Adam Clarke

Now a word came to me secretly; my ears caught a whisper of it.

“Now a thing was secretly brought to me - To give himself the more authority, he professes to have received a vision from God, by which he was taught the secret of the Divine dispensations in providence; and a confirmation of the doctrine which he…”

If God puts no trust in His servants, and He charges His angels with error,

“Behold, he put no trust in his servants - This verse is generally understood to refer to the fall of angels; for there were some of those heavenly beings who kept not their first estate: they did not persevere to the end of their probation…”

They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk; unnoticed, they perish forever.

“They are destroyed from morning to evening - In almost every moment of time some human being comes into the world, and some one departs from it. Thus are they “destroyed from morning to evening.””

For resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple.

“For wrath killeth the foolish man - Foolish, silly, and simple, are epithets given by Solomon to sinners and transgressors of all kinds. Such parallelisms have afforded a presumptive argument that Solomon was the author of this book. See the preface.”

His sons are far from safety, crushed in court without a defender.

“His children are far from safety - His posterity shall not continue in prosperity. Ill gotten, ill spent; whatever is got by wrong must have God’s curse on it.”

He gives rain to the earth and sends water upon the fields.

“Who giveth rain upon the earth - The Chaldee gives this verse a fine turn: “Who gives rain on the face of the land of Israel, and sends waters on the face of the provinces of the people.””

So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth.

“So the poor - דל dal, he who is made thin, who is wasted, extenuated; hath hope - he sees what God is accustomed to do, and he expects a repetition of gracious dealings in his own behalf; and because God deals thus with those…”

For He wounds, but He also binds; He strikes, but His hands also heal.

“For he maketh sore, and bindeth up - Thus nervously rendered by Coverdale, For though he make a wounde, he giveth a medicyne agayne; though he smyte, his honde maketh whole agayne.”

In famine He will redeem you from death, and in battle from the stroke of the sword.

“In famine he shall redeem thee - The Chaldee, which understands this chapter as speaking of the troubles and deliverances of the Israelites in Egypt and the wilderness, renders this verse as follows: “In the famine of Egypt he redeemed thee from death; and in…”

You will laugh at destruction and famine, and need not fear the beasts of the earth.

“At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh - This most forcibly expresses the strongest security, and confidence in that security.”

“If only my grief could be weighed and placed with my calamity on the scales.

“O that my grief were thoroughly weighed - Job wished to be dealt with according to justice; as he was willing that his sins, if they could be proved, should be weighed against his sufferings; and if this could not be done, he wished that…”

For the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.

“The arrows of the Almighty - There is an evident reference here to wounds inflicted by poisoned arrows; and to the burning fever occasioned by such wounds, producing such an intense parching thirst as to dry up all the moisture in the system, stop all…”

Is tasteless food eaten without salt, or is there flavor in the white of an egg?

“Can that which is unsavoury - Mr. Good renders this verse as follows: Doth insipid food without a mixture of salt, yea, doth the white of the egg give forth pungency?”

It still brings me comfort, and joy through unrelenting pain, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

“Then should I yet have comfort - Instead of עוד od, Yet, three of Kennicott’s and De Rossi’s MSS. have זאת zoth, This. And This should be my comfort.”

Is my strength like that of stone, or my flesh made of bronze?

“Is my strength the strength of stones? - I am neither a rock, nor is my flesh brass, that I can endure all these calamities. This is a proverbial saying, and exists in all countries.”

A despairing man should have the kindness of his friend, even if he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

“To him that is afflicted pity should be showed from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty - The Vulgate gives a better sense, Qui tollit ab amico suo misericordiam, timorem Domini dereliquit, “He who takes away mercy from his friend, hath…”

Caravans turn aside from their routes; they go into the wasteland and perish.

“The paths of their way - They sometimes forsake their ancient channels, which is a frequent case with the river Ganges; and growing smaller and smaller from being divided into numerous streams, they go to nothing and perish - are at last utterly lost in…”

Do you intend to correct my words, and treat as wind my cry of despair?

“Do ye imagine to reprove words - Is it some expressions which in my hurry, and under the pressure of unprecedented affliction, I have uttered, that ye catch at?”

Like a slave he longs for shade; like a hireling he waits for his wages.

“Earnestly desireth the shadow - As a man who labors hard in the heat of the day earnestly desires to get under a shade, or wishes for the long evening shadows, that he may rest from his labor, get his day’s wages, retire to his…”

My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope.

“Swifter than a weaver’s shuttle - The word ארג areg signifies rather the weaver than his shuttle. And it has been doubted whether any such instrument were in use in the days of Job. Dr.”

He never returns to his house; his place remembers him no more.

“He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more - He does not mean that he shall be annihilated but that he shall never more become an inhabitant of the earth.”

Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep, that You must keep me under guard?

“Am I a sea, or a whale - “Am I condemned as the Egyptians were who were drowned in the Red Sea? or am I as Pharaoh, who was drowned in it in his sins, that thou settest a keeper over me?” Targum.”

then You frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions,

“Thou sparest me with dreams - There is no doubt that Satan was permitted to haunt his imagination with dreadful dreams and terrific appearances; so that, as soon as he fell asleep, he was suddenly roused and alarmed by those appalling images.”

I loathe my life! I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.

“I loathe it; I would not live alway - Life, in such circumstances, is hateful to me; and though I wish for long life, yet if length of days were offered to me with the sufferings which I now undergo, I would despise the offer…”

If I have sinned, what have I done to You, O watcher of mankind? Why have You made me Your target, so that I am a burden to You?

“I have sinned; what shall I do - Dr. Kennicott contends that these words are spoken to Eliphaz, and not to God, and would paraphrase them thus: “You say I must have been a sinner. What then?”