Job 32:2-3
Context32:2 Then Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became very angry. 1 He was angry 2 with Job for justifying 3 himself rather than God. 4 32:3 With Job’s 5 three friends he was also angry, because they could not find 6 an answer, and so declared Job guilty. 7
Job 32:5
Context32:5 But when Elihu saw 8 that the three men had no further reply, 9 he became very angry.
[32:2] 1 tn The verse begins with וַיִּחַר אַף (vayyikhar ’af, “and the anger became hot”), meaning Elihu became very angry.
[32:2] 2 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.”
[32:2] 3 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.
[32:2] 4 tc The LXX and Latin versions soften the expression slightly by saying “before God.”
[32:3] 5 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Job) has been specified in the translation to indicate whose friends they were.
[32:3] 6 tn The perfect verb should be given the category of potential perfect here.
[32:3] 7 tc This is one of the eighteen “corrections of the scribes” (tiqqune sopherim); it originally read, “and they declared God [in the wrong].” The thought was that in abandoning the debate they had conceded Job’s point.
[32:5] 8 tn The first clause beginning with a vav (ו) consecutive and the preterite can be subordinated to the next similar verb as a temporal clause.
[32:5] 9 tn Heb “that there was no reply in the mouth of the three men.”