Job 33:1-22

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 

33:3 My words come from the uprightness of my heart, ⁵ 

and my lips will utter knowledge sincerely. ⁶ 

33:4 The Spirit of God has made me,

and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. ⁷ 

33:5 Reply to me, if you can;

set your arguments ⁸  in order before me

and take your stand!

33:6 Look, I am just like you in relation to God;

I too have been molded ⁹  from clay.

33:7 Therefore no fear of me should terrify you,

nor should my pressure ¹⁰  be heavy on you. ¹¹ 

Elihu Rejects Job’s Plea of Innocence

33:8 “Indeed, you have said in my hearing ¹² 

(I heard the sound of the words!):

33:9 ¹³ ‘I am pure, without transgression;

I am clean ¹⁴  and have no iniquity.

33:10 ¹⁵ Yet God ¹⁶  finds occasions ¹⁷  with me;

he regards me as his enemy!

33:11 ¹⁸ He puts my feet in shackles;

he watches closely all my paths.’

33:12 Now in this, you are not right – I answer you, ¹⁹ 

for God is greater than a human being. ²⁰ 

33:13 Why do you contend against him,

that he does not answer all a person’s ²¹  words?

Elihu Disagrees With Job’s View of God

33:14 “For God speaks, the first time in one way,

the second time in another,

though a person does not perceive ²²  it.

33:15 In a dream, a night vision,

when deep sleep falls on people

as they sleep in their beds.

33:16 Then he gives a revelation ²³  to people,

and terrifies them with warnings, ²⁴ 

33:17 to turn a person from his sin, ²⁵ 

and to cover a person’s pride. ²⁶ 

33:18 He spares a person’s life from corruption, ²⁷ 

his very life from crossing over ²⁸  the river.

33:19 Or a person is chastened ²⁹  by pain on his bed,

and with the continual strife of his bones, ³⁰ 

33:20 so that his life loathes food,

and his soul rejects appetizing fare. ³¹ 

33:21 His flesh wastes away from sight,

and his bones, which were not seen,

are easily visible. ³² 

33:22 He ³³  draws near to the place of corruption,

and his life to the messengers of death. ³⁴ 

[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.

[33:3]  ⁵ tc This expression is unusual; R. Gordis (Job, 371) says it can be translated, “the purity of my heart [is reflected] in my words,” but that is far-fetched and awkward. So there have been suggestions for emending יֹשֶׁר (yosher, “uprightness”). Kissane’s makes the most sense if a change is desired: “shall reveal” (an Arabic sense of yasher), although Holscher interpreted “shall affirm” (yasher, with a Syriac sense). Dhorme has “my heart will repeat” (יָשׁוּר, yashur), but this is doubtful. If Kissane’s view is taken, it would say, “my heart will reveal my words.” Some commentators would join “and knowledge” to this colon, and read “words of knowledge” – but that requires even more emendations.

[33:3]  ⁶ tn More literally, “and the knowledge of my lips they will speak purely.”

[33:4]  ⁷ tc Some commentators want to put this verse after v. 6, while others omit the verse entirely. Elihu is claiming here that he is inspired by God.

[33:5]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew text does not contain the term “arguments,” but this verb has been used already for preparing or arranging a defense.

[33:6]  ⁹ tn The verb means “nipped off,” as a potter breaks off a piece of clay when molding a vessel.

[33:7]  ¹⁰ tc The noun means “my pressure; my burden” in the light of the verb אָכֲף (’akhaf, “to press on; to grip tightly”). In the parallel passages the text used “hand” and “rod” in the hand to terrify. The LXX has “hand” here for this word. But simply changing it to “hand” is ruled out because the verb is masculine.

[33:7]  ¹¹ tn See Job 9:34 and 13:21.

[33:8]  ¹² tn Heb “in my ears.”

[33:9]  ¹³ sn See Job 9:21; 10:7; 23:7; 27:4; ch. 31.

[33:9]  ¹⁴ tn The word is a hapax legomenon; hap is from חָפַף (khafaf). It is used in New Hebrew in expressions like “to wash” the head. Cognates in Syriac and Akkadian support the meaning “to wash; to clean.”

[33:10]  ¹⁵ sn See Job 10:13ff.; 19:6ff.; and 13:24.

[33:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:10]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew means “frustrations” or “oppositions.” The RSV has “displeasure,” NIV “faults,” and NRSV “occasions.” Rashi chose the word found in Judg 14:4 – with metathesis – meaning “pretexts” (תֹּאֲנוֹת, to’anot); this is followed by NAB, NASB.

[33:11]  ¹⁸ sn See Job 13:27.

[33:12]  ¹⁹ tn The meaning of this verb is “this is my answer to you.”

[33:12]  ²⁰ tc The LXX has “he that is above men is eternal.” Elihu is saying that God is far above Job’s petty problems.

[33:13]  ²¹ tc The MT has “all his words.” This must refer to “man” in the previous verse. But many wish to change it to “my words,” since it would be summarizing Job’s complaint to God.

[33:14]  ²² tn The Syriac and the Vulgate have “and he does not repeat it,” a reading of the text as it is, according to E. Dhorme (Job, 403). But his argument is based on another root with this meaning – a root which does not exist (see L. Dennefeld, RB 48 [1939]: 175). The verse is saying that God does speak to man.

[33:16]  ²³ tn The idiom is “he uncovers the ear of men.” This expression means “inform” in Ruth 4:4; 1 Sam 20:2, etc. But when God is the subject it means “make a revelation” (see 1 Sam 9:15; 2 Sam 7:27).

[33:16]  ²⁴ tc Heb “and seals their bonds.” The form of the present translation, “and terrifies them with warnings,” is derived only by emending the text. Aquila, the Vulgate, Syriac, and Targum Job have “their correction” for “their bond,” which is what the KJV used. But the LXX, Aquila, and the Syriac have “terrifies” for the verb. This involves a change in pointing from יָחְתֹּם (yakhtom) to יְחִתֵּם (yÿkhittem). The LXX has “appearances of fear” instead of “bonds.” The point of the verse seems to be that by terrifying dreams God makes people aware of their ways.

[33:17]  ²⁵ tc The MT simply has מַעֲשֶׂה (ma’aseh, “deed”). The LXX has “from his iniquity” which would have been מֵעַוְלָה (me’avlah). The two letters may have dropped out by haplography. The MT is workable, but would have to mean “[evil] deeds.”

[33:17]  ²⁶ tc Here too the sense of the MT is difficult to recover. Some translations took it to mean that God hides pride from man. Many commentators changed יְכַסֶּה (yÿkhasseh, “covers”) to יְכַסֵּחַ (yÿkhasseakh, “he cuts away”), or יְכַלֶּה (yÿkhalleh, “he puts an end to”). The various emendations are not all that convincing.

[33:18]  ²⁷ tn A number of interpreters and translations take this as “the pit” (see Job 17:14; cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[33:18]  ²⁸ tc Here is another difficult line. The verb normally means “to pass through; to pass over,” and so this word would normally mean “from passing through [or over].” The word שֶׁלַח (shelakh) does at times refer to a weapon, but most commentators look for a parallel with “the pit [or corruption].” One suggestion is שְׁאוֹלָה (shÿ’olah, “to Sheol”), proposed by Duhm. Dhorme thought it was שַׁלַח (shalakh) and referred to the passageway to the underworld (see M. Tsevat, VT 4 [1954]: 43; and Svi Rin, BZ 7 [1963]: 25). See discussion of options in HALOT 1517-18 s.v. IV שֶׁלַח. The idea of crossing the river of death fits the idea of the passage well, although the reading “to perish by the sword” makes sense and was followed by the NIV.

[33:19]  ²⁹ tc The MT has the passive form, and so a subject has to be added: “[a man] is chastened.” The LXX has the active form, indicating “[God] chastens,” but the object “a man” has to be added. It is understandable why the LXX thought this was active, within this sequence of verbs; and that is why it is the inferior reading.

[33:19]  ³⁰ tc The Kethib “the strife of his bones is continual,” whereas the Qere has “the multitude of his bones are firm.” The former is the better reading in this passage. It indicates that the pain is caused by the ongoing strife.

[33:20]  ³¹ tn Heb “food of desire.” The word “rejects” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[33:21]  ³² tc Heb “are laid bare.” This is the Qere reading; the Kethib means “bare height.” Gordis reverses the word order: “his bones are bare [i.e., crushed] so that they cannot be looked upon.” But the sense of that is not clear.

[33:22]  ³³ tn Heb “his soul [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh, “life”] draws near.”

[33:22]  ³⁴ tn The MT uses the Hiphil participle, “to those who cause death.” This seems to be a reference to the belief in demons that brought about death, an idea not mentioned in the Bible itself. Thus many proposals have been made for this expression. Hoffmann and Budde divide the word into לְמוֹ מֵתִּים (lÿmo metim) and simply read “to the dead.” Dhorme adds a couple of letters to get לִמְקוֹם מֵתִּים (limqom metim, “to the place [or abode] of the dead”).