Even if I speak, my pain is not relieved, and if I hold back, how will it go away?
Parallel translations
- WEB “Though I speak, my grief is not subsided. Though I forbear, what am I eased?
- KJV Though I speak, my grief is not asswaged: and though I forbear, what am I eased?
- NKJV “Though I speak, my grief is not relieved; And if I remain silent, how am I eased?
- NASB ¶“If I speak, my pain is not lessened, And if I refrain, what pain leaves me?
- NLT Instead, I suffer if I defend myself, and I suffer no less if I refuse to speak.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Job finds no relief whether he speaks or stays silent. His grief remains unbearable either way.
Overview
Job confesses that neither pouring out his complaint nor holding it in eases his pain. This honest admission captures the depth of suffering that words cannot dispel. It reflects the reality that some anguish has no easy remedy, driving the sufferer ultimately to look beyond himself to God, who alone can truly comfort.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Job 10:1“I loathe my own life; I will express my complaint and speak in the bitterness of my soul.
- Ps 88:15–18From my youth I was afflicted and near death. I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair.
- Ps 77:1–9For the choirmaster. According to Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph. I cried out to God; I cried aloud to God to hear me.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 16:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.