Job 34:2-9

2 “Listen to my words, you wise men;
hear
Heb “give ear to me.”
me, you learned men.
The Hebrew word means “the men who know,” and without a complement it means “to possess knowledge.”

3 For the ear assesses
Or “examines; tests; tries; discerns.”
words
as the mouth
Or “palate”; the Hebrew term refers to the tongue or to the mouth in general.
tastes food.
4 Let us evaluate
Elihu means “choose after careful examination.”
for ourselves what is right;
The word is מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) again, with the sense of what is right or just.

let us come to know among ourselves what is good.
5 For Job says, ‘I am innocent,
Heb “righteous,” but in this context it means to be innocent or in the right.

but God turns away my right.
6 Concerning my right, should I lie?
The verb is the Piel imperfect of כָּזַב (kazav), meaning “to lie.” It could be a question: “Should I lie [against my right?] – when I am innocent. If it is repointed to the Pual, then it can be “I am made to lie,” or “I am deceived.” Taking it as a question makes good sense here, and so emendations are unnecessary.

My wound
The Hebrew text has only “my arrow.” Some commentators emend that word slightly to get “my wound.” But the idea could be derived from “arrows” as well, the wounds caused by the arrows. The arrows are symbolic of God’s affliction.
is incurable,
although I am without transgression.’
Heb “without transgression”; but this is parallel to the first part where the claim is innocence.

7 What man is like Job,
who
Heb “he drinks,” but coming after the question this clause may be subordinated.
drinks derision
The scorn or derision mentioned here is not against Job, but against God. Job scorns God so much, he must love it. So to reflect this idea, Gordis has translated it “blasphemy” (cf. NAB).
like water!
8 He goes about
The perfect verb with the vav (ו) consecutive carries the sequence forward from the last description.
in company
The word חֶבְרַה (khevrah, “company”) is a hapax legomenon. But its meaning is clear enough from the connections to related words and this context as well.
with evildoers,
he goes along
The infinitive construct with the ל (lamed) preposition may continue the clause with the finite verb (see GKC 351 #114.p).
with wicked men.
Heb “men of wickedness”; the genitive is attributive (= “wicked men”).

9 For he says, ‘It does not profit a man
when he makes his delight with God.’
Gordis, however, takes this expression in the sense of “being in favor with God.”

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