Job 4:4

Your words have upheld the stumbling,

            Strengthening faltering knees.

 

My knees are faltering and have caused me a fair bit of stumbling, so I identify with the physical nature of these words. Last week I exercised twice, and my knees flared up after a good long while of no pain. But words do not help those in physical ailment so much as words can help those who are struggling in other areas. This is the arena into which we assume Job’s actions are being discussed.

The focus of the passage is the impact that Job’s words had on others and therefore the impact our words can have on those around us. No “variation in translation” was observed in this.

“Upheld” was selected from “supported”, “kept from falling”, “pick up”, and “lifted up”. No real difference in meaning among these choices but upheld simply felt more poetic.

“The stumbling” had a little more competition with “those who were stumbling”, “those who stumbled”, “him who was stumbling”, “him that was falling”, “(kept) who stumbled from falling”, “men who had fallen”, and simply “the stumbler”. The stumbling won out with its simplicity, sense of plurality, and of helping before they actually fell. I am not sure how the text would support both stumbling and falling in the same passage, but it seemed too many words anyway.

My summary of the first stich would be our need to encourage those who are struggling.

The second stitch has a little more flavor to it. Action options include “made firm”, “braced”, “bolstered”, and of course strengthened. I liked bolstered, but it seemed too physical as did braced. Made firm was a little too permanent for what I felt the impact of encouraging generally has.

Faltering was picked over “feeble”, “that gave way”, “buckling”, “bended”, and “weak”. “Bended” was a little out of sync with the impression given. “That gave way” matches the aspect of already failed that I did not like in “men who had fallen”. “Weak” and “feeble” gave only the image of old or injured and lacked the context of someone just struggling. “Buckling” was again too physical for my view of the passage.

My summary of the first stitch (as normal) captures that of the second.

The passage praises Job for some of what he had done before “God punished his sin” in the eyes of Eliphaz. Eliphaz is telling Job, that as a sinner, all the good he ever did is now worthless since he has been caught in sin. Again, Eliphaz is not acting as his friend, but as his rival. He does not expect Job to recover, he does not expect for God to weigh in on the discussion, and he is tearing down Job and all that he ever did in order to take his place as the regional leader. The deceit and self-serving rhetoric is covered by the aspect of praise flowing in the words.

When I was younger, I would have had an expectation that I could take this verse and use it alone to help make myself better. The phrase does have a positive aspect to it, but with the context of the story of Job, the words of Job, and the position of Eliphaz, there is a whole deeper dimension of how we can learn to live successfully for God among the lost.

Encourage everyone but deflect all praise to God. We will stumble, but He will endure.