“Listen diligently to my speech. Let this be your consolation.
Parallel translations
- KJV Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations.
- BSB “Listen carefully to my words; let this be your consolation to me.
- NKJV “Listen carefully to my speech, And let this be your consolation.
- NASB “Listen carefully to my speech, And let this be your way of consolation.
- NLT “Listen closely to what I am saying. That’s one consolation you can give me.
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 asks his friends to listen carefully to his speech, saying this attention would be their best consolation to him. He requests a hearing instead of more accusation.
Overview
Job pleads that the friends simply listen to him, suggesting that genuine attention would itself be the comfort they have failed to give. His request exposes how they have spoken much but truly heard nothing. The verse commends the often-overlooked ministry of listening, a mark of love that is quick to hear and slow to speak (James 1:19).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Heb 2:1Therefore we ought to pay greater attention to the things that were heard, lest perhaps we drift away.
- Job 34:2“Hear my words, you wise men. Give ear to me, you who have knowledge.
- Job 33:31–33Mark well, Job, and listen to me. Hold your peace, and I will speak.
- Job 16:2“I have heard many such things. You are all miserable comforters!
- Judg 9:7When they told it to Jotham, he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, cried out, and said to them, “Listen to me, you men of Shechem, that God may listen to you.
- Isa 55:2Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which doesn’t satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in richness.
- Job 33:1“However, Job, please hear my speech, and listen to all my words.
- Job 13:3–4“Surely I would speak to the Almighty. I desire to reason with God.
- Job 18:2“How long will you hunt for words? Consider, and afterwards we will speak.
- Job 15:11Are the consolations of God too small for you, even the word that is gentle toward you?
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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 21:2 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.