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النشر الإلكتروني

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is not "to make a league with words" (Gesen. [Rodwell], etc.), nor again: "to affect wisdom with words" (Ewald), but to combine words, string them together like pearls." Instead of the simple accus. of the object, the more choice construction with instrum. is used; comp. the following member, also ver. 10; Jer. xviii. 16; Lam. i. 17 (Gesen. 138 [135] 1, Rem. 3). [When he says: I would range together, etc., he gives them to understand that their speeches are more artificial than natural, more declamations than the outgushings of the heart." Del.]-And shake my head at you; viz., as a gesture of scorn and malicious pleasure; comp. Ps. xxii. 8 [7]; Is. xxxvii. 22; Jer. xviii. 16; Sir. xii. 18;

Matt. xxvii. 39. It should be borne in mind

that what is hateful in such conduct is not to be charged upon Job (who indeed only states what

that the friends had shown any such malignity
as would be thus suggested. What Job says is,
that he could multiply words of cold formal sym-
pathy, that he could string out such words upon
them, or towards them; and again that he could
make with his head the customary oriental ges-
ture of condolence ( here like 7, see above,
ch. ii. 11 and comp. Gesen. sub. v.), this being
by implication all the sympathy he had received
from them.-E.]
the cheerlessness of his condition, as one for-
A lamentation concerning
saken and persecuted by God and men.

3. First Division.

6-17.

Vers.

the "miserable comforters," who leave him in First Strophe: vers. 6-11. From the friends, his helplessness, he turns to himself, who is so greatly in need of sympathy, because God has delivered him over to the scorn and the cruelty of the unrighteous.

Ver. 6. ["He bethinks himself whether he the lamentation of ch. iii. Job had given vent to will continue the colloquy further. Already in his grief, and solicited comfort. The colloquy

thus far had shown that from them he had no comfort to expect. Should he then speak further, in order to procure at least some alleviation of his grief? but he cannot anticipate even this as the result of his speaking. He must accordingly be silent; yet even then he is no better off." Dillm.]-If I speak (voluntative after DN, see Ew. 355, b) my grief is not assuaged; if I forbear (voluntative without DN, as in ch. xi. 17; Ps. lxxiii. 16, etc.), what departs from me, viz. of my pain? how much unexpressed answer would naturally be: Nought! of my pain goes away from me, do I lose? The On, comp. ch. xiv. 20.

Ver. 7. Nevertheless-now He hath ex

he could do if he had before him the friends, weak and miserable as he is now, and should then follow the promptings of the natural man), but on the friends, before whom Job here holds up as in a mirror the hatefulness of their own conduct. [In regard to the rendering of y by "against," and the explanation of as a gesture of scorn, see below on ver. 5] Ver. 5. Would [could] strengthen you with my mouth: i. e. with mere words, instead of with deeds of a love that wins the heart. [On the form DENN with Tsere shortened to Hhirik, see Green, 104, h.]-And the sympathy of my lips (T), commisseration, sympathy, only here; comp. the phrase, similar in sound, Day 2), "fruit of the lips," Is. lvii. 19) should assuage, scil. your grief. "to soothe, restrain, check," here without an obj. as in Is. lviii. 1. The following verse easily hausted me, viz. God, not the pain (283, ver. enables us to supply 2, as the object. [The 6), which the Vulg., Aben-Ezra, etc., regard as E. V., Wem., Bar., Elz., etc., render this as a contrast with ver. 4, as though Job, after there the subj. The particle, which belongs to the describing what he might do if they were in his whole sentence, signifies neither: "of a truth, yea place, describes here what, on the other hand, verily!" (Ew.) nor "only" [=entirely], as though he really would do. But there is nothing to it belonged only to (Hirz., Hahn, etc.), indicate such a contrast. Ver. 5 is most simply but it has here an adversative meaning, and and naturally the continuation of ver. 4.-The states, in opposition to the two previously menirony of the passage is most keen and cutting. tioned possibilities of speaking and being silent, If you were in my place, says Job, if your soul what is actually the case with Job; hence it were tried as mine is, I could speak windy words should be rendered "still, nevertheless," verum in abundance as you have done, I could string tamen: [Renan: Mais quoi! "He is absolutely them out one after another, and nod my head to incapable of offering any resistance to his pain, comfort: oh, yes! all such comfort-sympathy and care has also been taken that no solacing of the head, of the mouth, of the lips, I could word shall come to him from any quarter," Del. lavish upon you-that is cheap enough, as your See the next clause].-Thou hast desolated conduct shows-but as for the heart, that is all my circle. here not "rabble," as in quite another matter! It will be seen from ch. xv. 34, but sensu bono-circle of friends and this paraphrase of Job's language that a some- family dependents (Carey: all my clan), ["This what different view is taken of one or two mention of the family is altogether in place, seeexpressions, particularly in ver. 4, from that ing that the loss of the same must be doubly felt given above by Zöckler. It seems unnecessary by him now that his friends are hostile to him." and unnatural to suppose that Job would in ver. Schlott.]. The Pesh. reads "all my testimony" 4 describe himself as framing words against), i. e., all that witness in my behalf, all them, and indulging in gestures of malicious mockery, and then in ver. 5 as strengthening and soothing them with words-but nothing more. Moreover the expressions of ver. 4 would thus lose their point, there being no reason to suppose

my prosperity (so also Hahn among the moderns), to which however D is not particularly suitable. Note moreover the transition, bearing witness as it does to the vivid excite

ment of the speaker's feelings, from the declarations concerning God in the third person (which we find in the first member, and which appear again ver. 9 seq.), and the mournful plaintive address to Him here and in ver. 8, in which the description before us is directly continued.

Ver. 8. And hast seized me (not "Thou makest me wrinkled," Vulg., Luther [E. V., Lee, Rodwell] or "shrivelest me together," Del.-for Op signifies" to press together, to fasten firmly together;" comp. ch. xxii. 16. [Wordsworth attempts somewhat peculiarly to combine the two definitions: "Thou hast bound me fast with wrinkles, as with a chain"].-It is become a witness, viz., the fact that thou hast seized me; the circumstance that God makes him suffer so severely is-so at least it seems-a witness of his guilt. [This clause, taken in connection especially with the following parallelism, seems certainly to favor the rendering of the Vulg., E. V., etc." thou hast filled me with wrinkles." The witness against Job is naturally something which like his "leanness" is visible. The cor

rugation of the skin was a feature of elephantia

8is more marked even than the emaciation of the body, and would hardly be omitted in so vivid a description of his condition as Job here gives. The primary signification of "seizing," or "compressing" should not however be lost sight of; indeed it adds much to the terrible force of the representation to retain it, and, with Wordsworth, to combine the two definitions, only in a somewhat different way from his; the true conception being that God-who in ver. 12 is represented as seizing Job and dashing him in pieces, is here represented as seizing, compressing him, until his body is shriveled, crumpled up into wrinkles.-E.]. In opposition to Ewald, who changes into (=, see ch. vi. 2; xxx. 13), and translates accordingly : "and calamity seized me as a witness"-comp. Del. and Dillm. on the passage: [who object that it would leave without much of its force and emphasis, and that the construction would be too condensed and artificial].-And my leanness has appeared against me, accusing me to the face (speaking out against me, comp. ch. xv. 66). On consumption, emaciation, comp. Ps. cix. 24. The signification rests on a metaphor similar to that by virtue of which a dried-up brook is called a "liar" (ch. vi. 15 seq.).

TT

=

Ver. 9. His anger has torn and made war upon me; He has gnashed against me with His teeth; as mine enemy He has whetted His eyes against me. God, who is now again spoken of in the third person, is imagined as a ferocious beast of prey, who is enraged against Job. So above in ch. x. 16.-As to the "tearing," comp. Hos. vi. 1; the "making war," ch. xxx. 21; the "whetting" or "sharpening" of the eyes, Ps. vii. 13 [12]: also the acies oculorum of the Romans, and the modern expression, "to shoot a murderous look at any

one.

Ver. 10. Men also, like God, fall upon Job, as his enemies, resembling beasts of prey. They have opened wide their mouth against

(Isa.

me (a gesture of insolent mockery, as in Pe. xxii. 8 [7]; Jer. lvii. 4); with abuse (i. e., with abusive speech) they strike me on the cheeks (comp. Mic. iv. 14 [v. 1]; Lam. iii. 30; John xviii. 22; xix. 3); together they strengthen themselves against me, or again: they complete; fill themselves up [= fill up their ranks] against me, for on means "to gather themselves together to a xxxi. 4), a heap" not "to equip themselves with a full suit of armor," as Hirzel would explain, supplying 7.-The whole of this lamentation, which reminds us of Ps. xxii., is general in its form; it contemplates nevertheless the hostile attacks made by the friends on Job, as in particular the word " together" in the third member shows-in hearing which the friends could not help feeling that they were personally aimed at in the strong expressions of the speaker, even as he on his part must have had his sensibilities hurt by such expressions as those of Eliphaz in ch. xv. 16 (see on the passage).

Ver. 11. God delivers me (comp. Deut. xxiii. 16 [15]) to the unrighteous, and Casts me headlong into the hand of the wicked. Imperf. Kal. of (contracted from 10, Ges., 870 [368], Rem. 3). ["The preformative Jod has Metheg in correct texts, so that we need not suppose, with Ralbag, a similar in meaning to ." Del.], præcipitem me dat; comp. LXX. Eppipe and Symmachus évéẞahe.- in the first member, "the perverted one, the reprobate, the unrighteous," or again" the boy" [der Bube, "or the boyish, childish, knavish one"] as Del. explains it, (referring to ch. xix. 18; xxii. 11), is used collectively for the plur., as the parallel term D in b shows.

Second Strophe: Vers. 12-17. Continuation of the description of the cruel and hostile treatment he had received from God, notwithstanding his innocence.

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Ver. 12. I was at ease, and He then shattered me. secure, unharmed, suspecting no evil; comp. ch. xxi. 23; iii. 26.—7979, Pilp. of 5 with strong intensive signification-"to shatter, to crush in pieces;" so also the followinge, from 3, "to beat in pieces, to dash to pieces." [" He compares himself to a man who is seized by the hair of his head, and thrown down a precipice, where his limbs are broken. He probably alludes to some ancient mode of punishing criminals." Wemyss]. Observe the onomatopoetic element of these intensive forms, which furthermore are to be understood not literally or physically, but in a figurative sense of the sudden shattering of prosperity, and peace of soul.-And set me for a mark. he (from, Tnpeiv, like oкоTÓC from σKÉTTεODAI), target, mark, as in 1 Sam. xx. 20; Lam. iii. 12; comp. p above in ch. vil. 20.

Ver. 13 expands the figure in ch. xii. c.-His arrows whirred about me. ", not "his troops, his archers" (Rabb. [E. V., Noy., Con.,

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Car., Rod., Elz., etc.]), but according to the una- | ii. 1, 10; Ps. lxxxix. 18 [17], 25 [24]; xcii. 11 nimous witness of the ancient versions: "his [10]; etc., Luke i. 69-into the dust:-this arrows, darts" (from 7-7, 7, jacere, being a sign of his humiliation, of his consciousGen. xlix. 23; comp. Gen. xxi. 10). (He ness of the defeat, and of the deep sorrow which cleaves my reins without sparing, pours he has been called to endure. For this lowering out on the earth my gall (comp. Lam. ii. 11). of the horn into the dust of the earth is the diJob here describes more specifically the terrible rect opposite of " lifting up the horn" (Ps. effect of God's arrows, i. e., of the ailments in- lxxxiii. 3 [2] as a symbol of the increase of flicted on him by a hostile God (comp. ch. vi. 4, power and dignity. hy is with Saad., Roalso the well-known mythological representations of classical antiquity), representing in acsenm., Ew., Hirz., Dillm., etc., to be derived cordance with the Hebrew conception the noblest from hy, introire, of frequent use in the Aram. and most sensitive of the inner organs of the and Arab., and thus signifies "to stick into, to body as affected, namely the reins, and also the gall-bladder. In view of the highly poetic cha- dig into." If it were the Pil. of y," to act," racter of the description, it is not necessary to meaning accordingly" to abuse," or "to defile inquire whether he conceives of the (Targ., Pesch., Delitzsch [E. V., Schlott.] etc.), out pouring" of the gall as taking place inwardly, with the before the object would not be wanting; out being at all perceptible externally, or whether, with a disregard of physiological possibi-ferred to this is the translation-"I roll my horn comp. Lam. i. 22; ii. 20; iii. 51. To be prelity or probability, he represents it as something in the dust" (Umbr., Vaihing., Hahn), a renderthat is externally visible. It is moreover worthy ing which is etymologically admissible. of note that according to Arabic notions the "rupture of the gall-bladder" may really be pro-weeping. Ver. 16. My face is burning red with (instead of which we duced by violent painful emotions. Comp. Delitzsch on the passage; also his Biblical Psycho- ought perhaps with the K'ri to read the plural logy [p. 317, Clark]; also my Theol. Naturalis,, unless we explain the fem., like p. 618. in ch. xiv. 19, in accordance with Gesen., 146, [143], 3), Pualal of 7, an intensive passive form, expressing the idea of being exceedingly reddened, glowing red (comp. Lam. i. 20; ii. 11). [From the same root comes the name Alhambra, applied to the building from its color. See Delitzsch].-And on mine eyelashes is a death-shade, i. e., by reason of continuous weeping, and the weakening thereby of the power of sight, my eyes are encompassed by a gloom of night: [an explanation which Schlottmann characterizes as flat and prosaic. idea is rather that in Job's despondent mood he conceived of "the shadow of death" as gathering around. He had well-nigh wept himself out of life].

Ver. 14. He breaks through me breach

upon breach. 3, comp. ch. xxx. 14, here as accus. of the object, united to its cognate verb; comp. Gesen., 138 [ 135] Rem. 1.-He runs upon me like a mighty warrior. In this new turn of the comparison Job, and in particular his body, appears as a wall, or a fortress, which is by degrees breached by missiles and battering-rams, and which God himself assaults by storm.

Ver. 15. I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, i. e. I have girded around myself, and stitched together (about the loins) a closely fitting mourning garment of close hair (comp. p in Isa. iii. 24; xx. 2; xxxii. 11; 1 Kings xxi. 27; 2 Kings vi. 30, etc.). The "sewing upon the skin" is doubtless to be understood only figuratively of the laying on of a closely fitting garment, which it is not intended to lay off immediately. Possibly, indeed, there may be an allusion to the cracked swollen skin of one diseased with elephantiasis, in which the hair of the sackcloth (cilicium) must of necessity stick (see my Kritische Gesch. der Ascese, p. 82 seq.). [See also Art. "Sackcloth" in SMITH's Bib. Dict. "Job does not say of it that he put it on, or slung it around him, but that he sewed it upon his naked body; and this is to be attributed to the hideous distortion of the body by elephantiasis, which will not admit of the use of the ordinary form of clothes." Delitzsch]. In any case in referring to this stiff, almost dead skin, as a part of his fearfully distorted body, he chooses the term 77, which appears in Hebrew only here (though more common in Aram. and Arab.), and in contrast with y, the "sound, healthy skin," may be translated "hide;" comp. the Bipoa of the LXX.-And have lowered (lit. "stuck," see below) my horn-the symbol of power and of free manly dignity, comp. 1 Sam.

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Ver. 17. Although no violence is in my hands (or clings to them), and my prayer is pure.-Job emphasizes his innocence here in contrast not only with ver. 16, but with the whole description thus far given of the persecution which he had endured, vers. 12-16.used here, as in Is. liii. 9, as a conjunction, in the sense of "notwithstanding that, although," (Ewald, ? 222, b), not as a preposition, as Hirzel explains it (in spite of non-violence").

is

4. Second Division. A vivid expression of the hope of a future recognition of his innocence:

ch. xvi. 18-xvii. 9.

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the destruction of the temple itself." Delitzsch.
"According to the old belief no rain or dew
would moisten the spot marked by the blood of
a person murdered when innocent, or change its
blighted appearance into living green." Ewald].
The second member also expresses essentially
the same meaning: and let my cry have no
resting-place, i. e., let not the cry for ven-
geance arising from my shed blood (or the cry
of my soul poured out in my blood, Gen. ix. 4,
etc.), be stilled, let it not reach a place of rest,
before it appears as my ia (ch. xix. 25) to
deliver and avenge me. [Therefore in the
very God who appears to him to be a blood-
thirsty enemy in pursuit of him, Job neverthe-
less hopes to find a witness of his innocence :
He will acknowledge his blood, like that of
Abel, to be the blood of an innocent man. It is
an inward irresistible demand made by his faith
which here brings together two opposite prin-
ciples-principles which the understanding can-
not unite-with bewildering boldness. Job be-
lieves that God will even finally avenge the blood
which His wrath has shed, as blood that has
been innocently shed." Delitzsch].

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me under their protection, and attesting my innocence, I still direct to God a look of tearful entreaty that He would do justice, etc.-[“ An equally strong emphasis lies here on subj. and predicate: My friends' stands in contrast with God; my mockers' in contrast with my witness,' ver. 19; and finally also my mockers' in contrast with my friends." Schlottm.]. Ew., Dillm., etc., take the first member, less suitably, as assigning the reason for the second: "because my friends are become such as mock me, mine eye pours out tears to Eloah," etc.

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Ver. 21 states the object of the weeping (i. e., the yearning) look which he lifts up to God. This object is twofold: (1) That He would do justice to a man before God: lit. "that He would decide (ni, voluntative expressing the final end, as in ch. ix. 33) for the man against Eloah, or with Eloah (Dy as in Ps. lv. 19 [18]; xciv. 16 [15] of an opponent); i. e., that before His own bar He would pronounce me not guilty, that He would cease to misunderstand and to persecute me as an enemy, but would rather assist me to my right, and so appear on my side. (2) (That He would do justice) to the son of man against his friend, that He would justify me against my human friend ( distributively for 1), and set me forth as innocent— which would result immediately upon his justification before God's bar. For the interchange of "man" and "son of man" in poetic parallelism, comp. Ps. viii. 5. It is not necessary to adopt Ewald's suggestion (Jahrb. der bibl. Wissenschaft, IX. 38) to read D, instead of

TT

Ver. 19. Even now behold in heaven my witness, and my attestor (1, LXX. ovvioTwp, an Aram. synonym of, witness, comp. Gen. xxxi. 47) in the heights.-In regard to Dp as a synonym. of D'p, comp. ch. xxv. 2; xxxi. 2. y D, "even now," (not "now however," Ewald) sets the present condition of Job, apparently quite forsaken, but in reality still supported and upheld by God as a heavenly witness of his innocence, in contrast, in order to acquire a more suitable conwith a future period, when he will be again pub-struction for 'ɔin. licly acknowledged and brought to honor. This more prosperous and happy future he does not yet indeed realize so vividly as later in ch. xix. 25 seq. That of which he speaks here is only the contrast between his apparent forsakenness, and the fact that, as he firmly believes, God in heaven is still on his side. ["If his blood is to be one day avenged, and his innocence recog nized, he must have a witness of the same. And reflecting upon it he remembers that even now, when appearances are all against him, he has such a witness in God in heaven.” Dillm.].

66

Ver. 20. [The conduct of the friends in denying, nay in mocking his innocence, compels him to cling to this God in heaven." Dillm.].– They who mock me (lit., 'my mockers," with strong accent on "mockers") are my friends. ["It is worthy of remark that the word here used, melits, signifies also an interpreter, an intercessor, and is employed in that sense; below, ch. xxxiii. 23; comp. Gen. xlii. 23; 2 Chron. xxxii. 31; Is. xliii. 27; and some, as Professors Lee and Carey, have assigned that sense to the word here, My true interpreters are my friends;' and they suppose in this word, here and in xxxiii. 23, a prophetic reference to the Mediator. But the Auth. Ver. appears to be correct; and the similarity of the words serves to bring out the contrast between the unkindness of man, and the mercy of God." Words.]. To Eloah mine eye poureth tears: i. e., although my friends mock me, instead of taking

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The construction according to the common reading presents nothing that is objectionable, scarcely anything that is particularly harsh. The influence of the of the

= רעהו before

66 in re

first member extends forward to D (as in
ch. xv. 3), and the
spect to, against," supplies the place of the Dy
of the first member. It would be much harsher
were we, with Schlottmann, Ewald (in Comm.),
and Olsh. to translate the second member: "and
judges man against his friend," a rendering
which is condemned by the usage of the lan-
guage, for 'in with accus. of person never
signifies "to judge," but always "to punish,
reprove." ["Job appeals from God to God:
he hopes that truth and love will finally decide
against wrath.

Schlottmann aptly recalls the saying of the philosophers, which applies here in a different sense from that in which it is meant: Nemo contra Deum, nisi Deus ipse." Del. "The prayer of Job is fulfilled in ch. xlii. 7; and that too in a sense quite otherwise than that which Job had ventured to hope for, even in this life. This is again one of the passages where the poet permits his hero, in an exalted moment, to enjoy a presage of the issue." Dillm.] Concerning the theological significance of the wish here expressed by Job, that he might be justified by God before God as well as before men; comp. the Doctrinal and Ethical Remarks. Ver. 22. Giving the reason why Job longs to

be vindicated, arising from the fact that his end | ration="verily, truly." (2) D (or accord

is near, and that for him who has once died

ing to another reading term, formed from

66

is an abstract mockery, scoffing (not 'deception," as Hirzel renders it); to render it as a concrete term in the sense of "mockers" [E. V., Noyes, etc.], or "beguiled," is at variance with the laws governing the formation of Hebrew words (see Ew. 153, a; 179, a, b).

there is no prospect of a return to this life. [This, however, is not to be understood as a reason given why God should interpose speedily to vindicate him before his death. Rather the argument is drawn from the hopelessness of his physical condition. Death was sure and near; that recovery which the friends promised on condition of repentance was out of the question: hence if he is to be vindicated, it must be by(3) Dip is Inf. Hiph. with suffix, from God, who can do it when he is gone.]-For, which means in Hiph. "to make refracyears that may be numbered are coming on, and by a path without return shall I go hence. The thought is substantially the same as in ch. vii. 7-10; and x. 20 seq.—i

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, lit. “years of number" (Gen. xxxiv. 30; Ps. cv. 12), are years that may be numbered, i. e. a few years (LXX: črn åpnτá), by which we are naturally to understand those which still remain before his death, the remaining years of his life (not all the years of his life, as Hahn and Del. explain). For ♫ (in regard to the form, comp. on ch. xii. 6) can only mean: "they are coming on, they stand before me," not: " they are passing away" (transeunt, Vulg., etc.), nor: "their end is coming on" (Hahn, Del.). That Job here announces the sad issue in which the rapid and inevitably fatal course of the elephantiasis generally resulted, is shown by the conclusion of the discourse, ch. xvii. 11-16.

Ch. xvii. 1 [the chapter-division here being manifestly errroneous] continues the statement of the reason given in ch. xvi. 22. It consists of abrupt sob-like ejaculations of which it may be truly said with Oetinger that they form "the requiem, which Job chants for himself even while yet living."-My spirit is disturbed, so correctly most moderns, taking in the

sense of "the spirit or power." The translation: "my breath is corrupt," or "destroyed' (De Wette, Del. [E. V., Rod., Elz., Con., Ber.], etc.), is less suitable here to the connection, which requires, as the subject of Job's expression, not that single symptom of a short and fetid breath [which would be a much less conclusive indication that his days were numbered than others which he might have mentioned], referred to also in ch. vii. 15; xix. 17; but

requires rather some sign of the incipient dissolution of the whole psychical bodily organism, a failure of the vital principle.-My days are extinct (=1, ch. vi. 17, which some MSS. exhibit here also); graves await me [Rodney for me the tombs !]. Comp. the Arabic proverb: "to be a grave-companion (Ssâchib el-kubûr);" also the familiar saying of Luther: "to walk on the grave;" and the modern expression: "to stand with one foot in the grave."

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Ver. 2. Verily mockery surrounds me; and on their quarreling mine eye must dwell. So substantially Welte, Arnh., Del., Dillm. [Schlott., Con., Words.], whose rendering of this difficult verse is the most satisfactory; for (1) It is best to take -DN, as in ch. i. 11; xxii. 20; xxxi. 36, etc., as a formula of asseve

tory," to incite to strife, to contend with one. The word is written with Dagh. dirimens in D, comp. ix. 18; Joel i. 17, etc.—(4) 1, Jussive or Voluntative form of h, to lodge, to tarry (comp. ch. xix. 4; xxix. 19; xxxi. 32), is a pausal form for 1, which occurs also in Judg. xix. 20, the use of which in a non-pausal position seems to be purely arbitrary, or rests possibly on euphonic grounds (the liquids 7 and n in juxtaposition being treated as though they were gutturals: comp. Ewald, 141, b, Rem. 2). (5) The sense of the entire verse, according to the construction here given, is decidedly more suitable to the context: Of a truth it is mocking me (y, lit. "mockery is with me, befalls me") to force me, who am standing on the verge of the grave to confess a guilt from which I know myself to be free; and such hateful quarrelsome conduct it is that I must have continually before my eyes!-Other renderings are e. g. -a. That of the Pesh., Vulg., and recently of Hirzel, which takes in the sense of "deception, illusion." Thus Hirzel's rendering is: "If deception is not with me, then let them conb. That of Rosentinually henceforth quarrel.' müller: annon illusiones mecum, et in adversando eorum pernoctat oculus meus.-c. That of Ewald

(in part also of Eichhorn, Umbr.): "If only I

were not mocked and mine eye were not obliged to dwell," etc.-d. The rendering in part similar to the latter, of Vaih. and Heiligst.-"Oh, that mockery did not surround me! then could mine eye abide in peace with their contention!"

-e. That of Stickel and Hahn: "Or are there not around me those who are deluded? must

not mine eye dwell on their contention?"— [f. That of Renan: "May it please God that eye be never more afflicted with their quarrels!"] traitors might be far from me, and that mine

Second Strophe: vers. 3-9. Repetition of the yearning and trustful supplication to God as the only remaining attestor or witness of his innocence now remaining to him in view of the heartless coldness, nay the hostility of his hnman friends.-Oh, lay down [now], be Thou bondsman for me with Thyself! who else will furnish surety to me? The thought is not substantially different from that in ch. xvi. 21, only that the representation which there predominates of an adjudication in favor of Job's innocence is here replaced by that of pledging or binding one's self as security for it. For all the expressions of the verse are borrowed from the system of pledging. With the Imper. is to be supplied, as the fol

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