New King James Version
Job 16:21
21Oh, that one might plead for a man with God, As a man pleads for his neighbor!
Job 16:21 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour!
- New International Version (NIV)on behalf of a man he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend.
- English Standard Version (ESV)that he would argue the case of a man with God, as a son of man does with his neighbor.
- New Living Translation (NLT)I need someone to mediate between God and me, as a person mediates between friends.
Context of Job 16:21
19Surely even now my witness is in heaven, And my evidence is on high. 20My friends scorn me; My eyes pour out tears to God. Oh, that one might plead for a man with God, As a man pleads for his neighbor! 22For when a few years are finished, I shall go the way of no return.
Read all of Job 16Job 16:21 word by word
וְיוֹכַ֣ח לְגֶ֣בֶר עִם־אֱל֑וֹהַּ וּֽבֶן־אָדָ֥ם לְרֵעֵֽהוּ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 16:21
- Job 9:34Let Him take His rod away from me, And do not let dread of Him terrify me.
- Job 13:3But I would speak to the Almighty, And I desire to reason with God.
- Job 23:3Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, That I might come to His seat!
- Job 31:35Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my mark. Oh, that the Almighty would answer me, That my Prosecutor had written a book!
- Job 40:1Moreover the Lord answered Job, and said:
- Ecclesiastes 6:10Whatever one is, he has been named already, For it is known that he is man; And he cannot contend with Him who is mightier than he.
- Isaiah 45:9“Woe to him who strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ Or shall your handiwork say, ‘He has no hands’?
- Romans 9:20But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?”
Commentaries on Job 16:21
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 21O that one might plead - Let me only have liberty to plead with God, as a man hath with his fellow.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 21Oh that one might plead for a man - A more correct rendering of this would be, “Oh that it might be for a man to contend with God;” that is, in a judicial controversy. It is the expression of an earnest desire to carry his cause at once before God, and to be permitted to argue it there. This desire Job had often expressed; see Job 13:3, note; Job 13:18-22, notes. On the grammatical construction of the passage, see Rosenmuller. As a man pleadeth for his…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. 2121. one--rather, "He" (God). "Oh, that He would plead for a man (namely, me) against God." Job quaintly says, "God must support me against God; for He makes me to suffer, and He alone knows me to be innocent" [Umbreit]. So God helped Jacob in wrestling against Himself (compare Job 23:6; Ge 32:25). God in Jesus Christ does plead with God for man (Ro 8:26, 27). as a man--literally, "the Son of man." A prefiguring of the advocacy of Jesus Christ--a boon…Read the comment
Topics related to Job 16:21
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
New King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc
Commentaries