Job 32
What Happens in This Chapter
Job's three friends stop arguing with him, because Job is sure he is in the right. A younger man named Elihu, who has been listening the whole time, becomes angry, at Job for defending himself instead of God, and at the three friends for condemning Job without answering his arguments. Elihu explains that he held back because of his youth, but says understanding comes from God's breath in a person, not from age alone. He announces that he is bursting to speak, and promises to show no favoritism and use no flattery.
So these three men stopped answering Job, because Job was sure he was in the right.
1So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.
The three men are Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, who have argued with Job since chapter 4. Their speeches have just run out, and this verse closes that long debate. "Righteous in his own eyes" is a Hebrew idiom for being convinced of one's own innocence, not for being vain.
2Then Elihu grew angry. He was the son of Barachel the Buzite, from the family of Ram. He was angry at Job, because Job defended himself instead of defending God.
2Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God.
Elihu has not been mentioned before this point in the book, and he is never mentioned again after his speeches end in chapter 37. A "Buzite" is a member of the people of Buz, a tribal group associated with the Aramean territory east of Israel; Ram is an otherwise unknown family name. Giving a man's father, tribe and clan is the standard way of identifying a stranger in Hebrew narrative. "Kindled" is the ordinary Hebrew image for anger: it pictures a fire catching.
3He was also angry at Job's three friends, because they had not found any real answer to Job, and yet they had declared him guilty.
3Also against his three friends was his wrath kindled, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.
The Hebrew text as it has come down to us reads that the friends "condemned Job," and that is what the rendering follows. Ancient Jewish scribal tradition, however, lists this line among a small number of places where the wording was deliberately softened out of reverence, and reports that it once read "and so had condemned God."
4Elihu had waited before speaking to Job, because the other men were older than he was.
4Now Elihu had waited till Job had spoken, because they were elder than he.
In this society age carried the right to speak first, and a younger man was expected to stay silent while his elders argued. Elihu's long wait, and the apology he makes for finally breaking in, both follow that convention rather than personal shyness.
5But when Elihu saw that these three men had nothing more to say, he grew angry.
5When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, then his wrath was kindled.
6So Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite spoke up and said: I am young, and you are much older. That is why I held back and was afraid to tell you what I think.
6And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young, and ye are very old; wherefore I was afraid, and durst not shew you mine opinion.
7I said to myself, Let age do the talking. Let many years of living teach wisdom.
7I said, Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.
8But there is a spirit in a person. The breath of the Almighty is what gives people understanding.
8But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.
"Inspiration" in 1611 English meant literally a breathing-in; the Hebrew word here is simply "breath." The line pairs two words, spirit and breath, that in Hebrew are close in sense and both suggest wind or breathing. "The Almighty" translates the Hebrew title Shaddai, an ancient name for God whose exact meaning is uncertain; it appears far more often in Job than in any other book.
9It is not always the important men who are wise, and the old do not always understand what is right.
9Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment.
The Hebrew word behind "great men" can mean either "the great," that is, men of rank, or "those many in days," that is, the aged. Both readings fit the line, which is why translations differ here. "Judgment" in the King James sense means sound judgment about what is just, not a verdict.
10So I say, Listen to me. I will tell you what I think too.
10Therefore I said, Hearken to me; I also will shew mine opinion.
11Look, I waited while you spoke. I listened carefully to your arguments while you searched for the right words.
11Behold, I waited for your words; I gave ear to your reasons, whilst ye searched out what to say.
12I paid close attention to you. But not one of you proved Job wrong, and not one of you answered what he said.
12Yea, I attended unto you, and, behold, there was none of you that convinced Job, or that answered his words:
13So do not say, We have found wisdom; it is God who will bring him down, not any human being.
13Lest ye should say, We have found out wisdom: God thrusteth him down, not man.
The saying Elihu quotes back at the friends is compressed in Hebrew and can be taken two ways: either as their boast that only God, not any human arguer, is able to knock Job down, or as their shrug that they will leave the refuting of Job to God. The wording keeps both open.
14Job has not aimed his words at me, so I will not answer him with the arguments you used.
14Now he hath not directed his words against me: neither will I answer him with your speeches.
15They are stunned. They have no answer left. Words have failed them.
15They were amazed, they answered no more: they left off speaking.
Elihu switches here from addressing the three friends directly to talking about them in the third person, as though turning aside to other listeners. The shift is in the Hebrew, not introduced by the translation.
16So I waited, since they say nothing, since they just stand there with no answer.
16When I had waited, (for they spake not, but stood still, and answered no more;)
The Hebrew can be read either as a statement, "And I waited, because they did not speak," or as an impatient question, "Am I to go on waiting?" The rendering takes the second; the King James takes the first.
17I will take my turn and answer too. I will tell what I think.
17I said, I will answer also my part, I also will shew mine opinion.
18I have so much to say, and the spirit inside me pushes me to speak.
18For I am full of matter, the spirit within me constraineth me.
19Look, inside I am like wine with no way to let out the pressure. I am ready to split open like a new wineskin.
19Behold, my belly is as wine which hath no vent; it is ready to burst like new bottles.
The "bottles" of the King James are skins, whole hides sewn shut and used as containers. Wine still fermenting gives off gas, and a sealed skin with no vent swells until it splits. A new skin has more stretch left in it than an old one, which makes Elihu's image an extreme one: even a fresh skin is at bursting point.
20I have to speak, so I can get relief. I will open my lips and give my answer.
20I will speak, that I may be refreshed: I will open my lips and answer.
21I will not take anyone's side because of who he is, and I will not flatter any man.
21Let me not, I pray you, accept any man’s person, neither let me give flattering titles unto man.
"Accept any man's person" translates a Hebrew idiom, "lift up the face," which belongs to the language of the law court and means to favor one party because of who he is. "Flattering titles" refers to piling honorific names on a man to win his goodwill.
22I do not even know how to flatter. If I did, my Maker would quickly take me away.
22For I know not to give flattering titles; in so doing my maker would soon take me away.
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