48443 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They have gaped upon me with their mouth,.... Here Job speaks of the instruments which God suffered to use him ill; and he has respect to his friends who came with open mouth against him, loading him with calumnies and reproaches, laying charges to him he was not conscious of, and treating him with scorn and contempt, which such a gesture is...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
God hath delivered me up to the ungodly,.... The evil or wicked one, for it is in the singular number; and designs either Satan, into whose hands God had not only delivered his substance, but his person, excepting his life; though it may be, and which is an objection to this sense, Job as yet knew it not; or else Eliphaz, or, the singular number...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder,.... He was in easy and affluent circumstances, abounding with the good things of this life, lay in his nest, as his expression is, Job 29:18; quietly and peaceably, where he expected he should have died; and he was easy in his mind, had peace of conscience, being a good man that feared God, and trusted...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
His archers compass me round about,.... Satan and his principalities and powers casting their fiery darts at him; or rather, his friends shooting their arrows, even bitter words, reproaches, and calumnies; or the various diseases of his body, his boils and ulcers, which were so many arrows shot into him, in every part of him all around, and gave...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
He breaketh me with breach upon breach,.... Upon his substance, his family, and the health of his body, which came thick and fast, one after another; referring to the report of those things brought by one messenger upon the back of another, see Ezekiel 7:26; he runneth upon me like a giant; with great fury and fierceness, with great strength and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin,.... Which he very probably put on when he rent his mantle, or sat in ashes, Job 1:20; which actions were usually performed together in times of distress and sorrow, see Genesis 37:34; and this was no doubt a voluntary action of his, like that of the king of Nineveh and his subjects Jonah 3:5; though some have...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
My face is foul with weeping,.... On account of the loss of his substance, and especially of his children; at the unkindness of his friends, and over his own corruptions, which he felt working in him, and breaking forth in unbecoming language; and because of the hidings of the face of God from him: the word used in the Arabic language (i) has the,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Not for [any] injustice in my hands,.... Came all those afflictions and calamities upon him, which occasioned so much sorrow, weeping, mourning, and humiliation; he does not say there was no sin in him, not any in his heart, nor in his life, nor any iniquity done by him, he had acknowledged these things before, Job 7:20; but that there was nothing...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
O earth, cover not thou my blood,.... This is an imprecation, wishing that if; he had been guilty of any capital crime, of such acts of injustice that he ought to be punished by the judge, and even to die for them, that his blood when spilt might not be received into the earth, but be licked up by dogs, or that he might have no burial or interment...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Also now, behold, my witness [is] in heaven,.... That is, God, who dwells in the heavens, where his throne is, and which is the habitation of his holiness, and from whence he beholds all the sons of men, and their actions, is the all seeing and all knowing Being; and therefore Job appeals to him as his witness, if he was guilty of the things laid...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
My friends scorn me,.... Not that they scoffed at his afflictions and calamities, and at his diseases and disorders, that would have been very brutish and inhuman, but at his words, the arguments and reasons he made use of to defend himself with, see Job 12:4; [but] mine eye poureth out [tears] unto God; in great plenty, because of his very great...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Oh that one might plead for a man with God,.... That is, that one might be appointed and allowed to plead with God on his account; or that he be admitted to plead with God for himself; or however, that there might be a hearing of his case before God, and that he would decide the thing in controversy between him and his friends, when he doubted not...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When a few years are come,.... As the years of man's life are but few at most, and Job's years, which were yet to come, still fewer in his apprehension; or "years of number" (m), that are numbered by God, fixed and determined by him, Job 14:5; or being few are easily numbered: then I shall go the way [whence] I shall not return; that is, go the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION Job 17 In this chapter Job not only enlarges upon the reason given in the preceding chapter, why he was desirous of an advocate with God, and one to plead his cause with him for him, Job 17:1; but adds other reasons taken from the usage of his friends, from the impossibility of any but a divine Person being his surety; and of anyone...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
My breath is corrupt,.... Through the force of his disease, which made it have an ill smell, so that it was strange and disagreeable to his wife, Job 19:17; passing through his lungs, or other parts, which were affected with some disorder, or as frequently is the case of dying persons, and so Job thought himself to be. The word (n) used has the...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
In this chapter, I. Job reflects upon the harsh censures which his friends had passed upon him, and looking upon himself as a dying man (ver. 1), he appeals to God, and begs of him speedily to appear for him, and right him, because they had wronged him, and he knew not how to right himself, ver. 2-7. But he hopes that, though it should be a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
[Are there] not mockers with me?.... Meaning not irreligious persons, such as make a mock at sin, a jest of religion, a laugh at good men, sneer at the doctrines and ordinances of God, and scoff at things future, as the coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and a future judgment; with whom it is very uncomfortable to be, as well as with...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Lay down now,.... A pledge that thou wilt provide a surety, appoint and admit one to plead for me, and that thou wilt hear my cause, and determine it; or "put now", or "put, I pray thee" (r), thy heart and mind to me and my case, to my petition and request, and grant it: put me in a surety with thee; appoint, provide, and place a surety for me...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For thou hast hid their heart from understanding,.... That is, the hearts of his friends, and therefore they were unfit to undertake his cause, or be sureties for him, or be judges in it. It is the same thing as to hide understanding from their hearts, which God sometimes does in a natural sense; when men like not the knowledge of him, as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
He that speaketh flattery to [his] friends,.... As Job's friends did to him when they promised great outward prosperity, and a restoration to his former state, and to a greater affluence upon his repentance and reformation; or when they spoke deceitfully for God, pretending great regard to the honour of his justice and holiness, and therefore...