Celestial Debate (2)

Though He slay me, I will hope in Him.  Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him.  Job 13:15  NASB

I will hope – You’ll recall that a few months ago we looked at the rather famous verse and noticed that there was a difference between the written text and the way the text is read.  I highlighted the critical word below.  Now think about the amazing difference in translation between these two.

הֵ֣ן יִ֖קְטְלֵנִי ל֣וֹ (כתיב לֹ֣א) אֲיַחֵ֑ל אַךְ־דְּ֜רָכַ֗י אֶל־פָּנָ֥יו אוֹכִֽיחַ

The NASB (above) translates the verse according to the read version.  So does Chabad.

“Behold, let Him kill me, I will hope for Him; but I will prove my ways to His face.”  Chabad

This is the typical rendering of the text, indicating that Job’s faith is so great that even if God should kill him, he will continue to hope in God.  But the written text says something else.  In order to see the radical difference, we need to understand the umbrella of the first word, hēn.

הֵן (hēn) behold, if, lo, though

An interjection demanding attention, “look!” “see!” and sometimes in context, “if.” It is used one hundred times. It is, at least in some uses, a short form of hinnēh (q.v.). It or hinnēh or both are in Ugaritic reflected in the hn of similar meaning.

hēn is mainly used to emphasize the information which follows it. ^[1]

 Apply this to our verse.  Does Job say, “If you kill me,” or “though you kill me,” or “behold, you’re killing me”?  Keep this in mind when we investigate the qere/ketiv.  Now look at the change in the word.  First, literally (a change in syntax):  “[If, though, behold] killing me to him I hope”—the oral reading.  But the written is: ““[If, though, behold] killing me not I am hoping.”

Did you see the shift?  As read, the verse asserts Job’s unwavering faith but as written it says that if he is dead, he will not hope.  How are we to understand this?  The oral text is straightforward and uplifting.  But the text isn’t written that way.  The written text says that if God kills Job he will no longer hope.  The written text can be understood like this: “If God kills me, I will be dead and hope will no longer be possible.”  The dead don’t hope in God!  The sense of the sentence has completely changed.  Job is saying that his life is horrible, and if God decides to end it, any hope he has had will end with his death.  He then goes on the say, as long as he is alive, he will bring his debate before God but if he dies, the debate is over—and so is his pain.  It all depends on how we read and speak the text.

The audible text is often used to express Job’s great faith.  But the written text removes hope when the subject dies.  Too often our focus on the oral text leads us to assume an afterlife.  The usual rabbinic interpretation is that Job anticipates reward in the next world even if he has to suffer in this one.  Christian exegesis follows suit.  Compare this with the statements in Isaiah 12:1-3.  But the written text doesn’t suggest an afterlife.  It says that death ends it all—it ends Job’s suffering and it ends Job’s hope.  The temporal perspective of the written text is all in this realm.  Is it any wonder that the oral tradition altered this?  Unfortunately, no one told you.

Topical Index: qere/ketiv, hope, death, afterlife, Job 13:15

^[1] Weber, C. P. (1999). 510 הֵן. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 220). Moody Press.