I will fetch my knowledge from afar: fetch translates “carry” and means carry to where the speaker is; that is, “I will bring my knowledge.” Fetch … from afar has the sense of “gather from widely different sources” or “bring in great variety,” which Elihu does in the second part of his speech, when he deals with the variety of ways in which God is active in nature. New Jerusalem Bible translates “I shall range far afield for my arguments.” This may also be rendered “I will use great knowledge” or “I will show you how vast my knowledge is.”

And ascribe righteousness to my Maker is a phrase which has the same meaning as “to justify” or “to show someone to be just or fair.” My Maker renders the Hebrew literally and adequately. It is commonly translated “my Creator” by Good News Translation and others. The word translated my Maker is not the usual verbal noun used in this sense, but its meaning as “my Creator” is not in doubt. This line may be translated, for example, “I will prove that my Creator is in the right” or “I will show you that my Maker is fair.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .