Note 58 — Chapter V · THE SPEECHES OF JEHOVAH. (CHAPS. XXXVIII.-XLII. 6.)

Mr. Bateson Wright’s pointing, lá’ereb for la’ōrēbh, is plausible. The raven is an insignificant companion to the lion, and the birds of prey are mentioned at the end of Job’s picture gallery. Render ‘who provides in the evening his food,’ &c.; but in this case should not lābhī in ver. 39 be rendered ‘lion’ rather than ‘lioness’ (note ‘his young ones’)? The root idea is probably voracity. That lābhī in iv. 11 is the feminine is no objection. Comp. Ps. lvii. 5, and perhaps Hos. xiii. 8. Possibly, however, the ‘raven’ was inserted here to make up the number ten, by a reminiscence of Ps. cxlvii. 9.