_BUT NOW THEY THAT ARE YOUNGER THAN I HAVE ME IN DERISION, WHOSE FATHERS I WOULD HAVE DISDAINED TO HAVE SET WITH THE DOGS OF MY FLOCK._ Younger - not the three friends (Job 15:10; Job 22:4; Job 22:6). A general description: Job 30:1, The lowness of the persons who derided him; Job 30:9, The derisio... [ Continue Reading ]
_YEA, WHERETO MIGHT THE STRENGTH OF THEIR HANDS PROFIT ME, IN WHOM OLD AGE WAS PERISHED?_ If their fathers could be of no profit to me, much less the sons, who are feebler than their sires; and in whose case the hope of attaining old age х_ KAALACH_ (H3624)] (Job 5:26, similarly) is utterly gone, s... [ Continue Reading ]
_FOR WANT AND FAMINE THEY WERE SOLITARY; FLEEING INTO THE WILDERNESS IN FORMER TIME DESOLATE AND WASTE._ _ FOR WANT AND FAMINE THEY WERE SOLITARY; FLEEING INTO THE WILDERNESS IN FORMER TIME DESOLATE AND WASTE._ Solitary - literally, hard as a rock х_ GALMUWD_ (H1565)]: translate, 'dried up,' emacia... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHO CUT UP MALLOWS BY THE BUSHES, AND JUNIPER ROOTS FOR THEIR MEAT._ Mallows - rather, salt wort, which grows in deserts, and is eaten as a salad by the poor, having a salt taste (Maurer). BY THE BUSHES - among the bushes. JUNIPER - rather, a kind of broom, spartium junceum (Linnoeus), still c... [ Continue Reading ]
_THEY WERE DRIVEN FORTH FROM AMONG MEN, (THEY CRIED AFTER THEM AS AFTER A THIEF;)_ They cried - i:e., a cry is raised, etc. Expressing the contempt felt for this race by civilized and well-born Arabs. When these wild vagabonds make an incursion on villages, they are driven away as thieves would be.... [ Continue Reading ]
_TO DWELL IN THE CLIFFS OF THE VALLEYS, IN CAVES OF THE EARTH, AND IN THE ROCKS._ _ TO DWELL IN THE CLIFFS OF THE VALLEYS, IN CAVES OF THE EARTH, AND IN THE ROCKS._ They are forced TO DWELL IN THE CLIFFS OF THE VALLEYS - rather, 'in the gloomy (literally, gloom of) valleys,' or wadys х_ BA`ªRUWTS_... [ Continue Reading ]
_AMONG THE BUSHES THEY BRAYED; UNDER THE NETTLES THEY WERE GATHERED TOGETHER._ Brayed - like the wild donkey (Job 6:5) for food. The inarticulate tones of this uncivilized rabble are but little above those of the beast of the field. GATHERED TOGETHER - rather, sprinkled here and there. Literally,... [ Continue Reading ]
_THEY WERE CHILDREN OF FOOLS, YEA, CHILDREN OF BASE MEN: THEY WERE VILER THAN THE EARTH._ Fools - i:e., the impious and abandoned (1 Samuel 25:25). BASE - Hebrew, nameless low-born rabble. VILER THAN ... - rather, they were driven or beaten out х_ NIKªAUW_ (H5217), from _ NAAKA'_ (H5217) to beat... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND NOW AM I THEIR SONG, YEA, I AM THEIR BYWORD._ (Job 17:6.) Strikingly similar to the derision Jesus Christ underwent (Lamentations 3:14; Psalms 69:12). Here Job returns to the sentiment in Job 30:1. It is to such that I am become a song of 'derision.'... [ Continue Reading ]
_THEY ABHOR ME, THEY FLEE FAR FROM ME, AND SPARE NOT TO SPIT IN MY FACE._ In my face - rather, refrain not to spit (in deliberate contempt) before my face. To spit at all in presence of another is thought in the Fast insulting, much more when done to mark 'abhorrence' Cf. the further insult to Jesu... [ Continue Reading ]
_BECAUSE HE HATH LOOSED MY CORD, AND AFFLICTED ME, THEY HAVE ALSO LET LOOSE THE BRIDLE BEFORE ME._ He - i:e., God; antithetical to they: the English version here follows the marginal reading (Qeri'), "my cord;" image from a bow unstrung; opposed to Job 29:20. "My how was renewed in my hand." The te... [ Continue Reading ]
_UPON MY RIGHT HAND RISE THE YOUTH; THEY PUSH AWAY MY FEET, AND THEY RAISE UP AGAINST ME THE WAYS OF THEIR DESTRUCTION._ Youth - rather, a (low) brood х_ PIRCHACH_ (H6526)]. To rise on the right hand is to accuse, as that was the position of the accuser in court (Zechariah 3:1; Psalms 109:6). PUS... [ Continue Reading ]
_THEY MAR MY PATH, THEY SET FORWARD MY CALAMITY, THEY HAVE NO HELPER._ Image of an assailed fortress continued. They tear up the path by which succour might reach me. SET FORWARD - in calamity (Zechariah 1:15). THEY HAVE NO HELPER - Arabic proverb for contemptible persons. Yet even such afflict... [ Continue Reading ]
_THEY CAME UPON ME AS A WIDE BREAKING IN OF WATERS: IN THE DESOLATION THEY ROLLED THEMSELVES UPON ME._ Waters - (so 2 Samuel 5:20). But it is better to retain the image of Job 30:12. "They came (upon me) as through a wide breach" - namely, made by the besiegers in the wall of a fortress (Isaiah 30:... [ Continue Reading ]
_TERRORS ARE TURNED UPON ME: THEY PURSUE MY SOUL AS THE WIND: AND MY WELFARE PASSETH AWAY AS A CLOUD._ They - terrors, SOUL, х_ NªDIBAATIY_ (H5082)] - rather, 'my dignity' х_ NAADIYB_ (H5081), willing, noble] (Umbreit). Perhaps 'my noble spirit.' WELFARE - prosperity. CLOUD - (Job 7:9; Isaiah... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND NOW MY SOUL IS POURED OUT UPON ME; THE DAYS OF AFFLICTION HAVE TAKEN HOLD UPON ME._ Job's outward calamities affect his mind. POURED OUT - in irrepressible complaints (Psalms 42:4; Joshua 7:5). Verse 17. In the Hebrew night is poetically personified, as Job 3:3, 'Night pierceth my bone (so... [ Continue Reading ]
_HOWBEIT HE WILL NOT STRETCH OUT HIS HAND TO THE GRAVE, THOUGH THEY CRY IN HIS DESTRUCTION._ Expressing Job's faith as to the state after death. 'Though one must go to the grave, yet He will no more afflict IN THE RUIN of the body (so the Hebrew for grave х_ Bª`IY_ (H1164)]) there, if one has cried... [ Continue Reading ]
_DID NOT I WEEP FOR HIM THAT WAS IN TROUBLE? WAS NOT MY SOUL GRIEVED FOR THE POOR?_ May I not be allowed to complain of my calamity, and beg relief, seeing that I myself sympathized with those "in trouble?" (literally, hard of day; those who had a hard time of it.)... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHEN I LOOKED FOR GOOD, THEN EVIL CAME UNTO ME: AND WHEN I WAITED FOR LIGHT, THERE CAME DARKNESS._ I may be allowed to crave help, seeing that "when I looked for good (on account of my piety and charity), yet evil" etc. LIGHT - prosperity and joy (Job 22:28).... [ Continue Reading ]
_MY BOWELS BOILED, AND RESTED NOT: THE DAYS OF AFFLICTION PREVENTED ME._ Bowels - regarded as the seat of deep feeling (Isaiah 16:11). BOILED - violently heated and agitated. PREVENTED - old English for unexpectedly came upon me, surprised me.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I WENT MOURNING WITHOUT THE SUN: I STOOD UP, AND I CRIED IN THE CONGREGATION._ Mourning - rather, I move about blackened х_ QODEER_ (H6937)], though not by the sun - i:e., whereas many are blackened by the sun, I am by the heat of God's wrath (so "boiled," Job 30:27); the elephantiasis covering me... [ Continue Reading ]
_I AM A BROTHER TO DRAGONS, AND A COMPANION TO OWLS._ Dragons ... owls - rather, jackals, ostriches, both of which utter dismal screams (Micah 1:8); in which respect, as also in their living amidst solitudes, the emblem of desolation, Job is their brother and companion - i:e., resembles them. "Drag... [ Continue Reading ]
_MY SKIN IS BLACK UPON ME, AND MY BONES ARE BURNED WITH HEAT._ Upon me - rather, as in 17 (note), my skin is black (and falls away) from me х_ MEE`AALAAY_ (H5921)]. MY BONES - (Job 19:20; Psalms 102:5).... [ Continue Reading ]
_MY HARP ALSO IS TURNED TO MOURNING, AND MY ORGAN INTO THE VOICE OF THEM THAT WEEP._ Organ - rather, pipe (Job 21:12): "My joy is turned into the voice of weeping" (Lamentations 5:15). My harp and pipe now emit only sounds of sorrow. These instruments are properly appropriated to joy (Isaiah 30:29;... [ Continue Reading ]