“Listen carefully to my words; let this be your consolation to me.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Listen diligently to my speech. Let this be your consolation.
- KJV Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations.
- 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 2:1We must pay closer attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.
- Job 34:2“Hear my words, O wise men; give ear to me, O men of learning.
- Job 33:31–33Pay attention, Job, and listen to me; be silent, and I will speak.
- Job 16:2“I have heard many things like these; miserable comforters are you all.
- Judg 9:7When this was reported to Jotham, he climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim, raised his voice, and cried out: “Listen to me, O leaders of Shechem, and may God listen to you.
- Isa 55:2Why spend money on that which is not bread, and your labor on that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of foods.
- Job 33:1“But now, O Job, hear my speech, and listen to all my words.
- Job 13:3–4Yet I desire to speak to the Almighty and argue my case before God.
- Job 18:2“How long until you end these speeches? Show some sense, and then we can talk.
- Job 15:11Are the consolations of God not enough for you, even words spoken gently to you?
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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.