Job 16 · Verse 8

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.
Job 16:8, King James Version

Job 16:8 in other translations

BSBYou have bound me, and it has become a witness; my frailty rises up and testifies against me.
WEBYou have shriveled me up. This is a witness against me. My leanness rises up against me. It testifies to my face.
ASVAnd thou hast laid fast hold on me, which is a witness against me: And my leanness riseth up against me, It testifieth to my face.
YLTAnd Thou dost loathe me, For a witness it hath been, And rise up against me doth my failure, In my face it testifieth.
DARBYThou hast shrivelled me up! it is become a witness; and my leanness riseth up against me, it beareth witness to my face.
BBEIt has come up as a witness against me, and the wasting of my flesh makes answer to my face.
WebsterAnd thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me: and my leanness rising up in me beareth witness to my face.

What does Job 16:8 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
8. filled ... with wrinkles--Rather (as also the same Hebrew word in Job 22:16; English Version, "cut down"), "thou hast fettered me, thy witness" (besides cutting off my "band of witnesses," Job 16:7), that is, hast disabled me by pains from properly attesting my innocence. But another "witness" arises against him, namely, his "leanness" or wretched state of body, construed by his friends into a proof of his guilt. The radical meaning of the Hebrew is "to draw together," whence flow the double meaning "to bind" or "fetter," and in Syriac, "to wrinkle." leanness--meaning also "lie"; implying it was a "false witness."

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
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.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 16:6-16

Here is a doleful representation of Job's grievances. What reason we have to bless God, that we are not making such complaints! Even good men, when in great troubles, have much ado not to entertain hard thoughts of God. Eliphaz had represented Job as unhumbled under his affliction: No, says Job, I know better things; the dust is now the fittest place for me. In this he reminds us of Christ, who was a man of sorrows…

Read the full comment on Job 16:6-16 →

Job 16:8 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַֽ֭תִּקְמְטֵנִיVa.tik.me.te.niand you have seized meH7059
לְעֵ֣דle.'Ed<into> a witnessH5707
הָיָ֑הha.Yahit has becomeH1961
וַיָּ֥קָםvai.Ya.komand it has risen upH6965
בִּ֥יbion me
כַ֝חֲשִׁ֗יkha.cha.Shileanness myH3585
בְּפָנַ֥יbe.fa.Naiin face myH6440
יַעֲנֶֽה\׃ya.'a.Nehit testifiesH6030

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Job 16:8

  • Job 10:17

    Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; changes and war are against me.

  • Job 19:20

    My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

  • Ruth 1:21

    I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?

  • Psalms 109:24

    My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness.

  • Psalms 106:15

    And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.

  • Ephesians 5:27

    That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

  • Isaiah 24:16

    From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.

  • Isaiah 10:16

    Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
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.
10:17; Ru 1:21; Eph 5:27
my leanness.
Ps 106:15; Isa 10:16; 24:16

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Job 16:7

    But now he hath made me weary: thou hast made desolate all my company.

  • 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.

  • Job 16:9

    He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.

Read all of Job 16

Job 16:8 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Tú me has arrugado; testigo es mi flacura, que se levanta contra mí para testificar en mi rostro.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Tu m’as étreint, c’est un témoignage, et ma maigreur se lève contre moi, elle dépose, à ma face, contre moi.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Und du hast mich zusammenschrumpfen lassen, zum Zeugen ward es; und meine Abmagerung tritt wider mich auf, sie zeugt mir ins Angesicht.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Nunc autem oppressit me dolor meus, et in nihilum redacti sunt omnes artus mei.