Job 32:10
MAY I HELP YOU? the Teller Machine asked. Joan inserted her ATM card, chose English as her preferred language, and tapped out her secret code: JOB 32 10.
— Sewer, Gas & Electric, chapter seventeen
This is one of those minor bits of business that I spend entirely too much time on. At one point in Sewer, Gas, Joan Fine tries to get $400 out of an Automatic Teller Machine, raising the question of what her ATM code should be. Given Joan’s background, a Bible verse seemed appropriate, and after flipping through my RSV, I settled on Job chapter 32, verse 10: “Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me; let me also declare my opinion.’” These words are spoken by Elihu, son of Barachel the Buzite, who is in the process of telling Job and Job’s friends what a bunch of morons they are. Struck me as apt.