Job 41:28

41:28 Arrows ¹  do not make it flee;

slingstones become like chaff to it.

Job 32:2

32:2 Then Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became very angry. ²  He was angry ³  with Job for justifying ⁴  himself rather than God. ⁵ 

Job 32:6

Elihu Claims Wisdom

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

“I am young, ⁷  but you are elderly;

that is why I was fearful, ⁸ 

and afraid to explain ⁹  to you what I know.

[41:28]  ¹ tn Heb “the son of the bow.”

[32:2]  ² tn The verse begins with וַיִּחַר אַף (vayyikhar ’af, “and the anger became hot”), meaning Elihu became very angry.

[32:2]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tc The LXX and Latin versions soften the expression slightly by saying “before God.”

[32:6]  ³ tn Heb “answered and said.”

[32:6]  ⁴ tn The text has “small in days.”

[32:6]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn The Piel infinitive with the preposition (מֵחַוֹּת, mekhavvot) means “from explaining.” The phrase is the complement: “explain” what Elihu feared.