Job 13

Translator Notes

1. Job opens by asserting his own firsthand experience: ra'atah eini ('my eye has seen') and shame'ah ozni ('my ear has heard'). The verb vataven lah ('and it understood for itself') asserts that Job's comprehension is independent — he does not need the friends to interpret reality for him. He has the same data they have and has drawn different conclusions.

Translator Notes

1. The ke-da'tekhem yada'ti gam ani ('according to your knowledge I know, I also') is the second assertion of intellectual parity in two chapters (see 12:3). The lo nofel anokhi mikkem ('I do not fall below you') repeats the exact phrase from 12:3 — the repetition is deliberate emphasis. Job is not humbled by their arguments.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The turning point. Job shifts from addressing the friends to declaring his intention to address God directly. The verb adabber ('I would speak') el Shaddai ('to the Almighty') and the verb hokheach ('to argue, prove, reason, reprove') el El ('before God') use legal language. The verb chafats ('I desire, I delight in') shows this is not reluctant but eager — Job wants this confrontation.

Translator Notes

1. Job's evaluation of the friends is devastating. The tofelei shaqer ('plasterers of falsehood, smearers of lies') pictures them as workers covering a crumbling wall with whitewash — an image Ezekiel 13:10-15 will later develop. The rof'ei elil ('healers of nothing, worthless physicians') means their prescribed remedy — repent and be restored — is useless because the diagnosis is wrong. They are treating a disease Job does not have.

Translator Notes

1. The mi yitten hacharesh tacharishun ('who would give that you would be utterly silent') uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis — total silence, not merely reduced speech. The u-tehi lakhem le-chokhmah ('and it would be for you as wisdom') means their silence would accomplish what their words have failed to do. The best theological contribution the friends can make is to stop talking.

Translator Notes

1. The imperative shim'u na ('hear now!') demands attention. The tokhachti ('my argument, my reproof, my case') is from the same root as yakach (verse 3) — legal argumentation. The rivot sefatai ('the disputes/pleadings of my lips') uses the riv root again — these are formal legal pleadings, not casual complaints. Job is presenting his case, and the friends are the first audience before he turns to the divine court.

Translator Notes

1. Job accuses the friends of pious fraud. The ha-le-El tedabberu avlah ('for God will you speak injustice?') asks whether God needs false advocates. The ve-lo tedabberu remiyyah ('and for him will you speak deceit?') doubles the accusation. The friends' theology is not merely wrong — it is dishonest, and it is dishonest in God's name. Job insists that lying for God is still lying.

Translator Notes

1. The ha-fanav tissa'un ('will you lift his face?' — the idiom for showing partiality) accuses the friends of bias. In legal contexts, 'lifting the face' means judging in someone's favor regardless of the evidence — exactly what Leviticus 19:15 prohibits. The im la-El terivun ('will you conduct a lawsuit for God?') asks whether God has hired them as defense attorneys. The implication: God does not need corrupt lawyers.

Translator Notes

1. Job warns the friends that their fraudulent defense of God will be investigated by God himself. The yachqor etkhem ('he will search you out, investigate you') turns divine scrutiny back on the friends. The ke-hatel be-enosh tehatellu vo ('as one mocks/deceives a human, will you deceive him?') asks whether they think God can be fooled. Their false testimony on God's behalf will not escape God's notice.

Translator Notes

1. The infinitive absolute hokheach yokhiach ('he will certainly reprove, he will surely argue against') emphasizes certainty — God's rebuke of the friends is guaranteed. The ba-seter panim tissa'un ('in secret you lift the face') means their bias is hidden, operating under a veneer of piety, but God will expose it. The irony is prophetic: in the epilogue (42:7-8), God does rebuke the friends for not speaking rightly.

Translator Notes

1. The se'eto ('his majesty, his exaltation, his lifting up') is what should make the friends afraid — not Job's suffering but God's scrutiny of their false testimony. The pachdo ('his dread, his terror') yippol aleikhem ('will fall upon you') reverses the expected direction of fear: the friends thought they were safely on God's side, but Job warns that God's judgment will fall on them for their dishonest advocacy.

Translator Notes

1. The zikhronekhem ('your memorable sayings, your proverbs, your traditions') are mishlei efer ('proverbs of ash') — they crumble to nothing when tested. The gabbei chomer gabbeikem ('your defenses are defenses of clay') — their theological fortifications are made of mud. The imagery is of a wall that looks solid but dissolves under pressure. The friends' entire theological edifice, Job claims, is structurally unsound.

Translator Notes

1. The imperative hacharishu mimmenni ('be silent away from me') dismisses the friends. The va-adabberah ani ('and I myself will speak') asserts Job's right to be heard. The ve-ya'avor alai mah ('and let pass over me what may') is the acceptance of risk — Job knows that confronting God could destroy him, and he accepts that possibility. This is courage, not recklessness.

Translator Notes

1. Two idioms for extreme risk. The essa vesari ve-shinnai ('I carry my flesh in my teeth') pictures an animal carrying prey in its jaws — Job's own body is the prey he risks. The nafshi asim be-khappi ('I put my life in my palm') means to expose one's life to danger, holding it out where it can be snatched away. Job is saying: I have nothing left to lose. The risk of confronting God is no worse than what I already endure.

Translator Notes

1. The most famous and most debated verse in Job. The Ketiv (written text) reads lo with an aleph — 'I will not wait/hope' — making Job's statement one of pure defiance: 'He will kill me; I have no hope; but I will still argue.' The Qere (marginal reading) reads lo with a vav — 'to him I will wait/hope' — making it an expression of faith through suffering. The KJV follows the Qere. Both readings produce extraordinary theology. The akh derakhay el panav okhiach ('but my ways to his face I will argue/prove') is unambiguous in either reading: Job will present his case directly to God, face to face, regardless of the cost. The verb okhiach (from yakach) is legal language — courtroom argumentation.

Translator Notes

1. Job's logic is bold: the very fact that he dares to approach God proves he is not a hypocrite. A chanef ('godless person, hypocrite, profane person') lo yavo lefanav ('would not come before him') — a guilty man would flee God's courtroom, not demand a hearing. Job's willingness to stand before God is itself evidence of innocence. The hu li lishu'ah ('he is for me salvation' or 'this is my salvation') may mean either that God will be his savior or that this legal confrontation itself will save him.

Translator Notes

1. The infinitive absolute shim'u shamoa ('listen — really listen') demands total attention. The millati ('my word, my speech') and achavati ('my declaration, my announcement') are what follows — Job's formal statement of his case. The be-ozneikhem ('in your ears') makes the friends witnesses to what Job is about to say to God.

Translator Notes

1. The arakhti mishpat ('I have arranged my judgment, I have set my case in order') uses military and legal language — Job has marshaled his evidence and organized his arguments. The yada'ti ki ani etsddaq ('I know that I will be declared righteous, I will be vindicated') is not arrogance but legal confidence: when the evidence is heard, the verdict will be in his favor. The verb etsddaq ('I will be justified') is the passive of tsadaq — he expects to be declared righteous by the court.

Translator Notes

1. The mi hu yarev immadi ('who is the one who will bring a lawsuit against me?') is a legal challenge — let my accuser step forward. The ki attah acharish ve-egva ('for then I would be silent and I would die') means: if someone can actually present a case against me, I will accept the verdict in silence, even unto death. But Job is confident no one can.

Translator Notes

1. Job now addresses God directly with two preconditions for the trial. The akh shetayim al ta'as immadi ('only two things do not do to me') sets the terms. The az mippanekha lo essater ('then from your face I will not hide') means Job will appear in court — he will not flee — if these conditions are met. The conditions follow in verse 21.

Translator Notes

1. The two conditions. First: kappekha me-alai harchaq ('your palm from upon me put far away') — stop the physical suffering so Job can think clearly enough to present his case. Second: eimatekha al teva'attanni ('your terror do not terrify me') — stop the psychological pressure of divine dread. Job needs a level playing field: he cannot argue his case while being simultaneously crushed and terrorized by the opposing party.

Translator Notes

1. Job offers two formats for the trial. Either God calls the case and Job responds — the normal format where the accuser speaks first — or Job presents his case and God responds. Either way, Job insists on dialogue: call-and-answer, speak-and-respond. The current situation — God acting without speaking, punishing without explaining — is what Job finds intolerable.

Translator Notes

1. Job demands formal charges. The kammah li avonot ve-chattat ('how many are my iniquities and sins?') asks for a number — quantify the charges. The pish'i ve-chattati hodi'eni ('my transgression and my sin — make me know') demands disclosure. Three words for sin are used: avonot ('guilt, iniquity'), chattat ('sin, failure, missing the mark'), and pesha ('transgression, rebellion, willful violation'). Job is not denying all sin — he is demanding that the specific charges be named.

Translator Notes

1. The panekha tastir ('you hide your face') is the most devastating thing God can do in Hebrew theology — the withdrawal of the divine presence, the removal of favor, the cold shoulder of heaven. Psalm 13:1 asks the same question. The ve-tachsheveni le-oyev lakh ('and you count me as an enemy to you') means God has reclassified Job from beloved servant to hostile adversary. Job does not understand why.

Translator Notes

1. The disproportion is absurd. Job compares himself to an aleh niddaf ('a leaf blown about, a driven leaf') — weightless, helpless, at the mercy of every breeze. Will the Almighty ta'arots ('terrify, crush, cause to tremble') something so fragile? Will God tirdof ('pursue, chase, hunt') qash yavesh ('dry stubble') — dead plant matter that the wind is already carrying away? The imagery exposes the grotesque imbalance between God's power and Job's vulnerability.

Translator Notes

1. God tikhtov ('writes') merorot ('bitter things, bitter decrees') against Job — the image is of a judge writing a sentence. The verb torisheni ('you make me inherit, you cause me to possess') avonot ne'urai ('the iniquities of my youth') means God is reaching back to youthful mistakes and punishing a mature man for the follies of his younger self. Job considers this unjust — the punishment does not match the crime, and the crime may be decades old.

Translator Notes

1. Three images of surveillance and confinement. God tasem ba-sad raglai ('puts my feet in stocks') — physical restraint. God tishmor kol orchotai ('watches all my paths') — total surveillance. God al shorshei raglai titchaqqeh ('upon the roots of my feet you inscribe yourself') — God literally marks the soles of Job's feet so that every step can be traced. The image is of a prisoner whose movement is completely monitored and controlled.

Translator Notes

1. Job describes himself in the third person — a man who is disintegrating. The ke-raqav yivleh ('like rot he decays, like something decaying he wears out') and ke-veged akahlo ash ('like a garment a moth has eaten') present a body in slow decomposition. The garment image is particularly poignant: cloth that looks intact from a distance but crumbles at a touch because moths have consumed its structure from within. This verse serves as a bridge to chapter 14's meditation on human mortality.