God’s Word Translation
Job 4:2
2“If someone tries to talk to you, will you become impatient? But who can keep from talking?
Job 4:2 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking?
- New International Version (NIV)“If someone ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? But who can keep from speaking?
- English Standard Version (ESV)"If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? Yet who can keep from speaking?
- New King James Version (NKJV)“If one attempts a word with you, will you become weary? But who can withhold himself from speaking?
Context of Job 4:2
1Then Eliphaz from Teman replied ⌞to Job⌟, “If someone tries to talk to you, will you become impatient? But who can keep from talking? 3Certainly, you have instructed many people: When hands were weak, you made them strong. 4When someone stumbled, you lifted him up with your words. When knees were weak, you gave them strength.
Read all of Job 4Job 4:2 word by word
הֲנִסָּ֬ה דָבָ֣ר אֵלֶ֣יךָ תִּלְאֶ֑ה וַעְצֹ֥ר בְּ֝מִלִּ֗ין מִ֣י יוּכָֽל׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 4:2
- 2 Corinthians 2:4I was deeply troubled and anguished. In fact, I had tears in my eyes when I wrote to you. I didn’t write to make you uncomfortable but to let you know how much I love you.
- 2 Corinthians 7:8If my letter made you uncomfortable, I’m not sorry. But since my letter did make you uncomfortable for a while, I was sorry.
- Job 32:18I’m full of words. The Spirit within me forces me ⌞to speak⌟.
- Jeremiah 6:11I am filled with the anger of the Lord. I am tired of holding it in. “Pour it out on the children in the street and on the gangs of young men. A man and his wife will be taken away as well as very old people.
- Jeremiah 20:9I think to myself, “I can forget the Lord and no longer speak his name.” But ⌞his word⌟ is inside me like a burning fire shut up in my bones. I wear myself out holding it in, but I can’t do it any longer.
- Acts 4:20We cannot stop talking about what we’ve seen and heard.”
Commentaries on Job 4:2
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 2If we assay to commune with thee - As if he had said, Should I and my friends endeavor to reason with thee ever so mildly, because we shall have many things to say by way of reprehension, thou wilt be grieved and faint; and this we may reasonably infer from the manner in which thou bearest thy present afflictions. Yet as thou hast uttered words which are injurious to thy Maker, who can forbear speaking? It is our duty to rise up on the part of God, though…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 2If we assay to commune with thee - Margin, A word. Hebrew - הנסה דבר dâbâr hanı̂câh “May we attempt a word with thee?” This is a gentle and polite apology at the beginning of his speech - an inquiry whether he would take it as unkind if one should adventure on a remark in the way of argument. Jahn, in characterizing the part which Job‘s three friends respectively take in the controversy, says: “Eliphaz is superior to the others in discernment and…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-2Eliphaz the Temanite was probably the oldest and most important of Job’s friends (see study note on 2:11). His speeches are longer and more detailed than the others. who can keep from speaking?: Eliphaz imitated how urgent a message from prophets can be (4:12–16; see Jeremiah 20:9; Amos 3:8).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 22. If we assay to commune--Rather, two questions, "May we attempt a word with thee? Wilt thou be grieved at it?" Even pious friends often count that only a touch which we feel as a wound.Read the comment
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 4
- 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
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
Commentaries