the Week of Proper 19 / Ordinary 24
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Wycliffe Bible
Job 16:8
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You have shriveled me up—it has become a witness;my frailty rises up against me and testifies to my face.
You have shriveled me up. This is a witness against me. My leanness rises up against me, It testifies to my face.
And thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me: and my leanness rising up in me beareth witness to my face.
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.
You have made me thin and weak, and this shows I have done wrong.
You have seized me, and it has become a witness; my leanness has risen up against me and testifies against me.
"You have taken a firm hold on me and have shriveled me up, It has become a witness [against me]; And my leanness [and infirmity] rises up [as evidence] against me, It testifies to my face [about my guilt].
"And You have shriveled me up, It has become a witness; And my infirmity rises up against me, It testifies to my face.
You have shriveled me up. This is a witness against me. My leanness rises up against me, It testifies to my face.
And hast made me full of wrinkles which is a witnesse thereof, and my leannes ryseth vp in me, testifying the same in my face.
You have shriveled me up,It has become a witness;And my leanness rises up against me,It answers to my face.
You have bound me, and it has become a witness; my frailty rises up and testifies against me.
my shriveled up skin proves that I am his prisoner.
Besides, you have shriveled me up; and this serves to witness against me. My being so thin rises up against me and testifies to my face.
Thou hast shrivelled me up! it is become a witness; and my leanness riseth up against me, it beareth witness to my face.
You have made me thin and weak, and people think that means I am guilty.
Thou didst appoint me and I became a witness, but my lies have testified against me; and I spoke in his presence.
You have seized me; you are my enemy. I am skin and bones, and people take that as proof of my guilt.
Thus you shriveled me up; it became a witness. And my leanness has risen up against me; it testifies to my face.
And You have plucked me; for it is a witness, and my failure rises up against me; and it answers to my face.
(wherof my wryncles beare wytnesse) there stodeth vp a dyssembler to make me answere with lyes to my face.
And thou hast laid fast hold on me, which is a witness against me: And my leanness riseth up against me, It testifieth to my face.
It has come up as a witness against me, and the wasting of my flesh makes answer to my face.
And Thou hast shrivelled me up, which is a witness against me; and my leanness riseth up against me, it testifieth to my face.
And thou hast filled mee with wrinckles, which is a witnesse against me: and my leannesse rising vp in me, beareth witnesse to my face.
And that thou hast filled me with wrinckles my fleshe is recorde, and my leanenesse ryseth vp against me and beareth witnes thereof in my face.
But now he has made me weary, and a worn-out fool; and thou hast laid hold of me.
And thou hast laid fast hold on me, which is a witness against me: and my leanness riseth up against me, it testifieth to my face.
And you have shriveled me up, [which] is a witness [against me]: And my leanness rises up against me, It testifies to my face.
And thou hast filled me with wrinkles, [which] is a witness [against me]: and my leanness rising up in me beareth witness to my face.
You have shriveled me up, And it is a witness against me; My leanness rises up against me And bears witness to my face.
As if to prove I have sinned, you've reduced me to skin and bones. My gaunt flesh testifies against me.
He has made me dry up, and this speaks against me. The wasting away of my body rises up against me. It speaks against me to my face.
And he has shriveled me up, which is a witness against me; my leanness has risen up against me, and it testifies to my face.
And, having captured me, it hath served, as a witness; and so my wasting away hath risen up against me, in my face, it answereth.
(16-9) My wrinkles bear witness against me, and a false speaker riseth up against my face, contradicting me.
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.
And Thou dost loathe me, For a witness it hath been, And rise up against me doth my failure, In my face it testifieth.
"You have shriveled me up, It has become a witness; And my leanness rises up against me, It testifies to my face.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
And thou hast: etc. Some render, "thou has fettered me," as kamat signifies in Arabic; but as it signifies in Syriac to be wrinkled, the common version seems, from the connexion, to be more correct; and if Job's disease were the elephantiasis, these words would apply most forcibly to the wrinkled state of the skin in that disorder.
is a witness: Job 10:17, Ruth 1:21, Ephesians 5:27
my leanness: Psalms 106:15, Isaiah 10:16, Isaiah 24:16
Reciprocal: Lamentations 3:4 - My flesh James 5:3 - a witness
Cross-References
And the Lord God clepide Adam, and seide to hym, Where art thou?
And God seide to Cayn, What hast thou do? the vois of the blood of thi brother crieth to me fro erthe.
Therfor Sarai, wijf of Abram, hadde not gendrid fre children; but sche hadde a seruauntesse of Egipt, Agar bi name, and seide to hir hosebonde, Lo!
the Lord hath closid me, that Y schulde not bere child; entre thou to my seruauntesse, if in hap Y schal take children, nameli of hir. And whanne he assentide to hir preiynge, sche took Agar Egipcian,
And Abram entride to Agar; and Agar seiy that sche hadde conseyued, and sche dispiside hir ladi.
And Saray seide to Abram, Thou doist wickidli ayens me; I yaf my seruauntesse in to thi bosum, which seeth, that sche conseyuede, and dispisith me; the Lord deme betwixe me and thee.
he seide to hir, Fro whennus comest thou Agar, the seruauntesse of Sarai, and whidur goist thou? Which answerde, Y fle fro the face of Sarai my ladi.
my lord the kyng, Y preye, here the wordis of thi seruaunt; if the Lord stirith thee ayens me, the sacrifice be smellid; forsothe if sones of men stiren thee, thei ben cursid in the siyt of the Lord, whiche han cast me out `to dai, that Y dwelle not in the erytage of the Lord, and seien, Go thou, serue thou alien goddis.
If the spirit of hym, that hath power, stieth on thee, forsake thou not thi place; for heeling schal make gretteste synnes to ceesse.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And thou hast filled me with wrinkles,.... Not through old age, but through affliction, which had sunk his flesh, and made furrows in him, so that he looked older than he was, and was made old thereby before his time; see Lamentations 3:4; for this is to be understood of his body, for as for his soul, that through the grace of God, and righteousness of Christ, was without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing:
[which] is a witness [against me]; as it was improved by his friends, who represented his afflictions as proofs and testimonies of his being a bad man; though these wrinkles were witnesses for him, as it may be as well supplied, that he really was an afflicted man:
and my leanness rising up in me; his bones standing up, and standing out, and having scarce anything on them but skin, the flesh being gone:
beareth witness to my face; openly, manifestly, to full conviction; not that he was a sinful man, but an afflicted man; Eliphaz had no reason to talk to Job of a wicked man's being covered with fatness, and of collops of fat on his flanks, Job 15:27;
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
And thou hast filled me with wrinkles - Noyes renders this, “and thou hast seized hold of me, which is a witness against me.” Wemyss, “since thou hast bound me with chains, witnesses come forward.” Good, “and hast cut off myself from becoming a witness.” Luther, “he has made me “kuntzlich” (skillfully, artificially, cunningly,) and bears witness against me.” Jerome, “my wrinkles bear witness against me.” Septuagint, “my lie has become a witness, and is risen up against me.” From this variety of explanations, it will be seen that this passage is not of easy and obvious construction. The Hebrew word which is here used and rendered, “thou hast filled me with wrinkles” (תקמטני tı̂qâmaṭēnı̂y), from קמט qâmaṭ - occurs only in one other place in the Bible; Job 22:16. It is there in the “Pual” form, and rendered “were cut down.” According to Gesenius, it means, to lay fast hold of, to seize with the hands, and answers to the Arabic “to bind.”
The word in Chaldee (קמט qâmaṭ) means to wrinkle, or collect in wrinkles; and is applied to anything that is “contracted,” or rough. It is applied in the form קימט qâymaṭ to the pupil of the eye as being “contracted,” as in the declaration in Derek ‘Erets, c. 5, quoted by Castell. “The world is like the eye; where the ocean that surrounds the world is white; the world itself is black; the pupil is Jerusalem, and the image in the pupil is the sanctuary.” Probably the true notion of the word is to be found in the Arabic. According to Castell, this means, to tie together the four feet of a sheep or lamb, in order that it might be slain; to bind an infant in swaddling clothes before it is laid in a cradle; to collect camels into a group or herd; and hence, the noun is used to denote a cord or rope twisted of wool, or of leaves of the palm, or the bandages by which an infant is bound. This idea is not in use in the Hebrew; but I have no doubt that this was the original sense of the word, and that this is one of the numerous places in Job where light may be cast upon the meaning of a word from its use in Arabic. The Hebrew word may be applied to the “collecting” or “contraction” of the face in wrinkles by age, but this is not the sense here. We should express the idea by “being “drawn up” with pain or affliction; by being straitened, or compressed.” The meaning - is that of “drawing together” - as the feet of a sheep when tied, or twisting - as a rope; and the idea here is, that Job was drawn up, compressed, bound by his afflictions - and that this was a witness against him. The word “compressed” comes as near to the sense as any one that we have.
Which is a witness against me - That is, “this is an argument against my innocence. The fact that God has thus compressed, and fettered, and fastened me; that he has bound me as with a cord - as if I were tied for the slaughter, is an argument on which my friends insist, and to which they appeal, as a proof of my guilt. I cannot answer it. They refer to it constantly. It is the burden of their demonstration, and how can I reply to it?” The position of mind here is, that he could appeal to God for his uprightness, but these afflictions stood in the way of his argument for his innocence with his friends. They were the “usual” proofs of God’s displeasure, and he could not well meet the argument which was drawn from them in his case, for in all his protestations of innocence there stood these afflictions - the usual proofs of God’s displeasure against people - as evidence against him, to which they truimphantly appealed.
And my leanness rising up in me - Dr. Good renders this, “my calumniator.” Wemyss, “false witnesses.” So Jerome, “falsiloquus.” The Septuagint renders it,” my lie - τὸ ψευδός μου to pseudos mou - rises up against me.” The Hebrew word (כחשׁ kachash) means properly “a lie, deceit, hypocrisy.” But it cannot be supposed that Job would formally admit that he was a liar and a hypocrite. This would have been to concede the whole point in dispute. The word, therefore, it would seem, “must” have some other sense. The verb כחשׁ kâchash is used to denote not only to “lie,” but also to “waste away, to fail.” Psalms 109:24, “my flesh “faileth” of fatness.” The idea seems to have been, that a person whose flesh had wasted away by sickness, as it were, “belied himself;” or it was a “false testimony” about himself; it did not give “a fair representation” of him. That could be obtained only when he was in sound health. Thus, in Habakkuk 3:17, “the labour of the olive “shall fail.”” Hebrew shall “lie” or “deceive;” that is, it shall belie itself, or shall not do justice to itself; it shall afford no fair representation of what the olive is fitted to produce. So the word is used Hosea 9:2. It is used here in this sense, as denoting “the false appearance of Job” - his present aspect - which was no proper representation of himself; that is, his emaciated and ulcerated form. This, he says, was a “witness” against him. It was one of the proofs to which they appealed, and he did not know how to answer it. It was usually an evidence of divine displeasure, and he now solemnly and tenderly addresses God, and says, that he had furnished this testimony against him - and he was overwhelmed.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Job 16:8. Thou hast filled me with wrinkles — If Job's disease were the elephantiasis, in which the whole skin is wrinkled as the skin of the elephant, from which this species of leprosy has taken its name, these words would apply most forcibly to it; but the whole passage, through its obscurity, has been variously rendered. Calmet unites it with the preceding, and Houbigant is not very different. He translates thus: - "For my trouble hath now weakened all my frame, and brought wrinkles over me: he is present as a witness, and ariseth against me, who telleth lies concerning me; he openly contradicts me to my face." Mr. Good translates nearly in the same way; others still differently.
