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Dost thou reserve all wisdom

to thyself?" like the Arabic, to absorb, drink
up. Fürst: "to snatch away: hast thou pur-
loined wisdom to thyself? . e. captured it as a
booty."] The representation of the First Man,
endowed with the highest wisdom, a witness of
God's activity in creating and ordering the
world, still lies at the bottom of these questions.
Comp. God's questions at a later period to Job:
ch. xxxviii. 3 seq.
["Having obtained the
secret of that council, art thou now keeping it
wholly to thyself as a prime minister might be
supposed to keep the purposes resolved on in
the divan?" Barnes.]

have in ch. viii. 8, which has passed into | lxxxix. 8 [7]. [“ Here God is represented in Origeneral use, and is hence chosen by the K'ri." ental language as seated in a divan, or council Dillm.] in the constr. st. followed by the collec- of state, . . . and El. asks of Job whether he had tive D; hence lit. "as first of men.-Delitzsch been admitted to that council." Barnes.]-And takes D as predicate nominative: "wast thou dost thou keep back wisdom to thyself? noon without the article, denoting the absolute as the first one born as a man?" a rendering which is altogether too artificial. The question divine wisdom; comp. ch. xi. 6; xii. 2; Prov. presupposes that the first-created man, by virtue viii. 1 seq. In regard to y, see above on ver. of his having proceeded immediately from God's 4. [Gesenius: hand, possessed the deepest insight into the mysteries of the Divine process of creation. Comp. the Adam Kadmon of the Kabbalists, the Kajomorts of the Avesta (πpõтoc åveprоs of the Manicheans), the Manu (i. e., "the thinking one") of the Brahmanic legends of creation as well as the ironical proverb of the Hindus: "Aye, aye, he is the first man, no wonder he is so wise!" (Roberts, Oriental Illustrations, p. 276). [Eliphaz evidently gives in these two verses the conception of a First Man, (like the Manu of the Hindûs), possessed as such of the highest wisdom, a being who before the foundations of the earth were laid, was present, a listener, as it were, to the deliberations concerning creation in the council of God, and thus a partaker at least of creative wisdom (ch. xxviii. 23 seq.), without being identified with the Divine Many erroneously understand this expression as signifying simply the greatest antiquity, so that the sense would be: dost thou combine in thyself the wisdom of all the centuries, from the creation of the world on? This conception would be unsuitable for the reason that it would have no reality corresponding to it, the first man being conceived of as dead long since." Schlott.]-And wast thou brought forth before the hills?-in, passive of

.Dillm י.חכמה

חוֹלֵל

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On ver. 9 comp. ch. xii. 3; xiii. 2, to which self-conscious utterances of Job Eliphaz here replies.

Ver. 10. Both the gray-headed and the aged [hoary] are among us; or: "also among us are the gray-headed, are the aged;" for the D is inverted, as in ch. ii. 10, and as in the parallel passages there cited. is equiva lent to: "in our generation, in our race." We are to think, on the one side, of Job's appeal to the aged men, to whom he owed his wisdom, ch. xii. 12; on the other side, of the proverbial wisdom of the "sons of the East," to whom the three friends as well as Job belonged (1 Kings iv. 30), especially that of the Temanites; see above on ch. ii. 11. The supposition of Ewald, "to whirl" [hence to writhe, be in pain, Hirzel, Dillmann, etc., that Eliphaz, "in modestly travail], Ps. xc. 2.-Precisely the same expres- concealed language," referred to himself, as the sion occurs in Prov. viii. 25 b, an utterance of most aged of the three, has but little probability, God's Eternal Wisdom, which is doubtless an in- for the statement: "there is also among us tentional allusion to this passage. [So also De- (three) a gray-headed, an aged man," would in litzsch. Schlottmann, on the contrary, thinks the mouth of El. himself have in it something it indisputable that this passage contains an al- exceedingly forced, if he had thereby meant lusion, if not to the passage in Proverbs, then himself; and the collective use of the sing. to an original source common to both, so that the sense would be: "art thou the essential Di- and presents not the slightest grammatical vine Wisdom itself, through which God created difficulty. Still further, if El. had (according the world?" The verse thus furnishes a preg-to b) declared himself "more abundant in days nant and energetic progression of thought and expression. "Being born before the hills," and "sitting in God's council," could not be taken as accidentia sine subjecto, which without having a real substratum, are sarcastically predicated of Job, but they must be regarded as inhering in a definite subject, with which Job is now compared, as immediately before he was compared with the first man; and this makes it necessary that we should think of the ante-mundane Wisdom described in Prov. viii., which from an early period was brought into special relation to the first man. Ewald accordingly paraphrases vers. 7, 8: "Thou, who wouldest be wiser than all other men, dost thou stand perchance at the head of humanity, like the Logos, the first alike in age, and in worth and nearness to God?"]

Ver. 8. Didst thou listen in the council of Eloah ?-710, as in Jer. xxiii. 18; comp. Ps.

than Job's father," he would have said of himself that which would have been simply monstrous. The correct explanation is given among the moderns by Rosenm., Arnheim, Umbreit, Delitzsch. ["It will be seen (infra xviii. 3) that in the discussion carried on between Job and his friends, he is not always regarded as a single individual, but rather as the representative of the party whose views he holds, that of the philosophers, namely, who wish to understand and account for everything; while his friends, as the contrary, represent the orthodox party, whose principle it is to declare everything that comes from God good and right, whether it be comprehensible or incomprehensible to the human intellect. Hence the plural Day, in your eyes, used by Bildad (though speaking to Job alone), in the chapter alluded to, i. e. in the eyes of you philosophers. In like manner, in

the verse before us El. says: Both gray-headed | iv. 18, and hence used of the angels [see on ch. and very aged men are amongst us. Amongst v. 1].—And the heavens are not pure in us orthodox people." Bernard.] xlix. 18 (comp. Luke xv. 18, 21; Matt. xxi. 25), His eyes. Dip is neither here, nor in Is.

Ver. 11. Are the consolations of God (comp. ch. xxi. 2) too little for thee (lit. are they less than thee-comp. Num. xvi. 9; Is. vii. 13)? [The irony of the question is severe: Too (Targ.), as many commentators

little for thee are the consolations of God? The words reveal at the same time the narrow selfcomplacency of the speaker, the consolations of God being such as he and the friends had sought to administer, for which El., however, claims a Divine value and efficacy.-E.], and a word so gentle with thee? i. e. a word which, like my former discourse, dealt with thee so tenderly and gently. On U, elsewhere ?

lit. "for softness," i. e. softly, gently [e. g. Is. viii. 6 of the soft murmur and gentle flow of Siloah], comp. Ew. ¿ 217, d; & 243, c. Eliphaz here identifies his former address to Job with a consolation and admonition proceeding from God himself; as in fact in delivering the same (see ch. iv. 12 seq.), he ascribed the principal contents of it to a Divine communication. In regard to the gentleness which he here claims for that former discourse, comp. especially ch. iv. 2; v. 8, 17 seq.

Third Strophe: vers. 12-16. [Severe rebuke of Job's presumptuous discontent, founded on man's extreme sinfulness.]

Ver. 12. Why does thy heart carry thee away? np, auferre, abripere. [ here for deep inward agitation, excitement of feeling (Delitzsch: "wounded pride"). Why dost thou allow the stormy discontent of thy bosom to transport thee beyond thyself?-E.]-And why twinkle thine eyes? Din, är. 2ɛy. Aram. and Arab. D, "to wink, to blink," said here of the angry, excited snapping, or rolling of the eyes [referring, according to Renan, to such a manifestation of angry impatience with the hypocrisy of El. at this point of his discourse; and similarly Noyes: "why this winking of thine eyes?"]. Comp. Cant. vi. 5 (according to the correct interpretation, see my remarks on the passage).

to be taken as a synonym of D'OND, or of

explain from the Targumists down to Hirzel, Heiligst., Welte [Schlott., Carey, Ren.], etc. Rather, as the parallel passage in ch. xxv. 5 incontestably shows, it designates the starry heavens, which are here contemplated in respect of their pure brilliancy, and their physical elevation above the impure earthly sphere. So correctly Umbreit, Delitzsch, Dillmann. ["In comparison with the all-transcending holiness and purity of God, the creatures which ethically and physically are the purest, are impure. How in the representations of antiquity ethical and physical purity and impurity are throughout used interchangeably is well enough known." Dillmann.] The angels are indeed regarded as inhabiting the heavenly spheres, as is indisputably proved by the phrase D'D NOY (1 Kings xxii. 19; Is. xxiv. 21; Ps. cxlviii. 2; comp. Gen. ii. 1), and the fact that the Holy Scriptures everywhere speak of angels and the starry heavens together. Comp. Del. on this passage and on Gen. ii. 1; Hengstenberg; Ewald, K.-Zig., 1869; Preface, No. 3, 4; Zöckler: Die Urgeschichte der Erde und des Menschen (1868), p. 12 seq.; also below, on ch. xxxviii. 7.

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Ver. 16. Much less then (?, quanto minus, like above in ch. iv. 19) the abominable and corrupt (n), lit. soured, one corrupted by the Cuun kakias, 1 Cor. v. 8, one thoroughly corrupted," Del.), the man who drinks iniquity like water, i. e. who is as eager to do iniquity, shows as much avidity for sin, as a thirsty man pants for water; comp. the repetition of this same figure by Elihu, also Ps. lxxiii. 10; Prov. xxvi. 6; Sir. xxiv. 21. The whole description relates to the moral corruption of mankind generally, of which Eliphaz intentionally holds up before Job "a more hideous picture" (according to Oetinger) than the latter himself had given in ch. xiv. 4, because he has in view the impurity, ill-desert, still further what he says ch. v. 7 on the sparkand need of repentance of Job himself. Comp. like proneness of man to sin and its penalty.

Fourth Strophe: vers. 17-19. Transition to the didactic discourse which follows in the form

of a captatio benevolentiæ.

Ver. 13. Depending on the preceding verse: That thou turnest against God thy snorting. here meaning angry breathing, dvμóc ["thus expressed because it manifests itself in Tvéεw (Acts ix. 1), and has its rise in the aveva (Eccl. vii. 9)." Delitzsch], as in Judg. viii. 3; Prov. xvi. 32; Is. xxv. 4; comp. above Job iv. 9. And sendest forth words out of thy mouth? (comp. ch. iv. 2) as parallel Ver. 17. I will inform thee (comp. ch. xiii. with can mean here only vehement, intem-17), listen to me, and that which I have seen will I relate.- is neuter, as in Gen. perate speaking, passionate words, not empty speaking, as Kamphn. explains it. Ver. 14 repeats the principal proposition of is a relative clause; comp. Ges. ₫ 122 Eliphaz in his former discourse (ch. iv. 17-20), [ 120], 2-in needs not (with Schlottm.) be with an accompanying reminder of Job's con- understood in the sense of an ecstatic vision, of the fession in ch. xiv. 4, which was in substantial prophetic sort, seeing that in ch. viii. 17; xxiii. 9; harmony therewith. On comp. ch. xxiv. 1; xxvii. 12, etc., it denotes also the knowledge or experience of sensible things. MoreVer. 15. Behold, in His holy ones He over, as ver. 18 shows, Eliphaz makes a very definite distinction between that which is now to puts no trust. D', the same as Day, ch. be communicated and a Divine revelation of

xiv. 1.

:

vi. 15, or like above in ch. xiii. 16, and

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whatever sort. [As Dillmann observes, that which is communicated by a direct revelation from God does not need to be supported by the wisdom of antiquity].

Ver. 18. That which wise men declare without concealment from their fathers. This verse, which is an expression of the object of DNI, coördinate with '' is added without i, because it is substantially identical with that which Eliphaz "had seen." belongs not to

:

זז.

or Ding of warlike invasions—still nothing could be deduced from the passage in favor of the post-solomonic origin of our book: comp. on ch. xii. 24.

3. Second Division: An admonitory didactic discourse on the retributive justice of God as exhibited in the fate of the ungodly: vers. 20-35. "Now follows the doctrine of the wise men, which springs from a venerable primitive age, an age as yet undisturbed by any strange way of thinking (modern enlightenment and free thinking, as we should say), and is supported by Eliphaz's own experience.' Delitzsch. "It is is sub-not so much the fact that the evil-doer receives his punishment, in favor of which Eliphaz appeals to the teaching handed down from the fathers, as rather the belief in it, consequently in a certain degree the dogma of a moral order in the world." Wetzstein in Delitzsch].

(80 the ancient logically domi

inward discontent and the restless pain of an First Strophe: Vers. 20-24. Description of the earthly-minded and wicked man who defies God, and cares not for Him.

clause, and

versions, and Luther) but to the nant verb 7, to which the joined as an adverbial qualification. "To declare and not to hide" is equivalent to a single notion, "to declare without deception," precisely like John i. 20, bμohoyɛiv kai ouk ȧyvětoval. Ver. 19. A more circumstantial description of Dnias: To whom alone the land was given (to inhabit), and through the midst of whom no stranger had forced his way. -[Zöckler takes the verb y here not in the Ver. 20. So long as the wicked liveth, sense of a chance sojourning in a land, or tra- (lit., all the days of the wicked) he suffereth veling through it, but in the sense of a forcible intrusion, war gedrungen; a national amalgama- torment (in, lit. he is writhing and twisttion resulting from invasion. The language willing, viz., from pain), and so many years as include a foreign admixture from whatever are reserved for the oppressor ["which acsource.-E.]. Seeing that denotes here cording to ver. 32, are not very many," Dillm.] with much more probability "the land" rather, tyrant, one who commits outrageous viothan "the earth" (and so again in ch. xxii. 8; lence, as in ch. xxvii. 13; vi. 23; Ps. xxxvii. xxx. 8), and that what is expressly spoken of is 35; Is. xiii. 11, etc.). The second member, in the non-intrusion of strangers (D), Schlott- which D mann's view that the passage refers to the first patriarchs, "the nobler primitive generations of mankind," who as yet inhabited the earth alone, is to be rejected. The reason why Eliphaz puts forward the purity of the generation of his forefathers as a guarantee of the soundness and credibility of their teachings is that "among the sons of the East' purity of race was from the earliest times considered as the sign of highest nobility" (Del.) ["The meaning is, I will give you the result of the observations of the golden age of the world, when our fathers dwelt alone, and it could not be pretended that they had been corrupted by foreign philosophy; and when in morals and in sentiment they were pure." Barnes. "Eliph.," says Umbr., "speaks here like a genuine Arab." The exclusiveness and dogmatic superciliousness which are to this day characteristic of Oriental nationalities are doubtless closely associated with the race-instinct which here finds expression. In proportion as a people, either from lack of courage, or from an effeminate love of luxury, or from a sordid love of gain prostrates itself to foreign influences, and carries the witness of its degradation in the impurity of its blood, it cannot, in the judgment of an oriental sage, produce, or transmit, pure and sound doctrine.-E.]. It is unnecessary herewith to assume that the age of Eliphaz, in contrast with the boasted age of the fathers, was a period of foreign domination, like the Assyrian-Chaldean period in the history of Israel (Ewald, Hirzell, Dillmann). Or granting that such a period is referred to-although we are under no necessity of understanding either

is an [adverbial] accusative ?? a relative clause depending upon it, resumes the temporal clause, "all the days of the wicked," which for the sake of emphasis stands at the beginning of the entire sentence. The LXX. renders differently: črη dè apuntà dedoμéva dvváory; and similarly Delitzsch: "and a fixed number of years is reserved for the oppressor," a rendering however which gives a much flatter thought than our exposition. Against the rendering of the Targ., Pesh., and Vulg. [also E. V.] " and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor," it may be urged that in that case the reading must have been . [Not necessarily. is often used as a sign of the dativus commodi. or incom modi, where we should expect 1.-E. g., Mic. ii. 4, where the removal of the nation's portion from it, is represented by the preposition, because of the injurious consequences to it. So here the hiding of the number of the oppressor's years from him is represented by, because of the misery this causes to him. On the other hand it may be said in favor of this construction that it is much simpler and stronger, that it introduces an additional thought, such as the change of y for y might lead us to expect (Del.), and that it is in entire harmony with the context. The central thought of the passage, the essential element of the oppressor's misery is apprehension, anxiety, the premonition of his doom. How the darkness of this feature

Ver. 21 seq., describe more in detail the restless pain of soul, or the continual of

or, with a neuter construction, the unknown
something, the mysterious Power [which sug-
gests the comparison that follows]) as a king

of the picture is deepened by this stroke-" the
number of his years is laid up in darkness," so
that he knows not when, or whence, or how the
blow will fall.-Furthermore the rendering "hid-
den" seems more suitable for 19 than "re-ready for the onset.- cannot belong to
served," in the sense of "determined," being
the object of the verb, as rendered by the LXX.
more vivid, and more closely connected with the "like a leader falling in the first line of the
subjective character of the description. Even battle"] and the Targ. ["to serve the conqueror
if we render it by "reserved," the idea of "hid-
as a foot-stool"], but only to the subject. The
den" should be included.-E.].
deadly anguish, which suddenly seizes on the
wicked, is compared to a king, armed for battle,
who falls upon a city; comp. Prov. vi. 11.—The
meaning of the Hapaxleg. 17 (=7172, Ew.,
156, b) is correctly given on the whole by the
Pesh. and Vulg., although not quite exactly by
it better by "the round of conflict, the circling
proelium. The Rabbis, Böttch., Del., etc., render
of an army" ["the conflict which moves round
about, like tumult of battle," Del.]; but Dill-
mann best of all, after the Arabic 17 by "on-
set, storming, rush of battle;" for this is the
only meaning that is well suited to Ty, pa-
ratus ad, as well as to the principal subject

the wicked. [It is doubtful whether the following description is to be limited to the evil-doer's anxiety of spirit, or whether it includes the realization of his fears in the events of his life. On the whole Delitzsch decides, and apparently with reason, that as the real crisis is not introduced until further on, and is then fully described, the language in vers. 21-24 is to be understood subjectively.-E.].

Ver. 21. Terrors (the plural 5 only here) sound [lit.: the sound of terrors] in his ears; in (the midst of) peace the destroyers fall upon him; or, if we regard not as a collective, but as singular (comp. ch. xii. 6): "the destroyer falls upon him." As to N with the accus. in the sense of "coming upon any one," comp. ch. xx. 22; Prov. xxviii. 22.

Ver. 22. He despairs (lit., he trusts not, he dares not) of returning out of the darkness (viz., of his misfortune, see vers. 25, 30), and he is marked out for the sword. 5, the same with "DY (which form is given by the K'ri and many MSS.) Part. pass. of 3, signifies literally, "watched, spied out," which yields a perfectly good sense, and makes both the middle rendering of the Participle, ("anxiously looking out for the sword"-so the Pesh. and Vulg.) and Ewald's emendation to 3, seem superfluous.

"Ah

Ver. 23. He wanders about for bread: where?" [i. e., shall I find it]? The meaning is obvious: in the midst of super-abundance he, the greedy miser, is tortured by anxieties concerning his food-a thought which the LXX. [also Wemyss and Merx], misunderstanding the short "where" [for which they read, "vulture"], have obscured, or rather entirely perverted by their singular translation: KaTaTÉTAKTαι de eiç oira yupuv: ["he wanders about for a prey for vultures," Wem.]. With comp. the similarly brief

איה emphatic interrogative

in ch. ix. 19.-He knows that close by him [lit. as in E. V., "ready at his hand"], , like 7 ch. i. 14 T, "near, close by," Ps. cxl. 6 (5); 1 Sam. xix. 3) a dark day (lit. day of darkness; comp. ver. 22) stands ready-to seize upon him and to punish him

, as in ch. xviii. 12).

Ver. 24. Trouble and anguish terrify him.

Second Strophe: Vers. 25-30. The cause of the irretrievable destruction of the wicked is his presumptuous opposition to God, and his immoderate greed after earthly possessions and enjoyments. The whole strophe forms a long period, consisting of a doubled antecedent (marked by the double use of 3, ver. 25 and ver. 27), and a consequent, vers. 29, 30.

Ver. 25. Because he has stretched out his hand against God (in order to contend with Him), and boasted himself against the remark above, at the beginning is not "for" Almighty. [As indicated in the introductory (E. V.), introducing a reason for what precedes, but "because," the consequent of which is not given until ver. 29 seq.], lit. "to show oneself a hero, a strong man ;" i. e., to be proud, insolent; comp. ch. xxxvi. 9; Is. xlii. 13.

Ver. 26 continues the first of the two antece

dents, so that is still under the regimen of

in ver. 25... has run against Him with (erect) neck (comp. ch. xvi. 14) with the thick bosses (lit. with the thickness of the bosses, comp. Ewald, 293, c) of his shields. In a the proud sinner is represented as a single antagonist of God, who, i. e., erecto colle, (comp. Ps. lxxv. 6 [5]) rushes upon Him; in ¿ he is become a whole army with weapons of offense and defense, by virtue of his being the leader of such an army.

Ver. 27. Introducing the second reason [for of the wicked.-Because he has covered his ver. 29 seq.], consisting in the insatiable greed face with his fatness (comp. Ps. lxxiii. 4-7), and gathered (here in the sense of a natural production or putting forth, as in ch. xiv. 9) fat upon his loins.

Ver. 28. And abode in desolated cities, houses which ought not to be inhabited,

-lit. 4 which they ought not to in ,לֹא יִשְׁבוּ לָמוֹ | here not of external, but of internal צַר וּמְצוּקָה

need and distress, hence equivalent to anguish habit for themselves;" the passive rendering of and alarm; comp. ch. vii. 11.-It overpower- [Gesen., Del.] is unnecessary, the meaning eth him (the subj. of 7 is either of the expression in any case being, (domus non

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habitanda) which are destined for ruins.-| cordance with the interpretation now prevalent We are to think of an insolent, sacrilegious, , (with the suffix D-) from a mocking, avaricious tyrant, who fixes his residence-whether it be his pleasure-house, or his root (which is not to be met with) 1, = : Arab. fortified castle-in what is and should remain nal, "to attain, to acquire," and so used in the according to popular superstition, an accursed sense of quæstum, lucrum (comp. the post-biblical and solitary place, among the ruins, it may be, i, uaμovac). A possession "bowing down to of an accursed city; Deut. xiii. 13-19; comp. the earth" is e. g. a full-eared field of grain, a Josh. vi. 26; 1 Kings xvi. 34; also what is re- fruit-laden tree, a load of grain weighing down ported by Wetzstein (in Delitzsch I. 267 n.) con- that in which it is borne, etc. In view of the cerning such doomed cities among modern ori- fact that all the ancient versions present other entals. Hirzel altogether too exclusively takes the reference to be to a city cursed in accord- readings than Dp-e. g., LXX.: Dhy [adopted ance with the law in Deut. (l. c.)-against which by Merx]; Vulg. Dh, radicem suam: Pesh. Löwenthal and Delitzsch observe quite correctly that what is spoken of here is not the rebuilding, words; Targ. ?, etc.—the attempts forbidden in that law, but only the inhabiting of of several moderns to amend the text may to such ruins. Possibly the poet may have had in some extent be justified. Not one of these howmind certain particular occurrences, views, or ever, yields a result that is altogether satisfaccustoms, of which we have no further knowledge. Perhaps we may even suppose some such widely- tory, neither Hupfeld's (non extendet in spread superstition as that of the Romans in re- terra caulam), nor Olshausen's ("their lation to the bidentalia to be intended. [Noyes, sickle does not sink to the earth"), nor BöttchBarnes, Renan, Rodwell, etc., introduce ver. 28 with "therefore," making it the consequence of er's ("their fullness"), nor Dillmann's what goes before. Because of his pride and, and he does not bow self-indulgence, the sinner will be driven out to dwell among ruins and desolations. To this view there are the following objections. (1) It deprives the language of the terrible force which belongs to it according to the interpretation given above. (2) It leaves the description of the sin referred to in ver. 27 singularly incomplete and weak. This would be especially noticeable after the climactic energy of the description of the sin previously referred to in vers. 25, 26. Having seen the thought in ver. 25 carried to such a striking climax in ver. 26, we naturally expect to find the thought suggested rather than expressed in ver. 27 carried to a similar climax in ver. 28. (3) After dooming the sinner to dwell an exile among "stone-heaps," (1), it seems a little flat to add, "he shall not be rich," if the former circumstance, like the latter, is a part of the penalty.-E.].

Vers. 29, 30. The apodosis: (Therefore) he does not become rich (los. xii. 9 [8]), and his wealth endures not (has no stability, comp. 1 Sam. xiii. 14), and their possessions (i. e., the possessions of such people) bow not down to the earth. This rendering is in ac

"As no one ventures to pronounce the name of Satan because God has cursed him (Gen. iii. 14), without adding 'alah el-la'ne. 'God's curse upon him!' so a man may not preume to inhabit places which God has appointed to desolation. Such villages and cities, which, according to tradition have perished and been frequently overthrown by the visitation of Divine judgment, are not uncommon on the borders of the desert. They use places, it is said, where the primary commandments of the religion of Abraham (Din Ibrahim) have been impiously transgressed. Thus the city of Babylon will never be colonized by a Semitic tribe, because they hold the belief that it has been destroyed on account of Nimrod's apostasy from God, and his hostility to His favored one Abraham. The tradition which has even been transferred by the tribes of Arabia Petræa into Islamism of the desolation of the city of Higr (or Medain Salih) on account of disobedience to God, prevents sny one from dwelling in that remarkable city, which consists of thousands of dwellings cut in the rock, some of which are richly ornamented; without looking round, and muttering prayers, the desert ranger hurries through, even as does the great procession of pilgrims to Mekka, from fear of incurring the punishment of God by the alightest delay in the accursed city."

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down ears of corn to the earth." [Carey suggests that there may be a transposition here, and that instead of h we should read

נמל

from

root "to cut;" the translation then being: "neither shall the cutting (or offset) of such extend in the earth." The verbal root found

only in Isa. xxxiii. 1 (7, Hiph. Inf. with Dagh. dirimens for 75) seems to signify perficere, to finish; hence E. V. here renders the noun "perfection." Bernard likewise "accomplishment, achievements." For the meaning "to spread, extend," is preferred by Good, Lee, Noyes, Umbreit, Renan, Con., Rodwell, etc. (E. V., "prolong"). The preposition

however suits better the definition "to bow down," ," which on the whole is to be preferred. -E.]

Ver. 30. He does not escape out of the darkness (of calamity, ver 22); a fiery heat [lit. a flame] withereth his shoots, and he passes away (D forming a paronomasia with the of the first member) by the blast of His [God's] mouth; comp. ch. iv. 9. In the second member the figure of a plant, so frequent throughout our book, previously used also by Eliphaz (comp. ch. v. 3, 25 seq.) [and already suggested here according to the above interpretation of 29 b], again makes its appearance, being used in a way very similar to ch. viii. 16 seq.; comp. also ch. xiv. 7. The parching heat here spoken of may be either that of the sun, or of a hot wind (as in Gen. xli. 6; Ps. xi. 6).

Third Strophe: Vers. 31-35. Describing more in detail the end of the wicked, showing that his prosperity is fleeting, and only in appearance, and that its destruction is inevitable.

Ver. 31. Let him not trust in vanity-he is deceived (y, Niph. Perf. with reflexive sense: lit. he has deceived himself) [Renan:

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