Job 16:4. I also could speak, &c.— I also could speak as well as you: if your soul were in my soul's stead, would I accumulate sentences against you? would I shake my head at you? Heath. The rendering of this verse interrogatively gives it a very pathetic turn. read more
4. heap up—rather, "marshal together (an army of) words against you." shake . . . head—in mockery; it means nodding, rather than shaking; nodding is not with us, as in the East, a gesture of scorn (Isaiah 37:22; Jeremiah 18:16; Matthew 27:39). read more
Job’s disgust with his friends 16:1-5Job said his visitors had said nothing new to help him (Job 16:1). He picked up Eliphaz’s word (translated "mischief" in Job 15:35) and used it to describe him and his companions as "sorry," pain-inflicting comforters (an oxymoron, Job 16:2). Eliphaz’s words had not brought the consolation he had promised (Job 15:11). Job charged his visitors with being the real windbags (Job 16:3; cf. Job 8:2; Job 15:2). He claimed that he himself would provide more comfort... read more
2. Job’s second reply to Eliphaz chs. 16-17This response reflects Job’s increasing disinterest in the words of his accusers. He warned them and then proceeded to bewail his isolation. read more
Job’s Fourth Speech (Job 16, 17)See introductory remarks on Job 15-21.1-5. Job retorts scornfully that he too could offer such empty ’comfort’ if he were in the friends’ place.2. The friends can do nothing but repeat their exasperating commonplaces. 3. Shall vain words, etc.] i.e. ’will you never stop?’5. Job would have acted very differently (Job 4:3-4; Job 29), giving no mere lip-comfort.6-17. Job enlarges on the wrath of God and the enmity of man. Neither speech nor silence brings him... read more
(4) If your soul.—i.e., person=“ If you were in my place, I could heap up words,” &c. It is doubtful whether this is in contrast to what comes afterwards in the fifth verse, as in the Authorised Version, or whether it may not be in parallelism with it; thus: “I would make myself a companion to you—condole and sympathise with you. in words, and shake my head at you as a mark of sympathy.” The phrase differs somewhat from that in Psalms 22:7; Isaiah 37:22, where to shake the head expresses... read more
Job 16:2 In no respect was Mrs. Grote's knowledge of the human heart more apparent than in her intercourse with a mariner. With the unfailing freshness she put into all she said, she called herself 'a good affliction woman'. In the first place she admitted the reality of the trial, without which no one attempting to help no matter in what can be either just or kind. Then she dealt in no commonplaces on any subject in the world, least of all on that of deep grief. She knew that nothing could... read more
XIV."MY WITNESS IN HEAVEN"Job 16:1-22; Job 17:1-16Job SPEAKSIF it were comforting to be told of misery and misfortune, to hear the doom of insolent evildoers described again and again in varying terms, then Job should have been comforted. But his friends had lost sight of their errand, and he had to recall them to it."I have heard many such things: Afflictive comforters are ye all. Shall vain words have an end?"He would have them consider that perpetual harping on one string is but a sober... read more
CHAPTERS 16-17 Job’s Reply to Eliphaz 1. Miserable comforters are ye all (Job 16:1-5 ) 2. Oh God! Thou hast done it! (Job 16:6-14 ) 3. Yet I look to Thee (Job 16:15-22 ) 4. Trouble upon trouble; self-pity (Job 17:1-12 ) 5. Where is now my hope? (Job 17:13-16 ) Job 16:1-5 . How masterfully he meets their wrong accusations and how he brings forth his suffering afresh, yet always with that horrible nightmare, God is not for me, but against me! Such things Eliphaz spoke he had heard... read more
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E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Job 16:4
your soul = you (emph.) Hebrew. nephesh. App-13 . my soul = me (emph.) Hebrew. nephesh. App-13 . read more