And what thou hast vowed, mayest thou

pay.k

28. What thou dost resolve, shall succeed to

thee,

And light beameth on thy path.

29. When man oppresseth thee, and thou art vexed by pride,

He will help the bowed down.'

30. Thus shall he save him who is not guiltless; Yea, shall he be saved through the purity of thine hands!m

i.e. treasures to be acquired by toil, with Gesenius. The last acceptation is more poetic, and better suited to the use of the Hebrew tongue. The finest irony is contained in it, that it is easier to find God than the hidden metals of the earth; that is to say, easier for the humble mind, but not for a proud speculative understanding. Vide ch. 28.

In so far as God secures that to him, for the sake of which he had made a vow.

After

supp. the suffix of the 2d pers.

from the following DNA. Such ellipses of the suffix are common; vide ch. xvii. 4.

(.8 .v) נְשׂוּא פָּנִים is opposed to

m

Eliphaz, even in the last words of his speech,

aims an attack at Job. Assuredly will God save

thee, but not because thou art, as thou dost always affirm, a '; but he will love thee, unclean as thou art, on account of his own purity. In this verse the speaker once more collects the strength of his arguments. In the 2d hemistich, he turns from Job to the Almighty himself. Thus we clear the verse of the common interpretation, which is foreign to the meaning of the author, God will deliver the guiltless on account of Job's innocence.

, though not the common Hebrew negation for , yet occurs in 1 Sam. iv. 21, and very frequently in Rabbinical Hebrew (where there is greater variety of particles), especially in EN 'N (impossible.) Vide M. F. Landau's Spirit and Language of the Hebrews, after the building of the 2d Temple, p. 109 (who, with Buxtorf, considers it an apocope for N, and writes it, and still oftener in Ethiopic.) Vide H. Ludolfi Comment. Hist. Aeth. I. CVI. 203. This more uncommon negation is selected here on account of its similarity of tone with p2. Others conceive as the well-known substantive coast or island, in the general sense of dwelling, which more rarely

occurs.

1. JOB answered and said:

2. Even now must my complaining have the force of opposition."

The hand which is upon me burdens my groaning."

"It is peculiarly distressing to the sufferer, to feel obliged to utter complaints against God, in the consciousness of his innocence. Mark the force of the paronomasia . In the condensed brevity of the expression lies this meaning: I chiefly complain that I must stand as a rebel against God, who used formerly to be so pious and resigned. Thus the meaning comes out more than if we take

רָבָה as מָרֵר מָרָה) in the sense of bitterness מרי

227), as both ancient and modern translators have done. Di D and to-day, that is, now; while the expression supposes the long duration of any thing. For we cannot conceive the discourses of our book to be divided into several days.

Thand, viz. of God, stands here for plaga

3. O that I knew where I might find him! I would press even unto his throne ! P 4. I would shew forth the right before his face,

And fill my mouth with proofs.

5. I desire to know the words which he would

answer,

And understand what he could say unto me! 6. Would he contend against me with his Omnipotence ?

pœna, vide ch. xix. 21. The suffix prim. pers. is to be taken passively, as e. g. "Dn injustice towards me, Jer. li. 35. Among the chief of these plagues, he numbers the misconception regarding his innocence. This heightens his care, which is already so great. The words which denote the existence of a grievance, receive from by the meaning of, tó be grievous. Isaiah i. 14; Neh. v. 18. Thus in Arab. vide examples in Gesen. Lehrgeb. 818, and Ewald in Crit. Gram. 184. We need not take

by in the sense of supra, magis quam, as Rosen

müller does in loco.

"The Vulgate translate

rightly by solium.

The idea of a well-prepared seat lies in the expression, from, aptare. Vide Psalm ix. 8.

An objection which suggests itself on his uttering the wish. He several times already expressed

No! He would only give heed unto me!" 7. Then' might an upright one dispute with him,

And I might for ever free myself from my

Judge.t

8. Yet I go forward, and he is not there,

And backward, and I cannot discover him."

a fear lest he should be unable to bear the splendour of the divine majesty. Vide ch. ix. 34 ; xiii. 21.

I

tion of

declare something undetermined, from the opposi7, only as an ordinary judge, although with divine knowledge. scil. a that he would hear the grounds of my defence, not

Dy, as adv. tempor. like the Arab.. Psalm xiv. 5; xxxvi. 13; cxxxii. 17.

Vide

• That is, cleanse me for ever from suspicion of guilt.

" But where to find God? Concerning the particular marking out of the four divisions of the world, vide Ch. Ben. Michaelis Dissertat. de locorum differentia ratione antica postica, dextræ, sinistra. Hala 1735, in the Syllog. Commentat. Theod. ed. D. J. Pott, vol. v. page 80.