Texts in Conversation
Job 7 includes a “tiqqune soferim,” a scribal correction in the Masoretic text, which removed or changed disrespectful language. The Greek Septuagint likely preserves the original version, which was changed to avoid describing God as vulnerable.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Job 7:20
Hebrew Bible
19 Will you never look away from me, will you not let me alone long enough to swallow my spittle? 20 If I have sinned—what have I done to you, O watcher of men? Why have you set me as your target? Have I become a burden to myself72? 21 And why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I will lie down in the dust, and you will seek me diligently, but I will be gone.”
LXX Job 7:20
Septuagint
19 How long do you not let me alone, nor let me go, until I shall swallow down my spittle in pain? 20 If I have sinned, what shall I be able to do to you, you that understand the mind of men? why have you made me as your accuser, and why am I a burden to you? 21 Why have you not forgotten my iniquity, and purged my sin? but now I shall depart to the earth; and in the morning I am no more.
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Notes and References
"... In the prepositional phrase עָלַי (ʿalay) the results of a scribal change are found (these changes were called tiqqune sopherim, “corrections of the scribes” made to avoid using improper language about God). The prepositional phrase would have been עָלֶךָ (ʿalekha, “to you,” as in the LXX). But it offended the Jews to think of Job being burdensome to God. Job’s sin could have repercussions on him, but not on God. ..."
* 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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