Lectionary Calendar
Friday, August 15th, 2025
the Week of Proper 14 / Ordinary 19
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Read the Bible

Green's Literal Translation

Job 7:11

Therefore, I will not hold my mouth; I will speak in the distress of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

Bible Study Resources

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Job;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Greatness of God;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
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.
Hebrew Names Version
"Therefore I will not keep silent. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
King James Version
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.
English Standard Version
"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.
New Century Version
"So I will not stay quiet; I will speak out in the suffering of my spirit. I will complain because I am so unhappy.
New English Translation
"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.
Amplified Bible
"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 [O Lord].
New American Standard Bible
"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.
World English Bible
"Therefore I will not keep silent. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Therefore I will not spare my mouth, but will speake in the trouble of my spirite, and muse in the bitternesse of my minde.
Legacy Standard Bible
"Indeed I will not hold back my mouth;I will speak in the distress of my spirit;I will muse on the bitterness of my soul.
Berean Standard Bible
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.
Contemporary English Version
And so, I cry out to you in agony and distress.
Complete Jewish Bible
"Therefore I will not restrain my mouth but will speak in my anguish of spirit and complain in my bitterness of soul.
Darby Translation
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.
Easy-to-Read Version
"So I will not be quiet! I will let my suffering spirit speak! I will let my bitter soul complain!
George Lamsa Translation
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.
Good News Translation
No! I can't be quiet! I am angry and bitter. I have to speak.
Lexham English Bible
"Even I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in my spirit's anguish; I will complain in my inner self's bitterness.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Therfore I will not spare my mouth, but will speake in the trouble of my sprete, in ye bytternesse of my mynde will I talke.
American Standard Version
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.
Bible in Basic English
So I will not keep my mouth shut; I will let the words come from it in the pain of my spirit, my soul will make a bitter outcry.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Therfore I wil not spare my mouth, but I will speake in the trouble of my spirite, and muse in the bitternesse of my mynde.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Therefore I will not refrain my mouth;
King James Version (1611)
Therefore I will not refraine my mouth, I wil speake in the anguish of my spirit, I will complaine in the bitternesse of my soule.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Then neither will I refrain my mouth: I will speak being in distress; being in anguish I will disclose the bitterness of my soul.
English Revised Version
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.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Wherfor and Y schal not spare my mouth; Y schal speke in the tribulacioun of my spirit, Y schal talke togidere with the bitternesse of my soule.
Update Bible Version
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.
Webster's Bible Translation
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.
New King James Version
"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.
New Living Translation
"I cannot keep from speaking. I must express my anguish. My bitter soul must complain.
New Life Bible
"So I will not keep my mouth shut. I will speak in the suffering of my spirit. I will complain because my soul is bitter.
New Revised Standard
"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.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
I also, cannot restrain my mouth, - I must speak, in the anguish of my spirit, I must find utterance, in the bitterness of my soul.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Wherefore, I will not spare my month, I will speak in the affliction of my spirit: I will talk with the bitterness of my soul.
Revised Standard Version
"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.
Young's Literal Translation
Also I -- I withhold not my mouth -- I speak in the distress of my spirit, I talk in the bitterness of my soul.
THE MESSAGE
"And so I'm not keeping one bit of this quiet, I'm laying it all out on the table; my complaining to high heaven is bitter, but honest. Are you going to put a muzzle on me, the way you quiet the sea and still the storm? If I say, ‘I'm going to bed, then I'll feel better. A little nap will lift my spirits,' You come and so scare me with nightmares and frighten me with ghosts That I'd rather strangle in the bedclothes than face this kind of life any longer. I hate this life! Who needs any more of this? Let me alone! There's nothing to my life—it's nothing but smoke.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"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.

Contextual Overview

7 Remember that my life is a breath; my eyes shall not return to see good. 8 The eye of him who sees me shall gaze at me no more; Your eyes are on me, and I am not. 9 As the cloud fades, it goes, so he who goes down to Sheol shall not come up. 10 He shall return no more to his house; nor shall his place know him any more. 11 Therefore, I will not hold my mouth; I will speak in the distress of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. 12 Am I a sea, or a sea-monster, that You set a watch over me? 13 When I say, My bed shall comfort me; my couch shall bear my complaining, 14 then You scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions; 15 so that my soul chooses strangling and death rather than my bones. 16 I despise them ; I will not live always. Let me alone, for my days are vanity.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I will not: Job 6:26, Job 10:1, Job 13:13, Job 16:6, Job 21:3, Psalms 39:3, Psalms 40:9

the anguish: Genesis 42:21, 2 Kings 4:27, 2 Kings 4:28, Matthew 26:37, Matthew 26:38, Luke 22:44, 2 Corinthians 2:4

the bitterness: Job 10:15, Job 21:25, 1 Samuel 1:10, Isaiah 38:15, Isaiah 38:17

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 8:38 - the plague Job 7:20 - I am Job 8:2 - the words Job 13:19 - if I hold Job 21:4 - is my complaint Job 29:9 - refrained Psalms 77:3 - I complained Psalms 88:15 - while Proverbs 14:10 - heart

Cross-References

Genesis 1:7
And God made the expanse, and He separated between the waters which were under the expanse and the waters which were above the expanse. And it was so.
Genesis 6:17
And behold, I, even I, am bringing a flood of waters on the earth in order to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life from under the heavens. Everything which is on the earth shall die.
Genesis 7:5
And Noah did according to all that Jehovah commanded him.
Genesis 7:6
Noah was a son of six hundred years, and the flood of waters was on the earth.
Genesis 7:8
And they went in to Noah into the ark, male and female of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of fowl, and of every thing that creeps on the earth,
Genesis 7:11
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, in the seventeenth day of the month, in this day all the fountains of the great deep were risen, and the windows of the heavens were opened up.
Genesis 7:23
And every living thing which was on the face of the earth was wiped away, from man to cattle, and to the creeping things, and the fowl of the heavens. And they were wiped off from the earth,and only Noah was left, and those who werewith him in the ark.
Genesis 7:24
And the waters prevailed over the earth a hundred and fifty days.
2 Kings 7:2
And the third officer on whose hand the king leaned replied to the man of God, and said, Behold, if Jehovah would make windows in the heavens, this thing might be. And he said, Behold, youshall see with your eyes, but you shall noteat of it.
2 Kings 7:19
And the third officer had answered the man of God, and said, And behold, if Jehovah should make windows in the heavens, it shall be according to this word. And he said, Behold, you shall seewith your eyes, but you shall not eat fromthere.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Therefore I will not refrain my mouth,.... From speaking and complaining; seeing, besides the common lot of mankind, which is a state of warfare, sorrow, and trouble, and is as much as a man can well grapple with, extraordinary afflictions are laid upon me, which make life insupportable; and seeing I enjoy no good in this present life, and am shortly going where no temporal good is to be expected, and shall never return to this world any more to enjoy any; therefore I will not be silent, and forbear speaking my mind freely, and uttering my just complaint, for which I think I have sufficient reason: or "I also will not refrain my mouth" c; in turn, as a just retaliation, so Jarchi; since God will not refrain his hand from me, I will not refrain my mouth from speaking concerning him; since he shows no mercy to me, I shall utter my miserable complaints, and not keep them to myself; this was Job's infirmity when he should have held his peace, as Aaron, and been dumb and silent as David, and been still, and have known, owned, and acknowledged the sovereignty of God, and not vented himself in passion as he did:

I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; or "in the straitness" d of it; he was surrounded on all sides with distress, the sorrows of death compassed him about, and the pains of hell got hold upon him; he was like one pent up in a narrow place, in a close confinement, that he could not get out of, and come forth from; and he felt not only exquisite pains of body from his boils and sores, but great anguish of soul; and therefore he determines to speak in and "of" e all this, to give vent to his grief and sorrow, his passion and resentment:

I will complain in the bitterness of my soul; his afflictions were like the waters of Marah, bitter ones, very grievous and disagreeable to flesh and blood, and by which his life and soul were embittered to him; and in and of f this he determines to complain, or to utter in a complaining way what he had been meditating on, as the word g signifies; so that this was not an hasty and precipitate action, but what upon deliberation he resolved to do; to pour out his complaint before God, and leave it with him, in a submissive way, would not have been amiss, but if he complained of God and his providence, it was wrong: "why should a living man complain?" not even a wicked man, of "the punishment of his sin", and much less a good man of fatherly chastisements? We see what the will of man is, what a stubborn and obstinate thing it is, "I will, I will, I will", even of a good man when left to himself, and not in the exercise of grace, and under the influence of it; the complaint follows, by way of expostulation.

c גם אני "etiam ego", Vatablus, Beza, Piscator, Bolducius, Cocceius, Schmidt, Michaelis, Schultens; "vicissim", Noldius, p. 222. d בצר "in angustia", Junius Tremellius, Schmidt "in arcto", Cocceius; "in angusto", Schultens. e "De angustia", Vatablus, Drusius, Mercerus, Piscator. f במר "de amaritudine", Drusius, Piscator, Mercerus. g אשיחה "meditabor et eloquar", Michaelis.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Therefore I will not refrain my mouth - The idea in this verse is, “such is my distress at the prospect of dying, that I cannot but express it. The idea of going away from all my comforts, and of being committed to the grave, to revisit the earth no more, is so painful that I cannot but give vent to my feelings.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 7:11. Therefore I will not refrain — All is hopeless; I will therefore indulge myself in complaining.


 
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