John Trapp on Job 29:10

Verſe 10. The Nobles held their peace] The Hebrew word for Nobles, ſignifieth ſuch as ſtand in the preſence of great Princes; or, ſuch as the people eyeth and referreth all things to them. Theſe (after the example of thoſe forementioned Princes, verſe 9) Held their peace] Heb. Hid their voice, Conticuêre omnes, intentique ora tenchant. Virg. Dr. Hall. as aſhamed to hear themſelves ſpeak before ſuch a Maſter of ſpeech, as Job was; of whom it might well be ſaid, as once of Dr. Whitaker, That never any man ſaw him without reverence, nor heard him without wonder.

And their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth] Ex metu loquendi, as being afraid before me, though themſelves were Anteceſſores vocis (as ſome render the former words) eloquent men and able Speakers. Demoſthenes that great Oratour, being to ſpeak before King Philip, three ſeveral times ſtood ſpeechleſſe, [non-Latin text not transcribed] Chiliad. 7 and thirty ſeveral times forgat what he had prepared to ſpeak unto him. An awful reſpect to Jobs dignity and worth, cauſed this extreme ſilence in theſe Grandees. And beſides, it may be they were of Plinyes mind, who ſaid, Non minus interdum Oratoris eſt tacere quam dicere. There is a time to keep ſilence, and a time to ſpeak, Eccleſ. 3.7.