ESTUDIO DEL CAPÍTULO
Job 16 — Job's Cry for a Heavenly Witness
Job answers his friends with sharp rebuke, then turns to a graphic lament describing God as his attacker, before appealing to a heavenly witness and intercessor.
Escritura
- 1.Respondió Job, y dijo:Then Job answered and said,
- 2.Muchas veces he oído cosas como estas; Consoladores molestos sois todos vosotros.I have heard many such things: Miserable comforters are ye all.
- 3.¿Tendrán fin las palabras vacías? ¿O qué te anima a responder?Shall vain words have an end? Or what provoketh thee that thou answerest?
- 4.También yo podría hablar como vosotros, Si vuestra alma estuviera en lugar de la mía; Yo podría hilvanar contra vosotros palabras, Y sobre vosotros mover mi cabeza.I also could speak as ye do; If your soul were in my soul's stead, I could join words together against you, And shake my head at you.
- 5.Pero yo os alentaría con mis palabras, Y la consolación de mis labios apaciguaría vuestro dolor.But I would strengthen you with my mouth, And the solace of my lips would assuage your grief.
- 6.Si hablo, mi dolor no cesa; Y si dejo de hablar, no se aparta de mí.Though I speak, my grief is not assuaged; And though I forbear, what am I eased?
- 7.Pero ahora tú me has fatigado; Has asolado toda mi compañía.But now he hath made me weary: Thou hast made desolate all my company.
- 8.Tú me has llenado de arrugas; testigo es mi flacura, Que se levanta contra mí para testificar en mi rostro.And 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.
- 9.Su furor me despedazó, y me ha sido contrario; Crujió sus dientes contra mí; Contra mí aguzó sus ojos mi enemigo.He hath torn me in his wrath, and persecuted me; He hath gnashed upon me with his teeth: Mine adversary sharpeneth his eyes upon me.
- 10.Abrieron contra mí su boca; Hirieron mis mejillas con afrenta; Contra mí se juntaron todos.They have gaped upon me with their mouth; They have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully: They gather themselves together against me.
- 11.Me ha entregado Dios al mentiroso, Y en las manos de los impíos me hizo caer.God delivereth me to the ungodly, And casteth me into the hands of the wicked.
- 12.Próspero estaba, y me desmenuzó; Me arrebató por la cerviz y me despedazó, Y me puso por blanco suyo.I was at ease, and he brake me asunder; Yea, he hath taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces: He hath also set me up for his mark.
- 13.Me rodearon sus flecheros, Partió mis riñones, y no perdonó; Mi hiel derramó por tierra.His archers compass me round about; He cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; He poureth out my gall upon the ground.
- 14.Me quebrantó de quebranto en quebranto; Corrió contra mí como un gigante.He breaketh me with breach upon breach; He runneth upon me like a giant.
- 15.Cosí cilicio sobre mi piel, Y puse mi cabeza en el polvo.I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, And have laid my horn in the dust.
- 16.Mi rostro está inflamado con el lloro, Y mis párpados entenebrecidos,My face is red with weeping, And on my eyelids is the shadow of death;
- 17.A pesar de no haber iniquidad en mis manos, Y de haber sido mi oración pura.Although there is no violence in my hands, And my prayer is pure.
- 18.¡Oh tierra! no cubras mi sangre, Y no haya lugar para mi clamor.O earth, cover not thou my blood, And let my cry have no resting -place.
- 19.Mas he aquí que en los cielos está mi testigo, Y mi testimonio en las alturas.Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, And he that voucheth for me is on high.
- 20.Disputadores son mis amigos; Mas ante Dios derramaré mis lágrimas.My friends scoff at me: But mine eye poureth out tears unto God,
- 21.¡Ojalá pudiese disputar el hombre con Dios, Como con su prójimo!That he would maintain the right of a man with God, And of a son of man with his neighbor!
- 22.Mas los años contados vendrán, Y yo iré por el camino de donde no volveré.For when a few years are come, I shall go the way whence I shall not return.
Qué significa este pasaje
The chapter opens with Job dismissing the three friends as 'miserable comforters' (v. 2). He insists that empty, windy words have no end and that he could easily retort in kind if their places were exchanged (vv. 3–4). What he wants to do instead is genuinely strengthen and relieve them — 'I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the solace of my lips would assuage your grief' (v. 5) — which makes their actual failure the more pointed. The chapter thus establishes a contrast between the comfort Job could give and the comfort he actually receives: none.
The middle of the chapter (vv. 7–17) shifts to a complaint against God. Job describes God as the one who has wearied him, made his household desolate, seized him as a witness, and torn at him in wrath (vv. 7–9). The imagery intensifies: enemies gape, smite his cheek, and God 'delivereth me to the ungodly' (vv. 10–11). God is pictured as a warrior who breaks him, takes him by the neck, sets him up as a target, and surrounds him with archers who pierce his kidneys without sparing (vv. 12–14). Job responds with mourning rites — sewing sackcloth upon his skin, defiling his horn in the dust (v. 15) — and confesses that his face is red with weeping while his hands are free of violence and his prayer is pure (vv. 16–17).
The final section (vv. 18–22) moves from accusation to appeal. Job cries to the earth not to cover his blood and not to give his outcry a resting place (v. 18). Then, against all that God seems to be doing, he declares: 'Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he that voucheth for me is on high' (v. 19). He longs for one who would arbitrate between man and God, 'as a son of man with his neighbor' (v. 21). The chapter ends on a note of mortality: a few years, and Job will go the way of no return (v. 22). The plea for a mediator therefore stands at the very edge of death.
Contexto
Job 16 sits within the poetic dialogue section of the book and continues the cycle of speeches between Job and his three friends. In the immediately surrounding chapters, Job has already protested that God treats him as an enemy (Job 13:24) and asked the perennial question 'If a man die, shall he live again?' (Job 14:10–14). Job 10:17 had earlier complained that God 'renewest thy witnesses against me' and 'increasest thine indignation.' The chapter therefore echoes Job's earlier sense of being besieged by divine witnesses and indictments while pressing further toward a heavenly advocate.
The chapter's culminating appeal — that there is a witness in heaven and a mediator between man and God — anticipates later scriptural developments of intercession and advocacy, and the provided cross references connect this cry to parallel psalms of the sufferer who is mocked, smitten, and poured out in complaint (Psalms 22, 35, 109, 142), to Genesis 37:34 where sackcloth marks mourning for the wrongly accused, and to Job's own prior speeches in Job 10 and 13–14.
Palabras clave del original
- H5162 From the Hebrew root nāḥam (to sigh, pity, console, or avenge). In Job 16:2 it is used ironically of the friends as 'comforters' — Job immediately labels them 'miserable,' since the consolation they offer only adds to his grief.
- H7307 rûaḥ means wind, breath, spirit. In Job 16:3 Job calls the friends' words 'windy' — hollow, empty speech with no real substance — highlighting that their counsel is more breath than truth.
- H8242 The noun śāḥal, often rendered 'sackcloth,' denotes the coarse mourning garment worn against the skin. In 16:15 Job 'sews' it onto his skin and lays his horn in the dust — signs of total humiliation before God and acknowledgment that his former strength is reduced to nothing.
Versículos relacionados
- Psalms 22:13 Both Job and the psalmist describe enemies who 'gape' with the mouth against the sufferer. The animal imagery of a roaring predator accents the helplessness Job feels as he is surrounded by hostile mockers.
- Psalms 35:15 This psalm laments that adversaries 'gather themselves together' against the sufferer and 'did tear me, and ceased not.' The same language of collective assault surfaces in Job 16:10, where the mockers come together against him.
- Job 13:24 Job earlier asked why God 'holdest me for thine enemy.' Chapter 16 deepens that question by portraying God as the very attacker, while still clinging to the hope that somewhere on high there is a witness who vouches for him.
Preguntas frecuentes
Why does Job call his friends 'miserable comforters' in Job 16:2?
Job means that instead of relieving his suffering, their explanations and accusations have deepened it. He contrasts what genuine consolation would look like (vv. 4–5) with what he has actually received from them: empty, windy words that only add to his grief.
Who is the 'witness in heaven' that Job appeals to in Job 16:19?
The text does not identify the figure by name; Job simply states that his witness is in heaven and his vouching advocate is on high (v. 19), and he prays for one who would arbitrate between man and God (v. 21). The passage itself stops short of saying who this figure is, leaving it as an unresolved longing within the chapter.
What is the significance of Job sewing sackcloth on his skin in Job 16:15?
Sewing sackcloth onto the skin is an extreme mourning gesture, going beyond simply wearing it. By doing so, Job signals total humiliation before God and acknowledges that his former 'horn' — a symbol of strength and dignity — has been dragged down to the dust.