Job 42:4

The NET Bible®

You said, ‘Pay attention, and I will speak; I will question you, and you will answer me.'

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
You said, “Listen now, and I will speak.When I question you, you will inform me.”

Hebrew Names Version
You said, 'Listen, now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you will answer me.'

King James Version
Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.

English Standard Version
‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.'

New Century Version
You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak. I will ask you questions, and you must answer me.'

Amplified Bible
'Hear, please, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct [and answer] me.'

New American Standard Bible
'Please listen, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me.'

World English Bible
You said, 'Listen, now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you will answer me.'

Geneva Bible (1587)
Heare, I beseech thee, and I will speake: I will demaunde of thee, & declare thou vnto me.

Legacy Standard Bible
‘Hear, now, and I will speak;I will ask You, and You make me know.'

Berean Standard Bible
You said, 'Listen now, and I will speak. I will question you, and you shall answer Me.'

Contemporary English Version
You told me to listen and answer your questions.

Complete Jewish Bible
"Please listen, and I will speak. [You said,] ‘I will ask questions; and you, give me answers' —

Darby Translation
Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and inform me.

Easy-to-Read Version
"You said to me, ‘Listen, and I will speak. I will ask you questions, and you will answer me.'

George Lamsa Translation
Hear me, I pray thee, and I will speak; I will ask thee, and declare thou to me;

Good News Translation
You told me to listen while you spoke and to try to answer your questions.

Lexham English Bible
‘Hear and I will speak; I will question you, then inform me.'

Literal Translation
I pray, Listen, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You will make me know.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
O herken thou vnto me also, and let me speake: answere me vnto the thinge that I will axe the.

American Standard Version
Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak; I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.

Bible in Basic English
Give ear to me, and I will say what is in my mind; I will put questions to you, and you will give me the answers.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Hear, I beseech Thee, and I will speak; I will demand of Thee, and declare Thou unto me.

King James Version (1611)
Heare, I beseech thee, and I will speake: I will demand of thee, and declare thou vnto me.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
O hearken thou vnto me also, and let me speake: aunswere vnto the thing that I wyll aske thee.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
But hear me, O Lord, that I also may speak: and I will ask thee, and do thou teach me.

English Revised Version
Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak; I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Here thou, and Y schal speke; Y schal axe thee, and answere thou to me.

Update Bible Version
Hear, I urge you, and I will speak; I will demand of you, and declare you to me.

Webster's Bible Translation
Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will ask of thee, and declare thou to me.

New King James Version
Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, "I will question you, and you shall answer Me.'

New Living Translation
You said, ‘Listen and I will speak! I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.'

New Life Bible
‘Hear now, and I will speak. I will ask you, and you answer Me.'

New Revised Standard
‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.'

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Hear thou, I pray thee, and, I, will speak, I will ask thee, and inform thou me.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Hear, and I will speak: I will ask thee, and do thou tell me.

Revised Standard Version
'Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.'

Young's Literal Translation
`Hear, I pray thee, and I -- I do speak, I ask thee, and cause thou me to know.'

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Praise Him with timbrel and dancing; Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe.

Contextual Overview

¹ Then Job answered the Lord : ² "I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted; ³ you asked, ‘Who is this who darkens counsel without knowledge?' But I have declared without understanding things too wonderful for me to know. ⁴ You said, ‘Pay attention, and I will speak; I will question you, and you will answer me.' ⁵ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye has seen you. ⁶ Therefore I despise myself, and I repent in dust and ashes! After the Lord had spoken these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "My anger is stirred up against you and your two friends, because you have not spoken about me what is right, as my servant Job has. So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job will intercede for you, and I will respect him, so that I do not deal with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken about me what is right, as my servant Job has." So they went, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, and did just as the Lord had told them; and the Lord had respect for Job. So the Lord restored what Job had lost after he prayed for his friends, and the Lord doubled all that had belonged to Job. So they came to him, all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they dined with him in his house. They comforted him and consoled him for all the trouble the Lord had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring. So the Lord blessed the second part of Job's life more than the first. He had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. And he also had seven sons and three daughters. The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-Happuch. Nowhere in all the land could women be found who were as beautiful as Job's daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance alongside their brothers. After this Job lived 140 years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so Job died, old and full of days.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Hear: Genesis 18:27, Genesis 18:30-32

I will: Job 38:3, Job 40:7

Reciprocal: Ezekiel 18:25 - way

Cross-References

Genesis 3:22
And the Lord God said, "Now that the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not be allowed to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."

Genesis 11:4
Then they said, "Come, let's build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens so that we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise we will be scattered across the face of the entire earth."

Genesis 42:1
When Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, "Why are you looking at each other?"

Genesis 42:2
He then said, "Look, I hear that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy grain for us so that we may live and not die."

Genesis 42:16
One of you must go and get your brother, while the rest of you remain in prison. In this way your words may be tested to see if you are telling the truth. If not, then, as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!"

Genesis 42:19
If you are honest men, leave one of your brothers confined here in prison while the rest of you go and take grain back for your hungry families.

Genesis 42:20
But you must bring your youngest brother to me. Then your words will be verified and you will not die." They did as he said.

Genesis 42:22
Reuben said to them, "Didn't I say to you, ‘Don't sin against the boy,' but you wouldn't listen? So now we must pay for shedding his blood!"

Genesis 42:27
When one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey at their resting place, he saw his money in the mouth of his sack.

Genesis 42:34
But bring your youngest brother back to me so I will know that you are honest men and not spies. Then I will give your brother back to you and you may move about freely in the land.'"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak,.... Not in the manner he had before, complaining of God and justifying himself, but in a way of humble entreaty of favours of him, of confession of sin before him, and of acknowledgment of his wisdom, goodness, and justice in all his dealings with him, which before he arraigned;

I will demand of thee; or rather "I will make petition to thee", as Mr. Broughton renders it; humbly ask a favour, and entreat a gracious answer; for to demand is not so agreeable to the frame and temper of soul Job was now in;

and declare thou unto me; or make him know what he knew not; he now in ignorance applies to God, as a God of knowledge, to inform him in things he was in the dark about, and to increase what knowledge he had. He was now willing to take the advice of Elihu, and pursue it,

Job 34:31.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak - This is the language of humble, docile submission. On former occasions he had spoken confidently and boldly of God; he had called in question the equity of his dealings with him; he had demanded that he might be permitted to carry his cause before him, and argue it there himself; Notes, Job 13:3, and notes Job 13:20-22. Now he is wholly changed. His is the submissive language of a docile child, and he begs to be permitted to sit down before God, and humbly to inquire of him what was truth. “This is true religion.”

I will demand of thee - Or rather, “I will ask of thee.” The word “demand” implies more than there is of necessity in the original word (שׁאל shâ'al). That means simply “to ask,” and it may be done with the deepest humility and desire of instruction. That was now the temper of Job.

And declare thou unto me - Job was not now disposed to debate the matter, or to enter into a controversy with God. He was willing to sit down and receive instruction from God, and earnestly desired that he would “teach” him of his ways. It should be added, that very respectable critics suppose that in this verse Job designs to make confession of the impropriety of his language on former occasions, in the presumptuous and irreverent manner in which he had demanded a trial of argument with God. It would then require to be rendered as a quotation from his own words formerly.

“I have indeed uttered what I understood not,

Things too wonderful for me, which I know not,

(When I said) Hear now, I will speak,

I will demand of thee, and do thou teach me”

This is adopted by Umbreit, and has much in its favor that is plausible; but on the whole the usual interpretation seems to be most simple and proper.