Job 20:2,3

Zophar is roused to indignation by Job's perverse blindness to unalterable principles experienced since the world was. The verses should perhaps read,

2. Therefore do my thoughts make answer to me,

And because of this have I haste within me:

3. I hear the rebuke that putteth me to shame

But the spirit out of my understanding answereth me.

The words "therefore" and "because of this" refer to the first clause of Job 20:3. I hear the rebuke that puts me to shame (i. e. Job's last words), therefore do my thoughts make answer to me, and because of this have I inward haste, i. e. strong feeling. The speaker means that he feels driven to answer Job by the exasperating words of the latter, but he distinguishes between himself and his thoughts and speaks of them answering him. So (Job 20:3) his "spirit" answers him, drawing the answer out of his "understanding." The answerfurnished to Zophar by his spirit follows Job 20:4 seq. The last words of Job 20:2 are lit. "is my haste within me;" cf. their cord in them, Job 4:21, my help within me, Job 6:13. The word "check" in A. V. Job 20:3 means reproof;

"Now, by my life,

Old fools are babes again; and must be used

With checks, as flatteries." Lear, 1. 3.

"Check'd like a bondman; all his faults observed."

J. Caesar, IV. 3.