Job 16:10

Footnotes

1. 26 “People” is supplied; the Hebrew verb is third plural. The colon reads, “they have opened against me with [the preposition is instrumental] their mouth.” The gestures here follow the animal imagery; they reflect destructive opposition and attack (see Ps 22:13 among others).
2. 27 This is an “insult” or a “reproach.”
3. 28 The verb יִתְמַלָּאוּן (yitmalla’un) is taken from מָלֵא (male’), “to be full,” and in this stem, “to pile up; to press together.” The term has a military connotation, such as “to mobilize” (see D. W. Thomas, “ml’w in Jeremiah 4:5: a military term,” 3 [1952]: 47–52). Job sees himself surrounded by enemies who persecute him and mock him.