My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God.
The verse stands in Job's answer to Eliphaz when his accusations are renewed, where Job maintains that he is innocent and even longs for death. More widely it stands in the sustained exchange and argument between Job and his three friends concerning his afflictions and the meaning of human suffering. In that exchange Job is a real and upright man passing through a trial, his friends condemn him, he feels their judgment of him is unjust, and their general statements about suffering are wrongly applied to his case. Their judgment errs in taking his suffering as proof that he must have sinned.
The verse expresses Job's distress and grief poured out in tears to God while his friends scorn him. It marks his turning of appeal away from his friends to God when he feels condemned and judged unjustly. That distress and appeal to God take place within the dispute over suffering, in which an upright man under trial is met with misapplied claims.
It portrays what lonely believers experience when they feel scorned and alone yet turn to God. In that turning they find courage to go on in duty because they are on the Lord's side. It teaches the soul to carry deep personal sorrow directly to God in private prayer. Even when others scorn or pity, inward grief poured out to God is a sincere testimony of the heart.
The verse stands in Job's answer to Eliphaz when his accusations are renewed, where Job maintains that he is innocent and even longs for death. More widely it stands in the sustained exchange and argument between Job and his three friends concerning his afflictions and the meaning of human suffering. In that exchange Job is a real and upright man passing through a trial, his friends condemn him, he feels their judgment of him is unjust, and their general statements about suffering are wrongly applied to his case. Their judgment errs in taking his suffering as proof that he must have sinned.
The verse expresses Job's distress and grief poured out in tears to God while his friends scorn him. It marks his turning of appeal away from his friends to God when he feels condemned and judged unjustly. That distress and appeal to God take place within the dispute over suffering, in which an upright man under trial is met with misapplied claims.
It portrays what lonely believers experience when they feel scorned and alone yet turn to God. In that turning they find courage to go on in duty because they are on the Lord's side. It teaches the soul to carry deep personal sorrow directly to God in private prayer. Even when others scorn or pity, inward grief poured out to God is a sincere testimony of the heart.