3 For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words.
[¹] Or, word.
Do not be hasty with thy lips, nor in thought hurry forth a word against the Almighty, for that Almighty is in the heavens, and thou art upon the earth: on this account let thy words be sparing. Because just as there comes dreaming through a multitude of anxieties, so there comes the voice of a befooled through a multitude of reasonings.
(2, 3.) Do not hasten (the hastiness of vexation, see Job iv. 5, xxiii. 15, Psalms vi. 10) upon thy mouth (the preposition is by no means redundant), and thy heart do not hurry (the usual word denoting the hurry of want of time. The meaning then is, do not speak, no, do not even think, hastily) to cause to send out a word (with the usual meaning of ‘a reason to be acted on’) before the Deity, because the Deity (as this is a repetition, the word becomes emphatic, ‘that Deity’) in the heavens and thou (emphatic) on the earth, therefore be thy words a few (i.e. diminished rather than increased, hence the following). For comes the dream in the multitude of anxiety, and a voice of a befooled one (for it is without the article) in the multitude of words (or ‘reasons,’ as above). The argument now passes over from rash speeches to rash vows. A vow is a favourite resource with the foolish for obtaining the accomplishment of their wishes: they think to bribe Providence with gifts and offerings.
4 When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.
(2.) Shouldst thou have vowed specially to God, do not be slow to pay it; because there is no providence with the befooled ones: just what thou hast vowed pay.
(4.) When thou hast vowed a vow (‘If by any means thou hast done this,’ for considerable emphasis is given by the repetition of ‘vow,’ according to the well-known Hebrew idiom) to God, do not defer to pay it (the alacrity with which men vow is commonly in strong contrast with the tardiness with which they pay), because there is nothing of providence (חפץ, with its usual technical meaning, and also equivocal, in the sense of ‘pleasure’) in befooled ones: with respect to what thou hast vowed, pay (the LXX. render σὺ οὖν ‘thou then,’ but the emphasis given by את אשר may easily account for this).