Ayub 35:16

35:16 So Job opens his mouth to no purpose; ¹ 

without knowledge he multiplies words.”

Mazmur 39:2-3

39:2 I was stone silent; ² 

I held back the urge to speak. ³ 

My frustration grew; ⁴ 

39:3 my anxiety intensified. ⁵ 

As I thought about it, I became impatient. ⁶ 

Finally I spoke these words: ⁷ 

Mazmur 106:33

106:33 for they aroused ⁸  his temper, ⁹ 

and he spoke rashly. ¹⁰ 

[35:16]  ¹ tn The word הֶבֶל (hevel) means “vanity; futility; to no purpose.”

[39:2]  ² tn Heb “I was mute [with] silence.”

[39:2]  ³ tn Heb “I was quiet from good.” He kept quiet, resisting the urge to find emotional release and satisfaction by voicing his lament.

[39:2]  sn I held back the urge to speak. For a helpful discussion of the relationship (and tension) between silence and complaint in ancient Israelite lamentation, see E. S. Gerstenberger, Psalms, Part I (FOTL), 166-67.

[39:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “and my pain was stirred up.” Emotional pain is in view here.

[39:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “my heart was hot within me.”

[39:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “In my reflection fire burned.” The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite (past tense) or an imperfect being used in a past progressive or customary sense (“fire was burning”).

[39:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “I spoke with my tongue.” The phrase “these words” is supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[106:33]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew text vocalizes the form as הִמְרוּ (himru), a Hiphil from מָרָה (marah, “to behave rebelliously”), but the verb fits better with the object (“his spirit”) if it is revocalized as הֵמֵרוּ (hemeru), a Hiphil from מָרַר (marar, “to be bitter”). The Israelites “embittered” Moses’ “spirit” in the sense that they aroused his temper with their complaints.

[106:33]  ⁹ tn Heb “his spirit.”

[106:33]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text adds “with his lips,” but this has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[106:33]  sn Verses 32-33 allude to the events of Num 20:1-13.