Skip to content
mannafest.faith

Job 36:1

in Job 36

And Elihu continued:

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Elihu also proceeded, and said,

KJV

Elihu also proceeded, and said,

This verse in Job 36

Commentary

6 notes on this verse
Elihu also proceeded - Hebrew added - ויסף vayâsaph. Vulgate “addens;” Septuagint, Ηροσθεὶς Eerostheis - “adding, or proceeding.” The Hebrew commentators remark that this word is used because this speech is “added” to the number which it might be supposed he would make. There had been “three” series of speeches, by Job and his friends, and in each one of them Job had spoken three times. Each one of the three friends had also spoken thrice, except Zophar, who failed to reply when it came to his turn.

This site's exposition

And Elihu continued

on Job 36:1-4

Elihu asks a last hearing, since “I get my knowledge from afar”. Gill reads this as Elihu reaching past the friends' arguments for a wider view of providence. Henry reads “one perfect in knowledge is with you” as bold self-assurance that the whirlwind speeches will answer on their own terms.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church2 voices

A commentator

Thomas Aquinas

Commentary on Job · Written before 1274.

proposed

Eliud presented two things in the words of Job again which he wanted to argue: first, the fact that he said he was just and the fact that he accused God of injustice in his judgment, according to the interpretation Eliud had given the words …

A commentator

Gregory the Dialogist

Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXVI · Written before 604.

proposed

Eliu also added, and spake thus; Suffer me a little, and I will shew thee. He had already said much, and hopes that he will be borne with yet a little longer; because, namely, haughty men consider that they suffer a heavy loss, if they confine their skill by speaking within brief limits. For they believe, that they shew themselves to be more learned, the more they have been able to lay open their minds in multiplicity of much speaking.

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Elihu also proceeded, and said. Or "added" (f) what follows to his former discourses; pausing a while to see whether Job would make any reply to what he had already said; but perceiving he had no inclination to do it, and having more upon his mind to deliver, went on with his discourse. (f) ויסף "et addidit", Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius, Mercerus, Michaelis.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Elihu also proceeded - Mr. Heath gives a good summary of this chapter. Elihu goes on to lay before Job the impropriety of his behavior towards God, and desires him to consider how vain it will prove. That God Almighty will never yield the point; that he will administer impartial justice to all men, Job 36:2-6. That the general course of his providence is to favor the righteous: and that though he may sometimes correct them in love, yet if they submit patiently to his fatherly corrections, they shall enjoy all manner of prosperity; but if they be stubborn, and will not submit, they will only draw down greater proofs of his displeasure, Job 36:7-16. He tells him that, had he followed the former course, he had probably, before now, been restored to his former condition; whereas, by persisting in the latter course, he was in a fair way of becoming a signal example of Divine justice, Job 36:17, Job 36:18. He therefore warns him to use the present opportunity, lest God should cut him off while he was in a state of rebellion against him; for with God neither wealth, power, nor any other argument that he could use, would be of any avail, Job 36:18-26. That God was infinitely powerful; there was no resisting him: and infinitely wise, as sufficiently appeared by his works; there was, therefore, no escaping out of his hands. That his purity was so great that the sun, in his presence, was more dim than the smallest ray of light when compared to that grand luminary; that his holiness was manifest by his aversion to iniquity; and his goodness, in supplying the wants of his creatures.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

Then Elihu continued I saw in the reasons of Rabbi Moshe Hadarshan (the preacher), that he delivered three addresses corresponding to Job’s three companions, and this is the fourth one. Therefore it is called an addition.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Job 36:1:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

3 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיֹּ֥סֶףand he added

    vaiyosefH3254 →212 times

  • אֱלִיה֗וּאElihu

    ʾelihu'H453 →11 times

  • וַיֹּאמַֽר׃and he said

    vaiyomarH559 →5305 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

About Job

Job Hears of His Misfortunes, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Job Hears of His Misfortunes, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXVI; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.