Article April 6, 1935 ISSUE

Bible Notes

"Unto God would I commit my cause" (Job 5:8)—The term translated "cause" is literally "words." "Word" or "words" came to be used in a broader sense as meaning any matter or affair, act or business "about which one speaks"—for instance, "a case" or "cause" for judicial consideration (as here). Compare Moffatt's rendering: "Were I in your place, I would turn to God, and before God lay my case." (Cf. Brown, Driver, Briggs: Hebrew Lexicon, p. 182f.)

"Thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin" (Job 5:24)—The noun "naweh" is sometimes used in Hebrew poetry to mean "habitation" in a general sense (as here), but its more literal meaning is "the abode of a shepherd or of his flocks" (cf. Brown, etc., op. cit., p. 627); ; while the verb rendered "sin" means literally "miss" or "be missing" (ibid., p. 306), the connection between the two ideas being that missing the true mark or missing the right way is often equivalent to "sinning." Hence the Revised Version suggests: "Thou shalt visit thy fold and find nothing wanting;" and Moffatt: "You shall miss nothing when you go over your flock;" though Smith prefers: "When you inspect your homestead, you will miss nothing."

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