^33:1 Hear, therefore, Job, my utterances, and listen to all my words.
^33:2 Behold, I have opened my mouth; let my tongue speak in my throat.
^33:3 My words are from my simple heart, and my lips will speak a pure judgment.
^33:4 The Spirit of God made me, and the breath of the Almighty gave me life.
^33:5 If you can, answer me, and stand against my face.
^33:6 Behold, God has made me as he has you, and I too was formed from the same clay.
^33:7 Yet nevertheless, let my wonder not terrify you, and let my eloquence not be burdensome to you.
^33:8 Therefore you have said in my ears, and I have heard the voice of your words:
^33:9 I am clean, without offense, immaculate, and there is no iniquity in me.
^33:10 Because he has found complaints in me, he has therefore judged me an enemy to himself.
^33:11 He has put my feet in the stocks; he has guarded all my paths.
^33:12a This, therefore, is the matter in which you are not justified.

435. Hear, therefore, Job, my utterances, etc. It was said above that Elihu was indignant against Job and against his friends. After he had spoken against the sloth of Job’s friends, he now begins to speak against Job himself, and therefore first he rouses him to attention, saying: Hear, therefore, Job, my utterances, because, namely, I now intend to answer; and to signify that he will speak each word with weight, he adds: and listen to all my words, as though he would say nothing in vain. And lest Job ask why he had not spoken earlier, he adds: Behold, I have opened my mouth, as though saying: before, while I was silent, I had closed my mouth because of reverence for the elders; now, because they fail, necessity compels me to speak, whence he adds: let my tongue speak in my throat, as though saying: I will not follow the words of others, but I will utter my own conceptions. And because Job in the preceding things had said against his friends that they afflicted and confounded him with words, he therefore excludes this from himself, adding: My words are from my simple heart, as though saying: I do not speak in order to calumniate or to mock, but with a simple spirit, in order to manifest the truth. And because Job had charged the three aforesaid men with being fabricators of lies and cultivators of perverse doctrines, he excludes this from himself, saying: and my lips will speak a pure judgment, that is, without any admixture of falsity or error.

But whence he has received confidence for manifesting the truth, he shows, adding: The Spirit of God made me, and therefore it is no wonder if he moves and perfects his own handiwork; and this is what he adds: and the breath of the Almighty gave me life, namely, moved and perfected me for the works of life, among which the chief is the understanding of truth. And lest he seem to have introduced this as though bringing a prejudice against Job, so that he would not answer one speaking divinely, he adds: If you can, answer me, namely, with respect to those things that I will say against you, and stand against my face, namely, so that you too may object against me if I say anything that does not please you. And lest Job disdain to dispute with him because of his own renowned wisdom and the other’s youth, to exclude this he adds: Behold, God has made me as he has you, and so, on the part of the Maker, each of us can have the same hope of inquiring into truth; but on the part of matter, the same impediment lies beside each of us, whence he adds: and I too was formed from the same clay, from whose coarseness, namely, the light of understanding is darkened. But Elihu saw that it could be answered to him that it would pertain to a miracle if such great wisdom and eloquence were given to a young man that he would suffice to dispute against a most wise old man; and therefore, as though suggesting that he had attained this miraculously, he adds: Yet nevertheless, let my wonder not terrify you, namely, so that you do not dare to answer one who has attained knowledge miraculously, and let my eloquence not be burdensome to you, namely, so that you are stupefied by it.

436. Therefore, with these things set forth as by way of a prologue, he adds those matters in which he intends to reprehend Job, whence he adds: Therefore you have said in my ears, as though saying: you cannot excuse yourself from having said it, and I have heard the voice of your words, namely, through the solicitude of attention.

First, however, in Job’s words he had noted that he had said he was immune from sin; whence he says: I am clean, namely, from the uncleannesses of the flesh, and without offense, namely, the sin of omission, immaculate, namely, from grave sins that are against God, for example idolatry or something of this kind, and there is no iniquity in me, namely, as if I had unjustly harmed my neighbors.

Second, he notes in his words that he had charged God with iniquity of judgment. But iniquity of judgment is usually produced from hatred in the one judging, and with respect to this he recalls that Job said: Because he has found complaints in me, he has therefore judged me an enemy to himself.

Indeed, above in 13:24 Job had said interrogatively: Why do you hide your face and judge me your enemy? But this which is said, he has found complaints in me, is not found to have been said by him, whence this is an addition of Elihu, interpreting Job’s words wrongly.

For the hatred of a judge seems to be just if, having been made certain of someone’s malice, he hates him in order to punish him; but if a judge is provoked to hatred of someone from slight complaints, the hatred will be unjust; and in this way he interpreted what Job had said, that he was regarded as an enemy by God.

Second, it seems to pertain to the iniquity of a judge if he takes away from someone the opportunity for a just defense, and with respect to this he adds: He has put my feet in the stocks, that is, he has shackled me, as though impeding me from my works.

Third, it pertains to iniquity of judgment to gather together even the slightest things for someone’s condemnation, and with respect to this he adds: he has guarded all my paths, as though observing him in each of his works. But Job had not said these things in order to show the iniquity of divine judgment, but as speaking figuratively, as was explained above in chapter 16; whence there also is set forth beforehand: perceive enigmas with your ears. And because this second point excludes the first, he adds: This, therefore, is the matter in which you are not justified, as though saying: you cannot call yourself just, because this very thing pertains to your injustice, that you charge God with injustice.