2:6 So the Lord said to Satan, “All right, 1 he is 2 in your power; 3 only preserve 4 his life.”
31:13 “If I have disregarded the right of my male servants
or my female servants
when they disputed 5 with me,
33:12 Now in this, you are not right – I answer you, 6
for God is greater than a human being. 7
34:4 Let us evaluate 8 for ourselves what is right; 9
let us come to know among ourselves what is good.
40:8 Would you indeed annul 10 my justice?
Would you declare me guilty so that you might be right?
1 tn The particle הִנּוֹ (hinno) is literally, “here he is!” God presents Job to Satan, with the restriction on preserving Job’s life.
2 tn The LXX has “I deliver him up to you.”
3 tn Heb “hand.”
4 sn The irony of the passage comes through with this choice of words. The verb שָׁמַר (shamar) means “to keep; to guard; to preserve.” The exceptive clause casts Satan in the role of a savior – he cannot destroy this life but must protect it.
5 tn This construction is an adverbial clause using the temporal preposition, the infinitive from רִיב (riv, “contend”), and the suffix which is the subjective genitive.
6 tn The meaning of this verb is “this is my answer to you.”
7 tc The LXX has “he that is above men is eternal.” Elihu is saying that God is far above Job’s petty problems.
8 sn Elihu means “choose after careful examination.”
9 tn The word is מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) again, with the sense of what is right or just.
10 tn The verb פָּרַר (parar) means “to annul; to break; to frustrate.” It was one thing for Job to claim his own integrity, but it was another matter altogether to nullify God’s righteousness in the process.