Job 16:8

8 You have shriveled me up—and it has become a witness; my gauntness rises up and testifies against me.

Job 16:8 in Other Translations

KJV
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.
ESV
8 And he has shriveled me up, which is a witness against me, and my leanness has risen up against me; it testifies to my face.
NLT
8 As if to prove I have sinned, you’ve reduced me to skin and bones. My gaunt flesh testifies against me.
MSG
8 You've shriveled me like a dried prune, showing the world that you're against me. My gaunt face stares back at me from the mirror, a mute witness to your treatment of me.
CSB
8 You have shriveled me up-it has become a witness; My frailty rises up against me and testifies to my face.

Job 16:8 Meaning and Commentary

Job 16:8

And thou hast filled me with wrinkles
Not through old age, but through affliction, which had sunk his flesh, and made furrows in him, so that he looked older than he was, and was made old thereby before his time; see ( Lamentations 3:4 ) ; for this is to be understood of his body, for as for his soul, that through the grace of God, and righteousness of Christ, was without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing:

[which] is a witness [against me];
as it was improved by his friends, who represented his afflictions as proofs and testimonies of his being a bad man; though these wrinkles were witnesses for him, as it may be as well supplied, that he really was an afflicted man:

and my leanness rising up in me;
his bones standing up, and standing out, and having scarce anything on them but skin, the flesh being gone:

beareth witness to my face;
openly, manifestly, to full conviction; not that he was a sinful man, but an afflicted man; Eliphaz had no reason to talk to Job of a wicked man's being covered with fatness, and of collops of fat on his flanks, ( Job 15:27 ) ;

Job 16:8 In-Context

6 “Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved; and if I refrain, it does not go away.
7 Surely, God, you have worn me out; you have devastated my entire household.
8 You have shriveled me up—and it has become a witness; my gauntness rises up and testifies against me.
9 God assails me and tears me in his anger and gnashes his teeth at me; my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.
10 People open their mouths to jeer at me; they strike my cheek in scorn and unite together against me.

Cross References 2

  • 1. Job 17:7; Job 19:20; Job 33:21; Psalms 6:7; Psalms 22:17; Psalms 88:9; Psalms 102:5; Psalms 109:24; Lamentations 5:17
  • 2. S Job 10:17
Scripture quoted by permission.  Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.  NIV®.  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica.  All rights reserved worldwide.