Job 9:16
in Job 9If I summoned Him and He answered me, I do not believe He would listen to my voice.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
If I had called, and he had answered me, Yet would I not believe that he hearkened unto my voice.
KJV
If I had called, and he had answered me; yet would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice.
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This verse in Job 9
Commentary
10 notes on this verseIf I had called, and he had answered me,.... Mr. Broughton reads the words, "if I cry, will he answer me?" as if Job had some doubt upon his mind whether God would vouchsafe to answer him, though he should make his supplication to him, as he proposed; seeing he had so sorely afflicted him, and still continued his hand upon him; or the words may be rendered, "though I have called, and he has answered" (q), in times past.
This site's exposition
How then can I answer Him
on Job 9:14-19
"How then can I answer Him or choose my arguments against Him" draws the conclusion. If mountains and stars obey without argument, a man has less standing still. "For even if I were right, I could not answer" states Job's fear that real innocence would find no hearing.
This site's exposition
If I summoned Him and He answered me
If God answered a summons, Job could not believe He would listen. Barnes, following Schultens, reads summoned as a call to court. Wesley gives the reason Job would doubt: the marks of God's displeasure are still on him.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
And when I have called and He hath answered me, yet do I not believe that He hath hearkened unto my voice. For very often the mind is set on fire with the flame of Divine love, and is uplifted to behold heavenly things and secret mysteries.
He shows the consequence of his prayer for pardon when he says, "If I appeal to him and he hears my call, I do believe that he would hear my words." For God sometimes does not hear someone's prayer according to what he wishes, but …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
): " If I had called, and he had answered, had given the thing I called to him for, yet, so weak and defective are my best prayers, that I would not believe he had therein hearkened to my voice;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
Yet - I could not believe that God had indeed granted my desire, because I am still full of the tokens of his displeasure; and therefore should conclude that it was but a pleasant dream, and not a real thing.
He knew how to make his part good with his friends, and thought himself able to deal with them; but, though his cause had been better than it was, he knew it was to no purpose to debate it with God.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
If I had called, and he had answered - I could scarcely suppose, such is his majesty and such his holiness, that he could condescend to notice a being so mean, and in every respect so infinitely beneath his notice. These sentiments sufficiently confuted that slander of his friends, who said he was presumptuous, had not becoming notions of the majesty of God, and used blasphemous expressions against his sovereign authority.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
If I had called, and he had answered me - It is remarked by Schultens, that the expressions in these verses are all taken from courts of justice. If so, the meaning is, that even if Job should call the Almighty to a judicial action, and he should respond to him, and consent to submit the great question about his innocence, and about the justice of the divine dealings with him, to trial, yet that such was the distance between God and him, that he could not hope successfully to contend with him in the argument. He would, therefore, prostrate himself in a suppliant manner, and implore his mercy and compassion - submitting to him as having all power, and as being a just and righteous Sovereign. Would I not believe - I cannot believe that he would enter into my complaint. He deals with me in a manner so severe; he acts toward me so much as a sovereign, that I have no reason to suppose that he would not continue to act toward me in the same way still.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| קָרָ֥אתִי | karati | I called | H7121 → | 733 times |
| וַֽיַּעֲנֵ֑נִי | vaiyaaneni | and he answered me | H6030 → | 331 times |
| לֹֽא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| אַ֝אֲמִ֗ין | ʾaamin | I believe | H539 → | 106 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יַאֲזִ֥ין | yaazin | he gave ear to | H238 → | 41 times |
| קוֹלִֽי׃ | koli | voice my | H6963 → | 506 times |
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
קָרָ֥אתִיI called
karatiH7121 →733 times
וַֽיַּעֲנֵ֑נִיand he answered me
vaiyaaneniH6030 →331 times
לֹֽא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
אַ֝אֲמִ֗יןI believe
ʾaaminH539 →106 times
כִּֽי־that
ki-H3588 →4482 times
יַאֲזִ֥יןhe gave ear to
yaazinH238 →41 times
קוֹלִֽי׃voice my
koliH6963 →506 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
Psalms 126:1When the LORD restored the captives of Zion, we were like dreamers.
it leads to
- Hosea 6:11
Also for you, O Judah, a harvest is appointed, when I restore My people from captivity.
- Joel 3:1
“Yes, in those days and at that time, when I restore Judah and Jerusalem from captivity,
- Jeremiah 31:8–10
Behold, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, including the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labor. They…
- Psalms 85:1
You showed favor to Your land, O LORD; You restored Jacob from captivity.
- Psalms 123:1
I lift up my eyes to You, the One enthroned in heaven.
- Hosea 6:11
Through
Judges 6:13“Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonders of which our fathers told us, saying, ‘Has not the…
it leads to
- Psalms 77:7–9
“Will the Lord spurn us forever and never show His favor again?
- 2 Chronicles 15:2
So he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him,…
- Isaiah 59:1–2
Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear.
- Psalms 77:7–9
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Job
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book IX; 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.