Bible Strands
Job 20:13
though he cannot bear to let it go and keeps it in his mouth,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Zophar speaks to Job in a poetic discourse, detailing the wicked person’s temporary retention of sin before divine judgment arrives.
The words — The Hebrew יַחְמֹל (yach.Mol) means "he spares," and יַעַזְבֶ֑נָּה (ya.'az.Ve./nah) means "he lets loose." Together they describe a refusal to release what the tongue has taken in.
The thread — The tension between clinging to sin and being forced to release it appears in Numbers 11:18, Matthew 5:29, and Mark 9:43. These texts contrast voluntary retention with the necessity of decisive removal.
Why it lands — The passage demands recognition that hoarding sin yields only decay, requiring immediate action to sever attachment before corruption becomes irreversible.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:
Cross-references
- Numbers 11:18 And say to the people: Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you will eat meat, because you have cried out in the hearing of the LORD, saying: ‘Who will feed us meat? For we were better off in Egypt!’ Therefore the LORD will give you meat, and you will eat.
- Matthew 5:29 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
- Mark 9:43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two hands and go into hell, into the unquenchable fire.
- Romans 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.