Then a breath of air ¹  passes ²  by my face; it makes ³  the hair of my flesh stand up.

biblegateway Job 4:15

"Then a spirit passed by my face; The hair of my flesh bristled up.

A wind passed by me, and I shuddered with fear.

A spirit passed in front of me. It made my hair stand on end.

biblegateway Job 4:15

A spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body stood on end.

A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.

bibleoremus Job 4:15

A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh bristled.

A wind brushed across my face and made the hairs of my body stand on end.

biblegateway Job 4:15

Then a spirit passed before my face; The hair on my body stood up.

Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:

biblegateway Job 4:15

Then a breath of air ¹  passes ²  by my face; it makes ³  the hair of my flesh stand up.

¹ tn The word רוּחַ (ruakh) can be “spirit” or “breath.” The implication here is that it was something that Eliphaz felt – what he saw follows in v. 16. The commentators are divided on whether this is an apparition, a spirit, or a breath. The word can be used in either the masculine or the feminine, and so the gender of the verb does not favor the meaning “spirit.” In fact, in Isa 21:1 the same verb חָלַף (khalaf, “pass on, through”) is used with the subject being a strong wind or hurricane “blowing across.” It may be that such a wind has caused Eliphaz’s hair to stand on end here. D. J. A. Clines (Job [WBC], 111) also concludes it means “wind,” noting that in Job a spirit or spirits would be called רְפָאִים (rÿfa’im), אֶלֹהִים (’elohim) or אוֹב (’ov).

² tn The verbs in this verse are imperfects. In the last verse the verbs were perfects when Eliphaz reported the fear that seized him. In this continuation of the report the description becomes vivid with the change in verbs, as if the experience were in progress.

³ tn The subject of this verb is also רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit”), since it can assume either gender. The “hair of my flesh” is the complement and not the subject; therefore the Piel is to be retained and not changed to a Qal as some suggest (and compare with Ps 119:120).