Job 6:30
in Job 6Is there iniquity on my tongue? Can my mouth not discern malice?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Is there injustice on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern mischievous things?
KJV
Is there iniquity in my tongue? cannot my taste discern perverse things?
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This verse in Job 6
Commentary
11 notes on this verseAnd ye shall not find iniquity in my tongue, nor shall foolishness sound through my jaws. As if it were expressed in plain words, 'The more exactly ye weigh your own words, the more truly ye estimate those of others, and when what ye say begins to be right, ye will recognise what ye hear to be just. For my tongue never sounds of folly to you, unless it be what comes from your own inward thoughts.'
This site's exposition
But now, please look at me
on Job 6:28-30
Job asks to be looked at, "But now, please look at me," and offers his visible integrity as evidence: "Would I lie to your face". The chapter closes with his confidence in his own moral discernment, "Can my mouth not discern malice," a claim the book's ending leaves standing.
This site's exposition
Is there iniquity on my tongue
The mouth that tasted food without salt in verse 6 now tests words. Barnes reads the palate here as the sense that can discern malice, and Job asks his friends to trust it. His tongue has spoken no iniquity.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
The third impediment exists when someone in a disputation does not aim at the truth but at victory or glory, as happens in law cases or sophistical debates. "In speaking, judge what is right," i.e. to concede what seems to be true to you, and …
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me. 5 Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or loweth the ox over his fodder? 6 Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
"You hear what I have to say: Is there iniquity in my tongue? that iniquity that you charge me with? Have I blasphemed God or renounced him? Are not my present arguings right?
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
Is there - Consider if there be any untruth or iniquity in what I have already said, or shall farther speak. Taste - My judgment, which judgeth of words and actions, as the palate doth of meats.
Is there iniquity in my tongue?....
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Will you say that my guilt lies in the organ of speech, and will you call it to account? or, Is it that my taste (palate) or discernment is not capable to form a judgment of perverse things? Is it thus you will explain the fact of my having no consciousness of guilt? [UMBREIT].
Is there iniquity in my tongue? - Am I not an honest man? and if in my haste my tongue had uttered falsity, would not my conscience discern it? and do you think that such a man as your friend is would defend what he knew to be wrong? I Have done what I could to make this chapter plain, to preserve the connection, and show the dependence of the several parts on each other; without which many of the sayings would have been very obscure.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Is there iniquity in my tongue? - This is a solemn appeal to their consciences, and their own deep conviction that he was sincere. Iniquity in the tongue means falsehood, deceit, hypocrisy - that which would be expressed by the tongue. Cannot my taste discern perverse things? - Margin, palate. The word used here חך chêk means properly the palate, together with the corresponding lower part of the mouth, the inside mouth. Gesenius. Hence, it means the organ of taste, residing in the mouth. The meaning is, that Job was qualified to discern what was true or false, sincere or hypocritical, just or unjust, in the same manner as the palate is fitted to discern the qualities of objects, whether bitter or sweet, pleasant or unpleasant, wholesome or unwholesome. His object is to invite attention to what he had to state on the subject. To this proposed vindication he proceeds in the following chapter, showing the greatness of his calamity, and his right, as he supposes, to complain. Their attention was gained. They did not refuse to listen to him, and he proceeds to a fuller statement of his calamity, and of the reasons why he had allowed himself to use the language of complaint. They listened without interruption until he was done, and then replied in tones of deeper severity still.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֲיֵשׁ־ | hayesh- | ¿ [is] there | H3426 → | 140 times |
| בִּלְשׁוֹנִ֥י | bilshoni | on tongue my | H3956 → | 117 times |
| עַוְלָ֑ה | ʾavlah | injustice | H5766 → | 54 times |
| אִם־ | ʾim- | or? | H518 → | 1069 times |
| חִ֝כִּ֗י | chiki | palate my | H2441 → | 18 times |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יָבִ֥ין | yavin | does it discern | H995 → | 170 times |
| הַוּֽוֹת׃ | havot | destruction<s> | H1942 → | 16 times |
הֲיֵשׁ־¿ [is] there
hayesh-H3426 →140 times
בִּלְשׁוֹנִ֥יon tongue my
bilshoniH3956 →117 times
עַוְלָ֑הinjustice
ʾavlahH5766 →54 times
אִם־or?
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
חִ֝כִּ֗יpalate my
chikiH2441 →18 times
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
יָבִ֥יןdoes it discern
yavinH995 →170 times
הַוּֽוֹת׃destruction<s>
havotH1942 →16 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
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.
- Philippians 1:9–10
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,
- 1 Corinthians 2:6
Among the mature, however, we speak a message of wisdom—but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
- Ephesians 1:18
I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints,
- 1 Corinthians 2:14–15
Through
Job 12:11Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes its food?
it leads to
- Job 34:3
For the ear tests words as the mouth tastes food.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Hebrews 5:14
But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained their senses to distinguish good from evil.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Job 34:3
Through
Job 34:3For the ear tests words as the mouth tastes food.
it leads to
- Job 12:11
Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes its food?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Job 12:11
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Job
This page draws on 10 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; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book VIII; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.