to stand · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
discern
אַכִּ֬יר'a.Kir
H5234
properly · verb, hiphil imperfect, 1st person common singular
form
מַרְאֵ֗הוּmar.'E.hu
H4758
a view (the act of seeing) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
image
תְּ֭מוּנָהTe.mu.nah
H8544
something portioned (i.e. fashioned) out · noun, common feminine singular absolute
eyes
עֵינָ֑י'ei.Nai
H5869
an eye (literally or figuratively) · noun, common feminine dual construct + pronominal suffix
silence
דְּמָמָ֖הde.ma.Mah
H1827
quiet · noun, common feminine singular absolute
heard
אֶשְׁמָֽע'esh.Ma'
H8085
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
voice
וָק֣וֹלva.Kol
H6963
a voice or sound · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
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
1 Kings 19:12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 4:12–end
Eliphaz, having undertaken to convince Job of the sin and folly of his discontent and impatience, here vouches a vision he had been favoured with, which he relates to Job for his conviction. What comes immediately from God all men will pay a particular deference to, and Job, no doubt, as much as any. Some think Eliphaz had this vision now lately, since he came to Job, putting words into his mouth wherewith to reason with him; and it would have been well if he had kept to the purport of this vision, which would serve for a ground on which to reprove Job for his murmuring, but not to condemn him as a hypocrite. Others think he had it formerly; for God did, in this way, often communicate his mi…
It stood still--At first the apparition glides before Eliphaz, then stands still, but with that shadowy indistinctness of form which creates such an impression of awe; a gentle murmur: not (English Version): there was silence; for in Kg1 19:12, the voice, as opposed to the previous storm, denotes a gentle, still murmur.
John Gill on Job 4:16
It stood still,.... That is, the spirit, or the angel in a visible form; it was before going to and fro, but now it stood still right against Eliphaz, as if it had something to say to him, and so preparing him to attend to it; which he might do the better, it standing before him while speaking to him, that he might have the opportunity of taking more notice of it:
but, notwithstanding this advantageous position of it:
I could not discern the form thereof; what it was, whether human or any other:
an image was before mine eyes; he saw something, some appearance and likeness, but could not tell what it was; perhaps the fear and surprise he was in hindered him from taking in any distinct idea…
12 And a word reached me stealthily,
And my ear heard a whisper thereof.
13 In the play of thought, in visions of the night,
When deep sleep falleth on men,
14 Fear came upon me, and trembling;
And it caused the multitude of my bones to quake with fear.
15 And a breathing passed over my face;
16 It stood there, and I discerned not its appearance:
An image was before my eyes;
A gentle murmur, and I heard a voice.
The fut. יגגּב, like Jdg 2:1; Psa 80:9, is ruled by the following fut. consec.: ad me furtim delatum est (not deferebatur). Eliphaz does not say אלי ויגנּב (although he means a single occurrence), because he desires, with pathos, to put himself prominent. That the word came to him so…
The Church Fathers
Eliphaz employs "murmur" and "voice" as words to express his ideas about God. As … the murmur and the voice strike our ears, they have no form or aspect. We only receive their sensation. Just as it is not possible to see a "murmur" or "voice," so we must realize the same is true of our thoughts about the divine nature. We receive our perception and knowledge of the divine nature as God gives us these thoughts, but this is not something that we can perceive through forms.
ON HOW HERETICS MISUSE THIS VERSE. And when a spirit passed before my face, the hair of my flesh stood up. There stood one, but I knew not the face of him. That they may shew that they have been made acquainted with incomprehensible mysteries, they relate, not that 'a spirit' stood still, but that it 'passed by before their face.' And they pretend that they beheld a countenance they knew not, that they may prove themselves to be known to Him, Whom the human mind is not equal to know. And here it is further added; An image was before mine eyes, and I heard the voice as it were of a light breath of air. Heretics often picture God to themselves by a sensible form, seeing that they are unable to behold Him spiritually. And they tell that they hear His 'voice as of a light breath of air,' in that for the obtaining the knowledge of His secret things, they delight to have as if a particular freedom of intercourse with Him. For they never teach the things, which God reveals openly, but such as are breathed into their ears in a secret manner.
There stood a certain one, but I could not discern the form thereof. For we do not speak of a certain one, saving surely in the case of him, whom we are either unwilling or unable to express. Now with what feeling it is here said a certain one, is clearly set forth, in that it immediately comes in, but I could not discern the form thereof. For the human soul, being by the sin of the first of mankind banished from the joys of paradise, lost the light of the invisible, and poured itself out entire in the love of the visible, and was darkened in the interior sight, in proportion as it was dissipated without, to the deformment of itself. Whence it comes to pass that it knows nothing, saving the things that it acquaints itself with by the palpable touch, so to say, of the bodily eyes. For man, who, had he been willing to have kept the commandment, would even in his flesh have been a spiritual being, by sinning was rendered even in soul carnal, so as to imagine such things only as he derives to the soul through the images of bodily substances. For body is the property of heaven, earth, water, animals, and all the visible things; which he unceasingly beholds; and while the delighted mind wholly precipitates itself into these, it waxes gross, loses the fineness of the inward sense; and whereas it is now no longer able to erect itself to things on high, it willingly lies prostrate in its weakness in things below. But when with marvellous efforts it strives to rise up from the same, it is great indeed, if the soul, thrusting aside the bodily form, be brought to the knowledge of itself, so as to think of itself without a bodily figure, and by thus thinking of itself to prepare itself a pathway to contemplate the substance of Eternity. Now in this way it shews itself to its own eyes as a kind of ladder, whereby in ascending from outward things to pass into itself, and from itself to tend unto its Maker. For when the mind quits bodily images, entering into itself, it mounts up to no mean height; for though the soul be incorporeal, yet because she is incorporate with the body, she is known by that property of hers, which is confined within the local bounds of the flesh. And whereas she forgets things known, acquaints herself with such as are unknown, remembers what has been consigned to oblivion, entertains mirth after sadness, is adjudged to punishment after joy; she…
Dictionary and topics
Eliphaz — God his strength. (1.) One of Job’s “three friends” who visited him in his affliction (4:1). He was a “Temanite”, i.e., a native of Teman, in Idumea. He first enters into debate with Job. His…
Dream · .Of Eliphaz, of a spirit speaking to him — .Of Eliphaz, of a spirit speaking to him
Visions · Mentioned in scripture: To Eliphaz — Mentioned in scripture: To Eliphaz
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).
A spirit (or wind) swept past my face: Wind is a physical display of God’s powerful presence (38:1; Nah 1:3; Acts 2:2; cp. 1 Kgs 19:11).
Rashi on Job 4:16
It was standing It was standing before me, but I did not recognize its appearance.
a faint voice I heard the sound of faint words. Another explanation: I heard silence and a voice. I heard the voice of the silence, but the silence I did not hear. “Silence” denotes angels reciting praise silently, as [Jonathan] renders (I Kings 19:12): “a still small voice” as: a voice of those praising quietly. Moses heard the silence [i.e., the voice of the angels praising]—from here we deduce that the early prophets heard [lit. used] the voice, whereas the later ones heard an echo, like a man who hits with a hammer, and the echo resounds far away. From here... far away. Here it is written: silence and a v…