“Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Therefore I will not keep silent. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
- KJV Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
- BSB Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
- NASB ¶“Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
- NLT “I cannot keep from speaking. I must express my anguish. My bitter soul must complain.
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 resolves to speak openly rather than suppress his anguish, pouring out the bitterness of his soul. He chooses honest lament before God.
Overview
Job refuses to stay silent, determining to voice his complaint. This is not faithless rebellion but raw, honest prayer in the tradition of biblical lament. Scripture validates bringing real grief and even protest to God, who is big enough to receive it, as the Psalms and Christ's own cry from the cross show.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Ps 40:9I have proclaimed glad news of righteousness in the great assembly. Behold, I will not seal my lips, Yahweh, you know.
- 1 Sam 1:10She was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to Yahweh, weeping bitterly.
- Job 10:1“My soul is weary of my life. I will give free course to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
- Job 6:26Do you intend to reprove words, since the speeches of one who is desperate are as wind?
- Job 21:25Another dies in bitterness of soul, and never tastes of good.
- Isa 38:17Behold, for peace I had great anguish, but you have in love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for you have cast all my sins behind your back.
- Isa 38:15What will I say? He has both spoken to me, and himself has done it. I will walk carefully all my years because of the anguish of my soul.
- 2 Cor 2:4For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not that you should be made sorry, but that you might know the love that I have so abundantly for you.
- Job 16:6“Though I speak, my grief is not subsided. Though I forbear, what am I eased?
- 2 Kgs 4:27–28When she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught hold of his feet. Gehazi came near to thrust her away; but the man of God said, “Leave her alone; for her soul is troubled within her; and Yahweh has hidden it from me, and has not told me.”
- Job 13:13“Be silent, leave me alone, that I may speak. Let come on me what will.
- Luke 22:44Being in agony he prayed more earnestly. His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.
- Gen 42:21They said to one another, “We are certainly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us, and we wouldn’t listen. Therefore this distress has come upon us.”
- Job 21:3–4Allow me, and I also will speak; After I have spoken, mock on.
- Matt 26:37–38He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and severely troubled.
- Job 10:15If I am wicked, woe to me. If I am righteous, I still shall not lift up my head, being filled with disgrace, and conscious of my affliction.
- Ps 39:3My heart was hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned. I spoke with my tongue:
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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 7:11 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.