Ayub 12:12

12:12 Is not wisdom found among the aged? ¹ 

Does not long life bring understanding?

Ayub 29:8

29:8 the young men would see me and step aside, ² 

and the old men would get up and remain standing;

Ayub 32:9

32:9 It is not the aged ³  who are wise,

nor old men who understand what is right.

Ayub 15:10

15:10 The gray-haired ⁴  and the aged are on our side, ⁵ 

men far older than your father. ⁶ 

[12:12]  ¹ tn The statement in the Hebrew Bible simply has “among the aged – wisdom.” Since this seems to be more the idea of the friends than of Job, scholars have variously tried to rearrange it. Some have proposed that Job is citing his friends: “With the old men, you say, is wisdom” (Budde, Gray, Hitzig). Others have simply made it a question (Weiser). But others take לֹא (lo’) from the previous verse and make it the negative here, to say, “wisdom is not….” But Job will draw on the wisdom of the aged, only with discernment, for ultimately all wisdom is with God.

[29:8]  ² tn The verb means “to hide; to withdraw.” The young men out of respect would withdraw or yield the place of leadership to Job (thus the translation “step aside”). The old men would rise and remain standing until Job took his seat – a sign of respect.

[32:9]  ³ tn The MT has “the great” or “the many,” meaning great in years according to the parallelism.

[15:10]  ⁴ tn The participle שָׂב (sav), from שִׂיב (siv, “to have white hair”; 1 Sam 12:2), only occurs elsewhere in the Bible in the Aramaic sections of Ezra. The word יָשִׁישׁ (yashish, “aged”) occurred in 12:12.

[15:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “with us.”

[15:10]  ⁶ tn The line reads: “[men] greater than your father [in] days.” The expression “in days” underscores their age – they were older than Job’s father, and therefore wiser.