1Embittered by his sufferings Job taketh more liberty in expostulating with God. 18He repineth at having been brought into being, and prayeth for a little respite from pain before his death.
1MY soul is 1weary of my life; I will leave my complaint 2upon myself; I will speak in the 3bitterness of my soul.
1 Understand about the misery of my life.
2 That is, I shall not give it over, but let the reins lose to it, that I may pour out my heart with grief and lamentation.
3 See Job 7:11 and thereupon the annotation.
2I will say unto God, Do not 4condemn me; shew me 5wherefore thou contendest with me.
4 This word signifies to declare one unrighteous and punishable. See Deut. 25 on verse 1. Also 1 Kings 8:32; Psalm 94:21; Prov. 17:15; Rom. 8:34.
5 That is, what the reasons are of the controversy. For, I have feared Thee and served Thee with a good conscience, and nevertheless Thou hast permitted all this misery to come upon me.
3Is it 6good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise 7the work of thine hands, and 8shine upon the counsel of the wicked?
6 That is, honorable, profitable, pleasurable.
7 That is, me, Thy creature, that Thou hast made. The Hebrew word signifies such a kind of work that is most carefully wrought, not without wearisome labor.
8 God is said to shine or give brightness over a thing or person, when He blesses and prospers the same. Also Job 29:3. Compare Num. 6 on verse 25.
4Hast thou eyes of 9flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?
9 Or, fleshly eyes. Hebr. eyes of flesh, that is, eyes of men, which judge by the outward appearance, and are carried away by passion, not heeding the truth of things, and the requisites of justice.
510Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man's days,
10 The sense is: Hast Thou need of time, as a worldly judge, to take knowledge of matters, before Thou couldst pass Thy judgment?
611That thou enquirest after mine iniquity, and 12searchest after my sin?
11 Namely, by these bitter pains which I suffer, and all the other afflictions which Thou hast sent upon me, which are all of them as so many torments unto me, whereby Thou seemest to rack and torture me to press out of me the confession of my misdeeds.
12 As though the same were not fully known unto Thee beforehand.
713Thou knowest that I am 14not wicked; and there is none that can 15deliver out of thine hand.
13 That is, Thou knowest it full well, that I, etc. Compare this manner of speaking with Hosea 10:10, and see there the annotation.
14 That is, no hypocrite, nor a secret wicked wretch, as I am charged to be.
15 Namely, I, who am not guilty of the crimes with which my friends do charge me.
8Thine hands 16have made me and fashioned me together 17round about; yet thou dost destroy me.
16 The sense is: that the hands of God, which had made Job, seemed now ready by these terrible afflictions not only to try and grieve, but even utterly to destroy. Others render the Hebrew word: to make, form, work, shape or fashion; from which the translation may read: Thine hands have wrought and made me; namely, with a great deal of art and care.
17 Namely, to cause me to do pain; or, to maintain and to govern me, whom Thou hast made, in this life, Psalm 139:3; Acts 17:27, 28. Other, together round about, all what I am, namely, hast Thou made me. This entire verse is likewise translated in this manner: Thine hands have wrought me and made me; nevertheless thou swallowest me up together round about. Or, and made me, together round about; and shouldst thou swallow me up?
9Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast 18made me asa the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?
18 That is, being descended by my parents’ seed from Adam, whose body was created out of the earth, and fashioned even as a potter prepares or shapes a vessel out of clay; and that Thou shalt change me again to dust and earth. The sense is: Remember, I am of a very weak and frail condition, and therefore deal more gently and tenderly with me.
a Gen. 2:7; 3:19.
10Hastb thou not poured me out 19as milk, and curdled me like cheese?
b Psalm 139:15, 16.
19 This is spoken by similitude to express the most wonderful operation of the Lord, whereby man, by God’s order appointed in nature, is conceived in the mother’s womb. Compare Psalm 139:14, 15, 16.
11Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast 20fenced me with bones and sinews.
20 Namely, as the pales or fences are bound in and plated together with natural fibers and flexible wickers. Other, covered.
1221Thou hast granted me life and favour, and 22thy visitation hath preserved 23my spirit.
21 That is, Thou hast not only given me life, but likewise in the same hast shown many kindnesses to me, touching the preservation and maintenance of it, as well as the continual government.
22 Or, thy supervision, that is, care and inspection.
23 That is, my soul, by which I live.
13And 24these things hast thou hid in thine heart: I know 25that this is with thee.
24 That is, these afflictions and punishments. As if he said: Thou hast indeed shown many kindnesses unto me before this time, but this evil that now comes upon me, Thou hast kept secret by Thyself, and not revealed it unto me.
25 That is, that Thou hadst determined within Thyself to send upon me these punishments, and to afflict much sorrow.
14If I sin, then thou 26markest me, and thou wilt not 27acquit me from mine iniquity.
26 Namely, to punish me. Compare Job 14:16; 31:4. Other, If I have sinned, shalt thou therefore keep the watch over me and not declare me guiltless of my misdeed? Compare Job 7:12.
27 Or, purify.
15If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up 28my head. I am 29full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction;
28 They are said to lift up their heads, who, having received good hopes and encouragements, do expect something better, Luke 21:28.
29 That is, filled and overwhelmed with reproach. See Job 7 on verse 4. Other, be satisfied with my reproach, namely, which I now suffer, and consider, etc.
16For 30it increaseth. Thou huntest me 31as ac fierce lion: and again 32thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me.
30 Namely, the misery.
31 It is a comparison taken from the lions that hunt and chase wild beasts with great violence, rage and cruelty.
c Isa. 38:13; Lam. 3:10.
32 He complains that God had not only visited him with one or two fearful afflictions, but, being returned afresh upon him afterwards, He had shown Himself most strange and uncouth with other visitations in afflicting his person.
17Thou renewest thy 33witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; 34changes and 35war are against me.
33 That is, vexations and punishments, which do bear witness of Thy fierce wrath and indignation.
34 Namely, of afflictions; that is, many sorts of miseries and adversities, which are all by turns heaped and hoarded upon me. Other, extirpations. As such he would call his plagues, because they destroyed him.
35 Or, an army. His miseries are called as such by reason of their multitude, violence and cruelty.
18Wherefored then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the 36ghost, and no eye had seen 37me!
d Job 3:11.
36 Namely, in my mother’s womb, before I came into the world.
37 Namely, alive.
19I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from 38the womb to the grave.
38 See Job 3 on verse 10.
20Are not my days few? 39cease then, and 40let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,
39 Namely, from punishing me thus.
40 Forbear to besiege and surround me in this manner. Compare Psalm 3:6; Isa. 22:7.
21Before I go whence I shall not 41return, even 42to the land of darkness and the 43shadow of death;
41 Namely, into this temporal life.
42 That is, in the grave, which is also called darkness, Job 17:13.
43 That is, deadly shadow. Understand a very thick and dark shadow, which is united with death; such as is the shadow of the grave; and so in the next verse.
22A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any 44order, 45and where the light is as darkness.
44 Namely, of day and night, light and darkness, summer and winter, spring and fall, heat and cold. The sense is: that these interchanges of light and of time, which here do follow one another by turns in their order, shall not be seen in the darkness of the grave, there being nothing else but disorder and confusion.
45 That is, the brightest splendor that is in the grave is nothing but a thick, palpable and horrifying darkness.