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the chief men refrained from talking
and covered their mouths with their hands;
10 the voices of the nobles fell silent,[a]
and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

Job’s Benevolence

11 “As soon as the ear heard these things,[b] it blessed me,[c]
and when the eye saw them, it bore witness to me,

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Footnotes

  1. Job 29:10 tn The verb here is “hidden” as well as in v. 8. But this is a strange expression for voices. Several argue that the word was erroneously inserted from 8a and needs to be emended. But the word “hide” can have extended meanings of “withdraw; be quiet; silent” (see Gen 31:27). A. Guillaume relates the Arabic habiʾa, “the fire dies out,” applying the idea of “silent” only to v. 10 (it is a form of repetition of words with different senses, called jinas). The point here is that whatever conversation was going on would become silent or hushed to hear what Job had to say.
  2. Job 29:11 tn The words “these things” and “them” in the next colon are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
  3. Job 29:11 tn The main clause is introduced by the preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive (see GKC 327 §111.h); the clause before it is therefore temporal and circumstantial to the main clause.