Job on God's Sovereignty and His Complaint
Job 9:1-10:22
Job.9.1 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ויען: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- איוב: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- ויאמר: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 10:1 (structural): Another speech-opening by Job that begins a direct address to God; the same formulaic marker introduces a new speech/turn in the dialogue.
- Job 21:1 (structural): Yet another instance where Job begins a reply with the same speech-introduction, marking a later cycle of responses (here introducing his extended argument about the wicked's prosperity).
- Job 29:1 (structural): Speech-introduction used by Job to begin a reflective monologue about his former fortunes—parallels the formulaic device that frames Job's speeches throughout the dialogue.
- Genesis 18:23 (verbal): Narrative use of וַיֹּאמֶר/וַיַּעַן to introduce a man's direct speech to God (Abraham's plea), showing the common biblical formula for launching a formal address or petition.
Alternative generated candidates
- Then Job answered and said:
- Then Job answered and said:
Job.9.2 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אמנם: PART
- ידעתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,?,sg
- כי: CONJ
- כן: ADV
- ומה: CONJ+PRON,int
- יצדק: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- אנוש: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- עם: PREP
- אל: NEG
Parallels
- Job 4:17 (verbal): Eliphaz asks virtually the same rhetorical question—Can mortal be righteous before God?—echoing Job's concern about human justification before the divine.
- Job 25:4 (verbal): Bildad's terse rhetorical question repeats the theme (How then can man be righteous before God?), reinforcing human insufficiency in relation to God.
- Psalm 130:3 (thematic): Expresses the same idea of human inability to stand justified before God if God kept a record of sins—no one could withstand divine judgment.
- Isaiah 64:6 (thematic): Declares that human 'righteous acts' are like filthy garments, highlighting the inadequacy of human righteousness before God, resonant with Job's question.
- Romans 3:10-12 (thematic): Paul's pronouncement that 'there is no one righteous' parallels Job's concern about a person's ability to be right before God and develops the theme theologically in the NT.
Alternative generated candidates
- Truly I know that this is so; but how can a man be justified before God?
- Truly I know that it is so; but how can a mortal be right before God?
Job.9.3 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אם: CONJ
- יחפץ: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- לריב: PREP+VERB,qal,inf
- עמו: PREP+PRON,3,m,sg
- לא: PART_NEG
- יעננו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- אחת: NUM,f,sg
- מני: PREP+PRON,1,_,sg
- אלף: NUM,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 40:2 (verbal): Very close rhetorical challenge within Job: asking who can contend with or answer the Almighty, echoing the claim that no one can successfully answer God.
- Isaiah 45:9 (thematic): Woe to one who strives with the Maker (clay vs. potter) — asserts the absurdity and futility of humans contending with God.
- Romans 9:20 (allusion): Paul's rhetorical question 'Who are you, O man, to answer back to God?' echoes the OT theme that mortals cannot dispute or answer the Creator.
- Isaiah 40:13-14 (thematic): Rhetorical questions about who has directed or counseled the LORD underscore that no one can instruct or successfully contend with God.
- Romans 11:33 (thematic): Paul's declaration of the unsearchable judgments and inscrutable ways of God parallels Job's point that humans cannot answer or argue with God's wisdom and actions.
Alternative generated candidates
- If he desires to contend with him, he will not answer him even one time out of a thousand.
- If one wished to contend with him, he would not answer him one of a thousand.
Job.9.4 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- חכם: ADJ,m,sg
- לבב: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ואמיץ: CONJ+ADJ,m,sg
- כח: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מי: PRON,interr,sg
- הקשה: VERB,hif,perf,3,m,sg
- אליו: PREP+PRON,3,m,sg
- וישלם: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 12:13 (verbal): Explicitly ascribes wisdom and strength to God ('With him are wisdom and might'), closely echoing Job 9:4's affirmation of God's wise heart and mighty power.
- Proverbs 21:30 (verbal): Declares that no wisdom, understanding, or counsel can stand against the LORD, paralleling Job 9:4's rhetorical claim that none can successfully oppose God.
- Isaiah 40:13-14 (thematic): Series of rhetorical questions about who can comprehend or give counsel to the LORD, thematically matching Job 9:4's challenge about who can resist or stand against God's power and wisdom.
- Romans 11:33-34 (allusion): Paul borrows Isaiah's rhetorical questions ('Who has known the mind of the Lord?') to stress God's inscrutable wisdom and counsel, echoing Job 9:4's emphasis on God's unparalleled wisdom and strength.
- Psalm 147:5 (thematic): Affirms the greatness of God's understanding ('Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite'), resonating with Job 9:4's portrayal of God's wise heart and mighty power.
Alternative generated candidates
- He is wise in heart and mighty in power—who has resisted him and prospered?
- He is wise in heart and mighty in power; who has hardened himself against him and come off unpunished?
Job.9.5 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- המעתיק: VERB,hif,ptc,3,m,sg,def
- הרים: NOUN,m,pl,cons
- ולא: CONJ
- ידעו: VERB,qal,perf,3,pl
- אשר: PRON,rel
- הפכם: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg,obj:3,m,pl
- באפו: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs+pr:3,m
Parallels
- Psalm 18:7-8 (verbal): Describes the earth and mountains shaking at God's anger—language and imagery echo Job 9:5–6's motif of God overturning and moving mountains in wrath.
- Psalm 46:2-3 (verbal): Speaks of mountains being moved into the heart of the sea and trembling before divine power, paralleling the image of God overturning mountains.
- Habakkuk 3:6 (verbal): Portrays God causing ancient mountains to crumble and making the earth tremble—closely mirrors Job's depiction of God removing and overturning mountains in anger.
- Nahum 1:5 (verbal): Declares that mountains quake and hills melt at God's presence, a direct thematic and verbal parallel to Job's assertion that God moves and overturns mountains.
- Job 38:4-7 (structural): Part of God's speech about laying the earth's foundations and the establishment of its pillars; thematically relates to Job 9:5 by emphasizing God's sovereign control over mountains and the earth’s foundations.
Alternative generated candidates
- He removes mountains without their knowing; when he overturns them in his anger they are carried away.
- He moves mountains, and they do not know it; when he overturns them in his anger.
Job.9.6 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- המרגיז: VERB,piel,ptc,-,m,sg
- ארץ: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ממקומה: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,3,f,sg
- ועמודיה: CONJ+NOUN,m,pl,abs,3,fs
- יתפלצון: VERB,hitpael,imperf,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Psalm 18:7 (verbal): Describes the earth shaking and trembling at God’s wrath — closely parallels Job’s image of God overturning and shaking the earth and its foundations.
- Psalm 104:32 (verbal): Speaks of God looking on the earth and causing it to tremble; similar verbal motif of the earth trembling at God’s action.
- Nahum 1:5 (thematic): Images of mountains quaking and hills melting before God’s presence echo Job’s depiction of the earth and its pillars trembling under divine power.
- Isaiah 24:18-20 (thematic): Portrays the earth reeling, staggering, and falling at the LORD’s judgment — thematically parallel to Job’s picture of cosmic upheaval when God acts.
Alternative generated candidates
- He shakes the earth from its place, and its pillars tremble.
- He shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble.
Job.9.7 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- האמר: PTCP,qal,ptcp,ms,sg,def
- לחרס: VERB,qal,inf
- ולא: CONJ
- יזרח: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- ובעד: CONJ+PREP
- כוכבים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- יחתם: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 38:12-13 (verbal): God rhetorically asks who has commanded the morning and shut the gates of dawn—closely echoing Job 9:7's image of divine control over sunrise and the onset of day.
- Job 38:31 (verbal): Speaks of binding the chains of the Pleiades and loosening Orion—parallel language about God ordering or restraining the stars and constellations, resonant with 'sealing' the stars.
- Isaiah 40:26 (thematic): Calls attention to the Creator who brings out the host of heaven and calls them by name, emphasizing divine sovereignty over the stars as in Job 9:7.
- Amos 5:8 (verbal): Names the Pleiades and Orion and speaks of turning deep darkness into morning—similar motifs of control over celestial bodies and the coming/withholding of light.
- Psalm 147:4 (thematic): Affirms that God determines the number of the stars and gives them names, underscoring the same theological point of God's authority over the heavens found in Job 9:7.
Alternative generated candidates
- He commands the sun, and it does not shine; he seals up the stars.
- He says to the dawn, 'Do not dawn,' and commands the stars, 'Be sealed.'
Job.9.8 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- נטה: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- שמים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- לבדו: PREP+PRON,3,m,sg
- ודורך: CONJ+VERB,qal,ptc,3,m,sg
- על: PREP
- במתי: PREP
- ים: NOUN,m,sg,cs
Parallels
- Psalm 104:2-3 (verbal): Speaks of God ‘stretching out the heavens’ and laying beams on the waters — language and imagery parallel Job’s depiction of God stretching the heavens and acting over the sea.
- Isaiah 45:12 (verbal): God declares he ‘stretched out the heavens’ and formed the earth — a direct verbal parallel to Job’s claim that God alone stretches the heavens.
- Jeremiah 10:12 (verbal): Affirms that the Lord ‘made the earth by his power’ and ‘stretched out the heavens’ — repeats the same creative/zoetic formula found in Job 9:8.
- Psalm 77:19 (thematic): Describes God’s way through the sea and that his ‘footprints’ were unseen — thematically echoes Job’s image of God treading on the waves of the sea.
Alternative generated candidates
- He stretches out the heavens alone and walks on the surface of the sea.
- He stretches out the heavens alone, and treads upon the waves of the sea.
Job.9.9 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- עשה: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- עש: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- כסיל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- וכימה: CONJ+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- וחדרי: CONJ+NOUN,m,pl,const
- תמן: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 38:31-33 (verbal): Direct verbal echo and development of the same motifs (Pleiades/כימה and Orion/כסיל). God challenges human power over the constellations, continuing the cosmic sovereignty theme.
- Amos 5:8 (verbal): Names the Pleiades (כימה) and Orion (כסיל) as creations of God. Uses the same celestial imagery to attest God's creative control and moral demand on Israel.
- Isaiah 40:26 (thematic): Invites the reader to behold the heavens and recognizes God as the creator who numbers and calls the stars by name—echoing Job's emphasis on God's mastery of the constellations.
- Psalm 147:4 (thematic): Affirms that God counts the stars and gives them names, underscoring divine sovereignty over the night sky similar to the cosmic portrait in Job 9:9.
Alternative generated candidates
- He made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.
- He made Arcturus, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.
Job.9.10 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- עשה: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- גדלות: ADJ,f,pl,abs
- עד: PREP
- אין: PART,neg
- חקר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ונפלאות: CONJ+NOUN,f,pl,abs
- עד: PREP
- אין: PART,neg
- מספר: VERB,qal,impf,1,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 5:9 (verbal): Uses essentially the same wording about God doing great, unsearchable deeds and wonders without number—an internal verbal echo within Job.
- Job 37:5 (verbal): Speaks of God doing 'great things' beyond human comprehension ('great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend'), closely paralleling the language and theme of inscrutable divine acts.
- Psalm 40:5 (thematic): Declares the many wondrous deeds of the Lord that cannot be fully recounted—echoes the idea of God's numerous, beyond-searching wonders.
- Isaiah 25:1 (thematic): A hymn of praise for 'wonderful' acts God has done; thematically aligns with Job's emphasis on God's marvelous, unsearchable works.
- Acts 2:22 (thematic): Describes Jesus as attested by God 'with mighty works and wonders and signs'—a New Testament instance of attributing innumerable wondrous acts to God's activity, echoing Job's motif.
Alternative generated candidates
- He does great things without number and wonders beyond investigation.
- He does great things beyond searching out, and wonders without number.
Job.9.11 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- הן: PART
- יעבר: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- עלי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
- ולא: CONJ
- אראה: VERB,qal,impf,1,_,sg
- ויחלף: VERB,piel,wayyiqtol,3,m,sg
- ולא: CONJ
- אבין: VERB,qal,imf,1,sg
- לו: PRON,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 23:8-9 (verbal): Job expresses the same inability to find or perceive God: 'Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; backward, but I cannot perceive him'—close verbal and thematic parallel.
- Isaiah 45:15 (allusion): 'Truly you are a God who hides himself'—explicit statement of divine hiddenness resonates with Job's complaint that God passes by unseen.
- Psalm 77:19 (thematic): Describes God's way through the waters with 'your footprints were unseen'—a similar motif of God moving while human perception fails to trace him.
- Psalm 10:1 (thematic): 'Why do you stand afar off, O LORD? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?'—echoes the theme of God's apparent absence or hiddenness in distress, as in Job 9:11.
Alternative generated candidates
- Behold, he passes me by, and I do not perceive him; he goes by, and I do not see him.
- Behold, he passes by me, and I do not see him; he moves on, and I cannot perceive him.
Job.9.12 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- הן: PART
- יחתף: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- מי: PRON,interr,sg
- ישיבנו: VERB,hiph,impf,3,m,sg
- מי: PRON,interr,sg
- יאמר: VERB,qal,imperfect,3,m,sg
- אליו: PREP+PRON,3,m,sg
- מה: PRON,int
- תעשה: VERB,qal,imf,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Daniel 4:35 (verbal): Uses nearly identical language — God acts according to his will and 'none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?' — echoing Job's claim that no one can question God.
- Isaiah 45:9 (verbal): Rhetorical rebuke to those who question the Creator ('Woe to him who strives with his Maker... shall the clay say to him who formed it, What are you making?'), paralleling Job's theme of human inability to challenge God.
- Isaiah 40:13-14 (thematic): Poses rhetorical questions about who can instruct or counsel God, reinforcing the theme of God's inscrutable wisdom and human inability to question his actions, as in Job 9:12.
- Romans 9:20 (thematic): Paul's rhetorical challenge — 'Who are you, O man, to answer back to God?' — reflects the same theological stance that humans cannot properly question God's sovereign decisions.
Alternative generated candidates
- When he seizes, who can turn him back? Who will say to him, 'What are you doing?'
- Behold, he seizes, who can turn him back? Who will say to him, 'What are you doing?'
Job.9.13 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אלוה: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לא: PART_NEG
- ישיב: VERB,hifil,imperfect,3,m,sg
- אפו: NOUN,m,sg,abs,suff3ms
- תחתיו: PREP+PRON,3,m,sg
- שחחו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- עזרי: NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,1,sg
- רהב: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Psalm 74:13-14 (verbal): Uses the same Rahab/sea-monster imagery (crushing Rahab, breaking the heads of Leviathan) connecting God’s subduing of chaotic forces to the language in Job.
- Psalm 89:10 (verbal): Speaks of God crushing Rahab like one slain and dispersing enemies—verbal parallel in the motif of God’s overpowering of Rahab.
- Isaiah 51:9-10 (allusion): Calls on God who 'cut Rahab' and wounded the dragon—an allusion to the divine conquest of chaotic sea-monsters, echoing Job’s reference to Rahab and divine might.
- Nahum 1:2-3 (thematic): Emphasizes the LORD’s wrath, vengeance, and refusal to leave the guilty unpunished—themeally parallels Job’s assertion that God would not turn back his anger.
Alternative generated candidates
- God will not withdraw his anger; beneath him the helpers of Rahab bow down.
- God will not withdraw his anger; beneath him the helpers of Rahab have stooped.
Job.9.14 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אף: ADV
- כי: CONJ
- אנכי: PRON,1,sg
- אעננו: VERB,qal,impf,1,?,sg
- אבחרה: VERB,qal,impf,1,?,sg
- דברי: NOUN,m,pl,abs+PRON,1,c,sg
- עמו: PREP+PRON,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 9:3 (verbal): Closely related wording and idea: the impossibility of successfully contending with God ('If one wished to argue with him, one could not answer him one time in a thousand').
- Job 40:4-5 (verbal): Job's later confession of inability to answer God ('Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee?... Once I have spoken, but I will not answer') echoes the theme of being unable to reply.
- Romans 9:20 (allusion): Paul's rhetorical rebuke ('Who are you, O man, to answer back to God?') parallels the theme of human presumption in disputing with the divine will.
- Isaiah 45:9 (thematic): The image of a creature disputing with its Maker ('Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker') expresses the same judgment about the futility of contending with God.
- Isaiah 40:25 (thematic): God's unmatched transcendence ('To whom then will ye liken me?') undergirds the idea that humans cannot adequately answer or challenge the divine.
Alternative generated candidates
- Yet though I were to answer him, I would choose my words against him.
- How then can I answer him, choosing my words? Though I were righteous, I could not reply to my judge.
Job.9.15 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אשר: PRON,rel
- אם: CONJ
- צדקתי: NOUN,m,sg,abs,poss1,sg
- לא: PART_NEG
- אענה: VERB,qal,impf,1,_,sg
- למשפטי: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs,1cs
- אתחנן: VERB,hitp,impf,1,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 9:3 (verbal): Expresses the same idea that it is impossible to contend with God—'who can answer him'—paralleling Job's claim that he cannot answer the Judge.
- Job 40:3–5 (verbal): Later Job admits his inability to answer God ('Behold, I am vile... what shall I answer thee?') and silences himself, echoing the resignation in 9:15.
- Isaiah 45:9 (thematic): Isaiah's rebuke against disputing the Maker ('Woe to him who strives with his Maker') parallels Job's recognition that mortals cannot successfully argue with God.
- Romans 9:20 (allusion): Paul's rhetorical question ('Who are you, O man, to answer back to God?') reflects the same theological point as Job 9:15 about human inability to contest the divine Judge.
Alternative generated candidates
- For if I were righteous, I could not answer my judge; I would appeal to my judge.
- If I were to call and he answered me, I would not believe that he had heard my voice.
Job.9.16 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אם: CONJ
- קראתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,_,sg
- ויענני: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg,obj1cs
- לא: PART_NEG
- אאמין: VERB,qal,impf,1,NA,sg
- כי: CONJ
- יאזין: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- קולי: NOUN,m,sg,abs+1
Parallels
- Isaiah 50:2 (verbal): Uses the same motif and similar language of calling and finding no answer—“I called… was there none to answer?”—a close verbal/structural parallel to Job’s claim that even an answer would not convince him.
- Habakkuk 1:2 (thematic): An anguished cry about calling to God without receiving a reply—shares the theme of pleading to God and experiencing apparent silence.
- Psalm 22:2 (thematic): Expresses the experience of crying to God and feeling abandoned or unheard (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”), paralleling Job’s sense that his voice does not reach God.
- Psalm 77:2–3 (structural): The psalmist recounts seeking the LORD in trouble and feeling that God did not answer, using a similar sequence (call → expectation of answer → doubt), structurally echoing Job’s statement.
- Proverbs 1:24 (verbal): Reverses the scenario with the same vocabulary—“I called, and you refused”—providing a verbal counterpoint to Job’s lament about calling and (apparently) being unheard.
Alternative generated candidates
- If I called and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.
- For he crushes me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause.
Job.9.17 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אשר: PRON,rel
- בשערה: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs+3,f,sg
- ישופני: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- והרבה: VERB,hif,perf,3,m,sg,pref_vav
- פצעי: NOUN,m,pl,abs+1,sg
- חנם: ADV
Parallels
- Job 16:12 (verbal): Very close verbal parallel in which Job says God breaks him with breach upon breach and runs upon him like a giant; echoes the language of repeated assault and multiple wounds.
- Psalm 38:5-8 (thematic): Psalmist speaks of corrupting wounds, bodily suffering and shame; thematically parallels Job’s experience of repeated, debilitating wounds and the language of physical affliction.
- Isaiah 53:4-5 (thematic): The Suffering Servant bears grievous wounds and suffering on behalf of the innocent; thematically resonates with Job’s motif of undeserved wounds and vicarious/innocent suffering.
- Lamentations 3:1-3 (thematic): The speaker describes being beset, smitten and trodden down continually by God’s hand—echoes the sense of repeated blows and prolonged affliction found in Job.
- Psalm 22:14-16 (thematic): Vivid imagery of extreme bodily affliction (bones out of joint, heart like wax, pierced hands/feet); parallels Job’s portrayal of severe physical and existential suffering.
Alternative generated candidates
- He breaks me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause.
- He will not let me catch my breath; he fills me with bitterness.
Job.9.18 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- לא: PART_NEG
- יתנני: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- השב: VERB,hif,imp,2,m,sg
- רוחי: NOUN,f,sg,abs+1cs
- כי: CONJ
- ישבעני: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- ממררים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
Parallels
- Job 7:11 (verbal): Uses the same vocabulary of complaint and bitterness (ממרר/ממררתי); both verses frame the speaker’s speech as born of inward bitterness and distress.
- Job 10:1 (verbal): Job again declares he will 'speak in the bitterness of my soul,' repeating the verbal motif of being filled with/expressing bitterness.
- Jeremiah 9:15 (thematic): God is pictured as giving the people 'wormwood' and 'water of gall' — a divine infliction that parallels the idea of God filling the sufferer with bitterness.
- Lamentations 3:19-20 (thematic): Speaks of affliction, 'wormwood and gall,' and remembers intense bitterness and suffering — thematically close to Job’s sense of being filled with bitterness and denied relief.
- Psalm 73:21-22 (thematic): The psalmist describes his heart and spirit as embittered (harshly afflicted), echoing Job’s language of an embittered/spirit-distressed inner state.
Alternative generated candidates
- He will not allow me to catch my breath; he fills me with bitterness.
- If I have strength, behold, he is mighty; and if I seek judgment, who will appoint me?
Job.9.19 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אם: CONJ
- לכח: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אמיץ: ADJ,m,sg
- הנה: PART
- ואם: CONJ
- למשפט: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מי: PRON,interr,sg
- יועידני: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 9:1-3 (structural): Immediate context: Job acknowledges human inability to dispute with God (‘who can answer him one out of a thousand’), directly framing the rhetorical question about strength and judgment in 9:19.
- Job 9:32-33 (structural): Same speech: Job laments the absence of an umpire or mediator between him and God, developing the problem implicit in 9:19—who can arbitrate a just contest?
- Job 16:19-21 (thematic): Job expresses the need for a heavenly witness/arbiter who would plead his case—another development of the theme of needing someone to stand for him in judgment.
- Psalm 143:2 (thematic): Psalmist pleads that no one can stand justified before God’s judgment (‘Enter not into judgment with thy servant’), echoing Job’s sense of human inability to meet divine justice.
- Isaiah 50:8-9 (thematic): The prophet speaks of one who will vindicate and contend on behalf of the righteous (‘who will contend with me?’), presenting a contrasting assurance to Job’s question about who will appoint or uphold him in judgment.
Alternative generated candidates
- If it is by might—behold, he is mighty; and if by justice, who will appoint me?
- If my mouth would declare me innocent, he would condemn me; if I were upright, he would prove me perverse.
Job.9.20 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אם: CONJ
- אצדק: VERB,qal,impf,1,m,sg
- פי: NOUN,m,sg,construct
- ירשיעני: VERB,hiph,impf,3,m,sg+1cs
- תם: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- אני: PRON,1,sg
- ויעקשני: VERB,hiph,impf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 40:4-5 (structural): Job admits his inability to answer God—'Behold, I am vile... I lay my hand upon my mouth'—echoing the theme of being unable to vindicate oneself after attempting self-defense.
- Proverbs 20:9 (verbal): Rhetorical question 'Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?' parallels Job's claim that even if he were righteous his own mouth would condemn him.
- Ecclesiastes 7:20 (thematic): The statement 'For there is not a righteous man on earth, that does good and sinneth not' parallels Job's recognition that personal righteousness cannot provide absolute vindication.
- Isaiah 64:6 (thematic): Isaiah's 'all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags' resonates with Job's idea that claimed righteousness can be judged worthless or condemned.
- Romans 3:10-12 (allusion): Paul's citation that 'none is righteous... no one does good' echoes the same conviction found in Job that no human can ultimately vindicate themselves before God's judgment.
Alternative generated candidates
- If I am righteous, my own mouth would condemn me; if I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
- Yet I am blameless; I do not know myself; I loathe my life.
Job.9.21 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- תם: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- אני: PRON,1,sg
- לא: PART_NEG
- אדע: VERB,qal,imperfect,1,_,sg
- נפשי: NOUN,f,sg,abs+1cs
- אמאס: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- חיי: NOUN,m,pl,cons
Parallels
- Job 7:16 (verbal): Same verb and idea — the speaker declares he loathes/despises his life (Hebrew אמאס־/אמאסתי חיי), an almost identical self-revulsion.
- Job 10:1 (thematic): Continues Job’s theme of weariness with life and complaint against God: the soul is weary of life and pours out bitter grievance, echoing Job 9:21’s self‑loathing.
- Job 6:11 (thematic): Expresses the same loss of will to live—‘what strength have I that I should still hope… that I should prolong my life?’—matching Job 9:21’s rejection of life.
- Psalm 88:3–5 (thematic): A lament of extreme desolation and nearness to death (‘my life draws near to Sheol’), paralleling Job 9:21’s mood of despair and loathing of life.
Alternative generated candidates
- I—blameless—I do not know; my soul loathes my life.
- It is one thing—therefore I say, 'He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.'
Job.9.22 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אחת: NUM,f,sg
- היא: PRON,dem,3,f,sg
- על: PREP
- כן: ADV
- אמרתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,com,sg
- תם: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- ורשע: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- הוא: PRON,3,m,sg
- מכלה: VERB,qal,ptc,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Ecclesiastes 9:2-3 (verbal): States that the same fate befalls the righteous and the wicked—'all have one breath'—echoing Job's claim that God brings both to ruin.
- Ecclesiastes 7:15 (verbal): Solomon's observation 'I have seen everything... a righteous man perishes in his righteousness' parallels Job's assertion that the blameless share the same end as the wicked.
- Job 21:7-16 (structural): Within the same speech Job questions why the wicked prosper and seem secure—developing the same problem of the apparent indiscriminate dealings of God that he articulates in 9:22.
- Psalm 73:3-12 (thematic): Asaph laments the prosperity and ease of the wicked while the righteous suffer, reflecting the same tension about divine justice and outcome voiced by Job.
- Proverbs 16:4 (allusion): Affirms that the LORD ordains destinies 'even the wicked for the day of trouble,' resonating with the theme that God determines the fate of both righteous and wicked.
Alternative generated candidates
- It is all one; therefore I said, 'He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.'
- If the scourge kills suddenly, he laughs at the collapse of the innocent.
Job.9.23 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אם: CONJ
- שוט: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ימית: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- פתאם: ADV
- למסת: VERB,qal,inf
- נקים: ADJ,m,pl,abs
- ילעג: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Proverbs 1:26 (verbal): Uses nearly identical language of 'I will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh,' a direct verbal parallel about mocking another's disaster.
- Psalm 10:6-11 (thematic): Describes the wicked saying God does not see and then oppressing the needy—them claiming divine indifference and trampling the innocent echoes the taunting of the innocent's calamity.
- Psalm 73:3-9 (thematic): Complains that the wicked prosper and mock the righteous' suffering; thematically parallels the sense that calamity befalls the innocent while the wicked seem to gloat.
- Job 24:1-12 (structural): Within Job itself: a sustained depiction of the wicked oppressing the innocent and escaping immediate judgment, echoing the complaint that calamity strikes the blameless and appears to be mocked.
Alternative generated candidates
- When the scourge slays suddenly, he mocks the plea of the innocent.
- The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he has covered the faces of its judges. If not him, then who?
Job.9.24 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ארץ: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- נתנה: VERB,qal,perf,3,f,sg
- ביד: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- רשע: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- פני: NOUN,m,sg,cons
- שפטיה: NOUN,m,pl,abs+3f
- יכסה: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- אם: CONJ
- לא: PART_NEG
- אפוא: PART
- מי: PRON,interr,sg
- הוא: PRON,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Isaiah 59:14-15 (thematic): Speaks of judgment turned back and justice standing afar off—parallels Job's complaint that the world is given over to the wicked and justice is perverted.
- Proverbs 28:12 (thematic): When the wicked rise, people hide themselves; reflects the motif of wicked dominance and the suppression or covering of rightful judgment.
- Ecclesiastes 8:11 (structural): Because punishment for evil is not executed quickly, evil increases—echoes the observation that the earth is 'given into the hand of the wicked' when justice does not act.
- Micah 3:11 (verbal): Accuses leaders and judges of judging for a bribe and perverting justice—the concrete image of corrupted judges parallels 'covering the faces of its judges.'
- Psalm 73:12-13 (thematic): Laments the prosperity and apparent impunity of the wicked, resonating with Job's sense that the wicked hold sway over the earth and its judgments.
Alternative generated candidates
- The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he conceals the faces of its judges—if not, then who is it?
- My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away, they do not see good.
Job.9.25 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- וימי: NOUN,m,pl,cs+conj
- קלו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+3ms
- מני: PREP+PRON,1,_,sg
- רץ: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- ברחו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- לא: PART_NEG
- ראו: VERB,qal,impv,2,pl
- טובה: ADJ,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 7:6 (verbal): Both verses use an image of swift motion to describe the fleetingness of life—Job 9:25 'swifter than a runner' parallels Job 7:6 'swifter than a weaver's shuttle.'
- Psalm 39:5 (verbal): Psalm 39:5 ('Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth') similarly portrays human life as very short and insubstantial, echoing Job's complaint that his days flee and see no good.
- Psalm 102:11 (verbal): Psalm 102:11 ('My days are like a shadow that declineth') uses the image of passing shadow to express the transience of life, closely paralleling Job 9:25's emphasis on rapidly fleeing days.
- Psalm 90:5–6 (thematic): Psalm 90 depicts human life as brief and like grass that withers within a day—a thematic parallel emphasizing the brevity and fragility of life found in Job 9:25.
- James 4:14 (thematic): James 4:14 ('you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes') echoes the biblical motif of life's transience that Job 9:25 expresses—human days pass swiftly and are of little lasting good.
Alternative generated candidates
- My days are swifter than a runner; they flee—they see no good.
- They pass by like ships; as an eagle that swoops to devour.
Job.9.26 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- חלפו: VERB,qal,perf,3,pl
- עם: PREP
- אניות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- אבה: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- כנשר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יטוש: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- עלי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
- אכל: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Habakkuk 1:8 (verbal): Uses virtually the same phrase—'they fly as an eagle that hasteth to eat'—portraying swift, predatory movement; a close verbal parallel to Job's eagle image.
- Deuteronomy 28:49 (thematic): Describes invaders coming 'as the eagle that flieth,' employing the eagle-simile for sudden, distant, and swift attackers—theme of rapid, destructive arrival similar to Job 9:26.
- Proverbs 23:5 (thematic): Uses the image of sudden flight—wealth 'sprouts wings' or 'flies away like an eagle'—sharing the motif of abrupt vanishing and the eagle as symbol of swift departure.
- Isaiah 40:31 (thematic): Employs eagle imagery ('they shall mount up with wings as eagles') to convey speed and soaring power; thematically related through the use of the eagle as emblem of rapid motion (contrast in tone with Job's predatory eagle).
- Job 9:25 (structural): Immediate context within Job: verse 9:25 speaks of the swiftness and transience of his days—connects structurally and thematically to the rapid, fleeting motion described in 9:26.
Alternative generated candidates
- They pass like skiffs, like an eagle swooping to prey.
- If I say, 'I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face and be cheerful,'
Job.9.27 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אם: CONJ
- אמרי: VERB,qal,impv,2,f,sg
- אשכחה: VERB,qal,impf,1,_,sg
- שיחי: NOUN,m,sg,suff
- אעזבה: VERB,qal,impf,1,_,sg
- פני: NOUN,m,sg,cons
- ואבליגה: VERB,qal,impf,1,_,sg
Parallels
- Job 10:1 (verbal): Job there uses almost identical language about giving voice to his complaint and the 'bitterness' of his soul—both verses depict an effort to restrain grief that nonetheless breaks out.
- Job 7:11 (verbal): Earlier in Job he likewise speaks of not keeping silent and complaining in the bitterness of his soul; parallels the struggle between wanting to hold back and being compelled to lament.
- Jeremiah 20:9 (verbal): Jeremiah states that if he tries to stop speaking of the LORD, a 'burning fire' is shut in his bones—a close verbal and thematic parallel: resolve to be silent or forget, but inner turmoil prevents it.
- Psalm 77:3 (thematic): The psalmist remembers God and is troubled, complaining so that his spirit is overwhelmed—themes of attempting to cope with anguish yet being overtaken by it echo Job 9:27.
- Psalm 39:2–3 (Hebrew numbering 39:3–4) (thematic): The speaker tries to hold his tongue and keep silent, but his distress grows until he breaks his silence—similar tension between suppression of complaint and its inevitable expression.
Alternative generated candidates
- If I say, 'I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face and be merry,'
- I am terrified by all my suffering—for I know that you will not acquit me.
Job.9.28 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- יגרתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,_,sg
- כל: DET
- עצבתי: NOUN,m,sg,abs+1cs
- ידעתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,?,sg
- כי: CONJ
- לא: PART_NEG
- תנקני: VERB,qal,impf,2,f,sg+1cs
Parallels
- Job 19:7-9 (thematic): Both passages express Job's sense of abandonment and the conviction that he will not receive vindication or help from God; a lament over being blocked from justice.
- Job 13:23-24 (verbal): Directly related courtroom language and plea to God—Job asks why God hides his face and why he will not pardon or clear him, echoing the charge that God will not acquit (תנקני).
- Psalm 43:1 (structural): A formal plea for vindication ('Vindicate me, O God') that stands as a thematic counterpoint to Job's resigned conviction that God will not vindicate him.
- Psalm 88:14-18 (thematic): A prolonged cry of despair in which the speaker feels rejected and unheard by God, paralleling Job's hopeless expectation that God will not clear or answer him.
Alternative generated candidates
- I would be afraid of all my suffering; I know that you will not clear me of guilt.
- I am wicked—why then do I toil in vain?
Job.9.29 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אנכי: PRON,1,sg
- ארשע: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- למה: ADV
- זה: PRON,dem,m,sg
- הבל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- איגע: VERB,qal,impf,1,sg
Parallels
- Job 9:20 (verbal): Same speech cycle in Job: admission of personal guilt and the futility of defense—‘If I justify myself, my own mouth would condemn me,’ close in tone to ‘I am wicked—why then do I toil in vain?’.
- Isaiah 49:4 (verbal): Isaiah uses nearly identical language about fruitless effort: ‘I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing,’ echoing Job’s complaint of toil being vain.
- Psalm 73:13–14 (thematic): The psalmist laments that keeping a pure heart seems useless when the wicked prosper—‘Surely in vain have I kept my heart clean…’—paralleling Job’s sense that his efforts are futile.
- Ecclesiastes 2:22–23 (thematic): Qohelet reflects on the futility of human labor and suffering—‘For what has a man from all the toil and anxious striving…’—resonating with Job’s question about the point of his toil if it yields only vanity.
Alternative generated candidates
- I am wicked—why then should I toil in vain?
- If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye,
Job.9.30 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אם: CONJ
- התרחצתי: VERB,hitpael,perf,1,_,sg
- במי: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- שלג: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- והזכותי: VERB,hifil,perf,1,_,sg
- בבר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- כפי: PREP
Parallels
- Jeremiah 2:22 (verbal): Uses the same image of washing with lye/soap yet remaining unclean—echoes Job’s idea that ritual washing cannot remove the stain in God’s sight.
- Psalm 73:13-14 (verbal): The psalmist complains that cleansing his heart and washing his hands is in vain because he continues to suffer—closely parallels Job’s assertion that personal purification does not avert divine judgment.
- Psalm 26:6 (verbal): Declaration of washing hands in innocence—shares the motif of ritual/ethical washing as a claim to purity, which Job immediately puts in tension with God’s response.
- Ezekiel 36:25 (thematic): God’s promise to sprinkle clean water and effect true cleansing contrasts human efforts at washing (Job’s image) with divine, transformative purification.
Alternative generated candidates
- If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye,
- yet you would plunge me into the pit, and my own clothes would abhor me.
Job.9.31 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אז: ADV
- בשחת: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- תטבלני: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg,suf:1cs
- ותעבוני: CONJ+VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg,suf:1cs
- שלמותי: NOUN,f,sg,abs,suf:1cs
Parallels
- Job 9:32-33 (structural): Immediate context: Job explains he cannot answer God in judgment and there is no arbiter between them — continuing the theme of inability to contest God expressed in 9:31.
- Job 16:19-21 (thematic): Job elsewhere voices hope for a heavenly witness/advocate (‘my witness is in heaven, my advocate is on high’), addressing the same problem of no human mediator when God opposes him.
- Psalm 143:2 (Heb. 143:2/MT 142:2) (verbal): ‘Enter not into judgment with thy servant; for in thy sight shall no man living be justified’ echoes Job’s sense that one cannot successfully contest God’s judgment.
- Isaiah 59:16 (allusion): Isaiah notes there was no intercessor/mediator until God himself acted (‘he saw there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor’), paralleling Job’s complaint about the lack of an arbiter between him and God.
- Psalm 26:1 (thematic): ‘Vindicate me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity’ parallels Job’s concern about his integrity being despised or weighed despite his claim to innocence.
Alternative generated candidates
- yet you would plunge me into a pit, and my own clothes would abhor me.
- For there is not a man like me to answer him, to come together in judgment.
Job.9.32 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- כי: CONJ
- לא: PART_NEG
- איש: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- כמני: PREP,1,sg
- אעננו: VERB,qal,impf,1,sg
- נבוא: VERB,qal,impf,1,pl
- יחדו: ADV
- במשפט: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Numbers 23:19 (verbal): Uses the same contrast between God and human nature—'God is not a man'—underscoring the essential dissimilarity that Job appeals to in arguing he cannot argue with God as an equal.
- Hosea 11:9 (verbal): Declares 'I am God, and not a man,' a close verbal and theological counterpart emphasizing God's otherness and moral sovereignty over human complaint or judgment.
- Isaiah 40:18 (thematic): Rhetorical question about likening God to anything or anyone—thematises God's incomparability to humans, the same idea motivating Job's claim that he cannot meet God on human terms.
- 1 Timothy 2:5 (allusion): Addresses the mediatorial problem implicit in Job 9:32–33: whereas Job insists there is no daysman/mediator between him and God, 1 Timothy affirms the necessity and presence of a mediator (Christ) between God and humanity.
Alternative generated candidates
- For there is no arbiter between us, no one to lay his hand on us both.
- There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand upon us both.
Job.9.33 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- לא: PART_NEG
- יש: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- בינינו: PREP,1,c,pl
- מוכיח: VERB,piel,part,3,m,sg
- ישת: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- ידו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
- על: PREP
- שנינו: PRON,1,du
Parallels
- Job 9:32 (structural): Immediate context in the same chapter: Job argues there is no parity or forum in which he and God can meet as equals — both verses emphasize absence of a mutually binding arbiter or judicial setting.
- Job 16:21 (thematic): Job expresses a longing for someone to plead with God on behalf of a man (an intercessor); thematically parallels the desire for an arbiter who might mediate between God and Job.
- Isaiah 59:16 (verbal): Isaiah says God 'saw that there was no man' and 'wondered that there was no one to intercede,' using similar language about the absence of an intercessor/arbiter between God and humanity.
- 1 Timothy 2:5 (thematic): New Testament statement that there is one mediator between God and men (Christ Jesus) stands in thematic contrast to Job’s lament that no arbiter exists who can lay a hand on both parties.
Alternative generated candidates
- There is no one to interpose between us to remove his rod from me and to forbid him from terrorizing me.
- Let him remove his rod from upon me, and let not his terror frighten me.
Job.9.34 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- יסר: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- מעלי: PREP+PRON,3,m,sg
- שבטו: NOUN,m,sg,abs,pr:3,m
- ואמתו: CONJ+NOUN,f,sg,abs+3ms
- אל: NEG
- תבעתני: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Psalm 6:1 (verbal): A direct plea asking God not to rebuke or chasten in anger—parallel language to Job's request that God's rod/discipline be removed.
- Lamentations 3:33 (thematic): Affirms that God's affliction is not arbitrary or vindictive, touching the theme of divine discipline that Job begs to have removed.
- Proverbs 3:11-12 (thematic): Frames suffering as the LORD's loving chastening ('whom the LORD loves he corrects'), offering a wisdom-theology counterpart to Job's rejection of divine discipline.
- Hebrews 12:5-6 (quotation): Cites Proverbs' teaching on divine chastening ('whom the Lord loves he chastens') and interprets affliction as fatherly discipline—an interpretive response to the kind of plea Job makes.
- Psalm 119:75 (thematic): Expresses trust that God's judgments are right and afflicting may be faithful, providing a contrasting posture of acceptance to Job's appeal to have God's rod removed.
Alternative generated candidates
- Let his terror be removed from me; let not his dread terrify me.
- Then I would speak and not fear him; but it is not so with me.
Job.9.35 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אדברה: VERB,qal,impf,1,_,sg
- ולא: CONJ
- איראנו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- כי: CONJ
- לא: PART_NEG
- כן: ADV
- אנכי: PRON,1,sg
- עמדי: PREP+1cs
Parallels
- Job 13:3 (verbal): Job explicitly states the same desire to argue his case with God—very close verbal parallel in which the speaker insists on speaking to the Almighty.
- Job 23:3-5 (verbal): Job expresses a wish to find God’s dwelling and present his case before Him; shares the same forensic language of pleading and debating with God.
- Jeremiah 12:1 (thematic): The prophet poses a complaint to Yahweh and frames it as a plea to argue or plead his case before God—parallel theme of disputing/pleading with the divine judge.
- Isaiah 45:9 (thematic): Uses the motif of contending with the Maker; thematically related as a divine-human dispute, but here as a rebuke against disputing God's justice.
- Habakkuk 1:2 (thematic): A direct complaint addressed to God about injustice and apparent silence—shares the tone of addressing and demanding account from God even when an answer seems absent.
Alternative generated candidates
- I would speak and not fear him; for I am not such as to stand against him alone.
Job.10.1 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- נקטה: VERB,qal,perf,3,f,sg
- נפשי: NOUN,f,sg,abs+1cs
- בחיי: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,poss
- אעזבה: VERB,qal,impf,1,NA,sg
- עלי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
- שיחי: NOUN,m,sg,suff
- אדברה: VERB,qal,impf,1,_,sg
- במר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- נפשי: NOUN,f,sg,abs+1cs
Parallels
- Job 3:11 (structural): Within the same book Job opens his first great lament wishing he had not been born—parallel expression of loathing life and bitter complaint.
- Ecclesiastes 4:2-3 (thematic): Speaks of the dead being better off and that it would be better never to have been born—theme of preferring nonexistence to present life mirrors Job’s sentiment.
- Jonah 4:3 (thematic): Jonah begs God to take his life, saying it is better for him to die than live—similar personal desire for death born of anguish with God’s dealings.
- Psalm 88:3-4 (thematic): A deeply despondent lament describing life full of troubles and nearness to death; shares Job’s tone of despair and bitter suffering.
- Lamentations 3:20-21 (thematic): The prophet recalls affliction and bitterness of soul; both texts voice intense inward anguish and resolve to dwell on bitter complaint.
Alternative generated candidates
- My soul grows weary of my life; I will give free rein to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my spirit.
- My soul is weary of my life; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul; I will complain in the bitterness of my spirit.
Job.10.2 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אמר: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- אל: NEG
- אלוה: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אל: NEG
- תרשיעני: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- הודיעני: VERB,hiph,impv,2,m,sg
- על: PREP
- מה: PRON,int
- תריבני: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 13:23 (verbal): Uses the same verb הוֹדִיעֵנִי/הודיעני (“make/let me know”) and likewise asks God to disclose the reason for divine action against the speaker—direct verbal parallel within Job's speeches.
- Psalm 13:1-2 (thematic): A lamentary question to God—’How long, O LORD…? Why do you hide your face?’—echoing Job’s demand to be told why God contends with or seems to abandon him.
- Psalm 22:1 (thematic): ’My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’—a poignant, personal question of divine abandonment that parallels Job’s appeal for explanation of God’s hostile dealings.
- Habakkuk 1:2-4 (thematic): ’O LORD, how long shall I cry, and you will not hear?... why do you look on wrong?’—a prophetic complaint that, like Job 10:2, challenges God about apparent injustice and asks for an account.
- Jeremiah 12:1-2 (thematic): ’Righteous are you... yet let me plead with you about your judgments; why does the way of the wicked prosper?’—a bold interrogation of God’s justice comparable to Job’s request to be told why God contends with him.
Alternative generated candidates
- I will say to God, 'Do not condemn me; show me what charge you bring against me.'
- O God, do not declare me guilty; tell me why you contend with me.
Job.10.3 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- הטוב: ADJ,m,sg,def
- לך: PRON,2,m,sg
- כי: CONJ
- תעשק: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- כי: CONJ
- תמאס: VERB,qal,impf,2,f,sg
- יגיע: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- כפיך: NOUN,f,pl,abs+PRON,2,m,sg
- ועל: CONJ+PREP
- עצת: NOUN,f,sg,cstr
- רשעים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- הופעת: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 9:22-24 (verbal): Job earlier charges that God treats blameless and wicked alike and questions divine justice—language and complaint closely parallel the accusation in 10:3.
- Job 21:7-13 (thematic): Job observes the prosperity and apparent impunity of the wicked, echoing 10:3’s complaint that God seems to favor the designs of the wicked while afflicting the speaker.
- Psalm 10:3-4 (thematic): The psalmist protests that the wicked prosper and scoff at God; both texts question why God allows or appears to approve the success of the wicked.
- Psalm 73:12 (thematic): ’Behold, these are the wicked…’ — Psalm 73 also grapples with the prosperity of the wicked and the seeming injustice of God’s ways, paralleling Job’s complaint.
Alternative generated candidates
- Is it good for you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and to favor the designs of the wicked?
- Does it please you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the designs of the wicked?
Job.10.4 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- העיני: NOUN,f,pl,abs+1cs
- בשר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לך: PRON,2,m,sg
- אם: CONJ
- כראות: VERB,qal,inf_abs
- אנוש: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- תראה: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
Parallels
- 1 Samuel 16:7 (verbal): Direct contrast between divine and human sight—'the LORD sees not as man sees' echoes Job's rhetorical question about God having 'eyes of flesh.'
- Numbers 23:19 (thematic): Affirms that God is not a human being (nor does He act like one), responding to the implied challenge in Job's question whether God perceives as a mortal does.
- Proverbs 15:3 (verbal): 'The eyes of the LORD are in every place' underscores God's far-seeing, non-fleshly vision, contrasting human limited sight mentioned in Job 10:4.
- Psalm 139:1-3 (allusion): Describes God's intimate knowledge and perception—He 'knows' and 'searches' thoughts and ways—highlighting that divine seeing transcends ordinary physical sight.
- Job 34:21 (verbal): Within the same book, similar language about God's gaze ('his eyes are on the ways of mortals') echoes the motif that God's perception is not limited to human, fleshly sight.
Alternative generated candidates
- Are your eyes like those of a mortal, that you should see as a man sees?
- Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as a man sees?
Job.10.5 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- הכימי: ADV
- אנוש: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ימיך: NOUN,m,pl,abs+2ms
- אם: CONJ
- שנותיך: NOUN,f,pl,abs+poss_2ms
- כימי: NOUN,m,pl,cs+sim
- גבר: NOUN,m,sg,prop
Parallels
- Psalm 103:15-16 (verbal): Direct verbal/theme parallel: 'As for man, his days are like grass...' — emphasizes the brevity and transience of human life, echoing Job's question about human days.
- Psalm 90:4 (thematic): Contrasts divine eternity with human time: 'For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday' — relates to Job's rhetorical challenge whether God's days are like a man's.
- Job 14:1-2 (structural): Internal parallel in Job: 'Man who is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble; he comes forth like a flower and withers' — same theme of human frailty and limited years.
- Psalm 39:4-5 (verbal): Prayerful reflection on life's brevity: 'Make me to know my end... You have made my days a few handbreadths' — echoes Job's concern with the shortness of human days.
- Isaiah 40:6-8 (allusion): Universal portrayal of human transience: 'All flesh is grass... the grass withers' — thematically mirrors Job's question about the nature and length of human life compared to the divine.
Alternative generated candidates
- Are your days like the days of a man, your years like a man's years,
- Are your days like a man's days, your years like a mortal's,
Job.10.6 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- כי: CONJ
- תבקש: VERB,qal,imperfect,2,m,sg
- לעוני: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs+1cs
- ולחטאתי: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs+1cs
- תדרוש: VERB,qal,impf,2,ms
Parallels
- Job 13:23 (verbal): Same speaker asking God to identify his sins: 'How many are my iniquities and my sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin,' closely echoing the appeal/charge about God searching out his faults.
- Psalm 139:23-24 (verbal): Directly parallel motif of God 'searching' the person: 'Search me, O God, and know my heart,' contrasting Job's complaint that God seeks out his iniquities.
- Psalm 19:12 (verbal): Petition to be cleansed from hidden faults ('Who can discern his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults')—a close verbal/thematic parallel to concern about hidden sins being sought out.
- Psalm 130:3 (thematic): Theological parallel about God 'marking' iniquities: 'If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?'—resonates with Job's sense of being examined for guilt.
- Lamentations 3:40 (structural): Call to self-examination ('Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD') mirrors the broader theme of inspection of deeds—here framed as communal testing rather than divine searching.
Alternative generated candidates
- that you should seek out my iniquity and search after my sin?
- that you seek out my iniquity and search after my sin,
Job.10.7 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- על: PREP
- דעתך: NOUN,f,sg,abs+2ms
- כי: CONJ
- לא: PART_NEG
- ארשע: VERB,qal,impf,1,ms,sg
- ואין: CONJ+PART,exist
- מידך: PREP+PRON,2,m,sg
- מציל: VERB,qal,part,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Deuteronomy 32:39 (verbal): The divine claim that none can "deliver out of my hand" (or similar) echoes the helplessness before God's hand found in Job 10:7—both stress God's sovereign power of life and death and the impossibility of rescue from it.
- Isaiah 43:13 (verbal): Isaiah's declaration that no one can deliver from God's hand parallels Job's sense that there is 'no rescuer from your hand,' highlighting the theme of inescapable divine control.
- Job 27:4 (thematic): Job's insistence on his own integrity ('my lips shall not speak wickedness') resonates with Job 10:7's claim 'that I am not wicked,' reflecting the recurrent theme of Job's protestation of innocence.
- Job 31:35-37 (structural): In both passages Job frames his case in legal/forensic terms—calling for witnesses and asserting his righteousness—so Job 10:7's plea about his innocence and the absence of a rescuer fits the book's courtroom motif.
Alternative generated candidates
- Are you punishing me for your knowledge that I am not guilty, and that there is no one to rescue from your hand?
- though you know that I am not wicked and that no one can deliver from your hand?
Job.10.8 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ידיך: NOUN,f,pl,cs,2ms
- עצבוני: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- ויעשוני: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- יחד: ADV
- סביב: ADV
- ותבלעני: VERB,qal,imperfect,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Psalm 119:73 (verbal): Nearly identical phrasing: 'Your hands have made me and fashioned me' echoes Job's claim that God's hands formed him—direct verbal parallel about God as craftsman of the person.
- Psalm 139:13 (thematic): Speaks of God forming/knitting the psalmist in the womb ('You formed my inward parts'), paralleling Job's emphasis on being fashioned by God's hands (the theme of divine formation).
- Genesis 2:7 (thematic): God's direct formation of humanity from the dust ('the LORD God formed man...') corresponds to Job's assertion that God himself shaped and made him—shared theme of divine creation of the individual.
- Isaiah 64:8 (allusion): 'We are the clay, and you are our potter' uses the potter/creator image to describe God's shaping of people, echoing Job's depiction of God as the one who fashioned him (creator-sculptor motif).
- Jeremiah 18:6 (allusion): The potter imagery ('Can I not do with you, O house of Israel... like the clay in the potter's hand?') parallels Job's sense of being formed and thus subject to the potter's will—linking divine formation with God's authority over the formed object.
Alternative generated candidates
- Your hands fashioned me and made me; now you would destroy me.
- Your hands fashioned me and made me altogether, yet you would now destroy me.
Job.10.9 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- זכר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- נא: PART
- כי: CONJ
- כחמר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- עשיתני: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- ואל: CONJ+PREP
- עפר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- תשיבני: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Genesis 2:7 (thematic): God forming humanity from the earth (clay/dust): Job's claim that God made him like clay echoes the creation motif of man formed from the ground.
- Genesis 3:19 (verbal): “to dust you shall return” language: Job’s fear of being returned to dust parallels the Genesis pronouncement that humans are dust and will return to dust.
- Psalm 103:14 (verbal): God’s remembrance of human frailty: both verses state that God knows/remembers that humans are dust/clay, emphasizing human frailty and divine awareness.
- Isaiah 64:8 (allusion): Cloth/potter imagery: Isaiah’s ‘we are the clay, you are the potter’ directly parallels Job’s image of being made like clay—both portray God as shaper of human existence.
- Romans 9:20-21 (allusion): Potter-and-clay theological argument: Paul’s use of the potter imagery alludes to the same creator–creature relationship expressed by Job (and Isaiah), applying the clay metaphor to God’s authority over human destiny.
Alternative generated candidates
- Remember that you have made me like clay; and will you return me to the dust?
- Remember that you have made me like clay; and will you return me to the dust?
Job.10.10 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- הלא: PART
- כחלב: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- תתיכני: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- וכגבנה: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- תקפיאני: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 10:8 (structural): Immediate context: Job continues the image of God as creator/crafter who has formed him (clothed him with skin and flesh), linking directly to the milk/cheese imagery of being formed and handled.
- Job 10:9 (verbal): Close parallel within the speech: Job uses the language of being made and returned (clay/dust), reinforcing the theme of divine formation and subsequent threat of destruction.
- Psalm 139:13-15 (verbal): God as craftsman who 'formed' and 'knitted' the speaker in the womb—shares the motif of intimate, bodily formation by God analogous to Job’s imagery of being shaped/curdled.
- Jeremiah 1:5 (thematic): Declares divine formation and purpose before birth ('formed you in the womb'), echoing the theme of God’s control over human formation that Job laments.
- Genesis 2:7 (thematic): The primal account of God forming man (from the dust) highlights the broader biblical theme of God as maker of the human body, parallel to Job’s complaint about how God has fashioned him.
Alternative generated candidates
- Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese?
- Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese?
Job.10.11 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- עור: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ובשר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- תלבישני: VERB,piel,impf,2,m,sg
- ובעצמות: CONJ+NOUN,f,pl,abs
- וגידים: CONJ+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- תסככני: VERB,piel,impf,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Genesis 2:7 (thematic): God as creator of the human body — formation of man’s physical life (dust into living being) parallels Job’s claim that God clothed him with skin and flesh.
- Psalm 139:13-15 (verbal): Uses the verb imagery of being 'formed'/'knitted together' in the womb and the intimate crafting of inward parts, closely echoing Job’s 'bones and sinews' and 'clothing' language.
- Jeremiah 1:5 (thematic): Divine formation before birth — 'formed you in the womb' resonates with Job’s reflection on God’s formative role in making his body.
- Isaiah 64:8 (thematic): God as craftsman/potter shaping humanity — the motif of God fashioning human beings parallels Job’s depiction of God forming his flesh and frame.
- Psalm 119:73 (verbal): Direct language of God having 'made' and 'fashioned' the psalmist underscores the same idea of God’s workmanship in forming the body that Job expresses.
Alternative generated candidates
- You clothed me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews.
- You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.
Job.10.12 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- חיים: ADJ,m,pl,abs
- וחסד: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- עשית: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- עמדי: PREP+1cs
- ופקדתך: CONJ+NOUN,f,sg,abs+2ms
- שמרה: VERB,qal,impv,2,m,sg
- רוחי: NOUN,f,sg,abs+1cs
Parallels
- Isaiah 38:16 (verbal): Isaiah speaks of 'the life of my spirit' and credits the LORD with restoring life—language closely paralleling Job's 'you have given me life... your care preserved my spirit.'
- Psalm 103:4–5 (verbal): God 'redeems your life from the pit' and 'crowns you with steadfast love and mercy' — links between preserving life and divine chesed echo Job's pairing of life and steadfast love/care.
- Psalm 23:6 (thematic): ‘Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life’ — theme of God's steadfast love accompanying and sustaining the life of the believer, similar to Job's claim that life and chesed are with him.
- Psalm 36:9 (thematic): ‘For with you is the fountain of life’ — portrays God as the source and sustainer of life, resonating with Job's assertion that life and preservation come from God's care.
- Lamentations 3:22–23 (thematic): ‘The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases... his mercies are new every morning’ — emphasizes divine chesed as continual sustenance and hope, paralleling Job's appeal to God's enduring care that preserves his spirit.
Alternative generated candidates
- You gave me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.
- You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.
Job.10.13 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ואלה: CONJ+DEM,pl,abs
- צפנת: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- בלבבך: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,2,m,sg
- ידעתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,?,sg
- כי: CONJ
- זאת: DEM,f,sg
- עמך: NOUN,m,sg,suff-2m
Parallels
- Job 13:24 (thematic): Job charges God with hiding his face/ways — the same motif of divine concealment and inscrutable counsel.
- Job 23:9 (thematic): Job says God 'hideth himself' so that he cannot behold him; closely parallels the language and experience of God hiding his purposes.
- Isaiah 45:15 (verbal): 'Truly thou art a God that hidest thyself' — an explicit verbal statement of divine hiddenness comparable to 'you have hidden in your heart.'
- Proverbs 20:5 (verbal): 'Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water' — echoes the image of counsel or purposes being hidden in the heart.
- Psalm 139:2-4 (thematic): Psalmist emphasizes God's knowledge of hidden thoughts and words—related theme of inner counsel and the tension between hiddenness and divine knowledge.
Alternative generated candidates
- Yet these things you have hidden in your heart; I know that this is with you.
- Yet these things you have treasured in your heart; I know that this was with you.
Job.10.14 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אם: CONJ
- חטאתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,m,sg
- ושמרתני: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- ומעוני: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לא: PART_NEG
- תנקני: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Psalm 130:3 (verbal): Explicitly raises the same idea: if God were to mark/record iniquities who could stand? (echoes Job’s complaint that God watches and will not acquit his sin).
- Psalm 90:8 (verbal): ‘You have set our iniquities before you’ — language of God putting sins before his face, paralleling Job’s sense of being watched and not cleared.
- Psalm 51:4 (thematic): David’s confession that sin is ultimately ‘against you…in your sight’ emphasizes God as the observer/judge of sin, similar to Job’s confrontation with divine scrutiny.
- Habakkuk 1:13 (thematic): Affirms God’s purity and his active perception of evil (‘you are of purer eyes than to behold evil’), resonating with the theme that God sees sin and will not overlook it.
Alternative generated candidates
- If I have sinned, you keep watch over me and you will not acquit me of my transgression.
- If I have sinned, you mark me and will not acquit me of my iniquity.
Job.10.15 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אם: CONJ
- רשעתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,comm,sg
- אללי: INTJ
- לי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
- וצדקתי: CONJ+NOUN,f,sg,abs,poss:1,sg
- לא: PART_NEG
- אשא: VERB,qal,impf,1,sg
- ראשי: NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,1,sg
- שבע: NUM,card
- קלון: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- וראה: VERB,qal,imp,2,m,sg
- עניי: NOUN,m,pl,abs,poss,1,sg
Parallels
- Psalm 44:13-15 (thematic): Both passages portray the righteous as disgraced and made a byword among people; inability to hold up one's head and public reproach parallel Job's complaint of shame and affliction.
- Psalm 31:11 (verbal): Speaks of becoming a reproach and of being scorned by neighbors—language and situation closely mirror Job's sense of humiliation and loss of honor.
- Jeremiah 20:7 (verbal): Jeremiah laments being deceived and made a laughingstock; the cry of personal woe and public disgrace echoes Job's 'woe is me' and helpless shame despite asserted innocence.
- Psalm 102:7-11 (thematic): Imagery of isolation, taunting, and humiliation—'a byword among men' and persistent affliction—parallels Job's lament of disgrace and inability to raise his head.
Alternative generated candidates
- If I am guilty, woe to me; and if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head for shame and because of my suffering.
- If I am wicked, woe to me; if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head; I am full of disgrace; look upon my affliction.
Job.10.16 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ויגאה: VERB,qal,perf,3,f,sg
- כשחל: CONJ
- תצודני: VERB,qal,impf,2,f,sg
- ותשב: VERB,qal,perf,3,f,sg
- תתפלא: VERB,hitp,impf,2,f,sg
- בי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
Parallels
- Job 7:17-18 (thematic): Both passages voice Job's sense of human littleness before God and the experience of being observed, weighed, or singled out by the divine—God 'setting his heart' on man and Job feeling like a target of God's attention.
- Job 10:8-9 (verbal): Immediate internal parallel in the same speech: Job accuses God of fashioning him yet pursuing or destroying him—consistent language of God's activity toward the sufferer (forming, scrutinizing, acting against).
- Psalm 139:1-5 (verbal): Psalmist depicts God's intimate knowledge and watching of the individual—'you have searched me and known me,' 'you hem me in'—echoing Job's sense of being closely observed and accessed by God.
- Hebrews 4:13 (thematic): New Testament statement of divine omniscience—'nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight'—parallels Job's experience of being fully seen, pursued, or examined by God.
- Psalm 22:16-18 (thematic): Imagery of being surrounded, encircled, or hunted by enemies ('dogs surround me; a company of evildoers encircle me') resonates with Job's language of being hunted/pursued and left exposed.
Alternative generated candidates
- You pursue me as one who seizes prey; you renew your attacks upon me and multiply your amazement at me.
- You press me into service again; you hunt me down as a foe, and you stand and watch me with strange astonishment.
Job.10.17 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- תחדש: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- עדיך: PREP,2,m,sg
- נגדי: PREP
- ותרב: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg
- כעשך: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs+sfx2ms
- עמדי: PREP+1cs
- חליפות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- וצבא: NOUN,m,sg,abs+pref_vav
- עמי: NOUN,m,sg,abs+1s
Parallels
- Psalm 35:11 (verbal): Speaks of false witnesses rising up against the psalmist—language and idea of witnesses testifying falsely against a sufferer parallels Job’s complaint that God 'renews' witnesses against him.
- Psalm 109:2–5 (thematic): David laments enemies and false accusers who multiply against him; thematically parallels Job’s sense of increasing hostility and the mustering of adversaries against the righteous sufferer.
- Job 16:19 (thematic): Job contrasts his earthly accusers with a heavenly witness who might vindicate him—directly related thematically to the motif of witnesses and the struggle over testimony about Job’s innocence.
- Deuteronomy 19:15 (structural): The legal principle that a matter is established by two or three witnesses provides the judicial background for the imagery of witnesses and accusations—the cultural/legal frame behind Job’s complaint about renewed witnesses.
Alternative generated candidates
- You renew witnesses against me and increase your wrath toward me; you marshal fresh hostilities against me.
- You renew your witnesses against me and increase your array of adversaries; change and conflict are with me.
Job.10.18 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ולמה: CONJ
- מרחם: VERB,piel,ptc,3,m,sg
- הצאתני: VERB,hiph,perf,2,m,sg
- אגוע: VERB,qal,impf,1,NA,sg
- ועין: CONJ+NOUN,prop,f,sg,abs
- לא: PART_NEG
- תראני: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 3:11-12 (verbal): Almost identical lament earlier in Job: wishes he had died at birth—'Why did I not die at birth...? Why did the knees receive me?'—direct verbal and thematic echo.
- Jeremiah 20:14-18 (thematic): Jeremiah curses the day of his birth and asks why he was brought forth to see trouble—closely parallels the wish never to have been born and theborn-to-sorrow motif.
- Ecclesiastes 4:2-3 (thematic): Reflects the philosophical preference for non‑existence: better 'not to have been' than to witness life's misery—an intellectual/thematic counterpart to Job's wish.
- Psalm 88:3-5 (thematic): A deep psalmic lament expressing utter despair and darkness, thematically resonant with Job's longing for death and absence from sight.
Alternative generated candidates
- Why did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me,
- Why then did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died and no eye had seen me;
Job.10.19 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- כאשר: CONJ
- לא: PART_NEG
- הייתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,sg
- אהיה: VERB,qal,impf,1,_,sg
- מבטן: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לקבר: PREP+VERB,qal,inf
- אובל: VERB,qal,impf,1,_,sg
Parallels
- Job 3:16 (verbal): Job earlier longs that he had died at birth: “as infants which never saw light,” language and idea closely echoing the wish not to have been brought from the womb.
- Jeremiah 20:17-18 (thematic): Jeremiah laments that God did not kill him in the womb and wishes his mother had been his grave—same theme of preferring non‑existence to a life of suffering.
- Ecclesiastes 6:3-4 (thematic): Expresses the sentiment that non‑existence (or a stillbirth) is preferable to a life of misery, paralleling Job’s wish he had never been born.
- Psalm 139:13-16 (thematic): Speaks of God’s intimate knowledge and formation of a person in the womb—a theological counterpoint to Job’s lament about being brought forth into suffering.
- Job 1:21 (structural): Another reflection in Job on birth and mortality (“Naked I came from my mother’s womb”), linking the motif of coming from the womb with human transience and suffering.
Alternative generated candidates
- as though I had not been—carried from the womb straight to the grave.
- that I had been carried from the womb to the grave—
Job.10.20 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- הלא: PART
- מעט: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ימי: NOUN,m,pl,cs
- וחדל: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- ושית: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ממני: PREP,suff,1,m,sg
- ואבליגה: VERB,qal,impf,1,m,sg
- מעט: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 7:16 (verbal): Same book and a closely parallel plea—‘let me alone’/‘leave me’ and language about the worthlessness/shortness of life (days are vanity).
- Psalm 39:5–6 (verbal): Uses the image of life as ‘few days’/‘a few handbreadths’ and the transience of existence, echoing Job’s complaint about brevity of days and desire for respite.
- Psalm 102:11 (thematic): Lament reflecting the brevity and fading of life—‘my days are like a shadow’—paralleling Job’s sense that his days are few and he seeks relief.
- Isaiah 38:10–11 (thematic): Hezekiah’s lament over the ‘cutting off of my days’ and impending death thematically parallels Job’s expression of few remaining days and his longing for release/comfort.
Alternative generated candidates
- Are not my days few? Cease then; leave me alone, that I may have a little cheer
- as though I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave?
Job.10.21 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- בטרם: PREP
- אלך: VERB,qal,impf,1,_,sg
- ולא: CONJ
- אשוב: VERB,qal,impf,1,?,sg
- אל: NEG
- ארץ: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- חשך: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- וצלמות: CONJ+NOUN,f,pl,abs
Parallels
- Job 10:22 (structural): Immediate parallel/continuation: restates the same idea—Sheol as a land of gloom, deep darkness, and the shadow of death, expanding the image of not returning.
- Job 7:9 (verbal): Uses similar language about descent to the grave and finality (‘he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more’), echoing Job’s fear of going to a place of no return.
- Psalm 88:6 (thematic): Depicts being laid in the lowest pit, in darkness and the deeps—shares the motif of abandonment to Sheol and pervasive darkness.
- Isaiah 38:10 (thematic): Hezekiah’s lament about departing to the gates of Sheol and no longer seeing the living parallels the psalmic/job lament over death as a one-way descent to darkness.
- Jonah 2:6 (allusion): Jonah’s image of going down to the ‘bars of the earth’ and being confined in the depths echoes the motif of descent into a dark, inescapable realm (Sheol).
Alternative generated candidates
- before I go and come no more to the land of gloom and deep shadow,
- Are not a few days and then I shall be no more? Leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort,
Job.10.22 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ארץ: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- עיפתה: VERB,qal,perf,3,f,sg
- כמו: PREP
- אפל: ADV
- צלמות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- ולא: CONJ
- סדרים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ותפע: VERB,qal,perf,3,f,sg
- כמו: PREP
- אפל: ADV
Parallels
- Psalm 23:4 (verbal): Uses the phrase “shadow of death” and the image of passing through a dark valley; parallels Job’s depiction of a land enveloped in darkness and death-like gloom.
- Psalm 88:3-6 (thematic): A cry of being overwhelmed by darkness and closeness to Sheol, with imagery of abandonment and deep gloom like Job’s ‘land of darkness.’
- Job 3:17-19 (structural): Earlier lament by Job about Sheol as a place of darkness and cessation, closely echoing the motif of a dark, deathlike realm and the absence of order or light.
- Isaiah 38:10-11 (thematic): Hezekiah’s language of being consigned to Sheol and covered by darkness parallels Job’s portrayal of existence as a land of deep gloom and shadow.
- Ecclesiastes 9:5-6 (thematic): Speaks of the dead being in darkness and cut off from activity and knowledge, resonating with Job’s image of a dark, lifeless realm.
Alternative generated candidates
- to a land of gloom, deep shadow, and disorder—where light is like darkness.
- before I go and come no more to the land of darkness and deep shadow,
Then Job answered and said:
Truly I know that it is so; but how can a mortal be righteous before God?
If one would contend with him, he would not answer him—one among a thousand.
He is wise of heart and mighty in power; who has hardened himself against him and prospered?
He removes mountains, and they do not know it; he overturns them in his anger.
He shakes the earth from its place, and its pillars tremble.
He commands the sun, and it does not rise; he seals up the stars.
He alone stretches out the heavens and walks upon the waves of the sea.
He made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.
He does great things beyond searching out, wonders beyond number.
Behold, he passes by me, and I do not see him; he moves on, and I do not perceive him.
Behold, he takes away—who can hinder him? Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
God will not withdraw his anger; beneath him the helpers of Rahab bow down.
If I would answer him, I could not; I would choose my words with him.
For if I were righteous, I could not answer him; I would appeal to my judge.
If I called and he answered me, I would not trust that he had listened to my voice.
For he crushes me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause.
He will not allow my mouth relief; he fills me with bitterness.
If it is by the power of the mighty—behold—yet if it is for judgment, who will appoint me?
If I am innocent, my own mouth will condemn me; if I am blameless, he will prove me perverse.
I am blameless, yet I do not know it; I despise my life.
It is all one—the same—therefore I said, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
When a scourge kills suddenly, he laughs at the calamity of the innocent.
The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; its judges he covers—if not, then who is it?
My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away—they see no prosperity.
They pass by like boats of rushes, like an eagle that swoops on its prey.
If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face and be of good cheer,’
I dread all my toil; I know that you will not vindicate me.
I am wicked—why, then, do I labor in vain?
If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with soap,
yet you would plunge me into a pit, and my own garments would abhor me.
For there is no arbitrator between us who might lay his hand on us both.
There is no mediator between us who could set his hand upon us both.
Let him remove his rod from upon me, and let not his dread terrify me.
Then I would speak, and not fear him; for I am not such as I am of myself.
My soul is weary of my life; I will give free vent to my complaint— I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
O God, do not condemn me; show me why you contend with me.
Is it good for you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the counsel of the wicked?
Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as a mortal sees?
Are your days like a mortal’s days, your years like a man’s years,
that you should seek out my iniquity and probe my sin?
You know that I am not wicked, and there is none to deliver me from your hand.
Your hands fashioned me and made me, and now you would destroy me.
Remember that you have made me like clay, and will you return me to the dust?
Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese?
You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.
You gave me life and steadfast love, and your providence preserved my spirit.
Yet these things you have stored up in your heart; I know that this is with you.
If I have sinned, you mark me and will not acquit me of my transgression.
If I am wicked—woe to me!—and if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head; I am filled with shame and see my affliction.
You hunt me like a fierce lion; you again show yourself against me.
You renew your witnesses against me and increase your indignation; marauders assemble against me.
Why then did you bring me forth from the womb? Would that I had died and no eye had seen me,
and I had been carried from the womb to the grave!
Are not my few days coming to an end? Turn away from me that I may have a little cheer,
before I go—and I shall not return—to the land of gloom and deep shadow;
a land of deep darkness and disorder, where light is as thick darkness.