Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me, even by reason of my haste that is in me.
- 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 31:22For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee.
- Prov 14:29He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.
- Job 20:3I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer.
- Jer 20:9Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
- Job 4:2If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking?
- Job 32:13–20Lest ye should say, We have found out wisdom: God thrusteth him down, not man.
- Eccl 7:9Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.
- Prov 29:20Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope of a fool than of him.
- Job 13:19Who is he that will plead with me? for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost.
- Ps 39:2–3I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.
- Rom 10:2For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
- Ps 116:11I said in my haste, All men are liars.
- Jas 1:19Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
- Mark 6:25And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist.
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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.