Job 16 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Job 16

Job Replies: Miserable Comforters Are You

16:1 Then Job answered and said:

2   “I have heard many such things;
    miserable comforters are you all.
3   Shall windy words have an end?
    Or what provokes you that you answer?
4   I also could speak as you do,
    if you were in my place;
  I could join words together against you
    and shake my head at you.
5   I could strengthen you with my mouth,
    and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.
6   “If I speak, my pain is not assuaged,
    and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?
7   Surely now God has worn me out;
    he has¹ made desolate all my company.
8   And he has shriveled me up,
    which is a witness against me,
  and my leanness has risen up against me;
    it testifies to my face.
9   He has torn me in his wrath and hated me;
    he has gnashed his teeth at me;
    my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.
10   Men have gaped at me with their mouth;
    they have struck me insolently on the cheek;
    they mass themselves together against me.
11   God gives me up to the ungodly
    and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
12   I was at ease, and he broke me apart;
    he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces;
  he set me up as his target;
13     his archers surround me.
  He slashes open my kidneys and does not spare;
    he pours out my gall on the ground.
14   He breaks me with breach upon breach;
    he runs upon me like a warrior.
15   I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin
    and have laid my strength in the dust.
16   My face is red with weeping,
    and on my eyelids is deep darkness,
17   although there is no violence in my hands,
    and my prayer is pure.
18   “O earth, cover not my blood,
    and let my cry find no resting place.
19   Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,
    and he who testifies for me is on high.
20   My friends scorn me;
    my eye pours out tears to God,
21   that he would argue the case of a man with God,
    as² a son of man does with his neighbor.
22   For when a few years have come
    I shall go the way from which I shall not return.

Footnotes

[1] 16:7 Hebrew you have; also verse 8
[2] 16:21 Hebrew and

Commentary

v1-5: Job's reply to his "miserable comforters". They bring no strength, no comfort, his grief is not relieved. They are clouds without water, they mouth great swelling words (Jude 12, 16). If the positions were reversed, Job would bring them comfort.

v6: Whatever Job does, there is no change. He feels neglected by God. Sometimes we think that we have to do the right thing for God to act in our lives.

v7-9: Job looks to God, only in Him will his grief be relieved, for His mercies are great (2 Sam 24.14).

v10-11: Referring to his friends and, perhaps, others who had gathered around to witness the discussion. Jobs' suffering the loss of wealth, of family, and of health is made worse by his friends' words. They are the archers surrounding him (v13).

v12-14: Job sees that his suffering is brought by God.

v15-17: Job's response in sorrow and prayer. He seeks to maintain his integrity, with pure hands.

v18-21: Job's witness is in heaven. His friends may scorn him, but God knows the truth. He rightly brings his complaint before God. Ultimately only with God is there a satisfactory answer to life.

v22: In this context, Job turns to prayer.