Job 11:3
in Job 11Should your babbling put others to silence? Will you scoff without rebuke?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Should thy boastings make men hold their peace? And when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?
KJV
Should thy lies make men hold their peace? and when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?
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This verse in Job 11
Commentary
11 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Should thy lies - Margin, “devices.” Rosenmuller renders this, “should men bear thy boastings with silence?” Dr. Good, “before thee would man-kind keep silence?” Vulgate, “tibi soli tacebunt homines?” “Shall men be silent before thee alone? The Septuagint tenders the whole passage, “he who speaketh much should also hear in turn; else the fine speaker (εὔλαλος eulalos) thinketh himself just. - Blessed be the short-lived offspring of woman.
This site's exposition
Zophar the Naamathite replied
on Job 11:1-4
Zophar the Naamathite opens the harshest of the three friends' speeches. He alone skips the softening opening that Eliphaz and Bildad each give before they accuse. He meets Job's claim, "My doctrine is sound, and I am pure in Your sight", with open scorn.
This site's exposition
Should your babbling put others to silence?
Zophar calls Job's words babbling and his complaint a scoff. Clarke judges the rebuke severe and unfair to words spoken with solemn awe. Gregory hears in Zophar a mind that takes every sound word as a scoff at itself.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Zophar means, "Is there none to answer you?" meaning other than we ourselves. Or it could mean: "There is nobody who knows your misfortunes, apart from God, and if he had wanted to disgrace you, then you would have been already dead." Notice that, since Job does not say anywhere that he is unjustly suffering and that he has no faults, this is exactly what they resentfully bring up to him.
The Medieval Church2 voices
Since Job could say to him that he should have been deferred to because of his dignity, he excludes this objection saying, "Will men keep silence for you alone, when you have derided the others? will no one answer you?" For he understood Job had …
Should men hold their peace at thee only? and when thou mockest at others, shall no man confute thee? The uninstructed mind, as we have said, is sorely galled by the sentences of truth, and reckons silence to be a punishment; it takes all that is said aright to be the disgrace of mocking at itself.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Lies - Both concerning thy own innocency, and concerning the counsels and ways of God. Mockest - Our friendly and faithful counsels, chap. vi, 14, 15, 25, 26.
Should thy lies make men hold their peace?....
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
But, if it be answered, let reason and grace have the answering of it, not pride and passion. Should a man full of talk (margin, a man of lips, that is all tongue, vox et præterea nihil--mere voice ) be justified? Should he be justified in his loquacity, as in effect he is if he be not reproved for it?
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
lies--rather, "vain boasting" (Isa 16:6; The "men" is emphatic; men of sense; in antithesis to "vain boasting." mockest--upbraidest God by complaints, "shall no man make thee ashamed?"
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
Should thy lies make men hold their peace? - This is a very severe reproof, and not justified by the occasion. And when thou mockest - As thou despisest others, shall no man put thee to scorn? Zophar could never think that the solemn and awful manner in which Job spoke could be called bubbling, as some would translate the term לעג laag. He might consider Job’s speech as sarcastic and severe, but he could not consider it as nonsense.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בַּ֭דֶּיךָ | badeikha | empty boasts your | H907 → | |
| מְתִ֣ים | metim | men | H4962 → | 22 times |
| יַחֲרִ֑ישׁו | yacharishv | will they silence? | H2790 → | 74 times |
| וַ֝תִּלְעַ֗ג | vatilag | and have you mocked? | H3932 → | 18 times |
| וְאֵ֣ין | veein | and there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| מַכְלִֽם׃ | makhlim | [is one who] puts to shame | H3637 → |
בַּ֭דֶּיךָempty boasts your
badeikhaH907 →
מְתִ֣יםmen
metimH4962 →22 times
יַחֲרִ֑ישׁוwill they silence?
yacharishvH2790 →74 times
וַ֝תִּלְעַ֗גand have you mocked?
vatilagH3932 →18 times
וְאֵ֣יןand there not
veeinH369 →789 times
מַכְלִֽם׃[is one who] puts to shame
makhlimH3637 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
2 Thessalonians 3:14Take note of anyone who does not obey the instructions we have given in this letter. Do not associate with him, so that he may be ashamed.
it leads to
- Titus 3:10
Reject a divisive man after a first and second admonition,
- 2 Thessalonians 3:6
Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from any brother who leads an undisciplined life that is not in keeping with the tradition you received…
- 1 Corinthians 5:11
But now I am writing you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a verbal abuser, a drunkard or a swindler.…
- Psalms 83:16
Cover their faces with shame, that they may seek Your name, O LORD.
- Titus 3:10
Through
Job 13:4You, however, smear with lies; you are all worthless physicians.
it leads to
- Psalms 119:69
Though the arrogant have smeared me with lies, I keep Your precepts with all my heart.
- Psalms 119:69
Through
Job 34:7What man is like Job, who drinks up derision like water?
it leads to
- Job 15:16
how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks injustice like water?
- Job 15:16
Through
Psalms 35:16Like godless jesters at a feast, they gnashed their teeth at me.
it leads to
- Lamentations 2:16
All your enemies open their mouths against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth, saying, “We have swallowed her up. This is the day for which we have waited. We have lived to see…
- Psalms 37:12
The wicked scheme against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them,
- Lamentations 2:16
About Job
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book X; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 11:3B; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.