Verse Lens · Context pointer
Job 21:1 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 1. 1But Job answered and said,
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
Job 21:1 opens the thought unit with the words “But Job answered and said.” Job turns or qualifies the speech with “But Job answered and said” inside Job Asks the Friends to Listen Before Mocking.
Read It With
- Job 21:1–21:6
Read Job 21:1 with 21:1–21:6. Read alone, “But Job answered and said” could lose its speaker, the question or claim it develops, and the unit's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Job asks for attentive hearing as their comfort, permits mockery only after he speaks, and says the subject terrifies his own body.
Why It Needs Context
Job 21:1 depends on 21:1–21:6; isolating “But Job answered and said” would detach a poetic premise, image, response, or transition from Job and “Job Asks the Friends to Listen Before Mocking.”
Read Job 21:1–6 together
Why these verses belong together: Job 21:1–21:6 follows the pinned KJV paragraphing and holds together one sustained speech movement: “Job Asks the Friends to Listen Before Mocking.” The next unit begins with a new stanza, question sequence, scene, speaker response, or rhetorical turn.
Verse 1. 1 But Job answered and said,
Verse 2. 2 Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations.
Verse 3. 3 Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.
Verse 4. 4 As for me, is my complaint to man? and if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled?
Verse 5. 5 Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth.
Verse 6. 6 Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Job 21:1–21:6 — Job Asks the Friends to Listen Before MockingSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? probable
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Job 21:1–21:6, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Job
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Job.xml, OSIS 21:1–21:6
Open the fixed Hebrew Job file ↗