1112 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
If the men of my tabernacle,.... Either his friends, that came to visit him, and take a meal with him, and would sometimes tarry awhile with him in his house, being very free and familiar with him; and who were, as it were, at home in his tabernacle; or rather his domestic servants, that were under his roof, and dwelt in his house, see Job 19:15;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The stranger did not lodge in the street,.... By a stranger is not meant an unconverted man, that is a stranger to God and godliness, to Christ, and the way of salvation by him, to the Spirit of God and spiritual things, nor a good man, who is a stranger and pilgrim on earth; but one that is out of his nation and country, and at a distance from...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
If I covered my transgressions as Adam,.... Job could not be understood, by this account he had given of the holiness of his life, that he thought himself quite free from sin; he had owned himself to be a sinner in several places before, and disclaimed perfection; and here he acknowledges he was guilty of transgressing the law of God, and that in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Did I fear a great multitude?.... No, they did not deter him from confessing his sin in the most public manner, when sensible or convicted of it, and when such a public acknowledgment was necessary: or did the contempt of families terrify me? no, the contempt he might suppose he should be had in by some families that knew him, and he was well...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Oh, that one would hear me!.... Or, "who will give me a hearer?" (l) Oh, that I had one! not a nearer of him as a teacher and instructor of many, as he had been, Job 4:3; or only to hear what he had delivered in this chapter; but to hear his cause, and hear him plead his own cause in a judiciary way; he does not mean an ordinary hearer, one that,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Surely I would take it upon my shoulder,.... The bill of indictment, the charge in writing; this he would take up and carry on his shoulder as a very light thing, having nothing weighty in it, no charge of sin and guilt to bear him down; nothing but what he could easily stand up under, only some trifling matter, which could not be interpreted sin;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I would declare to him the number of my steps,.... To his judge, or to him that contended with him, and drew up the bill against him; he would forward it, assist in it, furnish materials for it, give an account of all the transactions of his life that he could remember; this he says not as though he thought that God stood in need of any such...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
If my land cry against me,.... Some think that this verse and Job 31:39 stand out of their place, and should rather follow after Job 31:34; and some place them after Job 31:25; and others after Job 31:8; but this is the order of them in all copies and versions, as they stand in our Bibles; and here, after Job had expressed his desire to have a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money,.... Or, "the strength thereof without silver" (b); see Genesis 4:12, silver being the money chiefly in use in those times. Job's meaning is, that he ate not anything of the fruits and increase of his own land, without having paid for the same, which he would have done, if he had got his land out of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley,.... This is an imprecation of Job's, in which he wishes that if what he had said was not true, or if he was guilty of the crimes he denied, that when and where he sowed wheat, thorns or thistles might come up instead of it, or tares, as some Jewish writers (d) interpret it; and that...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Job 32 Job's three friends being silenced, and having no more to say in reply to him, Elihu, of whose descent some account is given, a bystander and hearer of the whole dispute between them, rises up as a moderator, and expresses some anger both against them and Job, Job 32:1; he makes an apology for engaging in this controversy,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So these three men ceased to answer Job,.... His three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, who came to visit and comfort him under his afflictions; but unawares were led into a controversy with him, occasioned by some rash and impatient expressions of his; which controversy had been carried on between them...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite,.... Both against Job and his three friends, for reasons after given; who this person was is not easy to say; they debase him too much, who make him to be Balaam the soothsayer, according to the tradition of the Jews (g); for neither the time he lived in, nor his character, will...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Also against his three friends was his wrath kindled,.... He did not take part with either side, but blamed both, and took upon him to be a moderator between them, and deal impartially with them: what highly displeased him, and raised his spirit against the three friends of Job, was, because they had found no answer; they were at a loss for one,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now Elihu had waited till Job had spoken,.... Made an end of speaking, until he had thus expressed himself, "the words of Job are ended", Job 31:40: and waited likewise until his three friends had said all they had to say, and which is here supposed and implied, as appears by what follows: because they [were] elder than he; it may be added, from...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When Elihu saw that [there was] no answer in the mouth of [these] three men,.... That could be called an answer; nay, when he perceived they were quite nonplussed and silenced, though men of years and experience, and reputed wise and knowing: then his wrath was kindled; his spirit was stirred up; his heart was hot within him; he burned with anger...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said,.... Since there was no answer in them, he takes upon him to give one himself; but first makes an apology on account of his youth: I [am] young, and ye [are] very old; or "few of days"; a few days, comparatively speaking, had he lived in the world; or "small", or "little as two days" (m);...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I said, days should speak,.... That is, men of days, of many days, who have lived many days and years in the world: man in common is but of few days, even the most that men arrive to are but few; and some indeed are very few, in comparison of whom others may be said to be men of days, or to have lived many days; and to such it belongs to speak, it...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But [there is] a spirit in man,.... This seems to be a correction of his former sentiment; the consideration of which gave him encouragement, though young, to declare his opinion, since there is a spirit in men, both young and old; and wherever that be, there is an ability to speak and a capacity of teaching wisdom; which is not tied to age; but...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Great men are not [always] wise,.... Men of grandeur and dignity, as Job's friends might be, the rich, the honourable, and noble; the apostle is thought to refer to this, at least to express the sentiment contained in it, 1 Corinthians 1:26; or the great in quantity, the many, the multitude; and therefore are not to be followed in principle or...