7:21 And why do you not pardon my transgression,
and take away my iniquity?
For now I will lie down in the dust, 1
and you will seek me diligently, 2
but I will be gone.”
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 tn The LXX has, “for now I will depart to the earth.”
2 tn The verb שָׁחַר (shakhar) in the Piel has been translated “to seek early in the morning” because of the possible link with the word “dawn.” But the verb more properly means “to seek diligently” (by implication).
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.