Job 13:4
in Job 13You, however, smear with lies; you are all worthless physicians.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But ye are forgers of lies; Ye are all physicians of no value.
KJV
But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.
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This verse in Job 13
Commentary
9 notes on this verseYe are forgers of lies - Ye frame deceitful arguments: ye reason sophistically, and pervert truth and justice, in order to support your cause. Physicians of no value - Ye are as feeble in your reasonings as ye are inefficient in your skill. Ye can neither heal the wound of my mind, nor the disease of my body. In ancient times every wise man professed skill in the healing art, and probably Job’s friends had tried their skill on his body as well as on his mind.
This site's exposition
you are all worthless physicians
on Job 13:4-5
Job's charge, "You, however, smear with lies; you are all worthless physicians", names the friends' comfort itself as the failure, false diagnosis dressed as wisdom. Gill reads the worthless physicians against the ancient custom of physicians attending the sick, useless doctors who worsen the patient they claim to treat.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
A worthless physician is literally one who applies curing strategies that are not useful for the suffering. This happens in two ways: either it is due to lack of experience in the physician or to his wickedness. The friends who are contradicted here speak out …
Indeed, when senseless words are spoken, it is better to remain in silence, and in being silent, one will show greater wisdom than in speaking.
The Medieval Church2 voices
First shewing that ye are builders of lies, and votaries of wrong doctrines. By which same words it is clearly shewn that his friends as in the likeness of heretics oppose the decisions of the holy man's judgment. For it is clear that they do not hold the figure of Catholics, who are termed 'votaries of wrong doctrines.' Wherein this likewise ought to be marked, that they are called 'builders of lies.' For as an edifice is 'built' with stones, so a lie is 'built' with words.
So he continues, "First I will show that you are makers of lies," because they had invented the lie that Job had led an evil life. They had arrived at this lie because they were mistaken about the faith with which one worships God, believing …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
But ye are forgers of lies,....
2 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
They falsely accused him, and that was unjust: You are forgers of lies. They framed a wrong hypothesis concerning the divine Providence, and misrepresented it, as if it did never remarkably afflict any but wicked men in this world, and thence they drew a false judgment concerning Job, that he was certainly a hypocrite.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
But ye are forgers of lies - The word lies here seems to be used in a large sense, to denote sophisms, false accusations, errors. They maintained false positions; they did not see the exact truth in respect to the divine dealings, and to the character of Job. They maintained strenuously that Job was a hypocrite, and that God was punishing him for his sins. They maintained that God deals with people in exact accordance with their charactor in this world, all of which Job regarded as false doctrine, and asserted that they defended it with sophistical arguments invented for the purpose, and thus they could be spoken of as “forgers of lies.” Physicians of no value - The meaning is, that they had come to give him consolation, but nothing that they had said had imparted comfort. They were like physicians sent for to visit the sick, who could do nothing when they came; compare Job 16:2.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְֽאוּלָ֗ם | veulam | and but | H199 → | 19 times |
| אַתֶּ֥ם | ʾatem | you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| טֹֽפְלֵי־ | tofelei- | [are] smearers of | H2950 → | |
| שָׁ֑קֶר | shaker | falsehood | H8267 → | |
| רֹפְאֵ֖י | rofeei | [are] physicians of | H7495 → | |
| אֱלִ֣ל | ʾelil | worthlessness | H457 → | |
| כֻּלְּכֶֽם׃ | kulekhem | all of you | H3605 → | 5413 times |
וְֽאוּלָ֗םand but
veulamH199 →19 times
אַתֶּ֥םyou
ʾatemH859 →1094 times
טֹֽפְלֵי־[are] smearers of
tofelei-H2950 →
שָׁ֑קֶרfalsehood
shakerH8267 →
רֹפְאֵ֖י[are] physicians of
rofeeiH7495 →
אֱלִ֣לworthlessness
ʾelilH457 →
כֻּלְּכֶֽם׃all of you
kulekhemH3605 →5413 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 8:22Is there no balm in Gilead? Is no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?
it leads to
- Jeremiah 51:8
Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been shattered. Wail for her; get her balm for her pain; perhaps she can be healed.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 46:11
Go up to Gilead for balm, O Virgin Daughter of Egypt! In vain you try many remedies, but for you there is no healing.
- Genesis 37:25
And as they sat down to eat a meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh on their way down to…
- Jeremiah 30:12–17
For this is what the LORD says: “Your injury is incurable; your wound is grievous.
- Luke 8:43
including a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years. She had spent all her money on physicians, but no one was able to heal her.
- Jeremiah 51:8
Through
Jeremiah 6:14They dress the wound of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 13:10
Because they have led My people astray, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and whitewashing any flimsy wall that is built,
- Jeremiah 23:17
They keep saying to those who despise Me, ‘The LORD says that you will have peace,’ and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, ‘No harm will come to you.’
- Ezekiel 13:10
Through
Psalms 119:69Though the arrogant have smeared me with lies, I keep Your precepts with all my heart.
it leads to
- Matthew 5:11–12
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
- Matthew 5:11–12
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Job
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON JOB 13:4-5; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XI; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 13:4-5; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.