Ayub 35:10-11

35:10 But no one says, ‘Where is God, my Creator,

who gives songs in the night, ¹ 

35:11 who teaches us ²  more than ³  the wild animals of the earth,

and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?’

Ayub 35:14-16

35:14 How much less, then,

when you say that you do not perceive him,

that the case is before him

and you are waiting for him! ⁴ 

35:15 And further, ⁵  when you say

that his anger does not punish, ⁶ 

and that he does not know transgression! ⁷ 

35:16 So Job opens his mouth to no purpose; ⁸ 

without knowledge he multiplies words.”

[35:10]  ¹ tn There have been several attempts to emend the line, none of which are particularly helpful or interesting. H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 225) says, “It is a pity to rob Elihu of a poetic line when he creates one.”

[35:11]  ² tn The form in the text, the Piel participle from אָלַף (’alaf, “teach”) is written in a contracted form; the full form is מְאַלְּפֵנוּ (mÿ’allÿfenu).

[35:11]  ³ tn Some would render this “teaches us by the beasts.” But Elihu is stressing the unique privilege humans have.

[35:14]  ⁴ sn The point is that if God does not listen to those who do not turn to him, how much less likely is he to turn to one who complains against him.

[35:15]  ⁵ tn The expression “and now” introduces a new complaint of Elihu – in addition to the preceding. Here the verb of v. 14, “you say,” is understood after the temporal ki (כִּי).

[35:15]  ⁶ tn The verb פָקַד (paqad) means “to visit” (also “to appoint; to muster; to number”). When God visits, it means that he intervenes in one’s life for blessing or cursing (punishing, destroying).

[35:15]  ⁷ tn The word פַּשׁ (pash) is a hapax legomenon. K&D 12:275 derived it from an Arabic word meaning “belch,” leading to the idea of “overflow.” BDB 832 s.v. defines it as “folly.” Several define it as “transgression” on the basis of the versions (Theodotion, Symmachus, Vulgate). The RSV took it as “greatly heed,” but that is not exactly “greatly know,” when the text beyond that requires “not know at all.” The NIV has “he does not take the least notice of wickedness.”

[35:16]  ⁸ tn The word הֶבֶל (hevel) means “vanity; futility; to no purpose.”