Job 13:6

13:6 “Listen now to my argument, ¹ 

and be attentive to my lips’ contentions. ² 

Job 16:5

16:5 But ³  I would strengthen ⁴  you with my words; ⁵ 

comfort from my lips would bring ⁶  you relief.

Job 32:20

32:20 I will speak, ⁷  so that I may find relief;

I will open my lips, so that I may answer.

[13:6]  ¹ 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.

[13:6]  ² 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.

[16:5]  ³ tn “But” has been added in the translation to strengthen the contrast.

[16:5]  ⁴ tn The Piel of אָמַץ (’amats) means “to strengthen, fortify.”

[16:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “my mouth.”

[16:5]  ⁶ tn The verb יַחְשֹׂךְ (yakhsokh) means “to restrain; to withhold.” There is no object, so many make it first person subject, “I will not restrain.” The LXX and the Syriac have a different person – “I would not restrain.” G. R. Driver, arguing that the verb is intransitive here, made it “the solace of my lips would not [added] be withheld” (see JTS 34 [1933]: 380). D. J. A. Clines says that what is definitive is the use of the verb in the next line, where it clearly means “soothed, assuaged.”

[32:20]  ⁵ tn The cohortative expresses Elihu’s resolve to speak.