FocusAccusation and protest intensify
Connection to the wholeThe argument sharpens as the friends connect suffering with wickedness and Job challenges their account of the wicked's fortunes.
interpretation Job 16:17
KJVNot for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is pure.
Read it in context
Job Decries His Comforters
Start reading at Job 16:1 (Job 16:1 to Job 16:22).
An editorial reading unit, not a claim that the surrounding context stops here. Book background below applies to the shared passage; individual verses may need more specific explanation.
The argument sharpens as the friends connect suffering with wickedness and Job challenges their account of the wicked's fortunes.
- 16:1 Then Job answered and said,
- 16:2 I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all.
- 16:3 Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest?
- 16:4 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.
- 16:5 But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should asswage your grief.
- 16:6 Though I speak, my grief is not asswaged: and though I forbear, what am I eased?
- 16:7 But now he hath made me weary: thou hast made desolate all my company.
- 16:8 And thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me: and my leanness rising up in me beareth witness to my face.
- 16:9 He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.
- 16:10 They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me.
- 16:11 God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked.
- 16:12 I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder: he hath also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark.
- 16:13 His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground.
- 16:14 He breaketh me with breach upon breach, he runneth upon me like a giant.
- 16:15 I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and defiled my horn in the dust.
- 16:16 My face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death;
- 16:17 Not for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is pure.
- 16:18 O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place.
- 16:19 Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high.
- 16:20 My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God.
- 16:21 O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour!
- 16:22 When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.
Who
- Who wrote the book? The author is unknown. Moses is one ancient traditional proposal, but neither that proposal nor another named author can be established with confidence. Historical source: Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 14b–15a (record of Jewish attribution, not contemporary proof). book background
- Who was present or being addressed in this passage? In the surrounding chapter context (Job 16:1–17:16): Job replies to his friends and appeals concerning his suffering. stated in the text
- Who was the book written to? Readers within Israel's wisdom tradition, wrestling with innocent suffering, justice, and the limits of human judgment. No named individual or first community is identified. Biblical references: Job 28:28; Job 42:7. book background
What
- What is the topic of this reading unit? Job Decries His Comforters. Read Job 16:1 through Job 16:22 as a connected unit. interpretation
- How does it contribute to the book? The argument sharpens as the friends connect suffering with wickedness and Job challenges their account of the wicked's fortunes. interpretation
When
- When are the events or message set? The book supplies no royal date or exact historical year for Job's experiences. Proposed patriarchal-era settings are historical inferences, not a date explicitly stated by the narrative. book background
Where
- What is the book’s geographic setting? Job is introduced as a man in the land of Uz. The poetic speeches range through imagined and remembered scenes that should not all be treated as the speakers' physical locations. book background
- Where does the context start? This passage sits in Job Decries His Comforters (Job 16:1 to Job 16:22). Start reading at Job 16:1. An editorial reading unit, not a claim that the surrounding context stops here. Book background below applies to the shared passage; individual verses may need more specific explanation.
How
- How does this book connect with Jesus Christ? James refers to Job's endurance and the Lord's compassion. Connections between Job's suffering and Christ may be considered as comparisons; Job's speeches should not all be treated as direct predictions of Jesus. See Job 1:1, James 5:11, Hebrews 4:15. interpretation
- How should this book guide our response? Do not assume that a sufferer's losses prove a hidden sin. Listen carefully, distinguish the speakers, and read their claims alongside the LORD's concluding rebuke of the friends. interpretation
Cited: Job 16:1, Job 16:22, Job 1:1, James 5:11, Hebrews 4:15
Who wrote it, and how we know
Uncertain; among the oldest books of Scripture
Not known
What Scripture saysThe book does not name its author.
Early traditionJewish tradition (Baba Bathra 14b) suggested Moses, but ancient opinion varied widely.
What is debatedThe author is unknown and the date is uncertain. The setting appears patriarchal, but the book could have been written far later.
Related passages
- Not for Job 11:14 Job 15:20,34 Job 21:27-28 Job 22:5-9 Job 27:6-7 Job 29:12-17 Job 31:1-40 Ps 7:3-5
- my prayer Job 8:5-6 Ps 66:18-19 Prov 15:8 1 Tim 2:8
Cross references from CrossReferences-org (CC BY 4.0).
Macro-Structure
See how this passage fits the chapter and the book.
Macro-Structure of Job 16
Job contains narrative, lament, and extended disputation. The speakers must be identified before treating an assertion as the book's teaching: the LORD explicitly rebukes Job's friends near the end. Neither the author nor an exact historical date is stated. Local headings and stanza divisions are editorial reading aids adapted from public-domain BSB headings; verse boundaries and Scripture links use the KJV. Connections describe the surrounding book movement.
Suggested literary divisions. Headings summarize the passage; they are not part of the biblical text.
Macro-Structure of Job
Job contains narrative, lament, and extended disputation. The speakers must be identified before treating an assertion as the book's teaching: the LORD explicitly rebukes Job's friends near the end. Neither the author nor an exact historical date is stated.
Job's losses and the friends' arrival
Job 1:1–2:13FocusSuffering and the opening test
Connection to the wholeThe narrative establishes Job's losses and integrity before the speeches begin, giving readers information the disputing friends do not possess.
interpretation The lament and first exchange
Job 3:1–14:22FocusSuffering questioned and explained
Connection to the wholeJob's lament leads into the first cycle of speeches, in which the friends' explanations are challenged by Job's experience.
interpretation FocusAccusation and protest intensify
Connection to the wholeThe argument sharpens as the friends connect suffering with wickedness and Job challenges their account of the wicked's fortunes.
interpretation The final exchange and Job's defense
Job 22:1–31:40FocusWisdom and the demand for an answer
Connection to the wholeThe later speeches, poem on wisdom, and Job's final defense bring the dispute to the point of his appeal for an answer.
interpretation Elihu speaks
Job 32:1–37:24FocusClaims about God's justice and instruction
Connection to the wholeA new speaker responds to Job and the friends before the LORD's speeches begin; his speech must be distinguished from the divine answer.
interpretation The LORD answers
Job 38:1–41:34FocusCreation and the limits of human knowledge
Connection to the wholeThe LORD questions Job concerning the created order, confronting the limits of his knowledge and his attempt to contend with God.
interpretation Job's response and the conclusion
Job 42:1–17FocusRepentance, rebuke, and restoration
Connection to the wholeJob responds, the friends are rebuked, and the narrative closes with intercession and restoration without turning every speech into endorsed doctrine.
interpretation Suggested literary divisions. Headings summarize the passage; they are not part of the biblical text.