I must speak to find relief, so let me give my answers.
Parallel translations
- WEB I will speak, that I may be refreshed. I will open my lips and answer.
- KJV I will speak, that I may be refreshed: I will open my lips and answer.
- BSB I must speak and find relief; I must open my lips and respond.
- NKJV I will speak, that I may find relief; I must open my lips and answer.
- NASB “Let me speak so that I may get relief; Let me open my lips and answer.
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
Moses destroys the calf, grinds it to powder, and makes Israel drink it. The idol is utterly reduced to nothing and shown to be powerless.
Overview
By burning, grinding, and dispersing the calf in water, Moses demonstrates the impotence of the idol they had worshiped. Forcing the people to drink it may signify their having to bear the consequences of their sin. The act publicly exposes the folly of idolatry and the futility of false gods.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Job 21:3Allow me, and I also will speak; After I have spoken, mock on.
- Prov 8:6–7Hear, for I will speak excellent things. The opening of my lips is for right things.
- Job 13:13“Be silent, leave me alone, that I may speak. Let come on me what will.
- Job 20:2“Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me, even by reason of my haste that is in me.
- Job 13:19Who is he who will contend with me? For then would I hold my peace and give up the spirit.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 32:20 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.