Job15:1–35

“Corrupt”: the soured word Paul inherits verbal / quotation: confirmed

The Niphal participle נֶאֱלָח (v. 16, ʼâlach, H444) is extremely rare: the Verifier finds it in only 3 verses, here and in the twin Psalms 14:3 and 53:3, where all humankind is said to have turned aside and together become corrupt, with none doing good. Cambridge notes the same: “only here and Psalm 14:3 ( Psalm 53:3 ).” Barnes and JFB give the Arabic sense, milk gone sour. Eliphaz's universal indictment of man thus shares its key word with the Psalm Paul later strings into Romans 3:10 to 12 (that NT step is cross-Testament and is not part of this verbal badge).

Psalm 14:3 · Psalm 53:3

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H444 ʼâlach (in 3 vv); also cited by Cambridge. A rare shared word, not a quotation claim.

Meditation diminished, meditation loved verbal / quotation: confirmed

Eliphaz charges Job with diminishing שִׂיחָה before God (v. 4). The noun (sîychâh, H7881) occurs in just 3 verses per the Verifier: here and Psalm 119:97 and 99, where the psalmist's love for God's law becomes his all-day meditation. Barnes and Pulpit both cite Psalm 119:97 for the sense. The link sets Eliphaz's accusation against the psalmist's delight: the thing Job is accused of destroying is the loving absorption in God's word that the longest psalm celebrates.

Psalm 119:97 · Psalm 119:99

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H7881 sîychâh (in 3 vv); cited by Barnes and Pulpit.

The tongue of the crafty and the serpent verbal / quotation: confirmed

Eliphaz says Job chooses “the tongue of the עֲרוּמִים” (v. 5). Pulpit observes that Genesis 3:1 uses the same epithet for the serpent. The Verifier confirms the shared lexeme ʻârûwm (H6175, in 11 vv). The word is genuinely shared and rare; whether Eliphaz (or the poet) intends a serpent allusion is not demonstrable, since the word is also used positively of the prudent in Proverbs. The badge records the verbal link only.

Genesis 3:1

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H6175 ʻârûwm (in 11 vv). Shared word only; intent to allude to the serpent is Pulpit's suggestion, unproven.

Brought forth before the hills: Job and Wisdom structural / thematic: confirmed

Eliphaz's taunt (v. 7) uses the travail verb חוֹלָלְתָּ (chûwl, H2342) with “before the hills” (gibʻâh, H1389), the same pairing as Wisdom's words in Proverbs 8:25, where Wisdom says she was brought forth before the hills. Barnes, JFB, and Cambridge all cite Proverbs 8:25. K&D argues the dependence runs the other way (Proverbs adopting Job). Both shared words are common enough that the Verifier tiers the pair structural, not verbal; the shared motif (pre-creation birth conferring wisdom) is clear, the direction of borrowing is not.

Proverbs 8:25 · Psalm 90:2

basis: Verifier (pair check): shared lexemes H2342 chûwl (in 56 vv), H1389 gibʻâh (in 71 vv); a shared motif, not a confirmed quotation; direction of dependence disputed (K&D).

Who has stood in the council? structural / thematic: confirmed

“Did you listen in the סוֹד of Eloah?” (v. 8). The noun (çôwd, H5475) is the prophets' credential: Jeremiah 23:18 asks which of the false prophets has stood in the council of the LORD to see and hear His word (cited by K&D, Cambridge, Pulpit). The Verifier finds the shared lexeme (in 21 vv) and tiers the pair structural. Eliphaz's rhetorical question assumes the answer “no one”; Jeremiah's assumes that true prophets have. The reader of Job knows a council scene (1:6; 2:1) that none of the speakers has heard.

Jeremiah 23:18 · Psalm 89:7

basis: Verifier (pair check): shared lexeme H5475 çôwd (in 21 vv) plus common H8085; a shared motif of the divine council.

Conceive trouble, bear iniquity verbal / quotation: confirmed

v. 35's triad, הָרֹה עָמָל וְיָלֹד אָוֶן, “conceive trouble and give birth to evil,” recurs, in nearly the same words, in Psalm 7:14 (the wicked man conceives trouble and gives birth to falsehood) and Isaiah 59:4 (a people who conceive trouble and give birth to iniquity). The Verifier confirms the cluster: H2029 hârâh (in 42 vv), H5999 ʻâmâl (in 54 vv), H205 ʼâven (in 78 vv). Cambridge and Gill cite Psalm 7:14; Cambridge also Isaiah 59:4. This is a proverbial formula of the wisdom and prophetic tradition, which suits Eliphaz's claim to be passing on the sayings of the wise (v. 18).

Psalm 7:14 · Isaiah 59:4

basis: Verifier (pair check): shared lexemes H2029 hârâh (in 42 vv), H5999 ʻâmâl (in 54 vv), H205 ʼâven (in 78 vv), H3205 yâlad; a shared fixed formula rather than a direct citation of one text by another.

The flame of judgment and the flame of love verbal / quotation: confirmed

The שַׁלְהֶבֶת (shalhebeth, H7957) that withers the wicked man's shoots (v. 30) is a rare word (Verifier: in 3 vv). Ezekiel 20:47 uses it of the unquenchable flame God kindles against the forest of the south; Song of Songs 8:6 uses it of love itself, whose flashes are flames. Eliphaz's flame sides with Ezekiel's. The canon holds both senses of the same fire: judgment that consumes and love as strong as death.

Ezekiel 20:47 · Song of Solomon 8:6

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H7957 shalhebeth (in 3 vv), with H784 ʼêsh; a rare shared word, not a quotation.

Palm-branch and reed verbal / quotation: confirmed

“His כִּפָּה will not flourish” (v. 32). The noun (kippâh, H3712) occurs in 3 verses per the Verifier; Isaiah 9:14 and 19:15 use it in the proverb “palm branch and reed,” high and low cut off together. K&D draws on exactly this proverb to define the word as “the palm-branch bent downwards,” and Cambridge cites Isaiah 9:14. In Isaiah the pair names the whole of a nation cut off in a day; Eliphaz applies it to one man's line.

Isaiah 9:14 · Isaiah 19:15

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H3712 kippâh (in 3 vv); cited by K&D and Cambridge.

Barren: from Job's night to Zion's children verbal / quotation: confirmed

גַּלְמוּד (galmûwd, H1565), “barren” (v. 34), is rare (Verifier: in 4 vv). Ellicott notes it “was Job's own word ( Job 3:7 ),” where Job cursed the night of his conception to be barren. Isaiah 49:21 puts it in Zion's mouth: bereaved and barren, exiled, she marvels at the children God has nonetheless given her. Eliphaz uses the word to seal the fate of the godless; Isaiah uses it to set up God's astonishing reversal of barrenness. The book of Job ends in a similar reversal (42:13).

Isaiah 49:21 · Job 3:7

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H1565 galmûwd (in 4 vv) with Isaiah 49:21; Job 3:7 link noted by Ellicott.

The heavens not pure: the friends' refrain verbal / quotation: confirmed

“Even the heavens are not זַכּוּ in His eyes” (v. 15). The verb zâkak (H2141) is rare (Verifier: in 4 vv) and returns in Bildad's last speech, where even the stars are not pure in His sight (25:5). Barnes calls it “a kind of proverb, or a commonplace in theology among the sages.” The thought itself first appeared in Eliphaz's vision at 4:18 (a structural, not verbal, parallel; pair check gives only common shared words). The repetition shows the friends recycling one axiom while the argument goes nowhere.

Job 25:5 · Job 4:18

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H2141 zâkak (in 4 vv) with Job 25:5. Job 4:18 is a structural parallel only (pair check: H539 ʼâman in 99 vv, plus common words).

The aged: Job's words turned back verbal / quotation: confirmed

“With us are both the gray-haired and the יָשִׁישׁ” (v. 10). The rare adjective yâshîysh (H3453, Verifier: in 4 vv) appears in Job 12:12, where Job had granted that wisdom is found with the aged. Barnes, JFB, and Poole all note that Eliphaz is answering that line. Job had followed it at once by ascribing wisdom and might to God (12:13), relocating wisdom in God; Eliphaz takes back only the first half.

Job 12:12

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H3453 yâshîysh (in 4 vv) and H2451 chokmâh; noted by Barnes, JFB, Poole.

By the breath of His mouth structural / thematic: confirmed

The wicked man departs “by the breath of His mouth” (בְּרוּחַ פִּיו, v. 30). Isaiah 11:4 says the shoot of Jesse will slay the wicked with the breath of His lips. Poole, JFB, and Gill cite Isaiah 11:4; Poole and Gill add 2 Thessalonians 2:8. The Verifier pair check finds only common shared words (rûach, peh), so this is a shared motif of effortless divine judgment, not a verbal citation. The Isaiah text gives the motif a messianic bearer, developed in the christological reading.

Isaiah 11:4 · Job 4:9

basis: Verifier (pair check): shared lexemes H7307 rûwach (in 348 vv), H6310 peh (in 459 vv); common words, shared motif only.

Desire conceives: from Eliphaz to James structural / thematic: confirmed

v. 35's birth image of sin (conceive, bear, womb) is taken up in James 1:15, where desire conceives and gives birth to sin, and sin full-grown gives birth to death. Gill makes the connection explicitly in his note on v. 35. Because this link crosses from Hebrew to Greek, no shared Strong's lexeme can confirm it; it is a structural parallel of imagery (sin as conception and birth) shared by Job 15:35, Psalm 7:14, and James.

James 1:15 · Psalm 7:14

basis: Cross-Testament (Hebrew to Greek): no shared Strong's numbers possible; shared birth-of-sin imagery, cited by Gill. Not a quotation.

The One who was brought forth before the hills ancient/widely-held

⚙ Eliphaz's sarcasm (v. 7) assumes no man could have been born before the hills or have heard God's council. JFB reads the question as “Art thou wisdom personified? . . . the eternal Son of God,” pointing to Proverbs 8:25, and Gill asks, “Art thou the wisdom and son of God, who was before Abraham, before Adam?” The New Testament names a Son who was with God in the beginning (John 1:1 to 2), the firstborn over all creation, before all things and holding all things together (Colossians 1:15 to 17). What Eliphaz mocks as an impossible claim for Job is the true identity of Christ. K&D's caution stands: Eliphaz himself means only to deflate Job; the christological reading is canonical, not authorial.

Proverbs 8:25 · John 1:1 · Colossians 1:15

The Son who stood in the Father's council ancient/widely-held

⚙ “Did you listen in the council of Eloah?” (v. 8). Pulpit answers for every mortal: “No mortal man was ever admitted” (cf. Romans 11:34). Gill answers for one exception: “Christ, the son of God, was the Angel of the great council . . . in his bosom, and privy to all his thoughts.” John 1:18 says the one and only Son, at the Father's side, has made Him known, and Jesus tells his disciples that he has made known to them all he learned from his Father (John 15:15, cited by JFB on this verse). The question that silences Job is answered in Christ, who brings the council's secret into human speech.

John 1:18 · John 15:15 · Romans 11:34

Condemned by his own mouth: the righteous accused ancient/widely-held

⚙ “Your own mouth condemns you, not I” (v. 6). Pulpit sets this beside the trial of Jesus: “He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses?” (Matthew 26:65 to 66), adding, “Malevolence delights in misunderstanding and misinterpreting the utterances of the righteous.” Job, a righteous sufferer whose friends treat his suffering and his words as proof of guilt, prefigures the Righteous One condemned from his own testimony by those who claimed to defend God's honor. The reading of Job as a type of the suffering Christ is ancient in the church; the specific link to Matthew 26 here rests on Pulpit and is cross-Testament, so it is figural, not verbal.

Matthew 26:65 · 1 Peter 2:23

One born of woman who is righteous novel

⚙ “What is man, that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?” (v. 14). Eliphaz expects the answer “none,” and Henry and Gill accept the doctrine (Gill: none “can be made or reckoned righteous but by the obedience of Christ”). The New Testament answers with a single exception: God sent His Son, born of a woman and born under the law (Galatians 4:4), a high priest holy, innocent, and undefiled (Hebrews 7:26), and made the one who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). The tool offers this juxtaposition as its own: Eliphaz's question has its answer in the one woman-born man who is righteous and gives righteousness away. The phrase-level link to Galatians 4:4 is the tool's synthesis, not a recorded patristic reading of this verse.

Galatians 4:4 · Hebrews 7:26 · 2 Corinthians 5:21

The breath of His mouth ancient/widely-held

⚙ The wicked man is carried away “by the breath of His mouth” (v. 30). Poole explains: “he needs no arms or instruments; his word, his blast, one act of his will, is more than sufficient,” citing Isaiah 11:4 and 2 Thessalonians 2:8, as Gill does. Isaiah gives that breath to the shoot of Jesse; Paul gives it to the returning Lord Jesus, who will slay the lawless one “with the breath of His mouth”; Revelation 19:15 pictures the sword from His mouth. The judgment Eliphaz attributes to God in general, the canon places in the mouth of the Messiah, the same Word who in mercy breathed peace on his disciples (John 20:22).

Isaiah 11:4 · 2 Thessalonians 2:8 · Revelation 19:15