Job 6:30

Is there any falsehood ¹  on my lips? Can my mouth ²  not discern evil things? ³ 

Is there any wickedness on my lips? Can my mouth not discern malice?

"Is there injustice on my tongue? Cannot my palate discern calamities?

Do you think I am lying? Don’t I know the difference between right and wrong?

Can you detect anything false in what I say? Don't you trust me to discern good from evil?

Is there evil in my tongue? is not the cause of my trouble clear to me?

Is there any wrong on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern calamity?

Is there injustice on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern the unsavory?

Is there any falsehood ¹  on my lips? Can my mouth ²  not discern evil things? ³ 

¹ tn The word עַוְלָה (’avlah) is repeated from the last verse. Here the focus is clearly on wickedness or injustice spoken.

sn These words make a fitting transition to ch. 7, which forms a renewed cry of despair from Job. Job still feels himself innocent, but in the hands of cruel fate which is out to destroy him.

² tn Heb “my palate.” Here “palate” is used not so much for the organ of speech (by metonymy) as of discernment. In other words, what he says indicates what he thinks.

³ tn The final word, הַוּוֹת (havvot) is usually understood as “calamities.” He would be asking if he could not discern his misfortune. But some argue that the word has to be understood in the parallelism to “wickedness” of words (D. J. A. Clines, Job [WBC], 162). Gordis connects it to Mic 7:3 and Ps 5:10 [9] where the meaning “deceit, falsehood” is found. The LXX has “and does not my throat meditate understanding?”