Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G Message"He who has given us wisdom that surpasses every creature on earth, and made us wiser than even the birds of the heavens—"
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.G"He who teaches us beyond the beasts of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the skies—"
KJV
King James VersionWho teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?
BSB
Berean Standard Biblewho teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?’
Footnotes
The verb *מַלְּפֵנוּ* (mallepenu, 'He teaches us') is a Piel intensive form, suggesting active, ongoing instruction rather than a one-time gift. The comparison with animals evokes the ancient wisdom tradition in which creation itself is a moral teacher (cf. Proverbs 6:6, 'Go to the ant'). Elihu's implied argument: if God has dignified humanity with wisdom surpassing all creatures, then the failure to seek God in distress is all the more culpable—a wilful abdication of what makes us human. FOG renders this as a subordinate relative clause flowing from v.10, preserving the syntactic sweep; FOG Message treats it as its own declaration to give it independent rhetorical weight.