Job 4:2

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 the Temanite answered: “If someone should attempt a word with you, will you be impatient? But who can refrain from speaking? 3Look, you have instructed many; you have strengthened feeble hands. 4Your words have supported those who stumbled, and you have strengthened the knees that gave way.

Job 4:2 word by word

הֲנִסָּ֬ה דָבָ֣ר אֵלֶ֣יךָ תִּלְאֶ֑ה וַעְצֹ֥ר בְּ֝מִלִּ֗ין מִ֣י יוּכָֽל׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• we assayנָסָהnâsâh · to test: tryH5254
• to communeדָּבָרdâbâr · wordH1697
• with thee, wilt thou be grievedלָאָהlâ'âh · be wearyH3811
• but who canיָכֹלyâkôl yâkôl · be ableH3201
• withholdעָצַר‛âtsar · to restrainH6113
• himself from speakingמִלָּהmillâh milleh · speechH4405

Cross-references for Job 4:2

• 2 Corinthians 2:4For out of great distress and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not to make you sad, but to let you know the love that I have especially for you.
• 2 Corinthians 7:8For even if I made you sad by my letter, I do not regret having written it (even though I did regret it, for I see that my letter made you sad, though only for a short time).
• Job 32:18For I am full of words, and the spirit within me constrains me.
• Jeremiah 6:11I am as full of anger as you are, Lord, I am tired of trying to hold it in.” The Lord answered, “Vent it, then, on the children who play in the street and on the young men who are gathered together. Husbands and wives are to be included, as well as the old and those who are advanced in years.
• Jeremiah 20:9Sometimes I think, “I will make no mention of his message. I will not speak as his messenger any more.” But then his message becomes like a fire locked up inside of me, burning in my heart and soul. I grow weary of trying to hold it in; I cannot contain it.
• Acts 4:20for it is impossible for us not to speak about what we have 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

• Clay
• Crush
• Prey
• Assay
• Eliphaz (2)
• Grief; Grieve
• Poetry, Hebrew
• Eliphaz

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