Job 21:3
in Job 21Bear with me while I speak; then, after I have spoken, you may go on mocking.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Suffer me, and I also will speak; And after that I have spoken, mock on.
KJV
Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.
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This verse in Job 21
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Suffer me that I may speak - Allow me to speak without interruption, or bear with me while I freely express my sentiments - it is all that I now ask. And after that I have spoken, mock on - Resume your reproaches, if you will, when I am done. I ask only the privilege of expressing my thoughts on a very important point, and when that is done, I will allow you to resume your remarks as you have done before, and you may utter your sentiments without interruption.
This site's exposition
Then Job answered
on Job 21:1-3
Job asks for one thing the friends have not given him, a hearing, and says "let this be your consolation to me". Gill notes that the request is modest, the courtesy their silence at 2:13 once offered and their reproaches in chapter 19 have since withdrawn.
This site's exposition
Bear with me while I speak
Job asks to finish without interruption, and Henry recalls that Zophar had broken in upon him. Barnes reads the words you may go on mocking as leave to resume their reproaches once he is done. The request is modest.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Let us admit, he says, that I am iniquitous and impious; but I gain no profit from these remarks and know that you will mock me; therefore, I do not yield.
The Medieval Church1 voice
As you have all spoken now twice, "Bear with me so that I may speak," answering those things which were last proposed to me. So that they make no judgment of condemnation before they heard him he says, "and after my words, if it seems …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
He owns that God does sometimes hang up a wicked man as it were in chains, in terrorem --as a terror to others, by some visible remarkable judgment in this life, but denies that he always does so; nay, he maintains that commonly he does otherwise, suffering even the worst of sinners to live all their days in prosperity and to go out of the world without any visible mark of his wrath upon them.
) and not break in upon him, as Zophar had done, in the midst of his discourse. Losers, of all men, may have leave to speak; and, if those that are accused and censured are not allowed to speak for themselves, they are wronged without remedy, and have no way to come at their right.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Suffer me that I may speak,....
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שָׂ֭אוּנִי | sauni | bear with me | H5375 → | 656 times |
| וְאָנֹכִ֣י | veanokhi | and I | H595 → | 359 times |
| אֲדַבֵּ֑ר | ʾadaber | I will speak | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| וְאַחַ֖ר | veachar | and after | H310 → | 715 times |
| דַּבְּרִ֣י | daberi | have spoken I | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| תַלְעִֽיג׃ | talig | you will mock | H3932 → | 18 times |
שָׂ֭אוּנִיbear with me
sauniH5375 →656 times
וְאָנֹכִ֣יand I
veanokhiH595 →359 times
אֲדַבֵּ֑רI will speak
ʾadaberH1696 →1141 times
וְאַחַ֖רand after
veacharH310 →715 times
דַּבְּרִ֣יhave spoken I
daberiH1696 →1141 times
תַלְעִֽיג׃you will mock
taligH3932 →18 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
Job 16:10They open their mouths against me and strike my cheeks with contempt; they join together against me.
it leads to
- Psalms 35:15
But when I stumbled, they assembled in glee; they gathered together against me. Assailants I did not know slandered me without ceasing.
- Psalms 22:13
They open their jaws against me like lions that roar and maul.
- Isaiah 50:6
I offered My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who tore out My beard. I did not hide My face from scorn and spittle.
- Lamentations 3:30
Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with reproach.
- Acts 23:2
At this, the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth.
- Psalms 35:15
Through
Job 16:20My friends are my scoffers as my eyes pour out tears to God.
it leads to
- Hebrews 5:7
During the days of Jesus’ earthly life, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His…
- Psalms 142:2
I pour out my complaint before Him; I reveal my trouble to Him.
- Hebrews 5:7
Through
Job 13:13Be silent, and I will speak. Then let come to me what may.
it leads to
- Job 7:11
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.
- Job 7:11
About Job
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 21:3-6; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.