to pluck off or pull to pieces · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
wrath
אַפּ֤וֹ'a.Po
H639
properly · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
hateth
וַֽיִּשְׂטְמֵ֗נִיvai.yis.te.Me.ni
H7852
properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
gnasheth
חָרַ֣קcha.Rak
H2786
to grate the teeth · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
teeth
בְּשִׁנָּ֑יוbe.shi.Nav
H8127
a tooth (as sharp) · preposition + noun, common feminine dual construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
enemy
צָרִ֓יtza.Ri
H6862
narrow · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
sharpeneth
יִלְט֖וֹשׁyil.To.osh
H3913
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
eyes
עֵינָ֣יו'ei.Nav
H5869
an eye (literally or figuratively) · noun, common feminine dual construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
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
Job 13:24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?
Psalms 35:16 With hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth.
Lamentations 2:16 All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: certainly this is…
Job 19:11 He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies.
Hosea 6:1 Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
Job 10:16-17 For it increaseth. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion: and again thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me.
Job 13:27 Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly unto all my paths; thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet.
Job 18:4 He teareth himself in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of his place?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 16:6-16
Job's complaint is here as bitter as any where in all his discourses, and he is at a stand whether to smother it or to give it vent. Sometimes the one and sometimes the other is a relief to the afflicted, according as the temper or the circumstances are; but Job found help by neither, Job 16:6. 1. Sometimes giving vent to grief gives ease; but, "Though I speak" (says Job), "my grief is not assuaged, my spirit is never the lighter for the pouring out of my complaint; nay, what I speak is so misconstrued as to be turned to the aggravation of my grief." 2. At other times keeping silence makes the trouble the easier and the sooner forgotten; but (says Job) though I forbear I am never the nearer;…
Image from a wild beast. So God is represented (Job 10:16).
who hateth me--rather, "and pursues me hard." Job would not ascribe "hatred" to God (Psa 50:22).
mine enemy--rather, "he sharpens, &c., as an enemy" (Psa 7:12). Darts wrathful glances at me, like a foe (Job 13:24).
John Gill on Job 16:9
He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me,.... By whom is meant not Satan, as Jarchi, though he is an enemy to, and an hater of mankind, especially of good men; nor Eliphaz, as others, who had fallen upon Job with a great deal of wrath and fury, tearing his character in pieces, which Job attributed to his hatred of him; but it rather appears from the context that God himself is intended, of whom Job had now a mistaken notion and apprehension; taking him for his enemy, being treated by him, as he thought, as if he had an aversion to him, and an hatred of him; whereas God hates none of his creatures, being his offspring, and the objects of his tender care, and providential regard: indeed sin i…
6 If I speak, my pain is not soothed;
And if I forbear, what alleviation do I experience?
7 Nevertheless now hath He exhausted me;
Thou hast desolated all my household,
8 And Thou filledst me with wrinkles - for a witness was it,
And my leanness rose up against me
Complaining to my face.
9 His wrath tore me, and made war upon me;
He hath gnashed upon me with His teeth,
As mine enemy He sharpeneth His eyes against me.
אם stands with the cohortative in the hypothetical antecedent clause Job 16:6, and in 6b the cohortative stands alone as Job 11:17; Psa 73:16; Psa 139:8, which is more usual, and more in accordance with the meaning which the cohortative has in itself, Ngelsbach, 89, 3. The inter…
The Church Fathers
"You seized me, and I testified. You have convinced me of my sins, and I have become my accuser. "And my lie arose against me; When I thought myself right. "I will rise against myself. From there the words: "I will expose you to your own eyes." "
Your words cruelly pierce me, because you endeavor to present me as a false witness before God, whose wrath "has torn me." Even in the middle of my mourning, where the loss of the children and cattle had dragged me, bodily pains invaded me. And I certainly remained silent, but he struck me with ominous reports and harsh news.
Ver. 9. He gathered his fury against me; and threatening me he gnashed against me with his teeth; mine enemy looked on me with terrible eyes. What else are all wicked men but members of the devil? Therefore he himself does by them, whatever he puts it into their hearts that they ought to do. For the devil even now entertains fury against Holy Church, but his fury is scattered, in that he sets afoot his secret temptations through the agency of individuals; but when he bursts out against her in open persecution, 'he gathers his fury against her,' in that in the afflicting of her he knits up himself with the entire bent of his efforts. But his members in this time of peace have not 'fury gathered' against the Elect in this way, because they feel that they have less power to fulfil their wickedness than they have will; but when they see full range of wickedness at their command, they smite at her the more boldly, in proportion as they are drawn to a head against her in unanimity. And so it is rightly said now; He gathered up his fury against me. And that his fury might be still more fully set forth, it is said, And threatening me, he gnashed upon me with his teeth. Of whom too it is added, mine enemy looked on me with terrible eyes. For that ancient enemy of the Church 'gnashes against her with the teeth,' and 'looks on her with terrible eyes,' in that he executes cruelties by one set, and by another provides cruelties to execute. For 'the teeth' of this enemy are the persecutors and executioners of the good who mangle her members, while they distress her elect ones by their persecutions. But the 'eyes' of this enemy are those, that provide measures to her hurt, which they may put in practice, and by their counsels light up the cruelties of her persecutors. Thus her old enemy 'gnashes upon her with his teeth,' so long as by the cruel children of perdition in her he hunts down the life of good men within her. He 'looks on her with terrible eyes;' in that, by the counsels of bad men, he never ceases to make out schemes of mischief, by which he may torment her even worse and worse; for as Incarnate 'Truth' in His preaching chose poor common persons and simple men, so on the other hand that accursed man, whom the Apostate Angel will take on him at the end of the world, shall choose for the preaching of his falsity, the cunning and doubleminded, and such as have…
Dictionary and topics
Gnash — Heb. harak, meaning “to grate the teeth”, (Job 16:9; Ps. 112:10; Lam. 2:16), denotes rage or sorrow. (See also Acts 7:54; Mark 9:18.)
Afflictions · Often severe — Often severe
Afflictions And Adversities · .Often severe — .Often severe
Blasphemy · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Gnashing Of Teeth · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Teeth · Gnashing (grinding) of, usually signifying anger or extreme pain — Gnashing (grinding) of, usually signifying anger or extreme pain
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).
jeer and laugh at me: Job was the subject of mockery (cp. Ps 35:21; Isa 57:4; Lam 2:16; 3:46). • To slap the cheek was less an act of violence (Ps 3:7; Mic 5:1) than an insult (1 Kgs 22:24; Isa 50:6; Lam 3:30; Matt 26:67).
Rashi on Job 16:9
My Adversary Satan is the adversary.
sharpens Heb. ילטוש, sharpens, like (Gen. 4:22), “who sharpened (לטש) every instrument etc.”
