Text -- Job 16:1-10 (NET)

Job’s Reply to Eliphaz

16:1 Then Job replied: 16:2 “I have heard many things like these before. What miserable comforters are you all! 16:3 Will there be an end to your windy words? Or what provokes you that you answer? 16:4 I also could speak like you, if you were in my place; I could pile up words against you and I could shake my head at you. 16:5 But I would strengthen you with my words; comfort from my lips would bring you relief.

Abandonment by God and Man

16:6 “But if I speak, my pain is not relieved, and if I refrain from speaking –how much of it goes away? 16:7 Surely now he has worn me out, you have devastated my entire household. 16:8 You have seized me, and it has become a witness; my leanness has risen up against me and testifies against me. 16:9 His anger has torn me and persecuted me; he has gnashed at me with his teeth; my adversary locks his eyes on me. 16:10 People have opened their mouths against me, they have struck my cheek in scorn; they unite together against me.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Job 16:1

¹ sn In the next two chapters we have Job’s second reply to Eliphaz. Job now feels abandoned by God and by his friends, and so complains that this all intensifies his sufferings. But he still holds to his innocence as he continues his appeal to God as his witness. There are four sections to this speech: in vv. 2-5 he dismisses the consolation his friends offered; in vv. 6-17 he laments that he is abandoned by God and man; in 16:8–17:9 he makes his appeal to God in heaven as a witness; and finally, in 10-16 he anticipates death.

NET Notes: Job 16:2

¹ tn The expression uses the Piel participle in construct: מְנַחֲמֵי עָמָל (mÿnahame ’amal, “comforters of trouble”), i.e., comforters who increase trouble instead of relieving it. D. W. Thomas translates this “breathers out of trouble” (“A Note on the Hebrew Root naham,” ExpTim 44 [1932/33]: 192).

NET Notes: Job 16:3

¹ tn Disjunctive questions are introduced with the sign of the interrogative; the second part is introduced with אוֹ (’o, see GKC 475 §150.g).

² tn In v. 3 the second person singular is employed rather than the plural as in vv. 2 and 4. The singular might be an indication that the words of v. 3 were directed at Eliphaz specifically.

³ tn Heb “words of wind.”

⁴ tn The Hiphil of מָרַץ (marats) does not occur anywhere else. The word means “to compel; to force” (see 6:25).

⁵ tn The LXX seems to have gone a different way: “What, is there any reason in vain words, or what will hinder you from answering?”

NET Notes: Job 16:4

¹ tn For the use of the cohortative in the apodosis of conditional sentences, see GKC 322 §109.f.

² tn The conjunction לוּ (lu) is used to introduce the optative, a condition that is incapable of fulfillment (see GKC 494-95 §159.l).

³ tn This verb אַחְבִּירָה (’akhbirah) is usually connected to חָבַר (khavar, “to bind”). There are several suggestions for this word. J. J. Finkelstein proposed a second root, a homonym, meaning “to make a sound,” and so here “to harangue” (“Hebrew habar and Semitic HBR,” JBL 75 [1956]: 328-31; see also O. Loretz, “HBR in Job 16:4,” CBQ 23 [1961]: 293-94, who renders it “I could make noisy speeches”). Other suggestions have been for new meanings based on cognate studies, such as “to make beautiful” (i.e., make polished speeches).

⁴ sn The action is a sign of mockery (see Ps 22:7[8]; Isa 37:22; Matt 27:39).

NET Notes: Job 16:5

¹ tn “But” has been added in the translation to strengthen the contrast.

² tn The Piel of אָמַץ (’amats) means “to strengthen, fortify.”

³ tn Heb “my mouth.”

⁴ tn The verb יַחְשֹׂךְ (yakhsokh) means “to restrain; to withhold.” There is no object, so many make it first person subject, “I will not restrain.” The LXX and the Syriac have a different person – “I would not restrain.” G. R. Driver, arguing that the verb is intransitive here, made it “the solace of my lips would not [added] be withheld” (see JTS 34 [1933]: 380). D. J. A. Clines says that what is definitive is the use of the verb in the next line, where it clearly means “soothed, assuaged.”

NET Notes: Job 16:6

¹ tn “But” is supplied in the translation to strengthen the contrast.

² tn The Niphal יֵחָשֵׂךְ (yekhasekh) means “to be soothed; to be assuaged.”

³ tn Some argue that מָה (mah) in the text is the Arabic ma, the simple negative. This would then mean “it does not depart far from me.” The interrogative used rhetorically amounts to the same thing, however, so the suggestion is not necessary.

NET Notes: Job 16:7

¹ tn In poetic discourse there is often an abrupt change from person to another. See GKC 462 §144.p. Some take the subject of this verb to be God, others the pain (“surely now it has worn me out”).

NET Notes: Job 16:8

¹ tn The verb is קָמַט (qamat) which is used only here and in 22:16; it means “to seize; to grasp.” By God’s seizing him, Job means his afflictions.

² tn The subject is “my calamity.”

³ tn The verb is used in Ps 109:24 to mean “to be lean”; and so “leanness” is accepted here for the noun by most. Otherwise the word is “lie, deceit.” Accordingly, some take it here as “my slanderer” or “my liar” (gives evidence against me).

NET Notes: Job 16:9

¹ tn The referent of these pronouns in v. 9 (“his anger…he has gnashed…his teeth…his eyes”) is best taken as God.

² sn The figure used now is that of a wild beast. God’s affliction of Job is compared to the attack of such an animal. Cf. Amos 1:11.

³ tn The verb שָׂטַם (satam) is translated “hate” in the RSV, but this is not accepted by very many. Many emend it to שָׁמט (shamat), reading “and he dropped me” (from his mouth). But that suggests escape. D. J. A. Clines notes that usage shows it reflects ongoing hatred represented by an action such as persecution or attack (Job [WBC], 370).

⁴ tn The verb is used of sharpening a sword in Ps 7:12; here it means “to look intently” as an animal looks for prey. The verse describes God’s relentless pursuit of Job.

NET Notes: Job 16:10

¹ tn “People” is supplied; the Hebrew verb is third plural. The colon reads, “they have opened against me with [the preposition is instrumental] their mouth.” The gestures here follow the animal imagery; they reflect destructive opposition and attack (see Ps 22:13 among others).

² tn This is an “insult” or a “reproach.”

³ tn The verb יִתְמַלָּאוּן (yitmalla’un) is taken from מָלֵא (male’), “to be full,” and in this stem, “to pile up; to press together.” The term has a military connotation, such as “to mobilize” (see D. W. Thomas, “ml'w in Jeremiah 4:5 : a military term,” JJS 3 [1952]: 47-52). Job sees himself surrounded by enemies who persecute him and mock him.