¹ tn Heb “Like your knowledge”; in other words Job is saying that his knowledge is like their knowledge.

² tn The pronoun makes the subject emphatic and stresses the contrast: “I know – I also.”

³ tn The verb “fall” is used here as it was in Job 4:13 to express becoming lower than someone, i.e., inferior.

⁴ sn Elihu now will give another reason why he will speak – the arguments of these friends failed miserably. But before he gets to his argument, he will first qualify his authority.

⁵ tn The verb חַתּוּ (khattu) is from חָתַת (khatat) which means “to be terrified.” But here it stresses the resulting dilemma. R. Gordis (Job, 369) renders it, “they are shattered, beaten in an argument.”

⁶ tn Heb “words have moved away from them,” meaning words are gone from them, they have nothing left to say.

⁷ tn The phrase “you have” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.

⁸ tn Heb “the sound of my words.”

⁹ tn The demonstrative pronoun is used here to emphasize the interrogative pronoun (see GKC 442 §136.c).

¹⁰ sn The referent of “counsel” here is not the debate between Job and the friends, but the purposes of God (see Ps 33:10; Prov 19:21; Isa 19:17). Dhorme translates it “Providence.”

¹¹ tn The word חָבַּר (khabbar) is a hapax legomenon, but the meaning is “to associate” since it is etymologically related to the verb “to join together.” The idea is that fishermen usually work in companies or groups, and then divide up the catch when they come ashore – which involves bargaining.

¹² tn The word כָּרַה (karah) means “to sell.” With the preposition עַל (’al, “upon”) it has the sense “to bargain over something.”

¹³ tn The verb means “to cut up; to divide up” in the sense of selling the dead body (see Exod 21:35). This will be between them and the merchants (כְּנַעֲנִים, kÿna’anim).