Friday, March 13, 2009

Job 3:1-9

Are day and night mixed up in these first 9 verses?

TS suggests ordering the verses as follows: 4a, 5b, 4bc, 6bc, 8 for the day, then 6a, 9a, 9bc, 7 for the night - his suggested original order (p 69 summary) is obviously missing parts of verse 5.

Here is the original order

And Job answered and said
Perish! day in which I was born
and the night that said a child is conceived

4a The day - that one - let it be darkness
b let God not ask for it from above
c nor let a sunbeam on it shine
5a let darkness and obscurity redeem it
b let a cloud dwell on it
c let blackness of day terrify it

6a The night - that one - let gloom take it
b let it not rejoice the days of the year
c into the number of months let it not come
7a behold the night - that one - let it be barren
b let no joyful cry come into it
8a let them blaspheme it that curse the day
b those ready to rouse Leviathan
9a Let the stars of its twilight be dark
b let it wait for light but have none
c neither let it see the eyelids of the day

I think besides his better grasp of language possibilities, his complaint about the poem is that the number of phrases devoted to night does not balance those devoted to the day. And here is his order - but once we get started on this, why not write a completely new poem? (But his order has some cohesive merit.)

And Job answered and said
Perish! day in which I was born
and the night that said a child is conceived

4a The day - that one - let it be darkness
5b let a cloud dwell on it
c nor let a sunbeam on it shine
4b let God not ask for it from above
c let blackness of day terrify it
6b let it not rejoice the days of the year
c into the number of months let it not come
8a let them blaspheme it that curse the day
b those ready to rouse Leviathan

6a The night - that one - let gloom take it
5a let darkness and obscurity redeem it
9a Let the stars of its twilight be dark
b let it wait for light but have none
c neither let it see the eyelids of the day
7a behold the night - that one - let it be barren
b let no joyful cry come into it

In 4b he suggests 'God above' as a name for God, rather than 'from above'
In 8b perhaps I should read with him
those heroes that Leviathan awoke
or those ready for Leviathan to rouse
I have a hard time hearing a verb's subject sometimes.

For other Job related posts, click here.

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