Job 16:4
2 “I have heard many things like these; miserable comforters are you all.
3 Is there no end to your long-winded speeches? What provokes you to continue testifying?
I could also speak like you if you were in my place; I could heap up words against you and shake my head at you.
5 But I would encourage you with my mouth, and the consolation of my lips would bring relief.
6 Even if I speak, my pain is not relieved, and if I hold back, how will it go away?
Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- I could also speak like you if you were in my place; I could heap up words against you and shake my head at you.
- KJV
- I also could speak as ye do: if your soul were in my soul’s stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you.
- WEB
- I also could speak as you do. If your soul were in my soul’s place, I could join words together against you, and shake my head at you,
- ASV
- I also could speak as ye do; If your soul were in my soul`s stead, I could join words together against you, And shake my head at you.
- DARBY
- I also could speak as ye: if your soul were in my soul's stead, I could join together words against you, and shake my head at you;
- BLB
- I also could speak as you⁺, if your⁺ soul were in place of my soul; I could join together words against you⁺, and shake at you⁺ with my head.
- ÅB
- Også jeg kunne tale som dere; om dere var i mitt sted, kunne jeg sette ord sammen mot dere, og jeg kunne riste på hodet over dere;
- OTB
- Jeg kunne også tale som dere,
hvis dere var i mitt sted.
Jeg kunne holde veltalende taler mot dere
og riste på hodet mot dere. - B1930
- Også jeg kunde tale som I; om I var i mitt sted, kunde jeg sette ord sammen mot eder, og jeg kunde ryste på hodet over eder;
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Psalms 109:25
I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they shake their heads.
Read in contextPsalms 22:7
All who see me mock me; they sneer and shake their heads:
Read in contextLamentations 2:15
All who pass by clap their hands at you in scorn. They hiss and shake their heads at the Daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?”
Read in context2 Kings 19:21
This is the word that the LORD has spoken against him: ‘The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises you and mocks you; the Daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head behind you.
Read in contextJeremiah 18:16
They have made their land a desolation, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and shake their heads.
Read in context1 Corinthians 12:26
If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
Read in contextZephaniah 2:15
This carefree city that dwells securely, that thinks to herself: “I am it, and there is none besides me,” what a ruin she has become, a resting place for beasts. Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.
Read in contextMatthew 27:39–40
And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads
Read in context