Job 33:1-2

Elihu Invites Job’s Attention

33:1 “But now, O Job, listen to my words,

and hear ¹  everything I have to say! ² 

33:2 See now, I have opened ³  my mouth;

my tongue in my mouth has spoken. ⁴ 

[33:1]  ¹ tn Heb “give ear,” the Hiphil denominative verb from “ear.”

[33:1]  ² tn Heb “hear all my words.”

[33:2]  ³ tn The perfect verbs in this verse should be classified as perfects of resolve: “I have decided to open…speak.”

[33:2]  ⁴ sn H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 210) says, “The self-importance of Elihu is boundless, and he is the master of banality.” He adds that whoever wrote these speeches this way clearly intended to expose the character rather than exalt him.