Job 6:26

6:26 Do you intend to criticize mere words,

and treat ¹  the words of a despairing man as wind?

Job 32:18

32:18 For I am full of words,

and the spirit within me ²  constrains me. ³ 

Job 8:10

8:10 Will they not ⁴  instruct you and ⁵  speak to you,

and bring forth words ⁶ 

from their understanding? ⁷ 

Job 23:5

23:5 I would know with what words ⁸  he would answer me,

and understand what he would say to me.

Job 32:15

Job’s Friends Failed to Answer ⁹ 

32:15 “They are dismayed ¹⁰  and cannot answer any more;

they have nothing left to say. ¹¹ 

Job 36:2

36:2 “Be patient ¹²  with me a little longer

and I will instruct you,

for I still have words to speak on God’s behalf. ¹³ 

[6:26]  ¹ tn This, in the context, is probably the meaning, although the Hebrew simply has the line after the first half of the verse read: “and as/to wind the words of a despairing man.” The line could be translated “and the words of a despairing man, [which are] as wind.” But this translation follows the same approach as RSV, NIV, and NAB, which take the idiom of the verb (“think, imagine”) with the preposition on “wind” to mean “reckon as wind” – “and treat the words of a despairing man as wind.”

[32:18]  ² tn Heb “the spirit of my belly.”

[32:18]  ³ tn The verb צוּק (tsuq) means “to constrain; to urge; to press.” It is used in Judg 14:17; 16:16 with the sense of wearing someone down with repeated entreaties. Elihu cannot withhold himself any longer.

[8:10]  ³ tn The sentence begins emphatically: “Is it not they.”

[8:10]  ⁴ tn The “and” is not present in the line. The second clause seems to be in apposition to the first, explaining it more thoroughly: “Is it not they [who] will instruct you, [who] will speak to you.”

[8:10]  ⁵ tn The noun may have been left indeterminate for the sake of emphasis (GKC 401-2 §125.c), meaning “important words.”

[8:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “from their heart.”

[23:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “the words he would answer me.”

[32:15]  ⁵ sn Elihu now will give another reason why he will speak – the arguments of these friends failed miserably. But before he gets to his argument, he will first qualify his authority.

[32:15]  ⁶ tn The verb חַתּוּ (khattu) is from חָתַת (khatat) which means “to be terrified.” But here it stresses the resulting dilemma. R. Gordis (Job, 369) renders it, “they are shattered, beaten in an argument.”

[32:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “words have moved away from them,” meaning words are gone from them, they have nothing left to say.

[36:2]  ⁶ tn The verb כָּתַּר (kattar) is the Piel imperative; in Hebrew the word means “to surround” and is related to the noun for crown. But in Syriac it means “to wait.” This section of the book of Job will have a few Aramaic words.

[36:2]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew text simply has “for yet for God words.”