I have spoken once, but I have no answer—twice, but I have nothing to add.”
Parallel translations
- WEB I have spoken once, and I will not answer; Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.”
- KJV Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
- NKJV Once I have spoken, but I will not answer; Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.”
- NASB “I have spoken once, and I will not reply; Or twice, and I will add nothing more.”
- NLT I have said too much already. I have nothing more to say.”
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 admits he has spoken and will say no more, refusing to press his case further. He withdraws his complaint in silence before God.
Overview
Job declares that whatever he has said, he will not add to it; he ceases his contention. This restraint marks a real shift from his earlier insistence on arguing with God. Yet God will continue, leading Job from silence to fuller repentance. The passage models the humility of one who, encountering God's holiness, learns to cease justifying himself and to wait on the Lord.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 62:11God has spoken once; I have heard this twice: that power belongs to God,
- Job 33:14For God speaks in one way and in another, yet no one notices.
- Job 9:3If one wished to contend with God, he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand.
- Job 9:15For even if I were right, I could not answer. I could only beg my Judge for mercy.
- Rom 3:19Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.
- 2 Kgs 6:10So the king of Israel sent word to the place the man of God had pointed out. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.
- Job 34:31–32Suppose someone says to God, ‘I have endured my punishment; I will offend no more.
- Jer 31:18–19I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: ‘You disciplined me severely, like an untrained calf. Restore me, that I may return, for You are the LORD my God.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 40:5 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.