Job / Chapter 4

Job 4

21 verses • Westminster Leningrad Codex

Translator's Introduction

What This Chapter Is About

Eliphaz the Temanite, the eldest and most measured of the three friends, breaks the silence. He begins with a careful appeal to Job's own past: Job has comforted many others — can he not endure what he has taught? Eliphaz then articulates the doctrine of retribution: the innocent do not perish; the wicked are destroyed by God's breath. He climaxes with a terrifying account of a night vision in which a spirit passed before his face and whispered a question that haunts the rest of the book: 'Can a mortal be righteous before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?'

What Makes This Chapter Remarkable

Eliphaz's night vision (vv. 12-21) is one of the most uncanny passages in the Hebrew Bible. A spirit (ruach) glides past his face, his hair stands on end, a form (temunah) hovers before his eyes but he cannot make out its appearance, and then a voice speaks from the silence. The vision belongs to a category of experience that the Hebrew Bible rarely describes with this level of sensory detail — the reader feels the dread, the stillness, the skin prickling. The question the voice asks — 'Can a mortal be righteous before God?' — seems unanswerable. But the question contains an assumption: that human beings are fundamentally impure, that suffering is therefore always deserved, and that no one should expect better from God. This assumption will drive the entire dialogue. Eliphaz believes he has received a revelation; Job will eventually argue that Eliphaz has received a theology masquerading as revelation.

Translation Friction

Eliphaz's theology is not wrong in the way that obvious falsehood is wrong — it is wrong in the way that a half-truth is wrong. His observation that the wicked are destroyed (vv. 8-11) is a genuine part of biblical wisdom (Proverbs 10:25, Psalm 1:6). His night vision's question — can a mortal be righteous before God? — is theologically sound in the abstract (Psalm 143:2). The problem is application: Eliphaz uses general principles to interpret a specific case, and the specific case (Job) is the exception that demolishes the rule. The reader knows from chapters 1-2 that Job is not suffering for sin. Eliphaz does not know this. His speech is therefore a masterpiece of misapplied wisdom — every individual statement is defensible, but the whole argument is catastrophically wrong.

Connections

Eliphaz's retribution theology draws from the same well as Proverbs and Deuteronomy: obedience brings blessing, disobedience brings curse (Deuteronomy 28). His night vision echoes the prophetic call narratives (Isaiah 6, Ezekiel 1) but with a crucial difference: the prophets receive a commission, Eliphaz receives a question. The images of lions destroyed (vv. 10-11) recall Psalm 34:10 and Nahum 2:11-12. The question 'Can a mortal be righteous before God?' will be answered implicitly by the entire book: not by human achievement, but by God's choice to engage with Job at the end (chapters 38-41). Eliphaz's theology is the starting position that the book will spend thirty-seven chapters dismantling.

Job 4:1

וַ֭יַּעַן אֱלִיפַ֥ז הַתֵּימָנִ֗י וַיֹּאמַֽר׃

Then responded:

KJV Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

Eliphaz speaks first because he is the eldest and most senior of the three friends. Teman, his homeland, was proverbially associated with wisdom (Jeremiah 49:7, Obadiah 8-9). His speaking first establishes a pattern: the friends speak in order of seniority (Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar), each round becoming more aggressive as Job refuses to accept their theology.

Job 4:2

הֲנִסָּ֬ה דָבָ֣ר אֵלֶ֣יךָ תִּלְאֶ֑ה וַעְצֹ֥ר בְּ֝מִלִּ֗ין מִ֣י יוּכָֽל׃

If one ventures a word with you, will you be wearied? But who can hold back from speaking?

KJV If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking?

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

Eliphaz begins with courteous hesitation: hanissah davar elekha til'eh ('if a word is attempted toward you, will you grow weary?'). The verb nissah ('to attempt, to test, to venture') suggests that Eliphaz knows his words may not be welcome. But then he asserts necessity: atsor bemillin mi yukhal ('to restrain oneself in words, who is able?'). He cannot remain silent. The tension between his caution and his compulsion mirrors the larger problem: the friends have good intentions but cannot resist the urge to explain.

Job 4:3

הִ֭נֵּה יִסַּ֣רְתָּ רַבִּ֑ים וְיָדַ֖יִם רָפ֣וֹת תְּחַזֵּֽק׃

You have instructed many; you have strengthened weak hands.

KJV Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

Eliphaz appeals to Job's own track record as a counselor: yissarta rabbim ('you have instructed/corrected many') and yadayim rafot techazzeq ('weak hands you have strengthened'). The verb yissar ('to instruct, to discipline, to correct') implies that Job has been the one who counseled others through suffering. The image of strengthening weak hands (yadayim rafot) is used in Isaiah 35:3 for the encouragement of the discouraged. Eliphaz's point is sharp: you were the teacher — can you not now receive what you taught?

Job 4:4

כּ֭וֹשֵׁל יְקִימ֣וּן מִלֶּ֑יךָ וּבִרְכַּ֖יִם כֹּרְע֣וֹת תְּאַמֵּֽץ׃

Your words have steadied those who stumbled; you have strengthened buckling knees.

KJV Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The parallelism continues: koshel yeqimun millekha ('the stumbling one your words would raise up') and birkkayim kor'ot te'amets ('bending knees you would make firm'). Eliphaz is painting Job's former life as a healer of the afflicted — the very role Job would have played for someone in his current condition. The verb te'amets ('you would make firm, strengthen') from amats is the word God uses to encourage Joshua (Joshua 1:6-7). Job strengthened others the way God strengthens leaders.

Job 4:5

כִּ֤י עַתָּ֣ה תָּב֣וֹא אֵלֶ֣יךָ וַתֵּ֑לֶא תִּגַּ֥ע עָ֝דֶ֗יךָ וַתִּבָּהֵֽל׃

But now it has come upon you, and you falter; it touches you, and you are shaken.

KJV But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The pivot: ki attah tavo elekha vattele ('but now it comes to you and you grow weary'). The word attah ('now') marks the shift from Job's past strength to his present collapse. The verb tiga ('it touches') is the same root (naga) the Adversary used in 1:11 — 'touch everything he has.' Eliphaz does not know about the heavenly council, but he uses the Adversary's own verb. The verb tivvahel ('you are shaken, dismayed') describes the terrified confusion of someone whose world has become incomprehensible. Eliphaz's observation is accurate — the implicit accusation is that Job should practice what he preached.

Job 4:6

הֲלֹ֣א יִ֭רְאָתְךָ כִּסְלָתֶ֑ךָ תִּ֝קְוָתְךָ֗ וְתֹ֣ם דְּרָכֶֽיךָ׃

Is not your fear of God your confidence? Is not the integrity of your ways your hope?

KJV Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

Eliphaz asks a rhetorical question built on two of Job's defining qualities from 1:1: yir'atekha ('your fear [of God]') should be your kislah ('confidence, assurance'), and tom derakhekha ('the completeness/integrity of your ways') should be your tiqvah ('hope'). The word tom ('integrity, completeness') is the same root as tam ('blameless') from 1:1. Eliphaz is telling Job that his own righteousness should sustain him — an argument that sounds encouraging but actually undermines itself: if righteousness guarantees safety, then suffering implies a lack of righteousness.

Job 4:7

זְכׇר־נָ֗א מִ֤י ה֣וּא נָקִ֣י אָבָ֑ד וְ֝אֵיפֹ֗ה יְשָׁרִ֥ים נִכְחָֽדוּ׃

Consider now — what innocent person has ever perished? Where have the upright been destroyed?

KJV Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

This is the core of Eliphaz's retribution theology: mi hu naqi avad ('who is he, the innocent one, who has perished?'). The implied answer is 'no one.' The righteous (yesharim, 'upright ones') are never cut off (nikhchadu, 'destroyed, exterminated'). This is a defensible generalization drawn from the wisdom tradition — but the reader knows it is false in Job's specific case. Job is naqi and yashar, and he is perishing. Eliphaz's question, meant to comfort, actually accuses: if the innocent do not perish, and you are perishing, then...

Job 4:8

כַּאֲשֶׁ֣ר רָ֭אִיתִי חֹ֣רְשֵׁי אָ֑וֶן וְזֹרְעֵ֖י עָמָ֣ל יִקְצְרֻֽהוּ׃

As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap it.

KJV Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

Eliphaz appeals to personal observation: ka'asher ra'iti ('as I have seen'). His claim is empirical, not merely theoretical. The agricultural metaphor — choreshei aven ('those who plow iniquity') and zor'ei amal ('those who sow trouble/misery') — describes sin as a deliberate cultivation. You plow the field, you sow the seed, you harvest the crop. The verb yiqtseruhu ('they reap it') means they harvest exactly what they planted. This is the Deuteronomic principle in agricultural dress: sin produces suffering as surely as seeds produce grain.

Job 4:9

מִנִּשְׁמַ֣ת אֱל֣וֹהַ יֹאבֵ֑דוּ וּמֵר֖וּחַ אַפּ֣וֹ יִכְלֽוּ׃

By the breath of God they perish; by the blast of His anger they are consumed.

KJV By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The nishmat Eloah ('breath of God') that destroys the wicked is the same word (neshamah) used for the breath of life God blew into Adam (Genesis 2:7). The breath that creates can also destroy. The ruach appo ('wind/spirit of His nostrils/anger') makes God's anger physical — it is a hot blast from His face. The verbs yov'du ('they perish') and yikhlu ('they are consumed, finished') describe total destruction. Eliphaz's God is a God of strict justice: the breath that gives life takes it back when the recipient is wicked.

Job 4:10

שַׁאֲגַ֣ת אַ֭רְיֵה וְק֣וֹל שָׁ֑חַל וְשִׁנֵּ֖י כְפִירִ֣ים נִתָּֽעוּ׃

The lion roars, the fierce lion growls, but the teeth of the young lions are broken.

KJV The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

Eliphaz uses an extended lion metaphor (vv. 10-11) with five different Hebrew words for lion: aryeh ('lion'), shachal ('fierce lion'), kefir ('young lion'), layish ('old lion,' v. 11), and lavi ('lioness,' v. 11). The point: even the most powerful predators are destroyed when God acts against them. The broken teeth (shinnei kefirim nitt'u) represent power rendered useless. The metaphor implicitly compares the wicked to lions — fierce but ultimately helpless before God.

Job 4:11

לַ֭יִשׁ אֹבֵ֣ד מִבְּלִי־טָ֑רֶף וּבְנֵ֥י לָ֝בִ֗יא יִתְפָּרָֽדוּ׃

The old lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

KJV The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The layish ('old lion') dies not in combat but mibli teref ('for lack of prey') — it starves. The mighty predator becomes helpless. The benei lavi ('cubs of the lioness') are yitpparadu ('scattered, dispersed') — the family unit disintegrates. The lion imagery presents an entire dynasty brought to nothing: the patriarch starves, the mother cannot protect, the children scatter. Eliphaz intends this as a portrait of the wicked, but the reader cannot help hearing an echo of Job's own destroyed family.

Job 4:12

וְ֭אֵלַי דָּבָ֣ר יְגֻנָּ֑ב וַתִּקַּ֥ח אׇ֝זְנִ֗י שֵׁ֣מֶץ מֶֽנְהוּ׃

Now a word was brought to me in secret; my ear caught a whisper of it.

KJV Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The night vision begins. The verb yegunav ('was stolen, smuggled') from ganav ('to steal') describes the word coming to Eliphaz covertly, illicitly almost — as though this knowledge was smuggled out of the divine realm. The phrase shemets menhu ('a whisper of it') suggests that even what he received was only a fragment, a trace. The word shemets appears only here and in 26:14, both times meaning 'a tiny portion, a whisper.' Eliphaz claims to have overheard something from beyond — but only a fragment.

Job 4:13

בִּ֭שְׂעִפִּים מֵחֶזְיֹנ֣וֹת לָ֑יְלָה בִּנְפֹ֥ל תַּ֝רְדֵּמָ֗ה עַל־אֲנָשִֽׁים׃

In troubled thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on people,

KJV In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The word se'ippim ('troubled thoughts, disquieting reflections') describes the agitated mental state between waking and sleeping — not dreams exactly, but disturbed consciousness. The chezionot lailah ('visions of the night') are nocturnal revelations. The tardemah ('deep sleep') that falls on people is the same word used for the deep sleep God cast on Adam (Genesis 2:21) and on Abraham (Genesis 15:12). It is a divinely induced state of altered consciousness — not ordinary sleep but a threshold between the human and divine worlds.

Job 4:14

פַּ֣חַד קְ֭רָאנִי וּרְעָדָ֑ה וְרֹ֖ב עַצְמוֹתַ֣י הִפְחִֽיד׃

Dread came upon me, and trembling, and all my bones shook with fear.

KJV Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The physical experience of the vision: pachad qera'ani ('dread met me, called on me') and re'adah ('trembling'). The verb hifchid ('caused to fear, made to shake') applied to rov atsmotai ('the multitude of my bones') means his entire skeleton was vibrating with terror. This is not metaphor — Eliphaz is describing the somatic experience of encountering the numinous. His bones shook. The encounter with the divine produces not comfort but dread.

Job 4:15

וְ֭רוּחַ עַל־פָּנַ֣י יַחֲלֹ֑ף תְּ֝סַמֵּ֗ר שַׂעֲרַ֥ת בְּשָׂרִֽי׃

A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my body stood on end.

KJV Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The ruach ('spirit, wind, breath') passes al panai ('over my face') — Eliphaz feels it but cannot grasp it. The verb yachalof ('it glided past, it passed by') suggests smooth, silent movement — the spirit does not stop for Eliphaz but moves past him. The response is primal: tesammeir sa'arat besari ('the hair of my flesh bristled'). The verb sammar ('to bristle, to stand on end') describes the involuntary physical reaction to the uncanny — goosebumps, the hair standing up, the body recognizing something the mind cannot process.

Job 4:16

יַעֲמֹ֗ד וְלֹא־אַכִּ֣יר מַרְאֵ֑הוּ תְּ֝מוּנָ֗ה לְנֶ֣גֶד עֵינָֽי דְּמָמָ֖ה וָק֣וֹל אֶשְׁמָֽע׃

It stopped — I could not make out its appearance. A form stood before my eyes. Silence — then a voice I heard:

KJV It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying,

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The spirit stops (ya'amod) but its appearance (mar'ehu) cannot be discerned (lo akkir, 'I could not recognize/identify'). A temunah ('form, likeness, shape') stands before Eliphaz's eyes — the same word used in Deuteronomy 4:12 for what Israel did not see at Sinai ('you heard a voice but saw no form'). Then demamah ('silence, stillness') — the same word as in the 'still small voice' (qol demamah daqqah) of 1 Kings 19:12. And from the silence, a voice. The sequence — presence, unknowability, form without features, silence, voice — is the phenomenology of revelation stripped to its barest elements.

Job 4:17

הַאֱנ֗וֹשׁ מֵאֱל֥וֹהַּ יִצְדָּ֑ק אִ֥ם מֵ֝עֹשֵׂ֗הוּ יִטְהַר־גָּֽבֶר׃

Can a mortal be righteous before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?

KJV Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The voice's question is the theological pivot of Eliphaz's entire speech. The word enosh ('mortal, frail human') emphasizes human weakness and mortality. The verb yitsddaq ('be righteous, be justified') from the root ts-d-q asks whether any human can stand in a right relationship with God on their own merit. The parallel — im me-osehu yithar gaver ('or can a strong man be pure before his Maker?') — uses gever ('strong man, warrior') and the verb taher ('to be clean, pure'). The preposition min in me-Eloah and me-osehu can mean 'before' (in comparison with) or 'more than.' If 'more than,' the question is absurd — of course no human is more righteous than God. If 'before,' the question is devastating — can any human be righteous when standing before God? The second reading is the one that matters.

Job 4:18

הֵ֣ן בַּ֭עֲבָדָיו לֹ֣א יַאֲמִ֑ין וּ֝בְמַלְאָכָ֗יו יָשִׂ֥ים תׇּהֳלָֽה׃

If He puts no trust in His servants, and charges His angels with error —

KJV Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The argument moves from greater to lesser: if God does not trust even His own servants (avadav, meaning angels or celestial beings) and finds tohalah ('error, folly, unreliability') in His messengers (mal'akhav), how much less can He trust human beings? The word tohalah is rare, possibly meaning 'error' or 'lack of steadiness.' The point is radical: even the heavenly court is not fully reliable in God's eyes. If angels fall short, mortals have no chance.

Job 4:19

אַ֤ף ׀ שֹׁכְנֵ֬י בָתֵּי־חֹ֗מֶר אֲשֶׁר־בֶּעָפָ֥ר יְסוֹדָ֑ם יְ֝דַכְּא֗וּם לִפְנֵי־עָֽשׁ׃

How much less those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust — crushed more easily than a moth!

KJV How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The phrase shokhne batei chomer ('those dwelling in houses of clay') is a metaphor for the human body — flesh is clay (chomer), and its foundation (yesod) is dust (afar), echoing Genesis 2:7. The verb yedakkeum ('they are crushed') describes humans being destroyed lifnei ash ('before a moth' or 'more easily than a moth'). The moth (ash) is among the most fragile of creatures — and humans are crushed even more easily. The verse reduces human existence to its material reality: we are clay houses built on dust, and we collapse more readily than an insect.

Job 4:20

מִבֹּ֣קֶר לָעֶ֣רֶב יֻכַּ֑תּוּ מִבְּלִ֥י מֵ֝שִׂ֗ים לָנֶ֥צַח יֹאבֵֽדוּ׃

Between morning and evening they are shattered; with no one noticing, they perish forever.

KJV They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The phrase mibboqer la-erev ('from morning to evening') means within a single day — human life can be destroyed in the span of hours. The verb yukattu ('they are beaten, shattered') from katat describes being pounded to pieces. The phrase mibli mesim ('without one placing [attention]') means no one notices, no one takes account. The verb yov'du ('they perish') is the same verb Job used in 3:3 for his wish that the day of his birth would perish. Lanetsach ('forever') is the most chilling word: they perish permanently, with no one to remember them.

Job 4:21

הֲלֹא־נִסַּ֣ע יִתְרָ֣ם בָּ֑ם יָ֝מ֗וּתוּ וְלֹ֣א בְחׇכְמָֽה׃

Is not their tent cord pulled up within them? They die — and not in wisdom.

KJV Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The final image is of a tent whose cord (yeter, 'tent cord, bowstring, excess') is pulled up (nissa, 'pulled out, torn away') — the structure collapses because the cord that held it taut has been removed. The human body is a tent; death is the removal of its supporting cord. The final phrase ve-lo bechokmah ('and not in wisdom') is ambiguous: they die without having attained wisdom, or they die and no one is wise enough to understand why. Either reading is bleak. Eliphaz's night vision reduces humanity to fragile clay tents that collapse without warning and without meaning.

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