Job 16:21
in Job 16Oh, that a man might plead with God as he pleads with his neighbor!
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
That he would maintain the right of a man with God, And of a son of man with his neighbor!
KJV
O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour!
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This verse in Job 16
Commentary
11 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Oh 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 neighbour - Hebrew “the son of man;” that is, the offspring of man.
This site's exposition
My friends are my scoffers
on Job 16:20-21
The wish "that a man might plead with God as he pleads with his neighbor" asks for an advocate. Gill notes that this stays in a human register, short of the witness of verse 19 and the redeemer of chapter 19.
This site's exposition
plead with God as he pleads with his neighbor
Job wants to plead his cause before God the way one man pleads with his neighbor, a wish Barnes traces through his speeches. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, after Umbreit, hear Job asking God to support him against God. Henry allows a gospel sense: Christ pleads for man.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XIII · Written before 604.
proposed
Ver.21. Oh! that a man were so judged with God, as a son of man is judged with his fellow!
To explain what he had said, he continues, "and would that man were so judged by God as the son of a man is judged by his colleague." For a man is judged by his own colleague when one is actually present to the other …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
The language of this wish is like that in Isa. l. 7, 8 , I know that I shall not be ashamed, for he is near that justifies me. Some give a gospel sense of this verse, and the original will very well bear it; and he will plead (that is, there is one that will plead) for man with God, even the Son of man for his friend, or neighbour.
Oh that one might plead for a man with God,....
Those who are free in passing such censures must expect to have them retorted; it is easy, it is endless: but cui bono?--what good does it do? It will stir up men's passions, but will never convince their judgments, nor set truth in a clear light.
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
"My friends (so they call themselves) scorn me; they set themselves not only to resist me, but to expose me; they are of counsel against me, and use all their art and eloquence" (so the word signifies) "to run me down." The scorns of friends are more cutting than those of enemies; but we must expect them, and provide accordingly.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
"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].
O that one might plead - Let me only have liberty to plead with God, as a man hath with his fellow.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְיוֹכַ֣ח | veyokhach | and he may argue | H3198 → | 59 times |
| לְגֶ֣בֶר | legever | for a man | H1397 → | 65 times |
| עִם־ | ʾim- | with | H5973 → | 1050 times |
| אֱל֑וֹהַּ | ʾeloah | God | H433 → | 57 times |
| וּֽבֶן־ | uven- | and a child of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| אָדָ֥ם | ʾadam | humankind | H120 → | 551 times |
| לְרֵעֵֽהוּ׃ | lereehu | for companion his | H7453 → | 188 times |
וְיוֹכַ֣חand he may argue
veyokhachH3198 →59 times
לְגֶ֣בֶרfor a man
legeverH1397 →65 times
עִם־with
ʾim-H5973 →1050 times
אֱל֑וֹהַּGod
ʾeloahH433 →57 times
וּֽבֶן־and a child of
uven-H1121 →4930 times
אָדָ֥םhumankind
ʾadamH120 →551 times
לְרֵעֵֽהוּ׃for companion his
lereehuH7453 →188 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
Romans 9:20But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?”
it leads to
- Isaiah 29:16
You have turned things upside down, as if the potter were regarded as clay. Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “He did not make me”? Can the pottery say of…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 64:8
But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 45:9–11
Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker—one clay pot among many. Does the clay ask the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’?
- Job 33:13
Why do you complain to Him that He answers nothing a man asks?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 29:16
Through
Isaiah 45:9Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker—one clay pot among many. Does the clay ask the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’?
it leads to
- Romans 9:20–21
But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?”
- Isaiah 10:15
Does an axe raise itself above the one who swings it? Does a saw boast over him who saws with it? It would be like a rod waving the one who lifts it, or…
- Romans 9:20–21
Through
Ecclesiastes 6:10Whatever exists was named long ago, and what happens to a man is foreknown; but he cannot contend with one stronger than he.
it leads to
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); Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XIII; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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.