16:5 But 1 I would strengthen 2 you with my words; 3
comfort from my lips would bring 4 you relief.
33:32 If you have any words, 5 reply to me;
speak, for I want to justify you. 6
1 tn “But” has been added in the translation to strengthen the contrast.
2 tn The Piel of אָמַץ (’amats) means “to strengthen, fortify.”
3 tn Heb “my mouth.”
4 tn The verb יַחְשֹׂךְ (yakhsokh) means “to restrain; to withhold.” There is no object, so many make it first person subject, “I will not restrain.” The LXX and the Syriac have a different person – “I would not restrain.” G. R. Driver, arguing that the verb is intransitive here, made it “the solace of my lips would not [added] be withheld” (see JTS 34 [1933]: 380). D. J. A. Clines says that what is definitive is the use of the verb in the next line, where it clearly means “soothed, assuaged.”
5 tn Heb “if there are words.”
6 tn The infinitive construct serves as the complement or object of “I desire.” It could be rendered “to justify you” or “your justification, “namely, “that you be justified.”