Or speak ¹  to the earth ²  and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea declare to you.

biblegateway Job 12:8

"Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you; And let the fish of the sea declare to you.

Or speak to the earth, and it will instruct you; let the fish of the sea inform you.

Or speak with the earth, and it will teach you. Even the fish will relate the story to you.

biblegateway Job 12:8

or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you.

or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.

bibleoremus Job 12:8

ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.

or tell the creatures that crawl to teach you, and the fish of the sea to instruct you.

biblegateway Job 12:8

Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; And the fish of the sea will explain to you.

Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.

biblegateway Job 12:8

Or speak ¹  to the earth ²  and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea declare to you.

¹ 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).

² 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).