Job 13

Verse 1. All, without your information. Calmet.

Verse 3. Reason. Hebrew “to dispute with, or before God,” concerning the matter which we have in hand. He appeals to God, as to the judge of all.

Verse 4. Having. Hebrew “But ye are sewers of lies.” Calmet.—Septuagint “unskilful surgeons, (who, instead of sewing up a wound, increase it) and all of you doctors of evil;” vain empirics.—Maintainers. Prot. “ye are all physicians of no value.” Bible.

Verse 5. Men. Proverbs 17:28. If you had been silent, you might still have had the reputation of wisdom. Calmet.

Verse 6. Judgment. Hebrew “pleading” before our common judge. Bible.

Verse 8. Accept. Hebrew “will you not be seized with fear?” Olympiodorus translates, “will you stad in his presence, and dispute with him?” Calmet.—Septuagint “Are you sent to be judges?” and so forth or, do you suppose that you hope to gain his favour? Calmet.—He knows the state of my soul best; then I myself: but you are quite in the dark. Worthington.

Verse 9. Or. Hebrew “Is it good that he should examine you, would you escape?” Calmet.

Verse 10. His. Hebrew “persons.” Because you see me afflicted, you infer that I am guilty; and think this mode of judging most honourable to God, whom you wish thus to please. Bible.—But he stands not in need of lies; ( Calmet.) and something farther is still to be proved. Bible.—You judge rashly, as if you designed to please a prince, ( Menochius.) without examining the cause of the accused. Bible.

Verse 12. Necks. Septuagint “body.” Hebrew also, ( Bible.) “heights,” ( Calmet.) or “fortifications.” Grotius.

Verse 13. Whatsoever. Hebrew “come what will.” Septuagint “that my anger may cease.” Bible.

Verse 14. Why you seem to ask do I thus eagerly desire to die, ( Bible.) as if I wear tearing my own flesh, and exposing my soul to danger, ( Worthington.) like a madman? Tirinus.—Is it not better for me to address myself to God, that he would hasten my departure, than thus to tear my flesh with my teeth? Calmet.—Some have supposed that Job really did so in extreme anguish, (V. Bede) the leprosy occasioning such an insupportable irritation. Bible.—But the expression insinuates an interior anguish or despair; (Isaiah 49:26) in which sense Pythagoras enjoins, “no to eat the heart.”—Hands, in imminent danger of death. Psalms 118:109.—Saint Gregory explains it in a moral sense: “It is to manifest the intention of the heart by the actions.” Bible.

Verse 15. In him. Hebrew lu is read, though lo, “not,” is written in the Hebrew text. Bible.—Protestants, and so forth follow the sense of the Vulgate, and Junius comes to the same, as he reads lo with an interrogation: “Should I not hope in him?” Luther and the Belgic version go astray: “Behold he shall kill me, and I cannot expect,” or hope; I am resolved to die: which words indicate “extreme impatience.” Amama.—Septuagint “If the powerful (or Lord) lay [not] hands on me, since it is commenced? No: but I shall speak and arraign [you] before him,” and so forth The words not and you are thus placed in Grabe’s edition. Bible.—Ways. I do not pretend that I am quite blameless. Calmet.—Prot. “I will maintain (Marg. prove or argue) mine own ways before him.” Bible.—I will hope, like Abraham, even against hope, to shew that I am not actuated by despair: yet I will continue to declare my innocence, verse 16. Tirinus.

Verse 16. Hypocrite. If I were such, I should not dare to appeal so boldly to his tribunal. Calmet.

Verse 17. Truths. Lit. “riddles” to you. Hebrew achavathi, ( Bible.) means “instructions,” and so forth Calmet.

Verse 18. Just. He was in extreme anguish, yet still trusted in God. Worthington.

Verse 19. Peace. It will be some consolation to explain my reasons. If I am fairly overcome, I shall die with more content. Calmet.

Verse 20. Only. He makes the same petition to God as Calmet. 9:34 and 33:7. Bible.

Verse 23. Offences, which might be hidden to Job himself. Worthington.—He speaks to God with the freedom which he had requested, desiring to know if he were really guilty, ( Calmet.) that he might give glory to him, ( Bible.) by an humble confession.

Verse 26. Bitter. The judge wrote down the sentence; which he read, or gave to his officer. Calmet.—Youth, for which I thought I had satisfied. Bible.

Verse 27. Stocks, in which the person’s legs were sometimes stretched to the sixth hole; ( Calmet.) at other times, the neck was confined. Menochius.—Some translate the Hebrew “in the mud,” which agrees with the other part of the verse.—Steps. Hebrew and Septuagint “roots,” or ankles, which retain the prints made by the stocks.

Verse 28. Rottenness. Septuagint “an old vessel,” or skin, to contain wine, and so forth Calmet.—My condition might excite pity. Menochius.