Ayub 4:1

Eliphaz Begins to Speak ¹ 

4:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered: ² 

Ayub 13:2

13:2 What you know, ³  I ⁴  know also;

I am not inferior ⁵  to you!

Ayub 35:5

35:5 Gaze at the heavens and see;

consider the clouds, which are higher than you! ⁶ 

[4:1]  ¹ sn The speech of Eliphaz can be broken down into three main sections. In 4:1-11 he wonders that Job who had comforted so many people in trouble, and who was so pious, should fall into such despair, forgetting the great truth that the righteous never perish under affliction – calamity only destroys the wicked. Then in 4:12–5:7 Eliphaz tries to warn Job about complaining against God because only the ungodly resent the dealings of God and by their impatience bring down his wrath upon them. Finally in 5:8-27 Eliphaz appeals to Job to follow a different course, to seek after God, for God only smites to heal or to correct, to draw people to himself and away from evil. See K. Fullerton, “Double Entendre in the First Speech of Eliphaz,” JBL 49 (1930): 320-74; J. C. L. Gibson, “Eliphaz the Temanite: A Portrait of a Hebrew Philosopher,” SJT 28 (1975): 259-72; and J. Lust, “A Stormy Vision: Some Remarks on Job 4:12-16,” Bijdr 36 (1975): 308-11.

[4:1]  ² tn Heb “answered and said.”

[13:2]  ³ tn Heb “Like your knowledge”; in other words Job is saying that his knowledge is like their knowledge.

[13:2]  ⁴ tn The pronoun makes the subject emphatic and stresses the contrast: “I know – I also.”

[13:2]  ⁵ tn The verb “fall” is used here as it was in Job 4:13 to express becoming lower than someone, i.e., inferior.

[35:5]  ⁶ tn The preposition is taken here as a comparative min (מִן). The line could also read “that are high above you.” This idea has appeared in the speech of Eliphaz (22:12), Zophar (11:7ff.), and even Job (9:8ff.).