Worthy.Bible » STRONG » Job » Chapter 8 » Verse 2

Job 8:2 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

2 How H575 long H5704 wilt thou speak H4448 these things? and how long shall the words H561 of thy mouth H6310 be like a strong H3524 wind? H7307

Cross Reference

Job 6:26 STRONG

Do ye imagine H2803 to reprove H3198 words, H4405 and the speeches H561 of one that is desperate, H2976 which are as wind? H7307

1 Kings 19:11 STRONG

And he said, H559 Go forth, H3318 and stand H5975 upon the mount H2022 before H6440 the LORD. H3068 And, behold, the LORD H3068 passed by, H5674 and a great H1419 and strong H2389 wind H7307 rent H6561 the mountains, H2022 and brake in pieces H7665 the rocks H5553 before H6440 the LORD; H3068 but the LORD H3068 was not in the wind: H7307 and after H310 the wind H7307 an earthquake; H7494 but the LORD H3068 was not in the earthquake: H7494

Job 15:2 STRONG

Should a wise man H2450 utter H6030 vain H7307 knowledge, H1847 and fill H4390 his belly H990 with the east wind? H6921

Exodus 10:3 STRONG

And Moses H4872 and Aaron H175 came in H935 unto Pharaoh, H6547 and said H559 unto him, Thus saith H559 the LORD H3068 God H430 of the Hebrews, H5680 How long H4970 wilt thou refuse H3985 to humble H6031 thyself before H6440 me? let my people H5971 go, H7971 that they may serve H5647 me.

Exodus 10:7 STRONG

And Pharaoh's H6547 servants H5650 said H559 unto him, How long shall this man be a snare H4170 unto us? let the men H582 go, H7971 that they may serve H5647 the LORD H3068 their God: H430 knowest H3045 thou not yet H2962 that Egypt H4714 is destroyed? H6

Job 6:9 STRONG

Even that it would please H2974 God H433 to destroy H1792 me; that he would let loose H5425 his hand, H3027 and cut me off! H1214

Job 7:11 STRONG

Therefore I will not refrain H2820 my mouth; H6310 I will speak H1696 in the anguish H6862 of my spirit; H7307 I will complain H7878 in the bitterness H4751 of my soul. H5315

Job 11:2-3 STRONG

Should not the multitude H7230 of words H1697 be answered? H6030 and should a man H376 full of talk H8193 be justified? H6663 Should thy lies H907 make H2790 men H4962 hold their peace? H2790 and when thou mockest, H3932 shall no man make thee ashamed? H3637

Job 16:3 STRONG

Shall vain H7307 words H1697 have an end? H7093 or what emboldeneth H4834 thee that thou answerest? H6030

Job 18:2 STRONG

How long H5704 will it be ere ye make H7760 an end H7078 of words? H4405 mark, H995 and afterwards H310 we will speak. H1696

Job 19:2-3 STRONG

How long will ye vex H3013 my soul, H5315 and break H1792 me in pieces with words? H4405 These ten H6235 times H6471 have ye reproached H3637 me: ye are not ashamed H954 that ye make yourselves strange H1970 to me.

Proverbs 1:22 STRONG

How long, ye simple ones, H6612 will ye love H157 simplicity? H6612 and the scorners H3887 delight H2530 in their scorning, H3944 and fools H3684 hate H8130 knowledge? H1847

Commentary on Job 8 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible


CHAPTER 8

FIRST SERIES—FIRST SPEECH OF BILDAD, MORE SEVERE
AND COARSE THAN THAT OF ELIPHAZ.

Job 8:1-22. The Address of Bildad.

2. like a … wind?—disregarding restraints, and daring against God.

3. The repetition of "pervert" gives an emphasis galling to Job (Job 34:12). "Wouldst thou have God," as thy words imply, "pervert judgment," by letting thy sins go unpunished? He assumes Job's guilt from his sufferings.

4. If—Rather, "Since thy children have sinned against Him, and (since) He has cast them away (Hebrew, by the hand of) for their transgressions, (yet) if thou wouldst seek unto God, &c., if thou wert pure, &c., surely [even] now He would awake for thee." Umbreit makes the apodosis to, "since thy children," &c., begin at "He has cast them away." Also, instead of "for," "He gave them up to (literally, into the hand of) their own guilt." Bildad expresses the justice of God, which Job had arraigned. Thy children have sinned; God leaves them to the consequence of their sin; most cutting to the heart of the bereaved father.

5. seek unto God betimes—early. Make it the first and chief anxiety (Ps 78:34; Ho 5:15; Isa 26:9; Pr 8:17; 13:24).

6. He would awake for thee—that is, arise to thy help. God seemed to be asleep toward the sufferer (Ps 35:23; 7:6; Isa 51:9).

make … prosperous—restore to prosperity thy (their) righteous habitation. Bildad assumes it to have been heretofore the habitation of guilt.

7. thy beginning—the beginning of thy new happiness after restoration.

latter end—(Job 42:12; Pr 23:18).

8, 9. The sages of the olden time reached an age beyond those of Job's time (see on Job 42:16), and therefore could give the testimony of a fuller experience.

9. of yesterday—that is, a recent race. We know nothing as compared with them because of the brevity of our lives; so even Jacob (Ge 47:9). Knowledge consisted then in the results of observation, embodied in poetical proverbs, and handed down by tradition. Longevity gave the opportunity of wider observation.

a shadow—(Ps 144:4; 1Ch 29:15).

10. teach thee—Job 6:24 had said, "Teach me." Bildad, therefore, says, "Since you want teaching, inquire of the fathers. They will teach thee."

utter words—more than mere speaking; "put forth well-considered words."

out of their heart—from observation and reflection; not merely, from their mouth: such, as Bildad insinuates, were Job's words. Job 8:11-13 embody in poetic and sententious form (probably the fragment of an old poem) the observation of the elders. The double point of comparison between the ungodly and the paper-reed is: 1. the luxuriant prosperity at first; and, 2. the sudden destruction.

11. rush—rather, "paper-reed": The papyrus of Egypt, which was used to make garments, shoes, baskets, boats, and paper (a word derived from it). It and the flag, or bulrush, grow only in marshy places (such as are along the Nile). So the godless thrives only in external prosperity; there is in the hypocrite no inward stability; his prosperity is like the rapid growth of water plants.

12. not cut down—Before it has ripened for the scythe, it withers more suddenly than any herb, having no self-sustaining power, once that the moisture is gone, which other herbs do not need in the same degree. So ruin seizes on the godless in the zenith of prosperity, more suddenly than on others who appear less firmly seated in their possessions [Umbreit] (Ps 112:10).

13. paths—so "ways" (Pr 1:19).

all that forget God—the distinguishing trait of the godless (Ps 9:17; 50:22).

14. cut off—so Gesenius; or, to accord with the metaphor of the spider's "house," "The confidence (on which he builds) shall be laid in ruins" (Isa 59:5, 6).

15. he shall hold it fast—implying his eager grasp, when the storm of trial comes: as the spider "holds fast" by its web; but with this difference: the light spider is sustained by that on which it rests; the godless is not by the thin web on which he rests. The expression, "Hold fast," properly applies to the spider holding his web, but is transferred to the man. Hypocrisy, like the spider's web, is fine-spun, flimsy, and woven out of its own inventions, as the spider's web out of its own bowels. An Arab proverb says, "Time destroys the well-built house, as well as the spider's web."

16. before the sun—that is, he (the godless) is green only before the sun rises; but he cannot bear its heat, and withers. So succulent plants like the gourd (Jon 4:7, 8). But the widespreading in the garden does not quite accord with this. Better, "in sunshine"; the sun representing the smiling fortune of the hypocrite, during which he wondrously progresses [Umbreit]. The image is that of weeds growing in rank luxuriance and spreading over even heaps of stones and walls, and then being speedily torn away.

17. seeth the place of stones—Hebrew, "the house of stones"; that is, the wall surrounding the garden. The parasite plant, in creeping towards and over the wall—the utmost bound of the garden—is said figuratively to "see" or regard it.

18. If He (God) tear him away (properly, "to tear away rapidly and violently") from his place, "then it [the place personified] shall deny him" (Ps 103:16). The very soil is ashamed of the weeds lying withered on its surface, as though it never had been connected with them. So, when the godless falls from prosperity, his nearest friends disown him.

19. Bitter irony. The hypocrite boasts of joy. This then is his "joy" at the last.

and out of the earth—others immediately, who take the place of the man thus punished; not godly men (Mt 3:9). For the place of the weeds is among stones, where the gardener wishes no plants. But, ungodly; a fresh crop of weeds always springs up in the place of those torn up: there is no end of hypocrites on earth [Umbreit].

20. Bildad regards Job as a righteous man, who has fallen into sin.

God will not cast away a perfect man—(or godly man, such as Job was), if he will only repent. Those alone who persevere in sin God will not help (Hebrew, "take by the hand," Ps 73:23; Isa 41:13; 42:6) when fallen.

21. Till—literally, "to the point that"; God's blessing on thee, when repentant, will go on increasing to the point that, or until, &c.

22. The haters of Job are the wicked. They shall be clothed with shame (Jer 3:25; Ps 35:26; 109:29), at the failure of their hope that Job would utterly perish, and because they, instead of him, come to naught.