12:13 “With God 1 are wisdom and power;
counsel and understanding are his. 2
34:13 Who entrusted 3 to him the earth?
And who put him over 4 the whole world?
55:9 for just as the sky 5 is higher than the earth,
so my deeds 6 are superior to 7 your deeds
and my plans 8 superior to your plans.
1 tn Heb “him”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 sn A. B. Davidson (Job, 91) says, “These attributes of God’s [sic] confound and bring to nought everything bearing the same name among men.”
3 tn The verb פָּקַד (paqad) means “to visit; to appoint; to number.” Here it means “to entrust” for care and governing. The implication would be that there would be someone higher than God – which is what Elihu is repudiating by the rhetorical question. No one entrusted God with this.
4 tn The preposition is implied from the first half of the verse.
5 tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.
6 tn Heb “ways” (so many English versions).
7 tn Heb “are higher than.”
8 tn Or “thoughts” (so many English versions).