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Job 10:17-19
New English Translation
Job 10:17-19
New English Translation
17 You bring new witnesses[a] against me,
and increase your anger against me;
relief troops[b] come against me.
An Appeal for Relief
18 “Why then did you bring me out from the womb?
I should have died[c]
and no eye would have seen me!
19 I should have been as though I had never existed;[d]
I should have been carried
right from the womb to the grave!
Footnotes
- Job 10:17 tn The text has “you renew/increase your witnesses.” This would probably mean Job’s sufferings, which were witness to his sins. But some suggested a different word here, one that is cognate to Arabic ʾadiya, “to be an enemy; to be hostile”: thus “you renew your hostility against me.” Less convincing are suggestions that the word is cognate to Ugaritic “troops” (see W. G. E. Watson, “The Metaphor in 10, 17, ” Bib 63 [1982]: 255-57).
- Job 10:17 tn The Hebrew simply says “changes and a host are with me.” The “changes and a host” is taken as a hendiadys, meaning relieving troops (relief troops of the army). The two words appear together again in 14:14, showing that emendation is to be avoided. The imagery depicts blow after blow from God—always fresh attacks.
- Job 10:18 tn The two imperfect verbs in this section are used to stress regrets for something which did not happen (see GKC 317 §107.n).
- Job 10:19 sn This means “If only I had never come into existence.”
New English Translation (NET)
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