But if you have something to say, answer me; speak up, for I would like to vindicate you.
Parallel translations
- WEB If you have anything to say, answer me. Speak, for I desire to justify you.
- KJV If thou hast anything to say, answer me: speak, for I desire to justify thee.
- NKJV If you have anything to say, answer me; Speak, for I desire to justify you.
- NASB “Then if you have anything to say, answer me; Speak, for I would take pleasure in justifying you.
- NLT But if you have anything to say, go ahead. Speak, for I am anxious to see you justified.
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
Elihu invites Job to respond if he has anything to say, claiming he desires to justify Job. It shows Elihu's stated goodwill toward Job.
Overview
Elihu offers Job a fair chance to answer, professing that he wishes to see Job vindicated rather than merely condemned. This sets Elihu apart in tone from the three friends, even if his arguments remain incomplete. His desire that Job be justified hints, however imperfectly, at the deeper need for a justification that God alone provides through Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Job 27:5I will never say that you are right; I will maintain my integrity until I die.
- Job 21:27Behold, I know your thoughts full well, the schemes by which you would wrong me.
- Job 22:5–9Is not your wickedness great? Are not your iniquities endless?
- Job 15:4–5But you even undermine the fear of God and hinder meditation before Him.
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 33:32 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.