Job 21:5

Job 21:5 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth.
• New International Version (NIV)Look at me and be appalled; clap your hand over your mouth.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Look at me and be appalled, and lay your hand over your mouth.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Look at me and be astonished; Put your hand over your mouth.

Context of Job 21:5

3Suffer me and I will speak; and after I have spoken, mock on! 4As for me, is my complaint to a man? or wherefore should not my spirit be impatient? Mark me, and be astonished, and lay the hand upon the mouth. 6Even when I think [thereon], I am affrighted, and trembling taketh hold of my flesh. 7Wherefore do the wicked live, grow old, yea, become mighty in power?

Job 21:5 word by word

פְּנוּ־אֵלַ֥י וְהָשַׁ֑מּוּ וְשִׂ֖ימוּ יָ֣ד עַל־פֶּֽה׃Read the interlinear

• handיָדyâd · handH3027
• mouthפֶּהpeh · lipH6310

Cross-references for Job 21:5

• Job 2:12And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice and wept. And they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward the heavens.
• Job 17:8Upright men [shall be] astonished at this, and the innocent shall be stirred up against the ungodly;
• Job 19:20My bones cleave to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
• Job 29:9Princes refrained from talking, and laid the hand on their mouth;
• Job 40:4Behold, I am nought: what shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth.
• Judges 18:19And they said to him, Hold thy peace, lay thy hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for thee to be a priest for the house of one man, or to be priest for a tribe and a family in Israel?
• Psalms 39:9I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; for thou hast done [it].
• Proverbs 30:32If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if thou hast thought evil, [lay] the hand upon thy mouth.
• Amos 5:13Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in this time; for it is an evil time.
• Micah 7:16— The nations shall see, and be ashamed for all their might: they shall lay [their] hand upon [their] mouth, their ears shall be deaf.
• Romans 11:33O depth of riches both of [the] wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable his judgments, and untraceable his ways!

Commentaries on Job 21:5

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 5Mark me, and be astonished - Consider and compare the state in which I was once, with that in which I am now; and be astonished at the judgments and dispensations of God. You will then be confounded; you will put your hands upon your mouths, and keep silent. Putting the hand on the mouth, or the finger on the lips, was the token of silence. The Egyptian god Harpocrates, who was the god of silence, is represented with his finger compressing his upper lip.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 5Mark me - Margin, “look unto.” Literally, “Look upon me. That is, attentively look on me, on my sufferings, on my disease, and my losses. See if I am a proper object of repreach and mockery - see if I have not abundant reason to be in deep distress when God has afflicted me in a manner so unusual and mysterious. And be astonished - Silent astonishment should be evinced instead of censure. You should wonder that a man whose life has been a life of piety…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 55. lay ... hand upon ... mouth--(Pr 30:32; Jud 18:19). So the heathen god of silence was pictured with his hand on his mouth. There was enough in Job's case to awe them into silence (Job 17:8).Read the comment

In the dictionaries

• Hand
• 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