Job 21:3

Translations

King James Version (KJV)

Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.

American King James Version (AKJV)

Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.

American Standard Version (ASV)

Suffer me, and I also will speak; And after that I have spoken, mock on.

Basic English Translation (BBE)

Let me say what is in my mind, and after that, go on making sport of me.

Webster's Revision

Suffer me that I may speak; and after I have spoken, mock on.

World English Bible

Allow me, and I also will speak; After I have spoken, mock on.

English Revised Version (ERV)

Suffer me, and I also will speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.

Barnes's Job 21:3 Bible Commentary

Suffer me that I may speak - Allow me to speak without interruption, or bear with me while I freely express my sentiments - it is all that I now ask.

And after that I have spoken, mock on - Resume your reproaches, if you will, when I am done. I ask only the privilege of expressing my thoughts on a very important point, and when that is done, I will allow you to resume your remarks as you have done before, and you may utter your sentiments without interruption. Or it may be, that Job utters this in a kind of triumph, and that he feels that what he was about to say was so important that it would end the "argument;" and that all they could say after that would be mere mockery and reviling. The word rendered "mock on" (לעג lâ‛ag) means, originally, "to stammer, to speak unintelligibly" - then, "to speak in a barbarous or foreign language" - then, "to deride or to mock, to ridicule or insult." The idea is, that they might mock his woes, and torture his feelings as they had done, if they would only allow him to express his sentiments.

Wesley's Job 21:3 Bible Commentary

21:3 Speak - without interruption. Mock - If I do not defend my cause with solid arguments, go on in your scoffs.