32 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The troops of Tema looked,.... A city in Arabia, so called from Tema a son of Ishmael, Genesis 25:15; these troops or companies were travelling ones, either that travelled to Tema, or that went from thence to other places for merchandise, see Isaiah 21:13; these, as they passed along in their caravans, as the Turks their successors now do, looked...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they were confounded because they had hoped,.... When they came to the places where they hoped to find water, finding none were ashamed of their vain hope, and reflected upon themselves for being so foolish as to raise their expectations upon such a groundless surmise: they came thither, and were ashamed; which is the same thing expressed in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For now ye are nothing,.... Once they seemed to be something to him; he thought them men wise, good, and religious, kind, bountiful, and tenderhearted; but now he found them otherwise, they were nothing to him as friends or as comforters in his distress; the "Cetib", or Scripture, is, as we read, and is followed by many; but the marginal reading...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Did I say, bring unto me?.... Or, "give unto me" (b); did I invite you to come to me, and bring in your hands presents for me, to support me under my necessitous circumstances? or give a reward for me of your substance? did I ever ask anything of you? if I had, it would have been but your duty to have given freely to me in my deplorable...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Or, deliver me from the enemies' hand?.... Or, "out of the hand of straitness" (c); out of tribulation and difficulties with which he was pressed on every side: or redeem me from the hand of the mighty? fetch back his cattle out of the hands of the Sabeans and Chaldeans, either by force of arms, as Abraham brought back Lot, and all his goods, when...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Teach me, and I will hold my tongue,.... Job having made his defence, and which he thought a sufficient one to acquit him of the charge against him; yet to show that he was not stubborn and flexible, but was open to conviction, and ready to attend and hearken to what might be further said, desires to be taught and instructed in the way of his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
How forcible are right words!.... That are according to right reason; such as may be called strong reasons, or bony arguments, as in Isaiah 41:21; there are strength and weight in such words, reasonings, and arguments; they bring evidence and conviction with them, and are very powerful to persuade the mind to an assent unto them, and have great...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Do ye imagine to reprove words,.... Or with words; with bare words, without any force of reasoning and argument in them? put a parcel of words together without any sense or meaning, or however without any cogency in them, and think to run me down with them? or is your scheme and device only, and which you pursue, to catch at and lay hold on some...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless,.... Meaning himself; who was like a fatherless child, stripped of all his mercies, of his children, his substance, and his health; and was in a most miserable, helpless, and forlorn condition; and, moreover, deprived of the gracious presence and visible protection of his heavenly Father, being given up for a while...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now therefore be content,.... Or, "may it now please you" (f); Job addresses them in a respectful manner, and entreats them they would be so kind as to look favourably on him, and entertain better thoughts of him; and give a fresh and friendly hearing of his case, when he doubted not he should be acquitted by them of the charge of iniquity, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Return, I pray you,.... From the ill opinion you have of me, and from your hard censures, and entertain other sentiments concerning me: or it may be, upon these words of Job his friends might be rising up as usual to take their leave of him, and break off conversation with him; and therefore he entreats they would return to their seats, and resume...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Is there iniquity in my tongue?.... Meaning in his words; either those which he uttered when he cursed the day on which he was born, or in charging his friends with unkindness and falsehood; otherwise the tongue is a world of iniquity, and the best of men are apt to offend both God and men in word: cannot my taste discern perverse things? which is...