Job 16:5
in Job 16But I would encourage you with my mouth, and the consolation of my lips would bring relief.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But I would strengthen you with my mouth, And the solace of my lips would assuage your grief.
KJV
But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should asswage your grief.
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This verse in Job 16
Commentary
11 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Opposed to strengthening with the heart, that is, with real consolation. Translate, "I also (like you) could strengthen with the mouth," that is, with heartless talk: "And the moving of my lips (mere lip comfort) could console (in the same fashion as you do)" [UMBREIT]. "Hearty counsel" (Pr 27:9) is the opposite.
This site's exposition
Then Job answered
on Job 16:1-5
Job opens his reply by naming the friends outright, "miserable comforters are you all", the book's only use of the phrase and his plainest verdict. He chooses the harder path instead, "I would encourage you with my mouth", naming the comfort he needed and did not receive.
This site's exposition
the consolation of my lips would bring relief
Job says what his mouth and lips would do if the friends sat where he sits: encourage them and bring relief. Henry says true consolation strengthens faith and patience. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, after Umbreit, read the verse as irony, lip comfort of the kind the friends offer.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church3 voices
Also, "I would encourage you with my mouth," lest you should despair in your impatience, "and I would move my lips," to speak, "and appear to console you," by pretending to speak from pity which I had for you, just as you are doing to …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XIII · Written before 604.
proposed
But whereas he says, not, 'sparing,' but, as if sparing you; I think that this point ought not to be passed by carelessly, in that Holy Church, while keeping vigorousness of discipline together with an union of gentleness, sometimes even while 'as if sparing,' is far from sparing the wicked, but sometimes, when 'as if not sparing' does spare them; which we shall exhibit the more effectually, if we bring forward the very things themselves which are not unfrequently happening.
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XIII · Written before 604.
proposed
Ver. 4-6. And O that your soul were for my soul! I too would comfort you with speeches, and move my head over you: I would strengthen you with my mouth, and move my lips as if sparing you.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
It is an easy thing to trample upon those that are down, and to find fault with what those say that are in extremity of pain and affliction: " I could heap up words against you, as you do against me; and how would you like it? how would you bear it?" (3.) He shows them what they should do, by telling them what in that case he would do (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
But I would strengthen you with my mouth,....
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Faith and patience are the strength of the afflicted; whatever helps these graces confirms the feeble knees. [2.] To assuage their grief--the causes of their grief, if possible, or at least their resentment of those causes.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
I would strengthen you with my mouth - Mr. Good translates thus: - “With my own mouth will I overpower you, Till the quivering of my lips shall fail;” for which rendering he contends in his learned notes. This translation is countenanced by the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
(But I would strengthen you with my mouth With that which proceeds from the mouth - words. And the moving of my lips - My speaking - implying that it would have been done in a mild, gentle, kind manner - so that the lips would appear just to move. Others, however, have given a different interpretation. Thus, Dr. Good renders it: “With my own mouth will I overpower you, Till the quivering of my lips shall fall.” But the common interpretation is to be preferred.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֲאַמִּצְכֶ֥ם | ʾaamitzkhem | I will strengthen you | H553 → | |
| בְּמוֹ־ | bemov- | with | H1119 → | 9 times |
| פִ֑י | fi | mouth my | H6310 → | 498 times |
| וְנִ֖יד | venid | and [the] condolence of | H5205 → | |
| שְׂפָתַ֣י | sefatai | lips my | H8193 → | 176 times |
| יַחְשֹֽׂךְ׃ | yachsokh | it will restrain | H2820 → | 28 times |
אֲאַמִּצְכֶ֥םI will strengthen you
ʾaamitzkhemH553 →
בְּמוֹ־with
bemov-H1119 →9 times
פִ֑יmouth my
fiH6310 →498 times
וְנִ֖ידand [the] condolence of
venidH5205 →
שְׂפָתַ֣יlips my
sefataiH8193 →176 times
יַחְשֹֽׂךְ׃it will restrain
yachsokhH2820 →28 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
Proverbs 27:17As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.
it leads to
- Hebrews 10:24
And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds.
- Proverbs 27:9
Oil and incense bring joy to the heart, and the sweetness of a friend is counsel to the soul.
- Hebrews 10:24
Through
Psalms 27:14Wait patiently for the LORD; be strong and courageous. Wait patiently for the LORD!
it leads to
- Isaiah 40:31
But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.
- Psalms 31:24
Be strong and courageous, all you who hope in the LORD.
- Isaiah 30:18
Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore He rises to show you compassion, for the LORD is a just God. Blessed are all who wait for Him.
- Psalms 37:34
Wait for the LORD and keep His way, and He will raise you up to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, you will see it.
- Psalms 130:5
I wait for the LORD; my soul does wait, and in His word I put my hope.
- Isaiah 40:31
Through
Galatians 6:1Brothers, if someone is caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him with a spirit of gentleness. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.
it leads to
- Romans 15:1
We who are strong ought to bear with the shortcomings of the weak and not to please ourselves.
- Romans 15:1
About Job
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); 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.