Charles Ellicott Commentary Job 4:2

"If one assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? But who can withhold himself from speaking?" — Job 4:2 (ASV)

If we assay. —Rather, perhaps, Has one ever attempted? or, Has a word ever been tried? It appears from Job 29:9-10, that Job was held in great honour and reverence by all, and Eliphaz regarded him with awe such as would have constrained him to be silent, but he is so convinced that Job is wrong and deserves reproof, that he cannot refrain from speaking. He strikes a note, however, which the friends all sound, namely, that it is the wicked who suffer, and that all who suffer must be wicked. This, in a variety of forms, is the sum and substance of what they have to say.