Job 4:5

5 But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged; it strikes you, and you are dismayed.

Job 4:5 in Other Translations

KJV
5 But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.
ESV
5 But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed.
NLT
5 But now when trouble strikes, you lose heart. You are terrified when it touches you.
MSG
5 But now you're the one in trouble - you're hurting! You've been hit hard and you're reeling from the blow.
CSB
5 But now that this has happened to you, you have become exhausted. It strikes you, and you are dismayed.

Job 4:5 Meaning and Commentary

Job 4:5

But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest
The affliction and evil that he feared, ( Job 3:25 ) ; or rather the same trials and afflictions were come upon him as had been on those whom he had instructed and reproved, and whose hands and hearts he had strengthened and comforted; and yet now thou thyself "faintest", or "art weary" F26, or art bore down and sinkest under the burden, and bearest it very impatiently F1, quite contrary to the advice given to others; and therefore it was concluded he could not be a virtuous, honest, and upright man at heart, only in show and appearance. Bolducius renders the words, "God cometh unto thee", or "thy God cometh"; very wrongly, though the sense may be the same; God cometh and visits thee by laying his afflicting hand upon thee:

it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled;
suggesting that it was but a touch, a slight one, a light affliction; thereby lessening Job's calamity and distress, or making little and light of it, and aggravating his impatience under it, that for such a trial as this he should be so excessively troubled, his passions should be so violently moved, and he be thrown into so much disorder and confusion, and be impatient beyond measure; no bounds being set to his grief, and the expressions of it; yea, even to be in the utmost consternation and amazement, as the word F2 signifies.


FOOTNOTES:

F26 Defatigaris, Cocceius.
F1 (alt) aegre tulisti, Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus; "impatienter fers", Schmidt, Michaelis, Piscator.
F2 (lhbt) "consternaris", Mercerus, Cocceius, Schmidt, Michaelis, Schultens.

Job 4:5 In-Context

3 Think how you have instructed many, how you have strengthened feeble hands.
4 Your words have supported those who stumbled; you have strengthened faltering knees.
5 But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged; it strikes you, and you are dismayed.
6 Should not your piety be your confidence and your blameless ways your hope?
7 “Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed?

Cross References 3

  • 1. S Joshua 1:9
  • 2. Ruth 1:13; Job 1:11; Job 19:21; Job 30:21; Psalms 38:2; Isaiah 53:4
  • 3. Job 6:14; Proverbs 24:10
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