Job 16:2

16:2 “I have heard many things like these before.

What miserable comforters ¹  are you all!

Job 8:2

8:2 “How long will you speak these things, ² 

seeing ³  that the words of your mouth

are like a great ⁴  wind? ⁵ 

Job 10:13

10:13 “But these things ⁶  you have concealed in your heart;

I know that this ⁷  is with you: ⁸ 

Job 12:9

12:9 Which of all these ⁹  does not know

that the hand of the Lord ¹⁰  has done ¹¹  this,

Job 18:21

18:21 ‘Surely such is the residence ¹²  of an evil man;

and this is the place of one who has not known God.’” ¹³ 

Job 32:1

V. The Speeches of Elihu (32:1-37:24)

Elihu’s First Speech ¹⁴ 

32:1 So these three men refused to answer ¹⁵  Job further, because he was righteous in his ¹⁶  own eyes.

Job 33:29

Elihu’s Appeal to Job ¹⁷ 

33:29 “Indeed, God does all these things,

twice, three times, in his dealings ¹⁸  with a person,

Job 12:3

12:3 I also have understanding ¹⁹  as well as you;

I am not inferior to you. ²⁰ 

Who does not know such things as these? ²¹ 

Job 26:14

26:14 Indeed, these are but the outer fringes of his ways! ²² 

How faint is the whisper ²³  we hear of him!

But who can understand the thunder of his power?”

Job 42:7

VII. The Epilogue (42:7-17)

42:7 After the Lord had spoken these things to Job, he ²⁴  said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My anger is stirred up ²⁵  against you and your two friends, because you have not spoken about me what is right, ²⁶  as my servant Job has.

¹ tn The expression uses the Piel participle in construct: מְנַחֲמֵי עָמָל (mÿnahame ’amal, “comforters of trouble”), i.e., comforters who increase trouble instead of relieving it. D. W. Thomas translates this “breathers out of trouble” (“A Note on the Hebrew Root naham,” ExpTim 44 [1932/33]: 192).

² sn “These things” refers to all of Job’s speech, the general drift of which seems to Bildad to question the justice of God.

³ tn The second colon of the verse simply says “and a strong wind the words of your mouth.” The simplest way to treat this is to make it an independent nominal sentence: “the words of your mouth are a strong wind.” Some have made it parallel to the first by apposition, understanding “how long” to do double duty. The line beginning with the ו (vav) can also be subordinated as a circumstantial clause, as here.

⁴ tn The word כַּבִּיר (kabbir, “great”) implies both abundance and greatness. Here the word modifies “wind”; the point of the analogy is that Job’s words are full of sound but without solid content.

⁵ tn See, however, G. R. Driver’s translation, “the breath of one who is mighty are the words of your mouth” (“Hebrew Studies,” JRAS 1948: 170).

³ sn “These things” refers to the affliction that God had brought on Job. They were concealed by God from the beginning.

⁴ sn The meaning of the line is that this was God’s purpose all along. “These things” and “this” refer to the details that will now be given in the next few verses.

⁵ sn The contradiction between how God had provided for and cared for Job’s life and how he was now dealing with him could only be resolved by Job with the supposition that God had planned this severe treatment from the first as part of his plan.

⁴ tn This line could also be translated “by all these,” meaning “who is not instructed by nature?” (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 93). But D. J. A. Clines points out that the verses have presented the animals as having knowledge and communicating it, so the former reading would be best (Job [WBC], 279).

⁵ tc Some commentators have trouble with the name “Yahweh” in this verse, which is not the pattern in the poetic section of Job. Three mss of Kennicott and two of de Rossi have “God.” If this is so the reminiscence of Isaiah 41:20 led the copyist to introduce the tetragrammaton. But one could argue equally that the few mss with “God” were the copyists’ attempt to correct the text in accord with usage elsewhere.

⁶ sn The expression “has done this” probably refers to everything that has been discussed, namely, the way that God in his wisdom rules over the world, but specifically it refers to the infliction of suffering in the world.

⁵ tn The term is in the plural, “the tabernacles”; it should be taken as a plural of local extension (see GKC 397 §124.b).

⁶ tn The word “place” is in construct; the clause following it replaces the genitive: “this is the place of – he has not known God.”

⁶ sn There are now four speeches from another friend of Job, Elihu. But Job does not reply to any of these, nor does the Lord. The speeches show a knowledge of the debate that has gone on, but they take a different approach entirely. Elihu’s approach is that suffering is a discipline from God, to teach his people. In other words, Job was suffering to vindicate God’s confidence in him. His speeches are an interesting part of the book, but they too are irrelevant to Job’s actual case. In the first speech, there is a short introduction (32:1-5), and then the speech proper with these sections: Elihu will speak because his youth is wiser (32:6-14), and his friends arguments failed (32:15-22); he calls for Job’s attention (33:1-7), claims Job’s case is wrong (33:8-13), and Job’s argument that God does not answer is false (33:14-28), and then makes an appeal to Job (33:29-33). It becomes evident that Elihu correctly identified Job’s determination to maintain his integrity at God’s expense as the primary problem in at least the latter stages of the dialogues (32:1-3; 34:37; 35:16; cf. 38:2; 40:8; 42:3). Elihu was respectful of his elders (32:4), but remained uninfected by their error (32:14). He sought to maintain impartiality (32:21-22) and to offer true wisdom (33:33), believed like Job that a mediator existed (33:23-24), and desired Job’s vindication (33:32). In addition, Elihu focused on vindicating God’s actions (34:12; 35:10-11; 36:2-3, 22-26) and announced the coming theophany (37:1-5, 22). It appears that he was not included in the divine condemnation of Job’s friends (42:7-9) and was excluded from Job’s prayer of intercession (42:8-10) – both perhaps implying divine approval of his behavior and words.

⁷ tn The form is the infinitive construct (“answer”) functioning as the object of the preposition; the phrase forms the complement of the verb “they ceased to answer” (= “they refused to answer further”).

⁸ tc The LXX, Syriac, and Symmachus have “in their eyes.” This is adopted by some commentators, but it does not fit the argument.

⁷ sn Elihu will repeat these instructions for Job to listen, over and over in painful repetition. See note on the heading to 32:1.

⁸ tn The phrase “in his dealings” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarification.

⁸ tn The word is literally “heart,” meaning a mind or understanding.

⁹ tn Because this line is repeated in 13:2, many commentators delete it from this verse (as does the LXX). The Syriac translates נֹפֵל (nofel) as “little,” and the Vulgate “inferior.” Job is saying that he does not fall behind them in understanding.

¹⁰ tn Heb “With whom are not such things as these?” The point is that everyone knows the things that these friends have been saying – they are commonplace.

⁹ tn Heb “the ends of his ways,” meaning “the fringes.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “how little is the word.” Here “little” means a “fraction” or an “echo.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “the Lord.” The title has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹¹ tn Heb “is kindled.”

¹² tn The form נְכוֹנָה (nÿkhonah) is from כּוּן (kun, “to be firm; to be fixed; to be established”). Here it means “the right thing” or “truth.” The Akkadian word kenu (from כּוּן, kun) connotes justice and truth.