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