Job 34:3
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
For the ear tries words, as the mouth tastes meat.
American King James Version (AKJV)
For the ear tries words, as the mouth tastes meat.
American Standard Version (ASV)
For the ear trieth words, As the palate tasteth food.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
For words are tested by the ear, as food is tasted by the mouth.
Webster's Revision
For the ear trieth words, as the mouth tasteth food.
World English Bible
For the ear tries words, as the palate tastes food.
English Revised Version (ERV)
For the ear trieth words, as the palate tasteth meat.
Definitions for Job 34:3
Clarke's Job 34:3 Bible Commentary
The ear trieth words - I do not think, with Calmet, that the inward ear, or judgment, is meant simply. The Asiatics valued themselves on the nice and harmonious collection of words, both in speaking and in writing; and perhaps it will be found here that Elihu labors as much for harmonious versification as for pious and weighty sentiments. To connect sense with sound was an object of general pursuit among the Hebrew, Arabic, and Persian poets; and so fond are the latter of euphony, that they often sacrifice both sense and sentiment to it; and some of the Greek poets are not exempt from this fault.
Barnes's Job 34:3 Bible Commentary
For the ear trieth words - Ascertains their meaning, and especially determines what words are worth regarding. The object of this is, to fix the attention on what he was about to say; to get the ear so that every word should make its proper impression. The word ear in this place, however, seems not to be used to denote the external organ, but the whole faculty of hearing. It is by hearing that the meaning of what is said is determined, as it is by the taste that the quality of food is discerned.
As the mouth tasteth meat - Margin, as in Hebrew "palate." The meaning is, as the organ of taste determines the nature of the various articles of food. The same figure is used by Job in Job 12:11.
