Job 9:2(v17)“Truly I know that it is so, but how can man be just with God?
Job 25:4(v17)How then can man be just with God? Or how can he who is born of a woman be clean?
Job 10:9(v19)Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay. Will you bring me into dust again?
Ecclesiastes 7:20(v17)Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and doesn’t sin.
Genesis 2:7(v19)Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Show all 53 cross-references
Job 25:5-6(v18)Behold, even the moon has no brightness, and the stars are not pure in his sight; How much less man, who is a worm, the son of man, who is…
2 Peter 2:4(v18)For if God didn’t spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits of darkness to be reserved for…
Genesis 3:19(v19)You will eat bread by the sweat of your face until you return to the ground, for you were taken out of it. For you are dust, and you shall…
Psalms 143:2(v17)Don’t enter into judgment with your servant, for in your sight no man living is righteous.
Jude 1:6(v18)Angels who didn’t keep their first domain, but deserted their own dwelling place, he has kept in everlasting bonds under darkness for the…
Job 15:15-16(v18)Behold, he puts no trust in his holy ones. Yes, the heavens are not clean in his sight; how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a…
Job 33:6(v19)Behold, I am toward God even as you are. I am also formed out of the clay.
Jeremiah 17:9(v17)The heart is deceitful above all things and it is exceedingly corrupt. Who can know it?
Romans 11:33(v17)Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!
Hebrews 1:7(v15)Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, and his servants a flame of fire.”
Psalms 104:4(vv15, 18)He makes his messengers winds, and his servants flames of fire.
Genesis 18:27(v19)Abraham answered, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord, although I am dust and ashes.
1 Kings 19:12(v16)After the earthquake a fire passed; but Yahweh was not in the fire. After the fire, there was a still small voice.
Job 13:12(v19)Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes. Your defenses are defenses of clay.
Job 13:28(v19)though I am decaying like a rotten thing, like a garment that is moth-eaten.
Job 15:14(v17)What is man, that he should be clean? What is he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
Job 35:2(v17)“Do you think this to be your right, or do you say, ‘My righteousness is more than God’s,’
Job 35:10(v17)But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night,
Job 40:8(v17)Will you even annul my judgment? Will you condemn me, that you may be justified?
Psalms 39:11(v19)When you rebuke and correct man for iniquity, you consume his wealth like a moth. Surely every man is but a breath.”
Psalms 145:17(v17)Yahweh is righteous in all his ways, and gracious in all his works.
Jeremiah 12:1(v17)You are righteous, Yahweh, when I contend with you; yet I would like to reason the cause with you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper?…
Daniel 5:6(v15)Then the king’s face was changed in him, and his thoughts troubled him; and the joints of his thighs were loosened, and his knees struck…
Mark 7:20-23(v17)He said, “That which proceeds out of the man, that defiles the man. For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts,…
Luke 24:37-39(v15)But they were terrified and filled with fear, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. He said to them, “Why are you troubled? Why do…
Romans 2:5(v17)But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the…
Romans 3:4-7(v17)May it never be! Yes, let God be found true, but every man a liar. As it is written, “that you might be justified in your words, and might…
Romans 9:20(v17)But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”
2 Corinthians 4:7(v19)But we have this treasure in clay vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves.
2 Corinthians 5:1(v19)For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the…
Revelation 4:8(v17)The four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within. They have no rest day and night, saying,…
Genesis 18:25(v17)May it be far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May…
Job 8:3(v17)Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness?
Job 9:30-31(v17)If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye, yet you will plunge me in the ditch. My own clothes will abhor me.
Job 14:2(v19)He grows up like a flower, and is cut down. He also flees like a shadow, and doesn’t continue.
Job 14:4(v17)Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.
Job 22:16(v19)who were snatched away before their time, whose foundation was poured out as a stream,
Psalms 90:5-7(v19)You sweep them away as they sleep. In the morning they sprout like new grass. In the morning it sprouts and springs up. By evening, it is…
Psalms 103:15-16(v19)As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. Its place…
Ecclesiastes 12:7(v19)and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
Isaiah 13:8(v15)They will be dismayed. Pangs and sorrows will seize them. They will be in pain like a woman in labor. They will look in amazement one at…
Isaiah 21:3-4(v15)Therefore my thighs are filled with anguish. Pains have seized me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am in so much pain that I can’t…
1 Peter 1:24(v19)For, “All flesh is like grass, and all of man’s glory like the flower in the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls;
Psalms 103:20-21(v18)Praise Yahweh, you angels of his, who are mighty in strength, who fulfill his word, obeying the voice of his word. Praise Yahweh, all you…
Psalms 146:4(v19)His spirit departs, and he returns to the earth. In that very day, his thoughts perish.
Isaiah 6:2-3(v18)Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew. One…
Matthew 14:26(v15)When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It’s a ghost!” and they cried out for fear.
Hebrews 1:14(v15)Aren’t they all serving spirits, sent out to do service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?
53 distinct cross-references across this passage (54 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (18 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv16–19When all things were quiet, or when the fear…
When all things were quiet, or when the fear was somewhat assuaged, as God appeared to Elijah, 1 Kings 19:12.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv15–19Job 4:15 Then a spirit passed before my face;…
Job 4:15 Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:
Ver. 15. Then a spirit passed before my face] Some render it a wind, as a messenger or forerunner of God near at hand, as 1Ki 19:11. But better, a good angel in some bodily shape, Psa 104:4 Luk 24:37; for else how could he be seen of Eliphaz, gliding rather than going, as a ship upon the face of the waters?
Read full note →
The hair of my flesh stood up] Horripilatus sum. In a fright the heart falleth down, the hair standeth up; the blood hastening to the heart to relieve it, as soldiers do to the castle when all is likely to be lost.
Dirigui, steteruntque comae -
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv15–19Then, Heb. and, or for, as this particle is…
Then, Heb. and, or for, as this particle is oft used. So this was the reason of the foregoing thoughts and fear.
A spirit; an angel in some visible shape, otherwise he could not have discerned it, nor would have been affrighted at it.
Read full note →
The hair of my flesh, i.e. of my body, as flesh is taken, Gen 2:24; Psa 16:9; 119:120.
Stood up, through that excessive horror caused by so glorious, unusual, and terrible a presence; which God used to excite in men upon such occasions, to convince them that it was not a vain imagination or illusion, but a real vision and revelation, and that from God.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv15–19It stood still,.... That is, the spirit, or the…
It stood still,.... That is, the spirit, or the angel in a visible form; it was before going to and fro, but now it stood still right against Eliphaz, as if it had something to say to him, and so preparing him to attend to it; which he might do the better, it standing before him while speaking to him, that he might have the opportunity of taking more notice of it:
but, notwithstanding this advantageous position of it:
Read full note →
I could not discern the form thereof; what it was, whether human or any other:
an image was before mine eyes; he saw something, some appearance and likeness, but could not tell what it was; perhaps the fear and surprise he was in hindered him from taking in any distinct idea of it, or that particular notice of it, so as to be able to form in his own mind any suitable notion of it, or to describe it to others:
there was silence both in the spirit or image, which, standing still, made no rushing noise, and in Eliphaz himself, who kept in his breath, and listened with all the attention he could to it; or a small low voice, as Ben Melech interprets it: so it follows:
and I heard a voice; a distinct articulate voice or sound of words, very audibly delivered by the spirit or image that stood before him:
saying; as follows.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv15–19A spirit - An angel in visible shape, otherwise…
A spirit - An angel in visible shape, otherwise he could not have discerned it. Stood up - Through that excessive horror caused by so glorious, unusual, and terrible a presence.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv17–19Verse 17. Shall mortal man] אנוש enosh; Greek βροτος.…
Be more just than God?] Or, האנוש מאלוה יצדק haenosh meeloah yitsdak; shall poor, weak, sinful man be justified before God?
Read full note →
Shall a man] גבר gaber, shall even the strong and mighty man, be pure before his Maker? Is any man, considered merely in and of himself, either holy in his conduct, or pure in his heart? No. He must be justified by the mercy of God, through an atoning sacrifice; he must be sanctified by the Holy Spirit of God, and thus made a partaker of the Divine nature. Then he is justified before God, and pure in the sight of his Maker: and this is a work which God himself alone can do; so the work is not man's work, but God's. It is false to infer, from the words of this spectre, (whether it came from heaven or hell, we know not, for its communication shows and rankles a wound, without providing a cure,) that no man can be justified, and that no man can be purified, when God both justifies the ungodly, and sanctifies the unholy. The meaning can be no more than this: no man can make an atonement for his own sins, nor purify his own heart. Hence all boasting is for ever excluded. Of this Eliphaz believed Job to be guilty, as he appeared to talk of his righteousness and purity, as if they had been his own acquisition.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv15–18Job 4:15. Then — Hebrew, And, as the particle…
Job 4:15. Then — Hebrew, And, as the particle ו, vau, generally signifies. A spirit passed before my face — An angel in a visible shape, otherwise he could not have discerned it, nor would have been affrighted by it. The hair of my flesh stood up — Through that excessive consternation and horror, which seized me at the sight of so glorious and unusual an appearance.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv15–19Then a spirit passed before my face - He…
Then a spirit passed before my face - He does not intimate whether it was the spirit of a man, or an angel who thus appeared. The belief in such apparitions was common in the early ages, and indeed has prevailed at all times. No one can demonstrate that God could not communicate his will in such a manner as this, or by a messenger deputed from his immediate presence to impart valuable truth to people.
The hair of my flesh stood up - This is an effect which is known often to be produced by fear. Sometimes the hair is made to turn white almost in an instant, as an effect of sudden alarm; but usually the effect is to make it stand on end. Seneca uses language remarkably similar to this in describing the effect of fear, in Hercule Oetoeo:
Read full note →
Vagus per artus errat excussos tremor;
Erectus horret crinis. Impulsis adhuc
Star terror animis. et cor attonitum salit,
Pavidumque trepidis palpitat venis jecur.
So Virgil,
Steteruntque comae, et vox faucibus haesit.
Aeneid ii. 774.
See also Aeneid iii. 48, iv. 289. So also Aeneid xii. 868:
Arrectaeque horrore comae.
A similar description of the effect of fear is given in the Ghost’s speech to Hamlet:
“But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison-house,
I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood.
Make thy two eyes like stars, start from their spheres,
Thy knotty and combined locks to part,
And each particular hair to stand on end,
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine.”
The fact here referred to - that fear or fright; causes the hair to stand on end - is too well established, and too common to admit a doubt. The cause may be, that sudden fear has the effect to drive the blood to the heart, as the seat of vitality, and the extremities are left cold, and the skin thus contracts, and the effect is to raise the hair.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv15–19Spirit: angel, or gentle breeze. (Calmet)
Spirit: angel, or gentle breeze. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv16–19It stood still--At first the apparition glides before Eliphaz,…
It stood still--At first the apparition glides before Eliphaz, then stands still, but with that shadowy indistinctness of form which creates such an impression of awe; a gentle murmur: not (English Version): there was silence; for in Kg1 19:12, the voice, as opposed to the previous storm, denotes a gentle, still murmur.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv15–1915. A spirit — רוח, rouahh, as a verb,…
15. A spirit — רוח, rouahh, as a verb, signifies to breathe or to blow, and as a noun, bears the meaning of breath or spirit, according as the associated thought shall determine. Locke early announced the principle, “I doubt not but if we could trace them to their source we should find, in all languages, the names which stand for things that fall not under our senses to have had their first rise from sensible ideas.” The use of a kindred word for spirit may have been developed in, or transmitted to, all these different languages through the reflection that breath and spirit are alike invisible, that they are so intimately associated together that, with the extinction of life, they both disappear from the knowledge of men. Or, as Delitzsch (Bib. Psych., p. 273) more profoundly suggests, “that the breathing… is that form of life, wherewith life begins to become self-life… and to evidence itself outwardly.” Thus, in the Latin, we have animus, the mind, which Cicero says is so called from anima, air or breath. The Greek word πνευμα, pneuma; the Sanscrit, atman; the Aztec, checatl; the Mohawk, atonritz; and our own word, spirit, (Latin, spiritus,) as well as similar words in other languages, primarily bore the meaning of breath or wind, as well as of spirit. The word rouahh belongs to the same class. With significance it appears here, as in 1Ki_22:21, (a rare construction,) in agreement with the masculine form of the verb. Its spiritual meaning was evidently just as fixed in the days of Job, (Job_32:8,) as that of spirit is in ours. In our text the word must mean spirit, as in 1Ki_22:21, and in the Targum, since acts of moral consciousness and spiritual intelligence are attributed to it. It speaks, reasons, (uses the argumentum a fortiori,) and communicates the sublimest thoughts upon the relations of man to God. This passage is of great interest, as it unquestionably shows that unembodied existence was taken for granted in the days of Job. This is the first time on scripture page that spirit, other than God, sundered from bodily restrictions, is personified. Subsequently evil spirits appear on their dark missions, as in 1Sa_16:15; 1Sa_16:23, etc. Whether this being was human or of some other order of spiritual intelligences, does not appear from the vision. Commentators in general have been of the opinion that it was an angel. We have an important datum, in the free and natural assumption of Eliphaz, that spirit can live without a body. This datum will materially help us to a proper conception of the knowledge that Job possessed in those early ages, and will shed light upon the controverted passages in this book, as to the condition of the dead.
Passed — יחל, glided by. The same word is used in Job_9:11, of deity. The employment of this verb thus in connexion with conscious existence, disposes of the reasoning Hitzig bases upon the verb, for rendering its subject rouahh, wind, (hauch.)
Read full note →
The hair of my flesh — In like manner the ghost of Hamlet could tell a tale that would make: —
Thy knotted and combined locks to part, And each particular hair to stand on end,
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine. Ibid.
Arrectae que horrore comae, et vox faucibus haesit. The hair stood up with horror, etc. — AEneid, 12:868.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv15–1915. then a spirit] Rather, a breath. It was…
15. then a spirit] Rather, a breath. It was something which he felt; that which he saw follows in Job_4:16. The word spirit does not seem used in the Old Testament in the sense of an apparition.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv15, 17, 18, 19(15) A spirit passed before my face.—It is vain…
(15) A spirit passed before my face.—It is vain to argue from this passage that spiritual essences are capable of being seen by the bodily eye, because, first of all, the language is highly figurative and poetical, and because, secondly, every one understands that a spiritual manifestation can be made only to the spirit. The notion, therefore, of seeing a spirit is absurd in itself, because it involves the idea of seeing the invisible; but it is conceivable that the perceptions of the inner spirit may be so vivid as to assume the character of outward manifestations.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv15–19Then a spirit passed before my face. It has…
Then a spirit passed before my face. It has been argued (Rosenmuller) that "a breath of air," and not "a spirit," is intended; but, in that ease, how are we to understand the expressions in the following verse: "it stood still," "the form thereof," "an image"? A breath of air, the very essence of which is to be in motion, cannot stand still, nor has it any "form," "appearance," or "image." Granted that the Hebrew ruakh (jwr) may mean like the Greek pneuma , and the Latin spiritus either an actual spirit, or a breath, a wind, it follows that, in every place where it occurs, we must judge by the context which is meant. Here certainly the context points to an actual living spirit, as what Eliphaz intended. Whether a spirit really appeared to him is a separate question. The whole may have been a vision; but certainly the impression left on Eliphaz was that he had had a communication from the spirit-world. The hair of my flesh stood up. Not the hair of his head only, but every hair on his whole body, stiffened, bristled, and rose up on end in horror (see the comment on ver. 14).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv16–19There was silence and I heard a voice.
Job_4:16
There was silence and I heard a voice.
Read full note →
Silence and a voice
1. Gods humbling dispensations toward His people will all come to a good issue, and the close of all His dealings will still be sweet. For after all his humbling and fear, preparing Eliphaz for the vision, and assuring him that God was present, the voice cometh.
2. The composing of our spirits, from the confusions and tumultuous disorders incident to them, is a necessary antecedent to Gods revealing of His mind. For when there was silence, I heard a voice.
3. As for this way of the Lords speaking by a still, or calm voice, albeit we need inquire after no reason why He makes use of it, who doth all things after the counsel of His own will, yet without wresting we may observe these in it.
(1) The Lord hereby did teach that these supernatural truths were mysteries, not blazed abroad throughout the world, but whispered among some few believers.
(2) The Lord hereby did press attention on those to whom He revealed His mind, while He spake not so loud as might reach them whether they attended or not, but in a still voice, which might excite them seriously to hearken.
(3) Hereby also the Lord declared that He will not be a terror to such as delight to converse with Him in His Word, for to such He would not appear as wind, earthquake, or fire, but in a still sweet voice.
(4) However men ought to speak the truths of God so audibly as they may be heard, and with that zeal and fervency that becometh; yet, it is not the clamorous voice that makes the word effectual, but the weight and importance of the matter seriously pressed home by the Spirit of God. For even by this still voice, God communicated His will, and made it to be obeyed in the world. (George Hutcheson.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield1917 · Public DomainOn v18trust (See Scofield "Psa 2:12").
trust (See Scofield "Psa 2:12").
fear (See Scofield "Psa 19:9").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv16, 18General Information:
General Information:
The writer uses parallelism in verse 17, conveying a single idea using two different statements to emphasize a question about the purity of man before God. (See: Parallelism)
Read full note →
A form was before my eyes
"Something was before my eyes," "I saw something"
and I heard
"then I heard"
Can a mortal man be more righteous than God?
Eliphaz poses this question so that Job will consider, "Do I regard myself as more righteous than God?" or "Am I justified before God?" AT: "A mortal man cannot be more righteous than God." or "A mortal man cannot be righteous before God." (See: Rhetorical Question)
Can a man be more pure than his Maker?
This question has the same purpose as the previous question. AT: "A man cannot be more pure than his Maker." or "A man cannot be pure before his Maker." (See: Rhetorical Question)
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv16–19 When all things were quiet, or when the fear…
When all things were quiet, or when the fear was somewhat assuaged, as God appeared to Elijah, 1 Kings 19:12.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv15–19 Job 4:15 Then a spirit passed before my face;…
Job 4:15 Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:
Ver. 15. Then a spirit passed before my face] Some render it a wind, as a messenger or forerunner of God near at hand, as 1Ki 19:11. But better, a good angel in some bodily shape, Psa 104:4 Luk 24:37; for else how could he be seen of Eliphaz, gliding rather than going, as a ship upon the face of the waters?
Read full note →
The hair of my flesh stood up] Horripilatus sum. In a fright the heart falleth down, the hair standeth up; the blood hastening to the heart to relieve it, as soldiers do to the castle when all is likely to be lost.
Dirigui, steteruntque comae -
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv15–19 Then, Heb. and, or for, as this particle is…
Then, Heb. and, or for, as this particle is oft used. So this was the reason of the foregoing thoughts and fear.
A spirit; an angel in some visible shape, otherwise he could not have discerned it, nor would have been affrighted at it.
Read full note →
The hair of my flesh, i.e. of my body, as flesh is taken, Gen 2:24; Psa 16:9; 119:120.
Stood up, through that excessive horror caused by so glorious, unusual, and terrible a presence; which God used to excite in men upon such occasions, to convince them that it was not a vain imagination or illusion, but a real vision and revelation, and that from God.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv15–19 It stood still,.... That is, the spirit, or the…
It stood still,.... That is, the spirit, or the angel in a visible form; it was before going to and fro, but now it stood still right against Eliphaz, as if it had something to say to him, and so preparing him to attend to it; which he might do the better, it standing before him while speaking to him, that he might have the opportunity of taking more notice of it:
but, notwithstanding this advantageous position of it:
Read full note →
I could not discern the form thereof; what it was, whether human or any other:
an image was before mine eyes; he saw something, some appearance and likeness, but could not tell what it was; perhaps the fear and surprise he was in hindered him from taking in any distinct idea of it, or that particular notice of it, so as to be able to form in his own mind any suitable notion of it, or to describe it to others:
there was silence both in the spirit or image, which, standing still, made no rushing noise, and in Eliphaz himself, who kept in his breath, and listened with all the attention he could to it; or a small low voice, as Ben Melech interprets it: so it follows:
and I heard a voice; a distinct articulate voice or sound of words, very audibly delivered by the spirit or image that stood before him:
saying; as follows.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv15–19 A spirit - An angel in visible shape, otherwise…
A spirit - An angel in visible shape, otherwise he could not have discerned it. Stood up - Through that excessive horror caused by so glorious, unusual, and terrible a presence.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv17–19 Verse 17. Shall mortal man] אנוש enosh; Greek βροτος.…
Verse 17. Shall mortal man] אנוש enosh; Greek βροτος. poor, weak, dying man.
Be more just than God?] Or, האנוש מאלוה יצדק haenosh meeloah yitsdak; shall poor, weak, sinful man be justified before God?
Read full note →
Shall a man] גבר gaber, shall even the strong and mighty man, be pure before his Maker? Is any man, considered merely in and of himself, either holy in his conduct, or pure in his heart? No. He must be justified by the mercy of God, through an atoning sacrifice; he must be sanctified by the Holy Spirit of God, and thus made a partaker of the Divine nature. Then he is justified before God, and pure in the sight of his Maker: and this is a work which God himself alone can do; so the work is not man's work, but God's. It is false to infer, from the words of this spectre, (whether it came from heaven or hell, we know not, for its communication shows and rankles a wound, without providing a cure,) that no man can be justified, and that no man can be purified, when God both justifies the ungodly, and sanctifies the unholy. The meaning can be no more than this: no man can make an atonement for his own sins, nor purify his own heart. Hence all boasting is for ever excluded. Of this Eliphaz believed Job to be guilty, as he appeared to talk of his righteousness and purity, as if they had been his own acquisition.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv15–18 Job 4:15. Then — Hebrew, And, as the particle…
Job 4:15. Then — Hebrew, And, as the particle ו, vau, generally signifies. A spirit passed before my face — An angel in a visible shape, otherwise he could not have discerned it, nor would have been affrighted by it. The hair of my flesh stood up — Through that excessive consternation and horror, which seized me at the sight of so glorious and unusual an appearance.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv15–19 Then a spirit passed before my face - He…
Then a spirit passed before my face - He does not intimate whether it was the spirit of a man, or an angel who thus appeared. The belief in such apparitions was common in the early ages, and indeed has prevailed at all times. No one can demonstrate that God could not communicate his will in such a manner as this, or by a messenger deputed from his immediate presence to impart valuable truth to people.
The hair of my flesh stood up - This is an effect which is known often to be produced by fear. Sometimes the hair is made to turn white almost in an instant, as an effect of sudden alarm; but usually the effect is to make it stand on end. Seneca uses language remarkably similar to this in describing the effect of fear, in Hercule Oetoeo:
Read full note →
Vagus per artus errat excussos tremor;
Erectus horret crinis. Impulsis adhuc
Star terror animis. et cor attonitum salit,
Pavidumque trepidis palpitat venis jecur.
So Virgil,
Steteruntque comae, et vox faucibus haesit.
Aeneid ii. 774.
See also Aeneid iii. 48, iv. 289. So also Aeneid xii. 868:
Arrectaeque horrore comae.
A similar description of the effect of fear is given in the Ghost’s speech to Hamlet:
“But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison-house,
I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood.
Make thy two eyes like stars, start from their spheres,
Thy knotty and combined locks to part,
And each particular hair to stand on end,
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine.”
The fact here referred to - that fear or fright; causes the hair to stand on end - is too well established, and too common to admit a doubt. The cause may be, that sudden fear has the effect to drive the blood to the heart, as the seat of vitality, and the extremities are left cold, and the skin thus contracts, and the effect is to raise the hair.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv15–19 Spirit: angel, or gentle breeze. (Calmet)
Spirit: angel, or gentle breeze. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv16–19 It stood still--At first the apparition glides before Eliphaz,…
It stood still--At first the apparition glides before Eliphaz, then stands still, but with that shadowy indistinctness of form which creates such an impression of awe; a gentle murmur: not (English Version): there was silence; for in Kg1 19:12, the voice, as opposed to the previous storm, denotes a gentle, still murmur.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv15–19 15. A spirit — רוח, rouahh, as a verb,…
15. A spirit — רוח, rouahh, as a verb, signifies to breathe or to blow, and as a noun, bears the meaning of breath or spirit, according as the associated thought shall determine. Locke early announced the principle, “I doubt not but if we could trace them to their source we should find, in all languages, the names which stand for things that fall not under our senses to have had their first rise from sensible ideas.” The use of a kindred word for spirit may have been developed in, or transmitted to, all these different languages through the reflection that breath and spirit are alike invisible, that they are so intimately associated together that, with the extinction of life, they both disappear from the knowledge of men. Or, as Delitzsch (Bib. Psych., p. 273) more profoundly suggests, “that the breathing… is that form of life, wherewith life begins to become self-life… and to evidence itself outwardly.” Thus, in the Latin, we have animus, the mind, which Cicero says is so called from anima, air or breath. The Greek word πνευμα, pneuma; the Sanscrit, atman; the Aztec, checatl; the Mohawk, atonritz; and our own word, spirit, (Latin, spiritus,) as well as similar words in other languages, primarily bore the meaning of breath or wind, as well as of spirit. The word rouahh belongs to the same class. With significance it appears here, as in 1Ki_22:21, (a rare construction,) in agreement with the masculine form of the verb. Its spiritual meaning was evidently just as fixed in the days of Job, (Job_32:8,) as that of spirit is in ours. In our text the word must mean spirit, as in 1Ki_22:21, and in the Targum, since acts of moral consciousness and spiritual intelligence are attributed to it. It speaks, reasons, (uses the argumentum a fortiori,) and communicates the sublimest thoughts upon the relations of man to God. This passage is of great interest, as it unquestionably shows that unembodied existence was taken for granted in the days of Job. This is the first time on scripture page that spirit, other than God, sundered from bodily restrictions, is personified. Subsequently evil spirits appear on their dark missions, as in 1Sa_16:15; 1Sa_16:23, etc. Whether this being was human or of some other order of spiritual intelligences, does not appear from the vision. Commentators in general have been of the opinion that it was an angel. We have an important datum, in the free and natural assumption of Eliphaz, that spirit can live without a body. This datum will materially help us to a proper conception of the knowledge that Job possessed in those early ages, and will shed light upon the controverted passages in this book, as to the condition of the dead.
Passed — יחל, glided by. The same word is used in Job_9:11, of deity. The employment of this verb thus in connexion with conscious existence, disposes of the reasoning Hitzig bases upon the verb, for rendering its subject rouahh, wind, (hauch.)
Read full note →
The hair of my flesh — In like manner the ghost of Hamlet could tell a tale that would make: —
Thy knotted and combined locks to part, And each particular hair to stand on end,
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine. Ibid.
Arrectae que horrore comae, et vox faucibus haesit. The hair stood up with horror, etc. — AEneid, 12:868.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv15–19 15. then a spirit] Rather, a breath. It was…
15. then a spirit] Rather, a breath. It was something which he felt; that which he saw follows in Job_4:16. The word spirit does not seem used in the Old Testament in the sense of an apparition.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv15, 17, 18, 19 (15) A spirit passed before my face.—It is vain…
(15) A spirit passed before my face.—It is vain to argue from this passage that spiritual essences are capable of being seen by the bodily eye, because, first of all, the language is highly figurative and poetical, and because, secondly, every one understands that a spiritual manifestation can be made only to the spirit. The notion, therefore, of seeing a spirit is absurd in itself, because it involves the idea of seeing the invisible; but it is conceivable that the perceptions of the inner spirit may be so vivid as to assume the character of outward manifestations.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv15–19 Then a spirit passed before my face. It has…
Then a spirit passed before my face. It has been argued (Rosenmuller) that "a breath of air," and not "a spirit," is intended; but, in that ease, how are we to understand the expressions in the following verse: "it stood still," "the form thereof," "an image"? A breath of air, the very essence of which is to be in motion, cannot stand still, nor has it any "form," "appearance," or "image." Granted that the Hebrew ruakh (jwr) may mean like the Greek pneuma , and the Latin spiritus either an actual spirit, or a breath, a wind, it follows that, in every place where it occurs, we must judge by the context which is meant. Here certainly the context points to an actual living spirit, as what Eliphaz intended. Whether a spirit really appeared to him is a separate question. The whole may have been a vision; but certainly the impression left on Eliphaz was that he had had a communication from the spirit-world. The hair of my flesh stood up. Not the hair of his head only, but every hair on his whole body, stiffened, bristled, and rose up on end in horror (see the comment on ver. 14).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv16–19 There was silence and I heard a voice.
Job_4:16
There was silence and I heard a voice.
Read full note →
Silence and a voice
1. Gods humbling dispensations toward His people will all come to a good issue, and the close of all His dealings will still be sweet. For after all his humbling and fear, preparing Eliphaz for the vision, and assuring him that God was present, the voice cometh.
2. The composing of our spirits, from the confusions and tumultuous disorders incident to them, is a necessary antecedent to Gods revealing of His mind. For when there was silence, I heard a voice.
3. As for this way of the Lords speaking by a still, or calm voice, albeit we need inquire after no reason why He makes use of it, who doth all things after the counsel of His own will, yet without wresting we may observe these in it.
(1) The Lord hereby did teach that these supernatural truths were mysteries, not blazed abroad throughout the world, but whispered among some few believers.
(2) The Lord hereby did press attention on those to whom He revealed His mind, while He spake not so loud as might reach them whether they attended or not, but in a still voice, which might excite them seriously to hearken.
(3) Hereby also the Lord declared that He will not be a terror to such as delight to converse with Him in His Word, for to such He would not appear as wind, earthquake, or fire, but in a still sweet voice.
(4) However men ought to speak the truths of God so audibly as they may be heard, and with that zeal and fervency that becometh; yet, it is not the clamorous voice that makes the word effectual, but the weight and importance of the matter seriously pressed home by the Spirit of God. For even by this still voice, God communicated His will, and made it to be obeyed in the world. (George Hutcheson.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v18 trust (See Scofield "Psa 2:12").
trust (See Scofield "Psa 2:12").
fear (See Scofield "Psa 19:9").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv16, 18 General Information:
General Information:
The writer uses parallelism in verse 17, conveying a single idea using two different statements to emphasize a question about the purity of man before God. (See: Parallelism)
Read full note →
A form was before my eyes
"Something was before my eyes," "I saw something"
and I heard
"then I heard"
Can a mortal man be more righteous than God?
Eliphaz poses this question so that Job will consider, "Do I regard myself as more righteous than God?" or "Am I justified before God?" AT: "A mortal man cannot be more righteous than God." or "A mortal man cannot be righteous before God." (See: Rhetorical Question)
Can a man be more pure than his Maker?
This question has the same purpose as the previous question. AT: "A man cannot be more pure than his Maker." or "A man cannot be pure before his Maker." (See: Rhetorical Question)
his Maker
"his Creator"
translationWords
spirit
discern
voice
righteous
God
pure
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv15, 17, 18 4:15 A spirit (or wind) swept past my face:…
4:15 A spirit (or wind) swept past my face: Wind is a physical display of God’s powerful presence (38:1; Nah 1:3; Acts 2:2; cp. 1 Kgs 19:11).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.