32:6 So Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite spoke up: 5
“I am young, 6 but you are elderly;
that is why I was fearful, 7
and afraid to explain 8 to you what I know.
32:7 I said to myself, ‘Age 9 should speak, 10
and length of years 11 should make wisdom known.’
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 The first clause beginning with a vav (ו) consecutive and the preterite can be subordinated to the next similar verb as a temporal clause.
4 tn Heb “that there was no reply in the mouth of the three men.”
5 tn Heb “answered and said.”
6 tn The text has “small in days.”
7 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).
8 tn The Piel infinitive with the preposition (מֵחַוֹּת, mekhavvot) means “from explaining.” The phrase is the complement: “explain” what Elihu feared.
9 tn Heb “days.”
10 tn The imperfect here is to be classified as an obligatory imperfect.
11 tn Heb “abundance of years.”