Job 32:18-20

32:18 For I am full of words,

and the spirit within me ¹  constrains me. ² 

32:19 Inside I am like wine which has no outlet, ³ 

like new wineskins ⁴  ready to burst!

32:20 I will speak, ⁵  so that I may find relief;

I will open my lips, so that I may answer.

Proverbs 16:23

16:23 A wise person’s heart ⁶  makes his speech wise ⁷ 

and it adds persuasiveness ⁸  to his words. ⁹ 

Matthew 12:35

12:35 The good person ¹⁰  brings good things out of his ¹¹  good treasury, ¹²  and the evil person brings evil things out of his evil treasury.

¹ tn Heb “the spirit of my belly.”

² tn The verb צוּק (tsuq) means “to constrain; to urge; to press.” It is used in Judg 14:17; 16:16 with the sense of wearing someone down with repeated entreaties. Elihu cannot withhold himself any longer.

³ tn Heb “in my belly I am like wine that is not opened” (a Niphal imperfect), meaning sealed up with no place to escape.

⁴ tc The Hebrew text has כְּאֹבוֹת חֲדָשִׁים (kÿ’ovot khadashim), traditionally rendered “like new wineskins.” But only here does the phrase have this meaning. The LXX has “smiths” for “new,” thus “like smith’s bellows.” A. Guillaume connects the word with an Arabic word for a wide vessel for wine shaped like a cup (“Archaeological and philological note on Job 32:19,” PEQ 93 [1961]: 147-50). Some have been found in archaeological sites. The poor would use skins, the rich would use jars. The key to putting this together is the verb at the end of the line, יִבָּקֵעַ (yibbaqea’, “that are ready to burst”). The point of the statement is that Elihu is bursting to speak, and until now has not had the opening.

⁵ tn The cohortative expresses Elihu’s resolve to speak.

⁶ tn Or “mind” (cf. NCV, NRSV, NLT).

⁷ tn Heb “makes wise his mouth,” with “mouth” being a metonymy of cause for what is said: “speech.”

⁸ sn Those who are wise say wise things. The proverb uses synthetic parallelism: The first line asserts that the wise heart ensures that what is said is wise, and the second line adds that such a person increases the reception of what is said.

⁹ tn Heb “to his lips.” The term “lips” functions as a metonymy of cause for what is said.

¹⁰ tn The Greek text reads here ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpos). The term is generic referring to any person.

¹¹ tn Grk “the”; the Greek article has been translated here and in the following clause (“his evil treasury”) as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

¹² 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).