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Job is referred to in both Job 1:8 & 2:3 when the LORD asks [hasatan] a question that is typically translated "Have [you] considered My servant Job?" (Note: Young's literal translation translates this verse as, "hast [thou] set [thy] heart against My servant Job?" I find this translation better fits the context.)

There is a difference in the Hebrew Masoretic text between the reference to "My servant" in these 2 verses that as far as I know every translation fails to account for.

"My servant" in 1:8 reads, "עַל־עַבְדִּ֣י" while in 2:3 it reads, " אֶל־עַבְדִּ֣י." Neither prepositions עַל & אֶל are accounted for in any translation as far as I can tell. Yet they are both there & there is a difference between the 2 verses? Why the difference?

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The text of the two verses reads as follows:

Job 1:8

הֲשַׂ֥מְתָּ לִבְּךָ֖ עַל־עַבְדִּ֣י אִיֹּ֑וב = have you considered upon My servant Job

Job 2:3

הֲשַׂ֣מְתָּ לִבְּךָ֮ אֶל־עַבְדִּ֣י אִיֹּוב֒ = have you considered to My servant Job

It is immediately apparent that the only different between the two texts in the preposition עַל (in 1:8 = upon) vs אֶל (in 2:3 = to, toward, etc). Both serve to mark the grammatical object of the verb "considered". Thus, the difference is of little consequence.

This difference is scarcely translatable. The rest of the question is the same.

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  • Missed the part where since they are both prepositions the conclusion is obvious - the difference is of little consequence. I remember the play "Waiting for Godot." (This reference does not mean I endorse the play. It’s just the 1st thing that came to mind.) My teacher noted that throughout the 1st act a baren tree was part of the scene. In the 2nd act the scene changed & the play instructions directed that there be a leaf(s) on the tree that had been baren before. Such a little thing but my teacher emphatically stated it was very significant. Had more to say but cmts limited. Thx
    – Michael McMiller
    Commented Aug 14 at 21:36
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    There are people who look very closely at every word & consider how the word was used elsewhere in Scripture in an attempt to see if there are any linkages. In this case the 2 different words have different linkages. I was hoping someone might have some insight on the linkages that would explain why 2 different prepositions were used to say the same thing, that is, say the same thing by a quick reading of the text. Regarding "the difference is scarcely translatable," I feel that this is not the same thing as 'not explainable or differentiable'. Hope this 2nd cmt OK.
    – Michael McMiller
    Commented Aug 14 at 21:40

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