The Meaning of Job 16:4 Explained

Job 16:4

KJV: I also could speak as ye do: if your soul were in my soul's stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you.

YLT: I also, like you, might speak, If your soul were in my soul's stead. I might join against you with words, And nod at you with my head.

Darby: I also could speak as ye: if your soul were in my soul's stead, I could join together words against you, and shake my head at you;

ASV: 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.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

I also could speak  as ye [do]: if  your soul  were  in my soul's  stead, I could heap up  words  against you, and shake  mine head  at  you. 

What does Job 16:4 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 16:1-22 - Turning From "miserable Comforters" Unto God
With bitterness the sufferer turns from his comforters to God. As the r.v. makes clear, he says that if he were in their place and they in his, instead of joining words together and evincing the pride of the immaculate, he would set himself to speak strengthening words and to assuage their grief by tender sympathy.
He compares his pains to the attack of a wild beast, Job 16:7-14; and from this he proceeds to describe the anguish of his grief, Job 16:15-20. But toward the end of the chapter a new thought begins to shape itself; and from his lowest despair he catches sight of a Vindicator and a vindication that must someday be his. Job 16:21 should be read as in the r.v., margin. Job wanted a son of man to plead for him; and his prayer has been more than answered in the Son of man, who pleads for us "not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an indissoluble life," Hebrews 7:16. "O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul," Lamentations 3:58. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 16

1  Job reproves his friends for unmercifulness
17  He maintains his innocence

What do the individual words in Job 16:4 mean?

also I as you [do] could speak if were your soul in place of my soul I could heap up against you words and shake at you my my head
גַּ֤ם ׀ אָנֹכִי֮ כָּכֶ֪ם אֲדַ֫בֵּ֥רָה ל֤וּ־ יֵ֪שׁ נַפְשְׁכֶ֡ם תַּ֤חַת נַפְשִׁ֗י אַחְבִּ֣ירָה עֲלֵיכֶ֣ם בְּמִלִּ֑ים וְאָנִ֥יעָה עֲ֝לֵיכֶ֗ם בְּמ֣וֹ רֹאשִֽׁי

גַּ֤ם ׀  also 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: גַּם  
Sense: also, even, indeed, moreover, yea.
כָּכֶ֪ם  as  you  [do] 
Parse: Preposition, second person masculine plural
אֲדַ֫בֵּ֥רָה  could  speak 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Imperfect Cohortative, first person common singular
Root: דָּבַר 
Sense: to speak, declare, converse, command, promise, warn, threaten, sing.
נַפְשְׁכֶ֡ם  your  soul 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct, second person masculine plural
Root: נֶפֶשׁ  
Sense: soul, self, life, creature, person, appetite, mind, living being, desire, emotion, passion.
תַּ֤חַת  in  place 
Parse: Preposition
Root: מִתְחָה 
Sense: the under part, beneath, instead of, as, for, for the sake of, flat, unto, where, whereas.
נַפְשִׁ֗י  of  my  soul 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct, first person common singular
Root: נֶפֶשׁ  
Sense: soul, self, life, creature, person, appetite, mind, living being, desire, emotion, passion.
אַחְבִּ֣ירָה  I  could  heap  up 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Imperfect Cohortative, first person common singular
Root: הִתְחַבְּרוּת 
Sense: to unite, join, bind together, be joined, be coupled, be in league, heap up, have fellowship with, be compact, be a charmer.
עֲלֵיכֶ֣ם  against  you 
Parse: Preposition, second person masculine plural
Root: עַל 
Sense: upon, on the ground of, according to, on account of, on behalf of, concerning, beside, in addition to, together with, beyond, above, over, by, on to, towards, to, against.
בְּמִלִּ֑ים  words 
Parse: Preposition-b, Noun, feminine plural
Root: מִלָּה  
Sense: word, speech, utterance.
וְאָנִ֥יעָה  and  shake 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Hifil, Conjunctive imperfect Cohortative, first person common singular
Root: נוּעַ  
Sense: to quiver, totter, shake, reel, stagger, wander, move, sift, make move, wave, waver, tremble.
עֲ֝לֵיכֶ֗ם  at  you 
Parse: Preposition, second person masculine plural
Root: עַל 
Sense: upon, on the ground of, according to, on account of, on behalf of, concerning, beside, in addition to, together with, beyond, above, over, by, on to, towards, to, against.
בְּמ֣וֹ  my 
Parse: Preposition
Root: בְּמֹו  
Sense: in, at, by.
רֹאשִֽׁי  my  head 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, first person common singular
Root: רֹאשׁ 
Sense: head, top, summit, upper part, chief, total, sum, height, front, beginning.