Job 10 4

Job 10:4 kjv

Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?

Job 10:4 nkjv

Do You have eyes of flesh? Or do You see as man sees?

Job 10:4 niv

Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as a mortal sees?

Job 10:4 esv

Have you eyes of flesh? Do you see as man sees?

Job 10:4 nlt

Are your eyes like those of a human?
Do you see things only as people see them?

Job 10 verses

Job 10 4 Meaning

Job 10:4 expresses Job's profound question to God regarding the nature of His judgment. Faced with immense suffering, Job rhetorically asks if God's perception and insight are limited, fallible, or biased, akin to human perception which is often restricted to outward appearance and prone to error. He challenges whether God's vision is constrained by the same physical, temporal, or flawed understanding that characterizes mortal man.

Job 10 4 Context

Job 10:4 is part of Job's sustained lament and direct address to God, spanning chapters 9 and 10. Having just been challenged by his friend Bildad to acknowledge his sin as the cause of his suffering, Job shifts his focus directly to God. He acknowledges God's omnipotent power (Job 9:4-10) but laments that this power feels arbitrary and oppressive in his own experience (Job 9:11-24). Job believes he is innocent of significant wrongdoing (Job 9:30-31), yet God is treating him as a guilty man. In this specific chapter, Job continues his plea, desperately wishing for an audience with God where he could present his case (Job 10:2-3). This verse, therefore, represents Job's anguished questioning of divine justice, not necessarily a denial of God's nature, but a wrestling with how God's divine attributes reconcile with his intense, seemingly undeserved suffering. Job wonders if God, for some reason, is not perceiving his integrity accurately, or is applying human-like limited judgment to his unique case.

Job 10 4 Word analysis

• הַעֵינֵי (ha-`einei): "Hast thou eyes of" - From ayin (עַיִן), meaning "eye," here in the construct plural, indicating "eyes of." The prefix ha- indicates a rhetorical question, anticipating a negative answer from a divine being. This highlights the faculty of perception and understanding.
• בָשָׂר (basar): "flesh" - This crucial term refers to human physical being, signifying weakness, mortality, frailty, and inherently limited understanding. It stands in stark contrast to the divine, spiritual, and all-encompassing nature of God. Its use here immediately juxtaposes divine omniscience with human frailty.
• לָךְ (lach): "to thee / for thee / belong to thee" - The preposition le- (ל) with the 2nd person masculine singular suffix, indicating possession or belonging. "Do fleshly eyes belong to you?"
• אִם (im): "or" - Introduces the second part of the disjunctive rhetorical question, offering an alternative parallel challenge to God's perception. It essentially means "Or is it as..."
• כִּרְאוֹת (kir'ot): "like seeing" or "as man seeth" - A compound word from ke- (כ), meaning "like" or "as," and ra'ah (רָאָה), meaning "to see" or "to perceive," here in the infinitive construct form, acting as a noun "the act of seeing." It refers to the manner or way of perception.
• אֱנוֹשׁ (`enosh): "man" or "mortal man" - Distinct from adam (אָדָם), which often refers to humanity in a broader sense or humankind as a whole. Enosh emphasizes human mortality, weakness, and inherent frailty, highlighting the limitations that stem from human nature itself, in contrast to divine perfection. Job chooses enosh to underscore the specific frailty associated with human perception.
• תִּרְאֶה (tir'eh): "thou wilt see / dost thou see" - The 2nd person masculine singular imperfect form of ra'ah (רָאָה), "to see." The imperfect can denote continuous action or a characteristic quality. Here it implies, "Is it characteristic of You to see like this?"

Words-group by words-group analysis:

• "הַעֵינֵי בָשָׂר לָךְ" (ha-`einei basar lach) - "Hast thou eyes of flesh?": This phrase is a forceful rhetorical question challenging the very nature of God's perceptive capabilities. By asking if God has "eyes of flesh," Job implies an unfathomable thought: could God's vision be limited, fallible, and biased, like a human's? It posits a paradox: God, who is spirit and all-knowing, cannot possibly possess physical, limited senses. Yet, Job's experience makes him wonder if God is acting as if He does. It also suggests that God might be judging based on outward appearance or partial information, similar to how humans, with their physical senses, perceive reality superficially.
• "אִם כִּרְאוֹת אֱנוֹשׁ תִּרְאֶה" (im kir'ot `enosh tir'eh) - "or seest thou as man seeth?": This is the second part of Job's compound rhetorical question, deepening the challenge. It shifts from the instrument of sight ("eyes of flesh") to the manner of seeing ("as man seeth"). By enosh (mortal man), Job emphasizes the inherent limitations of humanity – our fallibility, our tendency to error, our partial understanding, and our being swayed by outward appearances. Job is wrestling with the idea that the Creator of the universe might perceive things with the same limitations that His creatures do, thereby rendering His judgment of Job flawed or misinformed. This challenges the very bedrock of divine justice and omniscience in Job's tortured mind.

Job 10 4 Bonus section

• The rhetorical questions in Job 10:4 are typical of lament psalms and prophetic accusations in ancient Near Eastern literature, where the speaker would directly challenge the divine or higher powers to make sense of perceived injustice.
• This verse provides a crucial contrast to other biblical passages affirming God's non-human nature (e.g., Num 23:19) and perfect sight (e.g., 1 Sam 16:7). Job's statement is not theological assertion but a desperate existential query arising from the deepest suffering, a question that the Book of Job itself grapples to answer.
• The terms basar and enosh collectively reinforce the frailty, temporality, and sinfulness often associated with humanity in Hebrew thought, further magnifying the conceptual gap Job posits between divine and human perception.

Job 10 4 Commentary

Job 10:4 encapsulates the raw anguish and theological struggle of a righteous sufferer who feels inexplicably abandoned and tormented by God. It is a profoundly human cry, not an outright denial of God's character, but a desperate search for coherence between God's known perfection and Job's personal catastrophe. Job knows intellectually that God is not human, does not have human limitations, and sees perfectly (a core Israelite belief often contrasted with pagan gods). However, his suffering creates an experiential dilemma: if God sees perfectly, why does He not see Job's innocence? Why does He treat Job as guilty? This verse acts as a lament that pushes against anthropomorphic notions of God's limitations while simultaneously struggling to reconcile God's true nature with Job's painful reality. It probes the boundaries of divine justice and understanding, forcing the reader to confront the paradox of God's incomprehensibility in the face of suffering. The question underscores Job's sense of injustice, hinting that if God's perspective were truly like a human's, then His harsh treatment of Job might be understandable (as a mistake), but since God is God, Job finds his suffering utterly baffling.