14:16 “Surely now you count my steps; 2
then you would not mark 3 my sin. 4
33:1 “But now, O Job, listen to my words,
and hear 5 everything I have to say! 6
33:2 See now, I have opened 7 my mouth;
my tongue in my mouth has spoken. 8
1 sn The hope for life after death is supported now by a description of the severity with which God deals with people in this life.
2 tn If v. 16a continues the previous series, the translation here would be “then” (as in RSV). Others take it as a new beginning to express God’s present watch over Job, and interpret the second half of the verse as a question, or emend it to say God does not pass over his sins.
3 sn Compare Ps 130:3-4, which says, “If you should mark iniquity O
4 tn The second colon of the verse can be contrasted with the first, the first being the present reality and the second the hope looked for in the future. This seems to fit the context well without making any changes at all.
5 tn Heb “give ear,” the Hiphil denominative verb from “ear.”
6 tn Heb “hear all my words.”
9 tn The perfect verbs in this verse should be classified as perfects of resolve: “I have decided to open…speak.”
10 sn H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 210) says, “The self-importance of Elihu is boundless, and he is the master of banality.” He adds that whoever wrote these speeches this way clearly intended to expose the character rather than exalt him.