Job 16:9
in Job 16His anger has torn me and opposed me; He gnashes His teeth at me. My adversary pierces me with His eyes.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He hath torn me in his wrath, and persecuted me; He hath gnashed upon me with his teeth: Mine adversary sharpeneth his eyes upon me.
KJV
He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.
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This verse in Job 16
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
He teareth me in his wrath - The language here is all taken from the ferocity of wild beasts; and the idea is, that his enemy had come upon him as a lion seizes upon its prey. Rosenmuller, Reiske, and some others suppose that this refers to God. Cocceius refers it to Satan. Schultens, Dr. Good, and some others, to Eliphaz, as the leading man among his adversaries. I have no doubt that this is the true reference.
This site's exposition
His anger has torn me and opposed me
on Job 16:9-11
Job pictures God as a beast of prey who "gnashes His teeth at me", and "My adversary pierces me with His eyes" like a hunter. Delitzsch reads this as honest but partial sight, since the court of chapters 1 and 2 is hidden from Job.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Your words cruelly pierce me, because you endeavor to present me as a false witness before God, whose wrath "has torn me." Even in the middle of my mourning, where the loss of the children and cattle had dragged me, bodily pains invaded me. And …
The Medieval Church2 voices
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XIII · Written before 604.
proposed
Ver. 9. He gathered his fury against me; and threatening me he gnashed against me with his teeth; mine enemy looked on me with terrible eyes. What else are all wicked men but members of the devil? Therefore he himself does by them, whatever he puts it into their hearts that they ought to do.
According to this second interpretation, the following verse is clearer. "He has collected his anger against me." For the devil seems to have collected his complete anger against Job when he assailed him with every kind of harm. He afflicted me not only in the …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me,....
He was his enemy that hated him, and perhaps, by the divine permission, terrified him with apparitions, as (some think) he terrified our Saviour, which put him into his agonies in the garden; and thus he aimed to make him curse God. It is not improbable that this is the enemy he means.
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
He still holds fast his integrity, concerning which he appeals to God's righteous judgment from the unrighteous censures of his friends,
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
So God is represented (Job 10:16). who hateth me--rather, "and pursues me hard." Job would not ascribe "hatred" to God (Ps 50:22). mine enemy--rather, "he sharpens, &c., as an enemy" (Ps 7:12).
He teareth me in his wrath - Who the person is that is spoken of in this verse, and onward to the end of the fourteenth, has been a question on which commentators have greatly differed. Some think God, others Eliphaz, is intended: I think neither. Probably God permitted Satan to show himself to Job, and the horrible form which he and his demons assumed increased the misery under which Job had already suffered so much. All the expressions, from this to the end of the fourteenth verse, may be easily understood on this principle; e.g., Job 16:9: “He (Satan) gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.” Job 16:10: “They (demons) have gaped on me with their mouth; - they have gathered themselves together against me.” Job 16:11: “God hath delivered me to the ungodly, (עויל avil, to the Evil One), and turned me over into the hands of the wicked.” He hath abandoned me to be tortured by the tempter and his host. If we consider all these expressions as referring to Job’s three friends, we must, in that case, acknowledge that the figures are all strained to an insufferable height, so as not to be justified by any figure of speech.
The words behind it
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַפּ֤וֹ | ʾapo | anger his | H639 → | 276 times |
| טָרַ֨ף׀ | taraf | it has torn [me] | H2963 → | |
| וַֽיִּשְׂטְמֵ֗נִי | vaiyistemeni | and it has assailed me | H7852 → | |
| חָרַ֣ק | charak | he has gnashed | H2786 → | |
| עָלַ֣י | ʾalai | towards me | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| בְּשִׁנָּ֑יו | beshinav | with teeth his | H8127 → | 55 times |
| צָרִ֓י׀ | tzari | opponent my | H6862 → | 109 times |
| יִלְט֖וֹשׁ | yiltoosh | he sharpens | H3913 → | |
| עֵינָ֣יו | ʾeinav | eyes his | H5869 → | 887 times |
| לִֽי׃ | li | to me |
אַפּ֤וֹanger his
ʾapoH639 →276 times
טָרַ֨ף׀it has torn [me]
tarafH2963 →
וַֽיִּשְׂטְמֵ֗נִיand it has assailed me
vaiyistemeniH7852 →
חָרַ֣קhe has gnashed
charakH2786 →
עָלַ֣יtowards me
ʾalaiH5921 →5755 times
בְּשִׁנָּ֑יוwith teeth his
beshinavH8127 →55 times
צָרִ֓י׀opponent my
tzariH6862 →109 times
יִלְט֖וֹשׁhe sharpens
yiltooshH3913 →
עֵינָ֣יוeyes his
ʾeinavH5869 →887 times
לִֽי׃to me
li
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
Hosea 6:1Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds.
it leads to
- Job 5:18
For He wounds, but He also binds; He strikes, but His hands also heal.
- Deuteronomy 32:39
See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My…
- 1 Samuel 2:6
The LORD brings death and gives life; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.
- Lamentations 3:40–41
Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the LORD.
- Hosea 14:4
I will heal their apostasy; I will freely love them, for My anger has turned away from them.
- Job 5:18
Through
Job 19:11His anger burns against me, and He counts me among His enemies.
it leads to
Through
Lamentations 2:16All your enemies open their mouths against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth, saying, “We have swallowed her up. This is the day for which we have waited. We have lived to see…
it leads to
- Psalms 37:12
The wicked scheme against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them,
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 37:12
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); Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON JOB 16:9; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; 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 (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.