Job 4:16

New English Translation

¹⁶It stands still,^[a]
but I cannot recognize^[b] its appearance;
an image is before my eyes,
and I hear a murmuring voice:^[c]

Job 4:16 tc The LXX has the first person of the verb: “I arose and perceived it not, I looked and there was no form before my eyes, but I only heard a breath and a voice.”
Job 4:16 tn The imperfect verb is to be classified as potential imperfect. Eliphaz is unable to recognize the figure standing before him.
Job 4:16 sn The colon reads “a silence and a voice I hear.” Some have rendered it “there is a silence, and then I hear.” The verb דָּמַם (damam) does mean “remain silent” (Job 29:21; 31:34) and then also “cease.” The noun דְּמָמָה (d^emamah, “calm”) refers to the calm after the storm in Ps 107:29. Joined with the true object of the verb, “voice,” it probably means something like stillness or murmuring or whispering here. It is joined to “voice” with a conjunction, indicating that it is a hendiadys, “murmur and a voice” or a “murmuring voice.”

New English Translation (NET)