“He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.”
"He has torn me in his anger, and hated me; he has gnashed his teeth at me; my adversary sharpens his eyes against me." Job describes God's assault with images of predatory violence. God tears like an animal, gnashes teeth in hate, sharpens eyes in hostile intent. The intensity of the imagery expresses that God's hostility is not abstract but viscerally felt. God is adversary, not judge.
Church Fathers on Job 16:9
But now my grief has oppressed me, and my limbs are brought to nought. Holy Church is oppressed by her grief, when she beholds the wicked grow to a height in their wickedness; and whereas while the wicked increase, the weak too that are in her are set on to follow the bents of wickedness, it is rightly added, And all my limbs are brought to nought. For as the strong by ‘bones,’ so by ‘limbs’ the weak sort are wont to be denoted, and so ‘the members of the Church are brought…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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