Job 23:5
in Job 23I would learn how He would answer, and consider what He would say.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I would know the words which he would answer me, And understand what he would say unto me.
KJV
I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.
⋯
This verse in Job 23
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
I would know the words which he would answer me - That is, I wish to understand what would be “his” decision in the case - and what would be his judgment in regard to me. That was of infinitely more importance than any opinion which “man” could form, and Job was anxious to have the matter decided by a tribunal which could not err. Why should “we” not desire to know exactly what God thinks of us, and what estimate he has formed of our character?
This site's exposition
If only I knew where to find Him
on Job 23:3-5
Job wishes for access: "If only I knew where to find Him, so that I could go to His seat". There he would "plead my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments", as a man prepares a case for a court he trusts.
This site's exposition
I would learn how He would answer
Job would learn the answer from God himself. Henry notes that he already knew what the friends would say, and he wanted to hear what God would say, whose judgment is true. Wesley finds a readiness to be humbled if God would show him a hidden sin.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
This is like debaters usually make objections against the arguments of their opponents, to understand the truth more fully, and so he says, "to know how he answers me." This relates to knowing the truth of the answer. "To understand what he says to me," …
That I may know the words that he will answer me, and understand what he will say unto me. For we then bewail our sins, when we begin to weigh them; but we then weigh them the more exactly, when more anxiously we bewail them, and by our lamentations it rises up more perfectly in our hearts, what the severity of God threatens those with that commit sin, what will be those rebukings upon the children of perdition, what the terror, what the abhorrence of the unappeasable Majesty.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Job knew well enough what his friends would answer him; they would condemn him, and run him down. "But" (says he) " I would fain know what God would answer me; for I am sure his judgment is according to truth, which theirs is not.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
Know - If he should discover to me any secret sins, for which he contendeth with me, I would humble myself before him, and accept of the punishment of mine iniquity.
I would know the words which he would answer me,....
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
I would know the words which he would answer me - He would speak nothing but what was true, decree nothing that was not righteous, nor utter any thing that I could not comprehend.
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֵ֭דְעָה | ʾedeah | I want to know | H3045 → | 945 times |
| מִלִּ֣ים | milim | [the] words | H4405 → | 38 times |
| יַעֲנֵ֑נִי | yaaneni | [which] he will answer me | H6030 → | 331 times |
| וְ֝אָבִ֗ינָה | veavinah | and I want to understand | H995 → | 170 times |
| מַה־ | mah- | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| יֹּ֥אמַר | yomar | will he say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| לִֽי׃ | li | to me |
אֵ֭דְעָהI want to know
ʾedeahH3045 →945 times
מִלִּ֣ים[the] words
milimH4405 →38 times
יַעֲנֵ֑נִי[which] he will answer me
yaaneniH6030 →331 times
וְ֝אָבִ֗ינָהand I want to understand
veavinahH995 →170 times
מַה־what?
mah-H4100 →752 times
יֹּ֥אמַרwill he say
yomarH559 →5305 times
לִֽי׃to me
li
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 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 10:2I will say to God: Do not condemn me! Let me know why You prosecute me.
it leads to
- Psalms 139:23–24
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns.
- Job 9:29
Since I am already found guilty, why should I labor in vain?
- Psalms 143:2
Do not bring Your servant into judgment, for no one alive is righteous before You.
- Job 34:31–32
Suppose someone says to God, ‘I have endured my punishment; I will offend no more.
- Romans 8:1
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
- Psalms 139:23–24
Where this verse is studied
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 (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVI; 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.