perhaps properly · verb, piel infinitive construct, 1st person common singular
if
ל֤וּLu-
H3863
a conditional particle · conjunction
soul
נַפְשְׁכֶ֡םnaf.she.Khem
H5315
properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
were
יֵ֪שׁyesh
H3426
there is or are (or any other form of the verb to be · cardinal number, both genders singular absolute
soul’s
נַפְשִׁ֗יnaf.Shi
H5315
properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
up
אַחְבִּ֣ירָה'ach.Bi.rah
H2266
to join (literally or figuratively) · verb, hiphil infinitive construct, 1st person common singular
words
בְּמִלִּ֑יםbe.mi.Lim
H4405
a word · preposition + noun, common masculine plural absolute
shake
וְאָנִ֥יעָהve.'a.Ni.'ah
H5128
to waver · conjunction + verb, hiphil infinitive construct, 1st person common singular
head
רֹאשִֽׁיro.Shi
H7218
the head (as most easily shaken) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
at
בְּמ֣וֹbe.Mo
H1119
in · preposition
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 22:7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
Psalms 109:25 I became also a reproach unto them: when they looked upon me they shaked their heads.
Lamentations 2:15 All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call…
2 Kings 19:21 This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; th…
Jeremiah 18:16 To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head.
Job 6:2-5 Oh that my grief were throughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together!
Job 6:14 To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.
Job 11:2 Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a man full of talk be justified?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 16:1-5
Both Job and his friends took the same way that disputants commonly take, which is to undervalue one another's sense, and wisdom, and management. The longer the saw of contention is drawn the hotter it grows; and the beginning of this sort of strife is as the letting forth of water; therefore leave it off before it be meddled with. Eliphaz had represented Job's discourses as idle, and unprofitable, and nothing to the purpose; and Job here gives his the same character. Those who are free in passing such censures must expect to have them retorted; it is easy, it is endless: but cui bono? - what good does it do? It will stir up men's passions, but will never convince their judgments, nor set tr…
heap up--rather, "marshal together (an army of) words against you."
shake . . . head--in mockery; it means nodding, rather than shaking; nodding is not with us, as in the East, a gesture of scorn (Isa 37:22; Jer 18:16; Mat 27:39).
John Gill on Job 16:4
I also could speak as ye do,.... As big words, with as high a tone, with as stiff a neck, and as haughtily and loftily; or "ought I to speak as you do" (m)? that I ought not, nor would you think I ought, if you were in my case; or, being so, "would I speak as you do" (n)? no, I would not, my conscience would not suffer me:
if your soul were in my soul's stead; in the same afflicted state and condition, in the same distressed case and circumstances; not that he wished it, as some render the words, for a good man will not wish hurt to another; only he supposes this, as it was a case supposable, and not impossible to be a fact, some time or another, in this state of uncertainty and change; how…
1 Then began Job, and said:
2 I have now heard such things in abundance,
Troublesome comforters are ye all!
3 Are windy words now at an end,
Or what goadeth thee that thou answerest?
4 I also would speak like you,
If only your soul were in my soul's stead.
I would weave words against you,
And shake my head at you;
5 I would encourage you with my mouth,
And the solace of my lips should soothe you.
The speech of Eliphaz, as of the other two, is meant to be comforting. It is, however, primarily an accusation; it wounds instead of soothing. Of this kind of speech, says Job, one has now heard רבּות, much, i.e., (in a pregnant sense) amply sufficient, although the word might signify elliptically (…
The Church Fathers
"I too speak like you. I hold a language worthy of you. "If your soul took the place of mine; If you suffer the torments that I endure, I will speak to you without reproaching you; that his words contradict actions?
Ver. 4-6. And O that your soul were for my soul! I too would comfort you with speeches, and move my head over you: I would strengthen you with my mouth, and move my lips as if sparing you. MYSTICAL INTERPRETATION It is sometimes necessary that wicked minds, which are incapable of being corrected by man's preaching, should have the strokes of God wished for them, in a spirit of kindness; and while this is done with great earnestness of love, then plainly not the punishment but the correction of the guilty person is the thing aimed at, and it is shewn to be a prayer rather than a curse. And in these words blessed Job is shewn to aim at this, that the friends, who knew not how to sympathize in his grief through charity, might learn by experience how they ought to have pitied the affliction of another, and, being subdued by griefs might draw from their own suffering, how to minister consolation to others, and then live the more healthfully within, when they are made sensible of something of frailty without. Observe that he does not say, O that my soul were for your soul; but, O that your soul were for my soul; in that he would have been cursing himself, if he had wished himself to be made like to them; but it was for them he wished better things in that he sought they should be made like to himself. Now we 'comfort' bad men, placed under the rod, when we point out that by the exterior infliction the interior health is established within them. Moreover, we 'move our head,' when the mind, which is our leading part, we bend to sympathy; and we 'strengthen' these in the midst of strokes of affliction, when we soothe the force of their grief with gentle words; for there are some persons, who, forasmuch as they know nothing of the things of the interior, are overwhelmed with despair by external afflictions; of whom it is said, by the Psalmist, They shall not hold up in afflictions; for he is well instructed to holdup in outward afflictions, who knows how to exult always in the hope that belongs to the interior.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Speaking · FOLLY IN — FOLLY IN
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Job might have wanted to shake his head in mockery or in horror (2 Kgs 19:21; Pss 22:7; 109:25; Isa 37:22; Jer 18:16; Lam 2:15; Matt 27:39).
Rashi on Job 16:4
could speak like you I know how to chide as you do.
if your soul were in pain instead of my soul, I too would join words together against you and shake my head at you in your cry, and encourage you with my mouth, saying, “Be still, have courage, and endure your sufferings,” just as you are saying to me.
