Job 34:16
in Job 34If you have understanding, hear this; listen to my words.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
If now thou hast understanding, hear this: Hearken to the voice of my words.
KJV
If now thou hast understanding, hear this: hearken to the voice of my words.
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This verse in Job 34
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
If now thou hast understanding hear this - This appears to be addressed to Job. The discourse before this had been directed to his three friends, but Elihu appears here to have turned to Job, and to have made a solemn appeal to him, whether this were not so. In the subsequent verses he remonstrates with him about his views, and shows him that what he had said implied severe reflections on the character and government of God.
This site's exposition
If you have understanding, hear this
on Job 34:16-18
The question “Could one who hates justice govern” turns the axiom of verse 10 on Job's own complaint. To charge God with injustice is to imagine Him hating the justice He governs by. The next question, “Will you condemn the just and mighty One”, puts that charge to Job himself.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Did you see? He did not dare come to the conclusion that he is [just]; with great discretion he avoided asserting it plainly. Not only by participating in the universe, or in the creation or in his power, we must realize his justice, but also by participating in his own nature and acts. He hates the wicked and loves human beings. He is not like us, who keep away from sin not because of our aversion to vice but because of the fear of punishment. Where does [this fear] come from? From the fact that he "hates injustice and makes the wicked perish." "He, who is eternal," he adds. Elihu is right in introducing the concept of eternity because God is not required every day and for every action to give explanations about what happened; it is usual that God manages a matter whose fulfillment must extend over a long period. Therefore, do not anticipate the conclusion of a fact, and do not try to understand the judgment of God before everything has been completed, because you will get no profit from your hurriedness. That is why he says, eternal and just. All past testifies to him. Is it possible that he has changed now?
The Medieval Church2 voices
Since Eliud thought these arguments were sufficient, he invites Job to their consideration when he then says, "If then you have an intellect," to understand the power of my arguments, "hear what is said," with the exterior ears, "and," with interior attention, "perceive the voice …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XXIV · Written before 604.
proposed
If then thou hast understanding, hear what is said, and listen to the voice of my words. All haughty men have this peculiarity, that when they perchance entertain any acute sentiment, they soon launch out in consequence into the sin of pride, that they despise the opinion of every one else in comparison with their own, and prefer themselves in their own judgment to the merits of others.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
If now thou hast understanding, hear this,....
Hear this, That God is not to be quarrelled with for any thing that he does. It is daring presumption to arraign and condemn God's proceedings, as Job had done by his discontents. As absurd as it would be to advance one to power that is a professed enemy to justice: Shall even he that hates right govern?
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאִם־ | veim- | and if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| בִּ֥ינָה | binah | understanding | H998 → | 38 times |
| שִׁמְעָה־ | shimah- | hear ! | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| זֹּ֑את | zot | this | H2063 → | 603 times |
| הַ֝אֲזִ֗ינָה | haazinah | give ear ! | H238 → | 41 times |
| לְק֣וֹל | lekol | to [the] sound of | H6963 → | 506 times |
| מִלָּֽי׃ | milai | words my | H4405 → | 38 times |
וְאִם־and if
veim-H518 →1069 times
בִּ֥ינָהunderstanding
binahH998 →38 times
שִׁמְעָה־hear !
shimah-H8085 →1159 times
זֹּ֑אתthis
zotH2063 →603 times
הַ֝אֲזִ֗ינָהgive ear !
haazinahH238 →41 times
לְק֣וֹלto [the] sound of
lekolH6963 →506 times
מִלָּֽי׃words my
milaiH4405 →38 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 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
Job 12:3But I also have a mind; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?
it leads to
- Job 13:2–5
What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you.
- 2 Corinthians 11:21–23
To my shame I concede that we were too weak for that! Speaking as a fool, however, I can match what anyone else dares to boast about.
- Proverbs 26:4
Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be like him.
- Job 6:6–7
Is tasteless food eaten without salt, or is there flavor in the white of an egg?
- Job 26:2–3
“How you have helped the powerless and saved the arm that is feeble!
- Job 13:2–5
About Job
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXIV; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 34:12-17; 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.