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22 From the north he comes in golden splendor;[a]
around God is awesome majesty.
23 As for the Almighty,[b] we cannot attain to him!
He is great in power,
but justice[c] and abundant righteousness he does not oppress.
24 Therefore people fear him,
for he does not regard all the wise in heart.”[d]

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Footnotes

  1. Job 37:22 tn The MT has “out of the north comes gold.” Left in that sense the line seems irrelevant. The translation “golden splendor” (with RV, RSV, NRSV, NIV) depends upon the context of theophany. Others suggest “golden rays” (Dhorme), the aurora borealis (Graetz, Gray), or some mythological allusion (Pope), such as Baal’s palace. Golden rays or splendor is what is intended, although the reference is not to a natural phenomenon—it is something that would suggest the glory of God.
  2. Job 37:23 tn The name “Almighty” is here a casus pendens, isolating the name at the front of the sentence and resuming it with a pronoun.
  3. Job 37:23 tn The MT places the major disjunctive accent (the atnach) under “power,” indicating that “and justice” starts the second half of the verse as a disjunctive clause (with ESV, NASB, NIV, NLT). Ignoring the Masoretic accent, NRSV has “he is great in power and justice.”
  4. Job 37:24 sn The phrase “wise of heart” was used in Job 9:4 in a negative sense.