Job 26:4
in Job 26To whom have you uttered these words? And whose spirit spoke through you?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
To whom hast thou uttered words? And whose spirit came forth from thee?
KJV
To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee?
⋯
This verse in Job 26
Commentary
11 notes on this verseWhom wouldest thou have taught? Was it not Him Who made the breathway? By the 'breathway' we live, by prudence we are wise. But it is ours first to live, and afterwards to be imbued with wisdom; because in order that we have the power to be wise, it is first brought to pass that we should have being. He, then, Who bestowed life, the same doubtless gave prudence as well.
This site's exposition
Then Job answered
on Job 26:1-4
With open sarcasm Job tells Bildad, "How you have helped the powerless". The four questions make one charge, that Bildad brought no counsel and no strength to a man who needed both. Job then answers with a longer account of God's power than any of the three friends has given.
This site's exposition
whose spirit spoke through you?
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown hear Job asking whose spirit spoke through Bildad, and they find the words borrowed from Eliphaz at Job 4:17-19. Clarke calls the retort severe. Henry adds that a broken spirit needed God's mercy more than His power.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
The other way of favoring against the lack of wisdom is to instruct the ignorant man concerning what he must know, and as to this he says, "Whom do you want to teach?", for you seemed to teach God when you brought his power against …
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
That it was needless to the person he was discoursing with; for he knew it, and believed it, and could speak of it as well as he and better, and could add to the proofs which he had produced of God's power and greatness, which he does in the rest of his discourse (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
To one that was humbled, and broken, and grieved in spirit, as Job was, he ought to have preached of the grace and mercy of God, rather than of his greatness and majesty, to have laid before him the consolations rather than the terrors of the Almighty. Christ knows how to speak what is proper for the weary ( Isa. l.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
To whom - For whose instruction hast thou uttered these things? Dost thou think I do not know, that which the meanest persons are not unacquainted with; that God is incomparably greater and better than his creatures?
To whom hast thou uttered words?....
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Whose spirit came from thee? - Mr. Good renders the verse thus: From whom hast thou pillaged speeches? And whose spirit hath issued forth from thee? The retort is peculiarly severe; and refers immediately to the proverbial sayings which in several of the preceding answers have been adduced against the irritated sufferer; for which see Job 8:11-19; 15:20-35, some of which he has already complained of, as in Job 12:3, and following.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
For whose instruction were thy words meant? If for me I know the subject (God's omnipotence) better than my instructor; Job 26:5-14 is a sample of Job's knowledge of it. whose spirit--not that of God (Job 32:8); nay, rather, the borrowed sentiment of Eliphaz (Job 4:17-19;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
To whom hast thou uttered words? - Jerome renders this, Quem docere voluisti? “Whom do you wish to teach?” The sense is, “Do you attempt to teach me in such a manner, on such a subject? Do you take it that I am so ignorant of the perfections of God, that such remarks about him would convey any real instruction?” And whose spirit came from thee? - That is, by whose spirit didst thou speak? What claims hast thou to inspiration, or to the uttering of sentiments beyond what man himself could originate? The meaning is, that there was nothing remarkable in what he had said that would show that he had been indebted for it either to God or to the wise and good on earth.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| מִ֭י | mi | whom? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| הִגַּ֣דְתָּ | higadta | have you told | H5046 → | 370 times |
| מִלִּ֑ין | milin | words | H4405 → | 38 times |
| וְנִשְׁמַת־ | venishmat- | and [the] breath of | H5397 → | 24 times |
| מִ֝י | mi | whom? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| יָצְאָ֥ה | yatzeah | has it gone out | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| מִמֶּֽךָּ׃ | mimeka | from you | H4480 → | 1188 times |
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
מִ֭יwhom?
miH4310 →423 times
הִגַּ֣דְתָּhave you told
higadtaH5046 →370 times
מִלִּ֑יןwords
milinH4405 →38 times
וְנִשְׁמַת־and [the] breath of
venishmat-H5397 →24 times
מִ֝יwhom?
miH4310 →423 times
יָצְאָ֥הhas it gone out
yatzeahH3318 →1067 times
מִמֶּֽךָּ׃from you
mimekaH4480 →1188 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
1 Corinthians 12:3Therefore I inform you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
it leads to
- 1 John 4:2–3
By this you will know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,
- Romans 10:9
that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
- Matthew 16:16–17
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
- 1 John 4:2–3
Through
Ecclesiastes 12:7before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
it leads to
- Daniel 12:2
And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt.
- Ecclesiastes 3:20–21
All go to one place; all come from dust, and all return to dust.
- Psalms 146:4
When his spirit departs, he returns to the ground; on that very day his plans perish.
- Genesis 3:19
By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
- Job 34:14–15
If He were to set His heart to it and withdraw His Spirit and breath,
- Daniel 12:2
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); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVII; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.