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Job 16 · a question people ask

Is Job right in what he says of God in 16:9-14?

In the text

These are Job's words: "He has torn me in his wrath and persecuted me" (16:9), "God delivers me to the ungodly" (16:11), and "He has also set me up for his target" (16:12). In the same speech he says, "My eyes pour out tears to God" (16:20), and "my witness is in heaven" (16:19). Later the book sets more than one word beside Job's speeches. When the LORD answers Job, he asks, "Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?" (38:2), and "Will you condemn me, that you may be justified?" (40:8). Job answers, "I have uttered that which I didn’t understand, things too wonderful for me, which I didn’t know" (42:3). And the LORD says to Eliphaz, "you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has" (42:7). The book sets these verses side by side and doesn't say which of Job's words each has in view, or how they fit together. These notes quote 16:9-14 as Job's words and add no verdict of their own, for or against.

The verses

“Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven. He who vouches for me is on high. My friends scoff at me. My eyes pour out tears to God,”
Job 16:19-20 · World English Bible
““Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?”
Job 38:2 · World English Bible
“Will you even annul my judgment? Will you condemn me, that you may be justified?”
Job 40:8 · World English Bible
“You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ therefore I have uttered that which I didn’t understand, things too wonderful for me, which I didn’t know.”
Job 42:3 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Job 16

Job 16: My witness is in heaven

When Job says, "my witness is in heaven" (16:19), his word for witness is the same word he used a few verses earlier of his own shriveled body: "This is a witness against me" (16:8). And He who vouches for me (16:19) is a Hebrew word found nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions