Job 32:18
in Job 32For I am full of words, and my spirit within me compels me.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For I am full of words; The spirit within me constraineth me.
KJV
For I am full of matter, the spirit within me constraineth me.
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This verse in Job 32
Commentary
8 notes on this verseI am full of words, the spirit of my womb constraineth me. Behold, my belly is as new wine without a vent, which bursts in sunder new vessels. I will speak, and will take breath awhile; I will open my lips and answer. When boastful men observe that holy preachers speak eloquently, and are reverenced for their eloquence, they frequently imitate the loftiness of their language, and not their useful intention. They are far from loving what the others desire, but are especially anxious to gain great renown amongst men.
This site's exposition
For I am full of words
on Job 32:18-22
“For I am full of words, and my spirit within me compels me” explains why Elihu must speak. He pledges, “I will be partial to no one, nor will I flatter any man”. Gill reads it as a promise to speak plainly, and Clarke notes that it anticipates Elihu's directness.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
He wants to show that he suffered for a long time and waited to speak and that he contained himself and could burst. Therefore, he needed a large amount of patience. To be able to control one's words is the greatest proof of wisdom, and [Elihu's] ardor for God has enabled him to bear such an interior fire.
The Medieval Church1 voice
In fact, someone who desires vainglory wants to show off his excellence clearly if he has it and therefore he shows that he has the greatest ability to answer when he says, "For I am full of words," as if to say: Abundant answers occur …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
For I am full of matter,....
(2.) That he was under a necessity of saying it: " The spirit within me not only instructs me what to say, but puts me on to say it; so that if I have not vent (such a ferment are my thoughts in) I shall burst like bottles of new wine when it is working,"
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
I am full of matter - מלים millim, “I am full of Words,” or sayings; i.e., wise sentences, and ancient opinions. The spirit within me constraineth me - How similar to the words of St. Paul! The love of Christ constraineth us. Elihu considered himself under the influence of that Spirit of God which gives understanding, and felt anxiously concerned for the welfare both of Job and his friends.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
For I am full of matter - Margin, as in Hebrew words.” The three friends of Job had been silenced. They had not one word more to say. Elihu says that the reverse was true of him. He was full of words, and felt constrained to speak. It was not because he forced himself to do it, nor because he did it as a mere matter of duty, but he was so impressed with the subject that it would be a relief for him to give utterance to his views. The spirit within me - Referring, probably, to the conviction that it was the divine Spirit which urged him to speak; see the notes at Job 32:8; compare Job 33:4. A similar constraint in regard to the necessity of speaking, when under the influence of the Holy Spirit, is expressed in Jer 20:9, “His word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay;” compare Introduction to Isaiah, Section 7. The phrase “within me” is in the margin, as in Hebrew my belly - where the belly is spoken of as the seat of the mind; see Job 15:2. We speak of the head as the seat of the intellect, and the heart as the seat of the affections. The Hebrews were much in the habit of representing the region of the heart as the seat of all mental operations.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֭י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| מָלֵ֣תִי | maleti | I am full | H4390 → | 249 times |
| מִלִּ֑ים | milim | words | H4405 → | 38 times |
| הֱ֝צִיקַ֗תְנִי | hetzikatni | it has constrained me | H6693 → | |
| ר֣וּחַ | ruach | [the] spirit of | H7307 → | 378 times |
| בִּטְנִֽי׃ | bitni | belly my | H990 → | 72 times |
כִּ֭יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
מָלֵ֣תִיI am full
maletiH4390 →249 times
מִלִּ֑יםwords
milimH4405 →38 times
הֱ֝צִיקַ֗תְנִיit has constrained me
hetzikatniH6693 →
ר֣וּחַ[the] spirit of
ruachH7307 →378 times
בִּטְנִֽי׃belly my
bitniH990 →72 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
Jeremiah 20:9If I say, “I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,” His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones, and I become weary of…
it leads to
- Psalms 39:3
My heart grew hot within me; as I mused, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue:
- 1 Corinthians 9:16–17
Yet when I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because I am obligated to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Job 32:18–20
For I am full of words, and my spirit within me compels me.
- Acts 4:20
For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
- Acts 17:16
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply disturbed in his spirit to see that the city was full of idols.
- Psalms 39:3
Through
Acts 4:20For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
it leads to
- Jeremiah 20:9
If I say, “I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,” His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones, and I become weary of…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Acts 22:15
You will be His witness to everyone of what you have seen and heard.
- 1 John 1:1–3
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our own eyes, which we have gazed upon and touched with our own hands—this is the Word of life.
- Jeremiah 20:9
About Job
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, Book XXIII; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 31:18-19; 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.