1112 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore I said, hearken to me,.... Thou O Job, and every one of you his friends, for the word is singular; though I am but a young man, yet if I have the Spirit of God, and am under the inspiration of the Almighty, I may be able to say something to you worth your hearing: I also will show mine opinion; for though for a while he was timorous and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Behold, I waited for your words,.... With great desire, with great eagerness and earnestness, in hope of meeting with arguments fully satisfying and convincing; he waited for them, as for the rain, and the latter rain, to be revived, refreshed, and edified therewith; and he patiently waited until they had done speaking: I gave ear to your reasons,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Yea, I attended unto you,.... Very closely, with great application and diligence, endeavouring to get, as it were, within them, and thoroughly understand the meaning of what they said: and, behold, [there was] none of you that convinced Job; which was not owing to his obstinacy, but to want of proof in them, their words and arguments; they had...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Lest ye should say, we have found out wisdom,.... They were left to themselves, and not directed to take the proper methods of convincing Job, and answering his arguments; lest they should be wise in their own conceits, and attribute too much to themselves; or Elihu told them this, that they had not convicted Job, though they had condemned him,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now he hath not directed [his] words against me,.... That is, Job had not directed his speech to him, or levelled his arguments against him; he had not set himself and his words in battle array against him, as the word signifies; he had not lashed and irritated him as he had them; and therefore he came into the dispute calm and unprovoked, having...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They were amazed,.... They were like persons thunderstruck, quite surprised and astonished to hear a young man talk after this manner: they answered no more; as they had ceased to answer Job, they did not undertake to answer Elihu, who had plainly told them their arguments were not convincing, their answers were no answers, and that they had done...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When one had waited,.... To observe whether they would make any reply to what he had said, or any objection to his engaging in the controversy: for they spake not; were as mute as fishes: but stood still; like statues, had no power to move, neither to sit down nor to depart, but were as if all life, sense, and motion, were gone from them: [and]...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
[I said], I will answer also my part,.... Or take his turn in giving an answer to Job; what they had given being quite insufficient and unsuitable: I also will show mine opinion; knowledge, or sentiment; this for a while he was fearful of doing, but, upon a thorough and serious consideration of things, he determined upon it, and now repeats it, to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For I am full of matter,.... Or "full [of] words" (y); not of mere words, such that have nothing solid and substantial in them; this is the character of a fool, Ecclesiastes 10:14; nor was Elihu a loquacious talkative man, as Job is charged to be, a man full of talk, Job 11:2; but he was full of words, which had fulness of matter in them, which...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Behold, my belly [is] as wine, [which] hath no vent,.... Or, "is not opened" (a), like a bottle of wine, as Ben Gersom, which is stopped close, and the wine in it new; which is most apt to ferment, and should have vent given it; so the Targum, "as new wine, which is not opened:'' in the same manner Jarchi and Bar Tzemach interpret it; in these...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I will speak, that I may be refreshed,.... That his mind might be made easy; the matter it was full of lay with much weight upon it, pressed him hard, and gave him pain; and therefore he determines to speak his mind, and disburden himself: so a minister of the word speaks sometimes to the refreshment of others, the Gospel being a word in season to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Let me not, I pray you, accept any man's person,.... Neither the person of Job, because of his poverty and affliction, indulging too much to pity and commiseration, and affecting to get a good name from others for it; nor the persons of his three friends, on account of their wealth and grandeur; for neither the persons of the poor, nor of the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For I know not to give flattering titles,.... He had not been brought up in such a manner, nor taught to use them; he had not been inured to them, nor did he know or approve of them; nor could he in conscience give them; [in so doing], my Maker would soon take me away; it being such a piece of wickedness, so abominable to him, and so highly...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Job 33 In this chapter Elihu addresses Job himself, and entreats his attention to what he had to say to him, and offers several things to induce him to it; and recommends himself as one that was according to his wish, in the stead of God, a man like himself, and of whom he had no reason to be afraid, Job 33:1; and then he brings a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Wherefore, Job, I pray thee, hear my speeches,.... In the preceding chapter, Elihu directed his discourse to the three friends of Job chiefly, here to Job himself, and that by name; which none of his friends in all their discourses ever used; and in an humble suppliant manner entreats his attention to what he was about to deliver, and that for...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Behold, now I have opened my mouth,.... Begun to speak in order to give vent to the fulness of matter within him, which made him, like bottles of new wine, ready to burst; and since he had opened his lips, that he might speak and be refreshed, he desires Job to listen to him, and offers same things to his consideration to induce him to it: my...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
My words [shall be of] the uprightness of my heart,.... Not that the uprightness of his heart, or his own personal integrity, should be the subject of his discourse; but what he should say would be in or out of the uprightness of his heart, with all sincerity and faithfulness; what would be the real sentiments of his mind, and not proceed from a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The Spirit of God hath made me,.... As a man; so every man is made by God, and not by himself; Father, Son, and Spirit, are his Makers or Creators, as we read of them in the plural number, Psalms 149:2; and this is a proof of the deity of the Spirit, who was not only concerned in the creation of all things, garnishing the heavens, and moving upon...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
If thou canst answer me,.... That is, when he had done speaking, after he had heard him out; if he thought he could make a reply to him, he gave him full liberty so to do, and tacitly suggests that he should give him an attentive and candid hearing, as he had requested of him: set [thy words] in order before me; put them into the best form and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Behold, I [am] according to thy wish in God's stead,.... So some persons are, as civil magistrates, the ministers of the word, the prophets of the Old Testament, and the apostles of the New; see 2 Corinthians 5:20; and so in some sense was Elihu; he undertakes to be an advocate for God, to vindicate his justice in his dealings with the children of...