Job 18 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 18:17
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Chapter 18
Bildad describes traps and the extinguishing of a household
Source chapters: [BHS18] Hebrew; [LXX18] Greek.
Verse 18:1 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:1 Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both introduce Bildad’s second speech.
Verse 18:2 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:2 “How long will you set traps for words?
Understand, and afterward we will speak.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:2 “How long will you not stop?
Hold back, so that we ourselves may speak.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew addresses a plural you and uses the rare qintsei, provisionally traps or snares, with limits another possibility. Greek addresses Job singularly and asks him to stop.
Verse 18:3 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:3 Why are we counted as animals,
regarded as unclean in your eyes?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:3 Why have we been silent before you like four-footed animals?
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek being silent differs from Hebrew being regarded as animals and unclean or stupid; Hebrew nitminu remains lexically uncertain.
Verse 18:4 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:4 You who tear yourself in your anger—
will the earth be abandoned for your sake,
or a rock moved from its place?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:4 Wrath has dealt with you.
What then? If you die, will the world beneath heaven be uninhabited,
or will mountains be overturned from their foundations?
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek explicitly introduces Job’s death and multiple mountains; Hebrew self-tearing and moving a rock remain distinct.
Verse 18:5 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:5 Indeed, the light of the wicked will be extinguished,
and the flame of his fire will not shine.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:5 The light of the ungodly will be extinguished,
and their flame will not come forth.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The extinguished light agrees; Greek has a plural possessor in the second clause.
Verse 18:6 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:6 Light grows dark in his tent,
and the lamp above him is extinguished.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:6 His light is darkness in his dwelling,
and the lamp above him will be extinguished.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both continue the failed-light image.
Verse 18:7 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:7 His vigorous steps are narrowed,
and his own counsel throws him down.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:7 May the least people hunt down his belongings,
and may his counsel stumble.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek seizure of possessions by the least replaces Hebrew constrained steps.
Verse 18:8 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:8 For his feet drive him into a net,
and he walks upon a snare.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:8 His foot has been thrown into a trap;
may he be entangled in a net.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both use trapping images, with Greek foot singular and a wish in the second clause.
Verse 18:9 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:9 A trap grasps his heel;
a snare takes firm hold of him.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:9 May traps come upon him;
the thirsty will be made strong against him.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek explicitly has thirsty people where Hebrew tsammim is provisionally a snare. Greek’s second verb is an active future with an unexpressed subject, recast passively here to avoid inventing an agent; its exact construction remains difficult.
Verse 18:10 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:10 His cord is hidden in the earth,
and his trap upon the path.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:10 His cord is hidden in the earth,
and his capture upon the paths.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The hidden trap agrees; the marked Greek clauses are retained.
Verse 18:11 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:11 Terrors frighten him on every side
and scatter him at his feet.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:11 May pains destroy him all around,
and may many come about his feet in severe famine.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek adds many surrounding him in famine, where Hebrew terrors pursue or scatter him; famine aligns thematically with Hebrew 18:12.
Verse 18:12 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:12 His strength is famished,
and calamity stands ready at his side.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:12 An extraordinary fall has been prepared for him.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek has a single prepared downfall; its famine language was already translated at 18:11. Hebrew strength hungry is retained as the displayed personification.
Verse 18:13 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:13 It devours the parts of his skin;
the firstborn of death devours his limbs.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:13 May the branches of his feet be devoured;
death will devour his beautiful things.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek branching feet and beautiful things differ from Hebrew skin parts, limbs and death’s firstborn. Neither peculiar image is replaced by the other.
Verse 18:14 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:14 His security is torn from his tent,
and he is marched to the king of terrors.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:14 May healing burst away from his dwelling,
and may distress hold him on a royal charge.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek healing and a royal accusation differ from Hebrew security and the king of terrors. The exact legal force of aitia basilike remains open.
Verse 18:15 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:15 What is not his dwells in his tent;
sulfur is scattered over his dwelling.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:15 It will lodge in his tent during his night;
his splendid things will be strewn with sulfur.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek night and splendid things differ from the difficult Hebrew nothing-of-his dwelling clause. The Greek lodging subject is not expressed and is not assigned a specific identity.
Verse 18:16 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:16 Below, his roots dry up;
above, his branches wither.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:16 Below, his roots will dry up;
above, his harvest will fall.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek harvest differs from Hebrew branches; the two-level plant destruction agrees.
Verse 18:17 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:17 His memory perishes from the earth,
and he has no name in the open country.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:17 May his memorial perish from the earth,
yet he has a name on the outer face of the land.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: The accessed Greek explicitly has a name and no negative, contrary to Hebrew no name. Its phrase on the outer face is awkward and provisionally geographical; the positive assertion is preserved.
Verse 18:18 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:18 They thrust him from light into darkness
and drive him from the inhabited world.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:18 May he thrust him from light into darkness.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek has an unexpressed singular acting subject and omits the second Hebrew expulsion clause. Lowercase he leaves the agent unidentified.
Verse 18:19 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:19 He has no offspring or descendant among his people,
and no survivor where he dwells.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:19 He will not be recognized among his people,
nor will his house be preserved beneath heaven,
but others will live in what was his.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek lack of recognition, lost house and others occupying possessions differ from the Hebrew ending of the family line.
Verse 18:20 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:20 Those who come after are appalled at his day,
and those who came before are seized by shuddering.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:20 Those who came last groaned over him,
and astonishment seized those who came first.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The temporal reading of Hebrew later and earlier is provisional; west and east are possible directional senses. Greek first and last, groaning and wonder are retained.
Verse 18:21 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:21 Surely these are the dwellings of the unjust,
and this is the place of one who does not know God.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:21 These are the houses of the unjust,
and this is the place of those who do not know the Lord.”
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both conclude Bildad’s portrayal of the unjust person’s dwelling.