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

3Bear with me that I may speak; Then after I have spoken, you may mock me. 4As for me, is my complaint to a mortal? Or why should I not be impatient? Look at me, and be astonished, And put your hand over your mouth. 6Even when I remember, I am disturbed, And horror takes hold of my flesh. 7Why do the wicked still live, Grow old, and also become very powerful?

Job 21:5 word by word

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

• Lookפָּנָהpânâh · to turnH6437
• at me, and beשָׁמֵםshâmêm · be desolate: destroyedH8074
• putשׂוּםώûm ώîym · to set: putH7760
• handיָדyâd · handH3027
• overעַל‛al · uponH5921
• mouthפֶּהpeh · lipH6310

Cross-references for Job 21:5

• Job 2:12When they looked from a distance and did not recognize him, they raised their voices and wept. And each of them tore his robe, and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky.
• Job 17:8The upright will be appalled at this, And the innocent will stir himself up against the godless.
• Job 19:20My bone clings to my skin and my flesh, And I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.
• Job 29:9The leaders stopped talking And put their hands on their mouths;
• Job 40:4“Behold, I am insignificant; what can I say in response to You? I put my hand on my mouth.
• Judges 18:19And they said to him, “Be silent, put your hand over your mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be a priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?”
• Psalms 39:9I have become mute, I do not open my mouth, Because it is You who have done it.
• Proverbs 30:32If you have been foolish in exalting yourself, Or if you have plotted evil, put your hand on your mouth.
• Amos 5:13Therefore at such a time the prudent person keeps quiet, because it is an evil time.
• Micah 7:16Nations will see and be ashamed Of all their might. They will put their hand on their mouth, Their ears will be deaf.
• Romans 11:33Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable 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