Psalms 63:11

63:11 But the king ¹  will rejoice in God;

everyone who takes oaths in his name ²  will boast,

for the mouths of those who speak lies will be shut up. ³ 

Psalms 112:10

112:10 When the wicked ⁴  see this, they will worry;

they will grind their teeth in frustration ⁵  and melt away;

the desire of the wicked will perish. ⁶ 

Exodus 11:7

11:7 But against any of the Israelites not even a dog will bark ⁷  against either people or animals, ⁸  so that you may know that the Lord distinguishes ⁹  between Egypt and Israel.’

Job 5:15-16

5:15 So he saves ¹⁰  from the sword that comes from their mouth, ¹¹ 

even ¹²  the poor from the hand of the powerful.

5:16 Thus the poor have hope,

and iniquity ¹³  shuts its mouth. ¹⁴ 

Proverbs 10:11

10:11 The teaching ¹⁵  of the righteous is a fountain of life, ¹⁶ 

but the speech ¹⁷  of the wicked conceals ¹⁸  violence. ¹⁹ 

Romans 3:19

3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under ²⁰  the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

¹ sn The psalmist probably refers to himself in the third person here.

² tn Heb “who swears [an oath] by him.”

³ tn The Niphal of this verb occurs only here and in Gen 8:2, where it is used of God “stopping” or “damming up” the great deep as he brought the flood to an end.

⁴ tn The Hebrew text uses the singular; the representative wicked individual is in view as typifying the group (note the use of the plural form in v. 10).

⁵ tn Heb “his teeth he will gnash.” In Pss 35:16 and 37:12 this action is associated with a vicious attack.

⁶ tn This could mean that the desires of the wicked will go unfulfilled. Another possibility is that “desire” refers by metonymy to the object desired and acquired. In this case the point is that the wicked will lose what they desired so badly and acquired by evil means (see Ps 10:3).

⁷ tn Or perhaps “growl”; Heb “not a dog will sharpen his tongue.” The expression is unusual, but it must indicate that not only would no harm come to the Israelites, but that no unfriendly threat would come against them either – not even so much as a dog barking. It is possible this is to be related to the watchdog (see F. C. Fensham, “Remarks on Keret 114^b – 136^a,” JNSL 11 [1983]: 75).

⁸ tn Heb “against man or beast.”

⁹ tn The verb פָּלָה (palah) in Hiphil means “to set apart, make separate, make distinct.” See also Exod 8:22 (18 HT); 9:4; 33:16.

¹⁰ tn The verb, the Hiphil preterite of יָשַׁע (yasha’, “and he saves”) indicates that by frustrating the plans of the wicked God saves the poor. So the vav (ו) consecutive shows the result in the sequence of the verses.

¹¹ tn The juxtaposition of “from the sword from their mouth” poses translation difficulties. Some mss do not have the preposition on “their mouth,” but render the expression as a construct: “from the sword of their mouth.” This would mean their tongue, and by metonymy, what they say. The expression “from their mouth” corresponds well with “from the hand” in the next colon. And as E. Dhorme (Job, 67) notes, what is missing is a parallel in the first part with “the poor” in the second. So he follows Cappel in repointing “from the sword” as a Hophal participle, מֹחֳרָב (mokhorav), meaning “the ruined.” If a change is required, this has the benefit of only changing the pointing. The difficulty with this is that the word “desolate, ruined” is not used for people, but only to cities, lands, or mountains. The sense of the verse can be supported from the present pointing: “from the sword [which comes] from their mouth”; the second phrase could also be in apposition, meaning, “from the sword, i.e., from their mouth.”

¹² tn If the word “poor” is to do double duty, i.e., serving as the object of the verb “saves” in the first colon as well as the second, then the conjunction should be explanatory.

¹³ tn Other translations render this “injustice” (NIV, NRSV, CEV) or “unrighteousness” (NASB).

¹⁴ tn The verse summarizes the result of God’s intervention in human affairs, according to Eliphaz’ idea that even-handed justice prevails. Ps 107:42 parallels v. 16b.

¹⁵ tn Heb “mouth.” The word “mouth” is metonymy of cause, representing what the righteous say and teach.

¹⁶ tn Heb “a fountain of life is the mouth of the righteous” (NAB similar). The subject (“a fountain of life”) and the predicate (“the mouth of the righteous”) in the Hebrew text are reversed in the present translation (as in most English versions) for the sake of clarity and smoothness. The idea of this metaphor, “the fountain of life,” may come from Ps 36:9 (e.g., also Prov 13:14; 14:27; 16:22). What the righteous say is beneficial to life or life-giving. Their words are life-giving but the words of the wicked are violent. See R. B. Y. Scott, “Wise and Foolish, Righteous and Wicked,” VT 29 (1972): 145-65.

¹⁷ tn Heb “the mouth.” The term פֶּה (peh, “mouth”) functions as a metonymy of cause for speech.

¹⁸ tn Heb “covers.” Behind the speech of the wicked is aggressive violence (W. McKane, Proverbs [OTL], 422).

¹⁹ tn The syntax of this line is ambiguous. The translation takes “the mouth of the wicked” as the nominative subject and “violence” as the accusative direct object; however, the subject might be “violence,” hence: “violence covers the mouth of the wicked.”

²⁰ tn Grk “in,” “in connection with.”