Proverbs 17:28

17:28 Even a fool who remains silent is considered ¹  wise,

and the one who holds his tongue is deemed discerning. ² 

Job 21:5

21:5 Look ³  at me and be appalled;

put your hands over your mouths. ⁴ 

Job 40:4

40:4 “Indeed, I am completely unworthy ⁵  – how could I reply to you?

I put ⁶  my hand over my mouth to silence myself. ⁷ 

Ecclesiastes 8:4

8:4 Surely the king’s authority ⁸  is absolute; ⁹ 

no one can say ¹⁰  to him, “What are you doing?”

Micah 7:16-17

7:16 Nations will see this and be disappointed by ¹¹  all their strength,

they will put their hands over their mouths,

and act as if they were deaf. ¹² 

7:17 They will lick the dust like a snake,

like serpents crawling on the ground. ¹³ 

They will come trembling from their strongholds

to the Lord our God; ¹⁴ 

they will be terrified ¹⁵  of you. ¹⁶ 

Romans 3:19

3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under ¹⁷  the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

[17:28]  ¹ tn The imperfect tense here denotes possibility: One who holds his tongue [may be considered] discerning.

[17:28]  ² tn The Niphal participle is used in the declarative/estimative sense with stative verbs: “to be discerning” (Qal) becomes “to be declared discerning” (Niphal). The proverb is teaching that silence is one evidence of wisdom, and that even a fool can thereby appear wise. D. Kidner says that a fool who takes this advice is no longer a complete fool (Proverbs [TOTC], 127). He does not, of course, become wise – he just hides his folly.

[21:5]  ³ tn The verb פְּנוּ (pÿnu) is from the verb “to turn,” related to the word for “face.” In calling for them to turn toward him, he is calling for them to look at him. But here it may be more in the sense of their attention rather than just a looking at him.

[21:5]  ⁴ tn The idiom is “put a hand over a mouth,” the natural gesture for keeping silent and listening (cf. Job 29:9; 40:4; Mic 7:16).

[40:4]  ⁵ tn The word קַלֹּתִי (qalloti) means “to be light; to be of small account; to be unimportant.” From this comes the meaning “contemptible,” which in the causative stem would mean “to treat with contempt; to curse.” Dhorme tries to make the sentence a conditional clause and suggests this meaning: “If I have been thoughtless.” There is really no “if” in Job’s mind.

[40:4]  ⁶ tn The perfect verb here should be classified as an instantaneous perfect; the action is simultaneous with the words.

[40:4]  ⁷ tn The words “to silence myself” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[8:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “word.”

[8:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “supreme.”

[8:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Who can say…?”

[7:16]  ¹¹ tn Or “be ashamed of.”

[7:16]  ¹² tn Heb “and their ears will be deaf.” Apparently this means the opposing nations will be left dumbfounded by the Lord’s power. Their inability to respond will make them appear to be deaf mutes.

[7:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “like crawling things on the ground.” The parallelism suggests snakes are in view.

[7:17]  ¹⁴ tn Thetranslationassumesthatthe phrase אֶל־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ (’el-yÿhvah ’elohenu, “to the Lord our God”) goes with what precedes. Another option is to take the phrase with the following verb, in which case one could translate, “to the Lord our God they will turn in dread.”

[7:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “they will be in dread and afraid.”

[7:17]  ¹⁶ tn The Lord is addressed directly using the second person.

[3:19]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “in,” “in connection with.”