Job 12:11
in Job 12Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes its food?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Doth not the ear try words, Even as the palate tasteth its food?
KJV
Doth not the ear try words? and the mouth taste his meat?
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This verse in Job 12
Commentary
11 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Each chooses according to his taste. The connection with Job 12:12 is in reference to Bildad's appeal to the "ancients" (Job 8:8). You are right in appealing to them, since "with them was wisdom," &c.
This site's exposition
The life of every living thing
on Job 12:10-11
"The life of every living thing is in His hand, as well as the breath of all mankind" carries verse 9 to its widest reach. The faculty that judges food also judges argument, and Job claims it to weigh the friends' speeches and find them wanting.
This site's exposition
the ear test words
The ear tests words as the tongue tastes food, and Job invites his friends to weigh their own sayings. Matthew Henry draws the lesson that every doctrine must be tried before it is received. Clarke hears Job calling their speeches commonplace.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
Consider if this does not refer to the following words, "But ask the animals, and they will teach you." The sequence of these two thoughts makes it clear that it is not given to unreasonable animals or soulless things to understand the resolutions of Providence, …
"It is reason that discerns words, and the palate that recognizes the taste of foods." Job means, if animals know those things, we, who are endowed with reason, and not only with a palate to eat, know them even better. Or it means, since I am not devoid of reason, I know that. In fact, if God has granted us a palate to recognize the taste of foods, he has also given us reason to make our decisions and the time to acquire knowledge.
The Medieval Church2 voices
Job asserted above (v.2) that what Sophar had said about the excellence of the greatness of God was evident to all men. Here he intends to show that men can come to an understanding of these things by the experience of divine power and wisdom …
The ear trieth words, and the mouth of the eater savour. There is scarce a person that is ignorant that the five senses of our body, viz. of seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching, in all their operations of perceiving and discriminating derive the power of perception and discrimination from the brain.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Doth not the ear try words?....
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Note, The ear must try words before it receives them so as to subscribe to them. As by the taste we judge what food is wholesome to the body and what not, so by the spirit of discerning we must judge what doctrine is sound, and savoury, and wholesome, and what not, 1 Cor. x. 12 With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Doth not the ear try words? - All these are common-place sayings. Ye have advanced nothing new; ye have cast no light upon the dispensations of Providence.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Doth not the ear try words? - The literal meaning of this, which is evidently a proverbial expression, is plain; but about its bearing here there is more difficulty. The literal sense is, that it is the office of the ear to mark the distinction of sounds, and to convey the sense to the soul. But in regard to the exact bearing of this proverb on the case in hand, commentators have not been agreed.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Does not the ear discern words So why did the listeners not know this, as the palate tastes to eat?
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
In elders there is wisdom etc. to know that with Him is wisdom.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֲלֹא־ | halo'- | ¿ not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| אֹ֭זֶן | ʾozen | an ear | H241 → | 187 times |
| מִלִּ֣ין | milin | words | H4405 → | 38 times |
| תִּבְחָ֑ן | tivchan | does it test | H974 → | 29 times |
| וְ֝חֵ֗ךְ | vechekh | and a palate | H2441 → | 18 times |
| אֹ֣כֶל | ʾokhel | food | H400 → | 43 times |
| יִטְעַם־ | yitam- | it tastes | H2938 → | |
| לֽוֹ׃ | lo | <for> itself |
הֲלֹא־¿ not
halo'-H3808 →5168 times
אֹ֭זֶןan ear
ʾozenH241 →187 times
מִלִּ֣יןwords
milinH4405 →38 times
תִּבְחָ֑ןdoes it test
tivchanH974 →29 times
וְ֝חֵ֗ךְand a palate
vechekhH2441 →18 times
אֹ֣כֶלfood
ʾokhelH400 →43 times
יִטְעַם־it tastes
yitam-H2938 →
לֽוֹ׃<for> itself
lo
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Philippians 1:10so that you may be able to test and prove what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
it leads to
- Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of…
- 1 Thessalonians 3:13
so that He may establish your hearts in blamelessness and holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. Amen.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:23
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your entire spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Romans 2:18
if you know His will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law;
- Ephesians 5:10
Test and prove what pleases the Lord.
- Romans 12:2
Through
Hebrews 5:14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained their senses to distinguish good from evil.
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 2:14–15
The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:21
but test all things. Hold fast to what is good.
- 1 Corinthians 2:14–15
Through
1 Peter 2:3now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
it leads to
- Psalms 34:8
Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
- Psalms 34:8
About Job
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON JOB 12:11; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XI; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 12:11A; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.