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. Ver. 1. _But now they that are younger than I have me in derision_] _Id quod ei morbo suo longe gravius fuerit, sicut et Hebraei testantur,_ saith Mercer. This tro... [ Continue Reading ]
Yea, whereto [might] the strength of their hands [profit] me, in whom old age was perished? Ver. 2. _Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me_] For, to say the truth (thus Beza here paraphraseth), the strength of those young striplings could not have stood me in any stead at all; an... [ Continue Reading ]
_For want and famine [they were] solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste._ Ver. 3. _For want and famine they were solitary_] Miserably poor they were, and nittily needy; scarce having a rag to their backs, and, therefore, ashamed to show themselves in company of othe... [ Continue Reading ]
Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots [for] their meat. Ver. 4. _Who cut up mallows by the bushes_] Pitiful poor fare they are glad of; not so good as that of the Baptist, locusts and wild honey, Matthew 3:4, but mallows, which, together with asphodelus, Hesiod mentioneth as poor folk... [ Continue Reading ]
They were driven forth from among [men], (they cried after them as [after] a thief;) Ver. 5. _They were driven forth from among men_] _E corpore,_ saith Tremellius, out of the body; that is, out of the community, as not fit to live in a commonwealth. The Jews are, for their inexpiable guilt, banish... [ Continue Reading ]
To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, [in] caves of the earth, and [in] the rocks. Ver. 6. _To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys_] Like wild beasts and serpents; which these idle persons will rather choose to do, and suffer any hardship, than labour for their livings, and do good in their places;... [ Continue Reading ]
Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together. Ver. 7. _Among the bushes they brayed_] Through grief and discontent at their low condition and many miseries; which yet they would rather bootlessly bewail than take a right course to remedy. They lust, and have not; they... [ Continue Reading ]
Job 30:8 [They were] children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth. Ver. 8. _They were children of fools, yea, children of base men_] _Homines flagitiosissimi, etiam homines ignominiosissimi afflictissimi erant, extorres,_ so Tremellius translateth; Naught all over th... [ Continue Reading ]
_And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword._ Ver. 9. _And now am I their song_] They compose comedies out of my tragedies, and make themselves merry in my misery; they not only make ballads and sonnets of my sufferings, but also play them upon their instruments, as the Hebrew word importeth.... [ Continue Reading ]
They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face. Ver. 10. _They abhor me, they flee far from me_] As if I were a leper or a bugbear, or that my breath were infectious; like that maid spoken of by Avicen, who, feeding upon poison, was herself healthy, yet infected others with... [ Continue Reading ]
Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me. Ver. 11. _Because he hath loosed my cord_] _i.e._ God hath taken away mine authority, whereby I heretofore kept them in order, and made them more obsequious, so that now, like headstrong horses, having... [ 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. Ver. 12. _Upon the right hand rise the youth_] Broughton readeth, The springals. The Hebrew hath it, The blossom, or the young birds, _Vix puberes,_ such as are scarcely out of... [ Continue Reading ]
They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper. Ver. 13. _They mar my paths_] That is, all my studies and endeavours; they obstruct all passages whereby I might hope for help, as if they were resolved upon my ruin. _ They set forward my calamity_] See Zechariah 1:15. _See Trap... [ Continue Reading ]
They came [upon me] as a wide breaking in [of waters]: in the desolation they rolled themselves [upon me]. Ver. 14. _They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters_] _Quasi irruptione lata invadunt me._ As soldiers when they have made a breach in a wall, come tumbling in upon the town, and sack... [ Continue Reading ]
Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud. Ver. 15. _Terrors are turned upon me_] I am horribly afraid of thy judgments, as David expresseth it; and this was it that pointed and put a sting into all other sufferings; for a wounded conscience... [ Continue Reading ]
And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me. Ver. 16. _And now my soul is poured out upon me_] Now that I am under these inward terrors, I am become strengthless, even weak as water, my soul doth melt away for grief, as in Psalms 42:4, and I am as a hollow... [ Continue Reading ]
My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest. Ver. 17. _My bones are pierced in me in the night season_] Sleep is the nurse of nature, and the sweet parenthesis of men's griefs and cares. But Job had so many aches and ailments in his body (over and above the terrors an... [ Continue Reading ]
By the great force [of my disease] is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat. Ver. 18. _By the great force of my disease is my garment changed_] _sc._ _Sudore, cruore, sanie, sanguine,_ By the matter that my disease forceth outward in boils and botches, is my garment (whic... [ Continue Reading ]
He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes. Ver. 19. _He hath cast me into the mire_] My disease hath, so Vatablus senseth it. Others, God hath as it were trampled me to dirt, thrown me into the kennel, and so done me the greatest disgrace that can be. _ And I am become lik... [ Continue Reading ]
I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me [not]. Ver. 20. _I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me_] This was a sore trial, that God should cast him into straits, and there leave him. His enemies indeed he usually dealeth so by, Ezekiel 22:20; Ezekiel 29:5, bu... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me. Ver. 21. _Thou art become cruel to me_] _Mutatus es mihi in tyrannum,_ thou art turned tyrant towards me, so Brentius rendereth it; and the like he had said before, Job 16:13; Job 19:8,10, out of the vehemency of hi... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride [upon it], and dissolvest my substance. Ver. 22. _Thou liftest me up to the wind_] Thou whifflest and wherriest me about as chaff or thistle down. _Pro libidine tractas me_ thou usest me at thy pleasure (Brent.). _ Thou causest me to ride upo... [ Continue Reading ]
For I know [that] thou wilt bring me [to] death, and [to] the house appointed for all living. Ver. 23. _For I know that thou wilt bring me to death_] Such hard thoughts had Job of God, and such heavy thoughts of himself. _Nam experior, mors avocat me_ so Tremellius: For I feel it, death calleth me... [ Continue Reading ]
Howbeit he will not stretch out [his] hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction. Ver. 24. _Howbeit he will outstretch not his hand to the grave_] He will not dig up the dead, as the Papists dealt by Bucer and others, to afflict them any more. _Quid facere poterunt? Occident? Nunquid, re... [ Continue Reading ]
Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was [not] my soul grieved for the poor? Ver. 25. _Did I not weep for him that was in trouble?_] _Rursum, per pathos, excandescit_ (Mercer). Here Job wondereth and is much moved again at his unpitied condition, since he was so full of pity for the afflicte... [ Continue Reading ]
When I looked for good, then evil came [unto me]: and when I waited for light, there came darkness. Ver. 26. _When I looked for good_] According to that general rule, and the common course of God's proceedings, "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again," Matthew 7:2. "With the m... [ Continue Reading ]
My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me. Ver. 27. _My bowels boiled, and rested not_] Being tossed and tumbled with continual boiling and bubbling, rumbling and making a rattle (as the word signifieth), whether through passion or compassion, _Ollae more insonueruut_ (M... [ Continue Reading ]
I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, [and] I cried in the congregation. Ver. 28. _I went mourning without the sun_] _Ater ambulo, sed non ob solem; _ I am not sun burnt, but heart burnt; black and discoloured without, because parched and dried up within by the force of my disease and my gri... [ Continue Reading ]
I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls. Ver. 29. _I am a brother to dragons, &c._] _i.e._ I utter a very lamentable voice, or rather noise, like dragons, which sucking the elephant's blood till he fall down dead upon them, and quell them with his huge bulk, make a horrible howling; so h... [ Continue Reading ]
My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat. Ver. 30. _My skin is black upon me_] Through the violence of the fever, and a dust matter, his skin was as black and mud coloured as the waters of the river Nile, which hath its name Sihor, in the Hebrew, from this root, Jeremiah 2:18. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
My harp also is [turned] to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep. Ver. 31. _My harp also is turned to mourning_] All the days of the afflicted are evil, Proverbs 15:15, his harps are hanged up, his lute no longer fit but for melancholy airs; his song nothing but lachrymae, dolefu... [ Continue Reading ]