Job 32:19
in Job 32Behold, my belly is like unvented wine; it is about to burst like a new wineskin.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Behold, my breast is as wine which hath no vent; Like new wine-skins it is ready to burst.
KJV
Behold, my belly is as wine which hath no vent; it is ready to burst like new bottles.
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This verse in Job 32
Commentary
10 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.
This site's exposition
like unvented wine
Barnes gives unvented as not opened, a skin with no outlet for fermenting wine. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that new wine was kept in new goatskins. The fresh skin of Elihu's figure is about to burst.
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
It is annoying to a man to not realize what he desires, and so he shows the anxiety which he suffered in silence by a comparison saying, "Behold my womb," my mind, "is like must," which ferments, and "without a vent breaks new casks." For …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Behold, my belly is as wine, which hath no vent,....
(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
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Behold, my belly is as wine which hath no vent - Margin, as in Hebrew, “is not opened” - לאיפתח lo' yipâthach. The repherence is to a bottle, in which there is no opening, or no vent phor the phermenting wine to work itselph ophph. It is usual to leave a small hole in barrels and casks when wine, cider, or beer is phermenting. This is necessary in order to prevent the cask phrom bursting.
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
belly--bosom: from which the words of Orientalists in speaking seem to come more than with us; they speak gutturally. "Like (new) wine (in fermentation) without a vent," to work itself off. New wine is kept in new goatskin bottles.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
My belly is as wine which hath no vent - New wine in a state of effervescence. Like new bottles - Bottles, or rather bags, made of goat-skins. The head and shanks being cut off, the animal is cased out of the skin. The skin is then properly dressed; the anus and four shank holes properly tied up; and an aperture left at the neck or in some other place for the liquor to be poured in, and drawn out. One of these now lies before me, well tanned, and beautifully ornamented, and capable of holding many gallons. They are used, not only to carry wine and water, but for butter, and also for various dry goods. I have mentioned this in another place. When the wine is in a state of fermentation, and the skin has no vent, these bottles or bags are ready to burst; and if they be old, the new wine destroys them, breaks the old stitching, or rends the old skin. Our Lord makes use of the same figure, Mat 9:17 (note); where see the note.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הִנֵּֽה־ | hineh- | here! | H2009 → | 843 times |
| בִטְנִ֗י | vitni | belly my | H990 → | 72 times |
| כְּיַ֥יִן | keyayin | [is] like wine | H3196 → | 141 times |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | [which] not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִפָּתֵ֑חַ | yipateach | it is opened | H6605 → | 144 times |
| כְּאֹב֥וֹת | keovot | like wineskins | H178 → | |
| חֲ֝דָשִׁ֗ים | chadashim | new | H2319 → | |
| יִבָּקֵֽעַ׃ | yibakea' | it will be split open | H1234 → | 51 times |
הִנֵּֽה־here!
hineh-H2009 →843 times
בִטְנִ֗יbelly my
vitniH990 →72 times
כְּיַ֥יִן[is] like wine
keyayinH3196 →141 times
לֹא־[which] not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
יִפָּתֵ֑חַit is opened
yipateachH6605 →144 times
כְּאֹב֥וֹתlike wineskins
keovotH178 →
חֲ֝דָשִׁ֗יםnew
chadashimH2319 →
יִבָּקֵֽעַ׃it will be split open
yibakea'H1234 →51 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
2 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
Matthew 9:17Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will spill, and the wineskins will be ruined. Instead, they pour new wine into new wineskins,…
it leads to
- Joshua 9:4
acted deceptively and set out as envoys, carrying on their donkeys worn-out sacks and old wineskins, cracked and mended.
- Psalms 119:83
Though I am like a wineskin dried up by smoke, I do not forget Your statutes.
- Joshua 9:4
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); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXIII; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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.