Job 1:22

1:22 In all this Job did not sin, nor did he charge God with moral impropriety. ¹ 

Psalms 39:1

Psalm 39 ² 

For the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of David.

39:1 I decided, ³  “I will watch what I say

and make sure I do not sin with my tongue. ⁴ 

I will put a muzzle over my mouth

while in the presence of an evil man.” ⁵ 

Psalms 59:12

59:12 They speak sinful words. ⁶ 

So let them be trapped by their own pride

and by the curses and lies they speak!

Matthew 12:34-37

12:34 Offspring of vipers! How are you able to say anything good, since you are evil? For the mouth speaks from what fills the heart. 12:35 The good person ⁷  brings good things out of his ⁸  good treasury, ⁹  and the evil person brings evil things out of his evil treasury. 12:36 I ¹⁰  tell you that on the day of judgment, people will give an account for every worthless word they speak. 12:37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

James 3:2

3:2 For we all stumble ¹¹  in many ways. If someone does not stumble ¹²  in what he says, ¹³  he is a perfect individual, ¹⁴  able to control the entire body as well.

¹ tn The last clause is difficult to translate. It simply reads, “and he did not give unseemliness to God.” The word תִּפְלָה (tiflah) means “unsavoriness” or “unseemliness” in a moral sense. The sense is that Job did not charge God with any moral impropriety in his dealings with him. God did nothing worthless or tasteless. The ancient versions saw the word connected with “foolishness” or “stupidity” (תָּפֵל, tafel, “to be tasteless”). It is possible that “folly” would capture some of what Job meant here. See also M. Dahood, “Hebrew-Ugaritic Lexicography XII,” Bib 55 (1974): 381-93.

² sn Psalm 39. The psalmist laments his frailty and mortality as he begs the Lord to take pity on him and remove his disciplinary hand.

³ tn Heb “I said.”

⁴ tn Heb “I will watch my ways, from sinning with my tongue.”

⁵ sn The psalmist wanted to voice a lament to the Lord (see vv. 4-6), but he hesitated to do so in the presence of evil men, for such words might be sinful if they gave the wicked an occasion to insult God. See C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms (ICC), 1:345.

⁶ tn Heb “the sin of their mouth [is] the word of their lips.”

⁷ tn The Greek text reads here ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpos). The term is generic referring to any person.

⁸ tn Grk “the”; the Greek article has been translated here and in the following clause (“his evil treasury”) as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

⁹ sn The treasury here is a metaphorical reference to a person’s heart (cf. BDAG 456 s.v. θησαυρός 1.b and the parallel passage in Luke 6:45).

¹⁰ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

¹¹ tn Or “fail.”

¹² tn Or “fail.”

¹³ tn Grk “in speech.”

¹⁴ tn The word for “man” or “individual” is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” But it sometimes is used generically to mean “anyone,” “a person,” as here (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 2).