18 Heb “days.”
19 The imperfect here is to be classified as an obligatory imperfect.
20 Heb “abundance of years.”
21 This is the word נְשָׁמָה (néshamah, “breath”); according to Gen 2:7 it was breathed into Adam to make him a living person (“soul”). With that divine impartation came this spiritual understanding. Some commentators identify the רוּחַ (ruakh) in the first line as the Spirit of God; this “breath” would then be the human spirit. Whether Elihu knew that much, however, is hard to prove.
22 The has “the great” or “the many,” meaning great in years according to the parallelism.

In other versions

I said, ‘Let days speak,

and many years teach wisdom.’

But it is the spirit in man,

the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand.

It is not the old who are wise,

nor the aged who understand what is right.

I thought, ‘Age should speak;

advanced years should teach wisdom.’

But it is the spirit in a person,

the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding.

It is not only the old who are wise,

not only the aged who understand what is right.

I thought that age should speak

and maturity should teach wisdom.

But it is the spirit in a person—

the breath from the Almighty—

that gives anyone understanding.

It is not only the old who are wise

or the elderly who understand how to judge.

I thought, ‘Those who are older should speak,

for wisdom comes with age.’

But there is a spirit within people,

the breath of the Almighty within them,

that makes them intelligent.

Sometimes the elders are not wise.

Sometimes the aged do not understand justice.

I thought, ‘Let days speak,

and let many years teach wisdom.’

“Truly, it is a spirit in a human being,

and the breath of Shaddai teaches them.

It is not the aged who are wise,

or it is not the elders who understand justice.

I said, Days should speak,

And multitude of years should teach wisdom.

But there is a spirit in man:

And the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.

Great men are not always wise:

Neither do the aged understand judgment.

Public Domain