Texts in Conversation
Job 42 says that no divine purpose can be stopped, using a word that can also mean “schemes” or “plots.” The Greek Septuagint avoids this potentially negative ambiguity by using the neutral translation that “nothing is impossible for you.”
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Job 42:2
Hebrew Bible
1 Then Job answered the Lord: 2 “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted; 3 you asked, ‘Who is this who darkens counsel without knowledge?’ But I have declared without understanding things too wonderful for me to know.
Date: 500–401 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Job 42:2
Septuagint
1 Then Job answered and said to the Lord, 2 I know that you can do all things, and nothing is impossible with you. 3 For who is he that hides counsel from you? or who keeps back his words, and thinks to hide them from you? and who will tell me what I did not know, great and wonderful things which I did not understand?
Date: 100–1 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... it is likely that the targumist simply shrunk from the idea that Job could actually instruct or inform the all-knowing God about anything. Another example is found in Job 42:2 ... Here, too, the Septuagint paraphrases: “Nothing is impossible for you.” What difficulty did the ancient translators see? It is possible that the Hebrew word which is frequently used in malem partem in the Bible, had negative overtones for the targumist. He did not want to impugn God’s holiness by attributing to him an evil “plot” or “scheme” and therefore put “strength and wisdom” in its place ..."
Edward M. Cook, “The Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in the Targums,” in A Companion to Biblical Interpretation in Early Judaism, ed. Matthias Henze (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012), 92–117.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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