the Week of Proper 12 / Ordinary 17
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Job 21:24
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- InternationalParallel Translations
His body is well fed,and his bones are full of marrow.
His pails are full of milk. The marrow of his bones is moistened.
His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow.
his pails full of milk and the marrow of his bones moist.
His body was well fed, and his bones were strong and healthy.
his body well nourished, and the marrow of his bones moist.
His pails are full of milk [his sides are filled out with fat], And the marrow of his bones is moist,
His sides are filled with fat, And the marrow of his bones is wet,
His pails are full of milk. The marrow of his bones is moistened.
His breasts are full of milke, and his bones runne full of marowe.
His sides are filled out with fat,And the marrow of his bones is moist,
His body is well nourished, and his bones are rich with marrow.
enjoying good health,
his pails are full of milk, and the marrow in his bones is moist.
His sides are full of fat, and the marrow of his bones is moistened;
His body is full of fat, and his bones are filled with marrow.
His vats are full with milk and the marrow of his bones is moist.
his sides are full of milk, and his bones are wet with marrow.
euen when his bowels are at the fattest, and his bones full of mary.
His pails are full of milk, And the marrow of his bones is moistened.
His buckets are full of milk, and there is no loss of strength in his bones.
His pails are full of milk, and the marrow of his bones is moistened.
His breasts are full of milke, and his bones are moistened with marrow.
His breastes are full of milke, and his bones runne full of marowe.
and his inwards are full of fat, and his marrow is diffused throughout him.
His breasts are full of milk, and the marrow of his bones is moistened.
Hise entrails ben ful of fatnesse; and hise boonys ben moistid with merowis.
His pails are full of milk, And the marrow of his bones is moistened.
His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow.
His pails [fn] are full of milk,And the marrow of his bones is moist.
the picture of good health, vigorous and fit.
His body has good food and his bones are strong.
his loins full of milk and the marrow of his bones moist.
His veins, are filled with nourishment, and, the marrow of his bones, is fresh;
His bowels are full of fat, and his bones are moistened with marrow.
his body full of fat and the marrow of his bones moist.
His breasts have been full of milk, And marrow his bones doth moisten.
His sides are filled out with fat, And the marrow of his bones is moist,
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
His breasts: or, His milk pails, Job 15:27, Psalms 17:10
moistened: Proverbs 3:8
Reciprocal: Psalms 73:4 - no Jeremiah 5:28 - waxen James 1:11 - so
Cross-References
One of the men who had escaped went to Abram the Hebrew and told him what happened. Abram was camped near the trees of Mamre the Amorite. Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner had made an agreement to help each other, and they had also signed an agreement to help Abram.
Do the best you can to live in peace with everyone.
People always use the name of someone greater than themselves to make a promise with an oath. The oath proves that what they say is true, and there is no more arguing about it.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
His breasts are full of milk,.... As this is not literally true of men, some versions read the words otherwise; his bowels or intestines are full of fat, as the Vulgate Latin and Septuagint; and others, his sides or ribs are full of fat, as the Syriac and Arabic; the words for "side" and "fat" being near in sound to those here used; and so it describes a man fit and plump, and fleshy, when death lays hold upon him, and not wasted with consumptions and pining sickness, as in the case of some, Job 33:21; the word for breasts is observed by some h to signify, in the Arabic language, "vessels", in which liquors are contained, and in the Misnic language such as they put oil in, out of which oil is squeezed; and so are thought here to intend such vessels as are milked into; and therefore render it by milk pails; so Mr. Broughton, "his pails are full of milk" i; which may denote the abundance of good things enjoyed by such persons, as rivers of honey and butter; contrary to Zophar's notion, Job 20:17; and a large increase of oil and wine, and all temporal worldly good; amidst the plenty of which such die:
and his bones are moistened with marrow; not dried up through a broken spirit, or with grief and trouble, and through the decays of old age; but, being full of marrow, are moist, and firm and strong; and so it intimates, that such, at the time when death seizes them, are of an hale, healthful, robust, and strong constitution; see Psalms 73:4.
h See Kimchi, Sepher Shorash. rad. עטן, and Jarchi and Ben Melech in loc. i עטיניו "muletralia ejus", Montanus, Beza, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Mercerus, Bolducius, Drusius, Cocceius, Schmidt.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
His breasts - Margin, “milk pails.” The marginal translation is much the most correct, and it is difficult to understand why so improbable a statement has been introduced into our common version. But there has been great variety in the translation. The Vulgate renders it, Viscera ejus plena sunt adipe - “his viscera are full of fat.” So the Septuagint, τὰ ἔγκατα ἀυτοῦ πλήρη στέατος ta engkata autou plērē steatos. The Syraic, “his sides;” Prof. Lee, “his bottles;” Noyes, “his sides;” Luther, “sein milkfass” - “his milk-pail;” Wemyss, “the stations of his cattle;” Good, “his sleek skin.” In this variety of rendering, what hope is there of ascertaining the meaning of the word? It is not easy to account for this variety, though it is clear that Jerome and the Septuagint followed a different reading from the present, and instead of עטיניו ‛ăṭı̂ynāyv, they read בטיניו baṭı̂ynāyv - from בטן beṭen - “the belly;” and that instead of the word חלב châlâb as at present pointed, meaning “milk,” they understood it as if it were pointed חלב cheleb - meaning “fat” - the same letters, but different vowels.
The word which is rendered “breast” (עטין ‛ăṭı̂yn) occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Scriptures. It has become necessary, therefore, to seek its meaning in the ancient versions, and in the cognate languages. For a full examination of the word, the reader may consult Bochart, Hieroz. P. 1, Lib. ii. c. xliv., pp. 455, 458; or Rosenmuller, where the remarks of Bochart are abridged; or Lee on Job, “in loc.” The Chaldee renders it ביזיו, “his breasts.” So Junius et Tre. Piscator, and others. Among the rabbis, Moses Bar Nackman, Levi, and others, render it as denoting the breasts, or “mulctralia” - “milk-vessels,” denoting, as some have supposed, “the lacteals.” This idea would admirably suit the connection, but it is doubtful whether it can be maintained; and the presumption is, that it would be in advance of the knowledge of physiology in the times of Job. Aben Ezra explains it of the places where camels lie down to drink - an idea which is found in the Arabic, and which will well suit the connection.
According to this, the sense would be, that those places abounded with milk - that is, that he was prospered and happy. The Hebrew word עטין ‛ăṭı̂yn, as has been observed, occurs nowhere else. It is supposed to be derived from an obsolete root, the same as the Arabic “atana, to lie down around water, as cattle do;” and then the derivative denotes a place where cattle and flocks lie down around water; and then the passage would mean, “the resting places of his herds are full, or abound with milk.” Yet the primary idea, according to Castell, Golius, and Lee, is that of saturating with water; softening, “scil.” a skin with water, or dressing a skin, for the purpose of using it as a bottle. Perhaps the word was used with reference to the place where camels came to drink, because it was a place that was “saturated” with water, or that abounded with water. The Arabic verb, also, according to Castell, is used in the sense of freeing a skin from wool and hairs - a lana pilisve levari pellem - so that it might be dressed for use.
From this reference to a “skin” thus dressed, Prof. Lee supposes that the word here means “a bottle,” arid that the sense is, that his bottles were full of milk; that is, that he had great prosperity and abundance. But it is very doubtful whether the word will bear this meaning, and whether it is ever used in this sense. In the instances adduced by Castell, Schultens, and even of Prof. Lee, of the use of the word, I find no one where it means “a skin,” or denotes a bottle made of a skin. The application of the “verb” to a skin is only in the sense of saturating and dressing it. The leading idea in all the forms of the word, and its common use in Arabic, is “that of a place where cattle kneel down for the purpose of drinking,” and then a place well watered, where a man might lead his camels and flocks to water. The noun would then come to mean a watering place - a place that would be of great value, and which a man who had large flocks and herds would greatly prize. The thought here is, therefore, that the places of this kind, in the possession of the man referred to, would abound with milk - that is, he would have abundance.
Are full of milk - Milk, butter and honey, are, in the Scriptures, the emblems of plenty and prosperity. Many of the versions, however, here render this “fat.” The change is only in the pointing of the Hebrew word. But, if the interpretation above given be correct, then the word here means “milk.”
And his bones are moistened with marrow - From the belief, that bones full of marrow are an indication of health and vigor.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Job 21:24. His breasts are full of milk — The word עטיניו atinaiv, which occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible, is most likely an Arabic term, but probably so provincial as to be now lost. [Arabic] atana signifies to macerate hides so as to take off the hair: hence Mr. Good thinks it means here, that sleekness of skin which is the effect of fatness both in man and beast. But as the radical idea signifies to stink, as leather does which is thus macerated, I cannot see how this meaning can apply here. Under the root עטן atan, Mr. Parkhurst gives the following definitions:" עטן occurs, not as a verb, but as a noun masculine plural, in construction, עטיני atiney, the bowels, intestines; once Job 21:24, עטיניו atinaiv, his bowels or intestines, are full of, or abound with, חלב chalab, fat. So the LXX.: Τα δε εγκατα αυτου πληρη στεατος. The VULGATE: Viscera, ejus plena sent adipe, 'his intestines are full of fat.' May not עטינים atinim be a noun masculine plural from עטה atah, to involve, formed as גליונים gailyonim, mirrors, from גלה galah, to reveal? And may nor the intestines, including those fatty parts, the mesentery and omentum, be so called on account of their wonderful involutions?" I think this conjecture to be as likely as any that has yet been formed.
