FROM THE LIBRARY OF REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON. D. D. BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO THE LIBRARY OF PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 9?0S y/fcry/frri - { THE 2 ° 19 B O O K of J 6~bT I N ENGLISH VERSE; TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL HEBREW} WITH REMARKS, HISTORICAL, CRITICAL, and EXPLANATORY. By THOMAS SCOTT. The SECOND EDITION. r~ — — — — — ■ ....-■ „ Then Job anfwered the Lord, and faid .... Verily I have uttered that I underftood not, things too won- derful for me that I knew not. Wherefore I abhor myfelf j and repent in duft and alhes. Job xlii. i, 3, 6. LONDON: Printed for James Buck land, at the Buck in rater-nofter-Row. MDCCLXXIIL PREFACE. ' 1 ^HE poetry in this venerable book begins -*• with the fecond verfe of the third chap- ter, and breaks off, at the end of the fixth verfe of the concluding chapter. Thofe, therefore, are the limits of the poem : which prefents to us the fhades of an illuftrious chara&er ; a great and good man in the depth of adverfity, reduced to defpair, and complaining loudly of the ways of God. His three mod intimate friends, who came to condole with him, very early infinuate their uncharitable fufpicions : and, afterward, openly accufe him of atrocious ivickednefs> as the caufe of his affii&ions. Accordingly, they exhort him to repentance, that repentance which a wicked man needeth, as the only means of his reftoration. By thus defending the honour of Providence at their friend's expence, they ex- afperate his diftrefs, inflame his paffions, and hurry him intQ blameable excefles in the jufK- A 3 fication iv PREFACE. fication of himfelf, and in expoftulations witK his Maker about the reafon of his fuffer- ings. He is, however, by wifer management in other hands a , gradually recovered to a be- coming temper : And at laft aeknowledgeth his fault to the Almighty, in the fulled terms of contrition and felf-abafement. With this com- fleat confeflion the poem clofeth, the defign of the poem being then accomplifhed. The moral of fuch a poem, formed oh the: plan of difcontent with the meafures of Provi- dence, and the iflue of that difcontent in fub- miflion to them, is too obvious to ftand in want of explanation. The majefty and fublimity of this divine com-* pofition have been admired by writers of the firft rank in genius, tafte, and learning b : One • Elihu. b The whole book of Job, with regard both to fublimity of thought and morality, exceeds beyond all comparifon the moft noble parts of Homer. Mr. Pope's Tranjlation of the OdyJfey y b. xvi. the laft note^ of PREFACE. v of whom, diftinguifhed by his critical fkill in the iacred poetry of the Hebrews, is of opinion, that the peculiar character of this poem is a cer- tain air and call of antiquity c : for the language is very old Hebrew, and the manners are thofc of the earliefl ages. It has, however, many other beauties ; well known to that fagacious judge, and finely illullrated by his elegant pen d . It excels in concifenefs, force, and fulnefs of expreffion, in mafterly painting both of the vio- lent and tender paffions, in moving reprefen- tltions of human life, great powers of defcrip- tion, and the noble fimplicity of its theology and ethics. The fcripture poems are, for the mod part, written in ftanzas of two lines in the fame metre ; and the fecond verfe of the ftanza is, very often, little more than a repetition, in dif- ferent terms, of the fentiment exprelTed in the c Letter to the Right Reverend Author of the Divine Ligation of Mofes^ by Dr. Lowth. d De Sacra Poefi Hebraorum* firftj ft PREFACE. firft. This external form of the hebrew poetry may be taken off in our fcanzas of eight fyllables : Rife up, Balak, and hear ; Hearken unto me, thou/on of Zippor. Num. xxiii. 8. Rife, Bakk, king of Moab ; hear The voice of my prophetic fong : Great Zippor s greater fon, revere God's awful meffage in my tongue. This mode of poetical compofition was agree- able to an oriental tafte. But in a poem of con- fiderable length, a frequent famenefs of thought and uniformity of cadence would, probably, dif- guft both the underftanding and the ear of an European. The glory, however, of the hebrew poetry, its aftonifhing power of fentiment and didtion, may furely be transfufed Into our englifh metre of ten fyllables commonly called heroic meafure : In that form, if the tranflator has fome fkill in the hebrew language, and is in fome de- gree PREFACE. vii gree mafler of the force, variety, and (wectneft of cnglifh numbers, it muft appear with greater advantage than in profe. The original itfelf, if it had been written in profe, would have ope- rated with lefs energy ; its effecl: upon the mind, therefore, can be only emulated by a poetical verfion. Whether the tranflation now offered to the Public, is executed with thefe advantages ; and reflects not only the fenfe of a difficult writer, but the beauties of a great poet, is fubmitted to thofe whofe learning and tafte render them com- petent judges of both. ADVERTISEMENT. The following remarks will be more IntellU gible, if the reader will pleafe to lay before him our public verfion of this book, to which they are adapted. . T II BOOK O F JOB. Chap. I. Vcr. i. rp HERE liv'd an Arab, of diftinguifh'd JL fame, In Idumean Uz -, and Job his name : Of fpotlels manners, with a foul fincere, Evil his hate, and God alone his fear. 2. Seven The narration in this, and the following chapter, contains the materials of the Poem. Several of the incidents, and indeed the whole ftory, might have appeared, with advan- tage, in the drefs of poetry. They could not, however, make a part of the poem, without deftroying the finglenefs of its plan. Thefe two chapters, therefore, are cut off from it, by being written in profe : as lrkewife are, for the fame reafon, the laft eleven verfes in the book ; which compleat the bijiory of this extraordinary man. Ver. 1. ?A] A territory in the land of Edom a . The land of Edom was a portion of Arabia Petraea, lying bctv. Egypt and the fouth boundary of PaJeftins J . Hence it is reafon able a Lamentat. iv. 21, Bp. Lowth, in his admirable Prsslefiiones it fc.cr r. pot/I lit! > .e, rum, p. 4I4, &c. 8*», has well frpported this geography ot Uz ; a:.d anfwered the objections td it. b Exod. xfri. 17. Numb. xx. 14, 17. xxxiv. 3. Relai Polar/Una^ vol. i. p. 66. -Arabia Petrsa is a rocky country con- B filling 2 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. I. 2. Seven Tons his patriarchal fway rever'd, His houfhold cares three beauteous daughters cheer'd. 3. His flocks in thoufands brows'd, his camels fed In thoufands -, o'er his fertile paitures fpread. In beeves, and beafls of more ignoble drain, In rural magazines, and ruftic train, His mighty opulence no rival found, Among the princes in Arabia's bound. 4. On the glad feafon of each natal day Sweet friendfhip call'd, the brother friends obey : The reafonable to imagine, that Job was well acquainted with Egypt : Hence, alfo, we may account for the mention of the Jordan in die poem c : The Euphrates, doubtlefs, would have been thus honoured, had Job lived in Arabia Deferta near the banks of that river ; as many have fuppofed. Ver. 3. Three thoufand camels'] The Arabs ufed thefe ani- mals in war d , in their caravans, and for food c . One of their ancient poets, whofe hofpitality grew into a proverb, is reported to have killed yearly in a certain month ten camels every day for the entertainment of his friends e . Of all the men of the eajl~\ The land of Uz, where Job dwelt, lay fnuth of Paleftine : But it was in Arabia Petraea : And as a confiderable part of Arabia Petraea formed the eaft- ern filling of mountains, valleys between -them, and landy plains. It lies between the two gulfs of the Red Sea, and extends away to the eaft of the Dead Sea and the River Jordan. (Pococke's Dtfcription of the Eaft % vo). i. p. 136.) No tillage, no grafs in all this country. (Ibid. p. 137.^ The mountains are rocks of granite marble, mount Sinai being about the centre of them. (ibid.) The valiies are the beds of torrents in winter, but dry in fummer. Ibid. 140. c Chap. xl. 2 5. d Vid. Schul tens' Lxcerpta from the Arabian Anthoiogia, p. 31 5. a. • Pocock : Specim. Bifi, Arab. p : 343, Ttgr, p. 115. 7 Chap. I. THE BOOK OF JOB. 3 The fcftal in the birth-day hoi blek'd, And each fair Gftcr came a bi 5. Oft as thefc rounds of ibcial joy cxpir'd, The pious father holy rites required : By due ablution s'd, the filial band For folemn facrifice around him ftand , When, rifing with the morn, the prieilly fire Difpos'd th' atonement on the hallowM fire. For every child a coftly victim blaz'd, For every child the fervid pray'r he rais'd : " Forgive my childrens fin, all-gracious Pow'r, " If ought difpleas'd thee in their mirthful hour : " If fome loofe moment's gaiety of heart " E'er faid to piety and God, depart. 6. Now crn boundary of Paleftine, it was natural for a Jewifh hifto- rian to denominate all the Petraean Arabians, men of the caft. Bp. Lowth has alfo fhown, that all that tracl of kind which was between Egvpt and the river Euphrates, was called the eaft, He remarks from Mr. Jofeph Mede, that the Ifraelites learned this phrafeology while they fojourned in Egypt f . Ver. 5. curfed God in their hearts] It fhocks credibility, that this excellent father mould conceive fo grofs a fentiment of his amiable children. He was only apprehenfive, leaft, in the gaiety of a fefHval, they had let loofe their minds from the reftraints of religion. The word ccnltantly fignifies to . It was the term pf compliment between friends at their meeting, and at parting h : In the latter ufe of it, it anfwered, as Bp. Lowth obferves, to our engiifh phrafe fare you f Letter to tie author of the Divine Legation, p. -3. E In \ Kings xxi. \%. it is rendered to blafphemc : Nahctb did llafpkem? (renounce) GcJ and the kit* : that is, he had fpoken words which imported a renunciation both of his religion and his ^nce. Sc:e the note of Schuhens on Jcb i. 5. b Gen r, 10. L Sam. xix. B 2 4 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. I. 6. Now, on a day in heav'n, before the throne Supreme th' angelic minillration fhone, Jehovah's high-born Tons : Among them (lands 7. Satan, of whom the fovereign voice demands ; From which of my dominions art thou come ? From earth, he anfwer'd, licens'd there to roam : Afllduous in my office, I have run Through all its peopled climes from fun to fun. 8. Accufer, haft thou mark'd with hoftile aim My fervant Job - 9 on earth a matchlefs name, Of blamelefs manners, with a foul fincere, Evil his hate, and God alone his fear? 9. Th' accufer anfwer'd : Is the iervice free, Rewarded with fuch ample hire by thee ? ic. Is you well : And probably, like that, came to be ufed in a bad fenfe, for renouncing an acquaintance. This paffage, therefore, might have been turned, and have bidden farewel to (or re- nounced) God in their hearts. Ver. 6 — 12. Now there was, &c] This is not hiftorv ; but a piece of allegorical fcenery, fomewhat refembling the councils of the Gods in Homer. The noble inftruction, which it veileth, is ; that God governs the world by the in- ftrumentality of fecond caufes, that the evils of human life are under his direction, and that the afflictions of good men are appointed by him for the illuftration of their virtue, and advancing, by that means, the honour of religion. Ver. 6. Satan] Job himfelf, and the other human fpeakers in the poem, conitantly reprefent his calamities as the imme- diate act of God. They, therefore, had no idea of this evil being, nor of his agency in human affairs : He is never once mentioned throughout the poem. Ver. 7. going, Sec. watting, &fV.] Thefe expreffions mean, in the Hebrew idiom, vigilant execution of a miniftry, or office. Zech. i. 10, 11. i p, I. Tin-: BOOK OF J on. 5 ip, [s not himfclf, his houfe, his all, fccurM nn harm ; within thy providence immurM ? . >fper'd by thee, Ins wealth, increafing Hill, a thoufand (prings in vale and hill. 1 1. SrnitC now his all, this fecming fon of grace ill, on my head, renounce thee to thy face, i t. ( Ince more Jehovah : Go, invade his all, Bqt at thy peril on his perfon fall. Swift from the prclence flew the Pow'r of fpite, And prone to earth precipitates his flight. i j. Twas now the birth-day of the elder fon, The kindred met, the banquet was begun. 14. When, lo, a fervant, breathlefs, pale with fear, Bare heavy tidings to the mailer's ear : Thy afles graz'd, thy heifers turn'd the foil, 1 5. Sabean robbers flew upon the fpoil : Thy faithful flaves lie flaughter'd on the plain, I, only I, to bring the tale remain. 16. Him interrupt another's doleful cries: The fire of God was darted from the fkies, The flocks and fhepherds are confum'd. alone, I, wretch, furvive, to make the mifchief known. 17. A Ver. 11. hi will curfe thee, &c] he will renounce thee to thy face* The phrafe is ftronger than in vcr. 5. curfed God in their hearts. It importeth here an utter and public renun- ciation of religion as a vain thing. Ver. 13 — 19. And there was, &c] The calamitous cata- ftrophe defcribed in thefe yerfes, is crowded with events fo very extraordinary in their nature and coincidence ; that, I confefs, it hath more the air of parable than of matter of fa&. B 3 6 THIL BOOK OF JOB. Chap. I. 17. A third ; The Chaldees, in a triple band, Have fore'd the camels to a foreign land. I only from their cruel fword have fled, To fpeak the lofs and how the herdirnen bled. 1 8. Worfe meflage follow'd, follow'd dole behind, The bearer's look ipoke horror in his mind : Thy firft-born fon, his brethren, fillers — all Were met, and feafting in his friendly hall : 19. When rufhing from the wild, a wheeling blaft Full on the houfe all ways its fury cad:: Thy Ver. 17. The Chaldeans'] Chaldea was, indeed, at a vaft diftance from the land of Edom. But thefe were a fet of profligates, who followed the pilfering life of the wild Arabs : and like them, it is probable, they made excurfions through the Arabian deferts j to any diftance where there was any hope of plunder *. The Arabs efreemed it heroifm to make long journeys over pathlefs folitudes, in queff. of daring ad- ventures k . fell upon the camels'] The Arabs continued thefe practices in fucceeding generations. The nrft poem in the Arabian Anthologia^ published by the learned Schultens, turns upon the lofs of ten camels j which the poet had fuftained by an incur/ion of this kind. Ver. 19. from the yuitdernefs] Some defert eminently fo d ; moft probably that deep fandy defert which lies be- tween Egypt and PaJeftine, mentioned by Jofephus and Ar- rian '. h was, therefore, a fouth wind which overthrew the houfe, where Job's children were feafting. Zech. ix. 14. The Lord God .... Jhall go with whirlwinds of the jo nth. 1 Let the learned render fee what is offered in the Pralccliones, p. 417, towards folving this obje&ion to placing Uz in the land of Edom. k Arab. \ p. " -. n. J Vid, Reland s Pmlafiiua l vol. i. p. 59. :ap. I. Til K BOOK OF JOB. 7 Thy children fmothcr'd in the ruin fell, I only live the Fatal blow to I 20. Then Job arofe ; and, father now no more, lie lopt his flowing hair, his robe he tore : Prone to the duft he bow'd his rev'rent head, And, worfhipping, with humbled accent faid : Peace every murmur, naked into birth I came, and naked fhall return to earth. The Lord in boun: , but gave in truft, The Lord renames-, reluming, not unjufb : Giving, reluming, he is Mill the Lord, Still be the glories of his name ador'd. 21. Thus far thcblamelefs man his ills fuftain'd, Nor one complaint the ways of God arraign'd. Chap. II. V. i. Again the fons of God his throne furround, Again th' accuier in the ranks was found. 2, 3. To him Jehovah : erring was thy aim, My fervant Job is (till a matchlefs name ; Of blamelels manners, with a foul fincere, Evil his hate, and God alone his fear. His virtue (lands, unmeriting he mourns, On thy own head thy calumny returns. 4. Satan Ver. 20, 2.1. and vscrfoipped, &c] This was behaviour truly fublime ; the nobleit homage that could be paid by a reafonable being to his great Creator. Ver. 21. In all this , &c] This remark, and the repetition of it chap. ii. 1, warneth us to expert a very different beha- viour in the poem* B 4 THE BOOK OF JO B. Chap. II. 4. Satan reply'd •, who that efcapcs to fliofc, Will, though his all be wfeck'd, his lofs deplore ? 5. Smite but his pcrfon home, this fon of grace Will, on my head, renounce thee to thy face. 6. God anfwer'd : lo I yield him to thy will ; Licens'd to wound, at thy own peril kill. 7. Swift from the prefence went the Pow'r of fpite, And prone to earth precipitates his flight. Job inftant felt the cruel foe, all o'er Smitten with boils and dung at every pore. 8. Down CHAP. II. Vcr. 4. fktn for /kin •, &c] This proverbial form of fpeech might have, among the Hebrews, fufneient dignity for profe. But it appeared to me too humble for verfe. I have, there- fore, in my translation, changed it into another ; which, I think, exprefleth its meaning. Ver. 5. be zvill curf thee, &c] See the note ch. i. 11. Ver. 7. with fere boils'] This was one of the plaguqb with which the Egyptians were fmitten m . It was frequently the firft ftage of a leprofv n . Accord ing to the great Dr. Mead °, it was that fpecies of leprofv, which had trie name of Eie- phantiafis, the elephant dlfeafe'\ fo called from its fwcl'ing the mouth, legs, and feet to an enormous fize, although the body at the fame time was emaciated. The very bones, he adds, are injured by it- The learned Michaelis fays, " it is an univerfal ulcer ; an exceedingly foul, painful, and nau- feous diftempcr. Thofe who were afrecled by it, are faid to have been weary oi' Life, and to wifh and hope lor not fo much as death : It made them impatient, paffionate, dil- contented with every thing, wild and defperate.*' m Exod. ix. 10, 11. n Levit. xiii. 20. Medico. Sacra^ Stack's tranjlation, ch, i. p, 1 :. ii. 2C, f Not. in Ltnvtbi Prated* jp i 202, 203. Chap. II. Til E B OOK OKJOB. 9 S. Down in the dufl he fat, in humble I Of fori :o the will divine. 9. 'Twas then, the frail companion of his care Wound »ul with words of wild defpair: What, iVill a faint ? go on, and cringing low Praile him once more, and feel his mortal blow. 10. Doll thou (he laid, and caft a tender look While zeal deliver'd its fevere rebuke,) Even thou thus rafhly ipeak ? in fuch a ftyle, Let a blind paganefs her gods revile. Jehovah's Ver. S. a pot-fieard] This was a part of the kitchen fur- niture, and an utenfil of the hearth in thofe da*s of fimpli- city *. But the action, here deicribed, feemed to mc too low to be admitted into englifh heroic verfe. he (at down among the a/Jus] Sitting down on the hearth, and likewife fprinkling dull: upon the head, were ancient rites of mourning r . Ver. 9. curfe Gcd, Sec] The tranflation might have been bid farewel to, or renounce < - • there will be, however, more poignancy in the fpeech, if we retain here the proper meaning of the Hebrew term as in ch. i. 21, blefs Gcd and die ; a fevere farcafm on thofe admirable words of devout adoration, bUffed be the name of the Lord. The rafhnefs of this poor dinrefTed Ladv cannot be altogether excufed : But candour will make favourable allowances for the frailty of her fex, and the feverity of her trial. Ver. ic. the foclijh] fo the Hebrews ftyled idolaters, Pf. Ixxiv. j 8. The Heathens, when any misfortune befel them, were wont to revile their Gods : Thus, in Homer, Achilles Menclaus Mafpheme Jupiter 3 . 3 I fa.; ah XXX. 14. r Amon^ the Hebrews, II Sam. xiii. 19. Jfaiah Jviii. -. Jcrcm. vi 70. Thefe cu^ms obtained alio among the ancient Greeks : OdyiT. vii. 153. xxiv. ^15. •11. i. 353. iii. 3-5, io THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. II. J hoyahfs hand divides our portion ilill •, Shall we embrace his good, and not his ill ? Thus far the patient man his lips redrain'd From fin, and firm in every fliock remain'd. 11. Lamenting fame now haden'd from his place Tcmanian Eliphaz, of Shuah's race Bildad, and Zophar of Naamah's line : Thefe, guided by the voice of friendfhip, join ; Then fpeedy to their fufFring friend they go, To mingle tears, and mollify his woe. 12. His form now opens to their diftant view, But Ohow alien from the form they knew ! They fprinkled dud upon their heads, they rent Their flowing vefture, and aloud lament. 13. Then feated near him on the ground, amaze Fetter'd their tongues. For {even fucceeding days, With mourning rite, their vifit they renew'd, But filent dill. They faw, his grief withdood All lenient counfel -, for his looks exprefs'd Torture, and huge affliction in his bread. Chap. Ver. 11. The Temanite] The intimate friendfhip between Job and thofe three men implies, furely, vicinity of habita- tion. Teman, the refidence of Eliphaz, was in the land of Edom l : the other two, therefore, dwelt, we may fuppofe, in that country, or in its neighbourhood. Ver. 1 3. feven days and /even nights] that is, a whole week ; which was the cuflomary fpace of time for mourn- in rr. Ecclefiafl. xxii. 12. Seven days do men mourn for that is dead. Compare Gen. L. 10. 1 Jerem. xlix. 7, Chap. III. Till- BOOK OF JOB. n Chap. III. 1,2. At length the fufPring man, oppreft with pain, Poured out hi b in lamenting drain : And thus devoted to eternal fhame Ii;s natal day, whence ail his forrows came. Pcrifli the day my haplefs years began ! Perifh the night, which hail'd the new-born man ! 4. Dark, CHAP. Ill ", The poem opens with that kind of tragical diflrefs, which is lofty in its conceptions and highly figurative in its lan- guage ; which labours for the ftrongeft imagps, and mod: energetic words ; to exprefs its feelings, and to fprcad over all objects around it its own gloominefs and horror. A pa- roxyfm of fuch violent grief vents itfelf in the following im- precations. The paflion, however, fubfides a little in the latter part of the fpeech, and flows in the foft complaining ftrain of elegy. This impotence of mind in Job, fo incon- fiftent with his former firmnefs, may, I think, be accounted for, in part, from the influence of his difeafe : to which mult be added, his not having obtained any abatement of his affliction, notwithstanding his fubmiffion ; and his fufpicion, from the filence of his three friends, that he was to expedf. no coniblation from them. Ver. 1. his day] his birth-day. here day denoteth a fpace of twenty-four hours : which, for the fake of amplification, is in the third verfe divided into its constituent parts ; the day, or time from fun-rife to fun-fet, and the nighty or time from fun-fet to fun-rife again. Ver. 3. the day perifi) . . . and the night.'] The da being deprived of the light of the fun ; the nighty by lofing the u See the beautiful obfervations on this chapter in Bp Lovvth's Trale^licnes,^. 170 — 17c, - vo. Alfo, concerning the different ftyles of grief in i;s different degress; p. %iz % 2 i 5, of the fame admi- rable book. 12 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. III. 4. Dark, total darknefs, be that day •, nor eye Of God, all viewing from his throne on high, Its revolution heed : nor orient beam Revifit, gladd'ning with its golden ftream. 5. Let Death poflefs it with his dreary made, Let florm and thund'ring cloud its heav'n invade: Let the light of the moon and ftars : to which circumfrances he addeth others, to aggravate the horror. There is a man-child conceived] He is fpeaking cf the night of his birth : for he mentions the celebration of its anniver- sary, ver, 6. the verfion, therefore, mould have been, a man- child was conceived™. The night of his birth discovered that his mother had been pregnant with a fon. The birth of a fon was one of the great occafons of fefrivitv among the Arabs : the other two were ; the birth of a foal of family, and the riling up of a poetical genius, in any of their tribes x . Ver. 4. regard it] Our public verfion renders it to carefir % m Deut. xi. 12. A land which the Lord thy God careth for. God is here reprefented fitting on his throne in heaven, and furveying the univerfe ; to fee that all its movements be car- ried on according to the laws which he has eitablifhed. Job wimeth that the day of his nativity may be rejected from the care of that providence, by which the conftant viciffitudes of day and night are preferved. TJje light] The fun. fo the word fignifies in Arabic >'. Ver. 5. Jiain it] in the margin, challenge it 7 ; as its pro- perty. the nin ' c appears, from Gen. iii. 16, that this word includes the whole period 'of pregnane) : I: may denote here the termina- tion of that period in child birth, as in I Chron. iv. i~. Some, perhaps, will chuie to adopt the reading which the LXX fohowed, rUIl ecce -> *&* *j x Fccock. Spec. Hift. Jr. p. 16c, 337. >" Lock man. Fab. Sol. et l\ z . , Theodot. Symmachus turns it 1 K>rd, ayyjraad^ wJi.w Li it redeem it in right of ' cc \ gun.. I ap. III. THE COOK OF JOB. 13 1 at bodi is, from all the quartered fpherc, Trouble vv, and terrify the J 6. That night let darknefs in his realm replace-, afe it from the rolls of time, era 7. All through that lonefome night may filence reign, Nor joy intrude, nor joy-awak'ning drain. 8. Curfe the blackmfs a of the day'] Whatever can be imagined moft difmal to make a day terrible and abhorred ; fuch as deftrue- tive florms, lightnings, thundrings, portents, e\;c. is, I con- ceive, comprehended in this phrafe. Ver. 6. darknefs] It is a different word in the h&brew from darknefs in the foregoing verfe. We tranflate it cliap. x. 22. darknefs it ft- If. It there denoteth the utter exclufion of every particle of light. let it not be joined unto] The marginal verflon, let it not re- joice among b , has an equal claim, is more poetical, and raifes the anniverfary of his birth to the dignity of a public feftival : an honour from which he now wiiheth it may for ever be degraded. Ver. 7. folitary, tsfc] That is, let none afTemble, to con- verfe, or to rejoice, in that night. The Arabs had their meetings for converfation in the night c : and among the eaftern nations, in general, the night was devoted to fefli- vity d : It is fo ftill among the Moors in Barbary e . But Mr. Heath, following the learned Schultcns, translates this member of the verfe ; Lo^ that night may it be fuitlefs r , that a '*V*V.22 tr if ltia maxima-, an augmentative noun fub't. from the verb *|'J^, in Syriac. triftis fuit : as T13D a ic denotech the continuance of defire under delays of the delired good. Hab. ii. 5, 1 8 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. III. 23. Why mud I breathe, who fee no gleam of light •, Whom God environs with defpair's black night ? 24. My daily meal but deepens all my groans, And like the burfling fluice I pour my moans. "25. Ah boding fears ! I fuffer'd what I fear'd \ Soon as divin'd, the dreaded ill appear'd : Still how welcome death would be to him. He even falls into a rapture at the thought of a diflblution, which fills every hu- man breaft with horror. The image from avaricious men, in fearch of hidden trcafure, is aftonifhingly great. Ver. 23. Whofe way is hid] by his way he means his pre- fent condition* : which he compares to that of a man, who is fhut up in a ftrong and dark prifon r ; out of which there is no poffibility of efcape. He could neither fee the reafon why God had cafl him into this deplorable fituation, nor any probability of his deliverance from it. Ver. 24. before I eat] It is in the hebrew, before'' 1 (in the j>refence of) my meat. The fight of his food renewed his dif- trefs ; becaufe it was the means of prolonging a miferable life : or becaufe, as Mr. Peters ingenioufly conjectures, it brought to his remembrance thofe happy hours when his chil- dren were about him w . Ver. 25, 26. For the thing which I greatly feared, &c] The exprefiions are much too ltrong to repreient the ftate of his mind ( 2 ) ~£)IT dig for ; it fignifies eager perfevering activity to ob- tain what wedeiire. (3) n*3&*> to rejoice : this word importcth a plea fu re that has no trouble mixed with it, being a metaphor from a fmooth reed. (4) Vjl> J°y-> expreffing itfelf by leaping; or rather dancing in a ring, after the eaitern mode. (5) D**^n» t0 Le in rapture: it is ufed for the vivacity and fparkling appearance of the eye, caufed by an exceffive flow of fpirits, in the vvar-horfe, ch. xxxix. 21. See the Comment, of Scbultens. 5 Ifaiah xl. 27. * Lamentat. Hi. 7, 9. u 'JDS coram, Vid. Noldium. w Chap, xxix, 5. Cn.w. 111. Til E HOOK OF JOB. 19 Still trembling, fiifPring, I'm allow'd to know No cafe from terror, nor one paufe in woe. Chap. [V. 1, 2. The Temanite reply'd : To (peak our fenfe Shall we prefume, and hazard the offence ? But whom can (Hence hold, or doubt fufpend, To truth unfaithful or difpleafe a friend ? 3, 4. Not mind in his profperity : He was under no apprehenfions of a calamitous change; Then I /aid, I JJjall die in my neft*. But upon the fudden deftrutlion of his fortunes and family, he prefaged, no doubt, fomc evil to his perfon : when that feared^ a htm f : his alarms, no queftion, were increafed : he dreaded fome new blow, at this very time, it is likely, he apprehended an addition to his afflictions from the unkindnefs of his friends. Ver. 26. / wa s not , &c. ] IMr. Heath's tranflation is, I think, more juft to the meaning of the facred poet : I have no more eafe, my tranquillity is clean gone, neither have I any more reft : but terror cometh. C H A P. IV. • The overthrow of Job, fo nearly rcfembling the judge- ments of God on fome notorioufly wicked men, had raifed in the minds of his three friends a fufpicion of his moral character : His intemperate complaint ftrengthened their fuf- picion. The fo. lowing reply kindles a flame of controverfy, which fpreadcth through the far greater portion of the poem. That part of the difpute, on the ways of God, in which he and they are engaged ; is the means employed by the poet to work up his difcontcnt to its higheft pitch : The other part, managed x Chap. xxix. 18. y Ckap, ii. 7, C 2 20 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. IV. 3, 4. Not fiich the (train* when grief attentive hung On the wife leiTons of thy pow'rful tongue : Affliction's palfy'd arm was ftrung by thee, The tott'ring ftep confirm'd and feeble knee : What numbers, in the conflict half fubdu'd, Arouz'd to courage, ftrong in patience Hood ! 5. Now touched thyfelf, and thine the fufPringpart, Maz'd and unmann'd thou fainteft with the finaru 6. Should not thy piety, beneath the rod, Infpire a noble confidence in God ? And managed finely by Elihu* is contrived to remove the embar- rafTment, and to prepare him for fuhmiflion. Bsth parts carry on the defign of the poem ; which is firft to expofe, then to cure that difcontent. This addrefs of z has the appearance of friendship. But feverai ftrokes, and the tenor ..hole, too plainly (hew, that he fuppofed the afflictions of his friend to be puniiLment of preceding guilt. There is an air of ri and authority in the eloquence of this f] r, whi< h, I think, clearly diftinguifheth his ler from that of tV Ver. 6. Is net this, &Q.] The original is a period divided into two members, and may be tranflated thus; uldnot thy piety ' he thy 1 : a ? And* the upright - k e? The ■ In tbe Hebrew, : which or 0/ GeJ t or pi : chap. xv. 4. b Th • conllruttion in the original is embarrafled by the diflo- c ' n of the *\, and : place it at the beginning of the femence; all then becomes clear. See a 1. ^f or * n Pi*t exxviii 2. Chap. IV. THE BOOK : J OB. 21 And confci Fill >n*s houi 7. A juft man perifh ? innocen n ? Nametheftrangeinftance-, in what climate known? 8. But finners thus, if I thefe eyes belies Fit harveft of the crimes they low receive. 9. A furious dorm, th' Almighty's angry breath, RufhM down, and fmote them with enormous ..th. ic. At The words may be conftrued a friendly admonition to recol- his religious principles, and to lupport himfelf by the clearnefs of his confeience. On the other hand, th°y may import that no good man would fail into defpair under afflic- , as he had done. There is an appearance of art in this ami . 7, 8. who ever perijhed^ Sec] Thefe expreffions, alfo, be underftood as a confolatory argument ; to confirm the integrity fhould infpire. u Good men ametimes chaftifed feverelv for their faults, but not " deftroyed : calamities which end in deJlruSlion^ are the por- • m of the wicked only c ." On the other hand, his mean- it be ; " calamities like yours being the lot of wicked len only, fome wickednefs of yours muft needs have " brought thefe calamities upon you." here then we have her inftance of artful ambiguity. Ver. 8. T/yy that plow*, Sec] Tin's general proverbial irn is applied in particular to oppreffors\ in Prow. xxii. 8. H that foweth iniquity JbaU reap vanity (mifery) ana of bis anger /hall fail, 9. By the blaft, &c] Deflruction, fudden, terrible, and vifibly from God, is here reprefented by the image of a furious t< 10V. xxiv. 16. i'f. cxl. I I. d -.r.ra;, The plowed field of fin productth death, ^Eichylus, Septenw c. Theb. v. 607. C 3 22 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. IV. 10. At once was ftill'd the rav'ning lion's roa^, The fierce black lion's growl was heard no more : One blow difarm'd the weaned lion's jaw, li. The ftrong flout lion mourn'd his famifh'd maw, And perifh'd : The mad lionefs was flain, Her whelps were fcatter'd o'er the fandy plain. 12. But Ver. 10. The roaring, &c] His own defarts furnifhed him with thefe apt emblems of oppreflion, in its various kinds and degrees of power and rapacky. But wherefore does he fingle out this particular fpecies of wickednefs ; and reprefent the vengeance it had brought on fome great tyrannical families, well known to himfelf ? Is not this more than an ebfeure hint, that he fufpe£red his friend to have committed crimes of this fort ; and to be now in imminent danger of perifhing by them ? the ferce lio?t] the black lion: fo Bcchart tranflates it, ac- cording to the import of the Hebrew word c . Oppian tells us, he himfelf faw lions of this colour : and Pliny affures us, there were lions of this fort in Syria. Ver. ii. The old lion] The ft out lion. The name in the original f denoteth a lion of extraordinary ftrength. It is the fame word that is ufed, Prow xxx. 30. A lion which is flrangefl among beafls. In one of the poems in the Arabian Aoithohgia s it is ftyled a fierce lion : " We attacked them with the im- " petuofity of a lion h , even the fierce lion." The flout lions whelps] The whelps of the lionefs : . It is plainly the fame word which Eaekiel empioys, chap. xix. 2. What is thy mother f a lionefs k : — fie nourifies her ivhc/ps, txc. c bnt^ f° r tlie Syriac Hntf black. Ilieroz. p. i. 718. f Lajh. ? Publifhedby the learned Schultens, in his edition of Erpenius' Arabic Grammar \ p. 32 1. h Ld'.jh. x ft ^7. k t*T2t /• The P°i nts which the Malbritcs have affixed to it in that paliage of Ezekiel, to make it the feminine gender, is con- trary, as Bochart obferves, to grammatical analogy : for if K'3^ ha i a feminine form, it mull be, H'S^/ > as ft*23 * propbet t n^H^ a prepbetf/s, Hiercz. p. i. 719. Chap.IV. THE BOOK OF JOB. 23 12. But hear the word divine, to pi p'd, Than pearls more preciou i, in the midnight (hade; 13, A mid it ch' emotions which from viiiuns rife, When more than nature's fleep feals human eyes. 14 Fear feiz'd my foul, the hand of horror ftrook My fhudd'ring flefh and every member fhook. 15. For a itrong wind with rufhing fury pafs'd So near, fo loud, blaft whirling after blafl, That my hair ftarted at each fliff'ning pore, 16. And itood' erect. At once the wild uproar Was Ver. 12 — 16.] This vifion, or fupernatural dream, is in- troduced with wonderful folemnity : The darknefs of the night, the horror, the whirlwind, the fudden ftillnefs, the burft of glory, and the awful voice, are circumftances, which of thcmfelves, and by the order of their fuccefiion, have a erfii] effect on the imagination of the reader. Ver. 12. a thing] In the Hebrew, a word, that is a divine revelation; Jer. xviii. 18. The law fhall not perijh from the priej} — nor the word from the prophet. a little thereof] precious injlruclion l from it. Ver. 13. hi thoughts from the vi/lms, &c] The original means fuch thoughts as caft the mind into afronifhment m ; produced by the awful circumftances ufually attending a di- vine vifion. Ver. 15. afpirit] awind n \ or, according to the Chaldee Interpreter, a whirlwind. iChap. xxx. 15. II Sam. xxii. u. If. 1 Sbemets. the LXX render it £^«i£rj«, extraordinary things. The learned Schultens hath (hewn, that in Arabic it 1 gi ring of pearls ; and, metaphorically, a feries cf inftruSi've fentences. n ' D*3ycy« Aquila tranflates it 1 • abalienationes ; a (late of mind wherein a man lofeth the pofTefilon of himfelf. n A fi'ong ri bid and a dazzling luminous appearance are mentioned by Jamblichus a^ circumftances . g divine dreams and wfiohs. See Le Clerc on Gen. xii. 7. c 4 24 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. IV. Was hufh'd -, a Prefcnce burft upon my fight (I favv no fhape) in majefty of light : Voice followed, and cclctlial accents broke, Which in thefe terms their awful dictates fpoke : 17. " Is God arraign'd ? abiblv'd man's finful dud ? " Lefs pure his maker ? and his judge lefs juft ? 18. " Lo If. xxxii. 2. This word when ufed abfolutely as here, never means, that I can find, a good angel ; nor yet an evil Jpirit 9 except in I Kings xxii. 21. II Chron. xviii 20. Ver. 16. It food ftill 9 &c] The tranflation I apprehend fhould be ; On a fudden a glorious appearance n prefented itjelf i before wine eyes y hut I difcerned net the form thereof: that is, ould not perceive that the appearance had any determi- nate fhape : it was, probably, a cloud of light. Ver. 17. Shall mortal man, &c] The important inftruc- tions conveyed in this divine vifion are ; the abfolute recti- tude of God, the exceeding imperfection of human virtue, and the impiety of arraigning the juft ice of his moral govern- ment. more juft, &c] The manifeft defign of Eliphaz, in relat- ing this vifion, was, to fix a divine cenfure en I .•: part ( fob's fpeech ; and to warn him againft falling into fuch querulous language any more : fince ail complaint fuppofcth, that the complainant thinks himielf injured by the party of whom he complaineth. n \ 'I- he verb in Arabic9gni&es, among other things, to reprejent, or act as fubltitute of, another ; Caftell. Lex. Heptag. The noun is ufed, Numb. xii. 8. for forne glorious wifible repre- J'entation of God : we there render it, Jmilitude ; but the beptu- agiot, }<4a glory. See alio Pf. xvii. ) ;. ~\ZiV ft et *t> fuddenly prefented irjef. Horace uksfetit in the fame manner. dexter ftetit • ■ Sat. ii. 3. v. As I was alcnt to jump into the river, to drown ntyfelf the / . pher Ster/inius fuddenly prefented himfelf at my right i . i$i. . figniaes to appear juddenly. Luke ii. Chap. IV. THE BOOK OF JOE. 15 10. " Lo he difcerc , ■ . '.! by him aloi -, M Spots in the wound his throne : " Nor truils his noble mini iters of flame, cc To j kid him fervice unalloy'd with blame. 19. " Yet, innocent of blame fliall man be found ? " Tenants of clay and reptiles of the ground ? 20. " Crufh'd like the moth, thefe beings of a day " With unregarded wade are fwept away : 21. u Their Ver. 18. Hi put no trufl, &c.l One 6f the Grec!: inter- preters turns it, there is hi liability p in his fervants : his angelic minifters art not abfolutely perfect. >\ &c] /« &ZJ an gels he obferveth 1 failure \ How much more' in them that dwell in boufes of clay, Sec. Ver. 19. before the moth] like l a moth. They are as eafily cruihcd, uo that feeble and contemptible infect. Ver. 20. trning to evening] They are cut off within the compafs of one day : A morning and evening are the boundaries of human life. In th^ fhft ages of the world, as Mr. Pope obferves, there were no other diftin&ions of time but by the light and darknefs ; and the whole day v/as in- cluded in the general terms of t :g and morning. Note on II. xi. 119. fee Gen. i. 5. they p A&€ - . Symmachus. 1 Jas'm, LAX. ETTcvor.cre he noticetb. Cur tranflatcrs render it to regard, or notice, v. zo. r n /Hri' tne LXK render it mtateo* ri fimething wrong. Schpl- tens pMvis from the Arabic, that it denoteihy. 7 /^ or failure. The expreflion is much too faint for the crime of the angels who finned and fell from their nrfl: eitate. Nothing more fcems to be meant than the imperfection of the moil exalted fpirits, in companion with the infinite perfection of the Deity. s nor* y-' ".'■', Symmachus quanto ?nagis, Vulg. 1 'JD 1 ? irftar. Vid. Noldiuui, p. 533. *6 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. IV. 21. " Their honours perifh, and themfelves defcend " Fools to the grave and thoughtlefs of their end. Chap. V. V. i. Be, now, complainant, the defendant fee. Which angel will efpoufe thy daring plea 2 2. Learn, they pcrijb for ever] they clifappear u for ever from the woi Id . without any regarding it] The deftru&ion of mankind by death is not minded, or regarded, by the reft of the creation. This is only a rhetorical way of reprefenting, how infigni- fxcant a creature man is ; compared with the higher orders pf beings. CHAP. V. Ver. T. Call, &c] call mow, verily w there is one who will anfzver thee. The learned Schukens is the firft, if I miftake not, who obfervcd, that cell and anfzver are here law-terms ; the former denoting the action of the complainant, the other the part of the defendant, as in chap. ix. 16. xiii. 22. Eliphaz confdered the complaints of his friend as an ar- raignment of providence. Ke now ironically bids him renew the charge, and referreth him to the foregoing viiion for an anfwer. to which of the faints, &c] To which of the holy beings, Szc. that is, the ajigels *. Thofe exalted fpirits know themll to be 1 hern, therefore, will countenance thee, injuftifying thy felf and complaining againft God ? u Abad* t'.icy arc miffing, or loft. Deut. xxii. 3. which he hath loft and thou ba/l found. Job vi. [3. they (the brooks) go tnto air, and difapfear, w pi ij er ily. So this particle frequently fignines, as Schukens hath abundantly pre red. Vid. Comment, p. 121, x {ZWlp. See Daniel iv. 17. Chap. V. THE BOOK OF JOB. 27 2. Learn, he mulct of fin, In mens own bofon in : Rev< ; envy, hurries i'o:>ls along, PurtuV ath, to cruelty and wrori 3. Sucii I have ieen with rooted verdure tow'r, I curs'd his beauty in its profpYmg hour: 4. The curfe came fudden, o'er his Eden fpread, Crufh'd by the public hand his children bled : 5. Himfelf, Vcr. 2 — 7. Fbrwrath 9 k;c.'] Herefumes his pofition,ch. iv. 8. that men rwj .Mcir fufferir.gs are the fruit of their own criminal pailions f. He produceth another example in fupport of this principle : and traccth up the matter to its fource in a fixed law of providence, which hath ordained na- tural evil to be the punifhment of moral. Obferve, by what cautious gradations this fpeaker opens his uncharitable judge- ment of the cafe of his friend. the foolijh n: 'lly or.f~] Thefe are terms, in fcripture, for impioi n ■, marking them as perfons of a ihipid understanding and feduced by their corrupt paflions. The firft, fiolljhy is applied by the prophet Zachariah to an oppreilive ruler, chap. xi. 15, 16. wrath — envy] Thefe paffions are fpecified, becaufe thefe are two principal fources of injuftice and cruelty 3 . Ver. 3. / curptd b bis habitation] I marked it as devoted to deftrudlion. he defcribelh the tragical ruin of this wicked man's family and fortunes in the following fourth and fifth verfes. Ver. 4. They arc critjhed in the gate] The fenatc-houfc, which was alio the court of judicature, was over or near the gate ■ y Prov. i. 31, 32. z P.ov. i -. ,2. a Gen. xxxvii. i i, 20, 28. I Sam. xxii. 17 — 19. I Kings xxi. Pf. cvi. 16— -. b ^IpK Ezra viii. 20. AH of ihar. zeere marked cut hy name. Sec alio Amos vi. i. Mr. Heath, 28 THE BOOK OF JOB. Ch.ap.V. 5. Himfelf, a loaden fruit tree, fenc'd around With pow'r's thick terrors in oppreflion's ground, Was plunder'd : for the thievifh defert pour'd Her famifh'd vagrants, and his wealth devour'd. 6. Think gate of the city e . he glances, no doubt, at the tragical end of Job's children : though, fomewhat to cover his meaning, he fpeaks of being cut oft by human juitice. there is none to deliver'] This phrafe denoteth a calamity which is inevitable: it is particularly applied to the judge- ments of God d ; and is equivalent to that good old faying of Homer, QzoStiV £ an s; otXtzSryA, OdyfT. tt. 447. 'There is no efcaping from God. Ver. 5. JVJ:ofe harvefti &c] He had compared the opref-i five man of power to a tree, olive or palm, ftriking root, ver. 3. he now takes up the image again, and extends it ; rcprefent- ing the deftru&ion of his wealth, by the wild Arabs pillag- ing this guarded tree of all its fruit, the harvefr. of a tree is its ripened fruit e « he has his eye 3 I fuppofe, on the incur^ fions of the Sabeans and Chaldeans related chap. i. 14 — 17. the thorns] the hedge of thorns reprefenteth the means of fecurity and defence, with which power is armed. The robber*] The thievifh inhabitants of the deferts : Thcie pilfering Arabs not onlv robbed the hufbandman of his feed-corn, and made depredations on the fields of ripe corn, but they likewife treated the fruit trees in the fame manner ; c Job xxix. ver. 7, &c. xxxi. 21. Prov. xxii. 22. * Pf. vii. 2. 1. 22. e Job xiv. 9. it will bud and bring forth an harp ls & e bough of a fruit-tree laden with fruit. Pf. lxxx. 9, 12. f ED'DV- ^ ne Chaldee alio renders it robbers. In Arabic, CEy in the 10th conj. is opprejfus fuit ; the verb CVE* fig n ^ ea to lay hands upon a perjlrfs whole fubfance. Vm. Caiiell : Lex. Hepu r. V. TIIK BOOK OF JOB. 29 0. Think not thefe ch from the dud arife, Nor i 1 bd >W the fkics : 7. Man is to forrow born, if man offend, As furely as (be (piry flames afcend. S. Inftead of murmur, with repenting tear I'd leave my caufe in God's all-gracious ear : 9. Whofc rmnner ; Gripping the vines, for inflance, of their grapes, when thev arc ripe. See an ingenious book, intituled, Obfer- vations on < of Scripture, Sec. Ver. 6. Although . . &c] Verily affliction, Sec. Nei- ther the afflictions of human life in general, nor the fpecial nities mentioned in the foregoing verfe, fpring from <>r meer human agency ; but from an eftablifhed rule of the divine government ; as it follows in the 7th verfe. Ver. 7. Yet man, &c] For man, Sec. The train of the >urfe obliges us, I think, to understand his meaning to be ; that men are born under a law, which fubjects them to forrow as foon as they become tranfgreffors. Bp. Patrick's paraphrafe of this verfe is very concife and cxpreflive : " Who (God) hath made it as natural to man to furfer (having of- fended him) as it is for the fparks to fly upward." The fparks s] fee the note & below. Ver. 8 — 16. I would feek anto God, Scc.~\ Having proved, as he imagined, that the furlerings of his friend were the juft punilnment of his guilt; he now recommends to him fubmifiive application to God for deliverance. To roufe him out of his defpair, and at the fame time fix the convic- tion that his downfall was caufed by his fins, he fets before him, g ^CSH *jD * n the other places of Scripture, where t\W\ occ.;r. in the fen r e of fire, in denoteth lightning : ; the P|;£H *j^ the children of lightning ihould, therefore, mean its fajhes)h\\l here are faid to fn upward \ which cannot agree to lightnir.o-, as M . Peters hath obferved. Moil probably, therefore, the word was applied to any other flame. S o THE BOOK OF T O B. Chap. V. 9. Whofe adh are great, ftup^ndous, and renown'd, Which no thought fathoms and no numbers bound : 10. Who, pouring on the fields his genial rain, Turns a burnt defert into foodful plain : 11. Who lifts the lowly, from their duft, on high, And changes into fong the mourner's figh. 12. But vafl disturbance on the plots he flings Of fhrewd ambition, and to nothing brings 13. Its deep-laid policy : He oft has caught The wily in the wiles themfelves have wrought 3 And winding craft, entangled unaware, Is driven to flark confufion and defpair : 14. They him, in one blended view, the afloniding operations of di- vine providence j Ut redeat miferis, abeat fortuna fupcrbis. Hor. To ralfe the wretched^ and pull down the proud, Rofcom. Ver. 10. Who giveth rain 9 &c] "In tbofe hot climates the fpring is of fhort duration : All fummer the earth is with- out rain : every thing is burnt up, and the fields are turned into a defert But when the autumnal rains fall, a few plen- tiful mowers produce a fudden refurrec~tion of vegetable na- ture ; the paftures are cloathed again with grafs, the trees are covered with preen leaves, and all things aiTume a frefh and delightful aipeor. V Eliphaz here alludeth, I imagine, to fuch a great and beautiful operation of providence ; as a fitting emblem of its effecting a like wonderful tranfition, from a condition of defpairing affliction to a ftate of prospe- rity and joy. h Dr. Rufiel's tiatural hijlory of Aleppo, p. 13, 14, vp.V. THE BOOK or JOB. 31 14. They Ihimbk in high noon, and feci their way Throu M dafKftefs, in the blaze of day. 15. Thus innocence lie Lives from murd'rous wrong, The weak thus refcucs from the fierce and ilru 16. Thus hope to forrow comes; and, dumb with fhamc, Impiety no more blafphcmes his name. 17. From heav'n's rebuke what heav'niy bleflings flow! I I&ppy who fcorn not the reforming blow : 1 S. O fcorn not thou •, the fame kind wounding hand Its balm infufes, and applies its band. 19. Then ills on ills about thy path may fwell ; In vain ! his arm will every ill repel. 20. In famine fulnefs mall thy table cheer, And war, wide- wailing, make his harmlefs fpear. 21. Rages the tongue of flander ? undifmay'd, alk thou in covert of Almighty fhade. 22. When Ver. 16. Iniquity Jloppcth, &c] Such examples of thejuf- tice and goodnefs of providence filence the objections of inn- dels, and the murmurs of all complainants. Ver. 17 — 26. Happy is the man, Sec] As a further motive to repentance, he rcprefents afflictions as divine remedies ; and difplays the bleflings they procure to thofe who are re- formed. But the defcription is too high for the ufual courfe of things : The fingular care of providence over the Abra- hamic family feems to be the original, from which this beau- tiful picture of felicity was copied. Ver. 21. d l ] ruin by calumny or falfeaccufation ; as appears from its connection with the feourge of the tongue. See Ezck. xlv. 9. 1 bhOd. 2 z THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. V. 22. When beads of mifchief prowl, with fmile behold Thy cluft'ring vineyard and thy crowded fold. 23. Thy foot fliall be in covenant with the flone, And furious dragons thy dominion own. 24. Know further; peace thy houfhold reign Giallblefs, And all thy councils crown tfiee with fuccefs. 25. Know Ver. 22. dejtruftion k ] defolathn, by the ineurfions of law- lefs men and wild beaih. Sec Lcvit. xxvi. 22. Jer. v. 6. Ezek. xiv. 15. Pf. Ixxx. 13. famine l ] extreme poverty, the cfTecl: of the ineurfions and depredations abovementioned. Accordingly it follows, »«- iter Jhait thou he afraid of the beajls of the earth. Ilof. ii. 12, 18. Ver. 23. in league with the fl ones, &c] This fublime figure of fpeech may import protection in travelling. The fandals, which they wore, were a very flight guard to the feet, in the rough and ftony ways of thwir mountains, compare Pf. xci. 11, 12. the beajls of the field] In the foregoing verfe he a/Tares fecu- rity to his vineyards, Sec. from the depredations of noxious animals : here he engages for the feeurity of his perfon ; particularly from the various kinds of ferpents, which inf the deferts of Arabia and rendered travelling dangerous. Deut. viii. 15. Pf. xci. i]. Gen. iii. :. Ver. 24. Jball not fin] / '. The original word is a metaphor from fkilful flu ho never mils the mark: Judges xx. 16. th men, left-handed ; ei \ Jlones at an hair-breadth and not mifs m . k Shod, 1 Caphan. c. xxx. 3. the word for famine v. 20 i; 2V^ which figni lies a general dearth. Gen. xii. >o. m KtDn> */*apT«»w. In the proverb ciced from by Eraf- mus m his collection cb. 1. 1. cent, 6. frvv, y is ufed in this fenfe, xc *pxp*%\ %vho can . ■ ■ see Merrick on Pfal, x.xi. 34. Chap.V. THE BOOK OF JOB. 33 25. Know alio, that thy long-extending race Shall multiply as grals before thy face : 26. And thou all hoary to the grave be borne, As to its heap the mellow'd ear of corn. 27. Thus fpeaks our fearching thought, inftrudtion fure ; Apply, embrace it, and its good fecure. Chap. VI. t, 2. O for a balance pois'd with equal hand ! Lay all my lbrrows there, 'gainft ocean's fand : 3. Light Ver. 26. grave °] This is the term for the fepulchral grot in general ; or elfe for the cells, bored in the walls of the fepulchral rooms, in which the coffins were put. Ver. 26. Thou jhalt co?nc, &c] An eafy death in a good old age, worthy and refpecled character, and an honourable interment, are the ideas conveyed in this rural comparifon. Ver. 27. We have fearched it, &c] They had, it feems, conferred together on the cafe of their friend, agreed in their judgment of it, and concerted the plan of their difcourfe to him, Job, accordingly, addreiTeth his anfwer to them all. CHAP. VI. Job little expected fo harm a construction of his com- plaint ; much lefs that his innocence^vould be called in queftion, and his very afflictions turned, by his molt inti- mate friends, into an evidence of his guilt. This was too much to bear. His reply difcovers the various turns and emotions of his mind, on this trying occafion : he apologizes, laments p, defpifes <*, wifheth vehemently for death, protefts his innocence r , defpairs s , upbraids f , and fooths u . He apologizes m m i • 13p« p Ver. 1—4: 1 Ver. 5—7. r Ver. 8—10. » Ver! 11 — 13. ■ Ver. 14—27. u Ver. 28, 29. D 34 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. VI. 3. Light is the fand whereon the billows roll, When weigh'd with all the forrows of my foul. Ah ! therefore, therefore, does my boiling woe In fuch a vehemence of words o'erflow. 4. 1 feel, I feel th' Almighty's venom'd dart, His arrows fire my veins, and drink my heart : 'Gaintt :es again, and Ian Then turning to God, He pleads \ 1 % complains loudly of him r, ex- : him, and makes fupplication to him z . • 2 -> 3- mygritf* — 'ottd my calamity] He means his af-^ ions, irtclufive of their diiireffing impreffions on his mind : all thefe he would have to be put together in one fcale, and nft the fand on the lea-ihore in the other fcale. only a poetical and pathetic manner of faying, his afflictions were Lnfupportable ; a confideraticn which in equi- table judgement would at leaf! excufe his intemperate com- plaint. therefore my nerds are fwallowed up\ Therefore my words are vehement h . Our Author's term is a metaphor from boiling water that runs over ; and denotes exceffive lamentations c . Ver. 4. The arrows of the Almighty — the Qoifon vdbereof} The excruciating pains caufed by his inflammatory difeafe d , mav be fpeciaiiy intended by thefe ftrorvg exprefflons^ but not exclu- five of his other calamities 1 '. We may obferve, that poijbied arrows w Ver. 30. and ch, vii. 1 — 6. x Ch. vii. 7 — 10. y Ver. 11 — 16; z Ver. 17 — II. a WV2* ^P* Lcvvth renders it by ealamitas, in his elevated translation of this paragraph. Pralecl, p. 215. .Svo. ll y*]^. 1 know of no warrant for our public veriion of this word. c Schultens hath proved, from the Arabic, that this is the im- port of the word. See his Commentary, d Sec the note on chap. ii. 7. * Like as an arrow ivhieh is Jhot ef a mighty archer, reiurnetJ> not backward : e-venjb the plagues that jb all be jent upon earth jhali not return again, II Efdxas, xvi. i6j CGiup. ver. ij, 14. Chap.VL THE BOOK OK JOB, 35 array, War behind war, unt ifplay, 5. Rrays the foil ! or docs nature call The to bellow in hi .'.1 ? 6. Turns not the ftomach from th' unfav'ry cate ? Can vapid froth a poignant gufb create ? j. My arrows were ufed in war in thofc days. The metaphor in this paflagc is founded on fueh a cuftom. The Chaldce Paranhrafl, on Pf. Ixiv. 4. alludes to this praclicc : For what is in the lubrew CiH 13~n (they bend their kw to ficot their arrows) He renders, They anoint their arm - '-fori. The t &c] The thick fuccefnon of his naft calan it n of many more furl'zrings flill to come, feem to be painted in this high colouring. Ver. 5 — 7. D:th t &c] The flyle here mani- fcftly changes : it falls greatly below the elevation of the foregoing verfes . proof to me, that the poet now pafleth to another fubjecT, t ble of fublimity. I think he here lames Eli r his harangue on the bleflings of patience f ; he cha the whole fpeech as infipid, and highly offenfive ; wanting truth, pertinence, and charity. Orioweih the ox, &c] No wonder you complain not of the ways of providence, and have no feeling for me : You are irvperfeel eafe : The very brute animals do not complain, when they are fed to the full. This feems to be the thought. Ver. 6. in the white of an egg\ Infipid nefs is plainly the idea intended, but it is not eafy to fix the precife meaning of the Hebrew words ; which, on the authority of the Rabbis, are here rendered, the white cf * Qaap. v. 1-, 5:c. g DlE^n "VI ■ Schultens' interpretation is mcthinkstoo grofs ; fali-i.' '..-?'. the rheum nvbich runs out oftht mouths of infants *nd tld feej). D 2 36 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. VI. 7. My foul your cordials loaths •, as tafle rebels Againfl the viand whofe corruption fmells. 8, 9. O that, indulgent to my earned cry, God would extend his thund'ring arm on high ; Unpitiful his flaming trident throw, And driving through its mark the mortal blow, 10. At once deftroy me. In that horrid death, Exulting hope mall fpend my lateft breath : For Ver. 7. The things , &c] My foul* refufeth to touch: thefe things are like corruption i in my food. The cxpreflions in the firft claufe denote ftrong abhorrence : the other claufe gives the reaibn for it. by thefe things are meant, I fuppofe, the things which Eliphaz had offered for his com iction and confolation. Ver. 8 — ic that, Sec] The ftyle rifeth again. Reflec- tion on the unkindnefs of his friends makes him break out in a vehement vvifh for immediate death : his wifb is couched in terms of horrid grandeur. Ver. ic. thin flmild I yet have comfort] What comfort ? not, furely, the meer fatisfaction of deliverance from his fuf- ferings, and confounding calumny by his behaviour in that dreadful death. No, but a triumphing hope of felicity in a future ftate. The ground of his hope follows, even the clear teftimony of his conference : for I have not concealed, &c. / would harden tny felf] I ivmld exult k . For h '{£f£3 7n y appetite, as in Prov. xxiii. 2. a man giytM to appe- tite, vd: Sya- . . 1 tyj. It fignifies difeafe in the human body, Pi. xli. 4. «r- rupticn is the difeafe of food. Alio, m*10» in Dfit. xxviii, 60, is ufed for difeafe. k Afalledab. L XX. i»*Xo*Vi / would leap. The word occurs no more. Schuitens, guided by the Arabic, makes it a metaphor from a generous horfe, who itrikes the ground with his foot, when he is in high fpirits. See his Commentary. chap.vi. tiik book of job. 37 For never, never hath my faithful bread The mandates of his holy will fuppreft. 1 1. What is my ftrcngth ? what beckons me to flay Still ling'ring here, and hope lome healing day ? 12. Is my flefh fafhion'd of unfeeling brafs ? My finews flubborn as the marble mafs ? 13. In this weak wafted body, can I find Recruit from one found vital left behind ? 14. A friend the forrow of his friend mould feel, Relieve by pity, and by counfel heal : Elfe, For I have not concealed, &c] This is the firft time of his juftifying himfelf, in direct terms ; and he does it with modefty. The great Mefliah prophet appealeth to God for his fide- lity, in fimilar language : Pf. xl. 10. / have not concealed thy loving kindnefs and thy truth, from the great congregation. Was not Job, alfo, a prophet to his countrymen and fub- jec"h> r compare chap. xxix. 4. Ver. 11 — 13. IVhat is, &c] He falls from the heroic ftrain, into the foft and tender. His defpair of recovery is oppofed to the hopes which Eliphaz had given him. Ver. 13. Is not my help, &c] Verily ' there is no help for me within me : and vital vigour m is driven out of me. he had no refource of hope, in any iymptoms of fome ftrcngth re- maining in his wafted body. Ver. 14, Sic. To him, Sec] He proceeds to upbraid his three friends, with having failed him in his time of greateft need. The 1 DNH certe, omnino. See Noldius, p. 86, and Schultens' Comment, p. 90, 124. m rV5£^n> vital nrigoar, Mr. Heath, it fignifies, fays he, fub- Jijlentia, aliquid permanent; fomewhat that is durable and opera* tive, 'virtue in the fenfe of ability. Dj 38 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. VI. Elfe, void of bowels, and too hard for tears, No arbiter of human woes he fears. 15. My brethren fail me, like the floods which roar Down the deep hills with temporary (lore : 16. Thick with the vernal thaw their torrents grow,' And foam impetuous with difTolving lhow. 17. Anon, The public tranflation of this 14th verfe is, I think, juft to the original ; and yicldcth an excellent moral inftruction, very proper to introduce the reproof that follows. but .',:/£, &c] He that does not (hew pity to his afflicted friend, (lands not in awe of that Great Being, who > as Sophocles excellently fays, /; t.. nfer both of f miles and tears". Ver. iun | i c fatherleis; you bend The bow of l.uirc at your bleeding friend. 28.O come, vouchfafe to \ :j can you trace Guilt's evident con ru lion in my face ? 29. Review my plaint, nor call rebellion mine; Again review, its innocence will mine : 30. Was On upon my tongue ? yet moral fenfe In me too dull to notice the offence ? Chap. fpeeeh, Ifive effliy to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? 11 ds here mean reproof™ ; and right fignifies juji and fca- fonable : for in thoie two qualities the rectitude of reproof confifts. what doth your arguing, &c] What guilt does it convict me of ? Ver. 27. You dig a pit for your friend] Ycu fct upon your friend*. You wound his reputation ; and endeavour to make him odious, by infxnuating that he is wicked. Ver. 28. be content, See] be pleafed to look upon me ; I alfo look you in the face* : am I guilty* f Do you perceive any figns of guilt in my countenance ? w Prov. xxix. 19. Afervant will not be correcled by words : that is, reproofs. x PrO- In the fecond conjugation in Arabic it fignifies impttgnavit, to fet upon ; alfo to render detejiable. Cafleil. Lex. Hept. z 112$- It fignifies to be guilty in Prov. xxx. 6, and a falft matter in Exod. xxiii. 7. is a bad caufe. 41 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. VII. Chap. VII. i. What elfe but forrow is the time of man -, A hireling's life his predetermine fpan ? 2. As the tir'd fwain pants for umbrageous eve, To reft from labour and his hire receive ; 3. So I — but I am deftin'd to fuftain Long months of woe, and tedious nights of pain : 4. Laid CHAP. VII. Vcr. 1 — 6. Is there not, &c] Thefe verfes appear to me in clofe connexion with the laft verfe of the preceding chap- ter : He had there faid, was there iniquity in my tongue y &c. He could perceive nothing criminal in his vviming for death. He now argues, that the common afflictions of life would juftify fuch a wifh ; much more his infupportable mifery. Ver. 1. an appointed time*] that is, an appointed time of affliction 15 : fo the word fjgnifies in Dan. x. 1. compare ver. 14. Ver. 2. a fervant — an hireling] The two terms are to be joined, an hireling fervant ; or labouring man. he reafons from analogy : reft and wages are the justifiable defire of the wearied labouie-r j eafe and death equally fo of the mifejable. The companion is carried no further, as the judicious Schul- tens hath obferved. Ver. 3. So — ] He was going to fay, So I pant for death : but recollecting that the comparifon bore no proportion to his cafe, he breaks off abruptly j and expatiates on his ovyn peculiar fufferings. So — but alas ! / am made to inherit^ £cc. a ft^y. The verb both in Syriac and Chaldee is vohtk\ and is ufed of the will and appointment of God in Dan. iv. i~. H.eb. 14. b The frptuagint verfion is, wwfanpwi a trial* Chap. VII. THE BOOK OK JOB. 43 4. I >illow, foon I wiih () I e$ ? I ' Sdc i and t< h 1 rh liili •, 5. A mafs of putrefa&ion flirowdcd o'er With ulc'rous wounds, and worms, and dirt, and gor 6. My but the nighty or rather the Time I > a perfon in pain and iwly. the note on chap. ii. 7. What a t;. id to our view ! a living corjie. Mr. Maundrell, in n is defcription of the ten lepers whom he faw at Sichem in the holy land, remarks ; " The whole dillcmpcr indeed, as it there appeared, was fo noifomc ; thai it might well pafs for the utmoit corruption of the man hoay on this iide the grave." I Whether the elefhanttafis^ Job's difeafe, is attciu 1 this dreadful fymptom ; 1 mull leave t« t e determination of the faculty. The diftemper with wl Antiochus Ipiphancs was fmitten feems parallel, in fe . particulars, to that of Job : " A pain of the bowels, that was remedilels, came upon him, and fore torments of th r : , : . parts : So that the worms rofe up out of the body of this wicked man, and while he lived in forrow and pain, his flcfh fell away, and the nithinefs of his fmell was noifome to all his army e ." eleds of duft] or dirt, for v/ant of bathing ; which is fo nc- ceflary, and lb much praclifcd, in the eait, to keep the I clean. There is, however, no authority, but that of the Talmud and foine Rabbis, for rendering the hebrew word c tnadad. it hguiaes in Arabic, extenderc y e: augtrt auclione continu- al x : " I llioul 1 not have wiihed that my life mould be prolonged," foys the Arabian poet Tograi. Pocock. Carm. Togr. ver. 4;. d rimmah, properly corruption trading worms, iixod. xvi. 2c. • II M-iccabee^ i;%. 5, 9. Compare Job xix. 17, 20, xxx. 17, 18, 27. 44 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. VII, 6. My days, alas ! how rapid they have pafs'd ! The threaded fhuttle never flies fo fall : My web is finifh'd. No remaining clew (Such hope were folly) mail the work renew. 7 .o clods : perhaps the verfion fhould have been, the putrefaction f of the grave 5. become loathfom*] is putrefied, viz. by his ulcers. Ver. 6. a weaver s Jlmttle '] He compares his life to a web ! the days which compofed it, are the threads : the work is God's ; who determines the meafure of every man's life, retrofpeclion on time, that is palled away, makes it appear, to a man in mifery, very fwift ; and paft happinefs as nothing, his days feemed now to him, to have gone off fafter than a manufacture of the loom. they arefpent without hope] they are confumed without a thread ; ox for want of k a thread 1 ; to carry on the work, or to begin a new web. he means, there was no hope of the continu- ance f $}**% or tP*U* The vef b * n Arabic fignifies ebullivit ; ehul- litio would, 1 think, well exprefs the fermentation of a body that is corrupting in the grave. Vid. Antholcgia, p. 365. ver. 3. See alfo Caftle's criticifm on this word, in his Lex Hept. s The duji is uied for the grave ver. 2j. of this feventh chapter, and ch. xxi. 26. c t hey Jball lie down alike in the duji y and the worms Jhall cover them. See alfo ch. xvii. 16. h DtfD*] f ut ' ni P^' * DJO » which, in the 5th conjug. is ufed, in the Arabic Pfalter, of the putrefaction caufed by ulcerous fores, TC. xxxvii. 5. DN<2' i n Arabic, is rendered by Golius dilatatum fuit vulnus. 1 Jpft. St. Jerom renders it by tela, a web ; my days are pajjed away fwfter quam a texente telafucciditur, than a web is cut off' the loom by the weaver. k DflNH through failure, or want of Prov. xiv. 2S. Through want of people is the deflrufiien of a prince. 1 mpn* Schulrens remarks that it fignifies a cord, in Jof. ii. iS. 1 may add, that the verb in Arabic imports, to twijl a cord with divers threads ; and that the derivative noun means a thread : alfo, in the Targum on Ifaiah lix. 5, 6. \^)p are the threads in a fpider's web. Chap. VII. THE BOOK OF JOB. 45 7. O think, my life is but a breath : its good A flitting vifion not to be rcview'd : 8. Shewn to the world; ere men can look mc round, Thy glance but (Irikes me and I am not found. 9. A ancc of his life (though Eliphaz had flattered him with fuch a hope) any more than that he ihould live his days over again. Ver. 7 — 21. remember, &C.] Defpairing to make im- preffion on the hard hearts of his three friends, he turneth to God ; with whom he plcadcth for a mitigation of his fuffer- ings. His hrfr. plea is the exceeding fhortnefs of life : which he expreffeth in a very ftrong and beautiful manner, in this and the following verie. Such a brief exiftence ought not, furely, to be made fo wretched. wind] compare Pf. Ixxviii. 39. and Ixxxix. 46, 47 ra . /hall no more fee good] In the original, mine eyes Jhall not re- turn to fee good. Life is fo fhort, that it fcarce allows time to take a fecond look at the few enjoyments in it. The thought is fomewhat fimilar to that of our own great Poet. — fince life can little more fupply, Than jufl to look about us and to die. EJfay on Man, Ver. 8. Jhall fee me no more] The hebrew is, Jhall not gaze ■ upon> or contemplate me. My flay in the world is tco fhort for men to look me over. Thine eyes, &c] He means not a meer look of obfervation, but an effective look : The effect is, I am not in the land of the living. What a fublime idea does the Pialmift give us of fuch a look PC civ. 32. He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth. Whpfe look (fays the Apocryphal Efdras) dricth up the depths, and indignation maketh the momiiains to melt away °. m HW ^ might have been tranflated a breath, as in chap. ix. 18. He will uotfujfer me to take my breath. Alfo chap. xix. i~. n 11^ is to look attentively on a thing. See Jer. v. 26. Hof. xiii. 7, in the original. ■ B. ii. chap, viii, 23. x6 THEBOOKOFJOB. Chap. VII. 9. A morning-mid, Toon vsnifii'd out of fight, Is man, dcfcending to the world of night 10. Ne'er to return : his houfe no more will own The voice forgotten and the ftep unknown. 1 1. O tort'ring thought ! I will not now control Th' intolerable anguifh of my foul : Give, give, my tongue, th' unruly paflion vent, In bitternefs of heart I will lament. 12. Am I a flood, or furious bead, whole rage Thy mounds mull humble, and thy terrors cage? .3. Ah! Vcr. 9, 10. Ai ' ' he into the ifrtriflMe world, never to return hither, is t rifon : The thing, to which he is in t is a cloud that is vanifhed : unfubftantial in its compofitionj tranfient in its duration, it difappeafs, and is never more feen, He alledges this as another reafbn, why his exiftence here fhould not be made miferable. to the grave] SheH, the world of death, or the invifible world : See the Appendix to ( tes Numb. II. He Jhall return, &c] This fentiment, and the affecting manner of exprcffing it, fp reads a folemn fadnefs over the mind of every thinking reader. Ver. 11 — 16. Therefore, &c] The foregoing reflections caft him into an agony of impatience : he lofeth all felf- com- mand ; and refolves to give his tongue full liberty to expos- tulate with his maker on this ufage of him. Thus his ftriv- ing with God gradually increafeth. Ver. 12. Am I afia or a whale, Sec] He complains, that God treated him as though he were fome furious tyrant ; whom the moft fevere inflictions muft reftrain from break- ing the bounds of iuilice, and fpreading deilruction among . ind. 7 ir.VII. THE BOOK OF JOB. 4? 13. Ah ! whcnfoc'cr my aking eyes I cl And hope the anodyne of facet : 14. Divjm, on thy errand lent, dire forms uproars, LCI my ioul with vifionary fears : 15. Death a f' a] The h< c body of water a fea ? . s appellation to the river s r . The learned Michaclis* thinks Job meant the Nile ; which though it \s fertility, by its overflowing the lancfs, n it rifes I ht becomes an in un- til l : It then does great damage, by carrying away large portions of the banks, deitroying fomctimes towns and vii- 1 by not retiring at the proper time for , threatens a famine. rather, perhaps, a crocodile. The author's word It mult mean here fome terrible animal, which but for the watchful care of divine providence would be very active. Our translators render it the dragon in Ifaiah :re the prophet gives this name to the king of pt : he Jhall flay the dragon , that is in the fea. The fea : is the river Nile, and . n (tannin) is, I fhould think, tie. Compare Ezek. xxxii. 2. Ver. 14. thou fcareft me with dreams] Thcfe terrifving dreams were the ejects of his inflammatory diieafc x . H I remember right, the account of the Guardaloupe lepers, pub- lished fome years ago, mentions this iymptom as one circum- ilance of their fuffenngs. p The dead fea, the fea of Tiber:as> Sec. which are only great lakes. 3 Ifaiah xxvii. 1. Ezek. xxxii. 2. r The Nile is named a fea, fays Michaelis, in the Koran, Sur« vii. 1 2. xx. 3 .;• xxviii. 6. s Not. in Pr it 1S tne fame word which in ver. c. is turned, to be* come loathfome. loathfomcnefs is the fecondary idea : the primary one is, the fwelling and hunting of the fkin by a fore when it fuppurates. Vid. Schultens' Orig. Htb. v. i. 312. and Comment* in Job p. 199. col. 2. 2 7^n> In fome Greek verfions, ?.r^,-, In the Targum on Pf. xc. 9. it is. ufed for the breath of the mouth : and it ought to have been rendered a vapour in Prov. xxi. 6. The getting of treafures by a lying tongue, is a vapour tojjed to and fro of then that feek death. Chat. VII. Till- BOOK OF JOB. 49 \ That ' tching P <•■•■ 'j , I own ; But iic ? lc the object to employ ? thenuifan< leftroy? 21. r, will not gen:' Cancel mj ,a id my healing fpeed ? Led time, and thought, and power, in animad- rfon in diftrefs catches at every fha 1 argument, to more companion. Vcr. 20. / &c»] Pie acknowledged himfelf a (inner : tb 9 andfinneth not? But can human initios affect the fafety or repofe of God ? This is his hich none but a diftra&ed man will think valid. ' ill I do unto thee] what can I do againft thee a ? Mr. \ turns it, what injury can I do to thee? O ■ cf men] rather, O thou ohferver b of men. The character of God as the prefcrvcr of men, hath no pro- ■ here, Where he is represented as an avenger of fin. a I my fc If ] This tranflation follows the printed hebrew text. But the reading feems to have been originally, a burden to thee c ; which correfponds better with the fore- going claufe, why haft thou ft me as a mark againft thee ? For the fentiment appears to be ; "I am indeed guilty of fai- lures, inseparable from imperfection : But what crime have I committed ; that I am become fo ofrenlive to thee, as to be iingled out for a peculiar object of thy difpleafure ?" Ver. 21. why dofi thou not pardon, tkc] This is his con- cluding plea : it is a pathetic addrefs to the divine mercy. a "jS ; chap. viii. 4, If thy children have finned againjt him ("l*?) Ohmpiodorus remarks that the hebrew is, n e* .c.x^x oo K O F JOB. 5 $ i j. tc So th Mils.'* 14. Pe< hame it ends ; I lis prop a cobweb, which an infect rends : 15. Vain arc his labour.-, and his leagues are vain, Nor leagues nor labours fhall his houfe fuftain. 16. To vulgar eyes a vigorous plant he feems, 17. Which throws out Tuckers by the garden dreams, Verdant • Ver. 13. So are the paths of all, See] This is the mora!, or application of the companion. It belongs* to thofe only, whole impiety and vices are notorious to all the world. Bil- u'.ul, therefore, abufeth tins faying of the wife, in applying it to Job ; whole life was irreproachable. .-rite's] the profligate maris ; fo Mr. Heath turns it. not find that the hebrew word ever fignifies a hypocrite, acre coupled with forgetfulnefs of God, which is a fcrip- turai phrafe for impiety a . it means evidently an opprefHve r, in chap, xxxiv. 30. a profane feojfer, in Pf. xxxv. 16. And our tranflators render the abftract fubftantive ° by pro- ofs, in Jer. xxiii. 15. where it imports a contempt of the divine threatnings, and confidence in committing the moffc immoral actions. Ver. 14. IVhofe hope, Sec] The proverbial citation ended with the foregoing verfe. Here begins his comment upon it, which he continues to the end of the 19th verfe. He en- largeth firft, in this and the next verfe, on the vain hopes of thefe wicked men to perpetuate their greatnefs by powerful alliances, or by any other means whatfoever. Ver. 16 — 10. He is green, Sec] He expatiates on their profperity and overthrow. The metaphors are taken from a garden plant, perhaps a vine ; which he fubftitutes in the place of the marjh plants, the better to rcprefent the fplendour of this wicked man's fortunes and his fatal cataftrophe. tm — 1 . — ■■ ' — ■ p f - ?■■ *• «•• 22. « ns:n- E 3 5 4 THEBOOKOFJOB. Chap. VIII. Verdant and gay, before the beam, awhile •, But the roots twine within a ftony foil : 1 8, The beam foon fwallows it : and, loft from earth, The parent foil denies th' inglorious birth : 19. Behold his fatal period. In his room, On the fame fpot a foreign plant fhall bloom. 20. Lo, Ver. 17. about the heap'] about a fpring ?\ fo our tranfla- tors turn it in Canticles iv. 12. a fpring Jhut up. i the place of frolics'] In the original, the haufe of Jlones ; which is a hebrew idiom for ftony ground 1. Seeing the place offlones is an animated phrafe for growing in a ftony foil, as Buxtorf explains it r . Ver. 18. If % he defrrcy him, &c] Mr. Heath juftly refers this action to the fun, mentioned ver. 16. The plant en- dureth the fun, (o long as the fpring, that nourifheth its roots, continucth to flow : But when that is dried by the in- creafing heat, his parching beams deftroy the plant. I have not feen thee] This is a ftrong manner of exprefling utter abolition and abhorrence. The figure is a bold profo- popeia ; but not more daring than that of Ovid, who puts a long fpeech into the mouth of the Earth, when (he was burnt up by the chariot of the fun r . Ver. 19. others grow B ] other plants fhall fucceed to his place : that is, his eflate fhall pafs into another family. Thus the period clofes with the fame metaphor that began it ver. 16. P gaL It fignifies in the Syriac a ivave. Vid. Syriac Teft. James i. 6. . Jude ver. 13, f\*?J g^llah is & fpring. Join xv. 19. 1 Thus the houfe of ihor/is, in the Syriac Tclt. Matt. xiii. 22, h thorny g> jund. » Lex. Chald. Talm. vid. py. 9 DX when: So our tranfiators render it chap. vii. 4. xvii. 16. * Metamorph. lib. ii. u ITTDJR ^HK : The Septuagint read nDV*» « ? - cy ( Alex - MS. a/J>o) an£harncru9 Chap.VIIL the book of job. 55 20. Lo, God l and fmile, Nor hatca the worthy nor I la the v': 21. Nor thee will leave, till laughter in thy eyes Shall fparkle, and the hymn triumphant rife ; While on thy foes he pours eternal fhame, Overthrows t!ie wicked and uproots their name. Chap. IX. i,2. I know, Job anfwer'd, verily I know -, Wrong from eternal jufvice ne'er can flow : 3. How Ver. 20 — 22. God will rut caft away* &c] This is the in- ference which he draws from his preceding doctrine. Ver. 21. Thy moitth u , &c] He had begun the period, ver. 20, in the third peribn, Behold God will not cafl away a per- fect marty &c. Such a fudden turn of the ftyle to the fecond perfon is fpirited, and catches the attention by furprize ; whether this addrefs to Job was ferious or ironical : If it was ferious, it was i'o on fuppofition of his becoming a righteous man : If ironical, it was a cruel infult. As if he had faid, " The effect of God's regard for the upright, and detefta- tion of the wicked, will be, undoubtedly, deliverance of thee from thy affliction > and restoration of thee to thy former profperity." CHAP. IX. Job was exceedingly moved at hearing; his complaints and defence reprefented as contention with God, and an arraign- ment of his juftice. He now purgeth himfelf from that crime, in a molt exalted (train of pietv w . The train of his thoughts leads him to alTert an undif- tinguifhing u The mouth being filled with laughter denotes that fraile of joy which is fpiead over the countenance in fome happy change of condition, i'fal. exxvi. 2. w Chap ix. 1 — 21. E 4 * 56 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap.IX. 3. How fhould a mortal ftand, in judgement Hand Adverfe to God ? how anfwer each demand ? Anfvvcr one charge, if he, feverely jufb, Tax with a thoufand faults this thing of dull ? 4. Who fafely can a ftr'rfe with him prolong, Him, will:!, ftrongeft of the wife and ftrong ? 5. Rocks from their bafes leap before his frown, He, ere they feel ic, hurls the mountains down : 6. Earth tinguifhing distribution of worldly good and evil x : He in- stances his own cafe, in confirmation of it ; falleth infenfibly into complaint of hard meafure from God Y ; and, at iength, has the boldnefs to offer, on certain conditions, to difpute his caufe with God himfeif in-perfon *. Upon this he goes into a vein of pleading exquifitcly tender a ; and concludes with prayer, for a refplte from his intolerable pains the little time he had to live b . Ver. 2. I know it is fo] I know and acknowledge it to be an everlafting truth, that the Almighty doth not f-. '!ce c . But it does not follow, that the man whom he fhall pleafe to afflict is therefore a wicked man. Ver. 5. Winch removeth the mountains, &c. ] This and the following verfe are manifeltly a description of an earthquake. During the terrible earthquake in Jamaica, 1692, the moun- tains were fplit, they leaped, they moved, they fell with prodigious loud noifes, they were thrown on heaps d . In the it earthquake in the Ifland of Sicily, in 1693, which de- stroyed above lixty thoufand inhabitants, rocks were loofened and thrown down : Two very high rocks, in particular, near Ibla, with all the trees growing upon them, were by the violence of the fall quite inverted j fo that their tops flood upon the ground e . * Ver. 22, 23, 24. v Ver. 25 — 31. z Ver. 52 — 55. * Chap. x. 1 — 19- b Ver. 20, 21, 22. £ As Bildad had ..Hedged, chap, viii, 3. «* Pbilofoibical Tranfadiow alriJgcd, vol. 2. p. 411, * ? : fn all fay unto him, what haft thou done ? He referreth to the fuddenefs and violence of his o: throw. Ver. 13. the proud helpers'] In the hebrcw, the helpers of pride 2 -. The proudeir and moil powerful combinat aga'infl the fchemes of providence can avail noth u ^y ""D^V & ^ ou ^d have been rendred by our tranflatwi to fall upon, in Zech. ix. 8. See Pf. lxxxix. 17. Thy fierce wrath 0"OJ£) Tufted upon me. v/ ^ibrV tranflated to flrike tbrcugh, Judges v. 26. and Job xx. 24. x FpOrV fee Judges xxi. 21. where it is englifhed, to catch. y *lj3*t^* *& who Jhalltaufe him to return ? fc. with the fpoil. . z rcchab. Symmachos turns it by atXa^oma infolencc. The fep« tuagint i\l\c:- } 1 think, tranflates this word as a proper name. . [X. T OF JOB. 61 juft, I n . ild I bring the h i tion, he Humble his greatnefa in refponiive pica-, 1 never would believe my voice had found 17, Audience of him •, who imote me to the ground 1 8. With , &c] whom, though I a?r. Although I have a good cau fe, know myfelf to be inncx ednefs; I will not put in i:r. iit him. to my judge} fa my ad \ Mr. Heath. The hebrew .', in a different conjugation, is turned to plead together, in Ifaiah xliii. 26. where it means the parts both of plaintiff and defendant. Let us plead together: dt dare thou, that thou It fecms here to fignify to go to law, to linft another. o 16. If I -*, &c] \i\JhouUcaU\ andhejhould The judicial ltyle is ftilJ carried on. To call evi- '.y importeth here the action of the plaintiff; and to irt of the defendant. that he had .', ecc] that he would give a favourable hearing to my plea. To ftand on my defence would pro- voke that power, which hath already, without any provoca- tion, done fuch terrible things unto me ; as it follows in the next verfe. Yer. 17. he breakeih me, 5cc] He refers to his pah 1 cala- mities, and their effect in h.s prefent iufferings. without a *npTj> transited to be juft in ver. 2. See Prov. xviii. 1-. b *IDSKP0 in j us eunti "'£<■''""> as Cocceius trar.flateth it. Schnltens remarks, that it is in the form of the third conjugation of the Arabians ; which expreffeth a reciprocal action between two perfons. See his Commentary, c Kip- It anfwers to the Greek law-terms - - _-, and which fignify to cite an adverfary before the proper ma« giltrate. Vid. Potter's Archcsl, vol. i. p. 11^, 62 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. IX, iS. With tcmpcil unprovok'd ; and urges flill, Not fufifring me to breathe, with fnarpeft ill. 19. Can force avail ? th* Almighty fhakes the rod : Can jnftice ? who fhall be the judge of God ? 20. Though j tift my caufe, ev'n innocence muftwear A blufli before him, if difputing there : With him difputing, virtue's plea is vain; The plea itfelf the pleader will arraign. 2i. My heart, and furely my own heart I know, Tells me I'm upright 5 yet my portion 's woe : Woe is my portion, in fevere degree, And life is made a heavy load to me. 22. From without caufe] This, methinks, is juftifying himfelf in pretty flrong terms ; not very confidently with what he had been faying juft before. But, as the judicious Michaelis obferves d , He mull: be a trifler of a poet, who would reprefent a man in the diftrefles of defpair always talking confidently. Ver. 19. If I /peak gf Jfrengtb, &c] Here he reprefenta the peculiar hardfhip of his cafe ; in that he had to do with an adverfary, againft whom it was impoftible to vindicate himfelf although ever fo innocent. Even to plead his inno- cence, in conteft with God, would be criminal ; as he com- plains in the next verie : Though 1 am righteous* my own mouth would condemn me : Though I am upright f , it would prove me perverfe. Ver. 21. Though I were\ &o] I am upright: do I not know myjelft d Not. in Pradecl. Lovvthi. p. 206. 8vo. e *TTitt £° m ver » *5« though I am righteous ; and ver. 2. boiu ftould man be juft '; or righteous, againft Goa. When this verb tig- nifie> to jujlify\ it is in the conjugation pihtL or f C^ri upright, it (lands oppofed to .. :. Sec Pror, x. $, be I uprightly p. DC. THE BOOK OF JOB. I that he Righteous I when his fcourgc lie ten : i 23. War,] ind earthquake, with in ful ting fw Th 1 unguilty in the mingling carnage heap : 24. Earth yet I hath h my lift. Though my own heart wit- th to my integrity, I am, notwithllanding, made Co mifer- that I am weary of my life. Ver, 12. Tbts it one thing. &C.J This is a firartge thi I, an innocent man, am forced to abhor my life ; there- fore I faid, within myfelf k , he deftroyeth the upright and the :d. he concluded from his own cafe, that all things come alike to all : there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked. Thus he introduceth, very naturally, the doctrine of an un- equal providence^ which he afterwards fupporteth at large '. 23. If the fcourge, &C.] If the fcourge flay fuddenfy, it will laugh at the trial of the innocent. By the fcourge is meant public calamities, war m , for inftance, peftilence, &c. which, involving all characters in one common deftructicn, are faid, by a noble perfonifying figure, to laugh at the fufferings of the innocent. g 5 w*£3^ V"IK N 7 omifiion of the interrogative |-j is very com- mon. Vid. um. {?/£} with the affixes forms the reciprocal pronoun fclf, myfelf r ihyjelfy him/elf, &C. in Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic. See Job xviii. 4. Jer. ii. 14. Tcilament. Syr. in Matt. iv. 6. Schaaf's Lex. Syr. and Pocock. Cann. Tograi p. 230. h DN2& rendered chap. vii. c. h become loathfom K Its pri- mary idea, irrtrabic, is, contabejeen 'ulcer atus : thence' the iecon- dary ideas, hath/oinnefs, contempt \ and abborre-.ce. Via. Schultens' Co?r;m. p. I 1 Jintt unicum t a lingular thing ; which is without a pr. for dithculty of folution. Vid. Pocock. in Carm. Tcgrai p. 204. k Chap. xxix. 18. and ver, -7. of this ninth chap, 1 Chap xii. xxi. x . . 81 lfaiah xxviii. ib. 64 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. IX; 24. Earth to the tyrant's fury is refign'd ; To fhame, the princely fathers of mankind. Is this not providence ? if not, difclofe From whom fuch intricate confufion grows. 25. My days have fpeeded with a courier's hafte 3 A glance at pleafure, not allow'd to tafte •, 26. Swift Vcr. 24. the judges, Szc] Thefe being in contraft. here With the wicked -(that is a tyrannical ruler k ) muft mean good governors j who adminifter juftice impartially to all. Thus a man l fignifies one who has the virtues proper to the male fex ; a woman l , one who is adorned with the qualities be- coming the fair fex : And a king n is a king indeed, who acleth worthy of his roya! dignity. Of thefe good rulers he fays, God covcreth their faces " ; that is, God treats them as condemned malefactors, overwhelming them in calamities, difgrace and ruin ; himfelf being one example of this melan- choly truth. If not, Szc] If it be not God, who doeth thefe flrange tilings • where and who is the perfon who doeth them ° ? Ver. 25. No-iv my days, Szc] His own unhappy flate being an inftance of that inequality, in the diftribution of good and evil, which he had been aUerting ; he naturally falls into a defcription of his miferable fituatiom are fwifter, Szc] ?ny days have been fwifter ^ Szc they have fled away : they have not fan good. Time and enjoyment that are k V ££'"") it fignifies a doer of wrong in Exod. ii. 13. In the book of Job, it generally means an opprej/br or tyrant. 1 Ecclef. vii. 28. See alfo, Piov. xviii. 22. m Prov. xvi. 10. n IT Sam. xv. 30. Either vii. S. Jer. xiv. 3. Ifaiah xxii. 17. Micah iii. 7. Mark xiv. 65. • LXX, £» h u- n avroi £,-*, ft; tra ; If it is riot He, who is it ? up. IX- THE HOOK OF JO 15. 65 26. Swift as a rufli boat down the {welling Nile, Swire as an i upon KU fpoil. 27. It" face: b >pe whiiper, M thy fomenting tongue M The fiyle of fbrrow fhall forget ere long; " Thy brow remove its cloudy veil, like morn, " And placid fmile thy open face adorn *, 28. Then all my fufPrings rife -, I fink with fear, Defpairing thy abfolving voice to hear. 29. Yes, arc fucceeded by great nailery, appear as an inftant that is p.iit. This is what he reprefents by three expreflive images of celerity, which rife one above the other in beautiful gradation. Ver. 26. the fwift flips] in the hebrew, fops of cane 1 ; probably thofe light veflels, made of the papyrus, which the Egyptians ufed on the Nile r . Ver. 27. If I fay, kc] When" I fay (within myfelf) / Jbali leave off my countenance (this fad countenance) and flail look chearful c . He endeavoured fometimes to raife in himfelf a plcafing hope of deliverance from his afflictions : But the number and circumfhinces of them bore down his courage, and funk, him in defpair ; as he laments in the following verfe. Compare Jerem. viii. 18. Ver. 28. Thou wilt not bold me, &c] Thou wilt not declare me * PQfc$ DVjN which Schultens tranflates naves papyrace^s : For H^X hgnities, in Arabic, reeds, and a place where the papyrus grows ; as he proves from the Arabian Lexicographers. Vid. his Comment. 1 Such, no doubt,- were the vejfils of bulrufles in Ifaiah xviii. 2. See Shaw's Travels p. 437. 4to. • CK ivben. Vid. Noldium. 1 rW7DK- Schultens, in his Origines Helrr peclation that God would appear at the clofe of this debate to vindicate his innocence. Ver. 29. If 1 be wicked] If is inferted by our translators. The hebrew is, I a?n wicked. I mull pafs for a wicked per- fon : I am treated as fuch by God, and condemned by men. All mv labour, therefore, to clear myfelf will be to no pur- pofe. He uttered this fentiment with a deep figh, and not without indignation. Ver. 30, 31. If I wajh, &c. ] Tflien I had wajked myfelf with fnczu water -, and made my hands clean in purity u : Then thou didjl plunge me in a ditch, fo that ?nine own clothes abhor me w . By wajhing himfelf, Sec. and making his hands clean, Sec. he afterts the purity of his heart and innocence of his life. Thus- Zophar underftood him "Thou hajl faid my virtue is pure r and I am clean in thine eyes" The rfalmift alfo expreileth his- ! ^p^H it ^ s equivalent to p'T^H to j u ftiJy> t0 ac ^ u ^* Exod. xxxiv 7. that nv/ll by no means clear the guilty. u "^ purity* or purenefs, as in chap. xxii. jo. it is delivered by the purtnefs of thine hands. Compare Pfal. xxvi. 6. w ^"pyn • • • '3 /SOft* That learned and ingenious Critic Michaelis remarks ; that in the ancient ftate of the hebrew tongue, both the future and preterite of its verbs were, probably, aoriils* and were u fed, like the Greek aoriits, for the part, prefent, and future times Not. in Pratecl. p. 78, 79, 8vo. Thus in Deut. xxxii. 10. the hebrew futures are turned juftly in the paft time, He found, ke led, he injlrucled, &c. And in Job v. 7. tne hebrew future is englifned in the prefent tenfe, Man is born iojorrt,iv. Chap. IX. THE BOOK OF JOB. 6j 32. Is he a man my fellow P can we meet, Parties in doubtful llrifc, at judgement's feat ? ;. Who (hall, as arbiter, between us Hand, To lay on both his rcprehenfive hand ? 34. Let his own integrity, in terms fomewhat fimilar ; / have clcanfed \nt in vain, and ivajhed my hands in innocency. Then thou did/i plunge me, kc] The meaning is, that his calamities can fed him to he looked upon, hy his intimate frier, in abominable wretch, fmitten of God and ac- etified. No protefrations of innocence, no appeals, no de- fence whatever could overcome that prejudice againft him. mine own clothes, &c] This circumftance is added, I ima- gine, as a heightning of the image of impurity ; to repre- sent more flrongly the infamy, with which his character was blackened by his overthrow. Yer. 32, 33. For he is not, &c] In thefe verfeS he aflTgns another reafon, why he laboured in vain to clear his inno- cence : in his cafe there could not be a third perfon, to fit as judge between him and his great adverfary God. we fiould come together , &c] that is, come together to a tryal x of our caufe. a day/man] Our Author's word doth not fignify an umpire, but an authorifed judge v. It has this meaning, I apprehend, in Amos v. 10. where it is englifhed, him that rebuketh : They hate x This is what the Greeks exprefTed by tio-ayn* *-n hxry sk to cutarrfiw to enter the caufe into the court. Potter's Arch til, vol. i. |>. 113, 116. UiD&O * s (0 tne cau *" e t0 he tried, ch. xiii. 18. (2) the trial itfelf, Prov.xviii. 17. Jobix. 32. (3) the fentence parted, Job xxxvi. 17. where, and in many other pafTages of Scripture, it implies the execution of the fentence. y n'DVt} I" Pr° v - Todv. 2;. it is englifhe 1 to rebuke^ viz. in a court of juitice, by paiung a juft fentence on the guilty. For it is oppofed to acquitting the wicked ver. 24. He that faitb unto the wicked, thou art righteous, &c. But to them that rebuke him F a 6S THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. IX. 34. Let him remove his rod, nor let the blaze Of Godhead ftun me with its dreadful rays •, 35. Then fearlcis I would plead : but thus diitxeil, All is confufion in my guiltlefs bread. Chat. X. 1. Sick, fick of living, my complaint I'll loofe, I will the anguifh of my foul effufe •, 2. Will hate him that rebuketh in the gate , that is, the court of juftice. compare Prow xxiv. 23 — 25. that might lay his hand, Sec] The laying the hand on both parties implies coercive power to enforce the execution of his decrees. This no one could have over the Almighty : it was therefore vain to contend with him. Mr, Heath. Ver. 34, ^5. Let him 9 Sec] He doubts not but that he fhould be able to prove his innocence to God himfelf, pro- vided he could debate the matter with him on equal terms. But alas ! how foon hath he forgotten 'that worthy and de- vout refoiution which he declared ver. 15. his red — his fear] by the rod he means his prefent afflic- tions ; and by his fear , the tremendous circumfrances ufually attending the appearance of the Divinity. it is net fo with me] Mr. Heath turns it, I am not fufficient x majler of myfelf*. He was all in confufion : his pains and apprehenfions deprived him of felf-command. CHAP. X. Ver. 1. I will leave my complaint, Sec] In a freer verfion it 1 \"2J at!S - So Noldius understands it in Judges xxi. 14. They found enow for them. Crinfoz renders it, in the verfe before us, dans Vetat o\ je me trou-ve — in my prefent condition. y *"]£}/ penes me, in thy own power, pofTeiTed of myfelf. Crinfoz, je ne Juts point a moimeme* Vid. holdium. p. ~]\z* C; THE no ok of j on. {J 2. Will fay to God, condemn not me untry'd \ Ah! why from me my accufation hid 3. Canft thou by arbitrary will be led i 5 1 v\ guilt's demerit on the guiltlefs head ? 1 [ate thy own workmanfliip ? and dart thy On daring Tinners, who blafpheme thy fway i 4. Is man's grofs eye, and partial vifion, thine? Live human paflions in the mind divine ? 5- Is it would be, / will let my complaint have dominion over me z ; , I will not reftrain it, but give it full liberty. The fentiment is the fame as in chap. vii. 11. Therefore 1 will not in my mouthy &c. Vcr. 2. Shew me wherefore^ ccc. ] It fcems evident from thefe cxprefiions, and from what follows, that he wifhed not to refer the difpute between him and his three friends to God ; but to argue his caufe with God himfelf. He wanted to know, what Gcd had to lay to his charge - 3 that he might put in his anfwer to it. Ver. 3. Is it g:od, &C.] He argues here from the honour and intereft of To treat him as a wicked man, who had led an innocent life, was giving reputation to the prin- ciples of infidels who deny a providence. Ver. 4 — 7. Hajl thou, &c] The origin of our knowledge is from fenfation. We judge by appearances, fenfual paf- fions biafs our judgement, human life is fhort. we are obliged to Iludy characters, in order to know them : and are prone to ufe violent means, to force confeffion from fufpected peribns. But none of thefe imperfections can belong to an Eternal Being. God, therefore, had no need of fuch me-r thods to difcover, whether Job was a wicked man. .This is the argument in thefe verfes. z ^/V n^TVtf The rer ^ DT>f fignifies, as Schulten* remarks, to let go free ; in the proverbial phrafe 3 *y\ HV^v he that is Jhut up and be that is let go free. The prepoiition 7^* imported* do* . in Gen. ix. 2. xxxvii. 8. Vid. Noldium. F 3 7 o THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap.X. 5. Is thy exiftence like a mortal's fpan ? Are thy years bounded, as the years of man ? 6. That time and torture muft to thee reveal Sufpected treafon, which my wiles conceal. 7. Thy knowledge clears me ; yet thy boundleii might, By none evaded or by force or flight, 8. Deftroys my frame •, which thy own matchlefs art Fafhion'd with curious ties of part to part. 9. Remember, O remember, that like clay Whofe mapes the workman's plaftic will obey, My form thou mouldedft from its earthy grain - $ And thou wilt crumble me to earth again. 10. O think of thofe kind moments, when began Thy hands to fketch the rudimental man -, Curdled Ver. 8. Thine hands have made* me, &c] His argument now is ; that it looks like caprice, to beftow great fkiil and labour on a work, and then, on a fudden and without juft caufe, dafh it in pieces. This is what he meant alfo in ver. 3. is it good .... that thou Jhouldeji defpife (hate) the work of t hint hands ? Ver. 9. Remember, &c. ] Here he pleads the common mor- tality. He mufc foon die, as all other men j what occafion then for lb much torture to difpatch him ? Ver. 10, 11. Haji thou not poured me, &c] Does not this beautiful defcription, of the origin and formation of the hu- man a *3*Oi'y. This verb fignifies in Syriac, conjlringere, to tie to~ gether : which alfo is its primary notion in Arabic, in which lan- guage, Schultens informs us, it is ufed particularly of the contex- ture of the human body. The word together expreiTeth the con- junction Cimp.X. THE BOOK OF JOB. 71 Curdled the milky dr >p, my limbs dehn'd, if. With Befli and (kin my tender fubftance lm'd, With iinews brae'd, and fene'd with folid bone : 12. Compa us, to natgl vigour grown, Thy care edue'd me, and thy favour crown'dj And ftill thy pow'r upholds on living ground. 1 j. Yet, well I know, the fecret of thy mind Thefe evils, in referve, for me defign'd ; 14. Refolv'd man body, exactly agree with anatomv ? Can the modern difcoveries in that fcience qualify a good poet to give a more juft account of the principles of an embryo ; and of the feve- ral ftages of its growth to a perfect fcetus ? Was not our Author, and Job himfelf, indebted to the Egyptians for their anatomical knowledge ? Ver. 12. my j'pirii] my breath, fo our tranflators turn it, in Chip. xii. 10. xvii. I. The argument, in this and the fore- going vcrfe, is taken from God's creating and providential goodnefs towards him ; as not being confident with his pre- sent treatment of him, which he defcribeth with too great liberty of fpeech. ver. 13 — 17. Ver. 13. And thefe things ', Sec] Yet thefe things thou did)} treafure up & , Sec. Here he finneth with his lips and chargeth God foolifhly, By thefe things he means his calamities : and infir.uates, that God had given him being with a fecret pur- pose to make him miferable ; and advanced him fo high to render his fall more terrible. this is with thee] a phrafe, which denotes the fecret decree of God chap, xxiii. 14. junction of the parts when tied: the words round about denote the univerial exaftnefs of the work : and the word fajhioned conveys the idea of a thing compleatly framed. b rODi l ^ QH didji lay up (or treafure up) as iu chap, xxi, 19. Prov. x. 14. F 4 72 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap.X. 14. Refolv'd to follow me with watchful eyes, Each fin to notice, and each fin chaftife : 15. If wicked, the predeftin'd woe comes down ± Righteous, I droop beneath thy fatal frown, Full of confufion, and o'erwhelm'd with {corn. By all beholders, as a wretch forlorn. 16. Chac'd like a iion, hotly chac'd by thee, Thy plagues, ftupendous plagues, were heap'd on me : 1 7. Jav'lins, Ver. 14 — 17. If I fui) &c] This is harm language. He accufeth the divine government of extreme rigour. He alfo complaineth, that his piety had been of no benefit to him ; and that, notwithstanding his humanity and juftice, he was purfued by God to denruclion, as though he had been fome lion-like tyrant. I believe, Elihu had his eye particu- larly on this obnoxious paifage. chap. xxxv. 2, 3. Ver. 15. And if I be righteous^ &c] though c I am righteous I cannot lift up my head^ tkc. therefore fee thou, &c] If, with the ingenious Mr. Peters d , we join to this claufe the word which begins the next verfe (rendredy^r it increafcth) the tranflation will come out eafy and clear, as follows ; And the fpeftator* of my affiitlion alfo infulteth*. In thefe words he complains of the grofs affronts put upon him, efpccially by his three friends ; in treating him as a wicked man on account of his afflictions. Ver. 16. as a fierce lion] that is, as though I were a fierce lion. c 1 though, as in Ruth ii. 13. Vid. Noldium. d Critical Differt, p. 200. Jto. * PIN"^ fpedaior ; a noun fubflantive in the regimen ftate, from the root n&H l0 fi** f ntWPI l ' ie 1 ma y he redundant, or be rendred alfo. Vid. Noldium. The \'L j rb is turned by the LXX. in jer. xlviii. 29, (Francfut edition) by vGp^v cant time! ia officio. Our tranflators there eagliib itj be is proud. Chap. X. THE BOOK OF J 73 17. J , on jav'lins hurl'd, the war rci i;\ Why did I breathe I Q happy I had Had I this world of forrow never fecn ! 19. A lion, c hap. iv. 10. The allufion, In this and the foil. rfc, is to that manner of hunting the lion, wherein the hunters, armed with fpears an.! javelins, formed felves in a ring about the beali ; and threw their weapons at him one after another. By this image Job reprefents, in lively colours, the violent and rapid fucccfTion of his calamities. And again^ &c] Mr. Heath's tranflation is, thou euen re- ? thy wondrous Jlr me. Ver. 17. Thou rencwej} thy witneffes, &c] What have wit- nefies to do in the hunting of the lion ? Our Author's word be tranflated weapons^ or attacks* or troops z . in any of s of turning it, the allufion to the chace will be and uwr] that is, changes of war; or fucceflions* of war. he means the war of the chace carried on by repeated attac Thou rmewejf\ The hebrew word does not feem to denote ation ? E2'"TJ?. The Svriac interpreter turns it here by !*J*J weapons of war (fee Toil. Syr. Joh. xviii. 3.) and the verb, in .-. rabic, iignities omare. This very noun is ufed for ornaments in Ezek. xvi. 7. as Schultens remarks: it there indeed means female orna- .-. but it is a general term for whatever is called ornament, armour aud weapons are the drefs of a warrior. In Arabic the noun alfo fignifies attack ; and a body of men rvjbinv to the attack. Yid. Cattell. Lex. Heft. h mSwH* The learned Profjflbr Chappelow has obferved, that it is rendered courfes in 1 Kings v. 14. where it is ufed of Solomon's workmen, who wrought in Lebanon by turns, or in fucceflions, ten thoufand a month. 7 4 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. X. 19. A being, and no being ; from the womb Hurry'd in midnight filence to the tomb. 20. Ah ! 'tis a little, which of life remains ; O fpare that little, O remove my pains : 2 1 . Ere, never to return, my foot defcends To realms where death his horrid made extends : 22. Realms, iteration here ; but rather, as the learned Schultens remarks, the producing fomewhat new, fomewhat never done before, fee Ifaiah xliii. 19. Such were Job's calamities, taken in all their circumftances. Never before was a perfon of his ex- emplary life fo overthrown. Ver. 20. that I ?nay take comfort] that I may look chearful '. it is the fame word that we met with in chap. ix. 27. fee the note there. Ver. 21, 22. Before I go, &c] The original of this gloomy picture, drawn in the deepefr. (hades of horror, is, I mould think, the fubterraneous chambers of the fepulchral grottos. But if thefe verfes are a defcription of Sheol, as the learned Windet k understands them, Job muft have entertained as melancholy an idea of that world of ghofts as the heathens had of the realms of Pluto. pigro fedet Nox atra mundo. Cuncta maerore horrida : Ipfaque morte pejor eft mortis locus. Hercules Fur ens. ver. 704. Gloomy night dwells in that motionlefs world. A melancholy horror fpreadeth over all : and the habitation of death is worfe than death it f elf. 1 Aquila translates it, uuo.xu tofmile. Vid. Trommii Concordant, fub voce Jimp*. See alfo Schultens' Orig'nies Hebr. vol. i. p. 43. k Dejlatu vita def unci arum, p. 12. Chap.X. THE no ok of job. 22. Realms, which in (hadei of dolcfomc darkntfi lie; Id denfc obfeurity, without a (k Without a twinkling ftir, and where the light Is one eternal noon of dilmal night. Chap. KI. 1,2. Zophar, inflam'd, replies, Is noife defence ? Artful harangue a proof of innocence ? 3. Shall Ycr. 22. without any order] Mr. Heath renders it, when there are no conjhllatiom '. triftes fine fole domos di final habitations that have no light. CHAP. XL It is too much the practice of difputants, to pafs over, m filence, fuch arguments of an adverfary as they are not able to anfwer : Inftead of defence, they fly into a paffion, and pour out illiberal abufe. Zophar's reply is in that call. He leems to have been more iraicible and vehement than the others. The fentiment he utters in ver. 5, 6. difcovers his ferocity: He there wifheth, that God would indeed appear ; to let this unhappy man know, that his fufferings were not the half of what he deferved. He takes not the leafl notice of Job's afTertion of an un- equal providence™; becaufe he could not difprove it. He anfwers only, and with much virulence, to Job's aiTeverations of his innocence"; and to his queitioning God about the rcafon of his arrliclions % The remainder of his difcouric ? is 1 DH1D translated by the LXX. fiyy* light. It has, in Ara- bic, the figiiificadon of dazzling. Vid. Caitell. Lex. Hept. and Schultens' Comment. m Chap. ix. 22 — 24. n Ver. 2, 3, 4. ° Ver. 5 — 12. ? Ver. 13—20. ;5 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. XI. 3. Shall vain boalls filcnce us ? no fpeaker rife ? No honed tongue thy infolence chaltife ? 4. Thy boldncTs clamours to the throne divine, " Pure is my confcience, ipotlefs virtue mine." 5. O would th' Almighty, to thy wifh, appear ! Expoie thy guilt, and thunder in thy ear 6. Vengeance, that wifdom from our world conceals, Double the word which here the Tinner feels : Taught is an exhortation to repentance, with large promifes if he obeyed ; and concludes with a fevere threatning if he con- tinued obftinate. Vcr. 3, falfe boafis*. It hath plainly this ac- ceptation in Jeremjah xlviii. 29, 30. r. 4. my dottrine\ Job had faid nothing about the purity of his doctrine. This idea, therefore, is impertinent here# Mr. Crinfoz turns it, my confcience \ and the leptuagint, my ;. either of which verfions will agree with the import of the hebrew word r . / am darn, fee] He refers to thefe expreflions ; / am righteous — I m -when I had wajhed myjelf in fnow- water, my hands clean in purity — Thou knowejl that I cm Ver. 5. O that God would fpeak, Sec] This is a bitter re- flection on Job's prcfumptuous wifh to debate his caufe with God himfeff. Chap. ix. 34, 35. x. 2. Yer. 6. And that he would Jhew thee, &c] This is a very obfeure q ""^111 tae ver b carries in it the idea of faf/bced and forgery ; and i ed to feign, in Kehem. \i. . ■ r »J"P*7 In Arabic Hnp 1 ? hgniries the mind, impregnated with principles and bringing forth the noble fruits ot virtue. It is or from the meal of the male palm tree; which be- ing fprinkied upon the opening clu:lers cf the female, fecundates \ tenders the dates fweet and flavourous. Vid. CailelJ. lex. Hept. Schultens' Comment, and Shaw's Travels, p. 141. -ito. • Chap. ix. 15, 21, 3c. x. 7. (Map. XL THE BOO EC OF JOB. 17 Taught then, that juftice hath i Not half the ralut 1 debt. 7. Wouldft thou th' Eternal with thy Line explore? chom almighty thought, and find its (hore i 5 8. ( Jo, mere beav'h's height, the depth of Hades found, 9. Span the wide earth, and reach o'er ocean's bound. 10. He obfeure paflage, I have met with no fat i- factory explanation of it. Oiic thing however feems clear, namely, that the fubjeJl treated here, and to the end of verfe 12, is divine , I understand the counfels of God, that fix the kind and meafure of his punimments : by ti rf wifdom, his punifhments in a future world, which are a fecret to us at prefent. Thofe future puniih- ments are declared to be double to that which is r : that is, they arc far more fevere and terrible than any fufferings of Tinners in the prefent Hate. Hence he would have Job to learn, that what he now fuffereJ was left than his iniquity deferred. Ver. 7. C(v:(l thou, &c] Ke now takes him in hand for his prefumptuous queftioning of God about his ways u . Th 3 judgements of God, he tells him, are as in fcru table in : reafons and the full extent of their defigns ; as they are rapid and irrcfiftable in their execution w . It is fufficient for us to know, that he punimeth men for their fins ; and that, in punifhing, he aims to cure their pride, and to break their in» tractable fpirits to his yoke x . Ver. 8. // is as high, &c] When we cannot comprehend a thing ; we fay it is beyond our reach, or it is too hio-h or too deep for us. But in what a noble manner does Zophar here 1 JT^in id q u °d (xtat, that which is. The Septuagint rcn- ders it. thy things; that is, thv fufferings. bee Dr, Scott's excellent Notes on the Go/pel of St. Matthew, p. 2. u Chap. iii. u, \z t 2c, 23. vii. \z — 21. x. 2, id. * Ver. 7 — 10. * Ver. II, 12. ;8 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. XI. 10. He fmites, imprifons, executes : what tongue Shall dare to mutter, " haft thou done no wrong ? 1 1. He here cxprefs fuch an impoflibility ! How much fuperior is the language of poetry to common profe x ! hell] Skeol, the world of the dead. If hell meaneth here the place of* punifhment, it is a tranflation of Sheol as inade- quate, as the grave by which it is rendered in chap. vii. 9. See the Appendix. Numb. II. Ver. 10. If he cut off", and Jhut up> and gather together] The firft of thefe expreffions, he cut off (or rather he fmite y ) fig- nifies the apprehenfion of thd criminal, by fome calamity which divine juftice inflicts upon him. The next phrafe,yto up *, denotes the effect of the ftroke ; he becomes the prifoner of providence. The laft, gather together (or rather, gather an affcmhly a ) cxprefTeth the execution. It is an allufion to the cuftom of aflembling the people, to be witneiTes and afliftants at the execution of a notorious offender. The meaning here is, that God makes a public example of great Tinners ; by the fignal circumftances of their deftrudion. Zophar intended this ftroke for Job. who can hinder him] It may be translated, who Jhall caufe him to reflore b ? who mall wreft a criminal out of his hands ? Or, who Jhall anfwer him c ? by cavilling at his judgements. * Bp. Lowth produces this paffaze as an example of the grand manner in which the hebrew poets fpeak of the attributes of God, abfolutely conlidered, without particular mention of the opera- tions and effects that flow from them. See his fine obfervationr in the Pr&lecJienes, p. 195, &c. 8vo. y n^n* See the note on chap. ix. 1 1. 2 Ifaiah xxiv. 22. a ^j-fpt See Ezek. xvi. 59 — 41. Jofhua vii. 2c. Vid. Schul- tens' Comment. See alfo Job xxxi. 34. and the note. b IJD'fiP' ^" ee tne note on chap. ix. 12. c Shall anfwer him, as in chap, xxxii. 14. xxxiii. 5. Chap. XI. THE COOK OF JOB, 79 11. lie kne (hall he not requite fin clandeftine, acted in bis fight ? 1 2. Ti recltim'd, (bund fenfc fupply'd To fill the Void of ignorance and pri< And natures as the Zebra's colt untam'd, SubduM by reafon, into men be fram'ci. 13. Thou Ver. 11. vain men] falfe men* ; that is, impefrors. He glanceth at Job, as a pcribn who, notwithstanding his cha- racter for piety, had lived in the practice of feeict wicked- nefs ; particularly injuftice e . Ver. 12. For vain man] That the proud f may be made wife, And the colt of the zuild afs % beccme h a man '. Thefe expreffions characterife wicked men ; as void of found undemanding-, opinionated, (elf-willed, and intractable as the wildeft inhabitants of the defert. The intention of di- vine punifhments, he fays, is to recover them to folid re- flection ; and bring them into fu ejection to reafon and the laws of God. d ttW *H2 LXX. amp* tranfgrrfcurs. but {$■)£♦ alfo fignifies faljhood t in Zech. x. 2. and have told falfe dreams ; i. e. dreams which they falfely pretend to have received by inspiration. Com- pare alfo Pf. xxv i. 4, 5. e See ver. 14. and chap. xxii. 5 — 9. f ^*Q3 The verb, in Arabic, Signifies to behave haughtily. Vid. C!odii Lex. Htb. Seled. and 3liJ in hebrevv is, in the literal fenfc, hollow;. Exod. xxvii. 8. in metaphor, a per/on void of under* /landing, vain-glorious. £ Compare Pf. xxxii. 9. Jer. xxxi. 18. Job xxxix. 5 — 8. h ^7V ma y h' e horn. i. e. may be rendred, or may become. It is an Arabian phrafeology : Let the wild cifjes colt be born a man, that is, (as they explain it) Let a man who is intractable, be- come gentle, humane, and docile. Vid. Schultens' Comment. See alfo the ufe of this word in Prov. xvii. 17. and Bp. Patrick's note in his Paraphrafe. 1 A man, i. e. one who a£ls according to reafon. lfaiah xlvi. 8. We meet with a fimilar expreffion in Horace : Nee I So THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. XL j 3. Thou, therefore, quell thy haughty fpirit •, bend, Bend thy ftiff knee ; thy fuppliant hands extend : 14. Shake out the bribe, th' unrighteous gain expell, Nor fuffer rapine in thy tents to dwell. 15. Unclouded then, and unconfus'd with fear, Thy face erect and fparkling fhall appear : 16. Woe Vcr. 13 — 20. If [thou prepare, &c. ] This cxhortat:>ry part of his dffcourfe is, for fubfrancc, the fame with that of Eli- phaz k ; but diverfified by his manner of defcribing true re- pentance, and by the beautiful imagery in which he cxprefleth its glorious reward. Ver. 14. iniquity — wickednefi\ he means, by thefe terms, riches acquired by fraud, or by taking bribes, or by any methods of violence and opprefiion : for this they fuppofed to have been the peculiar iniquity, which had drawn down the vengeance of God upon his head '. tabernacle] Tents having been the ancient dwellings of men, the term was retained after the invention of more durable and fixed habitations, job, it is certain, lived in a city m : yet his houfe is called a taberiir.de, or tent". Ver. 15. Thdujhalt lift up thy face, &c] He defcribes the happy change of his condition, by its effects in his counte- nance ; ccntrafting his prefent dejected face, fullicd and dif- figured by terror, grief, and tears, with the look he (hall then aflume, erect, firm, and clear as the polifhed minor. He Refers, no doubt, to thofe w T ords, I cannot lift up my bead . Thou Jhalt be Jiedfaji] The hebrcw word is a metaphor, taken from metaJs fined by fufion p -, and, therefore, may in- clude lujlre as well asfrmnefs. ■Nee fi retractus erit, jam Fiet homo Art Poet. ver. 469. A* 1 " if y ou & r * n g &* m °jf bis folly * nxiill he thereupon become a man, i. e. act a rational part for the future. k Chap. v. 8, &c. 1 Chan. xv. 34. xx. 15, 19. xxii. t; — 10. m Chap. xxix. 7. n Chap. xxix. 4. ° Chap. x. 15. p p'£*2 fee chap, xxviii. 2. xxxvii. 18. xxxviii. 3S. Chap.XI. TH I BOOK OF JOB. 8f v i thy memor) (hall leave no trace, Like violent wai .> vaniih'd from their place: i;. A happier age Is a emerging ibon Fait aa the morn, mors.* luminous than noon : 1 8, For thou, known favourite of celeftial pow'r, 19. Safe in the waking and the flumb'ring hour, Around Vcr. 16. And rewtember it as waters, &c] That is, as Crinfoz explains it, thou (halt not remember it at all : The memory of thy afflictions will be wholly effaced ; like the winter torrents, which are utterly evaporated in the beginning of lummer *. Ver. 17. And thine age, &c] This period will become clearer in the follow. ng difpofitibn r and tranflation. And a happy aje s Jhall arife l ; Thou /halt be as the morning, Thou jhalt blaze out u more than noon. The meaning is, " Thv afflictions fhall be fucceeded by 3 itate of durable felicity : its beginning fhall be as the morn- ing of a bright day : it ihall increafe as the light, until it arrive to its higheft point ; when it fhall exceed the luftre of the fun at noon." The thought is the fame, but far more nobly exprefled, with that of Bildad, Chap. viii. 7. Compare Prov, iv. 18. Vcr. 18, 19. And thou JJjali be fcau\\ &C.] Thefc two verfe* ■ — 1 1 -t 1 Chap. vi. [5, 1-. rvnn npM n?yn Dnnsa The perfpicuity of this arrangement will be, I hope, i:s juftifc- cation. 1 T^n lUi *Z g cr fl at€ °f durable felicity ; fo it fignifies in Arabic. \ id bchukena' Com/nsnt. and Michaelis m Pro.-. .J. ■' ■;', p. t" 7 . c DIP 1 & a ^ an f e * as * n Dan. ii. 59. After thee JbaU anje 1 n./j .10//:. w nSyn ceru/calis. E/^ : . ). When / Jhall cum/% mj I G 82 THEBOOKOFJOB. Chap. XL Around thy wells, thy couching flocks around, Shalt range thy tents along the grafly ground : No terror fhall thy peaceful camp alarm, And princely chiefs mail court thy powerful arm. 20. But verfes contain, if I miflake not, a plcafing rural fcenc ; green pafrurcs, wells of water, flocks and herds couched round rhem, and a little camp of Arabian Shepherds inclofing the whole. The expreflion thou Jhalt dig refers moft probably, as Mr. Heath remarks, to digging of wells or fprings ; a circum- ftance frequently mentioned in the patriarchal hiftory w . The word tranflated thou Jhalt lie down x denoteth properly the encumbent pofhire of cattle, after they have well fed ; and when they rcpofc at n>ght. As to the encampment ; It was the cuftom, as Mr. Heath obferves, of the eaftern people to pitch their tents nigh wells ; for the conveniency of water for their cattle. The fecurity alfo, here promifed, cxprefleth the protection wanted to defend them from wild beafts and from the incurfions of the thievifh Arabs of the dclert. hecaujc there is hope] The hope here mentioned as a ground of fecurity, can be no other than hope in God : that firm dependance on divine protection, which good men are war- ranted to entertain. many Jhall make fuit 9 Sec] The mighty y Jhall make fuit, Sec. Princes and other great men mall court an alliance with thee. See Gen. xxvi. 26 — 29. w Gen. xxvi. 13 — 22. x n^"22"^ Pfel- xxiii. 2. He maketh wf to lie down in green pa/- turee, Ike. See alfo Pocock. in Carmen Tograi. p. 05. The learned Chappelow remarks, that this word is likewife applied by the Arabians to the jbepberds, lying down to reft in the fame place with their flocks. Comment, on Job. The fubftantive, however, is i! fed fynonimous with a man's dwelling in Prov. xxiv. 15, where it is englifhed rejling place. But in Cant. i. 7. the verb V^S is ufed in the fame fenfe as in Arabic. y CZ^in M*« Heath's verfion is, The 1 aU intrtc.t thy favour. Chap. XI. TH E BOOK OF JOB. 83 20. But (lubborn firmer. v'deyes, 1 felp, tar away, trom their diflrcfles flics, And death's black (hades, their lalt fad refuge rife. i eyes, ^ h J efuge,! CUAP. XII. 1,2. Yes, anfwer'd Job, ye are th* enlighten'd few, Fav'rites of Wifdom ! will flie die with you ? 3. And yet, my portion of the mental ray Is not inferior to your boafted day. Stale Ver. 20. Their hope Jlmll be as, Sec] The original fays, their hope Jhall be the giving up of the ghojl : that is, their dif- treis and defpair (hall make them wifli to be out of the world. He evidently reflects on Job's paflionate wifhes for death, which he reprefents to be the practice oi wicked men, CHAP. XII. Job's reply in this chapter is in a vein of plaintive argumen- tation. Pie alledgeth facts relative partly to hlnifelf», and partly to all mankind a ; which demonftrate a ftran^e ine- quality and feeming confufion in the diftribution of good and evil : Whence it follows, that a rrr.n's worldly condition, whether profperous or afflicted, is no criterion of his moral character. This reafoning is in point. For his three anta- gonifts had concluded him to be wicked merely from his be- i'ng wretched. Ver. 2. Ye are the people, &C.] He chaftifes them for afTum- jng fuch airs of fuperiority over him. In the ftyie of Arabia, the people of riches are rich men ; and the people of knowledge^ men of learning b . ■ Ver. 4. a Ver. 1 1— 27. b Scaliger's Proverb. Arab, Cent. ii. 87. Pc.cck. Spec. Iii.L Arab. p. 153. G z 3 4 THE BOOK OF JOB. CftAP. XII. Stale faws, and tales of tyrants overthrown, Thofe vulgar themes**— to whom are thofe un- known ? 4. The man derided by his friend, am I ; " To God he clamours, and let God reply." This infult, for integrity's appeals, This cruel taunt, the man of juftice feels. 5. Contempt purfues the fall'n ; exalted eafe With fcornful eye unhappy virtue fees. 6. Peace Ver. 4. I am as one, &c] The original is. The derifion of his friend am I, *' He calleth to God, and let him anfwer him :" The juji upright man is a derifion. The derifion, or infult, is contained in the middle claufe 5 " He calleth to God, and let him anfwer him** Thus Eliphaz had infulted him for his complaint, call now, there is one that anfwer eth thee c ; And thus Zophar had in- fulted him, But O that God would fpeak, and open his lips again/1 thee d ; deriding him for what he had faid chap. ix. 35. x. 2. Ver. 5. He that is ready, &c] Adverfity finks a man into contempt with the profperous. The literal verfion of the hebrew will be, For calamity e contempt is ready i In the thoughts of him who is at eafe ; For them who flip with their feet f . Cala?nity c Chap. v. i. See the note. d Chap. xi. e. e T£)*? a wor d compounded of the prepofition 7 for and the noun fubltantive "p£) calamity ; or ruin> as it is engliftied Prov. xxiv. 22. It might have been rendred fo in Job xxxi. 29. If I rejoiced at the calamity , or ruin y of, &c. 1 b^\ HVIQ So V(. xviii. 36. (heb. 37.) Thou haft enlarged my Jleps under m, that my feet did not flip. Chap. XII. THE BOOK OF JOB. 85 6. Peace dwells with robbers \ they enjoy their fpoil, Provoke God's wrath, and revel in his fmile. 7. Queftion the Hocks and herds, whole land they feed ? Fowls, for whofe riot they increafc their breed ? 8. Earth, to whole wealthy magazines (lie yields Her flowing vintage and her cultur'd fields ? And nations of the fcale, whofe tatle to pleafe Their fins in millions cut the (breams and feas ? 9. Dulneis itfelf may, from thcie teachers, know Th ! imperial hand which governs all below ; 10. The hand, which holds, as by its pow'r began, All life, from vegetative up to man. 11. Now Calamity is here put for the cala?nitous, or afflicted ; exprefled in the laft claulc by them who flip s with their feet, the fallen : he points particularly to himfelf ; as he does to his three friends in the middle fentence, him zvho is at eafe. Ver. 6— ic. The tabernacles, &c] Thcfe verfes arc a con- traft of the foregoing : He who had exercifed himfelf to have always a confeience void of offence towards God and towards men, was utterly ruined ; and abandoned to cruel infults : but thofe who had plundered his eftate, and murdered his fervants, enjoyed the protection and bleflings of providence in abundance. Ver. 7 — 10. But afk now the beajts, &c] This beautiful apoftrophifing of the inanimate and brute creation is onlv a poetical way of faying, that the great author and difpofer of life had given into the hands of robbers the bearb or the field, and the fowls of the heaven, &c. Such men, he com- plains, pollefs the largefl property and ufe of the brute cre- ation g '"TyVJ 'him ivbojlip. This word iignihes tofallintw advtr- fitj, Pial. xxvi. 1. where ic is rendered to Jtide, G 3 ; 26 THEBOOK OF JOB. Chap. XII. ii. Now let a knowing ear the drain attend, To loftier themes my tow'ring thoughts afcend. Taftes the found palate tries, the knowing ear Difcourfe examines and decides as clear : 12. And mould not judgement be the crown of age ? A ndfhow-white locks befpeak th'experienc'd fage ? 13. Sapience and pow'r to God alone belongs Wife are his counfels, and his arm is ftrong : 14. He overturns, what hand erects again ? He binds ; who burfts his adamantine chain ? 15. He ation and the produce of the earth ; which they abufe to the purpofes or luxury and riot. Ver. 12. With the ancient is. Sec] With the ancient fhould be wifdo?n, &c. As the palate diftinguifheth the agreeable and difagreeable taftes in food ; fo the ear, or rather the mind by the ear, difcerneth truth and falfehood in difcourfe : And we juftlv expect to find this difcerning power, moft perfect in perfons of years and experience. He glances at Eliphaz, and the other two, for talking fo ignorantly of the ways of providence, Ver. 13—25. With him, &c»] The defign of this grand difcourfe on the ways of God to men is, I apprehend, to efta- blifli his pofition, Chap. ix. 22. He deflroyeth tJx perfect and the wicked. That proportion is here proved by induction : He alledgeth thofe great and general calamities, drought, hum- dation and the overthrow of kingdoms ; which make no dis- tinction between the innocent and the guilty, but involve the moft refpectable characters, and the nobleft and moft impor- tant talents, in diftrefs, difgrace, and ruin. Ver. 13, 14. TVtth him is wifdom, &c] Thefe two verfes feem to be an introduction to the following ; being a general uflertion cf the fuprcme, abfolute, and irrefiftable dominion of God j wherlever he deereeth the deftruclion of fome flou- riming city and kingdom ; cr of any particular familyj or man, of great eminence and power. HP.XIL Til E HOOK OF JO 15. I le c h ( all is dcfcrt round : I [c fends f ! m out ■, th ground. 16. Saj !l, Mifl .. mifled his plan fulfill : 17. Watchmen \\-r. 15. fc/fc, &c] This firft i ami counl 1 upon the failure of the equinoctial 1 pt was aJ .1 the Nik- did not 1 .//^ ta fendctb, ccc. ] This claufe defcribes an iuch .-. c might happen in Job's country from the ton^ caufed by too great an abundance of rain : Or fuch fo much mifchief in Egypt ; when the Nile rifeth 1 certain height, and pours a body of water, on the field:;, too large to be drained off by their canal?. Ver. 16. With him is Jlrcngth and luiflom] With z\> judgement our admirable poet repeats tbefe attributes of the "Deity, to fix our attention to theft : for he is going to de- scribe a fcene of public calamity and diffraction, which is the r of uncontrollable power directed by counfcls infinit above our comprehenfion. the iecei the deceiver are his] The terms in the ori- ginal are metaphors tak< n from fliecp h , which through the gence and mifconJuct of their ilicphcrds go aftray to deltruclion. The deceiver, therefore, or he that canfeth to err, (1 foolifh and wicked rulers ; who bv their male-adniiniiir.;tion deftrucHcn upon themfelves and their country. The ved or erring are the people fo mifguided and run The fentenc" that God overrules all this mad;. mifchief to ferye the wile ends of his own infcrutable providence. . \ pu|0di mw Ezek - ***>▼« 2 — 6 - &**$£ *- 5. co^ r ihxix. 13, 14. See alfo the ufe.of flj^2 W Den; |8, ?:-:,-. .0. G 4 88 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. XII. 17. Watchmen of realms, and guardians of their rights, He drags to bondage, he with madnefs fmites. 18. He breaks the rod of majefty, he flings The captive's cord around the loins of kings : 19. Diftracls Ver. 17 — 21. He leadcth, &C.J The fum of this whole paragraph is, that no policy, eloquence, heroifm, or extent of dominion can prefcrve a (rate ; which God has decreed to overturn. But the chief point in view is, that, in fuch a cataftcophe, dignity, excellence, and the moft noble talents for public utility are overwhelmed with ignominy and ruin. Ver. 17. Counfclhrs — 'Judges] The former mean, I fup- pcfe, the great Statefmen, who compoic the council of the ibvereign ; the latter, thole who prciide in the adminiftration of jufrice. He leadeth away l /polled k — and maktih fboh [*] He delivers them into the hands of their enemies to be fpoiled, and car- ried into captivity : And bv this deplorable reverfe of con- dition, he diflracls them with terror and defpair. Ver. 1 3. He loofeth the bond™ of kings] He deftroys their binding power, their authority, by dethroning them. The expreffion may allude to the royal belt, one of the infignia of majefty. compare Ifaiah xlv. I. a::d girdeth*^ &c.] The tenor of the difcourfe requires thefe expreffior.s to be taken in a calamitous fenfe. The girdle, therefore, muft here mean the cord, or chain, that was tied about the waift of captives. The manner of making war in our days, is very different from what it was in ancient times : We now fee no fuch cataitrophes as princes and their people led into captivity ; but thefc were the ufual effects of conqueft in former ages. i ""'^ItD it- * s u * c ^ ra l ^ e ' cn ' e °f carr y* n Z ' flt0 captivity \\ Chron. xxxvi. 6. See alfo JJ Kings xxiv. 15. * ^h*\W I AX. mxf^hMWi captives. 1 bbliT he maketb mad. LaX. L%»rwi, he makcth them bcfidt tlemfebcej. m "iD^w ^ ts r00t *"^D* fignifies coercive power, political difci* thney in I Kings xii. 1 t . where i: is englifhed to cht * "\rN* $° ^- CxllX. 8. i'c kind their king] •"-.•*/».», &c. C«a*.XU. THE BOOK or | OB. 89 19. Diitiueh the viceroy chief:,, and whelms them all> Ev n (touted warriors, in the common fall, 2C. He ftrikca the patriot dumb ; in vex'd debate Confounds the hoary fages 01 the itate : 21. He Ver. ig. princes] Governors of provinces, viceroys, fuch, probably, was Poripherah, prince of On and father-in-law of Jofcph " : and fuch were the ferns of David p. end : \ \ or, in general, he abandons them to deft ruction, the woivi is qppofed to divine protection in Prov. xiii. 6- jhty men of war. Vex. )« • r ] The patriotic orators; who in the general detraction of their country lofe pofleflion of their mental powers, and are no longer able to exert their elq^ quence. aged] the elders ; that is, fenators. Ver. 21. princes'] The hebrew is a different word from that which is tranflated princes in ver. 19. It denotes per fons of a noble, generous temper ; and is rehdrcd liberal in Ifaiah xxx.j. 5, 8. Even this benevolent character cannot protect the pofHrflnr of it, in general calamities. This brings to my remem- brance the unhappy fate of the good Ajtylus fo movingly de- fer* bed by Homer. Next Gen. xli. As Next Teuthras' fon diflain'd the fands with blood, Axylus^ hofpi table, rich, and good : In fair Ar\jba\ walls (his native place) He held his feat ; a friend to human race. r Fafl by the road, his ever-open door Oblig'd the wealthy, and reliev'd the poor. To item Tyelides now he falls a prey, No friend to guard him in the dreadful day ! Breathlefs the good man fell, and by his fide His faithful fervant, old Calefius dy'd s . Ver. 21. the mighty r ] It is a different word in the original from that which is thus turned in ver. 19. It iigniiies, in Arabia, perfons eminent for any illultrious quality, b courage", he. very proper therefore to clofe the foregoing feries; as it comprehends all therein mentioned or omitted. He weakneth the JirengtJj] rather, as the learned Schultens translates it, He loofetb the girdle w : that is, he ftnp ; thefe illuftrious perfonages of their dignity and honours, and over- whelms them witn dif* ;ace in a ftate of captivity. »Ver. 22. He difcci.vetby &c] This verfc is a reRection on the foregoing events, and forms an eafy tranfition to the re- mainder of the fubje£t. Yet, I muft own, it feems to me out of its proper fituation : I think it would better have clofed the whole difcourfe. The fentiment is, that while thefe terrible revolutions remain in the divine counfels - y they 5 Pope's Homer's Iliad, b. vi. ver. 15, kc. in the Original, ver. 12, &c. 1 C^p'DK- : ^ ^. the Commentary of Schultens/ w n'TO Buxtorf in his hebrew Concordance renders it zona, a girdle, as our public verfion turns it in Pfalm cix. 10. The root, lays Schultens, is ni* ; *™d ftm* in the Syriac teilamenr, xxv. 25, fignnics pomp cf dre/s } and other royal magnificence. Chap.XIL THE BOOK OF JOT,. S i As though the hoi infemil ilude 1 [c caft abroad, and o'er the world difplayM. 23. The nations with his fatal milts he blinds, Then I and fcatten into all the winds, 24. Their leaders he bereaves of foul, who Rray 25. In a valt pathleis wild without a guiding ray : In they arc darknefr, utter Jarknefs to us, deep impenetrable fecrets : Ana 1 when they arc difcovered in the execution, they aftonilh and terrify mankind ; as though fepulchral dark- covered the face of the earth The prophet Daniel fpeaks in like figurative language of the counfels of God relating to the four great Empires of the world, Chap. ii. 21, 22. Ver. 23. He increafeth, &c] The calamitous fate of the illuftrious perfonages above mentioned, involves in it thciuin of a whole nation. There had been inftances, even before the times of Job, of a whole people carried away by the con- queror from their own country x . Such a fcene is defcribed in this vcrfe. The verfion, if I miftake not, fhould be as follcA He caufeth the nations to err r, and deilroyeth them : He fcattereth z the nations, and leadeth them away a . God caufeth a nation to err, when he fufTers their rulers to mi Head them by deftruclive counfels. He fcattereth them y when he fends them captives into other countries. Ver. 24,25. He taketh away, Sec] divine infatuation of the governing Powers is here defcribed, in forcible language and x See Gen. xiv. y I follow the feptuagint, grtauwi he caufeth to err: they read HJC2 as i n ver * i6» S^ Deut. xxvii. iS. in the hebrew and in the Greek * riwl!^ It i s u kd m ^ e f en fe of fpreading, that is fcattering ; in Jer. viii 2. The LXX. render it in the \erk before us by iararpfmvwii prc/rernens, over/hrcixn'/iar. 2 nrO n i s a metaphor from a flock of fheep driven away by an enemy : this is the acceptation of the word in II Kings xviii. 11. 9 2 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. Xir In a vaft wild their difmal way they feel, Perplex'd, diftrefti from doubt to doubt they reel, Bewildered by ftrong energy divine, Like men who ftagger with the fumes of wine. Chap. XIII. i. All this my eyes atteft •, and faithful fame, Tut'ring my curious ear, attefts the fame : 2. Nor and ftriking refemblances. Privation of judgment and cou- rage is expreiTed by God's taking aivay their heart : In their confufion, miftakes, perplexity, and difhefs, they refemMc perfons who have loft themfelves in the Arabian folitudes ; without a path, without a way-mark, without a li^ht to guide them : and their irrefolution and unliable couniels are like the reeling motions of a drunken man. CHAP. XIII. By the fadls produced in the foregoing chapter, he had de- molilhed the hypothefis of his antagonists concerning the courfe of providence. But he continues diflatisfied with its meafures towards himfelf. He wants to carry his cauie to the bar of God : And after a fevere reprehenfion of the fu- tility of their difcourfes, and the unfairnefs of their manage- ment of the controverfy b , declares his refolution fo to do ; let whatr will be the confequence c . Accordingly he breaks out, at the twentieth verfe of this chapter, in the frecft ef- fufion of felf-defencc, pleading, and complaint ; which he purfues to the end of the next chapter. All this part of his dilcourfe is the language of the pajlions. Ver. 1,2. Lo mine rje^ kc] Thefe two verfes ought not to l I . A*d the king of AJJyria did carry any ay Ifruel unto /*J[)ria> and put (hem in (led ihe>n, as captives, into) Hahor y &c When this word is taken in a good meaning, it denoteth leading iheep into proper places of refr eminent ; as in Pf. xxiii. 2. He leadeth me in the paths of j ightioujntjs. Compute vcr. I, 2. b Vcr'. 3 — 12. c Vcr. 13—19. 8 Chap. X III. THE BOOK OF JOB, 93 2. Nor kno cart you boaft to me unknown. Nor challenge fettle iuperior to my own. O how it would my longing foul elate, Might I with God himfelf my caufe debate ! 4. But you, all you, are wranglers ; your replies Are pompous trifles, and defaming lies. 5, 6. Be dumb, fo prove your wiiclom •, dumb receive Sharp caftigation, which my lips (hall give. 7. On God's behalf thefe methods will you dare ; Unjuft in judging, in difpute unfair ? 8. To to have been disjoined from the former chapter. They au- thenticate the fach alleged in it. Ver. 4. ye we forgers of lies'] By lies he means their falfc accounts of the ways of providence towards bad men and good. He calls them forgers, or rather varnijhers d , becaufe they had fet off their untruths in the glaring colours of rhetoric. Ver. 6. Hear now, &c] Hear now my reproof 6 , and hearken to the cenfures ' cf my lips. Ver. 7, 8. Will you fpeak wickedly, Sec] Thcv fpofo wickedly for God, becaufe to juftiry him they w:re unjuft to their friend ; to fave the honour of providence, they condemned an innocent man. They talked deceitfully for God ; becaufe they cunningly kept out of fight the truths that made againft their own caufe ; namely, that many very wicked men profper throughout life, and that many innocent perfons perilh with the d ,l ?3D k fignifies in the Chaldee to plaif.er. Vid. Caftell. L:x\ Hept. e rU"Olri LXX. Lhzyyj,: reproof. This is the ufaal acceptation of the word in the book of Proverbs. The verb is englifh.J 1$ riprove, in the tenth verfe of this chapter. : jTO"^ LXX. «f»?«f rtt/ar/utio, cenjurt. 94 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. XIII. 8. To him be partial, half the truth conceal •, Then fanctify the fraud and call it zeal ? 9. Can you abide his teft ? will foothing ftyle, Which men deceives, th' Almighty's ear beguile ? io. If partial thoughts work fecretly within, Tremble ; be certain he will mark the fin. 1 1 . Shall not his majefty your fears alarm ? Nor yet the thunder of his lifted arm ? 12. What are your boafted maxims ? what your heap Of fwelling promifes ? I hold them cheap : Light the wicked in general calamities. Thus they were partial to God j they accepted his per/on, as it is exprefTed in the next verfe. Ver. 8. Will ye contend for God?] Do you take upon you to be advocates for God ? and to defend his providence in* this iniquitous manner ? Will this pretended zeal for his honour protect you from his refentment ? Ver. 9. do ye fo mock him] The hebrew word fignifies, among other meanings, to flatter s a perfon's humour at the expence of truth. It is the higheft indignity that can be offered to God, to imagine that we gratify him by bigotry, partiality, and unjufr. methods of defending religion. Ver. 12. Your remembrances, Sec] Your memorable fayings*^ Their difcourfes were made up of common-place obfervations, maxims, and proverbs, concerning the judgements of God on wicked men -, and of pompous, romantic declamations on the worldly felicity of good men. To expreis his contempt of them, he compares them to dirt zndfivelling heaps of mud \ which are eafily blown away or fvvept down. your s ^Hn the derivative noun, m*7JinE» is englifhed deceits in liaiah xxx. 10. it there plainly imports untruths that flatter mens wifhes. h C3D*yOT Haiir ufes it in his firft difiertation for a faying of the Koran. Vid. Gol. Gram, Arab. p. 218. Chap. XIII. TUT. H O () K ol JOB. 95 Li. the dull before tl Je 1 Molehills of land, as worthlefs and .1. frail 1 3. Peace i unmokftiag, while I pour abroad My honell pleadings, by no peril aw\l : 14. Befall what will ; I'll put witliin my hand My trembling life, and every danger Hand. 15. Yes, your bodies \ Scc.l sow /welling heaps are (welling heaps '.'■<• k . he means their Celling heaps of words; their high-flown difcourfes, in particular, on the happy condition of pious and virtuous perfons even in the prefent world '. Ver. 13. let come on me what will] We meet with a fimilar mode of fpeech in the Arabian Anthokgia : " I will wipe ofF this difhonour with my fv/ord, let the decree of God draw upon me what it will ' .'' The meaning is, I will revenge the affront at the hazard of my life. This manner of fpeaking imports defperate refolution. Ver. 14. JVJjertfore % &c] At all events I will take my fleflj in my teeth, and put ?ny life in my hand. Thefe are proverbial exprefiions : The former is equivalent to, / will eat my own flejh; that is, I will be my own deftroyer , He means, that he would maintain his ways before God, though he were cer- tain to perifh in the attempt. Accordingly he refolves to expofe himfelf to that danger ; / will put my life in my hand ? : What 1 Q3*33 Four high fionun difcourfes, Mr. Heath. os difcours en/fez, four bcrnbaj} harangues, Crinibz. Buxtorf, in his Con- cordance, tranflates ir teljitates. It properly fignifies a high build- i>;g y Ezck. xvi. 24^ Thou baft alfo built untt eminent place. k TjH mi 35- Ver. 22. Then call thou, &c] This is a flat contrrdi&ion to his resolution Chap. ix. 15. But no wonder; he was not matter of himfelf. A reader who expects cooinefs and con- fiftency from a man under the agitation of fo many vehement pinions, can hardly be himfelf in his fober fenfes. The expreffions clearly import, that he aimed to difpute, his caufe, not meerly before God as a judge, but with God as a party. For explication of the terms, fee the note on Chap. ix. 16. H 5 8 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. XIH. 23. What, and how many, are my fins ? reveal My crimes, my treaibns, which thy rolls conceal. 24. What provocation veils thy face in frown ? Why me profcribe as rebel to thy crown ? 25. Shall pow'r almighty give the whirlwind law To tofs a leaf, and perfecute a ftraw ? 26. Decrees fevere ! my youthful follies thefe Now feel thy vengeance O fevere decrees ! 27. With bonds, and (tripes, and durance hard, by thee The punilhment of (laves is laid on me : 28. To Vcr. 23 — 25. How many, &c] Here is a rapid fucceflion of interrogations, which carries an air of petulance in it. The ftyle is too fpirited to confift with reverence. Ver. 24. Wherefore, &c] He remonftrates againft the treatment he met with, as incongruous to the behaviour he had maintained : juft as if a loyal fubjedi: were frowned upon by his prince, and punifhed as a rebel. Ver. 25. Wilt thou break, &c] Here he alleges the dif- proportion of the means to the end. To employ fuch nu- merous and fevere afflictions, to crufh fo feeble a creature^ was like raifing a temped to blow away a leaf or a ftraw. Ver. 26. For thou writrft ', &c] Now he urges the dif* proportion of the punifhment to the fault. He was con- scious of no other fins but the follies of his youth. He ima- gines he was now (offering for thofe inadvertencies ; which he thinks e?^tremely hard, as his youth had been in the main a courfe of virtue, fee chap. Xxxi. 18. Ver. 27. Thou putteft, &c] He complains that he was jifed by Gcd as men were wont to ufe their fugitive flaves. that is, his afflictions had expofed him to indignity and in- s thou writiji) i, e. thoa wiecreeft. It is a law-term. Compare Ii » lxt 0. C/mp.XIU. THE ROOK OF JO 91 :ms a living prey* Lik .1 moth-e. I CtlAft I wh.it waft inflicted on the vilcft of mankind. 11 chafbTcs him tor thefe irreverent exprcfiions chap, 11. 1 ■'::] Mr, Heath's transition of this vcrfe is as follows ; j 9 in a clog \ : a '/ my paths, TJ)0U fetteji a mark u on the fetes" cf my feel. Thefe exprefTions, he thinks, allude to the cuftom of put- ting a clog on the feet of fugitive flaves, with the owner's mark, that they might be traced and found. Some kind of ignominious punifhment, either of ilaves or other malefac- tors, is doubtlefs referred to. But till that can be on good authority afcertained, this verfe will remain obfeure. Ver. 28. And he as a rotten thing, &c] The learned Mi- chaelis * reckons this among the paflages, which refer to Job's difeafe. It certainly anfwers to the defcription chap, vii. 5. It is equally certain, that his difeafe was one con- fiderable part of his fufFerings, and caufe of the contempt into which he was fallen. But the difficulty lies in the fud- den change of the perfon, He as a rotten thing, hz. fuch changes, however, are very common in the facred poems. The ufage alfo of the third perfon for the iirft is very fre- quent 1 TD The verb is preferved in Arabic ; in which language it fignifles cbjlruere y to objlrucl, to put an obilacle in a perfon's way. See Schul tens' Cor»f?:cnt. J ftpnnfl T ne verb f^^ properly means to carve, or cut with a graving tool; 1 Kings vi. 35. yment o'i felicity in a fecond life in the prefent world. This with contradicts what he had faid but a little before of the impoflibility of returning from the grave to live here aber the diftra&ed (rate of his mind. He prefently however recovers himfelf, fo far as to lee the abfurdity of fucn a wifli : If a man die, fhall he live in ? Ver. 14. If a man di ain ?"] He feems to correct himfelf for his vain requeft in the foregoing verfc. The fame thought as in ver. 12, of the imj of a man's returning into the world to live in it again, is here expreit in the form of an interrogation. all the days, 5cc. j Alt the d -• s / WQUi Untill my n \ h come. He f Compare rial, i '. 5 e 'NDV m J ~ JJur fare, or appointed time of affii&ion. See chap, vn. i. " 'HiD'^n m y /fronting again, it is a metaphor from a tree fpringing aga \\ has been cut down ; ver. - . it jjili J'prcut again. The feptuagint turns it in the verfe before m m .-. till I 1.. j. again* Cn.M'.XIV. THE IJOOK OF JOB. 105 out my (birring (hue, Juld tli il renovation wait. 1 me, my warm pleadings hear; An art incline thy ear. . jre, obfervant of my v. Thy merrVry numbers every ft< drays : 17. All I, I think, that it" there were a rcfurreclion to a new r > be h< . lie would Hear his prefent heavy afflictions with unihaken patience. By his appointed time I nnderftand his now fuffering condition: and by his' Eftrtitn, his rdloration to a ieconJ life here for the vindi- 11 of his character, and the enjoyment of fome happinefs. The tenor of his whole diicourfe appears to me to fuggeft this rotation. 1 dt call, &c.] Unable to bear the thought out of the world under fuch a load of infamv, and having no bope of coming back into it again, to clear his inno :lv begs of God to relent towards his creature, and to bring him to immediate trial. : rk of thine bands. The terms call and anfiver ought furely to be taken in the fame judicial fenfe as in chap. v. I. xiii. 22 the former de- noting the action of bringing the comp'aint j the latter the part of the defendant in replying to it. Ver. 16, 17. For now \ &c] as a contraft to the tender aded for in the foregoing verle, and as a reafon for his urging an immediate trial j he here fets forth, in ju- dicial expreffions, the fevertty with which God treated him now. Ver. 16. for novj, Sec] His complaint here mews, that his difcontent with the ways of providence is (till increafing : And thus the bufinefs of the poem, which is to expofe that offence, is going forward. io6 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. XIV. 17. All annall'd in thy rolls, beneath thy feal, My fins are treafur'd, and thy wrath I feel. 18. Thy wrath lays defolate this earthy ball, Its rocks are funder'd and its mountains fall. 19. Thy headlong torrents through the vallies found, Burft the (lone bridges, fcoop the folid ground, Ravage the fields, and with impetuous fway Hurry the rural hope of toiling man away. 20. O'er Ver. 17. thou fowejl up mine iniquity] Thou recordeJl' x mine iniquity. This circumftance, though mentioned lair, comes in order before the other : for the record muff, be made up, before it is fealed and put in a place of fecuritv. Ver. 18 — 22. And furely, kc] Here is an abrupt tran- fltion to fome other matter, after the manner of the Arabian pcets k . He pafieth, if I miflake not, from his own parti- cular afflictions to the calamitous ftate of this world in ge- neral ; inirancing earthquakes, inundations, and the wafte of mankind by death : all which he confiders as effects of the wrath of God againfc the fins of men '. compare ver. 13. Ver. 18. The mountain falling, &c] by an earthquake, fee the note on chap. ix. 5. Ver. 19. The waters, he.] I underftand this vcrfe to be a defcription of defolating land-floods, or torrents, occafioned bv the falling of the autumnal or vernal rains in tco great abundance. 1 ^DCn t0 note i* a re &ift fr » as ^ r * Heath turns ir, and fo the k Vid. Poccck. in carmen Tograi, p. 50. 1 See chap ix. 5, 6. Homer aifo reprcfents deluges as divine puniihxnents of iivuilice. II. xvi. 384, &c Chap. XIV. THE BOOK OF JOB. 107 20. O'er weeping man th] >K His face thou c&angefi into fickly pale: Then fudden to the nether [hades he's hurl'd, Cut off frog) all communion with the world -, 2 I. Unknowing what befalls his children here, Uniharing in the triumph and the tear : 22. His corfe, mean while, in forrow waftes away, And his loft breath laments its mould'ring clay., Ch.m\ ces m thejfone^ 7 1 -;s n wajh away the foil of tie earthy Ana of man. if man] that is, the hope of the huibandman ; the fruits of the ground, whether in the vineyard or in the fields. The yellow harvefts of the ripen'd year, And flatted vineyards, one fad wafte appear : When J >ve defcends in fluicy fheets of rain, And all the labours of mankind are vain. Pope's Horn. II. v. 117,60:. Ver. 20. Thou preuaiUfl, &c] This expreftion referreth to the conftam and irrefiftable operation of the fentence of mortality, which is palled upon all m u. .] Too often we behold, with a figh, this funeral prefage in the altered looks of our valuable friends and beloved relations. Ver. 21. HisfonSy Sec] The heart of every tender parent feels the force of this pathetic fentiment. Ver. 22. But bUfiefc &c] As the two foregoing verfes m IpHC-* *t fignifies net a ttrition and diffipation, as appears by tbe li iirative u(: of this word in the hebrew bible. See rxou. xxx. 3 -. Pf. xviii n HWfiD T ^ e ver, ° fignifies in Chaldee to increa/e ; in Arable, tcpc:,rc:<;. Yid. Caileil. L. . rd to the confl turn 10S THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. X Chap. XV. i, 2. The Temanite reply'd ? Whatftorm is this, From our wife man, of p.ide and emptincfs ! This, wifd s language ? is a wife man's mind Big with the poifon of an eaftern wind ? 3. And fpoke of man departed into another world, it is mofl natural to underftand this verfe to relate to the fam< fubje&. Ac- cording to the following tranflati< n , w ch the original will allow, we are prefentxd with a tragical picture of man's condition in the grave ; But ever p him his fejh Jhall grieve % And over him his breath r foali mourn. In the daring fpirit of oriental poetry, thejie/b, or body, and the breath are made confeious beings ; the former lamenting its putrefaction in the grave, the latter mourning over the mould'ring clay which it once enlivened. C H A P. XV. The poem is now all in a flame. Even Eliphaz has loft temper. He vents himfelf in bitter (arcafms and reproaches; charging Job's replies with impiety, felf-fufficiencv, con- tempt of his elders, and intolerable arrogance towards God himfelf. vcr. 1. to the end of vcr. 16. The tinn. the mafculine plural iTiTED 1S ^ ie nominative to ti.e verb tj!3£^n lingular and feminine : and the arnx n refers to the number £3*3 as its antecedent. Thefe are common eaaliages in the Arabic language. Vid. Schultens* Comment, Suggeited in part by the learned Schultens. D V7>/ over, or Jbr t htm Amos vi. 6. tbey are not grieved for the mgliaion ofjefipb. Vid. Noldium. DN3 t0 ' ■ /orrovjful, as in Prov. xiv. 1:. the hiart is forroiu- ful. The an ciive b are the fame acceptation in Arabic. See the Arabic verfion of the Pfalms, Pf. xxxiv. 17. r 1GPD3 his breath, ch, xli. zi. (Heb. ver. 13.) his breath k'mi- htk ct ,V. II! E HOOK OF J OH. 109 3. And will he thus abufe the pow 1 th, • -lis mifchievoua th ? 4. Death 1 Thy w< hand of pray'r reftrain. 5. Thy fecond part of the fp . . r. 17 — 30, is a citation , the fubjccl: whereof i 1 the ven- nce of GoA on fome tyrannical princes: For Eliphaz and his companions fuppofed Job to be of that character. includes, by way of implication, with his own com- minations on all who abufe the power intruded to them, :e a talc of juilice. The drift of the whole is to vin- dicate providence, to expofe Job as an object of divine wrath, and to terrify him, if poiiible, into a confeiTion of his guilt. -; 1 — 35' Ver. 3. unprofitable — can do no good] Thefe negative ex- mutt here fignify highly pernicious, by a figure of ch caHed meiofis. oth rwife the thought in this verfe will fink into flatnefs. for in the foregoing verfe, he had chara&erifed Job's opinions by the ftrong image of the cafl tes, both in fpring and fummcr, if the -wind bio me days : , all the fields are burnt, fo as that fcarc reen thing remains ; moft of the rivers and fountains are dried up, and nature itfelf feems almoft to die. Ver. 4. Yea thou caftetb off fear, &cj He taxeth Job's docirinc of an unequal providence with impiety. It tended, he fays, to fubvert religion ; by confounding all diftindtion of characters in the diftribution of good and evil. That he rs to this docirine, appears by his afking Job, in ver. 7, 8. :her he had been ir the council of God ; fince he pre- !jd to be better informed in the plan of providence than they ? K T •' off] The hebrewword imports difannuUing^ or making s Sec Michaelis on the Praleclions. 1 Michaelis in P rested, p. 23. n. 22. no THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap.XV. 5. Thy mouth bewrays, fpite of its glozing art, Th' impiety clofe-lurking in thy heart : 6. By thy own mouth condemn'd, what need of mine? Sufficient voucher for thy. guilt is thine. 7. Born before Adam, faw thy favour'd eyes 1'he wood-crown'd hills from eldeft ocean rife ? 8. Haft mating void* a moral bond or obligation. The obligation of religion is broken, he fays, by Job's principle that God de± jlroyeth the per fe El and the wicked™. The wicked, then, have nothing to fear ; nor the pious any thing to hope from him. In fhort, the providence which Job contended for, was, in this man's account, no providence at all - 3 and nothing better than downright atheifm. Ver. 5, 6. For thy ?nouth, &x\] Behold the progrefs of bigotry and uncharitablenefs. He firft falfely accufeth his friend of having vented atheiftical principles ; and then con- cludes, that there wanted no other evidence to prove him a wicked man. Thou chufeft the tongue of the crafty] He gives this invidious turn to Job's protections of innocence, prayers, and appeals to God : which he reprefents as an artful addrefs to the paf- fions of the hearers; to blind their judgement, and deceive them into a favourable opinion cf his piety. Ver. y — 10. Art thou, &c] He now chaftifeth him for having prefumed to underftand the ways of God, better than they who were fo much his elders. Art then the firjl man, &c] Waft thou horn before Adam x ? The u ^fjf} Numb. xxx. 14, 15. But if he (the hufband) Jb all any •ways make them (the vows of the wife) void, after that be hath beard them. &c. w Chap. ix. 22. x CHK ]1^in *9*W ™ A**"- The Chaldee turns this claufe, wtrt thou born in the times before Adam, without father and mother ? Had Ch.ap.XV. THE BOOK OF JOB. lit S. I u in the cekftial fynod Rood P The COtlflfcls heard, th'Almij didts vfew'dl Dofl thou poffcfs tlic lecrets of his rule ? ThoU only wife, and every man a fool ? What boafts thy knowledge above ours ? Behold, 10. With us the head in grave experience old ; Yea th' old old man, to whofe low-bending years Thy father's wrinkled age as youth appears. ii. Mean are divine emollients ? held for vile, Friendship's monitions couch'd in friendly flyle ? 12. Whither The farcafm in this, and in the following verfe, is fevere but noble : perfectly in the lefty manner of this fpeaker. The queftion amounts to afking, if he was fome fuperior being who cxifted before the world r compare Pfalm xc. 2. Prov* viii. 25. Haft thou heard, kc.~\ Haft thou been a hearer in the coun- cil f if God? haft thou been rrefent, when the angelic af- fembly were in Waking before the throne of God*, to give account of their miniftry ; and to receive frefh orders re- flecting the affairs of providence in our world ? Ver. 1 1. be confolations cfGcd] So he ftyles their promifes of a fpeedy re-cftablifhment of his felicity, on condition of his repentance. He gives them the pompous appellation of divine confolations, on account of their pretended excellence. Is there any, &c«] According to Schultens the tranilation Ihould be ; And Had the meaning been art thou the firft n:nn, the original mult- run nj^nn lDIKH (Vid. Schaltens' Comment.) as *2J"lp CHN tbefirft man, in the Targum on Pf. lxxiv. 10. 1 110!!} '* tie ottneil, or a£ our Translators render it b Pf. cxi. 1. Jer. vi. 11. It ought alfo. to have been turned council (not coun/el) in Jer xxiii, 1 : . -'■ Job i. 6. 7 1,2 THE BOOK OF JOB. Ciiap.XV. 12. Whither will headlong pride impell thy foul ? How fiercely wild thy fiafhing eye-balls roll, 13. Thy fpirit turning upon God again, And pafllon raving in audacious (train ! 14. " What, purenefs challeng'd by a child of dull ? " By woman-born, the lofty flyle of juft ? j 5. " Not And gentle a difcourfe b to thee ? He means by gentle difcourfe their diflant intimations of his guilt, therr warnings infinuated in the way of examples, and their exhortations to cenfeffion and amendment. On all which, as well as on their confolations, Job had poured con- tempt j particularly in chap. x;;i. 12. Ver. 12, 13. JVhy doth thine hearty &c] This rcprehenfion points in particular to thofe too high-fpirited expoftulations, in chap. xiii. 22, &c. and what do thine eyes wink at P] IVhcrcfirc do thine eyes look fierce ? Excruciating pain, anguiih of mind, and indigna- tion at their cruel treatment had given, perhaps, an air of wildnefs and fiercenefs to his countenance ; which this inhu- man cenfor attributes to pafiion againfl God. Ver. 14, 15. JVhat is man, &c] His citation of the oracle (chap. iv. 17, eve.) a fecond time, is intended as # reproach of Job's diibbedience to it by periifting to juftify himfelf to God. How a Q^^ ad Un'tudinem, gmtly \ as our englifh bible turns it, in II Sam. xviii q. Deal gently for my fake fig Q ifi e > m -'■ • Comment, Schultens. b "Q1 a fcriea of worJs, or talk as it is rendered in ver. 3. unprofitable talk. c fO?"V This word is nowhere elfe found in tl v bible. It is, however, happily preferved in the Arabic language : where, according to Schultens, it fignifies to be in a ra- .', to have a 'wild and threat vAng h'A ; being a metaphor either iiom the growling of a beail of prey, or from the afpefl and rumbling of a thunder-cloud. Chap. XV. THE BOO 1 113 pure, net juft, b ght, " Arc cv'n his holy miniften of light: 16. " I low then, that foul abominable thing, 4 - Who fins as I he quails his fpring ?" 17. Hear thou my doctrine, what thefe eyes atteft, 1 S. By ancient bards in living verfe expreft : A b more abominable ,&c] In the firft recital of the ora- cle, the application bd to mankind in general (chap, iv. :g.) Bi t the -hie d and filthy 9 ^ which he now re, in fcripture, epit - ' -ilelr. fins and Tinners : And the ftrong phrafe which d t water f im- plies qo.v 1P9 without reluctance, ye: rith e.iger- nefs and guft; which is an effect ol inveterate habits only. All this perfectly agrees with their injurious idea of Job ; to whom the application is now p - made. Hrwm (clean in his fight, ver. 15.) is the abomi* nMe and filthy man , wbt ; like water P Ver. 17 — 19. I will Jhew thee, &c. ] Bildad had quoted half a dozen lines of the ancient poetry, that were in the proverbial ltyie K Eliphaz is going to cite a much laro-er number; of the a. kind, and in a fublimer ftrain. He prtfaceth the citation with obfervin^; firft, that the facts alledged in thefe verfes were verified by his own experience ; that which I have feci, I -will declare, fecondly, that thefe verfes contain the obfervations of the wife in very ancient ages ; and had been carefully conveyed down by oral tra- dition to the prefent times; which wife men have told from their e il /tfj See Levit. xvni. 30. Pfalm xiv. 1, 3, 1 Pet. iv. 3. f Prov. xi.\. z8, '7 he mouth of the -uoicked devouretb iniquity^ g O ^Itf Chap ix. 14. Hozv much left jhall 1 an/zvtr him ? h ^\S the man. Pf. cxii. I. TW7V T\)t JfV &>$ HEW BUjid is the man zh^ifearetb the Lord. 1 Chap. viii. 11, 12, 13. I ii 4 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. XV A line of worthies, in fucceflion long, With faithful voice roll'd down th' immortal fong-, 19. For wifdom fanvd, on whofe high- favoured land Invafion's foot was never known to itand. 20. " The tyrant, all his days of dreaded pow'r, u In dark fufpicion of its fatal hour, " His their fathers, and have not hid it : and thirdly, that thefe tra« ditional verfes had been preferved pure and perfect, by riieana of the peculiar circumstances of the perfons through whofe hands they had paiTcd : for no foreign colony had intermixed with them ; wito whom alone the land was given. Neither had their country ever been conquered, and no Jlr anger came upon ibem k ; characters, which determine the country, fpoken of, to be Arabia Felix l j and confequently the cited poem to be an Arabian poem. Ver. 18. have told] that is, have exprefTed in memorial verfes : for this was the ancient mode of conveying inftruc- tion m . Poetry was the favourite ftudy of the Arabs in the carlieft times, and was ufed as the vehicle of all their know- ledge ". *Tis further obfervable, that Eliphaz fays, have told* not have written : He fpeaks therefore of times anterior to the invention of letters. Ver. 20, &c. Ths wicked man, Sic] We have here the pleafure of reading a piece of poetry, that was the produc- tion of Arabia Felix ; more ancient, perhaps,, than the old Canaanitifh k CDD^rO "IT ""^y ft 1 ? LXX. ay. .7r,tf.:v ulMymns i:c. This verfe is a graphical defcription of luxury, compare Pf. lxxiii. 7, 8. Ver. 28. And he divclleth, &C.J And he dwelled, Sec. The foregoing verfe marked the fettfuality of this wicked man. The character would have been left unfinifhed, had the poet added nothing concerning the epprejjions by which that luxury was fupported. I think therefore, that by dwelling in defolatc cities, Sic. muft be underftood his getting pofleirion of them by conqueft ; and depopulating them partly by his fword, and partly by fevere contributions and taxations. b So Mr. Heath turns * B Q2lJV The LXX. render it by Tpa^uXiai;, which fgniiies, fays Drufius, collum attollo, fuperbio, ftrocio. The hebrew \%ord in this conjugation imports literally, to make him/elf a mighty man. The idea, which it contains, is opened and ex- tended in Pf. xii, q, 4, £• I "1XV;>3 cum prcno collo, with his neck {looping and ilretched, out; uie vtry attitude of a combatant running upon his adver- fary, as Mr. Le Clerc, I think, has remarked. Omp. XV. 1 III BOOK OF JOB. 119 20. M 'Tis wealth accurs'd, pov.V for 1 feafim tall, 44 On 1 d root, aipirifig but to fall : 30. 4t Dark clouds involve him, on his branching head " Devourinj cforaftatipn fpread : m Uprooted by the furious breath or* heav'n, 4t Impetuous down iiis mountain's fleep he's 44 driv'n." 31. Woe to the man who by oppreflion climbs, Drunk with fuccefics, and lecure in crimes : 32. For Vcr. 29. He /ha !l not, &c] The poem here returns to the defcription of this man's cetafirepbt. He /ha ' 7i f A contintii to be rich '*, Neither /hall his power e endure. Neither /hall their pro/parity f /hike roct s upon the earth. This is a negative manner or" exprcfljng the total overthrow of fuch men's greatnefs and felicity. Vcr. 30. He /hail not depart, &c] he fhall not come out of his calamities. The deftruclion of the tyrant, with his whole family and fortunes, is here reprelented hy that of a lofty tr e ; which on fomc dark tempeftuous day is fired by lightning, or torn up by the wind, and hurled down the precipice on which it grew. Ver. 31. Let not him, &c] Eliphaz now fpeaks in his own d ""^>" N/ He /ball not continue to le rich. A verb is fome- times to be underttood of the continuation of the action expreiTed by that verb. Vid. Guarin's Grammat. Heb. vol. i. p. 51S. c 7*n fignifies po-iver very frequently. , D /OD l ^ tir profperity, as M«". Heath turns it. The root ?"w3 is in Arabic, aj/ecutus eft, obtinuit votum fcopumque. H/IO therefore is Juccefs, or a ltate in which all things go according to a man's wifhes and endeavours. Schultens. 6 HO* X 7 fiatl not extend, viz. its roots ; nor. radices ag^t ii (trram, Schultens : more arborum qua; radices fuas longc Jatcque extendunt. Pruiius. 14 120 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. XV. 32. For bitter change (hall come : untimely blaft His boughs fhall wither, and his fruit fhall caft ; 33. As when the vine her half-grown berries fhow'rsj Or poiibn'd olive her unfolding flow'rs. 34. Know own pcrfon, and denounccth a comminution, grounded on the example in the lines juft cited, againfr all who raife them- felves to wealth and power by iniquitous means ; pointing in particular to Job. Let him not trv.fi in profperity h , who is intoxicated l therewith : For bis change k Jhall be mifery l . Ver. 32. It Jhall be ) ore] It, the calamitous change before mentioned Jhall be accompli/bed before his time ; that is, before his days are fulfilled : He fhall perifh by an untimely death. His branch Jhall not be green] fnall not continue green m . His fate mall be like that of a vine, or olive, that is withered by drought, or by a poifonous eaft-wind ; as it follows in the next vcrfe. Ver. 33. He Jhall Jh >ahe off \ &c. .] The green grapes fhew their. felves early in the fprihg n , in thofe hot climates ; and the olive blofibms in June and July ° ; in which .months a burning peftilential caft-wind bloweth there p. h *!&*3 i t f ! g n i^ es i° Arabic, an equilibrium^ and is applied to the fun in hi^ n altitude; and in metaphor denotes the ht of profperity. Schu i nyrO 2 U * ^inebriatus injanit. Ifaiah xxviii. 7. xix. 15, 14. Hof. iv. 12. Schultens- k irnV^n n ^ exchange chap, xxviii. 17. and the exchange of it jhall not be for j old. A ch: nge of con- dition, from good to bad. is like an exchange of a valuable com- modity for another that is nothing worth. 1 &08P e od^kity [ ^ ?x i- c - tnifery t bo it is ufed chap. vii. 3. I am made to pofjifs mentis ■ So in ver. zo. He Jhall not continue to be rich. See the note. n Cantic ii. 1 :, 3. vii. 12. See johnfon'' Herbal. p Chap, x.wii. ?.\. Ezek. xvii. 10. Jonah iv. 7, R. Vid. Mi- chaelis in Prakcl. p. 39, n. 41. Schultens in Job xxvii. 22, Chap. XV. Till- BOOK OF JOB. 121 34. Know all the Wicked, all the venal crew, Their fpleij lid tents the flculkinj hull rue : A Ere it kindles, and the flame fupplies, 1 ill the gay fcene adilmal deiert lies. gj. See now opprefllon, (and its bonded gain) Conceiv'd and uiher'd into birth in vain : The flattYing crime, with To much anguilh bred, Turns all its plagues on its own parent's head. Chap. Vcr. 34..' >] Profligates, it is clear, that the congre- gation of hypocrites and the tabernacles of bribery mean one and the fame character ; fuch impious oppreflbrs as are defcribed in the Arabian poem, which he had been reciting. See the note on chap. viii. 13. Vcr. 35. They conceive, &c] mifchief *^ and bring forth iniquity r : But their belly prepared a cheat s to themfelves. Mifchief and iniquity, that is, mifchicvous iniquity, un- doubtedly mean the fchemes of injuftice which thev conceive : and they are laid to bring forth thofe fchemes, when they carry them into execution. But it turns out, that the wron^, which they defign and do to others, proves a cheat ; that is, the caufe of their own deduction. That this is a true explica- tion of the words, appears from the parallel pafta^e ; Pf. vii. 14, 16. (Heb. ver. 15, 17.) Behold he iravaileth 1 with ini- quity", and hath conceived w mifchief x , and brought forth a faljhood'. His mifchief /ha 'I return upon his own head, and his violent dealing * Jhad come down upon his own pate. bay r qk • ru»D * ^rr iw w mn x ioy * npir iDon j22 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap.XVJ. Chap. XVI. j, 2. Dull ecchos of dull things too long, reply'd The fufPring man, my patient ear have try'd, Officious to torment I find you all, Your documents are flings, your comforts gall. 3. With endlefs brawl fhall declamation roar ? What rous'd thy paffion to one tempeft more ? 4. Would I thus pour rough anfwers in your ear, Hard as your hearts, and as your flyle fevere, Or fhake the fcornful head, fhould Heav'n afiign Your fouls the miferable place of mine ? 5. Ah ! no foft pity fhould infpire my phrafe, I'd footh your forrows and your courage raife. 6. For me O what fhall mollify my grief ? Nor plaining yields, nor filence yields relief: 7. And CHAP. XVI. Such a fpeech as the foregoing was admirably fitted to carry on the defign of the poem, by irritating the paflions of Job, and inflaming his difcontent with the ways of provi- dence. In this part of his reply, he expreffeth his refent- ment in a moving reprefentation of their inhumanity ' ; in vehement defcription of their brutal ufage a ; and in affecting remonfrrances to God, for delivering him into the hands of thefe unmerciful men b . He concludes with renewed and mod: folemn afleverations of his innocence c , and an earneft petition to be brought to immediate trial before God d . Ver. 4, 5. I alfo could fpeak^ &c] This reproof is inimi- tably tender, and at the fame time exquifitely keen. a Ver. 1—6. a Ver. 7— 10. b Ver. 11 — 16, « Ver. 17, 18, 19, 20. * Ver. 21, 22. Chap. XVI. THE BOOK OF JOB. 123 And now, 1 faint beneath its fwcllin Thy (land'rous tongue qnpeopkj my abode; 8. I'm iliAl as though I homicide by thee ; Then blackcn'd with thy daring calumny : Fierce 7. Bui now hi hath) tkc] But now it (my grief e ver. 6.) hath made me weary. My affli&ion is become infup- . can find no relict' cither from fiicnce or la- mentation. Moreover, 1 am, bv this man's calumnies, de- prived even of the comfort of a friend to pity me. Thou hajl made defalate : , &c] Thou Eliphaz (fo the tenor of thedifcourfe requires us to underftand the addrefs) by thy (landers, fanctified bv thy years and character, driveft away the few friends my adverfity had left to me. It is fuppofed, he alludes to the words in chap. xv. 34. The congregation of trofligates Jhall he defolate. Ver. 8. And thou ha/i, &c] This obfeure verfe will be- come clearer, I think, in the following verfion ; TJpou alfo hajl apprehended me T , as a malefactor. He is become a witnefs again/} me : Tea he that belieth me h , rifeth up againjl me ; He accujeth me to my face. Thou .^ — ■ — ■ i « ■ »■ e The latin vulgate jultly fupplies the word grief from the fore- going verfe ; nunc autem opprejjit me dolor meus. 1 ni-^n M tne r00t I2D&* properly fignifies, as Schultens afHrms, to be blafed by lightning, or by a /cording wind ; it affords a ftrong and beautiful metaphor to exprefs the efrccl of the breath of flander. ? *C£pjl LXX. ntika&H uu, Thou haft laid hold on me. Grotiuj remarks, that it is a judicial term, denoting the feizure of a fap- pofed criminal; in order to bring him to a trial. It figniti.es in Chaldee and Syriac to bind (Caftell. Lex.) and in Arabic, to tie the hands and feet, alfo to bind a captive ; Schultens. Wetranflate it, to be cut down chap. xxii. I 6. But I know o{ no authority for that verfion ; any more than for rendering it here, thou haft filled me with wrinkles. Thefe are the only places were \Jt2p occurs in the hebrew bible. h *C#rO Symmachus reads it as a participle of the prefent tenfe in Kal. for he turns it xara^jvfywvo? belying me. It is englimed t$ I2 4 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. XVI. Fierce in my face this lying witnefs flies, 9. He grinds his teeth, rage lightens from his eyes : 10. All rufh with open jaws, all tear my name, And glut their fury on my murckr'd fame. 11. Ah? TJ:ou haft apprehended me, Szc] He ftill directs his fpeech to Eliphaz ; who had fet him forth as a o r, and an example of divine vengeance. This treatment he compares to feizing and binding a notorious offender. He is become. Sic] By a fudden change of the perfon, ex- preftive of great emotion, he turneth from Eliphaz to the audience ; and inftead of continuing his addrefs to him, ccm- plaineth bitterly of him. He, this man, my profcfled friend, is become my falfe accufer. Ver. 9. He teareth me, Sec."] This is a lively piece of painting : He reprefents thefe men as fo many beads of prey, greedily worrying him to death with their (landers and com- minations b . Ver. 10. They have fmittcn, Sec] A proverbial form of fpeech for atrocious defamation. Lam. iii. 30. They have gathered themfehes together, Szc] This is flat. The original denotes exceiiive gree'dinefs in devouring ; and, in the metaphor, a mail jjnant fatis faction. They have glxttedy or gorged, them/elves i upon me. to lye, Hof. iv. 2. The fubftnntive denotes a lye told by infor- mers and falfe accufers, Hof. vii. 5. Nahum iii. 1. See alfo Pf. lix. 13. h The royal poet defcribes the abufe and (landers with which he was worried in nmilar language ; Pf. xxxv. 15, 16. Cat what our Bible there renders, with hypocritical mockers at feafts, is per- haps more juitly turned by C&ilellio, impurotum heluonum ritu, after the manner of prcfigaie gluttons. * It bears this ftrong meaning in Exod. xv. 9. my lujf Jball be fatisfied (fatiated) upon them. ^£}j, here rendred my lu/ f lhould, 1 think, have been turned, my appetite ; as in Prov. xxiii. 2. Chap. XVI. THE HOOK OF JOB. 125 ii. All ! fo it pleas'd th 1 Almighty to ordain, me, in his foaming chain, To ions of Belial, to licentious throngs, And the rude infult of reviling tongues. 12. I once was happy but his forceful hand isfd, ihook me, hurl'd me from my lofty Hand : Then, Ver. 1 1 . Gcd y &C.] He now complains of God, for having by means of his affliction expofed him to this barbarous uf.. !!y — the wicked] They had painted him in thefe black colours. He might, with much more juilice, retort the charge upon them ; if uttering the foulefr. calumnies will denominate a perfon wicked. ■red me — turned me voer\fY\ius ufage. They are me- taphors taken frora the puniihment of a malefaclor : The former k is fuppoled to denote the putting an iron collar about his ncck y the other ' caJHng him down into a deep and miry dungeon. Ver. 12. I zuas at eafe m ] It is obfervable, that he does but juit mention his former profperity. He exprefTeth it by a Tingle word, as though it were nothing, whereas he dwells upon his calamities, and defcribes them In the ftrongefr. terms that k 'jTj'D* See the note on chap. xi. 10. in the Commentary of the learned Schultens. 1 'JD"t* 1° *be Arabic language \yy\ for £3*1* figniries to /Ink in a bog i'o as not to be able to ^et out, as Schultens informs us ; who turns it here in odrdibru'm me dejecit % be bath thrown me dcivn into a dungeon* fuch for initance as Jeremiah was call into Jer. xxxviii. 6. Vid Comment. Schultens and the note of the learned Dr. Hunt in Fral-.d. p. 213. The LXX. render it by a ver/ ftrong word : ::\\i he bath hurled me. ■ ^*tf thewoid n^w^ * s l ' laC by which Nebuchadnezzar ex- prefTeth his untroubled proi^ >erity, Dan. iv. 4. Heb. *er. 1. 126 THE BOOK OP JOB. Chap.XVL Then, bruis'd and dafh'd to pieces, ftill on me, Fix'd for his mark, he wreaks his ftern decree : 13. His unrelenting bowmen hem me round, Pierce, cleave me, fried my vitals on the ground. 14. 'Tis he ev'n he, th' Almighty, is my foe, His iirong arm hews me, thund'ring blow on blow. 15. Grief's fable weed to my flay'd body grows, Grief on my honour'd head foul afhes throws : 1 6. Grief that language could fupply. This is perfectly agreeable to the nature of diftrefs. He hath broken me afunder, &c] He defcribeth the ruin of his fortunes and family, the difeafe inflicted on his perfon, and the cruel attack of his character by his three friends. He compares his cafe to that of a man who is feized by the hair of his head, and thrown down a precipice ; then, with hi3 limbs all broken, and fcarce able to breathe, is fet up for a mark to be fhot to death with arrows. Whether thefe highly tragical images exifted only in the poet's fancy, or whether they allude to a real mode of punifhment, praclifed in that country and in thofe times ; I leave to the decifion of abler judges. Ver. 14. He breaketh", &c] He reprefents the rapid fuc- ceflion of his calamities, and God as the fupreme author of them ; whom he compareth to a mighty warrior attacking a city, or fortrefs, with a powerful army. Ver. 15. / have fowed fackckth, &c] He had put on this habit of mourners, we may fuppofe, upon receiving the news of his children's death. He had worn it ever fince. he had worn it fo long, that by means of his ulcers it ftuck faft to his fkin. / have n •flfl* Prov- xXr. 23, a city that is broken down, (nVHS* and without lualil. CtfAP.XYI. THE BOOK OF JOB. 127 16. Grief marrs my face with fcalding tears, and night Black as the grave fits heavy on my f: 17. Yet arc thcie hands with no injuitice ilain'd, Pure fromthefe lips (till flows the pray'r unfeign'd: 18. O earth, the blood accufing me reveal •, Its piercing voice in no recefs conceal : 19. My :rn p , 5c c] Or 7 have dt filed my head with This was another rite of mourning among the Ara- bians, chap. ii. 12. who derived it, perhaps, from the Egyp- tians. It was in ufe alfo among the ancient Greeks. Priam lamented the death of Hector by covering his head with duft, and alio rolling himfelf in the duft. Achilles, in the extrava- gance of his grief for Patroclus, fprinkled embers, inftead of afhes, upon his head. Ver. 16. on my eye-lids, &c] His eyes had the appearance of a dying man : He thought himfelf to be near his end. See the firft verfe of the next chapter. Ver. 17. Nor for any injuJ1ice y &c] He exculpates himfelf from the charge of oppreJfijr. y in this firft claufe ; and from impiity in the latter claufe. Eliphaz had accufed him in open terms of impiety chap. xv. 4 — 6. and of opprejfwn^ by infinuation ver. 20, cv'c. Ver 18. O earth, &c.] He confirms the foregoing pro- teftation, by a folemn imprecation delivered in noble and accumulated figures of fpeech. The earth is made a perfon, then addrefled in vehement apoftrophe. The blood of the murdered is imagined lying and reeking on the ground, and a loud voice is given to it which pierceth into heaven. This is the flyJe of the grand poetry : this is the language of the higher paflions. my p The Syriac renders it, as Mr. Heath obferves, my head. The Chaldee interpreter tarns it, my glory. His head which of late was fo highly exalted, and adorned perhaps with the tiara, now hung down ; covered with fordid dud, or afhes. Compaie Pfalm lxxv. 0. cxii. 9. i-S THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. XVL 19. My witnefs lives in heav'n, whole confcious view • Does all my goings and my thoughts purfue. 20. The paflime of my friends, my dreaming eye Looks up for pity to the Pow'r on high : 21. O mi^ht I argue in his ear, and free As in a mortal court maintain my pica ! 22. For my blood —my cry] The blood {hed by me, and its cry againfr. me for vengeance. Ezek. xxiv. 6, 7, 8. Gen. xviii. 20, 21- iv. 10. cover not, &c] This is equivalent to faying, let not the blood which I have fpilled be unrevenged. When the Ara- bian poets would fay, a murder has been unrevenged ; their expreflion is, the blood of the murdered perfon moiftens the ground like dew : that is, it lies uncovered, and being exhaled by the fun falls down in devv. Vid. the Arabian Anthologia, intituled Hamafa, p 4.17. n ad ver. 1. But why does Job exculpate himfelf from the crime of murder ? Who had accufed him of it ? Eliphaz had done fo virtually, by reprefenting him as a tyrant : for who ever heard of an unbloody tyrant \ Ver. 19. my record*, ckc] rather, He who is privy to my aclior.s is on high, as Mr. Heath tranflates it. ' Ver. 21 . O that, Sec] He earneftly wiflieth he might plead his caufe with God, with the fame freedom that a man de- fends himfelf in a court of human judicature. O that a man might plead r with God, As a man pleadeth with his fellow man. By q *in&^ The * XX. render it by Ewir*p he that is confcious to my adlions. It fignifies in Arabic, lays Schultens, / indefinitely ; as ft^y^ m Syriac. 1 *3 It is frequently a particle of ratiocination, for. Vid. Noldium. 1 VHN* are ccme - nbllK I g°- The learned reader may re- collect the obfervation of Michaelis, that in the nncient (late of the language the futures were aorifts. The LXX. translate the firft members of the verfe, mi aytopirt* nxoa-u my numbred years art cGtr.Ci i. e. to the end of their number. The ralgate turns the whole rerfe, ccce tnim breves anni tranfarunt \ et /emit am, per quam nan revertar, ambulo. K i 3 o THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap.XVII. 2. Sarcaitic tongues my dying couch furround, Vex my lad hours, and feoff me into ground. 3- Fix, are frequent and fudden changes of the perfon. The tran- fitions are abrupt, without the joining particles : and the fentiments follow one another in a hurry, with little or no connection, juft as the tumultuous and fhifting emotions of his mind fuggefted them. From the eleventh verfe to the end of the difcourfe, all is in the moving strain or" elegy. With a mel. ncholy calmnefs he refigns himfelf to defpair and the grave. Ver. i. My breathy &c] He feels the powers of his body- failing, and apprehends himfelf to be drawing near his end. The fentences are very fhort and broken, like the fpeech of a man who panteth for breath. This verfe ought not to have been feparated from the lair, verfe of the foregoing chapter, with which it is clofely connected in fenfe. is corrupt] is dejlroyed*. it is on the point of being ex- haufted. Mr. Heath's veriion is, My life draweth near U dejlruclion. The graves w ] The cells or holes in the fepulchral cham- bers for the coffins. The walls of thefe fubterraneous rooms hewn in the rock were fometimes fcooped into rows of cell?, like the holes in a pigeon-houfe, wide and deep enough to receive a coffin of feven or eight feet long x . Ver. 2. Are there not mockers^ &CV] The thought of their injurious ufage of him rou feth his indignation ; and caufeth him to collect all the breath he had, to utter this and the following fentiments, to the end of die tenth verfe, with ipirit and vehemence. doth 1 nbDH Prov. xiii. 13. He that dtjfifetb the word Jball be iifiroyed. • C^Dp ^be cells in the i;des of the fepulchral chambers. So this woru plainly fignifies in Ezek. .xxxii. 2:, 25. though it be there alio tranuauu gravis, x Maundrell'^ journey to ALppc, p. 21, 22, Sand; s's trav(h y p. 175. Shaw's travels, p, 263, &c. 4to. Chap.XVII. Till: HOOK OF JOB. 131 3. Fix, fix my trial •> cheerful I'll appear Before thy t\icc, my injured tame to clear. Who Hull arife, who give his plighting hand, As adverle party, in this flrife to (land ? 4. Not thefe •, for thefe thou leavelt to a mind Bemaz'd in error and with palTion blind : Tliefe doth not mine eye, &C.] His eye had been for a long time, and frill was vexed with their intuiting geftures ; as his ear had been with their provoking fpecches. See chap. xvi. 4, 5. Ver. 3. Lay down now. Sic] appoint v y I pray , myfurrty* with thee. Thefe are law-terms, and allude to the cuftom of a perfon's giving bail for his appearance in court on the day of trial. The thought of the injury done to his character, by thefe cenfors, makes him break out on a fudden in this paflionate requeft ; that God would fix a time for his trial before him fpeedily. JVho is he that willftrikc hands % &c. ] In the days of ancient fimplicity, Jiriking hands was thought a fufficient ratification of the moil folemn engagements °, The meaning is, Who fhall undertake the part of plaintiff in this caufe ; or be ad- vocate for God, to juftify the ways of hi* providence to- wards me ? Ver. 4. Far thou hajl hid, Sec] He excepts to the appoint- ment of any one of his three antagonifts to plead the caufe of God. They had proved themfelves unqualified for that honour, by their ignorance in the courfe of providence •> and by their prejudice againft him. thou Y T\&& appoint thou. Exod. xxi. 15. / -will appoint thee a place iv hit her thou Jhalt fiee. z \33~)y It may be read as a participial noun from ^*)y fpef- pondit, to be bound for another > to be furttj, a Prov. vi. 1. b We learn from Oedipus Cctonus, ver. 646, that a treaty of peace was ratified by the contracting powers giving the fight hand to one another. K z * 3 2 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap.XVIL Theic thou wilt ne'er exalt, nor fuch ordain Thy caufe to argue and thy ways explain. 5. Whoe'er with libel ftabs his weeping friend, His race fhall friendlefs to the grave defcend : 6. This thou /bait not exalt them] If we add the word which in the hebrew begins the next verfe c , as the Syriac interpreter has done, the fenfe will be com pi eat d : For thou haji bid their heart from under (landings Therefore thou wilt not exalt them to a part. He means, they were not worthy of the honour of a part ia this caufe ; that is, of being parties, or advocates, in behalf of God. So Elihu ufeth the very fame word chap, xxxii. 17, / will alfo anfiver ?ny part, Ver. 5. He that fpeaketh, &c] The word which, in the hebrew, begins this verfe, being removed to the end of the foregoing verfe ; there will come out the following clear tranilation, He uttereth malicious tilings -, And the eyes of .bis children ft) all fail. In this abrupt manner he points particularly at Eliphaz, as likewiie in the next verfe. Eliphaz was uppermoft in his thoughts, not only as the laff who fpoke againfl him ; but as the ringleader in thefe malicious afperfions. Tim c p^nb to a part. Our Translators render it flattery. The Syriac interpreter alfo, though lie haih .eftored it to its right place,, miitock its meaning : for he turns it, by di-vifon. The LXX. rightly render it rr fumh to a part. d ThedifUch alfo will be complcat : for as the firfl verfe is an iambic of nine fyllables, by this means the fecond will be fo too : hym rosy tub o pbnb nnn t** lo-ve/i evil (>T) more than good, arid lying rather than to fpeak right \ oifnefs ; Tbo* Uveji all devouring words, thou deceitful tongue* Chap.XVII. THE BOOK 01« JOB. 133 6. This bold dclainer ihrws mc far .i fi A dire example of the wrath divine : y. I lence my wan look, and eye with lorrow dim, Hence like a lhadow leems each wailed limb. 8. Doubtlcfs Toe ffflf r , &C.] This denunciation appears to mc, founded only In Job's obfervation of what frequently happens in the world. The infamy which a parent draws upon himfelf by fomc flagrant crime, ufually involveth his children in its un- happy confequences. Vcr. 6. He bath made mc alfo a byword] His invectives have marked me out for a proverbial example of divine ven- geance, compare Jerem. xxix. 22. And of ere time I was as a tabret, Sec] And I am become 4 gazing Jh:k g in their fight h . He means, that in confequence of f There feems to mc fome word wanting in the firft verfe of this diiiich, to Jill up the metre; perhaps "in^H"? ( a g ain ft bis friend) wai originally in for ted. Thus each fentence of the period will be an iambic verfe of feven fyllables. The fyriac veriion fupplies rO*2il ^ e - TH^w) ia the hrrt fentence and in general has hit the meaning, A friend infultelh bis friend. I JiiDn The LXX. render it ytXw; c laugbing-Jlock. But it ra- ther denotes an oojecl that caufeth altoniihment and horror, a prodigy (or portent) as Mr. Heath turns it ; who derives it from J")£\ which in Chaldee iignifies, according to Caftell. demonflravit. It kerns to b^-' fynonimous with j1£)T,^ which we englifh a wonder in Deut. xxvui. ffr. acd tbey (the tearful curfes aforementioned^ jball be upw thee for a fign and a wonder, Sec. In ihort, /1£)J"1 feems to anf.ver exactly to vwJuy^a, in St. Peter, i ret. h. u. St. Jerom had this idea of HDD> f° r be tranllates it exemplum^ an example ; namely, of divine vengeance. " Q*3§5 V°lg« C01 am **h Mr. Heath fuppofes it to be a con- traction or Cpn^37» ^XX. avnuf* K.3 i 3 4 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap.XVIL 8. Doubtlefs the juft, aftoninVd at the fight, 'Gainft the proud (corner will their zeal excite : 9. The friends of virtue will their way purfue, And fearlefs innocence its force renew. 10. But you, all you, repent-, your thoughts revife: Shall I not find ev'n one among you wife ? n.'Tis of the flanderous fpeeches of this venerated man, Eliphaz, he fhould be looked upon by all mankind as an object of horror. Vcr. 8, 9. Upright men, &c] The fcandal which his fuf- ferings would bring upon religion, now occurs to his thoughts. Good men, no doubt, would be mocked, to fee ib good a man abandoned by God to thefe afflictions and cruel ufage. Upright men will be aftonijhed at this. But when he adds, and the innocent Jhall jiir up himfe/f againfl the profligate, Sec. he muft be underftood to fpeak ironically, as Caflalio and Mr, Heath have remarked. The irony ftrongly marks the indig- nation of the fpeaker ; and is a keen rebuke of his antago- nists, for oc^afioning fuch prejudice to the interefts of re- ligion by their injurious ufage of him. Jballflir up him/elf 1 , &c] Doubtlefs they will triumph in their advantage, over impious men, from the bleflings of religion. the hypocrite k ] the profligate. It flands oppofed here to the upright, the innocent, and the righteous ; and muft therefore de- note men of no religion. See the note on chap. viii. 13. 1 *"^yrV It is ufed in the fenfe of exulting ever an opponent in chap. xxxi. 29 where it is translated lift up my/elf-, If I rejoiced ct the dejirudion of h m that hated me, or lift up myfelf when foil found him. k Fpn> LXX. Trafxvou^ a tranfgreffor. They often turn \\ %0-iQr,^ an impious man ; and twice only wtxpnu an hypocrite. Chap.XVII. THE BOOK OF JOB, i^s i r. Ti - pull — ^ 11 — rnyblifsful Schemes Are broken ofS — a] JUS I 12. A11-l. : . ulchral night, Btat the bright viiion ; anil be thou my light ; 13. My Vcr. 11 — 16. My days are /*i yx; or, to.,tx rat :<>■ Sec. all my affairs and con- nections with the world are per i foe d, See, Oedipus Colon. 1684. ■ *rn*2T ^ often means wicked dejigm*, but is evidently ufed here in a good fenfe. It Signifies iv/Je thought or intention, as ap-? pe;rs from chep. xlii. 2, no thought cf thine can be hindered : and from Prov. xxxi. 16. where we reader the verb Q*3T t0 con/:Jer. n 'CHVJ the th:ugbts y as our public verfion turns it. But this is too faint. It lignifies the pofijfibrsi thoughts which had gotten pofTeilion of his heart ; from {£Ty to inherit. l^'KV '* feems to be ufed here imperSonally ; as ^HtJin* and ini^ cn * - xv iii« '#• He jhall b° driven — and chqjed, &c, »* Ihis is Schukens' verfion, ar.d is literal. * 3 6 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap.XVII. 13. My hope another bed, another home, A bed in darknefs, and my houfe the tomb. 14. Thou art my father, Grave ; my mother's claim Be thine, O Worm, and thine a filler's name : 15. My tiefs of the tomb. The exprcffion is in the lofty ftyle of ^Efchylus and Sophocles. In common profe he would have faid, The only comfort left me, and the only thing I have to hope for, is death and a grave. Ver. 13. The grave, &c] There is a mixture of horror in the folemnity of thefe images. the grave] Sheol See the Appendix, Numb. II. I think SW/muft figriify here the fepulchral grot, or tomb. For where his bed was to be, there his houfe alfo was. but his bed was to be in darknefs, that is, the fepulchral chamber. See chap. x. 21, 22. and Pfalm lxxxviii. 12, 13. where dejlruc- tion, darknefs, and the land of forgetfid??efs, are but various terms for the grave. Ver. 14. / have faid, &c] He transferreth all his filial and fraternal affections to the grave and worm ; fhewing, by this ftrong and beautiful mode of expreffion, how welcome death and diffolution would be to him. Solomon has expreft a high degree of affection in much the fame manner, Prov. vii. 4. A greater than Solomon has given his fan.ction to this phrafeology, Matt. xii. <^o. I may add, the Roman Tragedian has marked the mighty power of another pafiion, hatred, by the fame images ; " One thing is left me, dearer than brother, father, and mother, &c. even hatred of thee *." to corruption r ] to the pit, as our translators turn it in chap, xxxiii. 18, 24, 28, 30. but in ver. 22. of that chapter the grave. The fepulchral grot is thus denominated as being the place of corruption. una res fuperefl mihi, Fratre ac parente curior, regno ac lare. Odium tui. Hercules Furens. 38c r TWW} we render it a ditch chap. ix. 31. It there means a deep pit of fihhy mire. It figniiies the fepulchre in Pfalm xxx. 9. and \n many other places. Chap.xvii. thi: book of job. 137 15, My hope I when is it P who my hope fliall tc£ ? jt>, It (hall defcend the winding grot* with rae : Behold and wonder ! there my hope and I On the lame couch of dull repofing lie Chap. 15. white is n<:iv my hope, 6Vc] By his hope he lure lis, I apprehend, the durable blcilin:' i :uid honours, which he bad expe£ted as a reward of his exemplary virtue ». Thcfe livtl 1 >ns exprels with great force the feverit? of his difapj nt. Hut the figurative language rifeth much higher in the next rcrfc ; where he gives pcrfonality to his , and reprefents tin';; imaginary being as lying down with him in tile lleep ot death. This is faying in a poetical man- ner, that all his expectations ended in mifery, death, and putrefaction. \ « r. 16. They Jhall go down*. &c] It (?ny hope, ver. 15.) re doivn, &c. to tit' liars of the pit] the word translated the pit is Sheol> which here alio muft fignify furcly the grave : for he fays, Thai his hope by going down to jheol mall reft together with him in the dujl. The bars mould, I think, be rather turned Our Author's word fecms to denote literally//^ fa tree u ; and thence is applied to other things which a iimilar relation of parts to their refpeclive whole, the members of an animal body w for inftancc, and here the fepul- chral s Chap xxix. 18, &c. r HjTnn If this were the third perfon plural feminine of the e tenfe, they Jhail go down, it would require a nominative plu- ral, or two fmgular nouns, in the fame gender : But no fuch nomi- n..ti/e is found either in this or the preceding verfe. I take it the.erbre to be the third perfon fngular feminine, with the para- g g'cal fyllablc HJ i ikc H-Jl^n fie put forth, Judges v. 26. The nominative to the verb Jl^inn 1S ^Jllp/I m J hope, ver. 1 c. u Ezek. xvii. 6. It became a vine, and brought forth branches, w Chap. xli. 12. (ver. 4. in the hebrew) I will not conceal his farts, i. e. his limbs V13 i 3 8 THEBOOKOF JOB. Chap.XVIII. Chap. XVIII. 1,2. The Shuhitc anfwer'd : Thou and thy clan, how long ? Shall words cvafive lurk beneath your tongue ? Affirm chral chambers ; which open in the fide of the fubterraneous grot, and go off from it as branches from the trunk of a tree, Wbetiy &c] Verily * our rejl together will be in the dufl. CHAP. XVIII. I cannot call this fpeech oratio morata, a fpeech that marks the peculiar temper of the fpeaker. It might, for all I can fee, have come with equal propriety from the mouth of Zo- phar. It exprefTeth, however, very ilrongly the progrefc and efTecl: of anger. The courfe of the difpute has heated this phleg- matic man : His introduction vcr. i — 4. is full of high refent- ment ; And the reft of his difcourfc (hews that his paflion greatly elevates his poetry. In ver. 5, 6. he lays down his general pofition, the com- mon and favourite principle of all the three, that dejlruclive calamities are the portion of the wicked, great opprefTors in particular, and of fuch only. He confirms and illuftratcs his point by a new example^ after the manner of Eliphaz, ver. 7 — 21. But he hath fo varied his choice of images, fo height- ened his colouring, adapted fome particulars fo clofcly to the cafe of Job, and wrought up the whole fcene to fuch a pitch of tragical terror, that no reader of tafte will, I imagine, be tired with his fpeech. Ver. 2. How long, Sec] Hew lotig will ye put infnaring words y f By infnaring words he means artful harangues ta catch * JZJ^ Weenglifh \tfurely in Pfalm exxxix. 19. Vid. Noldium. f T^J 1 ? 'VjP ll(3&*n p°' ietis laqueos (aucufia) }p is found no where elfe in the Hebrew bible. But 1 the Chap. XVIII. THF BOOK OF JOB. 139 Affirm the righteous punifttd, we'll oppofc. 3. What merit wc the lcorn thy mouth bellows -, Defpis'd, and vilify'd as void of mind, Dull as the dulleit of the grazing kind ? 4. O thou whole paffion at the ways of God Rends thy own foul, mall he renounce his rod, Defcrt catch the pafllons, and divert the attention of the hearer from the main point in difpute. In this view he conhder'd Job's declamations on his innocence and fufferings. It is re- markable that Bildad addrefleth himfelf to a plurality of perfons, hew long will ye put, Sec. either becaufe he had ob- served iome of the audience giving figns of favouring the part of Job ; or intending, as Schultens thinks, to reprefent him as the leader of an infidel feci : If fo, by infnaring words muft be meant fophiftical evafions. mark*, &c] Mr. Heath turns it, fpeak your tneaning plainly, and afterwards we will reply. " Give a direct and clear an- fwer to the queltion, who ever perifhed being innocent b , &c." It you affirm it, we are ready to argue the point with you. Ver. 3. Whertfere are we counted, Sic] He refers to that contemptuous reflection on their understandings in chap, xvii. 4, 10. Ver. 4. He tearetb himfelf in his anger, Sec. ] Fie retorts the exprellion which Job directed to Eliphaz, chap. xvi. 9. He tearetb me in his wrath who hateth ?nc, fhall the verb in Arabic fignifies to hurt, to lay nets and fnares ; and is ^polied, as Schultens lhevvs, to the ujing rf deceitful arts. See hii { eminent ary. The noun \*J|3*5 is a J'nare. Vid. L'aftell. Lex, Hept. ' ' a lyDH clcr* czc diferte loquamini, /peak clearly and to the point, Fxplain vourfelves. This is Schultens' interpretation, who refers us to ch. vi. 24. and Dan. viii. 16. as examples of this figni- f cation, we engliih it there to cauje to underjlar.d 7 to make to un- (Itr and. h Chap. iv. 7, i 4 o THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap.XVIII. Defcrt our world ; or change his nVd decrees, As the rock fix'd, thy murmurs to appeafe ? 5, 6. Know thou, one dreadful moment mall dcftroy The wicked in his ^att'ring fcenes of joy : His fhall the earth, &c] Thefe are proverbial forms of fpcech, for altering what is fixed and unchangeable. The meaning is, if I miftake not, that God muft give up his moral king- dom among men, or violate the immutable laws of juftice by which it is adminiftred ; if fuch a man as Job efcaped punifhment. This interpretation makes an eafy tranfition to the other part of the difcourfc, which Is defigned to prove, that by an unchangeable rule of providence the fignally wicked fhall fignally perifTi. Ver. 5, 6. Tea, the light, &c] Thefe metaphors denote, ia general, the fplendor and feftivity in which fuch men live. There is however an allufion I think, in the fifth verfe, to what the Arabian poet calls the fires of bcfpitality : Thefe were beacons lighted upon the tops of hills by perfons of diftin&ion among the Arabs j to direct and invite travellers to their houfes and tables. Hofpiulitv was their national glorv : And the loftier and larger thefe fires v/ere, the greater was the magnificence thought to be c . A wicked rich man therefore would afiecr. this piece of ftate, from vanity and blrentation. * Another Arabian poet exprefTeth the permanent profperity of his family almoft in the very words of our author : " >■ ther is our fire, lighted for the benefit of the night-frra: extinguifhed *." Ver. 6. mid his candle, &C.] And his lamp ever him* JhaB be put ox! ( . He refers to the lamps which hung from the ceiling of the banqueting room, in their nocturnal revels : for the Arabian entertainments were in the night. c Vid. Pocock. in Carm. Tograi, p. III. d Hamafa, p. 473. e vby LXX, «r atrU Vulg. fuper ipfum. f Compare Prov. xx. 20. Chap.XVIII. THE BOOK OK JOB. 141 I lis feftal fire, his lamp's Wgh-Jparkling light, Shall be OCtinguilh'd in curn.il night. 7. Strong like a lion, and as proud his gait, The tyrant is pufh'd headlong on his fate 8, 9, By Vcr. 7 — 15. Tbejiipt, &c] Tf the defcription contained in thefe verfes, were copied by the pencil ; it would form a picture of terror in three parts. In the firit piece, this wicked man of opulence appears in the midir of his beautiful gardens and (lately walks; caught bv the foot in one of the innumerable fnares which fur- round him. He is in the attitude of ftruggling to get loofe. This reprefents the numbcrlefs evils to which men of his character are expofed, and points at the overthrow of Job. ver. 7 — 10. In the fecond piece, lie is feen again in the fame fituation. A gioupe of Fur its are in purfuit of him ; He is' feized by a oi enormous fize and flrength who is devouring him. His countenance is diftorted with pain, and his features wild with horror. This represents Job's dreadful difeafe. ver. u, 12, 13. In the third, an army of Furies are deftroying his vineyards and corn-fields, his flocks ami herds. A partv of them have poflcfTed thcmfelves of his fuperb manfion, which is fet on rire by a mower of flaming fulphur. This reprefents the various calamities by which Job's fortunes and family- were deftroyed. ver. 14, 15. Ver. 7. The fteps of his Jlrength^ Scc.l In regard to his power and pride, he is compared to a lion ; which is re- markable for its ftrong and ffately walk. are Jirailened] According to the greek vcxflon, are hwitcd\ This s totpanrcwrm* They read YJtfl for y)%1 Compare Pfal. cxl. 5.- 11, 12, i 4 2 THE BOOK OF JOB. Ckap.XVIIL 8, 9, By his own counfels. Where aloft he (talks, 10. The toils ftcal on and circumfcribe his walks : Clofe-lurking gins and cover' d pits around Befet his paths, o'er all his guilty ground. He rufheth to his prey : but unaware Treads on the mefhes of the ambufh'd fnare : His foot is caught in the tough tangling fold, He druggies hard to burft its flubborn hold. 11. Fell furies then, who hung upon his rear, Surround and fhake him with diftra&ing fear : 12. One This idea agrccth beft to the others that follow, being all of them allufions to the chace. His own counfel, &c] His opprefTions bring the vengeance of God and men upon him ; as a lion is taken in a net while he is in purfuit of his prey. See Ezek. xix. 6, 7, 8. Ver. 9. the robber h , &c. ] What have robbers to do here ? The tranflation fliould be, and the entangling cord holdeth him fa/I, He is now caught. This verfe therefore, as Mr. Heath remarks, fhould be placed after the next. It fmifheth this branch of the defcription. Ver. 11. Terrors] Terrible calamities. The poet here makes them allegorical perfons. Homer calls them the Furies^ the minifters of divine vengeance '. and Jbail drive him, &c] and Jhall /hake* him at his feet. He is purfued by thefe Terrors, or Fur'us. They arc dole at his heels. He trembles with horror. h FVjfty funis implexus, from the root ETQ¥ pltQere, as Schul- tens lhews trom the Arabic. See his Commentary. 1 II. ix. 454. xv. 204. k V*£)n ^ i s fynonimous with *i*£j, which tigmfies in .Arabic, among other fcafes, to kefiahn witi a* ^ :11. Lex. Heft* Chap.XVIU. the hook OF JOB. 143 12. One fattens on his fide, voracious ill, It gnaws his flcfllj commiilionM flow to kill : 13. It rends his brawny limbs, it lucks his blood, Death's eldelt born and ficrccft of his brood. 14. Furies, Vcr. 12, 13. His ftrength, &c.] His fatn\ or painful dif- tafe. The poet thus ft vies one of the Furies, to raife the idea, he adds, it Jhall be hunger-bitten, furious as a beaft of prey in the rage of hunger. He next names it dejlruclion ; and lavs, ;'/ was decreed to his fide ; to fignify that it was of an extraordinary kind, fent by the immediate hand of God, and would prove mortal : And to compleat the climax, he ityles it the fir ft -born of death, an expreffion that denotes the exceeding ternblenefs of the death in which this difeafe will end. That a bodily affliction, fome terrible and mortal difeafe, is intended, appears from its being reprefented devouring the Jtrength of his fkin . Ver. 12. (hall be ready at his fide] is decreed 111 , or appointed, to his fide n , that is, to his body. This expreflion is another proof that a dejlruaive difeafe is the thing intended. Ver. 1 3. It jhall devour, tkc] The members • of his body it devours, Death's eldejl-born devoureth his members. his body] In the hebrew, bis fkin ; which by a metonymy is here put for the whole body, as in Chap. ii. 4. fkin for fkin, i. e. body for body, and in Exod. xxii. 27. it is his rai- ment for bis fkin, that is, his body. But the Jkin is particu- larly 1 "DN n ,s lne f ai ^ e with *"){^, which we englifh affiiftion, chap. v. 6. The Arabic interpreter renders it, in the verfe before us, *1*T difeafe ; The Symc, 3^3 which fignifies any painful di/eaj'e % in the bowels, the loins, the head, &c. alio the leprcjj, Vid. Caftell. Lex. Hcpt. ^$0 m 103 See the note on chap. xv. 23. n Thus Sophccies ufeth fttUUH/t an affuclion that emaciates the fide. **0 f b* mchibersy and in the next claufe V~1D bit member** See the note on chap. xvii. 16. .144 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap.XVIIL 14. Furies, in numbers like a black'ning hoft Led by their fcepter'd chief, invade his boaft ; 15. Dwell in his dwelling, and with raging hafte Lay all the beauty of his Eden wade : Accurs'd larly mentioned, as being the feat of the leprofy, Job's dif- cafe P. TiMchylus ', with funeral pomp, by a numerous train of mourning citizens and relations ; but fhall be cad out of human fociety like a malefactor, and thrown under ground with infamy and execration. Vcr* 19. nephew] Or fons fon, as in Gen. xxi. 23. Nor any remaining, &c.] All his dependents will be in- volved in his deftruction. The original word for dwellings z fignifies, fays the learned Schultens, a territory of refuge for jirangers. The great men among the Arabs called their re- fpe&ive diftricls bv this name ; becaufe they took under their protection all defencelefs and neceffitous perfons who fled thither. They prided themfelves in having a great number of thefe clients, or dependents. This was an ancient cuflom in Arabia, and continues to the prefent day a . Ver. 20. they that went before b , &C.J the ancients ; who were eye-witnefles of this dreadful cataflrophe. Hence it appears that Bildad had been fpcaking of things Which hap- pened long before his own times. Why then does he cx- prefs himfelf in the future tenfe ? Becaufe he and his com- panion* - . m*. ..... 1 ■ ■ I,. I ■ - ■■ . . y Quoted by Longir.us, cap. zS. T vnap 3 The Arabian Poets frtquently refer to this cufiom. See the Arabian Anthdcgia, p. 4: b CDtDDTp "They of old. Thus HVJDTp chin g 3 of old. IfaUk xliii. 18. Tht ancient prof human kind. XIX, Job anfwe'r'd quick : unfeeling tr.cn, I.jv, ! an you fco cut and crufh me with the I J. Iniult.3 i-ftablifhed tb I Into precedents ; and in- b !'. • lays d in the lafl fuch arc the dwell' On comparing this oration of Bildad with his former, in >. viii. I am ready to apply to him what Lcnginus c i of Euripides ; " He was not formed by nature for the fub- iime : vet by mightv efforts and draining his power.:, when his fubject required grandeur, he had reached that noble ele- vation M What ambition efFecled in Euripides, paffion feems to have produced in Bildad. C H A P. XIX. Is it pofiibie to read from the firft to the twe- verfe of this chapter, without feeling the moit tender emo- tions of companion for th's good unhappy man ? we may thence infer, that the deiign of this portion of h was to melt, if poffible, his hard-hearted friends ; by a moil pa- thetic reprefentation of their inhumanity and his own deplo- rable condition. Defpairing, however, to make any impreiTion on them, he. on a fudd ice ; aid, w tion of fpirit, confoles himfelf in the faith of a future jud c h will do juftice to hi:, inno- cence and reward his virtue: ver. 23,— 27. ..ides g them ■ nny wiii receive, in that day or" 1 . ition ; c De fubli'n. chap. xy. L 2 i4 S THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap.XIX. 2- Infults enow I've born : ftill, loft to fhame, Stubborn defiance do your looks proclaim ? 4. Be it, fome error, incident to all, Is mine •, my error on myfelf muft fall. 5. What, ftill abufe me ? and with cruel ftrife, Urge my affliction to condemn my life ? 6. Learn then \ that God, the fatal caufe unknown, Hath me purfu*d, and in his toils o'erthrown. 7. I cry aloud of wrong, no anfwer gain ; For juftice call, no juftice can obtain : 8. But Ver. 3. Thefe ten 1tmei\ that is,, over and over. Men who are greatly moved are not wont to fpeak with precifion. The upbraiding ttyle is always exaggerating. Ver. 4. mine error remaineth d y &c. J The fentiment is like that in the Roman poet, MiHi dolebit, non tibi, fi quid egoftulte feeero c , &c] Ke freely owns that his over- throw d y^R Zach. v. 4. h (the Cur/e) J}; all remain in the midjl of his bouje, and fvull etnfmmt it. Ver. 3. that ye make your/elves fi range. &c] Are ye not ajhatned tobefo rm\J. 13. M) orctli! acquaintance fltd aft^ With horror fled, from this (lupendous war: 14. My kindred fhunn'd me, of my boafting friends Who now my unremember'd grief attends ? 15. The Grangers whom I ihelter'd in my fhad.% The maidens who my awful nod obcy'd, Pals me as though unknown, or gaze me o'er As fome ftrange thing from ibme flrange diftanc more : 16. My meaneft flave with ftnpid infult (lares, J { if to my calls, regardlefs of my prayYs. 1 7. Ev*n ine whom wedlock's charities mould move, NvVufeates my breath ; the tend'reft notes of love Unheeding Ver. 15. They that dwell] The clients'* of my boufe. Our autho*^ word, as the learned Schultens hath ihown, is that by which the Arabs denote fuch as put themfelvcs under a great man's protection, are adopted into his family, and be- come dependent on him for their maintenance and ieeurity. See the note on chap, xviii. 19. 1 Ver. 17. is Jf range] " is become kathfome k ." This way of tranflating the expreflion turns the complaint into a tender apology, 1 *"*3 Vid. Hamafa, p. 42 3. n. " Fortune has deprived me of a brave man whofe client (1iO) was not contemptible. " k pHJ in Arabic fajliditus eft, cemputruit fpirilus Mir. Schul- tens in Comment, In Num. xi. 20. XI* 7 1S rendred loth/one, S> a&d p| are fometimes put the one for the other. L 4 j 5 2 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap.XIX, Unheeding, though conjur'd, in mournful ftrain, By the dear mem'ry of our children flain. 18. Yea flav'ry's fpawn, beneath my table fed, Pufh me afide, and flout me to my head. 19. All who the fecrets of my foul pofTefs'd, All whom affection cheriuYd in my bread, Are turn'd againft me •, as a wretch impure Whom God abominates, and men abjure. 20. Thus apology, by imputing her avoidance of him to the exceffive naufeoufnefs of his difeafe. The married ladies are indebted to the learned Schultens for this candid and polite remark. / intreated 1 ] The hebrew word implies in it the moft ten-» der emotions of parental affection. It is obfervable that he never makes mention of his chil- dren except here and chap. xxix. 5. The thought of their tragical death was too painful to be dwelt upon, or often ipoken or. Ver. 18. Tea, young m children defpifed mi] Thefe were, I imagine, the children of his flaves, born in his family. No- thing could fo touchingly reprefent the contempt into which he was fallen, ab this circumirance. I or of e] "lam prefent n ." The moment I appear (as Crin-s ibz turns it) tbey give me ah- Jive language. 1 Tl3n the root ppj fignrfies, in Arabic, to be moved 'with na* tural aj}'edicn\ being a metaphor. froth the tender modulation of the voice by which the camel exprefTeth fondnefs to her young one. Caflell. Lex, Pocock. in Carmen Tcgr, p. 29 , Comment arium\ Schultens. m C*Tiy The verb in Arabic fignif.es to maintain a nume- rous family. The noun therefore muft denote in general tbofe umb. xxxi. 22. iod. xv. ic. b Jer. vi. 29, c Travels t p. j . t . 4 to. d Hi ft. Nat. lib. xiii. C. 1 f, e Defer 1 prion cf the Eaft, vol. i. p. qS, 99, f De/cnption of the Pyramids t p. 106, • -. £ See his Journey to the Written Mountains* t 5 6 THE BOOK OF JOB. Chap. XIX. 25. / know, that He whofe years can ne'er decay Will from the grave redeem my fleecing clay. When the laft rclling fun Jhall leave the flies. He will furvive, and o'er the duft arife ; 26, Then fh all this mangled Jkin new form ajfume y 17. This fiefh then flour ifh in immortal bloom : My raptur'd eyes the judging God jhall fee* EJlrang'd no more, but friendly then to me. How does the lofty hope my foul infpire ! I burn, I faint with vehement defire. 28. Be warn'd ; no more my innocence purl Its caufe fhall triumph in that juft review. 29. Tremble i Ver. 25, 26, 27. For I know, &c] I would beg leave to offer the following literal tranflation of this farrous paflage ; and refer the reader to the Appendix, Numb. III. for ex pi U cation of it. Ver. 25. For I know, met is the living one, And he, the Laft, will e'er the ditft jland up ; Ver. 26. And my Jkin which is thus torn, (hall be another \ and :n my flejb I Jhall fee God. Ver. 27. Whom I Jhall Jcc, ez ryes Jhall behold on tny anged : my reins are con-* fumed within \\:\ 2S. T &C.] If ft Jnould Jay y that is, why {hall we continue in our perfection of him ? Ji oot of the matter h wi'l he found * "Q*] the matter, in difpute. It £gnifies a caufe, or matter for judicial inquiry, T$jco (^ e pronoun of the third perfon plural mafculine with a paragogic ,-]) initead of HwH w&zb. 4 mn ■* 5 8 f HE BOOK OF JOB. Chap.XX. 3. Impell One anfwer more : Nor heeds my ear Thy warning, nor thy menace will I fear. 4. Arc fperity and fearful cataftrophe of great oppreflors. But thefe three men having the lame ideas of" the courfe of providence, and of the cafe of their unhappy friend, muft of neceffitjr fpeak with a general uniformity on the fubject. In the mean while thefe very repetitions promote the defign of the poem. They teaze and exafperate the good man's fpirit, and carry him further in thofe excefTes of complaint and felf-j uni- fication ; which excefTes, being afterwards properly repre- fented to him, prove the very means of his conviction and repentance. The fubjecl, however, in this fecond fpcech of Zophar is placed in fo many different views, and reprefented by emblems and metaphors fo intirely his own, that thefe at Icafl have the charms of novelty. Upon the whole, there is great poetical merit in this fpecch. It is a torrent of oriental eloquence, rufhing on with the vehemence of a fiery temper inflamed by refentment and mif- taken zeal. Ver. 2. Therefore, ore] namely, becaufe we know there is a judgement, with which you threaten us. ?ny thoughts , &c] a multitude of agitating thoughts impell me to make a reply. The word which we render / maki hafU\ imports great eagernefs and impetuofity in Habak. i. 8. Ver. 3. the check of tny reproach] my reproachful cenw He ai n rmw r\?r\ »3 Hate enim funt crimina gtadii. fc. digna gladio. In Pfal. xvii. 13. "1^}in V&H (impius gladii tut) is turned by the Chaldee ^nrWT ID'DH SlDp 9 ui reus e ft ***/***• (''* QCcidatur) gladio tno y ivbo is worth} to befiain by thy Jhi , k »3 ignn 1 TID73 1D1E The latter of two fubftantives in this c ftruction is convertible into an adjective. Vid. Guarin Gram." Heb. lib. ii. cap. 2. can. 3. CjJaaXX. run A0< 4. Art thou unJ Since g, Proclaim ttcs fs fhetft, Tn' i t ing let hirri 1 1 his bfoud climax touch the ftarry Ikies: 7. Behold his fall ! like his OWn o: ' Into oblivion, from the w ' t I m : And 1 to the comminution in the laft verfe of the forc- ■ of my . h which Li I . ' Mr. Heath. The meaning is, that he has the courage n t him, in defiance of his minatory Warning* Chap. xix. 29. Vet. 4 — 11. He comprifeth (vcr. fa 5.) the fubjeel of hi* in a fententious aphori: led on a feries of I from the earl i eft rheri opens the contents uf that aphori fm, viz. the gradual inc. of the o *s greatnei acme, ver. 6. its ignomi- nious period, ver. :on on the emptinefs and tran- fleht deration of his felicity, ver. 8, 9. the calamities of his family, vcr. 10. and nis untimely death ver. li. Ver. 5. the hypocrite] the profligate. It is a variation of the wicked in the former claufc ; another term to exprefs the fame idea. See the note on chap. viii. 13. Vcr. 7. like his own dung °] This fimiie may perhaps be thought too indelicate. There cannot however be a ftronger ima^e m *n**!D'0 ^ * s a prepo'fition compounded of Q/rom and the chaldce Hj'3 **'<*» it:tra t a;ncKg y with >:. n m") ^ e tranflate it courage in Joihua ii. 11. batjfririf (in the fenie of courage) in c'