32:8 But it is a spirit in people,
the breath 1 of the Almighty,
that makes them understand.
32:9 It is not the aged 2 who are wise,
nor old men who understand what is right.
1 tn This is the word נְשָׁמָה (nÿshamah, “breath”); according to Gen 2:7 it was breathed into Adam to make him a living person (“soul”). With that divine impartation came this spiritual understanding. Some commentators identify the רוּחַ (ruakh) in the first line as the Spirit of God; this “breath” would then be the human spirit. Whether Elihu knew that much, however, is hard to prove.
2 tn The MT has “the great” or “the many,” meaning great in years according to the parallelism.