Job 32:6-7

Elihu Claims Wisdom

32:6 So Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite spoke up: ¹ 

“I am young, ²  but you are elderly;

that is why I was fearful, ³ 

and afraid to explain ⁴  to you what I know.

32:7 I said to myself, ‘Age ⁵  should speak, ⁶ 

and length of years ⁷  should make wisdom known.’

[32:6]  ¹ tn Heb “answered and said.”

[32:6]  ² tn The text has “small in days.”

[32:6]  ³ tn The verb זָחַלְתִּי (zakhalti) is found only here in the OT, but it is found in a ninth century Aramaic inscription as well as in Biblical Aramaic. It has the meaning “to be timid” (see H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 208).

[32:6]  ⁴ tn The Piel infinitive with the preposition (מֵחַוֹּת, mekhavvot) means “from explaining.” The phrase is the complement: “explain” what Elihu feared.

[32:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “days.”

[32:7]  ⁶ tn The imperfect here is to be classified as an obligatory imperfect.

[32:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “abundance of years.”