Hiob 16

1 Hiob antwortete und sprach:

2 Ich habe solches oft gehört. Ihr seid allzumal leidige Tröster!

3 Wollen die leeren Worte kein Ende haben? Oder was macht dich so frech, also zu reden?

4 Ich könnte auch wohl reden wie ihr. Wäre eure Seele an meiner Statt, so wollte ich auch Worte gegen euch zusammenbringen und mein Haupt also über euch schütteln.

5 Ich wollte euch stärken mit dem Munde und mit meinen Lippen trösten.

6 Aber wenn ich schon rede, so schont mein der Schmerz nicht; lasse ich's anstehen so geht er nicht von mir.

7 Nun aber macht er mich müde und verstört alles, was ich bin.

8 Er hat mich runzlig gemacht, das zeugt wider mich; und mein Elend steht gegen mich auf und verklagt mich ins Angesicht.

9 Sein Grimm zerreißt, und der mir gram ist, beißt die Zähne über mich zusammen; mein Widersacher funkelt mit seinen Augen auf mich.

10 Sie haben ihren Mund aufgesperrt gegen mich und haben mich schmählich auf meine Backen geschlagen; sie haben ihren Mut miteinander an mir gekühlt.

11 Gott hat mich übergeben dem Ungerechten und hat mich in der Gottlosen Hände kommen lassen.

12 Ich war in Frieden, aber er hat mich zunichte gemacht; er hat mich beim Hals genommen und zerstoßen und hat mich zum Ziel aufgerichtet.

13 Er hat mich umgeben mit seinen Schützen; er hat meine Nieren gespalten und nicht verschont; er hat meine Galle auf die Erde geschüttet.

14 Er hat mir eine Wunde über die andere gemacht; er ist an mich gelaufen wie ein Gewaltiger.

15 Ich habe einen Sack um meine Haut genäht und habe mein Horn in den Staub gelegt.

16 Mein Antlitz ist geschwollen von Weinen, und meine Augenlider sind verdunkelt,

17 wiewohl kein Frevel in meiner Hand ist und mein Gebet ist rein.

18 Ach Erde, bedecke mein Blut nicht! und mein Geschrei finde keine Ruhestätte!

19 Auch siehe da, meine Zeuge ist mein Himmel; und der mich kennt, ist in der Höhe.

20 Meine Freunde sind meine Spötter; aber mein Auge tränt zu Gott,

21 daß er entscheiden möge zwischen dem Mann und Gott, zwischen dem Menschenkind und seinem Freunde.

22 Denn die bestimmten Jahre sind gekommen, und ich gehe hin des Weges, den ich nicht wiederkommen werde.

Hiob 16 Commentary

Chapter 16

Job reproves his friends. (1-5) He represents his case as deplorable. (6-16) Job maintains his innocency. (17-22)

Verses 1-5 Eliphaz had represented Job's discourses as unprofitable, and nothing to the purpose; Job here gives his the same character. Those who pass censures, must expect to have them retorted; it is easy, it is endless, but what good does it do? Angry answers stir up men's passions, but never convince their judgments, nor set truth in a clear light. What Job says of his friends is true of all creatures, in comparison with God; one time or other we shall be made to see and own that miserable comforters are they all. When under convictions of sin, terrors of conscience, or the arrests of death, only the blessed Spirit can comfort effectually; all others, without him, do it miserably, and to no purpose. Whatever our brethren's sorrows are, we ought by sympathy to make them our own; they may soon be so.

Verses 6-16 Here is a doleful representation of Job's grievances. What reason we have to bless God, that we are not making such complaints! Even good men, when in great troubles, have much ado not to entertain hard thoughts of God. Eliphaz had represented Job as unhumbled under his affliction: No, says Job, I know better things; the dust is now the fittest place for me. In this he reminds us of Christ, who was a man of sorrows, and pronounced those blessed that mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Verses 17-22 Job's condition was very deplorable; but he had the testimony of his conscience for him, that he never allowed himself in any gross sin. No one was ever more ready to acknowledge sins of infirmity. Eliphaz had charged him with hypocrisy in religion, but he specifies prayer, the great act of religion, and professes that in this he was pure, though not from all infirmity. He had a God to go to, who he doubted not took full notice of all his sorrows. Those who pour out tears before God, though they cannot plead for themselves, by reason of their defects, have a Friend to plead for them, even the Son of man, and on him we must ground all our hopes of acceptance with God. To die, is to go the way whence we shall not return. We must all of us, very certainly, and very shortly, go this journey. Should not then the Saviour be precious to our souls? And ought we not to be ready to obey and to suffer for his sake? If our consciences are sprinkled with his atoning blood, and testify that we are not living in sin or hypocrisy, when we go the way whence we shall not return, it will be a release from prison, and an entrance into everlasting happiness.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 16

This chapter and the following contain Job's reply to the preceding discourse of Eliphaz, in which he complains of the conversation of his friends, as unprofitable, uncomfortable, vain, empty, and without any foundation, Job 16:1-3; and intimates that were they in his case and circumstances, tie should behave in another manner towards them, not mock at them, but comfort them, Job 16:4,5; though such was his unhappy case, that, whether he spoke or was silent, it was much the same; there was no alloy to his grief, Job 16:6; wherefore he turns himself to God, and speaks to him, and of what he had done to him, both to his family, and to himself; which things, as they proved the reality of his afflictions, were used by his friends as witnesses against him, Job 16:7,8; and then enters upon a detail of his troubles, both at the hands of God and man, in order to move the divine compassion, and the pity of his friends, Job 16:9-14; which occasioned him great sorrow and distress, Job 16:15,16; yet asserts his own innocence, and appeals to God for the truth of it, Job 16:17-19; and applies to him, and wishes his cause was pleaded with him, Job 16:20,21; and concludes with the sense he had of the shortness of his life, Job 16:22; which sentiment is enlarged upon in the following chapter.