Yea, I attended unto you, and, behold, there was none of you that convinced Job, or that answered his words:
The verse belongs to the instructive discourses of Elihu found in Job 32 to 36. Those speeches of Elihu form the third of the four parts of the book of Job and cover chapters 32 to 37, standing after the debate between Job and his three friends in chapters 4 to 31 and before the speeches of the Lord out of the storm-cloud. In that setting Elihu appears as a younger man who believed his wisdom could correct Job, seeking to convince Job that he is not great and that God is everything. The verse records his claim that he had listened carefully to Job's three friends. It states that there was none of them that convinced Job or that answered his words and arguments, and none proved Job wrong.
It thus marks the failure of their explanations of Job's suffering, since their general claims about evil and punishment were misapplied to Job, who was upright. Bildad's short discourse in chapter 25 was their last effort to convince Job that he was a sinner deserving his condition, yet they neither helped him nor convinced him of his guilt and Job replied in bitterness. Elihu himself followed much the same line as the others and also gave no answer, and even his admirable discourse did not help Job much. Job makes no answer to Elihu, and no comment is given on Elihu's plea. Help came only when the Lord spoke and gave Job a new experience of seeing God.
The verse belongs to the instructive discourses of Elihu found in Job 32 to 36. Those speeches of Elihu form the third of the four parts of the book of Job and cover chapters 32 to 37, standing after the debate between Job and his three friends in chapters 4 to 31 and before the speeches of the Lord out of the storm-cloud. In that setting Elihu appears as a younger man who believed his wisdom could correct Job, seeking to convince Job that he is not great and that God is everything. The verse records his claim that he had listened carefully to Job's three friends. It states that there was none of them that convinced Job or that answered his words and arguments, and none proved Job wrong.
It thus marks the failure of their explanations of Job's suffering, since their general claims about evil and punishment were misapplied to Job, who was upright. Bildad's short discourse in chapter 25 was their last effort to convince Job that he was a sinner deserving his condition, yet they neither helped him nor convinced him of his guilt and Job replied in bitterness. Elihu himself followed much the same line as the others and also gave no answer, and even his admirable discourse did not help Job much. Job makes no answer to Elihu, and no comment is given on Elihu's plea. Help came only when the Lord spoke and gave Job a new experience of seeing God.