Job 32:20

20 I shall speak, and (then) breathe again a little; I shall open my lips, and I shall answer (you).

Job 32:20 Meaning and Commentary

Job 32:20

I will speak, that I may be refreshed
That his mind might be made easy; the matter it was full of lay with much weight upon it, pressed him hard, and gave him pain; and therefore he determines to speak his mind, and disburden himself: so a minister of the word speaks sometimes to the refreshment of others, the Gospel being a word in season to weary souls, bread to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, even wine to them that are of an heavy heart; and especially it is refreshing when the love of God is shed abroad in the heart through it, and the presence of God is enjoyed under it; and sometimes he speaks to the refreshment of himself with others, ( Romans 15:32 ) ; and whether it be so, one or the other, yet a faithful minister eases his mind, discharges his conscience, and is clear from the blood of all, when he truly and fully declares the whole counsel of God, so far as he is acquainted with it:

I will open my lips and answer;
speak freely and boldly what was upon his mind, and he had to say, and which he judged would be a sufficient answer to Job; the opening of his lips is a phrase used by him in allusion to the opening of a bottle, full of new wine, the metaphor before expressed by him.

Job 32:20 In-Context

18 For I am full of words, and the spirit of my womb, that is, (my) mind, constraineth me.
19 Lo! my womb is as must without (a) spigot/without (a) faucet, either a venting, that bursteth new vessels.
20 I shall speak, and (then) breathe again a little; I shall open my lips, and I shall answer (you).
21 I shall not take the person of a man, and I shall not make God even to man. (I shall not show favour to anyone, and I shall not make God equal to people.)
22 For I know not how long I shall abide alive, and if my Maker will take me away after a little time.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.