6:30 Is there any falsehood 1 on my lips?
Can my mouth 2 not discern evil things? 3
12:11 Does not the ear test words,
as 4 the tongue 5 tastes food? 6
5:1 For every high priest is taken from among the people 7 and appointed 8 to represent them before God, 9 to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.
1 tn The word עַוְלָה (’avlah) is repeated from the last verse. Here the focus is clearly on wickedness or injustice spoken.
2 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.
3 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?”
4 tn The ו (vav) introduces the comparison here (see 5:7; 11:12); see GKC 499 §161.a.
5 tn Heb “the palate.”
6 tn The final preposition with its suffix is to be understood as a pleonastic dativus ethicus and not translated (see GKC 439 §135.i).
7 tn Grk “from among men,” but since the point in context is shared humanity (rather than shared maleness), the plural Greek term ἀνθρώπων (anqrwpwn) has been translated “people.”
8 tn Grk “who is taken from among people is appointed.”
9 tn Grk “appointed on behalf of people in reference to things relating to God.”