But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against thee;

JOB 11:5KJV
Know the Bible

Job 11:5 (KJV)

What does Job 11:5 mean?

Job 11:5 expresses a wish that God Himself would speak out and respond directly to Job, making His thoughts and judgments clear. The verse shows someone longing for God to break His silence and address Job’s complaints or arguments.

In this verse, Zophar, one of Job’s friends, is speaking to Job during their conversation about suffering and justice. Zophar is frustrated with Job’s words and wishes that God would personally answer Job, believing that God’s reply would correct or rebuke him. The verse highlights the tension between Job and his friends, who think Job is wrong to question God’s ways.

The Hebrew behind Job 11:5

  • אֱלוֹהַּ (Eloah, transliterated "Eloah") is the word for "God" here, emphasizing the singular, personal aspect of God, which fits Zophar’s wish for a direct, personal response.
  • יָפַת (yaphat, transliterated "yaphat") is translated as "open" (his lips), often carrying the sense of revealing or making something known, not just physically opening the mouth. Zophar wants God to reveal hidden truths to Job.
  • דִּבֵּר (dibber, transliterated "dibber") means "speak," and in this context, it suggests authoritative speech—Zophar is not just hoping for any words, but for a decisive, clarifying statement from God.

Why Job 11:5 matters

  • Job 11:5 clarifies that Zophar is not satisfied with human arguments—he wants divine intervention to settle the debate, showing the limits of human understanding in the book.
  • The verse highlights the friends’ belief that God’s perspective would expose Job’s supposed errors, reflecting their confidence in their own view of God’s justice.
  • This longing for God to speak sets up later moments in the book when God actually does address Job, making this wish an important turning point in the conversation.

Where else these words appear

“But” Hebrew H199 · used in 19 verses

  • Genesis 28:19 And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.
  • 1 Samuel 25:34 For in very deed, as the LORD God of Israel liveth, which hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.
  • Job 13:3 Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God.

“God” Hebrew H433 · used in 56 verses

  • Deuteronomy 32:15 But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
  • Job 15:8 Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?
  • Job 33:12 Behold, in this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man.

“open” Hebrew H6605 · used in 133 verses

  • Genesis 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
  • Nehemiah 1:6 Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned.
  • Isaiah 14:17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?