Job 4:1–4:6, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Job 4:1–4:6
Eliphaz Opens by Turning Job's Counsel Back on Him
Eliphaz begins by remembering Job as a man who used to strengthen others
Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered. If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking? Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands. Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.
Then he turns Job's former counsel into a test of Job's present collapse
But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled. Is not thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?
The recollection is not false. The use of it is. A suffering person's inability to live on yesterday's advice does not prove hypocrisy. Eliphaz's later speeches will be judged; this opening already shows how quickly sympathy can become a probe.
How this should shape us
Do not quote a hurting person's own former courage against them. Former care for others is not evidence that present collapse is guilt. Listen first; do not grade their integrity by how well they now perform it.
Teach it back
Explain Job 4:1–4:6 in your own words. Name the speaker, the unit's place in Job, one source-controlled textual or literary observation, one uncertainty, and one harmful use the passage does not authorize.
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Job 4:1–4:6, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Job.xml, OSIS 4:1–4:6
Supports: Verse-level controls for Job's difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, textual issues, speech boundaries, and alternatives in Job 4:1–4:6.
Official NET Job PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Job 4:1–4:6
Supports: Book-level and passage-level literary, historical, theological, and pastoral synthesis with speaker distinctions and visible uncertainty.
Enter the Bible Job course, Outline and passage studies: lament and first dialogue cycle; applied to Job 4:1–4:6
Sources for This Section
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Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Job 4:1–4:6, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Job
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Job.xml, OSIS 4:1–4:6
Open the fixed Hebrew Job file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Job
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006; current official PDF
Supports: Verse-level controls for Job's difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, textual issues, speech boundaries, and alternatives in Job 4:1–4:6.
Exact location: Official NET Job PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Job 4:1–4:6
Open the official NET Job PDF ↗modern scholarly book course
Job course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Daniel J. Simundson and Kathryn Schifferdecker
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, current online edition inspected 2026
Supports: Book-level and passage-level literary, historical, theological, and pastoral synthesis with speaker distinctions and visible uncertainty.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Job course, Outline and passage studies: lament and first dialogue cycle; applied to Job 4:1–4:6
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