Bible Strands
Job 12:11
Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes its food?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Job addresses his three friends during his prolonged suffering, using a sensory analogy to argue that God's sovereign control over life and breath demands careful evaluation.
The words — The Hebrew אֹזֶן ('ozen) means "ear" and חֵךְ (chekh) means "palate," directly mirroring the verse's comparison of auditory testing to gustatory tasting.
The thread — The text's sensory analogy for discernment reappears in Job 34:3 and informs Hebrews 5:14's teaching that mature believers train their senses to distinguish good from evil.
Why it lands — The verse states that human experience validates truth, then asks readers to apply tested judgment rather than accept unexamined arguments.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Doth not the ear try words? and the mouth taste his meat?
Cross-references
- Job 34:3 For the ear tests words as the mouth tastes food.
- Hebrews 5:14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained their senses to distinguish good from evil.
- Job 6:30 Is there iniquity on my tongue? Can my mouth not discern malice?
- Philippians 1:10 so that you may be able to test and prove what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
- 1 Peter 2:3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
- 1 Corinthians 10:15 I speak to reasonable people; judge for yourselves what I say.