Oh that you would keep silent: Job concludes this section on the contrast of his wisdom with that of his friends by suggesting that silence on their part would show them to be wise. It is the wisdom suggested in Proverbs 17.28: “Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise.”

And it would be your wisdom is literally “and that it may be wisdom to you.” It refers to keeping silent in the previous line. Good News Translation has restructured this verse so that wisdom is a verb which requires a subject, “someone may think you are wise,” which expresses the idea clearly. Verse 5 may also be expressed, for example, “I wish you would keep silent and show you are wise,” or by reversing the two lines, “I wish you would show that you are wise by not saying anything.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .