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Journey of a Passage

Job 32:1–5

Elihu enters

The prose introduction of Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite is stable in the versions, except that the library's Greek adds that he was "of the land of Ausis," Job's own country. He appears nowhere else in the book.

Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. Original JobPoem often dated 6th–4th century BC (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Job
Aramaic
    Greek and its daughters
    1. Greek Job, filled-out text (library: Giguet's French)Printed Septuagint; translated 1872Translated from the Greek text as filled out after Origen
    Latin
    1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 390s, from HebrewTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day
    English
    1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    Every witness, in order

    1. Poem often dated 6th–4th century BC (debated)

      Original Job

      – No copy survives

      No original survives. Small Hebrew fragments of Job are known from Qumran (2Q15, 4Q99–101).

    2. c. AD 390s, from Hebrew

      Jerome's Vulgate

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

      Et iratus indignatusque est Eliu filius Barachel Buzites, de cognatione Ram: iratus est autem adversum Job, eo quod justum se esse diceret coram Deo.

    3. AD 1008

      Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

      ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Job

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

      וַיִּ֤חַר אַ֨ף ׀ אֱלִיה֣וּא בֶן־בַּרַכְאֵ֣ל הַבּוּזִי֮ מִמִּשְׁפַּ֢חַ֫ת רָ֥ם בְּ֭אִיּוֹב חָרָ֣ה אַפּ֑וֹ עַֽל־צַדְּק֥וֹ נַ֝פְשׁ֗וֹ מֵאֱלֹהִֽים׃

    4. 1611

      King James Bible

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

      Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God.

    5. Printed Septuagint; translated 1872

      Greek Job, filled-out text (library: Giguet's French)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Greek text as filled out after Origen

      How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

      Et Éliu, fils de Barachiel le Buzite, de la famille de Ram, en la terre d’Ausis, se courrouça, et il entra, contre Job, en une violente colère, parce qu’il s’était présenté comme juste devant le Seigneur.

      Greek via Giguet's French (filled-out printed text); not checked against Ziegler's critical edition.

    What changed, and why

    Elihu's absence from the prologue and epilogue is part of the argument that his speeches were added later; others defend their integration. Qumran Hebrew fragments (4Q99) are reported to include parts of chapters 32–37.

    What the evidence shows

    • Independently documentedElihu is mentioned only in chapters 32–37.

    Sources

      Related lessons

      • Elihu, Son of Barachel →The three friends stop answering, because Job is righteous in his own eyes. A new speaker appears, never mentioned before: Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram. He is angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God, and with the friends for finding no answer yet condemning Job. He waited because he was young, but "there is a spirit in man": age is not wisdom. He is full of words, like new wineskins ready to burst.