Chap. 4
Verse 1
In reply to Sommer, who in his excellent biblische Abhandlungen, 1846, considers the octastich as the extreme limit of the compass of the strophe, it is sufficient to refer to the Syriac strophe-system. It is, however, certainly an impossibility that, as Ewald (Jahrb. ix. 37) remarks with reference to the first speech of Jehovah, Job 38-39, the strophes can sometimes extend to a length of 12 lines = Masoretic verses, consequently consist of 24 στίχοι and more. Then Eliphaz the Temanite began, and said:
Verses 2-5
Job 4:2-5 2 If one attempts a word with thee, will it grieve thee?
And still to restrain himself from words, who is able? 3 Behold, thou hast instructed many,
And the weak hands thou hast strengthened. 4 The stumbling turned to thy words,
And the sinking knees thou hast strengthened. 5 But now it cometh to thee, thou art grieved;
Now it toucheth thee, thou despondest.
The question with which Eliphaz beings, is certainly one of those in which the tone of interrogation falls on the second of the paratactically connected sentences: Wilt thou, if we speak to thee, feel it unbearable? Similar examples are Job 4:21; Num 16:22; Jer 8:4; and with interrogative Wherefore? Isa 5:4; Isa 50:2 : comp. the similar paratactic union of sentences, Job 2:10; Job 3:11. The question arises
