The Meaning of Job 20:2 Explained

Job 20:2

KJV: Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste.

YLT: Therefore my thoughts cause me to answer, And because of my sensations in me.

Darby: Therefore do my thoughts give me an answer, and for this is my haste within me.

ASV: Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me, Even by reason of my haste that is in me.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Therefore do my thoughts  cause me to answer,  and for [this] I make haste. 

What does Job 20:2 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 20:1-29 - "the Triumphing Of The Wicked"
Zophar is the man who least of all understood Job. The rebuke which Job had just administered, Job 19:28-29, has vexed him, so that he speaks with impatience.
The theme of Zophar's speech is the brevity of the prosperity of the wicked. He claims that this is an acknowledged principle, Job 20:4; then proceeds to show it by many striking metaphors.
Hypocrite, Job 20:5, is "godless" in the r.v.; and in describing the prosperity and speedy destruction of such, Job 20:5-11, he manifestly applies his words to Job. He refuses to pay any heed to Job's protestations of innocence. His theology was: God is righteous; he blesses and prospers the good, and destroys the wicked. Job was being destroyed; therefore Job was wicked. Thus often do we in our ignorance misunderstand God and cruelly misjudge man.
Zophar descends to more particulars. He describes the pleasure which the ungodly has in sin, Job 20:12-13; how his sin becomes his punishment, Job 20:14-22; and how terrible destruction at last visits him, Job 20:23-28, as his portion from God, Job 20:29. Though in all this Zophar was wrong in applying it to Job's case, and equally wrong in supposing that this life is the place of judgment for the wicked, yet it is important to remember that he was right in seeing a very real connection between sin and punishment. However sweet sin may be to the taste, it is sure to become bitter as the gall of asps ere long. The "pleasures of sin" are but for a season. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 20

1  Zophar shows the state and portion of the wicked

What do the individual words in Job 20:2 mean?

therefore my anxious thoughts make me answer and because of the turmoil within me
לָ֭כֵן שְׂעִפַּ֣י יְשִׁיב֑וּנִי וּ֝בַעֲב֗וּר ח֣וּשִׁי בִֽי

שְׂעִפַּ֣י  my  anxious  thoughts 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, first person common singular
Root: סְעִפִּים 
Sense: ambivalence, division, divided opinion.
יְשִׁיב֑וּנִי  make  me  answer 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Imperfect, third person masculine plural, first person common singular
Root: שׁוּב  
Sense: to return, turn back.
וּ֝בַעֲב֗וּר  and  because 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b, Noun, masculine singular
Root: עֲבוּר  
Sense: for the sake of, on account of, because of, in order to conj.
ח֣וּשִׁי  of  the  turmoil 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Infinitive construct, first person common singular
Root: חוּשׁ 
Sense: to haste, make haste, hurry.
בִֽי  within  me 
Parse: Preposition, first person common singular