This is an Aramaic loan-word meaning witness or advocate, appearing in Job's passionate declaration of his heavenly witness. In Job 16:19, he declares 'even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high,' using two parallel terms (this Aramaic word and the standard Hebrew word for witness). The Aramaic term may have been chosen for poetic variation or emphasis. It conveys someone who testifies on another's behalf, an advocate who speaks for the accused. Job, protesting his innocence while his friends accuse him, appeals to God himself as his ultimate witness and defender—a remarkable claim of vindication.