Bildad on God's Majesty and Human Insignificance
Job 25:1-6
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Job.25.1 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ויען: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- בלדד: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- השחי: NOUN,m,sg,def
- ויאמר: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 8:1 (verbal): Same speech formula introducing Bildad earlier in the dialogue: "Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said," showing a repeated interlocutor and identical introductory phrasing.
- Job 18:1 (verbal): Another occurrence of the exact formula for Bildad's third speech, reinforcing the structural pattern of the friends' responses to Job.
- Job 4:1 (structural): Eliphaz's opening speech uses a parallel introductory formula ("Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said"), illustrating the common narrative device introducing each friend's address.
- Job 11:1 (structural): Zophar's speech is likewise introduced with the same narrative formula ("Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said"), showing the repeated pattern of objections and replies among Job's friends.
- Job 32:6 (structural): Elihu's intervention is likewise announced with a speech-introduction formula ("Then Elihu the son of Barachel...answered and said"), marking a shift in the debate and using the same narrative mechanism to introduce a new speaker.
Alternative generated candidates
- Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
- Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
Job.25.2 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- המשל: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- ופחד: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- עמו: PREP+PRON,3,m,sg
- עשה: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- שלום: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- במרומיו: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,def+PRON,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Psalm 103:19 (thematic): Speaks of the LORD's throne/kingdom in the heavens, paralleling Job's emphasis on God's dominion and rule 'in his high places.'
- Psalm 47:8 (thematic): Proclaims that God reigns and is seated on his holy throne—resonant with the image of divine dominion and exaltation in Job 25:2.
- Isaiah 57:15 (allusion): Describes the 'High and Lofty One' who dwells on high, echoing Job's reference to God's presence and activity in the heights ('his high places').
- Isaiah 9:6–7 (verbal): Links rulership/government with lasting peace ('the increase of his government and peace'), reflecting Job 25:2's pairing of dominion and peace in the divine sphere.
- Job 22:12 (structural): Within the same book Bildad/Eliphaz asks whether God is not in the height of heaven—an intra‑textual echo of the theme of God's exaltation and 'high places' in Job 25:2.
Alternative generated candidates
- Dominion and dread are with him; he makes peace in his high places.
- Dominion and dread belong to him; he establishes peace in his high places.
Job.25.3 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- היש: PART,exist
- מספר: VERB,qal,impf,1,m,sg
- לגדודיו: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs,3ms
- ועל: CONJ+PREP
- מי: PRON,interr,sg
- לא: PART_NEG
- יקום: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- אורהו: NOUN,m,sg,abs,3ms
Parallels
- Isaiah 40:26 (verbal): Both verses speak of God’s ordered host brought out 'by number' (or whose hosts are numbered), echoing the idea of countless, precisely ordered heavenly forces.
- Psalm 68:17 (verbal): Describes God’s chariots/hosts as 'tens of thousands,' paralleling Job’s rhetorical question about numbering God’s armies/hosts.
- Psalm 36:9 (thematic): Declares that 'in your light we see light,' resonating with Job’s image of God’s light rising upon (or not failing to rise on) people—both stress God’s illuminating power.
- Malachi 4:2 (allusion): Speaks of the 'sun of righteousness' rising with healing—a later prophetic development of the motif of God’s light rising on the righteous, which Job invokes rhetorically.
- Psalm 147:4-5 (thematic): God 'counts the stars' and his understanding is infinite; parallels Job’s question about numbering God’s host and highlights God’s unmeasurable majesty and order.
Alternative generated candidates
- Can anyone number his hosts, and upon whom does his light not rise?
- Is there one who can number his hosts? Upon whom does his light not rise?
Job.25.4 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ומה: CONJ+PRON,int
- יצדק: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- אנוש: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- עם: PREP
- אל: NEG
- ומה: CONJ+PRON,int
- יזכה: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- ילוד: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אשה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 4:17 (verbal): Nearly identical wording and thought: a direct question whether a mortal can be righteous or pure before God/ his Maker.
- Job 9:2 (verbal): Job raises the same problem in different speech: how can a man be in the right before God, echoing human inability to stand righteous.
- Isaiah 64:6 (thematic): Affirms the insufficiency of human righteousness before God (‘our righteous deeds are like filthy rags’), thematically parallel to human impurity before God.
- Ecclesiastes 7:20 (thematic): States that not a single person is righteous or without sin, echoing Job’s claim about human moral deficiency.
- Romans 3:10 (quotation): Paul’s citation ('None is righteous, no, not one') summarizes the same conviction about human unrighteousness before God found in Job.
Alternative generated candidates
- How then can a mortal be righteous before God? How can one born of woman be pure?
- How then can a mortal be righteous before God, and how can one born of woman be pure?
Job.25.5 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- הן: PART
- עד: PREP
- ירח: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ולא: CONJ
- יאהיל: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- וכוכבים: CONJ+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- לא: PART_NEG
- זכו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- בעיניו: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs+3ms
Parallels
- Job 9:9 (verbal): Mentions the heavenly constellations (Bear, Orion, Pleiades) and God's creation/control of the stars — parallels Job 25:5's focus on moon and stars before God.
- Job 26:13 (thematic): Speaks of God's power over the heavens (‘by his breath the heavens are made fair’) highlighting God's transcendence over celestial bodies, echoing the idea that moon and stars are insignificant before him.
- Psalm 147:4-5 (thematic): Affirms that God counts and names the stars and that his understanding is vast — underscores the contrast between the Creator's greatness and the created moon and stars in Job 25:5.
- Amos 5:8 (verbal): Attributes the making of the Pleiades and Orion to God and his control of light and darkness, paralleling the motif of divine sovereignty over celestial bodies found in Job 25:5.
- Deuteronomy 4:19 (thematic): Warns against worshiping sun, moon and stars by reminding Israel they are part of the heavens God made — resonates with Job 25:5's implication that celestial bodies are not superior or 'pure' compared to God.
Alternative generated candidates
- Behold, even the moon is not bright, and the stars are not pure in his sight.
- Behold, even the moon is not bright to him, and the stars are not clean in his sight.
Job.25.6 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- אף: ADV
- כי: CONJ
- אנוש: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- רמה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ובן: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אדם: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- תולעה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Psalm 22:6 (verbal): Uses the same metaphor — 'I am a worm' — expressing human humiliation and worthlessness before God/people.
- Isaiah 41:14 (allusion): Addresses 'worm Jacob,' employing the image of a worm to denote human lowliness, though here coupled with divine consolation.
- Isaiah 40:6-7 (thematic): Declares the transience and frailty of human life ('all flesh is grass'), thematically paralleling Job's depiction of humanity as lowly/insignificant.
- Job 7:17-18 (structural): Another passage within Job that reflects on human smallness and God's regard for frail mortals ('What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him?'), echoing the theme of human insignificance.
Alternative generated candidates
- How much less man—he is a maggot, and the son of man—a worm.
- Indeed, man is a maggot, and the son of man a worm.
Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
Dominion and dread are with him; he establishes peace in his high places.
Who can number his hosts? And upon whom will not his light arise?
How then can a mortal be righteous before God? Or how can one born of woman be pure?
Indeed, even the moon is not bright to him, and the stars are not pure in his sight.
Indeed, man is a maggot, the son of man a worm.