This chapter and the following contain Job’s reply to the preceding discourse of Eliphaz, in which he complains of the conversation of his friends, as unprofitable, uncomfortable, vain, empty, and without any foundation, Job 16:1–3; and intimates that were they in his case and circumstances, tie…

Then Job answered and said. ] As soon as Eliphaz had done speaking, Job stood up, and made the following reply.

I have heard many such things As those Eliphaz has been discoursing of, concerning the punishment of wicked men; many instances of this kind had been reported to him from his preceptors, and from his parents, and which they had had from theirs, as well as Eliphaz had from his; and he had heard…

Shall vain words have an end? &c.] Or “words of wind” [[9]], vain empty words, great swelling words of vanity, mere bubbles that look big, and have nothing in them; here Job retorts what Eliphaz had insinuated concerning him and his words, (Job 15:2, Job 15:3) ; and he intimates such worthless…

I also could speak as ye do As big words, with as high a tone, with as stiff a neck, and as haughtily and loftily; or “ought I to speak as you do” [[11]]? that I ought not, nor would you think I ought, if you were in my case; or, being so, “would I speak as you do” [[12]]? no, I would not, my…

But I would strengthen you with my mouth Comfort them with the words of his mouth; so God strengthens his people with strength in their souls, when he answers them with good and comfortable words; an angel strengthened Christ as man when in an agony, comforting him, suggesting comfortable things to…

Though I speak, my grief is not assuaged Though he spoke to God in prayer, and entreated for some abatement of his sorrows, he got no relief; and though he spoke to himself in soliloquies, his sorrow was not repressed nor lessened; he could not administer comfort to himself in the present case,…

But now he hath made me weary Or “it hath made me weary” [[19]], that is, “my grief”, as it may be supplied from ; or rather God, as appears from the next clause, and from the following verse, where he is manifestly addressed; who by afflicting him had made him weary of the world, and all things in…

And thou hast filled me with wrinkles Not through old age, but through affliction, which had sunk his flesh, and made furrows in him, so that he looked older than he was, and was made old thereby before his time; see ; for this is to be understood of his body, for as for his soul, that through the…

He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me By whom is meant not Satan, as Jarchi, though he is an enemy to, and an hater of mankind, especially of good men; nor Eliphaz, as others, who had fallen upon Job with a great deal of wrath and fury, tearing his character in pieces, which Job attributed to…

They have gaped upon me with their mouth Here Job speaks of the instruments which God suffered to use him ill; and he has respect to his friends who came with open mouth against him, loading him with calumnies and reproaches, laying charges to him he was not conscious of, and treating him with…

God hath delivered me up to the ungodly The evil or wicked one, for it is in the singular number; and designs either Satan, into whose hands God had not only delivered his substance, but his person, excepting his life; though it may be, and which is an objection to this sense, Job as yet knew it…

I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder He was in easy and affluent circumstances, abounding with the good things of this life, lay in his nest, as his expression is, ; quietly and peaceably, where he expected he should have died; and he was easy in his mind, had peace of conscience, being a…

His archers compass me round about Satan and his principalities and powers casting their fiery darts at him; or rather, his friends shooting their arrows, even bitter words, reproaches, and calumnies; or the various diseases of his body, his boils and ulcers, which were so many arrows shot into…

He breaketh me with breach upon breach Upon his substance, his family, and the health of his body, which came thick and fast, one after another; referring to the report of those things brought by one messenger upon the back of another, see ; he runneth upon me like a giant; with great fury and…

I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin Which he very probably put on when he rent his mantle, or sat in ashes, ; which actions were usually performed together in times of distress and sorrow, see ; and this was no doubt a voluntary action of his, like that of the king of Nineveh and his subjects ;…

My face is foul with weeping On account of the loss of his substance, and especially of his children; at the unkindness of his friends, and over his own corruptions, which he felt working in him, and breaking forth in unbecoming language; and because of the hidings of the face of God from him: the…

Not for any injustice in my hands Came all those afflictions and calamities upon him, which occasioned so much sorrow, weeping, mourning, and humiliation; he does not say there was no sin in him, not any in his heart, nor in his life, nor any iniquity done by him, he had acknowledged these things…

O earth, cover not thou my blood This is an imprecation, wishing that if; he had been guilty of any capital crime, of such acts of injustice that he ought to be punished by the judge, and even to die for them, that his blood when spilt might not be received into the earth, but be licked up by dogs,…

Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven That is, God, who dwells in the heavens, where his throne is, and which is the habitation of his holiness, and from whence he beholds all the sons of men, and their actions, is the all seeing and all knowing Being; and therefore Job appeals to him as his…

My friends scorn me Not that they scoffed at his afflictions and calamities, and at his diseases and disorders, that would have been very brutish and inhuman, but at his words, the arguments and reasons he made use of to defend himself with, see ; but mine eye poureth out tears unto God; in great…

Oh that one might plead for a man with God That is, that one might be appointed and allowed to plead with God on his account; or that he be admitted to plead with God for himself; or however, that there might be a hearing of his case before God, and that he would decide the thing in controversy…

When a few years are come As the years of man’s life are but few at most, and Job’s years, which were yet to come, still fewer in his apprehension; or “years of number” [[11]], that are numbered by God, fixed and determined by him, ; or being few are easily numbered: then I shall go the way whence…