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النشر الإلكتروني

Second Strophe: vers. 29-31. [He must be guilty, and all his strivings to free himself from his guilt are in vain.]

"swift runner, courier" (nepodpóuoc) compare Jer. li. 31; 2 Sam. xv. 1; 2 Kings xi. 13; Esth. iii. 13, 15.-They are fled away, without having seen good (, prosperity, happi- Ver. 29. I am to be guilty: i. e. according ness, as in ch. xxi. 25). Job thinks here natu- to God's arbitrary decree [, emphatic-I, I rally of the same "good," which he (according to ch. vii. 7) would willingly enjoy before his am accounted guilty, singled out for this treatend, but which would not come to him before which must be, from which there is no escape. ment. The fut. y here expressing that then. He has thus entirely forgotten his former

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prosperity in view of his present state of suffer--E.] here not "to act as a wicked or a ing, or rather, he does not regard it as prospe- guilty person" (ch. x. 15), but "to be esteemed, rity, seeing that he had to exchange it for such to appear" such, as in ch. x. 7 (conp. the Hiph. severe suffering. Quite otherwise had he for-, to treat any one as guilty, to condemn, merly expressed himself to his wife, ch. ii. 10. Ver. 26. They have swept past like skiffs myself in vain, viz. to appear innocent, to be above in ver. 20).—Wherefore then weary of reed; lit., "with [D] skiffs of reed," i. e., acquitted by God. This wearying of himself is being comparable with them (ch. xxxvii. 18; given as an actual fact, consisting in humbly xl. 15). E are most probably canoes supplicating for mercy, as he has been repeatof rushes or reeds, the same therefore as the edly exhorted to do by Eliphaz and Bildad; ch. ("vessels of bulrush ") mentioned Isa. v. 8, 17; viii. 5.-7, adverbally, as in ch. xviii. 2, whose great lightness and swiftness are xxi. 34; xxxv. 16; lit. like a breath, evanesin that passage also made prominent. is cent, here-"fruitlessly, for naught, in vain." accordingly a synonym, which does not 'else- [That notwithstanding his present mood, he where appear, of 1, reed; for which definidoes subsequently renew his exertions, "imtion analogy may also be produced out of the pelled by an irresistible inward necessity, is Arabic. It has however nothing to do with psychologically perfectly natural."—SCHLOTT(so the Vulg., Targ. naves poma portantes) MAN.] ["fruit ships hurrying on lest the fruit should snow-water (read with the K'ri - instead Vers. 30, 31. If I should wash myself in injure"]; nor with N, to desire, ["ships of with the K'thibh ; bathing immeeagerly desiring to reach the haven "]. (Symm. vies orεvdovoαi) comp. Gekatilia in Gesenius, diately in undissolved snov is scarcely to be Thes. Suppl., p. 62; nor with 2, "enmity" thought of here) [an unnecessary refinement: (Pesh., "ships of hostility," comp. Luther: ". for washing the hands, which is what the verse strong ships," by which are meant pirate ships); efficacious for cleansing thm lye. The K'thibh speaks of, snow can be use, and is scarcely less nor with the Abyssin. abâi, the name of the Nile; is to be preferred.-E.], and cleanse my nor with a supposed Babylonian name of a river, hands with lye ( fuly written for , Is. having the same sound, and denoting perhaps. 25, signifies precisely a in this parallel pasthe Euphrates (so Abulwalid, Rashi, etc., who make the name denote a great river near the re-sage lye, a vegetable alkili, not: purity [as E. gion where the scene of our book is laid). The correct signification was given by Hiller, Hierophyt. II., p. 302, whom most modern critics have followed.-Like the eagle, which darts down on its prey (comp. ch. xxxix. 29; Prov. xxx. 19; Hab. i. 8, etc.). This third comparison adds to that which is swiftest on the earth, and that which is swiftest in the water, that which is swiftest in the air, in order to illustrate the hasty flight of Job's days.

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Vers. 27, 28. If I think (lit., if my saying be; comp. ch. vii. 13): I will forget my complaint (see on the same passage), will leave off my countenance (i. e. give up my look of pain, my morose gloomy-looking aspect, comp. 1 Sam. i. 18), and lcok cheerful (ahan, in ch. x. 20; Ps. xxxix. 14 (13) [the three cohortative futures here are, as Davidson says, "finely expressive-If I say-rousing myself from my stupor and prostration-I will, etc."]; then I shudder at all my pains, I know that Thou wilt not declare me innocent. These words are addressed to God, not to Bildad. Although Job felt himself to be forsaken and rejected by God, he nevertheless turns to Him; he does not speak of Him and about Him, without at the same time prayerfully looking up to Him.

V.: "make my hands never so clean, for would give a much tamr signification [besides "make clean in purit"], which rendering destroying the literaliy of the parallelism"]), then Thou wouldes plunge me into the ditch (n, here a sik, sewer), so that my clothes would abbor me.-In these latter words, it is naturally resupposed that the one who has been bathed and thoroughly cleansed as to the entire body while still naked is again plunged into a filthy ditch, and that in consequence of this, he beomes a terror to his own clothes, which are prsonified, so that they as it were start back andresist, when it is sought to put them on him. So correctly most modern expositors. On th contrary, Ewald and Gesenius-Rödiger tak the Piel in a causative sense: "so that y clothes would cause me to be abhorred,"-arendering in favor of which, indeed, Ezek. xv. 25 can be brought forward, but not the usus quendi of our book (comp. ch. xix. 19; xxx. D) which knows no causative sense for y. [The thought expressed by the two verses is tht "not even the best-grounded self-justificatio can avail him, for God would still bring it o pass that his clearly proved innocence shuld change to the most horrible impurity." ELITZSCH.]

Third Strophe: vers. 32-35. ["The cause of out fear before Him; for not thus am I Job's inability to make out his innocence-not with myself: i. e. for not thus does it stand his guilt, but the character and conditions of with me in my inward man, I am not conscious his accuser," who has no superior to overrule of anything within me of such a character that Him, to mediate between Him and Job. Let I must be afraid before Him. Dy therefore Him lay aside His terrors, and Job would plead points to that which is within, the consciousness his cause without fear.]

or conscience, as in ch. x. 13; xv. 9; xxiii. 14, etc.

where.

Ver. 32. For [He is] not a man like me, that I should answer Him: viz,. before a That here expresses so much as: tribunal, with a view to the settlement of the "not so small, not so contemptible," is a concontroversy. Hirzel translates as jecture of Delitzsch's, which is supported neither though it were accusative to : for I can- by the connection, nor by Hebrew usage elsenot answer Him as a man who is my equal" be "accompanied by a gesture expressive of the [Delitzsch imagines the expression to but this is altogether too artificial. ["God is denial of such contempt." Not dissimilar in not his equal standing on the same level with this respect is Renan's explanation: "For in him. He, the Absolute Being, is accuser and the depths of my heart I am not such as I seem.' judge in one person; there is between them no The conscience of Job is tranquil: the cause of arbitrator, etc." DELITZSCH.] by a treacherous maneuvre has arrayed against It is God, who him His terrors, in order to take away from him the freedom of spirit necessary for his defense."]

Ver. 33. There is no arbiter between us who might lay his hand on us both: so that accordingly we should both have to betake ourselves to him, and accept his decision.

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5. Third Division: ch. x - A plaintive description of the pitiless severity with which God rages against him, although by virtue of His omniscience He knows his innocence.

Vers. 1-12: Exordium (ver. 1) and First Double Strophe (Vers. 2-12): developing the motive to this new complaint."

is one who gives a decision, an arbitrator who weighs the pleas put in by both the contending parties, and pronounces the award. Not inaptly JOHN PYE SMITH, Four Discourses on the Sacrifice and priesthood of Jesus Christ, 5th Ed. p. 98: "There is between us no arguer, who might fully represent the cause, and state, judge and arbitrate fairly for each party." Observe how Ver. 1. [With brief preface of words which emphatically is expressed here, although indeed force themselves from the heart in three convulonly indirectly and negatively, the postulate of sive sobs (1 a b c), like the sparse large drops a true mediator and priestly proprietor between before the storm... the patriarch opens his God and sinful humanity! ["It is singular cause in the ear of heaven." Dav.]-My soul how often Job gives utterance to wants and is weary of my life.-, equivalent to aspirations which under the Christian economy are supplied and gratified. It was the purpose. Ezek. vi. 9, Perf. Niph. of Up, which is of the writer to let us hear these voices crying synonymous with p or p, to feel disgust. in the wilderness, forerunning the complete manifestation of the Messiah, and therefore the Church is well authorized in using this language of Christ. Job out of his religious entanglement proclaimed the necessity of a mediator to humanize God two thousand years before he came." DAV.] The optative form ["Would that there might be"] which the LXX. and the Pesh. give to the verse by changing to (?), is unne-ch. xxx. 16; Ps. xlii. 6 [5], 12 [11]; Jer. viii. cessary and disturbs the connection with the 18), not "over me." [The cohortative futures preceding verse [the thought of which is com- are to be noted as expressive of the strength of pleted only in this verse. This rendering is, Job's feeling and purpose.] In regard to the moreover, not suited to the following. The rest of the verse [I will speak in the bitterjussive form does however reflect the yearn- 18 [17]. [Job continues to believe that the ness of my soul], comp. ch. vii. 11; Ps. lv. ing which breathes through his pathetic declara- boldness of his speech will be punished with tion of the fact that there is no arbiter.-E.]. death." RENAN.]

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[Ges. and Fürst give a root pl, from which Delitzsch also says it may be derived as a secondary verb formed from the Niph. p-a form which is also supported by the Aramaic.] For the thought comp. ch. vii. 15, 16; ix. 21.— Therefore will I give free course to my complaint: ", lit. "with me, in me

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Vers. 2, 3. [God's dealing with Job was derogatory to the divine character, and dangerous and confounding to the interests of religion, and the first principles of religious men."DAV.]

Vers. 34, 35 are related to each other as ante- First Strophe: vers. 2-11. An appeal to God cedent and consequent. The two optatives in not to deal so severely with him, seeing that his ver. 34 are followed by the cohortative innocence is already well known to Him. without as the apodosis (comp. Ewald, 347, b, 357, 6).-Let Him take away from me His rod (with which He smites me, comp. ch. xiii. 21, equivalent therefore to , scourge, calamity, comp. ver. 23), and let not His terror overawe [or stupefy] me (in in the (comp. ch. ix. 20) me not. Observe that Job objective sense, that which is awful in His ap-addresses this complaint also to God, like that pearance, the terror which proceeds from His in ch. ix. 28. Let me know wherefore majestic presence): then will I speak with- Thou contendest with me (as adversary

Ver. 2. I will say to Eloah: condemn

and judge ( with Accus. as in Is. xxvii. 8;

xlix. 25.

Ver. 3. Doth it please Thee that Thou oppressest, that Thou rejectest the work of Thy hands?—In this question Job touches on a first possibility which might be supposed to determine God to treat him as guilty. He inquires whether it may perchance "please" God, be agreeable to Him, give Him joy, thus to Ideal with himself. For in this sense, comp. ch. xiii. 9; Deut. xxiii. 17 [16]. The interpretation adopted by Dillmann and others is also possible: "is it becoming for Thee," etc., for which comp. Ex. xiv. 12; Judg. ix. 2.-[So besides Dillmann (who argues that this sense is better suited to the remonstrance with God), Ewald, Schlottmann, and Davidson, who says: " decet, not as others juvat. The argument is that God's treatment of Job, a righteous man, with such severity, was unbecoming a righteous God, and that the world expected other things, and that such things tended to the consternation of religious men, and the confusion of all fixed religious principles "]. Job here calls himself "the work of God's hands," not in order to excite sympathy in God, nor in order to touch, as it were, the honor of Him who had so elaborately and carefully formed him in his mother's womb (Ps. cxxxix. 15), but principally in order to call attention to his innocence, in order to indicate that he had essentially persevered in that status integritatis in which God had created him. [Job seems in this designation of himself to have had two things in view, closely associated in his mind, as the connection shows: first, the elaborate workmanship of his body (conveyed by the term, lit. the product of toilsome labor), which God had dishonored by the loathsome disease which He had sent upon him; and next the moral perfection, which he claimed still to possess, but which God had likewise dishonored by treating him as a sinner.-E.] This view is favored, not only by vers. 7, 8, but also by the circumstantial clause which immediately follows [shown to be a circumstantial clause by the fact that the verses following are the expansion of the preceding part of the verse]: While Thou shinest on the counsel of the wicked; i. e. favorest it, and causest it to succeed, comp. Ps. xxxi. 17 [16]; lxvii. 2 [1]; Num. vi. 25.

precedes, as Welte and Hahn think) as cause to effect, or as that which is deepest and most fundamental to that which belongs rather to the outward appearance.

Ver. 6. That Thou (so zealously) seekest after my guilt, and searchest after my sins? i. e., that Thou doest what short-sighted men would do, seekest to extort from me the confession of a guilt which has escaped Thy vision, by the application of inquisitorial tortures, viz., by decreeing that I should suffer. ["Such a mode of proceeding may be conceived of in a mortal ruler, who, on account of his short-sightedness, seeks to bring about by severe measures that which was at first only conjecture, and who, from the apprehension that he may not witness ward the criminal process as much as possible, that vengeance in which he delights, hastens forin order that his victim may not escape him. God, however, to whom belongs absolute knowledge and absolute power, would act thus, although," etc. (see next verse). DELITZSCH. And Schlottmann (after Wolfssohn) quotes the following from the Sifri on Deut. xxxii. 40: "And I I live for ever. say, It is in my power at once and hasten not the retribution. to recompense the wicked, but I live for ever, and blood hastens the retribution, for he fears A king of flesh that he or his enemy may die, but I live for ever."]

Ver. 7. Although Thou knowest (by here equivalent to "notwithstanding, although" ["lit. upon, or over and above, in addition to, in spite of"], as in chap. xvi. 17; xxxiv. 6; Isa. liii. 9) that I am not guilty (comp. chap. ix. 29) and there is no one who delivers out of Thy hand—i. e., that Thou, in any case, whether we men are guilty or not, hast us completely in Thy power, and canst do with us what Thou wilt: hence Thou actest strangely in seeking so zealously for reasons why Thou shouldst condemn us.

Second Strophe. Vers. 8-12. The severe treatment which God inflicts on Job stands in cruel contradiction not only to His omniscience, but also to His paternal goodness and love. [The feeling of contradiction between the Deity's past and present rises ever in intensity in Job's breast, and in amazement he sets the two in blank opposition to each other before God Himself-let Him reconcile Himself with Himself if He may. While there is fearful keenness of dialectic here, there is also irresistible tenderness of expostulation. The appeal is from God to God: Thy hands have made me, and Thou de

Ver. 4. Hast Thou eyes of flesh (i. e., eyes limited to objects of sense, perceiving only the surface of things; comp. Isa. xxxi, 3), or seest Thou as man seeth? i. e., with a vision shortsighted and superficial as man's (comp. 1 Sam. xvi. 7). By this question a second possible rea-stroyest me." DAV.] son why God might be supposed to treat Job as guilty is indicated as being in reality out of the question; or, in other words: an appeal is taken to His omniscience, to His infallible knowledge of that which lies before Him in men's hearts.

Ver. 8. Thy hands have carefully formed and perfected me.—[“The hinge of connection with the last strophe is 772, nor can deliver from Thy hand-Thy hands have made me." Ver. 5. Are Thy days as the days of a DAV.]. The thought conveyed by the phrase mortal, or Thy years as the days of a man? Te is here again resumed from ver. 3 and -A third possibility is here indicated that God expanded in a description in which there are might be, like men, short-lived; that in general several points of agreement with Ps. cxxxix. 13– He might be, like them, a mortal, a limited, 16.-, lit. "have carved me" (y, a Piel changeable creature. This third and last possible reason is obviously related to both the pre-intensive, cognate with xp, ), i. e., ceding (not simply to that which immediately rately formed ["especially appropriate as de

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scribing the fashioning of the complicated na- be rather or pr. ["The development of ture of man." DEL.]. The following bears the embryo was regarded by the Israelitish the same relation to this y as perficere, consumChokma as one of the greatest mysteries." cles. xi. 5; 2 Macc. vii. 22 sq. Del.] mare bears to the simple fingere. The clause added in 6, 1, "altogether round about" Ver. 11. With skin and flesh Thou didst (Vulg: me totum in circuitu) represents the fash-clothe me, and with bones and sinews ioning and perfecting activity of God as con- Thou didst interweave me.cerned with man's entire organism, including all, chap. i. 10, synonymous with his limbs and parts. [And yet ( consec. with strong adversative sense) Thou destroyest me! An exclamation of amazement and reproach.]

from in the [The verse parallel passage, Ps. cxxxix. 13.) tion in ver. 10. may be regarded as a continuation of the quesSo Con., Dav., etc.] Grotius rightly observes that the description here given of the development of the foetus is in general

process (hic ordo in genitura est: primum pellicula fit, deinde in ea caro, duriora paulatim accedunt). With equal correctness most modern expositors remark that this agreement of the description with the natural processes of conception and development is only of a general sort, and that the passage must not be pressed, as is done by Scheuchzer, Oetinger, etc. [as "including and going beyond all systemata generationis"], seeing that this is to attribute to the Holy Scriptures a purpose which is foreign to it.

Ver. 9. Remember now [the particle N is expressive of a yearning plaintiveness here-true to nature, and corresponds to the actual Oh, remember!] that as clay Thou hast perfected me: to wit, formed me out of the crude earth-material with the same skill and care as the potter a vessel of clay. For the use of this favorite figure of the Holy Scriptures, especially of the Old Testament, comp. ch. xxxiii. 6; Isa. xxix. 16; xlv. 9; Jer. xviii. 6; Rom. ix. 20, 21. That the same figure serves to illustrate not merely the wise skill and the loving care of the Creator, but also and above all His arbitrary fullness of power, and His unconditional right in His creatures (the jus absolutum Creatoris in Ver. 12. Life and favor ["this combination creaturas), is evident from the second member: does not occur elsewhere." DEL.] hast Thou "and wilt Thou turn me again into dust?" which shown me (lit. "done to me "-y, referring at the same time reminds us of Gen. ii. 7; iii. at the same time by zeugma to the first object, 19 and of Jer. xviii. [That the Divine Arbitrari-"life"), and Thy oversight (Thy proviness, which is the conception held by a perverted mind of the Divine Sovereignty, enters into Job's train of thought here is plain enough. But that it is the prominent notion may certainly be doubted. This is scarcely consistent with the urgent pathos of the plea: "Oh! remember that thou hast formed me as the clay !" The central thought as expressed by the verbs in ver. 8, especially, by the adverbial clause '20, and by the detailed description of vers. 10-11, is that of the exquisite elaborate workmanship involved in his creation, and the wonder that the Divine Artist should be so regardless of His work as wantonly to ruin it.-E.]

Ver. 10. Didst Thou not pour me out as milk-viz.: in the act of conception, when my body received its development out of a purely liquid material.-[The Imperfects in this verse and the following have their time determined by the Perfects of vers. 8, 9. The use of the Imperf. may be explained with Ewald: " "because the wonder is so vividly present to Job's mind;" or, as Davidson expresses it: "Job again feels the Divine hand upon him."-E.] And curdled me like cheese?-to wit, into the formless mass of the embryo, which in Ps. cxxxix. 16 is called Di, but here is compared with ', i. e., cheese (lit. curd, the pap-like material of cheese not yet hardened, not "cream" (Schlott.) nor "whey" (Hahn and Ewald) [neither of these definitions being suitable for the reason that the material is not coagulated]). For TA, to pour out, comp. 2 Kings xxii. 9 (likewise the Kal above in chap. iii. 24). "To pour into a mould" is a signification which belongs to the word neither here nor in the parallel passage just given (against Seb. Schmidt and Delitzsch): this would

dence, πpóvoia) has preserved my breath: has done this, to wit, not only during the embryonic state, but through the whole time from my birth to the present.

By are designated at the same time both the breath as the outward sign of life, and the spirit as its inward principle; comp. chap. xvii. 1; Eccles. iii. 19.

Vers. 13-22. Continuation of the complaint, and Third Division. Second Half (Double Strophe). a further advance in the same to the point of wishing that he had never been born.

First Strophe. Vers. 13-17. [God's goodness in the past simulated, his secret purpose having from the first contemplated the infliction of suffering on Job, whether guilty or innocent.-E.]

The connection of

Ver. 13. And (nevertheless) Thou didst hide these things in Thy heart.—[! strongly adversative: yet, notwithstanding all Thy care in my creation, and all Thy apparent kindness in the past, Thy hidden purpose all the time conthis verse is evidently with what follows, and its templated my destruction. place is at the beginning of the present strophe. 7 and I cannot refer to the care and favor bestowed on him in his creation and preservation, for it could not be said of these that God had hidden them in His heart;" they must refer to the present and coming manifestations of the Divine displeasure, which are about to be detailed, and which Job here charges as the consummation of God's secret eternal plan.-E.] Since the discourse, after the mild conciliatory turn which it had taken in the last division, especially in ver. 12, here evidently falls back into the bitter tone of complaint, it follows that the at the beginning of this verse is to be taken adversatively. I know that this was in Thy

mind-i. e., that this determination had long been formed by Thee ( as in chap. xxiii. 14; xxvii. 11), viz., to assail me, and visit me with the direst calamities, in the manner described in the following verses, 14-17.

which Thou wouldest then visit me. ["Thou wast wonderful in my creation (vers. 8-12); and now Thou art wonderful in inventing new means of destroying me." Words.]. certainly belongs to God as the subj. addressed, not to Job Ver. 14. If I should sin, Thou wouldest as obj. (as Schlottmann [and Davidson] think). watch me.-, lit., custodies me, here We find God in His anger compared to a beast of custoditurus eras me, as these verses in general prey also in ch. xvi. 9; He is in particular deexhibit that which, in Job's opinion, God had xiii. 7; comp. Isa. xxxi. 4; xxxviii. 13; Jer. scribed as a lion tearing His prey in Hos. v. 14; long since determined, and had the disposition On the use to do. here moreover is not "to keep in XXV. 38; Lam. iii. 10; Am. iii. 12. remembrance, to bear anything in mind" (Stic- of with a finite verb following to express kel, Hirzel, Delitzsch, for then the accus. of the the adverbial notion "again, repeatedly-a thing kept ought to have been expressed (comp. construction similar to that above in ch. vi. 28Prov. iv. 21; vii. 1).-The meaning is rather to comp. Ewald, & 285, b. On 29, with final watch one carefully, to hold under observation, vowel &, although not in pause (as also in Num. rigide observare s. custodire aliquem; comp. ch. vii. xix. 12), see Ewald, & 141, c. [Ewald, who is followed by Davidson, finds in the details of the Divine Plan against Job as here unfolded “a cruel tetralemma, a fearful fourfold net," to compass the ruin of Job whichever way he should turn. (1) Were he to err-and to err is human-God would watch him with the keenest eye, and punish him without pity. (2). Should he sin heinously, his punishment would be commensurate with his guilt, transcending all description. (3). Should he however be innocent he must still be doomed to bear about with him a guilty look, and seem and feel like a criand dare to hold up his head, God would in His minal. (4). Should he be unable from pride, or conscious innocence thus to belie his integrity,

12; xiii. 27.

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wrath hunt him like a lion.-The scheme is in

Ver. 15. If I should be wicked-woe unto me!-As is evident from this exclamation "woe unto me!" which takes the place of a clause expressing the consequence in the future, y is a stronger expression than A in the verse preceding. [ very strongly expressive of terror or pain, Mic. vii. 1; words would fail to describe the violence of the punishment." Dav. As much stronger therefore as is than 5, so much stronger, it It must not therefore be weakened by rendering may be inferred, is y here than Non.-E.]. it (with Schlottmann and Olshausen) "being found guilty;" it expresses the idea of gross, presumptuous sinning, deserving of a punishment genious and plausible, and has not yet been sucindescribably severe (here indicated only by an cessfully disproved. Schlottmann argues against exclamation of woe).-And were I righteous it: (1). That the distinction it makes between (the opposite case of the two hitherto mentioned) and Non is forced, to which what has been I should not then (according to God's plan said above is a sufficient answer. (2). That the and purpose) lift up my head: i. e., I should mention in ver. 15 of the possibility of being not dare to enjoy my righteousness, nor to profit righteous along with that of being wicked is by my good conscience so as to look up with wholly superfluous! a remark which it is diffifreedom and confidence: comp. ch. xi. 15; xxii. cult to understand. Job is enumerating all the 26; Luke xxi. 28. Rather would he even then moral possibilities of his condition, and showing go his way like one who had an evil conscience: that whichever course he takes his Omnipotent filled with shame, and in sight of my mi- Adversary is there to meet him with a flaming sery.- is either to be taken as constr. state Sword of vengeance. Assuming therefore Ewald's of an adj., not elsewhere occurring (of a tional remarks suggest themselves concerning it. view to be not unfounded, the following addilike structure with up, etc., so Gesenius, 1. In the first two hypotheses, in which the guilt Fürst, Welte, Hahn, Del. [Schult., Schlot., Dav.] of Job is assumed, the hypothetical element is etc.), or we are to read (Piscator, Ewald, made distinct and strong by the use of DN; in Hirz., Böttch., Dillm. [Ren., Hengst.] etc.): for the last two, which assume his innocence the D to take it as Imper. [E. V., "therefore see thou is omitted. 2. Each pair of hypotheses presents mine affliction"] (De Wette), or as Infin. (Um- a climax, the second hypothesis being an adbreit, Rosenm.) [Carey] makes the construction vance upon the first, both in the protasis and altogether too hard. apodosis; the fourth upon the third, especially in the apodosis.-E.].

Ver. 17. Thou wouldest renew Thy witnesses against me: i. e., ever cause new witnesses to appear against me, viz., ever new sufferings and calamities: comp. ch. xvi. 8, where may be found the same personification of sufferings as witnesses which, in the eyes of men, ever rise up to testify against him and his innocence. -And increase Thy displeasure against

Ver. 16. And should it (my head) lift itself up: i. e., should I, although condemned by Thee, still exhibit a cheerful courage and a proud self-consciousness. This accordingly is not a new case, but an expansion of that just supposed in ver. 15 b. On comp. ch. viii. 11; on the omission of DN see Ewald, 357, b. As a lion Thou wouldest (then) hunt me and again show Thy wondrous power in me: to wit, by means of the most exquisite me (Dy here the same as contra; comp. ch. tortures, and the most violent persecutions, with xiii. 19; xxiii. 6; xxxi. 13); ever new troops

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