Translations
Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight.
If even the moon does not shine, and the stars are not pure in His eyes,
If even the moon itself casts no true radiance, and the very stars are not pure in His sight,
If even the moon does not shine, and the stars are not pure in His sight,
Footnotes
The verb ya'ahil is rare and its root debated; it is likely cognate with ohel (tent, dwelling), yielding the image 'the moon does not spread its light like a tent-canopy'—a rich spatial metaphor. Most translations simply render 'shine' or 'is not bright,' which F.O.G. follows for readability. Zakku (pure/clean, from zakah) is the same purity vocabulary used in v.4—Bildad builds a descending scale: if the luminaries themselves cannot pass the purity test before God, how much less can flesh-and-blood humanity. F.O.G.M.'s 'casts no true radiance' gestures toward the tent-canopy image; 'in His sight' renders be'einav (in His eyes) with slight elevation for liturgical weight.
