The Meaning of Job 26:4 Explained

Job 26:4

KJV: To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee?

YLT: With whom hast thou declared words? And whose breath came forth from thee?

Darby: For whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee?

ASV: To whom hast thou uttered words? And whose spirit came forth from thee?

KJV Reverse Interlinear

To whom hast thou uttered  words?  and whose spirit  came  from thee? 

What does Job 26:4 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 26:1-14 - "the Outskirts Of His Ways"
Job taunts Bildad with his reply as having imparted no help or thought. He then proceeds, Job 26:5-14, to give a description of God's power as manifested in Hades, in space, in the clouds, in the ocean, and throughout the universe. The spirits of the dead tremble before Him; the grave and destruction that veil themselves in night are stripped before His gaze; the world itself is suspended in space by invisible threads (a wonderful foreshadowing of the true theory of the earth); the waters are held in the clouds, which do not burst under their weight but act as the veil of God's throne; the sea owns His authority, hushing under His word or rising in its might; His breath brings the dawn; His hand strangles the dragon, as representing a well-known constellation, Draco. But these are only the outskirts of His ways. Great as is their acclaim as they circle His throne in thunder and splendor, they are but as a whisper compared with His divine power and Godhead. All that the scientist has known of God is, when compared with His essential nature, what the quiver of a leaf in the breeze is to the crash of the thunder-peal. This, O child of God, is thy Father, and His power is for thy defense. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 26

1  Job, reproving the uncharitable spirit of Bildad
5  acknowledges the power of God to be infinite and unsearchable

What do the individual words in Job 26:4 mean?

To whom have you uttered words and the spirit of whom came from you
אֶת־ מִ֭י הִגַּ֣דְתָּ ؟ מִלִּ֑ין וְנִשְׁמַת־ מִ֝י יָצְאָ֥ה מִמֶּֽךָּ

מִ֭י  whom 
Parse: Interrogative
Root: מִי  
Sense: who?, whose?, whom?, would that, whoever, whosoever.
הִגַּ֣דְתָּ  have  you  uttered 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Perfect, second person masculine singular
Root: נָגַד  
Sense: to be conspicuous, tell, make known.
؟ מִלִּ֑ין  words 
Parse: Noun, feminine plural
Root: מִלָּה  
Sense: word, speech, utterance.
וְנִשְׁמַת־  and  the  spirit 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, feminine singular construct
Root: נְשָׁמָה  
Sense: breath, spirit.
מִ֝י  of  whom 
Parse: Interrogative
Root: מִי  
Sense: who?, whose?, whom?, would that, whoever, whosoever.
יָצְאָ֥ה  came 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person feminine singular
Root: יׄוצֵאת 
Sense: to go out, come out, exit, go forth.
מִמֶּֽךָּ  from  you 
Parse: Preposition, second person masculine singular
Root: מִן 
Sense: from, out of, on account of, off, on the side of, since, above, than, so that not, more than.