Job 6:3
in Job 6For then it would outweigh the sand of the seas—no wonder my words have been rash.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas: Therefore have my words been rash.
KJV
For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are swallowed up.
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This verse in Job 6
Commentary
11 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Heavier than the sand of the sea - That is, they would be found to be insupportable. Who could bear up the sands of the sea? So Job says of his sorrows. A comparison somewhat similar is found in Pro 27:3. Heavy is a stone, and weighty the sand of the Sea, But a fool’s wrath is heavier than them both. My words are swallowed up - Margin, “I want words to express my grief.” This expresses the true sense - but not with the same poetic beauty.
This site's exposition
Then Job replied
on Job 6:1-3
Job answers Eliphaz by asking that "my grief could be weighed and placed with my calamity on the scales". He wants his suffering measured. He says "it would outweigh the sand of the seas," stating his case in words of weight and quantity that recur through the chapter.
This site's exposition
it would outweigh the sand of the seas
Clarke finds two ideas in the sand of the seas, grief past counting and a weight no scales could hold. Job then owns that his words have been rash. Henry hears him excusing the passion of his curse on his birth in chapter 3.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Eliphaz believed that Job said all this out of desperation. Since Eliphaz's first words to Job were trustworthy—words that insisted that Job suffered because of sin—Job responds, "It seems my words are valueless and lack faith." Consequently, Job adds the reason why Eliphaz does not …
The Medieval Church2 voices
But the adversity appears to be much greater and so he continues, "Like the sands on the sea," which means without parallel, "this", i.e. the calamity, "could not equal them," i.e. if the opinion of Eliphaz were true and the adversities of this world are …
Some men's minds are more tormented by scourges than reproaches, but some are more wounded by reproaches than by scourges. For oftentimes the tortures of speech assail us worse than any pains, and while they make us rise up in our vindication, they lay us low in impatience.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
He excuses the passionate expressions he had used when he cursed his day. Though he could not himself justify all he had said, yet he thought his friends should not thus violently condemn it, for really the case was extraordinary, and that might be connived at in such a man of sorrows as he now was which in any common grief would by no means be allowed.
Sea - Which is heavier than dry sand. Swallowed - My voice and spirit fail me. I cannot find, or utter words sufficient to express my sorrow or misery.
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
the sand-- (Pr 27:3). are swallowed up--See Margin [that is, "I want words to express my grief"]. But Job plainly is apologizing, not for not having had words enough, but for having spoken too much and too boldly; and the Hebrew is, "to speak rashly" [UMBREIT, GESENIUS, ROSENMULLER].
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
Heavier than the sand of the sea - This includes two ideas: their number was too great to be counted; their weight was too great to be estimated.
The words behind it
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| עַתָּ֗ה | ʾatah | now | H6258 → | 433 times |
| מֵח֣וֹל | mechol | more than [the] sand of | H2344 → | |
| יַמִּ֣ים | yamim | [the] seas | H3220 → | 396 times |
| יִכְבָּ֑ד | yikhbad | it will be heavy | H3513 → | 113 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | there- | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| כֵּ֝֗ן | ken | -fore | H3651 → | 771 times |
| דְּבָרַ֥י | devarai | words my | H1697 → | 1440 times |
| לָֽעוּ׃ | lau | they have been rash | H3886 → |
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
עַתָּ֗הnow
ʾatahH6258 →433 times
מֵח֣וֹלmore than [the] sand of
mecholH2344 →
יַמִּ֣ים[the] seas
yamimH3220 →396 times
יִכְבָּ֑דit will be heavy
yikhbadH3513 →113 times
עַל־there-
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
כֵּ֝֗ן-fore
kenH3651 →771 times
דְּבָרַ֥יwords my
devaraiH1697 →1440 times
לָֽעוּ׃they have been rash
lauH3886 →
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
Matthew 11:28Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
it leads to
- Matthew 11:29
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
- John 7:37
On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
- John 6:37
Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never drive away.
- Galatians 5:1
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery.
- Isaiah 55:1–3
“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you without money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost!
- Matthew 11:29
Through
Psalms 40:5Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders You have done, and the plans You have for us— none can compare to You— if I proclaim and declare them, they are more than I…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.
- Exodus 15:11
Who among the gods is like You, O LORD? Who is like You—majestic in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?
- Psalms 139:17–18
How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God, how vast is their sum!
- Jeremiah 29:11
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Job
This page draws on 10 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; Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON JOB 6:3-4; 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 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.