“Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me, even by reason of my haste that is in me.
Parallel translations
- KJV Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste.
- BSB “So my anxious thoughts compel me to answer, because of the turmoil within me.
- 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 31:22As 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.
- Prov 14:29He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a quick temper displays folly.
- Job 20:3I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame. The spirit of my understanding answers me.
- Jer 20:9If I say, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I can’t.
- Job 4:2“If someone ventures to talk with you, will you be grieved? But who can withhold himself from speaking?
- Job 32:13–20Beware lest you say, ‘We have found wisdom, God may refute him, not man;’
- Eccl 7:9Don’t be hasty in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools.
- Prov 29:20Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
- Job 13:19Who is he who will contend with me? For then would I hold my peace and give up the spirit.
- Ps 39:2–3I was mute with silence. I held my peace, even from good. My sorrow was stirred.
- Rom 10:2For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
- Ps 116:11I said in my haste, “All men are liars.”
- Jas 1:19So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger;
- Mark 6:25She 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.”
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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.