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 my words, and let that be the comfort you offer me. 3Bear with me while I speak. Then after I’ve spoken, you may go on mocking. Am I complaining about a person? Why shouldn’t I be impatient? 5Look at me, and be shocked, and put ⌞your⌟ hand over ⌞your⌟ mouth. 6When I remember it, I’m terrified, and shuddering seizes my body.

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 won’t keep my mouth shut, but I will speak from the distress that is in my spirit and complain about the bitterness in my soul.
• Job 10:1“I hate my life. I will freely express my complaint. I will speak as bitterly as I feel.
• 1 Samuel 1:16Don’t take me to be a good-for-nothing woman. I was praying like this because I’ve been troubled and tormented.”
• Psalms 22:1My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away from helping me, so far away from the words of my groaning?
• Psalms 77:3I sigh as I remember God. I begin to lose hope as I think about him. Selah
• Psalms 102:1O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry for help come to you.
• Psalms 142:2I pour out my complaints in his presence and tell him my troubles.
• Matthew 26:38Then he said to them, “My anguish is so great that I feel as if I’m dying. Wait here, and stay awake with me.”
• 2 Kings 6:26As the king of Israel was walking on the city wall, a woman cried to him, “Help me, Your Majesty!”
• Psalms 42:11Why are you discouraged, my soul? Why are you so restless? Put your hope in God, because I will still praise him. He is my savior and my God.
• Exodus 6:9Moses reported this to the Israelites. But they would not listen to him because they were so discouraged by their back-breaking work.

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