STUDIES

IN THE BOOK OF JOB

 A. GUILLAUME
M.A., D.D.

STUDIES
IN THE BOOK OF JOB
WITH A NEW TRANSLATION

EDITED BY

JOHN MACDONALD

SUPPLEMENT II
TO THE ANNUAL OF LEEDS UNIVERSITY
ORIENTAL SOCIETY

LEIDEN
E. J. BRILL
1968
© Copyright 1968 by Leeds University Oriental Society

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced

01 translated in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm or
any other means without written permission from the publisher

PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS

 CONTENTS

Editor's Preface VII

Transliteration of Hebrew and Arabic Consonants IX

List of Abbreviations of Titles and Names . . . XI

PART A : Introduction . 1
PART B : Translation 17
PART C: Notes to the Translation 77
APPENDIX: An Archaeological ·and Philological Note on Job
xxxii. 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

INDICES:

I. Index of Biblical Passages 145

IL Index of Arabic Words 146
III. Index of Proper Names 148
 EDITOR'S PREFACE

The late Professor A. Guillaume was a pioneer in the study of the

Book of Job in that he took an independent line in his researches.
He sought diligently and persistently for many years for the proper
milieu of the writer and his language, style and outlook. For a con­
siderable time, as he once told me, he had felt a lone wolf in this
regard. Perhaps Professor Guillaume, having been the holder of
professorships in both Hebrew and Arabic, was uniquely endowed
with the necessary knowledge for such research. Many years ago­
and even quite recently-there were few who supported his views on
job, but today there are many who believe with him that the milieu
of the Book of Job was Arabian, and particularly Hijazi.
For over a year before his death he had been in correspondence
with me about the publication of his book, and it had already been
agreed that the book should appear as the second Supplement to the
Society's Annual. Unhappily he had not quite completed his work at
the time of his death. Much of his material had not yet been arranged
and made ready for publication, and some portions of his work
were apparently not yet written out, e.g. Chapters xxv-xxviii of the
Notes to the Translation.
Fortunately his son John was successful in sorting his father's
papers and arranging them in order. To him I am deeply indebted,
for my task was thus made considerably easier.
My task, however,· has been difficult in certain respects. I did not
always know Professor Guillaume's exact intention and many details
in the Notes were far from clear in the form in which they survived.
One thing was certain; I would not change the meaning of anything
he wrote in any way. Thus it was by careful research that I was
able to clarify many passages and determine the precise form and
meaning intended. Occasionally I have inserted a word or words into
the Notes, but always within square brackets.
Throughout the Notes, and in a: few places in the Translation, some
short and some long passages have been added within square brack­
ets. I am entirely responsible for these. I felt that the many gaps in the
available material should be filled by the insertion of relevant ma­
terial from other recent writings by the author. For this I had John
Guillaume's agreement. In order to reduce the amount of material
VIII EDITOR' S PREFACE

which was lacking in the manuscript I inserted passages from the

following articles or chapters (abbreviated as indicated) :
(1) "The First Book to Come Out of Arabia" - PB,
(2) "Hebrew and Arabic Lexicography" - HAL,
(3) "The Arabic Background of the Book of Job" from Promise
and Fulfilment PF
-

(4) "The Unity of the Book of Job" - UBJ.

See the List of Abbreviations of Titles for further bibliographical
details.
Transliteration of Hebrew and Arabic (and occasionally Assyrian
and Syriac) words was a problem, since the author had not reached
the stage of standardizing it. I am therefore responsible for the trans­
literation throughout and I hope not too many errors will be encount­
ered. A List of Hebrew and Arabic Transliteration has been added.
It is evident that the Translation was completed some considerable
time before the Notes and the author had not yet harmonized them.
Taking the quotations of his own translation as found in the Notes
as his latest work, I have adjusted the Translation to match it, but
without altering the sense of the Translation as left by him.
In addition I have added the List of Contents, the List of Abbre­
viations of Titles, and the three Indices. By the kind permission of
Professor F. F. Bruce I have included as an Appendix a short article
published in P.E.Q. in 1961 .
All in all the attempt has been made to include as much as possible
of Professor Guillaume's writings on the Book of Job. As the first
work on the subject devoted entirely to the 'Arabian' theory this book
is hereby published by Leeds University Oriental Society in memory
of him, the Society's first President.
October 1967 John MACDONALD
 TRANSLITERATION
OF HEBREW AND ARABIC CONSONANTS

HEBREW ARABIC

Aleph Alif
Bet bfbh Ba' b
Gimel g Ta' t
Dalet d Tha ' th
He h Jim j
Waw w I:Ia ' J:.i
Zain z Ba' IJ.
I:Iet J:.i Dal d
Tet Dhal dh
Yod y Ra' r

Kaph k/kh Zain z

Lamed 1 Sin s
Mem m Shin s
Niln n Sad �
Samekh s :Qad <;l
'Ayin Ta' t
Pe p/ph Z:a ' ?
Tsade ? 'Ayin
Qoph q Ghain g
Resh r Fa' f
Sin s Qaf q
Shin s Kaf k
Taw t Lam 1
Mim m
Nun n
Ha ' h
Waw w
Ya' y
LIST OF ABBREVATIONS OF TITLES AND NAMES

A.V. Authorised Version

B.D.B. Brown, Driver & Briggs (Hebrew & English Lexicon)
BH Biblia Hebraica, R. Kittel/P. Kahle
B SOAS Bulletin of the School of Oriental & African Studies
CIS Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum
DSis Dead Sea Isaiah Scroll
FB "First Book to Come out of Arabia, The" in Islamic Studies, Vol. III,
HI, No. 2, 1964, pp. 152-166
G.K. Gesenius-Kautzsch, Hebrew Grammar, tr. Cowley
HAL Hebrew and Arabic Lexicography: A Comparative Study. In four parts, in
Abr-Nahrain Vols. I-IV (1959-65)
I.C.C. International Critical Commentary
JRAS Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
JTS Journal of Theological Studies
K.B. Koehler-Baumgartner Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros
M.T. Masoretic Text
NSI North Semitic Inscriptions (G.A. Cooke)
O.T. Old Testament
P.E.Q. Palestine Exploration Quarterly
PF Promise and Fulfilment (A. Guillaume)
R.V. Revised Version
R.V.m. Revised Version margin
UBJ "Unity of the Book of Job, The" in Annual of Leeds University Oriental
Society, Vol. IV, 1962-63, pp. 26-46.
ZDMG Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesel!schaft
 PART A

INTRODUCTION

It is all but universally held that the language of Job is a.product

of the highest genius. Carlyle wrote that "There is nothing written, I
think, in the Bible or out of it, of equal literary merit." 1 The inimitable
beauty of the Authorised Version, its balanced cadences, and its
unfaltering rhythm, have silenced the reader's critical faculty by
creating such an atmosphere of aesthetic content, such a thrill of
pure pleasure, that he is so carried along by its tide that he is unwil�
ling to pause and ask himself if what he has read is always what the
poet intended him to understand.
However, Hebraists have always recognised that there are a great
many words and expressions which have never been satisfactorily
explained ; and despite the many excellent commentaries on the Book
of Job, the last of which in the English language was published as
recently as 1947 and 1951, 2 hardly any of the more obscure passages
have been elucidated, though commentators at home and abroad
have shown great skill and ingenuity in explaining them away.
.
The fundamental reason for this lack of success lies in the centuries
long failure to perceive that the book was written by a poet whose
language was impregnated through and through with Arabic. Con­
sequently commentators did not see that the book must have been
writtten in Arabia ; and furthermore that the very first chapter told
them exactly when and almost exactly where it was written, or rather
the time and place where Job lived, for the book could not have been
written until Job had been· restored to health and wealth after his
sickness and poverty.
One who believes that he has something to contribute to the
knowledge and understanding of a book in the Bible must make up
his mind beforehand whether he should use the R.V. as the basis
of his work and write explanatory and exegetical notes on sections
or paragraphs and then notes in more detail on the individual verses

1 On Heroes, Lecture 2. The New Universal Library edn., p. 67.

2 W.B. Stevenson, The Poem of Job, The Schweich Lectures of the British
Academy, London, 1947; and the same writer's Critical Notes on the Hebrew Text
of the Poem of job, Aberdeen, 1951.
Leeds University Oriental Society Suppl. II
2 INTRODUCTION

contained therein; or whether he should limit himself to verses or

passages which demand a new translation or a new explanation. The
first is the method pursued in the commentaries of Peake, 1 and
Driver-and-Gray,2 and by almost all European commentators.
Stevenson's study is not a formal commentary, but a new translation
with a great many critical and exegetical notes. His second volume
is devoted to a more intensive study of the Hebrew text and versions.
In this latter respect he followed the plan of the I.C.C. which provides
in Part I 376 pages of text and commentary, and in Part II 350 pages
of philological notes.
For the general public of biblical students, discussions that presup­
pose knowledge of Hebrew and Arabic lexicography and the relation
of Aramaic to Arabic and to Hebrew, must be segregated in an ap­
pendix or second part of a study, while the facts that emerge from such
researches are left to speak for themselves in the first part of the book.
This is the method adopted here because this book is intended for
two classes of readers: the biblical student and the specialist in Semitic
languages. For example when the former for the first time sees that
in xl. 17 the poet says that the tail of the hippopotan;i.us (behemot) is as
rigid as a cedar then he knows that the animal's tail is thick and stiff,
he will doubtless accept the correction and drop the R.V.'s "He
moveth his tail like a cedar" without further ado. Though he may
be ignorant of the shape and texture of the hippopotamus's tail he
knows full well that the cedar does not move with the wind any more
than the oak, for the cedar is a far more familiar sight to the English
today than it is to the inhabitants of its native Lebanon. On the other
hand the Semitics scholar will demand philological warrant for the
correction, and he will find it in its appropriate place in the Notes.
It could, one supposes, be argued that the general trend of this
study is conservative. It may prove to be so; but though I confess
to an instinctive and deep rooted dislike of radical criticism of Holy
Scripture, I am not blind to the great contributions which biblical
critics have made to the understanding of the scriptures, and when I
enter the lists against theories held by some of them I do not use any
but the weapons of an Orientalist's armoury. For example, when I
repudiate the assertion that the speeches of Elihu are the interpolations
of a later writer, or when I claim that the thrillingly beautiful chapters
on the hippopotamus and the crocodile (leviathan) are the work of

1 Century Bible, 1955.

2 International Critical Commentary, 1921.
 INTRODUCTION 3

the author of Job hi1Tiself I base my claims on the language of Arabia,

with which every section of the book abounds, a fact that has been
ignored and overlooked for more than two thousand years.
Since two of Europe's greatest Orientalists of the last generation,
Theodore Noldeke and D. S. Margoliouth, both outstanding and in
some respects unequalled Arabists, failed to see why so much of the
language of Job was unintelligible to the writers of the ancient ver­
sions and to commentators today, one who makes the claim to
have advanced where they failed to go forward must with all due
modesty make good his claim. This can be done only by dealing at
length with the philological problems that are involved. Here it
must be added that were it not for the discovery of the inscription of
Nabonidus which gives an account of his conquest and occupation
of the principal oases of the J:Iijaz in the sixth century B.C.,
though it would have been possible to make out a strong case for an
Arabian origin of the Book of Job philologically, without this
historical evidence it would have been, and would have remained,
little more than a theory. But with this and other archaeological
discoveries before us it is possible to assert as a fact of history that this
wonderful book was written in the I::Iijaz in the latter part .of the sixth
century B.C.
When and where the book was written has remained a mystery for
more than two thousand years; and so the study and evaluation of the
clues within the book have not only a profound interest inseparable
from an ancient poem on man's faith in God while beset by sufferings
physical, mental and spiritual, but also provide the excitement of a
detective story.
Probably because of the mention of Job side by side with Noah 1

and Daniel 2 in Ezek. xiv. 14 and 20, Jewish authorities in the Talmud 3
believed that Job was a contemporary of Moses, and that Moses
himself was the author of the book. Others put it a little later in the
time of Jacob; others in the days of the spies [of Joshua] ; others
preferred the age of the Judges; others the time of the kingdom of
Sheba in the tenth century; others held that Job was one of the exiles
who returned from the Babylonian captivity in the sixth century.

1 The flood of Noah can now be dated c. 2850 B.C. See Prof. M.E.L. Mallo­
wan's authoritative work "Noah's Flood Reconsidered" in Iraq, xxvi, 1 964,
pp. 62-82. .
2 Not the Biblical Daniel, but a much earlier Daniel mentioned in the Ras
Shamra tablets.
a Baba Bathra, 14b.
4 INTRODUCTION

The latter, as we have suggested above, hit upon the right date,
though whether they had any sound historical grounds for their
belief we have no means of determining. Except for the last theory
these opinions were based on midrashic interpretations all of which
have been discussed and rejected by modern scholars.I Lastly one
authority believed that Job lived in the days of Ahasuerus.
The great rabbi of the middle ages, Moses Maimonides, revived an
ancient theory that the basis of the book of Job is fiction "conceived
for the purpose of explaining the different views which people held on
divine providence", and he went on to say that "Those who assumed
that he has existed and that the book is historical are unable to deter­
mine when and where Job lived." 2
Jung wrote: "What we properly call instincts are physiological
urges and are perceived by the senses. But at the same time, they also
manifest themselves in fantasies and often reveal their presence only
by symbolic images. These manifestations are the archetypes." 3
The archetype of innocent suffering was called Job. Whether the
original 'Job' was a historical character or a symbolic image is imma­
terial. The 'Job' of the Bible, whatever name may have been given
him at his circumcision, was a creature of flesh and blood who lived
in Saudi-Arabia in the sixth century B.C.
This, and the fact that Daniel is not the Daniel of the lions' den,4
explains the passage in Ezekiel: "Though these three men, Noah,
Daniel and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls
by their righteousness."
Among modern scholars the theory that the story of Job's suf­
ferings is based on ancient tradition is almost universally held.
Indeed had Job not lived on in the popular memory it is difficult
to understand how and why the prophet should have mentioned·
him. However, when justice is done to the allusions to historical
events and to local conditions at the time the book was written the
question whether or not the author was influenced by an ancient
tradition of a righteous sufferer sinks into comparative insignifi­
·

cance.
Western Orienta.lists have proposed dates ranging from Moses to
the Ptolemies, and so have, as it were, gone one better (or worse)

1 See S. R. Driver, The Book of job, Edinburgh, 1909, p. lxv.

2 Guide for the Perplexed, tr. M. Friedlander, London 1925, p. 296.
3 Jung, Man and his Symbols, p. 69.

4 Vide supra.
 INTRODUCTION 5

than their Jewish predecessors. As recently as 1948 Pfeiffer 1 was

able to write: "Unfortunately he (the author) makes no allusion
to known historical events or persons, and consequently the chron­
ological clues are indirect, vague, and subject to various interpreta­
tions . . . The only conclusions which may be regarded as generally
accepted is that the poet lived between 700 and 200 B. C."
To a lesser degree the same uncertainty about the scene of the book
underlies all modern studies, though there is general agreement that
it was written outside Palestine. The fact that some rabbis held
that Job was a gentile would seem to indicate that it was recognised
that the bookwas not Palestinian in origin; but whether it was com­
posed in the country east of Palestine as far north as the Hauran,
or in or about Edom, is left in doubt, though the majority of modern
scholars hold to the belief that Edom is to be preferred. .,,,,,.-
The difficulty of determining even approximately what tribal
boundaries in Arabia were in succeeding centuries is notoriously
difficult. From the evidence that the Old Testament provides the
territory of the Edomites embraced the mountainous country be­
tween the Dead Sea and.the Gulf of Aqaba on the east of the Wadi
Arabah and the plateau west of it up to Qadesh; but whether it ex­
tended further south cannot be asserted without archaeological evi­
dence. This is lacking.
Now as it is fundamental to the argument of this commentary that
the underlying language is Arabic, Edom as the Old Testament wri­
ters understood the term is definitely excluded. Noldeke held the
view that the "language of the ancient Edomites probably resembled
that of Israel at least as closely as did the language of the Moa bites . . .
In the later period of their history the Edomites, like the Jews,
doubtless spoke the Aramaic language." 2 It must be borne in mind
that the names of the "dukes" and kings of Edom that are recorded
in Gen. xxxvi, save for one or two possible exceptions, are not names
borne by Arabs.Thus if the book of Job were of Edomite origin it
would be all but impossible to understand how it was that so much of
its vocabulary was unintelligible to the rabbis and the writers of the
ancient versions. The Edomites were Israel's closest neighbours and
the last kings of the Jews, the House of Herod, were Edomite by race.
In fact, the poetry of the book of Job ought to have been as clear to
the Jewish reader as is the poetry of Robert Burns to an English

1 Introduction to the Old Testament, London 1952, p. 675.

2 Encyclopaedia Bib!ica, p. 1188.
 6 INTRODUCTION

reader. It may be true that occasionally the Scot used words which
are not in use south of the border; but in all but a few instances the
meaning is perfectly clear. Few Englishmen can have heard the word

7
airts, for example, but when they read (or sing), "Of the airts the wind
can blaw", they know the meaning instinctively. The parallel may be
pressed further: just as Scotland provided England with a dynasty
which ruled both peoples, so the Edomites provided Israel with a
short-lived line of kings who governed both Jews and Edomites
with the same laws. John Hyrcanus (134-104 B.C.) had prepared the
way for this fusion by forcibly converting large numbers of Edomites
to Judaism. Bearing the facts in mind one must regard it as in the
highest degree improbable that words of Edomite origin could
have lost all meaning for Hebrew readers a few centuries after they
had been written.
To support the assertion made above that Job was written in the
J:Iijaz in the second half of the sixth century B.C., proper names,
allusions to historical events and to local conditions must be re­
examined in the light of recent archaeological discoveries. fa the
order of their appearance in the Book of Job these are: 1
(i) "The land of Uz" in i. 1.
(ii) "The cows were ploughing" i n i . 14 (not "the oxen" a s i n the
R.V.). Note the parallel "she-asses".
(iii) "The Sabeans plundered and took them away" in i. 15.
(iv) "The Chaldeans fitted out three detachments, raided the camels
and carried them off. The herdsmen they slew without quarter"
in i. 17.
(v) "The caravans of Terna" in vi. 19.
(vi) "Did I say 'Make me a gift and offer a bribe for me out of your
own substance?' Or, 'Deliver me from the adversary's hand
and redeem me from the hand of the ruthless?' " in vi. 22.
It may be but coincidence or it may be significant that the Ba­
bylonians are called 'ruthless' ('ariiJ by the Deutero-Isaiah,
Job's contemporary, as well as by Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
(vii) "He takes all heart from the chiefs of the local inhabitants
and causes them to wander in a pathless desert . . . All this have
I seen with my own eyes" in xii. 24ff.

Before discussing the historical situation it will be well to underline

the significance of these pointers. First of all, as we know now froi:n
1 In the course of the commentary other indications will be noted. ·
 INTRODUCTION 7

inscriptions that have been found in the neighbourhood of Medina

and Khaybar, the opening words of the book place the "land of U?"
(or <aU{) fairly and squarely in Arabia.1
Secondly, as a straw in the wind will show the direction from which
that wind is blowing so i. 14, which says that cows were ploughing
while she-asses grazed peacefully near them, is most significant, for
it was in the neighbourhood of Terna and Dedan (now al-<Ula) that
Doughty 2 saw cows and not oxen put to the yoke. My own obser­
vations, which have been confirmed by Arab friends from almost
all parts of the Arabian peninsula, lead to the conclusion that except
in unusual circumstances in other parts of Arabia the male of the
species is always put to the plough.

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Now that it is clear that the scene of the book is the country today
known as the I:lijaz, and politically in Arabia, what is needed is a
demonstration from history of a train of circumstances which can
explain how it was that Sabeans and Babylonians were able to plunder
Job's cattle and slay his herdsmen; how it was that he himself was'?
'
hard put to it to find the means to redeem himself from slavery ; and
how it was that the people of the oases were driven from their homes
to take their sorry chance of survival in a waterless desert.
Since T.G. Pinches in 1 882 published the "Nabonidus-Cyrus
Chronicle" 3 it has been known that Nabonidus, the last king of
Babylon, was living in Terna for some years though, until Professor
Smith published a "Verse account of Nabonidus" 4 oriental scholars
were slow to believe that there was any truth in the record of a Ba­
bylonian king having travelled so far from his capital. Since then no
voice has been raised against the genuineness and historical character
of the story in the Chronicle.
In 1956 stelae of extraordinary interest which throw a flood of
light on Nabonidus' retreat to Arabia were discovered by the late
Dr. D. S. Rice at Barran. The text was. transliterated and translated,
and furnished with an erudite philological and historical commentary
by Professor C.J. Gadd.5 On this work and the two others just
1 A van den Branden, Les Textes Thamoudeens de Phi/by, Louvain, 1956, II, p. 6.
2 Arabia Deserta

3 See now S. Smith, Babylonian Historical Texts, pp. 98 ff.

4 lb., pp . 27 ff.

5 "The Barran_ Inscriptions of Nabonidus" in Anatolian Studies, VIII, 1958,

pp . 35 ff.
8 INTRODUCTION

mentioned this section of this study is based. Doubt underlies the

exact date of Nabonidus' departure from Babylon to Arabia. Professor
Smith 1 on the basis of the records he had at his disposal puts the
date of the occupation of Terna and the slaying of its "king" as 552
B.C. If this date is accepted (and it cannot be far wrong) then,�
Nabonidus stayed in Arabia for ten years, he must have returned to
Babylon in 542. He was certainly at Terna in the sixth year of his
reign which was 550. Thus the date of the raids on Job's camels and
the persecution of the local inhabitants can be fixed within close
limits.
Incidentally an indication that the writer was contemporary with
events he describes-or at any rate was in contact with those who
heard or saw what had happened-is latent in the note that the
Babylonians surrounded the unfortunate herdsmen and their charges
by splitting up their force into three detachments so that their prey
had no chance of escape.
It has been supposed quite naturally on the basis of the knowledge
existing at the time that it was as a sequel to his campaign in Syria
that Nabonidus followed his army east of the Jordan to Terna by way
of the place called Adum(m)u.2 But the Barran inscription makes it
abundantly clear that Nabonidus withdrew direct from Babylon to
Terna. A popular insurrection which was stirred up by the priests in
Babylon forced him, or at any rate, caused him, to leave his capital
while the discontent of the people was exacerbated by epidemic and
famine. The king had to abandon his project of restoring the temple
of the moon god Sin, his divine patron, a project which was inspired
by a dream which he believed emanated from the god.
Nabonidus was convalescing in the Lebanon during a part of the
year 554, and he did not command his troops in the Syrian campaign
personally. Unfortunately the chronicle at the crucial point is mutil­
ated, but it records the capture of a place ending with the letters
-dummu.3 Many authorities believe that this is the large oasis known
today as al-Jawf of which the principal town is Dumatu-1-Jandal.
If that be so it cannot be identified with the biblical Edom with
Oesterley.4
Professor Smith rejected the identification of Adumu with al-Jawf
i Op. cit., pp. 77 ff., 100.
2So Oesterley in A History of Israel, Oxford, 1932, p. 15 and Sidney Smith
Isaiah, Chapters XL-LV, London, 1944, p. 37.
a Smith, op. cit., p. 37.
4 Op. cit., p. 15.
 INTRODUCTION 9

because, as we have seen, at the time he wrote it was natural to sup­

pose that Nabonidus came to Terna with his troops from Syria, and
so would have had to traverse a long desert journey across the Nafud.
But, as we know now, this, the principal argument against al-Jawf,
no longer holds force.1 Either it was captured by Nabonidus himself
when he marched from Babylon to Terna, or it was actually seized by
the army that had been campaigning in Syria. As there is a direct ca­
ravan route from Babylon to al-Jawf the first alternative best meets ·

the situation. It is bad military strategy to leave a hostile force on

one's lines of communication and though wells are to be found
along this and most other trade routes in Arabia the water and supplies
of al-Jawf would be needed for Nabonidus' forces. Furthermore, in
order to maintain his communications with Babylon it would be
imperative to keep a firm grip on al-Jawf and no plausible reason for
a failure to take such an elementary precaution can be advanced.
Whether any of the Babylonian soldiers who had taken part in the
Syrian campaign joined Nabonidus in Terna cannot be determined;
but if they did, one would expect them to avoid the hazardous journey
across the desert and to take the track that runs north of the Gulf
of Aqaba and turns east to Terna some miles south of Tabuk. It is
not impossible, of course, that some of this contingent formed part
of the "three bands" that fell upon Job's herds and herdsmen.
The passage in the inscription which records the king's withdrawal
runs as follows: "I betook myself afar from my city of Babylon (on)
the road to Terna, Dadanum, Padakka (a), Khibra, Yadikhu, and as
far as Yathribu; ten years I went about amongst them, (and) to my
city Babylon I went not in." 2 Nabonidus goes on to record that he
appointed garrisons for the security of his person, and that "the land
of the Arabs and all the kings (who were) hostile sent (messengers)
for peace and good relations." In a damaged section of the inscription
"plunder and capture of property" are spoken of, and it is said
that the weapons of the enemy were destroyed and that they had to
bow down before him.
Of the Arabian oases which were captured and occupied by
Nabonidus Terna and Dedan are familar to biblical readers; Yathrib
is the old pre-Islamic name of Medina; Padakhu is the oasis Fadak 3
south of Terna, Khibra is the modern K.haybar; while Yadikhu is
1 On the philological relation of Adumu to Dumata, see the Notes.
2 Gadd, op. cit., p. 59.
3 There is no letter P in Arabic.
10 INTRODUCTION

the little known oasis Yadi < lying between the two last named places.
All these oases were centres of Jewish settlers in the time of Muham­
mad, and doubtless owed much of their fertility to their Jewish co­
lonists.
The Arabs naturally resisted the newcomers to their utmost,
because in a land where in the summer men could live only where
there was water the advent of a large force of foreigners with their
baggage animals would soon exhaust all the natural resources of the
oases. Unfortunately the text is broken at the point where Nabonidus'
campaign against the local inhabitants is recorded; but it speaks
of an engagement with the Arabs in which the Babylonians were
victorious. The Verse Account records the slaying of the king of
Terna and the massacre of the inhabitants there and in the surrounding
oases. Thamudic inscriptions 1 reveal that the Arabs were not always
without success in their campaigns against the invaders, for the author
of one boasts that he had taken the "spear of the king of Babel".
Another reports that he had taken part in the "war of Dedan".
Nabonidus' army <lid not consist only of native troops, for the
inscription speaks of "people of the ]j:atti-land" forming part of
the garrisons that he established; while the Verse Account explicitly
mentions a composite force of men drawn from the various countries
that were subject to Babylonia at the time.2
This fact is of great significance for biblical readers because, as we
have seen, the oases occupied by the Babylonians were precisely
those which were predominantlyJewish until the 7th. century A.D.
No information whatever is forthcoming as to when the Jews first
settled in the J:Iijaz, or indeed in the Yemen for that matter. But the
fact that Nabonidus' army was composed of foreign conscripts makes
it easier to hold that Jews formed part of his army than that they were
excused military service by their masters. Job's great contemporary,
the Deutero-Isaiah, in xl. 2 was referring not only metaphorically but
also literally to this very campaign when he wrote "Proclaim to her
that her military service 3 is completed" for it was upon Babylon
and particularly upon Nabonidus, her last king, that the Lord's ven­
geance was to fall by the hand of his agent Cyrus.
But while we may with confidence put the date of the arrival of a
considerable Jewish population in the oases in the time of Nabonidus
1 VB, II, p. 54 and Gadd, op. cit., pp. 78 and 84.
2 Gadd, p. 85.
3 This is certainly the sense of the word here and in Job vii. 1, x. 17 and xiv. 14.
 INTRODUCTION 11

we are still left with the problem of when the family of the author
of the book of Job first settled in Arabia. It is impossible that anyone
could write as the author does with a profound knowledge of Arabic
such as no other biblical writer displays, show familiarity with the
flora and fauna of the desert and the customs of the country, and the
road to Egypt along the Red Sea coast, unless he had lived a con­
siderable time in the country. Neither Arabs nor Jews preserved any
t�ustworthy tradition as to when Jews first came to Arabia, and, like
the traditions about the date of the book, their guesses cannot be
taken seriously. Nebuchadrezzar's conquest of Palestine and depor­
tation of its leading citizens in 579 and 586 may well have prompted
some Jews to flee to the south where it is unlikely that Nebuchadrez­
zar's army would be disposed to µ: the difficulties and dangers of
an arid track in their pursuit. If a body of Jews settled on the oases in
597 there would just, and only just, be time for the next generation to
absorb the language and to become acquainted with the varied charac­
ter of the land. In England second generation Jews from Germany or
elsewhere can compete successfully with native born candidates in
an Honours School of English; and so there is no difficulty in believ­
ing that Job, the son of a man fleeing from the Babylonian invader
of Palestine, could become a master of the Arabic tongue. But
against this it may be argued that Job's great wealth and high social
standing do seem to imply a long and honourable past in the land of
his adoption, and so an earlier date seems more probable. Can this
have been a flight from Israel at the time of the Assyrian conquest of
Samaria in 722?
To sum up: When the stage was set for the argument between
Job and his friends and between Job and his God, the Babylonians
were in control of the oases of the I:Iijaz, and their inhabitants had
been slaughtered or forced to flee into the barren lands. Their suf­
ferings and privations are portrayed in the opening verses of ch. xxx.
They�were reduced to feeding on roots and inedible herbs and even
dead bodies.
Yet another reference to the arrival of the Babylonians is in Job's
words in xii. 6 which refer to Nabonidus and his troops:
The tents of the invaders are safe
And they that provoke God are secure,
Even one who brings a god in his hand!
The god which Nabonidus brought with him from Barran was
 12 INTRODUCTION

presumably the moon-god Sin, for he devoted himself to the project

of restoring Sin's temple in Barran both before and after he with­
drew to Terna and he brought the work to completion on his return.
One visible and tangible evidence of Nabonidus' sojourn in Terna
now rests in the Louvre. It is the stone 1 discovered in Terna by Huber
in 1880. What definitely connects this inscription with Nabonidus
is the close similarity between the figure of the god at Terna and that
on the Barran stelae. The problems of the names of the gods on the
Terna stone need not be discussed, but it is to be noted that on the
Terna stone the priest who composed or caused the text to be written
built a temple there to �alm, a name which means "image" as in
Hebrew. �alm seems to have been a name given to a divine surrogate
and apparently could stand for any god or even for a king.
Inevitably the question why the addition of another god to the
already well-stocked Arabian pantheon should be such a serious pro­
vocation to God as.Job believed calls for an answer. In a purely pagan
environment, apart from the political and social consequences which
attended the arrival of a foreign god cuius regio eitts religio
- the
-

. change, for merely a change it was, would hardly be supposed to

provoke God to anger. Therefore it seems highly probable that
Job was a member of a considerable Jewish community, comparable
perhaps with the military colony at Yeb, and that it was the disasters
that overtook that community and the suppression of the religion of
such staunch monotheists as the author of the Book of Job that made
him criticise God's tolerance. He declared that he had never been
tempted to kiss his hand to the sun or moon in their splendour,
for that would have been to deny the most high God (xxxi. 26-28). As
the worship of the heavenly bodies was common throughout Arabia
these words need not necessarily refer to the religion of the Babylonian
invaders of his country; but they would fittingly apply to them.
Explicitly the author tells us nothing about Job's having been
dispossessed of all his property, though that would seem to be
implicit in what he writes of Job's plight: the great country landlord
whose favour was courted by all had confidently expected to live a
long life in his house with his children as can be seen from xxix. 18
of which the correct translation, as shown in Part B, is: -
Then I thought, er shall live long with my nestlings,
And I shall multiply my days as the phoenix.
1 For the text see CIS, II, 113 and for a transliteration see G.A. Cooke, NSI,
pp. 195 ff.
 INTRODUCTION 13

But instead he had become a homeless outcast, mocked by those he

would have disdained to sit with his dogs until quite recently; men
driven from the oases and reduced to starvation and cannibalism,
xxx. 3. It is all but impossible to understand how the starving rabble
could have spat upon him and attacked him (xxx. 14) unless, like
them, he was a helpless fugitive ; though, as he does not complain
of starvation, it would seem that he was able to carry away with
him enough sustenance to keep him and his wife alive.
In this connection the question might well be raised : if Jews
formed a significant part of Nabonidus' invading force, how .is the
treatment of Job to be accounted for? In all probability the answer is
that in the first onslaught Job's herds and herdsmen fell victims to
foraging bands of invaders who would not stop to enquire whose
property they were seizing; Needs must when the devil drives and
necessity knows no law. Job was a wealthy man with fertile lands
and livestock, just the kind of property that the Babylonians needed ;
and it is unlikely that with the best will in the world Jewish soldiers
in the Babylonian army could have given any overt support to Job,
though if his life was endangered they would no doubt have helped
him to escape. It would seem to be clear from vi. 22 that Job escaped
servitude and possibly death by paying a ransom from such of his
resources as had escaped the rapacity of the incoming army. He
reminded his three friends that he had not asked their help in finding
his ransom. Moreover, they were so afraid of the enemy that they
did not dare to help him. Were they to do so it would be clear to the
Babylonians that other sources of plunder were still untapped.
It is clear from the epilogue in xlii. 10 ff. where it is said that the
Lord restored the prosperity of Job, that the Babylonian occupation
of his homeland must have come to an end; and as we know that it
lasted ten years Job's fortunes must have taken a turn for the better
soon after 542. This passage contains an interesting indication that
there was a Jewish community in the I:Iijaz at the time and that they
were comparatively wealthy, for they were able to give him both
money 1 and jewelry of gold. It is clear that as soon as it was safe to

1 The coin used was a q"fi/ah. In Abbasid times a coin called a qis/ was current;
its value was 481 dirhams. The dirham weighed an eighth of an ounce in silver so
that a silver coin weighing j ust over 6 oz. may have been used. The value in
antiquity would have been considerable.
Maria Theresa dollars until recently were minted for use among the Arabs who
through the centuries have preferred large silver coins. When the treasures of the
Persians were looted by the conquering Arabs, a man was heard asking for some
14 INTRODUCTION

do so his relatives and friends conspired together to provide him

with the capital that was necessary to restore his ravaged farms and
purchase livestock.
It was dramatically fitting that a book which began with the horror
and suffering of armed invasion from Babylon, Israel's historic enemy,
should end happily with the departure of that enemy. Thus it. will be
apparent that the epilogue is not, as has been suggested, "a happy
ending" supplied by the writer so much as a record of what actually
happened to the righteous sufferer.
THE RELATION OF } OB TO OTHER BOOKS IN
THE OLD TESTAMENT

One important and interesting result of the dating of the book

of Job is that in some texts where there are verbal similarities between
Job and other books in the Old Testament the question of priority
is no longer a matter of debate. Further, where it is known, or where
there are good grounds for believing that these passages are post­
exilic, it must have been the book of Job which was original.
The passages in Job which resemble passages in other books are
collected in the I.C.C. 1 where it is said "The book . . . . is certainly
later than Ps. viii, for in vii. 17 the writer parodies Ps. viii, 5(4) ;
if, as is probable, Ps. viii implies familiarity with P, and P was
written about 500 B.C., this alone brings down the book of Job at
late as the 5th; century B.C." However, since it is now certain that
the book dates from the time of the Babylonian occupation of Terna
and the surrounding oases it is all but impossible to date Ps. viii later
than the days of the monarchy; and so if the psalm is pre-exilic, P, if
post-exilic, cannot possibly have had any influence on it.
Job xiv.11
Waters fail from a lake
And a river utterly dries up 2
compared with Is. xix. 5
Waters shall be dried up from a lake
And a river shall utterly dry up
one to give him a silver for a gold coin. The book of Job supplies a connecting
link between the days of Abraham and the days of the Caliphate. There is thus no
ground for the suggestion of some that the word is introduced here as a mark
of the patriarchal age.
1 P. lxviii.
2 A Hendiadys.
 INTRODUCTION 15

might well suggest that the author of Job had this verse in his mind
when he wrote, though the context is entirely different. The first
enunciates a general truth while the second is a prophecy of the fate
that awaits Egypt. The same might be said of Job xii. 24 :ff. compared
with Is. xix. 13 :ff . though the Hebrew is not so similar as in the pas­
sages just cited. In any case there is no inherent difficulty in assuming
that Job was familar with the pre-exilic portion of the book of Isaiah.
Some of the "parallels" that have been cited in the I.C.C. may be
no more than coincidences; e.g. Job in iii. 10 :ff. regrets that he had
ever been born and curses the day of his birth. The same despairing
cry is uttered by Jeremiah in xx. 14-18. If there is any dependence
here Job would be the debtor, for Jeremiah belonged to an earlier
generation; but thousands who have endured suffering which they felt
to be undeserved have wished that they had never been born and have
said so! Need we suppose that Shakespeare was indebted either to
Jeremiah or to Job when he put into Hamlet's mouth the words:
0 cursed spite
That ever I was born to set it right!
No good purpose would be served by going through the long
list of "parallels" which emanate from the common stock of Hebrew
phrase and idiom, nor need we stop to ask whether the first occurrence
of a simile is original to the writer who first makes it in the literature
that has come down to us. We do not know who first said of someone
that he was "as bold as brass" or "as hard as iron", nor do we want to
know.
Some of the later psalms and the Book of Lamentations undoubtedly
made use of passages in Job; compare Ps. cvii with the passages from
Job cited in the I.C.C. It may be inferred from these borrowings that
the text of Job was in the hands of Palestinian writers while the canon
was still open.
The author of Job was a literary genius with such an unsurpassed
command of language that it is difficult to believe that he had to go
to his predecessors for one or two hemistichs, though of course it
is not improbable that he was unconsciously influenced by some of the
utterances of the prophets.
 PAR T B
TRANSLATION
CHAPTER I

1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job, a man of
integrity, upright, fearing God and avoiding evil. 2He was the father
of seven sons and three daughters. 3He possessed seven thousand
sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five
hundred she-asses, and very many slaves ; so that this man was greater
than any of the children of the East. 4His sons used to go and hold a
feast in one another's houses, each one on his day; and they sent and
invited their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 And when
they had completed the round of their feasting days, Job sent and
sanctified them, and he would rise up early in the morning and offer
burnt sacrifices according to the number of them all; for Job. said:
It may be that my sons have sinned and belittled God in their hearts.
Thus did Job continually.
60n the day when the sons of God came to present themselves be­
fore the Lord, the Satan came also among them. 7And the Lord said unto
the Satan, 'Where have you been?' Then the Satan answered the
Lord and said:
'Going to and fro in the earth
And walking up and down in it'.
8And the Lord said to the Satan, 'Have you considered my servant
Job ? There is none like him in the earth, a man of integrity, upright,
fearing God and avoiding evil.' 9Then the Satan answered the Lord
and said, 'Does Job fear God for nothing? 1 0Have you not made
a hedge about him and his house and all that he has on every side?
You have blessed the work of his hands, and his property has increased
in the land. 11 But stretch forth your hand now, and touch all his
property, and he will surely curse you to your face.' 1 2And the Lord
said to the Satan, 'All that he has is in your power, only do not stretch
forth your hand against the man himself.> So the Satan went forth
from the presence of the Lord.
1 30n a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drink­
ing wine in their eldest brother's house, 1 4 a messenger came to
Leeds University Oriental Society Suppl. II 2
18 TRANSLATION

Job saying, 'The cows were ploughing, and the asses feeding beside
them; 15and the Sabeans plundered and took them away; they have
slain the servants without quarter, and I only escaped to tell you.'
16While this man was speaking, another came saying, 'The fire of God
fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the young men and
consumed them; and I only escaped to tell you.' 1 7While this man
was speaking, another came saying, <The Chaldeans formed themsel­
ves into three bands and made a raid upon the camels and took them
away and slew the young men without quarter; and I only escaped to
tell you.' 18While he was speaking, another came saying, 'Your sons
and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest
brother's house, 19when a great wind came from across the wilderness
and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young
men and they died; and I only escaped to tell you.' 20Then Job arose
and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the
ground and worshipped; 21and he said, 'Naked came I out of my
mother's womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord has given,
and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.'
22In spite of all this, Job did not sin nor did he charge God with
deliberate neglect.

CHAPTER II

10n the day when the sons of God came to present themselves
before the Lord, the Satan came also among them to present himself
before the Lord. 2And the Lord said to the Satan 'Where have you
been?' The Satan answered the Lord and said, 'Going to and fro
in the earth and walking up and down in it.' 3And the Lord said to
the Satan, 'Have you considered my servant Job? There is none
like him in the earth, a man of integrity, upright, fearing God and.
avoiding evil; and he still holds fast his integrities although you
move me against him to injure him without cause'. 4And the Satan
answered the Lord, 'Skin for skin, all that a man has he will give
for his life. 5But stretch forth your hand now and touch his bones
and his flesh, he will surely curse you to your face.' 6And the Lord
said to the Satan, <He is in your power, only spare his life.' 7So the
Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord and smote Job
with malignant boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his
head. 8And he took a potsherd to scrape himself with as he sat among
the ashes. 9Then his wife said to him, 'Do you still hold fast your
 TRANSLATION 19

integrity? Curse God and die.' 1 0 He answered, 'You speak a s one

of the ignoble women speak. Shall we receive good from God and
shall we not receive evil ?' In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
11When Job's three friends heard of all this misfortune that had
come upon him, each of them came from his own place : Eliphaz the
'
Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite : and
they made an appointment together to come and condole with him
and to comfort him. 12And when they lifted up their eyes, they did
not recognise him and they lifted up their voice and wept : and they
rent each one his mantle and sprinkled dust on their heads towards
heaven. 13They sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven
nights and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his pain
was very great.

CHAPTER III

(First cycle of speeches.' Ill-XIV)

1After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
2And Job answered and said :

3'Perish the day on which I was born

And the night on which a man child was conceived.
4Let that day be darkness!
Let not God regard it from above ;
Neither let the light shine upon it.
5Let darkness and black gloom shut it in ;
Let a cloud dwell upon it.
Let all that makes the day black overwhelm it.
6That night, let thick darkness take it!
Let it not be united to the days of the year ;
Let it not come into the number of the months.
7Let that night be barren ;
Let no joyful voice come therein.
8Let them curse it that curse the day,
Who are ready to rouse up Leviathan.
9Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark;
Let it look for light, but have none ;
Neither let it behold the eyelids of the morning ;
1 0Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb,
Nor hid trouble from mine eyes.
11Why did I not die from the womb?
20 TRANSLATION

Why did I not come forth from the belly and perish?
12Why did the knees receive me?
Or why the breasts that I should suck?
13For then I should have lain down and been quiet;
I should have slept ; then I should have been at rest;
14With kings and counsellors of the earth,
Who rebuilt ruined palaces for themselves;
1sor with princes that had gold,
Who filled their houses with silver;
1 60r as a hidden untimely birth I had not been;
As infants which never saw light.
1 7There the wicked cease from raging
And there the weary are at rest.
,
18The prisoners are at ease together; ,
They hear not the voice of the taskmaster.
19The small and great are there,
And the servant is free from his master.
2°Why is light given to him that is in misery,
And life unto the bitter in soul,
21Who long for death but it comes not;
And dig for it more than for hid treasures;
22Who rejoice when they come to the grave?
Who are glad when they find the grave?
23Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden,
And whom God has hedged in?
24For my sighing comes like my food
And my roarings are poured out like water.
25For the thing which I fear comes upon me,
And that which I dread comes to me.
26J have no ease and no quiet;
I have no rest, but turmoil comes.'

CHAPTER IV

1Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite saying :

2'If one attempts a word with you, will you be impatient?
But who can refrain from speaking?
ayou have instructed many,
And you have strengthened weak hands.
4Your words have held up the stumbling
 TRANSLATION 21

And you have . given strength to the knees.

5But now when it is come to you, you are faltering;
It touches you and you are dismayed.
6Is not your fear of God your confidence,
And your hope the integrity of your ways ?
7Remember, I pray you, whoever perished, being innocent?
Or where were the upright cut off?
8According to what I have seen, they that plough iniquity
And sow trouble, reap the same.
9By the breath of God they perish
And by the blast of his anger they are consumed.
1 0The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion
And the teeth of the young lions are no more.
11 The old lion perishes for lack of prey,
And the whelps of the lioness are scattered abroad.
1 2Now a word was secretly brought to me
And my ear received a whisper of it.
1 3In thoughts from the visions of the night,
When deep sleep falls on men,
1 4Fear came upon me and trembling
Which filled my bones with dread.
isA spirit passed before my face ;

The hair of my flesh bristled.

1 6It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance,
A form was before my eyes ;
I heard a still voice saying,
1 7Can a mortal be just before God ?
Or can a man be pure before his maker?
1 BHe puts no trust in his servants
And he charges his angels with folly.
1 9How much less them that dwell in houses of clay,
Whose foundation is in the dust,
Which are crushed like a moth.
2°Between morning and evening they are reduced to pieces ;
They perish forever without any regarding it.
12 Is not their tent cord plucked up within them?
They die, and that without wisdom.
 22 TRANSLATION

CHAPTER v

1Call now ; Is there any that will answer you?

And to which of the holy ones will you turn?
2For resentment kills the foolish man,
And jealousy slays the silly one.
3I have seen the foolish taking root ;
And suddenly his shoots rotted.
. 4His children are far from safety,
And they are crushed in the gate,
With none to deliver them.
5Whose harvest the hungry eat,
And take it to their famished ones,
And the foodless are eager for their substance.
6For affliction comes not forth from the dust,
Neither does trouble spring out of the ground ;
7But man is born unto trouble,
As the birds fly upward.
8But for my part I would seek unto God,
And unto God would I state my cause ;
9Who does great things and unsearchable ;
Marvellous things without number;
1 0Who gives rain upon the earth,
And send� waters upon the fields ;
11Who sets on high those that be low ;
And those who mourn are exalted to safety.
12He frustrates the devices of the crafty,
So that their hands cannot achieve success.
13He takes the wise in their own craftiness ;
And the counsel of the tortuous is hurried away.
14They meet with darkness in the daytime,
And grope at noonday as in the night.
15But he saves their captives . from the sword,
And the needy from the hands of the mighty.
1 6So the poor have hope,
And iniquity stops her mouth.
17Happy is the man whom God corrects ;
Therefore despise not the chastening of the Almighty.
·
18For he inflicts pain a�d binds up ;
He wounds and his hands heal.
 TRANSLATION 23

19He will deliver you in six troubles ;

Yea, in seven no evil will touch you.
2 01n famine he will ransom you from death,
And in war from the power of the sword.
21You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue
And you will not be afraid of calumny when it comes.
22At destruction and dearth you may laugh
And be not afraid of the beasts of the earth.
23For you will be in league with the stones of the field,
And the plants of the field shall be at peace with you.
24And you shall know that your tent is in peace,
And you shall visit your habitation and shall miss nothing.
25You shall know also that your seed shall be great,
And your offspring as the grass of the earth.
26You shall come to your grave in full strength
As a shock of corn comes up in its season.
27Lo this, we have searched it, so it is;
Hear it and know for yourself.'

CHAPTER VI

1Then Job answered and said:-

2'Would that my resentment and my ruin
Could be weighed one against the other!
3For it would be heavier tl?-an the sands of the seas;
For this reason my words have been wild.
4For the arrows of the Almighty are within me,
My spirit drinks up their poison;
The terrors of God set themselves in array against me.
5Does the wild ass bray when he has grass ?
Or does the ox low over his fodder ?
6Can the savourless be eaten without salt ?
Or is there taste in the white of an egg ?
7My appetite refuses to eat it,
My bowels sound as with an echo.
80h that I might have my request ;
And that God would grant me the thing that I hope for!
9That it would please God to crush me;
That he would let loose his hand and cut me off.
1 0Then this would be my comfort;
24 TRANSLATION

And I would exult in anguish that spares not,

For I have not disowned the words of the Holy One.
11What is my strength that I should wait ?
And what is my end that I should be patient ?
121s my strength the strength of stones ?
Or is my flesh of bronze ?
1a1s it not that I have no help in me,
And that sound wisdom is driven quite from me ?
14Verily one that despairs of his friends' kindness
Could forsake the fear of the Almighty.
15My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a wadi,
As the channel of wadis that pass away ;
16Which are turbid by reason of the ice
When the snow hides itself upon them ;
I 7When they melt they vanish ;
When it is hot they are consumed out of their place.
18Caravans that travel by way of them take a devious route ;
They go up into the waste and perish.
19The caravans of Terna looked,
The companies of Sheba waited for them.
20They were disappointed because they had hoped ;
They came there and were abashed.
21For now you have become (just) that.
You see a terror and are afraid.
22Did I say, "Give unto me?"
Or, "Offer a bribe for me out of your resources?"
230r, "Deliver me from the adversaries' hand ? "
Or, "Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors? "
24Teach me and I will be silent ;
And make me understand wherein I have erred.
25How hypocritical are words of uprightness!
But what does your arguing prove ?
2sno you think to reprove words
And to still the speeches of one that is desperate ?
27Yea, you would cast lots upon the fatherless,
And make merchandise of your friend.
28Now therefore be good enough to look at me ;
For surely I shall not lie to your face.
29Withdraw I pray, let there be no injustice ;
Withdraw, my cause is still righteous.
 TRANSLATION 25

30Js there injustice on my tongue?

Cannot my taste discriminate calamities?

CHAPTER VII

1Has not a man military service upon earth?

And are not his days like the days of a hireling?
2As a servant that earnestly longs for the shade,
And as a hireling that looks for his wages;
3So am I made to possess months of uselessness,
And nights of misery are appointed
. to me.
4When I lie down, I think :
When shall I arise? But the night is long;
And I am full of restlessness until the dawning of the day.
5My flesh is closed with rottenness and clods of dust;
My skin grows again and breaks out afresh.
6My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle,
And are come to an end without hope.
" 7Remember that my life is wind;
My eye will no more see good.
8The eye of him that sees me will behold me no more;
Your eyes will be upon me, but I shall not be.
9A cloud comes to an end and passes away,
So he that goes down to Sheol will come up no more.
10He will return no more to his house,
Nor will his place know him any more.
111 will not refrain from speech;
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
13 Am I a sea or a sea monster,
That you set a watch over me?
13When I say, "My bed shall comfort me,
My couch shall ease my complaint,"
14Then you frighten me with dreams,
And terrify me through visions;
15So that my soul chooses strangling
And death rather than my pains.
1 61 am in despair; I shall not live forever.
Let.me alone; for my days are as a breath.
1 7What is man that you should think him important?
26 TRANSLATION

And that you should pay attention to him,

1 8And that you should visit him every morning,
And trust him every moment?
19How long will you not look away from me,
Nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?
2 01£ I sinned what do I unto you, Oh watcher of men?
Why have you set me as a mark for your attacks,
So that I am a burden to myself?
21And why do you not pardon my transgressions, and take away my
iniquity?
For now I shall lie down in the dust;
And you shall seek me diligently, but I shall not be.'

CHAl?T'ER VIII

1Then answered Bildad the. Shuhite and said,

2'How long will you speak these things ?
And how long will the words of your mouth be like a mighty wind?
3Does God pervert judgement?
Or does the Almighty commit injustice? ·

41£ your sons have sinned against him,

Then he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.
51£ you would seek diligently unto God
And make your supplication to the Almighty;
61£ you are pure and upright;
Surely now he will arise himself on your behalf,
And make your righteous habitation prosperous,
7And though your beginning was small,
Your latter end should greatly increase.
8For enquire, pray, of the former generations
And apply yourself to that which their fathers have searched out :
9For we are but of yesterday and know nothing,
because our days upon earth are a shadow :
10Shall not they teach you and tell you
And utter words out of their understanding?
11Does the rush grow up without mud?
Can the reed grow without water?
12Whilst it is still green and not cut down,
It withers before any other herb.
13So are the paths of all that forget God;
 TRANSLATION 27

And the hope of the godless man perishes ;

14Whose confidence is as gossamer,
And whose trust is a spider's web.
15He shall lean upon his house but it will not stand :
If he takes fast hold of it it will not endure.
16He is full of sap before the sun,
And his shoots go forth over his garden.
17His roots are entwined over the heap ;
He comes against the place of stones.
18If he be destroyed from his place,
1'hen it shall deny him saying, "I have not seen you."
191'his is the ruin of his way,
And out of the dust shall another spring.
20Be assured God will not reject a man of integrity,
Nor will he take the evil doers by the hand.
21He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,
And your lips with a shout of joy.
22They that hate you shall be clothed with shame,
And the tent of the wicked shall be no more.'

CHAPTER IX

11'hen Job answered and said,

2'I know very well that it is so :
But how can man be just with God?
3If he wished to contend with him,
He could not answer him one question in a thousand.
4He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength;
Who has behaved boldly against him and. prospered ?
5Who removes mountains,
When he overturns them in his anger.
6Who shakes the earth out of her place,
And the pillars thereof tremble.
7Who commands the sun not to shine
And seals up the stars.
8Who alone stretches out the heavens,
And treads on the high storm waves.
9Who makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades,
And the chambers of the south.
1 0Who does great things past finding out;
28 TRANSLATION

Marvels without number.

11If he goes by me I do not see him;
If he passes on also I do not perceive him.
12If he seizes the prey who can turn him back?
Who will say to him, "What are you doing ?"
13God will not withdraw his anger;
The helpers of Rahab stooped under him.
14How much less can I answer him?
And choose my w ords to reason with him?
15Though I were in the right I could not answer him.
I should have made supplication to my adversary.
16If I had called and he had answered me ;
I do not believe that he would give ear to my voice.
17For he destroys me with a tempest,
Multiplies my wounds without cause.
18He will not let me take my breath,
But fills me with bitterness.
19If it be a question of the strength of the mighty, Lo it is he.
And if of judgement, who will appoint me a time ?
20Though I were righteous my mouth would condemn me ;
Though I were a man of integrity, he would declare me perverse.
211 am a man of integrity; I care not for myself;
I despise my life.
22It is all one; therefore I say,
"He brings to an end the perfect and the wicked".
23If a scourge slay suddenly,
He mocks at the despair of the innocent.
24The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
He covers the faces of the judges thereof;
If it be not he, who then is it ?
25Now my days are swifter than a post;
They flee away, they see no good.
26They go past like skiffs of papyrus,
Like an eagle that swoops on the prey.
27If I say, "I will forget my complaint,
I will put off my sad countenance and brighten up",
2 s1 am terrified of all my pains ;
I know that you will not hold me innocent.
29J shall be condemned ;
Why then do I labour in vain?
 TRANSLATION 29

3 0If I wash myself with snow water,

And clean my hands with lye,
31Then you will plunge me ip. the ditch;
My clothes will make me loathsome.
32For he is not a man as I am that I can answer him,
That we can come together in judgement.
33There is no arbiter between us,
That might lay his hand upon us both.
34Let him take his rod away from me,
And let not his terror make me afraid;
35Then would I speak and not fear him ;
For I am not so in myself.

CHAPTER x

lMy soul loathes my life ;

I will give free course to my complaint ;
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
21 will say unto God, "Do not condemn me;
Show me why you contend with me.
3ls it good for you that you should oppress,
That you should despise the work of your hands,
And shine upon the counsel of the wicked?
4Have you eyes of flesh,
Or do you see as a man sees ?
5Are your days as the days of man,
Or your years as man's days,
6That you seek after my iniquity,
And search after my sin,
7Although you know that I am not wicked;
And there is none that can deliver out of your hand?
8Your hands have framed me and fashioned me
Together round about ;
Yet you do destroy me.
9Remember, I pray, that you have fashioned me as clay,
And will you bring me to dust again?
10Have you not poured me out as milk,
And curdled me like cheese?
uyou have clothed me with skin and flesh.
And knit me together with bones and sinews.
30 TRANSLATION

12You have granted me life and kindness,

And your visitation has preserved my spirit.
13Yet these things you did hide in your heart;
I know that this was in your mind ;
14If I were to sin you would watch me,
And would not acquit me from my iniquity.
15If I were wicked, then woe to me ;
And if I were righteous, yet should I not lift up my head;
Being filled with ignominy
And sated with my affliction.
16And if my head exalted itself you would hunt me as a lion,
And again and again would show your marvellous power against me.
17You renew your attack against me,
And increase your resentment against me ;
Military service and relief duty are my portion.
18Why then have you brought me forth out of the womb ?
I ought to have died, and no eye ought to have seen me.
19! should have been as though I had not been ;
I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
20Are not my days few? Cease then,
And let me alone that I may brighten up a little,
21Before I go whence I shall not return,
To the land of darkness and dense gloom;
22A land of thick darkness as darkness itself;
A land of dense gloom without any order,
And where the very light has gone." '

CHAPTER XI

1Then answered Zophar the Naamathite and said,

2' Should not the multitude of words be answered?
And should a man full of talk be j ustified?
3Should your boastings make men hold their peace ?
And when you mock, shall no man put you to shame ?
4For you say, "My doctrine is pure,
And I am clean in Thine eyes".
5But Oh that God would speak,
And open his lips with you ;
6And that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom,
For they are marvellous in effectual working.
 TRANSLATION 31

Know then that God will ignore some of your iniquity.

7Can you find out the immensity of God?
Can you attain to the limits of the Almighty?
8They are higher than Heaven; what can you do ?
Deeper than Sheol ; what can you know ?
9Longer in measure than the earth
And broader than the sea.
1 0If he passes by and arrests,
And if he rebukes severely, then who can answer him ?
11For he knows vain men ;
He sees iniquity also, even though he considers it not.
12But an empty man will get understanding
When a wild ass's colt is born a man.
13If you set your heart aright
And stretch out your hands towards him,
14If iniquity be in your hand, put it far away
And let not unrighteousness dwell in your tents.
15Surely you can lift up your face without spot
And you will be established and will not fear.
I6For you will forget your misery
And remember it as waters that have passed away.
17And your life shall be clearer than the noonday ;
Though it be dark, it shall be as the morning.
1 8And you will be secure, because there is hope ;
You will be protected and can lie down in safety.
19You can lie down with none to make you afraid,
And many shall seek your favour.
20But the eyes of the wicked shall fail,
And they shall have no way to flee,
And their hope is the giving up of the ghost.'

CHAPTER XII

1Then Job answered and said,

2'No doubt but you are the people,
And wisdom will die with you.
3But I have understanding as well as you ;
I am not inferior to you ;
4Who does not know such things as these ?
I a m a s one who i s a laughing stock to his neighbour,
32 TRANSLATION

A man that called upon God and he afflicted him;

The just man is a laughing stock.
5The man of integrity suffers calamity.
There is contempt for the stumbling of a magnate,
Mockery for those whose foot slips.
6The tents of the invaders are free from anxiety,
And they that provoke God are secure ;
Even he who brings a god in his hand.
7But now ask the beasts and they shall teach you,
And the birds of the air they shall tell you ;
80r the crawling things of the earth - they shall teach you;
And the fishes of the sea shall declare unto you.
9Who does not know all these things,
That the hand of the Lord has wrought this ?
1 0In whose hand is the soul of every living thing,
And the breath of all mankind.
11Does not the ear test words
Even as the palate tastes food?
12with aged men is wisdom,
And length of days is understanding.
13With him is wisdom and power;
He has counsel and understanding.
14He tears down and it cannot be built again;
He shuts up a man and there can be no release.
15He witholds the waters and they dry up ;
Again he sends them out and they overturn the earth.
16With Him is strength and effectual working ;
He who errs and he who leads into error are his.
1 7He leads counsellors away in fetters,
And makes fools of judges.
1sHe looses the bond imposed by kings,
And binds their loins with a waist cloth.
19He leads priests away in fetters,
And overthrows the firmly established.
20He deprives the trusty of their speech,
And takes away the discretion of the elders.
21He pours contempt upon princes,
And looses the belt of the nobles.
22He reveals deep things out of darkness,
And brings out to light the deepest gloom,
 TRANSLATION 33

23He increases the nations and destroys them;

He spreads peoples abroad and displaces them
24He tak;es away the heart of the chiefs of the people of the land,
And causes them to wander in a pathless desert.
25They grope in the dark without light,
And he makes them wander about like a drunken man.

CHAPTER XIII

1My eye has seen all this,

My ear has heard and understood it.
2What you know I know also;
I am not inferior to you.
3But I would speak to the Almighty,
And I desire to argue with God.
4But you are plasterers of lies,
You are all worthless physicians.
50h that you would but be silent!
That would be wise of you.
6Hear now my reproof,
And attend to the pleadings of my lips.
7Will you speak unrighteously for God,
And talk deceitfully for him ?
8Will you show partiality for him?
Will you contend for God ?
9Is it good that he should search you out ?
Or as one deceives a man will you deceive him ?
10He will surely reprove you,
If you show partiality secretly.
11Shall not his loftiness make you afraid,
And his dread fall upon you ?
12Your reminders are proverbs of ashes,
Your replies are dusty answers.
13Hold your peace, let me alone that I may speak,
And let come on me what will.
. 141 will take my flesh in my teeth,
And put my life in my hand.
15Though he slay me yet �ill I wait for him ;
Nevertheless I will maintain my ways before him.
16Moreover what assures me of ·success
Leeds University Oriental Society Suppl. II 3
34 TRANSLATION

Is that a godless man cannot come before him.

17Listen carefully to my word
And let my voice be in your ears.
ISTake note, pray, that I have set out my case;
I know that I am in the right.
19Who is he that will contend with me ?
For then would I be silent and give up my life.
20But do not do two things to me,
Then I will not hide myself from your face; .
21Withdraw your hand far from me ;
And let not your terror make me afraid.
22Then call and I will answer ;
Or let me speak and answer me.
23How many are my iniquities and sins ?
Make me know my transgression and my sin.
24Why do you hide your face,
And treat me as an enemy?
25Will you harass a driven leaf?
And will you pursue the dry stubble ?
2 syou write bitter things against me,
And make me inherit the iniquities of my youth ;
27You put my feet in the stocks and mark all my paths ;
You draw a line about the soles of my feet;
28I am like a wine skin that wears out,
Like a garment that is moth-eaten.

CHAPTER XIV

1Man that is born of a woman

Is of few days and full of trouble.
2He comes forth like a flower and is cut down ;
He flees as a shadow and continues not.
3And do you open your eyes upon such a one,
And bring me into judgement with you?
40h that a clean thing could come out of an unclean thing!
Not one can.
5Ifhis days are determined, the number of his months is known to you,
And you have appointed his limit that he cannot pass ;
6Look away from him and let him alone,
Until he can enjoy like a hireling his day.
 TRANSLATION 35

7For there is hope of a tree if it be cut down,

That it will sprout again,
And that its shoot will not cease.
8Though its root wax old in the earth, and its stump die in the ground ;
9At the scent of water it will bud,
And put forth boughs like a plant.
IOBut man dies and passes away;
Man gives up the ghost and where is he ?
11Waters fail from a lake,
And a river utterly dries up ;
I2So man lies down and rises not ;
Till the heavens be no more.
They shall not awake,
Nor be roused out of their sleep.
130h that you would hide me in Sheol
And you would keep me secret until your wrath tire,
That you would appoint me a limit and remember me!
I4If a man die, shall he live again ?
All the days of my military service would I wait,
Till my relief should come.
15Y ou would call and I would answer you ;
You would long for the work of your hands.
16But now you number my steps ;
Do you not watch over my sin?
17My transgression is sealed up in a bag,
And you fasten up my iniquity.
1 8But as a mountain falling wears away,
And rock is removed out of its place,
19Waters wear away the stones ;
And its overflowings wash away the dust of the earth;
20 So you destroy the hope of man.
You prevail forever against him and he passes away ;
You change his countenance and send him away.
21His sons come to honour and he knows it not ;
They are brought low but he perceives it not of them.
220nly his flesh upon him has pain,
And his soul upon him mourns. '
 36 TRANSLATION

CHAPTER XV

(Second rycle of speeches: XV-XX!)

1Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite and said;
2'Should a wise man answer with vain knowledge,
And fill his belly with the east wind ?
3Should he argue with unprofitable talk,
And with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
4Yea, you do away with fear,
And restrain devotion before God.
5For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
And you choose the tongue of the crafty.
6Your own mouth condemns you and not I ;
And your own lips testify against you.
7Were you the first man to be born ?
And were you brought forth before the hills ?
8 Do you listen to the secret counsel of God?
And do you monopolise wisdom to yourself?
9What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand which we do not ?
10
Among us are both the grey-headed and the aged,
Older than your father in days.
11Are the consolations of God too small for you,
And the word spoken gently with you ?
12Why does your heart make you defiant ?
And what do your eyes hint at?
13That you turn your spirit against God,
. And let such words go out of your mouth.
14What is man that he should be clean:?
·And that one born of woman should be righteous ?
15He puts no trust in his holy ones ;
And the heavens are not clean in his sight.
16How much less one that is abominable and tainted,
A man that drinks iniquity like water!
1 71 will tell you, listen to me;
And that which I have seen I will declare;
1 s(Which wise men declare
From their fathers without hiding it;
19To whom alone the land was given,
And no foreigner stayed long among them;)
 TRANSLATION 37

20The wicked man travails with pain all his days,

And the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.
21A sound of terrors is in his ears ;
In prosperity the invader shall come upon him ;
22He has no confidence that he will return from darkness,
And he is reserved for the sword;
23He wanders about for bread, saying "Where is it?"
He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
24Distress and anguish make him afraid ;
They prevail against him as a king ready to the battle ;
25Because he has stretched out his hand against God
And behaves himself proudly against the Almighty;
26He runs against him with a stiff neck,
With the thick bosses of his bucklers ;
27Because he has covered his face with his fatness,
And made collops of fat on his flanks ;
28And he has dwelt in ruined cities,
In houses which no man should inhabit,
Which were destined to become heaps.
29He will not become rich; neither shall his substance endure.
Neither shall their produce bend to the earth.
3'0He shall not depart out of darkness ;
The flame dries up his shoots,
And his bud is carried away by the wind.
31Let him not trust in tyrannous wares ;
For ruin will be his recompense.
32It shall be paid in full before his time,
And his branch will not flourish.
33He shakes off his unripe grape as the vine,
And casts off his flower as the olive.
34For the company of the godless is sterile,
And fire consumes the tents of bribery.
35They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity,
And their belly prepares deceit.'

CHAPTER XVI

1Then Job answered and said,

2'I have heard all this before ;
Wearisome comforters are you all.
38 TRANSLATION

3Shall windy words have an end ?

Or what provokes you that you answer?
41 could say the same as you ;
If I were in your position,
I could compose sentences against you,
And shake my head at you.
51 could strengthen you with my mouth,
And the movement of my lips would not stop.
6Were I to speak, my pain would not be kept back ;
Were I to stop talking, how should I be eased ?
7But now he has wearied me.
You have made desolate all my company and laid hold on me,
8It is a witness and has risen up against me;
My leanness testifies to my face.
9Wrath has torn me and with hatred persecuted me.
He has gnashed upon me with his teeth ;
My adversary looks sharply upon me.
lOThey gape upon me with their mouth ;
They smite my cheeks reproachfully ;
They gather themselves together against me.
11God has delivered me to the ungodly,
And thrown me into the hands of the wicked.
121 was at ease and he roughly disturbed me;
He took me by the scruff of the neck and savaged me ;
He has set me up for his target.
13His archers surround me;
He cuts open my kidneys asunder without pity ;
He spills my gall upon the ground.
14He breaks me with breach upon breach ;
He runs upon me like a warrior.
151 have sewn sackcloth upon my skin,
And have lain my horn in the dust.
16My face is red with weeping,
And on my eyelids is thick darkness ;
17Although there is no violence in my hands,
And my prayer is pure.
1soh earth, do not cover my blood,
And let my cry have no resting place.
19Even now my witness is in heaven,
And he that vouches for me is on high.
 TRANSLATION 39

20My friends scorn me;

But my eye pours out tears to God;
21That he would decide for a man with God,
And between a son of man and his neighbour.
22For a few years will come,
And I shall go the way whence I shall not return.

CHAPTER XVII

1My life is precarious, my days are shortened,

The grave awaits me.
2Surely there are mockers with me,
And my eye continually suffers their provocation.
3Give now a pledge, be surety for me with yourself;
Who is there that will strike his hands to mine ?
4For you have hidden their heart from understanding ;
Therefore you will not exalt them.
5He that denounces his friends for a prey,
· Even the eyes of his children shall fail.
6He has made me a byword of the peoples ;
And I am become as one in whose face they spit.
7My eye also is dimmed by reason of vexation,
And all my members are as a shadow.
8Upright men are astonished at this,
And the innocent stirs himself against the godless.
9Yet the righteous holds his way,
And he that has clean hands waxes stronger and stronger.
10But return you, all of you, and come now ;
And I shall not find a wise man among you.
11My days are past, my purposes are broken off,
Even the desires of my heart.
12They change the night into day;
The light they say is near to darkness.
13If I look for Sheol as my house ;
-If I have spread my couch in the darkness ;
14If I have said to the pit "You are my father" ;
To the worm "You are my mother and my sister" ;
15Where then is my hope and who will see my steadfast piety ?
16Will they go down to the bars of Sheol
Or shall we descend together to the dust ?'
40 TRANSLATION

CHAPTER XVIII

1Then answered Bildad the Shuhite and said :

2'How long will you lay snares for words ?
Express yourself plainly,
And afterwards we can speak.
3Why are we counted as beasts,
Why are we [regarded as stupid] in your sight ?
4You that tear yourself in your anger,
. Shall the earth be forsaken on your account ?
Or shall a rock be removed from its place ?
5The light of the wicked is extinguished,
And the flame of his fire does not shine.
6The light is dark in his tent,
And his lamp above him is extinguished.
7The steps of his strength are narrowed,
And his own counsel casts him down.
8For he is brought into a net by his own feet,
And he walks upon the toils.
9A gin takes him by the heel�
The snare catches him .

1 0A noose is hid for him in the ground,

And a trap for him on the way.
11Terrors frighten him on every side,
And dog his every step ;
12His strength becomes weak,
And calamity is ready for his stumbling.
13His body is eaten away by disease ;
The firstborn of death devours his members.
14He is torn out of his tent wherein he trusted,
And he is brought to the king of terrors.
15There dwells in his tent that which is none of his ;
Brimstone is scattered upon his habitation.
16His roots are dried up beneath,
And above his branch is cut off.
17His remembrance perishes from the earth,
And he has no name in the open country.
lSHe is thrust from the light into darkness,
And chased out of the world.
19He has neither kith nor kin among his people,
 TRANSLATION 41

Nor any survivor where he soj ourned.

20They that come after shall be appalled at his day,
As they that went before are horrified.
21surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous,
And this is the place of him that knows not God.'

CHAPTER XIX

1Then Job answered and said :

2'How long will you pain my soul,
And wound me with words ?
3These ten times have you insulted me ;
You are not ashamed to wrong me.
4If indeed I have unwittingly erred,
My error remains with myself.
5If indeed you dispute with me,
And argue against my reproach;
6Know that God has subverted me in my cause,
And has drawn his net round me.
7If I cry out "Violence", I am not heard ;
If I cry for help, there is no judgement.
8He has walled up my way that I cannot pass,
And has set a thorn hedge 'on my paths.
9He has stripped me of my glory,
And taken the crown from my head.
10He has broken me down on every side,
And I am gone ;
And my hope he has plucked up like a tree.
11He has kindled his wrath against me,
And he counts me as one of his adversaries.
12His troops come in a body and cast up their way against me,
And encamp round about my tent.
13He has put my blood brethren far from me,
And my acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.
14My kinsmen and my familiar friends have failed,
Guests in my house have forgotten me.
15My maids regard me as a stranger and I have become a foreigner in
their eyes.
161 call to my servant and he does n.ot answer ;
42 TRANSLATION

I must use words of entreaty.

17My breath is strange to my wife,
And my supplication to the children of my mother's womb.
18Even young children despise me ;
I would arise and they speak against me.
19All my intimate friends abhor me ;
And they whom I loved are turned against me.
2 0My bone cleaves to my skin and to my flesh ;
And I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
21Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, you my friends ;
For the hand of God has touched me.
22Why do you persecute me as God,
And are not satisfied with my flesh?
2awould that my words were written!
That they were inscribed on bronze!
24That with an iron pen and lead
They were graven in the rock forever!
251 know in my heart that my redeemer lives,
And that the eternal shall stand upon the earth ;
26And after my body has perished,
I shall see my vindicator, God himself.
27Him I shall see on my side,
And my eyes shall see him unestranged;
My reins fail with longing within me.
281£ you say "How we will persecute him
Seeing that the root of the matter is found in him",
29Be afraid of the sword ;
For in wrath fall the punishments of the sword,
And you may know there is a judgement.'

CHAPTER XX

1Then answered Zophar the Naamathite and said,

2'My thoughts provide me with an answer,
And after further thought boldness rises within me.
3Must I listen to harsh criticism of what I said,
When out of my understanding a spirit enables me to reply.
4Do you know this (as being) of old,
Since man was placed upon earth,
5That the triumphing of the wicked is short,
 TRANSLATION 43

And the joy of the godless but for a moment?

6Though his head mount up to the heavens,
And hls crown reach up to the clouds,
7Yet he perishes forever like his own dung ;
They who see him say "Where is he?"
8He flies away as a dream and is not to be found ;
He is chased away as a vision of the night.
9The eye which saw him sees him no more ;
Neither does his place any more behold him.
10His childeren seek the favour of the poor,
And his hands give back his wealth
11His bones are full of his youth,
But it will lie down with him in the dust.
12Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth,
Though he hide it under his tongue ;
13Though he spare it and does not let it go,
But keeps it still within his mouth ;
14Yet his food in his bowels is turned,
The gall of asps is within him.
15He swallows down riches and vomits them up again ;
God makes his belly reject them.
16He sucks the poison of asps ;
The viper's tongue slays him.
17He shall not look upon the rivers,
The flowing streams of honey and butter.
18Restoring that which he laboured for he does not swallow it;
The money he makes by trading brings him but little satisfaction,
19For he demolishes the house restored by the poor;
He takes it as his own property and does not rebuild it.
20For he knows no quietness in his belly,
He will not escape with his possessions.
21Nothing escapes his greed;
Therefore his prosperity does not endure.
22In the fullness of his sufficiency he is in straits ;
The hand of everyone that is in misery comes upon him.
23May his belly be filled!
May God send the heat of his wrath into it,
And rain it upon him into his very bowels!
24Let him flee from the iron weapon.
The bow of brass shall strike him through.
44 TRANSLATION

2sHe draws it forth,

And it comes out of his middle,
And the glittering point out of his gall;
Terrors come upon him.
26Nothing but darkness is laid up for his treasures ;
A fire not blown by man devours him ;
The survivor in his tent is terrified.
27The heavens reveal his iniquity,
And the earth rises up against him .

28The increase of his house departs,

As things swept away in the day of his wrath.
29This is the portion of a wicked man from God,
And the heritage appointed him by God.'

CHA'.PTER XXI

1Then Job answered and said,

2'Listen carefully to what I say,
And let this be your consolation.
3Bear with me while I speak,
And after I have spoken you may sneer.
4As for me, is my complaint of man,
And why should I not be impatient?
5Mark me and be astonished,
And lay your hand upon your mouth.
6Even when I remember I am dismayed
And horror takes hold of my flesh.
7Why do wicked men live,
Prosper and become exceeding rich?
8Their seed is established with them in their sight,
And their offspring before their eyes.
9Their houses are safe from fear,
Neither is the rod of God upon them.
10Their bull impregnates and fails not;
Their cow calves without miscarriage.
11They send forth their little ones like a flock,
And their children dance.
12They rejoice with the timbrel and harp,
And are merry at the sound of the pipe.
13They end their days in prosperity,
 TRANSLATION 45

And in a moment they go down to Sheol.

14Yet they said unto God "Depart from us ;
For we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
15What is the Almighty that we should serve him ?
And what profit should we have if we pray unto him?"
16Behold their prosperity is not in their hand ;
The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
1 7How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?
And their calamity comes upon them?
And God distributes ruin in his anger?
18That they are as stubble before the wind,
And as chaff that the storm carries away?
19You say "God lays up his iniquity for his children".
Let him recompense it to the man himself that he may know it.
2 0Let his own eyes see his calamity,
And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21For what interest has he in his house after him,
When the number of his months is brought to an end?
22Shall any teach God knowledge
Seeing he judges those that are high?
230ne man dies in his full strength,
Being wholly at ease and quiet ;
24His breasts are full of fat,
And the marrow of his bones is moistened.
25And another man dies with a bitter soul,
And never tastes anything good.
26Together they lie down in the dust,
And the worm covers them.
2 71 know full well what you are thinking,
And what you wrongfully whisper against me.
28For you say "Where is the house of the prince ?
J\nd where is the tent wherein the wicked dwelt ?"
29Have you not asked the wayfarers ?
And do you not repudiate what they say?
30That the evil man is withheld for the day of calamity?
That they are smitten with disease on the day of wrath ?
31Who shall declare his way to his face?
And who shall repay him what he has done ?
32Yet he is borne to the grave,
And watch is kept over the tomb.
46 TRANSLATION

33The clods of the valley are sweet unto him,

And all men will draw after him ,

As there were innumerable before him .

34How then comfort you me in vain,

Seeing in your answers there remains only fraud?'
CH.Al?TER XXII
(Third cycle of speeches: XXII-XXXI)
1Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite and said,
2'Can a man be profitable unto God?
No, but he that acts wisely is profitable unto himself.
3ls it any interest to the Almighty that you are righteous ?
Or gain that you make your ways perfect?
4Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you,
That he enters with you into judgement?
5ls not your wickedness great?
And there is no end to your iniquities.
6For you have taken pledges of your brother for nothing,
And stripped the naked of their clothing.
7You have not given water to the weary to drink,
And you have withheld bread from the hungry
8The man with power held the land,
And the man who enjoyed respect dwelt in it.
9Widows you have sent empty away,
And the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
10Therefore snares are round about you,
And sudden fear dismays you.
11All darkness that you cannot see,
And abundance of waters cover you.
12Is not God in the height of heaven
And sees the highest of the stars,
How high they be?
13And you say "What does God know?
Can he judge through the thick darkness ?
14Thick clouds are a covering to him and he does not see,
And he walks on the vault of heaven."
15Will you keep the old way
Which wicked men trod?
16Who were snatched away before their time,
Whose foundation was poured out as a stream;
 TRANSLATION 47

17Who said to God "Depart from us" ;

And "What can the Almighty do to us ?"
18Yet he filled their houses with good things ;
But the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
19The righteous saw it and were glad;
And the innocent laughed them to scorn;
2 0Saying "Surely they that rose us against us are cut off,
And the remnant of them fire has consumed."
21Accustom yourself to him, and be at peace;
Thereby your increase will be good.
22Receive, I pray you, direction from his mouth,
And lay up his words in your heart.
231£ you return to the Almighty,
You will be built up ;
If you put away unrighteousness far from your tents,
24And lay gold ore in the dust,
And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the wadis ;
25Then the Almighty shall be your gold ore,
And as the finest silver unto you.
2 6For then you can delight in the Almighty,
And lift up your face unto God.
2 7You can make your prayer unto him and he will hear you;
And you can pay your vows.
28You can decree a thing and it will be established for you;
And light will shine upon your ways.
29When they cast you down you shall say there is lifting up ;
And the humble person he shall save.
3 0He shall deliver whomsoever is innocent;
And you will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.'

CHAPTER XXIII

1Then Job answered and said,

2'Even today is my complaint bitter;
His hand is heavy upon my groaning.
30h that I knew where that I might find him,
That I might come even to his seat!
41 would set out my case before him,
And fill my mouth with arguments.
51 would know the words which he would answer me,
48 TRANSLATION

And understand what he would say to me.

6Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?
No ; but he would give heed to me.
7There an upright man would be arguing with him;
And I should be delivered forever from my judge.
8If I go forward he is not there ;
And if I go backward I cannot perceive him ;
9When he goes to the left I cannot behold him:;
When he turns to the right I cannot see him.
1°For he knows the way that I take ;
If he tries me I shall come forth as gold.
11My foot has held fast to his steps;
His way have I kept and turned not aside.
121 have not gone back from the commandments of his lips ;
I have treasured up the words of his mouth more than my necessary
food.
13But he is unique, and who can oppose him?
He does whatever he wishes.
14For he will complete that which is appointed for me ;
And the many similar plans he has.
15Therefore I am dismayed at his presence ;
When I consider I am afraid of him.
16For God has made my heart faint,
And the Almighty has dismayed me ;
17But I am not put to silence because of the darkness,
Nor because of the thick darkness which covers my face.

CHAPTER XXIV

1Why are times not laid up by the Almighty?

And why do not they which know him see his days ?
2They remove landmarks ;
They violently take away flocks and feed them.
3They drive away the ass of the fatherless,
They take the widow's ox for a pledge.
4They turn the needy out of the way;
The poor of the land hide themselves together.
5Behold, as wild asses in the desert
That go forth on their business,
They go early to the steppe for meat,
 TRANSLATION 49

(To see) if there be food for their children.

6They cut their provender in the field;
And they glean the vintage of the rich.
7They lie all night naked without clothing,
And have no covering in the cold.
8They are wet with the showers of the mountains,
And embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
9There are they that pluck the fatherless from the breast,
And take a pledge of the poor;
10So that they go about naked without clothing,
And being hungry they carry the sheaves ;
11They make oil within the walls of these men;
They tread their wine presses, and suffer thirst,
12From out of the populous city men groan, ·

And the soul of the wounded cries out;

Yet God imputes it not for folly.
13These are of those that rebel against the light;
They know not the ways thereof.
14The murderer rises with the light, he kills the poor and needy;
'
And in the night he is as a thief.
15The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight,
Saying "No eye shall see me" ;
And he disguises his face.
16In the dark they dig through the houses ;
They shut themselves up in the daytime;
They know not the light.
17The darkness is to all of them as morning;
For they repudiate all fear of wrong doing.
1 8He is swift upon the face of the waters ;
Their portion is cursed in the earth;
None shall turn by the way of the vineyards.
19When drought and heat are great
The snow waters fail to flow.
2 0May the womb that bore him forget him;
May his grave be no more remembered;
And may unrighteousness be uprooted as a tree.
21He devours the barren that bear not;
And does not good to the widow.
22He draws away the mighty also by his power;
He rises up, and no man is sure of life.
Leeds University Oriental Society Suppl. II 4
50 TRANSLATION

23God gives them to be in insecurity, and they rest thereon;

And his eyes are upon their ways.
24They are exalted ; yet a little while and they are gone ;
Yea they are brought low, they are taken out of the way as all others,
And are cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.
25And if it be not so now, who will prove me a liar
And make my speech nothing worth?'

CHAPTER XXV
'

1Then answered Bildad the Shuhite and said,

2'Dominion and fear are with him;
He makes peace in his high places.
3ls there any number to his armies ?
And upon whom does not his light arise?
4How then can man be just with God?
Or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?
5Behold even the moon has no brightness
And the stars are not pure in his sight.
6How much less man that is a worm!
And the son of man which is a worm!'

CHAPTE R XXVI
,

IThen Job answered and said,

2'How have you helped him that is without power!
How have you saved the arm that has no strength!
3How have you counselled him that has no wisdom,
And plentifully declared sound knowledge!
4To whom have you uttered words ?
And whose spirit came forth from you?
5They that are deceased tremble beneath the waters and the inhabitants
thereof.
6Sheol is naked before him and Abaddon has no covering.
7He stretches out the north over empty space,
And hangs the earth on nothing.
8He binds up the waters in his thick clouds ;
And the cloud is not rent under them.
9He closes in the face of his throne,
and spreads his cloud upon it.
 TRANSLATION 51

10He has described a boundary upon the face of the waters,

To the confines of night and darkness.
11The pillars of heaven tremble
And are astonished at his rebuke.
12He stirs. up the sea with his power
And by his understanding he smites through Rahab.
13By his spirit the heavens are garnished;
His hand has pierced the swift serpent.
14Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways;
And how small a whisper do we hear of him!
But the thunder of his power who can understand?'

CHAPTER XXVII

1And Job again took up his parable and said :-

2'As God lives, who has taken away my right;
And the Almighty, who has embittered my soul;
3(For my life is yet whole in me,
And the spirit of God is in my nostrils)
4Surely my lips shall not speak unrighteously,
Neither shall my tongue utter deceit.
5God forbid that I should justify you;
Till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
6My righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go ;
My mind will not change as long as I live.
7Let my enemy be as the wicked,
And let him that rises up against me be as the unrighteous.
8For what is the hope of the godless, even though he gets profit,
When God demands his life?
9Will God hear his cry
When trouble comes upon him?
1 0Will . he delight himself in the Almighty,
And call upon God at all times ?
111 will teach you about the hand of God;
That which is with the Almighty I will not conceal.
12Behold all you yourselves have seen it;
Why then have you become altogether vain?
13This is the portion of a wicked man with God,
And the heritage of oppressors which they receive from the Almighty.
14Are his children multiplied for the sword?
 52 TRANSLATION

And are his offspring not satisfied with food ?

15Are those that remain of him buried in death,
While his widows shall make no lamentation?
16Though he heap up silver as the dust,
And prepare raiment as the clay ;
17Does he prepare it and the just wear it,
And the innocent divide the silver?
18Does he build his house as the spider,
And as a booth which the keeper makes ?
19Does he lie down rich and shall he not be gathered ?
Does he open his eyes and find that he i s not ?
2 0Do terrors overtake him like waters ?
Does the tempest steal him away in the night ?
21Does the east wind carry him away so that he departs ?
Does it sweep him out of his place ?
22Does God hurl at him unsparingly,
So that he would fain flee out of his hand?
23Do men clap their hands at him,
And hiss him out of his place?

CHAPTER XXVIII
1Surely there is a mine for silver,
And a place for gold which they refine.
2Iron is taken out · of the earth,
And brass is molten out of the stone. ·
3Man sets an end to darkness,
And searches out to the furthest bound
The stones of thick darkness and of the shadow of death.
4He cuts a shaft through the covering of chalk.
1'hose who are swept off their feet
Hang suspended far from men, swinging to and fro.
5As for the earth, out of it cometh bread ;
And underneath it is turned up as it were by fire.
6The stones of it are the place of sapphires,
And it has dust of gold. ·

7That path no bird of prey knows,

' Nor has the falcon's eye seen it;
8The proud beasts have not trodden it,
Nor has the fierce lion passed thereby.
9He puts forth his hand upon the flinty rock ;
 TRANSLATION .53

He overturns the mountains by the roots.

10He cuts out channels among the rocks ;
And his eye sees every precious thing.
n He binds the streams that they trickle not;

And a thing that is hidden brings he forth to light.

· I2But where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
13Man does not know the price of it;
Neither is it found in the land of the living.
14The deep says "It is not in me" ;
And the sea says "It is not with me".
I5Jt cannot be got for gold,
Nor shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.
16It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir,
With the precious onyx or the sapphire.
17Gold and glass cannot equal it;
Neither shall the exhange thereof be jewels of fine gold.
1 8No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal;
The price of wisdom is above rubies.
19The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it,
Neither shall it be valued with pure gold.
20Where then does wisdom come from?
And where is the place of understanding?
21Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living,
And kept close from the fowls of the air.
22Destruction and death say,
"We have heard a rumour of it with our ears".
23God understands the way of it,
And he knows the place of it.
24For he looks to the ends of the earth,
And sees under the whole heaven;
25To make a weight for the wind;
He measures out the waters by measure.
26When he made a decree for the rain,
And a way for the clouds ;
27Then did he see it and declare it;
He established it, and searched it out.
2 sAnd unto man he said,
"Behold the fear of the Lord that is wisdom;
And to depart from evil is understanding" '.
 54 TRANSLATION

CHAPTER XXIX

1And Job again took up his parable and said,

2'0h that I were as in the months of old,
As in the days when God watched over me;
3When his lamp shined upon my head,
And by his light I walked through darkness ;
4As I was in the prime of life,
When my tent was under God's protection;
5When the Almighty was yet with me,
And my children were about me;
6When my steps were washed with butter,
And the rock poured me out rivers of oil!
7When I went out of the gate to the city,
When I prepared my seat in the broad place,
8The young men saw me and hid themselves,
And the aged rose up and stood;
9The princes refrained from talking,
And laid their hand on their mouth;
10The voice of the nobles was hushed,
And their tongue clave to the roof of their mouth.
11For when the ear heard me then it blessed me;
And when the eye saw me it gave witness unto me;
· 12Because I delivered the poor that cried,
The fatherless also that had none to help him.
13The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me;
And I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.
141 put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
My justice was as a robe and a turban.
151 was eyes to the blind,
And feet was I to the lame.
161 was a father to the needy;
And the cause of him that I knew not I searched out.
17And I broke the great teeth of the unrighteous,
And plucked the prey out of his teeth.
1 8Then I thought, "I shall live long with my nestlings,
And I shall multiply my days as the phoenix;
19My root open to the waters,
And the night mist lodging in my branches,
2 0My glory fresh in me,
 TRANSLATION 55

And my bow pliable in my hand".

21Men listened to me and waited and kept silence for my counsel.
22After I had spoken, they said no more,
And my speech dropped on them.
2aThey waited for me as the rain,
And they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.
24If I laughed on them they believed it not;
And the light of my countenance they cast not down.
2s1 chose out their way, and sat as chief,
And dwelt as a king in the army,
As one who comforts the mourners.

CHAPTER XXX

1But now they that are younger than I have me in derision,

Whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock. . ·

2The strength of their hands whereto should it profi:t me -

Men in whom vigour is perished?
3They are gaunt with want and famine ;
They gnaw a dead twig, chewing it in destitution and desolation.
4They pluck saltwort by �he bushes ;
And the roots of the broom are their food.
5They are driven forth from the low ground ;
They cry after them as after a thief.
6In the sides of the valleys they must dwell,
In holes of the earth and high ground.
7Among the. bushes they bray,
Under the nettles they are gathered together.
8They are children of the ignoble, children of nobodies ;
They were driven out of the land.
9And now I have become their song,
Yea I am a byword to them.
10They hate me, they stand aloof from me,
And spare not to spit in my face.
11My bow string is slack and they have afflicted me,
And they have abandoned the bridle of respect at my presence.
I2Upon my right hand rise the rabble ;
They thrust aside my feet,
And they cast up against me their ways of destruction.
1aThey break up my path,
56 TRANSLATION

They set forward my calamity,

There is none to restrain them.
I4They come as through a breach;
Where the gap is made they advance.
15Terrors are turned upon me,
My honour is driven away as with the wind;
And my welfare is passed away as a cloud.
1 6And now my soul is poured out upon me;
Days of affliction have taken hold of me.
17In the night season my bones are pierced in me,
And the pains that gnaw me take no rest.
18My clothing is saturated with much supuration,
It sticks to me like an undergarment.
19He has cast me into the dirt,
And I am become like dust and ashes.
2 01 cry unto you and you do not answer me;
I stand up and you look at me.
21You are turned to be cruel to me;
With the might of your hand you persecute me.
22You lift me up to the wind, you cause me to ride upon it;
And you toss me in the storm.
23For I know that you will bring me to death,
And to the house appointed for all living.
24Surely one should not put forth his hand against the helpless ;
O r is he to be smitten in his calamity?
25Did I not weep for him that was in trouble?
Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
26When I looked for good then evil came;
And when I waited for light, there came darkness.
27My bowels boil, and rest not;
Days of affiiction are come upon me.
2 81 go blackened but not by the sun;
I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
291 am a brother to jackals,
And a companion to ostriches.
30My skin is black and falls from me,
And my bones are burnt with heat.
31Therefore is my harp turned to mourning,
And my pipe unto the voice of them that weep.
 TRANSLATION 57

CHAPTER XXXI .

1 1 made a covenant with my eyes ;

How then could I look upon a maid?
2For what is the portion allotted by God from above,
And the heritage by the Almighty from on high?
3Is not calamity for the unrighteous,
And disaster for the workers of iniquity?
4Does he not see my ways,
And number all my steps ?
5If I have walked with vanity,
And my foot has hasted to deceit;
6(Let me be weighed in an even balance,
That God may know my integrity;)
7If my step has turned out of the way,
And my heart walked after my eyes,
And if any spot has cleaved to my hands ;
8Then let me sow and let another eat;
Let my produce be rooted out.
9If my heart has been enticed unto a woman,
And if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door;
1 0Then let my wife grind for another,
And let others bow down upon her.
11For that were an heinous crime;
It were an iniquity to be punished by the judges ;
12For that were a fire that would consume unto destruction,
And would burn all my crops.
13If I refused to listen to the cause of my manservant or of my
maidservant,
When they contended with me :
i4What then shall I do when God rises up ?
And when he comes to enquire, what shall I answer him?
J 15Did not he that made me in the womb make him?
And did not one fashion us in the womb ?
1 6If I have withheld the poor from their desire,
Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;
170r have eaten my morsel alone,
And the fatherless has not eaten thereof;
18(Nay from my youth he grew up with me as with a father,
And I have been her guide from my mother's womb ;)
58 TRANSLATION

19If I have seen any perish for want of clothing,

Or that the needy had no covering;
20lf ·his loins have not blessed me,
And if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep ;
21If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless,
Because I saw my help in the gate;
22Then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade,
And my arm be broken from the bone.
23For calamity from God was a terror to me,
And by reason of his loftiness I could do nothing.
24If I have made gold my hope,
And said to the fine gold "Thou art my confidence" ;
25If I rejoiced because my wealth was great,
And because my hand had got much;
26If I beheld the sun when it shined,
Or the moon moving in calm dignity ;
27And my heart has been enticed,
And my mouth has kissed my hand.
28This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges ;
For I should have denied God that is above.
29If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me,
Or was glad when evil befell him;
30(Yea I suffered not my mouth to sin
By asking his life with a curse;)
31If the men of my tent said not,
"Who can find one that has not been satisfied with his flesh?"
32The stranger did not lodge in the street;
But I opened my doors to the traveller;
33If like Adam I covered my transgressions,
By hiding my iniquity in my bosom;
34Because I feared the great multitude,
And the contempt of families terrified me,
So that I kept silent,
And went not out of the door -
35Qh that I had one to hear me!
(Lo, here is my signature ! Let the Almighty answer me!)
And that I had the indictment which my adversary had written!
36Surely I would carry it upon my shoulder;
I would bind it unto me as a crown.
371 would declare to him the number of my steps ;
 TRANSLATION 59

As a prince would I present it to him.

3Slf my land cry out against me,
And the furrows thereof weep together; .
39If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money,
Or have affiicted the soul of its owners ;
40Let thorns grow instead of wheat,
And noisome weeds instead of barley."
The words of Job are ended.

CHAPTER XXXII
(The speeches of Elihu: XXXII-XXXVII)
1So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous
in his own eyes. .2Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of
Barachel the Buzite of the family of Ram; against Job was his wrath
kindled, because he justified himself rather than God. 3Also against
his three friends was his wrath kindled, because they found no answer
and yet had condemned Job. 4Now Elihu had waited to speak unto
Job because they were older than he 5and when Elihu saw that there
was no answer in the mouth of these three men, his wrath was
kindled. 6And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said,
'I am young and you are very old;
Wherefore I was in dread and did not dare show you my opinion.
71 said "Days should speak,
And multitude of years should teach wisdom.
8But there is a spirit in man,
And the breath of the Almighty which gives them understanding.
9lt is not the old that are wise,
Nor the aged that understand judgement.
lOTherefore I say "Hearken to me;
I also will show my opinion".
11Behold I waited for your words,
I listened for your reasons,
While you searched out what to say.
�2Yea I attended unto you,
And behold there was none that convicted Job,
Or that answered his words among you.
13Beware lest you say "We have found wisdom;
God may vanquish him, not man".
14For he has not attacked me in his discourse ;
60 TRANSLATION

And so I shall not answer him with your sayings.

15They are amazed, they answer no more;
They have not a word to say.
16And shall I wait because they speak not,
Because they stand still and answer no more?
171 also will answer my part,
I also will show my opinion.
18For I am full of words ;
The breath in my belly constrains me.
19Behold my belly is as wine which has no. vent;
Like jars filled with new wine it is ready to burst.
20Let me speak that I may find relief;
Let me open my lips and answer.
21Let me not, I pray you, respect any man's person;
Nor will I give flattery and titles unto any man.
22For I know not to give flattering titles ;
Else would my maker soon take me away.

CHA'.PTER XXXIII

1Howbeit, Job, I pray you hear my speech

And hearken to all my words.
2Behold now, I have opened my mouth,
My tongue has spoken in my palate.
3My heart is rich in words of knowledge,
And my lips speak that which is pure.
4The spirit of God has made me,
And the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
5If you can, answer me;
Dispute before me, stand forth.
6Behold I am towards God even as you are;
I also am formed out of clay.
7Behold my terror shall not make you afraid,
Nor shall my weight be heavy upon you.
8Nevertheless you said in my hearing -
And I heard the voice of your words -
9"1 am pure without transgression;
I am clean, neither is there iniquity in me.
I OBehold he finds occasions against me,
He counts me for his enemy;
 TRANSLATION 61

11He puts my feet in the stocks,

He marks all my paths".
12Behold I will answer you; in this you are not in the right.
For God is exalted above man.
13Why do you contend with him?
For all that he says is unanswerable.
14For God speaks once,
Yea, twice without man's perceiving· it.
15In a dream in a vision of the night,
When deep sleep falls upon men,
In slumberings upon the bed;
16Then he opens the ears of men,
And frightens them with warnings ;
17That he may remove man's blindness,
And take away his pride;
18He keeps back his soul from the pit,
And his life from sudden death.
19He is chastened also with pain upon his bed,
And his bones ache unceasingly;
2 o so that his life abhors bread,
And his soul dainty meat.
21And his flesh wastes away without moisture; ·
And his bones are dried up unrefreshed.
22Yea his soul draws near :unto the pit,
And his life to the destroyers.
23If there be with him an angel,
An interpreter, one among a thousand,
To show unto man what is right for him;
24Then he is gracious unto him and says
"Spare him from going down unto the pit,
I have fol.lnd a ransom."
25His flesh shall be fresher than a child's ;
He returns to the days of his youth;
2 6He prays to God and he is favourable unto him;
So that he sees his face with joy;
And he restores to man righteousness.
27He rejoices before men and says,
"I have sinned and perverted that which was right,
And it did not profit me;
28He has redeemed my soul from going into the pit,
62 TRANSLATION

And my life shall behold the light."

29Behold all these things God works,
Twice, yea thrice, with a man,
30To bring back his soul from the pit,
That he may be enlightened with the light of the living.
31Mark well, OhJob, hearken unto me;
Hold your peace and I will speak.
32If you have anything to say, answer me;
Speak for I desire to justify you.
33If not, hearken unto me.
Hold your peace and I will teach you wisdom.'

CHAPTER XXXIV

1Moreover Elihu answered and said,

2'Hear my words, you wise men ;
And give ear unto me, you that have knowledge.
3For the ear tries words
As the palate tastes meat.
4Let us choose for us that which is right;
Let us know among ourselves what is good.
5For Job has said "I am righteous,
And God has taken away my right;
6Notwithstanding my right I am accounted a liar;
My state is desperate, though I have done no wrong."
7What man is like Job,
Who drinks up scorning like water?
8Who goes in company with the workers of iniquity,
And walks with wicked men.
9For he has said "It profits a man nothing
That he should delight himself with God."
10Therefore hearken unto me, you men of understanding;
Far be it from God that he should do wickedness ;
And from the Almighty that he should commit iniquity.
11For the work of a man shall he render unto him,
And cause every man to find according to his ways.
12Yea of a surety God will not do wickedly,
Neither will the Almighty pervert judgement.
13Who gave him a charge over the earth?
Or who has given him the governance of the whole world?
 TRANSLATION 63

14If he were to cause his spirit to return to himself,

And were to gather unto himself his breath;
15All flesh would perish together,
And man would turn again unto dust.
I6If now you have understanding hear this ;
Hark to the voice of my words.
I7Shall even one that hates right govern?
And will you call the mighty and just one wicked?
IBWho says to a king "Villain",
Or to nobles "You are wicked" ?
19How much less to him that respects not the persons of princes,
Nor regards the rich more than the poor?
For they all are the work of his hands.
20In a moment they die; even at midnight
The rich perish and pass away,
And the mighty are taken away without (help of) hand.
21For his eyes are upon the ways of a man,
And he sees all his goings.
· 22There is no darkness nor deep gloom
Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.
23For he does not appoint a set time for a man,
That he should go before God in judgement.
24He breaks in pieces mighty men in ways past finding out;
And sets others in their stead.
25Therefore he takes knowledge of their works;
And he overturns them in the night,
26And the basest scoundrels are destroyed.
He strikes them in the open sight of others ;
27Because they turned aside from following him,
And would not have regard to any of his ways ;
28So that they caused the cry of the poor to come unto hirri,
And he heard the cry of the afflicted.
29If he declares a man just, who then can condemn him?
And when he hides his face who can behold him?
He sets a limit to a nation or a man
3 0And the godless man may not reign,
And there be none to ensnare the people.
3IFor has any said to God,
"l have borne chastisement though guilty of no great offence.
32That which I see not teach me;
64 TRANSLATION

If I have done iniquity I will do it no more" ?

33Shall his recompense be as you will because you: are stubborn?
For you must choose, not I ;
Therefore speak what you know.
34Men of understanding will say unto me,
Indeed every wise man that hears me,
35"Job speaks without knowledge,
And his words are without wisdom".
36Does Job wish to be tried unto the end,
Because of his answering like wicked men?
37For he adds rebellion unto his sin;
In our presence he is shameless,
And multiplies his words against God':

CHAPTER XXXV

1Moreover Elihu answered and said,

2'Do you think this to be your right,
· Or do you say "My righteousness is more than God's",
3That you say "What advantage will it be unto you" ?
And "What profit shall I have more than if I had sinned" ?
4I will answer you,
And your companions with you.
5Look to the heavens and see;
And behold the skies which are higher than you.
6If you have sinned what do you against him?
And if your transgressions be multiplied what do you unto him ?
7If you be righteous what do you give him?
Or what does he receive from your hand?
8Your wickedness may hurt a man as you are ;
And your righteousness may profit a son of man.
9By reason of the multitude of oppressions they cry out ;
They cry for help by reason of the arm of the mighty.
10But none says "Where is God my maker,
Who gives songs in the night;
11Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth,
And makes us wiser than the fowls of heaven ?"
12There they cry but he answers not,
Because of the pride of evil men.
13Surely God will not hear vanity,
 TRANSLATION 65

Neither will the Almighty regard it.

14How much less when you say you behold him not!
Submit yourself to him and wait for him!
I5But now because he has not visited in his anger,
Neither does he give heed to stupidity,
16Therefore Job opens his mouth in vanity;
He multiplies words without knowledge'.

CHAPTER XXXVI

1Elihu also proceeded and said,

2'Suffer me a little and I will show you;
For I have yet something to say on God's behalf.
31 will fetch my knowledge from afar,
And will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.
4For truly my words are not false;
One that is perfect in knowledge is with you.
5Behold God is mighty and does not despise any;
He is mighty in strength of understanding.
6He preserves not the life of the wicked;
But gives to the afflicted their right.
7He withdraws not his eyes from the righteous ;
But with kings upon the throne
He sets them forever and they are exalted.
8And if they be bound in fetters,
And be taken in the cords of affliction;
9Then he shows them their work,
And their transgressions that they have behaved themselves proudly.
10He opens also their ear to instruction,
And commands that they return from iniquity.
11If they hearken and serve him,
They shall spend their days in prosperity,
And their years in pleasures.
12But if they hearken not they shall suffer sudden death,
And they shall perish unawares.
13But they that are godless in heart conceal their anger;
They cry not for help when he chastises them.
I4They die in youth,
And their life perishes among the unclean.
15He delivers the afflicted by his affliction,
Leeds University Oriental Society Suppl. II 5
66 TRANSLATION

And opens their ear in oppression.

16Sumptuous living has enticed you from the mouth of the starving,
And that which was set on your table was full of fatness.
17But you are full of a rich man's food;
Judgement and justice take hold of you,
18Pay a ransom lest you be tempted by meanness,
And let not the high price of the ransom deter you.
19Will your riches suffice without affliction,
Or all the forces of your strength?
2 0Desire not the night,
When peoples are cut off in their place.
21Take heed, regard not iniquity;
For you have chosen impatience rather than resignation.
22Behold God dooms to destruction;
Who is so terrible as he?
23Who has assigned to him his way?
Or who can say "You have wrought unrighteousness" ?
24Remember that you magnify his work,
Whereat men rejoice.
25All men have looked thereon;
Man beholds it afar off.
2 6Behold God is great and we know him not;
The number of his years is unsearchable.
27For he holds back the drops of water,
Which distil in rain at the time of his mist,
2 8Whlch the skies pour down
And drop upon many men.
29Y ea, can any understand the spreadings of the clouds,
The thunderings of his pavilion?
30Behold he spreads his mist over him;
And he covers him with a mist from the sea.
31For by these he feeds the peoples ;
He gives meat in abundance.
32He covers his hands with the lightning;
And gives it a charge against the oppressor.
33The evil it causes announces his presence,
As he brings disaster in his anger.
 TRANSLATION 67

CHAPTER XXXVII

1At this also my heart trembles,

And leaps out of its place.
2Hearken unto the rumbling of his voice,
And the muttering that goes out of his mouth.
3He sends it forth unto the whole heaven,
And his lightning unto the ends of the earth.
4After it a voice roars ;
He thunders with the voice of his majesty;
And he stays them not when his voice is heard.
5God thunders marvellously with his voice ;
He does great things which we cannot comprehend.
6For he says to the snow "Fall upon the earth" ;
And to the storms "Be violent".
7He seals up the hand of every man,
That all men whom he has made may be still.
8Then the beasts go into coverts and remain in their dens.
90ut of the chamber comes the whirlwind,
And cold out of the north.
10By the breath of God ice is given,
And the breadth of the waters is straitened.
11He loads the thick cloud with moisture ;
The cloud scatters its light,
12And it is turned round and round,
Going about by his guidance
Upon the face of the habitable world,
I3To make the land fertile,
To promote spring growth he directs it.
14Hearken unto this, Oh Job ;
Stand still and consider the wondrous works of God.
1 5Do you know how God lays his charge upon them,
And causes the lightning of his cloud to shine ?
16Do you know the balancings of the clouds,
The wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge ?
17You whose garments are warm,
When the earth is still by reason of the south wind ?
18Can you with him spread out the sky;
Which is strong as a molten mirror ?
19Teach us what we shall say to him,
68 TRANSLATION

For we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness.

2owould he heed if I were to speak?
Or would a man wish that he were swallowed up ?
21And now men see not the light which is obscure in the skies ;
But the wind passes and cleanses them.
220ut of the north comes golden splendour;
God has upon him terrible majesty.
23Touching the Almighty we cannot find him out;
He is excellent in power and judgement.
Plenteous in righteousness he will not afflict;
24Men do therefore fear him;
He regards not any that are wise of heart'.

CHAPTER XXXVIII
(The speeches of Yahweh: XXXVIII-XLI)
1Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,
2'Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3Gird up now your loins like a man;
For I will question you and declare you unto me.
4Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Say if you have understanding.
5Who determined the measures of it if you know?
Or who stretched the line upon it?
6Whereupon were the sockets thereof fastened?
Or who laid the cornerstone of it;
7When the morning stars sang together,
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
80r who shut up the sea with doors,
When it broke forth as if it had issued out of the womb ;
9When I made the cloud the garment thereof,
And thick darkness a swaddling band for it,
1 0And measured it by span by my decree,
And set bars and doors,
11And said "Hitherto you can come but no further;
And here shall your proud waves be stayed" ?
12Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
And caused the dayspring to know its place;
13That it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,
And the wicked be shaken out of it?
 TRANSLATION 69

14It is changed as clay under the seal ;

And all things stand forth as a garment;
15And from the wicked their light is withheld,
And the high arm is , broken.
16Have you entered into the springs of the sea?
Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep ?
17Have the gates of death been revealed to you ?
Or have you seen the confines of darkness ?
18Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth?
Declare if you know it all.
19Where is the way to the dwelling of light,
And as for darkness where is the place thereof,
20That you should take it to the bound thereof,
And that you should discern the paths to the house thereof?
21You know, for then you were born,
And the number of your days is great!
22Have you entered the treasuries of the snow,
Or have you seen the huge hailstones,
23Which I have reserved against the time of trouble,
Against the day of battle and war ?
24Which is the way to where the heat is distributed
Which the sirocco scatters over the earth?
25Who has cleft a channel for the water flood,
Or a way for the thunder-clouds,
26To cause it to rain on a land where no man is,
On the wilderness where there is no man ;
27 To satisfy the waste and desolate ground,
And to cause the tender grass to spring forth?
28Has the rain a father ?
Or who has begotten the drops of dew ?
290ut of whose womb came the ice ?
And the hoary frosts of heaven who has given it birth?
30The waters become solid like stone,
And the face of the deep coheres.
31Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades,
Or loose the bands of Orion?
32Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season ?
Or can you guide the Bear with her train?
33Do you know the ordinances of the heavens ?
Can you establish the dominion thereof in the earth?
70 TRANSLATION

34Can you lift up your voice to the clouds

That abundance of waters may cover you?
35Can you send forth lightnings, that may go
And say unto you "Here we are" ?
36Who has put wisdom in the inward parts ?
Or who has given understanding to the mind?
37Who can send forth the clouds by wisdom?
Or who can tilt the bottles of heaven,
38When the dust runs in to a mass and the clods cleave fast together?
39Will you hunt the prey for the lioness ?
Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
40When they couch in their dens,
And abide in the covert to lie in wait?
41Who provides for the raven his food? -
When his young ones cry unto God,
And keep croaking for lack of meat?

CHAPTER XXXIX -

1Do you know the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth?
Or do you mark when the hinds do calve?
20r do you number the months that they fulfil?
Or do you know the time when they bring forth?
3They bow themselves, they bring forth their young,
They deliver their calves.
4Their young put on flesh as they grow up in the open;
They go forth and return not again. -
5Who has sent out the wild ass free?
Or who has loosed the bands of the wild ass,
6Whose house I have made the wilderness,
And the salt land his dwelling places ?
7He scorns the tumult of the city,
Neither does he hear the shoutings of the driver.
8He searches the mountains for his pasture,
_ And he seeks after every green thing.
9Will the wild ox be content to serve you?
Or will he abide by your crib ?
1ocan you bind the wild ox with his rope?
Or will he harrow the valleys after you?
11Will you trust him because his strength is great?
 TRANSLATION 71

Or will you leave to him your labour?

12will you trust him to return,
And gather your seed and your corn?
13Is the wing of the ostrich weak;
Or is it strong like that of the stork?
14For she leaves her eggs on the earth,
And warms them in the dust,
15And forgets that the foot may crush them,
Or that the wild beast may trample them.
16She deals hardly with her young ones as if they were not hers ;
Though her labour be in vain she is without fear;
17Because God has made her forget wisdom,
Neither has he imparted to her understanding.
18When she speeds above the ground
She scorns the horse and his rider.
19Have you given the horse his might?
Have you clothed his neck with a quivering mane?
20Have you made him to leap like a locust?
The sound of his snorting is terrible.
21He paws vigorously and rejoices,
In his strength he goes out to meet the weapons.
22He mocks at fear and is not dismayed;
Nor does he turn back from the sword.
23The quiver rattles against him,
The flashing spear and the javelin.
24Quivering and excited he swallows the ground;
Nor does he stand still at the sound of the trumpet.
25At the sound of the trumpet he says "Aha"!
And he smells the battle far off,
The thunder of the captains and the shouting.
26Does the hawk soar by your wisdom,
And stretch her wings towards the south?
27Does the eagle mount up at your command,
And make her nest on high?
28 She dwells on the rock and has her lodging there,
Upon the crag of the rock and the stronghold.
29From there she spies out the prey;
Her eyes behold it far off.
30Her young ones also swallow down blood;
And where the slain are there is she.'
72 TRANSLATION

CHAPTER XL

1Moreover the Lord answered Job and said,

2'Shall he that cavils contend with the Almighty?
He that argues with God let him answer it.'
3Then Job answered the Lord and said,
4'Behold I am of small account; what shall I answer you?
I lay my hand upon my mouth.
50nce have I spoken and I will not answer :
Twice, but I will proceed no further.'
6Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,
7'Gird up your loins now like a man;
I will demand of you and you declare unto me.
8Will you even disa'rulul my judgement?
Will you condemn me that you may be justi!ied? ·

90r have you an arm like God?

Can you thunder with a voice like him?
10Deck yourself now with majesty and dignity;
And array yourself with honour and state.
11Pour forth the overflowings of your anger;
And look upon everyone that is proud and abase him.
12Look on everyone that is proud and bring him low ;
And cast down the wicked where they stand.
13Hide them in the dust together;
Veil their faces in the grave.
14Then will I also confess of you
That your own right hand can save you.
15Behold now Behemoth which I made with you;
He eats grass like an ox.
16Now his strength is in his loins,
And his force is in the muscles of his belly.
17His tail is rigid as a cedar;
The sinews of his thighs are knit together.
18His bones are like tubes of brass;
His limbs are like bars of iron.
19He is the chief of the ways of God;
The creatures do not fear his tusks.
20For the pools bring him their produce;
And all the beasts of the field do play there.
21Beneath the warm mud he lies,
 TRANSLATION 73

In the covert of the reed and the fen.

22The lotus trees cover him with their shadow;
The willows of the brook compass him about.
23Though the river rise and fall he is not alarmed;
He lies outstretched though the floods swell.
24Into his mouth with open eyes he receives it;
Alone among the river animals his snout is dry.

CHAPTER XLI

1Can you draw out Leviathan with a fish hook?

Or press down his tongue with a cord?
2Can you put a rope into his nose?
Or pierce his jaw through with a hook?
3Will he make many supplications unto you?
Or will he speak soft words unto you?
4Will he make a covenant with you,
That you should take him for a servant forever?
5Will you play with him as with a bird?
Or will you bind him for your maidens ?
6Will the traders make traffic of him?
Will they divide him among the merchants ?
7Can you fill his skin with barbed irons,
Or his head with fish spc:ars ?
8Lay your hand upon him;
Remember the battle and do so no more.
9Behold the hope of him proves false;
One is cast down even at the sight of him.
10He is no weakling that one dares stirs him up ;
Who then is he that can stand before him?
11Who has first given to me that I should repay him?
Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine.
121 will not keep silence about his limbs,
Nor the account of his might nor the strength of his frame.
13Who can strip off his outer garment?
Who can come within his double armour?
14Who can open the doors of his face?
Round about his teeth is terror.
15His back is made up of scales,
Shut up together as a seal.
74 TRANSLATION

160ne is so near to another that no air can come between them.

17They are joined one to another;
They stick together and they cannot be sundered.
18His sneezes flash forth light,
And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
190ut of his mouth goes sparkling spray,
And flashing rays stream forth.
2oout of his nostrils steam comes forth
As from a pot blown by the wind and fiercely hot.
21His breath kindles coals,
And a flame goes forth from his mouth.
22In his neck abides strength and terror dances before him.
·

23The flakes of his flesh are joined together;

Fitting tightly upon him they cannot be moved.
·

24His heart is as solid as a stone;

Yea, hard as the nether millstone.
25When he raises himself up the mighty are afraid ;
Driven away they throw themselves to the ground in terror.
261£ one lay at him with the sword it cannot avail;
Nor the spear, the dart, nor the pointed shaft.
27He counts iron as straw,
And brass as rotten wood.
28The arrow cannot make him flee ;
Slingstones are turned with him into stubble.
29Clubs are counted as reeds ;
He laughs at the rushing of the javelin.
30His underparts are like sharp potsherds ;
He digs down into the mud like a threshing sledge.
31He makes the deep to boil like a pot;
He makes the Nile like an ointment pan.
32He makes a path to shine after him;
One would think the deep to be hoary.
33Upon earth there is not his like,
That is made without fear.
34Everything that is high fears him.
He is king over all the proud beasts.'

CHAPTER XLII
1Then Job answered the Lord and said,
2'1 know that you can do all things,
 TRANSLATION 75

And that no plan is impossible for you.

3You said «Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?"
Therefore have I uttered that which I understood not,
Things too wonderful for me which I knew not.
4Hear, I beseech you, and I will speak;
I will ask you and do you inform me.
5I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear;
But now my eye sees you.
6Therefore I repudiate what I said,
Sitting in dust and ashes.'
7And it was so that after the Lord had spoken these words unto
Job the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, 'My wrath is kindled
against you and against your two friends for you have not spoken
of me the thing that is right as my servant Job has. 8Now therefore
take seven bullocks and seven rams and go to my servant Job and
offer for yourselves a burnt offering ; and; my servant Job shall pray
for you, for him will I accept that I bring not disgrace upon you;
for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right as my servant
Job has.' 9So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zop­
har the Naamathite went. and did according as the Lord commanded
them; and the Lord accepted Job.
10And the Lord restored Job's prosperity when he prayed for his
friends ; and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.
11Then came there unto him all his brothers and all his sisters and
all they that had been of his acquaintance before and did eat bread
with him in his house; and they showed their sympathy for him
and comforted him concerning all the misfortunes that the Lord had
brought upon him; every man also gave him a piece of money and
everyone a ring of gold. 12So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job
more than the beginning and he had fourteen thousand sheep and
six thousand camels and a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand she­
asses. 13He also had fourteen sons and three daughters. 14And he
called the name of the first Jemimah and the name of the second
Keziah and the name of the third Karen-happuch. 15And in all the
land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job ; and their
father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.
16And after this Job lived one hundred and forty years and saw his
sons and his sons' sons, even. four generations. 17So Job died, being
old and full of days.
 PART C

NOTES

CHAPTER I

5. Ubherakhi2, lit. "blessed", an impossible meaning here. The long

and learned note in the I. C. C. makes discussion here unnecessary,
except that if we treat "blessed" as a euphemism for "cursed" and
postulate an original qiffefu, an interesting point arises. It is unlikely
that Job's sons, having sinned, would curse God; but they might
well have belittled him and despised him. In that case the verb
is to be understood in the Arabic sense, while in verse 1 1 it is
used in the Hebrew sense.
6. Haffatan, not here a proper name "Satan", but the angelic op­
ponent and accuser of men.
12. Hinneh; like its Arabic cognate >inna this particle is best left
untranslated. "Very well then" would give the best sense here
- not "look", as there is nothing to look at.
12 ff. [PF 107 : The raid which the Chaldaeans made on Job's camels
and servants may well have occurred during Nabonidus' wars
and skirmishes with the local Arabs. At any rate this is the one
and only time, so far as we know, that the Chaldaeans were
warring in this area. Further, Eliphaz's words in xv. 19 imply
that foreigners had but recently arrived in the land].1
14. [PF 127 : Everything points to the author having lived in an
oasis in the I:Iijaz. For example his hero possessed land which
was ploughed by cows, and round him lay the desert and the
salt land. A knowledge of local agricultural practice would have
saved critics from questioning and then altering the statement
"the cows were ploughing". In this area cows and not oxen were put to
the yoke. Doughty 2 saw "small humped kine at work ploughing
at Terna and al-<Ula (Dedan)". Furthermore salt ground lay out­
side the old Jewish settlement at Khaybar.]
15. Wattippol. As B.D.B. notes, this is the only instance of this verb

1 [See further PF 107, n. 4].

2 Arabia Deserta, I, 151 ff. & 286.
78 NOTES

being used absolutely. in the sense of "fell upon" instead of with a

preposition <aJ as in Jer. xlviii. 32 or be as in Jos. xi. 7. The
masculine suffix instead of the feminine is explained as in G.K.
1350. But there must be a reason for the departure from the nor­
mal idiom, and this excites doubt as to whether naphal here has
anything to do with falling upon cattle. After all it is somewhat
unnatural to speak of attacking cows at the plough or she-asses
placidly feeding beside them. Doubtless here, as so often, the
writer is using the word in its Arabic sense. The Arabic noun
najaJun means "spoil" or "booty", and the verb in its first form
means "divided spoil among" and in its first, second and.fourth
form can mean "gave booty to". Thus here the meaning is "The
Sabeans plundered and took them away", the two verbs being
complementary.
22. Tiphl!ih. B.D.B. "unsavouriness", "unseemliness" : I.C.C. "un­
worthiness". This is a most difficult word to translate. The
Arabic taftla means "he became altered for the worse in odour",
"he .neglected the use of perfume", so that the sense could be that
Job did not ascribe a deliberate change in God's attitude towards
him. Similarly in Jer. xxiii. 13 : - "In the prophets of Samaria I
have seen deliberate offence."

CHAPTER II

3. LebhaJJe<o. The R.V. and I.C.C. "destroy" is obviously wrong,

because permission to touch Job's person was explicitly withheld
from the Satan. R.V.m. is wrong, because the Arabic cognate is
balaga "he affiicted", "he harassed", NOT baJa<a "he swallowed".
8. [See PF 120 in connection with xxx. 18, 19].
11. Nothing is known to indicate precisely where these men lived.
It has been suggested that the Temanite means "the man from
Terna'�, and to this day the inhabitants of that oasis are called
Taimanis. See H. St. J. Philby, The Land of Midian, London,
1957, p. 101. Others favour a site in Edom.

CHAPTER III

2. Wqyya<an . . . wqyyomar, i.e. his response to his misery began with

the words that follow.
4. >aJ-yiJrefenu. The normal meaning in Hebrew is "seek", "enquire
 NOTES 79

after", hence R.V. "regard" ; but here the explanations are

somewhat artificial. As the context makes plain, Job's desire is
that his birthday should for ever be a day of unrelieved darkness,
which God should perpetuate by withholding light from it.
Thus the verb must be understood in the Arabic sense of darasa
"blotted out", "effaced". Similarly Psalm cix. 10 - wedareJu
meparebh8tryhem - should be read wedareJu miipar bottryhem, "On
the morrow let their houses be blotted out".
5. Yig>iiluhu. Attempts to explain this word start from the assumption
that the basic idea is redemption; but as has been shown in Gn
VB J, pp. 40 ff. this is a secondary meaning resting on the primary
meaning of protection. Here the word can be satisfactorily ex­
plained by metathesis, going back to the Arabic >ajjala "he
confined", "he restricted" .
.?almiiwet. As R.V.m. indicates, "deep darkness" is the meaning
of this word (see further I.C.C.). Its cognate is Arabic �ulmatun,
"darkness", "obscurity".
Yebha<atuhu. The meaning is "overwhelm", as B.D.B. rightly
shows. Kimerfr.ry. Since the parallel is "cloud", it is to be expected
that clouds are intended here, so that a metathetical form of
Arabic rakamun "layer of clouds" seems best fitted to the
corresponding term. No doubt the idea of blackness is contained
in the word as the Syriac kemirii "black cloud" cited in I.C.C.
indicates.
[HAL IV.8 : The R.V. translates "all that make black the day",
and the I.C.C. simply "blacknesses". In view of the mention of
clouds in the preceding clause it is natural to connect the word
with rakamun (Lane, Arabic-English Lexicon, p. 1 148b explains
markumun, an epithet of midnight, thus : "meaning markumun
�ulumiituhu, i.e. densely dark, as though its darknesses were
heaped one upon another".)]
[Additional Note from UBJ 46 n. 48 : . . . a note on Job iii. 5
"Let darkness and thick gloom yig>iiluhu, Let a cloud dwell
upon it" (R.V.) may be added. The I.C.C. has "the idea is
that as soon as the day appears, let darkness as its nearest
relation at once assert its rights and take possession of it."
One cannot but feel that this is forced and that a simpler ex­
planation is called for. This is forthcoming in the Arabic >ajalahu
"he confined, constricted it" ; ,ajjalahu "he fixed its term".
Following this indication the meaning would be :
80 NOTES

Let darkness and thick gloom prevent its appearance

Let a cloud dwell upon it,
and then the following verse
Let it have no place in the days of the year
Into the number of the months let it not come
is the natural sequel. Job's birthday is to be a dies non, not be­
cause darkness claims it, not because of its inspissated gloom;
but because blackness so overwhelms it that it never emerges
as a day at all. Once again the letters G'L have been subjected
to metathesis.]
6. 'a!-yibad. Parallelism demands a pointing yebad "united to" and,
as R.V. indicates, some ancient versions thus understood the
word. [See further UBJ 29.]
7. Ga/mud, lit. "a rock", so perhaps "sterile". The "joyful voice"
is that of one announcing a birth.
10. Bifnf, "my mother's womb", because it was for a time his home ;
so xix. 17.
14. [PF 107 : When Job longs for the quiet of the grave he says that
there he would be with kings who rebuilt ruined sites for themsel­
ves. Though it is the constant boast of Accadian rulers that they
rebuilt ancient ruins, it is significant that it was the opposition
of priests and people to Nabonidus when he planned to restore
the temple of Sin in Barran that led to his self-imposed · exile
in Arabia.
21. [HAL IV. 7 : }:IPR is used in the sense of searching where one
would expect I:IQR. At first sight it might be thought that in
Arabic a simple mistake has occurred in writing F for Q and
vice versa; but al-Asma<i expressly states that the people of the
uplands say zub/ilfa, while the Banii Tamim and their Hawazin
neighbours say zubluqa (seesaw). See Ibdal, II, 338 with Prof.
·

Izz al-Din's notes thereon.] 1

22. Haffemebfm 'e/ry-gf!. After the words "who rejoice" the R.V.m.
"unto exultation" would seem to be natural; but here we have
the first instance in Job of the rhetorical figure which the Arabs
call tauriya, i.e. a concealed double meaning. (An example is to
be found in the Qur'an 55.4 explained in PF 1 10). Some scholars
acutely suggested that gal (with one MS) should be read and that
the phrase should be translated "who rejoice over the grave-
1 [On Kitab al-Ibdal see HAL II. 5 & IV. 1] .
 NOTES 81

. heap", but there is no evidence that gal means more than a

cairn. However, they were on the right track, for gtl here Ara- .
=

hie ja/un "the side of a grave", and so despite all appearances

provides the parallel word to qebher "grave" or "tomb". [See
the notes on xix. 2].

CHAPTER IV

10. Sal;al. "Fierce lion" has been left in the text, though it certainly
means a "young lion". Lisan aJ-<Arab says that saf;Jun, which
normally means a lamb, kid or calf, can mean any animal which has
not reached maturity. Nitta<u. This word is explained by Eithan
from a Samaritan root meaning "disappeared". However, it
could be akin to the Egyptian Arabic ta<ta<a, "pulled a tooth
out". [HAL III.S : If the modern Egyptian analogy is sound,
this verse means "the teeth of the young lions are knocked out".]
1 8. Hen. See note on i. 12 above. Here there is some such idea as
"when one considers that . . . ", or "Why, when he . . . ".

CHAPTER v

3. WiPeqqobh nawehUpit,om. While one can commend those who saw

that some such words as "suddenly his fruit rotted" would
provide a fitting sequel to the first hemistich, one must reject
alterations to the text which are quite unnecessary. The con­
sonants Aleph-Qoph-Bet would suggest to those familiar only
with Hebrew that the root Qoph-Bet-Bet was present here,
and the Masoretes fell victims to this assumption. But in fact
the root is Aleph-Qoph-Bet, found only here in Hebrew. It is
to be compared with >qyabh which is waiba in Arabic, and is cog­
nate with waqaba in Arabic which in its fourth form means
"became rotten". Lane in his Arabic Lexicon cites >awqaba >J-nqj/u
"the palm tree became rotten in the fruit-bearing stalks of its
racemes".
From this it follows that nawehU must conceal some sort of vege­
tation and this can hardly be anything but the Arabic nawhun
which the Lisan defines as "the beginning of a plant's growth",
i.e. its shoot.
Thus the two crucial words should be pointed we>aqabh nohO,
and two new roots should be added to the Hebrew lexicon.
Leeds University Oriental Society Suppl. II 6
82 NOTES.

5. We>e/-mi��/nnzm. As pointed this is an impossible phrase. The

words conceal the category of persons to whom the food is to be
taken, and as always in difficult passages in this book the help of
Arabic must be invoked. There is a root danrya "was emaciated"
and in the fourth form >adna "made ill by hunger", so that here
we must point the word mo�ntm "the famished ones". .?ammzm
again must be read �amzm and understood in the Arabic sense of
"going without food unwillingly or willingly'', here of course
·

the former. See further PF 110 ff.

7. Ubheney-reJeph. Against the verdict of all the ancient versions,
A.V. and I.C.C. stick to the meaning "sparks". See H. St. J.
Thackeray in The Septuagint andJewish Worship, pp. 52 ff. Yagbthu
<uph means "mount high in flying", a phrase which applies more
aptly to birds than to sparks. [HAL II.32 : Ibn Janal.i understood·
this verse to refer to young birds.]
15. Wi:ryyoJa< meberebh mippthem. As the text stands it cannot be trans­
lated. Some twenty MSS Targ., Syr. & Vulg. read meberebh pthem
"from the sword of their mouth". This would presumably refer
to slander, but in any case it affords no tolerable parallel to the
second hemistich, and, as I.C.C. says, "to produce a balanced
parallelism a synonym of >eb1!Yon is required". This being so, it
follows that the indispensable parallel must be concealed in
pthem. As almost always in this book the explanation is to be found
in Arabic wherefai'un means "spoil" or "plunder". It must be con­
ceded that in Arabic as we know it today the word applies only
to goods and property and not to captives and prisoners of war,
but it may well have had a wider connotation a thousand years
before Arabic became a literary language. However, there is no
cogent reason why men as well as property should not be captured
spoil, and muja>un is a person belonging to a conquered land.
This word affords another example of the influence of the l:Iijazi
habit of dropping the glottal stop. Examples have been given
elsewhere - Job xxvii. 8, etc.

Thus all that remains to be done is to divide the words dif­

ferently -

Wi:ryyoJa< mebarbam pryhem =

He saves their captives from the sword

And the needy from the hand of the mighty.
 NOTES 83

18. W<yaddw tirpeyndh. Another instance of the dropping of the glottal

stop. It is [therefore] tempting to adopt the Arabic meaning of
raja>a "(bis hands) soothe".
20. Padka. Either this is a Perfect of Certitude as in R.V. and I.C.C.,
or it is a Historic Perfect : "God has provided you with the means
to ransom yourself from the Babylonians". With this agrees
Job's sarcastic taunt to his friends in vi. 22 ff. that he has not
asked his friends to ransom him.
21 . SM. There are two reasons why it is unlikely that this word
means "destruction" (R.V.) or "desolation" (I.C.C.). First
"slander" is poorly balanced by either of these alternatives ;
secondly, when a homonym is twice used by the author, the mean­
ing is never the same. Therefore it is best to render "calumny"
and connect the word with the Arabic sawwada "he blackened his
character" or "disgraced him".
23. Ifqyyat hafftideh. G. R. Driver in]TS, 1933, p. 42 made the acute
suggestion that here the meaning is "the plants of the field",
comparing the Arabic bqyyun "plant". With the removal or non­
appearance of stones, the plants would flourish. On the other
hand, certain wild animals are a constant menace to cultivated
land. Though it is difficult to be certain which alternative to adopt,
the principle of the homonym here and in the preceding verse
strongly supports Professor Driver's interpretation.
26. Bekhelab. Not "age" as R.V., but "in strength". The cognate is
Arabic kufa<un "strength".
"As a shock of corn comes up", i.e. to the threshing floor,
which was always on an eminence exposed to the wind to blow
away the chaff. The corn would normally be ripe.

CHAPTER VI

6. Berfr ballamut, "the white of an egg", makes plain the author's

meaning to English readers. The far more probable "slime of
purslain" does not. Driver says " . . . purslain, a plant the flower
of which, as it fades away, resolves itself into an insipid muci­
laginous jelly."
7. Lingoa'. The Mubif says that the verb nqja'a means "he ate food
and it profited its eater". One could say in English "I refuse to
touch it'', giving the verb its normal meaning in Hebrew, but
in this sense it is not used in that language. Naga' could = raga'
84 NOTES

"rest" as . the. LXX understood the word, but the sense is poor.
Hemmah kidewry lal;mf. Professor Driver in ]RAS, 1944, p. 168
acutely suggests that these words should be read hama kidewii:'Y
fefJummqy, ''.My bowels sound like an echo", comparing with
Zech.i.17 and Arabic dawtyyun = echo.
10. <OJ. For this word 3 MSS, Targ. and Vulg. read zot, which seems
preferable.
[HAL IV.10 : The verb salad is found only here. It is cognate to
Arabic .[.ajada. The LXX understood its meaning. No 'emen­
dation' is called for, and most of the philological note in I.C.C.
should be deleted as irrelevant. and mistaken.]
14. Mas. Cognate with Arabic <afima "he despaired", Syr. and Vulg.
read "he that withholds kindness from his friend forsakes the
fear of the Almighty". As Job goes on to reproach his friends
with lack of sympathy and with failure to give him the support
he had every right to expect, this meaning is undoubtedly
superior. In that case, (a) the Lamed with mas is the asseverative
.

Lam of Arabic, as in Is. xxxii . 1 ; Eccles. ix. 4, etc., and (b) mas
here = maf which is a transitive verb in Zech. iii. 9. Interchange
of "s" and "s" is very common. in Arabic.
LHAL II.22-3 : vi. 14 has given much trouble to commentators :
I.C.C. objects to the obvious translation on the ground that "Job
would then be ascribing to himself failing faith too distinctly".
This difficulty could be got over by including this among the
examples cited by P. Haupt (see GK 143c) of the asseverative
Lamed in Hebrew corresponding to its common use in Arabic.
If we transpose the waw from wryir>at and add it to l;esed the
verse could be rendered :
Verily one that despairs of his friends' kindness
Could forsake the fear of the Almighty.
If Job were to lose his faith in God's justice it would be the fault
of his faithless ·friends.]
18. At this point Job turns to what has so recently happened. Cara­
vans travelling from oasis to oasis have to take a circuitous route
because the settlements are occupied by Babylonian troops, and
they lose their way in unknown tracts and perish for want of
water. Caravans from or. on their way to . Terna and the Yemen,
waiting in vain to exchange their . burdens, ultimately find the
travelling companies lifeless. Job goes on to taunt his . friends
 NOTES 85

with cowardice and 1ack of practical help in his grievous loss.

·

21 . Lo>. Here Lamed Waw is the Western reading which is adopted

in the translation. It has the support of the Eastern Qere. The
Eastern Ketibh is Lamed Aleph whence R.V. has drawn its im­
possible sense "nothing" which the simple and absolute negative
particle cannot bear. A third reading is that of 1 MS, LXX &
Syr. Ii. This is adopted by I.C.C.
25. Nimre?_u. In Arabic among the meanings covered by martJ.un
are : - "defectiveness, ignorance, hypocricy and malice". Here
either "inadequate", "ignorant" or "hypocritical" would suit
the context. No emendation can be accepted.
26. O/eruab >imrry no>af. R.V.m. "the speeches of one that is desperate
are for the wind" hardly makes sense, and provides no parallel
to the first hemistich. However, if we point the first word u/e­
rawweab and relate it to the Arabic rawwaba "gave rest to" the
meaning is : - "Is it your purpose to criticise what I have said,
and to silence the words of a desperate man?"
30. Yabhtn hawwot. The root meaning of bfn is to perceive a difference
in things ; so here the meaning is : - "Cannot I see whether mis­
fortunes are merited or not?"

CHAPTER VII

5. [HAL II.21 : Job vii. 5 is susceptible of different renderings :

(i) My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust
My skin hardens and then runneth (again). So I.C.C.
(ii) My skin returns [i.e. grows again] (Arabic raja<a) and then
breaks open again.
The root mas is found elsewhere in Biblical Hebrew only in
Ps. lviii. 8, where the sense of flowing away is clear. The Arabic
parallel to this meaning is to be seen in ma>asati >1-naqatu
"the camel's flow of milk was copious". Bearing in mind the
Arabian environment of the Book of Job I should favour (ii)
above. Whichever alternative is adopted the Masoretic Text is
correct.] Rimmah. It is unlikely that this word bears its common
meaning in Hebrew, but rather the Arabic sense of rimmatun
"rottenness" or "decay". Presumably the "clods of dust" refer
to the black scabs that form over the sores. <orf raga< wcryyimma>es.
It is possible that a word known only in Ethiopic, meaning
"hardens", is to be understood here with I.C.C; but inore pro-
86 NOTES

bably the Arabic verb rqja<a "returned" is intended. Ma>as =

Arabic masa "(the wound) widened', i.e. opened up again.

6. Be>ephes tiqwah. Ibn Ezra, quoted in I.C.C., is almost certainly
right in explaining this as "for lack of thread" which is a felicitous
parallel to the shuttle. Obviously this is another taurrya which
would be apparent to the ancient reader. [PF 113 compares tiqwah
here with the same word in xvii. 15].
9. "He that goes down to Sheol will come up no more". This is
one of the affirmations which Job afterwards withdrew.
12. " Sea" often means no more than a huge stretch of water, and the
monster could well be a crocodile.
15. Me<a?_,emot4J. Most scholars prefer to read me<a?..ebh0t4J "rather
than my pains". As B and M frequently interchange in Arabic it
is possible that this is what the author intended. But the words
could be understood to mean "rather than this skeleton".
"Strangling" = a fatal fit of choking.
16. Ma>astt. Normally this would mean "I reject", but here the verb is
intransitive and the Vulg. must be right in rendering desperavi.
Here again we must follow the Arabs in their interchange of M
and Y and regard the verb as an alternative form of ya>isa =

Hebrewya>af.
17 ff. These verses are a bitter parody on Psalm viii. 5. Here God does
not visit man with loving intent, but to find out his faults.

CHAPTER VIII

3. Gray in I.C.C. notes that the LXX translates the first ye<awwet
by "be unjust" and the second by "pervert", and asserts that
their repetition in the Hebrew text is impossible. But the first
is a verb with <Ayin and the second a verb with Cqyin, and the
first is <awwa "bent" and the second gawwa "perverted". In this
context these verbs are synonyms which could, if one prefers
the Greek order, be inverted so that the first changed places
with the second.
1 1 . As will be seen, the writer is familiar with the crocodile and the
hippopotamus only to be found in Egypt, and as the "fly" is an
Egyptian word for "reed" no doubt he draws his examples from
the flora of Egypt. [HAL I. 20, referring to Hebrew root BZZ.
Both Arabic baua and barjrja mean "oozed", and it is strange that
B.D.B. should quote the nouns therefrom with the meaning
 NOTES 87

"one soft, tender, impressible in body". The contexts in Job viii.

1 1 and Ezek. xlvii. 11 demand the presence of water and J er.
xxxviii. 22 implies it.]
13 >oref;ot. For this the LXX has "the latter end" - >aJ;arft - which
involves only the transposition of two letters.
14. Yaqof. Sa<adya translates this as "gossamer" which is so apt a
parallel to the spider's web that one feels that he must be right,
although no philological authority is knowt,J.. If the verb, of
doubtful meaning (see B.D.B.), is to be retained, it is best to
translate "cut off" with R.V.m.
17. Yel;ezeh. !he meaning of this verb, which is certainly not the
normal Hebrew meaning, is to be sought in Arabic where two
alternatives at least are possible : (a) as proposed by G. R. Driver
in]TS xxxiv, 381, the cognate may be l;ada "was opposite" and so
the verb could be rendered "comes against" ; (b) hazza "pierced",
"covered with thorns". As the verb is in the singular, it would
more naturally refer to the godless, though it is possible that the
writer vacillated between the roots and the plant to which the
man is compared.
19. Mefof darke. If this is irony, which hardly seems likely, the R.V.
rendering must be accepted. But LXX has "catastrophe", and
this suggests that some word which conveys the idea of disaster
or pain is to be sought for. Probably the Arabic root sawwasa
"he threw into disorder", "confused", "confounded", points
to the meaning here.
21. Teru<ah. On this word see ]TS, 1964, p. 293.

CHAPTER IX

5. WeJo>yada<u. If R.V. is right, this .is a poetical figure for a sudden

earthquake. Alternatively, by dividing the words differently and
reading weJo>yeda<; wa>aJer the words could be rendered "without
knowing it; and who . . " But this is not probable, because if
God overturns mountains in his anger he must know of his act.
A third suggestion by D. Winton Thomas in]TS, 1964, pp. 52 ff.
that the meaning is "so that they are no longer still" connects
the root with Arabic wada<a.
6. [HAL III. 7 refers to the Hebrew root PLZ, which is regarded as
cognate with Arabic fala.[a "slipped from the hand" and tafalla.[a
"escaped", and cites this verse 'where the earth's pillars slip'.]
88 NOTES

8. Hebrew "the knights of the sea", i.e. the crests of the waves in
a storm at sea.
1 1 . Hen. Here and in verse 12 the word is to be equated with Arabic
>in "if". In I.C.C. it is seen that the sentence is hypothetical, but
while commentators were bound within the confines of the He­
brew lexicon, they were unable to prove what their intelligence
told them must be right.
12. [HAL I. 25, referring to the root I:ITP : The comparison with
Arabic batjun is not happy, because the word is always used of a
natural death, and the context in Job ix. 12, where alone the
word is used, requires a violent act. Taw has replaced Tet by
dissimilation.]
13 Rahab is either (a) a sea-monster, or (b) Egypt. The "helpers"
perhaps are the gods of the Babylonian Creation myth who sup�
ported the sea-monster. It is strange to find Babylonian mythol­
ogy appearing so suddenly in this Arabian story, and one cannot
but wonder whether there is a thinly veiled reference to Naboni­
dus and his allies. The gods of the heathen were subdued by the
Supreme God.
17. Yefujent. R.V. "bruise" seems inadequate here and it is better to
connect the word with the Arabic >asaja "(God) destroyed".
In that he had no sons to carry on his name because "a great
wind" brought down their house upon them and killed them,
Job could say that God had destroyed him with a tempest.
19. Reading hinnehu with Targ. ; no addition to the consortantal text
is involved.
20, 21, 22 It is difficult to render tam ("perfect") in English. It means
something less than perfect and more than blameless. The note
on i. 1 in I.C.C. gives a fine exposition of the word.
23. [HAL II. 22 - see vi. 14 above.]
24. Probably another allusion to the Babylonian occupation.
30. Lye is an alkali, made from the ashes of plants, which was used
as a soap.
33. In 13 MSS there is a reading lu for lo>, "Would that there were an
arbiter between us". This was read by LXX and Syr.
35. "Naturally I am not in terror of God; It is his injustice in puni­
shing me without reason that fills me with terror."
 NOTES 89

CHAPTER x

12. The Hebrew is "Life and kindness hast thou done with me".
No doubt the R.V. gives the general sense of the passage. In.
the present state of our knowledge it is difficult to see exactly
what is meant.
15. Re>eh reweh. Waw and Aleph often interchange in both Hebrew
=

and Arabic.
16. Probably the meaning is that God hunts him like a lion after his
prey.
17. <edeyka, not "witnesses" as in R.V. and I.C.C., but "attack"
or "animosity", i.e. <et!Jeka from the Arabic <ad[ya "was hostile".
The connection with the lion is implicit because in Arabic an
epithet of the lion is al-<adi "the attacker".
IJaJtphOt we:s:,abhiP. It would seem that the meaning is that when
he might look for a respite, he has to take up arms again. Above
all he desires to be let alone in peace (see verse 20).
20. yeftt. The R.V. doubtless has seized the sense, but this use of the
verb here is unique.
22. Kemo >ophel. The repetition of >ophel noted in I.C.C. points to a
meaning other than the normal one which has just been used in the
first part of the verse. In Arabk >afala, used of the sun, moon
and stars, means "became hidden", "was absent". The author
avoids the repetition, but is much addicted to homonyms.

CHAPTER XI

6. Kiphlayim stands for kiphe/a>fm, the Aleph being omitted. The

literal meaning is correctly given in R. V.
7. Tim:s:,a>. I.C.C. notes that this verb is not always used in the same
sense, but it fails to tell the reader how two meanings can be
found in one verb. Here again is a homonym. "Find" is the com­
mon Hebrew meaning; "attain to" is cognate with the Arabic ma(la
(1) "penetrated, cut", or (2) "pass on" (cf. the Aramaic root).
(Probably this is the meaning in Deut. xix. 5 and possibly in I
Sam. xxxi. 3 where the meaning would seem to be that the
archers wounded Saul with their arrows).
Takh!ft, either "limits" or "perfection". The former is to be
preferred here.
8. Gobhehey !amayim, if correct, can only mean "The heights of
90 NOTES

heaven". But as in the context breadth, length and depth are

all comparatives, and as the Vulg. has excelsior Caelo, it would
seem that here there is a scribal error in the text, and that gebhonah
miJJamqyim should be read. "They are" or "It is higher than
heaven", depending on whether the feminine adjectives refer
to the .limits or the divine perfection. Textual errors in the Book
of Job are extraordinarily rare despite the ingenuity of commen­
tators!
10. Yabafoph. In ix. 12, which Zophar answers here, the verb used
_
is yabtoph = seizes.
Yaqhil. R.V. has "call unto judgement" and in the margin "Heb :
call an assembly". It is highly doubtful if this is what the writer
meant, and the word is best explained from the Arabic qahala
"administered a severe reprimand".
12. Though there is no doubt that the old Jewish commentators
.
were right in explaining the verse thus, and though the rhetorical
antithesis between that which is hollow and that which has a
heart is obvious, the full force of the words is to be felt only in
Arabic. Thus 'unbubun is a hollow pipe or tube, while lubbun is
the heart, pith or kernel of a tree or nut. The rendering of R.V.m.
stands.
1 8. Webtfipharta. Hulst's suggestion to point webupparta -( Arabic
=

bufira) "thou shalt be protected" yields a much better sense.

CHAPTER XII

4. Wqyya<anehu. "Afflicted" yields a better sense than "answered".

The Pi <el form is more common in Hebrew, though the Hiph<il
does occur.
4-5. These verses have been wrongly divided, and so the rhythm
has been broken.
They should be read :
The just man is a laughing-stock
The man of integrity suffers calamity (lit. is for calamity)
There is contempt for the stumbling of a magnate
Mockery for those whose foot slips.
Commentators have made heavy work of verse 5, and emenda­
tions, all of which are arbitrary and unnecessary, proliferate.
<astut, if it meant "thought", would be an Aramaism, which is
 NOTES 91

all but impossible in the Book of Job. A word parallel to "slip"

is imperatively demanded and this must be the Arabic ta<isa
"stumbled", a straightforward example of metathesis. .Sa<anan
is to be connected with the Arabic watana "remained long in a
place" and so means "well established", and here a man who
holds an honoured position in society.
NakhOn also bears an Arabic sense and is to be compared with
nikqyatun "mockery, spite", parallel with buz "contempt".
6. Sodedfm. The cognate Arabic verb is not sadda, as in B.D.B ; but
fadda "attacked, raided".
8. Sia!; la,are�. Lit. rendered in R.V. "speak to the earth", but as the
context enumerates beasts, birds and fishes, mention of reptiles
is to be expected here. Perhaps Arabic f;afratun "small reptiles"
is concealed in the four letters which by metathesis could be read
faf;aley >erez. The Yod could be struck out as a letter of prolon­
gation and faf;al be treated as a collective, or it could be trans­
ferred to the end of the word.
17. Sola! = Arabic tafalfala "took short steps" as one bound in a
captive train. For the equivalence of F (P) and S see BSOAS,
1954, pp. 1-9. Targ. has "in fetters" and LXX "as captives".
17-25. If not a definite reference to the plight of the land under the
Babylonians, this is strongly influenced by it. The 'king' of Terna
was killed by Nabonidus and the other large oases doubtless had
their <kings>. It was the practice of the Babylonians to deport all
those who by their station in society could start an insurrection,
and here kings, priests and counsellors are exiled, while elders
are silenced and nobles humiliated. God (through human agency)
has done all this. He lets nations increase and emigrate, and then
drives them out. The leaders lose their courage and instead of
standing their ground flee into the desert where they wander
about with no clear objective, and doubtless perish in the water­
less waste.
17. [PF 107 : Another pointer to a Hebrew settlement in Arabia is
the mention of priests here. Two priestly tribes in Medina were
known to the Arabs as the Kahinayn. They formed the hard
kernel of the Hebrew tribes of Nadir and Quray?a.]
21. >aphtqtm = Arabic >ujuqun "of noble qualities". [PF 111 : There
is nothing 'dubious' about this verse. B.D.B. gives the correct
Arabic parallel, >ajiqa,_ "excelled", but overlooks the parallel of
nadtbh, "noble in mind and character", with >ujuqun and >ajiqun,
92 NOTES

"excelling in mind and generosity". Thus the categories are

the noble and the generous and the translation should be altered
accordingly.
23. Wqyyanepem Arabic napga, "he took away, displaced".
=

[PB 163 : Granted that the author lived in one of the six oases named
by Nabonidus it may be worthwhile to try and guess at the one
that Job could claim as his home. Since Nabonidus is known
to have massacred the inhabitants of Terna, one would suppose
that that could be ruled out. Fadak and Yadi< are comparatively
unimportant places, and Khaybar, Dedan and Yathrib remain as
the more probable candidates. Job's allusions to the Babylonians
make it certain that they occupied his oasis : "Did I say <Make me
a gift and offer a bribe for me from your substance, or deliver me
from the hand of the oppressor and redeem (pada) me from the
hand of the ruthless ?' " He had to find his own ransom. In this
verse : "He leads nations astray and destroys them : he prostrates
peoples and leaves them. He takes away the heart of the chiefs
of the people of the land and causes them to wander in a pathless
wilderness" might seem to be an expression of a general truth,
were it not that he continues, "Of a truth mine eye hath seen all
this". These texts might refer to any one or all of the siX oases.]

CHAPTER XIII

4. Tophefry Jaqer, either "plasterers" as in the text, or "smearers"

from the Arabic ta.ft/a "was soiled by dirt". Seqer is not such an
uncompromising word as kazabh "lie". The meaning is that they use
arguments to whitewash the faults in their reasoning.
12. Legabbry J;omer. Had Meredith been an authority on the Semitic
languages he might have been suspected of plagiarism when he
wrote : -
Oh what a dusty answer gets the soul.
[PF 112: Neither "defences" (I.C.C.) nor Stevenson's seemingly
attractive suggestion of "cisterns" is appropriate here, for it is
Job the speaker who is on the defence, not his "comforters" ; and
to compare their arguments to earthen cisterns which after . all
normally hold their water has not much point. As Job is saying
that the maxims of which his friends remind him are as dry as
dust and their answers to his complaint against God are no better,
 NOTES 93

we need a word that will supply a "dusty answer". This is sup­

plied by the Arabic jiibatun of which on the analogy of bii_jat un,
plural pqjun, would bejabun, the third radical being sharpened in
Hebrew. There is no need to insist on translating bomer by "clay".
In xxx. 19 it is parallel with >epher as here and means no more than
dust or dirt.
14. <a/-mah is best transferred to the end of the preceding verse as
·

has been suggested.

15. Hen yiq/e/enz fo> >ayabel. Most commentators dispute the validity
of the R. V. rendering here, and before going on to discuss the
alternatives the objections to the long cherished text must be
examined.
First of all there is no cogent reason why hen should not be
translated "though" because, as has been seen, it is cognate with
the Arabic >in "if". Thus one objection is disposed of.
Secondly, "wait for" is certainly the primary meaning ofyiibal,
for it is a tropical development of the Arabic waba!a "he stuck in
the mud", so that any suggestion of "hope" which is explicit in
some texts has to be imported.
Thirdly, the Qere and all ancient versions read Lamed Waw
instead of Lamed Aleph; if the Qere is correct, so is R.V.
Fourthly, Job prays that God will free him from fear, whether
of pain or death must be inferred, and grant him an answer to
his demand for justification.
On the other hand, if the negative /o> is retained, the meaning
is as in R.V.m. "I will not wait" or "I have no hope". It must be
apparent that Job's mind alternates between hope and despair,
an attitude that all sick persons will understand. But here the
next verse means "Moreover my success is based on the fact that
no godless person can appear before him".
For these reasons the text read by R.V. may be confidently
retained.
17. ,abawatf. The form has nothing direct(y to do with the root
biiwah, nor is it an Aramaic word as in B.D.B. and I.C.C., but
= Arabic wabatun "voice". The two verbs in Arabic and Hebrew
are cognate.
[HAL III. 3 : B.D.B. and I.C.C. claim that the noun, found only
in Job xiii. 17, .is an Aramaic Aph<el infinitive. This is highly
improbable because (a) Aramaisms are extremely. rare in the Book
of Job, as I have shown elsewhere . . . and (b) the translation
94 NOTES

Listen carefully to my word

And let my voice be in your ears
yields a parallelism of word and voice often to be found in the
Psalms, and rids the· reader of the intolerable pomposity of a
''declaration".
26. Merorot. In view of the parallelism "youth" it is highly prol?able .
that the meaning here is "things that are passed" - from Arabic
marra "passed by".
28. [HAL II. 31 : As I.C.C. asserts, the Masoretic Text yields a sa­
tisfactory sense, though some commentators would follow LXX
and Syr. raqba and translate "wine-skin", cf. Jos. ix. 4. Even
so the word would not necessarily be an Aramaism - against
I.C.C. xlvii - because there is a double connection with Arabic;
a small piece of hide such as would make a wine-skin was called
a muraqqabun. Skins containing fluids were tied at the neck
[raqbatun] with strips of skin.

CHAPTER XN

6. Weye(.Jdiil. This may be right, and therefore R.V., which has the
support of the versions, could be retained. But the reading of one
. MS wal;adiil - the slightest possible change - affords a better
sense.
10. Wqyyef;elaf. I:fiilaf is a variant form of l;a!aph "passed away" as
has been explained in BSOAS, 1954, pp. 1-12.
1 1 . Yel;erabh weyabhef, a hendiadys.
17. Tafal <al, lit. "plastered over" with wax or glue to preserve the
contents.
18. Yibbol. A difficult w:ord to explain; perhaps to treat it as a by-form
of biildh "wore out" is the simplest way out of the difficulty.
Driver in I.C.C. with some hesitancy suggested "crumbles away"
and so obtained a fair parallel to the second hemistich. The word
awaits further study.
20. I.e. he dies.

CHAPTER XV

2. I.e. Job, who claimed to be a man of understanding (xii. 3).

4. I.e. a reverent attitude towards God.
12. Yiqqal;akhii. G. R. Driver in Die Welt des Orients, I.. p. 235,
 NOTES 95

explains this from the Arabic waqal;a "behaved shamelessly, was

bold", pointing the Hebrew yoqfhakha, a meaning which the
LXX supports. This is a great improvement on the colourless
rendering of the R.V.
Yirzemun, lit. "wink" as in R.V.
19. <abhar. The meaning cannot be "no stranger passed among them",
because caravans, merchagts and travellers were constantly
passing through the lands of the Near East. What Eliphaz is
saying is just the reverse, namely that no foreigner settled among
them so as to bring in harmful innovations and alien ideas. Here
the Arabic verb gabara "remained, continued" is the cognate.
The distinction between the <Ayin and the Gayin is not pre­
served in Arabic, nor is it in Hebrew, for in the former <abara =

"he crossed, passed over" (as in Hebrew), while gabara also means
"he passed" and its opposite "he stayed, continued".
Another certain example of the use of this verb is found in II
Sam. xv. 23 where David remained behind in the valley of Qidron,
while the people passed by. The Masoretic Text is perfectly
correct and is not to be emended. Other probable examples are
Num. v. 14, 30.
19-35. These verses might well apply to Nabonidus who is and will
become a:n example of God's punishment of the invader.
20. Nabonidus had been seriously ill and had to remain in the Le­
banon while his army took the field.
<arf?:_. Though this adjective has a general application, it is applied
especially to the Babylonians in Is. xiii. 11, Ezek. xxviii. 7, and
explicitly in Ezek. xxx. 11 and elsewhere. See B.D.B.
22. The context describes the increasing anxiety in which the wicked
man lives, vexed by cares and forebodings. Commentators have
interpreted l;oJekh as the darkness of misfortune, and have queried
the word fubh because one would suppose that the writer intended
to say that the wicked have no hope of escaping misfortune.
There is much force in this criticism.
I have endeavoured to prove that the Book of Job was written
in and probably for Arabic-speaking Hebrew readers, and conse­
quently one must always take into account the possibility that
an Arabic word or a Hebrew word used in an Arabic sense lies
before us. In this one verse which, when the particle, pronoun
and two prepositions are excluded, contains but five words, three
of them belong to an Arabic sphere of influence.
96 NOTES

Thus Jubb should not be given the sense of "returned" ( =

Arabic thaba), but . "escaped", cognate with Arabic saba "he
went about freely". As the I.C.C. says, " He has no hope of es'­
caping from misfortune."
Secondly, it is to be observed that "darkness" is no real parallel
to the "sword" and arouses the suspicion that poJekh must mean
something else. Ifasakun means "an instrument of iron or wood
with sharp points like the prickles of thorns or thistles which was
thrown round an encampment in the way of horses or camels".
Thirdly, �afu has everywhere been assumed to belong to the
Hebrew root zafah. Commentators have felt themselves at
liberty to alter the text to �afun to obtain the meaning "reserved
for the sword". But there is no need to tamper with the text
because the Arabic !affa "he reserved, set apart" shows that this
must be what the received text is intended to convey to the reader.
26. As has been suggested long ago, the meaning probably is con­
temptuous defiance, as in the Arabic saying : "He turned the back
of his shield to him".
29. Min/am. Unfortunately the meaning of this word is obscure, but
only those who can claim to know the whole vocabulary of the
Hebrew community in the I:lijaz more than 2000 years ago are
entitled to brand it as corrupt.
30, Wiyasur beruab piw. Parallelism requires a word to correspond
with the shoots of a tree, and it would seem that one letter is
missing from the text. LXX reads pirl;O "his blossom", which
affords an excellent parallel. The verb should be vocalised
yusar "carried away".
31. Saw nife<ah ki Jaw tihiyeh temurato. Here again is paranomasia. The
first Jaw is the Arabic su>un "evil, mischief" ; the second is the
Arabic tha>yun "ruin". Nife<ah could with B.D.B. be rendered "be
led astray" ; but inasmuch as ta<ah means "wandered, strayed"
and =· Arabic taga "exceeded all bounds, was tyrannical", the
way is operi to a more forceful rendering.
32. I.e. earlier than was to be expected.

CHAPTER XVI
5; Yabfokh here is cognate with Arabic paJaka "producing a copious
flow", and paJikun = "continuous". [See further PF 1 12-3]
6. Yebafekh bears its normal Hebrew meaning "restrain" --:- another
tauriya. [See PF 1 12-113]
 NOTES 97

7. I.e. dispersed all my friends.

8. On the theory that suffering implies guilt. [HAL II.18 on Hebrew
kiil;ad and kal;af, compared with Arabic jal;ada andjaf;sun ; Nol­
deke, Neue Beitri:ige 191, cited in KB, held that the Arabic equi­
valent was jal;ada and in this he was anticipated by Ibn Janal).,
314, who explained kiil;ad and kiil;af by jal;ada. Furthermore it is
shown in lbdiil 370 ff. that Arabic Sin and Dal sometimes inter­
change, as they do in Hebrew; cf. ra<d and ra<J "quaked".
The Aramaic meaning of "leanness" is poorly attested. Ps. cix.
24 might well mean "My flesh is scored, or cracked (cf. Arabic
jal;asa "skinned, scratched") from lack of oil", and such an
explanation of kaf;aff (rendered "leanness" in B.D.B.) would be
apt to describe Job's sufferings here.]
12. Wqyepharpareni . . . wqyepha�pe�,eni. One would not expect that a
person resting quietly would be "broken asunder" (R.V.), nor
would a man seize another by the neck in order to "dash him to
pieces". What one would expect is that a man at ease would be
roughly disturbed, and when seized from behind by the neck be
violently shaken. Read, as the Hebrew of Job must be, against an
Arabian background, for farjara in Arabic means "he disturbed,
agitated". Pi�pe� is not to be connected with Arabic jaef(ia
"broke'', but with fa��a "was rough, formidable", and so in a
transitive form "savaged".
In the next verse the author carries on with the thought that
fa��a has suggested to him in the words
"He cuts open my kidneys . . .
He spills my gall upon the ground."
This is the verb used of cutting a camel's stomach to get at the water
it contains when crossing a waterless desert. The Arabs used to take
with them additional camels, which had been watered to the full,
and when their need was great they slaughtered them and drank
the water that remained in their stomachs. Only a writer familiar
with the ways of the nomads could have thought on these lines.
14. Pere� <af-penry-piire�. Probably penry here = Arabic thinan "re­
petition". [See further HAL III. 6-7]

CHAPTER XVII
1 . Job has just said that he has a few years to live, and therefore it
is impossible that niz<akhii can mean "are extinct". It · is not a
Leeds University Oriental Society Suppl. II 7
98 NOTES

variant form of za<akh as B.D.B. asserts, but is cognate with

the Arabic >az<abi "short". It follows that bubbalah cannot mean
"consumed", and since Arabic babila means "he was in an un­
sound or disordered state", some such rendering as "my spirit
(i.e. life) is in a precarious state" is required.
. [PB 162-3 : The Book of Job opens up a wide field to the Arabic
philologist and throws light on the antiquity of classical Arabic.
Unlike any other that has come down to us it tells us of words
and phrases that were in common use in the I:lijaz more than a
thousand years before Islam. For example in this verse the poet says :
"My spirit is broken, my days are niz<akhu". There is no root
za<akh existent in Hebrew; but in Arabic we find >az<abi and
zu<bu!J with the meaning "short" which must be what is intended
here. Thus this book shows us that in the sixth century B.C. the
Arabs of the J:lijaz, among whom the poet lived, used the verb
za<akh "was short". No trace of it [za <al].a] has survived in
Lisan a/-<Arab nor, so far as I know, in any works on nawadir.
All but one version, ancient and modern, translated the word
as though it was the equivalent of da<akh and meant "extin­
guished". The honourable exception was the Latin version which
was translated from Hebrew in Palestine; there the correct mean­
ing is given.
5. The precise meaning of this verse is obscure.
12. A difficult verse. By reading mippenry as mippanqy the LXX
translates "the light near my face is darkness".
15. Here is another taurrya. In the first hemistich tiqwah means "hope" ;
in the second it means "piety" as does the Arabic taqwa. LXX and
Vulg. perceived that the word must be given a different meaning
on its second appearance in order to furnish a dual subject of the
verb in the next verse, but they did not know its true meaning
[See PF 113 or PB 161]
16. Nabat must be read with LXX as nebiit. [See also HAL II. 16]

CHAPTER XVIII

2. From a purely literary point of view this is one of the most inter­
esting verses in the book. Bildad shows impatience at the rhe­
torical devices, notably that of the taurrya which Job has employed
in iii . 22, xvi. 5 , and throughout the book. A qene� "trap" or
"snare" is an admirable epithet for the taurrya (the verbal noun
 NOTES 99

of Arabic warrii "hid, disguised", and so a double entente). Job

in his reply (xix. 1) says, "And how long will you use harmful
words against me over and over again? God's unjust treatment
of me is a matter of far greater gravity than my choice of words
to complain of the wrongs I suffer."
Teffmf'tn should not be altered to the 2nd person singular, for it is
a mark of politeness at the beginning of a conversation to address
another as 'you'. Afterwards the singular form can be used as
when Bildad uses it in verse 4.
Tiibhtnf't certainly does not mean "consider" as in the R.V., nor is
"understand" in the I.C.C. at all probable. It is to be equated with
the Arabic 'abiina, "he showed clearly, explained".
3. In xvi. 9 Job had said that it was God who tore him in his anger.
Nifemfnf't. Since beasts are associated with ignorance in Ps.lxxiii.
22, rather than uncleanness, it is unlikely that the form used here
stands for nifme'nf't. 3 MSS read nefammonf't Arabic tamtama,
=

"he could not speak clearly". A man's inability to express his

meaning is commonly attributed to stupidity and the verb may
safely be translated accordingly.
7. Wetafltkhehf't. Here the LXX reads w8takhftlehf't. Forced to take a
narrow path full of obstacles, his own evil plans make him stum­
ble. A simple instance of metathesis.
11. Wehephf?,uhf't. The figure is that of a man surrounded by fears of
disaster and the meaning must be that try as he will he cannot
escape them. There is no authority for R.V.'s "chose". Almost
certainly the verb is to be equated with Arabic 'afiida 'ilii, "it
reached, arrived at". As he hastens away from his encompassing
fears, they catch up with him.
12. As explained in PF 114, ra<ebh means "weak". [PF 1 1 4 : The
difficulty felt by commentators in this verse disappears when
ra<ebh is given its Arabic meaning of "weak and cowardly".
Thus the first hemistich should run :
His strength becomes weak.
13. Since there is a taurfya here, those who would read ye'iikhel bedf
'oro are certainly right. "Skin" here is probably used for the body
as in xix. 26.
100 NOTES

CHAPTER XIX

2. See the note on xviii. 2 to which this verse refers. As would be

expected yagah [Hiph<il] and dakha> [Pi <el] are synonyms "pain"
and "make sick with words" as Bildad has done. [PF 114:
Arabic w'!}iya means "felt pain" and dukka means "was ill". This is
clearly the meaning of nidkeyti in Ps. xxxviii. 9. See p. 109 above.]
3. [HAL ii. 1 2 : (ref. root HKR = Arabic bakarahu "he wronged
him"). This verb occurs only in Job xix.3. The notes in B.D.B.
give all the necessary information. Conjectures quoted there are
unnecessary, as is the recommendation to read I:IKR with a few
MSS. H and I:I are legitimate variants in Arabic, cf. madaba and
madaha "praised", jaliha andjaliba "was bald", etc.
The intransitive form bakira [in Arabic] means "he was obsti­
nate", . and the meaning of hakkarat peneyhem is "their obstinate
faces witness against them" in Is. iii. 9, as Ewald and Dillmann
long ago suggested. B.D.B. condemns this as 'very dubious', but
Arabic usage shows that it is quite legitimate, and as this meaning
fits the context it should be adopted. Hakkarah should be trans­
ferred from NKR to HKR.]
4. "l may have unintentionally been guilty of venial sin, but that
gives you no grounds for your harsh accusations."
5. I.e. the reproach that his sufferings are due to his sins. Tagdzlu.
Although it is possible to justify the rendering "magnify your­
selves", there is no parallelism between the two verbs. To supply
this we must invoke the Arabic verb jadila "was quarrelsome,
contentious", and the meaning becomes clear. A debate between
rival schools was called a mujada/at un, a term which Arabs would
apply to this book.
7. It is possible that here again hen = Arabic >in "if", so that the
verse could be read :-
If I cry out "Violence", I am not heard;
If I cry for help, there is no judgement.
8. ffofekh. As explained in PF 114, this word = the Arabic basakun
"thorns".
Darkness in a path that was fenced up would be redundant.
17. ffannotZ. Another tauriya after >efbannen in the preceding verse.
R. V. has fallen into the trap, though the true rendering is in the
margin. Here as so often the paranomasia is possible only in
 NOTES 101

Hebrew writing from the Arabic; the consonants are not the
same, the first being J:Ia and the second lja.
20. The exact significance of this proverbial expression is not known.
22. To 'eat the flesh of' someone is to accuse him falsely. Thus in
Syriac the devil is called 'the eater of the morsels'. The figure is
found in the Qur'an and in Arabic literature.
23. Sepher here is almost certainly the Accadian word Jiparru "bron­
ze; '. One does not cut (baqaq) letters in a book, but in stone or
metal - so Is. :xxx. 8.
25. Go'aft. Much misunderstanding has gathered round this word
owing to the mistaken notion that the root meaning of ga'al
is "redeemed" ; but it is not. As has been shown in UBJ 40-44,
it is to be explained from the Arabic laja'a, "he went to him for
protection" and 'aija'a "he protected or defended". It must be
remembered that in English as well as in Hebrew "redeeming"
often means "rescuing, delivering, saving" with no idea of the
passing of money or any quidpro quo. To take but one example out
of many, when in Gen. xlviii. 1 6 Jacob says, "May the angel who
redeemed me from all evil bless the lads", the reader would at
once understand that the angel was the instrument of divine deli­
verance, not that a ransom was paid. For these reasons 'Redeemer'
in the sense of 'Deliverer' is a perfectly legitimate rendering here,
for there is no philological justification for the rendering 'Vin­
dicator'.
'abaron, "The Eternal", is parallel with bay, "The Ever-living
One". LXX translates "Eternal is He who will deliver me".
Job's contemporary, the Deutero-Isaiah, twice uses this ad­
jective of God, and without the article as here. Is. xliv. 6 "I am
the First and I am the Last" : Is. xlviii. 12 "I am the First, yea
, I am the Last" ('abarifn). To interpret this word as "the last
speaker" (see l.C.C.) rests on the false assumption that it is a
parallel to "Vindicator" instead of to "Living One". [See also
UBJ 42-43]
The emphatic use of the pronoun here and in verse 27 brings
out the intensely personal conviction of Job.
<a/ <aphar yaqum. The precise meaning is obscure. Job's grave
seems the most probable.
26. We'abar <orf niqqephU-ziit umibbefarf 'ebezeh 'eloah. The ancient
Versions are of little help here and the efforts of commentators to
extract a meaning have resulted in numerous alterations to the
102 NOTES

to the text. Some of these have been discussed and rejected in

UBJ where it was sought to vindicate the M.T. by reading
niqpa?. : '8t8 mibbefar1 . . . Arabic qafaza = he died. The meaning
would then be : -
After my body has perished
I shall see my Vindicator, God Himself.
If it is right to alter the punctuation so as to get a noun "the one
who brings me good tidings", then "Vindicator" might well
stand here. Job yearned for justice, and longed for his world to
see that justice was done. But there could be no justice, according
to current theories of sin and suffering, unless Job's physical and
social disasters were reversed. Therefore something more than a
declaration of his innocence was imperative if he was to be vin­
dicated in the sight of men, as ultimately he was.
" Skin", rendered "body" above as in xviii. 13, is sometimes
used for "body" by the Arabs.
It is hard to conceive a more sublime reaching out of the human
spirit than the words "Him, my Vindicator, shall I see, even
God". Nevertheless it is possible to state a case for the R.V.m.
"without my flesh" for "flesh" is parallel to "skin" in the first
hemistich, and there would be the now familiar figure of the
taurfya, because there would be a play on the Arabic bafarun
which means "the outer skin". But on the whole this does not
seem probable.
27. Since the emphatic first person pronoun implies a personal re­
velation, the R.V. "for myself" seems preferable to "on my side",
but either rendering is possible.
Ifeqz is not from #q "bosom", but from Arabic !;aqwun "loins".
The reins are the kindneys, which to the Hebrews were the seat
of emotion.
29. Saddzn. As the Hebrew Qere and the Targ. indicate, the form and
meaning of this word are in doubt. The particle is entirely out
of place in Job. In the present state of our knowledge it is impos­
sible to determine the exact meaning of the phrase. If the second
line of the verse is treated as a parenthesis, some such sense as
"so that your blood may not be shed" is a possibility. Saddzn
could conceal Arabic sadinun "blood" and the verb might be
the Arabic wada<a "he left alone".
 NOTES 103

CHAPTER XX

2. Ba<abhur /;Jufi bht. Parallelism demands that some word corres­

ponding to "thoughts" must be latent in the ·second hemistich,
so that we have here not the familar preposition and conjunction,
but a verbal noun from the Arabic <abara "he meditated" ; so
that the meaning is "by meditation". IfuJ could not mean "haste"
here, and was explained long ago by the Spaniard Ibn Barun as
meaning "boldness" from the Arabic /Jawasun. ·

3. The R.V. and R.V. m. in the second hemistich are grammatically

correct. Nevertheless by giving kefimmatt its Arabic meaning
"my word" and taking ya<anenz as a Hiph <il, a more effective
reply is forthcoming. Zophar is saying :- "Have I got to listen to
your strictures on what I have said, when a God-given spirit
within tells me that you are utterly wrong, as I shall proceed
to demonstrate."
6. Sf>o, not "excellency", but = Arabic fawan "head, skull" and so
is parallel with ro>Jo. See PF 1 14 ff. [HAL iii. 7 : This noun
(ref. sP) is wrongly entered under NS> by B.D.B. and referred
thereto by K.B. It does not mean excellency but the crown of
the head, and is a synonym for, and a parallel to, R>S in the
second hemistich.]
1 8. The money he makes by trading brings him but little satisfaction.
19. The houses of the poor were built of mud bricks and constantly
needed repair. An unscrupulous employer who wanted the site
simply levelled the mud walls.
20. "For" gives a second reason for the troubled mind of the wicked.
23. Bo. This refers to the man's belly rather than to the man himself.
This grim execration refers back to verse 20.
25. Gewdh. With the sense of "back" elsewhere this noun is always
used in the masculine, gew or gaw. Doubtless it should be pointed
gewo "his back". However the Arabic jawwun suggests that here
the meaning is "his middle", a closer parallel to <gall bladder>
which is in the middle of the body rather than at the back.
YahaJokh <aJqyw >emzm. Here vocabulary and syntax are Arabic.
Halaka means "fell" ; when the predicate is separated from its
subject it is normally written in the 3rd singular masculine. The
text is therefore correct [= PF 1 15].
26. Yera< is to be explained from Arabic ra<a "was afraid" andyari<a
"was faint-hearted". See further JTS XV, 1964, pp. 293 ff.
104 NOTES

26. 'A fire' here means lightning.

27-28. yegal!U and yigel. Another example of the author's love of
paranomasia.
CHAPTER XXI
2. Instead of the "consolations" administered in xv. 11 and rejected
by Job in xvi. 2, Job says that if the friends will but be silent this
will be a consolation.
7. <atequ . . . !;qyil. It is possible that the verb here is used in the
Arabic sense "thrive, prosper" and that the noun, as often
in Hebrew, here me:;i.ns "wealth". Hence the verse could be
rendered : -
Why do wicked men live,
Prosper and become exceeding rich?
[UBJ 29 : Why this (<ateq) should be included under Aramaisms
passes my comprehension, because B.D.B. notes that in Arabic
<ataqa means "grew old". Here we have a homonym, for the verb
might equally well mean "throve". As Peake said : Job "propounds
to them the problem that torments himself: Why do the wicked
prosper?" At first sight it would seem that 'live' and 'grow old'
are natural sequents, but the taur!ya in the context requires
'Prosper and wax mighty in wealth'.]
12. Yife'u. The R.V.m. "Heb. 'lift up the voice' " should be ignored.
The root fa'ah = Arabic .fa'a "he rejoiced" has not been recog­
nised hitherto.
13. Yeballu means "they wear out" ; but as Job is contrasting the
happy life and sudden end of the wicked with his own long
drawn-out suffering, it is all but certain that the Qere yeka/lu
"they end" should be adopted with the ancient Versions.
16. It is God who has made them or allowed them to become, pros­
perous, but Job has never abandoned prayer like the wicked.
17. J:Jabhaltm. A word parallel to calamity is called for, and it seems
best to supply it from the Arabic gaba/un = ruin.
19. [HAL iv. 12 (re ZPH) : The meaning 'reserved' comes out plainly
( = Arabic .[tina] .
20. Ktdo "calamity". The meaning adopted by I.C.C. is quite correct,
but there is no need to resort to emendation to obtain it. The
cognate Arabic is ka'da'u with that sense.
23. Saf>anan. This form is perfectly correct. The intrusive L is
common in Arabic. See further HAL iii. 19 [This word is a pure
 NOTES 105

Arabism and not a slip of the pen as all authorities assert. The
intrusive L is to be compared with jalmiidun "rock" in both
Arabic and Hebrew, dalhamun and dah111at un "blackness", etc.]
24. <atznaw. R.V.m. "his pails are full of milk" indicates the man's
prosperity, while the second half of the verse indicates his
physical well-being in consequence of a rich diet. All Versions
supposed that some part of the body parallel with "bones" was
intended, and they may be right. [See HAL i. 24 where Is. lviii.
11 is compared to this verse].
27. Tabmosu. This is not the common Hebrew verb implying violence,
but is a verb cognate with the Arabic hamasa "he spoke inaudibly"
and hamasii "they spoke secretly together".
29. 'otOtam. Here the word is used in the Arabic sense "words" as
is explained in HAL i. 1 8 [Another example of this use of 'ot
is to be found in Job xxi. 29 : "Have you not asked them that go
by the way and do you not understand what they say?" (The
precise meaning of NKR which is a t}iddun or word with contrary
meanings in Hebrew need not concern us here). According to the
I.CC. the 'otot mean "typical illustrations drawn by those tra­
vellers from their experience of men and life that wicked men do
not come to ruin". This seems a heavy burden to impose on the
'tokens'.
It is just possible that the Targumists knew this meaning of
'ot, for they translated Hos. x. 10 "By my Memra I brought chasti­
sements upon them", perhaps reading be'otf; but in view of their
constant efforts to avoid anthropomorphisms the parallel cannot
be pressed ; they may have paraphrased 'awwah reverentially].
Tenakkeru "repudiate". See I.CC.
=

30. Yuba!U. It is clear that travellers take the conventional view of the
fate of the wicked and therefore their obvious prosperity has to
be balanced by an approaching disaster. Therefore the verb must
have another meaning, and this is fitly provided by the Arabic
wabula "was unhealthy, unwholesome". This suggestion is sup­
ported by the use of the verb in its normal sense in Hebrew in
verse 32 ; so we get yet another example of the writer's love of
paranomasia.
33. "And all men will draw after him." I.e. most men will follow his
evil example. [HAL i. 33 (on RGB) : This identification is he­
sitantly suggested by K.B., and I think that it is right for two
reasons : (i) rtijbatun and rtijmatun are used indifferently by the
106 NOTES

Arabs for the stone support to a palm tree. See Mubit and Lane
1034b. (ii) Rtfjamun were put ove r a grave to fori;n a mound :
cf. Job xxi. 33 "the stones of the wadi are sweet unto him".
Here "clods" is a most unsuitable rendering because the winter
rains would sweep clods away and destroy all traces of the grave.
(The assumption that NI:IL here means "dust", I.C.C. Part II
151, is unnecessary). For the same reason it is probable that
>argebh which, on the · strength of the LXX transliteration argab
and ergab in I Sam. xx. 19, 41 is read instead of the M. T. in those
verses, means a stone heap. (iii) The district Argobh, Deut. iii . 4,
14 etc., is an area abounding in volcanic mounds of basaltic for­
mation. Thus we are left only with Job xxxviii. 38 where "clods"
are called "stones" by the poet, either because after rain they
become as hard as stones in the heat of the sun, or because they
are made into a compact mass by the cementing action of the
dried earth]

CHAPTER XXII

20. Qzmanu. In the present state of our knowledge this word cannot be
explained. The R.V. implies qamrynu. It is possible that the
meaning is "their substance" as suggested in HAL iii . 7 ; in that
case the parallel wordyeter would mean "abundance" as in R.V.m.
[HAL iii. 7 : (qzm equated with Arabic qiwamun "sustenance"
and qryamun "subsistence"). The I.C.C. renders 'Surely their
subsistence is cut off, And their affluence the fire hath devoured'.
Though the suffix (-anti) is hard to explain, there is no need to
alter the noun toyequmam with I<:ittel. The Versions seem to have
read a third plural suffix]
21 . [HAL iv. 1 8 (re SKN and Arabic thakama) : This Arabic verb
("was continually occupied in, remained in a place") well illu­
strates Hebrew usage in Num. xxii. 30 and Job xxii. 21, and is
not out of line with Ps. cxxxix. 3 ; but it hardly seems to fit those
contexts where profit or benefit are implied]
23. For "built up" the LXX has "and humble yourself". This
yields a better sense and involves the change of but one letter in
Hebrew.
25. To<aphot "mountains". The finest silver in this age was that which
was found in the mountains of Armenia and was brought up
by the Assyrians. The author contrasts this precious metal with
 NOTES 107

the inferior silver extracted from ores to be found nearer home.

See further PEQ, 1962, pp. 129-132.
27. I.e. the vows to give or do something if his prayers were answered.
29. No satisfactory explanation of this verse is forthcoming. The
suggestion "For God abases the proud" provides a suitable
meaning, but involves drastic changes in the Hebrew text.
30. >£ is pure Arabic where it is pointed >qyya "whomsoever" [PF
115 : Some Versions understood this and they cannot be quoted
in support of the notes in Kittel's BH] To take it as a negative as
does the R.V. results in nonsense.
Nim/a/ is to be pointed nimla//a "thou shalt be delivered" [PF
115 : The pointing nimla//a (Hoffman) is undoubtedly correct]

CHAPTER XXIII

2. Yadz. Here LXX and Syr. read yado; and as Waw and Yod are
often indistinguishable in manuscripts, no exception can be taken
to this slightest possible change in the text.
"Upon my groaning" means "in spite of my groaning".
7. Because he would certainly be acquitted.
8. Hen could of course bear its normal meaning "behold", but the
Arabic >in = "if" makes a smoother reading.
9. <afoto. This does not come from the common Hebrew verb
<afdh, but from the Arabic gafrya "he came to".
>a(.Jaz is to be pointed >e(.Jezehu, and >er>eh as >er>ehu. See PF 116
[There i s n o need t o follow Syr. & Vulg. in reading "when I
turn" as the context plainly shows that when Job seeks God he
seems to have removed himself. Though omnipresent, God
cannot be apprehended]
12. Me(.Juqqz. The R.V.'s rendering is very doubtful and without
analogy in Hebrew. With the change of one letter (B and M are
sometimes confused by scribes) the text could be read be(.Jeqz
and the rendering "I have treasured up his words in my bosom"
obtained. Thus a good parallel with the first half of the verse is
forthcoming. Both LXX and Vulg. read the text thus.
17. Ni'{,mattt. As B.D.B. indicates the root meaning of this verb is
'silence'. Despite the fact that God has hidden himself from him
and left him in the dark, he cannot be silenced, but will continue
to protest against God's injustice.
108 NOTES

CHAPTER XXIV

2. They impudently pasture the flocks on the l�nd they have stolen.
5. The parallel lies in the need for the dispossessed and starving to
go to the open country in search for food, and so the second he­
mistich must be translated in such a way as to make this clear.
The colon must come after <arabhah, and lo should be pointed lu.
[PF 1 1 6 : I. C. C. errs in asserting that the text is corrupt and
"admits of no rhythmical articulation". Obviously the metre
requires three beats in each half of the verse, and so the colon must
come after <arabhah. It is the word lo that has caused difficulty to
commentators, some of whom would strike it out altogether and
others would alter it to the negative particle. But the text is perfectly
sound : all that is needed is to punctuate lu (see Reckendorff's
Arabische Syntax, 497, and Wright's Arabic Grammar, II, 348)]
6. Rafa< not "wicked" but "rich" from Arabic rassaga. See further
PF 116-1 17 [The Versions agree with R.V; but most moderns,
objecting to the importation of the ethical character of the vine­
owners as irrelevant, wrongly alter rafa< to <aJtr. But the word
is correct. In Arabic rassaga means "he provided handsomely
for his family" and <qyJun rasij,un means "ample means of sub­
sistence". Almost certainly rich is what the writer meant].
19. If the colon is put after yigzelu, a straightforward meaning is
possible. ]azula in Arabic means "was large". Se'ol could be the
equivalent of sala "flowed", and f;ata'u means. "missed" as in
Prov. xix.2. See further PF 116-7 [I.C.C. brands this verse as
"unrhythmical, awkwardly expressed, and no doubt corrupt".
But if the colon is put in the right place there is nothing wrong
with the metre, and read as a Hebraeo-Arabic verse a straight-
forward meaning is forthcoming . . . . . . Alternatively Je'ol might
conceal sqylun "watercourse" or "torrent", sii'ilun "fluid", etc.
Thus it is possible that the second hemistich should run "the
snow waters miss the watercourse". The snow that had fallen
on the high ground and should have flowed down the wadi to
water the land parched by the summer heat, had melted immedia­
tely where it lay and sunk into the ground, and so failed to reach
the torrent-bed to bring fertility to the land below. This would .
happen if rain did not dissolve the snow and bring it with it to
its accustomed channel. But on the whole the rendering adopted
above seems preferable].
 NOTES 109

22. 0mafiikh [HAL ii. 23 (M SK and Arabic cognates masaka "took

hold of'', masuka "was tenacious", massaka "scented him with
musk") : The semantic development of <seizing' to <pulling' is
simple and obvious. In the majority of instances there seems to
be no good reason for departing from the primary meaning which
is more natural : thus, Ex. xii. 21 "Seize and take a lamb"; Judg.
v. 14; Ps. x. 9 ; Job xl. 25, etc. Similarly the nouns mefekh and
Ji;ofekhet. The first signifies something held, and so Job xxviii. 18
means "the possession of wisdom is better than corals", and the
"cords" of Orion are literally its 'holders'. The sense of prolong­
ing which B.D.B. assigns to the verb in Ps. xxxvi. 10; lxxxv. 6 ;
cix. 12; Neh. ix. 1 3 ; Job xxiv. 22, etc. is cognate with masuka
"was tenacious" ; and the Niph <al in Ezek. xii. 25, 28, and the
Pu <al in Prov. xiii. 12 which signify "postponed" are cognate
with 'amsaka "withheld, kept back"]
24. Yiqqaphe�un [HAL iii. 7 : (equated with Arabic qabafa "plucked").
If this be the meaning here, there is no need to 'emend' the text
with I.C.C. B and F frequently interchange]
(No notes are available for chapters XXV-XXVI)

CHAPTER XXVII
6. Yef;eraph [HAL iii. 3 (equated with Arabic /;arafahu "he altered it").
In Job xxvii. 6 "My righteousness I hold fast and will not let it
go" the hemistich is continued by the words lo' . . . mryyamqy.
The R.V. renders "My heart shall not reproach me as long as
I live", while the I.C.C. prefers "My heart doth not re­
proach any one of my days". The former has to supply an object
to the verb, and the latter resorts to a tour de force to obtain one.
These difficulties can be evaded and a better sense obtained if we
interpret I:{RP in the Arabic sense given above and translate
My mind will not change as long as I live.
In Arabic as we know it today the verb is transitive, and those
who feel that this militates against its use here can point the verb
as a Niph<al.]
8. [PF 117 : It has been suggested that yefel is a by-form of Jalal, as
of course it could be if such a verb existed in Hebrew! Many
moderns advocate altering the text to yif>al, "When God de­
mandeth his life", an idiom found in Luke xii. 20. The idea is
right, but the method wrong. It is unnecessary to tamper with
110 NOTES

the text, for in Arabic yisa/u is often written for yis>a/u (Wright,
op. cit., I, 77), and the elision of hamza is a characteristic of the Ifijazi
Arabic (Rabin, Ancient West-Arabian, London, 1951, p. 131).
Departures from the strict orthography of <classical' Arabic are
much older than is commonly supposed if we accept the evidence
of Job here and elsewhere]

CHAPTER XXVIII
4. [PF 1 17-8 : Every word in the first line has been regarded with
suspicion, but once it is read as Arabic its obscurity dissolves. To
begin with, I.C.C. rightly points out that para� elsewhere in the
Old Testament does not bear the meaning it must have here.
But Arabic farafa means "cut, slit, pierced", and so is aptly used
of cutting a shaft. Nal;al, a noun to which no Arabic cognate is
assigned in B.D.B., is akin to pallatun "hole" and pala/un "gap,
interstice", and so the meaning "shaft" is established. Me<im-gar
was rendered apo konias by the LXX, so that they must have read
me<im-ger, meaning chalk, gypsum, or lime. The word is used by
Isaiah in xxvii. 9 (It is permissible to question whether Frankel
was right in including this among the words alleged to have
been borrowed by the Arabs from their Aramaic-speaking neigh.:.
bours). B.D.B. questions the reading me<im, to which it assigns
the meaning "away from, far from", but as the preposition <im
was not written by the author the point is irrelevant. The word
should be pointed with a patal; and referred to Arabic gamma
"covered", and so the meaning is "from the covering of chalk".
HanniJkahtm, translated as it must be "they that are" something,
leaves us without a predicate! But there must be one and it is
there. The verb Jakhal; has already been shown by Eitan (JRAS,
1944, p. 34) to be subject to metathesis in Ps. cxxxvii. 5, where
it means "let my right hand be paralysed" on the strength of
Arabic kasil;a "crippled". Here almost the same thing has happen­
ed, but in this case the form of the Arabic verb is kasal;a "swept
away" (Lane, 2610a). With dallu the predicate begins, and without
any alterations or additions to the text the verse says : -
He cuts a shaft through the covering of chalk;
Those who are swept off their feet
Hang suspended far from men, swinging to and fro.]
[(See the continuation PF 1 1 8-9 for a geological note)]
 NOTES 111

7 . .fezaphattu [HAL ii . 33 : Szp equated with Arabic sadajun <object

seen in the distance'). Admirable is the choice of this verb in ]ob
xxviii. 7. The eye of the falcon high in the sky cannot discern
the mine shaft in the distance far below. To K.B. belongs the
merit of relating the verb in Cant.i.6 "Do not look askance at
me because I am dusky, for the sun has scorched me" to SDP
"scorched".]
18. Omefekh [ [HAL ii. 23 see the quotation at xxiv. 22 above]
-

CHAPTER XXIX
7. The meaning is : -
When I went out of the gate up to the city,
When I prepared my seat in the broad place.
This indicates that Job lived in a gated town below the larger sett­
lement. Possibly Terna is indicated, for it is situated in a high open
plain at an altitude of 3,400 feet. The walls of the old pre-Islamic
Jewish city lie some 50 feet above the town. The oasis consists
of three separate sections each with its own fortifications. Until
Terna has been thoroughly explored by archaeologists the date
of the earliest walls and fortifications cannot be determined;
but it will be apparent from what has been ascertained by travel­
lers that the site of this ancient Jewish settlement, with its daugh­
ter settlements below, is such as would necessitate Job's having to
go up to it. Thus it-is possible that Job was driven from his house
and lands in Terna.
10. Nebba'u. The R.V. is right because the verb is cognate with the
Arabic gabi'a = "(the fire) died out". [PF 119 : The same word
is used in verse 8 in the sense of 'hid themselves'. The homonym
has not been recognised by commentators]
[HAL i. 23 : In Job xxix. 10 most commentators and- Kittel
emend the text, but this is unnecessary. As Arabic shows, the mea­
ning there is "silent", lit. "quenched". This is not the only point
that has been missed. Nebb'a'u has been used by the poet in verse 8
in the better attested sense in Hebrew : the youths withdrew or hid
themselves when the great man appeared. Here the voice of the
nobles became mute like a dead fire. This is a fine example of the
use of the same word with a different meaning, a rhetorical
device which the Arabs calledjinasun. Hebrew here and elsewhere
shows that jinasun was used in literature centuries before Arab
savants coined the name for it.
112 NOTES

1 8. This verse poses some interesting problems. The R.V. gives a

straightforward translation and a marginal indication that for
the "sans" one should understand the "phoenix". The I.C.C. adds
two explanatory glosses "nest (lings)" for "nest", and "(grains of)
sand" for "sand". As the comment on the verse cites Deut.
xxxii . 11 and Is. xvi. 2 to show that "nest" includes its occupants,
there seems no need to append the apologetic brackets, and
"nestlings" can be accepted without further ado.
From Gray's notes on the passage, the following facts call for
explanation : -
(a) LXX and Syr. understood 'egwa< to mean "I shall grow old".
(b) LXX and Vulg. understood !;Oh.to mean "palm tree".
(c) Targ. and Peshitta understood !;81 to mean "sand".
(i) So apt is the convincing parallel "growing old" and "mul­
tiplying days" that attempts have been made to alter the verb
to conform with what bygone critics suppose that the author
ought to have written. But the text is perfectly correct, and to
two at least of the Greek translators that was apparent. Gawa<
here does not bear its normal meaning "died", but is to be under­
stood as the equivalent of Arabic 'aswa<a "he remained behind
for a time". The interchange of Gimel and Sin (Arabic Ja'/ Ga'
and Sin) is to be seen in 'asamun ·= "storehouse" and 'ajmun
"square flat-roofed building". The interchange of G/J and S in
Arabic is well known - see Ibdal I. 225.
(ii) The only way to obtain the meaning "palm tree" is to alter
the text to nal;al. But there is no reason for singling out a palm
tree as an example of longevity. Peshitta in this verse has taken
qinnz to mean "a reed" ; the resulting nonsense makes it but a
dubious authority.
(iii) Strictly speaking the LXX should be cited as adopting the
meaning "palm tree", but if the addition of stelechos to phoinikos
is an intelligent gloss it could, and probably should, be brought
under the next heading. Gray's argument against this is not
convincing.
(iv) The mythical bird, the phoenix, famous for its longevity, was
traditionally at home in Arabia, and it was known to the Arabs
as thejqy!an. Since a bird in the second half of the verse is needed
to balance the nest in the -first hemistich one may confidently
adopt the R.V.m. "phoenix".
 NOTES 113

CHAPTER XXX

3. R.V. 'They gnaw the dry ground in the gloom of wasteness and
desolation'. This is little short of nonsense, and the margin does
not help either. L{fyyah here means " dead twigs" from Arabic .rawa
"(the tree) dried up" and .rawfya "something dried up". 'emef has
nothing to do with the normal meaning of "last night" (which
is given the meaning "gloom" by translators), but is cognate
with the Arabic hamasa "he chewed", and so graphically
=

describes the efforts of a starving population to masticate such

inedible food. 'emef should be pointed 'amof as an infinitive
absolute.
In the following verse the abject fugitives feed on the sour
leaves of salt-wort - "a very miserable food" (Tristram, History
Bible, p. 466). Even so, while that was available, they would
hardly eat dirt!
[HAL iii . 4 : Job xxx. 3, with its parallel l;eser, shows that the
meaning is not so much hunger as poverty of diet. The word
should be struck out from the list of alleged Aramaisms in Job.
It is worth noting that the LXX was familiar with the Arabic
meaning of kafana "shrouded, wrapped", as it translates kaphenah
in Ezek. xvii. 7 by periplegmene]
5. Min-gew. This could mean "from the midst of men", since GW
in South Arabian means "the community". But as the context
is geographical, it is perhaps better to render "low ground"
from Arabicjawwun. An oasis was to be looked for in low ground.
6. <aru�. In Arabic <arf!un and <urf!un mean "side of a mountain".
Here the meaning is that the outcasts who have been driven from
the oases occupy holes in the side of the steep valleys. In the neigh­
bourhood of Damascus families of troglodytes can be seen to
this day sheltering well above the bottom of the valleys. The
word kephtm occurs only here and in Jer. iv. 29 where the
people go up to them. Thus "rocks" can hardly be the meaning,
but rather "high ground". The cognate in Arabic is >akajifu
"mountain tops". See also PF 1 19. Ibn Barim compares the word
with the Arabic kahjun "cave". A convincing parallel to the
=

absorption of the Arabic Ha' is lacking ; but at any rate it is

clear thatlbn Barun did not acquiesce in the meaning "rocks" here.
7. Exactly what l;arul means is not known. Some kind of shrub
would seem to be indicated. The word occurs in Zeph. ii. 9 and
Leeds University Oriental Society Suppl. II 8
114 NOTES

Prov. xxiv. 31, but neither passage gives a clue to the exact
meaning.
yesuppal;u is cognate with the Arabic .[a/;iba "was companion to".
8. Beney-nabhtil does not mean "children of fools" (R.V.), nor
. "sons of the impious" (I.C.C.), but "sons of the ignoble" and it
is parallel with "sons of the nameless". In Arabic nabula means
"he was noble" or "he was contemptible" and similarly in He­
brew. See I Sam. xxv. 25 : "Nabal (noble) is his name, but ig­
noble is his nature".
Nikke>u, not "scourged" nor "smitten" (I.C.C.), · but driven
out of the land. This is not an Aramaizing form of nakhdh as
stated in B.D.B., but an alternative of nakti which means in Arabic
"he put to flight".
1 1 . This verse affords a perfect example of the dictum that one must
understand a Semitic text before one can read it and one must
be able to read it accurately before one can translate it. As it
stands it must mean that God has loosened Job's bow-string
and so left him defenceless. God has humiliated him and conse­
quently the outcast fugitives have abandoned the bridle of respect
at his presence. Though it cannot be said that this is not the
writer's meaning, the fact that the context (beginning of verse 8)
is concerned with the hostile behaviour of the rabble constitutes
a strong argument for believing that this verse is also concerned
with the doings of these wretches. If this be so, then the Hebrew
must be read :- kiyitripatal; wqyye<annunz . . etc. Thus read patal; is
.

a noun cognate with the Arabic Jatabun "slack", and the verb
is to be pointed as a plural.
12. Raglqy fillel;U. The meaning of these words here is unknown, but
some such translation as "they impede my feet" seems to be
called for. The Arabic zallqja "made slippery" and so "caused me
to stumble" is a possibility, but no more.
13. Lo> <ozer lamo. The verb is used in the Arabic sense of "pre­
venting", "restraining". S. R. Driver in the Book ofJob (Oxford,
1908), p. 86, acutely suggested that this was the meaning, but
he proposed changing one letter. No change is necessary because
Zade and Zayin are interchangeable.
14. So>ah is a noun from fawah = Arabic tha>a = "he bored a hole".
Hitgalgalu: [PF 120 : 'Rolling' is hardly appropriate here, and
parallels to "breach" and "come" are needed]. The Arabic
tqja(jala = "moved, set in motion".
 NOTES 115

15. As R and N frequently interchange both in Hebrew and Arabic,

there is no need to alter the text, but the verb should be pointed
as a Niph'al with LXX.
1 8. Koal; here is not the familiar Hebrew word for "strength", but a
form of the Arabic qqylJun, for Q and K frequently interchange in
that language. Similarlyyitl;appe! does not bear its normal Hebrew
meaning, but is to be explained as cognate with the Arabic
!;ajifa "the water ran", "the clouds brought violent rain" ; so here
"is soaked". Ya>azerenf, lit. "engirdles", so here "sticks to".
The context seems to require "undergarment" as suggested in
PF 120, though unfortunately philological proof is lacking. The
'mouth' of a tunic was large enough for the head to go through it,
so that the R.V. is somewhat misleading in suggesting that the
"collar of my coat" indicates something tight-fitting.
18-19 [PF 120 : The now familiar device of tauriya, latent in l;aphaf,
is carried on in verse 1 9 which begins horanf lal;omer, "he has cast
me into the dirt", for Arabic waryun is a synonym of qqylJun.
Incidentally by its reference to ii. 8 where Job is sitting in ashes,
this verse should dissolve any lingering doubt that the prologue
is an integral part of the book]
19. [PF 112 (ref. xiii. 12) : There is no need to insist on translating
l;omer by 'clay'. Here it is parallel with >epher and means no more
than dust or dirt]
22. Otemogegenf. The verb is most probably a denominative from
ma!fjun which means "wave" in Arabic and the meaning is
"toss me in the storm".
24. About the R.V. here the less said the better. The I.C.C. branded
the verse as "unintelligible" and resorted to emendation, so that
a drowning man was introduced into inland waterless Arabia!
One thing at least is clear : there must be an antecedent to the
resumptive pronoun in bephido and that can hardly be "a ruinous
heap". But if we refer the word 'f to the Arabic 'ayyun "helpless,
impotent" the meaning leaps to the eye. In the second half of the
verse the verb is lacking. This should be supplied from the Arabic
nasaga "lashed" or "struck". All that remains is to point the mean­
ingless letters in the 11;. T.
As thus interpreted, Job is complaining to and of God, and so
his words are a fitting sequel to the preceding verses.
116 NOTES

CHAPTER XXXI

12. Tefaref. In as much as Shin and Pe frequently interchange, there

is no cl.ifficulty in reading an unpointed text as though it were
tefareph. "burn".
13. Though ma'as often means "despise" (so R.V. here), the meaning
like Arabic ma'asa is "to refuse to listen to".
26. Yiiqar: lUBJ 29 : yaqar "precious, splendid". In xxxi. 26 the
meaning may well be "the moon moving in calm dignity" ;
cf. Arabic waqarun "dignity, calm"]
26 ff. [PB 164 : It is significant that Job expressly repudiated the
worship of sun and moon, denying that he had ever kissed his
hand to them at a time when Nabonidus, the moon-worshipper,
occupied his town. If Job was a /Janif, then the book could be
called Arabian in a wide sense. On the other hand it is written in
Hebrew verse and is one of the noblest poems in the whole of
Semitic literature]
29. Hit'orartf by metathesis becomes hitro'a'tt, is cognate with the
Arabic rii', and means "was affected with joy". [PF 120-1 :
Parallelism calls for the meaning "was glad". To obtain this
sense which was transparent to the Targumist many would alter
the text to hitro'a'tt as in Ps. lx. 10, lxv. 14, as though metathesis
had never been heard of. It is worth noting that neither B.D.B.
nor K.B. do justice to the root rii' which in Arabic is a denomi­
native from ru<un "heart". Ra'a means "his heart was affected
with fear" or (with the opposite meaning with which the Arabs
delight to complicate their language) " . . . with joy". This
ambiguity resides in Hebrew also, for heri'a, as B.D.B. shows,
can mean "shout in triumph", "cry in distress", etc.]
35. No satisfactory explanation of these words is forthcoming.
39. Hippo/ltt. The LXX translated elupesa "grieved" ; Vulg. afflixi
"affiicted" ; Targ. and Sa 'adya "vexed'', "caused to despair". In
Arabic the verb means "struck" as well as "blew". Thus "pained"
is the meaning here.
[HAL iii. 5 (on NPI:I compared with Arabic nafa/la). The Arabic
verb explains how the "curious difference between ancient and
almost all modern interpretations" of nephef be'aleha hippo/lti . . .
noted by I.C.C. has arisen. As it is unlikely that Job would have
caused the death of farmers by taking their produce without
 NOTES 117

. paying for it, the unanimous voice of antiquity must be accepted

and the hemistich should be rendered
If I have afflicted the soul of its owners]

CHAPTER XXXII

9. Rabbtm here means "old'', not "great'', as in Gen. xxv. 23.

1 1 . >azin for >a>azfn.
14. 'tirakh = Arabic 'arika "was vehement in altercation". A stronger
term than the colourless "arrange" or "set in order" of the
Hebrew lexicon is called for here.
15. He'tiqu. This is not an Aramaism, but cognate with Arabic
'ataqa "was free ; outran, was old".
19. >obhot. These were jars, not skin-bottles. See APPENDIX.

CHAPTER XXXIII

3. This is translated literally in I.C.C. Part 2, "My words are

( = embody) the honesty of my heart, and the knowledge of my
lips they utter purely or sincerely." This may be what the author
wrote, but "knowledge of my lips" is a strange and unnatural
expression. Many attempts have been made to emend the text;
if, however, the slightest possible change could be made here, so
that by striking out a Waw we read >imrry da'at, the meaning
proposed in the text could be obtained. (Almost the only variation
from the M.T. in the recently published scroll of the Minor
Prophets consists of the addition or omission of a Waw.)
7. We>akhpz. This is not an Aramaism. The concrete meaning is
clearly that of Arabic >ikijun "pack-saddle" [PF 121 : as in B.D.B.],
so that the meaning must be "weight" or "burden".
14. YeJurennah : [HAL ii. 33 (ref. SWR II) : One is loth to have to
admit that Arabic has no word cognate with one used often in
Job and it must be confessed that thawwara is not as close a
parallel as one could wish. The root meaning of the verb is "rise'',
and the second form is used as its causative. Since the meanings
of "scrutinising, examining, searching" stand apart from all
other forms and uses of thara, one may perhaps conjecture that
once Arabic had a verb that meant "looked" and that the inten­
sive form "looked carefully" is' its sole survivor]
1 5-17.[See UBJ 35-6]
118 NOTES

17. Ma<afeh. R.V. and some Versions are forced to add implicitly a
preposition and a pronominal suffix to· the text. But it is possible
to obtain a suitable meaning from the Hebrew without tampering
with the text by pointing me<afah "from blindness" =Arabic
<aJa'u "night-blindness". LXX "from unrighteousness" evidently
read me<afehU as though the noun was the equivalent of the
Arabic <iJa'un = "evil conduct", but this seems too strong a
charge to be made against Job. There is no need to alter the
text because in old Arabic the J:Ia' is often weakened to a Waw or
a Ya' (Ibdal II, pp. 313 & 328).
18. R.V. renders Jalab by "sword" and I.C.C. by "missiles". The
LXX has "in war". But a parallel with "pit" is essential ,here and
in xxxvi. 12. The context is concerned with a man who is ill in
bed, so that death by weapons is ruled out; nor is it probable
that divine missiles would be called in by the poet to terminate a
life already endangered by sickness. For these reasons a more
plausible translation must be sought. This can be obtained by
treating Je!ab as a metathetical form of the Arabic !Ja!asa "he
seized, carried off", and bearing in mind the noun a!-!Jafisu
"death". Thus the English equivalent would be "a fatal seizure"
in both contexts.
19. The Qere robh is undoubtedly correct. One of the meanings of
raba in Arabic is "he was tired" and so here the noun [ =Arabic
raubun - UBJ 32] describes the aching bon,es and weariness of a
man suffering from a high temperature. [UBJ 32 : This word is
not used elsewhere in Hebrew, nor was it understood here]
21 . Mero'z meraw "without moisture". Waw and Aleph sometimes
=

interchange. Another example is found in x. 15.

Suppfi and ru'u. The Qere is right. There is evidently a connection
here with the Arabic sajja "took dry medicine" and suffatun "dry
medicine". [UBJ 32 :
R.V. 'His flesh wasteth away that it cannot be seen
And his bones that were not seen stick out'
is a · gallant attempt to make sense of the verse. However it fails to
satisfy commentators. The I.C.C. abandons the second hemistich.
The sufferings of a man in high fever are described in the context,
so if we translate mero'z "without moisture" (See G. R. Driver
in Analecta Lov., Ser. 20, p. 351 . In Arabic Ya' and Alif are
recognised as interchangeable consonants) and Juppu (Qere) as
 NOTES 119

"dried up" . . . an intelligible sense is attained and parallelism

regained].
24. As explained in PF 121, the Pe is the Arabic conjunction fa,
and da< is the Imperative of wada<a "he let (him) off". [PF 121 :
The 'emendation' pera<ehu (supported by 2 MSS) is unsatisfactory
for the reason given in I.C.C. If we read this in Arabic we get
the required meaning . . . . . The speaker says : "Do not let him
go down to the pit". The use of (Arabic) fa with the Imperative
is very common (Reckendorff, Arabische Syntax, pp. 318 ff
'The Arabic conjunction was irrepressible. It is to be found in
Aramaic, Nabataean and Palmyrene inscriptions. See Cooke,
North Semitic Inscriptions, 165, etc.]
25. RutaphaJ. The form is Arabic, a quadriliteral verb formed by
affixing Shin to the biliteral root· which here in Hebrew is the
equivalent of ratobh "was fresh". [HAL ii. 30 : (RufaphaJ compared
with Arabic rafuba "was soft, tender" = Hebrew RTB). The
Shin is the equivalent of the Sin which is affixed to some verbs
in Arabic, e.g. !Jalbasa "deceived with soft words" = !Jalaba
(Wright, op. cit. I, p. 47). Similarly in Syriac kulbafa' "basket"
displays a form with a Shin appended to the noun which in
Hebrew is simply kefubh. The occurrence of this form here is yet
another example of the 'Arabisms' in this book. G.K. 30 notes
that these verbs are secondary formations, and in 56a cites another
example of the affix with the euphonic change from Shin to
Zayin from Job xxvi. 9]
27. Yafor. As the pointing indicates, the root is Jarar [but in the
sense of] Arabic sarra "he rejoiced". [PF 122 : Here R.V. implicitly
alters the punctuation, but it is correct - "He singeth before
men and saith . . . "] Wefo' Jawah it: The R.V. is correct and the
phrase exactly corresponds to the Arabic wa-!a yaswa Ii "it is
worthless to me".
CHAl>TER XXXN
6. [UBJ 32 : "My wound is incurable, though I am without trans­
gression:' (R.V.). It is hard to believe that this is what the author
meant. The Hebrew could mean "my arrow", but it may be ques­
tioned whether it could possibly mean "my arrow (wound)"
as I. C. C. translates it. Doubtless be� here represents Arabic
ba��un "fate, lot, portion", and so should be rendered :
My state is desperate, though I have done no wrong].
120 NOTES

13. Sam. The cognate Arabic sama(hu) means "he imposed a difficult
task (upon him)". R.V.m. is close to the meaning.
14. R.V. translates this literally, but interprets the first <elaw "upon
man" and the second "unto himself". Such an arbitrary exegesis
cannot command acceptance. Variant readings of importance
are rare in this book, but the rival reading yasfbh (supported by
LXX & Syr.) parallel withye>esoph must be right. That being so,
!ibbo "his heart" presumably was inserted by a scribe who adopted
the readingyaffm. Textual errors are extremely rare in this book,
but here one is compelled to delete !ibbo as a gloss on the erroneous
yaffm, and the meaning is that if God were to withdraw his
spirit from the world, all living things would perish.
20. The text is sound, but the pointing and division of the words
are wrong and should be readyigwa< Jo<fm "the rich perish and
pass away". LiP beyad, i.e. not by human agency.
23. Yaffm<M means "appoint a set time", the noun (which requires
no emendation) being equivalent to the Arabic <idun. [UBJ 32-3 :
"For he needeth not further to consider man, That he should
go before God in judgement" (R.V.). Commentators rightly
object to this and similar renderings on the ground that they
yield a poor sense. The translation proposed "For he does not
appoint a set time for man", though perfectly correct, calls for no
alteration of the text. <OJ is a noun meaning "a set time", and is
the equivalent of the Arabic <idun which means "a day on which
there is an assembly or gathering". Arab lexicographers say that
a fixed day is called thus because it returns (root <wd) every year].
25. Lakhen "therefore" is difficult here and the explanation in I.C.C.
is hardly convincing. It is tempting to read the word in the
Arabic sense of !akin "but" and apply it to those who have stepped
into the shoes of the "mighty men" and shown themselves to
be no better, so that they too are destroyed by God.
Ma<badeyhem : [UBJ 30 (33) : ma<bad "work" looks like an Ara­
maism, but "way" is an equallypossibleand appropriate rendering;
cf. Arabic mu<abbadun "a well trodden path". Yakkfr, too, might
well be derived from Arabic >ankara "disapproved of" ; and so
the verse could be translated : "Therefore he disapproves of
their way of life and overthrows them in a night"].
26. There is no authority for translating tapat by "as" and commen­
tators resort to emendation. ·However it is possible to translate
the phrase without tampering with the text if we end verse 25
 NOTES 121

at "in the night" and transfer the verb to verse 26. Tapat is then
seen to be a noun meaning "low, base, evil persons" corres­
ponding with the Arabic taptu [cf. al-tuputu].
28. ,?a'aqat. As I.C.C. notes, a different word might have been expect­
ed here. Repetition is not an elegance and elsewhere in this book
it is a homonym. Perhaps the author intended the word to be
�a'aqot in the plural in conjunction with <.aniyytm.
29. Yafqi! is best understood as a metathetical form of yaqfif. See
PF 122. [PF 122 : One MS has yifqof, and the meaning would
then be "If God by remaining quiet and not interfering fails to
condemn a man, what right has anyone to do so?" Nevertheless
it is tempting to regard the verb as a metathetical form ofyaqftt
(see Prov. xxii. 21 for the noun and cf. Arabic qasafa "he acted
justly") and translate : "If He declares a man just, who then can
condemn him?". At any rate only thus can the latent antithesis
be clearly brought out].
The second half of this verse and verse 30 are left untranslated
in I.C.C., although in the long notes many emendations are cited
and rejected. R.V. translates yabad "alike", but what happens
"unto a nation or unto a man" ? Clearly a verb is imperatively
needed and it must be latent in yabad - a form of the Arabic
badda or 'abadda "he set a limit to, restrained, punished". Adopting
this we could render
He sets a limit to a nation or a man
To prevent a profane man from reviling, etc.
31. The next sentence "For has one ever said to God" is straightfor­
ward, but the substance of what is said is not. Nafa'tt: the object
- "punishment, affliction" or (R.V.) "chastisement" - must be
supplied here: 'ebbol: I.C.C. implies that in this sense this is a late
Hebrew word; but it bears this sense of corrupt behaviour in
Arabic [gabala].
33. Hame'immekhayeJaffemenn!ih, 'is he to recompense your behaviour
as you think he should that you are stubborn?' The suffix in
yefaffemenn!ih refers to an object understood from the context
(I.C.C.). Ma'as has the sense of refusing to listen to another's
advice. The Arabic equivalent is ma'asa.
36. 'abhf yibbaben 'iyyobh. There is no dependable authority for the
R.V. "would that". All that can be said for it is collected in I.C.C.
None of the ancient Versions understood the word. However,
122 · NOTES

the explanation is simple : it is an adjectival noun from >abhah

"was willing", corresponding in form though not in meaning
with the Arabic >abin with the interrogative · omitted. Elihu is
asking whether Job wants his sufferings to continue indefinitely
by adding rebellion to his other sins.
37. Brynrynuyispoq. Here the R.V. rendering makes nonsense and the
I.C.C. is no better. Some who could not understand the words
argued for their deletion. Obscurity has been created by im­
porting "hands" into the verse and so saphaq had to mean "clap"
as it does elsewhere in Hebrew except here and in Is. ii. 6. The
word is cognate with .fafuqa "was shameless". The verb is intran­
sitive here and in Is. ii. 6 where the meaning is "with the children
of foreigners they show themselves shameless". The suggestion
that Job makes mocking gestures at God is sad and uncalled for.
Job resented what he believed to be God's injustice in his treat­
ment of him, but he never went as far as this.

CHAPTER XXXV .

2-8. The meaning is : Do you think it is right, having said that you
are more righteous than God, to go on to say, 'What advantage
have I ? How am I better off than if I had sinned?' As the heavens
are high above the earth your sin cannot hurt him and however
many your transgressions they cannot affect him. On the other
hand, however righteous you are, you give him nothing, nor
would he accept anything from you. Your wickedness affects a
man like yourself as does your righteousness.
9. Rabbtm. There is no need to alter the text. Rabbi in Arabic means
"a great man".
1 1 . [UBJ 28 (ref. >ifleph "he taught") : But as >a!ifa in Arabic means
"he was acquainted with" and muta>a!!aj means "trained", it
must be rejected. Moreover the form ma//ephenu "who teaches us"
in this passage, which omits the initial Alif, is an example of a
notorious feature of J:Iijazi Arabic (See C. Rabin, Ancient West­
Arabian, pp. 131 ff.]
13. Saw>. A mere empty complaint devoid of trust in God.
Yefurennah. [HAL ii. 32 (ref. SWR II) : Job xxxv. 13 does not use
the word in the literal sense of seeing, but of paying attention
to something : "God does not listen to vain (speech) nor does
El Shaddai consider it". So also xxxiii. 14 above].
 NOTES 123

14. Elihu answers Job's complaint that God does not heed his payers.
God pays no attention to cries for help from one who does not
trust him, still less to Job's complaint that he cannot see him.
R.V. and I.C.C. translate din as "the cause", a somewhat meaning­
less phrase here, and some commentators would alter the text.
It is perfectly correct and the meaning is "submit yourself to
him and wait for him". The form is an imperative cognate with
the Arabic dana !ahu "he submitted to him".
15. Paf, not "arrogance" nor "transgression" (I.C.C.), but "stup­
idity". [UBJ 33 : It is strange that the latter (I.C.C.) should reject
the Arabic parallel fafifi "weak-minded" which it cites in the
philological notes, since the preceding and following verses are
concerned with Job's vain and empty words. The line should be
rendered :
Neither does he give heed to stupidity]

CHAPTER XXXVI
2. Kattar. Not an Aramaism. [UBJ 30 : "let me alone", i.e. "give me
a little time" from Arabic taraka would suit the context equally
well]. [HAL ii. 19-20 : One is not bound to postulate an Ara­
maism here as I.C.C. maintains. Those who have an axe to grind
in the matter of the date of the speeches of Elihu can claim
that the word could be derived from Aramaic; but the list of
'Aramaisms' which have survived Noldeke's criticism in ZDMG
lvii, 412-420 is shrinking rapidly.
In one context at least this verb is best explained from Arabic
>aktara "increased". Thus Prov. xiv. 1 8 :
The simple acquires foolishness
The subtle increases in knowledge.
Here, if this be the correct explanation, there is an Aramaism -
the common equation Arabic Tha> = Hebrew Shin Aramaic
=

Taw]
10. W;ryyo>mer "commands" in the Arabic sense of >amara which
Sa>adya has here.
12. Sela!;, not "by the sword" or "weapons" (R.V. & R.V.m.) as
explained above in the note on xxxiii. 18. 'Sudden death' is the
meaning.
Bibhe!f da<at "without knowledge" is literally correct of course,
but the meaning is "unawares".
124 NOTES

13. Yiifimu. R.V. "lay up", I.C.C. "cherish". The meaning is "con­
ceal", cognate with Arabic Jama "he hid".
>asariim. There is little sense in translating "when he bindeth
them", so that >asar here must be a by-form ofyiisar "chastises".
[See UBJ 33]
16 ff. As Peake wrote, "These verses are notoriously difficult, and
emendations proliferate". The first obstacle is the phrase mippi­
�iir ''from the mouth of distress". Since the context is concerned
with the rich table which Job kept, and Elihu accuses Job of
wicked indifference to the wants of others for which God is
punishing him, �iir must have some reference on the one hand
to what has enticed him to forget his duty and on the other hand
to that from which he has been led away. The ordinary, and in this
context colourless, translations "distress" (R.V.) or "confine­
ment" (I.C.C.) are quite inadequate here; a more definite reference
to a category of persons must be sought. The Arabic provides
the answer. ?iir is the participle of �ur = Arabic efiira "he was
starying" and so the meaning is "the mouth of the starving".
Unless, as seems possible, some words which would form the
second hemistich and presumably contain a feminine noun which
provided the antecedent to tabtqyhii have dropped out, the subject
hasitekhii must be rapabh, and so literally the passage runs : -
"Yea, the unrestricted amplitude has enticed thee from the mouth
of the starving". Deadly sarcasm lurks in the word rapabh which
in an Arabian setting would suggest welcome and hospitality.
17. Wedin-riifa< mii/e>tii din umifpaf yitmokhu. Here again there is an
obvious taurrya. The first din = Arabic zuwanun "food" [see
note on xxxvi. 31] and so follows naturally the reference to the
riches of Job's table in the preceding verse. The first hemistich
should be translated : "You are full of a rich man's food". [For
the translation 'rich' see on xxiv. 6 above.]
18. R.V. "Because there is wrath, beware lest thou be led away by
thy sufficiency.
Neither let the greatness of the ran�om turn thee aside".
I.C.C. "For (beware) lest wrath entice thee into mockery".
There is no difference of opinion about the meaning of the
second hemistich, which must therefore serve as the starting point
from which to reach a satisfactory solution to the meaning of
the verse as a whole. First of all it is apparent that neither of these
translations can be accepted because there is no parallel between
 NOTES 125

the two hemistichs, nor is there any obvious logical connection

uniting them. Secondly a verb which is imperatively demanded
here is supplied by the dubious "beware". Thirdly the meaning
of sepheq is in dispute and must be determined. Kt with which
the verse begins is possible, but it would be easier to transfer
the Kaph to the end of the preceding verse and to begin verse
18 wepemdh. Altering a Yod to a Waw is not an emendation. In
some manuscripts it is often impossible to tell which letter the
writer intended to be read, and so here we can read wepemah
without hesitation.
In the context Elihu has accused Job of living sumptuously,
indifferent to the needs of the starving, and he goes on to warn
him that the hour of reparation has come. Within this framework
this verse calls for re-examination. The two words which have
defeated exegesis are #mah and sepheq. The first must be a verb
because it is followed by the precautionary "lest" ; and though
this particle can stand alone with the meaning "beware lest" as
in xxxii. 13, here the construction - a feminine subject with a
masculine verb immediately following - would be all but in­
tolerable even if it provided a good sense, which it does not.
ffemdh must conceal a verb parallel to paying a ransom, and in
as much as bima'un in Arabic means "ransom", it is clear that
here we have a denominative verb "to pay a ransom". Such a
denominative does not exist in the classical Arabic which has come
down to us, but in view of the fact that the root za<akh "shorten­
ed" in xvii. 1 is represented in Hebrew only by a verb, and in
Arabic only by an adjective, the point is irrelevant.
As to sepheq there is no room for "mockery" in the context,
and although the rendering of the R.V. "lest thou be led away
by thy sufficiency" is plausible, it is hardly convincing because
if Job had ample wealth, why should he refuse to part with
some of it? The answer to this question is also the answer to
the enigma of the word. Meanness! It is cognate with the
Arabic .raftqa "he was mean, niggardly, stingy". The verse can
now be rendered : -
Pay a ransom lest you be tempted by meanness,
And let not the high price of the ransom deter thee.
The ransom is "let not the severity of your sufferings which
form the ransom or price which God will accept in lieu of your
126 NOTES

life deflect you from the resignation with which suffering should
be received" (I.C.C.).
21 b. Put into Arabic this hemistich is perfectly plain, although
commentators have made heavy work of it, and the Masoretes
must bear responsibility for starting off on the wrong foot. <aJ-zeh
is one word which should be pointed <e/azah, and given the mean­
ing it bears in Arabic [<aJiza], namely "impatience". Similarly,
though it is possible but not probable that the ordinary meaning
' of "affliction" holds here, it is much more likely that <onz bears
its Arabic sense [root <aniya] of "resignation".
22. Yafgzbh. Here again though "doeth loftily" is possible, it is much
more likely that "dooms to destruction" = Arabic sqjaba is the
meaning in view of the following "who can say 'You have
wrought unrighteousness' ?"
24. This verse could of course refer to the many psalms which extol
God's works in creation. However it is possible that "rejoice"
is the meaning. See the note on xxxiii. 27.
27a. This verse affords an extreme example of the perverse criticism
that was .current fifty years ago. By importing the idea of drawing
up (R.V.) or withdrawing from the sea, it is assumed that Elihu
who lived some centuries later knew that clouds are formed by
evaporation from the sea, a fact of which the author of the divine
speeches was ignorant (I.C.C.). Having altered mqyim to miyyam
and thus secured "drops from the sea" and then having made God
the author of the filtering by altering yazoqqu to yezuqqem critics
attain their end, and their readers know what the poet wrote
or ought to have written. A text which is perfectly straightfor­
ward is so twisted as to bring it into conflict with another passage
in the same book and then becomes a subsidiary argument for
the unprovable and improbable theory of composite authorship.
What the text says is : -
He holds back the drops of water,
Which distil in rain at the time of his mist.
As verses 30 and 31 show, mist and light showers, the most
productive form of rain, are the subject here; the violent storms
come later. Gara' here has the same meaning as in Num. ix. 7.
30a. The Targ. and LXX favour the reading 'edo "his ffiist", and as
D and R are practically indistinguishable [in many MSS] there
can be no objection to adopting that reading here. Sorffy has
 NOTES 127

nothing to do with "roots" which in the context would be

absurd ; but it is the equivalent of the Arabic Jarfa>u "a thin
white cloud". [See further UBJ 33-4]
31. Yadin : [PF 123 : As the last note (ref. xxxvi. 17) shows . . . D
interchanged with Z in the dialect of 'fayyi>. The form is not
Aramaic]. [UBJ 34 : Yadin . . . should not be altered to yazon,
an Aramaism which Kittel adopts in BH.] [FB 161 : (Arabic)
zuwanun normally means the refuse in food which is discarded;
so here there must be a tfidd (Arabic term indicating a word
which may also mean its opposite). In the context of food we
find >arjdad in naqawatu >/-ta<am and nuqqyatun also meaning the
choice part, while the bad part is naqatun. See Kitab al-Nawadir,
ed. <Izzat I:Iasan, Damascus, 1961, I, 179]
32b. <a/qyw is the reading of some MSS, and as the antecedent is >or, it
must be right. Maphgf<a could mean something like "assailant"
(R.V.) if interpreted in the Arabic sense, for fqja<a means "he
affiicted, distressed (someone)". However it is tempting to read
miphga< as in vii. 20, and we know that the plene readings were
inserted long after several books of the O.T. were written.
33. A difficult verse in which almost every word is ambiguous. (i)
Re<o could mean "shouting" and so perhaps "noise" ; it could
also mean "brightness" or "fear" = Arabic rqy<un. (ii) Miqneh
as it is pointed could mean only "cattle" ; >aph could mean
"anger" or "also" or "even". (iii) <a/-<o/eh could mean "mischief,
disturbance" if referred to Arabic <uf<u/un. This is to be preferred
to the Aramaism adopted by I.C.C. The Versions "against
iniquity" = <a/-<awldh can safely be disregarded.

CHA'.PTER XXXVII

3. Yifrehu. Not an Aramaism, but cognate with the Arabic saruwa

"he cast off" ; so literally as in I.C.C. "He letteth it go".
4. ye<aqqebhem = Arabic i<taqaba(hu) "he delayed (him)". So the
Hebrew is perfectly correct and there is no need to introduce the
Aramaic <aqabh here.
6. [UBJ 34 : He saith to the snow hewe> >are'{., "Fall to the ground!"
This is cited, but not adopted, in I.C.C.]
Wegefem miifar. These words are omitted in 3 MSS, and as they
overload the rhythm of the verse and cannot satisfactorily be
translated, it is best to ignore them. The time is winter when
128 NOTES

there is snow on the ground, and so the gefem is not a shower,

but heavy rain. The construction and the sense require a verb to
correspond with "fall" and this is latent in the last word which
should be pointed <ozzu "be strong".
7. Lada<at = Arabic wada<a "was still, quiet, at rest". See D. W.
Thomas in JTS xxxv, 1934, p. 298.
9. Min-hapeder . . . . . umimmezarfm. These words have been explained
by G. R. Driver as the 'circular austrinus' and the 'zodiacal
circle' respectively.
10. Bemu�aq. The marginal reading "congealed" (in R.V.), i.e;
frozen, may be right since the verb is commonly used of casting
metals.
11. Bert here cannot mean anything but "with moisture". To alter
the word to "lightning" or "hail" is arbitrary and uncalled for.
<anan should be pointed <anan with many ancient authorities and
1 5 MSS.
12. WehtJ>, i.e. the cloud.
Lepho<ofdm kol should be read liph<o/ mikkol, i.e. to do whatever he
commandeth them, and >ar�!ih should be pointed >ar?:,ohf'ar�o.
13. This verse can be interpreted only in accordance with its Arabic
background. The Masoretes and Versions old and new entirely
miss the meaning and among the latter emendations proliferate.
LeJebhef cannot mean "for a rod". Presumably the Masoretic
pointing has been followed because it was supposed that light­
ning was the subject and that it was in apposition to pesed "mercy".
But lightning is never a blessing. The word should be pointed
/eJabbef "to bring heavy rain" as Arabic sabuta "it rained heavily"
shows. ·similarly we should point /e>ar�o the Pi <el of Arabic
>aruefa "was fruitful".
The word he.fed must conceal something connected with agri­
culture or plant life and this can hardly be anything but the Arabic
pa.yaJun "early growth", a word that is found in Is. xl. 6. Here
again a pointing /epassed would be fitting and the meaning is
"to promote spring growth".
19. Lo> na<arokh, i.e. we cannot argue with him because of our ig­
norance. See the note on xxxii. 14.
20. Hayesuppar-/0, R.V. & I.C.C. render "Shall it be told him that I
would speak?" It is hardly likely that God would need a third
party to tell him that Elihu was going to argue with him, , and
who is it that is to intervene ? Gray thought the M.T. "strange
 NOTES 129

and perhaps corrupt" and Peake shared his doubts. However if

siiphar is understood in the sense of "taking account of" as
in xiv. 16 and xxxi. 4 and Ps. lvi. 9, we could translate "Would
he pay heed if I were to speak ?" A further · reason for Elihu's
refusal to join Job in arguing with God is that it would be tan­
tamount to seeking his own annihilation.
21. The key word in this difficult verse is biihZr which elsewhere in
Hebrew is used only of a bright spot on the skin following a
burn, or one that is due to an eruption. The long and learned note
in I.C.C. shows that despite the common meaning "bright" the
opposite meaning "dim" is found in Syr. & Rabbinic Hebrew.
Lisiin al-'Arab shows how these contrary meanings arose and
produced what the Arab grammarians called a t)z"dJun, a word
with two opposite meanings. This is explained thus : ibharra
>l-lqyJu means "the night .reached its middle point" (buhratun)
and the middle of the night may be intense dark or brilliant with
moon and stars. Thus either we must adopt R.V.m. or with
I.C.C. [could] translate
And now men saw not the light,
It was obscure in the skies,
But a wind passed and cleansed them.
The idea was that men cannot see the light of the sun when it is
obscured by clouds. As it is hard to see the point of this truism,
and as the R.V.m. draws a parallel between the brilliance of the
sun in a cloudless sky and the majesty of God, the former rende­
ring must be preferred.
22. This beautiful expression has suffered much from prosaic com­
mentators. It is explained by Arab lexicographers by "falling
rain shot through by the sun's rays. [UBJ 34 : 'Out of the north
cometh golden splendour.' Ziihiibh = Arabic dhihbatun "falling
rain" . . . . . (as above)] [Cf. also PF 109]

CHAPTER XXXVIII

8. Wqyyiisekh is the Hiph 'il of siikhakh = Arabic sakka [and fakka]

with the same meaning of "shut up" as in the R.V., not from sukh
as in I. C. C. The third person carries on from the mt in verse
5 - "who was it who . . . . and shut up". No alteration of the
M.T. is called for.
Leeds University Oriental Society Suppl. II 9
130 NOTES

10. Wa>eJbor. All translators ancient and modern have failed to re­
cognise the meaning of this verb which is cognate with Arabic
Jabara "spanned". [PF 123 : No authority recognised in Jabhar
the meaning "broke". The Versions have "fixed", "made'',
"decided", "encompassed" : all guesses. [ Ifuqqt] is translated
"boundaries", "decree'', "my decree'', "my boundaries". What
seems to be needed is a verb that implies measuring , and this
must be the Arabic Jabara "measured by span" (The view that
Hebrew Shin must = Arabic Sin and vice versa is antiquated and
untenable). Lane quotes man !aka >an tafbura >J-basitat a, "Who
will guarantee for thee that thou wilt measure the earth with thy
span?" This sentence and Is. xl. 12, "Who hath measured the
waters of the sea (the reading of DSisa) i� the hollow of his hand,
and meted out the heavens with a span (zeret) ?", admirably
illustrate the thought of this verse. With Targ. render "my
decree" and the verse runs :
I measured it by span by my decree].
1 1 . Yafit. "Here shall thy proud waves be stayed" is a translation
worthy of the author. Most authorities emend the word; but it is
quite possible that it is to be identified with suph "come to an
end'', for S and F frequently interchange in Arabic - see Ibdal,
op. cit., 115. It must follow that a root sut or sit with this meaning
once existed in Arabic and· fell into disuse during the thousand
years or more that elapsed between Job and Mohammed. In­
stances of this loss have been noted earlier in this commentary.
15. Refa'fm and zero'a ramah. G.R. Driver has made the interesting
suggestion that these words mean Learus Major and Minor and
the navigator's line respectively; In the context the meaning
would be that with the break of dawn the light of the stars is
invisible. To justify the statement that light is withheld from the
wicked, Driver interpreted the light of the wicked as darkness
in accord with xxiv. 17. I am inclined to think that both inter­
pretations are correct here and that the writer as in xv. 15,
xxxviii. 17, etc. is playing on the double meanings inherent in the
terms.
17. Repetition is not a literary elegance. Here we have "the gates
of death" in the ordinary sense of the word and the "confines
of darkness" in the Arabic sense of thagrun. LXX tried to get rid
of the repetitive "gates" by pointing the word differently so as
 NOTES 131

to obtain "gate�keepers", an idea utterly alien to Hebrew thought.

[See PF 123-4]
22. 'o�erot. Again a homonym. The first bears the ordinary Hebrew
meaning "treasury". The second must be explained from the
Arabic warjra'u "large rock". [See PF 124]
24. 'or here means "heat", not "light" ; probably the pointing should
be 'ur as in Is. 1.11. [PF 124 : The text is perfectly clear and no
alteration can be tolerated. Here 'or . . . as in Arabic where
'uwarun means "the heat of fire" ; yaphe� introduces a relative
clause, and the verse runs :
Which is the way to where the heat is distributed, ·

Which the sirocco scatters over the earth?]

27. Moza' defe'. R.V. gives the meaning, happily turning the literal .
translation. There is no need to alter the text.
30. Neither R.V. nor the I.C.C. is convincing here. As to the first,
it is improbable that a stone could be thought of as an example
of congealing or concealing ; the second is no better, for it trans­
poses the verbs and makes the water cohere like a stone. For
babha' only the meanings "hide" and "grow faint" and "be
hushed" (Job xxix. 10 - see HAL i. 8) are known in Hebrew
and these are not possible here. Sa 'adya's translation :
The waters become solid like stone
And the face of the deep coheres
must be right and is to be adopted. It remains to find philological
justification for it. This is forthcoming in Arabic !Jaba [if. pabi'a]
"contracted" and the form corresponding to the Hebrew is ex­
plained in Lane p. 507 c. The Bedouin of the desert with nothing
to lean upon draw up their knees and put a sword against them
and then tie a piece of cloth round their backs and knees so that
they are supported without having to make an effort to keep in a
restful position. A man's body forms as it were one lump. In any
other book of the Old Testament such an explanation would
·
be far:-fetched, but in the Jewish-Arabian milieu in which the
author lived the force of the metaphor would at once be apparent
. . . ·

to . his readers.
31. Ma'adannot. Cf. Ug. '�dn "host, army".
32. Mazzarot. G. R. Driver suggests "zodiacal circle".
�qyif = Hades; see note on ix. 9.
132 NOTES

36. As I.C.C. indicates, one would expect the verse to refer to some
celestial phenomenon. In the present state of our knowledge it
must remain a mystery. ·
37. In this verse there is a brilliant and subtle play on the meanings
of the · verbs in Hebrew and Arabic. Parallelism requires that
the first hemistich should have reference to the production of
rain and this could not be achieved by "counting" the clouds.
Therefore yesapper must be referred to Arabic sajfara "he sent
forth". Yafkibh literally means "makes to lie down" ; so here
"tilt (so as to pour out)" is the meaning, but the Arabic sakaba
and >askaba mean "h.e poured out", so that there is a play on the
word perceptible immediately in the writer's environment. By
rendering "pour out" the R.V. has correctly rendered the Arabic
and relegated the Hebrew to the margin. It is impossible to deter­
mine which rendering the author had in mind, for both are
correct and fit the context. See FB 161.
38. Regabhim' [See the discussion in HAL i. 33-4 under RGB as
quoted at xxi. 33 above]
41 . Yite'u has caused difficulty. As the word is pointed it can hardly
mean anything but "wander" ; but, as I.C.C. points out, ravens
too young to hunt for their own food are hardly likely to wander
about. A hungry nestling constantly makes .his need known to
his parents and we need the onomatopoeic verb ta'ta'a "he kept
on saying the same thing". The Hebrew should be pointedyato'u
which indicates that the little birds kept up their monotonous
croaking without pause or respite (in B.D.B. [the root] T" is
illustrated by the Arabic ta'ta'a "stammer" (also "spoke violent­
ly") instead of the meaning given above).

CHAPTER XXXIX
3. Ifebhlryhem. As noted in I.C.C. the meaning of bebhel is "foetus"
as Arabic babaJun. Only here is the word used in this sense in
Hebrew.
4. "Their young put on flesh as they grow up in the open". [PF
124-5 : Bar is not an Aramaism. All the words in the hemistich
yabfemu . . . . babbar would bear the same meaning in Arabic but
with trifling adjustments. Taballama means "grew fat", and so the
·

verse could begin :

Their young put on flesh as they grow up in the open.]
 NOTES 133

7. Nogef. R.V. "driver", R.V.m. "taskmaster" ; I.C.C. prefers the

latter. In this book the casting vote must be with Arabic where
najafa means "he roused, hurried, pressed on", so that "driver"
is to be preferred.
8. Yetur. Authority for the translation "range" is lacking, and since
parallelism requires a verb to balance. yidrof, the word can be
pointed yatur without scruple and translated "searches". Cf.
Arabic ,atara "he looked intently at". Sa <adya interpreted thus.
9. Yalin implies spending the night there.
10. "With his furrow rope" (Peake), i.e. the rope which keeps him in
the furrow.
1 1 . Yegf<ekha. The root means "toil, pain, weariness" ; but as often in
Hebrew the cause is identified with the effect in nouns. Here the
most natural meaning is that the crops, the result of toil, would
not be left for the wild ox to graze on.
12. Ketibhyafubh, Qereyaftbh. Where there is an ancient doubt there
is probably an ancient misunderstanding. This is deep rooted
because yegt< in verse 11 could mean "labour" or "harvest" (the
result of labour) ; if the former, the question is : Would you trust
the animal because he is so strong to go on with your work
in the fields and would you be confident that he would come back
and gather your seed and your corn? If the latter, Would you
leave the animal . . . . free with your harvest and be confident
that he would bring back your seed and gather your corn to the
threshing floor?
The metre requires that the caesura should fall atyafubh which
consequently must be the true reading. In that case goren, which
always means 'threshing floor', must stand for the corn which is
threshed there, or be equated with Arabicjarinun which, however,
means "ground corn". Whether it meant "corn to be ground"
in the Arabic of Job's day none can say.
13. This verse contains three examples of the rhetorical device known
to the Arabs as tauriya, which has been ·explained in the note on
iii. 33. The word renanim need not be called in question; it means
"shrill cries" and perhaps should be pointed ronentm with the
Greek and Syr. Versions. [This is] the practice of calling an animal
by an epithet that is characteristic of it like "the barker" (dog),
"the neck breaker" (lion), etc. Ne<efasah Arabic <a/iza "was
=

weak". This word has been misunderstood and so the whole

verse has been misinterpreted. With >ebhrah "pinion" the tauriya
134 NOTES

begins. It looks like a parallel with kanaph "wing" and niJ�ah

"foathers".. But it is not. It should be pointed 'abhfrah "strong"
and it stands in opposition to ne<efasah; niJ�ah should be pointed
ni��ah, a nomen unitatis of ne� in verse 26. The particle 'im in­
dicates that the verse opens with the question :
I s the wing of the ostrich weak?
Or is it strong like that of the stork (and hawk) ?
.
The construction with "like that" understood is illustrated in
G.K. 118r and N2.
Clearly if this verse were read to an audience, the ambiguity of
the homonyms would dissolve into thin air; but in a text written
like all old Semitic writing without vowel points the subtle
ingenuity of the author would excite the highest admiration or
remain as it has done an enigma for three thousand years, for no
translator has discovered its secret.
[PF 125 : Now, as in the Arabic examples quoted in the notes
on iii . 22, the reader is 'conditioned' to accept the impossible :
the mention of pinions and feathers after wings would seem to
be natural and inevitable, but they are a trap for the unwary.
In each case we must adopt the second alternative and the meaning
then becomes clear. The stork has large and powerful wings, and
the wings of a hawk which enable him to hover over his prey
are stronger than those of most birds. The Masoretic punctuators
must be counted among the writer's victims (for the reasons stated
above) . . . . This verse is of extraordinary interest because it
indicates that the poetry of Job is a. literary composition. The
author must have written his book for a highly cultured and
sophisticated society (For the written jinas see Mehren, Die
Rhetorik der Araber, Copenhagen, 1853, 156 ff.)]
18. Bammarom. tamrf'. The verb is found only here. Lisan aJ-<Arab
explains mara as whipping or spurring a horse to get the utmost
speed out of him. By the aid of its wings it runs so rapidly that
its feet hardly seem to touch the ground.
20. There is nothing glorious (R.V.) or majestic in the snorting of a
horse in spite of Zech. x. 3 where the meaning is not clear. HM
must be connected with Arabic hadJun "a rough harsh noise"
and (ta)haddada "frightened", which latter brings in the element
of fear in the noise of the snorting.
21. Ba<emeq. -It is now known that <MQ means "force" (cf. Gordon,
 NOTES 135

Ugaritic Grammar, p. 105). Thus it is parallel with koap. It is better

for the sake of balance to put the caesura at weyafff.
24. The translation adopted is the excellent rendering in I.C.C.
Ya'amfn : R.V.m. is correct - cf. Arabic 'amina "was quiet".
Kf-qol: most moderns alter this to beqol, but in a book of Arabian
origin it is not impossible that qol is a passive formation and that
the correct translation is "when the trumpet is sounded".
25. Bedey is to be compared with the Arabic dawryyun "sound, echo"
as in vi. 7. So G. R. Driver in JRAS, 1944, p. 1 68.

CHAPTER XL

1 1 . Haphe�. The R.V.'s "pour forth", if correct as it probably is,

would require that the Arabic fafla "flowed" should be its cog­
nate and it is not frompu� "scatter" which is cognate with Arabic
tafaflafa [HAL i. 13] . 'The overflowings of thine anger' is not a
phrase which establishes the correctness of R.V., because <ebhrot
is not to be derived from Hebrew <BR "pass over", but rather
from the Arabic <ibrun "rancour" or "hatred". The meaning is
not affected.
12. Wahadokh. Only here in Hebrew, and its cognate hadaka "pulled
down a house" is rare in Arabic. Arab lexicographers say that it
is a synonym of hadama which bears the wider meaning "destroy".
Taken with the next verse the metaphor is the pulling down of a
mud-brick house no longer of any use and levelling the ground
on which it stood so that it is hidden altogether.
13. "Hide" and "bind" are not parallel notions and "bind their
faces" seems an unnatural · expression. However as Arabic
babasa means "veiled" as well as "bound" the author must have
used the word in that sense, and the meaning is "cover their
faces in the hidden world".
Tmnm ought to be parallel with <aphar "dust", but unfortunately
no word meaning "earth" has survived in Arabic; the nearest is
tamnun "low depressed ground". Perhaps this could be under­
stood to mean _, "grave".
16. Biferfrey, perhaps "low parts" ; cf. Arabic 'asariru - i.e. the
underbelly which is the most vulnerable in most animals. [Cf.
HAL iii . 9]
17. Yabpo�. This verb is a formation from the Arabic ba.fifun "strong".
The first form of the verb has not survived in Arabic, but the
136 NOTES

tenth form proves that it once existed unless the tenth form was
derived directly from the adjective. This is unlikely. It is of course
absurd to say that the animal bends his tail like a cedar - w:hich
is as unbending as an English oak. Its tail is short and stiff.
19-24. [See UBJ 37 ff.]
19b. As pointed the subject must be "he that made him" and the
verb in a Hebrew sense can only mean "let him bring near",
and so the feeble thought is : 'Let God attack him with his sword
for no other dare do so'. But as the great beast is lying peacefully
in the mud where smaller animals are playing, there is no possible
- reason why he should be attacked by God. The LXX evidently
read he<afu, and if the letter He is understood as an interrogative
the meaning would be "do created things . . . ?" and the context
shows that the question ls rhetorical and a negative answer is
anticipated. Some reason for the kt in the following verse is
imperatively required and this is forthcoming in the Arabic
wqjasa "he dreaded", while the sword, as explained in I.C.C.,
is a poetical term for "the formidable array of long spearlike
incisors and curved chisel-edged canines or tusks". The verb
should be pointed yiggaf. [See further UBJ 38]
20. Harim. Mountains are out of place in an area of swamps, and rather
than alter the text to "rivers" as some have done, it is better to
treat it as equivalent to the Arabic for "pools" [hawrun, plur.
>ahwarun], for it is there that 'the hippopotamus finds his food.
21 . ,?e>effm here and in the next verse is rendered "lotus trees", but
the author hardly ever repeated himself, so that a homonym
is to be expected; and as this tree is paralleled by another tree
in the following verse, here it must mean something else and that
must be the Arabic .fal/at un "warm mud".
22. Here the �e>effm = Arabic qaflun "lotus tree" or "apple-thorn".
Since the letter :Qad has no place in the Hebrew alphabet, the
inference is that here the homonym exists only in a written text.
See the note on xxxix. 13.
23. Hen ya<aJoq. Hen = Arabic >in "if" and the root <SQ is to be
explained from Arabic <ajaqa "came and went". (The interchange
of F and S is explained in BSOAS, 1954, 8) [See note 25, PF 126]
Yibhfaf; has its literal meaning and is equivalent to Arabic inbafaf;a
"lay extended".
Yarden is not the Jordan, but means "flowing water".
>e/-pfhu. Both metre and sense require that these words should
 NOTES 137

form the beginning of the next verse which would then read :
24. Into his mouth with open eyes he receives it
(i.e. the running water). Once more there is no reference to an
attack on this animal on land or water. The rising river has
overtaken him as he lies in the mud, and he calmly lets the water
flow into his mouth. We are left with three words to explain :
moqeJim has nothing to do with "snares", but Arabic maqasa
=

"he vied in diving with", and yinqobh is a by-form of Arabic

qabba "was dry". This explanation exactly fits the context, for
the poet has portrayed the animal with his eyes open and therefore
with his head above water, and so naturally unlike other am­
phibians his nose remains dry. [PF 126]
25. Timfokh : lHAL ii. 23 discusses root meanings in full].

CHAPTER XLI
2.1 >akhzar here does not bear its ordinary meaning of "cruel" (for
which R.V. & I.CC. substitute "fierce"), but of course - Arabic
for "impotent", "contemptible". Waw must be added to fephanqy.
[See UBJ 40].
4. Ifin. If this meant "grace" it would of necessity be a by-form of
(Jen as I.CC. points out with the observation that "the crocodile
is not exactly remarkable for its gracefulness". Undoubtedly
commentators are right in arguing that "strength" must be the
meaning; but they are wrong in altering the word to l;ey!, for N
and L frequently interchange in Arabic.
5. Risno. Since "bridle" affords such a poor sense and since the LXX
translates "his breastplate" risno must be regarded as a metathetic
form of siryon cf. Jer. xlvi. 4 & li. 3.
-

7. Ga>awah. Aquila and Vulg. translate "his body", i.e. gewoh. Con­
versely in Job xxxiii. 17 gewah is written for ga>awah.
12. KedOd naphual; we>agmon. It is unlikely that we>agmon here means
"reed", though if 'afan in the preceding hemistich is to be transl­
ated literally as "smoke", the Waw could be the fuel that provided
the smoke if it is the Waw of Concomitance, but the construction
would be clumsy. I.CC. points the way to the rendering "fiercely
hot" from the Arabic >ajmun meaning "intensely hot". The
word could then be interpreted as an adjective therefrom.
1 [Eng. version verse 10. Professor Guillaume's translation follows the English
version]
138 NOTES

17. Miffebharim yitflatta>u. A difficult verse. No satisfactory explana­

tion of miffebharim has been forthcoming, nor is there much to
be said for the common translation of yitflatta>u. However, if
we point the participle mefubbarim and relate it to zabarahu [in
Arabic] "he drove him away", we can understand the word to
mean "those driven away" by fear at the sight of a crocodile
rising from the mud. The verb must then be cognate with the
Arabic flafa>ahu "he threw him to the ground", and then the sense
"they throw themselves to the ground" follows. Those on the
banks of the Nile who see the creature preparing to invade the
land run as far as they can to escape his jaws, and throw themsel­
ves down in exhaustion.
18. Maff£gehu: [HAL ii. 26 - root N S G compared with Arabic . root
N SJ "hunt"]
20/21 : In 20 qaf means "stubble" and in 21 it means "reed" as in
Arabic. There is therefore no need whatever to alter the text
as though to comply with the supposed reading of LXX which
knew the meaning of the word.
22. Yirpad "spread" cannot be right here. The cognate in Arabic is
>arthada "dug down to". [HAL i. 34 : flaru� is not the object of
the verb, but an accusative used as a comparison - G.K.p.
375r. Another example of this idiom is to be found in verse 7.
For Arabic TH = Hebrew P/PH see the note on '/;iarifit above
(i.e.i. 25)]
23. Yam here means the Nile which the Arabs still call 'the sea'.
26. >et-ko!-gaboah yir>eh. Here the >et must mean "as to" as explained
in B.D.B. 85, and the verb must be pointedyfra>hu.

CHAPTER XLII

5. [UBJ 34-5 : Enough has been said to show that the speeches of
Elihu were written by someone who used Arabic words when­
ever they were required. Arguments in support of a theory
that they were added by a later writer are too well known to
need recapitulation here; but it is well worth while to ask whether
Budde's view that they contain the author's solution to the
great problem of the book can be accepted. What that solution
was is beautifully set forth in Peake's commentary on xlii. 5 :
"he knows that God is righteous, he knows that though he suf­
fers, he is righteous also . . . But he and God are again at one . . .
 NOTES 139

His sufferings have their place in God's inscrutable design . . .

In childlike reverence he acknowledges it to be far beyond him.
This mystical solution is the most precious thing the book has
to offer us".
To such a solution the speeches of Elihu logically lead us, for
it is the Visio Dei that restores to man his inward peace and often
his bodily health]
6. >em>as, sc. ''what I said".
8. Nebbalab. I.C.C. favoured "mercilessly". B.D.B. renders "con­
tumely, disgrace" which is supported by the Arabic nabafun "vile".
1 O. Sebhft. The Qere is right here and is cognate with the Arabic
tbubUtun "stability". Sabb must be transitive. The phrase is fully
explained in HAL iii . 8 [The expression Jiibb Jebhut has long been
a difficulty. Ewald argued that the noun and the verb are from
the same root and that the meaning is to change the fortunes of a
nation or individual, and most modern scholars have followed
him. K.B. explains the phrase from Arabic tbiiba "turned one
part upon another, joined", but where is that sense found in
Arabic? Neither in Arabic nor in Hebrew is the verb normally
transitive, yet there can be no doubt that in this phrase it is
transitive with the meaning "brought back" or "restored", for
the object is preceded by the accusative particle >et; and further­
more beffbb is sometimes used instead of Jabb (cf. B.D.B. 999b).
In this connection it is worth noting that in Arabic the transitive
form tbawwaba is sometimes used for the intransitive form tbiiba.
Perhaps Hebrew idiom reversed the process.
Granted that the meaning of the phrase is "restored the sta­
bility", that sense cannot be obtained from "turned the turning",
for if Jubb is the root of both noun and verb the meaning would be
"returned the returning", a clumsy expression and a strange no­
minal form from Jubb. K.B. seeks to establish a connection be­
tween Jebbut and Jiibhdb "took captive", on the basis of the studies
of Baumann and Dietrich which would lead one to suppose that
release from imprisonment for debt gave rise to the phrase. This
seems so improbable that a simpler explanation may well be
sought. To begin with it is clear from this verse that Jebbut has
nothing to do with captivity, for Job had never been a prisoner
or an exile. What we need is a general term for prosperity or for­
tune as Ewald saw, and this is forthcoming in the Arabic tbubutun
" stability". One or two examples of the use of the phrase will
140 NOTES

illustrate its connection with the Arabic root : Am. · ix. 14 "I
will restore the stability of my people Israel and they shall rebuild
cities and ruins" ; Jer. xxx. 18 "I will restore the stability of
Jacob's habitations".
From what has been said it follows that Jebhit is the noun proper
to Jabhdh "took captive", and Jebhut should appear under a root
II Jabhat. On the whole the Masoretes have preserved the fun­
damental difference between Jebhut and Jebhit]
1 1 . Q81Zfdh. This was a coin current in Arabia in the days of the
Caliphate. The assumption in I.C.C. that it was introduced here
"as a mark of the patriarchal age" because it is mentioned in
Gen. xxxiii. 19 & Jos. xxiv. 32 is gratuitous. It is safe to infer
from this text that it was current in Arabia in the 6th century B.C.
See the Introduction.
13. Sibhe<andh. As the Ras Shamra tablets have revealed, this word
means "twice seven".
 APPENDIX

AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND PHILOLOGICAL

NOTE ON JOB xxxii, 1 9 1

In antiquity before the invention of corks the bottling of wine,

whether it was to be contained in jars or skins, presented a problem
to those who liked a mature wine. Mr. R. J. Forbes,2 who has gone
carefully into this matter in some detail, shows how the ancients
were familiar with the whole process of treading the grapes, bottling
the wine, and its preservation and exportation far and wide in large
jars. After partial fermentation the wine was stored in a cool place
and clay stoppers were fixed in the jars. The writer says : "from the
texts we learn that wine could be stored up to three years, though
many jars were found burst by the pressure of the gases developed by
fermentation in the jars." 3 Unfortunately he has not made it clear
where the texts and the broken jars were found. Nevertheless the
fact remains that sealed jars could not be trusted to retain their con­
tents for more than a limited period.
The method of securing wine-jars with stoppers was universal in
the wine-drinking world. Clay stoppers dating from the Mycenaean
age have been discovered, and as we shall see the Palestinian vintners
of the sixth century also stored and sold their wine in jars sealed in
this way.
My attention was focused on the question of how wine was con­
tained and distributed when I began to write the second instalment
of what may well prove to be a supplement to the Hebrew and English
Lexicon.4 Some hundreds of Hebrew words have been explained or
i�lustrated from cognate words in Arabic, and a hundred or two more
will be dealt with in the next issue of Abr-Nahrain. Among these
latter is the word 'obhOth in Job xxxii, 19, which is rendered "wine­
skins" in RVm., and in Brown, Driver, and Briggs' edition of
Gesenius'.s Thesaurus (BDB). The editors confessed that the derivation
and significance of the word is "totally uncertain," and it was my
1 Reprinted from P.E.Q. July-Dec., 1961, pp. 147-150 by kind permission of
the Editor.
2 Studies in Ancient Technology (Leiden, 1955), p. 71.
a Op. cit., pp. 75-77.
4 The first instalment appeared in Abr-Nahrain, Leiden, I (1961), pp. 1-35.
 142 APPENDIX

task to throw light on the question. The Arabic word we need is wa'b,
which means a wide vessel, shaped like a cup or bowl, derived from
what was doubtless the primitive meaning : a round cavity in a rock
which retains water. This being so, it is clear that Elihu in our text
is not talking of skins but of jars.
The passage reads :
hinneh bifni keyqyin lo' yippateal;
ke'obhoth l;adashimyibbaqea<
Behold my belly is like wine that has no vent,
Like jars of new wine it is ready to burst.
S. R. Driver in I.C.C., 282 explained admirably the meaning of the
verse : "my belly" stands for "the words in my belly" and "new wine
jars" 1 stands for "jars containing new wine." As has just been said,
the bursting of wine-jars was a familiar phenomenon in antiquity.
It hardly needs saying that jars were in daily use among the Hebrews ;
their use is attested in the Old Testament from Genesis to Ecclesiastes,
but the jars mentioned there, called kaddim, contained water or meal.
Now it is obvious that wine contained in skins is just as prone to
burst its container as wine in amphorae, indeed it would be more
likely to do so. We know from Mt. ix, 17 that wine was bottled in
skins, and that new skins were provided for new wine where the de­
gree of fermentation would be much higher than in old wine, unless
the owners were too poor to buy a new skin. It is probable that
modern translators have been influenced by this reference to wine­
skins in the New Testament, but Job and his companions were not
poor men, but rich shaykhs. ·

It will not have escaped notice that the ancient translators could
make no sense of this verse, except for Jerome who writes lagunculae,
and something more must be said to justify the rendering "jars."
First of all I was delighted to find that Rabbi Jonah (Abu'l-Walid
Marwan ibn Jana:Q.) 2 translated 'i5bhi5th by khawabi' which means
amphorae; and so, though he does not make the philological connex­
ion between khawabi' and wa'b, yet he would have agreed with it, had
the word denoted a jar in his day. In this connexion it must be ·re-
. membered that Old Testament scholars have never been able to agree
either on the date of the Book of Job or its provenance, and the two
questions are interrelated. A Hebrew book strongly impregnated
1 The author retains the rendering "new wine-skins." ·

2 · Kitabu !-Usu! (Oxford, 1883), p. 25.

 APPENDIX 143

with Arabic would seem to have originated from a land east of the
Jordan, and on the whole, as Pfeiffer 1 maintained, it is probable that
the author was an Edomite. No inscriptions or documents in the
Arabic language are known until well into the Christian era a thousand
years later than the Book of Job, though the Septuagint in its various
recensions shows from time to time that the translators were familiar
with words that are known to us only in classical Arabic. It would be
unreasonable to expect that words that are found in· the Arabic we
know would bear precisely the same meaning as they bore a millen­
nium earlier in a district in the Arabian peninsula some hundreds
of miles distant from the home of classical Arabic.
Secondly it may be recorded that "the daughter of jar," bintu
'l-khabi'a not "daughter of the skin," was the sobriquet the Arabs
applied to wine.
Thirdly at Gibeon J. B. Pritchard discovered 54 jar handles inscrib­
ed in the old Canaanite script with the name of the town and the
·

names of the makers of the wine, and in addition some 40 or more

clay stoppers which fitted perfectly the mouths of the inscribed
jars. He printed photographs of the stoppers and the handles and a
filter which was found with them. 2 The jars probably date from the
6th century B.C., a date to which the Book of Job could well be as­
signed. Dr. Kathleen Kenyon kindly told me that in the Phoenician
settlement at Sabratha similar jars fitted with stoppers fixed in po­
sition by plaster were discovered, and these may be seen in the In­
stitute of Archaeology in London.
Fourthly there is indirect evidence from the Old Testament itself
which might be overlooked by those who are not familiar with the
literary device of the Arabs which they called jinas. This is the use
of two words which are outwardly the same, or all but the same, but
bear entirely different meanings, in the same context. The reader
should not be burdened by examples ; it .will suffice to say that Mu­
hammad in the Koran and the Arab poets in their verses employ
jinas from time to time. The English reader will find a fairly full
exposition of the place . ofjinas in Near Eastern literature in reference
to the Ra'su 'l-Shamra' tablets in an article by Joshua Finkel entitled
"An Interpretation of an Ugaritic Viticultural Poem." 3

1 Introduction to the Old Testament (London, 1952), pp. 678 ff.

2 Illustrated London News, March 29 and October 27, 1956. I am indebted to
Prof. Mallowan for this reference and other information.
3. The Joshua Starr Memorial Volume (New York, 1953), pp. 29-58.
144 APPENDIX

The passage where jiniis occurs is Jer. xiii, 12-14 which runs :
"Every jar (nebhe!) shall be filled with wine : and they shall say unto
thee, Do we not know that every jar shall be filled with wine ? And
thou shall say unto them, Thus saith the Lord, Behold I am about to
fill all the inhabitants of this land, the kings which sit for David upon
his throne, the priests and the people, and all the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, with drunkenness. And I will dash them one against
another, the fathers ('iibhOth) and the sons together; saith the Lord".
The jiniis is unmistakable. The 'iibhoth would inevitably suggest to
the hearers 'obhoth, which, like the jars are to be smashed to pieces
(nippe.f).
In this connexion it is strange that BDB should insist on translating
nebhel in three places (I S. i, 24; IX, 3 ; and II S. xvi, 1) by "skin-bottle,"
despite all the evidence for jars elsewhere. Lam. iv, 2, expressly says
that the nebhel is the work of the potter. There is no ground whatever
for supposing that the nebhel was a skin-bottle, and Koehler in his
Lexicon wisely sticks to the meaning jars.
To sum up : in effect as was said long ago in BDB, the rendering of
'obhoth by "wine-skins" is based on nothing more than conjecture,
while comparative philology requires an earthen vessel, and archaeol­
ogy strongly supports the same.
 .
INDICES
I. INDEX OF BIBLICAL PASSAGES

page page

Gen. xxv. 23 117 xxii. 21 121

xxxiii. 19 140 =iv. 31 114
xxxvi 5 Eccles. ix. 4 84
xlviii. 16 101 Cant. i. 6 111
Ex. xii . 21 109 Is. ii. 6 122
Num. v. 14, 30 95 iii. 9 100
ix. 7 126 xiii. 1 1 95
=ii. 30 106 xvi. 2 1 12
Deut. iii. 4, 14 106 xix. 5 14
xix. 5 89 xix. 13 ff. 15
=xii. 1 1 1 12 =vii. 9 110
Jos. ix. 4 94 XXX ; 8 101
xi. 7 78 xxxii. 1 84
xxiv. 32 140 xl. 2 10
Judg. v. 14 109 xl. 6 128
I Sam. i. 24 144 xl. 12 130
ix. 3 144 xliv. 6 . 101
=· 19; 41 106 xlviii. 12 101
=v. 25 114 1. 11 131
=xi . 3 89 lviii. 1 1 105
II Sam. xv. 23 95 Jer. iv. 29 1 13
xvi. 1 144 xiii. 12-14 144
Neh. ix. 13 109 =· 14-18 15
Ps. vii. 17 14 xxiii. 13 78
viii 14 xxx. 18 140
viii. 5(4) 86 xxxviii. 22 87
x. 9 109 xlvi. 4 137
xxxvi. 10 · 109 xlviii. 32 78
xxxviii. 9 100 1. 3 137
lvi. 9 129 Lam. iv. 2 144
lviii. 8 85 Ezek. xii. 25, 28 109
lx. 10 116 xiv. 14, 20 3
lxv. 14 116 xvii. 7 113
lxxiii. 22 99 =viii. 7 95
lxxxv. 6 109 xxx. 11 95
cvii 15 xlvii. 11 87
cix. 10 79 Hos. x. 10 105
cix. 12 109 Am. ix. 14
. 140
cix. 24 97 Zeph. ii. 9 84, 1 13
cxxxvii. 5 1 10 Zech. i. 17 84
cxxxix. 3 106 iii 9. 84
Prov. xiii. 12 109 x. 3 134
xiv. 18 . 123 Matt. ix. 17 142
xix. 2 108 Luke xii. 20 109
Leeds Universitv Oriental Society Suppl. II IO
146 iNDICES

II. INDEX OF ARABIC WORDS

(Words in brackets are alluded to in the text without specification)

>abana, 99 bala'a, 78 }.iadda, 121

'abara, 95, 103 balaga, 78 }.iafifa, 115
>abin, 122 (baraka), 77 }.iiij=, 93
>a<;ldad=, 127 basar=, 102 }.iajatun, 93
'adi (al-), 89 basitatun, 130 }.iakara, 100
'adiya, 89 ba��a, 86 }.iakira, 100
>adna, 82 buhratun, 129 IJ.alaba, 119
>afada (>ila), 99 halaka, 103
>afala, 89 dahmatun, 105 IJ.alalun, 110
'afaqa, 136 dalham=, 105 IJ.alasa, 118
>afiqa, 91 <;lall=, 136 IJ.albasa, 119
'afiqun, 91 dana, 123 IJ.alisu (al-), 118
>a:Q.adda, 121 daniya, 82 hallatun 1 10
- '

>ahwarun, 136 <;lara, 124 hamasa, 105, 1 13

'ajala, 79 darasa, 79 hiimasa, 105
'ajjala, 79 dawiy=, 84, 135 }.ianifun, 116
'ajm=, 112, 137 dhihbatun, 129 }.iaqw=, 102
'akakifu, 1 13 <;lidd<=>, 105, 127, 129 }.iarafa, 109
>aktara, 123 dukka, 100 }.ia�ad=, 128
>alifa, 122 }.iasak=, 96, 100
'aliza, 126, 133 fa, 119 }.iafaka, 96
'alja >a, 101 fa<;la, 135 }.ia�ifun, 135
>amara, 123 fa<;l<;la, 97 :Q.asik=, 96
>amina, 135 fai'=, 82 }.iasratun, 91
'amsaka, 109 faja'a, 127 J.iata>a, 138
(>il.nfala), 78 fala�a, 87 }.iatf=, 88
'aniya, 126 fara�a, 1 10 IJ.awabi'u, 142
'ankara, 120 farfara, 97 }.iawas=, 103
'ar<;l=, 113 fasisiy=, 123 hawr=, 136
'arika, 117 fata)J=, 114 }.iayy=, 83
'arthada, 138 fa??a, 97 J.ia?'.?un, 119
'aru<;la, 128 hazza, 87
'asa>u, 118 gabara, 95 }.iima>un, 125
'asafa, 88 gamma, 1 10 }.iufira, 90
'asam=, 112 gasiya, 107
>asariru, 135 gawwa, 86 ibharra, 129
'asima, 84 'ibr=, 135
>askaba, 132 )Jaba, 131 'id=, 120
>aswa 'a, 1 12 }.iabalun, 132 'ikafun, 117
'ataqa, 104, 117 IJ.abal=, 104 >in, 93, 100, 107, 136
>atara, 133 IJ.abala, 121 inbataJ.ia, 136
('awqaba), 81 }.iabasa, 135 'inna, 77
'awwa, 86 IJ.abi'a, 1 1 1 'isa'=, 118
'ays=, 108 IJ.abila, 98 i 'taqaba, 127
'ayy=, 115 IJ.abiya, 131
>ayya, 107 }.iada, 87 jab=, 93
>az'a)Jiy=, 98 hadaka, 135 jabatun, 93
hadama, 135 jadila, 100
ba<;l<;la, 86 hadd=, 134 jal;iada, 97
 INDICES 147

ja]:iasa, 97 najl=, 81 saffa, 118

ja]:is=, 97 naka, 114 $affa, 96
jal=, 81 naqatun, 85 saffara, 132
jaliha, 100 naqat=, 127 $afiqa, 125
jali]:ia, 100 naqawatun, 127 $afuqa, 122
jalmud=, 105 nasaga, 1 1 5 $a]:iiba, 114
jarin=, 133 na8aja, 138 saJ:ilun, 81
jaww=, 103, 113 nawh=, 81 sa'il=, 108
jaylan, 112 nikayatun, 91 sajaba, 126
jazula, 108 nuqayatun, 127 sakaba, 132
jinas=, 111, 143 sakka, 129
qaba$a, 109 $akka, 129
ka'da'0, 104 qabba, 137 sala, 108
kafana, 113 qafaza, 102 �allatun, 136
kahfun, 1 13 qahala, 90 sama, 120
(kalimatun), 103 qasata, 121 sama, 124
kasa]:ia, 110 qass=, 138 $iina, 104
kasi]:ia, 110 qay]:i=, 115 sarra, 119
kula'=, 83 qi$t=, 13 n. 1 SatSa'U 127
qiwam=, 106 saruwa, 127
laja'a, 101 qiyamun, 106 (sata), 130
!akin, 120 $awa, 113
layl=, 129 8awan, 103
ra'a, 103, 116
lubb=, 90 sawiya, 119
(ra 'aba), 99
$awiya, 113
raba, 118
ma'asa, 85, 1 16, 121 sawwada, 83
rabbiy=, 122
mac;la, 89 rafa'a, 83 sawwasa, 87
madaha, 100 sayl=, 108
raja'a, 85, 86
mada]:ia, 100 su >un, 96
rakam=, 79
maqasa, 137 suffatun, 118
raqbatun, 94
mara, 134 rasig=, 108
marc;I=, 85 rassaga, 108 ta'am=, 127
markum=, 79 ratuba, 119 tafalfala, 91
marra, 94 raub0n, 118 tafalla$a, 87
masa, 86 rawwa]:ia, 85 tafa$la$a, 135
masaka, 109 ray'=, 127 tafila, 78
massaka, 109 rimmatun, 85 tafila, 92
masuka, 109 rii ', 116 taga, 96
mauj=, 115 ru'=, 116 (ta)haddada, 134
mu'abbad=, 120 rujamun, 106 ta]:iallama, 132
mufa'=, 82 rujbatun, 105 ta]:it0, 121
mujadalatun, 100 rujmatun, 105 ta'isa, 91
muraqqab=, 94 tajaljala, 114
muta'allafun, 122 $a'a, 104 tamn=, 135
(sa'ala), 110 tamtama, 99
nabula, 114 saba, 96 ta'ta'a, 81, 132
nafa]:ia, 116 sahara, 130 taqwa, 98
(nafala), 78 sabuta, 128 taraka, 123
nafalun, 78, 139 sadafun, 111 tauriyatun, 80, 86, 96,
(naffala), 78 sadda, 91 98, 99, 100, 104, 115,
nagga, 92 8adda, 91 133
naja'a, 83 sadin=, 102 tha'a, 114
naja8a, 133 $afada, 84 thaba, 96, 139
148 INDICES

thagrun, 130 wa'b=, 142 wary=, 115

thakama, 106 wabula, 105 watana, 91
thara, 117 wada'a, 87, 102, 119,
thawwaba, 139 128 ya'isa, 86
thawwara, 117 wa<;lra'u, 131 yari'a, 103
tha'y=, 96 wal;iala, 93
thinan, 97 wal;iatun, 93 za 'ab.a, 98, 125
thubut=, 139 waiba, 81 zabara, 138
tul;iutu (al-), 121 wajasa, 136 zallaja, 114
wajiya, 100 ?uhlufatun, 80
'ufuqun, 91 waqaba, 81 ?Uhliiqatun, 80
<ul'ul=, 127 waqal;ia, 95 zu 'b-ub-<=>, 98
'unbubun, 90 waqar=, 116 ?ulmatun, 79
'urc;l=, 113 warra, 99 zuwan=, 124, 127
'uwarun, 131

III. INDEX OF PROPER NAMES

page page

Abraham (Patriarch), 14 ( = 13 n. 1) Cooke, G. A., 12 n. 1, 119

Accadian rulers, 80 Cyrus, 10
Adum(m)u, 8
Ahasuerus, 4 Dadanum, 9
Aqaba (Gulf of), 5, 9 Damascus, 113
Arabia, 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 91, 115, Daniel (Patriarch), 3, 4
140 David (King), 95
Arabs, 5, 9, 10, 11, 13 n. 1, 77, 91, 97, Dead Sea, 5
98, 101, 106, 1 10, 1 16, 138 Dedan, 7, 9, 10, 77, 92
Aramaic, 2, 5, 93, 97, 119, 127 Deutero-Isaiah, 6, 10
Aramaism(s), 90, 93, 94, 113, 114, 117, Dietrich, E. L., 139
120, 123, 127, 132 Dillmann, A., 100
Argobh, 106 Doughty, C. M., 7, 77
Armenia, 106 Driver, G. R., 83, 84, 87, 94, 118, 128,
Asma'l (al-), 80 130, 131, 135
Assyrians, 106 Driver, S. R., 2, 4 n. 1, 94, 1 14, 141
Dumatu-1-Jandal, 8
Babel, 10
Babylon, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14 Edom, 5, 8, 78
Babylonia, 10 Edomite(s), 5, 6, 143
Babylonian Captivity, 3 Egypt, 11, 15, 86, 88
Babylonian(s), 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, Eitan/Eithan I., 81, 110
84, 88, 91, 92, 95 Ethiopic, 85
Banii Tamim, 80 . Ewald, H. G. A., 100, 139
Baumann, E., 139 Ezekiel, 4, 6
Branden, A. van den, 7 n. 1
Bruce, F. F., viii Fadak, 9, 92
Budde, K., 138 Finkel, J., 143
Burns, R., 5 Forbes, R. ]., 141
Frankel, S., 110
Canaanite, 143 Friedlander, M., 4 n. 2
Carlyle, T., 1
Chaldaeans, 77 Gadd, C. ]., 7, 10 n. 2
 INDICES 149

page page

Gordon, C., 134 , Mallowan, M. E. L., 3 n. 1, 143

Gray, G. B., 2, 86, 1 12 Margoliouth, D. S., 3
Guillaume, J ., vii Masoretes, 81, 1 26, 128, 140
Gulf of Aqaba, 5, 9 Medina, 7, 9, 91
Mehren, A. F ., 134
Hamlet; 15 Meredith, G., 92
Harran, 7, 8, 11, 12, 80 Moabites, 5
ljatti (-land), 10 Moses (Patriarch), 3
Haupt, P., 84 Moses Maimonides, 4
Hauran, 5 Muhammad, 10, 130, 143
Hawazin, 80 Mul_lit (al-), 83, 106
Herod (House of), 5 Mycenaean (era), 141
I:!ijaz, I:Iijazi, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 77, 82,
96, 98, 1 10, 122 Nabataean, 119
Hoffmann, G., 107 Nabonidus, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13,
Huber, Ch., 12 77, 80, 88, 91, 92, 95, 116
Hyrcanus, J., 6 Nabonidus-Cyrus Chronicle, 7
Nadir (tribe), 91
Nafud, 9
Ibdal (al-), 80, 97, 112, 1 18, 130 Nebuchadrezzar, 1 1
Ibn Barun, 103, 113 Nile, 138
Ibn Ezra, 86 Noah (Patriarch), 3, 4
Ibn Janal_l, 82, 97, 142 Noah (Flood of), 3 n. 1
Isaiah, 6 �oldeke, T., 3, 5, 97, 123
Isr<tel, 5, 6, 11, 14
(')Izz al-Din, 80 Oesterley, W. 0. E., 8
Izzat I:!asan, 127
Padakka, 9
Jacob (Patriarch), 3 Palestine, 5, 11, (15), 98
Jawf (al-), 8, 9 Palmyrene, 119
Jeremiah, 6, 15 Peake, A. S., 2, 104, 124, 129, 133, 138
Jerome, 142 Persians, 13 n. 1
Jews, 5, 6, 10, 11, 13 Pfeiffer, R. H., 5, 143
Job (Patriarch), 4 Philby, H. St. J., 78
Jordan, 8, 136, 143 Phoenician, 143
Joshua, 3 Pinches, T. G., 7
Judaism, 6 Pritchard, G. J. B., 143
Judges, 3 Ptolemies, 4
Jung, C. G., 4
Qadesh, 5
Qidron, 95
Kahinayn, 91 Qur'an, 80, 101, 143
Kenyon, K., 143 Qurayz;a (tribe), 91
Khaybar, 7, 9, 77, 92
Khibra, 9 Rabin, Ch., 110, 122
Kittel, R., 111, 127 Ras Shamra (Tablets), 3 n. 2, 140, 143
Koran, see Qur'an Reckendorff, H., 108, 119
Red Sea, 11
Lane, E. W., 79, 81, 106, 110, 131 Rice, D . S., 7
Lebanon, 2, 8, 95
Lisan al-'Arab, 81, 98, 129, 134 Sa'adya, 87, 123, 131, 133
Louvre, 12 Sab(a)eans, 7
1 50 INDICES

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Sabratha, 143 Terna, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 77, 78, 84, 91,
Salm, 12 92, 1 1 1
Samaria, 11 Terna Stone, 1 2
Samaritan (root), 81 Thackeray, H. St. ]., 82
Satan, 77, 78 Thamudic (inscriptions), 10
Saudi Arabia, 4 Thomas, D. W., 87, 128
Saul (King), 89 Tristram, 1 13
Shakespeare, W., 15
Sheba (Kingdom), 3 Ugaritic, 131, (135)
Sin (god), 8, 12 'Ula (al-), 7, 77
Sin (temple), 12, 80
Smith, S., 7, 8
South Arabian, 113 Wadi Arabah, 5
Stevenson, W. B.,. 1 n. 2, 2, 92 Wright, W., 108, 119
Syria, 8, 9
Yadi', 10, 92
Tabuk, 9 Yadikhu, 9
Taimanis, 78 Yathrib(u), 9, 92
Talmud, 3 Yeh, 12
Tayyi', 127 Yemen, 10, 84