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

2Pay close attention to my words; let this be the consolation you offer. 3Bear with me while I speak; then after I have spoken, you may continue mocking. As for me, is my complaint against a human being? Then why shouldn’t I be impatient? 5Look at me and shudder; put your hand over your mouth. 6When I think about it, I am terrified and my body trembles in horror.

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 7:11Therefore I will not restrain my mouth. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
• Job 10:1I am disgusted with my life. I will give vent to my complaint and speak in the bitterness of my soul.
• 1 Samuel 1:16Don’t think of me as a wicked woman; I’ve been praying from the depth of my anguish and resentment.”
• Psalms 22:1My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far from my deliverance and from my words of groaning?
• Psalms 77:3I think of God; I groan; I meditate; my spirit becomes weak.Selah
• Psalms 102:1Lord, hear my prayer; let my cry for help come before you.
• Psalms 142:2I pour out my complaint before him; I reveal my trouble to him.
• Matthew 26:38He said to them, “I am deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake with me.”
• 2 Kings 6:26As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, “My lord the king, help!”
• Psalms 42:11Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God.
• Exodus 6:9Moses told this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their broken spirit and hard 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