The Meaning of Job 33:13 Explained

Job 33:13

KJV: Why dost thou strive against him? for he giveth not account of any of his matters.

YLT: Wherefore against Him hast thou striven, When for all His matters He answereth not?

Darby: Why dost thou strive against him? for he giveth not account of any of his matters.

ASV: Why dost thou strive against him, For that he giveth not account of any of his matters?

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Why dost thou strive  against him? for he giveth not account  of any of his matters. 

What does Job 33:13 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 33:1-33 - The Interpreter
It is not wonderful that Elihu has been mistaken for the Mediator Himself, so helpfully does he interpose between Job and his Maker. He dwells especially on his own likeness to Job in his manhood, and quotes this as the reason why he could specially help him: I also am formed out of the clay. So also our High Priest is man. Elihu takes up Job's words protesting his innocence, and he insists that Job was not right in those protestations, or in the conclusions that he drew from them.
Then follows one of the grandest passages in the book. Elihu tells how God speaks in nature and through conscience, and is often disregarded; and how then he speaks by revelation, opening the ears of men to withdraw them from their purpose. He shows that God often lays a man upon a bed of pain, that He may speak to his heart. Happy is the afflicted if an interpreter stands beside him to point the path to repentance. Finally, broken and penitent, he turns back to God, and sees His face with joy, and sings before men the story of his restoration. Thus Elihu argues that affliction is often sent as discipline to read to man God's deepest truth. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 33

1  Elihu offers himself instead of God to reason with Job
8  He excuses God from giving man an account of his ways, by his greatness
14  God calls man to repentance by visions, by afflictions, and by his ministry
31  He incites Job to attention

What do the individual words in Job 33:13 mean?

Why with Him do you contend for any of His words not He does give an accounting of
מַ֭דּוּעַ אֵלָ֣יו רִיב֑וֹתָ כִּ֥י כָל־ דְּ֝בָרָ֗יו לֹ֣א־ יַעֲנֶֽה

מַ֭דּוּעַ  Why 
Parse: Interrogative
Root: מַדּוּעַ  
Sense: why?, on what account?, wherefore?.
אֵלָ֣יו  with  Him 
Parse: Preposition, third person masculine singular
Root: אֶל  
Sense: to, toward, unto (of motion).
רִיב֑וֹתָ  do  you  contend 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, second person masculine singular
Root: רִיב  
Sense: to strive, contend.
כָל־  any 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: כֹּל  
Sense: all, the whole.
דְּ֝בָרָ֗יו  of  His  words 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, third person masculine singular
Root: דָּבָר  
Sense: speech, word, speaking, thing.
יַעֲנֶֽה  He  does  give  an  accounting  of 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: לְעַנּׄות 
Sense: to answer, respond, testify, speak, shout.