Job 12:11

Does not the ear test words, as ¹  the tongue ²  tastes food? ³ 

Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes food?

"Does not the ear test words, As the palate tastes its food?

Just as the mouth tastes good food, so the ear tests the words it hears.

Isn't this all just common sense, as common as the sense of taste?

Are not words tested by the ear, even as food is tasted by the mouth?

Does not the ear test words as the palate tastes food?

Does not the ear test words And the mouth taste its food?

Does not the ear test words, as ¹  the tongue ²  tastes food? ³ 

¹ tn The ו (vav) introduces the comparison here (see 5:7; 11:12); see GKC 499 §161.a.

² tn Heb “the palate.”

³ tn The final preposition with its suffix is to be understood as a pleonastic dativus ethicus and not translated (see GKC 439 §135.i).

sn In the rest of the chapter Job turns his attention away from creation to the wisdom of ancient men. In Job 13:1 when Job looks back to this part, he refers to both the eye and the ear. In vv. 13-25 Job refers to many catastrophes which he could not have seen, but must have heard about.