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.
34:29 But if God 7 is quiet, who can condemn 8 him?
If he hides his face, then who can see him?
Yet 9 he is over the individual and the nation alike, 10
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.
7 tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
8 tn The verb in this position is somewhat difficult, although it does make good sense in the sentence – it is just not what the parallelism would suggest. So several emendations have been put forward, for which see the commentaries.
9 tn The line simply reads “and over a nation and over a man together.” But it must be the qualification for the points being made in the previous lines, namely, that even if God hides himself so no one can see, yet he is still watching over them all (see H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 222).
10 tn The word translated “alike” (Heb “together”) has bothered some interpreters. In the reading taken here it is acceptable. But others have emended it to gain a verb, such as “he visits” (Beer), “he watches over” (Duhm), “he is compassionate” (Kissane), etc. But it is sufficient to say “he is over.”