1112 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
He looketh upon men,.... According to our version, and other interpreters, the sense is, God looks upon men as he does on all men in general, their ways and their works; and particularly he takes notice of men under affliction, and observes how they behave; if they are penitent and confess their sins, he restores them to health, and does them good...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
He will deliver his soul from going into the pit,.... Into the pit of the grave; and then the soul is put for the man or for the body; or into the pit of hell or perdition: and his life shall see the light; or he shall live and enjoy outward prosperity here, and the light of eternal happiness hereafter; and so the Targum interprets it of superior...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Lo, all these [things] worketh God oftentimes with man. This is a summary or recapitulation of what goes before, from Job 33:15; God is an operating Being, he is always at work in a providential way: "my father worketh hitherto", John 5:17; sometimes on the minds of men in dreams and visions; and sometimes by affliction; and sometimes by his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
To bring back his soul from the pit,.... From the pit of the grave; at the mouth or on the brink of which he seemed to be in the apprehension of his friends, and having the sentence of death in himself; see Psalms 90:3. Or "to turn away" (x), or "stay his soul from the pit", as Mr. Broughton; prevent his going into it by removing his disorder, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Mark well, O Job,.... Consider and weigh well what has been said; or rather attend to what is further to be said: hearken unto me; to what he was about to say; for he was full of matter, and had not yet vented all he had to utter: hold thy peace, and I will speak; be silent and do not interrupt, and I will go on with my discourse.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
If thou hast anything to say, answer me,.... Any thing to object to what he had delivered, or any answer to return to what he had charged him with: speak, for I desire to justify thee. Elihu was a fair antagonist, and gave free liberty, time and space, to make whatsoever reply he thought fit, and which he should patiently and attentively hear: his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
If not, hearken to me,.... If he had no objection to make, nor answer to return, then he desires he would attend and listen to what he had further to lay before him: hold thy peace, and I shall teach thee wisdom. For though Job was a wise and good man, he might become wiser and more knowing; and indeed when instruction is given to a wise man, he...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Job 34 In this chapter Elihu reassumes his discourse, and proceeds in his answer to Job, in which are first a preface exciting attention, Job 34:1; then a charge is brought against Job, expressed in or extracted from some words that dropped from his lips, not so well guarded, Job 34:5; a refutation of these expressions of his in a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Furthermore Elihu answered and said. It is reasonable to suppose that Elihu made a considerable pause, to see whether Job would make any reply to what he had delivered, or object to what he had said; which he gave him free liberty to do, if he had anything upon his mind: but perceiving he was not inclined to return any answer to him, he went on...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Hear my words, O ye wise [men],.... This is not an address to Job's three friends, as some think; for Elihu had expressed his displeasure at them, in condemning Job without convicting him, and returning solid answers to him; and therefore he should not take their method of dealing with him, but take another; and plainly suggests that wisdom was...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For the ear trieth words,.... Not only the musical sound of them, the goodness of the language and diction, and the grammatical construction of them, but the sense of them, and whether the matter of them is good or not; that they are sound speech, which cannot be condemned, or unsound; whether they are right or wrong, agreeably to right reason,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Let us choose to us judgments,.... Take the part of the question or controversy in which truth and justice lie, and he doubtless has respect to the present controversy with Job; let us know among ourselves what [is] good; agree upon that which is best to be done in the present case, what judgment to be made of the dealings of God with Job, and his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For Job hath said, I am righteous,.... Not in express words, but what amounted to it: no doubt he was a righteous man in an evangelic sense, being justified by the righteousness of Christ, as all the Old Testament saints were, who looked to him and believed in him as the Lord their righteousness, and said, as the church in those times did, "surely...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Should I lie against my right?.... No; I ought not: this though Job had not said in so many words, yet this seems to be his sense in Job 27:4; that should he own and say that he was a wicked man, a hypocrite, and destitute of the grace of God, he should not only speak against himself, but, contrary to his conscience, say an untruth, and not do...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
What man [is] like Job,.... This is said as wondering at the part he acted, that a man so wise and good as Job was esteemed to be should behave in such a manner as he did; [who] drinketh up scorning like water? For a foolish and wicked man to do so is not strange nor uncommon; but for a man of such sense and grace as Job was to do this was...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Which goeth in company with the workers of iniquity,.... The worst of men, who make it their constant business and employment to commit sin: and walketh with wicked men; the most abandoned of mankind. Not that Job kept company with such, and walked with them in all excess of not; nor did Elihu think so; Job was "a man that feared God, and eschewed...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For he hath said,.... Not plainly and expressly, but consequentially; what it was thought might be inferred from what he had said, particularly in Job 9:22; it profiteth a man nothing that he should delight himself with God; in his house and ordinances, ways and worship; he may as well indulge himself in the pleasures of sin, and in the delights...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore hearken unto me, ye men of understanding,.... The same persons he addresses as wise men and men of knowledge, Job 34:2; and here as men of understanding, or "heart" (z); the heart being the seat of wisdom and knowledge; and such Elihu desired to be his hearers, to attend to what he was about to say; which was to refute the words of Job,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For the work of a man will he render unto him,.... The reward of his work, as Ben Gersom interprets it, whether the work of a wicked man or of a good man: and cause every man to find according to [his] ways. Which is a truth frequently inculcated in the Scriptures; and will take place especially at the resurrection of the dead, which is for that...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Yea, surely God will not do wickedly,.... This truth is repeated and affirmed in the strongest manner; or "will not condemn", as the Vulgate Latin version, and so the Targum, that is, he will not condemn the righteous; for, though he may afflict them, which is done that they may not be condemned with the world, he will not condemn them; for there...