Ayub 32:2-3

32:2 Then Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became very angry. ¹  He was angry ²  with Job for justifying ³  himself rather than God. ⁴  32:3 With Job’s ⁵  three friends he was also angry, because they could not find ⁶  an answer, and so declared Job guilty. ⁷ 

Ayub 32:18-20

32:18 For I am full of words,

and the spirit within me ⁸  constrains me. ⁹ 

32:19 Inside I am like wine which has no outlet, ¹⁰ 

like new wineskins ¹¹  ready to burst!

32:20 I will speak, ¹²  so that I may find relief;

I will open my lips, so that I may answer.

[32:2]  ¹ tn The verse begins with וַיִּחַר אַף (vayyikhar ’af, “and the anger became hot”), meaning Elihu became very angry.

[32:2]  ² tn The second comment about Elihu’s anger comes right before the statement of its cause. Now the perfect verb is used: “he was angry.”

[32:2]  ³ tn The explanation is the causal clause עַל־צַדְּקוֹ נַפְשׁוֹ (’al-tsaddÿqo nafsho, “because he justified himself”). It is the preposition with the Piel infinitive construct with a suffixed subjective genitive.

[32:2]  ⁴ tc The LXX and Latin versions soften the expression slightly by saying “before God.”

[32:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Job) has been specified in the translation to indicate whose friends they were.

[32:3]  ⁶ tn The perfect verb should be given the category of potential perfect here.

[32:3]  ⁷ tc 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.

[32:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “the spirit of my belly.”

[32:18]  ⁹ tn The verb צוּק (tsuq) means “to constrain; to urge; to press.” It is used in Judg 14:17; 16:16 with the sense of wearing someone down with repeated entreaties. Elihu cannot withhold himself any longer.

[32:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in my belly I am like wine that is not opened” (a Niphal imperfect), meaning sealed up with no place to escape.

[32:19]  ¹¹ tc The Hebrew text has כְּאֹבוֹת חֲדָשִׁים (kÿ’ovot khadashim), traditionally rendered “like new wineskins.” But only here does the phrase have this meaning. The LXX has “smiths” for “new,” thus “like smith’s bellows.” A. Guillaume connects the word with an Arabic word for a wide vessel for wine shaped like a cup (“Archaeological and philological note on Job 32:19,” PEQ 93 [1961]: 147-50). Some have been found in archaeological sites. The poor would use skins, the rich would use jars. The key to putting this together is the verb at the end of the line, יִבָּקֵעַ (yibbaqea’, “that are ready to burst”). The point of the statement is that Elihu is bursting to speak, and until now has not had the opening.

[32:20]  ¹² tn The cohortative expresses Elihu’s resolve to speak.