Does not the ear test words And the mouth taste its food?
Parallel translations
- WEB Doesn’t the ear try words, even as the palate tastes its food?
- KJV Doth not the ear try words? and the mouth taste his meat?
- BSB Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes its food?
- NASB “Does the ear not put words to the test, As the palate tastes its food?
- NLT The ear tests the words it hears just as the mouth distinguishes between foods.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Job notes that the ear tests words as the palate tastes food. He calls for discernment in weighing what is said.
Overview
With a proverb, Job invites his hearers to examine arguments carefully, just as the mouth distinguishes flavors. He implicitly urges discernment of his friends' faulty counsel. The verse commends thoughtful testing of every teaching, a practice Scripture upholds for guarding against error (1 Thessalonians 5:21; Acts 17:11).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Job 34:3For the ear tries words, as the palate tastes food.
- Heb 5:14But solid food is for those who are full grown, who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.
- Phil 1:10so that you may approve the things that are excellent; that you may be sincere and without offense to the day of Christ;
- Job 6:30Is there injustice on my tongue? Can’t my taste discern mischievous things?
- 1 Pet 2:3if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious:
- 1 Cor 10:15I speak as to wise men. Judge what I say.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 12:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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