Chapter Sixteen

Job’s reply speech to Eliphaz’s speech in the second conversation. 1–6. Job cannot console himself either with his friends’ reasoning or with his own speeches and silence. 7–17. No one but the earth can confirm his innocence. 19–21. An appeal to God.

Job 16:2. And Job answered and said: Job 16:2. I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all! Job 16:3. Will there be an end to windy words? Or what provokes you to answer like this? Job 16:4. I could speak like you, if your soul were in place of my soul; I would array words against you and shake my head at you; Job 16:5. I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the movement of my lips would assuage you. Eliphaz’s speech, representing a repetition of the view earlier expressed by his friends about the inevitable punishment of the sinner (Job 4:7-9; Job 8:11 etc.; Job 11:6 etc.), provokes a just remark from Job: “I have heard many such things” (v. 2). By repeating the old, which brings Job no comfort, the friends remain in their former position as “miserable comforters” (cf. Job 13:4), who would do better to be silent (Job 13:2). Not wishing to follow this advice, they drive Job to exasperation: “will there be an end to windy words?” (v. 3). Indeed, his friends’ speeches are not needed by the sufferer. “Windy”—not substantial in content, they are unable to settle the disputed question; containing no trace of tenderness, rather combined with mockery (“shake my head at you,” v. 4; cf. Ps 21:8; Isa 37:22), they bring Job no comfort (v. 5). And were the sufferer in the place of his friends, faithful to his view (Job 6:14), he would never act thus.

Job 16:6. When I speak, my pain is not eased; and when I am silent, does it not pass away from me? Not finding sympathy from his friends, Job, as never before, is in need of comfort. He seeks it but does not find it. He is unable to console himself. Neither speeches nor silence diminish his anguish. By God he has been brought to a state of “exhaustion” (v. 7)—a wasting of the ability by either means (speeches and silence) to ease his sorrow. Not explaining why speeches do not bring comfort, Job points out how his silence is accompanied by such consequences. Job 16:7-11. Silence on Job’s part appears as agreement with the facts that testify to his sinfulness.

Job 16:7. But now He has exhausted me; You have laid waste all my family. The first of these is the destruction of his family—an undoubted, according to the friends’ assertion, sign of sinfulness (Job 4:10-11).

Job 16:8. You have shriveled me, which is a witness against me; my leanness rises up against me, it testifies against my face. Such indicators of Job’s guilt are his sufferings (cf. Job 10:17), which he cannot escape as a prisoner cannot escape his chains. Instead of “You have shriveled me to witness against me,” according to the Hebrew verb “fattighmetini” = “you have bound me with chains,” this passage is usually read as: “You have bound me to testify against me.” To sufferings, as witnesses, are added the friends, these traitors, who have abandoned the bonds of friendship and justice (Job 6:14 etc.; Job 13:7). The word “kahshi,” rendered in the Synodal text as “leanness,” also means “liar, traitor,” so the second half of this verse is translated: “a traitor (friends) rises up before my face and accuses me.”

Job 16:9. His wrath has torn me, and He has pursued me; He gnashes His teeth at me; my adversary sharpens his gaze upon me. Job 16:10. They gape at me with their mouth; they strike me on the cheek with reproach; they band themselves together against me. Job 16:11. God has given me over to the wicked and cast me into the hands of the unrighteous. The last witnesses to Job’s sinfulness are those lawless men into whose hands he has been given by God. Based on the fact that God’s wrath not only does not cease but continues to intensify, so that God in His dealings with the sufferer is like a wild animal rushing at its prey (v. 9), they unite hostile treatment of Job with mockery and contempt (“strike on the cheek,” v. 10; cf. Ps 3:8; Mic 5:1; as well as Isa 50:6).

Job 16:12. I was at ease, but He shattered me; He has taken me by the neck and dashed me in pieces; He has set me up as His target. Job 16:13. His archers surround me; He pierces my loins without pity, He pours out my gall upon the ground, Job 16:14. He breaks me with breach upon breach; He rushes upon me like a warrior. Job cannot be silent, that is, cannot agree with these testimonies of his guilt, because calamity fell upon him at the time when he “was at ease” (v. 12), enjoyed the favor of God, was undoubtedly in His eyes a righteous man (cf. Job 29:1-6). There is no unrighteousness in his hands; his relations toward God are beyond reproach (v. 17), and yet the Lord during times of peace “shattered” him (v. 12)—made calamities especially felt. Like a wrestler grasping his opponent by the neck, He has cast him from a state of happiness into the depths of calamity (v. 12). And still he remains the object upon which the Lord practices His wrath. He strikes him with arrows (v. 13; cf. Job 6:4), piercing the inner parts, that is, causing terrible suffering through calamity (v. 13). In order to finally finish him, the Lord makes a final assault as it were (v. 14).

Job 16:15. I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and laid my horn in the dust. Job 16:16. My face is red with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death, As a result of such dealings of God toward Job, the latter is in a state of deep sorrow: mourning garments, “sackcloth,” do not leave him, wasted away (“laid my horn in the dust” v. 15, literally from the Hebrew “wrapped my horn in dust.” The horn is a symbol of strength.” 1 Sam 2:1; Ps 74:5). His face from constant tears has taken on a reddish hue, and his eyes, weakened by sorrow and clouded by tears, are covered with darkness, a forerunner of death.

Job 16:18. O earth, cover not my blood, and let my cry find no rest place! Job is innocent; he cannot be silent. At the same time, it is useless to turn with speech to God and friends: they do not believe him. Given such circumstances, he turns with a request to the earth, that it “cover not” his blood. Innocent blood, shed wrongfully, demands vengeance, especially when it remains on the surface of the earth (Isa 26:21; Ezek 24:7-8). By turning to the earth with a request not to hide his blood, not to absorb it, Job wishes, at least, that it acknowledge his innocence, worthy of vengeance, restoration of violated rights, which God and friends refuse to do. “Let my cry find no rest place,” in literal translation: “let my cry not be suppressed” (concerning vengeance); the former thought expressed in another form.

Job 16:19. Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and He who vouches for me is on high. Job’s request is based on his deep conviction of his innocence, of which God Himself is a witness (Job 23:10). As a witness to the innocence acknowledged also by inanimate nature, He cannot but be his advocate. The faith of Job in God’s Justice, weakened before by various considerations, manifests itself in full force.

Job 16:20. My mockers are my friends; my eye pours out tears to God. Job 16:21. O, if man could have his plea heard by God, like the son of man with his neighbor! The Hebrew expression “melitzay rehay,” rendered in the Synodal text as “mockers are my friends,” should be translated according to Ps 118:51 with the phrase “scoffers are my friends.” Let the friends laugh and mock (v. 4) Job’s confidence in his innocence. He remains in his conviction. Certain of it and of God’s ultimate justice, the sufferer wishes only one thing: to see its manifestation now. Therefore, he asks that the Lord permit, give him the opportunity to maintain his righteousness before Him, as he could do so in a dispute with a man (v. 21; cf. Job 9:32 etc.).

Job 16:22. For the years of my life are few, and I go the way from which I shall not return. The motivation for such a request is approaching death: Job wishes to die vindicated.