quietness within him " or " in his greed," it has repeatedly been pointed out, is grammaticaUy untenable, for the reason that shalew, being an adjective, could not possibly be used as the equivalent of an abstract substantive. Nor is the proposed emendation to read shalwa or shaldm for shalew acceptable, since by neither word could the idea be expressed that he felt and displayed restless, insatiable greed. On the strength of the rendering of the Vulg., nec est satiatus venter eius, it may safely be concluded that, instead of shalew, the text originaUy read ""U'^is', cf, the paraUel Is. 56. 11, lo' jade'u sabe'a. The paraUel members of w. 20 a and 21 6 are missing, and there ate no means of restoring them, 'en and le'okld is all that is left of them ; what Vulg. read as v. 20 6, et cum habuerit quae concupierat, possidere non poterit, does not seem to be a paraUel thought either to 20 a or 20 6, but to v. 18, especiaUy as read by Gk. 22 trouble will beset him. This expresses the meaning of jeser Id more accurately than the customary translation, " he shaU be in straits " ; we have here one of the many, cases of the use of the imperfect of verbs of state or condition to denote ingressive action. With unsparing hand affliction will descend upon him. Vocalize, in accordance with NOTES 245 Vulg., and as commonly emended, Vpj?, which, being an abstract, is here fem., as it is Eccl. 10. 15; cf. also the remark on v. 11. Koljad, which is generally misunderstood, is adverbial accusative, and eUipsis for kol fiozeqjad; the eUipsis occurs again Is. 28. 2, " Who shaU thrust her to the ground with violence," also, though with a different conno tation, Jer. 15. 17. 23, 25 6/8, and XXVII. 22 a, XX. 24, and XXVII. 22 6 God wUl cast upon him His burning wrath. The apocopate jShl in v. 23 a has no raison d'Stre; further, the omission of the acting subject, which is God, makes the verse uncouth. The emendation by Wright of jehl to nin1 is very convincing. And will pour down terror upon him without mercy. He wfll be unable to flee from the iron weapon. Another crux in v. 23 is bilhumd, on which light is thrown, on the one hand, by 27. 22, and on the other, by the fact that in place of bilhumd Gk. has oSwas (with which ballahdth is rendered in 18. 11, 27. 20, 30. 15), while in 20. 25 'alaw 'emim was not read by the original Gk. ; «r airm 6Boi (from Theod.) is missing in Sah. and sub * in Sb Hie. and B. And since 'alaw 'emim is a foreign element in 20. 25, 6arag being subject of iah&lok (see below), the obvious conclusion is that it got into v. 25 from v. 23; 'emim was omitted in the latter verse, and, with 'alaw as a cue, was put in the margin, whence both were added to v. 25. 'emim supplies the direct object required by jamter, which is missing in the present Hebrew text of v. 23 ; for 'alemd the original 'aZaw of v. 25 c is to be substituted. XXVII. 22 does not fit in its present place, for after it has been said in v. 21 that " The east wind will whirl him aloft and sweep him away from his place," the statement in v. 22, that he wiU be made the target of a mercUess attack, is rather belated. The verse is fragmentary ; the direct object required by jashlek is missing, and bardh jibrah is clearly incorrect. The customary translation of the latter phrase, " he would fain flee," is a mere makeshift; it is contrary to grammatical rule, since the cognate accusative invariably expresses emphasis. The verse belonged originaUy to 20. 23 6, and 24 a, wajjashlek 'alaw, is variant of wajjamter 'alaw, the object of which we found to have been 'emim, whUe in weld' jahmol we have the original reading of the corrupt Hebrew bilhumd of 20. 23 6. Further, bardh jibrah of 27. 22 formed a variant or rather marginal correction of jibrah of 20. 24 a, the original reading of which, however, was ma' vb as we know from the fact that the negative was read by Gk., ov py o-mdrj; o-o>6rj is a mis take for original v and supplies p.oi as implied by the construction ; p.17, which is missing in Compl., is a mistake in the Greek. 3 Ye will mock no more. Read, in accordance with Gk., U'jnn to. The reading Id' harmonizes so much better with v. 5, that it must be considered original; the plur. tal'lgu was read also by the other versions, and has the support of the parallelism; the singular reading of the present text is due to the fact that the third plur. was written without final u. 4,5. Verse 5 is the original continuation of v. 3; v. 4 belongs inch. 13, after v. 3. 8 with them : lifnehem is a variant of 'immam, and is to be omitted. Note that Syr. renders 'aril, Ps. 137. 7, with galaw. It may be mentioned also that since niglajSsodo (Ezek. 13. 14) occurs as passive of 'agallejesodce- ha (Mic. 1. 6), there can be no doubt that 'arajesod (Hab. 3. 43, Ps. 137. 7) was used in the Nif'al. 1 For lagaj Gk. reads eU x^"s- NOTES 249 12 They sing to the timbrel. Read, in accordance with 30 Mss. and aU the versions, 6etof (Beer-K.) ; jis'u is eUipsis for jis'u qdlam. 13 They spend. The KSre is borne out by Gk. and Targ. And in peace they go down to Sheol. Vocalize WVV, as was read by the versions — an emendation generaUy accepted ; rega' is abstract sub stantive from raga', " be at rest," and was understood as such by both Gk. and Targ. XXII. 17 6, XXI. 15, 16 a, XXII. 18 a, XXI. 16 6. That 22. 17, 18 originaUy belonged to 21. 14-16 is not difficult to recognize. Note that 22. 17 a and 18 6 are verbatim repetitions of 21. 14 a, and 16 6. Of these, the former comprised at one time the entire verse 16. 14, the second part of it being still read by Syr.3 of 22. 17, walemeda' 'urhdthak la' sebajnan, and by Ms. Ken. 525. The verse was repeated in order to serve as a cue for 22. 17 6, which had primarily been put in the margin as a correction of ma shaddaj of 21. 15 : in 22. 17 6 the orig inal text, as Gk. and Syr. show, read 'J1? for lamo. Note that ma shad daj, though accepted without question by the exegetes and grammari ans, is impossible Hebrew ; x by substituting for it the correction 22. 17 6, we not only get perfect Hebrew, but the paraUelism of 22. 15 be comes greatly enhanced. 22. 18 a was originaUy omitted after 21. 16 a, and put in the margin, with 21. 16 6 added as a cue. From the margin both omissions with their cues were subsequently taken into ch. 22 after v. 16. That 22. 17-18 is a disturbing element in its present sur roundings has been repeatedly observed; Merx and Siegfried omit v. 17, while Budde and Steuernagel omit both verses as glosses from 21. 14-16, considering them simply as repetitions. Far be from me the view taken by the wicked. Job, filled with the consciousness of man's dependence upon God, repudiates the view entertained by the wicked that their prosperity is their own work ; Deut. 8. 17 and Is. 10. 13 show that this view was not unusual even in those days. XXIV. 18 6, which (with a number of other verses of the chapter) has been omitted as a gloss by Siegfried and Budde, fits in weU between 21. 17 and 18. About 24. 18 c nothing positive can be said, except that its present reading, " He turneth not by the way of vineyards," cannot be the original ; Gk. has a radicaUy different reading : avai£cTai, " he wiU be light," of 21. 30 a. XXIV. 22 a, 23, which likewise have no logical connection in their present surroundings, fit in weU as the continuation of 21. 30, 24. 18 a. XXIV. 22 a The tyrant liveth long. Buhl has convincingly emended 'abbirim to vdj. T3N.2 The present reading is to be explained by the fact that the second of the two words was written in abbreviated form, and, not being recognized, was read with 'abblr as one word ; with the mean ing of the clause cf. Is. 13. 22, " Her days shah not be prolonged." About 22 6 see below. 23 He enjoyeth safety renders the Hebrew idiom accurately ; jitten is impersonal construction. And is full of hope. Since jishsha'en, foUowed by a prepositional phrase, means " place one's reliance on " or " trust in," used absolutely, it must mean " be filled with " or " full of confidence," or is full of hope ; the meaning " he is supported " is excluded, since the verb is used as a reflexive only. The eyes of God watch over his ways. Read nin1 "J'j?.; the present reading 'enehu is another case of mistaken word-division, due to the fact that 'UT was written in abbreviated form and not recognized ; in support of this reading Deus read by Vulg. in the first part of the verse may be pointed 1 Gk., 06«>us, due to the reading damim for rartam, is, in aU probabil ity, not to be considered as a conscious change. 2 See Ges.-Buhl., Wb., 13th ed. 252 THE BOOK OF JOB out. Instead of darkehem, read, in accordance with Vulg., viis illius, XXI. 31 Who then. Read "Pi, cf. remarks on v. 30. 32/33. The parts of the two verses must originaUy have foUowed one another in the order in which I place them. 33 c is a gloss. And of his tomb care is taken. The customary translation, " watch is kept," is wrong and obscures the meaning; it is the combination of shaqad with the preposition 'al that gives it the meaning care is taken; cf. the similar meanmg of shaqad with 'al " to be sohcitous to " or " for," Jer. 1. 12, 31. 28, Dan. 9. 14. Gadish is the same as Arab, gadat, mean ing the Kubba, i.e., the monument erected over the grave, and it is important for our purposes to note that in Arabic countries such monu ments were erected only over the graves of persons who enjoyed social distinction. Verses 32-33 give us a good idea of the conditions which prevaUed in ancient society, especially of the great gulf which existed between the privileged classes, numericaUy few, and the masses. In this con nection, it wUl be iUurninating to cite a couple of references from Egyptian literature to the class distinctions which obtained even in death. The poem, The Discourse between a Man Weary of Life and His Own Soul, dating from about 2000 b.c, speaks of the sadness that burial means for the poor man, " who is taken from his home and thrown away on the hills," or whose body is left on the river bank exposed to the water and the heat, and gnawed by fishes.1 And in The Tale of Khamuas and His Son Si-Osiri, dating from the Graeco- Roman period, we read, I, 15-19, II, 10, 12 : " Stme heard the voice of wailing ; looking from the upper chamber of his dweUing, behold, he saw a rich man whom they were carrying to the desert-necropolis, the waUing being exceedingly loud, and the funeral-glory great. He looked again, behold he saw a poor man being carried out from Mem phis, wrapped in a mat, with not a man on earth walking after him. Said Stme, ' By Ptah, the great god, how much better it shaU be in Amenti for great men for whom they make glory with the voice of waU ing than for the poor men whom they take to the desert without glory of funeral.' " 2 The great sohcitude for the dead and their graves, which the popular mind is wont to regard as a general charac teristic of Egyptian life, was practiced only by the privUeged classes. 1 Line XlVf . ; cf. Erman's above quoted edition of the poem, pp. 9, 40-44. 2 Griffith, Stories of the High Priests of Memphis, pp. 44f., 146ff., also 48f ., 154ff . ' NOTES 253 The common man had not the means to pay for the great cost of em balming; he was too destitute even to secure an individual grave and honorable burial for the bodies of his loved ones. Although in ancient Egypt various sacred animals were embalmed, and burial ground pro vided for them by certain temple communities, no such provisions were made for the lower classes. As elsewhere, their dead were buried with out ceremony in a coUective grave, referred to in the Bible as the pit, where the bodies were pUed in a stack, often reaching to the very top. And there were stiU poorer people who did not find a place even in the pit, but who were left by the wayside or riverbank, " thrown away on the hUls," as our poem puts it. It is interesting to note that we have a BibUcal paraUel to the Egyptian " thrown away on the hUls " in Is. 14. 19, according to the undoubtedly original reading of the Greek version : " Thou shalt be thrown away on the hiUs, a loathed corpse, along with the many dead that have been thrust through by the sword." Like our verses from Job, the verse shows that the conditions LUustrated by the Egyptian documents cited were characteristic also of Israel. It should be added that even as late as Talmudic times we find refer ence to such unceremonious burial as that spoken of in the Egyptian tale of Khamuas, where the body was tied up in a mat of reed, cf. Berak. babli, 18 6. 27. It is generaUy agreed that by v. 27 Job tells the friends that he knows perfectly weU that in their pictures of the ruin awaiting the wicked man they have his fate in mind. And if this is the meaning, as we have every reason to believe, then v. 27 must be out of place between v. 26 and v. 28 ; vv. 28ff . take up ah entirely new thought. Verse 27 fits weU after v. 34, to the second part of which it furnishes the proper explanation. XXIV. 1-17, 25. Chapter 24 is so conspicuously out of place after ch. 23 that some critics have thought the entire chapter 1 or at least verses 9-24 2 spurious. When taken as continuation of ch. 21, however, 24. 1-17, 25, as rearranged, forms a very natural and proper supplement (see p. 52f). The tendency to eliminate these very genuine verses is due not alone to the 1 Duhm, op. cit, pp. 118ff., Strahan, op. cit, pp. 212ff., retain v. 25 only, the former adding in regard to w. 2-4, "sie konnten zur Not einer Rede der Freunde angehoren," while Volz. op. cit, p. 26f., throws out the entire chapter. 2 Merx, op. dt, pp. 127ff. 254 THE BOOK OF JOB text-disorder, but, in a still greater degree, to the misinterpreta tion which prevails of 24. 5-11. Their misinterpretation is to be explained by the fact that the economic conditions of ancient society, whether in Israel or throughout the Orient, have not been taken sufficiently into account in the historical works dealing with those times. The conditions of the masses as they existed in ancient India, or as they developed in Rome in the days of the Empire, are not isolated phenomena, but typical cases of ancient society. In the Orient and Occident alike, the masses were ground down by extortion and oppression into a condition of hopeless degrada tion. The Egyptian pyramids, which have endured to this day, are the colossal monuments of the enslavement of the masses. Steam engines were unknown in those times, cattle and horses were scarce and costly ; human beings, which were both plentiful and inexpensive, were used in their stead. Thou sands of men were put in harness, and made to haul the huge granite blocks to Gizeh and Hawara from the far distant quarries of Assuan and Hammamat, the latter in the very heart of the desert. They perished by hundreds in the course of the transport along the torrid desert roads, but always others were drawn in to fill the gaps. These conditions were throughout ancient times accepted without murmur or protest ; they were looked upon as the natural order of things, or as a divine insti tution not to be questioned. Even Plato held that the aristo cratic classes alone had a claim to human rights and privileges, that the masses existed for the sole purpose of toiling for the comfort of the few. Job. 24, 1-17, in their indictment of these conditions, are, barring the prophetic writings, without parallel in ancient literature ; more than any other part of Job they strike a distinctly modern note. We cannot but marvel at the keen analytic mind and the rare human sympathy of the au thor whose soul, twenty-three hundred years ago, was stirred to passionate protest by the contemplation of the wretched lot NOTES 255 of the poor. No wonder that these verses were misunderstood. How could it be guessed (such was the spirit of the times) that they referred to the common people? They were taken to describe a lawless and outcast class which lived the life of free booters — an interpretation which, antedating, as there is proof that it did, the translation of Job into Greek, continued to prevail among the Medieval commentators and was adopted, finally, by Luther and the King James and Revised Versions. Modern scholars, who have upheld this traditional interpreta tion, have been obliged to resort to arbitrary emendations of w. 5-11. 1 Why are not sessions of judgment set apart by the Almighty? Contrast Ps. 75. 3f., where the very opposite is asserted : " When I find the set time come, I wUl judge uprightly." As to the construc tion of min with the passive to denote the agent, cf. Nah. 1. 6, Ps. 37. 23, et al. 2 There are those that commit land robbery. At the beginning of the verse npn dropped out, as alii of Vulg. shows. Latifundia were no less known in ancient Israel than in Rome, in postexilic as well as in preexffic times ; cf. Is. 5. 8, " Woe unto those that join house to house, that add field to field, tiU there is no place left, and ye are the only landholders in the country," Mic. 2. 2, " They covet fields, and steal them, houses, and take them away ; so they defraud a man and his estate, a person and his heritage," Is. 65. 21ff., and also Hos. 5. ,10, where this system of land robbery is designated by the same expression as in the verse of Job here. Together with the shepherd. Instead of wajir'u, read, in accordance with Gk., ip]. 9 Verse 9 is not a variant of v. 3, as several scholars think, but its original continuation. From the mother's breast. Vocalize, in ac cordance with Gk., "V?!?. The infant of the poor. VocaUze ^i, as Kamphausen correctly emended. 5 Lonely as wUd-asses in the wilderness they go forth to their daily labor, pera'lm is accusative of comparison, and was understood as such by the versions ; the comparison finds its explanation in the fact that the wUd-ass is considered a typical example of shyness and isolation, cf. Hos. 8. 9, "like a wild-ass alone by himself." Instead of the preposition bS of befa'dlam, 7 Mss., Sym. Targ. and Vulg. read le, though be may be equally correct, expressing for the performance 256 THE BOOK OF JOB of their labor, cf . I Chron. 9. 33 ; as to their daUy labor, cf . Ps. 104. 23. They must hunt the desert for sustenance. The text is perfect: mSshah&re is potential participle; it has both nominal and verbal rection, 'ara6a being construed as accusative-object. As to the con struct case used with a prepositional phrase, cf . the simUar cases 18. 2, Is. 5. 11, Ezek. 38. 11. The meaning sustenance of teref is quite com mon, cf. Mai. 3. 10, Ps. 111. 5, Prov. 31. 15. There is no harvest for the homeless people. Id is one of the examples of the negative written with w, recognized cases of this speffing being I Sam. 2. 16, 20. 2. In n&'arlm we have the same substantive na'ar (derived fron na'ar "to shake off") which occurs again Zech. 11. 16 with the meaning " scattered ones " ; the meaning of the word here, the context shows, is homeless people, people without landed property. Finally, lehem is used here in the same sense in which it is found 28. 5, Is. 28. 28, 30. 23, Ps. 104. 14, " grain," " produce." 6 that are not theirs : bSllld is a composite of bSll and Id, and was understood as such by all the versions, so that there is no ground for questioning this plain meaning of the word; a simUar composite is bSlima, 26. 7 (cf. also minlam 15. 29) ; the singular suffix of bSllld, ex pressing (a field) that is not the possession of any of them, is exceUent. The vineyard of the wicked. The emendation of rasha' to 'ashlr made by some scholars is a serious mistake. These critics miss the very essential point that for Job the rich who got their wealth through exploitation of the poor were the wicked; note that in 21. 28 nadibh, meaning " nobleman," " aristocrat," is used as synonymous to rasha'. We have the antithesis to this in the use of the phrase 'anaw and 'ani, "poor," to connote "pious," properly "pious sufferer" — a use pe culiar to postexilic literature, especially the Psalms. This viewpoint grew out of the preaching of the prophets, who in their denunciation of the social injustice of their times described the rich as the un righteous oppressors and the poor as the innocent sufferers ; it received its most emphatic expression in the utterance of Jesus, " I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." In this connection it may be in place to mention that the change by the Masorites of 'anwe to 'anlje in v. 4, and in many other places of the Old Testa ment (and vice versa the change of 'ani to 'anaw), generaUy consid ered as justified, was whoUy unwarranted. Both words are verbal adjectives from 'and, "to be in bondage," and accordingly mean "poor," "lowly," then "humble," "meek," both in the ordinary and religious sense of the term, finaUy, as just stated, " pious sufferer." NOTES 257 Now, whenever in a language there are two word-forms of the same derivation, each of which has the same twofold meaning, the tendency is toward differentiation, that is to say, A comes in the course of time to be used exclusively with one of the two meanings, and B with the other. This is what happened in the case of 'ani and 'anaw ; 'ani came to be used with the meaning " poor," " lowly," and 'anaw with that of " humble," " meek," " pious sufferer," but not untU the time when the Old Testament canon was near completion. This explains why the Masorites, who were familiar only with the final development in the meaning of the two words, unwarrantedly changed 'anaw to 'ani when used with the meaning "poor," and 'ani to 'anaw when used with the meaning " meek," or " pious sufferer." 11 Shut in by waUs. Cf. what has been remarked 8. 17 in regard to the use of ben with nominal declension. 13ff. That v. 13 must originaUy have opened w. 12-17, which de scribe the desperate doings of criminals, is clearly shown by hema, There are stUl others. This has been recognized by Budde and Hon- thelm. It is equaUy evident, to my mind, that v. 12 must have been the original conclusion of the description ; it deyelops in a few vivid strokes the terrors of the darkness (with which v. 17 closes), calling before our minds the bloody picture of a city which has been sacked in the dead of night by murderers and thieves. Verse 15 does not seem to be an original part of the description, but the addition of a later editor. The case of the adulterer, though he chooses the night for the pursuit of sin, has no real relation with the case of the professional thief and the murderer described in w. 12-17, who are vigUant and at work while nature and society are given over to rest, and seek rest while everybody rises to his daUy tasks. We are at a loss to find a proper place for this verse. It could In no case have foUowed v. 14, v. 16 a being the imme diate continuation of v. 14 c. Nor could it be inserted in any other place of w. 13-17, 12, 25 without disturbing their sequence. 14 In the dark. Read, as Carey and many others correctly emended, lis xb (in explanation of the present reading cf . 20. 2) ; the phrase, which forms an adverbial accusative, is a composite like lo'-darek, 12. 24.1 And the thief goeth about in the night. Read, as Merx in geniously emended, 33J ^brr — an emendation generally accepted. The present reading is due partly to mistaken word-division, partly to the misreading of I for j. 16, 17 They, neither of them, care for the light. Omit kl, as dittog- 1 See note to 12. 24 for other simUar composites. 258 THE BOOK OF JOB raphy of ki of 17 6, and join jahdaw of v. 17 to v. 16. Indeed, they know well, kl is emphatic ki ; read ^'3' (Beer-K.), jakkir being a case of scriptio defectiva of the third plural. 12 the dying. VocaUze, in accordance with Syr., D,r)P, as Budde and others have correctly emended. Taketh no umbrage : see remarks on 1. 22. 25 And since he doth not. Note that in the paraUel case 'im ken 'efd, Gen. 43. 11, 'im with the emphasizing 'efd emphatically affirms the preceding statement, meaning " this being the case " ; used as here with the negative, emphatic negation is expressed. Verses 19, 20, and 24 belong to ch. 25. Verse 21, rd'oeh of which, as Greek and Targ. show, is mistaken reading for hera' (due to transposition of r) makes the impression that it was originally added as a marginal comment to 20. 19. This con clusion receives additional weight from the fact that 24. 22 a of Gk., 6vp.s /cai is due to the contamination of the variant with the first phrase, me'ir, of 24. 12 a of Heb. XXX. 2 is hopelessly corrupt ; the versions furnish no basis for emendation. XXH. 1, 3-16; XXVII. 13-21, 23; XXII. 19-30. For synopsis see p. 54, see also the conclusion of synopsis of ch. 20, and the remarks on 27. 23, 22. 19f . XXII. 2. The present Hebrew of the verse is not the original reading. Instead of jiskon of v. 2 a the original text read ^301 (Aramaic speUing for 731?') as is shown by Targ. je'alef. The half verse, which means "Can man teach God insight? " is both in Targ. and in the Heb. (as emended in accordance with Targ.) a variant of 21. 22 a. This is borne out by the fact that also in Gk. v. 2 a is a verbatim repetition of 21. 22 a as read in Gk., and is also supported by the variant da'ath for geber of Ms. Ken. 18.1 Note that Vulg. and Syr. did not read the half verse. The second haU verse, of which jiskon 'al is impossible Hebrew, presents a stUl more interesting case. The half verse was not read by the original Greek, and its rendering by Aq. or Theod. KaTao-Krp/mo-ei iiro. Additional proof for this reading is furnished by the fact that also in the paraUel, Ps. 72. 12, where Hebrew NOTES 263 has the mistaken vocalization meshawwe'd, Gk. Syr. and Vulg. have all three preserved the original reading mishshd'a ; the latter is evidently used by our author with the same connotation as nadlb, 21. 28 (see remarks to 24. 6). Who had no protection. Omit 1 of welo'. That lo' is the original reading is shown not only by 11 Mss., Gk. Syr. and Vulg., but also by the variant 30. 13 c of Heb. (missing in Gk.), which was originally added as a correction in the margin, and later wrongly inserted in 30. 13. Note that also in Ps. 72. 12 neither Gk. nor Syr. and Vulg. read w of w'en. XXXI. 18 I brought him up as a father would. The objective suffix of gedelanl is not direct but indirect object ; for simUar cases cf . Is. 44, 21, Zech. 7. 5, Ps. 5. 5, 85. 4. I have rendered the clause in accordance with the sense ; the rendering according to the construction is He grew up under me as under a father. I guided him. The fem. suffix of 'anhennah is grammatically untenable, even in the present position of the verse — that it should refer back to " widow " of v. 16 would be contrary to usage and logic. It must be a scribal mistake for original '3~, caused by mimennah with which the preceding verse ends. 32 for the wayfarer. The participle form 'drah seems to me per fectly in order, cf. e.g. ndta'. XXXI. 5ff. An oath in ancient times was invariably an impreca tion. The person that took an oath called down the curse of God upon his head if he were not speaking the truth, or if he should ever violate his promise, as the case might be. Job's oath in this chapter is the most complete example of an oath that we have in the Old Testament. In fact there are only two other examples of a real oath, Ps. 7. 5-6, and 137. 5-6. In every other instance where there is question of an oath, the curse is suppressed, and only the non-committal phrase, " May God do so unto me, and stiU more," is retained, though as a rule even this is omitted. The explanation of the avoidance of the real oath is to be found in the sinister power which was universally believed to ad here in a curse. The people refrained from using a curse even for Uterary purposes, so great was the fear that it might take effect even though pronounced without design. 11, 12 a a heinous sin. A goodly number of Mss. and Vulg., Targ., and Syr. read 'h'hs, as in v. 28 ; the word is explained in both verses by Vulg. " flagrant," and by Targ. and Syr., " manifest." The read ing hi' is perfect, the contents of v. 9 being the subject, but the text most likely read hi' only once ; the second hi' was primarily marginal correction for hu', and was wrongly inserted before 'awdn, instead of being substituted for hu'. The repetition of hi' is styUsticaUy objec- 264 THE BOOK OF JOB tionable, Vulg. does not seem to have read the second hi' ; omit it and read we'awdn. V. 11 with v. 12 a formed originally a couplet; omit kl of 12 a, in accordance with Gk. and Vulg. 12 6 Let all the growth of it be rooted out. In accordance with Vulg., et omnia genimma, read Finsoan 731, though the suffix of the first sing, would make satisfactory sense too, and in accordance with Syr. neth'aqran, vocalize B'TJs'ri. 15 Did not One God fashion us both in the womb? Read, in accordance with Gk. Syr. and Targ., either 'JJ3;i or wajkdnenenu (Budde and others) ; 'efyad, " One God," occurs again Mai. 2. 15. 16 Aught for which they prayed. The preposition min of mehefes is partitive min. 26, 27. In putting these verses into English I have departed from their order in Hebrew in order to make the translation more satisfac tory. Job's denial in these verses that he has ever been swayed by the belief in the divinity of the two luminaries, finds its explanation in the lure which this particular belief exercised throughout antiquity even over the minds of enlightened men. 31 Even when the inmates of my tent said. Omit, in accordance with Gk., xb, which is doubtless due to dittography of 16' at the be ginning of v. 30. As to 31 6, see the remarks on 19. 22. 33, 34 As men are wont to do. This meaning of M'adam (coUeetive substantive) admits of no doubt, in view of the accusative of compari son 'enosh, " as man seeth," 10. 4. If I sought to conceal iniquity in my bosom. 33 6 is coordinate with 33 a, litmdn being emphatic infinitive ; hob is not an Aram, loan-word, but a common Semitic word, to which in Syr. 'uba, and in vulgar Arab, 'ubb corresponds, whUe in Palest. Aram, both the form with Heth and that with 'Ain occur. It is derived from the common Semitic verb habab, " to love." Truly, I should have to dread, etc. The prevaUing interpretation of the two verses faUs to recognize their grammatical construction. V. 34 is not coordinate with v. 33, but is its apodosis ; as to the emphatic kl of the latter, compare the frequent use of the emphatic particle hinne in the apodosis of conditional sentences, as e.g. Exod. 7. 27, 9. 2-3, Nu. 32. 23, Ps. 73 15. With I should have to be sUent, etc. cf. 13. 19. Job could not have more fittingly concluded the specifications of the oath than by v. 33. He says in effect, to sum up, if I had reaUy lived the life of a hypocrite, as you imply, then truly 1 should be so filled with the consciousness of my shame, that I should dread to show my face. 14, 23 VerUy, the fear of God would overcome me. Read, in accord- NOTES 265 ance with Gk., <£d/3os Kvpiov x o-werxev p,e, ,l?t? nr#!.; bx .'St as Duhm and others have correctly emended. As stated in connec tion with 13. 11 se'ethd does not mean "his exceUency," but His appearance or the apparition. Like 13. 11, 19. 25ff., the verses an ticipate God's final apparition amidst the storm — a scene which is based on the primitive notion that the thunderstorm is the foremost manifestation of Yahweh. This notion sufficiently explains the mean ing of se'eth, as used in this connection. Because of its appeal to the imagination, the notion was a favored one with Biblical writers describ ing revelations of God ; cf . the description, Exod. 19. 16, of the revela tion on Mt. Sinai, Ezekiel's vision, Ezek. 1, Is. 30. 27, and Ps. 18. 7-16, the latter being the most elaborate description of the kind that we have. Note what an effective transition w. 14, 23 form to the concluding part of the speech and the note of triumph sounded in it. XXIII. 6 Oh, if He would only pay heed unto me. Vocalize tw, as Budde has correctly emended, jasim is eUipsis for jaslm libbd ; the eUiptical expression was no doubt chosen for the purpose of avoiding what would be an odd anthropomorphism. 7 And I should forever obtain my right. Vocalize, in accordance with 8 Mss., Gk. Syr. Vulg., 'OaifP, as Duhm and others have rightly emended. There can be no doubt that this is the original reading, since pallet cannot possibly be intransitive. 10 my ways and my conduct. Read, in accordance with Syr., HDjji ''S'n, as has been repeatedly emended. XXXI. 35 Would that He might hear me ! Omit the first ll as dit tography, in accordance with Gk. and Syr. (Beer-K.). I stake my life on it. tawl does not mean " my mark," or " my signature," as generaUy translated, but is a case of ideogrammatic writing for what may ac curately be expressed by / stake my life on it. In proof of this it may be pointed out that the old Semitic form of the letter taw is the hieratic character of the Egyptian ideograph f 'nh which signifies " life," and that for more than a century after the use and knowledge of the hier oglyphics had died out, this ideograph was stUl generally understood, as is shown by its frequent occurrence in amulets written in Greek.2 Proof of the common use of the ideograph in Israel also, as early as Ezekjel's time, is found in Ezek. 9. 4, 6, where the prophet teUs of the order that was given to the executioner of judgment to mark with a taw the foreheads of the faithful in Jerusalem who were to be saved i As Codd. SAC, Sah. Boh. S" Hie. read. 2 Cf. Schulze, Archaeologie der Altchristlichen Kunst, p. 262, G. Ebers, SinnWdliches (1892), p. 8, J. Leipoldt, Schenute (1903), p. 29, note 3. 266 THE BOOK OF JOB from the slaughter. And there is ample proof that the ideographic meaning of taw continued to be understood down to New Testament times, and even much later, among Jews as well as among Christians. But the material substantiating this in New Testament literature (the canonical and apocryphal alike) and in Talmudic and Neo-Hebraic apocalyptic literature is too copious to be taken up here for discussion. 36 The bill of indictment that my opponent hath preferred is a clear reference to the charges made by Eliphaz in his previous speech. Chapter XXV and its Constituent Parts from Chapters XXXIV-XXXVII and XXIV Helen H. Nichols, The Composition of the Elihu Speeches (in AJSL., XXVII, 1911, pp. 97ff.), with critical discernment has noticed that the so-called Elihu speeches are not a uniform, but a composite product. Miss Nichols, however, is far afield in the conclusion which she draws from this fact, that these speeches represent additions to Job by two "Wise Men," the first addition, which became interwoven in 36. 26-37. 13 " with a Psalm of a Thunderstorm," comprising chs. 32. 6-10, 18-22, 33. 35. 2-14, 36.-37., and the second, chs. 32. 11-16 and 34. The composite character of these speeches is a consequence of the text-disorder which the second part of Job indubitably suffered. On the cause of this text-disorder it would be futile to speculate, but as a result of it the last speech of Bildad (in reality quite a long one), with the exception of some eight verses, and a large part of the concluding speech of Job became mixed up with each other and with what I may call the Elihu interpola tion, originally composed of chs. 32-33 and a few verses scat tered through chs. 34-36. The resultant jumble was repre sented to be all by Elihu ; it was given the appearance of form ing successive discourses, each purporting to be a speech by Elihu. It is interesting to note that at least in the case of one verse, 37. 23, there is direct evidence that it belonged to a Job- speech. The evidence is contained in 33. 13 of the original Elihu interpolation, where the statement expressed in 37. 23 NOTES 267 is referred to by Elihu as a statement made by Job. In view of the fact that such a small portion is interpolated matter, it is no wonder that the defenders of the Elihu chapters as they have come down to us, Budde in particular,1 point to their linguistic character as a weighty argument in favor of their genuineness. Whether the various parts I have recovered from the Elihu speeches and rearranged with chs. 25. 24. 19-20 and chs. 23. 2, 8f., 13-17, 26. 28., respectively, really constitute with these in each case a well-defined, uniform whole, and whether by this rearrangement the Book of Job really stands out, as I believe it does, immeasurably enhanced as a work of literary art, I must leave it to the critical reader to judge for himself. As to the speech of Bildad, a brief analysis of it will best show that it is not merely a genuine part of the Book of Job, but that it is an indisputable piece of the reasoning of the friends. The speech opens in 35. 2 with a clear reference to Job's triumphant declaration in the concluding part of his previous speech that, when God appears in answer to his prayer, it will be to acknowledge his integrity. Equally plain is the reference, 34. 10 6-12, 36. 23, to Job's passionate protestation in the opening of his speech that God has robbed him of his right. Again, in. 34. 17, as read by the Greek, " Surely, thou dost not think thou art forever righteous, because thou hatest iniquity and destroyest the wicked," the reference to Job's account of his righteous life, in 29. 14-17, 12 is unmistakable. Bildad's speech, however, is not only a reply to the immediately pre ceding speech of Job, but also to his speech chs. 21. 24. It fills a well-defined gap. It would be inconceivable that the friends should leave unanswered Job's scathing arraignment of the social order permitted by God. In having Bildad reply to chs. 21. 24, the writer makes a fine psychological point. Eliphaz, dumbfounded by Job's revelations, as Job had said he would 1 Beitrage z. Kritik des Buches Hiob. 268 THE BOOK OF JOB be (21. 5f.), could find no word to refute them ; he could only give vent to his wrath by defaming Job's character. Bildad, although equally shocked, has, by the time his turn has come around, sufficiently recovered to reply to Job's speech chs. 21. 24, though he does this with the same threadbare arguments to which the friends have resorted all along. He grants that God may at times " set up a godless man as ruler " — but only as a scourge to the wayward people ; and such a rule, he affirms, will invariably come to a sudden, appalling end. With the same assurance he declares, in answer to Job's claim (24. 12), that God hears the cry of the oppressed poor "when they make supplication to be delivered from the power of the tyrant." Verses 35. 3, 6-8 of the introduction of this part of the speech is a variation of 22. 3f . of Eliphaz's speech, the variation being the natural result of the fact that Bildad's reference to chs. 21. 24 is combined with one to chs. 27ff . Similarly in the conclud ing verses of this part, 35. 14, 34. 23, 29, the reference to 24. 1 is combined with one to 23. 3ff., 31. 35ff., where Job prays for the opportunity to plead his cause before God. Bildad's description, in the second part of his speech, of the wicked who, though chastened, heed not God's warning, is plainly aimed at Job, just as were the friends' pictures of the ruin of the wicked man in the second cycle of speeches. "They die in youth, their life perisheth among the unclean" is an allusion to Job's being stricken with leprosy in the prime of life. Not satisfied with these covert hints, Bildad, like Eliphaz in 22. 8-10, ac cuses Job outright of being a sinner, and adds with undisguised malice, "Now thou hast thy fill of the judgment that pursueth the wicked, Just judgment hath laid hold of thee." Likewise the last part of the speech shows all the marks and signs which characterize the reasoning and method of the friends through out. Thus Bildad in his conclusion elaborates what Eliphaz and Zophar said in their first speeches about the inscrutable wisdom of God, and enunciates again the view of human im- NOTES 269 perfection advanced at the outset by Eliphaz, as the positive solution of the problem of suffering. XXXV. 2. Verse 2 a is to be construed also with v. 3 ; it forms a sort of zeugma, the second objective clause altering its meaning from consider it a proof of innocence to think it right ; as to the first-men tioned signification of mishpat, cf. its meaning "a just case," 13. 18. I will be found righteous before God : sidql, which, as in 6. 29, is verbal noun, is used in a passive sense ; min is used in the same sense as in 4. 17. 3 me. Instead of lak, read ' ', as a number of scholars have rightly emended on the ground of the paraUeUsm. That I have not sinned : me is min privativum. 6 What injury causest thou Him. It is the preposition b& that gives tifal this meanmg. XXXIV. 10 to do wickedness, from the Almighty, to work unright eousness. Read, in accordance with Gk., do-eBrjoai ml evaim, 'W;' yW~p, and in accordance with the paraphrastic rapafai to Swauoi/, 71KD, as several scholars rightly emended. 11 Nay : kl is here emphatic particle ; the meaning nay follows from hallla, far be it, which is virtually a negation. 12 God condemneth not wrongly. Read, in accordance with Vulg., non condemnabit frustra, D3p after jarshi'a. 13 6 He who has made the universe, the earth, and all that is therein. Omit umi, which is due to dittography, and read, in accord ance with Gk., OpTj ¦ place 'arsa of 13 a after tebel, and instead of qullah, read, in accordance with Gk., H3 ~\w« ^31 . The rest of 13 a, mi paqad alaw, which was not read by the Greek, is a repetition of mi paqad alaw of 36. 23. 18 Who says. Vocalize, in accordance with one Ms., Gk. Syr. and Vulg., io'«n (Beer-K.). 19 c. " For they are aU the work of His hands " is a gloss. 30 He setteth up a godless man as a ruler because of the stubborn ness of the people. In accordance with Gk., BaoiXevw and airo Suo-KoXtas (12 Codd. Sergii Sia o-KXnporqTa) read \!®Q, which is borne out also by Vulg. and Targ., and 'tpfji? (cf. Deut. 9. 27 where the Greek likewise renders qeshi o-KXrjpornTa) ; the present reading mim- moqshe is due to dittography of m. 14 When He chooses to take back. In accordance with Gk., ei yap BovXoito crwexav, omit '31: and read y& pan: ox • the reading 270 THE BOOK OF JOB jashlb is borne out also by 5 Mss., Kethlb Orient., and Syr. ; jashlb and je'Ssof are circumstantial clauses, dependent on jahpo?. 25 ba , 24 a He will overturn the mighty unawares. Read yrv xb on'aa "]Bni, omitting Ipn of 24 a; jada'u, written without final m, was misread jaro'd, and placed at the head of the sentence. Proof of the original reading jada'(u) may be seen in jada' of Ken. 158, 5 de Rossi, and jedu'd of 2 de Rossi, also in Gk., 6 KaraXap-Bdvuiv. As to heqer, it is a remnant in Heb. of the reading of v. 24 (following o xaTaX.) by Gk., avtiziyyiaora, tv8o£d tc Kal i^atoia wv ovk Iotiv dpi.6p.6s, which is a repetition of 5. 9, 9. 10. This does away with the customary translation of lo heqer, " in ways past finding out," " without in quisition," which, like the translations of other parts of 34. 24ff. are admittedly a mere makeshift. 20 c which forms a parallel member of 25 6 a, 24 a must originaUy have followed the latter. And remove the tyrants. In accordance with Mss. Ken. 191 and 248, read on/ax "v?;;. But not with human hand : lo' bSjad is a very common eUipsis for lo' bSjad 'adam, cf. Dan. 2. 34, 45, 8. 25, Lam. 4. 6. Verse 15, " aU flesh wUl perish together, and man return unto dust," is an interpolation, which was added after the text became deranged ; it was suggested by Ps. 104. 29. 20 a, 25 6/3, 20 6 B, 20 6 a, 25 a, 26 a a Verse 20 a-6, with those parts of it that became misplaced in v. 25f., read originaUy as follows : iiajn «ot nV1? roxni win1 y:~\ nnrj ws\ '3 oyr wyi\ When jiddakka'u was omitted, it was, with lajla as a cue, put in the mar gin, whence both were placed in v. 25. The present reading jakklr of 25 a is due to adaptation to the verbs preceding and following it now, and ma'badehem of 25 a, as we shaU see later, is a fragment of v. 21 as read by Gk. The original text read as object of jakklru fy&thath (see 6. 21), which transposed to tahath got in v. 26. Instead of laken, not read by Gk., the original text read kl, as may be concluded from enim of Vulg. 28 The cry of the poor will reach Him. On the ground of Syr., 'a'la', read K'31?, instead of IShabi; in accordance with Ms. Ken. 125, and as several scholars have emended, read vh*t instead of 'alaw. In 28 6 read, with Duhm and Beer-K., J\K]#, instead of sa'&qath, mis takenly repeated from the first clause. 28 a is coordinate with 28 6, NOTES 271 labd' being emphatic infinitive, meant to express that it is certain be yond question that the cry of the poor reaches God. XXXV. 9 against great oppression, 'ashuqlm is pluralia tantum, like pedujim, "ransom," shefutlm, "judgment," 'dnushlm, "fine." The mighty. Cf . Ps. 48. 3, Lam. 1.16. In mippene ge' on ra'lm of 35. 12 a, which is aU that the original Greek read of the verse, we have very likely a variation of mizzSro'a rabblm. As to 12 a, lo' ja'&nm seems to be a variant of lo'jishma' of v. 13, and jis'aqu, of jaz'lqu of v. 9. Gk. XXXIV. 21 For He seeth them that work evil, and nought that they do is hidden from Him. Of v. 21 a there is a double translation in Gk. (1) 21 a ovtos yap bpar-qs ioTiv epywv avOpwiruiv (2) 35. 13 6-14 a airbs yap 1 oparijs ioriv tw o-vtcXovvto>v to. avo/ia : the latter, being a correction of the former, was probably added in the margin, whence it got in its present place. Gk. 34. 21 6 reads, XiXrjOev Se airbv oiSev <5v irpdo-oovcnv. The Hebrew represented by Gk. read approximately as foUows : Dnn|jjn H?p "\P0i yx) nSjy 'py nxv Kin \3. A trace of this original reading may stiU be seen in ma'badehem of v. 25. The present Hebrew of v. 21, only a fragment of which exists in the Greek, in v. 23 6, 6 yap Kvpios iravrao- iopa, belonged originally to the Elihu interpolation. 22 may not hide, lehissother is emphatic infinitive. XXXV. 14 thou seest it not. The suffix of tSshurennu is anticipa tory, referring to din of the foUowing clause ; for simUar construction cf . Nu. 24. 17. Thou must wait in fear and trembling for Him. tShdlel is Polel from hul, " to tremble," " to be stricken with anxiety," wait is impUed by its construction with the preposition le. XXXIV. 23 For not to man hath He given the right to approach, literally hath He assigned it to approach, cf. the related meaning of sum 'al, 37. 15, and sum le, Prov. 8. 29, also that of nathan 'al, II Ki. 18. 14 ; instead of 'dd the original text, in all probabUity, read 'ad, which was intended as a variant of 'el and wrongly inserted before lahalok (cf. 21 8). to demand a tribunal. The preposition be expresses the end in view, cf. Ps. 71. 16, 'a6o' bigeburdth, " I wiU come to teU the mighty deeds " (note the paraUeUsm), I Ki. 13. 1 6a' bidebar j., " He came to reveal the word of Y." 29 If He be sUent. Read, in accordance with Ms. Ken. 235, Bpt?: (Budde and others), cf . Is. 18. 4. Whether from a nation or from a man, who can reprove him? Instead of jeshurennu, read uno'V and place 1 6 iravTOKp&Tbjp is not part of the variant ; it belonged originally to the verse at present preceding it (see 35. 13). r272 THE BOOK OF JOB it, together with ml preceding it, at the end of the verse, after jahad; w . . . w, " whether . . . or," occurs very frequently. XXXIV. 16 If thou art wise. Instead of bina, read in accordance with aU the versions, rU,3, as generaUy emended. 17. The first part of this versein the Hebrew being corrupt, the pre vaUing translations of this part are of necessity based on conjecture. I have substituted for the Hebrew of the entire verse, the reading in the Greek, Cod. A, iSe x o-ot ovk oiei tov p.io-ovvTa avopa Kal tov dXXvvra tovs Trovrjpovs 2 alutviov uvai SiKaiov. I take this to be the original reading, because of the pointed reference it contains to Job's account of his righteous life in 29. 14-17, 12. Such effects as the one achieved by this reading are quite in the manner of our Job author, they are never the work of an interpolator,3 and it goes without saying, never the felicitous result of a translator's efforts to render conjecturally an obscure text. The retranslation into Hebrew can in the present case not be attempted, since the Greek does not give a sufficient clue to the sentence-structure of the Hebrew. Gk. XXXVT. 5 a yiyviaaKe Se on 6 Kvpws ov p:q dtroTrovgo-qTai tov aKaKov, 17 o&x vo-Tcprjoei Se airb Si/caiW Kplfw. The Hebrew represented is approximately as foUows : nn dsd' vh bx o tu y\ asvm p'-LYD y~\r t6i As to the first half verse, lo' jim'as is all tkat is preserved in Heb. v. 5 ; as to the second, it is missing entirely in the Hebrew ; it is by no means equivalent, as commonly thought, to Heb. v. 7 a, Heb. w. 7-12, with vv. 5-6 preceding (exclusive of Id' jim'as), being a part of the Elihu interpolation. 15 He delivereth the sufferer from trouble, and openeth His ear to him in his affliction. In the second clause read, in accordance with Vulg., Uftf, instead of 'oznam (Budde and others) ; further be'onjd of the first clause was originaUy read in the second, in place of ballahas, while in the first clause the text read ">•?>?, which is now found in v. 16 a ; ballalias of v. 15 6 is a variant. Note that mippl sar of v. 16 a, which 1 By the variant el Se of Cod. A the meaning is in no wise altered, el being used, instead of tde, to introduce the direct question. 2 It is evident that Awa at. is a mistake for the original reading, «. elwu of Codd. A and Prs. 23. 3 Cf . p. 60 note. NOTES 273 has no paraUel anywhere, is absolutely meaningless ; the translators, like RV., either ignored pi, or resorted to far-fetched translations as e.g. DUlmann, who renders " verleitet hat dich vom Mund der Not weg," and explains, " d. h. dass du der Sprache, welche die Not zu dir spricht, ungehorsam entgegensetzt." The suffix of 'oznd refers to God, and the accusative 'ani of 15 a is to be construed also as indirect object with 15 6, being a case of brachylogy ; with missar — or ballahas — cf. Ps. 32. 7, 60. 13, 4. 2, Is. 26. 16. Gk. v. 10 o represents Heb. v. 15/ having contracted the two clauses into one : dXXa tov oWibu do-aKovo-erat.. XXXV. 13, first word of XXXVI. 13, Gk. XXXVI. 12 a. In 35. 13 a, shaw' lo' jishma', being impossible Hebrew, cannot be the original read ing ; shaw' is, in aU probabUity, mistaken reading for ny_]p (written ab breviated), which was originally foUowed by HJ.n. The latter word is at present found at the beginning of 36. 13, its present form as construct plural being due to the secondary combination with leb (see below). This conclusion is borne out by the fact that the Greek read 35. 13 also in 36. 12 a, but contracted into one clause : doeBds Se ov 8tao-a>£a ; as in 8. 13, 20. 5, 27. 8, doeBeis is rendering of hanef. In 35. 13 6 the present reading jeshurennah is due to dittography of tSshurennu of v. 14 ; the original text read U TV!. This original reading is borne out, in the first place, by Siao-. of Gk. 36. 12 a, and in the second, by the fact that not only Heb. 35. 13 a, but also 13 6, was read by the Gk. : the latter half verse with omission of lo' and with the accusative suffix of the third changed to that of the first person, became mixed up with the variant we have in Gk. 35. 13 6-14 a cf Gk. 34. 21a; it reads 6 iravTOKpaTtop ou>a-ei fie ; note that Sh reads ijpas for pe — a mis reading which, as far as the consonantal text is concerned, presents no deviation from the origmal Hebrew represented by owei ^pas. Gk. XXXVI. 12 6, Heb. XXXIV. 27 6. The former reads, irapa to p.rf BovXeo-Oai ei'SeVai airovs rbv Kvpiov. The Hebrew represented is probably as foUows : wnbx r\yi_ «sn xb '3, with which Heb. 34. 27 6 formed originaUy one couplet : For they desire not the knowledge of God, Neither do they comprehend His ways. Heb. 34. 27 a " Because they turned from following Him," represents a prose version of Gk. 36. 12 6. XXXVI. 13 The first clause is to be emended, in accordance with Gk. 12 C, Kal Sidri vovOerovfievoi dvi^Kooi rjoav, as foUows : MyVf xb IIDV1. O s\X 31? bx , Though they have been chastened they heed not. (About hanfe see 35. 13.) 274 THE BOOK OF JOB XXXV. 10 Nor say ' Where is God, our Maker? ' Read, in ac cordance with Syr., 110K and U'0j? (Budde and others) ; the latter was written in abbreviated form and not recognized, while the present reading 'amar is due to the fact that the final u of the third plur. was not written. XXXV. 11 is a variant of 12. 7f., whence it got in here by mistake. XXXVI. 14 They die . . .their life perisheth. tamdth is a case of zeugma, being predicate of both nafsham and hajjatham. 16 Boundless pride hath beguiled thee, and the comfort of thy table laden with fat foods. Of the various interpretations heretofore given of this verse none is acceptable. Besides mippi sar, already disposed of (see v. 15), rahab has been another stumbling-block. This phrase is not, as generally thought, synonymous with rShaba or merhab, "broad," "roomy," and consequently cannot be considered as figura tive of freedom from distress and anxiety ; it is eUipsis for rehab nefesh, which occurs, Prov. 28. 25, and is identical with rehab leb, ib. 21. 4, Ps. 101. 5. This interpretation of rahabh is borne out by the fem. suffix of tahath, which is perfect text and requires no emendation. Note also that by the interpretation given of v. 16 a both parts of the verse are perfectly balanced, and make exceUent sense, while the cus tomary translation of v. 16 a, " into a broad place where there is no straitness," is grammaticaUy impossible ; nor does the prevaUing translation of hdsitheka, " He would have led thee away," accord with the meaning of the word. 17 of the judgment that pursueth the wicked, din rasha' is another case of qualificative genitive like newath sidqeka, 8. 6, musar kelimathi, 20. 3. Just judgment, din umishpat is a case of hendiadys. hath laid hold on thee. The pronoun ta of male'tha, being a case of brachylogy, is to be construed also as object with jithmoku. 18 As to the first clause, pen jesltheka, which was not read by Gk., is a variant of af h&sltheka of v. 16, having got in here from the margin, whUe kl hema is aU that is left of the original text as read by Gk., Ov/ibs Se eV do-eBeis ->ji£ei, as Cod. A, Sah. new, and 2 Prs. correctly read for eo-Tai of the other Codd. ; the half verse is a repetition, in slightly varied form, of 19. 29 6 as preserved by Gk. As to the second clause, besafeq werab kofer is evidently a corrupt fragment of the more com plete text as read by Gk., Si" do-eBetav Swpwv &v eSe^oi/To in' S&ikuus, which may possibly have belonged to 35. 15 ; 'al iattekka formed origi naUy the opening of v. 19 as Gk. 19, p.17 are eKKXivdrot, shows. Verses 19-20 are too corrupt for interpretation ; they furnish nothing certain on which to base even a conjecture. NOTES 275 21 On account of it thou hast been tried with affliction. Vocalize, as Ewald and others have rightly emended, J?iri3 (passive Qal), the active of which occurs Is. 48. 10 ; as to 'al, " on account of," cf . I Ki. 21. 4, II Ki. 6. 11, and as to min, " by," cf. Ps. 73. 19, also Is. 28. 7. 22 Who is to be feared. Read xrm and cf . Ps. 76. 12 ; mora is po tential participle. 31 He provideth food. Instead of jadln, read ["; as Houbigant and others have emended on the ground of the parallelism. XXXVII. 6 a Fall on the earth, hewe is derived from hawd, "faU," and is construed with accusative of direction. 7 He sealeth up the hand of every man. bejad must not be emended to M'ad, as has repeatedly been done ; the expression is by no means identical with that of 9. 75, for whUe the latter denotes to keep concealed, the phrase here means to hinder from action ; it should properly be trans lated He tieth up the hand, etc. Mention must be made here of Gk. 36. 28 a, read by Cod. C and 21 Prs. after 37. 5a: wpav edeTo Krfjveo-iv, oiSaoiv Se koittjs raJtw, which is identical with Heb. 36. 33, the original reading of which has been restored with great skill by Miss Nichols, in accordance with the Greek, as foUows : njiyp Dipp ipT njpnS rsy_ tj\ The verse is not an origi nal part of either BUdad's or Job's speech ; it was added as a marginal comment to 37. 8, as DiUmann and Duhm rightly concluded. In proof of their conclusion it may be pointed out that the verse has reference, not to the animals' seeking shelterat the approach of winter, but to their observing the time of copulation1 — a thought which has no rele vance whatever either in BUdad's or in Job's speech. 9 Out of the Chambers of the Southern sky. Read, on the ground of 9. 9, |n,J? ^"iOP, as Duhm and Cheyne have correctly emended. The warm South-wind, which brings heat and storms, was believed to come from "the Chambers of the Southern sky" (cf. remarks on 9. 9). 10 a soUd mass. As to this meaning of musaq, cf. the remark on 11. 15; the preposition be is be essentiae. 14 'Ijjob of this verse is not original reading, but later addition due to the fact that BUdad's speech became mixed up with that of Elihu. Note that in the Gk. Codd. A S2 of 37. 2 we have another instance of an interpolated Toi/3. 15 hath given them his commands. Read, in accordance with Targ. gSserta, pn or ipn after 'aWiem; cf. Prov. 8. 29. 16 Absolute Wisdom. The idea Absolute is expressed partly by 1 Cf . Jer. 8. 7. 276 THE BOOK OF JOB tamlm, partly by the plural of de'lm. In regard to 16 a see the comment on 36. 29. Gk. XXXVI. 28 6 e7ri rovrots Tramv ovk i^urraTai oov ff SiaVota, oi8e 8iaXXdcroeTcd gov r) KapSta diro oiDfiaTos, does not represent Heb. 37. 1, as it is generally thought to do, but is missing in the Hebrew altogether. Heb. 37. 1 belongs to the speech of Job, and is quite at variance with the Hebrew represented by Gk. 36. 28 6, which must have been approximately as foUows : *j3npa *\sh }snyi *|rvn npnri xb r\)x bs byn Cf. Hos. 11. 8 and Lam. 1. 20, where nehpak 'alaj libbl and I. beqirbl respectively are used with much the same meaning, as may be seen from the parallelism. The rendering of bS with diro (though it occurs quite often, cf. e.g. 21. 17) is, like that of nehpak with StaXXdWcrai, due to the fact that the Alexandrian translators did not understand the real meaning of 36. 28 6. XXXV. 5 The banks of clouds is the exact equivalent of shur sWhaqlm. XXXVII. 24 All . . . fear Him. In accordance with Gk. and Syr., omit *b and read '**"!'. ; the objective suffix otjgre'uhu is object also of jlr&'u. XXV. 5 Even the moon hath no luster. Vocalize, in accordance with most versions, ?ntr • as in 7. 5, alef was used as vowel-letter in the body of the word and not recognized as such ; as to 'ad, " even," cf . remarks on 14. 12. XXJV. 24 They are no more. Instead of wS'enennu, read, in accord ance with Vulg. Syr., Drt? (Budde). 20 The lap that cherished him : methaqd, which I have translated ac cording to the sense rather than the construction, is intransitive, just as in 21. 33; the suffix is not direct but indirect object. 20b read nbl. Chapters XXVI and XXVIII and Their Original Constituent Parts from Chapters XXIII and XXXVI. 26-XXXVII. 23 The deplorable effect which the text disorder of the second part of Job has had on the interpretation of the book as a whole can best be judged by the way in which ch. 28 has been handled. Not only has the vital importance of ch. 28 for the solution of NOTES 277 the problem not been recognized, but as a rule the chapter has been radically misinterpreted, and in consequence has even been rejected as unauthentic by the great majority of modern scholars. Fortunately, except for the interpolation, generally recognized as such, of vv. 15-19, it has come down to us in excellent order, the strange confusion concerning it in the minds of the critics being due solely to its misplacement in the book. In view of the detailed interpretation of this speech in the Introduction, pp. 58ft"., it is unnecessary to do more here than to point out its relevancy to Bildad's speech. Notably Bildad's attempt to impress Job by emphasizing the awe-inspiring works of God is the occasion for Job to give that wonderful description of the immensity of God as revealed in the material happen ings of the universe — a description which is without equal either in Biblical literature or in ancient literature in general. The opening of the speech, too, in which sadness gives way to bitter sarcasm, is a direct rejoinder to Bildad's tirade. See also re marks on 37. 1. XXIII. 2 Indeed, I know that my chastisement hath come from Him. The original text of v. 2 a has been preserved by the Greek as read in the Boh. The latter has in common with 20 Prs., Compl. Aid. Sah. Hie.3 the reading Kal S^ oTSa . . . rj eXey£ts p,ov io-nv, but it varies from aU other Codd. by reading ebolhitotf, " from His hand," instead of e in accordance with this reading of the Bohairic, which is clearly the original, v. 2 a is to be emended as follows : nom "wo '3 tij?t omx . T T ' * TIT His hand is heavy more than my groans can express. Instead of jadl, read, in accordance with Gk. and Syr., Vv, as many critics have correctly emended; as in Gen. 49. 26, Ps. 89. 8, 137. 6, Dan. 11. 5, 'al means beyond, we would say " heavy beyond words." XXXVII. 1, 2 When I harken. Instead of shim'u of v. 2, the origmal text read P®®*, as is shown by Aq. r/Kovo-a. AquUa's reading accords with libbl of v. 1, thereby leaving no room to doubt the correctness of the latter. It furnishes conclusive proof that Heb. v. 1 does not repre sent Gk. 36. 28 6, but that it is Job's answer to it. In Gk. 36. 28 6, lost 278 THE BOOK OF JOB in the Hebrew, BUdad asks, Doth not thy spirit marvel at all this, And is not thy heart stirred within thee? and Job, after a few introductory re marks of a personal nature (quite customary with him, cf. 12. 2f., 16. 2-6, 19. 2ff.) begins his speech proper with the answer to this question, My heart is awed at these wonders too, It leapeth within me, etc. It may be added that the reading libbl is not only upheld by the sense, it is well authenticated by the versions, being read by Gk. (supple mented from Theod.) Vulg. and Targ. ; Syr. libbeh is clearly due to the misreading of j for w; it fits neither Heb. 37. 1 nor Gk. 36. 28 6. XXXVI. 26 a, XXXVII. 5 6, XXXVI. 26 6. As to 37. 5 6 which is obviously not in its proper place, 'dsa? geddldth was omitted from 36. 26 a after sdgi', and, with weld' neda' as a cue, was put in the margin, whence it got wrongly in 37. 5 ; nifla'dth, which was not read by Gk., is later addition. In 36. 26 w of weld' is to be omitted, being dittog raphy of w with which the preceeding word ends. XXXVI. 27 6 He distiUeth. Read sing, p^, in accordance with Vulg. and Syr. (Duhm). 29 Who can understand what keepeth the clouds balanced? In stead of 'im, read, in accordance with Syr., 'P (Siegfried and others) and instead of mifrese, read T/fP — a reading supported also by 37. 16, to which our verse is the answer. How the equipoise of His pavilion is effected? In 29 6 the vocalization teshu'dth (" thundering ") is not original reading. Though the proper reading of the word cannot be determined, there can be no doubt that it must be a derivative of shawa, with the meaning equipoise. Proof of this is the rendering io-ornra by Theod. and the periphrastic rendering rikpath, " consist ence," " coherence," by Targ. In 26. 8 the writer is more definite in regard to the marvelous phenomenon of which he speaks here. Like the rest of his age, he found it inexplicable that the clouds, " floating reservoirs of water," should remain suspended and not burst under the weight of the water they contain. An interesting paraUel to these verses, though entirely independent of them, is found in a product written many centuries later, the so-called Syriac Alexander Legend, which, dating from the second decade of the sixth century a.d., forms one of the innumerable offshoots of Pseudo-Callisthenes. It reads : " He (Alexander) said to them (his generals) : ' This thought has arisen in my mind, and I am wondering what is the extent of the earth, and how high the heavens are, and how many are the countries of my fellow kings, and upon what the heavens are fixed ; whether perchance thick clouds and winds support them, or whether pUlars of fire rise up from the interior of the earth and bear the heavens, so that they move NOTES 279 not for anything, or whether they depend on the beck of God and f aU not.' " » 30 His mist . . . mountain tops. Instead of 'dro, read, in accord ance with Theod. Cod. S2, r)8ta, and Targ. mitra, vrx, and instead of shorshe hajjam, read D^nn 'ttftn (Duhm and others). 32 to its goal. Instead of bSmafgi'a vocalize #Jap,3 (Olshausen and many others). XXXVII. 4 a There is a furious roaring, qdl is eUipsis for qdl gaddl, forming an adverbial accusative. 4 6, 5 a God thundereth with a majestic voice. The identity of v. 5 a with v. 4 6 may be noticed at a glance. V. 5 a carries no weight in its present place, nor can it be considered a paraUel member of 4 a-6 ; it must be either a variant of v. 4 6, or what is more likely, bx was omitted in v. 4 6, and with both its preceding and following word as a cue, was added in the margin, whence it got into v. 5. This conclusion is borne out by the fact that v. 5 a was not read in the original Greek. 4 c, 6 6 He stayeth not the rainpour when His thunder is heard, The torrents of rain become but heavier. V. 4 c and v. 6 6 originaUy belonged together, and read as foUows : «jr d#j. n'ntpp iVip yaw '3 awi *ido 3pjr xb) The construction geshem malar, geshem mitrot is grammatically impos sible, and, as Zech. 10. 1 shows, must be due to mistaken transposition. The suffix m of je'aqbem, which was not read by Vulg., cannot be original reading, as may be seen from the fact that it has no antecedent ; the m is all that was left when v. 6 6 became separated from v. 4 c. 11 When the clouds send forth ... He burleth the thunderbolt through the clouded sky. Already the ancient versions were puzzled by this verse, being at a loss as to the meaning of beri. Sym., and foUowing him Vet. Lat. Hie. and Vulg., render the word with Kapir<5 and frumentum, reading evidently 6ar (" grain "), whUe Aq. and Theod. render it with exXexTov, reading in all probabUity barur ; Targ. takes it to be an abbreviation of berirut (though this word is not found in Hebrew). These renderings, aU based merely on conjecture, show that there is no tradition for the interpretation of the RV. and of various modern exegetes, which takes beri to be composed of bS and rl and to mean " with moisture." Nor is their mterpretation borne out by the context, for v. 12, with its emphatic wShu', points to the conclusion 1 The History of Alexander the Great, being the Syriac Version of the Pseudo- Callisthenes, ed. and transl. by E. A. W. Budge (1889), pp. 145, 255f. 280 THE BOOK OF JOB thatv. 11 dealt only with the phenomenon of lightning. Hontheim and others rightly concluded that instead of beri, the text origiriaUy read p*J3. The word, it seems to me, was written in abbreviated form '13, which explains not only Sym.'s rendering, but also that of Aq. and Theod., and the Masoretic reading and the rendering of Targ. as well. In v. 11 6 ])% is to be vocalized, in accordance with 15 Mss. Theod. Vulg. and Targ., as likewise emended by Hontheim and others. In difference from these, however, I take it that v. 116 is not coordi nate with, but subordinate to 11 a, and further, that the subject of jatrih, which, like Arab, taraha, has here the meaning hurleth, is God, and that 'a6 is accusative, denoting the object toward which the motion is directed (for similar accusatives cf. II Chron. 29. 22, Gen. 37. 24, Nu. 22. 23, Josh. 10. 10, II Sam. 6. 10, Is. 50. 10) -1 'ab, as its etymology implies, denotes primarUy the heavy clouds which obscure the sky during a thunderstorm (cf. Ps. 18. 12, I Ki. 18. 45) ; this primary meaning of 'a6 explains also how the word came to denote Yahweh's throne-chariot (cf. Is. 19. 1, 14. 14, Ps. 104. 3), since the thundercloud was conceived of as the throne-chariot. That God is the subject of jatrih not only harmonizes with the fact that throughout the descrip tion God is the acting subject, but it receives additional support from the paraUel description, Ps. 18. 8-16 (II Sam. 22. 8-16), where in v. 16 Yahweh is likewise represented as hurling the thunder bolt. 12 To carry out on His inhabited earth whatsoever He commandeth it. On the ground of hu' of v. 12 a and of jamsl'ehu of. v. 13, read b ysb (omitting the suffix) and vr\W, and in accordance with Syr., vocalize rt¥*|N (Grimme and others, whose emendation mikkol, however, is for grammatical reasons unacceptable). 13 Whether he maketh it to descend as a scourge or for the sake of mercy. Omit 'im Warsd, which does not admit of grammatical con struction with the rest of the verse ; 'im le is dittography, whUe 'arsd was originally marginal correction of 'arsa of the previous verse, and was wrongly inserted in v. 13. 21, 22 The sunlight hath been invisible, it hath been obscured etc. ra'u is passive participle (like 'asu 41. 25), and was, in fact, taken as such by Gk. bparov; bahir has rightly been taken by Frd. Delitsch to be the same as Aram, bahlr, " dark," " obscured." When the wind riseth from the North, missafon of v. 22 was originaUy read with 1 Note that in every one of these examples the usual construction is with the prepositional phrase. NOTES 281 v. 21, probably after 'abSra; we have the proof in Targ. II, " From the North cometh the North wind." It wUl come out in golden splen dor. The subject of je'ethw is not zahah, but 'or of v. 21 ; zahab is accusative of comparison, and was recognized as such by Gk., -^pvo-av- yoBvra, though the translators were in the dark as to the subject of the sentence. Note that the function attributed in these verses to the North wind tallies exactly with what is said about this wind in other sources. Josephus, Ant. XV. 96, § 388, caUs the North wind " the wind which produces most clear weather," and in Bel. Jud. Ill 93, § 422, he teUs that mariners passing Joppa called it " the black North wind," evidently because it dissipates the storm clouds. For the same reason, the Targum to Prov. 25. 23, 27. 16 gives it the name garbltha, " the scouring " or " sweeping (wind)." Further, in the Greek version of Prov. 27. 16 it is spoken of as f3opeas o-KXrjpbs dve- puos. SimUarly Jerome, describing the wind from many years' experi ence, calls it ventus durissimus, and on the ground of his local knowl edge emended Prov. 25. 23, Ventus Aquilo dissipat pluvias. An awful majesty adorneth God expresses the meaning of v. 22 6 accurately. It must be stated, however, that in the Hebrew sentence-construction nora' is predicate of hod and 'al 'eldha is qualificative of hod ; the Uteral translation is, The majesty adorning God is awful. XXVI. 7 He hath arched the North over the void. By the North the celestial pole is meant, the axpos tov oipavov, formed by the seven stars of Ursa minor, from which the movement of the universe was believed to proceed. The objection which has been raised against this inter pretation, on the ground that a different notion was entertained about the universe in ancient times, is untenable, for, as He hath suspended the earth over the vacuum shows, our author, though naturally ignorant of the law of gravitation, had outgrown the naive view of his age about the universe, and conceived of the earth as a heavenly body floating in space, like the sun, moon, and stars. It is not surprising to meet with such a view in the Book of Job, when one considers the advance astronomy had made in Babylonia, Egypt, and Greece. As early as 540-510 B.C., Pythagoras of Samos, on his travels in Egypt and the East, acquired the knowledge of the obliquity of the ecliptic and of the earth's being a sphere freely poised in space. The view of the earth's axial movement was held by many of his followers. Heraclides of Pontus, in the first decade of the fourth century b.c, taught in addi tion that the sun, whUe revolving around the earth, was the center of revolution for Venus and Mercury, and a genuine heliocentric system was developed in the first half of the third century b.c by Aristarchus 282 THE BOOK OF JOB of Samos.1 38. 6 bears out rather than contradicts the conclusion that the writer of Job had attained a more advanced view of the universe, since the question, " Whereon were its foundations set? " shows that he no longer shared the primitive notion that the earth was resting on pUlars erected in the sea. As to 9. 6, cf . the remarks on this verse. 8 See the remarks on 36. 29. 9 He hath veUed the throne. The notion of the throne of God (or of a God) in the heavens is very common in ancient literature, Semitic and classical alike ; its location was thought to be in the north ern sky, near the celestial pole. Is. 14. 13f . speaks of " the mountain of assembly " (of the gods) situated " in the extreme North ; " the writer conceives of it as a crest formed by clouds, corresponding to the clouds which, according to our Job verse, veU the throne of God, or according to 37. 29, form His pavilion. Also in the vision of Ezekiel the throne carrying God comes from the North (Ezek. 1. 4). SimUarly, the thronus Caesaris mentioned by Plinius, Nat. Hist. II. 178, is lo cated near the celestial pole, as is also the throne of Ms in the constel lation of Virgo in HeUenistic literature.2 10 He hath arched the dome of heaven. Vocalize, in accordance with Targ. and Syr., JO pD, as commonly emended : cf. Prov. 8. 27. 5 The shades beneath shudder. Contrary to the accents and the prevailing translation, mittahath is to be construed with v. 5 a, being a qualificative of refa'lm; the sentence position of mittahath leaves no doubt on that point. Verse 5, as the shades beneath shows, is comple mentary to v. 11, which speaks of the sky, and must originaUy have foUowed this verse. 12-13 The reference in these verses is to the struggle of Marduk with Tiamat at the creation of the universe — a struggle which, as in 7. 12, 9. 13, Is. 51. 9, is transferred to Yahweh. By his might the sea was stilled, raga' is perfect text ; the subject is the sea, and raga' is intransitive. By the sea the primeval sea is meant, which in the Babylonian creation-myth is identified with Tiamat — the sea was stilled is equivalent to saying Tiamat was subdued ; note the parallel ism. The result of this defeat was that At His breath the sky was cleared, which is to say, darkness and chaos gave way to light and order. XXXVII. 23 He that is almighty in power and supreme in justice. sagl' is a case of zeugma, it governs both koh and misphat. He giveth 1 Compare G. V. Schiaparelli, Precursoridel Copemico (1873), pp. 23-28. 2 For the ample material pertaining to this notion in HeUenistic Utera ture see F. Boll, Aus der Offenbarung Johannis, pp. 31, 109ff. NOTES 283 no accounting. The original text, Bickell and others have rightly pointed out, read nj^. • this is substantiated by Gk., ovk olei iiraKo-iav. The paraUelism, lo' meqa'nuhu, furnishes further support of this original reading. The present reading is due to the fact that the text was pur posely changed; it is not difficult to see that the people must have taken exception to Job's declaration that God answereth not . . . giveth no accounting. The Greek, though it retained ja'anoe, removed the objection no less effectively by supplying olei. Note that the Greek also radicaUy changed the meaning of the rest of the verse by rendering lo' mSsa'nuhu, in violation of the grammar of the original (after the manner of the Midrash), with koi ofy eiplo-KOfiev aXXov Sfioiov and construing in similar manner shaddaj with v. 22 a. This interpretation of v. 23 a did not originate with the Alexandrian trans lators, but must have been the customary one, as may be seen from its recurrence, in varied form but always to the same effect, in Vulgata, the Targum, and the Medieval Jewish commentators. 23. 9 If I seek Him ... I cannot behold Him ... by deviating. Instead of ba'asdthd, read, in accordance with Syr., vntvpa j 'ahaz, as Targ. 'ehme shows, is mistaken reading for njns, due to the omission of the vowel-letter He; instead ofja'tof, read, in accordance with Targ. and Syr., I^JJ,? — aU three emendations are widely accepted. 37. 20 When He ordaineth that one be destroyed, could a writ or re corder plead my case, so that I might approach and silence Him, as I should a human being. Only the second clause of this verse has come down intact in the Hebrew ; the first clause is corrupt beyond recogni tion, while the last dropped out entirely. Fortunately, these parts have been exceUently preserved by the Greek, being authenticated by aU text witnesses inclusive of the Sahidic ; they read in aU alike : p.ij BtBXos rj ypap.fw.Tevs pot rrapeoTrjKev, Iva dvOpiorrov io-Tr/Kois KaTao-itoirrjo-io.1 When arranged in order with 20 6, the Hebrew represented reads approximately as foUows : ntsrito a'lpt? d-jk yby '3 vr* id« dx *b "i3iN nab ox -iBpn 'adam is accusative of comparison, and the subject of 'amar, being a case ! of brachylogy, is to be construed also as object with the circumstantial clauses 'eqrob and 'ahdshce. The Alexandrian translators, though they carefully reproduced the wording of the clause, neither understood 1 The middle clause, missing in Gk. in the other Codd., is found in Codd. k Prs. 249 and 147 : i&v d^V Arfp Karairo&tivercu. 284 THE BOOK OF JOB the accusative of comparison, nor recognized the implied object of its verb. Mot rrapeo-TrjKev, meaning " defends me " (" helps me "),* renders accurately jedabber ll, which with the meaning " speak in behalf " of a person or " plead his case " occurs again II Ki. 4. 13 ; as to the expression sefer and 'eqrob, cf. 31. 35ff., and as to the thought of the verse as a whole, cf . 9. 32f . The present environment of verse 20 is no doubt responsible for the fact that the importance of its reading in the Greek has been overlooked by the critics. Had the verse come down in its origmal sequence the value of the Greek text would no doubt have been recognized. XXIII. 13 And since He hath thus ordained for me. Instead of M'ehad, the original text, as Budde and Beer recognized, read ina — a reading which, as we shaU see presently, is supported also by Gk., exptvev. From Gk. ovto>s, which in Sah. is preceded by mmoi, " for me," it is safe to conclude that in the original text bahar was followed by 'by fltft. As to ovtws, it is fairly evident that it must have been read by the Hebrew original of the Greek, for being without correlative in its present environment, it can hardly have crept into the Greek in the course of transmission ; its correlative is to be found in 37. 20, which 23. 13 originaUy foUowed. As to mmoi of Sah. pointing to the origmal reading bahar 'alaj, note that bahar 'al, meaning " ordain " or " decree for," occurs again II Sam. 19. 39, and that with the same meaning Kplveiv is used repeatedly in New Test, and HeUenistic Greek (cf . e.g. Acts 16. 4, 21. 25, III Mace. 6. 30). 14 His decree. Instead of huqql, read in accordance with Vulg. and Syr., pn, as Grimme correctly emended. 15. The following additional reading of v. 15 is found in Gk.Cod. B : dyvoZv ttjs TrXrryfjs ttjv ah-iav, " Because I know not the cause of the affliction." For this important text Cod. B is not the only authority ; part of the text, somewhat differently phrased, has been preserved in all Mss. of the Greek, being read in v. 17 a, which originally formed the immediate continuation of v. 15 : ov yap rj8ei.v ort eVeXeweTai poi. It became contaminated with the text of v. 17 a, as the result of which r) rrXnyq dropped out, and aU of v. 17 a, except okotos. A trace of this text in the Hebrew may still be seen in ki lo' of v. 17 a, the lo' of which has been omitted by a great number of scholars as not being an original part of 17 a. The Hebrew represented by the Greek read probably as foUows : ty 2 «? ston jpp v\yv xb <3, Because I know not why 1 Cf . the New Test, expression & vapearriKtSis, "bystander," "defender." 2 6a' is participle. NOTES 285 the affliction hath come upon me. The genuineness of the text is beyond doubt. Not only does it fit exceUently in w. 15 and 17, it gives these verses a content and a point which are otherwise lacking. And the whole thought thus obtained is strikingly in keeping with Job's reason ing throughout. When I think of it, I am dismayed. The pronominal suffix of mimmennu, which is to be construed with both verbs, refers to the contents of the preceding clause. 16 V. 16, " For God hath made my heart faint, the Almighty hath terrified me," does not belong here. The verse seems to be a variant of 27. 2, presenting in aU probabUity the attempt on the part of an edi tor to take the harm out of that verse. 17 I am overwhelmed must be the meaning of nismatti, as is obvious from by the darkness, which follows it. By the heavy darkness which envelopeth my vision. That v. 17 6, as it reads at present, is faulty Hebrew is commonly admitted. To my mind, the preposition mi must originaUy have been joined to 'of el, making the half verse read: 'J3 nD3 73t?pi. — As to min used with the passive, cf. 24. 1. XXVIII. 1 to be refined. The third plural of jazoqqu is impersonal construction. 2 And copper tough-tissued as stone. The customary translation of v. 2 6, " And copper is molten out of the stone," is not only incom patible with the fact that the writer's reference is to what man by his skiU and inteUigence obtains out of the depths of the earth, it is gram matically untenable, for the masc. form jasuq cannot be predicate of the fem. 'eben, it must be attributive of nehusha, which like nehosheth is masc. ; as to its meaning tough-tissued, cf. 11. 15, 37. 10, 38. 38, 41. 15f. 3 Man putteth an end. The original text, BickeU and others rightly concluded, must have read D"iv after qes; this is not only shown by hu' of v. 3 6, an indication of its omission may be seen also in the paseq after qes. And penetrateth to the furthest bounds of, etc. The odd expression, " the stones of obscurity, " etc., does not seem to me to be original text ; omit 'eben as mistaken repetition from the preceding verse. Though 'ofel and salmaweth are the direct objects of hdqer, I have for the sake of a more idiomatic translation combined them as genitives with to the furthest bounds. 4 Slave-people bore shafts. It may be inferred from Syr., 'awia gijurd, and from the plur. of the verbs of the relative clause formed by v. 4 6, that the original text read — with different word division — : "U D^ D,l?nj. By 'am gar " captive " or " conquered people " are meant, cf . I Chron. 22. 2, II Chron. 2. 16f . Which wind unfrequented 286 THE BOOK OF JOB by feet, wander afar from men. The antecedent of the compound relative clause is nShallm: the meaning of dallu is not "hang" or "depend," but wind, as the substantive dallath, "curls" or "braid," Cant. 7. 6, shows ; as to nd'u, wander, said of the shafts, cf . the similar expression Prov. 5. 6, " her ways wander." 5 They lay open. At the beginning of the verse the origmal text read ibi, which has been preserved by Syr. 6 in her paths. Instead of Id, read in accordance with Syr., n'JnaTua — a reading which is borne out also by nethlb of v. 7. 11 He bindeth up the sources of rivers. Instead of mibbSkl, vocalize, in accordance with Gk., \??B (Wetzstein and others) : the subterranean sources of rivers are meant. 13 the way to it. Instead of 'erkah, read, in accordance with Gk., fiS'H, as commonly emended. The present reading 'erkah is due to adaptation of the verse to the interpolated verses 15-19. That darkah must have been the original reading may be seen also from v. 23. 15-19, 20. Verses 15-19 betray themselves at a glance as an inter polation. They are a heterogeneous element in the chapter, both in thought and style. They deal with the incomparable value of wisdom, whereas the thought brought out in ch. 28 is that absolute wisdom rests with God, it is not within the power of man to attain. As to the style, the contrast between the diffuseness of w. 15-19 and the conciseness of ch. 28 could not be more marked. External evidence of the later addition of these verses is found in v. 20, which is a meaningless repeti tion of v. 12. When the interpolator wrote w. 15-19 in the margin, either at the bottom or the top of the page, he added v. 12 as a cue to indicate that they be inserted after this verse. As usual in such cases, the later copyist paid no attention to the cue, but inserted the inter polated verses, cue and aU, at random. 25 When He made. Read, on the ground of v. 26, JTOya. 28 And concerning man. It is evident from the context that this, and not " unto man," must be the meaning of 16. XXXVIII— XL. 14, XLII. 1-9, 11. XXXVIII. Iff. See Introduction, pp. 6 Iff. 1. Verse 1, as I pointed out, p. 64, cannot be original. We have no means, however, of ascertaining how God's apparition amidst the storm was introduced. AU that can be said is that 40. 6, 8, with Job's reply, 40. 3-5, 42. 2-6, which originally followed the former, shows that God does not address Himself directly to Job, until He has finished NOTES 287 the various questions regarding the laws governing the universe, which (as I showed) are addressed to the friends. As I stated, p. 64, from 38. 21 it may be inferred that Eliphaz, as the eldest of the friends, was most likely the one spoken to by God. 2. The Greek of the verse reads : Tts outos o KpvnTwv fie BovXrjv, ei86fievos. XL. 2. The verse certainly does not belong in its present place. Nei ther can it belong to the words addressed to Job by God, since the con tents of 40. 8 as preserved in the Greek clearly preclude this. The verse must originaUy have been read after 38. 2, to which it forms a fitting continuation. Will he shun dispute with the Almighty? Instead of jissbr, vocalize, in accordance with Gk., pi) Kplo-iv p,era 'iKavov iKKXivd, I'D!;. Note that jissdr is a doubtful word-formation, as has been pointed out by Barth ; there is no other example of it.1 God will answer him that dealt rebuke. Instead of the fem. suffix nah, read masc. suffix u~, in accordance with airei86p.evo'«n irrni ioe? 3i»N nynsa n'n O'N .rapn 'n'i :ni33 tt>7K?i n'3a n^atf i7 n!?vi :ynn nm D'nira 2 •*!!¦ * I " IT T S ¦ T T ' ¦ IIT*- **^ IT " T • • VI 0 npT3 nax niKD t»om D'Vo? 'sVn nB?7tt>i i^-'?1?^ nysts ¦73D 7H3 wnn tf'Nn 'm nfco nsn rmasn ni3in« ni«o etorn t- * - - t ¦ i - : t- t -. -; r- -s - *¦ -: r- ntP7"B>7 wnpi in1?^ i»i' b>'« rva nne>» itwn V33 07m : onp-'3a : • :Iitj :itj • •• u : • t * t t i it: virr - t rbm nna>an 'p; .s'pn '3 'ti :anay nint»V] 73«V DrrrrnK 5 ai'N na«'3 o?3 nsDn ni7y nliwm npsa D'sttfrn oenpn 3i*« 03373 D'ri7K ttTJI '33 INtan '71K ¦r t i ¦ ; vi : f -t :t- 32fnn7 D'n7«n '33 iNa'i oi'n 'n'i :a'o»n 73 ai»N new nss 6 - - i • ; ; vi it " : t- - ¦:- i* * - t * v-:r tt :D3ins iDtpn-oa «i3'i nin'-^y it : Iit ¦ - t-ti ~ «3n ran itaton-bN nin' notfi 7 T I - - - I T T - t t: t :n3 ^nnnai jhns tntra nn*H ninjTiN iBfcn ]sn itofc>n-7"N nin' idnM 8 ITT ' * TI * rn«3 .nos ]'« '3 3i'« 'n3i7-7y ^a1? nnton :ynn nw D'rt7N nt nt2h an tf'N ¦^ IT** T i 'VI "I T *• T -idn'! nin;-n« iBfon |in 9 :D'n'7« 3i»« nt oann I* VI "T T ¦ -I in'3-nyai insn roty dn afrn 10 - s -s r- t : - t - -1 3'3dd i'Hbjn-'ts mm •t* v -j t -- :pvN3 y-vs imppi rona tt nfcyo i7'~lB>N77'33 y3] ^T KJTlW O^Nl 11 :n313' T3H3-7I7 nVoK tI V i rr i I v t - * 296 THE BOOK OF JOB !D^n-7N nin; nptf] 12 nr n7B>n-7K T7N pn nn'3 i7-n0t<-73 nan Itt - 1 ¦ - t " I • I vi 1 v-» t cnfeft o'73i* vnaai Tni oi'n 'nn :nin' '39 oyo icatpn N^n 13 t ¦ : 1 t 1 t t - ¦ i- ti -* --Itt- " **" noK'i 3T«"7« «3 na^oi :ni33n on'n« n'33 i" 14 :Dn'T-7y niyn ni3h«ni niehn Tn npan 3nn-'97 ran onyan-nxi onpni K3t£> 7sm 15 v t *i • *ti- v: *•!»•- ti •- :ib Tirh 'ns1? '3&rpn nt37SNi Iff !"• ! ~ ¦ * "* ¦ ~ TIT-IT noN'n ns nn nsno nr iniy 16 073Nni D'nyasi ]*&3 nyani D'otfrrp nVsa D'n'7N k>n - i 1- -ti-I - -:•- • - t - I • Tirr ¦ vi :n,7 Tan? 'n37 '3«-pn nabsw itT * r • r r * * ~ 1 ** tit-it noan «a nn nana nt |niy 17 - - T T- - - I V ' ^ Dinpn D'?oan-7y iDtfsn D'tston ntfW |infc> o'ntoa :n7 Tan1? 'na1? 'at* pn nco70«i ann-'B7 ran D'nyan-n«i Irr - - I TT* * "• * T I T • IT tt ; * ; 'TI- VI n»N>i «a nn nana nr -^ 18 - - ¦[ .... --I * r niasn on'nx n'aa i" D'nfeji D'73fc Tniasi T33 1 - - r • -: ~ 1 I ¦ - 1 -ii It 1 Itt nanonn3yD|n«3n7inamnnam 19 TI'- T - - ' TT T I- - ' t wran ony3n"7"y 7sn nran nias ygnxs yan :n"? n'an1? 'na7" '3N-pn nc37SNi Irr • - 1 •-: • -: I - tit-it :inmBh nana 7s»i ieWrnN ran i7ya-n« ynpn ai»« Dpn 20 rr ; •- t 1 - -- v tt- • 1 t ^ -Is ¦- - Itt- no«n 21 T — r\isxb 3iB)« onyi 'bn ibsd 'nr any TT T TI -TT T :nnr3p nin; a& 'n; npb ninn ina rrin; :D'n'7NV n^sn ing-Ni^i 3i»« neht»6 nNr-?33 22 ita^n-na «i3n nin'-7y 3irnn7 0'n7«n '33 win oi'n 'nn 2 :D3ha THE BOOK OF JOB 297 «3n nta 'N iB&rr,?N rrin' naxn 2 t v • "Itt- t t * v :na n.Vnnnai pro tatfp np«n nin;-n« ]i?&n *yn i£3l5>n-7« nin' na«n 3 >TT- V T * T pNa mas t« ra 3i»« 'n3y-7N ns1? nafcn yna nDi D'n7N nt nan on ttf'N ^ T ~ T * • Tt -I TTt T :oan iyV?1? ia '3n'prn inans pnna lanyi naN'i rrin;-n« ipfcn jan 4 :iB>sa nya in; xfrvb nefc? 731 niy nya niy infc>3-7Ki iaasy-7"N yai nn' «a-n?B> dVin 5 T I TI ( - T * -t | .„ T - , T rnsns' T3S-7N n"1? on t I iv 1 rr : I v t v :nPe> iu>93-nK n« nn'3 ian 7t3&n-7N nin' nann 6 ny i7n ^sp yn friOa ai*N-n« nn rrin; 'as nwia ]p'a>n iren 7 naam rnssn-nina atpi' mm i3 nnann1? enn i7-npn -.'iipnv 8 T - Tl-Tlll. - I BTI ; 1 VT |-.- llTlllT _ ine>« i1? :nai D'n"7x n,na nnans p'rna nny, nann ni"?aan nn« n^-a n'7N naN'n 10 7"ap3 i& v-\n nw D'n7Kn n«a ?spa aitsn-nN oa - I - j " tt t; ; vi it - - ^ - 1 - 1 - v — n'nsfoa ai'N KBn-K7 nNf^sa itt:- ; tt 1 t • tf'K wan i'"?y n«an nynn-73 na 3i»« 'yn int^tf lyatfn 11 • T- TT TTZ TTIT T ~ ' ** " ' » I * * I" nrr nyin 'nayan nsisi 'mOn nn73i 'ao'nn rs'7K iapaa iNfcn innran K'7i pinna on'3'y-n« wish :iara7i i7T3^ Ki3^> 12 ; ••> * * ' t I TP* T - P* V I •- -il-I ff T :na'at»n on'Bfcn-,7y nsy ipnrn i"?ya tf'K iynpn ra3'i o^ip 1 : IT T - T- T - TT I I1"" *« -^ll«'- 1— TI wn ra nan i'7« nan-pro ni1?'1? nysah ca' nyritfl in« non 13 Tr TT T- - I *• * - w1!* T • I •"*• :nfca a«sn 7na-'3 298 THE BOOK OF JOB :iai'-n» 7$pn in's-na 3i'« nns I3"'nnt* 3 :na«n si't* iyn 2 :nsa nan nat* n"?'7~ni is n^N oi' na«' 3 TIT-- -T TI--I * ' * 7"yap rn'7'N ine>nn;-7{< ntfn 'n; teinn oi'n 4 m»7'n na>n inW :nnn3 rbv ysin-7t« 5 vti-s lv t. t : • itt: t t r - - i :oi' nnaa mnya' n33y v7"y-pB>n ¦ • s - \ -i r- : tti t t I t : • njo 'p'a nn:-7K 7SK innp; ronn n"?'^n 6 :«a'-7« cnn' nsbaa it - • t: - : • 1 :i3 n33n Kisn-7K nraVa 'T t«nn n7'?n nan 7 1 tti T - :-•: - t:~"*** 'AQlf? "iiy Q'Tnyn oi'",nn^ map; 8 1'Ni ni«7np' isoa 'aais ratfn' 9 nngr'sysys n£T"?K] :'3'ya bav nnDn '3D3 'n?n naD t*"? ra 10 rr~ i- tt - : -- ¦;• -1- -t ymi 'n«u' ma nia« onna N7 nab 11 •^ it: •! % • ttItv- t rv— tt :nit& iKtk"7 Q'VVys n;nt* t*7 pais bsas it* 16 :pm ra DnBrnai orana 'aranp yma 12 *b rna; | tn 'n3B>; Bipeftn 'naptf nny-ra 13 ia? nisnn 0'3sn pt* '*yn oraba-oy 14 IT TTI • — I V T --IS -TI rnps on'ns o'x^aan on1? 3nr cnfr oy it* 15 It it v - t • : - : p- vt tt -t :ro 'ya' inia' dpi ran i"?nn o'yOn oe> 17 -1 --: t t:v ;it -t: t rtwa 7ip iyao t*7 iaaNB? o'tdn nn' 18 p* I *^ : it T-ir- * ¦ -* -- :TfTKB 'Osn nsyi ten dp 7inai ibp 19 ir-tr-'sT vv: t t:IIt tt>sa nob cm nit* bay1? in' na? 20 tit -ti *-: - t : I - ¦ tt O'aiaoaa innsnn laa'to ma"? oranan 21 r :-- \ : 1 -- v-: vv- I"'1" nsp waca' ra i&'fc" 7'a-'7N o'nafcn 22 r • IT 1 1 • 1 • t • - vi • - t — THE BOOK OF JOB 299 :inya rri7N non nnnDa rann-not* naab 23 ¦ -s 1- - in I v T- tti* : - v -: v v I :'n3t*0 cas rann tan 'nnat* 'an1? '3S7-ra 24 :'7 xs' 'nna' noto '3'n«n 'nnns nns ra 25 P t -it v -sp- •- t vtw- 1 — t - - :ran tan 'nm-t6i 'nt3p0-t*7i 1 'm!?0 t*7 26 VI t- *IT 1 • jl-T I ' ' !M :natn '3a'nn rs'7« wn * - I - ¦ T I- — — ¦ VI I - ™ :73T 'a D'7B3 n&n nt*7n tt~n "on nD3n 2 it * ••: :- v : • lv- tt t • -s :pmn nisn onn can nnD' nan 3 :ymn niyn? oranai t|b pa'p; Wis 4 tbnsni nny yan t*7"ni T7K Nisn 1 nny ra 5 P" T * - I V T "- ^ v - - lv~ T1 T -" tnnipn nrann oni n,nboa nnto; t*7n 6 :nnaa cnO' ns't*i nat* 'pa tan 'a wnar 7 it:- *ti -1 ttI-T * t Tt rinnasp' bos 'ynti nt* 'Onh 'n'tn nOtra 8 r. 1 I : ¦ tt » si; 1st ** : 1 - -t tit n1??! istj ranpi ngro ni7N npOap 9 nyna onraa '30i 7"n0 bp: rant* naao 10 w iT . !"* - • 1 - T li *•:- "ip :nnsn' K'31? 'asi nnra-'bsa n3fc 0'? 11 •TTI* -T-I I V T • I * " *- .nraa yap '3tk npni 33a; nsn '¦?«] 12 o'0at*-7y nBnnn bsas rtb'b niainna orayOs 13 pt-: - t - : 7 :• ti; ivp* ••:¦ rn'nsn 'niaajy sm nnyni 'atnp nns 14 •* * ' ~ :"! : tti ¦ - tI : - •*; :nOs nnyo naon nbrc '3s-7y ram 15 pti --ti- - - 1 l-jf-T -- : intria nrax t6] nay; 16 :yaOt* bipi naan 'a'y naa1? naian *^it:v It ttit- vv i t t :n3a-nnta' inoya-OK pnir rribtw Oi3t*n 17 t it - 1 * ** ^ i" 'Its*— vi i" vt t- rnbnn o'O' iraxbaai rat*' xb mays in is ITTirr -T tti-i I • -tr- TT1P I- oniD' nsya not* nan-'na '330 ra | nt< 19 t 1 ttw v-j t " T " * f I * 2 300 THE BOOK OF JOB :0y3sb oiton' IT - I * I -I :nst*' nia1? coa '73.B W3' anyb npsa 20 p- ~ v ¦*" "** * 1 • -\ vvt It* :na3ns t*'?i inra' os onn' yD3-t*7n 21 IT IT! I T T T * * ~ ' ' ~* :n3sn o'Onpp 'b-?ki niiy Ovj t*a-t*np s :nt*ap n'an nnsi oys-ann' bnt*? 2 IT : I • * T V - T T "IP* • VI IV :ok*ns mis opin OnOa 7nt* 'n't*n '3t* 3 II* -T r"" ' * Z *V* ¦ * T ¦ -S :7'2?a pt*i nyOs itonn yO;p Tas ipnn; 4 73t*' syn mp' not* 5 ~ TT I I !• V-I :7ay naa:'-t*7 nant*ai lit* nsya t*x'-t*7 ira 6 itt - 1 ¦ 1 TT-tr* Ivt ttp* - - I ' :niy inraa' nOn-'asi n?T bay1? ontrra 7 li • 1 - I v v » : r tti tt r 'nnsn o'Ot* 0'n7tr7t*i 7t*-7t* onnt* '3t* obit* 8 P T I • ' T ;vl **" • ™ * I T ¦ -S T nspp Ttjrny nit*bsa npn ]'t*i ni?na noy 9 :ni^n 'as-by o;a nboi pN 'as-by nop inan 10 :y0' raaO onnpi oina1? o'bsO 01O7 11 •^-iv iit ; : I 1 1 *i *ti t n»On onn' na'Oyn t*bi o'any nisOna nsa 12 rr'Tj t-i tv-ii- 1 "s ti- -- nnnaa o'bnsa nsyi oanys oraon nib 13 TIT I • ¦ T I * - -IF T t T I * T -J annus 1OOB' n7'?3i non lOas' oai' 14 * itti it- :-i ti--i lv :-i t ]i's« prn TBI on'sp snnp yon 15 :nra nssp„ nnbyi nipn bnb 'run 16 :Dt*an-7t* 'no nprai mbx larpi; Oiat* not* nan 17 :na'snn inn pa' Osnn s'to' Nin ra 18 T IV 1 * tt: I - I * TIVI *i- :yn ns ya; t*4? | ysosi nb'ar nina; oos 19 :snn 'tb nan7B3i maa nns syns 20 VIT -- TTI*! VT- I IIT TTI :t*is' ra niOa t*Tn-t*7i tann lio1? oiOs 21 IT' * T* I-TI-lT e :t*Tn-7t* pan mnai prion isp"?1) nob 22 THE BOOK OF JOB 301 :n?-nB70n nnon ram nnns nnon 'anrooy ra 23 Iit t::t vt - - z • ' **" " 1 vv---: :t*onn t*bi nu nnpsi nbnt* oibo-ra nynn 24 ffviiv s lirr t il-t It hit t pti -m :prot sOys n't*st*:n nynr 3Tra nynn 25 Ivitt v *• i I v t vi iv j lv:- - pt: -rr: :inys O'na nibys nsp-'bt* nbss t*isn 26 1 • 1 - T -ip- vIt**vi -vi T ^b-yn nnro njypO ronns nunpn nro-nan 27 :npt*'n si't* ]yn 6 :nrant*0' cartas 'n»ni 'Oys bpO' bipo ib 2 -rr :• •-: it " t - : ! * ~ I "T ¦ It :iyb nsn p-by nss' o'B' bina nny-ra 3 •^ rr -Til- - t:- •- ** T"jr 'mn nnO onan not* nay 'no 'un ra 4 * T TT-: v -: • T ; — ••* :'arany nibt* 'rays * I I -F - VI - * . :ib'bs-by m'O-nya' ot* KOT'by t*ns pnrn 5 1 ¦ t •; r 1; ; vv--: t t I - : - -t rnipbn nns oyp-0;-ox nbp-'bsp bsn baron 6 :'pnb 'ins nan 'Osa yiaab nat*a 7 :nib« in' 'nipni 'nbt*0 ro'sn in'-'a 8 - t vi I - • • tI t ; 1 • t vi p.* tI-- i* r'jysan in; nn; 'atonn nibt* broi 9 bian' Kb nb'ns nnboro 'nana niynni 10 :- t;s t * Z -tr" • t t v -*^ • 1 :0inp nat* 'nnns rorra • It - 1 ¦ • t Z ' :'0s3 nnxrora 'up-nai brat* ra 'nana 11 p 1 - I ; -1 f p * I ; — - - -: • ¦ - :nOins HOa-ot* 'nS D'ast* nS-ot* 12 t i -t i : ; ¦ t -: - ; r'aaa nnna n'Oini ra 'nnry i't* Dt* 13 • tv ; T s; T- 1 * ¦ t: t I - :siry 'no nt*nn nDn inyna oab 14 :nsy o'B 'praroa bnan'aa nas 'nt* 15 abo-obyn' ia'by nnp-'aa w-npri 16 vit v-i* -t -It-- ! »' » 3 roaipaa raynai ons inaasa ranf' nys 17 302 THE BOOK OF JOB :nsroi inira iby osnn ninnt* msb' is p- i - -if t i - it i rr*; :iabmp t*sO nS'bn t*an ninnt* loran 1 9 rr I; T i • -1 T - it ' ; :nsnn nny it*a inoa-ra 10a 20 rriv-TTT t tt r rirorrn nnn it*nn 'b ora'n ant* p 21 :'ny3 nnO osnsai 'b ran 'nnororan 22 p-if -t 1* » -s 1 - ; t ; t - t • -j :'ansn o'arny tbi namra '3iobai 23 :'b iaran 'maO-nai Onnt* '3t*i '3inin 24 r* *T **T - '-ir '-IP • :D3B nsin nrai'-nai nO'-nat* lanaama 25 :0t*i3 nat* mnbi nOnn raba nsinbn 26 rr •***¦ * * z ' ' 1 * *~ rooyn-by nsm ib'sn oin'-by nt* 27 IV -II- - ( • | * - T — I - rsraroot* 03'3s-byi ranas ib'ttin nnyi 28 ¦*•- — • V *• I M1* * * T ~ * :niin ira'-t*b raraat* nbiy '3iObs-0'n 30 1 - I * t 1 ; ; • ti; ¦ t • --I :ns-'pnas niy isOi nbiy 'nn-bt* t*3 raO 29 IT I • : - w \ t TI- *I - T \ tb' nrao 'arai pro'by Oi3t*b taarrobn 7 ffT "T ~ ¦ t I T T "-: VIIV TT 11 :ibys mp' nraOai barnt*0' nsys 2 1 Ti ff vl-i I * * " I - s • tt: :'bnaa bay nib'bi roO-'nn' 'b 'nbnan is 3 P * TT "I IT -I- ¦ * I - I T I - sny nnai Dipt* 'no 'nnaro 'nssO-ot* 4 tt - ; It - t *:-ti • i -¦ t :nOa-'ny rann3 'nysOi I -.- it - ~i I 1 s *i-ti :Dt*an yan niy nsy O'ai nan nos Osb 5 T*-»"-T ; -^ TT • t T; *TI -T mpn ast*s ibon antraa ibp 'B' 6 ffii; TTI :•- TT * • I- -T *:sio nitnb isiO'-ttb 7b I - T I :73ro'by O10' noas nst* ni>3t*-oy isbn 9 26 TI - -I T TT* T ** ;« • IIT "nmn-ranSr 7 7a j'aa'ro ra Try 't*n ys 'amon-rob 8 :n3ii3isq?^in-!3n,*?1''p.,Q'. » 25* THE BOOK OF JOB 303 / :nby t*b bit*0 nni' p n,bn ]is nbs 9 ripipp niy ianra;-t*bi inrab niy siO;-t*'b 10 :'Osa naa nraot* nn nasa nnant* 's nOnt* t*'b 'arooa 1 1 pi— -1 t-t • Z * TI--1- It vi iv --t rnaoa 'by o'On-ra ran-ot* 'aroon 12 rr 1 ¦ ~T -t p I * — ¦ *t t -' rasOa 'mOs t*0' 'Ony '3aran nnarora 13 pTi; •¦! T • * I- - - -IF I • I - T P 'anysn niaTrnai niabns '3nnm 14 ¦F-IFI IV I" -IP" .--.j rnisasya nia '033 p3na nrani 15 rr t-r* vt 'I-I--IF z * * " :'D' bsn-ra 'aaa bnn nnt* obyb-rob 'not*a 16 itt tv • • v • - -: Tt iv t**i 1 * i •¦ t nsb i'bt* mon-rai labnan ra Oiarona 17 I it; t- -t pi vi-i - vi t :wansn D'yanb onpsb lanpsni 18 »T I • -Tt" *lTI* Till*- :'pn 'ybs-ny 'asnn-t*b 'aaa nyOn-t*b nas 19 I p \ • 1 ¦ - * •* 1 - • • T * Tl* I T- nb yaspb 'anao nab ont*n nasa nb i by st* np 'nt*prt 20 :t*Oab •'by mnro rr-t ;t t x iyt '3i'y-nt* nraym 'yos t*On-t*b inai 21 ¦-I V --IF! I** T* I1 T :'33't*i '3nnn0i ssOt* nsyb nny-ra •ff-* ! ~ * Z " * t:t ttiv t- p tnproi niOn nnb? |yn 8 :*p_rnpK nrag nni nbrobbpn irony 2 :pnarmy nO-oro osOo my bt*n 3 ivtv *r- ¦" * • ti* - z > - ~ :oyOsnra onbon ibnt*on T3a-ot* 4 •¦"rr : : " * -i- if irr Ivt lannn 'no-"7t*i brobt* nnOn nnroot* 5 Irr; 1 ¦ ~- ¦** * ** * ** z * T ~ :ypys nia Dboi n,'by n'y; nnyra nnt* non nrot* e " :nto nao; nnnnro nyasp nrrOtn n;m :om'st* npnb larai ]iOt*i nnb ro-b^o-ra s 7 304 THE BOOK OF JOB :p^"'by Mra; bas ra yna t*bi lamx bian-ra 9 :o'bp iroar osbpi nb npro mni' orrrobrj 10 :ora-'bs n« naO; nass robs t*aa-nxa;n 11 :0s'.' masirbs 'asbi nopT; t*b isxs iany 12 nsxn n,an nipni bt* npO-ba ninnrop 13 inpsa Orapy nrai ibpaa oip; not* 14 :oip; t*b] is p'rm nay t*'bi inra by pO; 15 t*asn inpai; inarbyi OpO-'asb ton son 16 nrh' cast* nra rasD' vOnO ba*by 17 TT -T-t ** T '*, • TT1T - — rTraroi rob is Onpi iaipaa laybar-ox 18 nnaas' nnt* nsyai rann OiOa ronnn 19 it » ¦ ** z t t r* :- : lv to'yno-nra pnra robi on-Dt*0' rob broin 20 1* -I - 1 I • -1 f : t ." * * -|- :nymn TnsOi ts pinO nbapy 21 naa't* D'yOn bnro nos lOsb' Tt*aO 22 IV" *TJ VI v tt-lvtl :nat*n sTx pn 9 :brooy Oiat* pnas'-nai p-ra nyra Daot* 2 1- * vi I - 1 * - I •• * - : -t t : t rnbro'ap nnt* iaay t*'b iay snb rsra-ox 3 obon i'bt* nopn-'a nS psro =rab oon 4 it:*- t- t I : • p- I ' - 1 t - - -1 isros D3sn not* iyn' t*'bi onn pnyan 5 i--. tt-: t 1 ' tt : -tI * * ~ ~ iiasbsra nniayi naipaa px ranan 6 Iit-i-t v -t t 1 : • I v v • t — - :onra orasia nyai nnr t*'bi Dnnb nait*n 7 1 : - -t -: Tt- : vv- » rr :o' noa-by nnim inab o'aO noa 8 IT - TI T -I- ; - • ' - T V :)an nnm nprai b'pp Oy nOy 9 :nspp I'rony nirobsai npn 1,'rony nibna nOy 10 :ib rsrorobi nbrai ntnt* robi 'by nisy in 11 I I * T 11 I in TIT : - T -IF I - THE BOOK OF JOB 305 i33'0; 'a bnpn n'apn nbm-ox mo :nOyn'-no i'bx nax^-'a 9 12b iv -s r- f t - - p :snn nry nnO mnn ist* s'O'-x'b nibx 13 ;ff"i*^ -it T I - - • r ¦ - vi iay nsn nnnsx iaayx nax-ra nx 14 1 * - t : t -t : v t vi it ; rr ¦ I ; riannx 'psOpb nayx x'b 'npnas-ox not* 15 'bip I'rro-ra 1'pxt* xb 'aayi 'nxnp-ox 16 :oan 'yass nsnni 'asiO' nnyosnox 17 IT ¦ - T : T I • I * - I T T ; V -! :onnpp '3ysO; ra nn son 'aarrx'b 18 :ian'yi' 'a osoab-oxi nan ym nob-ox 19 V* • Ti-i "I -.[.-- j raopyn 'ax Dn"'3yOT ra pnasx-ox 20 • r" I I I -F -T T •-• 1- -| TIT :"n dxbx '0S3 ynx-xb 'ax-on 21 rr- -:v : - ~ - - 1 -t rr :nbop xn yom on 'nnpx p-by xn nnt* 22 :ayb' o'pa noab oXns n'0' oiO ox 23 rr:- • I ¦ : - - : 1* * t na'bsxi 'as n3ryx n'0 nnsOx nax-ox 27 T P : - ; — T TSVIV "¦ TIIT "IT :'3p3n xb-ra 'rerr nSasy-ba nni' 28 • If- : • ; 1 -t t 1 - t *it :ya'X ban nmab yOnx raax 29 *IT * TV V T IT rT IT "T 'S3 nS3 nismi abonas nasnnnn-ox 30 rr- : - - -i f v t : • 1 Z T * * Z rniobo 'araym 'abson nnos rx 31 «¦ :- • -:i'i*"ii* - - — T :osOas inn' xisa iaayx 'aias O'x xb-ra 32 rr : ¦ - t : - t v vi iv t :i3'30"by in; no; nraia wara-o; xb 33 :'anysn-bx inaxi iosO 'bya nD' 34 •fifi 1- tp-: I * - T r- *• T :nay raax p-xb-ra laxmx xbi nnsnx 35 f t * • IT I " VTP I TI— 1 n'0 'by nsryx "ns 'Os3 nop3 10 '•' - - T T t V IV T - I * I - T I IIT :'0S3 nos nnsnx pi- - : ti--: :'3snrrnB-by '3ynin 'jyOnrrbx nibrobx npx 2 306 THE BOOK OF JOB ^ts? ya; Dxprrra poyn-ra inb 3ion 3 :nxnn Oiax nixns-ox nb nOs rayn 4 «¦:• v» i ; :,T t T - - "* mss rara nnisO-ox to' Oisx 'aran 5 vit-* It 1 • It* w - ; -j Oinnn mxonbi 'aiyb Opsn-ra 6 ii- • * *; * --if 1 - - 1 p rb'asp nny? vki yB;-jK rob-'3 nriyn-by 7 :'3ybsm m'SD nnx '3iOyn '3isasy nn' 8 "FI-I-T — - " • -II— • I * I VT :'3S'0n nsy-bxi '3mOy nahs-ra xansr 9 • F - * TT T I * T • 1 t — I* T TI r'ax'Spn n3'sa3i '33'nn sbns xbn 10 •p- *li- t;i-: •- •- ttt -1 :'3330n on'3i niaasysi '30rabn nosi niy 11 •i" 11: ;¦* t-:f •- • * ~ ¦*¦ * :nn nnao nnnpsi nay n'Oy nom ran 12 r TI IT I S itI 1 , : • T - T - T TTT * - :nay nxrra 'nyn' nssbs nasas nbxi 13 Irr* ¦ ;i-t!tti*t:-T t~i :'3p3n xb '3iyai '3nna0i nxon-ox 14 •If-* ¦-!!" -t:-i • tt 'Oxn xox-xb npnasi 'b 'bbx nyOn-ox 15 1 tt ¦ • 1 1 - t i ; - 1 - *:-t :'p'3y mm ]ibp ysO :ra xbsnn sOm '3niasn bnOs nxan 16 p T - t • T 1 ; - * - - - v:-i :ray xsasi nis'bn nay nOys snni naa nny Onnn 17 ,. . tti * -1 ; T ; I : •; f vvi -svlv- --i 'axnn xb irai yiax xbi 'anxasn onna nsbi 18 • r* : ' I *-;•*-: t t *t -i tv— tti :bsix nspb iosb nnx 'm'rrx'b nOxs 19 it tIt; Itt • ti it *.!** » vir" oya na'bsxi 'aaa n'0 nbn 'B' oya-xbn 20 it: t ; s - 1 • v ¦ ; -it •* t z * '"• mabasi nOn px*bx siOx xbi nbx onos 21 v it 1 - t It Ivt v t :l-- tti :mabas bsxnas ysm onnD xbi | nnsy vnx 22 VITI— TI ¦"" *T1 1 ' tt-Ivt rnaxn nayan nsas pn 11 - 1- ;tif— — I - — :pnas' onso O'x oxi nay xb onsn snn 2 THE BOOK OF JOB 307 Dbop 1'ro aybni lOnra ona nns 3 :T3'ys 'n'n ngi 'npb n.r naxhi 4 nay insO nnsn ns-- nibx irrra obixi 5 raoinb rabs-ra nasn niabyn nbnan 6 T* I ^TI •" TIT Tj -I F I I V— * :n,3iya nibx n,b nO;-ra iym rxasan no mbpn-ny-ox xaspn nibx npnn 7 rynrrna bixOp npjpy bysnnp d;bo nsa 8 :o' 'aa nsnm nna pxa nsnx 9 rr;; tti t-Ivt- t\~* qaran; cibi=) xbi "ix xnn xiO-np yn; xn-ra 11 :nbi? onx xns npi ssb; snj O'ro 12 tss i'bx nonsi nsb msran nnroox 13 nbp Tbnfcs pOrrbro mpnnn nnra iiroox 14 :xnn xbi pasa n"m oiaa n'as xOn 1 rx-ra 15 ff" iIt-jT'Ti ¦ Ivt t • ' t :nSrn nsy raas nsOn bay nnx-ra 16 It* Iff - - I TI* TT T--P :nnn npss nsyn nbn Dip' onnasai 17 m * It — T ^ ¦ T 1 I* *-Ttrr; rsaOn nosb nnsm mpn O'-ra nnosi 18 rr;* -ttti-iti tIi- - ;t*zt :oran n'3s ibm nnna txi nassm 19 p- Itt -i -iFl**iTi-;m :Osa-nsa ompm onaa nax oiaai na'bsn oraOn 'arai 20 TIT "-F TTll'I * • ". Z T T T * * ' -TI--I npxnsi'xpn 12 maan man ooayi oy-onx ra 03ax 2 ff*T T TT-I T T Z ' TIT '3x-oa nyn' osnyns ooios issb 'b-oa 3a 13 2a rnbxnos l'x-'anxi aaa raax bsa-xb 12 3b-c tf il-- ti *;;ff - 1 traan pnas pinO mayi rribxb xnp nn; nnynb pno 4 :bsn nyiab iia3 iaxO mnOyb ns nrab 5 TIT "1 1 I t Itir 1 - t ; - 308 THE BOOK OF JOB bx Tanab ninpsi onnob | rabnx i'bo; 6 :inra nibx xran nOxb it t 3 vi ¦- T~*~ nDO' n'osO-'3s yon nra n3n3 1 px 9 24 v-:t vii -i-^t t -1 ts- I tt risx-'p xn xb-ox nbnan o;pOn m'yi nnm nians xrbxo obixi 137 :on 'jn n,b mspn nnm px 'bnir ix 8 nxt nnOy niran' ra nbx-bos y-r>mf& 'a 9 1 Tin- tj - ; v- t 1 * -r 1 :0'x-nOs-b3 mm n-bs 033 inra nox 10 1* -1 r Z ST T VV TI VI :ib-oyp: box nm iron rabp jjx xbn 11 :naisn raa' nnXi neon D'O'Ora 12 rr 1 -tIv: tit *-p :n3iam nasy ib nmaai nasn iay 13 IT 1 T- TI TIT :nns' xbi O'x-by naD' nas' xbi Dinra in 14 - I" T ¦ : * - i-VT- I IF I - :px rasnn Dnbon Osn oras nasy in 15 Ivrr i-Fi -:-¦ tpi .-- ( - | - :naOai aaO ib n'Oim ry iay 16 :bbira orasiOi bbiO raasyi' n'bia 17 r* s -11: t -ill; :on'anos nirx nbxn nns orabo nDia 18 it -1 t : - : v - - ¦ -ti - :nbp; carat*! bbiO cans "rbio 19 :np' o'3pr oyoi D'3BX3b nsO nraa 20 Irr; *l -: - - : ¦ t vtr.- s t t ; •* :nsn o'p'sx rarpi oranrby na nsiO 21 :niobas nixb xasn n,On-'3B nippy nbsp 22 :oran o;iab npO onaxn o;iab x'aOp 23 nnn-x'b *nna oynn pxrroy 'Oxn sb n'pp 24 nipo? lynn nix-x'bi nOnnOOp; 25 :nb 13m '3rx nyaO '3'y nnxn bsnn 13 rrlvT-*:T tiit - - Tiff It :vsnx bx-bx noim nsnx nO-bx 'ax Dbix 3 Irriv •• *"" * •* -1 " v-i t THE BOOK OF JOB 309 :nin naspn-xb yina-oxi n'0 onxb raaxn 314 1* - I j • z Z "•"! tti *rrv tosbs bbx 'xsnnpO-'bsb onx obixi 13 4 iv : \ • vi - 1 1 I vt "*i t - t t :noonb oob nm iionnn Onnn in'-'a 5 IT I T ! VT *I I P1F .» -j p. | .. . ,. ns'Opn nso nisni nnpin xjnypo 6 :n>pn mpnn ibi nbiy msnn bxbn 7 rpsnn bxb-ox ]ixOn nsn 8 :is ibnnn 0i3X3 bnns-ox osnx npra-ra 3ion 9 ¦ -ti vi iv -r: • viv l*;p 1 nixOn o'3s nnDS-ox oonx nrai' nsin 10 llT* -T V - - • V 1 V - - - rop'by bs; innsi opnx nysn inxO x'bn 11 roaras npmraab nstrbop op'snpr 12 :no 'by nsyn '3x_nnsnxi '3aa lOnnn 13 IT -T IF! *T TI-1F-V- *1F :'S33 O'OX 'OS31 '303 n03 XOX 14 p - : -T ; i -s t- i *ti tv :nraix Tas-bx rann-nx bn'X x'b 'abop' in 15 -p tt v -Ti I- ,*• - 1 ¦ " : I : - I - :xi3' nan Tasb xb-ra nyiO'b 'b-xin-oa 16 itI-t tt:' ; T i'- - :D3'3rx3 nnxi nba yiaO lyaO 17 IV -it: • T 1 - 1 -t- - T »*i ¦ :pnasx '3x ra nyn' osOa nsny x3-nan 18 llTIT -1 * "*"5 T l ¦ -I-T T - * :yiaxi onnx nny-ra nay s't xn-'a 19 "its V : * 1 F T z * * T - ¦ T :nnDx x'b n'asa rx nay Oyn-bx ono nx 20 p-tv Ivt* t • t • - - - ¦ ~ i ¦ **. :'anysn-bx n,naxi pnnn 'bya nsp 21 :'3S'0m nsnxnx nayx raaxi xnpi 22 • r* • i r- — — 1 ¦ v-.iiv • rri T'i :'3ynn nxom raOs m'xom ni3iy 'b nos 23 •|-*l * T""- *•¦ * Z * "* - T" :nb s'ixb '3s0nm nnon T3snab 24 Irr " t •-;!-*! :•" Ivt t it :nnnn os; Opnxi finyn nn? nbyn 25 rrnys ni3iy '30nim ninna 'by siran ra 26 rr**i 1 -- ; 1 1 i-t i*p nhnx-bs niaOm 'bsn |nD3 oOm 27 T IT t *"•*;•" Z ~ " T * 7 310 THE BOOK OF JOB :npnnn 'ban 'OnO-by * n Z S ." - i - - IT - :ran-ysOi o'B' nasp nOx nib' onx 14 Vl»*^-S -T -Il T ¦ I TT *:niay xbi bass nnsn ban xas' y%3 2 iif 1 -- -i*- t-- ttI ¦ i :nay osOas xran inro n/a'y nnps nrbynx 3 Irr* t 1 • t *t 1 Iv-tiI-t v - I- :nnx xb xbob m'no in'-'B a ITT -T. t | - . nSy x'bi n'Oy ipn nnx vOnnnsoa ira' D'asinraox 5 i-:f 1 t • t I t ¦- It- ttt: -i* tt ; i :iai' nraOs nasn'ny bnnn 1'bya nyo 6 1 -t: t:* - tivi tti" -1 :bnnn x'b inpan rabm niyi nns'-ox mpn ysb 0' ra Rl T I I - 1 ! I * 1 F r I " T " ' T I I * I ¦* I *• iyra ma' nsyai iOnO pxa rpp-ox 8 II* T ttiv :t IvttII*i- ryoanos n'asp noyi nns' D'o nnB 9 w _ IT . . | T TTI_rl_ ._- __ :i»xi onx yian obrai ma' naai 10 i-i tt*^-:*- t vip/- t vvt Oan anra nnai c-'aa oranbrx 11 p* t : - vi it t t : t * • ¦ - 1 it ias'p' x'b coo nbany Dip' xbi ssO O'xi 12 I • t *~T "i- - It 1 -t *i raran nsa mo'-ox ronaOa ny xbi 14 ti-i vv t itt:* ^ *. t :ns'bn xisny bn'X 'xsas 'B'-bs pti'i - --1 ;ti -: t nsx siOny 'arnpn 'aasasn bixOs ip; 'a 13 ransrm ph 'b raOn :nbpn Tn; nOypb nwx raaro xnpn 15 :nxoraby niaon-x'b nison nyas nny-ra 16 i" t - - :¦ 1 :¦ -ti * Z r t'aiy-by bsoni raos ninass onn 17 Pi - :•--!¦ i* \ t ip'pap pny; masi bs; bisa nn obixi 18 px nsy nraspnoOn o;p ipnO 1 cast* 19 :nnsxn Oiax nipni nnnbom i'3s naoa nbnn nasab inspnn 20 •"*"*¦ tt v-i 1 if- zv * •• 1 1 : • ^i^i^n^ap^Ninj 13 28* THE BOOK OF JOB 311 :iab i's;-x'bi nyasn yn' xbi ra naa* 21 IT I ¦ T It 1 J • 1 F T« t TT II- tbpxn i'by iOssi sxa' i'by inos-nx 22 ff « 1* TT I -* » • * TT Ti I- :naxn 'aann rs'bx iyn is I - - T I" - - ¦ VI :i3pa onp xban mnnyn n3y oonn 2 1 • "'T - - - - ."*-" TIF TTP* :ds brai'-x'b o'bai iPd' x'b nsns nsin 3 IT I • - | ,. T T : - - :bro'3sb nn'O nysm nxn' nsn nnxnx 4 f-:- t- *:•:; Tt* "T T- 1- :D'ony ]iob nnsni nra ntfy nbx; ra 5 :nan3y nnsOi '3roxbi ts ny'On; 6 :nbbin niysa '3pbi nbin d-tx ]iO'xnrj 7 rnppn n,'bt* ynam yaOn nibx niDsn 8 :xn laay-xbi iran yn3 xbi nyn'-na 9 1 t; 1 : I ; T ^ t- iti-t - :d'0' nraxa nras 133 0'0'-03 ao-oa 10 ptI-tp* ; — t • t - t - :nay oxb nam bx niainan nap oypn 11 T3'y iian;-npi nsb nnj-jpa 12 :o'ba nraa nxasm nmn bx-bx a'On-ra 13 P ' I ¦ ¦ T •* I I T - T *Tr :nOx mb' pnas'-rai nat'-ra Oiaxna 14 IT ¦ I I - I ¦ I* I T I * I* VI T ri'ryp rarxb oraOi rax*, xb lOnps |n 15 :nbiy D'as nnO-0'x nbx3i syn3-ra nx 16 n • Z * ~ ~ * * tvip/i ti* • I — nnspro nnnnn 'b-ypO n,inx 17 :oniaxo inno xbi rrs> o'oonnox 18 it 1 r- i- : -- -tivi rosins nr nsy-xbi y\xn r\:m onsb onb 19 tr : t - t :Ivtt T i ¦ T *; " tt vnyb 139^3 D'aO nsoai bbinna xn yon 'a'-bs 20 I JTff II* *T -I* - I- -*^TT-I T :iaxis' nniO oibos rarxs onns-bip 21 IV I •* T- TIT! * * ¦ ' :snn-'bx xin jisasi non-'ap | nra; I'aro-x'b 22&3oa 312 THE BOOK OF JOB :n'xb liarra iyn' rax onbb xin nya 23 -:l ti*'*^-t t- vv: t rninrab nny |n,bpa nspnn npiaspi nas nnya; nOn oi' 24 :naan' nO-bxi in' bx-bx noa-ra 25 rr- : • -- v i t - t t p :i'3ao raa rays nxiass i'bx vit 26 it-it -- -if T7! t *• I T :bpa-'by nap Oyn isbns tjb npp-ra 27 iab iaO'-x'b ona ninnss ony iPOn 28 t :f -t ts- • t I i * - :o'bab nnynn nOx :TabaB pixb no'-xbi ibn oip'-xbi nOy-xb 29 titIvtt v* it - It i: -iv i :ins mns nypn: nanbo Oan inpai' 3ob-c :na3yn x'b inssi ban iai'-x'bs innian 3ibA32 T1T1 F T * I T ' t T " :inas3 rap n,bon inpa pa? Dan: 33 :nnO-'bnx nbsx Oxi niaba nan nnyra 34 - I " T! IT T I IT - I S - I" T -1 P nana bran 03001 iix nbn boy nnn 35 rr:* • t ti; Ivt ti tt t :nax;i ai'x pn 16 roabp bay 'amp nran nbx? nypo 2 :nayn ra -pna'/np ix ran-nsnb yp i't*n 3 :oon oss xasax-xbi nnm iaOn cobs obxi 17 10 ITT VT T1V IS -t: \ T t : \ T ; : '033 nnn 00033 0' ib nnanx oas raax | oa 16 4 - 1- -- v:i- - t--i vt -it1- 'Oxn iaa op'by nyaxi o'bps op'by nnranx rnOnx x'b rasO nn ranaa ooasaxx 5 liv -!t: " " * : v : • - i :n'bm 'aa-na nbnnxi raxa nOra xb nnsnx-ox nny-nx 6 l 1 1 f - * - t 1 : - : *-i I" rr ti--; - t - I - 'anaO; nibx 'n-'S Dnp-nnra '3an;-'p 39 2 nOn nbx inixb 'Oxn 'by ina ibns 3 'bnx 'by nibx nPa rann 'ara n'n nOxa 4 PTIff - — - vt | j -IT -• ..T v — - THE BOOK OF JOB 313 nm nisrap nay no niya 5 po-'abs nay pias; mas* nana ra'bn pn? 6 n'asps rb' boi o'a-'bx mns 'Ono 19 p • I : • I * t -1 *t - vi - t • it ^'bnn nra raopi nay Onn nis? 20 tea; nsnx bin?] yiax 'ap-oy naXi 18 panram nnxn irai '3n0xm nyaO irx ra 11 • r~ ' : - t 1 it I ¦ - : •-:-:- t t rr lv raOia irax sinns nnp-'by nyo raxass 7 • t 1 I • t :rr vl t •* 1 - - • -t may iap o'O'On ixsnai onya 'aixn 8 itt It *-r tit: ; t i • t *:onrab la'O' noi o'bas nasy ono 9 iv * ; * t I - : • • 1 1 rr -t :nasy iab iann is'Opn lyao 'b 21 p t 1 : i*i ¦ (:¦! r 1 it • :nba nbn ia'by ra lasbyi iaO' x'b nan nnx 22 rT. | . _T . irr: i ¦ -:- -if :Oipbab nra nnys mas pxs nsnb ibnn 23 lit — I T * TI IT T- I VVI -TI- 1-1 riibra' x'b on'as nixi wax' xb onbx pnOx 24 I | • - V - I I • IF V - 1 I - S V mnas n,bp? lisOro Oxn soro o?nn nnsx 25 :Dnax obsx nOto :nbab onb nxi n"n on3'33 nnyi 30 9 rr • s v t ¦ v:it * * T T T ¦ I T - I :pn raOn-xb '3sai 'aa ipnn 'aiayn 10 l| :rr — T * • T • "! IT ; IP :'3x5s rabs-oy n'Ob noxonox ramyas 'by ipnO 1 r -.— . . T ..— T vi **I -TlllT nixbara 'by nra "nb ran nsnns onras i'by inys 16 10 Iit-i- - t tti * t:vs v-: -t iff :'aon; opon n;-by bny bx bx '3Tap; 11 :inbo '3so pm '33yn nns nra ra 30 n p*- -T* IVVI •--•- - ¦ -I* I* :'apppn innyb? '3B0n '3xbn 16 7 8a= :ob? bis? nasn 'ap Oy?p n?m 17 7 :ranx o'3sb nsni oray boab '3a'asm 6 m it 'T* - i ¦ - T*" •-••: :np;rj CQr\h oyiB^i wq-n D'T.u bp io* 314 THE BOOK OF JOB :nay"3ss 'Ons ra opn ran nyb i6 8 it-:p -t i - if Itt- tt - i vaOa 'by pnri '3opOn | nas | nnp ist* 9 :'b i'3'y Oob' P T " 1 ¦ 'sassassn ranya rnxi '3nsnsn I'ran ibo 12 '"••-;*- * -ti ~t: ;-i 1 - 1 - ' • ; t -t iran i'by ab' :nnoabib'3a'pn 13 T-'-T T ITT-: .""¦*•*; :nnna pxb nsO' bara xbi rai'bs nbs' PTFllvTT I * * * " * Z * 1 Z Z * :ni?a? 'by p; ps-'as-by ps 'aasns; 14 :'anp nsys nbbyi nba 'by nnsn po 15 Pil- ttiv **r* "*• "1 * : - T I - mabas raysy byi ras-'aa nnanan 'as 16 vrri- ; ; 1 - - i * r •; -j i i - tj -t :nsr nbsm raos Dan-xb by 17 rr- ; t * i t-i tt ¦ - :nnyn; ^araby 'pji nxH?y onO; ia'0; 17 8 :vai* rap' o;n;nnpi isnn pnas rnxn 9 yiOt* bnps nop. 30 23b rnpyrb oipa n'-bxi ran raombx px 16 is i* I t 1 - t It ;i -: ;t ; ; i — Ivv rorainas nnOi ny oraOsnan nny-oa 19 I- 1- •irri ;¦- * - t - - - T - 'ara nsbn nibx-bx ran 'as'bo 20 P- Tiff- TI T T " - I tinynb onx irai nibxray nsab nsin 21 p- - 1 ttI- - vi ; vv: - i :nbnx siOx-xb nnXi inx' nsDB niao-ra 22 I 1 vi iv t 1 - : t 11 it t 1 ; t p :ypn' n'b xin-ra nay 'aSny xs na'O 173 - I F t ; -ts ; It- ; :- t t* :oann x'b p-by braoo nssas osb-n 4 P* I 1" - T T ; T I "J T T* P :nabsn ra rayi oran Ta' pbnb 5 tit i ; tt - - 1 * — •- I v - : :nOn-'aso oinp nix ia'0' oi'b nb'b 12 Iti-i* It *t 1 Ti"*, :bsx tan nixb nbraxi yn xSn nnp sio ra 30 26 T I T~ IT 1F1F *^ T T- • I * :rasb 'Ona ipna nar nsy ra' 17 11 pti -tt •*; ; iff zT :mOn raaani '3srann mn 'axon 30 22=ei7ia THE BOOK OF JOB 315 :xasax x'bi 'b onsp pyrx 17 ib :bysxnai yiOxi n'xba nxbn 2 - * t 5 -*•- if ; - 1 * - t ; nyjonb ras ix t nbox raasys xb-nx 30 24 I***; ;i t 2 - * * * 3 * \ ' Z :'b naoy nnxi . TV if " ;i :raias; nnsn nOna nra bixo mproox 17 13 :nanb nnxi rax nnx rax nxnp nnob 14 T • IT ¦ IF * * TT *T * TlT ¦""" :namO' ra nsioi nipn isx mxi 15 tit : ; ;t i • tI * • - *•*"• :nna nsy-by nn'-ox nannn bixo na 16 T- TT - ZZ ' ft-- I -3 :naxn nOn nnba iyn is - ¦- ¦ \ z - ' ¦ i-~- :nan3 nnxi ran o'bab 'asap con inaxny 2 I" -I *2"'"*T *** ** 1 1 ¦ -T1 tt — :T3'ya iarao3 nanss 1330m yna 3 It-i !¦* t - 1 - • ~ * v E ~ vnx spn n,np„yas pabn ^sxs n,Osa nno 4 :ip'pap mas pnyi :iOx srao rarx'bi nyn; open nix os 5 :nyn' i'by in3i ibnxs nOn nix 6 I IT I * T T -I Tt IT I I- T :inasy inp'bom iaix nyas mar 7 :nbnm nssO-byi vbans nOns nbo-ra 8 I it •; 1 ¦ tti -1 t:-i vti - \ 1* roraas i'by prn' ns opys rnx"' 9 p - T T I ¦• 1 F T l-TI - :sna 'by innpbai ibsn vnx? jibb 10 :rbanb inassm m'nbs innys sraD 11 t 1 - 1 \ ; virv t - -.11* ; t :iybas7" lisa n'xi iax xin 3inp 12 1 1 - * I t - i It :ma niss rns bsx' iniy 'in bsx* 13 VIT 1 T-~ *^TI~ rninbs nbab innyasm inosB ibnxa pna' 14 IT""* ITTI •*;¦*"* "J" TJff-l-T* :nnsa inia-by nnf' n'b'b ibnxs iPOn 15 tit -t 5 *i ja nn 1 I *; 316 THE BOOK OF JOB :in'asp bp; byapi ios; TOnO nnna 16 :vin-'as-by ib oo-xb] pro'ap nsroinpr 17 :nna' bsnai nOrabx niXB insnn' 18 r.* : .... |v v •• *. : 1 t •.miaas nnO rxi ioy3 n33-xbi ib n xb 19 it:- *tI-: -1 vv : I • :nyO irnx o'3anpi o'3nnx ia03 iai'-by 20 -it iit • :l-: 1 1- -t - :bx yn;-x'b oipa nn bp ni3?Op nbronx 21 rnaxn ai'x pn 19 ra'boa '33ix3nm 'O33 irsn n3xny 2 ,. .., ._ :-: -:-l :¦ tt - rbnnpnn lOarrxb na'bpn orayp nOy nr 3 :naiOa i'bn nx n'aO oaox nxi 4 I* T I I I ; T *¦ • *T TIT l-I nsnn 'by nraim ibnsn 'by 03ox-ox 5 p t 1 v -t • : •:- -t tit :rapn 'by imasai 'amy nibx-ra isxnyn 6 lip- -t : ;t:*- vip •• r i :o'0' non raisna-byi nisyx xbi nna nnx 8 p T lv - • : - : vi iv : -t * t t :'Oxn nnpy npn o'Opn 'byp nis? 9 :nipn fy? ypn nbxi srap 'aasn; 10 r'bnxb araD i3nn mina ixS' mra i2a&c i-tiit: -t i~ t: t - - otx ninnx 'by ibbn ioip' nms ira'-by 30 i2a&c it- it-t t- It t:*I-t - :ibra' nnb 13b * T ~ • :ibabann nxO nnn inx' ann pss 14 it : - 1 ; t - - t vi it t t I v v t :osOp txi yiOx nayt* xbi oan pyasx *n 19 7 :ra I3i'3nn xbi nnay rayn xbi mbx yiOx 30 20 *:'3aoon nn' oasys 'b nraxb nsnn 21 ¦ F I I * I Iff V ^ I * ti — ; I — T F :nyO' nnsy sysi nsna nns niyn i5b-c I* TB I Tt IT Tt • T PI - T I **T iv^pl^'spftiisK'^V-iro 19 11* THE BOOK OF JOB 317 '033 nsnoni ninba 'by nsnn 151,1a lamxbi innn raa :'3y-ra' 'aimx1- 27 :ip?0; xb 'pnyi 17b rsniraa nnn-raasyi np3 'bya nnO niy 30, 17a VI • ¦ TT * * ~ • I---TF ~T pF ' :'30 niys nobpnxi raisy npsn niys 19 20 npbnnnp 30 28a rmy ni3?b yni o'snb 'ran nx 29 :on? bipb raayi naa baxb nn 31 1- I 1 • ir; : • ¦ v » 1 • :- :'3.pp mpix pn;i ipnnn 'byp nx 1913 :'3ins0 ranrai rainp ibnn 14 :on'3'ya 'ran naa 'aaOnn nrb nnaxi nra na 15 iv-f: - • t * t t - \ : 1 - t: - i - : ¦- -v ribnannx ranaa n3y xbi nxnp nayb 16 ¦ lv- iv- 1 vif 1 - tIt ¦ t - 1 :'3oa '3ab nam nOxb nnr nn 17 pi- -i* ; "t ;:-i tt rnnnsnn naipx ra raxa rabny-oa 18 p t -:- t I t - 1 it • - 1 :ranssn3 nsnronn np na-ba '3isyn 19 r : 1 v - 1 - t p/i * - 1 t ip :ra nyaa nibx-T ra ran onx ran 'aan 21 P T SIT - VI - * T " V - -IT '^T :iysOn xb nOsai bxnaa 'asnnn nab 22 r rx ¦ • .T . . - - - -j - • • TT ipnn nspa in;-'a 'bp innan isx ]nyo 23 :iisasn; miss nyb nnsyi bna oya 24 :oip; nsy-by jinnro n 'bxa nyn; 'aro 25 :nibx nrnx noaoi nxrrapa niy nnxi 26 - vi vviiv ;t:* if * r --: ixn py 'bnrnx '3x nOx 27 :'pn? n'b? ib? nrxbi ia-xaspa. nan OnOi ibnnnrnp inpxir'? 28 xian o'biy-by nan-'? ann niaiy-'3sp 1 o?b ima 29 318 THE BOOK OF JOB :•»¦- o;0 iiynn ]sipb :naxn nayan nsias iyn 30 - I- * T IF"* - ' . •ray narap nni raa'O; rayO ]? x'b 2a,3b :ra 'Oin mayai ypOx nab? npio 33,2b n(*-'by onx rao 'aa ny 3a nyn' nxr x"bn 4 it**i tt •;; -j''T*rT " :yan ny n,an nnaOi ainpp nnat* opOn nan p 5 yra syb iOxni ix'O oraob nby-ox 6 - P- T T I ; * ~ T - T IF :i»x max' vxn nsx' nasab ibbas 7 1- (i t — .TVT ivi :nb'b linns ti^ inxasa' xbi my; oibns 8 t : it I * t 1 -*ji *-, t » ; 1 I w t i r* ripipp larao; niy xbi rapin xbi inpro ys 9 :iaix n3sOn inn rabn sasT i'3s 10 I T I - T TTI * - - T T raaOn nsyby iayi iaiby ixba rniaasy 11 IT t ¦ TT 2 ;*T 1 Iff T I "* iaiob nnn nanras' nyn iras pnanrax 12 ¦ 1 -;-; T v ; 1 - tt *il •:- ian nins n3y3an nasry xbi mby biara 13 I* I 1 ttti-i tti-f ttt t *• risnps D'3ns nninp nsna ipa? ianb 14 :bx 13OT isosa laxpn ybs bn 15 :ny?x jiob inannn pa'.' raans-Oxn 16 :nxpm Oan nra bra niabsa xn;-bx 17 raby xb innian bns yba' xb iya' S'Oa 18 1 if tii - 1 f t 1 * **pi ; - :ina3' xbi bra nra o'bn ory yxn ra 19 fi* : -t ; - ; - - t I - • p :i3io bn'-x'b p-by • • • iaoas nyso yn'-xb | ra 203,21b I • T ll- - 1*1 TIT*^-T ' ¦ :iaxSn bay n'-bs ib nas' ipso mxbos 22 IV I TT-T T-ll- I* isx ]inn isnbo; Tap? xbab |nin; [23,25b/?&3722i :bara xbi orax i'by noo 1 THE BOOK OF JOB 319 :nOira nop nsbnn brna poap nna; x'b 30 24&3722b :n'bra innnaa pnai niaa nbo xasn 30 25 I if tii;Itt - • -v «-- imanb )iap n,Orab? 26,2ob,2'a :ibnxs nnO oba' x'b nnsa-x'b Ox obsxn I Tilt I -t - T ¦ T T -^ I -• -I :bx nx oira nasab ninaa inra ninio' ny 28 -I- I - V T T* ~ I T- :ib naaipna pro iaiy o;p0 iba; 27 :npx;i3i»xpn 31 tosnairan nxf nm nba yiao iyao 2 VI- I- "I * T ¦ - T"*I' narabn xb nsn nnxi nsnx raaxi raxO 3 - t - **¦* "r- - - 1 -rr:* t :ns-by t ib'Oi iBOm 'bxnss 5 rr -3 t -: -ti-- i :masbs n~Os mxi nbnsai ransr oxi 6 it- *t* ""*¦• ; * T B ¦ I * I - T ¦* :bn nsa-oa ipny in' rayon yna 7 ;*5 * **¦ ",IIT Ir "t-j roraarab omxasxasi oay iioa oynr 8 rv - p* 1 v - rr vi iv 1 t - I t T :- :oraby nibx o?0-x'bi nrrap oibo orans 9 :bsOn xbi inns obsn bya' xbi nsy im'O 10 F-* X Tff " ~ * ¦'" * Z ' :]inpn; oranbn on'b'jy ]xas? nbo; 11 :saiy bipb noon niapi *]h? 1x0; 12 :inn' bixO yanai oraa' aios ibo' 13 rr*» 1 f - T t v~: - -: :i3assn x'b nrann nym i3aa mo bxb inaxn 14 *itt Itti "3 "* *"* - " ™ isnsys-ra 13b no bys'-nai 3317b 3115 T I - - P T -- - I • - :i? yasa ra bpia-nai 3io orans xbp xim osio on;? xb *n i6a,33isa :'3B npnn oraOn nasy 31 16b •p.- I t 1 rr • t : - i otx io'?y x?n nyn; opon-na ina? 17 320 THE BOOK OF JOB - -px? onpbn bbpn isx? pbn; o'ban 34 isb :nsra in?3a p?i nin '3?b pn? in; 31 is :ynn i'bx obO' i3ix T3ab pas' nibx 19 #•* 1T.. . T - --: tt : I 1 : * - vi :nnO; no nanai inra iara ixt 20 :iasasn TOnn nsoai mnx inras iassnna-ra 21 IT \ TTTI -I* TIF "S IV :oisO; oran xim nyn nab; bxn 22 :i'bOi jaxbo ibs ian oasy? ma; nr 23 :npO' iniaasy nai sbn ixba lraoy 24 I -v\ i t 1 - - tt trr t;i :nsios bsx-xVi nna 0S33 ma' nn 25 IT - -T It TT VVI T V t :on'by noon nam rasO' nsy-by nn' 26 iv **i v-i T;t t:< tt — - - :rayOn ni3s0a iraxi snsnn rax inaxlrra 28 p t : : 1 ; ' - - i -t i- " - i i nssn x'b onhro nnn nsiy onbxO xbn 29 r--i t i:Ivt - I w TIVI 1 ninsy Di'b yn nora n'x oi'b ra 30 * 1 j "^ t l» t - •* t :o;a-'3s-by ixirabp 34 isa oip; ins? ira; nrax noai 22a nranmby nin' '3rai pon nosb ibnm 23 tt: - t--"*i-t-! ~VT It- :ib-obO' ra nOy-xim isnn T3S"by n'a'-rai 31 31 1 ? - s ; TT It I-TT - "T ¦* *:ni"0a' onx-bs mnxi bai' ninapb xim 32a,33b I I * TT T TI F I T T ¦ t * " :m'pO; Ona-by bra pan ib ipna 33a,32b :byanx0a oanaiOm bsn raamn txi 34 Z " Z'- ' v-i : vt* if 1 I - t rraann 'by niarai oonPOna nyn' \r\ 27 it- -t • i v- ••"¦ • : -t I - :ira' irrax'b irann any i3sasa-xb nOa yina 34 1 itt tit ut ; ; - • I • *"" * " Z :iym ibra nny ia'0' nibisa nan 2 :raabx niO ibsm iana' coin' m'an 3 ut t ; SI" TI" * * *• -igpa)'i*v:97i 33c* THE BOOK OF JOB 321 :ib?ra 'ay byi oin' nOa ibra' 9 II--T \ 1 T -* It* obyssixas'nsnasiD'xnsin 5 Ttin : t it t 1 • - ' • t : I - :onyab onb (xb=) ib nsny nnob nnOa pt:- tt tti ivv- -if: :iOpb' yon Dnsi iniasp' ib'bs nnOs 6 I F - I w T T VVI I I * • I VT - :nnp? mo? ]'ro Onb 'bsp ia'b; oiny 7 masnpsn nDno 'bsai non' onn omo 8 1 I : ; v t - • : ; t : ¦ • t vv - :nay ixOa oraym Onb 'bs rabn oiny 10 t**i irr *-i :•: 1 • t **.!xaasn isnn orap' nnas' onnionn 11 rr 1 ¦ - irr *It: *:- t iIp- irannnrarrxbnixnnasTninan 13 TTS ¦ ; 1 -III t't- nnsna? nO^ xbi liraro '3.y-bpp; nasin oip; nix x'b 14 **:33a nbra nb'bsi ff" ' " " * T I - - :mra nix iyn'-x? iabnann oai' rans nons nnn 16 rr 1 - »*^:t t i-t * it Iv - - t rmabas ninbs inra'-ra mabas iab np? 17 vrr:- s- ; - vti- t Iv yiOn o'bbn Osai ipxr | ono npa 12 :nbsn o'O'-xb nibxi IT I • ¦ T - VI IV :n^3 15s i'd'1^ '¦? ns^ bt*i; -jSj-qj 30 2* -nDbaifi^nprra 3 :ngl!>?i ntjW rvj- n'mSft ;D^D,pnTt!>nlt>irj,gr,^!?riii'9D'SB|3rj 4 :33jd in1?!? "jr-ij iBhl; 07539 5 :d'9?i IBS? 'Tin 13">V Q'V^ r^? 6 :ingD: ^nij nnrnpijr a'D'to-pa 7 1^'3"liit)n-R7-ibM7-^n-]n^i*iWr??? 24 15" " lO'to' otb -irjpi 322 THE BOOK OF JOB :nbp bxb oO;i 'aanp; ra isx xb-oro 25 :naxn '3ann rs'bx iyn 33 I- * T F - - • VI I - — inrann onrrra yas?-oxi pnasn '? nob vpnr* 3 :osOp? -*py xis; n,n?'; -inxn^pn 4 :Tniaiyb p-pro nan n/jy x'b-* 5 :o'Osn orainy naai oan nnx bsnn ra 6 PI- • 1 -I • T * I T - I - :onb-yaan synai npon nra ora-xi? 7 TIT'-:* TTF • *«* I — l"T • - ns 30' cas xiOsi pxn ib yinr O'xi 8 IT V" *t :Pvtt - I • t :xsnn oram niynn opn nnbo ni3abx 9 --: : w i I t - t 1 - * t: — :oXns nns nbnan ons nnisrao p-by 10 It' -- llVF* " ~ lv Pil- *• :no?n oranysOi nxnrrxb non nm'x 11 :ian-ra Draop Oxn nxm oraO naa nibx-x'bn 12 it- -ti -t *~S Z T VI ¦* :oisO' bsny nyan bx ymna nnaxi 13 II- V TI ~*~ " "T " T*"*1 :nbnm orao aim nxn' xbi ibnnD oray 14 I it-:- ;*;* * v : - s vf -t lirorap rann not* niaon obiy nnxn 15 :oniD; pasi' nra ny-xb? loppnox 16 :np' nOo pra nbrai bxa yon onx pbn |nr 37 13 mt- ZZ ' * T "" **¦ f: -• - *^ t T ttIt-1 t ranbnyaO' x'b i'xasxasi annnab i'aa ian'-ox 14 T IT ' I 1 ; TTVIIVS VT I TT i* ; :naraan xb onaabxi nap' maa mnO 15 tivi- t : t - t -It* tt~ t ¦ 1 Onba ira* nanoi nos nsys n?as'-ox 16 1 1 — I - T v — 1 Ivt ttiv i* • :p"bra 'pa n,p?i 0?b; pnasi jra; 17 nasa nOy nsDoi inra Orasys ras 18 F TT TV* ** * T J". T TT :iaa't*i nps Tap n, px* xbi a?0; n'Oy 19 rnsio inaaa nb'b mnba oraa na'On 20 THE BOOK OF JOB 323 tia'pap innyOn nbn ranp inxO; 21 :iapap i'by pnon iara? ia'by psO; 23 :iabnyb; 'p3i inpOn rapnas ixn; 3219 :Ox nbax onnn iarap nnoa xb-ox 20 ;naio nxian on? oboi iay xa-ppn 21 :nasb? max o'Oi nnin irap xrnp 22 •-bnxp nbp pnnn y*?n nony aion-ox 23 nraix o'bna masoi nass nsy-by-n'Oi 24 P -TI I VTTT- -1 nbnpyin nooi nnass no nni 25 Iff ti Ivv; I v t 1 — - t t : :t3s nibx-bx xom aaynn no-by rx-ra 26 I ITT - VI V T-IT-t* -- - T - :obon Tnrai nypon i'bx nrayn 27 nix ras nrann-byi nb opn noronram 28 1 i-tItt: ;i It I tti t **• .* * :yOT o'3'y nOi • 29 -F IT* '- » - I rasa nss obosi raa O'x oba' 30 r - 1 - t . , 1 . T . --t npxnsi'xpn 37 *'Os3 nan nOi rasop nran brora 2 raxs nibx mm ra na03 niy-bs-ra 3 p — 1- ¦¦•"* * * " T 1 ; f T :n»an nan'-ox 'aiobi nbiy rasO nansnn-ox 4 T ; 1 tiv ; ; 1 t:- "t: t t - - 1 ; oonx pnasx-ox 'b nb'bn 5 Tivl - I - * • T*T :'3bb nan nrax-xb yiaxny •IV- *Ti *T 1 **t : v - rara rasb nnn'-x'b nsnx xbi nprnn npnass e itt ; • t 1 I -viiv 1 vt- : ¦ 1 1- vi iv ; l t 1 • 1 :biys raaipnai ra'X yons 'ra 7 it— 1 - - lis* *ii*"tti ; i :i0s3 nibx bO' ra yass' ra nan mpnna ra 8 • **"**; *» **" ; z z * ' ,_T -it* ** •'*fe*n-?i? "**) '^ Tao ^»j " i6* 324 THE BOOK OF JOB torainaa no nbnmbyaa nibx pbrn i nai 31 2 nix 'bysb n33i brab rax-xbn 3 Ivit -III VVI T ** i - 1 nnasi'byxnn-rabxiyponnpyasn 37 9 rny-bss nibx xnp' aayn' nO-by-ox 10 f T"-" ** Ti : * t - * ; — " ¦* :nn?x x'b noray not* bronn ra opnx nnix 11 nbsnn b?rr nrnpbi on'rrj o?b? onx in 12 :ox-xbi nnoo isnn 'ban nrnx inOxs 33 n rr : *i~t i- ¦ : - tiit ijiF :ira-nax nasas rans Orax xbi rnsO masaa 12 r -:- *i-t I * - 1 -t 1 tti -:-- :nbin?-by p'snx nai 'apb nn? ran? 31 1 trasoa n'3asi braas 'aOsbn nOsb pnas 39 14 pti- I ;ti -i- *-t:-- - - - t I vv :'ax npsb o;bam npb n'.n o;3p 15 :innpnx nyn'-xb om o'3iraxb raix sx 16 rli i t ; 1 -t 1 "i • 1 v it - t t :nno n'box T30oi bra niybna nnsOxi 17 Ivit '**~ t - • t— *^i-: t:-iit :ib nry-xb oinn yiOa '3y obax-'S 12 1 -*^ 1 T*r - - T *--ii- narax rax ip?pi sx? ''bra niyap '? 31 18 :nnsx nnxb nbn na i'b'-xb vns 32 ITtV -T -Tt "l-T ll - rianx raabx sbi xsn 'by nsx nsns 39 13 I P I - TTI- -I T -T " - 1 • 'ban nana-by Onm xiO-oy nsbn-ox 31 5 Pt- t:* - - • - it • -:-t ; rab *-bn 'ara nnxi nnnn 'aa nOx non-ox 7 .. -. T _ - ~ ** t Itt- - • ¦ \ - v • ; Dixa py^[ rapsi :iOnO' 'xasxasi bsro nnxi nynrx 8 IT I — T VI IV I - **""! TIIT nsnx ran nns-byi nox-by rab nnsa-ox 9 •iitt ; — -t — 1 t; — ; ; T** * :onnx iiyno' rabyi nOx nnxb non 10 p**i|f t : • t tti ;t ; **""* '"** 'b'bp liy npr xn-ra 11 :b?xh Jinsxny xn Ox 12a THE BOOK OF JOB 325 lira?; nrabn nnn pyrn nanx 'by-ox 38 'nnsn raby? Ossi no?-'1?? rabpx nnb-ox 39 nOx? nnyo nnm nin xas; 1 npn nnn 40 :OnOn nnxran-bsi 12b " I T T I T I npy osna noro n?y osop Dxproox 13 nnx onns raan inOy '30y pss-xbn 15 IT T VVT "VI- TT • ~ **^ I T T — 1 nbpx rapbx ray* o'bn vsna yaaroox 16 naaa oi'n' bsx-xbi nsb ns bsro 17 Tiv; t - T II *•"* ' " *" I liraxb 'Osa naay oi'-nOpb rans x'b-ox 30 25 iisvrr;t— tiit — Ii* -*t * liraxb mD3 i'xi Onb 'bsa nsix nxnxox 31 19 IlIVIT il-t I • | ¦ - TIV 20 oanm 'Oos raai iasbn 'arans xb-ox rr.™**"T1 " " TTI- IP* nnry nyOs nxnx-ra n' oin'-by nTs'araox 21 :nsOn rapa ranrxi bisn naaOa rans 22 FT" T I T " * IT: • T*;* "*** nosa nnax onsbi 'bos 3nr nao-ox 24 p - 1 ; -:-t v v -¦ : * • ! *' I*" 'T nxasa nraa-rai 'bra sn ra naOx-ox 25 PT Tiff • - I* : - * **IT nbn np' nnn bra ra nix nxnx ox 26 If I tt - -t: -T* tit ; rab n; pOni rab nnp? nsn 27 byaa bxb nona-ra 'b'bs riy xin-oa 28 -it; -t • 1 - • p **iIt yn ixasa-ra nnnynm 'xaoa nra3 naOx-ox 29 f n T ; |. - • -f :•: *:-i • t ""-* i033 nbxs bxob ran xbnb nna xbi 30 it- tt: :• -¦ 1 r ' ; t t ysOa x'b inOsa p'-ra 'bnx na inax-ox 31 FfTl- T t ¦ I - • P ¦ TI ff "I Iff '3iy rans liaob raOs Dnxs raras-ox 33 ;-: • \ t 1 t • tti tti • ; - ran; ninsop-rni n?n *ian 1 pinyx p 34 nns xasx-xb onxi - ff - - TIT .nss'Ox na nps'-ni bx oip'-ra noyx na* 14 326 THE BOOK OF JOB :b?ixx'b inx'oai 'bx nnro bx nns ra 23 inaranny xiax inxasaxi nyn' in'-ra 33 3 1 t 1 : - t "tivj - 1 -t I - ; p ninain xbax rai osOa Tasb nsnyx 4 iti -* — : ; t;; tti titit :'b naroraa raraxi ray raba nynx 5 I- - - T * T t • - 1 F ; - TIF :ra oO' ximnx xb nay an' nbranan 6 r -t I - • t ; - T - T*"" :rasOa nasab nobsxi iay nsia nO' oO 7 ¦Tt- - V T TI-1F * T TT T :xasx anra '33ns nayi ^-n yn'-ra 10 ,.. . t t - *"Ti ;iti ; i - r -t p :nisD' nyas-bsi rann nxn' xirrxbn 314 II- ~Tt TITTI VI* -J ra?£ '10 nn in 'b ypO 1 *n;-'B 35 ran O'X sn? nppi :'b ninpy lanayx iat*Ox ra?0 by x'b-ox 36 :iasnpx n'33 ios i3Tax ray's nsoa 37 iv 1 1 it -s ¦ t j v - - -ti — 1 ; man nibx ynn pnas-raxas 'abpO' 6 r T \ - Tl F -- 1 I VT "I It ••l|| < :-ipxn nOn nnb? pn ss 1 bxa ranas nnax osOab naOn nxtn 35 2 p«- I • Tt-T T I * I TI-T 1 :nxona b'yx-na 'b-pD>na naxh-ra 3 I* T - P* •*• IT ¦ I T I * - *¦ P :ibnOynna nraOs ism is-bysnna nxoraox 6 I vif '"'"•¦Tt -: ti* *;ttt :np„; nnrana ix ibnnnraa npnarox 7 rnnpnas onxnsbi nyOn -*io?-0't*b 8 :braa nobi y'Ona bxb nbbn 34 10b - Z " "t - 1- -t t;t tiaxasB' O'x nnxsi ib-obO' onx bys ra 1 1 it;i- * ~ * v-i tt - ; :osOa niy-xb noi osn yOn'-xb bx 03ax--ix 12 IT I * - - 1 ¦ *•- I t ¦ - • :- - titI- ns-nOx-bsi nasnx nba ban oOn 13b T VI TI TS- Tl -- T-* orana-bx yon by'bs nbab naxn is r -i t -*t t Z* 1 * Itti - t* THE BOOK OF JOB 327 *bn-'3sb yi0n?3 xbi ono **s |x03-x"b nOx i9a-b :oy 'Opp --an onx nbaa 30 **nbx' i'bx inaOai inn i'bx s'O' vst-dx 14 I VIIT T- Tt-J T" -Tl t- iyn; x'b onra? "pm 25ba 24a nra xb onrax nran 20c IT t • * - ¦ TI :onnn onnx nayi 24b IT I - • " 1 - IF- •nay* ixst nb'b niasm inia' iyan 2oa,25b/s,2ob/s 1FI T -¦ TIT IF T ' F - v » • :nnn nra' ra oy lOyi' 2oba,25aa,26ao yaO' Dray nanOi bnnpyas i'bx xisb 28 ***:oran yinp lyio; iprar; rapioy sina 35 9 :onnsya *3aa nnDa rxi nbiy 'Oy nxm xirara 34 2i(G),25a/s t •• rr : - v ; t:-1-: T ! "" *" ti* * * :*ix 'byb oO nripnb niabas ]'ro nOn yx 22 :ib bbinm Tasb in wmOn x'b naxrrra nx 35 14 1 - : t t : I ; vi - ¦*¦" :osOas bx-bx n'bnb o'O' O'X-by x'b ra 34 23 * rr:-- •¦ vI-if *t ; - ; D'3s nnpn yOn; rai I opO; xim 29 nanrai' rai nn' onx-byi 'ia-byi V - - - TT **t -I :nbiy nbys nax-rai isnn i'by nps-ra 36 23 TI-TI-T Z ¦*" ** * " T '' '"T r :'ba bipb nanxn nxr nyaO nara-oxi 34 16 it; Ii t*if t i * t • *t *M* 17(G) on oxo' x'b bx-ra xa yn 36 5a(G> t - 1 ; ** * Z :osOa pnasa yna' xbi 17(G) "1-1 ; b - *• - B^vxni^D-'* 19c* :aitf; -1*"/ by ay® *r-~ "$>3."^3 y*?* 15" :d^-j ii«j"'3BB .". .".ipsjJf! o*> 13"* * Idt aoioin 0U1 rdv nuxovvra. &voi*a KaJ rbv HKKiivra rofls irovflpofls aiuctof 328 THE BOOK OF JOB :i3rx i'3ys ban nasa 'ay vbra 15 :t ;ti vi t; • t I - - i nabra; xb '*-Oi bx iypO;-xb •*•-* nyO~*x 3513 iran 361 D'nbx nyn lassn xb-p 36 i2b(c> *:ibraOn x'b mnn-bsi 34 27b p t ¦ t t : t : onDX ra lyiO' x'b 3b-bx *a*0* x'b nDT-ra nx 36 13 "Tl ' r I" I *¦ V ¦ T I IT* * I - rnb'bs ninrar ina ia'Oy nibx rax max xbi 35 10 T Iff * *|l" " Z *°* " Z l *T * ro'Onps onni 0OS3 nyas nan 36 14 p •• I : - t t - : t : - - - t :*On xbp n,Tibp nrai rannn pasia-xb snn nnraq nro 16 mam osopi p nxba yon pi 17 :'aya nn:nS nrby '? lirobx prrbx naOn 21 :o'03x nnO nOx ibys X'aOmra n?r 24 PT1 II VI KIT ¦*."¦* I :pinna ora' Oi3x isnrn onrobs 25 llTF * ¦ VI IT TT T :xnio inas ra inbs S'aO1 bxnn 22 T T I - I - - I V :sn onx i'by isyra ora-'3D3 ym' ra 273,28b IT TT ' " 1 II- *T " I • F _T. . ' :nra3ab bsXnm oray im os-ra 31 1*1-1 t Ivp **"**" T * px xn nax' labob ra 37 6 :inOya Oiax-bs nynb oinn' onx-bsnra 7 P* 1 - VI T ~"*T * " »* T -I **:pOn ranaiyppi 3nxn'as nn xnni 8 :nnp Dnroai nsio xisn pn nnna 9 ITlT *TI* T TlT- **•"** rpasia? o;a snn* nnpnn; bronpOaa 10 :bt* nTxbpa I I'isnra nay nx? na/rxn 14 :iny nix yraim pn oraby nibrooiOs ynnn 15 "Tl 3 * •' T ** ~" Z ** I I "^ F" 1 1'-!T4?i21-lDp."^-l^ 34 27a' inptfCAp^y-gnyppbnyT^. 36 33" THE BOOK OF JOB 329 oran oran nixbsa sy-'Obsa-by ynnn 16 r - -i * * ; T ** * • : z ¦"*¦ "* :ainnp px opOn? oran Tnas nOx 17 :pasia 't*n? O'prn o'pnob lay ypnn 18 :n,snp? n,sb nsmi *-nin npnn x'b nbrob? bsn 36 28b(G> :nap nsa D'pnO niOi nxm o;pO o?n 35 5 rsb-rasrabs ixt D'03x nixn' lsb 37 24 f - 1 - t tr ; ti ••¦ I •* T nrainas oibo nOy iay nnsi boan 35 2 rr 1 ; t v f - - - T .. | - nnnix oip'-xb ra-byi mnab nsoa On 3 r* It ¦ • -j ti; ti; -i :nOx nib' nst'nai bxray Oiax pnas»-noi 4 raaras rarx'b oraoiai bnx' xbi nmny in 5 rr-i - 1 -t 1 ."T *E**t Z ' " nybin onxnoi non Oiax-ra nx 6 rr- ttIt t* v* ¦* ¦ "I )iassp' ba? nam oa'ro 1 oyp loin 34 24 :iba' nb?0 Oxnai rr • v • t :ixon bixo abo-rara *bw Diroa mas 19 itt i tv *•¦".¦ •** 3 T " nar-xb niy nan ipna i onn innaO' 20 - t; 1 f -jIti vt -ti; :nbiy *ps nsoni rnax'n si»x *yi 36 1(331) :nnax-by nnss iranDia inra-ra nyn' dwx 33 2 p T I — — T t IT T * T T* ; "I — T TIT :ry;xb yinr nyOin n?-x'bb nnry-na 26 2 :nynin ahb n'Om naan x'bb nasy-na 3 t:it t T-r^t t:t iti-t — naa nxas' ranaoai D'ba nnan ranx 4 T I IV ; T 1 it ; ¦"*,"- " ' T * " * * *" iaippp nnn *?b nnm nxfb-nx 37 1 :xas; vsp nam ibp ran? yiaO ypOx 2 yna xbi nibna nOy x'aO bro*n 36 26a, 37 5b 330 THE BOOK OF JOB npn X'b T30 nSDB 36 26b I v p* tt *¦ i ; ra'priO ibr not* inxb nop pr; 27b,28a :insD mxon ayobsa ira' ra nx 29 it-. t-ii-I-t; I -; :nD3 onnn 'Oxm inx i'by Onsnn 30 it* ; t tv " Ti - tt - t I f :yasaa mby iasn nix nD3 oraa by 32 -^TI-tTTT - I- T* * "* - "J :vnxn nisas-by iiixi innO' oraon-bs-nnn 37 3 I TIT T 1 z Z : *** ! * ZT Z T Z •"" :iaixa bips bx oyn' bip-axO' |mnx 4a-b.5a I II - *"•" ' Z * ' TIF ninpp ibip yaO;-'? oOa nop spy; xbi 4c,6b :i*y' oOa r T V V :inix iay V'3' sy rano' pns-nx 11 1 Itt I -t t--i-Itt -j ln'bnnn? nsnnp inispp xini 12 nisnx bsn 'as-by nmas' nOx b? bysb nnxasB' nDnb-ox osob-ox 13 p-*t- tti ; v-i ; D'pnO? xin nns nix ixn xb i nnyi 21-22 nnx' snr onnoni lisaso nnoy mm V YIW TT -1FI-I T" T I IT ¦ 1 :m'n xnia nibx-by I T J" VI J" rppxb mo? txi in?3 bixp ainy 36 6 :na'b?-by px nbn inn-by *pa- npa 7 :onnn ]is yparxbi i'?y? o;p nnas 8 :i'33y vby rOns noa-os rnxa 9 it*: t t - : - •* * - 1 - - 1 :nOmoy nix mbpnny o;p-'3s-by an pn 10 :innyaa inann issin' orao may 11 I Tl" * : I * I T 1 • ~ t - - .•omao'Oi ara nnna ibbira D'xsnn 5 tv-111 ¦ - - z ' "¦ : 'Tiff :ann vna in3ianai on yan in?a 12 -tIj-t t i; t-*^-t i :nna Ona in' nbbn nnsO DraO inns 13 B * I 71 7. ! . ' ' I ¦ : : s s THE BOOK OF JOB 331 is-ypoa nan vpOraai rann niasp | nbt*-]ri 14 r'pPn; ra inna* oym iraxasa-xb no 37 23 npy*. x'b npnas-am opOpi na-x'ao rib inx-xbi ninxi laa'xi nbnx onp in 33 s 1 I ¦ t it Tt v-i I vi iv vlvl- :nxnx xbi ra' nbyx nrnx-xbi mops bixao 9 ivsv ti'Tlvtiv VTIIV I * I I — * I yba; '? O't* nproax 'b n?nt» nsb dx nspn 37 20 :nOnxi anpx onx V -: F T * I I - T T :Oyn nmx iOssi iaa'0' rai nxr 'by nnxs xim 33 13 -ff- TI* I-I V-I* -T *"T * :iay nisn nanpi ipn o'bp; '? 14 'by xs sxan yma nyn' xb ra bnsx Tasa p-by i5(h-g) -t t **•""," ~ ; I -t - -TV tt ; I- - :i3BB nrpro psnx :'3s nos bsxai n0n-,3sa naasa 17 -T T* V " IV -t* **•*. :ipf; smb Dippi xasia no?b 0; ra ss 1 :nOira pias; pro np; nsya brn? 2 mabasi bsx npin xn mbambsbi nOnb oO onx 1 yp 3 TIT 1 ;: T I- ":" ti IV - T TT'll" :iya Oiaxa *bn ban-'aa onsOan na ay O'bra vns 4 f^it -tr - vv*- -TJ-- - - ; T I I - T :Oxno3 nsra nnnm onb-xas' naao vnx iba 5 p* 1 I— :vtv:-i vt — f tt*ivv t rranisnas anr nnsyi msax TSD-Dipa 6 TT * • " TT I-ITVT1 -~ It :rax ira nsrO xbi ora iyn'-x'b an3 7 it- I - -t: 1 't"^t: I 'T :bnO i'by nny-xb pora inisnnmx'b 8 — IT TT TT 1 * *", * ** : ¦:• I rann OnOa nsn in' nbo orabns 9 PT T • *ST T -T * T - F :i3ra nnxn np'-bsi yps onro nimass 10 1- tiit Iti t*-I-- • t z nix xas' nabym osn ninra rasa 11 T ', "» P I 332 THE BOOK OF JOB *:rara oipa nr 'ro xaspn *;xa napnm 12 trann vnx3 xason xbi nsnn Oiax ym-xb 13 r - F I V V I ** T * I T t - VI r -T I nnnoa oraOn niyai n-bs 'araa naby3i 21 t rr : - *~T"" 1*^— t t - « |~ tit m :noy vx nax on xn-ra xb nax oinn 14 pt*I- -tt: ~t t :nyaO i3ya0 i3'3rxs nax mai linsx 22 IT ! ¦ t-T "IT! Iff VTTl : naipa-nx yn; xni n?nn *'?n orabx 23 :nxn' oraombs nnn ora' ynxraniaspb xin-'? 24 ffi; • - T - T - - * - I v t T It* nnp? pn oral bpOp mnb ni'oy? 25 nibp nnb nnm pn npab inOy? 26 :nnpn oai naran nnsD'i nxn rx 27 itIti -: t;vi t:-sf TT t :nara yna nrai nosn xn nin' nxn' in onxb |n»xn 28 rr;F-** i tit * ti "¦•.¦** ttit1 t - :npx';i nna/pn 1 ap • nin; pn_- • ¦ • 38 :'*aa Dnrap; isb? o'bp -*Oin?- **p nasy o'byp inr ra 2(g) rpy nibx rapio nra; nO-oy snn 40 2 :'3ynim nbxOxi nrabn naaa xa-nrx 38 3 •I" " ' t I I IT ; V t I V T 1 TVI T TTI man nyn'-ox nan px-nora ran nb'X 4 IT'TI-T * **™lvT - : T I T * T - :ip n'by noa-ra ix ynn ra ranoa oo-ra 5 I IT T V T TTP -^ T - "TT~* T nnas px nn'-ra ix lyson raanx na-by 6 ITT ' l« T TTP "^TITTVTI T - :onbx 'as-bs lynn nps rasp nranns 7 p -.1 *• 1 t w -T- lv -; ¦*.- I t t xas' onno iraas ra onbns no ra 8 i~- tt- ;t t * - t 1 • It ; :;ryrR3 ira b^. xb] rj'ni-rn -mp ]n\tfy 15' :*rf pi ip;r ffi"t!>3 tbi'm nra? nVpi* xb 16 :ts-'?3 pi-i^d-ii npon 3-tj nu-m; tti? n :d7:bd napr; -^-*>joi ipi? xb> Wi}] maxn is :rk>Dn xb -n'nia orop. t»«-rnps nap-iv; t6 19 THE BOOK OF JOB 333 inbnn bsnyi iOsb iay raiOs 9 1 t \ 1 t t-if -. t Itt • 1 onbni nns o'Oxi ph i'by n?Oxi 10 ¦ ff T I - ; I * TIT I T T J T T :*-'ba *ixa? n'O; xsi nrah xbi xisn nsny naxi 11 ia'po nnO nnym nps nnas nraran 12 lit - - T,-». | v T • • I T T * "t •naaa orasis nyan ynxn nissss rftxb 13 TIV - * T Iff* I I V T T • ~ * VI IT :Oiab iaa aasram onin nans nsnnn 14 ¦ s 1 ""*;* T ¦• * --¦¦*• nsbnnn oinn npnsi O'-rasany nxsn 16 Tt-T—:; 1 It-s t - t - — t ti nxnn mobas nyOi ma-nyo nb ibaan 17 IT I • TTS- "1 I VT "IF It t * 1 :nbs nyn'-ox nan ynx-nnnny n33?nn is it : t i -t - --Ivt - 1 - rTJ" !* iaipa nrx nOni nix-po; -*nnn nrx 19 :inra niaraa laxran rai ibna-bx isnpn ra 20 1** *: v • s -i : t »lr; • :oran nra' nsoai nbin rx*ra nyn' 21 P - I V T - ! ¦ " T * T I* T I -T nxnn nns ninasixi abo ninasX-bx nxsn 22 IVi; TT SIIVT II TTT**I nanbai snp oi'b nasrayb raoOn nOx 23 IT T t • Til I T Tl *|-T VI :ynx-'by D'lp ys; nn pbra nnnn" nrx 24 nib'p rmb nnm nbyn noob sbs-ra 25 is Dnx-x'b nana O'rox'b ynx-by nrapnb 26 I TT I Tl* * Ivv - *i-: :xOn xasa nraasnbi nxOai nxO ysOnb 27 v rt t -'i-i t : t - • : - 1 : bo-'bax n'bin-ra ix sx noab-Ora 28 IT — IV ¦ P T TT" F1 inb' ra oraO nbsi nnpn xas' ra rasp 29 t v : * ¦ -t t -It— tt *lvv; tmpbn; oinn 'asi ixpnn; o;p px? 30 :nnsn bra? nisOanx np'? nianya nopni-j 31 :Dn3n ra3?-by Opi iny? ninra xrann 32 :ynx3 inoOa o'On-ox orao nipn nynn 33 Ititt ti* * t * ;TT i^ti-t-i iD-jiKa'aaisnyjy.i i&» 334 THE BOOK OF JOB :-*r-?n ora-nysOi nbip syb onnn 34 :i3an nb nax'n isbn orans nbonn 35 f; I: 1 it --: I • t i -""*¦" :rara nsob ina-'a ix naon ninos nO-ra 36 it- ¦ 1 v - I - t r tit i- t 3raO' ra oraO 'boai nasns oranO nsD'-'o 37 pi- • "~t -i*i t:t! I ¦ t : - - 1 i* :ipsn' oraani pasiob nsy npass 38 I it ij i *t:It - tt I vvi xban onras nni nno xrabb niasnn 39 I" - I * * t - Z • I » T * T I T 1 :snx iab n3E*s nO' niaiyas in'O' ra 40 vrr 1 t*"" *f Ft- tp lyiO' bx-bx in*j'-ra imas snyb ira' ra 41 F--J, » v TTI I* *• "^ IT I " T :bsro'bsb iym T I * t * * I • :naOn mb'x bbn ybcrby nnb ny nynn 39 li; T- *• ~T** ***¦" *"T T I -Tl :mnnb ny nynn raxbon rann' nison 2 TIT I * " T I -Tt T V - J ¦ TI I * rranbon orabsn ranbsn ray-ran 3 Til" -1 T •* I V T-CT* Tt-:* :iob nO-xbi ixas' nsa ian' on'33 iabn' 4 IT T I tffT- I * V " I II- nns ra niny ninDbi 'Osn xns nbo-ra 5 -,.... T . , -it v V - • I* :nnba lnisaOai inra nany raaOnOx 6 IT -I T l; ' - TT-: *I- VI :yaO: x'b Oaia nixon nnp ]ianb pnO; :Oinn' pin'-ba nnxi inyna onn mn' 8 II'I T T *¦*¦* *" I ' 'T T :n,pnx-by yb;-ox n,n?y on nsx^n 9 :nnnx o'pay nnO'-ox nisys obns nOpnn 10 ¦ mi- I • t 1 — t ; if vvi t I : ¦ 1 :nya' i'bx sPm in? an-ra ianosnn 1 1 I iv • : t - 1 f t - i* - i • 1 :nbx' nanai nsnr s'O'-ra Ts yoxnn 12 I ¦ virv It :t: Ivt- * t r I • -: f 1 nayn inxias Orabnn nnna Drab innn 19 rri- t- *t-i t : - l - • 1 :no'x inra nin nanxa i30rannn 20 rr- 1- v : — rr v ¦ : - 1 :p03 nxnpb xas' n?3 O'On pays nsra 21 Ivit -Ii* - - - i • t : I v - r i- rann-'asa siO'-xbi nn' xbi nnsb pnO' 22 7 THE BOOK OF JOB 335 tiinrai n'an snb nsOx nann i'by 23 I 1 ; t -i - - T*"* v * * tt :nsiO bip ypOr? yaro xbi ynroxaa; ram Oyn? 24 nariba ran; pinna* nxn nax* 1 nso ns 25 nyinm ono oyn rr 1 ;t - - :pnb isas Ons' y3-nax' nnanan 26 Irr -1 tt: :*l- vif I 1 it ¦ ¦ 1 i3p on; '?* nOa nraa; TS-by-ox 27 nniispi ybpnO-by *3?nn pO; ybp 28 :iora' T3ra pinnob box nsn dOo 29 ,. - T .. | T " I V - T T * :xn do D'bbn nOxsi onnyby lnnsxi 30 I T -Tl VIF T *"l - : T JVi oynninasbip3inb|bxsyinrDxi 40 9 F I ** T II 'TT- t *I :Oabn nnm nim nsai lixa xa-nny 10 ffl* TTI I "Tl t t fi :inbraOm nxrb? yapn nsx ninpy ysn 11,123/3 :onnn oraOn -*nm nSOn nan yinn 38 i5b,4o 12b :yop? Oisq ora*? nn; nsys 0300 13 :**ara' n7 yOin-ra nnix 'ax-aai 14 Ira * s I 1 .*" * ptIv ;i -1 nox'n nnyD aa si'ronx nin' pn 6 -1- tt: * " ** Til--*; npia Dxambx 8(g) :nax;i nin;-nx si'x pn *o 3 (*3 d :ra-iab naO n; -*s'Ox np nbp p 40 4 :nraix xbi onOi raOx xbi nnsn nnx 5 :noixa naa n*sa'-xbi boin b?-ra inyn; 43 2 ¦r I I J " " T • II T P I T isb? o'bp nOinrj nap nasy o'byp inr ra 3 naa onnD' *li)l iiroiroiov iwv to Kpljia. oUl Si y.€ oXXus aoi Ki\priiia.Ti.Kkvat. 1) tva Ayacpavys dUams. 336 THE BOOK OF JOB :ynx xbi '3aa nixbs3 ysx xbi nyn 'b nnan ra F Tr» j . Y ¦ T I - I - T I - - -I-* :nnxn py nnyi nnypo *rx yaob 5 nsxi nsy-by nanai Dxax p-by 6 TFI TT - * I - ; t T V I " - rs'bx-bx nira naxn nbxn ononranx si'x nsn nnx nn 7 -¦Vt V TI V - V-T *T«; » ; T - * - • !• nsys nai33 'bx annsn xb ra nran '3031 ns rax nnn '3onn • ;-: t 1 - - ti-* .|v-«t. | . ._ TT.Tr._ -bx irabi D'b'x nysOi onsnyso oobnnp nnyi :si'x 8 T 1 ; - t 1 ; t -t it i ¦ v t 1 I : t - : i* oo'by bbsn' nsy si'xi oonys nbiy on'bym si'x nsy V-1 **--•* **¦" " * Tt-F T **^ V'IFS ; **"" 'bx annsn x'b ra nb33 osay niOy nbsb xOx T3s-ax ra ... v : - • ; tt: vt*. i ¦ t • i tv tt nsasi niOn nnb?i 'aann rs'bx i3bi\ :si»x n?y? raias 9 :si*x '3snx nin' xOn nin' on'bx nsn nOxs lOy 1 raaysn I • - I V TI T ' " Tt T-1 V* V^,1F 1 F- * T 1 F *" iay ibsxn rassb lran'-boi innx-bsi lnx-bs i'bx ixS'i ; 11- *rri Tti Tt T - *" ts tt t t- t- nira xran nOx nynmba by inx lamn ib iran inras onb Tt ;- VI STT T -- 1FI- •vt- - S V V nnx anr dt3 O'xi nnx no'OpO'xibrannvby 11 pnas xin ra si'x-nx niaya nbxn raOaxn nobo inaon 33 1 r * - - v if t-t ;tiit»: ii •¦ ai'x? on nnsppa ' nsn bxpns-p xin'bx 1 nx nrai map? 2 by isx nnn iran nobosi torabxo iOsa ipnas-by isx nnn 3 - - tt t-vi; pvip* -"--"" ~ ~ tt 3'0nb nsn irabxi ranbxnnx lyonn naya ixasa-xb nOx 4 ;Tt t* *vtrv * vit v w • :~ vif iff I vi ra xin'bx xnn :ora'b laaa narao'3pr ra ansns si'xnx 5 ¦ • TT I™ TTS V- T- !¦***: * T S ¦_ * J! :isx nnn o'Oaxn nobo ra? raya yx npxn. man bxpnsns xin'bx i]yn 6 D'0'0' anxi ara'b '3x nraas •1 v-t ;ti - 1 *t :oonx ran nino ixn'xi nbnr p-by P.- ; V - - -* F T * T ¦ 1 - T I - - :nasn iy'T raao ani nan' era' nnax 7 rr i T **^ * ¦ t i ** ~ * 1 T * - 7 T rosran no na03i Oisxs xnmn px 8 f-: — "" : ' ! "**- ¦*¦ ""I i-t :osOa i3'3' 0'3pn lasm D'B' sn x'b 9 it:* ;t -I-i tit ; t - :o'ba ona ipnyn niy i3yx'b inn 15 p - t-I;iT r T ¦ I "J :niy lay-xb may ra nan; xV? rabgim 16 'bnypO nnax pb 10 :'3x-nx ran ninx 'pbn '3t*-nx rayx i7(iob) osnjnn ny y rx opnonb 1 rabyin *n 1 1 ]3ianx opnyi O'bp inpnnny 12 :oap l'nax naiy nraia si'xb yx nam :0'X"X7 iasn' bx nasn wxasa inaxnns 13 p vt* — TIT TT I IT :*33'Ox x'b osnptai O'bp i'bx "*nyx '?x 14 :'3os mn '3np'asn o'ba nba ra is p * : z :••¦:•¦ :: : r T ". 338 THE BOOK OF JOB :ypa' o'Onn niaxa nns'-x"b yra '3oa nan 19 -Ift* ti : - - t • il*-i * t nayro rasp nnsx 'bran;* nnanx 20 nssx x'b onx-bxi 0'x-'3s xox xa-bx 21 IV 1 TT VI *-I TV T - :'aoy '3x0' oyas nasx nyn' xb ra 22 :'b lanxn orann 'bo oraon lyaO 34 2 P *1F ' li: T" " T 1 * S * :b?x ib Dyp; -pi -ran o'bp jrrora 3 rsioraa i3'3ra nyn3 i3bnnn33 osOa 4 ¦ - -* - t:f t tii* ti- oras 3ybnnO' 3i'xs nss-ra 7 -rr- - - v:* •: vv :y0n-'03X-Dy nabbi iix 'bysray nnanb nnxi 8 -^ - nr *• : - • vvtsIvt -1 - tsv: T T - raspp mpn bxi rapnas ai't* nax-1? 5 :yps 'bs ran Oiax apt* raspp-by 6 rarabxray inasna nsansD' x'b nax-ra 9 p VI • t • V T I T I " ~ T P 'b yaO osn nsai 'b max' aab 'Oax pb ioa,34 P - - TT TVS ; I T--I-I-T *:braOns xb mam nan' nyna-xb ai'x 35 p-i-i tt: "-1 - - 1 1 nwOaxs nSOn-by nasany ai'x ina' bax 36 I V IT - I - I -.1 - - T - • I - T * T 1 pisp; ia'3'? yps inxprrby nra'1 '? 37 :bxb max ann I" T T T 1 TVI **:ra'rxn nan-bai'ba ai'x x3-yaO obixi 33 1 TP1F *"T* TI T- - * Z' T * :rans POb nnsn ra nnns xsnan 2 p • : * : T I * * * : - T T - * : o'bp nibxb 'b niy-ra *-inro npr 'bnn? 36 2 rpnasnnx 'bysbi pinnab ran xOx 3 I tit Ir t *iis I tr i * - tv :nay niyn oran 'ba npO-xb oaax-ra 4 Irr- f„ ,x T . | __ tit r :ibba nns nsO nym nax rab nO' 33 3 I- * T - T 1 - -: - T 1 * * VI nsp'.a^pnsTVppin'BT^?: j'piiai'i*] 3S ia* :T31$ '?•$ &W 'b^W ai'tf a^RO 33 31** THE BOOK OF JOB 339 *:n?as;nn 'job nony 'as'pn bpin-ox 5 "-.'arooa raasnp nana bx '*oy m'as '*xnn 6 nsp'.-x'b mby rapi nrpan xb na't* ran 7 :yaOx o'ba bipi raxa nnax nx 8 -^ IT I V ;¦ l| TITI T!-"T I- :*b ys xbi raax nn yOs 'ba 'ax -*t 9 :ib a'ixb 'aaOm xasa' 'by nixian in 10 I *¦ I --It- Tt* -T tl- :nnnx-ba naO' 'ban nos oO' 11 rr :t t i*ti- - - -t :nay x'b man-bo-ra man i'bx yma 13 rviF tti t;t - t*"" :Oi3xa nibx nsn'-ra nayx npnas x'b nxnn 12 ITII" * VI T I • P T lv VI IV T I I - T I ¥ n? nra? bxnn 36 5 :in' o"ay osoai yon rara-xb 6 I i"* ;*"- - : ¦ *"tt t-i :nxn' myas-bsi O'x-nnn-by irays 34 21 iv t; tti t: ¦ -1- - t- p i'3ra pnasp ynayxb 36 7 nnsan nasab oo'On xosb orabanxi rrt'- T-'T - • 1 - **;** ,*t* *> 'ay-'bana ynpb; O'pp onrarooxi 8 :naara '? onrapsi obys onb nan 9 namO' xb oraoai bx-nan' nnxs ra 33 14 T IT I ' - t * " V-I *""* *" D'Oaroby nannn bsp nb;b ym \ oibns 15, i6b/s :onn; sppp 'bs niai3n? *ixa iiaiO;-'? npxn npiab oarx ban 16,36 10 :np'_ naa mapi inpyap onx nranb 33 17 :bixp? naya inrai nnp-'aa iOs? nOra 18 aio? orap; ib?; may lyapyox 36 n :7ipix ,J*^srj-,3 Tal 'la^ D'^a &?ax 33 32* 340 THE BOOK OF JOB rarapa? omao* :nyn 'b?? lyian n?y bixp? lypp; xb-oro 12 px iraasy am i'330a-by sixsos nsn ix 33 19 Iff- tti •: Tt* - -""* ~ :mxn baxa iOsai onb inn nann 20 IT if -if :-: TT T- T 1 • 1 :ixn xb maasy isOi 'xna in03 bs' 21 I \ Tt— \ I TI T* ma iab imrn iOsa nnob snpm 22 vt t T-t :- - - - -It-- 23(G) :bsnx xb nxoa nax nibx-bx ra 34 31 ItV *TT ~T" VI T ¦ nrax x'b ranan 7iyox 'ann nnx nxon-ox 32 ns? nxasa nnO nnna inxns naxn laann 33 24 VI * TT -- TT- *• S V - Tt ir :iraiby ra'b aiO' nyaa inOs Oson 25 IT 1 - ; r "¦* ts ""-¦*¦. nynns T3S xnn inasnn | nibx-bx nny 26 T I ; TT I~ ****~™ "¦*< V "*T naxn o'Oax-by |n0' rinpnas Oiaxb son 27 v - ;ti - ¦ T I I T 1 ; VI IV VT- :'3iys 'b mO x'b bxi ranyn nOn nxon ; -t - ; T* **t ; - Vt IV TTI " TT nxnn nixs nni nnOs nsya '0s3 nns 28 •v : • : *t-i - v - if*:- tt nsa-oy obo orays bx-bys' nbx-bsnn 29 VIT - T ""¦"••"* *" ¦" * " T- Tlv :o"nn nixs nixb nnO-'aa iOss 3'0nb 30 * iav ucnv x£X«>t aY-yeXot Qavarijcpopoi, (Is airSiv ob p.j) Tpuxrjj airbv. iia> voiia-g r% KapSLa iTrurTpa