12:11 Does not the ear test words,
as 1 the tongue 2 tastes food? 3
18:11 Terrors 4 frighten him on all sides
and dog 5 his every step.
1 tn The ו (vav) introduces the comparison here (see 5:7; 11:12); see GKC 499 §161.a.
2 tn Heb “the palate.”
3 tn The final preposition with its suffix is to be understood as a pleonastic dativus ethicus and not translated (see GKC 439 §135.i).
4 sn Bildad is referring here to all the things that afflict a person and cause terror. It would then be a metonymy of effect, the cause being the afflictions.
5 tn The verb פּוּץ (puts) in the Hiphil has the meaning “to pursue” and “to scatter.” It is followed by the expression “at his feet.” So the idea is easily derived: they chase him at his feet. But some commentators have other proposals. The most far-fetched is that of Ehrlich and Driver (ZAW 24 [1953]: 259-60) which has “and compel him to urinate on his feet,” one of many similar readings the NEB accepted from Driver.