Job 16:22

22 Oh that a man might plead before the Lord, even the son of man with his neighbor!

Job 16:22 Meaning and Commentary

Job 16:22

When a few years are come
As the years of man's life are but few at most, and Job's years, which were yet to come, still fewer in his apprehension; or "years of number" F13, that are numbered by God, fixed and determined by him, ( Job 14:5 ) ; or being few are easily numbered:

then I shall go the way [whence] I shall not return;
that is, go the way of all flesh, a long journey; death itself is meant, which is a going out of this world into another, from whence there is no return to this again, to the same place, condition, circumstances, estate, and employment as now; otherwise there will be a resurrection from the dead, the bodies will rise out of the earth, and souls will be brought again to be united with them, but not to be in the same situation here as now: this Job observes either as a kind of solace to him under all his afflictions on himself, and from his friends, that in a little time it would be all over with him; or as an argument to hasten the pleading of his cause, that his innocence might be cleared before he died; and if this was not done quickly, it would be too late.


FOOTNOTES:

F13 (rpom twnv) "anni numeri", Montanus, Vatablus, Bolducius; "numbered days", Broughton; so Tigurine version.

Job 16:22 In-Context

20 And now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is on high.
21 Let my supplication come to the Lord, and let mine eye weep before him.
22 Oh that a man might plead before the Lord, even the son of man with his neighbor!
23 But my years are numbered and come, and I shall go by the way by which I shall not return.

The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.