See now, I have opened my mouth. My tongue has spoken in my mouth.
Parallel translations
- KJV Behold, now I have opened my mouth, my tongue hath spoken in my mouth.
- BSB Behold, I will open my mouth; my address is on the tip of my tongue.
- NKJV Now, I open my mouth; My tongue speaks in my mouth.
- NASB “Behold now, I open my mouth, My tongue in my mouth speaks.
- NLT Now that I have begun to speak, let me continue.
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
God promises to send an angel ahead to drive out the nations of Canaan. He will give the land, but the manner of His presence is now in question.
Overview
God pledges to clear the way before Israel by His angel, listing the peoples to be dispossessed. While the promise of victory remains, the offer of merely an angel rather than God's own presence troubles Moses. The verse raises the central concern of the chapter: Israel needs not just God's gifts but God Himself.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
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 33:2 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.