“So my anxious thoughts compel me to answer, because of the turmoil within me.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me, even by reason of my haste that is in me.
- KJV Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste.
- NKJV “Therefore my anxious thoughts make me answer, Because of the turmoil within me.
- NASB “Therefore my disquieting thoughts make me respond, Even because of my inward agitation.
- NLT “I must reply because I am greatly disturbed.
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
Zophar says his troubled thoughts and inner agitation compel him to answer. He speaks out of stirred-up emotion.
Overview
Zophar admits he is provoked to respond by his own restless thoughts and haste, betraying that emotion as much as conviction drives him. His self-disclosure shows a man more eager to defend his system than to understand Job. The verse quietly cautions against speaking from agitation rather than wisdom, especially to those who are suffering.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Ps 31:22In my alarm I said, “I am cut off from Your sight!” But You heard my plea for mercy when I called to You for help.
- Prov 14:29A patient man has great understanding, but a quick-tempered man promotes folly.
- Job 20:3I have heard a rebuke that insults me, and my understanding prompts a reply.
- Jer 20:9If I say, “I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,” His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones, and I become weary of holding it in, and I cannot prevail.
- Job 4:2“If one ventures a word with you, will you be wearied? Yet who can keep from speaking?
- Job 32:13–20So do not claim, ‘We have found wisdom; let God, not man, refute him.’
- Eccl 7:9Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger settles in the lap of a fool.
- Prov 29:20Do you see a man who speaks in haste? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
- Job 13:19Can anyone indict me? If so, I will be silent and die.
- Ps 39:2–3I was speechless and still; I remained silent, even from speaking good, and my sorrow was stirred.
- Rom 10:2For I testify about them that they are zealous for God, but not on the basis of knowledge.
- Ps 116:11In my alarm I said, “All men are liars!”
- Jas 1:19My beloved brothers, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,
- Mark 6:25At once the girl hurried back to the king with her request: “I want you to give me the head of John the Baptist on a platter immediately.”
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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 20:2 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.