Job 31

Job 31:1

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Job 31:2

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Job 31:3

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Job 31:4

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Job 31:5

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Job 31:6

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Job 31:7

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Job 31:9

1 sn This long speech of Job falls into three parts: in 12:2-25 Job expresses his resentment at his friends’ attitude of superiority and acknowledges the wisdom of God; then, in 13:1-28 Job expresses his determination to reason with God, expresses his scorn for his friends’ advice, and demands to know what his sins are; and finally, in 14:1-22 Job laments the brevity of life and the finality of death.

Job 31:10

2 tn The expression “you are the people” is a way of saying that the friends hold the popular opinion - they represent it. The line is sarcastic. Commentators do not think the parallelism is served well by this, and so offer changes for “people.” Some have suggested “you are complete” (based on Arabic), “you are the strong one” (based on Ugaritic), etc. J. A. Davies tried to solve the difficulty by making the second clause in the verse a paratactic relative clause: “you are the people with whom wisdom will die” (“Note on Job 12:2,” VT 25 [1975]: 670-71).

3 sn The sarcasm of Job admits their claim to wisdom, as if no one has it besides them. But the rest of his speech will show that they do not have a monopoly on it.

Job 31:11

4 tn The word is literally “heart,” meaning a mind or understanding.

5 tn Because this line is repeated in 13:2, many commentators delete it from this verse (as does the LXX). The Syriac translates נֹפֵל (nofel) as “little,” and the Vulgate “inferior.” Job is saying that he does not fall behind them in understanding.

6 tn Heb “With whom are not such things as these?” The point is that everyone knows the things that these friends have been saying - they are commonplace.

Job 31:12

7 The Bible.org ministry has provided the NET Bible® at no cost for inclusion in this Bible study software. You can learn about bible.org’s Ministry First model where we share the NET Bible and thousands of other copyrighted biblical materials at www.bible.org/ministryfirst . Ministry First means what it implies, that we’ve chosen to put ministry ahead of money. We believe that the Bible teaches the ministry first concept very clearly – and we think everyone in the world should have free access to trustworthy Bibles and study materials. Tell your friends to get their free NET Bible and free access to thousands of trustworthy Bible study materials online at www.bible.org . This free NET Bible® module includes all the translators’ notes for the first chapter of each book plus all the notes on verses 1-3 for the remaining 1,123 chapters in the Bible.

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Job 31:13

12 The Bible.org ministry has provided the NET Bible® at no cost for inclusion in this Bible study software. You can learn about bible.org’s Ministry First model where we share the NET Bible and thousands of other copyrighted biblical materials at www.bible.org/ministryfirst . Ministry First means what it implies, that we’ve chosen to put ministry ahead of money. We believe that the Bible teaches the ministry first concept very clearly – and we think everyone in the world should have free access to trustworthy Bibles and study materials. Tell your friends to get their free NET Bible and free access to thousands of trustworthy Bible study materials online at www.bible.org . This free NET Bible® module includes all the translators’ notes for the first chapter of each book plus all the notes on verses 1-3 for the remaining 1,123 chapters in the Bible.

We encourage you to upgrade this free version to the premier full NET Bible® version containing all 60,932 notes. This is the most complete set of translators’ notes in any Bible translation and illuminates many important issues of translation and interpretation. You can upgrade by going to www.bible.org/upgrade where you can purchase the full NET Bible or even download basic versions with all 60,932 translators’ notes for free! Your purchases and donations help ensure the ongoing supply of new resources and tools from Bible.org, which is the world’s largest source of trustworthy – and free – Bible study materials.

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Job 31:14

15 The Bible.org ministry has provided the NET Bible® at no cost for inclusion in this Bible study software. You can learn about bible.org’s Ministry First model where we share the NET Bible and thousands of other copyrighted biblical materials at www.bible.org/ministryfirst . Ministry First means what it implies, that we’ve chosen to put ministry ahead of money. We believe that the Bible teaches the ministry first concept very clearly – and we think everyone in the world should have free access to trustworthy Bibles and study materials. Tell your friends to get their free NET Bible and free access to thousands of trustworthy Bible study materials online at www.bible.org . This free NET Bible® module includes all the translators’ notes for the first chapter of each book plus all the notes on verses 1-3 for the remaining 1,123 chapters in the Bible.

We encourage you to upgrade this free version to the premier full NET Bible® version containing all 60,932 notes. This is the most complete set of translators’ notes in any Bible translation and illuminates many important issues of translation and interpretation. You can upgrade by going to www.bible.org/upgrade where you can purchase the full NET Bible or even download basic versions with all 60,932 translators’ notes for free! Your purchases and donations help ensure the ongoing supply of new resources and tools from Bible.org, which is the world’s largest source of trustworthy – and free – Bible study materials.

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Job 31:15

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Job 31:16

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Job 31:17

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Job 31:18

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Job 31:19

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Job 31:20

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Job 31:21

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Job 31:22

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Job 31:23

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Job 31:24

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Job 31:25

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Job 31:26

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Job 31:27

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Job 31:28

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Job 31:29

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Job 31:30

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Job 31:31

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Job 31:32

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Job 31:33

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Job 31:35

1 sn Chapter 13 records Job’s charges against his friends for the way they used their knowledge (1-5), his warning that God would find out their insincerity (6-12), and his pleading of his cause to God in which he begs for God to remove his hand from him and that he would not terrify him with his majesty and that he would reveal the sins that caused such great suffering (13-28).

2 tn Hebrew has כֹּל (kol, “all”); there is no reason to add anything to the text to gain a meaning “all this.”

Job 31:36

3 tn Heb “Like your knowledge”; in other words Job is saying that his knowledge is like their knowledge.

4 tn The pronoun makes the subject emphatic and stresses the contrast: “I know - I also.”

5 tn The verb “fall” is used here as it was in Job 4:13 to express becoming lower than someone, i.e., inferior.

Job 31:37

6 tn The verb is simply the Piel imperfect אֲדַבֵּר (‘adabber, “I speak”). It should be classified as a desiderative imperfect, saying, “I desire to speak.” This is reinforced with the verb “to wish, desire” in the second half of the verse.

7 tn The Hebrew title for God here is אֶל־שַׁדַּי (’el shadday, “El Shaddai”).

8 tn The infinitive absolute functions here as the direct object of the verb “desire” (see GKC 340 §113.b).

9 tn The infinitive הוֹכֵחַ (hokheakh) is from the verb יָכַח (yakhakh), which means “to argue, plead, debate.” It has the legal sense here of arguing a case (cf. 5:17).

Job 31:38

10 The Bible.org ministry has provided the NET Bible® at no cost for inclusion in this Bible study software. You can learn about bible.org’s Ministry First model where we share the NET Bible and thousands of other copyrighted biblical materials at www.bible.org/ministryfirst . Ministry First means what it implies, that we’ve chosen to put ministry ahead of money. We believe that the Bible teaches the ministry first concept very clearly – and we think everyone in the world should have free access to trustworthy Bibles and study materials. Tell your friends to get their free NET Bible and free access to thousands of trustworthy Bible study materials online at www.bible.org . This free NET Bible® module includes all the translators’ notes for the first chapter of each book plus all the notes on verses 1-3 for the remaining 1,123 chapters in the Bible.

We encourage you to upgrade this free version to the premier full NET Bible® version containing all 60,932 notes. This is the most complete set of translators’ notes in any Bible translation and illuminates many important issues of translation and interpretation. You can upgrade by going to www.bible.org/upgrade where you can purchase the full NET Bible or even download basic versions with all 60,932 translators’ notes for free! Your purchases and donations help ensure the ongoing supply of new resources and tools from Bible.org, which is the world’s largest source of trustworthy – and free – Bible study materials.

11

Job 31:39

12 The Bible.org ministry has provided the NET Bible® at no cost for inclusion in this Bible study software. You can learn about bible.org’s Ministry First model where we share the NET Bible and thousands of other copyrighted biblical materials at www.bible.org/ministryfirst . Ministry First means what it implies, that we’ve chosen to put ministry ahead of money. We believe that the Bible teaches the ministry first concept very clearly – and we think everyone in the world should have free access to trustworthy Bibles and study materials. Tell your friends to get their free NET Bible and free access to thousands of trustworthy Bible study materials online at www.bible.org . This free NET Bible® module includes all the translators’ notes for the first chapter of each book plus all the notes on verses 1-3 for the remaining 1,123 chapters in the Bible.

We encourage you to upgrade this free version to the premier full NET Bible® version containing all 60,932 notes. This is the most complete set of translators’ notes in any Bible translation and illuminates many important issues of translation and interpretation. You can upgrade by going to www.bible.org/upgrade where you can purchase the full NET Bible or even download basic versions with all 60,932 translators’ notes for free! Your purchases and donations help ensure the ongoing supply of new resources and tools from Bible.org, which is the world’s largest source of trustworthy – and free – Bible study materials.

13

Job 31:40

14 The Bible.org ministry has provided the NET Bible® at no cost for inclusion in this Bible study software. You can learn about bible.org’s Ministry First model where we share the NET Bible and thousands of other copyrighted biblical materials at www.bible.org/ministryfirst . Ministry First means what it implies, that we’ve chosen to put ministry ahead of money. We believe that the Bible teaches the ministry first concept very clearly – and we think everyone in the world should have free access to trustworthy Bibles and study materials. Tell your friends to get their free NET Bible and free access to thousands of trustworthy Bible study materials online at www.bible.org . This free NET Bible® module includes all the translators’ notes for the first chapter of each book plus all the notes on verses 1-3 for the remaining 1,123 chapters in the Bible.

We encourage you to upgrade this free version to the premier full NET Bible® version containing all 60,932 notes. This is the most complete set of translators’ notes in any Bible translation and illuminates many important issues of translation and interpretation. You can upgrade by going to www.bible.org/upgrade where you can purchase the full NET Bible or even download basic versions with all 60,932 translators’ notes for free! Your purchases and donations help ensure the ongoing supply of new resources and tools from Bible.org, which is the world’s largest source of trustworthy – and free – Bible study materials.

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