Add parallel Print Page Options

Then Elihu the son of Barakel the Buzite spoke up[a] and said,

I am young,[b] but[c] you[d] are old;
therefore I feared and became afraid of explaining my knowledge to you.[e]
I thought,[f] ‘Let days[g] speak,
and let many years teach wisdom.’
“Truly, it is a spirit in a human being,
and the breath of Shaddai teaches them.
It is not the aged[h] who are wise,
or[i] it is not the elders who understand justice.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Job 32:6 Literally “answered”; see NET
  2. Job 32:6 Literally “Young I am as far as days”
  3. Job 32:6 Or “and”
  4. Job 32:6 Plural
  5. Job 32:6 Plural
  6. Job 32:7 Or “said”
  7. Job 32:7 Compare the idiom of “as far as days” in vv. 4 and 6
  8. Job 32:9 Literally “many in days
  9. Job 32:9 Hebrew “and”

Elihu’s justification for speaking

Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite said:
I’m young and you’re old,
    so I held back, afraid to express my opinion to you.
I thought, Let days speak;
    let multiple years make wisdom known.
But the spirit in a person,
    the Almighty’s breath, gives understanding.
The advanced in days aren’t wise;
    the old don’t understand what’s right.

Read full chapter