Job 32:3-5

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Job 32:3 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Job) has been specified in the translation to indicate whose friends they were.
2. Job 32:3 tn The perfect verb should be given the category of potential perfect here.
3. Job 32:3 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.
4. Job 32:4 tc This reading requires repointing the word בִּדְבָרִים (bid^evarim, “with words”) to בְּדַבְּרָם (b^edabb^eram, “while they spoke [with Job]”). If the MT is retained, it would mean “he waited for Job with words,” which while understandable is awkward.
5. Job 32:4 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the other friends) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6. Job 32:5 tn The first clause beginning with a vav (ו) consecutive and the preterite can be subordinated to the next similar verb as a temporal clause.
7. Job 32:5 tn Heb “that there was no reply in the mouth of the three men.”