But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.

But there is a spirit in man, And the breath of the Almighty giveth them understanding.

Surely a spirit is in man, And the breath of the Mighty One Doth cause them to understand.

But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty gives them understanding.

But truly it is the spirit in man, even the breath of the Ruler of all, which gives them knowledge.

But there is a spirit in man, and the breath of Shaddai gives them understanding.

But I see now that there is only breath in men, and that it is the inspiration of the Almighty that gives understanding.

But there is a spirit in man - This evidently refers to a spirit imparted from above; a spirit from the Almighty. The parallelism seems to require this, for it responds to the phrase "the inspiration of the Almighty" in the other hemistich. The Hebrew expression here also seems to require this interpretation. It is, הוא רוח rûach hû', the Spirit itself; meaning the very Spirit that gives wisdom, or the Spirit of inspiration. He had said, in the previous verse, that it was reasonable to expect to find wisdom among the aged and the experienced. But in this he had been disappointed. He now finds that wisdom is not the attribute of rank or station, but that it is the gift of God, and therefore it may be found in a youth. All true wisdom, is the sentiment, is from above; and where the inspiration of the Almighty is, no matter whether with the aged or the young, there is understanding. Elihu undoubtedly means to say, that though he was much younger than they were, and though, according to the common estimate in which the aged and the young were held, he might be supposed to have much less acquaintance with the subjects under consideration, yet, as all true wisdom came from above, he might be qualified to speak. The word "spirit" here, therefore, refers to the spirit which God gives; and the passage is a proof that it was an early opinion that certain men were under the teachings of divine inspiration. The Chaldee renders it נבואתא רוח, a spirit of prophecy.
And the inspiration of the Almighty - The breathing" of the Almighty - שׁדי נשׁמה neshâmâh Shadday. The idea was, that God breathed this into man, and that this wisdom was the breath of God; compare Genesis 2:7; John 20:22. Septuagint, πνοή pnoē, breath, breathing.

But there is a spirit in man - Mr. Good translates: -
"But surely there is an afflation in mankind,
And the inspiration of the Almighty actuateth them."
Coverdale, thus: -
Every man (no doute) hath a mynde; but it is the inspyracion of the Almightie that geveth understondinge.
I will now offer my own opinion, but first give the original text: רוח היא באנוש ונשמת שדי תבינם ruach hi beenosh venishmath shaddai tebinem. "The spirit itself is in miserable man, and the breath of the Almighty causeth them to understand," How true is it that in God we live, move, and have our being! The spirit itself is in man as the spring or fountain of his animal existence, and by the afflatus of this spirit he becomes capable of understanding and reason, and consequently of discerning Divine truth. The animal and intellectual lives are here stated to be from God; and this appears to be an allusion to man's creation, Genesis 2:7 : "And God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of lives," נשמת חיים nishmath chaiyim, i.e., animal and intellectual, and thus he became a living soul, נפש חיה nephesh chaiyah, a rational animal. When man fell from God, the Spirit of God was grieved, and departed from him; but was restored, as the enlightener and corrector, in virtue of the purposed incarnation and atonement of our Lord Jesus; hence, he is "the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world," John 1:9. That afflatus is therefore still continued to אנוש enosh, man, in his wretched, fallen state; and it is by that Spirit, the רוח אלהים Ruach Elohim, "the Spirit of the merciful or covenant God," that we have any conscience, knowledge of good and evil, judgment in Divine things, and, in a word, capability of being saved. And when, through the light of that Spirit, convincing of sin, righteousness, and judgment, the sinner turns to God through Christ, and finds redemption in his blood, the remission of sins; then it is the office of that same Spirit to give him understanding of the great work that has been done in and for him; "for the Spirit itself (αυτο το Πνευμα, Romans 8:16, the same words in Greek as the Hebrew רוח היא ruach hi of Elihu) beareth witness with his spirit that he is a child of God." It is the same Spirit which sanctifies, the same Spirit that seals, and the same Spirit that lives and works in the believer, guiding him by his counsel till it leads him into glory. In this one saying, independently of the above paraphrase, Elihu spoke more sense and sound doctrine than all Job's friends did in the whole of the controversy.

But [there is] a spirit in man: (f) and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.
(f) It is a special gift of God that man has understanding and comes neither from nature nor by age.

But there is a spirit in man,.... This seems to be a correction of his former sentiment; the consideration of which gave him encouragement, though young, to declare his opinion, since there is a spirit in men, both young and old; and wherever that be, there is an ability to speak and a capacity of teaching wisdom; which is not tied to age; but may he found in young men as well as in old men: some by this understand the rational soul, or spirit, which is immaterial, immortal, is of God, and is in man; and the rather it is thought this is meant, because it is in every man, whereby he has knowledge of many things, natural and divine, and particularly is capable of trying and judging things, of discerning the difference between one thing and another, and of reasoning and discoursing upon them; and this being observed by Elihu, and he being conscious to himself of having such a spirit in him, was emboldened to engage in the debate, though a young man; but if such a spirit is meant, the words may be rendered to such a sense, verily, truly, indeed "there is such a rational spirit in man", which makes him capable of knowing many things, "but the inspiration of the Almighty", &c. (p); it is not owing to the rational powers and faculties of the soul of man, and the use of them, that a man becomes capable of teaching others wisdom; but to his soul or spirit being inspired by the Almighty; and such an one, be he young or old, that God breathes into, and he is under his inspiration, he is the man fit to engage in such work: though I rather think, that in this first clause the spirit of God is meant, and so Jarchi; who is an uncreated, infinite, and eternal Spirit; is of God, and is put into men; for he is not in men naturally, nor in everyone; and where he is, he is given, and there he abides; and it is from him men have their wisdom and knowledge; it is he that makes men know themselves, that searches the deep things of God, and reveals them to men, and that is the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ, and leads into all truth, as it is in him; though rather the spirit in his gifts, than in his spiritual saving grace, is here meant; and so does not point to every good man in common, but to such who are favoured with the gifts of the spirit superior to others; and so the Targum interprets it of the spirit of prophecy; and on whomsoever this rests, whether on young or old, he is fit to teach men wisdom:
and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding; not the soul of man, or breath of God inspired by him, which is the candle of the Lord, searching the inward parts of men; for that leaves him without understanding of things of the greatest importance: rather, as the Targum, the Word of God, the essential Word, the Son of God, who gives an understanding of the best things, 1-John 5:20; but, better, the Spirit of God, by whom the Scriptures were inspired, and who is breathed into men, John 20:22; and is a spirit of understanding to them; for though a man has an understanding of natural things, yet not of things spiritual; to have an understanding of them is the special gift of God, and is in particular the work of the Spirit of God: Elihu now having some reason to believe that he had the Spirit of God, and was under his inspiration, and was favoured with knowledge and understanding by him, is encouraged, though young, to interpose in this dispute between Job and his friends, and declare his opinion on the matter in debate; and which leads him to make an observation somewhat different from his former sentiment, as follows.
(p) So Vatablus, Beza.

Elihu claims inspiration, as a divinely commissioned messenger to Job (Job 33:6, Job 33:23); and that claim is not contradicted in Job 42:4-5. Translate: "But the spirit (which God puts) in man, and the inspiration . . . is that which giveth," &c.; it is not mere "years" which give understanding (Proverbs 2:6; John 20:22).

8 Still the spirit, it is in mortal man,
And the breath of the Almighty, that giveth them understanding.
9 Not the great in years are wise,
And the aged do not understand what is right.
10 Therefore I say: O hearken to me,
I will declare my knowledge, even I.
The originally affirmative and then (like אוּלם) adversative אכן also does not occur elsewhere in the book of Job. In contradiction to biblical psychology, Rosenm. and others take Job 32:8 as antithetical: Certainly there is spirit in man, but . The two halves of the verse are, on the contrary, a synonymous ("the spirit, it is in man, viz., that is and acts") or progressive parallelism) thus according to the accents: "the spirit, even that which is in man, and "). It is the Spirit of God to which man owes his life as a living being, according to Job 33:4; the spirit of man is the principle of life creatively wrought, and indeed breathed into him, by the Spirit of God; so that with regard to the author it can be just as much God's רוּח or נשׁמה, Job 34:14, as in respect of the possessor: man's רוח or נשׁמה. All man's life, his thinking as well as his bodily life, is effected by this inwrought principle of life which he bears within him, and all true understanding, without being confined to any special age of life, comes solely from this divinely originated and divinely living spirit, so far as he acts according to his divine origin and basis of life. רבּים are here (as the opposite of צעירים, Genesis 25:23) grandes = grandaevi (lxx πολυχρόνιοι). לא governs both members of the verse, as Job 3:10; Job 28:17; Job 30:24. Understanding or ability to form a judgment is not limited to old age, but only by our allowing the πνεῦμα to rule in us in its connection with the divine. Elihu begs a favourable hearing for that of which he is conscious. דּע, and the Hebr.-Aramaic הוּה, which likewise belong to his favourite words, recur here.

Spirit - The spirit of God. Giveth - To whom he pleaseth.