New Living Translation
Job 16:20
20My friends scorn me, but I pour out my 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.
- New International Version (NIV)My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to 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.
Context of Job 16:20
18“O earth, do not conceal my blood. Let it cry out on my behalf. 19Even now my witness is in heaven. My advocate is there on high. My friends scorn me, but I pour out my tears to God. 21I need someone to mediate between God and me, as a person mediates between friends. 22For soon I must go down that road from which I will never 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 could say the same things if you were in my place. I could spout off criticism and shake my head at you.
- Job 12:4Yet my friends laugh at me, for I call on God and expect an answer. I am a just and blameless man, yet they laugh at me.
- Job 17:2I am surrounded by mockers. I watch how bitterly they taunt me.
- Psalms 109:4I love them, but they try to destroy me with accusations even as I am praying for them!
- Psalms 142:2I pour out my complaints before him and tell him all my troubles.
- Hosea 12:4Yes, he wrestled with the angel and won. He wept and pleaded for a blessing from him. There at Bethel he met God face to face, and God spoke to him—
- Luke 6:11At this, the enemies of Jesus were wild with rage and began to discuss what to do with him.
- Hebrews 5:7While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God.
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
New Living Translation — © 1996, 2004, 2015 Tyndale House Foundation
Commentaries