32:6 So Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite spoke up: 3
“I am young, 4 but you are elderly;
that is why I was fearful, 5
and afraid to explain 6 to you what I know.
1 tc This reading requires repointing the word בִּדְבָרִים (bidbarim, “with words”) to בְּדָבְּרָם (bÿdabbÿram, “while they spoke [with Job]”). If the MT is retained, it would mean “he waited for Job with words,” which while understandable is awkward.
2 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the other friends) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3 tn Heb “answered and said.”
4 tn The text has “small in days.”
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).
6 tn The Piel infinitive with the preposition (מֵחַוֹּת, mekhavvot) means “from explaining.” The phrase is the complement: “explain” what Elihu feared.