Job 35:9-11 New English Translation
9 “People[a] cry out
because of the excess of oppression;[b]
they cry out for help
because of the power[c] of the mighty.[d]
10 But no one says, ‘Where is God, my Creator,
who gives songs in the night,[e]
11 who teaches us[f] more than[g] the wild animals of the earth,
and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?’
Footnotes
- Job 35:9 tn The word “people” is supplied, because the sentence only has the masculine plural verb.
- Job 35:9 tn The final noun is an abstract plural, “oppression.” There is no reason to change it to “oppressors” to fit the early versions. The expression is literally “multitude of oppression.”
- Job 35:9 tn Heb “the arm,” a metaphor for strength or power.
- Job 35:9 tn Or “of the many” (see HALOT 1172 s.v. I רַב 6.a).
- Job 35:10 tn There have been several attempts to emend the line, none of which are particularly helpful or interesting. H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 225) says, “It is a pity to rob Elihu of a poetic line when he creates one.”
- Job 35:11 tn The form in the text, the Piel participle from אָלַף (ʾalaf, “teach”) is written in a contracted form; the full form is מְאַלְּפֵנוּ (meʾallefenu).
- Job 35:11 tn Some would render this “teaches us by the beasts.” But Elihu is stressing the unique privilege humans have.
New English Translation (NET)
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.