Job 12:20

New English Translation

²⁰He deprives the trusted advisers^[a] of speech^[b]
and takes away the discernment^[c] of elders.

Job 12:20 tn The Hebrew נֶאֱמָנִים (neʾemanim) is the Niphal participle; it is often translated “the faithful” in the Bible. The Rabbis rather fancifully took the word from נְאֻם (n^eʾum, “oracle, utterance”) and so rendered it “those who are eloquent, fluent in words.” But that would make this the only place in the Bible where this form came from that root or any other root besides אָמַן (ʾaman, “confirm, support”). But to say that God takes away the speech of the truthful or the faithful would be very difficult. It has to refer to reliable men, because it is parallel to the elders or old men. The NIV has “trusted advisers,” which fits well with kings and judges and priests.
Job 12:20 tn Heb “he removes the lip of the trusted ones.”
Job 12:20 tn Heb “taste,” meaning “opinion” or “decision.”

Job 12:24

New English Translation

²⁴He deprives the leaders of the earth^[a]
of their understanding;^[b]
he makes them wander
in a trackless desert waste.^[c]

Job 12:24 tn Heb “the heads of the people of the earth.”
Job 12:24 tn Heb “heart.”
Job 12:24 tn The text has בְּתֹהוּ לֹא־דָרֶךְ (b^etohu loʾ darekh): “in waste—no way,” or “in a wasteland [where there is] no way,” thus, “trackless” (see the discussion of negative attributes using לֹא [loʾ] in GKC 482 §152.u).

²⁵They grope about in darkness^[a] without light;
he makes them stagger^[b] like drunkards.

Job 12:25 tn The word is an adverbial accusative.
Job 12:25 tn The verb is the same that was in v. 24, “He makes them [the leaders still] wander” (the Hiphil of תָּעָה, taʿah). But in this passage some commentators emend the text to a Niphal of the verb and put it in the plural, to get the reading “they reel to and fro.” But even if the verse closes the chapter and there is no further need for a word of divine causation, the Hiphil sense works well here—causing people to wander like a drunken man would be the same as making them stagger.

New English Translation (NET)