Notes on Job
From the Original 1599 Geneva Bible Notes

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Job 1:1

1:1 There was a man in the land of {a} Uz, whose name [was] Job; and that man was perfect and {b} upright, and {c} one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

The Argument - In this history the example of patience is set before our eyes. This holy man Job was not only extremely afflicted in outward things and in his body, but also in his mind and conscience, by the sharp temptation of his wife and friends: who by their vehement words and subtle disputations brought him almost to despair. They set forth God as a sincere judge, and mortal enemy to him who had cast him off, therefore in vain he should seek him for help. These friends came to him under pretence of consolation, and yet they tormented him more than all his afflictions did. Even so, he constantly resisted them, and eventually succeeded. In this story we must note that Job maintains a good cause, but handles it badly. His adversaries have an evil matter, but they defend it craftily. Job held that God did not always punish men according to their sins, but that he had secret judgments, of which man knew not the cause, and therefore man could not reason against God in it, but he should be convicted. Moreover, he was assured that God had not rejected him, yet through his great torments and afflictions he speaks many inconveniences and shows himself as a desperate man in many things, and as one that would resist God, and this is his good cause which he handles well. Again the adversaries maintain with many good arguments that God punishes continually according to the trespass, grounding on God's providence, his justice and man's sins, yet their intention is evil; for they labour to bring Job into despair, and so they maintain an evil cause. Ezekiel commends Job as a just man, Eze 14:14 and James sets out his patience for an example, Jas 5:11.

(a) That is, of the country of Idumea, La 4:21, or bordering on it: for the land was called by the name of Uz, the son of Dishan, the son of Seir Ge 36:28.
(b) Since he was a Gentile and not a Jew and yet is pronounced upright and without hypocrisy, it declares that among the heathen God revealed himself.
(c) By this it is declared what is meant by an upright and just man.

Job 1:3

1:3 His {d} substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of {e} the east.

(d) His children and riches are declared, to commend his virtue in his prosperity and his patience and constancy when God took them from him.
(e) Meaning, the Arabians, Chaldeans, Idumeans etc.

Job 1:5

1:5 And it was so, when the days of [their] feasting were gone about, that Job sent and {f} sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and {g} offered burnt offerings [according] to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and {h} cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job {i} continually.

(f) That is, commanded them to be sanctified: meaning, that they should consider the faults that they had committed, and reconcile themselves for the same.
(g) That is, he offered for each of his children an offering of reconciliation, which declared his religion toward God, and the care that he had for his children.
(h) In Hebrew it is, "blessed God", which is sometimes taken for blaspheming and cursing, as it is here and in 1Ki 21:10,13.
(i) While the feast lasted.

Job 1:6

1:6 Now there was a day when the {k} sons of God came to present themselves {l} before the LORD, and Satan {m} came also among them.

(k) Meaning the angels, who are called the sons of God because they are willing to execute his will.
(l) Because our infirmity cannot comprehend God in his majesty, he is set forth to us as a King, that our capacity may be able to understand that which is spoken of him.
(m) This declares that although Satan is an adversary to God, yet he is compelled to obey him, and do him all homage, without whose permission and appointment he can do nothing.

Job 1:7

1:7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence {n} comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, {o} From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

(n) This question is asked for our infirmity: for God knew where he had come from.
(o) In this is described the nature of Satan, which is always seeking his prey, 1Pe 5:8.

Job 1:9

1:9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for {p} nought?

(p) He fears you not for your own sake, but for the blessing that he received from you.

Job 1:10

1:10 Hast not thou made {q} an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

(q) Meaning, the grace of God, which served Job as a rampart against all temptations.

Job 1:11

1:11 But put forth thine hand now, and {r} touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to {s} thy face.

(r) This signifies that Satan is not able to touch us, but it is God that must do it.
(s) Satan notes the vice to which men are commonly subjected, that is, to hide their rebellion and to be content with God in the time of prosperity which view is disclosed in the time of their adversity.

Job 1:12

1:12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath [is] in {t} thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the {u} presence of the LORD.

(t) God does not give Satan power over man to gratify him, but to declare that he has no power over man, but that which God gives him.
(u) That is, went to execute that which God had permitted him to do for else he can never go out of God's presence.

Job 1:15

1:15 And the {x} Sabeans fell [upon them], and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

(x) That is, the Arabians.

Job 1:16

1:16 While he [was] yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The {y} fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

(y) Which was also done by the craft of Satan, to tempt Job even more grievously, so he might see that not only men were his enemies, but that God made war against him.

Job 1:18

1:18 While he [was] yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy {z} sons and thy daughters [were] eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:

(z) This last plague declares that when one plague is past which seems hard to bear, God can send us another far more grievous, to try his and teach them obedience.

Job 1:20

1:20 Then Job arose, and {a} rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,

(a) Which came not from impatience, but declares that the children of God are not insensible like blocks, but that in their patience they feel affliction and grief of mind: yet they do not rebel against God as the wicked do.

Job 1:21

1:21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return {b} thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; {c} blessed be the name of the LORD.

(b) That is, into the belly of the earth, which is the mother of all.
(c) By this he confesses that God is just and good, although his hand is sore on him.

Job 1:22

1:22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God {d} foolishly.

(d) But declared that God did all things according to justice and equity.

Job 2:1

2:1 Again there was a day when the {a} sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and {b} Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.

(a) That is, the angels, Job 1:6.
(b) Read Job 1:6.

Job 2:3

2:3 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that [there is] none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, {c} although thou movedst me against {d} him, to destroy him without cause.

(c) He proves Job's integrity by this that he ceased not to fear God when his plagues were grievously upon him.
(d) That is, when you had nothing against him, or when you were not able to bring your purpose to pass.

Job 2:4

2:4 And Satan answered the LORD, and said, {e} Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.

(e) By this he means that a man's own skin is dearer to him than another man's.

Job 2:5

2:5 But put forth thine hand now, and touch his {f} bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.

(f) Meaning, his own person.

Job 2:6

2:6 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he [is] in thine hand; but save {g} his life.

(g) Thus Satan can go no further in punishing than God has limited him.

Job 2:7

2:7 So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore {h} boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.

(h) This sore was most vehement, with which God also plagued the Egyptians, Ex 9:9 and threatened to punish rebellious people, De 28:27 so that this temptation was most grievous: for if Job had measured God's favour by the vehemency of his disease, he might have thought that God had cast him off.

Job 2:8

2:8 And he took him a {i} potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.

(i) As destitute of all other help and means and wonderfully afflicted with the sorrow of his disease.

Job 2:9

2:9 Then said his {k} wife unto him, Dost thou {l} still retain thine integrity? {m} curse God, and die.

(k) Satan uses the same instrument against Job, as he did against Adam.
(l) Meaning, what do you gain from serving God, seeing he thus plagues you, as though he were your enemy? This is the most grievous temptation for the faithful, when their faith is assailed, and when Satan goes about to persuade them that they trust in God in vain.
(m) For death was appointed to the blasphemer and so she meant that he would quickly be rid of his pain.

Job 2:10

2:10 But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not {n} receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his {o} lips.

(n) That is, to be patient in adversity as we rejoice when he sends prosperity, and so to acknowledge him to be both merciful and just.
(o) He so bridled his desires that his tongue through impatience did not murmur against God.

Job 2:11

2:11 Now when Job's three {p} friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him.

(p) Who were men of authority, wise and learned, and as the Septuagint writes, kings, and came to comfort him, but when they saw how he was visited, they conceived an evil opinion of him, as though he was a hypocrite and so justly plagued by God for his sins.

Job 2:12

2:12 And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled {q} dust upon their heads toward heaven.

(q) This was also a ceremony which they used in those countries as the renting of their clothes in sign of sorrow etc.

Job 2:13

2:13 So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that [his] grief was very {r} great.

(r) And therefore thought that he would not have listened to their counsel.

Job 3:1

3:1 After this opened {a} Job his mouth, and {b} cursed his day.

(a) The seven days ended, Job 2:13.
(b) Here Job begins to feel his great imperfection in this battle between the spirit and the flesh, Ro 7:18 and after a manner yields yet in the end he gets victory though he was in the mean time greatly wounded.

Job 3:3

3:3 Let the day {c} perish wherein I was born, and the night [in which] it was said, There is a man child conceived.

(c) Men should not be weary of their life and curse it, because of the infinities that it is subject to, but because they are given to sin and rebellion against God.

Job 3:4

3:4 Let that day be darkness; let not God {d} regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.

(d) Let it be put out of the number of days, and let it not have the sight of the sun to separate it from the night.

Job 3:5

3:5 Let darkness and the {e} shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.

(e) That is, most obscure darkness, which makes them afraid of death that they are in it.

Job 3:8

3:8 Let them curse it that curse the day, who are {f} ready to raise up their mourning.

(f) Who curse the day of their birth, let them lay that curse on this night.

Job 3:9

3:9 Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but [have] none; neither let it {g} see the dawning of the day:

(g) Let it be always night, and never see day.

Job 3:11

3:11 {h} Why died I not from the womb? [why] did I [not] give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?

(h) This, and that which follows declares, that when man gives place to his passions, he is not able to stay or keep measure, but runs headlong into all evil unless God calls him back.

Job 3:13

3:13 For now should I have {i} lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,

(i) The vehemency of his afflictions made him utter these words as though death was the end of all miseries, and as if there were no life after this, which he speaks not as though it were so, but the infirmities of his flesh caused him to break out in this error of the wicked.

Job 3:14

3:14 With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built {k} desolate places for themselves;

(k) He notes the ambition of them who for their pleasure as it were change the order of nature, and build in most barren places, because they would by this make their names immortal.

Job 3:17

3:17 There the wicked {l} cease [from] troubling; and there the weary be at rest.

(l) That is, by death the cruelty of the tyrants has ceased.

Job 3:18

3:18 [There] the {m} prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.

(m) All they who sustain any kind of calamity and misery in this world: which he speaks after the judgment of the flesh.

Job 3:20

3:20 Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and {n} life unto the bitter [in] soul;

(n) He shows that the benefits of God are not comfortable, unless the heart is joyful, and the conscience quieted.

Job 3:23

3:23 [Why is light given] to a man whose way is {o} hid, and whom God hath hedged in?

(o) That sees not how to come out of his miseries, because he does not depend on God's providence.

Job 3:25

3:25 For the thing which I greatly {p} feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.

(p) In my prosperity I looked for a fall, as it now has come to pass.

Job 3:26

3:26 I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; {q} yet trouble came.

(q) The fear of troubles that would ensue, caused my prosperity to seem to me as nothing, and yet I am not exempted from trouble.

Job 4:2

4:2 [If] we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but {a} who can withhold himself from speaking?

(a) Seeing your impatience.

Job 4:3

4:3 Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou {b} hast strengthened the weak hands.

(b) You have comforted others in their afflictions but you cannot now comfort yourself.

Job 4:6

4:6 [Is] not [this] thy {c} fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?

(c) He concludes that Job was a hypocrite and had no true fear or trust in God.

Job 4:7

4:7 Remember, I pray thee, who [ever] perished, being {d} innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?

(d) He concludes that Job was reproved seeing that God handles him so extremely, which is the argument that the carnal men make against the children of God.

Job 4:8

4:8 Even as I have seen, they that {e} plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.

(e) They who do evil cannot but receive evil.

Job 4:9

4:9 By the {f} blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.

(f) He shows that God needs no great preparation to destroy his enemies: for he can do it with the blast of his mouth.

Job 4:10

4:10 The roaring of the {g} lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken.

(g) Though men according to their office do not punish tyrants
(whom for their cruelty he compares to lions, and their children to their whelps) yet God is able and his justice will punish them.

Job 4:12

4:12 Now a thing was {h} secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof.

(h) A thing I did not know before was declared to me by vision, that is that whoever thinks himself just will be found a sinner when he comes before God.

Job 4:14

4:14 Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones {i} to shake.

(i) In these visions which God shows to his creatures, there is always a certain fear joined, that the authority of it might be had in greater reverence.

Job 4:16

4:16 It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image [was] before mine eyes, [there was] {k} silence, and I heard a voice, [saying],

(k) When all things were quiet or when the fear was relieved as God appeared to Elijah, 1Ki 19:12.

Job 4:17

4:17 Shall mortal man be more {l} just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?

(l) He proves that if God punished the innocent, the creature would be more just than the creator, which was blasphemy.

Job 4:18

4:18 Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his {m} angels he charged with folly:

(m) If God finds imperfection in his angels when they are not maintained by his power, how much more shall he lay folly to man's charge when he would justify himself against God?

Job 4:19

4:19 How much less [in] them that dwell in houses of {n} clay, whose foundation [is] in the dust, [which] are crushed before the moth?

(n) That is, in this mortal body, subject to corruption, as in 2Co 5:1.

Job 4:20

4:20 They are destroyed from {o} morning to evening: they perish for ever {p} without any regarding [it].

(o) They see death continually before their eyes and daily approaching them.
(p) No man for all this considers it.

Job 4:21

4:21 Doth not their excellency [which is] in them go away? they die, even without {q} wisdom.

(q) That is, before any of them were so wise, as to think of death.

Job 5:1

5:1 Call now, if there be any that will {a} answer thee; and to which of the saints wilt thou turn?

(a) He wills Job to consider the example of all who have lived or live godly, whether any of them are like him in raging against God as he does.

Job 5:2

5:2 For {b} wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one.

(b) Murmuring against God in afflictions increases the pain, and uttered man's folly.

Job 5:3

5:3 I have seen the {c} foolish taking root: but suddenly I {d} cursed his habitation.

(c) That is, the sinner that does not have the fear of God.
(d) I was not moved by his prosperity but knew that God had cursed him and his.

Job 5:4

5:4 His {e} children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the {f} gate, neither [is there] any to deliver [them].

(e) Though God sometimes allows the father's to pass in this world, yet his judgments will light on their wicked children.
(f) By public judgment they will be condemned and no one will pity them.

Job 5:5

5:5 Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the {g} thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance.

(g) Though there are only two or three ears left in the hedges, yet these will be taken from him.

Job 5:6

5:6 Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, {h} neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;

(h) That is, the earth is not the cause of barrenness and man's misery, but his own sin.

Job 5:7

5:7 Yet man is born unto {i} trouble, as the sparks fly upward.

(i) Which declares that sin is always in our corrupt nature: for before sin it was not subject to pain and affliction.

Job 5:8

5:8 I would seek unto {k} God, and unto God would I commit my cause:

(k) If I suffered as you do, I would seek God.

Job 5:9

5:9 Which {l} doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number:

(l) He counsels Job to humble himself to God to whom all creatures are subject and whose works declare that man is inexcusable unless he glorifies God in all his works.

Job 5:10

5:10 Who {m} giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields:

(m) He shows by particular examples what the works of God are.

Job 5:14

5:14 They meet with {n} darkness in the daytime, and {o} grope in the noonday as in the night.

(n) In things plain and evident they show themselves fools instead of wise men.
(o) This declares that God punishes the worldly wise as he threatened in De 28:29.

Job 5:15

5:15 But he saveth the {p} poor from the sword, from their {q} mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.

(p) That is, he who humbles himself before God.
(q) He compares the slander of the wicked to sharp swords.

Job 5:16

5:16 So the poor hath hope, and iniquity {r} stoppeth her mouth.

(r) If the wicked are compelled by God's works to shut their mouths, how much more they who profess God.

Job 5:19

5:19 He shall deliver thee in {s} six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.

(s) He will send trouble after trouble that his children may not for one time, but continually trust in him: but they sill have a comfortable issue, even in the greatest and the last, which is here called the seventh.

Job 5:22

5:22 At destruction and famine thou shalt {t} laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth.

(t) While the wicked lament in their troubles, you will have occasion to rejoice.

Job 5:23

5:23 For thou {u} shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.

(u) When we are in God's favour, all creatures will serve us.

Job 5:24

5:24 And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle [shall be] in peace; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not {x} sin.

(x) God will so bless you that you will have opportunity to rejoice in all things, and not be offended.

Job 5:26

5:26 Thou shalt come to [thy] grave in {y} a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in his season.

(y) Though the children of God have not always carried out this promise, yet God recompenses it otherwise to their advantage.

Job 5:27

5:27 Lo {z} this, we have searched it, so it [is]; hear it, and know thou [it] for thy good.

(z) We have learned these points by experience, that God does not punish the innocent, that man cannot compare in justice with him, that the hypocrites will not prosper for long, and that the affliction which man sustains comes for his own sin.

Job 6:2

6:2 Oh that my grief were throughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the {a} balances together!

(a To know whether I complain without just cause.

Job 6:3

6:3 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are {b} swallowed up.

(b) My grief is so great that I lack words to express it.

Job 6:4

6:4 For the arrows of the Almighty [are] within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do {c} set themselves in array against me.

(c) Which declares that he was not only afflicted in body, but wounded in conscience, which is the greatest battle that the faithful can have.

Job 6:5

6:5 Doth the {d} wild ass bray when he hath grass? or loweth the ox over his fodder?

(d) Do you think that I cry without cause, seeing the brute beasts do not complain when they have what they want.

Job 6:6

6:6 Can that which is {e} unsavoury be eaten without salt? or is there [any] taste in the white of an egg?

(e) Can a man's taste delight in that, which has no savour? meaning that no one takes pleasure in affliction seeing they cannot do away with things that are unsavoury to the mouth.

Job 6:8

6:8 Oh that I might have my {f} request; and that God would grant [me] the thing that I long for!

(f) In this he sins double, both in wishing through impatience to die, and also in desiring of God a thing which was not agreeable to his will.

Job 6:10

6:10 Then should I yet have comfort; yea, I would harden myself in sorrow: let him not spare; {g} for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.

(g) That is, let me die at once before I come to distrust God's promise through my impatience.

Job 6:11

6:11 What [is] my strength, that I should hope? and what [is] mine {h} end, that I should prolong my life?

(h) He fears lest he should be brought to inconveniences, if his sorrows should continue.

Job 6:13

6:13 [Is] not my {i} help in me? and is wisdom driven quite from me?

(i) Have I not sought to help myself as much as was possible?

Job 6:15

6:15 My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a {k} brook, [and] as the stream of brooks they pass away;

(k) He compares friends who do not comfort us in our misery to a brook which in summer when we need water is dry, in winter is hard frozen and in the time of rain when we have no need overflows with water.

Job 6:19

6:19 The troops of Tema {l} looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them.

(l) They who pass by it to go into the hot countries of Arabia, think to find water there to quench their thirst but they are deceived.

Job 6:21

6:21 For now ye are {m} nothing; ye see [my] casting down, and are afraid.

(m) That is, like this brook which deceives them who think to have water there in their need, as I looked for consolation from you.

Job 6:22

6:22 Did I say, Bring unto me? or, Give a reward for me of your {n} substance?

(n) He touches the worldlings who for need will give part of their goods, and much more these men, who would not give him comfortable words.

Job 6:24

6:24 Teach me, and I will {o} hold my tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I have erred.

(o) Show me where I have erred, and I will confess my sin.

Job 6:25

6:25 How {p} forcible are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove?

(p) He who has a good conscience does not shrink at the sharp words or reasonings of others, unless they are able to persuade him by reason.

Job 6:26

6:26 Do ye imagine to reprove {q} words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, [which are] as wind?

(q) Do you object to my words because I would be thought to speak foolishly, and am now in misery?

Job 6:28

6:28 Now therefore be content, {r} look upon me; for [it is] evident unto you if I lie.

(r) Consider whether I speak as one who is driven to this impatience through sorrow, or as a hypocrite as you condemn me.

Job 7:1

7:1 [Is there] not an appointed time to man upon earth? [are not] his days also like the days of an {a} hireling?

(a) Has not a hired servant some rest and ease? Then in this my continual torment I am worse than a hireling.

Job 7:3

7:3 So am I made to possess {b} months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.

(b) My sorrow has continued from month to month, and I have looked for hope in vain.

Job 7:5

7:5 My flesh is {c} clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome.

(c) This signifies that his disease was rare and most horrible.

Job 7:6

7:6 My days are swifter than {d} a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.

(d) Thus he speaks in respect for the brevity of man's life, which passes without hope of returning: in consideration of which he desires God to have compassion on him.

Job 7:9

7:9 {e} [As] the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall {f} come up no [more].

(e) If you behold me in your anger I will not be able to stand in your presence.
(f) Shall no more enjoy this mortal life.

Job 7:11

7:11 Therefore I will not {g} refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

(g) Seeing I can by no other means comfort myself I will declare my grief in words, and thus he speaks as one overcome with grief of mind.

Job 7:12

7:12 [Am] I a sea, {h} or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?

(h) Am I not a poor wretch? Why do you need to lay so much pain on me?

Job 7:14

7:14 Then thou scarest me {i} with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions:

(i) So that I can have no rest, night or day.

Job 7:15

7:15 So that my soul {k} chooseth strangling, [and] death rather than my life.

(k) He speaks as one overcome with sorrow, and not of judgment, or of the examination of his faith.

Job 7:16

7:16 I loathe [it]; I would not live alway: {l} let me alone; for my days [are] vanity.

(l) Seeing my term of life is so short, let me have some rest and ease.

Job 7:17

7:17 What [is] man, that thou {m} shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?

(m) Seeing that man of himself is so vile, why do you give him that honour to contend against him? Job uses all kinds of persuasion with God, that he might stay his hand.

Job 7:20

7:20 I have {n} sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself?

(n) After all temptations faith steps forth and leads Job to repentance: yet it was not in such perfection that he could bridle himself from reasoning with God, because he still tried his faith.

Job 7:21

7:21 And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I [shall] {o} not [be].

(o) That is, I will be dead.

Job 8:2

8:2 How long wilt thou speak these [things]? and [how long shall] the words of thy mouth {a} [be like] a strong wind?

(a) He declares that their words which would diminish anything from the justice of God, are but as a puff of wind that vanishes away.

Job 8:4

8:4 If thy children have sinned against him, and he have cast them away for their {b} transgression;

(b) That is, has rewarded them according to their iniquity, meaning that Job should be warned by the example of his children, that he not offend God.

Job 8:5

8:5 If thou {c} wouldest seek unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty;

(c) That is, if you turn while God calls you to repentance.

Job 8:7

8:7 Though thy beginning {d} was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase.

(d) Though the beginning is not as pleasant as you would like, yet in the end you will have sufficient opportunity to please yourself.

Job 8:8

8:8 For {e} enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers:

(e) He wills Job to examine all antiquity and he will find it true which he here says.

Job 8:9

8:9
(For we [are but of] {f} yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth [are] a shadow:)

(f) Meaning, that it is not enough to have the experience of ourselves, but to be confirmed by the examples of those who went before us.

Job 8:11

8:11 Can the rush {g} grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water?

(g) As a rush cannot grow without moisture, so the hypocrite because he does not have faith which is watered with God's Spirit.

Job 8:14

8:14 Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust [shall be] a {h} spider's web.

(h) Which is today and tomorrow swept away.

Job 8:16

8:16 He [is] {i} green before the sun, and his branch shooteth forth in his garden.

(i) He compares the just to a tree, which although it is moved from one place to another, yet flourishes: so the affliction of the godly turns to their profit.

Job 8:18

8:18 If he destroy him from his place, then [it] shall {k} deny him, [saying], I have not seen thee.

(k) That is, so that there remains nothing there to prove whether the tree had grown there or not.

Job 8:19

8:19 Behold, this [is] the joy {l} of his way, and out of the earth shall others grow.

(l) To be planted in another place, where it may grow as it pleases.

Job 8:21

8:21 Till he fill thy mouth with {m} laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing.

(m) If you are godly, he will give you opportunity to rejoice and if not your affliction will increase.

Job 9:2

9:2 I know [it is] so of a truth: but how should man be {a} just with God?

(a) Job here answers Eliphaz and Bildad's oration, touching the justice of God, and his innocency, confessing God to be infinite in justice and man to be nothing in respect.

Job 9:3

9:3 If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a {b} thousand.

(b) Of a thousand things, which God could lay to his charge, man cannot answer him one.

Job 9:6

9:6 Which {c} shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.

(c) He declares the infirmity of man, by the mighty and incomprehensible power that is in God, showing what he could do if he would set forth his power.

Job 9:9

9:9 Which maketh {d} Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.

(d) These are the names of certain stars by which he means that all stars both known and unknown are at his appointment.

Job 9:11

9:11 Lo, he goeth {e} by me, and I see [him] not: he passeth on also, but I perceive him not.

(e) I am not able to comprehend his works, which are common and daily before my eyes, much less in those things, which are hid and secret.

Job 9:12

9:12 Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him? {f} who will say unto him, What doest thou?

(f) He shows that when God executes his power, he does it justly, as no one can control him.

Job 9:13

9:13 [If] God {g} will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers {h} do stoop under him.

(g) God will not be appeased for anything that man can say for himself for his justification.
(h) That is, all the reasons that men can lay to approve their cause.

Job 9:14

9:14 How much less shall I answer him, [and] choose out {i} my words [to reason] with him?

(i) How should I be able to answer him by eloquence? By which he notes his friends, who although they were eloquent in talk, did not believe in their hearts, that which they spoke.

Job 9:15

9:15 Whom, though I were righteous, [yet] would I {k} not answer, [but] I would make supplication to my judge.

(k) Meaning, in his own opinion, signifying that man will sometimes flatter himself to be righteous which before God is an abomination.

Job 9:16

9:16 If I {l} had called, and he had answered me; [yet] would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice.

(l) While I am in pain I cannot break forth into many inconveniences although I still know that God is just.

Job 9:17

9:17 For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds {m} without cause.

(m) I am not able to feel my sins so great, as I feel the weight of his plagues; and this he speaks to condemn his dullness and to justify God.

Job 9:19

9:19 If [I speak] of strength, lo, [he is] {n} strong: and if of judgment, who shall set me a time [to plead]?

(n) After he has accused his own weakness, he continues to justify God and his power.

Job 9:20

9:20 If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: {o} [if I say], I [am] perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.

(o) If I stood in my own defence yet God would have just cause to condemn me if he examined my heart and conscience.

Job 9:22

9:22 This [is] one [thing], therefore I said [it], He destroyeth the {p} perfect and the wicked.

(p) If God punishes according to his justice, he will destroy them who are counted perfect as well as them that are wicked.

Job 9:23

9:23 If the scourge {q} slay suddenly, he will {r} laugh at the trial of the innocent.

(q) That is, the wicked.
(r) This is spoken according to our apprehension, as though he would say, If God destroyed only the wicked, Job 5:3, why would he allow the innocent to be so long tormented by them?

Job 9:24

9:24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked: {s} he covereth the faces of the judges thereof; if not, where, [and] who {t} [is] he?

(s) That they cannot see to do justice.
(t) That can show the contrary?

Job 9:27

9:27 If {u} I say, I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my heaviness, and comfort [myself]:

(u) I think not to fall into these afflictions, but my sorrows bring me to these manifold infirmities, and my conscience condemns me.

Job 9:29

9:29 [If] I be wicked, why then {x} labour I in vain?

(x) Why does God not destroy me at once? thus he speaks according to the infirmity of the flesh.

Job 9:30

9:30 If I wash {y} myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean;

(y) Though I seem pure in my own eyes, yet all is but corruption before God.

Job 9:31

9:31 Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own {z} clothes shall abhor me.

(z) Whatever I would use to cover my filthiness with, it would disclose me even more.

Job 9:33

9:33 Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, {a} [that] might lay his hand upon us both.

(a) Who might make an accord between God and me, speaking of impatience, and yet confessing God to be just in punishing him.

Job 9:35

9:35 [Then] would I speak, and not fear him; {b} but [it is] not so with me.

(b) Signifying that God's judgments keep him in awe.

Job 10:1

10:1 My soul is {a} weary of my life; I will leave my {b} complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

(a) I am more like a dead man, than to one that lives.
(b) I will make an ample declaration of my torments, accusing myself and not God.

Job 10:2

10:2 I will say unto God, Do not {c} condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.

(c) He would not that God would proceed against him by his secret justice, but by the ordinary means that he punishes others.

Job 10:3

10:3 [Is it] {d} good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the {e} work of thine hands, and shine upon the {f} counsel of the wicked?

(d) Is it agreeable to your justice to do me wrong?
(e) Will you be without compassions?
(f) Will you gratify the wicked and condemn me?

Job 10:4

10:4 Hast thou eyes of {g} flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?

(g) Do you do this of ignorance.

Job 10:5

10:5 [Are] thy days as the {h} days of man? [are] thy years as man's days,

(h) Are you inconstant and changeable as the times, today a friend, tomorrow an enemy?

Job 10:7

10:7 Thou knowest that I am not {i} wicked; and [there is] none that can deliver out of thine hand.

(i) By affliction you keep me as in a prison, and restrain me from doing evil, neither can any set me free.

Job 10:8

10:8 Thine {k} hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.

(k) In these eight verses following he describes the mercy of God, in the wonderful creation of man: and on it grounds that God should not show himself rigorous against him.

Job 10:9

10:9 Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as {l} the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?

(l) As brittle as a pot of clay.

Job 10:12

10:12 Thou hast granted me life and {m} favour, and thy {n} visitation hath preserved my spirit.

(m) That is, reason and understanding, and many other gifts, by which man excels all earthly creatures.
(n) That is, the fatherly care and providence by which you preserved me, and without which I would perish immediately.

Job 10:13

10:13 And these [things] hast thou hid in thine heart: I know {o} that this [is] with thee.

(o) Though I am not fully able to comprehend these things, yet I must confess that it is so.

Job 10:15

10:15 If I be wicked, woe unto me; and [if] I be righteous, [yet] will I not {p} lift up my head. [I am] full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction;

(p) I will always walk in fear and humility, knowing that no one is just before you.

Job 10:16

10:16 For it increaseth. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion: and again thou shewest thyself {q} marvellous upon me.

(q) Job being sore assaulted in this battle between the flesh and the spirit, breaks out into these affections, wishing rather for short days than long pain.

Job 10:17

10:17 Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; {r} changes and war [are] against me.

(r) That is, diversity of diseases and in great abundance; showing that God has infinite means to punish man.

Job 10:20

10:20 [Are] not my days few? {s} cease [then, and] let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,

(s) He wishes that God would leave off his affliction, considering his great misery and the shortness of his life.

Job 10:21

10:21 Before I go [whence] I shall not {t} return, [even] to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;

(t) He speaks this in the person of a sinner, that is overcome with passions and with the feeling of God's judgments and therefore cannot apprehend in that state the mercies of God, and the comfort of the resurrection.

Job 10:22

10:22 A land of darkness, as darkness [itself; and] of the shadow of death, without any {u} order, and [where] the light [is] as darkness.

(u) No distinction between light and darkness but where there is very darkness itself.

Job 11:2

11:2 Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a man {a} full of talk be justified?

(a) Should he persuade by his great talk that he is just?

Job 11:4

11:4 For thou hast said, {b} My doctrine [is] pure, and I am clean in thine eyes.

(b) He charges Job with this, that he should say, that the thing which he spoke was true, and that he was without sin in the sight of God.

Job 11:6

11:6 And that he would shew thee the {c} secrets of wisdom, that [they are] double to that which is! Know therefore that God exacteth of thee [less] than thine iniquity [deserveth].

(c) Which is not to stand in justifying of yourself: he signifies that man will never be overcome while he reasons with another, and therefore God must break off the controversy, and stop man's mouth.

Job 11:8

11:8 [It is] as high as heaven; what canst thou do? {d} deeper than hell; what canst thou know?

(d) That is, this perfection of God, and if man is not able to comprehend the height of the heavens, the depth of the earth, the breadth of the sea, which are but creatures, how can he attain to the perfection of the creator.

Job 11:10

11:10 If he cut off, and {e} shut up, or gather together, then who can hinder him?

(e) If God should turn the state of things and establish a new order in nature, who could control him?

Job 11:12

11:12 For vain man would be wise, though man be born [like] a wild {f} ass's colt.

(f) That is, without understanding, so that whatever gifts he has afterward come from God, and not from nature.

Job 11:13

11:13 If thou {g} prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him;

(g) If you repent, pray to him.

Job 11:14

11:14 If iniquity [be] in thine {h} hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles.

(h) Renounce your own evil works and see that they do not offend God, over whom you have charge.

Job 11:15

11:15 For then shalt thou lift up thy {i} face without spot; yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear:

(i) He declares the quietness of conscience and success in all things that they shall have who turn to God in true repentance.

Job 11:20

11:20 But the eyes {k} of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope [shall be as] the giving up of the ghost.

(k) He shows that contrary things will come to them who do not repent.

Job 12:2

12:2 No doubt but ye [are] the people, and {a} wisdom shall die with you.

(a) Because you do not feel what you speak, you think the whole stands in words, and so flatter yourselves as though no one else knew anything, or could know except you.

Job 12:4

12:4 I am {b} [as] one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he {c} answereth him: the just upright [man is] laughed to scorn.

(b) He reproves his friends for two faults: one, that they thought they had better knowledge than they did: and the other, that instead of true consolation, they derided and despised their friend in his adversity.
(c) Who being a mocker and a wicked man, thinks that no man is in God's favour but he, because he has all things that he desires.

Job 12:5

12:5 {d} He that is ready to slip with [his] feet [is as] a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease.

(d) As the rich do not esteem a light or torch that goes out, so he despised he that falls from prosperity to adversity.

Job 12:7

12:7 But ask now the beasts, {e} and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee:

(e) He declares to them that disputed against him, that their wisdom is common to all, and such as the very brute beasts teach daily.

Job 12:11

12:11 Doth not the ear {f} try words? and the mouth taste his meat?

(f) He exhorts them to be wise in judging, and as well to know the right use of their God-given ears, as well as their mouths.

Job 12:12

12:12 With the {g} ancient [is] wisdom; and in length of days understanding.

(g) Though men by age and continuance of time attain wisdom, yet it is not comparable to God's wisdom, nor able to comprehend his judgments, in which he answers to that which was alleged, Job 8:8.

Job 12:16

12:16 With him [is] strength and wisdom: the deceived and the {h} deceiver [are] his.

(h) He shows that there is nothing done in this world without God's will and ordinance, else he would not be Almighty.

Job 12:18

12:18 {i} He looseth {k} the bond of kings, and girdeth their loins with a girdle.

(i) He takes wisdom from them.
(k) He abates the humour of princes, and brings them into the subjection of others.

Job 12:20

12:20 He removeth away the speech of the {l} trusty, and taketh away the understanding of the aged.

(l) He causes their words to have no credit, which is when he will punish sin.

Job 12:23

12:23 He {m} increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them [again].

(m) In this discourse of God's wonderful works, Job shows that whatever is done in this world both in the order and change of things, is by God's will and appointment, in which he declares that he thinks well of God, and is able to set forth his power in words as they that reasoned against him were.

Job 13:3

13:3 Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire {a} to reason with God.

(a) For although he knew that God was just, which was revealed in his ordinary working and another in his secret counsel, yet he uttered his affection to God, because he was not able to understand the reason he punished him.

Job 13:4

13:4 But ye [are] forgers of lies, ye [are] all {b} physicians of no value.

(b) You do not well apply your medicine to the disease.

Job 13:7

13:7 Will ye speak {c} wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him?

(c) He condemns their zeal, who did not have knowledge, nor regarded they to comfort him, but always granted on God's justice, as though it was not evidently seen in Job, unless they had undertaken the probation of it.

Job 13:12

13:12 Your {d} remembrances [are] like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay.

(d) Your fame will come to nothing.

Job 13:14

13:14 Wherefore do I {e} take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand?

(e) Is not this a revealed sign of my affliction and that I do not complain without cause, seeing that I am thus tormented as though I should tear my own flesh, and put my life in danger?

Job 13:16

13:16 He also [shall be] my salvation: for an {f} hypocrite shall not come before him.

(f) By which he declares that he is not a hypocrite as they charged him.

Job 13:18

13:18 Behold now, I have ordered [my] cause; I know that I shall be {g} justified.

(g) That is, cleared and not cut off for my sins, as you think.

Job 13:19

13:19 Who [is] he [that] will plead {h} with me? for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall {i} give up the ghost.

(h) To prove that God punishes me for my sins.
(i) If I do not defend my cause, every man will condemn me.

Job 13:21

13:21 {k} Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid.

(k) He shows what these two things are.

Job 13:23

13:23 How many [are] {l} mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin.

(l) His pangs move him to reason with God, not denying that he had sinned: but he desired to understand what his great sins were that he deserved such rigor, in which he sinned by demanding a reason from God why he punished him.

Job 13:26

13:26 For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess {m} the iniquities of my youth.

(m) You punish me now for the sins that I committed in my youth.

Job 13:27

13:27 Thou puttest my feet also in the {n} stocks, and lookest narrowly unto all my paths; thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet.

(n) You make me your prisoner, and so press me that I cannot stir hand or foot.

Job 14:1

14:1 Man {a} [that is] born of a woman [is] of few days, and full of trouble.

(a) Taking the opportunity of his adversaries words he describes the state of man's life from his birth to his death.

Job 14:3

14:3 And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an {b} one, and bringest me into judgment with thee?

(b) His meaning is, that seeing that man is so frail a creature, God should not handle him so extremely, in which Job shows the wickedness of the flesh, when it is not subject to the Spirit.

Job 14:6

14:6 Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, {c} as an hireling, his day.

(c) Until the time you have appointed him to die, which he desires as the hireling waits for the end of his labour to receive his wages.

Job 14:10

14:10 {d} But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where [is] he?

(d) He speaks here not as though he had no hope of immortality but as a man in extreme pain, when reason is overcome by afflictions and torments.

Job 14:13

14:13 O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy {e} wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and {f} remember me!

(e) By this he declares that the fear of God's judgment was the reason why he desired to die.
(f) That is, relieve my pain and take me to mercy.

Job 14:14

14:14 If a man die, shall he live [again]? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till {g} my change come.

(g) Meaning, to the day of the resurrection when he would be changed and renewed.

Job 14:15

14:15 Thou shalt call, and I will {h} answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.

(h) Though I am afflicted in this life, yet in the resurrection I will feel your mercies and answer when you call me.

Job 14:17

14:17 My transgression [is] sealed up in a {i} bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity.

(i) You lay them all together and do not allow any of my sins to go unpunished.

Job 14:18

14:18 And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the {k} rock is removed out of his place.

(k) He murmurs through the impatiency of the flesh against God, as though he used great severity against him as against the hard rocks, or waters that overflow, so that by this the opportunity of his hope is taken away.

Job 14:22

14:22 But his {l} flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.

(l) Yet while he is in pain and misery.

Job 15:2

15:2 Should a wise man utter {a} vain knowledge, and fill his belly {b} with the east wind?

(a) That is, vain words, and without consolation?
(b) Meaning, with matters that are of no importance, which are forgotten as soon as they are uttered, as the East wind dries up moisture as soon as it falls.

Job 15:4

15:4 Yea, thou castest off {c} fear, and restrainest prayer before God.

(c) He charges Job as though his talk caused men to cast off the fear of God and prayer.

Job 15:5

15:5 For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the {d} tongue of the crafty.

(d) You speak as the mockers and contemners of God do.

Job 15:7

15:7 [Art] thou the {e} first man [that] was born? or wast thou made before the hills?

(e) That is, the most ancient and so by reason the most wise?

Job 15:8

15:8 Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom {f} to thyself?

(f) Are you only wise?

Job 15:11

15:11 [Are] the consolations of God {g} small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee?

(g) He accuses Job's pride and ingratitude, that will not be comforted by God, but by their counsel.

Job 15:12

15:12 Why doth thine heart {h} carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at,

(h) Why do you stand in your own conceit?

Job 15:14

15:14 What [is] man, that he should be clean? and [he which is] born of a woman, that he should {i} be righteous?

(i) His purpose is to prove that Job, as an unjust man and a hypocrite, is punished for his sins, as he did before, Job 4:8.

Job 15:16

15:16 How much more abominable and filthy [is] man, which {k} drinketh iniquity like water?

(k) Who has a desire to sin, as he who is thirsty to drink.

Job 15:19

15:19 Unto whom alone the earth was {l} given, and no stranger passed among them.

(l) Who by their wisdom so governed, that no stranger invaded them, and so the land seemed to be given to them alone.

Job 15:20

15:20 The wicked man travaileth with pain all [his] days, and the number {m} of years is hidden to the oppressor.

(m) The cruel man is always in danger of death, and is never quiet in conscience.

Job 15:22

15:22 He believeth not that he shall return out of {n} darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.

(n) Out of that misery to which he once fell.

Job 15:23

15:23 He wandereth {o} abroad for bread, [saying], Where [is it]? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.

(o) God not only impoverishes the wicked often, but even in their prosperity he punishes them with a greediness to gain even more: which is as a beggary.

Job 15:24

15:24 Trouble and {p} anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.

(p) He shows the weapons God uses against the wicked, who lift up themselves against him, that is, terror of conscience and outward afflictions.

Job 15:27

15:27 Because he covereth his face with {q} his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on [his] flanks.

(q) That is, he was so puffed up with prosperity and abundance for all things, that he forgave God: noting that Job in his happiness did not have the true fear of God.

Job 15:28

15:28 And he dwelleth {r} in desolate cities, [and] in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.

(r) Though he build and repair ruinous places to gain fame, yet God will bring all to nothing, and turn his great prosperity into extreme misery.

Job 15:29

15:29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the {s} perfection thereof upon the earth.

(s) Meaning, that his sumptuous buildings would never come to perfection.

Job 15:31

15:31 Let not him that is {t} deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence.

(t) He stands in his own conceit, that he will give no place to good counsel, therefore his own pride will bring him to destruction.

Job 15:33

15:33 He shall shake off his unripe {u} grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.

(u) As one who gathers grapes before they are ripe.

Job 15:34

15:34 For the congregation of hypocrites [shall be] desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of {x} bribery.

(x) Who were built or maintained by bribery.

Job 15:35

15:35 They {y} conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.

(y) Therefore all their vain devises will turn to their own destruction.

Job 16:3

16:3 Shall {a} vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest?

(a) Which serve for vain ostentation and for no true comfort.

Job 16:4

16:4 I also could speak as ye [do]: if your {c} soul were in my soul's stead, I could heap up words against you, and {d} shake mine head at you.

(c) I would that you felt what I do.
(d) That is, mock at your misery, as you do at mine.

Job 16:5

16:5 [But] I would strengthen you {e} with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should asswage [your grief].

(e) If this were in my power, yet I would comfort you and not do as you do to me.

Job 16:6

16:6 Though I speak, my grief is {f} not asswaged: and [though] I forbear, what am I eased?

(f) If you would say, "Why do you not then comfort yourself?" he answers that the judgments of God are more heavy than he is able to assuage either by words or silence.

Job 16:7

16:7 But now {g} he hath made me weary: thou hast made desolate all my {h} company.

(g) Meaning, God.
(h) That is, destroyed most of my family.

Job 16:8

16:8 And thou hast filled me with {i} wrinkles, [which] is a witness [against me]: and my leanness rising up in me beareth witness to my face.

(i) In token of sorrow and grief.

Job 16:9

16:9 {k} He teareth [me] in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.

(k) That is, God by his wrath: and in this diversity of words and high style, he expresses how grievous the hand of God was on him.

Job 16:10

16:10 They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the {l} cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me.

(l) That is, has handled me contemptuously: for so slapping the cheek signified, 1Ki 22:24, Mr 14:65

Job 16:11

16:11 God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the {m} hands of the wicked.

(m) They have led me where they would.

Job 16:13

16:13 His {n} archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall {o} upon the ground.

(n) His manifold afflictions.
(o) I am wounded to the heart.

Job 16:15

16:15 I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and defiled my {p} horn in the dust.

(p) Meaning, his glory was brought low.

Job 16:17

16:17 Not for [any] injustice in {q} mine hands: also my prayer {r} [is] pure.

(q) Signifying that he is not able to understand the cause of this his grievous punishment.
(r) That is, unfeigned and without hypocrisy.

Job 16:18

16:18 O earth, cover not thou my {s} blood, and let my cry have no place.

(s) Let my sin be known if I am such a sinner as my adversaries accuse me, and let me find no favour.

Job 16:19

16:19 Also now, behold, my {t} witness [is] in heaven, and my record [is] on high.

(t) Though man condemn me, yet God is witness of my cause.

Job 16:20

16:20 My friends {u} scorn me: [but] mine eye poureth out [tears] unto God.

(u) Use painted words instead of true consolation.

Job 16:21

16:21 O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man {x} [pleadeth] for his neighbour!

(x) Thus by his great torments he is carried away, and breaks out into passions, and speaks unadvisedly, as though God would intreat man more gently, seeing he has only a short time here to live.

Job 17:2

17:2 [Are there] not {a} mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in {b} their provocation?

(a) Instead of comfort, being now at death's door, he had but them that mocked at him, and discouraged him.

Job 17:3

17:3 {c} Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who [is] he [that] {d} will strike hands with me?

(c) He reasons with God as a man beside himself, so that his cause might be brought to light.
(d) And answers for you?

Job 17:4

17:4 For thou hast hid their heart from {e} understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt [them].

(e) That these my afflictions are your just judgments, though man does not know the reason.

Job 17:5

17:5 {f} He that speaketh flattery to [his] friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.

(f) He who flatters a man, and only judges him happy in his prosperity, will not himself only but in his posterity be punished.

Job 17:6

17:6 He hath made me also a {g} byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.

(g) God has made all the world speak of me, because of my afflictions.

Job 17:8

17:8 Upright [men] shall be astonied at {i} this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.

(i) That is, when they see the godly punished: but in the end they will come to understanding and know what will be the reward of the hypocrite.

Job 17:9

17:9 The righteous also shall hold on his {k} way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.

(k) That is, will not be discouraged, considering that the godly are punished as well as the wicked.

Job 17:10

17:10 But as for {l} you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find [one] wise [man] among you.

(l) Job speaks to the three who came to comfort him.

Job 17:12

17:12 They change the {m} night into day: the light [is] short because of darkness.

(m) That is, have brought me sorrow instead of comfort.

Job 17:13

17:13 If I wait, {n} the grave [is] mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.

(n) Though I should hope to come from adversity to prosperity, as your discourse pretends.

Job 17:14

17:14 I have said to corruption, Thou [art] my {o} father: to the worm, [Thou art] my mother, and my sister.

(o) I have no more hope in father, mother, sister, or any worldly thing: for the dust and worms will be to me instead of them.

Job 17:16

17:16 {p} They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when [our] rest together [is] in the dust.

(p) All worldly hope and prosperity fail which you say, are only signs of God's favour but seeing that these things perish, I set my hope in God and in the life everlasting.

Job 18:2

18:2 How long [will it be ere] {a} ye make an end of words? {b} mark, and afterwards we will speak.

(a) Who count yourselves just as Job 12:4.
(b) Whom you take to be only beasts, as in Job 12:7.

Job 18:4

18:4 {c} He teareth himself in his anger: shall the {d} earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of his place?

(c) That is, like a madman.
(d) Shall God change the order of nature for your sake, by dealing with you otherwise than he does with all man?

Job 18:5

18:5 Yea, the light of the wicked shall be {e} put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.

(e) When the wicked is in his prosperity, then God changes his state: and this is his ordinary working for their sins.

Job 18:8

18:8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he {f} walketh upon a snare.

(f) Meaning, that the wicked are in continual danger.

Job 18:12

18:12 His strength shall be {g} hungerbitten, and destruction [shall be] ready at his side.

(g) That which should nourish him will be consumed by famine.

Job 18:13

18:13 It shall devour the strength of his skin: [even] the {h} firstborn of death shall devour his strength.

(h) That is, some strong and violent death will consume his strength: or as the Hebrew word signifies his members or parts.

Job 18:14

18:14 His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the {i} king of terrors.

(i) That is, with great fear.

Job 18:15

18:15 It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because [it is] none of his: {l} brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.

(l) Though all the world would favour him, yet God would destroy him and his.

Job 18:18

18:18 He shall be driven from {m} light into darkness, and chased out of the world.

(m) He will fall from prosperity to adversity.

Job 18:20

18:20 They that come after [him] shall be astonied at his {n} day, as they that went before were affrighted.

(n) When they will see what came to him.

Job 19:3

19:3 These {a} ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed [that] ye make yourselves strange to me.

(a) That is, many times, as in Ne 4:12.

Job 19:4

19:4 And be it indeed [that] I have erred, mine error {b} remaineth with myself.

(b) That is, I myself will be punished for it, or you have not yet consulted it.

Job 19:6

19:6 Know now that God hath {c} overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net.

(c) He breaks out again into his passions and declares still that his affliction comes from God though he is not able to feel the cause in himself.

Job 19:8

19:8 He hath fenced up my way that I cannot {d} pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.

(d) Meaning, out of his afflictions.

Job 19:9

19:9 He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the {e} crown [from] my head.

(e) Meaning, his children, and whatever was dear to him in this world.

Job 19:10

19:10 He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like {f} a tree.

(f) Which is plucked up, and has no more hope to grow.

Job 19:12

19:12 His {g} troops come together, and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle.

(g) His manifold afflictions.

Job 19:15

19:15 {h} They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.

(h) My household servants by all these losses Job shows that touching the flesh he had great opportunity to be moved.

Job 19:17

19:17 My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children's [sake] of mine {i} own body.

(i) Which were hers and mine.

Job 19:20

19:20 My bone {k} cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

(k) Besides these great losses and most cruel unkindness, he was touched in his own person as follows.

Job 19:21

19:21 Have pity upon me, have {m} pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.

(m) Seeing I have these just causes to complain, condemn me not as a hypocrite, especially you who should comfort me.

Job 19:22

19:22 Why do ye persecute me as {n} God, and are not satisfied with my {o} flesh?

(n) Is it not enough that God punishes me, unless you by reproaching increase my sorrow?
(o) To see my body punished, unless you trouble my mind?

Job 19:24

19:24 That they were graven with {p} an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!

(p) He protests that despite his sore passions his religion is perfect and that he in not a blasphemer as they judged him.

Job 19:25

19:25 For I know [that] my {q} redeemer liveth, and [that] he shall stand at the latter [day] upon the earth:

(q) I do not so justify myself before the world, but I know that I will come before the great judge who will be my deliverer and Saviour.

Job 19:26

19:26 And [though] after my skin [worms] destroy this [body], yet {r} in my flesh shall I see God:

(r) In this Job declares plainly that he had a full hope, that both the soul and body would enjoy the presence of God in the last resurrection.

Job 19:28

19:28 But ye should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the {s} matter is found in me?

(s) Though his friends thought that he was only persecuted by God for his sins, yet he declares that there was a deeper consideration that is, the trial of his faith and patience, and so to be an example for others.

Job 19:29

19:29 Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath [bringeth] the {t} punishments of the sword, that ye may know [there is] a judgment.

(t) God will be avenged of this harsh judgment by which you condemned me.

Job 20:3

20:3 I have heard {a} the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer.

(a) He declares that two things moved him to speak: that is, because Job seemed to touch him, and because he thought he had knowledge sufficient to confute him.

Job 20:6

20:6 Though {b} his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;

(b) His purpose is to prove Job to be a wicked man, and a hypocrite, because God punished him, and changed his prosperity into adversity.

Job 20:10

20:10 His children shall {c} seek to please the poor, and his hands shall {d} restore their goods.

(c) While the father through ambition and tyranny oppressed the poor, the children through poverty and misery will seek favour from the poor.
(d) So that the thing which he has taken away by violence will be restored again by force.

Job 20:11

20:11 His bones are full [of the sin] of his youth, which {e} shall lie down with him in the dust.

(e) Meaning that he will carry nothing away with him but his sin.

Job 20:12

20:12 Though wickedness be {f} sweet in his mouth, [though] he hide it under his tongue;

(f) As poison that is sweet in the mouth brings destruction when it comes into the body: so all vice at the first is pleasant, but God later turns it to destruction.

Job 20:16

20:16 He shall suck the {g} poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him.

(g) He compares ill-gotten goods to the venom of asps, which is a dangerous serpent, noting that Jobs great riches were not truly come by and therefore God plagues him justly for the same.

Job 20:17

20:17 He shall not see the {h} rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.

(h) Though God gives all other abundance from his blessings yet he will have no part of it.

Job 20:18

20:18 That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow [it] down: according to [his] substance [shall] the restitution [be], {i} and he shall not rejoice [therein].

(i) That is these raveners and spoilers of the poor will enjoy their theft but for a time for after God will take it from them, and cause them to make restitution so that it is only an exchange.

Job 20:21

20:21 There shall none of his {k} meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods.

(k) He will leave nothing to his posterity.

Job 20:22

20:22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand {l} of the wicked shall come upon him.

(l) The wicked will never be in rest: for one wicked man will seek to destroy another.

Job 20:23

20:23 [When] he is about to fill his belly, [God] shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, {m} and shall rain [it] upon him while he is eating.

(m) Some read, upon his flesh, alluding to Job, whose flesh was smitten with a scab.

Job 20:25

20:25 It is drawn, and cometh out of the {n} body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors [are] upon him.

(n) Some read, of the quiver.

Job 20:26

20:26 {o} All darkness [shall be] hid in his secret places: a fire not {p} blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.

(o) All fear and sorrow will light on him when he thinks to escape.
(p) That is, fire from heaven, or the fire of God's wrath.

Job 20:28

20:28 The {q} increase of his house shall depart, [and his goods] shall flow away in the day of his wrath.

(q) Meaning, the children of the wicked will flow away like rivers and be dispersed in various places.

Job 20:29

20:29 This [is] the portion of a wicked man from {r} God, and the heritage appointed unto him by {s} God.

(r) Thus God will plague the wicked.
(s) Against God, thinking to excuse himself, and to escape God's hand.

Job 21:2

21:2 Hear diligently my speech, and let this {a} be your consolations.

(a) Your diligent marking of my words will be to me a great consolation.

Job 21:4

21:4 As for me, [is] my complaint to man? and if [it {b} were so], why should not my spirit be troubled?

(b) As though he would say, I do not talk with man but with God, who will not answer me, and therefore my mind must be troubled.

Job 21:5

21:5 Mark me, and be astonished, and lay [your] hand upon [your] {c} mouth.

(c) He charges them as though they were not able to comprehend his feeling of God's judgment, and exhorts them therefore to silence.

Job 21:7

21:7 Wherefore do the wicked {d} live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?

(d) Job proves against his adversaries that God does not punish the wicked immediately, but often gives them long life and prosperity, so we must not judge God just or unjust by the things that appear to our eyes.

Job 21:11

21:11 They send forth their little ones {e} like a flock, and their children dance.

(e) They have healthy children and in those points he answers to that which Zophar alleged before.

Job 21:13

21:13 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment {f} go down to the grave.

(f) Not being tormented with long sickness.

Job 21:14

21:14 Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the {g} knowledge of thy ways.

(g) They desire nothing more than to be exempt from all subjection that they should bear to God, thus Job shows his adversaries, that if they reason only by that which is seen by common experience the wicked who hate God are better dealt withal than they who love him.

Job 21:16

21:16 Lo, their good [is] not in their {h} hand: the counsel of the wicked {i} is far from me.

(h) It is not their own, but God only lends it to them.
(i) God keep me from their prosperity.

Job 21:20

21:20 {k} His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

(k) When God recompenses his wickedness, he will know that his prosperity was vanity.

Job 21:22

21:22 Shall [any] teach {l} God knowledge? seeing he judgeth those that are high.

(l) Who sends to the wicked prosperity and punishes the godly.

Job 21:23

21:23 One {m} dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.

(m) Meaning, the wicked.

Job 21:25

21:25 And another {n} dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure.

(n) That is, the godly.

Job 21:26

21:26 They shall lie down alike in {o} the dust, and the worms shall cover them.

(o) As concerning their bodies: and this he speaks according to the common judgment.

Job 21:28

21:28 For ye say, Where [is] the {p} house of the prince? and where [are] the dwelling places of the wicked?

(p) Thus they called Job's house in derision concluding that it was destroyed because he was wicked.

Job 21:29

21:29 Have ye {q} not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens,

(q) Who through long travailing have experience and tokens of it, that is, that the wicked prosper, and the godly live in affliction.

Job 21:30

21:30 That the wicked is reserved to the day of {r} destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.

(r) Though the wicked flourish here, yet God will punish him in the last day.

Job 21:31

21:31 Who shall declare his way {s} to his face? and who shall repay him [what] he hath done?

(s) Though men flatter him, and no one dares to reprove him in this world, yet death is a token that he will bring him to an account.

Job 21:33

21:33 The {t} clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as [there are] innumerable before him.

(t) He will be glad to lie in a slimy pit, who before could not be content with a royal palace.

Job 21:34

21:34 How then comfort {u} ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood?

(u) Saying that the just in this world have prosperity and the wicked adversity.

Job 22:2

22:2 Can a man be {a} profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?

(a) Though man was just, yet God could not profit from this his justice; and therefore when he punished him, he had no regard to his justice, but to his sin.

Job 22:4

22:4 Will he reprove thee for fear {b} of thee? will he enter with thee into judgment?

(b) Lest you should reprove or hurt him?

Job 22:6

22:6 For thou hast taken a {c} pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing.

(c) You have been cruel and without charity, and would do nothing for the poor, but for your own advantage.

Job 22:8

22:8 But [as for] the mighty man, he {d} had the earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it.

(d) When you were in power and authority you did not do justice but wrong.

Job 22:9

22:9 Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the {e} fatherless have been broken.

(e) You have not only not shown pity, but oppressed them.

Job 22:11

22:11 Or darkness, [that] thou canst not see; and {f} abundance of waters cover thee.

(f) That is, manifold afflictions.

Job 22:12

22:12 [Is] not God in the {g} height of heaven? and behold the height of the {h} stars, how high they are!

(g) He accuses Job of impiety and contempt of God, as thought he would say, If you pass not for men, yet consider the height of God's majesty.
(h) That so much the more by that excellent work you may fear God, and reverence him.

Job 22:13

22:13 And thou sayest, How doth God {i} know? can he judge through the dark cloud?

(i) He reproves Job, as though he denied God's providence and that he could not see the things that were done in this world.

Job 22:15

22:15 Hast thou marked the old way {k} which wicked men have trodden?

(k) How God has punished them from the beginning?

Job 22:16

22:16 Which were {l} cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood:

(l) He proves God's providence by the punishment of the wicked, whom he takes away before they can bring their wicked purposes to pass.

Job 22:18

22:18 Yet he {m} filled their houses with good [things]: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

(m) He answers to that which Job had said, Job 21:7 that the wicked have prosperity in this world; desiring that he might not be a partaker of the like.

Job 22:19

22:19 The righteous see [it], and are glad: {n} and the innocent laugh them to scorn.

(n) The just rejoice at the destruction of the wicked for two reasons, first because God shows himself judge of the world and by this means continues his honour and glory: secondly because God shows that he had care over his in that he punished their enemies.

Job 22:20

22:20 Whereas {o} our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of {p} them the fire consumeth.

(o) That is, the state and preservation of the godly, is hid under God's wings.
(p) Meaning of the wicked.

Job 22:21

22:21 Acquaint now thyself {q} with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.

(q) He exhorts Job to repentance, and to return to God.

Job 22:23

22:23 If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt {r} be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.

(r) God will restore to you all your substance.

Job 22:24

22:24 Then shalt thou lay up gold as {s} dust, and the [gold] of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.

(s) Which will be in abundance like dust.

Job 22:28

22:28 Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the {t} light shall shine upon thy ways.

(t) That is, the favour of God.

Job 22:29

22:29 {u} When [men] are cast down, then thou shalt say, [There is] lifting up; and he shall save the humble person.

(u) God will deliver his when the wicked are destroyed round about them, as in the flood and in Sodom.

Job 22:30

22:30 He shall deliver the {x} island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands.

(x) God will deliver a whole country from peril, even for the just man's sake.

Job 23:2

23:2 Even to day [is] my complaint {a} bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.

(a) He shows the just cause of his complaining and concerning that Eliphaz had exhorted him to return to God, Job 22:21 he declares that he desires nothing more, but it seems that God would not be found of him.

Job 23:6

23:6 Will he {b} plead against me with [his] great power? No; but he would {c} put [strength] in me.

(b) Using his absolute power and saying because I am God, I may do what I will.
(c) Of his mercy he would give me power to answer him.

Job 23:7

23:7 {d} There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge.

(d) When he of his mercy has given strength to maintain their cause.

Job 23:8

23:8 {e} Behold, I go forward, but he [is] not [there]; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:

(e) Meaning, that if he considers God's justice, he is not able to comprehend his judgments on what side or whatever part he turns himself.

Job 23:10

23:10 But he knoweth the {f} way that I take: [when] he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

(f) God has this preeminence about me, that he knows my way: that is, that I am not able to judge his work, he shows also his confidence, that God uses him for his profit.

Job 23:12

23:12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have {g} esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary [food].

(g) His word is more precious to me than the meat with which the body is sustained.

Job 23:13

23:13 But he [is] in one [mind], and who can {h} turn him? and [what] his soul desireth, even [that] he doeth.

(h) Job confesses that at the present he did not feel God's favour and yet was assured that God had appointed him to a good end.

Job 23:14

23:14 For he performeth [the thing that is] appointed for me: and {i} many such [things are] with him.

(i) In many points man is not able to attain to God's judgments.

Job 23:16

23:16 For {k} God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me:

(k) That I should not be without fear.

Job 23:17

23:17 Because I was not cut off before the {l} darkness, [neither] hath he covered the darkness from my face.

(l) He shows the cause for his fear, which is, that he being in trouble sees no end, nor yet knows the cause.

Job 24:1

24:1 Why, seeing times {a} are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his {b} days?

(a) Thus Job speaks in his passions, and after the judgment of the flesh: that is, that he does not see the things that are done at times, nor yet has a peculiar care over all, because he does not punish the wicked or avenge the godly.
(b) When he punishes the wicked and rewards the good.

Job 24:4

24:4 They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves {c} together.

(c) And for cruelty and oppression dare not show their faces.

Job 24:5

24:5 Behold, [as] wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; {d} rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness {e} [yieldeth] food for them [and] for [their] children.

(d) That is, spares diligence.
(e) He and his live by robbing and murdering.

Job 24:6

24:6 They reap [every one] {f} his corn in the field: and they gather the {g} vintage of the wicked.

(f) Meaning the poor man's.
(g) Signifying that one wicked man will not spoil another, but for necessity.

Job 24:8

24:8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, {h} and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.

(h) The poor are driven by the wicked into the rock and holes where they cannot lie dry for the rain.

Job 24:9

24:9 They pluck the fatherless {i} from the breast, and take a pledge of {k} the poor.

(i) That is, they so pillage and plunder the poor widow that she cannot sustain herself that she may be able to nurse her baby.

Job 24:11

24:11 [Which] make oil {l} within their walls, [and] tread [their] winepresses, and suffer thirst.

(l) In such places which are appointed for that purpose; meaning, that those who labour for the wicked, are pined for hunger.

Job 24:12

24:12 Men {m} groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God {n} layeth not folly [to them].

(m) For the great oppression and extortion.
(n) Cry out and call for vengeance.

Job 24:13

24:13 They are of those that rebel against the {p} light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.

(p) That is, God's word, because they are reproved by it.

Job 24:15

24:15 The eye also of the {q} adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth [his] face.

(q) By these particular vices and the licence of it, he would prove that God did not punish the wicked and reward the just.

Job 24:18

24:18 He [is] swift as the {r} waters; their {s} portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.

(r) He flees to the waters for his succour.
(s) They think that all the world is bent against them and dare not go by the highway.

Job 24:19

24:19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters: [so doth] the grave [those which] {t} have sinned.

(t) As the dry ground is never full with waters, so will they never cease sinning till they come to the grave.

Job 24:20

24:20 {u} The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.

(u) Though God tolerates the wicked for a time, yet their end will be vile destruction, and in this point Job commits to himself and shows his confidence.

Job 24:21

24:21 He {x} evil entreateth the barren [that] beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.

(x) He shows why the wicked will not be lamented, because he did not pity others.

Job 24:22

24:22 He draweth also the {y} mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no [man] is sure of life.

(y) He declares that after the wicked have destroyed the weakest, they will do the same to the stranger, and therefore are justly punished by God's judgments.

Job 24:25

24:25 And if [it be] not {z} [so] now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?

(z) That is, contrary to your reasoning no man can give perfect reasons for God's judgments, let me be reproved.

Job 25:2

25:2 {a} Dominion and fear [are] with him, he maketh peace in his high places.

(a) His purpose is to prove that although God may try and afflict the just, yet soon after he sends prosperity, and because he did not do so to Job he concludes that he is wicked.

Job 25:3

25:3 Is there any number of his armies? {b} and upon whom doth not his light arise?

(b) Who can hide him from his presence?

Job 25:4

25:4 How then can man {c} be justified with God? or how can he be clean [that is] born of a woman?

(c) That is, be just in respect to God?

Job 25:5

25:5 Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, {d} the stars are not pure in his sight.

(d) If God shows his power, the moon and stars cannot have the light which is given to them, much less can man have any excellency but from God.

Job 26:2

26:2 {a} How hast thou helped [him that is] without power? [how] {b} savest thou the arm [that hath] no strength?

(a) You concluded nothing, for neither did you help me while destitute of all help, nor yet speak sufficiently on God's behalf, who has no need for your defence.
(b) But you do not apply it to the purpose.

Job 26:4

26:4 To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit {c} came from thee?

(c) That is, moves you to speak this?

Job 26:5

26:5 {d} Dead [things] are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof.

(d) Job begins to declare the force of God's power and providence in the mines and metals in the deep places of the earth.

Job 26:6

26:6 Hell [is] {e} naked before him, and {f} destruction hath no covering.

(e) There is nothing hidden in the bottom of the earth but he sees it.
(f) Meaning, the grave in which things putrify.

Job 26:7

26:7 He stretcheth out the {g} north over the empty place, [and] hangeth the earth upon nothing.

(g) He causes the whole earth to turn about the North pole.

Job 26:10

26:10 He hath {h} compassed the waters with bounds, until the {i} day and night come to an end.

(h) That is, he hid the heavens which are called his throne.
(i) So long as this world endures.

Job 26:11

26:11 The {k} pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof.

(k) Not that heaven has pillars to uphold it, but he speaks by a similitude as though he would say heaven itself is not able to abide his reproach.

Job 26:13

26:13 By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked {l} serpent.

(l) Which is a figure of stars shaped like a serpent, because of the crookedness.

Job 26:14

26:14 Lo, these [are] parts of his ways: but {m} how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?

(m) If these few things which we see daily with our eyes, declare his great power and providence, how much more would they appear, if we were to comprehend all his works.

Job 27:2

27:2 [As] God liveth, [who] hath taken away my {a} judgment; and the Almighty, [who] hath vexed my soul;

(a) He has so sore afflicted me that men cannot judge my uprightness; for they judge only by outward signs.

Job 27:4

27:4 {b} My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.

(b) However men judge me, yet will I not speak contrary to that which I have said, and so do wickedly in betraying the truth.

Job 27:5

27:5 God forbid that I should {c} justify you: till I die I will not remove mine {d} integrity from me.

(c) Which condemns me as a wicked man, because the hand of God is on me.
(d) I will not confess that God does thus punish me for my sins.

Job 27:6

27:6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach [me] so long as I {e} live.

(e) Of my life past.

Job 27:8

27:8 For what [is] the {f} hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?

(f) What advantage has the dissembler to gain, seeing he will lose his own soul?

Job 27:11

27:11 I will teach you by the hand of {g} God: [that] which [is] with the Almighty will I not conceal.

(g) That is, what God reserves for himself, and of which he gives not knowledge to all.

Job 27:12

27:12 Behold, all ye yourselves {h} have seen [it]; why then are ye thus altogether {i} vain?

{h} That is, these secret judgments of God and yet do not understand them.
(i) Why do you then maintain this error?

Job 27:13

27:13 This [is] the {k} portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors, [which] they shall receive of the Almighty.

(k) Thus will God order the wicked, and punish him even to his posterity.

Job 27:15

27:15 Those that remain of him shall be buried in death: and his widows {l} shall not weep.

(l) No one will lament him.

Job 27:18

27:18 He buildeth his house as a {m} moth, and as a booth [that] the keeper maketh.

(m) Which breeds in another man's possessions or garment, but is soon shaken out.

Job 27:19

27:19 The rich man shall lie down, but {n} he shall not be gathered: he openeth his eyes, and he [is] not.

(n) He means that the wicked tyrants will not have a quiet death, nor be buried honourably.

Job 28:1

28:1 Surely there is a vein for the silver, {a} and a place for gold [where] they fine [it].

(a) His purpose is to declare that man may attain in this world to various secrets of nature, but man is never able to comprehend the wisdom of God.

Job 28:3

28:3 He setteth an end to darkness, {b} and searcheth out all perfection: the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death.

(b) There is nothing but it is compassed within certain limits, and has an end, but God's wisdom.

Job 28:4

28:4 The flood breaketh out from the {c} inhabitant; [even the waters] {d} forgotten of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from men.

(c) Meaning, him that dwells by it.

Job 28:5

28:5 [As for] the earth, out of it cometh {e} bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire.

(e) That is, come and underneath is brimstone or coal, which easily conceives fire.

Job 28:6

28:6 The stones of it [are] the place {f} of sapphires: and it hath dust of gold.

(f) He alludes to the mines and secrets of nature, which are under the earth, into which neither souls nor beasts can enter.

Job 28:9

28:9 He putteth forth his hand upon the {g} rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots.

(g) After he has declared the wisdom of God in the secrets of nature he describes his power.

Job 28:12

28:12 But where shall wisdom be found? {h} and where [is] the place of understanding?

(h) Though God's power and wisdom may be understood in earthly things, yet his heavenly wisdom cannot be attained to.

Job 28:13

28:13 Man knoweth not {i} the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.

(i) It is too high a thing for man to attain to in this world.

Job 28:15

28:15 It cannot be gotten for {k} gold, neither shall silver be weighed [for] the price thereof.

(k) It can neither be bought for gold nor precious stones, but is only the gift of God.

Job 28:18

28:18 No mention shall be made of coral, or of {l} pearls: for the price of wisdom [is] above rubies.

(l) Which was thought to be a king of precious stone.

Job 28:21

28:21 Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the {m} fowls of the air.

(m) Meaning that there is no natural means by which man can attain heavenly wisdom: which he means by the souls, that fly high.

Job 28:23

28:23 God understandeth the {n} way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof.

(n) He makes God the only author of this wisdom, and the giver of it.

Job 28:28

28:28 And unto man he said, Behold, the {o} fear of the Lord, that [is] wisdom; and to depart from evil [is] understanding.

(o) He declares that man has as much of this heavenly wisdom as he shows by fearing God and departing from evil.

Job 29:3

29:3 When his {a} candle shined upon my head, [and when] by his light I walked [through] {b} darkness;

(a) When I felt his favour.
(b) I was free from affliction.

Job 29:4

29:4 As I was in the days of my youth, when the {c} secret of God [was] upon my tabernacle;

(c) That is, seemed by evident tokens to be more present with me.

Job 29:6

29:6 When I washed my steps {d} with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil;

(d) By these comparisons he declares the great prosperity that he was in, so that he had no opportunity to be such a sinner as they accused him.

Job 29:8

29:8 The young men saw me, and {e} hid themselves: and the aged arose, [and] stood up.

(e) Being ashamed of their lightness and afraid of my gravity.

Job 29:9

29:9 The princes refrained talking, and laid [their] hand on their {f} mouth.

(f) Acknowledging my wisdom.

Job 29:11

29:11 When the {g} ear heard [me], then it blessed me; and when the eye saw [me], it gave witness to me:

(g) All that heard me, praised me.

Job 29:12

29:12 Because I delivered the {i} poor that cried, and the fatherless, and [him that had] none to help him.

(i) Because his adversaries did so much charge him with wickedness, he is compelled to render account of his life.

Job 29:13

29:13 {k} The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.

(k) That is, I helped him who was in distress, and so he had cause to praise me.

Job 29:14

29:14 I put on {l} righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment [was] as a robe and a diadem.

(l) I delighted to do justice, as others did to wear costly apparel.

Job 29:18

29:18 Then I said, I shall die in my {m} nest, and I shall multiply [my] days as the sand.

(m) That is, at home in my bed without all trouble and unquietness.

Job 29:19

29:19 My root [was] {n} spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night upon my branch.

(n) My happiness increases.

Job 29:22

29:22 After my words they spake not again; and my speech {o} dropped upon them.

(o) That is, was pleasant to them.

Job 29:23

29:23 And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide {p} [as] for the latter rain.

(p) As the dry ground thirsts for the rain.

Job 29:24

29:24 [If] I {q} laughed on them, they believed [it] not; and the light of my countenance they {r} cast not down.

(q) That is, they thought it not to be a rest, or they did not think that I would condescend to them.
(r) They were afraid to offend me and cause me to be angry.

Job 29:25

29:25 I chose out {s} their way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one [that] comforteth the mourners.

(s) I had them at commandment.

Job 30:1

30:1 But now [they that are] younger than I {a} have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the {b} dogs of my flock.

(a) That is, my estate is changed and while before the ancient men were glad to revere me, the young men now contemn me.
(b) Meaning to be my shepherds or to keep my dogs.

Job 30:2

30:2 Yea, whereto [might] the strength of their hands [profit] me, in whom old age was {c} perished?

(c) That is, their fathers died of hunger before they came to age.

Job 30:5

30:5 They were {d} driven forth from among [men],
(they cried after them as [after] a thief;)

(d) Job shows that those who mocked him in his affliction were like their fathers, wicked and lewd fellows, such as he here describes.

Job 30:9

30:9 And now am I their {e} song, yea, I am their byword.

(e) They make songs of me, and mock my misery.

Job 30:11

30:11 Because he hath loosed my {f} cord, and afflicted me, {g} they have also let loose the bridle before me.

(f) God has taken from me the force, credit, and authority with which I kept them in subjection.
(g) He said that the young men when they saw him, hid themselves as in Job 29:8, and now in his misery they were impudent and licentious.

Job 30:12

30:12 Upon [my] right [hand] rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the {h} ways of their destruction.

(h) That is, they sought by all means how they might destroy me.

Job 30:13

30:13 They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no {i} helper.

(i) They need no one to help them.

Job 30:14

30:14 They came [upon me] as a wide breaking in [of waters]: in the {k} desolation they rolled themselves [upon me].

(k) By my calamity they took an opportunity against me.

Job 30:16

30:16 And now my soul is {l} poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.

(l) My life fails me, and I am as half dead.

Job 30:17

30:17 {m} My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.

(m) Meaning sorrow.

Job 30:19

30:19 {n} He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.

(n) That is, God has brought me into contempt.

Job 30:21

30:21 Thou art become {o} cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.

(o) He does not speak this way to accuse God, but to declare the vehemency of his affliction, by which he was carried beside himself.

Job 30:22

30:22 Thou liftest me up to the {p} wind; thou causest me to ride [upon it], and dissolvest my substance.

(p) He compares his afflictions to a tempest or whirlwind.

Job 30:24

30:24 Howbeit he will not stretch out [his] hand {q} to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.

(q) No one can deliver me from there, though they lament my death.

Job 30:26

30:26 When I looked for good, then {r} evil came [unto me]: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.

(r) Instead of comforting they mocked me.

Job 30:28

30:28 I went mourning {s} without the sun: I stood up, {t} [and] I cried in the congregation.

(s) Not delighting in any worldly thing, no not so much as in the use of the sun.
(t) Lamenting them that were in affliction and moving others to pity them.

Job 30:29

30:29 I am a brother to {u} dragons, and a companion to owls.

(u) I am like the wild beasts that desire solitary places.

Job 30:30

30:30 My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with {x} heat.

(x) With the heat of affliction.

Job 31:1

31:1 I made a covenant with mine {a} eyes; why then should I think upon {b} a maid?

(a) I kept my eyes from all wanton looks.
(b) Would not God then have punished me?

Job 31:3

31:3 [Is] not destruction to the wicked? and a strange [punishment] to {c} the workers of iniquity?

(c) Job declares that the fear of God was a bridle to stay him from all wickedness.

Job 31:6

31:6 Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine {d} integrity.

(d) He shows what his uprightness stands in, in as much as he was blameless before men and did not sin against the second table.

Job 31:7

31:7 If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart {e} walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands;

(e) That is, has accomplished the lust of my eyes.

Job 31:8

31:8 [Then] let me sow, and let another {f} eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.

(f) According to the curse of the law, De 28:33.

Job 31:10

31:10 [Then] let my wife {g} grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.

(g) Let her be made a slave.

Job 31:12

31:12 For it [is] a fire [that] consumeth {h} to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.

(h) He shows that although man neglects the punishment of adultery, yet the wrath of God will never cease till such are destroyed.

Job 31:13

31:13 If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they {i} contended with me;

(i) When they thought themselves evil intreated by me.

Job 31:14

31:14 What then shall I do when {k} God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?

(k) If I had oppressed others, how would I have escaped God's judgment.

Job 31:15

31:15 Did not he that made me in the womb make {l} him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?

(l) He was moved to show pity to servants, because they were God's creatures as he was.

Job 31:16

31:16 If I have withheld the poor from [their] desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow {m} to fail;

(m) By long waiting for her request.

Job 31:18

31:18
(For from my youth he was brought up with me, {n} as [with] a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;)

(n) He nourished the fatherless, and maintained the widows cause.

Job 31:21

31:21 If I have lifted {o} up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:

(o) To oppress him and to do him harm.

Job 31:22

31:22 [Then] let mine {p} arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.

(p) Let me rot in pieces.

Job 31:23

31:23 For destruction [from] God [was] a {q} terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.

(q) I did not refrain from sin for fear of men, but because I feared God.

Job 31:26

31:26 If I beheld the {r} sun when it shined, or the moon walking [in] brightness;

(r) If I was proud of my worldly prosperity and happiness, which is meant by the shining of the sun, and brightness of the moon.

Job 31:27

31:27 And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my {s} hand:

(s) If my own doings delighted me.

Job 31:28

31:28 This also [were] an iniquity [to be punished by] the judge: for I should have denied the God [that is] {t} above.

(t) By putting confidence in anything but in him alone.

Job 31:31

31:31 If the men of my {u} tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.

(u) My servants moved me to be avenged of my enemy, yet I never wished him harm.

Job 31:33

31:33 If I covered {x} my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:

(x) Not confessed it freely, by which it is evident that he justified himself before men, and not before God.

Job 31:34

31:34 Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families {y} terrify me, that I kept {z} silence, [and] went not out of the door?

(y) That is, I reverenced the most weak and contemned and was afraid to offend them.
(z) I suffered them to speak evil of me, and went not out of my house to avenge it.

Job 31:35

31:35 Oh that one would hear me! behold, my {a} desire [is, that] the Almighty would answer me, and [that] mine adversary had written a book.

(a) This is a sufficient token of my righteousness, that God is my witness and will justify my cause.

Job 31:36

31:36 Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, [and] bind it [as] a {b} crown to me.

(b) Should not this book of his accusations be a praise and commendation to me?

Job 31:37

31:37 I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a {c} prince would I go near unto him.

(c) I will make him account of all my life, without fear.

Job 31:38

31:38 If my land {d} cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;

(d) As though I had withheld their wages that laboured in it.

Job 31:39

31:39 If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused {e} the owners thereof to lose their life:

(e) Meaning, that he was not a briber or extortioner.

Job 31:40

31:40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The {f} words of Job are ended.

(f) That is, the talk which he had with his three friends.

Job 32:2

32:2 Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the {a} Buzite, of the kindred of {b} Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself {c} rather than God.

(a) Which came from Buz, the son of Nahor, Abraham's brother.
(b) Or, as the Chaldee translation reads, Abram.
(c) By making himself innocent, and by charging God of rigour.

Job 32:4

32:4 Now Elihu had waited till Job had spoken, because {d} they [were] elder than he.

(d) That is, the three mentioned before.

Job 32:7

32:7 I said, Days {e} should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.

(e) Meaning, the ancient, who have experience.

Job 32:8

32:8 But [there is] a spirit in man: {f} and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.

(f) It is a special gift of God that man has understanding and comes neither from nature nor by age.

Job 32:11

32:11 Behold, I waited for your words; I gave ear to your reasons, whilst ye searched out {g} what to say.

(g) To prove that Job's affliction came for his sins.

Job 32:13

32:13 Lest ye should say, We have {h} found out wisdom: God thrusteth him down, not man.

(h) Flatter yourselves as though you had overcome him.

Job 32:14

32:14 Now {i} he hath not directed [his] words against me: neither will I answer {k} him with your speeches.

(i) That is, Job.
(k) He uses almost the same arguments but without taunting and reproaches.

Job 32:18

32:18 For I am full of {l} matter, the spirit within me constraineth me.

(l) I have conceived in my mind a great store of reasons.

Job 32:21

32:21 Let me not, I pray you, accept any man's person, {m} neither let me give flattering titles unto man.

(m) I will neither have regard for riches, credit, nor authority but will speak the very truth.

Job 32:22

32:22 For I know not to give flattering {n} titles; [in so doing] my maker would soon take me away.

(n) The Hebrew word signifies to change the name as to call a fool a wise man: meaning, that he would not cloak the truth to flatter men.

Job 33:4

33:4 The {a} Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.

(a) I confess the power of God, and am one of his, therefore you should hear me.

Job 33:6

33:6 Behold, I [am] according to thy wish in {b} God's stead: I also am formed out of the clay.

(b) Because Job had wished to dispute his cause with God, Job 16:21 so that he might do it without fear, Elihu says, he will reason in God's stead, whom he does not need to fear.

Job 33:7

33:7 Behold, my terror shall not make thee afraid, neither shall my hand {c} be heavy upon thee.

(c) I will not handle you so roughly as these others have done.

Job 33:9

33:9 I am {d} clean without transgression, I [am] innocent; neither [is there] iniquity in me.

(d) He repeats Job's words, by which he protested his innocency in various places, but especially in the 13th, 16th and 30th chapters.

Job 33:13

33:13 Why dost thou strive against him? for he giveth not {e} account of any of his matters.

(e) The cause of his judgments is not always declared to man.

Job 33:14

33:14 For God speaketh {f} once, yea twice, [yet man] perceiveth it not.

(f) Though God by various examples of his judgments speak to man, yet the reason for it is not known, yea and though God should speak yet is he not understood.

Job 33:15

33:15 In a dream, in a {g} vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed;

(g) God, he says, speaks commonly, either by visions to teach us the cause of his judgments, of else by affliction or by his messenger.

Job 33:16

33:16 Then he openeth the ears of men, and {h} sealeth their instruction,

(h) That is, determined to send on them.

Job 33:17

33:17 That he may withdraw man [from his] purpose, and hide {i} pride from man.

(i) He shows for why God sends afflictions: to beat down man's pride, and to turn from evil.

Job 33:20

33:20 So that his {k} life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat.

(k) That is, his painful and miserable life.

Job 33:22

33:22 Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life {l} to the destroyers.

(l) To them that will bury him.

Job 33:23

33:23 If there be a {m} messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, {n} to shew unto man his uprightness:

(m) A man sent from God to declare his will.
(n) A singular man, and as one chosen out of a thousand, who is able to declare the great mercies of God to sinners: and in which man's righteousness stands, which is through the justice of Jesus Christ.

Job 33:24

33:24 Then he is {o} gracious unto him, and saith, {p} Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.

(o) He shows that it is a sure token of God's mercy toward sinners, when he causes his word to be preached to them.
(p) That is, the minister will by the preaching of the word pronounce to him the forgiveness of his sins.

Job 33:25

33:25 His flesh shall be {q} fresher than a child's: he shall return to the days of his youth:

(q) He will feel God's favour and rejoice; declaring by this in which stands the true joy of the faithful, and that God will restore him to health, which is a token of his blessing.

Job 33:26

33:26 He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him: and he shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his {r} righteousness.

(r) God will forgive his sins, and accept him as just.

Job 33:27

33:27 He looketh upon men, and [if any] say, I have sinned, and {s} perverted [that which was] right, and it profited {t} me not;

(s) That is, done wickedly.
(t) But my sins have been the cause of God's wrath toward me.

Job 33:28

33:28 {u} He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.

(u) God will forgive the penitent sinner.

Job 33:29

33:29 Lo, all these [things] worketh God {x} oftentimes with man,

(x) Meaning, as often as a sinner repents.

Job 33:32

33:32 If thou hast any {y} thing to say, answer me: speak, for I desire to {z} justify thee.

(y) If you doubt anything, or see opportunity to speak against it.
(z) That is, to show you, in which mans justification consists.

Job 34:2

34:2 Hear my words, O ye {a} wise [men]; and give ear unto me, ye that have knowledge.

(a) Which are esteemed wise by the world.

Job 34:4

34:4 Let us choose to us {b} judgment: let us know among ourselves what [is] good.

(b) Let us examine the matter uprightly.

Job 34:5

34:5 For Job hath said, I am righteous: and God hath taken {c} away my judgment.

(c) That is, has afflicted me without measure.

Job 34:6

34:6 Should I lie against my {d} right? my wound [is] {e} incurable without transgression.

(d) Should I say, I am wicked, being an innocent?
(e) I am more punished, than my sin deserves.

Job 34:7

34:7 What man [is] like Job, [who] drinketh up {f} scorning like water?

(f) Which is compelled to receive your reproach and scorns of many for his foolish words.

Job 34:8

34:8 Which goeth in {g} company with the workers of iniquity, and walketh with wicked men.

(g) Meaning that Job was like the wicked, because he seemed not to glorify God and submit himself to his judgments.

Job 34:9

34:9 For he hath said, {h} It profiteth a man nothing that he should {i} delight himself with God.

(h) He wrests Job's words who said that God's children are often punished in this world, and the wicked go free.
(i) That is, live godly, Ge 5:22.

Job 34:14

34:14 If {k} he set his heart upon man, [if] he gather unto himself his spirit {l} and his breath;

(k) To destroy him.
(l) The breath of life which he gave man.

Job 34:17

34:17 Shall even he that hateth right {m} govern? and wilt thou condemn him that is most just?

(m) If God were not just, how could be govern the world?

Job 34:18

34:18 [Is it fit] to say to a king, [Thou art] {n} wicked? [and] to princes, [Ye are] ungodly?

(n) If man by nature fears to speak evil of such as have power, then they should be much more afraid to speak evil of God.

Job 34:20

34:20 In a moment shall they die, {o} and the people shall be troubled at midnight, {p} and pass away: and the mighty shall be taken away without hand.

(o) When they look not for it.
(p) The messengers of visitation that God will send.

Job 34:23

34:23 For he will not lay upon man more [than right]; that he should {q} enter into judgment with God.

(q) God does not afflict man above measure so that he should have opportunity to contend with him.

Job 34:24

34:24 He shall break in pieces mighty men without {r} number, and set others in their stead.

(r) For all his creatures are at hand to serve him, so that he needs not to seek for any other army.

Job 34:25

34:25 Therefore he knoweth their {s} works, and he overturneth [them] in the {t} night, so that they are destroyed.

(s) Make it known that they are wicked.
(t) Declare the things that were hid.

Job 34:26

34:26 He striketh them as wicked men in the open sight of {u} others;

(u) Meaning, openly in the sight of all men.

Job 34:28

34:28 So that they cause the cry of the poor to {x} come unto him, and he heareth the cry of the afflicted.

(x) By their cruelty and extortion.

Job 34:30

34:30 That the {y} hypocrite reign not, lest the people be ensnared.

(y) When tyrants sit in the throne of justice which under pretence of executing justice are hypocrites and oppress the people, it is a sign that God has drawn back his countenance of favour from that place.

Job 34:31

34:31 Surely it is meet {z} to be said unto God, I have borne [chastisement], I will not offend [any more]:

(z) It only belongs to God to moderate his corrections, and not to man.

Job 34:32

34:32 {a} [That which] I see not teach thou me: if I have done iniquity, I will do no more.

(a) Thus Elihu speaks in the person of God, as it were mocking Job, because he would be wiser than God.

Job 34:33

34:33 [Should it be] according to {b} thy mind? he will recompense {c} it, whether thou refuse, or whether thou choose; and not I: therefore speak what thou knowest.

(b) Will God use your counsel in doing his works?
(c) Thus he speaks in the person of God, as though Job should chose and refuse affliction at his pleasure.

Job 34:36

34:36 My desire [is that] Job may be {d} tried unto the end because of [his] answers for wicked men.

(d) That he may speak as much as he can, that we may answer him and all the wicked that will use such arguments.

Job 34:37

34:37 For he {e} addeth rebellion unto his sin, he clappeth [his hands] among us, and multiplieth his words against God.

(e) He stands stubbornly to the maintenance of his cause.

Job 35:2

35:2 Thinkest thou this to be right, [that] thou saidst, My {a} righteousness [is] more than God's?

(a) Job never spoke these words: but because he maintained his innocency, it seemed as though he would say, that God tormented him without just cause.

Job 35:4

35:4 I will answer thee, and thy {b} companions with thee.

(b) Such as are in the same error.

Job 35:5

35:5 Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the {c} clouds [which] are higher than thou.

(c) If you cannot control the clouds, will you presume to instruct God?

Job 35:6

35:6 If thou sinnest, what doest thou {d} against him? or [if] thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him?

(d) Neither does your sin hurt God, nor your justice profit him: for he will be glorified without you.

Job 35:9

35:9 By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make [the oppressed] {e} to cry: they cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty.

(e) The wicked may hurt man and cause him to cry, who if he sought God who lends comfort would be delivered.

Job 35:12

35:12 There they cry, {f} but none giveth answer, because of the pride of evil men.

(f) Because they pray not in faith, as feeling God's mercies.

Job 35:14

35:14 Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, {g} [yet] judgment [is] before him; therefore trust thou in him.

(g) God is just, however you judge him.

Job 35:16

35:16 Therefore doth Job {h} open his mouth in vain; he multiplieth words without knowledge.

(h) For if he punished you as you deserved, you would not be able to open your mouth.

Job 36:3

36:3 I will fetch {a} my knowledge from afar, and will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.

(a) He shows that when we speak of God, we must lift our spirits higher than our natural sense is able to reach.

Job 36:4

36:4 For truly my words [shall] not [be] false: he that is {b} perfect in knowledge [is] with thee.

(b) You will perceive that I am a faithful instructor, and that I speak to you in the name of God.

Job 36:5

36:5 Behold, God [is] mighty, and despiseth not [any: he is] {c} mighty in strength [and] wisdom.

(c) Strong and constant, and of understanding: for these are the gifts of God, and he loves them in man: but as much as God punished Job now, it is a sign that these are not in him.

Job 36:6

36:6 He {d} preserveth not the life of the wicked: but giveth right to the poor.

(d) Therefore he will not preserve the wicked, but to the humble and afflicted heart he will show grace.

Job 36:7

36:7 He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous: but with {e} kings [are they] on the throne; yea, he doth establish them for ever, and they are exalted.

(e) He prefers the godly to honour.

Job 36:9

36:9 Then he sheweth them their {f} work, and their transgressions that they have exceeded.

(f) He will move their hearts to feel their sins that they may come to him by repentance as he did Manasseh.

Job 36:12

36:12 But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die {g} without knowledge.

(g) That is, in their folly or obstinacy, and so shall cause their own destruction.

Job 36:13

36:13 But the hypocrites {h} in heart heap up wrath: they {i} cry not when he bindeth them.

(h) Which are maliciously bent against God, and flatter themselves in their vices.
(i) When they are in affliction they do not seek God for help, as Asa in 2Ch 16:12.

Job 36:14

36:14 They die in {k} youth, and their life [is] among the unclean.

(k) They die of some vile death, and that before they come to age.

Job 36:16

36:16 Even so would he have removed thee out of the strait [into] a broad place, where [there is] no straitness; and {l} that which should be set on thy table [should be] full of fatness.

(l) If you had been obedient to God, he would have brought you to freedom and wealth.

Job 36:17

36:17 But thou hast fulfilled the {m} judgment of the wicked: judgment and justice take hold [on thee].

(m) You are altogether after the manner of the wicked: for you murmur against the justice of God.

Job 36:18

36:18 {n} Because [there is] wrath, [beware] lest he take thee away with [his] stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver thee.

(n) God punishes you, lest you forget God in your wealth and so perish.

Job 36:20

36:20 {o} Desire not the night, when people are cut off in their place.

(o) Do not be curious in seeking the cause of God's judgments, when he destroys any.

Job 36:21

36:21 Take heed, regard not {p} iniquity: for this hast thou chosen rather than affliction.

(p) And so murmur against God through impatiency.

Job 36:25

36:25 Every man may see it; man may behold [it] {q} afar off.

(q) The works of God are revealed, that a man may see them afar off, and know God by the same.

Job 36:26

36:26 Behold, God [is] great, {r} and we know [him] not, neither can the number of his years be searched out.

(r) Our infirmity hinders us so that we cannot attain the perfect knowledge of God.

Job 36:27

36:27 For he maketh small the drops of water: they {s} pour down rain according to the vapour thereof:

(s) That is, the rain comes from those drops of water which he keeps in the clouds.

Job 36:29

36:29 Also can [any] understand the spreadings of the clouds, [or] the noise of his {t} tabernacle?

(t) Meaning, of the clouds, which he calls the tabernacle of God.

Job 36:30

36:30 Behold, he spreadeth his light upon {u} it, and covereth the {x} bottom of the sea.

(u) Upon the cloud.
(x) That men cannot come to the knowledge of the springs of it.

Job 36:31

36:31 For by them judgeth he {y} the people; he giveth meat in abundance.

(y) He shows that the rain has a double use: the one that it declares God's judgments, when it overflows any places, and the other that it makes the land fruitful.

Job 36:32

36:32 With clouds he covereth the light; and commandeth it [not to shine] by [the cloud] that cometh {z} betwixt.

(z) That is, one cloud to dash against another.

Job 36:33

36:33 {a} The noise thereof sheweth concerning it, the cattle also concerning the vapour.

(a) The cold vapour shows him: that is, the cloud of the hot exhalation, which being taken in the cold cloud mounts up toward the place where the fire is, and so anger is engendered; that is, noise and thunderclaps.

Job 37:1

37:1 At this also my heart {a} trembleth, and is moved out of his place.

(a) At the marvelling of the thunder and lightnings: by which he declares that the faithful are lively touched with the majesty of God, when they behold his works.

Job 37:2

37:2 Hear attentively the {b} noise of his voice, and the sound [that] goeth out of his mouth.

(b) That is the thunder, by which he speaks to men to waken their dullness, and to bring them to the consideration of his works.

Job 37:4

37:4 After it a voice roareth: he thundereth with the voice of his excellency; and he will not stay {c} them when his voice is heard.

(c) Meaning, the rains and thunders.

Job 37:6

37:6 For he saith to the snow, Be thou [on] the earth; {d} likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength.

(d) So that neither small rain nor great, snow nor anything else comes without God's appointment.

Job 37:7

37:7 He {e} sealeth up the hand of every man; that all men may know his work.

(e) By rains and thunders God causes men to keep themselves within their houses.

Job 37:9

37:9 Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold out of the {f} north.

(f) In Hebrew it is called the scattering wind, because it drives away the clouds and purges the air.

Job 37:10

37:10 By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters {g} is straitened.

(g) That is, frozen up and dried.

Job 37:11

37:11 Also by watering he {h} wearieth the thick cloud: he scattereth his {i} bright cloud:

(h) Gather the vapours and move to and fro to water the earth.
(i) That is, the cloud that has lightning in it.

Job 37:13

37:13 He causeth it to come, whether for {k} correction, or for his land, or for mercy.

(k) Rain, cold, heat, tempests and such like are sent from God, either to punish man, or to profit the earth, or to declare his favour toward man, as in Job 36:31.

Job 37:15

37:15 Dost thou know when God disposed them, and caused the {l} light of his cloud to shine?

(l) That is, the lightning to break forth in the clouds?

Job 37:16

37:16 Dost thou know the {m} balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge?

(m) Which is sometimes changed into rain, or snow, hail or such like.

Job 37:17

37:17 How thy garments [are] {n} warm, when he quieteth the earth by the south [wind]?

(n) Why your clothes should keep you warm when the south wind blows rather than when any other wind blows?

Job 37:18

37:18 Hast thou with him spread out the sky, [which is] strong, [and] as a molten looking {o} glass?

(o) For the clearness.

Job 37:19

37:19 Teach us what we shall say unto him; [for] we cannot order [our speech] by reason of {p} darkness.

(p) That is, our ignorance: signifying that Job was so presumptuous, that he would control the works of God.

Job 37:20

37:20 Shall it be {q} told him that I speak? if a man speak, surely he shall be swallowed up.

(q) Has God need that any should tell him when man murmurs against him?

Job 37:21

37:21 And now [men] see not the bright light {s} which [is] in the clouds: but the wind passeth, and cleanseth them.

(s) The cloud stops the shining of the sun, that man cannot see it till the wind has chased away the cloud: and if man is not able to attain to the knowledge of these things, how much less God's judgments?

Job 37:22

37:22 {t} Fair weather cometh out of the north: with God [is] terrible majesty.

(t) In Hebrew, gold, meaning fair weather and clear as gold.

Job 37:23

37:23 [Touching] the Almighty, we cannot find him out: [he is] excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: he will not {u} afflict.

(u) Meaning, without cause.

Job 38:1

38:1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the {a} whirlwind, and said,

(a) That his words might have greater majesty, and that Job might know with whom he had to do.

Job 38:2

38:2 Who [is] this that {b} darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?

(b) Which by seeking out the secret counsel of God by man's reason, makes it more obscure, and shows his own folly.

Job 38:3

38:3 Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I {c} will demand of thee, and answer thou me.

(c) Because he wished to dispute with God, Job 23:3, God reasons with him, to declare his rashness.

Job 38:4

38:4 Where wast thou when I {d} laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

(d) Seeing he could not judge those things which were done so long before he was born, he was not able to comprehend all God's works: much less the secret causes of his judgments.

Job 38:7

38:7 When the morning stars {e} sang together, and all the {f} sons of God shouted for joy?

(e) The stars and dumb creatures are said to praise God, because his power, wisdom and goodness is manifest and known in it.
(f) Meaning the angels.

Job 38:9

38:9 When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a {g} swaddlingband for it,

(g) As though the great sea was but as a little baby in the hands of God to turn to and fro.

Job 38:11

38:11 And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be {h} stayed?

(h) That is, God's decree and commandment as in Job 38:10.

Job 38:12

38:12 Hast thou commanded the {i} morning since thy days; [and] caused the dayspring to know his place;

(i) That is, to rise, since you were born?

Job 38:13

38:13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be {k} shaken out of it?

(k) Who having in the night been given to wickedness, cannot abide the light, but hide themselves.

Job 38:14

38:14 It is turned as clay [to] the seal; {l} and they stand as a garment.

(l) The earth which seemed in the night to have no form by the rising of the sun, is as it were created anew, and all things in it clad with new beauty.

Job 38:16

38:16 Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the {m} depth?

(m) If you are not able to seek out the depth of the sea, how much less are you able to comprehend the counsel of God?

Job 38:20

38:20 That thou {n} shouldest take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know the paths [to] the house thereof?

(n) That you might appoint its highways and limits.

Job 38:23

38:23 Which I have reserved {o} against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?

(o) To punish my enemies with them, Ex 9:18, Jos 10:11.

Job 38:30

38:30 The waters are hid {p} as [with] a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.

(p) The ice covers it, as though it were paved with stone.

Job 38:31

38:31 Canst thou bind the sweet influences {q} of Pleiades, or loose the bands of {r} Orion?

(q) Which rise when the sun is in Taurus, which is the spring, and brings flowers.
(r) Which comes in winter.

Job 38:32

38:32 Canst thou bring forth {s} Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide {t} Arcturus with his sons?

(s) Certain stars so called, some think they were the twelve signs.
(t) The north star with those that are about him.

Job 38:33

38:33 Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the {u} dominion thereof in the earth?

(u) Can you cause the heavenly bodies to have any power over the earthly bodies?

Job 38:36

38:36 Who hath put wisdom in the {x} inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?

(x) In the secret parts of man.

Job 38:37

38:37 Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the {y} bottles of heaven,

(y) That is, the clouds in which the water is contained as in bottles.

Job 38:38

38:38 When the dust groweth into hardness, {z} and the clods cleave fast together?

(z) For when God does not open these bottles, the earth comes to this inconvenience.

Job 38:39

38:39 Wilt {a} thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions,

(a) After he had declared God's works in the heavens, he shows his marvellous providence in earth, even toward the brute beasts.

Job 38:41

38:41 Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones {b} cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.

(b) Read Ps 147:9.

Job 39:2

39:2 Canst thou number the months [that] they {d} fulfil? or knowest thou the time when they bring forth?

(d) That is, how long they go with young?

Job 39:3

39:3 They bow themselves, they {e} bring forth their young ones, they cast out their sorrows.

(e) They bring forth with great difficulty.

Job 39:6

39:6 Whose house I have made the wilderness, and the {f} barren land his dwellings.

(f) That is, the barren ground where no good fruit grows.

Job 39:9

39:9 Will the unicorn be willing to {g} serve thee, or abide by thy crib?

(g) Is it possible to make the unicorn tame? signifying that if man cannot rule a creature, that it is much more impossible that he should appoint the wisdom of God, by which he governs all the world.

Job 39:14

39:14 Which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and {h} warmeth them in dust,

(h) They write that the ostrich covers her eggs in the sand, and because the country is hot and the sun still keeps them warm, they are hatched.

Job 39:16

39:16 She is hardened against her young ones, as though [they were] not hers: her labour is {i} in vain without fear;

(i) If he should take care of them.

Job 39:17

39:17 Because God hath deprived her of {k} wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.

(k) That is, to have a care and natural affection toward his young.

Job 39:18

39:18 What {l} time she lifteth up herself on high, she scorneth the horse and his rider.

(l) When the young ostrich is grown up, he outruns the horse.

Job 39:19

39:19 Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with {m} thunder?

(m) That is, given him courage? which is meant by neighing and shaking his neck.

Job 39:21

39:21 He {n} paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in [his] strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men.

(n) He beats with his hoof.

Job 39:24

39:24 He {o} swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that [it is] the sound of the trumpet.

(o) He so rides the ground that it seems nothing under him.

Job 39:26

39:26 Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, [and] stretch her wings toward the {p} south?

(p) That is, when cold comes, to fly into the warm countries.

Job 40:2

40:2 Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty {q} instruct [him]? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.

(q) Is this the way for a man that will learn, to strive with God? which he reproves in Job.

Job 40:4

40:4 Behold, I am {r} vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.

(r) By which he shows that he repented and desired pardon for his faults.

Job 40:8

40:8 Wilt thou also disannul {a} my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

(a) Signifying that they who justify themselves condemn God as unjust.

Job 40:10

40:10 Deck thyself now [with] {b} majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.

(b) Meaning, that these were proper to God, and belonged to no man.

Job 40:13

40:13 Hide them in the dust together; [and] bind {c} their faces in secret.

(c) Cause them to die if you can.

Job 40:14

40:14 Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can {d} save thee.

(d) Proving by this that whoever attributes to himself power and ability to save himself, makes himself God.

Job 40:15

40:15 Behold now {e} behemoth, which I made {f} with thee; he eateth {g} grass as an ox.

(e) This beast is thought to be the elephant, or some other, which is unknown.
(f) Whom I made as well as you.
(g) This commends the providence of God toward man: for if he were given to devour as a lion, nothing would be able to resist him, or content him.

Job 40:19

40:19 {h} He [is] the chief of the ways of God: {i} he that made him can make his sword to approach [unto him].

(h) He is one of the chief works of God among the beasts.
(i) Though man dare not come near him, yet God can kill him.

Job 40:23

40:23 Behold, he drinketh up a river, {k} [and] hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth.

(k) He drinks at leisure, and fears nobody.

Job 41:1

41:1 Canst thou draw out {l} leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord [which] thou lettest down?

(l) Meaning the whale.

Job 41:2

41:2 Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or {m} bore his jaw through with a thorn?

(m) Because he fears lest you should take him.

Job 41:4

41:4 Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take {n} him for a servant for ever?

(n) To do your business, and be at your command?

Job 41:8

41:8 Lay thine hand upon him, remember {o} the battle, do no more.

(o) If you once consider the danger, you will not meddle with him.

Job 41:9

41:9 Behold, {p} the hope of him is in vain: shall not [one] be cast down even at the sight of him?

(p) That is, that trusts to take him.

Job 41:10

41:10 None [is so] fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to {a} stand before me?

(a) If no one dare stand against a whale, which is but a creature, who is able to compare with God the creator?

Job 41:11

41:11 Who hath prevented me, that I should {b} repay [him? whatsoever is] under the whole heaven is mine.

(b) Who has taught me to accomplish my work?

Job 41:12

41:12 I will not conceal {c} his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion.

(c) The parts and members of the whale?

Job 41:13

41:13 Who can discover the face {d} of his garment? [or] who can come [to him] with his double {e} bridle?

(d) That is, who dare pull off his skin?
(e) Who dare put a bridle in his mouth?

Job 41:14

41:14 Who can {f} open the doors of his face? his teeth [are] terrible round about.

(f) Who dare look in his mouth?

Job 41:18

41:18 By his neesings {g} a light doth shine, and his eyes [are] like the eyelids of the morning.

(g) That is, casts out flames of fire.

Job 41:22

41:22 In his neck remaineth strength, and {h} sorrow is turned into joy before him.

(h) Nothing is painful or hard for him.

Job 41:30

41:30 Sharp stones {i} [are] under him: he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire.

(i) His skin is so hard that he lies with a great ease on the stones as in the mud.

Job 41:31

41:31 He maketh the deep to {k} boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment.

(k) Either he makes the sea to seem like it is boiling by his wallowing, or else he spouts water in such abundance as it would seem that the sea boiled.

Job 41:32

41:32 He maketh a path to {l} shine after him; [one] would think the deep [to be] hoary.

(l) That is, a white froth and shining stream before him.

Job 41:34

41:34 He beholdeth {m} all high [things]: he [is] a king over all the children of pride.

(m) He despises all other beasts and monsters, and is the proudest of all others.

Job 42:2

42:2 I know that thou canst do every [thing], and [that] no {a} thought can be withholden from thee.

(a) No thought so secret but you see it, nor anything that you think but that you can bring it to pass.

Job 42:3

42:3 Who [is] he that hideth counsel without {b} knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, {c} which I knew not.

(b) Is there any but I? for this God laid to his charge, Job 38:2.
(c) I confess in this my ignorance, and that I spoke of what I did not know.

Job 42:4

42:4 Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, {d} and declare thou unto me.

(d) He shows that he will be God's scholar to learn of him.

Job 42:5

42:5 I have {e} heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.

(e) I knew you only before by hearsay, but now you have caused me to feel what you are to me, that I may resign myself over to you.

Job 42:7

42:7 And it was [so], that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me [the thing that is] {f} right, as my servant {g} Job [hath].

(f) You took in hand an evil cause, in that you condemned him by his outward afflictions, and not comforted him with my mercies.
(g) Who had a good cause, but handled it evil.

Job 42:8

42:8 Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall {h} pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you [after your] folly, in that ye have not spoken of me [the thing which is] right, like my servant Job.

(h) When you have reconciled yourselves to him for the faults that you have committed against him, he will pray for you, and I will hear him.

Job 42:10

42:10 And the LORD turned the {i} captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

(i) He delivered him out of the affliction he was in.

Job 42:11

42:11 Then came there unto him all his {k} brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold.

(k) That is, all his kindred, read Job 19:13.

Job 42:12

42:12 So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had {l} fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.

(l) God made him twice as rich in cattle as he was before, and gave him as many children as he had taken from him.

Job 42:14

42:14 And he called the name of the first, {m} Jemima; and the name of the second, {n} Kezia; and the name of the third, {o} Kerenhappuch.

(m) That is, of long life, or beautiful as the day.
(n) As pleasant as cassia or sweet spice.
(o) That is, the horn of beauty.

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