In this verse Job finally states what it is he will swear to refrain from doing: my lips will not speak falsehood. My lips is a part of Job representing his whole being. Falsehood translates the same Hebrew word used in 13.7, where Good News Translation translated “lying.” In the negative this line may be rendered “I will never tell lies,” or positively, “I will always speak the truth.” The Hebrew word may refer to wickedness or evil, but in the context of speaking and lips, it is to be taken as falsehood or lying.

And my tongue will not utter deceit: tongue is parallel to lips in line a. Utter translates a word that is parallel with “speak” in Psalm 37.30 and has here the same meaning as in line a. The word translated deceit is used in parallel with falsehood in 13.7 (“falsely … deceitfully”). Aside from the changes in images, these two lines say the same thing. Good News Translation, which often reduces synonymous lines to one to avoid monotony of style in English, keeps both lines, including lips and tongue. Translators who find it best to shift “As God lives” to verse 4 should express the oath in a fully idiomatic manner, provided it is acceptable in the mouth of Job; for example, “I tell this truth and God hears my words; I will not lie,” “I say this before God who lives; I will not lie,” “May God who hears me strike me dead if I tell lies.” Translators may find the thought of line b is adequately expressed by line a, or may incorporate it into line a; for example, “I will not lie and will deceive no one.”

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 .