Job 20:3
in Job 20I have heard a rebuke that insults me, and my understanding prompts a reply.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I have heard the reproof which putteth me to shame; And the spirit of my understanding answereth me.
KJV
I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer.
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This verse in Job 20
Commentary
10 notes on this verseI 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.
This site's exposition
Zophar the Naamathite replied
on Job 20:1-3
Zophar opens by saying "my anxious thoughts compel me to answer, because of the turmoil within me". He has taken Job's words at the end of chapter 19 as "a rebuke that insults me". Gill reads "my understanding prompts a reply" as Zophar's claim to speak from insight.
This site's exposition
I have heard a rebuke that insults me
Barnes takes the rebuke as Job's warning of the sword in Job 19:29. Zophar has heard it as an insult, and his understanding prompts a reply against it. Henry observes that men often mistake passion for reason.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
For he thought that he should not reject the opinion of Job about the hope of the future life, and so he says, "I will hear the teachings by which you argue with me," in believing what you have said about the future resurrection, but …
Ver. 3. The lesson whereby thou dost reproach me I will hear; and the spirit of my understanding will answer me. 2. As though he said in plain words; 'Thy words indeed I hear, but whether they were delivered aright, I discern by the spirit of my understanding.' For they that disregard the words of the teacher, employ his teaching not for an assistance but for an occasion of contention, rather that they may criticise the things heard than to follow them.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Men often mistake the dictates of their passion for the dictates of their reason, and therefore think they do well to be angry. Zophar proceeds very plainly to show the ruin and destruction of wicked people, insinuating that because Job was destroyed and ruined he was certainly a wicked man and a hypocrite. How this doctrine is introduced,
His discourse is long, and all upon one subject, the very same that Bildad was large upon ( ch. xviii. ), the certain misery of wicked people and the ruin that awaits them. He asserts, in general, that the prosperity of a wicked person is short, and his ruin sure,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
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.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
check of my reproach--that is, the castigation intended as a reproach (literally, "shame") to me. spirit of . . . understanding--my rational spirit; answering to "calm thoughts" (Job 20:2).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מוּסַ֣ר | musar | [the] correction of | H4148 → | 50 times |
| כְּלִמָּתִ֣י | kelimati | insult my | H3639 → | |
| אֶשְׁמָ֑ע | ʾeshma' | I have heard | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| וְ֝ר֗וּחַ | veruach | and a spirit | H7307 → | 378 times |
| מִֽבִּינָתִ֥י | mibinati | from understanding my | H998 → | 38 times |
| יַעֲנֵֽנִי׃ | yaaneni | it answers me | H6030 → | 331 times |
מוּסַ֣ר[the] correction of
musarH4148 →50 times
כְּלִמָּתִ֣יinsult my
kelimatiH3639 →
אֶשְׁמָ֑עI have heard
ʾeshma'H8085 →1159 times
וְ֝ר֗וּחַand a spirit
veruachH7307 →378 times
מִֽבִּינָתִ֥יfrom understanding my
mibinatiH998 →38 times
יַעֲנֵֽנִי׃it answers me
yaaneniH6030 →331 times
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
Psalms 49:3My mouth will impart wisdom, and the meditation of my heart will bring understanding.
it leads to
- Matthew 12:35
The good man brings good things out of his good store of treasure, and the evil man brings evil things out of his evil store of treasure.
- Psalms 19:14
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
- Proverbs 22:20–21
Have I not written for you thirty sayings about counsel and knowledge,
- Proverbs 22:17
Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise—apply your mind to my knowledge—
- 2 Timothy 3:15–17
From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
- Matthew 12:35
Through
Job 27:11I will instruct you in the power of God. I will not conceal the ways of the Almighty.
it leads to
- Psalms 71:17
O God, You have taught me from my youth, and to this day I proclaim Your marvelous deeds.
- Job 4:3–4
Surely you have instructed many, and have strengthened their feeble hands.
- Isaiah 8:11
For this is what the LORD has spoken to me with a strong hand, instructing me not to walk in the way of this people:
- Psalms 71:17
About Job
This page draws on 9 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; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XV; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.