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But it is a spirit in people,
the breath[a] of the Almighty,
that makes them understand.
It is not the aged[b] who are wise,
nor old men who understand what is right.
10 Therefore I say, ‘Listen[c] to me.
I, even I, will explain what I know.’

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Footnotes

  1. Job 32:8 tn This is the word נְשָׁמָה (neshamah, “breath”); according to Gen 2:7 it was breathed into Adam to make him a living person (“soul”). With that divine impartation came this spiritual understanding. Some commentators identify the רוּחַ (ruakh) in the first line as the Spirit of God; this “breath” would then be the human spirit. Whether Elihu knew that much, however, is hard to prove.
  2. Job 32:9 tn The MT has “the great” or “the many,” meaning great in years according to the parallelism.
  3. Job 32:10 tc In most Hebrew mss this imperative is singular, and so addressed to Job. But two Hebrew mss and the versions have the plural. Elihu was probably addressing all of them.