Job 20:13

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
though he cherishes it and will not let it gobut keeps it in his mouth,

Hebrew Names Version
Though he spare it, and will not let it go, But keep it still within his mouth;

King James Version
Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:

English Standard Version
though he is loath to let it go and holds it in his mouth,

New Century Version
They cannot stand to let go of it; they keep it in their mouths.

New English Translation
if he retains it for himself and does not let it go, and holds it fast in his mouth,

Amplified Bible
Though he desires it and will not let it go But holds it in his mouth,

New American Standard Bible
Though he desires it and will not let it go, But holds it in his mouth,

World English Bible
Though he spare it, and will not let it go, But keep it still within his mouth;

Geneva Bible (1587)
And fauoured it, and would not forsake it, but kept it close in his mouth,

Legacy Standard Bible
Though he desires it and will not forsake it,And holds it to his palate,

Berean Standard Bible
though he cannot bear to let it go and keeps it in his mouth,

Contemporary English Version
and swallow it slowly.

Complete Jewish Bible
he may linger over it and not let it go but keep it there in his mouth —

Darby Translation
[Though] he spare it, and forsake it not, but keep it within his mouth,

Easy-to-Read Version
He hates to let it go and holds it in his mouth.

George Lamsa Translation
Though he spare it and forsake it not, but keep it still in his mouth;

Lexham English Bible
though he spares it and does not let it go and holds it back in the midst of his palate,

Literal Translation
he spares it, and he will not leave it; yea, he keeps holding it in his mouth);

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
That he fauoureth, that wyll he not forsake, but kepeth it close in his throte.

American Standard Version
Though he spare it, and will not let it go, But keep it still within his mouth;

Bible in Basic English
Though he takes care of it, and does not let it go, but keeps it still in his mouth;

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Though he spare it, and will not let it go, but keep it still within his mouth;

King James Version (1611)
Though he spare it, and forsake it not, but keepe it stil within his mouth:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
That he fauoured, that would he not forsake, but kept it close in his throte.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
though he will not spare it, and will not leave it, but will keep it in the midst of his throat:

English Revised Version
Though he spare it, and will not let it go, but keep it still within his mouth;

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
He schal spare it, and schal not forsake it; and schal hide in his throte.

Update Bible Version
Though he spares it, and will not let it go, But keeps it still inside his mouth;

Webster's Bible Translation
[Though] he may spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:

New King James Version
Though he spares it and does not forsake it, But still keeps it in his mouth,

New Living Translation
They savored it, holding it long in their mouths.

New Life Bible
He hates to let it go, and holds it in his mouth.

New Revised Standard
though they are loath to let it go, and hold it in their mouths,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Though he spare it, and will not let it go, but retain it in the midst of his mouth,

Douay-Rheims Bible
He will spare it, and not leave it, and will hide it in his throat.

Revised Standard Version
though he is loath to let it go, and holds it in his mouth,

Young's Literal Translation
Hath pity on it, and doth not forsake it, And keep it back in the midst of his palate,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Though he desires it and will not let it go, But holds it in his mouth,

Contextual Overview

¹²"They savor evil as a delicacy, roll it around on their tongues, Prolong the flavor, a dalliance in decadence— real gourmets of evil! But then they get stomach cramps, a bad case of food poisoning. They gag on all that rich food; God makes them vomit it up. They gorge on evil, make a diet of that poison— a deadly diet—and it kills them. No quiet picnics for them beside gentle streams with fresh-baked bread and cheese, and tall, cool drinks. They spit out their food half-chewed, unable to relax and enjoy anything they've worked for. And why? Because they exploited the poor, took what never belonged to them. ²⁰"Such God-denying people are never content with what they have or who they are; their greed drives them relentlessly. They plunder everything but they can't hold on to any of it. Just when they think they have it all, disaster strikes; they're served up a plate full of misery. When they've filled their bellies with that, God gives them a taste of his anger, and they get to chew on that for a while. As they run for their lives from one disaster, they run smack into another. They're knocked around from pillar to post, beaten to within an inch of their lives. They're trapped in a house of horrors, and see their loot disappear down a black hole. Their lives are a total loss— not a penny to their name, not so much as a bean. God will strip them of their sin-soaked clothes and hang their dirty laundry out for all to see. Life is a complete wipeout for them, nothing surviving God's wrath. There! That's God's blueprint for the wicked— what they have to look forward to."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

spare it: Matthew 5:29, Matthew 5:30, Mark 9:43-49, Romans 8:13

within his mouth: Heb. in the midst of his palate

Reciprocal: Proverbs 19:28 - the

Cross-References

Genesis 12:1
God told Abram: "Leave your country, your family, and your father's home for a land that I will show you.

Genesis 12:9
Abram kept moving, steadily making his way south, to the Negev.

Genesis 20:3
Abraham traveled from there south to the Negev and settled down between Kadesh and Shur. While he was camping in Gerar, Abraham said of his wife Sarah, "She's my sister." So Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent for Sarah and took her. But God came to Abimelech in a dream that night and told him, "You're as good as dead—that woman you took, she's a married woman."

Genesis 20:11
Abraham said, "I just assumed that there was no fear of God in this place and that they'd kill me to get my wife. Besides, the truth is that she is my half sister; she's my father's daughter but not my mother's. When God sent me out as a wanderer from my father's home, I told her, ‘Do me a favor; wherever we go, tell people that I'm your brother.'"

1 Samuel 23:21
Saul said, " God bless you for thinking about me! Now go back and check everything out. Learn his routines. Observe his movements—where he goes, who he's with. He's very shrewd, you know. Scout out all his hiding places. Then meet me at Nacon and I'll go with you. If he is anywhere to be found in all the thousands of Judah, I'll track him down!"

Acts 5:9
Peter responded, "What's going on here that you connived to conspire against the Spirit of the Master? The men who buried your husband are at the door, and you're next." No sooner were the words out of his mouth than she also fell down, dead. When the young men returned they found her body. They carried her out and buried her beside her husband.

Hebrews 11:8
By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God's call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise. Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations—the City designed and built by God.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

[Though] he spare it,.... Not that he feeds sparingly on it, for he eats of it freely and plentifully, with great eagerness and greediness; it designs the gratefulness of it to him; he does not spit it out as loathsome, having tasted of it, but retains it as sweet and pleasant; he spares it as Saul did Agag, and as a man spares his only son; sin being a child, a brat of a wicked man, and therefore it is dear unto him:

and forsake it not: as he never will, until he is fully convinced of the evil of it, and it becomes exceeding sinful to him, and so loathsome and disagreeable; and he is restrained from it by the grace of God, and enabled by it to desert it, for such an one only finds mercy, Proverbs 28:13;

but keep it still within his mouth; like an epicure, that will not suffer his food quickly to go down his throat into his stomach, that he may have the greater pleasure in tasting, palating, and relishing it; as Philoxenus, who wished his throat as long as a crane's, that he might be the longer in tasting the sweetness of what he ate and drank; so the wicked man keeps sin within his mouth, not by restraining his mouth from speaking evil, rather by a non-confession of it, but chiefly by continuing and persisting in it, that he might have all the pleasure and satisfaction he has promised himself in it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Though he spare it - That is, though he retains it long in his mouth, that he may enjoy it the more.

And forsake it not - Retains it as long as he can.

But keep it still within his mouth - Margin, as in Hebrew “in the midst of his palate.” He seeks to enjoy it as long as possible.