Job 4:7
Recall, Pray:
Who being innocent perished?
Where were the upright cutoff?
My first impression on this is that the questions are rhetorical in nature. No one had ever been innocent up to this point as Jesus came later. No one had ever been upright. Eliphaz is telling Job that Job is a sinner and neither innocent nor upright and he is just fooling himself by trying to hang onto that concept.
“Recall, Pray:” was the word choice of my second favorite researcher Alter and is a more poetic version of the classical “Remember, I pray thee,” from the King James Version. Other versions had “Think now” or “Consider now” or “Think” as variations. The actual words may have more of the “consider now” direct meaning, but I think the intent is more clearly match with the “remember, I pray thee” phrase.
“Guiltless” was the only other alternative for “innocent” but did not win out.
“Died”, “Gone under”, and “were destroyed” were options for “perished”. Destroyed was the alternative from my favorite translator but seemed a little over the top. “Gone under” was off the deep end from the poet. “Died” was just too every day.
One version had “righteous” in place of “upright”, but majority won.
In place of “cutoff” were “destroyed” (twice) and “demolished”. The cutoff seemed to be the best option, but there seems to be some extra negativity floating in everyone’s mind that cutoff does not quite carry. I think being cutoff is tantamount to being destroyed so I went with it.
I have had a string of decisions result in a very rickety desk that I use for fun stuff. It fits well in my cramped office among the many giant pieces I crammed in here, but I had to take a piece off to avoid neck strain. I guess I need to add “fix desk” to my list of things that should probably be done but might not ever be. I am not perfect, and I know it well. I want to be more like Jesus, but I know that it is a lofty goal I cannot meet. Job is my marker for recognizing that it is the “chasing after God’s own heart” that He sees and rewards. It is not the outcomes that define our success. It is the motivation.