Naravist

Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament

Job 16

Job 16: miserable comforters and a witness in heaven

General context

Job answers Eliphaz. He says he has heard many such things and calls the friends miserable comforters, asking whether vain words will end and what emboldens Eliphaz to answer. He says he too could heap up words and shake his head if their souls were in his place, but he would strengthen them and ease their grief. Whether he speaks or holds back, his grief is not eased. He says God has made him weary and desolated his company, filled him with wrinkles and leanness that witness against him, torn him in wrath, gnashed on him with his teeth, and his enemy sharpens his eyes on him. Men gape at him, strike him on the cheek and gather against him; God has delivered him to the ungodly. He was at ease, but God broke him apart, took him by the neck, shook him to pieces and set him up as his mark; his archers surround him, cleave his reins and pour out his gall; he breaks him with breach on breach and runs on him like a giant. Job has sewed sackcloth on his skin and defiled his horn in the dust; his face is foul with weeping and the shadow of death is on his eyelids, though there is no injustice in his hands and his prayer is pure. He calls on the earth not to cover his blood and says his witness is in heaven and his record on high. His friends scorn him, but his eye pours out tears to God; he wishes one might plead for a man with God as a man pleads for his neighbour. In a few years he will go the way from which he will not return.

Cited passages: Job 16:1, Job 16:2, Job 16:3, Job 16:4, Job 16:5, Job 16:6, Job 16:7, Job 16:8, Job 16:9, Job 16:10, Job 16:11, Job 16:12, Job 16:13, Job 16:14, Job 16:15, Job 16:16, Job 16:17, Job 16:18, Job 16:19, Job 16:20, Job 16:21, Job 16:22

Job 16 (KJV)

1Then Job answered and said,

2I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all.

3Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest?

4I also could speak as ye do: if your soul were in my soul’s stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you.

5But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should asswage your grief.

6Though I speak, my grief is not asswaged: and though I forbear, what am I eased?

7But now he hath made me weary: thou hast made desolate all my company.

8And thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me: and my leanness rising up in me beareth witness to my face.

9He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.

10They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me.

11God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked.

12I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder: he hath also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark.

13His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground.

14He breaketh me with breach upon breach, he runneth upon me like a giant.

15I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and defiled my horn in the dust.

16My face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death;

17Not for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is pure.

18O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place.

19Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high.

20My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God.

21O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour!

22When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

The narrator's line is Then Job answered and said; Job replies to Eliphaz's second speech, and the answer continues through chapter 17 with no new speaker line. The address shifts: verse 3 uses the singular thee, most naturally for Eliphaz, who has just spoken; verses 7 and 8 use thou for the one who has made Job weary and filled him with wrinkles; verse 9 returns to he. The witness in heaven of verse 19 is not identified in the text; Job says his witness and record are on high and then wishes that one might plead for a man with God. Whether the witness is God himself or another is not stated, and the chapter does not settle it. O earth, cover not thou my blood is a wish that his death not be forgotten; Job's death is not narrated. Job's claim Not for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is pure is his own, and it matches the narrator's verdicts in 1.22 and 2.10, though Job does not know how the reader knows. The archers and the giant are Job's images for God's assault, not persons in the story, and the they who smite his cheek are unnamed.

Cited passages: Job 16:1, Job 17:1, Job 16:3, Job 16:7, Job 16:8, Job 16:9, Job 16:19, Job 16:21, Job 16:18, Job 16:17, Job 1:22, Job 2:10, Job 16:13, Job 16:14, Job 16:10

Literary context

Job opens by naming the friends' failure, miserable comforters are ye all, and reverses roles: in their place he would strengthen with his mouth. The middle section is the most violent language Job has yet used for God: tearing, gnashing, sharpened eyes, seized by the neck, shaken to pieces, a target for archers, gall poured on the ground, breach upon breach, a giant running at him. The phrase set me up for his mark repeats Job's complaint of 7.20, why hast thou set me as a mark against thee. Against this, the outward signs are quiet: sackcloth sewn on skin, horn in the dust, a face foul with weeping. The turn comes at verse 18, where the language of blood that must not be covered gives way to a witness in heaven, and Job's tears go unto God even as God is the one attacking. The wish for someone to plead in verse 21 returns to the daysman of 9.33. The closing line about a few years and the way whence I shall not return leads into chapter 17's talk of the grave.

Cited passages: Job 16:2, Job 16:4, Job 16:5, Job 16:9, Job 16:12, Job 7:20, Job 16:13, Job 16:14, Job 16:15, Job 16:16, Job 16:18, Job 16:19, Job 16:20, Job 16:21, Job 9:33, Job 16:22, Job 17:1

Key moments

  1. Miserable comforters (Job 16:2). Job calls the friends miserable comforters.
  2. In your place I would strengthen you (Job 16:5). Job says he would ease their grief if their souls were in his stead.
  3. Torn in his wrath (Job 16:9). Job says God tears him and gnashes on him with his teeth.
  4. Set up for his mark (Job 16:12). Job says God shook him to pieces and made him his target.
  5. Sackcloth on my skin (Job 16:15). Job says he has sewed sackcloth on his skin and defiled his horn in the dust.
  6. Earth, cover not my blood (Job 16:18). Job calls on the earth not to cover his blood.
  7. My witness is in heaven (Job 16:19). Job says his witness is in heaven and his record on high.

For reflection

Job says God is tearing him and in the same breath pours out tears to God and names a witness in heaven. Where does the text locate the difference between the God who attacks and the God he appeals to, or does it refuse to separate them?

People in this chapter