second member of the verse puts the thought of the first in a still more striking light. The indications of retributive justice in the administration of the world, are such that not even God's familiars, who are in His secret. can discern the days whereon they occur.-E.]. Ver. 2. Landmarks they remove [or, are removed; vb. impersonal] flocks, they plunder, and feed. From this point on begins the specific description of the many deeds of vinlence, oppression and persecution permitted by God. The vers. immediately following (3, 4) describe the wicked agents who commit such deeds, vers. 5-8 the wretched ones who suffer from them, and thence on interchangeably, now the persecutors and now the persecuted, the verbs used being put in the 3d person plural Perfect. In respect to the wickedness of removing landmarks, (=1, from 5) comp. Deut. xix. 14; xxvii. 17; Prov. xxii. 28; xxiii. 10. In regard to the plundering and carrying off of herds, comp. ch. xx. 19. ["They steal flocks, i. e., they are so bare-faced, that after they have stolen them, they pasture them openly." Delitzsch] Ver. 3. 3, "to drive away," as in Is. xx. 4; an, "to distrain, to take as a pledge" as in Ex. xxii. 25; Deut. xxiv. 6; comp. below ver. 9 (whereas on the other hand in ch. xxii. 6 the word is used in a somewhat different sense). [The ass of the orphan, and the yoke-ox of the widow are here referred to as the most valuable possession, and principal dependence of those unfortunate ones.-E.]. Ver. 4. The poor they thrust out of the way-i. e., out of the way, in which they have the right to walk, into roadless regions (comp. in a similar sense in Amos v. 12). All together ( as in ch. iii. 18) the wretched of the land must hide themselves. So according to the K'ri: 7, while the K'thibh y would, according to Ps. lxxvi. 10; Zeph. ii. 3 designate the "afflicted," the "sufferers" of the land, which seems less suitable here. The Pass. I denotes what these unfortunate ones are compelled to do; comp. ch. xxx. 7. Sixth Strophe; vers. 5-8. Description of the miserable condition into which the oppressed and persecuted are brought by those wicked ones (not of another class of evil-doers apart from those previously spoken of, as ancient exegesis for the most part assumed, and as latterly Rosenm., Umbr., Vaih. [Lee, Barnes, Carey, Scott, etc.] explain). As is evident from the more extended description in ch. xxx. 1-8 of the unsettled, vagabond life of such unfortunates, the poet has here before his eyes the aborigines of the lands east of the Jordan, who were driven from their homes into the desert, possibly the remnant of the ancient Horites [cave-dwellers]; comp what is said more in detail below on ch. xxx. Behold, wild asses in the wilderness (i. e. as wild asses; comp. ch. vi. 5; xi. 12; xxxix. 5 seq.), they go forth in their daily work (lit. "work" comp. Ps. civ. 23), seeking after prey (7, booty, prey, a living, as in Prov. xxxi. 15) ["from in the primary signification decerpere describes that which in general forms their daily occupation as they roam about. . . . . The idea of waylaying is not to be connected with the expression.' Del.]; the steppe [37, the wide, open, desert plain] is to them (lit. 'to him," viz., to each one of them), [or "to him as father of the company," Del., or possibly the sing. is used to avoid the concurrence of on with ons immediately following: Hirzel] bread for their children-(D' as in ch. i. 19; xxix. 5) ["the steppe, with its scant supply of roots and herbs, is to him food for the children; he snatches it from it, it must furnish it to him" T (Del.) thus accounting for the use of 179]. A striking description of the beggar, vagabond life of these troglodytes, the precursors of the gipsies, or South-African Bushmen of to-day. Of the D', onagri (Kulans), with which these are compared, Delitzsch says: "Those beautiful animals, which, while young, are difficult to be caught; which in their love of freedom are an image of the Beduin, Gen. xvi. 12; in their untractableness an image of that which cannot be bound, ch. xi. 12; and from their roaming about in herds in waste regions, are here an image of a gregarious vagrant, and freebooter kind of life." Del.] Ver. 6. In the field they reap (so according to the K'ri p; the K'thibh p' would be rendered by some such expression as "they make for a harvest") the cattle-fodder קצר • as in ch. vi. 5, mixed fodder for the cattle, farrago]; lit. "his cattle-fodder, i. e. that of they mentioned in b. [Most explain this to mean that these miserable hirelings seek to satisfy their hunger with the fodder grown for the cattle. Delitzsch on the ground that " does not signify to sweep together, but to reap steal why did they not seize the better portion in an orderly manner; and if they meant to of the produce?" supposes that the "rich evildoer hires them to cut the fodder for his cattle, but does not like to entrust the reaping of the better kinds of corn to them." This view, however, seems less natural than the former, and less in harmony with the parallelism. See below on b.-E.]. And they glean the vineyard of the wicked. wp serotinos fructus colligere (Rosenm.), to glean the late-ripe fruit, The meaning can scarcely be i. e. stealing it. that this was done in the service of the rich evil-doer, in which case the verb y racemari would rather have been used (against Delitzsch). lit. Ver. 7. Naked (Dy, adverbial accusative, as in ver. 10; comp. Si, ch. xii. 17, 19) they pass the night without clothing, "from the lack of," comp. ver. 8 b. and ver. 10. Ver. 8. And shelterless (from lack of shelter) they clasp the rock-pan, they "embrace" the rock, in that shivering they crouch beneath it as their shelter. Comp. the phrase, embracing the dunghill" (mezabil), Lam. iv. 5. Ver. 11. Between their walls (hence under the oil (7, Hiph. denom., only here); their strict supervision) they must press out they tread the wine-vats, and suffer thirst (while so engaged-Imperf. consec. comp. Ewald, 342, a). A further violation of the law that the mouth of the ox must not be muzzled. Seventh Strophe: vers. 9-12. Resuming the | Prov. viii. 20). Taking it in this sense here, description of the tyrannical conduct of those the subject is naturally "the poor;" and NV】 in. men of power described in vers. 2-4. They the second member is simply "to bear, not "to tear the orphan from the breast.- here take away from."-E.] the same as T, as also in Is. lx. 16; lxvi. 11. Correctly therefore the LXX. and μаoтo whereas to render in its customary signification of "destruction, ruin " (as e. g. by Ramban, etc.) ["from the shattered patrimony"], yields no satisfactory meaning. The act of tearing away from the breast is conceived of as the violent deed of harsh creditors, who would satisfy their claims by bringing up the orphan children as slaves. And what the miserable one has on they take away as a pledge.— A tenable meaning, and one that will agree well with ver. 10 is obtained only by regarding y as an elliptical expression for y: "and what is on the miserable one," i. e. What he wears, his clothing (Ralbag, Gesen., Arnh., Vaih., Dillmann) [Rod., Bernard, Noyes]. With the thought may then be compared Mic. ii. 9; in respect to an see above on ver. 3. The other explanations which have been given are less suited to the connection, if not absolutely impossible, such as: "they take a pledge above [beyond the ability of] the sufferer", (Hirzel); they take for a pledge the suckling (of the poor") (Kamphausen) [Elzas]; "with the poor they deal basely," or "knavishly' (Umbr., Del.), which latter rendering however would make it seem strange that the verb has only a short while before been used twice (ver. 3, and ch. xxii. 6) in the sense of distraining. [To which add Dillmann's objection that this interpretation seems "colorless," out of place in the series of graphic, concrete touches of which the description is composed. It may also be said of the explanation of E. V. Ewald, Schlott., Renan, Conant, etc., "they impose a pledge on the sufferers," that it is less vivid than that adopted above. It must be admitted on the other hand that the assumption that by is somewhat doubtful.-E.]. Ver. 12. Out of the cities the dying groan.-So according to the reading 'D (Pesh., 1 Ms. of de Rossi's, and some of the older editions), which word indeed elsewhere means "the dead," but which here, as the parallel of the following ("wounded, pierced to death," comp. Ezek. xxvi. 15 ; Jer. li. 22) may very well be taken to mean the dying, those who utter the groaning and rattling of the death struggle [see Green, 266, 2, a]. So correctly Umbreit, Ew., Hirz., Vaih., Stick., Heiligst., Dillmann [Schlott., Renan, Noyes. Others (Carey, Elzas, etc.) in the weaker sense: "mortals."] The usual reading D', "men," yields a suitable rendering only by disregarding the masoretic accentuation, and connecting this as subj. with p (so Jer., Symmachus, Theod.). In that case, however, it should be translated not by the colorless and indefinite term "people" [Leute] (Hahn, etc.) but by "men [Männen, viri], warriors," and understood (with Del.) of the male population of a city, whom a conqueror would put to the sword." This however would remove the discourse too far out of the circle of thought in which it has hitherto removed. [According to the Mesor. punctuations would be "out of an inhabited, thickly populated city," a thought which has no place in the connection. Gesenius, followed by Conant, takes y (II Lex.) in the sense of "anguish :" "for anguish do the dying groan." But the second member: "and the soul of the wounded cries out," brings up before us a scene of blood, involving the slaying of a multitude, for which we should have been unprepared without the mention of the "city" in the first member-E.]. Yet God regards not the folly!-n, lit. ["insipidity], absurdity, insulsitas (chap. i. 22), a contemptuous expression which seems very suitable here, serving as it does to describe tersely the violence of the wicked, mocking at the moral order of the universe, and still remain Vers. 10-12 again bring into the foreground as subject those who are maltreated by the proud oppressors. These are however no longer represented as the wretched inhabitants of steppes or caves, but as poor serfs on the estates of the rich, and are thus represented as being in inhabited cities and their vicinity. Naked they (the poor) slink about, without clothing.Comp. ver. 7, and in respect to 1, "to slink," see ch. xxx. 28. And hungry they bearing unpunished. The punctuation, “prayer, the sheaves-i. e. for the rich, whose hired service they perform, who however allow them to go hungry in their service, and thus become guilty of the crying sin of the merces retenta laborum (Deut. xxv. 4; 1 Tim. v. 18, etc.). [The English translators, misled probably by the Piel, , which they took to be transitive, have made the "oppressors" of the vers. preceding the subject of ver. 10. 2 however is always “to walk about, to go to and fro” (so also in without consideration. supplication" (Pesh., some MSS.) [Con., Noyes, Good, Elzas], may also be properly passed by In regard to the absolute use of Dy (supply 12, comp. ch. xxii. 22), "he regards not," see ch. iv. 20; Is. xli. 20; and especially Ps. 1. 23, where, prethe accus. of the object. [The rendering of cisely as here, the expression is construed with E. V.: "yet God layeth (=imputeth) not folly to them," is not essentially different, but is less expressive. Oppression ravages the earth; in the wilderness, among rocks and caves, in fields and vineyards, in villages and cities, men suffer, groan, die and all this chaotic folly, this dark anomaly, this mockery of the Divine order-God heeds it not!-E.] 4. Second Division: Second Half: vers. 13-25. Continuation of the preceding description, iu which special prominence is given to those evildoers who commit their crimes in secret, and escape for a long time the divine punishment, which surely awaits them. they have no fellowship with it, as children of night and of darkness. The rendering of the Targ. and of some of the Rabbis (approximately also of the Vulg.) [also of E. V.]: "which (houses) they had marked for themselves in the daytime," is opposed by the fact that Dnn sig nifies always obsignare, never designare; comp. ch. xiv. 17; xxxvii. 7. Ver. 17. For to them all deep darkness is morning; i. e. when the deepest darkness of the night (, comp. ch. iii. 5) begins, Eighth Strophe: vers. 13-17. Those (drawing on of the night is to them what daythen they enter upon their day's work [the emphatically contrasting the present objects of the description, as a new class of evil-doers, with those previously mentioned) are rebels against the light, or: "are become rebels," etc.; for so may the clause with essential, comp. ch. xxiii. 13) be taken, unless we prefer to explain: are become among apostates from the light," i. e. have acquired the nature of such (Del., Dillm.) [in either case ' is not the mere copula, but expresses a process of becoming]. 77, apostates, revolters from the light, enemies of the light," are essentially the same, as "children of the night" (Rom. xiii. 12; 1 Thess. v. 5; Eph. v. 8, etc.Will not know its ways; i. e. the ways of the light, for it is more natural to refer the suf T: break is to others]-a striking characteristic of the pya rov OKÓTOVE, in which these evil-doers engage. Umbreit and Hirzel [and so E. V. Ber., Con.] unsuitably take not Л, but på as subject: "the morning is to them at once deep darkness." Against this explanation it may be urged that " means not "at once," but as in ch. ii. 11; ix. 32, etc., "all together, all in a body."-Because they know the terrors of deep darkness; i. e. are familiar with them, as other men are with the open day: comp. ver. 16 c; ch. xxxviii. 16. The sing. again makes its appearance here [', lit. for he (or one) knows," etc.], because stress is laid on the fact that every member of this wicked than | band has this familiarity with the darkness of אור to נְתִיבוֹתָיו as well as in דְרָכָיו fix in TT: to "God." Ver. 14. At the dawn (18, sub lucem, cum diluculo, toward the break of day, before it is yet broad daylight) the murderer riseth up. ni, one who makes a trade of murder, who kills to steal, like the English garotter; for the wealthy oppressor is no longer (down to ver. 18) the subject of the discourse.-[He slays the poor and needy: because of their defenceless condition; not of course for plunder, but to gratify his bloodthirsty disposition.]-And in the night he acts like a thief, or: he becomes as the thief," i. e. in the depths of night, when there is no one to cross his path, he plies the trade of a petty, common thief, committing burglary, etc. instead of comp. above ch. xviii. 12; xx. 23, etc. [poetic form]; and for in, instead of nin, ch. xxiii. 9. night. [According to the rendering of E. V., ייהי For the Jussive ז Ver. 15. And the adulterer's eye watches , observare, to be on the watch for, to lurk for) the twilight, i. e. the evening twilight, before the approach of which he does not ply his craft; comp. Prov. vii. 9. here crepusculum; see above on chap. iii. 9 —And puts a veil over the face: lit. "and lays on a covering of the face," i. e., some kind of a veil;hardly a mask, of which oriental antiquity had no knowledge: comp. Delitzsch on the passage. .... Ver. 16. They break in the dark into houses; lit. "he," or "one breaks in;" the This strophe sets Ninth Strophe: vers. 18-21. The judgment thus far described. This judgment Job describes which will overtake the wicked who have been here proleptically, for in vers. 22-24 a he returns once again to their haughty, insolent conduct before the judgment comes, in order to bring out the thought that a long time usually elapses before it overtakes them. forth, in the first place, and this intentionally in strong language, which in the mouth of Job is quite surprising, that a grievous punishment and certain destruction infallibly awaits them; but that such destruction, for the most part, is strophe, which, however, in ver. 24 again long delayed, is maintained in the following resumes the description of the destruction. The language does not permit us with the LXX., Vulg., Pesh., Eichh., Dathe, Umbr., Vaih, etc., to take these verses in an optative sense, as a description of the punishment, which ought to befal evil-doers: thus at the outset in ver. 18 we -and so through ; יְהִי קַל הוא not קל הוא is, as the plurals in the have חתי indefinite subj. of following members show, an entire band of thieves. They, who by day keep themselves shut up, know not the light, i. e. out every sign of the optative form of speech is wanting. It is possible, but the same is not indicated with sufficient clearness by the author, and for that reason is altogether too artificial, to take vers 18-21 (with Ewald, Hirzel, Schlottm., v. Gerlach, Heiligstedt, Dillmann) as a description of the well-merited judgment inflicted on the wicked, ironically attributed by Job to his opponents, Job's own opinion on the opposite side being in that case annexed to it in ver. 22 seq. See against this opinion, as well as against the related opinion of Stickel, Böttcher. Hahn, etc., the remarks of Delitzsch [ii. 33: "(1) There is not the slightest trace observable in vers. 1821 that Job does not express his own view. (2) There is no such decided contrast between vers. 18-21 and vers. 22-25, for ver. 19 and ver. 24 both affirm substantially the same thing concerning the end of the evil doer. In like manner it is not to be supposed with Stickel, Low, Böttch, Welte and Hahn, that Job, outstripping the friends, as far as ver. 21, describes how the evil-doer certainly often comes to a terrible end, and in ver. 22 seq., how the very opposite of this, however, is often witnessed; so that this consequently furnishes no evidence in support is nothing to indicate a direct contrast, is opposed over, ver. 24 compared with ver. 19, where there to it; and ver. 22, which has no appearance of referring to a direct contrast with what has been previously said, is opposed to such an of the exclusive assertion of the friends. More antithetical rendering of the two final strophes."] Ver. 18. His course is swift on the face of the waters: i. e. lightly and swiftly is he born hence, as one who is swept away irresistibly by the flood; comp. ch. ix. 26; Hos. x. 7. [Carey curiously conjectures that this ver. speaks of pirates!]-Accursed is their portion in the land; or: "a curse befals," etc. (Dillm.). [In German: Im Fluge ist er dahin auf Wassers Fläche; verflucht wird ihr Grundstück im Lande; or according to Dillmann: Flucht trifft, etc., whereby, continues Zöckler, the paronomasia between and is still more clearly expressed. This paronomasia it is impossible to reproduce in English without slightly paraphrasing the one term or the other. The above attempts to combine the verbal play with fidelity to the German original: "his course is swift" for "im Fluge dahin," and "accursed" for "verflucht."] Whether a divine curse, or a curse on the part of men, is intended, seems | doubtful: still parallel passages, such as ch. v. 3; xviii. 20, favor the latter view. The interchange of plur. and sing. occurs here as in ver. 16. He enters no more on the way of the vineyard; lit. "he turns no more into the way to the vineyard" (comp. 1 Sam. xiii. 18); i. e. there is an end of his frequent resorting to his favorite possession, and in general of his enjoyment of the same. Observe that from here on wealthy evil-doers again form the prominent subject of the description; in this differing from vers. 13-17. Ver. 19. Drought and heat carry off lit. "bear away as plunder "] the snow-water (comp. ch. vi. 16 seq.): so the underworld those who have sinned. —No, a relative clause, which is at the same time the object of the verb in the first member, which extends its influence also to the second member. As to the sentiment, comp. Ps. xlix. 13 [12] 21 [20]; also ver. 18 a; not however ch. xxi. 23, where rather the euthanasia [of the subject] is described, not his sudden end without deliverance. Ver. 20. The womb forgets him, (whereas) the worms feed sweetly on him.-The two short sentences which constitute this member stand in blunt contrast to each other. P here sensu activo: to taste anything with pleasure, delectari aliqua re (lit. "to suck"-hence the meaning "sweet"). So then is iniquity broken like the tree-(i. e. like a shattered, or felled tree; comp. Eccies. xi. 3; Dan. iv. 7 seq.; also above ch. xix. 10). Instead of the wicked man his injurious conduct (hy, comp. on ch. v. 16) is here mentioned as having come to an end, while ver. 21 again speaks in the concrete concerning the evil-doer himself, in order to point to his heinous blood guiltiness as mental thought of the strophe is this, that neithe cause of his punishment. [The fundabroken tree (broken in its full vigor) also corther in life nor in death had he suffered the punishment of his evil-doing. The figure of the responds to this thought; comp. on the other hand what Bildad says, ch. xviii. 16: "his lopped off" (or: withered). The severity of roots dry up beneath, and above his branch is his oppression is not manifest till after his death." Delitzsch]. Ver. 21. He who hath plundered (lit. "fed upon, devoured," comp. ch. xx. 26) the barren. that beareth not (who has therefore good to the widow-but on the contrary has no children to protect her), and hath done no On shown himself hard of heart towards her. introducing the characteristics of the class, and followed by finite verb according to Gesen. 181, Rem. 2]. Tenth Strophe: vers. 22-25. And yet He Preserveth long the men of might by His strength-i. e., but truly (before is at once adversative and restrictive). He (God, comp. ver. 23) often greatly prolongs the life of such mighty evil-doers (D'', comp. Is. xlvi. 12) [“ the strong, who bid defiance not only to every danger, (Ps. lxxvi. 6) but also to all divine influences and noble impulses." Delitzsch]. On as applied to the agency of God in prolonging life comp. Is. xiii. 22; Ps. xxxvi. 11; lxxxv. 6 [5]. Such an one rises up again, although despairing of life-when he had already despaired of continuing in life. [So far from using his power to crush the mighty villains of earth, God uses it to bring them triumphantly through those crises in which they themselves had given up all hope -E.] No! subordinate circumstantial clause, comp. Ewald, 341, a.-¡, Aramaizing plur. like 1, ch. iv. 2. [According to E. V. and most commentators the subject of ver. 22 is still the wicked man, J being taken to mean: "to draw, drag" as a captive; or "to hold, bind;" or "to destroy. He subjugates the mighty, "then a way as to set forth a natural death, such as Symm., Vulg., Pesh. read) is precisely DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. The significance of the present discourse of Job lies essentially in its descriptive treatment of ethical and anthropological themes, some passages even describing matters of interest in the history of civilization (ch. xxiv. 5 seq.), whereas the speculative and theological element becomes subordinate. The latter is restricted almost exclusively to the first and shorter Division, which is occupied with the mystery of Job's own destiny of suffering, just as the second Division is occupied with the obverse side of this mystery, the prosperity and impunity of the wicked. That which the first Division says touching the inexplicableness of his sufferings is substantially ouly a repetition of the wish, already several times uttered, that God by His personal intervention might decide the controversy, and confirm his innocence, combined with a statement of the reasons why this wish could not be realized. On the first of these reasons, to wit: that on account of the overwhelming majesty pertaining to the appearance of God, the Unapproachable and Almighty One, it would be impossible for him to put in his answer before Him (ch. xxiii. 6) he does not dwell this time as on two former occasions (ch ix. 34: xiii. 21); he merely touches it with suggestive brevity. allow him to give way long to this thought; His consciousness of innocence is too strong to thanks to the incessant assaults and accusations of the friends, it has become consolidated and he is no more," comp. Gen. v. 24. The interchange of numbers as in ver. 16 and ver. 18. And they are bowed down (concerning [Aramaizing] Hoph. from, comp. Gesen. 67 [66], Rem. 1); like all they perish (i. e. like all others), and as the top of the ears [of grain: i. e. the grain-bearing head of the wheat-stalk] they wither.lit. "they shrivel together" (Niph. Reflex. from Kal; comp. ch. v. 16) i. e., they perish. There is no reference to the componere artus of the dead [Ges. "to gather oneself up, composing the body and limbs as in death," which here would mean to die in the course of nature, not by violence, or suddenly], nor to the " housing," i. e. the burial of the dead (comp. Ezek. xxix. 5). The expression is rather a figure taken from vegetable life, like the following, "they wither like the heads of grain;" see on ch. xlii. 2. [It may be claimed with reason that the connection here favors the definition, "to be cut off," the oriental custom of reaping being to cut off the tops, leaving long stalks standing in the field.] It is not altogether in the sense of euthanasia, therefore, of an easy, painless death, as described in ch. xxi. 23, that the present passage is to be under-thinks, purposely withdraws Himself from him. stood (against Ewald, Dillmann, etc., also Del.). It rather resumes the description in ver 18 seq, although in less forcible language, and in such strengthened to such a degree that in ch. xix. (as indeed had been the case before here and there, especially in ch. xvi. 17; xvii. 9) it even found utterance in decided exaggeration, and drove him to extreme assertions touching his absolute blamelessness and immaculateness, for which he must hereafter implore pardon. Among these assertions we find the following: that he would come forth out of God's trial of him like gold, that he would never swerve from His ways, that he had always observed the words of His mouth more than his own law (ch. xxiii. 10-12). All the more emphatic however is the stress which he lays on the other reasons why that wish seems to him incapable of realization. God, he It is deliberately and with good reason that He keeps Himself at a distance and hidden from him, it being now His settled purpose to make |