Job 32:1-3

1 So these three men refused to answer ^{▼▼ The form is the infinitive construct (“answer”) functioning as the object of the preposition; the phrase forms the complement of the verb “they ceased to answer” (= “they refused to answer further”).} Job further, because he was righteous in his ^{▼▼ The LXX, Syriac, and Symmachus have “in their eyes.” This is adopted by some commentators, but it does not fit the argument.} own eyes. 2 Then Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became very angry. ^{▼▼ The verse begins with וַיִּחַר אַף (vayyikhar ’af, “and the anger became hot”), meaning Elihu became very angry.} He was angry ^{▼▼ The second comment about Elihu’s anger comes right before the statement of its cause. Now the perfect verb is used: “he was angry.”} with Job for justifying ^{▼▼ The explanation is the causal clause עַל־צַדְּקוֹ נַפְשׁוֹ (’al-tsadd^eqo nafsho, “because he justified himself”). It is the preposition with the Piel infinitive construct with a suffixed subjective genitive.} himself rather than God. ^{▼▼ The LXX and Latin versions soften the expression slightly by saying “before God.”} 3 With Job’s ^{▼▼ Heb “his”; the referent (Job) has been specified in the translation to indicate whose friends they were.} three friends he was also angry, because they could not find ^{▼▼ The perfect verb should be given the category of potential perfect here.} an answer, and so declared Job guilty. ^{▼▼ This is one of the eighteen “corrections of the scribes” (tiqqune sopherim); it originally read, “and they declared God [in the wrong].” The thought was that in abandoning the debate they had conceded Job’s point.}