Job’s Intercession: Antidote to Divine Folly 459 usually males enjoying a desirable social position. But when foolishness (hlbn) (re) appears in the divine mouth as the description of a potential divine action, translators get fidgety. According to Origen, at first the LXX did not translate the difficult Hebrew phrase hlbn…wynpAµa yk (Job 42,8ba) (7). Later editions of the LXX compensate this lacuna with a text that remains shorter than the Hebrew. The sensitive expression hlbn µkm[ twç[ ytlbl “lest to do with you folly” is condensed into ajpwvlesa a[n uJma'" “I would have destroyed you”(8), a perfect case of lectio facilior dodging the mention of folly. Most Bible translations transfer the foolishness directly to the friends: “I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly” (NRSV)(9). This praiseworthy device shields the audience from the brunt of a tough verse since the other occurrences of the expression ‘commit a folly’ (hlbn hç[) do not mitigate the gravity of the action YHWH says he was about to do to Job’s friends. Whether it refers to the rape of Dinah (Gen 34,7), premarital sex (Deut 22,21), stealing devoted things (Josh 7,15), gang rape (Judg 19,23; 20,6), sister rape (2 Sam 13,12), or adultery with a neighbour’s wife (Jer 29,23), every case involves outrageous acts. Attributing the folly in question to the friends avoids the suggestion that God may be potentially capable of such acts, but remains a clear case of translation betrayal. Aware of the problem, some exegetes play down foolishness (10), and the narrator has made it easy for readers to brush aside the import of this single occurrence in the Hebrew Scriptures where God is said to be the one doing nebalah since it is only mentioned as a potential (11). Hence, exegetes marvel at the nekonah of Job’s speech but are oblivious to the nebalah of YHWH’s potential deed five words earlier. In a book (7) M. GOREA, Job repensé ou trahi? (Paris 2007) 220; P.J. GENTRY, The Asterisked Materials in the Greek Job (Atlanta 1995) 529. (8) NETS: A New English Translation of the Septuagint, ©2004 by the International Organisation for the Septuagint and Cognate studies Inc. Used by permission of Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. (9) R. GORDIS, The Book of Job (New York 1978) 495: “to exhibit you as µylbn senseless, foolish ie to expose you to disgrace”. (10) D.J. O’CONNOR, “The Cunning Hand”, ITQ 57 (1991) 21 and M. POPE, Job (AB 15; New York 1965) 288: “Let my servant Job intercede for you; because I will accept him so that I deal not rashly with you”. N.C. HABEL, The Book of Job (London 1985) 575: “I will show favour and not shame you”. N.H. TUR-SINAI, The Book of Job (Jerusalem 1957) 580 rejects the emendation of hlbn into hlk but renders µ[ hlbn hç[ as “to do ill to”. (11) S.E. BALENTINE, Job (Macon, GA 2006) 713.