Lectionary Calendar
Friday, December 26th, 2025
the First Day after Christmas
Attention!
StudyLight.org has pledged to help build churches in Uganda. Help us with that pledge and support pastors in the heart of Africa.
Click here to join the effort!

Read the Bible

THE MESSAGE

Job 20:3

This verse is not available in the MSG!

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- The Topic Concordance - Happiness/joy;   Hypocrisy;   Oppression;   Perishing;   Victory/overcoming;   Wickedness;  

Dictionaries:

- Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Greatness of God;   Hypocrisy;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Job, the Book of;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Check;   Zophar;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
I have heard a rebuke that insults me,and my understanding makes me reply.
Hebrew Names Version
I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame; The spirit of my understanding answers me.
King James Version
I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer.
English Standard Version
I hear censure that insults me, and out of my understanding a spirit answers me.
New Century Version
You correct me and I am insulted, but I understand how to answer you.
New English Translation
When I hear a reproof that dishonors me, then my understanding prompts me to answer.
Amplified Bible
"I have heard the reproof which insults me, But the spirit of my understanding makes me answer.
New American Standard Bible
"I listened to the reprimand which insults me, And the spirit of my understanding makes me answer.
World English Bible
I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame; The spirit of my understanding answers me.
Geneva Bible (1587)
I haue heard the correction of my reproch: therefore the spirite of mine vnderstanding causeth me to answere.
Legacy Standard Bible
I listened to the discipline which dishonors me,And the spirit of my understanding makes me answer.
Berean Standard Bible
I have heard a rebuke that insults me, and my understanding demands a reply.
Contemporary English Version
You have accused and insulted me, and reason requires a reply.
Complete Jewish Bible
I have heard reproof that outrages me, but a spirit past my understanding gives me a reply.
Darby Translation
I hear a reproof putting me to shame; and [my] spirit answereth me by mine understanding.
Easy-to-Read Version
You insulted me with your answers! But I am wise and know how to answer you.
George Lamsa Translation
I will make you hear the instruction of my discipline, and the spirit of my understanding will cause me to answer.
Good News Translation
What you have said is an insult, but I know how to reply to you.
Lexham English Bible
I hear discipline that insults me, and a spirit beyond my understanding answers me.
Literal Translation
I have heard the instruction of my chastisement; and the spirit from my understanding makes me reply.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
I haue sufficiently herde the checkynge & reprofe, therfore am I purposed to make answere after my vnderstodinge.
American Standard Version
I have heard the reproof which putteth me to shame; And the spirit of my understanding answereth me.
Bible in Basic English
I have to give ear to arguments which put me to shame, and your answers to me are wind without wisdom.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
I have heard the reproof which putteth me to shame, but out of my understanding my spirit answereth me.
King James Version (1611)
I haue heard the checke of my reproach, and the spirit of my vnderstanding causeth me to answere.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
I haue sufficiently heard the checking of my reproofe, therefore the spirite of myne vnderstanding causeth me to aunswere.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
I will hear my shameful reproach; and the spirit of my understanding answers me.
English Revised Version
I have heard the reproof which putteth me to shame, and the spirit of my understanding answereth me.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Y schal here the techyng, bi which thou repreuest me; and the spirit of myn vndurstondyng schal answere me.
Update Bible Version
I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame; And the spirit of my understanding answers me.
Webster's Bible Translation
I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer.
New King James Version
I have heard the rebuke that reproaches me, And the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer.
New Living Translation
I've had to endure your insults, but now my spirit prompts me to reply.
New Life Bible
I heard the strong words that take away my honor. The spirit of my understanding makes me answer.
New Revised Standard
I hear censure that insults me, and a spirit beyond my understanding answers me.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
The correction meant to confound me, I must hear, but, the spirit - out of my understanding, will give me a reply.
Douay-Rheims Bible
The doctrine with which thou reprovest me, I will hear, and the spirit of my understanding shall answer for me.
Revised Standard Version
I hear censure which insults me, and out of my understanding a spirit answers me.
Young's Literal Translation
The chastisement of my shame I hear, And the spirit of mine understanding Doth cause me to answer:
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"I listened to the reproof which insults me, And the spirit of my understanding makes me answer.

Contextual Overview

4"Don't you even know the basics, how things have been since the earliest days, when Adam and Eve were first placed on earth? The good times of the wicked are short-lived; godless joy is only momentary. The evil might become world famous, strutting at the head of the celebrity parade, But still end up in a pile of dung. Acquaintances look at them with disgust and say, ‘What's that?' They fly off like a dream that can't be remembered, like a shadowy illusion that vanishes in the light. Though once notorious public figures, now they're nobodies, unnoticed, whether they come or go. Their children will go begging on skid row, and they'll have to give back their ill-gotten gain. Right in the prime of life, and youthful and vigorous, they'll die.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the check: Job 19:29

the spirit: Job 20:2, Job 27:11, Job 33:3, Psalms 49:3, Psalms 78:2-5

Reciprocal: Job 12:2 - ye are the people Job 16:3 - what emboldeneth Job 26:4 - whose spirit

Cross-References

Genesis 20:1
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." Now Abimelech had not yet slept with her, hadn't so much as touched her. He said, "Master, would you kill an innocent man? Didn't he tell me, ‘She's my sister'? And didn't she herself say, ‘He's my brother'? I had no idea I was doing anything wrong when I did this." God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know your intentions were pure, that's why I kept you from sinning against me; I was the one who kept you from going to bed with her. So now give the man's wife back to him. He's a prophet and will pray for you—pray for your life. If you don't give her back, know that it's certain death both for you and everyone in your family." Abimelech was up first thing in the morning. He called all his house servants together and told them the whole story. They were shocked. Then Abimelech called in Abraham and said, "What have you done to us? What have I ever done to you that you would bring on me and my kingdom this huge offense? What you've done to me ought never to have been done." Abimelech went on to Abraham, "Whatever were you thinking of when you did this thing?" 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.'" Then Abimelech gave Sarah back to Abraham, and along with her sent sheep and cattle and servants, both male and female. He said, "My land is open to you; live wherever you wish." And to Sarah he said, "I've given your brother a thousand pieces of silver—that clears you of even a shadow of suspicion before the eyes of the world. You're vindicated." Then Abraham prayed to God and God healed Abimelech, his wife and his maidservants, and they started having babies again. For God had shut down every womb in Abimelech's household on account of Sarah, Abraham's wife.
Genesis 20:14
Then Abimelech gave Sarah back to Abraham, and along with her sent sheep and cattle and servants, both male and female. He said, "My land is open to you; live wherever you wish."
Genesis 37:5
Joseph had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said, "Listen to this dream I had. We were all out in the field gathering bundles of wheat. All of a sudden my bundle stood straight up and your bundles circled around it and bowed down to mine."
Genesis 37:9
He had another dream and told this one also to his brothers: "I dreamed another dream—the sun and moon and eleven stars bowed down to me!"
Genesis 40:8
They said, "We dreamed dreams and there's no one to interpret them." Joseph said, "Don't interpretations come from God? Tell me the dreams."
Job 33:15
"In a dream, for instance, a vision at night, when men and women are deep in sleep, fast asleep in their beds— God opens their ears and impresses them with warnings To turn them back from something bad they're planning, from some reckless choice, And keep them from an early grave, from the river of no return.
Jonah 3:4
Jonah entered the city, went one day's walk and preached, "In forty days Nineveh will be smashed."
Matthew 1:20
While he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream. God's angel spoke in the dream: "Joseph, son of David, don't hesitate to get married. Mary's pregnancy is Spirit-conceived. God's Holy Spirit has made her pregnant. She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus—‘God saves'—because he will save his people from their sins." This would bring the prophet's embryonic sermon to full term: Watch for this—a virgin will get pregnant and bear a son; They will name him Immanuel (Hebrew for "God is with us").
Matthew 27:19
While court was still in session, Pilate's wife sent him a message: "Don't get mixed up in judging this noble man. I've just been through a long and troubled night because of a dream about him."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

I have heard the check of my reproach,.... He took it that Job had reproached him and his friends, by representing them as hardhearted men, and persecuting him wrongly in a violent manner; and he had observed the "check" or reproof given for it, by bidding them beware of the sword, and lest the punishment of it should be inflicted on them; and if that should not be the case, yet there was a righteous judgment they could not escape. Now Zophar heard this, but could not hear it with patience; be could not bear that he and his friends should be insulted, as he thought, in this manner; and therefore it was he was in such baste to return an answer; though some d think he here pretends to a divine oracle, like that which Eliphaz makes mention of in the beginning of this dispute, Job 4:12, c. which he had from God, and from which he had heard the "correction [of his] reproach" e, or a full confutation of the thing Job had reproached him with and being thus divinely furnished, he thought it his duty to deliver it:

and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer; or his rational spirit, his natural understanding, furnished him at once with an answer; he had such a clear insight into the controversy on foot, and such a full view of it, that he thought himself capable of speaking very particularly to the matter in hand, and to the conviction and confusion of Job; nay, his conscience, or the spirit of his conscience, as Mr. Broughton renders it, not only readily dictated to him what he should say, but obliged him to it; though some think he meant the Holy Spirit of God, by which he would be thought to be inspired; that he "out [of his] understanding" f, enlightened by him, caused him to answer, or would answer for him, or supply him with matter sufficient to qualify him for it; and this he might observe to Job, in order to raise his attention to what he was about to say.

d Schmidt. e מוסר כלמתי "correctionem ignominiae meae", Pagninus, Montanus; so Schmidt, Michaelis. f מבינתי "ex intelligentia mea", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Mercerus, Drusius, Schmidt, Michaelis.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I have heard the check of my reproach - I have heard your violent and severe language reproaching us. Probably he refers to what Job had said in the close of his speech Job 19:29, that they had occasion to dread the wrath of God, and that they might anticipate heavy judgments as the result of their opinions. Or it may be, as Schultens supposes, that he refers to what Job said in Job 19:2, and the rebuke that he had administered there. Or possibly, and still more probably, I think, he may refer to what Job had said in reply to the former speech of Zophar Job 12:2, where he tauntingly says that “they were the people, and that wisdom would die with them.” The Hebrew literally is, “the correction of my shame” (כלמה מוּסר mûsâr kelı̂mmâh), “the correction of my shame.” that is, the castigation or rebuke which tends to cover me with ignominy. The sense is, “you have accused me of that which is ignominious and shameful, and under the impetuous feelings caused by such a charge I cannot refrain from replying.”

And the spirit of my understanding - Meaning, perhaps, “the emotion of his mind.” The word “mind” or “soul” would better express the idea than the word “understanding;” and the word “spirit” here seems to be used in the sense of violent or agitating emotions - perhaps in allusion to the primary signification of the word (רוּח rûach), “mind.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 20:3. I have heard the check of my reproach — Some suppose that Zophar quotes the words of Job, and that some words should be supplied to indicate this meaning; e.g., "I have heard (sayest thou) the check or charge of my reproach?" Or it may refer to what Job says of Zophar and his companions, Job 19:2; Job 19:3: How long will ye vex may soul-these ten times have ye reproached me. Zophar therefore assumes his old ground, and retracts nothing of what he had said. Like many of his own complexion in the present day, he was determined to believe that his judgment was infallible, and that he could not err.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile