48443 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
If he will contend with him,.... If God will contend with man, so Sephorno; enter into a controversy with him, litigate and dispute the point in law, whether he is just or not, man cannot answer to the allegations he will produce; or if man should contend with God, a potsherd strive with its maker, to what purpose would it be? he could never avail...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
[He is] wise in heart,.... Originally, essentially, truly, really, and perfectly so; he is the only, and the all wise God; his understanding is infinite; he is able to traverse all the schemes of men, in things civil or religious, and disappoint all their devices; for though there be ever so many of them, or be ever so deeply laid, the counsel of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Which removeth the mountains,.... This and what follow are instances of the power of God, and are full proofs of his being mighty in strength; and may be understood, either literally, not only of what God is able to do if he will, but of what he has done; and history (y) furnishes us with instances of mountains being removed from one place to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Which shaketh the earth out of her place,.... Can do it, and will do it at the last day, when it shall be utterly broken down, clean dissolved, and reel to and fro like a drunkard, and be removed as a cottage, and which John in a vision saw flee away from the presence of him that sat upon the throne, Isaiah 24:19; for this cannot be understood of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not,.... Either he could do it if he would, by a word speaking, as he ordered it to stand still in the times of Joshua, Joshua 10:13, and caused the shadow to return ten degrees it had gone back in the dial of Ahaz, in the times of Hezekiah, 2 Kings 20:11; or else the sense is, it rises not at any other time...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Which alone spreadeth out the heavens,.... The expanse, or what we commonly translate "firmament"; but has its name in the Hebrew language from its being expanded, spread, and stretched out, over the earth and all around it; and seems chiefly to design the ether or atmosphere, which is a fine thin matter and substance spread around us, and which...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Which maketh Arcturus,.... By which is meant not a single star, but a collection of stars, as Bar Tzemach and Ben Melech, a constellation; hence we read of Arcturus and his sons, Job 38:32. Aben Ezra understands it of the seven stars, but these are thought to be meant by the Pleiades, later mentioned; this constellation is about the Arctic or...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Which doth great things past finding out,.... In heaven and earth; great as to quantity and quality, not to be thoroughly searched out so as to tell their numbers, nor explain and express the nature of them to the full; even what he has done, and does in creation, providence, and grace: yea, and wonders without number; such as are amazing to men,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Lo, he goeth by me, and I see [him] not,.... This is expressive of the invisibility of God; for though the angels in heaven always behold his face, and men, in the works of creation, may see his eternal power and Godhead, and other perfections of it displayed therein; and saints by faith have a comfortable and delightful view of him, of his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Behold, he taketh away,.... There are some things God never takes away from his people; he never takes away his love from them, he always rests in that towards them, let them be in what condition they will; he never takes away his grace from them, when once bestowed on them, or wrought in them; he never takes away his special gifts of grace,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
[If] God will not withdraw his anger,.... Or "God will not withdraw his anger" (m); he is angry, or at least seems to be angry with his own people, in their apprehension, when he afflicts them and hides his face from them, or does not immediately appear to their relief and assistance; but this does not always last, he does not retain or keep anger...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
How much less shall I answer him,.... Who is wise in heart, and mighty in strength, and has done and does the many things before related; who is invisible, passes by, and onwards insensibly; so that there is no knowing where to speak to him, or how to guard against him, since he can come on on every side, at an unawares, and unseen; and who is a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Whom, though I were righteous, [yet] would I not answer,.... This is not to be understood of the righteousness of his cause, that Job made no supposition of, but strongly asserted and determined to hold it fast as long as he lived; nor of his evangelic righteousness, the righteousness of faith he was acquainted with, even the righteousness of his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
If I had called, and he had answered me,.... Mr. Broughton reads the words, "if I cry, will he answer me?" as if Job had some doubt upon his mind whether God would vouchsafe to answer him, though he should make his supplication to him, as he proposed; seeing he had so sorely afflicted him, and still continued his hand upon him; or the words may be...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For he breaketh me with a tempest,.... Which rises suddenly, comes powerfully, and carries all before it irresistibly; hereby signifying the nature of his present sore afflictions, which came upon him at once, pressed him down, and utterly destroyed him, against which there was no standing: perhaps he may have some reference to the storm of wind...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
He will not suffer me to take my breath,.... Which some think refers to Job's disease, which was either an asthma, or a quinsy in his throat, which occasioned great difficulty in breathing: I should rather think the allusion is to the hot burning winds in those countries before mentioned, which sometimes blew so strongly as almost to take away a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
If [I speak] of strength, lo, [he is] strong,.... Or think of it, or betake myself to that, and propose to carry my point by mere force, as some men do by dint of power and authority they are possessed of; alas! there is nothing to be done this way; I am a poor, weak, feeble creature in body, mind, and estate; I am not able to contend with so...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
If I justify myself,.... Seek for justification by his own righteousness, trust in himself that he was righteous, say that he was so, and pronounce himself a righteous man, what would it signify? mine own mouth shall condemn me; the words of it being sinful, vain, idle, and frothy; and if a man is to be justified, and condemned by his words, he...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
[Though] I [were] perfect,.... Really and truly so, not conscious of any sin in thought, word, or deed; this is only a case supposed: [yet] would I not know my soul; I would not own myself to be so before God; I would not insist upon such perfection in his presence, as what would justify me before him; since I am sensible the highest perfection of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
This [is] one [thing],.... Or "one thing [there] is" (x) in the world, as Jarchi adds; or "one measure", as the Targum, to good and bad men; one event alike to the righteous, and to the wicked, Ecclesiastes 9:2; so that, as others render it, "it is all one" (y), whether a man righteous and perfect, or whether he is not, he is equally liable to be...