[July 2006 journal entry]
Eliphaz begins by painting a beautiful picture of the very sensitive and careful Job he remembers (4:3-4). Peterson’s translation says Job had “encouraged those who were about to quit” (the RSV’s “strengthened weak hands”), had “put stumbling people on their feet” (the RSV’s “upheld him who was stumbling”), and had put “fresh hope in people about to collapse” (the RSV’s “made firm the feeble knees”). The key words (underlined) in these phrases should be traced through the rest of the story/play, with particular attention to the ‘scrapheap’ Job’s use of these/similar words to describe himself.
