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Read the Bible

English Standard Version

Job 4:15

A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Angel (a Spirit);   Dream;   Faith;   Vision;   Thompson Chain Reference - Hair;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Visions;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Trance;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Greatness of God;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Spirit;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Prophet;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Holy Spirit;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Job;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Apparition;   Smith Bible Dictionary - El'iphaz;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Hair;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Revelation;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
I felt a draft on my face,and the hair on my body stood up.
Hebrew Names Version
Then a spirit passed before my face; The hair of my flesh stood up.
King James Version
Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:
New Century Version
A spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body stood on end.
New English Translation
Then a breath of air passes by my face; it makes the hair of my flesh stand up.
Amplified Bible
"Then a spirit passed before my face; The hair on my skin stood on end!
New American Standard Bible
"Then a spirit passed by my face; The hair of my flesh stood up.
World English Bible
Then a spirit passed before my face; The hair of my flesh stood up.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And the wind passed before me, and made the heares of my flesh to stande vp.
Legacy Standard Bible
Then a spirit swept by my face;The hair of my flesh bristled up.
Berean Standard Bible
Then a spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body bristled.
Contemporary English Version
and my hair stood on end, as a wind blew past my face.
Complete Jewish Bible
Then a spirit passed in front of my face; the hair of my flesh stood on end.
Darby Translation
And a spirit passed before my face—the hair of my flesh stood up—
Easy-to-Read Version
A spirit passed by my face. The hair on my body stood up!
George Lamsa Translation
Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:
Good News Translation
A light breeze touched my face, and my skin crawled with fright.
Lexham English Bible
And a spirit glided before my face; the hair of my flesh bristled.
Literal Translation
Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And when the wynde passed ouer by me, the hayres of my flesh stode vp.
American Standard Version
Then a spirit passed before my face; The hair of my flesh stood up.
Bible in Basic English
And a breath was moving over my face; the hair of my flesh became stiff:
Bishop's Bible (1568)
The winde passed by before my presence, and made the heeres of my fleshe to stande vp.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Then a spirit passed before my face, that made the hair of my flesh to stand up.
King James Version (1611)
Then a spirit passed before my face: the haire of my flesh stood vp.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And a spirit came before my face; and my hair and flesh quivered.
English Revised Version
Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And whanne the spirit `yede in my presence, the heiris of `my fleisch hadden hidousnesse.
Update Bible Version
Then a spirit passed before my face; The hair of my flesh stood up.
Webster's Bible Translation
Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:
New King James Version
Then a spirit passed before my face; The hair on my body stood up.
New Living Translation
A spirit swept past my face, and my hair stood on end.
New Life Bible
A spirit passed by my face. The hair of my flesh stood up.
New Revised Standard
A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh bristled.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then, a spirit, over my face, floated along, The hair of my flesh bristled-up:
Douay-Rheims Bible
And when a spirit passed before me, the hair of my flesh stood up.
Revised Standard Version
A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.
Young's Literal Translation
And a spirit before my face doth pass, Stand up doth the hair of my flesh;
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Then a spirit passed by my face; The hair of my flesh bristled up.

Contextual Overview

12 "Now a word was brought to me stealthily; my ear received the whisper of it. 13 Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, 14 dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake. 15 A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up. 16 It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice: 17 ‘Can mortal man be in the right before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker? 18 Even in his servants he puts no trust, and his angels he charges with error; 19 how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like the moth. 20 Between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces; they perish forever without anyone regarding it. 21 Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them, do they not die, and that without wisdom?'

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a spirit: Psalms 104:4, Matthew 14:26, Luke 24:37-39, Hebrews 1:7, Hebrews 1:14

the hair: Isaiah 13:8, Isaiah 21:3, Isaiah 21:4, Daniel 5:6

Reciprocal: Luke 1:12 - he Acts 10:3 - saw

Cross-References

Genesis 4:24
If Cain's revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech's is seventy-sevenfold."
Leviticus 26:18
And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins,
Leviticus 26:21
"Then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you, sevenfold for your sins.
Leviticus 26:24
then I also will walk contrary to you, and I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins.
Leviticus 26:28
then I will walk contrary to you in fury, and I myself will discipline you sevenfold for your sins.
1 Kings 16:7
Moreover, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha and his house, both because of all the evil that he did in the sight of the Lord , provoking him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, and also because he destroyed it.
Psalms 59:11
Kill them not, lest my people forget; make them totter by your power and bring them down, O Lord, our shield!
Psalms 79:12
Return sevenfold into the lap of our neighbors the taunts with which they have taunted you, O Lord!
Proverbs 6:31
but if he is caught, he will pay sevenfold; he will give all the goods of his house.
Ezekiel 9:4
And the Lord said to him, "Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then a spirit passed before my face,.... Which some interpret of a wind q, a blustering wind, that blew strong in his face; and so the Targum renders it, a stormy wind, such an one as Elijah perceived when the Lord spoke to him, though he was not in that, 1 Kings 19:11; or such a whirlwind, out of which the Lord spake to Job, Job 38:1; or rather, as Jarchi, an angel, an immaterial spirit, one of Jehovah's ministering spirits, clothed in an human form, and which passed and repassed before Eliphaz, that he might take notice of it:

the hair of my flesh stood up; erect, through surprise and dread; which is sometimes the case, when anything astonishing and terrible is beheld; the blood at such times making its way to the heart, for the preservation of that, leaves the external members of the body cold, and the skin of the flesh, in which the hair is, being contracted by the impetuous influx of the nervous fluid, causes the hair to stand upright, particularly the hair of the head, like the prickles or hedgehogs r; which has been usual at the sight of an apparition s.

q רוח "ventus", Vatablus, Cocceius, Schmidt, Broughton. r "Obstupui, steteruntque comae----". Virgil. Aeneid. l. 2. ver. 774. & l. 3. ver. 48. "arrectaeque horrore comae". Aeneid. 4. ver. 286. & l. 12. ver. 888. s Vid. Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. p. 665.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Then a spirit passed before my face - He does not intimate whether it was the spirit of a man, or an angel who thus appeared. The belief in such apparitions was common in the early ages, and indeed has prevailed at all times. No one can demonstrate that God could not communicate his will in such a manner as this, or by a messenger deputed from his immediate presence to impart valuable truth to people.

The hair of my flesh stood up - This is an effect which is known often to be produced by fear. Sometimes the hair is made to turn white almost in an instant, as an effect of sudden alarm; but usually the effect is to make it stand on end. Seneca uses language remarkably similar to this in describing the effect of fear, in Hercule Oetoeo:

Vagus per artus errat excussos tremor;

Erectus horret crinis. Impulsis adhuc

Star terror animis. et cor attonitum salit,

Pavidumque trepidis palpitat venis jecur.

So Virgil,

Steteruntque comae, et vox faucibus haesit.

Aeneid ii. 774.

See also Aeneid iii. 48, iv. 289. So also Aeneid xii. 868:

Arrectaeque horrore comae.

A similar description of the effect of fear is given in the Ghost’s speech to Hamlet:

“But that I am forbid

To tell the secrets of my prison-house,

I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word

Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood.

Make thy two eyes like stars, start from their spheres,

Thy knotty and combined locks to part,

And each particular hair to stand on end,

Like quills upon the fretful porcupine.”

The fact here referred to - that fear or fright; causes the hair to stand on end - is too well established, and too common to admit a doubt. The cause may be, that sudden fear has the effect to drive the blood to the heart, as the seat of vitality, and the extremities are left cold, and the skin thus contracts, and the effect is to raise the hair.


 
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