Then Job answered and said, Ver. 1. _Then Job answered and said_] Although he had little or nothing to answer unto but what he had answered before, yet that he might not say nothing, he replieth to Eliphaz's painted speech, and giveth him to know, that _prudentibus viris non placent phalerata sed f... [ Continue Reading ]
I have heard many such things: miserable comforters [are] ye all. Ver. 2. _I have heard many such things_] Heard them over and over, till I am even sated and nauseated, _Vexatus toties rauci; _ _q.d._ Your sayings are superfluous, your proofs insufficient; you produce nothing new, nothing but what... [ Continue Reading ]
Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest? Ver. 3. _Shall vain words have an end?_] Heb. Shall there be an end to words of wind? _Ampullatur in arcto._ Bubbles of words, big swollen speeches, full of pride, void of reason; when shall we once have an end of them? The... [ Continue Reading ]
I also could speak as ye [do]: if your soul were in my soul's stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you. Ver. 4. _I also could speak as you do, &c._] Every whit as curiously, as furiously. I could scold and scoff as freely as you do, but I know no warrant so to retort and... [ Continue Reading ]
Job 16:5 [But] I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should asswage [your grief]. Ver. 5. _But I would strengthen you with my mouth_] I would speak to your hearts, and raise up your drooping spirits. True it is, that _consolatiunculae creaturulae_ (as Luther calleth them),... [ Continue Reading ]
Though I speak, my grief is not asswaged: and [though] I forbear, what am I eased? Ver. 6. _Though I speak, my grief is not assuaged_] Heb. If I speak; _sc._ to bewail my misery, or to maintain mine innocence, ye say it is good enough for me, and how can I be but wicked who am so punished? As, _If... [ Continue Reading ]
But now he hath made me weary: thou hast made desolate all my company. Ver. 7. _But now he hath made me weary_] _i.e._ God, whom he acknowledgeth the author of his afflictions; but he should better have borne up under them than to faint and fret even unto madness, as the Septuagint here translates,... [ Continue Reading ]
And thou hast filled me with wrinkles, [which] is a witness [against me]: and my leanness rising up in me beareth witness to my face. Ver. 8. _Thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me_] viz. That I am an afflicted man, but yet not a wicked man, such as Elipbaz had described... [ Continue Reading ]
He teareth [me] in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me. Ver. 9. _He teareth me in his wrath, &c._] Who did all this to Job? The devil, say some; his disease, say others that was a most uncharitable censure passed by Luther upon Oecola... [ Continue Reading ]
They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me. Ver. 10. _They have gaped upon me with their mouth_] They? who? _Non solum Deus, nec solum amici mei, sed tota rerum machina mihi adversatur,_ Not God only... [ Continue Reading ]
God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked. Ver. 11. _God hath delivered me to the ungodly_] _i.e._ To the devil and his instruments, those Chaldean and Sabean robbers, Job 1:15; Job 1:17, together with his hard hearted friends, who, for want of the true f... [ Continue Reading ]
I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder: he hath also taken [me] by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark. Ver. 12. _I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder_] It is no small misery to have been happy. _Fuimus Troes et fortis Milesis._ Euripides bringeth in Hecuba as... [ Continue Reading ]
His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground. Ver. 13. _His archers compass me round about_] _i.e._ His instruments of my woe, whether persons or things, but especially my grievous sores putting me through intolerable p... [ Continue Reading ]
He breaketh me with breach upon breach, he runneth upon me like a giant. Ver. 14. _He breaketh me with breach upon breach_] So that I have hardly any breathing while, _Quis tot et tantis ferendis simul par sit?_ Let no man henceforth say, Never did any one suffer such hard and heavy things as I do.... [ Continue Reading ]
I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and defiled my horn in the dust. Ver. 15. _I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin_] Not silks, but sackcloth, is now mine immediate clothing, next to my very skin, which must needs be troublesome to a man so full of sores and other sorrows. So far was poor ulcerous... [ Continue Reading ]
My face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelids [is] the shadow of death; Ver. 16. _My face is foul with weeping_] Is swelled, saith the Vulgate. Is shrivelled up, say the Jewish doctors. Is doublely dirtied, so one rendereth it. So far was Job from stretching out his hand against God, and strength... [ Continue Reading ]
Not for [any] injustice in mine hands: also my prayer [is] pure. Ver. 17. Not for any injustice (Heb. Violence or wrong doing) in my hands] Job could wash his hands of that rapine and bribery wherewith they had injuriously charged him, Job 15:34, and safely say of it, as afterwards Father Latimer d... [ Continue Reading ]
O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place. Ver. 18. _O earth, cover not thou my blood_] Job had made a high profession of his innocence and integrity. This he further confirmeth, 1. By an imprecation against himself. 2. By an appeal to God, Job 16:19. In this imprecation or wis... [ Continue Reading ]
Also now, behold, my witness [is] in heaven, and my record [is] on high. Ver. 19. _Also now behold my witness is in heaven_] Here is his appeal to God. So great is the confidence of a good conscience. We also may do the like, if there be no other way left for clearing our innocence; provided that w... [ Continue Reading ]
My friends scorn me: [but] mine eye poureth out [tears] unto God. Ver. 20. _My friends scorn me_] Or, play the rhetoricians against me. David likewise complaineth of his rhetorical mockers at feasts, that made as it were set speeches against him. One rendereth it, My friends are interpreters, or ra... [ Continue Reading ]
O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man [pleadeth] for his neighbour! Ver. 21. _O that one might plead for a man with God_] Heb. And he will plead for a man with God, and the Son of man for his friend; that is (say our late learned annotators, to whom we are greatly bound for this most... [ Continue Reading ]
When a few years are come, then I shall go the way [whence] I shall not return. Ver. 22. _When a few years are come, &c._] Heb. Years of number; that is, years that may easily be counted and cast up. The years of the longest liver are but few, they may be quickly numbered. This ran much in Job's mi... [ Continue Reading ]