Job 26:8

26:8 He locks the waters in his clouds,

and the clouds do not burst with the weight of them.

Job 28:10

28:10 He has cut out channels ¹  through the rocks;

his eyes have spotted ²  every precious thing.

Job 32:19

32:19 Inside I am like wine which has no outlet, ³ 

like new wineskins ⁴  ready to burst!

[28:10]  ¹ tn Or “tunnels.” The word is יְאֹרִים (yÿ’orim), the word for “rivers” and in the singular, the Nile River. Here it refers to tunnels or channels through the rocks.

[28:10]  ² tn Heb “his eye sees.”

[32:19]  ¹ tn Heb “in my belly I am like wine that is not opened” (a Niphal imperfect), meaning sealed up with no place to escape.

[32:19]  ² tc The Hebrew text has כְּאֹבוֹת חֲדָשִׁים (kÿ’ovot khadashim), traditionally rendered “like new wineskins.” But only here does the phrase have this meaning. The LXX has “smiths” for “new,” thus “like smith’s bellows.” A. Guillaume connects the word with an Arabic word for a wide vessel for wine shaped like a cup (“Archaeological and philological note on Job 32:19,” PEQ 93 [1961]: 147-50). Some have been found in archaeological sites. The poor would use skins, the rich would use jars. The key to putting this together is the verb at the end of the line, יִבָּקֵעַ (yibbaqea’, “that are ready to burst”). The point of the statement is that Elihu is bursting to speak, and until now has not had the opening.