Ayub 6:30

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

Can my mouth ²  not discern evil things? ³ 

Ayub 28:1

III. Job’s Search for Wisdom (28:1-28)

No Known Road to Wisdom ⁴ 

28:1 “Surely ⁵  there is a mine ⁶  for silver,

and a place where gold is refined. ⁷ 

Ayub 31:31

31:31 if ⁸  the members of my household ⁹  have never said, ¹⁰ 

‘If only there were ¹¹  someone

who has not been satisfied from Job’s ¹²  meat!’ –

Ayub 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]  sn These words make a fitting transition to ch. 7, which forms a renewed cry of despair from Job. Job still feels himself innocent, but in the hands of cruel fate which is out to destroy him.

[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?”

[28:1]  ⁴ sn As the book is now arranged, this chapter forms an additional speech by Job, although some argue that it comes from the writer of the book. The mood of the chapter is not despair, but wisdom; it anticipates the divine speeches in the end of the book. This poem, like many psalms in the Bible, has a refrain (vv. 12 and 20). These refrains outline the chapter, giving three sections: there is no known road to wisdom (1-11); no price can buy it (12-19); and only God has it, and only by revelation can man posses it (20-28).

[28:1]  ⁵ tn The poem opens with כִּי (ki). Some commentators think this should have been “for,” and that the poem once stood in another setting. But there are places in the Bible where this word occurs with the sense of “surely” and no other meaning (cf. Gen 18:20).

[28:1]  ⁶ tn The word מוֹצָא (motsa’, from יָצָא [yatsa’, “go out”]) is the word for “mine,” or more simply, “source.” Mining was not an enormous industry in the land of Canaan or Israel; mined products were imported. Some editors have suggested alternative readings: Dahood found in the word the root for “shine” and translated the MT as “smelter.” But that is going too far. P. Joüon suggested “place of finding,” reading מִמְצָא (mimtsa’) for מוֹצָא (motsa’; see Bib 11 [1930]: 323).

[28:1]  ⁷ tn The verb יָזֹקּוּ (yazoqqu) translated “refined,” comes from זָקַק (zaqaq), a word that basically means “to blow.” From the meaning “to blow; to distend; to inflate” derives the meaning for refining.

[31:31]  ⁸ tn Now Job picks up the series of clauses serving as the protasis.

[31:31]  ⁹ tn Heb “the men of my tent.” In context this refers to members of Job’s household.

[31:31]  ¹⁰ sn The line is difficult to sort out. Job is saying it is sinful “if his men have never said, ‘O that there was one who has not been satisfied from his food.’” If they never said that, it would mean there were people out there who needed to be satisfied with his food.

[31:31]  ¹¹ tn The optative is again expressed with “who will give?”

[31:31]  ¹² tn Heb “his”; the referent (Job) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:3]  ¹³ tn Or “examines; tests; tries; discerns.”

[34:3]  ¹⁴ tn Or “palate”; the Hebrew term refers to the tongue or to the mouth in general.