Job 34:17 | KD | STEP | And oh understand now, hear this; Hearken to the sound of my words. 17 Would one who hateth right also be able to subdue? Or wilt thou condemn the All-just? 18 Is it becoming to say to a king: Worthless One!? Thou evil-doer! to princes? 19 To Him who accepteth not the person of rulers, And regardeth not the noble before the poor: For they are all the work of His hands. 20 In a moment they die, and at midnight The people are overthrown and perish, And they put aside the mighty - not by the hand of man. This strophe contains several grammatical rarities. At first sight it appears that ought to be translated: “and if there is understanding (viz., to thee = if thou hast), then hear this.” But בּינה is accented as Milel and with Mercha , and can therefore not be a substantive (Hirz., Hahn, and others); for the retreat of the accent would be absolutely incomprehensible, and instead of a conjunctive, a distinctive, viz., Dechî , ought to be expected. Several of the old expositors, therefore, interpret with Nolde: quod quum ita sit, intellige; but this elliptical ואם, well as it might also be used for , is unsupportable; the Makkeph between the two words is also against it, which rather arises from the assumption that בּינה is the imperat., and אם as an exception, like , is an optative particle joined to the imper . 2 instead of to the fut.: “and if thou shouldst observe” (= ואם־תּבין). To translate with Schultens: num iram osor judicii frenabit, is impracticable on account of the order of the words, and gives a thought that is inappropriate here. אף is a particle, and the fut . is potentialis: is it also possible that an enemy of right should govern? (חבשׁ, imperio coercere, as אצר , אסר ); right and government are indeed mutually conditioned, without right everything would fall into anarchy and confusion. In this is applied to the Ruler of the world: or (ואם, an , as ; ; ) wilt thou condemn the mighty just One, i.e., the All-just? As Elihu calls God שׂגּיא כח, , as the Almighty, and as the Omniscient One, תּמים דּעים, , so here as the All-just One, צדּיק כּבּיר. The two adjectives are put side by side ἀσυνδέτως, as is frequently the case in Arabic, and form one compound idea, Ew. §270, d .

‏ Job 34:17

Job 34:16-20 16 And oh understand now, hear this;

Hearken to the sound of my words. 17 Would one who hateth right also be able to subdue?

Or wilt thou condemn the All-just? 18 Is it becoming to say to a king: Worthless One!?

Thou evil-doer! to princes? 19 To Him who accepteth not the person of rulers,

And regardeth not the noble before the poor:

For they are all the work of His hands. 20 In a moment they die, and at midnight

The people are overthrown and perish,

And they put aside the mighty - not by the hand of man.

This strophe contains several grammatical rarities. At first sight it appears that Job 34:16 ought to be translated: “and if there is understanding (viz., to thee = if thou hast), then hear this.” But בּינה is accented as Milel and with Mercha, and can therefore not be a substantive (Hirz., Hahn, and others); for the retreat of the accent would be absolutely incomprehensible, and instead of a conjunctive, a distinctive, viz., Dechî, ought to be expected. Several of the old expositors, therefore, interpret with Nolde: quod quum ita sit, intellige; but this elliptical ואם, well as it might also be used for Job 21:4, is unsupportable; the Makkeph between the two words is also against it, which rather arises from the assumption that בּינה is the imperat., and אם as an exception, like Gen 23:13, is an optative particle joined to the imper. 2 instead of to the fut.: “and if thou shouldst observe” (= ואם־תּבין). To translate Job 34:17 with Schultens: num iram osor judicii frenabit, is impracticable on account of the order of the words, and gives a thought that is inappropriate here. אף is a particle, and the fut. is potentialis: is it also possible that an enemy of right should govern? (חבשׁ, imperio coercere, as אצר 1Sa 9:17, אסר Psa 105:22); right and government are indeed mutually conditioned, without right everything would fall into anarchy and confusion. In Job 34:17 this is applied to the Ruler of the world: or (ואם, an, as Job 8:3; Job 21:4; Job 40:9) wilt thou condemn the mighty just One, i.e., the All-just? As Elihu calls God שׂגּיא כח, Job 37:23, as the Almighty, and as the Omniscient One, תּמים דּעים, Job 37:16, so here as the All-just One, צדּיק כּבּיר. The two adjectives are put side by side ἀσυνδέτως, as is frequently the case in Arabic, and form one compound idea, Ew. §270, d.