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 the things that I am saying. You can only help me if you do that. 3Be patient with me so that I can speak. After you have heard what I say, you may choose to laugh at me. It is not people that I want to argue with. So I have good reason to be upset. 5When you look at me, you should be upset. You should cover your mouth with your hand. 6I think about what has happened to me. It makes me very afraid. My body shakes with fear.

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 7:11So I must continue to speak. I will tell you how upset I am. I am angry because of what has happened to me. So I must complain.
• Job 10:1I do not want to live any longer. I must continue to complain. I am very upset and I have to speak about it.
• 1 Samuel 1:16Please sir, do not think that I am a bad woman. I am praying like this because I am very sad and upset.’
• Psalms 22:1My God! My God, why have you left me alone? Why is my help far away? I am crying out in great pain!
• Psalms 77:3When I think about God, I am sad and upset. I do not know if he will help me. Selah.
• Psalms 102:1Lord, please hear my prayer! Listen to me when I call to you for help.
• Psalms 142:2I tell him about all my problems. I tell him about all my troubles.
• Matthew 26:38He said to them, ‘I am very sad. I feel as if I could die because I feel so sad. Wait here with me and stay awake.’
• 2 Kings 6:26While the king of Israel was walking on the wall of the city, a woman shouted to him, ‘Please help me, my master the king!’
• Psalms 42:11I ask myself again, ‘Why am I so sad and upset?’ I must wait patiently for God to help me. Then I will praise my God once again, because he is the one who saves me.
• Exodus 6:9Moses told the Lord's message to the Israelites. But they refused to listen to him. They were very weak and tired, because their Egyptian masters were so cruel to them.

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