Job 29:10
in Job 29The voices of the nobles were hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The voice of the nobles was hushed, And their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.
KJV
The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.
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This verse in Job 29
Commentary
9 notes on this verseThe nobles held their peace - Princes שרים sarim, and Nobles, נגידים negidim, must have been two different classes of the great men of Idumea. שר sar, Prince, director, or ruler, was probably the head of a township, or what we would call a magistrate of a particular district. נגיד nagid, a Noble, or one of those who had the privilege of standing before, or in the presence of, the chief ruler. The participle נגד neged is frequently used to signify before, in the presence of, publicly, openly.
This site's exposition
I went out to the city gate
on Job 29:7-10
The city gate was the seat of the elders, the setting of Ruth 4:1 and Proverbs 31:23. Delitzsch and Barnes read the scene as a court before its judge. The nobles fell silent for his word, the authority Eliphaz had charged Job with abusing in chapter 22.
This site's exposition
The voices of the nobles were hushed
Adam Clarke separates two ranks here. The princes are sarim, rulers of a district, and the nobles are negidim, from a word meaning before, men who stood before the chief ruler. Barnes gives the Hebrew literally as the voice of the nobles was hidden.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
Fourth, the generals of wars who are usually more audacious and more prompt to speak, still did not dare to speak presumptuously and boisterously in his presence. So he says, "Generals governed their tongues," speaking plainly and humbly. Sometimes they were so awestruck that they …
The princes ceased to speak, and laid the finger on the mouth. The rulers held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to their throat. Who else in this place can be understood as leaders or princes, but the framers of heretical evil? Concerning whom it is said by the Psalmist, Strife was poured out upon their princes, and they led them aside in the pathless place, and not in the way.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The nobles held their peace,....
Goodness is God's glory, and it will be ours; if we are merciful as God is, we are perfect as he is. He valued himself by the interest he had in the esteem, affections, and prayers, of sober people; not by the studied panegyrics of the wits and poets, but the unconstrained praises of all about him.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
The market place was the place of judgment, at the gate or propylæa of the city, such as is found in the remains of Nineveh and Persepolis (Isa 59:14;
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1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The nobles - Margin, “The voice of the nobles was hid.” Literally, this may be rendered, “as to the voice the nobles hid themselves;” or the phrase here employed (נגידים קול נחבאו nechâbâ'û qôl nāgı̂ydiym) may be rendered, “the voice of the nobles was hid” - it being common in the Hebrew when two nouns come together, of different numbers and gender, for the verb to conform to the latter. Rosenmuller. The word “nobles” here is to be understood in the sense of “counsellors,” or men of rank. They would now be called “Emirs,” or “Sheiks.” And their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth - They were so awed by my presence that they could not speak.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| קוֹל־ | kol- | [the] voice of | H6963 → | 506 times |
| נְגִידִ֥ים | negidim | nobles | H5057 → | |
| נֶחְבָּ֑אוּ | nechbau | they were hidden | H2244 → | 33 times |
| וּ֝לְשׁוֹנָ֗ם | uleshonam | and tongue their | H3956 → | 117 times |
| לְחִכָּ֥ם | lechikam | to palate their | H2441 → | 18 times |
| דָּבֵֽקָה׃ | davekah | it stuck | H1692 → | 54 times |
קוֹל־[the] voice of
kol-H6963 →506 times
נְגִידִ֥יםnobles
negidimH5057 →
נֶחְבָּ֑אוּthey were hidden
nechbauH2244 →33 times
וּ֝לְשׁוֹנָ֗םand tongue their
uleshonamH3956 →117 times
לְחִכָּ֥םto palate their
lechikamH2441 →18 times
דָּבֵֽקָה׃it stuck
davekahH1692 →54 times
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
Psalms 137:6May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy!
it leads to
- Ezekiel 3:26
I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, and you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, though they are a rebellious house.
- Psalms 22:15
My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You lay me in the dust of death.
- Psalms 84:10
For better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
- Isaiah 41:17
The poor and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
- Lamentations 4:4
The nursing infant’s tongue clings in thirst to the roof of his mouth. Little children beg for bread, but no one gives them any.
- Ezekiel 3:26
Through
Ezekiel 3:26I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, and you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, though they are a rebellious house.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 24:27
On that day your mouth will be opened to him who has escaped; you will speak and no longer be mute. So you will be a sign to them, and they will know that…
- Psalms 137:6
May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy!
- Micah 3:6–7
Therefore night will come over you without visions, and darkness without divination. The sun will set on these prophets, and the daylight will turn black over them.
- Ezekiel 24:27
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Job
This page draws on 9 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); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XIX; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.