I reached a milestone today. I have completed the last chapter of my translation of the Book of Job.

I am also scheduled to complete the last chapter of my commentary on the Westminster Confession of Faith, composed during my weekly Zoom discussions of each successive section, begun during the 2020-2021 coronavirus pandemic lockdown.

I never thought that I would compose a commentary on the Book of Job but it developed when studying Job after family worships since 2005. As I saw the importance of its message, I began my definitive production on 25 Nov 2007. I decided to make a paraphrase of each chapter as an introduction to the fuller publication. I worked at it ‘on and off’ in the intervening years as I found time and opportunity between my other writing and my commentary on the other 65 Books of the Bible.

With time my paraphrase developed into what I call a preacher’s narrative.

A preacher’s narrative

What is a preacher’s narrative? Every good preacher should explain Scripture to his hearers and explain it in context. A preacher should develop his own narrative to explain the context of his sermon, but the Book of Job is difficult. Hence I have prepared a preacher’s narrative of each chapter so that any particular portion of Job can be preached in context.

A preacher’s narrative is not a translation but a paraphrase. Nevertheless my preacher’s narrative is very accurate, correcting common mistakes, and conveys the sense of the Bible, just as a good preacher will do when explaining Scripture. Every translation of the Bible does so to a greater or lesser extent and it is a help to any preacher to have an accurate narrative that “gives the sense” Neh 8:8.

My project took a long time because the Book of Job is very difficult Hebrew and the most difficult Hebrew in the Bible. There are two facets to this – in the first place it is poetry and secondly it is a translation into Hebrew of a narrative originally composed in a far-eastern language where Job lived as a successful and wealthy oil magnate and respected local councillor in his city.

Poetry is difficult to interpret at the best of times, even in one’s own language. The Hebrew poetry in Job uses very succinct phrases, sometimes only three words expressing a thought, which needs careful interpretation.

My project became so large that I decided to break it down into several parts. The first part, which has caused the delay, is my preacher’s narrative. I have decided to publish this section separately as daily readings.

Daily readings

There are 42 chapters in the Book of Job, which can be read over 42 days as daily readings. I hope to supplement each page of narrative with significant commentary on the opposite page. My personal commentary on Job is over 1000 A4-pages so I will need to be very selective.

There are many daily-readings books available, such as Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s excellent Morning & Evening, but these are often commentaries on particular texts. My daily readings opens up the narrative of each chapter of the Book of Job. It is a priority to publish it, but there are many demands on my time.

One final thought for today’s blogpost. Today is also a significant day for one of my family members – so Happy Birthday and much love to Rachel.

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