the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Complete Jewish Bible
Job 21:4
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As for me, is my complaint against a human being?Then why shouldn’t I be impatient?
As for me, is my complaint to man? Why shouldn't I be impatient?
As for me, is my complaint to man? and if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled?
As for me, is my complaint against man? Why should I not be impatient?
"My complaint is not just against people; I have reason to be impatient.
Is my complaint against a man? If so, why should I not be impatient?
"As for me, is my complaint to man or about him? And why should I not be impatient and my spirit troubled?
"As for me, is my complaint to a mortal? Or why should I not be impatient?
As for me, is my complaint to man? Why shouldn't I be impatient?
Doe I direct my talke to man? If it were so, how should not my spirit be troubled?
As for me, is my musing to man?And why should I not be impatient?
Is my complaint against a man? Then why should I not be impatient?
My complaint is against God; that's why I am impatient.
As for me, is my complaint to a man? or wherefore should not my spirit be impatient?
"My complaint is not against people. There is a good reason why I am not patient.
I will utter my complaint to men, why my spirit is distressed.
My quarrel is not with mortals; I have good reason to be impatient.
As for me, is my complaint for human beings? And if so, why cannot I be impatient?
As for me, is my complaint to man? And why should not my spirit be short?
Is it with a man, that I make this disputacio? Which yf it were so, shulde not my sprete be the in sore trouble?
As for me, is my complaint to man? And why should I not be impatient?
As for me, is my outcry against man? is it then to be wondered at if my spirit is troubled?
As for me, is my complaint to man? Or why should I not be impatient?
As for mee, is my complaint to man? and if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled?
Is it for mans sake that I make this disputation? Which if it were so, shoulde not my spirite then be in sore trouble?
What! is my reproof of man? and why should I not be angry?
As for me, is my complaint to man? and why should I not be impatient?
Whether my disputyng is ayens man, that skilfuli Y owe not to be sori?
As for me, is my complaint to man? And why should I not be impatient?
As for me, [is] my complaint to man? and if [it were so], why should not my spirit be troubled?
"As for me, is my complaint against man? And if it were, why should I not be impatient?
"My complaint is with God, not with people. I have good reason to be so impatient.
As for me, am I complaining against man? Why should my spirit not be troubled?
As for me, is my complaint addressed to mortals? Why should I not be impatient?
Did, I, unto man, make my complaint? Wherefore, then, should my spirit not be impatient?
Is my debate against man, that I should not have just reason to be troubled?
As for me, is my complaint against man? Why should I not be impatient?
I -- to man [is] my complaint? and if [so], wherefore May not my temper become short?
"It's not you I'm complaining to—it's God. Is it any wonder I'm getting fed up with his silence? Take a good look at me. Aren't you appalled by what's happened? No! Don't say anything. I can do without your comments. When I look back, I go into shock, my body is racked with spasms. Why do the wicked have it so good, live to a ripe old age and get rich? They get to see their children succeed, get to watch and enjoy their grandchildren. Their homes are peaceful and free from fear; they never experience God's disciplining rod. Their bulls breed with great vigor and their cows calve without fail. They send their children out to play and watch them frolic like spring lambs. They make music with fiddles and flutes, have good times singing and dancing. They have a long life on easy street, and die painlessly in their sleep. They say to God, ‘Get lost! We've no interest in you or your ways. Why should we have dealings with God Almighty? What's there in it for us?' But they're wrong, dead wrong—they're not gods. It's beyond me how they can carry on like this!
"As for me, is my complaint to man? And why should I not be impatient?
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
is my complaint: Job 7:11-21, Job 10:1, Job 10:2, 1 Samuel 1:16, Psalms 22:1-3, Psalms 77:3-9, Psalms 102:1, *title Psalms 142:2, Psalms 142:3, Matthew 26:38
if it were: 2 Kings 6:26, 2 Kings 6:27, Psalms 42:11
troubled: Heb. shortened, Exodus 6:9, *marg.
Reciprocal: Judges 16:16 - vexed Psalms 73:2 - But John 14:1 - not
Cross-References
so Sarah said to Avraham, "Throw this slave-girl out! And her son! I will not have this slave-girl's son as your heir along with my son Yitz'chak!"
But God said to Avraham, "Don't be distressed because of the boy and your slave-girl. Listen to everything Sarah says to you, because it is your descendants through Yitz'chak who will be counted.
(vi) At that time Avimelekh and Pikhol the commander of his army spoke to Avraham. They said, "God is with you in everything you do.
Therefore, swear to me here by God that you will never deal falsely with me or with my son or grandson; but according to the kindness with which I have treated you, you will treat me and the land in which you have lived as a foreigner.
If a foreigner staying with you wants to observe Adonai 's Pesach, all his males must be circumcised. Then he may take part and observe it; he will be like a citizen of the land. But no uncircumcised person is to eat it.
On the eighth day, the baby's foreskin is to be circumcised.
Here are the laws and rulings you are to observe and obey in the land Adonai , the God of your ancestors, has given you to possess as long as you live on earth. You must destroy all the places where the nations you are dispossessing served their gods, whether on high mountains, on hills, or under some leafy tree. Break down their altars, smash their standing-stones to pieces, burn up their sacred poles completely and cut down the carved images of their gods. Exterminate their name from that place. "But you are not to treat Adonai your God this way. Rather, you are to come to the place where Adonai your God will put his name. He will choose it from all your tribes; and you will seek out that place, which is where he will live, and go there. You will bring there your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tenths [that you set aside for Adonai ], the offerings that you give, the offerings you have vowed, your voluntary offerings, and the firstborn of your cattle and sheep. There you will eat in the presence of Adonai your God; and you will rejoice over everything you set out to do, you and your households, in which Adonai your God has blessed you. You will not do things the way we do them here today, where everyone does whatever in his own opinion seems right; because you haven't yet arrived at the rest and inheritance which Adonai your God is giving you. But when you cross the Yarden and live in the land Adonai your God is having you inherit, and he gives you rest from all your surrounding enemies, so that you are living in safety; (ii) then you will bring all that I am ordering you to the place Adonai your God chooses to have his name live — your burnt offerings, sacrifices, tenths, the offering from your hand, and all your best possessions that you dedicate to Adonai ; and you will rejoice in the presence of Adonai your God — you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves and the Levi staying with you, inasmuch as he has no share or inheritance with you. "Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings just anywhere you see, but do it in the place Adonai will choose in one of your tribal territories; there is where you are to offer your burnt offerings and do everything I order you to do. However, you may slaughter and eat meat wherever you live and whenever you want, in keeping with the degree to which Adonai your God has blessed you. The unclean and the clean may eat it, as if it were gazelle or deer. But don't eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water. "You are not to eat on your own property the tenth of your grain, new wine or olive oil [that you set aside for Adonai ], or the firstborn of your cattle or sheep, or any offering you have vowed, or your voluntary offering, or the offering from your hand. No, you are to eat these in the presence of Adonai your God in the place Adonai your God will choose — you and your sons, daughters, male and female slaves, and the Levi who is your guest; and you are to rejoice before Adonai your God in everything you undertake to do. As long as you are living on your property, take care not to abandon the Levi. "When Adonai your God expands your territory, as he has promised you, and you say, ‘I want to eat meat,' simply because you want to eat meat, then you may eat meat, as much as you want. If the place which Adonai your God chooses to place his name is too far away from you; then you are to slaughter animals from your cattle or sheep, which Adonai has given you; and eat on your own property, as much as you want. Eat it as you would gazelle or deer; the unclean and clean alike may eat it. Just take care not to eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you are not to eat the life with the meat. Don't eat it, but pour it out on the ground like water. Do not eat it, so that things will go well with you and with your children after you, as you do what Adonai sees as right. Only the things set aside for God which you have, and the vows you have vowed to make, you must take and go to the place which Adonai will choose. There you will offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on the altar of Adonai your God. The blood of your sacrifices is to be poured out on the altar of Adonai your God, and you will eat the meat. Obey and pay attention to everything I am ordering you to do, so that things will go well with you and with your descendants after you forever, as you do what Adonai sees as good and right. (iii) "When Adonai your God has cut off ahead of you the nations you are entering in order to dispossess, and when you have dispossessed them and are living in their land; be careful, after they have been destroyed ahead of you, not to be trapped into following them; so that you inquire after their gods and ask, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I want to do the same.' You must not do this to Adonai your God! For they have done to their gods all the abominations that Adonai hates! They even burn up their sons and daughters in the fire for their gods!
Both of them were righteous before God, observing all the mitzvot and ordinances of Adonai blamelessly.
On the eighth day, they came to do the child's b'rit-milah. They were about to name him Z'kharyah, after his father,
On the eighth day, when it was time for his b'rit-milah, he was given the name Yeshua, which is what the angel had called him before his conception.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
As for me, [is] my complaint to man?.... Job had been complaining, and still was, and continued to do so after this, but not to them, his friends, nor any other man; his complaint was made to God, and of him he thought he was hardly dealt with by him, he could not tell for what; he had desired to know the reason why he contended with him in such a manner, but could get no satisfaction; when his friends came first to visit him, they said nothing to him, nor he to them; and when he did speak, it was not to them, but to God, of whom he complains; and expostulates with him why he had ever been born, or had not died as soon as born, and not have lived to have seen such unhappy days, and endured so much affliction and trouble:
and if [it were so]; that he had made his complaint to man, since it would have been in vain, and to no purpose, he should have got no relief, nor obtained any satisfaction:
why should not my spirit be troubled? or "shortened" l; or, as the Targum, be straitened; for as comfort and joy enlarge the heart, trouble contracts and straitens it; or is "my prayer" or m "petition to men?" it was not, though he was reduced so low, and was in such a distressed condition; he had asked nothing of men, not of these his friends, neither to give him of their substance, nor to help him out of the hands of his enemies, Job 6:21; he had poured out his complaint before God, and had directed his prayer to the God of his life; he had desired to speak to none but the Almighty, and to reason only with him; he had petitioned him to take cognizance of his case, and to admit of a hearing of it before him, and to have it determined by him; he had complained of wrongs and injuries done him, and begged to be redressed and righted, but got no answer; God did not think fit to answer him, but hid himself from him, and continued so to do: "and if", if this be the case, as it really was, "why should not my spirit be troubled?" is there not reason for it? Some think Job's meaning is, is "my disputation", as the Vulgate Latin version, or is my discourse concerning human things, things within the compass of human knowledge and reasoning? or, to be attained to by the force of that, without divine revelation? no, it is concerning divine things; concerning the mysteries of Providence, with respect to good and bad men; concerning the living Redeemer, his incarnation, resurrection, c. and faith in him concerning the general resurrection, the final judgment, and a future state of happiness: or does my complaint, petition, or discourse, savour of that which is human, and is intermixed with human frailty? if it be so, it should be borne with, it should be considered I am but a man, and liable to err; and especially great allowances should be made in my present circumstances, being trader such sore afflictions; and it may be reasonably thought, that though the spirit may be willing to behave in a better manner, the flesh is weak, and much must be imputed unto that; and it will not seem so extravagant to indulge a troubled spirit so severely exercised; persons under afflictions generally think they do well to be troubled, and that there is reason enough for it, and ought to be borne with, and not to be reproached and rallied on that account.
l תקצר "abbreviabitur", Montanus, Vatablus, "abbreviaretur", Drusius, Cocceius, Michaelis. m ש××× "precatio mea", Drusius.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
As for me, is my complaint to man? - There is some difficulty in the interpretation of this verse, and considerable variety of explanation may be seen among expositors. The âobjectâ of the verse is plain. It is to state a reason why they should hear him with patience and without interruption. The meaning of this part of the verse probably is, that his principal difficulty was not with his friends, but with God. It was not so much what they had said, that gave him trouble, as it was what God had done. Severe and cutting as were their rebukes, yet it was far more trying to him to be treated as he had been by God, âas ifâ he were a great sinner. That was what he could not understand. Perplexed and troubled, therefore, by the mysteriousness of the divine dealings, his friends ought to be willing to listen patiently to what he had to say; and in his anxiety to find out âwhyâ God had treated him so, they ought not at once to infer that he was a wicked man, and to overwhelm him with increased anguish of spirit.
It will be recollected that Job repeatedly expressed the wish to be permitted to carry his cause at once up to God, and to have his adjudication on it. See Job 13:3, note; Job 13:18, notes. It is that to which he refers when he says here, that he wished to have the cause before God, and not before man. It was a matter which he wished to refer to the Almighty, and he ought to be allowed to express his sentiments with entire freedom. One of the difficulties in understanding this verse arises from the word âcomplaint.â We use it in the sense of âmurmuring,â or ârepining;â but this, I think, is not its meaning here. It is used rather in the sense of âcause, argument, reasoning, or reflections.â The Hebrew word ש××× sÌıÌyıÌch means, properly, that which is âbrought outâ - from ש××× sÌıÌyach, âto bring out, to put forth, to produceâ - as buds, leaves, flowers; and then it means âwordsâ - as brought out, or spoken; and then, meditations, reflections, discourses, speeches; and then it âmayâ mean âcomplaint.â But there is no evidence that the word is used in that sense here. It means his reflections, or arguments. They were not to man. He wished to carry them at once before God, and he ought, therefore, to be allowed to speak freely. Jerome renders it, âdisputatio mea.â The Septuagint, εÌÌÎ»ÎµÎ³Î¾Î¹Ï elengcis - used here, probably, in the sense of âan argument to produce conviction,â as it is often.
And if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled? - Margin, âshortened,â meaning the same as troubled, afflicted, or impatient. A more literal translation will better express the idea which is now lost sight of, âAnd if so, why should not my spirit be distressed?â That is, since my cause is with God - since my difficulty is in understanding his dealings with me - since I have carried my cause up to him, and all now depends on him, why should I not be allowed to have solicitude in regard to the result? If I manifest anxiety, who can blame me? Who would not, when his all was at stake, and when the divine dealings toward him were so mysterious?
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Job 21:4. As for me — ××× ×× heanochi, "Alas for me!" Is it not with a man that I speak? And, if this be the case, why should not my spirit be troubled? I do not reply against my Maker: I suffer much from God and man; why then may I not have the privilege of complaining to creatures like myself?
