Job 16:1-6
JOB COMPLAINS OF THE UNMERCIFUL ATTITUDE OF HIS FRIENDS... [ Continue Reading ]
JOB COMPLAINS OF THE UNMERCIFUL ATTITUDE OF HIS FRIENDS... [ Continue Reading ]
Then Job answered and said, in repudiating also this speech and its insinuations,... [ Continue Reading ]
I have heard many such things, he had now heard arguments of this kind in a greater amount than he cared for. MISERABLE COMFORTERS, literally, "consolers of distress," ARE YE ALL, men whose words, instead of comforting and lifting up, only intensified the burden of Job's distress.... [ Continue Reading ]
Shall vain, windy, empty, WORDS HAVE AN END? It was about time that they brought something more substantial if they intended to comfort him. OR WHAT EMBOLDENETH THEE THAT THOU ANSWEREST? What particular thing had vexed, goaded, incited Eliphaz so as to feel called upon to bring this new insult?... [ Continue Reading ]
I also could speak as ye do, he might serve them in the same manner, pay them in like coin; IF YOUR SOUL WERE IN MY SOUL'S STEAD, if they were in his place, I COULD HEAP UP WORDS AGAINST YOU, weaving a web of them, stringing them together, in the same form of unnatural statements which came from the... [ Continue Reading ]
But I would strengthen you with my mouth, mere words taking the place of real deeds of love, AND THE MOVING OF MY LIPS SHOULD ASSUAGE YOUR GRIEF, a bitter reference to the hollow consolations which Eliphaz had spoken of, 1-5:11. Such sympathy, Job insists, is easily given, since it is so cheap.... [ Continue Reading ]
Though I speak, my grief is not assuaged, if he gives vent to his misery, it does him no good, namely, with such poor comforters at hand; AND THOUGH I FORBEAR, WHAT AM I EASED? If he desists from speaking, his pain does not leave, and his friends have no more true sympathy for him than before. Their... [ Continue Reading ]
But now He hath made me weary, God had brought him to the point of utter exhaustion; THOU HAST MADE DESOLATE ALL MY COMPANY, his whole family, the loss of which, together with the estrangement of his wife, was doubly hard to bear, now that his friends had become hostile to him.... [ Continue Reading ]
JOB SHOWS THE PITIFULNESS OF HIS CASE AND MAINTAINS HIS INNOCENCE... [ Continue Reading ]
And Thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me, the fact that God had seized him and placed him in a shriveled and wrinkled condition seemed a witness of his guilt; AND MY LEANNESS RISING UP IN ME BEARETH WITNESS TO MY FACE, his wasted condition appeared against him, accusing h... [ Continue Reading ]
He teareth me in His wrath, who hateth me, God's anger had apparently made war upon him, torn him, was pursuing him hard; HE GNASHETH UPON ME WITH HIS TEETH, as though He were truly enraged against Job; MINE ENEMY, which God now seemed to have become, SHARPENETH HIS EYES UPON ME, whetting them as th... [ Continue Reading ]
They, the enemies of Job among men, HAVE GAPED UPON ME WITH THEIR MOUTH, in a gesture of insolent mockery; THEY HAVE SMITTEN ME UPON THE CHEEK REPROACHFULLY, to show their contempt of him; THEY HAVE GATHERED THEMSELVES TOGETHER AGAINST ME, coming in ranks and heaps and strengthening one another for... [ Continue Reading ]
God hath delivered me to the ungodly, exposing him to the attacks of the unrighteous, AND TURNED ME OVER INTO THE HANDS OF THE WICKED, casting him headlong into the power of knaves and rascals, these harsh expressions being directed also against his professed friends.... [ Continue Reading ]
I was at ease, but He hath broken me asunder, shattering him, dashing him to pieces; HE HATH ALSO TAKEN ME BY MY NECK AND SHAKEN ME TO PIECES, like a man who is seized by his head and thrown down over a precipice, where all his limbs are broken, AND SET ME UP FOR HIS MARK, the target at which He dir... [ Continue Reading ]
His archers compass me round about, rather, whirred about me His arrows or darts; HE CLEAVETH MY REINS ASUNDER AND DOTH NOT SPARE, cutting open vital organs of his body; HE POURETH OUT MY GALL UPON THE GROUND, spoken figuratively of the violent pain which affected his entire being. The picture is no... [ Continue Reading ]
He breaketh me with breach upon breach, like a wall which is being battered down by heavy projectiles; HE RUNNETH UPON ME LIKE A GIANT, like a mighty warrior striking down everything in his path.... [ Continue Reading ]
I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, stitching it about his loins as a garment of mourning, AND DEFILED MY HORN IN THE DUST, all his power and dignity had been covered with the deepest humiliation.... [ Continue Reading ]
My face is foul with weeping, burning, glowing red, almost inflamed with the sharp pain caused by the tears, AND ON MY EYELIDS IS THE SHADOW OF DEATH, he had wept himself almost to blindness or out of life.... [ Continue Reading ]
Not for any injustice in mine hands, all this had come upon him although no violence clung to his hands, he was not guilty of gross wickedness; ALSO MY PRAYER IS PURE, it was made without hypocrisy, in all sincerity of his heart.... [ Continue Reading ]
O earth, cover not thou my blood, so that it might cry to heaven in witness of his innocence, AND LET MY CRY HAVE NO PLACE, his call for vengeance should not be quieted until an avenger had arisen for his blood; for Job still believed that God would finally avenge the blood which His wrath had shed,... [ Continue Reading ]
Also now, behold, my Witness is in heaven, and my Record, He who attested to his innocence, IS ON HIGH, even though all appearances are now against him.... [ Continue Reading ]
My friends scorn me, literally, "although mockers of me my friends"; BUT MINE EYE POURETH OUT TEARS UNTO GOD, directing his tearful entreaty to the Lord for justice and help.... [ Continue Reading ]
Oh, that one might plead for a man with God, that God would decide before His own tribunal in favor of Job, that He would pronounce him not guilty, AS A MAN PLEADETH FOR HIS NEIGHBOR, that God would also decide in favor of Job over against his friends, setting him forth as innocent.... [ Continue Reading ]
When a few years are come, the years which are numbered very carefully, the last ones which remain before death, THEN I SHALL GO THE WAY WHENCE I SHALL NOT RETURN, for Job knew that the course of the illness with which he was suffering was rapid and invariably fatal. Some commentators find a referen... [ Continue Reading ]