Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

If only You would hide me in Sheol and conceal me until Your anger has passed! If only You would appoint a time for me and then remember me!

“Job wishes to be kept hidden in the grave until God's wrath against him shall have passed away. So while God's wrath is visiting the earth for the abounding apostasy which is to precede the second coming, God's people shall be hidden against the resurrection…”

as water wears away the stones and torrents wash away the soil, so You destroy a man’s hope.

“The Hebrew order is more forcible: "Stones themselves are worn away by water." things which grow out of--rather, "floods wash away the dust of the earth."”

If his sons receive honor, he does not know it; if they are brought low, he is unaware.

“One striking trait is selected from the sad picture of the severance of the dead from all that passes in the world (Ec 9:5), namely, the utter separation of parents and children.”

He feels only the pain of his own body and mourns only for himself.”

“In the unseen world, Job in a gloomy frame anticipates, man shall be limited to the thought of his own misery.”

Both the gray-haired and the aged are on our side—men much older than your father.

“On our side, thinking with us are the aged. Job had admitted that wisdom is with them (Job 12:12). Eliphaz seems to have been himself older than Job; perhaps the other two were also (Job 32:6).”

Listen to me and I will inform you. I will describe what I have seen,

“In direct contradiction of Job's position (Job 12:6, &c.), that the lot of the wicked was the most prosperous here, Eliphaz appeals (1) to his own experience, (2) to the wisdom of the ancients.”

he will dwell in ruined cities, in abandoned houses destined to become rubble.

“The class of wicked here described is that of robbers who plunder "cities," and seize on the houses of the banished citizens (Isa 13:20). Eliphaz chooses this class because Job had chosen the same (Job 12:6). heaps--of ruins.”

It will be paid in full before his time, and his branch will not flourish.

“Literally, "it (the tree to which he is compared, Job 15:30, or else his life) shall not be filled up in its time"; that is, "he shall be ended before his time."”

For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of bribery.

“Rather, The binding together of the hypocrites (wicked) shall be fruitless [UMBREIT]. tabernacles of bribery--namely, dwellings of unjust judges, often reprobated in the Old Testament (Isa 1:23).”

Is there no end to your long-winded speeches? What provokes you to continue testifying?

“He retorts upon Eliphaz his reproach (Job 15:2). emboldeneth--literally, "What wearies you so that ye contradict?" that is, What have I said to provoke you? &c. [SCHUTTENS].”

But I would encourage you with my mouth, and the consolation of my lips would bring relief.

“Opposed to strengthening with the heart, that is, with real consolation. Translate, "I also (like you) could strengthen with the mouth," that is, with heartless talk: "And the moving of my lips (mere lip comfort) could console (in the same fashion as you do)" [UMBREIT].”

Surely He has now exhausted me; You have devastated all my family.

“But now--rather, "ah!" he--God. company--rather, "band of witnesses," namely, those who could attest his innocence (his children, servants, &c.). So the same Hebrew is translated in Job 16:8.”

You have bound me, and it has become a witness; my frailty rises up and testifies against me.

“But another "witness" arises against him, namely, his "leanness" or wretched state of body, construed by his friends into a proof of his guilt.”

His anger has torn me and opposed me; He gnashes His teeth at me. My adversary pierces me with His eyes.

“So God is represented (Job 10:16). who hateth me--rather, "and pursues me hard." Job would not ascribe "hatred" to God (Ps 50:22). mine enemy--rather, "he sharpens, &c., as an enemy" (Ps 7:12).”

Even now my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is on high.

“Also now--Even now, when I am so greatly misunderstood on earth, God in heaven is sensible of my innocence. record--Hebrew, "in the high places"; Hebrew, "my witness." Amidst all his impatience, Job still trusts in God.”

My friends are my scoffers as my eyes pour out tears to God.

“Hebrew, "are my scorners"; more forcibly, "my mockers--my friends!" A heart-cutting paradox [UMBREIT]. God alone remains to whom he can look for attestation of his innocence; plaintively with tearful eye, he supplicates for this.”

Surely mockers surround me, and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.

“UMBREIT, more emphatically, "had I only not to endure mockery, in the midst of their contentions I (mine eye) would remain quiet."”

Give me, I pray, the pledge You demand. Who else will be my guarantor?

“A presage of the "surety" (Heb 7:22), or "one Mediator between God and man" (see on Job 16:21). strike hands--"who else (save God Himself) could strike hands with me?" that is, be my security (Ps 119:122).”

If a man denounces his friends for a price, the eyes of his children will fail.

“The Hebrew for "flattery" is "smoothness"; then it came to mean a prey divided by lot, because a smooth stone was used in casting the lots (De 18:8), "a portion" (Ge 14:24).”

He has made me a byword among the people, a man in whose face they spit.

“My awful punishment makes my name execrated everywhere, as if I must have been superlatively bad to have earned it. aforetime . . . tabret--as David was honored (1Sa 18:6).”

My days have passed; my plans are broken off—even the desires of my heart.

“Only do not vainly speak of the restoration of health to me; for "my days are past." broken off--as the threads of the web cut off from the loom (Isa 38:12).”

They have turned night into day, making light seem near in the face of darkness.

“Or better for "short," the Hebrew "near"; "and the light of new prosperity should be near in the face of (before) the darkness of death"; that is, they would persuade me that light is near, even though darkness approaches.”

If I look for Sheol as my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness,

“Rather, "if I wait for this grave (Sheol, or the unseen world) as my house, and make my bed in the darkness (Job 17:14), and say to corruption," rather, "to the pit" or "grave," &c. Where then is my hope? [UMBREIT].”

where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?

“Who shall see it fulfilled? namely, the "hope" (Job 11:18) which they held out to him of restoration.”

Will it go down to the gates of Sheol? Will we go down together into the dust?”

“They--namely, my hopes shall be buried with me. bars-- (Isa 38:10). Rather, the wastes or solitudes of the pit (sheol, the unseen world). rest together--the rest of me and my hope is in, &c.”