Job 34:1-9

Elihu’s Second Speech ¹ 

34:1 Elihu answered:

34:2 “Listen to my words, you wise men;

hear ²  me, you learned men. ³ 

34:3 For the ear assesses ⁴  words

as the mouth ⁵  tastes food.

34:4 Let us evaluate ⁶  for ourselves what is right; ⁷ 

let us come to know among ourselves what is good.

34:5 For Job says, ‘I am innocent, ⁸ 

but God turns away my right.

34:6 Concerning my right, should I lie? ⁹ 

My wound ¹⁰  is incurable,

although I am without transgression.’ ¹¹ 

34:7 What man is like Job,

who ¹²  drinks derision ¹³  like water!

34:8 He goes about ¹⁴  in company ¹⁵  with evildoers,

he goes along ¹⁶  with wicked men. ¹⁷ 

34:9 For he says, ‘It does not profit a man

when he makes his delight with God.’ ¹⁸ 

[34:1]  ¹ sn This speech of Elihu focuses on defending God. It can be divided into these sections: Job is irreligious (2-9), God is just (10-15), God is impartial and omniscient (16-30), Job is foolish to rebel (31-37).

[34:2]  ² tn Heb “give ear to me.”

[34:2]  ³ tn The Hebrew word means “the men who know,” and without a complement it means “to possess knowledge.”

[34:3]  ⁴ tn Or “examines; tests; tries; discerns.”

[34:3]  ⁵ tn Or “palate”; the Hebrew term refers to the tongue or to the mouth in general.

[34:4]  ⁶ sn Elihu means “choose after careful examination.”

[34:4]  ⁷ tn The word is מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) again, with the sense of what is right or just.

[34:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “righteous,” but in this context it means to be innocent or in the right.

[34:6]  ⁹ tn The verb is the Piel imperfect of כָּזַב (kazav), meaning “to lie.” It could be a question: “Should I lie [against my right?] – when I am innocent. If it is repointed to the Pual, then it can be “I am made to lie,” or “I am deceived.” Taking it as a question makes good sense here, and so emendations are unnecessary.

[34:6]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text has only “my arrow.” Some commentators emend that word slightly to get “my wound.” But the idea could be derived from “arrows” as well, the wounds caused by the arrows. The arrows are symbolic of God’s affliction.

[34:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “without transgression”; but this is parallel to the first part where the claim is innocence.

[34:7]  ¹² tn Heb “he drinks,” but coming after the question this clause may be subordinated.

[34:7]  ¹³ tn The scorn or derision mentioned here is not against Job, but against God. Job scorns God so much, he must love it. So to reflect this idea, Gordis has translated it “blasphemy” (cf. NAB).

[34:8]  ¹⁴ tn The perfect verb with the vav (ו) consecutive carries the sequence forward from the last description.

[34:8]  ¹⁵ tn The word חֶבְרַה (khevrah, “company”) is a hapax legomenon. But its meaning is clear enough from the connections to related words and this context as well.

[34:8]  ¹⁶ tn The infinitive construct with the ל (lamed) preposition may continue the clause with the finite verb (see GKC 351 §114.p).

[34:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “men of wickedness”; the genitive is attributive (= “wicked men”).

[34:9]  ¹⁸ tn Gordis, however, takes this expression in the sense of “being in favor with God.”