How painful are honest words! But what does your argument prove?
Parallel translations
- WEB How forcible are words of uprightness! But your reproof, what does it reprove?
- KJV How forcible are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove?
- NKJV How forceful are right words! But what does your arguing prove?
- NASB “How painful are honest words! But what does your argument prove?
- NLT Honest words can be painful, but what do your criticisms amount to?
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
Honest words are forcible, but Job asks what their reproof actually proves. He concedes that true rebuke has power, yet theirs lacks substance.
Overview
Job admits that upright, truthful words carry weight, but their criticism of him establishes nothing real. He distinguishes between honest argument and empty accusation. The verse honors the power of true speech while exposing the emptiness of unfounded blame, a reminder that rebuke must be grounded in truth and love, as in the word of Christ, who speaks the truth that genuinely convicts and heals.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Prov 16:21–24The wise in heart are called discerning, and pleasant speech promotes instruction.
- Job 4:4Your words have steadied those who stumbled; you have braced the knees that were buckling.
- Job 24:25If this is not so, then who can prove me a liar and reduce my words to nothing?”
- Prov 25:11A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.
- Job 13:5If only you would remain silent; for that would be your wisdom!
- Job 16:3–5Is there no end to your long-winded speeches? What provokes you to continue testifying?
- Prov 18:21Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
- Job 21:34So how can you comfort me with empty words? For your answers remain full of falsehood.”
- Prov 12:18Speaking rashly is like a piercing sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
- Job 32:3and he burned with anger against Job’s three friends because they had failed to refute Job, and yet had condemned him.
- Eccl 12:10–11The Teacher searched to find delightful sayings and to record accurate words of truth.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 6:25 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.