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Elihu Rejects Job’s Plea of Innocence

“Indeed, you have said in my hearing[a]
(I heard the sound of the words!):
[b] ‘I am pure, without transgression;
I am clean[c] and have no iniquity.
10 [d] Yet God[e] finds occasions[f] with me;
he regards me as his enemy.
11 [g] He puts my feet in shackles;
he watches closely all my paths.’
12 Now in this, you are not right—I answer you,[h]
for God is greater than a human being.[i]

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Footnotes

  1. Job 33:8 tn Heb “in my ears.”
  2. Job 33:9 sn See Job 9:21; 10:7; 23:7; 27:4; ch. 31.
  3. Job 33:9 tn The word is a hapax legomenon; חַף (khaf) is from חָפַף (khafaf). It is used in New Hebrew in expressions like “to wash” the head. Cognates in Syriac and Akkadian support the meaning “to wash; to clean.”
  4. Job 33:10 sn See Job 10:13ff.; 19:6ff.; 13:24.
  5. Job 33:10 tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  6. Job 33:10 tn The Hebrew means “frustrations” or “oppositions.” The RSV has “displeasure,” NIV “faults,” and NRSV “occasions.” Rashi chose the word found in Judg 14:4—with metathesis—meaning “pretexts” (תֹּאֲנוֹת, toʾanot); this is followed by NAB, NASB.
  7. Job 33:11 sn See Job 13:27.
  8. Job 33:12 tn The meaning of this verb is “this is my answer to you.”
  9. Job 33:12 tc The LXX has “he that is above men is eternal.” Elihu is saying that God is far above Job’s petty problems.