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“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?’

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Footnotes

  1. Job 35:9 tn The word “people” is supplied, because the sentence only has the masculine plural verb.
  2. 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.”
  3. Job 35:9 tn Heb “the arm,” a metaphor for strength or power.
  4. Job 35:9 tn Or “of the many” (see HALOT 1172 s.v. I רַב 6.a).
  5. 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.”
  6. 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).
  7. Job 35:11 tn Some would render this “teaches us by the beasts.” But Elihu is stressing the unique privilege humans have.