New International Version
Job 16:20
20My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God;
Job 16:20 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God.
- English Standard Version (ESV)My friends scorn me; my eye pours out tears to God,
- New King James Version (NKJV)My friends scorn me; My eyes pour out tears to God.
- New Living Translation (NLT)My friends scorn me, but I pour out my tears to God.
Context of Job 16:20
18“Earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry never be laid to rest! 19Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; 21on behalf of a man he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend. 22“Only a few years will pass before I take the path of no return.
Read all of Job 16Job 16:20 word by word
מְלִיצַ֥י רֵעָ֑י אֶל־אֱ֝ל֗וֹהַ דָּלְפָ֥ה עֵינִֽי׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 16:20
- Job 16:4I also could speak like you, if you were in my place; I could make fine speeches against you and shake my head at you.
- Job 12:4“I have become a laughingstock to my friends, though I called on God and he answered— a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless!
- Job 17:2Surely mockers surround me; my eyes must dwell on their hostility.
- Psalms 109:4In return for my friendship they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer.
- Psalms 142:2I pour out before him my complaint; before him I tell my trouble.
- Hosea 12:4He struggled with the angel and overcame him; he wept and begged for his favor. He found him at Bethel and talked with him there—
- Luke 6:11But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.
- Hebrews 5:7During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
Commentaries on Job 16:20
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 20My friends scorn me - They deride and insult me, but my eye is towards God; I look to him to vindicate my cause.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 20My friends scorn me - Margin “are my scorners.” That is, his friends had him in derision and mocked him, and he could only appeal with tears to God. Mine eye poureth out tears unto God - Despised and mocked by his friends, he made his appeal to one who he knew would regard him with compassion. This shows that the heart of Job was substantially right. Notwithstanding, all his passionate exclamations; and notwithstanding, his expressions, when he was urged…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 17-22Verses 17-22 Job's condition was very deplorable; but he had the testimony of his conscience for him, that he never allowed himself in any gross sin. No one was ever more ready to acknowledge sins of infirmity. Eliphaz had charged him with hypocrisy in religion, but he specifies prayer, the great act of religion, and professes that in this he was pure, though not from all infirmity. He had a God to go to, who he doubted not took full notice of all his…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 19-21my witness is in heaven: Job wished for a kind third party to be "a mediator" between him and God (see 9:32–35). Job wanted a heavenly advocate who would eventually stand on the earth (16:19; compare Zechariah 3:1; Job 19:25; compare 1 Samuel 24:15; John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7; 1 John 2:1).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2020. Hebrew, "are my scorners"; more forcibly, "my mockers--my friends!" A heart-cutting paradox [Umbreit]. God alone remains to whom he can look for attestation of his innocence; plaintively with tearful eye, he supplicates for this.Read the comment
Topics related to Job 16:20
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 16
- 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
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
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