Job 12:7-8

Knowledge of God’s Wisdom ¹ 

12:7 “But now, ask the animals and they ²  will teach you,

or the birds of the sky and they will tell you.

12:8 Or speak ³  to the earth ⁴  and it will teach you,

or let the fish of the sea declare to you.

Job 32:7

32:7 I said to myself, ‘Age ⁵  should speak, ⁶ 

and length of years ⁷  should make wisdom known.’

Deuteronomy 6:7

6:7 and you must teach ⁸  them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, ⁹  as you lie down, and as you get up.

Deuteronomy 11:19

11:19 Teach them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, ¹⁰  as you lie down, and as you get up.

Psalms 145:4

145:4 One generation will praise your deeds to another,

and tell about your mighty acts! ¹¹ 

Hebrews 11:4

11:4 By faith Abel offered God a greater sacrifice than Cain, and through his faith ¹²  he was commended as righteous, because God commended him for his offerings. And through his faith ¹³  he still speaks, though he is dead.

Hebrews 12:1

The Lord’s Discipline

12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, ¹⁴  we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us,

[12:7]  ¹ sn As J. E. Hartley (Job [NICOT], 216) observes, in this section Job argues that respected tradition “must not be accepted uncritically.”

[12:7]  ² tn The singular verb is used here with the plural collective subject (see GKC 464 §145.k).

[12:8]  ³ tn The word in the MT means “to complain,” not simply “to speak,” and one would expect animals as the object here in parallel to the last verse. So several commentators have replaced the word with words for animals or reptiles – totally different words (cf. NAB, “reptiles”). The RSV and NRSV have here the word “plants” (see 30:4, 7; and Gen 21:15).

[12:8]  ⁴ tn A. B. Davidson (Job, 90) offers a solution by taking “earth” to mean all the lower forms of life that teem in the earth (a metonymy of subject).

[32:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “days.”

[32:7]  ⁶ tn The imperfect here is to be classified as an obligatory imperfect.

[32:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “abundance of years.”

[6:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “repeat” (so NLT). If from the root I שָׁנַן (shanan), the verb means essentially to “engrave,” that is, “to teach incisively” (Piel); note NAB “Drill them into your children.” Cf. BDB 1041-42 s.v.

[6:7]  ⁹ tn Or “as you are away on a journey” (cf. NRSV, TEV, NLT); NAB “at home and abroad.”

[11:19]  ¹⁰ tn Or “as you are away on a journey” (cf. NRSV, TEV, NLT); NAB “at home and abroad.”

[145:4]  ¹¹ tn The prefixed verbal forms in v. 4 are understood as imperfects, indicating how the psalmist expects his audience to respond to his praise. Another option is to take the forms as jussives, indicating the psalmist’s wish, “may one generation praise…and tell about.”

[11:4]  ¹² tn Or “through his sacrifice”; Grk “through which.”

[11:4]  ¹³ tn Or “through his sacrifice”; Grk “through it.”

[12:1]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “having such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us.”