Amplified Bible
Job 9:16
16If I called and He answered me, I could not believe that He was listening to my voice.
Job 9:16 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)If I had called, and he had answered me; yet would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice.
- New International Version (NIV)Even if I summoned him and he responded, I do not believe he would give me a hearing.
- English Standard Version (ESV)If I summoned him and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.
- New King James Version (NKJV)If I called and He answered me, I would not believe that He was listening to my voice.
Context of Job 9:16
14How can I answer Him [and plead my case], Choosing my words [to reason] with Him? 15For though I were righteous, I could not answer. I must appeal for mercy to my Opponent and Judge. If I called and He answered me, I could not believe that He was listening to my voice. 17For He bruises me with a tempest And multiplies my wounds without cause. 18He will not allow me to catch my breath, But fills and saturates me with bitterness.
Read all of Job 9Job 9:16 word by word
אִם־קָרָ֥אתִי וַֽיַּעֲנֵ֑נִי לֹֽא־אַ֝אֲמִ֗ין כִּֽי־יַאֲזִ֥ין קוֹלִֽי׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 9:16
- Psalms 18:6In my distress [when I seemed surrounded] I called upon the Lord And cried to my God for help; He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry for help came before Him, into His very ears.
- Psalms 66:18If I regard sin and baseness in my heart [that is, if I know it is there and do nothing about it], The Lord will not hear [me];
- Psalms 116:1I love the Lord, because He hears [and continues to hear] My voice and my supplications (my pleas, my cries, my specific needs).
- Job 29:24I smiled at them when they did not believe, And they did not diminish the light of my face.
- 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.
- Judges 6:13But Gideon said to him, “Please my lord, if the Lord is with us, then why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wondrous works which our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.”
- Psalms 126:1When the Lord brought back the captives to Zion (Jerusalem), We were like those who dream [it seemed so unreal].
- Luke 24:41While they still did not believe it because of their joy and amazement, He asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”
- Acts 12:14Recognizing Peter’s voice, in her joy she failed to open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gateway.
Commentaries on Job 9:16
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 16If I had called, and he had answered - I could scarcely suppose, such is his majesty and such his holiness, that he could condescend to notice a being so mean, and in every respect so infinitely beneath his notice. These sentiments sufficiently confuted that slander of his friends, who said he was presumptuous, had not becoming notions of the majesty of God, and used blasphemous expressions against his sovereign authority.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 16If I had called, and he had answered me - It is remarked by Schultens, that the expressions in these verses are all taken from courts of justice. If so, the meaning is, that even if Job should call the Almighty to a judicial action, and he should respond to him, and consent to submit the great question about his innocence, and about the justice of the divine dealings with him, to trial, yet that such was the distance between God and him, that he could not…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 14-21Verses 14-21 Job is still righteous in his own eyes, ch. 32:1, and this answer, though it sets forth the power and majesty of God, implies that the question between the afflicted and the Lord of providence, is a question of might, and not of right; and we begin to discover the evil fruits of pride and of a self-righteous spirit. Job begins to manifest a disposition to condemn God, that he may justify himself, for which he is afterwards reproved. Still Job…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-35Job answered Bildad by describing God's universal and legal power. His speech resembles a complex legal case. It includes: A summons and response (9:3, 14–16, 19b, 32). The risk of proving himself guilty (9:20). A "mediator" (9:33–34). A question of accusation (9:12). A legal sentence (9:22). A declaration of guilt (9:28–30).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 16-1716-17. would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice--who breaketh me (as a tree stripped of its leaves) with a tempest.Read the comment
Topics related to Job 9:16
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 9
- 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
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