Job 34:4-6

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Job 34:4 sn Elihu means “choose after careful examination.”
2. Job 34:4 tn The word is מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) again, with the sense of what is right or just.
3. Job 34:5 tn Heb “righteous,” but in this context it means to be innocent or in the right.
4. Job 34:6 tn 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.
5. Job 34:6 tn 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.
6. Job 34:6 tn Heb “without transgression,” but this is parallel to the first part where the claim is innocence.