Job 20:2

_THEREFORE DO MY THOUGHTS CAUSE ME TO ANSWER, AND FOR THIS I MAKE HASTE._ Therefore - the more excited I feel by Job's speech, the more, for that very reason, shall my reply be supplied by my calm consideration. Literally, 'Notwithstanding, my calm thoughts (_ Sª`IPAY_ (H5587), as in Job 4:13) shall furnish my answer, because of the excitement (haste) within me' (Umbreit). But the English version is good sense: "Therefore my thoughts cause me to answer (literally, answer for me: supply me with an answer), and for this I make haste" (literally, my haste is in me) - namely, (because) "I have heard the check," etc. (Job 20:3)....

1-9 Zophar's discourse is upon the certain misery of the wicked. The triumph of the wicked and the joy of the hypocrite are fleeting. The pleasures and gains of sin bring disease and pain; they end in remorse, anguish, and ruin. Dissembled piety is double iniquity, and the ruin that attends it will be accordingly....

Verse Job 20:2. _THEREFORE DO MY THOUGHTS_] It has already been observed that Zophar was the most inveterate of all Job's _enemies_, for we really must cease to call them _friends_. He sets no bounds to his invective, and outrages every rule of charity. A man of such a bitter spirit must have been, in general, very unhappy. With him Job is, by insinuation, every thing that is base, vile, and hypocritical. Mr. _Good_ translates this verse thus: "Whither would my tumult transport me? And how far my agitation within me?" This is all the modesty that appears in Zophar's discourse. He acknowledges that he is pressed by the impetuosity of his spirit to reply to Job's self-vindication. The original is variously translated, but the sense is as above. _FOR_ THIS _I MAKE HASTE._] ובעבור חושי בי _ubaabur chushi bi,_ there is sensibilit

THEREFORE - לכן _lākên_, “certainly, truly.” In view of what has been just said. Or perhaps the word means merely certainly, truly. DO MY THOUGHTS CAUSE ME TO ANSWER - This is variously rendered. The Vulgate renders it, _Idcirco cogitationes meae variae succedunt sibi, et mens in diversa rapitur_ - “Therefore my various thoughts follow in succession, and the mind is distracted.” The Septuagint, “I did not suppose that thou wouldst speak against these things, and you do not understand more than I.” How this was ever made from the Hebrew it is impossible to say. On the word “thoughts,” see the notes at Job 4:13. The word denotes thoughts which divide and distract the mind; not calm and collected reflections, but those which disturb, disconcert, and trouble. He acknowledges that it was not

EXPOSITION JOB 20:1 Zophar's second speech is even more harsh than his first (Job 11:1.). He adds coarseness and rudeness to his former vehement hostility (Job 20:7, Job 20:15). His whole discourse is a covert denunciation of Job as a wicked man and a hypocrite (verses 5, 12, 19, 29), deservedly punished by God for a life of crime. He ends by prophesying Job's violent death, the destruction of his house, and the rising up of heaven and earth in witness against him (verses 24-28). JOB 20:1,...

THEREFORE DO MY THOUGHTS CAUSE ME TO ANSWER,.... Or "to return" a and appear upon the stage again, and enter the lists once more with his antagonist; he suggests as if he had intended to have said no more in this controversy, but observing what Job had said last, could not forbear replying: "therefore" because he had represented him and his friends as cruel persecutors of him, as men devoid of all humanity, pity, and compassion, and endeavoured to terrify them with the punishments of the sword, and the judgment of God to come; these occasioned many "thoughts" in him, and those thoughts obliged him to give an answer; they came in so thick and fast upon him, that out of the abundance, his heart suggested to him he could not but speak, he was full of matter, and the spirit within him, the impulse upon his mind, constrained him to make a reply; and he seems desirous of having it understood t...

CHAPTER 20 THE SECOND ADDRESS OF ZOPHAR _ 1. Zophar's swift reply (Job 20:1)_ 2. Another description of the life and fate of the wicked (Job 20:4) Job 20:1. Zophar, the twitterer, begins his reply to Job with impatient haste. Job's words, probably those found in chapter 19:2-3, and the last two verses, have made him angry. He boils over with indignation. He is ready now to confirm the testimony already given and wound the suffering servant of God still more. Job 20:4. He follows the same path and there is again nothing new in his argument. The description of the wicked is great; no fault can be found with what he says about those who

JOB 20. SECOND SPEECH OF ZOPHAR. Zophar helps the return to the wider problem by appearing once more with a strong doctrine as to the shortness of the prosperity of the wicked. His theme is, Sin brings its own reward. JOB 20:1. Zophar replies to Job's exasperating words (Job 19:1). In Job 20:2 b _mg._ is probably to be followed. In Job 20:3 b Duhm, on the basis of LXX, reads, and with wind void of understanding thou answerest me. JOB 20:4. The portion of the wicked. How short is his joy, how utter his destruction! In...

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" a

THEREFORE DO MY THOUGHTS— _Verily the emotions of my thoughts cause me to reply, even because there is some sensibility in me._ This translation is agreeable to the Hebrew, and throws much light on the passage. Zophar means, that, as he had some modesty left, he could not bear to have so much reproach thrown on him without notice. Perhaps, too, he intends a reflection on Job, as if he was deficient in that virtue. Thus this adversary of Job, who, as we have before observed, seems to have been of the most violent temper of the three, instead of being convinced by his appeal in the foregoing chapter, immediately turns the argument upon him; as if he had said, "Since you have mentioned the future judgment, give me leave to put you in mind of what history informs us from the beginning of the world, _that the triumphing of the wicked is but short, and the joy of the hypocrite_ (the sycophant,...