“Therefore my thoughts answer me, even by reason of my haste that is in me.
Parallel Translations
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“Therefore my thoughts answer me, even by reason of my haste that is in me.
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Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste.
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Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me, even by reason of mine agitation that is in me.
Cross-references (14)
Passages linked to Job 20:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 31:22 As for me, I said in my haste, “I am cut off from before your eyes.” Nevertheless you heard the voice of my petitions when I cried to you.
- Proverbs 14:29 He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a quick temper displays folly.
- Job 4:2 “If someone ventures to talk with you, will you be grieved? But who can withhold himself from speaking?
- Job 13:19 Who is he who will contend with me? For then would I hold my peace and give up the spirit.
- Job 20:3 I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame. The spirit of my understanding answers me.
- Job 32:13-20 Beware lest you say, ‘We have found wisdom. God may refute him, not man;’ for he has not directed his words against me; neither will I answer him with your speeches. “They are amazed. They answer no more. They don’t have a word to say. Shall I wait, because they don’t speak, because they stand still, and answer no more? I also will answer my part, and I also will show my opinion. For I am full of words. The spirit within me constrains me. Behold, my breast is as wine which has no vent; like new wineskins it is ready to burst. I will speak, that I may be refreshed. I will open my lips and answer.
- Psalms 39:2-3 I was mute with silence. I held my peace, even from good. My sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned. I spoke with my tongue:
- Psalms 116:11 I said in my haste, “All people are liars.”
- Proverbs 29:20 Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
- Ecclesiastes 7:9 Don’t be hasty in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools.
- Jeremiah 20:9 If I say, I will not make mention of him, or speak any more in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones. I am weary with holding it in. I can’t.
- Mark 6:25 She came in immediately with haste to the king, and asked, “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptizer on a platter.”
- Romans 10:2 For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
- James 1:19 So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger;
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 20:2 Therefore do my thoughts cause me to…
Job 20:2 Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for [this] I make haste.
Ver. 2. Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer] q.d. Whereas I had thought, O Job, to have spoke no more to thee (for I see I do but lose my sweet words), thy last comminatory expressions have altered my resolution. So nettled I am that I must needs interrupt thee. And yet think not that I shall speak whatsoever lieth uppermost; for I have dipped and dyed my words in my thoughts, which do now prompt me what to answer, and bid me make haste.
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And for this I make haste] Lest I should forget the particulars of thy speech, whereto I am to answer. Munster rendereth it thus, Et ob id promptitudo mea est intra me, as if Zophar had boasted of his ready elocution, as in the next verse of his ripe understanding. Some render it, For this I delight in answering (Lavat.).
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Therefore; for this thy severe sentence and denunciation of…
Therefore; for this thy severe sentence and denunciation of God’s judgments against us, Job 19:29, which much more justly belongs to thyself and is actually executed upon thee; and because of thy reproaches, as it followeth, Job 20:3.
My thoughts cause me to answer: I thought to have troubled myself and thee with no further discourses, considering how exceptious and incorrigible thou art; but my thoughts or consideration of thy reproachful words force me to break silence, and to answer thee as the matter requires.
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For this I make haste; I speak sooner than I intended, because I am not able to contain myself longer, and fear lest I should forget what is in my mind. Possibly he interrupted Job when he was proceeding further in his discourse; or he prevented some of his brethren who made an offer to speak.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer,.... Or…
Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer,.... Or "to return" (a) and appear upon the stage again, and enter the lists once more with his antagonist; he suggests as if he had intended to have said no more in this controversy, but observing what Job had said last, could not forbear replying: "therefore" because he had represented him and his friends as cruel persecutors of him, as men devoid of all humanity, pity, and compassion, and endeavoured to terrify them with the punishments of the sword, and the judgment of God to come; these occasioned many "thoughts" in him, and those thoughts obliged him to give an answer; they came in so thick and fast upon him, that out of the abundance, his heart suggested to him he could not but speak, he was full of matter, and the spirit within him, the impulse upon his mind, constrained him to make a reply; and he seems desirous of having it understood that his answer proceeded from thought; that he did not speak without thinking, but had well weighed things in his mind; and what he was about to say was the fruit of close thinking and mature deliberation:
and for this I make haste; because his thoughts crowded in upon him, he had a fulness of matter, an impulse of mind, promptitude and readiness to speak on this occasion, and for fear of losing what was suggested to him, he made haste to give in his answer, perhaps observing some other of his friends rising up before him. The Targum is,
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"because my sense is in me;''
and so other Jewish writers (b); be apprehended he had a right sense of things, and understood the matter in controversy full well, and therefore thought it incumbent on him to speak once more in it: Gussetius (c) renders it, "because of my disquietude"; the uneasiness of his mind raised by what Job had said, that he would have them know and consider there was a judgment; and he intimates he had considered it, and was fearful that should he be silent, and make no reply, God would condemn him in judgment for his silence; and therefore he was in a hurry to make answer, and could not be easy without it; and for his reasons for so doing he further explains himself in Job 20:3.
(a) "reducunt me, q. d. in scenam"; Cocceius, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius. (b) Ben Gersom, Bar Tzemach, Sephorno; and so Montanus. (c) Ebr. Comment. p. 246.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Therefore - For this thy severe sentence. Make haste…
Therefore - For this thy severe sentence. Make haste - I speak sooner than I intended. And possibly interrupted Job, when he was proceeding in his discourse.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 2. Therefore do my thoughts] It has already…
Verse 2. Therefore do my thoughts] It has already been observed that Zophar was the most inveterate of all Job's enemies, for we really must cease to call them friends. He sets no bounds to his invective, and outrages every rule of charity. A man of such a bitter spirit must have been, in general, very unhappy. With him Job is, by insinuation, every thing that is base, vile, and hypocritical. Mr. Good translates this verse thus: "Whither would my tumult transport me? And how far my agitation within me?" This is all the modesty that appears in Zophar's discourse. He acknowledges that he is pressed by the impetuosity of his spirit to reply to Job's self-vindication. The original is variously translated, but the sense is as above.
For this I make haste.] ובעבור חושי בי ubaabur chushi bi, there is sensibility in me, and my feelings provoke me to reply.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Job 20:2. Therefore — For this thy severe sentence;…
Job 20:2. Therefore — For this thy severe sentence; do my thoughts cause me to answer — I thought to have troubled myself and thee with no further discourses, but these words of thine make my former thoughts to return again, and so provoke me, that I am not able any longer to forbear speaking.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Therefore - לכן lākên, “certainly, truly.” In view of…
Therefore - לכן lākên, “certainly, truly.” In view of what has been just said. Or perhaps the word means merely certainly, truly.
Do my thoughts cause me to answer - This is variously rendered. The Vulgate renders it, Idcirco cogitationes meae variae succedunt sibi, et mens in diversa rapitur - “Therefore my various thoughts follow in succession, and the mind is distracted.” The Septuagint, “I did not suppose that thou wouldst speak against these things, and you do not understand more than I.” How this was ever made from the Hebrew it is impossible to say. On the word “thoughts,” see the notes at Job 4:13. The word denotes thoughts which divide and distract the mind; not calm and collected reflections, but those which disturb, disconcert, and trouble. He acknowledges that it was not calm reflection which induced him to reply, but the agitating emotions produced by the speech of Job. The word rendered “cause me to answer” (ישׁיבוּני yeshı̂ybûnı̂y), “cause me to return” - and Jerome understood it as meaning that his thoughts returned upon him in quick and troublesome succession, and says in his Commentary on Job, that the meaning is, “I am troubled and agitated because you say that you sustain these evils from God without cause, when nothing evil ought to be suspected of God.”
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And for this I make haste - Margin, “my haste is in me.” The meaning is, “the impetuosity of my feelings urges me on. I reply on account of the agitation of my soul, which will admit of no delay.” His heart was full, and he hastened to give vent to his feelings in impassioned and earnest language.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Therefore. From this concession which thou hast just made.…
Therefore. From this concession which thou hast just made. (Menochius) --- Various. Hebrew, "Hence do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I hasten." Septuagint, "I did not thus suspect that thou wouldst contradict these things," &c. (Haydock) --- Sophar only speaks this second time; and he produces little new, but begins with an air of more moderation, as if the arguments of Job had made some impression upon him. (Calmet) --- He attempts to prove that the wicked have no comfort long; which is true in one sense, as all time is short, though they may prosper all their lives, as Job corrects his observation, chap. xxi. 13. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain The Introduction announces the theme of the following discourse.…
The Introduction announces the theme of the following discourse. THE JUBILEE OF THE WICKED IS ONLY OF SHORT DURATION, Job_20:2-5.
2. Therefore — The threatened judgment with which Job closes rouses Zophar’s fiery indignation, and colours his entire reply; the judgment Job threatens, lies in wait for himself. For this, etc. — Literally, because of my fervour (also, haste) within me. The cognate word in the Arabic, “boil with heat,” furnishes the true meaning of חושׁ, fervour, heat.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 2, 3. Zophar is roused to indignation by Job’s…
2, 3. Zophar is roused to indignation by Job’s perverse blindness to unalterable principles experienced since the world was. The verses should perhaps read,
2. Therefore do my thoughts make answer to me,
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And because of this have I haste within me:
3. I hear the rebuke that putteth me to shame—
But the spirit out of my understanding answereth me.
The words “therefore” and “because of this” refer to the first clause of Job_20:3.—I hear the rebuke that puts me to shame (i. e. Job’s last words), therefore do my thoughts make answer to me, and because of this have I inward haste, i. e. strong feeling. The speaker means that he feels driven to answer Job by the exasperating words of the latter, but he distinguishes between himself and his thoughts and speaks of them answering him. So (Job_20:3) his “spirit” answers him, drawing the answer out of his “understanding.” The answer furnished to Zophar by his spirit follows Job_20:4 seq. The last words of Job_20:2 are lit. “is my haste within me;” cf. their cord in them, Job_4:21, my help within me, Job_6:13. The word “check” in A. V. Job_20:3 means reproof;
“Now, by my life,
Old fools are babes again; and must be used
With checks, as flatteries.” Lear, 1. 3.
“Check’d like a bondman; all his faults observed.”
J. Caesar, IV. 3.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (2) Therefore.—That is, because of the eagerness that is…
(2) Therefore.—That is, because of the eagerness that is in him. His spirit is stirred in him, and impels him to reply.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.