Job 6:30

6:30 Is there any falsehood ¹  on my lips?

Can my mouth ²  not discern evil things? ³ 

Job 11:14

11:14 if ⁴  iniquity is in your hand – put it far away, ⁵ 

and do not let evil reside in your tents.

Job 15:16

15:16 how much less man, who is abominable and corrupt, ⁶ 

who drinks in evil like water! ⁷ 

Job 22:23

22:23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up; ⁸ 

if you remove wicked behavior far from your tent,

Job 27:4

27:4 my ⁹  lips will not speak wickedness,

and my tongue will whisper ¹⁰  no deceit.

Job 36:23

36:23 Who has prescribed his ways for him?

Or said to him, ‘You have done what is wicked’?

[6:30]  ¹ tn The word עַוְלָה (’avlah) is repeated from the last verse. Here the focus is clearly on wickedness or injustice spoken.

[6:30]  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.

[6:30]  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?”

[11:14]  ⁴ tn Verse 14 should be taken as a parenthesis and not a continuation of the protasis, because it does not fit with v. 13 in that way (D. J. A. Clines, Job [WBC], 256).

[11:14]  ⁵ tn Many commentators follow the Vulgate and read the line “if you put away the sin that is in your hand.” They do this because the imperative comes between the protasis (v. 13) and the apodosis (v. 15) and does not appear to be clearly part of the protasis. The idea is close to the MT, but the MT is much more forceful – if you find sin in your hand, get rid of it.

[15:16]  ⁷ tn The two descriptions here used are “abominable,” meaning “disgusting” (a Niphal participle with the value of a Latin participle [see GKC 356-57 §116.e]), and “corrupt” (a Niphal participle which occurs only in Pss 14:3 and 53:4), always in a moral sense. On the significance of the first description, see P. Humbert, “Le substantif toáe„ba„ et le verbe táb dans l’Ancien Testament,” ZAW 72 [1960]: 217ff.). On the second word, G. R. Driver suggests from Arabic, “debauched with luxury, corrupt” (“Some Hebrew Words,” JTS 29 [1927/28]: 390-96).

[15:16]  ⁸ sn Man commits evil with the same ease and facility as he drinks in water – freely and in large quantities.

[22:23]  ¹⁰ tc The MT has “you will be built up” (תִּבָּנֶה, tibbaneh). But the LXX has “humble yourself” (reading תְּעַנֶּה [tÿ’anneh] apparently). Many commentators read this; Dahood has “you will be healed.”

[27:4]  ¹³ tn The verse begins with אִם (’im), the formula used for the content of the oath (“God lives…if I do/do not…”). Thus, the content of the oath proper is here in v. 4.

[27:4]  ¹⁴ tn The verb means “to utter; to mumble; to meditate.” The implication is that he will not communicate deceitful things, no matter how quiet or subtle.