Job 32:20

Study note

Setting — Elihu addresses Job and his three friends during an unresolved debate over Job's suffering.

The words — The text employs אֲדַבְּרָ֥ה ('a.da.be.Rah) for "let me speak" and וְ/יִֽרְוַֽח (ve./yir.vach-) for "and it may be relieved," followed by אֶפְתַּ֖ח ('ef.Tach) "let me open" and שְׂפָתַ֣/י (se.fa.Ta/i) "my lips."

The thread — This compulsion to speak appears in Job 21:3, where the speaker requests patience before delivering his words, and in Job 13:13, where silence is requested only to permit the speaker to give his account.

Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to treat speech as an unavoidable release for internal pressure rather than a controlled rhetorical exercise.

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.