Ayub 33:14

Elihu Disagrees With Job’s View of God

33:14 “For God speaks, the first time in one way,

the second time in another,

though a person does not perceive ¹  it.

Ayub 33:2

33:2 See now, I have opened ²  my mouth;

my tongue in my mouth has spoken. ³ 

Kisah Para Rasul 6:10

6:10 Yet ⁴  they were not able to resist ⁵  the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke.

Mazmur 62:11

62:11 God has declared one principle;

two principles I have heard: ⁶ 

God is strong, ⁷ 

[33:14]  ¹ tn The Syriac and the Vulgate have “and he does not repeat it,” a reading of the text as it is, according to E. Dhorme (Job, 403). But his argument is based on another root with this meaning – a root which does not exist (see L. Dennefeld, RB 48 [1939]: 175). The verse is saying that God does speak to man.

[33:2]  ² tn The perfect verbs in this verse should be classified as perfects of resolve: “I have decided to open…speak.”

[33:2]  ³ sn H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 210) says, “The self-importance of Elihu is boundless, and he is the master of banality.” He adds that whoever wrote these speeches this way clearly intended to expose the character rather than exalt him.

[6:10]  ⁴ tn Grk “and.” The context, however, indicates that the conjunction carries an adversative force.

[6:10]  ⁵ sn They were not able to resist. This represents another fulfillment of Luke 12:11-12; 21:15.

[62:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “one God spoke, two which I heard.” This is a numerical saying utilizing the “x” followed by “x + 1” pattern to facilitate poetic parallelism. (See W. M. W. Roth, Numerical Sayings in the Old Testament [VTSup], 55-56.) As is typical in such sayings, a list corresponding to the second number (in this case “two”) follows. Another option is to translate, “God has spoken once, twice [he has spoken] that which I have heard.” The terms אַחַת (’akhat, “one; once”) and שְׁתַּיִם (shÿtayim, “two; twice”) are also juxtaposed in 2 Kgs 6:10 (where they refer to an action that was done more than “once or twice”) and in Job 33:14 (where they refer to God speaking “one way” and then in “another manner”).

[62:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “that strength [belongs] to God.”