Job 16:8

8 And he has shriveled me up, which is 1a witness against me, and my 2leanness has risen up against me; it testifies to my face.

Job 16:8 Meaning and Commentary

Job 16:8

And thou hast filled me with wrinkles
Not through old age, but through affliction, which had sunk his flesh, and made furrows in him, so that he looked older than he was, and was made old thereby before his time; see ( Lamentations 3:4 ) ; for this is to be understood of his body, for as for his soul, that through the grace of God, and righteousness of Christ, was without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing:

[which] is a witness [against me];
as it was improved by his friends, who represented his afflictions as proofs and testimonies of his being a bad man; though these wrinkles were witnesses for him, as it may be as well supplied, that he really was an afflicted man:

and my leanness rising up in me;
his bones standing up, and standing out, and having scarce anything on them but skin, the flesh being gone:

beareth witness to my face;
openly, manifestly, to full conviction; not that he was a sinful man, but an afflicted man; Eliphaz had no reason to talk to Job of a wicked man's being covered with fatness, and of collops of fat on his flanks, ( Job 15:27 ) ;

Job 16:8 In-Context

6 "If I speak, my pain is not assuaged, and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?
7 Surely now God has worn me out; he has made desolate all my company.
8 And he has shriveled me up, which is a witness against me, and my leanness has risen up against me; it testifies to my face.
9 He has torn me in his wrath and hated me; he has gnashed his teeth at me; my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.
10 Men have gaped at me with their mouth; they have struck me insolently on the cheek; they mass themselves together against me.

Cross References 2

  • 1. Job 10:17; [Ruth 1:21]
  • 2. [Psalms 109:24]
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.