Car., Rod., Elz., etc.]), but according to the una- ii 1, 10: Ps. lxxxix. 18 [17], 25 [24]; xcii. 11 nimous witness of the ancient versions: his [10]; etc., Luke i. 69-into the dust:-this arrows, darts" (from -,, jacere, being a sign of his humiliation, of his consciousGen. xlix. 23; comp. Gen. xxi. 10).—(He ness of the defeat, and of the deep sorrow which cleaves my reins without sparing, pours he has been called to endure. For this lowering out on the earth my gall (comp. Lam. ii. 11). of the horn into the dust of the earth is the diJob here describes more specifically the terrible rect opposite of "lifting up the horn" (Ps. effect of God's arrows, i. e., of the ailments in- lxxxiii. 3 [2] as a symbol of the increase of flicted on him by a hostile God (comp. ch. vi. 4, power and dignity. Sy is with Saad., Roalso the well-known mythological representations of classical antiquity). representing in acsenm., Ew., Hirz., Dillm., etc., to be derived cordance with the Hebrew conception the noblest from hy, introire, of frequent use in the Aram. and most sensitive of the inner organs of the and Arab., and thus signifies "to stick into, to body as affected, namely the reins, and also the gall-bladder. In view of the highly poetic cha- dig into." If it were the Pil. of hy, “to act," racter of the description, it is not necessary to meaning accordingly "to abuse," or "to defile" inquire whether he conceives of the "outpour- (Targ., Pesch., Delitzsch [E. V., Schlott.] etc.), ing" of the gall as taking place inwardly, with the before the object would not be wanting; out being at all perceptible externally, or whecomp. Lam. i. 22; ii. 20; iii. 51. To be prether, with a disregard of physiological possibi-ferred to this is the translation-"I roll my horn lity or probability, he represents it as something in the dust" (Umbr., Vaihing., Hahn), a renderthat is externally visible. It is moreover worthy ing which is etymologically admissible. of note that according to Arabic notions the Ver 16 My face is burning red with "rupture of the gall-bladder" may really be pro-weeping. (instead of which duced by violent painful emotions. Comp. Delitzsch on the passage; also his Biblical Psycho- ought perhaps with the K'ri to read the plural logy [p. 317, Clark]; also my Theol. Naturalis,, unless we explain the fem., like p. 618. Ver. 14. He breaks through me breach upon breach. 79, comp. ch. xxx. 14, here as accus. of the object, united to its cognate verb; comp. Gesen., 138 [135] Rem. 1.-He runs upon me like a mighty warrior. In this new turn of the comparison Job, and in particular his body, appears as a wall, or a fortress, which is by degrees breached by missiles and battering rams, and which God himself assaults by storm. T: we in ch xiv. 19, in accordance with Gesen., 146, [143], 3), Pualal of 2, an intensive pas- The Ver. 17. Although no violence is in my hands (or clings to them) and my prayer is pure.-Job emphasizes his innocence here in contrast not only with ver. 16, but with the whole description thus far given of the persecution which he had endured, vers. 12-16.used here, as in Is. liii. 9, as a conjunction. in the sense of "notwithstanding that, although," (Ewald, ? 222, b), not as a preposition, as Hirzel explains it (“in spite of non-violence"). is Ver. 15. I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, i. e. I have girded around myself, and stitched together (about the loins) a closely fitting mourning garment of close hair (comp. p in Isa. iii. 24; xx. 2; xxxii. 11; 1 Kings xxi. 27; 2 Kings vi. 30, etc.). The "sewing upon the skin" is doubtless to be understood only figuratively of the laying on of a closely fitting garment, which it is not intended to lay off immediately. Possibly, indeed, there may be an allusion to the cracked swollen skin of one diseased with elephantiasis, in which the hair of the sackcloth (cilicium) must of necessity stick (see my Kritische Gesch. der Ascese, p. 82 seq.). [See also Art. "Sackcloth" in SMITH'S Bib. Dict. "Job does not say of it that he put it on, or slung it around him, but that he sewed it upon his naked body; and this is to be attributed to the hideous distortion of the body by elephantiasis, which will not admit of the use of the ordinary form of clothes." Delitzsch]. In any case in referring to this stiff, almost dead skin, as a part of his fearfully distorted body, he Ver. 18. Earth, cover not thou my blood, chooses the term 1, which appears in Hebrew i. e., drink it not up, let it lie open to view, and only here (though more common in Aram. and cry to heaven as a witness to my innocence, Arab.), and in contrast with iy, the "sound, Comp. Gen. iv. 10; Ezek. xxiv. 7 seq.; Is. xxvi. healthy skin," may be translated "hide;" comp. 21. ["As according to the tradition it is said the Bipoa of the LXX. And have lowered to have been impossible to remove the stain of (lit. "stuck," see below) my horn-the symbol the blood of Zachariah, who was murdered in of power and of free manly dignity, comp. 1 Sam. | the court of the temple, until it was removed by 4. Second Division. A vivid expression of the hope of a future recognition of his innocence: ch. xvi. 18-xvii. 9. First Strophe: Ver. 18-ch. xvii. 2. [His confidence in God as his witness and vindicatorhis only hope in view of the speedy approach of death]. me under their protection, and attesting my innocence, I still direct to God a look of tearful entreaty that He would do justice, etc.-[" An equally strong emphasis lies here on subj. and predicate: My friends' stands in contrast with God; my mockers' in contrast with my witness,' ver. 19; and finally also my mockers' in contrast with my friends.'" Schlottm.]. Ew., Dillm., etc., take the first member, less suitably, as assigning the reason for the second: "because my friends are become such as mock me, mine eye pours out tears to Eloah," etc. Ver. 21 states the object of the weeping (i. e., the destruction of the temple itself." Delitzsch. "According to the old belief no rain or dew would moisten the spot marked by the blood of a person murdered when innocent, or change its blighted appearance into living green." Ewald]. The second member also expresses essentially the same meaning: and let my cry have no resting-place, i. e., let not the cry for vengeance arising from my shed blood (or the cry of my soul poured out in my blood, Gen. ix. 4, etc.), be stilled, let it not reach a place of rest, before it appears as my (ch. xix. 25) to deliver and avenge me. ["Therefore in the very God who appears to him to be a blood-the yearning) look which he lifts up to God. thirsty enemy in pursuit of him, Job nevertheless hopes to find a witness of his innocence: He will acknowledge his blood. like that of Abel, to be the blood of an innocent man. It is an inward irresistible demand made by his faith which here brings together two opposite principles-principles which the understanding cannot unite-with bewildering boldness. Job believes that God will even finally aveuge the blood which His wrath has shed, as blood that has been innocently shed." Delitzsch]. Ver. 19. Even now behold in heaven my witness, and my attestor (my, LXX. ovvioTwp. an Aram. synonym of , witness, comp. Gen. xxxi. 47) in the heights.—In re .comp ,שָׁמַיִם as a synonym. of מְרוּמִים gard to ch. xxv. 2; xxxi. 2. y D. "even now, Ver. 20. [The conduct of the friends in denying, nay in mocking his innocence, compels him to cling to this God in heaven." Dillm.]. They who mock me (lit., "my mockers," with strong accent on "mockers") are my friends. ["It is worthy of remark that the word here used, melits, signifies also an interpreter, an intercessor, and is employed in that sense; below, ch. xxxiii. 23; comp. Gen. xlii. 23; 2 Chron. xxxii. 31; Is. xliii. 27; and some, as Professors Lee and Carey, have assigned that sense to the word here, My true interpreters are my friends;' and they suppose in this word, here and in xxxiii. 23, a prophetic reference to the Mediator. But the Auth. Ver. appears to be correct; and the similarity of the words serves to bring out the contrast between the unkindness of man, and the mercy of God." Words.].To Eloah mine eye poureth tears: i. e., although my friends mock me, instead of taking 6 | TT This object is twofold: (1) That He would "in re Ver. 22. Giving the reason why Job longs to he vindicated, arising from the fact that his end | ration="verily, truly." (2) D (or accord is near, and that for him who has once died is an abstract הַתְלִים term, formed from mockery, scoffing (not deception," as Hirzel renders it); to render it as a concrete term in the sense of mockers" [E. V., Noyes, etc.], or 'beguiled,' is at variance with the laws governing the formation of Hebrew words (see Ew. 153, a; 179, a, b). there is no prospect of a return to this life.ing to another reading [This, however, is not to be understood as a reason given why God should interpose speedily to vindicate him before his death. Rather the argument is drawn from the hopelessness of his physical condition. Death was sure and near; that recovery which the friends promised on condition of repentance was out of the question: hence if he is to be vindicated, it must be by(3) Dip is Inf. Hiph. with suffix, from God, who can do it when he is gone.]-For, which means in Hiph. "to make refracyears that may be numbered are coming tory," to incite to strife, to contend with one. on, and by a path without return shall I The word is written with Dagh. dirimens in D, go hence. The thought is substantially the comp. ix. 18; Joel i. 17, etc.—(4) 12, Jussive same as in ch. vii. 7-10; and x. 20 seq.y or Voluntative form of , to lodge, to tarry op, lit. "years of number" (Gen. xxxiv. 30; Ps. cv. 12), are years that may be numbered, (comp. ch. xix. 4; xxix. 19; xxxi. 32), is a i. e. a few years (LXX: ¿rn åpnτá), by which pausal form for 1, which occurs also in Judg. we are naturally to understand those which still xix. 20, the use of which in a non-pausal posiremain before his death, the remaining years tion seems to be purely arbitrary, or rests posof his life (not all the years of his life, as Hahn sibly on euphonic grounds (the liquids and n and Del. explain). For 8 (in regard to the in juxtaposition being treated as though they form, comp. on ch. xii. 6) can only mean: were gutturals: comp. Ewald, 141, b, Rem. 2). "they are coming on, they stand before me,' (5) The sense of the entire verse, according to not: "they are passing away" (transeunt, Vulg., the construction here given, is decidedly more etc.), nor their end is coming on" (Hahn, suitable to the context: Of a truth it is mocking Del.). That Job here announces the sad issue me (, lit. "mockery is with me, befalls in which the rapid and inevitably fatal course me") to force me, who am standing on the verge of the elephantiasis generally resulted, is shown of the grave to confess a guilt from which I by the conclusion of the discourse, ch. xvii. know myself to be free; and such hateful quarrelsome conduct it is that I must have continually before my eyes!-Other renderings are e. g. -a. That of the Pesh., Vulg., and recently of Hirzel, which takes in the sense of "deThus Hirzel's rendering is: ception, illusion." "If deception is not with me, then let them continually henceforth quarrel." b. That of Rosenmüller: annon illusiones mecum, et in adversando eorum pernoctat oculus meus.-c. That of Ewald (in part also of Eichhorn, Umbr.): "If only I were not mocked and mine eye were not obliged lar to the latter, of Vaih. and Heiligst.—“Oh, to dwell," etc.-d. The rendering in part simithat mockery did not surround me! then could mine eye abide in peace with their contention!" -e. That of Stickel and Hahn: "Or are there not around me those who are deluded? must 11-16. Ch. xvii. 1 [the chapter-division here being manifestly errroneous] continues the statement of the reason given in ch. xvi. 22. It consists of abrupt sob-like ejaculations of which it may be truly said with Oetinger that they form "the requiem, which Job chants for himself even while yet living."-My spirit is disturbed, so correctly most moderns, taking in the sense of "the spirit or power." The translation: "my breath is corrupt," or "destroyed' (De Wette, Del. [E. V, Rod., Elz., Con., Ber.], etc.), is less suitable here to the connection, which requires, as the subject of Job's expression, not that single symptom of a short and fetid breath [which would be a much less conclusive indication that his days were numbered than others which he might have mentioned], referred to also in ch. vii. 15; xix. 17; but requires rather some sign of the incipient dissolution of the whole p-ychical bodily organism, a failure of the vital principle.-My days are extinct =1, ch. vi. 17, which some MSS exhibit here also); graves await me [Rodney for me the tombs !]. Comp. the Arabic proverb: "to be a grave-companion (Ssâchib el-kubûr);" also the familiar saying of Luther: to walk on the grave;" and the modern expression: "to stand with one foot in the grave." Ver. 2. Verily mockery surrounds me: and on their quarreling mine eye must dwell. So substantially Welte, Arnh., Del., Dillm. [Schlott., Con., Words.], whose rendering of this difficult verse is the most satisfactory; for (1) It is best to take -D, as in ch. i. 11; xxii. 20; xxxi. 36, etc, as a formula of asseve not mine eye dwell on their contention ?"traitors might be far from me, and that mine [f. That of Renan: " May it please God that eye be never more afflicted with their quarrels!"] The Second Strophe: vers. 3-9. Repetition of the yearning and trustful supplication to God as the only remaining attestor or witness of his innocence now remaining to him in view of the heartless coldness. nay the hostility of his hnman friends. -Oh, lay down [now], be Thou bondsman for me with Thyself! who else will furnish surety to me? thought is not substantially different from that in ch xvi. 21, only that the representation which there predominates of an adjudication in favor of Job's innocence is here replaced by that of pledging or binding one's self as security for it. For all the expressions of the verse are borrowed from the system of pledging. With the Imper. ' is to be supplied, as the fol lowing shows, an accus. of the object, | exposed"] (comp. chap. vi. 20). In the object "a pledge, security." It is not necessary with Reiske and Olsh. to change to arrhabonem meam. The following py, indicating the person with whom the pledge is deposited, a rain represents God, precisely as in ch. xvi. 21, as being, so to speak, divided, or separated into two persons. The word of entreaty (which appears also in Is. xxxviii. 14, and Ps. cxix. 122, and which is here used with the accus. of the person following in the sense of representing any one mediatorially as eyyvos or uɛoing) is replaced in the second member by the circumstantial phrase, to give surety by striking hands. For this is the meaning of the phrase, which elsewhere reads Por (Prov. vi. 1; xvii. 18; xxii. 26), or simply (Prov. xi. 15). Here, however, where, instead of the person, the hand of the person is mentioned (T, instead of the simple , which, according to Prov. vi. 1, we might be led to expect), the reflexive Niphal is used; hence literally: "who will strike himself [scil. his hand] into my hand;" i. e. who will (by a solemn striking of hands, as in a pledge) bind himself to me to vindicate publicly my innocence? What man will do this if Thou, God, doest it not? Dy Job certainly points immediately to him- Ver. 4 assigns a reason for this prayer for especially does not agree with the contents of the following verse. [But it certainly agrees very God's intervention as his security in the shortwell with the last member of the preceding sightedness and narrow-mindedness of the verse, the thought of which it both confirms and friends for Thou hast closed [lit. hid] expands. God would not, could not. favor the their heart to [lit. from] understanding friends, for they had betrayed friendship, and (to [from] a correct knowledge in respect to my thus had incurred judgment in which their posinnocence), therefore Thou wilt not let terity would share. Ver. 5 may be, as conjecthem prevail: lit. wilt not exalt them, i. e. above me, who am unjustly injured by them, Job to emphasize ver. 4b. tured by some, a proverbial saying quoted by The "pining of the but wilt rather at last confound them by demoneyes" is a frequent figure for suffering. This strating my innocence (as actually came to pass, 1st construction has in its favor, therefore: (1) ch. xlii. 7). Dei, Imperf. Pil. of D with That it is suitable to the connection. (2) That plur. suffix, is a contraction of Dp, with it avoids the harshness of the other construction, omission of Dagh. forte in on account of the with its sudden change of number and its preceding long ô. The correction D (sug- strained introduction of the reference to the betrayed one's children, which is particularly gested by Dillm. with a reference to ch. xxxi. 15; pointless when applied to the childless Job. (3) xli. 2 K'ri) is unnecessary, as also the expla- It takes away from ver. 4 the isolation which benation of as a Hithpael noun, signifying longs to it, according to the other construction, "striving upward, improvement, victory" (Ew.). and provides a much simpler transition from Ver. 5 continues the consideration of the unver 4 to ver. 5.-E.] friendly conduct of the friends. Friends are delivered for a spoil, while the eyes of their (lit. "of his") children languish. phn, "a share of booty, spoil" (according to Num. xxxi. 36) denotes here in particular, as the word T makes probable, mortgaged property, an article in pledge, distrained from a debtor by a judicial execution; pn (for pn ra, comp 1 Kings xiv. 2; Jer. xiii. 21) signifies to advertise and offer for sale such a pledged article in court; or, more simply and briefly, to distrain, to seize upon by means of a judicial execution. The subject of T is indefinite ["one exposes friends," i. e., "friends are And He Ver. 6 seq. Continued description of the unfriendly conduct of the friends only that the same is now directly charged on God. (viz., God, who is manifestly to be understood here as the subject of the verb) has set me for a proverb to the world.-, a substant. infinitive (comp. chap. xii. 4), means a proverb, simile, sensu objectivo, hence an object of ridicule [or, as in E. V, "by-word"]. D'by, lit. "nations," denotes here not the races living around Job (e. g., those "gipsy-like troglodytes" who are more fully described in chap. xxiv. 30, and who, Delitzsch thinks, may possibly be intended here), but the common people generally (vulgus, plebs), hence equivalent to the great multitude, the world; comp. Prov. xxiv. 24. And I must be one to be spit upon in the (139), 3 a-and not either of a physical return, face. (only here in the O. T.) denotes spittle, an object spit upon; D is in the closest union with it (comp. Num. xii. 14; Deut. as though, irritated by his words, they had made a movement to depart (Renan), or of a mental return from their hostility (see vi. 29).—E.]. In this sense it is followed by the supplementary verb in the Imperf., connected with it by XXV. 9). A is accordingly one into. I shall nevertheless not find a wise whose face any body spits, the object of the most unqualified public detestation. Comp. ch. xxx. 9 seq., from which passage it also appears that Job speaks here not only of that which his friends did to him, but that he uses Dy in a more comprehensive sense. man among you-i. e., your heart remains closed against a right understanding of my condition (see ver. 4), however often and persistently you may attempt to justify your attacks upon me. ["He means that they deceive themselves concerning the actual state of the case hefore them; for in reality he is meeting death without being deceived, or allowing himself to be deceived, about the matter." DEL] Ver. 7. Then mine eye became dim with grief (vy, as in chap. vi. 2; and comp. chap. xvi. 16; Ps vi. 8 [7]; xxxi. 10 [9]), and all Ver. 11 seq. prove this charge of a defective my members (lit. "my frames, bodily frames, understanding on the part of the friends by setor structures") are as shadows [better on acting forth the nearness of Job's end, and the alcount of the generic , "as a shadow”], i. e., so meagre and emaciated, like intangible shadows, or phantoms; comp. chap. xix. 20. sort. Ver. 8. The upright are astonished at this because they cannot understand how things can come to such a pass with one of their And the innocent is roused against the ungodly-lit. "stirred up" by anger-in an opposite sense to that of chap. xxxi. 29, de scribing "the innocent man's sense of justice as being aroused on account of the prosperity of the, comp. Ps. xxxvii. 1; lxxiii." HIRZEL. most complete exhaustion of his strength: this fact is fatal to their preconceived opinion as to the possibility of a joyful restoration of his prosperity, such as they had frequently set forth as depending on his sincere repentance. My days are gone (being quite near their endcomp. chap. xvi. 22), my plans are broken off (p?, lit. "connections, combinations," from DD, "to bind together," the same as Mi? elsewhere, chap. xxi. 27; xlii. 2;-but not sensu malo, but in the good sense of the plans of his life which had been destroyed), the nurslings Ver. 8. Nevertheless the righteous holds fast on his way (the way of piety and recti- [Peglinge] of my heart.- are things tude in which he has hitherto walked), and he which are coveted and earnestly sought after, that is of clean hands (lit. "and the clean-of- favorite projects, plans affectionately cherished; hands,” −7), as in Prov. xxii. 11) increaseth comp. , to long after, Ps. xxi. 3 [from which in strength (79, of inward increase, or root Dillmann suggests the present noun may be growth of strength, as in Eccles. i. 18).—The derived (for, like for whole verse is of great significance as an expres- from DN), which would give at once the meansion of the cheerful confidence in his innocence ing, "desires, coveted treasures." and deliverance which Job reaches after the bit-rently Zöckler. If, according to the prevailing ter reflections of ver. 5 seq. So far from real izing the reproach of Eliphaz in chap. xv. 4, that he would "destroy piety and diminish devotion before God," he holds fast on his godly way,. yea, travels it still more joyously and vigorously, possidere, after Obad. ver. 17 and Isa. xiv. 23), than before (comp. Doctrinal and Ethical Remarks). ["These words of Job (if we may be allowed the figure) are like a rocket, which shoots above the tragic darkness of the book, lighting it up suddenly, although only for a short time." DEL.] 5. Third Division: Sixth Strophe. Severe censure of the a Imonitions of the friends, as devoid of understanding, and without any power to comfort, vers. 10-16. as So appa view, it be taken from, the meaning will be suitable is the definition "possessions" (from peculia, cherished possessions.-E.] Not so while the rendering åppa (LXX.), cords or bands [or, as Del. suggests, "joints, instead of valves of the heart"] (Gekat., Ewald) is entirely unsupported, and decidedly opposed to the laws of the language. Ver. 12. They change night into day (comp. Isa. v. 20), inasmuch, to wit, as they picture before me joyous anticipations of life (thus 20 seq.; Zophar in chap. xi. 13 seq.), while notEliphaz in chap. v. 17 seq.; Bildad in chap. viii. withstanding I have before me only the dark night Ver. 10. But as for ye all (D2 for D of death. Light is to be near (lit. "is near," in 1 Kings xxii. 28, and Mic. i. 2 [corresponding i. e., according to their assertions) in the premore to the form of a vocative clause-Del.]; sence of darkness, i. e., there where the darkthe preceding D is here written D, with therefore coram, comp. chap. xxiii. 17 (80 Umness is still present, or in conspectu, 2, here sharpened tone, for the sake of assonance) breit, Vaih., Del.). Others (Ew., Hirz., Stick., come on again, I pray.-, instead of the Dillm.) take in the comparative sense: light Imper. 1, which we might have expected, but is nearer than the face of darkness, i. e., than the which cannot stand so well at the beginning of visible darkness, which, however, is less suitable the clause (comp. Ew., 229) [besides that, as in the parallelism. The same is true of the exDelitzsch remarks, the first verb is used adver-planation of Welte-"and they bring the light bially, iterum, denuo, according to GESEN., 142 near to the darkness;" of Rosenmüller-“light |