Job 36:3

36:3 With my knowledge I will speak comprehensively, ¹ 

and to my Creator I will ascribe righteousness. ² 

Psalms 51:4

51:4 Against you – you above all ³  – I have sinned;

I have done what is evil in your sight.

So ⁴  you are just when you confront me; ⁵ 

you are right when you condemn me. ⁶ 

Matthew 11:19

11:19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him, ⁷  a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors ⁸  and sinners!’ ⁹  But wisdom is vindicated ¹⁰  by her deeds.” ¹¹ 

[36:3]  ¹ tn Heb “I will carry my knowledge to-from afar.” The expression means that he will give a wide range to knowledge, that he will speak comprehensively.

[36:3]  ² tn This line gives the essence of all of Elihu’s speech – to give or ascribe righteousness to God against the charges of Job. Dhorme translates this “I will justify my Maker,” and that is workable if it carries the meaning of “declaring to be right.”

[51:4]  ³ tn Heb “only you,” as if the psalmist had sinned exclusively against God and no other. Since the Hebrew verb חָטָא (hata’, “to sin”) is used elsewhere of sinful acts against people (see BDB 306 s.v. 2.a) and David (the presumed author) certainly sinned when he murdered Uriah (2 Sam 12:9), it is likely that the psalmist is overstating the case to suggest that the attack on Uriah was ultimately an attack on God himself. To clarify the point of the hyperbole, the translation uses “especially,” rather than the potentially confusing “only.”

[51:4]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew term לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) normally indicates purpose (“in order that”), but here it introduces a logical consequence of the preceding statement. (Taking the clause as indicating purpose here would yield a theologically preposterous idea – the psalmist purposely sinned so that God’s justice might be vindicated!) For other examples of לְמַעַן indicating result, see 2 Kgs 22:17; Jer 27:15; Amos 2:7, as well as IBHS 638-40 §38.3.

[51:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “when you speak.” In this context the psalmist refers to God’s word of condemnation against his sin delivered through Nathan (cf. 2 Sam 12:7-12).

[51:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “when you judge.”

[11:19]  ⁷ tn Grk “Behold a man.”

[11:19]  ⁸ sn See the note on tax collectors in 5:46.

[11:19]  ⁹ sn Neither were they happy with Jesus (the Son of Man), even though he was the opposite of John and associated freely with people like tax collectors and sinners. Either way, God’s messengers were subject to complaint.

[11:19]  ¹⁰ tn Or “shown to be right.”

[11:19]  ¹¹ tc Most witnesses (B² C D L Θ Ë¹ 33 Ï lat) have “children” (τέκνων, teknwn) here instead of “deeds” (ἔργων, ergwn), but since “children” is the reading of the parallel in Luke 7:35, scribes would be motivated to convert the less colorful “deeds” into more animate offspring of wisdom. Further, ἔργων enjoys support from א B* W (˹³) as well as early versional and patristic support.