Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 16:8

And thou hast filled me with wrath, [which] is a witness [against me]: and my leanness rising up in me beareth witness to my face.

8. The verse reads,

Thou hast laid hold of me, and it is become a witness against me;

And my leanness riseth up against me; it beareth witness to my face.

By God’s seizing or laying hold of him Job means his afflictions. These afflictions sent by God were assumed by all to be witnesses of his guilt; his emaciation from disease rose up and testified to his face that he was a sinner. Such was the construction all men put on his calamities, and under this impression they all turned away from him, thinking him one stricken of God and afflicted (Isa 53:4). See on ch. Job 1:11, and cf. Isa 3:9.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

And thou hast filled me with wrinkles – Noyes renders this, and thou hast seized hold of me, which is a witness against me. Wemyss, since thou hast bound me with chains, witnesses come forward. Good, and hast cut off myself from becoming a witness. Luther, he has made me kuntzlich (skillfully, artificially, cunningly,) and bears witness against me. Jerome, my wrinkles bear witness against me. Septuagint, my lie has become a witness, and is risen up against me. From this variety of explanations, it will be seen that this passage is not of easy and obvious construction. The Hebrew word which is here used and rendered, thou hast filled me with wrinkles ( tqamateny), from qamat – occurs only in one other place in the Bible; Job 22:16. It is there in the Pual form, and rendered were cut down. According to Gesenius, it means, to lay fast hold of, to seize with the hands, and answers to the Arabic to bind.

The word in Chaldee ( qamat) means to wrinkle, or collect in wrinkles; and is applied to anything that is contracted, or rough. It is applied in the form qaymat to the pupil of the eye as being contracted, as in the declaration in Derek Erets, c. 5, quoted by Castell. The world is like the eye; where the ocean that surrounds the world is white; the world itself is black; the pupil is Jerusalem, and the image in the pupil is the sanctuary. Probably the true notion of the word is to be found in the Arabic. According to Castell, this means, to tie together the four feet of a sheep or lamb, in order that it might be slain; to bind an infant in swaddling clothes before it is laid in a cradle; to collect camels into a group or herd; and hence, the noun is used to denote a cord or rope twisted of wool, or of leaves of the palm, or the bandages by which an infant is bound. This idea is not in use in the Hebrew; but I have no doubt that this was the original sense of the word, and that this is one of the numerous places in Job where light may be cast upon the meaning of a word from its use in Arabic. The Hebrew word may be applied to the collecting or contraction of the face in wrinkles by age, but this is not the sense here. We should express the idea by being drawn up with pain or affliction; by being straitened, or compressed. The meaning – is that of drawing together – as the feet of a sheep when tied, or twisting – as a rope; and the idea here is, that Job was drawn up, compressed, bound by his afflictions – and that this was a witness against him. The word compressed comes as near to the sense as any one that we have.

Which is a witness against me – That is, this is an argument against my innocence. The fact that God has thus compressed, and fettered, and fastened me; that he has bound me as with a cord – as if I were tied for the slaughter, is an argument on which my friends insist, and to which they appeal, as a proof of my guilt. I cannot answer it. They refer to it constantly. It is the burden of their demonstration, and how can I reply to it? The position of mind here is, that he could appeal to God for his uprightness, but these afflictions stood in the way of his argument for his innocence with his friends. They were the usual proofs of Gods displeasure, and he could not well meet the argument which was drawn from them in his case, for in all his protestations of innocence there stood these afflictions – the usual proofs of Gods displeasure against people – as evidence against him, to which they truimphantly appealed.

And my leanness rising up in me – Dr. Good renders this, my calumniator. Wemyss, false witnesses. So Jerome, falsiloquus. The Septuagint renders it, my lie – to pseudos mou – rises up against me. The Hebrew word ( kachash) means properly a lie, deceit, hypocrisy. But it cannot be supposed that Job would formally admit that he was a liar and a hypocrite. This would have been to concede the whole point in dispute. The word, therefore, it would seem, must have some other sense. The verb kachash is used to denote not only to lie, but also to waste away, to fail. Psa 109:24, my flesh faileth of fatness. The idea seems to have been, that a person whose flesh had wasted away by sickness, as it were, belied himself; or it was a false testimony about himself; it did not give a fair representation of him. That could be obtained only when he was in sound health. Thus, in Hab 3:17, the labour of the olive shall fail. Hebrew shall lie or deceive; that is, it shall belie itself, or shall not do justice to itself; it shall afford no fair representation of what the olive is fitted to produce. So the word is used Hos 9:2. It is used here in this sense, as denoting the false appearance of Job – his present aspect – which was no proper representation of himself; that is, his emaciated and ulcerated form. This, he says, was a witness against him. It was one of the proofs to which they appealed, and he did not know how to answer it. It was usually an evidence of divine displeasure, and he now solemnly and tenderly addresses God, and says, that he had furnished this testimony against him – and he was overwhelmed.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 8. Thou hast filled me with wrinkles] If Job’s disease were the elephantiasis, in which the whole skin is wrinkled as the skin of the elephant, from which this species of leprosy has taken its name, these words would apply most forcibly to it; but the whole passage, through its obscurity, has been variously rendered. Calmet unites it with the preceding, and Houbigant is not very different. He translates thus: – “For my trouble hath now weakened all my frame, and brought wrinkles over me: he is present as a witness, and ariseth against me, who telleth lies concerning me; he openly contradicts me to my face.” Mr. Good translates nearly in the same way; others still differently.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Thou hast filled me with wrinkles, by consuming all my fat and flesh.

Which is a witness against me; Heb. which is a witness of the reality, and greatness, and just cause of my sorrows. Or, which is become or made a witness, i.e. is produced by my friends as a witness of Gods wrath, and of my hypocrisy and impiety.

Rising up in me, i.e. which is in me. Or, rising up against me, as witnesses use to rise and stand up against a guilty person to accuse him.

Beareth witness to my face; as witnesses are to accuse a person to his face, openly and evidently, so as any that look on my face may plainly discern it. But this clause may be rendered thus, my leanness in my face (i.e. which appears in my face, and causeth the wrinkles which are visible there) riseth up against me, and beareth witness, as before.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

8. filled . . . with wrinklesRather(as also the same Hebrew word in Job22:16; English Version, “cut down”), “thouhast fettered me, thy witness” (besides cuttingoff my “band of witnesses,” Job16:7), that is, hast disabled me by pains from properly attestingmy innocence. But another “witness” arises against him,namely, his “leanness” or wretched state of body, construedby his friends into a proof of his guilt. The radical meaning of theHebrew is “to draw together,” whence flow the doublemeaning “to bind” or “fetter,” and in Syriac,“to wrinkle.”

leannessmeaning also”lie”; implying it was a “false witness.”

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And thou hast filled me with wrinkles,…. Not through old age, but through affliction, which had sunk his flesh, and made furrows in him, so that he looked older than he was, and was made old thereby before his time; see La 3:4; for this is to be understood of his body, for as for his soul, that through the grace of God, and righteousness of Christ, was without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing:

[which] is a witness [against me]; as it was improved by his friends, who represented his afflictions as proofs and testimonies of his being a bad man; though these wrinkles were witnesses for him, as it may be as well supplied, that he really was an afflicted man:

and my leanness rising up in me; his bones standing up, and standing out, and having scarce anything on them but skin, the flesh being gone:

beareth witness to my face; openly, manifestly, to full conviction; not that he was a sinful man, but an afflicted man; Eliphaz had no reason to talk to Job of a wicked man’s being covered with fatness, and of collops of fat on his flanks, Job 15:27;

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(8) Witness against me.As in Job. 10:17. The wrinkles in his body, caused by the disease, were a witness against him; and certainly, in the eyes of his friends, they furnished unquestionable proof of his guilt.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

8. Filled me with wrinkles Seized hold of me. The word kamat, in the Arabic, signifies to tie the hands and the feet; also, to bind a captive. ( Schultens.) Job is bound with the “fetters” of disease, Job 13:27. These, like the fetters of a captive, may be misinterpreted into evidences of guilt, Job 10:17. Grotius, however, remarks that it is a judicial term, signifying “to bring into court as it were by the neck.” The rendering in the text is defended by some critics.

Which is a witness It is become a witness. His friends have perverted his afflictions into witnesses against him.

My leanness , which also signifies my “lie,” “deceit;” a metaphor similar to that of a dried-up brook, which “deals falsely,” Job 6:15. His “emaciation” is in like manner “a false witness.” Hitzig finds in the Arabic a signification of “impotence in the hands and feet,” corresponding to the word kamat, which Job had used just before. Rising up in me, etc. Riseth up against me, in order to bear witness against him.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Job 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.

Ver. 8. Thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me ] viz. That I am an afflicted man, but yet not a wicked man, such as Elipbaz had described by his pinguis aqualiculus (Persius), those collops in his flank, Job 15:27 . Thou hast made me all wrinkled (so Brougbton rendereth it); or, Thou hast wrinkled me. The Hebrew word is found in Job only; but in the Rabbis more frequently. Grief had made furrows in Job’s face, and his tears had often filled them.

And my leanness rising up in me ] sc. By the continuance of my sores and sorrows, which have made my body a very bag of bones, and cause me to cry out, “My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me!” Isa 24:16 . My flesh, through my grievous anguish, being fallen from my bones, which rise up in a ghastly manner.

Beareth witness to my face ] sc. That I am one of God’s Plagipatidae, poor afflicted: but what of that? Scourgeth he not every son whom he receiveth? Heb 12:6 . Others render it, In my face; where my leanness sitteth, and is most conspicuous; like as it is said of our Saviour, That with fasting and painstaking he had so wanzed and macerated himself, that, at little past thirty he was looked upon as one toward fifty, Joh 8:57 . And as Mr John Fox, the martyrologue, by his excessive pains in compiling the Acts and Monuments of the Church, in eleven years, grew thereby so lean and withered, that his friends hardly knew him to be the same man (Mr Clark in his Life).

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

is = is become.

leanness. Figure of speech Prosopopoeia. App-6.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

And thou hast: etc. Some render, “thou has fettered me,” as kamat signifies in Arabic; but as it signifies in Syriac to be wrinkled, the common version seems, from the connexion, to be more correct; and if Job’s disease were the elephantiasis, these words would apply most forcibly to the wrinkled state of the skin in that disorder.

is a witness: Job 10:17, Rth 1:21, Eph 5:27

my leanness: Psa 106:15, Isa 10:16, Isa 24:16

Reciprocal: Lam 3:4 – My flesh Jam 5:3 – a witness

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Job 16:8. Thou hast filled me with wrinkles By consuming my flesh and reducing my body; which is a witness Of the reality and greatness, and just cause of my sorrows. Or, which is made a witness; that is, produced by my friends as a proof of Gods anger and my hypocrisy and impiety. And my leanness rising up in me Or, against me; as witnesses are wont to rise and stand up against a guilty person to accuse him; beareth witness to my face Namely, openly and evidently, as witnesses accuse a person to his face; or, so that any, who look on my face, may plainly discern it. Bishop Patricks paraphrase is, The furrows in my face (which is not old) show the greatness of my affliction, which is extremely augmented by him who rises up with false accusations to take away mine honour, as this consumption will do my life.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

16:8 And thou hast filled me with {i} wrinkles, [which] is a witness [against me]: and my leanness rising up in me beareth witness to my face.

(i) In token of sorrow and grief.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes