Job - 32:20



20 I will speak, that I may be refreshed. I will open my lips and answer.

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Job 32:20.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
I will speak and take breath a little : I will open my lips, and will answer.
I will speak, that I may find relief; I will open my lips and answer.
I speak, and there is refreshment to me, I open my lips and answer.
Let me say what is in my mind, so that I may get comfort; let me give answer with open mouth.
I should speak, but I will also breathe a little; I will open my lips, and I will answer.

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

I will speak, that I may be refreshed - Margin, "breathe." The meaning is, that he would then have room to breathe again; he would feel relieved.

I will open my lips and answer - In the preceding verse Elihu compares himself to a skin-bottle, in which the wine was in a state of fermentation, and the bottle ready to burst for want of vent. He carries on the metaphor in this verse: the bottle must be opened to save it from bursting; I will Open my mouth.

I will speak, that I may be refreshed,.... That his mind might be made easy; the matter it was full of lay with much weight upon it, pressed him hard, and gave him pain; and therefore he determines to speak his mind, and disburden himself: so a minister of the word speaks sometimes to the refreshment of others, the Gospel being a word in season to weary souls, bread to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, even wine to them that are of an heavy heart; and especially it is refreshing when the love of God is shed abroad in the heart through it, and the presence of God is enjoyed under it; and sometimes he speaks to the refreshment of himself with others, Romans 15:32; and whether it be so, one or the other, yet a faithful minister eases his mind, discharges his conscience, and is clear from the blood of all, when he truly and fully declares the whole counsel of God, so far as he is acquainted with it:
I will open my lips and answer; speak freely and boldly what was upon his mind, and he had to say, and which he judged would be a sufficient answer to Job; the opening of his lips is a phrase used by him in allusion to the opening of a bottle, full of new wine, the metaphor before expressed by him.

refreshed--literally, "that there may be air to me" (1-Samuel 16:23).

*More commentary available at chapter level.


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