Naravist

Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament

Job 4

Job 4: Eliphaz's first speech and the voice in the night

General context

Eliphaz the Temanite answers Job. He begins by asking whether Job will be grieved if they try to speak, and says no one can hold back. He reminds Job that he once instructed many and strengthened weak hands and feeble knees, but now that trouble touches him he faints. He asks whether Job's fear of God and the uprightness of his ways are his confidence and hope. He then asks who ever perished being innocent and where the righteous were cut off, and says from his own observation that those who plow iniquity reap it and perish by the blast of God; he pictures lions whose teeth are broken and whose whelps are scattered. Eliphaz reports a night experience: a word came to him secretly, fear and trembling shook his bones, a spirit passed before his face, his hair stood up, a form he could not discern stood still, and after silence a voice spoke. The voice asks whether mortal man can be more just than God or purer than his maker, says God puts no trust in his servants and charges his angels with folly, and asks how much less he trusts those who dwell in houses of clay, crushed before the moth, destroyed from morning to evening, dying without wisdom.

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

Job 4 (KJV)

1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

2If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking?

3Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.

4Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.

5But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.

6Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?

7Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?

8Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.

9By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.

10The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken.

11The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion’s whelps are scattered abroad.

12Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof.

13In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,

14Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.

15Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:

16It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying,

17Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?

18Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:

19How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?

20They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it.

21Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom.

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

Everything in this chapter after verse 1 is Eliphaz's speech; the narrator only says that Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said. Eliphaz's claims are his own: that the innocent do not perish, that the wicked reap what they sow, and that he received a message in a vision. The narrator neither confirms nor denies the vision, and the voice's words are reported only through Eliphaz. The label Temanite comes from 2.11 and is not explained. Eliphaz's account of Job's past, instructing many and strengthening the weak, is the first mention of Job's public life; the prologue described Job's household and offerings but not this. The question who ever perished, being innocent, sits beside the Lord's own words in 2.3 that Job was afflicted without cause, which the reader has heard and Eliphaz has not. Eliphaz's speech continues without a break into chapter 5; the chapter division does not mark a change of speaker.

Cited passages: Job 4:1, Job 2:11, Job 4:3, Job 4:7, Job 4:8, Job 4:12, Job 4:16, Job 2:3, Job 5:1

Literary context

Eliphaz opens gently, with a question about whether speech will grieve Job, then pivots with But now it is come upon thee. The speech answers chapter 3 indirectly: Job asked why the miserable are given light, and Eliphaz replies with a rule that the innocent are not cut off and the wicked are. The lion images in verses 10 and 11 carry the rule as a picture of strength broken. The vision passage slows the pace: night, deep sleep, fear, a spirit, standing hair, silence, then a voice, so that the message arrives with the weight of a revelation. The voice's argument moves downward, from God to his servants and angels to houses of clay, and closes on they die, even without wisdom. The chapter sets the pattern for the friends' speeches: an appeal to observation, Even as I have seen, an appeal to a higher source, and a general principle applied to Job's case. Job's reply does not come until chapter 6.

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

Key moments

  1. Eliphaz speaks first (Job 4:1). Eliphaz the Temanite answers Job.
  2. You strengthened others (Job 4:3). Eliphaz recalls that Job instructed many and strengthened weak hands.
  3. Who perished innocent? (Job 4:7). Eliphaz asks who ever perished being innocent.
  4. They reap what they plow (Job 4:8). Eliphaz says he has seen those who sow wickedness reap it.
  5. A spirit in the night (Job 4:15). A spirit passes before Eliphaz's face and his hair stands up.
  6. More just than God? (Job 4:17). The voice asks whether mortal man can be more just than his maker.
  7. Houses of clay (Job 4:19). The voice says those who dwell in houses of clay are crushed before the moth.

For reflection

Eliphaz reminds Job that he once strengthened the falling, and asks whether his own uprightness should now be his hope. Does his opening read as comfort, reproach, or both, and what in his words decides it?

People in this chapter

Also indexed here: