Job 6:25
in Job 6How painful are honest words! But what does your argument prove?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
How forcible are words of uprightness! But your reproof, what doth it reprove?
KJV
How forcible are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove?
⋯
This verse in Job 6
Commentary
11 notes on this verseWherefore have ye detracted from the words of truth; when there is none of you that is able to convict them? He must himself be pure from evil, who makes it his concern to correct the evil practices of other men, so as not to be taken up with earthly imaginations, not to give way to grovelling desires, in order that he may the more clearly see what things others ought to avoid, in proportion as he himself the more thoroughly eschews them by knowledge and by practice.
This site's exposition
Teach me, and I will be silent
on Job 6:24-27
Job invites correction, "Teach me, and I will be silent," and asks to be shown "how I have erred". "How painful are honest words" grants that true words carry force. They would "cast lots for an orphan and barter away your friend," turning comfort into harm.
This site's exposition
How painful are honest words
Job grants that honest words carry force and would silence him. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown put the weight of the second line on the friends themselves, men who stand outside his suffering and still correct it. Clarke says their reasoning fails at its premise, that suffering proves sin.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Job's words mean … "It is likely you have suffered the same in many things." Truth, however, is always hateful to many. Therefore, you despise my words of truth. "You do not come down to me," Job says, "nor do you speak about the gifts …
The Medieval Church1 voice
Not only do they offer him no help, but they even afflict him further with their words as much as they can. So he adds, "Why do you slander true ideas?" which he spoke first in his lamentation and which Eliphaz seemed to reprove as …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
But the method you take will never make proselytes: What doth your arguing reprove? Your hypothesis is false, your surmises are groundless, your management is weak, and your application peevish and uncharitable." Note, 1.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me. 5 Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or loweth the ox over his fodder? 6 Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
How forcible are right words!....
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
How forcible are right words! - How weighty and impressive are words of truth! Job means that he was accustomed to feel their power, and to admit it on his soul. If their words were such, he would listen to them with profound attention, and in silence. The expression has a proverbial cast. But what doth your arguing reprove? - Or rather, what doth the reproof from you reprove? or what do your reproaches prove?
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
And what will your arguings reprove?--literally, "the reproofs which proceed from you"; the emphasis is on you; you may find fault, who are not in my situation [UMBREIT].
How forcible are right words - A well-constructed argument, that has truth for its basis, is irresistible. But what doth your arguing reprove? - Your reasoning is defective, because your premises are false; and your conclusions prove nothing, because of the falsity of the premises whence they are drawn. The last clause, literally rendered, is, What reproof, in a reproof from you? As you have proved no fault you have consequently reproved no vice. Instead of מה נמרצו mah nimretsu, “how forcible,” מה נמלצו mah nimletsu, “how savoury or pleasant,” is the reading of two MSS., the Chaldee, and some of the rabbins. Both senses are good, but the common reading is to be preferred.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מַה־ | mah- | how! | H4100 → | 752 times |
| נִּמְרְצ֥וּ | nimretzu | they are painful | H4834 → | |
| אִמְרֵי־ | ʾimrei- | words of | H561 → | 49 times |
| יֹ֑שֶׁר | yosher | uprightness | H3476 → | 14 times |
| וּמַה־ | umah- | and what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| יּוֹכִ֖יחַ | yokhiach | does it prove | H3198 → | 59 times |
| הוֹכֵ֣חַ | hokheach | completely <to prove> | H3198 → | 59 times |
| מִכֶּֽם׃ | mikem | from <the> you |
מַה־how!
mah-H4100 →752 times
נִּמְרְצ֥וּthey are painful
nimretzuH4834 →
אִמְרֵי־words of
ʾimrei-H561 →49 times
יֹ֑שֶׁרuprightness
yosherH3476 →14 times
וּמַה־and what?
umah-H4100 →752 times
יּוֹכִ֖יחַdoes it prove
yokhiachH3198 →59 times
הוֹכֵ֣חַcompletely <to prove>
hokheachH3198 →59 times
מִכֶּֽם׃from <the> you
mikem
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
Proverbs 18:21Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
it leads to
- Ephesians 4:29
Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing grace to those who listen.
- Matthew 12:35–37
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.
- Colossians 4:6
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
- Proverbs 10:19–21
When words are many, sin is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise.
- James 3:6–9
The tongue also is a fire, a world of wickedness among the parts of the body. It pollutes the whole person, sets the course of his life on fire, and is itself set on…
- Ephesians 4:29
Through
Proverbs 25:11A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.
it leads to
- Proverbs 15:23
A man takes joy in a fitting reply—and how good is a timely word!
- Isaiah 50:4
The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of discipleship, to sustain the weary with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning; He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.
- Ecclesiastes 12:10
The Teacher searched to find delightful sayings and to record accurate words of truth.
- Proverbs 15:23
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
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 VII; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Olympiodorus of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON JOB 6:24-27 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.