Job 21:4

Job 21:4 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)As for me, is my complaint to man? and if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled?
• New International Version (NIV)“Is my complaint directed to a human being? Why should I not be impatient?
• English Standard Version (ESV)As for me, is my complaint against man? Why should I not be impatient?
• New King James Version (NKJV)“As for me, is my complaint against man? And if it were, why should I not be impatient?

Context of Job 21:4

2“Listen carefully to my speech, And let this be the consolation. 3Bear with me, and I also will speak; And after I have spoken, you may [continue to] mock [me]. As for me, is my complaint to man or about him? And why should I not be impatient and my spirit troubled? 5Look at me and be astonished and appalled; And put your hand over your mouth. 6Even when I remember, I am troubled and afraid; Horror and trembling take hold of my flesh.

Job 21:4 word by word

הֶ֭אָנֹכִי לְאָדָ֣ם שִׂיחִ֑י וְאִם־מַ֝דּ֗וּעַ לֹא־תִקְצַ֥ר רוּחִֽי׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• my complaintשִׂיחַώîyach · complaintH7879
• to manאָדָם'âdâm · manH120
• why should not my spiritרוּחַrûach · spirit: temperH7307
• be troubledקָצֵרqâtsar · be shortH7114

Cross-references for Job 21:4

• Job 7:11“Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul [O Lord].
• Job 10:1“I am disgusted with my life and loathe it! I will give free expression to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
• 1 Samuel 1:16Do not regard your maidservant as a wicked and worthless woman, for I have spoken until now out of my great concern and [bitter] provocation.”
• Psalms 22:1My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?
• Psalms 77:3I remember God; then I am disquieted and I groan; I sigh [in prayer], and my spirit grows faint. Selah.
• Psalms 102:1Hear my prayer, O Lord, And let my cry for help come to You!
• Psalms 142:2I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare my trouble before Him.
• Matthew 26:38Then He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, so that I am almost dying of sorrow. Stay here and stay awake and keep watch with Me.”
• 2 Kings 6:26As the king of Israel (Jehoram) was passing by on the [city] wall a woman cried out to him, “Help, my lord, O king!”
• Psalms 42:11Why are you in despair, O my soul? Why have you become restless and disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.
• Exodus 6:9Moses told this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their impatience and despondency, and because of their forced labor.

Commentaries on Job 21:4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4As for me - האנכי 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?Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4As 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 “object” 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…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. Job's difficulty was not as to man, but as to God, why He so afflicted him, as if he were the guilty hypocrite which the friends alleged him to be. Vulgate translates it, "my disputation." if it were--rather, "since this is the case."Read the comment

In the dictionaries

• Patience
• Psychology
• horror, horrible, object of horror

Commentaries on Job 21

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings