Job 31:34

31:34 because I was terrified ¹  of the great multitude, ² 

and the contempt of families terrified me,

so that I remained silent

and would not go outdoors – ³ 

Job 32:2

32:2 Then Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became very angry. ⁴  He was angry ⁵  with Job for justifying ⁶  himself rather than God. ⁷ 

¹ tn Here too the verb will be the customary imperfect – it explains what he continually did in past time.

² tn Heb “the great multitude.” But some commentators take רַבָּה (rabbah) adverbially: “greatly” (see RSV).

³ sn There is no clear apodosis for all these clauses. Some commentators transfer the verses around to make them fit the constructions. But the better view is that there is no apodosis – that Job broke off here, feeling it was useless to go further. Now he will address God and not men. But in vv. 38-40b he does return to a self-imprecation. However, there is not sufficient reason to start rearranging all the verses.

⁴ tn The verse begins with וַיִּחַר אַף (vayyikhar ’af, “and the anger became hot”), meaning Elihu became very angry.

⁵ tn The second comment about Elihu’s anger comes right before the statement of its cause. Now the perfect verb is used: “he was angry.”

⁶ tn The explanation is the causal clause עַל־צַדְּקוֹ נַפְשׁוֹ (’al-tsaddÿqo nafsho, “because he justified himself”). It is the preposition with the Piel infinitive construct with a suffixed subjective genitive.

⁷ tc The LXX and Latin versions soften the expression slightly by saying “before God.”