4 And yet, ye `are' forgers of falsehood, Physicians of nought -- all of you,
Forged against me falsehood have the proud, I with the whole heart keep Thy precepts.
Go up to Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt, In vain thou hast multiplied medicines, Healing there is none for thee.
I have heard many such things, Miserable comforters `are' ye all.
Lo, I `am' against the prophets of false dreams, An affirmation of Jehovah, And they recount them, and cause my people to err, By their falsehoods, and by their instability, And I -- I have not sent them, Nor have I commanded them, And they are not at all profitable to this people, An affirmation of Jehovah.
And Jesus, having heard, saith to them, `They who are strong have no need of a physician, but they who are ill; I came not to call righteous men, but sinners to reformation.'
And see doth Ephraim his sickness, and Judah his wound, And Ephraim goeth unto Asshur, And sendeth unto a warlike king, And he is not able to give healing to you, Nor doth he remove from you a scar.
There is none judging thy cause to bind up, Healing medicines there are none for thee.
`Thou dost not answer against thy neighbour a false testimony.
For thou takest a pledge of thy brother for nought, And the garments of the naked Thou dost strip off. Thou causest not the weary to drink water, And from the hungry thou withholdest bread. As to the man of arm -- he hath the earth, And the accepted of face -- he dwelleth in it. Widows thou hast sent away empty, And the arms of the fatherless are bruised. Therefore round about thee `are' snares, And trouble thee doth fear suddenly. Or darkness -- thou dost not see, And abundance of waters doth cover thee. Is not God high `in' heaven? And see the summit of the stars, That they are high. And thou hast said, `What -- hath God known? Through thickness doth He judge? Thick clouds `are' a secret place to Him, And He doth not see;' And the circle of the heavens He walketh habitually, The path of the age dost thou observe, That men of iniquity have trodden? Who have been cut down unexpectedly, A flood is poured out on their foundation. Those saying to God, `Turn aside from us,' And what doth the Mighty One to them? And he hath filled their houses `with' good: (And the counsel of the wicked Hath been far from me.) See do the righteous and they rejoice, And the innocent mocketh at them, `Surely our substance hath not been cut off, And their excellency hath fire consumed.' Acquaint thyself, I pray thee, with Him, And be at peace, Thereby thine increase `is' good. Receive, I pray thee, from His mouth a law, And set His sayings in thy heart. If thou dost return unto the Mighty Thou art built up, Thou puttest iniquity far from thy tents. So as to set on the dust a defence, And on a rock of the valleys a covering. And the Mighty hath been thy defence, And silver `is' strength to thee. For then on the Mighty thou delightest thyself, And dost lift up unto God thy face, Thou dost make supplication unto Him, And He doth hear thee, And thy vows thou completest. And thou decreest a saying, And it is established to thee, And on thy ways hath light shone. For they have made low, And thou sayest, `Lift up.' And the bowed down of eyes he saveth. He delivereth the not innocent, Yea, he hath been delivered By the cleanness of thy hands.
Lo, I have known your thoughts, And the devices against me ye do wrongfully. For ye say, `Where `is' the house of the noble? And where the tent -- The tabernacles of the wicked?' Have ye not asked those passing by the way? And their signs do ye not know? That to a day of calamity is the wicked spared. To a day of wrath they are brought. Who doth declare to his face his way? And `for' that which he hath done, Who doth give recompence to him? And he -- to the graves he is brought. And over the heap a watch is kept. Sweet to him have been the clods of the valley, And after him every man he draweth, And before him there is no numbering. And how do ye comfort me `with' vanity, And in your answers hath been left trespass?
Also, the light of the wicked is extinguished. And there doth not shine a spark of his fire. The light hath been dark in his tent, And his lamp over him is extinguished. Straitened are the steps of his strength, And cast him down doth his own counsel. For he is sent into a net by his own feet, And on a snare he doth walk habitually. Seize on the heel doth a gin, Prevail over him do the designing. Hidden in the earth is his cord, And his trap on the path. Round about terrified him have terrors, And they have scattered him -- at his feet. Hungry is his sorrow, And calamity is ready at his side. It consumeth the parts of his skin, Consume his parts doth death's first-born. Drawn from his tent is his confidence, And it causeth him to step to the king of terrors. It dwelleth in his tent -- out of his provender, Scattered over his habitation is sulphur. From beneath his roots are dried up, And from above cut off is his crop. His memorial hath perished from the land, And he hath no name on the street. They thrust him from light unto darkness, And from the habitable earth cast him out. He hath no continuator, Nor successor among his people, And none is remaining in his dwellings. At this day westerns have been astonished And easterns have taken fright. Only these `are' tabernacles of the perverse, And this the place God hath not known.
Doth God pervert judgment? And doth the Mighty One pervert justice? If thy sons have sinned before Him, And He doth send them away, By the hand of their transgression,
Surely now ye have become the same! Ye see a downfall, and are afraid.
Pray, call, is there any to answer thee? And unto which of the holy ones dost thou turn? For provocation slayeth the perverse, And envy putteth to death the simple, I -- I have seen the perverse taking root, And I mark his habitation straightway, Far are his sons from safety, And they are bruised in the gate, And there is no deliverer. Whose harvest the hungry doth eat, And even from the thorns taketh it, And the designing swallowed their wealth.
Remember, I pray thee, Who, being innocent, hath perished? And where have the upright been cut off? As I have seen -- ploughers of iniquity, And sowers of misery, reap it! From the breath of God they perish, And from the spirit of His anger consumed. The roaring of a lion, And the voice of a fierce lion, And teeth of young lions have been broken. An old lion is perishing without prey, And the whelps of the lioness do separate.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Job 13
Commentary on Job 13 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 13
Job 13:1-28. Job's Reply to Zophar Continued.
1. all this—as to the dealings of Providence (Job 12:3).
3. Job wishes to plead his cause before God (Job 9:34, 35), as he is more and more convinced of the valueless character of his would-be "physicians" (Job 16:2).
4. forgers of lies—literally, "artful twisters of vain speeches" [Umbreit].
5. (Pr 17:28). The Arabs say, "The wise are dumb; silence is wisdom."
7. deceitfully—use fallacies to vindicate God in His dealings; as if the end justified the means. Their "deceitfulness" for God, against Job, was that they asserted he was a sinner, because he was a sufferer.
8. accept his person—God's; that is, be partial for Him, as when a judge favors one party in a trial, because of personal considerations.
contend for God—namely, with fallacies and prepossessions against Job before judgment (Jud 6:31). Partiality can never please the impartial God, nor the goodness of the cause excuse the unfairness of the arguments.
9. Will the issue to you be good, when He searches out you and your arguments? Will you be regarded by Him as pure and disinterested?
mock—(Ga 6:7). Rather, "Can you deceive Him as one man?" &c.
10. If ye do, though secretly, act partially. (See on Job 13:8; Ps 82:1, 2). God can successfully vindicate His acts, and needs no fallacious argument of man.
11. make you afraid?—namely, of employing sophisms in His name (Jer 10:7, 10).
12. remembrances—"proverbial maxims," so called because well remembered.
like unto ashes—or, "parables of ashes"; the image of lightness and nothingness (Isa 44:20).
bodies—rather, "entrenchments"; those of clay, as opposed to those of stone, are easy to be destroyed; so the proverbs, behind which they entrench themselves, will not shelter them when God shall appear to reprove them for their injustice to Job.
13. Job would wish to be spared their speeches, so as to speak out all his mind as to his wretchedness (Job 13:14), happen what will.
14. A proverb for, "Why should I anxiously desire to save my life?" [Eichorn]. The image in the first clause is that of a wild beast, which in order to preserve his prey, carries it in his teeth. That in the second refers to men who hold in the hand what they want to keep secure.
15. in him—So the margin or keri, reads. But the textual reading or chetib is "not," which agrees best with the context, and other passages wherein he says he has no hope (Job 6:11; 7:21; 10:20; 19:10). "Though He slay me, and I dare no more hope, yet I will maintain," &c., that is, "I desire to vindicate myself before Him," as not a hypocrite [Umbreit and Noyes].
16. He—rather, "This also already speaks in my behalf (literally, 'for my saving acquittal') for an hypocrite would not wish to come before Him" (as I do) [Umbreit]. (See last clause of Job 13:15).
17. my declaration—namely, that I wish to be permitted to justify myself immediately before God.
with your ears—that is, attentively.
18. ordered—implying a constant preparation for defense in his confidence of innocence.
19. if, &c.—Rather, "Then would I hold my tongue and give up the ghost"; that is, if any one can contend with me and prove me false, I have no more to say. "I will be silent and die." Like our "I would stake my life on it" [Umbreit].
20. Address to God.
not hide—stand forth boldly to maintain my cause.
21. (See on Job 9:34 and see Ps 39:10).
22. call—a challenge to the defendant to answer to the charges.
answer—the defense begun.
speak—as plaintiff.
answer—to the plea of the plaintiff. Expressions from a trial.
23. The catalogue of my sins ought to be great, to judge from the severity with which God ever anew crushes one already bowed down. Would that He would reckon them up! He then would see how much my calamities outnumber them.
sin?—singular, "I am unconscious of a single particular sin, much less many" [Umbreit].
24. hidest … face—a figure from the gloomy impression caused by the sudden clouding over of the sun.
enemy—God treated Job as an enemy who must be robbed of power by ceaseless sufferings (Job 7:17, 21).
25. (Le 26:36; Ps 1:4). Job compares himself to a leaf already fallen, which the storm still chases hither and thither.
break—literally, "shake with (Thy) terrors." Jesus Christ does not "break the bruised reed" (Isa 42:3, 27:8).
26. writest—a judicial phrase, to note down the determined punishment. The sentence of the condemned used to be written down (Isa 10:1; Jer 22:30; Ps 149:9) [Umbreit].
bitter things—bitter punishments.
makest me to possess—or "inherit." In old age he receives possession of the inheritance of sin thoughtlessly acquired in youth. "To inherit sins" is to inherit the punishments inseparably connected with them in Hebrew ideas (Ps 25:7).
27. stocks—in which the prisoner's feet were made fast until the time of execution (Jer 20:2).
lookest narrowly—as an overseer would watch a prisoner.
print—Either the stocks, or his disease, marked his soles (Hebrew, "roots") as the bastinado would. Better, thou drawest (or diggest) [Gesenius] a line (or trench) [Gesenius] round my soles, beyond which I must not move [Umbreit].
28. Job speaks of himself in the third person, thus forming the transition to the general lot of man (Job 14:1; Ps 39:11; Ho 5:12).