Job 15:5-6

15:5 Your sin inspires ¹  your mouth;

you choose the language ²  of the crafty. ³ 

15:6 Your own mouth condemns ⁴  you, not I;

your own lips testify against ⁵  you.

Job 34:35

34:35 that ⁶  Job speaks without knowledge

and his words are without understanding. ⁷ 

Job 35:16

35:16 So Job opens his mouth to no purpose; ⁸ 

without knowledge he multiplies words.”

Proverbs 10:19

10:19 When words abound, transgression is inevitable, ⁹ 

but the one who restrains ¹⁰  his words ¹¹  is wise.

Isaiah 6:5

6:5 I said, “Too bad for me! I am destroyed, ¹²  for my lips are contaminated by sin, ¹³  and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin. ¹⁴  My eyes have seen the king, the Lord who commands armies.” ¹⁵ 

Matthew 12:36-37

12:36 I ¹⁶  tell you that on the day of judgment, people will give an account for every worthless word they speak. 12:37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

James 3:2

3:2 For we all stumble ¹⁷  in many ways. If someone does not stumble ¹⁸  in what he says, ¹⁹  he is a perfect individual, ²⁰  able to control the entire body as well.

[15:5]  ¹ tn The verb אַלֵּף (’allef) has the meaning of “to teach; to instruct,” but it is unlikely that the idea of revealing is intended. If the verb is understood metonymically, then “to inspire; to prompt” will be sufficient. Dahood and others find another root, and render the verb “to increase,” reversing subject and object: “your mouth increases your iniquity.”

[15:5]  ² tn Heb “tongue.”

[15:5]  ³ tn The word means “shrewd; crafty; cunning” (see Gen 3:1). Job uses clever speech that is misleading and destructive.

[15:6]  ⁴ tn The Hiphil of this root means “declare wicked, guilty” (a declarative Hiphil), and so “condemns.”

[15:6]  ⁵ tn The verb עָנָה (’anah) with the ל (lamed) preposition following it means “to testify against.” For Eliphaz, it is enough to listen to Job to condemn him.

[34:35]  ⁶ tn Adding “that” in the translation clarifies Elihu’s indirect citation of the wise individuals’ words.

[34:35]  ⁷ tn The Hiphil infinitive construct is here functioning as a substantive. The word means “prudence; understanding.”

[35:16]  ⁸ tn The word הֶבֶל (hevel) means “vanity; futility; to no purpose.”

[10:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “does not cease.” It is impossible to avoid sinning in an abundance of words – sooner or later one is bound to say something wrong.

[10:19]  ¹⁰ tn Or “holds his lips under control.” The verb חָשַׂךְ (khasakh) means “to withhold; to restrain; to hold in check” (BDB 362 s.v.). The related Arabic term is used in reference to placing a piece of wood in the mouth of a goat to prevent it from sucking (HALOT 359 s.v. חשׂךְ).

[10:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “his lips” (so KJV, NAB, NASB); NIV “his tongue.” The term “lips” is a metonymy of cause for speech.

[6:5]  ¹² tn Isaiah uses the suffixed (perfect) form of the verb for rhetorical purposes. In this way his destruction is described as occurring or as already completed. Rather than understanding the verb as derived from דָּמַה (damah, “be destroyed”), some take it from a proposed homonymic root דמה, which would mean “be silent.” In this case, one might translate, “I must be silent.”

[6:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “a man unclean of lips am I.” Isaiah is not qualified to praise the king. His lips (the instruments of praise) are “unclean” because he has been contaminated by sin.

[6:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and among a nation unclean of lips I live.”

[6:5]  ¹⁵ tn Perhaps in this context, the title has a less militaristic connotation and pictures the Lord as the ruler of the heavenly assembly. See the note at 1:9.

[12:36]  ¹⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[3:2]  ¹⁷ tn Or “fail.”

[3:2]  ¹⁸ tn Or “fail.”

[3:2]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “in speech.”

[3:2]  ²⁰ tn The word for “man” or “individual” is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” But it sometimes is used generically to mean “anyone,” “a person,” as here (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 2).