to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
words
מִלָּ֑יmi.Lai
H4405
a word · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
wise
חֲכָמִ֣יםcha.kha.Mim
H2450
wise · adjective, masculine plural absolute
ear
הַאֲזִ֥ינוּha.'a.Zi.nu
H238
to broaden out the ear (with the hand) · verb, hiphil imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
knowledge
וְ֝יֹדְעִ֗יםve.yo.de.'Im
H3045
to know (properly · conjunction + verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Proverbs 1:5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
1 Corinthians 14:20 Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 34:1-9
Here, I. Elihu humbly addresses himself to the auditors, and endeavours, like an orator, to gain their good-will and their favourable attention. 1. He calls them wise men, and men that had knowledge, Job 34:2. It is comfortable dealing with such as understand sense. I speak as to wise men, who can judge what I say, Co1 10:15. Elihu differed in opinion from them, and yet he calls them wise and knowing men. Peevish disputants think all fools that are not of their mind; but it is a piece of justice which we owe to those who are wise to acknowledge it, though our sentiments do not agree with theirs. 2. He appeals to their judgment, and therefore submits to their trial, Job 34:3. The ear of the j…
This chapter is addressed also to the "friends" as the thirty-third chapter to Job alone.
John Gill on Job 34:2
Hear my words, O ye wise men,.... This is not an address to Job's three friends, as some think; for Elihu had expressed his displeasure at them, in condemning Job without convicting him, and returning solid answers to him; and therefore he should not take their method of dealing with him, but take another; and plainly suggests that wisdom was not with them, nor taught by them; and therefore, as he could not give flattering titles to men, it could not well be thought that he should address them as wise and understanding men, unless indeed in an ironic way, as some choose to interpret it; see Job 32:3. Rather therefore some bystanders are here spoken to, whom Elihu knew to be men of wisdom and…
1 Then began Elihu and said:
2 Hear, ye wise men, my words,
And ye experienced ones, give ear to me!
3 For the ear trieth words,
As the palate tasteth by eating.
4 Let us find out what is right,
Let us explore among ourselves what is good.
After his first speech Elihu has made a brief pause; now since Job is silent, he begins anew. ויען ויאמר, lxx correctly, here as in all other instances where the phrase occurs: ὑπολαβὼν λέγει, taking up the word he said. The wise and the knowing (Arab. ‛ulamâ), whose attention he bespeaks, are not Job and the three (Umbr., Hahn), who are indeed a party, and as such a subject for the arbitrative appearance of Elihu; also not every one capable of forming…
The Church Fathers
"You who possess wisdom, give ear to my words:" the ear that hears supernatural truths. 3., "For the ear discerns discourse," the carnal ear.
Because of the former accusations that he had brought against his hearers, Elihu soothes them now with softer words by calling them wise men who know righteousness and honesty.
Hear my words, O ye wise men, and listen to me, ye learned. For the ear trieth words, and the throat discerneth meats by the taste. As if he were to say, as the ear does not discern meats, nor the throat words, so a fool does not understand the sentence of the wise. Hear therefore what I say, ye wise and learned, who can understand the meaning of what has been said. Let us see then how great is his pride, who imagines that his words can be fitly heard only by the wise. But the true preacher of wisdom says, I am a debtor both to the wise, and to the unwise. [Rom. 1, 14] But the arrogant, on the other hand, in his preaching looks only for the ears of the wise. And this not because he preaches for the purpose of making men wise, but he seeks for wise men, in order that he may proudly display his sentiments. For, as was said before, he does not seek to instruct them, but to display himself. Nor does he consider how righteous those that hear him become, but how learned he appears, when listened to by the learned. But since no one would listen to the preaching of the proud, if they did not throw in some semblance of humility; Eliu, after having extolled himself with swelling words, again condescends, as it were, to put himself on a level of equality...
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
