31:15 Did not the one who made me in the womb make them? 1
Did not the same one form us in the womb?
32:12 Now I was paying you close attention, 2
yet 3 there was no one proving Job wrong, 4
not one of you was answering his statements!
1 tn Heb “him,” but the plural pronoun has been used in the translation to indicate that the referent is the servants mentioned in v. 13 (since the previous “him” in v. 14 refers to God).
2 tn The verb again is from בִּין (bin, “to perceive; to understand”); in this stem it means to “to pay close attention.”
3 tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “behold”) has a deictic force here, calling attention to the thought that is now presented.
4 tn The participle מוֹכִיחַ (mokhiakh) is from the verb יָכַח (yakhakh) that has been used frequently in the book of Job. It means “to argue; to contend; to debate; to prove; to dispute.” The usage of the verb shows that it can focus on the beginning of an argument, the debating itself, or the resolution of the conflict. Here the latter is obviously meant, for they did argue and contend and criticize – but could not prove Job wrong.