5:27 Look, we have investigated this, so it is true.
Hear it, 1 and apply it for your own 2 good.” 3
13:5 If only you would keep completely silent! 4
For you, that would be wisdom. 5
13:6 “Listen now to my argument, 6
and be attentive to my lips’ contentions. 7
33:1 “But now, O Job, listen to my words,
and hear 8 everything I have to say! 9
34:2 “Listen to my words, you wise men;
hear 10 me, you learned men. 11
36:2 “Be patient 12 with me a little longer
and I will instruct you,
for I still have words to speak on God’s behalf. 13
1 tn To make a better parallelism, some commentators have replaced the imperative with another finite verb, “we have found it.”
2 tn The preposition with the suffix (referred to as the ethical dative) strengthens the imperative. An emphatic personal pronoun also precedes the imperative. The resulting force would be something like “and you had better apply it for your own good!”
3 sn With this the speech by Eliphaz comes to a close. His two mistakes with it are: (1) that the tone was too cold and (2) the argument did not fit Job’s case (see further, A. B. Davidson, Job, 42).
4 tn The construction is the imperfect verb in the wish formula preceded by the infinitive that intensifies it. The Hiphil is not directly causative here, but internally – “keep silent.”
5 tn The text literally reads, “and it would be for you for wisdom,” or “that it would become your wisdom.” Job is rather sarcastic here, indicating if they shut up they would prove themselves to be wise (see Prov 17:28).
6 sn Job first will argue with his friends. His cause that he will plead with God begins in v. 13. The same root יָכַח (yakhakh, “argue, plead”) is used here as in v. 3b (see note). Synonymous parallelism between the two halves of this verse supports this translation.
7 tn The Hebrew word רִבוֹת (rivot, “disputes, contentions”) continues the imagery of presenting a legal case. The term is used of legal disputations and litigation. See, also, v. 19a.
8 tn Heb “give ear,” the Hiphil denominative verb from “ear.”
9 tn Heb “hear all my words.”
10 tn Heb “give ear to me.”
11 tn The Hebrew word means “the men who know,” and without a complement it means “to possess knowledge.”
12 tn The verb כָּתַּר (kattar) is the Piel imperative; in Hebrew the word means “to surround” and is related to the noun for crown. But in Syriac it means “to wait.” This section of the book of Job will have a few Aramaic words.
13 tn The Hebrew text simply has “for yet for God words.”