Job 15:16
in Job 15how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks injustice like water?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
How much less one that is abominable and corrupt, A man that drinketh iniquity like water!
KJV
How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?
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This verse in Job 15
Commentary
12 notes on this verseHow much more abominable and filthy is man - As in the preceding verse it is said, he putteth no trust in his saints, it has appeared both to translators and commentators that the original words, אף כי aph ki, should be rendered how much Less, not how much More: How much less would he put confidence in man, who is filthy and abominable in his natures and profligate in his practice, as he drinks down iniquity like water?
This site's exposition
What is man, that he should be pure
on Job 15:14-16
Eliphaz repeats the vision of 4:17 in sharper words, and "one born of woman" takes up Job's phrase from 14:1. The close, "how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks injustice like water", turns the doctrine of chapter 4 into open contempt.
This site's exposition
drinks injustice like water
The argument runs from greater to lesser. If angels fall short, man falls much further, and Clarke notes that many translators render the phrase how much less. Wesley pictures a man who takes in sin as freely as men in hot countries drink water.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Who is the person," Eliphaz asks, "who can be blameless or can proclaim, I am righteous?" If, in fact, those who are very holy, both men and angels, and the purity itself of heaven before the judgment of the most pure God appear to be …
The Medieval Church3 voices
"He will drink iniquity like water." The author says these words in order to show that [human beings] enjoy uttering blasphemies.
Third, he attacks the same statement from the personal condition of Job himself, as a conclusion to the major (premise above in v. 15) "How much more abominable," through sin, "and useless," by the failure of justice, "is the man who drinks evil like water," …
Ver. 16. How much more abominable and useless is man, which drinketh iniquity like water? He who first said it was impossible that man should of himself be clean from sin, and righteous, calls him 'abominable' and 'useless;' 'abominable' on account of the uncleanness of his stain, but 'useless' on account of the unrighteousness of an imperfect life; who however may be understood as 'abominable and useless' in another sense.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Who - Who besides his natural proneness to sin, has contracted habits of sinning; and sins as freely, as greedily and delightfully, as men, especially in those hot countries, drink up water.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
How much more abominable and filthy is man,....
He reads him a long lecture concerning the woeful estate of wicked people, who harden their hearts against God and the judgments which are prepared for them,
Nay, he is abominable and filthy in the sight of God, and if ever he repent he is so in his own sight, and therefore he abhors himself. Sin is an odious thing, it makes men hateful. The body of sin is so, and is therefore called a dead body, a loathsome thing.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
How much more abominable and filthy is man - How much more than the angels, and than the heavens. In Job 4:19, the image is somewhat different. There it is, how can man be the object of the divine confidence since he lives in a house of clay, and is so frail? Here the image is more striking and forcible. The word rendered filthy (אלח 'âlach) means, in Arabic, to be sour, as milk, and then to be corrupt, in a moral sense; Psa 14:3; Psa 53:4. Here it means that man is defiled and polluted, and this declaration is a remarkable illustration of the ancient belief of the depravity of man. Which drinketh iniquity like water - This is still a true, though a melancholy account of man. He loves sin, and is as greedy of it as a thirsty man is of water. He practices it as if it were his very nature - as much so as it is to drink. Perhaps too there may be an allusion, as Dr. Good supposes, to the large draught of water which the camel makes, implying that man is exceedingly greedy of iniquity; compare Job 20:12; Job 34:7; Pro 19:28.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַ֭ף | ʾaf | indeed? | H637 → | 134 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| נִתְעָ֥ב | nitav | [one who] is abhorrent | H8581 → | 22 times |
| וְֽנֶאֱלָ֑ח | veneelach | and [one who] is corrupt | H444 → | |
| אִישׁ־ | ʾish- | a person | H376 → | 1663 times |
| שֹׁתֶ֖ה | shoteh | [who] drinks | H8354 → | 217 times |
| כַמַּ֣יִם | khamayim | like <the> water | H4325 → | 581 times |
| עַוְלָֽה׃ | ʾavlah | unrighteousness | H5766 → | 54 times |
אַ֭ףindeed?
ʾafH637 →134 times
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
נִתְעָ֥ב[one who] is abhorrent
nitavH8581 →22 times
וְֽנֶאֱלָ֑חand [one who] is corrupt
veneelachH444 →
אִישׁ־a person
ʾish-H376 →1663 times
שֹׁתֶ֖ה[who] drinks
shotehH8354 →217 times
כַמַּ֣יִםlike <the> water
khamayimH4325 →581 times
עַוְלָֽה׃unrighteousness
ʾavlahH5766 →54 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
Titus 3:3For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
it leads to
- Ephesians 2:1–3
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
- Colossians 1:21
Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds, engaging in evil deeds.
- Romans 6:17
But thanks be to God that, though you once were slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were committed.
- Colossians 3:7
When you lived among them, you also used to walk in these ways.
- 1 Corinthians 6:9–11
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual…
- Ephesians 2:1–3
Through
Psalms 53:3All have turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.
it leads to
- Romans 3:12
All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
- Isaiah 64:6
Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.
- Isaiah 53:6
We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.
- Romans 3:12
About Job
This page draws on 11 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); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XII; Ishodad of Merv, COMMENTARY ON JOB 15:16; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Olympiodorus of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON JOB 15:14-16 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.