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EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

Job 4:10-11

Eliphaz argued that God punishes evil men. Eliphaz said that evil men are like angry lions. These lions seem terrible. But really, they are hopeless, because they have no teeth. So evil men seem terrible, but really, they are hopeless.

God did not agree with Eliphaz’s opinion about lions. In Job 38:39-40, God reminded the men that he created lions. And God provides food, even for lions. The lions do not need to search for food. The lions can wait in their home. God will provide their food.

God even cares about evil people. God provides rain, so that their crops will grow (Matthew 5:45). And God sent Jesus to die for evil people, so that God can forgive their evil deeds (Romans 5:8).

Eliphaz’s strange dream

v12 I heard a secret whisper. v13 And I saw a strange dream. It happened by night, when men sleep deeply. v14 I was so afraid! Even my bones were shaking!

v15 I saw a spirit. My hairs stood up. v16 The spirit stopped. But I could not recognise it. I saw its shape. And I heard its quiet voice.

v17 The spirit said, ‘Men are so weak! Nobody is better than God. Even strong men are not innocent. God, who made them, is their judge.

v18 God does not trust his servants. God even accuses his servants in heaven. v19 And men are much worse. The bodies of men are like mud huts. And their bodies belong in the earth. Men die like insects. v20 Men, like insects, die in a single day. Nobody notices their deaths. And they will not live again. v21 They fall, like a tent with no strings to hold it. And they die without wisdom.’

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See also Job 4:10-11 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Job 4:10. _THE ROARING OF THE LION_] By the roaring lion, fierce lion, old lion, stout lion, and lion's whelps, tyrannous rulers of all kinds are intended. The design of Eliphaz in using these...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    THE ROARING OF THE LION - This is evidently a continuation of the argument in the preceding verses, and Eliphaz is stating what had occurred under his own observation. The expressions have much of a p...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    CHAPTER S 4-5 THE FIRST ADDRESS OF ELIPHAZ _ 1. He rebukes Job (Job 4:1)_ 2. The righteous are not cast off (Job 4:6) 3. An awe-inspiring vision (Job 4:12) 4. Experience and exhortation ...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    Eliphaz is provoked to reply, in spite of his unwillingness, by the tone of Job's speech, which seems to him altogether irreverent. He wonders that Job, who had comforted so many others in trouble, sh...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    First, Eliphaz wonders that Job, who had comforted so many in trouble, and who was a righteous man, should fall into such despair under his afflictions, forgetting the great principle that the righteo...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    The sudden destruction of the wicked is thrown by Eliphaz into another graphic figure, the breaking-up and dispersion of a den of lions. There are five words used for lion in these verses, some of whi...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    Third, surely instead of despairing and murmuring under his afflictions Job should follow a very different way. I, says Eliphaz, putting himself in Job's place, would seek unto God, all whose doings a...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    BY THE BLAST OF GOD THEY PERISH, &C.— _By the breath of God they perish; for, at the blast of his anger, the roarings of the lion, and the growling of the black lion, are hushed, and the teeth of the...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    TEXT 4:1-11 4 THEN ANSWERED ELIPHAZ THE TEMANITE, AND SAID, 2 If one assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? But who can withhold himself from speaking? 3 Behold, thou hast instructed man...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    _THE ROARING OF THE LION, AND THE VOICE OF THE FIERCE LION, AND THE TEETH OF THE YOUNG LIONS, ARE BROKEN._ Lion - i:e., wicked men, upon whom Eliphaz wished to show that calamities come in spite of t...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    THE FIRST SPEECH OF ELIPHAZ (JOB 4:5) Eliphaz is the principal and probably the oldest of the three friends: cp. Job 32:6. He is also the most considerate. But the complainings of Job in Job 3 had evi...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    שַׁאֲגַ֣ת אַ֭רְיֵה וְ קֹ֣ול שָׁ֑חַל וְ שִׁנֵּ

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    VII. THE THINGS ELIPHAZ HAD SEEN Job 4:1; Job 5:1 ELIPHAZ SPEAKS THE ideas of sin and suffering against which the poem of Job was written come now dramatically into view. The belief of the three fr...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    “SHALL MORTAL MAN BE MORE JUST THAN GOD?” Job 4:1 The first cycle of speeches is opened by Eliphaz. It must be remembered that he and the two others believed that special suffering resulted from and...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    Now begins the great controversy between Job and his friends, which occupies the major portion of the Book. This controversy moves in three cycles. The first, commencing here, runs through chapter fou...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    The roaring of the (g) lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken. (g) Though men according to their office do not punish tyrants (whom for their cruelty he...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    (7) В¶ Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off? (8) Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same. (9) By the bl...

  • John Brown Commentaries Selected Books of the Bible

    Eliphaz Relying on Experience I. INTRODUCTION A. Last week, in Chapter 3, Job was at the height of his deep, dark, depression! 1. In fact, he stated over and over again that he wished that he had n...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY COVERS CHAPTER S 4 THROUGH 31. As to the friends of Job, they do not call for any extended remarks. They urge the doctrine that God's earthly government is a full measure and...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    THE ROARING OF THE LION, AND THE VOICE OF THE FIERCE LION,.... Which Aben Ezra interprets of God himself, who is compared to a lion; who not only by his voice terrifies, but in his wrath tears the wic...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken. Ver. 10. _The roaring of the lion, &c._] Lest any should think, saith Mr Caryl, that the blast...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _How much less in them_ Doth he _put trust_, &c., or, _How much more_ (as the Hebrew particle א Š, _aph_, equally signifies) _doth he charge folly on them_, &c. One or other of these supplements seems...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _By the blast of God they perish_, &c. These two verses are thus interpreted by Heath: _By the breath of God they perish; for, at the blast of his anger, the roarings of the lion, and the growling of...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    Job having thus given way to his impatience, his friends thought it their duty to correct him. But instead of showing him in what respect his position was wrong, they proceed according to the assumpti...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    The roaring of the lion, as he goes forth to seize and tear his prey, and the voice of the fierce lion, of the roarer who shows his angry temper, AND THE TEETH OF THE YOUNG LIONS ARE BROKEN....

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    ELIPHAZ: COMMENDATION TWISTED INTO REBUKE (vv.1-6) The three friends of Job could only think of God's justice in reference to Job's sufferings, and had no idea of God's love. Eliphaz no doubt though...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    7-11 Eliphaz argues, 1. That good men were never thus ruined. But there is one event both to the righteous and to the wicked, Ecclesiastes 9:2, both in life and death; the great and certain differenc...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    THE VOICE OF THE FIERCE LION;_ understand vanisheth_, or _perisheth_, out of JOB 4:9; or, is restrained, or suppressed, as may be gathered out of the following branch of this verse. THE TEETH OF THE Y...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Job 4:10 roaring H7581 lion H738 voice H6963 lion H7826 teeth H8127 lions H3715 broken H5421 (H8738) the teet

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Eliphaz's theory in regard to Job's suffering. CHARACTERS: God, Eliphaz, Job. CONCLUSION: Those who pass rash and uncharitable censures upon their brethren, do Satan's work. We should be c...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Job 4:1. _Eliphaz answered,_ being the eldest, or the more eloquent. Job 4:3. _Thou hast instructed many._ The holy patriarchs were all preachers of righteousness on the sabbath days, &c, He admits t...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said._ THE FIRST COLLOQUY At this point we pass into the poem proper. It opens with three colloquies between Job and his friends. In form these colloquies clos...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    _COMMENCEMENT OF THE CONTROVERSY BETWEEN JOB AND HIS THREE FRIENDS_ First Course of the Speeches. First Dialogue,—Eliphaz and Job FIRST SPEECH OF ELIPHAZ _Eliphaz censures Job for his impatience, an...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION Job having ended his complaint, Eliphaz the Temanite, the first-named of his three friends (Job 2:11), and perhaps the eldest of them, takes the word, and endeavours to answer him. After a...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    So Job has made his complaint, and so Eliphaz, his friend who came to comfort him, he said, If we attempt to talk to you, will you be grieved? [But really after what you've said] who can keep silent?...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    Job 29:17; Proverbs 30:14; Psalms 3:7; Psalms 57:4; Psalms 58:6...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    THE PHILOSOPHY OF ELIPHAZ Job 4:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS We are now approaching a part of the Book of Job that is most interesting. Job's three friends have at last broken their silence, and Eliphaz th...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    The roaring — Nor can they escape, even were they strong as lions, yea, as the strongest and fiercest of them. Broken — Which is true literally; the lions when taken having most commonly their teeth b...

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