29:10 the voices of the nobles fell silent, 1
and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.
6:30 Is there any falsehood 2 on my lips?
Can my mouth 3 not discern evil things? 4
12:11 Does not the ear test words,
as 5 the tongue 6 tastes food? 7
20:13 if he retains it for himself
and does not let it go,
and holds it fast in his mouth, 8
31:30 I 9 have not even permitted my mouth 10 to sin
by asking 11 for his life through a curse –
33:2 See now, I have opened 12 my mouth;
my tongue in my mouth has spoken. 13
34:3 For the ear assesses 14 words
as the mouth 15 tastes food.
1 tn The verb here is “hidden” as well as in v. 8. But this is a strange expression for voices. Several argue that the word was erroneously inserted from 8a and needs to be emended. But the word “hide” can have extended meanings of “withdraw; be quiet; silent” (see Gen 31:27). A. Guillaume relates the Arabic habi’a, “the fire dies out,” applying the idea of “silent” only to v. 10 (it is a form of repetition of words with different senses, called jinas). The point here is that whatever conversation was going on would become silent or hushed to hear what Job had to say.
2 tn The word עַוְלָה (’avlah) is repeated from the last verse. Here the focus is clearly on wickedness or injustice spoken.
3 tn Heb “my palate.” Here “palate” is used not so much for the organ of speech (by metonymy) as of discernment. In other words, what he says indicates what he thinks.
4 tn The final word, הַוּוֹת (havvot) is usually understood as “calamities.” He would be asking if he could not discern his misfortune. But some argue that the word has to be understood in the parallelism to “wickedness” of words (D. J. A. Clines, Job [WBC], 162). Gordis connects it to Mic 7:3 and Ps 5:10 [9] where the meaning “deceit, falsehood” is found. The LXX has “and does not my throat meditate understanding?”
3 tn The ו (vav) introduces the comparison here (see 5:7; 11:12); see GKC 499 §161.a.
4 tn Heb “the palate.”
5 tn The final preposition with its suffix is to be understood as a pleonastic dativus ethicus and not translated (see GKC 439 §135.i).
4 tn Heb “in the middle of his palate.”
5 tn This verse would then be a parenthesis in which he stops to claim his innocence.
6 tn Heb “I have not given my palate.”
7 tn The infinitive construct with the ל (lamed) preposition (“by asking”) serves in an epexegetical capacity here, explaining the verb of the first colon (“permitted…to sin”). To seek a curse on anyone would be a sin.
6 tn The perfect verbs in this verse should be classified as perfects of resolve: “I have decided to open…speak.”
7 sn H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 210) says, “The self-importance of Elihu is boundless, and he is the master of banality.” He adds that whoever wrote these speeches this way clearly intended to expose the character rather than exalt him.
7 tn Or “examines; tests; tries; discerns.”
8 tn Or “palate”; the Hebrew term refers to the tongue or to the mouth in general.