Job 6:30

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

Can my mouth ²  not discern evil things? ³ 

Job 12:11

12:11 Does not the ear test words,

as ⁴  the tongue ⁵  tastes food? ⁶ 

Job 20:13

20:13 if he retains it for himself

and does not let it go,

and holds it fast in his mouth, ⁷ 

Job 31:30

31:30 I ⁸  have not even permitted my mouth ⁹  to sin

by asking ¹⁰  for his life through a curse –

Job 33:2

33:2 See now, I have opened ¹¹  my mouth;

my tongue in my mouth has spoken. ¹² 

Job 34:3

34:3 For the ear assesses ¹³  words

as the mouth ¹⁴  tastes food.

[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?”

[12:11]  ⁴ tn The ו (vav) introduces the comparison here (see 5:7; 11:12); see GKC 499 §161.a.

[12:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “the palate.”

[12:11]  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).

[20:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “in the middle of his palate.”

[31:30]  ¹⁰ tn This verse would then be a parenthesis in which he stops to claim his innocence.

[31:30]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I have not given my palate.”

[31:30]  ¹² tn The infinitive construct with the ל (lamed) preposition (“by asking”) serves in an epexegetical capacity here, explaining the verb of the first colon (“permitted…to sin”). To seek a curse on anyone would be a sin.

[33:2]  ¹³ tn The perfect verbs in this verse should be classified as perfects of resolve: “I have decided to open…speak.”

[33:2]  ¹⁴ sn H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 210) says, “The self-importance of Elihu is boundless, and he is the master of banality.” He adds that whoever wrote these speeches this way clearly intended to expose the character rather than exalt him.

[34:3]  ¹⁶ tn Or “examines; tests; tries; discerns.”

[34:3]  ¹⁷ tn Or “palate”; the Hebrew term refers to the tongue or to the mouth in general.