b. Vers. 22-25. [The Divine energy as especially operative among nations]. ferent conception from "authority," and "n can very well take for its object Di, fetters, ch. xxxix. 5; Ps. cxvi. 16, but not castigationem." Ver. 22. [This verse must naturally form the So Dillmann correctly, who also however rightly | prelude to the deeper exercise of power and inrejects the interpretation of Ewald, Hirzel, Hei-sight among nations, and its highest generalizaligst., Welte, etc., according to which ' tion, comp. 16 b." Dav.].-He discovere th denotes "the fetters, with which kings are deep things out of the darkness, and bound," so that the relation between a and b brings forth to light the shadow of death; would be not that of a logical progression, but | i. e., not: "He puts into execution His hidden of direct antithesis, as in ver. 15. [Hengsten- purposes in the destiny of nations" (Schlottm.), berg calls attention to the paronomasia of DN,["for who would call the hidden ground of all .[אזור and מוֹסֵר :: Second Double Strophe: Vers. 19-25 (divided into one strophe of three, and one of four verses): [The description continued: the agency of the Divine wisdom in confounding the great of earth]. appearances in God, "Dilllm.], but: plans and wickedness of men which are hidden "He brings forth into the light all the dark in darkness;" comp. 1 Cor. iv. 5: pwríoel rà KOUTтÀ TOV σKÓTOVÇ K. T. 2., and the proverb: "There is nothing spun so fine but all comes to the light;" see also ch. xxiv. 18 seq.; Is. xxix. a. Vers. 19-21. [Special classes of leaders 15; Rom. xiii. 12; 1 Thes. v. 5, etc. [“ Deep brought to shame described]. things out of the darkness, nippy, must mean hidden tendencies and principles, e. g., those running under national life, ver. 23, naturally more subtle and multiplex than those governing individual manifestation on however elevated a scale) and darkness, and shadow of death, figures (xi. 8) descriptive of the profoundest secresy. These secret tendencies in national life and thoughtnever suspected by men who are silently carried on by them-He detects and overmasters either to check or to fulfil." David. A truth "which brings joy to the good, but terror to all the children of darkness (xxiv. 13 seq.), and not without threatening significance even to the friends of Job." Dillmann]. Ver. 19. He leads priests away spoiled (see on ver. 17), and those firmly established He overthrows. [' 'priests," not "princes" (E. V.) "In many of the States of antiquity the priests were personages no less important, were indeed even more important and honored than the secular authorities." Dillm. "The juxtaposition of priests and kings here points to the ancient form of priestly rule, as we encounter the same in the person of Jethro, and in part also in Melchizedek." Schlott.].-All objects are called D, "firmly-enduring" [perpetual], which survive the changes of time. Hence the term is applied, e. g.. to water which Ver. 23. He makes nations great, and— does not become dry (aquæ perennes), or firmly founded rocks (Jer. xlix. 19; 1. 44), or mighty, destroys them; He spreads nations abroad invincible nations (Jer. v. 15), or, as here, dis-and-causes them to be carried away (or: tinguished and influential persons (Vulg., opti- "carries them away captive," comp., symates). [,"slip, in Piel, overthrow, aptly nonymous with a, abducere in servitutem; also antithetic [to '." Dav.]. ז Ver. 20. He takes away the speech of the most eloquent: lit. of "the trusted," of those who have been tried as a people's orators and counsellors; for they are the D' (from 1, to make firm, trustworthy, not from DN to speak, as D. Kimchi thinks, who would explain the word diserti, as though it were punctuated DN1). On b comp. Hos. iv. 11; and as regards D, "taste, judgment, tact," see 1 Sam. xxv. 33. Ver. 21. He pours contempt on nobles (exactly the same expression as in Ps. cvii. 40), and looses the girdle of the strong, (D'p' lit. "containing of great capacity" [Delitzsch: "to hold together, especially to concentrate strength on anything"] only here and ch. xli. 7; i. e., He disables them for the contest (by causing the under-garments to hang down loosely, thus proving a hindrance for conflict; comp. Is. v. 27; also below ch. xxxviii. 3; xl. 7). The translation of Delitzsch is altogether too forced, and by consequence insipid: "He pours contempt on the rulers of the state, and makes loose the belt of the mighty." T: 2 Kings xviii. 11). [Rodwell: "then straitens member of the verse corresponds strictly in sense to the second, on which account the Masoretic TT ל Ver. 24. He takes away the understanding (as in ver. 3) of the chief of the people of the land (y, can certainly signify "the people of the earth, mankind," [Hirzel], after Isa. xlii. 5; for its use in the more limited sense of the people of a land, comp. below ch. xv. 19). ["We have intentionally translated THE BOOK OF JOB. "nations," Dy people, for "in, Inf. absol. as obj. of the verb; comp. ch. plead, to vindicate one's cause against an accuix. 18; and for the signification of , "to sation," comp. Amos v. 10; Isa. xxix. 21; also below ver. 15, ch. xix. 5. n, to desire, to be inclined, here essentially as in ch. ix. 3. [19 always for bn in pause]. That passage (ix. 3) certainly stands in some measure in contradiction to this, implying as it does the impossibility of contending with God; it is however a contest of another sort from that which is intended there that he proposes here, a contest not of one arrogantly taking the offensive, but of one driven by necessity to the defensive. ,אין or with ,בלא-ד is the mass held together by the ties of a common origin, language, and country; Dy, the people bound together by unity of government." Delitzsch].-And makes them wander in a pathless waste: (777, synonymous with comp.ch. Xxxviii. 26; and Ewald, & 286, 8). The whole verse, the second member of which recurs verbatim in Ps. cvii. 40 presents an exact Hebrew equivalent for the Latin proverb: quem Deus perdere vult, prius dementat, a proverb on which the history of many a people and kingdom, from the earliest antiquity down to the present, furnishes an actual commentary that may well make the heart tremble. Concerning the catastrophes of historic nationalities in the most ancient times, which the poet here may not improbably have had before his mind, comp. Introd., 6, e. Ver. 4. But ye are (only) forgers of lies.— puts another antithetic sentence וְאוּלָם אַתֶּם Ver. 25. They grope in darkness without light, and He makes them to wander like a drunken man. Comp. Is. xix. 14, and especially above in ch. v. 13, 14, a similar description by Eliphaz, which Job here seems desirous of surpassing, in order to prove that he is in no wise inferior to Eliphaz in experimental knowledge of the righteous judgments of God, the infinitely Wise and Mighty One. 4. Second Division: First Section: Resolution to appeal to the judicial decision of God, before which the harsh, unloving disposition of the friends will assuredly not be able to maintain itself, but will be put to shame: ch. xiii. 1-12. First Strophe: Vers. 1-6. [Impatience with the friends, and the purpose to appeal to God]. Ver. 1. Behold, mine eye hath seen all (that), mine ear hath heard and perceived for itself. here equivalent to 7, "all that has been here set forth," all that has been stated (from ch. xii. 13 on) in respect to the evidences of the Divine power and wisdom in the life of nature and men. [, dativus commodi, or perhaps only dat. ethicus: and has made it intelligible to itself (sibi); j≥ of the apprehension accompanying perception." Del.].-On ver. 2 comp. ch. xii. 3, the second member of which is here repeated word for word. Ver. 3. But I will speak to the Almighty. D, "but nevertheless," puts that which now follows in emphatic antithesis to the preceding: "notwithstanding that I know all this, I will still," etc. ["Three feelings lie at the back of this antithesis: (1) The folly of longer speaking to the friends. (2) The irrelevancy of all such knowledge as they paraded, and which Job had in abundance. (3) Antagonism to the prayer of Zophar that God would appear-Job desires nothing more nor better-but I, to the Almighty will I speak." Dav.]. Observe also the significantly accented 'N, I (¿yà μèv), which puts the speaker in definite antithesis to those addressed (DAN, ver. 4, vuɛis dè), as one who will not follow their advice to make penitent confession of his guilt towards God; who will rather plead against God.—I desire to plead with God. alongside of the first which was introduced by DN (ver. 3), without however laying any special stress on DAN; hence: "and however, but again," etc.; not: "ye however" (Hirzel).— 66 (from 5, “to plaster, to smear, to paste together;" comp., "plaster Ez. xiii. 10 seq., and Talmudic grease) are lit. daubers of lies," i. e,, inventors of lies, concinfasteners of falsehood," assutores mendacii, as natores 8. inventores mendacii; not: "imputers, Stickel, Hirzel, Schlottmann, Delitzsch, etc., explain both against philology and the context (neither ch. xiv. 17 nor Ps. cxix. 69 support this sarcinatores falsi, i. e., inanes, idutilis, as Hupfeld definition); nor again: "deceitful patchers," explains.-Physicians of no value are ye all. are not "patchers" [Con. gether empty unfounded assertions (Vulg., Ew., "botchers"] of vanity," i. e., such as patch toOlsh., Dillm.), [Good, Con., Dav.], but in accordance with the universal usage of 7: "worthless, useless physicians," medici nihili, miserable quacks, who are incapable of applying heal. ["Job calls their false presuppositions to Job's wounds the right medicine to soothe and regarding his guilt, their vain attempts at a Theodicy and Theory of Providence'.' Dav.]. silent-that would be reckoned to you Ver. 5. Oh that ye would be altogether for wisdom.-Comp. Prov. xvii. 28; the Latin proverb: Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses; also the honorable title, "bos mutus," the mute ox, given to Thomas Aquinas during his student life at Paris, by his fellow-students, as well as by his teacher, Albertus Magnus. The jussive,, is used in a consecutive sense: "then would it be, prove, pass for;" comp. Ewald, 347, a, Gesen., 128, 2. heed to the charges of my lips.-So corVer. 6. Hear now my reproof, and give rectly Hirzel, Dillm, Del., etc., while several other moderns explain: "Hear my defense [Con., E. V., "reasoning"], and attend to the arguments of my lips." As if i could signify anything else than theyyos, correptio (so cor rectly LXX., Vulg.-Comp. in in ch. vi. 25; | (comp. John xvi. 2), "an advocacy contrary to xl. 2), and as if (defectively for one's better knowledge and conscience, in which the end is thought to sanctify the means." could even in one instance sink the meaning of the stern word ", "to strive, to quarrel!" Ver. 11. Will not His majesty (, as Furthermore it is a long moral reproof and ani- in ch. xxxi. 23, exaltation, dignity; not "a kinmadversion of the friends which immediately fol-dling of wrath," or "a lifting up for contenlows, vers. 7-12. His reply and vindication of tion," as Böttch. renders it after the Vulg.) himself to God first follows ver. 13 seq., or in- confound you (ch. iii. 5), and the dread of deed properly not before ver. 17 seq. Him ( the dread, the terror which He inspires) fall upon you-then, namely, when He will reveal Himself as your Judge. Job here anticipates what according to ch. xlii. 7 seq. really happened afterwards. ["It is a peculiarity of the author of our book that he drops every now and then hints of how the catastrophe is to turn out, showing unmistakably both the unity of conception and the authorship of the book." DAV.] Second Strophe: Vers. 7-12. [Scathing rebuke of their dishonesty and presumption in assuming to be God's advocates (vers. 7-9), and warning of the consequences to themselves when God shall rebuke them for their conduct]. Ver. 7. Will ye for God [emphatic] speak that which is wrong, will ye for Him speak deceitfully?—The preposition signifies here "for, in favor of any one," as also in ver. 8, Judg. vi. 81. On y comp. ch. v. 16; vi. 30. Ver. 8. Will ye show partiality for Him (lit. "lift up His countenance," i. e. show preference for His person), or will ye take the part of God's advocates? (lit. "contend for God, comp. 7, Judg. vi. 31). These are the two possible ways in which they could "speak in favor of God:" either as clients, dependents, taking His part slavishly, for mer cenary ends, or as patrons or advocates, presumptuously and naively taking Him under their protection. [There thus appears a subtle and very effective irony in these questions of Job's. His charge of partiality is also, as Davidson says, "a master-stroke of argumentation, effectually debarring the friends from any further defense of God in this direction, or almost at all."-E.]. Ver. 12. Your maxims (become) proverbs of ashes: to wit, then when God will judge you. D', "memorable sayings, apothegms, memorabilia [Dav. "old saws"] (comp. Mal. iii. 16; Esth. vi. 1): so does he name here, not without irony, the admonitions and warnings which they had addressed to him, in part as the Chokmah of the ancients, or even as divinely inspired communications. ["The sarcasm in the word is cutting: comp. of Eliph. ch. iv. 7; and viii. 8." DAV.] He characterizes these maxims as up, i. e. as empty and unsubstantial like ashes or dust, like ashes (the emblem of nothingness and worthlessness, Is. xliv. 20) scattered to every wind. The second member is strictly parallel: Your bulwarks become bulwarks of clay. ["While ver. 12 a says what their speeches, with the weighty nota bene, are, ver. 12b says what their D' become; for always denotes a kivnois=yéveois, S Ver. 9. Will it be well [for you] when and is never the exponent of the predicate in a He searches you out (goes to the bottom of simple clause." DEL.] 1, lit." back, ridge" you, as in Prov. xxviii. 11; Ps. cxxxix. 23) (comp. ch. xv. 26) here equivalent to breastor can you deceive Him as a man is work, bulwark; so does Job call here the readeceived? viz. in regard to your real disposi-sonings behind which they sought refuge, the tion and the sentiment of your heart, of which a more searching investigation must reveal to Him that it by no means corresponds to His holy nature and life.-, Hiph. from (in Imperf. n, with a non-syncopated, for, Gesen. 8 53 [3 52] Rem. 7 [Green, 142, 3]), is lit. "to cause to waver [to hold up anything swaying to and fro], to keep one in suspense, to make sport of any one," [E. V. to mock"], hence to deceive; ensnare; comp. Gen. xxxi. 7; Judg. xvi. 10; Jer. ix. 4.) [Schlott., who renders: "will ye mock him?" explains by quoting from Jarchi: "dicendo: in honorem tuam mendacia nos finximus"]. Ver. 10. Surely He will sorely chastise you (ch. v. 17) if ye are secretly partial: i. e if ye are actuated not by love of the truth and conscientious conviction, but by selfish interest in your relations with Him, as One who is mightier. That with which Job hereby reproaches them is (as Del. rightly observes) a 5ñλos vεov äλλ' ov Kar' Eпiyνwow, Rom. x. 2 : glittering, pathetically urged arguments which they had arrayed against him. Comp. by, Is. xli. 21, and oxvpluara, 2 Cor. x. 4. [The rendering of E. V. "your bodies (are like) to bodies of clay," is evidently taken from the signification back:" and the whole verse is a reminder of their mortality. But this is much less suited to the language used, less pertinent to the context, and less effective for Job's purpose than the rendering here given.-E.] For , mud, potter's clay, as an emblem of what is frail, easily destroyed, incapable of resistance, comp. ch. xxxviii. 14; Is. xlv. 9 seq. Second Division: Second Section: Declaration of his consciousness of innocence as against God in the form of a solemn confession, in which he boldly challenges Him: vers. 13-22. First Strophe: vers. 13-16. [Turning from the friends, he expresses more emphatically than before his purpose to appeal to God, cost what it may at the first, confident of ultimate acquittal. Dillmann says: "It seems that the poet intentionally cut this strophe short, in order by this very brevity to emphasize more strongly the gravity of these thoughts."] me." Ver. 13. In silence leave me alone: lit. "be silent from me" (?), i. e., desist from me, cease from your injurious assaults, and let me be in peace. [According to Schlott. the preposition here is the of source or cause: be silent because of the weight of my words; acc. to the above, a constr. prægnans is assumed. Conant, etc., translate: " Keep silence before Barnes thinks it "possible that Job may have perceived in them some disposition to interrupt him in a rude manner in reply to the severe remarks which he had made." Comp. on ch. vi. 29. More probably, however, the verse is, like ver. 5, an expression of his weariness with their vain platitudes, and unjust accusations, and a demand that they should stand by in silence while he should plead directly with God.-E.]-Then will I speak, or: in order that I may speak. [Conant: 66 That I now may speak: I Strong double emphasis in the use of the cohortative future, and the pronoun; the latter emphasizing the first person, the former his strong determination to speak.-E.]-And let come upon me what will as in Deut. xxiv. 5. here for, a condensed form of expression similar to ''!, 2 Sam. xviii. 22; comp. Ewald, 104, d. T: T "Wherefore should I seek to save my life at any price-I who have nothing more to hope for?" Compared with this interpretation, which is the only one suited to the context, and which is adopted by Umbreit, Ewald, Vaih., Dillm., etc., the many interpretations which vary from it are to be rejected, especially those according to which the second member is not to be regarded as a continuation of the question, but as an assertion-according to Hirzel in the positive form: "and even my life do I risk "—according to Hahn and Delitzsch in the negative: "nay, I even put my life at stake:" in like manner, that of Böttcher: "wherefore should I seek to preserve my life at any price, seeing that I willingly expose it, etc." [Wordsworth agrees in this interpretation of the meaning of each member of the verse, but differs from Zöckler, etc., in the application: "The question (he says) is put hypothetically. You may ask me why I am thus bold to desire to expose myself to a trial before God? The reason is because I am sure that I have a good cause; I know that in the end He will do me right. See what follows."-The Vulg. renders: " Quare lacero carnes meas dentibus meis, et animam meam porto in manibus meis ?" Hengstenberg follows this rendering, explaining the first clause of the wrong, the violence which he would do to his guilty to the accusations of the friends. Schulmoral personality, if by silence he should plead tens, who is followed in substance by Rosenmüller, Good, Wemyss, Bernard, Barnes, Renan, Davidson, Carey, Rodwell, Elzas, regards both members as proverbially expressing the idea of risking life, and the clause - not in its usual interrogative sense, but as equivalent to: "in spite of every thing." (Schult., super quid, on any account.) is thus a resumption of the unusual rendering of -. On the other hand the objection to the interpretation adopted in Ver. 14. Wherefore should I take my flesh into my teeth: i. e. be solicitous to save and to preserve my body at any price, like a beast of prey, which drags off its booty with its teeth, and so secures it against other preying animals. This proverbial saying, which does not occur elsewhere, is in itself clear (comp. Jer. xxxviii. 2). The second member also signifies essentially the same thing: and (where- in 13 b. This rendering gives a consistent fore should I put my soul in my hand: i. e. and forcible sense throughout: Be silent now, risk my life, seek to save it by means of a des- and let me alone, and I for my part will assuperate exertion of strength (comp. the same redly speak, be the consequence what it may: expression in Judg. xii. 3; 1 Sam. xix. 5; Cost what it may, I will risk it all, I will risk xxviii. 21). [This, says Dillmann, is indeed my person and my life: lo, He will slay me, etc., "scarcely the original meaning of the phrase; yet in his very presence, etc, (comp. on ch. ix. nor is it to be understood, as commonly ex-21, 22). The objection to this is of course the plained, that what one has in the hand easily falls out and is lost. The primary meaning is rather to commit or entrust the life to the hand in order to bear it through, i. e. to make a desperate effort to save it (see Ewald on the passage): such an attempt is indeed dangerous, because if the hand fails, the life is lost, and so the common explanation attaches itself naturally to the phrase, to expose the life to apparent danger. Here, however, the original meaning is altogether suitable, and indeed because only so do the first and second members agree: why should I make an extreme effort to save my life?"] Such a desperate effort Job would make, in case he should declare himself | guilty of the reproaches brought against him, while at the same time he bore no consciousness of guilt within himself. This, however, would not be of the least avail, for according to ver. 15 a he has nothing more to hope for, he sees before him nothing but certain death from the hand of God. Hence, therefore, his question: necessary, our comm. is the unusual sense in which we are constrained to take the proverbial expressions of the verse, particularly the latter to take the life in the hand "-which according to this interpretation must mean to seek to save the life, whereas in every other instance it means to risk it. It is thus at best a choice between difficulties, or unusual expressions. And it may fairly be queried whether the difficulty in regard to -hy is not largely obviated by the close connection in which it stands with the just preceding.-E.]. my disease, which will certainly bring about my Ver. 15. Lo, He will slay me: viz. through speedy dissolution (comp. ch. vi. 13; vii. 6; ix. do not direct my thoughts to the future, I am not 25; x. 20). I have no (more) hope; i. e., I in a state of waiting, expectation (without would be imperfect, and that the contrast between what would thus be said of God in this verse and that which has been said in ver. 15 would be too violent]. Second Strophe: Vers. 17-22. ["Determination to cite God finally reached, with conditions of pleading before Him."-Dav.]. Ver. 17. Hear, O hear my declaration. y, a strongly emphasized appeal that they should hear him, essentially the same in signification as Is. vi. 9, only that here is not intended as there a continued but an attentive hearing for the time being; comp. ch. xxi. 2; xxxvii. 2.-2, here" declaration," signifies in Arabic confession, religion. Its synonym in an obj., præstolari, exactly as in ch. vi. 11, and xiv. 14), and this indeed is so naturally, because for me there is nothing more to wait for, seeing that my condition is hopeless, and my fate long since decided. So, according to the K'thibh is the phrase to be explained, while the K'ri, must signify in accordance with the suffix: "until then, viz., until I am slain, I wait" (so substantially Luther), or again: "I wait for Him, that He may slay me (Delitzsch) [i. e., "I wait what He may do, even to smite with death"]. The context by no means yields the rendering of the Vulg., which also rests on the K'ri; etiam si occiderit me, in ipso (Deo) sperabo [so also E. V., though he slay me, yet will I trust in Him"]: an utterance which has acquired a certain celebrity as a favorite sentiment the second member, [and let my utterance alike of pious Jews and Christians (comp. De- sound in your ears], formed from the Hiph. litzsch on the passage), as the funeral text of of the verb (ch. xv. 17; Ps. xix. 3) signithe Electoress Louise Henriette of Brandenburg, fies here (the only place where it occurs in the and as the poetic theme of a multitude of popu-O. T.) not "brotherly conduct" as in post-biblar religious hymns. It scarcely expresses how-lical Hebrew, but "utterance." With in it ever the meaning here intended by Job, which is better to supply or sin, "let it enter, is far removed from any expression of a hope let it sound in your ears," than to repeat reaching beyond death.-Only my ways (viz., the innocence of my ways) will I prove in His presence. , referring back to the whole preceding sentence, hence the same as "nevertheless, however." He has already despaired of life, but of one thing he does not despair, freely and openly to prove before God the blamelessness of his life: "physically therefore he can succumb, that he concedes, but morally he cannot" (Del.). from a. :ז' Ver. 18. Behold now I have made ready the cause., causam instruere, as in ch. xxiii. 4; comp. the simple, ch. xxxiii. 5. On b comp. ch. xi. 2. Ver. 19. Who is he that will contend with me? i. e., attempt with success to prove that I am in the wrong. As to the thought compare the parallel passages, Isa. 1. 9; Rom. viii. 34; and as to the lively interrogative, ch. iv. 7.-Then indeed (if any one succeeds in that, in convicting me of wrong) I would be silent and die: then, as one defeated within and without, I would without offering further resistance, let death come upon me as merited punishment. The explicitness and calmness with which he makes this declaration shows how imsig-possible it seems to him that he should be proved guilty, how unalterably firm he stands in the consciousness of his innocence. [E. V., "for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost," is less simple, and less suited to the connection]. Ver. 16. Even this will be my salvation that the unholy comes not before Him: i. e., does not dare to present himself so confidently before Him. In the fact that He is filled with appnoia towards God he sees accordingly a pledge of salvation, i. e., of victory in the trial in which he is involved. For this sense of comp. 1 Sam. xiv. 45; 2 Chron. xx. 17; Hab. iii. 8 (not however in ch. xxx. 15, where it nifies rather prosperity, and that of the earthly Bort).["He wavers between two contradictions: on the one side he believes according to an opinion widely prevalent in the Semitic East, that no one can see God without dying; on the other side he reassures himself with the thought that God cannot reveal Himself to the wicked." Renan] is referred by Böttcher, Schlott., [Con., Dav., and so E. V.], etc., to God: "He also ministers to my help, to my deliverance, for, But this does not agree with the contents of the preceding verse. For the neuter rendering of , which we find already in the LXX., (Kal Tоvτó μol ȧroßhoeтai eis owτnpiav) comp. ch. xv. 9; xxxi. 28; xli. 3. [In favor of the personal sense for N, referring it to God, Schlottmann argues that it would scarcely be said of a circumstance in Hebrew that it would be anybody's salvation: and Davidson objects to the neuter rendering that it originates in a cold conception of Job's mental agitation, and gives to etc. לִישׁוּעָה a sense feeble almost to imbecility. On the other hand Dillmann argues against the masculine sense that in that case the connection between the first and second members of this verse Ver. 20. Only two things do not Thou unto me: these are the same two things which he has already deprecated in ch. ix. 34 in order that he may successfully achieve his vindication, and so, as it is here expressed in b, not be obliged to hide before God. In ver. 21 we are told wherein they consist, viz., a, in heavy unremitting calamities and chastisements ("Thy hand remove Thou from me"), 2 here of the hand which punishes, as previously in ch. ix. 34); and b, in terror, confusion, and trepidation produced by His majesty; comp. above, ver. 11. Ver. 22. Then-if these two alleviations are granted to me-call Thou and I will answer: i. e., summon me then to a criminal trial, or which would be eventually still more advantageous to me: "allow me the first word, let me be the questioner." Obviously it is in this sense that we are to take b, where ', "to reply" |