صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

:

this place Job, supported by the consciousness of his innocence, repudiates and tramples under foot. Would He in omnipotence then contend with me? Nay! He would only regard me: i. e., only give heed to me (D' scil. ; comp. ch. iv. 20; here in union with to express the cleaving of the Divine regard to him, comp., ch. vi. 28): only grant me a hearing, and as the result thereof acquit me. 1,"nothing but;" intensive; the very thing that He would do, hence the thing that He would assuredly do]. To render the Imperfect verbs

and Das expressive of a wish: "shall He contend with me?" i. e., shall I wish, that He would contend with me? (Hirzel, Ew., Dillm., etc.), is altogether too artificial, and not at all required by the connection. [The E. V., Bar., Carey, supply "strength" (5) after D: God, so far from using His power to crush Job, would strengthen him to plead his cause. But the ellipsis of is already justified by ch. iv. 20, and the antithesis thus obtained between a and b is more direct and natural.-E.].

Ver. 7. Then (D as in ch. xxxv. 12; Ps. xiv. 5; lxvi. 6, and often in a temporal sense; then, when such a judicial interposition of God should take place) would a righteous man plead (lit., "be pleading," П, partic.) with Him: i. e., it would be shown that it is a righteous man who pleads with him; and I should forever escape my Judge; i. e., by virtue of this my uprightness. he is, like

xx. 20, intensive of Kal.

ch.

[ocr errors]

Vers. 8, 9. The joyful prospect is suddenly swept away by the thought that God is nowhere, in no quarter of the world to be found.-Yet (, "yet behold," in an adversative sense, as in ch. xxi. 16) if I go eastward, He is not there, etc. DP ("toward the front, toward the east") and (toward the rear, = toward the west," comp. ch. xviii. 20), refer to the eastern and western quarters of the heavens, even as the following "left" and "right" refer to the northern and southern.-If He works northward, I behold (Him) not; if He turns southward I see it not. "toward the left" is an adverbial local clause, qualifying in, as also ', qualifying The former verb expresses its customary meaning: "to work, to be active, efficient," which suits here very well (comp. ch. xxviii. 26), so that every different rendering, as e. g., taking "to take His way" (Blumenfeld), or" to hide Himself" (Umbreit), or = "to incline Himself, to turn Himself" (Ewald), seems uncalled for. On the other hand the common signification of "to veil Himself," is less suitable in b [so E. V., Lee, Con., Ber., Rod., Elz., etc.], than the signification "bending, turning aside" adopted by Saadia, Schultens, Ewald, Delitzsch, etc., after the Arabic. If this latter definition deserves here the preference, there is

[ocr errors]

the less probability that the passage contains any reference to the 17, (“the chambers of the South," ch. ix. 9), or, generally speak. ing, to any celestial abode of God as set forth in heathen theologies or cosmogonies. Rather does the poet conceive of God as omnipresent, as similar description (vers. 8-10). [Gesenius and much so as the poet of the 139th Psalm, in his Carey translate b: "He veileth the South, etc.," but less appropriately, the construction of ? being evidently the same with y, which is unquestionably adverbial.-E.]

Third Strophe: vers. 10-13. The reason why Job's innocence, He nevertheless will not abanGod withdraws Himself: although He knows don His purpose, once formed, not to allow Himself to be found by Him. ["He conceals Himself from him, lest He should be compelled to acknowledge the right of the sufferer, and to withdraw His chastening hand from him." Delitz.]

Ver. 10. For He knows well my accustomed way.- 17, lit. the way with me," i. e., the way which adheres to me, which is steadfastly pursued by me (comp. Ps. cxxxix. 24; Ew., 287 c), or: "the way of which I am conscious" ["which his conscience (ovvidno) approves (σvuuаprvpei)"], as Delitzsch explains, referring to ch. ix. 35; xv. 9.-If He should prove me (, an elliptical conditional clause; comp. Ewald, ? 357, b), I should come forth as gold, i. e., out of His crucible; a very strong and bold declaration of his consciousness of innocence, for which Job must hereafter (ch. xlii. 6) implore pardon.

Ver. 11. My foot hath held firm to His step (in, as elsewhere P, Ps. xvii. 5; Prov. v. 5) [" The Oriental foot has a power of grasp and tenacity, because not shackled with shoes from early childhood, of which we can form but little idea." Carey]: His way I have kept, and turned not aside. DN, Jussive Hiph. from, in the intransitive sense of deflectere, as in Ps. cxxv. 5; Is. xxx. 11.

IT'

Ver. 12. The commandment of His lips I have not departed from it.-, intransitive, like in the verse preceding. In regard to the construction (antecedent placing of a nominative absolute) comp. ch. iv. 6. More than my (own) law I have observed the saying of His mouth; have accordingly set them far above all that I have, of my own will, desired or prescribed for myself. [Bernard explains the preposition here to mean: "by reason of my rule," i. e., by reason of my having made it a rule. This however obscures the striking contrast between ' and `-` E.]. With P we may compare the law in the members" warring against the Divine law, Rom. vii. 23. [E. V. takes P, as in Gen. xlvii. 22; Prov. xxx. 8, in the sense of one's

66

allowance of food;" Ewald also translates by "Gebühr" ("that which as a distinguished rich man I have the right to require in my relations to other men, and my claims upon them "). The consideration of Job's greatness and power should be borne in mind with the rendering

"law." The "law" which Job had ever held subordinate to the Divine precepts was the will of a prince.-E.]. "to lay up, preserve," is here substantially equivalent with, comp. Ps. cxix. 11; in view of which parallel passage it is not necessary with the LXX. instead of p to read ΡΕΞ, ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ μον έκρυψα ῥήματα αὐτοῦ.

TV:

Ver. 13. Nevertheless He remaineth (ever) the same, and who will turn Him: viz., from His purpose; comp. ch. ix. 12; xi. 10. , not: "He remaineth by one thing" (Hirzel, Del.) [Lee, Noyes, Carey], for this would have been expressed by the neuter form (comp. ch. ix. 22); but the is essentiæ (Gesen. 154 [3 151] 3, a), and the thought expressed is that of the unchangeableness, the constancy of God (not the oneness, or the absolute superiority of God, as the Vulg., Targ., Starke, who refers to Gal. iii. 20, Schultens, Ewald, Schlottmann, [Ges., Ber., Rod., Elz.] explain, but against the context. With b compare the well-known expression: "He spake, and it was done, etc.," Ps. xxxiii. 9. [The unchangeable purpose of God of which Job here speaks is evidently the purpose to inflict suffering on him, a purpose to which He inflexibly adheres, notwithstanding He knows Job's integrity, and finds through His crucible that the sufferer is pure gold.-E.].

Fourth Strophe: vers. 14-17. Truly (as in ch. xxii. 26), He will accomplish my destiny. P, with suffix of the object, means here that which has been decreed, ordained concerning me. And much of a like kind is with Him-i. e., "has been determined by

not able to strike me dumb (with horror); only the thought of God can do this, who with His incomprehensible decree stands behind this my suffering! Observe the significant contrast be

of מִפָּנָיו of this ver. and the מִפְנֵי־חֹשֶׁךְ tween the

ver. 15 a; as well as moreover the antithetic relation, which obtains between this passage and seemed not to mark at all the terrible darkness the statement of Eliphaz in ch. xxii. 11 that Job of his misery. Either of these retrospective references of the passage is lost sight of if, with most of the ancients (LXX., Vulg., Luth.) [E. V. Ges., Scott, Noyes, Ber., Ren., Rod., Elz.] we render: "because I was not cut off (, deleri, perire, as in ch. vi. 17) before the darkness

came, and He has not covered the darkness from my face" [i. e., has not covered me in the grave, so that I might never have faced this suffering]. The signification: "to become dumb, to be brought to silence," is the only one that is suitable here; we should then have to think (with Delitzsch, etc.) of an inward destruction by terror and confusion.

3. Second Division: ch. xxiv. An extended description of the many incomprehensible things in what God does as ruler of the universe, beginning with the many instances in which He permits the innocent and defenceless to be oppressed and persecuted by their powerful ene

mies vers. 1-12.

Fifth Strophe: vers. 1-4. Why are times not reserved by the Almighty ?-i. e. times of reckoning with good and evil; judicial terms, at which He displays His retributive justice. In regard to the use of 153,"reserving" [storing up] in the sense of "appointing, fixing," comp. ch. xv. 20; xxi. 19. The question is of course so intended as to require no answer, or a negative one. So also in the second member: and do His friends (lit. "His knowers" [acquaint

Him, lies in His purpose," (comp. ch. ix. 35: x. 13, xv. 9). The "much of that kind" spoken of refers not specifically to Job's sufferings (Umbreit, Delitzsch, etc.), as rather to all that is analogous thereto, to all decrees of a like charac-ances], they who are His, who know Him, and ter regarding men in general.

Ver. 15. Therefore do I tremble (lit. "I am terrified, troubled") before His face; if I consider it, I am afraid before Him.

[ocr errors][merged small]

He them, comp. ch. xviii. 21; Ps. xxxvi. 11 [10]) not see His days?-The "days" of God here are His judgment days, the days in which He reveals Himself in judicial rigor against his enemies, and in beneficent mercy toward His holy ones (comp. Ezek. xxx. 3, also the expression, the "days of the Son of Man" in Luke xvii. 22). This verse also seems to contain a retrospective reference to the last discourse of Eliphaz, especially to ch. xxii. 19; by the ancients, moreover, who were troubled more particularly about the D', "terms, judicial periods," it was variously misunderstood, and erroneously translated. [The construction adopted by E. V., Con., etc.: "Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know Him not see His days?" is a less na

Ver. 16. And God hath made my heart faint [lit. "soft"] ( Hiph. from 12, Deut. xx. 3, etc.), and the Almighty has confounded me. The emphasis rests in the subjects and, which are purposely placed first in both members. It is God Himself, who by His incomprehensibly harsh and stern treat-tural and simple rendering of the original than ment has plunged him in anguish and terror; his suffering considered in itself by no means exerts such a crushing influence upon him (see the vers. following).

Ver. 17. For I am not dumb before the darkness, nor yet before myself whom thick darkness has covered—i. e., the darkness of my calamity (comp. ch. xxii. 11), and my own face and form darkened and disfigured by my sufferings (comp. ch. xix. 13 seq.) are

that given above. Conant objects that "this question is not pertinent here. The point of inquiry is not, why are such times of retribution not appointed by God; but why, if they are appointed by Him, as alleged, do not good men witness them?" Job however does deny, by implication, that there is any retribution, or time reserved for it, with the Almighty. The phenomena of human life, he argues, indicate that God cares not how men sin, or suffer. The

second member of the verse puts the thought of the first in a still more striking light. The indications of retributive justice in the administration of the world, are such that not even God's familiars, who are in His secret, can discern the days whereon they occur.-E. ].

Ver. 2. Landmarks they remove [or, are removed; vb. impersonal] flocks, they plunder, and feed. From this point on begins the specific description of the many deeds of violence, oppression and persecution permitted by God. The vers. immediately following (3, 4) describe the wicked agents who commit such deeds, vers. 5-8 the wretched ones who suffer from them, and thence on interchangeably, now the persecutors and now the persecuted, the verbs used being put in the 3d person plural

Perfect. In respect to the wickedness of removing landmarks, (=p, from 10) comp. Deut. xix. 14; xxvii. 17; Prov. xxii. 28; xxiii. 10. In regard to the plundering and carrying off of herds, comp. ch. xx. 19. ["They steal flocks, .e., they are so bare-faced, that after they have stolen them, they pasture them openly." Delitzsch].

Ver. 3. 3, "to drive away," as in Is. xx. 4; an, "to distrain, to take as a pledge" as in Ex. xxii. 25; Deut. xxiv. 6; comp. below ver. 9 (whereas on the other hand in ch. xxii. 6 the word is used in a somewhat different sense). [The ass of the orphan, and the yoke-ox of the widow are here referred to as the most valuable possession, and principal dependence of those unfortunate ones.-E.].

Ver. 4. The poor they thrust out of the way-i. e., out of the way, in which they have the right to walk, into roadless regions (comp. in a similar sense in Amos v. 12). All together (as in ch. iii. 18) the wretched of the land must hide themselves. So according to the K'ri: y, while the K'thibh would, according to Ps. lxxvi. 10; Zeph. ii. 3 designate the "afflicted," the "sufferers" of the land, which seems less suitable here. The Pass. En denotes what these unfortunate ones are compelled to do; comp. ch. xxx. 7.

Sixth Strophe; vers. 5-8. Description of the miserable condition into which the oppressed and persecuted are brought by those wicked ones (not of another class of evil-doers apart from those previously spoken of, as ancient exegesis for the most part assumed, and as latterly Rosenm., Umbr., Vaih. [Lee, Barnes, Carey, Scott, etc.] explain). As is evident from the more extended description in ch. xxx. 1-8 of the unsettled, vagabond life of such unfortunates, the poet has here before his eyes the aborigines of the lands east of the Jordan, who were driven from their homes into the desert, possibly the remnant of the ancient Horites [cave-dwellers]; comp. what is said more in detail below on ch. xxx. Behold, wild asses in the wilderness (i. e. as wild asses; comp. ch. vi. 5; xi. 12; xxxix. 5 seq.), they go forth in their daily work (lit."work" comp. Ps. civ. 23), seeking after prey (7, booty, prey, a living, as in Prov. xxxi. 15) ["from 79 in the

primary signification decerpere describes that which in general forms their daily occupation as they roam about. The idea of waylaying is not to be connected with the expression." Del.]; the steppe [y, the wide, open, desert plain] is to them (lit. to him," viz., to each one of them), [or "to him as father of the company," Del., or possibly the sing. is used to avoid the concurrence of on with on immediately following: Hirzel] bread for their children-(D' as in ch. i. 19; xxix. 5) ["the steppe, with its scant supply of roots and herbs, is to him food for the children; he snatches it from it, it must furnish it to him "

"T

(Del.) thus accounting for the use of ]. A striking description of the beggar, vagabond gipsies, or South-African Bushmen of to-day. life of these troglodytes, the precursors of the [Of the D', onagri (Kulans), with which these are compared, Delitzsch says: "Those cult to be caught; which in their love of freedom beautiful animals, which, while young, are diffiare an image of the Beduin, Gen. xvi. 12; in their untractableness an image of that which cannot be bound, ch. xi. 12; and from their roaming about in herds in waste regions, are here an image of a gregarious vagrant, and freebooter kind of life." Del.]

Ver. 6. In the field they reap (so according to the K'ri ; the K'thibhp would be rendered by some such expression as "they make for a harvest") the cattle-fodder

[ocr errors]

, as in ch. vi. 5, mixed fodder for the cattle, farrago]; lit. "his cattle fodder, i. e. that of the y mentioned in b. [Most explain this to mean that these miserable hirelings seek to satisfy their hunger with the fodder grown for the cattle. Delitzsch on the ground that “ does not signify to sweep together, but to reap steal why did they not seize the better portion in an orderly manner; and if they meant to of the produce?" supposes that the "rich evildoer hires them to cut the fodder for his cattle, but does not like to entrust the reaping of the better kinds of corn to them." This view, however, seems less natural than the former, and less in harmony with the parallelism. See below on b.-E.]. And they glean the vineyard of the wicked. ph serotinos fructus colligere (Rosenm.), to glean the late-ripe fruit, e. stealing it. The meaning can scarcely be that this was done in the service of the rich evil-doer, in which case the verb y racemari would rather have been used (against Delitzsch).

i.

Ver. 7. Naked (Dy, adverbial accusative, as in ver. 10; comp., ch. xii. 17, 19) they pass the night without clothing, a lit. "from the lack of," comp. ver. 8 b. and ver. 10. Ver. 8.

And shelterless (from lack of shelter) they clasp the rock.-pan, they crouch beneath it as their shelter. Comp. the "embrace" the rock, in that shivering they phrase, "embracing the dunghill” (mezabil), Lam. iv. 5.

Ver. 11. Between their walls (hence under the oil (7, Hiph. denom., only here); their strict supervision) they must press out they tread the wine-vats, and suffer thirst (while so engaged-Imperf. consec. comp. Ewald, 342, a). A further violation of the law that the mouth of the ox must not be muzzled.

Seventh Strophe: vers. 9-12. Resuming the | Prov. viii. 20). Taking it in this sense here, description of the tyrannical conduct of those the subject is naturally "the poor;" and in men of power described in vers. 2-4. They the second member is simply "to bear, not "to tear the orphan from the breast.-There take away from."-E.] the same as T, as also in Is. lx. 16; lxvi. 11. Correctly therefore the LXX.: and pasto whereas to render in its customary signification of "destruction, ruin " (as e. g. by Ramban, etc.) ["from the shattered patrimony"], yields no satisfactory meaning. The act of tearing away from the breast is conceived of as the violent deed of harsh creditors, who would satisfy their claims by bringing up the orphan children as slaves. And what the miserable one has on they take away as a pledge.— A tenable meaning, and one that will agree well with ver. 10 is obtained only by regarding y as an elliptical expression for : "and what is on the miserable one," i. e. What he wears, his clothing (Ralbag, Gesen., Arnh., Vaih., Dillmann) [Rod., Bernard, Noyes]. With the thought may then be compared Mic. ii. 9; in respect to an see above on ver. 3. The other explanations which have been given are less suited to the connection, if not absolutely impossible, such as: "they take a pledge above [beyond the ability of] the sufferer" (Hirzel); they take for a pledge the suckling (of the poor") (Kamphausen) [Elzas]; "with the poor they deal basely," or "knavishly" (Umbr., Del.), which latter rendering however would make it seem strange that the verb has only a short while before been used twice (ver. 3, and ch. xxii. 6) in the sense of distraining. [To which add Dillmann's objection that this interpretation seems "colorless," out of place in the series of graphic, concrete touches of which the description is composed. It may also be said of the explanation of E. V. Ewald, Schlott., Renan, Conant, etc., "they impose a pledge on the sufferers," that it is less vivid than that adopted above. It must be admitted on the other hand that the assumption that by is somewhat doubtful.-E.].

[ocr errors]

=

Ver. 12. Out of the cities the dying groan.-So according to the reading 'n (Pesh., 1 Ms. of de Rossi's, and some of the older editions), which word indeed elsewhere means "the dead," but which here, as the parallel of the following ("wounded, pierced to death," comp. Ezek. xxvi. 15; Jer. li. 22) may very well be taken to mean the dying, those who utter the groaning and rattling of the death struggle [see Green, 266, 2, a]. So correctly Umbreit, Ew., Hirz., Vaih., Stick., Heiligst., Dillmann [Schlott., Renan, Noyes. Others (Carey, Elzas, etc.) in the weaker sense: "mortals."] The usual reading D', "men," yields a suitable rendering only by disregarding the masoretic accentuation, and connecting this D' as subj. with p (so Jer., Symmachus, translated not by the colorless and indefinite Theod.). In that case, however, it should be term "people" [Leute] (Hahn, etc.) but by "men [Männen, viri], warriors," and understood (with Del.) of the male population of a city, "whom a conqueror would put to the sword." This however would remove the discourse too far out of the circle of thought in which it has hitherto removed. [According to the Mesor. punctuations D'ny would be "out of an inhabited, thickly populated city," a thought which has no place in the connection. Gesenius, followed by Conant, takes "y (II Lex.) in the sense of "anguish :" "for anguish do the dying groan." But the second member:

cries

"and the soul of the wounded
out," brings up before us a scene of blood, in-
volving the slaying of a multitude, for which we
should have been unprepared without the men-
tion of the "city" in the first member.-E.].
Yet God regards not the folly !-
lit. ["insipidity], absurdity, insulsitas (chap. i.
22), a contemptuous expression which seems
very suitable here, serving as it does to describe
tersely the violence of the wicked, mocking at
the moral order of the universe, and still remain-

[ocr errors]

Vers. 10-12 again bring into the foreground as subject those who are maltreated by the proud oppressors. These are however no longer represented as the wretched inhabitants of steppes or caves, but as poor serfs on the estates of the rich, and are thus represented as being in inhabited cities and their vicinity. Naked they (the poor) slink about, without clothing.Comp. ver. 7, and in respect to 1, "to slink," see ch. xxx. 28. And hungry they bearing unpunished. The punctuation, "prayer, the sheaves-i. e. for the rich, whose hired service they perform, who however allow them to go hungry in their service, and thus become guilty of the crying sin of the merces retenta laborum (Deut. xxv. 4; 1 Tim. v. 18, etc.). [The English translators, misled probably by the Piel,

, which they took to be transitive, have made the "oppressors" of the vers. preceding the subject of ver. 10. however is always "to walk about, to go to and fro" (so also in

supplication" (Pesh., some MSS.) [Con., Noyes, Good, Elzas], may also be properly passed by without consideration. In regard to the absolute use of D (supply a, comp. ch. xxii. 22), "he regards not," see ch. iv. 20; Is. xli. 20; and especially Ps. 1. 23, where, prethe accus. of the object. [The rendering of cisely as here, the expression is construed with E. V.: "yet God layeth (=imputeth) not folly to them," is not essentially different, but is less

expressive. Oppression ravages the earth; in the wilderness, among rocks and caves, in fields and vineyards, in villages and cities, men suffer, groan, die—and all this chaotic folly, this dark anomaly, this mockery of the Divine order-God heeds it not!-E.]

they have no fellowship with it, as children of night and of darkness. The rendering of the Targ. and of some of the Rabbis (approximately also of the Vulg.) [also of E. V.]: "which (houses) they had marked for themselves in the daytime," is opposed by the fact that Dлn sig4. Second Division: Second Half: vers. 13-25. nifies always obsignare, never designare; comp. Continuation of the preceding description, inch. xiv. 17; xxxvii. 7. which special prominence is given to those evil- Ver. 17. For to them all deep darkness doers who commit their crimes in secret, and is morning; i. e. when the deepest darkness escape for a long time the divine punishment, of the night (n, comp. ch. iii. 5) begins, which surely awaits them. then they enter upon their day's work [the Eighth Strophe: vers. 13-17. Those (drawing on of the night is to them what dayemphatically contrasting the present objects of the description, as a new class of evil-doers, with those previously mentioned) are rebels against the light, or: "are become rebels," etc.; for so may the clause with essential, comp. ch. xxiii. 13) be taken, unless we prefer to explain: "are become among apostates from the light," i. e. have acquired the nature of such (Del., Dillm.) [in either case ' is not the mere copula, but expresses a process of becoming]. "apostates, revolters from the light, enemies of the light," are essentially the same, as "children of the night" (Rom. xiii. 12; 1 Thess. v. 5; Eph. v. 8, etc.Will not know its ways; i. e. the ways of the light, for it is more natural to refer the suf

,apostates מרדי-אור

break is to others]-a striking characteristic of the Epya Tov OKÓTOUÇ, in which these evil-doers engage. Umbreit and Hirzel [and so E. V. Ber., Con.] unsuitably take not Л, but på as subject: "the morning is to them at once Against this explanation it deep darkness."

T:

may be urged that means not "at once," but as in ch. ii. 11; ix. 32, etc., "all together, all in a body."-Because they know the terrors of deep darkness; i. e. are familiar with them, as other men are with the open day; comp. ver. 16 c; ch. xxxviii. 16. The sing. again makes its appearance here [, lit. for he (or one) knows," etc.], because stress is laid on the fact that every member of this wicked

than band has this familiarity with the darkness of אור to נְתִיבוֹתָיו as well as in דְרָכָיו fix in

to "God."

Ver. 14. At the dawn (ix, sub lucem, cum diluculo, toward the break of day, before it is yet broad daylight) the murderer riseth up. П, one who makes a trade of murder, who kills to steal, like the English garotter; for the wealthy oppressor is no longer (down to ver. 18) the subject of the discourse.-[He slays the poor and needy: because of their defenceless condition; not of course for plunder, but to gratify his bloodthirsty disposition.]-And in the night he acts like a thief, or: "he becomes as the thief," i. e. in the depths of night, when there is no one to cross his path, he plies the trade of a petty, common thief, committing burglary, etc. For the Jussive instead of, comp. above ch. xviii. 12; xx. 23, etc. [poetic form]; and for in, instead of

nin, ch. xxiii. 9.

-T

Ver. 15. And the adulterer's eye watches , observare, to be on the watch for, to lurk for) the twilight, i. e. the evening twilight, before the approach of which he does not ply his craft; comp. Prov. vii. 9. here crepusculum; see above on chap. iii. 9-And puts a veil over the face: lit. "and lays on a covering of the face," i. e., some kind of a veil;hardly a mask, of which oriental antiquity had no knowledge; comp. Delitzsch on the passage.

Ver. 16. They break in the dark into houses; lit. "he," or "one breaks in;" the indefinite subj. of, is, as the plurals in the following members show, an entire band of thieves. They, who by day keep themselves shut up, know not the light, i. e.

night. [According to the rendering of E. V.,
Hirzel, etc., here rejected, the meaning would be
that morning or daylight would bring terror to
these evil-doers, the fear i. e. of being detected
and condemned. In the second member
would then be antecedent, either general:
"when one can discern" (Con.), or particular:
"if one know them" (E. V.) and by na
the consequent "terrors of death-shade!" The
other rendering, however, has on the whole the
advantage of greater simplicity, and agreement
with usage and the context.-E.]

Ninth Strophe: vers. 18-21. The judgment thus far described. This judgment Job describes which will overtake the wicked who have been

here proleptically, for in vers. 22-24 a he returns once again to their haughty, insolent conduct before the judgment comes, in order to bring out the thought that a long time usually elapses

before it overtakes them.

This strophe sets

forth, in the first place, and this intentionally in strong language, which in the mouth of Job is quite surprising, that a grievous punishment and certain destruction infallibly awaits them; but that such destruction, for the most part, is strophe, which, however, in ver. 24 again long delayed, is maintained in the following resumes the description of the destruction. The language does not permit us with the LXX., Vulg., Pesh., Eichh., Dathe, Umbr., Vaih, etc., to take these verses in an optative sense, as a description of the punishment, which ought to befal evil-doers: thus at the outset in ver. 18 we have NP, not N ; and so throughout every sign of the optative form of speech is wanting. It is possible, but the same is not indicated with sufficient clearness by the author,

« السابقةمتابعة »