Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Is it for your reverence that He rebukes you and enters into judgment against you?

“Is the punishment inflicted on thee from fear of thee, in order to disarm thee? as Job had implied (see on Job 7:12; Job 7:20; and Job 10:17). will he enter . . . into judgment?--Job had desired this (Job 13:3, 21).”

Is not God as high as the heavens? Look at the highest stars, how lofty they are!

“Eliphaz says this to prove that God can from His height behold all things; gratuitously inferring that Job denied it, because he denied that the wicked are punished here. height--Hebrew, "head of the stars"; that is, "elevation" (Job 11:8).”

But it was He who filled their houses with good things; so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.

“"Yet" you say (see on Job 21:16) that it is "He who filled their houses with good"--"their good is not in their hand," but comes from God. but the counsel . . . is--rather, "may the counsel be," &c.”

‘Surely our foes are destroyed, and fire has consumed their excess.’

“The triumphant speech of the pious. If "substance" be retained, translate, rather as the Septuagint, "Has not their substance been taken away, and . . . ?" But the Hebrew is rather, "Truly our adversary is cut down" [GESENIUS].”

and consign your gold to the dust and the gold of Ophir to the stones of the ravines,

“Ophir--derived from a Hebrew word "dust," namely, gold dust. HEEREN thinks it a general name for the rich countries of the South, on the African, Indian, and especially the Arabian coast (where was the port Aphar.”

then the Almighty will be your gold and the finest silver for you.

“Yea--rather, Then shall the Almighty be, &c. defence--rather, as the same Hebrew means in Job 22:24 (see on Job 22:24) --Thy precious metals; God will be to thee in the place of riches.”

When men are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’ then He will save the lowly.

“Therefore it is better, I think, to take the first clause as referred to by "God resisteth the proud." When (men) are cast down, thou shalt say (behold the effects of) pride. Eliphaz hereby justifies himself for attributing Job's calamities to his pride.”

He will deliver even one who is not innocent, rescuing him through the cleanness of your hands.”

“The irony is strikingly exhibited in Eliphaz unconsciously uttering words which exactly answer to what happened at last: he and the other two were "delivered" by God accepting the intercession of Job for them (Job 42:7, 8).”

If I go east, He is not there, and if I go west, I cannot find Him.

“For "behold," &c. forward . . . backward--rather, "to the east--to the west." The Hebrew geographers faced the east, that is, sunrise: not the north, as we do. So "before" means east: "behind," west (so the Hindus).”

My feet have followed in His tracks; I have kept His way without turning aside.

“The law is in Old Testament poetry regarded as a way, God going before us as our guide, in whose footsteps we must tread (Ps 17:5). declined-- (Ps 125:5).”

I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread.

“UMBREIT and MAURER translate, "More than my law," my own will, in antithesis to "the words of His mouth" (Joh 6:38).”

Yet I am not silenced by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face.

“Because I was not taken away by death from the evil to come (literally, "from before the face of the darkness," Isa 57:1). Alluding to the words of Eliphaz (Job 22:11), "darkness," that is, calamity.”

Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go to work foraging for food; the wasteland is food for their children.

“So Ishmael is called a "wild ass-man"; These Bedouin robbers, with the unbridled wildness of the ass of the desert, go forth thither. Robbery is their lawless "work."”

They gather fodder in the fields and glean the vineyards of the wicked.

“If we translate "belonging to the wicked," then it will imply that the wicked alone have vineyards, the "pious poor" (Job 24:4) have none. "Gather" in Hebrew, is "gather late."”

Without clothing, they spend the night naked; they have no covering against the cold.

“UMBREIT understands it of the Bedouin robbers, who are quite regardless of the comforts of life, "They pass the night naked, and uncovered," &c. But the allusion to Job 22:6, makes the English Version preferable (see on Job 24:10).”

Without clothing, they wander about naked. They carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.

“In Job 24:7 a like sin is alluded to: but there he implies open robbery of garments in the desert; here, the more refined robbery in civilized life, under the name of a "pledge."”

They crush olives within their walls; they tread the winepresses, but go thirsty.

“Which--"They," the poor, "press the oil within their wall"; namely, not only in the open fields (Job 24:10), but also in the wall-enclosed vineyards and olive gardens of the oppressor (Isa 5:5).”

For to them, deep darkness is their morning; surely they are friends with the terrors of darkness!

“Rather, "They know well (are familiar with) the terrors of," &c. [UMBREIT]. Or, as MAURER, "They know the terrors of (this) darkness," namely, of morning, the light, which is as terrible to them as darkness ("the shadow of death") is to other men.”

As drought and heat consume the melting snow, so Sheol steals those who have sinned.

“Arabian image; melted snow, as contrasted with the living fountain, quickly dries up in the sunburnt sand, not leaving a trace behind (Job 6:16-18). The Hebrew is terse and elliptical to express the swift and utter destruction of the godless; (so) "the grave--they have sinned!"”

They prey on the barren and childless, and show no kindness to the widow.

“The reason given by the friends why the sinner deserves such a fate. barren--without sons, who might have protected her. widow--without a husband to support her.”

They are exalted for a moment, then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like heads of grain.

“Join "for a while" with "are gone," not as English Version. Translate: "A moment--and they are no more! They are brought low, as all (others) gather up their feet to die" (so the Hebrew of "are taken out of the way").”

If even the moon does not shine, and the stars are not pure in His sight,

“Even the "stars," the most dazzling object to man's eye, and the angels, of which the stars are emblems (Job 4:18; Re 9:1), are imperfect in His sight. Theirs is the light and purity but of creatures;”

The dead tremble—those beneath the waters and those who dwell in them. Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.

“"Sheol" comes from a Hebrew root--"ask," because it is insatiable (Pr 27:20); or "ask as a loan to be returned," implying Sheol is but a temporary abode, previous to the resurrection; so for English Version "formed," the Septuagint and Chaldee translate; shall be born, or…”

He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth upon nothing.

“Its suspension in empty space is stated in the second clause. The north in particular is specified in the first, being believed to be the highest part of the earth (Isa 14:13).”

He has inscribed a horizon on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.

“When the light falls on our horizon, the other hemisphere is dark. UMBREIT and MAURER translate "He has most perfectly (literally, to perfection) drawn the bound (taken from the first clause) between light and darkness" (compare Ge 1:4, 6, 9): where the bounding of the…”