English Standard Version
Job 21:5
5Look at me and be appalled, and lay your hand over your mouth.
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.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Look at me and be astonished; Put your hand over your mouth.
- New Living Translation (NLT)Look at me and be stunned. Put your hand over your mouth in shock.
Context of Job 21:5
3Bear with me, and I will speak, and after I have spoken, mock on. 4As for me, is my complaint against man? Why should I not be impatient? Look at me and be appalled, and lay your hand over your mouth. 6When I remember, I am dismayed, and shuddering seizes my flesh. 7Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
Read all of Job 21Job 21:5 word by word
פְּנוּ־אֵלַ֥י וְהָשַׁ֑מּוּ וְשִׂ֖ימוּ יָ֣ד עַל־פֶּֽה׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 21:5
- Job 2:12And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven.
- Job 17:8The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless.
- Job 19:20My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
- Job 29:9the princes refrained from talking and laid their hand on their mouth;
- Job 40:4"Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.
- Judges 18:19And they said to him, "Keep quiet; put your hand on your mouth and come with us and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and clan in Israel?"
- Psalms 39:9I am mute; I do not open my mouth, for it is you who have done it.
- Proverbs 30:32If you have been foolish, exalting yourself, or if you have been devising evil, put your hand on your mouth.
- Amos 5:13Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time, for it is an evil time.
- Micah 7:16The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might; they shall lay their hands on their mouths; their ears shall be deaf;
- Romans 11:33Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable 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
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
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries