Bible Strands
Job 18:4
You who tear yourself in anger—should the earth be forsaken on your account, or the rocks be moved from their place?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Bildad addresses Job in response to Job’s complaint about being regarded as cattle. This dialogue occurs within the formal exchange of speeches between Job and his three friends.
The words — The Hebrew טֹֽרֵף (to.ref) literally means “tearing” or “rending,” and בְּ/אַ֫פּ֥/וֹ (be./'A.P/o) translates to “in his anger.” These terms describe a person whose emotional state drives self-destructive behavior.
The thread — The motif of displaced rocks appears in Job 14:18, while the theme of anger tearing appears in Job 16:9. Resentment and its destructive consequences are also noted in Job 5:2.
Why it lands — The text states that personal anguish cannot physically alter creation or justify cosmic disruption. It asks a reader to distinguish human emotional intensity from the fixed order of the natural world.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
He teareth himself in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of his place?
Cross-references
- Job 14:18 But as a mountain erodes and crumbles and a rock is dislodged from its place,
- Job 16:9 His anger has torn me and opposed me; He gnashes His teeth at me. My adversary pierces me with His eyes.
- Job 5:2 For resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple.
- Job 13:14 Why do I put myself at risk and take my life in my own hands?
- Job 40:8 Would you really annul My justice? Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?
- Isaiah 54:10 Though the mountains may be removed and the hills may be shaken, My loving devotion will not depart from you, and My covenant of peace will not be broken,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.
- Ezekiel 9:9 He replied, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of bloodshed, and the city is full of perversity. For they say, ‘The LORD has forsaken the land; the LORD does not see.’
- Jonah 4:9 Then God asked Jonah, “Have you any right to be angry about the plant?” “I do,” he replied. “I am angry enough to die!”
- Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.
- Mark 9:18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked Your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable.”