1Then JobH347 answeredH6030 and saidH559, 2I knowH3045 it is so of a truthH551: but how should manH582 be justH6663 with GodH410? 3If he willH2654 contendH7378 with him, he cannot answerH6030 him oneH259 of a thousandH505. 4He is wiseH2450 in heartH3824, and mightyH533 in strengthH3581: who hath hardenedH7185 himself against him, and hath prosperedH7999 ? 5Which removethH6275 the mountainsH2022, and they knowH3045 not: which overturnethH2015 them in his angerH639. 6Which shakethH7264 the earthH776 out of her placeH4725, and the pillarsH5982 thereof trembleH6426 . 7Which commandethH559 the sunH2775, and it risethH2224 not; and sealeth upH2856 the starsH3556. 8Which alone spreadeth outH5186 the heavensH8064, and treadethH1869 upon the wavesH1116 of the seaH3220. 9Which makethH6213 ArcturusH5906, OrionH3685, and PleiadesH3598, and the chambersH2315 of the southH8486. 10Which doethH6213 great thingsH1419 pastH369 finding outH2714; yea, and wondersH6381 without numberH4557. 11Lo, he goethH5674 by me, and I seeH7200 him not: he passeth onH2498 also, but I perceiveH995 him not. 12Behold, he taketh awayH2862, who can hinderH7725 him? who will sayH559 unto him, What doestH6213 thou? 13If GodH433 will not withdrawH7725 his angerH639, the proudH7293 helpersH5826 do stoopH7817 under him. 14How much less shall I answerH6030 him, and choose outH977 my wordsH1697 to reason with him? 15Whom, though I were righteousH6663, yet would I not answerH6030, but I would make supplicationH2603 to my judgeH8199 . 16If I had calledH7121, and he had answeredH6030 me; yet would I not believeH539 that he had hearkenedH238 unto my voiceH6963. 17For he breakethH7779 me with a tempestH8183, and multipliethH7235 my woundsH6482 without causeH2600. 18He will not sufferH5414 me to takeH7725 my breathH7307, but fillethH7646 me with bitternessH4472. 19If I speak of strengthH3581, lo, he is strongH533: and if of judgmentH4941, who shall setH3259 me a time to plead? 20If I justifyH6663 myself, mine own mouthH6310 shall condemnH7561 me: if I say, I am perfectH8535, it shall also prove me perverseH6140 . 21Though I were perfectH8535, yet would I not knowH3045 my soulH5315: I would despiseH3988 my lifeH2416. 22This is oneH259 thing, therefore I saidH559 it, He destroyethH3615 the perfectH8535 and the wickedH7563. 23If the scourgeH7752 slayH4191 suddenlyH6597, he will laughH3932 at the trialH4531 of the innocentH5355. 24The earthH776 is givenH5414 into the handH3027 of the wickedH7563: he coverethH3680 the facesH6440 of the judgesH8199 thereof; if not, whereH645, and who is he? 25Now my daysH3117 are swifterH7043 than a postH7323 : they flee awayH1272, they seeH7200 no goodH2896. 26They are passed awayH2498 asH5973 the swiftH16 shipsH591: as the eagleH5404 that hastethH2907 to the preyH400. 27If I sayH559, I will forgetH7911 my complaintH7879, I will leave offH5800 my heavinessH6440, and comfortH1082 myself: 28I am afraidH3025 of all my sorrowsH6094, I knowH3045 that thou wilt not hold me innocentH5352 . 29If I be wickedH7561, why then labourH3021 I in vainH1892? 30If I washH7364 myself withH7950 snow waterH4325 H1119, and make my handsH3709 neverH1252 H1253 so cleanH2141 ; 31YetH227 shalt thou plungeH2881 me in the ditchH7845, and mine own clothesH8008 shall abhorH8581 me. 32For he is not a manH376, as I am, that I should answerH6030 him, and we should comeH935 togetherH3162 in judgmentH4941. 33Neither isH3426 there any daysmanH3198 betwixt us, that might layH7896 his handH3027 upon us bothH8147. 34Let him takeH5493 his rodH7626 awayH5493 from me, and let not his fearH367 terrifyH1204 me: 35Then would I speakH1696, and not fearH3372 him; but it is not so with me.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 2 REPLY OF JOB TO BILDAD. (Job 9:1-35)
I know it is so of a truth--that God does not "pervert justice" (
Job 8:3). But (even though I be sure of being in the right) how can a mere man assert his right--(be just) with God. The Gospel answers (
Rom 3:26).
3 If he--God
will contend with him--literally, "deign to enter into judgment."
he cannot answer, &c.--He (man) would not dare, even if he had a thousand answers in readiness to one question of God's, to utter one of them, from awe of His Majesty.
4 wise in heart--in understanding!--and mighty in power! God confounds the ablest arguer by His wisdom, and the mightiest by His power.
hardened himself--or his neck (
Pro 29:1); that is, defied God. To prosper, one must fall in with God's arrangements of providence and grace.
5 and they know not--Hebrew for "suddenly, unexpectedly, before they are aware of it" (
Ps 35:8); "at unawares"; Hebrew, which "he knoweth not of" (
Joel 2:14;
Pro 5:6).
6 The earth is regarded, poetically, as resting on pillars, which tremble in an earthquake (
Ps 75:3;
Isa 24:20). The literal truth as to the earth is given (
Job 26:7).
7 The sun, at His command, does not rise; namely, in an eclipse, or the darkness that accompanies earthquakes (
Job 9:6).
sealeth up the stars--that is, totally covers as one would seal up a room, that its contents may not be seen.
8 spreadeth out-- (
Isa 40:22;
Ps 104:2). But throughout it is not so much God's creating, as His governing, power over nature that is set forth. A storm seems a struggle between Nature and her Lord! Better, therefore, "Who boweth the heavens alone," without help of any other. God descends from the bowed-down heaven to the earth (
Ps 18:9). The storm, wherein the clouds descend, suggests this image. In the descent of the vault of heaven, God has come down from His high throne and walks majestically over the mountain waves (Hebrew, "heights"), as a conqueror taming their violence. So "tread upon" (
Deut 33:29;
Amos 4:13;
Matt 14:26). The Egyptian hieroglyphic for impossibility is a man walking on waves.
9 maketh--rather, from the Arabic, "covereth up." This accords better with the context, which describes His boundless power as controller rather than as creator [UMBREIT].
Arcturus--the great bear, which always revolves about the pole, and never sets. The Chaldeans and Arabs, early named the stars and grouped them in constellations; often travelling and tending flocks by night, they would naturally do so, especially as the rise and setting of some stars mark the distinction of seasons. BRINKLEY, presuming the stars here mentioned to be those of Taurus and Scorpio, and that these were the cardinal constellations of spring and autumn in Job's time, calculates, by the precession of equinoxes, the time of Job to be eight hundred eighteen years after the deluge, and one hundred eighty-four before Abraham.
Orion--Hebrew, "the fool"; in
Job 38:31 he appears fettered with "bands." The old legend represented this star as a hero, who presumptuously rebelled against God, and was therefore a fool, and was chained in the sky as a punishment; for its rising is at the stormy period of the year. He is Nimrod (the exceedingly impious rebel) among the Assyrians; Orion among the Greeks. Sabaism (worship of the heavenly hosts) and hero-worship were blended in his person. He first subverted the patriarchal order of society by substituting a chieftainship based on conquest (
Gen 10:9-
Gen 10:10).
Pleiades--literally, "the heap of stars"; Arabic, "knot of stars." The various names of this constellation in the East express the close union of the stars in it (
Amos 5:8).
chambers of the south--the unseen regions of the southern hemisphere, with its own set of stars, as distinguished from those just mentioned of the northern. The true structure of the earth is here implied.
10 Repeated from Eliphaz (
Job 5:9).
11 I see him not: he passeth on--The image is that of a howling wind (
Isa 21:1). Like it when it bursts invisibly upon man, so God is felt in the awful effects of His wrath, but is not seen (
John 3:8). Therefore, reasons Job, it is impossible to contend with Him.
12 If "He taketh away," as in my case all that was dear to me, still a mortal cannot call Him to account. He only takes His own. He is an absolute King (
Eccl 8:4;
Dan 4:35).
13 If God--rather, "God will not withdraw His anger," that is, so long as a mortal obstinately resists [UMBREIT].
the proud helpers--The arrogant, who would help one contending with the Almighty, are of no avail against Him.
14 How much less shall I? &c.--who am weak, seeing that the mighty have to stoop before Him. Choose words (use a well-chosen speech, in order to reason) with Him.
15 (
Job 10:15). Though I were conscious of no sin, yet I would not dare to say so, but leave it to His judgment and mercy to justify me (
1Cor 4:4).
16 would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice--who breaketh me (as a tree stripped of its leaves) with a tempest.
19 UMBREIT takes these as the words of God, translating, "What availeth the might of the strong?" "Here (saith he) behold! what availeth justice? Who will appoint me a time to plead?" (So
Jer 49:19). The last words certainly apply better to God than to Job. The sense is substantially the same if we make "me" apply to Job. The "lo!" expresses God's swift readiness for battle when challenged.
20 it-- (
Job 15:6;
Luke 19:22); or "He," God.
21 Literally, here (and in
Job 9:20), "I perfect! I should not know my soul! I would despise," [that is], "disown my life"; that is, Though conscious of innocence, I should be compelled, in contending with the infinite God, to ignore my own soul and despise my past life as if it were guilty [ROSENMULLER].
22 one thing--"It is all one; whether perfect or wicked--He destroyeth." This was the point Job maintained against his friends, that the righteous and wicked alike are afflicted, and that great sufferings here do not prove great guilt (
Luke 13:1-
Luke 13:5;
Eccl 9:2).
23 If--Rather, "While (His) scourge slays suddenly (the wicked,
Job 9:22), He laughs at (disregards; not derides) the pining away of the innocent." The only difference, says Job, between the innocent and guilty is, the latter are slain by a sudden stroke, the former pine away gradually. The translation, "trial," does not express the antithesis to "slay suddenly," as "pining away" does [UMBREIT].
24 Referring to righteous "judges," in antithesis to "the wicked" in the parallel first clause, whereas the wicked oppressor often has the earth given into his hand, the righteous judges are led to execution--culprits had their faces covered preparatory to execution (
Esth 7:8). Thus the contrast of the wicked and righteous here answers to that in
Job 9:23.
if not, where and who?--If God be not the cause of these anomalies, where is the cause to be found, and who is he?
25 a post--a courier. In the wide Persian empire such couriers, on dromedaries or on foot, were employed to carry the royal commands to the distant provinces (
Esth 3:13,
Esth 3:15;
Esth 8:14). "My days" are not like the slow caravan, but the fleet post. The "days" are themselves poetically said to "see no good," instead of Job in them (
1Pet 3:10).
26 swift ships--rather, canoes of reeds or papyrus skiffs, used on the Nile, swift from their lightness (
Isa 18:2).
28 The apodosis to
Job 9:27 --"If I say, &c." "I still am afraid of all my sorrows (returning), for I know that thou wilt (dost) (by removing my sufferings) not hold or declare me innocent. How then can I leave off my heaviness?"
29 The "if" is better omitted; I (am treated by God as) wicked; why then labor I in vain (to disprove His charge)? Job submits, not so much because he is convinced that God is right, as because God is powerful and he weak [BARNES].
30 snow water--thought to be more cleansing than common water, owing to the whiteness of snow (
Ps 51:7;
Isa 1:18).
never so clean--Better, to answer to the parallelism of the first clause which expresses the cleansing material, "lye:" the Arabs used alkali mixed with oil, as soap (
Ps 73:13;
Jer 2:22).
32 (
Eccl 6:10;
Isa 45:9).
33 daysman--"mediator," or "umpire"; the imposition of whose hand expresses power to adjudicate between the persons. There might be one on a level with Job, the one party; but Job knew of none on a level with the Almighty, the other party (
1Sam 2:25). We Christians know of such a Mediator (not, however, in the sense of umpire) on a level with both--the God-man, Christ Jesus (
1Tim 2:5).
34 rod--not here the symbol of punishment, but of power. Job cannot meet God on fair terms so long as God deals with him on the footing of His almighty power.
35 it is not so with me--As it now is, God not taking His rod away, I am not on such a footing of equality as to be able to vindicate myself.
