Ayub 1:22

1:22 In all this Job did not sin, nor did he charge God with moral impropriety. ¹ 

Ayub 6:24

No Sin Discovered

6:24 “Teach ²  me and I, for my part, ³  will be silent;

explain to me ⁴  how I have been mistaken. ⁵ 

Amsal 17:28

17:28 Even a fool who remains silent is considered ⁶  wise,

and the one who holds his tongue is deemed discerning. ⁷ 

Amsal 20:25

20:25 It is a snare ⁸  for a person ⁹  to rashly cry, ¹⁰  “Holy!”

and only afterward to consider ¹¹  what he has vowed. ¹² 

Amsal 21:23

21:23 The one who guards his mouth and his tongue ¹³ 

keeps his life ¹⁴  from troubles. ¹⁵ 

Yakobus 1:19

Living Out the Message

1:19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters! ¹⁶  Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.

Yakobus 3:2-12

3:2 For we all stumble ¹⁷  in many ways. If someone does not stumble ¹⁸  in what he says, ¹⁹  he is a perfect individual, ²⁰  able to control the entire body as well. 3:3 And if we put bits into the mouths of horses to get them to obey us, then we guide their entire bodies. ²¹  3:4 Look at ships too: Though they are so large and driven by harsh winds, they are steered by a tiny rudder wherever the pilot’s inclination directs. 3:5 So too the tongue is a small part of the body, ²²  yet it has great pretensions. ²³  Think ²⁴  how small a flame sets a huge forest ablaze. 3:6 And the tongue is a fire! The tongue represents ²⁵  the world of wrongdoing among the parts of our bodies. It ²⁶  pollutes the entire body and sets fire to the course of human existence – and is set on fire by hell. ²⁷ 

3:7 For every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and sea creature ²⁸  is subdued and has been subdued by humankind. ²⁹  3:8 But no human being can subdue the tongue; it is a restless ³⁰  evil, full of deadly poison. 3:9 With it we bless the Lord ³¹  and Father, and with it we curse people ³²  made in God’s image. 3:10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. These things should not be so, my brothers and sisters. ³³  3:11 A spring does not pour out fresh water and bitter water from the same opening, does it? 3:12 Can a fig tree produce olives, my brothers and sisters, ³⁴  or a vine produce figs? Neither can a salt water spring produce fresh water.

[1:22]  ¹ tn The last clause is difficult to translate. It simply reads, “and he did not give unseemliness to God.” The word תִּפְלָה (tiflah) means “unsavoriness” or “unseemliness” in a moral sense. The sense is that Job did not charge God with any moral impropriety in his dealings with him. God did nothing worthless or tasteless. The ancient versions saw the word connected with “foolishness” or “stupidity” (תָּפֵל, tafel, “to be tasteless”). It is possible that “folly” would capture some of what Job meant here. See also M. Dahood, “Hebrew-Ugaritic Lexicography XII,” Bib 55 (1974): 381-93.

[6:24]  ² tn The verb “teach” or “instruct” is the Hiphil הוֹרוּנִי (horuni), from the verb יָרָה (yarah); the basic idea of “point, direct” lies behind this meaning. The verb is cognate to the noun תּוֹרָה (torah, “instruction, teaching, law”).

[6:24]  ³ tn The independent personal pronoun makes the subject of the verb emphatic: “and I will be silent.”

[6:24]  ⁴ tn The verb is הָבִינוּ (havinu, “to cause someone to understand”); with the ל (lamed) following, it has the sense of “explain to me.”

[6:24]  ⁵ tn The verb שָׁגָה (shagah) has the sense of “wandering, getting lost, being mistaken.”

[17:28]  ⁶ tn The imperfect tense here denotes possibility: One who holds his tongue [may be considered] discerning.

[17:28]  ⁷ 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.

[20:25]  ⁸ sn It would be a “snare” because it would lead people into financial difficulties; Leviticus 27 talks about foolish or rash vows.

[20:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “a man.”

[20:25]  ¹⁰ tn The verb is from לוּע (lu’) or לָעַע (la’a’); it means “to talk wildly” (not to be confused with the homonym “to swallow”). It occurs here and in Job 6:3.

[20:25]  sn This refers to speaking rashly in dedicating something to the sanctuary by calling it “Holy.”

[20:25]  ¹¹ tn Heb “reflect on.” The person is to consider the vows before making them, to ensure that they can be fulfilled. Too many people make their vow or promise without thinking, and then later worry about how they will fulfill their vows.

[20:25]  ¹² tn Heb “the vows” (so NASB); CEV “promises.”

[21:23]  ¹³ sn “Mouth” and “tongue” are metonymies of cause, signifying what one says (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV).

[21:23]  ¹⁴ tn This part could also be translated “keeps himself” (so NIV), for נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) often simply means “the whole person.” The participle שֹׁמֵר (shomer) is repeated from the first line in the parallelism – to guard what is said is to guard against difficulty.

[21:23]  ¹⁵ sn The “troubles” (צָרוֹת, tsarot) here could refer to social and legal difficulties into which careless talk might bring someone (e.g., 13:3; 18:21). The word means “a strait, a bind, difficulty.” Careless and free talking could get the person into a tight spot.

[1:19]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[3:2]  ¹⁷ tn Or “fail.”

[3:2]  ¹⁸ tn Or “fail.”

[3:2]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “in speech.”

[3:2]  ²⁰ tn The word for “man” or “individual” is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” But it sometimes is used generically to mean “anyone,” “a person,” as here (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 2).

[3:3]  ²¹ tn Grk “their entire body.”

[3:5]  ²² tn Grk “a small member.”

[3:5]  ²³ tn Grk “boasts of great things.”

[3:5]  ²⁴ tn Grk “Behold.”

[3:6]  ²⁵ tn Grk “makes itself,” “is made.”

[3:6]  ²⁶ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[3:6]  ²⁷ sn The word translated hell is “Gehenna” (γέεννα, geenna), a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew words ge hinnom (“Valley of Hinnom”). This was the valley along the south side of Jerusalem. In OT times it was used for human sacrifices to the pagan god Molech (cf. Jer 7:31; 19:5-6; 32:35), and it came to be used as a place where human excrement and rubbish were disposed of and burned. In the intertestamental period, it came to be used symbolically as the place of divine punishment (cf. 1 En. 27:2, 90:26; 4 Ezra 7:36).

[3:7]  ²⁸ tn Grk (plurals), “every kind of animals and birds, of reptiles and sea creatures.”

[3:7]  ²⁹ tn Grk “the human species.”

[3:8]  ³⁰ tc Most mss (C Ψ 1739^c Ï as well as a few versions and fathers) read “uncontrollable” (ἀκατασχετόν, akatasceton), while the most important witnesses (א A B K P 1739* latt) have “restless” (ἀκατάστατον, akatastaton). Externally, the latter reading should be preferred. Internally, however, things get a bit more complex. The notion of being uncontrollable is well suited to the context, especially as a counterbalance to v. 8a, though for this very reason scribes may have been tempted to replace ἀκατάστατον with ἀκατασχετόν. However, in a semantically parallel early Christian text, ἀκατάστατος (akatastato") was considered strong enough of a term to denounce slander as “a restless demon” (Herm. 27:3). On the other hand, ἀκατάστατον may have been substituted for ἀκατασχετόν by way of assimilation to 1:8 (especially since both words were relatively rare, scribes may have replaced the less familiar with one that was already used in this letter). On internal evidence, it is difficult to decide, though ἀκατασχετόν is slightly preferred. However, in light of the strong support for ἀκατάστατον, and the less-than-decisive internal evidence, ἀκατάστατον is preferred instead.

[3:9]  ³¹ tc Most later mss (Ï), along with several versional witnesses, have θεόν (qeon, “God”) here instead of κύριον (kurion, “Lord”). Such is a predictable variant since nowhere else in the NT is God described as “Lord and Father,” but he is called “God and Father” on several occasions. Further, the reading κύριον is well supported by early and diversified witnesses (̲⁰ א A B C P Ψ 33 81 945 1241 1739), rendering it as the overwhelmingly preferred reading.

[3:9]  ³² tn Grk “men”; but here ἀνθρώπους (anqrwpous) has generic force, referring to both men and women.

[3:10]  ³³ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[3:12]  ³⁴ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.