The Meaning of Job 9:16 Explained

Job 9:16

KJV: If I had called, and he had answered me; yet would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice.

YLT: Though I had called and He answereth me, I do not believe that He giveth ear to my voice.

Darby: If I had called, and he had answered me, I would not believe that he hearkened to my voice, --

ASV: If I had called, and he had answered me, Yet would I not believe that he hearkened unto my voice.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

If I had called,  and he had answered  me; [yet] would I not believe  that he had hearkened  unto my voice. 

What does Job 9:16 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 9:1-35 - "the Daysman"
Ponder the sublimity of the conceptions of God given in this magnificent passage. To God are attributed the earthquake that rocks the pillars on which the world rests, Job 9:6; the eclipse which hides the heavenly bodies, Job 9:7; the storm in which he bows the heavens and treads majestically on the waves, Job 9:8; and the creation of the constellations, Job 9:9. Who can dare to argue with or call to account so great a God as this? Job 9:10-19. Even if a man be outwardly and inwardly righteous (that is, so far as the measure of his light), yet in such a Presence the heart of the most perfect must condemn him. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves"¦. God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." We cannot but feel that this old-world thinker had a truer view of that conscious imperfection and sin which must be experienced by every mortal who has a right appreciation of the holiness of God, than have those who refuse to say the Lord's Prayer because it contains a petition for forgiveness!
Truly we need that Daysman! But we have Him in Jesus our Mediator, who can lay His hand on God and us, Job 9:33; 1 Timothy 2:5. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 9

1  Job acknowledges God's justice
22  Man's innocence is not to be condemned by afflictions

What do the individual words in Job 9:16 mean?

If I called and He answered me not I would believe that He was listening to my voice
אִם־ קָרָ֥אתִי וַֽיַּעֲנֵ֑נִי לֹֽא־ אַ֝אֲמִ֗ין כִּֽי־ יַאֲזִ֥ין קוֹלִֽי

קָרָ֥אתִי  I  called 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, first person common singular
Root: קָרָא  
Sense: to call, call out, recite, read, cry out, proclaim.
וַֽיַּעֲנֵ֑נִי  and  He  answered  me 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Consecutive imperfect, third person masculine singular, first person common singular
Root: לְעַנּׄות 
Sense: to answer, respond, testify, speak, shout.
אַ֝אֲמִ֗ין  I  would  believe 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Imperfect, first person common singular
Root: אָמַן 
Sense: to support, confirm, be faithful.
כִּֽי־  that 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: כִּי 
Sense: that, for, because, when, as though, as, because that, but, then, certainly, except, surely, since.
יַאֲזִ֥ין  He  was  listening 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: אָזַן  
Sense: to hear, listen.
קוֹלִֽי  to  my  voice 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, first person common singular
Root: קֹול 
Sense: voice, sound, noise.