I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer: Job’s servants pay no attention even to his voice. As pointed out in the discussion of verse 15, Job now speaks of the “manservant” or “male servant.” Psalm 123.2 says “… the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master.” A servant is ready to obey his master and watches for his orders from the slightest gesture of the master’s hand. By contrast Job cannot get obedience from servants even by calling aloud to them.

I must beseech him with my mouth: this line emphasizes the deserted role Job now plays. His servant does not respond to him in the expected ways, and Job is reduced to making pleas and begging his servant to help him. Verse 16 may be expressed, for example, “If I call my (male) servant, he does not answer, no matter how much I beg” or “I call my servant and even insist, but he pays no attention to me.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .