Job 5:21

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible - Job 5:21

21. Scourge of the tongue The Targum refers this to the incantations of Balaam, but without reason. The word scourge, שׁושׂ , means whip, and is used here figuratively, with prime reference, perhaps, to the whip so frequently depicted on the monuments of Egypt. The same word, שׁושׂ , used of Satan’s rapid and destructive course and rendered “going to and fro,” means literally “whipping through,” Job 1:7. Jeremiah (Jeremiah 18:18) makes similar allusion to the tongue as a whip. Comp.... read more