8fo its f »fc
ROBERT LUCAS CHANCE, ESQ.,

OF BIRMINGHAM,

WHO, IN FULF ENT OF A PROS' iS GENEROUSLY MADE BY HIM
e a?
-k? / TO DR. BERNARI.,
igv r
BEARS TH" HOLE EXPENSE OF THE PUBLICATION OF THIS WORK ;

THOSE AMONG DE. BEENAED'S PUPILS, WHO BEAD THE BOOK
OF JOB WITH HIM,
I DEDICATE THIS THE FIRST VOLUME.

EDITOR'S PREFACE.

To those among Dr. Bernard's pupils, who had, like myself, the
good fortune to read the book of Job with him, I feel that no
reason need be assigned by me for offering the following pages to
their notice — knowing, as I do, how great and universal a desire,
nay even longing*, was evinced by them, whilst he was still in the
possession of his eyesight, to see his masterly exposition of one of
the grandest books of the Bible given to the world, and again,
how great and universal was their regret, when, from his be
coming blind, they were led to fear that it would descend with
its author to the tomb. "I"
* That I may not be accused cf exaggeration for using the somewhat strong
word, longing, I will here relate a fact. One of Dr. Bernard's pupils — a Fellow
of his College — §ras so struck by his master's interpretation of the Beok of Job,
that he actually read the Book six times with him, and paid him seven guineas
each time. This really inordinate appreciation of his labours naturally gratified
Dr. Bernard, but it also filled him with alarm ; for what, said he to me more than
once, can this man's object be, unless he have some idea of publishing a Com
mentary on Job ? And to this alarm, indeed, I think we may fairly ascribe the
appearance of the present work, at least in a complete form, for I know that
when I went down to Cambridge to help Dr. Bernard, he was filled with dread
lest he should be forestalled, and was not tranquillized until he had advertised
that he was preparing his Commentary. Now, had he not thus been spurred on,
he would very prpbably have waited, and had he waited but a few menths
lpnger, this work would never have been completed. (1863.)
f How nearly these fears were realized may be inferred when I state that the
manuscript of this work was not completed before May or June, 1857, and that
Dr. Bernard died on the 15th November following. (1863.)

VI EDITOR S PREFACE.
To those, among his pupils, however, who never read the book
of Job with him, as well as to the public generally, I may,
perhaps, be allowed to enumerate the advantages that this
exposition, which it has fallen to my lot to preserve to the world,
possesses over all others that have been published of the book
of Job.
They are : —
1. That, according to it, the speakers, one and all, though more
especially Job, will be found to remain true to their characters
throughout, without deviating for one instant from the principles
which at the outset they respectively profess.
2. That the speech of Elihu, the son of Barachel, which
has been, by so many Commentators, variously characterized as
empty, bombastic, laboured, insipid, diffuse and unintelligible, in
the mouth of a shallow, conceited, presumptuous and arrogant
young man,* is, by the clear and well-defined line of demarca
tion which Dr. Bernard has drawn between the reasoning of that

* 11 n'y eut qu'Eliu, qui etoit le plus jeune et le moins judicieux, qui ne se
rendit pas .... par un vain etalage de pareles Eliu rend ici raisen, &c. (Cahnet
sur Chap. xxii. 1.)
Dr. Luther  sabe bios von ihm die iible Seite eines windigen
jungen Menschen, voller Stolz und Einbildung (Michaelis Uebersetzung des Alten
Test. 2te Ausgabe, lster Theil, Anmerkungen zu Hiob, Cap. xxxii. S. 136).
In Elihu's Reden weht ein ganz anderer Geist, sie sind sehr breit und ermiiden
durch die darin herrschende Redseligkeit (Berthold, Histor. Brit. Einleit. in d.
A. u. N. Test, oter. Th., Erlangen 1815, § 498, S. 2157).
Elihu tritt .... iiberklug mit jugendlichem Diinkel auf, und spricht wie ein
Orakel. Er perorirt Gemeinplatze, anmaszend, eingebildet und allein weise  .
Er . . . . spielt mit Floskeln, und macht Tiraden und kettet Bild an Bilder —
Alles ohne Zweck und Ende (Eichhorn, Einleit. in d. A. Test., 3ter Band, S. 562).
Als ein fremdes spateres Einschiebsel verrathen sich diese Reden durch das
Matte, Weitschweifige, Gesuchte, Unklare des Inhalts und Vortrags (De Wette,
Lehrbuch der Histor. Krit. Einleit. in die Bibel, 7te Ausg., Berlin, 1852, § 287,
S. 385).
Nach Cap. xxxii. — xxxiii. V. 8, ist der junge Kampfer zu deutlich als ein
eingebildeter und dabei leerer Schwatzer gezeichnet.  Wer vermiszt aber nicht
alle lahmende Kraft in der breiten und schwulstigen Redseligkeit des 
sich spreizenden diinkelhaften Sprechers, so dasz sein leerer Wortschwall, &c. !
(Umbreit, das Buch Hiob, 2te Auflage, Heidelberg, 1832, Einleitung, S. xxvi
Fusznote).

EDITOR S PREFACE. Vll
speaker and the arguments of the other three friends of Job, shown
to be, with the exception of the speech of God Himself, the
brightest ornament of the work, and well worthy of the tacit
approbation of God, as implied by His confining His severe
rebukes to Job and his three aged friends.
3. That in it the book of Job (and the same may be said of all
the other books of the Old Testament expounded by Dr. Bernard
to his pupils), is interpreted by the help of the Hebrew contained
in the Bible itself, and not, as is so unfortunately become the fashion
of the day, by constant recourse to the Cognate languages (1); so
that very few instances indeed will be found in the present work,
in which recourse has been had even to the dialect of the
Mishnah and Gemara, a dialect, which, in spite of all that is said
against it — and all that is so said will be found to proceed from
those who can read neither the Mishnah, nor the Gemara — bears
the greatest affinity to the Hebrew of the Bible, and may,
therefore, be much more fitly and safely referred to for the
elucidation of the same, than any other of the Cognate dialects,
the more especially as it was spoken by the Hebrews themselves
at the time when they had yet their high-priest and their temple-
service. 4. That it will be found to contain, not only Dr. Bernard's
reasons for the manner in which he translates the book, but also
the construction of the more difficult passages, whereby the
Hebrew student will derive the more advantage, as there is not,
to my knowledge, any work, by which he might learn to construe
the Hebrew Bible. Moreover, that scarcely a verse, or even a
word, will be met with, in the interpretation of which Dr.
Bernard disagrees with the Authors of the Established Version,
without his assigning a reason for his doing so, and justifying his
own translation by similar passages in the Bible. Nor will there
again any instance be found, in which a transposition of words
has been adopted, or an ellipsis supplied, without the support of
appropriate passages from the Bible ; and, as the ellipses are
always supplied in pure Biblical Hebrew, the reader will at once

(1) For this note see p. xv.

Vill EDITOR S PREFACE.
be enabled to see how the poetical parts of this book may be
resolved into prose.*
In order that Job might be exhibited true to his character and
principles, and not, as is the case with all the Translations and
Commentaries that have hitherto been brought before the public,
in continual contradiction with himself, often eating, so to say, in
the latter part of a chapter, nay sometimes even of a verse, the
words he had used in the earlier part, it was absolutely necessary
for Dr. Bernard to refuse him any knowledge of an immortal
soul and of a future state, until the time when God revealed
Himself to him. At this, I know full well, a great outcry will be
raised, but what does an outcry prove? Will it confute the
arguments, by which Dr. Bernard defends this opinion of his,
and of which I will only say here that they stand upon too firm
a basis of their own to need any support from me. I will,
however, observe that this opinion was long since advocated by
an eminent English prelate,! though he went to the length of
classing David and Solomon in this respect with Job, a length,
to which Dr. Bernard declines to follow him, as it is his
firm belief, that men, who, like those inspired bards, had held,
either directly or indirectly,, communion with the Deity, must
needs have been aware (as Job himself became upon the
appearance before him of Jehovah) J that they were not mere
animals, and that their existence would not terminate with their
life. * The reader should bear this last remark in mind, and remember that with
Dr. Bernard, " supplying an ellipsis " is equivalent to " turning poetry into prose,"
for else he will certainly accuse him of constantly violating the laws which regu
late and limit ellipses. When Dr. Bernard says, " so and so for so and so," or
" so and so stands for sp and sp," he by no means always wishes to express that
there is an ellipsis in the strict sense of the word; his intention very frequently
is rather to expand into intelligible prose, concise and perhaps somewhat unin
telligible verse. In fact, he often explains in Hebrew what other Commentators
are content to explain in their own mother-tongue. He would, however have
done well to use the sign = , instead of for or stands for, as he would not then
have exposed himself to any misinterpretation. (1863.)
t Vide Warburton, Div. Leg. Vol. v. p. 31.
\ But see Translation, p. 511, note *. (1863.)

EDITORS PREFACE. IX
Equally imperative upon him did Dr. Bernard consider it to be, to
put from Chap, xxvii. 13 to the end of Chap, xxviii. into the
mouth of Zophar the Naamathite, instead of into that of Job, as
is done in the original text, and to make other transpositions,
which it would take up too much space to specify; and here, again,
I think I may safely challenge those who are disposed to protest
against such transpositions (2) to upset Dr. Bernard's arguments
if they can. At the same time, I will mention here that in the
first chapter of Lamentations only do the first letters of the
verses (in the original) form the Hebrew alphabet in its regular
order, whilst, in the 2d, 3d, and 4th chapters, the D, instead of
coming after the V , comes before it — an incontestable proof that
there are at least some verses in the Bible which do not occupy
the place they should. In the 3d chapter, indeed, in which every
letter of the alphabet is found at the beginning of three con
secutive verses, all the three verses beginning with D must be
transposed and put after those beginning with i! , in order that
the alphabet may be exhibited in its proper order.
With regard to the Hebrew tenses, simple as well as converted,
it has been clearly shown in Mason and Bernard's Grammar
(Letter li. § 8), that the rules laid down for their employment
hold good only in the narrative, and not in the poetical and
prophetical parts of the Old Testament, as the poet and prophet,
carried away by their enthusiasm, cannot submit to be fettered
by a strict compliance with such rules. The reader will not,
therefore, it is hoped, take offence at any apparent violation of
them by us, in the translation of the poetical part of our book,
for how could we do otherwise than follow our author ? In some
cases, however, where in the Hebrew the tenses have been used
in strict accordance to rule, the exigencies of the English
language have prevented us from giving a literal translation ;
thus, for example, in chaps, ix. 11, xix. 7, the futures "QJ£ and
fjVlT - p|?V$ and A'l^X , are evidently used in a frequentative
sense, and should therefore, strictly speaking, be respectively
rendered, He constantly passes, He constantly goes by, andy
(2) For this note see p. xvi.

X EDITOR S PREFACE.
peatedly cry, I repeatedly cry aloud ; but to whom would not such
renderings be tiresome and annoying? and who but a pedant"
of the first water would venture to be guilty of them ? In the
narrative parts of the book, however, I have done my best to
translate the tenses in accordance with the rules laid down by the
first Hebrew grammarians.
Dr. Bernard has always considered it his duty to caution his
pupils against bestowing implicit reliance upon those, who
comment upon, and translate, the Hebrew Bible, without having
proved their fitness for the task they have undertaken, by shewing
in what way they write, point, and express their ideas in, Hebrew.
The importance, nay, the necessity of such a caution, was never
felt by me so fully as it is now that I have, during the progress of
this work, thoroughly sifted nearly all that has been said by
modern Commentators on the Book of Job, and found the
deficiencies of some of them in Hebrew to be great beyond con
ception. In saying, however, that I have sifted the productions
of these gentlemen, I do not mean to express that their blunders
are so few and far between as to require careful examination
to detect them ; on the contrary, so numerous and so glaring are
they in the majority of cases, that the difficulty rather was to
discover anything else. Everyone, indeed, who is pretty well
acquainted with the rules of Hebrew grammar and syntax, and
tolerably well versed in Hebrew composition, must wonder at the
extreme presumption displayed by men so ignorant of the
language, in daring even to lay their hands upon the Hebrew
Bible. Some few of their blunders I have thought it right to
expose in the Commentary, but should it be considered that they
have been there judged with too great harshness, I would beg of
those who are of this opinion, before they give their final verdict
in favour of the defendants, once more, and accurately and
impartially, to weigh the grossness of the blunders against the
harshness of the censure, when, if they should still abide by the
conclusion that the blunders are, I will not say justifiable, but in
any, even in the slightest degree excusable, I solemnly pledge
myself to acknowledge my error, to retract all that I have said
upon the subject, and to make every apology. But if, on the

EDITOR S PREFACE. XI
other hand, it should be allowed to be the fact that blunders have
been committed, such as no tyro, who had been under the
guidance of a competent tutor for one month, could possibly
commit — that Hebrew has been written which no student who
had written Hebrew exercises for one week, could possibly write,
and that hardly one page can be found in more than one of the
Commentaries in which some error of punctuation* does not
occur, and that even in words which are merely transcribed from
the Hebrew Bible — then I must say I conceive it to be the duty
of every one who is aware of these facts, and to whom the Word
of God is precious, to raise his voice to give the alarm, and
to conjure the Biblical student, not to take, as is too often,
unfortunately, done in our day, y for his guides men, who —
notwithstanding the pompous display they make of Syriac
Coptic, Samaritan, Arabic, Persian, $ and maybe another score or
* This will be feund to be strictly and literally true in the case ef Rpsenmuller's
Commentary (2d Edit., Leipsic, 1824).
t Thus, for example, in a new translation of Job (Conant's), which is now being
brought out in America, and of which we have the first two parts, comprising
twenty-nine chapters, the names of Schultens, De Wette, Ewald, Schlottmann,
&c, are mentioned often enough, whilst those pf Aben-Ezra, Jarchi, Kimchi,
Ealbag, Wclfssohn, are altogether proscribed, not the slightest indication being
given that the translator had ever even heard of such commentators.
{ So Bouillier says on HWI (Chap, xxxix. 19) : " Nescio quid aliis videatur ;
at mee saltern judicio operosus ille eruditionis ArabicEe apparatus tantum ab
illustrando loco abest, ut potius nobilis figurae splendorem offuscet atque obliteret."
We should like to know what he would have said if he could have seen Dr. Lee's
" Book of the Patriarch Job," a work, which, from its author's constantly tres
passing against the most vital rules of Hebrew grammar and syntax, and from his
giving to pure Hebrew words, by tracing them to Arabic rppts, a totally different
meaning from that which they have in the other places of the Hebrew Bible, in
which they occur, may much more fitly be termed a travesty, than a translation,
of Job. The wantonness with which Hebrew grammar is violated, and the
commonest Hebrew words are strained and tortured (cf., for example, chap. xii. 2,
where he translates D^ wise ! ! !) is only equalled by the carelessness with which
the work is executed. Thus, for example, in the very first chapter, verse 3, Job
is made to pessess./foe thousand yoke of pxen instead oi five hundred, and in the
last chapter Eliphaz and his two friends are cemmanded by God to take not seven
bullocks but seven heifers!!! And yet, probably, these two verses will be found
by those who are possessed of energy enough to wade through the whole work,
and whom even the "men black with cold," spoken of in chap. vi. 16, have not
deterred from its perusal, to be among the most tolerable in the whole translation.

Xll EDITOR S PREFACE.
two of Eastern languages (3), with which they try to dazzle the
reader — give such conclusive proof that of Hebrew they know
nothing, or even less than nothing.*
When Dr. Bernard made the Book of Job his study, his
endeavours were exclusively directed towards ascertaining the
true train of reasoning pursued therein  with what success
it will be, of course, for the reader to determine. Into such
questions, therefore, as — to what class of composition the book
may be considered to belong; whether the men who are intro
duced as speakers into it ever existed, and if they did exist, when
and where they lived ; who the author of the work was, and
when, and where, he lived, — Dr. Bernard has forborne to enter, ]
unwilling to hazard an opinion upon subjects, with regard to
which, from the want of sufficient data, it must always remain j
impossible to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion. For my own
part, feeling no inclination to undertake a task to which Dr. j
Bernard has found himself unequal, I content myself with i
giving, for the satisfaction of the reader, a translation (the first, :
I believe, that has been made in English) of Ben-Zev's introduc
tion to the Book of Job, which, as coming from the pen of one of
the most eminent Hebraists that ever lived, will, I doubt not, be
found interesting. With this translation I have thought fit to
give the original for the benefit of the Rabbinical student, who,
however, will do well, before venturing upon it, to make himself
familiar with the passages quoted in the Commentary from Wolfs-
sohn, this Commentator's Rabbinic being far less concise and
idiomatic, and therefore much more easy than that of Ben-Zev.
The plan, which Dr. Bernard adopts in expounding the Hebrew
Bible generally, and the Book of Job in particular, to his pupils,
(3) For this note see p. xx.
* I must beg ef the reader te ccnsider the severe remarks ccntained in this
paragraph as preceeding rather frem Dr. Bernard than myself. In me it weuld,
perhaps, be esteemed presumptueus tp pass such severe strictures, hcwever firmly
I might be ccnvinced of their truth ; in him it could not be esteemed presump
tuous by any one, who had had the eppprtunity of judging pf his very remarkable
knowledge of Hebrew. (1862.)

EDITOR S PREFACE. X1U
is, in the first instance, after reading and translating a verse, to
comment upon it, so as fully to develop all the ideas contained
therein, explain its meaning, and point out its connexion with the
verses which precede it or follow it, either immediately, or at
some distance ; then, to dwell upon every word in the verse,
which may call for any critical remarks, and shew how its signifi
cation bears upon the general drift of the verse ; next, in the case
of such verses, as, owing to transpositions which have to be made,
or ellipses which require to be supplied, seem to offer some diffi
culty of construction — first, to resolve them into prose, by making
such transpositions, or supplying such ellipses, in pure Biblical
Hebrew, then to construe them, and shew how, from the meaning
of the individual clauses of the verse may be deduced the sense
already assigned in the Commentary to the whole verse. This
plan, according to which the sense of different passages is given
more than once, Dr. Bernard made it a sine qua non that I should,
when developing into a Commentary his interpretation of the
Book of Job, pursue in all its particulars, and this he did, urged
by the following weighty motives: 1. Because, in the case of
verses in which great brevity of language is combined with great
profundity of thought, the sense attributed to them is made more
palpable to, and impressed more forcibly upon, the mind of
the reader, by his having it laid before him more than once, in
different places and in somewhat different words. 2. Because, as
a practical Hebrew teacher, he knew that a work, by which the
Biblical student might learn to construe the Hebrew Bible with
accuracy had never yet appeared, while the want of it was greatly
felt. I, of course, was but too happy to adopt a method, by which
I knew Dr. Bernard to have produced in the University of Cam
bridge so many Hebrew scholars, and by which I myself had
been benefited so much ; but, in doing so, I am fully aware that
I have laid myself open to the charge of prolixity, particularly as,
with the view of assisting the reader to run over a chapter before
reading it accurately with the help of the Commentary, I have
appended foot-notes to the Translation, in which the explanations
given in the Commentary are embodied. To this charge, if made,
I should have readily pleaded guilty, but Dr. Bernard insisted
upon taking the fault, if fault it be to afford every possible

XIV EDITOR S PREFACE.
assistance to the Biblical student, entirely on his own shoulders.*
For any other charges also that may be brought against the Com-
mentary, or foot-notes of the Translation, Dr. Bernard requests
me to say that he holds himself responsible,! whilst, as far as
regards the Translation — it being entirely my own — I, and I
alone, am responsible for any fault that may be found with it, as
I am also for any misprints, faulty references, &c, that occur in
the whole work, since, in consequence of Dr. Bernard's grievous
affliction, upon me alone has devolved the care of consulting the
different works made use of, and of revising the proof-sheets. In
conclusion I will say, that, whatever advantage or pleasure the
reader may derive from the study of this work, to Dr. Bernard,
and to Dr. Bernard alone, should his thanks be rendered, as the
only claim which I wish, or conceive myself entitled, to make,
is to be allowed to say with Job : J
-wb wrt n^y
Eyes was I to the blind.
20, FlTZWILUAM-STREET, CAMBRIDGE,
June, 1857.

* It is but right, however, to say that the foot-notes were added to the Trans
lation after we had come to the determination of making a separate volume of it,
a determination, to which we were led by the censideration that, in this manner,
the Commentary and Translation could be compared together with much greater
convenience, than if they together formed a single volume, whilst those who did
not wish to enter into the matter deeply would be thus enabled to procure the
Translation separately. [I subsequently decided, however, upon including the
Commentary and Translation in one volume ; but, notwithstanding, I deemed it
advantageous to retain the foot-notes. 1862.]
t Dr. Bernard's responsibility is, however, of course much lessened by his not
having lived to conduct the work through the press. (1863.)
X Chap. xxix. 15, first hemistich.
(4) For this note see p. xxii.

XV

NOTES EEFERRED TO IN PP. vn, ix, xn, xiv.
(1) p. vii. See p. xi and p. xx, npte 3. Dr. Pusey, in the Introduction to his
Commentary on the Minor Prophets (1860), seems to think that this practice of
constantly appealing to the Cognate dialects is on the wane. I cannot say that I
have discovered any very evident signs of this, whilst I continually see fresh
signs of the practice being still in vogue — but, I trust that Dr. Pusey may be
right. At any rate, nobody can have contributed more to the extinction of this
most illogical and pernicious habit in England than Dr. Bernard, who, during the
seven-and-twenty years he was Hebrew teacher in the University of Cambridge,
never lost an opportunity of inveighing against it, and constantly inculcated into
his pupils the importance of interpreting Hebrew through Hebrew alone. Now,
as he had a great many pupils, and several of them have since become eminent
teachers of Hebrew, it is probable that his views upon this point have become,
or are becoming, widely disseminated through England. Dr. Pusey's words are :
" But the comparison of the Cognate dialects opened for the time an unlimited
licence of innovation. Every principle of interpretation, every rule of language,
was violated. The Bible was interpreted with a wild recklessness, to which no
other book was ever subjected. A subordinate meaning of some half-understood
Arabic word was always at hand to remove whatever one misliked. Now, the
manifoldness of this reign of misrule has subsided. But interpretations as
arbitrary as any which have perished still hold their sway, or from time te time
emerge, and any revisal of the Authorized Version of the Old Testament, until
the precarious use of the dialects should be far more settled, would give us chaff
for wheat, introducing an indefinite amount of error into the Word of God."
The first part of the last sentence may by some be thought more or less applic
able to Dr. Bernard's Commentary — and I will not contest that he is at times
arbitrary, though I think that few of his age, and possessing the same wonderful
practical knowledge of Hebrew, would be less so. For my own part, I will take
this opportunity of saying that, whenever I see an interpretation of any passage
in Job, which pleases me better than that advanced by Dr. Bernard, or by myself,
I shall not fail to adopt it, and to record my adoption of it, if I have the oppor
tunity. There is no really difficult passage in Job, upon which my mind is so
thoroughly made up, that I could not be prevailed upon to alter my opinipn.
I retain my present views provisionally — until I meet with semething better.
Sir G. C. Lewis also, in his "Astronomy of the Ancients" (p. 391), has
some very pertinent remarks, though they refer to Cpptic and Egyptian, and
not to Arabic and Hebrew. He says : " New when the tradition of a language
is lost, but its affinity with a known language is ascertained cr presumed, the
attempts tp restcre the signification of words proceed upon the hypothesis that
the etymology of the word can be determined by its resemblance, more or less

XVI NOTES REFERRED TO IN PP. VII AND IX.
close, tp a word in the knewn language, and that the etymplpgy of the word is a
certain guide tp its meaning. But, although there is a clese affinity between J
etymology and meaning, yet etymolpgy alone cannot be taken as a sure index
to meaning. When the signification of a word is ascertained, it is often difficult
to determine the etymology  But, when the process is inverted, and it is
proposed to determine the signification of the werds of an entire language from
etymological guesses, unassisted by any other knowledge, the process is necessarily'.
uncertain and inconclusive, and can be satisfactory only tp a person whp has
already made up his mind to accept some system of interpretation." Sir G. C.
Lewis then quotes an example which may be found in Diez, Eoman. Worterb., j
p. 356, s. v . troja. If then, even when the tradition of a language is lost, it is neither
satisfactory ncr safe to guess at the meaning of its words by the help ef a cognate j
language, how much more unsatisfactory and unsafe must it be to make such guesses
in the case of a language, in which the traditional meaning of nearly every word has
been preserved, as it has been in Hebrew ! Yet Gesenius very frequently rejects the
traditional meaning of a Hebrew wprd, and assigns a new one tp it, based upon
some " half-understood " root in a language (Arabic), of which we have no
reason for supposing that he possessed any intimate knowledge. Besides which,
everybody who has consulted an Arabic dictionary is well aware that an Arabic
root has frequently half-a-dozen, or even ten or twelve different meanings,* so
that it naturally often happens that ene finds semething suitable. The very fact,
that it is semetimes difficult in Hebrew to obtain gppd sense, without departing
from the traditienal meaning ef spme wprd in the passage, gpes far tp prove that
the traditional meaning is the correct one — fcr pne never invents a meaning
which dees npt suit the context.
It must not, however, be inferred that, because Dr. Bernard rejected Arabic as
a means of interpreting Hebrew, he had no knowledge of Arabic. On the
ccntrary, I believe he had a tolerable knowledge of it, and I have heard him say
that he once drew up a list of Arabic and Hebrew ropts, which had the same
or ccrresponding letters, and yet differed altogether in meaning. I myself,
too, know quite enough of Arabic to be able to find a new meaning for as
many Hebrew roots as anybody, even a second Gesenius, would wish to re
interpret. (1862).
(2) p. ix. My own opinion with regard tp the absolute necessity for these trans-
positions has become somewhat modified since I wrote the above — as will be seen
in the Appendix. At the same time I will observe that very few Commentators
and critics will be entitled to protest against the transpositions, which Dr.
Bernard makes, as impossible, inasmuch as it happens to be the fashion just now
to go much farther, and to ascribe the different books of the Bible tp any one,
rather than to the writer to whom tradition has so wantonly assigned them. And
yet Conant, with truly marvellous inconsistency, designates the transposition in
Chap, xxvii., first proposed by Kennicott, and adopted by Dr. Bernard as " the
* Comp. the rootp tj»f>- ¦ J^=- C1 take the first that come), in Richardson's Diet.

NOTE REFERRED TO IN P. IX. Xvii
slashing criticism of his (Kennicett's) time," whilst Ewald, who declares the
whole of Elihu's discourse,* and part of God's, to be an interpolation, is not only
not blamed by Conant for this merciless proceeding, but is lauded to the skies, his
view of the book of Job being styled, " a view well worthy of the great mind
from which it emanated." (Introd. p. xvii.) Why, the critics of the last century
were but lambs as compared with that tiger Ewald, who rends and tears whatever
he lays hold of, and calls this mangling process criticism ! And yet one sees why
this species of criticism, which he seems to have been one of the first to invent, is
becoming popular. Years of study are required before one can acquire a profound
knowledge of Hebrew, and if pne does at length succeed in mastering the
language, a Commentary, whieh is the result of all this study and which contains
merely the interpretations of the difficult passages, and the explanations of the
grammatical difficulties, and does not venture into the alluring paths of theory,
meets with but few readers, and yet is a very laborious task. Here the road to
fame is very toilsome, and the fame ultimately attained is but very small, and
does not extend beyond the limits of a very narrow circle. A work on the other
hand, which, like some late productions, contains anything paradoxical and
startling with regard to the books of the Bible, and confidently affirms that every
one of these must be dismembered and assigned to different authors, attracts
immediate attention, and is eagerly spught for by the public, ever greedy of
excitement and novelty. The author, though, perhaps, but yesterday a teacher
of arithmetic, is at once exalted to the rank of a Biblical critic cf the first order,
and it is besides straightway inferred that he must be a profound Hebrew scholar
(though all the time he is probably only a smatterer) t — for how else could he
* Ewald evidently rejects Elihu's discourse, because it does not accord with his own
interpretation of the preceding portion of the book. His argument seems to have been
this. I am infallible ; whatever view, therefore, I take of Job's character, it must be correct ;
any part of the book, therefore, which does not accord with my view, cannot be genuine.
Elihu's discourse does not accord with my view of Job ; therefore, it cannot be genuine.
t Thus, Bishop Colenso, when comparing two corresponding and very nearly identical
passages in Ps. Ixviii. 2, and Numb. x. 35, asserts most boldly (Part ii, p. 293) that the
forms win , kid; , w , which he finds in the Psalm, and in which the scriptio plena is
used, are older than the corresponding forms in Numb., viz., fyb , isa; , id:; , in which the
scriptio defectiva is used, and hence he derives an argument in favour of his view, that the
Psalm was -written before the pass, in Numbers. Now I thought that every one pretending
to the least familiarity with Hebrew was aware, that the scriptio defectiva is found chiefly
in the older books, and that the more modern the Hebrew, the more common does the
scriptio plena become, until at last in Rabbinic the scriptio defectiva (as far at least as
Short Cherik {Defective Long Cherik), and Kibbuts {Defective Shurik) are concerned)
becomes quite the exception, and, indeed, 1 and ' are frequently introduced where they
are never found in the Bible. See Gesenius, Lehrgeb. p. 51 ; Ewald, Krit. Gramm. pp.
40—46, and especially, pp. 53, 54, 60— 62( 159; and Kalisch, Gramm., Part i., pp. 9, 10.
It is very evident that Bishop Colenso has not read much Hebrew, or that, if he has, he
has read it very carelessly, for else he could not have failed to note this prevalence of the
fuller forms in the later books. We see then that the only possible conclusion, which can
he drawn from a comparison of the full and defective forms in the two pass, quoted above,
is that the pass, in Numbers is the older— a conclusion, the very opposite of that which
b

XV1U NOTE REFERRED TO IN P. IX.
possibly determine when there was a difference of style sufficient to justify his
inferring a different author— a point upon which but few could pronpunce even
in their own native language. Fame is thus at once and cheaply attained, and
our author is set down as a man of far greater grasp of intellect than those dull,
plodding fellows, who content themselves with facts, and scarcely stir beyond the
narrow limits of their grammars, their lexicons, and their text. And yet all that is
required to command success as a critic of this kind is plenty of imagination
uncontrolled by judgment, and plenty of unshrinking dogmatism !
Bishop Colenso draws. But he has not only committed this very gross blunder,* he has
also shown himself greatly deficient in soberness of judgment — for who, let me ask, with
hut a grain of caution, would go and base an argument of this importance upon such an
uncertain foundation as the scriptio plena and defectiva, concerning which Gesenius
remarks (op. cit., p. 49) that a great deal depended upon the caprice of the copyists ? Dr.
Colenso should at least have compared all the most trustworthy editions and codices. Let
the readers, therefore, of Dr. Colenso's criticisms upon the Books of the Old Test, receive
with great caution any argument which he bases upon the use of certain Hebrew forms or
words, and let them remember that they have to deal with a critic, whose zeal is apt to
run away with his judgment !
I would also caution the reader against putting his trust too hastily in Dr. Davidson,
a critic of the same class as Bishop Colenso, who looks up to him (Pref. to Part iii., p. xi.)
as a profound Hebrew scholar. This profound Hebrew scholar has, however, made a
mosUgross blunder (first pointed out by Mr. Wright, " Journal of Sacred Lit.," for April,
1863, p. 1 85) in the second vol. of his Introduction to the Old. Test., p. 338, where he
says that Ntop ijbp ^snob , in Prov. xxxi. 1, cannot mean, Lemuel, King of Massa, he-
cause this would be in good Hebrew step ^prr W^!H I suspect, indeed, that Dr. David
son has here really only been guilty of an oversight, and that he meant to say step (and
not ^a) should have the article prefixed. But, even if this is so, he is still guilty of the
most gross carelessness ; and that he is careless, I have further evidence, for in the list of
errata to his first vol. I find, "Page 373, line 18, read *\T$® ." Suspecting the mistake,
I turn to p. 373, and there I find *\}yv without a dag. in the P , but with a n instead of a io .
Dr. Davidson, therefore,whilst correcting one mistake in his errata, allows his printer to make
another, and a very much more palpable one. In every book containing much Hebrew, one
expects to find several misprints in the text, and one thinks none the worse of the author for
them, but who expects to find a misprint in the corrections of errata .'.'.' Surely nobody hut an
excessively careless person could allowa misprint to escape him in such a place ! But, to revert
to Dr. Davidson's first blunder, even if he did mean to write Ntoan •tfig btmh (which is the
most favourable construction that can be put upon his blunder), he would still be guilty of
a mistake, for it is by no means necessary to put the article before the name of the town
or country following, and governed by T$a , so that atop s£? W = Lemuel, Xing of
Massa, would, in spite of Dr. Davidson's most dogmatic assertion to the contrary, be most
unexceptionable Hebrew. We do, indeed, find )«5an ifm Sing of Bashan, almost always, if not
always; but, with regard to other names of towns and countries, the difficulty is really,
rather to find instances in which the article is prefixed, to such a degree do examples in
which it is omitted crowd in upon one. Comp., for towns, tea irto (2 Kin°-s xxiv. 11 Isa.
xiv. 4, &c, &c), oip -$o (Gen. xiv. 2, 8, &c), ptorv i(m (Josh! x. 5), &c* &c, &c. ;' and
for countries, dtm ifm (1 Kings xx. 20, &c), -wAj tjJb (2 Kings xvi. 7, &c, &c.)
rrw *|te (2 Kings ix. 21, 27, &c), and a great many others.
* The grossness of the blunder is of course materially increased by Dr. Colenso's so boldly basing
an important argument upon it.

NOTE REFERRED TO IN P. IX. XIX
This dogmatism, this would-be intellectual despotism, would really be amusing,
if it were not so pernicious. Upon myself, indeed, and no doubt the same is the
case with others who, like myself, have become case-hardened, it produces much
the same effect as a shower-bath, that is, it takes away my breath for a moment
by its very impudence, but then refreshes and exhilarates me ; but many, I fear,
are awed and crushed down by it, so as to sacrifice their own judgment. And
yet what is this dogmatism, but either credulity or dishonesty ? credulity, if the
dogmatist places absolute belief in his own intemperate and hasty judgment, or in
the fallible judgment of others ; dishonesty, if, by trumpeting abroad the infallibility
of arguments, which he himself either does not believe in, or knows to be weak,
he hopes to induce others to accept them, and to look up to him as their guide.
Now Ewald and Colenso are among the greatest of dogmatists I know, but I
class them among the credulous, and not among the dishonest of their kind. I
believe them to be sincere, and I think that it is much to be regretted that the
marvellously large store of the very deepest faith, which the former places in
himself alone, and the latter, both in himself and in those whom he looks up to,
rationalists, men of science and the like *, has not been placed where it might do
* This may be called the age of exact scientific inquiry, but to me it seems rather the
age of hasty, rash, and dogmatic generalizations from small (often very small) groups of
imperfectly ascertained and incompletely digested facts. The public — such is the advance
which it has made in scientific knowledge — is now admitted to the consideration of ques
tions which, not so very long ago, would have been regarded as altogether beyond its pale ;
and the natural consequence is, that the so-called scientific theories, which have of late been
advanced, have not been prepared with the same care that would have been bestowed
upon them, if it had been intended to submit them only to the criticism of men thoroughly
competent to deal with them ; whilst, by way of compensation, they have been propounded
with that highly magisterial and dictatorial tone, which imposes so much upon the public,
but which may always be regarded as an infallible sign of weakness, be it conscious or uncon
scious. It is the public now, which, in consequence of its immense numerical majority,
pronounces the verdict, and so the framer of a new theory, if he can only satisfy the
public (no very hard task), can afford to disregard the opinion of his scientific brethren.
His chief care must be to make his theory as plausible, interesting, exciting, in short, as
sensational, as possible ; for, if he can do this, and is an adept at dogmatizing, his success
is assured. The art of book-making* has, in fact, been introduced into science, and the result
is what might have been predicted — gain, it may be, to the public, but injury to science.
Biblical criticism and scientific inquiry, therefore — I mean as practised by those who write
for the public— seem at the present time to occupy the same low level. Theories spring
up Hke mushrooms, but, fortunately, they will be, most of them, but little longer-lived.
The patience of our forefathers seems to have forsaken us ; we write for our contemporaries
only, they wrote for posterity also.
It must be observed that I here speak only of the scientific theories of the present day,
and by no means of the scientific facts, of which no one can possibly appreciate the im
portance more highly than I do. But as for the theories— and it is in the theories that
Bishop Colenso and others mainly put their trust— they are to the facts much as an
elaborately-tooled and richly-gilt cloth binding of Shakespeare is to the contents, both as
regards their comparative value and durability.
* By look-making, here, I understand putting books together in such a way, as rather to please
the public and seE well, than to satisfy the requirements of really scientific men.
b 2

XX NOTES REFERRED TO IN PP. IX, XU.
themselves good, and could do nobody else any harm. But, unfortunately, we
cannot place our faith where we like ; every one almost seems to have a certain
share of it, and if he cannot place it where it is best placed, he will certainly — and
that, perhaps, while scoffing at the credulity of others— accord it to mere fancies
and speculations, such as the identity of Arabic and Hebrew roots, the origin of
man, species, &c, &c, the evidence in favour of which is of the most unsub
stantial and inconclusive kind,* and which, therefore, however plausible as
conjectures, yet, from the very nature of the subjects, never can be exalted into
established facts, and, consequently, should not, in accordance even with the
principles of their originators, be accepted as matters of belief, and yet,
notwithstanding, are firmly believed in by them. Ewald frequently disdains
to produce any arguments at all ; he most coolly states that a thing, of which
nobody ever heard before, is so, and he expects his readers to believe it ; and
by this astounding impudence he but too frequently succeeds in imposing
his fancies upon them. Thus in his Krit. Gramm., p. 539, he says of
Sl^P!1! " entstanden aus ^n?',- TV^') et factum est, fit (ut) scriberet," and he goes on
to shew how ^7! nas become shortened into 1 followed by a dagesh. He does
not offer this as a conjecture ; he says it is so, and he has succeeded in inoculating
many with a firm belief in this mere assertion. Thus Nordheimer f (Gr. vol. i.,
p. 128) speaks of this view, as of a matter of fact, and in a recent number of the
Athenceum (June 13, 1863, p. 772), I find the following, which no doubt alludes
to the same view, " we should also dismiss vau conversive, and give the true
philosophy of the matter." Kalisch is much more cautious, and (Gr., Parti., § 49)
characterizes a view very similar to Ewald's, viz., that 1 con v. is a contraction for
""fin C1I7) = ^V7 > merely as " the most plausible explanation of 1 conversive
yet proposed." To such language as this last I can have no objection, only let no
one convert what is, and ever must remain, a mere conjecture, into a fact ! (1863.)
(3) p. xii. The Commentaters, who make use of these languages in the interpre
tation of Hebrew, are no doubt sincere in their highly illogical belief that any Hebrew
root, with the traditional meaning ef which they are dissatisfied, must | have the
same meaning as a root with corresponding or equivalent letters in one or other
pf the cognate lang., still this is by no means the only reason which leads them
to study these languages ; another, and with many I fear, a much more powerful,
reason operates with them as an incentive. They are well aware, namely, that,
* It is really a marvel to me how men, who are materialists and consequently believe the
human mind to be a mere quality of matter (the brain), yet place in their own minds
a faith which would not disgrace the most sincere believer in revealed religion. Which
then is the more credulous of the two ? I think the so-called sceptic, for he places the
same amount of faith where it can do neither himself, nor anybody else, any good.
t Nordheimer, however, is by no means blind to Ewald's faults. The estimate, which
he has formed of Ewald's Krit. Gr. (see the Introd. to his Gr., vol. i., pp. xvi, xvii),
seems to me perfectly just, and I agree with him both as to the merits and the demerits
of this work, though I am sure very little practical Hebrew is to be learned from it.
X I say must advisedly, for may is a word but very seldom used by these dogmatic
gentlemen.

NOTE REFERRED TO IN P. xii. Xxi
with the public generally— and even with the learned who are unacquainted with
Oriental languages, or have but a slight knowledge of them  a man, who gives
evidence of an acquaintance with Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, Coptic, &c., passes for
a better Hebrew scholar than one who knows no Oriental language but Hebrew
—and hence they study and quote * these cognate languages. For every word
they quote t, they know they will get credit for at least a hundred, so who can
blame them for quoting ? And besides this, they save themselves so much
labour. Many years' toil is needed before one can acquire a profound knowledge
of Hebrew, but if one will enly study a few pf the cognate languages, then three
or four or more years' less study may be bestowed on Hebrew, and yet a much
greater reputation for a knowledge of it be obtained, $ But some one from among
the uninitiated may say, it surely must require three or four or more years to
acquire a knowledge of these cognate languages ! Well, some years might
possibly be required by one, who bad never studied any Eastern language, and had
never been well grounded in any other, but one who had some knowledge of
Hebrew, and had learned one or two other languages accurately, would, I think,
in a very few months acquire as much of one of these cognate dialects as would
serve his purpose — and, indeed, I think, he might accomplish six of them in one
year, if he devoted his whole time to their study. He would npt be called upon
* They must quote, else the study remains unknown.
t There is great art, too, in quoting. Just as a man, who has, perhaps, only been
snubbed by a nobleman, or told to get out of the way by the nobleman's footman,
may, if he be very cunning, succeed in persuading his friends that he is upon intimate
terms with this nobleman ; so a man, who knows but a few words of Arabic, &c, may,
by a skilful use of them, convey the impression to his readers that he is familiar with
the language.
X I find an excellent illustration of my argument in a so-called Persian Grammar,
written by a Mr. Bleeck (London, Quaritch, 1857). Besides the Grammar, this book
contains a " new plan for facilitating the study of languages ; '' and this plan, which is
exceedingly simple but impracticable, and, as it seems to me, by no means novel, is
illustrated by specimens from fourteen languages, most of them oriental and with very
difficult looking Alphabets, whereas one specimen would have sufficed, if Mr. Bleeck's
intention had been simply to illustrate his plan. But Mr. Bleeck evidently cared very
little about his plan, and was only anxious that his readers should be struck with
profound admiration for the linguistic attainments of the "Young Orientalist," as he is
careful to style himself in his preface. Now there is no means of ascertaining whether
Mr. Bleeck translated all these different specimens himself, but, even if he did, I will
venture to say that any adult with a taste for languages, and possessed of moderate
ability and perseverance, could acquire a sufficient knowledge of these fourteen languages
to translate these specimens from them, in. less time, than it would take him to acquire
a thorough knowledge of any one of them. I should be sorry, however, to accuse Mr.
Bleeck of anything more than vanity, but sometimes actual dishonesty is practised for the
purpose of attaining the same end, which Mr. Bleeck had in view. A gentleman, from
whom I learned an Oriental language, and himself a native of the East, once coolly suggested
to me that I should write a pamphlet in English, give it to him to translate into his
native language, and then publish the translation under my own name ; and he added,
as an inducement, that he had aheady done this for another pupil, who had thereby
obtained some reputation as an Orientalist ! ! !

XXII NOTES REFERRED TO IN P. Xll, XIV.
to do more than to make himself tolerably familiar with the alphabets of these
languages, to learn the interchanges of letters between them and Hebrew, and to
run through their grammars, noting the principal rules, so as to be able to refer
to them if necessary.* He would then know what a Hebrew root might
become,^ in any one of these kindred tongues, and he would, therefore, know what
to look out for in his dictionaries. But he might do less than this, and content
himself with learning the Alphabets only, inasmuch as for the interchanges he could
always refer to Gesenius, who gives them in his Thesaurus, and Lexicon, at the
beginning of each letter.! At the same time, if he could learn to translate a little
from these languages, he would be amply repaid for his trouble, for is it not
entirely owing to the very numerous quotations from the Arabic, and to the
translations which accompany them, that Lee's Commentary on Job not only still
keeps afloat, but is assigned the highest rank among the English Commentaries
on this book, by the author of the article " Job " in Smith's Diet, of the Bible ?
It must not be supposed, however, that I deprecate the study of these cognate
languages ; far from it — I only deprecate the interpretation of Hebrew by their
means. It is, I think, very interesting and instructive tp cempare Hebrew with
the other members of the same family, but this, it seems tp me, is the business of
the Philologist, or of the Grammarian, rather than of the Commentator, who
should make it his amusement only. It is the business of the Philologist to learn
* That I may not be charged with exaggeration, I may mention that some five
years ago, when I was in Berlin, I accidentally met one of Dr. Bernard's former pupils,
who had now learned, however, to look down upon his old master (though he still allowed
him to be unrivalled as a. practical Hebraist), and had come to Germany for the purpose of
studying the cognate languages. Being at that time uninitiated, I expressed my astonish
ment at the magnitude of the task which he had undertaken. " Oh," said he, " it is not
quite so bad as you imagine ; for example, I am assured by an eminent Orientalist that I
shall not require more than four hours (! ! !) to learn as much iEthiopic as will serve my
purpose." X Let us take for example the Heb. root Vn . He would know that ' in Heh. corre
sponds to i on in Chald. and Syriac, and to J and & in Arabic, whilst n corresponds
to the Arab. ^ and £ , and he would therefore look out for frn , Vm , fcn , fcn . If
he found nothing, he would then possibly, remembering that ^ is sometimes replaced hy
3 and i in the cognate dialects, as a last resort, look out for jm, nni, jm, -ini , &c. It
would be strange if, with all these chances, one did not sometimes find something.
X Under the letter 'i , I notice a very singular mistake in Tregelles' Transl. of Gesenius'
Lexicon. "> is said, namely, to be interchanged with :, and as an example is given "yrr)
and yn: to burn." Knowing the meaning of these verbs to be, to urge, press, oppress, and
not to burn, I turn to the letter *> in the Thesaurus, and find them interpreted ursit which
Dr. Tregelles has therefore transl. as though it were arsit. This is not mere carelessness •
for, though one might, perhaps, inadvertently read arsit for ursit, yet Dr. Tregelles, if he
pretends to be a Hebrew scholar, ought to have known at least the meaning of the verb
yrrj (which occurs several times) independently of Gesenius' translation. Nor is this the
only mistake which I have had occasion to notice in Dr. Tregelles' Transl. for he sives
quarrel as one of the meanings of rrtp, whereas Ges. has querela, complaint! Here I
think, it must be allowed that Dr. Tregelles has laid himself open to the charge 'of
ignorance, both of Latin and of Hebrew.

NOTE REFERRED TO IN P. xiv. Xxiii
a great number of languages in the superficial manner which I have described
(a deeper knowledge would frequently be useless to him), and to compare them ;
it is the business of the Commentator, on the other hand, to study the language,
to which he especially devotes himself, profoundly, and when commenting, to
stick resolutely to that language ; for, if he once allows himself to invoke the aid
of a kindred dialect, he will quickly become impatient whenever he meets with a
difficult passage, and, instead of thinking over it, and resolutely endeavouring to
puzzle out its meaning, he will quickly abandon the contest, and fly off for help
where he thinks he has found it before*. A Philologist will seldom make a good
Commentator, because, in the first place, he will but seldom have devoted himself
sufficiently to the study of one language ; and in the second, even if he has done
this, he will but rarely, when commenting, have sufficient command over himself
to lay his philology for a time upon the shelf. (1863.)
(4) p. xiv. It may be interesting to Dr. Bernard's pupils to learn how the Com
mentary and Translation were written. When I went to Cambridge (31stpf May,
1856), in order to help Dr. Bernard with them, I expected to find the materials for
the werk, or at any rate a portion of them, already collected, for he had told me that
he should not require my assistance for more than about two or three months.
Great, therefore, was my surprise, when I found absolutely nothing ready, but that
eternal little hst of the principal references, which every pupil of Dr. Bernard's,
who read the Book of Job with him, must remember well ! We set to work, how
ever, at once, and the Commentary and Translation, exclusive of the Prefaces, were
finished by about the end of April, 1857. The plan we adopted in writing them
was as follows : Each Chapter was thoroughly completed before the next one
was commenced. I began by reading over the whole Chapter to Dr. Bernard in
Hebrew ; then I read the English Version to him ; next followed Wolfssohn t,
Umbreit, and Schlottmann's German translations, and, lastly, whatever other
translatipns we made use of. J I next read the whole of Wolfssohn's "flN^S
(Hebrew Commentary) § , together with Romberg's criticisms upon it, and nearly
the whole of Eosenmiiller's Commentary ; but of the remaining Commentaries
which we had before us, such as these pf Aben-Ezra, Jarchi, Ealbag, Schultens,

* He is, in fact, like a school-boy with a crib.
t Hebrew Commentary on the Book of Job, with a German translation in Hebrew
letters. Edited, with additional notes, by Herz Homberg, under the nom de plume
of D-ran the Vine-eh-esser. See Second Preface, p. Ixxxv, note f .
% These it would be tedious and useless to enumerate, and I will therefore say, that,
with the exception of Ewald's work, which did not come into my hands till 1862, there
was no Commentary or Translation of importance, which was not consulted by us.
§ This work may be said to have formed our text-hook. The Commentary is very good
as far as it goes, but it is much too brief. It is characterized by soberness of judgment
and great good sense, and especially by frankness, for Wolfssohn — forming therein a great
contrast to arrogant and dogmatic Ewald, self-sufficient Conant, &c. — never fails to inform
the reader when he is unable to give a satisfactory explanation of a passage. Wolfssohn
was a great favourite with Dr. Bernard, especially, I think, on account of the elegance of
his Hebrew, for in opinion they very frequently disagree.

XXIV NOTE REFERRED TO IN P. XIV.
Umbreit, Schlottmann, Conant *, &c, I only read the notes on such passages as
presented any difficulty f. Then, if there were any words of doubtful meaning,
I read out what Kimchi and Ben-Zev, in their Hebrew Lexicons, said about
them. Thus equipped, Dr. Bernard proceeded to dictate the Commentary to me
in such English as he could command extempore J. The plan which he had
originally proposed was that he should go over each Chapter with me, explaining
his views, and communicating to me, in substance rather than in detail, the notes
which he thought ought to be made, and the criticisms which he thought ought
to be passed upon the interpretations of others, and then that I should elaborate
the Commentary out of these materials to the best of my ability, and afterwards
submit it to him for revision. But I thought that in this way much time would
be lost, and that in the end his own views would, in spite of my familiarity with
them §, probably be less clearly set forth than if he himself expressed them/w% in
his own words ; and I therefore begged him to dictate to me, and he assented to
my request. Ultimately, it proved very fortunate that this plan had been adopted,
for, considering the length of time which elapsed after Dr. Bernard's death before
I was able to put the manuscript into the printer's hands, I should otherwise
certainly have been sorely teased with doubts, and that continually, as to whether
the Commentary always faithfully expressed his views, and I should have fancied
that I had misunderstood him, or that he had misunderstood me — whereas, by
the plan which we did adopt, I had his own words before me || . As soon, then,
as he bad dictated a Chapter to me, I proceeded to add, alter, or retrench % as I
thought fit ; and then, on the following day, or as soon as I had finished, I read
the revised Commentary to him, as well as the translation of the Chapter, which
I had made in the mean time in accordance with the Commentary. Any altera
tions which be suggested were made, and then the Chapter was put on one side,
* The first part of Conant's translation of Job appeared just before we commenced the
Commentary ; the second part came out whilst we were engaged on our work.; the third
and last part, however, which began with chap, xxx., was not published, or did not reach
England, until after our Commentary was finished.
t I believe that Dr. Bernard had never previously consulted any Commentaries on Job
excepting the Hebrew ones above-named. His own Commentary was not based upon
what he found in other writers, but upon a profound and independent study of the
original, and hence, I think, its chief value. If I had read no Translations or Com
mentaries to him, his Commentary would have remained essentially the same, for he
borrowed hut very little from what he heard. His opinions were the result of mature
reflection, and as such were not likely readily to be disturbed.
X And very good English this frequently was.
§ I had read the Book of Job twice with Dr. Bernard, the last time ab©ut two years
before I undertook to help him with the Commentary.
|| In writing from Dr. Bernard's dictation, I always kept the lines so wide apart as to
enable me to make all the necessary corrections upon the same paper; and, as I merely <
passed my pen lightly through the words or sentences which I removed, I still know how
the original stood.
If This process Dr. Bernard used to designate by the Germ, verb feilen, to file, but this *
verb which, strictly speaking, only indicates removal, scarcely expresses what was really
done, as I certainly added much more than I took away.

NOTE REFERRED TO IN P. XIV. XXV
and the next Chapter proceeded with in the same manner. As soon as ten
Chapters were thus completed, they were again read over to him, and any further
improvements which suggested themselves were made. The last ten or twelve
Chapters, however, were not subjected to this second revision*, and this I
much regret, as they certainly include some of the most difficult Chapters in the
book. From this account it must be evident that the language of the Commentary
is neither Dr. Bernard's, nor yet mine, but a mixture of the two f, and as such —
I trust it will not be too severely criticized.
The foot-notes in the Translation, which were added at my suggestion, were
made in the same manner.
As for the literal renderings in the margin of the Translation, some were made
by me at the time that I made the Translation, and these were submitted to, and
revised by, Dr. Bernard ; but the greater number have been added since his
death i and as I could not well distinguish between these two classes, and they
are therefore inextricably mingled, I must be held responsible for them all. And
my responsibility extends also to the marginal references, % which were all added
whilst the work was in the press. (1863.)
[Of the dogmatism of Materialists, to which I have referred supra p. xx, note *, I may,
perhaps, venture to quote the following really ridiculous specimen, which has just come
under my notice, and will be found in the Anthropological Review for August, p. 231, in a
translation of an address on the " Creation of Man and the Substance of the Mind,"
delivered at Goettingen in 1854, by Prof.Rudolph Wagner, a very distinguished Comparative-
Anatomist. Prof. Wagner, after stating, as the opinion of an eminent philosopher, then
present, " that materialistic theories, which have existed at all times, have in recent times
been greatly encouraged by the progress of natural science," goes on to quote some
passages " from the second edition of a work by a well-known and highly-gifted author "
(whom, however, out of friendship perhaps, he forbears to name) — from which I select the
following : " The seat of consciousness, of the will, is solely to be found in the brain.
To assume the existence of a soul which uses the brain as an instrument, with which it
can work at pleasure, is pure nonsense."  "All mental activity ceases with death."
 » Physiology thus decidedly and categorically declares against individual immor
tality, and against all notions which attach themselves to the special existence of a soul."
The conclusion he arrives at is : " With regard to myself, I can only say that every
Naturalist, if he thinks logically, must come to the same conclusions. I will not, how
ever, deny that there are idiotic and obtuse Naturalists." That is, if a man of abilities at
least equal to my own, and equally competent to pronounce an opinion upon a given
subject, happens to differ from me, therefore he is obtuse and idiotic 1 ! But why he and
* It was put off from time to time, until I left Cambridge without its having been done.
t If any one, who is now studying with the view of becoming a Biblical critic after the
manner of Ewald, Davidson, Colenso, &c, wishes to test his critical acumen, let him
point out to me what Dr. Bernard and what I myself have written, and I pledge myself
not to conceal the truth from him.
t I do not wish, or expect, the reader to consult till these references, but I would
recommend to his notice those which are from the Book of Job itself (cross-references),
as by their aid light will sometimes, I think, be thrown upon Dr. Bernard's interpretations
and views.

XXVI NOTE REFERRED TO IN P. XIV.
not I ? It is really wonderful that a man like this should presume to appeal to logic'
His deductions are, however, the only ones which can be legitimately drawn from his
premises, but they are by no means new, and have been defended, amongst others, by
Miss Martineau (see Carpenter's Human Physiol, 4th edit., p. 795, note). They are,
that " Free-will does not exist, and consequently no responsibility and accountability,
Buch as moral or criminal jurisprudence would impose upon us. We are at no time
masters of ourselves — of our intellectual faculties ; — as little as we are masters that our
kidneys should secrete or not secrete."
It must be observed that I myself have nothing to do here with the question, whether
Materialism is, or is not, true. My object is only to point out the extreme presumption
and inconsistency — to use mild terms— of a man (and his is by no means an isolated case),
¦who maintains that his mind is merely an attribute of his brain (i.e., of perpetually
changing and shifting matter), and yet, in the same breath, holds up his opinions, the
products of that brain, as infallible guides for other men, his equals ! Dogmatists upon
points like these would do well to turn to Job, chaps, xi. 7—9, xii. 2, 3, xxviii. (throughout),
&c, and to ask themselves whether, in spite of their boasted learning, and, in spite of
the boasted intellectual progress of mankind, they may not learn a lesson from a man
who lived 3000 years ago ; and whether, in spite of the boasted advances of science, there
are not many of the questions asked in chap, xxxviii, which, though apparently quite
rudimentary, scientific men of the present day are still as altogether unable to answer, as
Job. It would be well, too, if they would remember that maxim twice quoted hy Ben-Zev
(in his Preface to Job, see pp. xlvii, Ixvi), and proclaimed in other words by Job himself (or
by Zophar, see chap, xxviii. 28), namely, that The perfection of human knowledge is ts
know how small that knowledge is (1863).]*

* It is only due to Prof. Wagner to state, that he expresses himself most prudently and
cautiously, and that he, at least, if forced by his convictions into Materialism, would find therein
cause for lamentation, rather than for exultation.

n i 2 a

l-cn

Vt 3Kr p yh nt-iit

3VN

• inavm -iron na-on (s
.oiiup ddp >dj6 w icpro cm6 fii? ,D'i3Dr>° omi'3 pjvJw pjpjppi nrutynn
PP iii , P!3 piwv DDP Dfip O'3'V ")lfip 1Dp3 , DllOP OP'itf O'foiP 031
ta iofo ? -ps-n ns s: wnn : iirt cfiojp ]nf> pdp • p:ip;p3 ihpp un ifno
'"py ' 'lai n^bbim visap "o : ipf> qpf> t»dpp • {i'v , p poi3) 7ipira pi bv
' 'iai D'nrn can nab : iirt pipsm ? nnbs d'wi -j-n sno : irf>
: PJUP1 PJUU T773 VT3P1 31*f> ]'3D POMP" 31P' PIP DH7P '3Up i»1
" Adjectives in l-r- form their plurals, sometimes in a>— , and, sometimes in D'>— .
Thus T3J makes era , 1» makes d»j?3 , '» makes o^S , whilst na? Hebrew, commonly
makes ona» , but once (Exod. iii. 18) d"^3» . Comp. also D'it? Arabians (2 Chron. xxi. 16),
and dwijs (2 Chron. xvii. 11). See Nordheimer, vol. 1, p. 233. These adjectives do not
often occur in Hebrew (excepting as patronymica or gentilia), but in Rabbinic they are very
common, and I think that in this dialect the termination b»— is the more usual, whilst in
Heb. the term. D'_ seems to predominate. Still, in the next par., line 9, we find 0'jroip (as
in Heb.) and not n"jiOTp . Observe that in Heb. the shorter words seem, as a rule, to take
the longer ending, as though the object were to increase their length; and certainly
euphony does not suffer thereby, as d\"» , for example, sounds much better than D'ji?
or D\» would.— Ed., 1863.
b Obs. that Bm is here fem. but, infra line 6, masc, but the student must not be
surprised at any irregularities of gender, number, construction, &c, which occur in
Rabbinical writings.— Ed., 1863.
* This word occurs freq. in this pref., and is everywhere, I think, spelled, as here, with
two i's, excepting in sect. 3 , par. i , last line, where it is spelled nw , and in the heading of
sect. "i, where it is spelled rrai. Buxtorf only gives rravi and rnsi , and he always uses one l
only at the beginning of words of a similar form. Thus he gives "ni from ut , iwi from "»' ,
¦wn from in', &c. Under the root ¦w, however, I find psnnn with double l. These forms
seem for the most part to be derived from the Pi-dl, (or Hithp.), and hence one reason for
the Dag. in the 2nd rad. Cf. the Heb. in (Gen. xi. 30), from if , rnirjri , sarin , rrapri from rn> ,
»t , and rrj' . Why then does Ben-Zev use the double l ? Winer (Gr. d. Bibl. u. Targ. Chald.
p. 18), and Schaaf (Op. Aram. p. 2) say that the double i is freq.used in the middle (or body) of
words to shew that the i is a consonant,* either simple or dageshed; and this rule certainly
* It may be noticed that we use double u (w) as a consonant, and that in Germ., when written
with Hebrew letters, the w (= our v) is always represented by 11 .

xxvin S13D
,|npfi ")mD")fom oiiu ou im" f>ipj , o'-bup -ipp iai pP7p ,pip p'WP ")2Dri
117 11PPP1 • PP2DPP bv P31PP Pi'ip fjli") 131P1 , PGUP "PPP WP1 1pipP
pil73 1DU3 D'DaPP P3UP3 0171 , IDl'Pl p7JP P'iPP3 DPIPP D'P DD 1PPP Im "V3f ,bbi
, pip io OPPP UPP 73P1 • DP3 D7f) oic ">DP PIP'iDP 'J'P iaP li 1PP Wl * 71321
li p-p' D'f> i'f> Pipi • vim im i'fi ->Df) sifiaps to paipi i«'Pi m? P'iap if> uwi
DDP li 3'D' ilPJ OliDPil , Ip7i3 7P1U P1P1 * WPP "JPV OOP PP2DP bv DUlpi b P30
P17P3 D'PP pf> 1PP' * ptp "JlPpp '131P1 • UPP V77M 1DP Pl'JPIP P131DP |P PJDPi
ppiipi o'3DP3P onpup ia ii pp" o'r:pp pipjdpi • v>r> ipi cpip pti iD'i on
DOIPPI D'ipj ]P21 1p3 D13731 , P1J331 0033 P'3P P373 DPI , pifo 0'JlP7pp O'P'3
1DP31 ¦ pvi pWP ]'P OPP O'P'3 ip' P'P D'3J1 P1PP11 3PI1 qpa >3 • P1PPD1 0'73D1
pip iu pip ¦ oippp uppi pirp P131UP ia upp 73f" , ppip pinap PpiiP3 win if>r>
P3 Pil PUT P11D3P Pil' P! ,7'ap pfopi 7'3P1 ]1 PP")pi P , 1p37' 17P' 73D iu 13U
accounts for the double 1 here, and we have other exemplifications of it in this preface, as
in swo freq., = nra , jron (sect. a, par. «, line 1) = }wn, &c, though, when the i is a
simple consonant, Ben-Zev seems to prefer to write it single, for I find DTOWD four times
(viz., sect, a , par. l , lines 4 and 5, sect, "i , pars. 1, 4, lines 4 and 1 resp.), and nainn once
(sect, i, par. 7, line 8), whilst with a double i I only find one example, viz., navinn
(sect, i, par. 5, line 3).* But in this rule no mention is made of double i at ,
the beginning of a word, as in man (without a prefix, sect, a, par. i , line 1), and "OT
(sect, a , par. l , line 5), nor will the rule explain this double i , inasmuch as i the
conj. occurs a great many times in this preface as a consonant beginning a word, and yet it
is never written n. It seems to me probable, therefore that the double l is used at the
beginning, in order to distinguish 1 radical from l servile, the latter being very common
whilst the other is comparatively very rare, so that the tendency, in the case of a word
which was not familiar, would be to regard i initial as l the conj.t At all events, it is a
fact that Ben-Zev in this preface never uses the double l at the beginning of a word,
excepting when the l is radical. ' is also doubled in much the same cases. Thus,
sect, n , par. 3, line 2, we have pto = ]?sn ; still, sect, a , par. i , line 3, we find aw
(ai*), and sect. a , pars. 3, 4, 5, line 1, resp., dtttio , all with only one ' . 'at the beginning,
if written single, might be mistaken for the preformative of the future. — Ed., 1863.
" d¥is dv nil is no doubt put for trtis iii OS , for the sake of euphony.— Ed., 1863.
6 As Buxtorf gives the Hithp. of this verb only in the meaning of to murmur, nsnn may
be either a misprint for DSinn , or else a contracted form for it, like do™ (Isa. xxxiii. 10),
for DDin™ . Or can it be the Niph. =, as is freq. the case, the Hithp. ? In this section,
par. 4, line 3, and sect, i , par. 4, line 7, we find DSinn in the same sense. Similarly, in
sect, i , par. 7, we find line 3, an»> (apparently the Niph., ansj), and line 8, aisn> , the
Hiph., although, the Niph. is not used in Heb., and, if we are to believe Buxtorf, is not
found in Rabb.— Ed., 1863. [os-inn is the correct reading, see p. lxxiv (!)].
* But in these words D'TOinn and Winn the 1 is really initial. See next note.
+ Thus mail, im, if written rrai , nsi, might be read rfai (and strength), TSl and until.
Another argument in favour of this view is that, when a simple 1 , though radical and reaUy
initial (as in BTDino , nainn) yet, from its position, cannot be mistaken for 1 the coni. Ben-Zev
as already noticed, prefers to write it single. It must be owned, however, that even such men as
Ben-Zev are rather loose in their Rabbinical orthography (perhaps designedly so in imitation of
older writers), and manifest a decided tendency to the employment of the scriptio plena the love
for which is so characteristic of the Rabbins, — still, in the present case, there seemed to me to be
some method, and, therefore, I have called the attention of the student to the matter

K 1 2 a xxix
IPiui UPPI 103i WW) , ]P331 ip33 Wop3 PP'P PUOPP pipp * P2PP PU1 P11D33
P'3PD PP PIP ,PU)DP1P iu PW11PPP '1313 ]J)-)P') , II iu II P112P P1P'3P P2P1 ¦ 11D3)
P13PPP i3P 137 T7UP piD , 1PPP iu3 PlpiD iu 0~»V PI1 ' P1T1PP P'iapi 07PP pf>
pp ia nw ]-3 ip • vpip ia3 nvi o-iDPP 7io " in ip i-pdp pii , ipjnai Piaiiap
•"••i ina "* P3DPi P7ip p*p oic ipu 7iu ia • ]pi pn p' ipu 'ipi i'3i , )i ppvpd
• 'lPipp P-P17P PP'P 11D331 1P3U3 UMP 63 1DP3 f , -piaa mrT> aw tv npb
i'7JP ppi) • )7p7p 7U) liai qap Ul ]'PD P'Pl 1U23 ira 1PVP 3P3P 1P3 ipu »ipiai
r>b\ opip iappi ipj' o'pdp dp ip , 7173 udp ipapp iu ,upp 73P ii idp ia p ,nu3
P1UDP i'PP Pi , li 7PDP PP1P 1PDP ]P , rap PPD1 P'3P ipj VP031 103 iu , V73U
? ip'uip H3U3 pua oa ipp-uap ppi pip , pjip pdpi
Plip DU 137' 1PP3 Pi DP1P1 , P'IPP P'DPIP 7'J.pi 1PPP iu3 1PDJ P'P PI3 QJI
POpil )'P33 PPP Pi iud p'7ii DJUi , P33 'p PDU PP iu ,P7'PP li UPP'l ,11PP
PT) O'PDP P131P Wi PPP'l ,iupp D'PD3 D'pipp 13PDP ^ Iii U71'l * 1DV iu 3'7J
¦]1P3 ]DDP Oil * lipPDP) V'V'V l'iu D'7P)U O'pip 03) 1PP3 iu 3DV P1P33 " pf> WPl6
1PU7 PP 1'P PP iPDi OOP IPP'l , P'3D1' PPI flPP PP UPP piu piu "]P Plpl O'fop
3)'6 '3 IPpi , D'D3PP 1P3P3 OJ 0'137 pi'iu Plipi lipp pi pDP V PJP) , 31'P 173U3
PIP'1 • jl'PJP 1133 DDP IPPIi'D Dp3P P'P) ¦ li U'PDPD P3115P 311 113U3 DDP 731U
S3PP ]'P ; P1D1P li ]P2D jlOl • 11PD' 1DPJ3 ipill li IDP i33 IPU'iDJ) , )'137i ODP
1P3P' / )P3Pip pia 1DP3) * 3)'P P'3 D1DP pP PIPP 7U1 , P'PDpi) uisi WPP TPP
POD DDP ipD 1DP31 , O'pip 03 ]'3 D'aipp" li PPil , PP'PDP POD Pliui 1PPP iU3
pip IPl'P ]1'P3P P1PD , 31'P fJU3 UUPi piu pDP PiV , 31'P 173U iu ]UDP !)b
ia 31'P iu P72i lPapip pDP pia 1DP3) / PIP 137i 03 OOP li PDJ ODP) , jidpipp
/ PPD PDU3 IDP T)b 71U 13U7' f>il , O'PDP 71U 31D' pil ' O'PDP P131P 1130'/ , U1P
pi , pj'P3Pi ]vp;p 7i iu vp 3)'P 'HP' '3 , ppip Pi'ipa wi 7>api PilD ppi 'a
PDP) / pP3 IDP V13P1 3VP '1371 111PP if* 315*1 , O'PDP '1UD 1UP' , 1PJ113 D'iDP 1DP3
: DPJ'l P3D
P3P 1P1P IPiP'l ,PU1P PU1PDP if> IPippP D'P D'P 1P3 Ii3pj 31'P 'Ul PDiD ft2?T)
, ODPJ nViDV 137 137i lia' Pil O'P' PU3D ppi 1PP 13D'l ,1PP3 3D)' |'PD
" That Ben-Zev takes Tito in the meaning of line here = iffjto or bttj Kwe (see Buxt.
TDE-iip, bbtd Zmeas ducere), is evident both from its connection with i£, and because,
in his Heb. Lexicon, s. v. Tito , he suggests that this word (which is only found in Isa.
xliv. 13, and there is connected, as here, with ig), is = »"J» , and so means line, though
Kimchi transl. it red-chalk, and Gesen., awl, style. — Ed., 1863.
6 In my edition there is inVnri his beginning (was silence). This makes very good
sense, for Job did remain silent for some time ; still, as Ben Zev is very fond of using
Biblical expressions, and in Ps. lxv. 2, we find nVin rroi *ft , I think irtnn is probably a
misprint for irtnn fos praise, and this both accords better with the context, and yields a
much finer sentiment. See p. xxx, note *, p. xxxii, note ".—Ed., 1863. [inVrn is right,
see p. lxxiv (*)].
• «5» is of com. gend. Comp. Job xx. 26, where it is used in both its gend. in the
same hem.— Ed., 1863. " See Job xvi. 17.— Ed., 1863.
e See Zech. iii. 7.— Ed., 1863. ' See Gen. viii. 2.— Ed., 1863.

xxx K1323
1P3PIP 'IPI'PP li 3112 117UP '3)* IPlP'iP iU DU1PP1 1PU31 IP'D 311P 137i° 31'P PPPD 7U
133 1P3 1DP3 , P21DP1P OP2113 PP'P 1DP3 IPPiil li 7Wi f>i / ^"> 137i PP ]1PPP VUI
D'137P p 1U7' Pi PPP '3 ,Op>1373 ITWpi lipp p ,0DP1 bv IPU IplI) DP'73.3 lUlp
IDP'P 'P 137P P'Pl # PDP ]'31 ODP ]'3 iupp D'PD3 PDU3 IDP 1P1PP wi 1PP IDP
P3DPP IP ,31'P Pp733 Oapi ppD 0'i'12P VP1 , O'pip 12PDP p'73pi )Dp3'l , Dp'3'U3
ODP PP3DP iu 1PU7 D'P D'P P3PP D'U17'P1 O'PSPP O'DJP 170' PI DU1 * 1P713U3 ill'P
31'P) ' 1P15P PC* 3VP1 31'P PP 112PDP3 p'73P PIP " DP3D P1DP 731 - 07P 03 *ipp Jut
331PD3 ]33) * p713iPi 1DP3 iu 7PU1 , OP'137 PP 1P1P1 DPP 7PP ia '137 iu 3'DP
PPP1 , Vfl'V 13'D'l , P133ip IPP'l P13113 ip'PUP IDP 7U , P131 1137 pipp , P1311P
P)Dp 71U UPD' '3 , 131P3P1 1'ip 1PPD WW PIP i31PP1 * D'7«ppi li 13PPJ 0'3P1P
,17PU iu it13 71PU3 31'P 3i3 PJP , P1311P pf1 i33 PI 0U1 ' 1P1P D'P'UIPP VUI PU3)
Pl'P qi7P' qip fj3D3 OP) ,137 Pi iu J31P PIP '31 , )P3 ppai 133i DIP) 11D' IDPi
Hip '3 D'U'ipP 1'iu D0UVJP1 * 1137 iu PP31 31D' PIPP 7U , DDP PP2DP iu D'137
031PPP1 P3U' Pi Diipp 3VP1 • 1DP13 1PDP 31'P 23D DPI , V3173 ilU ]'P1 liup O'PD
¦j'DPP P1P1 , V137 iu P3UP P3P 03P V13P P^ Pi:P P1PD 7U OP'137 qpP'l • PP' pi
D'IPPI pPlPI 137P1 ,P1311P D7pi Dp31 PIP'ip Dp P3P1 ' DPP V1PP PJ1U ]'P1 V1373
, PDPP 31'P) 31'pi Plipi 137i fJDVl ' D'1373 IPU P233 31'P ]'P) 3)'P 'PP P3UP Pipi
,i:33 D21UP piDPP) 0'113'P 'piPP PlipD lOPi DD'l ,31'P ip 137P1 DDP pijJ ]11PP 7U
•"'DWP PU'7' P'i3P P'P 1PU'7' Hip PUT '3 P7V1 /p3 li P3U31 'p 137i 31'P U332 f"»J31 "
P'P Pi '3 ,0'HP'P li3pi ppPPP P3P Pil 31'P piPD iu P31DP ODP PJUP3 P3P3 pJ)
P3 PDU PP iU) U17P V113' DU *3DP1 rl"3 OPi VPlilUP iu ijiPP ODP Pl'pi P1PJ
" There seems to be an ellipsis here of vb n» his mouth. — Ed., 1863. [vo n» should be
inserted, see p. lxxiv (*)].
6 Before '31 we must, I think, supply some verb from asinn (or "fli) such as said or
complained. See eleven lines farther down, where '31 occurs in just the same way, and
¦where we have supplied maintaining before it. See p. xxxii, par. », line 2, where there is
another '31 of the same kind. — Ed., 1863.
' = m >t 'jbi . Ed., 1863.
d nj seems to mean in it = in this matter ; or perhaps it means by it, and corresponds
to i'"s .—Ed., 1863.
' '*as prop, an adj. = mortal, human, seems, here to = a mortal-one, a human-one,
a mortal, a human being, and to be governed by nS'T in constr., unless we read '*w ns'T ,
and take i*»i to be used in contempt of all grammar for n'tii:s . Ben-Zev, however, in
common with all Rabbinical writers, does freq. violate the rules of gender in this Preface,
but never so flagrantly, I think, as he does here, if the second suggestion he correct.
But cf. aaiD njrtsn , Comm., p. 386, and note upon it in the Addenda.— Ed., 1863.
f — dti "ita .—Ed., 1863.
e This I have transl. as though it were aian , for which I think men is very likely a
misprint (n and n are very freq. interchanged by compositors, see p. xxxii, note"), as in
the first place OS 3B5n to answer with, is a very unlikely construction, and in the second,
infra section i , par. 8 (beginning fnsm), line 3, we find in:ip ds aim , i.e., the very same
construction, and evidently the very same meaning, only aan for a»n . Besides, if we
read 3«n , we can take it to be the part. Kal (3tin),* which would correspond with
* In Rabbinic, indeed, the part. Kal is very commonly written vrith full Chowlem; still if Ben-
ZeVs own rule be true, that Chowlem should be written defective when 16 follows, as then one dot

N 1 2 O xxxi
ODP PIPliup '1PP3 17pi" pp- ip) njpj) P11P' iPl li)3J3 D13P PIP' '3 '7 p -P31
— UP3P31
)P1P 1PP IDP '1PP , ip723 73P p'73P pf> 3I1U P'P )if> ( WW pD)U P'P )»3 ^-|
7PU P1P1 , 1P1D3 ]upi pDP ,,}-,J p DJp 3f,5p3 ,p,3,p, / p7ip, 1D,,p n,ij;r)3
V33 1PDP ^ , P2DPi i3P li 3D') , 1P2U PIP'3 IPlfi ppa 2"p ¦ wp7}3 P3U, ; 1VPJ3
PP)i3 >1PP) ,1PDP '11U3 1D33 D7pi Tl5 P'P p DP '3 ,i'P3pi il3' P'P pi VPU31
)i p'PP'l • D'IDU 71U 7ip 31DP P31DP13 D'7i' P1DU PP7i '1PP '3 , P37U pi P'PP
• J1DP1P 1PPP3 1PPPP
*h 1» K¥B3 B*K Sin D» TPK Djy (3
P'P P2P3 D'P OD PIP PIP 1PP3 13I3P 3VP DDP ,oilUP D»P3PP ]'3 D* Pipiip mi?l
P13DPP P)P'3P PIP DPI ? 1'P p 02 l'iu 0'1PP3P D'DUPP iai , DOPIP )P ]PI3
373P D' , P\f»!>r) )i D'OP'PP ]'3 021 ' 13 P213P 130U iDPi VDUP1 ODP P'3PP ? IPlpp
(7"' 3"3) 7ipip3 PiPP lPlP'JP ]PI3) 1P1P0P3 Pipiipp P1U7P1 • 11171 13PI3 ppippi
nbnn iViro nvs nas s"-n •>"-) • nvi nt»a la-a avs -ias b"a Vt
? n"n bt»a sbs wma sbi mrr sb svs nas pma sinni 'im n^n
)i3 IP PPP )i3 06 , 1P1PP 'pip ODP PU7 i3 iu i3DP P13U12P D'D PP P2DP1 P'3P).
P712P iu W p P3P3 |3 ]OUP i3 '3 POJ DP " D'137 IDPI 1PU13P P'3P 3"pPl , iDP
' Pipp P13U12P ]1UPi D' PPIP PP3PP iu , PPIP
D-1PPP3 pSP D'PP l'3pi OPl'PD PP i3 P'P'D iuP3 P1P-2P3 P12P7IPP piPI PIP (^
POiDl P133 DiD • ]Pi 'Pip PU3D) D03 PU3D ' U3D , DPP ,DiD OPD D'D7ppp
' P121PP p"P! ip3 p"pi " D'ip2 'Pip
,3'1PP717DP ,31'pi PU1 Pipp PIpD OUP i33D , P1P-2P3 P12P7IPP piPI PIP |3 IPS (3
7U1 D7PP VPP3 D"P PIT PPD3 IDP 33 1PP IP )JiD3 , P'3P pi'P3P1 , O'PDP DP pi'P3P
P13P71PP pi ' 31'pi 1D3i foi il3'D , 7PP D'PP IPI' pi) PIPP pi 1PD3 7'PP1 PPP3
• P1P'2P3 piPI PIP fo PI) Pi)' PI ,PPIp
PDUJ IDP i3 PP U7' '3 ,PVPr> pP3 IDP 1P1PP ip 137i O'pip P)1 13U T17 Pl'P (J
03 'DUP iU ,DPPU 710 p'PPP 17P' IDP VP33 ip O'pip 137 PPI ?iuPP D'PD3
piu 1P1PP1 PP'PDP U'2P IDPI) P31P 3iP Dip DP '3 6 ? 'p PP ]V2DP P3U PP) , D7P
• 13 7T1
fejno , and be a much easier construction than 3itin , which is commonly the inf. absol.
(Hiph.) of ai® (see p. xlii, note J), rw a»n = to reckon with is found in 2 Kings xii. 16,
xxii. 7. [But see p. lxv, note27]. If, however, we retain awn, we must transl. to keep
^answering questions with his creatures, i.e., to hold Himself responsible to them. — Ed.,
1863. [Ben-Zev has aom , see p. lxxiv («)].
0 See p. xlvi, note '.—Ed., 1863. [Ben-Zev has Tim , see p. lxxiv (')].
[' Here rn j'« should be inserted ; see p. lxxiv (*)].
does duty for the Chowlem and the «S , aifin would be better than atiirt — especially, when, as
here, 1 is prefixed, for he says himself, in another rule, that an accumulation of serviles is to be
avoided. See his rules with regard to Full and Defective Chowlem in his Talmud L'Shon
Tv'ree, "n jhn , "2 10«n, "i< pno , and in Nordheimer's Gr. vol. 1. p. 1.".

xxxu R13D
7PP is p'p'l • , P3UP1 P2U121 P1S1) '1373 1PU1 ip D'P 11373 'S , PU7P iu piu' PS'P ("J
~))P^ 03 ,7' 1PPi3 D'ipDl D'3)1U D'lip 0*1PPP3 V137 170') ; P32D3 Pi'ipa 1PU7
* U3W j'UPS VtiT) Pi'iP PU313 * D'137P 3)D'1 ,313U|
]W2P1 , P1PJ '1317 Di3 ,0'J'ip DiS ,D'H1DP ois VP'D , P13P7IPP ip' PIP D2 (fl
•oisi pilU 7PP
PWlDipisi ,1'13P1 3VP ]'3D P13UPP) P13U15P1 0'137P 33 DSli , D'P ]113I p'PP' PS'P ()
,P131D PliP3 ]OUP OlPPi IDP'P IDP ,PDUP 11PP3 PDp 137 Pf ]P ' |P')PS1 1P1123
'S 1P1P IPP'P ' P3D3P P7PP31 Pi'ipp PPPD3 ,pip P12D3 IDP , Pi'ip '1373 '3 CjP
UPD IDP 0'137P 1PPP iU 1'73 3P131 ,UU) PDpl ' pi2P 17'31 , 0'PSIPPP '32 iu 7P1U D'P
foil lippi ,P3113P P311S3 P31DP13 17UU O'PSPP 7U11 P'3 pi '3 • O'PSIPPP 'PP Pil'
313PP1 , )P11P3 PPD 1PPP iU 31'P pf> )'T3P 1P)U2P , Pip Pipp "|P , P)Tpp3 pil
• jUPDPS D'137P pp3 OP ])U!2i D'D PP P! * PIS'lP iu lfo 0'137P
iSP ,1P133 Pi) )'P Pi Di3 l'PHipi 1'DUP D21 ,D'PP DD 02 ]OUP is 'S , P03 Q^l
•pipp P13U12P ]lU12i D» ,1P1PP 3ip P173
PPPP P°7 " * 13 Pil3P P2113P ipi iDPP if> O'PP'PP 'Pi3p , D'137 151121P3 Pil 0^ (fl
]PP217 ]'P '31 r 3VP P133 P1PD 121PP" 11PP 0P1P3 ]S1 ,1P1P3 P31P1 , O'pip pai 1PDP
(12"' OD) Pi'ipp D0P3 pi • PPI P1117 PPS) , 71U 'P TCP DODP V21P1 , 'PV3
cup ois , p'i ,'i ,u"s pdip isi ?vircsb mt inn /fymrr ">b»a tin
,DOPi 0P3 v>>0 IDP 171331 11DUP 1PP' IDfo ,P)PiP3 PlilUP iu ,P17'P3 pi) PP1P3
• P1PPDP P1PP3 PPlpi) I13i P'Pl ;i2i2P 1'iu pp3 PS'P) • 0'3112P VDUPfll
JPptP') D'fopa D'D3P 1'3 ippiP' P'33P 1P-3P TP / P133 pil P'P pi 31'P DP (3
fjp) * avMi bs\n na naina nbsn ffarasn narbto vm (7"' ,7"'
P3P , P133 Pi) P'P Pi 31'P 1PP IDP |331P PIPP )3 DPpi P3U12i PI ippi Pi 71pip3D
• D-ptP IP)' P'33P '137
]PI3 D'P 'P '3 137P PPP PIPI ,1P1PP 'pip OD )'3 UilPPP p7P PPPi ])S3P ]S ^
IPipi ,1DV3ip7i3 p'IPP) ,7)33il pi72il IDUi 0D1PP P'P) ,31'P 1PD1 DOPtP ]P
* This I believe to be a misprint for rnrri (which verb is very freq. used with nsn in
Job), and I have transl. accordingly. If n<n' is retained, we must transl. and yet [as
io] every one, his opinion should be, when there would be an irregularity of gender.—
Ed., 1863. [Ben-Zev has mm , see p. lxxiv (')].
" See p. xxvii, note b.—Ed., 1863.
' This must be read ntojj, and = nog (Ezek. ix. 2, 3, 11) inkstand, for which it is
prob. a misprint, as, though the Rabb. freq. use o for the Heb. to , I believe that they
do not (or very rarely) use to = the Heb. D , though this latter interchange is rather com
mon in Job, and is, I think, an argument in favour of the antiquity of the book. Comp.
toss (for on) v. ii., vi. 2, x. 17, xvii. 7, and in no other book. But, perhaps, Ben-Zev,
trusting to his memory, thought the word was spelled in the Bible ntoj? with to.— Ed.,
1863. * i.e., °>too Trn. Ed., 1863.
* This is transl. as though it were btbo ; but it is a question whether it is not otbo =
TQlB in the next clause, detail. Buxtorf gives neither the Pi-dl of E"i3 , nor yet any noun
raiBp (of the form -eon ), so the reader must decide. " And so . . . the detail (specifi
cation) of the names, &c," would make very good sense, and ffiiDo would then be parallel
in constr. to nnDn. I think, however, it is prob. a part., Nin being omitted.— Ed., 1863.
r 'ai . Before this we must supply some such verb as adds, if bibq is a verb, and if it
is a subst., some such subst. as addition, information, fact. See p. xxx, note *. — Ed. 1863.

K 1 2 0 xxxiii
PPP ,130uJ IPlpp ip3 PIP D'fol • )0U iu qp)3" 0>HP'3 fo73) , VDS3P 71') ])PP
P)P7S ,P3PP )iW DU') ,0'D'ip -)DD3 PDP)6 Pi'ipp 121P3 1P1P U'l , O'ppfo 0-137P |JJ
' 'PTPPD PP is iu IPli '73 ,liDP3 P)13i Pil IDP D'PP oii3)
• mm sin vn psi qy nrsD , 2vs sin ^d (j
IP D)7P pPP D31 ,PIP 1P03 DD3 D'13!3P D'D3Pp 3D)pi D'PPVPP P13-7PP1 O'lUP ^
"•roan yw (fo'iwfi) onfo ppi-p pipi • pu pfo p-p 3vp • pi snpp
' (p"S ,l"i 'f>13) 1DU '23 P)7i)P3 f)U OD 1312 pi • yw y-)H3 nst&v ans n3
(p"» ,)"i OD) )DU 033 S"2 13I3P ,IP'if> 'PP , "]P'P PPDD 1'UP P'PD " , OP'Pp f^S
• javia nasn ms i^sn (,'i ,d"p ''pt) cpsps ppip i>up pifop pi
-lavia a?s vinbt&i (3"' ,'p pipu) * ia>na nsin nwiai (2"' ,p"s 'pip-)
• 017pi O'ppi'P 0231
p3»i nSl ('3 ,P°S 'fo3) PHUpP li IDP 0P13P 'PiPiP ,P1D 1PP PP'PP Tl'73
• ('P ,12"P P'PT) ]77 IPS *D7P pfo 3DV PIP PIPI ? niB nSI
PP il323 (P"P ,l"l2) UD1P'3 P13I3P TU P'P 'i)P ,PPU3 1PP PP'PP -|rfl\f
• D17P
TU S"3PP'PD 311pl ,1P»P1 )77 OU (2"S , p"s) P'PT3 1SI3P 113 1PP OP'PP 'llT*7S
• Pi P31PP I1PPP IP 017P pPP
Plplip 13'2)P7p P1U7) ,12ipP3 113i ]'P 137 s"2 PIP P'P DU PIP 'P 31'P PP' D^tf
T»Dn .' UPP (7"' 3"3) 'ip3 DD 3"3 PIPI • 12PI31 1P1P0P3 OPpippS S"3 13
3V«i inb s-tod "san lnVoi* t'o'Viai iat» svsi abisn niaiss n^n
137 U7' pi ipdp piupdpp p'iipi D'D pp is 's ,pfo3 pi ? 'n"id inb sin "as-wa
ID'l OP D'P '137 V137 iSl ,1'DPDPl ipID' 'pPP 137 Pil , oilUp P13PP Pil ,PDP P11PP
, PDP Opi P'P ]ipi ifop'D PP3 137 PIP PU7i li IDP'P P'P Pil , PDP P7P Pi IDP
132'P PI D2) DP13P 'PP 11P3 OPP lDP'i O'ill Pipp) • p-))P ]PV 0P3 'J np
' piPI 137
" See p. xxvii, note ".— Ed., 1863. * See Jer. xxii. \±.—Ed., 1863.
° The w in rrrra) is rather puzzling; but we shall understand it, I think, if we lay
stress on 'an'nn , Eliphaz the Temanite, " because {for) he was from  Teman," —
Eliphaz, the Temanite, so-called, because &c, or — Eliphaz was called the Temanite,
because, &c, 'an'nn corresponding, therefore, pretty nearly to pn "in« Dn'no , the form used
in the next three paragraphs. For this suggestion I am indebted to Mr. Randolph.
Ed., 1863.
* [Ben-Zev has pn o» te here, between pn and tb'^m 'ns . See p. lxxiv ('")].
' In the original, there is oi« Syria, but this must be a misprint for din (spelled supra
and infra ons) Edom. "1 is very freq. printed for i, and vice versd. — Ed., 1863. [Ben-
Zev has ovw, see p. lxxiv (")].
f i.e., oto ;;s see there.— Ed., 1863.
8 inVia stands for ]ifrja , and irr> for firrt . In the Talmud the final a is sometimes
omitted in the affixes of the 2nd and 3rd. pers. plur. See Schaaf, Opus Aram, p. 38.
Por ntqd , there is in the original rrvaD , a rather gross misprint. See p. xxxv., note *,
and p. lxxvi.— Ed., 1863. * i.e., diow to>n .—Ed., 1863.

xxxiv S 1 2 a
* mam avs yat? m^jon npjn main pn d
VD3PP D'P) D'P is 'P3 1P1PP ODD D'137P1 ]OUP ipu iu piilS PPpDP 0'D3 Q^
PP 'PS >)PlP 17DP iu DOOUP Plli 1PD 'S PiP3 , )1PP3 PP Dpi DD 1D6
* )i 7P" IDP 1P31SP 'PS 137P D'P D'P , PIP 113P3 1P3113 PIPiDi 137P )P)P 3"PUD
O'PSIPPP DIP 133PP 'PS ,PDp ,PDp 3"pPl , P1S1 )PipP 13 OU U312S P)iuP3 piu' P131P)
• P3U13P pIPPJI
P12U12 iu P313P1 U7P3 PttiDP 1PV1 ,PpIP1 P131 )'P)3U12 ,1pUP) DPI? PIP 2VK
1'137 PP D'IPIpp IPlil -7733 IP'iP VUI PDiD iu 3'Dpi 7'PP |133 PIP) * 1'13P
1P1P 7U) IDPlP V137 is • PI ipp PI OPlP Pi3P PiPI ' PI »W>1 PI DUP PIP'Jp
• ip7i3 7P1U) D'HP' i)3pi Pi f'Pp ,Plili P13) P1U3i P13 P3113 1P31SP ,p'7i D'P3
31D'l BPi> PIPP 7U PP2DPP iui PU'7'P iu , 1P11 PPP3 p fo D'ip P31 PS <]17P' DPI
0'1373 pP)P) P3-pi POPP3 3)li ViDV '137 PP^ ' 131D33 13312 IDP P1UPP pP')
• pipp) P30P O'lllUt)
ilPP' fo 'P 'S * pippi D-P1P2P '137 V137 P'DPl " 31'P 01UP |)DP1P TSJ^S
PPP IP , 13p V2UP " l'137i fo' f>i 'PI , 1DP3 1P3 137' 'S O'Dp D'HP' i31P iu
,P3)1PP 7U ,1'137 1PP3 7DP 13i'1 , 3VP Pp7i3 ppPPPS 31D'l , PIDpi V137 )SPP' ' PPP
'1373 PPI 7'3 3)'P P3V1 ,ppiupp P17fo 71U V137 PD3' fol , 10P iuP P1DPP TP'
D'UPIDP ]!P TU' P2UP1 P2UP 333) ' )3i <jUC " iui 1317 f}ip )P21P '3 , 1P1P 3"P'1 'PI
: PIPI P1U'7'P IPP P11li31 P12172 '3 1-137 if1 3*Dppi
P1332P 1PPPPP1 D-P31PPP DP3 PIP 133 ,31'P PPlpi 3i3 fol' PIP 1DP3 "1173
PP3 '1371 OU3 'TPp il2S i'lpi 71U PX) P'P Pi OUI1 fJUDl , P1P11P 11UPDP1
31'P OU 137i 03331 ,V737 pipP3 1PD3 P'P PPI 3331 ,li D7pD IP'ifo V137 P'DP73
3112 ilP21 ,li ]!Pi 3112 31 'IP ,Opi D7p UD? 'i3 V137S VHP' Dp 'p3P31 DU12 '1373
, P30P1 pipp )'PP , PIP P2U2PI D22P iu PIDp 137' , P131P 132PP3 p" - liuP 'P il)
'31 ,)iuP 'P iu )'11p' '3 ,1)m 13ip?3 12'ip'l ,12PP D'P' P21DP13 P3PPD 'foPP DJ1
,lil)2 iU 0U1P' PI PPi ,PU1 D'UDIP 33 P'IPP OPl ,PP'13P '17P )3PD' fo 1P2UP1
DPU1 ]1'P7 D'D') , 7pP PPP PV1I3p3 D'UDIP P'IPP PI DU T'JP) * 3113 Pip' P3'P1
-\P '137 foD PP 137 li 1PD3 fo liPs ,137 D7P' fo jllPPP 1P3UP31 ' 31'P PlUli
• PS7P3 PP'I33 PIP 11213
1P31 ,Pli'iP! P13U123 ,!PlP7pD VT3P piupi )piup P3'DP fo) 0P3D ipp P)P 121V
V137 i'72P1 PIPP PlP liDP pi3 Cj'Plpil ,77i3 '137 P31D1 ipi3 pi PIP D'ip 7P
PlP P3P ¦ P213P1 PU7 OPfo PSIlPpi PS liU Pi IDP iui , 137 D7P 'i3 03'PIW
• VP )Pi 7' O'DPl P31PPP UPP 1113 IDP |1DP7P
, )"V2 ]P '3P1 ' 1"12 7U '7 PD1P ]V 'Pp ppippp ¦ Pipipp DiD3 0'P13'1P D'pipp &">)
'S ,l'13Pi PIPlpi 1P3U123 31'P U'3P pDPIP P1S13 ' l"S 7U 3"S p '3P1 '3"S 7U
iu 3'Dpi O'IPI D3'P S"U ,12PP Diu21 1U7' IDp 137 ]'P) ,PP)f>P 1'iu ]11P' Dpi ]'P
,-rns "na? bs "on abis :iipPs d^p iP iopdp dd'i vpuwp is pDii vi37
)3i ,PDpp Pip odp pisip .'p' ddp 723 vi37 'siup isi yens bs bs naim
* In Ezek. xvi. 47, the only place where this expression occurs in the Bible, we find
si]: tost?? .—Ed., 1863.
* In Eccles. vii. 27, we have nns1; nos ; and comp. Isa. xxvii. 12.— Ed., 1863.

s i a a xxxv
O'UDI 177 pi '3 U'ippi )DP3 P1T1P pt)p3 3)'P U'3' 13 , pilp? P'iSP3 P13U12P 133PP'
• 'iai Vn i-i3a na ipns vn"» c^an sna ('t , p"s dd) , 733 '73)3 is iiD , ppii
7"3 PD1P31 , PUPID IIP V137 iP PPP 31'P DP3 PIP 133 IP , V137 HPpi Dp3' IPli
PD1P3 13'ipp T5P 1'137 pipi 3)'P iP)3 , ppii 0317 PPI iS3) D'UDIP 'DUPP 1DPP3
Pi3PP 1PD2 31'P) , 0'137 1'Pl 1P)P ]'p (p"3 OD) lip P3UP3 1'137 3'DP 77i3 ' P"3
PupD PP3 IP ' Pi3 IDP )'T3P 'PP3 iu pi7 P)P " P)'P i'1P3 POP IPS) , V13P PP
" If we compare nvn 'rei ma with
ni»D fiBi rr\si (Isa. xxxv. 9),
and remember that we have had several examples in this Preface of Ben-Zev's tendency
to press Biblical expressions into his service, we shall he disposed to believe that 'rei is a
misprint for fiBi , the more especially as ^id is a word which is not to be found either in
Hebrew, or Chaldee and Rabbinical, Lexicons, and of which not even the apparent root ho
is known. At the same time, it must be allowed that it is not easy to explain how i and y
have become changed into such, apparently, very dissimilar letters a and "> . It may be
observed, however, that between l and a , there is some connection, inasmuch as a without
dag. lene, is, by the Jews at least, pronounced, like i ; and besides, it is not absolutely
necessary to suppose a misprint here in the case of the a , as Ben-Zev may have intended
to write nvn ynsa rmN = (y© being taken collectively) a lion amidst fierce wild beasts,
when the beasts would be a complimentary epithet applied to Job's friends. But what
resemblance is there between 'f and y ? Well, it must be remembered that Ben-Zev, or
the transcriber of his Preface, probably wrote it out in cursive Hebrew,* as being much
more readily written than square Hebrew, and in cursive Hebrew there is undoubtedly
considerable resemblance between the lower part (the body) of & final Tsaddik (of which
the hooks at the top would readily become entangled in the line above and so escape
observation) and Lamed, and still greater betweenyina/ Tsaddik and final Lamed (which
is sometimes used in curs. Heb.). At any rate, if 'rei does not stand for yea or ysi , I
can offer no other explanation. Mr. Randolph, however, who is scarcely satisfied with
my suggestion, and thinks that the misprint is too gross to be probable, J suggests, that
ins may be the Lat. preslium, when the meaning would be as a lion in the battle of the
leasts. This suggestion I own to be very ingenious, but I consider it to be even more
improbable than my misprints, for, in the first place, why should Ben-Zev use a word, which,
from its not appearing in the Lexicons, he must have known would not be understood hy
one in 500 of his readers, especially when he had the choice of two Hebrew words (nortn
and aip) meaning battle, war ? Again, Lat. words are, I think, rarely introduced into Rabb.
Hebrew, though Greek words are, with many Rabb. authors, very common. We have,
however, in this preface (sect, a , par. rr , line 1), the Lat. word signum. And, lastly, when
ever, short Lat. and Greek words are used in Rabb. they are, as far as I have observed,
commonly not abbreviated, but retain their terminations in full. Thus Aflor^s has become
Dtort (see Comm., p. 43, line 14 from bottom of text), and signum has become p"D , though
we have made sign of it ; and similarly I should expect preslium would become Vf're (like
JITbid from irorrjpiov, polerium). I cannot, therefore, approve of Mr. Randolph's suggestion.
[The correct reading seems to be nvn ynoa , see p. lxxiv (12)].
* I know that Mr. Mason wrote out at least a part of the Hebrew in Mason and Bernard's
Gramm., in cursive Hebrew, and cursive Hebrew is much better known in Germany than England.
t For this note, see p. lxxiii.
+ It should be borne in mind, however, that very few compositors know much Hebrew, and
that exceedingly few, if any, would be able to seize the meaning of such a preface as Ben-Zev's,
whilst they were setting it up in type, and everybody, who has had to revise proofs in lan
guages unknown to the compositors, is well aware that the blunders committed by them in
these cases are infinitely more gross than, and cannot be measured by, the misprints of
c 2

xxxvi s i a 0
(p ,l"S DD) 1SPP 12'ipPl , D'UDIP PliDP 137 IDP V137 iu 131PPP1 , IPPP P17
o'iDP3 pi'ip q-pipi • od ]oup isi 'iai bs saa?i mpssn 'iai ?pn mpn na ra
iidi nasn « nsT1 in (p"s , p"s dd) d-ppi • ippp is pp o'idup 00203
/ V11U3 'P'3 IPpiiPl , li PP'PD lPil73 TSIpi 3D , V1PPD PVD1P DiD31 • na*3 sin
• PPU i253P l'iu pP2 P3-P1 ,PDU IDP )'Pip7il
, TUi D'P PIPI O'D'D'P Opi 7375 1DP23 7PU Pi -[f> , PP3P3 foPIP D'P PIP 03 ^IM^K
13i3 3DP PIPI , 31'P Pfopi PIP fo' IP * Pi3PP V'O 3VP1 Dp 1P72 '7U
^W 31'P °31U'D DUP 1PP OUP Dp3P P'P) * V73PP IP)' 31'P PP P$lb 1PPSP ])1P'3
0'137 Pl'P PIPPi 13P2P 001DP1P V13731 , V137 iu 3'Dpi DP fol D'IPP 3VP1 , P1313
ilU iuiP PlPD VT3PS 12'ippi 31'P PP 3''PP 132'PD C\P PlP) * OPlP 1P1P1 31'P '137P
Pi'ip 3'PT S"pPl - DDP '13PDP ip'7iP 7iP IPlP 3"PP PlP 03P , VDUP3 U'DIP)
)PDp3 iu 31'P PP PIP'iP 1PDD 'iTPPPP PPP 'P'PD PPil ' DDP PlilUP PlPll33
Dlip3 IP ppp3 D7P OU iP 137' Pi 'S IPpl , OOP ip OOP PSIPpi IPU DDP 37UP'D
PIP'ip '137 1P1PS , 31'P iP lPil'3 DDP PPP P3UP p3 PI iu , IPlPi 121p i2'l , 13 137'
• l'ipi 'i3p O'DUI
13 OP'PPl 7PPD '1PP /1P1P D'DPPil 31'P PP 3"pi fo 132'P ,31'P PP DDP mjJD3
'S17iU7ipp' 'S D13P PP 'S ,1P)P 1P12U iu ii2PPS fo fo D3 * 02P )Uiai
PlP ,1'iu ODP )1U12'D PP 23P ,1'DUP iu ]13DP1 1*7 1PPP Dp3i lP3ip OU 3DP1 'p
PllilP is PPP' Pli) , 021UP pp UP2P31 'P PiU3 6117pi Dp3PP 07fo P11 PPli 1P3DP'D
Plfop i73 Pp IPlPlpi D'lli'P 'PiP3 P131D Plifop Plifo V2pi O'D'1 ' lOpi PTi'p
OP PPP DPP 3'DPi D12P i3D Plip IDP , P133D2P VPIPliuP '1PD1 ]l'Up ppUl 1PP3P
VS171 DDP '13PDP Uppi D7PP P'P pilPl .i'UlPpl 3112P 117P iu 771DP isp 'SI , qiP
PI 'S '131 U73 PiD U72D PP P03P1 f'ipp IppD PP PiPI * 2D1PP pPUl 3'DPP lipP
pD3 ipfo IDP il72P IDpp PPi PI31 * PPpDPP PU'7'1 , P133PDPP ipu i3P )3pip
'PI' 71P DU2 • PIP Pipp PP2DPP1 PIP PipP PU'7'P , 1'DPl ]'1P3 I1PPP i)72P i3PP
• 0-1371 1PP3 Pl33i ]'P PP3 -{P 3i3 D31P IPPP Pi'ip
• anD2 pa6 nnsai -iaon aniD ^n (n
)'P IDP ,Pipiip P1U71 PipPP P3 D* PIP 1PP3 PU7i i7PD3 IDP PTpP) PTpp ^
1PD 3PS 'P PPIP P7pp3 ]OUP p) • p7i P1U7P ]P 'P , P71P2 PV2ipp3 U'13pi
' 3VS 7DD1 Y1QD 3nD na?a (7"' 3"33) 'ip3 O'PSPP PU7 • 3P33 )lDi PI'fol 31'P
O'TPPPP p PP1731 ,P'P D111DPP 'P'3 31'P IPlPp 'pi 'S ,PP3pp wi Pl'pi PI is' Pil
• 11PP 3PS PDPD 0'3ppi IDP'P 'P , IPlP'iP
which they would be guilty in a language familiar to them. Thus I lately found atom
printed for the Lat. atque. This was quite explicable to me when I looked at the manu
script, for I there found the tail of the q faint, so that hurriedly glanced at, it looked like o,
whilst the ue, as having three down-strokes, did look something like m; but if I had been
unable to refer to the manuscript— and in our present case I of course cannot refer to the
manuscript— this misprint would have seemed to me quite as inexplicable as those now under my
consideration. Besides, one cannot, from considering printed alphabets, form any opinion as to
what letters may, or may not, be confounded when written, inasmuch as in the licence taken almost
invariably in handwriting (a hcence sometimes really quite intolerable), letters are very frequently
confounded, which ought to be as distinct as night from day.
" See p. xxviii, note b, and p. lxxiv (13).
* See p. xlvi, note *, and p. xxxi, note " . [It should be "mrr; , see p. lxxiv (") ]

s 1 a o XXXV11
pan ])7'U' oia td6 , upd3 w'pid21p iPi , iip j« p3)3Pii , fop2 ppapi op znfix
1D3P) ')Pl D'P foP3 Pi pipp D01P7pP D'P'31 ,1'P' p'PU iui IPPP PlP7p iu
PIP IPPP PlP') -O'pipp D'P PDPP 1PV PpIS P32D3 Pi'ip31 ,P1S ip» 1PP 31P3i
• 1'iu DP'Ppi
PlP P'P fo lP ,P'13U JIDi fJ133 ,1'iDP iDPP) ,1ip'UP 113PP PDP P'P DP D^tf
ppppiupupi P'3P IDP) 'PIPP pipD PlP ,)lDii ]lDip ip'PUP Dp 'S ;113PP
pipp D'737P OlDi VTP3 3pu> 033 1P13 P'P , )ip'UP )73PP PDP P'P lif" (P * PIP
137 13 TSIPP pppppi is- p'p Pi p) • ppp ipTD' '33P Pi IDP 0'D3p3 Pi) • Dp'P3
31U PIP 'P , P'13U ]lDi IPPP qi3 p'p lip (3 ' VP111P1 D'piPp 'pPPl oilUP P13PP
P1P12 iu IPPP PDU3 Pi 'S PDP p[ IDP , IPPP P)i'ip3 liu 131PDP IDP PV31U Plip 31
' P'73U JIDi
PDP1 ,pi P31ipp P'PTP 'i3 IP '31U J1D23 31P3 P'P IPPP qu '3 ]133 pPl2D fiftl
iS' P'p 1PP Pil Pip pil ,pp >7' PDUP ,P'13U JIDi iP PIP IPPP p'PUPp p'p
P'P 'ilPl , 1P3 Pi PP'11 PPU12 2P fol PPD iP PPDP PpiIPP Pi'ipp ]113i 1-7' Pp |Ppi
D2i ,pppup pa TSPi j-Pd 7u p is lPi'ip pP iaDi • ippp qiap P32D21 ppi ipv
(P"' '3 31'P) 3P31 • pppup PlPD PIP IPPP iu IPpi 1PU7 P123 , Pl!U )3 DPTJp '1 31P
JIDipi ,"0311PP 7PP ia p73 )D1TP3 PDp PlP p iu 0311PP 1PP PlP '3 >iP 3l7pPl "
Olip 'ip3 01PP3 'S ,P1P 113P3 'PDiDI 'POD 133 '3 ,PI iu PTPP P'3?i )'P 'ipp
1)3pi 1311SP1 IPPP 17PPP PlPD P311SP i3P )ipup )13PP frlPD DPU7 J'P Olip 'p 3PS
• )p'PUP PlPD DP311S 31'P IPP 3PS PDP 11PP IDfo ]fo p) ,oiD
73i , IPpi fjppp PlPD 11PP31 IPPP DP73D 11PP3D Ppi 'S , PI3 71U " li pPl3D HD1
P"'1P 0D1 ')S1 ,'7D ,P)iP ,iP ,PlPDpi3 11313 ,1PPP 11P3 33P V'lP OD 1313
TSI' 3"U ,1PiU3 PDP 3P3D PIP e<}lP3 1DP13D T.PDP 'S , p7i 12PDP 'P12PD ,13 U713 Pi
3P7D' 03P Pi D'D2p D'737PP VP 1PDP J1P3 33P ,1PD PP U7' PlP '3 " p"')P ODP
'P1UDD PP DiD3 PI DU) * DPPD iu )PD2 fo 1PD PP 031 , ODP OD 1U7' Pi PPPl , PPP
t PIP IPpi P)3P D'Di
• * p"?i 12"Dpp 17P ') 01'
" No doubt should be ^ . According to my experience, the compositors very frequently
interchange ' and 1 . — Ed., 1863. [It should be '^ ; see p. lxxiv (16).]
6 Two strokes put over a word, do not always indicate an abbreviation ; they are
sometimes used with the view of indicating that the word, whilst retaining its ordinary
sense, has a second and special meaning (see Buxtorf, de Abbrev. Hebr. (1708), p. 9).
This seems to be the reason why rrin essence, has here two strokes, for, whilst retaining
its usual meaning of essence, it is here used specially of the Divine essence, i.e., Jehovah,
for Jehovah, as coming, like mrr, from mn or mn, to be, denotes especially the essence
of God. But why Ben-Zev here uses n">in and not " the ordinary abbreviation for
mn< , or 'n , which, though, according to Buxtorf, standing for oiSn , still is commonly
used = mm — I know not, unless it be that n"'in contains all the letters of mm (which he
dared not write), only in a different order. The occurrence of n"'in uen line 4 of this
paragraph instead of, as before, n"'in aw, seems to shew that Ben-Zev considered n"'in
almost = a proper name, like mm , though, no doubt, we find several instances in the
Bible, in which a noun with the def. art. is used instead of a noun in construction. —
Ed., 1863. ' [Should be F]iD3i wntjw, see p. lxxiv (16).]
* i.e., Jiffli) bib''!. See Buxtorf, *. v., etb .—Ed., 1863.

xxxviii

INTRODUCTION

COMPOSED BY

JUDAH LEY BEN-ZEV.

JOB.

I. THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE BOOK AND ITS OBJECT.*
1 Supreme Providence and its dispensations with regard to intelligent creatures,
2 form a subject of inquiry, in which men of renown, 3 [that were] of old, have
found great difficulty ; yea, even the prophets, peace be with them ! sought fbr
4 light upon this [matter] from God, may He be exalted ! 5 on account of the bad
ness of the arrangement which they perceived 6 in such dispensations. Moses, the
* Ben-Zev's Hebrew, his purely Biblical, as well as his Rabbinical, stands, as must be
admitted by every one familiar with his writings, after that of Aben-Ezra, unparalleled
and unmatched. Indeed, of those, who have attempted to write in the style of Aben-
Ezra, he is the only one who has been successful ; concise, therefore, and idiomatic as his
model, he is equally difficult to translate. To render him literally, indeed, is a mere sheer
impossibility ; still, for the benefit of the Hebrew student, I have endeavoured, in this
translation of his preface, which is written in Rabbinical Hebrew, to keep as close to the
original as it is possible to do without injury to the sense. The reader will therefore excuse
any disregard that may be shown to the syntax or idiom of the English language.— (Note of
Editor. ) [For the correctness of this translation, I must be held entirely responsible. I did,
indeed, read over both the original and the translation to Dr. Bernard, and he gave me
his opinion with regard to the meaning of the difficult passages, of which there are, in
my opinion, not a few ; but this was done so hastily, that it would be quite unfair to throw
any part of the responsibility upon his shoulders. After he had thus heard the transla
tion, and made his suggestions, which— as having him always at hand, and trusting to
1 The supreme Providence and Conduct (i.e., rule, government, discipline). * This
[is] an inquiry in which, &c. 3 This might be understood " in which men of renown
have of old (or, from of old, see 1 Sam. xxvii. 8), found great difficulty ; " hut, as the
expression is prob. borrowed from Gen. vi. 4, Dtti ifl;« b^isd itf^, I think it is prob.
dVibd belongs to otin 'lfta Comp. also Jer. v. 15, Nin dJibd V« nation, which is of old.
' light, enlightenment, of eyes. 5 for that (because that) they saw [the] badness of
the arrangement. ' in the [Divine] conduct (rule, &c.) See note '.

BEN-ZEV S PREFACE. XXXIX
master * of [all] the prophets, said [Exod. xxxiii. 13] : "Make me, I beseech Thee,
to know Thy ways," t J as it is explained in the Talmud (B'rachoth, fol. 7 J). The
poet Asaph said [Ps. lxxiii. 3] : " For I was envious of the foolish, [when I saw
the prosperity of the wicked]." Jeremiah said [Chap. xii. 1] : " Wherefore doth the
way of the wicked prosper ? " And Habakkuk said [Chap. i. 13] : " Wherefore
lookest Thou upon them that deal treacherously, [and holdest Thy tongue, when
my memory — I did but imperfectly note down, I carefully went over the whole of it again
by myself, and made very numerous annotations in pencil, with the view of submitting
them to him at some future time, when I should also have fully discussed the difficult
passages with him, and have asked him to construe at least some of them to me  but
his death, alas ! upon which I had not counted, broke off my plans, and threw me entirely
upon my own resources. Fortunately, however, I found in Mr. Randolph (see 2nd Pref.),
a friend able and willing to assist me, and with him I have discussed all the difficult
passages — with great advantage to myself, though I have been but seldom able to record
my obligations to him.
As for the numbered literal translations and notes in the margin, they have all been
added in the course of the present year, 1863.]
* Master must be understood here in the sense of teacher, the prophets being in some
manner considered as the disciples of Moses, since he brought down the Law from Sinai.
—(Note of Editor.) -
t The Eng. Vers, has here Thy way, wrongly, for 13Ti stands for *prv[ Thy ways, just
as w 1£B\ta (Ps. cxix. 175,) stands for 'a'liS TpB'r,*?i and let Thy judgments help me,
as correctly rendered in the Eng. Vers. Thy way (in pause) would have been expressed
by 15"? • (N. of Ed.) [See note in Appendix, on orrrrriN Job i. 5.— Ed., 1863.]
X See p. lxxiv (*). The passage in the Talmud referred to runs thus : —
is-wc is wara men* «pa • ii jn:i n"apn ':BiD nmn wpa onai moiw 'dv 'ai dtoo pnv i"ni
sipa ¦ psi 'jn i:'iB3i tqn3\d ii pi:i isT£i> is pi na'aiD rnwn Nia wpa ¦ iaos paia Niin iDNaw ii ]nai
aitai p'T2 w no 'aan Diis iw laiai vaoi 'on • "pri nN nj 'as'Tin 'aw ii jrai n"a"n iw ran WTini
li $Tl p'TS • pH2 p p'T2 li 31101 p'T3 TWO )i 1DN • li BTl SW"I tt' li 31101 Stt"l W li BT1 pH2 tt'l li
 swi ;a swi li sti sari -p'i2 p swi ii aiai sari 'swi p p'is
'on pn 'mam. 'a» ii i:na Ni nnNi ii ian: ''n« tnd tVi tno 'ti 'j'ioi 
¦ pan 13'nw b"sn 'rnN 'wn nN 'norni • pan wnw b"sn pnw
" And Rabbi Jochanan said in the name of Rabbi Jose : — Three things did Moses ask
" of the Holy One, blessed be He ! and He granted [them] to him. He asked, that the
" Shechinah * should dwell in f Israel, and He granted [it] to him, for it is said : [For
" wherein now shall it be known, that land Thy people have found grace in Thy sight f]
" Is it not in that Thou goest with us ? [Exod. xxxiii. 16.] He asked, that the Shechinah
" should dwell only (i.e., exclusively) in f Israel, and He granted [it] to him, for it is said :
" So shall we be separated, I and Thy people [from all the people, that are upon the face of
"the earth [Ibid.]]. He asked to make him know the ways of Jehovah, blessed be He !
" (i.e., the rules, by which the dispensations of Providence are regulated), and He granted
"it to Him, for it is said: Make me now to know Thy ways [Ibid. ver. 13]. He
" (Moses) said before Him : O Lord of the universe ! why is there a righteous man,
1 as it comes (occurs, as we find) concerning this in the Talmud. N13 to eome, seems
here to he used = the Germ, vovkommen, to occur.
* i.e., the Majesty of God.
+ or with ; but Ut. over (Israel).

xl BEN-ZEv's PREFACE.
the wicked devoureth him that is more righteous than he ? "] Now upon the
poles of this investigation l0 turns the controversy, which [takes place] between Job
and his companions in the form of objection and answer.
This ancient book, anterior to all " Hebrew books, [considered] 12 wonderful by
generations of old, and glorious " by latter generations  its beginning and end
are a narrative of facts, and the 14 middle thereof is paved with lovely poetry
concerning Providence. And as to the narrative 15 generally, the author of the
book mentions the name of a man, distinguished for the 'highest degree of
righteousness and uprightness, and [his] 2 high position in the ranks of men in
respect of riches, greatness and honour, nor was there wanting to him 3 any sort of
perfection, by which a man is made 4 perfect ; but all these were 5 lost to him
suddenly, so that he 6 came to the 7 highest pitch of evil and 8 misery, and was more
over chastised with a pain, greater than which there is not. Behold then [there
" who fares well, and a righteous man, who fares ill ? A wicked man, who fares well,
" and a wicked man, who fares ill ? — He (God) said to him : O Moses ! the righteous
"man, who fares well — [he is] a righteous man, [who is] the son of a righteous man ;
" the righteous man, who fares ill — [he is] a righteous man, [who is] the son of a
" wicked man ; the wicked man, who fares well — [he is] a wicked man, [who is]
" the son of a righteous man ; the wicked man, who fares ill — [he is] a wicked man, [who
" is] the son of a wicked man 
••  And they (the Rabbins above mentioned) differ from Rabbi
" Mayeer, for Rabbi Mayeer said : Two [requests] were granted to him, and one was not
" granted to him (i.e., the two requests respecting the Shechinah dwelling in Israel, and
"exclusively in Israel, were granted to him, but the request respecting the ways of
" Providence was not granted to him), for it is said: And I will be gracious to whom I
" will be gracious [Ibid. ver. 19], although he be not worthy, and I will shew mercy upon
"whom I will shew mercy [Ibid.], although h1 be not worthy (i.e., My motives for
" shewing mercy must remain a mystery to man)."
In the treatise Avoth (Chap. 4) we have the following Mishnah : —
ID'p'ISn 'TID'O Ni F|N1 D'Bw-in niiwo Ni WT3 ]'n toin 'N3' '31
" Rabbi Yanai says : * It is not in our power [to account] either for the prosperity of
" tjie wicked, or the afflictions of the righteous (i.e., the rules, in accordance with which
" rewards and punishments are distributed in this world, must remain a mystery to man)."
(N. of Ed.)
" is turned, turns itself. " books of the Hebrews. " wonderful with
(i.e., in the estimation of) generations] of old. ls even to latter (later) generation^].
11 i.e., the interior, body; see p. liv, note "- ls [by] way of generality. ' perfection
of. 2 height. * of all [the] sorts of perfection [or prosperity]. l or, prosperous.
5 perished from him suddenly (see Job xi. 20). 6 attained. ' see note '. 8 pa' is
more comm. rend, grief, but it may also = affliction or misery. So we use affliction —
* The lit. transl. is apparently, ' ' there is nought in our hands, either of the prosperity  or of the
afflictions," &c.  i.e., they are not at all in our hands, we have nothing whatever to do with them,
we have no control at all over them, they do not rest with, depend upon, ns in anyway (cf. Eccles.
v. 13, Ezra vii. 25)— the O being taken partitively, and serving with the help of the neg. VN, to
express the total absence of any share or part, whereby the force of the expression is greatly
increased ;— unless, indeed, we supply some such verb as to give an explanation, or to pronounce
decidedly (d'inni), when o would = concerning, with regard to, in which sense it is used in this
Pref. after "la/i , &c, as e.g., in sect. 7 , par. 6, line 5 from end.

BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE. xii
is] no man, v who could have more reason to murmur against God's Providence than
he, yet he 9 perseveres in bis righteousness ; so, 10 by way of paying him bis reward,
God restores to him u twofold the temporal blessings, 12 of which he had been
deprived. And, as to the details of this narrative, he (the author) portrays the
man 13as being pious, and upright, and one fearing God, and eschewing evil;
and M with regard to the perfection of possessions, he 15 bestows upon him all the
principal things, which were considered [necessary] for prosperity in those
primeval days, 16 namely, 17 a house blessed with sons and daughters, and with
substance, oxen and sheep, camels and asses, men-servants and maid-servants ;
for silver and gold, and 18 highly prized jewels and diamonds, 19 were scarce in
those days, 20 neither were luxuries abundant. And just after he had depicted
him with this great prosperity — all these blessings 21 were lost to him in the most
sudden manner ; woe upon woe, breach upon breach cleave together ; one runner
22 meeting another runner, and one M messenger 22 meeting'another messenger, the
one going away 24 after [having brought] sad tidings, and another coming with
tidings 25 yet more sad. 26 His first stroke came upon his possessions, upon [his]
oxen [namely], and [his] sheep, and from 26' these [it came] upon his children, and
sorrow and calamity ; and grief is also vulg. used = calamity. At any rate, Ben-Zev
gives Elend as one of the meanings of pa' . 8' there could be to him cause to murmur
 more than he. 9 [is] standing, persisting. ,0 for (as) retribution, payment,
of reward. " to, up to, or into double, i.e., so as to be double, of the temporal blessings.
nawo, being a subst., could not well be used adverbially without the addition of some
prep., and here i seemed most suitable. Comp. i mn to become, in Germ, zu Etwas
werden; and Job xlii. 10. In the lines from PpNnn , however, quoted in p. xlii., we find o;iB3a.
The meaning seems to be some of the temporal blessings twofold (]0 being used partitively,
see p. xl, note *, this par. lines 4, 8, p. xxx, line 3, sect, a , 1st. par., line 7, and last par., line 2
from end); for, as Ben-Zevtells us, though indirectly, in the last par. of this sect. (p. xlviii),
God did not restore everything to Job twofold. If this is the sense, the construction would
have been more easy, if nautoi could have come after niaiton ]d , but this it could not do on
account of the relative sentence which follows. I do not think that ]o here can = more than,
twice more than. [But see Exod., xvi. 5], Or, as Mr. Randolph suggests, the Jn maybe used
for the purpose of distinctly singlingout the blessings which are meant, just aswe say, " o/gold
he gave him double the quantity," i.e., of gold, and not of anything else ; still, the )n would
then be somewhat pleonastic, and, indeed, doubly so, for, in the first place, nothing can be
restored to a man which he has not had before, and, secondly, the relative clause distinctly
points out what blessings are spoken of. And, lastly, the ]n may possibly be merely a ge
nitive," double of the blessings," and be used instead of the stat. constr. Comp. Job xx. 3.
So in Dwaan '"edd idd i3 , an expression which I have just met with, the o is prob. a pure
genitive, though it may mean out of. Comp. sect. 7, par. 3, last line, par. 7, lines 5 and 7,
par. 8, lines 5 and 6. K which had failed from him (see note s). 13 with the qualities
of pious (perfect, pure, blameless, {integer)), &c. See p. xlviii, line 2. " or, of the
perfection, &c. ; perfection of possessions, in opposition to the perfection of moral qualities.
15 attributes, assigns. 16 and they [are]. " the blessing of the house with sons, &c.
18 high-things. " was precious, rare, or a rarity. See p. xxvii, note *. 20 no luxury
(delicise) [was] spread abroad, diffused, general, abundant; or we may, perhaps, supply
era -reiN in which (no luxury, &c). Buxtorf only gives Np?3B . " See note 5. 22 to
meet. 23 teller, announcer. u from. 2S worse than they (lit. it). 2e the
>eginning of the stroke was. 26' lit. from it to his, &c, the sing, referring to each, or to

xlii BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE.
from these [again] upon his own bone and flesh. And behold ! the sudden succession
of the troubles one upon another, and 27 their gradual increase in magnitude, the
later 28 above the earlier, this is what brings a man to the 29 highest degree of
bitterness. And this 30 shews the perfection of the 31 author, that he has not omitted
ought of all the 32 circumstances, which were needed for his object ; and [that]
he has not left out a line or a stroke, which could make his picture perfect in all
its parts. But, between the 33 blow [dealt] to everything, which 34 belonged to him
(Job), and the smiting of his body, he (the author) allows a space of time. As
long as his (Job's) body was whole, he was 35 giving thanks and praises [saying,]
Jehovah gave, and Jehovah hath taken away, blessed be the name of Jehovah ;
but, when the stroke came upon his bone and his flesh, 36 his praise consisted in
silent-resignation.* And, with regard to the 37 blow [to be dealt] to his body, he
[the author] 38 selected that, which was the most painful among afflictions, that is,
grievous sores from the sole of his foot 39 to the crown of his head ; and, in order
40 to make yet greater his affliction, lo ! everything he had 4I was lost to him ; upon
his cattle rushed a troop, or fire 42 came down from heaven and consumed them,
as well as his servants ; upon his sons and daughters the house fell, and there
they were buried ; but, as to his wife, her he left him, a not one hair of her head
did he suffer to fall to the ground — [was] not [this], in order that she might
1 very sorely provoke him, so as to make him chafe ? t
* And they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, none
speaking unto him a word ; for they saw that his pain was very great. After this opened
Job his mouth, &c. (Chaps, ii. 13; iii. 1.) — Note of Ed.
t Dr. Bernard recollects having, about half a century ago, read in a number of the
Berlin Periodical FjBNon some lines, which ran about as follows : —
wnawirn ai'N niNiz)

(cniNn nN imw svn)
'Tiidi "as >d'3 'mo nnpi is jn
P'tqs -raiy najNn 'i niNtfn bytoi
(a'wo o'niNn)
D'isaa 'an ?[i Biiti ns N'a> th 'a 'nsn'
*D'obb rre awn 'niai >nnpi N'i ns$i »i
•T-^ TT - T ¦ I •• ' : <-T \-'T
the last, of the preceding nouns. " their superiority, or excess. 29 over, beyond.
39 perfection of. 30 (is) pointing upon, to, the perfection (weist auf die Volfkommenheit),
or teaches concerning, &c. 31 master, lord, of the book. 32 revolutions, turns circuits
i.e., circumstances. 33 striking of everything which. ** [was] attributed to him.
55 or confessing (praising) and celebrating. 36 his praise (see p. xxix, note *) [was] silence.
37 the smiting of his body. 33 he chose the pain, [which was] the greatest among
affiiction(s) ; or, perhaps better, the greatest in anguish. 39 even unto his crown
(vertex) i0 to make great. 41 perished from him. « fell. » he did not make
fall [any] of the hair of her head.
1 provoke him even a provocation. See 1 Sam. i. 6, whence the expression has been
* Why ailin .niai and not 3'rtj 'ni3i? 'niai is, I believe, in every case foUowed by an inf.
constr., whereas 3tin is generally regarded as, and certainly commonly is, the inf. absol. Ina
note in the Append, however, on ix. 18, I suggest that 3ttin may, perhaps, be also sometimes a

BEN-ZEv's PREFACE. Xliii
And in this, too, the 2 author of the book " was careful *, [namely], in shewing
from [the very] beginning 4 how the matter would end ; and from the [very]
beginning he does not speak mysteriously with the reader of his book, but [at
once] solves him the enigma, why Jehovah had acted thus, to punish a just
man 5 without there being any wrong in his hands, and to smite a noble-
minded man 6 in spite of [his] uprightness ; and be makes known to us the 7 ways
of God in the heavens above, and opens to us the windows of heaven, and
shews us Jehovah of hosts sitting upon His throne, and the sons of God
standing near Him on His right hand and on His left. And Satan also is
among the comers ; and he had but 8 just ascended from 9 taking a survey of the
* He had said before that the author had omitted nothing which could make his picture
perfect, or, in other words, he had praised his great carefulness. (1863.)
borrowed. 2 See p. xlii, note ". s was guarded, wary, taking heed, careful, to declare.
* [the] end. See Isa. xlvi. 10. 5 in spite of [there] not [being] violence (wrong), or, in spite
of no-wrong (i.e., in spite of blamelessness, innocence, integrity) ; or, if the transposition
be adopted, " not because of any wrong," i.e., without any wrong. That Don Ni is here
used as a compound word = no-wrong (i.e., innocence, blamelessness) is prob. from the
addition of "iw> , to which Don Ni would thus exactly correspond. Still, Don Ni is might
well be taken = " in spite of (or, because of) [there] not [being] wrong," just as
'ins 'is, niiN. TiDa in Job xxix. 3, = " on the secret-blessing of God [being] on my tent,"
where we have to supply nvn . It is not clear how Ben-Zev took Don Ni is in Job xvi. 17.
It might also mean, " for, because of, no- wrong " (i.e., because of blamelessness, innocence),
and itt> is because of uprightness, and it was indeed because of Job's uprightness that God
allowed Satan to smite him, in order that he might be proved ; but I doubt whether Ben-
Zev uses the words in this meaning (cf., however, p. xlvi, note 23). Could is =for, in ex
change for = nnn? See note in Comm. and Append, on chap. xvi. 17. ' against, i.e.,
notwithstanding, in spite of (see Comm. on xiii. 14). * the manner of God, i.e., His
goings on, proceedings. 8 the inf. seems to be coupled with the tense here, for the
purpose of indicating the continuance of the action of ascending, until the beginning of
the next action described (i.e., God's speaking). We thus see, as it were, Satan completing
his ascent before us, and great vividness is hereby imparted to the description. We may
transl. therefore, lit. " and ascending he had but ascended," = and he had but completed
his ascent, or he had but just ascended, just giving the force of the inf., which thus
virtually adds strength to the "[N , as much as to the tense. The construction is evidently
borrowed from Gen. xxvii. 30, ltos) . . . . 3ps; ns' tfs' ^n trans, in A. V., "Jacob was yet
scarce gone out.... when Esau." Ges. indeed (see Tregelles' transl. e. v. ^|n) renders
the 'p (alone) just now, but scarcely, but so he does not transl. the inf. at all. 9 or
shortened form of 3"tSn the inf. conslr. ; and as equivalent to y0n Dr. Bernard certainly seems
to have regarded it here. (1863.) [There are the following discrepancies between these lines as
given here, and in the fac-simile : —
In the heading. For nnaitfni and its (the question's) answer, there is in the fac-simile (which
see for a translation of these lines) inaiwrn and His (GooVs) answer.
Line 2 of Job's question. In the fac-simile there is npil instead of BYTOl .
Lime 1 of GooVs answer. In the fac-simile there is N'a; '3 instead of Na; Na '3 .
Line 2 do. In the fac-simile there is 'rnOTJn instead of 'nnp_i N'i ; and ?[i is
inserted after atfn .—Ed., 1863.]

Xliv BEN-ZEv's PREFACE.
earth and the inhabitants thereof, when God hastened to 10ask him what his
opinion [was] with regard to his servant Job ; and behold ! Il Satan lacks not
power to find 12 occasions for speech even against the 13 best of men, saying that
Job serves God on account of the 14 greatness of the blessings which He has
abundantly bestowed upon him. And he 15 asked that God should try him (Job)
in the furnace of trial, and God consented to bis words, and gave him power over
everything he had 16 with the exception of his person, which he was to preserve.
And when 17 the power is given to him, there is not a destroyer more
prompt than he to consume and to destroy, and with 18 the greatest celerity he
overthrows the house of Job from the [very] root. And after he has completed
his work, the author suffers him to ascend a second time to heaven, 19 and allows
him ingress among the sons of God ; and when God asked Satan a second time
respecting his servant Job, Satan found a 20 pretext to smite [even] the body
of Job, which was 21 a much more severe trial than the former, and God
searching, spying out. 10 to ask (inquire at) his mouth. As it is by the mouth we are
answered, we may well be said to ask questions of a person's mouth. See p. xlvii,
line 11. " the hand of Satan is not short. ,2 Ben-Zev, like the Hebrew
Commentators generally, takes ni'is in ciyi rii'is, = the Chald. and Rabb. nis causa,
occasio, and he transl. this expression in Deut. xxii. 14, 17 (where alone it occurs) falsehe
Beschuldigungen, false accusations ; and therefore, as Ben-Zev is the author of this
Preface, we must take this to be the meaning intended here. 13 choice of men. 14 or
multitude. 15 was seeking, petitioning. 16 In the translation given above, which had
Dr. Bernard's sanction, inin is translated as if it were nin without the affix ; i.e., as though
the l were paragogic. Now, in Heb. we do find 'nin with ' paragog., but never inin with
paragog. i ; and it is a question whether inin is so used in Rabb., although I rather think
Ben-Zev in his Lexicon sometimes uses it so. mill might, however, be a misprint for
'nin (see p. xxxvii, note "). As, however, in Job ii. 6, from which the pres. pass, is evidently
borrowed, we find Tbifi 1WD3 nN ijn only his life preserve, one feels inclined to translate
here excepting this (lit., it) [that] he should preserve his life, but here again the affix is in
the way, and the constr. of "inw with a , = to preserve, is somewhat uncertain, though Ges.
transl. it so in 2 Sam. xviii. 12. In this pass., however, Kimchi takes tow to mean to
beware (cf. Josh. vi. 18), and explains, beware {take heed) that no one touch the youth. Mr.
Randolph would adopt this meaning here, and then the sense would be, " excepting this,
that he should beware of (touching) his life," or better, inasmuch as it is harsh to supply
the verb to touch, " that he should beware in regard to, as to, his life." I think, however,
that Ben-Zev probably uses "iow in the sense in which it is used in Job ii. 6. Ben-Zev
does not quote the pass, in Sam. in his Lex., so that I do not know how he understood
3 tow there. Lastly, the affix in mill may, I think, possibly be simply pleonastic ; " and
gave him power over everything he had, excepting this [viz.] over his life." It is well
known that in Rabb. pron. aff. are very freq. used pleonastically, cf. p. xlix, note 19- At
any rate, nin alone would have been very inharmonious. " or, He has given him the
power. 1S we might, I think, say, " with the utmost alacrity," for alacrity implies
both promptitude and eagerness. 18 even so as to give him walks, i.e., so as to allow
him to walk among, consort with, Ben-Zev transl. D'sinn in Zech. iii. 7, whence he has
borrowed this expression here, Umgang, Wandel. The inf. with i here seems almost = a
finite verb. See note in App. on Diwi Job v. 11, and infra note 28. 20 or occasion. See
note 12. 21 the trial the more severe than the former (with emphasis on the the), i.e. the
trial the most more severe than the former, i.e., which exceeded the other in the greatest

BEN-ZEv's PREFACE. xlv
82 acceded to him even in this respect. And after Satan had completed his work
23 and heaped every sort of calamity on Job, then the windows of heaven were
closed 24 [to the reader], so that he should not again return to heaven, and we do
not any longer know what is being done there ; for, seeing that he [the author]
wished to tell us in this poem that the afflictions of Job were 25 by way of trial
and ordeal, therefore, when he has 26 effected his intention, he shuts up the
gates of heaven, and returns to his narration and to the words of Job and his
companions, who are on earth. And Satan [too] ceased [from bis work], and
27 was at rest.
And behold ! the three friends of Job gathered themselves together, [and] came
everyone from his own place at 28 this sad report, and they found him stricken with
sores, sitting among ashes. So they sat down with him on the ground seven
days, and were not able to speak a word because of the sadness of their souls, until
Job opened [his mouth] to speak, out of the abundance of his complaint and 1 grief,
and murmured 2 because of his existence, 3 seeing that his 4 non-existence would
have been better for him than his existence. Then his friends 5 also opened their
mouths to speak — not to mourn with him and comfort him, as their first intention
had been, when they came, wept, rent their garments, and sprinkled dust upon

possible degree. There were other more severe trials, but this was the more severe one
par excellence, i.e., the most more severe one, the severest of the more severe trials. So in
Heb. the superlative is freq. expressed by the addition of the def. art. to an adj. Thus
QiSsa navi (Cant. i. 8, v. 9, vi. 1) = "the beautiful one among women," par excellence =
the most beautiful, &c. See p. lxi, note 27, and sect. 7, par. 5, line 1. See also p. xlii,
note 3S, and p. xl, line 13. It was certainly Satan's wish to select the severest trial
possible, for he knew that he could not otherwise possibly attain his object. See
Appendix, p. 567, near top. Still, as the def. art. is freq. used with a noun in Heb.
when we should use the indef. art. (cf. "iBODn last line of this section), and as when
the suhst. has the def. art., the adj. must also have it, it is possible that the meaning
here may be merely, "a more severe trial than the former." "invn prefixed to an adj.
does, however, certainly sometimes mean the most, as in the pass, quoted above from the
preface (par. 2 of this sect., line 4 from end). Comp. the Fr. le plus sage = the wisest.
22 accepted [his] face for him even as to (or for) this matter. See Job xlii. 8. 23 so
as to thrust, or in thrusting, every evil upon (or against) Job ; or [which was] to thrust,
&c. 24 This clause and the next might refer to Satan, who did not again return to
heaven, and it is certainly easier to take Satan (or the author, see four lines farther on
(in text)), to be the nom. to aiw , and the interpunctuation in the text, though this is
very bad, certainly points to one of these two interpretations. The transl. would then be,
and he (Satan, or the author) does not return again to heaven. 25 on the side of. See
p. lxiv, note 14. 26 completed, perfected. 27 drew his breath. See Exod. xxxi. 17,
whence this pass, is borrowed. 2S the.
1 See 1 Sam. i. 16, whence this pass, has been borrowed and where Ben-Zev renders crw
(as freq. in Job) Klage. 2 or, against his existence. 3 Between the i and the '3 we
must supply from osinn some such verb as complained, and he complained that. See
p. xxx, note *. 4 deprivation, lack [of life]. 6 found opening of mouth (see
Ezek. xvi. 63, xxix. 21), to speak likewise, i.e., found their tongue, found utterance; they
had not been able to speak for grief, but now they found they had recovered the power.
Ben-Zev in the second of these pass, transl. ns jinns Muth zu spreohen, and this would

Xlvi BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE.
their heads, but they began to 6 provoke him with their words, for 7 they knew
nought of the things which the writer has narrated to us 8 as having taken place
in heaven above between God and Satan. So the matter was impossible in their
eyes, and they sought [therefore] to justify the judgment of God, and cast 9 doubts
and aspersions on the righteousness of Job, or [imputed to him] 10 impure mo
tives in his service [of God] ; and, u in addition to this, these wise and notable
men "' declare everyone their opinion with regard to God's Providence, and 12 that
which befalls the sons of men, but, 12/ they all agree in this point [that] Jehovah
is right in His 13 controversy with Job, and that Job bears [the consequence of]
his sin. And Job returns answer to the words of everyone of them, and combats
their words, and 14 stands up for himself to justify himself, and by this means
the dispute increases. At first they spake 15 gentle words, until they plunged
deeply into the controversy, and their hearts grew warm, when they answered
16 wrathfully, and instead of 17 friends turned to [be] his opponents. Now, as to
this sufferer, was it little 18 for him to bear his disease and his pain, that he should
besides hear 19 hard words, and the 20 angry speeches of his friends, who provoked
him ? Yet, 21 notwithstanding [all] this, 22 during the whole length of the
dispute, behold ! Job stands like an iron pillar upon its base, 22° praising his
uprightness, and the integrity of his heart, and the purity of his hands, and
maintaining [that] he is suffering 23 for nothing ; and if, in the overflowing
of his indignation, he 24 vents some words against God's Providence, he very
do here. e If T?3p_ is connected with the Gr. xevrpov, as is prob., then it strictly means
to prick, sting, goad (stimulare). ' did not know [any (one)] of the things.
8 which was (were, had been) done. See p. xxvii, note 6. s doubt and stain.
10 lit., or [cast] thoughts of uncleanness on his service, worship. " with this.
"'Notice that we have here o'waw, instead of B'W3Nn (with the def. art.), as it would
be in Heb. It is a common practice in Rabb. (I suppose for the sake of economy)
to leave out the def. art. before the subst., and to put it only before the adj., or adjs.,
belonging to the subst. •  and several examples occur in this Preface. See note 12/,
and p. Ixvi. note 36 , &c. No ambiguity results herefrom, as the definite article with the
adjective is quite sufficient to shew that the substantive is to be taken definitely.
12 upon the chances, accidents, of the sons of men. 12' [the] side that is
equal (i.e., the point of agreement) among (between) them [is that] Jehovah, He
is the righteous just one, &c. 13 his cause. 14 This phrase
1WD3 is ios is borrowed from Esth. viii. 11, ix. 16, where it is transl. in the A. V. to
stand for one's life, and by Ben-Zev, sich vertheidigen ; else one feels inclined to transl.
it to stand upon one's will, purpose, to persist in one's determination. And, indeed,
Ben-Zev gives isnas this meaning, viz. = leharren, in Ezra x. 15, and he quotes
insi is TOiB from the Taltn., understanding it no doubt, persisting in his opinion (auf
seine Meinung bestehend). Comp. infra, p. lxiii, note 5. ls soft things (Job xl. 27).
" wrath. " lovers, were turned, turned themselves to (for) him to opponents. !8 his
bearing. >9 hard-things. See note 15. 2» anger. " with this. See
note ("), where ni os with this, means in addition to this. 22 The transl. sanctioned
hy Dr. Bernard was " [and] notwithstanding all the length (i.e., the long duration) of
the dispute," but against this is, firstly, the absence of i and, and secondly, the pre
sence of the word ia . 22° to bless, praise. 2S for no-thing. This looks as if Ben-Zev
understood Don Ni is in the preceding par., line 2, for no-wrong ; see note on it. 24 pushes

BEN-ZEV's PREFACE. xlvii
speedily turns and repents of his 25 words. But they, who reason against him,
assert, that, as for the Rock, His work is perfect, and there is no iniquity in
His ways, and [that], if Job suffers, his guilt is upon his head (i.e., he has brought
his sufferings upon himself by his guilt) ; but Job is not humbled because of
their noise, nor is he dismayed because of their 26 multitude (i.e., because they are
three to one), and he prevails against their words, until [at last] he gets the better
of his companions, so that [they] cannot find any answer to his words, and
[then] he extends his speeches, and there is v none x among them answering
his words. Then behold ! Elihu arises, and seeks to renew the controversy ;
so he speaks, and then stops and holds his peace, M [in the hope] of obtaining
an answer from the mouth of Job ; but Job does not enter into 30 discussion
with him. Then he speaks again, and calls to Job, but Job [is still] silent, till
at last God reveals Himself, and speaks to Job, and puts questions 3l to him
concerning the " wondrous things of [His] creation, and the government of the
universe generally. And 33 thus Job 34 becomes humbled at the words of Jehovah,
and M abases himself before Him, and confesses, that the knowledge of the 36 short
comings of his knowledge is the 37 perfection of a human being's knowledge. But in
the answer of God no reply is found to the questions of Job, nor any sufficient
reason for his suffering 38 such afflictions ; for it would not have been suitable
39 for God to excuse Himself for His doings before flesh and blood, or to reckon
with His own creatures, why and wherefore He had done so and so ; but it is
enough that man should limit himself to his own boundaries, ' and should not
break, nor burst forth, from the station assigned to him, to * pry into the 2 recesses
of the mysteries of God and His 3 dispensations.
* Two copies of this Preface which we have before us do not agree as to the word
translated here to pry ; one has "nni , and the other "nni, hut, as neither of these would
make sense, we suppose that the right reading must be "mini , and have translated
accordingly. — Note of Ed. [I leave this note, because the suggestion made in it is very
[forth]; cf. the Germ, ausstossen. 25 word. 2S This might mean, however, " their
tumult." Cf. Isa. xxxi. 4, whence the words have been borrowed, though Ben-Zev has
transposed the two verbs, apparently because nrp is a stronger word, and has a fuller and
more pausal form than nw;. 27 see Job xxxii. 12, whence the expression has been
taken. 2S from, out of, them. 29 [so as] to find an answer. 30 words. 31 before him.
32 wonders of formed (created) things. s3 by means of this. *4 bowed himself.
33 humbled himself to Him in it (this matter), or by it. See p. xxx, note d. 3S shortness,
brevity, imperfection. 37 end, limit, perfection, or completion, i.e., the utmost extent.
38 the (these) afflictions. 33 for God to be defending Himself.
1 lit., and should not break forth from his station, and should not burst forth ; but as,
when two verbs refer to the same noun, it is not unusual in Heb. to place one verb before,
and the other after, the noun, I have transl. in the text as though festaia belonged to both
verbs. Comp. Isa. xlii. 21, tw rnw i"ir = nVin tint Vw , in A.V., " He will magnify
the law and make [it] honourable," the idiom, which is also common in Eng., being pre
served, though we have to supply a pronoun after the second verb. Comp. also note in
Append, on nsii rrrpn rriaN Job xxxix. 13. The language here is, I think, no doubt
borrowed from Exod.', Chap, xix., where we find, in ver. 21, nin; itj <mv JB in A.V.,
"lest they break through to the Lord " (Jehovah), and in ver. 22 nin; nria fiB' jb "lest
Jehovah break forth UDon them." 2 secrets of. " His custom, habit, i.e.,

Xlviii BEN-ZEV 's PREFACE.
And the writer would not have done right, if he had left the righteous man 4 to
perish in his righteousness, after having represented him with the excellencies of
uprightness and righteousness, and afflicted him with pain without a cause,
merely for the gratification of Satan, in order to prove him, and yet he stood fast in
the trial, and 6 vindicated his righteousness  therefore he (the writer) made
him glad 6 according to the days wherein be had afflicted him, and restored him
everything twofold ; only the number of his sons and daughters he could not
[well] make double, for, 7 had he done so, it would have been necessary [for him]
to renew his (Job's) wife's youth like [that of] an eagle v, so that, 8 after she
had waxed old, she should [still] have pleasure ; for, 9 after having first borne ten
children, she 10 would have had to bear twenty more ; and therefore '* a number
[of children] like the first number seemed sufficient to him (the writer).
ingenious, and is Dr. Bernard's and not mine, "nn might well be a misprint for vm ,
for I have more than once caught myself, when transcribing these reduplicated verbs,
leaving out the reduplicated, or the apparently reduplicated, letter. This would give us
here "nn , and the change from this to Tin is very easy, for every one, who has had Hebrew
printed, must know that the compositors frequently print 7 for 1 , and vice versa.
See p. xxxiii, note d. Again, "inin is just the word we require here, for do not we
find in the Talmud (see Buxtorf, s.v.) own >wbd nns -imni j'N , lit., Non est cogitandum
post opera Dei. At the same time, I think it is pretty nearly certain that Ben-Zev
intended to write "nni (or "nni), for in section i, § 8 (beginning with nssoa), line 4,
we find Tnni (used exactly in the same sense), where the use of the l forbids the sup
position that there is a misprint for imni . The question therefore is, whether Tin ,
or "nn , can have much the same meaning as Tmn . Dr. Bernard seems to think they
cannot, but I am inclined to believe they can. As for Tin it properly means to return,
and Buxtorf gives Tja. Tin , converte te, resipisce, so that it would seem to correspond
exactly to the Fr. rentrer en soi-meme, and the Germ, in sich gehen = to reflect upon
one's ways, to repent. Again, under im , which also means to return, we find ^J| "iin
= with exactly the same meaning as ^| Tin , whilst "ninn jra = the reflective voice,
the Hith-padl. See Mason and Bernard's Grammar, vol. ii., p. 291. I think, therefore,
that "nn might well be taken in the sense of to reflect upon, and so in a bad sense = to
scrutinize, pry into. But there seems to me but little doubt that "nni is the true reading
here, for Ben-Zev (in his Lex.), following Kimchi, gives the verb "nn in the disputed
passage in Ezek. xxi. 19, oni njinn .... a-jn , the meaning eindringen, in das Innere
dringen, a meaning, which well accords with that of the noun Tin penetrate (from penetro)
inneres Gemach (and fig., (like penetrale), innermost part of a thing, recess), and is exactly
what we require here, "nni would, therefore, be a misprint for "nni , n being substituted
for n , as it very freq. is by compositors. See p. xxx, note g. — Editor, 1863. [Ben-Zev has
Tin1;, see p. lxxiv (')].
His way 'with men ; but anao seems also to be used = nanan (see p. xxxviii, note '),
conduct, rule, government (see infra p. lxv, note 3") 4 perishing ; prob. part.,
though without Full Chowlem. Cf. n'i nis , sect, a , par. a , lines 3, 4, and oncsn
sect. 7 , par. 6, line 3 from end. 5 The lit. rend, seems to be, and disputed,
contended concerning, on behalf of, his righteousness, contested, maintained, his righteous
ness. 6 according to the days of (i.e., during which) He had afflicted him— a tense
governed by a noun in constr. See Ps. xc. 15, and note in Comm. and Append, on Job
xxix. 2. 7 if so. " See Ps. ciii. 5 ; and infra note ". 8 see Gen. xviii. 12.
9 after her having borne. 10 more lit., she would again have borne twenty moie.
"" the number, i.e., the number which was like the former. See p. xliv, note 21. Mr.

BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE. xlix

II. " WHETHER THE NAME OF JOB WAS [THAT OF] A
REALLY EXISTING MAN OR NOT?
'" Various opinions there l2 were among the wise men 12' of old, as to whether the
name of Job, mentioned in this book, [was] the name of a 13 real man, [who] existed
at a certain period of time, and all " the events told of him also took place, or
whether 15 it was a creation of the 16 fancy of the writer, [who] called the name and
17 the events connected with it into existence, ls so as to express in the form of a
parable 19 the lesson he intended to convey. But even among those who attribute
to him (Job) real existence, there is a difference and disagreement as to his time and
generation. Now the different opinions with regard to bis existence, and to the time
of his existence, so will be found in the Talmud (Treatise " Bava Bathra," fol. 14),
[where we read], Rabbi Levi, son of Lachma, says Job was in the days of Moses.
Rabbi Jochanan and Rabbi Eliezer say Job was 21 among those, who went up out
of the captivity, &c. : and22 a certain Rabbi says, Job neither existed nor was created,
Randolph would take p'BDn a.ct.=suppeditare, a meaning which it sometimes has, and would
render, " So he (the writer) supplies him with the number [which was] like the first number."
The rend, in the text had Dr. Bernard's sanction, and I think it agrees better with the con
text. See sect. N , par. 4, line 4 from end, and sect, a , par. l , line 1 . I think, too, that if the
other meaning had been intended, we should prob. have had another verb, such as Ben-
ZeVs favourite dit to assign, attribute. " the name of Job, whether it [was that of] an
existing man, &c. The Hebrews, having no other way of expressing that of, than by
repeating the noun, frequently do repeat it ; but sometimes, finding, perhaps, the repetition
tedious, leave it out as here. Thus, we might have had here wn dw Nin on 3Vn bw , as
in the very next line. Comp. the preceding par., line 3 from the end, where
lniBN niS3 "1W33 wini = the much more prosaic "iwan '"ns33 inwN msa wini . The Nin here,
however, might possibly be referred to aVN, but, then Ben-Zev would be guilty of careless
writing, whereas, according to the other view, he has only adopted a well-known Hebrew
idiom. ]" divided opinions. So in Fr. avis partages. s"2 are. 12' See p. xxxviii,
note 3 13 an existing man [who] was in a time of the times, i.e., at some time among
all the times (ages) which have passed. " the deeds, actions, facts, which are told
concerning him. ls the Nin might well refer to 3vn and be transl. he (was a creation,
&c). 16 thoughts. " its deeds, actions, facts. 18 for the parabling of (i.e., to
serve as a parable for) his subject (or object) the (one) intended by him. The expression
was iwoi is prob. borrowed from Dips iwni Job xvii. 6, though iwo there seems to mean
rather to serve as an example * (see Comm. and Append.), than to serve as a parable as
here — still the constr. is the same. The meanmg evidently is, so as to allegorize, or for the
allegorization of, his subject, &c, i.e., so as to form his subject (object, meaning) into an
allegory (or parable). I do not think that iwo is here to be taken as a subst. ; iwo might,
however, I think, well he regarded as the Pi-al, and so mean at once, to parable, make into
a parable, &c. See p. lxix, note 14. 19 The expression ia nsnan was is somewhat
pleonastic, for 13'3S alone, or ia rerun j'3Sn would yield very much the same meaning.
20 thou wilt find ; or, it might be the fut. Niph. N2sn , with an irregularity of number.
Dr. Bernard, however, adopted the former view, which I also think the more
probable. 21 from, out of, those, de ceux, von denen. 22 lit., that one of the
* But would not to exemplify make very good sense here ?
d

1 BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE.
but was [only] 23an allegorical personage. Now, I will first bring forward 24 what
25 reasonable objections there are 26 to every opinion on both sides of the question,
whether the a whole of the book is 28 fact or an allegory, and afterwards I will
bring forward the decision and explanation of the matter. If [then] we * suppose,
that the whole matter *" was so [and] so existed according to this description (i.e.,
according to the description given in the work), against this supposition 30 the
following objections may be raised :
1. It is very 31 unlike an occurrence m in real life, 33 that everything assigned
to the man in the way of possessions 34 should tally with the sacred t numbers,
which are, three, five, and seven, — [namely], seven sons and seven thousand sheep,
three daughters and three thousand camels, five hundred [yoke of] oxen, and
five hundred she-asses.
2. ' In like manner, it is 2 very unlike an occurrence in [real] life, that every time
an evil chance befell Job, [whether] by the spoiling of the enemy, by the falling down
of fire from heaven, or by the fall of the house, everything which had 2*the
t i.e., numbers, which on certain occasions (such as in the descriptions of religious
ceremonies, sacred buildings, &c), are employed in the Bible in preference to others.
Comp. Gen. xv. 9, " Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three
years old, and a ram of three years old ; " 2 Chron. iii. 11, " One wing of the one cherub
was five cubits  and the other wing was likewise five cubits, &c." Job xlii. 8,
" Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams." — Note of Ed.
Rabbins. See supra, p. xxxii, par. 3 , line 3. 23 a proverb, parable, an allegory.
24 ce qu'il y a d'objections raisonnables. 2S objections of intelligence, i.e., intelligent,
sensible objections. 26 against every opinion from (of, on) the two parts (sides) of the
opposition, contradiction (dispute). 27 the whole of it. 28 truth, or the whole of it
[is] an allegory. 29 lay down, suppose ; cf. the Fr. poser, Germ, setzen. 29' so existed,
so was. 30 lit., il y a a objecter ces objections. 31 far of coincidence, or occur
rence, i.e., unlikely to coincide, occur. ni:oiin is not given in Buxtorf; but we find the
verb joiin = to agree, in Dan. ii. 9, whilst in the Targ. (Amos. iii. 3) JOTin is, according
to some, used in the same sense, and, in other places, like )OTt3 in Rabb. = oceurrere,
obvenire, convenire, to meet, come together, from which meanings it is easy to derive
that of concurrence, coincidence, or occurrence. Comp. the Fr. rencontre = meeting and
occurrence, and se rencontrer = to meet, agree, coincide. For pirn far = improbable,
comp. our far-fetclied and its equivs. in Fr., Germ., &c. The opposite aiig near, is used
= probable, e.g., p. xxxiii, sect, a , par. 5, line 1. 32 in existence in fact, deed, reality,
i.e., in actual, real existence, life. The periphrasis with iSBa seems to have been used,
because there was no adjective in '— ('iss) formed from isa (like 'wijn from W13N , &c),
and corresponding to our actual (from act). 3S that all that which is assigned for
the possession of the man. Job is also called " the man " supra p. xii, lines 4, 5, and
infra p. liv, line 5. 34 should be set, disposed, arranged in (or according to) the sacred
numbers. 1 like thus (this). 2 See supra note ". 2« borrowed from Gen. vii. 22. The
meaning is, lit., the breath of the spirit of life ; or, according to Kimchi, the breath,
the spirit, of life, ff;n now? the breath of life, referring to man, and o«n xvn the spirit
of life, to animals. But I prefer Mendelssohn's opinion, that npw3 refers rather
to the act of breathing, to the motion backwards and forwards of the breath.
Comp. Ps. xviii. 6, iBN nn nnitoo ut the blast of the breath of His nostrils. We might

BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE. li
breath of life in its nostrils, 3 should be either spoiled or should die, 4 man as
well as beast, and that there 5 should be always left neither more nor less than
one man, 6 to come and announce the tidings to Job ; and likewise this 7 coinci
dence, 8 that one should go out just when the other came in, 9 would be very
singular in real life.
3. Which way did the Spirit of God pass to 10 commune with the writer, who
[was] in the earth below, so that he should know everything, which was done in
heaven above, and what God spake to His hosts, " with whom He held together
sweet counsel, with regard to the actions of the sons of men, and what Satan
answered Jehovah ? [This could not be] 12 except a ladder was set up on earth
and the top of it reached to heaven, and the writer 13was ascending and
descending on it.
4. How can " one conceive that they 15 should be talking every man with his
16 fellow " in words of controversy, and with 18 objections and answers, and yet every
one should 18/ declare his opinion in I9 lofty poetic language, and arrange his words
in short m sentences, well-ordered and weighed, [and all this] 21 as it were offhand,
transl. then, lit., which had the breathing of the breath of life in its nostrils, i.e., through
whose nostrils the breath of life passed backwards and forwards. 3 was (or, should
have been) spoiled and died (or should have died). 4 from man and even unto cattle.
* was (or, should have been) left remaining. s who was (or, should have been) able
to come (i.e., who might come) to announce. 7 or, occurrence. " [namely] this-one
going out, and this-one coming in. 9 it [would be] far (improbable) in existence.
10 to speak to the writer. " with whom together He sweetened, made sweet, counsel.
SeePs.lv. 15. 12 If we put a dash before except, and add indeed { — except (unless)
indeed, a ladder, &c), it is, I think, hardly necessary to supply anything. Still,
as the words dn '3 {except) are so far distant from the first clause in the sentence
'131 13B "pi ni 'N which way did the Spirit of God pass, &c. (or, perhaps better, which way
could . . . have passed, &c), upon which they evidently depend, and as the
connection between them, therefore, would be but obscure, even with the help of a
dash, I have thought it well to introduce the words, " This could not be " [=m ]>n, which
ought really to have been in the text. See p. lxxiv (8)]. 13 nis and it are parts.
and not pasts, though they have not Full Chowlem. The pass, is borrowed from Gen.
xxviii. 12, ia O'tvi O'is. 14 it go (come) up upon (enter into) the mind? ai is nis
is found in Heb., viz., Jer. iii. 16, vii. 31, &c. 15 lit., were talking together ; comp. the
Fr. S'entretenir. It is, I think, more in accordance with the Eng. idiom to use should be
than the past, were, and I am entitled to do this, for Ben-Zev himself uses the future in
the rest of this paragraph. We, however, are more strict than the Rabbins, and do not
like to change from one tense to another as they do, but generally keep on with the tense
we have begun with. We might, however, say, were talking, declared, arranged, was ;
or, even were talking, and then should declare, should arrange, should be. In this latter
case, the meaning would be, " how can one conceive that, though they were talking,
yet that every one should declare," &c. ? This note applies, also, to supra, pars. 1 and 2
of this sect., in the first of which the fut., and in the second the past, is used, though in
Eng. I have found it better to transl. both as futs. (i.e., by should). 16 to his friend,
neighbour, fellow. " or, on matters of controversy; but words is, I think, better.
See par. 6, line 1. 1B and [with] objection and answer, the a heing supplied from
'iai3. We might equally well transl. "with words of controversy, objections and
answers," the i before rrjSB being omitted as superfluous in Eng., as infra, par. 6, line 1.
18' See p. xxxii, note a. 19 exalted poetry. 20 sayings, expressions. 21 as [it were] after
d 2

IU BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE.
without any hesitation or delay — and [that] the 22 arrangement of the words should
be welling with poetry from his mouth like a gushing spring.
5. This also [would be] a 23 strange coincidence, that they should ^'all he
bards, all poets, 24 all elegant speakers, and that one ffi style * should be adopted
by all of them.
6. How could the memory of man suffice to remember all the words, * objec
tions and answers, which [passed] between Job and his companions, and all the
28 speeches 29 just as they were formed and really were ? Lo ! this were a difficult
matter [even] in 30a historical narrative, 31 the subject of which might be treated
(behind) hand=carelessly. The expression may be derived from one's tossing out of one's
hand backwards over the shoulder what one does not care about. See Buxtorf, s.v. t .
22 This word aw is very puzzling. It is, no doubt, to be pointed aiw; , and, indeed,
in my copy, the word has an indistinct dagesh in the w, as though to prevent its
being taken for awJj, the fut. of aiw. [But there is no dagesh in Ben-Zev. See
p. lxxiv]. But what is the meaning of 3W? Buxtorf gives it two meanings, viz.,
orbis, vel terra habitabilis (as opposed to ijip terra deserta), and soliditas, solidus
sensus, but neither of these meanings make sense here. I would derive it, therefore, from
the Pi-dl oi 3W , which is used in Ezek. xxv. 4 = to make lo sit, set, place, and in Rabb.
has, according to Buxtorf, the meaning collocare, disponere, digerere ; when we should
obtain the meaning setting, disposition, arrangement — a meaning which does not ill agree
with the words {should) arrange, well-ordered and weighed. And the beauty of poetry
certainly does depend in no slight degree upon the harmonious arrangement of the words,
for people, and people of intellect, have frequently been known to recite verses which
delighted them by their harmony, although, when asked to explain their meaning, they
have been obliged to confess themselves unable to give it.* This interpretation had the
sanction of Dr. Bernard, who, indeed, was inclined to translate aiw; flow, which is about
equivalent to harmonious arrangement. We might, therefore, almost render onam aw by
our one word diction. If again aw could mean the setting of precious stones, &c, we
should also obtain a very good meaning ; but, in Hebrew, at any rate, the verb Nip was
used in this sense. Notice the, to Eng. minds, awkward, but very Heb., repetition of
the word saia , and see p. Ixiv, note 18 23 rare of occurrence, coincidence. 23' all
of them. 24 all of them speakers of bright-things. See note in App. on Job xii. 20,
p. 705, note X ; and also Isa. xxxii. 4, whence the lang. has been borrowed. 25 Jiaap is
the Lat. signum, and means standard, seal (cf. our signet), and style. Comp. the Fr.
cachet = seal and stamp. 2" should be coming up (i.e., should suggest itself, occur,
present itself) to all of them ; the style offers itself to them, and they adopt it. See
Buxtorf, who s.v. Jiaap interprets the verb nis in a very similar passage obvenit. Comp.
the phrase nsm is nis , supra, par. i, line 1. 27 and the objections and the answers.
28 tongues, hut in Babb. also speeches, words. 29 according to their form and according to
their essence, i.e., just as they were in form and essence. 30 a narrative (relation) of
fact(s), a history, which virtually = prose, as histories are commonly composed in
prose. 31 [in] which [it is] possible to grasp, handle, treat, the subject with different
words, i.e., in which, as being prose, the same subject-matter might be reproduced by the
hearer in different' words, without its suffering any great disfigurement or distortion. Even
in the case of a long piece of prose, when the reporter would not be tied down to the
precise words used, there would be great difficulty, if he trusted to his memory alone, in
reproducing all the statements, arguments, &c, of the speaker— how much greater then
* In " Rogers' Table Talk " (p. 253) there ia an instance given of this kind.

BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE. liii
of in different words — much more in 32 poetical language, where, by changing one
word, the poetry is marred and the meaning is 33 lost. 34 Will any one say, that
a man [was] standing 35 near the disputants, with a roll in his hand, 36 an inkstand,
and a pen, and writing down with ink 37 in a book the words which he heard
38 proceeding from the mouth of the disputants ? 39 Surely, at first they were
not gathered together, as it were 40 in a bouse of assembly of 4I wise men with
42 the fixed intention of investigating and 43 discussing matters of investigation,
the difficulty in the case of a long poem, of which every single word would have to he
reproduced! S2 words of poetry. 33 or destroyed, spoiled. 34 will a sayer
say? For this idiom comp. 2 Sam. xvii. 9, Deut. xxii. 8, &c. Comp. also Matt. xiii. 3,
" Behold, a sower went went forth to sow." 35 upon, at, near, the backs, of those
disputing, aa is, 'aa is in Rabb. = simply is; see Buxtorf; and in Append, note on
'T; is, Job xvi. 11. 36 and an inkstand. For this repetition of l before every noun
see note in Append, on nti Job i. 2. 37 upon the (a) book. 38 notice the sing.
nsv referring to the plur. Diam , and comp. in the last line of par. i the fem. nsaia
referring to 3iw> , which is, no doubt, masc. ; and see p. xxvii, note 5. 39 or But.
40 according to the rule I have laid down in the Append., note on n'i, Job i. 4
(p. 519), we ought to have "isnn'33, unless indeed no. be regarded as an ace. =
did not come together, were not gathered together, to, into, a house.* 41 But is it
not better to take D'oarm to be the nom. to nsia? "Surely, at first the wise men were
not gathered together in a house of assembly, &c." isn n'3 alone seems freq. to = a
house of assembly of wise men. Cf. p. 1, line 9, where Job is called the, and
not this, man. 42 with a fixed intention to investigate, &c. 43 and to
take (receive) and give (arguments) in (or concerning) investigations, i.e., to discuss
investigations, matters of investigation. These two verbs graphically express the inter
change, or bandying, of arguments, or the exchange of ideas. Buxtorf gives laia jnai NW3
agere de re aliqua. It is a question, however, whether nrpn can be taken neutrally =
matter of investigation. Infra, sect, n , line 1, it is used actively ; still nouns of the same
form are certainly used neutr., as e.g., nrnD , no'nn . But we might also rend, to take and
give in investigations,= to exchange ideas whilst investigating, or to adduce and receive
arguments in the course of investigation. Or may in investigations mean in the matter of
(the Fr. en fait de) investigations ? They might have discussed other matters, plain
matters of fact for example, hut they did not, they occupied themselves with investigations.
This would be the meaning also if we took nrrpna adverbially, i.e., with investigations =
investigatingly. 3 is often thus used with a subst. See nrvm infra par. n , line 5, and
nB'i33 sect, i , par. 4, last line. Lastly, it may be, " to investigate, and to take and give
in (or concerning) [their] investigations," i.e., to discuss their several investigations. If
npni to investigate, alone had been used, it might have meant that they confined their
investigations to themselves, whereas the addition of jnii NWi expresses that there was an
interchange between them, and that they communicated their investigations one to the
other. See Job v. 27, where Job's friends say to him, " Lo this, we have searched it (our
very verb ipn), so it is ; hear it, and mark it, for thyself." I do not know exactly how
Dr. Bernard understood the pass. It seems that in Eng. to give and take, is sometimes
used in much the same way. Thus, in the " Saturday Review " of Oct. 17, 1863, it is said
of the late Archbishop Whately that, " in the quick give-and-take of Oxford conversation,
he was perhaps unrivalled." For a similar form of expression, cf. the Fr. va-et-vient.
* This is plausible, for TS13 is freq. followed by i(iN), though, seemingly, only of coming to
gether with a person, and not to or at a place.

liv

BEN-ZEV S PREFACE.

but 44 it so happened [that] his companions 45 found Job [sitting] 46 in the ashes,
[and 46'] there they 47 came around him, and 47' in consequence of the turn which the
words took, 48 became involved in the controversy. This is 49 what may be
objected, if we take the words 50 in their strict sense.
But, if we suppose that the whole subject — both the name of the man, and
bis doings and bis fortunes, 61 none of them ever were, or had any existence,
[but that] all was invented ' by the mind of the writer, 2 the following objections '
may be raised :
1. What intention 3 could he (the writer) have bad in 4 particularizing matters
which bear no relation to the allegory, and to the object 5 aimed at in it ; for
example, 6 Job's wife's enticing [him] to curse God, and many [things] like it ?
7 So in like manner at the close of his book, 8 he specifies the names of Job's
daughters, and [tells us] that 9they had not their like for beauty ; also, the '"precise
number of years, which he still lived, and how many generations he saw. And so
[again] in the " middle of the poem (chap, xix), [Job is made to say] My
brethren hath He put far from me (ver. 13); My breath is become offensive to
my wife (ver. 17); and, as to all the chaps. 29, 30, 31, they all point 12 visibly,
and not enigmatically, to real 13 events, just as though he were giving an account
of the riches and dignity with which he was [invested] in former times, and of
bis good deeds, and how the wheel [of fortune] 14 had turned against him, and how
he had become [an object of] contempt and reproach 15to the lowest of families.
2. If Job I6 never was, and never existed, how [is it that] the prophet Ezekiel
introduces him among 17 men that had really existed [saying, namely,] (chap. xiv.
44 a chance chanced ; cf. note s4. Observe the omission of the that, which is common with
Ben-Zev. See last par. of this sect, line 2 ; sect. 1, par. 4, line 9 (in original), p. xlvi, Une 8
(in transl.) 4S his companions hit upon, came upon, lighted upon, fell in with, met
him [namely] Job ; stiessen auf ihn. Notice the pleonastic affix, and comp. Exod. ii. 6.
46 on the ashes. 46" For the omission of the i, see p. Ixii, note 43 . " surrounded
him. *'' by means of, through, the turning, going round, of the words. Comp. our " in
the course of conversation." 43 they came upon the dispute, i.e., got into the dispute,
entered upon it. " lit., ce qu'il y a a objecter. E0 according to their hearing (or
sound), i.e., literal meaning. 51 all of them were not, and were not created.
1 out of the heart of. 2 lit., il y a a objecter ces objections. 3 or, what did he
wish, aim at ? ou en voulait-il ? 4 Buxtorf has the subst. bubitb , but does not give the
verb wntnB , still our word is prob. a verb and not a subst. 5 see note 3- The meaning
may be "aimed at by him;" see the first par. of this section, line 3 in the original, and
line 6 in the transl. 6 lit., the enticing, incitation, of his wife to curse. 7 and so.
3 see p. xxxii, note >. 9 there was not their example, like. '• the detail, specification,
of the years. » interior, body. Ben-Zev probably considered the historical parts (i.e.,
chaps, i., n., and part of chap, xlii.) as in some measure without, outside of, the poem
(see Buxtorf, ».b. m), and if so, within (or in the body of) the poem would be more
correct here than in tlie middle of the poem, which would generally be understood to =
about chap. xxi. See p. xl, note ", and p. lxxii, just before note ,2 in text. 12 by sight
and not by riddles. ls deeds, facts, acts, circumstances. " was turned turned
itself. '• lit., with, in, among, the low of families. Observe the masc. sing, nins
wlth the fem. plur. mncwo; and see p. liii, note 33. » was not and was not „£ d>
existing men.

BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE. lv
14), Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it? And although
in the Talmud they did not 18 adopt this as an objection, so as to oppose with it
that one of the Rabbins, who said Job 19 never was, and never existed, behold !
the words of the prophet are more *" weighty.
Therefore, what is right is to 21 take the 22 middle course between the two
opposite extremes, ffl namely, [that] the truth of the matter is, that there lived a
man 24 at a certain period of time, ffi whose name was Job, and who was celebrated
26 for riches, dignity, and honour, and took fast hold 27of righteousness and
uprightness, and yet misfortune befell him, and he 28lost his possessions, and
was crushed with afflictions in a addition to his poverty. And this man the
writer selected for his subject; [and] 30 taking up some of the 31 real facts, he
fashioned him with the graving-tool of poetry, and 32 painted the pictures with
bright colours, and made of him an image, according to the likeness and 33 form
of the man, whom he wished to 34 give life to in his allegory, in order to
35 illustrate everything that I have mentioned.
HI. WHO JOB WAS— FROM WHAT PEOPLE AND COUNTRY HE
AND HIS COMPANIONS WERE.
With regard to all the cities and 35a regions assigned as the dwelling-place
of the men, who are mentioned by name in this book, 36 most of them are from
the land of Edom, or 37 its neighbourhood. Job was of the land of Uz, which
is assigned to Edom (Lament, iv. 21), Rejoice, and be glad, 0 daughter of Edom,
that dwellest in the land of Uz ! And the name 38 Uz is likewise mentioned
among the generations of the sons of Esau (Gen. xxxvi. 28).
18 take, receive. '" was not and was not created. 20 strong. " take hold
of the middle way, path. 22 the two parts (sides) of opposition, i.e., the two opposing
parts, sides. 23 and it, that, is. We must here supply 1 after Nim . It could not well
be expressed, on account of the second '3 immediately afterwards. Ben-Zev. freq. omits
a *3 . Cf. sect, n , par. 4, line 9, p'isn Nin mn' for 'm mrr '3 , and supra par. i , line 6,
lrnsaB for inisaa '3 , a comma being used instead of the '3 . M at a time of times ;
see p. xlix, note 13. 2S and his name [was] Job, and he was celebrated,
&c. 28 for riches and for greatness and for honour. Notice the repetition of
the prep, and eonj., and comp. note in Append, on Job i. 16 (p. 554), and supra p. liii,
note 3S- 27 on righteousness and on uprightness. See note (2S). 28 went
down, descended, (fell) from his riches, property. 29 added upon his affliction, misery,
distress, poverty. For the sing, fpia referring to the plur. onio> , see p. liii, note 3B.
But fJBla may, perhaps, be used as a subst. (like psio in Job xxxviii. 38, &c), and, if it
can, then the meaning will be [as] an addition. Comp. niepia in Isa. xv. 9, which is
transl. in the marg. of the A. V. additions. 3° took hold of, grasped, seized. 31 true.
32 and anointed (smeared)  with vermilion (i.e., with bright and vivid colours).
See Jer. xxii. 14, and infra p. Ix, note 8. 3S and according to the form of. Notice
the repetition of the 3 , and comp. note (20), and p. liii, note (3e), 34 to create ; i.e., the
author wished his chief character to be life-like, and, therefore, he based it upon a man
who had really lived. 35 lit., to make a sign by nodding, to indicate, point out, allude
to, hint at. 35° or provinces, but these countries could scarcely be called provinces.
Notice the masc. ?'?nr>n referring to the two ferns. and rnna . 36 their multitude, or
greater part, is. 37 from near to it. 3S And so the name of Uz is mentioned, &c.

lvi BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE.
39 Eliphaz, the Temanite, was of a city, the name of which [was] Teman [_** after
Teman], the 40 brother of Eliphaz, who is also mentioned among the sons of Esau
(Gen. xxxvi. 11). '""This city [was] moreover celebrated for wise men (Jer.
xlix. 7) : 41 -ft wisdom no more in Teman ? [It is also mentioned in] Ezek. xxv.
13, And I will make it 42 desolate from Teman ; [and in] Amos i. 12, But I
will send a fire upon Teman ; and 43 all- of them 44 belong to Edom.
Bildad [was] related : to Shuah, [who was] of the offspring of Abraham, which
he had by Keturah (Gen. xxv. 2), And Ishbak and Shuah. And, as for him
(Shuah), be dwelt in Edom, as did Dedan* (Jer. xlix. 8).
Zophar £ belonged to [the city] Naamah. This [may], perhaps, [be] the city
mentioned in Joshua (chap. xv. 41), on the border of the land of Edom.
Elihu 3 belonged to Buz, which is mentioned in Jeremiah (chap. xxv. 23),
together with Dedan and Teman ; and it is 4 probable that it was also a city of the
land of Edom, or of a 5 region adjoining it.
But, as to the 6 extraction of Job, of what people he was, this is also a matter
7 which cannot be absolutely cleared up, and the opinions of our predecessors are
divided thereupon 8, just as they are divided with regard to his existence and his
time. And this is also [mentioned] 9 in the place already quoted from the Talmud
(Bava Bathra, fol. 14). They say, There was a pious man among the nations of
the world (i.e., not among the Israelites), whose name [was] Job, &c. (Vide in
loc.t) But all the Tannaim J think that Job was of [the people of] Israel,
* Ben-Zev seems to think that, as Shuah and Dedan were of the same family, and
Dedan dwelt in Edom, as shown by there being a city of that name there, Shuah must
also have dwelt in Edom. — Note of Ed.
t The passage in the Talmud runs as follows :
na"pn ii isa From Fpnra i'nnn picM vis iNa row iapi na NiN oiisi Na Nil low ai'Ni («) n"N3 n'n twt
: arf'sn p mioi 'ia in"sa nao
" There was a pious man among the nations of the world (i.e., not among the Israelites),
whose name [was] Job, and he only came into this world in order to receive his reward.
When afflictions came upon him, he began blaspheming and reviling (God) ; then the Holy
One, blessed be He ! doubled him his reward in this world, in order to thrust him out from
the world to come." — Note of Ed.
X The Tannaim (D'Ntfi from the Rabbinical verb Nan to teach) are the doctors of the
Talmud.— Note of Ed.
39 lit., Eliphaz, [called] the Temanite, for he was. See p. xxxiii, note "- &' should
be " after the name of Teman," and not in square brackets ; see p. lxxiv (10). 4° Ben-Zev
here makes a mistake, for according to the pass, in Gen., Teman was the son of Eliphaz.
4C and so, also, this city, &c. " or, Is there no longer any wisdom in Teman ? 42 a
desolation. 43 i.e., all these Temans. u are assigned to Edom.
1 after. 2 was related (lit., registered, enrolled) after. 3 See 2. " near. See
note on pim far = improbable, p. 1, note ". 5 0r province. 6 family, race.
7 [which] it is not [possible] to make pure, clear, absolutely (cf. the Germ, etwas in's
Reine bringen). 3 also (likewise), like their division, but in Eng. the also is scarcely
wanted. » there in the Talmud, i.e., in the place already quoted (see pp. xlix— 1).
In the Edition of the Talmud in the British Museum, it is in fol. xvi.
(a) i.e., oiisn moiNa .
(6) In the edition of the Talmud, in the Brit. Museum, there is l'is na"pn N'an i.e.
Holy One, blessed he He ! brought [afflictions) upon him.

BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE. lvii
excepting 9' some few who say [the opposite 10]. And so it would seem, for "
[from] all that one can get 12 out of the book, according to its plain-meaning,
12' [it is evident that] he knew nothing of the Law of Moses, nor of the fathers
of old, 13 nor of the statutes of Israel and its ordinances. And all his words are
the words of a pious and upright man, who 14 does not belong to the Law of
Moses; nor was it possible for him to know anything of 16it, [inasmuch as],
according to what will be clearly shown farther on, he was before Moses, much
more before the giving of the Law. And some 16 would make him related to
Nahor, the brother of Abraham, 17 which is also a thing not out of the way.
IV. THE 18PLAN AND CHARACTER OF THE DISPUTE, AND THE
"PRINCIPAL FEATURES OF THE REASONINGS 20 BETWEEN
JOB AND HIS COMPANIONS.
If we 2Itake a general survey of the main 22 features of the subject, and of the
words, which the writer has put in the mouth of every one of his 23 personages
to whom he has n' given a mouth in bis book, we shall find that he has 24 preserved
his subject-matter in proper form and fitting order, in accordance with that which
the case a required of him for the ' complete attainment of his object in this
composition — every one speaking according to the 2 character, which he
has 3 assigned him. So the dispute 4 gradually rises according to the nature of
its subject4'; 5 in the beginning it is carried on gently, but afterwards with
more and more violence, the discussion waxing more and more vehement in
proportion as the heat of the disputants grows fiercer and fiercer.
91 there are saying, there are who say. 10 i.e., that he was not an Israelite.
11 quant a, tout ce qu'il y a a, faire sortir (tirer). 12 from the plain-meanings of
the book. 12' See p. lxviii, note "". 13 and not a thing of, &c. 14 [is]
not of the Law of Moses. ls this. 16 wish to relate him, make him
related, after Nahor. " and [as for] this too, it is not a far (improbable)
thing. See note «. ls arrangement, disposition, plan = naian in the heading of the
first section ; but naisn also (see infra, notes 2, 13), means disposition, character, so I think
we might transl. J3n here plan and character, which nearly agrees with essential arrange
ment and essence, the renderings approved of by Dr. Bernard. 19 root; i.e., the essence,
main features of. 20 which [are, take place] between. 21 set, place (take) a general
look, glance upon (at). 22 root ; see note 19 ^ 23 men. 28' set, assigned.
24 kept the form of the subjects on (or, according to) the proper order. By subjects Ben-
Zev seems to understand the different personages, their language, arguments, and all that
appertains to them ; and all these different parts of his subject (see line 1 of this par.), or
subject-matter, the writer has, whilst taking care that each part shall be consistent with
itself throughout, so skilfully arranged and fitted together, as to form an harmonious and
artistically graduated whole. 25 [was] making him a debtor, condemning him, i.e.,
obliging him, requiring, exacting of him, making it his duty.
1 perfection of. 2 his disposition ; see supra note 18, and infra ,3- " singled out
for him, set apart for him, appropriated to him. 4 ascends by degrees. "' i.e., as one
might expect from the nature of the subject. " its beginning [is] gentle -things, but
after this, it is hard, hard (i.e., violent, violent, increasing in violence) ; according as the
heat of the disputants makes itself strong (becomes strong, mighty), the argumentation
(discussion) strengthens itself. Tjann is the inf. and not the past.

Iviii BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE.
6 Job is the chief and principal [personage] ; his arguments are many and
forcible, and 7 more in unison with knowledge and intelligence 8 than the arguments
of his companions. And he is always ready to return answer 9 to his three friends,
Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, who combat his words 10 alternately, sometimes
one, and sometimes another; and he overcomes them, one after another. All
his words "from beginning to end [are] l2like [those of] a just man; his
13 disposition is I4 kind, 15 and though readily irritated, he is readily l6 conciliated ;
[he is] mighty in power to bear I8 afflictions, yet 19 remains steadfast in his
righteousness, and, if here and there, in the fury of his spirit, w he rashly utters
words [that are] not right, respecting the 21 Omniscience and Providence [of
God], he speedily repents, and again makes straight K that which he had made
crooked a in his language. The M opening words of his discourses are for the
most part with lamentation and wailing, but he 25 closes [them] with words which
excite pity and compassion.
Eliphaz is the first of those who answer Job. * In the beginning, his words are
words of consolation and pity, for who would not have pity upon v one suffering
cruel afflictions, when he speaks in the bitterness of his soul, and who would not
for a little while forgive [him] his words ? But one by one his words 2S become

8 As for Job, he is the head and the root. 7 joined to, connected with knowledge, &c, or
might it be rend., joined, put together with more knowledge and intelligence, than, &c. ?
the position of the mi' is, perhaps, against it. 8 over, beyond. For this use of is , comp.
Job xxiii. 2. 9 towards, against. 10 [in] successions, changes. " from his
head (beginning) and (even) unto his end. 12 The Hebrews having, no expression
exactly equiv. to that of, those of, &c, are obliged either to leave it out (as here)
or to repeat the subst. which they freq. do. Thus we might have had here p'12 w naia .
See Append., p. 586, note X ; and supra, p. xlix, note " 13 See note 2, and p. lvii, note l9.
14 good. 15 [he is] easy to be irritated, but easy to conciliate. It is much better, I
think, to supply Nin (which is freq. omitted before parts, and adjs., see App., note on nrai ,
Job ix. 8, and Index) before nia , as before yoN , than to take the masc. ffia to refer to
the fem. naian , though this constr. would be quite possible. See p. liii, note 3S , and
Addenda, on p. 386 (in Comm.). 16 msii should prob. be pointed nisii (see Job xx. 10),
for though DiS3i is the Kal, and so must mean to be irritated, I do not know that ren (in
Kal) can = to be appeased, conciliated— a. meaning which seems to be appropriated to the
Rabb. nsinn and nsina (see Buxtorf). ls or chastisements. 19 [is] standing, abiding,
enduring. This might mean, yet he persists in his righteousness, i.e., in asserting his
righteousness, but this does not agree with what precedes, or what follows, where Ben-Zev
praises Job. 20 thrusts out, i.e., rashly or angrily utters, gives vent to (the Germ.
ausstossen). 21 knowledge, i.e., as applied to God, Omniscience. See note in Comm.
on TjroH Job x. 7. 22 the perverted (crooked), which he had made crooked (perverted).
The verb aas in Pi-al has in Joel ii. 7, much the same meanmg as nas and nis, viz.,
pervertere. It is scarcely probable, I think, that toas is a misprint for nis , though
this as following niso (part of the same verb) would, perhaps, be a more idiomatic
Hebrew. [Ben-Zev has oas; see p. lxxiii.] 2= 0r with his tongue. Dr. Bernard
pronounced in favour of the rend, given in the text. 24 the opening of the
words of his replies (lit. reply). 25 [is] ceasing, ceases, breaks off. 26 the
beginning of his words [is]. See supra note 5. 27 one bearing hard (cruel) afflictions
(or chastisements). See stipra note ls- 28 are turned into harsh, cruel ones. Observe

BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE. Iix
harsh, and he turns [round] as though m he had doubts about the righteous
ness of Job, and 30 hides suspicion 31 in the secret covert of his words, till
at last he removes the veil from his face, and no longer covers his words with the
32 cloak of concealment, but rebukes Job with a high hand, with words of censure,
and lays to his charge that his own foolishness has 33 perverted his way, and [yet]
his heart frets against Jehovah. And in every 34 one of his replies he arouses
the ear of the hearers to attend to his words, for with him [are] great and 35 hidden
things of 36 sublime knowledge.
37 When Bildad comes forth 38 to stand up against Job, the soul of the disputants
has already become embittered ; 38/ their hearts have waxed hot, and their spirits
stormy ; so [he (Bildad), being already] 39 in anger and fury, it was no longer time
[for him] to distil 40 pleasant speeches, and 41 gentle words like dew at the com
mencement of his speeches, as Eliphaz [had done], who 42 spake before him. But,
for all that, he was guarded at the beginning of his speeches, and 43 entered into
discourse with Job with 44 reasonable words, and 45 with the assurance [that],
provided his afflictions 46 (as he himself said) had not been preceded by trans
gression, then a great deal of good [was still] stored up for him, and a good
47 reward, according to his works ; when, however, the dispute 48 becomes more
vehement, he speaks 49 harsh words against this oppressed and afflicted man,
60 without compassion or mercy, and even the 51 conditional language he at first
that iai is made fem., or used both as a masc. and fem., and comp. supra note ,s ; but,
very likely, niwp here = harsh-things ; see ni3i , p. lvii, note s, and esp. niwp , infra
note 49, and p. xlvi, note 19. 29 doubting. 30 wraps up, hides. 31 i.e., in
the ambiguity of his words, in his ambiguous words. 32 garment, or mantle,
cloak. 33 overturned his way, i.e., ruined him; notice the masc. verb following
the fem. noun, though in Prov. xix. 3, whence the lang. is borrowed, the verb is
fem. 34 reply and reply. 35 guarded, kept, hidden-things. Comp. Isa.
xlviii. 6. 3S high, lofty, knowledges. Comp. ninan Prov. xxiv. 7, &c. '7 As for
Bildad, when he. 38 standing up to meet. 38' and the hearts, &c. ; cf. supra,
p. liii, note 38. 39 'o os F|Si3 ren to be in a rage with one, is found 2 Chron.
xvi. 10. 40 sayings, words, of pleasantness. " words of rest, quietness, gentleness.
42 preceded him. 43 entered to speak, upon speaking, began to speak. 131 must,
I think, be a verb (i?7.), and not a subst. 44 words of taste, discernment (see Job
xii. 20), judgment. 45 with the condition. 46 were, according to his [own] words
(i.e., as he himself said, maintained), without transgression before them. 47 requital,
retribution, recompense. 48 makes itself strong, mighty. See note s. 4B hard, cruel-
things. 50 away from, apart from, no (i.e., any] compassion, &c, i.e., so that there is
no compassion, &c. The o here does not depend on "iai' alone, but on niwp iai' , these two
words forming together the opposite idea to that expressed by nion and n?m • for, when
o is thus used privatively after verbs, it is always prefixed to a word (verb, subst., &c.)
expressing either just the opposite to, or something removed from, in opposition to, con
trasted, or incompatible, with, the notion contained in the verb. See note in App. on'itop ,
Job xix. 26. The J'n here is not absolutely necessary, but, as is not unfreq. the case with a
double negative in Heb., imparts much additional force, and expresses the total absence of
any compassion or pity, whilst at the same time it shews unmistakeably how the o is to be
taken. Comp. dino , Hos. ix. 12, with din J'no, Isa. vi. 11. The J'n is, I think, more
commonly added when we can use any in Eng. sl condition which he conditioned to

Ix BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE.
made use of to him, he 62 removes from him, and 63 asserts in the most absolute
manner that his afflictions are according to his works, and that for his sake the
64 order of creation 66 cannot be altered. For why [says he], if the end of
all wicked men is 56 evil, should he thus murmur at his lot, and how can he
hope for good ? And 67 after this he depicts the end of the wicked with 68 very
cruel wrath, and makes a comparison of their calamity with the calamities of
Job ; and, in his last reply, he 1 introduces nothing new, as though there was
2 nothing left him which he had not already said, but he [again] rebukes the
crushed man 3 censoriously.
4 Zophar is the least among them, and his degree does not come up to the degree
of his companions who preceded him, in 5 argument or in poetry of language.
And, like 6 an echo, he only 7 repeats and reiterates the words of Bildad ; and, in
order to increase the 8 brilliancy of his 9 figures, he 10 strains and " exaggerates his
12 language, and 13 amplifies it 14 without saying one new thing. And inasmuch as
he 15 has not power to reason with words of 16 wisdom and understanding, behold !
he is the first who 17 draws back from disputing, and puts bis hand to his mouth.*
* Ben-Zev, of course, like many others, thought that Zophar spoke only twice, whilst
the other two friends each spoke three times, but the reader will find that, according to our
arrangement of the book, Zophar really speaks three times. (N. of Ed.)
him. 52 or it may be, he goes back, withdraws, from it (the condition) see Job
xxiii. 12. The rend, given in the text is that sanctioned by Dr. Bernard, won
is used both trans, and intrans. 5S declares absolutely with perfect absoluteness.
54 orders of. " cannot alter themselves. Ben-Zev is very fond of Hithpa-als.
See notes 4B, 5. 6e bad, calamitous, miserable. " with this. See p. xlvi,
notes " and 2I, where rn DS is transl. in addition to this, and notwithstanding
this, resp. Here it may either mean after this, as in the text, or along with this,
at the same time. Dr. Bernard sanctioned the first of these rend., and I think this is
the best, for Ben-Zev is evidently alluding to chap, xviii., in the first part of which Bildad
tells Job " the earth cannot be forsaken for him," i.e., the order of creation cannot be
altered on his account, and then goes on to describe the terrible fate in store for the wicked.
Still along with this might be understood in much the same sense. 5S cruelty of wrath ex
ceedingly, ino seems to be used nearly as an adj. See Comm. and App. on Job xxxv. 15.
1 he does not make a thing (or word) new. 2 not left to him some (any) thing which,
&c. The na must be taken with iai , = some thing, np what, which in Heb. sometimes =
npiNi? something, somewhat, in Rabb., freq. is joined with a noun (which it follows) in the
sense of some. See Buxtorf s. v. So the Germans familiarly use was=etwas, and say, etwas
Milch, lit., something milk=some milk. 3 with rebuke, reproof, reproach, upbraiding.
4 As for Zophar, he is the least who is among them. 5 arguments and poetries.
6 the sound of mountains, borrowed from Ezek. vii. 7, where Ben-Zev transl. in echo.
The more usual Rabb. for echo is the very expressive iip na the daughter of a voice.
'• doubles and repeats. 8 tjb: (Ezek. xxvii. 16, xxviii. 13, &c.) is a precious stone, by
Ben-Zev and others interpreted emerald, by Sept. av6pa£ = carbuncle. Here it seems
to be used metaphorically = brilliancy. Similarly above Ben-Zev used vermilion =
bright colours in general. See p. lv, note 32. s figure, figurative language.
10 extends, amplifies. " magnifies. 12 words. '3 widens them out.
14 without making new a word. ls has not restrained, retained strength,
has not strength enough left, or simply, has not strength enough. 18 knowledge.
17 See Isa. i. 4, whence the expression has been borrowed. Ben-Zev there transl.

BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE. lxi
And there are those who divide the 18 controversy into three 19 parts, the first
part from chap. iv. to chap, xv., the second from chap. xv. to chap, xxii., and the
third from chap. xxii. to chap. xxvi. In the 20 first, Job has [just] 21 come so far
in bis arguments as to shew to his companions that they have not 22 the least
superiority over him, and that there is not one thing which they know 23 that is
concealed from him, [and that] therefore they are not 24 competent to answer his
words, and make all his murmurings subside. And he then 25 lays his cause before
God — when he says [namely, chap. xiii. 3], But it is to the Almighty that I wish
to speak, and to reason with God that I desire — and all the 26 ordering of his words
is before God, may He be blessed ! The second dispute is 27 the fiercest one, and
in it the arguments 28 are hurled backwards and forwards with the 29 extremest
violence. In it Job, in the 30 vehemence of the bitterness of his souL 31 goes so
far as to declare positively that only the way of the wicked is prosperous, [and that]
all 3" they that deal very treacherously 32 enjoy peace, [for he says], (chap. xxi. 7),
Why do the wicked live ? They become old, yea, grow mighty in power, &c.
Zophar seeks to 33 overthrow his words, but the soul of Job has already become
34 too much embittered for [him] to give an attentive ear to his words, and in
chap, xxiv., 35 when be rehearses the deeds of the wicked, 36 whose way, for all
that, is prosperous, 37 he reiterates the assertions which he had made in chap, xxi.,
it sich zuruckziehen, sich entfernen. For the connection between strangeness and
withdrawal to a distance, removal (Entfernung, eloignement), comp. Job xix. 13, where
nj is coupled with o (denoting separation, removal), and corresponds to p'rnn . ls con
troversies, disputes. 19 or divisions. 20 first controversy, i.e., the first division of the
controversy. 21 reached, attained. Comp. the Fr. est parvenu a demontrer ; and see
infra ". 22 superiority over him [in] anything. See 1 Sam. xxi. 3, where noiNO seems
to he used adverbiallg = in anything, in any respect, at all ; though, perhaps, it is used
adjectivally here, like no in par. 4, last line but one (see p. Ix, note 2), when noiNO jiin» ]'«
would have much the same meaning as Inn' ia j'N . 2S and it is hidden. 24 fit, suitable.
25 sets, directs, his cause to God. 28 arrangements, orderings. The meaning, of course,
is, "and all his words are ordered," or, "he orders all his words." In chap. xiii. 18, he says,
he has ordered his cause (before God). 27 the hard, harsh, cruel one par excellence, i.e., the
most hard, &c. See p. xliv, note ". 28 lit., twist, entwine, interweave, themselves, and
so interlace, intermingle, pass to and fro, are bandied about. Just as an interlacement of
threads is produced by the swift to and fro movement of the shuttle, so here a web of argu
ments is formed. Comp. also our to retort, lit., to twist {hurl) back — torquere meaning
both to twist and to vibrate, hurl. Originally I had turn, which looks as if I had read
laainon from 33D , but the absence of a i (Full Chowlem) after the n is against this reading,
else the word would yield good sense. Note the Hithp. which is certainly much more
freq. used in Rabb. than in Heb. See p. Ix, note 60- 29 perfection, or extremity,
of strength, violence. 30 strength. 31 reaches, attains, arrives, to declare,
at declaring, absolutely, i.e., goes so far as to declare absolutely, positively.
See note 21. 3" deceivers of deceit, or they that deceive deceit, i.e., deal very
deceitfully, treacherously. The expression is borrowed from Jer. xii. 1, and so is the
preceding clause. 32 or happiness, prosperity. 33 or to contradict ; but inD also signifies
to destroy, demolish, and we speak of demolishing a man's arguments. 34 bitter from
giving, i.e., so bitter as not to give. See p. Iix, note 50. 85 in his relation of (lit., from ; cf.
the Germ, von, and Fr. de = of and from). 36 and for all that their way is prosperous.
37 Job doubles, in order to strengthen, confirm [them], his words wliich he had asserted in

Ixii BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE.
by way of enforcing [them] . Bildad 38 returns answer in a short discourse (chap.
xxv.), 39 [as having] no [longer] speech or language, and Job remains 40 the
victor over his companions, and, 41 like a lion, or fierce beast, he 42 tramples
upon the high-places of his companions, whom he has vanquished. Then the
spirit of his wrath 43 becomes tranquil [and] is at rest, and he repents him of
his words, which he spake concerning the prosperity of the wicked, and he
asserts 44 the reverse (chap, xxvii. 8), For what is the hope of the hypocrite,
&c. ? Will God hear his cry, &c. ? and all [the rest of] the matter there.
And he adds a poetical piece with lofty figures 45 which forms a crown to the
whole book, and he concludes (chap, xxviii. 28), Behold! the fear of the Lord
that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil [that is] understanding* And in
the three chapters which ' follow, he z again speaks of the dignity which had

* The reader will perceive that according to our arrangement, the last eleven verses of
chap, xxvii., and the whole of chap, xxviii., are spoken not by Job, as Ben-Zev considered
them to be, but by Zophar. (N. of Ed.)

chap. xxi. According to this, which seems to me the true construction, vi3i is governed,
both by isi3 and pini. But ioi3 might possibly, be joined with iwn, and then the transl.
would be, " Job repeats, in order to strengthen (confirm) his words, that which he had
asserted," &c, but this is less natural, for twn seems to belong to i'i3i. A third mode of
understanding the passage is, " Job repeats (i.e., repeats what he had before said, the Fr.
se repete), in order to strengthen, confirm, his words, which," &c. And one does not see why
isa should not be used neutrally in this way, as n:w (to do a second time, repeat) certainly
is. I do not, however, know that isa is thus used, whilst in the pass, quoted from the
Talmud p. lvi, it is used actively, and in sect, i , par. 5, line 2, it is followed by an ace. 'iai ,
just as here, and = to repeat. Lastly, pini might be taken absolutely = to strengthen, i.e.,
for strength's sake, for the sake of emphasis; for Buxtorf, s.v., pin, says that i'asn pini is
freq. used = ad corroborandum sensum, ad emphasin. In all these explanations I have
regarded pini as = pini , for I do not think it can be pointed here pini for strength. I do
not exactly know how Dr. Bernard understood the pass. At all events, whichever con
struction be the correct one, the meaning is quite clear. 3S [is] returning his words, i.e.,
returns answer, says what he has to say in answer, mai might, possibly, refer to Job's words,
hut, in this sense, Ben-Zev commonly uses viai is rwn , as in lines 3—4 of this paragraph,
sect, i., par. 4, line 10, sect, iv, par. 7, line 4, &c. 39 see Ps. xix. 4, whence the
expression is borrowed. 4° the one vanquishing his companions. 41 see
Isa. xxxv. 9, whence this expression has, I believe, been taken ; and for the supposed
misprint, see p. xxxv, note". ni>n yna lit., means a violent one of beasts; Ben-Zev, how
ever, gives V'lD in the pass, in Isa. the meaning of verwegen, vermessen=bo\i, audacious.
42 treads upon the heights, high-places of his companions, i.e., tramples upon their
haughty crests, casts them down from the lofty position which they had assumed.
43 This pass, is borrowed from Isa. xiv. 7. Note the omission of l , and see note in
Append, on nos iopT Job xxix. 8. 44 its inversion, converse, reverse, contrary,
opposite. 45 the cvowning (i.e., which are crowning), the whole book. Dntosn of
course refers to D'iwo figures, but in English it is better, I think, to transl. as though it
referred to rerio .
1 [are] after it. 2 he returns to call to remembrance, commemorate, make mention of.

BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE. lxiii
been 3 his, and of his prosperity in the days of his youth, and 4 of his righteous
deeds, which be had done, and how the wheel [of fortune] has been turned
against him now.
As to Elihu, he also was a man wonderful for [his] wisdom, but be 5 could not
bring himself to stand up to speak before 6 these very old men, 7 he himself being
young, until they were silenced and Job was the victor ; then came he forth to
meet Job, 8 thinking in his heart to prevail against 8' him by the superiority of his
wisdom, more than his friends [had been able to do]. So time after time he
9 challenges Job to engage with him in dispute, but Job keeps silence, and does
not10 care to answer his speeches. And in ll the beginning of his words it is
his custom to take hold of "' some of the words of Job, and "" to oppose them ;
3 to him. 4 his righteousnesses. 5 The interpretation given above had Dr. Bernard's
sanction and makes very good sense, and I, therefore, leave it, although it is not altogether
easy to see how the words obtain this meaning. It seems to me, that ("Qii) iwaaa ios here is
probably equivalent to (pitosni) iwsa is ios (sect. 1, par. 4, line 10), which I have translated,
stands up for himself {to justify himself), and we may comp. in the same par., line 13, 3X3
(iWNi) rras is ira nasa ai'N Job stands like an iron pillar upon its base {to praise), i.e., was
extremely firm and resolute in praising. The meaning here would then be he did (or
could) not stand up for himself to speak, i.e., he shrank from speaking, could not bring
himself to speak; and this is no doubt the meaning, for Ben-Zev evidently wishes to
express here in other words the same meaning which is conveyed in Job xxxii. 6, where
Elihu says : D3nN 'Si nino ntni 'nim ja is therefore hung I back {war ich schiichtern —
Ben-Zev) and was afraid to shew you my opinion. The difficulty here is that in the transl.
in the text, to stand is taken quite in a concrete sense, whilst in standing up for oneself,
to stand is more figuratively used, or rather is merged in the meaning of resolution.
1WB33 ids might possibly mean stood, endured, was firm, resolute, in himself, in his mind ;
and then the meaning would again be he did (or could) not bring himself to speak, hut
not to stand {up) to speak, because here again, ids has already been used up in eliciting the
meaning to bring himself. Comp. Ezek. xxii. 14, T[ai ifis;n. A. V., can thine heart
endure ? and where Ben-Zev gives ios the meaning of Muth haben. And, indeed, the
phrase iwsa is ids he explains in much the same manner, for he says its meaning is
iwsa ovp 1S3 pinnni to strengthen, fortify oneself for the preservation of one's life, where
iQB=pinnn, i.e., to take courage, exhibit resolution. Again, iwoaa ids might mean to stand,
take up one's stand, upon oneself, to rely upon, have confidence in oneself. But this again
gives much the same meaning. 6 the very old men. See Ch. xv. 10. 'and he a young man.
8 and he [was] thinking, or thought, according as we take it to he the pres. part, or the past.
" Job. See p. lxv, note 24 . 9 he seeks that Job should be mixed up, mix himself up
with the dispute, i.e., he tries to bring about that Job should, &c. ; or he asks that Job
should mix himself up, i.e., he asks, challenges Job to mix himself up, engage. Dr.
Bernard seems to have preferred the latter interpretation, which agrees better with
what really took place (see chap, xxxiii. 5, xxxii. 4). See infra note 17. For the form
3is> see supra p. xxviii, note '. 10 wn no doubt comes from the thoroughly Rabb. wwn
sollicitum esse, curare (see Buxtorf), though, as far as form goes, it might come from win
to hasten, or win (Rabb.) sentire. The last, however, would hardly make sense unless it
could = to give heed ; whilst win to hasten, scarcely yields a better meaning, inasmuch
as Job, so far from hastening to answer Elihu, did not answer him at all  unless,
indeed, which I think improbable, wn Ni may = our he made no haste, was in no hurry
(to answer), which latter is freq., though rather vulgarly used = he took care not (to
answer). " his first words, i.e., in the first part, or chapters, of his discourse; in
opposition to afterwards, five lines lower down. "' some words of the words. "" and

Ixiv BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE.
12 and, though he does not absolutely condemn Job, so as to declare, as his
companions [had done], that he is a worker of iniquity and has l3 acted wickedly,
yet, behold ! he does condemn him, l4 in that he justifies the judgments of God ;
and afterwards he 15 enlarges poetically upon the I5/ awful works of God. And,
seeing that one of the '6 attacks, which Elihu made upon Job, was on account of
17 his asking that God should engage with him 18 in dispute face to face, and
that he [Elihu] had said that God does not speak with a man '9 when awake,
but only speaks with him in dreams, and [then] opens his ear to instruction,
20 therefore an answer comes to Job 2I from God w himself, as it were upsetting
the 22' assertions of Elihu, and putting a an end to his words.
2a' When God answers Job, He does not come to condemn
[he is] opposing them. 12 and, as for him, although he is not condemning Job, so as to
declare absolutely, positively. 13 done wickedly in his deeds. 14 lit., from the side of
his justifying = from, because of, his justifying, the is being somewhat pleonastic,
as 'sa is in 'aa is = is (see p. liii, note 85, and is is sect. 1, par. 3, line 3 from end).
The use of the is may, however, be explained here. There are two sides to every
question, and two opposite ways in which every moral action at least may be performed.
And so here; it was possible for Elihu to condemn Job either directly (explicitly), or
indirectly (implicitly), and he adopts the latter course, he turns to the latter side; and
from that side, i.e., from the side of justifying God, he condemns Job, and not from the
side of declaring him to be wicked. And so again in the case of JVDan is is quoted
above. Afflictions may come upon man from God, either as a punishment, or as a
trial ; in the former case, they are on the side of punishment, in the latter on the side of
trial. So we may say " to err on the side of humility." In translating, therefore, as I
have done jroan is is , " by way of trial," and lpnsn iso , " in that he justifies," I give
rather the sense than the true meaning of is, which I hope I have shown can scarcely be
called pleonastic. ls he widens, enlarges poetry. In these cases the noun may commonly
be rend, in Eng. by a verb, and the Hiph. by an adverb. Thus he poetizes widely (at length)
would express the sense here. See App. note on Job v. 7. 15' prob. the fearful (awful)
things of the works of God, for else the adj. would precede the subst., — though instances
of this do occur. See note in App. on din jiwni Job xv. 7. He could not have said
Dwn niNii3 miissa, and n«ron own niiiSBa would have sounded much less well than what he
has. I think, therefore, niNna may be a part, agreeing with niiiss , i.e., that it may be
pointed niNTb. It could scarcely be in apposition to niiisB. 16 oppositions
(attacks) [with] which Elihu opposed (attacked) Job. Observe that the Heb. are
very fond of using a verb with a noun from the same root, whilst we as a rule
studiously avoid it. There are many examples of this fondness in this preface. See the
first line of the preceding par. They also freq. repeat a subst., where we should
either use a different one, or else a pronoun, or even leave the second subst. out
altogether. See supra lines 4 and 8 of this par., and (in the original), line 1 of the
next, pars. 5 and 6 of this sect, line 1, sect, ii, par. i, last line, &c, &c. " his
petition, request. This is in favour of the interpretation given in the text of wpao ,
line 3 of this par. (see note 9). la to dispute. 1B on [his] waking, being awake.
20 on account of this. 21 from with God. 22 in Himself, in propria persona.
22' words. 23 ends. See Job xviii. 2. 23' on God's answering Job. Notice that a
substantive here governs an ace, and for examples, in the Bible, see note in append.
on 'Si? Job vii. 19. We have here one of the innumerable instances which shew that the
Hebrew writers (i.e., those who write in Hebrew), although in their Grammars, Com
mentaries, &c, they do not note all the idiomatic constructions so fully as their Christian
(non-Jewish) rivals, such as Gesenius, Ewald, &c, yet are really perfectly familiar with

BEN-ZEV 's PREFACE. lxV
24 Job, and pronounce him guilty, 2" seeing that He had said, And thou hast moved
Me to destroy him without cause (chap. ii. 3) ; 25 nor does He come as excusing Him
self for 25' having afflicted him ; for what is frail man, that he should 26 examine into
the ways of Jehovah, and reckon with his 27 Maker, to require * of Him an account
of His doings ! But what God a urges against him is this, that He regards it as
haughtiness of spirit in a man, 30 when he seeks to 31 pry into the counsel of
Jehovah, and into 31' His superintendence of the world. And 32 on this account
He lays open before him all the treasures of creation, and 33 puts many and
various questions to him concerning the wonders of things created, in order to
show him the greatness of the glory of His wisdom, and the depth of His ** search-
them, so familiar, indeed, that they are able to use them in writing. The fact is, it is
because they are so familiar with these idioms, that they do not deem them worthy of
note ; the very circumstance that they are not struck by the idioms proves their great
knowledge of the language. Thus, an Englishman is much less struck by the idioms in
his own language, than a Frenchman is. 24 Notice the two Jobs, which are awkward
Eng., but not in Heb., and see p. lxiii, note "' 24' after that. M also he does not come.
2S' His afflicting him. 28 visit upon, i.e., cast one's eyes upon attentively, scrutinize.
27 his Possessor, Owner, Master. Ben-Zev, however, gives the verb rep in Ps. cxxxix. 13,
Gen. xiv. 19, &c, the meaning of create, in which he has been followed (though prob.
unconsciously) by Gesenius. It is probable, therefore, that we ought to translate here his
Maker, Creator. And, indeed, Mendelssohn in these two pass, gives rep the meaning of
bauen, hervorbringen, whilst Jarchi says, rep in the pass, in Gen. = nws , though he qualifies
this statement by adding — that He, God, made heaven and earth as a possession for himself.
The present pass, is, however, no doubt borrowed from Lev. xxv. 50, where we find
irep os aiSm —and he shall reckon with his buyer, i.e., with him that bought him, his
owner, master, lord, so that it is not improbable that Ben-Zev uses map here in this sense
 and, indeed, I originally, had Master, which Dr. Bernard sanctioned. The considera
tion of this pass, also inclines me to believe that I have erred in taking awn, in ds awm
iiis' sect. 1, par. 4, line 3 from end (see p. xxx, note*), to be the^ires. part. Kal, for 3wn
seems to have the meaning of to reckon only in the Pi-dl, and if so, awm must be
pointed there, as here, either atfrn or afrn , when the meaning will be and [that] He
should reckon, or so that He should reckon. 28 from with Him pleading (i.e., justification,
excuses), and account concerning His doings. We have transl. p pleading, in Job
xxxvi. 17. Jiawm p is probably a set phrase, though I cannot find any other examples of
its use. At first sight there seems to be but little connection between the words, but by
comparing their equivs. in other lang. we discover some. Thus Ji3wn = reason in Eccles.
vii. 27, and = the Lat. ratio in more than one sense, while ]H = cause, Lat. causa, and
cause, and reason like causa and ratio, are certainly akin in meaning. 29 argues, objects,
urges against him, charges him with. The sense is of course, The reason why God
rebukes him is that He regards it as haughtiness, &c. There is, however, some incon
gruity between the first clause and the second. 30 who seeks. 31 see p. xlvii note *.
"' His conduct, rule, government. Biisn nN is either the ace. after the subst. lanao (see
note 2!"), or nN means with, towards— -but I much prefer the first explanation. If, however,
areo here has the meaning custom, habit, way (the only meaning given it hy Buxtorf),
then ns will certainly mean with, towards. See supra p. xlvii, note 3- The rend, superin
tendence given above had, however, the sanction of Dr. Bernard, and considering the
meaning of the root are ducere, seems a natural one. 32 for this. >3 sets before him
questions from [among] various (different) questions. 34 lit., of the (= His) eyeing,
inspection, consideration, contemplation (or scrutinizing glance), i.e., of His view into
e

Ixvi BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE.
ing-ken, and the recesses of His sublime mysteries, of which the intelligence
of frail man 34" falls short to comprehend 35 even a thousandth part, and that
everything is arranged 36 in a good and profitable order, and [that] it is folly 37 in
man to search out the 38 judgments of God and His ways, because of the 39 short
comings of him who 40 would comprehend, and the profundity of that which is
to be comprehended. And this is what the poet said — that the 4I uttermost we
can know is [to know] that we do not know, &c. ; for this is our portion of all
the labour of 42 our understanding, and of [our] knowledge of Providence. And
by this means He (God) severs the great knot which 43is tied in the coils of
created things, amongst which is of course included the heart of man, and especially
Job's heart. The allusion is, perhaps, to niiN ipn in Job xi. 7, which is rend, in the
transl. the searching-ken of God, and which I have suggested in the Append, may mean
the depth (i.e., the unfathomable wisdom) of God, a meaning which Ji'S may, therefore, also,
perhaps, have. That the definite art. in Heb. sometimes = a poss. affix and = his, her, &c,
is well known. See note in Append, onwsa, xxxv.15; note42; and p. Iix, note 38\ Originally
I had the depth of the investigation [into such matters], and I believe this had the sanction of
Dr. Bernard, though he would seem himself to have been doubtful how to understand fron.
Buxtorf does not, inded, give lvs this neuter meaning, but I see no reason why it may
not be used neutrally, as our corresponding terms speculation and investigation sometimes
certainly are. The form says nothing, for words of the same form are freq. used neutrally,
as hn'3 commentary, nan composition, treatise, &c. The def. art. is certainly rather in
favour of this view, as is also the use of the word pas depth, which is, I think, more
appropriate as applied to an investigation, than as applied to a glance, when it would have
to be taken = the power of penetrating to a depth. Nor can it be objected that this view
does not accord so well with the context, for two lines farther on we have awion pos the
depth of that which is to be comprehended— or exactly the same sentiment. Moreover,
God's discourse is not intended to point out to Job so much the piercing ken of God, of
which, as is evident from chap, xxvi., 5, 6, Job was already perfectly aware — as the depth,
nay the utter unfathomableness, of the wonders of God's creation, and so, implicitly, of His
ways in general, which Job had presumed to pry into. 34° has been, is short. Notice
the fem. verb referring to the masc. subst., iaw , which is very unusual in Heb., when, as
here, the noun and verb agree in number. See p. xxvii, note b, and Ges. Lehrgeb., p. 718.
35 one thing from (of) a thousand. See Job ix. 3. se upon, according to, the good and
profitable order, arrangement. In Heb. the def. art. would be required before hid, but
in Rabb. this is freq. left out, as the reader will have inferred from the numerous examples
of the idiom which occur in this Preface. See p. xlvi, note "'. The same idiom is, how
ever, though rarely, found in Heb. Comp. Tiiisn W'N, 2 Sam. xii. 4, and Ewald, Lehrg.
(1863), p. 740. 37 from, on the part of, man. 3S or, the ways of God (see
p. xliii, note 7). "9 shortness, imperfection. 40 It is well known that the pres.
participle frequently denotes, in Heb., not the act of the person to whom it is applied,
but his intention, or wish, and the same of course, holds good of the past part. See
Appendix, p. 543, note *. 41 the end, limit (or perfection), of that which we know [is]
that we do not know. 42 the understanding, i.e., our understanding. Here again the
def. art. replaces a poss. pron. aff. See note 34. 43 which takes hold of, cleaves to— or,
perhaps, better, which is caught, entangled in, the intertwining, entanglement, coils ; for the
expression is taken from Gen. xxii. 13, where T,3Da inw means caught in a thicket (or hedge).
We should, indeed, scarcely speak of " a knot's being caught or entangled in a rope," but
I can imagine that such an expression might be used by people who look upon knots as
distinct entities, and speak loosely— and, indeed, I am informed by a lady that workwomen

BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE. lxvii
the mighty cable, which is fastened 44 at its two extremities [namely], [to] the
Prescience (of God) 45 at one end, and [to] the Providence [of God] at the
other end.* The pleasantness of the 46 glorious beauty of the poetry of this
book is felt in the heart ; but with the mouth ' it is not possible to express it in
words and speeches.

V.— WHO THE WRITER OF THIS BOOK [WAS], AND IN WHAT
LANGUAGE IT WAS WRITTEN.
2 In every investigation which we may endeavour to make concerning this
book, we meet with doubts and different opinions, 3 respecting which it is
impossible to decide with absolute certainty, which of the opinions is 4 correct, and
this also is the case in our present inquiry, [namely] as to who wrote the book
of Job, and in what language it was written. The opinion of the sages 8 of the
Talmud (Bava Bathra, fol.T 14), [is that] Moses wrote his own book, and the
book of Job ; but this 6 cannot be an opinion generally agreed upon, 7 for, if we
look to the fact that there is one [sage], who says Job was in the days of
* i.e., He summarily disposes of the great difficulty which there is in reconciling the
Fore-knowledge with the Providence of God, i.e., in understanding how it is that, if God
fore-knows what is to come to pass, He allows so much that is wrong to take place ; and
His summary solution consists in pointing out to Job that man should not transgress his
limits, and endeavour to penetrate mysteries which, although of course admitting of a
satisfactory explanation, yet never can be fathomed by a being of such limited intelligence
— though of such unlimited conceit — as frail-man. See p. xlvii, near end (of text). — Note
of Editor.
t In the edition in the British Museum, it is fol. 15. — Ed. 1863.
do talk of knots being caught in their thread. It is merely an inversion of " a rope
(string, thread, &c.) caught in a knot," which I certainly have heard myself. 44 at
(to) two heads (i.e., to two, points of support, Fr., points d'appui), [which, are] the
fore-knowledge, &c. fWNi here seems to me to mean, not so much the ends of the
cable, as the two points to which the two ends are fastened, as the chains of a suspen
sion-bridge are to its abutments ; and these two points, these two abutments, here are the
Prescience of God on the one side, and the Providence of God on the other, and the cable
(or chains) represents the connection between these two, the knot (i.e., the difficulty) in
which God refuses to untie, and severs. 45 at [the] end on this [side], and .... at
[the] end on this [side]. 4" glory of the beauty.
1 there is not to babble, i.e., it is not possible to express even weakly and feebly.
2 [as for] every investigation and investigation (i.e., every single investigation) which we
may endeavour to know (i.e., to prosecute, or to ascertain the truth of) concerning 
there are in it, &c. 3 as to which (or, which) it is not (i.e., it is impossible) to decide
with complete (perfect) absoluteness. 4 justice. 5 in. 8 is not able to be.
' for, according to (i.e., if we consider, judge from) the one who says Job was in the days
of Ahasuerus, and similarly from (i.e., judging from, according to) those who retard (delay,
defer; his existence, it is impossible [for them] to agree that Moses wrote his book.
jo would thus almost = 'Bi which might be substituted for it. nnnai lit., and as like,
similar, = and the like, and likewise, and similarly. See the vocabulary in Dr. Bernard's
Maimonides. jn might, however, perhaps, be taken = concerning, with regard to, (as
e 2

lxviii BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE.
Ahasuerus, and that others again place his existence later [still, we see that 7'] it
is impossible that they can have agreed that Moses wrote his book (i.e., the book
of Job).
But, if we 8 appeal to wisdom, and address intelligence, and 9 also listen to our
own feelings, 10 [behold] they all bear witness to, and declare, the early origin of
this book, and l0' that it is ancient of days ; and in those early days there was not
found a man u more proper and fit to write a book so precious as this, and in such
sublime poetry as this, than Moses the man of God, and this book '2 is quite
worthy to be attributed to him*
* It must not be supposed that all the views put forward by Ben-Zev in this Preface
have met with the approval of Dr. Bernard and myself. Ben-Zev generally writes very
sensibly, but here he ventures upon ground, from which we have deemed it prudent to
keep ourselves aloof (see 1st pref. p. xii), and indulges in speculations, in which, in spite of
his assertions, wisdom and intelligence have had but little share. It must not be supposed
either that, because I do not think fit to enter upon the consideration of the age of the
Book of Job, I have not read what the most eminent modern Critics (?) say upon this
point. I have read what they say, but  in spite of Davidson's ultimatum (Introd. to 0. T.,
vol. 2, p. 200), viz., that " Between these limits " [Solomon and the exile] " true criticism
will soon fix the proper date to half a century " (I wonder he did'nt say to half a year !)
sect, i , par. 6, line 5 from end Jo iai to speak of, concerning, and sect, n , par. 4, line 6
from end, diisti 'n'tbd concerning, with regard to, the wonders of created things, thus
= 'NiB3 in sect. 1 , par. 8, line 5) — and then the meaning would be, " and similarly with
regard to those, &c," i.e., and the same may be said of those, &c. We could scarcely,
I think, supply nsi 'Bi according to the opinion (of those who, &c), before Jd , though jo
is sometimes used = a genitive. See note in Append, on 'pj'ap nn , Job xx. 2.
iniN'sa onnNon Jd may indeed, perhaps, mean according to those [others], who [also] place
his existence late, i.e., as well as the one who says Job lived in the days of Ahasuerus ; still
I prefer the interpretation place his existence later STILL, as being more natural, and I
here have the sanction of Dr. Bernard. 7' It is freq. necessary in Rabb. to supply some
such phrase as we see that. Comp. the next par., line 2 (note 10) ; p. lvii, line 3 from
top, and ibid., line 7, where I originally supplied it will be seen that before " he was before
Moses." Sometimes, however, we do find an equivalent phrase in Rabb., as sect, iv, par. 1,
line 3 (in the transl.). 8 call to wisdom, and to intelligence utter [our] voice. The
pass, is borrowed from Prov. ii. 3, only there ilp has a possessive affix, which removes any
ambiguity, for reiani ilp jre might well mean, to give, lend a voice to intelligence, make
her speak ; just as in sect, t , line 2, we find na oni dw iwn to whom he has put [given]
a mouth, where doubtless pa might well be substituted for dw . 9 hear (i.e., hearken
to) our feelings. 10 [we shall find, see] that all of them testify and declare concerning
the early origin (antiquity). t£n here cannot well be taken with Dis = all of which, but
must be regarded as = '? that, and some verb (such as, we shall see, or find) must
be supplied before it. See supra, note 7', and p. xxx, note \ "" prob. and con
cerning [its being] ancient of its days, p'ns is certainly an adj. as in the expression
rpi> p'ns , Dan. vii. 9, whence the present no doubt is borrowed. Comp. onoNa woto
(Ps. cxxii. 1), which, with most Comm., I understand = cion (or ni'na) Dni'na 'nrrow , lit,
I rejoice on their being saying, or, on there being people-saying (i.e., when they are
saying, or, when there are people saying), Dni-n being understood as ini'n here.
here. The root pns has no subst. meaning antiquity, and hence, probably, one reason
why Ben-Zev used the more difficult adjective. » lit., suitable and made
right, fit (i.e., adapted, fit, proper)  more than Moses, &c. 12is

BEN-ZEy's PREFACE. lxix
But as to whether Moses was I3 the original author of it, and u composed his
allegory ls in the Hebrew language itself, or whether he was l6 not the author of it,
but [only] the translator of it from one language to another language  this is
another question, l7 and one which must lead him who reflects upon this doubtful
point [to the following considerations] : — 1. If Moses bad been its original author,
 their writings have only confirmed me in the belief which I previously entertained,
viz., that, for the want of sufficient data, it is impossible to arrive at any satisfactory
conclusion. I would especially recommend Davidson's work to the notice of the reader.
His continual substitution of cool assertion for argument is highly entertaining, though I
cannot hut infer from it, either that his mind has not been properly trained, or that, from
constitutional defect, he is totally incapable of weighing evidence. Let me advise those,
who place unlimited confidence in the judgment and acumen of these Biblical Critics, to
read a letter in the Athenaeum of Oct. 24, from Mr. J. Rubens Powell, in which that
eminent Art-Critic, Dr. Waagen, is deservedly held up to ridicule for having, in a work of
his, unhesitatingly pronounced paintings to be genuine and admirable Claudes, Greuzes,
and Reynolds', which Mr. Powell had himself copied from the originals ! ! ! What a pity
it is, that it is impossible to subject the dicta of Ewald, Davidson, &c, to an equally
unerring test, for we should, indeed, to borrow Mr. Powell's language, most assuredly find
" a marvellously grotesque harvest " of blunders of a similar species ! Still, I can almost
fancy I hear Moses exclaiming in the indignation of his wrath : —
Na imp re >p
Na; aaa yiNp
ipsj 'is Tani
D| i'SV «i D'ip
rep rnSo ana «i"
" : n na imim
&c, &c, &c.
beautiful, or suitable, to attribute itself upon (to) him; or, perhaps, it is fit, suitable,
as to this hook, to be attributed to him, i.e., that it should be attributed to him.
It is not easy to say whether nw here is to be pointed rw, a Rabb. word, for
which see Buxtorf; or niN; when it would be the fut. Eal (according to Kimchi and
Ben-Zev) of the root nN' , which, however, in the meaning of to be fit, suitable, seems
only to be used impersonally, nw , however, seems to be used both personally and
impersonally. Another instance of the use of a Hithp. ls its composer from its root,
origin, beginning. 14 and was parabling his parables, i.e., making his parables, allegories,
or, merely, composing his poetical figures, his lofty and poetical language. The expression
is borrowed from Ezek. xxi. 5 (A. V. xx. 49). Besides the meaning of parable, Ben-Zev
gives to iwo the meaning of " lofty and poetical language upon a noble theme." However,
from p. lv, end of sect, ii., it would seem that Ben-Zev regarded the book as an allegory,
based upon fact, and so allegory may pass here, though the use of the plur. of iwo seems to
Bhew that the meaning is rather poetical figures. The affix in viwo might possibly refer to
ibd, its figures. '5 in the body, substance, of the Hebrew tongue. f]ia is here used as
in Heb. and Rabb. dss. 18 not its composer, but its translator, from tongue to tongue.
17 and which brings (suggests) to the one reflecting upon this doubt [the following con
siderations]. This interpretation, which is paraphrased in the text, had, I believe, the
sanction of Dr. Bernard. Or the meaning may possibly be : " and what it brings (suggests)
to him who reflects upon this doubt (doubtful point) is," &c. The punctuation is in favour
of this rend. Or, again, (as Mr. Randolph suggests), it may mean : "and which brings
him, who reflects, upon (to) this doubt," i.e., suggests this doubt (i.e., the following doubts,

lxx BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE.
he would have selected l8 his chosen ones [from] among the sons of Jacob, to put
these words in their mouth, and not [from] among men who were not of the
sons of Israel ; '9 neither would he have been able to refrain from mentioning
in it something of the ancient fathers, and of the statutes of God and His laws.
2. If 20 the book had really been [in] the Hebrew language, whence that great
mixture of Arabic words which 21 have found their way into, and been interwoven
in, the poetry of the book ? — [a fact], 22 which shews that the book was not
composed 23 in the purity of the Hebrew tongue.
But what seems right is, that the 24 real book was written in the * Arabian
language, or in the Aramasan language, which is kindred to it, and that * it was
Moses who translated this book into the Hebrew language 27 with a master's hand,
for he only and no other * could have guided his hands so skilfully as to 29 preserve
or questions) to him. The objections to this last interpretation are, in the first place,
that J"Soi is made an accus., instead of a dat., and, secondly, that, while we do know that
the verb J"S is used with is = to reflect upon (see Buxtorf), we do not know whether
pBD is 'B N'an can mean to bring one to a doubt = to suggest a doubt to him, inspire him
with a doubt (cf., however, p. liv, note, 48). The masc. n'3d does not refer so much to the
fem. niNW , as to the Nin . 1B The construction given above had the sanction of Dr.
Bernard, and seems to make the best sense here, but it may be observed that li'na might
well be in apposition to aps' 'aa , and that in the Bible it really does occur twice (viz.,
Ps. cv. 6, 1 Chron. xvi. 13), in apposition with lp& '33 . The meaning would then be,
" He (Moses) would have chosen (i.e., made his selection) among the sons of Jacob, his
(Moses') chosen ones." ! ina> iman . Here again Ben-Zev uses a verb with its kindred noun,
and evidently on purpose, whilst to an Eng. ear he would have chosen Ms chosen ones is
so unpleasant, that I have substituted selected for the first chosen. See supra p. Ixiv, note ".
19 and so (also, likewise) he had not been able, &c. 20 the body, substance of, the book, the
book itself, the very book, the real, original, book. 21 have been entwined (interlaced)
[and] have come up (been introduced) into the poetries (poetical portions) of
the hook. The two verbs have been borrowed from Lam. i. 14. Notice the absence
of l between them, and see p. Ixii, note 43. 22 which this [is] shewing = which shews.
23 according to the purity, is is freq. used in this Preface = a (or rather = our in), as in sect, i,
last par., line 5 from the end. " In the purity of the Hebrew tongue '' will then = " in pure
Hebrew." 24 See note 20- 25 tongue of [the] Arabian. When Jiwi is followed hy a
masc. adj., it must be pointed *iwi. Thus we may say, n'ias jiwi, Hebrew tongue, or
'las jiwi tongue of [the] Hebrew. 2S Moses was the one translating. 27 lit., the work
of the hands of an artificer, a cunning workman. The expression is borrowed from Cant.
vii. 2. 28 had (would have) been able to guide, &c. If the rend, in the text is correct,
Ben-Zev seems to have made up the Pi-al Jon (for Jon here is evidently a Pi-al) out of the
subst. JON cunning-workman, in the preceding line ; and, if so, we may comp. 1'T ns iai)
(Gen. xlviii. 14), transl. in the A. V. he guided his hands wittingly, and which Ben-Zev,
who renders it in much the same way, very likely had in his mind. We should, however,
also obtain excellent sense by giving Jon the meaning of to make steady, sure, a meaning
readily obtainable from the notion of steadiness or firmness which there is in the root JON,
as shown by the pass. reiDN vt yn (Exod. xvii. 12) and his hands were steadiness,
firmness, i.e., firm, steady— by J'ONn = to stand still, in Job xxxix. 24,— by JON3 firm, sure,
&c. Still the meaning obtained in this way is very much akin to that first mentioned, as
a hand cannot be skilful or dexterous without being firm and steady, nor could anything
be successfully poured from one vessel into another, if the hand holding the former vessel
at least were not firm and steady. 29 to direct, regulate, order, make firm, keep up,

BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE. lxxi
the poetry which was poured out 30 from one language to another, so that
its taste 3l should not become insipid nor its scent 32 evaporate ; and perchance it
(the poetry) may be even more pure and more sublime than [that of] the 33 real book.
And 34 so skilfully did he compose his poetry, that it is impossible 36 to detect that
it is a translation. 35/ And, indeed, also the great Rabbi Abraham Ben- Ezra — his
opinion inclined [him] to say respecting this book, that it was a translation, so that
he writes (on Job, chap. ii. 11), 36 Now what seems probable to me is, that it is an
interpreted book ; therefore it is difficult 1 of interpretation, as is the case with every
interpreted book. 2 Nor from the language of the Talmud, can anything be brought
forward in opposition to this, for I have already 3 told you twice or three times in
this 4 work that, 5 when they say in the Talmud, " So and so has written such and
such a book," it is not their meaning that he was 6 its original author, but 6'they only
intend to say by it, that he 7 arranged the book, and 7' fashioned it into a complete
work, and so here, when they say Moses wrote the book of Job, their meaning is,
that he was the translator of it.
And 8 another opinion which I hold with regard to this question is, that,
seeing in the narrative which is at the 9 beginning of the book, as well in the
narrative which 10 closes the book, only the name of the ' ' Divine Essence (i.e.,
the sacred name Jehovah) is mentioned, but that in the midst of the book all
12 these names are mentioned, viz., '$ , envN {God), ^V? {the Almighty), while

sustain, maintain, i.e., he maintained the poetry at its original level, and did not allow it
to sink ; he preserved its spirit. Comp. the Lat. regere, sometimes = to direct (JH3), with
the Ital. reggere = to support, sustain. Comp., again, our right (regere) as a subst., an adj.,
and as a verb=to set upright (of a ship, &c). And so in the words to rule (regere) and to
govern {gubernare, to steer, direct) are certainly contained the notions of firmness, steadi
ness, maintenance, support, as well as that of direction, guidance. s° from lip (language)
to lip (language). 31 did not languish, become weak, fail, cease. 32 was changed, see
Jer. xlviii. 11, from which much has here been borrowed. In form 103 ( = in}) is as
though from hd to be bitter, from which some derive it. 33 See note 24, and (for
the that of) p. xlix, note ". 84 made prudently his poetry so much (lit., all thus, so),
i.e., so skilfully put together, composed, or arranged, ordered, disposed ; see Gen. xlviii. 14.
85 there is not to recognise (lit., il n'y a pas a. reconnaitre) a translation in it. 3S/ and also
as to the great Rabbi .... his opinion inclined to say. Notice the irregularity of gender.
88 Now the near to me [is], i.e., what seems probable to me [is]. See p. lvi, note 4.
1 in its interpretation, according to the way of every, &c. 2 And from the tongue
(language) of the Talmud, there is not (i.e., it is impossible) to bring an objection against
this. 3 seconded and thirded, done a second and third time, i.e., said or written a
second and third time, one of these actions being that implied here by the general verb
do. * composition, treatise, i.e., no doubt, the volume containing Ben-Zev's prefaces to
different books in the Bible, for his prefaces were thus published ; see p. lxxiii, note *. At any
it is not in the present Preface that he has given his readers the information which he now
repeats. s on their saying. 8 see p. Ixix, note ls- "' the (their) intention ; see p. lxv,
note34, 'was disposing, arranging, ordering. 7/ making it up. 8 what has appeared
(appears) still (besides) in this [matter, question] (i.e., probably, with regard to the question
of the authorship of the book). " head. 10 brings up the rear, claudit agmen,
and so = closes. See Numb. x. 25, Josh. vi. 9, 13, &c. " See p. xxxvii, note5.
12 the names.

lxxii BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE.
the name of the Divine Essence ,3 is not mentioned in it *  u I have come
to the just decision that the narrative ls at the beginning and the end [of the
book] is what Moses l6 himself wrote. Therefore he mentions [in it] the
name [of the Divine] Essence, for he knew 17this name, but in the midst of
the book, the speakers are men [who were] not of the sons of Israel, and so they
knew not the 18 name of God, nor did they bear 18' His name upon their lips.*
And with this is concluded what I have thought fit to place [as] an introduction
to this book.
The 6th day of 19 Adar, 569 (i.e., 1809) according to the 28 lesser computation.
* It has escaped Ben-Zev (unless, indeed, he had before him a copy with another
reading), that the name Jehovah is mentioned by Job in chap. xii. 9. — Note of the Editor.
[Renan (Pref. to his Transl., p. xix.) is guilty of the same oversight (1863).]
13 is not known, i.e., is ignored, not mentioned. ,4 1 have judged a judgment
of righteousness, justice. See Deut. xvi. 18. 18 which [is] at its head [and] at
[its] end. Here ibidii would be more regular, but in the first place the copulative l is omitted
(see p. Ixii, note e), and secondly the pron. affix is left out as superfluous. [But see p. lxxiv
(16).] 16 by himself. 17 His name, i.e., God's. 18 lit., the name of the name, i.e., the
name of the true God, the God of the Israelites, viz., Jehovah, for own is commonly
used = the name of all names, the name par excellence, i.e., Jehovah. Ben-Zev could
not well say D'niN(n) dw here, because there would have been more or less ambiguity ; but
we can say the name of God, because with us God, without an article, is only used of the
true God. See p. xxxvii, note b. 1B' i.e., His own peculiar name, Jehovah.
19 Adar is the month included between the new moon in February, and the new
moon in March. 2" little detail, computation, i.e., leaving out the thousands, which
are 5. We are at present (August 4, 1863) in the Jewish year 5623 ; 5624 will begin
with the new moon on the 13th September. It seems that a Rabbi Hillel, in the 4th
century after Christ, fixed the creation of the world at 3761 years before Christ, f If
he had said 4001 years (the year 4001 corresponding with our year 1), then the Jewish
year would, with the exception of the thousands, have agreed with ours, at least for the
greater part of the year ; but, as 3761 is 240 less than 4001, therefore we must add 240
T This is the number given in the Conversations-Lexikon, s.v., Aera, but what is meant,
apparently, is, that the Jewish year 3761 had begun in the September preceding the 25th Dec. on
which Christ was born, or the 1st of January immediately following liis birth, from which the
year 1 was counted. The year 3761 would thus (for nine months at least) correspond to our year 1.
There seems, however, to be some doubt as to whether the year 1 was counted from the 1st
January immediately preceding, the 1st of January immediately following, Jesus' birth, or from the
second 1st January following his birth. Thus, in the Conversations-Lexikon I find the following :
" Die Epoche dieser christlichen Aera ist nach Dionysius selbst (its originator), der unter
incarnatio, nach der Weise der Kirchenvater, die Verkiindigung Maria verstand, und diese
mit dem ihr vorangegangenen biirgerlichen Jahresanfang combinirte, der 1 Jan. des Jahres,
in welches die Geburt Christi nach seiner Berechnung fiel  nicht aber, wie man
erwarten konnte, der nur durch nur eine Woche von ihr geschiedene 1st Jan. des zunachst auf
die Geburt Christi folgenden Jahres." J In Renan's "Vie de Je'sus," on the other hand, p. 21, 1
t The announcement of the angel to Mary, or the incarnation (conception) of Christ, which Dionysius regarded
ns having taken place at the same time, must, if Christ was born on Dec. 25, and the order of nature was followed
have happened on (or about) the 25th MAch preceding: only, as the year begins on Jan. 1, and not on March 25,
Dionysius, who (according to the Conv. Lex.) wished to make the incarnation of Christ the starting-point of his
era, substituted the 1st Jan. immediately preceding Christ's birth for the real date of His incarnation Mar. 25.

BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE. lxxiii
to the Jewish year, in order to give the year according to our reckoning. As, however,
the Jewish year begins in September, and thus has for more than three months the start
of ours, which does not begin till the 1st of January, we must add 239 between the new
moon in September, and the 1st of January, and 240 from January 1st, till the following
September. Thus, (1)863 corresponds to the Jewish year (5)623 — (5)624, (5)624 beginning
on the 13th of September. During nine months in the year, therefore, one will be right,
if one adds 240, and so this is the rule generally given.
Page xxxv, note f .
I must observe, however, that the Rabbinic of the Preface here laid before the reader
is a reprint from a reprint (viz., from Ben-Zev's Preface as it stands at the beginning
of my copy of one edition of Wolfssohn's Job, by Homberg), and not from the original
work (see p. lxxi, note 4), published under the immediate supervision of Ben-Zev
himself. There is, therefore, a double chance of error, and, as I now have but one copy
of the Preface, viz., that mentioned above (though it would seem, from p. xlvii, note *,
that in 1857 I had two of different editions,), and have as yet been unable to procure a copy
of any other edition by Homberg,* or of Ben-Zev's original work — it is impossible for
me to say what misprints are to be laid at Ben-Zev's, and what at Homberg's, door. Some
carelessness of revision there evidently has been on the part of somebody, for there are,
I think, at least some undoubted misprints among the readings which appear to me
unsatisfactory, and to which I have called attention in my notes ; though in every other
case, excepting that now under our consideration (and, perhaps, that noted in p. xxxiii,
note s), the errors have been by no means gross, and are readily to be accounted for. If
this Preface had been a very important part of the present work, I should, of course, not
have contented myself with mere conjectures as to whether such and such readings were,
or were not, misprints ; but I should have waited until I had procured a copy of every
edition that had been published of the Preface, and then I should have carefully compared
them. It seemed to me, however, desirable to publish the Commentary with as little
delay as possible, and therefore it is that I have ventured upon conjectures from which I
might otherwise have deemed it more prudent to abstain. But, before the Appendix is
completed, I dare say I shall have succeeded in procuring the copies which I am now in
search of, and, if so, and I learn from them anything with regard to the disputed passages,
I will lay it before the reader.
I am, fortunately, able to redeem my promise sooner than I expected — for I have at
length (Nov. 7) had the long wished-for opportunity of examining a copy of Ben-Zev's
original work f ; and I have the satisfaction of stating that all my conjectures prove to be
find, " On ignore la date precise de sa naissance (i.e., of the birth of Christ). Elle eut lieu sous le
regne d'Augiiste, vers l'an 750 de Rome, probablement quelques annees avant l'an 1 de l'ere que
tous les peuples civilises font dater dujour ou ilnaquit;" whilst Lardner, in his " Common Things
Explained, " tells us that the year 1 was dated from the moment that Christ completed his first year.
Theoretically, Lardner is, undoubtedly, right, for now-a-days, at least, a baby is never called 1 till
it has completed its first year. Perhaps, however, Renan's meaning is only that the Christian Era
(and not year 1) is dated from Christ's birth. But it matters little here when the year 1 became
entitled to its number, for, however this be settled, the Jewish year 3761 must have corresponded
to our year 1, as else the rule for converting the former into the latter, and vice versd, will not
hold good.
* Homberg seems to have added Ben-Zev's Preface, which was not written until four years
after the appearance of the original edition of Wolfssohn's Commentary.
t Entitled "Wip 'Nlpo iN N13D", and published at Vienna in the year 1810.

lxxiv BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE.
correct. In one case, however (see infra, last erratum in list), I was stupid enough not to
offer a conjecture, though the construction seemed so odd to me that I endeavoured to
explain it in a note.* Now, as no part of this preface is yet struck off, two courses lie
open to me ; I can either correct the Rabbinic in accordance with Ben-Zev's text, and
cancel all the voluminous notes containing my conjectures, or I can allow the Rabbinic to
remain as it is, and retain my notes. After much consideration, I have decided upon
adopting the latter course — in the first place, because I could not now remove the notes
without giving a great deal of trouble, causing a great waste of time, and incurring much
expense ; and, in the second place, because it seems to me that these misprints, which
have afforded some exercise to my mind, may prove serviceable to the student, who will
thus he made acquainted with the most common errors which he has to look for in
Rabbinical works. I will now, therefore, give a list of the misprints and omissions, with
regard to which my collation with Ben-Zev's work has enabled me to pronounce
decisively, f
ERRATA IN THE TEXT OF BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE AS GIVEN
IN THIS WORK.
(1) P. xxvii, line 4 from top (of text), for (3"s, n nisia) there is in Ben-Zev a"sn, i.e.,
fol. 8, column (or page) 2, whilst in the transl. there is fol. 7, which is, I
expect, where I found it in the edition of the Talmud which I consulted.
(2) P. xxviii, line 6 from top, and note °, Ben-Zev has DSinn.
(3) P. xxix, line 6 from top, and note b, Ben-Zev has ininn .
(4) P. xxx, line 1 from top, and note ", Ben-Zev has l'B nN after ai'N .
(5) „ line 7 from top, Ben-Zev has mwn ism , but I leave niwn tsi , as being
more Rabbinic.
(6) „ last line (in text), and note e, Ben-Zev has awm .
(7) P. xxxi, line 1 from top, and note ", Ben-Zev has nni .
(8) „ last line but one (of text), and note b, Ben-Zev has m j'N before dn >a .
(9) P. xxxii, line 1 from top, and note ", Ben-Zev has rein .
(10) P. xxxiii, line 8 from top, and note^, Ben-Zev has JQ'n ow is according to {after) the
name of Teman, before iB'iN 'nN . I had supplied, after Teman.
(11) „ line 13 from top, and note ', Ben-Zev has dun .
(12) P. xxxv, last line of text, and note ", Ben-Zev has nvn pB3, in which the a strikes
both Mr. Randolph and myself as rather odd. It may possibly be a
misprint, and, if not, I prefer my suggestion, \"1B1 .
(13) P. xxxvi, line 8 from top, Ben-Zev has 3is>, but this may be a misprint for 3isn', see
p. xxviii, note *-
(14) „ line 19 from top, and note °, Ben-Zev has inni.
(15) P. xxxvii, line 7 from bottom (of text), and note ", Ben-Zev has 'i.
(16) „ line 5 from bottom (of text), and note ", for ffea 1WN13W Ben-Zev has
FjiDai WNiaw. I failed, but ought to have recognised this misprint, which is
a very intelligible one, and must frequently occur. Indeed, Ben-Zev him
self has allowed the converse to escape his notice once in this preface, for
line 7 from top (of this page, xxxvii), he has rrm iN for ren liN .
* I might easily have erased this note and altered the text, but I thought it only just to record
my failure as well as my successes ; and, besides, the misprint seems to me a very instructive one.
t In justice, however, to Homberg, or whoever else revised Ben-Zev's Preface as it stands in the
edition of "Wolfsohn's Job, from which the copy given in the present work has been reprinted, I
must state that he corrected at least as many misprints in Ben-Zev's original work as he suffered
new ones to escape his notice.

BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE. lxXV
From this list of errata we learn : —
1. That n is frequently substituted for n ( (1), (3), (6), (7), (9), (14) ). [The converse
certainly also holds good, though there is no example here, and it is, perhaps, less
common.] 2. That the n of the nn in a Hithpa-al may be left out ( (2), and comp. (13) ).
3. That two or three words may be left out ( (4), (8), (10) ).
4. That i may be printed for i ( (11) ). [The converse is also true.]
5. That ' may be substituted for i ( 15) ). [The converse also certainly holds good.]
6. That a l beginning a word may be tacked on to the end of the word preceding,
especially when it will thus make (some sort of) sense ( (16) ). [That the converse also holds
good will likewise he seen from (16). This mischance is, I think, peculiarly liable to befall
i, which freq. ends and begins words; but other letters are no doubt exposed to it; and
this confusion of words must be more common in languages in which, as in Hebrew, &c,
the letters are not joined, even in manuscript.]
7. That, when two short and contiguous clauses end with the same words, the second
clause is apt to be left out, as, the last and common word catching the eye of the transcriber
or compositor, it is imagined (when the eye returns to the original) that the second clause
has been already written or set up ( (10) ).
8. That i may be printed for final Tsaddik ( (12) ). This must be very uncommon, and
is hardly to be explained ; see, however, p. xxxv, note ".

The following are a few of the more common misprints, of which I have myself seen
examples : —
a for a, and vice versd.
ta for D, and vice versd. This is esp. common in Rabb., where the two letters o (final
Mem) and p (Samech), are still more alike than in Hebrew.
s and Y for s, and vice versd. ® for w, and vice versd, very common.
Less common are : —
i (in Rabb.) for s (j), and s for 1 (which I have noticed also in Heb). Here sound may
have some influence, l for i , and vice versd, I am almost sure I have noticed in Rabb.
id for o (once).
3, and more commonly I think 3, for B; b for 3, very likely, but not noticed.
T for i . ¦[ not unfreq. for n . * o for n (twice).
a is said to be substituted for a, and a for 3, hut though a very likely misprint, I have not
noticed it. In printing (or transcribing) Rabb. from Rabb., a (j) might readily he substi
tuted for s (O and vice versd, but I have not noticed either of these possible mistakes.
a for 3 (once), for l (once), and for 3 more than once (esp. in Rabb.).
Final Nun (J) for 1 (once).
p for f\ (once). *' f°r 1 and ^ for i, both more than once.
i for ' (once), a large and badly made ' looking something like a small i.
n for n (freq.) ; rr for n (less, freq.) n for n (once).
* Where vice versd is not added, it has not been noticed. The reader must judge when the vice
¦oersds are probable.

Ixxvi BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE.
Very rare are : —
n for p , the tail being left out (once).
n for « (once— quite anomalous* in Heb., but readily explicable in Rabb. (n and fi).
See p. xxxiii, note *, where I have been a little hasty in characterizing this misprint as
gross.) 3 for i (at end of word, once — explicable).
a for i (once — explicable).
i for i (once — explicable).
d for n (once — explicable).
s for o (once — a sort of faux air between them ; in Rabb., however, there is consider
able resemblance between these letters, but I cannot now say whether my example was in
Rabb. or Heb.).
In transcribing Hebrew one is apt to write : —
n for s , and vice versd, id for n, and vice versd,
3 fori, „ sforp, „
nfora, „ wforD, „
on account of the little difference in the sound; and thus misprints may arise.
And, lastly, I have frequently noticed the transposition of two contiguous letters, as
though, for example, orerra were printed for oreiaa .

I should be glad to see a list drawn up, both of common, and of unusual, misprints in
English (I mean, of course, such as have actually occurred), as then our Shakspearian
and other critics would have something a little more solid to base their conjectures upon,
than what is at present too often their foundation, viz., conveniently remembered, but
unauthenticated misprints, or, still more frequently, I think, mere fancy. That there is,
however, actually, no limit to misprints, even in the mother-tongue of the compositor,
may, I think, be fairly inferred when I state that, in one of the proofs of this preface, I
found accuracy substituted for meaning, though the result was utter nonsense ! ! The
compositor would, however, I imagine, tell me, that, if there are no limits to misprints, it
is because there are no limits to bad writing.

In a note appended to the commencement of this Preface (see p. xxxviii, note *), I
spoke in terms of high praise of Ben-Zev's style, but that note was written before the
translation of the Preface was made, and was based, rather upon Dr. Bernard's opinion of
Ben-Zev, than upon my own experience. Now, however, that I have toiled through the
Preface — a very fair specimen, I believe, of Ben-Zev's Rabbinical Hebrew— and have, to
adopt his own figurative language, cleared away for the reader a path through the tangled
thickets of his words,f I must confess that my admiration for his style has materially
diminished. He writes, indeed, for the most part, very judiciously and sensibly, and,
* Wherever I have not added quite anomalous, I consider the misprints are more or less readily
explicable, and therefore such as one might expect to meet with. Some apparently anomalous
misprints may, however, be accounted for, if we remember that the compositors keep their types
in little compartments or cells, one for each letter, and that letters which have no resemblance often
lie in adjoining compartments, and may thus be confounded, the compositor's fingers dipping, in
the hurry of composing, into the wrong compartment. Sometimes, again, mistakes are made in
consequence of letters slipping into wrong boxes (cells), in the course of distribution. Curiously
enough, 3 and a are in contiguous cells.
X • viai '33D3 Nlip'i TT3B tti oi

BEN-ZEV'S PREFACE. Ixxvii
where he is clear, one cannot but admire the great force and pithiness of his language ;
hut when — and this is not seldom — he chooses to deal in ambiguous expressions and in
harshly elliptical and concise constructions, then I cannot discover that the thoughts which
he thus wantonly obscures, are so very brilliant, original or profound, as, in any way, to
compensate for the trouble which there is in digging out their meaning. Upon the
whole, therefore, I much prefer Wolfssohn's style, which is always clear, lucid and elegant,
without being either too concise or too diffuse. It is, I conceive, the first duty of a writer
to express his thoughts with clearness and precision ; and there is no thought so profound
that it may not, if distinctly pictured in the mind, be reproduced in clear language. Clear
language, however, may at the same time, be concise — though perhaps the combination is
rare— and conciseness coupled with clearness must by all be allowed to be a beauty; but,
when the two cannot be had, then, as I place conciseness after clearness, I greatly prefer
lucid diffuseness to obscure conciseness. Many German writers of the present day,
however — nay most perhaps — contrive to combine obscurity with diffuseness, and this
combination I regard as the most intolerable and inexcusable of all. Yet what can we
expect but much mud and water from brains which can always make words, but cannot
always elaborate clear thoughts ? and such brains, are, I expect, common in Germany, and
would, perhaps, have been traced, in part, by Mr. Buckle, if he had lived to write upon the
German intellect, to the great consumption of wishy-washy soups, watery vegetable stuff
(cabbage, salads, gherkins, Sauerkraut, &c), as compared with solid animal food, and
above all to the inveterate habit of smoking from six in the morning till nine or ten at
night Here we have both the clouds and the water ! * It no doubt sometimes happens
that the concise writers are obscure also, in part at least, because their ideas are not
clear, but with them, I imagine the obscurity commonly arises from other causes. What
causes ? Well, in the first place, they may be naturally of a dry and fibrous, close and
costive temperament, both of body and of mind, and then they will dislike waste and
profusion of all kinds, even of words. Or they may designedly trick up their ideas in terse
and epigrammatic language, because they think it is admired, and then there is, no doubt,
great nipping and paring before the result aimed at is attained. Or they may themselves
admire conciseness and strive to imitate some celebrated model. With the second class
I have the least patience, whilst the first and last are at least entitled to respect. Still,
they should all of them bear in mind, that there is much presumption in setting such a
high value upon one's own ideas, as to imagine that other people will take the trouble to
puzzle them out. But, unfortunately, no style meets with more admirers than the concise
and obscure one! In the first place, such writers are, I think, almost always, if not
always, men of talent, and, therefore, their ideas, if not of the first order, are still worthy
of note. Then, with many, obscurity which they cannot penetrate passes for profundity,
and looking up to the writer, they look down upon themselves. Others again, who can
puzzle out the meaning, delight in this exercise for their intellect, and are proud of their
acuteness. Here self-love is involved, and when they praise the author, they are in
reality indirectly praising themselves. And, with regard to classical authors, the concise
and obscure ones, being read only in the highest classes, are naturally regarded by the
school-boy, and even by the student-)- , with reverence and awe, and the impression thus
early made, is frequently preserved through life. But I must stop, or else I myself shall
be numbered with the diffuse. I have said enough to shew that with me perspicuity of
style holds the principal place.
* There is, however, much truth in Buckle's theories, and I am quite disposed to believe that
not only the quantity, but also the quality of the food which a nation lives upon, has great
influence upon its destinies.
+ Thus, for example, Csesar, as being a low-class book, ranks, in their estimation, far below
Tacitus, which is a high-class book.

lxxviii

THE EDITOB'S SECOND PKEEACE.

If, as I have elsewhere remarked, Dr. Bernard's Commentary on
Job is naturally much inferior to what it would have been if he
had written it whilst he was in possession of his eyesight, so now
that, in consequence of his death, it has wanted his revision
while passing through the press, it is necessarily less complete
than if he had lived to revise the proof-sheets. That he himself
hoped to make further improvements is evident from a letter
which he wrote to me in September, 1857, and in whichhe said
that he would never consent to the publication of the work with
his name upon the title-page, unless he and I were together in
the same house whilst it was passing through the press. His death
has also produced two other results. In the first place, it has led
to a delay of about four years in the publication of the work;
and in the second, it has entailed upon me the necessity, which I
would gladly have avoided, of writing a voluminous Appendix.
With regard to the first of these results, I refer the reader to
p. xcv, note *, where this delay is explained. With regard to the
second, when, after the lapse of four years, I came to re-examine
the Commentary, as it was passing through the printer's hands,
I was surprised to find, that, though I still fully agreed with
Dr. Bernard in the main, i.e., with regard to the general scope of
the work, the principles put forward by Job, and by Elihu, the
two characters with regard to which the greatest difference of
opinion prevails, &c, yet I differed from him with regard to many
of the details ; that, for example, there were several passages,

THE EDITOR'S SECOND PREFACE. lxxix
some of them presenting no difficulties of construction, to his
interpretation of which I could not assent ; that there were other
passages again of which he seemed to me, indeed, to have given
the true meaning, but of which he did not seem to me to have
explained the construction correctly; that his views upon many
points of grammar did not accord with mine ; that there were
difficulties of construction, irregularities of gender, number, &c.*,
of which he had offered no explanation whatever, but which,
notwithstanding, would cause considerable perplexity to the
student; and lastly, that in doubtful passages he did not suffi
ciently notice the comments of others. The work, indeed, might,
as far as the body (large type) of the Commentary and the
Translation were concerned, satisfy the Hebrew scholar, and those
who knew no Hebrew ; but the explanations contained in the
small type in the Commentary seemed to me too copious, and
in many cases of too elementary a character, for the scholar,
whilst for the student, and, indeed, for the large intermediate
class, comprising those who are neither students nor yet scholars,
they were far too scanty.
Dr. Bernard did not strictly adhere to his original intention,
which was to write rather for those who were intimately acquainted
with Hebrew than for the student, but allowed himself occasional
deviations in favour of the student — the result being an inequality in
the character of the notes, many difficult passages being left unno-
* The difficulties of construction, irregularities of form, &c, would of course
strike him less when blind, than if he could have seen them. He, no doubt,
knew the whole Book off by heart, but, still, he could not carry in his memory
all the peculiarities of gender, number, orthography, &c, which present them
selves in crowds in the Book of Job. It may be said that I ought to have called
his attention to all these points ; but, as my knowledge of Hebrew was then, and
is still, though I have made great advances since 1857, far inferior to his, and as,
in addition, I had not been accustomed to consider Hebrew with the critical eye
of a Commentator, it is not surprising if I failed to call bis attention to many
passages which he ought certainly not to have left unexplained. Still, perhaps, it
is fortunate that I did not trouble him too much ; for, had he made the Com
mentary much more copious, it would not have been completed. I must say,
however, that Dr. Bernard, fearing to make the Commentary too long, refused to
comment upon many passages which I pointed out to him, though he did listen to
some of my suggestions. He used to say that his Commentary was less for
students than for scholars.

lxxx THE EDITOR'S SECOND PREFACE.
ticed, as being difficult only for the student and those of the next
grade above him, whilst other much less difficult passages were ex
plained for the benefit of the two latter classes. It was, however, of
course, quite out of the question that I should either add or take away
anything from Dr. Bernard's Commentary — my duty clearly being
to publish it just as it was left, and this I have done, with the excep
tion of a few verbal changes. The only course left open to me, there
fore, was to write an Appendix, and this course I have pursued,
my chief objects being, — firstly, and principally, to vindicate
Dr. Bernard's interpretations, constructions, and explanations
where they seem to me correct, yet not so obviously so, as not to
require vindication ; secondly, to point out those passages in
which I differ from Dr. Bernard; thirdly, in the case of pas
sages (and there are many of them), which seem to me likely
always to remain doubtful, to make suggestions of my own,
or to adduce the interpretations of others and compare these
suggestions, or these interpretations with Dr. Bernard's render
ings ; fourthly, to explain grammatical difficulties, which Dr.
Bernard has either left unnoticed, or of which he has, to my
mind, given an insufficient, or even erroneous, explanation. At
first I thought that the Appendix would not comprise more than
100 or 150, or at most 200 pages, but the notes, as notes are wont
to do, grew rapidly under my hands, until at last I perceived that, if
they were included in one volume with the original work, the
result would be an unwieldy and unsightly book, and I therefore
determined to publish them separately. And to this determination
I was the more easily led when I reflected, that Dr. Bernard
wrote his Commentary chiefly for the use of his Hebrew pupils,
and that it was his Commentary which they wanted, and not
my additional notes. I thought, too, that it was inexpedient
to keep back the Commentary which had been ready some
months, until the Appendix — which slowly drags its weary
length along* — should be finished; and, lastly, I was unwilling
to compel those, who only wished for Dr. Bernard's work, to
* The Appendix was not begun until after the Commentary was in the press,
and as I have had and have to write the later chapters whilst the earlier ones
were and are passing through the press, it may be conceived that the work does

THE EDITOR'S SECOND PREFACE. lxxxi
take mine also. The two volumes, therefore, will not only be
published, but will also be sold, separately. The Appendix will,
I hope, be provided with two copious Indices, the one containing
a list of the cwraf Xeyopeva and of the unusual words found in Job,
whilst the other will form a general Index to the Commentary
and Appendix.
It must not be supposed, however, that the Commentary,
together with the Appendix, will contain exhaustive information
upon every point connected with the Book of Job. Far from
it. The questions considered in both are nearly all of a practical,
and very few of a speculative, nature. A work, which would
satisfy the requirements of all readers, would fill many large
volumes, and will never be written by one man, nor by two,
who, like Dr. Bernard and myself, hold nearly the same opinions.

The literal renderings in the margin of the Translation have
been given, chiefly, of course, with the view of assisting the
student to understand the original, but also in part for the
purpose of enabling him to compare the differences of idiom
between the Hebrew and English, and also to turn back, if
he should feel so inclined, from English into Hebrew — a very
useful exercise.
The Italics in the Translation are used as in the A. V., that is,
they denote words which have no equivalent in the Hebrew, but
are introduced into the English, either because they are absolutely
required, or because they make the meaning clearer. In trans
lations from the Bible I think they ought to be used, as else
the reader has no check upon the caprice of the translator,
who might add ad libitum, and so delude his unsuspecting readers.
In the translations given in tlie Commentary, the opposite plan
has necessarily been followed, and there the added words are
not proceed very rapidly. Still, nearly half of it is now ready for the press ;
nearly all of it is written ; and nearly a third of it is printed, so that I hope it
will be completed in the course of a few months. It is, however, my intention
to publish it in three parts, each containing fourteen chapters ; the first of these
parts will soon be ready, and I trust it will appear within a month or two of the
publication of the present volume. /

Ixxxii THE EDITOR'S SECOND PREFACE.
in the Roman character, whilst those, which have equivalents in
the original are in Italics. I expect, however, that, both in
this part of the Commentary and in the Translation, some words
will be found in Italics which ought to be in Roman type, and
vice versd, for I found that I had a great tendency to make, and
to overlook, mistakes of this kind.*
Hyphens are frequently used both in the Commentary and in
the Translation, for the sake of marking that two or more words
in the English are represented by only one in the Hebrew ; but
this rule has been by no means steadily adhered to.
In the Commentary and Appendix I have not been at great
pains always to follow the original with regard to the dagesh
lene in the letters n2D7J3 when beginning a word, or to the
dag. forte euphon. in the first letter of the words following HC ,
&c, as I did not consider the matter of much importance.

Since we began to write the Commentary in 1856, four new
works on Job have appeared, or have been completed, viz.,
those of Conant (1856—1857), Carey (1858), Eenan (1860),
Davidson (1st vol., 1862). Of these works I do not feel called
upon to give a detailed account, for the editor of a rival work
cannot be an impartial judge, but I will say a few words about
them. InConant's work I find but little originality, whilst self-sufficiency
is abundantly evident. His translation is disfigured by the adoption
of the modern third pers. sing. pres. in s, instead of the old form
in eth, and his language does not appear to me well-chosen, its
meagreness and want of harmony being rendered the more appa
rent by his having, imprudently, placed his translation and the
Auth. Vers, in parallel columns. Still, his work is useful as
exhibiting, in the case of many of the difficult pass., the views
of the most celebrated Germ. Commentators in a brief compass ;
and his analysis of Ewald and Hengstenberg's views in his
Introduction is also valuable.
* I believe, however, that no important mistakes of this kind have been made ;
and such as there are the Hebrew student will, I am sure, at once be able to
correct.

THE EDITOR S SECOND PREFACE. lxxxiii
As for Carey, both Translation and Commentary must, I think,
be pronounced bad, though he sometimes manages to hit upon
what we hold to be the true meaning of a doubtful passage. Of
the taste which presided over his translation, the following spe
cimen (from xvi. 12) will enable the reader to form some idea :
I was at ease, but he smashed me,
And seized me by the neck, and dashed me.
Renan has certainly succeeded in translating Job into elegant
French, and this is the chief merit of his work. He does not
pretend to be original (indeed, he boasts that he is not!
(p. vi)) — but has contented himself with selecting what he
conceives to be the best interpretations from modern Com
mentators, and his book is valuable from the clearness with
which he exhibits the results, at which his more misty-headed
neighbours, the Germans, have arrived. At the same time, in
consequence of the paraphrases which he never scruples to employ
when he thinks perspicuity demands it, and in consequence of the
want of a poetical vocabulary in the French language, and of
its positivism* much of the poetry of the original is lost in his
* By positivism* I mean the tendency to call a spade a spade, or, as the French
have it, a cat a cat, i.e., to call things by their right names ; a very praiseworthy
tendency, as it has, or ought to have, its origin in a love of truth ; only some
truths are the better for being veiled, especially in poetry. And yet what people,
hy a seemingly strange contradiction, understand the art of veiling, and piquantly
veiling, too, better than these same French ! But even this is due to positivism;
an Englishman would hold his tongue altogether with regard to the subjects
which most require this veiling ; a Frenchman can't hold his tongue about them,
and so being constrained to respect that feeling of decency in others of which he
commonly has so little himself, he is obliged to devise some means of expressing
his indecent thoughts in outwardly decent terms — and hence his wonderful
proficiency in the art of veiling, t
* Since writing the above, I have more than once seen realism used = what I here call
positivism. Both terms seem to me defective, in that they do not express their own
meaning, but require the help, either of the context, or of a note. But this is a defect,
which will be lost sight of, if either word succeeds in becoming naturalized. A more
weighty objection is that they are, both of them, already in use to denote two different
systems of philosophy.
t The French term gazer, to gauze (over), is a more appropriate designation for their mode
of effecting the process, as the very transparent covering which they make use of is almost
too thin and delicate to be called a veil. The two words, therefore, as is frequently the
case with equivalent terms in languages, mark pretty exactly the difference in the practice,
in England and France.
/2

lxxxiv THE EDITOR'S SECOND PREFACE.
translation.* There is nothing, moreover, in the work to shew
that Renan possesses more than a superficial knowledge of
Hebrew. Of Davidson's work only the first volume has yet appeared. He
devotes much more space to the consideration of the difficulties of
construction and of grammar than any of his English, and than
most of his German, predecessors, and he has in this respect to
some extent forestalled me in my Appendix. Still, I much doubt
whether his Commentary (I speak of the small type) will ever
become a favourite with students, for too much is compressed
into a little space in it, and it is too full of abbreviations,
references, and repulsive grammatical terms of which one is
sometimes puzzled to guess the meaning. Nor do I think that
the large type will find more favour, excepting with those who,
having no imagination of their own, like others to imagine for
them — so dry does he suck, or attempt to suck, every passage, in
his eagerness to present every beauty to his readers, whilst the lan
guage in which he expresses his ideas is very laboured and stilted.-)-
As for his translation, it does not become me, who have written
one myself, to say much about it ; I will merely observe that scarcely
a chapter seems to me free from some uncouth expression, from
* Compare his rendering of chap. vii. 5, with that of the same passage in the
Eng. Vers. Ma chair est revetue de vermine et d'une crofite terreuse,
Ma peau est couverte de cicatrices et de pus.
My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust ;
My skin is broken and become loathsome.
The Eng. Vers, is not only much more literal, but (like the original) veils over,
without obscuring, what is simply disgusting, when told in wantonly crude and
harsh words like those of Renan. The Hebrew poet did not forget that disgust
very commonly excludes interest and pity, and he, therefore, did not wish to
represent Job as repulsive and disgusting. But the French love thoroughly concrete
terms. f Occasionally he has a very strange note. Thus on his transl. of iii. 12,
"why two breasts," &c, he remarks, "the dual ought to be preserved as more
voluptuous and accurate"— a comment, of which the extreme appropriateness will
be appreciated, if the reader will bear in mind that, when Job uses the word
nym>, he is cursing his birth, and that the breasts of which he speaks are his
mother's ! ! !

THE EDITOR'S SECOND PREFACE. lxxXV
which the advice of a friend would have saved him. Comp. v. 11,
" get elevated into safety" (A. V. may be exalted to safety) ; vii. 5,
"my skin stiffens and runs again;" vii. 16, "my days are a
vapour; " ix. 6, " and her pillars get rocked to pieces; " ix. 27,
" I will leave off my faces and be cheerful," &c, &c.
I will conclude my brief notice of these four writers by
observing that they are all advocates of the practice of interpreting
Hebrew by the aid of Arabic roots (see 1st pref., pp. vii, xi, xv).

It will not, I think, be out of place here to observe that Dr.
Bernard's views concerning the book of Job, although first made
known to the world in 1864, must not be regarded as belonging
to this date, or even to the time (1856 — 1857), when they were
embodied in the present Commentary, inasmuch as Dr. Bernard
certainly held them in 1852, when I first read the book of Job
with him, and probably held them for many years before this. *
Indeed, I think it by no means improbable that it was before he
came to England, f that he made this Book his study (see first
pref., p. xii), and first conceived those views of it which are now
given to the world — but here all data fail me. Still, it should be
borne in mind that this Commentary in its essence is by no means
new, nay very likely older than Ewald's, of which the first edition
appeared in 1836. Nor can Dr. Bernard's views have failed to
become known to many Hebrew scholars in England, who never
studied under him, and very likely do not even know his name ;
* My friend, Mr. Randolph, who read Job with Dr. Bernard in 1848, tells me,
that, though Dr. Bernard then understood several passages differently, yet his
views of the Book in general were precisely the same as those now put forward
in this Commentary.
t I form this opinion, because I think it unlikely that Dr. Bernard increased
his knowledge of Hebrew much after he came to England in 1825, when he was
40 years old. After that time he devoted himself to teaching others ; it was
before, that he had taught himself. Still, it is possible, that it was by reading Job
with his pupils that his attention was especially directed to this Book. I have
the copy of Wolfssohn's Job, of which he always made use, but no date indicates
the time at which he became possessed of it. Nor do I even know when it was
published, as the title page has been deliberately cut out, but the preface by
Homberg, the Editor, is dated — Vienna, 1817.

lxxxvi THE EDITOR'S SECOND PREFACE.
for it is now thirty-three years since he settled in Cambridge, and,
during the seven and twenty years that he was teacher, there, he
imparted these views, no doubt, to the majority of his pupils, by
some of whom, become teachers themselves, they must have been
widely propagated. I make these remarks, because it may be
urged by some critics that there is nothing new in Dr. Bernard's
treatment of the Book of Job, and that the same views have been
entertained and advanced before. This may be so — there may be
nothing new — but then let us hear by whom and when these views
have been before advanced, so that we may see whether Dr.
Bernard is entitled, or not, to the priority.

And now let me return my heartiest thanks to Mr. Randolph,
formerly of Jesus College, Cambridge, pupil of Dr. Bernard, and
Tyrwhitt's University Hebrew scholar. Unfortunately, I did not
make his acquaintance until the Commentary was printed, but
since that time he has afforded me the most valuable assistance.
He has read over the whole of the Commentary for errata, and
has made an Index * of all the passages in the Bible to which
reference is made in it. But in the Translation he gave me much
more important help. Every sheet was sent to him as it appeared,
and he not only made his own criticisms upon it in the most frank
and open manner, but exchanged a vast number of letters with
me, examining into and weighing the merits of the various
renderings which I proposed to him, and making in his turn
many valuable suggestions, of which I adopted such as pleased
me, though necessarily without acknowledgment.-)" And since
this time we have been continually in correspondence, for most of
the longer and more important notes in the Appendix have been
submitted to him; and latterly he has undertaken the very
* For the correctness of this Index, which he first suggested to me, and which
he volunteered to make, he begs me to say he holds himself responsible.
\ I think that no one ought to publish a translation of an important book
without first submitting it to the criticism of a friend. The author, by reading
and re-reading it, loses at last his power of discrimination, and words and
sentences, which, if written by another, would infallibly call down upon them his
speedy and severe censure, appear to him appropriate and, perhaps, elegant.

THE EDITOR'S SECOND PREFACE. lxxxvii
laborious task of reading over the text of Ben-Zev's preface for
errata, and of criticising my translation of it. My original
preface also, and this second one have likewise been submitted to
him. In short, whenever I want advice, I turn to him, and he
gives it me forthwith.
To my friend, Dr. Harris, also I am much indebted for his
kindness in freely passing his judgment upon the Translation.

The portrait of Dr. Bernard, of which an engraving forms the
frontispiece to this volume, was taken in Cambridge by Mr. Nichols,
the photographer, about June 1856, shortly after my arrival in
Cambridge, and has been very successfully engraved by Mr.
Adlard, of Hatton Garden. The likeness is, I think, a very
striking one,* and those of Dr. Bernard's pupils, who possess a
copy of the photograph, will observe that the engraver has been
able to soften down much of the harshness of the original, and to
give a more pleasing expression to the countenance, without, in the
slightest degree, impairing the resemblance, f Dr. Bernard said,
when sitting, that he wished to look mournful and melancholy as
one ought to look who was blind, but as, in spite of his affliction,
he was really neither mournful nor melancholy, but almost
invariably cheerful, and in good spirits, he did not succeed in
communicating to his features the expression which he wished,
and looked rather as though he were of a morose and sullen
disposition. The autograph is taken from a letter which I
received from him in 1854, when he had already been blind some
years. During the last two or three years of his life he shortened
his signature to H. B., so that I had some difficulty in finding a
letter in which his name appeared in full.

* The hair is, however, considerably shorter than Dr. Bernard commonly wore
it, fbr he had had it cut only a few days before he sat.
f As Mr. Adlard had never seen Dr. Bernard, it may be imagined that this
result was not obtained without much trouble, and that several alterations were
made in accordance with my suggestions ; and my thanks are due to Mr. Adlard,
both for the readiness with which he received these suggestions, and for the great
pains which he took in carrying them into effect — whilst the result does great
credit to his skill and intelligence.

lxxxviii THE EDITOR'S SECOND PREFACE.
With regard to the facsimile of Dr. Bernard's hand- writing
in cursive Hebrew * (p. cv), the responsibility of its insertion
belongs to me alone, for, had Dr. Bernard lived, it is probable
that the portrait would never have been engraved, and it is certain
that no facsimile of his handwriting would have accompanied this
work. It may be objected, and it has, indeed, been objected to me,
that I might have chosen for the facsimile a piece of Hebrew at once
less trivial and better written, for it is not a favourable specimen
of Dr. Bernard's cursive Hebrew, which was commonly much
more neat; but, in the first place, this happened to be the only
piece in my possession f , and though I might have obtained more
pleasing specimens from pupils of Dr. Bernard, who (as Mr.
Randolph, &c.) had read with him before he became blind, and
who had been taught to write cursive Hebrew by him, yet, as this
piece is eminently apropos, and has been thought worthy of
* How very little this cursive Hebrew is known in England, the following
anecdote, which I had from Dr. Bernard, and which I may, perhaps, be pardoned
for relating, will shew. A Polish Jew having been arrested in London, a docu
ment, written in an unknown character, was found among his papers. It was,
naturally enough, supposed to be in Hebrew, and was, accordingly, sent to
Dr. Lee, who was then Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge, with the request that
he would translate it. But he was altogether unacquainted with the character,
and so, concluding rather hastily that it must be Polish, as the man in whose pos
session the paper had been found was a Pole, he wrote to Dr. Bernard and begged
him to translate the accompanying Polish document ! Unfortunately, the Polish
turned out to be Cursive Hebrew (!!), of which Prof. Lee, it would seem, did
not even know the existence.
t And it came into my possession by a singular chance. One day — during
the time that I was helping Dr. Bernard with the Job — I went to the University
Library fbr the purpose of consulting some musty old Hebrew book— a volume
of the Talmud I think. Whilst turning over the leaves, I came upon a piece of
paper with some cursive Hebrew upon it. I carried it away with me, and read
out the Hebrew to Dr. Bernard. " Why," he cried, "I must have written that;
nobody in the University knows those lines but myself and one or two of my
pupils. I remember writing them out some years ago " (Dr. Bernard had then
been totally blind at least six years) " for Mr. M  ," naming a former pupil
and intimate friend of his ; " he must have left them in the book which he often
uses. I will ask him." The lines were accordingly shown to Mr. M  and
immediately recognised by him as those which Dr. Bernard had written out for
him ; but he graciously waived his claims to the paper in my favour  and thus
it is that the fac-simile has found its way into this book.

LIFE OF DR. BERNARD. lxxxix
insertion by Dr. Bernard himself (see p. xlii), I decided in
favour of it. I am, of course, responsible also for the translation
into English.

A few months before his death, Dr. Bernard dictated to me a
short account of his life, and this I subjoin with a few additions
of my own. I have left the English just as he dictated it, and if
it is not remarkable for its elegance, it must be remembered that
he did not draw up his sketch with the view of putting it at the
beginning of this book, and, indeed, that he never dreamed of its
appearing in print. His English varied much, but, as I have
before remarked, was often very good.

LIFE OF DB. BEBNABP.

* Hermann Bernard was born of Austrian parents -f in Uman, or
HumanJ, a small town in Southern Russia (at that time, Poland),
in the year 1785. His native language is that of his parents,
* This is the sketch of Dr. Bernard's Life by himself, of which I have just
spoken. t I believe that Dr. Bernard's father was a Jew, but that he had become a
Christian before his only son's birth ; at any rate, I have Miss Bernard's author
ity for stating that her father was brought up in the Christian religion. His
father, it would seem, had also a profound knowledge of Hebrew, for my friend,
Mr. Randolph, tells me that Dr. Bernard informed him, that the interpretation of
Isa. liii., given in Mason and Bernard's Grammar, was not his own, but his
father's. % In the Government (province) of Kiev. In Black's Atlas it is spelled
Ouman, and in Fullarton's Gazetteer {s. v. Kiev) Uuman.

XC THE EDITOR S SECOND PREFACE.
namely, German*, and, though sufficiently familiar with the
Russian and Polish languages, to speak them with fluency, he
never made these languages his study -)-. The other languages
with which he is acquainted, J ancient as well as modern, were
* Although Dr. Bernard was not born in Germany, and only paid, I believe,
one or two short visits to it, he spoke a very pure, good German, and not such as
is frequently heard in the mouths of Austrian gentlemen. Upon this point I am
able to speak decidedly, as, during the whole time of my acquaintance with him,
and especially during the last year, when we lived in the same house, he certainly
much more frequently conversed with me in German than in English.
t Dr. Bernard is here too modest. There is no doubt that he spoke and wrote
Russian and Polish so well, that no ordinary Russian or Pole would have
suspected him to be of foreign origin (see p. xci, note*). I have heard him say
that, whilst he was in Cambridge, he had the opportunity of speaking and
writing to several Poles, and that they did not, any of them, suspect that he was
not a Pole. Nor was he altogether ignorant of the literature of these two lan
guages, or, at any rate, of Russian literature, for he sometimes would recite to
me pieces of Russian poetry which he knew by heart. I frequently pressed
him to teach me Russian and Polish, but this he steadily refused to do, or, at
any rate, to teach them to me otherwise than as a friend, for it was his fixed rule
not to accept payment for teaching any language with which he did not consider
himself to be grammatically acquainted — and yet he had quite as grammatical a
knowledge of Russian and Polish as most Englishmen have of their own lan
guage ! But, unfortunately, one cannot press a friend to teach one a language,
when all the trouble is to be on one side and all the advantage on the other, and
the consequence was, that I learned from him but little more than the pronuncia
tion of these two languages. (1863.)
\ The languages he here alludes to are, probably, Hebrew, Rabbinic, Chaldee,
Syriac, Latin, French, and Italian. The last two he spoke with fluency*- I have
heard him say that he could not remember the time when he did not speak
German, Russian, Polish, and French, and I have reason to believe that he com
menced Hebrew at a very early age. Of English he did not know one word
when he came to England \ ; but, although forty at that time, he succeeded in
* In common, however, with many persons who speak two or three foreign languages
well, he spoke every language with which he was at all acquainted as far as he knew it.
Thus, I remember his telling me that he once held a long conversation in Old Syriac with
some Syrian Bishop who had come to Cambridge, and was made much of there. He and
I have spoken Hebrew together; and if we did not speak it oftener, the fault did not lie
with him.
X It has sometimes been discussed (see Rogers' Table Talk, p. 263), what word (or phrase)
would be most useful to a person, if his knowledge of a language was to be limited to a
single word (or phrase). This question Dr. Bernard discussed with himself, with reference
to the English language, during his passage to England, and the conclusion he came to
was, that he had better ascertain as quickly as possible the English of " Wie heisst das ? "

LIFE OF DR. BERNARD. XC'i
imparted to him by able and distinguished private tutors, whom
his father, being a wealthy man, could afford to keep for him
acquiring a far better knowledge of our language, than is usually acquired by
foreigners. His pronunciation was remarkably good, and he spoke English with
as much ease as he did German, and with great correctness, although, in addition
to his slight foreign accent, a few trifling mistakes occasionally betrayed the
foreigner. I must, however, allow that, on the occasion of my first short
interview with him, I did not discover that he was not an Englishman (his name
said nothing) ; and, although I noticed some peculiarity in the tone of his voice,
I attributed it to bis age, and to some slight provincial tinge, rather than to its
true cause. He was well skilled also in English composition, and would fre
quently write long letters in not only correct, but really elegant, English. At
times, however, he would commit slight blunders, and this arose, as he himself
confessed, from his never having been able to acquire that fine discriminating power
both of eye and ear, which commonly enables us, in the case of our own language,
to determine when this and when that word (or construction) must or may be
used, but which, I think, no one ever yet did possess in an equal degree with
regard to even two languages. * He likewise translated from Hebrew into English
with the greatest ease, and, indeed, I believe that it was much easier to him,
from constant habit, to translate from Hebrew into English than into German ;
for, though, as I have before observed, he nearly always spoke German to me,
as being almost the only one among his friends with whom he could converse
" Was ist das ? " or, " Wie nennt man das ? " because then he would at once be able
to learn the English name for anything he saw. He acted upon this conclusion, and I
believe, indeed, that the Captain of the vessel communicated to him the talismanic words
(What is that? What do you call that?), which he was in search of; so that, with the
aid of his wonderful memory, he was not long in acquiring a knowledge of English. When
asked how, though he had begun so old, he had managed to acquire so good a knowledge
of English, he used to reply, " Impudence ! Impudence ! " and he certainly never was
afraid to ask a question. His first teacher in English was a Frenchman, of whom he took
lessons for some time, until one evening his master took it into his head to descant upon
the beauties of the opening line of Young's " Night Thoughts," " Tir'd Nature's sweet
restorer, balmy sleep," and wound up by saying to his attentive pupil, " Vous voyez, il y a
en l'homme trois natures, et sa troisieme nature, c'est le sommeil " (the malheureux had
taken tie'd nature = THIRD nature U) — and Dr. Bernard then perceived that he knew
more than his would-be instructor.
* My own observation leads me^to the conclusion, that those who are brought up from
their childhood to speak two or more languages indiscriminately and with equal ease,
really never possess a mother-tongue, i.e., a tongue free from all foreign admixture ; for I
have invariably noticed — and every fresh example which comes before me confirms my
observation— that these many-tongued individuals cannot speak even the language of the
country in which they have passed the greater part of their lives, and with which, of
course, they are commonly the most familiar — without introducing into it some idioms
borrowed from one or more of their other languages ; whilst, when speaking these other
languages, some slight (often very slight) peculiarity of accent betrays them, independently

XCU THE EDITOR S SECOND PREFACE.
at home. He also kept for him a mathematical tutor. * In 1825,
Hermann Bernard came over to England, f which country he has
never left since that time, and in which he has ultimately become
naturalized. In 1830 he established himself at Cambridge, where
he soon afterwards was unanimously elected by the Senate Hebrew
teacher in the University, with an annual stipend — an office which
he still holds. Soon after his establishing himself in Cambridge
he was engaged by six distinguished members of the University^
in his native language, yet, when translating to me from Hebrew, he invariably
made use of English. And this will not surprise any one who considers how plain
and straightforward English is, in comparison with tortuous, intricate, and long-
winded German. A German friend of mine, who, as compared with Dr. Bernard,
had only a moderate acquaintance with English, confessed that it was by no
means easy, even to him, to translate from Latin (a language, too, to which
German is not unlike in construction) into German, and that English was
much better adapted for the purpose. The fact is, English is a practical language,
and the language of a practical people — and it, therefore, commends itself to any
one — who, like Dr. Bernard, is a practical man. German has, however, the
advantage of frequently being less ambiguous than English, which has no genders
and no cases.
Dr. Bernard also had some knowledge of Arabic, but where he acquired this
I do not know ; I expect, however, in England, as the grammar which he used,
and which is now in my possession, was not published till 1825, and was procured
for him from Germany by an English bookseller. (1863.)
* Dr. Bernard had no great knowledge of mathematics, to which he had devoted
but little time, but he had a very great liking for them ; and, with his remarkably
clear head and logical mind, they could have offered him no difficulties. (1863.)
f He came over with the view of acquiring the language and then returning
to Russia. In the first instance, he settled, I believe, at Lincoln. He fully
appreciated the liberty which he enjoyed in England, and always spoke in bitter
terms of the Russian Government, so that the issue of the Crimean war was a
source of rejoicing to him. He used particularly to complain of the practice,
which it seems was prevalent in Russia whilst he lived there, of quartering
officers and soldiers upon the inhabitants. There were constantly some, he said,
in his father's house or in his, and their general practice was to appropriate all
the best rooms in the house to their own use, and to treat the owners as though
they were servants. (1863.)
% Among these were, if I am not mistaken, the late Dr. French and Prof.
Lee, Mr. Skinner, and the present Professor of Hebrew in the University of
Cambridge (Dr. Jarrett). (1863.)
of the blunders which they can scarcely fail to commit. Dr. Bernard used to relate of
the daughter of a Russian prince to whom he was banker, that, whenever she signed a
receipt for her father, she invariably wrote, " Pour le conte de mon pere."

LIFE OF DR. BERNARD. XC1U
to expound to them the Yad Hachazakah of Maimonides, and
this gave rise to " The Creed and Ethics of the Jews, exhibited
in selections from the Yad Hachazakah of Maimonides," which
he published in 1832* In 1839 he edited the " Guide of the
Hebrew Student," which is a selection from the Hebrew school-
books published by Wolfssohn and Ben-Zev, but to which he
added some Hebrew essays of his own composition, as well as
some of his own Hebrew translations of passages from Plautus,
Juvenal, Shakespeare, Pope, Young, f and others. In 1853,
after he had already been afflicted for some time with total
blindness from cataract, J he published jointly with the Rev.
* I strongly recommend this book to the notice of those who wish to learn
Rabbinical Hebrew. (1863.)
¦f Dr. Bernard was by no means ill-versed in English literature. His favourite
work was Young's " Night Thoughts." In German literature he was also well
versed, and here his favourite authors were Lessing, and (many may be surprised
at this) Kotzebue. (1863.)
X I believe he lost the sight of one eye, so far at least as to be unable to use
it in reading, about twenty years before bis death. He used to relate that he
first discovered the failure of sight in this eye accidentally. He was in the
habit, namely, of running over to the Bull Hotel (at Cambridge), near to which he
lived at that time (in Trumpington-street, I believe), between two of his lessons,
for the purpose of glancing over the " Times." One day, as he was on his way
to the hotel, something flew into, I think, his left eye. After trying in vain
to dislodge the intruder, he said to himself, "I will leave it till I get back home,
1 can read the paper with the other eye." But, to his astonishment, he found, as
it were, a mist spread over the paper, so that he could not distinguish the letters.
This is not, however, an isolated case, for I think that people occasionally have
incipient cataract in one eye for some time before they perceive any failure in
their powers of vision. When he totally lost the sight of this eye, and when the
other first became affected, I neither know, nor is it of much importance, but
he does not seem to have become totally blind until about the year 1850. I first
became acquainted with him in 1852, and he was then totally blind, i.e., he could
merely distinguish light from darkness. Notwithstanding his infirmity, he had
pupils up to the time of his death ; but for several years before this he had the
assistance of his friend and former pupil, Mr. Mason, who most generously went
to Fitzwilliam-street every day and corrected a part, at least, of the Hebrew
exercises which Dr. Bernard's pupils had written. I frequently advised Dr.
Bernard to consult some oculist with regard to his eyes, as the cataracts could,
of course, have been removed, and he might, very likely, have regained his
sight; but, though he seemed at times tempted to follow my advice, he procras
tinated aud procrastinated until death overtook him. He used to say that he was,

XCIV THE EDITOR S SECOND PREFACE.
P. H. Mason (now Fellow) of St. John's College, Cambridge, a
Hebrew Grammar, in two volumes, arranged in letters from a
teacher of languages to an English duchess.* In the title-
pages of all his works the name of Hedwig, f being that of a
departed sister, whom he wished to commemorate, is joined to
his own Christian name, which is Hermann. He is now engaged,
together with Dr. Chance, of Trinity College, Cambridge, in
and always had been, " eine feige Memme," and that he never could submit to
any operation ; but, though he may really have been timid, yet other causes, and
among them want of time, and unwillingness to break through the routine of his
usual habits, certainly contributed to prevent him from taking any steps towards
the removal of his blindness. (1863.)
* This grammar, well called by its authors the " gently flowing waters," is
better adapted for the student than any Hebrew Grammar I have seen. It tells
the student just what he requires to know and no more, and gradually conducts
him from the elements to the niceties of the language, whilst all the other
grammars which have come under my notice, and especially those of Ewald,
Gesenius, and Nordheimer, though indispensable, it may be, to those who have
made themselves familiar with Hebrew, so mix up together that which is useful
to the student with that which is beyond him, that I am afraid — instead of enabling
him to surmount, insensibly almost, the difficulties of the language, by presenting
them to him, one by one, in the order in which they may be most suitably met
and most readily overcome — they are likely only to dishearten and rebut him, by
plunging him at the very onset into a sea of difficulties, from which only the greatest
acuteness and the greatest perseverance will ever enable him to emerge, without
the loss of all further inclination for the study of Hebrew. The latest Grammar is
that of Kalisch, which, though very practical, and very useful to one who already
knows Hebrew, will, I think, find but little favour with the student, who can
scarcely fail to be speedily disgusted with the great number of dry, and to him
incomprehensible, details, which are set before him from the very first. Kalisch
is, I believe, generally accurate ; still, without looking for errors, I have stumbled
upon a rather gross, though at first sight, perhaps, not very obvious, blunder. He
states, namely, in Part ii., § v., p. 73, note b, that ^H^rT in Ps. xciv. 20, stands
for T]?n^ . Now, he ought to have been aware that T]?n'! is an impossible
form, for it = Tl??^ , in which we have two Sh'vahs following one another at
the beginning of a syllable (the second), which is impossible. He should, there
fore, have written ^H^T. ( = T"]2l?rT ), in which the slight vowel takes
the place of the first of the two Sh'vahs. Comp. Q?iabs ps. xxxiv. 12 ;
Tp-U^ Deut. xv. 10, &c. (1863.)
f Dr. Bernard told me more than once that he had promised his sister
Hedwig, who was much older than himself, and who died, I believe, many years
before him, that, if he ever wrote a book, ber name should appear on the title-
page, and this promise be religiously redeemed. (1863.)

LIFE OF DR. BERNARD. XCV
preparing for the press a Translation with Commentary of the
Book of Job, which, according to all probability, will be before
the public before the end of the present year, 1857.*
(Dictated to me, f believe about July, 1857. — Editor, 1863).
To this account which Dr. Bernard gives of his life I have but
little to add. I will merely state, on the authority of a member
of his family, -j- that it was chiefly in consequence of his
devoting himself to his books rather than to his business (he was
a Banker), that he was overtaken by the reverse of fortune J
* Even, if Dr. Bernard had lived, the present work would certainly not have
been published in 1857 ; for the manuscript was not completed until May or
June ; and soon afterwards it was thought desirable that I should complete my
medical education by passing a year in France and Germany ; and, as I did not
return from abroad until October, 1858, the work could not have appeared before
1859. At the time that Dr. Bernard drew up the sketch of his life, however,
I contemplated remaining at Cambridge until the work was published. (1863.)
t He left two sons and five daughters, and at the time he died, the son of one
of his daughters, a young man of twenty -five or twenty-six, was a professor at the
University of Moscow.
X Had it not been for this reverse of fortune, Dr. Bernard would probably
have remained a banker, and never have become an author, and he certainly
would never have been a teacher. At the same time, if this reverse had been
rather less severe, so that he would not have needed to give up so very large a
portion of his time to teaching, and if he had preserved his eyesight, we should
doubtless have had other works from his pen, whilst his Commentary on Job
would have left less to desire, than is now the case. It is impossible that a work
of the nature of a Commentary, written by a blind man with the assistance of
one, who, like myself, had only just ceased to be his pupil, could be equal to
what he would have written, if, with the help of his own eyes alone, he had been
able to gather the materials for his work. Dr. Bernard had a remarkably
retentive memory, and he had read, or beard read, the Book of Job a great
number of times, so that he no doubt knew every word of it off by heart (as I
myself now almost do) ; still even thus all the irregularities of orthography,
gender, number, construction, &c, with which the Book of Job swarms, would
not be brought home to him by any means so strongly, as if he had them con
stantly before his eyes; and, I am afraid that, when I was helping him, I was not
so much alive to this fact as I am now, and that consequently I did not call his at
tention to these irregularities so much as I might have done (see p. lxxix, note *).
Hence, I think, has arisen in a great measure the necessity for an Appendix,
although, as Dr. Bernard wrote rather for the Hebrew scholar than for the
Hebrew .student, some additional notes would, at all events, have been re
quired, in order to render the work suitable for the student. At the same time

XCVI THE EDITOR S SECOND PREFACE.
which led to his coming to England. His death, which was
rather sudden, and was, as far as I can judge from the symptoms,
caused by heart-disease, took place on the 15th of November,*
1857, so that he was in his 72d or 73d year.
Of his knowledge of Hebrew I need scarcely speak. The
public will be able to form their own opinion after having read
his Commentary, and the opinion which they will then form, they
will, I am sure, prefer to any judgment pronounced by me. I will
content myself with saying that he not only had all the Hebrew
of the Old Testament at his fingers' ends,f but that he
had also a most intimate and accurate knowledge of the
Talmud, and was well acquainted with the Commentaries and
writings of all the most eminent early and modern Rabbinical
authors, and with the works which some of those authors com
posed in Biblical Hebrew. J Of his really wonderful know-
Dr. Bernard's Commentary is much more complete than, I think, any other
Commentator would, under the same circumstances, have made it, because
Dr. Bernard was a man who had very decided opinions of his own, and therefore
naturally preferred to interpret the Book of Job according to his own judgment,
than according to that of any other Commentator. By far the greater part of
the Commentary, therefore, issued from his own brain, and accordingly it made
but little difference whether he himself wrote down his thoughts, or whether
another wrote them down for him.
Had Dr. Bernard lived, I think it is very probable that he would have
published selections from the Talmud.
* He was taken suddenly ill on Monday, the 9th November, 1857, and the
attack was of so violent a nature that he at once thought he was likely to die ;
he recovered, however, very speedily, more or less, and during the rest of the
week I believe be received his pupils much as usual. On Sunday morning, the
1 5th, however, he had a second and still more violent attack ; and he then felt
convinced that his life was fast drawing to a close. He sent for a solicitor and
dictated his will, which, however, he did not live to sign, and in the afternoon,
whilst calmly conversing with his friends, Mr. Mason, and Mr. Mason's father,
he suddenly sank back in bed, and immediately expired, though so gently
did his death take place that he was at first thought to be only asleep.
f At his tongue's end would be the more correct expression, for I have heard
him say, that at one time he could complete any verse in the Hebrew Bible of
which the first two or three words were repeated to him.
J The titles of some of these works will be found in Dr. Bernard's " Guide to
the Hebrew Student," Preface p. xii ; and I would also recommend to the
attention of the reader pp. ix — xii of this Preface.

LIFE OF DR. BERNARD. XCV11
ledge of Rabbinical Hebrew I may give some idea when I
state, that, though, whilst we were preparing the Commentary on
Job, I read to him the most various extracts from Rabbinical Com
mentaries, I never found him in the slightest degree embarrassed
or puzzled by them, unless, indeed, the text were doubtful ; they
were to him as so much German or English ; and it happened
but seldom that I had to read them over to him more than once.*
Now, how many Latin or Greek scholars are there, who would be
able to translate off hand any passage that might be read aloud
to them from any Latin or Greek author ! That it was as easy to
him to translate into Hebrew, as it was to translate from Hebrew,
every pupil of his will readily testify ; and it was, I will venture
to say, principally owing to his enforcing upon his pupils continual
exercise in Hebrew composition, that they nearly always succeeded

* He was always anxious that his pupils should study Rabbinical Hebrew, not
merely because there were a great many very valuable Commentaries written in
this dialect, but also because he considered it of some service in the interpretation
of Biblical Hebrew (see p. vii.). Again, as Rabbinical Hebrew is always found
without points, and one cannot read it aloud without supplying the points, it
follows that to read it aloud is equivalent almost to putting the points to a piece
of Biblical Hebrew — an exercise which is generally, and justly, regarded as
exceedingly useful, from its tendency to impress the points, i.e., the grammar of
the language, upon the student's mind. And, indeed, when reading Rabbinic to
oneself, one is apt to supply the points mentally more or less, or, at any rate, one
feels uncomfortable when a word starts up which one is unable to point, and, even
when we know the meaning of the word, we seek to remove this discomfort by
appealing to the Lexicon. Moreover, Rabbinical Hebrew is the continuation of
Biblical Hebrew down to the present time, and may be regarded as what
Biblical Hebrew would, or might, have become, if it had never ceased to be a
spoken language — and considered merely from this point of view, merely as a
link between the past and the present, the Rabbinical dialect is well worthy of
being studied. Putting all these considerations together, therefore, I fully agree
with Dr. Bernard that no one, who is unable to read Rabbinical Hebrew, can be
regarded as an accomplished Hebrew scholar ; and I am sure that one, who can
read Rabbinic well, will always be found to possess a better knowledge of
Biblical Hebrew, than one who confines himself to the latter. With regard to the
objection, that the Rabbinical student is liable to introduce Rabbinical words into
what he intends shall be pure Biblical Hebrew, I think, from my own experience,
that it is of but little weight, for Rabbinical words bear, as a rule, such a
distinctive impress, such a cachet, of their own, that no one, who is at all familiar
with Rabbinic, is likely to confound them with pure Hebrew.
9

XCV1U THE EDITOR S SECOND PREFACE.
in carrying off the Tyrwhitt Hebrew Scholarships. During the
two years I studied Hebrew under him, I never left his house
without having translated a certain portion of English into
Hebrew *, and I have no doubt that the majority of his pupils
conformed to his system. Another element in his success as a
teacher was his skill in adapting the pabulum, which he laid
before his pupils, both in grammar and reading, to their digestive
powers. To the beginners he allowed nothing but the most simple
food. Until the grammar written by Mr. Mason and himself
appeared, the only grammar he allowed his pupils to use was that
by Hurwitz, and from this he used to cut out\ all that he
considered might puzzle them. The consequence was, that, so far
from being disgusted with the difficulties of Hebrew, as they
infallibly would have been, had he allowed them to use such
grammars as those of Gesenius, Ewald, Lee,J &c, they learned
Hebrew, as a child learns to speak, without knowing how they
learned it. §
But Dr. Bernard not only translated with great readiness into
Hebrew, he also composed with remarkable facility and elegance
in that language. This would be inferred by any one who had read
his compositions in the " Guide to the Hebrew Student," &c. ;
* This was part of Dr. Bernard's plan of teaching. He knew that if he re
quested his pupils to bring him a piece of Hebrew every time they came, they
would frequently bring him nothing but excuses, but, as pupils (I speak of adults)
commonly leave their master's presence full of good intentions (which afterwards
evaporate at home), he took advantage of this, and when they left him, after they
had read their exercises to him and translated what they had prepared, they were
ushered into another room, where they found a piece of English ready for
conversion into Hebrew, and thus he rarely failed in obtaining a piece of
composition from them. At any rate, whether this was his object or not, the effect
produced was — in my own case, at least— that which I have described, for to this
arrangement of his I can certainly attribute the fact, that I wrote much more
Hebrew for him, than I did Latin or Greek for my other coaches.
f I use the verb cut out in its most literal sense ; he cut out the pages
containing the offensive matter, just as Voltaire is said to have cut out of all the
works which were presented to him, whatever he thought was not original.
J One might as well put Matthias's Greek Grammar into the hands of a boy
just beginning Greek ! See p. xciv, note *.
§ He taught Hebrew in fact much as Latin and Greek are taught at public
schools. Practice first, and then theory, if you like, was his motto ; whereas
Ewald's seems to be theory, theory, theory, toujours de la theorie.

LIFE OF DR. BERNARD. XC1X
but I had unusual opportunities for observing how great this
facility was, inasmuch as he more than once dictated to me long
letters in Hebrew, one at least of which I still possess. * Now, as
it is above all by speaking and writing a language, and not by
studying its syntax alone, that one can attain to that remarkable
power of discrimination of the eye and ear, to which I have before
alluded (p. xc, note %) f, and by which the mind often {instinctively
* This letter I may possibly give in the Appendix.
f In nothing, perhaps, is this power of discrimination better shown than in
the detection of ellipses. The Hebrew language is, as is well known, very rich
in ellipses, richer perhaps than any other language, especially in its poetry. Of
these ellipses many are obvious, even to the learner, but there are many also
which escape even those who consider themselves to have a profound knowledge
of the language. In fact, every one who has studied Hebrew deeply, and can
still remember the different phases through which, in its progress, his knowledge
of the language passed, will, I am sure, bear me out when I say that, the more
intimately one becomes acquainted with Hebrew, the more readily do ellipses
suggest themselves, and the more elliptical, therefore, does the language of the
Old Test, appear. This is so true, that I am in the habit of estimating a Com
mentator's knowledge of Hebrew, in some degree, by the readiness with which he
detects ellipses. Now, in no Commentary on the Book of Job will a greater
number of passages be found to be regarded as elliptical, than in Dr. Bernard's,
and herein, to my mind, he especially shews his great superiority over, at least,
all the Christian (non-Jewish) Commentators. I remember well that, when I
first read the Book of Job with him, I was astounded at the number of ellipses
which he supplied, and that I entertained very great doubts as to whether he was
justified in doing so. But gradually, as my knowledge of Hebrew advanced,
that, which had at first seemed harsh and arbitrary, became straightforward and
natural, and I found myself, even in books which I had never read with Dr.
Bernard, constantly detecting ellipses, which before I should strenuously have
refused to admit. Nor do I consider myself yet by any means to have reached
the limits of this ellipse-detecting faculty, which is sharpened by nothing more
than by the study of Rabbinical Hebrew ; for this dialect, especially as written
by Aben-Ezra and by Ben-Zev, is much more elliptical than Biblical Hebrew.
I would recommend the critic, therefore, before he pronounces any of Dr. Bernard's
elliptical constructions * to be harsh and forced f, to pause a little and consider
whether the beam may not be in his own eye, and whether a more profound
knowledge of Hebrew might not convert into excellencies what he now can look
upon only as faults. For the detection of these ellipses no certain rules can be
laid down, it is by intuition only that they can be discovered, and this intuitive
power is developed in proportion as a more extended knowledge of the language
is acquired. ,
• These remarks apply also, of course, to his constructions generally.
t Comp., for example, chaps, xxii. 11, xxxiii. 17.

C THE EDITOR S SECOND PREFACE.
almost), seizes upon the meaning of a difficult passage, it cannot
be wondered at, if I consider Dr. Bernard, whom I know to have
written Hebrew with such remarkable facility and correctness, a far,
an infinitely far, greater authority with regard to the interpretation
of the Hebrew Bible, than Schultens, Rosenmuller,* Gesenius,
Ewald, and other Christian (or perhaps rather non-Jewish)
Commentators, in favour of whose practical knowledge of Hebrew
we have scarcely one tittle of evidence.

Hitherto I have considered chiefly Dr. Bernard's acquirements ;
let me now say a few words concerning the faculties and qualities
of his mind. Acute, ingenious and original, he was prevented
from plunging, like so many of his countrymen,-)- into vain fancies
and speculations by great clear-headedness, soundness of judgment
and caution, qualities, the development of which had doubtless
been furthered by the business pursuits of his early life. What
ever theories he did advance, were based upon facts, or upon what
he regarded as facts, and he did not form his theory first, and then
make his facts bend and bow to his theory. As might be expected,
therefore, he was very exact, accurate, and methodical, and he
always expressed himself with great accuracy and precision, so
that there was never any difficulty in ascertaining the meaning of
what he said or wrote. At the same time, however, he was a
little apt to refine (betraying therein, perhaps, his Jewish origin),
so that if a passage in the Bible could be interpreted in two ways,
* Rosenmuller sometimes ventures to supply an ellipsis in Hebrew, but, as
pointed out in the Comm., he seldom does so, without committing some egregious
solecism. Ewald rarely ventures upon writing a word in Hebrew. Gesenius,
whom as a practical Hebrew scholar, I place far before the other two, sometimes
does supply an ellipsis or so in Hebrew, and I think his Heb. is generally correct,
as far as it goes. Schultens, I think, has not much to do with Heb., and if he
writes a word, takes care not to point it. But as for one lohole sentence in Hebrew,
it will be sought for in vain in the writings of these Commentators. Ewald does,
indeed, sometimes supply whole verses (e.g., Job xii. between vers. 12 and 13),
which he thinks have disappeared, but he supplies them in German, not in
Hebrew. If then it be true that the mouth (or pen) flows over with that with
which the heart is full, we must infer that these Authors were unable to write
such Hebrew, as to venture to lay it before the public.
X I mean the Germans, for Dr. Bernard looked upon himself as a German.

LIFE OF DR. BERNARD. d
the one very simple and obvious, and the other a little more
subtle, he would sometimes choose the more subtle interpretation,
and some examples of this tendency may be met with in his
Commentary.* He respected the authority of those whom he
considered to be learned, but he carefully weighed their opinions,
and did not scruple to reject them.-)- Indeed, he relied, I think, a
little ,too much upon his own judgment — 1 speak of course of
matters, with which he considered himself competent to deal —
and he has thus exposed himself sometimes to the charge of
dogmatism. He had great perseverance, so that whatever he
undertook he would work at, steadily and uninterruptedly, until it
was finished. His memory was remarkably retentive, still he did
not disdain to invoke the help of a Memoria technica.J It might
be inferred from the foregoing that he had not much imagination,
but this was not so. It was only in the business of life that he
was so methodical and practical ; out of business hours he would
give his imagination the rein, and then he was as though he knew
not what business was. He was very cheerful, in spite of his
blindness; his feelings were warm, and he delighted in the
society of his friends of whom he had a large number. He had
great conversational talent, and his conversation was always in
structive and amusing, as he had a vast fund of general information
and was full of anecdote. But he was not only a good talker, he
was also — which it is much more difficult to be — a good listener,
and, ever eager for information, he sought to make those in whose
company he happened to be, talk upon those subjects to which they

* It must be remembered, however, that he had been carrying the Book of
Job about with him in his head for years, and had reflected upon it much and
constantly ; and it is not, therefore, surprising that some of his interpretations
should be a little too elaborate and artificial.
f There are people who sacrifice their own judgment to a great name. Dr.
Bernard was not one of these. See note in Comm. on ^7 , chap. vi. 3, p. 53,
and on chap. xxi. 13, p. 185.
\ He had shares in different railways, and it was principally for the purpose
of remembering their numbers, which happened to be very high, that he made
use of his Memoria technica. He always converted his numbers into Hebrew
words, which is not surprising, as every Hebrew letter has a known numerical
value, and he, therefore, had not the trouble of giving to English or other letters
the value of numbers.

Cli THE EDITOR S SECOND PREFACE.
had especially devoted themselves. His avidity for every species
of information, whether important and useful, or unimportant and
merely interesting or exciting, was very remarkable, and I see
him now bending forwards, or stretching his body over the table,
towards me, and rising even from his chair, in his eagerness not to
lose a word of what I said — when I was about to read to, or tell,
him something, which he considered would be interesting. He
retained in fact until his death — and this was, perhaps, his most
striking characteristic — all the freshness and thirst for knowledge
of a child. Had he lived a thousand years, his susceptibility for
fresh impressions would, I believe, never have been blunted, his
mental appetite never have become palled. As might be expected
from this strong admixture of the nervous in his temperament,
he was very sensitive and extremely passionate, but here again his
caution and his self-command stepped in, and he very rarely
discharged his passion excepting where habit had blunted its edge,
I mean upon the head of his servant-boy.* He was a man of very
high principle, but he had an overstrict and too stern a sense.of duty,
especially of the duty of a wife towards her husband, and of children
towards their parents, so that he was altogether unable to forgive
what he conceived to be a flagrant violation of it. In eating and
drinking he was extremely temperate, nay almost ascetic, for,
whilst I knew him, he took but one very small meal daily, and he
never drank either wine or spirits, or, indeed, any alcoholic
beverage. With regard to his religious belief, I can form no opinion, as
his caution and dislike of argument led him to avoid the subject
of religion, and I cannot remember that he ever spoke to me
either about the religious belief of others, or his own.f He always
professed to have great fear of death, but he shewed no fear of it
when he knew it to be at hand ; indeed, it was whilst he was
calmly engaged in making arrangements which he considered to be
* He was, however, substantially just, kind and liberal to him.
t Mr. Randolph, however, tells me that Dr. Bernard once assured him that he
was in the habit of daily using a prayer, which he himself had composed, and
which is to be found in Mason and Bernard's Grammar, vol. ii., p. 294. This
prayer, which I venture to give here, with a translation, partly because I think the

LIFE OF DR. BERNARD. Clll
necessary in view of his approaching end, that he suddenly sank
back dead upon his bed.
In conclusion, he was a man who commanded admiration by his
intellect and learning, and, in particular, by the extent and
soundness of his knowledge of Hebrew ; esteem and respect by
his moral worth ; and sympathy and affection by his warmth of
heart and remarkable social qualities.
51, Wimpole-street, Dec. \Mh, 1863.
Grammar may not be accessible to many who read this book, and partly because
it is a good specimen of Dr. Bernard's Hebrew, runs as follows : —
O'stei nsun *a"0 na-ih nnsta nfes ! rpttfan why
t ; - t : * •• : - • t - "t
np-it rrnan tn fja^r ns -labs bs
t ' : -t ¦ : - - ' ; t v t >.
nsia vvn bs — Inia'sa bsa — wbs
t:-t»"t - t : ' " "t
aw nriM — ninbD sns sb> — '•stan dm
?pps afoa *pa">sa sa n,Tn nns
' v : - v v ' v " ; t '- * t -
Tjnbtt b'sab rs "3 nns bsa nas
' V T . . | .. . T _ - . T T

For us, O Messiah ! wast Thou slain as a lamb doomed to slaughter !
For all of us didst Thou pour out Thy blood, the blood of the covenant !
For us — 0 Redeemer of souls ! — didst Thou die upon the tree !
My sins — I know not [their] numbers — Thou knowest 
Let now, I pray Thee, the soul of Thy servant be precious in Thine eyes !
I beseech, do Thou redeem [me] ! for to redeem there is none beside Thee.
* i.e., 13 vowels (or syllables), and [the accent of the last word in each verse]
penultimate. Sh'vahs of course are net counted either as vowels or syllables. — iV. of Ed.

CIV

N.B. — For a summary of the speeches of Job, . . see pp. 15 — 17.
„ „ Job's three friends, see pp. 29 — 30,
Elihu . . . pp. 291— 295,
„ „ God . . . pp. 353— 354,
(and compare Ben-Zev's Preface).

Extracts from Rabbinical writers (see 1st Pref. p. xii) are to be found in
pp. 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 22, 24, 26* 35, 36, 43* 47, 50, 51, 54, 56, 68-69*, 72,
75,76,80,81,86,91,96, 105, 10.9, 111*, 118t, 120*, 122*, 123, 126, 127f,
130, 140*, 149, 150* 170*, 178, 188*, 191, 199, 201* 204*, 205, 214, 217*,
223* 224, 230, 247-248 + , 250*, 251, 258t, 261, 264*, 265, 269, 271*, 278*
280, 283, 287, 289*, 299* 316*, 317, 326, 330, 331, 332, 350, 358, 359, 363*,
374-375|, 381, 383, 386, 393, 394, 5004
* Pieces of from two to five lines in length.
t Pieces above five lines and under ten lines in length.
X Pieces above ten lines in length.

FACSIMILE OF DR. BERNARD'S HANDWRITIN& IN CURSIVE HEBREW.
(See Ben-Zev's Peeface, p. xlii, note f).
2 >n>J~>"J '*JY '*'<* *Sj>* -*sy\ U \^

^>W>^ >*o ?1 ^W^v "*^

> 'J> t-^~>-

'/

^ '

im^ffl ai»s nbsttf

Job's Question and His (God's) Answer.

¦;T " • ' '¦' ' t J-.t '' ('•¦ Behold! Thou tookest away every thing from me in the days of my
?,!B2 "llgjy n^Srt lb n"1St??n nnbl affliction and my misery,
—  Why then didst Thou leave me the woman which is with me
orppaa ban Tjb: ob^ ns? saj ">a v-ist 
* trasQ ma ?rb attfn >nbab vmin nst nb * kuew that the time would come t0 repay thee every thing double ''
" T ' : ' : •:-:•'" '"T Therefore did I leave thee this woman, so as not to return unto

* In p. xlii we find D^paa and dwd , in pause.

thee wretchedness twofold.

COMMENTARY.

Those, who are acquainted with the original of the Old Testament, will do
well to have the Hebrew Text open before them, while reading this Commentary.
The accents, as far as regards interpunctuation, should be neglected, for they
are altogether irregular in this book, as well as in Psalms, and Proverbs.
In the Commentary, where accuracy and fulness of sense, rather than elegance
of expression, have been kept in view, passages may very often occur, rendered
in language somewhat different from that of the Translation, but the sense will,
it is trusted, always be found to be precisely the same. It is hoped that the
reader will generously refrain from passing judgment on the Translation, till he
has referred to the Commentary and Notes.
The Sacred name Jehovah, where it occurs in the Translation, must not be re
garded as a proper name given to the Deity, but is intended by us to represent, as
far as it is possible to do in English letters, the Hebrew nVTj (a word, composed,
as is well known, of nVT he was, TTyn being, and WJX1. he will be, and, therefore,
signifying a being, who was, is, and ever will be, an Eternal Being), so that by
Jehovah we mean in reality the Eternal One.
CHAPTER I.
Ver. 1. The name TplJ}, applied to a country, is found three times
in the Old Testament, viz., in the verse before us, in Jeremiah xxv.
20, and in Lament, iv. 21 ; applied to persons, it is also found three
times, viz., Gen. x. 23, xxii. 21, xxxvi. 28.
The name HI"**, which so frequently occurs in this book, is only
found once elsewhere, viz., Ezek. xiv. 14, and there evidently
alludes to the same person.
rprh. This, being a past tense with the 1 conversivum, is used
to denote an habitual state, and implies that Job always (i.e., ever,
constantly) was pious, &c. With regard to the doctrine of the
tenses and the 1 conversivum, the reader is referred to Mason
and Bernard's Hebrew Grammar (Letters 51— 55), in which it has
been laid before the public in all its shades, and supported by argu
ments, which have not hitherto met with any refutation, although a
considerable time has elapsed since the publication of that book.

2 CHAPTER I. 1  5.
To render the word Dfl in this instance perfect, seemed objec
tionable for two reasons ; 1st, the epithet perfect is so comprehen
sive as hardly to admit of any other ; and 2ndly, a human being
even with his greatest endeavours to attain perfection must always
fall far short of his object. It appeared, therefore, more advisable
to give Dfl here the meaning sincere, pious, a meaning based upon
Gen. xx. 5, ^21 D£3 in the sincerity of my heart.
Ver. 3. The noun rnD.JP which is also found in Gen. xxvi. 14, is
evidently derived from the verb 12H* to serve, but also, to till, as
in Gen. iii. 23, and may, therefore, signify a body of servants,
(household), or arable land.
Ver. 4. The verbs W'prn. Ifcfl/l. in^fify !K1|?V are all of them
converted past tenses, used in a frequentative sense, to denote that
the sons and daughters of Job were in the habit of going, &c.
See note on fTPP (ver. 1).
JV3 stands here for JV33 in [the] house of, as Gen. xxiv. 23,
where "=P3X ITS stands for T3X rP33 in [the] house of thy father.
iDi"1 for lOVQ, on his day, which may mean either, on the day,
when his turn came, or on the day of his birth, as infra iii. 1, where
iDi\ most probably, stands for iT^iri Di"1 [the] day of his birth.
That in ancient times, as at present, the custom prevailed of
celebrating one's birth-day by feasting, appears from Gen. xl. 20,
where we read, that Pharaoh " made a feast unto all his servants,"
on the occasion of his birth-day.
Ver. 5. D^j^!, and he prepared them (for the following morning),
probably by words of admonition and exhortation ; that the verb
ttHp in Pi-al, is used to express preparation, is evident from Jer.
vi. 4, li. 27, 28, Joel iv. 9, in every one of which passages we find
the word Iti'^.p clearly in the sense of prepare ye.
To give JiHp, in this instance, the signification of sanctifying,
as generally is done, would be to suppose Job to have been either
a priest, or a prophet, but nothing that we read concerning him
warrants this supposition.
DtvG "12PP for Db -I2p£3, or D^3 1SDD1? according to [the]
* The roots of verbs will, throughout the whole of the Commentary, he given without
points, so as to leave it to the option of the reader to consider them either as the Infinitive
Mood or the Past Tense, 3rd pers. sing. masc. (See Mason and Bernard's Grammar,
Letter xxvii. § 3.)

CHAPTER I. 5. 3
number of them all. A similar ellipsis occurs in 1 Sam. vi., where
we have (ver. 4), &n$% ^"ID "ISDQ for 0^02 \3~IP "ISPES
according to [the] number of [the] lords of [the] Philistines ; and
(ver. 18), D^t^b? "H# ^3 "lSPP for Cfl^P. "HJ/ ^ ""I2PP?
according to [the] number of all [the] cities of [the] Philistines.
D3373 P1C'/$? ^"I^l and blasphemed God in their heart[s].
In many languages, ancient as well as modern, we find words
having two opposite meanings, of which the one intended can
only be determined by the context. Thus, for instance, the Latin,
facinus, sometimes signifies a noble action, sometimes, a crime ; the
English, to cleave, as an active verb signifies, to disjoin, and as a
neuter, to join, adhere to. But Hebrew abounds with such
instances; thus, the noun, ipn, which generally signifies grace,
is also used for disgrace ; as, r\KE3n D^SSb TPD"] (Prov. xiv. 34.)
but [the] disgrace of nations [is their] sin. So also, in Lev. xx. 17,
it is said of incest, NTH Ipn, it [is] a disgrace. Again, HEpl-)!?,
which, in Ps. xxi. 12, is used in a bad sense, HStp 13^n, they
imagined a mischievous-device, is used in a good sense, Prov. i. 4,
nSTlDl TlJJl knowledge and discretion. We need not, therefore,
be surprised at seeing the verb 1"13, which, in Pi-al, generally
signifies, to praise, to bless, used in this verse in a diametrically
opposite sense. So Ben-Zev, in his D^tfiHaM -|¥1X (on the root
*P2), referring to ^3"]T in ver. 11 of this chapter, observes :
naian -jan bs ¦'iaa i~n iiasi pi
" And so by way of epithet (euphemism) it may denote the reverse of blessing.''
One may compare the Italian benedetto, blessed, which is
sometimes used as an imprecation. Wolfssohn observes, and, may
be, justly, that the verb "["13 is here used euphemistically, by way
of respect towards the Supreme Being. These are his words :
p5dp 'pia 7133 -|77
" By way of reverence towards the Supreme [Being]."
The use of such euphemisms is very frequent in the Talmud, and
in the Commentaries of the later Rabbins ; thus, in the treatise
Brachoth, chap. I., the question, why, in Ps. cxiv. which is
arranged in alphabetical order,* the letter 2 is omitted, is answered
by the observation, that that letter is an ominous letter, as an
nouncing the fall of Israel, since in Amos v. 2, we read, " The
* Le., the first verse begins with n, the second with i, and so on.
B 2

4 CHAPTER I. 5.
virgin of Israel (nb^J)* hath fallen; she shall no more rise."
But, instead of saying, that that letter announces,
bs-ifip ba? irbsa
" The fall of Israel,"
they say, euphemistically, bN-iHP "»sw bt» ^nbon
" The fall of the enemies of Israel."
We could quote many more instances of this sort, if we were not
afraid of trespassing too much upon our readers' time. Similar
euphemisms are to be met with in most languages. Thus the
Greeks, by an euphemism, called the Black Sea, etifewo?, the hos
pitable, instead of agevos, the inhospitable, as it eminently was, at
any rate, in early times, from the savage tribes surrounding it.
So, again, they termed the Furies, the gracious [goddesses], Evpevl8e<:
(from evpevr)<;') ; and many other such instances might be adduced.
Those who are inclined to give to "J")3 , in the passage before us,
the signification of, bidding farewell, taking leave, and hence, also,
of renouncing, derive, perhaps, some authority for their interpre
tation from Gen. xlvii. 10, where we read, rijHS Tltf 3j?^ T$Ti
rijn.5 ^57P N1P1 and Jacob blessed (took leave of) Pharaoh, and
went out from before Pharaoh; but those who are bent upon
keeping up the common signification of 713 , viz., to bless, and,
consequently, translate D^JlbS 13131, and have blessed an idol,
must have totally forgotten the passages 1.79) CH^K .£313
(1 Kings xxi. 10) thou didst blaspheme God and [the] king ; and
ite D^S ni3: y~g, (Ibid. ver. 13) Naboth did blaspheme
God and [the] king ; in which, to give to "|13 the sense of blessing,
and to D^li/X that of an idol, is altogether out of the question, as
blessing an idol could not have been imputed to Naboth as a crime
by such an idolatrous king and queen as Ahab and Jezebel.
From the word 033^3 in their heart, used here by the hiitorian,
it may be fairly inferred, that in public the sons of Job always
conducted themselves as pious and religious men, but that their'
father apprehended that this assumed piety might not be sincere.
So the Psalmist says of the nation of Israel (Ps. lxxviii. 36) :
" Nevertheless they did flatter Him with their mouth, and they
lied unto Him with their tongues, iE>£7 |133 Kb D37T But their
heart [was] not right with Himf
* Observe, this word begins with 3 .

CHAPTER I. 5 — 14. 5
ntyj^ is evidently used here in a frequentative sense, he used to do.
Ver. 6. D^SH vja lit., [the] sons of Goo7, i.e., the angels (comp.
chap, xxxviii. 7.)
nifP 7J/ before Jehovah ; lit., near Jehovah. Compare
E'T;?I£ "IQtf S1IT1 (Gen. xviii. 8) aw J Ae [was] standing near
them. jCptPn lit., #Ae adversary (of mankind), *Ae accuser, from the verb
jJOty fo oppose, impede, accuse, be an adversary. Comp. ^M \JC?t£'
(Ps. lxxi. 13) [tfAe] adversaries of my soul.
Ver. 9. From Satan's answer to God, it is evident, that he wished
Job's piety to be considered as proceeding from mercenary
motives. Ver. 10. ri3ti> root "^Ity (also "^P), tP and P as dentals, frequently
interchanging, to make a hedge, to hedge. It may be used in a
good sense, to fence in, by way of protection, as it is in this
instance ; or, in a bad sense, to coop up, to straiten, as infra iii. 23.
Ver. 11. ?P5? 7J/ is translated in the Authorized Version to Thy
face, by which, of course, must be meant, in Thy presence, openly,
publicly ; and so, Schultens, " infaciem tuam ;" Rosenmuller also,
in his Commentary, says, " Contra faciem tuam, quasi in os tuum,
non amplius corde tan tum, sed, abjecta omni numinis reverentia,
palam, profitebitur vanum esse, Deo servire." Now, though the
term VJ3 iP is used in this sense (infra xxi. 31), where, in
reference to the wicked tyrant, it is said, i3~n V3S 1JJ TIP ^D,
rendered in the English Version, Who shall declare his way to his
face ? — it is, nevertheless, difficult to understand how, with regard to
God as an Omniscient and Omnipresent Being, it could make any
difference, whether the blasphemy were committed openly, or in
the heart, and we, therefore, have thought it better to take the noun
D^Q^here in the acceptation of anger, wrath, indignation, as in
Lament, iv. 16, Dj?v>n nii"F^9 [the] anger of Jehovah hath divided
them; and would translate jl3"!3^ ?|^3 bj/ Nb DS will he not bias-
pheme Thee because of Thine anger ? DS being, in this instance,
used not as a conditional, but as an interrogative, particle ; as
infra vi. 12, ttfinj) "nfc>3 DS T13 D^3S n3 DS [Is] my strength
[the] strength of stones ? [Is] my flesh brass ?
Ver. 14. The collective noun ")j?3, being, like the Latin bos, of
common gender, is here coupled with m'ti^h, a fem. part., while, in

6 CHAPTER I. 14  17.
Exod. xxi. 37, we find it joined with the masculine numeral HtS'Dn,
~\p2 nwDTl five oxen.
DiTT 'V. lit., at their sides, (expressed in the Chaldee Version
by ]irTHC?P ^V) i.e., at the side of, and not far from, the oxen.
Comp. 1 Sam. iv. 13, 1~H T lit., side of [the] way, i.e., way-side.
That the masc. affix DH" is applied here to *")£3 , which, in this
instance, is coupled with a feminine participle, need not surprise
us, as "lj?3 is of common gender. So we have pin} n7i"T| nil
(1 Kings xix. 11) a wind great and strong, where the noun nn
being also of common gender, is qualified by the feminine adjective
nbilS , and the masculine one, pjn .
Ver. 15. SI1# %T\\ for DiT^ R2& n)UD ban] and a host of
Sabceans fell upon them. Ellipses of this sort are not at all
uncommon in Hebrew ; as TH b^ni (2 Sam. xiii. 39,) stands for
TH U/£2 ^3rn and the soul of David longed. The verb 13H in
this verse is in the plural, as referring to the men composing the
host. The name of the country, S3t£> Sheba, Sabcea, is used here by
metonymy for its inhabitants, the Sabceans, just as in Exod. xiv.
9, 23, DyilfD Egypt, is used for Egyptians.
Ver. 16. D\i^S t^S afire of God, i.e., a mighty fire. The super
lative in Hebrew is frequently expressed by coupling the noun with
one of the attributes of the Deity ; as bs "'TIS (Ps. lxxx. 11), lit.,
cedars of God, exceeding-goodly cedars ; HTOnbty (Cant. viii. 6),
lit., a flame of Jah, i.e., a very mighty flame. Those, who under
stand by this fire, lightning, materially weaken the force of the event
here recorded, it being more probable, that this was a supernatural
fire, unattended by any storm or thunder. So the fire mentioned
in Numb. xvi. 35, Hi IT1 nSQ HN^ J^Sl and [there] came out a
fire from Jehovah, may also be more reasonably regarded as a
supernatural fire, than as mere lightning.
Ver. 17. D\^K"l . The noun £'S~I, which generally signifies head,
and also, chief, is used here in the meaning of a band (of
troops). Comp. Cttfin ntiby/ (Judg. vii. 16) three bands. The
Targumist, in the verse before us, renders D^ST T)llhtiJ ,
fDi^iS "'tyn Snbn three chiefs [or captains] of troops.
ItOtyDH and they spread [themselves]. The verb &D£>2 is some
times used for the unfolding and stripping off of a garment, as Lev.

CHAPTER I. 17 — 20. 7
vi. 4, VTJ3 riS GD£>2') and he shall put off his garments ; and some
times, for the unfolding, or spreading out, of a host, (like the French,
se deployer), as pTSPT bjl D^% W2 (1 Sam. xxiii. 27).
[The] Philistines have spread [themselves] over the land.
Wiyitj the young men, in this, as well as in the two preceding
verses, refers to the herdsmen.
Ver. 18. Tj/ in this instance is synonymous with Til/. Comp.
b^V TZl l)j (1 Sam. xiv. 19), while Saul spake; and VllVJ li!
(Jon. iv. 2) on my yet being, i.e., whilst I yet was.
Ver. 19. Dn^?n the young-men, or rather, the young-people, as,
in this instance, it evidently refers to the sons and daughters of
Job. Jarchi, indeed, seems to have taken it, in this verse, in its
strict meaning, viz., that of young men, observing,
ru3P Taroi -pi I'fl iar>
" But there was no occasion to mention the daughters,"
meaning thereby, that the daughters were of little consequence ;
-but that the word Dn^3 was sometimes used as a general term
for young-people, whether male or female, is evident from Ruth
ii. 21, for Ruth there says to her mother-in-law concerning Boaz,
that he told her, \^2T\T\ ^7 1W$ DH^H DJL7, whereas, in ver. 8,
we read, that Boaz really said to her, ",n'"Tl?3 D# Pp?*^ 12),
and we cannot suppose such a virtuous woman as Ruth would tell
her mother-in-law an untruth.
Ver. 20. W)kl ns U'l and he shore (shaved) his head. That this
was the custom of mourners in those times, appears from Jer. vii. 29,
^T3 "'Ti shear- (shave-) off thy long hair. The same verb is also applied
to the shearing of sheep ; as l'2S¥ ns Tfab (Gen. xxxi. 19) to shear
his sheep, an example, which proves beyond doubt, that ftJ means
to remove the hair with an instrument gently, and without pain.
Violently pulling out one's hair, as an act of despondency and
despair, is expressed in Hebrew by TUp ; as nrnj? Wlp) S7
DB'STJ (Lev. xxi. 5) they shall not make baldness upon their
head ; and Ulb lip) ST] (Jer. xvi. 6), nor make themselves bald
(i.e., pull out the hair violently) for them; also Micah i. 16,
^jl ''lip mahe [thee] bald, (i.e., by violently pulling out the hair)
or shear (shave) [thee]. We were sorry, therefore, to find Jarchi
observing on WS1 HS PJJ, " He pulled out,"

8 CHAPTER I. 20 — 21.
an explanation the more surprising, as Job is not only not
described as violent and impatient, but is, on the contrary, repre
sented as patient and calmly resigned to the decrees of Providence.
The only thing that might be said in excuse for Jarchi is, that he
was perhaps nolens volens obliged to translate here as he has done
in order not to shew himself at variance with the Rabbins of the
Talmud, before whom, of course, he was obliged to bow, and
according to whom, a mourner so far from being allowed to cut
off his hair, is, on the contrary, expressly enjoined to let it grow
wildly. Thus, in Lev. chap, x., where the catastrophe of Nadab
and Abihu is recorded, we read (ver. 6), that Moses said to Aaron
and his two sons by way of desiring them to make an exception to
the general rule, l.insn bs DD^ST ; which, instead of rendering,
as the translators of the Auth. Vers, well do, Uncover not your heads,
(i.e., either by shaving off your hair as mourners, or perhaps by
not wearing a turban), they translate, do not let your hair grow
wildly, and, consequently, come to the conclusion, that mourners
generally ought to let it so grow, as Jarchi there observes :
p")ippp3 -?ipfi iar>D )fbr>
" Hence [we see] that a mourner is forbidden to shear [his hair]."
The Rabbins in the Talmud seem to have based the signification
they give to the verb JDD that, namely, of letting the hair grow
wildly, upon the erroneous conclusion, that, because the noun
JHS signifies a lock (of hair,) as in Numb, vi. 5, l$l\i! J7"!5 bl3
it^S"! to let grow [the] lock of [the] hair of his head, the verb must
necessarily imply the letting grow the hair, altogether forgetting
that we sometimes find verbs expressing the removal, or destruction,
of the object represented by the noun of the same root. Thus,
in the description of the altar to be made by Moses, it is said
(Exod. xxvii. 3), "And thou shalt make its pans (i3$T;) to
RVMOvv-its-ashes," (from ]pl ashes) ; and of the foal of an ass he
says (Exod. xiii. 13), " and if thou wilt not redeem it (in2Tt?l) then
thou shalt BRVAK-its-neck," (lit., neck it, from v\lV a neck) ; and
many more such instances might be quoted.
Ver. 21. Yi£, for Y^ as the Kree has it.
llpp thither; i.e., to my mother's womb, which, in this
instance (viz., in the 2nd clause of the verse) evidently is used
figuratively for the earth, as it also highly probably is in the first,

CHAPTER I. 21 — 22. 9
Job considering himself, as a human being, the offspring of the
earth. Indeed, infra iv. 19, men are called T£h VD3 ^2$
dwellers in houses of clay ; again, infra xxxiii. 6, Elihu says,
"•J^ynp 112TV2 I was cut out of clay ; and in chap. xvii. we find Job
himself indulging in similar figurative language, when, longing
for the grave, he says (ver. 14), ''BS nns "<3S T\Hlpr nnti'b
nSlb "\nhSl to corruption I would call out, Thou art my father ;
to the worm, 0 my mother, and O my sister ! The Psalmist also
says (Ps. cxxxix. 15), JHS ni'nnro nppl I was woven in [the]
lowest-parts of [the] earth.
Ver. 22. Since the adjective 7§n occurs infra vi. 6. in the sense
of insipid, tasteless, the noun nbsn may be taken to have originally
signified insipidity, tastelessness ; but, just as the verb £1^3 to be
offensive to the smell, is also used when transformed into a noun,
to express everything that is bad (thus, in Isa. v. 2 — 4, we find
D^SS bad-grapes; and, in Job xxxi. 40, iTtt'SIl bad-herbs (or
noisome-weeds) ; while in Chaldee, the verb Ji'S3 (Dan. vi. 15), is
used to express, bad-temper, ill-humour, and the nouns tifr3, , SB^Il
are synonymous with the Hebrew mn badness, wickedness,) — so
also nban, in the verse before us, infra xxiv. 12, and Jer.
xxiii. 13, is used to express, injustice, malice ; so that the words
D^fibsb nbDn inj SbT should be translated, and he did not
t : • > - t : '
ascribe malice to God. The verb ]nj , when construed with 7 or
with 3 , signifies the act of attributing, ascribing, imputing ; as
D,(J7S7 ty/ MT\ (Ps. lxviii. 35), ascribe ye strength unto God, and
^1 ]nn ?JBS |33 (Ps. 1. 20), thou ascribest faultiness (i.e.,
attachest a blemish) to [the] son of thine [own] mother.
The Targum paraphrases D\i7Sb nb9fl |JTia S71: by sbl:
^ D"T|7 Spnp ^bp HDD and he did not direct sinful words against
Jehovah. This way of understanding the verse seems to have
been relished by Schultens, and Wolfssohn ; the former trans
lating it, " neque edidit futilitatem in Deum," the latter,
d^in B^ntaawa «n para ansii DSBa^bijaw VP vyum isin
Both then have given to the verb \T\2 , in this instance, a meaning
(that, namely, of uttering [words, or speeches]) in which we do
not find it used in Hebrew, unless when followed by some noun
expressing sound (noise); as bip ian1. (Ps. civ. 12) they, utter
[their] voice ; ntlCT |HiJ (Job xxxv. 10) uttering songs. Unless,

10 CHAPTER II. 2 — 4.
therefore, 1%F\ stands for lb$F\ T3"1] a word of malice, or
something like it, these translations must be considered objec
tionable. Nor can that of Rosenmuller, viz., " Neque quidquam
in Deum inepte commisit," be regarded as less so, for where, we
would ask, is ]Pi2 to be found = commisit?

CHAPTER II.

Ver. 2. For the explanation of the process, by which the particle
''S where, and the pronoun HT this with the prefix B (TIB) come
to have together the meaning whence, we are indebted to Jarchi,
who comments upon it as follows :
fo 'ib pw -)Pii iaiDD oippp P'f>
" Where is the place, respecting which thou couldst say, from that [place] I am
coming ? "
Mason and Bernard have applied the same reasoning to the particle
li^S in Gen. xxxvii. 16, D"Jp Oil H^S ; '•S where [is the place,
of which one could say,J nS here, U^J!1 Dil they are feeding ?
Ver. 3. The root mp , in Hiph-el, signifies to move away, and,
therefore, sometimes is used to express a change of place, as
2 Chron. xviii. 31, DrTP^I and He removed them; but more fre
quently, to express a changeof mind, as inthisverse, ^JTPrn although
thou movedst me. The prefix 1 has here the sense of though,
although, as in Ruth ii. 13, "OaSl though J (be not like unto one
of thine hand-maidens).
The root #73 , though strictly signifying, to swallow up, is very
frequently used in the sense of ruining, destroying.
Ver. 4. It is a matter of common observation, that man is wont
to consider one member of his body as of more vital importance
to him than another, and that he will, therefore, in order to protect
a more important one, readily sacrifice a less. Jarchi, bearing this
in mind, very ably comments on Ity "TJ/3 ity , as follows :
. rjpi iuno ]'2P icfo iu pfo upo otnm oif< 03 777 p
" This [is] the way of the sons of men ; when one sees the sword coming [down]
upon his head, he protects it with bis arm."

CHAPTER II. 4 — 5. 11
So also Aben-Ezra, P733J PPrp -)13U3 P3PP 7PP' Oft 17*3 U'U Tflppi D7f>P JPJP
" [It is] the custom of man to shelter bis eye with bis hand, when be is afraid of
a blow, because of its (viz., the eye) being valuable."
Now, upon this fact, Satan builds the argument he here brings
forward, that, namely, if a man will readily submit to sacrifice one
member of his body for the sake of another more valuable to him,
it is not at all to be wondered at that Job submits to lose all he has,
rather than provoke God, who can take away his life. Had
Schultens and Rosenmuller seen these simple, but most able,
comments, they would scarcely have said what they have done on
this passage.
The noun TU? , though generally meaning skin, is once used in
this book in the sense of body (infra xviii. 13), i~lij/ H3 [the] parts
(or, members-of his body ; in the verse before us, it signifies a part,
or member of the body. So the Targum, S")3S bl^BS ST3S
member for member.
The words ]JT Ji^S? Tc^'S in the last clause of the verse, must
be understood in the second, so that Satan's argument, expressed in
full would run thus ; ify li!2 JJT 'i^sb Ip S "rijr [one] member
which [belongs] to a man would he give [up] for [another] member ;
ittf£>3 "TJ/3 \iy\ tt^sb -)B>S bbl yea, all which [belongs] to a man
would he give [up] for his life.
The verse thus written would, indeed, be very clear and intel
ligible, but it would be also very prosaic. The adversary of
mankind, however, was, it would seem, so elated by his previous
success, recorded in the preceding chapter, as to wish to suit his
language to his feelings, and he accordingly clothed his malicious
insinuation in a ternary verse.* Hi! TV3 Til/
s^sb t^s bb)
W$2 li!2 jJT
Perhaps, however, this saying was current as a proverb at the
time this book was written.
Ver. 5. Here we find the verb V22 construed with bs , and not
with 3 as in the preceding chapter, ver. 11. 19, so that it would
seem not to signify as there, to smite, but to touch ; as though he
* The rest of the chapter is in prose.

12 CHAPTER II. 5 — 9.
would say, Put forth Thine hand, and touch his bone and flesh
ever so slightly, &c.
We find here T'j.S bs instead of TOS /jt/ in the preceding
chap. ver. 1 1 ; this, however, cannot in the least invalidate the
remark made there, seeing that we very frequently find 71/
standing for bs , and vice versd ; e.g., 1 Sam. i. 10, " and she
prayed bi! (for bS) to (Jehovah) ; " Lament, iii. 41, " let us lift
up our heart bs (for bi!) upon (our hands)," (LXX. «ri xetpwe) ;
and, Ezek. xliv. 7, bs (for bjj) " because of (all your abominations)."
Ver. 7. It is supposed, that the malady, with which Job was
afflicted, was that commonly known by the name of Elephantiasis
(Elephantiasis Arabum).
Ver. 8. The root "TTJ , of which we have here the Hithpa-al, is
not to be met with in any other part of the Bible.
That persons, afflicted with any great calamity, or humbling
themselves before God, used to sit in sackcloth and ashes, is
manifest from what we read in Isa. Iviii. 5, and Esth. iv. 3 ; but,
as in this instance we have T^SH the ashes (definite), some have
been led to think, that by it not common ashes are to be under
stood, but the dust-like particles which Job scraped off with the
potsherd from his thickened and scaly skin ; whilst others suppose
it to refer to the powder, which they conceive him to have sprinkled
over the sores, with which the whole of his body was covered, as
is still the practice in many cutaneous diseases. But it is more
natural to suppose, that he had sprinkled ashes upon his head in
sign of mourning, just as we shall see below, ver. 12, his friends
did, and that allusion is here made to that circumstance. It
might, perhaps, be urged against this explanation, that the historian
has nowhere informed us, that Job really had thus besprinkled
himself, but such objection would be totally devoid of weight, as
we often find instances in the Bible, in which the reader is left to
infer an act not expressly recorded. Thus, in Exod. ii. 20, where
Reuel says to his daughters, " Call him (Moses) that he may eat
bread ; " the very next words are, " And Moses was content to
dwell with the man," without our having been actually told that
they did go to call him, or that he came.
Ver. 9. Before ^"TiJ/ the interrogative il must be supplied, just as
in 1 Sam. xxi. 16, TJri stands for "tPnn whether in need of? &c.

CHAPTER II. 9 — 10. 13
T\U\ . The more proper form would be niBJ , as it is the
imperat. Kal of mB . At the first glance, this imperative might be
supposed to stand instead of a future, just as in Deut. xxxii. 50,
God says to Moses, "1113 nBT and die in the mount, which
evidently stands for TTI3 JYlBni and thou shalt die in the mount,
seeing that dying a natural death is an act which one cannot be
commanded to perform ; but it is difficult to imagine that the
wretched woman, who speaks here, used DH) in this sense, as, of
course, such an impious creature could not have thought, that
blaspheming God would needs be followed by instant death. It is,
therefore, more natural to suppose, that she advised him to defy
God, and by his own hands to put an end to his existence.
Ver. 10. The particle DJ stands here as a mere expletive, = yea,
indeed, as in 1 Sam. xxiv. 12, ns"! D2 nS"l see, yea, see. This
one quotation might suffice, but as so much has been said about
the meaning of this little word here by Rosenmuller, Ewald and
others, to no purpose, the reader is referred also to Numb. xvi. 13 ;
1 Sam. i. 6 ; Ps. cxxxiii. 1 ; in all of which instances the D3 will
be found to be hardly translatable.
The words nSI bD3 for all this, standing, as they do here,
immediately after the severe rebuke administered by Job to his
wife, seem to express that, notwithstanding the agonizing feelings,
which, independently of those arising from the other calamities
which had been brought upon him at the instigation of Satan,
Job must have laboured under, on seeing himself thus taunted and
plagued by the impious woman, to whom it had been his unfor
tunate lot to be united — that, notwithstanding all this, — notwith
standing his agonizing feelings, yet, VnatjQ StOT Sb he did not
sin with his lips. It would be erroneous to suppose, that by this
expression, he did not sin with his lips, was meant, he did not
blaspheme God, as his wicked wife wanted him to do, since his
refraining from so atrocious a sin could hardly have been recorded
by the historian as a favourable feature in his character ; we must,
therefore, understand by it, that he had not hitherto even com
plained, or grumbled, but had persevered in his patient and calm
resignation to the decrees of Providence. The words SCOPl sb ,
then, might be taken to mean, he did not miss, (err, trip) with his
lips, he did not say anything amiss, to miss being the primary signi-

14 CHAPTER II. 10— -12.
fication of the verb StDn , which only derives its commoner
one of to sin, from sinning being equivalent to deviating from,
or missing the way of rectitude ; so Judges xx. 16, " Every
one could sling a stone at an hair-breadth, S^IT S71 and
not cause [it] to miss ; " Prov. xix. 2, " And one hastening with his
feet SfcDin stumbleth," (i.e., misseth the place, upon which he
ought to have put his foot). In like manner, the expression
,JifZ'73 SiCOnB so as not to sin with my tongue, used by the
Psalmist, Ps. xxxix. 2, refers only to his not having shown any
impatience, or manifested any surprise, at the prosperity of the
wicked and his own sufferings, as is evident from the context.
nS3n that has come. The definite article is used here for the re
lative pronoun Ty^S which or, that,an& when this is the case it maybe
prefixedto a tense. (See Mason and Bernard, op. cit, Letter xlvi. §2.)
Ver. 11. The verb Tl] to shake, or move, like the verb J/13 , when
applied to the head, is sometimes used to express contempt, or
amazement, sometimes sympathy and pity. Comp. D3>lzJ/. njj/^Sl
TZ'Sl 1B3 (infra xvi. 4), and I would move my head at you ;' i.e.,
I would express my sympathy for you ; so that ib T37 in this
verse, strictly speaking, stands for ib Dt£>S"l T)3b to move their
head at him, by way of expressing their condolence. The same
ellipsis occurs also infra xlii. 11, where we have ib 113 J] for
ib DfZ'S") ITJ'H and they moved their head at him.
T VT" */
Ver. 12. From our being told here, that his friends lifted up
their eyes from afar, and did not recognise him, together with
the fact, that he was sitting amidst ashes, we may fairly conclude,
that Job had taken up his seat in the open air ; and there the
reader will do well to imagine he continued during the whole
time occupied by the events recorded in this book, as, thereby will
not only the grandeur of the description given, in the latter
chapters of this book, of the phenomena of nature, and of the
approach of the whirlwind, from which God addresses Job, be
greatly enhanced, but also some passages be cleared up, which
might otherwise seem obscure.
After the words pllTIg) DiTyj/ ISJf?) and they lifted up their
eyes from afar, the words iniS 1ST! and they saw him, must be
understood. We have already had occasion to notice the frequency
of such ellipses in Hebrew in our note on ver. 8 of this Chapter.

15

PROLOGUE TO CHAPTER III.
SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPLES AND VIEWS ENTERTAINED BT JOB, AS GATHERED
PROM THE WHOLE RANGE OP HIS DISCOURSES WITH HIS FRIENDS.
(Those who wish to verify the quotations here given will do well to refer to the
Translation wliich accompanies this Commentary, rather than to the Authorized
Version, according to which the passages in question would frequently convey a
very different meaning.)
That Job was pious, upright, and a man fearing God not only
does the historian bear witness, but also God himself
(chap. i. 1, 8); at the same time, however, he was a man
of a philosophical turn of mind, who was not satisfied
with taking things as they came, but would thoroughly sift
and examine them, in order to arrive at their true causes
and effects. Knowing, therefore, that he is suffering
unspeakable torments undeservedly, he is amazed, and
astounded at it ; he curses the day of his birth (iii. 1 — 9) ;
he wishes that he never had been born (iii. 11, 16;
x. 18, 19) ; he longs for death and the grave (vi. 9 ; xvii.
13, 14, 16); he is sometimes tempted to put an end to
his existence, but immediately rejects the idea (vii. 15, 16) ;
he will readily submit to death, but not to protracted
suffering (xiii. 15 ; vi. 11, 12) ; he laments that death is
denied by God to those who pray for it (xxx. 24); he is
astonished at the prosperity of the wicked (ix. 24 ; xii.
6; xxi. 7 — 13), and the sufferings of the innocent (xxiv.
3, 4) ; he cannot comprehend, how an Omniscient and
Omnipresent Being can suffer the atrocities of the wicked
and their triumph over the just, in this world (xxiv. 1,
5 — 12), for even the sudden removal of the wicked, which
his friends bring against him as an argument, he considers
rather as a blessing, than as a punishment (ix. 23 ; xxi. 13);
he asserts, that he is not only free from guilt, but that
he has also done a great deal of good, and appeals to God
as a witness (xvi. 19; xxiii. 10, 12; xxvii. 5, 6; xxix.
12 — 17) ; he protests that he is grievously wronged by God

16 PROLOGUE TO CHAPTER III.
(xvi. 12 — 17; xix. 6, 7); he is very much irritated, when
his friends tax him with crimes, which he had never
committed (vi. 15 ; xix. 2, 3) ; he expresses his suspicion,
that they desire to magnify themselves at his expense
(xix. 5), and that they speak against their conscience,
with a view to ingratiate themselves with God (xiii. 7 — 9) ;
he represents to them, that such a mode of proceeding
against an unfortunate friend may drive him to despair and
apostasy (vi. 14) ; he tells them it is very easy for the
fortunate to make the unfortunate an object of derision
(xii. 4, 5); he challenges them to produce arguments
instead of finely-worded speeches (vi. 24 — 26) ; he regards
it as great presumption on their part to preach to him the
Omnipotence of God (xxvi. 2 — 4); and tells them he
considers it to be rather his place to preach it to them
(xxvii. 11, 12); he cannot conceive, how so majestic a
Being as God can be offended at the acts of frail and
abject man (vii. 20; xiv. 1 — 4); he would have man enjoy
the privilege, not only of praying to God, but also, of
justifying himself before Him (ix. 15); he asks why it
should be considered sinful in a man to think himself
innocent, when he really is so (ix. 20 — 22) ; he longs to be
in the presence of God, and to reason with Him (ix. 34, 35 ;
xiii. 3, 17 — 24 ; xxiii. 3 — 10) ; he demands a regular court
of justice for the trial of man, so that he may be allowed
an advocate to defend him, and may be admitted to bail
(xvi. 21; xvii. 3; xxxi. 35 — 37); he is a staunch believer
in the existence of an Eternal God (xix. 23 — 27) ; but
knows nothing of a future state, and thinks that man's
existence finishes with this world (vii. 8, 9 ; xiv. 10—15).
That Job had not the remotest idea of a future state, and a life hereafter,
is evident, not only from the passages quoted above — more particularly
those which contain his profession of faith (xix. 23 — 27) — but also, from
the whole tenour of his arguments, complaints, and murmurings against
Providence, which are such as entirely to forbid the supposition, that he
knew anything of another world. Suppose for a moment, that, in our
days, a sufferer like Job were to indulge in such unbecoming outbursts
against God, could not a mere child, who had but read the first of the
four Gospels, at once put him to silence and to shame by exclaiming to

PROLOGUE TO CHAPTER III. 17
him, " How as nothing are the sufferings which you endure during this
handbreadth of life, in comparison with the eternal blessings which you
might expect to enjoy if you did but humble yourself before your Maker,
and resign yourself to His will !" How is it, then, that not one of Job's
friends, not even his young friend Elihu, held such language to him, or any
language at all approaching to it ? How is it, that Job himself, sensible
as he certainly was, did not see that he was laying himself open to a
rebuke of this sort ? Simply because neither be, nor his friends, knew
anything of a life beyond the precincts of the grave. Indeed, God
Himself, in His address to Job from the whirlwind, makes not the least
allusion to such a Hfe, nor need we wonder that He does not, since the
preaching of the doctrine of the Kingdom of Heaven was reserved for
Him, through whom alone we can attain to the Kingdom of Heaven.
It also deserves consideration, that, in the New Testament, not one
passage from Job is quoted, as alluding to a future state. The Patriarchs,
who held direct communion with God, and the Prophets, who were
inspired by God, must no doubt have felt, that a being, who could hold
communion with the Deity, could not perish as a beast, but must have an
immortal soul ; but neither Patriarch, nor Prophet, was allowed to
preach the Kingdom of Heaven publicly ; and, if they did sometimes
allude to it, we should most certainly not have discovered their allusions,
had not our eyes been opened by the New Testament. But Job was no
Prophet, nor had he before held direct communion with the Deity ;
it ought not therefore to surprise us, that he looked upon himself as the
being of a moment, till God revealed Himself to him, as recorded in the
later chapters of this book. Then, and then only, did he perceive, that
he must be something more than a mere animal, that he must have a soul,
which was immortal, and could not perish with his body ; and, on per
ceiving this, he at once acknowledged he was wrong, became a convert,
and exclaimed, " I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but
now mine eye seeth Thee ; wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in
dust and ashes." (Chap. xlii. 5, 6.)*
To suppose for a moment, that Job knew anything of a future state, would not
only tend to deprive his arguments of their force, and to render his complaints
unreasonable, and absurd, but would also be equivalent to setting him down as an
utterly wicked man, for such would any man in our days be justly considered, who
gave vent to similar expressions against God, and His Providence. Nor would it be
possible to conceive, how such behaviour and such expressions could deserve the
approbation and commendation of God, who said to the three friends, " for ye
have not spoken of Me that which is sincere, like My servant Job." (Chap.
xlii. 8.) Had Job known anything of a future state, the greater part of what
he says would be not the language of sincerity, but downright insult to Him,
who expressed Himself so highly pleased with his words and sentiments.

18

CHAPTER III.
1. I resolved : I will guard my ways,
That I may not transgress with my tongue ;
I will keep a check upon my mouth,
So long as the wicked are in my presence.
2. I was altogether dumb ; I held my peace from good and bad ;
But my pain rankled,
3. My heart within me was hot,
Through my sighing the fire kindled ;
I spake with my tongue.* (Ps. xxxix. 1 — 3.)
These verses are strikingly applicable to the innocent sufferer,
whose discourse composes this chapter. Seven days, and seven
nights, was he altogether dumb, and held his peace ; seven days,
and seven nights, did he keep a check upon his mouth ; seven
days, and seven nights, was he sighing over his miserable lot ; till,
at last, his heart grew hot within him, and he spake with his
tongue. These ideas were suggested by the words, |3 "HPUS after
this, which imply that, after having thus forborne complaining, he
at length gave vent to his pain in bitter exclamations.
iBi1 his day, which some think, stands for ilblH DI"1 [the] day of
his being born, i.e., the day of his birth; or DV may perhaps be
used here in the sense of fate, as it is infra xxx. 25, Di1 iT^p
hard of day, i.e., ill-fated.
Ver. 2. \i!l . The verb 12V, when not followed by an accusative,
is sometimes used to express the opening of a discourse, and is almost
synonymous with to speak, or to begin to speak ; as TIBS") 13,1/1
(Deut. xxi. 7), and they shall speak, and say, and n^BSI. JTOJt/l
(Ibid. xxvi. 5), and thou shalt speak, and say ; and in this sense, ]i!l
must needs be understood here, as it cannot be translated, and he
answered, seeing that we are told by the historian, that not one of
the party had as yet spoken a word. A similar use of the verb
a-n-oKplvopai is very common in the New Testament.
Ver. 3. The relative TtfS is omitted before iblS ; the full form
would be, 13 T71S "l^S in which I should (was to) be born.
TBS is used here impersonally, one said; i.e., it was said; as
* From Dr. French, and Mr. Skinner's very elegant translation.

CHAPTER III. 3, 4. 19
"lS3b ST£ (Gen. xvi. 14) lit., one called the well; i.e., the well
was called. After TBS , we must supply "'Bsb or "'BS bi! respect
ing my mother, of my mother.
ITlh She [is] bringing forth. The verb Tin , though generally
signifying to conceive, is also used to express bringing forth, in
1 Ch. iv. 17, DHB nS "I nni and she bare Miriam. It is amusing
to see how those, who were bent upon giving to niH here its
ordinary signification of conceiving, have treated this verse. They
of course saw that it was very difficult to understand how it could
have been ascertained precisely upon which night the conception
took place, not to speak of the infinitely greater difficulty, which,
even if the question of the night were satisfactorily settled, would
still present itself, as to the manner in which the child then
conceived could have been determined to be of the male sex at
such an extremely early period of his existence ; and, therefore, to
get over this difficulty, instead of making the verb 'TBS imper
sonal, they have, in the first place, taken iTy?! to be its
nominative case, rendering, TBS nT?n , the night said, as though
the night could know, when the conception took place, and what
it would produce ; and, in the second place, made iTlh , evidently
the part. fem. Kal of the verb iT")i*1 which is only used in this
voice, a past Pu-al, translating the whole, " Et nox, quse dixit,
Conceptus est Masculus." (Schultens.) "Et nox, quse marem
conceptum esse dixit ! " (Rosenmuller.) " Und die Nacht, die da
sprach : Es ist ein Mannlein empfangen ! " (Schlottmann.)
The words i3 ")^S must also be supplied before "IBS , so that
the full form would "be, 122 111 TBS 13 T£>S iY>frh and the
¦j .. T T - T v -: t : - - :
night, in which it was said, She is bringing forth a man [child].
Job, probably not knowing, whether he was born in the day, or
in the night, curses them both ; the force of the letter 1 in
nb^bni , therefore, is not that of the conjunctive particle and, but
that of the disjunctive or, as in Exod. xxi. 15, "he who
smiteth his father, iBS") or his mother, &c."
Ver. 4. The verb &HT , though mostly used to express inquiring
after, also signifies caring for, or favourably noticing, a thing ; as
in Deut. xi. 12, "A land, which Jehovah thy God HriS U}~)1
careth for it," i.e., noticeth favourably. Job, therefore, prays, that
God may not take any favourable notice of that day.
c 2

20 CHAPTER III. 5, 6.
Ver. 5. The verb bSJ , independently of its usual meaning to
redeem, occurs also in the signification of to stain, soil, pollute ; as
in Isa. lxiii. 3, "And all my raiment "^S^S (for ^bsjn) J
have stained." So again, bsJB Dnb (Mai. i. 7) polluted bread.
The verb "1B3 is used to express becoming black, in Lament, v.
10, 11B33 Ti3n3 are become black like an oven, but also means to
grow warm, or hot ; e.g., " my repentings 11B33 (Hos. xi. 8)
were kindled." The noun TTB3 , therefore, may have both these
meanings, viz., blackness, and heat, or sultriness ; consequently,
DI1 nnB3 infU/3^, may fairly be translated, may [the] black
vapours (or clouds) (arising from heat and sultriness) of [the] day
affright it (viz., by holding forth to it the prospect of impending
darkness and tempest). A complete parallel is thus established
with the first clause of the verse, " let darkness and the shadow
of death pollute it." So Ben-Zev explains this noun by,
p^an ein
" Distressing heat."
It is well known, that sultry days commonly terminate in a
thunder-storm. The third radical of the verb 1122 is doubled in the noun,
TTB3 , just as that of the verb "IJD in the noun, T"1JD (Prov.
xxvii. 15) rain. The translation adopted here is rejected by
Rosenmuller, on the ground, that the 3 in THB3 , has short-
cherik, and not pathach, as the D in T"13P ; he, therefore, insists
upon making the 2 a prefix, and, not being able to attach any
meaning to it, is obliged to say it is a mere expletive, and to
translate this clause in such a manner, as to deprive it of its
parallelism with the first. Is it then so very unusual to see the
first radical of one noun take short-cherik, where that of another
of the same form takes pathach ? Does not D'Obp kings, in
construction, make "O^P , whilst B^TJS garments, makes HJS •
Ver. 6. The affix in in innj5',_ , shows us we ought to consider
Sinn nb'lbn as a nominative absolute = as to that night. See
Mason and Bernard's Grammar, Letter xlvii. § 9.
The punctuation of the word 11Vm , at once shows the root to
be mn to rejoice, as in Exod. xviii. 9, 1TTP TT] And Jethro
rejoiced. Had its root been TH1 to join, unite, as the translators
of the Auth. Vers, must have been of opinion, it would have been

CHAPTER III. 6 — 8. 2 1
pointed either "UT1, or TT, as in Gen. xlix. 6, .Tin 7S be not
thou united (as it is translated in the Eng. Vers.), and there would
have been no occasion for the dagesh in the 1 . See Mason and
Bernard, op. cit., Letter xxxix. § 17.
Ver. 7. TB7il . In Isa. xlix. 21, we find this word used of
women, in the sense of sterile, childless ,- in the verse before us, it
probably signifies sterile (of joy), joyless, cheerless, and in the same
acceptation, it will also be found infra xv. 34, and xxx. 3.
Ver. 8. The verb 3p3 is very frequently used in the sense of
cursing, i. q., 33p (e.g., Disb liTJp1 (Prov. xi. 26) [the] people
will curse him, and in many other places), but the same root is
also used in several passages, in the sense of pointing out, or
distinctly-naming (e. g., T13^ ""^P? (Gen. xxx. 28) Specify-
clearly thy wages; 133j£| nin1 "'S (Isa. Ixii. 2) [the] mouth of
Jehovah shall distinctly-name it; bvp1! Dt^n ns .... 2p)\
(Lev. xxiv. 11) And .... pronounced-distinctly the name, and
blasphemed*) and in this latter sense we prefer to take it here, as
it would be difficult to understand, how Job could expect men,
who wished to curse their own day, should curse his.
As, in the poetry of even modern languages, fabulous animals,
such as, dragons, griffins, &c, are sometimes introduced, so in
Hebrew such an animal is to be met with in the noun DS") , which
very frequently occurs (e.g., in Numb, xxiii. 22, and also in this
book infra xxxix. 9), and which in the Eng. Vers, is commonly
rendered unicorn (itself a fabulous animal), while Mendelssohn
always leaves it untranslated. In like manner, in the verse before
usj ICV-1? migh* with, some show of reason be taken as the desig
nation of a certain fabulous monster, and as such be fairly left
untranslated, as has been done by Schlottmann, who renders,
"die bereit sind, den Leviathan zu wecken." But, on the other
hand, it must not be forgotten that the word ]^f? again occurs
in this book (chap. xl. 25 — Auth. Vers. xii. 1), where it represents
a most powerful and terrible animal, the whole structure and confor
mation of which are fully detailed, and correspond very accurately
* So Mendelssohn, r. bjd"Wbi«') -i:in n» pnw pn -|N"era
hy which rendering he very cleverly avoids the tautology which would result from giving to
3F".5 the sense of cursing, as is done in the Eng. Vers., " blasphemed the name of the Lord
and cursed."

22 chapter iii. 8.
with those of the crocodile. The verb T$ (root TU/) to awake,
arouse, would also be very fitly applied to that animal, as we are told
by natural historians, that it is the most dangerous of all voracious
animals, inasmuch as it is in its nature to lie watching for its prey
for hours, if necessary, on the bank of the river, from which it
has emerged, motionless, and like the trunk of a tree, till some
unfortunate wretch (or, it may be, animal) has come within its
reach, when it starts up, as if roused, from its simulated sleep,
and rushes upon its victim. There is not perhaps, therefore,
anything very unreasonable in the supposition, that Job, who
wished to call upon the most unfortunate and miserable of human
beings to point at and cite his own accursed day, would regard as
such, and as such invoke, those ill-fated, ill-starred wretches, who
were on the point of being devoured by so terrible a monster, as
the crocodile. With this explanation we can now proceed to
construe the verse under consideration. It runs thus :
Di1 "'"II.S li-Qp1 Let those, who curse [their] day, distinctly name it,*
IJTlb ilV D1Tn,L/n [Even] those destined to arouse [the] crocodile.
Rosenmuller refuses to admit this translation of the second
hemistich on account of there not being a b prefixed to ~P# , being,
as it would seem, altogether unaware, that this infinitive is not a
constructive, but an absolute one, which in itself signifies to arouse,
and cannot admit of the b of D7"D3 . But were it even a con
structive infinitive, there would be nothing to wonder at in the b
being understood, and not expressed, as this is an ellipsis, which is
very frequent in prosaic, not to mention poetical, Hebrew ; comp.
Gen. iv. 12, where nn r)Ph sb stands for nnb *\DT\ sb it shall
not again yield ; and many other similar instances might be
adduced. In the Eng. Vers., JJTlb llj! is rendered " to raise up their
mourning," a version, which they must have founded upon the
passage in the Talmud, 7U1P3 PP'li PDfi IDDn f>b
" A woman must not raise up her mourning at a festival."
(Jerusalem Talm., treatise Moed Katon, chap, i.), a passage referred
to also by Aben-Ezra, who observes, at the same time, that the
pronominal affix | stands for final D .
* i.e., let them say, " May our day be accursed like that of Job !"

CHAPTER III. 9, 10. 23
Ver. 9. In chap. xxxi. 26, we find TiS used to express the sun,
in opposition to PIT the moon ; j^SI TS1? Ip1 might, therefore,
mean, may it wait for [the] sun and [there be] none, and upon this
Job, becoming more vehement, improves, by adding, nST bsi
lip ^P.2V2 nay, let it not even behold [the] eyelids of [the] dawn.
"int^ dawn, is here personified by our poet, who gives it eyelids ;
the Psalmist gives it wings, lip ^22 (Ps. cxxxix. 9) [the] wings
of [the] dawn. The latter figure is intelligible enough, as we can
easily imagine the dawn, approaching us gently, soaring upon
wings — but not so the former lip "*%%$& [the] eyelids of [the]
dawn, unless we understand by it that Job would not have the night,
in which he was born, behold the dawn even in its very first stage,
when it is, as it were, half-slumbering, with its eyes all but hidden
by its eyelids. Comp. our expression " the peep of day."
The 3 in "'BJ/SJ/S is either pleonastic or the mark of the
objective case. Comp. n&3B3 DTI (Exod. vii. 20) and he lifted
up the rod.
Rosenmuller tells us that Jerome understood the prefix 3 before
iS^3 , as if it were 121^33 133i3 , and observes, " nec id quidem
male ; " a noun in construction followed by a preposition ! ! and yet
" nec id quidem male " ! ! ! we devoutly wish for his sake, that he
had said, " pessime."
Ver. 10. As we have seen Job cursing, first, the day of his
birth, and then, the night, the verb "1JD it shut up, might refer to
either of them ; but, as the night is the last mentioned, it is more
probable that it is to it that it refers, and that he assigns in this
verse the reason for his cursing it, as though he said, I curse it,
TJD S7 "'S because, Sec.
The Hebrew possessive affixes are frequently open to an ambi
guity, which the context only can remove. Thus, by ^sbB in
Ps. ii, 6, " Yet I Jhave set ""SbB my king," we must understand
him, whom I have made king; whereas, in Ps. lxxiv. 12, "For
God is 137B my king," the meaning is, king over me. So the
context in the verse before us shows us we should take ^3 £03 my
belly, to mean the belly (i.e., the womb), which conceived me.
When Job says, he curses the night, because it did not shut up the
belly (the womb), which conceived him, he means because it did
not render his mother sterile and incapable of conception.

24 CHAPTER III. 10, 11.
In the Eng. Vers., the neg. part, sb which we have in the first
hemistich of this verse, is supplied to the second, and "inp_'1
translated, as if it stood for Tnpn S71 nor hid, &c. ; but there
is not the least occasion to suppose any such unusual change of
form, as we may simply understand Job to say thus, " I curse it,
because it did not shut up my mother's belly (womb) "inp1! and
conceal," i.e., and, by doing so,conceal — so as to conceal — "^jt/B bDjtf
" misery from my eyes."
Aben-Ezra gives to the affix in 13B3 its more natural sense,
and refers it to the speaker himself, understanding him to say, the
doors of my [own] belly, i.e., navel (by which, when an embryo,
I received my nourishment). His words are :
7il'D D7ip 7il5 brfW fty 1JPPD "WJUP
" The navel, by means of which the food enters the embryo before it is born."
By Rosenmuller we are told, that Aben-Ezra takes God to be the
subject of the verb "13D, although He is not expressly mentioned,
according to which Job would curse the night, because God did
not shut up, &c. This would, indeed, have been strange reasoning
on the part of such a man as Aben-Ezra, but, fortunately, we
cannot find he ever said anything of the sort ; all he says, when
commenting on the words, "1JP Sb , being,
DP")P PPIP 1W
" The opener of the womb (i.e., the one, who left it open), is not mentioned " ;
by which he evidently merely intended to say, that the verb TJP
was used here impersonally (just as TBS in ver. 3), and might,
therefore, be rendered by a passive, " Because the doors of my belly
(i.e., my navel) were not shut up." It will be perceived, that Aben-
Ezra in this instance uses Drn as synonymous with ]B3 . *
Ver. 11. DrnB from [the] womb, stands here for DrHB ''nS^
on my coming forth from [the] womb, just as |t?3B i!p% (Isa.
xlviii. 8) a transgressor from [the] belly for |B3B *inS¥3 iJp% a
transgressor on thy coming forth from [the] belly (wast thou called).
Those, who understand by, from the womb, that Job wished he had
died, in the womb, and refer in support of their opinion to Jer.
* In order not to use in English one word for an object expressed in Hebrew by two,
viz., ]EJ and cm , we have adopted the word belly for the former, and womb for the latter,
as the word belly is often used in poetry for womb, though of course strictly speaking, the
womb only, and not the belly, can conceive.

CHAPTER III. 11 — 16. 25
xx. 17, have forgotten, that Job only refers to that earlier stage of
his existence (when, namely, he was in the womb), in ver. 16, after
having first enumerated its later stages.
DIBS Sb is used here conditionally, should Inot have died, as, in
Gen. xliv. 8, 33^3 should we steal, or, have stolen ; and so is J/13 SI
in the second hemistich, then, I ought to have died.
Ver. 12. D^TJ knees, i.e., the midwife's knees, which were
put forward to catch, and so met, him, hindered him from
falling to the ground, by which he might have been killed.
(TBI in the second hemistich stands for iTB71 and why, (were
breasts (tendered me,) that I should suck 1)
Ver. 13. nnj/ "G for now (i.e., if the knees had not met me,
and no breasts had been tendered me), "'JjODtfi' I should have lain.
7 PI131 there would have been rest to me (i.e., I should have been
at rest), the verb being used here impersonally. Comp. v ")¥
(1 Sam. xxviii. 15) [J? is] distressing to me, i.e., I am distressed;
and v "IB (Ruth i. 13) [It is] bitter to me, i.e., I am grieved.
Ver. 14. The verb TODttf, or ^3^ must be understood at the
• : - t ' • : - t
very beginning of this verse ; " I should have lain (or slept),
CObB Di/ with kings, &c, who are building,"
ni3nri desolate places (from the verb 3"in to be desolate), i.e.,
mausoleums, splendid buildings, but intended only iB7 for them
selves, to contain nothing but their remains, and, therefore, in
some sense desolate. Such buildings we know from history were
very frequently erected in ancient times to contain the ashes of
celebrated personages.
Ver. 15. iS (^F\22p , or in3Ji?1 being again understood here)
" Or I should have lain (or slept), U^lp DV with princes, &c."
That the relative IpR must be supplied before 3T is self-
evident. Ver. 16. In the preceding verses we have heard Job lamenting,
that he did not die, as soon as he came into the world ; here he
goes further, and says, it would have been still better he had
never come out of the womb at all, or in his own words :
iS " Or why (112b being understood after it) nVIS sb should
I not have been ]1BO b533 like an hidden untimely -birth ; " i.e.,
like an untimely birth, which is quickly removed and hidden from
the sight.

26 CHAPTER III. 16 — 20.
In the second hemistich "IJ^S must be supplied before S7 .
Ver. 17. In a note on Ps. i. 1, Kimchi gives us the following
definition of the word D^Vpl ,
u:yi linn in?) 3iup p vvy f>ii pip oira coi pippi )ipp nwpi d'3'3pp dp
'PI U'pD* PIP* 1P3 • P71PP t>W W)0 ]"3V '3 D3i P71P 3T)P ]1PPP 1)302 U")P')
: P3"5P WJ-)P ip • vil33 PP Mj") Dip* Pil . U'DT PJP' ")DP i33) ' P'DT
" They are those who are fond of acquiring wealth, and that which their
heart lusts after in this world, so that they make no distinction between that
which is good, and that which is evil, and rob, and steal, and slay, for the sake
of wealth, on account of the restlessness of their heart ; for the [primary]
meaning of 27EH is restlessness ; as, And, if He bestoweth quiet, who can cause
restlessness (or disturb) ? (Job xxxiv. 29) ; and whithersoever be used to
turn, he caused restlessness (disturbance) (1 Sam. xiv. 47) ; and restlessness
will not rescue him who bath it (Eccles. viii. 8) ; be not over restless
(Eccles. vii. 17)."
With such an eminent authority before us, we need not hesitate
to translate &i!pl in this verse, agitators, disturbers ; when, on
supplying before the word 121 the prefix B , with which the verb
bin to cease, refrain, is generally construed, the first hemistich
will run thus :
Dp there (i.e., in the place he longs to go to, the grave,)
DIl/ttH agitators
lb"in cease
Ul for T31B from [causing] trouble.
In contradistinction to this hemistich, in which wicked agitators
are declared to be rendered harmless in the grave, we have in the
second hemistich, Dt^l and there
# t :
12 1i/131 those worn outof [their] strength (i.e., those who have
been tyrannized over by wicked agitators,)
ini3^ find rest.
Ver. 18. The adverb TH1 together, refers to the 713 ^P in the
preceding verse, that is, together with, or like them, prisoners
repose. Ver. 19. The pronoun Sin being singular, refers to each of the
adjectives |bj7 and bi"T3 separately, that is, [the] little- (or lowly-)
man is there, and so is [the] great-man ; they are both in the same
place, without distinction of rank.
Ver. 20. The verb in1 , being here used impersonally, like the

CHAPTER III. 20 — 24. 27
verb "IBS in ver. 3 (which see), may also be rendered by a
passive, ]JT iTB7 why should there be given, &c.
Vers. 21, 22. In order to avoid the necessity of supplying
TN ]JT nB7 why should light be given ? before T337 in ver. 23,
as is done in the Auth. Vers., we need only consider the two verses
before us as parenthetical (the 1 in D\3nBn , and DTlBt^n ,
being relative and synonymous with ")I#S ), and consequently
defining the V22 ^112 bitter in soul, in ver. 20.
"•bs in ver. 22. is the poetical form of bs to.
Mtnkn for Ifc^ "l^S who would be glad.
Ver. 23. It has already been observed on ver. 4, that the verb Wil
which literally signifies to inquire, or look for, a thing, is also used
in the sense of favourably noticing; the verb ~inp to hide, or
conceal, on the other hand, may (in Niph.) be fairly supposed to
express, not being cared for, or not being taken notice of, as in
Isa. xl. 27, niTB ^"H iTinP3 my way is concealed from
Jehovah ; i.e., Jehovah does not care for my way ; and so here, if
after i3"H we supply Hl/S (which we have in the second
hemistich,) with the prefix B (iTbSB), the first hemistich
will run : To the man, whose way is concealed from, i.e., not cared
for by, God.
^P1) The reader is referred to our note on ?)2p (supra i. 10),
where it was observed, that the root ^D , to hedge, may be used
in a good sense, as it is there, and also in a bad one, as here. In
the first hemistich, Job speaks of a man, whose ways are not
noticed by God, whilst, in the second, he goes a step further, and
says, 1"T>/3 Hibs ">\D1 yea, God hath [even] hedged him in ; i.e.,
He not only does not favourably notice his way, but has even
made a hedge about him, has cooped him up, so that he cannot
stir. A similar figure we find in Lament, iii. 7, where the verb
"ITJ to make a hedge, is used S¥S S71 "H.!?? T13 He hath hedged
me about, that I cannot get out.
Ver. 24. Some think that the particle, \3 for, because, with
which this verse begins, is intended to introduce a reason for the
invectives poured out by Job against his day, but this he had
already done in ver. 10, the reason given being, "13P sb 13 because
it did not shut up, &c. It is, therefore, more to the purpose to
suppose, that the *2 here is intended to introduce the reason, why

28 CHAPTER III. 24—26.
the words iTWP3 13"n "lE'S 1221 to a man, whose way is
not cared for, Sec, may fitly be applied to himself, as though he
said, I myself am the man whose way is not cared for by God,
and whom He has hedged round about in a manner which makes
my life quite burdensome to me, for ("3) before my meal my
groaning cometh, &c.
1Bn? "OS? before my meal (my groaning cometh). To some
commentators the preposition 'OSb has been very embarrassing,
and among them, to Schultens, who has been driven to give it a
meaning, which is quite inadmissible ; whereas nothing is more
natural than to take it in its usual signification, and understand
Job to say in this verse, that his moaning and groaning begin
with the very beginning of the day, before he has broken his fast.
Vers. 25, 26. It certainly, at the first glance, is not easy to
understand, how a man, who had lived in such prosperity and
affluence, as had been enjoyed by the unfortunate speaker of this
discourse, before he was given up to the mercy of Satan, could
possibly say, that he never was at peace, never was quiet, and
never was at ease ; a difficulty, which has led Schultens to
propound such out-of-the-way views concerning these verses, that
it would be mere waste of time to quote them. The difficulty,
however, will soon vanish, if we recall the salutary injunction of
the Royal Moralist (Prov. xxviii. 14) TBn TfiDB D"TS nt^S
1V.12 biS1 137 lppU\ Happy is the man, that feareth alway ;
but he, that hardeneth his heart, shall fall into evil ; for it is highly
probable, that Job penetrated with the same pious sentiment, had
never, even in the most brilliant part of his career, considered
himself secure and safe, but had always, from his knowledge of the
instability and transitory nature of all things belonging to this
world, and their absolute dependence upon the will of Providence,
entertained some fears with regard to the continuance of his
prosperity; and that he now complains, in these two verses,
that, in spite of his having been constantly impressed with this
pious fear, trouble had come upon him, as though he had been
one of those who harden their hearts, and deservedly fall into
evil. The coupling of a verb with a noun of the same root and
corresponding signification gives in Hebrew a high degree of inten-

PROLOGUE TO CHAPTER IV. 29
sity to the meaning of the verb, as D^b^lT nspn StDn (Lam.i. 8)
Jerusalem hath sinned sin; i.e., hath grievously sinned. inTn3 ins ,
therefore, in ver. 25, might be rendered I greatly feared, but, as
the relative "I^S is found in the second hemistich, it seemed more
natural to supply it in the first after 11% .
"I?.10~v- in verse 25, stands for vjt/ nn.S'1 and it hath come
upon me ; an objective affix being used instead of a preposition,
just as in Ps. cxix. 41, we find ,|3S311 for vjtf 1S31! and may
come upon me.

PROLOGUE TO CHAPTER IV.
SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPLES AND VIEWS ENTERTAINED BT JOB'S THREE AGED
FRIENDS, ELIPHAZ THE TEMANITE, BILDAD THE SHUHITE, AND ZOPHAR THE
NAAMATHITE, AS GATHERED FROM THE WHOLE RANGE OF THEIR DISCOURSES
WITH JOB.
That these three friends were old men, and of great expe
rience, we hear from the mouth of one of them (xv. 9 — 10,)
as well as from the young man, who speaks in chap, xxxii.
(vv. 6, 7) ; they are in the highest degree orthodox, and
deprecate man's desire to philosophize, and dabble in
wisdom (xi, 7 — 9 ; * xxviii. 31 — 39) ; they peremptorily
deny, that the wicked prosper, and innocent suffer; nay,
stoutly assert the contrary, appealing, in support of their
assertion, to ancient history (iv. 7 — 9 ; v. 3 — 5 ; viii.
8—10, 11—22 ; xi. 20 ; xv. 17—19, 20—24, 29—30,
34 — 35; xviii. 5—21; xx. 4—29; f xxviii. 1 — 11);
they strenuously maintain Job's guilt, and thereby justify the
visitation of God (xi. 6 ; xxii. 4 — 11) ; they use invectives,
and charge him with hypocrisy, and with absolutely denying
the divine superintendence (v. 1,2; xi. 3, 4; xv. 5,6;
* According to the division of the chapters in our translation ; in the Auth. Vers.
xxviii. 20—28.
t In Auth. Vers, xxvii. 13—23.

30

CHAPTER IV.
xviii. 4 ; xxii. 13 — 15) ; they tell him, that he sets a bad
example to others, and recommend him resignation and
prayer, by which he would attain to a prosperity far greater
than he enjoyed before (xv. 4; v. 8; xxii. 21 — 23; v.
24—26; xi. 15— 19; xxii. 23—30). Their chief object
being to establish his guilt, and deny what he says
concerning the prosperity of the wicked, there is no
necessity for them to bring forward any other arguments
than such as bear upon these two points, and hence the
sameness in the reasoning of these three aged friends. As
a sort of compensation, however, they very frequently
indulge in highly figurative language, and delight in
expatiating upon the Omnipotence of God, though this is a
theme, upon which they are often outrivalled by Job (iv.
10—21; viii. 11—19; v. 9—16; xxv. 2—6; xxviii.*
35—37; xii. 7—25; xxvi. 5—14; xxvii. 11—12).
As the chief object of their arguments is to bring Job
to a confession of his guilt, and he, so far from doing this,
on the contrary boldly asserts his innocence, they abandon
the contest in despair.
That these three friends knew no more of a future state than
did Job himself, is evident from the circumstance of their
never even so much as alluding to it, although they might
plainly have derived thence an argument which would have
silenced their opponent at once.

CHAPTER IV.
Ver. 2. In a later chapter (xxix. 9 — 10) we shall hear Job say,
that, in the days of his prosperity, young and old stood in great
awe of him, and that neither prince nor noble ever ventured to utter
a word in his presence ; the speaker of this discourse, therefore,
very naturally thinking it possible, that Job might have become
so accustomed to see every one bow to his opinion, as to be utterly
impatient of contradiction, begins his speech with these words :
* In Auth. Vers, xxviii. 24 — 26.

CHAPTER IV. 2 — 6. 31
l
*p7S ")3"T nD3n Has one [ever] tried a word to thee ? (i.e.,
has any one ever ventured to express
himself as differing from thee in
opinion 1)
nsyn for nsbnn wouldst thou be tired f (i.e.,
wouldst thou be out of patience with
any one, that should contradict thee?)
731^ "'B P7B3 TjfJ'1 yet restrain [his] words, who can? (i.e.,
even at the risk of incurring thy dis
pleasure, who could refrain from speak
ing, on hearing thee utter such terrible
imprecations and curses ?)
nP3 should not be taken as the fut. Kal of the verb i"1P3 as some,
nor as the 3rd pers. past Niph., as others, take it; but as the 3rd
pers. sing, past Pi-al, seeing that this verb is only used in that voice.
Aben-Ezra, to be sure, does take it to be the 1st pers. plur. fut.
Kal, but then he says the P stands for & , and the 1 for S , and
consequently supposes the root to be St^3 which is used in Kal.
For our own part, however, we can see no cogent reason for this
change in the letters, and hold nD3 , therefore, to be the past Pi-al,
used here impersonally, and translate "I3T np3n has one tried a
word? i.e., has a word been tried, &c?
The dative T7S to thee, is here used after ")3l, though the
English idiom requires with thee. Comp. Judg. iii. 19, inp 13"!
T7.S V I have a secret word for thee.
yhl2 , the form of the Chaldee plural, is used here for D^B ,
which would be the Hebrew plural. The reader may be prepared
often to meet with Chaldee forms in this book. With regard to
the prefix 3 see note on ^%i!%V2 , supra iii. 9.
Vers. 3 — 5. The speaker reminds Job that, in former days, he
used to reprove others, when they murmured at the decrees of
Providence, and expresses surprise, that he does not himself
adhere to the line of conduct he had laid down for others.
ni£"1 D1!1 weak hands, and nty-p D\2T}2, sinking knees, are
used figuratively to express men wavering in their faith and
confidence in God.
Ver. 6. Instances of passages in the Hebrew Bible, which cannot
be construed, or properly understood, without transposition, are

32 CHAPTER IV. 6.
very numerous indeed, not only in the poetical, but also in the
historical books. As early as Gen. ii. 19, we find,
iBttf sin htj itfaa DTsn ib sip1 t^s b3i
: t - v v t t t t1: ¦ v -: t :
which, to make sense, must be construed thus:
iTn W%2 731 and [as to] every living soul,
ib "It^S that which to it (i.e., whatsoever to it)
D"TSn S^p1 man would call (i.e., whatsoever man called it,)
iBti' Sin that [was] its name.
And so, in Prov. vii. 23, we read,
: sin i^233 «> j/t sbi: na bs -nay ttibs ii33 f n nba1! iv_
which of course must be construed as follows :
na bs TiSlf TOO? As [the] hastening of a bird (i.e.,
as a bird hastens) to a snare,
W%\2 Sin ^2 JH1 Sbl and does not know, that it [is] for his
life (i.e., that it is at the peril of
his life,)
1133 yi nba1 IV till a dart cleaves his liver.
These examples have been brought forward, in order to show
that, by making a slight transposition in the second hemistich,
and by supplying to it the interrogatively negative particle Sbn ,
which is at the beginning of the first, we shall find this verse,
which has proved so embarrassing to many commentators, as clear
and intelligible as any of the most clear and intelligible verses in
the Bible. The verse with these changes introduced will run as
follows : ^inipn tbt} Dh sbrn ?|nbp3 insT sbn
We heard Job wind up his discourse by saying, that he had
always feared God, and been well aware, that all he possessed, and
all his prosperity and happiness, proceeded from His bounty, and
might be taken away by Him in a moment (see note on vv. 25, 26,
of the preceding chap.) ; to these words of his, his friend now
refers, telling him, that the circumstance of his always having had
the fear of God in his heart, instead of serving him as a ground
for complaint and murmuring, ought rather to be to him a source
of great consolation and confident hope, inasmuch as if he really
knew himself to have always been good and pious, he must feel
assured that his sufferings cannot possibly be of long continuance,
seeing that, though God may chasten those He loves, He will

CHAPTER IV. 6 — 11. 33
ultimately manifest the fatherly delight He takes in them. The
verse should be construed thus :
?jnbP3 ^jnST Sbn Ought not thy fear [of God] [to be
rather] thy confidence,
^nipn ^211 Dh Sbni and ought not [the] integrity of thy
ways [to be] thy hope ?
The noun nbP3 is used here synonymously with bP3 confidence,
as infra xxxi. 24, where vpS , in the first hemistich, stands in
parallelism with T1B3B my safety, or security, in the second.
Ver. 7. In the summary at the head of this discourse, it has been
mentioned, that Job's friends staunchly assert, that the wicked only
come to a miserable end, while the just must always ultimately
triumph ; the friend, however, who here addresses Job goes further,
and challenges him in this verse to point out a single instance, in
which he has seen an innocent man perish.
The relative "Iti'S is understood before T3S in the first, and
v -: T t '
before 1TTI33 in the second hemistich, as though the verse ran
thus: T3S T^S ''plJ Sin ""B who is he, [the] innocent-man, that
has perished,
'. 31122 Tw^S D1"ltt'1 na^SI and where [are the] upright, that have
been annihilated f
Vers. 8 — 10. After having defied Job to show him an instance,
in which innocent men have come to a miserable end, Eliphaz, in his
turn, offers, as it would seem, to name, if asked to do so, many wicked
men, and among them even powerful tyrants, whom he has seen,
either utterly destroyed, or at least rendered impotent and
harmless by the chastisement of God.
The verb W"\l to plough, is figuratively applied to ]1S iniquity,
just as, in Prov. iii. 29, we see it coupled with iT>/"1 , t^TTin bs
li!l Do not plough (i.e., plot) evil.
I'TIVp^ are wont to reap the same, the future being used
frequentatively to express, that this is what usually happens to
wicked men; the affix 111" refers to |1S iniquity, and also to
bBjj/ mischief.
Verses 10, 11 must be understood figuratively to express, that,
however powerful and oppressive tyrants (here designated as
iions) may be, their end must always be ""•°*"^^ *»™^ m;oD™K1°
D

34 CHAPTER IV. 10  12.
1J/n3 . Infra xxix. 17, we find niJ/7:nB meaning back-teeth,
grinders, the root of which is of course i!bl , and in Ps. Iviii. 7,
by a transposition of the letters n, b, nij/nyB (root $11) with
the same meaning, and applied to young lions ; if, therefore, we
consider tyft2 to stand for U/nb3 , and bear in mind, that a verb
may sometimes express the removal or destruction of its kindred
noun (see note on \21 supra i. 20,) this verb will express the
destruction of the grinders. Some refuse to allow that the dagesh in
the n can supply the place of a b (though a 7 is certainly replaced
by a dagesh in the future of the verb npb to take), and, therefore,
propose to adopt the root i!12 i. q., fH2 to break, or crush; an expe
dient by which, in our opinion, they gain but little. But, whatever
the root of this verb may be, there can be no doubt but that it has
the meaning of breaking, or crushing, and the only question is,
whether it should be referred to the roaring of the lion, and the
voice of the fierce-lion, as well as to the teeth of the young-lions
(when it would constitute a Zeugma, such as is found in Exod.
xx. 18, " and all the people D1S11 [were] seeing the thunderings,
and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet," &c), or should
be taken to refer only to the teeth of the lions, and the words
T"|S n3Kt£>, and bip bip be left to depend upon the verb
lb?1 -in the preceding verse. In this latter case, the first
hemistich would have to be considered as standing for,
bip bip Dbipi: nns na.stf orusttf "3 oa
and the meaning would be ; they are consumed,
though their roaring be the roaring of a lion, and their voice the
voice of a fierce lion.
In our translation, we have adopted the former view, but, as such
a Zeugma could scarcely be tolerated in English, we have supplied
(to the first hemistich), from the idea of removal, or destruction,
implied in 1J?n3 , the words, are silenced.
Ver. 12. That Job may see he (the speaker) has some ground for
the confidence, with which he challenges him (Job) to point out a
single innocent man who had perished in despair, he tells him,
that this confidence is not derived from mere supposition or
conjecture, but from a vision in the night.
3331, lit., was frequently stolen, i.e., clandestinely disclosed, or,

chapter iv. 12—16. 35
as Herz Homburg would understand it, was betrayed (to me). His
words are as follows :
- ]V7pP3 li "7PPJD ")37 "}Ppi ]P» PIP 71P piiPPD P30J 1P3 PIP 71P 'lij
" The revealing of a secret is like theft ; for the revealer of a secret imparts to
another a matter which was intrusted to him as a deposit."
The Targum renders it, TB33 TBSns Dana VII 7 To me a word
O 7 •:• --::• T : • -t:
was said guardedly. The translators of the Septuagint, which has
El o"e Tt pfjp,a aKrjBivbv ijeyovei iv Xoiyot? <rov, oiiBev av tovtcdv KaKwv avvr\v-
T7)o-ev o-ot, must have had before them an altogether different
reading from that which we have in the text.
YQp a trifle. In this form the word is to be found only once
more in the Bible, viz., infra xxvi. 14 ; but in Exod. xxxii. 25,
we find l¥12p a trifle, i.e., a thing of no moment, insignificant.
W3B po'et. for 13BB .
Ver. 13. D^SJ/^S . The noun T#fr in the sense of thought,
cogitation, is to be found again infra xx. 2. Before the following
word niSi^nB , D^Iin that are coming, or arising, should be
understood, the sense being, the thoughts arising from the visions
of the night.
Ver. 14. ^3S^p has befallen me. The verb STp sometimes
stands for Up to happen, to befall.
"'niBVJt/ 3T [the] multitude of my bones, or limbs, i.e., the
greatest part of my body.
Tnan it caused to be afraid, or made to quake.
Ver. 15. TBD in Pi-al means to make to bristle, or stand on end ;
hence niTBPB nails (Jer. x. 4), on account of the bristling
appearance they present, when only partially knocked in.
Ver. 16. TBiJ1 it, (i.e., the spirit) would (i.e., used to) stand
(before me) ;
inS")B T3S sbl but I could not recognize its form (i.e., I could
not say I had even seen such a form
before) ; all that I could say was,
^Jl TJ3.b n31BP1 a similitude (image) [was] before mine eyes ;
nBB"n [at first, there was] silence,
J/Bti'S bipl then, I used to hear a voice.
As the verbs here are all in the future, and not in the past, it
would seem that this vision had appeared to him frequently.
After the word i'Bti'S , TBSb saying, must be understood, an
d 2 .

36 chapter iv. 16 — 18.
ellipsis which very frequently occurs; e.g., "The kings of the
earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against
Jehovah, and against His anointed, (TBS7) saying, ' Let us break
their bands asunder, &c.' " (Ps. ii. 2.)
Ver. 17. The chief aim of Job's friend in this discourse being
to impress him with the truth, that the just must be the object
of the divine grace and favour, and the wicked that of the divine
wrath and punishment, is greatly furthered by the words uttered
by the Spirit (as cited by Eliphaz) in this verse ; for, if a mere
man, whether of low or high station, provided that he be just,
cannot be an indifferent looker-on, when the good and innocent
suffer, and the wicked prosper, how then can God, the perfection
of justice, be so1?
Kn'3S (prob. from BfaS to be weak,) may be considered to
represent man as a frail being, frail man ; whilst ")3| (prob.
from TJJ to be strong), represents him as a dignified being, as the
lord, as it were, of the Creation, who has " dominion over the fish
of the sea, and the fowl of the air ... . and over all the earth."
Ver. 18. Buxtorf, as well as Ben-Zev, gives the noun nbflFI
under the root bbn , and so does Kimchi, with this difference,
that he also suggests nbn as its root. Now the verb bbn very
frequently signifies to be foolish, mad, but, also, sometimes, to be
bright, to shine ; the noun 1(1F\ , therefore, might be translated,
either folly (and consequently, fault, blemish), or brightness, in
which latter acceptation it is taken by Ralbag, a very high
authority indeed, who supplies the negative Sb from the first
hemistich to the second. For the former acceptation, however,
we have a greater number of authorities. Thus, Aben-Ezra
observes on this word : liipp ip ciiipi >rnpp ipa
" I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly."
(Ps. Ixxv. 4) ; to which he adds, OJV7PP "713B3
" On account of their imperfection,"
meaning, He, God, imputes faultiness to the angels on account of
their imperfection. So Jarchi :
Piiiip jidJ
"An expression oi folly (or madness)."

CHAPTER IV. 18, 19. x 37
And Ben-Zev : from niss
"Blame and imperfection."
The Chaldee version renders it tfb\y iniquity. We thought,
therefore, that we could not do better than subscribe to the inter
pretation given by so many eminent authorities, and translate the
verse thus ; Lo ! in His servants He putteth no trust, and to His
angels He imputeth faultiness.
After having, in the preceding verse, made a comparison
between the justice of man, and that of God, the Spirit now
declares this latter to be so incomprehensibly great and perfect,
that the justice of no living being, whether man or angel, is as
anything before it. Similarly the Psalmist says, (Ps. cxliii. 2),
"n 73 TOS 7 pT^1 S7 13 for in Thy presence shall no living being
be justified.
Those who feel inclined to embrace Ralbag's opinion, and
supply the negative Sb in the second hemistich, may translate
this verse thus : Lo ! in His servants He putteth no trust, and to
His angels He doth not attribute brightness (purity). The argument
will of course in both cases remain the same.
The Chaldee translator is certainly wrong in understanding
1,"J3J/ His prophets, seeing that in the next verse the Spirit goes
on to say, " Much less dwellers in houses of clay," words, which
render it impossible we should regard any of the beings in the
verse under consideration as mortals. The fact is, that angels, as
ministering before Almighty God, are sometimes designated in the
Bible as servants, e.g., in Ps. civ. 4, where VT\1U}?2 His servants
(or ministers), stands in parallelism with YOSbB .
Ver. 19. ^S is put here for "G ^S much less, or much
more, according to the context. Infra xxv. 6, it is found in the
former, in Prov. xi. 31, in the latter, sense. In the present
instance, the difficulty was this; if we took it in the sense of
much more, it could only refer to the second, if, in that of muck
less, only to the first, hemistich of the preceding verse, whereas
there can be no doubt, but that it refers to both ; besides this, if
we had made use of either of these expressions, we should have
had to supply 3 from T*"]3,l?3 or V3sbB3 in the preceding verse
before 13?iJ' in the present one. To meet this difficulty, therefore,

38 CHAPTER IV. 19, 20.
we have preferred translating let alone, understanding thereby, not
to speak of, to say nothing of.
1121 Tfl houses of clay, fig., for human bodies.
D1S3T . The affix refers, not to the houses of clay, but to their
inhabitants, i.e., to men generally, who are figuratively called,
dwellers in houses of clay. The verb, being here used imper
sonally, may be rendered by a passive, and V/i! ^2%b D1S3T be
translated they are crushed before [the] moth, i.e., their removal from
life is sometimes effected in a shorter time than that in which a moth
can be crushed. Some translate &V ^.a? like a moth, as n3 \3ab
7J^b3 (1 Sam. i. 16), like a daughter of Belial; as this, however,
is quite an anomalous use of the word ^ab , we preferred giving
it here its usual meaning.
Ver. 20. In Eccles. xi. 10, we find DMlp used in the sense of
youth, from "int^ [the] dawn, and fig., the dawn of life; and
again, infra xxxvi. 20, we have iby? night, used fig. for death.
Supported by these examples, we are strongly inclined to believe,
that lp2 morning, is here similarly used for the beginning, and
3"1iJ evening, for the last moments, of life, for it seems to us that
the Spirit, who, in the preceding verse, had expatiated upon the
shortness and uncertainty of human life, wished in the present one to
impress Eliphaz with the sad but great truth, that man not only dies
at the moment when, in common parlance, he is said to do so, but
that, from the very instant he comes into existence, he begins to
die, seeing that every moment he has lived is dead for him, and
that it may consequently be said with great truth, that he is
incessantly dying, though he is unfortunately not aware of it.
After the word D^B we supply 37 heart (an ellipsis, which
will also be found infra xxiii. 6), and construe the verse as
follows : W3J they (viz., those dwellers in houses of clay)
are broken (or crushed)
3Tjf/b "lp.3B from morning to evening (i.e., from the
moment they come into existence till the
moment they leave it) ;
1T3S1 nV37 they constantly (or incessantly) perish (or die
away)

CHAPTER IV. 20—22. 39
[37] D^B V3B without [any one] setting [his heart io it] (i.e.,
without their being aware, any of them,
that they are so dying).
Ver. 22. The noun "in1 should here be taken in the sense of
superiority (from the verb "in1 to exceed, be superior) = \llTy\
(Eccles. x. 10), and "ini'B (Eccles. iii. 19) in which latter place
we read j^S nBnsn JB DISn "IJTBI and [the] superiority of
man over the beast is nothing, which superiority we must, of
course, understand to consist in his possession of intellect. But
this intellect, which renders him superior to animals, ought
surely to teach him the great truth, that he is dying every
moment ; and, therefore, if he is not aware of it, it is as if his
intellect were altogether removed from him. The Spirit, then,
with an expression of surprise at this circumstance, concludes as
follows : noam sbi miB1 D3 Din1 j/D3 sbn
t:t: : t t t:* -• -:
which must be construed thus : —
D'jn1 [as to] their superiority,
C3 [It^S] [which is] in them, (i.e., that superiority, which
they have over the brute-creation, and which
ought to make them aware of the fact, that
they are constantly dying,)
J/D3 sbn has not it been removed f (i.e., have they not, as
it were, been deprived of their intellect ?)
iniB1 [nV3b] They [constantly] die,
i"JB3n3 sbl but not with wisdom, (i.e., they are not wise
enough to see they are constantly dying).
It will be perceived, that we have supplied before miB1., 1^27
from the second hemistich of the preceding verse, though this is,
perhaps, hardly necessary, since miB1 , as a frequentative future,
may of itself be translated, they constantly die.

40

CHAPTER V.
Ver. 1. In the preceding chapter, Eliphaz had dwelt upon the
sinfulness of Job in complaining of the dispensations of Provi
dence ; now he tells him that, independently of this flagrant sin
of his, he will also ruin himself in public opinion, so that his best
friends will shrink from him ; meaning, of course, to intimate,
that even he himself and the two friends, who, like himself, had
come to assure him of their condolence and sympathy, will, if he
continues in the course he has adopted, be compelled to renounce
his friendship, and abandon him to his fate. He says :
Now that thou hast uttered all these curses, call for sympathy
and consolation, and see whether there will be found any one
responding to thy call ! And to whom, amongst good and pious
men, canst thou turn ? that is, look up with the hope that they
will commiserate thy affliction ?
The epithet D^Tp holy-ones, is applied to good men in Psalm
xvi. 3.
Ver. 2. Eliphaz goes on to say :
If thou find thyself at last deserted by God and man, thou
must not be surprised, for the anger of a foolish man, when God
sends suffering upon him, must ultimately slay him, and his envy
at the prosperity of the wicked must ultimately kill him. Not
only will his indulgence in these passions bring him to ruin,
but it will also fritter away his health, and at last cause his death.
The in Tisb is either pleonastic, or the mark of the objective
case. Comp. TJ3S? 1JT1 (2 Sam. iii. 30) they slew Abner.
\tHJ2 for PI/3 , which is the more usual form, \i? and P , as
dentals, frequently interchanging. See infra xvii. 7.
The noun nS3p generally means, zeal, jealousy, envy, but, in a
few instances, indignation, as in Deut. xxix. 19. Some wish to
give it this meaning in the present verse, so as to make it stand in
parallelism with W]J2 , but the following verse plainly shows that
it is to be taken here in its usual signification of envy.

CHAPTER V. 3, 4. 41
Ver. 3.. Instead of being jealous of the prosperity of the wicked,
proceeds the speaker, I, whenever I have seen a fool (i.e., a wicked
man) in the height of prosperity, have not for a moment hesitated
to pronounce, in the most positive terms, the fate which awaited
his dwelling.
TIS a fool, stands here in the sense of a wicked man, like
733 a fool, in Ps. xiv. 1. In the preceding verse, however, the
same word stands in parallelism with nna a simpleton, and must,
therefore, be taken in the sense of a foolish man, i.e., one who
is silly enough to think the prosperity of the wicked man is
lasting. WlpD taking root ; i.e., in a state of prosperity, apparently
built upon a firm basis, and likely to be lasting.
DSna 1H13 3ipS1 . These words are rendered in the Auth.
Vers., " But suddenly I cursed his habitation." By suddenly we
must understand, at once, without hesitation ; but it is difficult to
comprehend what merit the speaker could take to himself for
having pronounced a sudden curse on a wicked man, as every one,
who is not himself wicked, might do the same, and yet not possess
any great amount of foresight. But we have already observed
(see note on in3p1 supra iii. 8) that the verb 3p3 is not always
used in the sense of cursing, but, sometimes, in that of distinctly
naming, pronouncing, and in this sense we take it here ; so that
Eliphaz boasts, and says :
^S as for me iniST [Hti'SS], (whenever) I have seen a wicked
man prospering, no matter how great, or apparently lasting his
prosperity, I have at once, without a moment's consideration, dis
tinctly pronounced, with regard to his dwelling, what its end
would be, saying, —
Ver. 4. VpV2 V33 IpriT His children will be far from safety.
Not only will the wicked father, who was so wonderfully pros
perous, be held in public execration, but even his posterity will
inherit the odium of their parent, and live in a constant state of
insecurity. b^B ]1S1 lVp2 1S3T1 yea, they shall be crushed in the gate,
and [there will be] no one rescuing [them]. It is well known, that
all judicial proceedings were, among the Hebrews, carried on in
the gates of the city (see Deut. xxi. 19, Ruth iv. 1 — 11);

42 CHAPTER V. 4, 5.
Eliphaz, therefore, to increase the force of his prediction, says,
that the posterity of the wicked man will have inherited to such
a degree the hatred with which their ancestor was regarded,
that, even in the court of justice, where such feelings ought to
have no influence, their voice will not be heard, and they will be
crushed. 1S3T1 for ISinfW fut. Hithp. of S3T , used here as a passive,
or Niph. Comp. Prov. xxxi. 30, bbnnn S1?! she shall be
praised. Ver. 5. This verse is rendered as follows in the Eng. Vers. :
" Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out
of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance."
Now, it is difficult to see, what difference it could make to the '
wicked man, whose fate is here prognosticated, whether the one
who takes away his harvest from him be hungry or not, or how
it could be a greater punishment to him to be deprived of a bad
harvest, such as the robber would have to gather amidst thorns,
than of a good one ; on the contrary, one would have thought,
that the punishment in the latter case would be infinitely greater.
Infra xxxi. 8, we shall find Job saying, b^S1 "in SI nj^TiS [as
often as] I sowed [it], another (no matter whether hungry or not),
ought to have eaten it ; and so would, doubtless, Eliphaz have said
here, 73S1 inS iT¥p "I^S whose harvest another shall eat up,
and nothing more, if his meaning had been that which is attri
buted to him in the translation above quoted. But the reasoning
in this verse will assume an altogether different aspect, if we bear
in mind, that, among the promises given by God to the Israelite
nation, "if they walked in his statutes, &c," was that he
would bless their harvest to such a degree, that they would
have to remove the old store to make room for the new ;
is^in tfTn ^aB IBM \pi2 \p) onb?si (Lev. xxvi. 10), and
ye shall eat very old [store], and shall have to remove [the] old before
[ye bring in] [the] new ; (i.e., the harvest of one year shall be
so plentiful, that, at the time of the one next following, there
shall still be corn in abundance left from the old). Now the case
with regard to the wicked man shall, we are told by the speaker,
be just the reverse; he shall be cursed with one bad harvest after
another, and not only will he not have anything left from the old

CHAPTER V. 5. 43
harvest on the arrival of the new, but this sliall find him already
famished,, and shall itself be so scanty, that he will be compelled
to go, and gather from among the thorns what few ears it may
have produced. Eliphaz's words must, therefore, be understood
thus : iTVp IpVi whose harvest
73S1 31T1 he (i.e., the wicked man, whose fate is
predicted,) shall eat, famishing,
innj?1 D^VB bsi seeing that he will have to take it from
among thorns.
The preposition bs is often used pleonastically, when it
precedes B , as iTjnsb 1{M12 bs (Lev. iv. 12), without the camp,
and so is its substitute b , as in DV12/ (Judg. xix. 30) from the
day (of the going up of the children of Israel out of the land of
Egypt, &c.
Of the word D^BX in the second hemistich some want to make
D^SBV thirsty [men], in order to complete the parallelism with
3JH in the first hemistich, but this interpretation we reject, as it
makes sad havoc with the word, and, besides, is incompatible
with our version of the first hemistich. The Auth. Vers, trans
lates it robber, probably following Kimchi, who says :
.thn /-ros bprcaa -i«"in sim (n'V'a '^sarO -ynas "ba nas psa
isiD biab bNsanr» ynNn n^aDbn amai .Tnisi pf) bpni a^nb 13133?")
 • ¦ • • nNisn mns nnb mbn nas omrcsb , na>N-i
" From the signification of na? (a lock [of hair] ) [as], 'sJOa? "<ba (uncover
thy lock) (Isa. xlvii. 2) ; and it is an adjective * of the form, I1?? (much), "^W
(mighty), so that its meaning is, a robber, a good for nothing, and rash man ; and
it is the custom of robbers in the land of Ishmael (i.e., in Arabia) to let the hair of
their head grow long, to make a lock (a tail) hanging down behind the neck." ....
The reader will hardly blame us for not adopting this explana
tion of the word, to which we prefer giving the signification of
trap, as we find it again, (infra xviii. 9), used as a noun sing., and
in parallelism with na snare, trap, or gin, to which, therefore, it
is doubtless akin in meaning. We translate accordingly:
Db1!! D^SV HStt'l and a trap shall swallow up their wealth (i.e.,
their wealth shall vanish, as though swallowed up ; not a trace of
* He means to say, the word signifies a hairy-person.

44 chapter v. 5 — 7.
it shall be left). The word D^n , having the plural affix, would
seem to refer to the wealth both of the father and his posterity.
In Prov. xxii. 5, we read, U)pV T?.7.3 DTia D1^ thorns [and]
snares [are] in [the] way of [the] froward. This saying may
perhaps have been proverbial in the time of Eliphaz, so that
having introduced into the first hemistich the word D1^ thorns,
in the second he made use of D1^ snare, as a synonym of 1% .
It will of course be perceived, that we take the second B in
D^V to belong to the root, and the word to be of the form ri!% ,
like ti'^a a hammer.
Vers. 6, 7. The primary meaning of the noun bl2V is labour,
toil (of the body) as in Eccles. i. 3, " What profit hath a man
17BJ/ b33 in all his labour ; " secondarily, it has been applied to
labour of the mind, i.e., trouble, misery, mischief, when it is
synonymous with ]1S , as is evidently the case in ver. 6. To give
to this word, however, the same signification (viz., that of trouble,
or misery), in ver. 7, as has been done by the translators of the
Eng. Vers., as well as by many other translators and commen
tators, would, in our humble opinion, be to put in the mouth of
the speaker a sentiment totally at variance with what we should
expect from him. His object being to calm Job, and to recommend
him patience and resignation, how could he say anything which
would encourage him not only to persist in his grumblings and
murmurings, but even to extend their range 1 Job asked (supra
iii. 20):
T'S /BJL?7 l^1 HB7 Why should light be given to a man in
misery? But, if all men are born to misery, he might surely
have asked in a more general way,
TiS D"JN? ]JT nB7 why should light be given to man (man
generally) ?
Besides, if Eliphaz had actually used the words attributed to him
by the said translators and commentators, he would have held a
doctrine diametrically opposed to that inculcated in Scripture, e.g.,
in Lament, iii. 33, " For He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve
the children of men," for if man had been created to be miserable,
could he be said not to be afflicted by God ? We thought, therefore,
that, if we subscribed to this view of the verse, we should be doing
the speaker great injustice, and we have consequently preferred

chapter v. 6, 7. 45

giving to the word bl2]J in ver. 7, its primary meaning of labour,
or toil, (of the body). Eliphaz, then, after citing the words, in
which he was wont to predict the end of the prosperous wicked
man, reverts to the idea, which he had expressed in ver. 2 of
this chapter, that anger, namely, and envy bring death upon the
simple, and goes on to say, that mischief does not proceed from
the dust, nor misery spring up from the ground ; meaning, that,
if man were but to bear in mind that, after his fall, he was
sent forth from Eden to till the ground, and to eat his bread in
the sweat of his brow, he would abstain from endeavouring to
raise himself above the low sphere assigned to him, by indulging
in metaphysical speculations which are altogether beyond his reach,
and would forbear all attempts to scrutinize the inscrutable ways
of Providence ; and that so he would never get into mischief, nor
be as miserable as he is, owing to his unfortunately forgetting his
destination here below, and always evincing a disposition to strive
to clamber up heights which he never can scale, whereby he
effects his own destruction, just as sparks of fire (*)pl N331),
when they have left the burning mass, from which they sprang, are
annihilated, as fast as they attempt to fly up on high and soar.
To the word ^331 in the second hemistich of ver. 7, we supply
the 3 of comparison, an ellipsis very frequent in poetical language,
(Comp. Lament, iv. 14, " they have wandered D'HjlJ/ (for D1")^)
as blind men in the streets," &c), and construe the two verses under
consideration as follows :
Ver. 6. )1S Taj/B SV1 sb "O Surely, mischief does not come
forth from [the] dust,
7DJ7 nBVI Sb nBlSBI and misery does not spring up
from [the] ground ;
Ver. 7. "TrP bBJ/7 D"1S "'S For man was born for labour
(i.e., to till the ground, to
toil, &c.)
*]1J/ liT'Sa1 f\pl Villi 0331 for \D?l) but, like sparks
of fire, they are wont to fly up
on high.
Eliphaz therefore plays upon the word bl2i! , taking it, in ver. 6,
in its secondary meaning, trouble, misery, and in ver. 7, in its
primary one of labour, toil. A similar play upon words we find

46 CHAPTER V. 7 — 10.
in Exod. xxiii. 5, where 3TJ/ is first used in its ordinary sense,
viz., that of leaving, forsaking, and then in that of unloading,
easing from a burden.
v\pl \33 lit., sons of a fire-brand, used for sparks, just as infra
xii. 20, (xii. 28, Eng. Vers.) Ipp |3 [the] son of a bow is used
for an arrow.
D"1S in ver. 7, being used for the human race generally, we
need not be surprised at seeing the verb tiTSJ^ which refers to
it, in the plural. A similar construction will be found in Ps.
xxxix. 7, where we see B^S used for the human race, and the
verb ITBT they make a noise, which refers to it, in the plural
number. Ver. 8. 13S D71S but I, for my part, if chastisement had come
upon me, as it has upon thee, instead of endeavouring to pry into
its cause, and philosophizing, should at once have felt satisfied
that, as it had come from God, I must have deserved it, and I
should therefore have sought God in prayer, &c, as I should advise
thee now to do. It will be perceived, that, according to our way
of rendering verses 6, 7, the words ""as D71S but I, with which
this verse begins, chime in very well, which they can hardly be
said to do in the translation commonly given of these two verses.
1n"i3,;l D^S lit., I would set my speech; i.e., I would direct
my prayer.
Ver. 9. Having made mention of God, he avails himself of the
opportunity to dwell on His infinite power and goodness, and
occupies with his description this, and the seven following verses
(9 — 16, inclusive).
The sentiment expressed in this verse is found infra ix. 10 in
the mouth of Job, with one slight change in the words.
Ver. 10. niVin . The noun ^m , which literally signifies a thing
which is without, is sometimes used to designate a street, as being
without (outside) the houses, as infra xxxi. 32, yW2 in the street
(the stranger did not abide) ; but here, it signifies that which is
without a town or village, i.e., fields, or commons.
This verse being the only one in which the speaker dwells upon
the phenomena of nature, whilst, in the following verses up to
ver. 16, he expatiates upon the Omnipotence of God, as displayed
in His relations with man, it may perhaps be fairly considered as

chapter v. 10 — 14. 47
parenthetical ; and by thus taking it, the words D'fypP DlB»b *
so as to set the lowly, Sec, with which ver. 11 begins, will depend
upon ver. 9, (the meaning being, that since God "doeth great
things, &c," He is well able " to set up the lowly, &c"), and will
lose all the awkwardness they present in those translations, in
which ver. 1 0 is not placed in a parenthesis.
D1T]p1: lit., and [those] black [with mourning], but here used
figuratively of ill-fated men generally, as is observed by Ralbag :
.... oiiP PlPD ")1PP -pP'D Dpi PP7' 0i3f> 3li '3 D'")7ip DPipi 01* 'Dp D'DJPP OP
" These are ill-fated men, and he calls them [men in] black, because that, on
account of the greatness of their mourning (sorrow), it appears to them that the
light which is with them is become dark."
Ver. 12. TB'm derived from B'1 substance, sometimes signifies
anything substantial, or essential; sometimes (as infra xi. 6),
substantial (i.e., practical) wisdom, to which man is led by common
sense; sometimes also (as infra xii. 16) that essential (or real,)
wisdom, which belongs only to the Highest Intelligence. Wolfssohn
remarks on this word in the verse before us :
. P1D* 13 D'D "737 1Pli3 D* pip ]P PTO
" It is derived from the word 27.1 (substance) that is to say, a thing in which there
is something real."
Ver. 13. DB~lj^3 in their [own] craftiness, for DnB"1^3, the ab
solute form being nB"1^/ - In like manner, we find in Hos.
xiii. 2. D313ri3 according to their understanding, for Df1313n3 from
the absolute iTJl3n .
iTinpa D^naa'n^l. The particle iB3 as if, as though,
must be understood before n"inB3 , the sense being so that [the]
counsel of [the] perverse [turns out] [as though it had been] hasty,
rash ; by which is meant, that, however well preconceived and
maturely weighed their plan may have been, yet, by the decree of
Providence, it is frustrated, and assumes the appearance of having
been rashly determined upon.
Ver. 14. nby731 . To this word the prefix 3 must be supplied
from D^n^S, making it nb17331 and as in the night; i.e., at
noon-day they grope about as they would do in the night.
nbv is indeed used in Hebrew adverbially—^ night, in the
* KtoS lit., to put, i.e., so that He can put. Comp. infra xxviii. 25, where we have
nita$ similarly used and also followed in the second hemistich by a past tense.

48 chapter v. 14—18.
night-time, but here it has the definite article, and must, therefore,
be regarded as a noun.
Ver. 15. The figure, by which a slandering tongue (or mouth) is
compared to sharp-edged instruments, is very frequent in Hebrew,
thus, rnn 3TT1 D3iB>7 (Ps. lvii. 5), their tongue [is] a sharp
sword ; so, in Ps. Hi. 4, it is compared to B'CflbB li!T\ a sharpened
razor. So also, in the verse before us, 3T1 sword, is used in a simi
larly figurative way, being explained by DTaB which follows it.
Before this word we supply 1 from TBI in the second hemistich,
as though the text were DTaBI 3"inB from the sword, that is,
from their mouth (which is as bad as a sword). An instance of
this sort, where, namely, the 1 is used, not as a, copulative, but as
an explanatory, particle, is found in 1 Sam. xxviii. 3, where we
read, that Samuel was buried iT'^31 nB")3 in Ramah, that is to
3 *• ; T T T '
say, in his own city. The verse should, therefore, be construed
thus : jl'QS Vpl So that He saved [the] needy-man (by frus
trating, namely, the plans of the tyrants)
DTaBI 21112 from [the] sword, that is to say, from their
mouth (which is as hurtful as a sword),
PIC TP1 and from [the] hand of [the] mighty-one.
By this simple contrivance, we avoid the necessity of completely
changing the punctuation of 3THB , and making of it 3"iriB a
wasted-man, as was suggested by Michaelis, and so much relished
by Ewald.
Ver. 16. nnbi/ = nbij/ iniquity, (which is found in the plural
ri71J/ Ps. Iviii. 3 ; lxiv. 7, and is evidently synonymous with nbij/
(Ps. cvii. 42,) ) with the addition of the paragogic 1 . So nj/IB*1
salvation, under similar circumstances becomes nnj/IB*1 (Ps.
iii. 3).
Ver. 17. Having preached to his unfortunate friend the
compassion God evinces towards the unfortunate, Eliphaz now
encourages him to hope for His mercy, and says, Behold ! happy
is the man, whom God correcteth ; His corrections being commonly
a sign of His love towards the person corrected. So Solomon tells
us, Prov. iii. 12, " For whom Jehovah loveth, He correcteth."
The relative "IB'S whom, must be supplied before laiTOV .
Ver. 18. nra^n . The 1 either stands for S , the root being

chapter v. 18 — 21. 49
SSI to heal ; or the root may be na") , which appears to be
sometimes used for Sa~l , the quiescent letters "HiTS very frequently
interchanging. Ver. 19. We very often find in the Bible particular numbers
used to express frequency, or an indefinite number ; e. g., infra
xxxiii. 29, tihp DIBJ/a twice [or] thrice, = often times. So, Prov.
xxiv. 16, lii!2p seven (i.e., ever so many) [times] (may the just
man fall, but he will rise up again)." So also, in this verse, Wp
and i!2p are used to express an indefinitely great number (of
troubles, from which God will deliver him) ; for, though, in this
instance, the troubles enumerated in the following verses may be
made to correspond to the numbers employed, they cannot be
made to do so in Prov. vi. 16, where the same numbers are
used. Ver. 20. ^ia (root ma) for T^a1 He will deliver thee. In
prophecies, and solemn promises, the past is very frequently used
for the future, by way of expressing, that the thing predicted will
as certainly take place, as if it had already done so. See Mason
and Bernard, Op. Cit., Letter li, § 8, liii. § 3.
Ver. 21. In ver. 15, we saw the mouth of the slanderer likened
to a sword, here we have the figure ]i'B*7 BiB* [the] scourge of
[the] tongue, as if the slandering tongue scourged those it makes
its victims. The Chaldee interpreter renders it, IB/vT NpT3 .
the hurtfulness of the tongue, and the Syriac version \±*^> \^-^^
the rod of the tongue. Compare the French coup de langue, and
the German Zungendrescherei, thrashing of the tongue.
S3nn \itib BW3 for S3nn [Si'31 ra] iiB>b BiB>3 . in [the]
scourge of [the] tongue [when it cometh,] thou shalt be hidden ;
i.e., when slander is rife, Providence will take care, that thou art
not injured by it. It will be perceived, that we have supplied
Si31 ""S from the second hemistich.
T
We should have been glad to consider BiB* as a verb in the
inf. Kal with the 3 of the DT33 , for BIB'S , as some have done;
for then there would be no occasion to supply the words
Sl^11^, aswe could translate \ittib BiB*3 in [the] scourging of
[the] tongue, i. e., when the tongue scourgeth; but, unfortunately,
there is no example of the verb being used in this acceptation.

50 chapter v. 21 — 26.
The poet, perhaps, made use of TiB* in the second hemistich
with the intention of forming with BIB* one of those paronomasias
so frequent in Hebrew.
Ver. 22. plpFt thou shalt laugh (at destruction and famine), in
thy confidence, that God will preserve thee from them.
Ver. 23. For with the stones of the field shall be thy league ;
i.e., thou shalt never dash thy foot against them. The reader
will, no doubt, on reading this verse, be at once reminded of the
passage in Ps. xci. 12, " Lest thy foot dash (strike) against a stone."
nBbtyn for Dbpr\ shall be made to be at peace. See note on
Tia ver. 20.
Ver. 24. In the last two verses, the poet, supposing Job
to be in the fields, looking after his affairs, promised him security
against injury there; now, he tells him, that his confidence in
God should be so great as to make him, during the whole time he is
occupied out of doors, feel quite at ease with regard to what is
going on in his tent — and that, on his returning home, he shall
really miss nothing.
Dwp may be either a noun, peace, when Tbns Dwp "O would
stand for ?|bnS3 Dwp \3 that peace [is] in thy tent; or an adjective,
signifying peaceful (i.e., in peace) of the form jiBj? small, 71T5
great, when the translation would be, thy tent is in peace. The
word seems to be used in a similar manner infra xxi. 9.
NBpn Sbl and thou shalt not miss (anything). That the
primary meaning of the verb SBn is, to miss, has been observed
in our note on NBn supra ii. 10. We will here quote Jarchi on
this verse :
: "]ipi6 PliD '3 P1D3 P'PP Dipp i33 IPI ' "|ipp DliD '3 P137'l
: (,("vj "3 ptoid) pw Pii p-wdp if> 1P3 • tow Pii -p P7ppi
" ' And thou shalt know, that thy tent is in peace '—even then, (i.e., even, when
absent from home,) wherever [thou art], thou shalt be confident, that thy tent is
in peace." ' And, when thou shalt visit thy house, thou shalt not miss ' — as (' every one
could sling a stone) to a hair, and not cause [it] to miss.' (Judg. xx. 16)."
Ver. 25. But thou shalt be confident, not only that the blessing
of God will be extended to thee during thine own lifetime, but
also that thy posterity will similarly be blessed.
Ver. 26. n733 . The noun n73 occurs only once more in the

chapter v. 26, 27. 51
Bible, viz., infra xxx. 2. We cannot, therefore, do better than
quote the opinions of some of the highest authorities upon this
word. Those we select are as follows :
: PJpiP P'Pl VP' IPPP Ppip3 PIP'D 1PUU1 PIP -)PP3 '3D DP '3 13 P li )'P
"It has no fellow, excepting one other in this book, and its meaning is, that be
will die in the fulness of the number of his days, that is to say, in old age."
(Aben Ezra.)
PP13PP ilD'3 -im ]!Di PlPD 13'3PP 7pi'1 1W Pi'ipp ]')» 'pil IPi'ip ppi P")pP3 "jPP ]'f>
: P3")1J i3 piD'3D3
" There is no support in Scripture whence to understand its poetical mean
ing, and so it must be interpreted according to the context of the poem ; and
from the context it may be learned, that it is an expression of the completion
of the maturity of the produce [of the ground], when it has ripened as much as
it ought." (Jarchi.) : raptn ny sin
It [means] the time of old age. (Kimchi.)
: *)"nrr mm wav ^b lavina ibiMi  napi warn
" And its meaning is old age  but its interpretation [may also be],
in accordance with the subject, the powers of the body." (Ben-Zev.)
After having maturely weighed all these interpretations, we
came to the determination to render 112 , ripe old age.
Ver. 27. The pronominal affix, in ni31pri we have searched it,
shews us we must consider the demonstr. pron. nST as a nominative
absolute = [as to] this [thing] ; i. e., as to all, that has been
advanced in this discourse of mine, we have maturely examined
it, and found it to be universally true.
And so also in ^bjH ilflSl , the nns must be translated, and
[as for] thee — (know (i. e., mark) [it] for thyself (for thy own
advantage)) ; meaning to say, we, on our part, are quite con
vinced of the truth of the sentiments here advanced, and, as for
thee, mark well the infinitely great advantage thou mayest derive
from them.

52

CHAPTER VI.
Ver. 2. It must be admitted that the speaker of the discourse
contained in the two preceding Chapters has shown himself to be,
not only a religious and pious man, but also an orator of great talent ;
on the other hand, it cannot be denied, that his words, though
fraught with laudable sentiments, and excellent advice, do not
contain a single argument bearing upon the point in question, viz.,
how it came to pass, that a man, who, according to the testi
mony of God himself, was " pious, upright, and a fearer of God "
should undergo such terrible torments. Job is indeed told, (chap.
iv. 6), that his piety ought to be to him a great source of consola
tion and confident hope for the future, but it is difficult to see,
how he could derive any grounds for such hope from a piety,
which had failed to shield him from the grievous calamities that
now afflict him. Again, he is counselled to consider himself
happy, that God corrects him, and is advised not to reject the
chastisement of the Almighty. Now, a man with a character,
such as was attributed to Job by God, would, no doubt, at all
times, be ready to kiss the rod, with which God chastised him,
provided only he felt, that he deserved such chastisement — but what
had he done, unfortunate man, to deserve chastisement ? This is
the difficult point, which his friend ought to have grappled with, but
which he had altogether avoided dwelling upon. To be sure, he
rebukes Job in unmeasured language, and justly so, for the sin he
has been guilty of, since his sufferings have come upon him, in mur
muring against the decrees of Providence, but not one charge is
brought against him, not one sin is pointed out to him, by which he
could have deserved such affliction. The rest of the discourse is filled
up, partly with harsh invectives stigmatizing Job as being either a
fool, or a simpleton, (chap. v. 2), partly with expatiating upon the
Omnipotence of God (a subject upon which we shall hear Job say,
it was rather his part to preach to others, than for others to preach
to him), and partly, with a grand display of figurative, and highly
poetical, language. Now, it is very easy for a man in good health

chapter vi. 2, 3. 53
to choose his words, and employ eloquent and elegant language,
such as a great sufferer cannot be supposed to emulate, and there
fore Job, by way of protesting once for all against their expecting
any eloquence from him, begins his reply by saying: Oh, that my
grief could be thoroughly weighed, and my calamity laid together in a
balance ! (Ver. 3.) Surely now, they would be either of them heavier
than the sand of the seas ; therefore have they swallowed up my
words. My grief and my calamity are so great, as to choke my
utterance. Ver. 2. WaP lit., they could carry, used here impersonally for could be carried,
placed, laid. See note on DWBT. supra iv. 19.
Ver. 3. "T^l?1 it would be heavy. This verb, being in the sing., must refer to
each of the nouns, 1a73?? my grief, and "'•HIP my calamity, respectively.
W( . Kimchi, quotes this word under the root Hfw to swallow, and so do
Ben-Zev and Buxtorf; but, though they refer the reader to Obad. ver. 16,
Wb"l *inah and they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, where the verb is
evidently used transitively, they seem in the present passage to have taken it,
either in an intransitive, or even in a passive sense ; so that, according to them,
the translation of the words -137b 1"]2'^ would be, either, my words are
stammering, or, my words are swallowed up. Presumptuous as it may seem on
our part to differ from such high authorities, still we think we owe it to truth to
say, that we cannot embrace their views, and for two reasons ; first, because we
do not wish, where we can avoid it, to give to a transitive verb an intransitive, or
passive, sense ; and secondly, because, if "H?*! my words, were really the
nominative, the verb would be used in the participle, a1? b 112':J my words [are~]
stammering, and not in the past, ^'7 1"]3':T my words have been stammering.
We have, therefore, made up our minds to consider, not V*Q\ my words, but
W'9'3 my grief, and YWH my calamity, as the nominatives to 12 7 ; that is to
say, my grief and my calamity have swallowed up my words, i.e., have made my
speech inarticulate, confused, and destitute of all ornament.
Gesenius, with his wonted love for adopting roots, which none of the old
Lexicographers ever dreamed of, assumes the root of the word in question to be
ny7 ; but, puzzled by the accent being here penultimate (as it ought to be, and is
also in Obad. ver. 16, where he admits the root to be ?•>?), he accounts for it by
saying (in his Thesaurus under root H2?7) "Hue referas Job vi. 3 : 7? 7?
™b ''ian propterea verba mea temeraria sunt, ubi barytonon ^7 scriptum est
pro W/ (Milra) propter pausam, at HHS in pausa HfflN ." So, i"JF)N , in which
the accent is transferred from the ultimate, to the penultimate, syllable, in conse
quence of the lengthening of the vowel produced by the pause, is to help us to account
for the supposed transference of accent in wb } where no vowel is lengthened ! ! !
But pray why in Jer. iv. 29, does the pause-accent, Ethnach, not cause a
transference of accent in 'lbs ? why not the SiMk in the word : Wn (Gen.
ix. 23 ; Deut. xxi. 7 ; Isa. v. 12 ; Ezek. xiii. 3) ? why not ? Because of course
the accent must remain in its proper place — the last syllable — when there is no

54 CHAPTER VI. 3  7.
vowel lengthened. It is certainly bad enough, that one, who has ventured upon
writing a Hebrew Grammar and Lexicon, should commit such a glaring mistake,
but it is a thousand times worse, that Tregelles and Robinson should have
translated his article without perceiving the sad blunder it contained. Let this
serve as a caution to the Hebrew student, how he bestows his confidence upon
Lexicons, which are not written, either in Hebrew, or by men able to write
in Hebrew as well as Kimchi and Ben-Zev.
Ver. 4. Having, in the preceding verse, said, that he is altogether
weighed down by his grief and calamity, Job now mentions the
causes that have produced them, and compares them (in order to
shew how deeply the one rankles in his mind, the other in his
body), to sharp arrows dipped in poison, which, besides inflicting
grievous wounds, would contaminate the whole current of the
blood. He says :
For the arrows of the Almighty are with me. That is, stick fast
in me. The poison of which my spirit drinketh up ; the terrors of
God set themselves in array against me.
On the word Ef^O their poison, Jarchi comments as follows :
: DP'i'P3 DPJ iD PIP PPi D»p-)P -]¦)! . DpiD PIP
" Their venom ; it is the manner of the Persians to put the venom of serpents
on their arrows."
1?!)37?^. Here we again find an objective affix, where one would expect a
preposition after the verb, for the proper form would be 17^ '^"IS1 (or "T^i? V)
they constantly set themselves in array against me. See note on 13!,nN*1
supra iii. 25.
Vers. 5 — 7. As fault had been found with him by his friend for
crying out so loud in his affliction, Job now tells him that, where
there is a loud cry, there must also be pain to extort it ; that even a
brute would not cry out without a cause for it ; and then since the
discourse held to him just now was intended to console him, and
soothe his pain, he goes on to say, that he cannot receive such
consolation, that he wants arguments, and not mere words, empty
and tasteless as the most insipid food. No, he says (Ver. 7) : My
soul refuseth to touch them ; they, your unmeaning, insipid words
and similes are as the loathsomeness of my food; are as loathsome
to my soul, as food now is to my body. It stands to reason, that
a man, afflicted with such sores from the sole of his foot to the
crown of his head, could not relish any food.

CHAPTER VI. 5 — 10. 55
Having explained, to the best of our humble faculties, the train
of reasoning in these three verses, which have been considered so
intractable by almost all the commentators, we will now proceed
to remark upon them in detail.
Ver. 5. pn??LJ . Fut. Kal of the verb pna to bray, with the n interrogative
prefixed. n?a 1??a without salt. By a figure common to most languages, insipid
discourses are said to want salt, and vice versa, spirited ones are said to have salt.
So the German says, " Es ist Salz in seinen Reden ; " or, as the French would
render it, " II y a du sel dans ses discours." There is, of course, no necessity to
quote from the Latin, where the figure is so very common.
n^abn "HS lit., In [the] spittle of [the] yolk-of-an-egg ; i.e., in the white of
an egg, which, in its raw state, certainly looks like spittle, and is very insipid.
In 1 Sam. xxi. 14 we find il1"! his spittle. The noun fWabn we may compare
with the Talmudic li^7'» [the~] yolk of an egg.
"'PHI? 1)."T3 nan they (i.e., the insipid speeches he alludes to) [are] like
[the] loathsomeness of my food (i. e., like my loathsome
food ; just as my body now loathes food, so my soul
loathes such insipid reasoning as that you offer me.)
The adjective T/J, fem. HVT , strictly signifies ill, sick, but is also used of
anything loathsome, or disgusting, there being some affinity between the ideas of
sickness and loathsomeness. Hence, HVT , in Isa. xxx. 22, means a menstruous
cloth. So the noun "'Vj , or, as it would be, were it not for the lengthening
caused by the pause, ^ , occurs in Ps. xii. 4, in the meaning of sickness, and its
constructive form, 1!f!! , in the verse before us, in the sense of loathsomeness. It
is one of the prominent features of the Hebrew language, that one noun is often
qualified by another noun, by being put in construction with it ; the second noun,
in such cases, serving as an adjective to the first ; for instance , EHP 17?? (Exod.
xxviii. 2) lit., garments of holiness, i. e., holy garments ; in like manner, "H? yy
(Gen. i. 11), lit., a tree of fruit, stands for, a fruit-tree : or, the qualifying
noun may have a possess, pronom. affix, as >lEHl7 "^ mountain of my holiness, —
my holy mountain (Isa. lvi. 7). So here, lan7 '•Vf lit., [the] loathsomeness of
my food, is really equivalent to my loathsome food.
Vers. 8 — 12. * After having solemnly protested, that he cannot
admit reasonings destitute of argument, Job continues : " Oh that my
request might come, and that God might grant my hope ! (viz.) (Ver. 9.)
And that God might be pleased to crush me ; that He might let loose
His hand, and make an end of me ! (Ver. 10.) Then would this still
be my consolation — were I even to burn with pain — were He even
not to spare me. However excruciating the pain of the final blow
might be, this consolation, at least, would still be left me, That I have

56 CHAPTER VI. 8 — 12.
not denied the words of the Holy-One. That I have not dis
regarded His commandments. Having then nothing to reproach
myself with, I might, perhaps, submit with patience to my
afflictions in expectation of better times, but (Ver. 11.) What is
my strength, that I should hope, or what would be my end ? What
could I expect? Were I to prolong my life ? (Ver. 12.) Is my
strength the strength of stones, is my flesh brass ?
Ver. 8. Nl3,n it might come. In some cases we find a 1 after l^1 1a before
the verb which follows it ; as "'ba ^ans^l IDS ]/T ->a (infra xix. 23) Oh that
now my words were written down ! but, sometimes, as here, the 1 is omitted.
Comp. ?W17rjri anrjn ]/T "'a (infra xiii. 5) would that ye were altogether
silent !
Ver. 9. >?2^2s'l lit., and might finish me; i.e., make an end of me, despatch me.
In this sense, the verb 222 is used in Isa. x. 12, inttJSB  ysaV1. He
will finish (or despatch)  His work.
Ver. 10. Before ^^^P. my consolation, the demonst. pron. riST this, should be
supplied. The verb TbD is not to be found in the Bible, excepting in this instance, but
is used in the Talmud in the sense of boiling, scalding, burning, as
•a mbiD t»b> ''a bs F|K yaxa
" Oil, although the hand [be] scalded with it." (Treatise Sabbath, fol. 40. 2.)
The Rabbinical Commentators observe on the verb <"nvp&?l
: PPPPl 3P3P plipi iDP PIPI P7lip Pi'3 1P3
"[The same] as [iTTlbD PIS^O in the Talmudic language, signifies] a boiled egg, and it
is used [here] figuratively of the intensity of the pain and the heat." (Aben-Ezra.)
: 'p' DDP 1'in P'3P IDP 31P3P31 i'P3 P1331 DPPPP P'PD p"up i"")
" He means to say, though he were heated, and burning with pain and anguish, which
God, blessed be He, had brought upon him." (Ralbag.)
The 1 of the word iTTypN1 should also be understood before the neg. part.
"b in the same verse, and be taken in the sense of though, although, as in Prov.
xxviii. 6, "11t??3? WiT] though he be rich.
^iTJ [the] Holy- One. This epithet is here applied to God, as it is also in
Isa. xl. 25.
In Mason and Bernard's Grammar (Letter lvi. § 18), several passages have
been adduced from the Bible, containing sentences, which must be regarded as
parenthetical ; we shall content ourselves here with quoting one of them. " Hath
a nation ever changed their gods (a,n7w S7 nani though they [are] no gods)?
yet my people have changed their glory for that, which cannot profit." (Jer.
ii. 11.) It will be perceived that the words bian^ rfb rib/Tin nnbpsi in this
verse, are, in like manner, considered by us as parenthetical, and that the verb
7iarv is referred to ?i'H in the preceding verse.

CHAPTER VI. 8 — 14. 57
The five verses, therefore, which we have grouped together, will
run thus :
Ver. 8. ^n/SB/ Si3n ]PP "O Would that my request might come,
'"TbS )jT inipni And [that] God might grant my
hope !
Ver. 9. 13S3T>1 nibs bs1"! So that God might be pleased that
He should crush me,
VW21 iT "UT (That) He should let loose His hand,
and despatch me.
Ver.lO.V^Bnj [n»T] liJPnfll Then would [this] still be my con
solation,
blBTVj sb[l] — 17^12 llbD^ (Were I even to be burning with
pain — were He even not to spare),
B'iTp ''IBS ^T\112 Sb 13 That I have not denied [the] ivords
of [the] Holy-One.
Ver. 11. blTS "3 TI3 112 What [is] my strength, that I
should wait?
*p%2 T1SS "3 ^p HOI Or, what [would be] mine end, if
I should prolong my life ?
Ver. 12. "ni ENDS ri3 DS [Is the] strength of stones my
strength ?
B'ina n^3 DS [Is] my flesh of-brass?
Vers. 13, 14. The reader will recollect, that the great sufferer,
who is now speaking, had been classed by his friend with fools
and simpletons (supra v. 2), as though he were enduring the fate
which they deserved ; to this he, no doubt, alludes in ver. 13,
where he says with much bitterness : Because my help is not in
me. Because I have become helpless. Must common sense there
fore also have been driven out from me ? Am I a fool because I
am helpless? He then, in Ver. 14, goes on to say : To one, who
is pining away with grief, kindness should be shown by his friend.
He ought to be treated kindly,not tormented with galling invectives,
as I have been by thee ; Or, else he might actually be driven to
despair, and leave (give up) the fear of the Almighty, which he
always had had in his heart. These two verses should therefore
be construed thus : —
Ver. 13. 13 **ll]i!. TS DSn [Because there is] not my help in

58 CHAPTER VI. 13 — 18.
me (i. e., because I have become
helpless,)
"'aBB nriTJ iTB'ini Has common-sense also been driven
out from me f (i. e., must, in
consequence of my helplessness,
my common-sense have departed
from me ?)
Ver. 14. inj/TB Ton — DBb To the-one [i.e., to him, that is]
pining-away, [there should be]
kindness on the part of his friend
(i.e., kind, and not harsh, words,
ought to be addressed to him,)
31ttp_ ^B/ nST! Or [else] he might leave (give up)
[the] fear of the Almighty (i. e.,
he might be driven to despair,
and to heresy, however pious and
religious he had been before).
With regard to the word n*HWfl see note on this word, supra v. 12.
Vers. 15 — 21. The reader need not be told, how much travellers
in the desert suffer through scarcity of water ; how eagerly they
look for it, and how great their disappointment and misery are, when
they come to the place, in which they expected to find it, and find
none. Our innocent sufferer therefore, who was longing for the
solacing and refreshing words he had expected to hear from the
mouth of his friends, while he had hitherto heard from them
nothing but harsh and galling reproaches, compares them to the
waters in the desert, upon which the tired and exhausted traveller
never can rely, either in summer, or in winter. His words are as
follows : — My brethren have dealt-faithlessly, like a torrent, like
the stream of torrents, that pass by ; (Ver. 16.) Which grow-turbid
by reason of ice, by reason of the snow, which concealeth itself in
them. Which falls into them, and, instantly melting, disappears.
(Ver. 17.) Again, when they grow hot, they become extinct;
on their (lit., on its) being heated, they vanish from their place'.
(Ver. 18.) They change (lit., turn) the paths of their way ; they
ascend in a shapeless-mass, and perish. Instead of flowing hori
zontally, the usual direction of their course, they rise, owing

CHAPTER VI. 18 — 21. 59
to the heat, perpendicularly, as shapeless vapours, and vanish.
(Ver. 19.) The caravans of Tema looked-out, the wayfaring-
companies of Sheba hoped for them. (Ver. 20.) They were
ashamed, that they (lit., he, i. e., every one of them) had confided
in them; when they had come to it. The place of the water.
Then they blushed. (Ver. 21.) Surely now, ye have been turned
into it. Into the torrent I have spoken of. You treat me in exactly
the same way, as the torrents do the travellers, who hoped for them.
Ye see horror, and therefore are afraid. You see a horrifying ex
ample before you, of the dreadful manner in which God can punish
a man when he is angry with him, and therefore you are afraid of
acknowledging that I suffer innocently, lest, by doing so, you should
provoke God, and bring equally great sufferings upon yourselves.
Ver. 15. Before the verb ^"QS.1 pass-away, the relat. pron., ~>tj?N which, must
be supplied.
Ver. 16. The particle 1?a (the poetical form of ]T? from, by reason of, on
account of, and occurring again, infra xvi. 16), should be supplied in the second
hemistich before 3TO ; and the relative, ""'^ , understood before absJT , as
though the second hemistich bad been worded thus :
ia'bs abyry: -ia>N aba; ipa
by reason of [the'] snow which hides itself within them.
la^lpj? is here synonymous with 22 in them, or a27P? within them, just as,
in Hos. xi. 8, " mine heart is turned ^ c% within me."
Ver. 17. !D*1T? they grmo hot. The verb 2~IT , which only occurs in this place,
is synonymous with 2~I2 to grow hot, burn, the same as P3?' with p2?2 to cry,
1 and 2 , as dentals, interchanging with each other. The verb 2*12 we find in
Ezek. xxi. 3 (Auth., Ver. xx. 47), :'2~I23) and they shall be burned.
A singular verb, when preceded by its nominative in the plural, refers to
each of the individuals expressed by the plural as "^^a "T^a^T ¦ (Prov.
iii. 18.) And, [as for] those laying hold of her, [every one of them is] blessed.
This explanation will apply also to the possessive affix 1" in the word tana 0n
its being heated, i.e., on every one of the Dvri? torrents, mentioned in the pre
ceding verse but one, being heated.
Ver. 18. The verb risb in Niphal signifies to turn, change position, as in
Ruth iii. 8, ^iav*1 and he turned, changed position.
^nna in the (i.e., as a) shapeless-mass (of vapour). The force of the prefix
2 here corresponds to that of the French en, in en ami. Comp. Ps. xxxvii.
20, 1^231 'lbs translated in the Genevese Version, " Us s'esvanouironl en fumee." ',
Ver. 19. 1a^ to them, in the second hemistich, should be understood after
^an they looked, in the first.

60 CHAPTER VI. 20—23.
Ver. 20. naa he trusted ; i.e., every one of them trusted. See note on lana
ver. 17.
Ver. 21. The verb <~VI to be, when construed with 7 sometimes expresses the
changing of one thing into another, as ^"^37 TI^l (Exod. iv. 3) and it became
a serpent. So, in this instance, lb anVH means, you have been changed into
it; i.e., into the torrent mentioned in ver. 15. You are become as the torrents
of the desert ; you play the same deceptive and delusive part towards me, that
the torrents of the desert do towards the traveller, who hopes for them.
It will be perceived, that we read 1 ' as it is in the K'ree and not M7 according
to the K'theev. This should always be done, when practicable, as the K'ree is
supposed to correct the K'theev.
!lST,/rlTi nnn WI-FI you see horror, and are afraid; i.e., you see before you
a horrifying example, and are deterred by it from acknowledging the truth, that
I am suffering innocently, lest you should yourselves furnish another example of
the terrible manner in which God punishes those who provoke Him.
Vers. 22, 23. If a man applies to his friends for pecuniary aid,
and that aid is refused him, he may be disappointed, but he cannot
at once condemn them, and charge them with unkindness, as
they may be under circumstances which render it perfectly
impossible for them to comply with his request. But, if he asks
of them nothing but commiseration and sympathy, and even
these are denied him, he cannot but consider such denial as
a great piece of inhumanity and cruelty. Now, this was precisely
the case with the unfortunate speaker ; had he been imprisoned
and tortured by some tyrant, and then complained of his sufferings
to his friends, they might perhaps have been expected to receive
him coolly, as thinking his complaints were made with a view to
induce them to open their purses for the purpose, either of bribing
the governor of the prison, in which he was kept a prisoner,
or of ransoming him from the tyrant who held him imprisoned.
But his complaints were, that he was afflicted, not by man, but by
God, and, therefore, his friends must of course have known, that
he could want nothing from them but sympathy ; to refuse him
this was, therefore, naturally regarded by him as very cruel, and
he, consequently, says : —
Have I said to you, " Give me anything ? " Or, " Bribe any one
for me, with your wealth ? " (Ver. 23.) Or, "Deliver me from the hand
of an adversary ? " Or, " Ransom me from the hand of tyrants ? "

CHAPTER VI. 22 — 27. 61
Ver. 22. Just as 7^n power, valour, is also used in the sense of wealth, (e.g.,
infra xx. 15; Gen. xxxiv. 29, aa1-) their wealth,) so ~D strength, is here equivalent
to wealth; the explanation of this secondary meaning of the two words being of
course, that one, who has money, has strength, and is not so helpless, or so easily
injured, as one destitute of it. Comp. Prov. v. 10, "Lest strangers be filled
with ^U3 thy wealth."
ITO?} and bribe ye. The noun "ina? is always used to mean a bribe.
Vers. 24 — 27. At the very opening of this discourse Job
protested, and said no eloquent, loftily-worded, speeches could be
expected from a man, suffering as he was ; he now reverts to the
same subject, but dwells upon it at greater length, and cries out
against his friends for taking advantage of his position in bringing
all the powers of their eloquence to bear upon him, when they
well know, that he would have to seek for words. He says :
Instruct me. Bring forward real arguments. Then, will I
hold-my-peace ; but, make me perceive, what I have erred in.
(Ver. 25.) How poioerful are words of rectitude! Words, which
present a matter in its true light, will always be powerful, whether
they be plain and unvarnished, or elegant and ornate. But what
argument can one get out of you? (Ver. 26.) Do ye think to
argue with me in words ? Do you mean to use fine words instead
of arguments 1 Then, the words of a man-in-despair must go for (be
esteemed as) wind. For a man in despair cannot, of course, choose
his words, as one who speaks at his ease. (Ver. 27.) But, if you can
be so cruel as to take advantage of my unfortunate position, then,
indeed, you might as well cast-yourself upon the fatherless-child,
and devour your friend.
Ver. 25. The verb V"1^ , in Neph., signifies to be strong, or powerful; as, in
1 Kings ii. 8, ~l?"Ta3 ""/bp a powerful (vehement) curse. Some consider
l^ia? (sic) to be i.q. ^bp? (sic) (Ps. cxix. 103), when the meaning would be,
" How pleasant are, &c," but the reasoning remains the same. We certainly do
find an instance, where b and "I interchange, viz. 1iri,i3a7t?2 (lsa. xiii. 22)
in its palaces, for rni3a-iH2 . So the Chaldee Version has it, WI TP1?? na
r?1"]"! T^y") How pleasant are straight-forward words !
nalrt "Pai1 will one indeed argue out — the infinit. Hiph. of ^^ , coupled
with the fut., to give emphasis. The inf. ought, by rights, to precede the tense,
but we find it in some instances following it, as it does here. Comp. Gen.
xix. 9, aiaa? aba>»1 and he has indeed made himself a judge.
Ver. 26. a'ba for a^baa by words. The prep. 2 must frequently be

62 CHAPTER VI. 26—28.
understood as in Gen. xxiv. 23, Tf^as fT? for tpaH "Vaai in thy father's
house. a?S13 lit., one given up to despair, it being the part. Niph. of the verb ® N"* to
despair. Ver. 27. :'7,S~I for 17!M/~~I you might cast yourselves (upon the fatherless
child ; i.e., in order to oppress him). In the same sense, the verb '33 is used in
Gen. xliii. 18, 131!?™! bsanilbsi and to cast himself upon us. Some would
supply 7"fla a lot, after il7>3-l ; when of course the meaning would be, you might
(as well) cast lots (for the property of a fatherless child, i.e., take it away
wrongfully). But, if we are at all to assume an ellipsis here, we would much
rather take it to be DaPnittjaa yourselves. (The reader is, no doubt aware that,
in Hebrew, the noun E7?3. soul, or person, when it assumes affixes, is sometimes
used as a periphrasis for the reflective pronoun self.) And so we find infra xix. 5,
:l7,'~3~l ">757 ye would magnify [yourselves] over me, where the reflect, pron.
must be understood. But may not the Hiph. of the verb '33 be, for once, used
here in the sense of the Kal, just as the verb 2tffp has in Hiph. the same sense
as it has in Kal, in which voice, however, it is only found once, Isa. xxxii. 3,
na~lti?|7"1 shall attend, or hear. Comp. also VPT. (infra xiv. 8) it grows old.
^"l?"!"! and you might feast, or make a banquet. The verb n~0 , though
generally signifying to dig, is also used in the sense of feasting, or banqueting ;
as, in 2 Kings vi. 23, 2!~7 iT~a?l And he prepared a banquet for them, and also,
infra xl. 30 (Eng. Vers. xii. 6,) a'nan Vb3J Ti2\ will companions make a
banquet of him (the Leviathan or crocodile) 1 Consequently, Spg1"! 7^ ""l-)"!"!
lit. means and you might make a banquet (or feast) upon your friend. One who
wreaks his vengeance upon, or treats another with great cruelty, is said in
Hebrew (and the expression is especially frequent in this book), to eat, to glut
himself with, his flesh ; as infra xix. 22, "3732t£7ri )s> >"W'2.'C^ and you cannot be
satisfied-with my flesh ; and, again, xxxi. 31, 3?2a?3 s7 1"ia?2a we could not be
satisfed-with his flesh. Some wish to take the verb n~ia in this instance in its
usual acceptation of digging, and supply, after !na~rl} the noun nffllS a pit, an
ellipsis, to which we should willingly agree, if we could but account for the
preposition by , with which the verb is here construed, seeing that, in all other
instances, where it means to dig, and is construed with a preposition, it is with
b for, and not with 7l? against, that we find it.
Vers. 28 — 30. Eliphaz, in his discourse, had (speaking for him
self and his friends) held out a threat (chap. v. 1) of leaving Job
to his fate, and withdrawing altogether from him ; this Job now
deprecates, as an act, by which he should be very much wronged,
seeing that he had not yet explained to them the nature of his case,
nor the manner in which he intended to lay it before God, for
not one word in his first discourse had he addressed to God himself,
though we shall presently hear him doing so, (infra vii. 7 — 21).
For his friends, therefore, to desert him now, would be condemning

CHAPTER VI. 28 — 30. 63
him without a hearing ; he entreats them, therefore, not to carry
their threat into execution, until, at any rate, they are quite con
vinced that there is falsehood or iniquity in his tongue. His words
are as follows : Now therefore be pleased, turn to me. Instead of
turning your back on me, turn round, and consider me, as well as
my case. Then will it be before you. Be evident to you. If I
speak-falsely. (Ver. 29.) Come back to me, / pray ; let there be
no wrong. Do not wrong me, by deserting me without first
hearing me. Yea, come back ; then will ye be convinced, that
my righteousness is still in it. (That is, in 131B'b my tongue, found
in the next verse.) Then, you will perceive (Ver. 30.) Whether there
be any wrong in my tongue ; whether my palate cannot discern
perverse-things. Ver. 28. Oa1?") 7^"] then before your face, or before you (will it be) ; i.e., the
thing will be quite as evident to you, as if you had it before your face.
Ver. 29. nblS Tl"! bs \et there be no wrong ; i.e., let there be no wrongful
act on your part, such as the condemning of a friend without a hearing.
"12 in it, i.e., in laia7? my tongue, found in the next verse. We often meet
with a pronoun referring to a noun, not preceding, but following, it. So, infra
xxiv. 6, in i7,bS> his fodder, in the first hemistich, the pron. affix i" his, refers
to the noun 3?t"™[ [the] wicked-man, in the second. Nor need we hesitate to take
the pron. <~a as we do, because the noun it refers to, is not in the same, but in
the next verse ; since we very frequently meet, even in the historical books, with
two verses so closely connected by the sense, as to require to be read as if they
formed only one. Thus, Exod. xxv. 8, 9, " And let them make me a sanctuary,
(that I may dwell among them.) According to all that I shew thee, &c", where
the words, that I may dwell among them, are, evidently, parenthetical, the
command being, that they should make Him a sanctuary according to what He
shewed them ; and yet, the verses are divided. Indeed the only way, in which
we can account for the def. art. being, in the first chap, of Genesis, given to the
sixth, and not to any of the other days, is, to connect the latter part of the last
verse of the 1st chap, with the 1st verse of the 2nd, as follows : "And there
was evening, and there was morning, even that sixth day, when the heaven and
the earth were finished, &c. " ; where we give to the 1 in I'a1! the same force
that it has in Gen. xix. 23, " The sun was risen on the earth aibl when Lot
came to Zoar."

64

CHAPTER VII.
Vers. 1 — 3. In the preceding Chapter (Vers. 8, 9), we heard
the unfortunate speaker praying for death, and here again it would
seem the idea of death once more came across his mind, conjoined
with a feeling of wonder, how it is, that men — beings, whose days
are numbered — should ever long to see the last of them. This he
accounts for, by the terrible sufferings which they sometimes have
to endure in this world, and brings himself forward as an example.
His words are :
Is there not an appointed-time for frail-man upon earth ? Indeed,
his days are like the days of an hireling. Just as the hireling
continues only a certain number of days with his employer, so man
remains only his allotted time upon earth. (Ver. 2.) As a slave
panteth for the shadow (shade). As a slave, while toiling in the
heat of the day, longs for (and obtains,) a mere nothing, the
shade. And as the hireling waiteth-for his wages. Longs for
(and obtains,) money, in itself a paltry thing, which has no value
but in the imagination of man. (Ver. 3.) So have I been made
to possess months of vanity, and nights of trouble have been prepared
for me. So, whatever may have been my longings, I have been
allotted a life, which is not only altogether unprofitable, but also
full of trouble.
Ver. 1. ^as an appointed-time, in which sense it is also used infra xiv. 14.
Ver. 2. 1 793 . The abstract noun 7^3 work, or labour, is used in this
instance for the result oi the labour, i.e., the wages; as in Jer. xxii. 13, "that
maketh his neighbour work for nought, and giveth him not, ibSB his wages."
In like manner, the synonymous noun i~y"jB work, is found in the meaning of
tvages, in Lev. xix. 13, "^aa? D737B [the] wages of an hireling. The abstract
noun p3? iniquity, is, similarly, used for punishment (the consequence of iniquity),
in Gen. iv. 13, " 1?1?. my punishment (is greater, &c.)."
siaa (root naa) they prepared, being used here impers., may be fairly rendered
by a passive, were prepared. See note on "•as supra iii. 3, and BlSaT iv. 19.
Vers. 4 — 6. At the beginning of chap. vi. we heard Job
complaining of his sufferings in general, but now, before directing

CHAPTER VII. 4  6. 65
his speech to God, he enters somewhat more into detail concerning
them, as they affect both his body and his mind ; probably, with the
intention of throwing out a hint to his friends, that they should
make every allowance for the situation he is in, and not be
surprised, if, in the address he is about to make to God, words
should escape his lips, such as he ought not to utter. He says :
When I lie down. For my night's rest. Then I say, When
shall I arise ? His sufferings during the night are so great, that
he longs for the morning, as people invariably do, who are ill
and afflicted with sleeplessness. So among the curses enumerated in
Deut. ch. xxviii. we read in ver. 67, " and at even thou shalt say,
Would God it were morning ! " But the evening is measured out.
The evening (by which he means the night), seems an eternity to
me. And, so, I am filled-with tossings to and fro till the morning-
twilight. (Ver. 5.) My flesh hath put on. Is become covered with.
Worm[s], and clod[s] of dust ; my skin is broken, and become loath
some. He appears to allude to the state of his skin, induced by his
disease, for it is well known, that, in elephantiasis (as occurring in hot
countries), the skin becomes of a muddy hue, thickened and rugous
(like that of an elephant), so as to have very much the appearance of
the ground when dried up and cracked by the heat. With
regard to the worms, it is said that, after ulceration has occurred
in the progress of the disease, worms are bred in great numbers
in the ulcers ; Job's body then, being covered with such ulcers,
would swarm with worms. (Ver. 6.) My days have been swifter
than a weaver's-shuttle ; and are consumed without hope. It may
be that, in the first hemistich, he refers to his former days of
happiness, and in the second, to his present days of misery, spent
without hope.
Ver. 4. Tlja5! (lit., but one measures (is wont to measure), i.e., extends, lengthens
out), being used here impersonally, may be rendered, but is lengthened out, i.e., seems
very long. Comp. Numb. xiii. 32, nfaa ""ttfaw lit. men of measures, i.e., men of
great stature. The verb is here used in Pi-al, the second radical taking Pathach,
as in Lament, ii. 9, "l?H?l "T3S he hath destroyed, and broken (her bars). It
was on account of this PathacbT that Rosenmuller rejected "na as its root,
though nothing is more common than to find Pathach replacing the more regular
Tsayre of the Pi-al.
1*I¥. till, the poet, form of 137 .
^P. , here, on account of the pause, *l$a , is used sometimes, for the morning-
F

66 CHAPTER VII. 6  8.
twilight, as in 2 Kings vii. 5 ; and sometimes, for the evening -twilight, as in Prov.
vii. 9. Here, it is evidently used in the former sense, though, infra xxiv. 15, we
shall find it taken in the latter.
Ver. 5. E^a clod, is a airaf Xey6g.evov.
VI"} was broken. We have the authority of Aben-Ezra, Kimchi, Ralbag, and
Wolfssohn, for giving the verb this signification.
aNa*T so that it has become loathsome. Some assume the root to be DDa f and
think that N may stand for D , an anomaly we find in Ps. Iviii. 8 ; we, however,
cannot see why we should favour this view, since we obtain excellent sense by
regarding the word as a regular Niph. of the verb ONa } to loathe.
Ver. 7. In no language do we meet with such striking
instances of bold and vigorous Ellipsis (a figure, full of elegance,
when no ambiguity can arise), as in Hebrew. In Mason and
Bernard's Grammar (Letter xviii., § 4,) several examples are given
of this figure, but we shall content ourselves here with quoting
two of the most remarkable of them. In Ps. cxxxvii. 5, the
inspired bard, lamenting his captivity " by the rivers of Babylon,"
when summoned to sing "one of the songs of Zion " before the
insulting foe, says, " If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, 131B1 n3B*n
let my right-hand forget  ." He does not say, what he bids it
forget, but he cannot be misunderstood ; he must of course mean
the skill with which it was wont to sweep the strings of his harp.
Again, in Ps. xvi. 2, we have TiTb niBS , for niTb ^'33 JV1DS
Thou, 0 my soul, hast said unto Jehovah ... In like manner, in
the verse before us, nibs O God, or Vibs my God, or one of the
other names attributed to the Deity, should be understood here, in
the vocative case, after the word 12] remember. This verse, and
those that follow, to the end of the chapter, are so evidently
addressed to God, that it was not thought necessary by the speaker
to name Him. He says :
Remember, that my life is but a breath. That my life hangs
but on a breath, that if my breath be interrupted only once, I am
dead, and that, when dead, My eye shall not again see good. I can
never be restored to happiness.
niHI.7 a^Fl shall again see. The verb 3W to return, when joined to
another verb, is used adverbially, in the sense of again; as 2 Kings i. 13,
nba^T at£J»1 and he sent again.
Ver. 8. The eye of him that seeth me, shall no longer see me;

CHAPTER VII. 8 — 12. 67
yea, Thine own eyes shall look for me, but I shall be no
more. Once I have left this life, I shall be completely
annihilated. After the word I1?1? Thine eyes, the verb na^.njjl may be, must be under
stood ; thine eyes may be upon me, in Hebrew, being equivalent to thine eyes may
be directed towards, or may look for, me.
Ver. 9. As the cloud is consumed, and gone, so he that goeth down
to the pit, shall not come up again.
Before the verb J"l7a ) "la^Sa as, like, must be understood ; or the sentence
may be construed, as though written, nba "ia^S f33?a as the cloud, which is
consumed. Ver. 10. He shall not again return to his house, nor shall his
place again discern him.
The verb "123 t in Hiph., is sometimes used in the sense of discerning, noticing,
as in Gen. xxxi. 32, " "l?n discern (what belongs to thee)."
laipa his place, stands for "nana aipa [the] place of his dwelling.
Ver. 11. This verse should be understood, as though it began
with the words, ]3 bi! therefore ; i.e., since, whilst I am alive, I
am to be tormented, and, when dead, to be completely annihilated,
I have nothing to risk, and consequently,
/ also will not restrain my mouth. I care not if I express
myself in unmeasured terms, provided only I can give vent to my
indignation. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, I will
complain in the bitterness of my soul.
Ver. 12. In the preceding chapters, few in number as they are,
more than one verse has come before us, which we were surprised to
find had proved embarrassing to the majority of the translators and
commentators, as we had ourselves discovered no real difficulty
therein. Now, however, we have come to one, which most of them
have passed over in silence, and which Schultens, who does say
something about it, seems to treat very lightly, apparently quite
satisfied with his own explanation, whilst to ourselves it is not
one of the most difficult verses, but the most difficult verse, in the
whole of this book. Almost all the words it contains must be familiar
f 2

68 CHAPTER VII. 12.
to any one who has read Hebrew but a few months ; its grammar
is quite correct, and its construction very natural and easy ; the
difficulty is to penetrate its meaning. It is, no doubt, intended
as a simile, but how to apply the simile to the speaker — hie hceret
aqua. We shall, of course, offer our own views upon the subject,
but the reader will do well to receive them with great caution,
as we must confess they are anything but satisfactory to ourselves.
We lay them before him only, as having nothing else to offer,
and he should certainly himself strain every nerve to find out
something better than we propose. The verse runs thus :
Am I a sea, or a sea-monster, that Thou shouldest set a dam
(guard) about me ?
In Jeremiah we read (v. 22), " Fear ye not me % saith the
Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed
the sand for the bound of the sea 1 " Now, as we are told
by the historian (supra ii. 8) that Job was sitting surrounded
by ashes ; and by Job himself, in this chapter (ver. 5), that his
body was covered with clods of dust, may not he possibly in his
despair be justified in asking, What am I \ What do I look like ?
Do I look like a human being, or am I not rather like a sea with its
boundaries of sand, or like some sea-monster, which is confined in the
sea, and is prevented from escaping from it by its sandy shores 1
We are so much dissatisfied with what we say, that we think
it but right to quote what Schultens says, and give the reader
the opportunity of deciding which is the worst :
"Mira comparatione atrocitatem malorum suorum, et plagas,
quibus premebatur, inculcat, rogans, num mare essef? num bellua
marina? ut necesse fuerit, furentem vim et ssevitiam, obicibus
et repagulis circumdatis, frangi atque coerceri. . . Negat ergo, se
tantis terroribus, doloribus, pcenis, esse comprimendum, contunden-
dum, includendum, quippe qui nec tarn sseva ac importuna, nec
tarn valida ac robusta, sit natura, ut immanes illos ictus, vel
meruerit, vel diutius sustinere queat."
We will also quote Herz Homburg's words, which certainly
contain a more reasonable explanation than that which we have
heard from Schultens :
Pil 0*3 IPD'D ]'3PP iP Pii |31 P13P PP IV l*ip "5Pf>l D'P ip P"313P OD piPI il3J

CHAPTER VII. 12  15. 69
P13P PP 713 'i -)Plil 'P OPPi il3J D'DPD '3ft ]'3P of> D'P 3VP ">P1P P! ii>l I'loa in ")W
: 1*1373
" A bound, and a limit, has the Creator made for the sea, and He said to it, Thus
far shalt thou come ; and, in like manner, He also bade the sea-monster remain
in the sea, and not pass over its bounds ; and, with regard to this, Job says, Am
I a sea, or a sea-monster, that thou shouldest set a bound to the words of my
mouth, and say to me, Thus far shalt thou come with thy words ? "
Considering that, in the preceding verse, Job said, he would
henceforth set no bounds to his words, Homburg's explanation
deserves notice.
Vers. 13 — 16. When I say, My bed may comfort me, my couch
may remove my grief. Whenever I am inclined to try, whether
rest and sleep may not alleviate my sufferings. Then, Thou
scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me by visions. His sleep is
disturbed by frightful dreams and visions, as might be expected
would be the case with one, afflicted with the dreadful disease he
laboured under.
So that my soul would prefer strangling, death, inflicted by my
own limbs. That is, by my own hands. The agony of his pain
is so great, that the idea of suicide flashes across his mind, but
only to be: immediately and indignantly repelled, for he says in
the next verse, No, this I abhor — I shall not live for ever. How
ever great my pain and misery are, they must, as I am mortal,
come to an end at last, without any intervention on my part.
Away, then, thou thought of suicide ! Desist from me, for my
days are but a breath.
Verse 13. The prefix 2 in Tl1?7? iS) either pleonastic, or the mark of the
objective case. See note on T'baa ; supra iv. 2.
Ver. 14. The prefix a in maVTOa signifies by means of, as in Gen
xlix. 12, l^a by means of wine, 27na by means of milk.
Ver. 15. pana strangling, a noun derived from the verb P2rI to strangle.
Thus, we read (2 Sam. xvii. 23) of Ahithophel that, being in despair at his
counsel not being followed, " he put his household in order P5n*1 lit., and was
strangled," (i.e., strangled himself, the Niph-al being frequently used for the
Hithpa-al, as, in Gen. iii. 10, ^ansi and I was hid, i.e., I hid myself).
"'¦Hia^ya bt my [own] limbs, the E being used of the instrument, as in
Ps. lxxxviii. 6, " and they are cut off, TT*P by Thy hand"
It will be perceived that ver. 16 is parenthetical, being directed, not to God, but
to the thought of suicide, which intrudes upon him.

70 CHAPTER VII. 16 — 20.
Ver. 16. ban a breath. This is the original signification of the word ; as, in
Ps. Ixii. 9, " to be laid in the balance they are altogether '5(7? less than a
breath" (i.e., they would affect the balance less even than a mere breath.)
Hence, this word is used figuratively to denote anything light and vain.
Ver. 17. Having- chased away the terrible idea of suicide, which
had infested his mind, he now again addresses God, saying :
What is frail-man, that Thou shouldest exalt him ? Or, that
Thou shouldest set Thine heart upon him ?
a7 ira? to put, or set [one's] heart, is used to express, to care for a person,
or thing. So in Prov. xxvii. 23, BTI?.? ^127 rPa? set thine heart to (upon)
[the] herds, i.e., pay attention to them, care for them.
Ver. 18. TJiat Thou shouldest visit him every morning, that Thou
shouldest try him every moment ?
217par lit-, at mornings; i.e., every morning. The same expression, but
with the def. art., is found in Lament, iii. 23.
Ver. 19. Thou dost not turn away from me for an instant, nor
let me alone, till I swallow my spittle !
The word Tia is sometimes used = na'IMa in the sense of anything,"
as in Prov. ix. 13, " and she doth not know na anything." naa may therefore
here be taken to mean as anything, so that the passage, literally translated, would
be, Thou dost not turn away from me as anything, i.e., for the least particle of
time, an instant, a moment.
Ver. 20. If I have sinned, how can I affect Thee ? How can
the actions of so low, and contemptible a creature as frail man affect
such an exalted and glorious Being as Thou art1? But, supposing
that I am of such a nature, that my actions can affect Thee, then
I still more wonder, and ask : O ! Thou preserver of man, why
hast Thou made me to clash with Thee ? Why hast Thou made
me of such a nature, as to be able to come into collision with
Thee? So that I should become a burden to myself. So that
for having offended Thee, I should be visited with chastisements,
or be tormented by my own conscience, till my life is become a
burden to me.
Before TlSan / have sinned, the particle 2N if should be supplied.

CHAPTER VIII. 71
^b bj?a^ na What can I do to Thee ? i.e., bow can I affect Thee ? In the same
sense we find the verb b^3 construed with 2, infra xxxv. 6, 12 byBfl
can'st thou produce an effect on Him ?
S|3a clashing, collision, derived from the verb 3733 which construed with 2
frequently signifies to fall upon, to strike ; as 2 Sam. i. 15, 12 233 fall upon
him. Ver. 21. And why shouldest Thou not rather forgive my trans
gression, and remove my iniquity ? That is, blot it out, as though it
had never been. For presently, I shall lie down in the dust, and,
though Thou shouldest diligently seek me, I shall be no more.
¦TO = na stands here in the sense of n?5 why. So in Ps. xlii. 12, " fa
why art thou bowed down, 0 my soul ? HM and why art thou moaning, &c. ? "
nnj] now, i.e., presently. So, in Numb. xxiv. 17, we find ""IPIS? standing in
parallelism with 211J7 nigh, near (used of time).
,3n"ina?'1 and though Thou shouldest diligently seek me. The verb "ina? in
Pi-al, strictly speaking, signifies, to seek early (from ~^W the early dawn) ; it is,
however, applied to all diligent search, whether in the morning, or at any other
time of the day, or night. Thus, in Prov. vii. 15, we find 1\33 IDE?? diligently
to seek thy presence, though the artful woman, who utters these words, is described
as holding her conversation with the young man in the depth of night.

CHAPTER VIII.

If the reader will peruse this chapter, as it is in the Authorized
Version, he will no doubt see, that one part of it contradicts the
other ; that, in the simile introduced into it, the wicked man is
first compared to a weak and fragile reed, loosely sticking in the
mire, and immediately afterwards, to a fresh and thriving tree,
deeply rooted, and standing near a stately house of stone. The
same inconsistency will be perceived also in Rosenmuller and
Schultens' translations. We are, we think, therefore, greatly
indebted to Mendelssohn, who, by the definition he gives of the
words, B3B>B justice, and pl¥ righteousness, as they occur in

72 CHAPTER VIII. 1.
Eccles. iii. 16, has opened our eyes to the true reasoning in this
seemingly contradictory chapter. His words are :
• p7i fnp' 3115P 'DlPi 3113P ilPJl UPDP Pip* HIP *D113i V10 ilP3 P3P
" Behold, the requital of evil to the doers of evil is called a3pa justice ;
and the requital of good to the doers of good is called P7? righteousness.
Now, as these two words occur almost at the beginning of this
discourse (Ver. 3), we at once perceived, that the chapter would
turn upon two distinct topics, viz., the miserable end of the
wicked, and the final triumph of the just; and, though the
greatest part of it is clothed in allegorical language, yet the
figures and similes employed are so striking, that a little common
sense only is required to perceive, which are intended to refer to the
good, and which to the wicked, man, without its being stated in
distinct terms, for whom they are intended. It has already been
observed (see note on 12] supra vii. 7), that, where no ambiguity
can arise from their employment, ellipses are used in Hebrew with
great elegance. A striking example of an ellipsis, of precisely
the same nature as those which we shall have to notice in this
chapter, occurs in Ps. xxxiv., where, vers. 15, 16, we read, " The
eyes of Jehovah are upon the righteous, and His ears are open
unto their cry. The anger of Jehovah is against them, that do
evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth ; " and
immediately afterwards (ver. 17), "They cry and Jehovah heareth,"
&c. The Psalmist indeed does not tell us who they are that
cry, and are heard of God, but would common sense allow us to
doubt for a moment to whom he refers 1 The same conciseness,
the same reliance upon common sense, we shall find in the chapter
before us. We shall have the figure of a frail and short-lived
reed, and that of a vigorous and lasting tree, and the hearer will be
left to apply each of these figures to the right person ; nor is there
any fear whatever entertained by the speaker as to the possibility
of his being misunderstood by his audience.
We next call the attention of the reader to the fact, that this
discourse consists of two distinct parts ; one, comprising the words
of the speaker himself, the other, words uttered by men who lived
in former generations, and quoted by the speaker for the instruction
of Job. Again, the words thus quoted, must, in their turn, be

chapter viii. 1 — 6. 73
divided into two parts, of which common sense will teach us to
apply the one to the wicked, and the other to the good man.
With these few remarks, we now proceed to comment on the
chapter.
Ver. 2. How long wilt thou speak such-things, and the words of
thy mouth be like a violent wind ? How long wilt thou continue
thus, as little able to restrain thy words, as thou wouldst be to
restrain a violent wind %
i"1?^ for n^Sn B^-Q^a like these words, or things.
nVTI. for ITDa5! and like a wind.
The adj. "I1?? signifies, sometimes, much, plenty, as infra xxxi. 25 ; some
times, powerful, mighty, e.g., as applied to waters, Isa. xvii. 12, a"1*!1?? D^a
mighty waters ; as applied to men, infra xxxiv. 24, 2,'112a mighty-men.
Ver. 3. Shall God pervert justice? Is it possible, that He
should not punish the wicked'? Or shall the Almighty pervert
right? Is it possible, that He should not reward the good?
(See the passage from Mendelssohn, quoted in the preliminary
remarks on this chapter.)
Vers. 4 — 6. If thy sons sinned against Him, He despatched
them by their transgression. If they sinned, His attribute of justice
required, that He should at once despatch them without giving
them any respite, for so is He wont to deal with those who provoke
Him greatly. (We may refer to the history of Pharaoh, Korah
and his band, and others.) On the other hand, the very circum
stance, that He hath not despatched thee, as He did thy sons,
proveth that there is still great hope of thy conversion, and that
He correcteth thee from love, just as a father doth the son he
delighteth in. (Ver. 5.) If thou wilt diligently seek unto. Pray unto.
God, and make supplication to the Almighty. (Ver. 6.) If thou art
pure and upright. If thou art not hardened in sin as thy sons were,
but art capable of repentance, and conversion. Surely, He will
presently awake for thee. He will not overlook, but will favourably
notice thee. And make thy righteous dwelling prosperous.
Ver. 4. Bnba?'?! lit. and He sent them away, or, so Ee sent them away. As,
however, the EngUsh idiom would here hardly admit of a conjunction, we have
translated as though the 1, which is certainly used here for the purpose of convert-

74 CHAPTER VIII. 6 — 8.
ing the future into the past, were, in itself, not conjunctive, but conductive, as
is the 1 * in Ninn a?33n nn-OS/l (Exod. xii. 19.) that soul shall be cut off.
T2 lit. by hand of, very frequently stands merely for by, as in 1 Sam.
xvi. 20, TV% T? by David.
Ver. 5. "lna/Fl thou shalt diligently seek. See note on 1?W"|inB7'j supra
vii. 21.
Ver. 6. "I1?1 He shall awake. When the wicked flourish, and the innocent
suffer in this world, God is, in the poetical language of the Hebrews, said to be
asleep ; but when their conditions are reversed, He is said to have awaked from
His sleep. So the Psalmist says, Ps. xliv. 24, when complaining of the sufferings
of good men in this world, iPT1 n^/ HTfiy Awake, why steepest Thou?
"•IS is here used in Hiph., but intransitively, as in Ps. xxxv. 23, where
n"T>3?n is joined with ns,|?n awake.
Ver. 7. In the Auth. Vers., this verse is rendered, " Though
thy beginning was small," &c. ; but it is difficult to conceive,
how the wealth, which, we are told by the historian, Job possessed,
and which rendered him " greater than all the sons of the East,"
could possibly be considered small by the speaker of this discourse.
We prefer, therefore, translating the verse thus :
So that even thy beginning shall comparatively be small, seeing
that thy latter-end will be so exceeding great. Thy former wealth
and prosperity, great as they were, shall be so small, in comparison
with those, which thou shalt enjoy in the latter part of thy life, as
to appear a mere trifle.
Ver. 8. For ask now the former generation, and prepare thyself
for the searching of their fathers. Do not content thyself with
consulting one generation, but, if thou really wishest to know
how things go on in this world, inquire of several, yea, investigate
ancient history as far back as it goes.
1^1 for Tia?S"l (as the K'ree directs us to read it,) first, former.
The word 1P33 thyself, or inV"^ thy mind, should be understood after the
verb lalai. and prepare. See note on T^BPI supra vi. 27.
aniaS their fathers ; i.e., the fathers of the former generation. We need not
* The Arabic i_J is not unfrequently used in the same way, e.g., ^.U j\ <lj ^,
¦«_/0— jJi ..(JU^eU • Se that hath ears [capable of~\ hearing, WHY THEN ((__»") let him
hear (Matt. xi. 15), where we obtain the best English by leaving the ,_J untranslated-
Note of Editor, 1861.

CHAPTER VIII. 8 — 11. 75
think it strange, that the plur. affix in aniaS. should refer to the singular noun
Til generation, since this is a collective noun. So, in Deut. xxxii. 20,
nan n35nri "IVJ thet [are] a perverse generation.
Ver. 9. This verse should be considered as parenthetical, the
object of it being only to assign a reason for referring Job to
ancient history, and this the speaker says, is : Because we are but of
yesterday, and know nothing ; because our days upon earth are a
mere shadow. The duration of our life upon earth is so short,
that it would be in the highest degree presumptuous in us, with
out consulting ancient history, to pretend to know how matters go
on in this world.
7? a shadow. We might perhaps have expected to find '?!3 as a shadow, but
the a of comparison has been purposely dropped, to give more force to the simile,
the speaker wishing to express, that the days of man are not merely like a
shadow, but actually are a shadow. A similar omission of the a of comparison,
with the same intention, occurs in Cant. v. 14, where we read : ant ^b? VT
his hands [are] rolls of gold, on which Bril and Wolfssohn very judiciously
comment as follows :
PI PIP PI DP O Pii PP17 WP PI ivft li'P31 3'ippi DP '3 ]1'P7P q''3 -)PP3 pil
• PPP3
" And the 2 of comparison is only omitted, to render [the simile] more
striking ; as though be said, This is not [merely] like the other, but this really
is the other."
Ver. 10. Will not they. The former generation, and their
fathers. Instruct thee, tell thee, and from their heart utter words
such as these ?
rfbn though strictly a negatively interrogative particle, is sometimes used to
assert emphatically a positive fact ; as in Ruth ii. 9, where Boaz says to Ruth,
1ri1!!? ^ibn Have I not commanded (the young men, that they shall not touch
thee ?) i.e., I have indeed commanded, &c. And so it is in this instance ; the
meaning being, " they will indeed instruct thee."
aaba!) And from their heart ; i.e., sincerely ; not merely to amuse thee with
figures and similes, will they say the following words, but to tell thee what they
really feel in their hearts. FIRST SIMILE.
Vers. 11, 12. Can the rush shoot up without mire? Can the
flag grow without water? Consequently we can predict of any

76 CHAPTER VIII. 11  15.
place in which we see rushes and flags growing, that it must so
abound with water and mire as to render all fears, entertained for
these plants on the score of the absence of rain, utterly groundless.
(Ver. 12.) Whilst it is still in its greenness, and not cut off, yet
before all grass will it wither. In spite of its being provided with
such a superfluity of nourishment, in spite of its looking so fresh
and flourishing, it is the weakest of all herbs, it dries and withers
up before them all.
So Ralbag comments on this latter verse :
•Tip i3 D71p Plip3 D3" PI i3 D131 P13*l fjUp'D '1PT P'P pi 1P3J13")1 1P1P33 137113
" While it is still in its freshness, and its greenness, so that, by right, it ought
not to be destroyed and cut off, yet, notwithstanding all this, it easily withers
before all grass."
Ver. 11. Nab*, for N?P*n , 0r Naa?* BH will it grow?
Ver. 12. tfb for rfbl. and not.
APPLICATION OF THIS SIMILE BT THE MEN OF THE FORMER
GENERATION THEMSELVES.
Vers. 13 — 15. So are the paths of all that are forgetful of God;
yea, the hope of the hypocrite shall perish. The career of those
forgetful of God, however splendid, and brilliant it may seem,
will be as little lasting as the freshness and greenness of the
reed. (Ver. 14.) Whom his own confidence shall cut off. His
confidence in his wealth will be his ruin, inasmuch as it makes
him arrogant and presumptuous enough to rebel against God.
Seeing that his trust. That upon which he trusts. Is a spider's
web. His wealth can no more support him, than could a spider's
web, if he were to lean upon it. (Ver. 15.) He may lean upon
his house, but it will not stand ; he may take fast hold of it, but it
will not endure.
Vers. 14. aip* will cut off. We have the authority of Kimchi and Jarchi for
taking the verb alp thus transitively.
a?*a35 tvy\ lit. and [the] house of a spider. Here again, the 3 of comparison
is intentionally omitted, to give more force to the simile. See note on b?
ver. 9.
Ver. 15. in1? his house, by which, of course, is understood all it contains, as
wealth, slaves, and other things which he looked upon as permanently his.
a^p* will endure. In the same meaning the verb a*lp is found infra xv. 29,
ib*n aip* rfb1] and his wealth will not endure.

CHAPTER VIII. 16 — 18. 77

SECOND SIMILE.

Vers. 16, 17. The reader will recollect that, at the very opening
of this discourse, the Speaker proposed to himself to establish
two points; viz., that God cannot pervert BaB'B justice (i.e., that
He cannot suffer the wicked man to remain unpunished), and
that the Almighty cannot pervert pl¥ right (i.e., that He cannot
suffer the good man to remain unrewarded). Having established
the first of these two points by a simile (supposed to be uttered
by the former generation), in which the fate of the wicked man
was compared to that of a reed, he now endeavours to establish
the second, by a second simile, which he also puts into the mouth
of the former generation, and in which the good man is spoken
of under the figure of a healthy, thriving tree. This is not the
only instance in the Bible, in which a person is spoken of under
the figure of a tree. In Ezek. xxxi., the Assyrian is described
(vers. 3 — 9), as a cedar of Lebanon, and with much more detail
than we meet with in this second simile, which runs thus : —
He (the pious man regarded as a tree) is full-of-sap, even
before the sun, so that his sucker projecteth over his garden. He
is so healthy and vigorous, that, far from being dried up by the
burning heat of the sun, he is always full of sap, and spreads his
branches widely over the garden, protecting other trees with his
shade, instead of being shaded by them ; and the reason he is so
healthy and vigorous is that (Ver. 17.) His roots are entwined
beside a spring, and therefore he can overlook a house of stone.
Owing to this hidden source of nourishment, he is enabled to
overtop even a stately house of stone.
Ver. 16. Before 2an the word awn [as to] the pious-man, should be
understood. 2a"J lit. -moist, fresh, from the verb 2a~l to be wet, which occurs infra xxiv. 8.
inpai* his sucker. The sucker of a tree is sometimes expressed by pal1 ; as
Isa. liii. 2, and sometimes by np31* , as here, and infra xiv. 7.
7? near, i.e., by the side. See note on by , supra i. 6.
Ver. 17. ba a spring, as in Cant. iv. 12, where 7a stands in parallelism
with I1?? a spring, or fountain. We find also nba, plur. naa springs
(Josh. xv. 19), and in many other places.
Vers. 18, 19. The speaker continuing the simile (quoted by

78 CHAPTER VIII. 19 — 22.
him), now goes on to say, that, though the pious man may some
times meet with misfortunes, and be obliged to change his place
of residence, yet the eye of God will be upon him, wherever
he may be, to bless him, and make him prosperous, so that he
will only have profited by the change, like a vigorous tree, which
only thrives the better for being transplanted. His words are
as follows :
If one should pluck him up from his place, so that it should deny
him, saying, i" have not seen thee. (Ver. 19.) Lo ! this is his
joyful journey. Is a joyful journey to him. Seeing that he will grow
up out of another ground. Though he should be uprooted so com
pletely, that the ground in which he stood should become as entirely
a stranger to him, as though it had never nourished him in its bosom,
this would only be a pleasant journey for him, seeing that he would
thrive again in whatever place he might be transplanted to.
Ver. 18. After the words <2 ^031. so that it should deny him, the word
"ias7 saying, must be understood.
Ver. 19. ins other, should be taken with IBSa, i.e., "TDN ~)32?a from
another ground. Rosenmuller would join it to ^naiJ* , and considers it to stand
for 2*70^, bringing forward some examples, which, in our humble opinion, are
not at all to the point. Thus, amongst others he refers to naa *3 W3 (supra vi. 20)
they were ashamed, because he (i.e., every one of them) trusted, but there the
sing, verb stands after the plur. one, implying that every one of them was
ashamed, as observed in our note on that passage ; whilst here the word "TIM
stands before the verb, so that the case is altogether different.
ina*^* lit. they will grow up, referring probably, either to "'"'^n'? his roots
in ver. 17, or to the stem, branches, and other parts, of the tree.
APPLICATION OF THE SECOND SIMILE BY THE SPEAKER.
Vers. 20 — 22. Having, in the first simile, quoted by him,
pointed out the fate of the wicked, and in the second, that of the
pious, man, Bildad now triumphantly exclaims :
Behold then God will not reject the pious-man, nor will He take
hold of the hand of evil-doers. (Ver. 21.) He will yet fill thy
mouth with laughter, and thy lips with shout[s]-of-joy. If thou wilt
submit to Him, and acknowledge the justice of His correction,
thou shalt be restored to thy former happiness. (Ver. 22.) They
that hate thee shall put on. Shall be covered with. Shame, and the
habitation of the wicked shall be no more.

CHAPTER IX. 13
Ver. 21. IS for 713* yet, as supra i. 18, on which see note.
nba* for «ba* (as we are told by the K'ree) He shall fill with. It must be
supplied before nailijl in the second hemistich.
Ver. 22. *T*ME7 thine enemies, meaning depraved and impious men, since such
are wont to hate the pious ; it stands in parallelism therefore with a^an wicked-
men, in the next hemistich.
In concluding our comments upon this chapter, we would,
with' deference, ask of those, who do not divide the simile, intro
duced into it, into two parts, and who, consequently, make the whole
refer to the wicked man — we would ask of them, we say, whether
it is likely that those wise men, who are supposed to bring forward
this simile for the instruction of Job, would confine themselves to
the description of the fate which awaits the impious man, and not
say one word respecting the way in which the good man fares in
this world % And, again, we should like to know how the speaker
could exultingly exclaim, as he does, " Behold, then, God will
not reject Cn a pious-man," if he had never once mentioned him,
but had left us in entire ignorance respecting his fate 1

CHAPTER IX.

Vers. 2 — 4. The friend, who spoke last, had said to Job
(supra viii. 6), " If thou art pure and upright, surely He will
presently awake for thee," &c, and, in reference to these words
of consolation, Job says :
Of a truth, I know that it is so. I know that, if I could but have
an opportunity of proving my innocence, God would again extend
His mercy to me. But how can frail-man be just with God? How
can he prove his innocence, if he never be allowed to plead before
God! (Ver. 3.) If he (man) should desire to contend (argue)
with Him, He would not answer him one of a thousand questions.
(Ver. 4.) He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength; conse
quently, He cannot be summoned before any tribunal to give

80 CHAPTER IX. 2  7.
an answer; and, moreover, one addressing Him must be very
guarded in his language, for Who hath ever spoken fiercely to Rim,
and been left at peace ?
Ver. 4. After na?pn the word 117r2':I should be supplied, when the literal
meaning would be, has made hard his words, i.e., has spoken harshly, or fiercely,
to Him. So we read in 2 Sam. xix. 44 ; n"Jin* a?*S la*] a?p»l and the words
(lit. word) of [the] men (lit., man) of Judah were fierce, &c.
27a?-*1 lit., and has been in peace ; i.e., has been suffered to remain in peace.
So infra xxii. 21, 27a71 and be at peace.
Vers. 5 — 13. Job having, in the preceding verse, alluded to the
wisdom and power of God, seizes this opportunity to enlarge upon
His omnipotence, and ubiquity, probably with the intention of
throwing out a hint to his friends, that he has no need of any
instruction from them upon these subjects. As the reasoning of
these verses is clear enough, we shall content ourselves with
briefly noticing the words, or passages, which require comment.
Ver. 5. '13?7t ^7) lit., and they knew not, i.e., without their knowing, unawares.
Comp. Ps. xxxv. 8, "Let destruction come upon him, 3H*. Na1] lit., and let him
not know '' (i.e., unawares).
23371 "ltPS Ht., which He overturned them, a pleonastical mode of expression,
such as we find in Ps. i. 4, nil 123^PI "it^S lit., which the wind driveth it.
Pleonasms of this sort are of such frequent occurrence in Hebrew, that we should
not have thought it worth while to make any remark upon this passage, had not
the reader been told by Rosenmuller to consider ""?^ as standing for "'2?^? when,
for which there is not the least occasion.
Ver. 6. n*lia31 So that the pillars thereof . Here the poet has given pillars
to the earth ; infra xxvi. 11, we shall find him giving them also to the heavens,
B*aa7 *lia? [the] pillars of heaven.
¦JISaBri* are shaken ; a Hithpa-al used in the sense of Niph-al, just as ibban*
(Ps. Iviii. 8) they shall be cut to pieces. See note on 1^3*1*1 supra v. 4.
Ver. 7. n*lT* N/l that he (the sun) shall not shine, or cast forth his rays ; the
allusion being, of course, to an eclipse of the sun. The verb nit , though com
monly used of the rising of the sun, is also sometimes found in the acceptation of
shining ; as Deut. xxxiii. 2, where n"]T stands in parallelism with ?*3in He
shone forth. Indeed, one of the twins brought forth by Tamar was called n"]T
(Gen. xxxviii. 30) on account of the shining colour of the scarlet thread, which
the midwife bound upon his hand, when he put it forth before his brother came
out. So Jarchi on the passage observes, that he was called so,
• '3DP P'ftlT) PP'-JI Z"»
" On account of the shining appearance of the scarlet."

CHAPTER IX. 7  13. 81
Mendelssohn likewise, in his * Commentary, says :
•P"51!p aipi PP17 P1P'P7PP PP")P1 D17P PlPD 'JDP i'3D3
" On account of the scarlet, which is red, and the appearance of the redness is
similar to [that of] a shining light."
ann* . jfe frequently seals up (the stars), i.e., covers them over with a cloud,
so that their light cannot be seen.
n^a [He is] stretching out. Some want to translate, [He is] bowing down ;
but, as in Isa. xliv. 24, we find 2*aa7 nab stretching forth [the] heavens, in
parallelism with V7.Nn 37pl spreading abroad the earth, we prefer giving this
verb the same signification here.
Ver. 8. 1727 by Himself; i.e., He needs no assistance from any one. So in
Isa. xliv. 24, " that stretcheth forth the heavens *"?2b by Myself."
21 T'a? 7y TXfr treading upon [the] heights of [the] sea; i.e., when the
billows of the sea tower up proudly, He bumbles them, treads them down under
His feet, and levels them. So the Psalmist (Ps. lxxxix. 10), " Thou rulest the
pride of the sea ; when the waves thereof arise, Thou stillest them."
Ver. 9. HTO . This constellation is also called ^*? infra xxxviii. 32.
b*pa and na*3 . Two constellations mentioned infra xxxviii. 31, and also in
Amos v. 8 .
ia*n *7.in lit., [the] chambers of [the] South; i.e., the Southern hemisphere,
the stars in the remote parts of which, not being visible to the inhabitants of the
Northern, are regarded by the poet as locked up in bidden chambers. So
Aben-Ezra : —
'ipP3 OP lifo '")7P OPlp ]3 ir> 0'3313P ]P)ft 1PT pil ipPD PPP3 31D"P Pl'P ")131>3
•P3PJ
" Seeing that the population [to which Job belonged,] was quartered on the
left side [of the globe, i.e., the North], so that those stars [which are in the
South] were not visible [to them] ; therefore be calls them ' chambers-of,' as
though they were in a hidden place."
Ver. 11. Here the poet dwells upon the Omnipresence and
Invisibility of the Deity, who is always near us, ancl around us,
without our eyes of flesh being able to perceive Him.
Ver. 12. inn* lit., He will snatch away. The verb Hnn is synonymous
with *ian to catch, or snatch, a and n frequently interchanging as Unguals.
So in Ps. x. 9, ^V li^nb for the purpose of catching [the] poor-man.
•122*a7* lit., will cause Him to turn back, i.e., prevent Him.
Ver. 13. 2n"l*a.|37 lit, helpers of pride ; i.e., proud helpers, or confederates,
* The t*Q , or Commentary on the Book of Genesis, was not written by Mendelssohn
himself (though he did write the German translation), but by Solomon Dubnau under his
superintendence.

82 CHAPTER IX. 13  15.
who hasten to the assistance of the wicked tyrant, on whom God is about to inflict
punishment. Vers. 14, 15. In order to see the force of the words 13 ^S much
less, with which Ver. 14 begins, the reader should take the inter
rogative pronoun 1B , which occurs twice in Ver. 12, prcegnante
sensu. 1331Bil.1B Who can prevent Him? ltyi!F\ ID Vbs TBS1 ""B
Who can say to Him, What doest Thou ? Who is the being, that
can prevent Him, can say to Him, &c. 1 Is it man, however
powerful or distinguished in rank "? Is it an angel, however pure ]
Is it an archangel, however bright] "3 ^S Much less, shall I
speak to Him, shall I choose out my words to reason with Him !
Shall I be able to compose a speech, suitable to His greatness
and majesty! I (Ver. 15.) Who, though lam just, must not utter
it, but must make supplication to my Judge. Though I am just,
I must not proclaim myself just before Him, I must not bring
forward arguments to justify myself and vindicate my innocency,
as I ought to be allowed to do, but I must present myself as a
suppliant before my Judge, yea, I must even cry for mercy to
Him. Is this just1? Is this reasonable] Ought one, who can
prove his innocence, to have to cry for mercy ]
Schultens concludes his comment on Ver. 15 with these words :
" Hoc dicit Noster, Tantum apud me Dei Numen, ut, si, descendens
de supremo Majestatis solio, mecum disceptare haud refugeret, atque
in jus ire, ultro potius supplex ei accederem, quam, vel perfecte
Justus, cum ipso contenderem. Opponit hune interiorem animi sui
sensum injustis criminationibus Amicorum, quasi contumax et
prcefractus in Deum insurgeret."
Now surely, if Schultens understood Job in this verse to say,
that he would prefer making supplication to God to reasoning,
and arguing, with Him, he must have been greatly surprised at
hearing him in the following discourses, over and over again,
contradict his own words. Indeed, in this very chapter, ver. 17,
Job says of God, " Who crusheth me with a storm, and hath
multiplied my wounds without a cause ; " and, in vers. 33 — 35,
" There is not between us an umpire, who should exercise his
authority over both of us. Let Him remove His rod from me, and
let His terror not affright me : then would I speak and not fear

CHAPTER IX. 14 — 17. 83
Him," &c. Is this the language of one who would prefer making
supplication to God, to reasoning with Him ? Again, infra xiii. 3,
he says, "But I should like to speak to the Almighty, and I
desire to argue with God ; " and we could quote numerous other
passages, which would prove Job, if he is to be understood, as
Schultens understands him, to be altogether inconsistent, and
at variance with himself. But the truth is, that, in spite of the
entreaties of his friends, he absolutely refuses to make supplica
tion, where he thinks he has a right to justify himself, and prove
his innocence. This is his character, and in this he is consistent
with himself from beginning to end. Infra xxvii. 6, he says, in
plain language ; " I have taken hold of my righteousness, and I
will not let it go : my heart cannot reproach any one of my days ; "
and, in his very last discourse (infra xxxi. 35,) in which he has,
as it were, put in a summary of his life as his written defence, he
says : " Oh that I had one hearing me ! behold ! this is my
writing, let the Almighty answer me, or [let] the book [answer
me, which] my adversary hath written." Such is the language of
Job, which our commentator must have altogether overlooked,
when he commented on this verse.
Ver. 14. ^a^N should f speak to Him. It has already been observed that the
verb na;y is not always used in the sense of answering, but, sometimes also, in
that of speaking, delivering a discourse. See note on IVll supra iii. 2.
lay for lay n*3lnb to reason with Him.
Ver. 15. 1a32?ab lit., to one judging me, i.e., to my judge. The legitimate
form of the word, since it is the pres. part. Kal with the pron. affix 1T would be
*apa7 . The P ; which is the characteristic of the part. Pi., may perhaps have
been prefixed to the part. Kal, with a view to intensify its signification, so that
aBttf'a would express a strict and inflexible judge. So 1??77? (with ^ pa
ragog. for 1??ba ) (Ps. ci. 5) may perhaps be translated, a base slanderer.
Vers. 16, 17. We did not conceal from the reader the great
difficulty we had in making anything of chap. vii. 12, and we
confess that, at one time, the first of the two verses now before
us seemed entitled to rank next to that verse in point of difficulty ;
this difficulty having, however, yielded to more mature considera
tion, we expect we shall be able, in this instance, to offer a more
satisfactory explanation, than we were able to do, in the case of the
verse above alluded to. Regular as its grammar, and easy as its
g 2

84 CHAPTER IX. 16.
construction is, the present verse seems nevertheless, at the first
glance, to be very paradoxical : for how can a man call upon any
one, and receive an answer from him, and yet not believe, that his
voice was heard by him, who gave the answer? This difficulty
all the translators and commentators must no doubt have felt, but
they either say nothing about it, contenting themselves with a
mere verbal translation, or, if they do say anything, say that
which it is almost to be wished they had left unsaid. We think,
however, that we shall be able to dissipate the mist, which lies
heavy upon the verse, if the reader will but allow us to preface our
comment with a simile, plain indeed, and devoid of ornament,
but calculated, we think, thoroughly to elucidate the passage in
question. Suppose that a man, on being convicted of a crime, were
sentenced to receive corporal punishment, the judge not specifying
the number of lashes to be inflicted, but leaving it to the
discretion of the officer appointed to see the punishment carried
into effect ; the criminal, during its infliction, would naturally cry
out, implore mercy, and, may be, also promise to reform; were
then the officer at last to call out to stop the punishment, the
culprit might reasonably conclude he had been moved by his cries,
and promises of amendment. But suppose, on the other hand,
that a savage Bashaw, without the least shadow of a cause, or
reason, had ordered some innocent man, passing before his palace,
to be dragged in, and receive the bastinado, the »poor fellow,
during the agony of its infliction, would, of course, also cry out,
and implore mercy ; but, when at last the tyrant commanded
to release him, could he, after having been, though innocent, so
dreadfully tormented, for an instant suppose, that his cries or
supplications had at all availed him ? Of course not. He would
say to himself, I do not know why the tyrant ordered me to be
tormented, nor do I know why he commanded my release. I
must consider the one, as well as the other, as an unaccountable
whim and caprice. Now, this is precisely what the innocent
sufferer, who is now speaking, says in these two verses. His
friends had advised him to pray to God, instead of indulging in
complaints and murmurs, and to this he says : Even, if I had called
upon Him. In prayer, as advised by you. And He had heard me.

CHAPTER IX. 16 — 19. 85
Had granted what I prayed for, and had ceased to afflict me, yet could
I not believe, that He had given-ear-to my voice. I could not take
upon me to say, that it was my prayer which had availed me.
If, indeed, I had felt myself really guilty, I should have had
reason to suppose, that He punished me for my guilt, and was at
last moved by my prayers and supplications ; but, innocent, as I
feel myself to be, how could I for a moment imagine, that He
had removed my affliction, because I made supplication to Him ?
(Ver. 17.) Who crusheth me as it were with a storm, and
multiplieth my wounds without cause. Had there been any cause
for the punishment, I might perhaps, if this were remitted,
endeavour to account for its remission ; but, as it was inflicted
without cause, how could I attempt to explain its cessation ] Its
discontinuance, therefore, as well as its original infliction, would
always appear to me equally unaccountable.
Ver. 16. lnS"JpT J had called (in prayer,) \ We could quote instances without
1?3?*1 And He had heard me. ) number, to show that the verbs
Nip and nay when applied to
God, mean, respectively, to pray,
and to hear, or hearken to, a
prayer. We shall, however, limit
ourselves to quoting, from Ps.
iv. 2, the words, *33J7 *N"ipT2 On
my calling, hear me ; i.e., when
I make my supplications unto
Thee, vouchsafe Thou to grant
them.
Ver. 17. niVB'a for n~)SD3 which is the more regular form. See note on
B*?3 supra v. 2.
Ver. 18. laan* ^b He does not suffer me. The verb *n3 , though generally
signifying, to give, is also frequently used in the sense of to allow, suffer ; as in
Gen. xx. 6, Tnn? ^b J have not suffered thee. The Lat. dare, and Gr.
SISatpi are similarly used.
Ver. 19. The first hemistich should be construed thus:
r'BS nan  nbb DS If for strength — behold ! He is
powerful (i.e., if I speak of
strength, how can I think of
contending with Him, who is so
powerful ?)

86 CHAPTER IX. 19, 20.
^TUV ""B— BaB*Bb DS1 And if for justice— who will
appoint me a time ? (i.e., and, if
I speak of justice, who will
appoint me a time, when I can
meet Him, to plead my cause ])
So Kimchi on "¦aTj/i"' ">D :
• "fian* aa>n as asanab *33*at* *a
" Who will appoint me a time to [plead my] cause with God, blessed be He."
Vers. 20 — 22. If the reader wishes to convince himself of the
perplexity, into which these verses have thrown the commentators,
he need only refer to Rosenmiiller, who, whilst quoting others,
betrays his own embarrassment. To us, they appear to be not only
among the most beautiful, logical, and philosophical, but also
among the most easily intelligible, of the whole book. Before
commenting on them, however, we beg to recall * the attention of
the reader to two points. The first, of which, no doubt, he is as
well aware as we are, is, that the noun B*a3 soul, or person, on
taking possessive affixes, is frequently used for the reflective
pronoun, self, as e.g., infra xxxii. 2, " Against Job was his wrath
kindled, because he justified iB*a3 himself, rather than God."
The second point is, that we are sometimes unavoidably compelled,
in the Old Testament, to transpose the words of a sentence, in order
to make sense ; as e.g., infra xvi. 17, Sb bj! for bi! Sb not because
of ([any] injustice in mine hands). We will now proceed to
construe, and translate, these verses, confidently appealing to the
judgment of the reader, as to whether, or not, we are right in
saying, there is no difficulty whatever in them.
Ver. 20. Pl?^ &S If I should justify myself (i.e.,
if I should plead my inno
cence, and prove my up
rightness),
1Ji?1B'T *a My own mouth would condemn
me (i.e., How can I plead
with God ] If I say I am just
these very words of mine
will be regarded by Him as
a sin, and will consequently
* See note on frsri supra vi. 27, and on Chap. iv. 6.

CHAPTER IX. 20 — 24. 87
condemn me, seeing that no
man is allowed to look upon
himself as just before God) ;
"OS Df) [If I should say] I [am] pious,
^jB'P:J/*1 then it (viz., the very circum
stance of my saying so) would
make me perverse (i.e., would
be the cause of my being con
sidered by God perverse).
Ver. 21. "OS Dn [DS] Though I am pious,
"Waa JHS Sb I myself must not know [it] (i.e.,
I myself must not venture
to betray my being aware
that I am pious) ;
^n DSBS I despise [then] my life (for what
life can there be more burden
some than that of a being
• who strives and endeavours to
be just and pious, and yet, not
only must not say that he
is so, but must not even be
conscious of his being so ])
Ver. 22. ^")BS ]2 hi! Therefore I said (i.e., I said in
my heart, I think within
myself),
S\n nns It [is all] one (i.e., it is all the
same, whether a man be
pious, or wicked, seeing that)
nb3B Sin i!Vl) Dn [Alike the] pious, and [the]
wicked, man, He consumes
(i.e., the wicked man, He con
sumes, because he is wicked,
and the pious man, because
he presumes to be conscious
of his piety).
Vers. 23, 24. In the preceding discourse we heard Bildad repre
sent the wicked tyrant under the figure of a frail and short-lived
reed ; to this Job now refers, and says :

88 CHAPTER IX. 23 — 26.
If the scourge slay (the wicked man, i!Wl, mentioned in the next
Verse) suddenly, he (the wicked man) may laugh at the trial of the
innocent. The sudden death of the wicked man may, in comparison
with the ordeal which the innocent one has to pass through in this
world, be considered as a real blessing,* seeing that (Ver. 24)
The earth is given into the hand of the wicked-man. He is
absolute master of his actions ; nobody dares call him to account,
because He veileth the face of the judges thereof. With his bribes he
veils, as it were, their faces, so that they connive at, and do not
appear to see, the tyrannical actions he commits. If not so — if it
is not the wicked man who rules in this world, who, pray, is he ?
who else, I should like to know, has rule in this world, and may
do as he likes ] Consequently, if the witked man, after a most
prosperous and flourishing career, be at last removed from the
world by a sudden blow, without the least pain, he may surely
laugh at the innocent man, whose life is a continual trial, and who,
perhaps, in addition, does not quit the world until after a painful
and protracted illness.
Ver. 23. After n*a* } it will slay, the word, V^"] , wicked-man, occurring in
the next verse, must be understood. That two verses sometimes stand in such
close connexion, that a word must be supplied from the second to the first, has
already been observed in our note on na t supra vi. 29.
Ver. 24. IBS, i.q., NIBS, now, stands here as a mere expletive, pray ; so the
particle, N3 , now, is very frequently used as a particle of entreaty.
Vers. 25, 26. Whereas, my (happy) days were swifter than a
runner ; they have fled, as though they had not seen prosperity.
They passed away with such rapidity, that all the happiness
I enjoyed in them seems to me but a dream. (Ver. 26.) They
have gone by like Joppa 's ships ; like an eagle which pounceth upon
its prey.
Ver. 26. °V is used here in the sense of like, as Ps. cvi. 6, " We have sinned,
ay, like our fathers."
* So Pope, in his Essay on Man, Ep. III., 1. 67, 68 :—
Which sees no more the stroke, or feels the pain,
Than favour'd Man, by touch ethereal slain ;
on which he has the following note : —
Several of the ancients, and many of the Orientals since, esteemed those who were
struck by lightning as sacred persons, and the particular favourites of heaven.

CHAPTER IX. 26—29. 89
n2M. If the reader were to consult Rosenmuller on this word, he would find
such a bill of fare as would inspire him with serious fears for his mental digestion.
Having been wont ourselves to look upon this word as a proper name, we were of
course gratified to find Jarchi concurring with us, though, instead of taking it to
be the name of a river, as he does, we would rather regard it as some sea-port
famed for its shipping. Such a sea-port we find mentioned in Jonah i. 3, viz., IB*,
Joppa, and for this we venture to suggest n2M may stand. To be sure, there is
not one letter in the one which there is in the other,* but when we remember
how frequently the quiescent letters, * 1 n N, and the labials, Baa, interchange
amongst themselves, and also, moreover, take into consideration that many ages
may have intervened between the period at which the book of Job was written,
and the time of Jonah, by whom alone of all the Old Testament writers Joppa is
mentioned, our conjecture will perhaps not be regarded as unreasonable. We are,
however, very indifferent about our view being adopted, provided only it be
admitted that the word in question is the name of a place, and that such it is
we think the reader will be very glad to admit, when even only up to the ankles
in his endeavours to wade through the miry explanations heaped up by Rosen-
miiller. Vers. 27, 28. If my saying is. When I say. I will forget my grief
I will lay aside my indignation, and cheer up. (Ver. 28.) Then
I dread all my pangs. I cannot close my eyes to the fact that
I shall always continue to be a sufferer, because I know that thou
wilt not hold me innocent.
Ver. 27. VlJ?N f my saying, from the absolute form, "l^" (Ps. xix. 3), with
possess, affix.
naT3?N, lit., I shall leave, i.e., leave off, or lay aside. The verb 3ty, in its
common acceptation of to leave, or forsake, is applied sometimes to persons, as
Gen. ii. 24, " Therefore, E^'aT^*, shall a man leave his father, and his mother,
&c," and sometimes to places, as Jer. xlviii. 28, " 2*737 ^S, leave cities," &c.
It is, however, also used to express the abandoning of one disposition of the mind
for another, as Ps. xxxvii. 8, nan at 3, forsake wrath. So, in this instance, it
stands in the sense of ceasing (to be indignant). In Exod. xxiii. 5, the verb is
used to denote the unloading of a beast, viz., by cutting or loosening the cords with
which the burden is fastened to it, whereby the burden would be, as it were, left
to its fate, and fall to the ground. We might then, even in the verse before us,
fairly translate natys, / mil unload, or throw off.
Vers. 29 — 31. I know that Ishall be considered wicked. The
* This will be found to be the only instance in which we have even suggested an inter
change of letters in a word ; and here we should most certainly have abstained from
meddling with the word as we do, if we had not been convinced of its being a proper
name.

90 CHAPTER IX. 29—33.
very fact of my proving my innocence would be considered a sin.
(See above, vers. 20 — 22.) Why should I labour in vain ? Why
should I at all attempt to prove my innocence ? (Ver. 30.) If
even I had washed myself with snow-water, and cleansed my hands
with lye. If I had proved my innocence ever so clearly. (Ver. 31.)
Even then Thou wouldest plunge me into a muddy ditch, so that
my garments would make me an object of abhorrence. My pre
suming to consider myself innocent would be regarded as a crime
of the blackest dye.
Ver. 29. Before ?&!$ ^N, I shall be considered wicked, the words "^ ln?T,
from the preceding verse, must be supplied.
n-J nab, why ? why then ? The demonstr. pron., nt , is frequently used as an
expletive after na and nab, e.g., 1aaib bstpn n-t nab (Judg. xiii. 18), Why
shouldest thou ask for my name ?
Ver. 30. "1123 with lye or soap, as the Chaldee version has it, N7rjSa. In
the Rabbinical dialect n*"]13 means soap.
Ver. 31. nna?, a hole, or ditch. The sense ofpit = grave, should not be given
to this word here, but it should be taken as synonymous with nnia?, a hole,
pit, or ditch, which occurs in Jer. xviii. 20, 22.
*rila7t? *ai35ri1 . So that my garments would make me an [object of] abhor
rence ; i.e., my garments would become so dirty, that people would look at me
with disgust. In this sense, viz., making to be held in abhorrence, must the verb
ayn be taken here. Comp. Ezek. xvi. 25, T?,1 n« *3??nni, And hast
made thy beauty to be abhorred. The Auth. Vers., and all the other translations
we have consulted render the passage, " And mine own clothes shall abhor me,"
in which we can see no sense.
Vers. 32, 33. For He is not a man like me, that I should say to
Him, Let us enter together into judgment. (Ver. 33.) There is no
umpire between us who should put his hand on, that is, exercise his
power over, both of us.
Ver. 32. After *?ia3 like me, the pron. Win He [is] should be understood ;
i.e., "not a man like me is He."
Before ^SjA I should say to Him, the conj. *3 that should be supplied. That
the verb n3y is frequently used in the sense of speaking has been already noticed
more than once. (See note on }??! supra iii. 2.) Instead of ib to Him, the
objective affix ia" Him, is used, just as infra xxxi. 37, •1371?Nfor ib T3N / would
say to Him. So in Gen. xxxvii. 4, l"^ for 1*bs -)2n to speak to him-.
Ver. 33. E7.1 ^b, i.q., **s there is not. In Ps. cxxxv. 17 we find a?* **N; where
of course the tt?.1 is altogether pleonastic.
Before naj* should put, the rei. pron. "l^y should be supplied.

chapter ix. 34, 35; x. 1 — 3. 91
Vers. 34, 35. Let Him (God) remove from me His rod, and let
His terror not affright me. (Ver. 35.) Then will I speak out, and not
fear Him ; for am 7" not upright with myself? Am I not con
scious of my innocence ? If, therefore, He were to remove His
torments from me, what cause should I have for fear ] what
motive for bridling my tongue ]
Ver. 35. Before nnaiy, tS then should be understood.
tfb for rfbn whether not ? as in 1 Sam. xiv. 30 naa nnan rfb had there not
T - t : T
been a greater slaughter ? &c.
1? right, upright, as Gen. xlii. 11, ^TON 2*33 We [are] true [men].
Though we consider this explanation to be the correct one, yet we will not leave
unnoticed the view Aben-Ezra takes of the second hemistich of this verse. His
words are : — DP3DPD 1P3 'DP3 OD '33'f
" I am not within myself as you think " (i.e., you, my friends, think that I am
guilty, but I am conscious of my innocence).

CHAPTER X.

Vers. 1 — 3. In the preceding chapter, Job had said (Vers.
34, 35) that, if God would but remove His wrath from him, he
would fearlessly speak out his mind ; now, he goes further still,
and says, that, even while still labouring under his afflictions, he
will give free course to his words, seeing that, if the worst comes
to the worst, he can only lose a life, which has become a burden
to him. He says :
My soul is disgusted with my life ; I will disburden my grief
which is upon me. My life is become a burden to me ; therefore, at
whatever risk, I will alleviate my grief, by giving vent to it. I will
speak in the bitterness of my soul. (Ver. 2.) / will say to God,
Condemn me not; shew me, wherefore Thou contendest with me.
(Ver. 3.) Is it seemly for Thee, that Thou shouldest oppress,
that Thou shouldest reject the labour of Thy hands? A

93 chapter x. 3 — 6.
being, made by Thee, pure and innocent as I am. Whereas,
Thou hast shone upon the counsel of the wicked. Hast made all
their plans to prosper.
Ver. 1. nap3 for naip3 lit., It has become disgusted; past Niph. of 21p,
which verb, when construed with a , signifies to loathe, become disgusted with ;
e.g., Ezek. xx. 43, aa*333, BHap3;1 And ye shall loathe yourselves in your own
sight. The punctuation in the word under consideration is certainly very irre
gular, and Gesenius, as usual, cuts the Gordian knot by adopting the root ap3 }
which, however, is not to be found, either in Kimchi, or Ben-Zev.
na|?/^ I will disburden. See note on this word, supra ix. 27.
"fra? <by for *b:s> na>y *n*a; my grief, which [is] upon me.
Ver. 2. *aa*-in for *n« 3*nri or *ay Thou shouldest contend with me. See
note on •"'Srl?^? supra ix. 32.
Verse 3, as it stands in the original, seems to be devoid of all logic, since the
2*yt£H wicked-men, mentioned in the second hemistich, are, equally with the
good, the work of God's hands. To make, therefore, the third clause antithetical
to the first and second the word 1?ia3 like me, must be supplied after TP? ?*ai
[the] work of Thy hands, like me, i.e., a being innocent and harmless as I am.
Vers. 4, 5. Hast Thou eyes of flesh? Seest Thou, as frail-man
seeth? Art Thou like a short-sighted mortal, who can judge of
things only according to their appearance ? Hast Thou not an
unerring eye, which seeth every thing, as it really is] How then
is it, that Thou dost not see my innocence ] Having begun to
dwell upon the frailty of man, he continues :
(Ver. 5.) Are Thy days, like the days of frail-man ? Are Thy
years, as the days of the years of man ? The eye of man can be
as little compared to the eye of God, as the number of man's days
to that of God's.
-133 *a*3 for "133. niaa* *a*3 as [the] days of [the] years of man ; i.e.,
as the number of the years of man. So, in Ps. xc. 10, the true sense of *a1
13*ri13a? ig the numbeb of our years.
Vers. 6, 7. Job's language in these two verses leaves no doubt,
that the idea must have crossed his mind that, God, though aware
of his piety, might, nevertheless, have brought these terrible
afflictions upon him as a test of its genuineness. Such a
course of proceeding he considers not only exceedingly wrong,
but also in the highest degree absurd; wrong, because thus
placed, as it were, upon the rack, he might be compelled, in his

chapter x. 6 — 8. 93
agony, to speak or act against his will, and, perhaps also, against
his conscience — it being well known, that men have, whilst
undergoing torture, confessed to crimes they had never committed :
absurd, because there could not be the slightest occasion for God
to put a man to such a test. A man, indeed, might apply it to
his fellow-man, for the purpose of ascertaining something he
could not otherwise find out; but God, who is omniscient, what
need can He have to prove a man, knowing, as He does, before
hand, how he will behave ] (And yet we have been told by the
historian, that God had really acted in this way towards Job,
overwhelming him with unheard-of afflictions, for the purpose of
seeing whether he would not then blaspheme, though He well
knew, all the while, that he would not.) With these few observa
tions, we now proceed to the translation of the verses.
Surely Thou demandest mine iniquity, and requirest my sin. Thy
tormenting me thus, in order to see whether I shall sin, amounts
in reality to desiring my sin ; a great piece of injustice on Thy
part. But not only is it unjust, it is also very absurd, because
(Ver. 7) It is within Thine Omniscience, that I shall not act
wickedly. What occasion is there, then, to subject me to such a
terrible ordeal, in order to see whether I shall sin ] But there is
none delivering me from Thy hand. No consideration can induce
Thee to free me from my affliction.
Ver. 6. ^p.2n Thou demandest ; as, in Isa. i. 12, " Who ^P.2 hath demanded
this at your hand ? "
aJi-l-jn Thou requirest; as, "Jehovah thy God 13anTaTR (Deut. xxiii. 22)
will surely require it of thee."
Ver. 7. I^?1^ Thy omniscience. The adj. 2**n living, when applied to God,
must, of course, always be understood in the sense of eternally living, e.g.,
B*»n B*ribH (Deut. v. 23). [the] eternally -living God. In like manner, ny\
when applied to God, must needs mean OMNi-science.
Vers. 8, 9. In these two verses, Job observes how much it is to
be regretted that a creature whom God has condescended to
fashion from the commonest materials, and vouchsafed to exalt to
the dignified rank of an intelligent being, should have so short a
time assigned for its existence. He says : —
Thine own hands have fashioned me, and moulded me ; yea, made
me altogether round about. Every atom of my body did Thy

94 CHAPTER X. 9  14.
fingers form and set in its proper place. And now Thou hast
destroyed me! (Ver. 9.) Remember now, that Thou hast moulded
me as the clay, and wilt again bring me unto dust.
Vers. 10 — 13. In the first three of these verses, Job gives us
his ideas as to his progressive formation in the womb from the
earliest period of his existence ; how that he was at first nothing
but a liquid ; then a shapeless solid ; and, lastly, a solid moulded
into the human form. As, however, during the whole of the
time occupied in these successive transformations, he could, in his
opinion, have received neither air nor aliment, he must, he con
ceives, have been, almost miraculously, preserved by God's
especial care; and, therefore, in the last verse he laments that
God should, even while lavishing on him His favour and His
mercy, have been sketching out for him a life so full of wretched
ness and misery as his had proved ; there being no doubt in his
mind that all the afflictions with which he had been visited were
decreed him at the very first stage of his existence as an embryo.
He says : —
Didst Thou not pour me out like milk, and make me to coagulate
like curd? (Ver. 11.) Thou clothedst me with skin and flesh, and
fencedst me with bones and sinews. (Ver. 12.) Life, and favour,
didst Thou grant me, and Thy care preserved my spirit. (Ver. 13.)
Yet all these punishments hadst Thou hid (secretly planned) in Thy
heart. I know that this was with Thee. I know that Thou wast
harbouring this design of sometime afflicting me in Thy mind at
the very time when Thou wast lavishing thy favours upon me in
my mother's womb.
Ver. 10. na1?? curd, or cheese, is a owraf Xeyofxevov.
Ver. 12. There is here a Zeugma, the verb n*a>S? lit. Thou hast done, being
applied to two nouns of altogether different signification, viz., a'fn life, and
ID.n mercy, favour. (See note on lyna supra iv. 10.) We have therefore
rendered n*ipa Thou didst grant.
Ver. 13. nb«1 for nb.Nn *ni3a ba Bai. and also all these my plagues.
7]ay ntil for "^pab Ba nn*n n^T this was in Thy heart, or mind. So, in
1 Kings xi. 1 1 we read God said to Solomon, " Forasmuch as this "HaV . . nn*n
hath been., with thee," i.e., has been determined by thee to be done.
Vers. 14, 15. If I had sinned, then wouldest Thou have marked
me, and wouldest not have acquitted me from mine iniquity. If I

CHAPTER X. 14 — 16. 95
had done anything wrong, I know I could not have done it with
impunity. But what have I gained by refraining from evil, seeing
that I could not possibly have suffered more if I had been a sinner ]
(Ver. 15.) If I had been wicked, woe would have been to me; and
now, though I have been just, I cannot lift up my head. My
countenance is fallen, as falleth that of those whom Thou rejectest.
I am full of disgrace, see therefore my affliction. Vouchsafe to
notice my sufferings, and the disgrace they bring upon me, and
free me from them.
Ver. 14. *3n"iaa?:l then wouldest Thou have marked me (for punishment) ; i.e.,
have kept punishment in store for me. The verb iaa? is sometimes used as
synonymous with "iaa in the sense of keeping, retaining (anger), as in Jer. iii. 5,
where "¦aa?* stands in parallelism with "1123* will he keep his anger.
Ver. 15. *bb;S Woe! Alas! root bb* to wail.
*B7N~I Wt&S S7 I cannot lift up my head. Malefactors are commonly described
in the Bible as letting their countenances fall ; as Gen. iv. 5.
Ver. 16. And will it then be so glorious for Thee, that Thou
shouldest hunt me, as a fierce lion hunteth his prey, and, at the
same time, shew Thyself mysterious to me ? When a lion hunts
its prey, the victim, however great its terror, at least sees by
whom it is hunted ; but when it flies, conscious of being pursued,
yet unable to discern its pursuer, then there must be something
supernatural at work ; in other words, God must be the hunts
man. So reasons our unfortunate victim, Job ; I am being hunted,
he says, yet I cannot see the huntsman ; I know then it must be
God who hunts me; a very marvellous and wonderful feat no
doubt, but is it also glorious] Is it befitting His majesty to
display His wonderful power in such a manner 1
n^a*1. and will it be glorious? Comp. Exod. xv. 1, nH3 n^a *3 for He hath
been exceedingly glorious.
7nt&3 like the (i.e., a) fierce-lion. In scriptural poetry, Jehovah is often spoken
of under the figure of a lion. Comp. Hos. xi. 10, " They shall walk after
Jehovah ; He shall roar like a lion."
sbBPin 2a?ni lit., and shouldest again show Thyself mysterious ; i.e., invisible,
and secret. The root ^73, which generally signifies to be wonderful, is also
sometimes used to express mystery. Thus, Judg. xiii. 18, when Manoah asked
the angel to tell him his name, the angel answered him : " Why askest thou after
my name, 1^?B Sinl seeing that it [is] a secret?"

96 CHAPTER X. 16  19.
That the verb 21B7 to return, when coupled with another verb, is used
adverbially for, again, has already been observed in our note on 2WPI,
supra vii. 7.' Here it should be taken in the acceptation of at the same time,
in which sense the German wieder (again), is sometimes used.
Ver. 1 7. In order to enable the reader fully to enter into the
meaning of this verse, we must translate and explain here
Chap. xvi. 8, And that Thou hast made me full of wrinkles,
hath become a witness against me. The fact of my body's having
become so shrivelled and wrinkled, is considered by my friends
as a proof of my guilt. " So that my very leanness riseth up
against me ; it beareth witness to my face." The emaciated state of
my body is regarded by every one as bearing witness against me,
that I must have deserved such punishment. The same senti
ment is uttered by Job here in other words. He says to God:
Thou renewest Thy witnesses against me. Every day I am
afflicted with fresh sores, which are considered by my friends
as so many witnesses giving evidence against me ; and, in
proportion as these witnesses increase in number, so, Thou in-
creasest Thine indignation towards me. Of these witnesses there
is A constant-succession, yea, a whole host with me. They
relieve each other like so many sentinels, and seem to be without
number. Ralbag comments On T73? as follows :
" f>PHV Pp-jpj PPPPP '3 'mft ]lDi3 PP ]1*P7 lil • T1M3
" Thy sores ; and [there is] something similar to it in the Syriac language, for
[in that language] a scab is called Kn**ta."
ni3*bn lit., changes ; i.e., the witnesses (sores) come one after another ; no
sooner does one go, than another comes.
Vers. 18, 19. Why, then, hast Thou brought me forth outof the
womb? I ought to have expired, when no eye had yet seen me.
(Ver. 19.) I ought to have been, as though I never had been ; 1
ought to have been borne from the womb to the grave.
Ver. 19. Should be construed thus:
iT ns I should have been,
¦¦n«n Sb "IB>S3 as if I had not been ;

CHAPTER XI. 97
731 S I ought to have been borne
"^pb |B3B from [the] womb to the grave.
Vers. 20 — 22. Are not my days few ? Therefore, desist from
me, and put-away Thine hand from me, so that I may cheer-up a
little, (Ver. 21) Before I go — so as not to return — to a land of
darkness, and shado w-of -death ; (Ver. 22.) A land, where there is
gloom, like deep-darkness ; where there is shadow-of -death, without
any order ; and where, even, when it shineth, it is like deep-darkness.
Comp. Milton : " No light, but rather darkness visible." (Paradise
Lost, B. i )
Ver. 20. b~\ry\ (according to the K'ree) therefore desist. After this word,
1??2 from me, should be supplied from the second hemistich. Comp. supra
vii. 16.
[TTJ n*an. and put-away [Thy hand, orThy blow]. The expression 1* n*a?,
though in a different sense, is to be found supra ix. 33.
Ver. 2ia?S fcO) lit., So that I shall not return; i.e., so as not to return.
These two words should be considered as parenthetical.
Ver. 22. nn33? = nB*3J (Amos iv. 13) gloom, or darkness, with n paragogic.
B'-n? H7"! lit., and no orders ; i.e., where there is no regular division of time,
no dawn, morning, noon, &c.
y?ni and [even] when it shineth ; used impersonally.

CHAPTER XI.
Vers. 2 — 6. The discourse we have just heard from Job
extended over two Chapters, and was , certainly of considerably
greater length than any which had preceded it. The friend, who
now speaks, therefore, alludes to this circumstance, and says :
Shall a multitude of words not be answered ? Or shall a man of
talk, on that account, be right ? Dost thou think, that, by making
long speeches, thou wilt prevail upon us to give in, and admit
that thou art suffering without a cause. (Ver. 3.) Thy fictions
H

98 CHAPTER XI. 3 — 6.
may reduce mortal-men to silence, and them thou mayest mock, none
putting thee to shame. (Ver. 4.) And to any one of them thou mayest
say, My doctrine was pure. I always inculcated the principles of
true religion. And, at the same time, I myself was clean in thine
eyes. Thou canst not point out a single instance, in which thou
hast seen me do amiss. So, O Job, mayest thou say to mortal men,
without any fear of contradiction, seeing that they cannot dive into
the recesses of thine heart. (Ver. 5.) But oh, that God would
speak, and would open His lips with thee! Oh that He would
reveal Himself to thee, and speak to thee face to face ! (Ver. 6 )
And that He would shew thee the mysteries of wisdom (for sound-
wisdom is twofold) ! It is divided into two parts — the ordinary
wisdom of man, and the impenetrable wisdom of God. And then
thou wouldest know, that God still deferreth for thee part of thy
punishment. So far from His having punished thee more than
thou didst deserve, thy punishment falleth even greatly short of thy
deserts. Not only, then, doth He not proceed against thee with
rigour, but He hath mercy upon thee, and spareth thee, deferring
His anger, in the hope that thou wilt mend thy ways, and resign
thyself to His will with calmness and resignation, as it behoveth
a sincere penitent.
Ver. 2. B*ri3tp a?*S lit., a man of lips; i.e., a man of much talk, in contra
distinction to D172^! a?*S (Exod. iv. 10) lit., a man of words; i e., an eloquent
speaker. Ver. 3. 2*na a plural noun, signifying mortals generally.
357^1 for ^bn cnbl yea, them thou mayest mock.
E*b3a **S1 for TfniS B*b3B **N1 and none putting thee to shame; i.e.,
there would not be found even one, who could contradict thee.
Ver. 4. "iC^ni for BrjB a;*K1 a?*S b« la^ni $0 that thou mightest say to
any one of them, &c. Schultens, not perceiving that T?.1?3 in thine eyes, refers
to any one of the mortals, whom Job is told by his friend he might mock, and
deceive, comments as follows : " Postremum magno consensu refertur ad Deum,
quasi Jobus reprassentetur, Deum compellans his verbis, purus existo in oculis tuis.
Suspicabar aliquando commodius fore, si ad Jobum referretur, Dixisti quippe
purus existo ; in oculis tuis scilicet. Sic cap. xxxii. 1, reperio 1*a*y3 p*12 Sin *3 .
Quia Justus ille in oculis suis." Let the reader accept this interpretation, if he
sees any necessity for it, which, we confess, we cannot.
Ver. 6. n'a/inb 2*ba3 *3 lit., for [there is] double to wisdom; i.e., wisdom is
twofold, or of two different natures.

CHAPTER XI. 6, 7. 99
In our note on lASI supra x. 7, we observed, that, the words 2*sn living, and
ny^ knowledge, when applied to God, must be taken in a much wider sense,
than when used in reference to man. The same may be said of nB3n and
n'afan, which, when applied to God, signify that profound and unfathomable
wisdom, which is altogether beyond the reach of a mortal.
So in Isa. lv. 8, 9, God says : " For my thoughts are not as your thoughts.
 For, as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are .... ^ ... my thoughts (higher) than your thoughts."
See also note on n*t&W supra v. 12.
It will be perceived, that the words n'aJmb B*b33 *3 are to be taken
parenthetically. VJ] for ym* and [then] thou wouldest know. The imperat. stands here for
the fut., as in Deut. xxxii. 50, ina nai for "ina man*, and thou shalt die in
the mount. See note on nal supra ii. 9.
Tf7 na^* Ht., He constantly lendeth to thee ; i.e., crediteth thee, metaphorically
used for, deferrethfor thee. Just as the lenient creditor accommodates his debtor,
by allowing the payment to stand over for a time, so God, when he pleases, allows
the punishment due to the sinner to stand over, and defers its infliction.
''laiaa part of thy punishment, the prefix a being here used in a partitive
sense, as in Gen. iii. 6, 1*73a nj7.ni and she took part of the fruit thereof.
The noun ViS iniquity, is used here for the consequence of iniquity (to him
who commits it,) i.e., its punishment ; as in Gen. iv. 13, " 131? my punishment
(is greater than I can bear)."
Vers. 7 — 9. Hitherto, Job has been represented by the speaker, as
it were, boasting of his innocence before his fellow- men, although it
was intimated at the same time, as evidently shown by the employ
ment of the words " Tl? thy fictions (may silence mortal men,
&c.)," that he might in this be acting contrary to his conscience,
but now it is suggested as a possibility, that he may have com
mitted many sins, of which he himself is not aware, sins, which
are concealed from him, and which only the searching eye of God
can discover (Comp. Ps. xix. 13, "Who can understand his
errors ? Cleanse Thou me from secret faults.") Zophar tells him
then, that though he may not discover any sin in himself, it is no
proof, that God may not have done so, since that, which God can
search out, may remain inscrutable to mortal man.
Wilt thou attain-unto the searching of God? Wouldst thou
compare thy powers of scrutiny to those of God] Wilt thou
attain even unto the perfection of the Almighty ? Dost thou pre-
h 2

100 CHAPTER XI. 8  11.
sume to imagine thou canst know everything as fully, and as
perfectly, as He doth ? (Ver. 8.) To aim at this perfection of
His is the heights of heaven — how canst thou effect it? Deeper
than the pit. How canst thou know it] (Ver. 9.) The measure
thereof is longer than the earth., and wider than the sea.
How then canst thou presume to declare thyself free from all
sin, when it requireth such perfection as I here describe to
be able to determine this point ?
Ver. 7. S*jan lit., wilt thou find, find out, i.e., attain unto, reach. Comp.
Eccles. viii 17 N2KS7 731* S7 he will not be able to attain unto it. Also, Ps. xxi. 9,
tJ*3*S 73? T7* NSBn Thy hand shall reach all Thine enemies ; as very pro
perly translated by Dr. French and Mr. Skinner.
TS as far as, in the second hemistich, should be taken in the acceptation of
even to.
Ver. 8. biKa? pit ; i.e., the unfathomable depths of the earth.
Ver. 9. na~iW for n31")S: . This is what is called by the Hebrew Grammarians
n3 mian a?ai. See Mason and Bernard's Grammar, Letter xii., § 5.
Ver. 9. n^a for nrna its measure, the absolute form being nija , which
occurs infra xxviii. 25. In like manner, we find, Prov. vii. 8, n2B her corner,
for nn23 , the absolute form n33 being found in the same Chapter (Ver. 12).
Gesenius, true to his principle of cutting the Gordian knot on every occasion,
takes the absolute form of nTO to be "ia, and that of n3B to be IB, forms of
which no Hebrew Grammarian ever dreamed.
Vers. 10 — 12. The speaker, having shown the unreasonableness
of Job's assertion (supra x. 3) that he was oppressed and rejected
by God, now proceeds to point out how little justified he was in
expressing (in the second hemistich of the same verse) his surprise
at the prosperity of the wicked. This he does by the following
beautiful, and most philosophical, reasoning. In the first place,
namely, he proclaims (Ver. 10) the Omnipotence of God, that
He can do whatever He pleases, without let or hindrance,
so that nothing would be easier for Him, than to punish the
wicked man, immediately upon the commission of his wickedness.
Secondly (V er. 11), he declares the Omniscience of God, that none
of the thoughts, or movements, of the sous of men can be hidden
from Him, and consequently that no wicked action can by any
possibility be committed without His being aware of it. And

CHAPTER XI. 10  12. 101
lastly, he affirms, that, though the Almighty thus sees, and
is aware of, every guilty deed, yet, in His infinite wisdom,
He finds it good and right not to appear to perceive it, and,
consequently, does not visit it with immediate punishment ;
and, indeed, for this reason (Ver. 12), that if the penalty followed
close at the heels of sin, mankind would, of course, shrink from
committing sin. If the slanderer were to be struck dumb, with
the slander still distilling from his lips, men would be afraid to
slander; if the hand of the thief were to wither, while yet
grasping the object of his theft, men would be deterred from
thieving ; if the murderer were to fall dead upon his victim, no
man, however depraved or abandoned he might be, would be mad
enough to attempt murder. And what would be the consequence ]
Why, men would no longer dare to do wrong, and would, there
fore, cease to be free agents ; they would refrain from iniquity and
from crime, not from any feeling of piety or religion, but from
mere fear of the punishment ; all men would then be alike, and
he, who by nature was the most prone to sin, would remain as
guiltless as the purest and most virtuous of men. And where,
then, would be the claim of the just man to reward ] No, man,
to be a free agent, must be allowed to continue in his sin for some
time with impunity ; the more flourishing he is allowed to become,
the greater, of course, the temptation held out to others to be a
sinner like him, and the greater, also, the merit of the good man,
who resists such temptation, and refrains from sin, not through
dread of punishment, but from a motive of real piety, and
from a sincere wish to be acceptable in the sight of his Maker.
This reasoning the speaker compresses into the following words : —
If He cut off, or deliver over. A man into the hands of his
enemies. Or bring-on-a-multitude. Of enemies to overwhelm and
crush the tyrant in battle] Who can prevent Him? He is all-
powerful, therefore, and so can punish at any time He pleases. Nor
could it avail the sinner to commit his sin in secret, for (Ver. 11),
Surely He knoweth vain mortals, and He seeth iniquity. All-
knowing and all-seeing, He witnesses the commission of every
sin, however secretly it may be committed. Though He seems not
to perceive it. Though He behaves in such a manner, as to make
it appear to men, that He does not perceive the commission of the

102 CHAPTER XI. 11, 12.
crime. And this He does, because, in His supreme wisdom, He
has willed it, that, in this world, man should be a free agent. But
this he could not be, were punishment to follow immediately on
his committing any sinful action. It would then be so manifestly
to his disadvantage to sin, that (Ver. 12) even the worthless-man
would have sense enough. To refrain from crime, knowing, as he
would, that he could not commit it with impunity. But not only
the worthless man, but even the most savage, fierce, and untame
able of men, would remain unstained by guilt, Even a man born
as savage as the colt of a wild-ass.
Ver. 10. fibrr BS ff He cut off. The verb *)bn seems, in this instance, to
have a transitive force, even in Kal, and so it has in Isa. ii. 18, ^173 2*.-*7yrn
H'D1, And the idols He shall altogether abolish. As these are, perhaps, the
only two instances in which this verb is used transitively in Kal, we are glad to
perceive we have, in both, the Auth. Vers, with us.
"1*2D*1 and deliver over ; i.e., leave at the mercy of (an enemy). So David
said to Goliath (1 Sam. xvii. 46), "This day nin* Tiap* will Jehovah deliver thee
over (into mine hand)."
b*np*1, lit., and cause to assemble; i.e., bring on legions (of foes against a
wicked tyrant).
Ver. 1 1. MW *na , Jit., mortals of vanity ; i.e., vain and frail mortals.
T3ian* fcOl though He does not seem to perceive. The Hithpa-al is very
frequently used to express feigning, or pretending, as Prov. xiii. 6, " There is one
who ""l^na maketh himself rich (i.e., who seems (pretends) to be rich), yet hath
nothing ; one who a^l-ina maketh himself poor (i.e., who seems (pretends) to
be poor), yet hath great riches."
Ver. 12. 212a hollow ; i.e., without worth, worthless. Gesenius considers it to
be the past part. Kal of 233 , whilst both Kimchi and Ben-Zev take it to be the
part. Niph. of the root 2*3 = 213, instead of 2133 .
2ab*, lit., will become one of heart; i.e., will become sensible, the noun
2b heart being very frequently (e.g., infra xii. 24, and comp. xii. 3) used for
good sense.
l*ai and a colt of, stands for T??1! and like a colt of. See Kimchi's "'BB
B*ana?n , sub voce.
Before "ibj* the rei. ~W$ should be supplied. (For the construction see below.)
Vers. 11, 12, should be construed thus : —
Ver. 11. SIB* inp i?T Sin *3 Surely He knows vain mortals
(i.e., He knows all their
thoughts, and movements),
|1S STj1 and He sees iniquity (whenever,

CHAPTER XI. 11, 14. 103
and wherever, it may be com
mitted),
IJ131T sbl. Although He does not seem to
perceive [it] (i.e., although
He does not inflict the punish
ment immediately ; which, if
He were to do),
Ver. 12. 33b1 3133 BilS1 Even [the] worthless man would
become sensible (enough to
refrain from sin, on account
of his dread of immediate
punishment),
"T711 [7B/S] DIS ¦ • • 1 Yea [even] a man [who] were to
be bom (i e., who were by his
nature fierce, savage, and un
tameable),
S"]a TjL'["3] [like] the colt of a wild-ass.
Vers. 13, 14. But there is another very weighty reason for
God's not immediately punishing the sinner ; it is, that he may
be allowed time for repentance. If the wicked were to receive
forthwith the punishment of their iniquity, there could be no
such thing as repentance, nor would God have any opportunity
for displaying His forbearance and long-suffering towards them.
But, He is " a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and of
great kindness," and therefore affords the sinner every opportunity
for lamenting over his sin, and turning to Him with a penitent
heart. It is to this great truth that the speaker now directs Job's
attention, telling him that, greatly as he must have offended God
by his murmuring, and by the unsuitable words which he has rashly
suffered to escape his lips, there is still hope that he may, by testi
fying his sorrow and repentance in sackcloth and ashes, yet
secure for himself the forgiveness, as well as the blessing, of
Him, who rejoices over the repentant sinner. In this strain,
Zophar goes on till Ver. 19 of this Chapter inclusively. He
says : —
If thou prepare thine heart. If thou commune with thyself, and
tune thy heart and thy soul to true repentance, and then spread out
to Him thine hands. In prayer. (Ver. 14.) If there is iniquity in

104 CHAPTER XI. 14 — 16.
thine hand, put it away far from thee. Let thy prayer be accom
panied by a real mending of thy ways. And do not suffer wrong
to dwell in thy tents.
It will be perceived, that, in these two verses, the conditions
are laid down, upon which Job might hope for brighter days, the
speaker going on to state what would be the result of his fulfil
ling these conditions.
Ver. 15. Surely then shalt thou lift up thy countenance without
spot. Thou shalt no longer let it fall, no longer hang down thy
head, as malefactors are wont to do, because they dare not shew
their face before an offended Creator, who, being pure Himself, can
only look with pleasure on that which is pure, and unspotted. And
thou shalt be steadfast. In thy faith and confidence in God, and
not wavering, as thou art now. And thou shalt not fear. Any
fresh calamities.
Biaa without spot. The prefix a has here a privative sense, as in Psalm
lxxxiii. 5, " Come, let us cut them off 1l253 from [being] a nation " (i.e., that
they be no longer a nation).
p^ia (0r P^a) steadfast, part. Hoph. of P^1 to pour out, which is sometimes
applied to the pouring out of metals in a state of fusion into a mould, when
they again become hard and firm. Hence it is metaphorically applied to any-
ihing firm and solid, and likewise to a steady, unwavering state of the mind.
Ver. 16. In the preceding verse, Zophar had assured his
unfortunate friend, he would lose all fear of fresh calamities ; in
the present one, he explains why he is so confident that this will
be the case ; it is because his friend will utterly forget his former
miseries. As long as men continue to bear in mind sufferings
they have had to undergo, they are apt to give way to a groundless
dread of an impending renewal of them ; but when they can once
bring themselves to banish them altogether from their thoughts,
they are freed from such ominous forebodings, and this Job is told
will be his case.
For thou shalt forget thy misery ; thou wilt think of it as of
waters, that have passed by. If a recollection of thy former
sufferings should at any time rise up in thy mind, thou wilt be in
no apprehension, but feel assured they can as little return as
waters, which have once passed by.

CHAPTER XI. 17, 18. 105
The relat. "1^^. which, must be supplied before SI"12S .
Ver. 17. And a life shall arise for thee, brighter than noon-day ;
thou shalt soar ; thou shalt be like the morning. We find that the
Psalmist gives the morning-dawn wings (Ps. cxxxix. 9), "If I
take the wings of the morning," &c, and so here, the speaker
compares the happiness and prosperity, which he predicts for his
friend, to the morning, and tells him, that, as the morning comes,
flying on its wings, and constantly increases in brightness, till it
becomes noon-day, so he shall go on mounting higher and higher
in his splendid career, until his glory shall be as radiant as the
mid-day sun.
The Auth. Vers, takes nayn to be a verb, and renders it, "thou shalt shine
forth." How they managed to extract this sense from it quite passes our under
standing, as it was only in the preceding chapter, ver. 22, that we saw the word
nna^*)5, which has the very same root, TV , signifying, gloom or darkness.
Most other commentators, indeed, consider nDVft to be a noun, and translate it,
darkness; but the root being FfiV or Ty , the punctuation should in that case
be, na^ljl , just as we have nalpri rising, from Bip, or naiBJjl intelligence,
from "P3 , 0r 1*2 . We, therefore, infinitely prefer considering it as the fut. Kal,
with n paragogic, of liy to fly (Kibbuts taking the place of Shurek, as very
frequently is the case), and understanding it as explained above.
2*7.n.'?2 lit., more than noon-daj ; i.e., more bright, brighter than noon-day.
It has already been observed (on "OT supra vii. 7) that, where no ambiguity can
arise, ellipses of this sort are considered in Hebrew as a great elegance. So
Prov. xviii. 19, " A brother offended is '5 n*7pB more than a strong city," i.e.,
is harder to be won than a strong city. So Jarchi comments on the word
a*-insa * * t: t * • 7ip -ji Dip* DOPi 11PP IP)'
" More than the light of noon-day will a life arise for thee."
"ibn time, or life-time ; as Ps. lxxxix. 48. fb for thee, must be supplied
before it, so that the first hemistich of this verse should be construed as follows :
17 rn and a life
[5J7] Dlp^ shall arise [for thee]
D'inyB more [bright] than noon-day.
Ver. 18. And thou shalt be confident, whenever thou shalt
entertain any hope. Whenever, in the course of thy future life,
thou entertainest a wish or hope, thou shalt confidently look
forward to its realization. The Eng. Vers, is : " and thou shalt

106 CHAPTER XI. 18  20.
be secure, because there is hope." This translation is certainly
very literal, and is adopted, with but little variation, by others,
but we must confess we see no sense in it. And when thou lookest
about thee. Before retiring to rest, to see whether all is safe.
Thou shalt find, that thou mayest lie down in security.
¦ni.Brn . The verb ian has three significations, widely differing one from the
other. 1. to dig; 2. to blush; 3. to look out, search out, as Josh. ii. 2,
VT/^n ns "iBn7 to survey, (search out, spy out) the land. Again, infra xxxix.
29, " From thence "IBPT it looketh-out-for (the prey).'' Now, since in this, as well as
in the next, verse, the speaker supposes Job to be on the point of retiring to
rest, it seemed to us most natural to give to the verb, in this instance, the sense
of looking about, to see if all be safe, as men usually do before they retire.
The Auth. Vers, translates, " thou shalt dig about thee ; " but we should think
the life of a man to be anything but happy, who had to dig a ditch around
bis tent every night before he went to bed, in order to protect himself. Nor
are those, who prefer the sense of blushing, any better off ; they translate, as
we are told by Rosenmuller, " Etiamsi nunc pudef actus sis, tunc tamen, cum
ad Deum te converteris, secure cubabis ; " but, we cannot see, either connection,
or antithesis, between blushing, or being ashamed, and sleeping soundly.
Ver. 19. And when thou Hest down, none shall scare thee up;
yea, many shall make suit to thee. Many shall seek thy favour,
just as we find that Abimelech paid court to Abraham (Gen.
ch. xxi.), and to Isaac (Gen. ch. xxvi).
^ • 1 past Pi. with 1 conversive of the verb n7n , which when coupled
with the noun B*33 signifies to entreat a person, make suit to him. So in Exod.
xxxii. 11, nin* *3B HS na*a bn*1 And Moses entreated Jehovah.
Ver. 20. It has been observed (in our note on vers. 10 — 12),
that the speaker has taken as the theme of his reply Job's words
in chap. x. 3, where he complained of being oppressed, and
rejected, by God, and lamented the prosperity of the wicked.
Having now disposed of the first part of Job's complaint, he
concludes by replying to the latter, and assures his friend, that,
however splendid and brilliant the career of the wicked may be, it
must inevitably come to a miserable termination. His words are :
Whereas the eyes of the wicked shall fail. With longing ; their
hopes shall never be realized. And refuge vanisheth from them.
When calamity and misfortune come upon them, like a whirlwind,

CHAPTER XII. 2, 3. 107
they look in vain for shelter. And their hope shall be the breathing
out of their life. Their miseries shall be so great, that they shall
find no relief from them, but in death.
n3*7an shall fail. The verb nba when joined to B*3*y. eyes, expresses
their failing with longing, or grief. Comp. B*3*$ *i*b3 (Deut. xxviii. 65)
failing of eyes (with longing, or grief).
naa breathing out of; root n33 to blow, breathe.

CHAPTER XII.

Vers. 2, 3. The friend, whose speech we have just heard, had
opened it by charging Job with the design of overwhelming his
opponents with the multitude of his words. Job now retorts, and
says that it is they who seek to overwhelm him with their number
and the display of their unanimity, for they are three to one, and
all of the same opinion, that, namely, he must have been a great
sinner ; as if, forsooth, three men could not agree in their conclu
sions, and yet err. He says :
Indeed, because ye are a company, must on that account wisdom
die with you ? Must you, on that account, have so entirely mono
polized all wisdom, that, when you are no more, it, too, will perish
with you, and become extinct. (Ver. 3.) I also have sense, like you ;
I by no means fall short of you. I am in no wise inferior to you, as
far as sense is concerned. And who hath wo^things like these ? Who
could not utter such' trivial and common-place sayings as yours are,
so miserably poor in argument, so rich in taunts and jeers ? The
idea of the monopolization of wisdom by one, to the exclusion of all
others, we shall find again expressed, infra xv. 8, " And hast thou
taken away wisdom to thyself?" The sentiment, also, that, when
many coincide in opinion, they need not always be correct, will be
found infra xxxii. 9, " Not multitudes are wise " (i.e., that many
agree on a point is no proof that they must be right). So Job

108 CHAPTER XII. 2  5.
tells his friends here, that it does not follow that, because they
all three come to the same conclusion, this conclusion must needs
be the correct one, especially as it is not in any way supported by
arguments, but only by insult and mockery.
Ver. 2. CS , lit., a people, is sometimes used to express a body of men, or
company, as in 1 Sam. ix. 24, 1nsnpr Dan f have invited the people, or the com
pany; and Judg. iii. 18 2an ns nba?*1 and he sent away the people ; i.e., the
party (who bore the presents).
Ver. 3. 337 = ab, lit., heart, very frequently used for sense, intelligence, as
Ver. 24.
B31B3 as [to] you, for in English, if we translate literally, a to must be
supplied, with which, or the equivalent of which, the Hebrew idiom dispenses.
Comp. 7S3 as [to] God, infra xl. 9.
B?a *33S bD3 Na, lit., / [am] not falling [short] of you; i.e., I am not
inferior to you. The same phrase occurs again, infra xiii. 2.
Vers. 4, 5. I am like one, who is a laughing-stock to his neigh
bour. Like one, whom his neighbour derides and taunts, saying,
" Look at that simpleton, he calleth on God, that He should answer
him ! ! ! " But this is mockery, and not argument ; to laugh
a man down is a very easy matter, but it proves nothing. Even a
perfectly righteous man may be made a laughing-stock. (Ver. 5.)
The mind of one, who is at ease, hath contempt for calamity ; it
hath it quite ready for those who totter with their feet. It is not at
all unusual to see people, whom success has rendered arrogant, laugh
at those who are labouring under calamity, and are on the point
of falling from their greatness. This sentiment is also expressed
by the Psalmist (Ps. cxxiii. 4), " Our soul is exceedingly filled
with the scorning of them that are at ease, and with the contempt
of the proud."
Ver. 5 is rendered in the Eng. Vers., " He that is ready to slip
with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is
at ease." The reader will at once perceive from this how greatly
the verse stood in need of a somewhat more intelligible trans
lation. Ver. 4. ! ! ! "^nps'l nib.N;b. N7*P" "[He is] calling on God that He should
answer him "III These words are supposed to be said, by the neighbour, of him
who is his laughing-stock.

CHAPTER XII. 4, 5. 109
Ver. 5. TB7 for calamity, the b being a prefix. The noun TB, calamity,
occurs in Prov. xxiv. 22, and also, infra xxx. 24, xxxi. 29. We must thankfully
acknowledge, that it was Aben-Ezra who opened our eyes to the fact that the 7 in
TB7 is not a radical, but a servile, his words being —
iP13 7"pip
"The Lamed falls off" (i.e., is a mere prefix, seeing that the word has a
meaning without it).
Iffi? nintpya, lit., to [the] thoughts of one at ease [there is] ; i.e., the mind of
one who is at ease has, &c. The prefix 7 very frequently denotes the belonging
of anything to a person, as Gen. xxix. 16, ni33 *naJ 13371 And to Laban [there
were] two daughters ; i.e., Laban bad two daughters.
The two verses before us should, therefore, be construed as
follows : —
Ver. 4. [Sin ")B!S WX2] TPIS I am [like a man who is]
injyib pinB/ a laughing-stock to his neigh
bour (i.e., like one whom
his neighbour sneers at,
saying),
! ! ! " M2)fl nibsb Snp " " He calls on God, that He
should answer him " ! ! !
D'Bn p1"^ [DS] [Even] a perfectly righteous
man
['T.T] pinB' [may be] a laughing-stock (i.e.,
one, who is prone to laugh
at and deride the unfor
tunate, will not spare any
man, however just).
Ver. 5. ]3SB/ ni'nBtyb To [the] thoughts of one-at-
ease [there is] (i.e., the mind
of one at ease has)
Tab T13 contempt for calamity (i.e., he
is always ready to heap
contempt upon those who
are overtaken by calamity) ;
bj"l "IJtMBb \\22 [he has it] ready for those
slipping with [the] foot (i.e.,
at once, without the least
hesitation or reflection, he

110 CHAPTER XII. 5, 6.
loads with his contempt
those who are about to fall).
Rosenmuller advises us to consider iTns in Ver. 4, as put
for nvlS "0S3 ; and tells us that, so understood, the verse is very
easy ; but we shall, perhaps, not be blamed for rejecting the
advice of one who writes such Hebrew as "0S3 ! ! ! lest we should
be considered to be Hebraists iniB3 , or, to write in his style,
sins .
Ver. 6. Having rebuked his friends for the scorn and contempt
they had poured upon him, he now emphatically asserts, that,
what he has already stated concerning the sufferings of the just, and
the prosperity of the wicked, in this world, is not mere fiction,
as his friends would have it to be (xi. 3), but real, positive, fact.
He says :
Yes ! the tents belonging to robbers are prosperous, and security
there is for those provoking God, and also for those provoking the
man, into whose hand God hath brought (good things). Those
who provoke both God, and the good man God has blessed, enjoy
perfect security. God and man are often thus coupled together
in the Bible ; e.g., in the parable of Jotham (Judg. ix. 9) we find
the expression, "they honour God and man; " and (Ibid. ver. 13,)
" which cheereth God and man." In Luke, also, xviii. 2, we read,
" which feared not God, neither regarded man." And so here,
our poet stigmatizes the restless tyrants he alludes to, as men,
who regard neither God nor man.
As Wolfssohn himself considered this verse to be so difficult,
as to call it dipp rapp lit., a closed-up (i.e., unintelligible) verse,
and so many other commentators, who are anything but Wolfs-
sohns, have said so much, to so little purpose, about it, we think it
but right to shew how we construe it.
DHIB*? DvPlS IvB*1 They are prosperous [the] dwellings
[belonging] to spoilers,
bs TiOB1? ninB31 and security [there is] to [the] pro
vokers of God,
[B**sn T3"jB] 7[1] [and to [the] provokers of the man,]
1T3 Hi7S S*3n "1B/N into whose hand God has brought
(good things).

CHAPTER XII. 6. Ill
That is, they, who provoke God, as well as the good man,
whom God has favoured with the blessings of this world, enjoy
security. We could not bring ourselves to refer the third clause of this
verse, viz., " into whose hand God has brought " (i.e, to whom
God has given, whom He has blessed), to the wicked, as most
commentators have done, since God, though He may suffer the
wicked to enrich themselves by plunder, and to enjoy themselves
for a time, surely cannot be said to have bestowed on them such
riches, or such prosperity.
If this clause is at all to be referred to the wicked, it would be
best to understand it, as Aben-Ezra and Ralbag * do, to refer
to an idol, when the sense would be, that the tent even of him
is secure, who carries an idol in his hand. So Isaiah, when
ridiculing the worshipper of an idol, says (xlvi. 7) : " They bear
him upon the shoulder, they carry him, &c." We might perhaps
have adopted this view, if we had anywhere found in our author
allusion made either to idols, or their worshippers, but such is
not the case. In Chap. xxxi. 26 Job does indeed speak of
worshippers of the sun and moon, but these, of course, belong
to quite a different category from worshippers of images.
!,17??1 they constantly prosper; fut. Kal of the verb nba? to be at peace, to
prosper. 2*"Ha7 7 [belonging] to spoilers. That the prefix 7 sometimes expresses
belonging to, has been observed above in our note on nintpyb Ver. 5.
nina2 security ; a plural noun, derived from the verb naa to be confident,
secure, and synonymous with llnaa confidence.
Vers. 7 — 9. Having thus reiterated his assertion with regard to
* Ralbag's words are : —
P'iPPl P'3P 17'3D PI3 PIT IP Dpi IIPPD'1 'p'7'3 DP'pii lf"3'D O'pijp '731i>i i'7
PD15P PIP PIPP ippp '3 Y3'V ppp' pil PlPPD'l li 7UP1 ")PP1 ippp 1D1? 1'7'D i"") Ptip
: 1'PlWiP 1DH ")DPi 11PPD' 1'7' PDPpi 1")PP 1112 YT
" Meaning to say, [belonging] to the worshippers of idols who carry their idols in their
hands, and bow down to them. Or, he may mean by this, that he (the idolater) has pro
duced and brought into existence the idol by his hand, that is to say, that his hands have
made the image, and then he casts himself down before it and bows, and does not open
his eyes [so as to see,] that this idol is the work of his own hands, as [the prophet] says
(Isa. ii. 8) ' they worship the work of their (lit., his) own hands, that which their (lit, his)
own fingers have made.' "

112 CHAPTER XII. 7  11.
the grievous trials of the good, and the brilliant fortunes of the
wicked, in this world, he goes on to say, that he is quite at a loss
to reconcile this with the wisdom and justice of so majestic a
Being, as God shews Himself, in all his works, great as well as
small. His words are:
And yet, ask now the beasts, and they will instruct thee ; or the
bird of heaven, and it will tell thee; (Ver. 8.) Or speak to the earth,
and it will instruct thee ; yea, the fishes of the sea will declare it
to thee. Ask any one of these, and inquire, by whom it was
created, and mark the answer it will give thee. But, even,
without asking them, by merely reflecting upon the wonders,
which are displayed in them (Ver. 9), Who would not know by all
these that the hand of Jehovah hath made them ? The more I
consider, therefore, all these evidences of His wonderful power,
the more I am amazed at the amount of wickedness which is
constantly being wrought in this world with impunity.
Ver. 7. ^J7.ni and it (i.e., every one of the beasts) will instruct thee.
Ver. 8. n*a? imperat. of the verb n*a? to speak, think, meditate.
Ver. 9. n^T for n?S these. The sing, is perhaps used to express that every
one of these has been made by God ; or perhaps n^T may stand for n^-fn Vl^n
this earth.
Vers. 11 — 13. It is well known, that the senses of man (or, to
speak more correctly, the mind, as evidenced through the senses,)
become [s] sharpened by practice, and experience. The gourmet
trains his palate to the nicest appreciation of the qualities of
wines ; the gourmand educates his to the most accurate perception
of the merits of a dish. Similarly, the ear of him who loves
to hear and weigh the speeches of orators will acquire no mean
skill in the discrimination of rhetorical excellence; and the
longer such a man has lived, the more exercised will have become
his ear, the greater, therefore, his discernment and judgment,
and, as a consequence, his wisdom. The wisdom of God, there
fore, whose existence is without beginning, and without end,
must be infinitely great. This syllogism is contained in the
three verses before us, which run thus :
Doth not the ear try words, just as the palate tasteth its food?

CHAPTER XII. 12 — 18. 113
(Ver. 12.) In very-old-men, therefore, must be wisdom, and
in length of days, understanding. (Ver. 13.) With Him, there
fore, must be wisdom and might ; to Him must belong counsel and
understanding. ib B? a* bafo tastes food for itself, or tastes [the] food [destined] for it.
Ver. 12. B*a*T "-HS* for B*B*. T^al and in length of days.
Ver. 13. 17 to Him (there is, or belongs), i.e., He has. See note on
nwtpsb Ver. 5.
It has already been observed, that nothing is more annoying to
the unfortunate Job, than for his friends to call his attention to
the power and wisdom of God, (we shall, by-and-by, hear him
give full vent to his displeasure on this score,) and, generally, it
will be found that, whenever they do touch upon this topic, he
strives to outvie them as he does here in answer to what Zophar
had said (ch. xi. 7 — 11).
Ver. 14. E7*N, by "I2p* lit., He shuts up against a man ; i.e., He shuts a man
up, confines him, shackles all his movements. The verb ~UD , construed with
by , is used in the same acceptation in Exod. xiv. 3, "|27an Bn*7a. "13B the
wilderness hath shut them in.
Ver. 15. Lo ! He stoppeth the waters. He makes them stag
nant. Then they dry up ; on the other hand, when He letteth
them loose, they devastate a land.
Ver. 1 6. ib to Him [belong] ; i.e., His are, or in His power are. See note on
nintpyb ver. 5.
Ver. 17. He maketh counsellors to go stripped (of their clothes).
In this acceptation we find bbiB> in Micah i. 8, Di"l$/1. bbl'B*
stripped and naked. And judges bbiT He maketh mad. bbiT
and bbiB* not only form a paronomasia, but also agree very well
in meaning, seeing that people, whose intellects are affected,
seem, not unfrequently, to have a fancy for going naked. Thus
we are told of Saul (1 Sam. xix. 24), when he was troubled with
the spirit, that he lay down naked all the day.
Ver. 18. The confederacy of kings He dissolveth. When kings

114 CHAPTER XII. 18 — 21.
enter into a league against His will, He visits them with a spirit
of discord. And girdeth a girdle on their loins. He moves them
to fight one with another.
We often find in the Bible the expression girding a girdle upon
the loins figuratively applied to a man who prepares himself for
battle, or summons up courage for any other great effort. So
infra xxxviii. 3, Tlfbn ")3J3 S] "ITS Gird now thy loins like a
v J ' ;• t -: v v : t t v: *s
man ; i.e., summon up courage. Comp. also 2 Kings iii. 21.
"1B1B lit., bond of; i.e., union, confederacy, league, of.
nnB lit., opened ; i.e., looses, dissolves.
aits "1BS*1 We have translated these words, and He girdeth a girdle, rather
than He bindeth a girdle, in order to preserve the jingle of the original.
Ver. 19. He maketh chiefs to go stripped, and overthroweth the
mighty. B*3PJ3 in the sense of chief-rulers, chiefs, occurs 2 Sam. viii. 18, "And
David's sons were 2*3n3 chief-rulers." The Targum renders it S*33"i37
grandees, rulers.
Ver. 20. He removeth the speech of orators, and taketh away the
sense of the elders.
The word B*3BH3 is rendered in the Eng. Vers. " trusty," and a similar
meaning is attached to it by Schultens, Rosenmuller, and Schlottmann ; but we
cannot see what necessary connexion there is between speech (i.e., eloquence)
and trustworthiness. Men may be very trustworthy, and yet stammerers, or
even dumb ; while, on the other hand, very eloquent speakers may be anything
but trustworthy. We, therefore, prefer deriving this noun from the verb BS3 to
speak, which occurs in Jer. xxiii. 31, ^asa'l and they said, spake. With regard
to its form, just as, in Isa. xvii. 10, we find a*3aV3 delights, formed from the
verb By3 to be pleasant, or delightful, so here we have 2*3BS3. speakers, or
orators, formed from the verb BS3 to speak.
Ver. 21. n*IB a girdle, synonymous with ntB (ps. cix. 19).
B*p*BS; the plur. of P*BS or P*BN strong, sometimes used of streams of water,
as Ps. xlii. 1, a*a *p*BS; strong [currents] of water, i.e., streams of water ;
sometimes, of metal, as Job xl. 18, ntpm3 *p*BS strong [pieces] of brass;
and, in the verse before us, it is applied to mighty men. The second hemistich
is translated by Michaelis (as quoted by Rosenmuller) thus : " situlam scaturi-
ginum laxat, vel, solvit, i.e., scaturigines exsiccat." How beautifully the second
hemistich would then correspond with the first, we leave to the judgment of the
reader !

chapter xii. 23 — 25; xm. 1 — 3. 115
VeT. 23. The prefix b in B*iab in the first, as well as in the second, hemistich,
stands as the mark of the accusative case. See note on b*1.s7 supra v. 2.
203*1 and leads them (into captivity, or exile).
Ver. 24. Before TTT ^b the words 2a? "iaJS must be supplied, where [there
is] no way.
Ver. 25. "sj^n for T^na in the darkness, TN rfbl. and not light, i.e., where
there is no light. The same pleonasm occurs Lament, iii. 2. We have already
more than once had occasion to remark that ellipses are often used with great
elegance in Hebrew ; we now see that the same holds good of their opposites,
pleonasms. So 2 Sam. xiv. 5, " I am indeed a widow-woman, and mine
husband is dead." Again, Isa. xxxviii. 1, "for thou shalt die, and not live;"
and many others might be quoted.

CHAPTER XIII.

Vers. 1 , 2. Lo ! mine eye hath seen all this ; mine ear hath heard
and marked it. With mine own eyes have I seen and noted
a great part of the wonders of God as displayed in His works,
animate as well as inanimate, and that also which others have
recorded concerning them, both during my lifetime and before I
was born, has come unto my ears ; yea, I have consulted ancient
history, and that long ago, long before you advised me to con
sult it (supra viii. 8, 9) ; and I did so of my own accord, because I
knew it to be absolutely necessary that every shortlived human
being should consult it. (Ver. 2.) As ye know this, I also
know it ; I am not inferior to you.
Ver. 1. nb fani and marked (perceived) it. The verb TO is sometimes con
strued with b, as supra ix. 11, la 1*2S S7l, and I do not perceive Him. Comp.
also infra xiv. 21.
Ver. 2. Bpnyi? as your knowing; infinit. Kal of S71, with the 3 0f the
2b"32, and possess, aff. 23".
Ver. 3. But, what doth it profit me to know the omnipotence,
omniscience, and profound wisdom of God as I do, if I cannot
obtain a hearing from Him ? What will my knowledge of these
wonderful attributes of His avail me, if I cannot come into His
i 2

116 chapter xiii. 3 — 9.
presence, to justify myself, and to prove my innocence1? For I
wish to speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue before God.
Ver. 4. But ye are patchers-up of falsehood, worthless physicians
are ye all. Just as a physician, who does not understand his
profession, will often apply to bodily sores remedies which, instead
of soothing, irritate them, so you, instead of pouring balm upon
my inward wounds, and soothing their pain by kind and sympa
thizing words, only render them more irritable and painful, by
galling mockery and exasperating insult.
b j'W (for b*7$) a vain (or worthless) thing. So Ps. xcvi. 5, " For all the
gods of the nations are B'bvS vain (or worthless) things."
Ver. 5. In Prov. xvii. 28, we read, " Even a fool, when he
holdeth his peace, is counted wise." This proverb may possibly
have been current in the days of Job, and if so, the verse before
us must have been intended as a delicate repartee to Eliphaz,
who, in ch. v. 2, had, in plain language, stigmatized his unfor
tunate friend as a fool, and a simpleton, and now, in return, must
hear the following delicately expressed, but deeply cutting words.
Would that ye were altogether silent, and it would be accounted to you
for wisdom ! It would be much wiser in you not to speak at all,
than to oppose my arguments and just complaints with a deluge
of empty and unmeaning words.
Vers. 6 — 12. Hear now my reasoning, and attend to the plead
ings of my lips. Give me a fair hearing, before you condemn
me. (Ver. 7.) Will ye, on behalf of God, say that which
is wrong ? Or, on His behalf, say that which is false ? Will you,
in order to justify Him, bring charges against me, as iniquitous as
they are unfounded X (Ver. 8.) Will ye accept His person ?
Will you, in order to curry favour with Him, speak against your
own conscience"? Will ye contend in behalf of God? (Ver. 9.)
Will it be good for you, when He shall search you out? Can you
expect that He will brook your saying things which, in your
hearts, you know to be untrue \ Will you mock Him, as one
mocketh frail-man ? To me and to others, you may say with
an impudent face that you believe me to be guilty, though, in
your hearts, you think otherwise; but can you say so with

CHAPTER XIII. 10  12. 117
impunity to Him who searcheth our hearts? (Ver. 10.) He
will indeed reprove you, if ye secretly accept persons. If, in con
demning me, you only aim at ingratiating yourselves with Him,
whilst, in the secret recesses of your hearts, you know your con
demnation to be unjust, He will certainly not allow you to go
unpunished. Moreover, whenever flattery is used, weakness must
be supposed in the party whom it is meant to please ; if, therefore,
you think for a moment you can find favour with God by accept
ing His person, and justifying His proceedings towards me,
against your own conscience, you must needs attribute to Him one
of the greatest frailties of man, viz., that of being pleasurably
tickled by flattery. But dare you suppose such weakness in God?
(Ver. 11.) Ought not His majesty to deter you ? From imputing
such a frailty to Him ? And ought not His terror to fall upon you ?
Ought you not to shake and tremble at the very thought that you
could for a moment entertain so detestable an idea ? Do you not
perceive that, if you can harbour such notions with regard to
your Maker, you are, in fact, materialists, and are lowering your
glorious and majestic God to the level of an abject and despicable
mortal, made of clay, dust, and ashes ? Away, then, with all your
boasted knowledge of the power and wisdom of God ! A being,
susceptible of flattery, however powerful and however wise he
may be, is still a frail being, is like a being dwelling in a " house
of clay." (Ver. 12.) Your records. All your high-flown
speeches, in which you have recorded His greatness, power, and
works. Are, in reality, parables befitting one made of ashes.
Fine poetical figures, which might be addressed with some chance
of pleasing to one made of dust and ashes. Figures suitable for
bodies of clay, like your bodies.
Ver. 7. bsbn Whether for God? i.e., Whether in behalf of God? &c.
So Judg. vi. 31, "Will ye plead b^Jab for (i.e., in behalf of) Baal?"
Iai. for 13 BS*, And whether for Him ? i.e., Whether in behalf of Him ?
Ver. 8. *1Sten 1*33n. Will ye accept His person ? The verb Stt>3 , to take up,
lift up, when joined with 2*3B, countenance, is used to express accepting of per
sons, flattering, as in Deut. x. 17, 2*3B Sffi>* rfb naJS;) Which accepteth not
persons, in the present Verse and Ver. 10. Sometimes, however, it signifies to
comply with one's request, or accept one's supplication, as in Gen. xix. 21, where
the angel says to Lot, who had begged of him to allow him to take refuge in

118 CHAPTER XIII. 9  12.
Zoar, T.?-} T'Na'a nan See, I have accepted thee; i.e., I comply with thy
request. So also God, infra xlii. 8, " And my servant Job shall pray for
you ; St&H 1*3B BS *3 for verily him will I accept ;" i.e., his supplication will
I grant. Ver. 9. ia ibnnn a?i3.S3 bnn? BS, lit., whether, like [the] mocking at a
frail-man will you mock Him ? i.e., Will you mock Him, as you would frail-man ?
Comp. 1 Kinjrs xviii. 27, ^bs BP13 bnn*l And Elijah mocked them ; in
which passage 'fliTl is evidently the Pi-al of bnn . In Gen. xxxi. 7, however,
we find *2 7nn ]3*3S1, out your father hath mocked (deceived) me, where 7nn
would seem to be the Hiph-el of 77n . In the verse before us, bnn appears to
be the inf. Hiph. of this same root, but the form ibrinjjl presents some difficulty ;
for, if it be taken to be the Pi- al of 7nn , it would have been more regularly written
l7nnn, and, if the Hiph-el of bbn, the usual form would be ^bnn, though,
indeed, the n of the Hiph-41 may be here anomalously retained, as in 1 Sam.
xvii. 47, where we find a*E7in*, He will save, for the more usual form a*a>1*.
Ver. 11. bb* i^nBI for bb* i^nB N^ni and ought not His terror to fall? &c.
Ver. 12. IBS *7a>B lit., parables of ashes; i.e., parables befitting ashes, or one
made of ashes. So Abraham says (Gen. xviii. 27), ">BS1 "135 *33S* though f
am [but] dust and ashes.
In Mason and Bernard's Grammar, Letter 47, § 1, which treats of the
various modifications of the sense, in which a Hebrew noun, in the state of con
struction, is connected with its consequent (the word, that is, with which it is in
construction), the reader will find, Art. VIII. the following : — " In a few
instances, a verb or participle must be understood after the antecedent, to express
the true force intended by the connexion ; as 2*7nB EIx? (Prov. ix. 17), lit.,
bread of secrets ; i.e., bread eaten in secret."
In like manner, IBS VtpB in the verse before us, though lit. signifying
parables of ashes, should be considered as intended to express, parables be
fitting ashes.
23*23 for B3*333 like your bodies. The 3 of comparison is often omitted.
See what has been observed on ^7. 1321 in our remarks on supra v. 6, 7, ad
finem. We are glad to perceive, that Wolfssohn has understood ver. 12 in nearly the same
way as we do. If we had really borrowed the idea from him, we should of course
have at once acknowledged it ; as it is, we are, to say the least, very proud to
have so high an authority on our side. His words are as follows : '
DPPl ,lP1P3i P33 PII P33 PI D'DIPPP i3 13 lipD 1331 , 71PP D1PP PIP P")pPP
PJ13P pil , IPPP PJ113P '7P 1PY lp-p-JP DPP1 , D7'3 P")P li«pl D'T7P D'P3 liii
, 71PP 713 137V >}i >J , p pi , Pip ID' PI Oh TPpi 33i Jlfa} pi , 'pip PP 'JP CJP
rin D'7'Pin? 33i TW ppi p-) , 0ill3 7131 PP13P p?P3 PJ1P P'P' PIP PipPPD
")Pli3 P3'31TJ1 33P ivft PI i]31 'Ul D3PP P133P 1PPD pip pi]3pi T/>P 31'P " 13 JJUPpil
dpp ooi'fi , lpwrnpi ipip ip'33p dpi , 'pdj 'iDP pip , i:naip D333i in pimp is
Pi DPP '3 , 1P1P31 'PD2 Oil>3 DP '3 , ii3 PT.il ]1'P7 'i3 '3P11 Oil33 1P1P D'P'3JP
P1P73 IPlT'iP DP '3 , PI li31P i3 , D3P P32DJ PPI '3 , P1P -)DP3 033333 IT'ii lisiP
• 13 lippP D1JP3 ipp31 li 1P'3PP Cjljp p il31 , D7P

CHAPTER XIII. 12 — 16. 119
" This verse [is] very unintelligible (lit., stopped up), and all the interpreters
have before now taken great pains with it, one in this manner, another in that, to
explain it ; and [some] of them have dived into mighty waters, but brought up
[only] a potsherd in their hand ; and [others again] of them have rambled more
than enough from the object of this book ;^ and, therefore, I also will say my
share, not with pride of heart, so as to say, Look here, this is right ; not so, for
my heart knows [but] too well, that this verse will remain in doubt, henceforth,
and for ever ; but [I do so only] to rouse the attention of students to it, so that
they should reflect upon it. Job said above (ver. 11), ' Ought not. His majesty
to deter you, &c. ? ' and, with regard to this, he [nowj says, ' But your records,'
that is to say, every thing, which arises in your mind of what you record of
Him, [consists of] parables, having reference to a body, and although you extol,
and exalt Him, you do not exalt Him as a Spiritual object, without any
semblance, or form, whatever, but, as a Corporeal object, and bodily mass ; for
you cannot imagine Him in your heart, as He [really is], for this is far beyond
you ; you cannot [do] this, but you imagine Him under the likeness of a man,
and, therefore, you basely* flatter Him, and, as one would mock frail-man, you
mock Him."
Vers. 13 — 16. Be silent, desist from me, so that I may speak,
and let come upon me what will. (Ver. 14.) Come on what will,
I will take my flesh in my teeth, and I will put my life in mine
hand. I know, that by speaking frankly, I risk my life, and that
God may deprive me of it, if He resent my freedom of speech.
(Ver. 15.) Lo ! He may kill me, yet will I hope for Him. Even
to the very last moment of my life, I shall entertain the confident
hope, that, provided only He listens to my cause, He will at once
see its justice, and declare me innocent. But my ways. The
course of my life. I will plead before Him. I will submit to
anything, even to the loss of my life, rather than allow it is wrong
in me to maintain, that the life I have led has been free from
blemish. But stay, I do not see how I have come to think, that,
by speaking the truth, I risk to lose my life ; on the contrary, as
a God of truth, He ought to love truth, and, therefore, be pleased
at hearing it from my lips. (Ver. 16.) Yea, He ought to be a
help to me. He ought to help me for the very reason, that I do
speak the truth. For a hypocrite cannot come before Him.
Ver. 13. ^aa for ^aa ib-p Desist from me. Comp. *3aB b^n (supra
vii. 16) desist from me. So in Jer. xxxviii. 27, 'laaB lavnrPI stands for
laaa ib^JTI ia?*7U?1 So they were silent and desisted from him. Comp. also
1 Sam. vii. 8.

120 CHAPTER XIII. 13 — 19.
na *aa "12'2*1 And let come upon me what [will], Kimchi in his ">33
B^IBJn su0 voce na , observes on this passage,
• a>ann *3*s* ni3a*a? na *ba -ii3a* naibs
" That is to say, Come upon me, what may come, for I do not care."
A similar ellipsis we find in 2 Sam. xviii. 23, where Ahimaaz, after begging
Joab to allow him to run, to announce the death of Absalom to David, and being
advised by him not to do so, says, V^"1^ n? 1n11 But be what [may], I will
run; on which Kimchi likewise observes,
• m*asi nuns a*a7in *a*s n*n*a» na ^n*i -iaib3
" That is to say, But be, what may be, I do not care, I will run, and tell."
Ver. 14. na 7a for 13]?* ~>a?S. na 7a Against, in opposition to, or in spite
of, what may [come to] pass ; i.e., come on what will.
*B3a B*a?S *a>Bai And I will put my life in my hand; i.e., I will risk my life.
The figure is probably derived from the fact, that what is held in the hand is liable
to be dropped, or snatched away. So in Judg. xii. 3, Jephthah says, na*a>S1
*B33 *t&B3 Then f put my life in mine hand.
The expression *3t?2 *7?f 2 SC^S / will take my flesh in my teeth, must be
understood in an analogous sense, = namely, i" will venture my life.
This verse in the Eng. Vers, as follows : " Wherefore do I take my flesh in
my teeth, and put my life in mine hand ? " And in like manner, it is translated
by Schlottmann : Wozu triig' ich mein Fleisch zwischen den Zdhnen fort, und
ndhme mein Leben in die Hand ? But how could Job, who is bent upon risking
his life, as the next verse plainly shows, possibly say, why should I risk my life,
&c. ? This incongruity was felt by Wolfssohn, who, to avoid making Job speak
so illogically, translates the verse as we do. He says :
P'31P1 '131 OD3 OD3 PDP '3P , PP il3 On 'bv T.313' ")Pli3 f pil3pi 3P1P • PP bv
P3113 DID PIP -)Vf>PC>b P'P' Pi , 'P33 'DPJ D'DP 1317P D'DIPPP PU7i '3 • VJP if>
•ii3
« na ba . This refers to [what was said] above (i.e., in the preceding verse),
that is to say, Come on me what may, upon what may (i.e., one danger after
another), I will take my flesh in my teeth, &c, and I will reason to His face.
For according to those who interpret it, why should I put my life in mine hand ?
this sentence would have no meaning whatever."
We are glad to see Schultens, also, felt the inconsistency of the usual translation
of this verse.
Ver. 15. bn*S ib (according to the K'ree) for Him will f hope.
Vers. 17 — 19. Hear diligently my speech, and let my declaration
enter into your ears. (Ver. 18.) Behold noiv, I have arranged my
cause ! I am quite prepared to defend myself against any accusa
tion. I know, that I shall come out just. I am confident, that
every impartial judge must declare me not guilty. (Ver. 19.)
But who is He that will plead with me ? I am quite prepared

CHAPTER XIII. 17 — 22. 121
with my defence, but I do not see my accuser. Who is he ?
Where is he ? If I am to be tried, no time should be lost, For
presently I shall be silent, and give up the ghost, when of course,
all chance of clearing myself will be gone for ever.
Ver. 17. 23*3*sa for B3*3?S3. S*3n let enter into your ears.
Ver. 18. asa/a for *aBa5a my cause.
pT5S *3S I shall be just ; i.e., I shall be declared just, I shall
come out just from the trial.
Ver. 19. a*n; for 3*n*T "1$$ who will plead.
nna now; i.e., presently, shortly. See note on this
word, supra vii. 21.
Vers. 20 — 22. Having requested his friends to listen attentively
to his statement of his case, he now addresses himself to God,
saying : —
Only, the following two things, do not do to me, then, will I not
conceal myself from before Thee. Then, I shall have no occasion
to skulk away, as a malefactor would do, who dared not face his
judge. Let not, namely, Thine hand press heavily upon me, and
Thy dread terrify me, but, on the contrary, (Ver. 21,) Remove
Thine hand far from upon me, and let Thy terror not affright me.
(Ver. 22.) And then call, and I will answer, or, let me speak, and
answer Thou me. I am so confident of the justice of my cause,
that, whether it is Thy divine will that I should consider myself
as the defendant, or the plaintiff, it is all one to me, I am prepared.

Ver. 21. 'TBS Thine hand; i.e., Thy blow, or punishment. In the same
sense, T hand, is also sometimes used ; as in Exod. ix. 3, nin* T [the] hand
of Jehovah, (i.e., the plague of Jehovah) is upon the cattle, &c.
Ver. 22. *33*a?ni for ~)3T *33*a>ni lit., return a ivord to me ; i.e., answer
me. Comp. "la^T 3*a3B (Prov. xviii. 13) One returning a word ; i.e., one
answering a matter.
Job, having left it entirely to God, either to call upon him for an
answer, or to allow him to plead, could not very well go on
speaking, without first waiting to see, whether God would, or
would not, propose a question to him. It is, therefore, very pro-

122 CHAPTER XIII. 23—26.
bable, as Wolfssohn most judiciously observes, that Job here
checked himself and paused a little, till at length, hearing no
voice, he concluded it was for him to speak, and said :
Ver. 23. How many iniquities and sins have I? Make me to
know my trespass and my sin.
*7 na3 lit., how many [are there] to me? i.e., how many belong to me ? how
many have I ?
We shall give here Wolfssohn's own words on Ver. 22, referred to above :
,apiPP PipPPPPl ]'313p P7P13P in D'TPP D'ip Pl'P PIP fnppp DU1P ipft TUiP
'3 1P1P131 ,")37 P13 7U 1'PPPl ppf>pp , TJ7P '33P IP ,PPP PTp D'Pipi 31'P -)PPD OPP '3
•'131 'i PP3 IPP'l 113PDP -jnui ipp ,D'TJ7 j'Pl "7P1P ]'P1 ,Plp' PIDi
" After the translation of this verse (Ver. 22) I have placed several lines, which
are to indicate a pause in the reasoning, and the checking himself of the speaker ;
for, after Job said to God, ' Call Thou, or let me speak,' he checked himself, and
waited till a word should come [to his ear,] but, on his perceiving, that he was
waiting in vain, and that there was no speech and no words, he began to arrange
his cause, and said, ' How many, &c."
Vers. 24 — 26. Why shouldest Thou hide Thy countenance from
me ? Why refuse to have regard unto me, and to my prayer ?
And consider me as Thine enemy. As a hardened and incorrigible
sinner, who says within his heart, There is no God. (Ver. 25.)
Wilt Thou crush a driven leaf, or wilt Thou pursue dry stubble ?
(Ver. 26.) That Thou writest down bitter things against me.
Decreest bitter punishments against me. And entailest upon me the
punishments incurred in my boyhood. I do not remember ever to
have done anything deserving punishment; I may indeed have
done so, when a boy, without even knowing that I was doing
wrong, but wilt Thou visit upon me now all that I sinned in
then?
Ver. 24. "'''npn T.3B shouldest Thou hide Thy countenance, as though I was
held in abomination by Thee. We find that it is said of Cain, that Jehovah had
no respect unto (i.e., did not look upon) him, and his offering (Gen. iv. 5). And
so the Psalmist prays, in Ps. cii. 2, " Hide not Thy face from me, &c."
T? 3*isb lit., for an enemy to Thee ; i.e., as Thine enemy.
Ver. 25. T|p pushed, or driven (by the wind).
Ver. 26. *aaT7ini lit., and shouldest make me to possess ; i.e., shouldest entail
upon me.

CHAPTER XIII. 26—28. 123
ni31? iniquities, but here, the consequences they bring upon those, who
commit them, punishments, as in Gen. iv. 13. See note on Iby.B supra vii. 2.
Vers. 27, 28. And puttest my feet in the stocks, and watchest all
my paths. All my movements ; as those of a prisoner are watched,
lest he should escape from his punishment. They (the stocks)
imprint themselves upon the ankles of my feet, (Ver. 28) And it
(each of my feet) wasteth away like a rotten thing, like a garment,
which the moth hath consumed.
Ver. 27. 7? lit., a block of wood, by which is evidently meant here, either
stocks, in which the legs of prisoners are put, or a block, or clog, of wood, such
as is fastened to the leg of an animal, to impede its movements. We are inclined
to think the latter is meant, in consequence of what is said in the next clause, and
that thou shouldest watch all my paths (i.e., movements), since this could hardly
be said of one, whose legs were put in stocks of the ordinary description, which
do not allow of the slightest movement.*
vf] >?P7^ lit., the roots of my feet; i.e., my ankles, which are thus very
appropriately termed, since with them the legs terminate and feet begin. It would
be upon them of course, that the stocks or clogs would exercise their chief
pressure, a pressure which, in Job's case, must have been more than ordinarily
severe, seeing that his ankles were, no doubt, greatly swollen and ulcerated.
We are fully aware that, in translating *b?7 ''V?"!® ankles of my feet, we are
guilty both of tautology and inexactitude ; as for the tautology, the Auth. Vers.,
which has, heels of my feet, may, with equal right, be accused of it ; as for the
inexactitude, which consists in adding of my feet, when the two Hebrew words
together mean only my ankles, as being the roots of the feet, it has been in
tentionally committed, for the purpose of referring the Sini , with which the
next verse begins, to 1237 my feet, and not to s737. '1S?7tt? my ankles, as is
done in our translation, where we wished to avoid the tautology.
npnnn lit, it (i.e., the block of wood) imprints itself. We take this verb
to be the third pers. sing. fem. fut. Hithp. of npn to impress, or imprint,
agreeing with "IB a sing, noun, found only in the verse before us, and infra
xxxiii. 11, and which very likely was either of fem., or common, gender. The
circumstance, that stocks in English is a plural noun, obliged us to render
* Herz Homburg is of the same opinion, for he remarks on the word ib? :
33 TiPDPl DUU PP 3"iPD ]i'i il3' 33P PTJ' piD '73 O'TPPP bit 13 D'P'DPD pp PIP
• >P)Vlft
" That [is] the [block of] wood, in which they put the feet of [every one of] the
prisoners, in order that he may not run away ; but, nevertheless, he is able to walk about,
for if [it be] not so (if hy ip be not meant, a block or clog of wood), what [would be]
the meaning of, ' And that Thou shouldest watch all my paths ' ? "

124 chapter xiii. 28; xiv. 1 — 4.
n^nnn teey imprint themselves. The Auth. Eng. Vers., as well as all other
translations, which we have consulted, makes this verb refer to God ; by doing
which, however, a transitive signification is given to a Hithpa-al.
Ver. 28. Sin1] and it ; i.e., each of the feet. See note on lana supra vi. 17.
We must confess that we are quite amazed at the manner in which Sini has
been handled by all the Commentators and Translators, we have had the oppor
tunity of consulting. The translators of the Auth. Vers, render it, and he,
without telling us to whom the pronoun refers. Others say it refers to Job
himself, and that he speaks of himself in the third person. Others would make
it refer to man generally. Others, again, would transpose it to the next Chapter,
which, comparatively speaking, is not half so bad. But we cannot see why it
may not refer to b.37 foot (implied in 1/?7) which is found in the masc. gend. in
Jer. xiii. 16 ; and surely, a man, who was full of sores from the sole of his foot
to the crown of his head, might well say that his feet, unable to support their
vitality on account of the pressure exercised on his ankles by the tight grasp of
the stocks, were wasting away " like a rotten thing."
That a sing, pron., referring to a plur. noun, individualizes the objects comprised
in the plur. noun, must be known to every one at all familiar with the Hebrew
language, as it is of very frequent occurrence. We have already had occasion
several times to notice this construction.
W3 l7a^ for a?a 173S ")tPS which [the] moth has eaten, consumed.

CHAPTER XIV.
Vers. 1 — 4. Man — born of woman, short of days, yet full of
trouble, (Ver. 2) Cometh forth like a flower, and is cut off ; yea,
he fleeth like the shadow, and abideth not. (Ver. 3.) Even upon such
an one. So low, so abject, and so shortlived, a creature. Dost
Thou open Thine eyes, and me wilt Thou bring into judgment with
Thee ? (Ver. 4.) Oh, that, from an unclean-thing, a clean-thing
could come out ! Oh, that a man could be born sinless of sinful
parents ! Not one. Ever will. The Psalmist says, Ps. li. 5,
" Behold, I was shapen in iniquity ; and in sin did my mother
conceive me," and from the present verse, it is evident, that Job
was fully aware of this great, though sad, truth. He wishes it

CHAPTER XIV. 4 — 7. . 125
had been otherwise, but has no hope it ever will be so, and is, there
fore, amazed at God's dealing so severely with a creature " shapen
in iniquity, and conceived in sin." The Auth. Vers, translates
this verse, " who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? Not
one," and in a similar way, it is rendered by many others. We
could not, however, bring ourselves to adopt this translation, and
for two reasons. First, the phrase \F\) ^12 , though of very
frequent occurrence, is never used excepting in an optative sense,
like the Latin utinam ; and secondly, to say, that no one can bring
out a clean thing from an unclean one, would, we fear, in some
manner, be limiting the Omnipotence of the Almighty.
Ver. 3. n| is not to be taken here in its usual demonstrative sense of this, but
in the descriptive one of such; i.e., such an one as here described. Comp.
Cantic. v. 16, pbttfcn*. ni33 *Sn nil *TT nj Such [is] my love, and such
my friend, 0 daughters of Jerusalem !
Vers. 5, 6. If his days are determined, if the number of his
months is with Thee. If they are known to none but Thyself.
If Thou hast made his boundaries, that he cannot pass them.
(Ver. 6.) Then, at least, look away from him. Be not thus ever
on the watch for any little error he may commit, but rather look
with indulgence on his faults, so that he may cease to suffer, until
he shall be pleased with his last day, as an hireling. Just as a
hireling, who, having engaged to work with his master for a
certain time, is pleased, when the last day of that period arrives,
so let man pass through his career comfortably, and without
suffering, until, owing to old age, and the infirmities inseparable
from it, he shall look forward with longing to his approaching end.
Ver. 6. b*Tn** for 2231 baa niN7a b*tn*1 that he may cease from expe
riencing trouble and vexation.
iai* his [last] day. Comp. Ps. xxxvii. 13, "Jehovah shall laugh at him,
for He seeth that Iai* his last day is coming." So 1 Sam. xxvi. 1 0, " Or,
Iai* his last day will come, and he will die." Also, infra xv. 32, " It will
come to an end iai* Sva when his last day shall not yet be," (i.e., even before
his last day shall come.)
Vers. 7 — -12. Having bewailed the short duration of human
life, as well as the miseries, which attend it, Job now laments, that

126 CHAPTER XIV. 7  12.
there should be no hope whatever for man beyond the grave.
He says :
Surely, there is hope for the tree, though it be hewn-down, that it will
again flourish, and that its branch will not fail. (Ver. 8.) Though
its root wax old in the earth, and its stem die in the ground;
(Ver. 9) Yet, through the scent of water, it will bud, and produce a
bough, like a young plant. (Ver. 10.) But when a man dieth,
after he hath been ill, when a man expireth, then, where is he?
(Ver. 11.) The waters will have failed from the sea, and the river
have wasted, and become dry. (Ver. 12.) And yet the man, who
hath lain down, will not arise. Sooner will the sea and the large
rivers waste and dry up, than the dead arise from their graves.
Till the heavens are no more, will they not awake, nor be aroused
from their sleep. Their sleep is for eternity.
Ver. 7. H'bn* lit., it will change (its state). The verb *pn denotes a change,
either of place, or condition ; when of condition, the change may be either for
the better, as Isa. xl. 31, "and those, who wait for Jehovah, 1B*3n* will
change (for the better ; i.e., renew) their strength ; " or for the worse, as in Isa.
ii. 18, " and the idols *lbn* b*b3 * He shall altogether abolish " (lit., shall
make to change (their state), i.e., shall make them pass from existence into
non-existence. When this verb has reference to a plant or tree, it is generally
used in a good sense, to denote, namely, that, from being leafless, and withered,
it has become full of sap and clothed with foliage. Comp. Ps. xc. 5, Tsnip
*)bn* as the grass [which] groweth up. It may, however, also be, that IvQ*
in the verse before us stands for ns fl*7D. it will renew [its] strength, or vigour,
by which of course would be meant its sap.
Ver. 9. s23 a plant. The proper form is aB3 , the Segol having being
changed into a Kawmels by the pause. Wolfssohn, however, considers it to be
a verb, and comments upon it as follows : —
• D7PP lPl6 UU13P 13133 lifo -pOl (J3» PDU'1
" And it will produce a branch and foliage (lit., a shed,) as if the planter had
planted it afresh."
Ver. 10. ^70*1 after that he has been ill. This word is quoted by Kimchi,
in order to prove, that the 1 which converts the future into the past, has in
addition the power of making a future tense refer to a past time, antecedent
to the time referred to by another verb preceding it, and, in accordance with his
views, we render this hemistich : " But when a man dieth, ^b.O'l after he hath
previously been ill."
As Kimchi adduces, in proof of this power of the 1 conversivum, several
other passages from Scripture, and, as, before Mason and Bernard's Grammar
* See our note on this word, supra xi. 10.

CHAPTER XIV. 10  12. 127
was published, very few in this country, if any, seem to have known anything
about what he says upon the subject, and certainly not those, who have published
Hebrew Grammars, we cannot help thinking, that we shall be rendering the
Hebrew student a service, by quoting from the blbaa , and translating, his
remarks on this most important feature of the 1 conversivum. They are as
follows :
nns *n iaa i*3ab -ia>s baan btp -13a naaa? *a*n miaa* 1 a?*i
nia* -iaai • ia*ba nasp *3 ba lasan iaai naib nsn sana.i nasa,
bs **"i* ns fins sb?sil > nbn*i a>bn* niai» anp *a a?bn -1331 a?bn»i
» t t v ' -: - t • - J ¦ t . : v -
nns *3 ti* 1331 2*abaJm nbam nsann nvsva "n»i TaB-a** aan
— . T . _ . T T . t-- -:¦• v— L "-:t.*- t t
n*na> ins *3 r\y 1331 n'a»i n?sT>1-Q^73 sini > bb-q nbian ma?aa n*a>
B*abin b-isi > na*i mis nnisna a7*a-in sbl ma*a*a a-na aa*i n*s
• T *'.T- '
B*an iapaa -1331 B*an iapa*i n3->nb a*n ns ea^i > a?H3 1331 a?S3si
• nnn ina>3*a? nsinb a*n aa? 73 -insi
" And there is a 1 which points to a time that has already past before [the
action expressed by] the verb that is before it, ' Behold, Thou (nBIJ^) hast been
wroth (^Hpl) because we [first] had sinned' [Isa. lxiv. 4], meaning to say,
For we had previously sinned [and] therefore Thou hast been wroth against us :
— ' But a man (ma*) will die (^bn*1) when he hath [First] been ill' [Job
xiv. 10], [meaning to say] ' when he hath previously been ill, for befone that he
will die he will be taken ill and be sick : ' — ' [ ( *7ns SJ&*1 ) And Aaron lifted-
up his hands towards the people (a3l3*l) and blessed them] (77*3) when he had
[first] come down from offering the sin-offering, and the burnt-offering, and the
peace-offerings ' [Lev. ix. 22], [meaning to say] When he had previously come
down, for after that he had come down from offering the sin-offering [then] he
blessed them: — 'And he (Sisera) (2173) was fast- asleep, (*)?J3) for he had
[previously] been [very] tired, so he died' [Judg. iv. 21], [meaning to say]
Seeing that previously [to going to sleep] he had been [very] tired ; for after that
he was [very] tired and weary he went fast to sleep by reason of his weariness,
and so he did not perceive her smiting him, and died: — '(21^1) And it (the
Manna) bred worms (tt^a'l) after it had [first] become corrupt ' [Exod.
xvi. 20], [meaning to say] that it had previously [to producing worms] become
corrupt: — '(Bltf**) And Re turned the sea into dry land (2*an Ijjpa**) after
that the waters were [first] divided [Exod. xiv. 21],' [meaning to say] that the
waters were^z«< divided, and afterwards He turned the sea into dry land, for
the wind dried it up."
Vers. 1 1, 12. These two Verses are thus translated in the English version :
" As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth, and drieth up : So
man lieth down, &c. ; " and the authors of all the other translations we have
consulted, English, German, French, Latin, &c, with one exception, take the
figure in the same sense, though some of them, having seemingly felt the absurdity
of making the sea, and a river, such as could stand in parallelism with the sea,
fail, and be dried up, thought to remedy the evil by rendering B* pool, or lake,

128 CHAPTER XIV. 12  15.
altogether overlooking the simple way of explaining the passage, which we have
followed, and by which as beautiful a figure is obtained, as ever was offered by a
poet. Wolfssohn, alone, has understood it as we do, though we did not borrow
the idea from him.
Vers. 13 — 15. To these three verses, we crave the reader's
particular attention, as, in our humble opinion, they irrefragably
prove our assertion, that Job was altogether unaware of any future
state of existence. For here he says in plain language, that
were there but the least chance of his existing in any other state,
at any future time after death, he would resign himself patiently
to the sufferings he is now undergoing. But, as, up to the close
of his last discourse, we shall hear him constantly complaining
and murmuring, and that in even stronger terms than he has
hitherto employed, he must needs have been quite settled in
his conviction, that death would effect his complete annihilation.
He says:
Oh that Thou wouldest hide me in the pit (grave), that Thou
wouldest conceal me there, till Thy wrath be past ! Would that my
descent into the grave did not bring with it my complete annihi
lation, but that, instead of ceasing to exist, I were only to be kept
there until such time as Thine anger should be appeased ! Would
that Thou wouldest appoint me a set-time, when Thou wouldest again
remember me ! Would that my imprisonment in the grave were only
for a fixed period, no matter how long, if I but knew that a time
would ultimately arrive when Thou wouldest again remember me!
Then would I patiently and calmly resign myself to Thy will, as long
as I was in this world, in confident hope, that there would come
one day, indeed, when my sufferings would find their termination
in the grave, — but another also, when the grave would again open,
and I should once more live, as a one time corrected, but ultimately
favourably accepted, child, before Thee ! But alas, alas, will this
ever be the case ? (Ver. 14.) When man dieth, will he ever live
again ? No such thing. All the days of my life-time, only, can I
hope (only, till my transition cometh). Only so long as I live in
this world, only till the time when I shall pass over into the
region of the dead, can I hope, that (Ver. 15) Thou wilt call, and
I shall answer Thee. That Thou wilt condescend to interrogate
me about the course of my life, and, by doing so, give me an

CHAPTER XIV. 13 — 15.

129

opportunity of proving my innocence. Only so long as I am in
this world, can I hope, that Thou wilt again long for the work of
Thine hands. That Thy bowels will yearn after Thine own child,
to whom Thou hast assigned so short a period of existence.
These three verses are of such great importance, that we hope
to be excused, if, notwithstanding our somewhat lengthy com
ments upon them, we place them again before the reader in the
way we would have them construed.
Ver. 13. "O^ri 7iN£>3 jJT *2? Oh that Thou wouldest hide
me in [the] pit (grave) !
5J2K y\& li! [Dt£| ^Tripri [That]Thou wouldest conceal
me [there], till [tlie] turn
ing [away] of Thine anger !
(i.e., till Thine anger have
passed away !)
¦^"Grni ph 'h JV#n [That] Thou wouldest ap
point for me a set-time,
when Thou wouldest re
member me! (i.e., that
Thou wouldest confine
me in the grave, only for
a certain time, till it
should be Thy divine
pleasure to recall me
into life ! But will this
ever be so ?)
Ver. 14. rrrrn 735 fllD1 DK When [once] man dies, will
he live [again] ? Cer
tainly not, only
All [the] days of my life
time, can I hope,
(1J7.21'?n 813 li!) (Till my transition comes);
(i.e., only until I pass
from this world into
the grave can I hope,)
Ver. 15. ^.y/N "gj*tt S7j7n [That] Thou mayest [still]
call, and I answer Thee ;
K

7rTK ^83¥ iD"> 73

130 CHAPTER XIV. 15 — 17. (i.e., that Thou mayest
still give me an oppor
tunity of proving my
innocence to Thee,)
*p21 ?pT lii!i!Db [That] Thou wilt [again]
long for [the] work of
Thine hands.
Ver. 14. 1^2*i My lifetime ; the time appointed me to live in this world. Comp.
S2K supra vii. 1.
*ri3*bn My trans-ition, change (of condition) ; i.e., my passage over from life
into death. (See note on ^IVG1, ver. 7.) It will be perceived that we take
the words lna*bq Sia IV parenthetically.
Vers. 16, 17. (Surely now, Thou numberest my footsteps. Thou
notest all my movements, and resentest every little deviation from
the path of rectitude. Dost Thou not watch over my sin ? Dost
Thou not keep Thine eye upon all my doings, so as not to over
look even the most trifling fault? (Ver. 17.) My trespass is
sealed up in a bag. As a miser putteth his money in a bag, and
setteth a seal thereon, that nothing may be lost, so dost Thou hoard
up my trespasses. Thou patchest it (the bag) up to prevent the
escape of mine iniquity. With such care dost Thou store up my
iniquities in Thy bag, that, if Thou seest the slightest possibility
of its giving way in any part, so that some of them might slip out
and be lost, Thou immediately stoppest up the hole with a patch.)
These two Verses are evidently parenthetical.
Jarchi comments as follows upon the first hemistich of Ver. 17 :
•73PP piD Pl'ijIPl (7P33 7J3 11TJ3 IPIDPI DPP
" [It is] sealed-up, and kept, in a bag of cloth, like silver and pearls, that
it may not be lost."
Ver. 16. ^b for ^brr. Comp. 1 Sam. xiv. 30, n3a nnaa rib Would not
[the] slaughter have been greater ? " &c.
We quote the following from Schlottmann, on the second hemistich of this
verse, and boldly appeal to the j udgment of the reader, whether this commentator had
any right to indulge in such far-fetched and unnatural, if not blasphemous,explana-
tions, when the verse may be rendered so plain, simple, and intelligible, by merely
prefixing the interrogative n to the negative part. "7, an ellipsis of which we
have quoted an example here, and might have quoted many more, had we not

CHAPTER XIV. 16  20. 13J
feared that, by doing so, we should lay ourselves open to the charge of unneces'
sary prolixity. Schlottmann says, namely : — " Und wdgest meine Siinde nicht
ab. Dies nehmen wir mit Ewald als den wahrscheinlichsten Sinn der Worte
*riSan ba "liatp'n rib, eigentl. du giebst nicht genau Acht auf meine Siinden,
sondern nimmst sie mit einer gewissen Willkiir fiir eine grosse Summe an."
Ver. 17. SM» b? b'Bani, lit., Yea, Thou hast put-[putte&t\-a-pateh
against mine iniquity, i.e., so as to prevent it slipping out of the bag.
Vers. 18 — 22. Having, in his present discourse (Vers. 5, 6)
alluded to the limited duration of human life, the poet now, lest
he should be misunderstood, and be thought to have expressed
the wish that human life had no end, declares the contrary, saying :
But surely, a falling mountain must wear away, and a rock may
be removed from its place. Since, then, the most solid and lasting
of the works of God, such as mountains and rocks, come to
an end, how could frail man live for ever? But what I lament is
this, that while, from the havoc and ruin which arise in the
inanimate world, through the strife of the elements, there generally
results some good, indeed, sometimes, very great blessings — this
is by no means the case with man, when he is destroyed. (Ver. 19.)
When waters have ground stones to powder. When an inundation
occurs so violent, that the stones hurried along by it are, through
their friction and mutual attrition, ground to powder (an inundation,
therefore, attended with great devastation and havoc), there
is generally (especially in Egypt) great hope that the ground will
thereby be enriched and fertilized to such a degree, that the soil
of the earth will abundantly overflow with its second crops. That
the following harvest will be so rich, and the ears so large and
full of grain, that an after-crop will spring up of its own accord.
Whereas, the hope of frail-man Thou hast destroyed. As soon as
he is removed from this world, no trace is left of him, and no
good can possibly come out of him. Neither is there any hope
left for him, but, on the contrary (Ver. 20), Thou overpowerest him
for ever, after he is gone. There is no chance at all left of his
ever being productive of any good. He changeth altogether his
appearance, after Thou hast despatched him. When mountains
fall, or rocks are rubbed away, their particles still remain the
same ; but, when man dies, skin, flesh, blood, and sinews, all are
transformed into mould, bearing no resemblance whatever to what
k 2

132 CHAPTER XIV. 18—22.
they were during his life-time. Feeling and sensation cease at
the same time, pleasure and pain, joy and grief, all die together
with him, (Ver. 21.) So that his children may be numerous, yet he
will not know it, or they may be few, but he will not perceive them.
(Ver. 22.) Only as long as his flesh is upon him, can it feel pain ;
and only as long as his mind is with him, can it mourn.
The verses before us should be construed thus :
Ver. 18. biS1 ^Sij "IH D71K1 But surely a fallen mountain
must wear away,
i/DipSD pny1 ")1¥1 Yea, a rock may be moved from
its place. (So that every
thing in this world is transi
tory, and therefore, man ; but
it is heartrending to know,
that)
Ver. 19. 0^38 1pnB> DI? [OK] [When] waters have ground
stones to powder (hope may
be fairly entertained that)
(TrTap tp$ft pK 12% [The] soil of [the] earth will
overflow [with] its second crops
(so that ruin itself carries
with it the elements of bless
ings ;)
rn3Kn ^i2K_ nipni Whereas [the] hope of frail-man
Thou hast [utterly] destroyed
(so that no hope whatever
can be entertained with re
spect to him ;)
Ver. 20. pH'] ny.37 lilQpnri Thou overpowerest him for ever,
after he is gone.
&c, &c.
Ver. 19. n*n*BB f\fo£F\ Will overflow [with] its second crops. Comp. Isa.
x. 22, nfHS ^aiaJ overflowing-[with] righteousness. Also Levit. xxv. 5,
TTSp n*Bp [the] second or after-crop of thy harvest ; and 2 Kings xix. 29
Isa. xxxvii. 30, where n*BB occurs in its absolute form, and again, in the
meaning of what grows of its own accord, i.e., after-crop, second crop.
Ver. 20. inBpnn Thou overpowerest him. Kosenmuller recommends us to

CHAPTER XV. 2, 4. 133

consider it as put for ia t\pOft , but we should like to know what occasion there
is for this. The verb *\pft occurs only three times, viz.,' here, infra xv. 24, and
Eccles. iv. 12 ; and in all these instances is found with an objective pronominal
affix, and not with a preposition.
'iiarT.I after he is gone. ) For the true force of the 1 con-
innpa?ni after Thou hast despatched him. J versivum in these two verbs, see
our note on aTbq'lj ver. 10.
1*3B, lit., his face; but here used to denote appearance generally ; just as V.V,
an eye, sometimes occurs in the sense of appearance, as in Num. xi. 7, 13*51
n7"Tan ]*?3 And its appearance [was] like [the] appearance of bdellium.
Ver. 21. i*22 1133* his children may be numerous. Comp. Exod. xii. 38,
"T33 n3pa much cattle. We prefer taking the verb "133 here in this sense,
in order to keep up the antithesis with l"1^*"! or they may be few, in the second
hemistich. We are glad to see Kimchi is with us, though we cannot deny that
equally great authorities favour the translation given in the English Version.
Ver. 22. Before the word l"1^? his flesh, T37 b3 as long as, should be under
stood, and the same words should be supplied in the second hemistich.

CHAPTER XV.
Vers. 2 — 6. Should a wise-man utter windy thoughts], and fill his
belly with the east-wind ? (Ver. 3.) To reason on a matter which
cannot profit, and that with words wherewith one can do no good.
To reason about afflictions, which are sent by God, is in itself alto
gether absurd, as the sufferer cannot expect to remove them by his
reasoning ; if, however, he must complain, he should accompany
his complaints with prayers and supplications to Him from whom
his sufferings come, when haply He might be moved to pity ; and
not use harsh words, from which no good can possibly result.
But not only is such reasoning idle and useless, it is positively
mischievous. (Ver. 4.) Yea, thou sappest the fear of the
Almighty, and takest away prayer before God. Thou settest a
bad example. Since, in the days of thy prosperity, the people
used always to look up to thee, as to their leader and instructor,
they will of course not fail to note how thou behavest now that

134 CHAPTER XV. 4 — 9.
affliction hath been sent upon thee by God ; and, hearing thee
indulge in grumbling, murmuring, and cursing, instead of seeking
help in prayer, they will naturally be led to conduct themselves
similarly under .similar circumstances. (Ver. 5.) Surely, thine
own mouth teacheth thine iniquity. Appriseth and informeth us of
thine iniquity. Although thou hast chosen the language of the
crafty. Even though thou avoidest saying in plain words that
there is no God, this will avail thee very little ; for, if thou main-
tainest that God does not care how things go on in this world, but
allows the wicked man to do what he likes with impunity, thou
dost in reality deny the providence of God, and, consequently,
declarest thyself, in spite of the gloss thou givest to thy speeches,
by expatiating upon the power and wisdom of God, to be neither
more nor less than an atheist. (Ver. 6.) Thine own mouth con-
demneth thee, and not I; and thine own lips testify against thee.
Do not, therefore, say, " My brethren have dealt deceitfully "
(supra vi. 15) ; it is not thy friends who condemn thee, it is thine
own mouth, thine own lips.
Ver. 3. *i33* rib for *i3?* rib ia;S: which cannot profit. So again, rib
22 b*3?i* for 2a b*3i* rib taJS wherewith one can do no good. We take
7*ai* to be impersonal.
Ver. 4. "'Bf1, lit., thou wilt break, or break down, fut. Hiph. of n*lS to break,
destroy, &c.
nsn* for *^.a? ns-i* [the] fear of [the] Almighty, or B*ribN: nsa* [the] fear of
God. '
Vers. 7 — 16. Wast thou, Oman. O Job. First made? Before
all other men. Or wast thou formed before the hills? Job, having
said (supra xii. 12), " With the aged then will be wisdom, and with
length of days understanding," his friend now asks him whether he
had lived before the world began, that he esteems himself so wise.
(Ver. 8.) Didst thou hear the counsel of God? When He com
muned with the sons of God, who assembled round Him, to cele
brate in chorus the creation of the world. (Comp. infra xxxviii. 7.)
Or hast thou taken away wisdom to thyself? So as to leave none for
any one else. (Ver. 9.) What knowest thou, that we know not ?
What dost thou understand, which is not with us ? Which is beyond
us. It will be seen (infra xviii. 3) that, in the discussion carried

CHAPTER XV. 9 — 15. 135
on between Job and his friends, he is not always regarded as
a single individual, but rather as the representative of the party
whose views he holds, that of the philosophers, namely, who wish
to understand, and account for, everything ; while his friends, on
the contrary, represent the orthodox party, whose principle it is
to declare everything that comes from God good and right,
whether it be comprehensible or incomprehensible to the human
intellect. Hence the plural D3131J^3 in your eyes, used by
Bildad (though speaking to Job alone) in the chapter alluded to,
that is, in the eyes of you philosophers. In like manner, in the
verse before us, Eliphaz says (Ver. 10), Both grey-headed, and
very aged, men are amongst us. Amongst us orthodox people.
Men, that number more days than thy father. (Ver, 11.) Are
our powerful consolations too little for thee ? We have offered
thee many powerful and efficacious consolations; we have told
thee more than once, that thou hast only to humble thyself before
thy Maker, and to acknowledge His justice, and He will not fail
to extend to thee once more His mercy. Is this then too little
for thee ? Hast thou tried and followed our advice, and been dis
appointed? By no means; nay, hitherto, thou hast only given
way more and more to passion, and hast vented thy spleen in
expressions altogether insulting to God. To be sure, our conso
lations being powerful, were naturally couched in powerful lan
guage ; we have spoken boldly and fearlessly, as became old and
sincere friends ; but, on the other hand, Was there any gentle
word with thee ? Hast thou spared us more than we thee ? Hast
.thou been more measured in thy terms towards us than we
towards thee ? Were we not called by thee " patchers up of lies,
worthless physicians? " (See supra xiii. 4.) Where, then, is thy
claim to leniency on our part? (Ver. 12.) Why should thine
heart carry thee away, and what do thine eyes wink at? What
is meant by those terrible hints thou throwest out about the non
existence of a Providence, and about this world's being left to mere
chance, without a supreme superintendent? (Ver. 13.) That
thou shouldest turn thy spirit against God, and bring forth such
words from thy mouth. (Ver. 14.) What is frail-man, that he should
be pure ; or he that is born of a woman, that he should be just !
(Ver. 15.) Lo! He hath no confidence in His holy-ones, and the

136 CHAPTER XV. 16 — 19.
heavens are not pure in His eyes. (Ver. 16.) Much less, that
abominable and filthy being, man, which drinketh iniquity like
water. Which thirsteth after what is iniquitous and wicked, like
one that is parched with thirst after water.
Ver. 7. The first hemistich of this verse must be construed as though written :
t B7S -ibin liaJsin Art thou [the] first made, O man ?
We gratefully acknowledge that we are indebted to Herz Homburg for this
ingenious rendering. All the other commentators, we are not a little surprised to
find, translate 21S ITOST [the] first man, it having escaped them that the words,
to have this meaning, should stand thus : fit&Sn 27S.
The verb lb* in Niph. literally means to be born, but, as this cannot be said of
the first man, we have preferred translating it to be made, or produced.
Ver. 8. T2an, lit., whether [the] counsel, the 3 being either pleonastic, or the
mark of the object, case. See note on *Bapa? supra iii. 9.
Ver. 9. l*an for VBJ-I na What dost thou understand?
Ver. 11. bs niairon powerful consolations. Comp. bs *t"]S (Ps. lxxx. 11)
mighty cedars. We could not possibly follow the usual translation, viz., consola
tions of God, as it would be, in our opinion, in the highest degree absurd to tell
an unfortunate sufferer, who had complained of the continual renewal of his
sores by God, that he was receiving consolations from Him.
BS7 "137 a gentle word. So it is taken by Kimchi, as well as by Wolfssohn.
If it be thought better to consider 2Sv here as an adverb, then "1127 spoken,
should be understood after "137 a word gently spoken.
Ver. 12. liajl1 do they wink. This word is a c«ra£ Xeyopevov, but the verb
tB~l, in the same acceptation, very frequently occurs in the writings of the
Rabbins. Ver. 13. 7*ba for nbss **ba words like these.
Ver. 16. nnta for now -ia;S 0r nnwn that [is] drinking.
Vers. 17 — 21. I will shew thee; listen to me ; I will declare,
both that which I have seen, and also (Ver. 18) That, which wise-
men tell (without concealing it), as having received it from their
fathers. (Ver. 19.) (To them, alone, the land was given, and no
stranger passed among them.) I am going to relate, both what I
have learned from my own experience, and also what I have heard
wise men say, freely and without reserve communicating all that
they had learned from their fathers. These, having lived in a
happy age, when their country was not disturbed by foreign
invasion, were enabled accurately to observe the course of things
in this world, and their testimony may, therefore, be received by
thee with implicit reliance.

CHAPTER XV. 20—24. 137
And the result of their experience, as well as that of my own,
is, that (Ver. 20) All the days of the wicked-man, he is tormenting
himself With gloomy presentiments. And, that, during the
number of years, which are laid up for the tyrant, (Ver. 21)
There is a dreadful voice in his ears, telling him, that in peace
even. When he has every reason to think himself secure and
safe. A spoiler will come upon him.
Ver. 17. "Oin nr; for *n*m -ips nn both that, which Ihave seen.
n~].BBSl I will even declare, the 1 being here not conjunctive, but conductive.
See note on Bnba?*1 supra, viii. 4.
Ver. 18. 07(73 "7"]) (and have not concealed,) i.e., without concealing it,
without reserve. These two words should be taken parenthetically.
BniBSa for Bni3_Sa 13*Ba; ia5s what they have heard from their
fathers. Ver. 19. The whole of this verse should be taken parenthetically.
Ver. 20. The second hemistich of this verse should be connected with the first
of the next. (See note on na supra vi. 29.)
Before 13B?a were laid, stored, up, reserved, supply the relat. pron. ~I5PS .
Ver. 21. After i1??^? in his ears, *3 ib "IBSb telling him, that, should be
understood. Vers. 22 — 24: He doth not believe, he will return from darkness.
That he will ever be able to extricate himself from the gloom and
misery, which will be his lot. Seeing that he is watched by his
fate for the sword. He is impressed with the belief, that his fate
is watching him very closely, ready to smite him with the sword,
and he is therefore afraid to venture out from his dwelling. If
at all (Ver. 23) He doth stir abroad, it is to ask for bread, saying,
" Where is it ? " Nothing but urgent hunger can induce him to
go out, because He knoweth, that the day of darkness is ready at
his hand. He is aware, that his doom is sealed, and his end is
close upon him. (Ver. 24.) Trouble and calamity affright him ;
it (calamity), like a mighty and irresistible king, will overpower
him. (Comp. iEjtf D1p7K "^bl2 (Prov. xxx. 31) a king, against
whom [there is] no rising up f) he is destined for its ball. He is
destined to be incessantly tossed about by calamity, like a ball.
(Comp. Isa. xxii. 18, where Shebna, the treasurer, is told, that
God will surely violently turn and toss him like 71^13 a
ball, &c.)

138 CHAPTER XV. 22 — 25.
Ver. 22. 31ttJ for 3ia?b lit., to return; i.e., that he will return.
'HPn darkness, very frequently used in Hebrew poetry for misfortune.
Sin 132* for Sin *132* (the reg. form) and he [is] watched, IBS being the
past part. Kal of n32 . In like manner, we shall find infra xii. 25. W?n for
*ia*an .
sb.S: poet, form for bs for.
Ver. 23. The first hemistich should be construed as follows : —
Kin 112 for Kin -ni DK If he [is] stirring about (it will be)
n*K OrM for i"K nfasb DT}bb bK^b fo as£ /or Jread,
saying, Where is it ? Where can it be had ?
Ver. 24. "M22? inBpnn like a king, will it (calamity) prevail over him (the
wicked man) ; he will be utterly unable to stem its torrent.
~)i7*33 7*ri5 [he (the wicked man) is] destined for [its] ball. Calamity is here
personified (just as in Lament, iii. 1 — 13, affliction is represented as a tyrant, with
a rod of wrath in his hand, &c.) [See Mason and Bernard's Grammar, Letter
xlvii. P.S. (c)] — and the wicked man is described as destined to be tossed about
by it, like a ball. (The reader is again referred to Isa. xxii. 18, quoted above.)
That "li7*3 is only another form of "1173 a ball, which occurs in the verse
j ust quoted from Isaiah, is admitted by Kimchi, as well as by Ben-Zev, though
neither of them take it as we do ; Kimchi, quoting the opinion of some, who
consider it to be figuratively used for a military movement performed in a circle,
while Ben-Zev offers several other views which our space does not allow us to
quote. We appeal, however, to the judgment of the reader, whether we ought
to indulge in such fanciful explanations (?) when the verse can be so well
construed and understood without them. We said, indeed, at the very beginning
of our commentary, that no reliance should be placed upon the accents in this
book, still there can be no harm in observing, that the Np33(|), after the word
^bas , quite agrees with the manner in which we divide the second hemistich
of this verse.
So many strange things have been said, by commentators, on this verse, that
we may be well excused for quoting here the opinion of Jarchi ; which is, that
"li7*3 is synonymous with 717*3 (infra xii. 1 1,) generally translated a spark,
but which he seems to have taken to mean, a flame. That the letters a and 7
sometimes interchange, is proved by him by the proper name n3*~) (Gen. x. 3,)
which in 1 Chron. i. 6, is n3*7 ; he would then translate "liT1?!? 7*m [he is]
destined for the flame, and his opinion might be supported by what is said of the
fate of the wicked man, infra xx. 26, " A fire not blown shall consume him."
The two words in question, however, should, by no means, be applied to the king,
as it is by Jarchi, but only to the wicked man.
Vers. 25 — 28. But, whence comes that panic terror, which has
befallen him ? Why has he all at once become so cowardly, as not
to venture out from his place, excepting when driven by the

CHAPTER XV. 25—28. 139
pangs of hunger ? It is because he is conscience-stricken, because
he knows that he deserves terrible and unheard of punishments ;
Because he hath stretched out his hand against God; and
strengthened himself against the Almighty. Because he has defied
God, just as he defied his rivals and adversaries. (Ver. 26.) He used
to run against Him, with neck erect. Proudly, with defiance in his
looks. With the thick bosses of his shields. Shielded as he was
against the weapons of his foes, he thought himself proof also
against the " arrows of the Almighty," against all punishments
from on high. (Ver. 27.) Because he hath covered his face with
his fatness, and made him rolls-of-fat upon his flank[s]. By
gormandizing and stuffing himself with dainties, without leaving
the least morsel for the poor, he had " waxen very fat," and,
as a consequence, had grown very proud. So the Psalmist says of
proud and wicked tyrants (Ps. xvii. 10), " They are inclosed in
their own fat, with their mouth they speak proudly." Again,
he had been very proud of his conquests, of the victories he had
obtained over his enemies, of the devastation he had carried into
their territories, of the cities he had laid waste ; installed in his
tent, and surrounded by his numerous retinue, he had looked
down with pride and arrogance upon the ruins, which he
thought would hand down his name and fame to the latest
generations. (Ver. 28.) And because he hath dwelt among ruined
cities, amongst houses, which man could no longer inhabit, which were
destined by him to be eternal heaps. Therefore he thought he
had immortalized his name, and that the pages of the latest
historian would be filled with his heroic deeds.
Ver. 26. "I^1?3 with [his] neck ; i.e., he had approached God, not in an humble
position, as the Psalmist exhorts us to do, saying (Ps. xcv. 6), " O come, let us
worship and bow down : let us kneel before Jehovah our Maker," but in a proud
and arrogant manner, with his neck erect. We are really at a loss to understand
what the authors of the Eng. Vers, can have meant by their translation of this
passage : " He runneth upon him, even on his neck."
nB*B rolls-of-fat, a cwraf Xcyo/^evov.
Ver. 27. lab 131??* rib for Ba 13tp.*. rib IPS which they do not inhabit;
i.e., which are uninhabited. Comp. Isa. li. 14, nnwb = nnt#a in the pit, as
translated in the Auth. Vers.
nnann were destined, a Hithpa-al for Niph-al. Comp. Lament, iv. 1,
n33Bna^n they are constantly poured-out.

140 CHAPTER XV. 29—32.
Vers. 29 — 30. But how vain are the calculations of the tyrant,
inflated though he be with pride and arrogance, in consequence
of his successes ! How futile are his plans ! How easily are
they rendered fruitless by the decrees of Providence! The
destructions he caused will one day come to a perpetual end, the
cities he laid waste — even the memorial of them will perish ; * the
spoils he carried off, the treasures he hoarded up, what will
become of them? Will they be lasting? Will he continue to
enjoy them for any length of time ? No, he shall not be rich, and
his wealth shall not endure; neither shall his (lit., their) achieve
ments extend on the earth. The fame of his victories and heroic
deeds shall not spread, they shall not be spoken of, or even
remembered, long. (Ver. 30.) He shall not depart out of dark
ness, a flame shall dry up his tender-branch, and he shall depart
from life in one breath of his mouth. Though so stout and strong,
and in the enjoyment of such perfect health, he will suddenly
drop down, and, with one gasp, expire.
Ver. 29. 233B lit., their accomplishment; i.e., the great deeds they have
accomplished, or achieved, their achievements. The absolute form of this word
is not to be met with in the Bible, but would seem to be nbaa , and to be
derived from the verb n ^3 to finish, to bring to an end, itself found only in
Isa. xxxiii. 1, 73-37 *FOa?3 lit., on thy finishing to deal treacherously ; i.e., when
thou hast ended thy treacherous dealings.
It will be perceived, that the poet, instead of speaking of the wicked tyrant
in the sing, numb., as he has hitherto done, says 2baa their achievements,
referring to tyrants in general. Changes of person and number in Hebrew are
of very frequent occurrence, particularly in this book. So Wolfssohn observes
on the word before us :
f'ipp TT7 p '3 ,7'P'P '1333 7'PP pi^pi ")PPD qP , D'31P '1333 oijp "JPPD bv PPPP ipi
• PD1P1 PD1P i33 DPP PTpP PPT T3P3 ,iS3 1PPPP1 j'PP TPD 'pblb PIP 1PP3
" And do not marvel at his saying, 2b3B with a plural affix, although he above
has constantly spoken with a singular affix, for this is the manner of the poet in
this book, to pay no attention whatever to gender and number, as the reader will
actually perceive in every section."
Vers. 31 — 35. Let him that hath been led astray. By his wicked
propensities. Have no confidence in that which is vain, for vain
also will be his reward. (Ver. 32.) It (the reward) will-come-to-
an-end before his last day, so that his branch will not he flourishing.
* Comp. Ps. ix. 6.

CHAPTER XV. 33 — 35. 141
(Ver. 33.) He will shake off his unripe-grape, as the vine, and, as
the olive, will he cast off his blossom. (Ver. 34.) For the com
munity of the hypocrite shall be cheerless, and fire shall consume
the dwellings of bribery. The dwellings, in which bribery has
been practised. (Ver. 35.) He conceived mischief, and so he shall
bring forth evil. For himself. Yea, their belly. Their inward
parts, their mind. Prepareth their own deceit. They deceive
themselves with exaggerated ideas of their own greatness, and
this overweening pride of theirs will lead to their ruin.
Ver. 31. The first hemistich of this verse should be construed
thus: li!12 [7^K] He [that] hath been led astray (by
wicked propensities, or self-
delusions).
\Q$! 'K Let him have no confidence
(according to the Kree) K1.t£>3 in that which [is] vain ;
Indian lit., His exchange, or equivalent ; i.e., that which he will receive as a
reward from the vanity in which he placed bis confidence.
Ver. 32. iai* ri7a lit., without his day ; i.e., before his last day has arrived.
See note on iai* supra xiv. 6.
N7B.PI lit., it (the reward he will receive) will become full ; i.e., will come to
an end.
Ver. 34. 7naj *7nS lit., tents of bribery; i.e., the dwellings, in which bribery
has been practised.
Ver. 35. nin to conceive, for Tin he conceived, an infin. for a past tense.
Comp. Jer. xiv. 5, " The hind in the field also calved 21*3*1; (for n3*3*) and
forsook (it)."
77*1 and to bring forth, for 73*1 and [so] he shall bring forth. Again an
infin. for a past tense, which, in this instance, is converted into a future by the "I .
B3B3, lit., their belly ; the poet, again, changing the number from the sing, to
the plur. refers to proud tyrants in general. See note on 233.B Ver. 29.

142 CHAPTER XVI. 2 — 6.

CHAPTER XVI.

Vers. 2 — 6. I have heard many such things. I have often heard
evil prognosticated to the wicked man, but I have very rarely seen
such prognostications realized ; it is very easy for you to predict all
sorts of calamities, as sure to befall him, but it would by no
means be so easy to adduce instances, in which such have really
befallen him. Troublesome comforters are ye all. (Ver. 3.)
Will there ever be an end to tvindy words ? Will you ever cease
adducing such futile reasons? Or what emboldeneth thee, that
thou shouldest answer ? Is it thy belief in the excellence of thy
arguments ? If so, undeceive thyself, thy arguments are so utterly
miserable, that, if thou hast no others to advance, if thou canst
bring no charge against me, to prove that I suffer justly, it were
a great deal better for thee, not to speak at all. (Ver. 4.) Should
I also speak as ye do, if ye were in my place ? If I were to see
you suffering as unjustly, as you see me, should I impute it to
you as a crime, if you complained of the injustice done you?
Should I say, that your own mouth condemned you, that your
own lips bore witness against you, that your own mouth taught
your iniquity? (Supra xv. 5, 6.) Should I aggravate your pain,
by treating you with injustice, though I saw you already smarting
with the sense of that done you by another ? No, I could not
be so cruel ; but rather would I join myself to you with my words.
I should give you to understand that I entirely agreed with you,
that you had great reason to complain; my words would be
in unison with your words, as my heart with your heart ; And
I would move my head at you. I would express my sympathy and
condolence. (Ver. 5.) I would either strengthen you with my
words. Address you with words of solace and comfort. Or my
moaning would restrain my speech. My grief would be so great,
and my moaning so incessant, as entirely to prevent my speaking.
But, as it is (Ver. 6), If I speak, my pain is not restrained, and, if
I refrain from speaking, what part, or particle, of my pain
departeth from me ? I am now in that condition, that, if I do
not gain anything by speaking, I at least know, that I shall gain
equally little by holding my tongue.

CHAPTER XVI. 3 — 7. 143
Ver. 3. I?^^ lit., will, or can, make thee strong ; i.e., can make thee bold,
embolden thee. We have already seen the verb Y^B in Niph. in the significa
tion of to be strong, powerful ; in Hiph. of course it has a causative sense, to
cause to be strong, make strong. See note on 1^7B3 supra vi. 25.
Ver. 4. "•aa* B3 for *33S B3q , or *33S Ea BSn whether I also ? &c.
*a*Ba nnn B3ipB3 B7* 17 lit., if your person (i.e., if any one of you) were in
stead of my person ; i.e., if any one of you were in my place :
n-i*ans for *a7pa n-i*ans i would join myself
na*3S) And f would move, &c. It has already been observed, that in Hebrew
poetry the phrase, to move one's head at one, is not used exclusively to express
derision, but sometimes also expresses sympathy and condolence. See note on
7133 supra ii. 11.
Ver. 6. The second hemistich of this verse should be construed
thus: T31 Or, moaning (i.e., or my moaning)
^JZTI1 would restrain
^2U? my lips (i.e., my speech).
The noun 7*3 is evidently derived from the verb 713 , which, amongst its
many significations, has that of moaning, groaning. Comp. Jer. xxxi. 18, " I
have surely heard Ephraim 7713na bemoaning himself, &c."
Ver. 6. n^-7nS1 for ~ia7B n77nsl or, if I refrain from speaking,
•^brr *2a na for *2N3 *aa *rbn* na what will go off (depart from) my
pain ? We could not bring ourselves to consider *3a as equivalent to 1?aa from
me, as most seem to do, since then it should be pointed *?B , as infra xxi. 16 ;
xxii. 18 ; but we take it to be the poetical form of ]B (as in this very chapter,
ver. 16, supra xv. 22, and in many other places), and supply after it the word
12S3 my pain, from the first hemistich.
Vers. 7 — 9. Surely now, He (God, who will be named in
Ver. 11) hath wearied me out. I am so exhausted, that I really
scarcely know what I am about, and cannot therefore determine
whether I ought to speak, or be silent. Thou hast destroyed all
my company. The whole company of my children. The reader
will perceive, that there is a change of person in this verse ; the
poet, in the first hemistich, speaking of God in the third, and in
the second, in the second person. Such changes are so frequent
in Hebrew, particularly in poetry, that we could fill whole pages
with examples ; we shall, however, content ourselves with quoting
one, viz., Judg. v. 31, where Deborah closes her song with the

144 CHAPTER XVI. 7  9.
following words : " So shall perish all "T^iK Thine enemies,
O Jehovah ; T3i7K1 but His lovers shall be as the sun, &c."
(Ver. 8.) And that Thou hast-made-me-full-of -wrinkles, hath
become a witness against me. The very circumstance of my
body having become covered with wrinkles, in consequence of
my disease,* is considered by my friends as a witness, giving
evidence of my guilt. So that my own leanness riseth up against me,
and beareth witness to my face. The emaciated state of my frame
is regarded by my friends as furnishing clear, palpable, proof of
my guilt ; for they cannot believe for a moment, that I should
have been reduced to such a miserable and frightful condition,
unless I had committed some crime to merit it. This sentiment
the reader will recollect had already been expressed by Job
(supra x. 17), when he said to God, "Thou renewest Thy wit
nesses against me," meaning thereby the fresh crops of sores,
which were continually coming out, and were regarded as so
many witnesses, rising up against him, to bear their testimony to
his guilt, as was explained in our comment on the passage.
(Ver. 9.) In His anger, He hath torn me to pieces, and hated
me ; He hath gnashed His teeth against me ; like mine adversary,
He sharpeneth His eyes against me. Just as I might expect an
adversary of mine to do, He fixeth His eyes intently upon me,
that none of my movements may escape Him.
Ver. 8. This verse should be construed thus :
^/Dpni for ^6?Ppn -)B?»! And that Thou-hast-made-me-
full-of-vjrinkles (i.e., the
very circumstance, that
Thou hast made me full
of wrinkles,)
[1'1J3] Ijjb 1)1 has become a witness [against
me] (i.e., is considered, by
those, who see me, to bear
witness to my guilt) ;
*3 ^ns Dp1! yea, my leanness hath risen
up against me,
'3 33 ["Q] n.3^1 beareth witness [against me]
* The skin in Elephantiasis does become thickened and rugous.

CHAPTER XVI. 8. 145
to my face (i.e., seems
publicly to proclaim me a
sinner, deserving unheard-
of punishments).
By way of amusing the reader, we will quote here Dr. Good's
version of this and the preceding verse, together with a portion
of his remarks upon them, in which, whilst his own views are
propounded with a degree of modest assurance quite pardonable
in one who shows such a very accurate knowledge of Hebrew,
he pronounces the translation given in the Auth. Vers, (with
which ours in substance agrees) to contain no definite idea !
He translates as follows : " Here, indeed, hath he distracted
me. Thou hast struck aghast all my witnesses. And hast cut
off myself from becoming a witness. Yet my calumniator riseth
up against me ; He chargeth me to the face." On these verses
he observes : " This period, in conjunction with the ensuing verse,
is supposed to comprise one of the most difficult passages in the
whole poem : yet I trust, as I have now rendered it, both verses
are clear and easy; while at the same time I have literally
adhered to the Hebrew text. The perplexity is, indeed, that of
the translators themselves, and not of the original writer. Our
common version  gives no definite idea," &c. This,
we repeat, we quote merely for the amusement of the reader, for
the comment and translation of one, who can say he has literally
adhered to the Hebrew text, and renders ^llj!. in Ver. 7, my
witnesses, besides translating n\n Tf/7 in Ver. 8, from becoming
a witness, are of course unworthy of a moment's serious attention.
The rest of his Commentary and Translation, as far, at least, as
we have consulted them, are quite of a piece with what we
have quoted above, everywhere displaying the same imperfect
acquaintance with the first principles of Hebrew Grammar;
and yet, strange to say, the learned Doctor has his admirers,
the boldness with which he puts forward his astonishingly faulty
translations, making them, it would seem, pass current. Those
who praise him, however, should be made aware, that, in doing
so, they only proclaim to the world their own inability to
detect the glaring blunders with which his pages are so thickly
beset.

146 CHAPTER XVI. 9 — 11.
Ver. 9. IBS for 1BS3. in His anger, as T?M n*a for T2N n*23 (Gen.
xxiv. 23) in [the] house of thy father. Comp. also iBSa ia??? 17.2 infra xviii. 4.
*"!*! for *7?3 like mine adversary, as though He were an adversary of mine.
Comp. Lament, iv. 14, where 2*7)a stands for 2*7*a3 like blind-men.
Vers. 10, 11. But not only do I suffer directly, through the
indignation of God, I suffer also indirectly, and that very greatly,
from the bad odour into which His indignation has brought me
with men generally; for they, seeing that I am abhorred and
abominated by God, think they must needs also regard me in the
same light, and hence the constant persecution I suffer at their
hands. They have opened their mouth wide against me. They
pour out a continual stream of invectives against me. They have
smitten my cheeks contemptuously. They assemble themselves to
gether against me. They all to a man stand up and discharge
their gall upon me. (Ver. 11.) God giveth me up to any worth
less-man. Any vile fellow may now insult and trample on me
with impunity. And overthroweth me by the hands of ungodly men.
Besides the afflictions which He directly sends upon me, He over
whelmed me also indirectly by placing me at the mercy of every
wicked man that wishes to maltreat me.
Ver. 10. 2rj*33 their mouth, the prefix 2 being used here either pleonastically,
or as the mark of the objective case. Comp. Exod. vii. 20, naaa BT,*! and he
lifted up the rod. The same is the case with I*??73 in the preceding verse,
though the pleonasm is there less striking from the English idiom's admitting
a with after the verb to gnash.
**n7 13n nB7na They have smitten my cheeks contemptuously. Though a
blow inflicted upon any other part of the body may be equally painful with one
upon the cheek, or even more so, yet it is by no means so degrading. So the
elegist says, Lam. iii. 30, "Let him give his cheek to him that smiteth him ; let
him be filled with disgrace ; " and so our Saviour, when enjoining on his disciples
the highest degree of humility and self-denial, says (Luke vi. 29), " And unto
him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other."
Iisban* they assemble themselves. Comp. B*33 riba (Isa. xxxi. 4) an
assembly of shepherds ; also Gen. xlviii. 19.
Ver. 11. *?7.1?P! He constantly gives me up, delivers me over. The verb ~^B,
which in Kal signifies to shut, shut up, has in Pi-al and Hiph-el the sense of
giving up, delivering over. So David said to Goliath, " This day nin* 'PSP1
(1 Sam. xvii. 46) will Jehovah deliver thee (into mine band) " ; and in Ps. xxxi. 9,
we have ^n^apn ri 7i And Thou didst not deliver me over (into the hand of an
enemy).

CHAPTER XVI. 11  18. 147
*3B"]* He constantly overthrows me ; fut. Kal of 27* to pervert, over
throw. The proper form would be 1?a"i**, but the radical 1 is dropped, as in
7?*! (Gen. ii. 19) and He formed, for "l?1*!, which is found in verse 7 of the
same chapter, and is the regular form.
Vers. 12 — 19. I was at ease, and He brake me in pieces ; yea,
He took hold of my neck, and dashed me to atoms, and set me up for
a mark for Himself. As a mark for His arrows, or those of His
archers. (Ver. 13.) His archers encompass me ; one cleaveth my
reins and spareth not ; another poureth out my gall upon the earth.
(Ver. 14.) Again, one breaketh through me with breach upon
breach. Just as in the case of a strong fortress containing great
treasures, the besiegers endeavour to make as many breaches as
they can in the walls, in order to get at the treasures, so here the
archer breaches the outer defences of the body, that he may
reach the vital parts. Another runneth against me like an hero.
Displaying his prowess, forsooth, in overcoming so frail a being as
I am! (Ver. 15.) I have sewed sackcloth upon the-scab-of-my-
sores. A very irritating and galling application to an ulcerated
surface. And I have defiled my horn in the dust. It is well
known that ]lp horn is used in Scripture to express strength,
dignity, glory. Comp. Ps. cxxxii. 17, "There will I cause to
spring up |7p a horn (for David) ; " and again, Ps. cxii. 9,
" i37p his horn (shall be exalted with honour)." The poet, then,
here laments that his horn, that is, his dignity, has been brought
down to the very dust. (Ver. 16.) My face hath become red
through weeping, and the shadow-of death is upon mine eyelids.
(Ver. 17.) Not because of any wrong in my hands. These sufferings
cannot have come upon me in consequence of any wrong I
have done, nor of any disrespect on my part towards God, for My
prayer also was pure. The prayers I addressed to Him in the
days of my prosperity, and particularly at the time I offered up
the sacrifices according to the number of my sons (supra i. 5),
were not mere outward show, but were made in all sincerity of
heart. (Ver. 18.) O earth, cover not my blood! The unfortunate
sufferer, looking upon himself as in process of being slowly
murdered without a cause, implores the earth not to drink in his
blood, so that, meeting the gaze of all passers-by, it may strike them
with amazement and horror. We read in Gen. iv. 11, that the
l 2

148 CHAPTER XVI. 18, 19.
earth opened her mouth to receive the first innocent blood that had
been spilt ; but this Job entreats her not to do in the case of such
innocent blood as his. And let there be no space for my cry ! Every
sound is, we know, produced by vibrations in the air, or other
media ; as far, therefore, as these vibrations extend, so far will the
sound they give rise to be heard. Supposing, then, that one were
to cry so loud, as that these vibrations should be propagated
throughout all space, the cry would of course be heard every
where ; but this is not enough for the innocently suffering poet ;
his affliction is so great, so unheard-of, and so undeserved, that he
wishes his cry may be loud enough to penetrate even beyond the
limits of space. (Ver. 19.) Even now, behold, my witness is
in heaven, and my testimony is in the high-heaven. In spite of the
terrible pain I suffer, and the burning indignation I feel at having
to endure such torments undeservedly, the only charge to which
my words can possibly lay me open is that, perhaps, of expressing
my feelings too loudly and openly ; I have indeed spoken from my
heart, but I have done so to relieve my agony, and by no means
with the intention of offending my God and my Maker.

Ver. 13. V27 ">ay iab* His archers encompass me. The verb 23B is here
construed with 7a, as in Judg. xx. 5.
n73* he cleaves. \ It will be perceived that we take these verbs
7jBa>* he pours out. j to refer to the archers individually, one cleav
ing, another pouring out, &c.
Ver. 14. *3?"|B* he breaks me. \ These verbs also we refer to individual archers,
V7* he runs. / instead of to God, as is usually done, since we
cannot think that the words "'1233 *ba V7.t he
runs against me like a mighty-man, or a hero, can be
fitly applied to God. Inlikemanner, Mendelssohn,
in commenting on Gen. xix. 9, where we have,
in the same verse, 17Brisl and they said, twice,
the second time seemingly pleonastically (and
where, moreover, Lot is spoken of, sometimes
in the second, sometimes in the third person),
makes the one refer to one part of the men of
Sodom, assembled around Lot's house, and the
other, to the other, translating, and [some]
said — and [others] said. Again, in
Mason and Bernard's Grammar, Letter 57,
§ 9, the 9th verse of Prov. xxix. is translated
thus :

CHAPTER XVI. 15 — 21. 149
" A wise man contending with a foolish man,
*37/! [the one] will rage, pna*1 and [the
other] will laugh, and there will be no
peace."
Ver. 15. *77? my scab; i.e., the scabs of my wounds. Instead of putting
lint, or any thing soft, upon them, he put sackcloth, which would be very
irritating. The noun 7^3 is only to be met with here, but, as in the Talmud it
is used to express the scab, which forms on a sore, and this acceptation suits our
text very well, we could see no reason for not adopting it. Thus we read in
Mikvaoth, chap. 9, naab yina; 7*ba
" [the] scab which is outside of a sore."
*nb7ai and I have defiled. The verb bba in Hithpa-a.1 is used to express
abusing, degrading, defiling. Thus, in Judg. xix. 25, we find, na iab?n^1 and
they defiled themselves with, abused, her. Again, in 1 Sam. xxxi. 4, *3 I7yai7i71
and may abuse me. We cannot see, why the same sense may not be given here
to the Pi-al ; it suits the context admirably, and we are glad to see the Auth.
Vers, is with us.
Ver. 16. !|"1'P7an has become red (lit., have become red, but translated in the
sing, because my face in English is sing., while the corresponding Hebrew *?B (the
subject of the verb here) is- plural), from 7Bn to be red. Comp. Ps. Ixxv. 9,
""?n ***"! and [the] wine was red; also Lament, ii. 11, 1aa 17B~)Bn my bowels
have become red, i.e. inflamed.
Ver. 17. Oan rib ba for BBO ba rib not because of [any] wrong, &c.
The very same words occur in Isa. liii. 9, where the same transposition must of
course be made.
Ver. 19. 17vJ'?1 and my testimony. This word seems to be of Chaldaic
origin, as we read in Genesis xxxi. 47, Nnnrja* "•?* a heap [intended] for a
testimony, the same heap being named by Jacob in Hebrew 7a*ba words, which
have the same meaning.
Vers. 20, 21. The reader will recollect, that Job, in one of his
preceding discourses (ch. ix. 33), said,
Nor is there between us any umpire,
Who should lay his hand upon us both ;
shewing that he longed for some third party, to act as mediator
between himself and God. He now again touches upon the same
point, and exclaims, O my mockers ! O my friends ! O ye that mock
me, though my friends! Mine eye droppeth tears unto God,
entreating Him, (Ver. 21) That one might plead for man with
God. That there might be some one to come forward and plead,
in favour of man, before God. As every son of man ought to
plead in favour of his fellow-man. As it is the duty of every

150 CHAPTER XVI. 21.
human being to come forward, and plead in behalf of his fellow-
man, when he sees injustice done him, so I would there were some
one, whose duty it were to plead in favour of man, when undeserved
punishments come upon him from above.
Wolfssohn takes nibS: in Ver. 20, in the sense of judge, in which significa
tion 2*!ibs is unquestionably sometimes used in Scripture (Comp. Exod. xxi. 6,
" Then his master shall cause him to draw nigh 2*nbsn bs. unto the judge "),
and would therefore make Job say, that he longs for a judge, who might decide
between man and God, as judges do decide between man and his fellow-man.
Much as we are struck with the ingenuity of this interpretation, and great as is
the support it receives from the verse quoted above, in which Job regrets there
is no umpire between God and himself, who should lay his hand upon both, we
still could not make up our minds to adopt it, as we do not meet with any
instance, in which ni7.S is used in the sense oi judge. We cannot, however,
refrain from transcribing here the remarks of this great Hebraist and most able
commentator, convinced as we are, that they cannot fail to call forth in the reader
the same feelings of pleasure and admiration they evoked in ourselves.. His
comment is as follows :
TDpi T3P DID PDTPP <]1P TO D'P3P PIPTppi P'P' pi '31P7p IDP D'DIPPP PVlb
Ob P'2DP 33 , PP 1P31131 , O'ii ]lDip P'P 'i'ip piPD 1P1P1 : 011P3 'P3IB i"V] , ii3
7DP , DP1DP ip >3'D PDP '3f>) PVO liilip' , Plipi PT>p '3f IDP b]> 'D'l liilip'
: l?mi D7P ]'3 DP1DP P'31' 1DP3 , Plipi 733. j'3 P'31'l U1PD'
" According to the opinion of the interpreters, who have preceded me, the
verses, which follow till the end of the chapter, would not have any connection,
or relation, whatever, and, therefore, I have abandoned their interpretation.
And I say, that [the] word *?*ba should be taken in the same sense as a**jb
(mockers) ; and its meaning here [is] I will not mind, if my friends mock at my
calling for a judge ; let them mock, but I will look up to the judge, who shall
judge and decide between man and God, just as a judge decides between man and
his fellow-man."
Having quoted Wolfssohn's comment upon these two verses, we will also quote
his translation.
7S3 7*T asnar a*is ***a >*aaas3a; naaa*s a73**i3 a3**a *aaaa (a)
anaa 73is aas3 *aa?*ii2 -iai (sa) » 7aaa*-i aa3**s 7S3 iaaa*s
? *a3**ba aaa**t 731s inswaTia aa7 *aa**n*j s*n > a7**a?a3a
Ver. 20. 1?1ba my mockers. The verb V^b in Hiph., i.e., in the tenses of
that conjugation, is, it must be admitted, very frequently used in the significa
tion of mocking ; we cannot, however, find one instance, in which it is decidedly
so used in the pres. part. In Gen. xlii. 23, VvP has the signification of inter
preter, but, as interpreters in those times were employed, not merely to translate

CHAPTER XVI. 21, 22. 151
verbatim, but also to set forth the cases of their employers,* the word is also
used in the acceptation of advocating, pleading ; as infra xxxiii. 23, V rS ^T£ f?
an advocating angel. Again, as advocates are supposed to possess oratorical
talent, the noun ni5*7B is used in the sense of oratory, eloquent language, poetry,
as Prov. i. 5. Moreover, in Isa. xliii. 27, we find *2 latpB ?[*2*bB1 which, in
our humble opinion, ought to be translated, and thy advocates (i.e., thy inter
cessors, who ought to use what rhetorical powers they possess, in thy behalf),
have rebelled against me. We were therefore very much inclined to translate the
word *?17P in the verse before us, my orators, and to regard it as a complimen
tary title bestowed by Job upon his friends, and intended to express, that, though
he differed from them in opinion, he could not help admiring their oratorical talent ;
we preferred, however, not putting ourselves in opposition to the greater number
of commentators, and particularly, to the Auth. Eng. Vers., where there was no
absolute necessity for our doing so. -
Ver. 21. mS7.b B7S *ai for inaab n?i* B7S *31 as a son of man ought
to plead for his fellow-man. The prefix 1 in the word ^31 should be taken in
the sense of as, like. Comp. supra xii. 11, ^THi as [the] palate, &c.
Ver. 22. But if my eye droppeth tears for one, who should
plead my cause, and vindicate my innocence, before God, he must
come forward, and not tarry, as I shall not be here for ever ; For
the numbered years assigned to me will come one after another,
and then / shall go the way, whence I shall not return.
"lBpa niata lit., years of number ; i.e., numbered years, by which is meant
few years, just as IBBB *na (Gen. xxxiv. 30) lit., men of number, is used to
signify men, that can be easily numbered, few men.
^nS* for ni7S nnsb 1*nS* will arrive one after another.
The second hemistich of this verse should be construed thus :
n7K ^pnK . . . . 1 when I shall go [the] way.
[12D12] 3WK K7 [7t£'K] [From which] I shall not return.
* The Chaldee Jo3"yin , which is synonymous with the Hebrew, f)a an interpreter, has,
we are inclined to think, been metamorphosed into the word Dragoman, a person who, as
every one knows, not merely translates verbatim what he hears, but speaks and enlarges
upon the subject of the message he bears to the Porte, with all the eloquence and
oratorical power he possesses.

152

CHAPTEE XVII.
Vers. 1, 2. My breath is corrupt. Has become intolerably fcetid
and offensive.* My days are extinct. They are so full of gloom
and misery, that their light may be said to be extinguished.
They are graves to me. They are as joyless, yea, as loathsome
as the grave ; I am, as it were, buried-alive. Aye, well may I con
sider my life to be insupportable, for, besides my frightful suffer
ings, (ver. 2) Are there not deriders with me? Yea, mine eye
constantly dwelleth on their provocation. I am constantly witness
ing their endeavours to excite and provoke me.
Ver. 1. 135T3 lit., were extinct. The verb 1S^ , which is a cra-af Xeyog-evov,
is synonymous with 7377 , a verb frequently to be met with in Scripture in the
sense of being extinguished, (as supra vi. 17> 13]?73 were extinguished), and of
which indeed it may fairly be considered to be the Chaldee form, since * and 7
very often interchange in the two languages j as e.g., the Hebrew 73T to
remember, is in Chaldee "'BT , &c.
Ver. 2. B*bnrj lit., mockeries, from the verb bnn to mock (see supra
xiii. 9), but used here concretely for mockers.
Bninana lit., on their provoking, it being the inf. Hiph. with affix and suffix
of the verb n"lB to rebel, in Hiph., to excite to rebellion, to provoke. The dagesh
in the a cannot be accounted for.
]bn constantly dwells. The regular form would be V?n from the verb ]l7
or 1*7 which, though frequently signifying to lodge, to pass the night, is also
sometimes used to express, constantly remaining, or dwelling ; as e.g., Cant. i. 13,
which should be translated thus : " My friend is unto me like the bundle (bunch)
of myrrh, which 1*7t is constantly between my breasts ; " from which it
appears, that, in those times, women used to carry about them bunches of spices,
for the sake of the scent, just as now-a-days they wear nosegays.
Vers. 3 — 9. We confess that it has cost us not a little pains and
trouble to find anything like a continuous train of reasoning in
the verses before us. We have of course consulted Wolfssohn
and Homburg, also Rosenmuller and others, but have found in
them no help whatever. Before beginning our own comment,
however, we would beg of the reader to bear in mind, that Job
has been more than once heard to complain very bitterly, that
¦ Such we are told is the case in Elephantiasis, as occurring in the East.

CHAPTER XVII. 3 — 6. 153
a man should receive punishment from above, without having
been previously allowed the opportunity of pleading his cause,
defending, and clearing, himself; in other words, that a man, when
he offends against God, is not tried before a tribunal, as is the
case when he offends against man. In one of his discourses
(supra xiii. 18, 19), he said he was quite prepared with his case,
and was only at a loss to know, who was going to oppose him ;
in the last chapter, (ver. 21,) he went a step farther, and
expressed a wish, that a man might be allowed an advocate, as he
would be before a worldly tribunal ; and now, going farther still,
he would have God admit him to bail, until the time of trial.
His words, which are again addressed to God, are as follows :
Arrange it so, J pray, be- Thou-surety-for-me with Thyself* Be
Thou Thyself my bail, that I do not escape, but duly surrender
at the time of trial; for, if Thou Thyself wilt not, Who is he,
that will strike hands for me ? Who is there will be generous
enough to come forward and bail me ? (Ver. 4) For their heart.
The heart of my three friends here. Thou hast hid from under
standing. Thou hast concealed the way of their heart from
understanding, so that she hath not been able to enter therein.
Seeing that Thou wouldest not exalt them. Thou hast not given
them to experience those elevated feelings, with which generous
men are penetrated, when they see a friend in trouble. Who is
there then, I ask again, that will come forward and bail me ? But,
supposing even, that some one, moved by pity and commiseration,
should come forward. (Ver. 5) He would say, " Friends should
go shares." He might naturally be expected to say, If I, a
stranger, take pity on this unfortunate man, and consent to become
surety for him, surely, his old friends ought to share the responsi
bility with me. But even the eyes of his children would fail. Not
only would he himself never persuade myfriends to join him in giving
security, but even his children would look to them in vain ; they
would never consent. (Ver. 6.) Then would he set me up as an
example for peoples. He would publish on all sides the shocking
perfidy of my old friends, and their inhuman behaviour towards me.
* If God had accepted this proposal, Job's sufferings would, of course, at once have come
to an end ; he would forthwith have been released, at any rate until after his trial, from
the "stocks," in which, as it were, his feet were set. Note of Editor, 1861.

154 CHAPTER XVII. 6  9.
So that I should be like a tabret in former times. I should play the
part the tabret [drum] did in former times; its roll resounded
throughout a city, giving the alarm, whenever anything very
extraordinary or dangerous had occurred, and even so would the
fame of my treatment at the hands of my perfidious friends be
trumpeted abroad in the ears of all men, as a warning never to
put too much trust in those, who should profess to be their friends.
For all would look at me, and see the wretched condition to
which I have been reduced. (Ver. 7.) Inasmuch as mine eye
hath become dim, by reason of vexation. Such is the vexation I
feel at the conduct of my perfidious friends, that my sight hath
become dim with weeping. My limbs also are all of them wasting
like a shadow. (Ver. 8.) Upright men would be amazed at this.
That is, at this cruelty on the part of my friends. And the
innocent-man would bestir himself against the hypocrite. He would
no longer suffer himself to be caught by his bland words, but would
at once put him to the test, and so lay bare his perfidious heart.
(Ver. 9.) Whilst the just-man would hold fast his way . Would never
swerve one finger's breadth from the course he had laid down for
himself. The shame, which would befall the unmasked hypocrite,
would greatly encourage the good man to persevere in the path of
rectitude. And he that had pure hands would increase his firmness.
The man of clean hands, who had never imbrued them in crime
or guilt, would gain additional strength to hold on his way.
Ver. 3. na*ffi* put, arrange (it so) ; i.e., arrange matters so.
?P.n* *71b H-ir? *a for snn* *7*b 7a?s sin *a, lit., Who [is] he that will be
struck for my hand ? i.e., that will have his hand struck, instead of mine, will
become surety for me. It was the custom in those times for one who gave bail to
strike bands with him who accepted it ; e.g., Prov. vi. 1, " My son, if thou hast
given surety for thy friend, hast stricken thine hand with a stranger," &c. Job
therefore, to procure bail, would have to find somebody to strike hands for him,
as of course he could not give bail in his own cause.
Ver. 4. BBi-in rib *3 bp for arilS Bal-in ^b *3 ba *3 seeing that Thou
wouldest not exalt them. It was not Thy will that they should be susceptible of
the generous and exalted feelings of genuine friendship.
I? b? *3 seeing that. Comp. Gen. xviii. 5, where Abraham presses the three
strangers to take some refreshment, saying, B3733 ba Bn"]33 ]3 ba *3 Seeing
that ye have passed near your servant. The Auth. Vers, has, " For there
fore are ye come to your servant." Unless, in King James's time, therefore and

CHAPTER XVII. 4 — 10. 155
seeing that were synonymous, we are at a loss to understand how the translators
could make Abraham invite strangers to partake of his hospitality in terms which
would have made any man, possessed of the least particle of delicacy, shrink from
accepting it. In like manner, in Gen. xxxiii. 10, Jacob presses his brother Esau
not to refuse his present, saying, *3?nni B*nbs: *3B n'N"i3 T3B *n*S-j *3 bv "O
seeing that 7" have seen thy face, as [the] seeing of (i.e., as though I had seen)
[the] face of an angel, and thou wast pleased with me. Here, again, the Auth. Vers.
has " for therefore I have seen thy face," &c, which again makes no sense.
We meet with instances, too, in which ]? bs stands for ]3 7a *3, as Ps. xlii. 7,
*77* V7«a T131« 13 ba nnintpri *a??3 *ba *nbs o my God, my soul is
drooping within me, seeing that I must make mention of Thee from [the]
land of Jordan (i,e., instead of from Thy sanctuary in Jerusalem). We strongly
recommend the reader to consult Eichel's most masterly translation of Prov. vii. 15,
with his "USB 0n the passage, where 1? b3 is also shown to stand for 1? 7a "'B .
It will be perceived that this verse is parenthetical.
Ver. 5. This verse should be construed thus :
Til1 He would say (i.e., supposing one should
come forward to strike hands for me, he
would naturally say,)
" pblb D^i!l " " Friends [should go] for a share " (i.e., I will
readily bail him, provided his friends share
the responsibility ;)
n37?n 1*33 131jf/1 But [even the] eyes of his children will fail
(i.e., will look in vain to see my friends do
that).
The verb n73 to end, come to an end, be consumed, when joined with a*3*3?
eyes, as it very frequently is, expresses looking in vain, longing in vain, for a
thing ; in other words, disappointed hope, e.g., Ps. lxix. 4, *3*a 173 mine eyes
have failed (whilst I am waiting for my God).
n3.x3n . The reg. form would be n3*73n , which is found in some copies.
Ver. 6. 7a?a7, Itt., for a comparing of (it being an inf. kal with 7 of the
B7"33), i.e., he would set me up as one to whom every one deceived by his friends
should be compared, that is, as an example.
nBh* for n3h31 so that like a tabret.
B*33b informer-times, of old. Comp. Ruth iv. 7, bs"l^*a B*33b nrit* Now
this [was the manner] informer times in Israel.
Ver. 7. 17^11 (root, 7*S* to form), lit., and my formed [parts] ; i.e., my
limbs. Ver. 10. Having concluded his address to God, Job now says to
his friends, But notwithstanding all of them. In spite of the upright

156 CHAPTER XVII. 10 — 14.
man, who would be amazed, in spite of the innocent man, who would
bestir himself against the hypocrite, in spite of the just man, who
would hold fast his way, and him, clean of hands, whose fortitude
would be increased. Ye would come back. With your empty
arguments. Nothing would deter you, and you would have the
effrontery to continue your unmeaning speeches in the face of all
good men, who would sympathize with me, and be shocked at
the terrible lot which had been assigned to me. But I do not care
for you, or your reasonings, Yea, come ye even now. With your
shallow arguments ; I heed them not, For I know I shall not find
one wise-man among you.
ab3 Bv>S1 for Ebs ba Bbsi 0r ab3 7.aa. absi. lit., but against (in opposi
tion to) all of them ; i.e., in spite of all of them.
Vers. 11 — 16. Job seems now to muse over his miserable condi
tion, and to speak what follows, as it were, to himself. My days
have passed. My happy days are over. My plans have been
broken off — even the possessions of my heart. That is, my fondest
hopes, my much-cherished schemes, which I had so long har
boured in my heart. It will be recollected, that Job was assured
by one of his friends (supra xi. 17), that a life- time would arise
for him, brighter than noon-day, and that he would be like the
morning ; referring to this, he now says to himself. (Ver. 12.)
They (my friends) want to make of night day. They would have
me believe, that my present gloom and misery, constantly on the
increase as they are, will soon be exchanged for sunshine and
happiness. They want to make out, That light is near at hand, before
darkness cometh. When darkness is on the point of coming, they
would persuade me light is near at hand. The reader, it is hoped,
need hardly be reminded, that darkness is used figuratively
for calamity, and light for happiness. (Ver. 13.) Truly, I hope
for the grave to be mine house. I hope for the time, when I shall
have spread out my couch in the darkness. Dreadful as is the idea
of rotting and mouldering in the grave, yet so great are my
sufferings now, that I am become quite reconciled to it — nay, death
were forme a most happy and welcome change, so happy and wel
come indeed, that with joy (Ver. 14) I would call out to corruption,

CHAPTER XVII. 14 — 16. 157
Thou art my father ! to the worm I would call out, 0 my mother,
and O my sister ! (Ver. 15.) For where is now my hope? What
can I yet hope for ? What use to prolong a life so utterly miser
able, and bereft of hope ? Yea, as to my hope, who will ever see
it realized ? (Ver. 16.) As to these limbs, destined to the grave,
let them go down. Verily, quiet is altogether in the dust. There is
neither quiet nor peace in this life for man, and it is only in the
dust (the grave), that he can look for them.
Ver. 12. s?.Ba should be here translated like ^Ba before, as in Lev. xix. 32,
Blpn n3*a> *33B Before [the] hoary-head shalt thou rise up.
Verses 14, 15. The second hemistiches of these two verses
should be construed thus :
Ver. 14. C'nK'IpJ 112lb To the worm [I should call out],
TinKI "'SK 0 my mother, and 0 my sister!
Ver. 15. "'•0]R^1 And, as to my hope,
ft 1W '?] nani^ ''D Who will see it [granted to me]
(i.e., realized?)
Ver. 16. 7lSa7 *73 lit., limbs of [the] grave; i.e., limbs destined to the
grave, this being one of the many significations, in which the state of construc
tion in Hebrew is used. (See Mason and Bernard's Grammar, Letter xlvii.
§ i. — iv.) e.g., basa lri23 (Ps. xliv. 12) like sheep of food, i.e., like sheep
destined for food; and nnaB lri2 (Ibid. ver. 23) sheep of slaughter; i.e.,
sheep intended for slaughter.
The primary meaning of the noun 73 seems to be a staff, or pole, to carry
something with, as B*aa? *23. *7a (Exod. xxv. 13) staves of shittim-wood.
Hence it came to signify the branch of a tree, as Ezek. xvii. 6, " and brought
forth 2*73 branches." And lastly, it is used figuratively of the parts or limbs of
an animated being ; as infra xii. 4, ^72 his parts (the Leviathan, or Crocodile's),
and infra xviii. 13, l1^? his limbs (applied to man).
The verse before us should be construed thus :
7iKi# *n3 [as to these] limbs, destined to [the] grave,
12llT\ let them go down.
nru DK Verily, quiet [is to be found]
l%i! bi! in1 Altogether in [the] dust (i.e., only when
man returns to the dust, from which he
was taken, can he find quiet).

158

CHAPTER XVIII.
Vers. 2 — 4. The first of these verses has puzzled almost all the
commentators and translators, and justly so, since the words, as
they stand, express just the opposite to what we should expect
Bildad to say ; there is then, manifestly, an ellipsis, and this has
been variously supplied. Some have understood the adv. D7ED
before, ere, after /7]K li! , and among them the translators of the
Auth. Vers. Others supply the negative particle K7 not. For
our own part, we must say, that, considering that the friend, who
holds this discourse, is the same, who spoke in chap, viii., and that,
in both instances, his speech begins with the words |K ly , or
H2K lil , which of course are synonymous, it seems to us much
more natural to supply after n3K li! here, the words which
follow |K 1}! in chap, viii., viz., n7K bbl2>F\ , or rather, since he
is here addressing Job in the plural, instead of the singular,
number, n?K 177017 will ye speak these [things]. The verses
before us will then run as follows :
How long will ye (i.e., thou Job, and the whole party of
philosophers thou representest) speak these things? Ye should
put an end to words ; ye should first consider, and then let us speak.
What use is it talking at random, without first well considering,
whether, or not, our arguments and assertions rest on a solid
foundation ? It is very easy to say,* that no wise man can be
found amongst us orthodox people, who have full confidence
in the justice of Providence ; but is there any real ground
for such an insulting remark? (Ver. 3.) Why are we
accounted as beasts ? Why are we unclean in your eyes. It
has already been observed, (see our comment on ch. xv. 9,) that
Job and his friends in their discussions do not regard each other
so much as single individuals, as the representatives of the
parties to which they respectively belong ; Job being considered
to represent the philosophers, who wish to account for every
thing ; his friends, the orthodox party, who firmly believe that
* Chap. xvii. 10.

CHAPTER XVIII. 4, 5. 159
whatever comes from God cannot be otherwise than good and just.
(Ver. 4.) O Thou, that art one, who in his wrath teareth his very
self to pieces. Who, in his despair and frenzy, does not care
what he says, nor what becomes of him. I ask thee, Must, for
thy sake, the earth be abandoned, and the Rock be removed from
His place ? Dost thou imagine, that, because thou art, as thou
fanciest, hardly treated, the world is left without a supreme judge
and ruler ? Dost thou suppose that the Bock, whose " work is
perfect, and all whose ways are justice ; who is a God of truth,
and without iniquity, just and right," dost thou, I ask of thee, O
deluded and benighted mortal, suppose, that that Pock hath been
removed from His place, and hath nothing more to do with this
earth and the dwellers therein? Is everything here below, in
thy opinion, left to mere chance and accident ?
Ver. 2. n3S 7a for nb;S ibban n3S 7? till when, (how long), will ye
speak these [things] ?
l*bab **£3p for 2*23p or l*bab l*23p lit., ends (or terminations,) to words.
We frequently (though it is a great anomaly), meet with construct forms before
prepositions; they must, however, be translated, as though in the absolute state.
Comp. Ps. ii. 12, 12 *Bin for 12 B*2in trusting in Him.
As to the form *?ap , some of the Hebrew Lexicographers suppose it to be
derived from the Hebrew noun yp. an end, which as coming from the verb Y^P
to cut, has, on receiving affixes, its *J dageshed ; as *?P my end, 1S|7 his end,
&c. YP however, in its genuine Hebrew form, is not found in the plur., but
this, did it exist, would, it may be assumed, be 2*2p , which, by exchanging the
Dagesh for a 3 before the dageshed letter, as is frequently found to have been
done in the Chaldee forms of Hebrew words (e.g., the Hebrew 37_B [2 Chron.
i. 10] knowledge becomes in Chaldee 273B [Dan. v. 12]), would become 2**J3p. ,
and in construct. *?3p .
Ver. 3. 13*aB3 have we become defiled, unclean. The reg. form would be
•13SBB3 (root SBB) the S being changed into * , and the Tsayre into Cherik.
Comp. *nSB7 (2 Kings ii. 21) for *nSB7 T have healed ; and see our note on
n3*37n supra v. is.
Ver. 4. issa ia>p3_ ryih for issa ia?B3 q-ibrj nns 0 thou, that [art one]
tearing his [very] self in his wrath. Comp. Ps. cxiv. 16, where ^H1 ns nniB
stands for T71 ns nniB nns Thou [art] opening Thine hand, &c.
Vers. 5 — 11. Having resented the insulting expressions used
by Job against himself and his friends, the speaker now proceeds
to affirm anew, and in the most positive terms, that which had

160 CHAPTER XVIII. 5  11.
already been said by himself, as well as his friends, with regard
to the fatal termination of the wicked man's career, however
splendid and brilliant it might at first have appeared to be.
He says :
Yes, the light' of the wicked shall be extinguished, and the blaze
of his fire shall no longer shine. However dazzling the blaze of
his prosperity, it shall be utterly extinguished. As, in the first
hemistich, we find D^&H wicked-men in the plural, and, in refer
ence to them, in the second, it^K his fire, this must of course refer
to every one of the wicked men individually. (See note on
ian3 supra vi. 17.) (Ver. 6.) Light becometh dark in his
dwelling. And his lamp over him. The lamp suspended over his
head. Shall be extinguished. Not only shall the rays of the sun
no longer penetrate into his dwelling, but it shall want even the
feeble light of a lamp. All will be wrapt in gloom and darkness,
desolation will reign there. (Ver. 7.) His mighty steps shall be
straitened. The gigantic strides of his ambition shall be shortened
into mincing steps. And his own plan shall cast him headlong.
His plans shall prove so rash and improvident as to cause his ruin.
(Ver. 8.) For he was let loose with a net attached to his feet.
Although, as a man, and, consequently, a free agent, he had
entire control over all his movements, so that he could direct
his steps in whatever path he chose, yet there was a net attached
to his feet, ready to catch and entangle him, as soon as, in his
self-willed career, he had overleaped all bounds.* Yea, he walketh
upon net-work. He thinks he is walking upon solid ground, but
he is grievously mistaken ; it is but a delicate network, spread
over an unfathomable abyss, into which, therefore, he every
moment risks to be precipitated. (Ver. 9.) The snare shall take
hold of his heel, the trap shall prevail over him. In vain shall he
endeavour to escape from it. (Ver. 10.) His noose. The noose
destined to entangle him. Is concealed in the earth, and his gin upon
the path. (Ver. 11.) Terrors affright him on every side, and drive
him about, following at his feet.
Ver 7. 737« *75? 17?1, lit., straitened will be [the] steps of his might; i.e., his
mighty steps. The reader need hardly be reminded, that a noun in construction
* See Maimonides, on Free- Will, in his npinn t, Book I., roran min, chaps, v. — vii.

CHAPTER XVIII. 7 — 16. 161
with another is very frequently qualified by it. By his steps being said to be
straitened is meant, that he has no longer the same freedom of movement as
before, can no longer step out. Comp. Prov. iv. 12, 17a? 72* ^7 thy step shall
not be straitened.
11M strength, might. Comp. infra xl. 16, iaiS"] and his might.
Ver. 8. nbw\ lit., he was sent off, i.e., let go, let loose, left entirely to himself.
Comp. Gen. xlix. 21, nnbtp nb*S a hind let loose; also Prov. xxix. 15,
naa?a 733^ but a boy let loose, i.e., uncontrolled.*
Ver. 9. 3paa for iBpva on'his heel.
B*B2 a trap. See our note on this word, supra v. 5.
Ver. 10. 1^3n, lit., his cord ; i.e., the cord, the noose, destined to entangle him.
Ver. 11. inijiBni and they (the terrors) constantly drive him about. The
verb Y^& in Hiph. is generally rendered to scatter ; but, as one person can scarcely
be said to be scattered, it must, when applied to a single individual, as here, be
rendered by, to drive about in different directions, or some equivalent expression.
Comp. Habak. iii. 14, ''a?*?!}? to drive me about.
1*3?77 [following] at his feet ; i.e., close upon his heels. Comp. 1 Sam.
xxv. 42, " With five damsels of her's, which went nba.*]? at her foot, i e., after
her." Vers. 12 — 16. Bildad, having now described the misery which
is to befall the wicked man himself, proceeds to declare the fate
which awaits his progeny. He says: —
The beginning of his might. That is, his first-born son. ShaU
be famished, and destruction shall be ready at his side. (Ver. 13.)
That first-born, destined to death, shall gnaw the limbs of his body,
yea, his own limbs shall he gnaw. The agonies of starvation shall
drive him to gnaw his own limbs. The speaker now reverts to
the wicked man himself. (Ver. 14.) His confidence shall be
rooted out of his dwelling, yea, it shall make him step-over to the
king of terrors. His arrogant self-confidence will be the true
cause of all the terrors, which will ultimately seize upon him. By
"king of terrors," of course, the highest degree of terror must be
understood. (Ver. 15.) It (terror) shall abide in his dwelling
(not indeed his own, but violently taken away from the legitimate
owner). Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation. (Ver. 16.)
His roots beneath shall dry up, and his bough above shall be cut off.
Ver. 12. 131S for 131N n*a?S"i [the] beginning of his might, a periphrasis used in
Hebrew poetry to express first-born son ; thus, in Gen. xlix. 3, the dying patriarch
* As well rendered by Dr. French and Mr. Skinner.
M

162 CHAPTER XVIII. 12  18.
called his eldest son Eeuben *?1S n*a7S"Vj *ns my strength, and [the] beginning
of my might. To remove any ambiguity that might have arisen from the omis
sion of the word n*E7N7. beginning, before i3iS, the poet, in the next verse,
designates more exactly the person intended, by calling him ni.B 713a [the]
first-born destined to death. So the Chaldee, in the verse before us, translates
13iS aan *n* by n*73ia 7*3. 133 *n* his first-born son shall be famishing.
tV ^?7 at his side. We may, perhaps, be allowed here to suggest, that, in the
same manner as, in the first hemistich, 13 IN his might, is used by the poet to
express first-born son, so 13?7?> in the second hemistich, may possibly have been
intended by him to signify his rib — his wife, his widow. We have not ventured
to translate it so, for the simple reason that we are unable to bring forward any
instance in which 3?7^ is used in Hebrew to designate a wife.
Ver. 13. 1713? *7a [the] limbs of his body. See our note on *7.a in the last
verse of the preceding chapter. 7i3? though usually signifying skin, is sometimes
used for the whole body, as in Exod. xxii. 26, " It is his raiment 171377 for his
body." nia 7133 lit., [the] first-born of death; i.e., the first-born, destined to
death, or doomed to die. See our note on blStt* *73 jn the preceding chapter,
ver. 17. These words A*J2 ~ii33 , serve as a nominative to the verb 33ri* , in
the first, as well as in the second, hemistich, so that the verse, written in full,
would run as follows :
17i3? *73 bari* nia "rba [The] first-born, doomed to death, shall gnaw
[the] limbs of his body ;
1*73. b3ri* n*B li3a [The]first-born, doomed to death, shall gnaw
his [own] limbs.
tl 7aa lit., without [its being, or belonging] to him ; i.e., without, in reality,
its being bis property. These words are to be taken parenthetically, and
seem to have been added by the poet with a view to qualify in some degree the
expression i7nsa in sis dwelling. " I have called it," he says, " his dwelling,
though in point of fact it is anything but his, taken away, as it has been, by
violence from its rightful owner."
Vers. 17 — 21. The speaker, having detailed the calamities,
which will befall the wicked man, as well as his first-born son,
now proceeds to consider what will become of his name and
fame, when he shall be no more. He says :
His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have
no name in the street. In the public places, where, during his
life-time, he made so conspicuous a figure, his name shall be
altogether forgotten. (Ver. 18.) He shall be thrust from light
into darkness, and removed from the world. He shall be buried

CHAPTER XVIII. 17 — 21. 163
in eternal night, and his name be consigned to oblivion. (Ver. 19.)
He shall have neither son, nor grandson, left among his people, nor
shall there be a survivor in his dwelling-places. His dwelling-
places shall become, on his death, altogether empty and desolate ;
not one of his family, slaves, or friends shall any longer harbour
there. (Ver. 20.) Latter generations shall be astounded at his
last-day, just as their predecessors (that is, those, who were
contemporaries of the wicked man,) were seized with horror.
(Ver. 21.) Surely such are the dwellings of the iniquitous-man,
and such the place of him that knew not God.
Ver. 17. 73S lit., has perished. The poet is so certain, that the wicked man's
memory must perish, that he considers it as a fact already accomplished. See
Mason and Bernard's Grammar, Letter li., § 8. So supra ver. 6, "Wn lit.,
has become dark.
Ver. 18. in37n* lit., they con-~] Both of these verbs, being used imper-
stantly thrust him ; I sonally, may be rendered in English
in7a* * lit., they constantly remove j in the passive. See our note on 7BS
him. (See note on 77*1 infra xx. 8.) j supra iii. 3.
Ver. 20. iai* his [last] day. See note on iai* supra xiv. 6.
"iaa? ItnS lit., they have taken hold of, or seized, horror. The more
usual expression would be, horror has seized them, as in Exod. xv. 14,
ntabB *3a7* TnS b*n Sorrow has taken hold on the inhabitants of Palestine ;
and (Ibid. ver. 15) 73"J iBT.nri*1 trembling shall take hold upon them. The
inverted mode of expression used here by the poet approaches somewhat to the
English, "to take fright," but may be intended to shew, that it was not a
transitory, but a lasting, horror, so that, when the horror took hold of them, they,
in their turn, took hold of the horror, preventing its departure. A similar
expression we shall find infra xxi. 6. msbs nba T17S1 So that my flesh
(body) lays hold of trembling.
,,- „, —i-.j ,. , -,- ... .,». ( are both used here as descriptive, rather
Ver. 21. nas ut these ni lit., this. { , , . y
I than as demonstrative, pronouns.
So Cant. v. 16, *an n|1 *7i7 nj Sues
[is] my love, and such my friend. See
Mason and Bernard's Grammar, Letter
xlviii. § 25.
bs 3J7* rib Blpa for bs 37T*. rib "ia;s: Bipa [the] place of Him that knew
not God.

' From th , fut. Hiph. third pers. plur. masc. ("?;) with pron. affix. Some copies
have in-w. This would be the same conj., tense and pers. from TO .—Note of Editor, 1861.
M 2

164

CHAPTER XIX.
The discourse we have just heard, did not contain a single argu
ment, the speaker no doubt thinking, it would be quite enough for
him to confirm and corroborate that, which had already been said
over and over again by himself, as well as the other two friends,
concerning the terrible end awaiting the wicked, to stop the mouth
of all those, who, when labouring under afflictions from above,
murmur and complain. He had only to establish the fact,he thought,
that the end of the wicked is invariably punishment from on high,
to prove clearly and indisputably, that those who receive such
punishment, must be wicked. His reasoning may be resolved into
the following syllogism : Every wicked man must become a great
sufferer ; Job has become a great sufferer ; therefore, Job must
have been a wicked man ; a conclusion, as falsely drawn, as if, from
the premises, that every A is B, and every C is B, we should
conclude, that every C must be A. The unfortunate Job then,
feeling, that the whole of his friend Bildad's discourse had for its
object to prove his wickedness from the very sufferings which he
was undergoing, says :
Vers. 2 — 7. How long will ye vex my soul, and crush me with
your words ? (Ver. 3.) These ten times. Ever so many times.
Do ye put me to the blush ; are ye not ashamed to behave impudently
to me? (Ver. 4.) And yet, indeed, if I have erred, the-consequences-
of-my-error will abide with me. You mock and jeer at me, but
you are unable to bring any charge against me, else you certainly
would not have waited till now ; but, even if there were any
ground for accusing me — if I had done anything wrong unawares,
and were now suffering for it, it would be most cruel on your part
to insult me, whilst I was receiving my punishment. Where is
the barbarian, who, even in common life, could stand by and mock
at a criminal undergoing corporal punishment ? (Ver. 5.) But
the truth is, ye-wish-to-magnify yourselves over me. You boast of
your being free from affliction, as a proof of your righteousness.
And bring my degraded-state as an argument against me. You

CHAPTER XIX. 2 — 8. 165
would prove my guilt from the degraded state, to which I am
reduced, but this is unjust as well as cruel. (Ver. 6.) For, know
ye now, that God hath wronged me, and hath cast His net around
me. Like an innocent bird, which never gave, nor could give,
offence to the fowler, I am entangled in a net, from which I cannot
escape. (Ver. 7.) Lo! I cry, " Wrong !" but I am not answered ;
I cry aloud, but there is no justice.
Ver. 2. 11*?n will ye vex; fut. Hiph. of na* which, in this voice, means
to vex.
*331S37ni and will ye crush me. The regular form would be 13ai^37ni or
133«37ibl. Comp. Prov. i. 28, '^nBJ* they shall diligently seek me.
Ver. 3. n.T this (ten times). In phrases of this sort, nj this, used adverbially
and = already, is always found, and not n-JS these. Comp. Numb. xxii. 28,
B*33"l wbw nt lit., this three times, i.e., already three times.
In English too, in similar phrases, we find this sometimes used for these. So
Dryden : I have not wept this forty years, but now
My mother comes afresh into my eyes.
"¦P? ten, used for an indefinite number, = ever so many times. Comp.
D*3B TTWy (Gen. xxxi. 7.) Ten (i.e., ever so many) times. See our note on
chap. v. 19.
ri7 for S7rj Comp. our note on «b supra xiv. 16.
1"i3nn ye should behave impudently ; a future, used for an infinitive, as a
more regular construction would have been s7 ~ilpn7 ia73n ri7 Are ye not
ashamed to behave impudently to me? Comp. 1 Sam. ii. 3, 173.7JT. 13"in 7S for
"1?T? 13717 /S lit., do not multiply to speak, i.e., do not speak much, &c.
The root 73n , as a verb, occurs only here. We find, however, in Isa. iii. 9,
2n*33 nn3n which we, with Kimchi's father, believe to signify, the impudence
of their countenance, and to have nothing to do with the well-known phrase
B*3B ~l*3n to accept persons; for 7*317 is the inf. Hiph of IBS , whilst, in
n~l^n (const. n73n), the n is radical, so that the noun is not of the form
nbsn , like nbsn deliverance, (root b*J3) but of the form nbsB , as ntt?j?a
a request. Ver. 4. *naia?B lit., my error, is here used in the sense of the consequence
of my error, i.e., my punishment, or the punishment I receive. Comp. Gen.
iv. 13, where 131? my iniquity, = the consequence of my iniquity, i.e., my
punishment. Ver. 5. lb*7an for B3*nia733 lb*7an ye would magnify yourselves ; or, as
some think, for B3*3 lb*73n lit., ye would magnify your mouth, i.e., talk big.
Ver. 6. *?nia lit., has perverted me; i.e., has perverted, wrested, my just
cause, has wronged me.
Ver. 8 — 20. Having expostulated with his friends on account
of their heartless behaviour to him, he now enters into a somewhat

166 CHAPTER XIX. 8 — 20.
lengthened detail of God's proceedings towards him, and of his
sufferings, mental as well as bodily, saying:
He hath hedged up my way, so that I cannot pass. He impedes
all my movements, thwarts all my designs. (See note on "^Dl,
supra iii. 23.) And upon my paths He putteth darkness. So that
I cannot see my way. (Ver. 9.) My glory He hath stripped from
off me. He has robbed me of all that rendered me honourable
and glorious in the eyes of men, so that I am become despicable
in their sight. And He hath removed the crown from (lit., of) my
head. He has taken away all my honour and dignity. (Ver. 10.)
He demolisheth me on every side, and I pass away; and He hath
removed my hope, as one would remove a tree. He has destroyed
my hope; for a tree, when uprooted, dies. (Ver. 11.) And He
hath kindled His wrath against me, and counted me unto Him as one
oi His adversaries. (Ver. 12.) His troops come together. The misfor
tunes, which He has sent, gather themselves against me in troops.
And raise up their way against me. They omit no means, by which
they can gain access to me. The metaphor is taken from the
siege of a city, one of the first steps in which was, in those times,
to cast up a raised way against the city, in order to facilitate the
approach of the besieging army. And encamp around my dwelling.
(Ver. 13.) He hath removed my brethren far from me. They
keep aloof from me in consequence of the degraded state, to which
He has reduced me. And they, that know me, have verily become
estranged from me. (Ver. 14.) My relations have failed. They
have dropped off one by one. And my acquaintance have forgotten
me. (Ver. 15.) The inmates of my house, and my maids, count
me for a stranger ; an alien have I become in their eyes. (Ver. 16.)
I call my servant, but he will not answer ; with my mouth, must I
make supplication to him. Instead of commanding him, as I used
to do, I must now entreat him to do for me what I want.
(Ver. 17.) My breath hath become loathsome to my wife, and so
would the demonstrations of my affection now be to my children,
if I had any. They would loathe my affectionate caresses.
(Ver. 18.) Yea, wicked-little-children despise me; when I stand
by, they speak against me. Even in my presence, they insult and
mock me. (Ver. 19.) All my familiar friends abhor me, and
such, as I loved, are turned against me. (Ver. 20.) My bone. All

CHAPTER XIX. 11—17, 20. 167
that is bone in me. Cleaveth to my skin, and my flesh. I am
reduced to such a state of emaciation, that my bones and skin are
glued together. And I am escaped only with the skin of my teeth,
that is, with my gums ; they have escaped the fate of the rest of
my body ; of them only can I say, that they do not cleave to their
bones, that is, to my teeth, for I have no teeth, they have all
dropped out.
Ver. 11. I1"1?? for l^T^P 7I7S3 as one of His adversaries.
Ver. 15. *33a7I7n account me. This verb, having two nominative cases, agrees
in gender with the one nearer to it, viz., *i7nas my maids. Comp. Ezek.
xxxv. 10.
Ver. 17. 1ni2ni And my affection, it being, according to Kimchi and Ben-Zev,
an irregular infinitive Kal of pn to be gracious, merciful, affectionate. The proper
form *3n , or, perhaps, *?n , has here become Vlian by assuming the termina
tion (ni") of the inf. of the verbs n"7 . Gesenius, ready, as he always is, to
favour us with Hebrew nouns, of which the Hebrew Lexicographers never
dreamed, introduces into his Lexicon the fanciful noun nan plur. ni3l7 , and
takes *ni3I7 here to stand for *nlan , translating it, my entreaties. Those, who
can read Kimchi and Ben-Zev in the original, and are Hebrew scholars enough
to admire the beauty of their style, will not find fault with us for following them,
rather than one, who has never ventured to write one line of Hebrew, and who,
as has been shown by us, (see note on Ia7 supra vi. 3,) betrays such a glaring
want of knowledge of the true principles of Hebrew punctuation and accentuation.
The reader is referred to Ps. Ixxvii. 10, where nian is also used as an infinit.
7s man n?a?rj Hath God forgotten to be merciful, affectionate ?
*3B3 133b lit., to [the] children of my belly ; i.e., to my children. 123 *33,
children of [the] belly, or womb, should be considered as a periphrasis for 2*33
children, in the same manner that 1B3 *7B fruit of [the] belly, or womb, very
frequently is (Comp. Ps. cxxvii. 3) ; 1?B2 *3a therefore, would mean my
children. Some take *3a2 here in the sense of the womb, in which I lay, and
understand by 1?a3 *32 [the] children of my mother ; i.e., my brethren. We
have, indeed, already seen *3B2 used in this signification, supra iii. 10, but
there no ambiguity whatever could arise from its employment ; here, on the
contrary, by using it in this sense, Job would have run such risk of having
his meaning misunderstood, as *?2a might fairly be considered synonymous with
",?/Q my loins, or *aa my bowels,* that we find it quite impossible to believe,
that, if he had really wished to speak here of his brethren, he would have
applied to them such a very ambiguous epithet. Those, who take it here in this
sense, are obliged to confess that they do so, in order to get over the difficulty
of accounting for Job's speaking of his children, when, as we learn from the
historian, they had all been destroyed ; but, for our own part, rather than
translate 1aaa *aa my brethren, we would suppose, as some really do, that
* As in Ps. cxxxii. 11, "aps ngp, where 1?f? refers to David.— Note of Editor, 1861.

168 CHAPTER XIX. 17  21.
Job either had had children by concubines, or that his wife had borne him some
in the interval (considerable perhaps) which had elapsed between his being struck
with poverty, and afflicted with bodily disease. There is not, however, in our
opinion the least occasion for indulging in any such supposition, since, even if
the common view be adhered to, that Job had no children at the time he spoke
this, the verse may very well be understood as follows : " My breath hath
become disgusting to my wife, and so would my affection be to my children ; "
i.e., if I had any children, they would not be able to endure my caressing and
fondling them.
Ver. 18. 2*7*1.5 wicked-young-children. We suppose the noun b*ia to be
composed of 713? a young child, and bi? iniquity, or wickedness. Comp.
infra xxi. 11, where 2n*7*ia stands in parallelism with 2i7*7.7* their children.
*3 1737* they speak against me. The verb ^27, in Pi-al, when construed
with 3 , signifies to speak against, as B*riaS3 naTp (Ps. lxxviii. 19) Yea,
they spake against God.
Ver, 19. *7iB *nB lit., men of my counsel, communion; i.e., my familiar
friends. *nans np for *n3.ns 7ttJS: np And such as J loved (see note on nil.
supra xviii. 21) ; or may not nj here, contrary to the opinion of Mason and
Bernard (Letter xxv., P.S. (d)), be really synonymous with "l??S: ? If it is, as
we are inclined to think it is, the difficulty of accounting for its being joined with
133173. in the plural will vanish.
Vers. 21 — 27. Dreadful as are the torments, bodily, as well as
mental, enumerated by the unfortunate speaker here, there is yet
one, a mental one, far more agonizing than them all, and that is,
the abominable supposition indulged in by his friend Bildad (supra
xviii. 4) that he (Job) believed " the world to be deserted by its
Maker, and the Rock to be moved from His place," a supposition
equivalent to a charge of downright Atheism. What are bodily
pains however excruciating, what are mental sufferings however
agonizing, when compared with the pangs with which the mind
of a pious and upright man like Job would be seized, on hearing
such a charge brought against him — him, a man, who had, not only
during the whole course of his life, preached the power and
excellence of God to others, but even now, in his sufferings,
longed, nay panted, for the privilege of defending himself and
proving his innocence before Him ! He is so utterly confounded
by this charge, that, feeling his complete inability to find words to
express his indignation, he prefers appealing to his former friends
for pity and compassion, and imploring them, as it were on his

CHAPTER XIX. 21  26. 169
knees, and with tears in his eyes, to spare him, and abstain from
harrowing up his soul with such false and utterly unfounded
accusations. He says : —
Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends, for the
hand of God hath smitten me ! The afflictions sent upon me by
God are already greater than a human frame can bear, why then
add to them by imputing to me a crime of the blackest dye,
that, namely, of denying my God and Maker? (Ver. 22.) Why
should ye persecute me like God? I am already undeservedly
suffering chastisement at the hand of God, is not this enough,
without your striving to emulate Him by loading me with accusa
tions and charges, which I as equally little merit ? Yea, ye seem
never to be satisfied with my flesh. Your rancour against me
seems to be so immeasurably great, that you could, as it were,
altogether devour me, and even then not be satisfied, but
long for more of my flesh. You say, that I deny God, and think,
that the " Rock of the universe is removed from His place ; " but
here is my answer to this your charge — here you have, in a few
words, my profession of faith, which I only hope may be handed
down and transmitted to the latest generations. (Ver. 23.) Oh,
now, that my words were written down ! Oh, that they were engraved
in a book ! Nay, but that were not enough ; words, written and
engraved in a book, are not lasting; would, then rather, that
(Ver. 24.) With an iron style, and with lead, they were graven in the
rock for everl These words namely, (Ver. 25) That I know, that
my Redeemer liveth, and that He will remain the last upon the
earth. That I know Him to be a Being, whose existence
will have no end or limit.* So in Isa. xlviii. 12, God says,
p™ ^K »)K ]ittfX7 ^K I [am the] first, yea, I [am the] last.
(Ver. 26.) Even after my skin hath thus been pierced. That
is, consumed, and eaten into holes by ulcers, as it now is. Yet,
even from my flesh can I see God. Even from the flesh, which
peeps out through these holes, disgusting as it is, I can see, that
it is so wonderfully wrought, that none but God could be the
* So far from my believing, therefore, that He has been moved from His place, and has
deserted the earth, I know, upon the contrary, that, long after every mortal has left his
place on earth, God will still remain behind, immovable, the last. This seems to be 'the
force of the |r™ here.— Note of Editor, 1861.

170 chapter xix. 21 — 24, 27.
maker of it, God, (Ver. 27) Whom I can see for myself. I have
no need to be told by others of His existence, I myself can
plainly see Him in His works, yea even in a frame so wasted,
and so disgusting as mine now is. Yea, my own eyes see Him,
and not another. There is no occasion for another to point Him
out to me, I see Him, with my own eyes, in myself. My reins are
consumed for Him within me. Not only do I not deny His
existence, but I wish, desire, long for nothing else, than to be
brought into His presence, that I may clear myself, and prove my
innocency before Him.
Ver. 21. 1??n Have pity upon me. The repetition of this word imparts emphasis
to the entreaty. See Mason and Bernard's Grammar, Letter xlviii., § 6, II.
Ver. 22. 13?3Pn ri ? *"iE?aai Yea, you seem not to be satisfied with my flesh ;
i.e., it seems you cannot have enough of it, cannot glut yourselves therewith.
The rancorous hatred of an enemy is well depicted in Hebrew by his being said
to devour the flesh of him he hates.* So the Psalmist says, Ps. xxvii. 2, " When
evil-doers approach me 17?/2 ns 73S7 to eat my flesh." Comp. also infra
xxxi. 31, 3?3tp3 rib i7taaa in* *a Oh that we had of his flesh, we could not
be satisfied! i.e., we could never eat enough of it.
Ver. 23. Ipn** 7BS3 in* *B for -*BD3 ipn** in* *B Would that they were
engraved in a book !
Ver. 24. n~!Bai and lead. It would be a great mistake to understand the
word aaa before it, and translate with a style of iron, and of lead, as lead is too
soft a metal to be able to cut a rock. The wish of the poet evidently is, that his
words might first be graven in a rock with an iron style, and then filled up with
lead ; a mode of proceeding, by which the inscription would be rendered at once
more conspicuous, and less perishable. So Jarchi observes :
jsi oiopi mnPD r>fop pvptfb ppb 'apiw nf* yyivv 3"ppi aiia ]i3J>
: ]3PP bsf> pip -p noo P-)91P io w D7s>i p;v pii yft ppp -p7
" They usually cut in the rock, and after this insert the lead, to give the letters a
blackish appearance, in order to make them distinct, and this [is] the way of a stone-
carver. But it is not right to explain [it as though signifying] a style of lead, for, behold,
it is soft beside stone."
113^517* they (i.e., my words) should be graven. We have here an instance of
the figure Zeugma, for the verb used can, as has just been observed, properly
* Similar expressions might now very appropriately be introduced into the Italian
language, and perhaps also into Papal Latin, for did we not read in the " Times " two or
three months ago (Aug. 27, and comp. also Aug. 23 and Sept. 6)— and the report has
not, I believe, been contradicted — that a party of Neapolitan Reactionists (by others called
brigands), hearkening to the incitements and instigations of their priests, actually roasted
alive and ate the bodies of some unfortunate Piedmomese soldiers (their determined
enemies), whom they had treacherously surprised and captured. — Note of Editor, Nov.,
1861.

CHAPTER xix. 23—27. 171
be applied only to the iron style, and not to the lead, with which the letters were
not to be cut, but to be filled up. See note on 13^73 supra iv. 10.
Ver. 25. *n 'bria My Redeemer (i.e., God) liveth. The same epithet is
applied to God in Ps. xix., which concludes with the words, V^l 171^ nin*
0 Jehovah, my Rock, and my Redeemer ! Now, as in the preceding Chapter,
Ver. 4, Bildad had applied to God the epithet 712 Rock, and taxed Job with the
horrible crime of supposing the " Rock to be removed from His place ;" so Job,
in repudiating this abominable charge, calls his Maker 7ria Redeemer (the word
which is found in conjunction with 712 in the Psalm above quoted), saying, "I
know that 17ri3 my Redeemer liveth."
"1B3 7a upon earth. In this sense, the noun 7Ba is also used, infra xii. 25.
Bip* will stand, last, endure. Comp. Isa. xl. 8, 2bi3*b 2lp* 13*rib« 7371 but
[the] word of our God shall endure for ever.
Ver. 26. IBp? they have pierced. This verb is to be taken impersonally, so that
•!B|?3 *713? ins1] may be fairly translated, Even after my skin has been pierced.
nrit thus, in this manner. In Mason and Bernard's Grammar (Lett, xlviii.,
§ 24) instances have been quoted in which the masc. demohst. pron. nT
is used = this manner, fashion, and so its fem. nsT should be considered here ; or
it may, perhaps, stand for nST3 after this manner.
!7i7s n$TO *7a?aai Yet, from my flesh (i.e., when I consider the flesh, dis
gusting as it is, which peeps out through the holes in my skin), I can [still] see God ;
i.e., I can see that it is so wonderfully wrought that it can be the work of none else
than God. Nothing is more certain than that a close examination into the structure
of the human body, feeble and frail though it be, cannot but give rise to serious
meditation upon the marvellousness of the works of God, and to sincere and heart
felt prayers and praises to its Maker. Thus the Psalmist says (Ps. cxxxix. 14),
" I will praise Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made : marvellous are
Thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well."
Ver. 27. 7t another. Comp. Prov. xxvii. 2, 1J T/bn1 Let another praise
thee (and not thine own mouth).
*pna *J7*b3 lbs for *pna *n5|?3 ib lb| My reins are consumed [with desire]
for Him within me (lit., in my bosom) ; i.e., my only wish is to be brought into
His presence, that I may clear myself of the terrible charges which are laid at
my door. Comp. Ps. lxxxiv. 3, 1?'p3 nri73 My soul is consumed (i.e., with
desire, longing).
Vers. 23 — 27 seem to have been so embarrassing to all the
translators and commentators, Wolfssohn himself (to whom none
of the other modern commentators can, in the least degree, be
compared) not excepted, that we think it but right to shew the
reader how we construe them : —
Ver. 23. ^}12 ]12J73^1 iEK \Pi] 'D Would, now, that my words were
written down !
1p?T1 7D5? ]W "•? Would that they were engraved

172 CHAPTER XIX. 24 — 28.
in a (lit., the) book! (or, in
order to render them more
lasting and durable,)
Ver. 24. "V1? 71^3. ]13¥IT [That] they were graven in the
rock for ever,
]77 Qi/1 7H3 I2i!2 With an iron style, and [filled
up with] lead! (See above,
our note on HHSJ7) — these
words, namely,
Ver. 25. ^1 ^K5 'J^T "OKI That I know my Redeemer
liveth,
7D^ bi! |l'nnK Dip1  1 And will remain last upon earth
(i.e., that, after all beings have
ceased to exist, He will exist).
Ver. 26. DKf 12j?3 "Hi;/ 7pK1 Even after my skin has thus
been pierced,
fiibK ftnK ^njjrgpi Yet from my flesh can I see God
(i.e., from the flesh, which is
visible through my pierced
skin, I can see God ; I can
see that God, and none else
than God, is the Maker of it).
Ver. 27. ^ '"IJ™ ^K ">?»» Whom I can see for myself.
7T K71 1K7 13*^1 Yea, mine own eyes behold, and
not another ; (so that I do not
stand in need of another to
tell me, or remind me, of His
existence. All that I wish
for is to be allowed to justify
myself in His presence.)
"•jpHS "TP73 173 My reins are consumed (with
longing) [for Him] in my
bosom (i.e., within me).
Vers. 28, 29. Having now cleared himself from the terrible charge
of atheism, he warns his friends to be careful how they bring such
unfounded accusations against him, reminding them that, by so
doing, they incur an awful responsibility, since the very making a

CHAPTER XIX. 28 — 29. 173
false charge is in itself a great crime, and one that will certainly
ultimately be visited with the severest punishments. His admoni
tion runs thus : — ¦
But ye say, What is a persecuted-man to Him (God) ? What
object, what pleasure, can He have in persecuting an innocent
man ? and hence you draw the conclusion, That the root of the
matter must be found in me. That in me must lie the cause of all
the calamities that have been sent upon me by God ; that I must
needs be a very wicked man, richly deserving such punishment.
But to this I say, Mind well, what you are doing, mind well how
• you attribute to your friend guilt and crimes of which you can
afford no proof, and respecting which he can appeal to Him who
knoweth the secrets of the heart, that he is altogether innocent
of them. (Ver. 29.) Be ye afraid of the sword. That is, of
the avenging sword, with which the Divine justice is sure ulti
mately to visit such malicious accusations. For furious are the
punishments of the sword. That is, the punishments inflicted by
the sword. Ye should therefore know that there is judgment.
Ver. 28. *1772 a man-persecuted, i.e., a persecuted man, the word being the
part. Niph. sing, masc, and not the 1st pers. plur. fut. Kal, as it has been taken to
be by all the Translators and Commentators we have before us, although there is
only one example (viz., Judg. vii. 25), in which 77~l is followed by a dat. (i.e.,
by 7S) and there this bs is declared by the best Commentators to stand for
nS jast as in Ps. ii. 7. pi bs = ph ns .
737 aHa?) So that [the] root of [the] matter ; fig. for -the true and only cause
of the matter.
Ver. 29. nan lit., wrath, fury ; in English, however, it must be rendered
furious, as though it were an adjective. Comp. Ps. xxxv. 6, " Let their way be
"H^n lit.', darkness," (i.e., dark).
ni3ia lit., iniquities, used here for punishments. Comp. 1?ia (Gen. iv. 13)
my punishment.
1?2? therefore. This is the sense, in which this word should be taken here,
as also in Prov. ii. 20, where the royal Proverbialist, after warning the young man
against the bland words of the artful woman, exhorts him thus, ?j7n laa7
2*3ia TJ772 therefore, shouldest thou walk in [the] way of [the] good.
117a; (according to the K'ree) for 117 W*W that there is judgment. The letter
W , which in later Hebrew is very frequently used for 7a^S: that, is usually
pointed with Segol, and followed by Dagesh ; in the word before us, however, it has
Pathach, and so it has in Judg. v. 7, lnai7a7 that I rose.
117 (more commonly VI) judgment, is a verbal noun, formed from the inf.

174 CHAPTER XIX. 28 — 29.
117 or 1*7 to judge, just as M2 contempt, is formed from the infin. W3 to
despise. These two verses should be construed thus :
Ver. 28. 17ZpKn "»? But ye say,
Y> *]TI3 112 What [is] a persecuted-man
to Him (God) ? (i.e., what
advantage, or pleasure, can
He have in seeing a man
persecuted ?)
737 JJhfch And, therefore, the root of
[the] matter (i.e., the real
cause of my sufferings.)
13 K^pj is found in me, (i.e., my own
guilt must needs be the
real cause, which has
brought these calamities
upon me; against this most
pernicious conclusion, how
ever, it is my duty to warn
you. I say then,)
Ver. 29. 37.n ^0 Dp) 171-1 Be ye afraid of [the] sword
(with which such malicious
accusations are sure to be
visited,)
7.7.17 nijli? n£n ^2 For furious [are the] punish
ments of [the] sword (i.e.,
the punishments inflicted
by the avenging sword are
furious.)
\WU? y\i!lFi \V_12b Therefore, ought ye to know,
that [there is] judgment
(i.e., you ought to bear in
mind, that you will be
called to account for these
false accusations, and not
escape with impunity).

175

CHAPTER XX.
A hint having been thrown out by one of the three friends (supra
xviii. 2), that it was quite time to " make an end of words," or that,
at least, every speaker should well consider what he was going to -
say, Zophar, before beginning his discourse, thinks it but right to
apologize for his not complying with that request, and to explain,
that he considers himself bound, in justice to himself, not to suffer
the charge of Job, that all the accusations brought against him
are false and malicious, to remain long without its refutation. He
says : —
Vers. 2 — 9. On this account do my thoughts cause me to reply.
Prompt me to answer. And for this reason is my haste in me.
The reason for my not delaying to answer is this, that (Ver. 3) I
hear a correction intended for my shame. I hear my friend Job
launching against me accusations and charges which, if sub
stantiated only in part, would load me with shame. Therefore the
spirit of my understanding maketh me to answer. My reason biddeth
me not keep silence, but defend myself by shewing that I do not
speak from malice or ill-will, but from my intimate conviction.
that, inasmuch as the wicked-man always pays a terrible penalty
for his wickedness, the torments which my friend Job is now
enduring must have their origin in such very serious offences and
sins against God, as His attribute of justice could not allow of
His suffering to remain unpunished. (Ver. 4.) Dost thou know
this? Art thou aware of this great truth? From an.cient-times,
from the time of mans being placed upon earth. That is, from
having studied ancient history. (Ver. 5.) That the triumphant-
shout of the wicked is of recent date, and the joy of the hypocrite
but for a moment ? (Ver. 6.) Though his excellency mount up to
the heavens, and his head reach unto the cloud[s]. (Ver. 7.) Yet,
like his own dung, shall he perish for ever. His head, which
may be said to touch the very clouds (so exalted is he in honour,
dignity, and pride, above the common herd of men), shall be abased
to a level with the dung which falls from him to the ground. So

176 CHAPTER XX. 2  10.
utterly shall he perish, that, Those seeing him. Those, who were
wont to see him in his high station. Will say, " Where is he ? "
(Ver. 8.) Like a dream, shall he fly-away and not be found ; yea,
he shall be chased-away as a vision of the night. (Ver. 9.) The
eye, which hath seen him, shall see him no more, neither shall his
place any more behold him,
Ver. 2. 713^31 for nt 713531 lit., and because of this; i.e., and for this
reason. Ver. 3. 1na73 "iBia lit., [the] correction of my shame ; i.e., the correction
intended fok my shame, intended to bring shame upon me. See note on
aisa? *73, supra xvii. 16.
Ver. 4. 27S B*a? lit., [one's] placing man; i.e., man's being placed. Comp.
Num. ix. 15, IBtaan ns B*pn Bl*a, lit., on [the] day of [one's] rearingupthe
tabernacle, i.e., of the tabernacle's being reared up.
Ver. 5. 3i~)j?a lit , of near; i.e., of recent date. If, during the triumph of
the wicked man, inquiry should be made as to when it began, it would be, found
to have had no long existence. This is the purport of the first hemistich, whilst
in the second, we are told that the joy of the hypocrite will be but for a moment ;
so that bis joy, or triumph, is comprised within very narrow limits of time,
extending but a very little way into the past, and about to extend but a very little
way into the future. Comp. Deut. xxxii. 17, 1^2 3"lj3B [which] came newly
up; i.e., whose existence is of very recent date.
Ver. 7. ib??.? like his dung. In 1 Kings xiv. 10, we find the form 7/3 dung,
from which, however, the word under consideration can hardly be derived, as it
would then be pointed i'b?3. We must, therefore, suppose that it comes from
b7a., though this form does not occur.
Ver. 8. lnS2B* ribl. lit., and they shall not find him; i.e., he shall not be
found, the verb being used impersonally.
77*1 lit., and it shall be caused to move away (it being the Hopb. of 773 to
move) ; i.e., it shall be chased away.
Ver. 9. mBta* 1*5 for WBjtf 7t»S yy [the] eye which has seen him.
fl*Bin ribl shall do so no more, the 1 being conductive. See note on
Bi7bta*1 supra viii. 4.
iaipa 137iaJn 7i5 ribl nor shall his place behold him any more. Comp.
supra vii. 10, where, however, aipB is masc, as, indeed, it almost invariably is
in the Bible. Even here there is no absolute necessity for regarding it as
feminine, as it is well known that the verb, when it precedes its nominative case,
need not agree with it, either in gender, or in number. Comp. ^nnBtt? S*3!7 7B7S
(1 Sam. xxv. 27) which thy handmaiden has brought.
Vers. 10, 11. His children shall have to conciliate the poor.
To win back the hearts of those whom their father has made
poor. Or, even his own (the father's) hands will have to restore

chapter xx. 10—11. 177
to every one his substance. Inasmuch as the wicked man was
described in Ver. 6 as one whose excellency mounted up to
heaven, and whose head touched the clouds, it is evidently of
no common robber, that the poet speaks here, but of a great and
tyrannical conqueror; and of him he prognosticates, that his
fortune will one day take such a turn, that either his children
will have to sue for peace to those weaker princes, whom their
father had stripped of provinces, treasures, &c, or that even
he himself, in his lifetime, will be obliged to restore to every one
of his victims all he had plundered them of. (Ver. 11.) Though
his limbs be full of his youthful-vigour. Whilst even in the prime
of life, and full of youthful strength. Yet with him shall it
(his youthful vigour) lie in the dust. He shall be carried off
suddenly in spite of his youth and vigorous constitution.
Ver. 10. iaiS for i3in his substance, i.e., the substance of every one of those he has
plundered. See note on 1B172 supra vi. 17. Comp. Hosea xii. 9, " I have found me
out pW substance." But, perhaps, there is no occasion to adopt this unusual signification,
seeing that, by simply taking 2*b7 in the first hemistich, in its primary meaning
of weak, feeble (whence only its signification of poor has been derived, inasmuch
as people, who are poor, are commonly weak and helpless, and liable to be injured
with impunity), pS in the second hemistich, would form an excellent antithesis to it,
in its usual meaning of strength, might (see note on wis supra xviii. 12) ; and the
sense of the verse would be, that those, weakened by having been stripped of their
wealth, would again be invigorated by having, one and all, their former strength
restored to them. Comp. 2 Sam. iii. 1, " The house of David Pjn* Tjbh [was] con
tinually gaining strength, whereas the house of Saul B*bl1 B*37h [was (lit., were)]
continually growing weaker." Comp. also Prov. xxii. 22, Nin b7 *3 37 btan bs
which should be translated thus, Rob not a poor-man, though he be weak ; (i.e.,
though he be helpless, and can offer no resistance, and may therefore be injured
with impunity)  For Jehovah will plead their cause, &c.
Ver. 11. VB1737. (according to the K'ree) his youthful-vigour. Comp. infra
xxxiii. 25, l*Blb5 *a*b to [the] days of his youthful-vigour ; i.e., to the days
when he was in the prime of his youthful vigour. Comp. also Ps. lxxxix. 46,
l*Bia5. *a*. n72pn Thou hast shortened [the] days of his youthful-vigour."
We are glad to see, that in the Chaldee Vers. l*Blb5 is rendered by n*b*n his
strength ; for, to translate this verse, " His bones are full of the sin of his youth,"
&c, as is done in the Auth. Vers., and other translations, is, in our humble
opinion, to divest it of all meaning, for what connexion could there be in the
poet's mind between bones and youthful sins ? Jarchi observes on l^ba l*niB25
vaiba :_
t -: •

178 CHAPTER XX. 11  17.
vnnw P3
[" The] vigour of his youth ; "
and, on astpn 75a ba iaai : IPS CD S3PPP DIP' '3
" For he will die suddenly with (i.e., whilst in possession of) his vigour."
Vers. 12 — 16. The poet, in these verses, compares wickedness
to a dainty morsel in the mouth. As a child, for instance, plays
with a sugar-plum, rolling it under his tongue, pressing it against
his palate, using every device, in short, to extract all its sweetness
and perfume ; so does the wicked man play and dally with his
wickedness, not a whit less luscious to his taste.
Though his wickedness be sweet in his mouth, so that he hide it
under his tongue. (Ver. 13.) Though he spare it, and part not
with it, but keep it back within his palate. (Ver. 14.) Yet his
food. For his wickedness is to him as food and dainty food.
When in his bowels, is changed. It turns out to be altogether
different from what its scent and flavour made it appear to be. The
gall of asps it proveth to be within him. (Ver. 15.) He hath
swallowed down wealth, but shall vomit it up again ; God will drive
it out from his belly. It was no dainty morsel he had in his mouth ;
it was (Ver. 16) The gall of asps he was sucking ; It will slay
him as though it were the tongue of a viper.
Ver. 12. P*nan it may be sweet, though a Hiph. in form, is used here in
transitively. Comp. Isa. i. 18, 13*ab* abt^3 they shall be [as] white as snow,
and our note on l7*Bn supra vi. 27.
Ver. 13. n*7a 7an* lit., he may have pity upon it, i.e., spare it.
n33T5, "b"j lit., and may not forsake it; i.e., may not relinquish it, part with it.
Ver. 14. a*3riB nTjha [the] gall of asps ; the noun nnilB being synony
mous with nnn.a gall, which we had supra xvi. 13.
Ver. 16. n5B's pa?b for naBS pa?b3 as [the] tongue of a viper. Though,
strictly speaking, it is not the tongue of the viper which contains the venom ;
yet, since this member is darted out at the moment of the infliction of the bite,
it was anciently considered to do so. So the Psalmist says, Ps. cxl. 4 : They
have sharpened BpaJ? their tongue (like a serpent).
Vers. 17 — 23. The poet having stated that wickedness, how
ever great the pleasure attending its commission, will ultimately
lead to the destruction of the wicked man, now goes on to
enumerate some of the disappointments and miseries in store for
him, before he is removed from this world. He says :

CHAPTER XX. 17  23. 179
He shall see no floods, rivers, or brooks, of honey and milk. He
shall no longer enjoy that abundance of good and rich things,
he was used to in the days of his prosperity. Hyperbolical as
the language in this verse may appear to the reader, such, to our
minds, overstrained figures are by no means unfrequent in the
mouth of Hebrew poets. Thus, infra xxix. 6, he will hear
Job say, by way of depicting the smooth and easy flow of his
former prosperity, that his footsteps were washed with milk
(cream), and that the rock poured out for him rivers of oil.
(Ver. 18.) He must restore that which he laboured to obtain.
By dishonest means. And shall not swallow it down ; as the
substance. Of which he unlawfully deprived his fellow-creatures.
So shall be the restitution thereof, and he shall not rejoice in it.
The restitution he will have to make shall be to the uttermost
farthing ; not one particle of his dishonestly gotten wealth shall
remain with him, to cause him rejoicing. (Ver. 19.) Seeing that
he hath crushed, hath abandoned the poor. He first ruined them
completely, and then left them to their fate, without the least
commiseration. Seeing that he hath violently-taken-away a house,
which he never built. (Ver. 20.) Seeing that he never felt quietness
within him. He was always restless, and bent upon doing
mischief. Therefore, he shall not escape with that which he
delighted in. (Ver. 21.) Seeing there was nothing left of his
meat. For the poor. Therefore, shall his prosperity not last.
(Ver. 22.) In the very fulness of his sufficiency. When his
plenty is great to superfluity. He shall be put to straits ; every
blow of the miserable. Every blow, every plague, that can render
a man miserable. Shall come upon him. (Ver. 23.) He will be
about to fill his belly, when He (God) will send upon him His
fierce anger ; yea, He will rain it down upon them. Every one
of them. While at his meal.
Ver. 17. nsani a>37; honey and milk, should be supplied after niab?2 in
the first, and *7.n? in the second, hemistich. Comp. infra xxi. 28, ni33taa bnS
2*aan [the] tent, [the] habitations, of [the] wicked.
nsan undoubtedly is sometimes used in the sense of butter, as in Prov.
xxx. 33, " Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth nsan butter." In the
verse before us, however, where floods, rivers and brooks of it are spoken of, it
can hardly have this meaning ; it may perhaps be intended to denote the richest
N 2

180 CHAPTER XX. 17  23.
part of milk, viz., cream, but we thought it best to render it simply, milk. In Judges
v. 25, nsan must also mean cream, or butter-milk, as it is not likely, that Jael
should have brought forth butter, when Sisera asked for toater, to quench his
thirst. Besides, ta?71 27n milk and honey, or 27ni a?37 honey and milk, are
so frequently mentioned together in the Old Testament, that we have no doubt
but that here nsarn a?37; = 3bl7* a?37 honey and milk.
Ver. 18. a3* 3*taa for 12 aa*. 7aJS 3*a?B [he shall be] restoring that, which
he laboured for.
aba* rib) for iniS aba* ribl and he shall not swallow it down.
innian b*ns for innian n*nn ia b*ns as [the] wealth (which he has
unlawfully gotten), so shall be the restitution thereof; i.e., he shall have to make
full restitution.
nnian Ht., exchange (i.e., the giving of one thing for another); hence,
compensation, restitution.
b*n , in this instance, is not the const, form of b*I7 , but an independent
noun in its absolute state, and synonymous with 7*17 . Comp. Isa. xxxvi. 2,
733 b*I73 = 733 b*na with a great army. In like manner, we find b*b synony
mous with a*a = na*7 night, in Isa. xxi. 11.
2ba* ribl for 12 aba* ribl and he shall not rejoice in it. The verb oba is
synonymous with *ba and vba , B, t, y interchanging as dentals.
Ver. 19. inaa* ribl for in33* rib 7aisi which he shall not have built, the
prefix 1 being merely conductive. See note on 2I7ba**l supra viii. 4.
Ver. 20. 77?C£? prop, an adject, (see supra xvi. 12) quiet, tranquil, here used as
a subst. quiet, tranquillity.
aba* rib i7iana for i7iana ia?B3 aba* rib he shall not deliver himself
together with [that which was] his delight; i.e., he shall not escape with that,
which was his delight. Comp. Amos ii. 1 5, where, in the same verse, aba* stands
once with WS1 and once without it, in the same sense.
Ver. 21. b*n* will last. Comp. Ps. x. 5, V3"17 lb*n; which should be
translated, his (the wicked man's) wags are lasting ; i.e., everything he undertakes
in the course of his life is durable and lasting.
Ver. 22. ipBB his sufficiency, abundance ; absolute form prob. pB2 derived
from pBB or rather pBfa to be sufficient. Comp. 1 Kings xx. 10, pBa** shall
suffice. baa 7* b3 lit., every blow of a miserable-man; i.e., every blow, or plague,
which can render a man wretched and miserable. The noun 7*, though
originally signifying hand, is very frequently used in Scripture for blow, stroke,
plague, &c. Comp. infra xxiii. 2, when *7*. stands for my blow; i.e., the blow
I have received.
13ri3n for vba ri3n shall come upon him; another instance of an object.
affix instead of a preposition with a possessive affix. See note on la*.nsp supra
iii. 25.
Ver. 23. nba?* He (God) will send. Though '# God, has not been referred
to since ver. 15, yet the poet did not consider it necessary to repeat His name

CHAPTER XX. 23—28. 181
here, as no doubt could possibly arise, as to whom he intended as the subject to
this verb.
12*7a lit., upon them; i.e., upon wicked men generally. The poet here again
changes the number. See note on 2baa supra xv. 29.
Vers. 24 — 28. The wicked man, environed as he is, according
to the description of the poet, with dangers of all sorts, is not
overwhelmed by them all at once ; he may escape one, but, whilst
he is congratulating himself on his good fortune, another, greater,
will come upon him ; this too he may surmount, his self-confidence,
arrogance, and pride, increasing with his success, but soon other
dangers will overtake him, more terrible still, and following one
upon another in quicker succession, till at last, fairly hemmed in,
he must succumb. He will be in fact, to use the language of the
prophet,* " As a man, who fleeth from a lion, and a bear meeteth
him; and then cometh home, and leaneth his hand against the
wall, and a serpent biteth him." Our poet's words are as
follows :
He may flee from the iron weapon. Escape injury from it, but,
straightway, The bow of brass will strike him through. With its
arrow. (Ver. 25.) This may be drawn, and come out, from his
body; yea, the glittering-weapon may be drawn out from his gall.
The weapon may be skilfully extracted, and the wound heal, but
immediately, other Terrors will come upon him. (Ver. 26.) Every
sort of darkness. That is, calamity. Is concealed for his hidden-
treasures. The dangers, with which his treasures are threatened,
are not perceived by him, till they are no longer to be shunned.
Afire not fanned. By human hands. Shall devour him. Mis
fortunes shall befall him, the origin of which neither he, nor any
other, shall be able to discover. The one remaining in his dwelling
shall fare ill. (Ver. 27.) The heavens shall reveal his iniquity;
yea, the earth riseth up against him. All nature will unite in
bringing on his ruin. (Ver. 28.) The increase of his house shall
depart, flowing away in the day of His (God's) wrath.
Ver. 25. *\jW lit., one drew out; i.e., is drawn out. This verb, as well as
^3*1, must be understood before the noun PT,3, which of course stands for
P7j2 VD lit., [the] arrow of lightning; i.e., the glittering, gleaming arrow.
* Amos v. 19.

182 chapter xx. 25 — 29 ; xxi.
IjbPP for 13bn* shall go on, pass. Since, however, the verb precedes its
nom. case 2*B*S terrors, it need not agree with it in number. See Mason
and Bernard's Gramm., Lett. xlix. § 8.
Ver. 26. "ij^n lit., darkness, used figuratively for calamity, misfortune.
nB3* rib a?S for nB3 rib ia5s BJS afire, which was not fanned.
Ver. 28. ni"l|3 flowing away, part. Niph. fem. plur. of 733, in Niph., to
flow, referring to bl3*, which, being a collective noun, may have the word in
agreement with it in the plural. Comp. 2 Sam. iii. 1, 2*b7* B*3bh blStp n*31
and [the] house of Saul [was lit., were] continually growing weaker and weaker.
Ver. 29. Having now completed his description of the cala
mitous life and miserable end of the wicked man, Zophar
triumphantly exclaims :
Such is the portion of the wicked-man from God, and the heritage
appointed unto him of God.
1~IBS nb!7? lit., [the] heritage of his word, or sentence; i.e., the heritage he is
sentenced to (by God). The absolute noun "^S, from which the word under
consideration seems to be formed, is not to be met with in the sing, numb., and
even the plur. numb, mostly occurs in the poetical books. We find, however,
also in Joshua xxiv. 27, nin* *7BS? [the] words of Jehovah.

CHAPTER XXI.

Hitherto the unjustly tormented Job had, as might reasonably
be expected, made his own unfortunate and unparalleled case the
prominent topic of his discourses — describing minutely his bodily
as well as mental sufferings, declaring most solemnly his inno
cence, complaining in unmeasured terms of the wrong that was
done to him, and lamenting bitterly that there was no judge or
tribunal to which he could appeal for redress. With regard to
the condition of the wicked in this world, he seemed but little
inclined to dwell upon the subject, his mind being naturally
rather taken up and engrossed with his own grief; if, now and
then, he did make allusion thereunto, it was but very briefly
(supra ix. 24 ; xii. 6), and in all probability the matter would not
have engaged his attention further, had it not been that his

CHAPTER XXI. 2  6. 183
friends so continually obtruded it upon his notice. He now
begins to feel, however, that the miserable lot, which they
strenuously maintain must befall the wicked, is pressed upon
him so repeatedly and vehemently — and that, not so much as
a matter of fact, or historical truth, as to serve as premises, from
which, if admitted, his friends might draw the conclusion, that his
lot too is miserable, merely and solely because he is wicked (see
preliminary remarks on chap. xix. 2 — 7) — that he can no longer
pass over the subject in silence, and he therefore now proceeds to
shew, not only the fallacy of their conclusion, but also the utter
falsity of their premises — and this he does as follows : —
Ver. 2 — 15. — Listen attentively to my speech, and let this be
your consolations* I do not ask you for consolations ; my wounds
are far too deep to be soothed by any balm you could pour upon
them ; all that I beg of you is to give me an attentive hearing.
(Ver. 3.) Bear-with me, and let me speak; and, after I have
spoken, thou mayest mock. Allow me first to speak out my mind,
and then mock, one or all, as much as you please. (Ver. 4.) As
for me, doth my complaint refer to any other man ? Did I ever
mix up any other man in my complaints? Was I the first to
introduce the subject of the fate of the wicked, or to institute a
comparison between their lot and mine 1 If I had done so, I could
not complain of your following in my track ; it would have been
only natural in you to take up what I had said, and, after having
thoroughly examined and sifted it, to point out wherein I was
right or wrong; but such is not the case, I was altogether
occupied in bewailing my own sufferings, and cared not for the
lot of others. You have introduced the subject; And if so,
why, I ask you, why may I not well lose my patience ? (Ver. 5.)
Look on me, and be amazed, and put your hand upon your mouth.
See the condition I have been reduced to, and be amazed at your
selves, that you could treat me thus, that you could think of
wasting so many words upon the fate of others, and altogether over
look what my own fate is. (Ver. 6.) And surely, when I do think
of it. When I reflect that, contrary to all one might expect from
the sympathy of friends, you have had the heart to introduce and
* That is, the consolations you offer me. — Note of Editor, 1861.

184 CHAPTER XXI. 6 — 15.
speak at such length upon a subject altogether foreign to my case,
and to remind me of the lot of the wicked, I am troubled, and my
body is seized with shuddering. But when, besides reflecting upon
your behaviour towards me, I also consider the manner in which I,
an innocent man, am treated by God, who deals so very differently
with those who are notoriously wicked and ungodly, my horror
increases tenfold. (Ver. 7.) Why, indeed, should the wicked
live ? Why are they at all allowed to exist, to be the plague and
scourge of their fellow-creatures? They do live, however, and
not only live, but become old ; yea, grow mighty in power. Their
power increases with their years. (Ver. 8.) Their seed is
established before them, and with them, yea, their offspring is before
their eyes. They have the delight of seeing their children com
fortably established and settled around them ; they know they
are near them, and prospering, not rambling about the world,
striving for their living. (Ver. 9.) Their houses are in peace,
without fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. (Ver. 10.)
His bull. That is, the bull of every one of them. Gendereth, and
faileth not ; his cow calveth, and casteth not her calf (Ver. 11.)
They send forth their wicked-little-children. Not only are they
themselves wicked, but their children shew themselves such, even
from their tenderest years. Like a flock, yea, their children skip
about. Like lambs. (Ver. 12.) They take-up the tabret, and
harp, and they rejoice at the sound of the lute. (Ver. 13.) They
spend their days in prosperity, and in a moment are crushed (and
hurled) into the grave. The reader will recollect, that death
coming on, not by lingering disease, but suddenly, was considered
by Job as a blessing. (See our comment on supra ix. 23.)
(Ver. 14.) Therefore they say to God, " Depart from us, for we
" desire not to know Thy ways. (Ver. 15.) What is the Almighty,
" that we should serve Him, and what profit can we have, if we pray
" unto Him?"
Ver. 3. 3.*aai7 thou mayest mock. Job's object in changing the number here
(the second pers. plur. having been used in the first hemistich) seems to have been
to individualize his friends, whom he had before addressed collectively — as though,
when pronouncing this word, he looked at his friends in turn, as much as to say,
" Thou Bildad, or thou Zophar," &c. The verb, though a Hiph., is used in the
same signification as in Kal. See note on P1nan supra xx. 12.

CHAPTER XXI. 4 — 13. 185
Ver. 4. DTN? with reference to [any] man. Comp. Gen. xvii. 20, bN5Ba^*bl
and with reference to Ishmael, I have heard thee, &c.
The first hemistich of this verse should be construed thus : —
"OJKn As for me,
TV -/ '
^n*j&> [is] my complaint
D*7}J7 with reference to [any] man? (i.e., do I in my
complaints mix up any other man than myself?
Why, then, do you continually keep instancing
the fate of wicked men?)
*I717 72pn ri7 Kt., should my spirit (temper) not be short ; i.e., should I not
lose my temper, patience. Seeing that ni7 t|^S lit., long of spirit, is used (in
Eccles. vii. 8) = patient, and nil "I2p lit., short of spirit (in Prov. xiv. 29) =
impatient, we cannot conceive how the translators of the Auth. Vers., and
others, overlooked the very evident connexion between these phrases, more espe
cially the latter, and the expression in the text.
Ver. 6. ni2v>B "H^S- *nS1 lit., and my flesh takes hold of shuddering ; i.e.,
shuddering takes hold upon my flesh. See note on supra xviii. 20.
Ver. 9. Biaa? [in] peace. See note on this word, supra v. 24.
7I7Ba without fear, the a having here a privative sense. See note on D1BB
supra xi. 15.
Ver. 10. b*5?* ribl and faileth not [to do so] ; for the literal meaning the
reader is referred to Ben-Zev's B*ana?n 721S, in which he will find the fol
lowing words, the translation of which be may perhaps dispense with : —
.(jam yt ]pp ,p2-)uii=P'ip) nnsa abpan a-itn 'a*b3 aas* sb
Jarchi and Kimchi explain it nearly in the same manner.
Ver. 11. 2!7*b*15 their wicked-little-children. See note on 2*7*la supra
xix. 18.
Ver. 12. *ina [the] tabret, the 2 being either pleonastic, or the mark of the
object, case. See note on *B5B32 supra iii. 9.
Ver. 13. inn* they are broken in pieces, crushed. The form so plainly shews
this to be the fut. Niph. of nnn to break, crush, that we could not venture to
follow those authorities, however great, who translate the word here as if it were
derived from nna to descend. We find, moreover, in 1 Sam. ii. 10, the very same
word translated in the Eng. Vers., shall be broken to pieces, though here it is given
the sense of going down.
Vers. 16 — 26. Several passages have been quoted by Mason
and Bernard in their Grammar (Letter lvi. § 19), in which it is
absolutely necessary to supply inverted commas (marks, which the
Hebrew language does not possess), in order to arrive at their

186 CHAPTER XXI. 16 — 19.
true meaning, seeing that, without this help, they would either be
altogether unintelligible, or even convey an idea just the opposite1
to that, which was intended. In this very chapter, we shall find
three instances of the sort ; indeed, the first hemistich of the verse
we are now about to comment upon, absolutely and indispensably
requires to be understood, as if Job said to his friends, I know
what you will reply to the statement I have just made about the
blasphemous language of the wicked, and the foolishness, rashness,
yea, madness, of the defiance they dare to breathe against Him,
in whose hand and power they, and all they have, unquestionably
are. You no doubt will say :
* " Lo, their prosperity is not in their hand." Their prosperity,
as well as they themselves, may be annihilated by God in one
moment ; how then can they dare to hold such insulting language
to God? But my answer is, The counsel of the wicked is far from
me. I never undertook, nor ever will undertake, to justify, or
even explain, their daring to use such blasphemous language ; I
never had any intercourse with the wicked, never approached
them, never came into their counsels, how then can I know their
motives for speaking with such arrogant impiety ? All I know is,
that they do speak so, that they do defy God, as if they were
altogether independent of Him. But I would ask you (Ver. 17)
How often doth it happen, that the lamp of the wicked is
extinguished, and that their calamity. That is, the calamity due
to them. Cometh upon them, even the sorrows God distributeth
in His anger? Can you shew me many instances of it?
Certainly not. (Ver. 18.) How often doth it happen, that they are
as stubble before the wind, or as chaff, that the whirlwind snatcheth
away ? Can you shew me many instances, I again ask you, where
this has happened? Certainly not. But then you will say:
(Ver. 19.) * " God layeth up his affliction for his children."
You will say it certainly sometimes happens, that God does not

* We leave it to the judgment of the reader, whether Job himself, who maintains, that
the prosperity of the wicked is steady and unshaken; who would have them receive
punishment in their life-time ; and who moreover delights in philosophizing and accounting
for everything, and finds fault with matters, as they generally go on in the world — could
use, as expressing his own sentiments, the words in this chapter, which we give with
inverted commas.

CHAPTER XXI. 19 — 26. 187
punish the wicked man in his lifetime, but then He is a God
" visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the
third and fourth generation," and consequently the iniquity of the
wicked man, if not punished in his own person, will certainly be
expiated by his children and descendants. But such an answer
as this I could by no means regard as satisfactory ; such a
proceeding on the part of God would be anything but just ; He
ought to requite it to the wicked-man himself that he should know.
That there is a God judging upon earth. (Ver. 20.) His own
eyes should see his calamity, and he himself should drink of the wrath
of the Almighty. (Ver. 21.) For what concern hath he in his
house after him ? What does he care for his family, when he is
dead? When the number of his months is cut off. That is,
completed, ended. But to this again you will object : (Ver. 22.)
* " Shall one teach God knowledge ? Seeing He judgeth even the
exalted-beings ?" Angels, archangels, yea, the highest in the
hierarchy of Heaven, are judged by Him, how then can we, frail
and abject men, be so presumptuous as to suppose we can teach
Him, what would be best for Him to do ? But to this, plain facts
shall be my answer ; what do they tell us ? How do matters go
on in this world ? Why, we find, that (Ver. 23.) The one (the
wicked man) dieth in the very perfection of his strength, being
wholly at ease and quiet. (Ver. 24.) His vessels are full of milk,
and the marrow of his bones is moistened. (Ver. 25.) While the
other (the good-man) diet h in the bitterness of his soul, seeing he
never tasted pleasure. And yet (Ver. 26.) Alike they will lie
down in the dust, and the worm will cover them. Where then, I
ask, is the difference between the good man, who deserved a
reward, and the wicked man who deserved chastisement ?
Ver. 17. iBS2 pbn* for iBSa pbn* 7a?N which He (God) distributes in His
anger. Ver. 18. -Vn* for l*n* na? How often [does it happen, that] they are?
nBIB in332 for nBIB W332 ItES which [the] whirlwind snatches-away.
Ver. 19. i^iS his affliction, i.e., the affliction which ought to come upon him,
which be has merited. Comp. Gen. xxxv. 18, 131S 13. Son of my affliction.
Ver. 20. 17*3 his calamity. The noun 7*3 is a an-af Xeyopevov. So Aben-
Ezra observes : * See foot-note in preceding page.

188 CHAPTER XXI. 20—26.
• -73P li ]'P! ]<)O0 ]V 17'P IM 17'3
" its [is] the same as its [his calamity] from the context, for it has no fellow."
Ver. 21. 12BI7 his concern, business, interest. Comp. Isa. Iviii. 13, 1W?
TrfBn (sic) which should be translated, doing thy business, transacting thy affairs.
12-217 lit., were cut off; i.e., were ended.
Ver. 22. 7137* impers. should one teach.
Ver. 23. ian 2253 lit., in his perfection itself; i.e., in his very perfection.
Comp. n-JPT 2i-*i7 B2aa on this self-same day (Gen. vii. 13). Perfection
should here be taken, not in a moral, but in a physical, sense = the perfection of
bis health and strength.
13S.ba? a circif Xeyd/ieiw, i.q. I?*}?? at ease.
Ver. 24. VVB5 his vessels. We are fully aware, that the first hemistich of
this verse, as translated by ourselves, and others, does not form a parallel with
the second, as vessels full of milk have but very little connection with bones and
marrow. Ben-Zev suggests, that Va*B5 lit., vessels for milk, should be under
stood of the lacteals of the human body, and the 2717 milk, with which they
are said to be full, of the chyle, which is found in these vessels, and has, when
healthy, very much the appearance of milk ; this meaning would very well suit
the connexion, and we confess, that we should have been greatly tempted to adopt
it, if we could have supposed, that the physiology of the human body was so
well known in Job's days. We give, however, Ben-Zev's comment on the word,
which, it should be remembered, only occurs here  He ;

*iaa sin *3 'p33ni 0")p"|i'P) 3bn isba vva? :abn *b3 aa* paa
(vwlvir-\b'r>) i*3*aa ii*3 r"ai nsabi nst nn*b anaa; '*-in*ai B*7*ab
: i*ia7 pp23 *"an maaaja pi • vnia2a nai ba aa?*nai
"]'Q» A noun signifying a vessel for milk; " (Here he quotes the first hemistich of this
verse) " [a milk-jug] ; but what seems right [is], that it [is used as] a figure of the nerves
and sinews, in which * [there is] a pure and white humour, and to them he applied [the
word] VJTO? [lacteal vessels'], which very well tallies with 'and the marrow of his bones,'
(mentioned in the second hemistich) ; and so R. Solomon Jarchi seems to have understood
it in the concluding-part of his words."
Ver. 25. nBiaa b3S ribl and did not taste pleasure. Comp. Deut. iv. 28,
where it is said of idols, that they " neither see, nor hear llbpri* ribl nor taste,
(nor smell) " where the context shews the verb b3S to express the sense of
tasting. The prefix 3 in naiaa we take to be the mark of the object, case. See
note on *BaBaa supra iii. 9.
Ver. 26. 717* together; i.e., alike.
* We of course do not hold ourselves responsible for Ben-Zev's physiological errors ;
we quote him as a Hebraist, and not as a physiologist.

CHAPTER XXI. 27—28. 189
Vers. 27 — 34. It is really astonishing to us, that the Trans
lators of the Auth. Vers., as well as many others, could render the
verses before us as they have done, and so make Job, at the close
of his discourse, contradict almost every word he had previously
said in it. Hitherto we have heard him speak of nothing but
the success, happiness, and enjoyments of the wicked, but now he
is made (by the Translators alluded to) to speak of their miserable
end in terms nearly as strong as those used by his friends, whose
opinion upon this point he had always so strenuously combated.
Two Hebrew words also occurring in these verses, have had their
meaning most unaccountably perverted by them ; the noun 3*73 ,
namely (Ver. 28), which, though generally used to express every
thing, that is generous and noble, they have chosen here to take
in a bad sense, so as to stand in parallelism with D^iJVil wicked-
men, in the second hemistich ; and secondly, ^"T| , which, in
every other instance, where it occurs, and even in this book itself
(supra v. 26), is unanimously translated a shock of corn, but here,
by some process or other, has been made to signify a tomb.
Vexatious as it is to see Hebrew words divested of their usual
meaning, and, by needless ingenuity, made to assume a significa
tion quite different from, or even contrary to, their real one,
yet we could have passed the matter over in silence, if we
had but seen, that the Translators had in this way contrived
to maintain the consistency of the train of reasoning ; but when
we find the result of all this tasking of their brains is to put
into the mouth of the unfortunate speaker words diametrically
opposed to his previous ones, we feel ourselves really bound
to expose such practices. We trust, then, to be able to shew,
that the usual meaning of these two Hebrew words may be
adhered to, and yet no difficulty be found in giving of the
verses before us a translation, which shall be in harmony and
unison with all that has been said by Job in the preceding
part of his discourse. We understand him, namely, to say as
follows :
Lo. I know your thoughts, and the devices ye wrongfully-imagine
against me. (Ver. 28.) For ye say, " Where is the house of the
noble-minded-man, and where the dwelling, the habitations of the
wicked ? " You say, that it is quite impossible for short-sighted

190 CHAPTER XXI. 28—32.
mortals to decide positively with regard to any house, whether
it harbours a good or a wicked man, because, judging as they
do, only from appearances, they may mistake one for noble-minded
who in reality is wicked and depraved, or hold another to be
wicked who is secretly, and without ostentation, acting in
a manner altogether pleasing and acceptable to Him, who
"knoweth the secrets of the heart." By thus disputing the
competency of a man to pronounce any one of his fellow-men
to be either just or wicked, you, of course, mean to insinuate
that I too, though you can bring no distinct charge against
me, may have all my life been wicked and depraved. But to
this I reply, that, although men may, as it must be admitted,
sometimes be mistaken in the judgment they form of their fellow-
creatures, yet it is not likely that all should be always mistaken.
If, therefore, you have no confidence in what I say, as having
seen it with my own eyes, touching the manner in which wicked
men fare in this world, and if you place no reliance upon what you
yourselves have observed with regard to them, let us appeal
to travellers, to men who have travelled far and wide, and
have noted down what they have seen and heard in the course
of their travels, and I therefore put the question (Ver. 29.)
Have ye never asked great travellers ? (but ye must not deny what-
they-have-marked-down). In their notes. You must not say,
that all the observations they have made are incorrect and false.
Now, what will you find recorded by them? You will find
(Ver. 30) That, in the day of calamity, the wicked man is spared,
even in the day, when wrath is brought on. That, when punish
ment comes down from above, it usually leaves the wicked
man unscathed. (Ver. 31.) Who will, in his presence, mention
his course-of-life ? Who will venture to his face to blame,
or even allude to his misdoings 1 Yea, when he hath done. A
thing, however wrong. Who will requite it him? But, not
only in his lifetime, do people stand in awe of him ; his influence
is so great, his wealth so immense, and his children so powerful,
that the greatest respect will be paid him even after his death.
(Ver. 32.) Yea, he is carried to the burying-place. With the
same respect. As he was held in, when he used to watch over
his shock[s]-of-corn. Just as in his life-time people, were obliged

CHAPTER XXI. 29 — 34. 191
(through their fear of him), to salute him humbly, when they
passed before him as he stood watching over his shocks of corn,
that no poor man might glean an ear, so must they testify their
respect to his body when carried to the grave. (Ver. 33.) The
clods of the valley are therefore sweet to him. Death has lost its
terrors for him ; when he thinks of it, it is but to revel in the
contemplation of the honours which will be paid him, when
his body has been committed to the tomb, Seeing that every man
will be obliged to draw after him. That is, to follow his funeral
procession. And before him will move men without number. There
will be great numbers preceding, as well as following, his remains.
(Ver. 34.) How then comfort ye me with that, which is vain,
seeing, that your answers — every one of them proveth to be a
fallacy !
Ver. 29. "HT/I 17.2i5 lit., passers of [the] way ; i.e., those, who travel far and
wide, great travellers.
BnnSI lit., but their marks ; i.e., what they have marked, and noted down.
l")33n rib you must not deny. So Ben-Zev explains this passage :
nia7b B3*3*a3 b*-it vn* sba? 7a . annasa 73 b3 anna ana;
. nas aa*sa;
" For they (the things, which the travellers have marked down) [are] so clear in their truth,
that they cannot be strange in your eyes, so that you should think that they are not true."
It will be perceived, that the second hemistich of this verse is parenthetical.
Ver. 30.7*s Bi*b *3 for 7*« ai*b *3 bbVi-ib's* nan ribq will they not
tell you, that in the day of calamity, fyc. ?
BVb in the first, as well as in the second, hemistich of this verse, stands for
Bi*?' in [the] day, just as in Gen. xUx. 27, 2"l.abl stands for 2753,1 and in the
evening. 3H 'nian* [the] wicked-man is usually withheld, kept back (from wrath) ; i.e.,
spared. lb31* ni-135 Bi*b for lb31* ni735 ia 7B?S Bi*b in [the] day, in which wrath
is brought upon (lit., wraths are brought on).
Ver. 32. This verse should be construed thus :
73V- 81 m yea, he is carried. V
nin^p1? to [the] burying-place (with
the same respect) }to him after* his
Tlpfl ... 1 as (he was held in) when . . . L^ ag wheQ ^
he used to watch was alive.)
Wil li! over [his] shock[s]-of-corn. '

(i.e., the same re
spect will be paid

192 chapter xxi. 32 — 34 ; xxii. 2, 3.
ta*73 is taken here in a collective sense, as in Exod. xxii. 5.
Ver. 33. b|73 *3:p [the] clods of [the] valley, in which his grave is to be dug; or
bna may perhaps itself mean the ditch dug out for his tomb. The noun 33"1 ,
257 , or 237 occurs only twice in the Bible, here and infra xxxviii. 38, and in
both places in the plural number.
Tpa^a1 lit., will draw; i.e., move on, go. The French tirer, and the German
Ziehen are also used in the sense of to go.
7BBB 1*S for IBBB l*sb B7S bj all men without number.
Ver. 34. ban for b3n2 with [that which is] vain. Comp. Ps. Ix. 7, " Save
*J3*B* for ^3*B*a with Thy right hand."
?3*i7l3ia? ni seeing that your replies, i.e., seeing that, as to your replies,
ava "lSa*3 [every one of them] remains (i.e., proves to be,) a failure.

CHAPTER XXII.

Vers. 2 — 10. Can a man be profitable unto God? Surely, to
himself is a wise man profitable. God can derive no benefit from
the pious life of a man, but the man, who has wisdom enough to
perceive that his whole object should be to serve God, and obey
His commandments, he benefits himself. (Ver. 3.) Hath the
Almighty any interest in thy being (lit., that thoy, art) righteous,
or any gain, if thou makest thy ways perfect? Since then it is
altogether impossible to impute any motive of self-interest to the
Almighty, it must needs follow, that, if He has favoured man more
than all other animated beings by endowing him with intellect, it
was purely from His love to the human race, and from the delight
He feels at seeing His creatures walk in the right way, and, by
doing so, deserve His grace, His blessing, and His bounties.
But the chief ground of thy murmuring, my friend Job, seems
to be, that punishments have been sent upon thee by God without
His explaining to thee the reason why He sent them. But is it
not in the highest degree absurd to expect, that the Maker should
be willing to explain His doings to the creatures He has made ?
When a man requires an explanation from his fellow-man, he

chapter xxii. 2 — 10. 193
thinks of course he has a right to demand it of him, and founds
his expectation of its being given, upon the feelings of respect
or fear, with which he conceives himself to be regarded by him,
to whom he addresses the demand. But can a man expect
God to give him an explanation of His dealings with him
from any such motives ? (Ver. 4.) Will He reason with thee,
because He standeth in awe of thee ? Will He enter into judgment
with thee? Will He seek to justify His proceedings towards
thee, by enumerating to thee all thy past misdoings, saying ?
(Ver. 5) "Was not thy wickedness great?" Yea, there was no
" end to thine iniquities. (Ver. 6.) For thou wouldest take a pledge
" of thy brethren without a cause, and the garments of those thereby
" left naked wouldest thou strip off. (Ver. 7.) Thou wouldest give
" the faint no water to drink, and from the hungry-man thou with-
" heldest food. ((Ver. 8.) As though the powerful man — to him
" should belong the earth, and as though the man of authority
" alone ought to dwell in it.) (Ver. 9.) Thou didst send widows
" away empty." With their just claims unsatisfied. " So that
the arms of the fatherless should be crushed." So that the fatherless
might be rendered feeble and helpless, and be exposed to injuries
of all sorts without any hope of redress. (Ver. 10.) " Therefore
were snares round about thee." Therefore, even in the time of thy
prosperity, though without being thyself aware of it, thou wast
by thy misdeeds encircling thyself with snares, in which thou
shouldest at some future time be caught. " And therefore did
sudden terror confound thee." Therefore didst thou on a sudden
fall into the very trap thou hadst prepared for thyself.  Canst
thou expect that God will give thee any explanation like that ?
Ver. 2. b*3B*B ia*ba *3D* *3 Ut., surely to themselves does a wise-man
profit. See note on larja * supra vi. 17.
ia*ba = here iab to them, to themselves. Comp. 1 Kings ii. 18, where
Tb? = lb for thee, on thy behalf. ,
Ver. 8. V?0 in the first hemistich corresponds to 3??2 in the second, and
therefore must be understood to signify advantage, interest, or something similar.
(See our note on 1^317 supra xxi. 21.) We are very sorry to find the word in
this instance rendered in the Auth. Vers., as well as in other translations,
* But this is really the converse, for here it is the plural which is irregular, there the
singular. The present passage I would rather compare with inm;, supra viii. 19, on
which see note in Appendix. Note of Editor, 1861.
O

194 chapter xxii. 3 — 10.
pleasure — the hemistich running, " Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou
art righteous ? " — since it is putting into the mouth of Eliphaz, so orthodox
in aU his discourses, a sentiment diametrically opposed to what we are told over
and over again in Scripture of the pleasure God takes in the peace and welfare
of those who serve Him. Of the many instances we could quote, the one in
Ps. xxxv. 27 will perhaps suffice ; 1735 2iba* Y"3nn nin* b*W* Let Jehovah
be magnified, which delighteth in [the] prosperity of his servant.
Ver. 4. TnS-j*ar! lit., whether from thy awe ; i.e., whether, because of the
awe, in which He stands of thee. See our remarks on the ambiguity of the
Hebrew possessive affixes in our note on *a23 , supra iii. 10.
N.B. At the end of this verse, 7BSb saying, should be supplied, the following
verses, till ver. 10 inclusively, being supposed to be the words of God.
Ver. 6. a*tp3n B*ai75 *73.31 Ut., and [the] garments of [the] naked thou
usedst to strip off; i.e., thou usedst to strip off the garments of those, who
thereby were left naked, thou didst strip men naked. Comp. Hos. ii. 5,
na75 naa*a*BS lit., I should strip her naked; i.e., I should strip her, so as to
leave her naked.
Ver. 8. 5i~l? a7*S1j as though a man of arm ; i.e., a man of power, a powerful
man. These two words should be taken absolutely, when the hemistich would
run, " as though with regard to a powerful man, V7.^n ib to him [alone should
belong] the earth ; " i.e., as though he, the powerful man, had alone a claim to
the earth.
B*33 S1B73.1 and [as though the one] elevated of countenance ; i.e., the man
of authority (Comp. 2 Sam. v. 2). These two words must also be taken abso
lutely, and the hemistich rendered, " And as though, with regard to the man of
authority, na 3t»* Sin he ought to dwell in it (the earth);" i.e., as though he
alone had a right to inhabit the earth. It will be perceived, that this verse is to
be taken parenthetically. ,
Ver. 9. W37* should be crushed. This verb in the sing. numb, individualizes
the plur. noun niai* , arms, to which it refers, and so expresses that every in
dividual arm would be crushed. See note on 12173. supra vi. 17.
Ver. 10. BisnB 7I7B ?lbl72*l for BisnB 7nB VpilB* 1? bv* And therefore
did sudden terror confound them.
N.B. The verses we have given with inverted commas contain
the explanation which the speaker supposes Job might expect
from God of His proceedings towards him. All the Translators
and Commentators, Wolfssohn, their king, not excepted, have
looked upon them as spoken by Eliphaz himself, in his own name,
and as real charges brought against Job. But, if Eliphaz and the
other friends had known Job to have committed such atrocities,
as are enumerated in these verses, we can hardly believe that
they would have come to sympathize with him, and comfort him ;
much less, that they would have torn their garments and sprinkled

CHAPTER XXIL 11. 195
dust upon their heads on account of the fall of such a barbarous
oppressor. Moreover, since Job had challenged them as early as
(Chap. vi. 24) to point out to him, in what he had erred, it is
difficult to understand how — if they had had charges like these to
bring forward against him, charges which they would not have
failed to perceive must put him to the blush and silence him for
ever — they could have kept them back till now. The truth of the
matter is, Eliphaz merely meant to say this: We certainly
cannot point out to you a single thing in which you have done
wrong, but this does not prove that God could not, as He may
have seen you commit many atrocious crimes, which remain
concealed from us, as well as all others, who know you.
Vers. 11 — 20. The speaker, having shown Job how absurd
it was of him to think, that God would ever condescend to give
him an explanation of His proceedings towards him, now goes
on to point out to him the equally great absurdity of his
supposing, that there is no Providence at all, but that everything
in this world is left to chance, God interfering in nothing that
goes on here below — either because it would be quite impossible
for Him to do so, owing to the great height at which He sits
enthroned, and the thick clouds that intervene between His
throne and the earth, or because it would be altogether beneath
the dignity of so majestic a Being — who is much more fittingly
engaged in ruling in the realms of heaven, and employing
Himself there with objects of a nature more sublime, and more
worthy of His Divine care — to occupy Himself in the least about
poor miserable mortals.
Before proceeding to translate, and comment upon, these
verses, we must beg to own that Verse 11 has caused us great
trouble, and we would pray the reader not to pass his judgment
upon our translation of this verse, till he has read the three suc
ceeding ones, which, in our humble opinion, were intended
by the speaker to illuminate the obscurity of its somewhat
too great brevity and conciseness. He says :
(Ver. 11.) Or canst thou not conceive. The possibility of a Pro
vidence regulating things here below. On account of the darkness.
Of the clouds. And the abundance of their water, which is
above thee? Are these dark clouds thou seest above thy head,
o 2

196 CHAPTER XXII. 11  18.
and the floods of water they contain, the cause of thy being
unable to conceive, how it can be possible for God to watch
over the affairs of this world ? (Ver. 12.) Is not God in the
height of heaven ? Yea, look at the summit of the stars, how
high they are! (Ver. 13.) And so thou mayest, perhaps, say,
" How can God know ? What is going on here below. Can
" He judge through thick-darkness ? (Ver. 14.) Thick-clouds are
" a covering to Him. He is altogether veiled in thick clouds. So
" that He cannot see.* And it is in the circuit of heaven that He
" moveth." He employs Himself with sublime objects, more befitting
His glory and majesty, and more worthy of His Divine care.
But, if thou art really imbued with this pernicious doctrine
of magnifying God and humbling thyself in order to be able
to deny altogether His control over thee, thou must not take
credit to thyself, as if it were an idea of thine own. It is
an old, hackneyed tale, concocted by those depraved men of
olden time before the flood, whose wickedness was so great,
as to exhaust even the long-suffering of God Himself. (Ver. 15.)
Dost thou keep to the old path, which iniquitous men have trodden ?
Long before thee. (Ver. 16.) Which became shrivelled corpses
before their time. Whose depravity was so great, that the justice
of God could not allow them to live out their time. Is it in their
footsteps that thou art treading ?
Indeed, their foundation. That is, the wicked principles, on
which they strove to establish their most pernicious and
dangerous doctrine. Is like an overflowing river. Such is the
spreading and contagious nature of these principles, that it is
by no means unlikely they have infected thee ; and if so, it
can be with no slight taint, for, thy conscience's opposing
barrier once overborne, they cannot have failed to mar all that
was good and holy in thee, in the same manner that a river,
which hath overflowed its banks, spreadeth its devastations far
and wide among the corn-fields. I mean the doctrine of those,
Who say to God, " Depart from us." But, thou wilt ask, what
hath God done to them? What hath He done to them, that
they should fall out with Him? (Ver. 18.) Seeing that He hath
filled their houses with good-things. To this question, I must
* Comp. Ezek. viii. 12; ix. 9;Tsa. xxix. 15.

CHAPTER XXII. 11, 18  20. 197
answer in thine own words.* Indeed, the counsel of the wicked
is far from me. It is as far from me, as it is from thee, and
therefore thou canst not expect me to give any reason for their
using such wicked and rebellious expressions. All I know is
that there will come a time, when (Ver. 19) Righteous-men will
see that they have reason to rejoice. That they have not been drawn
into the vortex of such atrocious principles. And when the inno
cent-man will mock at them (the wicked), saying, (Ver. 20) " Verily,
our substance hath not been destroyed, whereas afire hath consumed
their abundance." So that their miserable end will be a full
vindication of the justice of God, as well as an evident proof,
that everything here below takes place as decreed by Him.
Ver. 11. ^T??n for "sltp'n ba on account of darkness. Comp. Ps. Iix. 4, where
*nsan rib* *aa>3 rib stands for *nsan b5 rib*- *sta'B b5 rib not on account
of my transgression, nor on account of my sin. ^TB?n darkness, is more fully
explained below by the words bB75 (Ver. 13) thick-darkness, and 2*3a (Ver. 14)
thick-clouds, and, therefore, means the thick and dark clouds, which intervene
between earth and heaven.
nSTn rib canst thou not conceive ? The verb nSI is used of things perceived
by other senses than by that of sight ; e.g., by the ear, as Gen. ii. 19, niS77 to
hear (what he would caU it) ; by the touch, as Isa. xliv. 16, "I am warm, ln*Sn
I have felt (the fire)." It is used also of the perceptions of the mind, \ = to
perceive, understand, conceive; as 1 Kings x. 4, N2tp n33B S^ni and when
[the] queen of Sheba perceived (all Solomon's wisdom, &c.) Again, in 1 Sam.
xxiv. 12, nS"l1 a7 know and understand, (that there is neither evil nor
transgression in mine hand). In Uke manner here, nS7n ri7 canst thou not see,
understand, conceive, (how it is possible, that God should regulate the course of
events here below) ?
Tjern B*a nasah. for ^B?n -it»s b*b nasa? bai. (b5 being again under
stood, as in Ps. Iix. 4,) lit., or, on account of [the] abundance of water, which
covers thee; i.e., the abundance of water contained in the clouds above thy head.
Many Commentators take " the abundance of water " to be used figuratively for
misfortunes, calamities, but we are not, it seems, the only ones, who could not
* Supra xxi. 16.
t Perhaps rather of the operations of the mind which are the results of its perceptions
through the senses; for when we see, hear, or feel, and recognise the nature of the objects
with which we have thus been brought into communication, we have then also to deal
with perceptions of the mind, and these primary, or direct, perceptions may, or may not,
give rise to secondary, or indirect, and higher ones, produced by the aid of reason from
the first. If, therefore, we say things are perceived BY the senses, we can only mean
per.ceived BY the mind THROUGH the senses, for the senses (sensorium) can only
perceive (Le., become conscious of) impressions — which thus grasped become sensations —
and cannot perceive things. Comp. Carpenter's Physiology.— Note of Editor, 1861.

198 CHAPTER XXII. 11  14.
digest such an explanation. Homburg too was so reluctant to admit it, that he'
even preferred to understand the words of the drops of sweat which often stand
out upon the body, when one is struck with sudden terror. We need scarcely,
we think, apologize for not accepting this desperate interpretation, which was
evidently only had recourse to because nothing better suggested itself. The
perplexity, into which this verse has evidently thrown all the Commentators,
without exception, seeming to us to have chiefly arisen from their connecting
ver. 1 1 with ver. 10, we were led to take it in connection with the three succeeding
verses, and, by doing so, hope we have surmounted this seemingly insurmountable
difficulty. Ver. 12. a*ata na.3. for B*Bta napa in [the] height of heaven. We have
already so many times had occasion to notice the ellipsis of the prep. 3 , that we
do not think it necessary to quote an example here. The Chaldee version has
expressed the 3, rendering, S*Ba> *nai33 in [the] heights of heaven.
1B7 *3 Ut., how they are high; i.e., how high they are. *3 " has here the
sense of how, as in 1 Sam. xiv. 29," " *? how (mine eyes have been enlightened)."
Ver. 13. 753n whether through. Comp. Prov. vii. 6, *23a?S 753 through
my casement.
Ver. 14. B*aa? ain1] for B*Bta" am ba) and on [the] circuit of heaven.
Vers. 11 — 14. should be construed thus:
Ver. 11. nKnn K7 iK for D\"J7K Uh ^2 nK")]7 K7 l"K
jn.K3 CTGDalltf Or, canst thou
not conceive, that there is a
God, judging on earth,
"^$1 for ^\US1 bi! on account of
darkness (i.e., on account of
the dark clouds, which inter
vene between Him and thee,)
^??]7 D*E n^atf>1 for 3|DDJ7 7^K D]D DJJSV b}!}
lit., Or, on account of [the]
abundance of water, that
covers thee ? (i.e., on ac
count of the abundance of
water, contained in the clouds
over thy head. Are these the
cause of thy not being able
to conceive it possible, that
the eye of Providence can
watch what passes here
below ?)
Ver. 12. P117K K7H Is not God

CHAPTER XXII. 12 — 16. 199
D'Etf PI3JI for U)n& naj? in [the] height
of heaven ? (i.e., in the high
heaven ?)
M3i3 tt>K7 HK7:1 Yea, look at [the] summit of [the]
stars,
107 i? Aow high they are !
Ver. 13. *?"?P?1 And [so] thou mayest [perchance]
say :
7K JTV 112 " « JFfta* rfoes Goi fetow (of
things here below ?)
Bla^ 727i? Tl^n " » Can He judge through thick-
darkness ?
Ver. 14. 17 "lJ"ip D1?^ " " Thick-clouds [are] a covering to
Him (i.e., He is veiled in
thick-clouds,)
HKT K7j " " so that He cannot see;
« ^riJT D\12V Jim" for "^rUT D^ttf Jin bi!\" Indeed,
He moveth on [the] circuit of
heaven [only]," (i.e., the
heavens are His sphere of
action, inasmuch as they, and
only they — but not this insig
nificant clod of dust, called
earth — contain creations and
creatures, worthy of His di
vine notice.)
Ver. 16. n? rib"! iaa,7 7#£ for BJ7y ribl iaa,7 7#S Ut., who were made
shrivelled [corpses], when their time [was] not; i.e., who were swept away before
their time. The verb 2Bp to be wrinkled, or shrivelled, occurs only here, and
supra xvi. 8. DTiD^ pVI1 "ITO should be construed thus :
DliD1 * Their foundation (i.e., the prin-
* tid; foundation, is very frequently used by the Rabbins for the principle, or base, upon
which a doctrine is founded. Thus Maimonides begins his great work, npinri T with the
words jvron 'lsn dw wro jrrt rmnnn -man ni-nD'n tid>
"The foundation of foundations (i.e., the most important of all principles,) and the pillar of wisdom, [is]
to know, that there ia a first being."

200 CHAPTER XXII. 16  19.
ciple, on which their nefarious
doctrine is based) [is]
pVI"1 "I?? for PVT1 "lif § "IHJ3 ^e a riw,
which should be poured out.
(i.e., their doctrine is like an
overflowing river, calculated
to sweep away everything
before it ; and so, perhaps,
thou hast been carried away
by its torrent.)
If this verse were meant by the poet to convey an allusion to
the men, who were destroyed by the deluge, as, with other
Commentators, we are disposed to think, the second hemistich
may perhaps, in addition to the meaning we have given to it, also
have been intended to express, that the doctrine of those desperate
and abandoned men was as destructive, and overwhelming, as the
flood, which swept them from the earth.
Ver. 17, " iD1? *>1V 7J/D1 HOI " " But what does the Almighty
do unto them ? " So, O Job, thou wilt be disposed to ask.
Ver. 18. " 3iB DiT^O $bl2 K1H1 " " Seeing that He has filled
their houses with [everything that is] good." The reader will
recollect, that, in the preceding discourse, (ch. xxi. 14, 15,) Job
had said, that the greater the blessings wicked men enjoy, the
greater the defiance they bid God ; Eliphaz, therefore, thinking it
likely Job might here interrupt him with a shout of triumph at
hearing him acknowledge the truth of his (Job's) assertion,
subjoins: but, if thou ask me, why these wicked men are so
ungrateful to God, who has so bountifully bestowed His favours
upon them, I can only answer thee in thy own words, (See supra
xxi. 16,) namely, ^212 Hjarn D^Jtn fi¥JH indeed, [the] counsel of
[the] wicked is far from me. Their motives for shewing themselves
so ungrateful to their maker and benefactor are as much a mystery
to me as to thee ; all that I know is, that there will come a time,
when the righteous will see, &c.
Ver. 19. inata*"] B*a*7.*| 1N7* [the] righteous will see that they should
rejoice. The 1 in map*"! has the force of that, as in nin* "oaqa*! *npna
(Gen. xxx. 27) I have divined (I divine) that Jehovah hath blessed me ; and in

CHAPTER XXII. 20—23. 201
as *asi  *75 BPIS} (Isa. xliii. 12.) Yea, ye [are] my witnesses 
that I [am] God. At the end of this verse 7BS7 saying, must be supplied.
Ver. 20. 13a*p. our substance. The more regular form would be 12a* p . The
noun 2*p = Bip* substance. So Kimchi observes on iaa*p .
• laaip* -naib nsn *"i*£3 i3a*,a ibb sim
" And it [is] like WP. with a Tsayreh, meaning to say WMj? our substance."
Those Commentators, and, alas, they are not few, who have taken the liberty
of distorting 13B*p into 13BpT and render it, our adversary, would perhaps have
had more mercy upon this word, if they had consulted Kimchi's B*ana?n 73B .
B"in*i but their abundance. Kimchi (s.v. 2*p) refers the first hemistich of ver. 20,
to Noah and his household, who, by the grace of God, were saved from the flood,
and the second, to the men of Sodom and Gomorrah, who were destroyed by a
rain of brimstone and fire. According to him, therefore, 2^0*1 should be
translated, but the rest of them; i.e., the wicked men among the descendants of
Noah. He paraphrases this verse in the following words :
nbas B7n*i - 1*321 na nsa*a *3 - biaaa b3i bsa isaip* 7nsa sb nasa
: miaai ansa p ins vna? am B*aann -in* iam*B ' a>s
" Verily, • our existence was not altogether destroyed ' hy the flood, for Noah and his
sons remained; 'but the rest of them fire consumed,' meaning to say, the rest of the
wicked-men, namely those, who were after [that time] in Sodom and Gomorrah."
Vers. 21 — 30. Having pointed out the utter ruin and perdition,
which those wicked men drew down upon themselves, who were
infatuated with the idea, that God does not notice the doings of
man, the speaker now entreats his friend Job to follow an
altogether different course. He says :
Acquaint, now, thyself with Him (God), and then thou wilt
prosper. Instead of imagining that He is only in heaven, far away
from thee, and not caring at all about thee, impress thyself rather
with the great and salutary truth, that He is also on earth, and
near thee, and that He is noticing, not only thy movements and
thy doings, but also the most secret thoughts of thy heart ; on
this condition, and this only, canst thou expect to be prosperous.
By these-things. Which I am about to recommend thee. Good
will come unto thee. By these namely, (Ver. 22.) Receive, I
pray thee, the law from His mouth. Shut not up thy heart against
His law, but do all His commandments. And lay up His words
in thine heart. Let all His precepts be graven in thy heart.
(Ver. 23.) If thou wilt return altogether to the Almighty, thou

202 chapter xxii. 23—28.
shalt be built up. All thy losses shall be repaired, the breaches in
thy fortune closed. If thou wilt but remove iniquity far from thy
dwelling-places. (Ver. 24.) And put gold on a level with dust,
and the fine gold of Ophir, with the pebble[s] of the brooks. Attach
no more value to gold, even the finest gold, than to dust and
stones. (Ver. 25.) But rather let the Almighty be thy gold.
And His might, thy silver. Put thy confidence in the Almighty
rather than in gold and silver, let Him be thy treasures. (Ver. 26.)
Then, surely, shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt
lift up thy face unto God. Then will there no longer be any
cause, why thou shouldest let thy countenance fall, as malefactors
do,* but thou wilt confidently look up for help to thy God and
thy Creator.
Vows are commonly made by men, when they either ardently
wish, or pray, for anything. Thus Jacob, on his journey to
Padan-Aram, made a vow when he prayed to God to preserve him
on his way ; Hannah made a vow when she prayed for a male-child.
Men, therefore, who have often to perform their vows, may justly
be regarded as greatly blessed, since the performance of them
proves that the object of their desire has been attained. This
will explain the words of the Psalmist (Ps. lxi. 8), " So will I
sing praise unto Thy name for ever, that I may daily perform my
vows ; " — as also those of the speaker here, who thus continues his
promises to Job (Ver. 2T) ; Thou wilt pray unto Him, and He will
hear thee, so that thou shalt have to perform thy vows. Nothing
thou prayest for will ever be denied thee, so that every vow thou
makest thou wilt have to perform.
The Scriptures tell us, that, whenever the true servants of God
required anything, however extraordinary, to take place, even
changes in the course of nature not excepted, they had only to
say the word, and it was done. Joshua needed only bid the sun
and moon stand still, and they did stand still. A similar power
is promised, in the following verse, to Job, when he shall
once more have become the favourite and beloved of God.
(Ver. 28.) When thou wilt decree a thing, it shall be established
unto thee ; yea, light shall shine upon thy ways. Instead of the
• Comp. Gen. iv. 5, 6, and supra xi. 15.

chapter xxn. 21, 28—30. 203
darkness, which thou sayest God hath set upon thy paths,* bright
light shall be everywhere about thee, everything thou undertakest
shall prosper.
We learn from the Scriptures also, and in more than one place,
that even wicked men may be, nay, actually have been, saved by
the merit or intercession of good men. Had there been but ten
righteous men in Sodom, that city would have been spared for their
sake (see Gen. xviii. 32). It was through the prayer of Abraham
that Abimelech was healed (Gen. xx. 17) ; nay, at the close of
this very book, we shall hear God say to Job's three friends (infra
xlii. 8), " And my servant Job shall pray for you ; for him will I
accept, lest I deal with you after your folly." So also here Eliphaz
tells Job, that (Ver. 29), When men are brought low, then thou
wilt say, " Pride " (was the cause of it). It was their pride
which was the cause of their fall. (Comp. Prov. xvi. 18, " Pride
goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.")
"Seeing that one humble-minded-man might have saved them all.
" (Ver. 30.) Yea, he (the humble-minded-man) might have de-
" livered even him, who Was not innocent," and so shall he (who
may not be altogether innocent) be delivered also (O Job !) by the
pureness of thine hands. Many a man, who has deserved to incur
the wrath of God, shall be delivered by thy prayer and interces
sion, as soon as, by the purity of thy hands, thou shalt again have
been received into the favour and grace of God.
Ver. 21. 7|pn Become acquainted. The verb P2, in Hiph., is used to
express habit, as Numb. xxii. 30 ; also acquaintance, knowledge, as Ps. cxxxix. 3,
"And all my ways nFpBBn Thou art acquainted with (Thou knowest)."
Umbreit renders 1a5 ^5 pPU Verkehre treu mit ihm (Have faithful intercourse
with Him), by which, of course, he meant, " Be not estranged from God," though
his translator, the Rev. John Hamilton Gray, has, we are sorry to see, understood
him otherwise, rendering the passage, " Turn truly to him." The Rev. Gentle
man has here been guilty of the very gross error of taking the German verb
verkehren (to have intercourse) = Kehren (to turn), an error against which the use
of the prep, mit (with) should have warned him, for had the verb the meaning he
so erroneously assigns to it, it would most assuredly have been construed with zu,
or an, and not with mit, which is never equivalent to the English to. Only a
few verses back we had observed a very glaring mistranslation by the same
gentleman of the foUowing words in Umbreit (Ver. 15) :
* See supra xix. 8.

204 CHAPTER XXII. 21 — 23.
Willst du denn fest am Weg der Vorwelt halten,
den des Verderbens Menschen gingen ?
which properly should be translated thus :
Wilt thou then hold fast the way of former ages,
(The way) which men of corruption (i.e., corrupt men) went ?
but which Mr. Gray, connecting the des Verderbens with the den (an impossible
construction), instead of with Menschen, renders :
Wilt thou keep fast the ways of the ancient world ?
The ways of destruction which mortals foUowed. ! ! !
It would be well if translators would but test their knowledge of the language
they undertake to translate, before they favoured the public with their trans
lations ! This is the only chapter of Mr. Gray's translation that we have
happened to compare with the original, and we do not therefore know whether or
not any such mistranslations are to be found in the previous chapters.
Bvtpi lit., and be in peace, or prosper. The imperative is here used for a future,
as in Gen. xlii. 18, "Do ye this Vni and live," for l*nni. and ye shall live.
2772 for n^Sa by these [things] (which I am about to recommend). A pers.
pron. is here used for a demonstrative, as in Gen. xUi. 14, *n727 7a*S Sin for
*n-ia7 na»s Sin nt This [is] it, that I spake.
insian for ,fI*7ri Si3n will come unto thee; an objective affix, instead of
a preposition. (See note on 1?*n^*1 supra iii. 25.) As to the form inSlBH,
comp. Deut. xxxiii. 16, nnSi3J7 for Si317 it shall come, where nJ7" is paragogi-
cally added, according to Kimchi, to give emphasis, the meaning being, it shall
certainly come. In the word before us, the objective affix 1" is the cause that
the n has been struck out.
Ver. 23. 7a lit., as far as, close up to. We are told by Rosenmuller that
75 stands here for bs to, but we are rather inclined to think with Maimonides
that it is purposely made use of in its real signification, namely, as far as, even to,
right up to, close up to, in order to encourage Job, who was looked upon by the
speaker as a very great sinner, by shewing him that, notwithstanding the enor
mities of his sins, he need not despair of coming through penitence again close
up to his offended Creator. What Maimonides says on the subject in his nptfin 7*
is too beautiful and too consoling to a penitent sinner, not to be quoted on this
occasion. He says (in "t p7B n31E*n niBbn) : *
mn* 7a bs-ia?* n3ia* nasaa* na*3a>b B7sn ns na-ipaa* naiarn nbna
mn* Bsa bs-ia>* 3ia;n as ->bn3! nin* asa *7a anaa> sbi -rasai 7*nbs
: pa7n *a naiana 7imn as laiba aian *bs
" Repentance is of the greatest importance, inasmuch as it brings a man near to the
" Shechinah ; for it is said, ' O Israel, return ti close to the Lord thg God' (Hos. xiv. 2) ;
" again it is said, ' Yet have ye not returned^ close to Me, saith the Lord' (Amos iv. 6) ;
" and it is also said, ' If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, return unto Me '
" (Jer. iv. 1) j meaning, if thou wilt but turn with repentance, thou wilt cleave unto Me."
• See Dr. Bernard's Selections from the npinn t (Cambridge, 1832), p. 62, 1. 2 of the text,
and p. 288 of the translation.— Note of Editor, 1861.

CHAPTER XXII. 24 — 30. 205
p*rnn for p^'lfl BS if fhou wilt remove far away.
Ver. 24. ba stands here in the sense of the same as, as in Gen. xxxii. 1 1 ,
"Lest he should come and smite me 2*33 b5 BS mother the same as children; "
i.e., mother and children without distinction.
The first hemistich should therefore be construed thus :
7Vn TVB>1 and put gold
IH}! bi! the same as dust (i.e., on an equality with dust).
71231 and with pebble[s] of, 712 being here used collectively. The context
shews us that 712 must here be taken in the sense of stone, pebble.
7*Bi« for 7*31S B/73 fine-gold of Ophir. Comp. infra xxviii. 16.
Ver. 25. T723 lit., thy golds; i.e., thy treasures. Kimchi, however,
tells us :
ia"*-in biani 7*n* \\xob n*n* p as 7"i* ia **n B*p*na ansa a?*i
: snansn 7iaaa
" But there are carefully revised copies [where there is] no Yod in it (i.e., in this word) ;
if so, it would be in the sing, numb., and the Segol under the Resh [would be] on account
of the Ethnach."
It would seem therefore that Kimchi assigned to the noun 722 two forms,
namely 722 and 723, when of course 'Q?? would be of the same form as
tjn37 thy word, from 737 a word.
niacin for ib 7E?H niBain [the] strength (or might) which [belongs] to
Him ; i.e., His might. Comp. Ps. xcv. 4, ib Onn niBain") Yea, [the] strength
of [the] hills [is] His.
This verse should be construed as follows :
ii\U/ n*m And let the Almighty be
T1V? thy gold,
niBain  •'] And  [His] might [be]
"^7 ^DS silver to thee (i.e., thy silver).
Ver. 29. lb*Btan *3 for BB?Ba lb*Bipn *3 When they (i.e., men), have lowered
themselves ; i.e., have brought themselves very low, have ruined themselves.
ni? i.q., nisa pride, as infra xxxiii. 17, niai and pride.
Ver. 30. 1P? 1M for ""p? 1M 7g?S: n« him, who [is] not innocent. *S is a
neg. part, constantly used by the Rabbins, but to be met with also in the Bible,
viz., in 1 Sam. iv. 21, 7133 *S [there is] no glory.
Vers. 29, 30 should be construed thus :
I^Stt^n 13 When [men] have brought [themselves] very
low (i.e., have ruined themselves),
"lOKfil then wilt thou say,

206 chapter xxii. 29, 30; chapter xxiii.
l"l-i " " [It was] pride (which was the cause of their
ruin,)
D*j*j; HttV "¦ Seeing that an humble-minded man (i.e., one
humble-minded man, if he had been found
among them),
i!^V " for DJ7iK i!f&V " would have saved them (i.e.,
God would have spared them for the sake
of that humble-minded man).
Ver. 30. EvD1" "He (the humble-minded man) would have
delivered [even]
" ^p\ SK " " [him who was] not innocent."
d7l22j\ So (O Joh)shall he (the one,\ (i.e., thou thyself,
who is not innocent) be becoming a true pe-
delivered nitent, shalt again
enjoy the favour
and grace of God
ito such a degree as
to be able, by thy
prayer and inter
cession, to turn
away His wrath
from one who is
fpSS 723. hy [the]purity of thy hands.) not guiltless.)

CHAPTER XXIII.

To a true believer in, and a fearer of, God, such as Job was,
nothing could be more distressing than to hear, especially from
the lips of an intimate friend, that he was suspected of following
in the wake of that most wicked and depraved generation of old,
of whom it might justly be said, that they polluted the ground
they trod upon, and contaminated the air they breathed. He
therefore, in the agony of his mind, commences his reply by
asking,

chapter xxiii. 2 — 11. 207
Vers. 2 — 12. Will to-day, too, my complaint be considered
rebellion ? From the manner in which my friends have behaved
to me since my fall, I have every reason to apprehend that,
to-day too, every sigh, every groan, every word, which pain the
most excruciating may extort from me, will be considered by them
as rebellion against God ; but that I cannot help, I must give
vent to my agonizing feelings. My blow is heavier than my
groaning. My groaning is not at all commensurate with the blow I
have received from above ; my afflictions would warrant complaints
far bitterer than mine. My friend, indeed, recommends me to
acquaint myself with God, and to return close to Him, * but this is
my wish, this is my most ardent desire ; my heart pants for God,
my soul thirsts for Him. (Ver. 3.) Oh that I knew where I
could find Him! that I could come unto His seat! (Ver. 4.) Then
would I order my cause before Him, and fill my mouth with argu
ments. (Ver. 5.) I should then know the words He would answer
me, and understand what He would say to me. (Ver. 6.) Would
He plead with me with great power? Would He bring His
boundless might to bear against me, whilst pleading with me, so
that, dismayed and confounded, I might not be able to utter one
word X No ; He would by no means take this advantage of my
weakness, but rather Would give heed to me. And what makes
me so sure that He would do so is, that (Ver. 7) There the
upright might argue with Him, and so I should free myself for ever
from my Judge. I can with certainty predict, that, if I am only
allowed to argue, I shall be acquitted for ever. But, alas, how
can I come close up to Him ! (Ver. 8.) Lo, I go eastward, and
He is not there, and westward, but I cannot perceive Him ; (Ver. 9)
When He worketh in the north, I cannot behold Him ; He veileth
Himself in the south, and I cannot see Him. (Ver. 10.) Surely,
had He but known the way, which was mine. Had He but known
the course of life I have led. Had He but tried me, I should have
come out as pure as gold. As fine gold which, when assayed,
is found to be pure of all alloy. If I had but been fairly tried
before a judge, and my manner of life thoroughly investigated, it
would have been seen that I had led a life pure and without spot.
(Ver. 11.) My foot hath laid fast hold of His footstep. I have
* See supra xxii. 21, 23.

208 CHAPTER XXIII. 2, 3, 11, 12.
followed closely in His footsteps. I have obeyed all His precepts.
His way I have kept, and have not declined from it. (Ver. 12.) The
commandment of His lips have I kept, and have not gone back from
it; by-reason-of-the-rule-I-made-for-myself I laid up. In my
heart. The tvords of His mouth. It has ever been a fixed rule
with me to treasure up in my heart the words of His mouth, and
there is therefore no occasion for my friend Eliphaz to recommend
to me * that I should receive the law from His mouth, and lay up
His words in my heart — I have done so during the whole of my
life. Ver. 2. B? for B3q whether also ?
*72 rebellion. Comp. Prov. xvii. 11, "An evil man seeketh only "HP rebel
lion." It is a noun formed from the root nia to rebel, just as *?"{ a water-pail,
from nv7 to draw water, or Ptp captivity, from naa? to take captive. The
translators of the Auth. Vers., who render it bitter, seem to have derived the
word from 71B to be bitter, but we cannot see by what process the third radical
7 has become a quiescent \ Rosenmuller defends this rendering, saying that the
verb, geminat. 7HD to be bitter follows here the verb n"7 , mfi to rebel, just as
(supra xx. 10) 1-27* (the root of which he supposes to be V^"1) does the verb n"7 ,
n27 to please ; but this is begging the question, since both Kimchi and Ben-Zev
give 15271 under n27 to please, and in the Auth. Vers, it is rendered " shaU seek
to please." Some, indeed, do assume the root to be V^"1 , but we should hope for
their credit that they took 1-^7* to stand for 12?71, where the second radical
would be supplied by the Dagesh in the third, and not to foUow the form of
iba*, from n7a to reveal, as Rosenmuller most erroneously seems to suppose.
The first hemistich of this verse should be construed thus :
DVH C3 for DVH D21 [WUT] to-day, also,
"TTii' my complaint (be considered by my friends as)
"HD rebellion (against God) 1
*7* my blow ; i.e., the blow inflicted upon me. Comp. Gen. xvi. 5, "PPD my
wrong ; i.e., the wrong done to me.
bs above; i.e., more than.
Ver. 3. ins2as"| *n5i; *n* *a for inis tteab *n57*Ti *n* *a oh that I
knew [where] to find Him ! so that a tense is used here instead of an infinitive.
Comp. Esther viii. 6, ln*S7* b?!S n33*S for nisnb b31S n33*S How shall
J be able to see ?
The pron. affix in* Him, in inS2BS1:, has no object to refer to, as God has
* See supra xxii. 22,

CHAPTER XXIII. 3—9. 209
not yet been mentioned in this discourse. He is, however, so unmistakeably
referred to that the speaker relies upon the common sense of his hearers to apply
it to Him. In like manner we shall have (infra xxv. 1 ) iB5 with him, referring
to God, though His name had not yet been mentioned in that discourse.
S13S for S13S*. *n* *B Would that I could come!
lnaiBijl His seat, a noun formed from the verb 113 to prepare, arrange, and
consequently of the form nblBn , the same as n313"1 understanding, from 112 .
The noun under consideration is to be met with again in Ezek. xliii. 11,
Nah. ii. 10 ; and all these passages are quoted by Ben-Zev, as well as by Buxtorf,
under jl3 . Gesenius, for reasons he has kept to himself, tells us that the word
here is derived from 113 , but, in Ezekiel and Nahum, from ?3n, when of course
it would be of the form nblVB , like nil33. strength, from 133 to be strong.
If the reader will but refer to what we quoted from this learned lexicographer in
our note on 157 (supra vi. 3), he will, no doubt, at once form his decision as to
whom he ought to take for his guide, Ben-Zev and Buxtorf, or Gesenius.
Ver. 4. BBtpa for *BBa/a my cause.
Ver. 5. 'Oai*. for *aa5* bate which He would answer me.
Ver. 6. ''a BE*, for *ba iab B*b* He would set His heart on me; i.e., give
heed to me. See note on a*a?B *baa supra iv. 20.
Ver. 7. n3ia for n3i3 n*n* Ut., might be arguing ; i.e., might argue.
nabBMl for «>taB3 nabas'l ' So I should deliver (i.e., free) myself, aba , how
ever, in Pi-al, may be intransitive, as it is in Kal, when of course the strict
meaning would be, I should escape, or get off. So \>n has in Pi-al an intransi
tive signification. Comp. Prov. vi. 28, EP« Tfbn* BS Can a man go (upon hot
coals) ? and infra xxiv. 10. See also our note on aba* supra xx. 20.
Vers. 8, 9. B7j3 forwards, 7inH backwards, blriata (or, more properly,
7SBtp) left, and TP1 right, are used here to denote the four quarters of the
globe. On looking towards the rising sun, * the East is in front, the West,
behind, the North, to the left, and the South, to the right.
Ver. 8. tl7S rib* for im'S tns sbl and I cannot behold Him, tns being the
apocop. fut. Kal. (in pause) of n*n to behold, for n.?nS . Comp. fnn* Mic. iv. 11.
Ver. 9. inB?53 On His working ; i.e., When He is displaying His wonderful
works. Umbreit would, in this instance, make the verb nwy synonymous with
*125 in the second hemistich, and give it, therefore, the signification of covering,
veiling, instead of its usual one of doing, working, and he tells his readers that, " Die
gewohnliche Uebersetzung, wenn er zur Linken wirket, klingt matt." Most of
them will, however, probably be of opinion, that to give to so common a verb as
ntay a signification which no lexicographer ever dreamed of, klingt, to say the
least of it, sehr seltsam.
^'25* for ia?B3 nba* He wraps Himself up, veils Himself.
nSiS rib") for iniS ns-lS rib* And I cannot see Him.
* The Jews, even in our days, always turn, when they pray, to the East, and this having
probably been the custom also in the time of Job, he naturally begins with the East, instead
of the North, as we should do. P

210 CHAPTER XXIII. 10  16.
Ver. 10. 377* had He known. \ These two verbs must be understood condi-
"^J^a had He tried me. ) tionally, as though they were preceded by the
part. 2S if Comp. Prov. xxv. 16, i7S2B a>37:
hast thou found honey = a>37 i7S2a 2S if
thou hast found honey.
Ver. 11. BS rib* for 13Ba BS ribl and I did not decline from it. BS,
though Hiph., is used here intrans., as in Isaiah xxx. 11, niS *3B ian, turn
aside out of [the] path.
Ver. 12. V/IBta ni2B. After these two words *n7Bta, fr0m the second
hemistich of the preceding verse, must be supplied, as though it were ni2B
*n7atp VnBtp [the] commandment of His lips I have kept.
t»*BH sb* for naaa ai*nN rib* and I did not depart from it.
*"Jna by reason of my rule ; i.e., by reason of my having made it a rule. The
force of the prefix B here is the same as in Prov. xxiii. 4, " Labour not to be
rich ; " b"Vl ^nVSB refrain (from doing so) by reason of thy own understand
ing ; i.e., thy own understanding should teach thee not to labour to become rich.
*n332 for *373 *n332 I have laid (or treasured) up in my heart. So the
Psalmist says (Ps. cxix. 1 1 ), ^niBS *n332 pbs fn my heart have I tkea-
SURED up thy word.
Vers. 13 — 17. Yet He, being unique. That is, without an
equal. Who can hinder Him ? He being one God, Eternal and
Omnipotent, who can prevent Him from doing what He pleases ?
Yea, what His soul willed, He hath done. What it was His will
to do unto me, He has done. (Ver. 14.) Surely, He will com
plete what-is-decreed-for-me. No argument, no reasoning, will
induce Him to leave what He has decreed for me unaccomplished.
Yea, like these. Like these afflictions. There may still be many
more with Him. In store for me. Terrible as are my sufferings,
there may be many more like them, or even worse, stored up for
me, which I cannot foresee, so that I have not even the consola
tion of knowing that I have seen the worst. (Ver. 15.) There
fore am I confounded before Him. This is the reason why I am
in such trepidation. When / consider. When I consider, that
even now the measure of my calamities may not be full. I am
in dread of Him. (Ver. 16.) But it is God Himself who hath
made my heart faint, yea, the Almighty it is who hath confounded
me. He it is who, by sending on me calamity after calamity,
every one more grievous than the last, by depriving me, first of
my property, then of my children, and finally of my health, has

CHAPTER XXIII. 13, 14, 17. 211
made me so faint-hearted as to dread even greater evils than those
I have already seen. (Ver. 17.) Because I was not cut off' before
this darkness. Before this misery came upon me. As He was
not merciful enough to spare me these woes, I have no right to
expect mercy from Him for the future. When He would have con
cealed from me this gloom. Had He but cut me off before these
calamities befell me, I should never have seen this gloom which is
now around me.
Ver. 13. 7nsa Sini Yet He [being] unique, i.e., acting as one, who is 7I7S
unique, without an equal. So the Targum, *ri7*n* Sin ]*S1 But certainly He
[is] unique. It will be perceived, that we take the prefix 3 here to be pleonastic
as it is taken by Mendelssohn in iBtp n*a (ps. lxviii. 5), which he translates,
" Sein Name ist Ewiger " (His name is Eternal-Being), and also by Dr.
French and Mr. Skinner, who, in their masterly translation of the Psalms, render
the passage, " Jehovah is His Name ! " See also the Rev. J. Phillip's Commentary
on the Psalms. Perhaps, however, the prefix 3 in 7nsa has the force of the
French en = as, in the quality of, so that 7J7Sa would = as one, or in the quality
of one ; and this may also be the import of the 3 in lap n*3 in the quality
(or attribute) of JAH * [which is] His name.
133*ja* sj3i lit., So, who can make Him turn back (from His purpose ?) i.e., so,
who can prevent, hinder Him ? Comp. supra ix. 12.
nrilS ia?B31; for nn-iS ia?B3 ipSI and what His soul desired.
Ver. 14. 1f?n Ut., my decree; i.e., the thing decreed for me. See note on 11*
(Ver. 1).
nan31 yea, like these ; i.e., miseries and calamities like these.
Ver. 17. 'HPn darkness ) „ „ ,
bBS gloom } fig-' f°r mlS6ry' Calamlty"

* Better, I think, expressed in French, en sa qualite de Jah. Editor, 1861.

F 2

212

CHAPTER XXIV.
Vers. 1 — 11. Eliphaz having, in his last discourse, again
reverted to the fate of the wicked, and asserted that their end
must be so wretched and miserable, as to be a matter of triumph
to the just and innocent (supra xxii. 19, 20), Job cannot pass
over the subject in silence, but is prompted by his love of truth
to protest against that which his friend had said, and to declare
the contrary. At the same time, we shall hear him say, that,
though he loves God with all his soul and all his might, and
is desirous of being introduced into His presence, he must never
theless confess, that he cannot see any signs of His Providential
care and Divine retribution here below, inasmuch as the just and
the innocent are altogether at the mercy of the wicked and
depraved, who may tyrannize over them, rob them, and even slay
them, with perfect impunity — a course of things, which causes him
not only the deepest regret but also the greatest surprise. He says :
Why is it so ] Events are not concealed from the Almighty,
seeing that His omnipresence and omniscience altogether preclude
the possibility of any event's being hidden from Him, Yet those, who
love Him, do not see His days ! His days of retribution. Why do
they not see crime meeting with that punishment, which it so
richly deserves, and ought to receive without the least delay?
Wherever we turn, we see atrocities of the blackest dye committed
with impunity. (Ver. 2.) Here they (the wicked) remove land
marks. They set them up on their neighbour's land, so that the
extent of their own may be increased. There they violently take
away a herd, and feed it. As though it were their own property.
(Ver. 3.) Some drive away the ass of the fatherless ; they take the
widow's ox. Her only means of support. For a pledge. (Ver. 4.)
Others turn the needy out of the way; yea the poor of 'the earth
are altogether concealed. The oppression and violence they have
to endure from the wicked are so great, that they dare not shew
themselves in the street. (Ver. 5.) Behold, they must go forth
to their work in the desert, like wild asses. Like wild asses which

CHAPTER XXIV. 1, 5 — 11. 213
are never seen but in the desert, where they seek for pasture,
so the poor, not being suffered to abide in the villages and towns,
must work in the wilderness, Diligently seeking for food; the
wilderness must furnish him. Every one of them. Bread for
his young-children. (Ver. 6.) In the field, they must reap his (the
wicked man's) grain, and gather the produce of the wicked man's
vineyard. (Ver. 7.) They pass the night naked, without clothing,
and have no covering in the cold. (Ver. 8.) They are wet with
the shower[s] of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of
a shelter. They are obliged to squeeze themselves into the
crannies and crevices of rocks in order to avoid exposure to
the inclemency of the weather. (Ver. 9.) They. That is, the
wicked. Pluck the fatherless-child from the breast of its mother,
and take that, which is upon the poor-man as a pledge. The
scanty clothing, which the poor man has to cover himself with,
they take away from him as a pledge, careless of leaving him
altogether naked. (Ver. 10.) They. That is, the poor. Go
about naked, without clothing, and hungry are they, when they
carry the sheaves. The wicked man's sheaves. It was considered
cruel to suffer even a beast to starve in the midst of plenty,
whence the precept, " Thou shalt not muzzle the ox, when he
treadeth out the corn," (Deut. xxv. 4), and yet the poor are
suffered by their wicked oppressors to famish, whilst carrying their
sheaves. (Ver. 11.) They press out oil within their (the wicked
men's) walls ; they tread their wine-presses, and yet suffer thirst.
Ver. 1. ?17B for P n*n* 517)3 why should it be so?
2*na Ut., times, here evidently = events. Comp. Ps. xxxi. 16, ''tihV IT^a in
Thine hand [are] my times, i.e., the vicissitudes of fortune, which await me, the
events of my future Ufe. So also, 1 Chron. xxix. 30, vb? 1733 7tpS B*nan*.
and the times (events) which passed over him.
V?7*1 (according to the K'ree) lit., and those knowing Him ; i.e., those
acknowledging Him, loving Him, as Ps. ix. 11, IPP *57V, which is
unquestionably synonymous with iaa? *3nM (Ps. v. 12) [the] lovers of Thy
name. Vp* Ut., His days. By the day of Jehovah is generally understood, the day
of His retribution. Comp. Isa. xiii. 6, " Howl ye, for nin* BV [the] day of
Jehovah is near ; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty." So also,
Malac. iii. 23, Nlian*. bhan nin* BI* [the] great and dreadful day of
Jehovah.

214 CHAPTER XXIV. 2 — 11, 12.
Ver. 2. 13*p* they are wont to remove. The more proper form would be
13*13*. Comp. Deut xix. 14, 3*E>n sb Thou shalt not remove (thy neighbour's
landmark); also (Ibid xxvii. 17 :) "Cursed be he, that is 2*Ba removing (his
neighbour's landmark)." See note on taa3 supra v. 2.
1377?! for iniS 1Sn"1 and they feed it.
Ver. 5. B*S1B for B*H1D3 like wild-asses. See note on ^an *331 supra v. 7.
17E>b *7.qp'B for H7^b B*7qpa diligently seeking for food. Comp. Ps.
ii. 12, 13 *Bin for ia B*Din trusting in Him; also Vbab *23p (smjbw xviii. 2),
on which see note. 17.2 is not always used in the sense of prey, but also in that
oi food, victuals. Comp. Prov. xxxi. 15, "and she gave forth 17.B food (for
her household)."
Ver. 6. 17*33 his grain, the poss. affix i" his, referring to the noun at&i in
the second hemistich. See note on na supra vi. 29. Comp. also Ps. lxviii. 15,
where na in it, in the first hemistich, refers to 112723 in Salmon, in the
second. 27.31. for 213 *33ai and [the] grapes of [the] vineyard.
l^i?b'! They must gather. This is the only instance in which the root a?p7
occurs as a verb.
Ver. 7. IV 7* they pass the night. The verb lib is intrans., even in Hiph.
Those, who think that it has a trans, signif. in Lev. xix. 13, and Deut. xxi. 23,
err in taking ]*bn to be the 2nd sing, masc, instead of the 3rd sing, feminine.
Ver. 9. 7t$B from [the] breast. 7a? is here synonymous with 7K7 (dual
2*7a?) which seems to be the more common form. We find, however, 7ta = breast
in other places, as Isa. Ix. 16, 2*33B 7an and [the] breast of kings (shalt thou
suck.) *3a bs* for *aa ba ~IB>S nsi; and that which [is] upon [the] poor-man;
i.e., his clothing. So Ralbag, to whom we are greatly indebted for helping us
out of the dilemma, in which the use of the prep. ^5 here bad placed us. He
comments on 17217* *?5 ^?1 as follows :
: ]13DPi IPp' P3 PP3JT -)Dfi 1D133 fapl OU Jl>D PP b''l
" Meaning to say, that which [is] upon [the] poor-man, that is to say, his garment,
wherewith he covers himself, they take away as a pledge."
Ver. 10. 13yn they went. The verb 77n is here used intransitively in Pi-al,
as was observed in our note on n^bBSI (supra xxiii. 7).
iaa sheaf being here used collectively, = sheaves.
Ver. 11. I1? lit., between, i.e., within.
Brnia? their (the wicked men's) walls. Comp. Ps. xviii. 30, "I will leap
over 71B7 a wall."
l"Vn?* they press out oil. The root ~in2 , as a verb, is not to be met with
elsewhere. Vers. 12 — 18. Having described the oppression which those
suffer, whom the tyranny of the wicked had obliged to flee from

CHAPTER XXIV. 12—17. 215
the city, Job now proceeds to depict the atrocities, that are
practised in the city itself, saying :
From the city men groan, and the soul of the slain crieth out.
From the city there is nothing to be heard but the groans of
dying men, and the cry for vengeance of the blood of the slain.
Yet God doth not impute to them (the wicked) injustice. Job
now divides the wicked into two classes — the one composed of such
hardened villains, as are bold enough to commit the most horrid
crimes in broad daylight — the other, of those who, being too
cowardly for this, dare not face the light, but sneak away to their
dens at its approach. He says : (Ver. 13.) Some of them are
among those, who rebel against the light. That is, who, as it were,
bid defiance to the light, and ply their horrible trade in the
middle of the day. Others again there are, who do not know its
ways, nor abide in its paths. Who are so much afraid of the
light, as to avoid it altogether. (Ver. 14.) The murderer riseth
with the day-light. Not because he dreads the full light of the
sun, but so as to have the whole day before him. And killeth the
poor and needy. He is quite indifferent to the sun's shining upon
his murderous deeds. But in the night he is again, as though he
were a thief Though, in the day time, he displays more boldness
than those sneaking cowards, who only venture to carry on their
depredations under the cover of deep darkness, yet, he is not
ashamed to imitate them ; his greediness is so great, as to induce
him to stoop to thieving in the night. (Ver 15.) The eye also
of the adulterer waiteth for the evening-twilight, " No eye," saith
he, " must see me." This precaution, however, not seeming to
him sufficient to secure him against recognition, he adds a second.
He even putteth on a mask. His conscience renders him as great
a coward as the despicable thief who haunts the streets at midnight.
(Ver. 16.) Another again, digs through houses in the dark. In
order to enter and plunder them. Whilst in the day-time they shut
themselves up ; they do not like the light. (Ver. 17.) For the morning
is to them all like the shadow of-death, for they experience the terrors
of the shadow-of -death. When the morning comes, they are in
as great a fr,ight, as though they felt themselves seized with the
pangs of death. But, when surprised by the light, the paltry
thief, coward though he is, plucks up courage from the very

216 CHAPTER XXIV. 12 — 14, 18.
greatness of his terror, and to effect his escape, would be bold
enough even to plunge into a river ; and, did he do so, his usual
success would still attend him; far from being drowned, he would
quickly reach the other side in safety, for he swims like a cork.
(Ver. 18.) He is light upon the surface of the water. Their
parcel-of-ground is accursed in the land. That is, the site of their
fastnesses, being waste, barren, and rocky, is regarded as accursed
of God, and only fit to harbour men equally accursed. He turneth
not. That is, not one of them turns. By the way of the vine
yards. When they are in danger of being taken, they dare not
take their flight across the vineyards, where they might be
arrested by the husbandmen, but prefer unfrequented paths and
by-ways, or even crossing rivers.
Ver. 12. nbsn B*ari rib for nbgn ans a*p*. ^ does not impute to them
(the perpetrators of these crimes) injustice, as shown by the fact, that they are
not overtaken by the Divine vengeance. See note on nbBn supra i. 22.
Ver. 13. 7is *71B3 i*n nan for 71S *7lb3 vn nana Some of them (of
these wicked men) are among those rebelling against [the] light; i.e., they belong
to that class of bold and hardened villains, who set the light at defiance, and are
ready to do anything, however atrocious, in the face of the sun.
1*317 n*?n rib for 1*317 n*3n rib ia/s; nanai and some of them [there
are] who do not know the ways thereof (of light).
Ver. 14. PlVin Dip1 7ixb lit., at (i.e., with) the light [the]
murderer rises. Those, who have not, as we have done, con
sidered the preceding verse to treat of two distinct classes of
villains — the bold and hardened on the one hand, the timid
and cowardly on the other — have felt great difficulty in explaining
how the murderer could here be said to arise with the light,
after it had been stated in the preceding verse (as usually
translated), that men of his class dread and shun it. Some
of the Commentators, therefore, would take "linb to signify,
before the light, whilst others understand by it just at daybreak,
when the feebleness of the light would allow the murderer
to escape recognition or detection. The first of these interpreta
tions we could not for a moment entertain, as 7 never means
before, nor was it possible for us to admit the second, seeing
that as often as we meet with 71*6 in Scripture, the context

CHAPTER XXIV. 15, 16. 217
rather points to the full light of day, than to the feeble light
of early dawn; e.g., supra xii. 22, "he bringeth out 7iS7 to
light (the shadow of death)," where 7iK is surely not intended
to express a glimpse of light or faint light, but rather a bright
light. Therefore it was, that we preferred considering the pre
ceding verse to treat of the two different classes of villains
designated above ; and to the first of these classes the murderers,
whose practices are recorded in the verse before us, must of
course be referred.
Ver. 15. niap waits for. The verb naa* is sometimes used in this sense,
as in Ps. Iix. 10. nTBps rpbri for Thee do I wait.
D1aB ina Ut., a covering of face ; i.e., a mask. So Wolfssohn observes :
ilJ ifo'D 0'3PP P113 in Pf 7pf> i"l1 , p"77P DT5D IM 0'3J> 7PP OW31
:i"a» ,i>pppa t"ni3 fnpjp DP'f>n ono' f>io '73 d'^dip opop
" And [the] meaning of D';B inp [is], as Rabbi David Kimchi explained [it], and what
he says is this : he (Job) says this with reference to the image of the face, which wicked-
men wear on their faces, in order that those seeing them may not recognise them, [and]
which in a foreign language is called ' mask.' Thus far [is] his (Kimchi's) language."
Ver. 16. *Bb iann they shut (Ut., seal) themselves up. Comp. infra xxxvii. 7,
where, when speaking of the heavy rain, which prevents both man and beast from
stirring abroad, EUhu says, " Binn* He (God) shuts up (every man in the
place, where he is," so that he cannot move about). Kimchi comments on the
passage before us as foUows :
wiS3 nnn* nb*b3i a*bni3a *b*bi amn a*aaan ia*a* ava iaiba
• lanna* aipa
bsi* sba* ava a*7asa ana* iab nas* iab iann bbv a*a*7Ba am
? 7is ia7* sb sin sn B7s'
" That is to say, in the day-time the thieves make a mark and sign on the walls, and in
the night they dig in that place, which they had marked."
" But some explain ych innn dw theg shut themselves up ; for in the day-time they
[are] shut up, that no man may see them ; and this is [the meaning of what is said in
the last part of the verse] lis un; >ft [they do not like the light]."
On referring to the Auth. Vers., the reader will find this passage translated in
accordance with the first explanation given by Kimchi ; we, however, have given
our preference to the second, and that for two reasons ; first, because it agrees
better with the last clause of the verse, as observed by Kimchi himself ; and
secondly, because, as mentioned above, we find the word Binn* occurring in this
very book, in the sense of shutting up.
1571 "7 they do not like. See note on V37*1 ver. 1. It will be perceived,

218 CHAPTER XXIV. 16 — 20.
that there is a change of number in this verse, the verb in the first clause being
sing., while those in the second and third are plural.
Ver. 17. 7*3* Ut., he knows; i.e., becomes acquainted with (the terrors of the
shadow of death, which be had never experienced before).
Ver. 18. 2npT?n their parcel-of-land. The noun npf?r\ a parcel, portion,
is generally used in construction with n~\W a field, as in Ruth ii. 3,
taap nT/tan np7n" a parcel (or part) of the field (belonging) to Boaz, but
is, however, also met with in its absolute form, as, e.g., in 2 Sam. xiv. 30.
We will not pollute our pages by quoting the disgusting obscenities, which
Schultens would wring out of this and some of the following verses. If the
reader do not mind wading through a couple of pages * of dirt and filth, he will
receive a salutary warning as to what value he ought to set upon the explanations
of Scripture given by this commentator and others like him, who are unfortunately
taken for their light and beacon by those who cannot read the Commentaries of
Mendelssohn, Wolfssohn, Eichel, Bril, Homberg, &c.
Vers. 19 — 25. It will be recollected that Job had already
spoken of the sudden death of the impious as one of the
blessings they enjoy (see supra ix. 23 ; xxi. 1 3), since they
ought not, in his opinion, to be permitted to depart from life
without having first undergone lengthened and excruciating
sufferings. Having now enumerated the various crimes
committed by the wicked, he again reverts to this topic, and
laments their easy and speedy release from the world, saying:
Just as drought and heat steal away snow-water. For, under
their influence, it gently and imperceptibly vanishes. So
the wicked slip-down into the grave. Without any pain or
suffering, which is not as it ought to be, for it were but just
that they should be plagued with such frightful and loathsome
diseases, as would chain them to the bed of sickness, and render
them an object of the greatest horror and disgust even to their
best friends and nearest relations. (Ver. 20.) She, who bore him,
ought to forget him. The horrible nature and lingering character
of his disease should be such, as to drive even his mother away
from his bedside, and make her forget he is her son. The worm
ought to be sweet to him. His misery, what from bodily sufferings,
consequent upon his protracted disease, what from mental agony
at seeing himself deserted by his nearest relations, should be so
* See the Leyden Edition [1737], pp. 688, 689.

CHAPTER XXIV. 20 — 25. 219
intense, as to make him long for the worm and corruption of the
grave. He should be remembered no more ; and so iniquity would
be broken like a stick. The poet, anxious to justify his impre
cations upon the impious, endeavours to heighten what he has
already said of them, by giving a sketch of another class, not
included among those we have just heard him describe. He now
introduces us, namely, to a tyrannical conqueror, who not only
himself spreads ruin and desolation on all sides, but, by his
example, has stimulated a number of other, minor, tyrants, whom
he has subdued and brought under his sway, to emulate him in
his acts of oppression and cruelty; while they, in their turn,
tremble at his nod, and, as his vassals and satellites, are obliged
to follow him, obey his commands, and pay him onerous tributes.
He says, (Ver. 21) He crusheth the barren, that beareth not. One,
therefore, who is already distressed enough on account of her
sterility, a great reproach in those times. Yea, also, to the widow.
A woman left without support or protection. He doeth no good.
But, not satisfied with the atrocities committed by himself.
(Ver. 22.) He also, by his power, aitracteth to himself other
powerful-men. These, following his example, oppress and spoil
all they have to do with, but to him they truckle, so
great is the awe in which they stand of him, seeing that,
when he riseth up against them, not one of them is sure of his
life. (Ver. 23.) Yea, he. That is, every one of them. Must
give him tribute, in order that he may be in safety, and be able
to stay himself upon him ; yet, his (the tyrant's) eyes are upon
their ways. The eye of the great tyrant closely watches the
movements of the petty tyrants he domineers over. (Ver. 24.)
As soon as they are a little exalted, he. That is, every one of
them. Is undone. As soon as they shew the least disposition
to raise up their heads, and attempt to shake off his yoke, they
are either at once plunged by him into utter ruin, Or they are
humbled, silenced, like all others, or even cut off as the tops of
ears-of-corn. (Ver. 25.) Now, if this be not so, who can make
me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth ] I challenge any
one to disprove the statements I have made in this discourse of
mine.

220 CHAPTER XXIV. 19 — 25.
Ver. 19. "'py? as, should be supplied before n^2 in the first, and P so,
before blSp in the second, hemistich.
The verb SBn primarily signifies to miss, as in Judg. xx. 1 6, " Every one
could sling a stone at an hair-breadth, NBrj* ri7l and not suffer [it] to miss."
Hence it has come to signify, to miss one step, to slip, as Prov. xix. 2, " and he
that hasteth with his feet SBin slippeth." Lastly, it has been taken figuratively
in the meaning of to sin, its ordinary acceptation, from the fact, that one who
sins, has missed, or slipped from the path of rectitude.
The verse should be construed thus :
DJ7 D2 PP¥ [7^S3] [Just as] dryness, as well as heat,
^2^ ^12 17TJ1 Steal-away snow-waters,
71NC£> 1N!pn [|i>] [So] they (the impious) slip down to
[the] grave (i.e, gently, without
pain or suffering).
Ver. 20. 2171 Ut., womb ; i.e., the womb, which bore him, used fig. for his
mother. Ver. 21. nai Ut., [he is] breaking, i.e., oppressing, crushing. The verb nyi ,
in this instance, = 511 to break, the same as nt3 to despise = *13 . Comp.
Jer. ii. 16, 7p7i7 TJI51* they will break thee [the] crown of [thy] head; and Prov.
xxv. 19, nai IP a tooth breaking-down.
ibn rib for 7bi7 rib IPS who does not bear.
2*B** ri7 he does not do good to. The proper form would be 2*B** (Prov.
xvii. 22, &c), as it is the fut. Hiph. So, in Isa. xv. 2, 3 ; xvi. 7, b*b** for b*b\*
* will howl.
Ver. 22. 1**173 in life, the Chaldee form for B*?I73 .
Ver. 23. ln*3*5*. and his eyes, poet, form for 1*3*31 .
Ver. 24. IBan) or are humbled. The proper form would be 13Bini for it is
the past. Hiph. of 7BB .
}12piV they are silenced (from V3P to shut, close, applied to the mouth), i.e.,
they are so struck with awe, that they dare not utter a word. Comp. Ps. cvii. 42,
" and all iniquity n*B n23|7 hath stopped her mouth ; " and also supra v. 16.
Ver. 25. bsb for ribb to nothing.

* Which is, however, never found, though we do meet with fWw Mic. i. 8. In every
other passage the irregular form of this fut. is met with. Thus we have Vm (Jer.
xlviii. 31); i"rt;n (Isa. lxv. 14); W% (Hos. vii. 14) ; iW-rn (Isa. Hi. 5). ana», on the
contrary, is the only instance of the irreg. form, in the fut. Hiph. Note of Editor, 1861.

221

CHAPTER XXV.
Bildad, finding that his efforts to prove to Job, that the impious
and wicked must ultimately meet with severe and condign
punishment, and the pious and just, with abundant reward from
above, have had no effect, does not again revert to the subject,
but confines himself in this short, but energetic speech, to calling
the attention of Job to the unlimited power and profound wisdom
of God; topics, which, if duly reflected upon, must convince us,
that the dispensations of Providence are as just as they are
unerring, and that, if events sometimes occur, which, according
to our narrow views of right and wrong, seem to us to be the
reverse of what we might . have expected, it is only because we
are too short sighted to perceive the end, to which such events
are intended to lead by the decree of Him, in whose hands are
the destinies of man. He says :
Ver. 2 — 6. Dominion and fear are with Him. That is, God.
The terror, which He can strike into those, who attempt to rebel
against Him, is in proportion to the greatness of His sovereign
power. He maketh peace in His high places. He maintains har
mony among the heavenly bodies, which, great as is their number,
and immense their magnitude, never clash or jar with one another,
but move with the greatest smoothness and precision, in the track
assigned to them by Him. (Ver. 3.) Is there any number to his
hosts ? Can any one number the stars, which fill the universe 1
Yet, upon which of them doth not His sun rise ? Is there any
constellation so distant, as to be out of the reach of the rays of the
sun % * (Ver. 4.) How then can frail-man be right with God ? How
can he think he has a right to find fault with the decrees of God, or
how can he dare to challenge Him to enter into judgment with him,
as Job more than once has done "? (Supra ix. 32, 33, and passim.)
And how can he be clean, that is born of a woman ? How can
* The reader will perceive, that we are here merely explaining Job's ideas, without
necessarily subscribing to them.

222 CHAPTER xxv. 3 — 6.
one, that was shapen in iniquity, and conceived in sin, think
himself so clean and free from all guilt, as to have a right to
murmur, when corrected and chastised by his Maker1? (Ver. 5.)
Behold the spoliation of the moon, how she no longer pitcheth her
tent in the heavens ! Consider, how the moon, when eclipsed, is at
once stripped of her brightness, and becomes invisible, as though
she did not exist, and no longer had her pavilion in the heavens !
(It will be recollected, that, in the poetical language of the Bible,
the great luminaries are represented as pitching their tents in the
heavens. Comp. Ps. xix. 5, "In them hath he set a tabernacle
for the sun.") Yea, the stars are not pure in His eyes. His
brightness is so great, that the stars in His sight are as opaque
bodies. (Ver. 6.) How much less frail-man, that is but a worm,
and the son of man, that is but an insect!
Ver. 3. *B 7al. stands for BilB *B bsi and upon which of them.
ini.lS His sun. The sun, as being the origin of light, is called 7is infra
xxxi. 26, where it stands in parallelism with ni* moon; in Habakkuk, too,
(ch, iii. 4,) some, with great propriety, render liS3 like the sun. In the same
sense is the Greek <£aos understood by some in Odyss. T. 335 : "HS17 yap <£aos
oi)(^B inro £p<$>ov.
Umbreit observes on this word, "inilS fiir ills wie oben Cap. xxiv. 23,
in*3*a fur V3*a ," but surely this is anything but a just comparison, as a masc.
noun, (e.g., 7*p a song,) on receiving the possess, pron. affix of the 3rd. pers.
sing, masc, has two regular forms, given in almost every Grammar, viz., il*P
and ini*p , the latter of which cannot even be said to be the poet, one, as it is very
frequently met with in the historical books ; e. g., ln3*B? after its kind, is found
several times in Genesis, whilst 13*ab is found only once (Gen. i. 11). Not so the
plur. B*l*p , which, on taking the possess, affix of the 3rd pers. sing, masc, has only
one form, viz., l*i*P , nor would any Grammarian venture to give a second ; and
if, in writing Hebrew, one were to render his songs, ln*1*p, it would make him
rub bis eyes, who read it, since this is a very extraordinary, and, we may almost
say, anomalous form. Indeed, Eichenbaum has been found fault with by Hebrew
scholars in the University of Cambridge for having, in his poem 2ipn , 0nce
made use of !n*b$ for V3S to him, which of course he did for the sake of the
rhyme, though unjustifiably. To sum up, then, iniis is a most regular and
usual form, whereas in*3*5 should be considered rather as an anomaly, as also
in*7*T for 1*7* in Habak. iii. 10.
The mistake here made by Umbreit has been fallen into also by Rosenmuller,
though for him it is but a mere trifle, as the reader may convince himself by
referring to our note on supra xii. 4, where we pointed out such a very gross, nay
unpardonable, blunder on the part of this Commentator.

CHAPTER xxv. 5. 223
Ver. 5. 75 [the] spoliation, or stripping, of. From the verb n7B> , which, in
Hiph, signifies to deceive, mislead (as, e.g., 2 Kings iv. 28, *nS n ,pn ri3 do
not deceive me), we have the derivative noun 7p" (2 Sam. vi. 7) self-deception,
error. In like manner, from the verb n75 , which, in Hiph., signifies to take
off, strip (as e. g., Prov. xxv. 20, 733 n75B [one] stripping off a garment),
we have here the noun 75 stripping, spoliation. Indeed, 75 prey, booty, to be
found in Gen. xlix. 27, Isa. xxxiii. 23, may, in our humble opinion, also be
referred to the verb HIS in its meaning of taking away, stripping off.
7*i7S! ri7l So that she does not pitch-her-tent. In Ps. xix. 5, we read
?na briN Bp a?apb in them (the heavens) hath He set a tabernacle for the sun.
Here, our poet assigns a tabernacle, or pavilion to the moon also, and bids his
unfortunate friend consider how, when eclipsed, she is as though she had no
longer any pavilion in the heavens.
bns as a verb, we find in Gen. xiii. 12, in Kal, 7nS*l and he pitched-his-tent.
In Isa. xiii. 20, we have 12ia Eta bn* S3*- and [the] Arabian shall not pilch-
his-tent there, where of course 7n* stands for 7rtS* . In the verse before us,
this verb appears in its proper, and regular form, and it is, therefore, much to
be regretted, that the Translators of the Auth. Vers., and many others, have
given to it the meaning of shining, as though it were the fut. Hiph. of 33n , in
which case, however, its form ought surely to have been 7n* , as infra xxxi. 26.
Comp. also in Isa. xiii. 10, l7n* they shall make to shine. Had these Translators,
by offering such violation to this verb, added to the beauty of the poetry, we should
perhaps have said less, but, in our opinion, the only result of their misplaced
ingenuity has been materially to mar it. As, however, we are, we think,
the first, in the English language at least, to give to the verb 7*ns* the
signification, which its form demands, we may perhaps be allowed to say, that
we have both Kimchi and Ben-Zev with us ; and with such authorities on
our side we can, we think, boldly face any real or would-be critic. Kimcbi's
words (under the root 7nS) are as foUows :
'B sina? m* ia ib*ss » b*ns*_ sbl m* 7a *n Lb*asn] 733n basm
• a*pin sina? rbnsa ia*s ib*s3 ia*73 • b*ns* sba> iB2p n*n* a*avban
" And the Hiph-il conjugation [is found in the passage,] s,™s **7 T™ is p , even as far
as [the] moon, which [is one] of the superior-bodies, will His wrath attain [lit., be], so
that she will not pitch-her-tent ; that is to say, as though she [would be] no longer in her
tent, by which is meant the firmament."
It wiU be perceived that Kimchi, though agreeing with us as far as the signifi
cation of the verb 7*ns* is concerned, differs from us in the rendering of 7a ,
which he treats as a prep., in the meaning of as far as, even to. Ben-Zev, how
ever, agrees with us in both points, with this difference only, that, instead of
understanding the poet to allude to the ecUpses of the moon, as we do, he thinks
he refers to her setting. He has the following remarks upon 7*ns* ribl. ni* 75
(vide root 7nS) :

224 chapter xxv. 5, 6 ; xxvi. 2.
• a*pi2 ibns aa* sba> ni*n i*ns* b"i
" Meaning to say, He hides the moon, that she should no longer pitch-her-tent in the
firmament." And under n75, he observes on 75 :
• inbiTa 7Bian bba* aa *pia r"n aa* a**i
" And there is a noun-adjective masculine (viz., ts), synonymous with ft*5 \prey, booty),
which [is] taken away from another thing."
Ver. 6. nai. for nai Sin 1t»S. who [is] a worm.
nabin for nabin Sin ipS who [is] an insect.

CHAPTER XXVI.
The reader will have perceived, that, whenever any one of Job's
friends has thought it necessary to remind him of the Omni
potence and Omniscience of God, the unfortunate man not only
immediately takes up these subjects himself, but generally dwells
upon them at much greater length than his friend had done, with
a view, probably, to make him feel the impropriety of preaching
that to him, which he himself, as was well known, had been in
the habit of preaching to others during the whole of his life.
This custom of his we shall see him follow in the discourse he is
about to deliver. Bildad had, in his last speech, brought forward
no argument whatever, contenting himself with setting forth in a
few words the unlimited power and profound wisdom of the
Almighty ; this is felt by Job very keenly, and is looked upon
by him as a real insult. He therefore replies :
Vers. 2 — 4. What assistance hast thou given to him that hath no
strength ? What help hast thou afforded to the arm which hath no
might ? In the feeble and helpless condition I am now in, what
assistance, or what help, can I possibly derive from the speech
which I have just now heard from thee ? (Ver. 3.) What

CHAPTER XXVI. 3  6. 225
counsel hast thou given to him that hath no wisdom, or what
practical-wisdom hast thou made him abundantly to know ? A
stranger I confess myself to be to wisdom, but doth it, I ask, require
much wisdom, to know all that thou hast declared in thy speech ?
Doth it require even much practical knowledge to know that
God is omnipotent, and that all His works are under His control ?
Even supposing thou regardest me as an arrant simpleton, what
necessity was there for thee to tell me that which thou hast told
me'? I further ask (Ver. 4), To whom hast thou uttered these
words? Was it to one who heard something in them he knew
not before'? Nay, whose breath was it, I pray, came out from
thee ? Were the words thou madest use of in thy speech thine
own, or were they not rather a repetition of the words thou hast
so often heard from me % Didst thou not in thy speech merely
re-echo, as it were, what I have over and over again preached to
others %
Ver. 2. 173 ribb for lb 173 rib 7psb to him that has no strength.
t5 rib aii? TOpin for nb ts rib late 5ii?b nspi*n na what help hast
thou afforded to [the] arm which has no might ?
Ver. 3. napn ribb for ib napn rib 7psb to him that has no wisdom.
na7in 27b n'pini for 27b ib nsiin n»p'm nai or what substantial-
knowledge hast tho/u made him to know abundantly ? See our note on n'pin ,
supra v. 12.
Vers. 5, 6. Moreover, what was the subject of thy discourse?
The heavenly bodies, and the unlimited power God has over
them, so that, after all, thou didst only direct my attention to
objects visible to the eyes of every man ; but I will tell thee more
than that ; I will call thy attention to things not visible to the eye
of man, and yet unveiled before Him, from whose eye nothing is
concealed. The place, where the giants of the deep are formed — that is, the
place, where all the huge and monstrous animals of the sea, such
as whales, sharks, &c, are produced — yea, that which is under the
waters, and the inhabitants thereof — (Ver. 6) the grave also — —-every
one of these lieth naked before Him ; yea, there is no covering to
destruction. Even the grave and destruction lie open and un
covered before Him, so that, just as His eye watches His creatures
Q

226 CHAPTER XXVI. 5, 6.
whilst in the beauty and freshness of life, so it sees them also in
every stage of their decomposition and decay.
Vers. 5, 6. a*SB7n ut., the giants. So a*SBin in»B (Deut. iii. 11) Of
[the] remnant of the giants. This word is here applied to the monstrous
animals of the deep. Before it, 2ta 7ps 0r Ba? 7py BipB [the] place where,
must be supplied. See our note on T17 ri7 supra xii. 24.
nnna for nnna 7a?S: that, which [is] beneath. Comp. infra xii. 3, nnn
B*aam ba for a*aPn bs nnn 7I2JS. that which [is] beneath the whole
heavens. Comp. also infra xxviii. 24.
173? * Bi7a [is] naked before Him. These words must be supplied at the
end of the first, as weU as the second, hemistich of Ver. 5, so that
The construction of Vers. 5,6, will be as follows : —
Ver .5. [DB> 1WX Dipp] [[The] place where]
 l^iH1 D^^in the giants [of the
deep] are formed 
ni7J7D \yi})$\[that, which [is]]
beneath
 • DH^p^l D^12 [the] waters, and
the inhabitants of
them 

Ver. 6.  7lW [the] grave  Wi.e., the

M22 Di7^ [is] naked
beforeHim

pi^JO filD? 1^1 Yea, [there is] no covering
to destruction

grave and
the de
composi
tion and
i decay which go
on there,
lie naked
&open be-
/ foreHim.)

We will not conceal from the reader, that, in giving to the
word D1XD7 the meaning we have adopted, viz., that of giants, or
monsters (of the sea), we stand quite alone; we shall lay before
• Here we have another instance of the poet's relying upon the common sense of his
hearers to apply to; before Him, as he means it to be applied, viz., to God. See note
on inssDMi supra xxiii. 3.

CHAPTER XXVI. 5, 7 — 13. 227
him, therefore, the renderings of some of the other commentators
and translators, and leave it to him to decide in our favour, or
against us. The word is certainly very frequently used in the
Bible in the meaning of [the] dead (as e.g., Prov. ii. 18), and so
it is taken here by Rosenmuller, Umbreit, Schlottmann, as well
as by Wolfssohn, who, with those that can read and understand
his Commentary, must have infinitely more weight than the
three others put together. They agree, namely, in rendering
177in* D7NQ7.n the shades tremble, and must, of course (for else
there would be no sense), have understood after these two words,
i7J3 before Him, from the next verse. The Auth. Vers, has —
" Dead things are formed," &c, which we suppose hardly deserves
a comment. The reason why we preferred to giving D,S27 the
signification of gigantic sea-animals is, because the first hemistich
is by this rendering made to agree admirably with the second,
which speaks of the waters and the inhabitants thereof.
Ver. 7 — 13. He stretcheth out the North. That is, the Northern
heavens; he does not speak of the Southern, probably because
they were hidden from his sight. Over empty-space ; He hangeth
the earth upon nothing at all. (Ver. 8.) He bindeth up the
waters in His thick-clouds, yet the cloud is not rent under them.
(Ver. 9.) He shutteth up the face of His throne, and widely-
spreadethHis cloud over it. (Ver. 10.) He hath drawn a circular
bound upon the face of the waters, a bound, which will endure till the
end of light and darkness. That is, to the end of all days. (Ver. 11.)
The pillars of heaven are shaken, and are amazed at His rebuke.
(Ver. 12.) By His power He clove the sea, and by His under
standing He smote its pride. The waves and billows thereof,
which tower up so proudly, humbled themselves before Him,
when He clove the sea, which He moreover did. (Ver. 13.) By
His blast, which beautifieth the heavens. By dispersing, namely,
any clouds that may disfigure them. Even by His hand, which
formed the swift serpent. That is, lightning.
Ver. 7. na*b? for na *73 without anything whatever ; i.e., nothing. These
two words are blended into one, in the same way that we find
n.la b2 [the] shadmv of death, united with a slight alteration in the punctua
tion, into one word, n)ab2 .
Ver. 8. Bnnn *3S 5p23 ribl Yet [the] cloud is not rent under them. We
Q 2

228 chapter xxvi. 8 — L3.
shall find, infra xxxviii. 37, the clouds designated as 2*ap *b?3 [the] bottles of
heaven, and so here the poet, picturing the clouds in his mind as delicate vases,
marvels greatly how, in spite of the fineness of their structure, they are able so
effectually to sustain the weight of the great abundance of water which they contain.
Ver. 9. *nSB He shutteth up. Comp. Nehem. vii. 3, l*nS1 and shut (or bar)
[them (the doors)].
nB3 for SD3 (as in the K'ree) a throne ; so, in 1 Kings x. 19, nD37 for
SD33 . M and n , as quiescents, frequently interchange. See Mason and Ber
nard's Grammar, Letter xxxviii., P.S. (e).
tpiB He spread widely. This quadriliteral verb may be supposed to be
compounded of aHB to spread, and the root tIB open, wide open, which we
find in the form ""TT;? as in Deut. iii. 5, 1?7r?n *ia the open (i.e., unwalled)

Ver. 10. 'H^n B5 7is n*ban 75 to [the] end of light with (i.e., and)
darkness ; i.e., to the end of day and night, till day and night shall cease to be ;
for the poet here calls day, light, and night, darkness, giving to each its original
name, as found in Gen. i. 5, where we read, " And God called the light day, and
the darkness He called night." 71N. then, is, in this instance, synonymous
with Bi* , and "ijpn with nb*7 , and the sense of the verse is, that the bound,
with which God has encircled the waters, is to last to the end of day and night,
i.e., to the end of all days. It is well known, that the night together with the
day following make up, in Biblical language, 21* a day ; and the words before
us, therefore, express the same idea as the more usual phrase 2*B*n Ifpb to [the]
end of days. Umbreit translates this hemistich, und bestimmte scharf Licht
neben Finsterniss ; Schlottmann, scharf scheidet er Licht und Dunkel. Obscure
(to use a mild term), as are these renderings, we could perhaps make allowance
for them, if we found they established a parallelism between the two members of
the verse, which, we must confess, we cannot perceive that they do. The Trans
lators of the Auth. Vers., on the other hand, seem to have understood the
passage in the same way that we do.
Ver. 11. 2*Bp *71B3 [the] pillars of heaven, the poet picturing the heavens
in his mind as the dome of a stately temple resting upon pillars.
Ver. 12. 3731 lit., He broke; i.e., clove. This verb occurred supra vii. 5,
where it had a passive sense ; here, it is evidently used actively.
Ver. 13. niBp"* B*ap ini13 by His blast, [which] beautifies, [the] heavens,
(by dispersing, namely, the clouds, with which they are sometimes overcast).
Comp. infra xxxvii. 21, " but the wind passeth, and cleanseth them (the clouds)
away." 072 a*n3 lit., [the] fleeing serpent ; i.e., the swift serpent, by which, seeing
that the next verse alludes to thunder, is evidently meant lightning ; and a very
appropriate and beautiful figure it is, if we consider the serpentine, or zig-zag,
• rnofi, being a past Pi-al, the D should by rights have a Dagesh, which is however
omitted, as it often is when it would come to stand in a consonant bearing Shevah. See
Mason and Bernard's Grammar, Letter xvi., P. S. (d).

chapter xxvi. 12 — 14. 229
shape of this phenomenon, and the velocity with which it glides, gleaming,
through the heavens.
Most of the English and German Translators apply n7Bp to God, taking, of
course, the n to be paragogic ; but a paragogic n , in the third pers. sing. masc.
of the past, is of such rare occurrence, and may, in the few instances in which
it is supposed to be found, so easily be explained away, that we could not make
up our minds to follow their example.
We, therefore, construe Vers. 12, 13 as follows :
Ver. 12. ir\22 By His power,
i!21 He broke (clove)
D'H the sea,
117312177.1 And by His intelligence,
yi!2 He smote
3177 for 13717 its pride (and He did this,)
Ver. 13. ini73 With His blast,
i775sy for llpli! 7t£\St which beautifies
EVOct' [the] heavens, (even)
IT for 1T3 with His hand,
nb^h for i~l77h 1W8 which formed
nni. £>n:i [the] swift serpent (i.e., the
lightning).
Ver. 14. Having thus enumerated some of the wonderful and
marvellous works of God, Job closes his discourse as follows :
Lo, these are but outlines of His works, and what a trifling
matter hath here been heard in that, which I have said ! Great
and stupendous as are those works and deeds of His which I have
touched upon in this discourse, what are they, compared to the sum
of those which might be recorded of Him ? A mere nothing; indeed,
less than nothing ! Yea, the thunder of His might who can under
stand? The nature of His mighty thunder passes all human
understanding. Job had, in the preceding verse, alluded to light
ning, and now, therefore, naturally speaks of thunder, saying, as
it were : yea, and His thunder also, which I omitted to mention,
who is able to understand its nature ?
Ver. 14. nl2p Ut., ends-, extremities-of ; i.e., outlines.
VB77 (according to the K'ree) lit., His ways, by which is here meant His
works. Comp. infra xl. 19, bs *377_ the ways (i.e., the works) of God;

230 chapter xxvi. 14 ; xxvii. 1 — 3.
likewise, Prov. viii. 22, where 1377 stands in paralleUsm with V7?5B His
works. 137 V??/ lit., a trifle of a thing ; i.e., a trifling thing. See note on V?*a
supra iv. 12. We take this word in the acceptation given to it by Aben-Ezra,
Jarchi, Kimchi, Ralbag, Ben-Zev, and Buxtorf. In the Chaldee Version, too,
it is rendered B3B ,* and this signification is also preserved in the English
Version. The Vulgate renders it susurrus; and Ben-Zev, after having trans
lated it as we do, adds : ' 71B3 bip na?*nb I3*3a a"*i
" And some interpret its meaning, [the] whisper of a low voice ; "
alluding probably to the Vulgate, which none of his readers wUl, we presume,
consider of greater weight than the authorities quoted above.
13 for pniBS ipri] nt3 in that, which I have said. Personal pronouns
are sometimes found used for demonstratives, e.g., 117137 1P$ Sin (Gen.
xlii. 14) for *ni37 ipS nt this [is] what I spake.

CHAPTER XXVII.

Job, having (as already observed), with the view of expressing his
sense of the impropriety of Bildad's preaching to him the Omnipo
tence of God, in his turn taken up this subject, and dwelt upon it
at greater length than his friend had done, might now naturally
have been expected to wait to see whether anything would be
advanced against him, the more especially as Bildad's speech, being
totally devoid of argument, had offered him nothing to refute.
He does not, however, so wait, but returns, the writer of the book
tells us, to the consideration of his own case.
Vers. 1 — 6. And Job again took up his impressive-discourse, and
said: (Ver. 2.) As God liveth, who hath turned away. That is,
rejected without noticing. My just cause, and, as the Almighty
liveth, who hath embittered my soul. As certain as it is, that
God Almighty liveth for ever, so certain is it, (Ver. 3.) f That,
* I do not now know where I found this bbo , a word, which one would hardly expect
to meet with in a Chaldee Version. In Buxtorf s Bible Ynti is rendered in the Targum
rap aliquid, both here and supra iv. 12. Aben-Ezra, however, does interpret it owp.
Note of Editor, 1861.
f In the Translation, the that has been omitted, as its employment would have
necessitated the insertion of a number of words not in the text.

chapter xxvii. 1 — 5. 231
as long as my breath is in me, and the Spirit of God is in my nostril[s]
(Ver. 4.) My lips will not speak iniquity, and my tongue will not
utter deceit. If I were to confess myself a guilty man and a
sinner, my lips would speak iniquity, and my tongue would utter
deceit, which they never shall; therefore, (Ver. 5.) Far be it
from me, that I should pronounce you to be right. In the conclusion
you have come to, that I needs must be a great sinner, richly
deserving the punishment I have received. I will not put off
mine integrity from me, till I expire. (Ver. 6.) I have taken fast
hold of my righteousness, and will not. let it go. I cleave to my
righteousness, and firmly maintain, it has always been with me, nor
ever, even for a moment, left me. My heart. That is, my conscience.
Cannot blame any of my days. There is not a single day in the
whole course of my life, in which I have done anything I could
reproach myself with.
Ver. 1. <'?pO his impressive discourse. The noun '*?2, being evidently
derived from the verb ba?a to rule, have power, is applied to any kind of speech,
which is forcible, and calculated deeply to impress the hearer, and bring conviction
to his mind, no matter whether it consists of a similitude or parable, or of a pithy
and sententious saying, or whether it constitutes a lengthened discourse, in which
oratorical talent is displayed.
Ver. 2. *BBa;B 1*B!7 for *BBa*B 1*271 ipS who has turned-away (i.e.,
disregarded,) my just cause.
*7_P) for *7p *n"| and [as the] Almighty lives.
*P-B3 IBn for *PB3 ian 7PS who has embittered my soul.
Ver. 3. 7ia b3 as long as. The same words, in inverted order, but in the
same signification, occur in Gen. viii. 22, V7.^n *B* b3 7iS As long as [there
are] days of the earth ; i.e., while the earth remains.
Ver. 4. BS , This particle, when used after an oath, expresses a negation.
Comp. 2 Sam. xiv. 1 1, " As Jehovah liveth, biB* BS there shall not fall (one
hair of thy son to the earth)." So also, Ps. xcv. 11, "So that I sware in my
wrath, llriB* BS that they should not enter (into my rest)."
Ver. 5. V nb*bn Ut., profane [be it] to me ; i.e., be it as far from me, as I
could wish a profane thing to be.
*nan 1*BS rib Ut., / shall not turn away my integrity ; i.e., I shall not
put off, strip (or divest) myself of, my integrity. Comp. Gen. xxxviii. 14,
nniaabs *133 7Bni and she put off [the] garments of her widow-hood.
Comp. also infra xxix. 14, ""npsb p72 I put on righteousness (like a
garment).

232 chapter xxvii. 6 — 10.
Ver. 6. 12*B any of my days. The prefix B has here a partitive sense, as in
Gen. iii. 6, 1*7sa Some of the fruit thereof ; but being preceded here by the neg.
part. Sb, they are together equivalent to not any, or not one. So in 2 Sam.
xiv. 11, 'H.:?2 niS.PB , being preceded by the part. BS (which after an oath=^
^b , as has just been observed in our note on ver. 4), must be rendered, not ant
(or NOT one) of thy son's hair[s].
Vers. 7 — 10. Job has so many times alluded to the prosperity
of the wicked, that he is apprehensive he may be suspected of
envying their lot, and of wishing to be in their place, a suspicion
in the highest degree offensive to him. In order, therefore, to
prevent his friends from entertaining any such erroneous notions,
he says :
Let mine enemy be as the wicked-man, and mine adversary as
the iniquitous-man. So far from envying the wicked, on account
of their success and prosperity, I would not, for the world,
exchange my condition, miserable and wretched as it is, for theirs,
well knowing that the stings of my conscience would be infinitely
more painful than these sores, with which I am covered from the
sole of my foot to the crown of my head. Though my conduct
has been ever such, that I cannot conceive it possible I can have
an enemy ; yet, if I have one, the worst thing I can wish him is,
that he may feel those torments of conscience, which every wicked
and iniquitous man must feel. I lament, it is true, very greatly,
that the wicked fare so well, and I am very much surprised at it,
but on no account would I exchange places with them. (Ver. 8.)
For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he get gain, though
God suffer him to be at ease ? (Ver. 9.) Will God hear his cry,
when distress happeneth to come upon him ? To be sure, whenever he
does involve himself in difficulties, he never fails to extricate himself,
but, still, while the danger lasts, he must be weighed down even
to the dust by the overwhelming consciousness that he dare not look
up to his Maker for help ? (Ver. 10.) Can he delight himself in
the Almighty ? Can he call on God at all times ? As I do. Almost
intolerable as are my sufferings, I have yet this great consolation, that
I can call upon God, and with confidence declare to Him my readi
ness to appear at any time before His judgment-seat, for the pur
pose of clearing myself of any charge that may be brought against
me, and of fully proving my inuocence. Can the wicked man,

chapter xxvii. 8, 10 — 12. 233
can the iniquitous man do this % How absurd, then, would it be
of you to suppose for one moment, that I envy their lot !
Ver. 8. 12*33 ni ^.S ,p* *3 although God give ease to his person, i.e., suffers
him to be at ease. We take ba?* , with Kimchi, to be the apocop. fut. Kal of
nba* (used here actively), just as we have, in Gen. xliii. 34, 2inl from nai
to be great, or much. Kimchi, indeed, says that some consider it to stand for
bp'* (root ba*3 to draw out, pull off), but the form certainly points to the root
we have adopted, and a sense is thereby obtained in complete parallelism with
5^3* in the first hemistich.
Ver. 10. BS ia here merely an interrogative particle = D . Comp. supra
vi. 12, sn3 B*33_S 173 BS Is [the] strength of stones my strength ?
Vers. 11, 12. Lest any of his friends should again hurt his
feelings by preaching to him the Omnipotence of God, Job
concludes his discourse as follows :
I will teach you what is in the power of God. It is not so much
for you to proclaim to me the unlimited power of God, as for
me to proclaim it to you. I have never been in the habit of con
cealing that which is with the Almighty. On the contrary, I have
ever publicly taught and set it forth. (Ver. 12.) Behold, ye, all
of you, have seen. Have seen me stand up, and proclaim the
Omnipotence and Omniscience of God to those around me. Why
then should ye thus indulge in that, which is utterly vain ?
Ver. 11. bs 7*3* for 7S 7*3 ipS that, which [is] in [the] power of God.
7173^ ri7 I used not to conceal ; i.e., it has by no means been my habit to
keep that, which I know of the power of God, to myself ; I have ever loudly
proclaimed it to others. It will be perceived, that we take 7I73S in this
instance, as a fut. expressing frequency and habitual practice. See Mason
and Bernard's Grammar, Letter xxix., § 1.
Ver. 12. l73nn 33rr Here we have a verb coupled with a noun from the
same root to give emphasis, and this we have endeavoured to express by
translating, should ye indulge in that, which is utterly vain. Comp. Lament.
i. 8, 2bp'l1* nsan SB17 Jerusalem has sinned a sin; i.e., has grievously
sinned.

See note on '» tei (supra xxiv. 9). Editor, 1861.

234

* CHAPTER XXVIII.
[And Zophar the Naamathite answered, and said.]
In justification of our opening here a new Chapter, and making
Zophar the speaker of the first eleven verses of it (the last eleven
of chap, xxvii. in the text), we quote the words of Kennicott
(in his " Remarks on Select Passages in the Old Testament,
Oxford 1787, pp. 169, 170), which seem to us quite irresistible.
It will be perceived, however, that we go farther still and
attribute to Zophar not only these eleven verses, but the whole of
chap, xxviii. in the text ; our reasons for so doing we beg to be
allowed to defer laying before the reader, till we have concluded
our comments upon the Chapter.
Kennicott's words are :
" I shall now take notice of a matter of considerable moment, in chap, xxvii.
The reader will allow the importance of it ; because it relates to eleven whole
Verses, now ascribed to Job, which were probably spoken by ZOPHAR. Let it
be first observed, that the plan of the former part of the Poem is as follows :
Chap. iv. and v. Eliphaz, 1st Speech — Job replies ; Chap. vi. and vii.
„ viii. Bildad, 1st Speech — Job replies ; „ ix. and x.
„ xi. Zophar, 1st Speech — Job replies ; „ xii. xiii. and xiv.
„ xv. Eliphaz, 2nd Speech — Job replies ; „ xvi. and xvii.
„ xviii. Bildad, 2nd Speech — Job replies ; „ xix.
„ xx. Zophar 2nd Speech — Job replies ; „ xxi.
„ xxii. Eliphaz, 3rd Speech — Job replies ; „ xxiii. and xxiv.
„ xxv. Bildad, 3rd Speech — Job replies ; „ xxvi. &(now) xxvii.
" It is, therefore evident, that Eliphaz and Bildad speak three times ; and are
as often answered by Job : but, tho' the regular mechanism of the several
parts leads us to expect a third Speech likewise from Zophar, yet we are greatly
disappointed. But, that we really, even now, are in possession of a third Speech
made by Zophar, will probably be allowed by most of those readers, who consider
well the following remarks.
" The eleven Verses, which conclude the 27th chapter, and are now given as
the words of Job, cannot have been spoken by Job; because they contain such
* In the text, chap, xxvii. 13.

chapter xxviii. 1. 235
doctrine as Job himself could not hold, and which indeed he expressly denies :
namely, that great calamities prove great wickedness. But these eleven verses
perfectly express the sentiments of ZOPHAR, and are in his fierce manner of
accusation ; and they stand in the very place, where Zophar's third Speech is
naturally expected. We should observe also, that if, in answer to Bildad's third
Speech, Job's reply is contained in chap. xxvi. and in the first 12 verses of
chap, xxvii ; that reply ends there very properly, thus — Behold, all ye yourselves
have seen it; why then are you thus altogether vain ? But, which is a stronger
argument, the 1 3th verse, here supposed to begin Zophar's third speech, is the
very same maxim, and nearly in the same words, with the conclusion of Zophar's
second speech : so that be means to say — / abide by my last position ; and what
I before maintained, I maintain still. He had (xx. 29) concluded, that This
(sc. misery) is the portion of a wicked man from God ; and the heritage
appointed him by God. And here he resumes the maxim, and persists in the
justness of his observation : This is the portion of a wicked man with God ; and
the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive of the Almighty. How
miserably the Commentators are tormented, at . finding the maxims of Job's
accusers here ascribed to Job himself — may be seen in the remarks of the learned
Alb. Schultens on this book ; pp. 729, 744 : and also Observationes Miscell. in
Job.; 8vo. Amstel. (Boullier) 1758, p. 252.
"It will be, however, objected — that there is no authority either from Hebrew
MSS. or Antient Versions, for ascribing these 11 Verses to Zophar. The
answer is — that if the words must, from their internal evidence, have come from
Zophar, not from Job ; then the Title, ascribing them to Zophar, was probably
omitted before the Versions were made, at a very early period, when several
other corruptions took place likewise."
We heard Zophar close his second discourse, in which he
described the miseries which must infallibly be the lot of the
wicked — with the following words, (supra xx. 29 :)
Such is the portion of the wicked-man from God,
And the heritage appointed unto him by God.
These words he now, in his third, and last, discourse, repeats
with a slight variation, the repetition having for its object to
confirm their truth, as though he said : yes, the assertions I made
in my last discourse, I was quite warranted in making,
Vers. 1 — 11. [* 13 — 23.] Such is the portion of the wicked-
man with God. Laid up for him with God. And the heritage of
* The numbers in square brackets are those of the corresponding verses of chap, xxvii.
in the Hebrew text.

236 CHAPTER XXVIII. 1 — 10 [xxvii. 13 — 22].
oppressors, which they shall receive from the Almighty. (Ver. 2.)
[14.] If his children are numerous, it is for the sword. I allow
that he often has many children, but this must not be considered
as a blessing, for they are only given him, that his punishment
may be the heavier, seeing that they will all perish by the sword.
And his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread. Not only will
they come to a violent end, destroyed, namely, by the sword, but,
as long as they are allowed to live, they will continually suffer the
pangs of starvation. (Ver. 3.) [15.] Those that remain of him,
when dead, shall be buried, but their widows shall not weep. Over
their graves. (Ver. 4.) [16.] Though he heap up silver as the
dust, and prepare raiment as the mire. Though he have silver
and raiment in such abundance as to esteem them no more than
dust and mud. (Ver. 5.) [17.] He may prepare it, but the just
shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide his silver. (Ver. 6.)
[18.] He buildeth his house as the moth. Does hers. His house
shall have no more firmness and stability than the frail cocoon,
which encloses the moth as a chrysalis. And as the booth, which
the keeper maketh. To shelter himself from the weather, during
the time he watches over the gardens or vineyards, and which,
being only intended for temporary use, would naturally be made
of very frail and perishable materials, and quickly fall to pieces.
(Comp. Isa. i. 8.) (Ver. 7.) [19.] He may lie down a rich-man,
without the whole of his wealth being yet collected. He may have
a great deal of wealth in his house, besides outstanding debts, and
capital to a large amount, invested in vessels, merchandize, &c,
which he has sent out to distant parts of the globe. Yet he
openeth his eyes, and it is gone. (Ver. 8.) [20.] Terrors will
overtake him as waters. Will come upon him as suddenly as an
overflowing river, or the rising tide, sweeps in upon those whom
it surprises. A whirlwind stealeth him away in the night.
Destruction comes upon him in the night with the suddenness
and violence of a whirlwind. (Ver. 9.) [21.] The east wind will
carry him away, and he will depart ; yea, as a storm, will it hurl
him from his place. (Ver. 10.) [22.] Then shall cast himself
upon him, and not spare him, he, who constantly fled from his
power. The very man, who, weak and timid, never dared stand
up against him and resist him, but preferred seeking safety in

chapter xxviii. 10, 11 [xxvii. 22, 23]. 237
flight, shall, when calamity has overtaken his oppressor, cast him
self upon him, and avenge the wrongs he has suffered at his hands.
(Ver. 11.) [23.] He. The weak and timid man. Will then
triumphantly clap his hands at him, and hiss him out from his
place. Let the reader ask himself, whether the calamities, which are
depicted in these eleven verses as sure to overtake the wicked,
could possibly be assigned to them by one who, has, like Job, over
and over again asserted, that they meet with nothing but
unparalleled prosperity and success ; whether such a description
of their fate could possibly proceed from the same lips, which
said, (supra xii. 6.) Prosperous are the tents of the spoilers ;
Yea, security is for them, that provoke God.
And (ch. xxi.) Ver. 7. Wherefore do the wicked live ?
They become old, yea, wax mighty in power ;
Ver. 8. Their seed is established before them, yea with them,
And their offspring, before their eyes.
Ver. 9. Their houses are in peace, without fear,
Neither is the rod of God upon them.
Ver. 11. They send forth their wicked- little-children like a flock,
Yea, their children frisk about.
Ver. 12. They take up the tabret and harp,
And rejoice at the sound of the lute.
Next, let the reader ask himself, whether the eleven verses
under consideration could possibly be uttered by one, who so
greatly lamented the honours which are paid to the wicked, even
after their death (Chap. xxi. 32, 33); who found fault with God
for removing them from the world so suddenly and without pain
(Chap. ix. 23; xxi. 13; xxiv. 19); and who, finally, would
not at all admit the correctness of his friend's assertion,
that, though God does not punish the wicked in their lifetime,
He will punish them in their posterity, but declared, that this
would not satisfy his ideas of the Divine justice, which ought
to require them themselves to drain the bitter cup they had
so richly deserved (Chap. xxi. 19 — 21). We again beg the
reader to compare these verses with the passages we here

238 CHAPTER xxviii. 1 — 4 [xxvii. 13 — 16].
either quote, or refer to, and then calmly and considerately
to form his own judgment, as to whether or not they should be
attributed to Job. Commentators there are indeed, and those
not few, who think that they can prove, nay demonstrate with
mathematical certainty, that the sentiments expressed in these
verses are not in the least incompatible with what Job has pro
claimed and asserted ; but, in our humble opinion, those who can
maintain this, might confidently challenge the Royal Preacher
to show them anything so crooked, that they could not make
it straight.
Ver. 1 [13].* in*?* *7Pa for in,7* *7a?B 7py which they will receive from
[the] Almighty.
Ver. 3 [15]. niB3 lit., in death ; i.e., when dead. So the Psalmist says
(Ps. iv. 2) " 723 in distress (i.e., when I was distressed) Thou didst enlarge
me ;" and again (Ps. xci. 15) "I will be with him ni23 in distress" (i.e., when
he is distressed). The speaker here predicts of the wicked man, that those of
his children, who escape the sword, will indeed be buried, but that their
widows will not weep over their graves, as was usual in those times. Comp.
2 Sam. iii. 32, " And they buried Abner in Hebron : and the king lifted up his
voice, and wept at the grave of Abner ; and all the people wept." So John
xi. 31, "she goeth unto the grave to weep there." This interpretation of the
word will, we doubt not, appear to the reader, as it does to ourselves, so simple
and so clear, that he will join us in regarding as utterly uncalled for such strained
and tortured explanations of this verse, as we quote here from Rosenmuller :
"Verba Tag;, njaa quidam interpretantur : peste confecti sepelientur, ut Chaldseis pestis
dicitur Nnin, quod 2 Sam. xxiv. 13, pro Hebrseo W in versione Chaldaica exstat. Alii:
in ipsa morte sepelientur, i.e., subito, cum vix exspiraverint. Rectius alii : dum moriuntur,
erunt simul sepulti, nec aliam habebunt sepulturam, quam mortem ; mors ipsis erit sepul-
tura, quatenus vel obruantur, vel mergantur, vel devorentur, vel absorbeantur. Ita
Vavassor : ' Est hsec proprie insepultura. Mors illos sua sepeliet, nihil praeterea honoris
supremi consecuturos. Vult enim, mortem iis futuram pro sepultura, quasi qui inhumati
projiciantur, aut jaceant sane inopes et infleti : quorum interitum honore sepulture cognati,
aifines, ipsse conjuges, carere patiantur.' "
1*ni3ab^1 lit., and bis widows ; i.e., the widows of every one of them. See
note on 12(73 supra, vi. 17.
n333J7 The more regular form would be n3*33,n. Comp. supra xvii. 5,
nabBn and xi. 20, nvbsn .
Ver. 4 [16]. "'an in this verse is taken by Homburg in the acceptation of
heap, when the translation of the second hemistich would be, " he wiU prepare
* The numbers in square brackets indicate (until further notice) the corresponding
verses of chap, xxvii. in the Hebrew text.

chapter xxviii. 4 — 11 [xxvii. 16—23]. 239
raiment like beap[s] " (i.e., in great abundance), a rendering, which that
most able Commentator very aptly supports by quoting (from Hab. iii. 15)
2*31 B*B ian a heap of great waters, and which, we confess, we should have
adopted* but that the parallelism between the two hemistiches would thereby
have been impaired. We have translated ian therefore, = "ian clay, slime,
mire, as supra iv. 19.
Ver. 6 [18]. 723 ntaa for 123 nby ipS which [the] watchman made.
Ver. 7 [19]. IPS* rib) for 17P5 IBS* ribl though his wealth has not [yet]
been collected ; i.e., he is rich by what he possesses at home, and besides, he has
a great deal of property in other, and distant, places. With respect to the
rendering in the Auth. Vers., " The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be
gathered : he openeth his eyes, and he is not," we leave the reader to form his
own judgment.
IS?1^") and it (his wealth) is no more ; it has vanished in the night.
Ver. 9 [21]. ini3,p*1 yea, it will hurl him as a storm. Here we have again
fr for B, as supra ix. 17, nisps .
Ver. 10 [22]. 'nbp*l. for 1a?B3 Tjbp*l. then will cast himself. See note on
•lb*Bn supra vi. 27.
ma* 17113 i7ja for i7*B nia* 17113 IpS he, who constantly fied from his
power. This verse should be construed thus :
ity llWl for Vbi! W22 lbu/1 Then will he cast himself
upon him,
(/iorP K71) (and not spare [i.e., without sparing him])
H731 ni73 1'TD for 1TO 1773* ni73 1W8 Who constantly fled
t ; • - t T" t • - : • - t v -: «7 ¦/
from his power (i.e., the very man, who
used to be in such dread of him as on all
occasions to flee from before him, shall
now fall upon him, and wreak his ven
geance).
We were very glad to find, that Wolfssohn has understood this
verse just as we ourselves do, for the rendering of the Auth.
Vers., " God shall cast upon him and not spare : he would
fain flee out of his hand," seems to us hardly intelligible, and
certainly very feeble.
Ver. 11 [23]. pBp* he (the timid man, who used always to flee from
before his oppressor), shall [now] clap, &c. This verb is generally written with
a B.

240 CHAPTER XXVIII. 12 [XXVIII. 1],
ia*ba for vba at him \ Similar changes of number have occurred,
1B*B3 for VB3 his hands ) and been commented upon so often, that
we must refer to what we have already
said.

(Here Chapter xxviii. begins in the text.)
Having in the most positive terms, confirmed what he said in
his second discourse respecting the terrible lot, which awaits
the impious and wicked, Zophar is now about to meet his
unfortunate friend on higher and much more advantageous
ground. He is, namely, going to remind him, that, vast and
wondrous as is the power, which man, by his intellect, industry,
and experience, aided by the inventions of art and discoveries
of science, may exercise on all the objects around him on this
globe (the elements themselves not excepted), so as to keep them
more or less under his control, and make them subservient to his
plans and purposes, yet wisdom, that highest intelligence, which
rules the universe, ordering all destinies and events, is not only
beyond his reach, but even altogether beyond the sphere of his
conception. He, man, therefore, was not sent into this world to
scrutinize the dispensations of Providence, to philosophize upon
them, trace them to their source, and reduce them to the puny
scaleof his own narrow and limited perceptions, but — and this is his
whole destination here below — to admire his Maker in His works,
to worship Him, stand in awe of Him, and obey His command
ments.. This speech, unparalleled for energy and sublimity, we
shall find concluded with a sentiment, with which, in other words
indeed, but in the same spirit, ages afterwards, he, who from his
throne, preached to mankind the vanities of this world, wound up
his discourse, saying (Eccles. xii. 13), "Fear God, and keep His
commandments, for this is the whole duty of man."
Vers. 12 — 39 [*Chap. xxviii. 1 — 28]. Truly, there is an issue
for silver. Man has devised means for extracting silver from
the bowels of the earth. And a place, where they fine gold. To
this more precious metal man has also access ; he draws it out
* Henceforwards the numbers in square brackets indicate the'corresponding verses in
chap, xxviii. in the Hebrew text.

CHAPTER XXVIII. 13—21 [2 — 10]. 241
and fines it. (Ver. 13) [2.] Iron may be taken out from the
earth; and stone. That is ore. Molten into copper. (Ver. 14) [3.]
He (man) putteth an end to darkness. He chases darkness from
the places, which he wishes to make the sphere of his action.
And every thing finite he searcheth out, even the stone of deep-
darkness and the shadow-of-death. As long as man does not
meddle with that which is infinite, he may fairly look forward to
success in even the most difficult and arduous of his enterprizes ;
yea, even things, which are to be found only in the deepest
recesses of the earth, he can dig out and make subservient to
his purposes. (Ver. 15) [4.] He breaketh away river[s] from the
inhabitant. He can divert rivers from their original course,
and, taking them away, as it were, from those, who dwell upon
their banks, make use of their beds, as though they had always
been dry land ; yea, so completely can he turn them from their
channels, That they are forgotten by the foot ; they have been
exhausted, moved away by frail-man. Those, who tread the
ground, thus become dry, altogether forget that it was once
covered with water, and that in former times they knew a river
flow there ; and this so great a work is effected by the hands of
frail man ! (Ver. 16) [5.] The earth — out of it cometh bread,
yet under it it is like fire stirred up. While the farmer ploughs
his field, the miner under him maintains perpetual fires; and
again, whilst in the bowels of the volcanic mountain the fire
rages terribly, the husbandman calmly and fearlessly cultivates
his land upon its sides. Ver. 17) [6.] He findeth out a place,
the stones of which are sapphire[s], and which hath dust of gold
(Ver. 18) [7.] A path, which the bird-of-prey knoweth not, and
the vulture's eye hath not seen. (Ver. 19.) [8.] The proud-
wild-beasts have not trodden it, nor the fierce-lion passed by it.
(Ver. 20) [9.] He putteth forth his hand upon the rock ; he
overturneth mountains from their root[s]. When, in the construc
tion of a road, a mountain, or rock, impedes his progress, he
is nothing daunted, but cleaves a passage through, or levels,
it. Ver. (21) [10.] He cutteth out rivers in the rocks, and
his eye seeth everything, that is precious in them. When rocks
oppose him in his endeavours to change the course of a river,
he cuts a channel through them, and will then of course discover
R

242 chapter xxviii. 21—36 [10—25].
anything precious they may contain. Again, when it serves his
purpose (Ver. 22) [11], He bindeth up rivers, so that they do not
trickle, and bringeth the thing, that is hid, forth to light. He
makes canals, and lines them with stone, so that no water can
escape ; and in their construction he, of course, discovers many
things, which had till then been hidden from the light. Comp.
Herodot., B. IL, chap. 127, where such a canal is spoken of.
(Ver. 23) [12.] But as to wisdom — whence can she be obtained,
and where is the place of understanding ? Man may be able
to find out' precious stones and ores, and other valuable
substances, concealed even from the piercing eye of the bird
of prey, but can he discover the place where wisdom, where
understanding, is to be met with1? (Ver. 24) [13.] Frail-man
knoweth not the value thereof, seeing that she is not to be found
in the land of the living. (Ver. 25) [14.] The deep saith, "She
is not in me ; " and the sea saith, " She is not with me."
(Ver. 26) [15.] Choice-gold cannot be given for her, neither can
silver be weighed as her price. (Ver. 27) [16. J She cannot be
valued with fine-gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the
sapphire. (Ver. 28) [17.] Gold and crystal cannot be compared
with her, neither are vessel[s] of fine-gold an equivalent for her.
(Ver. 29) [18.] Highly-prized-things and diamond[s] cannot be
mentioned. Together with her. Seeing that the attraction of
wisdom is greater than that of rubies. (Ver. 30) [19.] The topaz
of Ethiopia cannot be compared with her, neither can she be valued
with pure gold of Ophir. (Ver. 31) [20.] But, now, this wisdom —
whence cometh she ? And where is the place of understanding ?
That is, the place where understanding has her seat. (Ver. 32)
[21.] Seeing that she is hid from the eyes of all the living, yea, is
concealed from the fowls of heaven. (Ver. 33) [22.] Destruction
and Death say," We have heard the fame thereof with our ears."
They, too, can give no account of her abode, seeing that they
have only heard of, not seen, her. (Ver. 34) [23.] " God
" understandeth her way, and He knoweth her place. (Ver. 35) [24.J
" For He can look to the ends of the earth, yea, that which is
" beneath the whole heavens, He can see. (Ver. 36) [25.] So as
" to make a weight even for the wind ; and the waters He hath
" meted with a measure." That air has weight, is, as is well known,

chapter xxviii. 36—39 [25—28]. 243
a discovery of modern times ; to weigh, therefore, the wind or air
was, at the time, when this discourse was delivered, considered as
an evidence of supernatural power, as indeed to weigh the whole of
it would still be. (Ver. 37.) [26.] " When He made a statute for
the rain," when, where, and in what quantity, it should fall ; " And
a way for the flash of the thunder," determining where the lightning
should strike ; (Ver. 38.) [27.] " Then did He see her and de
clare her ; He established her, and searched her out." (Comp. Prov.
viii. 22 — 30, where we hear wisdom herself say, that she was with
God at the time of the creation of the world.) (Ver. 39.) [28.]
" But unto man He said : ' Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is
wisdom, and to depart from evil, that is understanding.' "
Here we again ask, Can these twenty-eight verses have been
uttered by Job1? Job, the man with a philosophizing mind, ever
ready to examine, scrutinize, and analyze, the dispensations of Pro
vidence, and who unhesitatingly ventures to assert that he has reason
to complain of them, can he say, that man has nothing at all to do
with wisdom ] Can one, who has had the hardihood to speak of God
in the most unbecoming, we might almost say, unpardonable, terms ;
one, whom we have heard throughout the whole of his discourses,
do nothing but put questions to God, and betray the greatest im
patience at finding these questions not answered ; one, whose whole
desire was, to reason with God, to plead with Him, and to find a
tribunal, before which he could summon Him ; one, who says :
To the wretched man, why is light given ;
And life, to those bitter in spirit ? (Chap. iii. 20.)

If I have sinned — what can I do unto thee ?
0 Thou preserver of man, why hast Thou made me so,
that I should clash with Thee,
And become thereby a burden to myself ? (Chap. vii. 20.)

It is aU one, therefore did I say ;
Alike the pious and the wicked, He (God) destroyeth. (Chap. ix. 22.)

R 2

244 chapter xxviii. 12—39 [1—28].
There is no umpire between us,
Who should lay his hand upon us both.
Let Him (God) remove His rod from off me,
And let not His terror affright me :
Then will I speak out, and not fear Him ;
For am I not upright with myself? (Ibid. 33—35.)

But, it is to speak to the Almighty, that I wish ;
And to reason before God, that I desire. (Chap, xiii 3.)

Then call Thou (0 God), and I will answer ;
Or, I wiU speak, and answer Thou me ! (Ibid. 22.)

To God doth mine eye drop tears,
That one might plead for a man with God,
As every son of man should plead for his fellow. (Chap. xvi. 20, 21.)

There might the upright argue with Him ;
So should I free myself for ever from my Judge. (Chap. xxiu. 7.)
Can one, we repeat, who has given utterance to such sentiments,
be the man who preaches to his fellow-men, that they must have
nothing at all to do with wisdom, as being altogether beyond their
conception, but must hold the fear of God alone to be wisdom, and
to depart from evil, understanding ?
But, it will be said (and indeed has been said), may not Job
have at last repented and become a convert ? If So, we would beg
of those, who take this view, to have the goodness to explain, how
it is, that we hear him say, almost immediately after his supposed
conversion (Chap. xxx. 21), that God has become cruel to him;
and again, how he could, at the very conclusion of his last dis
course (Chap. xxxi. 35), challenge God to answer him, either by
word of mouth, or in writing *? Is this the behaviour of a penitent
man and a convert ?

chapter xxviii. 12—39 [1—28]. 245
Moreover (Chap. xxxv. 16,) we shall hear Elihu say of Job,
that, 133* **ba n?7 *baa
he multipUeth words without knowledge ;
Nay, we shall hear God Himself say (Chap, xxxviii. 2), that Job
speaks, na7 *ba vba
- t " : * * •
words without knowledge.
But, if Job were really the speaker of the discourse under con
sideration, we would ask, in the name of reason, how a sentiment,
which deserves to be written in letters of gold in every place of
public resort, how words such as those in verse 39,
But unto man He said,
Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom ;
And to depart from evil, that is understanding ;
how such words could be pronounced to be
n57 *b3 **ba
words without knowledge ?
And yet, with one single exception, of which more presently,
all the Translators and Commentators we have before us, English,
German, French, &c, as well as those who have written in Latin,
Greek, &c, not only unanimously agree in attributing to Job the
twenty-eight verses under consideration, but endeavour to demon
strate, with a truly pitiful display of racked and tortured
ingenuity, that it is quite right, natural, and consistent, to put
them into his mouth. The reader will, we think, on referring to
these authors, see that it may, with great truth, be said of them, in
the words of the prophet Isaiah, " Woe unto them  that put
darkness for light and light for darkness ; that put bitter for
sweet and sweet for bitter ! " And why have they done so %
Merely because, forsooth, the words imi ^112]J21 1&X |I?*1 And
Zophar the Naamathite answered and said, are wanting at the
beginning of the third discourse of that friend. Now, what are

246 chapter xxviii. 12—39 [1—28].
all these, " And .... answered and said " % — surely nothing but
mere marks, such as might be used in any dramatic poem to
indicate the speaker. Chap. xl. bears this heading, though it is
evidently quite superfluous, and signifies absolutely nothing.
Nor can we say less of the sentence, 3i1N ^121 M2T\ [The] words
of Job are ended, with which Chap. xxxi. terminates. May not,
then, in this instance, the writer of the book have gone to the
contrary extreme, and for once have omitted this mark ? May he
not so have arranged his manuscript, that a mere dash, or other
sign, should indicate the speaker? May he not have thought
that, since Zophar's second discourse ended with the words,
VU?1 D7N pbn nr Such [is the] portion of a wicked man, &c, the
very fact of another discourse beginning withi!'dil DTfN pvn 1\ Such
[is the] portion of a wicked man, Sec, would be quite sufficient to
point it out as spoken by him, the more especially as the other
two friends had each spoken three times, and Zophar only twice ?
Moreover, may not the writer have relied upon the common sense
of the reader to see for himself, that these words could not pos
sibly be spoken by Job ] Do we not find, even in the historical
books of the Bible, instances in which the writers did thus rely
upon the common sense of their readers to supply what they did
not consider it necessary to tell them. Thus, when Moses had
helped the daughters of Jethro to draw water for their flocks, and
the father said, "Call him that he may eat bread," we do not
read that he was called, but the writer, leaving the reader to infer
that it was so, at once proceeds to say, " And Moses consented to
dwell with the man " (Exod. ii. 20, 21.) Again, when Ruth, on
coming home early in the morning from the barn, was asked by
her mother-in-law, who could not see her for the darkness, " Who
art thou my daughter % " — we do not read that the answer was,
" I am Ruth, thy daughter-in-law," which the reader was sup
posed to have wit enough to supply, but merely that Ruth told
Naomi how she had fared (Ruth iii. 16).* We may then justly,
we imagine, in our instance also conceive similar reliance to have
been placed by the writer upon the common sense of his readers.
How he misplaced his reliance, however, may be judged from the
fact of so many Commentators having addled their brains with
* See Aben-Ezra on this passage.

chapter xxviii. 12—39 [1—28]. 247
no other result than to make Zophar speak only twice, instead of
three times, as though he had been suddenly deprived of speech ;
to make Job say that which Job could not say; to make Elihu say
what Elihu could not say ; and, alas, to make God say what God
could not possibly say !
Had we stood quite alone in our view, but with such arguments
to back us, we should still have considered ourselves strong
enough to face any critic, who could bring himself to listen to
reason ; but in putting these twenty-eight verses, as well as the
eleven by which they are immediately preceded, into the mouth
of Zophar, we do not stand quite alone. We have, we are proud
to say, with us no less an authority than Wolfssohn, who, though
arranging the discourses we read in the 26th and 27 th Chapters
(according to the text) in a somewhat different manner from our
selves, yet fully agrees with us that to Zophar must be attributed
all those verses to which we have affixed his name. Those who
are able to read Wolfssohn, and can admire the soundness and
logic of his reasoning, as well as the beauty and elegance of his
style, will bear witness to the greatness of the authority we
quote ; and as for those who cannot read and understand such
commentaries as Wolfssohn's, we frankly and candidly declare that
we do not consider them Hebrew scholars, and would have them
leave the criticism of the Old Testament to those who really are
such. Moreover, we take the liberty of telling them, that as long
as they are unable to read such commentaries as those of Jarchi,
Aben-Ezra, Kimchi, Ralbag, Mendelssohn, Eichel, Wolfssohn,
Friedlander, Ben-Zev, and Homberg, the Old Testament will
remain for them a sealed book, as was the book of Ecclesiastes
before Mendelssohn's Commentary upon it was translated for them
by the Rev. Theodore Preston. Let them read that translation, and
then ask themselves whether, before it stepped in to help them
out of their difficulties, they ever understood as much as half a
chapter of that book.
Wolfssohn's remarks on Chap, xxvii. 13 (according to the text),
are as follows :
31'f> 'PP PD1J H1PD3 7PP 7JJ PJP' ,13'JPS 77DP 7DP3 ,1P5' 3VP 'PP P3PP 0'137P OP
VD'1 PD3D 7'PP 113'ipp 7DP Pt flip '3 ' VP'7 PV1 ip!P' 7DP1 ; 1P1373 0'7«PP IDP DH37P
O'DZil P33T71PP3 (3 PD7P) JVJDP 1313)33 , 'PPWP 7P13 P(3 T7PP PW1P31 , DP'3BP3 7P13P3

248 chapter xxviii. 1 2—39 [1—28].
PI3P ? PJPP 0'-*373 7Pll 31'P P3 PP 71PP PDpi' PPI »71ji31 ! PD^P (jlP 713 'l31 31ipP
P31P qP3i D' '3 , V7PPJD PD7PP 013 PIP 7PPPP 731P" PP3 71131 ? 13H 'D3P P137 71PP'
'PT7P TJP T7P3 OP oilPl ! 3T3PP patP piP13 0331P31 OP'3'3133 PPP O'plPT IDP '131
0*P3P1 P3PP OH37P <]P3 PV3DP3 3PI 'P1PP31 , liip PipPPP 33 IIP)' IP , PIP )3 , pil3pi
'3 , 1P2313 PP P3D Pi PIPI , 7P13 737 'l31 pip Pt 7PPPP 13"P7 - 0P'3PP bs OP'IPP
PP 031 , PTPP PJ'P D'UDIP P3113D 11PPS , PPI3 U'ipp 'P73tD '3 PD7P3 piupi 03
DHDP 13D7 D'P13P pfaj DP f[PD 13'7ipi , f)13 piP3P1 13D7 076 pipp 737i (J'PIP
P'13pi IT ilP3 li 0iD' 'PI , 1PV P13' 7113 '3 , 13'P il3 ip33 if>l PPP3 ip , HP PD1131
1P17 S3D 713 ,0'IPPi VP' 13PI1 1PP3 , 173p> P1P3 1TTJ ,37P ipi 137' V33 , 11313 pfo
'D13P pft DIPOS 3VP 3i PP3 '3 il31 • V7PP Dfa 13'3'1 , VP3 l'il3 piPD* D'3?i 1137V1
P3713P 1PP3PP1 'PIT )P' 'P 71Ppi ,D'ip iP iu 737i i'73Pl , VP173 013 1P3P3P1 'p
i31 ,07P i3P D3P PIP lip3 , PP1731 'l31 0'P13 1JPJJ pi '7DP 1317P 'l31 UPDP V3Pi
13'71pi '131 PilP CJPSi V '3 (p"3 PDIP) 7PP7 liip Ttb ")?)} PD3 )3 il3 ,1P1PPI3 pi D1PP
-J1-73 PT3P '33PP app 7ippi , D13pi Pil , D'PPPP PP3PP D7P pi f>i '3 , 31'pS UJ'Ti
pT 1P313P 331 07PP PP3P i3 OP '3 ? P33 O'pip 'p PD13 ppii PP il3 ilPDil 1'T.i' 013 Pip
PP13P31 , D177D ip ,-]PP piP1P3 oilPl ,137P 71pil 3113 DIDui VP13P 71PDi , O'pip PPT
• D'piP PPT , 07PP PPT 7DP3 pi '3 , 7ippp ip -]PP
" If these words had come out from the mouth of Job, [as they do] according
" to the arrangement before us, it would be exceedingly surprising to hear now
" from the mouth of Job words, which [are] opposed to his own opinion, and
" which [rather] confirm the opinion of his friends ; for is not this what his three
" friends have all along asserted, as [is] plainly stated in their discourses ? And
" Zophar, the Naamathite, in particular, has dwelt upon this at length, in his
" second reply (Chap, xx.), saying (Ver. 5), ' The triumphant-shout of [the]
" wicked [is] of recent [date],' &c, to the end of the Chapter ; and, independently
" of this, it would be very difficult [to understand] what Job wishes to teach by
" these words. WiU he, by them, upset the opinion of his opponents ? And,
" moreover, what connection would there be between this speech and the Chapter
" foUowing it [beginning], ' Truly, there is an issue for silver,' &c, which are
" as distant [one from the other], in their subjects and ideas, as [the] sunrise is
" distant from [the] sunset ? But, if the arrangement be such as I arranged it
"above,* then, aU these doubts will be resolved, . and, as apples of gold in
" pictures of silver, [so wiU be] these words, and those following them in their
" proper turn. That is to say, the speech '131 pbn n.T Such [is the] portion,
" &c, are the words of Zophar, he not having changed his opinion ; for, above
" also, in Chap, xx., as I have mentioned, he made the same assertion, saying,
" that the prosperity of the wicked [is] not permanent ; and here, also, he again
* The following is the arrangement proposed hy the Commentator whose words we here
quote : Bildad speaks Ch. xxv., and Ch. xxvi., Vers. 5 — 14 inch
Job speaks Ch. xxvi., Vers. 2 — 4 inch, and Ch. xxvii., Vers. 2 — 12 inch
Zophar speaks from Ch. xxvii. 13 to the end of Ch. xxviii.
(These references, are all, of course, according to the text.)

chapter xxvm. 12—39 [1—28]. 249
" speaks of the portion of the wicked man, and of the heritage of [the] oppressor,
" declaring that, although we may sometimes see [the] wicked-man taking root,
" and producing fruit, we must not wonder, nor rashly speak with our mouth, for
" his day will yet come, when Jehovah will repay him the recompense of [the
" work of] his hands, so as to cut off his stock from the earth. ' His children may
" be multiplied [but only] for the sword ; ' ' they that remain of him, when
" dead, shall be buried ' (Chap, xxvii. 14, 15) ; his silver and his gold will belong
" to others ; so that every one who hath seen and known him in former times will
" clap his hands at him, and wag his head after him. And, seeing that Job's heart
" was [so] proud as to pass judgment upon the works of Jehovah, and His pro-
" vidential care with [regard to] His creatures, and that he had magnified [himself]
" so as to speak against the God of gods, saying, ' Oh that I knew where I might
"find Him ! ' 'I would order my just-cause before Him,' &c. (Chap, xxiii. 3, 4).
" ' Why [is it so] ? Events are not concealed from the Almighty,' &c. (Chap.
"xxiv. 1), and [expressions] like these, as if he [were] wiser than all men, and
" no secret-thing were obscure to him — therefore Zophar lifted up his voice, and
" said (Chap, xxviu. [according to the text]), ' Truly there is an issue for silver,'
" &c, in order to declare to his friend Job, that true wisdom [does] not [belong]
" to the son of man, and [that it is] not for frail man to investigate the dispensa-
" tions of the Creator, blessed be He, towards His creatures, or to ask why, and
" wherefore, Jehovah God should act thus ; but [that] the whole wisdom of man,
" and his whole intelUgence, [consist] only [in his] fearing God, so as to keep
" His commandments, to do good and depart from evil. But that which is too
"wonderful for thee, thou must not inquire after, and that which is concealed
" from thee thou must not search after, for God does not see as man sees."
It will perhaps be urged against us that the fact of Chap. xxix.
beginning with the words, 112X1 fttfZp IX'U! 3i»K t\Dl And Job
again took up his impressive discourse, and said, tends to shew
that the preceding discourse was also spoken by him ; but this
would be no argument whatever, as these words are evidently
introduced for the purpose of shewing that Job would not — as
might reasonably have been expected of him, seeing he had been
the first to speak — allow his friends to have the last word, but was
determined to keep it for himself.
As the alterations we have here introduced in the arrangement
of the text, and those which we may have occasion to propose, or
actually to make, in the chapters yet to come, will, in all proba
bility, raise against us the cry of some, we may perhaps be
allowed, in extenuation of our guilt, present and prospective, to
quote what Mendelssohn says on this subject in his Commentary
on Ecclesiastes, Chap. iii. 22 :

250 chapter xxviii. 12 — 16 [1 — 5].
17p7p3 PIP li D'D 'PI , PJpP 'P 13713 pi '3 , ilU'Ppp ppiip3 P'3DP PiD TPU71P TJ31
ppiipp OlpP PlJDi 'P1373 pil3 7331 ,-|Ppi |31 , 713 PP DipP3 O'PDPi p'OPPD PPT
137P 'PP3P ,Dp3' 7DP PP Plipi PPi' Pit PTpp iJ3 ippiD pip , P3113P 'P3
• ''PD 1P3
" And I have already informed thee that thou needest not mind the division
" into chapters, for it is not known who arranged it, and every one that has
"brains in his skull must see that be (the one who arranged the chapters) some-
" times stopped where they ought to have been joined, and vice versd. At first,
" indeed, it came into my mind to change the place of division according to the
" sense, but, in order to make it easier to the reader, so that he might have no
" trouble in finding what he wanted, I suffered the matter to remain as it was."
Ver. 12 [1].* Ipn for inis IpV*. Bp 7p*$ where they fine it.
Ver. 13 [2]. plS1 [is] molten. It will be perceived that we take this word to
be the part. pass. Kal. of P^* to pour out, melt, cast.
npinp for npin37 into copper. The more common form is npnjl, but
npiTO is found again infra xl. 18, xii. 19, as well as elsewhere.
Ver. 14 [3]. ap yp. he (man) puts a limit. Here, again, the poet relies upon
the judgment of the hearer to supply the nom. case to the verb Bp, in accord
ance with the requirements of the context. See note on inSSB^I supra
xxiii. 3.
n*b?n b331 and everything finite, the 7 being here merely the mark of the
object, case. See note on bONI supra v. 2.
Ver. 15 [4]. bl73 a river, stands here collectively for a*bi73 rivers. Comp.
Gen. xxxii. 6, "And I have 7iani llta " Ut., an ox and an ass ; i.e., oxen and
asses ; and below xxx. 4, n*p, ibid. Ver. 7, b-1117.
B*n3P?n Ut., that are forgotten ; i.e., so completely are the rivers broken away,
that they are forgotten, &c.
b3i *3B for 7373 b31 *3B from [the] foot of [the] one passing-over.
lb7 they are exhausted. Comp. Isa. xix. 6, " And the brooks of defence lbb*l
are exhausted."
The last three words of this verse should be construed thus :
177 they (the rivers) have been exhausted,
M!2 they have moved away (from their place),
ttfiiND by means of frail man (i.e., frail man is the cause of
their having been removed from their place).
Ver. 16 [5]. ta's i»? tjsra rrnnrn for TjBro 7p"N a?« ia? rpnnn* and
under it (i.e., in its bowels) [it is] like afire that has been turned (i.e., stirred up),
* The numbers in square brackets again indicate the corresponding Verses in Ch. xxviii.
in the Hebrew text.

chapter xxviii. 16—29 [5—18]. 251
a very strong fire. There are passages in the Hebrew Bible from which no sense
whatever can be extracted without a transposition of the words. So we shall
have, infra xxxiv. 27, VnqHa 17D *3 ba 7#K for l*7!7Sa VID 7ps *3 b5 on
this account, that they have turned away from after Him (God). Again, in
Ps. lxxxix. 48, we find 7bl7 na *3$ 13* for 7b(7 na "W na 73T remember what
I [am], what [my] lifetime [is]. Such a transposition we thought it much better to
make in the passage before us, than to render it, with the Auth. Vers., " And
under it is turned up as it were fire," of which we cannot see the sense.
Ver. 17 [6]. <7*33S 7*BD Dipa for 1*BD n*33N; 7E?i« BipB a place, the stones
of which [are] sapphire[s]. It is well known that the noun BipB place, often takes
its constructive form aipa , when the rei. pron. 7ps is expressed, or understood,
after it ; e.g., B*11DN Tjban *7*B« 7p"t* BipB (Gen. xxxix. 20) [the] place [in]
which (or where) [the] prisoners of the king [were] bound; and 73p Bta BipB
(Ezek. xxxix. 11) for 73p. Bp' 7IPN BipB a place which there (i.e., where)
[there is] a grave.
ib ant niiB5* for am niip5 ib ipwi and which has dust of gold.
Ver. 18 [7]. U*a iST &> for B*a 137*' rfb 7PS which [the] bird-of-prey
does not know.
Ver. 19 [8]. VUP *33 Ut., children of pride, used in this book for proud wild-
beasts, as infra xii. 26. In' the Babylonian Talmud (treatise Sabbath, fol. 62,
col. 2), we read : vn vnta *a?3« abtan* *ta3N
[2%e] men of Jerusalem were men of pride ; i.e., proud men.
Ver. 22 [11]. 1B3B Ut., from weeping, or trickling = that they should not
trickle ; that is, he binds up the rivers so closely, that not even a drop can escape.
Here we have another instance of the prefix a being used in a privative sense.
See note BIBB supra xi. 1 5.
7iS for llNb light. Comp. supra xii. 22.
Ver. 23 [12], M^BPl **SB Whence can she be got (obtained) ? We find
instances in which the verb N2B is used in the sense of getting, obtaining, as in
Gen. xxvi. 12, " N^B'I and he obtained (in that year an hundred fold)." So also
2 Sam. xx. 6, "17 S2B }3 lest he get him (fenced cities)." By adopting this
signification here, we are enabled to preserve the usual meaning of the word
V.sa, namely, from where, whence, as supra i. 7, and infra Ver. 20. Some, in
consequence of their giving to ^*£B here its usual sense of finding, have been
compelled to translate 1*^B where, a rendering we cannot approve of.
Ver. 28 [1 7]. na.Bia* ^b for nb Tlia* t$b one cannot compare to her. See
note on 1Vn.S*1 supra iii. 25. The same words occur Ver. 30 [19], and must be
explained in the same way.
nniiani for ni77ian Nbl nor is her equivalent.
Ver. 29 [18]. n'lBS7 for niai (the root being BU to be high) highly-prized-
things, or jewels. This word is found in the same acceptation in Ezek. xxvii. 16.
In Proverbs, too, we read (chap. xxiv. 7), niB317 b*lHb niBN7 to [the] fool

252 chapter xxviii. 29, 35, 36 [18, 24, 25] ; xxix.
highly-prized-jewels [are] wisdom; i.e., when he possesses jewels, he thinks him
self wise. So this passage ought to be translated and understood, though we do
not find it has been done so by any of the Translators or Commentators we have
consulted. In the second hemistich we are told that he (the fool) will find him
self grievously mistaken, for that, when his turn comes to speak in public, he will
see that he must not venture to open his mouth, and that his jewels avail him
nothing. ta1?^ and diamond^/]. It is, of course, very difficult, if not impossible, to
determine with certainty what are the precious stones named in this chapter, but,
as in Ezek. xiii. 11, we find ta*33bw *33S meaning hail-stones, it seemed to us
natural to render EP3a diamond, on account of the similarity of appearance which
there is between this precious stone and hail.
TjpBl and [the] attraction of. With regard to this word, we may say with
great truth of all the Translators and Commentators we have consulted, Quot
homines, tot sententice. One translates it price ; another, value ; a third, the
getting ; the German translators render it Besitz (possession) ; all of them over
looking its natural meaning of attraction, as derived from the verb 723B to draw,
attract. Had these gentlemen consulted Ben-Zev, they would have spared their
brains much torture. And, after all, they are driven out of the field by a lady, a
Miss Smith, who takes ^TPP in the sense of attraction ; not that she had ever
consulted Ben-Zev, however ; for her translations contain abundant evidence of
her never having been guilty of such a crime. Nor did we ourselves, either,
borrow from him, having always understood the word in this sense, though we
are, of course, proud to find so eminent an authority agreeing with us.
Ver. 35 [24]. nnn for nnn 7pN n$ that which [is] beneath.
Ver. 36 [25]. nitt^T. lit., to make; i.e., so that He can even make, &c.
Comp. supra v. 1 1, B1237 to set up = so that He can set up, &c.

CHAPTER XXIX.

Job, bent, as was observed by us in our comments on the pre
ceding Chapter, upon having the last word, as he had had
the first, will not allow the controversy to rest where it is, but,
after having spoken nine times, and received nine answers, now
enters upon his tenth and last discourse, which, as will be per
ceived, extends over three Chapters. In the first of these, the
Chapter now under consideration, we shall hear him give a sketch
of the happiness he had enjoyed in his better days, the good he

CHAPTER XXIX. 2 — 10 ; 1, 2. 253
had done, the services he had rendered to his neighbours, and the
great veneration he was held in by them in consequence. He
says :
Vers. 2 — 10. Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days
when God preserved me ! From evil. (Ver. 3.) When His lamp
so shined upon my head. With such vivid brightness. That, by
its light, I could walk even in darkness ! If, in those happy days,
I was sometimes enshrouded in the gloom of adversity, His
(God's) light (i.e., His favour and help), guided me in it, and
quickly led me out of it. (Ver. 4.) As I was in the days of my
youth, when the secret-blessing of God was upon my dwelling!
When God, though invisible to me, gave me evident marks of
His having my dwelling in His providential keeping. (Ver. 5.)
When the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were round
about me. (Ver. 6.) When my steps were bathed in milk, and the
rock poured me out rivers of oil. An Oriental figure denoting the
enjoyment of great ease and comfort in the midst of superfluity.
(Ver. 7.) When I went out to the gate through the city, and
prepared my seat in the market-place. (Ver. 8.) The young-men
saw me, and hid themselves. They withdrew from the street, that
they might not impede my progress. Yea, very-old-men rose.
From their seats. And stood up. To testify their respect for me.
(Ver. 9.) Princes restrained their words, and laid their hand upon
their mouth. They could not venture to speak in my presence,
and therefore hastened to put an end to their conversation on
seeing me approach. (Ver. 10.) As to the voice of the nobles —
they altogether hid themselves, and their tongue cleaved to the roof-
of-their-mouth. The nobles, on perceiving that even princes held
their peace on seeing me draw near, were struck with such awe,
that, their words dying away upon their tongues, they hurriedly
withdrew. Ver. 1. See our remarks upon this verse towards the conclusion of our com
ments on the preceding chapter.
Ver. 2. 13?n* *B Oh that I were ' That in* *B is always used in Hebrew in
the sense of the Latin utinam, has already been observed supra xiv. 4 ; on taking
affixes it must be rendered according to the person denoted by the affix ; e.g.,
*33n* *B Oh that I were! 1?n* *B (Cant. viu. 1) Oh that thou wert! &c.
D7.l7 ln71? for a7p„ *n7*33 as in months of old; i.e., as in months past.

254 CHAPTER XXIX. 2 — 8.
*B*3 for 1B*33 as in [the] days of. This noun, being in construction, has for
its consequent the words *31BP* ni7s f the literal translation being, as in [the]
days op God used to protect me ; i.e., as in the days when God used to protect
me. See Mason and Bernard's Gramm., Letter xlvii., § 2. Comp. also Ps. xc. 15,
" Make us glad 13(7*33 nia*3 * (lit., as [the] days of Thou hast afflicted us; i.e.)
as in the days wherein Thou didst afflict us."
Ver. 3. I"1?. Ian? lit., on its (His lamp's) shining = merely on His lamp's
shining, the affix 1" its, in 1a<73; being redundant. Pleonasms like this are very
frequent in the Talmudic dialect, as well as in the Syriac language. They are,
however, sometimes to be met with even in the Old Testament, as Exod. ii. 6,
7.?1i7 ns mS7ni Ut., and she saw it, the child; i.e., and she saw the child.
So in Ezek. x. 3, 27*Nn ifc$33 Ut., on his entering (namely), the man ; i.e., on the
man's entering.
The form 1 ana so evidently declares it to be the inf. Kal of 77n , that we
were rather surprised at finding Rosenmuller observing, " Pluribus est infinitivus
Hiphil cum prafixo et suffixo, et absorpto praeformante n (pro ibnna [0f course
he must have meant 1bnn3]) 0b celeriorem pronunciationem (ut 1*7 , 1*3, n*ta)."
In the first place, it is very strange to determine the form of a verb belonging to
the geminata, according to that of verbs *"3? ; and, secondly, he seems quite to
have forgotten that it is considered by the best grammarians and lexicographers
doubtful whether the verbs he quotes belong to *"5 or 1"5.
^Tpn for 'iTPn? in the dark.
Ver. 4. ""Bin my youth. The noun *\~}n properly signifies autumn, but, since
with the Hebrews (as it still does with the Jews), the new year began with the
autumn, it is also used to denote youth, just as we speak of the spring of Ufe, the
spring being the early part of our year.
7iD . This noun is sometimes used in the sense of counsel, as supra xv. 8 ;
sometimes in that of secret, as Prov. xi. 13, 7iD n.y3B [is] revealing a secret.
Sometimes, however, it denotes the favour, or blessing, shown by the Almighty
to those He loves, as a mark of His being pleased with them ; e.g., Prov. iii. 32,
" For the froward is an abomination to Jehovah, but with the righteous is 171D
His secret-blessing." In this acceptation we take it here.
Ver. 6. nan3 for nsan3 in milk, perhaps in cream, as being that part of
milk, of which butter (in which sense the word is sometimes used) is made. See
our note on this word, supra xx. 17.
pl^J*. is here the third pers. sing. fut. Kal of p!2 ; i.q., p2* to pour out.
Ver. 7. nap for niapn to the gate. It is well known that, with the Hebrews,
aU public business was transacted in the city gateways. Comp. Deut. xvi. 18.
Ver. 8. l^n?! Ut., and were hidden ; i.e., and hid themselves. The Niph. is
used here instead of the Hithp., as in Gen. iii. 10, W3I7S1 for N?nnS1 and I hid
myself. * In the second hemistich of this verse rratiS (for rrato) is used in precisely the same
way with the verb w*n . The meaning of these elliptical expressions of course is, Let
our joy now he as great as was our sorrow then. See Appendix. Note of Editor, 1861.

chapter xxix. 9,10; 11 — 17. 255
, Ver. 9. B*ba3 172a restrained [their] words. Comp. supra iv. 2, 7*$51
Ver. 10. -l^n^ Ut., they were hidden = ihey hid themselves.
The first hemistich of this verse should be construed thus :
 DiTJJ bip As to [the] voice of [the] nobles 
1X3173 they hid themselves (i.e., there is no occasion
for me to tell you that they did not speak,
since, when they saw even princes restrain
their words, they were, of course, at once
awed into silence).
The second hemistich of this verse, which Umbreit translates,
und ihre Zunge blieb an ihrem Gaumen hangen.
Ut., and their tongue remained suspended to their palate.
is rendered by Mr. Gray, his translator,
and their tongues did cleave unto their gums.
the Reverend Gentleman having, it appears, considered the
German Gaumen to be synonymous with the English gum ! ! !
Vers. 11 — 17. Afraid that his'hearers should think, the homage
thus paid to him by all classes, had had its origin in the fear and
dread inspired by his tyrannical and despotic rule, Job assures
them, that it was not so, nay, that precisely the contrary was the
case. This deference, he says, was shown to me by my neighbours,
(Vers. 11, 12.) Because the ear, which heard. My fame. Blessed
me, and the eye, which saw me, bare me witness, That I used to
deliver the poor, that cried, and the fatherless, who had no helper.
(Ver. 13.) The blessing of him, that was ready to perish, came
upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing. For joy.
(Ver. 14.) I put on righteousness, and it fitted-me-as-a-garment,
my justice I put on as a robe and turban. (Ver. 15.) I was eyes
to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. I rendered every assistance
to the helpless, giving to every one that which he most stood in
need of. (Ver. 16.) J was a father to the needy, and the cause of
those I knew not I searched out. When I sat as a judge, I suffered
myself to be influenced, neither by the wealth of those, who

256 chapter xxix. 16—19; 11—16.
appeared before me, nor yet by my private feelings; I saw justice
done even to the needy, and to those who were utterly unknown
to me. (Ver. 17.) And I brake the grinders of the iniquitous,
and plucked out his spoil from his teeth.
Ver. 11. naap for *5Bp" naap ids which heard my fame.
nnsn for *nis nnsi 7p*K which saw me.
",?715ni for 1?5 "QQI bore witness of me. The 1 , though it converts the
tense, is not copulative, but merely conductive, as also in *?7.psni jn the first
hemistich. Ver. 12. ib lib Sb* for lb 1?5 rib ips:1 who had no helper, the 1 in
ndsi being simply conductive. Comp. Isa. xui. 14, V3i2P VS1 1^231 and as
sheep, which no-man gathers together.
pIS n3BbS 371. And f caused [the] widow's heart to sing [for joy]. This
hemistich is rendered by Schlottmann, " Und das Herz der Wittwe machte mich
frohlich." How much is that reader to be pitied, who from a want of knowledge of
Hebrew, is obliged to put his faith in a translation containing such a gross blunder
as this, a blunder, which we should not expect from one, who had read Hebrew
only a month, and by which the sense, so far from being improved, is utterly
ruined. *31S for r?7S zs supra xxviii. 11, S*J* for N*?i* .
Ver. 14. *BB]27a f]*32*, b*5B3 for *BBpa *np*3.b ?T?f?l b*5B3 like a robe
and turban f put on my justice.
Ver. 16. ^i; rib 3*1 for *n57* rib ip^ 3*1 and [the] cause of [those],
whom J did not know ; i.e., the cause even of those unknown to me, &c.
Vers. 18 — 20. In his last discourse (chap, xxvii. 6,) we heard
Job say, his heart could not reproach any of his days ; now, he
goes farther and tells his friends, that the manner in which he
had acquitted himself of his various duties, had ever been such,
as not only to secure for him the love and esteem of his neighbours,
(as he had already said it had done in the early part of this
chapter), but also to leave his conscience free from remorse, and
to inspire him with confidence, that he would be allowed by the
Almighty to lead for many years a life, which could not be
otherwise than pleasing to Him. He says :
So that I thought, " I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply
my days as the sand." I thought I should die in peace, in my own
house, with all that were near and dear to me around me, and not
prematurely, but in a good old age. I moreover thought,
(Ver. 19) " My root is open to the waters, and dew lieth all night

chapter xxix. 19—20, 18—20. 257
upon my branch." I thought I was like a healthy and vigorous
tree, abundantly supplied with nourishment by water below, and
dew above. (Ver. 20.) " My glory is fresh with me, and my bow,
which is in mine hand, will renew its strength." The dignity,
with which I was invested, would, I conceived, constantly
receive new lustre, and the authority, which had been conferred
upon me by the common consent of the people, grow firmer and
firmer. N.B. In the Translation, we have marked these three verses
(B), and the remainder of the chapter (A), to shew, that, in our
humble opinion (the opinion also of Wolfssohn), the former
should be read after the latter, though as the transposition was
not absolutely necessary, we did not make it. We shall quote
Wolfssohn's remarks at the end of the notes on the three verses
alluded to.
Ver. 18. ^5 *w> as ™ Deut. viii. 5, " And thou shalt know 13Bb B5 in
thine heart."
3in31 and like the sand. A great number, or multitude, is very often in the
Old Test., compared to the sand of the sea, as Gen. xxii. 17. We will not,
however, conceal from the reader, that some of the old Commentators, and
among them Jarchi, tell us, that 7in is the name of a certain very long-lived
bird — probably meaning the phcenix, which, according to the fable, lived
some mythical number of years, and then burned itself in its nest, which it
had constructed with twigs of scented woods, and filled with spices ; an in
terpretation adopted, no doubt, with a view to explain how Job came to speak
of dying in his nest.
Ver. 20. *)*bnn for D3 Tbnn will renew strength. Comp. Isa. xl. 31,
"But they, that wait for Jehovah, 173 13*313* shall renew [their] strength."
JUH* These three verses (18 — 20) would read much better
after Ver. 25, for the reasons very clearly stated by Wolfssohn,
and to which we fully subscribe. As, however, we have made it
a rule never to introduce any alterations into the text, without
there being an absolute necessity for doing so, we have contented
ourselves, in the present instance, with marking these three verses
(B), and the remaining verses to the end of the chapter (A) ;
and we leave it to the reader to assign them the places he thinks
they ought respectively to take up. Wolfssohn's observations are
as follows :

258 chapter xxix. 18—20, 21—24.
7DP 1P3113 p6 31'P 3113 P"3 P7pP 713 PIP PipPPP '3 PPT i*3DP PT-p i3
]P p7 '3 • OPipP |P3 ]'P 7DP OOPP D'DPlPi 1UUD V3V13T ; PPIP PD7P3 pi'3 P'ip
PP il3 |3 PPI ,ipil73 p-)PPP PPI D'JPi np'l 17133P IPpi 7113 ipp p"3 piPP
D'piPPP 'P3iP ,77PP P13Di 'V ipi D' DP pil ?P3PP D*piPP3 |'J13p p'PPP
Op W 'PIPI '3P 7ipf>i ,OPi '1P1P OPlpP OD '3 ,PD1PP <]1P3 P"3 713 pipp
IpPD '3 , ]Ppi P3P PPP PPB1 , '333 01P1 'Pp73 713133 , '7P13 D7P '71331 '131 U13P
•'131 D'Tai 'il3
"Every intelligent reader will see, that from this Verse (Ver. 18) to Verse 21
" Job has departed from bis [primary] object, at which he aimed in this Chapter,
" and [that] his thoughts have wandered away to other subjects, which are here
" out of place ; for [it is] only from Ver. 21, [that] he again begins to tell of his
" former honour and dignity, and of the glory of his excellency, and if so, why
" did he interrupt the subject by these Verses (viz., 18 — 21) ? If, therefore, I
" had had it in my power to alter the arrangement, I should have placed these
" Verses (from Ver. 18) to Ver. 21, at the end of the Chapter, for there is their
" proper place, saying (i.e., Job saying) ' I thought I should expire in my nest,
" &c.,' ' and my glory [would be] fresh with me,' on account of my righteous-
" ness and the integrity of my heart, but now alas it is [just] the reverse, since
" young men laugh at me, &c. (as the next chapter begins)."
Vers. 21 — 25. After this short digression, Job returns to the
description of his former dignity and glory, and of the popularity
he enjoyed with his fellow-citizens. He says :
Unto me men gave ear, and waited. For my advice. Yea, they
kept-silence at my counsel. When, in a public assembly, it was seen
that I was preparing to deliver my opinion, such eagerness was
felt to hear it, that a breathless silence prevailed, which was only
interrupted by my own voice. (Ver. 22.) After my word[s] they
would not speak again, so that my speech should still drop upon
them. When I had concluded my discourse, the orators, who had
spoken before me, would not rise again, in order that I might be
induced to continue. (Ver. 23.) Yea, they waited for me. That
is, for the continuation of my speech. As for rain, and opened
their mouth wide as for the latter-rain. Just as the husbandman
waiteth with impatience, in the autumn, for the early, and in the
spring, for the latter, rain, so did my audience long for the con
tinuation of my discourse. (Ver. 24.) When I smiled at them
 they would not believe me. When by a smile I gave them to
understand, that my discourse was actually at an end, that I really
had nothing more to say, and that consequently the assembly

chapter xxix. 24 — 25, 21 — 24. 259
was dissolved, they would not believe me, they would not take the
hint and go away. Yet they did not cause the light of my counte
nance to fall. Impatient as they were for my speech, still they
betrayed their impatience by no word or look that could offend
me, or make me change colour. (Ver. 25.) I used to choose out
their way. At any public procession I used to lead the way, and
they followed whither I chose to go ; and when we took our
seats, I sat at their head, yea, I abode as a king amidst his host,
as one that comforteth mourners. It is the custom among the
Jews of our day for mourners to sit on the ground, whilst he
who wishes to comfort them occupies a seat, and this appears,
from the present verse, to have been the custom also in the time
of Job.
Ver. 21. lbn*l. for VISS.b lbl7*l.* (the dagesh in theb being altogether irre
gular) and they used to wait for my advice.
Ver. 22. 13p* rib Ut., they used not to do a second time (what they had done
before ; i.e., speak). The verb n3ta signifies, to do a second time, or again (what
has been done before). Thus, in 1 Kings xviii. 34, when Elijah wished to
confound the priests of Baal, after water had, in compliance with his orders,
been poured once upon the sacrifice, he said, 13P do [it] the second time. In
the verse before us, it is used by Job for the purpose of informing his hearers,
that, whenever, in former times, he had finished speaking in the assembly, the
orators, who had preceded him, were so well satisfied with what they beard from
his lips, that they would not speak a second time.
*naa F|Bn 18*751 So that my speech should [still] drop upon them. It is
a common figure in Hebrew poetry to compare a smoothly-flowing and instructive
speech to the dropping of rain or dew. So (Deut. xxxii. 2), " My doctrine
shaU drop as the rain, my speech shaU distil as the dew, &c."
Ver. 23. It will be perceived, that the b of ttJipbab must be supplied after
the 3 in 7BB3 , and again the 3 of 7BB3 before the b in tai'pb ab; , so that
iaa? stands for nBBb? as for rain, and taipbab for vftpbnb^' as for [the]
latter rain.
7BH in the first hemistich, though signifying rain generally, is here used =
nil* early rain; as is evident from the second hemistich.
Ver. 24. VJ*BS*. rib for *b -13*BS* rib they would not believe me.
*3B liSI yet [the] light of my countenance ; i.e., the cheerfulness of my
countenance, or look. Comp. Prov. xvi. 15, a*s!7 tjba *33 11S3 fn [the] light
of [the] king's countenance [is] life ; i.e. a cheerful, or gracious, look from a king
revives, gives confidence to, all around him.
* iVcrc is the first word in ver. 23.— Editor, 1862.
S 2

260

CHAPTER XXX.
In the preceding chapter, we saw the poet choose the brightest
and most vivid colours in order to portray his former happiness
and glory ; in the present chapter, wishing to present a powerful
contrast between these and the misery and degradation he is now
suffering, he selects the darkest and most sombre tints.
He says :
Vers. 1 — 8. But now they, that are younger than I, have me in
derision, whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.
In my happier days, very old men rose and stood up at my
approach (chap. xxix. 8); but now those, that are younger
than I am, hold me in derision. In my happier days, princes
and nobles paid me homage (Ibid. 9, 10) ; but now the very
outcasts and dregs of society, whose parents offered their
services to help the dogs to guard my flocks, and were rejected
by me, treat me with the greatest contempt. And I had reason
to reject their offers, although they were strong and vigorous, for
((Ver. 2.) Of what use, indeed, was the strength of their hands to
me ? With them mature-age was lost. Vile and worthless men,
they made no proper use of their strength and vigour, employing
them only in the accomplishment of their nefarious designs ; their
time, therefore, was spent altogether unprofitably, was utterly
lost, nay, worse than lost, for the longer they lived, the more
crimes only did they heap up.) Having assigned a reason for his
rejection of the fathers, he now proceeds to give a full description
of the vileness of the sons, whose object of derision he now is.
They are, he says, young men, who are (Ver. 3) Cheerless,
through want and starvation, who flee into a wilderness, dark, waste,
and desolate. (Ver. 4.) Who pluck up salt-wort by the bush[es],
and the root of the broom is their food. The reason, why they are
reduced to such a miserable state as to have to seek their food in
the desert, is, that (Ver. 5.) They have been driven forth from the
midst. Of the city. They cried after them as after a thief
(Ver. 6.) They must dwell in the cleft[s] of vallies, in holes in the

CHAPTER XXX. 6 — 8, 1 — 2. 261
earth and rocks. (Ver. 7.) They groan among the bushes, they
are huddled together under the thorn[s]. To escape the inclemency
of the weather, and keep one another warm. (Ver. 8.) They
are children of impious men, yea, children of men without a name.
Their fathers were the lowest of the low ; they never emerged
from obscurity ; their names remained utterly unknown. They
have been beaten out of the land. They rendered themselves so
notorious by their crimes in the country which gave them birth,
that they were ignominiously chased out of it with blows.
Ver. 1. IpDP they laughed. Rosenmuller observes : "Verbum pnta sequente
7S} in bonam partem dicitur, ut supra xxix. 24., et cum 7a, super, adversus,
in malam, pro subsannare, et illudere." For our part, who can see no difference
between the particle bs and the prefix b , we cannot possibly admit the
accuracy of this observation, as we meet with innumerable instances, in which
the verb pntt> , construed with b , is used in a bad sense ; e. g., supra v. 22,
7I7pn 1B371 7ta7 at destruction and famine shalt thou laugh, and infra
xxxix. 7, n*7p ?ianb pnp* he laugheth at [the] multitude of [the] city. The
fact is, that the context alone can decide, whether this verb is used in a good, or
in a bad, sense, as in the case also of the synonymous verb pnS . Thus, in
Gen. xvii. 17, when God promised Abraham he should have a son by Sarah, we
read, that he fell upon his face pn?*1 and laughed, a laughter, for which he was
in no wise reproved, because it was the laughter of joy ; whereas of Sarah we
read (xviii. 12), nip pn?ni Therefore, Sarah laughed, and that she was very
severely rebuked for it, because it was the laughter of contempt.
B*B*b 13BB 0*7*5? for B*B*b *?BB B*1*5? 1p"S; Ut., that [are] less than I
for (or, in respect to) days. The adj. 7*5^ is undoubtedly found alone in the
acceptation of young, as in Gen. xxv. 23, 7*32 733* 311 and [the] elder shall
serve [the] younger; since, however, it also had the signification of little,
insignificant and inferior, as Judg. vi. 15, "l*5?n the least (in my father's
house), Jer. xiv. 3, "and the nobles have sent Bn*1*3^ their inferiors," — the
poet here, to remove all ambiguity, added O1?;? in days, which, however, is
better omitted in English.
Ver. 2. It wiU be perceived, that, as this verse only contains the reason
assigned by Job for his having rejected the services of the fathers, it should be
considered as parenthetical.
nb3 73S ia*ba mature-age was lost with them, i.e., was utterly misspent by
them ; they led such a wicked and profligate life, that it would have been almost
better if they had died in their infancy. So Ealbag (as quoted by Wolfssohn) :
* pil31P Dpi )'P '3 DP'il3 ]PIP 73P3 OPIP'PPiD 723 ( ii3 'i D'llD 1'P fri
" They were of no use at all to me, seeing that, on account of their worthlessness, time
was lost with them, for [there was] no profit in them."

262 CHAPTER XXX. 2 — 8, 9.
nb'S mature-age. That this word is used here, not in the sense of old age,
(as supra v. 26), but rather in that of mature and vigorous age, is evident from
the first hemistich, in which mention is made of strength of hands, which would
hardly have been attributed to very old men.
Ver. 3. B*pian who flee. The verb pia , which does not occur again in the
Old Test., is used in Chaldee as the equivalent of the Hebrew ni3 . Thus, in
Isa. xlviii. 20, in")3 flee ye, is rendered in the Targum lpi73 .
n*2 for n*2b Ut., to a dry-place, i.e., a wilderness.
taBS Ut., last night, but used here in the sense of night generally, darkness.
A desert is often designated in Hebrew poetry as dark ; e.g., Jer. ii. 31, "Have
I been a wilderness unto Israel ? A land of darkness ! "
Ver. 4. *b5 by, or near, as Gen. xlix. 22, 713 ¦.¥. by a well.
!7*p lit., a bush, used coUectively for B*!7*p bushes. See our note on bl73 }
supra xxviii. 15 (in text xxviii. 4).
Ver. 5. 1? *B for n*7p 13 *a from [the] midst of [the] city.
3333 for 333 !7 ba3 as after the thief
Ver. 6. Pp? lit., so as to dwell ; i.e., so that they are obliged to, or must,
dwell. The b of the 0b"33 is sometimes used to express what must, or must
not, be done, as in Ps. xxxii. 9, Olbab so that one must hold in ; and 1 Chron.
xv. 2, nspi rib none must carry (the ark of God,) &c.
The first hemistich should be construed as though written 0*bl7? VI"1?? X^W?
they must dwelt in [the] clefts of vallies.
^h for *l'na in holes of.
Ver. 7. Ip^V. they groan. The verb pn3 was used, supra vi. 5, of the
braying of an ass, and some take it here in the same sense ; we prefer, however,
making it synonymous with lpS3* they groan, which occurs supra xxiv. 12.
bl7i7 thorn, coUectively (as supra v. 4, 0*P) for B*b7n (as Prov. xxiv. 31)
thorns. inBD* they are joined. Comp. Isa. xiv. 1, where inBB31 and they shall be
joined, stands in parallelism with lj?n ni73") and the stranger shall be joined.
Wolfssohn understands it of sexual intercourse.
Ver. 8. b33 *3a sons of impious-men. ( 'B3 being of course used collectively
as above ver. 7, blifjl). We have preferred taking b33 here in the sense of
impious, rather than in that of fool. In Ps. xiv. 1 too, it should also be rendered
impious, as has been done by Dr. French and Mr. Skinner in their masterly and
most elegant translation.
!)S33 they were beaten. Comp. Isa. xvi. 7, Q*S33 TfS surely, [they are]
stricken. Vers. 9 — 15. The poet, having completed his, in accordance with
the usual style of Oriental poetry, somewhat hyperbolical description
of the vile and miserable condition of those who mock and
scoff at him, now proceeds to describe the vexation and suffering
he endures at their hands. His words are :

CHAPTER XXX. 9 — 14. 263
And now I have become their song. They compose satirical
songs, of which I am the subject. Yea, I am a bye-word to them.
(Ver. 10.) They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, and spare
not to spit before my face. The poet now proceeds to explain to
his hearers how it is, that men, so abject and degraded as those
he has described, have the hardihood to insult one, who, like
himself, had formerly been invested with such high authority and
dignity; it is (Ver 11.) Because He (God) hath loosed my string.
The string of my bow. And afflicted me. Job had said in the
preceding chapter (Ver. 20), that he thought the bow in his
hand would renew its strength (i.e., that his authority would
become more and more assured), but now he tells us, that, so far
from this expectation of his being realized, God has, on the
contrary, loosened the string of his bow (i.e., has taken away his
authority from him,) Therefore, (he says,) they. Those wretched
men. Have let loose their bridle before me. As long as I retained
my authority, they were restrained by fear and awe, like horses or
mules, which are bridled ; but now that they can insult me with
impunity, they shake off all restraint, they cast away their bridle.
But not only they themselves, their children also are a source of
great annoyance to me. (Ver. 12.) Upon my right hand, riseth
up the young brood ; they push away my feet. They push my feet
from under me, trip me up. And they raise up against me their
calamitous ways. Whenever they are bent upon injuring me they
contrive to reach me with as much ease, as though they had raised
up a high-way against me. The metaphor is taken from the siege
of a city, one of the first steps in which was, in those times, to cast
up a raised way against the city, in order to facilitate the approach
of the besieging army. (Comp. supra xix. 12.) (Ver. 13.) They
break up my path. They throw every possible obstacle in my way.
They contribute to my calamity, although they derive no help from it.
So gratuitously malicious are they, that they harass me without
the expectation of deriving any advantage from it. (Ver. 14.)
They come upon me as through a wide breach. That is, in great
numbers, inasmuch as in the case of a besieged city (from which
the metaphor is taken), the wider the breach in its walls, the more
soldiers can rush in at the same time. They roll themselves in
instead of a tempest. When there is a wide breach in a house

264 chapter xxx. 14 — 15, 9 — 12.
the inmates have reason to be afraid of a tempest's bursting in
and carrying everything away, but, instead of a tempest, the
poet says these mischievous and malicious men rushed violently in.
(Ver. 15.) Terrors are turned against me. Are levelled against,
brought to bear upon, me. Every one of them (i.e., the terrors)
pursueth my soul like the wind. With the violence of a raging
wind. So that my safety passeth away as a cloud. Just as a
raging wind maketh the clouds to scud before it, so do these
terrors chase along my safety.
Ver. 9. OJ7V33 their song. So the Psalmist complains (Ps. Ixix. 14), "And I
[was] the song of the drunkards."
Ver. 10. pi 13tan rib *3BB1 Ut., and they have not kept back [their] spittle
from, before me; i.e., they do not mind spitting in my presence. Wolfssohn
observes :
lifb PIP OP ,VJP3 pT piT DPI ,0'JP P1DJ '3P3 ipn -]Dpi ]Vpp T7i D7p '33 f1P3
• 'JPP Dpll 13DP Pi PiPP D'PIPPP PP ->T>ft 3"l31 , 171333 D31P1 1PI3P
" In eastern countries, an inferior-man must keep back his spittle before a man of rank,
" for, if he should indeed spit in his presence, behold, he [is] as though he [was] slighting
" him, and vilifying his honour ; and therefore he says here, these vile-persons do not
" keep back their spittle from before me."
Ver. 11. *7n* for *npp in* [the] string of my bow. Comp. Ps. xi. 2,
" They make ready their arrow 7J7* b5 (for Bnpp 1J7* ba) upon [the] string
(of their bow)."
nnB He (God) loosened. Here the poet again relies upon the judgment of his
hearers to supply the proper nom. case (sc. God), as we have already seen him do
in several instances. Wolfssohn comments on this verse as follows :
1D13'1 ,'3PP PPTP IPI 1TPP PPP P3 3"l31 ,'3Tp ppi 7'TP1 'P3 D'ipp 7P133 'IP' PPPD il3
• -13311 ilpi apiD UJ'P IDP ]PT 3PP '33 01P3 , 'Pllipil '-)37i PUP '33P fPP D3iD PP t
" Because He (God) has loosened my string, that is to say, has weakened my power and
" brought down my born to the earth; therefore they also have removed the bridle of
" [their] awe before me, so that they do what their heart pleases, without regarding my
" words or commands, like a horse without bridle or bit, which hearkens not to the voice
" of its rider."
Ver. 12. nniB a young-brood, from niB to sprout, applied here to a rabble of
young men, who have not yet completed their growth. From the same root
is I71BS the young of birds, which occurs (in the plural) in Deut. xxii. 6,
B*2*3 is B*niBS young ones, or eggs. Kimchi, in his B*ta7tt>n 7BB , observes
on the word niTlB (under the root niQ) :
]3i ' vba 3abb iva* ba iaip* B*ia3m a*aapn itaii*si • 7"abn baans
• B*niss niaian *3Bp lsipa

chapter xxx. 12 — 15. 265
" The third radical being doubled ; and its meaning [is], young children and boys rise
" up on his (Job's) right hand, to mock at him ; and so the young of birds are called
B7*S niniS lit., [the] ways of their calamity; i.e., their calamitous ways, the
ways by which they bring calamities upon me.
Ver. 13. !Bri3 i.q., -12n3 they have broken, broken up, B and ^ interchanging as
dentals. See note on aba1 supra xx. 18.
17*5* lit., they profit, help ; i.e., contribute to, promote.
Ver. 14. V7.5? for Y7B3? as by (through) a breach.
Ver. 15. ^TBi^n it was turned. The verb, preceding its nom. case mn73
terrors, need not agree with it, either in gender or number. See note on
iaipa la-ii^n 7ia ribl supra xx. 9.
*]7in it (i.e., every one of these terrors) pursues. See note on 1BJ73 supra
vi. 17.
1n37^l Ut., my noble one; i.e., my soul, which alone is noble in me. We find
more than once, in Hebrew poetry, similar endearing epithets bestowed upon the
soul. Thus, in Ps. xxii. 21, we read, " Deliver *Pp3 my soul from the sword,
""nvn* mt ONLY one from the power of the dog." So, also, in Ps. xxx. 13,
" To the end that 7133 (for 17l33) nr. glory (i.e., that which is glorious in me,
my soul) may sing praises to Thee ; " and again in Ps. ciii. 5, which, in our
humble opinion, should be translated thus, "Who satisfieth with good-things
^75 thy soul" (lit., thy ornament; i.e., that which adorns thee), so as to keep
up the real meaning of 17? * ornament, as it occurs in Exod. xxxiii. 4, " And
no man did put on him V75 his ornament[s]." Kimchi observes on 1n373 :
taaan *3 *33aan na*73 nni ins aipaa ias3ta ibb taB3n ba itaisb )snt
' ni3*73n nbaa
" It may be applied to the soul, just as it is said in another place (Ps. li. 14),
" ''jppDn ninj nvn and mag a noble (or liberal) spirit sustain me, for the soul is possessed of
" nobleness (or liberality)."
* Nor need any other than the real meaning of the word VE? , namely, ornament, be given
to i1| in Ps. xxxii. 9, for the verse should be translated thus : " Be ye not like a horse,
like a mule, to which one cannot impart intelligence, dV^ (i'-w) ]cni anoj (to be con
strued thus) : Bibab to hold in (i.e., which one must bold in *)
*B11 3nB3 with bridle and bit,
(V75) (its ornament) (i.e., to these animals the bridle and bit are
an ornament, but to thee they would be a disgrace ; thou,,
therefore, must not be wild and untameable like them,)
Ifbs 3ilp b? [so that there should be] no coming near to thee" (i.e., so that
people should be afraid of approaching thee, but thou
shouldest, on the contrary, be mild and gentle, and be able
to restrain and check thyself when necessary).
* Or better, So that one must hold (it, or them) in. See note on pty (ver. 6, of this
chap.) p. 262. Editor, 1862.

266 chapter xxx. 16 — 22.
Vers. 16 — 22. Now that he has given these details of what he
suffers from men, Job returns to the subject dwelt upon by him
at much greater length in his former discourses, the sufferings,
namely, with which he has been visited by Providence. He says :
And now my soul is poured out within me. I am exhausted by
my sufferings ; my life is ebbing fast. Days of affliction have
taken hold upon me. (Ver. 17.) By night my bones are pierced
in me. When night comes on my pains are greatly increased,
and penetrate even to my bones, which they pierce and rack. And
my sinews find no rest. (Ver. 18.) My garment must be changed
with great effort. Owing to the numberless ulcers with which he
is covered from head to foot, and the matter they discharge, his
garments stick so firmly to his body that their removal is effected
with great difficulty, and causes him excruciating pain. It girdeth
me like the collar of my tunic. The whole of my tunic now
holdeth my body in as firm a clasp as its collar doth my neck.
(Ver. 19.) He (God) hath cast me into the mire, so that I am
become like dust and ashes. (Ver. 20.) I cry loudly unto Thee,
but Thou answer est me not ; I stand up in prayer, but Thou dost
not regard me. (Ver. 21.) Thou art become cruel to me. Cruelty
hath replaced Thy kindness of former days. Thou shewest Thy
hate towards me by the might of Thine hand. (Ver. 22.) Thou
usedst to raise me up, to make me ride upon the wind. To make
one ride upon the wind is to raise him to the highest pitch of
prosperity and glory. We find other very similar figures used in
the Bible to express the same ideas. Thus, in Isa. Iviii. 14, it is
said of Israel, If thou " call the Sabbath a delight," &c, " then
shalt thou delight thyself in Jehovah, and I will cause thee to
ride upon the high places of the earth." And so the King of
Babylon is represented by Isaiah (ch. xiv. 14) to have said in the
pride of his heart, " I will ascend above the heights of the
clouds." Indeed, of God Himself, appearing in His glory, it is
said (Ps. xviii. 10), " He did -fly upon the wings of the wind."
Job uses this figure, then, in order to contrast in the most
forcible manner his former glory with his present degradation.
And now Thy wisdom dissolveth me away.
Ver. 16. 1P"p5 ^npn *ba My soul is poured out within me; i.e., I am alto^

chapter xxx. 16 — 22. 267
gether exhausted with my sufferings. In like manner, the Psalmist says
(Ps. xlii. 5), ^33 ''ba n3Btj?Sl and I pour out my soul within me. So also the
Elegist expresses himself (Lam. ii. 12), when speaking of infants, exhausted with
want of food, Bt^B3 7JBnp713 on [the] pouring out of their soul ; i.e., when they
sink down exhausted Bi7BS p*I7 /S into the bosom of their mothers.
Ver. 17. nj93 Ut., pierces through ; a past Pi-al, used impers., and to be translated,
therefore, by a passive. We have already had several examples of a similar
construction. *baa upon me, the a being pleonastic, as infra Ver. 30. Comp. Eccles.
v. 7, nba b5a i.q., nba b5 above [the] high.
1i27yi. and my sinews. So Aben-Ezra and Kimchi, who derive it from the
Arabic. Ver. 18. taBnn* is changed. Comp. 1 Sam. xxviii. 8, bisp* tasnJ7»l and
Saul disguised himself (i.e., changed his garment). If we were to quote what
has been said by other Commentators upon this verse, we should fill whole pages ;
we hope, however, that the short explanation we have offered above will shew how
little real difficulty it offers.
*n3n3 *B3 Ut., as [the] mouth (or opening) of my tunic; i.e., the upper
part, or coUar, of the tunic, which would, of course, fit more tightly than any other
part of it.
Ver. 19. 1?7in He (God) has cast me. Here, again, the poet leaves it to the
hearer to supply the nom. case to the verb, according to the sense of the passage.
*37ln , which is the Hiph. of ni* (with suffix), has here the same sense as it has
in Kal, e.g., in Exod. xv. 4, 0J3 ni* He cast into.the sea.
bp'ansi so that I am compared; i.e., am like. The Hithpa-al is here used
in a passive sense = Niph., as Prov. xxxi. 30, bViinn S*n she should be praised.
The verb is here followed by 3, as it is in Ps. xlix. 13, 21.
Ver. 20. "'nipy for bbsnnb *n7;aa / stood up to pray. So Ps. cxxxv. 2,
"Praise him, 0 ye servants of Jehovah, B*7B5p who [are] standing (for
bbpnnb B*7Byta who are standing up to pray) in the bouse of Jehovah."
Another instance occurs, in which the verb 7B3 expresses this idea of standing
up in prayer, viz., in Num. xvii. 1 3, where it is said of Aaron, when the plague
had broken out in the congregation, " 7B5*1 and he stood (making intercession
in prayer) between the dead and the living, and the plague was stayed."
*3 133nni for *3 133nn rib) and Thou dost not regard me; the neg. part, rib
of the first hemistich being understood in the second.
*b 7?3Sb "JjBnn Ut., Thou art changed towards me into a cruel-one. Thou
art not as Thou wert towards me ; instead of kindness, I experience no longer
anything but cruelty from Thee.*
Ver. 22. bs for ba upon. Comp. Gen. iv. 8, where the second VI7S 73n bs
* We cannot refrain here from again asking those who put the 28th Chap, (according
to the text) into the mouth of Job, and tell us that it was uttered hy him after he had been
converted,, whether this is the language of a convert and a penitent.

268 chapter xxx. 22, 23—24.
stands for VI7S 33X1 b5 upon (i.e., against) Abel, his brother ; likewise Ps. v. 1,
nia*n3I7 7s for nia*nan 75 upon Nehiloth (a certain musical instrument).
n*pn (according to the K'ree) wisdom; i.e., Thy wisdom. We very fre
quently find in Hebrew poetry that the possess, affixes must be supplied. We
may cite as instances infra Ver. 24 7* for 17* His hand; Ps. lvi. 8, "HS3 %n
anger (i.e., in Thine anger) cast down the nations ;" Ps. xxix. 9, "And in His
temple doth every one speak of 7l33 glory (i.e., His glory) ;" and Ps. xxx. 13,
" To the end that 7133 glory (i.e., my glory, my soul) may sing praise to
Thee." It will be perceived that we take the noun n*pn to be the nom. case
to the verb s?3?bn-1 .
The verse should be construed thus :
"OStWT. Thou usedst to lift me up,
"0T37J7 Thou usedst to make me ride
ni7 71* (for nn bjj) upon [the] wind (i.e., Thou
usedst to raise me up to the highest pitch
of dignity and glory) ;
i-pji'jpl "OJJfoni and [now] wisdom (i.e., Thy wisdom,) dis
solved me (i.e., Thou, in Thy wisdom, hast
resolved to make an end of me).
Vers. 23, 24. The unfortunate speaker admits the certain
knowledge which he has, that death and the grave will ultimately
deliver him from his sufferings, to be a source of consolation to
him, but laments that these deliverers are not sent by God as
soon as man in his misery longs and prays for them. He says :
Of a truth I know, that Thou wilt bring me back to death, and
to the house of assembly for all living. I know, that these
sufferings of mine must have an end put to them by death and
the grave. (Ver. 24.) Howbeit, He (God) will not put forth His
hand. To bring man to death and the grave. When there is prayer
for them. When man prays Him for death and the grave. He will
not put forth His hand to bring them upon man, When, in
calamity proceeding from Him, there is a loud-cry for them.
When men are afflicted with miseries sent upon them by God,
and cry loudly for death and the grave, He will not hearken to
their cry.
Ver. 23. "^PS nia for Wp'n niab Thou wilt bring me back to death.
The circumstance of Job's having used here the verb 31ta (i.e>) *33*pn Thou
wilt bring me back, and not *?S*an Thou wilt bring me), goes, in our humble

chapter xxx. 23, 24. 269
opinion, very far to corroborate what we have said over and over again, and
consider to be the only key to this apparently difficult book (which, indeed, without
it would be nothing but a chaos of incongruous sentiments and conflicting ideas),
namely, that Job knew nothing at aU of a future state, but thought, that men
ceased to exist, when they ceased to live. Death and the grave were, then,
with him synonymous with annihilation, or non-existence, and therefore it is he
says, Thou wilt bring me back to that state of non-existence, from which I
sallied forth to be born. I wa3 nothing, and Thou wilt make me again become
nothing. 7?iB n*31 for 73l'B n*3bl and to [the] house of assembly; i.e., to that
house, to which aU living men must ultimately resort, viz., the grave.
Ver. 24. Previously to entering upou the details of this verse, we must remind
the reader that, as words must sometimes unavoidably be supplied from the first
.hemistich of a verse to the second, so on the contrary it is, not unfrequently,
impossible to make sense of the first hemistich, without introducing into it a
word, or words, from the second. Thus, in Prov. xiii. 1, the first hemistich is,
3S 7B1B B3n *3
T " T T ¦ "¦
words which convey no meaning whatever unless we supply the verb aap from
the second hemistich, as though the text were,
as ibib aata aan *a
T - - T T T ' "
" A wise son listeneth to [the] instruction of his father."
152 for inb *53 BS (BS and inb being suppUed from the second hemistich),
when [there is] a praying for them.
*53 a praying, or prayer, derived from n53 to ask, entreat, pray, just as
^B fruit, from niB to be fruitful. Comp. Isa. xxi. 12, 1*33 "'VaBn BS ffye
will ask (pray), ask ye. So in Chaldee, Dan. vi. 14, nni33 *53 Ut., he prays
his prayer.
i7*B3 lit., in His calamity ; i.e., in the calamity proceeding from, inflicted by,
Him. Comp. Prov. xxiv. 22, Bn*3p* 7*B1 lit., and [the] calamity of both of
them; i.e., the calamity proceeding from both of them (God and the king). See
what has been observed on the ambiguity of poss. pron. affixes in our note on
*3Ba ( supra iii. 10.
aita }n7 [there is] a crying-loud for them, namely, for death and the house of
assembly for all living. Comp. Isa. xxii. 5, inn bs 51^1 and crying to the
mountains, where we observe Shurik instead of Chowlem, an interchange of these
vowels being of frequent occurrence, as in Eccles. xii. 7, ^t1 for 3123*1 and &
shall return.

270

CHAPTER XXX. 23 — 24.

These two verses should therefore be construed thus :
Ver. 23. VJ/T *2 Of a truth I know
¦gyatti "]710 (for ny2b *&&&) Thou
wilt bring me back to
death (i.e., Thou wilt
make me return to
that state of non-exist
ence, from which I
emerged when I was
born),
Tgia 7131 (for TJ710 TV2bV)Hven to
[the] house of assembly,
appointed
"PI 737 /or a/? living.

Cue., My
knowing this
is undoubt
edly a source
of consolation
to me, as in
ceasing to ex
ist, I shall,
of course,
i also cease
to suffer).

Ver.

24. "iS Howbeit,
T nbfl N7 He (God) will not put
forth [His] hand (to
bring men back to
death an d the grave),
^2 (for ]H^ 1P3 DR) wAerc
[£^ere is] a praying
for them (i.e., when
men pray for death
and the grave) ;
in1?? DR When in His calamity
(i.e., when on cala
mity being sent by
Him on men),
1 177 Jtflty [there is] a crying-loud
for them (i.e., for
death and thegrave). /
We wish the reader would consult, as we have done, the Auth.
Vers., Kosenmuller, Umbreit, Schlottmann, &c, and then ask
himself, whether we should not have deserved great blame, if we
had adopted any one of the numberless far-fetched explanations (?)
offered by those Commentators, in preference to the very simple
and straightforward one proposed by us above. For our own

(i.e., when men,
on being afflicted
with calamities
sent upon them
by God, pray and
cry aloud to Him
for death and the
grave, He will not
put forth His
hand to bring
them back to
them, and so put
an end to their
misery).

chapter xxx. 23—24, 25—26. 271
part, we could not consent to abandon it even for that of Wolfs
sohn, though he, as usual, shews himself infinitely superior to
the Commentators above alluded to; and indeed that great
Hebraist himself is not only dissatisfied with his own explanation,
but regards it as impossible that a satisfactory one should ever be
arrived at. He prefaces his comment upon the passage with the
following words :
71P3 'PP3P Pil 'P133' 13 IDP ,P!P 7PP3 7lf>P P1P1PPP PIPipPP ]P 1'IPP P3P1 PI
'PPPP 1TP3 P'P' ]3 il31 , D'P13P TOP '1PP3 ]P1 WW '33 '1PP3 ]P S3ipPl |133
, PP13 Tift / pDlPi 'P113 PPilJD PPI . D'PIPI O'TPi 1P3P 71P13 713 p?P3 P31P
. 'IPTi 3'13'P DTP Pi 7113 '3 'PVl'O <JP
" This [verse], and the next to it, are among the most obscure in this book,
" and upon them (lit., upon which) I have bestowed [much] labour, though without
" finding a correct and acceptable explanation, either in the books of the men of
" our own nation or in the books of the wise men of [other] nations ; and therefore
" their true explanation wiU remain in doubt, until the priest shall stand up [to
" consult the] Urim and Thummim.* And that, which has suggested itself to
" my mind [as to how] to explain them, I will now set forth, although I know
" that they are not yet weU and properly explained."
Vers. 25 — 31. The Chapter concludes by Job's telling his
friends that his course of life had been by no means of a nature
to lead him to apprehend, that he would one day be reduced
to such a state of misery as to pray for death and the grave — and,
alas, to pray for them in vain — but that, on the contrary, his
conduct had always been such as to inspire him with the hope,
that God would continue to watch over him, and to have him in
His keeping. His words are as follows :
Did I not weep for the ill-fated man ! Did not my soul grieve
for the needy ? Had I been unfeeling, and callous to the
sufferings of others, I should certainly have deserved myself to
suffer ; but this is very far from having been the case ; on the
contrary, I was always pained by the pain of others, and grieved
by the grief of others. (Ver. 26.) Verily, I looked for good. I
had every reason to hope, that God would continue to bestow
* A figure, by which the Rabbins commonly express their conviction, that the passage
of Scripture under their consideration is so difficult, that all endeavours to explain it will
he entirely fruitless, and that nothing short of an oracular revelation can disclose its
hidden meaning.

272 chapter xxx. 26—31, 25—30.
His blessings upon me. And yet evil came. Instead of good. Yea,
I hoped for light, but deep-darkness came. (Ver. 27.) My bowels
boil, and are not quiet ; the days of affliction came unawares upon
me. My afflictions have come upon me so suddenly, and are so
completely the reverse of what I had any reason to anticipate,
that I cannot possibly gather strength enough to calm my
emotions. (Ver. 28.) I go about black, but not through the
sun. If my complexion looks so sallow and dark, it is not
that it is sun-burnt; it is in consequence of my mental
suffering and bodily disease. I rise up, and cry aloud in the
assembly. Much as I am ashamed to utter cries and groans
in the presence of others, yet I cannot help doing so; the
excruciating pains which rack me, press them out from me
against my will. (Ver. 29.) I am become a brother to dragons,
and a companion to young owls. My torments extort from me
dismal and doleful shrieks, resembling those of dragons and
owls. (Ver. 30.) My skin is become black upon me, and my
bone[s] are burned with heat. (Ver. 31.) So that my harp is
turned to mourning, and my lute into the voice of them that weep.
Cries and groans are now my only music.
Ver. 25. rib BS = riarj whether not ? The particle as here serves merely
to mark a question, as supra vi. 12.
Bi* nppb lit, for one hard of day, i.e., for one, whose day, whose lot, is hard,
who is ill-fated.
*p?3 ni3?a for *p33 nB3a rib BS did not my soul grieve? rib BS being
supplied from the first hemistich. The verb B33? is a oltto^ Xeyopevov as far as
regards the Bible, but is very frequently used by the Rabbins.
Ver. 26. "V1*' light, and bgH deep-darkness, are, of course, to be understood
in a figurative sense of happiness, and the depths of misery, respectively.
Ver. 27. 1?B7p lit., have prevented (anticipated) me; i.e., have come upon me
unawares, when I least expected them. Comp. niB *B?pla *31B7;p (Ps. xviii. 6),
[the] snares of death anticipated me ; i.e., came upon me, when I did not expect
them, unawares.
Ver. 28. nan riba Ut., with no sun ; i.e., without the sun ; the sun is not
the cause of the darkness of my complexion ; this should be attributed to the
intensity of my grief, and the virulence of my disease. A similar form of
expression is found in Isa. li. 21, "drunken, but not with wine."
Ver. 30. "^a See note on this word, supra ver. 17.
*B?5* Ut., and my bone ; i.e., my bones ; the noun being used collectively.

273

CHAPTER XXXI.
Job closes his last discourse by reading to his friends the statement
which, as will appear from Ver. 35, in this chapter, he had drawn
up of his case, and by challenging God to bring a single charge
against him, either by word of mouth, or in writing. In this
document, Job, as might well be expected, gives a detailed account
of the manner, in which, in his prosperous days, he had conducted
himself as well towards his Maker, as towards his fellow-creatures ;
and his object in reading it to his friends was, no doubt, to repel
their attacks upon his character, and to make them feel, that the
sins and crimes imputed to him by them had no foundation in
truth. He, moreover, avails himself of this opportunity occa
sionally to turn their reasoning against themselves, thus fighting
them, as it were, with their own weapons. He asks, for example,
how their assertion, that "the triumphing of the wicked is of
recent date and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment,"
(supra xx. 5), can be reconciled with the fact, that, though, in
their opinion, guilty of so many atrocious sins, and crimes, he had
flourished and prospered for such a number of years. If he really
had, as they supposed him to have done, taken a pledge from his
brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing ; if
he had not given water to the weary to drink, and had withholden
bread from the hungry ; if he had sent widows away empty, so
that the arms of the fatherless might be broken (supra xxii.
vers. 6, 7, 9) ; how then was it, he asks, that such a tyrant, such
a monster, should not only have been suffered by God to exist,
but should have received from Him innumerable blessings and
bounties, and that during a long series of years without one
moment's interruption ? In this statement of his, Job also declares
himself to have been innocent of two sins much greater, and much
more heinous than those imputed to him by his friends, adultery,
namely, and idolatry, and he begins with the former, as being, from
the violence of the passion, and the frailty of human nature,
much the more prevalent of the two. He says :

274 chapter xxxi. 1 — 11.
Vers. 1 — 12. I made a covenant with mine eyes. I strictly
forbade them to be lustful, or to dwell on lascivious objects. How
then could I bring myself to look upon a young-woman ? (Ver. 2.)
And yet. In spite of this my continence so rigidly enforced.
What is the portion that hath been allotted to me by God, from
above, and what the inheritance assigned to me by the Almighty from
on high ? A virtue, which ought to have been rewarded with the
greatest of blessings, has been recompensed with the most
intolerable of sufferings. (Ver. 3.) Ought not calamity to be
allotted to the iniquitous, and estrangement from God to the workers
of iniquity ? Why then should that be the lot of a good man,
which ought only to befall the wicked'? (Ver. 4.) Doth He not
see my ways, and count all my steps ? (Ver. 5.) Have I followed
after vanity, or hath my foot hastened to deceit ? (Ver. 6.) Let
Him weigh me in just balances, and then will God know mine
integrity. Let Him strictly examine the whole course of my life,
and He will see, if I ever gave myself up to vanity and deceit.
(Ver. 7.) If my step had turned from THE way, and mine heart
walked after mine eyes. If I had not restrained, but had yielded to,
the lustfulness of my eyes. And any blot had cleaved to mine
hands. (Ver. 8.) Then, whenever I sowed, another ought to have
eaten. My harvest. And all my produce ought to have been
uprooted. How then was it, that I was blessed with such rich
and abundant harvests year after year1? (Ver. 9.) If my heart
had been enticed by a woman, so that I laid in wait at my neighbour's
door. To watch his coming out, that I might have an opportunity
of satisfying my lust. (Ver. 10.) Then my wife ought to have
ground for another, yea, more still, others ought to have bowed down
before her. Greatly and deservedly as I should have been
punished in seeing my wife degraded to the state of a menial
servant, grinding corn for others, yet this punishment would not
have been proportionate to the enormity of my crime, for I should
have deserved that greatest of all torments, that, namely, of seeing
my wife prostitute herself to others. (Ver. 11.) For it (i.e.,
adultery) is a flagitious-crime, yea, it is an iniquity to be punished
by the judges. Even mortal judges could not suffer such a crime
to be committed with impunity, how then could He do so, by
whom one day the judges will themselves be judged ? (Ver. 12.)

chapter xxxi. 12; 1. 275
For it (adultery) is a fire, that consumeth to destruction ; it ought,
therefore, to have uprooted all mine increase.
Ver. 1. 1V5? lit., to (or for) mine eyes; i.e., with mine eyes. The phrase
n*73 ni73 to cut (or make) a covenant, is sometimes construed with B5 or
ns with, and sometimes with b to, or for. Comp. 2 Kings xi. 4, Bnb n73s.1
n*i3 And he made a covenant with them.
n /in3 a young woman. In the Auth. Vers, this word is translated maid;
others translate it virgin; one and aU are mistaken. That nbina does not
express only an unmarried woman is evident from Joel i. 8, where we read,
" Lament nWiaS like a young-woman, girded with sackcloth for the husband
of her youth.'' Nor does it signify virgin, in the strict sense of the word, unless
it be, besides, expressly stated, that she has had no intercourse with man ; as,
e.g., in Gen. xxiv. 16, n37* ri3 ta*Si nama a young-woman, and no man
had known her, and Judg. xxi. 12, B?*S njT rib ipS nbina * ni3.3 *
damsels, young-women, which had not known man. To be sure it might be said
that, in these two passages, the phrase, which we regard as explanatory, is merely
one of those pleonasms, which are not of infrequent occurrence in Hebrew, and
which we have already had occasion to notice ; but, as it has been shown, by the
passage just quoted from Joel, that a niina may have a husband, we do not
see why we should consider as pleonastic an additional definition which may be
essential ; nor should it be urged, that because B*bin3 signifies virginity, therefore,
nbin3 must necessarily mean a virgin, for do we not find the Latin virginitas,
derived from virgo, t which is sometimes applied to a married woman, as in Virg.
Eel. vi. 47, iEn. i. 493 ? c V?/"! signifies times, as Numb. xxii. 28, and in other places,
yet no one would venture to use it in the sing, (be this b31 , v>31 , or bai) for
time, and so it is, we think, in other languages, e.g., physics has nothing to do with
physic. Besides we cannot see why Job, when declaring, that he never permitted
his eyes to indulge in lascivious glances, should limit himself in his asseverations to
maids or virgins, as a lustful eye would very likely just as wantonly regard a
married, as an unmarried, young-woman.
The real Hebrew word for virgin, is that employed by Isaiah (chap. vii. 14),
in announcing the birth of our Saviour, namely nB75 , which may be traced to
* These two words stand here in the singular (though they must be translated in the
plural), as nouns usually do in Hebrew, when they follow'a number greater than ten.
The phrase nVira rrcy very frequently occurs in the Bible to express, that the person
referred to is of marriageable age, as rrwj by itself might be applied to a little girl, just
as -»a is sometimes used synonymously with i£ a male-child. Comp. Gen. chap. xxi.
where Ishmael is called "iV in vers. 14, 15, 16, and i?2 in 17, 18, 19, 20.
f And so, in our own language, the term maiden (maid), which is frequently used to
express merely a young unmarried female, without reference to her virginity, has a
derivative (of similar meaning to tyVra) which can hardly be applied excepting to a virgin
in the strictest sense of the word. Editor, 1862.
T 2

276 chapter xxxi. 1.
the root ab5 to hide, conceal, and therefore primarily means a woman who is alto
gether concealed and hidden from the other sex. Gesenius, as we are very much
grieved to find, is diametrically opposed to us upon this point, for in his Lexicon (as
translated by Dr. Tregelles), under nByP , he actually finds fault with the Septua
gint for having translated this word in Isaiah, loc. cit., Trapdivos, asserting that n7in3
is the only word in Hebrew, which conveys the idea of unspotted virginity, though
the passage quoted above from Joel must have stared him in the face. He lays some
stress on the employment of niaba in Cant. vi. 8, andna^a in Prov. xxx. 19, as
though he regarded these passages as invalidating the translation of the Sept.
above quoted. We think, therefore, that we need make no apology for here examining
these two passages, in order to see whether they are actually opposed to the meaning
we attach to the word nB35 viz., that of a pure and immaculate virgin. In Cant.
vi. 8, the poet, wishing to represent his love as altogether unmatched and
unrivalled in her excellencies, to whatever class of women she might be compared,
says, " There are threescore queens and fourscore concubines, nia75.1 and
virgins without number. But one is my dove, &c." Now we should like to
know what in the world proves that niB75 here does not signify virgins in the
strict sense of the word, for, whether it refers to the maidens in attendance upon the
queens and the concubines, or to others, why may they not have been pure virgins ?
Gesenius, surely, cannot mean to say that niB35 here stands in parallelism with
D*pab*B concubines, which would be a most insufferable pleonasm in a poem.
Let us now consider the passage in Proverbs, in which we find the Boyal
Moralist enumerating several things, which pass his understanding. He is at a
loss to conceive, namely, how the eagle without any adventitious help, without
map, chart, or mile-stone, finds his way back to his nest, from a distance of many
miles ; how the serpent, which creeping along the ground, can hardly be guided
by its sight, yet contrives, unprovided though it be with feet or other means
of prehension, to make its way even over slippery rocks and reach its little hole ;
how the ship can find her way across the ocean, a feat, which, when the science
of navigation was in its infancy, must have appeared marvellous to the landsmen
of those times, as, even in our days it does to those, who do not understand the
principles of that science ; and lastly bow a man can contrive to gain the affec
tions of an nB75 or virgin. It is well known, that in Eastern countries the
two sexes never mix together, and that women there, are, when within doors,
strictly secluded from all society, and confined and guarded like prisoners in their
cells, whilst, when they are allowed to go out, they are most closely veiled ; how,
therefore, a man can overcome all these obstacles and win the affections of a virgin, is
a matter of marvel to the Royal Bard. Now, if by nB75 in this passage is meant a
chaste and unspotted virgin in the strictest sense of the word, how the poet came
to put her in comparison with the other three subjects of his wonder, is intelligible
enough ; but, if, on the contrary, the word in this instance, must be understood
of a profligate, or adulterous, woman, as it seems to have been understood by
Gesenius, then, instead of an acute and true remark, we shall have nothing
before us but hopeless nonsense, for what difficulty would a man meet with

chapter xxxi. 1—10. 277
in gaining access to such a woman, and where, consequently, could there be any
matter for surprise ? *
Ver. 2. p7n portion \ are both taken here in a bad sense, as supra
n7rj3 inheritance ) xx. 29. *b n*PT 7ps which has been mine, should
be understood at the end of the first hemistich,
and the same phrase (only with nn*n instead
of n77) at the end of the second.
Ver. 3. 733 estrangement, alienation, (from God) according to Kimchi and
Wolfssohn. Ver. 5. lUP" ES , as is well known, sometimes signifies if, whilst at others it
is merely an interrogative particle, as supra vi. 12, and also in the verse before
us, though it will be found used in the sense of if several times in this Chapter.
The two significations being then here found intermingling, it becomes of the
greatest importance to distinguish by the context when the one is intended, and
when the other, as is well shown by the fact, that those interpreters, who
everywhere adopt the sense of if, are in consequence frequently obliged to
supply an apodosis, — an expedient, to which our renderings will, we trust) shew
there is not the slightest occasion to resort.
S)P B3 *n37n Ut., I have walked with vanity, i.e., have held intercourse
with vanity, made it my companion, my friend, vanity being here personified.
Comp. Gen. vi. 9, n3 Tjbnnn B*nbsn ns Noah walked with God, i.e., held
communion with Him.
fnni and it hastened. The proper form would be tanni the word being
the fut. Kal of tain . Similarly, from B13? or a*5 to fly, rush, we find
W*1 (1 Sam. xxv. 14) and a5»l (1 Sam. xiv. 32, in K'ree). RosenmiiUer
wants to make the root of tanni ; ntan i.q. tain ; the punctuation indeed
favours his view, but he stands quite alone.
Ver. 7. ^T7.7n the way, i.e., the good way. Comp. Ps. xxv. 8, " Good and
upright is Jehovah ; therefore, will He teach sinners "sTT^? in the way."
B1SB for BIB a blot, blemish, fault, as in Dan. i. 4. Some, however, take it
to stand for naisa anything (belonging to others), and compare Deut. xiii. 18,
^7.nn ]B naiSB ^17}?, P?71 «?") And there shall cleave nought of the cursed-
thing to thine hand.
Ver. 10. *npS insb inan My wife ought to have ground for another ; i.e.,
she ought to have been obliged to perform the most menial and degrading offices for
others. Comp. Exod. xi. 5, " from the first-born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his
throne, even unto the first-born of the maid-servant that is behind the mill." Some
of the Rabbins understand the verb ina in the verse before us of sexual intercourse,
so that, according to them, Job would say, that, if he had looked with eyes of
* The Proverbialist, having had his thoughts directed, in this passage, to a chaste and
strict virgin, is led to think of her opposite, a profligate and abandoned woman, and to
such an one devotes the next verse ; just as in the same Chapter, vers. 25 — 28, after
treating of weak and contemptible animals, such as the ant, conies, &c, he proceeds, in
the verses immediately following, to enumerate some powerful and noble ones, such as the
lion, greyhound, &c.

278 chapter xxxi. 10, 11.
lust upon another woman, he ought to have had the mortification of seeing bis own
wife prostitute herself to others. So thj Chaldee Version takes it, rendering,
",nPBS ^lln B5 taapn my wife ought toTiave had sexual intercourse with another.
It must be admitted, that the first hemistich, so translated, would tally admirably
well with the second, and we might perhaps have adopted this interpretation of
the passage, bad it not been that the Rabbins give the same signification to the
verb ?nB in Judg. xvi. 21, saying, namely, that the Philistines, desiring to raise
up a breed of strong men, such as Samson, brought women to him whilst in
prison — an explanation, which seemed to us so fanciful and so unnatural, that we
rejected the whole. This absurdity of the Rabbins leads us to notice here another
one still greater (to use a gentle term), which we find in the Rev. Mr. Gray's
translation (?) of Umbreit. Umbreit namely, translates this hemistich,
dann hatte mahlen sollen einem andern mein Weib,
then should my wife have ground for another,
but which Mr. Gray prefers to render,
then might another have wedded my wife ! ! !
This is, we believe, the third time that we have exposed this gentleman's
ignorance of the German language ; let it not be supposed, however, that we have
quoted all his mistranslations ; others we have ourselves observed, and many more
we have no doubt, remain in the verses (and their name is legion, for it is only here
and there that we have compared the two translations), the correctness of which
we have not tested.
r7nS for B*inS others. Comp. 1*9n3 supra xxiv. 22.
Ver. 11. a*b*bB 115 for a*b*bBB t2735nb *ia an iniquity to be punished by
judges. Gesenius tells us that B*7*7p is only found in the plur., and that its
absolute sing, is 7*bp , thus making it of the form b*5B . Unless, indeed, he
consulted an oracle, we would venture to ask, why the absolute sing, might not
be b*b3 0f the form b*53 just as b*p? a fool, makes in the plural a*b*D3 .
Ben-Zev, who, it would seem, had no oracle to consult, and did not think he
possessed the gift of divination, warns us against assigning to any particular form
such nouns as are not found in the absolute sing., and have Sh'vah under the
first radical. He says :
an*tasita niatan bs nn*aaa B*ita sita an*tasita nbsn matanta *Bbi
ba ,sipaa Ena 7iB3n isssa sb itas ,an*2p3 psnonb ta* pb ,yap
1B3 7*7* 3"a niBian as a*ianb ]*s (3b iai) ** 7*7* a'b , maian abptaa
*. sipaa ana 7i33n 13s*jb sbta *ab mi 3*73 7"a 7*7* is n^aa
" And seeing that these nouns which begin with Shvah, are, in their oblique cases, like
those which begin with Kawmets, therefore a doubt arises with regard to some of them,
the absolute form of which we do not find in Scripture, as to what would be their form in
the absolute state ; e.g., [in the case of] " tt (Deut. xxxiii. 12) the beloved of Jehovah,
there is no means of deciding whether the absolute form is also tt: like "raj , or tt after
the form of 2'TJ , and this [arises] because we do not find the absolute-state in Scripture."

chapter xxxi. 12 — 15. 279
Ver. 12. bBrin *i73S; 75 for *i7as; 75 barin 7pS which consumes to
destruction. b331 therefore all, the 3 being pleonastic. See note on 7np *B3B53
supra iii. 9.
Vers. 13 — 15. Eliphaz having thrown out a hint (supra xxii. 8),
that he suspected Job had, in his prosperous days, been so selfish
and arrogantly proud as to think that only men of his own rank
and dignity ought to enjoy themselves in this world, whilst men of
inferior station might be dealt with in a very summary and
arbitrary manner, Job repels this insinuation, and asks, why, if he
had actually behaved with cruelty and injustice to his inferiors, God
had not at once taken him to task for it, and visited him with condign
punishment, which he must have submitted to without a murmur,
as he could not possibly have urged his superiority of rank and
dignity as an excuse before God. He says :
If I did slight the just-cause of my man-servant, or my maid
servant, when they contended with me. If, whilst I held the office
of judge, I did not exercise the same impartiality with respect
to any complaints that my servants made against me, that I should
have exhibited had they been made against another. (Ver. 14.)
What then should I have done if God had arisen ; and if He had
visited me. Had punished me. What could I have answered Him ?
What excuse could I have offered in palliation of this behaviour of
mine towards my servant 1 Could I have urged that I was his
superior? or better than he? Assuredly not, for, (Ver. 15.)
Did not He, who made me in the belly also make him, and fashion
him in one womb ? In a womb of precisely the same nature.
Ver. 13. aa.13 on their contending. The more usual form would be ^3*13 .
Comp. ?37S SUpra xxix. 13.
Ver. 15. *3p'5 for *3P5 n*!7 7pS who was making me ; i.e., who made me.
13?13*1 and fashioned him. We take this word, with Kimchi and Ben-Zev, to
be the fut. Kal of 113 , and so have no occasion to refer, as Umbreit recommends us,
to Gesenius' Lehrgebaude (a book which we do not possess, and which we expect
will never ornament our shelves), in order to account for the Shurik in the 3 , ln
his Lexicon, however (according to Dr. Tregelles' translation), we are told that
13313* stands for ^0\ fut. Pilel, from the root 1» , with SUFFIX I PL. ;
that both Nuns have coalesced into one doubled ; that 1 is SHORTENED
into 1 ; and that the meaning is he will fashion US ! ! ! statements which,

280 CHAPTER XXXI. 15 — 18.
astounding as they are, we shall allow to elicit from us nothing but a shrug
apiece for the author and translator.
7ntJ arj73 would more correctly be 717S 31773 in one womb ; i.e., in a womb
precisely similar to the one in which I was formed. Ben-Zev remarks on these
two words :
• (s**bi3**s) *i*B7i nsitana 7ns s"a isoaa ins i33*s mn aipaa 7ns
in« , in this place, does not signify one in number, but one in similarity and comparison
(=of the same kind)."
This verse should be construed thus :
\m2 "gfcty X7PT for ]!Q22 "gfety iTPT ltf§ N7.7 Has not He
that was making me (i.e., that made me)
in the belly
Mttffl made him
T X
1I7K D1"X2 133131] And fashioned him in one womb (i.e., in a
womb of the same nature as the one in
which I lay).
Or the first hemistich might be construed thus :
^2Wi) K7H Has not my Maker
\iQ22 in^ made him [also] in the belly ?
Vers. 16 — 18. Job now gradually proceeds to clear himself
from the other charges brought against him by his friend
Eliphaz (supra xxii. 6, 7, 9), viz., that, in the days of his prosperity,
he had had no commiseration or pity for the hungry, the naked,
the widow, or the orphan. He says :
Did I withhold the poor from their desire ? Or did I cause the
eyes of the widow to fail. With longing (See note on I7373i7
supra xvii. 5). (Ver. 17.) Or did I eat my morsel myself alone,
and the fatherless did not eat thereof? (Ver. 18.) Surely, from
my youth he (the fatherless) grew up with me as with a father, and
her (the widow) I guided, as though she had come out from my
mother's womb. As though she had been my sister.
Ver. 16. The first hemistich should be construed thus:
D^vH.WPN DN Did I ivithhold poor-men
^2170 for D^DI7Q from their desire?

CHAPTER XXXI. 18. 281
Ver. 18. 1?b73 for *B5 b73 * he (the fatherless) has grown up with me.
Comp. Ps. v. 5, T)£ rib for 1^5 713* rib cannot dwell with thee.
3S3 for 3S B53 as with a father ; i.e., as though I bad been his father.
*as *B3B1 for *BS ]B3B31, or, more fully, *BS *B3B ns?*. ^^) and
as though she (the widow) had come forth from my mother's belly. It is really
very distressing to see what sad havoc all the Commentators and Translators we
have consulted, with the exception of Wolfssohn, have made of this verse.
Some of them, in the greatness of their perplexity, have resorted to the truly
desperate expedient of reading for 3S3 } 3S3 pain, and for n2!73S , nln3^
sighs, groans, thus breaking, as it were, the verse on the wheel, and marring all
its beauties. By simply supplying, however, the 3 of comparison of 3S3 after
the 1 of |B?B1 , every difficulty vanishes, and we have disclosed to us one of the
most beautiful and touching verses of the book. To translate the second hemi
stich, as it is done in the Eng. Vers., namely, " And I have guided her from my
mother's womb " (a new-born babe guiding a widow ! !) the reader will, we
think, admit would be employing a hyperbole at which even an Oriental writer
would be startled.
This verse (which we had explained in the same way that we
now do, long before we saw the comment of that extremely
judicious writer, Wolfssohn, who, besides, does not take precisely
the same view of the first hemistich that we do), should be con
strued as follows :
"Hl^p *3 Surely, from my youth,
12112 for ^12i! 773 has he (the "fatherless) grown up
with me,
282 for 28 Di!2 as with a father ; •
12128" '"\ and .... I guided her (the widow)
^128 |£23p for 1Psjt ]Q2122 as though [she came forth] from
my mother's womb (i.e., as though she had been
my sister).
* ^Tj is the only form of the third pers. sing. masc. past Kal, which actually occurs in
the Bible, and it is only found three times (Gen. xxvi. 13, xxxviii. 14, Job ii. 13). As,
however, ra is found as the part. Kal (e.g., 2 Chron. xvii. 12), we have, after the analogy
of ypn part, and yon third pers. sing. masc. past Kal oi' ysn , some reason for supposing
that 'ra may have been sometimes used for Tti . From a"p we find the masc. a;ij> and
(Zeph. iii. 2) the fem. (in pause) firs? , as if from a form aiij . But in the case of the
verb arw there is no room for any doubt, as the past Kal occurs in both forms ^n« and
3ns , though the latter is much more frequently found. See Mason and Bernard's Gram.,
Letter xxx. § 20, where we read. " The Verbs of the form s»b have the same forms in the
Eal for .... . their Third Persons Sing. Masc. Past, and their Sing. Masc. Pres. Parti
ciples; so that yon may stand for  he was willing, or one (m.) willing.'' Editor, 1862.

282 CHAPTER XXXI. 19 — 23.
Vers. 19, 20. Job, having been taxed by Eliphaz (supra xxii. 6)
with the cruel act of stripping the poor of their clothing and
leaving them naked, now repels this accusation, declaring that he
had ever done the contrary. He says :
Could I bear to see any one perishing without clothing, or the
needy-man without covering ? (Ver. 20.) Did not his loins rather
bless me, seeing that he kept himself warm with the fleece of my
lambs ?
nsis BS Could I see? i.e., Could I bear to see ? Comp. Lam. iii. 36, " To
subvert a man in his cause nSI rib *37^| the Lord beareth not to see."
Vers. 21 — 23. If I had shaken mine hand against the fatherless.
If I had threatened him with uplifted arm. Because I saw my
help in the gate. Because I was convinced the judges in the
forum would side with me, if any charge were brought against
me. (Ver. 22.) Then ought my shoulder* to have fallen from my
shoulder-blade, and mine arm ought to have been broken from its
bone. My forearm should have been severed from my upper
arm. So cruel did it appear to Job even to menace a fatherless
child with a blow, that he thinks the member employed in the
act should at once, and without delay, by the miraculous interpo
sition of Providence, have dropped from its body. But, if it had
entered my mind to behave so cruelly towards an orphan, it
would not have been the fear of any punishment that the judges
who sit in the gate could have assigned me, that would have
deterred me, but the dread of the punishment of Him who sits a
Judge on high. (Ver. 23.) Surely, calamity from God was
terror to me. The penalty which He most certainly, and most
deservedly, would have exacted from me — that was what deterred
me. And on account of His Majesty I could not act so. I could
not possibly bring myself to commit such a cowardly and
* Probably meaning the bone of the upper arm, the humerus, unless, indeed, Job alludes
to a fracture of the neck of the scapula (! ! !) as Dr. Good seems to have understood him,
when he says, " May my shoulder-bone (scapula) be shivered at the blade " ! and certainly,
if shoulder be taken in its strict sense, this is the only meaning which can be attached to
the words. The objection to this interpretation is, of course, that it would be making Job
too much of an anatomist, though, indeed, he might have considered the bone of the
shoulder as separate from the shoulder-blade.

chapter xxxi. 21—23; 24—27. 283
dastardly act, in the presence of so majestic a Being as God.
Comp. supra xiii. 11,
Should not His majesty deter you ?
And His dread fall upon you ?
Ver. 21. 7ap3 in the gate, the place in which justice was administered in
those times. See note on 7ap3 supra v. 4.
Ver. 22. 15~,T^1 and my arm. 5l"lT , the regular Hebrew form for arm, takes
here, as also in Jer. xxxii. 21, a prefixed I*? . Comp. the Chaldee 3J^7S, which
occurs in Ezra iv. 23.
n^B for n3)7B from- its bone, the Mappik being omitted in the n , as is often
the case. The absolute form is nsp^ a reed, and hence, from its form, the bone of
the upper arm, the humerus. Kimchi tells us :
' F)nan piB iai antn piaa smi p*saa iBBtaai nns s"nm
" And the n is quiescent, though, by rights, it ought to have a Mappik ; and this is from
the joint of the forearm (elbow-joint), as far as the joint of the shoulder."
Ver. 23. ^S 7*S [the] calamity or God; i.e., proceeding from God. See
note on i7*B3 supra xxx. 24.
inspBl Yea, by reason of His excellency. See note on 1i?na supra xxiii. 12.
brns rib for 1? nitaab. bais rib i could not do so.
Vers. 24, 25. Job, when admonished by his friend Eliphaz
(supra xxii. 23) to return to the Almighty, was admonished by
him at the same time to despise riches, and put gold, yea, even
the finest gold, on a level with dust and pebbles (ibid. Ver. 24).
To this admonition Job now refers, declaring it to have been
totally uncalled for, as his heart had never clung to gold, nor
silver, nor, indeed, to any such vain and transitory possessions —
and, consequently, it is not the loss of these he laments, but the loss
of his children and his health. He says :
Did I ever make gold my confidence, or say unto fine-gold, " Thou
art my trust?" (Ver. 23.) Did I ever rejoice because my wealth
was great, and because my hand had gotten much ?
Ver. 24. *nB3B for nns *nB3B Thou [art] my trust.
Ver. 25. nS*JB had gotten. See note on S2an **SB supra xxviii. 12.
Vers. 26 — 28. Did I consider the sun when he shined, or the
glorious moon moving ; (Ver 27) So that my heart was secretly
enticed, and my mouth kissed my hand? By way of paying

284 chapter xxxi. 28; 26, 27.
homage and obeisance to them, of declaring myself their wor
shipper. (Ver. 28.) This also would have been an iniquity cognizable
by a judge, for I should have denied God, who is above. I should
have rendered myself guilty of a crime which, even to a mortal
judge, appears most heinous, and deserving of the immediate in
fliction of the severest and most rigorous punishment ; how, then,
could the everlasting Judge have suffered me to commit so
abominable a deed, and that for so long a time, with impunity 1
Ver. 26. 71S Ut., light, used here = taap [the] sun. See note on W7.1S supra
xxv. 3.
Ver. 27. 1Bb *7* pp'171 for *7*b *B pp'nl and my mouth kissed my hand ; i.e.,
by way of paying homage (to the sun and moon). Comp. 1 Kings xix. 18, " all
the knees, which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth ib pp'3 rib 1p*S
which hath not kissed him!' Comp. also ta*bp ni5B7:3 iappni (Ps. lxxx. 6)
for ta*bp3 ni5^7 iappni and thou hast given them tears to drink in great-
measure. That PPni has for its subject *B a masc. noun, need not surprise us, as,
when the verb precedes its nom. case, it need not agree with it either in number or
gender. See Mason and Bernard's Grammar, Lett, xlix., § 8. Perhaps, however,
ppni signifies here and it touched,* in which sense we find the verb pta3 used in
Ps. Ixxxv. 11, lpp3 Bi7pi p7.2 righteousness and peace have met, touched [each
other], where lpp3 stands in parallelism with lta3?3 met together. Comp. also,
Ezek. iii. 13, "the wings of the living-creatures, that nip* pa [Wre] touching
(one another)." In this case, there would be no need of any transposition, as
17J would be the nom. to PPni , the translation being, and my hand touched my
mouth. Or, lastly, it is possible that such a hypallage as, and my hand kissed my
mouth, instead of and my mouth kissed my hand, had nothing startling in it to
Hebrew ears ; and, indeed, we have already met with two instances of this
figure, occurring in our author, viz., supra xviii. 20, as they, that were before
[them], took hold upon horror, for as horror took hold upon them, that, fyc. ; and
xxi. 6, and my flesh taketh hold of shuddering, for and shuddering taketh hold of
my flesh. And so in other languages ; e.g., in Virg. .ZEn. iii. 61, we find dare
classibus austros, which evidently stands for dare classes austris. The French,
too, commonly say, enfoncer son chapeau dans la tete, for enfoncer la tete dans
son chapeau.
* In English too to kiss, is sometimes used in the sense of to touch, although it is much
more full of meaning. Comp. Shakespeare :
 (they) beat the ground
For hissing of their feet  (Temp, act 4, so. 1.)
When the sweet wind did gently hiss the trees.
(Merch. of Ven. act 5, sc. 1.)
Again the part of a loaf which has touched another in the oven is called the hissing-crust.
The French baiser, and German kiissen are also similarly used. Editor, 1862.

chapter xxxi. 28 — 31. 285
Ver. 28. v1?? judicial, cognizable by a judge. This word also, Gesenius
tells us is derived from b*bB , but, if bis disciples and followers were to be asked
what rendered them so certain, that it did not come from v*3B , just as 1?1S;
(Zech. xi. 15) is derived from b*l.S, the only answer they could give to such
a question would most assuredly be ipse dixit. See our note on B*7*3B
supra Ver. 11.
bsb God, the b being objective. See note on b*lS7 supra v. 3.
b3BB for baBB Sin 7pS; who is above.
Vers. 29 — 31. Bildad, when offering his consolations to Job,
had held out the hope to him (supra viii. 22) that he would yet
see the time, when his enemies would be clothed with shame ;
in allusion to this, Job now says, that as he had never entertained
the slightest particle of ill-will against any of his enemies,
so their confusion and shame could by no means be a source of
gratification to him. He says :
Did J ever rejoice at the calamity of mine enemy, or exult when
evil befell him ? (Ver. 30.) Nay, I did not suffer my mouth to
sin, so as to ask for his life with a curse. I never allowed any
imprecation against my enemy to escape my lips. So far was
I from harbouring any rancour against him, that (Ver. 31) Did
not the inmates of my tent say ? By way of reproaching me for what
appeared to them my misplaced forbearance. " Oh, that we had of his
(the enemy's) flesh, we could not be satiated with it ! " Our hatred of
him is so great, that we never could tire of eating his flesh. This
sense has been given to the second hemistich by many besides
ourselves; but Piosenmuller does not hesitate to set his face
against it, without, however, assigning any better reason than
that it contains " nescio quid atrox et immane." He appears
altogether to forget that Job had himself made use of this so
fierce and savage an expression, when he said to his friends
(supra xix. 22): Why should ye persecute me like God ?
i33pri rib *ip3ai
Yea, ye seem never to be glutted with my flesh.
Ver. 31. "bnS *na [the] men of my tent ; i.e., the inmates thereof.
*n* *a for 13b n;rn *n* *a Oh that we had!
17p3B of his flesh ; i.e., the flesh of the enemy.

286 chapter xxxi. 32, 34.
Ver. 32. Job now protests that he had ever been most hospit
able to strangers, saying :
The stranger-did-not-pass-the-night in the street? I did not
suffer the stranger to spend a miserable night in the street, but
invited him to take shelter under the shadow of my roof. My
doors I opened to the way-faring-man.
Ver. 32. niS7 to the way-faring-man. n7S. is either used here for I77M (which
occurs in Judg. xix. 17 ; 2 Sam. xii. 4), or stands for niS 1313 a passer-by
[the] way, just as, supra vi. 19, SBn niniS was used for SBJ7 nin7S *1315
[the] passers-by [the] ways of (i.e., the wayfaring companies of) Tema. The
Targum has, n*nnB S^DBSb *P7 My doors I opened to [the] way-farer ; the
Syriac Version, 2u»Zia r***P <-«i*5Zo And my door I opened to the way
farer. Vers. 33 — 34. Job, having been taxed by Eliphaz with want of
sincerity, with hypocritical language, and with having chosen the
tongue of the crafty (supra xv. 5), now solemnly protests against
this charge, declaring it to be quite foreign to his character to
speak otherwise than he thinks, the frankness and sincerity of his
nature being such, that, if he had chanced to commit a fault,
he could not have concealed it, but must, regardless of shame
and all other consequences, publicly have confessed it before God
and man. He says :
Could I have covered my transgressions after the manner of man,
so as to conceal mine iniquity because of my self-love ? (Ver. 34.)
Because I dreaded the great multitude, or because the contempt of
families terrified me. Should I have been deterred from acknow
ledging my sin, by fear of falling into disgrace with the people,
or meeting with the contempt of the great families, who were
on intimate terms with me X So-that-I-should-have-been-obliged-to-
stay within, and not go out of the door ? So that I should have
been ashamed to shew my face in the street ? It will be perceived
that we understand Job to express himself in these three verses
conditionally, that is, that, if he had committed any transgressions,
he most certainly would not have concealed them, but would have
publicly confessed them, for we cannot bring ourselves to believe,
as most others seem to have done, that he here wishes to record
the fact, that whenever he had happened to transgress, he had

chapter xxxi. 33, 34; 35. 287
always made a public confession of it, since he would thus con
tradict his own words (supra xxvii. 6), " My heart cannot reproach
any of my days."
Ver. 33. E7S3 like-man ; i.e., after the manner of man, or conformably to human
nature, which is weak, and therefore prone to omit doing what is right through
false shame.
*3173 because of my self-love, because my self-love would have prevented me.
By aU the Commentators and Translators we have consulted this word is rendered
in my bosom, a meaning which we have endeavoured in vain to trace to any pure
Hebrew root. We therefore, with Kimchi and Ben-Zev,* derive the word from 33n
to love (found in Deut. xxxiii. 3, B*B5 aan F)S Yea, He loveth [the] peoples),
and take it to be either the inf. Kal with the 3 of the B3"33 } and possess.
affix, or a noun of the same form as 1(?!7 my statute, from ppn . The force
of the prefix 3 is here because of, as in Gen. xxix. 20, nn*S V13qS3 because
of his loving her. If we had stood alone in this our view of the meaning of the
word, as for a long time we thought we did, we should still have held it fast
and not have let it go, inasmuch as we are unwilling to derive words from the
Chaldaic, or Talmudical, dialect, when excellent sense can be obtained by
referring them to pure Hebrew roots.
Ver. 34. a7S1 so that I should have been obliged to remain still; i.e., remain
within doors. The verb aB7 is used to express not only the restraining of the
voice, as Lev. x. 3, ]7nS B7*1 and Aaron held his peace, but also the checking a
movement, and remaining in the same place, as Josh. x. 13, taapn B7*l And
the sun stood still. In this second sense we take it here, and here stand quite
alone, but we could not very well see what holding one's peace had to do with
going out of doors.
Vers. 35 — 37. Having finished reading his defence, Job now
emphatically exclaims : Oh, that I had one hearing me ! Behold
what I have marked down ! Let the Almighty answer me, or let
the book answer me, which my Adversary hath written.*? Let the
Almighty either verbally point' out any false statement I have
made, or name any other sins and crimes He may have to
impute to me, not comprehended in my defence. But, if He will
not deign to speak to me, then let Him produce in writing the
* Kimchi makes 'ana refer to '3i» (my iniquity) ; i.e., because of my love for it (iniquity),
but Ben-Zev takes it precisely as we do, and assuming the absol. form to be nan , says :
: nin in"s totaKw) '3i» >ana •povp. : nynub Vow
" ran a masculine noun [apphed] to love '• 'tfS, 'an? '¦ram) (self-love), on account of
love." t That is, the list of charges He has drawn up.

288 chapter xxxi. 36, 37; 35—37.
charges there may be against me. (Ver. 36.) Would I not bear
it. The book, written by my Adversary. On my shoulder ? I
would bind it as a diadem (lit., diadems) to me. * So confident am I,
that a history of my life, even though written by my Adversary
himself, would prove me innocent, that I would on no account
let the book go ; nay, I would constantly carry it about me, and
make it my glory and my boast, -f- well knowing that it would be
unto me an ornament as brilliant and as proud, as a diadem to the
prince that weareth it, encircling his brow. (Ver. 37.) I would
tell him. My Adversary. The number of my steps. I would not
conceal from Him any of my movements or actions during the
whole course of my life. I would approach him as though he
were a prince. Instead of assuming before Him that attitude of
haughty and arrogant defiance which people often do in the
presence of their adversaries, strong in the consciousness of my
innocence, I would draw near to him with the greatest respect, as
I would unto a prince.
Ver. 35. *in lit., my mark ; i.e., what I have marked down. Comp. Ezek.
ix. 4, in n*innl and thou shalt mark [set] a mark. Those who render
*in my desire, and regard it as standing for *nisn , have taken upon themselves
more than we could venture to do.
*3*7 E7*S 3j73 1BB1. for *3*1. ta*S 3n3 ipS *335* IBB* or let [the] book
answer me, which my Adversary has written.
Ver. 36. The affix 13~ in -lSStBS and 13739S refer to IBB [the] booh.
Ver. 37. The affix 13— (which stands instead of a proposition with a case),
in 137*?S and laai^S refers to *3*7. ta*S my Adversary.
|§gF The reader will see for himself, we trust, that Job's exclamation, con
tained in these three verses, ought to stand after the three following, which
conclude the summary of his conduct during the time of his prosperity — that
is to say, at the end of the Chapter, before the words 3isS *7.3! ian [ The] words
of Job are ended, a sentence, which, as we have already had occasion to observe
(see supra, p. 246), we look upon as a mere distinctive mark. Some of the
Translators and Commentators have, we are rejoiced to perceive, seen the
necessity for this transposition, and have actually made it ; for our own part,
however, as we have imposed upon ourselves the rule to transpose verses only
when there would be absolutely no sense without it, we have confined ourselves
here to including (an expedient we have already found it convenient to adopt,
* Or — I would bind it, so that it might be as a diadem to me. Editor, 1862.
\ Or — in the full assurance that it would as certainly declare the dignity of my past life,
as the diadem declares the dignity of him that wears it. Editor, 1862.

chapter xxxi. 35—37; 38—39. 289
see supra, p. 257), the three verses in question, in one bracket, marked (B), and
the three foUowing in a second, marked (A). Wolfssohn remarks upon these
three verses :
ii? rv\ , Dpi ')ff>o opipro Md i"i iv p"i p u»p7 , pifo mfnppp 'pvib
ylPlP 713 p"i )P D'pipPP i'ipil , 17PP PUDi >fl-)pf> 'Pfty >iii) , IDPPI aicpp HP(
137 1Df>3 17D'l !Pp7iP 7113 737i 31'P f|'PlP PPD O , l"i 713 p"i O'piPPP '3PS
IPPP P'Ohn 137 1Df> V737 isi DVPP 1P3 f>lPl , ipf> |'323P 137 PPI , PPI? 713
J'3DPP1 '3'133 pf>73 PPI3 ' Pilipfo D3'ipil DP3 D"Pi Plf>3 ]3 il?l , 1P'i3P 713
•7P3M 3ip'
" According to my opinion, these verses, viz., Vers. 35 — 37, are not in their proper
" place, and [indeed] the connexion and context shew this; and, if I had not been afraid, I
" should have thought of changing the order, so as to place the verses from Ver. 38 to
" the end of the Chapter, before the Vers. 35 — 37 ; for there (Vers. 38 — 40) Job goes on
" to speak of his righteousness and uprightness, as he had hitherto done (Vers. 1—34),
" whereas here (Vers. 35 — 37), he speaks of another subject; and they are, as it were, the
" finish to all his words which he has spoken from the beginning of the hook to the
" end thereof, and therefore, it would be proper to conclude with them, and to place them
" at the end (of the Chapter). So it has seemed right in my eyes, and the intelligent
" [reader] will adopt and make his choice."
Vers. 38 — 40. Job concludes his defence by declaring that, in
pecuniary matters also, his dealings would bear the strictest
scrutiny ; that all his former possessions had been lawfully and
honestly acquired, and that he had never injured any man. He
says :
If my land had cried out against me, and, at the same time, its
furrows had wept because of me. It is not at all unusual in
Hebrew poetry to find inanimate objects represented as speaking
and weeping. Thus, in Gen. iv. 10, we read, "the voice of thy
brother's blood crieth, &c. ; " in Habak. ii. 11, " For the stone
shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall
answer it ; " in Lament, ii. 18, " O wall of the daughter of Zion,
let tears run down like a river day and night : give thyself no rest,
&c." In like manner, the poet here says, If the ground in my
possession had cried out, and its furrows wept, on account of the
unlawful and violent means I had employed for their acquisition.
(Ver. 39.) If I had eaten the fruits thereof without payment, and
made the legitimate owners thereof to breathe out their soul. If, by
violently dispossessing them of their land, I had reduced them
to starvation, ending in their death — if I had done this, how was
it, that, year after year, I was blessed with a rich and abundant
u

290 chapter xxxi. 40; 39 — 40.
harvest? It ought surely to have been quite otherwise. (Ver. 40.)
Instead of the wheat, which I had sown, thorn(s) ought to have come
up, and, instead of barley, noisome-weed(s).
The words of Job are ended. That is, the words which he
addressed to his friends, for we shall still hear him say a few
words in answer to the questions addressed to him by God. We
have already observed, that we consider this concluding sentence
as a mere mark, introduced by the writer to assist him in the
arrangement of his manuscript.
Ver. 39. ni73 Ut., its strength, by which, of course, is meant its fruit, or
produce. The same word is used by God in the curse pronounced upon Cain,
Gev. iv. 12, "When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto
thee nn3 its strength." *
*nrtBn <7*ba3 taB3* Ut., and f had caused to breathe (to be breathed) out
[the] soul of its owners ; i.e., if, by violently taking away the land, I had made
the owners thereof to die of hunger. Comp. supra xi. 20, ta?3 nBB .
Ver. 40. nan nnn for n37TS "IPS. nan nnn instead of wheat, which 1
used to sow.
npSa noisome-weed[s], from taS3 to have an offensive smell. See note on
nbon supra i. 22.

* The Eng. Vers, has, " When thou tillest the ground, IT shall not henceforth yield
unto thee her strength," though both it and her refer to ground. In Hebrew, indeed, we
sometimes find a noun of com. gend. construed both as a masc. and as a fem. in the same
verse, e.g., Job xx. 26 ; 1 Kings xiii. 10, &c, but in the passage now before us the it and
the her are both expressed in the original by a. feminine. The Hebraism, therefore, with
which the translators of the Auth. Vers, have here favoured us, is a purely gratuitous one.
Surely, such a jumbling of genders would now-a-days be pronounced to be inaccurate,
inelegant, and ambiguous, yet the passage has remained for two centuries unaltered. Is
then the Auth. Vers, (a mere translation after all) so very sacred, that not even such a
trifling blemish as this may be removed ? — Editor, 1862.

291

PROLOGUE TO ELIHU'S SPEECH.
summary; of the principles and views ENTERTAINED BT ELIHU,
THE SON OF BARACHEL.

The three friends, who have hitherto been Job's opponents
in the controversy, have, in their eagerness to vindicate
the dispensations of Providence, declared their unfortunate
friend to be a fool, a sinner, a tyrant, a sceptic, and a
hypocrite. (Chap. v. 2 ; xi. 6; xxii. 5 ; 6 — 9, 13 — 14;
xv. 5.) The justice of God could not, in their opinion,
be established otherwise than by the assumption of Job's
guilt, and by the assertion that, if the afflictions which
had come upon him, were terrible, the sins and crimes,
which had called down those afflictions, must have been
more terrible still. Either Job — so they must have reasoned
with themselves — is guilty and God just, or Job is innocent
and God unjust; and, seeing no other alternative, they
determined, one and all, to abandon their fallen friend,
and to offer up, as it were, the friendship and esteem they
formerly felt for him as a holocaust upon the altar of piety
and devotion to God. What success this determination
on the part of these three friends met with has been seen
in the Chapters we have already commented upon ; not
only did they not succeed in inducing the unfortunate
sufferer to confess himself guilty of sins and crimes which
he had never committed, but they irritated and exasperated
him so much as to cause him to exchange the mere
complaints in which he had at first indulged, for violent
grumblings and murmurings, and these again for words
and expressions against God, which would have been in
the highest degree insulting if addressed to a man. This
u 2

292 prologue to elihu's speech.
Elihu perceived, and he was displeased. It vexed him to
find, that three aged and talented men could not see that
the justice of God was by no means incompatible with
the innocence of Job, inasmuch as afflictions sent down
from above do not always betoken the Divine wrath, but
very often the Divine love and grace. For these afflictions
are by no means sent exclusively upon wicked men, for the
purpose of punishing them for offences, which they have
committed, but very often also upon good men as an
admonition and warning against offences which they might
be upon the point of committing. Man, who is shapen in
iniquity and conceived in sin, is unstable as water, nor can
he at any moment of his life answer for what may be his
conduct towards God or man in the next moment. How
ever willing his spirit, his flesh is weak. He may have
been humble-minded the greater part of his life, yet all at
once become proud ; he may have been a fearer of God from
his youth upward, and yet suddenly turn a rebel against
God. This is particularly the case with those, who live
in ease and comfort, in the enjoyment of riches and
wealth, in affluence and abundance. That this is so, that
the enjoyment of temporal blessings is apt to make even
the best of men degenerate, and to lead them to become
quite the reverse of what they have been, we are told over
and over again in Scripture. We read for example :
Lest, when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built
goodly houses, and dwelt therein. And, when thy herds and
thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied,
and all that thou hast is multiplied. Then, thine heart be
lifted up, and thou forget Jehovah thy God, which brought
thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of
bondage. (Deut. viii. 12 — 14.) But Jeshurun waxed fat,
and kicked : thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou
art covered with fatness : then he forsook God, which made
him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. (Deut.
xxxii. 15.) For there are no bands in their death: but
their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other
men ; neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore^

prologue to elihu's speech. 293
pride compasseth them about as a chain ; violence covereth
them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness :
they have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt,
and speak wickedly concerning oppression : they speak loftily.
They set their mouth against the heavens ; and their tongue
walketh through the earth. (Ps. lxxiii. 4 — 9.) Remove
far from me vanity and lies ; give me neither poverty nor
riches ; feed me with food convenient for me. Lest I be
full, and deny Thee, and say, who is Jehovah ? &c. (Prov.
xxx. 8, 9). Whether Job and the other four men, who
speak in this book, were contemporaries of any one of the
inspired writers, whose words we have just quoted, or
whether they lived before, or after them, matters here very
little ; it is sufficient to know that Elihu, the young man
who is now about to speak, was fully aware of this great
truth, namely, that God has the good man ever in His keep
ing, but that, when He sees that, owing to the prosperity
and the exalted station in which it has been given him to
live, the root, " which beareth gall and wormwood," is
becoming implanted in his heart, He subjects him to
afflictions calculated to kill that root, and thus saves him
from the ruin which it would have brought upon him
(Chap, xxxvi. 7 — 9). Elihu, moreover, was aware that,
when God, in His love and mercy, does send afflictions
upon a good man, to prevent him from becoming dege
nerate, that good man's future fate depends upon himself,
that is, upon the manner in which he conducts himself
while subjected to these afflictions. If he bows to the
will of God, if he kisses the rod which chastises him, if he
is penetrated with the conviction, that that which comes
from God must be intended for his good, then his afflic
tions last but for a moment, and he is again received into
the bosom of Him who chastened him, as the father chastens
the son he delights in. But, if he proves refractory,
murmurs, and rebels against God, his end must be
dreadful (Chap, xxxvi. 11, 12); and the afflictions, which
were at first a mark of God's love for him, will be con
tinued to him as a mark of His anger (ibid. Ver. 18).

294 PROLOGUE TO ELIHU'S SPEECH.
The good man, therefore, is actually saved by the afflic
tions he has to undergo ; they are no punishment, but a
salutary warning, a finger of God to point out to him
that he is in danger of falling (ibid. Ver. 15). Now, as
Job's afflictions seem to Elihu to have been sent upon him
by God for this very purpose, the essence of this friend's
discourse may be given in about the following words.
Thou, O Job, sayest that thou hast always been a good
man, that thou hast ever been meek and kind towards thy
fellow-men, submissive and humble towards thy Maker;
this I admit, this I fully believe thee to have been, and
have the greatest pleasure in believing ; yea, I delight in
regarding thee as a most virtuous and pious man, and a fearer
of God (Chap, xxxiii. 32) ; but, wouldest thou have con
tinued to be so, if thou hadst been allowed to remain in
the enjoyment of comfort, affluence, dignity, and all other
temporal blessings ? — this I do not know, this thou thyself
canst not know, this only He could know, before whom
lie open the recesses of man's heart, and this I maintain
He did know. He did know that the seed of corruption
was beginning to germinate in thy heart, that, from being
pious, upright, and a fearer of God, thou wast — unaware
of it thyself — about to become the very contrary, and there
fore, desiring to save thee, to rescue thee from ruin and
perdition, He sent afflictions upon thee. In so doing, He
wished to snatch thee from the grasp of the worst enemy
a man has in this world, namely, too great ease and too
great comfort, to pluck thee from the jaws, as it were, of
an adversary, who panted to devour thee (Chap, xxxvi. 16).
Now, hadst thou proved thyself submissive to the dictates
of thy Maker, these thine afflictions would have been but
for a moment, and thou wouldst have received blessings
greater even than those thou didst formerly enjoy. But
how didst thou behave ? Instead of humbling thyself in
prayer before God, thou gavest vent to rage and fury that
would have disgraced even the most wicked of men ;
therefore is it that thy sufferings are continued to thee
(ibid. Ver. 17) ; and now, God will not, nay cannot, re-

PROLOGUE TO ELIHu's SPEECH. 295
move them. Indeed, I myself pray to Him not to
remove them, since His indulgence in this respect would
serve as a pernicious example to other men, who would be
led to imitate thy behaviour when sufferings were sent upon
them from above, if thou wert now to be allowed to
triumph, and to boast that thy murmurings against God had
availed thee (Chap, xxxiv. 36, 37). Yea, I warn thee,
and tell thee that the afflictions under which thou still
continuest to labour are no longer the signs of the love
and mercy of God, as they were when they first came upon
thee, but are now actual chastisements, are now marks of
the indignation and wrath of God. Take heed, therefore,
to thyself, lest He should give thee the finishing stroke
(Chap, xxxvi. 18).  Having thus made allusion to
death, Elihu thinks it right to warn Job (ibid. Ver. 20)
against the most horrible of all crimes, suicide, which he
had confessed he had been, owing to the agony he suffered,
sometimes tempted to commit (Chap. vii. 15).  And
then Elihu concludes his discourse by calling upon Job to
admire God in the works of His creation, and in the great
phenomena of nature, rain, thunder and lightning — phe
nomena which probably preceded the whirlwind from
which God was soon to manifest Himself, and therefore
engrossed the attention of the speaker.
The fact, that God, as wiU be seen in the last Chapter of this book,
not only rebuked the three aged friends of Job, but also required of
them an atoning sacrifice, and bade them seek the intercession of Job,
whilst with the young man Elihu He found no fault, goes, in our
humble opinion, very far to shew that Elihu had spoken the truth, and
that the afflictions which were sent upon Job, had really j ust come in time
to prevent a sad change, which was on the point of being operated in
his mind, and would, in all probability, have come to pass, even if
Satan had not interfered. If therefore Satan, in the pride and malice
of his heart, thought that it was at his instigation, and in consequence
of his slander, that Job was given up into bis hands, he was most
egregiously mistaken, for the afflictions of our sufferer were not sent
upon him by God for the purpose of gratifying the enemy of mankind,
but for the purpose of rescuing from eternal perdition one, whom God
knew to be pious and upright and a fearer of Himself.

296

CHAPTER XXXII.
Vers. 1 — 5. So these three men ceased from answering Job,
because he was just in his own eyes. These three men, thinking
that the only means of vindicating the ways of Providence lay
in the establishment of Job's guilt, did everything they could to
induce Job to confess himself guilty; but, when they saw that neither
advice, entreaties, nor even invectives, could bring him to acknow
ledge his guilt, and that he even called God to witness that, till he
died, he would not remove his integrity from him, that he would hold
fast his righteousness, and not let it go, that his heart could not
reproach any of his days (Chap, xxvii. 2 — 6)  when they saw,
moreover, that even Zophar's noble closing speech — the most
sublime and emphatic of all the discourses in the book — could
not prevail upon Job to acknowledge the great truth, that man
has no business to philosophize and investigate the ways of
Providence, seeing that his wisdom alone consists in fearing God
and departing from evil  but that, on the contrary, he continued
to speak of his piety, generosity, and the good he had done
during the whole course of his life, and forgot himself so far
as to call God 7pN cruel (Chap. xxx. 21), and, at the conclusion
of his long discourse, to challenge the Almighty to point out to him,
either by word of mouth, or in writing, what he had done to deserve
punishment  when they saw all this, they became convinced that
no good could arise from following up the line of argument they
had adopted, and they therefore came to the conclusion, that the
best course they could pursue would be to desist from their purpose,
and leave off speaking. (Ver. 2.) Then kindled the anger of Elihu,
the son of Barachel, the Buzite, of the family of Ram ; against Job
did his anger kindle, because of his considering himself more righteous
than God. It was not because Elihu suspected Job (as the other
three men did) of having acted wickedly, that his anger was
kindled against him, but on account of his (Job's) entertaining
and expressing the opinion, that, seeing he had done nothing
wrong, God could not have acted justly in sending afflictions upon
him — an opinion which a really pious and good man ought never

chapter xxxii. 3 — 5; 2. 297
to have entertained, much less expressed  whereas he should,
on the contrary, when affliction came upon him, have thought
and said : Although I am not aware that I have done anything to
deserve these afflictions, yet, inasmuch as they have come upon
me from One, whose wisdom and mercy pass all human under
standing, I feel convinced that they have been sent upon me for
my good. Had Job spoken thus, Elihu would, it would seem,
have been quite satisfied with him, and his displeasure only arose
because Job thought (agreeing in this with his three aged friends),
that the justice of God was incompatible with his own innocence.
(Ver. 3.) And against his (Job's) three friends did his (Elihu's)
anger kindle, because they had found no answer, and therefore
declared Job wicked. Because, unable to vindicate the proceedings
of God towards Job, otherwise than by imputing to the latter
crimes and sins even more enormous than would justify the afflic
tions under which he laboured, they had straightway pronounced
Job guilty — no real answer to his complaints and murmurings.
(Ver. 4.) Now Elihu had waited with his words regarding Job.
He had deferred uttering what he had to say with regard to the
fate and sufferings of Job. For they. The other three friends.
Were older than he in days. Out of respect to the old age of
the three friends he had refrained from speaking until they had
ceased. (Ver. 5.) But, when Elihu saw that there was no
answer in the mouth of these three men. That they still were of
opinion, that, unless they assumed Job to be guilty, they could
not establish the justice of God. Then his anger kindled.
Ver. 2. a*nas.B ltaB3 ip7? ba because of his considering himself more just
than God. Umbreit strongly objects to give to the prefix a in B*n7S.B the
sense it usuaUy bears when serving to institute a comparison, namely that of more
than, asserting that Job had never said that he was more just than God. He
prefers, therefore, bestowing upon that prefix a force,* which, in our opinion, it
would be difficult for him to prove it ever has. Job, indeed, had never said
totidem verbis that he was more just than God, but, by implication, he had said
a great deal more, and that, not once only, but over and over again — the inference
his hearers must have drawn from his words being, that he was just arid God unjust.
Comp. supra ix. 22; xvi. 14 — 18; xix. 6, 7; xxiii. 11 — 16; xxiv. 12; xxx. 21. As
well might Umbreit, if, in his hearing, a white man should say to a blackamoor,
that he was white and the blackamoor black, object that the white man never said
* He gives it the sense of vor (before) and translates : " weil er sich fur gerecht hielt
vor Gott."— Editor, 1862.

298 chapter xxxii. 2, 4; 6 — 7.
he was whiter than the blackamoor. EUhu, indeed, did not draw such over nice
distinctions, for we shall hear him say in the next Chapter (vers. 8 — 11) to Job,
Surely, thou hast spoken in mine hearing, and I have heard the voice of thy words,
saying, I am clean without transgression, f am innocent ; neither is there iniquity
in me. Behold ! He findeth occasions against me, He counteth me for His
enemy, &c. For this signification of the a we are referred by the same translator
to supra iv. 17, where, however, he is just as much in error as be is here.
Ver. 4. B*1373 31»S ns nan in*b.S1 lit., now Elihu had waited with [his]
words regarding Job ; i.e., he had deferred uttering what he had to say with
reference to Job for the reason assigned in the second clause of this same verse,
namely, that they (i.e., the three friends, who had hitherto spoken) were older
than himself. As we never meet with the verb n317 governing the accusative
case, we have been induced to consider the particle ns , not as a mark of the
accus., but as giving the proper name 3l*S an absolute sense. Comp. 2 Kings
vi. 5, " And as one was felling a beam B*B!7 bs b?3 bt13n nS) then, as for
the iron, it fell into the water."
The verse should, therefore, be construed thus :
121 irivSI Now Elihu had waited
D17372 for TH 2 7 2 with his words (which he had
to say)
nvx t\8 in regard to Job,
nBfl "O for they (i.e., the three friends, who had
hitherto spoken) [were]
13 SD DiJj7T older than he,
D'P1? as far as regards days.
The seemingly pleonastic E*B*3 here as well as in ver. 6, may perhaps have
been intended to express that the three friends were not superior to him in rank
or dignity, but only as far as regards the respect to which age entitles, as, in our
opinion, wherever a*3j7[ is used in the sense of elders (of a city), not the most
aged men are necessarily meant, but the leading men of the city. For the force
we have given to the prefix 7 compare Gen. xvii. 20, 1*n5?p 35BP*yl
and, with regard to Ishmael, I have heard thee.
Vers. 6 — 12. And Elihu, the son of Barachel, the Buzite, took-
up-his-discourse, and said, As far as regards days. I am young,
and ye are very old. Though there may be no difference in the
station we fill in life, yet there is a vast difference in our respective
ages. Therefore was I slow. To come forward. And afraid to
shew you mine opinion. I knew that old age ought to be respected
and venerated (Ver. 7.) I thought, days ought to speak. I
thought that such only as have seen many days have a right
publicly to declare their opinions. Seeing that a multitude of

chapter xxxii. 7 — 12. 299
years make men to know wisdom. And that, therefore, those, who
have lived many years, and have grown wise by experience, should
alone command the public ear. (Ver. 8.) But verily I find that
it is not as I thought, that it is not that which men receive through
their senses which makes them sensible, but that it is the spirit
which is in man, and the breath of the Almighty, which rendereth
them intelligent. And that consequently those, upon whom the
Almighty has been pleased to bestow that spirit of intelligence, may
become sensible and wise before they have attained any consider
able age. (Ver. 9.) Multitudes are not always wise, nor do old-
men always perceive what is just* Although ye, who have hitherto
opposed Job, are three, and are all of you agreed in regarding
Job as a guilty man, and though I, who am not of your opinion,
am alone and single-handed, it by no means hence follows, that
you must be right and I wrong. Neither does your age entitle
you to believe that you have arrived at the truth, and that I am
mistaken. (Ver. 10.) Therefore, I say, Listen, O Job, unto
me, I, yea I also, will shew thee mine opinion. (Ver. 11.) Lo! I
have waited for your words ; I gave ear to your reasonings, waiting
until you should have searched out matters. I was in no hurry to
come forward with my opinion, but waited to hear to what con
clusions you would come, after having thoroughly sifted the case
of our unfortunate friend. (Ver. 12.) But, though I attended
unto you, yet, behold ! there was not one of you convincing Job, or
answering his words. As you have none of you been able to
convict Job of any of the enormous crimes you imputed to him,
his complaints and pleadings have remained totally unanswered
by you, whose arguments based upon the supposition, that he
(Job) fully deserved the punishments that have been inflicted on
* We cannot refrain quoting here the sentiments of the Rabbins of the Mishnah on
this subject from Treatise Aboth, Chap. iv. : —
ron ]" nniOT mnp cra» taixb nnn Kin no1? miapn jo -vyhn low 'tain -sa «'s min' -n <dv »n
: j«> y nniwi rvfrwn D'n» taw1? rron wn nab D':pin jo nDi?m
t ia ]'N ffiin iVbnw )»' ffl'i ]»' ato vtrt )p:p »• u ww nni n^h ]p:p3 toron to ibis "too '31
" Rabbi Jose the son of Judah a man of K'phar-Habbabelee says ; He who learns of young-men,
unto what is he like ? [He is Hke] unto one [that is] eating sour grapes and drinking wine from its
press (i.e., before it has sufficiently fermented) ; but he who learns from old-men, unto what is he
like ? [He is like] unto one [that is] eating ripe grapes and drinking old wine."
" Rabbi Mayeer [in opposition to the above Rabbi] says : Do not look at the pitcher, but at that
which is in it, there being a new pitcher full of old [wine], and an old [pitcher] in which there is
not even new [wine]."

300 CHAPTER XXXII. 6 — 12.
hira — a supposition entirely unwarranted — could not do otherwise
than fall to the ground.
Ver. 6. B*B^ 7 as far as regards days. For the force of the prefix b see our
mote on the same word in the preceding verse.
'nant Ht., / crept ; i.e., I was slow in coming forward. "We take the verb
bnt in the sense it was taken in by Rabbi Jonah, as quoted by Kimchi in his
G*ta7ian 7BB. Comp. Deut. xxxii. 24, 733 *bnriit,, creepers of [the] dust; i.e.,
serpents of the dust. Some suppose 3nT in the present instance to be i.q. the
Chaldee vfll to fear, but, though the Hebrew * is very frequently exchanged
for 7 in Chaldee, we preferred embracing Rabbi Jonah's opinion, as we thereby
avoid tautology.
Ver. 8. The relative "ipS which, should be supplied before tai3S3 in the first,
and before a3*an , in the second, hemistich.
Ver. 9. a1?7 many, or multitudes ; i.e., it does not follow, because you are
three against me, who have no one to support me in my opinion, that you must
therefore be in the right. So we heard Job say (supra xii. 2) :
Indeed, because ye are a company,
Must therefore wisdom die with you ?
Some take a*3l to be in parallelism with B*3|7T. in the second hemistich, and very
reasonably support their view by the passage in Gen. xxv. 23, 7*52 7337* 3i"|
and [the] elder shall serve [the] younger. For our own part, however, we have
preferred giving the word its more usual meaning, as we shall then make Elihu
utter the same sentiment as we have just shown had been expressed by Job.
BBPB 13*3; B*3,7|1 for BBtpB 13*3*. B*3,7T sb* Nor do old-men [always]
perceive [what is] just (right), so that the particle &b 0f the first hemistich must
be understood in the second, either in the place we have assigned to it, or after
the word a*3jtt . Comp. Ps. ix. 19, where the same particle must also be suppUed
from the first hemistich to the second.
Ver. 10. nsap" hear thou [0 Job I] In the next Chapter (Ver. 1) we shall
find the speaker addressing himself to Job by name, and here he may fairly be
supposed to have indicated, by his gestures, that he was speaking to Job, unless,
indeed, by using the singular, he intended to call the attention of every one of the
party present to what he was about to say.
Ver. 11. I1!*? for the more reg. form 7*I^S I gave ear, the fut. tense of course
expressing constancy, and implying that he never for one moment ceased to
lend an attentive ear to the speeches delivered by his friends. See note on "'BSn
infra xxxiv. 31 (note).
"|*ba we take here to be synonymous with E*737; words, or rather matters, in
which sense nba is very frequently used in Chaldee. Comp. Dan. ii. 8, 15, 17.
Ver. 12. The particle T*? in the first hemistich must be supplied before the
participle npia in the second, and, on the other hand, the word B3B in the second
hemistich must be understood after the 11W in the first, so that, expressed in
full, the first hemistich would run,

CHAPTER XXXII. 12 ; 13 — 17. 301
3i*Sb n*3ia B3a ]*S nani. And lo ! there teas no one from among you con
vincing Job ;
and the second,
l1"??^ n3ly E3a "|*S there was no one from among you answering his
speeches. Vers. 13 — 22. Having paid his tribute of respect to the age of
the three friends, whom he is about to oppose, Elihu now proceeds
to shew them that he fully perceives the drift of all their argu
ments, but cannot approve of them. He says :
Peradventure ye will say, We have found out wisdom. Does not
that strong and conclusive argument which we wielded against
Job shew this1? — the argument, namely, that it is God that
thrusteth him down, and not a man. Could we possibly have used
a better argument than this % If Job had complained, that for his
afflictions he was indebted to a man, we should have considered
it our duty to examine whether his complaints were or were not
just, and whether he had actually been wronged by that man or
not; but, as his afflictions proceed directly from God, there can
be no doubt but that he has in the fullest degree deserved them.
To this, in fact, your arguments amount. (Ver. 14.) But why
did he (Job) not direct his words to me? I indeed should not
have replied to him with your speeches. I should not have adopted
a line of argument like yours, which could not fail to exasperate a
man conscious of his innocence, and to drive him to despair.* (For
what did Job's friends gain by the course they thought fit to
pursue ] Were they not, so far from reaping any advantage from
it, signally defeated by Job, and reduced to an ignominious
silence?) (Ver. 15.) They were confounded; they answered no
more ; they put away the matter from them. They declined inves
tigating the matter ; they said, since the punishment came from
God, it must needs be just; what necessity, then, for proving its
justice? (Ver. 16.) So I waited, until they spake no longer,
until they stopped, and answered no more. (Ver. 17.) I also will
speak my part. I will say my say. Yea, I also will shew mine
* It will be observed that in the next two verses there is a change of person, and that
Elihu no longer addresses himself to the three friends, but speaks of them. But whether
he now begins a soliloquy, or whether he turns round and addresses himself to Job, I must
leave to the reader to decide. It was for the purpose of marking this change of persons
somewhat that I inserted the brackets, which were not in the manuscript. — Editor, 1862.

302 chapter xxxii. 18—22; 13—18.
opinion. (Ver. 18.) For I am full of words. If I have hitherto
been silent, it was not because I had nothing to say ; on the con
trary, I have a great deal to say upon the subject, and at the same
time a great desire to say it. The spirit within me constraineth me
to speak. (Ver. 19.) Behold! my belly is like wine, which hath
no vent. Just as wine, when allowed to ferment in a cask or
other vessel which has no vent-hole, may be expected to burst
that vessel's walls, so does the subject I have to speak upon
ferment and work within me. It (my belly) is ready to burst like
new bottles. These would be more likely to burst than old bottles,
because new wine was put into new bottles, as we read in
Matt. ix. 17. By bottles here, as well as in Matthew, of course
leathern bottles or wine-skins must be understood. (Ver. 20.) i"
will speak, then, that I may ease myself ; I will open my lips, and
tdke-up-my-discourse. (Ver. 21.) I will not now accept the
person of any man, neither will I use-bland-words to any man.
(Ver. 22.) For I know not how to use-bland-words ; my Maker
will almost have to forgive it me. No one can charge me with
ever having used bland and flattering words to any one who
required correction ; my tendency lies towards the other extreme,
so that God may perhaps find fault with me for conveying my
correction in too frank and open a manner.
Ver. 13. ]B which usually signifies lest, or for fear that, is evidently used here
synonymously with *7lS perchance, peradventure. So in 2 Kings ii. 16, "Let
them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master ; 7B peradventure, the Spirit of
Jehovah hath taken him up, &c." The reason for our objecting to give to this
particle here the sense of lest, which most of the Translators have assigned to it,
will no doubt be obvious to the reader, for lest cannot be used unless there be some
word or sentence for it to depend upon, and what could it depend upon here ?
Ver. 14. T13 ^b) for TJ1? sb> nab") . But why did he not direct, as infra
xxxiv. 33 "OS sbl for *?s sb nabi:.
Ver. 15. a*ba we again take here to be synonymous with Q17?7 matters (or
rather matter in the sing., to meet the requirements of the EngUsh idiom), as we
did above in Ver. 1 1 .
Ver. 1 6. s? in the first, as well as in the second, clause, evidently stands for
*3 73 until that; and the word 7i3 must be supplied from the third clause
after l"1?!* jn the first.
Ver. 18. lnba for *nsbB . We met with a similar omission of the S supra i. 21
in the word *n2* (C'theev). On Vlba we have the Masoretic note, "S Sba b"23
so it ought to be without S (b"23 standing for ni*nb 7*13 7.3).

CHAPTER XXXII. 19 — 22. 303
Ver. 19; nnB* sb for ni7B* rfb 7p;s which is not opened.
5P.3*. it will burst, or it is ready to burst, refers to 1?a3 my belly, in the first
hemistich ; the meaning being, my belly is ready to burst like new bottles. New
bottles are mentioned, as being more likely to burst than old ones, in consequence
of the fermentation of the new wine which it was customary to put in them.
Comp. Matt. ix. 17.
Umbreit, and others, who are reputed to hold the highest rank
among German critics, seem to vie in running down Elihu.
Umbreit terms him a conceited and idle prattler, and, indeed,
goes so far as to maintain that the author of this book himself
intended to turn him into ridicule, when he put into his mouth
the words upon which we have just commented, namely, " My
belly is ready to burst, &c." The reason why these German
critics speak so disparagingly of Elihu, seems to us clearly to be
this, that, namely, to none of them has been revealed the real
pith of his powerful and decisive arguments ; but what we are
puzzled to account for is, how one like Umbreit, who doubtless
professes intimate acquaintance with Oriental literature, could
forget that expressions and figures, which to European ears would
appear unnatural and bombastic, are in Oriental languages not
only admissible, but frequently considered elegant and highly
poetical. Among such expressions and figures we may quote the
following: "Put Thou my tears into Thy bottle" (Ps. lvi. 8);
" For I am become like a bottle (wine-skin) in the smoke "
(Ps. cxix. 83) ; " Thy navel is like a round goblet, which wanteth
not liquor ; thy belly is like an heap of wheat set about with
lilies .... thine eyes are like the fish-pools in Heshbon ..."
" thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon, &c." (Cant. vii. 2, 4). We
could cite many more such, or even more extravagant, hyperboles
from the Bible, but our space will not allow us to do so.
Ver. 20. *b nil*1] Ut., that there may be ease to me; i.e., that I may be eased.
Comp. 1 Sam. xvi. 23, blSpb 17111. lit., and there used to be ease to Saul ;
i.e., Saul used to be eased. See Mason and Berpard's Grammar, Letter xlix.,
P.S. (b).
Ver. 21. n33S sb B7S b^l Ut., I will not give flattering epithets to any man;
i.e., I will not soften down the asperity of my rebukes by using bland and
soothing expressions.
Ver. 22. n.33S *n57_*T sb> *3 for ni33b *n57*T S7 *3 far I do not know
[how] to speak blandly; a tense being here used for an infinitive mood. Comp.

304 chapter xxxii. 22 ; chapter xxxiii. 1 — 3.
Lament, iv. 14, where 15?*. stands for ^Sab or 33.3b to touch. For other
examples see Mason and Bernard's Grammar, Letter L, § 13.
*3P5 "BSp* my Maker will forgive me ; i.e., my Maker will have to forgive
me my sometimes hurting the feelings of my friends by speaking too openly.
We take the verb S£P3 in this instance in the acceptation oi forbearing, or
forgiving, as in Ps. xcix. 8, Sp3 7S a forbearing, or forgiving, God. Nearly
all the Translators we have consulted understand it in the sense of removing (from
this world); but, besides there being, as far as we know, no one instance in which
this verb is used in such a sense in the Bible, this interpretation of theirs has
not even the merit of establishing a close connexion between the two members of
the verse, as God certainly does not always immediately remove flatterers and
sycophants, when they speak otherwise than they think.

CHAPTER XXXIII.
Vers. 1 — 12. Hear then, Job, I pray thee, my words, and give
ear to all my speeches. (Ver. 2.) Behold, now ! I have opened my
mouth ; my tongue hath spoken within my palate. As long as I
could refrain from speaking, I did so, but now, that I have once
begun to speak, I must be allowed to continue till I have uttered
all I have to say, and, therefore, I crave thy constant and
undivided attention. (Ver. 3.) The uprightness of my heart shall
be my eloquence, and my knowledge shall consist in this, that my
lips speak clearly. The speaker had not, it appears, forgotten
Job's finding fault (supra vi. 25) with his friends for seeking to
display their oratorical talent, on which occasion he had maintained,
that words spoken with sincerity, though plain and unadorned
with rhetorical ornaments, were more powerful than set speeches
replete with elegance and eloquence. Referring to this, Elihu
says, I do not lay claim to eloquence, or to any great profundity
of knowledge — I lay claim to sincerity of heart ; no loftily-worded
phrases must be expected from me ; all that I can promise is, that
whatever I do say shall come out of my heart, and be expressed in
plain and simple language, unvarnished and unadorned. Having

chapter xxxiii. 3 — 12. 305
thus modestly acknowledged his inability to play the orator, he
next calls attention to the wish expressed by Job, that God would
remove His rod and His terror from him, whereby he should be
enabled to reason with Him, without being overwhelmed by His
power and, majesty (Comp. supra ix. 34, 35); and in reference to
this, Elihu says, In me at least there is nothing whatever that can
strike thee with awe, and deter thee from endeavouring to refute
my arguments, if I am wrong, for I am a human being like thy
self. (Ver. 4.) The spirit of God hath made me. Just as it hath
made thee. And the breath of the Almighty preserveth me alive.
Precisely as it doth thee. Therefore, (Ver. 5) If thou canst,
answer me ; set thy words in order before me, stand up. I am quite
ready to hear what thou hast to say by way of objection and
refutation. Thou didst wish to reason with God (supra xxxi. 35) ;
this wish shall now be granted thee. (Ver. 6.) Behold ! I am
here instead of God, according to thy word. Thy desire then is
granted to thee, and at the same time all cause for dread is
removed from thee, for, although I take upon myself to represent
God, thou needest not in the least be afraid of me, since I am a
man as thou art. Just as thou hast been, so also have I been cut
out of clay. Dust we are both of us, and to dust shall we, both
of us, return. (Ver. 7.) Lo ! my terror. The terror I am
capable of inspiring. Need not affright thee, neither can my
importunity press heavily upon thee. Since we are both men,
thou canst easily shake me off, if at any time thou shouldest
perceive that I become importunate, (Ver. 8.) But, thou didst
say in mine ears; yea, I heard the sound of words. Such as these.
(Ver. 9.) "J am pure without transgression ; I am clean, and
there is no iniquity in me. (Ver. 10.) Lo ! Se findeth occasions
against me. Occasions for doing me hurt. He counteth me for his
enemy. (Ver. 11.) He putteth my feet in the stocks ; Hewatcheth
all my ways." All my movements. (Ver. 12.) Behold! in this
thou art not right, let me tell thee. Thy three friends told thee,
thou must needs have done wickedly in the former part of thy
life, and in saying so they may have wronged thee ; but I do not
say so, I believe thee to have lived a righteous life, till these
afflictions came upon thee, but then thou didst sin, and sin very
grievously, in that thou couldest presume to utter such unseemly

306 chapter xxxiii. 12; 3 — 10.
words concerning God, because He had afflicted thee, For God is
greater than frail-man. He is a Being so great and so exalted,
that it is not possible to suppose He would afflict such a weak
and frail being as man, unless He knew that he would be
benefitted by his afflictions.
Ver. 3. "'TBS Ut., my speeches, equivalent here to my eloquence. Comp. Exod.
iv. 10, *33S B*137; ta*S sb Ut., / [am] not a man of words, but very justly
rendered in the Auth. Vers. I am not eloquent. The verse before us should be
construed thus : ^21 lU/i [The] uprightness (or sincerity) of my heart
[shall be]
17 OK my eloquence,
J7^"T1 for M7JH1 And my knowledge [shall consist
in this, that]
177.P 7173 iHQB' my lips speak clearly, (i.e., I lay no claim
to either eloquence or wisdom, and can
only undertake to speak sincerely and
clearly.)
Ver. 5. nana for tJ*137: nan??, or TbB n3l5 arrange thy words. Comp.
7*yB *3S TJI5 S7l {supra xxxii. 14), indeed he did not direct [his] words to me.
Ver. 6. I1?? Ut., according to thy mouth; i.e., according to thy words,
according to the request given utterance to by thee.
bsb instead of God. Comp. Exod. iv. 16, " he shall be to thee n^b instead
of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him B*nbsb instead of God."
Ver. 7. *B3S1* Ut., and my pressure, i.e., my importunity. The absolute form
IBS is not to be met with in Scripture, but the verb IBS is found in Prov.
xvi. 26, I'T'B 1*^5 HBS *3 far his mouth urgeth him, as very properly trans
lated by Dr. French and Mr. Skinner.
Ver. 9. *|n clean. The punctuation of this word refers it to the root *isn
(part. Kal), which in Hebrew signifies to cover, shelter ; but from this meaning
no sense suitable to the passage before us can be extracted. Since, how
ever, the same yerb is used in the Talmud in the significations of rubbing,
scratching, scraping, Ben-Zev considers R17 here to have a meaning hence
derived, namely, that of being rubbed bright, cleansed, clean. Comp. Sb 1*T3
naisa ItaSl Fpn* A Nazarite must not rub his head with earth. (Beza,
chap. v. near the beginning.)
Ver. 10. niS13n occasions. Most of the Translators and Commentators
derive this word from S13 , which in Hiph-el signifies to forbid, frustrate, make
of none effect, but with aU their elaborate discussions and explanations they
* Comp. 'po« (Isa. xlvii. 8, 10) from ddn. Editor, 1862.

chapter xxxiii. 10—12; 13—18. 307
cannot succeed in elucidating the manner in which they have derived the sense
they choose to give this word here from the above named root ; nor can the word
in this passage have the same signification as it has in Numbers xiv. 34. We are,
therefore, glad to find that Ben-Zev considers the word before us to be synonymous
with n3^n * (Judg. xiv. 4,) an occasion.
Ver. 12. nst for nST3 in this, i.e., in saying so.
Vers. 13 — 18. Why didst thou contend with Him? What was
it that chiefly caused thee to complain and murmur against Him %
It was because He will not declare any of His words. Because,
according to thee, He refuseth to offer the slightest explana
tion of His proceedings towards men. (Chap. ix. 2, 3 ; x. 2 ;
xiii. 22 ; xix. 7.) But this assertion of thine I flatly deny, for
(Ver. 14) Certainly God doth speak to man in one way, yea, in
two ways, if he doth not regard it. If no heed is given to the
warning of God when conveyed in the first of the two modes,
which He employs for the purpose, He conveys it in the second
and more severe one, so as to secure attention to His admonition.
The first mode He adopts is to speak to man (Ver. 15) In a dream,
a vision of the night, when deep-sleep falleth upon men ; in their
slumberings upon their couch. (Ver. 16.) Then He shews men,
that He will decree their chastisement. That He will most assuredly
chastise them, if they give no heed to His first warning.-]- This
is done by Him (Ver. 17) In order to remove from man his evil-
practices, and also to remove from man the pride, which he con-
cealeth. The pride, which he has in his heart, and which he
either covers with a cloak of hypocritical humility, or may,
perhaps, sometimes be infected with, without himself being aware
of it. To remove this, warning is given in a dream, so that
(Ver. 18) He (God) may keep back his person from the pit, and
his life from passing. Away from the world. By the sword. By
a violent and untimely death.
Ver. 13. ni3*1 didst thou contend. This form is very irregular ; for, if it be
taken to be the pret. Kal (the root being 311 or 3*1), the reg. form would be
nai ; and if the pret. Hiph-el, we should expect to find ni3*in . A similar
anomaly occurs in Dan. ix. 2, where 103*3 J understood, stands either for ln33 f
if Kal, or for *ni3*3n , if Hiph-el.
* The plur. of this would be nwn or rrasin , and from the latter, hy a transposition of
some of its letters, we should obtain the word under consideration, rmom . — Editor, 1862.
t As was the case with Abimelech (see Gen. xx. 3) ; and with Nebuchadnezzar (see
Dan* iv. 5).
x 2

308 chapter xxxiii. 14 — 17; 19 — 21.
Ver. 14. nailta* sb for nailta* sb BS if he (man) will not regard it (the
warning first given). The verb 71ta to look, see, is sometimes used in the sense of
to observe, regard. Comp. Hos. xiii. 7, UtaS I will observe, narrowly watch.
In the same acceptation the verb nsi to see, is sometimes used, e.g., in Isa.
xxvi. 10, nin* nisa nST*. b31 and he will not regard [the] majesty of Jehovah.
Ver. 16. E*p3S. 7.TS n?}* Ut., He uncovers [the] ear of men; i.e., He shews,
reveals, to men. The phrase 1?.S rib3 to uncover [the] -ear, in the sense of to
shew, declare, very frequently occurs ; for one instance of the many that might
be quoted, the reader is referred to 1 Sam. xx. 2.
Eni7* B1BB31 Ut., that He will seal their chastisement ; i.e., decree it them,
since, as we are informed in the Bible, decrees had to be sealed with the King's
signet-ring before they acquired validity. Comp. Esth. viii. 8. The 3 in BIBBS
is either the mark of the objective case, or pleonastic. See note on 7np *S.5B33
supra iii. 9. E1BB stands here for B1B1B f which is the more regular form.
Ver. 17. The B of "'B.aB in the second hemistich of this verse must be
supplied to B7S jn the first ; and the relat. "ltaS. which, before nB3* , so that the
verse should be construed thus :
71DH7 in order to remove
.' T :
lfoy.12 for int^J/p his doing (or practice)
D7X for D7NO from man,
T T T T " *f '
17*01 And [also to remove] pride.
12212 from man
1£>2) for ngQ* 1U/8 which he may conceal (i.e., which
he may not display through hypocrisy, or which
may, unknown to himself, be beginning to strike
root in his heart).
nia stands here for niS3 pride, as supra xxii. 29.
Vers. 19 — 26. Elihu now proceeds to speak of the more serious
warning, which is given to man by God, if that conveyed in a
dream is disregarded. He says :
Or he is chastened with pain upon his couch* He is stricken
with such a severe and painful disease, that he is obliged to take
to -his bed. So that the jarring of his limbs is vehement. So that
the harmony which reigned between the different parts of the
sufferer's body is disturbed, his whole economy disordered and
deranged. (Ver. 20.) And his appetite loatheth bread, yea, his
soul loatheth his favourite food. (Ver. 21.) His flesh wasteth so
• As was the case with Hezekiah, as recorded in 2 Kings xx.

chapter xxxiii. 21—25 ; 19—20. 309
that it cannot be seen, so that his bones, which were not seen. From
being covered with flesh and fat. Stick out. (Ver. 22.) Yea,
his soul draweth near to the pit, and his life to the destroyers. To
the destroying angels, who bear commission from above to remove
man from this world. However (Ver. 23), If there be in his behalf
an advocating angel, even one from among a thousand angels, to
shew respecting that man his uprightness. If, when God summons
the sons of God before His throne that He may hear what report
they bring of men on earth below, one, yea, only one out of a
thousand of them can step forward and point to some good deed
wrought by the man, who lies, racked with pains, and wasted
with disease, upon his couch. (Ver. 24.) Then He (God) hath
compassion upon him, and saith to the advocating angel, ' ' Deliver
him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom." That
one good action which thou recordest of yon diseased sinner I
accept as a ransom for the sins he hath committed, and grant him
absolution. (Ver. 25.) Then his flesh becometh fresher, than it
was in his childhood ; he returneth to the days of his youth. His
constitution, far from becoming broken and shattered by the
violence of the disease he has had to undergo, is, by the grace of
God, so strengthened and renovated by it, that it becomes even
firmer and more vigorous than it was in the days of his youth.
Ver. 19. Bi71. and [the] strife, jarring, of. The C'theeb is 3*11 in conse
quence of which some Translators have thought, that, according to the C'theeb,
the word signifies strife, but, according to the K'ree, multitude. For our own part,
however, we can see no reason why the K'ree should be interpreted differently
from the Ctheeb, as we also find 31 in the signification of contending, striving,
as e.g, in Judg. xi. 25, bsip*. B5 31 31 n. did he ever strive against fsrael?
and also infra xl. 2, 7iD* *7p B5 3717 Is [he who is] contending with [the]
Almighty, corrected?
Ver. 20. This verse should be construed thus :
Urn ••••«) #o that his appetite
inpHT loathes it,
DXI7 viz., bread (i.e., his appetite loathes bread),
W!D3.1 and his soul [loathes]
niSJ7 7DNQ for irfl*<]7 73NO food of his desire (i.e., even
his favourite food, the food he always liked,
he cannot now eat).

310 chapter xxxiii. 20—25; 26.
The object, affix in man*") is pleonastic. See note on i"1?. ibn3 supra
xxix. 3. The verb Bn» is a &.„£ A.ey6>evov.
The noun n-*n, in the sense of appetite, will be found infra xxxviii. 39,
'3171B3 n»ni or [the] appetite of young-lions.
Ver. 21. *S7B Ut., without sight; i.e., that it cannot be seen, or, perhaps, imper
ceptibly. The prefix B is here used in a priv. sense. See note on BIBB supra xi. 15.
•IBp) (according to the K'ree), lit., so that they are made high ; i.e., so that
they stick out, the root being nBta, and the conjugation Pu-al.
•1S7 * S3 for 1S1 S3 7ps which were not seen (when bis body was covered
with flesh and fat).
Ver. 22. BYlBab -j- for B*n*BBb Ut., to those causing to die ; i.e., to the agents,
or angels, sent from above to remove men from the world. So in 2 Sam., Chap.
xxiv., where we read of a pestilence having been sent upon Israel, we find that
God said (Ver. 16) n*npan tjsbab to the destroying angel, &c.
Ver. 23. 1*73 for him (the man afflicted with disease), or rather, in his behalf,
a force which the prep, bv frequently has. Comp. Judg. ix. 17, "For my father
fought D.B*b3 for y0Ui or in y0ur behalf ; " likewise 1 Kings ii. 18, "And Bath-
sheba said, Well, I will speak *}*b3 for thee (i.e., in thy behalf) to the king."
V1?? ''T^/P an advocating (or interceding) angel, in contradistinction to
n*nPa Tjsba (2 Sam. xxiv. 16). That V1?" may have the sense of advo
cating, or interceding, has been clearly shown in our note on *2*7a supra xvi. 20.
Ver. 24. m37B redeem (deliver) him. The verb 573, which is an mra£
Xf.y6g.evov, is synonymous with n7B .
Ver. 25. 1233137 . This word is a araf Xeyopevov, and, according to some, is
made up of 3B1 to be fresh, juicy, and K71B to spread; and, according to others, of
3B1 and taBB to be fat; so that its Uteral meaning would be, either it becomes
fresh and full, or fresh and fat.
Vers. 26-^-33. The speaker now tells us how a really penitent
man behaves, after that, having received punishment from his
Maker, he has been again admitted into His favour. He says :
He (the man whom God had stricken with disease, but has
now restored to health and favour) prayeth to God, and He
accepteth Him; yea, he seeth His face with a shout of joy. He
goes for the first time after his recovery from his disease to the
house of God with great rejoicing. Because that He (God)
hath requited to man according to his righteousness. However
* The Dagesh in the i is of course extremely irregular. It is, however, of the same
character as that so common in the word next following no and joined to it by aMakkiph.
Comp. Prov. xv. 1, TrnJ2a- These Dageshes are most commonly found after words
ending in rr. See supra xix. 27, infra xxxiv. 4, 7, 16, Exod. iv. 16, Jer. ii. 17, &c. The
Dageshed letter, though commonly, is not always, preceded by Mukkiph, e.g., Numb.
xxv. 13. Editor, 1862.
f Por the omission of the Dag. in the n see note on irenp supra xxvi. 13 (note). Editor, 1862.

chapter xxxiii. 27 — 33. 311
many his sins and offences, yet, because only a single redeeming
action has been recorded of him by his advocating angel (see
Ver. 23), all his sins and offences have been forgiven him by God
in His mercy, and therefore he rejoices. (Ver. 27.) He (the
pardoned sinner) looketh upon men and saith. He makes his
confession openly before men, saying, " I had sinned and had
" perverted that which was right, although it did not profit me."
So complete is his repentance, that he does not even conceal that
his wickedness sometimes had had its origin, not in temptation, but
in the depravity of his nature, inasmuch, as if he sinned, it was not
from any motive of self-interest, but merely from that love of
wickedness which gradually becomes firmly rooted in the breast
of the most depraved men. And yet, notwithstanding I had thus
reached such a pitch of wickedness (Ver. 28), '¦'¦He (God) redeemed
my soul from passing over into the pit, so that my life should still see
light." (Ver. 29.) Lo ! all these things God doeth oftentimes with
man. He repeatedly warns and admonishes them, either in dreams,
or by severe afflictions, these being, in fact, the language which He
employs towards men, and a language well befitting the Creator,
when He would hold communication with His creatures ; a lan
guage which He employs (Ver. 30), To make his (man's) soul turn
from the pit. To the brink of which he has either brought him
self by the wicked deeds which he has committed, or would have
brought himself by the wicked deeds which he was on the point
of committing when he received these timely admonitions. To
be enlightened with the light of the living. But I have not quite
done yet. I have something yet to add, and therefore (Ver. 31)
Attend, O Job, listen unto me ; keep silence, and I will speak.
(Ver. 32.) If thou hast words. To oppose to my statements.
Reply to me; speak, for I delight in pronouncing thee to have
been righteous. Before afflictions came upon thee. Thou needest
not fear that I will tax thee, as did thy friends, with sins and
crimes to which thou mayest have been an utter stranger ; on the
contrary, it is my delight to think that thy former life was free
from spot or blemish, and that thou only hast begun to wander
and go wrong, since these afflictions came upon thee, and that for
the simple reason that thou wast unable to penetrate the object
with which they were sent upon thee. (Ver. 33.) If thou hast

312 chapter xxxiii. 26 — 30; xxxiv. 1.
none. If thou beginnest to see, that what I say is true, then Listen
thou to me ; keep silence, and I will teach thee wisdom. I will shew
thee that the wisdom of God passeth all human understanding.
Ver. 26. nai7n3 Ut., with a shout-of-joy ; i.e., with great exultation. So the
Psalmist says (Ps. xcv. 2), " Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving,
and make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms.''
in|77.2 for in|7723 according to his righteousness. So the Targum renders
it, n*nj7723 according to his righteousness.
Ver. 27. 1PJ he looks, for 71t£7* s the more usual form, just as in Eccles. xii. 7,
3ta*1 for the more common 31ta*1 and it returns.
*b nip S7l Ut., though it profited not to me ; i.e., though I derived no benefit
from it. Comp. Esth. iii. 8, n*p ^*S [it is] not profiting, or profitable.
according to the C'theeb, which we have adopted, as
offering a much more beautiful sense than the K'ree,
which reads lta?3 his soul, and injn his life. Those
who think, and may be not unreasonably, that the
<[ preference should on all occasions, where it is at all
practicable, be accorded to the K'ree over the C'theeb,
are, of course, obliged here to put the words of this
verse, not in the mouth of the convalescent and
penitent man, but in that of Elihu.
nsin liS3 shall see light. The verb nSl is often construed with 3 as the
mark of the objective case. Comp. Ps. xxvii. 13, nin* 31B3 niSII to behold
[the] goodness of Jehovah.
Ver. 29. tabp B*B5B Ut.. twice, thrice; i.e., oftentimes, more than once. See
our note on aapal-- •'•nilS Pp> supra v. 19.
Ver. 30. 7isb for 7isn7 to be enlightened, the n having been struck out, and
its vowel transferred to the b of the B7"33, just as in Exod. xiii. 21, Bnn?/
stands for Bnn3nb to guide them. ,

Ver. 28. 1PB3 my soul
*j7T(in my life

CHAPTER XXXIV.

yers. i — 12. And Elihu took up his discourse, and said. In
the preceeding Chapter, Elihu had addressed himself exclusively to
Job, whose grumbling on account of God's (according to his (Job's)
opinion) not holding any communication with men, he wished to
put a stop to — an erroneous opinion, which he supposed was enter
tained by no other of his auditors. Now, however, as he is about
to vindicate the ways of Providence generally, he addresses the

chapter xxxiv. 2 — 10. 313
whole of those present. (Ver. 2.) Hear, 0 ye wise-men, my
words, and O ye intelligent-men, give ear unto me! (Ver. 3.)
For the ear should try words, just as the palate tasteth that which
one is to eat. Just as food cannot be pronounced to be pleasing
or displeasing to the taste until it has passed through the ordeal
of the palate, so a discourse cannot justly be either applauded or
condemned, unless it has been proved by the ear. (The same
sentiment had already been expressed by Job himself supra
xii. 11.) (Ver. 4.) Let us choose for ourselves a mode of rea
soning. Let us not ramble and speak wide, or indulge in mere
similes and poetical figures, as has been done till now, but let us
confine ourselves to the examination of what bears directly upon
Job's case. Let us know between ourselves what is good. Let us
come to an understanding as to the real bearings of the subject
we are about to discuss. (Ver 5.) Surely Job said, "J am
righteous, but God hath turned away my just-cause." My cause is
just, only God rejecteth it, and will not take it into consider
ation. (Comp. supra xiii. 18, 19 ; xxvii. 2.) (Ver. 6.) " Shall
I speak-falsely against mine ownjust-cause ? " Shall I confess myself
guilty, when I am conscious of mine innocence 1 (Comp. supra
xxvii. 2 — 6.) " The arrow which hath wounded me (lit. my arrow) is
very grievous, without any transgression." On my part. My pangs
(due to the arrows of the Almighty) are extremely piercing and
excruciating, yet rack me undeserved. (Ver. 7.) Who is the
man, that like Job drinketh up scoffing like water ? Can you point
me out a man, who indulges in scoffs and jeers like Job against his
Lord and Maker \ Indeed, he is brimful of them, as men are wont to
be with water, which, as costing nothing, and incapable of producing
intoxication, they do not hesitate to swallow in copious draughts.
(Ver. 8.) And goeth to associate with workers of iniquity, and to
walk with men of wickedness. (Ver. 9.) For he said, " A man
profiteth nought by delighting himself with God." By holding
communion with God, and using all his endeavours to render
himself acceptable to Him. (Comp. supra ix. 22, 30; x. 15.)
(Ver. 10.) Therefore, O ye men of understanding, listen unto me ;
far be it from God to do wickedness ! and from the Almighty to do
iniquity ! Far be it from entering into any one's mind to con
ceive God capable of wickedness and iniquity, which is to Him

314 chapter xxxiV. 11 — 12; 3 — 9.
as that which is profane ! * (Ver. 11.) Surely, the work of man
will He requite him, and according to the way of a man will He.
cause him to find. Men will meet at His hands with that requital
which their course of life deserves. (Ver. 12.) Yea, verily,
God cannot do wickedly, neither can the Almighty pervert justice.
Ver. 3. bbsb aaa* lit., tastes [in order] to eat ; i.e., tastes, that it may deter
mine whether the food is eatable or not. Supra xii. 11, we had 17 Baa* 73S .
Ver. 4. BBpa a mode, manner (of reasoning). Comp. 2 Kings i. 7,
ta'*Sn BBpa na What [was the] manner of the man ?
Ver. 6. *-?n Ut., my arrow ; i.e., the arrow which has wounded me. See
note on *7* supra xxiii. 2.
Ver. 7. nnp* for nnp* 7py who drinks.
Ver. 8. niarib to join, associate with. We take this word to stand in
parallelism with n377 in the second hemistich, and to be the inf. Kal of the
verb 73n to join, with the b of Bb"33 , and a paragogic n , after the form
of nS1*7 to fear (Deut. iv. 10, and many other places), 17 preferring Segol to the
slender sound of Short Cherik. Thus, whilst a3p a rod, on taking the pos
sessive affix of the first pers. becomes 1^3p, the. noun P.70 a portion, gives
1l7b'7 . Our reason for regarding ni3!7 as an jnf, waS) that this word is not to
be met with anywhere in the Bible as a noun, and that we were thus enabled
to avoid giving the 7 a forced signification, whilst, at the same time, as
already observed, we establish a parallelism with nB^a in the second hemistich.
Ver. 9. in213 in his delighting himself. Kimchi, in his B*E3ltan IBB tells
us that, in the opinion of Rabbi Jonah, the verb n^l has in this passage the same
signification as Y!""1 > namely, to run (just as nta = Tia to despise). According to
this view, then, B*nb.S: B5 V1S13 would signify in his RUNNING with God
— a more emphatical way, perhaps, of expressing the idea conveyed by the words
in Gen. vi. 9, !73 Tjbnnn B*nbsn ns Noah WALKED with God. In
support of Rabbi Jonah's explanation we may quote Ezek. i. 14, where we find
S21 signifying to run = VI"1 . and why might not n2l have the same meaning,
seeing that n and S so frequently interchange ? We preferred, however, giving
this verb here its more usual signification of being delighted. Rosenmiiller
says : " Sed ad verbum VI"1 si hebrsea dictio referenda esset, scriptum foret
in'*Jia "(!!!) Much as we admire this extremely novel and beautiful form, we
must admit that it does not stand alone either as regards its novelty or its beauty,
as the form *3S3 proposed by the same Commentator, and remarked upon by our
selves in our note upon supra xii. 4, lays at least equal claims to originality and
elegance. Alas ! what is to become of the Hebrew Bible, if people who write
such Hebrew (?) will continue to comment upon it, and if those who cannot read
the Rabbinical Commentators continue to consider as first rate critics men whom
they should rather regard as blind leaders of the blind ?
* See note on fiVpn supra xxvii. 5. Editor, 1862.

CHAPTER XXXIV. 10 — 12 ; 13—16. 315
Ver. 10. 337 *Pj)S Ut., men of heart ; i.e., men of sense, understanding, in
.which signification 337 has already occurred in this book, viz., supra xii. 3.
S?P1 for *7pb'l , the b being supplied from bsb in the first hemistich.
Ver. 12. 5*P7* can do wickedly ; this verb being sometimes used in Hiph-el
intransitively. Comp. 2 Chron. xxii. 3, 5*p^rjb to do wickedly.
Vers. 13 — 15. After having laid down, as a principle, that God
cannot possibly act unjustly, Elihu now proceeds to shew that this
principle is based upon the truth, that no one (as a general rule)
ever injures that which belongs to him — a truth which may
almost be regarded as an axiom, as it would be in the highest degree
absurd to suppose that any one could find a motive for injuring or
maltreating that which was his own. An agent or a steward may act
wrongfully from a motive of self-interest, but the proprietor himself,
what motive can he have to damage his own property \ He says :
Who hath charged Him with this earth? Or who hath put upon
Him % Given unto Him in charge. The whole universe. If the
earth, if the whole universe, were not His own, but belonged to
another, He might be supposed to have some motive for governing
it wrongfully. Since, however, they are all His own, His work,
His creation, is it not the height of absurdity to think that He
would act so as to injure His own"? (Ver. 15.) If He were to set
His heart upon Himself If He could be supposed to act from a
motive of interest, a motive which He could only find ih the
pleasure of wronging that which was His own. He would gather
unto Himself His own spirit and His own breath. The spirit and
the breath with which He had animated the sons of men.
(Ver. 16.) When all flesh together would expire, and man return
to dust. Who could call Him to account if He acted thus, or to
whom would He be responsible for so doing 1
Ver. 13. l1^ 7|7B has charged Him with. This force the verb 7pB frequently
has when construed with ba . Comp. Numb. iv. 27, En(*)b3 Bn7p_El and ye
shall give unto them in charge.
nsiS for V7S , the H being paragogic, as in ni*3 night, of which the simple
form is 7)7 .
BK7 *ai for l*ba Bia *ai Or who has put upon Him — i.e., given unto Him
in charge, entrusted him with the government of ? It will be perceived that
the l^a is supplied from the first hemistich.

316 chapter xxxiv. 13—15; 16—19.
7an [the] universe. In this acceptation this word is taken here by Homberg,
who observes that n73 the whole of it, by which it is qualified, justifies us in
so translating it.
Ver. 14. 1*7S (in both hemistiches) to Him; i.e., to Himself.
Ver. 15. b5 =bs . Comp. 1 Sam. i. 10, nin* ba bbsnni and she (Hannah)
prayed unto Jehovah.
Vers. 16 — 20. Elihu now goes a step farther in his reasoning,
and, turning himself again exclusively to Job, reminds him, that
even among mortals it is contrary to all principles and rules of
society to impute wickedness and malice to a sovereign, inasmuch
as, being lord over his kingdom, and father to his subjects, he
cannot have any motive for wronging those he rules ; so that if
any mismanagement be discovered in a kingdom, it is more
natural to suppose it to have had its origin with the ministers and
agents of the king, whose self-interest it may have served, than
to bring it home to the crowned head, who should be placed
altogether beyond the pale of any such suspicion.* Elihu's
words are these:
Now, if thou (O Job) hast understanding, hear this. What I
am going to say. Give ear to the sound of my words. (Ver. 17.)
Shall, indeed, one who hateth justice, rule? Dost thou suppose
that one who is chief over a nation, can hate justice ? How then
wilt thou pronounce wicked, one who is most just? But He
does rule, and therefore must be most just ; how then canst thou
charge Him with injustice'? (Ver. 18.) Doth it behove us to say
even to a king, " O worthless-man?" Or to any one among
princes, " 0 thou wicked-man ? " (Ver. 19.) Much less should we
say so to Him, who accepteth not the persons of princes, nor noticeth
a rich-man before a poor-man, because they are, all of them, the work
* We may be allowed, perhaps, to give here a short extract from Mendelssohn's "iin3 on
Ecclesiastes viii. 2, where he remarks very pertinently to our subject as follows :
Df>l 3ia Of" lipp PD13P Pft 31PD3 0133 P1D1 )PiP ftbo P107P3 i)73. ib )W1
D'lDW pfo UlpDP ftb pf>! 'ilil ,-]PP3 65 ,D13p pft UPm -jipp »j y'»p» D-)
:iP71 -]JP3
" Now this is a great rule in politics, that the people must have no power to pronounce
judgment upon the conduct of a king, whether it? be good or bad, for the king judges the
people, and not the reverse ; and if [it were] not for this (great rule), the country would
never be quiet, and without rebels against the king and his law."

chapter xxxiv. 19—20; 16—18. 317
of His hands ! Far from this, He deals with all classes alike,
according to the requirements of justice, and the promptings of
His supreme wisdom. (Ver. 20.) In a moment they die. The
hour of death is not deferred for the great man on account of his
greatness, nor hastened for the poor man on account of his
poverty. Yea, in the middle of the night. When all seems
buried in quiet and repose, A people may be troubled* and
pass away ; and the mighty-man is removed, not by any human
hand.-\ But by the mere nod of Him, in whose hand are the lives
of men.
Ver. 16. n3*a BS1 for ^b n3*3 BS1. And if [there is] understanding to
thee, if thou hast understanding ; or for n3*3 J7571 BS*, (as infra xxxviii. 4).
And if thou knowest (art acquainted with) understanding.
Ver. 17. talarr Shall rule. The verb E?3n primarily signifies to bind, as
supra xxviii. 11, J 07317 ffe bindeth; but secondarily it is used in the sense of
checking, restraining, and hence ruling, just as the verb 72a to restrain, is also
employed in the meaning of to rule, as e.g., in 1 Sam. ix. 17, 7253 725* nt
this [same] shall reign over my people. In like manner should be understood the
passage ta3n n*ns S7 (Isa. iii. 7) i" will not be a ruler, as explained by
Kimchi, who says in his B*E37tan IBB :
' taah n*ns sb ibs i*ni2B ba B*iaiat» *ab taaim ibis btaianta *sb
" Seeing that a ruler restrains and hinds those, who transgress his commandments, he
says, ton irnij tft " (/ will not be a ruler).
1*a3 p*72 [one who is] most just. So Jarchi :
lf>V |1D> -T33
" I'M should be taken here in the sense of ito (very much, exceedingly)!'
Ver. 18. 7BST7 Ut., whether [should there be a] saying (the verb being in the
inf. construct, preceded by n interrogative), i.e., does it behove, or become, to
say ? The Hebrew infinitive is sometimes used like the Latin gerund in dum, to
express fitness, or propriety; e.g., napn BI* ns 7iap" (Deut. v. 12) [ft
behoves you, or, you ought] to keep the Sabbath-day. So Jarchi, who observes
on the passage before us :
•D'3'73 bft J3D7 7Pf>il bwbl -|ipi 7)3)5 'ifoi ]UP '31
" Now is it indeed fit and proper to say to a king, ' O [thou] worthless-man,' or to say
to [any one among] princes, ' 0 [thou] wicked-man ! ' "
* An instance of this is recorded in Exod. xii. 29.
t Comp. 2 Kings xix. 35. Editor, 1862.
t And also supra v. 18, torn . Editor, 1862.

318 chapter xxxiv. 18—20; 21—27.
a*3*7? bS for B*3*7?B 7nS bS to one from among princes.
Ver. 19. ">PS: for ipsb *3 F*S much less to Him, who.
Ver. 20. 331 for 5?7.3 in a moment.
17*B*1. Ut., and they cause to turn away; i.e., remove, the verb being used
impersonally. 7*3 sb for tai3S; 7*3 rfb not by [the] hand of man, but by the wiU of God,
which is carried into effect without any visible agency.
Vers. 21 — 32. Having established the point, that every thing
which proceeds from God must be right and just, Elihu goes oh
to speak of His omniscience and omnipotence. He says :
Surely, His eyes are upon the ways of man ; indeed, He seeth all
his steps. By day or by night, in light or in darkness, every, even
the slightest, movement of man is known to God. (Ver. 22.) There
is no such darkness, and there is no such shadow-of- death, that it
can be a place of refuge for the workers of iniquity to be concealed
there.* (Ver. 23.) Surely He doth not lay upon man so much.
He imposes no such heavy task upon man, that he should have any
semblance of cause or reason To enter with God into judgment.
All that God requires of man is to love Him, and believe in Him,
and surely this is not so great a burden, that man should have
any reason to murmur and to complain, that more is required of
him than he can do.f (Ver. 24.) He breaketh-in-pieces mighty-
men in an unsearchable manner. Nobody can discover the means,
by which He destroys them. (Comp. supra Ver. 20, T3 tf 7 without
any [human] hand.) And setteth up others in their stead. (Ver. 25.)
He therefore noticeth their works, and overthroweth them in one
night, so that they are crushed. (Ver. 26.) In the very place of
the wicked-men, He striketh them. To make His finger visible
He punishes them upon the very spot, where they had shown
themselves rebellious against Him. Yea, in the place where
men were beholding them. In open rebellion against Him.J
(Ver. 27.) For this reason that they turned back from after Him, and
* The same sentiment is expressed by the Psalmist (Ps. cxxxix. 11, 12) :" If I say,
" Surely the darkness shall cover me ; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the
" darkness hideth not from Thee, hut the night shineth as the day ; the darkness and
" the light are both alike to Thee."
t So we read in Matt. xi. 30, " My yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
X An instance of this sort is found in the history of Korah and his company, recorded
in Numb. xvi.

chapter xxxiv. 27—32; 23. 319
considered not any of His ways. (Ver. 28.) So as to bring before
Him the cry of the poor-man, for He doth hear the cry of the
afflicted. No cry, no groan ever escaped the lips of an afflicted
or oppressed man, without His hearing it.* (Ver. 29.) When
He giveth-quietness. When He looketh upon a man, andbestoweth
ease, peace, and comfort upon him. Who then can make-trouble ?
On the other hand, If He hideth His face. If He withdraws
His favour from man. Who then can behold Him ? Who can
hope to behold His face, to enjoy His favour, as long as He
remains unpropitiated 1 (It is all one, whether He doeth this.
Whether He hides His face. On account of a whole nation, or
on account of one man. Who has provoked him. (Ver. 30.)
Whether on account of an hypocritical man's reigning, or on account
of the snares of a people.-^ Whether the anger of God, which
causes Him to hide His face, arises from the provocation He has
received from a whole nation, or from that given by a single man ;
whether from the reign of a hypocrite, or from the corruption of
a whole nation, it is an anger which will abide in the one case,
as in the other, so long as the sins which called it forth remain —
unexpiated and unatoned for.) (Ver. 31.) Surely, what is proper
to be said to God. When chastisement has been received from
Him, is, " I have borne. The punishment of my iniquity. I will
not act corruptly any more. (Ver. 32.) Besides those sins which
I can see, teach Thou me." As for those offences, which I am
conscious of having committed, I entreat Thy pardon in dust and
ashes, but if there are any others, of which I have been guilty
unconsciously, or of which I am likely to render myself guilty
unconsciously at some future time, point them out to me, that I
may repent me of the evil which I have done, and be upon my
guard against the evil of which the seeds lie hidden in my heart.
" If I have done iniquity, I will do so no more."
Ver. 23. 715 much, a great deal. Comp. Gen. xlvi. 29, " and he wept on his
neck 715 a great deal."
* " And it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto Me, that I will hear, for I am
gracious." (Exod. xxii. 27.)
t The snares of a people ; i.e., the corruption of a whole people. For instances of such
universal corruption the reader may refer to Gen. xix., where an account of the men of
Sodom is given ; and to 2 Kings xvii. 24 — 26, where he will find recorded the wickedness
which prevailed among the nations the king of Assyria had transplanted to Samaria.

320 CHAPTER XXXIV. 24 — 31.
Ver. 24. Ip/J ikb Ut., [there is] no searching ; i.e., it cannot be searched out,
in an unsearchable manner.
Ver. 25. nb*b TTBni for nb*b BBBni and he overthrows them [in the] night.
Great and sudden calamities are often described in Hebrew poetry as taking
place in the night time. Comp. supra xxvii. 20.
" In the night a whirlwind stealeth him away."
Ver. 26. a*ap7 nnn in the very place of [the] wicked ; i.e., in the very
place, in which they are practising their wickedness. Comp. Exod. xvi. 29,
" Abide ye every man 1*nnn in his place."
B*S7 BlpB3 Ut., in [the] place of seers, i.e., in the very place, on the very
spot, where men are beholding their evil practices.
Ver. 27. 7? ba 1ttJS: for ipS; *3 by for this [reason] that. See our note
on DB17 S7 b5 supra xvi. 17.
Ver. 28. l*ba S*3nb to bring before Him. We take the pref. by here to
have the same force as in supra i. 6, nin* 3y before Jehovah ; or I1!?? may
perhaps stand for 1*7 S . See note on 75 supra Ver. 15. Some, perhaps justly,
refer the 1 Y? not to God, but to every one of the individuals included under
the term Es5p7 wicked-men, and spoken of in the two preceding verses, when
the sense would be, that the acts of every one of them are so cruel, as to bring
upon him the cry of the poor-man.
Ver. 29. The short Cherik in Bpp* and 3?pi* stands for a long Cherik, as
supra xxxiii. 22, B*f1BBb and in other places.
5P71 can cause trouble. That the idea primarily conveyed by the verb 5t&7
is that of restlessness and disturbance, has already been explained in our note on
B*5pi supra iii. 17.
B*3B inB*l. for 1*33 ina**, and [if] He hides His face, i.e., if He withdraws
His favour ; a phrase commonly used in Hebrew to express the indignation of
God. Comp. supra xiii. 25.
ISllta* *B1 then, who can behold Him ? i.e., who can hope for a look of favour
from Him.
717* alike ; i.e., it is all one, it makes not the slightest difference, whether His
indignation be provoked by a whole nation, or by a single individual ; whether
by the reign of a hypocritical man, or by the corruption of a whole people. For
this force of the word 717*, Comp. Ps. xlix. 3, ll1^*, 1*p3 7(1* rich and poor
alike. It will be perceived, that we take the latter part of this verse, as weU as
the next verse, to be' parenthetical.
Ver. 30. Q5 ^l?fflP on account of [the] snares of a people, i.e., the corrup
tions of a people, by which they ensnare both themselves and others.
Ver. 31. "'P'jn it is meet to be said. That the infinitive is used in Hebrew to
express fitness and propriety, has been mentioned in our note on ~,asn supra
Ver. 18. The Segol under the n stands for Tsayreh, the word being the inf.

chapter xxxiv. 31—32, 33. 321
Niph. of 7BS . Comp. Judg. v. 28, where 17?7S stands for l^tlS *; and Ps.
li. 7, where we find *3nan* for *3nan* .
*j7S££33 for *315 *nsp3 / have borne my iniquity, i.e., the punishment of my
iniquity. See note on 173.B supra vii. 2.
7ans S3 for 7l5 7ans S3 / will not act corruptly any more. Comp.
Neh. i. 7, 137317 7317 We have dealt very corruptly.
Ver. 32. ntns *75b3 for njns ips B*5p3n *75:b3 Besides the offences,
which I see ; i.e., if there are any offences I have already committed, or may
commit, unconsciously.
1?7.n nns teach Thou me, or point Thou out (those offences) to me, that I
may repent of those I have committed, and refrain from those I otherwise might
commit. f)*BS Sb for 1? b5Bb f]*ais sb> J shall not do so again.
Vers. 33. — 35. Elihu now proceeds to prove to Job by an
incontrovertible and overwhelming argument, that for a man to
desire that the ways of Providence should be regulated according
to his own views and opinions, is an absurdity bordering upon
folly and madness, inasmuch as, from the very opposite opinions
which prevail among mankind, if God acted according to the
opinion of one man, He must needs act in a manner diametrically
opposed to that of another. The speaker's words to Job are ; Shall
He requite it according to thy mind ? Shall He requite the conduct
of a man according to what thou deemest right? Shall He omit
to do a thing, Because thou rejectest it 1 Because thou refusest
thy approval ; and, on the other hand, shall He do a thing, Because
* titim is nowhere found in the Bible, ins, however, is found twice, though, curiously
enough, as two very different parls of the same verb. Once, it is used as the third pers.
sing. masc. past Pi-dl (Gen. xxxiv. 19) ; and once, with l conv. ("in«j , Gen. xxxii. 5), as the
first pers. sing. fut. Kal. Buxtorf, indeed, in his Concordance give3 in«; as the fut.
Pi-al, but Mendelssohn in his comment on the passage states that it is Kal, and compares
l-)!? (in pause for an») Prov. viii. 17. Mason and Bernard tell us (Lett, xxxiii. P.S. (c))
that iron stands for -™»J , and istn for 3hmm . Somewhat similar is |\i« , infra xxxii. 11,
for 1'Wg , which is not, however, found, though rw occurs twice.
DV1 occurs twice, viz., Deut. xix. 6, and (in pause err) Eccles. iv. 11. In both places
it appears to be the fut. Kal (from en'), or the fut. Niph. from Don . Kimchi, in his
Won (fol. 103, p. 1), gives orr as the fut. Kal of orr, yet in his owerr -ed he quotes
the Drp ;n Eccles. (see supra) as the fut. Niph. of Don , when it would be like
*V. (in pause nn;) from nnn, and correspond to Da; from CDo. Gesenius also in
clines to this latter view, which he speaks of as if it had originated with him. In
1 Kings i. 1, Drr (fut. Kal from on') is more generally read than Drp . Drp does not then
occur as a past Pidl, though, to judge from the form which gave rise to this note, the past
Pidl, third pers. sing. masc. of en1 would have this form. — Editor, 1862.
Y

322 chapter xxxiv. 33—37.
thou choosest if? Because thou approvest of it, so that thou
shouldest first pronounce what is fit, and what unfit, for Him to
do; But why not I also? Why should not I have the same
privilege of suggesting to Him what I think fit, or unfit, for Him
to do ? And this question of course every one may ask of thee
as I do, why, namely, he should not enjoy the same privilege,
which thou wouldest have, of dictating to God the course He
must pursue. And what knowest thou ? By which thou couldest
meet that question. Speak. If in any way thou canst upset this
my argument, speak out, and do not keep back thy wisdom from me.
(Ver. 34.) Men of understanding will say for me. I need not
say it, every sensible man will say it in my stead. Yea, every
wise man hearing me. Will at once come forward, and say,
(Ver. 35.) " Job speaketh without knowledge, and his words are
without wisdom.''' There is not one man of sense, who has heard this
my argument, who will not take upon himself to answer thee in
these words, and so spare me the necessity of answering thee myself.
Ver. 33. nsayP* shall He requite it, i.e., the conduct of a man.
*3S sb*; = *3S B3 sb> nabl. and why not also I? i.e., why should not I also
have the same privilege ? See note on ''173 S71 supra xxxii. 14.
J-IST nai for 3*pnb I757; nai and what knowest thou to (what canst
thou) answer (to this question) ?
Ver. 34. *7 HB**1* would say for me ; i.e., if I told thee not, sensible men
would tell it for me. Comp. Ps. lvi. 10, *b B*nbs *3 that God [is] for me.
*b 3BK7 D317 1337 for *b 1B^* *b 3BE3 ip>? B317 73.5*- and [also every]
wise man, who listens to me, would say for me.
Vers. 36, 37. Elihu now addresses his words to God, saying:
O my heavenly Father ! let Job be proved for ever. Do not
now release him from his sufferings, but let this ordeal continue,
in order that answers may be given to iniquitous men. In order
that, in case other iniquitous men should murmur and rebel, when
afflictions came upon them, the example of Job might be held up
as a warning to them to desist, — of Job, whose murmuring and
rebellion against God availed him nought. (Ver. 37.) For, other
wise. If he were now to be released from his sufferings, he would
think that it was on account of his grumblings and murmurings.
He would add rebellion to his sin, and imagining he had gained

chapter xxxiv. 37 ; 36 — 37 ; xxxv. 323
his release by finding fault with the dispensations of Providence,
He would triumphantly clap his hands amongst us, and would
multiply his words against God. He would actually go so far as to
say, that by grumbling and murmuring he had forced God -to
release him.
Ver. 36. 13S 0 my Father. We could see no reason (as many others have done),
for giving this word any other than its simple and natural meaning, seeing that
God is addressed as Father twice in Isaiah, viz., in Chapters lxiii. 16 ; lxiv. 7.
n3pn 75 for Wan/ n3pn 75 for answers to be given ; i.e., that there
should be answers ready to be given (to iniquitous men.)
Ver. 37. ^ for ns> *7ab:3 13 for> without this ; if this should not be the
case, if he should now cease to be proved.
plBB* for 1*B3 plBB* he would clap his hands. Comp. Numb. xxiv. 10,
1*33 ns pBB'l and he clapped his hands ; also supra xxvii. 23, where we find
pbp* with ata.

CHAPTER XXXV.

In one of his discourses (supra xxiv. 1) Job had plainly said,
that matters go on here below in a way so contrary to human
notions of right and wrong, that even pious men, men loving God,
can perceive nothing to intimate that He rules the world — thus
expressing strong doubts as to the existence of a Divine Provi
dence ; and these doubts we shall hear Elihu, at the end of this
Chapter, reprove him for harbouring, in energetic and emphatic
terms. On the other hand, one of Job's three friends, when
accusing him of entertaining the heretical and erroneous idea,
that, because God is enthroned in the highest heavens, He
employs Himself only with the government of the sublimer
beings, who there surround Him, without bestowing a thought
upon this insignificant and abject world, — had asked him, whether
he intended keeping to the way which wicked men of old,
heretics like himself, had trodden. (See supra xxii. 12 — 15.)
y 2

324 chapter xxxv. 2 — 4.
With this question Elihu is also very much displeased, as, in
his opinion, Job, in doubting the existence of a Divine Pro
vidence, was infinitely worse than those wicked men of old, to
whom his friend had compared him, inasmuch as there is a vast
difference between a nation, or community (such as those wicked
men alluded to may probably have been), groaning under the
scourge of an oppressor and tyrant, and a man, who (like Job) suffers
from afflictions sent upon him by God, and is fully aware that
these afflictions proceed directly from God. In the case of the
nation or community, if, after they have cried to God for help,
and no help has been sent them, they then declare it to be their
opinion that it is quite useless to cry to Him, for that He does not
seem to notice what is going on here below — they give, indeed,
such evidence of the wickedness of their heart, that every rightly-
thinking person must condemn them as great sinners, but still it
cannot be said, that there is not some semblance of reason on their
side, or that their words involve any inconsistency or contradiction.
In the case of the man, on the contrary, who admits he is fully
aware that the afflictions, under which he labours, proceed directly
from God (as Job had admitted over and over again), and yet
declares his doubts as to whether there is a Providence, he,
indeed, may be pronounced deficient in consistency and judgment,
seeing that he manifestly contradicts himself. To compare him
therefore to the wicked men of old, as Eliphaz had done, is, in
Elihu's opinion, to pay him a compliment which he very ill deserves.
It was thought necessary to make these few prefatory remarks,
as they are the hinge upon which the whole of Elihu's reasoning
in this Chapter turns, and it is only owing to their not having
discovered this fact, that the Commentators and Translators we
have consulted have, one and all, exhibited as incoherent and
void almost of meaning, a Chapter, which is a master-piece of
close and solid reasoning.
Vers. 2 — 14. Dost thou think this right? This, namely, that
thou saidst, " My righteousness is more than that of God." (Ver. 3.)
That thou saidst, what will thy righteousness profit thee, What
advantage shall I derive from my righteousness more than from my
sin? (Comp. supra ix. 22 ; x. 15). (Ver. 4.) I will answer
thee, and thy friends with thee. I will give thee such an answer,

CHAPTER XXXV. 5  14. 325
that thy friends will perceive that they too were at fault. (Ver. 5.)
Look unto the heavens, and consider ; and behold the clouds, which
are higher than thou. Which are so high above thee. (Ver. 6.)
If thou hast sinned, what effect canst thou produce on Him ? And,
if thy transgressions are numerous, what canst thou do unto Him?
(Ver. 7.) If thou art righteous, what givest thou Him ? Or what
doth He receive of thine hand? (Ver. 8.) A man like thee only
can thy wickedness affect, and thy righteousness only a son of man.
Consequently, if God desires to see thee a good man, it is not
for His, but for thine own, benefit. (Ver. 9.) If men cry unto
God on account of the multitude of oppressions. Which they suffer
at the hands of those high in power. If they cry aloud on account
of the arm. The power. Of great-men. Who tyrannize over
them (Ver. 10), When, namely, the oppressor, who uttereth songs
in the night. Who passes the whole night in feasting and revelry.
Doth not say within himself, "Where is God my Maker ? Is there
not in heaven a God, who has made them as well as me ?
(Ver. 11) Who teacheth us men to be more than the beasts of the
earth, and hath made us wiser than the fowl of heaven?' If there
is a God in heaven, who has blessed us with intellect and reason,
and given us a conscience to teach us, that might is not right, that,
when we take advantage of our strength and power against the feeble
and the weak, we degrade ourselves to the level of the brute, and
that we then resemble rather wolves and tigers than men — if there
is such a God, how can I venture to oppress my fellow-creatures in
His presence ? (Ver. 12.) Then. When the tyrant is one who
does not indulge in such reflections. Men cry (when God doth
not answer them), on account of the arrogance of the evil-doers,
saying, (Ver. 13.) "Surely, in vain do we cry, God heareth
not, and the Almighty doth not behold it." Our oppression and
misery. Impressed as they are with the stamp of corruption and
sin, such words are still intelligible, and cannot be said to be
altogether illogical. (Ver. 14.) But canst thou, O Job, indeed
say, that thou dost not behold Him (God) ? Canst thou at all say,
hast thou any pretext for saying, that everything in this world is
left to chance, and that God cares not for what goes on on earth ?
(Comp. supra xxiv. 1.) Thy cause is before Him. It has been
admitted by thee, over and over again, that thy afflictions proceed

326 chapter xxxv. 14; 2 — 11.
directly from God (Comp. supra vi. 4 ; ix. 17, 18 ; xvi. 11—14, et
passim), so that thou hast involved thyself in contradictions, such
as no man of sense could do ; and these contradictions it was of the
highest importance to point out to thee, in order that thou mightest
submit with patience and resignation to the will of God, And
mightest wait for Him. For His help.
Ver. 2. bsa *p72 for bs np_73B *p7? my righteousness [is] more than [the]
righteousness of God.
Ver. 3. 'Sjb *3B* nB for TjnSBnB xjb ^77? *3B* * nB what will thy
righteousness profit thee more than thy sin ?
*nsana b*as na for *nsana *npT7?3 b*as na what advantage shall
I have from (lit., by) my righteousness more than [from] my sin ? So Jarchi
understood this verse, for he observes on it :
• 'Pfopp IP)' 'Pp7i3 * b'Dft PP t XV '3-57 • li ]3D' PP 7Pf>P '3
" For thou sayest, What will profit thee ? [namely] the ways of righteousness ; what
advantage shall I have ? [namely] from my righteousness more than from my sin."
Ver. 5. |IBB inaa for 7aa ina| ipS which are higher than thou ; i.e.,
which are so far above thee.
Ver. 6. Tap"3 1311 for T5pB 137 QN1 and if thy transgressions are
numerous ; the part. BS being supplied from the first hemistich to the second.
Ver. 9. a*p1taa oppressions, a plural noun occurring only here and in Eccles. iv. 1 .
lp>5p they (or men) cry out. With Wolfssohn we take the verb PV^
to be in this instance intransitive in Hiph-^1, as it is in Kal ; and as in
transitive should it also, in our opinion", be considered, Jonah iii. 7, P5?*1
1BSS1 and he cried, and said.
13*31 51"1'?P lit., from [the] arm of [the] great; i.e., from the power of great
men. Comp. ?17| ta*S (supra xxii. 8) a man of arm ; i.e., a man of power, a
powerful man.
B*ai great-men, chiefs. Comp. 2 Kings xxv. 8, B*173B 31 [the] chief of
[the] guards.
Ver. 10, 1p'2 nibs for *-p'9 nibs God, my Maker. The participle stands
in the plural as a plural of excellency ; or it may be that nibs is here used
similarly to D,n7S; which often takes a plural adj. or part. Comp. a*nbs
B*BBta (Ps. Iviii. 12,) a God judging.
Ver. 11. ISBba for 133b:SBi7 f who [is] teaching us, the S being elided as in
Eccles. iv. 14, where B*7!Bn stands for B*71BSi7 .
* As the noun is fem. and the verb precedes, the masc. gend. may be used. See note
on supra xx. 9. Editor, 1862.
t The affix being object, and not possess., the employment of the def. art. together
with it is quite allowable. Comp. Deut. viii. 16, ^garr who causes thee to eat.

CHAPTER xxxv. 12 — 14; 9 — 11. 327
Ver. 12. Bp then, as in Ps. cxxxii. 17, and Eccles. iii. 17.
n?.5* S3) when He does not answer. These two words should be regarded
as parenthetical.
Ver. 13. n371ta* sb> for 13*33 ns * n371ta'* fcSb does not behold it, [namely,]
our misery.
Ver. 14. 7BSn *3 F|N for 1BSTI *3 F|Sn Canst even thou indeed say ?
Comp. Gen. iii. 1, B*nb.S IBS *3 F)H for B*ribs. IBS *3 ?lSn Did even God
indeed say ?
V*1. for ^3*7 thy cause.
Vers. 9 — 14. Should be construed thus :
Ver. 9. Ip^P for Ip^P DS When they cry,
(i.e., when men cry)
D*p*it^ 2^112 on account of [the] multitude of
oppressions (which they have
to endure) ;
D^n. jt/in-TD Ijn^1 for D1?! ^17-ip W&) DS When
they cry-loud on account of
[the] arm (power) of great-
men (i.e., of the great men,
who oppress them) ;
Ver. io. n^nninpr )nj"--i for ni-PDt \i2i fwwi----\
l(i?2, And the oppressor, who
utters songs in the night (i.e.,
who indulges in noisy revelry
the whole night long),
7PS S7 Does not say (i.e., does not ask
himself),
Wj? 1717^ iTS" " Where [is] God my Maker?
(i.e., God, who made them
as well as me ?)
Ver. n. ps rn'prop «^P" for nionso ni\7^» i^spn-f-
JHS " Who teaches us to be
more than [the] beasts of [the]
earth (i.e., who gave us in
tellect and reason to control
* For a pleonasm of this sort, Comp. Exod. ii. 6, "ftp m irftrjni and she saw it [namely]
the child.
t The employment of the def. art. here has been explained, page 326 (note).

328 CHAPTER xxxv. 11 — 14.
our passions, and warn us
against degrading ourselves to
the level of brutes, by taking
advantage of our strength and
power),
UPSn1 D^P^n l^pi " " And makes us wiser than [the]
fowl of heaven ; "
Ver. 12. Dti? Then (i.e., when men cry be
cause of oppressions, and their
hardened oppressor does not
make the above reflections),
IpI^V1 they cry
(•"$£ S71J (when He (God) does not
answer, i.e., does not release
them from their sufferings),
D'JjH jl'SJ '3SP On account of [the] arrogance
of [the] wicked,
[ibah] [saying],
Ver. 13. X)W "^S " for pV)i2 8)&b "?JS "Surely, in
vain do we cry,
7S V12V\ S7 " for UnPJ/y 7S J/Pt^1 S7 " God
does not hear our cry,
121Vl>) S7 °>1V) for *1^ riS 121W) S7 "Ht^l
" And [the] Almighty does not
behold it" (namely,our misery.
Words like these must shock
every good man, and deserve
the severest punishment,
still they cannot be said
to be altogether uncalled
for ; but with thee, O
Job, the case is altogether
different,)
Ver. 14. 7psn 13 *]S for 7ESn 13 f|srr Canst even
thou indeed say
1371^17 S7 for KlMtrT) S7 *3 that thou dost
* This pleonasm has been supported by an example, page 327 (note).

chapter xxxv. 14 ; 15, 16. 329
not behold Him (God) (i.e.,
that thou dost not recognise
the finger of God in thy
afflictions) %
V2S>) p. for TOS1? I^l. Thy case [is] before
Him (i.e., thou thyself hast
admitted that thy sufferings
are his work) ;
i1? 77inni for nymtfph 17 y?inni So thou
must wait for Him for help
(but do not indulge in such
palpable contradictions as thou
dost, when thou sayest, that
this world seems to be without
a supreme ruler, and at the
same time admittest that thy
affliction came upon thee from
God).
Vers. 15, 16. Having thus exposed the contradictions in which
Job had involved himself, Elihu proceeds to say :
And now. Now that I have shown thee, O Job, that thy doubts
as to the existence of a Divine Providence are not only in the
highest degree sinful, but also clash with thine own words, I
maintain that that, which His anger hath visited upon thee, is,
compared to thy sinfulness, as though it was nothing. Thy
sins are so great, that the chastisement thou hast received is any
thing but commensurate with them — indeed, may be considered as
a mere nothing in comparison to what thou didst deserve. Indeed,
He (God) hath not taken cognizance of a great multitude of thy
sins. (Ver. 16.) So that Job hath opened his mouth with vanity.
His reasoning has been anything but solid and substantial. And
multiplieth words without knowledge.
Ver. 15. ta? multitude, either from EWS to abound, to be numerous, or ntPB to
spread widely.
Jarchi seems to have understood this verse as we do. His words are :

330 chapter xxxv. 15, 16; xxxvi. 2.
• 0137' ftb li'fb f>")13P 3PJPP ~|'f>13P 3173
" With regard to a great multitude of thy sins, the Creator conducts himself as though
He did not know of them."
This verse should be construed thus :
nni?l And now (i.e., now that I have convicted thee
of having spoken not only sinfully, but
also inconsistently and incoherently, I say
that)
12S 75 B for T2S T7JT 7P3 7^S that which His wrath
has visited upon thee (i.e., the punishment,
which He has inflicted upon thee, is)
I^S 13 as though nothing (I consider it as a mere
nothing in comparison to the enormity of
thy sins) ;
7SQ U/Z2 J/71 S71 for TWCOnO 7SP £>23 J/71 S71 So that He
did not take cognizance of a great multitude
of thy sins (i.e., in His infinite mercy He
has overlooked thy sins to a great extent).

Ver. 16. b?n for bsn3 with

vanity.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

yers. 2 — 7. Elihu opens the present discourse (which is addressed
to Job), by overturning that most pernicious doctrine which he had
referred to in the preceding one, as entertained by those deluded
and benighted people, who think that, because God is majestically
enthroned in the highest heavens, He cannot humble Himself so
far as to notice what is going on on earth. (Comp. Chapter
xxii. 12 — 15.) He says :
Wait for me a little. Have yet a little patience with me.
And I will shew thee, that I have still words to bring forward on

CHAPTER XXXVI. 3 — 7 ; 2. 331
behalf of God. (Ver. 3.) I will take up my reasoning from afar.
I will now dive more deeply into the subject, and bring up argu
ments more forcible still than those which I have hitherto employed.'
And I will ascribe righteousness to my Maker. I will shew that all
my Maker doeth is just and right. (Ver. 4.) For truly my words
are not false. The words I addressed to thee, O Job, in my last
discourse, namely V221 p7 ([thy] cause is before Him (God)) are
not false, but quite true. He who is perfect in knowledge is with
thee. Although so gloriously enthroned in Heaven, yet God is
with thee, by thee, and around thee ; He noticeth all thy move
ments, even the most hidden of thy thoughts lieth unveiled before
Him, and He dealeth with thee according as He hath decreed
concerning thee in His high wisdom. (Ver. 5.) Lo! God is
mighty, yet He doth not despise. The work of His hand. Although
mighty in power and wisdom. Notwithstanding His majesty and
omnipotence, He condescendeth to notice the doings of men here
below.* (Ver. 6.) He will not preserve the wicked-man alive;
but He will establish the justice of the afflicted. Of those afflicted
by the wicked man. And as He taketh vengeance upon the wicked
for their oppressions, so, on the other hand, doth He favourably
look upon the righteous, to reward them for their justice.
(Ver. 7.) He withdraweth not His eyes from the righteous, but
with kings doth He establish them on the throne for ever, so that
they are exalted.
Ver. 2. in? wait This verb, which every where else signifies to surround,
is here used in the sense of to wait, which it has in the Aramaean and Chaldaic
languages. So Jarchi who observes on the words ^rl.n*?- 7S|5T sb 7FI3 :
D»f> ip-)ipll pi)' D37'P 7Df>3 ipiP 'J ' ")P3 : -j7'3.n D13P *i 3P1P fi'P "fllft 'b lio
•pPS' (3"p P'13D') lip"
" The whole is in the Aramaean language [signifying,] Wait for me a little and I will
shew thee, "ira Signifies wait ; so in the passage *n>; o«» iryjirfy (Isa. xlii. 4) ; (and for
His law [the] islands wait) Jonathan renders ^rr» , pino? .
* Thus the Psalmist says, (Ps. cxiii. 5 — 8.) " Who is like unto Jehovah our God,
who dwelleth on high. Who humbleth Himself to behold the things that are in heaven,
and in the earth ! He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the
dunghill; that He may set him with princes, even with the princes of His people." And
again, (Ps. cxxxviii. 6,) " Though Jehovah be high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly,
&c." So also in Isaiah we read (Chap. lvii. 15.) " I dwell in the high and holy place
with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble
and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.''

332 CHAPTER XXXVI. 2 — 7.
B*ba nibsb 7ia *? for a*ba nibsb *b 715 *3 that I have still words on
behalf of God. For this force of the b , comp. note on bsbn supra xiii. 7.
Ver. 3. p1n7B7 *57 SE3S / will take up my knowledge from afar ; i.e., I
will dive more deeply into the matter, which he actually does by applying what
he had before said in general terms to Job's case in particular (See infra vers.
15, 16). With piniB7 SKB we may compare the Latin altius repetere ; and
the French reprendre une chose de plus haut. Those who understand Elihu to
say that he intends speaking of the great phenomena of nature, rain, dew, light,
&c, as matters that have escaped the attention of the other speakers, must have
forgotten, that these phenomena had been referred to more than once before
Elihu interposed. Comp. supra v. 10; xii. 15; xxv. 5; xxvi. 8, 13, 14;
xxviii. 26. With regard to the 7 in piniBI , see note on a*3SB vS"! supra
v. 5.
Ver. 4. 11^5 ni337 B*an [He who is] perfect in knowledge [is] with thee, i.e.,
deals with thee. Many Commentators are of opinion that Elihu here refers to
himself, in which case the passage would be grist to the mill of those (and they are
not few), who are determined to see in Elihu a presumptuous and arrogant young
man ; but we cannot for a moment think that he would bestow on himself an
epithet, wliich in the next Chapter (Ver. 16) he gives to God Almighty.
There is no means of discovering whether the Translators of the Auth. Vers.
referred the epithet to God or to Elihu, but we should for their credit hope that
they took it to apply to the former. Aben-Ezra considers it to refer to God as
we do, but Jarchi regards it as applied ironically to Job, when the verse would
read as follows : For verily my words [are] not false, [ 0 thou, who] with thyself
(i.e., in thy opinion) [art] perfect in knowledge, i.e., who art presumptuous enough
to think thou surpassest all other men in knowledge. Jarchi's paraphrase of the
verse runs thus : : PP'iD -JP137D 713D PPfc "]P23 ")373 PPJ3 i'PPf1 PJP
" Behold ! I will now begin to speak with thee, O thou, who art thinking that thy
knowledge is perfect."
Ver. 5. BSB* sb* for 1*B3 TT. °NB* sb* yet does not despise [the] labour
(the work) of Bis hands, i.e., men, whom He has wrought. Jarchi supplies the
word *35 an afflicted-man, after a^B"! N A , but we preferred understanding
1*B3 5*3* , as having been used by Job himself, supra x. iii.
3,b n3 for 3bl n3 might and understanding ; an asyndeton, of which we
have had more than one instance in this book. Comp. also Habak. iii. 11.
Ver. 7. aa*©"! He establishes them, the 1 being redundant ; or it may have
its usual conjunctive force, when B3*pi* should be supplied after Q1Bba . The
plural affix a~ refers to P1?? which is used collectively, righteous-men.
SB3b upon the throne, b has here the force of b5 upon, as supra ii. 13,
" So they sat down with him Y7.S7 upon the ground," and in many other
places.

CHAPTER XXXVI. 8  12. 333
Vers. 8 — 14. Having shown that the eye of God is open upon
all the ways of the sons of men, and that both the wicked and
the just ultimately meet with the reward which they deserve, the
speaker proceeds to say that, when affliction comes even upon the
best of men, we must not be surprised thereat, as such affliction
is not to be regarded as a chastisement inflicted on them by God
in His wrath for past offences, but rather as a warning sent by
Him in His love and mercy, that they may know that they were upon
the point of transgressing in some way, although unconsciously,
and that they indubitably would have transgressed, if they had
been suffered by Him to continue to flourish and live in happiness
and ease. He says :
And if they (the righteous mentioned in ver. 7) are sometimes
bound in chains. If their prosperity receives a check. If some
times they are caught in the. cords of affliction, by this means
(Ver. 9,) He sheweth them what their work would be, if their
transgressions should prevail. He intends their affliction as a hint
that the seed of corruption was beginning to germinate within
their heart, and that they were on the eve of becoming degenerate,
and would have become, degenerate, had they been suffered to
live any longer in the enjoyment of ease and comfort. (Ver. 10.)
So that by this chastisement lie openeth their ear to instruction,
and telleth them, that they should draw back from iniquity. He tells
them that sin is crouching at the door, * waiting to devour them,
thus warning them of their danger, and bidding them beware.
Consequently, when affliction is sent by God in His mercy on
good men, it is not — as being merely a warning — intended to be of
any long duration, so that their future fate will depend upon their
own conduct during that affliction. (Ver. 11.) If they obey, and
serve Him. Even when affliction comes upon them, and are wise
enough to see and to know that, inasmuch as it comes from God,
it must be for their good, their sufferings will soon have an end,
and They will again spend their days in prosperity, and their years
in pleasures. (Ver. 12.) But, if they do not obey. When affliction
comes upon them, and, instead of serving God, rebel and kick
against the pricks. They will pass away by the sword. They will
die an untimely death. And expire for want of knowledge.
* Gen. iv. 7.

334 chapter xxxvi. 13 — 16 ; 8, 14.
Because they were unable to perceive that their afflictions were
sent upon them for their good. (Ver. 13.) So that the hypocrites
in heart lay up anger. They turn the mercy of God into anger,
so that the affliction, which was, and ought to have been
considered by them, a mark of the grace of God, is now continued
upon them as a mark of His wrath. Because they do not cry unto
Him for help, when He bindeth them, but, instead of making prayer,
indulge in grumbling and rebellious murmurings. (Ver. 14.)
Their soul, therefore, dieth in their youth, and their life is spent
with the unclean. They will come to a miserable and untimely
end, and even during the short time they are suffered to exist,
they will be ranked among the vilest outcasts of society.
Ver. 8. 11737* for 1173b* BS if they are caught, the as being supplied
from the first hemistich.
Bi7*5PBl their transgressions, the 1 being merely explanatory. Comp.,
1 Sam. xxviii. 3, ll*531 nai3 in Ramah, even in his [own] city. The
hemistich should, therefore, be construed, 1733JT Bn*5PB *3 if their trans
gressions should prevail.
Ver. 14. The noun E37P, an unclean-man (sodomite), occurs also in Deut.
xxiii. 18.
Vers. 15 — 19. Elihu now brings the beautiful train of reason
ing contained in Vers. 8 — 14 to a close, and applies it to Job's
case. He says : From what I have observed, results, that He
delivereth the afflicted-man by his affliction. The very affliction
which is sent upon a good man, and which, if properly received,
would only last for a very short time, is intended to rescue him
from total ruin and destruction, which would have been his lot,
had he not received such a warning. And openeth their ear
by chastisement. By the very chastisement He inflicts upon
them, He reveals to them, that they are on the point of falling
and becoming degenerate, and warns them to stand upon their
guard. (Ver. 16.) Yea, also thee, O Job, hath He removed!
By means of the afflictions He hath sent upon thee. From the
mouth of an adversary, who was lurking for thee, and was greedy
to devour thee, namely, Ease, in the place of which there was
no straitness. Ease, uninterrupted, unbroken, for one moment.
And that which came down upon thy table, full of fatness. That
ease and that opulence, in which thou hast lived so many years,

chapter xxxvi. 16 — 19; 15 — 18. 335
were the worst and most dangerous adversaries thou ever hadst
to encounter, as they would have tempted thee to deviate from
thy former course of life, to become proud instead of humble, and
rebellious against God instead of devoted to Him. Now, from all
this, from all these perils and dangers, God intended to release thee
by the afflictions, which He sent upon thee, and which would in all
probability have lasted but a very short time, hadst thou humbled
thyself before Him in prayer, and received His chastisement with
resignation. (Ver. 17.) But thou hast been full of the plead
ing^] of the wicked-man. Instead of praying, thou hast done
nought but murmur and grumble ; instead of bowing with sub
mission to God's will, thou hast kicked against the pricks,
therefore Judgment and justice lay hold on thee. As it is, God
will not free thee from thy sufferings, nor can He in justice do
so, as long as thou shewest thyself rebellious against Him.
(Ver. 18.) For now it is wrath. The very sufferings, which
were originally sent upon thee through the grace and mercy of
God, now torture and rack thee because of His wrath ; I warn
thee therefore, yea, take heed, Lest He should remove thee
with one blow, which no ransom, however great, will enable thee
to avoid. For that which is a ransom among men is no ransom
with God. (V. 19.) Will He esteem thy riches ? No, neither
gold, nor all the endeavours of strength. The only ransom He will
accept is a penitent and contrite heart.
Ver. 15. B53TH their ear, the affix referring to 1?3 which is used here col
lectively = afflicted-men.
Ver. 16. 3171 Ut., width; i.e., roominess, ease.
n*nnn instead of it; in its place, nnn is taken here in the same sense as
supra xxx. 14.
Ver. 17. IB'an* for tja IBBn* lay hold of thee.
Ver. 18. ]B for 15 lb 7£ffi7n take heed to thyself, lest.
Vers. 16 — 18 should be construed thus:
Ver. 16. Tin*p7 *]S1. Yea, also thee (0 Job), has He
removed (i.e., snatched away)
71? ""ap from [the] mouth of an adversary (who
was about to devour thee; and
that adversary was)
3)77 Roominess (i.e., ease)

336 chapter xxxvi. 16 — 18.
rrnnn p^io & for p^ia S7 rnnnn irtx instead of
which [there was] not [even any]
straitness (i.e., ease never inter
rupted by any straitness),
sprptz; 17173,1 And [the] coming down of thy table
(i.e., and that which came down,
which was set, upon thy table),
]U>1 S70 for WI K7D 7*7 TJrX which was full
1 V T " T ' V T " T T T V "I •>
of fatness (i.e., that uninterrupted
ease which thou didst enjoy, and
the luxuries, with which thy table
was loaded, were the most dan
gerous adversaries thou couldst
have had, inasmuch as they had
nearly led thee to become proud,
arrogant, and rebellious against
God. But from this dangerHe hath
rescued thee by sending on thee thy
present afflictions, which, however,
if thou hadst received them with
resignation, would have been of
very short duration indeed).
Ver. 17. nsbp JJQh pi But thou ivastfull of [the] pleadings
of a wicked-man (i.e., instead of re
signing thyself to God's will, thou
hast done nothing but murmur,
and use the language of invective
and insult, and therefore)
IDPn1 aa^pi H for 7,3 1DPJ71 Ca^pi p. Judg
ment and justice lay hold on thee
(therefore, thy sufferings still weigh
heavily upon thee).
Ver. 18. 727 ^2 For [there is] wrath (i.e., now God
is really angry with thee. When
He first sent thy sufferings upon
thee, He shewed Himself full of
grace and mercy towards thee,
inasmuch as His object was to

chapter xxxvi. 18 — 25. 337
rescue thee from ruin and perdi
tion, but now thy sufferings are
a mark of His wrath, and there
fore)
pafeq ^D) ]a for paiiq Tjrvp1 ja !>b "ip^? take
heed to thyself, lest He remove thee
with a blow (i.e., lest with one
blow He despatch thee, and cut
thee off from among the living).
Vers. 20 — 26. Job having said that he longed and prayed for
death (supra vi. 9, 11; xvii. 16), nay, that in the agony of his
pain, he was sometimes tempted to commit suicide (supra vii. 15),
Elihu admonishes him not to allow such sombre ideas entrance
into his mind — as death would be sure to come some day and
carry him away, without there being any occasion for him to
hurry to meet it — and concludes his admonition by recommending
him to admire God in his works, instead of brooding over his
miseries, and indulging in metaphysical researches, which are
altogether beyond the sphere of a human being. He says :
Do not thou pant for that eternal night (death), which is sure
to. cut off whole nations on the spot where they are. Thou mayest
feel confident, therefore, that it will not overlook thee ; what need,
then, to run with open arms to meet it? (Ver. 21.) Be on thy
guard! do not turn to this sin. To suicide, a sin, which in
enormity far surpasses all others, inasmuch as it is one which cannot
be atoned for by repentance. I think it my duty to warn thee
against this terrible sin, Because thou seemest to choose this rather
than affliction. (Ver. 22.) Lo ! God is exalted in His power ;
who is an instructor like Him ? Who knoweth like Him the
precise time, when man requireth admonition and instruction,
and the means, by which such admonition and instruction can best
be conveyed to him'? (Ver. 23.) Who hath enjoined on Him
His way ? Who hath traced out for Him the course He is to
pursue 1 Or who ever said to Him, " Thou hast wrought iniquity ? "
Instead of scrutinizing the acts of God, which are altogether
inscrutable (Ver. 24). Remember that thou oughtest rather to
exalt His work, which men contemplate. (Ver. 25.) All men
behold it, even frail-man can perceive it from afar. His works
z

338 chapter xxxvi. 26 ; 20—24.
are so great and so wonderful, that even men of the lowest order
of intellect cannot fail to be struck with them, and are irresistibly
led to admire and adore Him, who planned and executed them.
(Ver. 26.) Behold ! God is exalted beyond our comprehension ; the
number of His years is unsearchable. We can as little conceive
His greatness and His majesty, as we can set limits to the
eternity of His existence.
Ver. 20. nb*bn the night; i.e., that eternal night, death, Bnnn B*B5 nib5b
for Bnnn B*B5 niba/nb 7p"S which [is] to cut off peoples in their place;
i.e., which is sure to destroy whole nations in the very place where they are — thus
coming to seek them out, and not requiring them to go to him. That the verb
n3s is used in Hiph-el in the sense of cutting off, or removing from this world,
we see from Ps. cii. 25, 1373.n bs do not take me away, or cut me off (in the
midst of my days), nibab stands here for nib^rjb, just as in Exod. xiii. 21
anhsb for ann^rrb (Neh. ix. 19) to lead them.
Bnrin in their place; i.e., in the place where they are; a sense in which
this word is used infra xl. 12. When the reader has consulted the passages here
referred to, he will, we doubt not, be puzzled to understand how Schultens came to
characterize this simple verse as " Profundissimus locus, velut vortice quodam nos
circumacturus." Ealbag's interpretation, we are glad to see, agrees with our own.
Ver. 21. 7Bt&3i7 for *jb 7Btan take heed to thyself, be on thy guard.
11« bs for n-tn *).sn bs to this sin.
7a *3 for *? b5 because that; i.e., I think it right to give thee this warning,
because, &c. Comp. Deut. xxxi. 17, 1? 7a because (my God is not with me,
&c). For a similar transposition, Comp. aan rfb b5 for BB17 b5 ^b {supra
xvi. 17). Comp. also supra xxxiv. 27. It was in consequence of the verb 7n3 being
nowhere found construed with ba , that we were induced to adopt this transposi
tion ; the second hemistich of this verse, therefore, should be construed thus :
(It is my duty to give thee this admonition,)
by \3 for "\3 by because that
1\ *PT}2 thou preferred this (this crime, namely, suicide)
^2yi2 rather than affliction.
Ver. 22. 3*2p* is exalted, the Hiph-el being here used intransitively, like
p*nan supra xx. 12.
Ver. 24. H7t» have looked. We take this word to be the Pi-dl of 71tt3 to
look, and to stand in parallelism with Itn jn the next verse. Those who con
sider it to be the Pi-dl of 7*p to sing, to praise, destroy this paralleUsm.
Ver. 27 — 33. Having advised his unfortunate friend, instead of

chapter xxxvi. 27 — 33. 339
brooding over his own miserable condition, to consider the
wondrous works of the Almighty, from the contemplation of
which he would be more likely to derive consolation, Elihu
follows up this advice by calling his attention to the rain, thunder,
and lightning, which now probably were beginning to be seen and
heard, ushering in the storm, out of which God was presently to
speak to Job.
When He taketh away the drops of water. From the seas,
rivers, and other collections of water, as also from the earth
generally, by means of evaporation. They. These drops. Distil
rain for His mist. These imperceptible particles derived by
evaporation from the sources just named, unite into drops (which
Elihu terms rain, even before they have ascended to form clouds),
when but a short distance above the face of the earth, and con
stitute mists. (Ver. 28.) Rain, which the clouds drop, pour forth
upon man in abundance. (Ver. 29.) Yea, can one understand
the spreadings of the thick-cloud[s], or the noise of His tabernacle?
The roaring of the thunder heard among the clouds, in which
God dwells as in a tabernacle.* (Ver. 30.) Lo ! He hath spread
His lightning over it. Look there, how it lightens ! See, the
lightning spreads over the clouds like a curtain. And so hath
covered the offspring of the sea. The drops of water which are
contained in the clouds, and which, as contributed in a very far
larger proportion by the evaporation of the sea, than by that of
other bodies of water, are here termed the offspring of the sea
exclusively. (Ver. 31.) For by them He executeth-judgment-
upon nations. He punishes nations by means of these drops,
when, namely, He sends them down in such excess as to devastate
the earth. And by their means again He giveth food in great
abundance. When He suffers them to fall in such quantity only
as will fertilize the earth. (Ver. 32.) Again, with His hands He
covereth the lightning. He takes it like a ball in His hands before
He hurls it. But on hurling it He giveth it a charge. He com
mands it where to strike, and there, and there only, it does strike.
(Ver. 33.) Its crash sheweth respecting it. That it is in conse-

* Comp. Ps. xviii. 12, in|D His pavilion (round about Him were dark waters and thick
clouds).
Z 2

340 chapter xxxvi. 27 — 33.
quence of jealous-anger ; * it shews it to be in consequence of
wrath because of iniquity, f Of iniquity wrought by man.
Ver. 27. ^7^1 takes away. In this, the only instance in which it occurs in
Pi-al, the verb 513 has the same signification as in Kal.
I^Sy for His mist, vapour. 7S (without a Yod) signifies mist, vapour, as in
Gen. ii. 6 ; 7*S (with a Yod) signifies calamity, as supra xviii. 12.
Ver. 28. 31 = Bill in abundance, abundantly.
Ver. 30. l*7a over it, refers to 33 in the preceding verse.
HIS His lightning. The noun 71M, which generally signifies light, means
sometimes also the sun, as the great origin of light (as supra xxxi. 26) ; here it is
used in the sense of lightning (as also infra xxxvii. 3). The reader will do well
to keep these two secondary meanings in his recollection, as in the next Chapter
be will find the noun employed first in the one, and then in the other of them, so
that it is only by a careful consideration of the context that one is able to dis
criminate which should be adopted.
Ejn *p1pl lit., and [the] offshoots of the sea; i.e., the offspring of the sea,
drops of water, which arise from it by evaporation. By a similar figure we find,
infra xii. 20, an arrow, as being an offshoot from a bow, caUed np^ 13 [the]
son of a bow. The noun 277^, though it generally means root, is sometimes
used synonymously with P?1* a sucker, or tender-branch, as in Isa. liii. 2, where,
seeing that the verb n3a to go (grow) up, is used in reference to it, it can
scarcely be taken in its usual meaning of root. Perhaps also in Isa. xi. 10,
1P1. tt77ta would be more properly translated [the] offspring of Jesse.
Ver. 32. B*B3 73 lit., by means of [His] hands; i.e., with His hands.
•7*73 12*1 and He lays a charge upon it; i.e., commands it ; such being the
signification of the verb ni2, when construed with 7 a . Comp. Gen. xxviii. 6,
1*73 12*7 and he commanded him.
The affix in n*.f3 is feminine, though it refers to lis, which in this instance
exchanges its own proper gender, the masculine, for that of its synonym nilS
(Ps. cxxxix. 12). In like manner, the fem. affixes in niBpbl n733b (Gen.
ii. 15) refer to 1? a garden, which is masc, but in this instance takes the gender
of its synonym n33 (Isa. i. 30).
5*2paa for nniS i2*apn3 0n His causing it to fall, strike ; i.e., on His
throwing, hurling it.
Ver 33. 157 l1??. 7*2* its crash sheivs concerning it. Comp. Esther vi. 2,
ba *371B 7*217 ipS which Mordecai told concerning (Bigthana and Teresh.)
* Comp. Exod. xx. 5, " For I Jehovah thy God am «3i? ¦>« a jealous God."
f That God shews His indignation by rain, thunder, and lightning, we see from 1 Sam.
xii. 17, 18, " Is it not wheat-harvest to-day ? I will call unto Jehovah, and He shall send
thunder and rain, that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye
have done in the sight of Jehovah, in asking you a king. So Samuel called unto Jehovah;
and Jehovah sent thunder and rain that day ; and all the people greatly feared Jehovah and
Samuel."

chapter xxxvi. 33. 341
Comp. also Exod. xxxii. 17, "And when Joshua heard the noise of the people
n5ia (K'ree 1573) on its clamouring.''
n3pB for Sin n5pB *3 that it [is] jealousy (on the part of God) ; i.e., that He
is jealous. n3pB js nere a derivative of S3p to be jealous, S and n interchanging,
as they very frequently do, e.g., infra xxxvii. 6, Sin for nin be. See Mason
and Bernard's Gramm., Lett, xxxviii., P.S. (e). So in Ezek. viii. 3, " Where was
the seat of the image of jealousy n.3pBn (for SppBil) that causeth (provoketh to)
jealousy;" i.e., that maketh God jealous, a term which is applied to Him,
Exod. xx. 5.
nbla for nb)5 iniquity. Comp. Ps. Iviii. 3, llbasn ribi5 Ye work wicked
ness; also supra v. 16, nJ773l for nri7l31 and iniquity.
Ver. 33 should be construed thus :
1J77 Its crash (i.e., the tremendous crash of the thunder)
Vby 7*-jP shews respecting it,
73pp for S17 S3pp 13 that it [is] jealousy (on the part of
God ; i.e., that God is jealous (comp. Exod. xx. 5)
on account of the misdoings of men) ;
^S for S17 f)S "3 that it [is] wrath (i.e., that the
Almighty is wroth)
771J7 by because of iniquity (i.e., because iniquity is rife
among men).

As several Commentators, comparing 77t£' a field, plur.
nilfc>, take 77il7 to be the singular of riTft? iniquities, which,
besides in the passage already quoted, occurs also in Ps. lxiv. 7,
we have adopted this opinion, and translated accordingly. Strong
doubts must, however, be entertained as to whether the sing.
would not rather be nbiy , and to this view Dr. Bernard inclines,
the more especially when he compares the form llby , which we
met with supra v. 16. He would, therefore, prefer considering
77l,y as the part. Kal. of iby to go up, rise, and by *]S as stand
ing for fjS by (a transposition of which we had an example iu
Dpn S7 by supra xvi. 17, on which see note), when the latter part
of the verse would be construed thus :
[Til1] [it shews] (i.e., the crash of the thunder shews that
it is sent)
Iffy ^S by because of rising wrath (i.e., because the wrath of
God is beginning to arise on account of the

342 CHAPTER XXXVII. 1  5.

sinful conduct of men. Comp. Ps. lxxviii. 31,
Dnn iby D\77S HS1 And [the] wrath of God
arose against them ; also ibid. ver. 21, and 2 Chron.
xxxvi. 16, Tp#3 nin* npn ni7^ ly until [the]
wrath of Jehovah arose against His people.)
Note of Editor.

CHAPTER XXXVII.
Vers. 1 — 5. The youthful speaker continues to dwell upon the
thunder and lightning, with the consideration of which he had
been engaged at the close of the last Chapter. He says :
Yea, my heart also trembleth at this, and leapeth from its place.
The fearful roaring of the thunder causes, Elihu tells us, his
heart to palpitate greatly ; it is ready, to use a vulgar but forcible
expression, to jump into his mouth. (Ver. 2.) Hear attentively
the rumbling of His voice. The rolling of His (God's) thunder.
And the roaring which proceedeth from His mouth. (Ver. 3.)
Under the whole heaven doth He direct it, and His lightning He
directeth to the ends of the earth. (Ver. 4.) After it. After the
lightning. The thunder roareth ; He thundereth with His majestic
voice, yet one cannot trace them. Yet none can trace the thunder
and lightning. Although His thunder is heard. Although the
noise of the thunder is as perceptible to the ear as is the flash of
the lightning to the eye, yet neither the ear nor the eye can
afford to the mind any accurate information as to the source
or course of these phenomena. (Ver. 5.) God thundereth
marvellously with His voice ; great-things doeth He, which we can
not comprehend.
Ver. 1. Most Translators connect the conjunction 1^ also, with nrftb at this,
and render the first hemistich, At this also my heart trembleth, a translation calcu-

chapter xxxvii. 1 — 5 ; 6 — 9. 343
lated to lead the reader to expect to find Elihu abandoning the subject he was
treating at the end of the preceding Chapter, for some new one. Such is, how
ever, by no means the case, as the thunder and lightning still constitute his theme.
It is therefore much better to connect the IS with *?b , and to understand the
speaker to say, Yea, my heart also trembleth ; i.e., not only am I deafened by the
crash of the thunder, and dazzled by the blaze of lightning, but my very heart
knocks against my ribs with dread.
Ver. 2. t313 [the] rumbling of, the 3 being merely the mark of the object.
case. n?n') and [the] roaring. Comp. Isa. xxxi. 4, n*1Si1 n2n* 7pS3 as the
lion roars. That the act of roaring is in the Bible attributed to God we find in
Hos. xi. 10, " They shall walk after Jehovah : He shall roar like a lion : when
He shall roar," &c. The relat. ips should be understood before VSB .
inip* Ut., He has directed it ; the past Pi-dl of 7ta* , the Dagesh being
omitted, as is often the case when it would occur in a letter bearing Sh'vah.
Ver. 3. Ills His lightning. In this sense the word IIS is used here, as it was
in the preceding Chapter, in Vers. 30, 32. See note on T71S in the first of these
verses. Ver. 4. a3p51 Sb] Yet one (the verb being used impersonally) cannot trace
them ; i.e., the thunder and lightning. Comp. 1^2n *3p33 (Cant. i. 8) in [the]
traces (foot-prints) of the flock. Those who give to this word the meaning of
delaying, or staying, translate it as though there were a 3 instead of a p , the
verb 335 being used by the Rabbins in the sense of to delay; but, surely, a
signification derived from Biblical Hebrew must be esteemed far preferable.
Ver. 5. niS7B3 Ut., wonders,* used here adverbially = wonderfully, just as in
Ps. cxxxix. 14, niSl!3 must be translated fearfully.
Vers. 6 — 10. Elihu now begins to describe the inclemency of
the winter and rainy season. He says :
For to the snow He saith, Be on the earth, and likewise to the
gentle shower, and to the heavy rain of His might. (Ver. 7.) In
the place of every man he sealeth him up. By means of His snow
and heavy rains He confines every man to the place he is in,
impeding and shackling his movements. In order that all the men
whom He hath made may know Him. May know that they them
selves, as well as all their movements, are under the direct super
intendence of God. (Ver. 8.) The wild-beast, also, checked
and impeded in its movements, must enter into its covert, and must
abide in its den. (Ver. 9.) The whirlwind cometh out from the
store-chamber. From the place where the winds are stored up.
And the cold cometh from the constellations. Is caused by their
* Rather wonderful-things. — Editor, 1862.

344 chapter xxxvii. 10; 6 — 9.
influence. (Ver. 10.) By the blast of God ice is produced, so
that the wide-waters are turned into a compressed-mass.
Ver. 6. Sin for nin; be thou, which form occurs in Gen. xxvii. 29. The more
regular form would of course be H*n .
V7S stands for V7£-? on the earth.
7Ba Bp2 a shower of rain ; i.e., gentle rain.
nllBB Bp2 ut., a shower of rains ; i.e., heavy rains. In Zech. x. 1 we find
Bp2. IBp lit., rain of shower ; but, as a noun, when in construction with
another, is very frequently qualified by that other (see Mason and Bernard's
Gramm., Lett. xxi. § 9) apa IBB would also express rain falling in showers,
gentle rain.
ap.?) stands for Bp.271 in both the instances in which it occurs in the second
hemistich of this verse.
Ver. 7. Q7S 73 7*3 in [the] place of every man. Comp. Deut. xxiii. 13,
7*1 and a place (shall be to thee) , i.e., thou shalt have a place, &c.
BWn* for inis Binn* He seals him up; i.e., shuts him up at home, prevents
him from going out. Comp. supra xxiv. 16, la 3 iann they ^hut themselves up.
n377 for iniS n37b so as to know Him ; i.e., so that they may know Him.
inpaa *p'3S b3 Ut., all [the] men of His make ; i.e., aU the men He has
made. Comp. supra xxxiv. 19, E73 1*7* np3B *3 for they [are] all [the]
work of His hands.
Ver. 8. n*ni313Ja31 and in her (its) dens. The noun 115B, though usually
found in the signification of dwelling, is sometimes applied to the den of a wild
beast, as in Jer. ix. 10, B*3n 115B a den of dragons. Comp. also infra
xxxviii. 40.
Ver. 9. 17.nn "jB from [the] store-room ; i.e., the place in which the winds,
according to the notion of the poet, were stored up. So Virgil :
Nimborum in patriam, loca fceta furentibus austris,
iEoliam venit. Hie vasto Rex iEolus antro
Luctantes ventos, tempestatesque sonoras
Imperio premit, ac vinclis et carcere frenat. Mn. i. 51—54.
7717 , in this acceptation of store-room, is used in Prov. xxiv. 4, " And by
knowledge a17?/Q store-rooms, are fiUed with aU precious and pleasant sub
stance." B*itBBl and from [the] constellations. With Aben-Ezra we reject as far
fetched the opinion of those who translate Q17JB the North, as also that of those
who take it to be the part. Pi-dl of nit to scatter ; and with Aben-Ezra and
Ben-Zev we consider it to be synonymous with nil-tB {infra xxxviii. 32), and
nib-tB (2 Kings xxiii. 5), both of which signify constellations (the 7 and b inter
changing, just as in Isa. xiii. 22 we have I*i7i3absa for l*ni3B1S3 in its
palaces). The verb S13P1 should be supplied from the first hemistich after B*1TBB1 in
the second.

chapter xxxvii. 10; 11 — 13. 345
Ver. 10. in* one puts; i.e., is put, or produced, the verb being used im
personally. E?? 31711 Ut., so that [the] width of waters ; i.e., wide waters. Comp. Gen.
i. 30, aps pi* greenness of herb = green herb.
p21B3 in a compressed-mass. The verbs *"B and 1"S* having the same form in
Hoph-al, p^lB may be either the part. Hoph. of p2* to pour out, melt, cast, or
of p!2 (in Hiph.) to press, compress. Here we are inclined to regard p!2 as its
root, and therefore translate it compressed; but infra Ver. 18, the context requires
that we should derive it from p2* .
Before p21B3 in the present verse, in* one puts, or is put, should be supplied
from the first hemistich.
Vers. 11 — 13. Before commenting upon these three verses,
we would beg to recall to the mind of the reader the passage in
Amos (chap. iv. 7, 8), " And also I have withholden the rain
" from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest ;
" and I caused it to rain upon one city ; and caused it not to rain
. " upon another city ; one piece was rained upon, and the piece
" whereupon it rained not withered. So two or three cities
" wandered unto one city to drink water," &c. From what we
here read, it is evident that God sometimes shews His favour and
His anger at the same moment by simultaneously giving and with
holding rain ; giving it unto those He loves, and withholding it from
those who have provoked His indignation. With these few remarks
we will now proceed to consider the words of Elihu. He says :
Yea, the bright-sun weareth out the thick-cloud ; he scattereth
the cloud containing His (God's) lightning. (Ver. 12.) And it.
The cloud thus dispersed. Turneth itself circuifously. Moves
tortuously across the sky. By His (God's) plans, that they. The
scattered fragments of the cloud. May work out all that He com-
mandeth them upon the face of the world, in the earth. (Ver. 1 3.)
He causeth it (the cloud) to come either as a general chastisement.
When He sends rain in torrents, so as to cause great havoc. Or
for His land. When He bestows rain (gentle and fertilizing) on
that land alone to which He wishes to shew favour. Or as a
general kindness. When He waters the earth generally with
seasonable showers.
Ver. 11. 173 serenity (according to Aben-Ezra, Ealbag and Ben-Zev), we
take here to be used concretely of the sun (just as we saw 7iS Ught, applied

346 chapter xxxvii. 11 — 13; 14, 15.
concretely to that luminary, supra xxxi. 26), and translate it therefore the
bright-sun. n*1B* wears out. ma is used as a verb only in this instance, but, as the
noun niB means burden (comp. Deut. i. 12), we conceive the verb to mean here
to cause to bear a burden, and so oppress, wear out.
ills ^55 lit., [the] cloud of his lightning; i.e., the cloud containing His
(God's) lightning. Comp. nin* n*ia *iiS (Numb x. 33) [the] ark of [the]
covenant of (i.e., the ark containing the covenant of) Jehovah.
Ver. 12. nl3BB Ut., turnings, is used here adverbially = circuitously, just as
we had niSIB? (on which see note) used adverbially supra Ver. 5.
E/5?B7 lit., for their working ; i.e., that they may work.
n21S for V7.S7 on the earth, as supra ii. 13.
Ver. 13. a3,pb lit., for a rod; i.e., as a chastisement. Comp. 1B3.P His
rod, supra ix. 34.
121S7 for His land; i.e., for that particular tract of land, which He has
chosen to bestow His blessings upon.
inS2B* He causes it to befall (men) ; i.e., He causes it to happen, to come.
Comp. Exod. xviii. 8, " and all the travail QnsaJ3 7E3S that had befallen (come
upon) them," as very properly translated in the Eng. Vers.
Vers. 14 — 24. Clouds big with thunder, lightning, and rain,
are wont to overspread the sky in layers, black and thick, and
seem one molten, leaden, mass, immoveable. As soon, however,
as, disburdened of their contents, they begin to feel the power
of the solar rays, they set themselves in motion (and this is the
first indication of approaching fair weather), and, ere long, they
may be seen becoming gradually thinner and thinner, just as
a mass of metal does, when hammered out into a plate ; till at
last riven asunder, they are hurried away in fragments by the
wind, and the golden sun once more emerges into view. Such
a description of the process by which a cloudy, tempest-darkened,
sky is gradually exchanged for one serene and bright, we shall
hear Elihu give in the following verses. He then closes his
discourse by observing, that the splendour of the sun, great as
it is, when he reappears after a thunder-storm, is nothing at all
in comparison with the splendour of Him, " who commandeth
the sun and he shineth not, and upon the stars doth set His seal."
He says :
Give ear unto this, 0 Job ; stand, and consider the wondrous-
works of God ! (Ver. 15.) Dost thou know when God setteth the
sun over it (the cloud), and causeth the sun to shine upon His

chapter xxxvii. 15 — 22. 347
cloud? Canst thou determine the precise moment at which the
sun receiveth the Divine command to bear with the whole power
of his rays upon the cloud, until, growing thinner and thinner,
it be dismembered and dispersed? (Ver. 16.) Knowest thou
aught of the balancings of the thick-cloud[s] ? ( Oh, wondrous-works
of Him, which is perfect in knowledge) ! Canst thou tell by what
that oscillating movement of the clouds, which is the first indica
tion of the approach of fair weather, is produced? (Ver. 17.)
Dost thou know how it is, that thy garments are warm, when he
(the sun) quieteih the earth by the south-wind ? By calling from
the south a warm and gentle wind to efface all traces of the
recent storm. Well may the sun be said to hold the winds at
his disposal, since it is by his heat that they are in a great
measure produced. (Ver. 18.) Dost thou with him (the sun) beat-
thin the clouds, which appear to the eye firm as a molten mirror ?
Dost thou help him, when with his rays he, as it were, hammereth
out those dense masses of clouds, which so much resemble a
darkened mirror* of molten metal ? (Ver. 19.) Teach us what
we are to say respecting him! what we must suppose has
become of that bright and splendid sun, who so much dazzled
our eyes before the intervention of these clouds ; what fate we
must assign to him; where he is now concealed. We cannot
arrange our words on account of the darkness. We cannot say
where he is now, owing to the darkness caused by these clouds,
a darkness so profound, that even the piercing rays of the sun
cannot penetrate it. (Ver. 20.) Shall it be told of him, shall I
indeed pronounce, or will any man say, that he is destroyed ? Could
I or any other man be simple enough to say, that the sun is
annihilated, because we no longer see him? (Ver. 21.) But
now, though men do not see the sun, he is still bright in the clouds.
The clouds have, indeed, concealed him from our sight, but they
have not been able to annihilate him, or even to divest him of his
glory ; he is indubitably there behind those clouds, as bright as
he ever was. And as soon as a wind shall have passed, and cleared
them away. (Ver. 22.) Yea, by means of a north-wind. Which
will disperse the clouds. He will come out gold. In the fulness
of his radiance and brilliancy, and as glorious as ever. But that
• That is to say, a mirror turned away from the light.

348 chapter xxxvii. 22 — 24; 15—17.
glory, great as it is, what is it, compared with the glory and
majesty of God ? Nothing, absolutely nothing, less than nothing.
The glory, which is with God, is awful. It is not a glory which
can inspire admiration only, but a glory, which must also strike
every one with awe. (Ver. 23.) As to the Almighty, we cannot
find Him out. Of the sun, though we see him not, though we
know not even where he is, we can still with certainty predict
that we shall see him, as soon as the clouds which shroud him
from our view shall have been dispersed by the wind ; not so
with God. No one can see Him excepting those to whom He
condescendeth to reveal Himself, and not even they can foretell
when, at what time, and in what manner, He will so condescend.
He is great in power and justice ; and in the abundance of His
righteousness He will not afflict. Any of His creatures willingly,
and without cause. (Ver. 24.) Therefore, men can only fear
Him, but not any even of the wise in heart can see Him. The
only thing that men can do, therefore, is to convince themselves of
His existence, His glory, and His majesty, and to regard it as
their bounden duty to love Him, to serve Him, to worship Him,
and stand in awe of Him ; but as for seeing Him they must not
hope for that ; thereunto even their wisdom will avail them nought,
and they must rest content with the conviction, that they can see
Him only when He is pleased to shew Himself to them.
Ver. 15. an*73 ni7S Blta3 on God's setting over them ; i.e., investing with
authority over them. Comp. Deut. xvii. 14, 1?Q 175 na*ps I will set a

Bn*7a. Ut., over them, referring to 1333. at the end of the verse — a plural
affix used in reference to a sing. noun. Comp. supra Ver. 12, where the affixes
in abaBb and E12* refer to Sin"! at the beginning of the verse.
71S [the] sun (a sense, in which we saw this noun employed supra xxxi. 26),
must be supplied from the second hemistich to the first, as is the case with 5?p
in Prov. xiii. 1.
i33a for 1335 by over His cloud, the 72 being supplied from the first he
mistich, where, as has already been observed, Bn*b5 stands for l^a.
Ver. 16. *pb?B balancings of. Comp. Prov. xvi. 11, B33 a balance (and
just scales), &c, ® and B interchanging, as they very frequently do. See note
on Cay3 supra v. 2.
Ver. 17. "^^ how, this word being here not a relative pronoun, b'ut a con
junction, as in Josh. ii. 10.
Bppna for ia*ppna 0n his (the sun's) quieting.

chapter xxxvii. 17 — 19. 349
BilTa for Bi77 I717B by [the] south wind. So in Cant. iv. 16, 11B2 is used
for PB2 1711 north wind, and |B*n for *B*ft 1717 SOuth wind. Comp. also
TJ38B infra Ver. 22.
Ver. 18. Win for 51i?7nn. Ut., dost thou cause to spread out? This verb
has here in Hiph-el the same sense that it has in Pi-dl, in Exod. xxxix. 3, where
it denotes the beating out of a mass of metal with a hammer, or other tool, into
a thin plate, capable of being cut into threads, or wires. The passage is,
15P/T.! and they beat out (the plates of gold).
iB5 with him, i.e., with 7iS the sun, last mentioned in ver. 15. All the
Commentators and Translators we have consulted, without exception make the
unfortunate mistake of referring the affix in 1B5 to God, whom they also make
the subject of the next three verses, to the very great detriment of the sense, as
the reader wiU very quickly discover, if he wUl consult them. If their reason
for so doing was because God, as designated by His attribute B*37 B*an perfect
in knowledge, is the subject, which last precedes laa, they must have entirely
forgotten, that but Uttle regard is paid in this book, by the holders of the several
discourses, to such niceties of grammar, as they believed their hearers to be
possessed of a sufficient share of common sense to enable them to refer to their
proper subjects whatever pronouns and verbs they might hear employed. Thus,
for example, in Chap. xxii. 21, iB5 with Him, refers to God, who had not been
mentioned since vers. 17, 18, although the last subject is 1P3 in ver. 19. Comp.
also supra xx. 23, where nbp* He shall send, refers to 7s God, of whom no
mention had been made since, ver. 15, the intervening seven verses relating to the
wicked man first mentioned in ver. 5 of the same Chapter. Indeed, the whole of
Chap. xxv. and vers. 6 — 14 of Chap. xxvi. refer to God, whom, though not
once therein mentioned by name,* common sense requires us to consider as the
subject. This is the case also with Chap, xxiii., vers. 3 — 15. So again, in
Chap, xxviii., all the he's, which occur in vers. 3 — 11, must be referred by common
sense to man. Besides, the words c*57 B*Bn niS7Ba may very well be
regarded (as it will be seen has been done by ourselves) as parenthetical, in which
case 1B5 would really refer to 7iS [the] sun, in ver. 15, the last subject.
Q1pnp7 [the] clouds, the b being the mark of the obj. case, as in b*lsb
supra v. 2.
C1P*Q for a*ptn 7p*y which [are] strong, firm.
p2ia *S13 Hke a molten mirror. *S1 (which is derived from the verb nSI
to see, look) is synonymous with nSiB a looking-glass, mirror, which occurs in
Exod. xxxviii. 8. The root of P21B here is not p!2, as in the same word
ver. 10, but P2* to pour out, and also to pour molten metal into a mould, to cast.
Ver. 19. lb respecting him (the sun). Comp. Gen. xx. 13, "Say V respect
ing me, He is my brother."
TJ733 to for 13*yB 775? "b we cannot arrange our words ; i.e., we do not
know what to say. A similar ellipsis we met with supra xxxiii. 5, where
n315. (on which see note) stands for I'bB n31;5 arrange thy words.
* This is a mistake. God is once mentioned by name in Chap. xxv. (viz., Ver. 4), though
not in the Verses quoted from Chap. xxvi. — Editor, 1862.

350 chapter xxxvii. 20 — 23.
Ver. 20. 17 respecting him (the sun), as in the preceding verse.
737S *3 for 737$ *3n shall I indeed speak (say ?)
BS whether, used here merely as an interrogative particle. Comp. supra vi. 12.
Ver. 21. 7is 1S1 Ab for 7iS 1ST rfb *3 B2 although [men] do not see [the]
sun, See note on 7lS ver. 15.
7*113 bright, a awa£ Xeyopevov. From the same root, however, we have
nin3 (Lev. xiii. 2, &c), a white (or bright) spot.
Ver. 22. 11B-2B for *i32 nilB by means of [the] north wind. See note on
B177B supra Ver. 17.
nn.S* 3nt he (the sun) will come out Gold, i.e., as bright as Gold. The 3 of
comparison is intentionally omitted here, in order to increase the force of the
simile. See note on 13*B* 32 *3 supra viii. 9. For this figurative sense of
3nt we may compare Zech. iv. 12, "which empty out of themselves -^n^n '^e
gold," * i.e., the clear, bright, oil, as explained by Kimchi, who observes :
• *p3m 7tn *acan iaib 13121
" He means to say the bright and pure oil."
So Shakespeare : So sweet a kiss the golden sun gives not
To those fresh morning drops upon the rose,
Nor shines the silver moon one half so bright
Through the transparent bosom of the deep.
Ver. 23. npi^-ai) for inp7ir3131 and in [the] multitude (abundance) of
His righteousness. Those who translate these words, and great in righteousness,
have confounded 31 ; which stands for ail , and is a noun and not an adjective,
(the Chowlem having been changed into a short Kawmets on account of the
Makkiph connecting the word to the one next following), — with the adjective 37
great, which could not possibly take a short- Kawmets.
nsa* sb for ta*S *33 iaba naa* tfb (as in Lament, iii. 33,) He does not
afflict [the] sons of men from His heart, i.e., willingly.
The view we take of Vers. 15 — 24 of this Chapter so widely
differs from that embraced by all the Commentators and Transla
tors whose works we have before us, that we must beg to be allowed
to set forth the manner, in which we construe these seemingly
incoherent verses — a manner, by which not only a most logical
and close connection is shown to subsist between them, but also
a finale is obtained worthy to crown the discourse of the only one
of the wise men who speak in this volume, that is not found
fault with by Him, who "giveth wisdom unto the wise, and
knowledge to them that know understanding."
* Similarly, the purest treacle is often called golden syrup. — Editor, 1862.

chapter xxxvii. 15 — 19. 351
Ver. 15. yiftl Dost thou know.
PJi7S D1&3 for 7lS 717S W&2 when
God appoints [the] sun
D'TTy for vby. over it (the cloud,
which is here, as in verse 1 2,
designated by a plural affix ;
i.e., when God charges the
sun to disperse the cloud),
}22y nis jralm. for i^ by nis j^aini And
causes [the] sun to shine
upon His cloud ?
Ver. 16. 2]J "^ap by yill Dost thou know [anything]
respecting [the] balancings
of [the] thich-cloud[s] ?
(D\in D^n niS^ap) ([Oh ! the] wondrous-works
of [Him, who is] perfect in
knowledge.)
Ver. 17. D^-Pn ^122 "lC^S How thy garments [are] warm,
t/7S Qj>V12 for p.S iCO^ro On his
(the sun's) quieting [the]
earth,
Di77p for Di7n nnp by means of a
south wind ?
Ver. 18. D^pnt^ ipy j^pnn for D^lt^b iEjtf yyill Dost
thou beat out with him (the
sun) [the] clouds (i.e., dost
thou help him to rarefy the
clouds) ?
DiptPI for CpTn 1U/X Which [ap
pear] strong (firm),
p¥1D 1S73 like a molten mirror ?
Ver. 19. T lagHi'n Teach us
i7 11282 112 what we shall say of him (the
sun; i.e., if we are asked
what is become of him, tell
us, what shall we answer !)
V^l S7 for 13^D 77]/: S7 JTc conno*
arrange our words (i.e., we

352 chapter xxxvii. 19 — 23.
are at a loss to say what is
become of him,)
^Jt£>n iJap on account of [the] darkness
(of the clouds.)
Ver. 20. 17 "13D?7 Can it be told of him (the
sun — )
737S *3 for 737S ">37 shall I indeed
speak — ¦
tl^S 7DS DS Or will any one say,
J/bni *3 that he (the sun) is destroyed ?
(i.e., that he is altogether
annihilated, because we no
longer see him ?)
Ver. 21. nrUH But now,
nis isn/sV for nis isn sb 13 D2 though
[men] do not see [the] sun,
D'pn^a S17 7\73 [Yet] he [is] bright in the
clouds ;
D77Dm 112y ni71 And when a wind shall have
passed, and cleared them
away,
Ver. 22. \\3XD for |ia¥ nnp [Yea,] by
means of a north wind
nilS1 he (the sun) will come out —
277 gold (i.e., so dazzling bright
thathe looks a globe of gold.
But splendid as he will be,
his splendour will be as
nothing, when compared
with the glory and majesty
of God)
Tin [The] glory,
ni^s by for nibs by n^s which [is]
with God,
S7iJ [is] awful (not only an object
of admiration, but an object
of awe.)
Ver. 23. ^ [As to the] Almighty,

chapter xxxvii. 23, 24. 353
173SVP S7 we cannot find Him out (we
cannot know, when He
will reveal Himself) ;
tOa&'PI H3 K^ity [He is] great in power and
justice,
7j77V--jni for inj?7V 21721 And in [the]
multitude of His righteous
ness,
nSJTt S7 for tin» ^3 tatyp naj/1 S7
(Lament, iii. 33) He will
not willingly afflict [the]
sons of men.
Ver. 24. D^S 171 ST \2b Therefore, men can [only] fear
Him (the only thing they
do, as they cannot see Him,
is to have faith in His
existence, to revere and fear
Him).
2^7 ^1221 72 S7 * Not any of [the] wise in heart
T 7S71 for inis 7S71 can see Him.

GOD'S ADDRESS TO JOB.

Since the murmurings and grumblings of Job had arisen solely
from his not having had (before God revealed Himself to him),
the remotest idea, or even the faintest conception, of an immortal
soul, and its existence in a future state, all that was required to
convert him, and arouse in him the most bitter repentance for what
he had so rashly said, was to convince him of the great truth,
that man is not a mere animal, but a being of a more dignified and
* ^ »ft here signifies not any. Comp. sra fe iDrin kft (Deut. viii. 9) thou shalt not lack
anything in it. A A

354 chapter xxxviii. 1, 2.
exalted nature than all the living creatures which surround him,
and that his existence will not, like theirs, terminate with his life.
Now, this conviction must have taken possession of his mind, the
very moment God revealed Himself to him, and therefore arguments
on the part of God would have been as needless and superfluous,
as explanations, unbecoming. Lest, however, dazzled by the ex
altation and dignity of the new position, which he so unexpectedly
found himself occupying in the creation as a man, he should
become even more inclined to self-conceit and pride than he had
been before he was visited with affliction, God thinks fit to teach
him humility by shewing him, that the soul of man, immortal
though it is, and exalted in its nature, nevertheless cannot, so long
as it is hampered with a body of clay, penetrate into the mysteries
of the most common phenomena of nature, or even always learn
to perform by reason, that which mere animals are taught to
perform by instinct, whilst the body it tenants is but very weak
and frail in comparison with the gigantic frames of some of the
brute-creation. This admonition is followed by a short dialogue
between God and Job, which ends in Job's confessing himself
vile, but contrite, penitent, and heartily ashamed of what had
escaped his lips in consequence of the ignorance of his own
nature, in which he had been plunged all the days of all his life,
until God vouchsafed to enlighten his mind by revealing Himself
to him.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

Ver. 1 — 11. Then Jehovah answered Job out of the tempest.
Which had been gathering towards the conclusion of Elihu's
discourse. And said, (Ver. 2.) Who is this, that darkeneth My
counsel. My purposes ; My designs. Who would dim the lustre
reflected upon Me by My dealings with mankind. With words

chapter xxxviii. 2—11 ; 1—8. 355
without knowledge ? (Ver. 3.) Gird up now thy loins like a man.
Summon up all thy courage, for thou wilt need it, to contend with
Me. For I will ask thee questions, and do thou inforjn me.
(Ver. 4.) Where wast thou, when I founded the earth ? Declare,
if thou art acquainted-with understanding ! (Ver. 5.) Who
determined the measures thereof, if thou knowest ? Who assigned
it its dimensions ? Or who stretched the measuring-line upon it ?
(Ver. 6.) Upon what were its foundations settled ? Or who laid
its corner-stone, ((Ver. 7.) While the morning-stars were singing in
chorus* and all the sons of God shouted-for-joy?) (Ver. 8.)
And shut up the sea with doors, when it burst forth as though
coming out of a womb ? (Ver. 9.) When I made the cloud its
garment, and deep-darkness its swaddling-band ; (Ver. 10.) And
decreed for it My boundary. The bound with which I, and I alone,
have encircled it. And set upon it a bar and doors, (Ver. 11.)
And said, Thus far shalt thou come, and no farther, and here shall
the pride of thy waves be stayed ?
Ver. 1. niasn the storm, tempest. Our reason for not giving this word the
signification of whirlwind, which has been assigned to it by the Translators of
the Auth. Vers., was that we find in Ps. cvii. 25, and elsewhere, niSB nil
"(where the meaning whirlwind would produce an insufferable tautology), lit., a
wind of storm, i.e., a stormy wind.
Ver. 2. n*ia for *ri23 My counsel.
Ver. 4. n3*S where. See note on n-JB *S supra ii. 2.
Ver. 5. n*7aB its measures, dimensions. So Jarchi, who tells us that it is
synonymous with n*ni7a from n7a a measure, supra xxviii. 25.
Ver. 7. 717* together ; i.e., in chorus. This verse should be taken parentheti
cally, when there wiU be no occasion to supply a 1B at the beginning of ver. 8,
as is commonly done.
Ver. 8 m*2a 0n its bursting forth. This verb is also used transitively, as in
Ps. xxii. 10, in the sense of drawing out, " for Thou art laaa *173 He who
drew me out from [the] womb."
* It would seem that it was customary among the Jews to celebrate the foundation of
stately edifices with songs and shouts of joy and music. Thus we read in Ezra iii. 10,
" And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of Jehovah, they set their
priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals to
praise Jehovah, after the ordinance of David king of Israel. And they sang together by
course, in praising and giving thanks unto Jehovah  And all the people shouted
with a great shout, when they praised Jehovah, because the foundation of the house of
Jehovah was laid."
A A 2

356 chapter xxxviii. 8 — 11; 12, 13.
S§* BJ77B for S2* 01770 1p"S3 a« though it comes (came) out from [the]
womb. Or the hemistich may be translated as it stands, " when it burst forth,
came out from, [the] womb," when S2* } a tense, would correspond to 1n*23 and
therefore, be equivalent to lns*|3 0n its going forth, just in the same way that
in ver. 7 1517J1 , a tense, in the second hemistich, corresponds to ]"J3 in the
first, and, therefore = 517|731 and on [the] shouting of.
Ver. 9. Inanrj its swaddling-band. The noun nbnn js a S.va^ XeySfievov, but
the verb bnn We find in Ezek. xvi. 4, nbnn sb> bnnn) thou wast not swaddled
at all. As He had compared the sea to a babe coming forth from the womb, He
naturally compares the thick and dark vapours which at times overhang or
enwrap the sea to the garments of a babe, its swaddling-clothes.
Ver. 10. 13PS1 and J decreed, determined. This seems to be here the
meaning of the verb lata } which generally means to break. In a very similar
manner, the verb 7t3, which lit., signifies to cut, is used in the sense of deciding,
determining, decreeing (as supra xxii. 28).
1pl7 My boundary, i.e., the boundary I determined for it. See note on *3B3
supra iii. 10.
0*pS1 for Vba B*pS1 and I laid upon it, 1*b,5 being suppUed from the first
hemistich. Ver. 11. *P?h SV] for Sisb ffBh sbl. And thou shalt not add to come, le.,
shalt not come any farther.
S31 for nBl and here. So the marginal note, 'TT B1pB3 "S, «S instead
of n ».
n*P* for 17* n^W"^ Ut., one shall put (lay) his hand, i.e., exercise power
(Comp. supra ix. 33), = power shall be exercised (over the pride of its waves ) ;
i.e., their pride shall be controlled, stayed.
Vers. 12 — 1.5. Having dwelt on the creation of the world, God
proceeds to speak of that which He had next created, namely,
light; and as Job had himself in one of his discourses described
the dread which wicked men feel on the approach of light,* we
shall find God alluding to this. He says :
Hast thou ever commanded ' the morning ? To dispel the
darkness of night, and to illuminate all objects. Hast thou made
the day-spring to know its place ? Is it in obedience to thy direc
tions, that it constantly varies in position ? (Ver. 13:) So that it
should take hold of the corners of the earth and the wicked should be
shaken out of it. As dust or crumbs are shaken out of a cloth
held by the four corners, so light, as it were, seizes the earth by
its corners, and shakes the wicked (under whom Job had especially
* Comp. supra xxiv. 15 — 17.

chapter xxxviii. 13 — 15, 16. 357
included robbers and adulterers, who carry on their mal-practices
at night) out of it, causing them to beat a hasty retreat into their
dens, and so, for a time at least, to disappear from its surface.
(Ver. 14.) It (the earth) is changed like the clay of a seal. Just
as images are suddenly evoked upon a shapeless lump of clay (or,
as we should say, wax) by the impression of a seal, so the earth,
which in the darkness of night becomes a confused and formless
mass, has stamped upon it, by the morning dawn, the endless
variety of forms which diversify its surface. And they. The
corners of the earth. Stand up, as though they had put on a
garment. The objects on the surface of the earth, which, in the
darkness of night, were undistinguishable one from another, stand
forth prominently and conspicuously at daybreak, as easily to be
distinguished by the variety of colours with which the light has
(so to say) clothed them, as human beings are by the variety of
their dress. (Ver. 15.) But their light. The light of the
morning and the dawn. Is withheld from wicked-men. Who
skulk away at its approach, full of consternation and terror : So
that the high arm is broken. So that the arm of those, who
practise violence in the gloom of night, falls powerless on the
appearance of the light of morn.
Ver. 12. 71aj£n lit., whether from (or since) thy days, i.e., from the earliest
period of thy existence, as long as thou hast lived. Comp. 1 Kings i. 6, " And
his father had not displeased him 11B*B at any time," (de ses jours.)
n37* (K'ree) for n37*rj didst thou make to know? the interrogative H
being supplied from the first hemistich.
Ver. 14. TJBnnn it (the earth) turns (changes) itself; i.e., becomes changed.
•13S*n*1 and they (the corners of the earth) set themselves up ; i.e., stand out.
Plab 1B3 for ta'-iab Ita?/ ipS3 as though they had put on a garment ; i.e.,
objects are distinguished from one another, as though each of them was dressed in
its own pecuUar dress.
Ver. 15. Oils their light ; i.e., the light of the morning and the day-spring.
Vers. 16 — 21. The globe and the light still continue to form
the theme of God's discourse, but when speaking of the sea,
which is composed of an element in which man cannot exist, the
idea of death and the shadow of death naturally suggest itself.
God therefore says :
Hast thou penetrated to the mazes of the sea, or hast thou walked

358 chapter xxxviii. 16 — 21 ; 16.
about in the recesses of the deep ? (Well is the sea said to be full
of mazes, for even if a man could move beneath its surface like a
fish, how could he direct his course, how could he ascertain in
what direction he was going? No labyrinth could present
greater difficulties). This of course thou knowest thou canst not
do, and that there thou wouldest soon be overtaken by death, but
dost thou know all the innumerable other ways by which death
can reach thee ? (Ver. 17.) Have the gates of death been revealed
to thee, or canst thou see the gates of the shadow of death ? Have
thine eyes beheld the numberless portals, through any one of
which he might sally forth from his gloomy mansion against
thee ? (Ver. 18.) Hast thou comprehended even the breadths of
the earth ? This very earth, which has been assigned to thee as
thy abode — dost thou know the whole extent thereof? Canst
thou say how far it reaches this way or that ? Declare, if thou
knowest it all? (Ver. 19.) Where is the way that leadeth to the
place where light dwelleth ? When on the command, " Let there
be light," the light appeared, canst thou tell whence, or in what
way, it came ? Canst thou even say how it reaches the earth
every morning? And as to darkness. By which that light is
succeeded. Canst thou tell where its place is ? ( (Ver. 20.)
For thou couldst. no doubt take it. Either one or the other, light or
darkness. To the bound thereof! And thou canst no doubt perceive
the paths that lead to the house thereof! (Ver. 21.) Thou knowest
all that, for thou wast then born ! Thou wast present when light
was first evoked, thou sawest and didst mark the way it came !
Yea, the number of thy days is great !)
Ver. 16. O* *333 [the] entanglements, intricacies, mazes, of [the] sea. So Jarchi,
who compares ail B*333 (Exod. xiv. 3) they [are] entangled (in the land).
Kimchi, however, with whom Ben-Zev agrees, comparing *33B (supra xxviii. 11),
translates it springs, fountains of as it is also translated in the Auth. Vers.
Binn 7pnai and in [the] recesses of the deep, as being places which do not
offer themselves to the view, but require exploration (f^pTT) for their discovery.
Ben-Zev translates ip/l Grund (bottom), observing :
ias* itasa inpai ibia2i iain n*ban 7a siab ipn baB 717 p *3
: (73173) Etaa (iranJin) tabn
" For such is the signification of the verb ipn , to come [namely] to the end of a matter,
and its boundary and its origin, as the foreign-tongue (i.e., German) says, ergriinden, from
the noun Grund."

chapter xxxviii. 16—21 ; 22—26. 359
We take, therefore, this word to be synonymous with (V7*?) 17pnB (Ps. xcv. 4),
which Aben-Ezra explains : : pt> pi 'app
" The lowest parts (or deep recesses) of the earth " ;
and on which Ben-Zev also observes :
: n*B3Si vis ni*nnnb isn
•' An epithet [applied] to the lowest parts of the earth, and the uttermost ends thereof."
Ver. 18. 75 even, in which sense the French jusque is frequently used, and by
which preposition it is rendered here in the Genevese translation, which runs :
" As-tu covrorts jusques aux estendues de la terre ? "
Ver. 19. 7is pp* TjiTn nt *s for lis pp* is ip"s aipan bs ^i*rn nt *s
Where (which) [is] the way to the place wherein light dwells ? For an explanation
of nt *S see our note on nB*S supra iv. 7.
IS for tSB (Prov. viii. 22) in olden times.
Vers. 20, 21, should be taken parenthetically.
Vers. 22 — 30. God proceeds to prove to Job the imperfection
of human knowledge by shewing him his inability to account for,
and explain, the most common phenomena of nature.
Hast thou, He asks him, entered into the storehouses of the
snow ? Or canst thou see the storehouses of the hail ? I do not
refer to usual and ordinary falls of snow and hail, which thou
hast often seen, but to those supernatural snow and hail-storms
with which I visit those I am displeased with — to that snow and
hail (Ver. 23) Which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for
the day of battle and war* (Ver. 24.) Which is the way by
which light is distributed? By which the light, which first
appears in the east, is thence distributed over the whole earth.
Which the way by which the east-wind. Having just spoken of
the origin of light, which comes from the east, He naturally
mentions the east-vfind in preference to any other. Spreadeth
itself over the earth ? (Ver. 25.) Who hath divided a water
course for the pouring out of the rain-waters ? Or a way for the
flash of the thunder? (Ver. 26.) So as to cause it to rain upon
* That God has destroyed by hail armies that took the field against His will, we are told
in Joshua x. 11, " And it came to pass  that Jehovah cast down great
stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died ; they were more which died
with hailstones, than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword."

360 chapter xxxviii. 26—30; 24—30.
a land where no man is, upon a desert, wherein there is no man.
Even there, where men, the choicest part of my creation, do not
dwell, I send the blessing of rain for the benefit of other living
beings. (Ver. 27.) To saturate the waste and desolate place, and
to make the germ of grass to spring up. The grass, which is to
satisfy the craving appetite of the beasts which inhabit there.*
(Ver. 28.) Hath the rain a father? Other than Myself. Or
who hath begotten the drops of dew ? (Ver. 29.) From whose
belly came forth the ice ? And as to the hoar-frost of heaven, who
hath brought it forth? (Ver. 30.) The waters hide themselves
when the face of the deep cohereth like a stone.
Ver. 24. 7is pbn* *Ji7n n* *S for 7is pbn* na ips 717T7 nt *S Where
(which) [is] the way by which light is distributed ?
V?1 scatters (spreads) itself. This word, though in Hiph-tt (from the root
V1B), is here used intransitively (though in English it must be translated re
flectively, or passively), as in Exod. v. 12, Ban V??l So the people scattered
themselves abroad. na IPS 777n nt *S must be supplied from the first to the
second hemistich.
Ver. 25. Ha$b for B*B HBpb (ps. xxx;i. 6) for [the] flood of water; or, as
reference seems here to be made to rain, the more full and prosaic form would be
ap"2!7 *B*B r\tettjbf0r [the] flood of the rain-water.
Ver. 26. t^S rib for na t»'*S rib '7pS in which [there is] no man. In the
second hemistich, also, 7tt?S must be supplied before a7S Ab .
Ver. 27. 5*?pn? to satisfy, saturate. The verb 3?3ta generally means to be
satisfied (with food) ; but sometimes also with drink (e.g., Amos iv. 8), and hence
it is used of the earth, or land in general (as here), when saturated with water.
Comp. Prov. xxx. 16, 0*B naap rib \n« [the] earth is not filled-with
water. nSltaipi nsta a waste and desolate place. The latter of these words is never
met with excepting joined with the former (as supra xxx. 3 ; Zeph. i. 15), though
nsta occurs alone, e.g., supra xxx. 14.
S2B (root S2*) a germ, as being that from which a plant goes forth, proceeds.
Comp. supra xxxi. 8, where a*S2S2 was used in a somewhat similar sense. In
Chap, xxviii. 1, SSiB was used of a place from which silver issues (or is
extracted). Ver. 30. 173bn* lit., take, or rather catch, hold of each other (from the verb
73b to catch) ; i.e., cohere, congeal. Comp. infra xii. 9.
This Verse should be construed thus :
* Comp. Ps. cxxxvi. 25, " Who giveth food to all flesh ; for His mercy endureth for
ever."

chapter xxxviii. 30; 31 — 35. 361
IST.nn1 D^P [The] waters hide themselves
Dinn \J31 when [the] surface of [the] deep
nabn1 ]2S2 cohere[s] like a stone.
This way of construing the verse causes all the difficulties,
which the word ]3S3 presented to all the Commentators we have
before us, totally to vanish. We should exhaust the reader's
patience if we were to quote all the passages in the Hebrew
Bible, of which the words have to be construed in a very different
order from that in which they are written, and we shall content
ourselves, therefore, with quoting Ps. xlv. 6, which runs thus,
tfl&n ^is 2|?3 17a? ^nnn u^ipy d^w T¥n
but must be construed as follows :
D'OljCZ/ ^Xl Sharp-pointed [are] Thine arrows,
ilf21 "aMS a'ja for 1S21 ifrni ^iS 2^?3 They enter into
[the] heart of [the] enemies of the king,
Tnnn 17a: CgUS? Nations fall beneath Thee ! *
Vers. 31 — 38. Job is now asked whether he has any, even the
slightest, control over the heavenly bodies, or can explain their
influence upon the earth ; also, whether the clouds and lightning
would give any heed to his commands.
Canst thou fasten (lit. bind) the bands of the Pleiades ? Canst
thou tighten the bands which unite its stars, and so cause their
influence upon the earth to cease? Or canst thou loosen the
fetters of Orion ? So as to increase its influence upon the earth.
(Ver. 32.) Canst thou bring forth the constellations, every one
in its season ? And as to Arcturus with his children,^ Canst thou
guide them ? (Ver. 33.) Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven ?
Canst thou set its dominion over the earth ? Determine how far
they influence the earth. (Ver. 34.) Canst thou lift up thy voice
to the cloud[s], so that abundance of water shall cover thee ? J So
that the clouds with water big should overhang thee like a
canopy. ' (Ver. 35.) Canst thou send forth the lightnings, so that
* So the verse is rendered by Dr. French and Mr. Skinner.
t By the children of Arcturus it is commonly supposed are meant the three stars which
compose the tail of this constellation.
X This same expression was used by Eliphaz, supra xxii. 11, as here, in reference to the
water contained in, and not poured out from, the clouds.

362 chapter xxxviii. 35— 38; 31—33.
they shall go. Whither thou directest them. Or will they say to
thee, "Behold, here we are? Ready to execute thy commands."
(Ver. 36.) Who hath put wisdom in their inward-parts ? Or who
hath imparted intelligence to their mind ? * (Ver. 37.) Who can
number the clouds by wisdom ? Or, who can dispose the bottles
of heaven (i.e., the clouds) in layers? (Ver. 38.) When the
dust. Saturated with water poured out from those bottles.
Floweth into a molten-mass. For, when dust is drenched with
rain, its particles, like those of a metal on being fused, run
together into a liquid, which afterwards — still maintaining herein
a similarity to the molten metal — hardens into a solid mass. And
the clods cleave fast together. First reduced to a liquid by the
rain, they afterwards dry into one hardened cake of mud.
Ver. 31. ni37aa for ni73_5B bands, from the root 7337 which occurred
supra xxxi. 36, under the form 1273.5^ T would bind it. That in the noun
before us the letters 7 3 have been transposed is rendered extremely probable,
if not certain, by the fact, that in the Talmud we find 0*37323 used in the sense
of bands, chains ; but, even if this had not been the case, we should not have
scrupled to assume the transposition, as we often meet with words which, in spite
of an exchange of place in a couple of their letters, are universally aUowed to
have the same meaning. Thus, for example, ^'3? and B.p3 signify both a
lamb; nbap and nab;p both, a garment; niybnB, too, (supra xxix. 17;
Joel i. 6) and ni5nb;0 (Ps. Iviii. 7) grinders.
It will be perceived that ni373B in the first hemistich stands in parallelism
with niBpia Ut., drawers, pullers (p. 7^70) i.e>) cords, fetters, in the second.
Ver. 32. nilJB constellations; i.e., 0*ittp supra xxxvii. 9, on which see note.
lna3 in its season ; i.e., every constellation in its season.
2^5 i.q., ^3 Arcturus, supra ix. 9.
b5 together with, along with, as in Exod. xxxv. 22, " And the men came 7a
together with (the women)."
Ver. 33. ilBpB its dominion, rule, influence. Comp. 7Bta one exercising
power, an overseer. Prov. vi. 7. The affix is singular, though it refers to
* Rosenmuller asks those who refer this verse to man, " At quem non offendat medias
inter questiones de coelestibus et aereis pbsenomenis singula hsec de sapientia et intelli-
gendi facultate homini impertita, interrogatio ? " A very fair question certainly, and one
we might ourselves have asked, for it will be perceived that we do not take the words
nimp in the inward-parts, and <i3to mind, to refer to man, hut to the lightnings, personified
in the preceding verse, as agents who can receive and execute commands delivered to them
by God, and who can come and say, " Here we are ; " and we greatly wonder that none of
the Commentators (for of those who do not refer it to man, not one applies it to the light- '
nings) happened to hit upon this very simple explanation of the verse.

chapter xxxviii. 33, 36. 363
D*Bp which very generally requires a plural. So 0*B is sometimes used with a
singular, e.g., Num. xix. 13.
Ver. 36. ninaa in the inward-parts. Comp. Ps. li. 8, " Behold, thou desirest
truth ninB3 in the inward parts."
n3P . Just as from the verb nS7 to see, we have the nouns nSlB and *S1
(supra xxxvii. 18), both signifying^ looking-glass, i.e., an object at which we look,
so, from the verb n3B or S3B in Chaldee to see, we have (the B being, as it
very often is, replaced by a tP) the Hebrew nouns n*3p and n*3PB , both
signifying picture, also an object to be looked at. n*?P occurs only in
n7Bnn ni-*3P (Isa. ii. 16), lit., pictures of delight; i.e., delightful pictures.
n*3pa is met with more frequently, as, e.g., in Levit. xxvi. 1, n*3pa }3S
stone (or rather stones, for it is used collectively,) of imagery ; i.e.,
stones disposed so as to form images, mosaic work (mosaic being probably
derived from n*3PB (uasKeeth)) ; and, in the plural, in Num. xxxiii. 52,
"And ye shaU destroy Bn^apa b3 ns all their images." It is also
figuratively applied to the images of the mind, imaginations, as e.g.,
aab nia3pa (Ps. lxxiii. 7) [the] imaginations of [their] heart. The word
"•IBP then, which no doubt is derived from the same root (a 1 having been
inserted, as in nvjO (1 Chron. xvi. 27) gladness, from n7n), and of which the
literal meaning is, probably, therefore thought, imagination, is used here of the
seat of the thoughts, the mind,* as shown by its corresponding to ninB in the
first hemistich.
This verse should be construed thus ;
7P2n nintS2 r\v *d for 11221 nint22 077 ntf ^ lit.,
t : T \. - T • T : T >. - V T T "
Who has put for them wisdom in
the inward-parts? i.e., who has put
wisdom in their inward-parts ?
73*2 73&1? ;n; *d is for nrn ^zteh 073 |na *p is Or
who has put in them intelligence for
the mind? i.e., who has put intel
ligence in their mind ?
* So Kimchi observes (under root nara) on Drf'Sfen "a n« DFrjaj) [Num. xxxiii. 52] (and
ye shall destroy all their pictures) :
 QiNn ia wr i"WDn inn '3 masrr prate dtw i ivs fit ?:<»
"inrt tom w:n otvei .warn rrais a'jrrm rrn mnerran nm ,(i ,x> n^nn) aa1; rn»afea nas mm
(13 ; rf> ai'«) ni'J 'ipfeb jra ns in 13» a^rr «ip: ^ysfn . mnjsnm maitonn Dato rrts i«nd
Its meaning (that of n'Ston) is picture, and this meaning is derived from the sense of
looking (which the root row has), for a thing which is pictured (painted), man looks at it
 and hence aa1) ni"3ii)p lias (Ps. lxxiii. 7), they have passed the pictures
(imaginations) of their heart (mind), that is to say, the ideas, which the heart (mind)
contemplates and beholds. And the interpretation is, that they attained unto and excelled
that which came up in their mind concerning prosperity and success. And, therefore, the
heart (mind) is called T?to (as in Job xxxviii. 36) nya >!*!? jru 'p ta (or who imparted
intelligence to the heart (mind) ?)

364 chapter xxxviii. 37 ; 39 — 41.
Ver. 37. 3*3p"* lit., can cause to lie; i.e., lay out, dispose in layers. Similarly
the Genevese Version : " et qui dispose le giste (i.e, gite) des barils des cieux ?

Vers. 39 — 41. Having shown the utter inability of the human
mind to penetrate the laws, which regulate the sublimer parts of
His creation, God proceeds to demonstrate to Job that, even with
regard to the creatures, which live around him on the globe, many
of their instincts and habits remain a mystery to man.
Dost thou hunt prey for the lion? Or dost thou fill the appetite
of the young-lions. (Ver. 40.) When they crouch in their dens,
when they abide in the covert, in ambush? (Ver. 41.) Who,
besides myself, prepareth for the raven his food, when his
young ones cry aloud unto God, when they wander for lack of
food?\ Ver. 39. n*ni and [the] appetite of. Comp. in*TT supra xxxiii. 20.
Ver. 40. ni3iaB3 for Bni3i5B3 in their dens. For this signification of the
noun 1l5B see note on n*ni3i33B31 supra xxxvii. 8.
31S IB/ lit., for ambush; i.e., to lie in wait.
Ver. 41. bs bs to God. Seeing that God Himself is the speaker, He might
have been expected to say *?S to Me; instances, however, do occur, where God
employs, to designate Himself, one of His attributes, instead of a personal pronoun.
Thus, in Gen. ix. 16, we read : "And the bow shall be in the cloud ; and I will
" look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant a*n3s }*3
" between God, &c," instead of *3*3 between Me. Again, Exod. xxiv. 1 we find
begins thus : " And unto Moses He (Jehovah) said, come up nin* 7S to
Jehovah" for *bS to Me.% See also infra xxxix. 17.
15n* for 15n*. *3 when they wander.
* Rosenmuller, perhaps justly, connects the following three verses with the next chapter.
f So the Psalmist says (Ps. clxvii. 9) : " He giveth to the beast his food, and to the
young ravens which cry."
% Nor are instances wanting, in which men speak of themselves, or are spoken of, in the
same manner. Thus, Jacob says to his sons (Gen. xlix. 2) : " Gather yourselves together
and hear, apr \a [ye] sons of Jacob!" fhstead of 'ja my sons. Comp. also 1 Kings viii. 1,
" Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel  unto King Solomon in Jeru
salem," where King Solomon stands in place of to him or to himself; and also Ibid. xii. 21.
Similarly, in Exod. x. 11, rryig <ra rwo anU tfnri need not be translated, and they were
driven out from Pharaoh's presence, as though the verb were used impers., but may well
be rendered, and he (i.e., Pharaoh who is speaking at the beginning of the verse) drave
them out from before Pharaoh, -when from before Pharaoh -would, stand for from before
him, or from his presence. — Editor, 1862.

365

CHAPTER XXXIX.
Vers. 1 — 4. Dost thou know the time of the bringing forth of the
wild goats of the rock ? Dost thou watch the birth-throes of the
hinds? (Ver. 2.) Dost thou number the months that they fulfil ?
Or dost thou know the time of their bringing forth? (Ver. 3.)
They bow down ; they cast forth their young ; they dismiss their
pains. By ridding themselves of their young, they rid them
selves of the throes these caused them in their birth. (Ver. 4.)
Their young ones wax strong, grow up in the open-field ; they go
forth, and do not return. Instead of needing the assistance of
grown up animals of their own race, as human beings do that of
adults, until they reach the age of maturity, these animals need
no help, but can well take care of themselves.*
Ver. 1. aba *75* [the] wild-goats of [the] rock, \?51 being the constructive
form of 0*b5* (Pa. civ. 18). The sing, of a*b5* does not occur, but the sing.
fem. in construction (nbS!) is found in Prov. v. 19. Notwithstanding, however,
the existence of this fem., it would seem from the context here that a*75*. is of
common gender, and is used of wild she-goats. In like manner, ^*S a hart is
also used to mean a hind in Ps. xlu. 2, as shown by its being followed by a fem.
verb, 21?n 7»S3 As [the] hind panteth, although it has a fem. sing. n3*S (Gen.
xlix. 21).f
* So a well-known German poet says :
Kaum geboren, hiipfet schon
Jedes Lamm um seine Mutter;
Kaum geboren, findet schon
Jedes Huhn sein Bisschen Futter.
Nur der Mensch, das Gabelthier,
Kann sich keinen Schritt entfernen ;
Und der Schopfung stolze Zier
Muss erst gehen und essen lernen.
t As the verb "fr in Kal means to beget, as well as to bring forth (comp. Gen. iv. 18),
" And Irad tfr begat (Mehujael) ), Dr. Bernard is strongly inclined to consider that
sto ¦'w. in the verse before us should really be taken in its strict sense of wild he-goats of
[the] rock, and rrb in that of begetting or gendering, when the literal translation of the first
hemistich would be, " Knowest thou the time of the gendering of the wild he-goats of the
rock " ? and a parallelism would be established between the two hemistiches of this verse,
similar to that which we find in Chap. xxi. 10, where the first hemistich speaks of the gen
dering of the bull, and the second, of the calving of the cow. Kimchi, who, as well as
Ben-Zev, defines the word ¦>»; , ian wn wild he-goat, must no doubt have taken the verb
fj5 in the same sense that Dr. Bernard would give to it. — Note of Editor.

366 chapter xxxix. 1 — 4 ; 5 — 8.
bbll lit., [the] being in pain of; for it is the inf. Pi-dl of 7117.
7B^n for I'aprin Canst thou mark?
Ver. 2. iBpn for "iBPCIPJ Canst thou count, number?
nvrT) for n57; BSJ Or dost thou know?
nasban for nasban ips which they fulfil.
Ver. 3. nsaian they bow down. Comp. 1 Sam. iv. 19, 7bni 373111
she bowed-down and travailed.
njnaBJjl Ut., they cause to cleave (the womb or vulva), i.e., they extrude, cast
forth, give birth to.
Ver. 4. 733 in the open-field, this noun having here the same meaning that it
frequently has in Chaldee, in the emphatic form S73 . Comp. Dan. ii. 38,
Tr? ni*!7 [the] beasts of the open-field.
1a7 being masc, cannot refer to the hinds, and must, therefore, be considered
altogether pleonastic. There are several Hebrew verbs which take after them a
similar pleonastic pronominal dative ; e.g., from 77* to go, we find 7?"sjb (Gen.
xii. 1); from nia to flee, 7^7713 (ibid, xxvii. 43); from nB7 to be like,
7jb-nB7. (Cant. viii. 14).
Ver. 5 — 8. Who hath sent out the wild-ass free ? Who hath
exempted him from the bondage of man, that he should not
serve him, like his tamer brother, the domestic ass ? Or who
hath loosened the bands of the wild-mule?* (Ver. 6.) Whose
house I have made the wilderness. To whom I have assigned the
wilderness for his habitation. And his dwelling-places the salt-
land. That is, waste and barren land. (Ver. 7.) There he
laugheth at the bustle of the city, neither heareth he the cries of the
driver. (Ver. 8.) The searching of the mountains. What he
can find on the mountains. Is his pasture. He is not, like
the domestic mule, dependent upon a master for his food. And he
seeketh after every green thing. No species of herb comes amiss
to him.
Ver. 6. nnba (found also in Ps. cvii. 34) for nnba yiS (Jer. xvii. 6) salt
land; i.e., barren land. Comp. Deut. xxix. 23, "And the whole land thereof is
* The animal bearing this name seems to have derived it from its resemblance, in form
and general appearance, to the domestic mule, without belonging, like it, to the class of
hybrids, a class which probably requires the intervention of man for its production. [Why
Dr. Bernard translated ttw wild-mule, I do not know, unless it was for the purpose of
avoiding the repetition of the word wild-ass. Kimchi, Ben-Zev, Buxtorf, Wolfssohn, and
all other Commentators, as far as I know, take it to be synonymous with nib (wild-ass),
and in no natural history can I find any mention of an animal bearing the name, wild-mule.

CHAPTER XXXIX. 6 — 14. 367
brimstone niBl and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any
grass groweth therein. Comp. also Ps. cvii. 34, nnbab *i.B Y7.fr? for *7S T^IS.
n|73a V7S/ a fruitful land into a salt (barren) land.
Ver. 8. B*7!7 7in* [the] searching of [the] mountains ; i.e., what is obtained
by searching the mountains ; a noun formed from the verb 7U7 to search, just as
Dip1 substance, from Bip to stand, subsist.
Ver. 9 — 12. Will the wild-bull be willing to serve thee ? As
the domestic ox does. Will he abide at thy crib? (Ver. 10.)
Canst thou bind the wild-bull by his rope to the furrow ? Canst
thou, by means of a rope around his neck, compel, him to make
the furrows in thy land in a straight line, as thou wouldst wish ?
Will he harrow the valleys after thee ? Dragging after thee the
harrow. (Ver. 11.) Wilt thou have confidence in him, because his
strength is great? Or canst thou leave thy labour to him?
Entrust the tillage of thy land to him ? (Ver. 12.) Canst thou
trust him, that he will bring back thy seed ? Canst thou rely upon
his bringing back to thee the seed which thou hast sown, when
grown into a crop and reaped ? And that he will gather it into
thy barn ?
Ver. 9. 0*i a wild-bull (Ben-Zev, Waldstier) is more commonly written DS"|.
Ver. 10. 1n35 for inaaa by his thick-rope.
Ver. 12. ^aiSI. for 737? bs) and into thy barn. Comp. Gen. xxiv. 27,
where n*3 stands for n*3 bs into [the] house of.
Vers. 13 — 18. The wing of ostriches is delightful. As far as
regards colour and beauty, the wing of the ostrich stands well-
nigh unrivalled,* but can it, notwithstanding, be said to be really
a wing 1 Is it the wing of the stork, or is it the plumage of the
Buffon, however, does describe a wild animal which bears some resemblance to a mule,
and lives in the wilds of Tartary and Siberia, and he says that, in consequence of its thus
partaking of the appearance of the horse and the ass, it has received from a German
naturalist the name of muletfecond de Daourie (a province of Siberia), in addition to its
Tartaric name of Czigithai. Now, surely, an animal which is considered to be appropriately
described by two such contradictory terms as fecund (or fruitful) mule, might with, at least,
equal propriety be called a wild-mule, and I have, therefore determined to retain the name
which seems to me to have been happily chosen. — Note of Editor, 1862.]
* Ostrich feathers are worth, upon an average, about 81. per lb., but when they are of a
pure white their value is much greater, and they are sold (wholesale) for as much as 151.
per lb. See trial in Times, Feb. 7, 1862.— Note of Editor, 1862.

368 chapter xxxix. 13 — 18; 13.
stork ? Can the ostrich use her wings and feathers for the same
purposes that the stork does hers ? Can the ostrich be said to be
really a bird ? Can she fly ? Can she so much as leave the
ground for an instant? No, she is not really and truly a bird; at
most she is but half an one. (Ver. 14.) For she must leave her
eggs to the ground. Instead of laying her eggs in a nest on the
top of a high tree, or on some elevated building, she must confide
them to the bare ground. And she must warm them by means of
the dust. Instead of hatching them herself, as other birds are
wont to do, she must leave them to be hatched by the heat of the
dust and sand in which she has deposited them. (Ver. 15.)
Yea, she forgetteth that a foot may crush them, or the beast of the
field may trample upon them. If she could entertain any appre
hension of her eggs meeting with such a fate, she would, as left
without a remedy, feel most miserable, and therefore she has been
created incapable of giving way to such apprehensions. (Ver. 16.)
She hath been hardened; her young are as though they did not
belong to her. She is as indifferent and callous to her young as
though she had had no share in their production. Her labour.
The trouble she took in disposing and arranging her eggs in the
sand. May prove in vain. Nothing may come of the eggs
which she has laid, since they may be trampled upon and crushed.
Still she is without fear. She is free from all apprehension,
because He whose " tender mercies are upon all His works " has
had mercy upon her. (Ver. 17.) Because God hath made her to
forget wisdom. And hath not allotted to her any share in intelli
gence. God having denied her real wings, and so rendered it
impossible for her to lay her eggs, as the eagle, on some towering
cliff, which neither man nor beast could ever hope to scale,
blessed her with that callousness and indifference to her young,
without which she would have been the most miserable of all His
creatures. But not only are her eggs constantly exposed to
danger, she herself, owing to the small size of her wings, is
frequently thrown into the greatest trepidation, by the approach,
namely, of mounted huntsmen. Yet (Ver. 18), if she could at the
proper time. That is, when pursued by the hunters. Raise herself
up on high. By means of her wings, as the stork and other birds
do. She would laugh at the horse and his rider.

CHAPTER XXXIX. 13 — 18. 369
Ver. 13. 0*337 (a airaf Xeyopevov) ostriches. The fact that all the verbs referring
to this plural noun are used in the sing, indicates that every thing expressed by
them is to be considered as predicated of every one of the individuals included in
the plural. See note on 1B173 supra vi. 17.
noba.3 is to be delighted in; i.e., is delightful. So 7073 (Gen. ii. 9)
that is to be desired = desirable, pleasant.
n7*pn ni3S for n7*BI7 nnas [the] wing of [the] stork, the absolute form
being here used instead of the constructive, as in Deut. xvi. 21, V5 b3 nips, for
V5 73 nipS a grove of ang tree[s].
We are sorry to find nTOPJ , in the verse before us, rendered by the Translators
of the Auth. Vers., ostrich, although in Jer. viii. 7, and Ps. civ. 17 (passages,
in which the context quite forbids us to understand it of the ostrich, since the
bird spoken of is described as being in the heavens, and building its nests in fir-
trees), they have given it its true meaning, stork.
n231 for n7T*pq mbl 0r [the] feaiher[s] (plumage, nS3 being used collec
tively) of a stork. In the marginal reading of the Auth. Vers., this word has, it
would seem, been taken to mean ostrich ; on what grounds we cannot even guess,
for, far from being a aira£ Xeyog-evov, n^3 occurs in Ezek. xvii. 3, 7, and Lev. .
i. 16, and in all these passages signifies, and is rendered in the Auth. Vers.,
feather. Ver. 14. bai. and by means of. Comp. Gen. xxvii. 40, 7?717 byi and by
means of thy sword, by thy sword.
Bann for * anis aann she warms them.
Ver. 15. niltn may crush it \ The affix, being sing, and referring to
npnn may trample-on it j ^tT? , expresses that every one of the
eggs is liable to be crushed, or trampled
upon.
Ver. 16. n*pin for na3 !7*ppn one has caused her heart to be hard (the
verb being used impers.), i.e., her heart has been made hard, hardened. Or ni7S
God, may be supplied from the next verse as the nom., i.e., God has hardened her
heart. See note on na supra vi. 29. The Translators of the Auth. Vers.
render n*33 17*ppn she is hardened against her young ones, supplying a
preposition ; but for this, in our humble opinion, they have no authority, as in the
only other place in which this verb occurs, viz., in Isa. lxiii. 17, it is joined with
an accus. 1237 I7*ppn Thou hardenest our heart.
Ver. 17. nib.S God, is again used here instead of a personal pronoun. See
note on bS bs ( supra xxxviii. 41.
Ver. 18. ny.S at the time, i.e., at the right time, when a flight into the air
* Or, perhaps, rather £to , as, though o'S'a has the form of a masc. plur., it is
joined with a fem. part, (niaw D^a , Isa. x. 14) in the only passage from which its gender
can be determined. The sing, ns'a is not found in the Bible, but is frequently used by the
Rabbins of the Talmud, though they also use the Chald. form up . The fem. affix of the
two verbs in Ver. 15 renders it probable that in Heb. also the sing, was ns'a. As the
passage quoted above from Isaiah is rendered in the Targ. I'p.'aiti «»'a, it would seem that
J'S'a (=D'2,a) in Chald. was sometimes masc. — Editor, 1862.
B B

370 chapter xxxix. 18; 13—16.
could save her from the hunter. Comp. supra xxxi. 7, 77.7n the way, i.e., the
right way.
S*7BJ7 for S*ian BS If she could raise [herself] Comp. Prov. xxv. 16,
where nS2» ta37: stands for nS2B ta37; BS If thou hast found honey. The
verb SIB is a ora-af Xey6/ji,evov, and would seem to be a transposition of BSI = B11 to
be high. See our note on niBSI supra xxviii. 18, and on Y%11 infra xl. 12 [17].
The six verses, which have just occupied our attention, namely
vers. 13 — 18, have been considered by some Commentators (and
amongst them by Wolfssohn) so difficult, and so many various
opinions have been ventured upon them, that we feel we should
not be doing justice, either to the reader, or to ourselves, if we
omitted to point out the way, in which we construe them.
Ver. 13. E"1^! ^3.3 [The] wing of ostriches
7D7JP is delightful ;
nrpn rrn* dk for m;pn n7_2$ .o»n [is it the]
wing of a stork,
¦71f Jl for 7Tpn nVJI or [the] plumage of
a stork? (i.e., is the ostrich really
a bird ? Can she fly, or build her
nest on a high place, as the stork
does ? Certainly not !)
Ver. 14. 71¥12 2'yi "'S For she must leave her eggs (i.e., she
must entrust her eggs)
Yl$4 t0 the earth;
l%y by\ And by means of [the] dust
DSnn for *Dm'N D121D must she warm them;
Ver. 15. T\2VJT\\ Yet she forgets (i.e., she does not
conceive any apprehension),
771Tn 7J7 \S that a foot may crush it (i.e., every
one of her eggs) ;
n^lin niton fvm Or that [the] wild-beast of the field
may trample upon it.
Ver. 16. n^j^n for 721? n^j^n Her heart has been
hardened (i.e., God, in His mercy,
has hardened her heart) ;
rpi.2 Her young ones
* See note in preceding page.

CHAPTER XXXIX. 16 — 18. 371
77 R77 for 12$n3 77 R77 are accounted [as]
t -: t : v t : i- j
not [belonging] to her;
iy^2\ Her labour (i.e., the pains she has
taken to bury her eggs in the sand)
p'Hb [may be] in vain,
nns 173 [yet, she is] without fear (i.e., she
entertains no fear upon that score);
Ver. 17. 717R "•? For God
11221 17$7 has made her forget wisdom ;
73122 lb y?l R71 Nay, He never allotted her any portion
in intelligence (i.e., God, having
denied her wings, whereby she
would have been enabled to fly,
and build her nest in lofty places,
has in His mercy also denied her
intelligence to foresee the dangers
which threaten her young ones, and
which would by anticipation, have
rendered her most miserable, as
having no means of averting them.)
Ver. 18. n#3 At the time, (i.e., at the right time;
when pursued, and nearly over
taken, by the hunter),
D1702 snort for D1702 R*non DR if she could
t- ¦:- t- ¦:- .J
raise [herself] on high (i.e., mount
up into the heavens as real birds
do)'
123771 D1D7 pltyft She would laugh at the horse, and hig
rider (i.e., instead of being thrown
into agonies of terror, on being
pursued by the horse and his rider,
she would laugh at them both).*
* To understand Ver. 18, as all others before us have done, to express, that the ostrich,
when with outstretched neck and expanded wings she prepares to fly before the hunts
man, laughs at the horse and his rider, as feeling that she can easily outstrip them, seems
to us exceedingly absurd. Her fleetness may, indeed, surpass that of the horse, but she
must, nevertheless, all the while she is being pursued, be in a state of the most agonizing
anxiety and alarm, a state, which none but a very eccentric poet would dare venture to
express by the verb i>n® to laugh. As, however, in Ver. 13a parallel was drawn between the
B B 2

372 chapter xxxix. 19—25; 19—21.
Vers. 19 — 25. Dost thou give might to the horse? Dost thou
clothe his neck with the rustling-mane ? (Ver. 20.) Dost thou make
him to leap like the locust ? The glory of his snorting is terrible !
(Ver. 21.) He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength;
he goeth forth to meet the weapon. (Ver. 22.) He laugheth at
fear, and is not dismayed ; and he turneth not back from the sword.
(Ver. 23.) The quiver rattleth upon him, the glittering spear, and
the lance. (Ver. 24.) With noise and fury he devoureth the
ground, and cannot be steady when there is the sound of the trumpet.
(Ver. 25.) When there is abundance of trumpeting, he saith,
Aha! and from afar he scenteth the battle, he scenteth the
thundering-cries of the captains, and their shouting.
N.B. In the Translation, we have marked Vers. 13 — 18 (B),
and Vers. 19 — 25. (A), giving at the same time our reasons for
doing so in a note. As, however, the transposition did not appear to
us absolutely necessary, we have abstained from actually making it.
Ver. 19. nB37 for nB3l3 Ut., with thunder; i.e., with a mane, which, when
tossed upon the horse's neck, makes a rustling noise, here, somewhat byperboli-
cally, compared to thunder.
Ver. 20. 117? his snorting. Comp. Jer. viiL 16, 1*010 ni]73 [the] snorting
of his horses. We are grieved to find this word rendered in the Eng. Vers, his
nostrils, as though it were 117,7? as infra xii. 12. t
na*S Ut., terror, used here instead of an adj. exciting terror, terrible. See note
on nan supra xix. 29.
Ver. 21. ^137! lit., they dig, i.e., by pawing make holes in the ground.
There is here a change of number from the sing, to the plur., as though, instead
of one horse being taken as the representative of his race, horses were now
spoken of generally. Such a change is by no means uncommon in Hebrew.
Comp. Ps. xiv., where we find verse 1 beginning --33 7BS [the] fool sags, Sfc,
and continuing 13*5nn ^n*npi1 they have made corrupt, made abominable, &c.
1733 for in33 in his strength.
ostrich and the stork, Ver. 18 may, perhaps, be intended to apply to the latter and,to form
the conclusion to that parallel. It would then place in very strong contrast the' fa'ipity with
which the stork is enabled, by means of her powers of flight, to escape from her pursuers, at
whom, man and horse, she might then well be said to mock, with the comparative help
lessness of the ostrich as detailed in Ver. 13. Besides, era being uniformly used of a
very great height, nay, often synonymously with crotf heaven, as Ps. xviii. 17; Isa.
xxiv. 18, 21 ; lvii. 15, would it not be extremely strange, if not ridiculous, to say of such
an uncouth and heavy bird as the ostrich, a bird, which cannot quit the ground one inch,
that she can raise herself Di"«J3 on high ? Much more probable is it, that this word is in
the present instance employed as synonymous with rjVDti , and refers to the stork, of
which in Jer. viii. 7 we read : " Yea, D.'P'^a nTprr [the] stork in the heavens,'' &c.

chapter xxxix. 23—25 ; 26—30; 27—30. 373
Ver. 23. n.3ifl rattles. The verb n3l ( which would seem to be somewhat
similar in meaning to pi , is found only in this verse.
n*3n. arrb [the] flame of [the] spear; i.e., the flaming, or glittering, part of
the spear, the spear-head. Comp. Hab. iii. 11, 10*30 pia lit., [the] lightning
of [ Thy] spear ; i.e., the glittering part of Thy spear.
Ver. 24. * SB3* Ut., he drinks up, swallows; i.e., devours (the earth) in the
swiftness of his gallop. So Shakespeare :
 " and, starting so,
He seemed in running to devour the way."
(Hen. IV., second part, Act I., sc. 1.)
Comp. also carpere prata fuga (Virg. Georg. iii. 142.), and the vor are viam of
Catullus (xxxv. 7).
VaS*. s7l. and is not steady, remains not still. Comp. Exod. xvii. 12, " And
his hands were n31BS steadiness; i.e., steady. In the translation given of these
words in the Eng. Ver. we can see no sense.
Ver. 25. 172 fn [the] plenty, abundance, of, *7 being the constructive form
of *7 enough, or plenty.
Vers. 26 — 30. Is it by thine intelligence, that the hawk soareth,
spreadeth out his wings towards the south? Hast thou, in thy
wisdom, given him the instinct which prompts him to fly to the
south on the approach of the cold season ? (Ver. 27.) Is it by
thy command, that the eagle taketh a high flight, or that he maketh
his nest on .high ? (Ver. 28.) He dioelleth and abideth on the
rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the fortress. On the natural
fortress of a lofty rock. (Ver. 29.) Thence he seeketh out his
food ; his eyes behold it at a distance. (Ver. 30.) And his young
ones suck up blood. From their very birth they begin to drink
blood. And where the slain are, there is he.
Ver. 27. 7*3*,* for 113 17*3?* (Comp. supra v. 7) takes a high flight.
ab? for 3770 b5 upon a rock, the preposition b5 being supplied from the
second hemistich ; though this is, perhaps, unnecessary, as the verb pta is
sometimes found followed by a simple accusative, e.g., in Ps. lxviii. 7,
nn*n2 133P dwell in (inhabit) a dry land.
ni12B a citadel, or fortress, by which, however, must not be understood one
made by the hands of man, but one of nature's fortresses, a lofty and inaccessible
rock, such as the eagle commonly selects to build his nest upon.
Ver. 30. 15b5* suck-up, as being the Pi-al of 5lb , would be more correctly
written 13313* ; but, to avoid the unpleasantness of sound to which two con
secutive 5's would give rise, one of the two has been transposed and put before
* Dr. Bernard is inclined to think that yiN *®1\ is used in reference to the dust, which a
horse often raises in clouds around him when galloping, and which of necessity inhaling
he would appear to swallow. — Editor.

374 PROLOGUE TO CHAPTERS XL. — XLII.
the b . Such is the account given of this word by Kimchi and Ben-Zev.
Modern Lexicographers have introduced the root 575 , on what authority we
know not.
B*bbn slain, = carcases. Comp. Matt. xxiv. 28, " For wheresoever the carcase
is, there will the eagles be gathered together.''

ARRANGEMENT OF CHAPTERS 40—42.
In the course of the preceding Chapters we have met
with, and called the reader's attention to, several passages,
to which a more suitable place than that which they now
occupy could easily be assigned. In these cases, however,
the transpositions suggested by us were merely a matter
of taste, and therefore we refrained from disturbing the
arrangement of the text. In the Chapters upon which
we are now entering, on the contrary, the transpositions
we shall have to propose are a matter of absolute necessity,
as ably shown by Wolfssohn, whose reasons, as entirely
coinciding with our own, we cannot do better than give
here in his own words. He commences with a brief
summary of God's discourses, and then continues as follows :
'3 '173 7PP f>3P» • 017P PPPP OilPl ' P7ij33 pif»P P1313PP P3113 PPI3
,ilf>Di IDpPl , D'7PP D'7P3P1 OID-WP PPI lis 1T13P 7331 , f3Pl i'3DT3 S3
1J"P7 P3PP PVD7P3 P7piPP 7Ppil -)PlPflp D'7ppi 77PP P13D3 7P1P 17TJD 713
77PP IPP 13V7J3 rip* Pi? , |1DP73 '3 * j"'I piDP i'r> PD1P 713 p"i PD1P ]V
,OP'J'Pi P1P1PP1 DP'3'pi PVPP , D73l03'3P pil , P1P113P1 Pl'PP V7373 iliS'1
,P7'PPP |P ]3 "IPPI , D'll P7P ,13ip 'bv ]Y> ")37i u"J PD1P3 i'PPP |3 '3
1J"P7 P1P113P ]P 7113 ]3 7PP1 ( PIPP ]P 7113 3373 ipp P7'PPP ]P 1375 1Pli331
D13 '3 piPP 'p PD3P3 O'pip PJ13P iD -jDPPP t>T> , P'JDPl ? 7D3P1 [W ]P
P71P 31'PD 'IVb o ? )"'! piPP P")313P PD-)P3 P'6'iDP P313PP 031 , V3P3B PP
?'l31 'DPDP IPP fjPP li 7PP' D'pipD ]3P' TP , 731 'P737 PVft IPPI
ii3 -)13P li |'P '131 33'P' '3Pi PIP 'P ,'j.l '3 piPP P"p PD3P3 aPPPP P'D'iDPl
P1PP3P P1-J133P 711) IPPi ]3 ~)Vft ippl , 17' in p'PPP 1317P1 , PIP OipP3
'Pi3i PP Oi'ift Pil D7'P3P IDP P13T DlipD 71131 ? PD7PP <]1P 713 ]P')ip1
, Pii PP17P ipf> |'J133 'PIPP "533 P3P1 " pifo PP3 pi IDP , Plipp Plpip
77PP T.PPI3 'JT'p , 0'7P'PPP OH1313P1 0'D7pPPP DW '3PP 'PPT f>J li '3

PROLOGUE TO CHAPTERS XL. — XLII. 375
PPIP P133 -JP • D'P13p 'P3PP 0'"7P3PP 1D13 7DP3 , l'JPP il3 337 737 'P3DP1
77? Pil 7P1P f>i DPI , 13'3Pi PPP 7DP3 PlfnpPP 'PPJ7P1 , ")1PP 'V 'P3DP
, 133PI 'D7PP 317 1D13 7DP3 , 03P3PP ? PB13P PP '3 , ]113p '3 pi , D313pi
,313P -]37P PI Pi ? 0P3 i'3DPP DP3 il33P IDP 0'piP731 , P131 1P1P '7373
ppi' 13P1DP 33 3DP , pipp D*337P '"P13 3P3PDP , 7P3P pi 3DP 313 '3
'P137 13'71P PP 'P737 O'DP 73i 1'ip 3DP , i'3DPP PlipP pil3ipi 'JPP1 ' Dpi
Pl'P 13PPD PP '3 , 0'3PPPP 77Pi 'P17 il3 ppil3D PPI , PIP 77PP '13D3
,lPipP]P3]'P 7DP D133P ; '3'133 P3D' pi , PIP ]'3133 0'PJ3p 'P3PP 0OP3PP
|P pi'PPP 'p Pfffl P31DP7P PJ13PP • >Pil3i T57 PJPP1 , D377P 'PIP p Jl31
p"' 713 3"' O'piPPP Pill , 'p PD3P 713 P3'3P1 , U'ipi P'PD P1P3 p"i PD3P
• PPipp DD '3 , 7"pi piPP 7PP lf> p"3 piPP IPP IP Pl'pi 0'3'3i 3"i PD7P3
Pl'pi 1'7J P"i plPPP 7PP) , ]"'I piPP 'P PD7P |P pi'PPP P'JDP P313PP
'131 TP3 l'il3 O'D O'piPPP , ]3 nvft) ' PPIP 713 'l |P ft"i) po7P3 O'piPPP
'3 'b pipp p"p PD3P1 , 3"i piPP 'p PD3P 13"P7 , P1P 'i O'PDP i3 PPP 713
3'DPI '131 i31P i3 '3 'PITT"' '3 pip? 3"p PD7P 31'P 3PP PPI iPl • '31
13PD O'pip 7PP'l '131 'P73.P )3i 31'P ]13*1 * P137 'i3 P313 O'ilJP PI 'P O'pip
('3 piPP 'p PD3P) '131 '7D 013 313P 'p ]13'1 • 'l31 ]I1P UPDi 31'P 3'DPI '131 f<3
pipp 0'337P 31PP P7ip P3 |1P3 (l"'l 713 '7 |P OD) 'l31 'Plip ]P 31'P 3'DPI
PPIPP ip PDP1 ,PlP'fipp P1313PP i3 , piPP 0'337P 'P il3 pi DP P671
* P373PP Pil P373ipp
" Such is the drift of these discourses briefly. But, with regard to
" their arrangement, this must appear very strange in the eyes of every
" sensible-and intelligent man, and other interpreters and commentators
" have already called attention thereunto ; and they raised such difficult
" questions, that they ended by declaring their determination to change
" the arrangement, — to place later passages earlier, and earlier passages
" later, in these Chapters, viz., from Chap, xxxviii. to Chap. xlii. 7.
" For, in the first place, is it not strange that (lit., why) He (God) has
" perverted the order, inasmuch as He comprehends beasts and birds
" in His discourse, yet does not place them separately, the beasts
" according to their kinds, and the birds according to their kinds ?
" Thus, He begins, in Chap, xxxix., to speak of the wild-goats of the
" rock, the wild-ass, and the wild-bull, and next of the stork, and,
" on His finishing to speak of the stork, He begins again to speak of
" the horse, and next to that again of the birds, namely, of the hawk
" and the eagle. And, secondly, what connection is there between the
" discourse of God in Chap. xl. 2, and that which precedes it, or also
" [with] the third discourse in the same Chapter, ver. 7 ? For, after
" Job has confessed and said, ' Once have I spoken, &c.,' how is it
" possible that God should say to him, ' Wilt thou, indeed, deny My
" justice, &c. ? ' And, in the third place, the passage in Chapter xii. 2, 3,
" ' Who is he that can stand before Me, &c. ? ' has no connection whatever
" in that place ; and why did He conclude with this verse, and then
" again begin to speak of the might of the beasts and the crocodile, to

376 PROLOGUE TO CHAPTERS XL.  XLII.
" the end of the chapter ? And there are still many questions, which
" I will conceal and not place here, in order not to weary out the
" reader, who has had no experience in such [matters]. Now, behold ! I
" have already said on another, but similar occasion, that, if I had not
" been afraid of the fury of those pretended saints, and of those brutish
" men who feign to be [strict] Jews, • I should have inverted the order,
" and should have restored everything [so as to be] in its [proper] turn,
" as the Commentators from among the wise men of [other] nations have
" done. But, at the present time, I have withdrawn my hand backwards,
" and have interpreted the verses as they are before us ; and, if their con-
" nection has neither comeliness nor beauty, the fault is not with me, for
" what am I to do ? Shall I explain them, as most of the Commentators
" of our time have done, with empty and windy words, and with forced
" explanations, which an intelligent mind must loathe ? This is not the
" right way, for better would it be that they should not be explained, than
" that they should be explained in such a manner that every one who heard
" it should laugh thereat. However, for the benefit of the intelligent
" reader, to whom alone I here direct my words, I wiU make known my own
" opinion with regard to the alteration of the order [in these Chapters],
" and how it has occurred to me to arrange the passages, for that, which
" some interpreters from among the wise men of [other] nations have
" said upon this subject, does not seem right in my eyes, for reasons,
" whose place is not here, and therefore I have turned from their way,
" and have prepared a way for myself. The first discourse of Jehovah
" begins Chap, xxxviii., as it is before us, and extends to Chap, xl., with
" the exception of Vers. 13 — 18 in Chap, xxxix., which ought to be
" either after Ver. 25, or after Ver. 30 [of that Chapter], for there
" is their [proper] place. The second discourse begins at Chap. xl. 7,
" and after Ver. 31 [of this Chapter] ought to come the Verses of
" Chap, xii., from Ver. 4 to the end thereof; and next [should come] the
" Verses, ' Put thy hands upon him,' &c, to ' whatsover is under the
" whole heavens is mine,' that is, Chap. xl. 32, and Chap. xU. 1 — 3.
" And, in reply to this, Job says, Chap. xlii. 2, ' I know that Thou canst
" do everything,' &c, to which God answers, ' Who is he that hideth
" counsel without knowledge ? ' Then Job replies ' Therefore have I
" uttered,' &c, and God says, ' Hear, now,' &c, when Job answers,
" 'By the hearing of the ear,' &c, and Jehovah rejoins, 'Is he who
" contendeth with the Almighty,' &c. (Chap. xl. 2), Job answering,
" 'Behold, I have been vile,' &c. (ibid. Vers. 4, 5). Prove, I pray thee,
" dear reader, these words, and consider, whether according to these
" words, all the discourses will not exactly fit together, and so closely
" stick one to another, that they cannot be parted."

377

CHAPTER XL.
As Job had in plain terms (supra xix, 6, 7 ; xxvii. 2) impugned
the justice of Him, who is Judge of all the earth, we shall hear
him asked in the discourse we are now entering upon, whether he
considers himself capable of taking the reins of supreme govern
ment into his own hands ; whether he is sharp-sighted enough to
discover pride, arrogance, and wickedness, wherever they exist on
the face of the globe ; and whether he is powerful enough to
inflict upon such as harbour them the punishment they merit. He
will moreover be shown, that not only would his sagacity be
baffled, his power defied, by men, rational beings like himself, but
that, even in the brute creation, many an animal might be found,
which would quickly prove to him his utter impotence, were he
so madly headlong as to measure his strength with it. The
elephant, for example, a quiet, harmless, and inoffensive, beast, —
would he undertake to cope with it ? The hippopotamus, again,
far less noble and sagacious than the elephant, and rather
resembling the hog, like which it rolls and wallows in the mire, —
would he not have to yield even to it the palm in strength and
power 1 Even the crocodile, a creature much lower than the
preceding in the scale of creation, nothing in fact but a monstrous
reptile, — would not his heart fail him at its very approach'? —
Such will be found to be the drift of the present Chapter, which
God begins by saying :
Ver. 2 — 9. [* 7 — 14]. Gird up now thy loins like a man! I
will ask thee questions, and do thou inform Me! (Ver. 3) [8].
Wilt thou indeed deny My justice ? Wilt thou condemn Me, that
thou mayest appear just ? (Ver. 4) [9]. Hast thou then an arm
like God ? Or canst thou thunder with a voice like Him ?
(Ver. 5) [10]. Deck now thyself with excellency and majesty,
and put on glory and splendour! (Ver. 6) [11]. Scatter around
thee the fury of thy wrath, and look out for every one that is
* The numbers in square brackets indicate the corresponding verses in the Hebrew text.

378 chapter xl. 6—14 [11—19]; 1—8 [6—13].
proud, and bring him low! (Ver. 7) [12]. Look out for every
one that is proud; humble him, and crush the wicked in their place !
Wheresoever thou disco verest them. (Ver. 8) [13]. Hide them
altogether in the dust ! Bind their persons in some hidden-place !
(Ver. 9) [14]. Then will I also confess to thee, that thine own
right hand can help thee. Then, but not till then, will I admit,
that thou requirest not My help, but of thyself art able to govern
and administer the world.
Ver. 1 [*6]. n73B for n73Bn (which we had supra xxxviii. 1), the article
being omitted as in Gen. xxxii. 23, Sin n7*b3 for Sinn nb*73 , which is
actuaUy found at the end of the preceding verse.
Ver. 3 [8]. 1?3*tthn for *33*$inn wilt thou condemn Me?
Ver. 4 [9]. as is to be considered here not as a conditional, but as an inter
rogative, particle, and it should be supplied in the second hemistich.
bS3 as [to] God, i.e., as to Me. See note on 7S 7s supra xxxviii. 41 ; also
that on B31B3 supra xii. 3, and comp. Josh. i. 15, where B.33 = as [to] you.
Ver. 7 [12]. "ipr) , a aira£ Xeyopcvov = ^17 to pound, crush.
Ver. 8 [13]. Bn*33 Ut., their faces, i.e., their persons. Comp. supra xiii.
8, VlStan l*3Bn will ye accept His person ? Similarly from *)S nose, frequently
used (in the dual) in the sense oi face, countenance (as e.g., Gen. xix. 1), we find '
in 1 Sam. i. 5, "one portion of B*BS two persons."
Vers. 10 — 19 [15 — 24]. But, if thou feelest thine utter inability
to control men, thy fellow-creatures, come try thy strength on an
inferior class of animals ! with them, perhaps, thou wilt, have
more success. Behold now the beasts, which I have made to be
with thee. To inhabit the earth with thee. The one. The
elephant. Eateth grass like the ox. He is not a carnivorous
animal, he feeds solely on what the earth brings forth, and so is
by no means savage or ferocious. (Ver. 11) [16]. Behold now
his strength is in his loins, and his might is in the muscles of his
belly. (Ver. 12) [17]. When he groweth lustful, his tail.
Membrum intelligas virile. Is like a cedar. The sinews of his
testicles become entwined. Scrotum non habet laxum et pendulum,
sed — insigne virilitatis argumentum — valde constrictum et corru-
gatum. (Ver. 13) [18]. His limbs are like strong-pieces of
brass; his bones, like bar[s] of iron ! (Ver. 14) [19]. He is
the chief of the works of God. He holds the first place among
* See note in page 374.

chapter xl. 14—19 [19—24]; 10 [15]. 379
quadrupeds, not only on account of his size, but also on account
of his sagacity, in point of which he stands next to man
himself. He who wisheth to dress him — let him bring his knife near
him ! Let him approach him with his knife ! Let the man who
longs to taste his flesh come and slay him with his knife ! for he is
not a carnivorous animal, he grazes like an ox, and might, therefore,
be supposed to be fit for food. (Ver. 15) [20]. Surely the
mountains bear for him their produce. He pastures on the
mountains, and so quiet is he, so harmless and inoffensive, That
all the beast[s] of the field may gambol there. Where he is. They
may approach him without fear, he will not injure them. Why
then not butcher and dress him, like an ox, a sheep, or a lamb 1
(Ver. 16) [21]. The other. The hippopotamus. Lieth under
shady-trees, in the covert of the reed, and in the mire. (Ver. 17)
[22]. Shady-trees cover him every one with its shade; the
willows of the brook[s] surround him. (Ver. 18) [23].
Lo! the river may become violent, he will make not haste,
to flee before it. He would remain confident, though Jordan
were suddenly to swell up to his very mouth. Would any man dare to
try his strength with him 1 No, man's love of life is too strong
for that! (Ver. 19) [24], It is by means of his eyes alone that
he (man) can take him. It is only by enticing and alluring him — by
placing something he delights in before his eyes, that he can be
subdued and mastered. By means of snares only can he (man) bore
his nostril[s.] Before he can put a ring through his snout, as he
does through that of other animals, he must first decoy him into
his snare ; for by violence he could never effect it.
Ver. 10 [15]. niBi73 beasts. Most Translators and Commentators from
motives which we have been quite unable to penetrate, regard the whole of the
ten verses before us as containing the description of one and the same beast, the
elephant according to some, the hippopotamus according to others. It is not to
be wondered at, therefore, that the plural niBi73 (B'haymowth) should have
proved a source of great embarrassment to them. In such a dilemma, indeed, did
they find themselves placed by this view of theirs (a view, in which the Transla
tors of the Auth. Vers, participate), that they were reduced to seek their escape
therefrom in the adoption of a most unwarrantable expedient, that, namely, of
declaring one single animal, the elephant, or, as some would have it, the hippopo
tamus, to be designated by this noun in the plural. Rosenmuller, it is true,
who considers the hippopotamus to be the sole subject of these ten verses, tells us

380 CHAPTER XL. 10, 11 [15, 16].
that the word nians is here used in the plural to designate an enormous beast,
as being equal in size to many others put together, adding " Pluralem numerum,
etiam de singularibus, sed magnis et prastantibus rebus apud Hebrasos usurpari,
notum," but the examples he adduces in support of this chimera of his, are so
very inconclusive, vague, and unsatisfactory, that we will not even stay to notice,
much less refute them. This very easy task we will leave to any reader, who
may have patience sufficient to consult the passages of Scripture referred to by
this Commentator, and we will at once proceed to bring forward our reasons for
regarding as altogether erroneous, and unwarranted by the context, this view, which
we have mentioned as being entertained by the majority of the Translators and
Commentators, — and for believing that the first six verses refer to the elephant,
and the last four to the hippopotamus. Our reasons, then, are that Vers. 16 — 19
[21 — 24], which depict a filthy amphibious animal, delighting, like a hog, to roll
and wallow in mud and mire, can certainly not be applied to the noble and
stately elephant ; while, on the other hand, Ver. 15 [20], as representing a gentle,
patient, and good-natured, graminivorous animal, which suffers other animals to
sport and gambol around it on the mountain, can scarcely be referred to the
hippopotamus, which is so timid and solitary in its habits, that it seldom leaves
the water but at night, and certainly never ventures on the mountains ; whilst,
that it lives altogether upon herbs, eschewing the fish, which was formerly
assigned it as the chief constituent of its food, has only been maintained of late,
and is as yet but imperfectly made out. Moreover, the highly honourable title
of bs *317 n*p"Si [the] chief of [the] works of God, which, owing to the
sweetness of its temper and to its great sagacity, might fairly be bestowed upon the
elephant, could not by any possibility be conferred upon the dull and stupid
hippopotamus. We, therefore, prefer to supply (as will be shown more clearly in
our notes upon the verses we are about to specify) nt the one, in Ver. 10 [15],
and nn and the other, in Ver. 16 [21], and understand Vers. 10 — 15 [15 — 20]
to refer to the elephant, and Vers. 16 — 19 [21 — 24] to the hippopotamus, when
the description given of each of these animals will be found most appropriate,
and the plural niB!73 most natural. An ellipsis of this sort we have already had
occasion to notice when commenting on the verbs nb?* , TJBp* , 1?2iB* , V7^
which occur supra xvi. 13 — 14, and to our note upon them we beg to refer the
reader. I]a5 for tJB5 ni*nb to be with thee; i.e., to inhabit the globe with thee.
Comp. Gen. iii. 12, 17B5 for *7a5 ni*nb to be with me. We should not have
thought it worth while to dwell upon this word (7£5), if we had not remarked,
that very few Commentators have given it the meaning we do.
b3S* 71733 1*217 for "1723 7*2n ba^* 7\\ the one (the elephant) eats grass
like the ox.
Ver. 11 [16]. i^aa *l*7pa in.[the] muscles of his belly.'" So Ben-Zev :
* Dr. Bernard is strongly inclined to translate isip? his body (as in Ps. xxxi. 10
jbm vBtoa my soul and my body, as very judiciously rendered by Dr. French and Mr
Skinner, and also in the Prayer-book version of the Psalm), when the meaning of the

CHAPTER XL. 11— 15 [16— 20]. 381
• livppw , F)ian *pm anta a*7n*an
" The sinews, which are the strong-parts of the body (Muskeln — muscles)."
We are sorry to see, that the Translators of the Auth Vers, have given the
word B*1*ip the meaning of navel, from a comparison, no doubt, with 'H7.7P'
(Cant. vii. 3) thy navel, forgetting that the navel could scarcely be designated by
a plural noun.
Ver. 12 [17]. Vfen* for V'SH* 7p"S TO3 At [the] time that (or when) he
becomes lustful. Comp. Ps. civ. 29, *lbn3* Tp?B 1*npn [When] Thou hidest
Thy face, they are troubled, as very properly translated in the Prayer-book. The
Germans very frequently employ the same idiom, so that V^n* might in their
language very well be rendered here wird er liistern = wenn er liistern wird.
133? kis tail, by which must be meant here his penis, or pizzle, as is evident from
the next hemistich. The German Schwanz is sometimes, though very vulgarly,
used in the same meaning.
l^QB (as in the K'ree) his testicles. This word would seem to be borrowed
from the Chaldee, for "iTPS niitji (Lev. xxi. 20) crushed as to [the] testicle[s], is
rendered by Onkelos 1*7QB B*ia , which has the same signification.
Ver. 13 [18]. *p*3S. for *P.*3S3 like strong-pieces of, the 3 being supplied
from the second hemistich. But see note on fl??7 *33 supra v. 7.
7*BB a bar of a <xira£ Xeyopevov.
Ver.' 14 [19]. n*pSl chief of Comp. Amos vi. 1, B*ian n*pSi chief of
the nations.
7S *317 Ut., [the] ways of God; i.e., the works of God. See our note
on l^Bl^ (supra xxvi. 14); and on bs bs. (supra xxxviii. 41). To the ex
amples quoted in the former of these notes we will here add Ps. cxiv. 17,
" Jehovah is righteous in all l1?"^ Bis works, and holy in all VP3?? His
doings" where l1?"1!1? stands in parallelism with 1*P5^ •
Itaan the [one] dressing him ; i.e., the one who has a mind to dress him for
food. Comp. Gen. xviii. 7, ins niEH??. to dress it, also np5 he had dressed,
in the following verse ; and many other passages might be quoted where the
verb niaj3 has this signification. The affix in 123517 being objective, the def.
article before it is quite admissible. See Mason and Bernard's Grammar,
Letter xlvi. § 2 adfinem.
i37I7 ta2* for i37n 1*7S taS* Ut., let him make his knife approach to him;
i.e., let him approach him with his knife. The noun 37.0 is not always used in
the meaning of sword, but is sometimes applied to other cutting instruments.
Comp. Josh. v. 2, " Make thee B*7*J ni37n sharp knives."
Ver. 15 [20]. bl3 i.q., b-13* [the] produce of.
second hemistich of the verse before us would be, that the strength of the animal lies in
all the muscles of his body, and not only in his loins. Struck though I was by the
aptness of the reference, I still preferred to give the word its usual signification of belly,
as in the first place it is somewhat of a truism to say that an animal's strength lies in the
muscles of his body, for where else could it lie ? and, secondly, belly forms a better parallel
with loins. — Note of Editor.

382 chapter xl. 15—21 [20—26]; 20—26 [25—31].
B*1.n mountains, stands here much as it does in Ps. cxlvii. 8, " who maketh
grass to grow upon the mountains."
Ver. 16 [21]. 23p** a*bss nnn for a*bs.s. nnn 33p"* np. and the other
(the hippopotamus) lies under shady-trees.
The S in t3*bs*| may perhaps stand in the place of b , as in 1BKB*
(Ps. Iviii. 8) the S stands for D , for the proper form would be IBB* = 1Bpa*.
Ver. 17 [22]. lbb? for ibb23 [every one] with its shade.
Ver. 18 [23]. ln*3 bs 177* n*3*. lit., Jordan should burst forth, rush, up to
his mouth ; i.e., suddenly swell up to a level with it.
Vers. 20 — 26 [25 — 31]. Canst thou draw out the crocodile with
an hook, and with a rope, which thou mightest sink into his tongue ?
Canst thou angle for the crocodile, as for a fish, with rod and
line? (Ver. 21) [26]. Canst thou put an hook into his nose,
or pierce his cheek with a ring? So as, by means of a cord
thereunto attached, to make him follow thee whithersoever thou
goest. (Ver. 22) [27]. Will he make many supplications unto
thee ? Will he speak soft-words unto thee ? Will he fawn upon
thee, and by his gestures seek to express his attachment to thee,
as a dog might do 1 (Ver. 23) [28]. Will he make a covenant with
thee ? Will he enter into an agreement to serve thee % Canst
thou take him for a perpetual slave ? As thou dost all thy domestic
animals. (Ver. 24) [29]. Canst thou play with him, as with a
bird, or canst thou bind him for thy maidens ? For their amuse
ment. Canst thou catch and cage him as a bird ? (Ver. 25) [30].
Will the companies make a banquet upon him. As they might of a
fish, whose flesh was delicate. Will they divide him among the
merchants ? Will they traffic with his flesh, as they do with that
of many a fish, when salted and preserved ? (Ver. 26) [31].
Canst thou fill his skin with darts, or his head with fish-spears ?
Is his skin to be penetrated by any weapons of the sort !
Ver. 20 [25]. TJtaan for "ijiaBrin. canst thou draw ?
iaitab a*pPn banai for isitaba 5*pp"n 7p*s banai or with a rope, which
thou mightest sink into his tongue, the prefix 3 in banai being understood
before i3lttfb .
Ver. 21 [26]. "|a3S a hook. This word is found in Isa. Iviii. 5, in the signifi
cation of reed, or bulrush, but here it is evidently intended to designate some bent
and crooked instrument.*
• Infra xii. 9 [12] it has yet another meaning given to it, namely, caldron. — Editor, 1862.

chapter xl. 21—26 [26—31]; xli. 1 [4]. 383
So Kimchi says :

 B*37n ia B*7*na bna ana i*B3 *b3 sin
-sai3n ibb ^ibb itasita *ab p sip3i 
" It ()Q3«) is an instrument like an iron needle, with which they catch fish ....
.... and it is so called, because its head is curved like [that of] a rush."
ninai or with a ring; nin being here (as we are told by Kimchi) synony
mous with nn , which in Exod. xxxv. 22, and also in Ezek. xxix. 4, in the
plural B*nn (K'ree), as well as in other places, signifies a ring, or other circular
object. The more usual meaning of nin is of course thorn, but this would make
no sense here.
Ver. 23 [28]. 13n*jn for sfinj9nrj Canst thou take him?
Ver. 24 [29]. 7i3-23 for 71B23 pnpn 7p*S3 as thou wouldst play with a
(lit., the) bird.
Ver. 25 [30]. 133* for 11371 Will they make a banquet? See note on 173ni
supra vi. 27.
Q1?5?3 merchants, as in Isa. xxiii. 8, where n*33?B stands in parallelism with
n^lOB her merchants.
Ver. 26 [31]. niapa with darts. Kimchi gives this word under the root
712* , telling us that the Dagesh in the 3 is in the place of the quiescent 1 ,
while with regard to its signification, and that of some other words derived from
the same root, his observation is : an* B3*33i
" And their signification is well known."
Judging from which, and from the passages he quotes, we suppose him to adopt
the meaning thorns. Here, however, we have no doubt that the word is used to
denote sharp missiles, pointed like a thorn.
b2b2a! and with spear[s] of. So Ben-Zev, Wurfeisen.

CHAPTER XLI.

Vers. 1 — 21 [4 — 24].* Of the three animals, which were in
troduced into the preceding discourse, two only, the elephant
and the hippopotamus, were described in detail; the third, the
crocodile, was simply mentioned, the consideration of its structure
• The numbers in the square brackets indicate, as before, the corresponding verses of
the Hebrew text.

384 chapter xli. 1 — 14 [4 — 17].
and attributes being deferred to the discourse we are now entering
upon. God says respecting this terrible animal :
(Ver. 1) [4]. I will not pass over his parts in silence, nor the matter
of 'his strength, nor the gracefulness of his proportion^]. This animal,
on account of his extraordinary size and strength, deserves more
particular mention. (Ver. 2) [5]. Who hath uncovered the
surface of his garment ? The surface of the skin, which invests
him as a garment, his scales. Who has ever ventured to lift up
even one of them 1 Who can enter into the doubling of his jaw?
Who would venture to trust a limb within his jaws? (Ver. 3) [6].
Who hath ever opened the doors of his face 1 His mouth. Around
his teeth is terror ! (Ver. 4) [7]. His strong shields are
his pride, shut up together as with a close seal. So strong and so
closely joined are his scales, that he is filled with pride when he
considers the weaker defences of other animals. (Ver. 5) [8].
They approach one to another so closely, that no air can come
between them. (Ver. 6) [9]. They are joined every one to its
fellow; they take hold on one another, so that they cannot be
separated. (Ver. 7) [10]. His sneezings cause light to shine, and
his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn. Are fiery red and
glowing like the first rays of the rising sun. (Ver. 8) [11]. Out
of his mouth go firebrands ,- sparks of fire escape therefrom.
(Ver. 9) [12]. Smoke goeth out from his nostrils, as from a bubbling
pot, or caldron. The smoke from his nostrils is like the steam
from boiling water. (Ver. 10) [13]. His breath would inflame
glowing-coals, and a blaze goeth forth from his mouth. (Ver. 11) [14].
In his neck abideth strength, and sorrow exulteth before him. So
great and universal is the sorrow, caused by the approach of the
crocodile, that it is well represented as an animated being, proudly
preceding him wherever he goes. (Ver. 12) [15]. The folds of
his flesh cleave fast together. The pendulous parts of his body
are much less flabby than is the case with other animals. Every
one of them is firm upon him; it cannot be moved. (Ver. 13) [16].
His heart is firm like a stone ; yea, firm like the lower millstone.*
(Ver. 14) [17]. By reason of his raising himself up, the mighty
are afraid ; by reason of the breakers. By reason of the waves which
* See note on lrnrm nto page 386.

chapter xli. 14—21 [17—24] ; 1—6 [4—9]. 385
he causes to break against the river's banks, when he rises out of
the water, They are beside themselves. They are so overwhelmed
with terror, that they know not what they do. (Ver. 15) [18.]
As to one coming up to him, his sword will not stand. Will shiver
in his grasp. And so will his spear, dart, and coat-of-mail. The
two former being utterly useless for offence, the latter for defence.
(Ver. 16) [19]. Iron he accounteth as straw ; brass, as rotten wood.
(Ver. 17) [20]. The arrow will not make him flee ; sling-stones
with him are turned into stubble. Produce as little effect upon
him, as stubble would, if thrown at him. (Ver. 18) [21]. Club[s]
are accounted by him as stubble ; and he laugheth at the whiz of
the javelin. Why, indeed, should he dread any sharp-pointed
weapon, seeing that (Ver. 19) [22] Sharp potsherds are under
him. Such is the hardness of his scales, that he is equally at his
ease when lying upon fragments of pottery, or other rough and
pointed things, as when stretched out upon the mire. Nay, more
than this, he himself spreadeth out sharp-pointed-thing[s] upon
the mire. He actually prefers a rugged and flinty couch.
(Ver. 20) [23]. He could mahe the deep. If he ever were to
come there. Boil like a pot ; he could make the sea like a jar of
ointment. He would lash the sea into foaming circles around
him with the same ease, that the apothecary stirs his ointment in
ajar. (Ver. 21) [24]. He would cause a path to shine after him.
He would leave a snowy-white, glistening, wake behind him. So
that one would think the deep had become hoary.
Ver. 1 [4]. 1*7? his parts, limbs. See note on 7Sta *73 supra xvii. 16.
ni7133. for l*riill33. his might (lit., mights).
Tn"! and [the] gracefulness 'of VI being synonymous with 10, just as P
(Jon. iv. 10), with p son of, and "113 (1 Kings xi. 36), with 73 a lamp.
Ver. 2 [5]. 13B7 Ut,, his bit; i.e., his jaw, for a bit and the jaw it fits are
very similar in shape. 12B1. 'B3 = therefore [the] doubling of his jaw ; i.e.,
his double jaw, or his jaws.
Ver. 3 [6]. ni3*3B (round about) used adverbially, as in Numb. xi. 24,
bnsn nb*3B round about the tent.
Ver. 4 [7]. niS2 for iniS| his pride.
713B [every one of them is] closed up. See note on TB173 supra vi. 17.
72 anin for 12 anina ia? as with a close seal.
Ver. 6 [9]. ln*17Sa ta*S Ut., man on his brother ; i.e., one to another. Comp.
Exod. xxv. 20. The feminines of these two nouns are also similarly used, as
C C

386 chapter xli. 6—17 [9—20].
e.g., Exod. xxvi. 3, nnhs bs np'S Ut., woman to her sister ; i.e., one to
another. Ver. 7 [10]. 1*ni23*B3 a S.rra£ Xeyopevov, his sneezings.
'nn [every one of them] causes to shine. See note on IBPTS supra vi. 17.
Ver. 8 [11]. 17i7*3 a 5.ira£ Xeyofjxvov, sparks of
Ver. 9 [12]. 7173 for 717B in? as from a pot.
niB3 Ut., blown ; i.e., made to boil by the fire upon which it (the pot) is set
being blown.
Ver. 10 [13]. Bnbn B*bn| i23B3 His breath would inflame glowing coals. On
this verse Rosenmuller observes : " Ne quis offendat in constructione anomala
^n?n B 7n| (* observandum est, cum nomine plurali masculino, quod rem, non per
sonam, significat, conjungi posse verbum singulare femininum, cf. supraxiv. 19, et
ibi not." Surely this learned Commentator's wits must have been wool-gathering when
he wrote the above, for he translates the three words in question precisely as we do
(excepting that he renders the verb in the present, and not the conditional, as we
have done), and therefore takes "12333 , and not, B*bn| , to be the nominative to
^nan . We have rendered this verb would inflame, and not, as is usually done,
inflames, because it seemed to us extremely improbable that the crocodile's breath
should ever come into contact with any coals at all, much less with glowing coals.
V17J1 exults; a aita.£ Xey6g.evov.
"•bSB (root b33 to fall) lit., [the] fallings of; i.e., the pendulous, loose, flabby
parts of.
p!2* [every one of them is] firm. See note on la!73 supra vi. 17.
n*nnn nbB a lower milUstone, in opposition to 331 nbB (Judg. ix. 53), an
upper millstone. So Ben-Zev, unterer, und oberer, Miihlstein ; in reference to the
present passage he adds :
: aaiB mvbam , ptn iaia sin *a
"For it (the lower millstone) stands firm, whilst the upper whirls round."
(Ver. 14) [17]. 'in'pB for ins'pa by reason of his raising [himself] up, the
S being omitted, as in T1^* supra i. 21, on which see note.
(Ver. 14) [17]. E*i3pi? lit., by reason of breakers ; i.e., the waves, which he
produces by raising himself up. The Dagesh id the 23 proves the B to be a pre
position, so that the real word is 3*1323, which we regard as synonymous with
B*iapa (with affix, Ps. xlii. 8) breakers. Similarly we find B*BBp* (Prov.
xix. 29) judgments, punishments = B*BBpB .
ISanri* lit., they miss themselves ; i.e., they are beside themselves. See note
on Ntopn supra v. 24. Comp. Isa. xxi. 4, p3,b nan my heart (mind)
wandered; i.e., I knew not what I did.
Ver. 15 [18]. Bin for iain his sword.
Ver. 17 [20]. ntapT p Ut., a son of a bow; Le., an arrow. Comp. Lam. iii. 13,
* In the original rarta D'^na . Rosenmuller's pages swarm with similar mistakes,
which, to put the hest construction upon them, must have resulted from his own care
lessness, and cannot be attributed only to his printer. — Editor, 1862.

chapter xli. 17—21 [20—24] ; 22 [25]. 387
inspS *33 sons of his quiver = arrows. Comp. also supra v. 7, *\W) ''?.? lit.,
sons of a firebrand ; i.e., sparks.
Ver. 18 [21]. nnin lapn? dub[s] are considered, nnin being used col
lectively, though, when a verb precedes its nominative case, it need agree with it
neither in gender or number, as we have already, more than once, had occasion
to observe, nnin is a cra-af Aeyo/xevov.
Vers. 20, 21 [23, 24]. We prefer taking the verbs n*J7l*, B*p*, 7*S*. con
ditionally, as it does not seem to be estabUshed that the crocodile is ever met with
in the sea.

Vers. 22-27 [Chap. xli. 25, 26; Chaps, xl. 32; xli. 1—3].
We have already stated the reasons which induced Wolfssohn to
assign to these six verses another place than that which they
occupy in the text. To every one, indeed, who reads the last
four of them in the connection in which they there stand, it must,
we should think, seem very extraordinary that God should first
challenge man to engage with the crocodile, and then proceed to
enter upon a minute description of its structure. Nor is
Wolfssohn the only Commentator who saw the necessity for
altering their position, since Bouillier did so likewise. There is,
however, another point which to us seems more extraordinary
still — that, namely, an animal, which is in reality nothing more
than a monstrous reptile, should (see the second verse of the
group) be styled the king of all the proud beasts, and be said to
see everything high ; and it is therefore our firm belief that the
subject of the whole of the verses under our consideration is not
the crocodile, but man generally, . Job of course being more
particularly had in view. God says :
(Ver. 22) [Chap. xli. 25]. He (man), whose like there is not on
earth. Whose wondrous mind places an unfathomable gulf
between him and all other beings upon earth ; yea, assigns to him
a rank but little lower than an angel's. He (man) who is made to
be without dread. Whose spirit of enterprise leads him to
disregard dangers and perils of all sorts ; who descends into the
very bowels of the earth, dives into the recesses of the sea, and
traverses oceans ; he who, alone of animals walks not with
head bowed down towards the ground, but carries it erect;
c c 2

388 chapter xli. 23—27 [xli. 26; xl. 32; xli. 1—3].
(Ver. 23) [Chap. xli. 26] He who seeth every thing that is high.*
Who raises his looks to the heavens, and the heavenly bodies.
He who is king over all the proud beasts. A title deservedly be
stowed upon him for the majesty of his appearance, and the absolute
dominion he exercises over all inferior animals. Him I challenge,
and say (Ver. 24) [Chap. xl. 32], " Put thine hand upon him ! "
The crocodile. " Think on the battle — thou wilt not do so again! "
Reflect, while thou mayest, upon the dreadful conflict that
awaiteth thee, for once engaged therein, thou wilt have no more
time for reflection, thou wilt speedily perish. (Ver. 25) [Chap.
xli. 1]. Lo ! his hope. Of proving victor in the contest. Hath
failed ; is he indeed cast down even at his very aspect ? Is the
dread the animal inspireth him with so great that he falleth
down paralyzed with fear, while yet at a distance, and uninjured %
(Ver. 26) [Chap. xli. 2]. He is not so cruel to himself that he
should arouse him — who then is he, that can stand before Me ? If
even the beasts I have created strike such terror into man, how
then can he dare to set himself up against Me, and find fault
with My proceedings? (Ver. 27) [Chap. xli. 3]. Who hath anti
cipated Me. With a favour. Who hath ever laid Me under an
obligation ] That I should have to repay it to him. That which
is under the whole heavens belongeth to Me. Every creature is
dependent upon Me for all that it enjoyeth, and can therefore lay
no claim to reward at My hands.
Ver. 22 [Chap. xli. 25]. 1 'pB lit., his comparing ; i.e., a comparing to him,
the inf. constr. bP'B being used here as a noun. See our note on bfaab supra
xvii. 6. The words IPS Sin he who, must be supplied before 1*S at the beginning
of the first hemistich of this verse, just as in Prov. xviii. 22, where nPs S2B
stands for nPs S2B 123S Sin he who has found a wife.
iban for *1273n , the regular form, as it is the past part. Kal of the verb
n235 . See note on IBS* supra xv. 22. The substantive verb ni*nb to be, must
be understood after 1233 n .
Ver. 23 [Chap. xli. 26]. nSI* PT33 b|) ns for i733 b| ns nsi* ipS Sin
he who sees everything high.
* So the Roman poet says :
Pronaque cum spectent animalia caetera terram,
Os homini sublime dedit, ccelumque tueri
Jussit, et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus. (Ovid Met. Lib. I., 84—86.)

chapter xli. 23—27 [xli. 26 ; xl. 32 ; xli. 1—3]. 389
VDP \?? proud wild-beasts. See note on these two words, supra xxviii. 8.
N.B. Here the words 7BS) SIpS l*bs 0n him (man) I call and say, should
be understood. A similar eUipsis occurs in Ps. xxvii. 8, where we read 3BS TJ7
*3B 127(53 *S7 which, to yield any sense, must needs be construed as follows ;
^ 112$ for ^ 13t? 7)2 £ my heart tells me
*$ for I?] \3 that [it is] for THEE (i.e.,
that it becomes Thee),
[7fotf7 D7N 133 7$ X7J57 [to call upon [the] sons of men, saying,]
" "OS Wtf2 " " Seek ye My countenance."
Ver. 24 [Chap. xl. 32]. *)pin bs for 73*b f]Bin bs thou wilt not again
think [of it],
Ver. 25 [Chap. xli. 1]. ba* 1*S7B bs B3_n fs he indeed cast down at his
[very] sight? Spoken ironically, as though God said, That is more than I
expected, I thought he would fight with the animal, but now it appears that the
very sight of it prostrates him with fear. We make this remark, in order to
shew that there is no occasion to supply a negative here, as though B3n stood
for B3 S3n , as Rosenmuller would have us do.
Ver. 26 [Chap. xli. 2]. 7pS sb> for itf??b 1J3S sb" [he is] not [so] cruel
to himself.
Ver. 27 [Chap. xU. 3]. abpsi *3B*7pn *B for ib BbpSl n3iB3 *3B*7pn *B
Who has anticipated Me with a kindness, that I should have to repay [it] to him ?
i.e., who ever bestowed a favour upon me, before I bestowed one upon him ?
nnn for nnn ips that which [is] under.
N.B. It will be perceived that in these verses there is a change of person,
the second being substituted for the third in Ver. 24 [xl. 32]. Such a change
is of very frequent occurrence in Hebrew. Of the numerous examples we
could quote, we will here only bring forward three, the first occurring in Gen.
Chap, xlix., where Joseph is, in vers. 22 — 24, spoken of by his father in the third
person, and then, in vers. 25, 26, addressed by him in the second ; the second, in
this book (from which, however, many other examples of the sort might be
quoted) supra xviii. 4, where Bildad, in the first clause, speaks of Job, in the
second to him, thus changing from the third, to the second, person ; the third, in
Ps. xxxiv., where (ver. 12) the Psalmist exclaims, "Who is the man that
desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may be good ? " and then, in the
very next verse, addressing such a man, says, " Keep thy tongue from evil, and
thy lips from speaking guile," to him I say being omitted between these verses, as
between Vers. 23, "24 (according to our arrangement) of the present Chapter.

390

CHAPTER XLII.

Vers. 1 — 11. Of these eleven verses, which form a dialogue
between Jehovah and Job, five (7 — 11) we have transposed from the
beginning of Chap, xl., for the simple, but very forcible reason,
that, as they stand in the text, they render utterly unintelligible
the verses, which immediately follow them. For, how could
Jehovah, immediately after Job had (in Ver. 4) * expressed his
great contrition and sincere repentance for his rash and incon
siderate language, by any possibility say, (Ver. 8) * " Wilt thou
indeed deny My justice! Wilt thou condemn Me, that thou
mayest appear just"? " and again, Chap. xlii. 3, " Who is this, that
veileth My counsel for want of knowledge X " Surely, so full a
confession on the part of Job, instead of calling forth such a
severe rebuke, would (as is actually the case according to our ar
rangement), be much more fittingly followed by a declaration of
forgiveness and acceptance from the lips of Jehovah.
And Job answered Jehovah, and said, (Ver. 2.) I know that Thou
canst do every thing, and that no purpose of Thine can be with
holden from Thee. That there is nothing which Thou purposest,
which Thou canst not perform.
Ver. 3. Jehovah. — Who is this, that veileth My counsel without
knowledge ? -p Who, for want of knowledge, recogniseth not My
wisdom and counsel in everything that befalleth man, but regardeth
all as left to chance.
Job. — For this reason have I said so, because I did not under
stand. The mysteries of Thy counsel. They were too wonderful
for me, so that I could not know them.
Ver. 4. God. — Hear now, and I will speak ; I will ask thee
questions, and do thou inform Me.%
Ver. 5. Job. — I have heard of Thee by the heaving of the ear.
I have heard the heavens declare the glory of God, and the
firmament shew forth His handywork ; I have heard the speech,
which day poureth out unto day, and the knowledge, which
night sheweth unto night ; I have asked the beasts, and they
* According to the text. \ See supra xxxviii. 2. % See supra xxxviii. 3.

chapter xlii. 5 — 11 [xlii. 5, 6; xl. 1 — 5]; 2. 391
have instructed me — the fowl of the heavens, and they have told
me — the fishes of the sea, also, and they have declared unto
me — that the hand of Jehovah hath made them. But, whilst
the beasts, the fowl of the heavens, and the fishes of the sea,
thus instructed me, and declared unto me Thy power and Thy
glory, they never told me that I was not a mere animal like
themselves, so that of this I remained in ignorance, and thought
I was not better than they, and that my existence would, like
theirs, terminate with my life. But now mine eye hath seen Thee.
Now, that Thou hast condescended to reveal Thyself to me, I see,
and know that I am not a mere animal, but that I am an object
of Thy peculiar care, and that, within this body of mine, though
but a house of clay, there dwelleth an immortal soul, which will
live even after I have returned to the dust from which I was
taken, and that the days of my life here below are but a hand
breadth, compared with those which I shall live with Thee to
all eternity. (Ver. 6.) Therefore I abhor. All that I have
said. And, being thus instructed, I repent in dust and ashes.
Ver. 7 [*1]. Then Jehovah answered Job, and said, (Ver. 8) [2].
Is he, who contended with the Almighty corrected ? Let him, who
reasoned with God, answer it ! This question. If he, who hath
been till now contending with the Almighty, standeth corrected,
and repenteth, then let him answer Me, and tell Me that it is so.
(Ver. 9) [3]. Then Job answered Jehovah, and said. (Ver. 10)
[4]. Lo, I have been vile ! what shall I answer Thee ? So utterly
worthless have I proved myself to be, that I dare not now open
my mouth to utter a word, and must beseech Thee to accept
my silence as a full confession on my part of the enormity of
my sin. I put mine hand upon my mouth. (Ver. 11) [5]. Once
have I spoken, but will not again utter. Any such rash and
inconsiderate words. Yea, twice have I spoken. I am fully aware
that I have been more than once guilty of this rashness in my
language. But I will not do so again.
Ver. 2. bam bb p for bb niiaab brim *3 that Thou art able to do
everything. * The figures in square brackets indicate the corresponding verses in Chap. xl. in the
Hebrew text.

392 chapter xlii. 2 — 11 [xlii. 2 — 6; xl. 1 — 5].
na*a tjbb 123* * ^bi = nitaab nar* ihJs bb vjao 12a* ^b) (Comp. Gen.
xi. 6), and [that] nothing which Thou purposest to do can be withholden from
Thee ; i.e., that everything which Thou purposest, Thou canst perform.
Ver. 3. B*75B Ut., hiding, veiling ; i.e., refusing to acknowledge.
n23 for *0*?a My counsel.
n?7 *b3 for n37T *b?B for want of knowledge.
1*3S Sb* for ^i-l'ia niaban 1*3S sb) because I did not understand the
mysteries of Thy counsel.
57S sbl. for inns 57s sb>l. so that I could not know them.
Ver. 6. BSBS for *137; b33 BSBS (as supplied by Aben-Ezra) I reject all
my words.
1??!?J 1?5 75 lit., on dust and ashes ; i.e., in accordance with the English
idiom, in dust and ashes.
Ver. 8 [2] j- 31PJ whether [the] one contending, 31 being here the part. pres.
Kal. of the verb 311 0r 3*1 to contend, just as 7iS is found as a part, in
Prov. iv. 18.
IIS* one corrected, it being a noun of the form 733 ( as 7i3* (Exod. i. 22)
one born.
n|55- shall answer it ; i.e., shall answer the question, " Is he who contended,"
&c. Ver. 10 [4]. *? iab *nap *7* my hand I have put to my mouth ; i.e., I cannot
or dare not utter a word. Comp. supra xxi. 5 ; xxix. 9.
Ver. 1 1 should be construed thus ;
1J7737 nnx Once have I spoken,
12y$ 871 forlV n3J^» itb] but I will not speak any
more ;
D1^! for 1J775'l D*I7#1 yea, twice (i.e., several
times) have I spoken,
rpDl'K 8"1 for ni2yb *l*Di8 871 but I will not again
speak.

* We have here another instance, in which a masc. verb has for its subject a fem. noun
which follows it. See note on wrraSn supra xx. 9, and on NSp: tfr) infra Ver. 20.— Editor
1862. t The numbers in square brackets indicate the corresponding verses of Chap. xl. in the
Hebrew text.

CHAPTER XLII. 12—14 [7—9]. 393
Ver. 12 (7).* \?S respecting Me. Comp. Gen. xx. 2, " And Abraham said,
nip 7S respecting Sarah."
n3i33 . This word, though strictly speaking the part. Niph. fem. of the verb
]13, is used as a noun tin Ps. v. 10, in the meaning ot faithfulness, or sincerity;
here, however, it is evidently used adverbially = sincerely.
3i*S *7333 nai33 *bs aniai. sb *a for ye have not spoken respecting Me
sincerely, like My servant Job ; i.e., irreverent, nay, sinful, as were the words so
rashly uttered by Job when ignorant of the dignified nature of his own being,
yet they came from the depths of his heart; not so yours, for, when you
reproached your unfortunate friend with crimes of the blackest dye, you did so,
not from an intimate conviction that he deserved such reproaches, but with a view
of pleasing Me, forgetting that nothing can please Me but the truth. When Job
complained of the afflictions I sent upon him, instead of imputing to him sins
and crimes, of which there was no reason whatever for believing him guilty, you
should rather have confessed yourselves unable to account for these afflictions, and
have contented yourselves with calling upon your friend to believe, that, as they
had come from his Maker, they must be for his good.
Ver. 13 (8). as *3 for verily. So, in Prov. xxiii. 18, BS *3 for verily (there
is an end, and thine expectation shall not be cut off).
S2?S 1*3B I will accept his person ; i.e., I will have regard unto him. The
phrase a*3B S233 to accept persons, though generally used in a bad sense, is
nevertheless sometimes found, as here, expressing merely to accede lo one's wishes.
See note on lis'pn 1*33n supra xiii. 8.
nba3 B3B5 ni235 *n33b so as not to deal out disgrace to you ; i.e., so as not
to inflict a disgraceful punishment upon you. So Kimchi, in his B*23727n IBB
explains the word n733 in this instance as
n313B1 1133 137
" A disgraceful and degraded thing."
E3B5 lit., with you, must here, in accordance with the exigencies of the
English language, be rendered to you. So in Gen. xx. 9, 17B5 = to, or unto, me.
The verb n23V to do, or make, is often used in the sense of to execute, or deal
out, as B*i23 nBp3 ni2357 (Ps. cxlix. 7), To execute vengeance on the
heathen. Ver. 14 (9). 7B2 for 73*51 (though Rosenmuller, for reasons we cannot
discover in any grammar, would supply 1) and Zophar. When three things
are joined together, the third sometimes dispenses with the copulative conjunction ;
thus in Ps. xlv. 9 we have ni5*2p nianSl IB Myrrh, and aloes, [and] cassia,
where ni5*23 stands for niyppi .
* The numbers in round brackets indicate the corresponding verses of Chap. xlii. in the
Hebrew text.
t We render it by a noun, it is true, but in other languages it need not be so rendered.
Thus in Germ, it is usually translated by a neut. adj., Luth., [Nichts] Gewisses, Mendels.,
[Nichts] liedliches. In a Dan. Bible, too, I find [intet] bestandigt. — Editor, 1862.

394 CHAPTER XLII. 15—20 [10—15].
Ver. 15 [10]. 3isS map* ns 323 lit., turned back [the] captivity of Job ;
i.e., restored to him everything He bad taken from him ; for, seeing that the
property taken away from Job, at the instigation of Satan, was not taken away
for good, but was, as it were, merely confiscated until he should have passed through
the ordeal appointed for him, it might fairly be considered only to have gone into
captivity, and now to be restored to him therefrom.
The verb 3123 is used here transitively in Kal, as in Jer. xxx. 18.
ibpBnns on his praying; i.e., after he had prayed. So in Exod. iii. 12.
?[S:pin3 On thy making to go forth ; i.e., when, or after, thou hast made to
go forth (brought forth),
in37. his friend; i.e., every one of his friends, or his friends severally.
Ver. 16 [11]. lb I"1?.*! and they mourned with him. See note on ib 7137
supra ii. 11.
na*pp a piece of money, as in Gen. xxxiii. 19.
B}3 an ear-ring, as in Gen. xxxv. 4.
Ver. 18 [13]. n33ap = nrap", the 3 being epenthetic. So in Hosea x. 6,
mpa = npl3 shame.
Ver. 19 [14]. na*B* Jemimah, probably from Bi* (plur. B*B^) a day, to
express that she was as bright and beautiful as the day, or, as the French would
say, belle comme lejour. So the Targum :
saa*3 sni3i23 nin7 nb *ip nin sa*a*
tt' tt: t -: - t "'t t -: t • :
He called her Jemimah, because her beauty was like [that of] the day.
na*2p Keziah. The Hebrew word means Cassia, a spice, which seems to
have been very scarce in those days, so that the name was probably given her
with a view to express the rarity of her beauty. So the Targum :
sna*2p 1*33 si*p* nin7 nb *ip mn na**jp
t -:•':'¦• . t '. - t -: - t "'t t-: t ¦ ':
" He called her Keziah, because she was [as] rare as cassia."
TJ1B!7 pp Keren- Happuch ; i.e., a horn for paint, or, as we should say, a
paint-box. She had this name bestowed upon her probably on account of the
beauty of her complexion, which we may suppose to have vied with the brightest
colours of the paint-box. So Jarchi tells us this name was given her :
•rnui ilP3 13 ]'JP13D pp DD in
" From the name of the horn in which they put paint and soap."
Ver. 20 [15]. ^2B3 ribl and there was not found. Here we have a verb of
the masc. gender and sing. numb, referring to a fem. noun in the plur. numb.,
a fact which goes very far to prove the correctness of the rule we have already so
frequently laid down, that, namely, when a Hebrew verb precedes its nominative
case, it need agree with it neither in gender nor in number.
?nb for 1<lb to them, or better nana , which, as a femin. noun is referred
to, would be the regular form. This trespass against gender is also committed in
the case of an*3S and an*ns in the same verse.

395

TRANSLATION OF THE BOOK OF JOB.

CHAPTER I.
1 There was a man in the land of aUz, a whose a Jer- *xv- 2°; Lam-
' . iv. 21.
name was i Job ; and that man was l pious w Job his name.
i -i a i r i^--ii i i Ezek. xiv. 14, 20.
and upright, and P one that feared God, and p a fearer of God
eschewed evil. £££*""*
2 And there were born unto him '' seven sons, c infra xiu. 13.
and three daughters.
3 And his substance was seven thousand sheep,
and three thousand camels, and five hundred
yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and
a very great household ; so that that man was
greater than all the sons of the East.
4 Now his sons used to go and r feast in the y make a feast.
house of every one of them on his day ; and they
used to send and 2 call 8 their three sisters, to g call to, for.
eat and to drink with them.
5 And it was so, when the days of e their feasting e the feast.
were £ gone about, that Job sent for, and pre- ? g°ne round> in a
ii i i . , • circle-
pared, them, and rose up early in the morning,
and offered up burnt-offerings according to the
number of them all: for Job 3said: "Peradven
ture my sons have sinned and blasphemed God
1 Or without blemish, blameless, pure, just (the Lat. integer, Fr.
integre). See Commentary and Appendix. — Editor, 1862.
2 Call is here used=send for, summon, invite, as in Gen. xx. 9, xli. 14,
&c. See Appendix.— Editor, 1862.
3 Or, perhaps, said in his heart, to himself, thought. Comp. Gen. xvii. 17,
and xliv. 28.— Editor, 1862.

396

TRANSLATION. CHAP. I.

5—15.

a heart.
/3 all the days.

y set themselves up,
stand. Lat. sistere
Be, sisti.
S near.
£ the adversary, or,
the accuser.
Z in their midst.
j; mayest thou come.

0 set thine heart
upon.
k a fearer of God
and turning away
from evil.

\ [Is] Job fearing ?
p without cause.
v that [is] to him.
w round about.
p bath spread [it
self] abroad.
a touch.
r that [is] to him.

0 all that [belongs]
to him.
X to

il* from with [the]
face of.

a at their sides.
/3 Sabeoa.

in their a hearts." Thus used Job to do P con
tinually.
6 Now, when it was the day that the Sons of
God came to 7 present themselves 8before Jeho
vah, then came € Satan also f among them.
7 And Jehovah* said unto Satan : " Whence
v comest thou 1 " and Satan answered Jehovah
and said : " From going to and fro in the earth,
and from walking up and down in it."
8 And Jehovah said unto Satan : " Hast thou
6 considered my servant Job ! Surely, there is
none like him in the earth, a man, pious * and
upright, K one that feareth God, and escheweth
evil."
9 And Satan answered Jehovah, and said:
" x Doth Job fear God v- for nought \
10 "Hast not Thou made-an-hedge about him,
and about his house, and about all v that he
hath, "" on every side 1 The work of his hands
Thou hast blessed, so that his substance Pis
increased in the land.
11 "But put forth now Thine hand, and <* smite
all T that he hath ; will he not blaspheme Thee
because of Thine anger % " 2
12 And Jehovah said unto Satan: "Behold, <Pall
that he hath is in thine hand; only, *upon
himself put not forth thine hand." So Satan
went forth ffrom the presence of Jehovah.
13 Now it was the day when his sons and his
daughters were eating and drinking wine in the
house of their brother, the first-born.
14 And there came a messenger unto Job, and
said : " The oxen were ploughing, and the she-
asses feeding a beside them ;
15 "When a host of ^Sabseans fell upon them,
1 See note in preceding page.
2 Or, to Thy face. See Appendix. — Editor, 1862.
* For the signification of this word see Commentary.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. I. 15—22 ; II. 1. 397
and took them ; and the young men they have
smitten with the edge of the sword, and I am
escaped, only I alone, to tell thee."
16 While ahe was yet speaking, £ another came, a this.
and said; " ?A mighty fire hath fallen from ^fire ofGod.
heaven, and burned up the sheep, and the young
men, and consumed them ; and I am escaped,
only I alone, to tell thee."
17 While 8he was yet speaking, f another came, s thi*- .
and said : " The Chaldseans f formed three bands, Z set.
and v rushed upon the camels, and took them, n spread them-
and the young men they have smitten with the p%es).
edge of the sword, and I am escaped, only I
alone, to tell thee."
18 While 6 he was yet speaking, K another came, o this.
, . , mi iiii K arL^ this.
• and said: " Ihy sons and thy daughters were
eating, and drinking wine in the house of their
brother, the first-born :
19 " And behold, a great wind came from beyond
the wilderness, and x smote the four corners of * touched.
the house, that it fell upon the young-people,
and they died ; and I am escaped, only I alone,
to tell thee."
20 Then Job arose, and rent his garment, and
/* shaved his head, and " fell down upon the ashore.
, , i • i v fell to earth.
ground, and *• worshipped. ^ bowed himself.
21 And he said: "Naked came I out from my
mother's womb,* and naked shall I return
thither. Jehovah gave, and Jehovah hath taken
away ; blessed be the name of Jehovah."
22 Notwithstanding all this, Job sinned not, nor
p imputed malice unto God. p gave.
CHAPTER II.
1 Now, when it was again the day, that the
Sons of God came to °" present themselves Tbe- **«?»¦« i. 6.
1 t near.
* i.e., probably the earth, which Job, as a human being,
regards as his mother.

398

TRANSLATION. CHAP. II. 1  10.

a in their midst.
(3 supra i. 6.
y mayest thou come.

rj set thy heart upon.

e supra i. 1, &c.
I he [is] still hold
ing fast.

ti [is] to the man.

6 behold him.

k from with [the]
face of.
X. boil, sore.

fi with it.
a Jonah iii. 6:
infra xlii. 6.
v in [the] midst of.
ir [Art] thou still
holding fast.
p thou art wont to

n- as [the] speaking
of one, &o.

fore Jehovah, then came Satan also a among
them P to present himself before Jehovah.
2 And Jehovah said unto Satan : " Whence
y comest thou ? And Satan answered Jehovah,
and said : " From going to and fro in the earth,
and from walking up and down in it."
3 And Jehovah said unto Satan, " Hast thou
8 considered my servant Job % Surely, there is
none like him in the earth, a man, 1 pious and
upright, e one that feareth God, and escheweth
evil; so Cthat he still holdeth fast his 'piety,
although thou movedst me against him, to ruin
him without a cause."
4 Then Satan answered Jehovah, and said:
" Limb for limb —
" Yea, all that i man hath
" Will he give for his life.*
5 " But put forth now Thine hand, and touch
but his bone and his flesh ; will he not blas
pheme Thee 2 because of Thine anger ? "
6 And Jehovah said unto Satan : " 6 Behold ! he
is in thine hand ; only, preserve his life."
7 So Satan went forth Kfrom the presence, of
Jehovah, and smote Job with grievous x sores
from the sole of his foot even unto his crown.
8 And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself
p- withal ; and he was a sitting " among the
ashes.
9 Then said his wife unto him : " "Dost thou
still hold fast thy 1 piety? Blaspheme God,
10 and die."f But he said unto her : " P Thou
speakest °" as one of the foolish women speaketh.

1 Or, integrity. See note, p. 395.— Editor, 1862.
2 Or, to Thy face. See note, p. 396.— Editor, 1862.
* If a man stretches out his arm, a less important part of
his body, to save his head, a more important one, he may well
be expected to offer up everything to preserve his life.
t i.e., put an end to thine existence.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. II. 10 — 13 ; III. 1 — 6. 399
<°What! shall we accept that which is good o> shall we indeed
P from God, and not accept 7 that which is evil ? " p from with. S°°
Notwithstanding all this, did not Job « err with J *£ ^ix L
his lips.
11 Now three of Job's friends heard of all this
evil that had come upon him, and they came,
every one from his own place, Eliphaz the
Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar
the Naamathite; and they agreed together to
come to 8 mourn with him, and to comfort him. * shake [their heads]
at mm.
12 And when they lifted up their eyes e afar off, , from afar.
and knew £ him not, then lifted they up their i recognised. ,
voice, and wept; and they rent every one his
garment, and * sprinkled dust upon their heads h infra xvi. is;
-, , Josh. vii. 6 : Lam.
toward heaven. ii. i0.
1 3 And they "' sat down with him on the ground ° Lam. ii. io.
. , J , . . ° , . d Gen. 1. 10.
seven days and seven nights, v none speaking n and [there was]

unto him a word ; for they saw that 6 his pain q th°ne

pain.

was very great.

CHAPTER III.
1 After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed
his day.
2 And Job spake and said :
3 Perish the day, * wherein I was born! kI should, was to,
' be born m it.
Or the night, in which one said : * \ she [is] bringing
* " She bringeth forth a p- man-child ! " • p f^n (male).
4 May that day be darkness ! e Jer- xx- 15-
God regard it not from above !
" Neither let light shine upon it ! " anu4 let not Beht
° L shine.
5 Pollute it darkness and the shadow of-death !
May there dwell on it a cloud !
Black-vapours of the day affright it !
6 As for that night  deep-darkness seize it !
Let it not rejoice amid the days of the year !
Let it not come into the number of the months !
* i.e., of my mother.

400

TRANSLATION.

CHAP. III. 7  18.

<i> cursers of day.
a infra xl. 25 (le
viathan).

b Jer. xx. 17, 18.
/3 my belly.
y and so hid ; or,
so that it should
hide.
c Jer. xx. 18.

d Gen. xxx. iii.

S [there] would have
been rest to me.

t are building.
? have.
ij are filling.
e Ps. Iviii. 8; Eccl.
vi. 3.
0 saw not.
k have ceased.
X [from causing]
trouble.
/ Ps. xxxi. 17.
p, of
v will rest.
¦k reposed.
p heard not.

7 Lo, that night — may it be cheerless !
May there come into it no sound-of-joy !
8 May a those that curse their day point at it, *
Those ready to arouse the a crocodile !
9 Darkened be the stars of its twilight !
Let it wait for the full light, and there be none !
Yea, let it not behold even the eyelids of ^Aedawn.
10 b Because it shut not up the doors of P the belly
I lay in,
7 So as to hide misery from mine eyes.
11 c Why should I not have died from the womb?
When I came forth from the belly, then ought
I to have expired.
12 Wherefore did d knees f meet me?
Or why breasts, that I should suck ?
1 3 For now had I lain down, and were quiet ;
I had slept — then 8 rest would have been mine.
14 I had slept with kings and counsellors of dearth,
Which * built desolations for themselves ; J
15 Or with princes, that C had gold,
Which v filled their houses with silver.
16 Or, as an hidden 'untimely-birth, why had I not
been ?
As infants, which 0 never saw light.
17 There, § the 'turbulent K cease ^from ¦''troub
ling,
And there, the wearied out p in strength "find rest.
18 Together with them, the prisoners *¦ repose;
They phear not the task-master's voice.
1 Or, wicked.— Editor, 1862.
* i.e., may those who wish to curse their day (i.e., their
birthday, or their fate), even those, who are about to become the
prey of a crocodile, call out in their agony, Accursed be my
day like tbat of Job !
¦f The knees of the midwife.
J Or, desolate-places for themselves, i.e., mausoleums, pyra
mids, &c, magnificent buildings, destined solely to harbour their
remains, and therefore well deserving to be called desolate.
§ He means, of course, in the grave.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. III. 1 9 — 26 ; IV. 1  4.

401

19 The small and the great a are there ;
And the servant is free from his lord.
20 Why P is light given to the wretched,
And life, to 7 those bitter in spirit ?
21 (Which 8 long for death, but f it cometh not,ffl
And would dig for it more than for b hid-
treasures ;
22 Which f would rejoice, even to exultation,
Would be overjoyed, if they could find the
grave)."
23 Why to the man, whose way is hidden ; d *
i Whom God hath hedged round about ? e -j-
24 Seeing that before my food /my groaning
cometh,
And my roarings s are poured out like water/
25 For 6 that which I greatly feared, is come upon
me,
And what I dreaded, K is come unto me.
26 I was not at ease, neither was I quiet,
Neither had I rest ; yet trouble came.*

a he [is] there.

/3 should [one] give
light.
y [the] bitter of
spirit (soul).
d [are] waiting.
e it is not.
a Rev. ix. 6.
b Prov. ii. 4.
Z who [would be]
rejoicing.
c infra vii. 15 ; xiv.
13 ; xvii. 14.
d infra xiii. 24 ; Isa.
xl. 27.
m yea, God hath
hedged round
about him.
e infra xix. 8 ; Lam.
hi. 7, 9; Hos.ii.6.
/ Ps. eii. 4.
g Ps. xxii. 1, 14.
the water.
9 [the] fear I feared ;
or, for I feared a
fear, and it is come
to me.
k cometh.
h Prov. xxviii. 14.

CHAPTER IV.

answered and

thee ? %

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite
said:
2 Hath one ever tried a word x with
Wouldest thou p lose patience ?
Yet who can restrain his words ?
3 Behold ! thou didst correct many,
And feeble hands thou " strengthenedst.*
4 Thy words ""did upraise the stumbling,
And p sinking knees thou <* madest strong.* §
* i.e., on whom God bestows no favour.
t i.e., whose movements He impedes.
t i.e., Has one ever essayed to argue with, or contradict,
thee, and if one were to do so, wouldest thou be impatient ?
Comp infra xxix. 9, 10.
§ i.e., those wavering in their faith, and ready almost to
despair, thou usedst to exhort and console. D D

X to thee.
H be weary.
v usedst to strength
en.
i Isa. xxxv. 3 ; Heb.
xii. 12.
tt used to upraise,
caused to arise,
raised up, esta
blished.
p bowing, bending.
<r usedst to make
strong.

402

TRANSLATION. CHAP. IV. 5  14.

z supra iii. 25.
o> toucheth unto.

a Prov. iii. 26 ; xiv.
26.
|8 thy hope, even
[the] integrity of
thy ways.
y remember now.
S who [is] he [being]
innocent, [that]
perished ?
b Ps. xxxvii. 25 >
Eccles. vii. 15 »
viii. 14.
£ according to what.
c Prov. xxii. 8 ; Hos,
x. 12, 13.
Z. nostril.

d Ps. Iviii. 6.
1 [is] perishing.
0 sons of stout-lion
; (Bochart, lioness).
k was stolen.
X received.
/x a trifle.

e infra xxxiii. 15.
v met, befell.
f Ps. lv. 5.
7r and it made ...
to fear.

5 But now * it is come unto thyself," and thou
faintest !
It <•> reacheth unto thee, and thou art con
founded !
6 Ought not thy fear of God to be thy " con-
fidence,-f
P And the integrity of thy ways, thy hope ?
7 7 Bethink thee now : 8 who is he that hath
perished being innocent ?
Or where are the upright, which have been cut
off?4
8 e As far as I have seen, the ploughers of iniquity,
And sowers of evil, reap it."
9 By the breath of God they perish,
And by the blast of His £ nostrils they are con
sumed.
10 The roaring of the lion, J and the voice of the
fierce-lion are silenced,
And the teeth of the young-lions are broken/
1 1 The strong-lion v perisheth for lack of prey,
And the 6 stout-lion's whelps are scattered.
12 Now §the 'matter K was stealthily-disclosed
unto me,
And mine ear x caught p a little thereof.
13 Amid thoughts, from visions of the night,
When deep-sleep falleth upon men,6
14 Fear v came upon me, and trembling/
"¦ Which made the multitude of my bones to
quake.
1 Or, a matter, or thing. — Editor, 1862.
* It, i.e., evil.
t If thou art really a fearer of God, ought not this very
circumstance to make thee confident that thy sufferings cannot
last long ?
J The animals introduced in this and the foUowing verse
represent powerful and wicked tyrants and their offspring.
Comp. Ps. x. 9 ; xxii. 12, 13, 16, 21, &c.
§ The matter, i.e., the justice of the dispensations of
Providence.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. IV. 15— 22 ; V. 1, 2. 403
15 Then a Spirit a passed before me— a U8ed to p*88-
It P made the hair of my flesh to bristle up ; p used to make, &c.
16 It 7 stood, but I could not recognise 8 the form y used to stand.
i r S its appearance.
1 7 A shape was before mine eyes ;
There was silence — then e I heard a voice, ; i used to hear.
saying :
18 " Can frail-man be more just than God ?
" Man be more pure than his Maker ?
19 "Behold! in His C a ministers He n putteth no z servants.
a Ps. civ. 4.
trUSt, ri trusteth not.
"And eto His angels He imputeth faultiness. eon  Heputteth.
20 " * How much more to the «¦ dwellers in x tene- £ house? of clay.
ments of clay, " h ^^f 12; 2
" Whose foundation is in the dust.
" p They are crushed before the moth, u they crush them.
21 " f From morning to evening they are broken-
in-pieces " ; ; ps. xc. 3, 5, 6 ; isa.
" "Without heeding it* they continually are ^^Z^j
perishing. aettiaS [ms heart] .
. .. 7 • 7 ¦ • 1 ^ l8a- XlU- 25 = Jer'
22 " Hath not their superiority, J which is in them, xii. n.
, , , , ' e Ps. xlix. 20.
been removed {
" They are ever dying, "¦ but without wisdom f * ^ut not with wis"
to perceive it." f infra xxxvi. 12.
CHAPTER V.
1 Call now ! p will there be any, that will answer p is [there] one an-
. i y swering thee ?
And to whom among the holy canst thou
turn? §
2 For his own wrath will kill the fool,
And his own envy slay the silly one. 9 g Ps. xxxvii. l, 2, 7,
* 8; Prov. i. 32;
xxiii. 17 ; xxiv. 1,
19.
* See Comment.
f That is, from their coming into existence, till they leave it.
\ i.e., their intellect which renders them superior to all other
living beings.
§ i.e., to whom amongst holy and good men canst thou, after
uttering these curses of thine, turn for svmpathy ?
D D 2

404

TRANSLATION. CHAP. V. 3 — 13.

if/ pointed out, pro
nounced.

a Ps. cix. 9, 10, 12 ;
cxxvii. 4, 5.
w and they shall
crush themselves.
b Prov. xxii. 22 ;
Amos v. 15.
P and none deliver
ing.
y who ; or whose
harvest he shall
eat.
c infra xxxi. 40.
S or, trap.
£ their.

Z sons of afire-brand.
t) they make, high to
d infra xi. 7 — 9 ; xv.
8, 9, 12 ; xxii. 11,
12, &c. ; Prov xii.
11 ; xxviii. 19.
9 Or, But as for me
(lit., But I), I
would seek.
e infra, viii. 5.
k set, dispose.
X doing.
p, and no searching.
v till no number.
f infra ix. 10.
tt [is] giving.
p sending.
a to set up.
g 1 Sam. ii> 8 ; Ps.
cvii. 41 ; cxiii. 7,8.
r and [the] mourn
ing.

X thoughts.
$ do not do anything.
m taking.
h Jer. viii. 9.
wtii is hastened, i.e.,
is made hasty, pre
cipitate.

3 I — when I have seen the foolish * taking-root,
Have forthwith f declared the fate of his dwelling,
(saying)
4 " Far shall his " children be from safety ;
"<°And they shall be crushed in the sgate,
P without any to deliver.
5 7 He shall eat his harvest, famishing,
"'Seeing he must take it even from among
thorns "•' ;
"And 8 a snare shall swallow up ehis substance."
6 Surely, it is not from the dust, that evil cometh
forth,
Nor doth misery spring up from the ground,
7 For man is born to labour ;
But, like £ sparks of fire, n they * soar aloft, f
8 6 But I would e seek unto God,
Yea, unto God would I K direct my speech ;
9 x Which doeth great-things, /* and unsearchable;
Marvellous-things, " without number /:
10 (Which "" giveth rain upon the face of the earth,
And P sendeth water upon the face of the fields:)
11 "" So that He can setup the lowly on high* —
T And those that mourn are exalted to safety.
12 <pHe frustrateth the x plots of the crafty,
That their hands f effect nothing substantial.
13 "He taketh the * wise in their craftiness,
So that the counsel of the 2 perverse ™ proveth
hasty.
1 Or, And he will have to take it even from among thorns, i.e.,
famishing, when be begins to eat his harvest — in consequence of the badness
of bis crops the year before ; he will speedily be famished, in consequence of
the great scantiness of his new harvest. See Comm. and Append. Editor,
1862. 2 Or, deceitful, cunning, treacherous. See Appendix. Editor, 1862.
* i.e., wicked. Comp. Ps. xiv. 1.
+ i.e., they indulge in metaphysical speculations, which are
altogether beyond them ; whereas if they would confine themselves
to that for which they were ordained, namely, to the tillage and
culture of their land, evil and misery would not come upon them.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. V. 14 — 25. 405
14 <° In the day-time, they # grapple with darkness, ™ ^ayjj ht u on
And 7 grope at noon-day, as in the night." or (Ben-Zev) feel
15 8 And so He saveth the needy h from the sword — way, L the dark.
even from their mouth % ltfr'axii.25; Dent.
And from the hand of the strong. ^vo 29 ; Isa-
16 So the feeble hath hope, s and He saved.
...... I,,, ,, rf JPs- lxxii. 4, 12 j
And iniquity € shutteth her mouth. a isa. xii. 17.
17 Behold! happy is the man, fwhom God cor- "^J™'. Lam^u.
recteth; i6 ; ?i'« iT-- , « !
' . Rev. 1. 16 ; u. 16 ;
I7«e chastening of tfAe Almighty therefore, reject xix- 15-
not : vide note on ver. 20.
18 For He maketh sore, yet bindeth up ; y G0d°corrects him.
He smiteth, but His hands v make whole/6 eProv.ffi.ii,i2&c.
' ee Deut. xxxu. 39 ;
19 In 'six troubles, He will deliver thee ; Hos. vi. 1.
v\ heal.
Yea in 9 seven, shall 6 no evil touch thee. /Prov. vi. 16.
20 In famine, He K shall redeem thee from death; enotT-1 '
And in war, x fr0m the power of the sword. l^^T^t
21 * When the scourge of the tongue* cometh, thou x from hands of.
V. U1. \.-A I APs.lii.2; Mi. 4;
shalt be hid ; -|- bdv. 3, 7, 8. Jer.
And when destruction, ' thou shalt not be afraid. { p^0T.'iii. 25.
22 At destruction p and famine thou shalt laugh ; /* and at famine.
And of the v wild-beasts of the earth shalt thou v wild-beast of.
not be afraid.
23 For even with the * stones of the field will be thy i\ Sam. u. 9; Ps.
rnvpnant • t xei' 12 ; cxxi' 3 '•
covenant , t, Pr0T ffi_ 23> 26.
And the *¦ wild-beasts of the field p shall be at w wiid-beast of.
.,1,1; p hath been made to
peace « With thee. be at peace.
24 And thou shalt know,§ that thy tent is in peace ; ^ ™te on
And when thou shalt visit thy dwelling, T thou <rto)towaras,orJ&r,
shalt miss nothing. zisa.xi.6— 9;Ezek.
25 And thou shalt know, § that thy seed shall be rtSnThoushaitnot
great,"8

miss.
m Gen. xiii. 16 ; xv.
5, &c.

* Ver. 21. lit.,
In the scourge of the tongue, thou shalt be hid ;
Neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction, when it icometh.
t i-e., when slander is rife, it shaU not affect thee.
X i-e., no stone shaU ever trip thee up.
§ i.e., feel confident.

406

TRANSLATION. CHAP. V. 26, 27 ; VI. 1 — 9.

a herb.
z Gen. xxv. 8 ;
1 Chron. xxix. 28.
P as [the] going up
of a sheaf.
y and [do] thou
know [it] for thy
self.

S they could, would,
lift into, &c.

f it would be heavier.
a Prov. xxvii. 3.

Z [are] with me.
I Ps. xxxviii. 2.
)j [is] drinking.

cMat. v. 13; Col.
iv. 6.
9 in [the] spittle of
[the] yolk [of an
egg]-
d infra ver. 25.
k as [the] loath
someness of my
food.
e Ps. cii. 4.
X might come.
/i Or, cut me off.

And thine offspring, as the " herbs of the earth.
26 Thou shalt come in ' ripe-old-age to the grave,
P As the sheaf is taken up in its season.
27 Lo this, we have searched it, so it is;
Hear it, 7 and mark it, for thyself.
CHAPTER VL
1 Then answered Job, and said :
2 Oh that my grief could be thoroughly weighed,
And my calamity 8 be laid altogether in the
balances !
3 Surely now, e either were heavier than the " sand
of the seas ;
Therefore have they swallowed up my words.*
4 For the arrows of the Almighty £ stick fast in
me,*
Whose venom my spirit v drinketh in ;
The terrors of God array-themselves against me.
5 Doth the wild-ass bray, over his grass ?
Or loweth the ox, over his fodder ?
6 Can that, which is tasteless, be eaten without
salt?"
Is there any savour 6 in the white of an egg ? ~\
No ! my soul doth refuse to touch them ;
* They are K as my e loathsome food. J
Oh that my request x might be fulfilled !
And that God would grant my hope !
Yea, that God were willing, and would crush me!
That He would let loose His hand, and p make
an end of me !

* i.e., they have rendered my speech confused and inarticu
late ; they prevent me from employing such choice and elegant
language as you do.
-j- He here compares his friend's arguments to tasteless and
insipid food.
f i.e., thy arguments are as loathsome to me as food now is in
consequence of my disease.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. VI. 10 — 19. 407
10 Then were this still my consolation — though
I were to burn with pain, and He not
spare —
That I have not denied the words of the Holy-
One21.* a supra iv. 7, 18 ; v.
17
11 But what is my strength, that I should hope ?
Or what would be mine end, if I should pro
long my life ?
12 7s my strength the strength of stones ?
Is my flesh "brass? « brazen.
13 Hath, then, because mine help is not in me,
Mine P understanding also been driven out from P common sense,
A , ' practical wisdom,
me '. J discretion, judg-
14 7 To him, that is pining-away, 8 should kindness r J^ the [one]pining
be shewed from his friend ; s f™1' x. u ,. ¦,
S [there should be]
Or else — he may forsake the fear of the Al- kindness.
mignty .+ a supra iv. 6; infra
15 My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a tor- XT- 4-
rent,4 b Gen. xlix. 4.
As the stream of torrents, that pass away ;
16 Which grow turbid by reason of the ice,
By reason of the snow, that hideth itself e within e uPon them-
them.
17 ( What time they wax warm, they i vanish ; K t^L^^
6 When they grow hot, they K are consumed from warm-
?) are destroyed.
their place. 9 on its (i.e., each of
18 Yea, they turn from the paths of their K are™xtm^hed? '
way;
They ascend in a shapeless-mass, and perish.
19 The caravans of Tema looked,
The wayfaring-companies of Sheba hoped, for
them.
* i.e., that I have not disregarded His commandments. Comp.
infra xxiii. 11, 12.
f i.e., because I am become helpless, am I also become a fool ?
See Ch. v. 2, where Eliphaz called him a fool.
% i.e., a sufferer, by being galled and chafed, may be driven to
shake off all reverence for God.

408 TRANSLATION. CHAP. VI. 20  30.
a be (i.e., every one 20 They were ashamed that " they had trusted ;
of them) had trusted. J . « , .
p they eame unto it. P They came thither, and 7 were confounded :
Lurd/nowyehave 21 8 Such now surely are ye become;
become it. Ye see horror, and therefore are afraid. *
22 Did I indeed say, " Give to me " ?
Or " Of your wealth bribe for me " ?
23 Or, " Deliver me from an adversary's hand " ?
e violent-men, op- Or, " From the hand of e tyrants f redeem me"?
pressors.
Z may ye redeem me. 24 Instruct me, and 1 will hold my peace;
ti what i have erred Only, make me to understand v wherein I have

[in]

erred.

9 words of rectitude. 25 How forcible are bright words !
k what can one at But, K what arguments can one wring out of
all argue out of n
you ? you ?
x Ht., Do you think 26 x Do ye think to use mere words for arguments" ?
a infra si 2 ¦'"Si 3 • p Then but as wind must be the words of the
xvfl^vSl: despairing.!
xix. 3 ; xxi. 2 ; 27 As well might ye cast yourselves on the b fatherless!
ii then [win be] for + Or make a banquet " on your friend ! §
wind! 28 Now therefore be pleased, turn unto me ;
1 $f^L2ii &f ' Then will it be * evident unto you if I lie.
c»/raxix.22i xxxi. 29 Return, I pray you; ""let there be no wrong ;
31 ; Ps. xxvu. 2. . . ° .
v before your face. Yea, return again ; my righteousness is still in
7r let not be. . , . .
It. ||
30 Is there iniquity in my tongue ?
9 palate. Cannot my f> taste discern perverse-things ? ^[
* i.e., I expected to meet with consolation and sympathy at
your hands, but I have received nothing but reproaches and
invectives ; you have a horrifying spectacle before you, and
therefore are afraid to own my innocence.
•J- i.e., if we are only here to see which has the greater com
mand of language, then of course I, who am reduced to despair,
cannot hope to vie with you.
X i.e., treat him with the greatest cruelty. Comp. Ps. xxvii. 2.
§ i.e., if you are capable of taking advantage of the situation
of an unfortunate friend, then there is no cruel act which you
may not commit.
|| i.e., in my tongue, mentioned in the next verse. See Com
mentary. If i.e., can I no longer distinguish between right and wrong ?

TRANSLATION. CHAP. VII. 1 — 12. 409
CHAPTER VII.
1 Is there not an appointed time for frail-man
upon earth?
Truly, as the days of an hireling are his days.
2 As a slave panteth-for the shade, . . . „
*¦ a infra xiv. 6.
And as an a hireling <° longeth for his wages ; <» waiteth.
3 So have I been P allotted months of vanity, /? made to inherit for
And nights of trouble 7 have been prepared for r they have pre-
me.
4 When I lie down, 8 I say : s then i say.
When shall I arise 1 *But the night is length- £ but one measured
° ° out [the] evening.
ened out,
And I am £ filled- with tossings until the morning- Z glutted with.
twilight." ° Pe- vi- 6-
5 My flesh hath put on the worm,4 and clod of dust; l ^a- ^- ns Acts
My skin is broken, and become loathsome.0 c infra xix. 20 s xxx.
6 My days * were swifter than a weaver's-shuttle/ a infra ix. 25, 26.
But now they waste away without hope.6 « Ps- cii- 3> n-
7 O remember f that my life is but a breath ;' finfra Ter" 16"
v Never again shall mine eye see good. » ^nTo £J£
8 <? No more shall *Ae eye of him that seeth me 9 W*} ey0. of [the
J onej seeing me
behold me ; shall not see me.
Thine own eyes * shall look for me, but I shall « [shall be] on me.
not be.
9 x A cloud, when it hath wasted, is gone for ever; x bath a cloud
ii 7 • 1 n wasted, then it is
So p he that goeth down to the pit shall not come gone.
„ fi [one] going down.
UP- g infra xiv. 10—12.
10 He » shall no more return unto his house, v f^.110* returu
And his place "" shall discern him no more.* "¦ f^ n°t discern
. P him again.
1 1 Therefore, I too will not refrain my mouth ; h infra viii. is.
I will speak, in the anguish of my spirit ;
I will complain, in the bitterness of my soul.* i infra x. i.
12 Am I a sea, or a sea-monster,
That Thou shouldest set P a dam * about me ? % p a gaard-
k M/raxiii.27;xxxiii.
* i.e., my former days of happiness. H s xxxviii. 11 ;
t Job here addresses himself to God. T. 2£ ' '
X For the explanation of this extraordinary comparison see
Commentary.

410 translation, chap. vii. 13 — 21; viii. 1, 2.
13 When I say : My bed may comfort me,
a carry away. My couch may a remove my grief;
14 Then Thou scarest me with dreams,
And frightest me through visions ;
1 5 So that my soul would rather choose strangling, —
a infra ix. 21 ; x. i; " Even death, P by mine own hands.
(3frommyownbones 16 {No! This thought, I loathe it, not for ever shall
(limbs). I I jye .
y cease (desist) from 7 Avaunt ! * for a breath only are my days.4)
b m^'ra ver. 7 ; Ps. 17 What is frail-man, that Thou shouldest exalt
xxxix. 4, 5. kim ?
And that Thou shouldest set Thine heart upon
c Ps.viii.4,5; cxliv.3. . him' ?
$ at (of) mornings. 18 That Thou shouldest visit him 8 every morning?*
£ at moments. ' * Every moment prove him ?
Z not like anything. 19 £ Not one instant wilt Thou look away from me,'
e|/mCXm6; Ps. Nor let me alone' tiU vl swallow down my
xxxix. 13. spittle.
ti my swallowmg. x
T . , 20 K If I have sinned, what can I do unto Thee ? t
k Have I sinned. '
[But, if what I do can affect Thee, then]
O Thou Preserver of man ! why didst Thou
xfor a clashing to make me xso that I should clash with
Thee,
And become thereby a burden to myself?
21 And why shouldest Thou not rather forgive my
transgression,
And cause mine iniquity to pass away ?
For presently I shall lie down /* in the dust ;
v and Thou mayest ' And, though Thou mayest diligently seek me,
 but I [am] J shaft not oef
not.
/Ps. xxxvii. 10. CHAPTER VIII.
1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said :
v till when. 2 * How long wilt thou speak p such things,
9 And Rewords of thy mouth be a violent wind?
* Addressed to the idea of suicide, which infests him.
f i.e., how can any action of mine affect Thee ?

Thee.

p at, upon.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. VIII. 3  15. 411
3 Can God pervert justice ?
Or can the Almighty pervert right? " a infra xxxiv. 10, 12 ;
4 If thy sons sinned against Him,
He "despatched them, P because of their trans- a ^r^Th^f
gression.0" aa isa. lxiv. 7.
5 But thou, if thou wilt diligently seek unto God,
And, to the Almighty wilt make supplication ;
6 If thou art pure and upright ;
Surely, He will presently awake for thee,4 b Pa- vii- 6 > xKv- 23-
And make prosperous 7 thy righteous habitation; r [the] dwelling of
r r . thy righteousness.
7 So that even thy beginning 8 will seem but small, $ will be [compara-
Seeing thine end will be so exceeding great.
8 For inquire, now, of the former generation,0 c infra xii. 7, 8.
And prepare thyself to the searching of their
fathers.
9 (For we are but of yesterday,* and know nothing; £ and do not know.
For our days are a shadow upon the earth.) d d supra vii. 7, 16;
J c / 1 Chron. xxix. 15;
10 Will not they instruct thee, tell thee, Ps.xxxix.5;cxiiv.4.
And from their heart bring forth words saying,
First Simile.
11 " Can the rush £ shoot up, without mire ? ? become high, lofty
" Can the flag, v grow up, without water ? n become great.
12 " It is still in its greenness, — it is not cut
down,
" Yet, before all grass it « withereth/ \ \™™% t7'
Application of this Simile by the men of
the former generation themselves.
13 "So are the paths of all, K that forget God; K forgetters-of God.
" Yea, the hope of the hypocrite shall perish ;
14 » x Whom his confidence will cut off, - \ Or, whose confi-
" Seeing that his * trust is as the p spider's onince e cu*
wejj n a spider's house.
15 " He may lean upon his house, but it shall
not stand ;
* i.e., that on which he trusts.

412

TRANSLATION. CHAP. VIII. 16 — 22; IX. 1.

a Prov. xii. 7 ; xiv.
11.

16
a Jer. xvii. 8.
a sucker, tender-
branch.
p goeth forth.
b Gen. xlix. 22, Ps. 17
i. 3 ; Ezek. xvii. 5.
y house of stones.

S destroy.
£ I saw thee not.

18

c supra vii. 10 ; infra
xx.9.
Z joy of his way itf
(journey).
r) dust, earth.
9 they would spring-
, UP- . „
d infra xiv. 7 — 9.

e Ps. cxxvi. 2.
k shout-of-joy.
X thy haters.

" He may take fast hold of it, but it shall
not endure. "
Second Simile.
" But * He is full-of-sap in face even of the
sun,z
"And his "branches P shoot forth over his
garden ;
" For his roots are entwined about a spring4;
" Therefore, he overlooketh even a 7 house of
stone. ¦)¦
" If one should s uproot him from his place,
" So that it should deny him, saying, ' e Never
did I see thee ° ; '
" Lo ! this were to him a £ joyful journey,
" Seeing from another v soil 6 he would
spring up a.
Application of the second Simile by the
Speaker.

20 Behold then ! God will not reject the pious, *
Neither will He take hold of the hand of the
wicked.
21 Even yet will He fill thy mouth with laughter/
And thy lips with K shouts-of-joy.
22 x They that hate thee shall put on shame,
And the tent of the wicked — it is not.

CHAPTER IX.
1 Then Job answered, and said :
1 See note p. 395.
* i.e., the good man under the figure of a tree. Comp. infra
xv. 30, 32, 33, xviii. 16 ; Ps. i. 3, Iii. 8, xcii. 12 ; Jer. xvii.
8, &c.
f i.e., he does not require the shade of other trees to shelter
him from the beat of the sun ; nay, in spite of this, he grows to
such a height as to overtop even a stately house of stone.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. IX. 2 — 13. 413
2 Of a truth, I know that it is so ; *
But how can frail-man be just with God?
3 If he should desire to contend with HIM,
HE woy^d not answer him « one of a thousand a one-thing.
questions.
4 P Wise in heart, and 7 mighty in strength ° ! P wise of heart.
i tt- ii y mighty of strength.
Who hath 8 spoken fiercely unto Him, and been a infra xii. 13 -,
, j n xxxvi. 5.
at peace ? $ made hard [his
5 Which remove th mountains, * ere they are b Lev^xxiv 11 14
aware ; 16 ; 2 Kinss XTm-
• TT- 35 ! XiX> 10> 22>
£ Yea, c overturneth them in His anger. 27, 28, 35.
6 Which maketh the earth to tremble from her ^which^mountains)
place", He overturned.
r ' c infra xxvm. 9.
So that the pillars " thereof are shaken. dPs.xviii.7j lxx™.
r 18 ; xcvu. 4, 5, &c.
7 Which v commandeth the sun, and he shineth e isam. ii. 8; Ps.
, lxxv.3; infraxxvi.
not ; -f n.
And o upon the stars doth / set His seal. % 9 s^thtbout [the]
8 K He spreadeth out the heavens ', alone, „ ?tars- ... on
r . f mfra xxxviii. 31 ;
And x treadeth *upon the p high-waves of the xxiv. 16 ; xxxvh.7.
k spreading.
Sea. g Isa. xl. 22.
9 "He maketh Arcturus, Orion, and the Pleiades,4 AAmoslv.'iS; Mic.
And the hidden-chambers of the south : i ?•
fi heights.
10 "¦ He doeth great- things, p and unsearchable, v. making.
Yea, wonderful-things, ""without number.* 32 ; Amos v. 8. '
11 Lo ! He goeth by me, and I see Him not ; p tS'searching.
He passeth also, but I do not perceive Him. ' ? tm no n™beF- .
r ' r ]c supra v. 9 ; infra
12 Behold! He snatcheth away; who shall xxxvii. 5.
J l mfra xxiii. 8, 9.
r prevent Him ? m m infra xi. 10 ; xxiii.
Who shall say unto Him : " What doest Thou ? " T oau'Se Him to tum
13 God will not «p withdraw His anger ; § ^tt'to turn back.
* Were I but allowed the opportunity of pleading my cause
before God, I could speedily satisfy Him of my purity and
uprightness, (comp. infra xiii. 18 ; xxiii. 10), and then I know
that, as thou sayest, I should be restored to my former prosperity
— but, alas, this opportunity will never be granted to me. See
supra viii. 6, infra vers. 28, 29, 32 ; xiii. 19, &c. Editor, 1862.
f Alluding to the eclipses of the sun.
J i.e., when they are hidden behind clouds.
§ i.e., when He is bent upon punishing.

414 TRANSLATION. CHAP. IX. 14 — 24.
m helpers of pride 0> Proud helpers * sink beneath Him.
a islxxxui. 14 How much less shall I address Him,
Shall I choose out my words to reason with Him !
15 I, who, though I am just, must not P proclaim it;
bmpTarm. 5. But must 4 make supplication to my Judge, f
TandHe had an- 16 If I had 7 prayed, 8and He had granted my
swered (by grantr request,
ing my prayer), ^ .
had heard, me. Yet could I not believe that He had given-ear-
unto my voice ; J
c infra xxvii. 20, 21. 17 ffe, who is crushing me with a tempest, °
And multiplieth my wounds without cause.
e to make to return. 18 He will not suffer me Eto draw my breath,
Z bitternesses. But filleth me with C bitterness.
v if with respect to 19 v If I appeal to strength — behold ! He is mighty ;
9 or^te, summon, And, if to justice — who will 6 appoint me a time
m'e- to plead ?
20 Should I say : "lam just" — mine own mouth
would condemn me.
« then it would, &c 0r> " 1 am pious1 "— - that would prove me
perverse.
21 Though I am pious,1 I myself must not know it;
dsupravn.15; infra Therefore, I do loathe my life. *
22 It is all one, therefore did I say ;
eEzek. xxi. 3. <*jje consumeth alike the pious,1 and the wicked.
f infra xxi. 13. 23 If the scourge slay the wicked suddenly/
g supra vi. 9, 14 ; He may mock at the trial ' of the innocent. §
24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked ;
A covereth. He x veileth the face of her judges ;
1 Or, pure, upright, blameless. See note p. 395. Editor, 1862.
* i.e., the proud confederates of him, whom God will punish.
•f- i.e., who can only supplicate my Judge, instead of being
allowed to plead my cause before Him.
X i.e., my punishment having been inflicted without cause, I
should not, if it were to cease, attribute its removal so much to
my prayers, as rather to some unaccountable change of mind
on the part of Him, who sent it.
§ Bildad having compared the wicked man to a reed which
suddenly dries up, Job replies that it is better to die at once
than to suffer as he has done.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. IX. 25 — 35 ; X. 1, 2.

415

If not, who °> then is he, that doeth so ?
25 Whereas my days * were swifter than a runner °;
They fled, as though they P had seen no good.
26 They have passed by, 7 like f Aveh's ships ;
Like an eagle, that pounceth on his 8 prey.4
27 If e I say : " I will forget my grief,
" Lay aside mine anger, and «e cheer up ; "
28 Still, I dread all my pangs,
For I know that Thou wilt not hold me
innocent.
29 I know that I shall be accounted guilty ;
Why then should I labour in vain ?
30 If even I had £ washed in snow-water,
And had cleansed mine hands with lye ht ;
31 v Still wouldest Thou plunge me in the ditch,
So that my garments would e make me an
abhorrence.
32 For He is not a man like myself, that I should
say to Him :
" Let us enter together into judgment." "
33 There is no umpire between us,
Who should lay his hand upon K us both.
34 Let Him remove His rod x from off me,
And let not His terror affright me f
35 Then will I speak-out, and not fear Him ;
For am I not di upright with myself? %

a now, pray.
a supra vii. 6.
P had not seen good.
y with.
$ food.
b infra xxxix. 29.
t my saying [is],
i
ee or, take patience,
forbear — sich ge-
dulden (Ben-Zev).

Z washed myself.
bb Jer. ii. 22.
i/ then.
6 make me abhorred.

clsa.i. 18; xliii. 26-
k us two.
X from upon me.
d infra xiii. 21 j
xxxiii. 7.
dd Ps. lxxviii. 37.

CHAPTER X.
1 My soul p doth loathe my life ;e
I will unburden my grief, which is upon me ;
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul/
2 I will say unto God : Condemn me not !
Make me to know, wherefore Thou contendest
with me ! 9

H bath been disgusted
with, abborreth.
e supra vii. 15 ; ix.
21.
f supra vii. 11.

g supra vi. 24 ; infra
xiii. 23.

* i.e., My former happy days.
f The name of a place, perhaps Joppa. See Commentary.
X i.e., am I not conscious of my uprightness?

416

TRANSLATION. CHAP. X. 3  12.

a good.

p labour.
a infra xxxiv. 19 ;
xxxvii. 7.
aa Numb.vi. 25 j Ps.
xxxi. 16, &c.

y as [the] seeing of
frail-man.
b 1 Sam. xvi. 7 ; Isa.
lv. 8, 9.

8 before Thy know
ledge (Thine Om
niscience)
t none delivering.

Z made.

ij now.
9 make.
c Isa. xlv. 9; lxiv. 8;
Jer. xviii. 6.
d infra xxx. 23 ;
Gen. iii. 19 ; Ps.
ciii.13, 14; Eccles.
xii. 7.
k the milk.
\ the cheese.
e Ps. cxxxix. 14 — 16.
p hast Thou done
with me.

3 Is it a seemly for Thee, that Thou shouldest
oppress,
That thou shouldest reject the P work of Thine
hands a*
""When Thou hast shone upon the counsel of the
wicked ?
4 Hast Thou eyes of flesh ?
7 As frail-man seeth, seest Thou ? 6
5 Are Thy days as the days of frail-man ?
Thy years, as the days of the years of man ?
6 purely, Thou demandest mine iniquity,
And requirest my sin.f
7 Yet is it 8 within Thy Knowledge, that I shall
not do-wickedly ;
But, from Thine hand, there is € no deliver-
ance.J
8 Thine own hands fashioned me, and £ moulded
me
Altogether round about; and now Thou hast
destroyed me !
9 Remember, n I beseech thee, that Thou didst
6 mould me as the clay,"
And that to dust Thou wilt cause me to
return! "*§
10 Didst Thou not pour me out like K milk,
And curdle me like x cheese ?
11 With skin and flesh Thou didst clothe me,
With bones and sinews fence me in."
12 Life — yea, favour p didst Thou grant me,

1 Or, that Thou demandest. Editor, 1862.

* i.e., a being, made by Thee, as innocent as I am.
•j- Thou temptest, provokest, me to sin, for sufferings such
as mine might well make even the best of men rebel.
X What need hath an Omniscient Being like Thee to put me
to the test ? yet no consideration can induce Thee to free me
from my affliction !
§ i.e., remember that, made of such frail materials, I must
soon die ; hasten, therefore, to take pity on me.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. X. 13 — 19. 417
And Thy « care preserved' my spirit. * a ?Tf si$ht> 8Ufer'
J c J r mtendence.
13 Yet, these things wast Thou hiding in Thine a infra xxiii. i4;
, Deut. xxxii. 34,
heart ; " j 35, &c.
I know that this was P in Thy mind. ^ t^Thou' would,
14 Had I sinned, 7 Thou wouldest have "marked me, ?8'> &c:.. „„
. a mfra xm. 27 ; xiv,
And from my iniquity wouldest not 8 have 16, 17.
, 8 have held, pro-
acquitted me ; nounced, me in,
15 Had I done wickedly, woe would have been j ^,c™ k. 2, 28;
unto me ; Ps- cxxx; ¦ ? • . ,
' c supra ix. 21 ; infra
And now, though I have been just," I cannot lift xxiii- n. 12-
d infra xi. 15 ; xxii.
up my head." 26 ; Gen. iv. 5, 6 ;
I am full of disgrace: look then on mine e2Sam™vi.i2; Ps,
affliction.6 xx;a8! L,u°-iii'
16 And is it fAew so ¦''glorious, that, as a 'fierce- f supra ver. 3.
i i ti ^ Lam. m. 10; Hos.
lion, Thou shouldest hunt me, xiii. 7, 8.
* And at the same time shew Thyself l mysterious e and shouldest re,
towards mp?+ turn [and] shew
XOWdraS me i + thyself marvellous
17 Thou renewest Thy § witnesses against me,4 (seeComm.).
. .... % supra ix. 11 ; in-
And mcreasest Thine indignation £ towards fia xiii. 19, 24 ;
,. xxiii. 3, 8,9; Prov.
me ; || XX7. 2.
1 Troop after troop— yea, a wAoZe host, are J*^™8"
they f[ with me. 1 changes, succes-
sions, relays.
18 Why then didst Thou bring me forth from the
, n , I supra iii. 11 ; Jer.
womb ? xx. 18.
I ought to have * died "when no eye had yet H™l^e^'
beheld me; K so *at an,eye
would not have.
19 I ought to have been, as though I had not been"8 ; seen me.
T ii.ii i i /• 7,1" sm^wo iii. 16.
1 ought to have been borne from my mother s
belly to the grave.
* i.e., when I was in my mother's womb,
t Thou wast planning these punishments for me at the very
time Thou wast taking such care of me in my mother's womb.
+ To be pursued and not to see one's pursuer, which is my
lot, is very wonderful, but is it glorious for the pursuer ?
§ These sores, which are considered by my friends as so
many witnesses of my guilt.
|| Thine indignation increaseth in proportion to the increase
in the number of these witnesses.
1 i.e., these witnesses, E E

418

TRANSLATION. CHAPS. X. 20  22 J XI. 1 — 7.

a supra vii. 7 ; infra
xiv. 1.
ijj cease, desist.
m or, cheer up, re
fresh me.
b supra ix. 27.
c infra xiv. 6 ; Ps.
xxxix. 13.
a so that I shall not,
cannot, return.
d infra xiv. 12, and
references there.
e Ps. xxiii. 4; Isa.
ix. 2; Jer.ii. 6,31.
P and not orders.
y Or, So that it
shineth like deep
darkness ; or, And
[where] it shineth
like, &c.
yPs. cxxxix. 12.
g infra xxxiv. 37 ;
xxxv. 16 ; Prov. x.
19; Eccles. v. 2,
3, 7 ; x. 14.
S man of lips.
h infra xv. 2, 3.
dd be justified, i.e.,
be held to be in the
right.
e falsehoods, lies,
fictions, fables.
Z so that thou mayest
mock.
ti and none putting
to shame.
9 And so that thou
mayest say [to one
of them].
k I have been clean,
ever was clean.
i supra vi.10, 30; x.7;
infra xiv. 4 ; xxiii.
10—12; xxxiii. 9.
Tc supra vi. 8.
\ for [there is]
double to wisdom.
fi then know.
v crediteth thee of
thy punishment.
I Ps. ciii. 8, 10;
Ezra ix. 13.
it searching ; i.e.,
power of search,
searching-power. Ger., Forschkraft.
m infra xxvi. 6 ;
xxviii. 24 ; xxxiv.
21, 22; Ps. vii. 9 ;
xliv. 21 ; Ixix. 5 ;
cxxxix. 1- — 12 ;
cxlvii. 5 ; Prov.
v. 21 ; xv. 3 ;
xvii. 3; Is.xl.28;
Jer. xi. 20 ; xvi.
17; xxxii. 19; 2
Chron. xvi. 9, &c.
» infra xxxvi. 4 ;
xxxvii. 16.

20 Are not my days "few? f Forbear then,
And put Thine hand from off me, that I may
a b recover me a little ; c
21 Before I go — a and return no more1* —
To a land of darkness, and shadow-of-death ; e
22 A land of gloom like deep darkness,
Of shadow-of-death, P without any order ;
7 And where, even when it shineth, it is like
deep-darkness. !
CHAPTER XI.
1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and
said :
2 Shall a e multitude of words not be answered ?
Or shall the 8 babbler* 88be accounted right?
3 Thine e inventions may put mortal-men to silence,
£ And them thou mayest mock, v none putting
thee to shame ;
4 6 Yea, to them thou mayest say : " My doc
trine was pure,
" And K I was 'clean in thine eyes."
5 But,* oh now that God would speak,
And open His lips with thee !
6 And would proclaim to thee the secrets of
wisdom,
(x For wisdom is twofold *) ;
pThen wouldest thou know, that God rre-
mitteth l thee part of thy punishment.
7 Wouldest thou attain unto the "" searching-ken m
of God ? f
Attain even to the n perfection % of the Almighty?

* i.e., There are two kinds of wisdom, human and divine.
f Canst thou pretend to search out thine own heart as well
as the unerring eye of God doth ? How many times, there
fore, mayest thou not have sinned without being aware of it
thyself! X i.e., to His perfection in searching out the heart of man
[or, perhaps, more generally, His omniscience. — Editor, 1862.]

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XI. 8 — 16. 419
8 "It is as xhigh as heaven0  ^what canst «^- cxxxix. 6.
° x[the] heights of
tllOU dO S heaven.
Deeper than *Ae pit — what canst thou know ? <° ° cxxxix.°m6— 12 •
9 Longer than the earth is the measure thereof, £™J; XXT' 3 J Iaa"
And broader than the sea.4 * »// or, how canst thou
effect [it, i.e., thy
10 If He cut off, or deliver over, purpose, aim]?
Or gather together,44 f then who can prevent "ho™ canst thou'
tr- c p know [it, i.e., tbe
nlm • perfection of God]?
11 Surely He knoweth a vain men, LL?m' ^}3'
. ** Jer. 1. 9.
And He seeth iniquity'4, though He seem not to c supra ix. 12 ; infra
. xii. 14 ; xxiii. 1?.
perceive it . a mortals of vanity.
12 For else even a worthless man would #get him ^iT.V2i, 22nJra
understanding ; e inA? ™i J9. 20 >
o ' xxu. 13, 14 ; xxiv.
Yea, a man even that were born like a wild- i. 12; Bxod- xx-
5 ; Deut. xxxii.
aSS S COlt4 34, 35; Ps. x. 1,
13 But if thou 7 prepare thine heart/ i-n7" EccST"
And 8 spread out thine hands unto Him — ' ™; 15x;xi^ii- H \
14 If iniquity be in thine hand*, put it far away, Jei\. "• 9. 22 ;
ai/t- 111-1 xxxii. 18; li. 13 ;
And e suffer no wrong to dwell in thy tents1 — Ezek. mi 12 ;
15 ' Then, surely, shalt thou * lift up thy countenance p become' sensible,
without spot; ,diafeet- .
r » y hast prepared.
Yea, thou shalt be steadfast ', and not fear"'. f1 Sam. vii. 3.
la ti , ii/- 7 • c wilt, or, shalt have,
1 0 i or thou shalt forget thy misery ; spread.
g Ps. lxviii. 31 ;
lxxxviii. 9.
* I have here thought fit to depart sligbtjy from the transla- b. infra xvi. 17 ;
tion given in the Commentary, where there is some confusion, ps a™j Xg"7' jon;
as the first hemistich of ver. 8 is made to refer to the supposed iii. 8.
endeavours on the part of Job to attain to the perfection of the l ^n^dweU* not'
Almighty, whilst the second hemistich of the same verse and i supra viii. 5, 6 ;
the whole of the next seem rather to refer to the perfection Sf™c xxu- 21—
itself. I have here made all four lines refer to tbe same subject — £ supra x. 15 ; infra
the perfection (i.e., the omniscience, and perhaps, also (see . xxia- 2.6, *c-
ver. 10) the omnipotence) of God. Still even so, What canst i, &0.
thou do ? will refer to Job's endeavours.— Editor, 1862. m SWP™ r. 21, 22.
f i.e., cut off, or deliver over, a man, or assemble multitudes
against him.
X i-e., if He did shew that He perceived iniquity, by visiting it
with immediate punishment, even the worst of men would be
constrained to abandon their evil courses, and man consequently
would cease to be a free-agent. [Comp. Eccles. viii. 11,
—Editor, 1862.] E E 2

420

TRANSLATION. CHAPS. XI. 17  20; XII. 1  5.

z supra vi. 15.
io more than noon
day.
a infra xxii. 28 ;
xxix. 3 ; Dan. xii.
3 ; Matt. xiii. 43.
b infra xxx. 22 ; Isa-
xl. 31.
e 2 Sam. xxiii. 4 ;
Prov. iv. 18.
a when there is hope.
d Prov. x. 28.
P when thou shalt
have looked.
PP securely, confi
dently.
e supra v. 24 ; Prov.
iii. 24.
y shalt have lain
down, couched.
S then [there shall
be] none alarming
[thee, scaring
[thee] up.
t Prov. iii. 24.
E entreat thy coun
tenance.
g infra xxix. 8 — 10,
21—25 ; xlii. 8.
ee shall waste away,
consume [with
longing].
h Prov. x. 28; xi.
7,23.
Z hath perished.
i Ps. cxiii. 4, 5 ;
Prov. xix. 5 ; Jer.
xxv. 35 ; Amos
ii. 14, 15.
Tc supra viii. 13, 14.
Tele infra xv. 30 ;
xxxi. 39.
tj a people, company.
I infra xxxii. 9.
m supra xi. 5, 6 ;
infraxY. 8 ; xxxii.
13.
n infra xiii. 2 ; xv. 9.
0 infra xvi. 20.
p Ps. xxii. 7, 8 ; xlii.
10 ; Matt, xxvii.
39—43.
9 or, perhaps, a
righteous (just)
[and] blameless
man,
jPs.xxxi. 18; Matt.
ix. 24.
k to [the] thoughts
of.
r Ps. cxxiii. 3, 4.

Or remember it but as waters that have passed
away/
17 And a life shall arise for thee a brighter" than
noon-day ;
Thou shalt soar s ; thou shalt be as the morning/
And thou shalt be confident a when thou
dost hope * ; *
18 And ^when thou hast looked about thee,-|- thou
wilt lie down PP in security/
19 And when thou rdost repose, 8none shall
disquiet f thee ;
Yea, many shall e make suit unto thee 9.
20 But the eyes of the wicked fe shall fail * ;
 Nay, refuge £ shall perish from them* ; %
And their hope * shall be the ** breathing out of
their life. CHAPTER XII.
1 Then Job answered, and said :
2 Indeed, because ye are v a multitude2,
Must therefore wisdom die with you™ ?
3 I too have understanding, as well as you ;
I fall not short of you ".
Yea, with whom are there not sayings like
these ?
4 I am as one who is a laughing-stock to his
neighbour ",
" Aha ! he calleth upon God, that He should
answer himp ! " §
But even e a perfectly righteous man may be a
laughing-stock q.
5 There is contempt for calamity K in the thoughts
of him that is at ease r ;
* i.e., whenever thou entertainest a hope, thou shalt feel con
fident thou wilt see it realized.
t i.e., at night, before retiring to rest.
X i-e , not only shall their eyes fail — i.e., shall their hopes be
disappointed, but there shall be no escape for them.
§ The words of the mocking neighbour.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XII. 6  13. 421
It is ready for « them that slip with the foot0. * "> gjjl ***«*« <*
6 Prosperous are the tents a of the spoilers 4 ; »P»- xxxviii. 16.
¦xr a r • • r -i i i/-^i a [belonging] to [the]
Y ea, P there ts security for them that provoke God spoilers.
And him, into whose hand God 7 bringeth good bs^™a £j.^_%
things. a &o.;Ps. lxxiii. 12'.
•* , p securities [are] to
7 And yet/t ask now the beasts, 8 and they will [the] provokers of
. , God.
instruct thee; y hath caused to
Or the e fowl of the heavens, and it will tell thee : c^a\m.$; infra
8 Or speak to the earth, and it will instruct thee ; xxi- 29= DeuUv-
Yea, the fishes of the sea will declare unto thee, s and it (i.e., every
- __T, i n 1 one °f them) will
9 Who knoweth not, by all these, instruct thee.
That the hand of Jehovah hath made fthem ? \^g]
10 In whose hand is the* breath of every living iDan. v 23; Acts
thing, xtU- 28-
And the ** spirit of all flesh of man. dd infra xxxiv. 14,
11 Doth not the ear prove words, Eccles^.' 16;
As the palate tasteth v its food6 ? v food for itself.
_- ¦—„. , , , T .77 7 • i e supra vi. 30 ; infra
12 With the aged, then, will be wisdom; xxxiv. 3 ; Ps. cxix.
And, with length of days, understanding f. j, f^r'a ver 20 . xv
13 With Him, therefore, must be wisdom and ios xxxii. 7, a
might/ g supra ix. 4 ; infra
To Him belong counsel and understanding *. pa. xcii'. 5 ; isa!
xxviii. 29 ; Jer.
xxxii. 19.
* i.e., one who is at ease has always contempt in store for A Ps- cxlvii. 5 ; Prov.
iii-i,. 1 ^ , TOl- 22 i Rom- X1-
those overtaken by calamity ; he has it ever ready tor such, as sst 34, &0.
are about to fall.
t Job seems here to revert to the thought to which he had
given utterance supra ix. 24, " The earth is given into the
hands of the wicked ; " and yet, he goes on to say, when
I contemplate tbe wonders which surround me, it is evident to
me that God made this earth, God whom I know to be so wise
and far-seeing that nothing can be hid from Him, and so mighty
that whatsoever He willeth He is able to perform. Why then
do the wicked prosper, and why do I, who am innocent, thus
suffer ? (See infra xxi. 7, xxiii. 13, xxiv. 1, ix. 21, xi. 4, &c.)
At the same time, however, he wishes to show his friends that
it is useless for them to declare to him the infinite wisdom and
power of God, as this is a subject upon which they can tell him
nothing which he does not already know (See ver. 3, supra
xi. 5, 6, infra xiii. 1, 2). Comp. also note (1) on infra xxi. 4. ,
—Editor, 1862.

422

TRANSLATION. CHAPS. XII. 14 — 25 ; XIII. 1.

to upon, over.
a supra iii. 23 ; infra
xix.8 ; Ps. lxxxviii.
8 ; Lam. iii. 7, 9 ;
Rev. iii. 7.
b Isa. 1. 2, &c.
(3 when He, ka.
y then they over
turn, overthrow.
S erring, and causing
to err.
£ to Him.
c 1 Kings xxii. 20,
22, 23 ; Ezek. xiv.
9 ; Eccles. ix. 1, 2 ;
2 Thess. ii. 11.
Z making.
ti stripped, spoiled.
d 1 Sam. xix. 24.
e Isa. xliv. 25. «
9 hatbloosed,looseth.
k making.
X stripped, spoiled.
/ Isa. xl. 23.
H lip [belonging] to
orators, or [the]
eloquent.
¦>' pouring.
g Ps. cvii. 40.
h infra xxx. 11 ; Isa.
v. 27; xlv. 1;
Dan. v. 6.
it disclosing.
i infra xxviii. 11.
Ic infra xxxiv. 22, &c.
p increasing.
a the nations.
ZPa. cvii. 33— 35,
38, 39 ; Isa. xxvi.
15.
r spreading out.
m Exod. xxxiv. 24 ;
Deut. xii. 20 ;
1 Chron. iv. 10.
0 removing, taking
away.
n Isa. xliv. 25 ;
1 Cor. i. 19.
X heads.
o Ps. cvii. 40.
p supra v. 1 4 ; Deut.
xxviii. 29; Isa.
Iix. 10.
ty and no light.
2 Isa. 1. 10 ; Lam.
iii. 2 ; Amos v.
18, 20.
ii> wander.
r Ps. cvii. 27 ; Isa.
xix„ 14 ; xxiv. 20.

14 Behold! He pulleth down, and it cannot be
built up;
He shutteth Bup a man, and he cannot be
loosed ".
15 Lo ! He stayeth the waters, and they dry up4 ;
PHe letteth them loose, 7 and they overwhelm
the land.
16 With Him is strength and sound-counsel;
The 8 deceived and deceiver are e His ".
17 £He maketh counsellors to go v naked d,
And judges He rendereth mad e.
18 The confederacy of kings, He e dissolveth,
And girdeth a girdle on their loins.*
19 K He maketh chiefs to go x naked,
And overthroweth the mighty f.
20 He re moveth the P speech of orators,
And the discernment of the aged He taketh
away.
21 "He poureth contempt upon nobles s,
And the girdle of the mighty He looseth*. f
22 "" He discloseth deep-things out of darkness,
Yea/ bringeth out to light the shadow-of-death*.
23 P He increaseth °" nations, and destroyeth them' ;
T He menlargeth v nations, and leadeth them cap
tive.
24 #He " removeth the understanding of the x chiefs
of the people of the earth,
And causeth them to wander in a waste, where
there is no way ".
25 They p grope in darkness, f where there is no

light * ;
Yea, He maketh
drunkard'.

them to '"reel like the

CHAPTER XIIL
1 Lo ! all this mine eye hath seen,
* i.e., moveth them to war among themselves.
t i.e., depriveth them of their courage and strength.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XIII. 2 — 12. 423
Mine ear heard, and <° noted it/ w or, noted for itself.
c\ a a i t i a supra v. 27.
2 P As ye know ^r, so 1 too know; (3 As your knowing.
I fall not short of you/ J ™£™. xii' 3 J °Vra
3 But, 7 it is to speak to the Almighty, that I wish ; * ™f*k™' I would
And to reason before God, that I desire.c c mP^a xi. 5; ix.
A m-n * j. • J> T 19,32-35; infra,
4 Whilst ye are ° contrivers of lies ; vers. 19— 22 ; xvi.
€ Worthless physicians/ — all of ye ! 3--7;Xxxxi. 35**37!
5 Oh that ye would be altogether silent, s g%jg£ J £
And it would be counted unto you for wisdom Y mers. of-
. £ physicians of va-
6 Hear, 1 pray you, my reasoning ; nity.
a i . . 7 it £ i- iii d infraxYi. 2; Mark
And to the pleadings ot my lips, attend. v. 26 ; Luke viii.
7 For God, will ye speak iniquity ? e sfpra ri 2 . infra
And for Him, will ye speak deceit ? ™- 2 s Pr0T- svii'
8 His person will ye accept ?
For God will ye plead ?
9 Will it be fwell for you, when He searcheth ZgooA.
J ¦* ' ./Actsv. 3, 9.
yOU Out ? 7) as [the] mocking
Will ye ¦''mock Him, v as ye might mock frail- 3ilfr™xxldin2i,22;
man? ™ 19; Ps"
10 He Will SUrely Chastise yOU, e elevation, dignity.
T „ , K terrify, affright.
If ye secretly accept persons/ h infra xxxvii. 22 ;
11 Should not His 6 majesty * deter you?* ^22.
And His dread fall upon you * ? * * ^21.' 34 ' infm
12 Your records are x parables for ashes, Xsimmtudes,simiies,
A images, figures.
Parables for * bodies of clay p like yours ! f Ic supra iv. 19 ; infra
X 9 * TYYIll. fi •
* Should you not be afraid to flatter such a majestic Being igar ]^;T 8 • Jer!
as God ? xviii. 6 ; Gen. ii.
f The language in which ye have recorded the wonderful 14 ¦ i Cor. xv. 47 ¦
power and wisdom of God is indeed eloquent and highly 2 Cor. v. 1, &c
poetical, and, if addressed to mortal-men — dust and ashes — j °^' so suPra
dwellers in houses of clay Uke yourselves — would no doubt /* [like] your bodies.
find acceptance with them. But God it cannot please, as being
the language of flattery. He hath searched out your hearts,
and He knoweth that, if ye have exalted and magnified Him,
ye have done so less with the view of reproving me than in the
hope of finding favour with Him, and thereby escaping the
dreadful torments which He hath sent upon me, and which,
as being undeserved (for so ye believe them to be in spite of
what ye say), fill you with the greatest dread. But "be ye
afraid of the sword," if ye condemn me, whom ye know to be

424 TRANSLATION. CHAP. XIII. 13 — 21.
13 Hold your peace, cease from me, that I may
speak,
a anything. ^n(J lgf- come on me a What may.
p against, in spite ^
of, anything. 14 Aye, P come what may, I will take my flesh in
a infra xxix. 17 ;
Numb. xi. 33 ; Ps. my teeth/
&Judgnxii.3;is'am. And put my life in mine hand/ *
psx' cx^ 109' 21; 15 ¦Lo! He may slay me' yet> wil1 * hoPe *"or
y argue, plead. Him; f
csupraYi. 10; ix. 21; ...» TT.
x. 7, 15; im/™ But my ways I will 7 maintain before Him."
xxm. , jxxml ^g Yet, B.e should rather be 8 my deliverance,
S l°Jme deliTerailce Seeing the * hypocrite cannot come before
d supra viii. 13. Him e *
e, infra xxiii. 7 ; Ps. . .
i. 5; v. 5. 17 Hear, then, diligently *my speech;
1 And let my declaration come into your ears.
ee infra xxiii. 4 ; isa. 18 Behold now ! I have ee ordered my cause ;
f supra if. 28; x.7; I know that I shall be declared just/
gs^raix%2- infra 19 But, who is He, that will ' plead with me ?
fri7'.4T^T™a'-' -F°r soon saa^ 1 ^°1^ my Peace> an(l ^ die/
xi-2, 7. 20 Only two things, 0 God, do not i unto me,
a supra vi. n, 12 ; Then will I not hide myself 6 from Thee !
r,witb ' ; i- 21 § Withdraw Thine hand far * from me,
"fforupon^Twith And let not Thy dread affright me ! '
me.
i supra ^ix 34 ; infra j 0rj And my declaration with your ears.— Editor, 1862.
.A.XX111. / ¦ innocent, for the sake of flattering your Maker. Think ye that
ye can escape the judgment of God if ye pervert the cause of
the innocent, and at the same time insult Him with your
flattery ? Comp. supra iv. 19 ; vi. 21, 24, 27 ; xiii. 4, 7 — 11 ;
xix. 28, 29 ; Ps. Ixxviii. 36 ; xii. 2, 3.— Editor, 1862.
* Two phrases expressing in Hebrew tbe risking of one's life.
\ I know my life is at His mercy, yet I hope, that He will
investigate my case and pronounce me innocent.
X Indeed, I do not see how I risk my life by speaking the
truth, on the contrary, as a lover of truth, He should be a help
to me.
§ Job, having said, "Do not do two things," we might
expect a negative sentence here as in tbe next line, whereas we
have an affirmative one. The reason seems to be that " With
draw Thine hand " is really equivalent to some such negative
sentence as, " Let not Thine hand be heavy upon me ! " See
Commentary. — Editor, 1862.

TRANSLATION. CHAPS. XIII. 22 — 28 ; XIV. 1 — 4.

425

22 Then call Thou, and I will answer" ;
Or, I will speak, and answer Thou me4 !-

23 a How many are mine iniquities and sins ?
My transgression, and my sin, P make known
unto me.'
24 Why shouldest Thou hide Thy face/
And hold me 7 for Thine enemy ? e
25 Wilt Thou crush a driven leaf7 ?
Or, pursue dry stubble9?
26 That Thou writest bitter-things against me,
And 8 entailest on me the e sins of my youth/
27 £ That Thou puttest my feet in the stocks, l
And watchest all my paths/
On i mine ankles, 6 they f imprint them
selves ' ;
28 And K these consume, like a rotten-thing,
Like, a garment x which the moth m hath eaten.
CHAPTER XIV.
1 Man, born of woman/
p Few ° of days, and full of trouble/
2 Like a q flower cometh forth, and is cut down ;
Yea, he fleeth as the ' shadow, and " abideth not.
3 Even upon such an one, v dost Thou open Thine
eyes?
And wilt Thou bring me into judgment with
Thee8?
4 Oh, that a clean thing could come from an
unclean' ! £
* The object of this line is fuUy explained in the Commen
tary. f Le., the stocks.
X i-e., how can a man possibly be clean and perfect, whose
parents were unclean and imperfect beings ?

a infra xiv. 15.
b infra xxxiii. 5 ;
xxxviii. 3 ; xl. 7.
a How many [are
there] to me ?
P make me to know.
e supra vi. 24 ; x. 2.
d supra iii. 23 ; Gen.
iv. 5; Ps. cii. 2,
&cw
y for an enemy to
Thee.
e infra xvi. 9; xix. 11.
f Iaa. xlii. 3 ; Hos.
xiii. 3.
g infra xxi. 18 ; Ex.
xv. 7 ; Isa. xU. 2 ;
Nah. i. 10, &c.
8 and shouldest
make me to pos
sess.
£ penalties of the
sins of my boy
hood, early youth.
h Ps. xxv. 7.
Z And that.
i infra xxxiii. 11 ;
Jer. xx. 2 ; xxix.
26 ; Lam. iii. 7.
Ic supra vii. 12, 17,
18; x. 20; infra
xiv. 6, 16; xxxi. 4.
tj [the] roots of my
feet.
9 it impressetb itself.
I 2 Sam. iii. 34 ; Ps.
cv. 18.
k it (i.e., each of my
ankles) consumeth.
\ [the] moth bath
eaten it.
m Ps. xxxix. 11; Jas.
v. 2.
n infra xv. 14 ; xxv.
•4 ; Matt. xi. 11, &c.
/i short.
o supra x. 20.
p Ps. xxxix. 5, 6, 11.
Eccles. ii. 23.
c/Ps. ciii. 15; Isa. xl.
6-8.
r supra viii. 9 ;
1 Chron. xxix. 15;
Ps. cii. 11.
v standetb,endureth not.
7r hast Thou opened.
s Ps. cxliii. 2.
t supra xi. 4 ; infra
xv. 14 ; xxv. 4 ;
xxxiii. 9.

426

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XIV. 5 — 14.

$ or, [there shall]
not one.
a supra vii. 1; 2 Sam.
vii. 12 ; Ps. lxxxix.
47; Lam. iv. 18;
John vii. 6.
b infra xxi. 21.
u> made.
c mfra xxxviii. 10,
11; Jer. v. 22;
Acts xvii. 26.
d supra x. 20 ; Ps.
xxxix. 13.
a from upon him.
e supra vii. 1, 2.

P renew [its vigour].
f supra viii. 19; infra
xix. 10 ; Ezek.
xvii. 22—24.
y cease.
8 make, produce.
e bough.
g Isa. xi. 1.
Z and hath been ill.
h 2 Kings xx. 1, &c.
ti bath expired.
9 then where, &c.
k gone away.
X river.
i Isa. xix. 5, &c.
p. But man, when he
hath lain down,
will not arise.
v until not heavens.
Ic Ps. lxxxix. 29, 36,
37; cii. 25, 26;
Isa. xxxiv. 4; li.
6 ; lxv. 17, &c.
I supra vii. 8, 9, 21 ;
x. 21, 22; infra
ver. 14, 20, 22 ;
xx. 7 — 9; Ps. vi.
5 ; lxxxviii. 5,
10 — 12; Is. xxxviii.
18, 19 ; Eccles.
iii. 19—22 ; vi.
3—6; ix. 4—6,
10, &c.
tt till [tbe] turning
[away] of Thine
anger.
m supra ix. 19.

^ Not one will ever.
5 If his days are determined/
If the 4 number of his months is with Thee,*
If Thou hast °> set His c bounds, that he cannot
pass ;
6 Then, dlook away a from him, that he may cease
to suffer,
Till, as an hireling, he find pleasure in his last
day/
7 For the tree, indeed, there is hope,
Even though it be cut down, that it will again
P flourish/
And its tender-branch not 7 fail.
8 Though its root grow old in the earth,
And its stock die in the ground ;
9 Yet, through the scent of water, it may bud,
And 8 put forth e boughs, as a young plant.9
10 But man, when he dieth, £ after that he hath
been sick ; *
Yea man, when he v perisheth — 6 where is he ?
11 The waters will have K vanished from the sea,
The x rivers have wasted, and dried up,*
12 p And man still lie there, and not arise ; f
Yea, v till the heavens be no more/
Shall they not awake,
Nor be aroused from their sleep.'
13 Oh, that in the grave Thou wouldest hide me !
Wouldest conceal me, ""till Thine anger turn
away !
Wouldest appoint me a set-time,m and then
remember me !
14 When a man dieth, will he live again ?
(But wiU this be so ?)

* i.e., is known only to Thyself.
t i.e., the waters will first have failed from the sea, and the
rivers have wasted and dried up before man, after he hath
lain down, will again arise — that is, he will never rise
again.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XIV. 15 — 22. 427
No! only all the days of myV' life-time* can I + appointed time;
° j j (supra tu. 1.)
hope, z Isa. xxxviii. 18, &c.
i / <-v 7 -n * i ^ v "'till [the] coming
{Only °> till my a change * come), of my change.
15 That Thou mayest call, and I answer Thee ; a TiCleTicoi-.xv!
That Thou mayest again yearn toward the b^'r^ii 2i- x 3-
work of Thine hands/ infra xxxiv. 19 ;
XXXVII. Y«
16 (But now, Thou numberest my steps ; c c supra xiii. 27;
Dost Thou not watch over a my sins ? -j- xxxix. 1™'
17 My transgression is sealed up in a bag/ ad h^81"^ 12
And mine iniquity Thou P securest with a P puttest a patch
against.
patch.)6 £ e Deut. xxxii. 34;
18 But surely a fallen mountain 7 wasteth, u.T *' ' °m
Yea, a rock 8 may be removed from its place ; r wlU fade>
£ may move away.
19 rei, f when £Ae waters have worn away we stones £ haTe j-the-j watera
tO dust, rubbed away,
made dust.
The soil of the earth will overflow with its after
crops. §
But the hope of frail-man Thou utterly destroyest.
20 Thou overpowerest him for ever, when that he
is gone ;
He -^changeth £ his appearance, when Thou hast / supra ver. 14; Ps.
9 dismissed him. g[X» 1Cor-xy"
21 His children v may be numerous, but he will not z hia faoe-... .
J g supra vm. 4.
knOW it ; n or, may come to
Or ^fewin number, but he will not perceive them/ e or, may be brought
22 Only, whilst upon him, will his flesh feel pain ; h ™'ra T 25.
Only, whilst K within him,* will his x spirit ?witM7-,.
J ' ' £ 8 ««pj-« UI. 17.
mourn/ *¦ 80ul-
A Ps.xlii. 5,11 ; xliii.
5.
1 Or, Only till my change come,
15 Canst Thou call and I answer Thee.
Canst Thou yearn towards tbe work of Thine hands.
—Editor, 1862.
* i.e., change, transition from life to death.
t i.e., so as not to overlook even the slightest fault.
X Le., Thou puttest a patch where the bag seems likely to
give way.
§ i.e., though the fallen mountain, the displaced rock, no longer
exist as such, yet their substance, ground to powder by the inun
dation that overturned them, will be converted into such a
fruitful soil as to yield even second crops.

428

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XV. 1 — 15.

a utter.
P knowledge,thought, of wind,
windy thoughts,
airy notions.
a infra xvi. 3 ; Eccl.
i. 17; ii. 11, 17,
26 ; iv. 6, 16.
b supra vi. 26 ; viii.
2 ; Isa. xli. 29.
c Jer. vii. 8.
y breakest down,
sappest, minest.
d supra iv. 6 ; Ps.
xxxvi. 1 ; Rom.
iii. 18, &c.
e infra ver. 12, 13 ;
xxii. 13, 14, &c.
f supra ix. 20 ; Prov.
vi. 2 ; xiii. 3 ;
Matt. xii. 36, 37 ;
Luke xix. 22.
ff 2 Sam. i. 16.
8 born.
h infra xxxviii. 4.
i Prov. viii. 25.
k Isa. xl. 13 ; Rom.
xi. 34.
£ So that thou
shouldest take
away.
I supra xii. 2 ; infra
xxxii. 13.
tn supra xii. 3 ; xiii.
2.
n 1 Sam. xii. 2.
o supra xii.12 ; infra
xxxii. 7, 9.
Z more.
ZZ lit., consolations
of God, i.e., migh
ty, powerful,
potent, strong,
consolations.
oo Heb. vi. 18.
ti less than thee.
9 a word [spoken]
gently. __
p supra xii. 4 ; xiii.
4, 7—10 ; xvi. 20.
&c.
k take thee away.
2 infra xviii. 4 ; xxii.
13, 14; xxxi. 26,
27.
r infra ver. 25, 26.
\ andshouldestcause to go forth.
s supra xiv. 1 ; infra
xxv. 4 ; Matt. xi.
11, &c.
t supra iv. 18.

CHAPTER XV.
1 Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite and said,
2 Should a wise-man a give vent to P thoughts of
wind/
And with the east- wind fill his belly 4 ?
3 To reason on a matter, which cannot profit,
And in words, wherewith one can do no good c.
4 Nay more, thou 7 destroyest the * fear of the
Almighty,
And takest away prayer before God6.*
5 Surely, thine own mouth teacheth thine iniquity,
Though thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
6 Thine own mouth doth condemn thee^ and not I,
And thine own lips testify against thee 9.
7 Wast thou, O man, the first 8 produced * ?
Or wast thou formed before the hills * ?
8 Didst thou overhear the secret counsel of God*,
*So as to take away all wisdom to thyself?
9 What dost thou know, and we know not ?
Or thou understand, and it is not with usm?
10 Both the "gray-headed and the very-aged are
among us ",
£ Fuller of days than thy father.
1 1 Are our ££00 strong consolations *i too little for thee ?
But, was there 6 a gentle word with thee p ? f
1 2 Why doth thine heart K hurry thee away ?
And thine eyes, what wink they atq,
13 That thou turnest thy spirit against Godr,
* And ventest such speeches from thy mouth ?
14 What is frail-man, that he should be pure 1
Or he, of woman born", that he should be just8?
15 Behold, in His Holy-ones He trusteth not',
* Other people, when suffering as thou now art, wiU be
induced by thy example to murmur against God, instead of
praying to Him.
X i.e., Our consolations being strong, were naturally
couched in somewhat strong language — but, was thy language
more measured ? Was there a gentle word with thee ?

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XV. 16 — 26. 429
And the heavens are not pure in His eyes a ! t^rc^Z'ti 19;
16 4Far less, that0 abominable and filthy being, xiv. 3,4.
.  * rf c Ps. xiv. 1, 3 ; Nah.
Man, a which drinketh in iniquity like water . m. 6 ; 1 Pet. m.
17 I will shew thee ; hearken unto me ; a drinking in.
And, both that, which I have seen, will I declare, jj {^^-Jirfd,
18 And that, which wise-men relate concealed.
(8(3 from.
(P And hide not ought), as told them PPhy their e supra viii. 8, 10 ;
«... Ps. lxxviii. 3, 4 ;
fathers . i8a. XXxviii. 19, &c.
19 (To them alone the land was given, r fjffi^*?
Nor passed a stranger in their midst.*) fi7fl—\&- pV v*'
(What I have seen and heard is,) 15, 16 ; xxxvii. 14,
20 That 7 all his days the wicked doth torment ]* j Ep0rc°ev; xx";
himself7, Jer.xx.4.
yy [the] number of
And that w all the years, 8 reserved for the tyrant, [the] years.
m a p » • • i • • j.^1 j. S [which] are re-
21 A voice ot e terror9 is in his ears, crying out that, served.
Even in4 peace, the spoiler will come on him*. ^5°r^.25; Deut.
22 He believeth not £ that he will return out of xxviii. ee, 67 ;Ps.
lxxm. 19.
darkness, * Jer. iy. 10.
Seeing he is ££ watched for the sword*, f z to return. '
23 If he doth stir abroad, it is for bread', saying ; "^g^^
" Where is it ? " that he ?** }l i
prey to |_tnej
For he knoweth, that the day of darkness is sword ; or, seeing
, , . , 1 that he [holdeth
ready at his hand. himself] destined
24 f&Trouble and calamity affright him ; (Ben-Zev). BW°r
Like a king, J will it overpower him ; he is k J^r'4vi- 25 ; Am08
v reserved for its ball"'.^ l Lam- £- X1 ; ". 4 ¦,
Y. 9.
25 Because he stretched out his hand against God, ZZZ Or, distress and
And strengthened himself against the Al- v ^eadyfor the p.e.,
mio-rit-v " a] baU> le> about
ung u iy t0 become its ball.
26 6 He ran against Him, with lofty neck/ m l™- Ixii- x?-
D ' . . » Numb. xiv. 9 ;
~ With #ie thick bosses of his shield — Josh. xxii. is ; 2
Kings xix. 22, &c;
* i.e., they were not disturbed by foreign invasion, and con- Dan. f. 23, &c.
sequently were able to watch the course of events. 0 ^^ix. 4° Exod.
f i.e., he thinks his enemies lie in wait for him, ready to slay xxxii. 9 ; 2 Chron.
him with the sword.— Editor, 1862. ^T**135 Jer"
{ i.e., like a king, whose power is irresistible, wiU it (calamity) k with [the] tbick-
jjjC ness o f [the] bosses
of his shields.
§ i.e., he is destined to be tossed about by calamity like a
baU. Comp. Isa, xxii. 18, " He wiU surely violently turn and
toss thee like a ball."

430 TRANSLATION. CHAPS. XV. 27 — 35 ; XVI. 1 — 4.
27 Because he covered his face with his fatness,
<•> flank- And made him rolls of fat upon his <•> flanks * ;
z Deut. xxxi. 20 ; n . . .
xxxii. 15 ;Ps. xvii. 2,o And dwelt in desolate cities,
v. 28, &"! s er IQ houses, a which none could inhabit,
" dweu in°them not Which were destined by him to become heaps ".
aPs.ix.6;2Kings 29 No, he shall not be rich, nor shall his wealth
xix. 25.
b supra v. 5 ; viii. endure ;
i8,'26, 28;Xxxvii! Nor shall P his achievements PP be spread abroad
P their achievements ^U tne eartn-
m extend, spread. 30 He shall not 7 escape0 out of darkness ;
y turn away from. *¦
c supra xi. 20 ; Ps. His 8 branches'* shall a flame dry up ;
8 tender-branch, And he shall e depart with one ee gasp of his
sucker. i.te
d infra xviii. 16 ; Ps. mOUUl .
, turn away!6' 3i Let not nim> that f is led astray,* put his trust
ee breath. jn vanity f,
e supra ix. 23 ; xxi. '
13, 23 ;Ps. civ. 29. For vanity shall be v his reward;
astray. 32 Before 0 his time it j- «¦ shall come to an end,
{, hu'e^bangt So that his branch will not be green.9
I shaiibf fulfilled 33 He shall shake off his unripe-grape as the vine*,
g supra viii. 16. And cast, like the olive, his blossom.
*aa2L^ 4s Jer' 34 For ^e x household of Me hypocrite sMZ be
\ congregation of. cheerless ;
ii hath consumed. And fire /» shall consume Me tents of bribery.
v to conceive. 35 " He conceived evil, * and so, shall bring forth
it and to brine forth. . j
iP, vii. 14; isa. misery';
their' ^eliy (in- ^ea> p ^s breast prepareth his own deceit *.
ward-parts).
Ic supra Yer. 20. CHAPTER XVI.
1 Then answered Job, and said,
i supra xii. 3. 2 1 have heard many such things as these' ;
° ^omforters of trou- a Troublesome comforters are ye all !
"" or> 'My words. 3 WM tlere l& an en(J tQ o-p. wor(Js 0f win(J m 2
tn supra xv. 2, and
references there. Or what emboldeneth thee, that thou shouldest
answer ?
4 Should I too speak like you,
r if your Person[s] T If ye were in my place ?
mere:rson8tead °f No ! I would * Join you with my words,
^> join [myself] to . .
you. * i.e., by his evil propensities. f i.e., his reward.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XVI. 5 — 13. 431
And <¦> bow mine head before vou".* u move at y°u with
. my head.
5 I would either strengthen you with my mouth, a supra ii. n.
Or my moaning would restrain my lips, j-
6 4If I speak, my pain is not P assuaged, l ™ffa ™i- x?—
And if I 7 forbear, 8 how much of it departeth ? l— 3.
7 Surely now, He J hath wearied me out ; r ceasT"6 '
Thou hast * destroyed all £ mine household0. \ ^datwa8te.
8 And that Thou hast filled me with wrinkles'*, is ? my company.
c supra l. 14 — 19.
become a witness e, § d infra xix. 20 ; xxx.
Yea, myd leanness n is risen up against me; it e supra x. n ¦ infra
beareth witness e to my face. || n j^5^.
9 fIn His wrath hath He 9 torn me, 6 and shewed / ™fra *™- 4-
g Hos. vi. 1 .
His hatred of me * ; 0 and hated me.
He hath gnashed against me with His teeth* ; mfra xix! 'ii.
xAs one that is k mine adversary, sharpeneth He * ^;vxxx!>; ^ !
His eyes against me. **!?/ra -^1^ 7;
J ° . Lam. u. 4, 5.
10 Men, too, have opened wide their mouth against
me' ; i Ps. xxii.f 13.
They have K contemptuously smitten my cheeks m; « with contempt.
KK They have gathered themselves together m LukTIi. ™&o. '
against me. KKtbeygatbertbem-
11 God delivereth me up to the iniquitous n, « mfra xxx. 2— 16.
And, by Me hands of the wicked, overthroweth me.
12 1 was at" ease, and He brake me in pieces p ;
Yea, He took hold of my neck, and dashed me " supra m. 26; infra
J xxix. 2—25.
to atoms q, p supra ix. 17, 18;
And set me up xfor His mark'. 17— i^so/pTi!
13 His * archers compass me round about; ExodLxv ™- ft
f One cleaveth my reins, and spareth not ; "• 9-
f \ for a mark to him.
v Another poureth out my gall upon the earth, r supra yu. 20 ;La,m.
hi. 12, 13.
s supra vi. 4 ; Ps.
1 Or, Mine Adversary sharpeneth His eyes against me. Or, Mine Adver- xxxviii. 2.
sary — He sharpeneth, &c. — Editor, 1862. p. be cleaveth.
iT.vne poureth out.
* Would express my sympathy for you by a nod. But see t pr0y. Tii. 23 ; Lam.
Append. "• 1:l-
t i.e., My grief would be so great as to choke my utterance.
X i.e., God.
§ i.e., against me.
|| The present emaciated state of my body is regarded by
my friends as a proof of my guilt.

432 TRANSLATION. CHAPS. XVI. 14 — 22 ; XVII. 1.
w he breacheth. 14 a This one breacheth me with £ breach upon
P breach upon [tbe]
face of breach. " breach ; a
y hf runneth. ' 7 That one runneth upon me like a mighty
b Gen. xxxvii. 34, &c.

scab.

man.

c supra ver. io ; ix. ] 5 j nave sewed 4 sackcloth upon my 8 sores,
31 ; infra xix. '¦
13—19 ; xxx. 1, And defiled my " horn * in the dust.
vii. 5/ xxii'. 15. ' 16 My face is red ewith weeping,
Lt^SfLam. And on my eyelids is the shadow-of-death ; « f
. v- 17' . ,, . 17 Not for any violence in mine hands ; *
a supra xi. 14, fe. "
p. supra vi. 30; ix. My prayer also hath been pure/ t
21 ; xi. 4 ; xxiii. i i l f
10—12 ; xxvii. 18 O earth, cover not my blood/
/ a™6'iv. 11 ; iBa. And let there be £ no space for my cry ! 9 §
xxvi. 21. 1 g Even now behold, in heaven is my witness/
Z not place. ' J
g infra xxxiv. 28 ; And my testimony v on high.
Gen.iv.l0;lSam. . J J &
v. 12 ; ix. 16, &c. 20 My ' mockers  my friends !
\ TnlL heights. To God 6 doth mine eye drop tears,k
'TV's2-' riL 4; 21 That °ne mi^ht 'Plead for a man With G°d'
infra xvii. 2, &c. a.s every son of man should plead for his fellow.
e hath  dropped. ^ J
^Ps.vi.6— 8; xxxix. 22 I or K a few years will come,
iii.48,a49. *' ' And I shall go Me way, whence I shall not
Z supra ix. 19, i-ornrn m
32—35; xiii. 3, reiUIIl.
15, 16, J8-22 ;
xiv. 13 ; infra xix.
26,27; xxiii. 3-7; CHAPTER XVII.
xxxi. 35—37.
*J£.° 'ratio , 1 My breath is become Corrupt ; -
xx ^kc^7' 12: My " days are extinct >
\ spoiled, destroyed.
n infra xix. 17 '. & . j. j i
„ ,4™ vii. 6; ix. * i-o-. my dlSmt7 and Slor7-
25, 26 ; »'»»/»-o xxx. -j- The expression, shadow of death, which occurs so fre-
' quently in this book (e.g., iii. 5; x. 21; xii. 22; xxiv. 17;
xxviii. 3 ; xxxiv. 22, &c), of course means deep darkness,
darkness like that of the under-world. According to our
present usage of the words shadow and shade, death-shade
would, I think, be more correct, but it has a less agreeable
sound. In the Auth. Vers., however, shadow, which is now
generally taken to mean " the image of a body produced by its
interception of light," is commonly used in the sense of shade,
the formless obscurity produced by the same cause. — Comp.
supra vii. 2 ; Isa. iv. 6 ; xxv. 4, &c. — Editor, 1862.
X i.e, was ever made with sincerity of heart.
§ i.e., let my cry extend beyond the limits of space.

19,21,22,28,29;
xxvi. 2 — 4.
e friends  for a

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XVII. 2 — 10. 433
They are graves to me. *
2 Are there not - mockers - with me ? ^xu^; xvi.
Yea, P on their 4 provocation mine eye dwelleth . 20, fe.
r J (Son their provoking.
Continually. * supra viii. 2 ; xi. 2,
3 7 'Order it thus, I pray Thee ; be Thou surety for fr'a xix. 2, &c.'
me with Thyself; J Pfj [is] he [that]
8 Who is there else, that will ° strike hands for me ? 71.1,be struck (ie.,
strike hands) lor
4 (For their heart f hast Thou hid from under- my hand ?
... c Prov. vi. 1, fe.
Standing/ d supra vi. 6, 7;
Seeing that Thou wouldest not exalt Mem. e %) ™frl kSi! 3^12'
13.
[But if one did come forward and offer himself as my bail] e supra vi. 15—27 ;
xii. 4, 5 ; xvi. 20 ;
5 f " Friends," f he would say, " should bear their ig'1^2^^' 2194'
part ; "
But for this even the eyes of his children would share.
> i i . • „ f supra vi. 14 , 15,
£ look in vain.9 J 21 ; xiii. 4 ; xvi.
6 Then would he set me up v as an "example to ^jif^^jet!
nations, r *x;'4> 5 • Mic- yii- 5;
.4 fail, be consumed
And I should be as a tabret in former times. § [with longing].
rr ci • . 1 • 1,11 tii 1 supra xi. 20 ; infra
7 seeing that mine eye hath become dim, by xix. 27; xxxi.i6;
reason of vexation, n fo^ft'h^com-
And my limbs are all of them as 6 a shadow.' paring of nations.
J gff2 Pet. 11. 6.
8 The upright would be amazed at this, h Lam. v. 17.
And Me innocent bestir himself against Me i supra xyIs] infra
hypocrite. xix. 20 ; xxxiii. 21.
9 Yea, Me just would Khold fast his way/ K take hold of, seize,
And Me pure of hands x increase in strength. & £jpro „. 9; ;M/m
10 But, despite them all, ye would fcome on x Sd)1' increase,
again; || nay, come ye even now/ strength, firmness.
I supra vi. 29.
1 Perhaps, Put forth now Thine hand ; or, Give now beed unto me. See
Appendix. — Editor, 1862.
* They are as joyless, yea, as loathsome as tbe grave.
X The heart of these my friends.
X Inspire them with the exalted and gracious feelings of true
friendship. § I should give the alarm to men, and render them more
chary of bestowing their confidence upon their friends.
|| In spite of the amazement of the upright at your conduct,
&c, ye, my friends, would again bring forward your worthless,
yet insulting, arguments. F F

434

translation, chaps, xvii. 11 — 16; xviii. 1 — 3.

a supra vii. 6;
25, 26.

bi possessions.
fi or, before.
b supra v. 1 9 — 26 ;
viii. 16—22; xi.
15—19; Isa. v.
20.
c supra iii. 20 — 22
vi. 9 ; vii. 15, 16
ix. 21 ; x. 1, 18
xiv. 13.
y wait.
o my couches.
£ I have called, I call,
I would call, cry.
d infra xxxiv. 18 ;
1 Kings xiii. 30 ;
Prov. vii. 4 ; Jer.
ii. 27 ; iii. 4, 19 ;
xxii. 18.
e supra vi. 11 ; xiii.
15; xiv. 19; infra
xix. 10.
Z limbs of [the]
grave.
f infra xviii. 13.
ti on [the] dust.
9 rest, quiet.
ff supra iii. 13, 14,
17—19; 2 Sam.
vii. 12, &c.
k till when.
h supra viii. 2.
X put ends to words.
i supra xiii. 5, 13 ;
xvi. 3 ; xvii. 4 ;
infra xix. 2 ; xxi.
2,3.
Tc infra xxxiv. 4.
p. as the beast.
I Ps. lxxiii. 22 ;
xxxii. 9 ; xlix. 12,
20 ; Eccles. iii. 18,
19.
m supra xvii. 2, 4 —
8, 9, 10, 12 ; supra
vi. 15 — 25 ; xii. 4,
5 ; xiii. 4, 7 — 12 ;
xvi. 20; xix. 13,
14,19,22,28,29;
xxi. 5, 6, 27, 34 ;
xxvi. 2 — 4. Comp.
also supra xvi. 10,
- 11.

For I shall not find among you one wise-man !
1 1 My days have " passed away, my plans have been
broken off —
The a treasures of mine heart.
12 Night would they* make day,
Light to be at hand, P in Me face of darkness/
13 Truly, I " 7 long for Me grave to be mine house,
Even for the time, when in the darkness I shall
have spread my 8 couch.
14 To corruption I would 6cry, "Thou art my
father I"
"O my mother!" and "O my sister!" to the
worm/
15 For where is now my e hope ?
Yea, my hope, who will see it fulfilled?
16 l These £ limbs, destined to Me grave f — let them
go down !
Verily, altogether v in Me dust is 6 peace 9.

CHAPTER XVIII.
1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said:
2 2 K How long will ye speak such things h ? f
Ye should x make an end of words '" ;
Ye should consider*  and after, let us speak.
3 Wherefore are we counted /* as beasts ' ?
And why are we unclean in your eyes m ? \
1 Or, ye limbs, destined to the grave, may ye go down, or, perhaps, go
down ; for the fut. is sometimes nearly equivalent to an imper. See note in
Append, on Wpn , supra vi. 23. Editor, 1862.
2 Or, perhaps, How long will it be ere ye make an end of words ? or,
till ye have (lit., shall have) made an end of words ? See Append. Editor,
1862. * These pretended friends of mine endeavour to persuade me
that light (happiness) is about to shine upon me, although they
clearly see that the darkness (calamity) which envelopes me is
constantly becoming deeper and deeper. Editor, 1862.
| Comp. Chap. viii. 2.
X In thine eyes, Job, and those of the philosophers thou
representest.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XVIII. 4 — 14. 435
4 0 thou, that art as one tearing himself in his " y xvi- 9-
anger a, 6 Deut. xxxii. 4, 15,
Because of thee must Me earth be 'f forsaken, Ps'.*™. 2,31,46;
And the 4 Rock remove out of His place " ? * xxxiVsTSh- 9 ;
5 Yes, Me light of Me wicked shall be put out * ; lxii- 2\&°-} *?• '
° t > c supraYi. 24,29,30;
And Me «" blaze of his fire shall not shine e.-\ ™- 12; ix- 15—
6 Daylight P shall become darkness f in his tent, xii! 6 ;' xvi.' 17!
Yea, his 9 lamp over him shall be put out. \2t\fra xxu\ 11
7 7 His mighty strides shall be straitened h , , _14 ; dsoxiv.is.
O J 'a supra v. 14 ; xv.
And his own counsel cast him headlong1. 22,23,30; xx. 26;
o -n i ii -i 1 • r j. I>ror- xm- 9 ! xxiv-
0 1 or he was let loose with a net upon his feet ; X 20 ; supra xi. 17.
Yea, he walketh upon network *. 1 suprcTh. 8—11 ;
9 The ' snare shall take hold upon his heel, vih37i— is"1*/
1 The trap shall prevail against him. 2°; XT- 2°— 35j
^ p. > ¦ zi • 1 XX. 4) — jiy j XXII.
10 8 The noose lieth hid for him on the ground, 19, 20 ; xxvii. 13
e And the gin upon Me path m. ix. 23, 24°mxii. 6°
11 £ On every side n terrors n shall affright him ; 11)' I^15' l7' 18'
Yea, #at his heels, shall they K chase him all about. £ hath become dark.
. . / 8ee (d) an<i (e)-
12 xHis " first-born shall be famished p, a mfra xxix. 3, and
And destruction shall be ready at his side ; 7. [the] steps of his
1 3 He shall p gnaw his body's limbs "— h ^^ 23 . xii-
Yea, he shall /*gnaw his limbs — that "first-born, %'> p.8-?™i- 36;
' to ' Prov. iv. 12; Lam.
doomed to death r. . in- 7, 9.
14 His * confidence § shall be *" uprooted from his vii.i5;ix. i5,&c!
font • ^ suPra viii- 14, 15 ;
lent » »/ra xx. 5, 8 ;
Yea, it shall p bring him to Me king of terrors '. p^-^l1' ^qJ
1 Or, The trap shall seize upon him. See Append. Editor, 1862. , Pr0T- vi- 15> &0-
I supra y. 5.

* Must we, to please thee, in accordance with thy fancy that 5 his noose [is] hid on
thou art very hardly treated, regard the world as deserted by its £ and'his ginf fe.
supreme Ruler ? See infra xxii. 11 — 14, and comp. supra xiv. *» Ps.cxl. 5; ix. 15;
18 J r Gen. xlix. 17, &c.
Z round about.
t He repeats here with emphasis what he had before asserted » ver. 14 ; supra xv.
/•• n, ...s 21,24; infraxxYli.
(in Chap. Vill). 20; xxx. 15.
+ i.e., though he was a free agent, yet there was a net about ij have affrighted.
his feet ready to entangle him, if be chose to leave the path of K acattgr j^
rectitude. \ [the beginning] of
§ i.e., the wicked man's confidence. his mieht'
oExod. iv. 23; xi.5;
xii. 12, 29; Josh. vi. 26; 1 Kings xvi. 34; Mic. vi. 7. p supra xv. 23; Lam. ii. 11, 12, 19,
20, &c. ft eat, devour. q Isa. xlix. 26 ; 2 EjDgs vi. 28, 29. v firstborn of death.
r supra xvii. 16 ; comp. Isa. xiv. 30. s supra viii. 14. it broken away. p make bim
to step. t supra xv. 21 ; infra xx. 25 ; xxvii. 20 ; xxx. 15 ; Ps. lxxiii. 19, &c.
F F 2

436

translation, chaps, xviii. 15 — 21 ; xix. 1 — 5.

a it (i.e., every one
of tbe terrors).
P without [its being]
to bim.
a infra xx. 19.
b Gen. xix. 24 ; Ps.
xi. 6.
c Amos ii. 9.
(Zsapraxv. 30, 32,33.
e infra xx. 9 ; Deut.
xxxii. 26 ; 2 Sam.
xviii. 18 ; Ps.xxxiv.
16 ; cix. 15 ; Isa.
xxvi.14; Jer.xi.19.
y hath perished.
f infra xxx. 8 ; 2
Sam. xiv. 7; Ps.
ix. 5, &c.
8 [shall be] to him.
e on the face of.
Z they shall thrust
bim.
ff supra vers. 5, 6 and
references there.
n they shall remove
him, or cause him
to wander, flee.
9 [shall there be] to
bim.
h supra v. 4 ; Isa.
xiv. 22; Ps. cxxvii.
3 — 5; cxxviii. 3,6.
i infra xx. 26 ; Jer.
xi. 22, 23.
k [the] posterior,
later, ones.
X have been amazed.
p. [last]day, end, fate.
k supra xiv. 6 ; xv.
32, fe.
v [the] anterior,
earlier, ones.
Trtookhold of horror.
I infra xxi. 6 ; Ps.
cxix. 53.
p or, knoweth not.
msupraYiii.22; infra
xx. 29, fe. See su
pra ver. 5 note (e).
<7 till when.
n supra vi. 26 ; xii.
3; xiii. 4, 5, 7; xvi.
2, 3, 20 ; xvii. 2 ;
infra xxi. 3, 34 ;
xxvi. 2 — 4. Comp.
also supra viii. 2 ;
xi. 2 ; xv. 2, 3.
r This.
o Gen. xxxi. 7, 41 ;
Numb. xiv. 22 ;
Zech. viii. 23.
f do ye put me to
the blush.
X ye should behave.
p supra xviii. 5 — 21 ;
m my error, aa i.e.,
gradation, disgrace,

15 "They* shall dwell in his tent — P not, indeed,
his own " -f —
4 Brimstone shall be scattered on his dwelling.
16 c Beneath, shall his roots dry up,
And "above, shall his branch be cutoff*.
17 His e remembrance v shall perish from Me earth,
And rno name 8 shall he have e in Me street.
18 £ He shall be thrust from light into darkness9;
Yea, v removed from Me world.
19 No son 6 shall he have, nor grandson, among his
people *,
Nor any * survivor in his dwellings.
20 * They that come after him x shall be amazed at
his p day *,
As " they, that went before them, * were seized
with horror '.
21 Such, surely, are the dwellings of Me wicked,
And such, Me place of him, that P knew not God m.
CHAPTER XIX.
1 Then Job answered, and said :
2 "¦ How long will ye vex my soul,
And crush me with words n ?
3 T These ° ten times <$> have ye put me to the blush ;
Are ye not ashamed x to behave thus impudently
to me p ?
4 And yet, fif indeed I have erred,
With myself will abide "'the penalty of mine
error.
5 But "" truly ye would magnify yourselves PP above
me,
And yv would bring my disgrace as an argument
against me q.
* i.e., terrors.
t but taken away by violence from its rightful owner.
xv. 2 — 13, fc. Comp. supra xii. 4 ; xvi. 20 ; xvii. 2. if/ have I indeed erred.
the truth, fact, is, ye, fe. jS/3 over me. yy would plead my reproach, de-
against me. q supra iv. 6—8 ; x. 17; xi. 14, 15 ; xvi. 8 ; infra xxii. 23, &C.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XIX. 6  18.

437

6 Know then, that God hath a wronged me ¦*,
And P cast His net around me.
7 Behold ! I 4 cry out, " Wrong c," but I am not
7 heard ;
I cry aloud, but Mere is no justice c.
8 My way hath He * hedged up, that I cannot
pass,
And upon my paths He setteth darkness e.
9 My glory He hath stripped from off me,
And 8 removed Me € crown f from mine head 9.
10 He breaketh me down on every side, so that I
£ pass away ;
And mine * hope hath He removed v like a
tree \
1 1 For, He hath kindled His wrath against me,
And counted me unto Him as one of His
adversaries *.
12 His 'troops come on together,
And 6 raise up their way against me",
And encamp round about my tent.
13 My "brethren hath He "put far K from me,
x And they, that know me, verily are estranged
from me.
14 P~My kinsfolk "have failed me,
And "" mine p acquaintance have forgotten me.
15 The p dwellers in mine house, yea, mine own
maids, account me for a stranger q ;
I am become an qq alien in their eyes.
16 °~ I call to my servant, but he will not an
swer;
With my own mouth must I entreat him.
17 My r breath is become T offensive to my wife,
And so were $ my caresses to xmy chil
dren.*
18 Yea, f 'little-children °> despise me ;
* If I had any. See Comment.
tt my known-ones, those known by me. p Ps. xxxi. 11 ; lxxxviii. 8, 18 ;
&c. p dwellers of mine bouse. q Comp. infra xxx. 1, 9, 10. qq Ps.
r supra xvii. 1. r strange. ip my being affectionate, my affection,
affection, my endearments. % [the] children of my belly, body. ip lit.,
tie children. s infra xxi. 11 ; xxx. 1, 12 ; Lev. xix. 32. m despised.

m perverted me ; i.e.,
wrested my cause.
a supra ix. 17, 22 ;
xxvii. 2, fe.
P hath made His net
to go around uponme.
b infra xxx. 20 ; Lam.
iii. 8, fe.
c supravi. 10, 29,30;
ix. 17, 21, 22, 28,
30, 31 : x. 3, 6, 7,
15 ; xii. 6 ; xiii. 15 ;
xiv. 16, 17; xvi. 17;
infra ver. 29 ; xxiii.
10, 12, 13 ; xxvii. 2,
4—6 ; xxx. 20, 21 ;
xxxi. 5, 6 ; xxxiv. 5.
y answered.
d supra iii. 23 ; xii.
14 ; xiii. 27 ; infra
xxxiii. 11 ; Ps.
lxxxviii. 8 ; Lam.
iii. 7, 9 ; Hos. ii. 6.
e infra xxii. 28 ;
xxix. 3 ; xxx. 26 ;
and Comp. supra
xviii. 5, 6.
8 caused to turnaway .
e crown (diadem)
of my bead.
/ Lam. v. 16.
ff supra ix. 30, 31 ;
xvi. 15 ; infra xxx.
19 ; xxxi. 36 ; Ps.
viii. 5 ; Heb. ii. 9.
Comp. also infra
xxix. 2—25,
Z go, am gone.
h supra vi. 11 ; xiv.
19; xvii. 15.
ti like tbe tree.
i infra xxiv. 20 ;
supra viii. 18, 19 ;
xiv. 7 — 9 ; Isa.
xxx. 17 ' lxv. 22 ;
Ps. xcii. 12, &c.
Ic supra xiii. 24 ;
xvi. 9 ; x. 3, 16, fe.
I supra x. 17 ; xvi.
13 ; vi. 4.
9 have raised.
tn infra xxx. 12 ; Isa.
lvii. 14 ; Ixii. 10 ;
2 Sam. xx. 15; 2
Kings xix. 32 ;
Ezek. iv. 2, fe.
n supra vi. 15 ; Ps.
lxix.8; John vii. 5.
o Ps. lxxxviii. 8, 18.
k from near me, with
me.
X and my knowers.
p. my near-ones,those
near to me.
v have ceased.
Luke xxii. 54 — 62,
lxix. 8. a I called.
i.e., the marks of my
naughty, wicked, lit-

438 TRANSLATION. CHAP. XIX. 19 — 26.
B I d8th.up' k lEven, a when I stand by, P they speak against me.
y men of my counsel. 19 All 7 my familiar friends 8 abhor me,
8 have abhorred. aiitii i ¦
a Ps. xxxviii. n ; And such as 1 loved are turned against me .
« bath dL^d. &C' 20 To my skin> and to my flesh, my bone * cleaveth \
b supraYii.5-, xvii 7; ^nd j am escape(i owfy with Me skin of my teeth.*
infra xxx. 17, 18, r & ^
30; Ps. cii. 5 ; 21 £ Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye
Z pity me. my friends,
c sa^ra i. n, 12 ; ii. For Me hand of God hath smitten me c !
— i4,fe. j'lSam. 22 Why should ye persecute me like Godd?
dl'ufr'a vii. 14,18, * Yea> ' ye seem never to be glutted with my
20; ml7;x.3; flesh ! * +
ra. 27 ; xix. 6 — '
13, fe. 23 Oh that now my words were written down !
¦n ye will not be „. - . , , , . ,
glutted. Oh that they were engraved in ° a book7 !
' xx^CnSixtl 24 That, with a 9 style of iron, and with lead, %
9 the book "^or ever' they were h graven in the rock !
/ Exod. xvii. 14 ; Ps. (These words namely)
xl. 7 ; Jer. xxx. 2, v . .
&e. 25 That I know that my i Redeemer § K liveth,
h Exod.xxviii.9,ii; And that He will x remain Me *last upon Me earth.
iXps°xix.i4™xviii! 26 Yea, even after my skin p'vs, thus pierced',
35 ; ciii. 4; Isa. xli. .
14 • xliii. 14 • xliv. 1 *-*r! possibly, Even when I rise up ; i.e., when I rise up to speak.
6, 23, 24 ; xlvii. 4 ; Comp. infra xxix. 9, 10, 21, 22, where we see that, in tbe days of Job's
xlviii. ¦ 17 ; xlix. 7, prosperity, even nobles and princes had not ventured to speak in his pre-
' . lv.". ' j .' senee, far less to interrupt him. That it was not unusual in those days to
34. rise up to speak may, I think, be inferred from infra xxx. 20 ; xxxiii. 5.
b [is] living. See Appendix. Editor, 1862.
X stand, endure. 2 Or, And why will ye not be satisfied with my flesh ? Editor, 1862.
Ic Isa. xli. 4; xliv. 6;
xlviii. 12. * jyjy gUms al0ne of my whole body, do not cleave to their
u. they have thus , , T , r-™ . .
pierced. bones, my teeth, because I no longer have any. [This is, per-
l supra .ii. 7 ; _vu.5; haps, somewhat far-fetched, but I can suggest nothing better.
' ' ' See Appendix. Editor, 1862.]
f Comp. Ps. xxvii. 2, " When evil-doers approach me to
eat my flesh " (i.e., to glut their hate upon me).
X i.e., engraved with an iron style, and the letters afterwards
filled up with lead.
§ i.e., God. Comp. Ps. xix. 15 (A. V. 14), " 0 Jehovah,
my Rock V^3! and my Redeemer." [In all the passages
quoted in the margin the word Redeemer (or the verb redeem)
indubitably refers to God alone, as in every one of them, but
Ps. lxxviii. 35, He is mentioned by His own peculiar name
Jehovah (A. V. the Lord). In Ps. lxxviii. 35 He is called
7i"i73? 7S Most High God. In Isaiah there is one passage,
viz., Iix. 20, in which the expression the Redeemer is generally
taken to refer to the Messiah. Editor, 1862.

TRANSLATION. CHAPS. XIX. 27 — 29 ; XX. 1, 2. 439
1 <» Still from my flesh, can I see God • : * w Jet- . ., ..
» a Ps. cxxxix. 14— lb j
27 Whom I, for myself, can see, swPra x- 10> n-
• i i i i . a i it. P and not a stranger.
Yea, mine eyes behold, j P and not another " ; b Prov. xxvii. 2.
.For IKm are my reins c consumed 7 within me d. % ° ^ xJer. xi. lo1;
28 But ye say : " What is a persecuted-man to ^t%^l^™.
Hime?V' xxxi. ie.
i 7 m my bosom.
And, s therefore, Me root of Me matter e must be d supra ix. 34, 35 ;
r j • et xiii. 3, 17—24;
found in me el. xxiii. 3-10.
29 £ Be ye afraid of Me sword ', e rfffjZ £"£;
For n furious h are the punishments of Me sword ; xi-6 ; xv.14— 16 ¦,
. , infra xxii. 2, 3 ;
6 Therefore, should ye know, that there is a iudg- xxv. 4—6 ; xxxiv.
i. i u 10—12.
ment . |j e g0 [the] root of
[the] matter, fe.
£ was found.
nXT A 'D'T'171? VV f infra xxxii. 3, 13.
UMArlJirt A A. £Be ye afraid for
1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite and said: [the] fecefof (from
2 For this, do my thoughts impel me to answer, ^ffiSS Deut. xxxii. 41
1 Chron. xxi. 12 ,
1 Or, Still from my flesh shall I see God : Isa. ixvi. 16 • Jer.
Whom I for myself shall see, &c. xlvii. 6 ; Ezek. xxi
3  5
i.e., Notwithstanding the deplorable condition to which I am reduced by -y
my disease, I feel confident that I shall yet live to see God, yea, behold % i8a. ]jx. 18.
Him face to face, and then I shall learn from His own mouth, and not 9 Or, So that ye
through you, wherefore He contendeth with me. Comp. supra vii. 21 ; should know, bear
ix. 11, 32—35 ; x. 2 ; xin. 3, 17—24; xiv. 14, 15 ; infra xix. 29 ; xxui. . ^^"xii. 3 ; xlii.
3 — 9 ; xxxi. 35 ; xxxiii. 6 : and see Appendix. Editor, 1862. 7 . ps. cxixw 120 •

Ezek. xi. 8, 9.

* Even the flesh, which is visible through tbe holes
in my skin — disgusting as it is, is so wonderfully wrought,
that I see it must be God, who made it. [Or, Notwithstanding
this tattered and, as it were, moth-eaten skin {supra xiii. 28),
my body is still so fearfully and wonderfully made (Ps. cxxxix.
14), that I cannot help recognising therein tbe handiwork of
God. Editor, 1862.]
X Without needing the eyes of another to see Him for me,
without having Him preached to me by others.
{ I intensely long for Him. [The reins are here supposed to
be tbe seat of intense feeling. With equal inexactness the
heart is still described as the abode of violent emotions and
passions. See marg. ref. Editor, 1862.]
§ i.e., what pleasure can God have in seeing a man
persecuted ?
|| i.e., that ye will be called to account for imputing to a
fellow creature crimes, of wbich he is innocent.

440

TRANSLATION.

CHAP. XX. 3  14.

ft) my hasting.
P correction of my
shame.
a supra xii. 2 — 6 ;
xiii. 2—4, 7—13 ;
xvi. 2,4, 5,11,20;
xvii. 2 — 10 ; xix.
2—5, 13, 14, 19,
21, 22, 28, 29.
y spirit from my
understanding.
8 from eternity.
£ from [the] placing
of man.
Z triumphant-Bbout of.
¦q from near.
9 till a moment.
b supra viii. 11 — 15 ;
xv. 29—33 ; infra
Xxi. 18 ; xxvii. 18
—21.
k touch, attain unto.
X cloud.
c Obad. vers. 3, 4.
d Ps. lxxxiii. 10 ; '
Jer. xvi. 4, fe.
e Isa. xiv. 11 — 17.
p. those seeing bim,
his seers.
/Ps. lxxiii. 20; Isa.
xxix. 7, 8.
v and they shall not
find him.
it Bhall be made to
wander.
g supra ix. 23 ; ver.
5 ; infra xxi. 13,
18; Ps. xxxvii. 36;
xlix. 11, 12.
p shall not add [to
see him] ; or [the]
eye hath seen him,
and shall see him
no more.
h supra vii. 8.
a not Btill, again.
i supra vii. 1 0 ; viii.
18 ; Ps. ciii. 16.
r conciliate.
v cause to return.
f his substance. .
k infra vers. 15, 18.
X bones (see supra
vii. 15).
Ictc infra xxi. 26.
i\i upon.
I infra xxi. 23 ; Ps.
xxxiii. 16.
m Prov. ix. 17.
n Ps. x. 7 ; Cant. iv.
11.
a and leave it not.
P in [the] midst of
his palate.

And, on this account, is a mine haste in me ;
3 I must hear P rebuke intended for my shame";
Therefore, doth Me 7 spirit of mine under
standing cause me to answer.
4 Knowest thou not this 8 from of old,*
e From Me time that man was placed upon Me
earth,*
5 That Me £ triumphing of Me wicked is v of
recent date,
And Me joy of Me hypocrite but & for a moment h ?
6 Though his excellency mount up unto the
heavens,
And his head K reach up unto the x clouds ",
7 Yet, like his own * dung, for ever shall he
perish " ;
p They, that saw him, shall say ; " Where is
he?"
8 Like a / dream shall he fly away, " and not be
found ;
Yea, he "" shall be chased away, as a vision of
Me night 9.
9 The eye, which saw him, p shall see him no more *,
And °" no more shall his place behold him \
10 His children shall Tpay court unto Me poor,
Or his own hands must v restore 0 their sub
stance *.
11 Though his xlimbs are full-of his youthful- vigour,
Yet with him shall it **lie down ^in Me dust'.
12 Though wickedness be so m sweet in his mouth,
That he hideth it under his tongue n ; \
13 Though he spare it, a and let it not go,
But keep it back P within his palate ;
14 Yet, his meat, J in his bowels, is changed;
* i.e., from the history of olden times ; from the history of
man since his creation.
f As though it were some dainty morsel.
X i.e., this meat of his, bis wickedness, which is to him as
meat, yea, as dainty meat.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XX. 15 — 25. 441
» Gall of asps it becometh P within him ". " bmterhiT' inward-
15 He swallowed down wealth, 7 but shall 4 vomit it parts.
a Rev. x. 9, 10;
Up again ; Ezek. ii. 10 ; iii. 3.
From his belly 8 shall God drive it out. * SUt!
16 e It was c gall of asps he was sucking ; b p"P; xxiii 8 .
As the viper's tongue shall it slay him. xxv. 16.
1B ,„ i ii i i n i S or, God driveth it
17 CHe shall look upon no floods, no rivers, nor out.
i_i/.ji j-iic £ lit-, he sucketh
brooks, of honey and milk e. (au;ked) gaU of
18 n He shall restore that, for which he laboured, SS^*^^'
and shall not swallow it down f ; bim.
As Me wealth that he robbed, so shall be vn its re- z he shall not iook
stitution^, and he shall not rejoice therein. ^rs 0f— 'brooks
19 Because he crushed, he abandoned Me poor4, dtt^l^^'
And violently-took away an house, 6 which he e»/raxxi.24; xxix.
•'. . J 6; Exod. m.8, fe.
did not build * ; v causing to return.
20 Because he Kknew no quiet in his x inward 17. 'tnfra'Kl'
„„vi ii , tin or, his restitution.
pares , g Bxod ^ 4.
Therefore, shall he not p escape " with that Lev. **. 4> &c- ;
which he delighted in. hinfraxxn. 5— 7,9;
21 No remnant was there n from his meal*,* 16, 19, &c. '
Therefore his prosperity shall not endure '. 9 *tnd doth not buM
22 In Me fulness of his p abundance °- shall he be »' Deut- s*™1- 30 ;
Isa. Ixv. 21, 22.
put tO Straits ; k knew not.
T Every plague of the wretched -j- shall come a stpla iii. 17 ; xv.
rmnn him 20 ; Prov. iv. 16.
upon mm. M de]iver [hiinselfj.
23 He will be about to fill his belly m, v Y^f df^-
. tr to his food.
When v God shall send $His burning wrath * infra xxxi. 17 ;
. . xxiv. 10, 11 ; Luke
upon him " ; xvi. 21.
Yea, He will " rain it down x upon him at his l ^"loSi! fe™'
¦^meal^. p sufficiency.
<r shall it be narrow
24 He may flee from Me iron weapon, to bim.
t> 7i r i -n -ii- i ij. T Every blow, stroke,
But the bow of brass will u strike him through. J plague, of a miser-
25 This Pmay be drawn, and come out of his body, m~Sumh.xi.%3^av v He.
* i.e., for the poor. Comp. Chap.'xxxi. 17. f [the] burning of
t i.e., every plague that can make man wretched, or from n 3^ ra*x';j 31 .
which a wretched man can suffer. Mai. iv. 1.
t i.e., with its arrow. ° Ps- xi: f » Ezet-
* ' xxxvm. 22.
X upon them, i^food. pFa. lxxviii. 30,31. a pass through, traverse, him. (3 hath one drawn, (i.e.
if one hath drawn [it], so that it is gone out of [his] body = if it (this) be drawn and come out, &c.

442 TRANSLATION. CHAPS. XX. 26 — 29 ; XXI. 1 — 4.
ip lightning. Yea, Me ^glittering-arrow — from his gall ;
a supra xv. 21 ; ' b ° . .
xviii. n, 14; xxvii. Then, other terrors" will come on him.
&0' ' 26 a Every kind of darkness4 is laid up for his
^aia^688'1'6-' hidden-treasures';
b supra xviii. 5, 6, j± nre p not fanned * # shall devour him ';
and reterences
there. He shall fare ill 7 that is left in his tent7.
c supra Y. 5 ; xv. 29 ; „ _,, . in i i • • • -,
»/»-axxvii.i6,i7; 27 lhe heavens shall re veal his iniquity,
3^CXT" 13 ; XTU- Yea, Me 9 earth e riseth up against him.
p [which] was not 28 The increase of his house shall depart,
blown, lannea. r '
d Ezek. xxii. 20, 21. Flowiner-away in Me day of His wrath.
e Ps. xxi. 9 • Isa.
xxvi. ii. ' 29 Such is the portion of Me wicked-man from God,
7 ing? °ne remam" And e Me heritage appointed unto him by God *.
/ supra xviii. 19 ; xx.
SMl^1 5; CHAPTER XXI.
8 [is] raising itself 1 But Job answered, and said :
£ [Uth'e]Tentage of 2 Hear ye attentively my speech \
^sentence from An(j lefc fa^ be JQm consolati0nS * ! |
h infra xxjii. 13. 3 Bear with me, and let me speak ;
i supra xiii. 6,17, fe. ai^-piti i
h supra xiii. 4, 5; And, £ after that I have spoken, v may ye mock
xvi. 2, 3 ; xix. 2, 3,
fe. ; infra ver. 34. On .
^mSesarmocf! 4 ' As for me, *»« my complaint of any other
l supra xii. 4 ; xvi. man m 1 f
10, 20 ; xvii. 2. ' +
e [was] my com- « Why, then, x may I not well lose patience " ?
plaint in respect
to.
m supra ix. 22—24 ; 1 0r (a3 formerly explained by Dr. Bernard),
xii. 6. As for me, was my complaint of man ?
k or, and if [so] why ... , . . , , . T
mav I not fe. ? 1-e-» °^ a bemg weak and ignorant, who might do me injustice — no, I com-
\ may not my spirit plained of an all-perfect Being, God, who knoweth me to be innocent, yet
be short. treateth me as though I were guilty. See note on supra xii. 7, p. 421, and
n supra xYii.2; xix. see ^/ra Ter. 34 Appendix. Editor, 1862.
Wj Oy <XC. * i.e., a fire that requires no fanning ; a fire sent from
heaven. t Ye have so entirely failed to console me, ye have proved
such miserable comforters, ye so vex and crush me with your
words, that I implore you to grant me the consolation of your
silence, and to suffer me to find ease in giving vent to my grief.
See infra ver. 34. Editor, 1862.
X Did I broach the subject of the fate of the wicked man ?
No, I have complained only of my own fate. May I not then
well lose patience, when I hear you continually harping on a
subject which you have only introduced for my annoyance ?

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXI. 5 — 16. 443
5 ""Look on me, and be amazed a ! w tumto- ..
a supra xvii. 8.
Yea, lay your hand upon your mouth 4 ! s infra xxix. 9; xl.
6 £ Verily, when I think on it,c * 7 I am con- p so, if°(when)' 1
fnnnrlpd have remembered,
1UUI1UKU, remember.
8 And shuddering taketh hold upon my flesh d. c P8*1"-^ cxxxvii.
7 Wherefore do Me wicked live e ? y then 1 am con-
They e become old, yea, £ wax mighty in power f; 8 andm/flesh taketh
hold on shudder
ing.

8 Their seed is established before them, yea, with

them ^ supra xviii. 20 ;
' Ps. cxix. 53.
And their offspring v before their eyes 9. « Jer. xii. 1, 2.
n mi ' 1 • h • 1 r £ have become old.
9 I heir houses are in peace*, without fear, ghavewaxed mighty.
Neither is the rod of God upon them. xflt / Chap^xxiv!
10 0 Their bull gendereth, and "faileth not ; " at the5r %?• ...
o ' 9 supra xx. 26 ; xviu.
x Their cow p calveth, and " casteth-not-her-calf \ i2> 13> i?. ; T- 4 ;
11 They send forth their "'little-children Plike a % supra xviii. i5;
n i viii. 15 ; V. 24 ;
nOCK > «»/>•» xxvii. 18.
Yea, their children frisk-about * ; e h™*^ ; ie" the
' ' bull ol every one
12 They take-up Me tabret and harp ', of them.
, | . . ic7i K eauseth not to
And rejoice at Me sound of Me lute. reject.
13 They * spend their days in prosperity, coV of 'every one
And in a moment are crushed down into the oith^-
p, causeth to escape,
grave m. -f releaseth, deliver-
i a mi i /-i i -r-k « e^ herself, or ber
14 T. Iherefore they say unto God: "Depart from young.
„ v abortetb not.
us s i Gen. xxxi. 8, 9 ;
« • For we desire not to know Thy ways ; w »f «*• ^
15 "What is the Almighty, that we should serve 1?1mld,ren- ,
° J p like the flock.
Him " ? A: Ps. xxix. 6 ; cxiv.4.
" And 4> what profit p could we have, if we lxxxi™ isa, v
should x pray unto Him ? RSSfifil
/m ii • -ii n a wear away, con-
(To this ye will say) sume.
16 " Lo, their prosperity is not in their own ms£ff_ 15^x^29^!
linnrl 8 " 33; xx. 5— 8; xxiv.
Uana " 19; xxvii. 18— 21.
r So they have said.
* When I think of, recall, your cruel and perfidious behaviour5 n infra xxii. 17.
and the manner in which I, an innocent man, am treated by God. " fff®' ®;6m? a„'
' * \J o lAJJiiXj Xl. JLX \ j/tb*
X i.e., without illness or pain. See Comment., note, on Chap, fra xxii. il— 14 ;
ix. 23. Exod. v. 2; Ps.x.
11 ; lxxiii. 11, fe.
$ what could we
pinfraxxii.2,3; xxxiv. 9 ; xxxv. 3; xxxi. 2; ix. 22, &c. % entreat Him. profit?
2 supra viii. 11—15 ; xv. 29, 30 ; xxvii. 18—20, fe.

444 TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXI. 17 — 23.
Indeed, the counsel of Me wicked is far from
a infra xxii. 18. me. " *
b supra xviii. 5, 6 ; 17 How oft is it, I ask, that the h lamp of Me wicked
xx. 26, and refer
ences there. IS put OUt,
And that their calamity cometh upon them,
Even the sorrows He-|* distributeth in His
anger ?
c Exod. xv. 7; Ps. 18 That they are as " stubble before Me "blast,
lxxxiii. 13 ; Isa.
xl. 24. And as chaff, that P the whirlwind snatcheth
a wind. d ,,
P [tbe] whirlwind away ?
St^?*1" 19 X " But God layeth UP His affliction for his
d Ps. i. 4 ; xxxv. 5 ; children e."
Hos. xiii. 3.
e supra y. 4 ; xviii. 8 Him himself should He ee requite, that he
12,13,16,17,19; ° -i^i Tr- i,
xx. 26 : xxvii. 14. might know 77 Him. h

xx. 26 ; xxvii. 14.
15 ; Exod. xx. 5
comp. supra xxi.

20 His own eyes should see his calamity,

s.> n- . ,, And of Me wrath of Me Almighty he should
ee mfra xxxiv. 11. . ° J
yy or it. drink.
y what [is] his con- 21 For 7 what concern hath he in his house after
cern ? .
/ supra ix. 23; xxi. him/,
references there. And when Me "number of his months 8is cut
g supra xiv. 5. „ XV <}
8 are cut off.
£ to God. 22 ^1 " Shall one teach f God knowledge *,
h supra iv. 17 ; rai. ' . .
3;xi. 6— 9; xv. "Seeing He judgeth £ those that are on
8, 14; xxv. 4— 6; , . , i y ,,
xxxiii. 12 ; xxxiv. Ulgn .
Rom1^!3' 14i 23 ** ' The one tt dieth in 6 the very perfection of
Z high-ones. his strength,
i supra iv. 18 ; xv. i iT
is ; mfra xxv. 5. Being K wholly at ease and quiet * ;
tj this.
9 substance, essence,
of bis [bodily] per
fection, his very * I only tell you what they really do say, I do not pretend to
K ahof tim.' exPlain wh? they sa7 so-
h supra ver. 13 ; ix. -j- i.e., God.
23; infra xxiv. j A second objection made by the friends.
§ But this does not satisfy me. The wicked-man should
himself reap the fruits of his wickedness.
|| Know Him, i.e., acknowledge, recognise Him, know that
there is a God who punishes the wicked, and recognise in his
own sufferings the hand of God. Editor, 1862.
It A third objection on the part of Job's friends.
** But here are facts, which confute your argument.
tt i.e., the wicked-man.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXI. 24  30. 445
24 His vessels ^are-full-of milk ", + £aTe b?.en {u„u of-
' a Gen. xlix. 12.
And Me marrow of his bones <° is moistened 4. <« » made to drink,
T i i sti-io-i- r i 's watered.
25 But a the other * dieth Pin bitterness of soul c, 4 Prov. iii. 8; infra
rFor never had he tasted pleasure''. xh?30; xvii. 22 j
26 Yet alike they lie down 8 in Me dust, this1*™' 3' 4'
And Me worm "covereth them. P with bitter soul.
T . . c supra iii. 20 ; ix.
27 Lo ! 1 know your thoughts, is, 23.
And Me devices € ye wrongfully-imagine r eatenSof good.110'
against me. d sup™ ix; 25 •• Ps-
o xxxiv. 12.
28 For ye say : " Where is the house of Me noble- s <m [the] dust.
• e ™fra xxiv. 20 ;
minded s\ isa. xiv. 11 ; cf.
" And where Me tent, Me habitations, of Me £ yT^wrongfuiiy-
WlCHeU . J f supra h. 7; v. 24,
29 But, have ye « never asked of £ them that pass &0-
J ff supra vm. 15, 22 ;
by Me way ? J xviii. 15 ; xxvii.
(v Only that, which they have noted, ye must ££ no't. °'
not 0 deny); 2 passers-on [the]
„, .„ ... h Ps. lxxx. 12 ;
They will tell you kxxix 41 . Lam'
30 That, in Me day of calamity, Me wicked is n but their markB.

spared,

9 ignore.
b withholden.

Even x in Me day, when wrath is brought-on '. x at Cthe] ,day ,of
' ° wraths are brought
on.
. . , , i supra ix. 22 — 24 ;
* i.e., the good man. xii. 6. 0nap. xxiv.
t i.e., a man can never affirm with certainty of any house,
that it harbours a good or a wicked man, whereby Job of
course means, that his friends would insinuate, that with
respect to his own dwelling, no one could say to which class its
proprietor belonged. [But surely we may interpret these words
both somewhat more and somewhat less literally, and under
stand them to refer to what has been constantly asserted by
Job's three friends, that, namely, the house of the righteous is
built upon a rock, whilst the tent of the wicked stands upon the
sand. Comp. supra iv. 7 ; v. 24 ; viii. 15, 22 ; xviii. 15 ; xxvii. 18 ;
Prov. xii. 7; xiv. 11. House and tent will then be used fig.
(as they very frequently are) for their respective owners, with
all that belongs and appertains to them (comp. 2 Sam. iii. 1) ;
whilst the "thoughts" and "devices" of Job's friends will
refer to the inference which they wished to be drawn from
their assertions, that, namely, as Job's house had not stood, he
must be a wicked man. Editor, 1862.]
X i.e, men of much travel, great travellers.

446

TRANSLATION. CHAPS. XXI. 31  34; XXII. 1 — 6.

a supra i. 11 ; ii. 5.
in And hath he done,
if he hath done.
P repay to him.
y to [the] graves.
8 brought.
t Bhock.
Z sweet. ..have been.
b infra xxiv. 20 ;
supra xvii. 14.
t) every man.
9 draw.
f no number.
c supra xiii. 4 ; xvi.
2 ; ver. 2, fe.
X remained a fallacy,
deceit, treachery.
d supra vi. 6, 7, 25 ;
xii. 4, 5 ; xiii. 2, 4,
5 ; xvi. 2, 3 ; xix
2, 28, 29 ; xxxii
11, 12 ; xlii. 7.
e supra xxi. 15
infra xxxiv. 9
xxxv. 3, 6, 7 ; Ps
xvi. 2 ; supra vii
20; ix. 22; x. 3,
7,&c.
p, to themselves.
f infra xxxv. 8.
v understanding-
man.
¦x [Is any] concern,
interest, to [tbe]
Almighty, that
thou art, fe.?
ff infra xxxv. 6, 7.
p from thy fear.
h supra ix. 32.

i infra xxiv. 3, 9 ;
Exod. xxii. 26, 27;
Deut. xxiv. 12, 13,
17.
k infra xxxi. 19, 20.

31 Who will declare his way * " before his face ?
°> And when he hath done amiss, who will P re
quite him ?
32 Yea, even vto Me burying-place will he be
8 borne
Honoured, as when he watched over his corn-
e shocks, -j-
33 £ Sweet unto him are Me clods of Me valley, 4 J
Seeing that, after him, § v all men will 6 move-on,
And before him, men K without number.
34 How then can ye " comfort me with that, which
is vain,
Seeing that your answers all prove x deceitful * ?
CHAPTER XXII.
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, and said :
2 Can a man be profitable unto God e 1
m Himself ', surely, doth Me " wise-man profit.
3 *" Hath Me Almighty any advantage, if thou art
righteous,
Or any gain, if thou makest thy ways
perfect * ?
4 P Through awe of thee, will He reason with
thee ",
And enter with thee into judgment? saying,
5 " Is not thy wickedness great ?
" Yea, Mere is no end to thine iniquities.
6 " For thou didst take pledges ' of thy
brethren for nought,
" And didst strip off Me garments of the
naked *. ||
* i.e., his course of life. Who dares reproach him with it ?
t i.e., When he thinks of his death, he will revel, by antici
pation, in the honours which will then be paid to him.
X i.e., in order, namely, that no poor man should glean.
§ i.e., after his coffin or bier ; i.e., will follow him to the grave.
|| i.e., thou strippedst off men's garments, so as to leave them
naked.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXII. 7 — 16. 447
7 " ^Thou gavest no water to Me weary to ^ th?u *dn8t not
° J make [the] weary
drink a, to drink water.
"And from Me hungry thou withheldest Matt.' xxv. 42.
1 it b infra xxiv. 5, 6, 10,
DreaCl • 11 ; xxxi. 17.
8 " <° ("As though Me P mighty man alone °> ?'> s,f kg that [m
» ° ° J thy thoughts the]
7 possessed the earth0, mighty man, &c.
A17. „ .. 1117 P man of arm.
" And Me ° man ot authority should alone y to him [was, be-
dwell -therein). J^IL*.
9 " d Widows thou didst send empty away, s ?leTated of coun-
£ J •> ' tenance.
" That Me arms of Me * fatherless £ might E init-
d infra xxiv. 3, 9 ;
be crushed e. xxxi. 16— is, 21,
10 " Therefore were there round about thee r might° [every one]
Snares f, be crushed.
' e supra iv. 3 ; infra
" And v sudden 9 terror * confounded thee." xxxviii. 15 ; pB. x.
15 ; xxxvii. 17 ;
11 Or, canst thou not see * for the darkness, Ezek. xxx. 21, 22,
And abundance of water, which e ave above Hos. vii.'is. °mp'
tVlOO ? * / suPra v- 5 s XTm-
tut!t! • 8—10, &c.
12 Is not God in the height of heaven? v ^ar of suddenly,
0 coming on sud-
Yea, behold Me K summit of Me stars, x how deniy.
i - 1 ,1 .• 1 ff Prov. iii. 25 ; vi.
high they are ! 15 ; 1 Thess. v. 3.
13 And so, perchance, thou sayest: "How Pcan hfflrlfx\\S2%
God know * ? . P8- lxff- 19' &c-'
9 covereth thee.
" Can He judge through Me thick-darkness ? « head.
, . mi • i ; i i • tt- ., lTT ^ that they are high.
14 " I hick ' clouds are a v covering to Him, that He »• infra xxxv. 5 ; isa.
xl. 26.
cannot see ; F hath God inowr).
"Yea, in the circuit of heaven only doth He k sffa 1X- u'^
' *> 24 ; xv. 12 ; xvm.
walk." + ¦ 4 > *K/™ sxii'. 8,
7 i r> i i 9 ; xxiv. 1 ; Ps. x.
15 What! Dost thou keep-to Ma? track ot old, 11 ; lxxiii. 11 ;
Which «¦ wicked men m have trodden, 26,27 ; Ezek! vm!
16 Who p withered in death °" before Meir time " ? , H^1 ^ 9 . ,
Kings viii. 12 ;
1 Or (as formerly explained by Dr. Bernard), Ps. xcvii. 2.
Or is there darkness that thou canst not see, " concealment, hi-
And doth the abundance of water cover thee ? * '¦ i j
¦k men ot wicked-
See Appendix. Editor, 1862. ne8S.
m Gen. vi. 5, 11 —
* Canst thou not see that there is a God, canst thou not 13.
believe in God's Providence, on account of the dark and rain- ^IXli^sra)!
fraught clouds, which intervene between thee and heaven ? a when [it is] not
t i-e., He confines His attention to heavenly Beings only, as n &™e-vii 2i_23
alone worthy of His care.

448 TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXII. 17 — 23.
id [like] a river, 1 Indeed, a like an overflowing river were their
[which] should be „ . . ,
poured out. P principles.*
P foundation, prin- ^ y Which gaid untQ Go(J . „ . Depart from US ! "
y who [were] saying. " But," thou wilt ask, "What doeth Me
a supra xxi. 14. '
Almighty unto them,-]-
18 " Seeing He hath filled their houses with. good
b supra xii. 6 ; xxi. things 4 ? "
c supra xxi. 16. Indeed, Me counsel of Me wicked is far from me c. J
8 that they may re- 19 2 But Me righteous shall see 8 they have reason
joice. . .
d Ps. xxxiv. 2; cvii. to rejoice , §
Comp. pL iviii. io! And Me innocent shall € laugh them to scorn %
:r^tTu. 4 «w«9,
Comp. supra xu. 20 " Surely our substance hath not been destroyed,
Z eaten up, devoured. "Whereas fire hath £ consumed their abun-
/Exod. xi. 5—7; dance7." ||
2i— 23', &c.' 21 Acquaint now thyself with Him; v so shalt thou
ti and prosper. rirnsnpr 9 ¦
gsupraix.4,. ^ piOSper ,
Yea, by these things^ shall good come unto thee:
22 Receive, 6 1 pray thee, Me law from His mouth,
k put. And K lay up His * words in thine heart.
h supra vi. 10 ; infra T„ . .. -, i, ,1 .^7*1
xxiii. 12; Ps. cxix. 23 It thou wilt return A altogether unto Me AI-
xluP to, dose up to, mighty \ thou shalt be built up *, 
right up to.
i supra v. 8, 17 ; viii.
5 ; xi. 13. 1 Or, p Whose principles were like an overflowing river ; or,
Ic supra xii. 14. Seeing their foundation was as a rushing stream ;
p, lit. their principle g0 tnat it bore them away with it to destruction, and will bear away all who
tread in their footsteps. Editor, 1862.
2 Or, But the righteous shall see it, and rejoice. Editor, 1862.
* There is something so irresistible, so entrainant in their
doctrines, that they very likely have hurried thee away. [See
supra xv. 12. Editor, 1862.]
t i.e., What doth He do to them, that they should rebel
against Him.
X I cannot account for their rebellion, for I hold no com
munion with them ; all that I know is, that they do rebel.
§ i.e., that they were not drawn into the vortex of their
(i.e., these wicked men's) principles.
|| i.e., the abundance of the wicked.
If By tbe things which I am about to recommend to thee, by
the course of conduct which I am about to lay down for thee.
Editor, 1862.

0 now.

[was].

TRANSLATION. CHAPS. XXII. 24 — 30 ; XXIII. 1 — 2. 449
If thou wilt but °> remove iniquity far from thy wmake......tobefar.
J n. j j a supraYm.o; xi. 14.
tents ". P put.
24 Yea, P regard gold PP as dust 4, dust."
Even^foe gold of c Ophir, as Me r pebbles of Me x^l il"':ua!xui!
brooks4; ^A^Vt™
' xxm. 4, 5 ; 1 Tim.
25 And let Me Almighty be 8 thy gold *, *>¦ 9. 10, 17, fe.
° „ ° c infra xxviii. 16 ;
And His might, ethy silver. 1 Kings ix. 28 ; 1
26 "Then, surely, shalt thou delight thyself fin Ps.^iv.™ isa!
Me Almighty7, yTk.sLejebble.
And shalt 9 lift up thy face unto God, « % s°lds (trea-
27 Thou wilt pray unto Him, and He shall hear d isa. xxxiii. 6 ;
, h _ Matt. vi. 19, 20, fe.
tnee ; e silver to thee.
And so thou wilt perform thy vows '. * e Xe.YaiTl •
28 And when thou shalt decree a thing, then it „ xi- 15— 19- t „
° 5 on, on account of,
shall be established unto thee *, or, with.
¦\r v u i n i • i it. f infra xxvii. 10;
lea, light v shall shine upon thy ways. xxxiv. 9 ; Ps.cxix.
29 wWhen men are abased, w?thou wilt say: " It g supra x. 15 ; xi.
is pride m ! " + 11.5i,Gen-iv'.^ ^ &o.
r 1 A arefras xxxm. 26 ;
" Seeing that one 6 of humble " spirit could have «w ™- 8 ; ix. 16 ;
D r x. 20; xiv. 13; xvi.
saved Mem all. t 21 ; xix. 7 ; m/ra
on T7- i o i xxiii. 3 ; xKi. 8 ;
30 " Yea heo could have delivered even him, that isa.ixv. 24 ; Mark
•i.i „ xi. 23,24.
was not "guiltless " ; i ps. xxii. 25 ; Prov.
And so shall he be delivered also by Me purity & mpra ' xvii 11 ¦
ofthinehands.^1 , Sft^S
CHAPTER XXIII. Z7x|3ti^
1 Then Job answered, and said : ,,/when they have
2 Will to-day too my * complaint be rebellion " ? 1B°^eer8e]d [them_
My stroke * is heavier than my groaning *.f[ w? then thou hast
89.10., 8£ITCSij.
* i.e., All thy wishes will be accomplished. m Vx0Y- XJ,1- , 18J
+ • t-i- -ii -. . • xxix. 23 ; Jrs. Ixxiu.
i.e., It is their pride has caused their ruin, 6, &c.
X i.e., by praying and interceding for them. e low of , eyes> of
o • . , , , , . ., _ '' humble looks.
S i.e., the humble-minded man. „ i„fra xl. 4 , xlii. 4,
|| i.e., the one, who is not guiltless, shall be delivered by thy 6, 8 ; 2 Chron.
merit. xxxiT' 27^ j *?' -
17; exxxi.l; Prov.
% Will my complaints be considered by my friends as re- xxx. 13; Isa. ii. 11,
bellion against God ? But, I groan far less than my sufferings oJ«/r°xexxiii.23,24;
would warrant me in doing. Gen. xx. 17, fe.
p infra xlii. 8. q su-
pra vii. 11 ; x. 1 ; xiii. 13—15, fe. r supra xxii. 2—4, 13—17 ; xix. 7 ; ix. 17, 22, 24 ; infra xxiv.
1 ; xxvii. 2 ; xxxii. 2, fe. X hath been heavy over, beyond, my groaning. * supra vi. 3 ; iii. 24, fe.
G G

450

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXIII. 3 — 12.

a supra ix. 11, 19 ;
x. 16 ; xiii. 3, 19 ;
xix. 26 ; xxxi. 35
—37, &c.
b supraxiii. 18 ; infra
xxxiii. 5.
c supra ix. 3, 32 ;
xiii. 22, fe.

d suprax. 2 ; xiii. 23 ;
comp. vi. 24.
e supra ix. 4, 19 ; xii.
13, 16 ; xxxvi. 5 ;
Dan. ii. 20.
a would set [His
heart] upon me.
B [might the] up
right [be] arguing.
/ supra xiii. 16.
y I should escape.
g supra vi. 24, 29,
30; ix. 20, 21,35;
x. 7 ; xi. 4 ; xiii.
15 ; xvi. 17 ; xix.
6, 7 ; infra vers.
10—12; xxvii. 5,
6 ; chap. xxxi.
passim.
8 forwards.
£ backwards.
Z on His working.
n left.
9 then I cannot.
k right.
h supra ix. 11 ; xxii.
13, 14 ; Ps. cxxxix.
5—12.
i supra x. 7.
X [the] way with me.
p as the gold.
k see references ver.
lis)-
v seized hold on.
n- step.
I supra'ix. 35 ; xiii.
15 ; xxvii. 5, 6; Ps.
cxix. 4, and passim.
p by reason of my
law.
»» Ps. xxxix. 1 ; cxix.
106, fe.
n supra xxii. 22 ; vi.
10 ; Ps. cxix. 11.

3 Oh that I knew, where I might find Him " !
That I might come even to His seat ! "
4 I would 4 order my cause before Him,
And fill my mouth with arguments"'.
5 Then, should I know Me words He would
answer me,
And understand what He would say unto me d.
6 Would He contend with me with Me greatness
of His power e ?
No ! but He a would give heed unto me.
7 1 There P might Me f upright argue with Him ;
So should 7 1 free myself for ever from my judge".
8 Behold, I go 8 Eastward, and He is not Mere ;
And e Westward, but I cannot perceive Him ;
9 2 £ When He worketh in the n North, e I cannot
behold Him ;
He veileth Himself in the K South, and I cannot
see Himh.
10 Surely, had He but l * known x Me way, which
was mine,
Had He but tried me, I should have come forth
p as gold *,
1 1 My foot hath v held fast His "" steps,
His way have I kept, and not declined -j- ;
12 The commandment of His lips also, and have
not gone back from it1 ;
p By reason of Me law I made me m, laid I up
Me " words of His mouth.
1 Or, There doth the upright argue with Him ; i.e., the upright (but tbe
upright only) are allowed to come before Him (see supra xin. 16), and plead
their causes ; I am upright, and, therefore, if I could but find my way to
His judgment seat, He could not refuse to hear me, although He now hideth
himself from me. Editor, 1862.
2 Or, Northward, when He worketh, but I cannot behold Him.
* i.e., turned his attention to, considered, noticed, examined.
—Editor, 1862.
t I have put and not declined, because I find it in the Auth.
Vers., and because it sounds well ; else and I have not declined
from it would certainly be more correct, as we do not say to
decline a way. — Editor, 1862.

TRANSLATION. CHAPS. XXIII. 13 — 17; XXIV. 1  4. 451

13 But He is ^ without His like* — who then can
<° hinder Him y ?
So what His soul a willed He hath done *,*
14 Surely, He will P accomplish 7 that, which is
decreed for me ; a
Yea, 8 many such things h may there be with
Him.f
15 Therefore, am I confounded before Him ;
88 When I consider this, J I am in dread of
Him b.
16 But it is God who hath made e faint my heart5,
Yea, Me Almighty hath confounded me ;
17 Because I was not cut off £ before Mis darkness d
came,
When He i would have hid from me this
gloom *. CHAPTER XXIV.
1 'Why is it thus? 6 Events are not hidden from
Me Almighty \
Yet Kthey, that love Him, x do not see His
days f. §
2 .Here, xx men || remove landmarks 9;
There, p seize upon an herd, and » feed it ;
3 "¦ Some drive away Me ass of Me * ^[ father
less;
And take Me * ^[ widow's ox for a pledge ;
4 p Others turn Me needy out of Me way ;
Yea, Me poor of Me earth are °" altogether hid \
1 Or, perhaps; Why, if events are not hidden from the Almighty,
Yet, do they that love Him, not see His days ?
See Appendix. Editor, 1862.
* Unto me.
t Laid up for me.
{ That still greater calamities may befall me.
§ i.e., His days of retribution.
|| i.e., the wicked.
% i.e., the defenceless and destitute,
p they turn. a were, have been, hidden. i infra xxix. 8 ; xxx. 5, 6 ;
gg2

i/> one, unique.
x Deut. iv. 35, 39 ;
xxxii. 39 ; 1 Sam.
ii. 2 ; Isa. xliv. 6 ;
xlv. 22.
m cause him to turn
back.
y supra ix. 12 ; xi.
10 ; xii. 14 ; Isa.
xliii. 13 ; Dan. iv.
35, fe.
a so His soul desired
and He did.
z Ps. cxv. 3 ; cxxxv.
6.
P make complete.
y my decree.
a supra ix. 28.
8 many things Hke
these.
b supra x. 13 ; ix. 28.
88 consider I (i.e., if
I consider), then I
am, fe. ; or, I con
sider, and I am, fe.
t soft.
c Jer. viii. 18 ; Lam.
i. 22 ; v. 17, fe.
Z from before.
n had covered up
from my face, from
before me.
d supra xviii. 5, 6,
and references ; iii.
11 — 16; Jer. xx.
17, 18.
9 times.
e supra xi. 11 ; infra
xxviii. 24 ; xxxiv.
21, 22 ; xxxvi. 4 ;
xxxvii. 16 ; Prov.
xv. 3 ; Jer. xvi.
17 ; xxxii. 19, fe.
b His knowers, lo
vers.
X have not seen.
/ supra iii. 23 ; xi.
11 ; xxi. 19 ; xxii.
13, 14; xxiii. 8,
9;ix. 22— 24; xii.
6; xxi. 7 — 13;
Ps.x. 1,6,11 Ec
cles. vii. 15; viii.
11—14, fe.
XX they remove.
g Deut. xix. 14 ;
xxvii. 17 ; Prov,
xxii. 28.
p have seized.
y fed.
Tt they lead, drive,
h infra ver. 9, and
references ; Deut.
xxiv. 17 ; xxvii.
19, &c.
Judg, ix. 5, fe,

452

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXIV. 5  14.

a supra xi. 12 ; infra
xxx. 7 ; Isa. xxxii.
14 ; Jer. xiv. 6.
^ have they gone
forth, do they go
forth.
b infra xxx. 3, 4 ;
Matt. iii. 4.
in [the]wilderness[is] bread to him for
the children.
P fodder.
c supra xxi. 32 ; Lev.
xix. 9,10 ; xxiii. 22.
y vineyard.
d Lev. xix. 10 ; Deut.
xx. 6 ; xxv. 4 ; 1
Cor. ix. 7, 9, 10.
e vers. 9, 10.
f infra xxxi. 19, 20.
8 from, through.
e shower.
^Dan.iv. 15,23,25,
33.
Z have embraced.
h infra xxx. 6 ; Isa.
ii. 10, 19, 21 ; Jer.
xvi. 16 ; Lam. iv. 5.
i supra ver. 3 ; vi.
27 ; xxii. 9 ; infra
xxix. 12 ; xxxi. 17,
21, fe.
k Exod. xxii. 26, 27 ;
Deut. xxiv. 12, 13,
17, fe.
I ver. 7.
tn supra V. 5.
ti sheaf.
9 between.
k have trod.
n Isa. lxiii. 3 ; Lam.
i. 15 ; Neh. xiii.
15, fe.
X were thirsty.
ft mortals.
nn infra xxxiv. 28 ;
xxxv. 9, fe.
v putteth not, layeth
not up, wrong.
o ver. 1 ; supra ix.
22, 24; xii. 6;
xxi. 7—13 ; Ps. x.
1 6, 11 ; Eccles.
vii. 15 ; viii. 11 —
14,
it they.
p were, have been.
a among rebellers of
light.
r they know not.
$ its ways.
% and have not
abode.
p infraxxxv iii.13,15;
John ui. 19—21.
\ji at the light.

5 Behold, as " wild-asses, imust they go forth in
the 4 desert to their work,
Seeking diligently for food 4 ;
*> The wilderness 4 must yield them bread for
their children.
6 In the field, they must reap his P grain "', *
And gather Me 7 vintage d of Me wicked.
7 Naked, they pass the night, without cloth
ing6,
And have no covering in the cold f.
8 8 With Me c showers of Me mountains, are they
"wet,
And, for want of shelter, £ embrace Me rock *,
9 They (Me wicked) pluck Me * fatherless from the
breast,
And that, which is upon Me poor, they take to
pledge*.
10 Naked go they (the poor), without clothing',
And, OThung'ring, bear Me v sheaves. -\
11 6 Within their J walls they press out oil ;
They K tread their wine-presses n, yet x suffer
thirst.
12 From out Me city too, p men groan,
And Me soul of Me slain m crieth out ;
Yet, God "imputeth no wrong to the oppres
sors °.
13 ''Some of them Pare ""of those, that rebel
against Me light ; §
r Others know not 0 the ways thereof,
x Nor abide in its paths p.
14 r' With the light, Me murderer riseth;
* i.e., the grain of the wicked man mentioned in the second
hemistich. t i.e., Their tyrannical master allows them to starve in the
midst of plenty, like the ox, which is muzzled while treading
out the corn. Comp. Deut. xxv. 4.
X i.e., the wicked men's walls.
§ i.e., they set light, as it were, at defiance, by committing
their crimes in broad day.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXIV. 15 — 22. 453
He killeth Me poor and needy " ; a suPra v- ig> 16'>
.... J . xx. 19 ; xxiv. 4, 9 ;
And, in the night, is <° as a thief. xxx. 25 ; xxxi. 16,
15 The 4eye also of Me "adulterer P watcheth for Ezek™vm. '12;
the twilio-bt d xxii- 29> &c-
me twiiignt , w ag the thief
" 7 No eye,* " 8 saith he, " must see me;" b i7fra ..xxxi- \\. *
J ' ' ' Pet. 11. 14 ; Matt.
So he putteth on c a mask e. y. 28.
16 In the dark, « they 'dig- through houses; p bath watched.
By day, they £ shut themselves up ; ^SL^must
They v love not Me light ». , no? 8ee me an e7e-
J ° 0 saymg.
17 For <?to all of them is the morning as the £ a hiding, covering,
shadow-of-death ; e Exod. xxxiv. 33.
For then, K they feel Me terrors of Me shadow- " 0I1ee 0f 'etne eS
Of-death. °? burglars) hath
digged.
18 x They are light upon Me face of Me waters*; + /Exod.xxii.2;Matt.
1 ¦ i ¦ j. - • 11 1 vi. 19, 20 ; xxiv.
' Accursed is their * portion J in the land ; 43 ; Luke xii. 39 ;
p-They turn not by the 'way of Me vineyards. sTxu.s.tJi^!"1'
19 Yet, as m drought and heat "steal away snow- ^noVnot frequent
waters™, not> are no* iQti-
, ^ mate with, love not.
00 they glide down into the grave ". § g John hi. 19—21 ;
20 Whereas, "'she, that bare him, ought to forget s^Matt. xxvii. 64!
1,1™ . 9 to them together.
' k be becometh ac-
The worm should be sweet unto him*'; II quainted with, re-
cogmseth.
p He should be remembered no more * ; x he ps].
So iniquity °~ would be broken as a stick r. xxviii. 4.
21 'For he 'crusheth Me barren, that beareth not', l^^^wl
And doeth not good to Me widow ". ^^-h 2Sa-
0 xiv. 30, 31 ; xxm.
22 He attracteth, moreover, oMer mighty men by 12 ; 2 Kings ix. 21.
. . _ it he turneth.
his power ;^| 1 Numb. xxii. 24;
. xx. 17 ; xxi. 22.
* We have translated ION;? here, saith he, instead of saying, »> Jer- 1- 38.
which would refer to the eye, and not to the adulterer. rcLpravi. 1718.
t i.e., they are expert swimmers ; when pursued, they will 0 supra ix. 23 ; xxi.
swim across a river. vfii! ll-157xv.
X portion, i.e., a parcel of ground, as 2 Kings ix. 21. 29, 33 ; xx. 5, 8 ;
§ Le., quickly, smoothly, without suffering or pain. w p±e] w^mb^'ould
|| i.e., his last illness ought to be of such a loathsome nature, forget him.
and so protracted, as to make even his own mother leave him 2>*«P»-axvii.l4;xxi.,
to his fate, and him himself long for the grave. p he should not be
f i.e., to imitate him in his acts of oppression and cruelty. remembered again.
q supra vu. 8 ; xviu.
17 ; xx. 9 ; Ps. xxxiv. 16, fe. t was, hath been, broken as the stick, or tree. r supra v. 16 ;
xix. 10 ; xiv. 7 ; Ps. xxix. 5 ; Isa. lxv. 22. t crushing. s 1 Sam. i. 6. t Gen. xi. 30;
Judg. xiii. 2. u supraxxii.9; xxiv. 3 ; infra xxxi. 16, &c.

454 TRANSLATION. CHAPS, xxiv. 23 — 25; xxv.; XXVI. 1, 2.

iii riseth he up (i.e.,
if he riseth up),
then he hath no
confidence in ; or,
he riseth up, and
he hath, fe.
p he muBt give to
him.
a 1 Kings ix. 21 ; 2
Kings xvii. 3 ; xxiii.
33.
y and he may be
stayed.
b Isa. iii. 1, fe.
, c infra xxxiv. 21.
8 have they become
exalted.
£ and (or, then) he
[is] not.
Z head of.
<7 ear-of-corn.
d Isa. xvii. 5 ; Jer.
li. 33 ; Joel iii. 13.
9 make me to he.
e supra xi. 3 ; Prov.
xxx. 6 ; 1 John v.
10.
k make my
[to] nothing.
/ supra xv. 2, 3 ;
infra xxxiv. 35 ;
xxxv. 16 ; comp.
supra xii. 2 ; xix.
2, fe.
g supra ix. 4, 10, 12 ;
xii. 13—25, fe. ;
Ps. ciii. 19 ; Ixvi.
3, 4, 7 ; Dan. iv.
34; vii. 14; Rev.
i. 6, &c.
h supra xiii. 21 ; ix.
34; xxxvii. 22.
X making.
i comp. supra xxi.
22 ; Ps. cxxxv. 6 ;
Dan. iv. 35.
p troops.
k Gen. xv. 5 ; Deut.
i. 10 ; x. 22 ; Heb.
xi. 12.
I Ps. xix. 6 ; Matt.
v. 45. _
in supra iv. 17 ; ix.
2; xv. 14-16.
¦it supra xv. 14 ; xiv.
1, 4; Ps. li. 5;
Matt. xi. 11.
o Isa. xiii. 10 ; Ezek.
xxxii. 7 ; Amos v.
20 ; Eccles. xii. 2 ;
Matt. xxiv. 29 ;
Mark xiii. 24 ;
Luke xxiii. 44, 45.
v or, so that she no
longer, fe.

"> When he riseth up, not one of them is sure of
his life.
23 /SThey must "pay him, that they may be in
security, 7 and 4 stay themselves upon him ;
Still, his eyes are upon their ways c.*
24 8 If they have become exalted but a little, E they
are undone,
Or humbled, brought to silence, as all others,
Or cut off even, as Me £ tops of v ears-of-corn d.
25 Now, if this be not so, who can 6 prove me a
liar %
Or K make my speech nothing worth1?
CHAPTER XXV.
1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said :
2 " Dominion and h dread are with Him ; f
x He maketh peace in His high places. ' J
3 Is there any number to His p hosts * 1
Yet, upon which of them ariseth not His sun ' ?
4 How then can frail-man be just with God m ?
Or, how he be pure, that is born of woman"?
5 Behold, Me despoiling of Me moon, ° "how she
no longer pitcheth-her-tent p ! §
Yea, the stars ff are not pure in His eyes .'
6 How much less frail-man — a worm q !
And Me son of man — an insect !
CHAPTER XXVI.
1 Then Job answered and said :
2 p r What help hast thou given him, that hath no
power ?

* i.e., he keeps his eye upon them, lest they should become
too powerful.
-j- i.e., the dread which God inspires is in proportion to His
power and dominion.
X i.e., He maintains harmony among the heavenly bodies.
§ i.e., how, when eclipsed, she seems no longer to have her
pavilion in the heavens. Comp. Ps. xix. 4.
p Ps. xix. 4. 7r have not been pure. q Pa. xxii. 6 ; Isa. xli. 14. p What hast thou helped ?
r supra xiii. 4 ; xvi. 2.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXVI. 3  7. 455
What a succour to Me arm, that hath no <" ha8t thou su°-
strengtha? 0^™k 11,12 ;
3 What P counsel aa to him, that hath no wisdom 4, ^ ^"s/'thou coun-
Or what sound-knowledge hast thou 7 imparted selled ?
° r aa supra v. 8 ; xi.
in abundance c ? 13, 14 ; xxii. 21—
23
4 To whom hast thou uttered Mese words ? 1 supra v. 2 ; vi. 13 ;
Yea, whose breath hath come forth from thee* ? * f: 6'$a3 ^jjj;
5 The place, where the giant-monsters of the deep jj;? t28] j *xxiv.
-1 ° J x 35 ; xxxv. 16.
are formed  y made to know.
That, which is beneath Me waters 8 and the xii.2;xiii.'2,'4,5',
inhabitants thereof e  L/^xxxU^'is!
6 'The grave  all these lie naked before Him', d su?™ ix-K ^ •
O ' xu. 13 — 25 ; infra
fNor is there any covering to destruction f.f xx™- H; mPra
•> ° 1 xiv. 1  4 • ix. 32.
7 v He 9 stretcheth out Me north o'er Me void ; s and their 'inhabit.
* Hast thou told me anything I did not know before ? Hast e infra xxxviii. 16
thou not rather re-echoed my own sentiments ? Have not I ^s- cxxxix. 9.
myself proclaimed the boundless wisdom and might of God ? hem ; comp. Prov,
¦j- i.e., His eye diveth down to the bottom of the sea, nay it ix- 18 and SM2>™
penetrateth even the grave, and witnesseth the decomposition and /Ps. cxxxix. 8- Prov.
decay which there go on, in all their stages. Comp. Prov. xv. 11. xv. 11 ; Heb. iv.
[Although it would seem from supra xiv. 11, 12, &c, that Job ¥iii' 28
believed man to be altogether annihilated at death, yet it is Z and [there is] no
evident from supra x. 21, 22, where be speaks of the grave s°tretcMne out
(Sheol,) as " a land of darkness,'' &c, that, giving the reins g Isa. xlii. 5 ; xliv.
to his imagination, he pictured to himself (although no doubt ?v;^ ' B'
but in dim and shadowy outline) the bodies of the dead not as
lying in their individual graves, but as congregated in some
common receptacle, some deep {supra xi. 8) and gloomy realm
beneath the earth. Now such a realm seems to me to be
better expressed by the word grave (which, when used as a
general term (the grave), has, if I mistake not, a very similar
meaning), or pit, than by hell, which is used in the A. V., as
by hell, like Hades and Orcus, we commonly understand a place
tenanted by the spirits of the dead. I hardly agree, however,
with Dr. Bernard in thinking that Job here intended to allude
to the decomposition and decay which take place after death, for,
though this meaning may no doubt be extracted from T^?^ ,
yet it can scarcely be said to afford a very striking or grand ex
ample of the piercing-ken of God, and I therefore prefer to
take p1'?*? (Abaddon) translated in the text destruction, here to
be used concretely of the place to which Job supposed the
death-destroyed bodies of mankind to descend, so that it would
be nearly equivalent to vist$ (Sheol) in the first hem., translated
grave. See Appendix. — Editor, 1862.]

456

TRANSLATION. CHAPS. XXVI. 8  14; XXVII. 1.

oi hanging.
P not anything.
y binding up.
a Gen. i. 6, 7 ; Prov.
xxx. 4 ; comp. in-
fra xxviii. 22 [11];
xxxviii. 9.
b Prov. viii. 28 ; in
fra xxxviii. 22, 37.
c infra xxxvi. 29 ;
xxxvii. 16.
8 shutting up.
£ He hath spread.
d supra xxii. 13, 14 ;
1 Kings viii. 12 ;
Ps. xcvii. 2 ; Dan.
vii. 13; Matt. xxiv.
30; xxvi, 64; Rev.
xiv. 14.
Z He hath circled a
bound.
e Prov. viii. 27.
/ infra xxxviii. 10,
11; Prov. viii. 29;
Jer. v. 22 ; comp.
supra vii. 12.
tl till [the] end of light
with darkness.
g comp. supra ix. 6 ;
1 Sam. ii. 8 ; Ps.
Ixxv. 3.
9 from, through.
h Ps. xviii. 15 ; cvi.
9.
i Exod. xiv. 21 ;
Joah. iii. 16 ; Ps.
cvi. 9.
k infra xxxviii. 11 ;
Jer. v. 22; Pa.
lxxxix. 9 ; Prov.
viii. 29.
X hath beautified.
I infra xxxvii. 21, 22.
p fleeing.
v ends, extremities,
extreme lines.
tt what a trifle of a
thing.
p in it ; i.e., in this
discourse.
a [the] thunder of
His might.
m infra xxviii. 26 ;
xxxvii. 2 — 5 ;
xxxviii. 25; xl. 9;
Ps. xxix. 3—9.
n infra xxxvi. 29.
r added to take up.
<p impressive-dis course.
o infra xxix. 1 ;
Numb, xxiii. 7,
18; xxiv. 3,15,20,
21,23; Mic.ii.4;
Hab.ii.6.

a He hangeth the earth upon P nothing.
8 7 He "bindeth up Me waters in His thick-clouds 4,
Yet Me cloud is not rent under them ".
9 8 He shutteth up Me face of His throne ;
6 He spreadeth over it His cloud d.
10 £A e circling bound hath He drawn upon the
face of Me waters f,
To endure v till day and night have their end.
11 The g pillars of heaven are shaken,
And are amazed 6 at His rebuke *.
12 By His power, He clove * the sea *,
And by His understanding, smote He its pride* —
13 With His blast, w/wcA x beautifieth Meheavens';f
With His hand, which formed Me %p swift serpent.
14 Lo, these are but " outlines of His ways, §
And *¦ how small a matter hath p here been
heard of Him !
"" His mighty m thunder, also, who can " under
stand ? CHAPTER XXVII.
1 And Job T again took up his || sparable", and
said:
* My friend, Mr. Randolph, suggests that allusion is here
made to the Creation as described in Gen. i., where We read in
ver. 9, that the dry land appeared in consequence of the
gathering of the waters into one place, i.e., in consequence of
the division or cleavage of the sea into different portions. This
explanation seems to accord very well with the second hemistich,
for through this uprising of the land, those bounds, limits or
shores were given to the sea, by which its pride is frequently
described as being smitten or checked. Comp. infra xxxviii.
10, 11 ; Prov. viii. 29 ; Jer. v. 22, &c— Editor, 1862.
f i.e., by chasing away the clouds which at any time disfigure it.
| i.e., lightning.
§ i.e., His works.
|| Parable here, as supra xiii. 12, infra xxix. 1, is not used,
as in the New Test., in the sense of similitude, but rather in that
of a sententious, or weighty and impressive discourse. See Com.
—Editor, 1862.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXVII. 2 — 12. 457
2 .4s God <° liveth, who hath P rei ected my iust-cause", % j>] h™s-
J J •> p turned away.
And Me Almighty, who hath 4 embittered my a infra xxxiv. 5 ;
1 supra xix. 7 and
SOUl, references there.
3 y All the while my • breath is in me, *£*£ "-.^ £
And Me spirit of God is in my s nostrils d, 7 that *u the ,whUe
1 ^ (see Comm.).
4 f My lips shall not speak iniquity e, o supra xu. io; isa.
£ Nor my tongue utter deceit \ 8 nose, nostril. '
5 Far be it from me, 9 that I should pronounce d tSfv. iTfaen/u!
you right; H> vii- 22- ,
¦* .° e it my hpB speak.
Till I 6 die, will I not * put away mine integrity « supra vi. 30 ; xv.
p i- ~ 5, 6 ; xi. 3, 4, 6.
from me J. j if my tongue ut-
6 On my righteousness have I laid fast hold, and ^reth'
will not let it go 9 : e eive. UP the ehoat>
° expire.
My heart cannot reproach any of my days \* « turn away.
„T . . i r ,, -ii " f supra ii. 3,9; in-
7 Let mine enemy be as Me wicked, fra xxxi. 6.
And he that x riseth up against me, as Me 3 ™f ™ro'T3' V. T^j
iniquitous '. f . Jer- viU: 5- '
A ' « supra vi. 10, 30 ;
8 For what is Me *hope of Me hypocrite, though ix.i7,2i;x.7,i5;
. , . . . xi. 4 ; xiii. 15 ; xvi.
he get him gain , 17 ; xix. 6,7 ; xxiii.
Though God p grant him to be at ease ? LjjSffi
9 Will God hear his crym, xxxiii- 9; xxxi.!-
J 5 ; comp. also vn.
When distress cometh upon him? 20, 21 ; *iv. 4;
1 n <i 1 i 1 -j«i-i <i «/ra xl. 4 ; xbi. 6.
10 Can he "take pleasure in Me Almighty"? x [is] raising him-
Can he call upon God *" at any time ° ? i p3. "xxx™. 1 ;
111 will p teach you what is in Me power of God p, ^xm^ 3^ Prov.
For that, which is with Me Almighty, I do ^ supra vm. 13, i4;
° J xi. 20 ; comp. xix.
not conceal q. J 10.
12 Behold ye, all of you, have seen if ; ^easeiu>loui.' m, Ps. xviii. 41 ; Ixvi.
18; Prov. i. 28;
* i.e., there is not a single day in my whole life, on which 1 11 • xiv. 12 ¦ Ezek!
did anything wherewith my heart (conscience) can reproach me. viii. 18 ; Mic. iii.
X Though the wicked man prospers in this world, yet would I tjjj 20 -P xix^™-
not change places with him, for I, at least, can speak out my infra xxx. 20.
mind, and complain unto God, which he dares not do. "uponfon accent of
X So that it is not for you to preach the omnipotence of God » supra xxii. 26 ;
to me, but rather for me to preach it to you. l-jfra XXX1J- T9 !
J- o. aaXvII. 'i \ I. Bel*
Iviii. 14.
tt at all time[s].
o supra xiii. 16 ; xxiii. 7 ; comp. Ps. xxxiv. 1. p instructs p supra xii. 13—25 •
ix. 4 — 12, q supra vi. 10 ; comp. xiii. 7 — 10 ; infra xlii. 7. r supra xii 13—25 ¦
ix. 4—12. ' '

458

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXVIII. 1 — 6 [13 — 18].

a axe ye vain [with]
vanity.
d supra xiii. 4, 12 ;
xvi. 2, 3 ; xxi. 34 ;
xxxii. 5, 9, 12, fe.

e supra xx. 29 ; xviii.
21; v.3— 5; viii.
11—15; xi. 20;
xv. 20—35 ; xviii.
5— 21; xx. 5— 29;
xxii. 19,20; xxxiv.
24—27, fe.
f supra xxi. 8, 11 ;
xx. 10 ; xviii. 12,
13, 16, 17, 19;
xv. 30, 32, 33 ; v.
4; i. 18, 19.
ff supra Y. 20 ; xv,
22; xix. 29; infra
xxxiii. 18 ; xxxvi.
12; comp. supra
Y. 4 ; viii. 4.
h supra xviii. 12, 13 ;
Lam. ii. 11, 12, 19 ;
comp. supra v. 5 ;
xv. 23.
P his remainers, rem
nants, relicts, sur
vivors.
supra xviii. 19 ; xx.
26.
y his widows.
k Ps. lxxviii. 64 ;
Jer. xvi. 4 — 7 ;
xxii. 18, 19.
I Zech. ix. 3 ; comp.
supra xxii. 24, 25 ;
infra xxix. 18 ;
Gen. xxii. 17, fe.
m Gen. xlv. 22 ;
Josh. xxii. 8 ; 2
Kings v. 5 ; 2
Chron. ix. 24.
n supra v. 5 ; xv.
29; xx. 15, 18,
28; Jer. xv. 13;
xvii. 3.
8 hath -builded.
o supra viii. 14, 15 ;
xv. 34 ; xviii. 15,
fe.
p Isa. i. 8 ; Lam. ii.
6 ; comp. Isa. v.
2 ; xxxviii. 12.

Why, then, a do ye behave so altogether
vainly'2 ?*
CHAPTER XXVIII. t
[Then answered Zophar, the Naamathite and
said :]
1 [1 3] % Such is the portion of Me wicked man
with God ',
And Me heritage of oppressors, which they shall
receive from Me Almighty e.
2 [14] If his f children are multiplied, it is for Me
sword 9 ;
And his offspring shall not be satisfied- with bread*.
3 [15] ^They that 'remain of him shall be buried
at their death,
But 7 their widows shall not weep *.
4 [16] Though he heap up silver as the dust*,
And, as the *mire, prepare him raiment"1;
5 [17] He may prepare, but Me just shall put it on,
And Me silver shall Me innocent divide n.
6 [18] He 8 buildeth his house like the moth",
Or like Me booth which the watchman maketh p. §
* i.e., ye have seen and heard me proclaim the Divine omni
potence ; why, then, do ye indulge in such vain attempts to
teach it to me ?
t Our reasons for making Zophar the speaker of our
Chap, xxviii., which comprises the last eleven verses of Chap.
xxvii., and the whole of Chap, xxviii., in the text, will be
found given at length in the Commentary.
X The numbers in square brackets indicate the corresponding
verses of Chap, xxvii. in the Hebrew text.
§ The booths, lodges, or huts (fQE) which were placed in
vineyards and gardens, and were inhabited by the watchmen
who guarded the crops, were probably intended to last only
one season, and would therefore naturally be constructed of
frail and perishable materials. See Isa. i. 8 ; Jon. iv. 5 ; Lev.
xxiii. 40 — 42. From the last of these passages it would appear
that booths, or huts (J"131?) were sometimes made of the branches
and boughs of trees. — Editor, 1862.

translation, c. xxviii. 7 — 16[xxvn.l9 — 23; xxvin.l — 5]. 459
7 [191 He may lie down rich, a his wealth not <" ^d £* .is not sa-
L J J ' thered in.
wholly " gathered in 4 *  a Eccles. xi. 1 ; 1
P He openeth his eyes — and " it is not. " a 2 KmgsX'xix! 35 ;
8 [20] e Terrors 7 overtake him 8 as waters ' ; p ^Zth JLa.
In the ff night, a whirlwind f stealeth him away". c^™cvii'21; viii'
9 [211 The h east wind £ catcheth him up, n and he <z*«prav.5andver.
L . r 5 [17], note (»).
IS gone ; e supraxY. 21 ; xviii.
5 Yea, as a ' storm, doth it hurl him from his llfa^'xxT'xl'-
Place- . W^ta&S
10 [22] Then will he * cast himself upon hira, and r reacheth,attaineth.
. 5 as the waters, or
not spare, water.
Who from his Kpower used hastily to flee m ;\ ^i7;Ij0n.ii.8,5!
11 [231 He will "clap *his hands at him, #$* "^ 2?>
L J tr ' 25 ; supra xi. 18,
And ° hiss p him out of his place. 19; Exod. xii. 29,
r 30; 2 Kings xix.
(Here begins Chapter xxviii. in the text.) 35.
£ hath Btolen.
12 [1] J Truly, there is an outlet " for silver, s supra xxi. is-, Ps.
And a place ""for gold, where they refine itp. 25 ; isa. xi. 24.
13 [2] Iron may be taken from Me p earth, h JptxSlcomp'
And stone "" be molten into copper2. ? lifteth him.
rr v and he will go,
14 [3] T Man putteth an end to darkness ; goeth.
Yea, $ everything finite X searcheth he out r, (or,'stormeth) him
Even the s stone of deep-darkness and Me i is^xxvui.^xxlx.
shadow-of-death. , 6' &c- . „„
Ic supra vi. 27.
15 [4] f He 'breaketh away aa rivers from him that lsupra vi. io; xvi.
dwelleth by them, « or, his hand.
PP So that they are forgotten of Me foot " ; § m withPchap? 'xxx*!
They are emptied, they are yy removed by jf™^'^1 2
fr ail-m an . n L*m- u- } 5 ; comp.
-Prov. xi. 10.
16 [5] As for Me earth, out of it cometh bread ", x their hands upon
(or, at) them.
* i.e., he has great riches at home, and also much property in o Lam. ii. 15, 16 ;
other places. ?f ' xk' 8 5 xlix-
. r 17, fe.
X i.e./ the man, who used to flee from before the wicked p, upon (or, at) him.
tyrant, will take vengeance upon him when he is brought low. " for the silver.
X The numbers in square brackets now indicate the eorre- ^Gbron xxviii 18-
sponding verses of Chapter xxviii. in the text. Prov. xvii. 3; xxvii.
§ i.e., by tbe foot of him who passes over what was their bed. s {f0^'^. Ss
o or, dust. n [is] molten [or, one melteth stone [into] copper. Ed., 1862.] q Deut. viii. 9.
r he (or, one) hath put. <j> every end, limit, finite thing. % he [is] searching out. r Eccles. i. 13 •
vii. 25. s supra ver. 13 [2]. -ty he (or, one) hath broken, t Isa. xix. 6. aa a river, pp which
[are] forgotten. « comp. Ezek. xxix. 11 ; xxxii. 13. yy have moved, move, pass, away.
v infra xxiv. 5 ; Ps. civ. 14.

460

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXVIII. 17 — 28 [6 — 17].

17 [6]

18 [7]

Yet under it, it is «¦> as stirred up fire ¦". *
He findeth a place, P whose stones are
7 sapphires 4,
8 And which hath dust of gold.
 A path, ewhich the bird-of-prey knoweth
not,
£ Nor the vulture's " eye hath seen d.
1 9 [8] 6 The proud wild beasts have not trodden it,
Nor Me fierce-lion passed over it.
20 [9] Upon Me fliiity-rock K he putteth forth his
hand;
He e x upturneth mountains fromMeiV/^roots.f
21 [10] In the rocks he " cutteth out rivers,
And his eye "¦ seeth p every precious-thing7.^
22 [11] He* ffbindethuprivers, Tthat they trickle not,
And so bringeth forth 4> hidden-things to
light \
23 [12] But * Wisdom  whence canshe begotten4?
And where is the place of understanding ' 1
24 [13] Frail-man knoweth not her x value,
Seeing she is not to be m found in Me land
of the living n.
The deep saith : " She is not in me ! "
And Me sea saith : " She is not with me ! "
"Choice-gold cannot be given V'for her;
Nor " silver be weighed as her price.
She cannot <° be valued a with fine-gold of
Ophir p;
With Me precious q onyx, or Me r sapphire *.
28 [17] Gold and 'crystal i3 cannot be compared
with her ;
* i.e., there are under it natural, or volcanic, fires, and
also artificial fires constantly maintained by the miners.
X i.e., when they interfere with the line of road which he
wishes to form.
X i.e., every precious thing contained in those parts of the
rocks which he cuts away.
outweighed by. a at. p supra xxii. 24 ; 1 Kings, ix. 28 ;
; Isa. xiii. 12. q Exod. xxviii. 20 ; xxxix. 13 ; Ezek. xxviii. 13.
r supra ver. 17 [6] ; Exod. xxiv. 10 ; xxviii. 18 ; Lam. iv. 7, fe. * infra ver. 29 [18] ; Prov.
iii. 15 ; viii. 11 ; xx. 15 ; xxxi. 10. t Ezek. i. 22. /3 one cannot compare to her (See
Comment.) [Or, one cannot esteem her [as] gold. Ed. 1862.]

m as fire [which] is
Btirred up. See
Commentary and
Append.
a Ezek. xxviii. 14.
P its stones.
y sapphire.
b infra ver. 27 [16]
and references
there.
8 and to it [aie]
dusts.
e [the] bird-of-prey
knoweth it not.
Z and [tbe] vulture's
eye hath not seen it.
c infra xxxix. 29.
d supra xii. 7 ; infra
ver. 32 [21] ;
xxxv. 11.
9 [the] sons of pride.
k he hath put forth.
e supra ix. 5.
X hath overturned.
p root.
v hath cleaved.
it hath seen.
p all preciousneas,
or, every rarity.
/ Prov. xxiv. 4.
g supra xxvi. 8.
a hath bound.
r from weeping.
ip hidden-thing.
h supra xii. 22 j
1 Cor. iv. 5 ; comp.
Isa. xlv. 3.
j Prov. i. 20— 23; iii.
13—20; iv. 5—
13; viii. 1—36;
ix. 1 — 6 ; xvi. 16 ;
comp. supra xxvi.
3; xv. 2,3, 8; xiii.
2, 5 ; xii. 2, 3 ; xi.
6 ; and also supra
ix. 4 ; xii. 13, 16 ;
infra xxxvi. 4, 5 ;
xxxvii. 16 ; Dan.
ii. 20, fe.
ii:Prov.iii.l3;iv.5,7; Eccles. vii. 23, 24.
I infra ver. 31 [20].
X estimation.
m infra xxxii. 13.
n infra vers. 32 [21],
33 [22] ; Rom. xi.
33 ; Prov. viii. 22
—31.
o Prov. iii. 14 ; viii.
10, 19 ; xvi. 16 ;
Ps. xix. 9, 10;
cxix. 72.
ip in her stead.
w Or, be weighed down by,
1 Chron. xxix. 4 ; Ps. xlv. 9

25 [14]
26 [15]
27 [16]

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXVIII. 29  39 [18  28]. 461
Nor a vessels * of pure-gold be given in ex- a M avesseiof fine-
r o •/ gold her exchange,
change for her. equivalent.
29 [18] £ Jewels "of high price, yea 7 diamonds, xxxvii. nV, 23!
shall not be mentioned with her ; — ^1,7^9— Ii-^y.
8 For Me attraction of Wisdom is e above fl^4;*?"- m> t
P high-things (Ezek.
rubies*. xxvii. 16; Prov.
xxiv. 7) •
30 [19] The "topaz of Ethiopia cannot be fcom- a Prov. xx. 15 ;
1 ..i 1 supraYei.27 ri6i.
pared with her; r diamond.
Neither shall she be v valued with pure 0 gold. a 8eeins ¦Jj*at> ™ce-
t o e more than.
31 [20] * Whence, then,M«'s Wisdom, doth she come? & Prov. m. 15 ; viii.
.1. 1 \ ty. XO 1 xxx l.
And where is Me place of understanding d ? 10 ; comp. *«pra
32 [21] Seeing she Ms hid from Me eyes of all CExo'a. xxviii. 17 s
livino-* Ezek. xxviii. 13 ;
ilvmg ' Rev. xxi. 20.
Yea, and from Me f fowls of heaven p is ? See yer.- ?spfl-
ti or, weighed down
Concealed 9. by, outweighed by.
33 [22] Destruction and Death v say : K so" gwisdom —
" With our ears have we heard her « fame. ^c?e doth she
34 [23] " God p understandeth her way, xStenTiddS'
" And He knoweth her place ; e supra ver. 24 [13].
35 [24] " For HE can look unto Me ends of the M ST "been con
on rtri * cealed.
cal ba » y SMpra ver. 18 [7] ;
"Can see what is l under "the whole ^-7;»/™xxxv.
heaven ; v have said.
36 [25] T " So that He can make ewew a weight for p hath understood.
i.u • j « * b> supra xi. 7 ; xxvi.
the wind M; * 6f»/™ xxxiv. 21,
" The waters also He <£meteth with a fj12*VovXxv!
measure *. 3 ; Zech. iv. 10 ;
37 [26] xl " When He made a 'Haw for the rain ", i infra xxxvii. 3;
" And a way for Me <° thunder-flash m ; „ aVtbe hem^n?
38 [27] " Then did He see her, and declare her ; riSg£}£££*'
" He established her, a yea, and searched 0 bath meted.
J k Isa. xl. 12 ; comp.
her OUt ; infra xxxviii. 5,
39 [28] " But unto man He said : z"Prov. ^27-30.
« ' Behold ! Me » fear of Me Lord-that is \ ^%^f25)
WiS<W' , ., , .flash8' of' [the]
" ' And P to depart from evil — that is voices, thunderB.
, . . , „ m mfra xxxviii. 25.
Understanding p. a and also, likewise.
n supra iv. 6 ; xv. 4 ;
* i.e., determine the weight of the wind, air. Ps. xix. 9, io ;
cxix. 72.
o Ps. cxi. 10 ; Prov. i. 7 ; ix, 10 ; Eccles. xii. 13. P to turn, p Prov. iii. 7 ; viii. 13 ; xvi. 6, 17,

462

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXIX. 1  12.

m added to take up.
P impressive dis
course. See Comm.
u, supra xxvii. 1 ;
Numb, xxiii. 7,
18; xxiv. 3, 15,
20, 21, 23 ; Mic.
ii. 4 ; Hab. ii. 6.
y months of former-
time, of old.
b supra i. 1 — 5.
yy days God used
to keep me.
c supra i. 10.
8 on its shining, His
lamp.
d Comp. supra xviii.
6; xxi. 17; Ps. xviii.
28; cxxxii. 17.
e supra x. 3 ; xxii.
28; Numb. vi. 25;
Ps. xxxi. 16, fe.
Comp. supra xviu.
5,6; xxi, 17, fe.
supra Y. 14 ; xii.
25 ; Deut. xxviii.
29; Isa. Iix. 10.
g infra xxxiii. 25 ;
Ps. lxxxix. 45 ;
Eccles. xii, l,fe.
e lit. autumn. See
Comm.
Z on [the] secret-
blessing of G-od
[being], fe.
h supra i. 10.
ti On [the] Al
mighty's yet [be
ing]-.
i supra i. 2, 4, 5, fe. ;
xxi. 8, 11 ; xix,
17 ; Ps. cxxvii.
3 — 5 ; cxxviii. 3 ;
Prov. xvii. 6.

/

CHAPTEE XXIX.
1 And Job <° again took up his * P parable, " and
said :
2 Oh that I were as in 7 months past,4
As in the yy days, when God " preserved me !
3 s When His d lamp so " shined upon my head,
That by its light I could walk in darkness lf
4 As I was in Me *days of my e youth,
fWhen Me * secret-blessing of God was upon
my tent !
5 v When Me Almighty was yet with me,
My2 children round about me !
6 s When my steps were bathed in 6d milk,4
And Me ' rock K poured x me out rivers of oil ! m
7 xx When I went forth to Me gate, through Me city,
And in the broad-place p prepared my seat !
8 The n young-men saw me, " and hid themselves ;
Yea, Me very-aged " rose up, and stood.
9 Princes p restrained their words,
And ""laid their hand P upon their mouth.^
10 As to the voice of Me nobles  wthey hid
themselves,
And their tongue cleaved a to the roof of their
mouth.2
11 l For Me ear, which r heard of me, Tblessed * me ;
And Me ' eye, which saw me, bare me witness,

e in [the] bathing of 12 That I 0 delivered Me poor," xthat cried,"

my steps
99 perhaps cream.
(See Commentary.)
k Comp. supra xx.
17 ; xxi. 24 ; Cant.
v. 12; Gen. xlix.
11, 12, fe.
I Deut. xxxii. 13, 14;
Ps. lxxxi. 16.
k used to pour. X with me.
going forth to [the] gate over.
supra xix. 18 ; infra xxx. 1.

And the1
him/

fatherless, f that had none to help

Or, Por the ear heard and blessed me,
And the eye saw and bare me witness, fe. — Editor, 1862,
* See note (||) p. 456.
m Ezek. xxxii. 14 ; Mic. vi. 7 ; Deut. xxxiii. 24. XX on my
p UBed to prepare. « supra xxxii. 4, 6, 7 ; Lev. xix. 32 ; Comp.
v and were hid, used to be hid. o Lev. xix. 32. p supra

iv. 2. it used to lay. p to. pp supra xxi. 5 ; infra xl. 4 ; Judg. xviii. 19 ; Prov. xxx. 32 ;
Mic. vii. 16. pp they were hid. t to their palate. q Ps. xxii. 15, cxxxvii. 6 ; Ezek. iii.
26. r infra xlii. 5. r esteemed, pronounced me happy. * Gen. xxx. 13 ; Ps. lxxii. 17, &c.
t supra vii. 8 ; xx. 9, fe. <p used to deliver. u supra v. 15, 16 ; infra ver. 16 ; Ps. xxxv. 10;
lxxxii. 3, 4 ; Prov. xxii. 22, 23. % crying. v infra xxx. 20 ; xxxiv. 28 ; xxxv. 9, 12; supra
xxiv. 12 ; xxvii. 9 ; xix. 7, fe. w supra vi. 27 ; xxii. 9 ; xxiv. 3, 9 ; infra xxxi. 17, 21 ;
Exod. xxii. 22, fe. ^ and not one-helping to him, x Ps, lxxii. 12.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXIX. 13  22. 463
13 The blessing of «• him, that was * ready to perish, -JM ^h™g.
° came upon me, Isa- XXTii- 13-
. a used to come.
And I p caused Me widow s heart toy sing for joy. p used to cause.
UT , -ii i-ij>iii c b supra xxii. 9 ; xxiv,
1 put on righteousness, and it ° decked me , 3f21. infmxxxi.
My justice— as a robe or a turban d. H ;&cExod' xxii-
15 1 was e eyes to the blind, y utter a joyful, tri-
umphant, shout.
And feet was I to the lame '. 8 clothed.
i /i t o ^> ii. x ii. j c Ps- cxxxii. 9 ; Isa.
16 I was a 9 father to the needy, ux. 17 . m. 10 ;
e And Me * cause of Mem I knew not, searched I d ^J^^l.1^"17"
Ollt.* e ^umb- x. 31.
f supra iv. 4.
17 And I 'brake Me grinders of Me wicked ; g w/™xxxi.i8;Ps.
Yea, from his very teeth, did I £ pluck Me v spoil*. xvu\h>; xvhxil!
c And [as for the]
 cause  I used
to search it out.
[18 So I « thought : « « In my 'nest I shall x die, h ^ ^. ^;
"And, as the rosand, shall I multiply my ™j._ ^-Prov!
days ; "k. 7> &c-
» s«pra iv. 10 ; Ps.
19 "My "root is /* open to Me waters", m. 7; iviii. 65
" And Me p dew lieth all night on my Y USediTo cast.

Bf

Trhranrbps?- »; or, prey.
Drancnes', k supra xx. 23 ;
20 " Mv r glory will be ever P fresh with me, Humb- xi- 33 ; 1
J ° J Sam. xvii. 35 ; Ps.
" And my * bow in mine hand renew its lxxviii. 30, 31 ;
Strength. ^. 9 said [in my heart] ;
comp. supra i. 5
 (note 3).
tt i 1 i i r> B w'*b.
f21 Unto me °" men gave ear, and '"looked, § zjer.xiix.i6;obad.
I And <£kept silence " at my counsel. I"' t0mp.a 'p's!
At | 22 After x my words, ^they spake not again, ^x25%6.: swpra
I That my speech might still * drop on them. *• give up the ghost,
* . T • . • i j. c i i. ra Gen. xxii. 17 ;
* i.e., I saw justice done even to perfect strangers. xxxii 12 &0.
f See Commentary, note ggr page 257. The verses n supra viii. 17;
marked B would seem to come more appropriately after those opined. '
marked A. o supra viii. 17 ; xiv.
X See note on bow-string, infra xxx. 11. xT';i 8-g'. 'Ez^|
§ i.e., looked, waited, for my advice. xxxi. 4, 5, 7, 14,
fe.
2> Gen. xxvii. 28 ; Deut. xxxiii. 13 ; Prov. xix. 12 ; Hob. xiv. 5. it branch. q supra
viii. 16 ; xv. 30, 32 ; xviu. 16, fe. r supra xix. 9 ; ix. 31 ; xvi. 15, fe. p new.
s mfra xxx. 11 ; Gen. xlix. 24 ; 1 Sam. ii. 4 ; Jer. li. 56. t supra xiv. 7 ; Ps. ciii. 5 ; Isa. xl. 31.
it they hearkened. r waited, hoped, looked for. <p used to be silent. » .sapra vers. ix. 10;
infra xxxii. 4, 6. % my word. + they used not to repeat [their speech.]
v Deut. xxxii. 2 ; Prov, v. 3; Cant. iv. 11 ; Ezek. xx. 46 ; xxi. 2, fe.

464

TRANSLATION. CHAPS. XXIX. 23 — 25 ; xxx. 1  3.

bi used to look, wait,
hope.
a Deut. xxxii. 2 ; Ps.
lxxii. 6; 2 Sam.
xxiii. 4; Hos. vi. 3.
b supra ver. 19 ;
Ezek. ii. 8 ; iii. 2 ;
Deut. xi. 11.
c Deut. xi. 14 ; Prov.
xvi. 15 ; Joel ii,
23, fe.
P used to laugh,
smile.
d Ps. iv. 6 ; xliv. 3 ;
lxxxix. 15 ; xc. 8 ;
Prov. xvi. 15 ;
comp. Neh. ii. 2,
3 ; Eccles. vii. 3.
y they used not to
make to fall.
e supra x. 15 ; xi.
15; xxii. 26; Gen.
iv. 5, 6, &o.
8 I used to choose.
£ used to sit.
/ 1 Sam. ix. 22.
Z used to dwell.
¦n in (or, among) the
troop.
g Isa. lvii. 18 ; lxi.
2,3.

9 less than I with
regard to days.
Ti supra xix. 18 ;
comp. xxix. 8 ;
infra xxxii. 6, 7 ;
Lev. xix. 32.
k have laughed at me.
i 1 Sam. xvii. 43 ;
2 Sam. iii. 8 ;
2 Kings viii. 13 ;
comp. 1 Sam. xxiv.
14; 2 Sam. ix. 8;
xvi. 9, fe.
k infra ver. 21.
X [be] to me.
p had perished.
t Comp. supra xxiv.
10, 11 ; Lam. ii.
12, 19.

23 Yea, they "looked for me, as for the early
rain ",
And 4 opened-wide their mouth, as for Me
c latter»rain.
24 I P smiled at them — they would not believe
me ; *
Yet, Me d light of my countenance 7 they
cast not down *.-(¦
25 I 8 chose out their way, and esat at their
headr;
Yea, I £ abode as a king in Me midst of his
i army,
And as one that 9 comforteth mourners. $
CHAPTER XXX.

1 But now, Mose 6 younger h than myself ' hold me
in derision,
Whose fathers I disdained to set with Me i dogs
of my flock.
2 (For whereto, indeed, could the h strength of their
hands ^profit me %
With them, mature-age p was lost ! § )
3 || Who, cheerless through want and famine ',
* When by a smile I endeavoured to make them understand
that I had nothing more to say, they would not believe
me. X Impatient though they were to hear me speak, they yet
said nothing of a nature to disturb the cheerfulness of my
countenance. + It is tbe custom among the Jews of our day for mourners
to sit on the ground, whilst he, who would comfort them, occu
pies a seat, and this appears from the present verse to have
been the custom also in the time of Job.
§ i.e., they passed their time unprofitably, they altogether
misspent their life.
|| This who (which is transposed from the second hemistich)
refers to the young men mentioned in the first hemistich of the
first verse.-r-Editor, 1862.

TRANSLATION.

chap. xxx. 4 — 13. 465

"Flee into a "wilderness, 0dark, waste and MwhoMfl™g-
' ' a supra xxiv. 5 ; ±"s.
desolate ; oix- 10-
& darkness, waste-
4 Who y pluck Up Salt-WOrt by Me ° bushes , ness and desolation.
And € broom-roots are their bread °. $ bush U° mg
5 They have been driven from Me midst of the cityd; J g^.2 Kings iT'
£ Men cried after them i as after a thief6. s ^ of br0°mB- .
J c Comp. Exod. xvi.
6 6 So that they must dwell in Me *clefts/of Mevalleys, i4; Matt. hi. 4.
In x holes in Me earth and rocks ". 4™f Dan^i^s,'
7 Among Me bushes they p groan * ; 7 t3n2e'y33;sed t0 cry
Under v thorns they are huddled together.* uPon them, at
8 * Sons of Me *" impious, yea, sons of men without v as the thief.
, e supra xxiv. 14, 16.
name , e [80 as] to dwell.
They have been l beaten out of the land. /Exod. xxxiii. 22;
9 And now Pam I become their songm; Ja-ii'.21' lyPii-5;
o ' Cant. 11. 14, fe.
Yea, °" I am to them r a by-word m. * holes of.
_ jlii i ii/.p 9 supra xxiv. 8 ;
10 Ihey 9 abhor me, they x stand aloof from me", isa.ii. i9; Jer. xiu.
And r" refrain not to p spit before my face q. ^ ^l ™aj. '
1 1 Because He f hath loosed my bow-string r, % * ^ xxiv- 12-
and afflicted me, »' J«dg- xi*-. 22 ;
Therefore V^ do they let loose their' bridle fflbe- 2 Sam. xxiii. 6J
/^ 1 Kings xxi. 10.
lore me. ff impious-one.
12 » Onmyright ted they rise up, 'Me young-brood! * ^pT^^jjj;
They 0 push away my feet ", PrOT- x-7s Eccles.
. i . . » - Tiii- 10 j Gen- xii-
And y raise up against me ° their § destructive 2 ; 2 Sam. vii. 9.
s Z supra ver. 5.
Ways . p have I been.
13 They ¦ break up my path -;|| ™ Sm!t il,' 632
* So as to shelter themselves from the inclemency of the Deufc xxviii. 37
weather. j- He, i.e., God. 1 Kings ix. 7 ; Ps
X My bow-string, fig. for my authority, dignity. [See Append.] Ti[T2i '
§ i.e., the ways by which they bring, or hope to bring, a I have been.
calamity or destruction upon Job. The metaphor is taken I have Ibhorred
from the causeways which used in those times to be thrown up x bave been far.
against besieged cities. See note in Comm. on supra xix. 12, " st^ra xix. 13— 15,
P- 166.— Editor, 1862. ty have not withheld
|| Do all they can to impede my movements. spittle.
9 ; Matt. xxvi. 67 ; xxvii. 30, fe. q supra xxix. 8, 10. r supra xxix. 20 ; 1 Sam. ii. 4 ; Ps.
xxxvii. 15 ; Jer. li. 56 ; Hos. i. 5, fe. i^ have they let loose. s Isa. xxxvii. 29 ; Ps. xxxii. 9 ;
xxxix. 1, fe. ui from my face. a On [the] right. t supra ver. 1 ; xix. 18 ; comp. xxix.
8 ; mfra xxxii. 6, 7 ; Lev. xix. 32. P they have pushed. u supra v. 23; Prov. iii. 23. yand
have raised. 8 [the] ways of their destruction, calamity. v supra xix. 12; Isa. lvii. 14 ;
Ixii. 10 ; 2 Sam. xx. 15 ; 2 Kings xix. 32 ; Jer. xviii. 1 5 ; Ezek. iv. 2, fe. e. have broken up.
ui supra xix. 8 ; Isa. iii. 12 ; Lam. iii. 9 ; comp. supra iii. 23 ; Lam. iii. 7 ; Hos. ii. 6, fe.
H H

466

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXX. 14  23.

ui [it is] not helping.
a Isa. xxx. 5.
3 have rolled them-

15

They help on my calamity,
Though °> it is no a help to them.
14 As through a wide breach they come upon me;
In Me tempest's stead they P roll themselves inb.
c Terrors 7 are turned upon me ;
As the wind 8 they pursue S8 my soul,
So that my safety hath passed like e a cloud d.
16 And now is my soul £ poured out n within me';
Days of affliction take hold upon me^
17 By B night my h bones 6 are pierced through Kin
me,
And my sinews x take no rest 9.
18 p With great effort only can my garment be
changed ;
It girdeth me like " Me collar of my tunic \*
19 HE-j- hath cast me ""into the mire*,
p So that I am become like ' dust and ashes m. %
n I cry aloud unto Thee, but Thou dost not hear

20

me

b Isa. Iix. 19 ; xxviii.
2 ; Ezek. xiii. 11,
13.
c supraxY. 21 ; xviii.
11, 14 ; xx. 25 ;
xxvii. 20 ; Pa.
lxxiii. 19, &c.
y hath been turned.
8 it (every one of the
terrors) pursueth.
88 lit., my noble-one.
£ thick-cloud.
d supra vii. 9 ; Isa.
Ix. 8 ; 2 Pet. ii.
17 ; comp. supra
xi. 20.
Z poureth itself out.
ti upon, with, me.
e Ps. xbi. 4, 5.
f supra xxi. 6 ; xviii.
20 ; Ps. cxix. 53.
g supra vii. 4, 13,
14; Ps. vi. 6;
Deut. xxviii. 67.
h infra ver. 30 ;
xxxiii. 19.
9 one hath pierced.
it from upon me.
X lie not down.
p with greatness of
strength.
v [the] mouth of,
opening of.
i supra il. 7 ; vn. 5 ;
xix. 26.
it to the mire (or
clay).
k supra ix. 31 ; in
fra xl. 13; Ps.
xl. 2 ; lxix. 2, 14 ;
Jer. xxxviii. 22, &c.
p so that I compared
myself.
I infra xlii. 6 ; Gen.
xviii. 27.
m supra vii. 5.
m supra xix. 7 ; xvi.
18;vi.8; vii.7,20;
x. 2 — 22,&c. ; comp.
infra xxxviii. 2, fe.
o comp. supra ix. 3 ;
j«/raxxxi.35,notem.
p lSam.i.26;Mark xi. 25 ; comp. su
pra xix. 18, note
1 ; infra ver. 28 ;
xxxiii.5; Jer. xviii.
20.
" Thou art turned into a cruel-one. q supra xvi. 9, 11 — 14 ; ix. 17, 30, 31 ; vii. 14, fe. r comp.
supra xvi. 14 ; xxiii. 6, fe. . r Thou batest me. « supra xix. 11 ; xvi. 9 ; xiii. 24. <j> usedst
f o lift me up, to make me ride. t 2 Sam. xxii. 11 ; Ps. xviii. 10 ; comp. Isa. xl. 31. « Deut.
xxxii. 13 ; Isa. Iviii. 14 ; Ps. Ixvi. 12. v supra xix. 10 ; xvi. 8 ; xix. 20 ; vii. 7 ; comp. vi. 12, &c.
X cause me to return. w supra x. 9 ; comp. vii. 1, 16 ; Eccles. ix. 5. x supra xvii. 13 ;
x. 21, 22 ; comp. infra xxxviii. 17 ; Lam. iii. 6 ; Isa. Iix. 10 ; Ps. cxliii. 3, fe.

21

22

23

I ^stand up in prayer,hut Thou regardest me not ".
" Thou art become q cruel to me ;
By Me r might of Thine hand T dost Thou shew
Thine s hate towards me.
Thou 9 didst lift me up, on Me 'wind didst make
me ride, " §
And now Thy wisdom dissolveth me away ".
Of a truth I know, that Thou wilt x bring me
back unto death w,
Even to Me x house of assembly for all living ;
* i.e., owing to the number of the sores, with which he is
covered, his garment sticks to, and girds, his body as tightly
as its collar does his neck. -j- i.e., God.
| Alluding to the state of his skin, which in Elephantiasis
is said to bave very much the appearance of dried and cracked
mud. Com. supra vii. 5.
§ Thou didst raise me to the highest pitch of glory and dignity.

TRANSLATION. CHAPS, xxx. 24 — 31 ; XXXI. 1 — 3. 467
24 Howbeit, when there is prayer for them"* He "Xi"^.1^
will not " put forth His hand, 9; Tii- 15> 16;
. . xxiii. 17.
Nor a when His calamity f cometh and Mere is b comp. supra vi. 9.
a loud-cry for them a .* a HiB^aia^ity, uO,
25 Did I not weep P for him, whose lot was hard c \ j^^g^
Was wof my soul grieved for the y needy d 1 is] a loud cry, fe.
Jo ' 0 for [tbe] bard of
26 Verily, I looked for good % but evil came ee ; day.
Yea, I hoped for light ^ but there came deep- c*if™ 17'. infra
dnrloiP^ xxxi. 16-20 ;Pb.
aarKness . XXXT 13. Jer.
27 My * bowels yy boil, and 8 are not quiet, xviu\20;Rom.xii.
J *¦ 15; Heb. xm.3.
€ So ^suddenlyare days of affliction come upon me. y needy-one.
28 I ee go-about blackened, but £ not by Me sun * ; -j- Smfraxxxi. 16, 19',
I ffrise up, I cry aloud in the assembly '. prov.xiv. 21, fe.5;
29 A m brother am I become to " dragons, comp *«pm'xxii.
And a companion to v young owls °. e «^raxxix.i8; Ps.
xxx. 6.
30 My skin vv is black p 6 upon me, ee supra ni. 26; iv.
And K my * bones are burned with heat. j, Supra xxix. 3,
31 So that my harp KK is turned to mourning '', notes d> e'f .
J sr o » g supra xviu. o,
And my lute into Me voice x of them that weep r. notes d and e ¦,
J r xxiu. 17.
h 1 Kings iii. 26 ;
CHAPTER XXXI. ^wiS
T ... ii. 11 ; Cant. v. 4,
ilp made a covenant with mine eyes " ; fe.
How then could I look upon a "maid'? r7t0aboii. ee'"
2 Yet what *¦ portion " hath been allotted me by
God from above % £ days of affliction
prevented, antici-
Or what p inheritance * by Me Almighty, °" from pated, me, came
.. , „ upon me before [I
On lllgll ! expected them].
3 Should not calamity be for Me * wicked ", ^^I^Ixy*. 19—21 ; 'infra
* • p 3 i.\. j ^ xxxiv. 20, 25.
* i.e., for death and tbe grave. u have, gone about.
t It is not the sun, which hath given this dark hue to my Z without sun.
i . .. . . , .. „ n t k infra ver. 30;
skin, it is my misery and the force of my disease. Qant ;. 5 g • Lam.
iv. 8 ; v. 10.
ZZ have risen up. I comp. supra xxix. 21 — 25. m comp. supra xvii. 14 ; Jer. ii. 27.
» Isa. xliii. 20 ; xxxiv. 13 ; xxxv. 7 ; Ps. xliv. 19, &c. 1 daughters of an owl. 0 Isa. xliii. 20 ;
Ps. cii. 6 ; Mic. i. 8. tin hath become black. p supra ver. 28, note k. 9 from upon me.
k my bone. q supra ver. 17 ; Ps. xxxi. 10 ; cii. 3 ; Jer. xx. 9 ; Lam. i. 13 ; comp. supra
xxi. 24. kk bath become. r supra xxi. 12 ; Isa. xxiv. 8 ; Lam. v. 15 ; Amos. viii. 10 ; Jam.
iv. 9; comp. Ps. xxx. 11; Jer. xxxi. 13, fe. X of [people] weeping. p cut  to, for, my
eyes. s Matt. v. 28 ; 2 Pet. ii. 14 ; 1 John ii. 16. v strictly speaking, a young woman
whether married or unmarried. t Prov. vi. 25. "" portion of God. u supra xx. 29 ; xxvii.
13 ; Ps. xi. 6 ; Isa. xvii. 14, &c. p inheritance of [the] Almighty. o- from high-places.
r iniquitous-man. » supra xxi. 20 ; xxiv. 20 ; ix. 22—24 ; xii. 6 ; xxi. 7 — 13 ; xxiv. 1, fe.
H H 2

8 have not been
Bilent.

468

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXXI. 4  10.

x Ps. Iviii. 3 ; Isa. i.
4 ; Ezek. xiv. 5.
a supra xiii. 27 ; vii.
12 ; xvi. 9 ; xxiii.
\0\infraxxx\Y ,2\;
Jer. xxxii. 19, fe.
b supra xiv. 16 ; in
fra xxxiii. 11, fe.
c Jer. ii. 5 ; Ephes.
iv. 17 ; Prov. xii.
11 ; xxviii. 19.
d Prov. i. 16 ; Isa.
Iix. 7.
e supra xxvii. 4 ; xv.
5; xi. 3; ix. 21;
xvi. 17, fe.
/Lev. xix. 36; Deut.
xxv. 13— 15; Prov.
xi. 1 ; Hos. xii. 7 ;
Amos viii. 5.
i// balances of righte
ousness, justice.
g Dan. v. 27; Ps.
Ixii. 9 ; Isa. xxvi. 7.
h supraxiii. 18 ; xxiii.
7, 10 ; ix. 21 ; x.
7; xiii. 15 ; xxiii.
11,12; xxvii. 6.
ui used to turn, or,
should have turned.
i Ps. xxv. 8.
k supra xxiii. 11 ;
Gen. xviii. 19 ; Ps.
xviii. 21; Isa. xxx.
11, fe.
I infra vers. 9, 27 ;
supra ver. 1 ; xi.
13; xxii. 22.
m supra xv. 12 ; xxiv.
15; 2 Pet. ii. 14;
1 John ii. 16.
n Deut. xiii. 17.
o supra xi. 14 ; xvi.
17; 1 Sam. xxiv.
11; Ps. vii. 3;
Jonah iii. 8.
a I should bave
sown and another
should fe.
p Lev. xxvi. 16 ;
Deut. xxviii. 18, 30,
33, 38—40, 42 ; cf.
supra v. 5.
P my offsprings.
q ver. 12.
r infraYer. 27 ; Deut.
xi. 16.
y on account of, or,
to.
sProv. vi. 24, 25;
vii. 8—23 ; Jer. v.
8 ; Matt. v. 28.
t supra xxiv. 15 ;
Gen. xii. 15—18 ;
XX. 3 ; xxvi. 10 ;
Exod. xx. 14 ;
Numb. v. 12—27;

And * estrangement * for Me workers of ini
quity ?
4 Doth not He see my ways ",
And number all my steps 4 ?
5 ] Have I walked with vanity c %
Or hath my foot d hasted to deceit e X
6 Let Him weigh me in f + just balances 9,
And then will God know mine integrity *.
7 If' my step a had turned from * the way '', f
And mine ' heart walked after mine eyes m ,
Or any blot had n cleaved to mine hands ° ;
8 Then, a when Isowed, another should have eatenp,
And# myproduce should have been 4rootedup*!J
9 If mine heart had been enticed r 7 by a woman *,
So that I had laid wait at my neighbour's
door ' ; §
10 Then should my wife have u ground for another, ||
1 Or, 5. If I had walked with vanity,
Or my foot had hasted to deceit,
6. (Let Him weigh me in just balances
And then will God know mine integrity,)
7. If my step had turned from the way,
And &c, fe.
8. Then, when I sowed, fe., fe.
Ver. 6. is thus parenthetical, and ver. 8 forms tbe apodosis to ver. 5, as
well as to ver. 7. This interpretation was suggested to me by Mr. Randolph,
and is, I find, also given by Wolfssohn, though this Commentator translates
somewhat differently. See Appendix. Editor, 1862.
* i.e., estrangement from God, which ought to be the lot of
profligate and not of chaste men. ^Estrangement is here taken
rather in the sense of the alienation of God from man, i.e.,
the disfavour of God ; whereas in the passages quoted in the
margin it is the alienation of man from God; i.e., the impiety
of man, which is spoken of. Editor, 1862].
t i.e., from the right way. See Comment.
X How then was it that I was blessed with such abundant
harvests year after year ?
§ To watch when he should be from home.
|| i.e., should have ground corn, should have had to perform
the most menial offices. [Comp. Judg. xvi. 21 ; Lam. v. 13.
Editor, 1862].
2 Sam. xii. 9, 11, 13, 14, &c, &c. u Judg. xvi. 21 ; Lam. v. 13.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXXI. 11 — 19. 469
And upon her others have bowed down a \ a ^.^ii; xvi!
1 1 For this is a <° heinous crime h ; 21> 22 s Jer- Tiii-
... io, fe-
Yea, it is an "iniquity to 6e punished by the u or, a flagitious
• j d * crime.
judges".* j Gen. xxxix. 9;
12 For it is a "fire, which consumeth even to TsT/i-^'te.''
destruction f, ° infra Ter- 28'
d Lev. xx. 10 ; Deut.
And so should have uprooted all mine xxii. 22 ; Numb.
., v. 15— 27.
increase 9 ! e prov. Ti. 27-29.
13 If I > had slighted Me just-cause of my Aman- ^;^\
servant, P U8ed t0 &gU, re
ject ; or, should
Or my * maid-servant, y when they contended have slighted.
... , h Exod. xxi. 26, 27,
With me % 32; Deut. xxiv.
14 What then could I have done, if God « had ^ji^%l
arisen ? y on their contend
ing.
And if He 'had visited me, what could I have »««proxxix.i6,i7
i -rr • i, <t Exod. xxiii. 3, 6
answered Him * { pr0v. xxix. 7 ¦, su
15 Did not fHe that made me in the belly', Z^i-xxt".
make him, , }9> *?•
8 should have arisen.
And v fashion him in ^ a like womb m \ e shouidhavevisited.
i n tv it -11117 {• 7-i- it & infra xl. 4, 5 ; xlii.
16 Did 1 K withhold Me poor from their desire n l. 6 ; supra xxv. 4 ;
Or cause Me eyes of Me ° widow to fail ? ™3 &c7!Vah. i.
17 Or eat my morsel myself alone p, 6v.c°m£- su?™
J J xxiii. 4, 5 ; xm. 3,
And Me q fatherless did not eat thereof? 22> &e-
18 Surely, from my youth, he f grew up with me, belly.
as with a father ', Ts^cxxiix-ls—
And, as though she had come out from my estabhsh found
mother's belly, * so guided I her. t create.
. -i 0one womb.
19 Could I endure to see one perishing without m infra xxxiii. 6;
1 i . n xxxiv. 19.
Clothing I. K use to withhold.
* Or the needy, without covering ' ? " ™£™ ™- %^ j
infra vers. 19, 20.
* If I had been guilty of such a heinous crime as adultery, o supra xxn. 9; xxix.
,-,,,, , , 13 ; mfra ver. 18 ;
even mortal j udges would have sentenced me to the severest supra xxiv. 3, 21 ;
punishments ; how then could God have suffered me to remain Exod. xxii. 22 —
unpunished ? p SUpra xx. 21.
f the fatherless. 2*«^raxxii.9; xxix.
4. ., . , 12; infraYer. 21;
| the Widow. «jprovi.27;xxiv. 3, 9, fe.; Exod.
xxii. 22—24; Matt. xxv. 35, 42 ; Luke xvi. 21. r supra xxix. 16; Jer. iii. 4; Isa. xxii. 21.
* Prov. ii. 17 ; Ps. xxxv. 14. X or no covering to the needy. t supra xxii. 6 ; infra
xxiv. 7, 10 ; Matt. xxv. 36, 43 ; Exod xxii. 26, 27 ; Deut. xxiv. 13.

470

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXXI. 20 — 29.

Did not rather his loins bless me,
Seeing he <° kept himself warm P with Me fleece
of my lambs 1
If I had a shaken mine hand against Me father
less 4,
y Because I saw mine help in the c gate ; *
Then should my shoulder have fallen from Me
blade,
Or mine d arm -j- have been broken from its
bone e ! J from God was a terror to
/ 5 I could not

ui used to keep him- OQ
self warm.
(3 by means of.
a Isa. x. 32 ; xi. 15;
Zech. ii. 9.
b supra ver. 17, and q-i
references there. ^*-
y because, or, when,
I used to see.
c supra y. 4 ; Prov.
xxii. 22 ; Amos „ „
v. 12. 22
d infra xxxviii. 15 ;
Ps. x. 15 ; Ezek.
xxx. 21 ; comp.
supra xxii. 9 ; iv.
10 ; xxix. 17.
e comp. Numb. v.
22, 27 ; Acts. xii. 23 § But ° calamity
23 ; xxviii. 4 — 6.
8 [the] calamity of lie
fstra iii. 26; Ps. And> hY reaSOn °f Hig
cxix- 120: do this thing h.
ff supra xm. 11. . u .
<r should not have 24 Did I ever make * gold my confidence ?
Or £ to 'fine-gold say: " ' Thou art

Majesty,

been able.
h supraxxii. 11 — 17,
21—23 ; xv. 4.
i supra xxii. 24, 25 ;
comp. infra xxxvi.
18, 19 ; xxviii. 15
—17, 19; Prov.
xvi. 16.
k supra YJii. 14.
Z to the fine-gold.
I comp. supra xvii.
14, note d.
ti used I to rejoice ?
9 found, attained,
acquired.
m supra xv. 29 ; xx.
15, 28 ; xxvii. 16,
17.
k used I to see?
n Deut. iv. 19 ; xvii.
3 ; 2 Kings xvii.
16 ; xxiii. 5 ; Jer.
viii. 2.
X used to shine.
p going.
o supra ver. 9.
v and my hand
kissed my mouth.
p Ps. ii. 12 ; 1 Kings
xix. 18 ; Hob.
xiii. 2.
q supra xv. 12; xviii.
4 ; xxii. 11 — 14.
p a judicial iniquity.
r supra ver. 11.
* Exod. xxii. 20 ;
Deut. xiii. 1 — 11 ;
xvii.3 — 5 ; 2 Kings
xxii. 17, fe.
tr from above.

my

£ to * fine-gold say :
trust " " 1
25 v Did I rejoice, because my wealth was great,
And because mine hand had e gotten much m \
26 K Did I consider Me "sun, when he x shined,
Or Me glorious " moon, p as she moved along ;
27 So that my heart was secretly enticed °,
" And my mouth p kissed my hand q 1
28 This too had been pr an iniquity for the
judge s,
For I should have denied God °" that is above '.
29 Did I T rejoice at Me calamity 9 of him, that
hated rae"1
Or x exult, when evil r- befell him ?
* If I had even threatened tbe fatherless with a blow,
because I knew the Judge would side with me, if a charge
were brought against me.
t i.e., the fore-arm.
X i.e., the bone of the upper arm, the humerus.
§ i.e., But I never acted so cruelly, for calamity, &c. Editor,
1862.

xxii. 11—14,

ip my hater. u 1 Sam. xxiv. 9 — 11, 17-
ip found, reached, him.

23;
-19;

xviii. 4 ; vi. 10 ; xix. 25.
2 Sam. i. 12 ; Matt. v. 44, &c.

r use to rejoice.
X bestir myself.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXXI. 30 — 35. 471
30 Nay, I suffered not even "my mouth to sin", <« my palate
J J ' a supra u. 10 ; Ps.
So as to demand his life with a curse 4 % x™. 3 ; xxxix- x ;
_.. , Prov. xiii. 3.
ol Did not Me e men ot my tent say, s Matt. v.44; Rom.
" Oh, that we had of his flesh, we could not c iXsam. 'xxiv. 4.
P glut ourselves therewith d!"* % be slutt.ed- .
o o supra vi. 27 ; xix.
32  iVo .' in Me street Me stranger y lodged not % 22 s ^. xxvii. 2.
° ° y used not to lodge.
My doors I ° opened to the ¦* wayfarer. « Gen. xix. 2 ; Judg.
33 Could I, e after the manner of man, have Heb. xiii. 2.

covered my transgressions 9, -j- fTudJxTri.
So as to ''hide mine iniquity through my self-love* ;

/Judg. xix. 17.
£ as a man.
g supra xv. 5, 12 ;
34 £ Because I dreaded Me great multitude *, vi. 30 ; xxvii. 4 -,
And the l contempt of families v terrified me, 36, '37!
<?So that I stayed within, « and went not out *^II^L 5; Iea'
of the door m ? t * mffa T1- 10 : x; „7>
^ + 15; xi. 4; XVI. 17;
" 35  * Oh that I had one, who would hear xxiii. 10 — 12 ;
xxvii. 2, 5, 6 ;
me"! xxxiii. 9, 27;
Behold P what I have marked down " ! Let r ^because [if 1
Me Almighty answer me ' ! h.^ T ?om^ted
OD1 o J smj 1 should bave
Or Me book, which v mine s Adversary dreaded.
k supra xii. 2 ; i»/ra
hath written r ! || xxxii. 9 ; Ps. lvi.
11 ; cxviii. 6; Heb.
* They found fault with me on account of the lukewarmness xiii. 6.
of my hatred towards my enemy, whilst their hatred of bim xxiilr^s'xlii 10S'
was so great that they could, as it were, have eaten him up. Matt. x. 22, 28, 32.
t i.e., Was I capable of covering my transgressions ? [i.e., v ^f^*™ terri'
transgressions, or sins, such as those which Job has just been 9 so that I kept still,
enumerating. The Heb. VP^ which is commonly translated *?¦' if° ^ I
a • ' J 8 hould, must, have
in the A.V. transgression, or trespass, is certainly not a milder kept still, stayed
term than riWKin sin ; indeed infra xxxiv. 37, where it is 7't^m' , , ,
T . . J k [and] should not
translated rebellion, it would seem to designate a still graver have gone out.
offence. I make this remark because in Eng. transgression and m ™P™ .XT- 23 s
° " Exod. xu. 22.
trespass are commonly used of milder offences than those x Oh that to me
designated by the word sin. Editor, 1862.1 f.the™ were] one
, -1 listening to me !
X Job does not mean to say here that he had actually com- nSuvraxxx 20 xi
mitted transgressions, and had actually made a public confession 7; eomp.vi. 8; vii.
of them, he merely assures his hearers that, if he had committed s'vo—Ia". ¦' ^l'
sin, he would have confessed it publicly. See Comm. pp. 286, 15 ; xvi. 21; xxiii.
287. Editor, 1862. 3' 8' 9' . .
. . P mJ mark ; i.e.,
§ See Commentary, note l|§F page 288, where it is argued what I have
that tbe vers, marked A and B might, very appropriately, marked down, my
*\. l m ¦ tt. i- , e u- if written defence.
change places. || i.e., the list ot His charges. , 0 swpra xiii. 18 •
xxiii. 4.
p supra xiii. 22; ix. 32; xxxiii. 5; xxxviii. 3; xl. 2, 4, 7. v [the] man of my strife
q supra xvi. 9 ; xiii. 24 ; xxx. 21. r supra xxiii. 5 ; xiii. 23.

472 TRANSLATION. CHAPS. XXXI. 36 — -40 ; XXXII. 1, 2.

z Isa. ix. 6; xxii.
22; Ezek. xii. 7,
12, fe.
ui crowns to me.
u, supra xxix. 14 ;
Prov. xii. 4 ; xvi.
31 ; Matt, xxvii.
29.
b supra xxiii. 10.
c supra ver. 4 ; xiv.
16 ; xiii. 27 ;
xxxiii. 11.
d supra xiii. 15 ;
xxiii. 11, 12 ;
xxvii. 6.
e supra xxix. 8 — 10,
21—25.
P used to cry out.
y together used to
weep.
/ Isa. xxiv. 4 ; xxxiii.
9 ; Jer. xii. 4, 11 ;
Joel i. 10; Ps.lxv.
12, 13; Isa, lv.
12 ; Gen. iv. 12.
8 strength without
silver.
£ caused [tbe] soul
of its owners to
breathe (be
breathed) out.
g supra xx. 19 ; xxii.
5—9; 1 ""
xxi. 2, 6, 13, 15."
Z gone forth.
t] thorn.
k Gen. iii. 17, 18 ;
Jer. xii. 13 ; supra
ver. 8 ; Lev. xxvi.
16 ; Deut. xxviii.
18, fe. ; Mic. vi.
15 ; Isa. lv. 13.
9 noisome-weed.
i comp. Isa. v. 2, 4.
k 2 Sam. xxiii. 1.
k from answering.
I supra Yi. 10,24,29.
30;ix.l7,21— 24.
30, 31 ; X. 7, 15
xi. 4 ; xiii. 15, 16.
18,23,26;xvi.l7
xix. 6, 7, 28, 29
xxiii. 7, 10—12
xxvii.2— 6; xxx.20
—22; xxxi. 35—
37, and passim;
infra xxxiii,

36 ' Would I not bear it upon my shoulder z ?
I would bind it a round me as a
° diadem.4*
37 The number of my steps " would I declare
unto Him'';
As to a prince, draw near to Him e. f
' 38 If my land P had cried out against me,
And its furrows 7 all had wept f,
39 If I had eaten its 8 produce without pay
ment,
Or f caused the owners thereof to breathe
out their life g ;
40 Then, instead of wheat, should have £ sprung
up v thorns*,
And ^noisome-weeds, instead of barley '' !

Kir THE WORDS OF JOB ARE ENDED *

Ui

CHAPTER XXXII.
1 So these three men ceased K answering Job,
because he was righteous in his own eyes '.
2 Then was kindled Me anger of Elihu, Me son
of Barachel, the m Buzite, of Me family of B Ram;
1 Or, Surely, I would bear it, fe. Editor, 1862.
* The accusations brought against me by my Adversary
xxxiv. 5 ; xxxv. 2. (i.e., God) would, I know, so clearly establish my innocence,
' that, far from marking me with a brand of infamy, they would
be unto me a badge of honour.
t To my Adversary. So far from approaching Him in an
attitude of arrogant defiance, I would draw near unto Him with
the greatest deference and respect.
X See Commentary, note ^gF page 288.

14;

xxu
1 Chron. v.
Jer. xxv. 23.
n Ruth iv. 19 ;
1 Chron. ii. 9, 10,
25, 27.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXXII. 3 — 12. 473
against Job was his anger kindled, "because «>becauseofhismak-
° ing, considering,
he considered himself more righteous than himself righteous
(~i j a more than God.
^JOU. • a See ver. 1, note a ;
3 And against his three friends was his anger ^ 5xfxxxv.92!
kindled, because they had P found no answer, P had not foand an
J ' answer.
and so pronounced Job wicked 4. * * iv. 17— 19; v. 17;
4 Now Elihu 7 had delayed to speak concerning 15 ; xi. 2—4, 6,
Job, because they-j- were older than himself 12— 16,; 20— 356-
8 in days. XT ^~^i xx-
J -5 — 29 ; xxii. 5 —
5 But, when Elihu saw, that Mere was no answer !?> 21—23 ; xxv.
7 1 n i 1 i • 4~ ^ > xx™- 13 —
in Me mouth ot the three men, then was his 23; comp. xix. 3,
i • ii 1 28,29; xiii. 4, fe.
anger kindled, y had been wJting
6 Then Elihu, Me son of Barachel, the Buzite, ™th W 7°rds
' ' ' concerning Job.
took up his discourse, and said : s as t0' with respect
to, days.
Young am I 8 in days, and ye are very old ", c supra xv. 10.
Therefore c held I back, and was afraid d d sup™ xxix 8 21
£ To • shew you mine opinion. { £&¦££.
7 I thought: Days J should speak, ^^'j1/5™7™
Seeing that a multitude of years v teach 2.
. , f n make to know.
Wisdom7. / supra xii. 12, 20 ;
8 But, verily, it is the 9 spirit which is in frail-man, g ^vl~xx°3; infra
And Me breath of Me Almighty, which e giveth xxx^; 14; Pr0T-
him understanding *. o maketh them to
9 Multitudes are not always Wise \ have understand-
Neither do Me aged always K perceive that i£fm intelligent!
which is right *. h \fiT,& iu- 9> n>
10 Therefore I x say :' iim Hearken unto me ; * Exod- xx"i- 2 ;
< t t i -ni ¦ • • u -1 Kings xix. 10,
' 1, yea 1 also, will shew mine opinion ". fe.
11 Behold! I ° waited for your words ; £ ll&nTn^is^'iv.
I Pgave ear to your reasonings, until ye should x^
have searched out Me " matter. l suP.ra xiii- 4> 17,
in-n 7 7T ii xxi, 2;«'re/^raxxxiii.
12 P But, though 1 attended unto you, 1, 31 ; xxxiv. 2,
16 ; xlii. 4.
m infra xxxiii. 1
* Because finding no other answer (i.e., seeing no other no eff- ¦
° v ' ° « supra ver. 6 ; infra
means), by which they could establish the justice of God, they ver. 17 ; xxxvi. 2.
pronounced Job guilty. ° ™Pra Ter- 4.
j. • , , n ¦ i » -r , /" 1 tept giving ear.
t i.e., tbe three friends of Job. v matters.
X Days, i.e., many days, old age, or those whose days are P but * kept attend-
many, old men. Editor, 1862. ¦ ££g ^ and

474 TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXXII. 13  19.
w convincing. Yet behold ! Mere was not one of you, m that
a supra xxxi. 35 — .
37, and passim. Convinced Job ",
bmpra^er.'s-, xxi. Not one of you, P that answered his speeches 4.
^^tif's/fe;' 13 Peradventure ye will say: "We have found
infra xlii. 7. out wisdom ° 
c supra xxvm. 12, ,-,¦,, i i ¦ i
20, 21 ; xv. 2, 3, " It is God that thrusteth him down, not
8; xiii. 2; xii. 2; , ,
xi. 6 ; Jer. viii. 8. man". *
dTffli4X-i64rfv! 14 But why did he noty e direct his words unto
17.ri9; xixi5; mel
vm.3; V.17.&C;
infra xxxiii. 12; I indeed should not have answered him with
xxxiv. 10 — 12 ; if,
xxxv. 2 ; xxxvi. your speeches7.^
x^xTii-u, 15 J They were 8 confounded; they answered no
fe. more -
y set in order, ar- '
range, dispose, set, They put away Me f matter from them 9. §
direct
e supraxxmA-,infra 16 So I h £ waited v until they spake no longer,
iXTpb5v. 3XXTU' Until they 6 ceased, and answered no more.
{ZkenXTi' 4' 5' 17 T' Vea J also' wil1 sPeak my Part'
£ words, matters. j^ yea T ais0) wiH shew mine opinion *.
g supra xix. 2 — 5 ; J
xvi. 2, 3 ; xiii. 2, 18 For I K am full of words ;
h supra' Yers. 4, 6, x The k spirit within me p constraineth me'.
Z ll\ waiting 19 Lo! my m belly || is as wine, wMcA "hath no
jj that they should Veilt '
not apeak.
9 that they stood,
stopped.
i supra vers. 6, 10 ; * Peradventure ye will say : The wisest answer we could
xv. ; mjra xxxvi. jiave gjveo j0b wag ^he one we did give him, namely, that since
k have been full. his afflictions came upon bim from God be must needs have
k supra ver. 8 ; xx. f I should not, like you, have adopted a line of argument,
?• . . , which, far from being calculated to convince a man conscious
p hath constrained °
me. of his innocence, could only tend to exasperate him.
I Ps. xxxix. 3 ; Jer. + jt wjjj De observed that in this and the next verse there is
m supra xv. 2, 35 ; a change of person, and that Elihu no longer addresses himself
Ps. xliv. 25, fe. t0 j0tj's tnree friends, but speaks of them. See Comm. p. 301,
note ; and comp. supra xxx. 19 — 24, where He, His, Thou,
Thine, &c, all refer to God. Editor, 1862.
§ Instead of bringing forward arguments against him, they
thought it quite sufficient to declare, that be was punished
because he deserved punishment, and therewith dismissed the
matter. || i.e., my inward parts, my mind. See supra xv. 2, 35, &c.
—Editor, 1862.

TRANSLATION. CHAPS. XXXII. 20 — 22 ; XXXIII. 1  5. 475
Like " new r- bottles, "it is ready to burst.* a Mat'- ..ix- }7'
T T Mark "• 22> &°- '
20 I will speak, Pthat I may be eased4 ; comp. Josh. ix.13.
I will ° open my lips, and take up my dis- w biTiii be 'cloven,
course. ^ that j-there-j may
21 I will not now accept 7 any man's person d; , be ea8e.to me-
i. j r 6 wpra xm. 13 ; Ps.
Nor will I to yy any man use flattering words. xxxix. 3.
22 For I know not how to use flattering words ° ; ° Infra xxxiii.™! ;
Nay for this almost must my ' Maker forgive 5^^. 8. infra
jjjg + xxxiv. 19 ; comp.
' ' xlii. 8 ; 1 Sam.
xxv. 35.
yy a man.
CHAPTER XXXIII. ^TV^f
1 So P hear then, O Job, my words, g supra xiii. 6,' 17 ;
And to all my speeches give ear. gj5 xxxii' ™;
2 Behold now ! I have A opened my mouth, x xxxiv. 2 ; xiii. 4. '
1 . * supra ill. 1 ; xi. 5 ;
My tongue hath spoken in my palate \ J xxxii. 20.
3 The uprightness of my heart shall be s mine s my speeches'.
plnnnpnfip* k supra iY. 6 ; yiii.
eloquence , 10. Pr0T Tiii 6
And ffl« knowledge, that my lips e speak ,— 9- ,
" ° j sr r e have spoken.
clearly. § I Oen. ii. 7 ; infra
- xxx iv 14<
4 TAe ' Spirit of God hath made me, z make to' return
And Me breath of Me Almighty preserveth me Two^s]^^!
alive. || infra XXXT- 4-
" m infra xxxviii. 3 ;
5. If thou art able, £ return me answer"; xi. 2, 7.
"Set thy words in order before me, v stand" xxxii. 14 ; xxxvii!
un 19;Ps.v.3.
r- n set thyself up. See
supra i. 6.
0 supra xix. 18 ;
* New bottles (wine-skins) were more likely to burst than xxx- 20-
old ones, because as we learn from Matt. ix. 17, new and
fermenting wine only was put into them. — Editor, 1862.
f I shall certainly never be called upon to repent for having
applied flattering epithets to any man, on the contrary, I may
have to seek forgiveness from my Maker for having, when
ever I thought people required correction, administered it to
them in terms calculated perhaps to hurt their feelings.
J I refrained from speaking as long as I was able, but now
that I have once begun, I must be suffered to go on.
§ I lay no claim to eloquence ; all that I can promise is, to
speak with sincerity and clearness.
|| I am a man like thyself, and so thou needest not fear to
contend with me, if thou thinkest I am wrong.

476 TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXXIII. 6—16.
u, to thy mouth. 6 Behold ! I am, according <° to thy words, P in
P for God. ' ° ' '
a supra xxxi. 35— the stead of God " ; *
3J.9^s'xvi'.X2iI; Of 4 clay have I also been cut out.
b ^m'iv'Tg'f'xUi': 7 Behold ! - my terror -f need not dismay thee,
12; 2 Cor. v. i. jvjor ymine importunity d yy bear heavily upon
c comp. supra ix. i. j j j.
34 ; xiii. 21. thee.
,r my preu.Au<.., mB g g^ ^Qu didst say in mine eears,
* IT&rxxm.Te'; Yea< I S heard '*« S0Und °f WOrds fo'^ *^Se •

xix. 22 ; xvi.
xiii. 24—27; vii.
17— 19, fe.; infra " I am clean, neither is there iniquity 88in me/.
vers. XO IX.
yr be heavy. ' 10 " Behold ! He findeth occasions % against me*!

" I am pure, without transgression ;
fra 10
e8 i7e7t hti7g. " He counteth me < for His enemy * !
^ to me. ;q a He putteth my feet in the stocks M
/ supra vi. 30 ; ix. r ^
21 ; x. 7, is ; xi. " He watcheth all my ways * ! "
4; xvi. 17; xxiii. ,_-,,,,,,. ,.,_... , .. f
10—12; xxvii. 2 12 Behold ! in this (1 will answer thee) thou fart
g supra ix. 30, 31 ; nOt right,
x.^6; xiv. 16, 17, Yoy God is greater than frail-man K§
Eforanenemytohim. 13 Why didst thou contend v with Him m 1 
h supra xiii. 24 ; xvi. J
9 ; xix. n ; xxx. For He will not e give account for any of His
i supra xiii. 27. doings n.
^Xxxf 42;7comp! 14 But> surel7> in " one WW God speaketh,
supra vii. 12, 17 Yea in ° two, if 6e man do not regard it. II
 19- A. 20- xiv. . . o II
6. 15 In a dream, a vision of Me night p,
i supra iY^— Ii;' K When deep sleep falleth upon men*,
4-6 ^"cMx 32T' ^n slumberings upon Me couch.
infra xxxy. 2. 16 Then He x discloseth unto men,
ti to, against, Him. ....
m supra vii. 20; x. lhat He will p decree their chastisement r ;

2, et passim.
9 answer, declare all
rcTix ^3 12 • * Thou hast expressed the wish, that thou mightest plead
xi. 10 ; xii. 14 ; before God ; this wish of thine is granted, for, see, here
Dan. iv. 35, fe. am j jn tne gtea(j 0f q.0(j a substitution of persons which
o mfra xl. 5. r
99 one do not, fe. offereth thee this great advantage, that thou needest not stand
p supra iv. 13-21 ; jn &we of th opponent.
Gen. xx. 3, 6 ; , , . , T • •
xxxi. 24; Numb. T i.e., the terror which 1 can inspire.
xn. 6 ; Dan. ii. 28. + Occasions for doing me hurt.
k on [the] falling of ; . ° .
deep-sleep. § He is so great and exalted a Being, that we cannot but
q supra iv. 13. conclude that His object in inflicting sufferings upon frail men,
oTmen. tne work of His hands, is their good, not His pleasure.
u seal. || i.e., do not regard the first way, in which He speaketh to
r Gen. xx. 3 ; xxxi.

24; 2 Kings xx. 1.

him.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXXIII. 17—26. 477
17 x So that He may remove from man his evil x in order t0 tum
J J away, remove.
doings, ui and from.
a From man Me pride, which he concealeth 4. 24,217— 2?! Deut.
18 That He may keep back his soul from Me pit ', J^f; 16; Ja9'
And his life from P perishing by the " sword.* c ^io" Jonah^
19 Or he is chastened with pain upon his couch6, 6,'fe. '
So that Me f strife of his limbs is vehement, crossing [to death]!
20 And his appetite 00 abhorreth bread', ^ 22 Ixix^xxvii'.

Yea, his soul his 7 favourite food.

xix. 29 ; xxvii.
14.
e supra xxx. 17; vii.
21 His flesh 8 wasteth* away out of sight, 4, 13 ; 2 Kings xx.
o 1 1 • i 7-7 1, 3. 5 ; 2 Chron.
00 that his bones, which c were not seen, xxxii. 24—26 ; 2
? , - , . j Kings i. 2, 6, 16 ;
i SUCK OUt . comp. also 2 Kings
22 And his soul v draweth near unto the pit*, cw^S.2
And his life to 6 the ' destroyers.t f fM^"xxx- li 30-
J > (30 abhorreth it,
23 Yet, if there be in his behalf an interceding [namely] bread.
angel-, 'TZ*7i **
But - one « among a thousand, JwalthSght.
To declare concerning that man his uprightness J ; h sfPra xvi- 8 > xvii-
24 Then HE § *hath "compassion upon him, and « were not seen.
.. . . Z are (lit.,have been)
A Saith : made high.
" Deliver him from going down to Me pit ' ; \ hftWrawnnear.
" I have found a " ransom." II k "Wa0,vi- u. 12 ¦•
11 vu. 21 ; xvi. 7 ;
25 Then Mhis flesh becometh fresher than in child- xvh.i5,i6;xix.io.
9 the making to die.
h00dr; Z2Sam.xxiv.l6,17.
tt . i.i_j.j7j c i • i.i « tn supra xxii. 29, 30 ;
He returneth to Me days of his youth*. »/raxiii.8; Gen!
26 He prayeth unto God, and He " accepteth him ', 7f\^~^2 '' ^
So that he "¦ seeth His face with p shouts-of-ioy ", 00mP- &en- xxxix-
J ; ' 5,to.;Deut.v. 5;
* • i, ¦ i t j i.- i j ., Gal. iii. 19, 20, fe.
* i.e., by a violent and untimely death. n mpra ix 3'
t i.e., to the angels whom God chargeth to remove man from 99 from, out of.
this world. Comp. 2 Sam. xxiv. 16. JJ ^& ,
X Though among a thousand angels, who bear record to Ps. xc. 13 ; cxxxv.
Heaven of the deeds of man on earth below, but one be found , . j
who can declare, that the man who is suffering from Heaven- p supra vers. 18, 22,
sent disease, has done a single good action. ™fja Ter8' 28\3„a
' c ° q mfra xxxvi. 18 ;
§ i.e., that is God. Ps. xlix. 7,8; Hos.
|| That one good action of his I accept as redeeming his xl"' 14-
iniquities, and grant him My pardon. fresh more than
[in] childhood.
r 2 Kings v. 14. s Ps. ciii. 5 ; Isa. xl. 31. v He hath accepted him. t supra xxii. 27 ;
infra xlii. 8, 9 ; 2 Kings xx. 2, 3, 5 ; comp. supra viii. 6 ; Pa. Ixvi. 17 — 19 ; 2 Chron. xxxiii. 12, 13,
19 ; Hos. v. 15. it hath seen. p shout-of-joy. « Ps. xlii. 4 ; xcv. 2 ; c. 2, 4, fe.

478 TRANSLATION. CHAPS. XXXIII. 27 — 33 ; XXXIV. 1, 2.

z 1 Sam. xxvi. 23 ;
Ps.vii.8; xviu. 20;
comp. Lev. xxiv.
19; Judg. i. 7;
Ps. Ixii. 12; Isa.
xxxiii. 1, fe.
a supra xxxi. 33, 34.
Tp said.
b Acts xxvi. 9 — 12 ;
Jas. v. 16, fe.
c comp. supra vi.
10, 24, 29, 30 ; ix.
17, 21—24, 35;
x. 3, 7, 15 ; xiii.
15,18,23; xvi. 17;
xix. 7 ; xxiii. 7,
10—12 ; xxvii. 2,
4 — 6 ; and espe
cially chap, xxxi.,
throughout which
Job most empha
tically declares his
innocence.
dsupraxxx. 13 ; Ps.
xxx. 9 ; Jer. ii. 8,
11 ; vii. 8, fe. ;
comp. Ps. li. 5 ;
Ephes. ii. 3.
e supra vers. 18, 22,
24 ; infra ver. 30 ;
Jonah ii. 6, fe.
ui look upon.
f supra iii. 16 ; infra
ver. 30 ;Ps. lvi. 13.
a twice, thrice.
ff supra ver. 14 ; in
fra xl. 5 ; 2 Kings
vi. 10 ; Neh. xiii.
20; Ps. Ixii. 11.
P cause to return.
h supra vers. 18, 22,
24, 28.
y to be enlightened.
i supra ver. 28 ; iii.
16 ; Ps. xlix. 19 ;
lvi. 13.
k supra xxxii. 10 ;
xxxiii. 1 ; infra
ver. 33 ; xxxiv. 2,
10,16,34; xxxvii.
14 ; comp. supra
xiii. 6, 17 ; xxi. 2.
I supra xiii. 5, 13 ;
xviii. 2 ; xxi. 3,

Because that He hath requited unto frail-man
according to his righteousness z.
27 "He* looketh upon men-j-, and ^ saith4:
" I had sinned ; yea, that which was right had I
perverted %
" Although it profited me not d J.
28 " Yet He delivered my soul from passing over
to the pit "*,
So that my life should <° see the light /."
29 Lo ! all these things God worketh a oftentimes '
with man;
30 To P bring back his soul from Me pit7',
7 That it may be enlightened with Me light of
the living \
31 Attend, O Job, hearken unto me*;
Keep silence, and let me speak '.
32 s If thou hast m ought to say, return me
answer n ;
Speak, for e I delight to pronounce thee
righteous °. §
33 f If not, hearken thou to me?;
q Keep silence, and I will teach thee wisdom.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
1 And Elihu took up his discourse, and said :
2 r Hear, O ye ' wise-men, my words ;
And, K "ye that have knowledge, give ear unto
me.

* i.e., the pardoned sinner.
t He maketh his confession publicly before men.
X I bad sometimes sinned, not from temptation, but from

fe ; comp. supra depravity, from actual love of sin.
xxix. 21. ,
8 If [there] are § i.e., to have been righteous. I am far from wishing to tax
words [with thee]. tnee wjtn crimes, which thou mayest never have committed ; on
m supra xxm. 4. .. , .,,.
n supra ver. 5 ; xiii. the contrary, it is my delight to think that until the time thy
22 ; infra xxxviu. afflictions came upon thee, thou didst lead a perfectly virtuous
3; xl. 7. ..„
£ I have delighted, ilIe-
desired.
o comp. supra xxxii. 3 ; ix. 2'8, 30, 31. Z If [there are] not [words with thee]. p supra ver.
31 note Ic. q supra ver. 31 note I. r supra xiii. 6, 17 ; xxi. 2 ; xxxiii. 1, 31 ; xlii. 4.
* infra ver. 34 ; supra xxxii. 7, 9 ; infra ver. 35 ; xxxv. 16 ; xxxviii. 2, fe. k knowing-men.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXXIV. 3 — 13.

479

8

10

For Me "ear should prove words,
Even as Me palate tasteth °> meat 4.
Let us "" choose for ourselves a manner of
reasoning ;
Let us P d consider among ourselves what is
good.
Surely, Job did say : "I PP am righteous %
"But God yhath rejected my just-cause7.
"Against my just-cause shall I lie''?
" s My * wound is grievous without transgres
sion*." *
Who is the man, that, like Job,
Drinketh up scoffing like water * ?
And goeth to e consort with workers of
iniquity ',
And to walk with £ wicked men l \
For he said: " ^Nought doth a man profit"1,
" v When he delighteth himself with
God"."
Therefore,

a Isa. 1. 4.
w [what one is] to
eat, or, bo as to
eat. See Comm.
b supra xii. 11 ; vi.
30 ; Heb. v. 14.
c comp. supra xxix.
25.
P know.
d supra xviii. 2.
PP have been right
eous.
e supra xxxii. 1 ; ix.
21—24; x. 15
xxvii. 6 ; vi. 10.
24,29,30; ix. 35
x. 3—7 ; xiii. 15.
18, 23 ; xvi. 17
xix. 7, 28, 29
xxiii. 7, 10—12
xxvii. 5 ; chap. 31
Comp. supra xi. 4.
y hath caused to
turn away.
f supra xxvii. 2 ; ix.
17; xix. 6,7, 22;
xxx. 20, 21 ; comp.
viii. 3 ; infra vers.
10, 12, fe.
g supra xxvii. 5 ;
xiii. 15, &c.
8 my arrow; i.e., the
arrow which has
wounded me.
h supra vi. 4 ; xvi.
12—14 ; xiii. 28 ;
vii. 5, fe. ; Ps.
xxxviii. 2.
i supra xvi. 17.
k supra xv. 16 ; Ps.
cix. 18 ; Prov. xix.
28 ; comp. supra
xx. 12—16.
t join, associate
with.
I Ps. i. 1 ; xxvi. 4, 5 ;
Prov. iv. 14, 15 ;
Jer. xv. 17, fe ;
comp. infra vers.
36, 37 ; supra xxii.
15,5—9; iv. 7—
11,17— 21; v. 3—
5 ; viii. 3, 6, 11—
15, 20; xi. 3, 6,
14 ; xv. 4—6, 12
—16, 20—35 ;
xviii. 5 — 21 ; xx.
5—29 ; xxii. 23 ;
xxv. 4 — 6 ; xxvii.
13 — 23. £ men of wickedness. ZZ a man doth not profit. m supra xxi. 14, 15; ix. 15
— 22 ; xii. 6 ; but comp. xxvii. 9, 10. n in (on) his delighting himself. n supra xxii. 26 ;
xxvii. 10; Ps. cxix. 16. o supra ver. 2, notes (s) and (r). 9 heart. k profane (i.e., far
[be it]), to God from wickedness. See note in Append, p infra ver. 12 ; xxxvi. 23 ; supra ver.
5 ; viii. 3 ; iv. 17—21 ; xv. 14—16 ; xxv. 4—6 ; Gen. xviii. 25 ; Deut. xxxii. 4 ; Hab. i. 13, fe.
X and [to the] Almighty from iniquity. q supra xxi. 19 ; xxxiii. 26 ; Lev. xxiv. 19 ; Judg. i.
7 ; Prov. i. 31 ; Isa. iii. 10 ; Jer. xxv. 14 ; Ezek. xxii. 21 ; Hos. xii. 2, &c. p cause him to find.
r supra vers. 10, 5, ; viii. 3, fe. ; infra ver. 17, fe. •» who charged [the] earth upon Him ?

11

O ye men of 6 understanding,
° hearken unto me :
*¦ Far be wickedness from God p !
x And iniquity from Me Almighty p !
Surely, Me work of a man will He repay
him*,
And according to a man's way, will He p requite
him*.
12 Yea, verily, God cannot do wickedly,
Neither can Me Almighty pervert justice '.
13 "Who hath entrusted unto Him Me
earth %
* i.e., without any transgression on my part. See note t,
p. 471.

480

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXXIV. 14 — 20.

Or who ^hath given Him °> the whole universe
in charge " 1 *
14 If He should set His heart 0upon Himself
alone b,
Then would He gather unto Himself His " breath
and His d spirit ; f

And man unto dust return '
16 Now, if thou hast -^understanding, ' hear this ;
' Give ear unto Me sound of my words.
17 Can indeed one, 7 who hateth justice4, rule 1
How then dost thou l condemn Him that is most
* just ? +
18 8 Is it meet to say unto a king : " O thou worth
less-man 1 1 "
" Thou wicked man ! " €unto a prince ' 1 §
How much less to Him, that £ m accepteth not the
persons of princes,
v Nor m regardeth Me rich before Me poor,
Because they all are the work of His hands " !
20 In a moment they die " !
One who holds a trust is liable to the suspicion, that he
may abuse the confidence reposed in him, but nobody can
reasonably be expected to injure that which is his own. [God

\p bath laid [upon
him] the whole,
fe.?
ui [the] universe all
of it.
a infra xxxviii. 4, 5,
12 — 41 ; xxxix.
1—13, 19, 26, 27,
fe. ; supra x. 3,
8 — 13 ; comp. in-
isa. xi. 12—14', 15 And all flesh would expire together,
fe.
P to Himself.
b supra xxii. 3 ; in
fra xxxv. 6 — 8.
c supra xii. 10 ;
Gen. ii. 7; Dan.
v. 23 ; Acta xvii.
28.
d supra xii. 10 ; Isa.
lvii. 16; Eccles.
xii. 7.
e supra x. 9 ; xvii.
16 ; Gen. ii. 7 ; iii.
19 ; Eccles. xii. 7,
fe.
f supra vers. 2, 10,
and references
there.
g supra ver 2, and
references there.
y hating.
h Gen. xviii. 25 ;
supra iv. 17 ; viii.
3 ; xxv. 4, fe.
2 Sam. xxiii. 3 ;
comp. also supra
ix. 17, 20—24;
x. 3 ; xix. 7 ; xxiv.
1 ; xxvii. 2 ; xxx.
20, 21, fe.
i infra xl. 8 ; re- ,
ferenees in note made the earth and all that therein is, what advantage there-
(h) and comp. sn- fore WOuld He have, if He vexed or destroyed the work of His
ixT^l1- x. 15; xiii! bands ? Comp. supra x. 3, 8 — 13, &c. Editor, 1862.]
X If He were to consult His own interest alone, He would
take back unto Himself the spirit, and breath of life — His own
— which He has bestowed upon man.
X But God does rule ; therefore He must be most just. How
then canst thou charge Him with injustice ?
§ Seeing that it is one of the first rules in politics, that a
Sovereign can do no wrong, and consequently is beyond the
¦ [should le of all guspicion.
a] saying t r

19

15, 18; xvi. 17;
xxiii. 10 — 12 ;
xxvii. 3 — 6; chap.
xxxi.
k supra iv. 17 ; xv.
14 — 16 ; xxv. 4 —
6 ; viii. 3 ; xxxiv.
12, fe.; Deut.
xxxii. 4 ; Is. xlv.
21, fe.
8 whether
there be a]

I 2 Sam. xvi. 5,7, 8,
13; Eccles. x. 20; Exod. xxii. 28 ; Acts xxiii. 3 — 5. t to princes. Z hath not accepted.
tn Deut. x. 17 ; 2 Chron. xix. 7 ; Luke xx. 21 ; Acts x. 34 ; Rom. ii. 11 ; Gal. ii. 6 ;
Ephes. vi. 9; 1 Pet. i. 17; supra xiii. 10; xxxii 21, 22; but comp. infra xlii. 8, 9;
Gen. iv. 4, 5 ; Mai. i. 2, 3 ; Rom. ix. 13—18, fe. n and hath not recognized, acknowledged.
n supra x. 3 ; xiv. 15 ; xxxi. 15 ; infra xxxvii. 7 ; Isa. xxix. 16 ; xlv. 9, 11, 12 ;
Rom. ix. 20. 0 supra iv. xix. 20 ; ix. 23 ; xxi. 13 ; infra xxxvi. 20 ; Ps. lxxiii. 18,
19 ; Isa. xxx. 13.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXXIV. 21 — 28.

481

P is removed y without

21

22

Yea, at " t" midnight a people °> is troubled and a Bxod- xiL 2.?> ^ ;
J " supra xxvn. 20 ;
im/j-o ver. 25.
tp half of, middle of
night.
oi are troubled [or,
made to tremble,
shake] and pass.
P they cause to turn
away.
y without a (or, not
by) hand.
b infra ver. 24 ;
1 Sam. xxvi. 10 ;
2 Sam. xxiv. 16 ;
Dan. ii. 34, 45.
c supra xi. ll ; xiii.
27;xxiv.23;xxxi.4 ; 2 Chron. xvi.
9 ; Ps. cxxxix. 2,
3 ; Jer. xxxii. 19 ;
Heb. iv. 13.
d supra xiv. 16 ;
xxxi. 4 ; xxxiii. 11.
e supra iii. 5 ; x. 21.
xii. 22; xvi. 16;
xxiv. 17 ; xxviii. 3 ;
infra xxxviii. 17.
8 to be hid, or, for to
be hid (i.e., that
there should be
bid) there [the]
workers, fe.
f supraxxxi.3; Ps.v.
5 ; Prov. x. 29, fe.
g Ps. cxxxix. 11, 12;
Isa. xxix. 15 ; Jer.
xxiii. 24 ; Amos
ix. 2, 3 ; comp.
supra xxvi. 6, and
references there.
* What God requires of man is not so difficult, as to justify h supra xi. 6; Ps.
him in saying it is impossible he should do so much. trfra xxviii 39
f Unsearchably, i.e., so that none can discover the means [28] ; Eccles. xii.
He employs to despatch them. J^j, ^J' ^ 12 ;
X Or, in familiar language, which here seems best to convey e for [him] to go.
the sense, " So then, you see, He does regard, he."— Editor, !£ 4°> *g^ns1t7 20_

passeth away,
And Me
hand4!
For His eyes are upon Me ways of man v ;
Yea, He observeth all his d steps.
There is no darkness, and no e shadow of death,
8 Where Me 1 workers of iniquity may hide
themselves '.
23 Surely, He doth not lay upon man so much *,
* That he can enter into judgment ee with
God'!»
24 He * breaketh Me mighty in pieces £ unsearch
ably '.f
And v setteth up others in their stead.
25 % Thus then He doth regard their works m,
Seeing He overturneth Mem in the night ",
so that they are " crushed.
26 "In their very place v He striketh Me wicked;
"In Me place p where men q beheld Mem: §
27 x Because they r turned away from following Him,
Neither considered p any of His ways 5 :
28 So as to bring before Him Me ' cry of Me poor ;

1862. § Committing their wickedness, so that every one may per
ceive in the destruction of the wicked the finger of God.
Comp. Numb. xvi. 30—33.

supra ix. 17, 20-
22, 32 ; x. 3, 7 ;
xiii. 15 ; xvi. 17,
21 ; xix. 7 ; xxiii.
10—12; xxvii. 2
—6, fe.
k supra xx. 8, 9 ;
xii. 19, 21; v. 15; iv. 10 ; Ps. ii. 9 ; lxxii. 4 ; Jer. li. 21—23. Z [with] not ( = without) search.
I supra ver. 20 ; ix. 5 ; xi. 7— 9 ; v. 9 ; ix. 10 ; 2 Kings xix. 35, fe. t\ bath made (maketh)
to stand. ' m supra vers. 21, 22 ; xi. 11 ; and ibid. ver. 7, note (tn). n supra ver. 20, note (a) ;
xxvii. 20 ; xi. 19 ; 2 Kings xix. 35. o supra xxi. 13 ; xxiv. 19 ; ix. 23 ; iv. 19. 9 in the
[very] place of [the] wicked, he hath struck (striketh) them. p Numb. xvi. 30—33 ; xi. 33 ;
Ps. lxxviii. 29—31 ; Acta v. 5 ; xii. 23, fe. k in [the] place of men-beholding, seers. q comp.
supra vii. 8 ; xx. 9. X for this [reason] that they turned away from after Him. r supra
xxiii. 11, 12 ; Ps. xliv. 18 ; lxxviii. 41 ; Isa. i. 4; comp. supra xxvii. 5, 6 ; xiii. 15 ; ix. 35 and
xxii. 21—23 ; xi. 13, 14 ; viii. 5 ; v. 8, fe. p all His ways. * note (r) ; Ps. xxviii. 5 ;
cxix. 3 ; exxviii. 1, comp. supra ver. 21, notes c and d, fe. t infra xxxv. 9, 12 ; supra
xxix. 12 ; xxiv. 12 ; xxvii. 9 ; comp. xxx. 20 ; xix. 7 ; Gen. iv. 10 ; Exod. ii. 23, 24, fe.
I I

482

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXXIV. 29  34.

- +
' +
0 »

For Me cry of Me afflicted He heareth *.
29 When He'l giveth quietness, who then can
cause trouble b %
And when He c hideth His face, who then can
behold Him ? *
(Whether He doeth it because of a d nation, or
because of a one man6, <° it maketh no matter ;
30 Whether because of Me reigning of an P hypocrite-',
Or because of Me snares -j- of a people'.)
31 Surely, 7 what is meet to be said unto God* is :
" I have borne my i chastisement ; 8 I will deal
corruptly no more *.
32 " ss More than I can see ', do Thou f teach me
"If I have done iniquity", £1 will do it no more
33 Shall He v requite 6 according to thy mind*,
Because thou Krejectest q, because thou choosest r?
And x why not according to my mind s ? § J Now,
what p canst thou say 1 Speak * !
34 Men of understanding will pp speak for me u,
Yea, every wise man v that heareth me will say": \\
1 Or, Now, What thou knowest, speak ! See Append. — Editor, 1862.
* When in His indignation He averteth His face, who can
hope for a look of favour from Him ?
X i.e., the snares in which they entangle others and themselves,
their corruption. See Comm. — Editor, 1862.
X Point Thou out to me any offences I may have unconsciously
committed, also such as I may be likely to commit uncon
sciously, that I may repent me of the former, and guard against
the latter.
§ Shall He consult thee as to how He must requite the conduct
of mankind ? Before He doeth aught, shall He first ask thee,
whether thou approvest or disapprovest of His purpose ? And
14; xxii. 23, fe. *\ fr o
Z I will not add [to why thee, and not me, or any other man ?
do it.] || They will spare me the trouble of telling thee; they them-
and k '¦ 2 Sam. xii. selves w^ say respecting thee : " Job speaketh," &c.
13; xxiv. 17, fe.;
Ps. li. 4, fe. tj requite it. 9 from with thee. p supra xxxiii. 12 ; xxi 22 ; infra xxxvi.
23 ; comp. supra iv. 17 ; xv. 14—16 ; xxv. 4—6 ; ix. 17, 21, 22 ; x. 3, 7 ; xvi. 17 ; xix- 7 ; xxvii.
2, fe. ; Isa. xl. 13 ; Rom. xi. 34, 35. k hast rejected. q Exod. xxxii. 11 — 14 ; Jer. xxvi.
19, fe. r Numb. xvi. 30, 31 ; 2 Kings i. 10, 12, fe. X and [why] not I. * supra xxxiii.
4, 6 ; xxxi. 15 ; xv. 9 ; comp. xii. 3 ; xiii. 2, fe. p knowest thou to say, i.e., canst thou say.
t supra xxxiii. 5, 32 ; infra xxxviii. 3 ; xl. 2, 7 ; xlii. 4. pp Bay. u comp. supra xxi. 29 ;
xv. 18, 19 ; viii. 8, 10. v hearing, listening.

z Ps. ix. 12 ; xii. 5 ;
xxxiv. 6, fe.
a 1 Chron. xxii. 9 ;
Judg. viii. 28 ;
Lev. xxvi. 6.
\p maketh to be quiet.
b comp. supra ix.
12 ;xi. 10; xii. 14;
xxiii. 13 ; Isa. xliii.
13 ; Dan. iv. 35.
v supra xiii. 24 ; iii.
23 ; xxiii. 3, 8,
9 ; ix. 11 ; xxix.
3 ; Ps. xiii. 1 ;
xxvii. 9, fe.
d Isa. ii. 6 ; Jer.
xxv. 12, fe.
u a man.
e 2 Sam. xii. 10 ; 1
Kings xi. 11, fe.
ui [it is] alike, i.e.,
all one.
P an hypocritical,
or,impure, defiled,
profane, man. —
Ed., 1862.
/ 2 Kings xxi. 11,
12, fe.
g 2 Kings xxii. 16,
17, fe.
y [it is] to be said =
it is meet to be said.
h comp. supra xxxiii.
27,28; Prov. xxviii.
13 ; 2 Kings xxii.
19, fe.
i supra v. 17 ; Prov.
iii. 11, 12; Heb.
xii. 5—8.
8 I will not act cor
ruptly.
k infra xl. 4 ; xlii.
6 ; comp. supra
chap. xxxi. ; xxvii.
2— 6; xxiii. 4,7,10
—12; xvi. 17, fe.
88 besides [that
which] I can see.
I supra xi. 6 ; Pa.
xix. 12.
e instruct me.
tn supra xiii. 23 ; x.
2 ; comp. vi. 24.
n supra vii. 20 ; xi.
xxii. 23, fe.

TRANSLATION. CHAPS. XXXIV. 35 — 37; xxxv. 1—6. 483

35 "Job speaketh + without knowledge",
" And his words are <° without wisdom V
36 0 my Father ! let Job be 4 proved Pfov ever,
yThat Mere may be answers against 8 iniquitous
men c.*
37 For else he will add d * rebellion £ to
He will -^clap his hands among us,f
And ' multiply his words against God,

his

sin'

is

Tp not with know
ledge.
a infra xxxv. 16 ;
xxxviii. 2 ; xlii. 3 ;
supra viii. 2 ; xi.
2, 3; xv. 2, 3;
comp. xii. 3 ; xiii.
2, fe.
ui not with intelli
gence, wisdom.
b comp. supra i. 11,
12; ii. 3—6; x.
4—6.
/3 even to eternity.
y on account of an
swers, fe.
8 men of iniquity.
c comp. Ps. cxl. 8.
d supra xxiii. 2 ; 1
Sam. xv. 23.
e see note t, p. 471.
Z upon,over,beyond.
e supra iv. 17 — 19 ;
viii. 3; xi.3,4,14;
xv. 14 — 16 ; xxii.
23 ; xxv. 4—6 ;
comp. supra ix.
17; x. 3, 7; xi.
4 ; xvi. 17 ; xix.
7 ; xxvii. 2 ; chap.
xxxi., fe.
/ supra xxvii. 23 ;
Ps. xlvii. 1 ; xcviii.
8; Isa. lv. 12;
Lam. ii. 15, fe.
g infra xxxv. 16 ;
supra viii. 2 ; xi.
2; xv. 3, 13;
Eccles. a. 14.
wherein canst thou affect ' considered. °us '
9 for justice, i.e.,
just, right.
k more than God's.
h supra ix. 17, 21,
35 ; x. 7, 15 ; xi.
4 ; xiii. 15, 18 ;
xvi. 17 ; xix. 7 ;
xxiii. 10 — 12 ;
xxvii. 2 — 6 ; chap.
xxxi.; comp. supra
vi. 10, 24, 29, 30,
fe. ; supra xxxiii.
9 — 12 ; xxxiv. 5,
11, 12.
\ shouldst have said.
or sayest, art wont
to say, keepest
saying.
i supra xxi. 15 ;
xxxiv. 9 ; xxxi. 2, fe. p what shall I profit, be benefitted, k note i, supra ix. 22, 24 ; x. 3 ; xii.
6 ; xxi. 7 — 13, fe. ; but comp. xxvii. 7 — 10. I supra xxxii. 3, 5, 12, 17, 20 ; xxxiii. 33. v return
thee words. m supra xxii. 12 ; infra xxxvii. 14 ; xxxvi. 24 ; Isa. xl. 26 ; Ps. viii. 3. % see.
p [which] have been, are, higher than thou. n supra xxii. 13— 14; xviii. 4. a hast (hadst)
sinned, didst sin. o supraxi. 14; xxii. 23, fe. t what canst thou work, do (or, canst (couldBt,
wouldst) thou bave worked, done), against Him. p supra vii. 20 ; xxii. 13, 14, and ref. there ;
Prov. ix. 12 ; Jer. vii. 19 ; comp. Gen. vi. 5, 6 ; Luke xv. 7, fe.
i i 2

CHAPTER XXXV.
1 And Elihu took up his discourse and said ;
2 v Thinkest thou this 6to be just,
That thou saidst: "My righteousness
K greater than God's *."
3 That thou * saidst " What will it profit thee l ? "
"p — What advantage shall I have therefrom
more than from my sin * V %
4 I  I will * "answer thee,
And thy friends with thee.
5 m Look-unto Me heavens, and * consider ;
And behold Me clouds, p which are so
above thee ".
6 If thou °~ sinnest '
Him"?
* That, if iniquitous men, imitating the example of Job,
murmur and complain on receiving chastisement from above,
they may be told that their murmurings and grumblings will
as little avail them, as those of Job did him.
t He will exult and say, that it was owing to his finding
fault with the Divine dispensations that God released him from
his sufferings.
X Observe the change of persons in this verse, and see
Append.— Editor, 1862.

high

484

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXXV. 7  14.

ui have been many.
P or, have done.
y hast been right
eous.
8 or, canst thou give,
or have given.
a supra xxii. 2, 3 ;
Ps. xvi. 2 (?) ;
comp. supra ix.
22 ; x. 3, 7.
t or, have received.
b supra xv. 20, 35 ;
xx. 12—16; Ps.
vii. 15, 16 ; ii. 4 ;
Prov. xxvi. 27 ;
Eccles. x. 8.
c supra xxii. 3 ; xxi.
15 ; xxxiv. 9.

12

Or, if thy transgressions "> are numerous, what
canst thou P do unto Him ?
7 If thou 7 art righteous, what 8 givest thou Him " 1
Or what can He £ receive of thine hand ?
8 For a man like thyself is thy wickedness 4,
And for a son of man, thy righteousness "'.
9 £ When by reason of Me multitude of oppressions
men cry d,
v When they d cry out by reason of Me " arm of
Me mighty f,
Z cry they [or, make 10 And he, e that uttereth songs in the nighty*
they [men] to cry]
by reason, fe. —
Ed. 1862.
d infra ver. 12 ; su
pra xxiv. 12 ;
xxxiv. 28 ; xxvii.
9 ; Ps. ix. 12, fe.
t) cry they out, or
aloud.
e supraxxii. 9; xxvi.
2 ; xxxi. 22 ; infra
xxxviu. 15 ; Ps. x.
15, fe.
/ supra ix. 24; xxii.8.
9 giving, uttering. ,
g supra iii. 7 ; Dan. 1 o p In vain, surely, do we call, God will not hear",
ii*i2.V': Sa' T "Neither will Me Almighty °" regard our afHic-
k hath not said. tion ° " +
h infra xxxvi. 3 ; +
xxxvii. 7; supra 14 But canst thou indeed also say, that thou seest
Him not*?§
* i.e., when the oppressor, who spends the night in boisterous
merriment, does not say : " Where is God ? " [i.e., when he
does not acknowledge the power of God, and so gives no heed
moWThan fe1™' unto Hia commandment, " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
ksupraiv. 21; comp. thyself." — Editor, 1862.]
xvni.3;Ps.lxxui.22; ^ who gave us intellect and reason, that we might know we
supra xu.7 ; Hccles. ° °
iii. 18, 19, fe. ought not to degrade ourselves to a level with brute beasts by
p maketh us wise taking advantage of our strength and power.
more than, above. ° ° a r
I supra xxviii. 7, 21 ; X ouch words, sinful as they are, and deserving severe
infra xxxix. 29 ; punishment, are at least not altogether destitute of some shew
comp. supra Xu. 7. -
v there, in that case, ot reason.
§ But canst thou — thou who hast admitted over and over
again, that thy afflictions proceed from God — canst thou say

K Doth not say : " Where is God, my h Maker 1 1
11 x " Who teacheth us to be more than Me * beasts
of Me earth,
" And p maketh us more wise than Me fowl of
heaven ' ; " t
" Then, they m cry (if "" God answer Mem not)
Because of Me arrogancy of Me evil-doers,
saying :

xxxm. 4 ; xxxu.
22 ; x. 8—11.
i Ps. xlii. 10; Isa.
v.12 ; Ps. xxviii. 5;
comp. supra xxii.
12—14 (note k).
X teaching us, cauS'

then,
m supra ver. 9.
it He answer.

p or, surely [it is] in that thou dost not recognize His finger in them ?
vain.
¦« supra xxx. 20 ; xxxi. 35 ; xix. 7 ; ix. 16 ; comp. xii. 4 ; xxiv. 1 ; Ps. xxii. 7, 8 ; xlii. 10, fe.
a regard it. o Ps. cvi. 44. p supra xxiv. 1 ; xxii. 13, 14 ; xviii. 4 ; xv. 12 ; ix. 22 ; x. 3 ;
xxiii. 8, 9 ; Ps. a. 11 ; lxxiii. 11 ; xciv. 7 ; supra ver. 5 ; Isa. xl. 26, 27 ; Ezek. viii. 12 ; ix. 9, fe.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

TRANSLATION; CHAPS, xxxv. 15, 16; xxxvi. 1 — 6. 485
Thy cause is before Him " ; * therefore must a sup^ xm- 18' A?
" . — 28 ; x. 2 — 22,
thou wait for Him \ &o. 5 comp. vi. 4 ;
-n 7 -7 7 • 7 tt • • • i ix. 17, 18 ; xvi. 11
15 But now that, with which His anger hath visited — 14, &c. ; and
Mee, is as nothing " ; f ™k.I\ xxy11%\
Yea, He "hath not regarded the great d mul- , xxxi-35..&c-
° ° o sapra xm. 15 ; Ps.
titude O/" Mw Sins e.± xL 1 ; Isa.xxv.9;
16 Wherefore Job P hath / opened his mouth with vii. 6, 7, 21 ; x!
20, fe. ; ix. 18,
* vanity, &.., to.
^Ired * without knowledge y hath * multiplied /Hs c ^8-12%^
Words ix- 13 ; oomP- ix-
17 ; xvi. 17, fe.
ui hath notknown, or
knoweth not, about
the great multi
tude, fe., [or, no-
1 And Elihu 8 proceeded, and said : ticethnotataiithe
, .. i T -n 1 multitude,&c. Ed.
2 e Bear with me yet a little, and I will shew 1862.]
, d Ps. v. 10.
inee, e note c.
That £ I have still words ' CC on behalf of God. $%££$ x . xi. 5.
3 I will take up my v reasoning from afar, xxxi.V. 20 ; Ps-
And will 6 ascribe righteousness to my m Maker ". xxxi. 8, 9,'fe.
i -n i i r i 9 supra xv. 2 ; xi. 2 ;
4 i or truly my " words are not K false : via. 2, fe.
He that is p* perfect in knowledge is with ^X™"' 35'
thee. S y m"itipiieth.
« 1 supra xxxiv. 37 ;
5 Behold ! God is q mighty, yet r despiseth not iw. x. 19 ; Ec
cles. v. 3.
any  8 added.
Mighty p in strength and wisdom *. * ^™™-8!™ffi-
6 He will not preserve Me wicked alive % * fthe/e r a^ei stm
words.
I supra xiii. 7, 8.
* Having admitted that thy cause is before Him, for thee to ^^or-
deny His interference in the things of this world would be a

ti knowledge, opin

ion.

palpable contradiction. e give» attribute.
t Compared with the exceeding sinfulness of thy speeches, note j. ' '
the punishment God hath inflicted upon thee is as nothing, n supra xxxiii. 12;
[See Append.— Editor, 1862.] 23*;1 xxxvii. '23!
X In the abundance of His mercy, He bath overlooked, to a &<=• Comp. supra
, ,. . iv. 17; xv. 14 —
great extent, thy sins. 16 . ^y. 4_6.
§ God hath His eye upon thee, and dealeth with thee. 0 supra xxxv. 14.
k falsehood.
p infra xxxvii. 16
supra xi. 7 — 9. X perfect of knowledges, i.e., all sorts of knowledge. q supra ix. 4, 19
xii. 13, 16 ; infra ver. 22, xxxvii. 23 ; Jer. xxxii. 19 ; Dan. ii. 20 ; Isa. xxviii. 29 ; Ps. xcii. 5, fe
r supra x. 3 ; xxxiv. 19 ; Deut. xxxii. 19 ; Ps. hii. 5, fe. p of. * supra viii. 20 ; iv. 9 — 11
v.4,5; viii. 11—15; xv. 20—35; xviii. 5—21; xx. 5—29; xxvii. 13—23; xxxiv. 24— 27
xxxvi. 12—14 ; but comp. ix. 22—24 ; xii. 6 ; xxi. 7—13 ; xxvii. 7—10.

486

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXXVI. 7  13.

ui give, set, set up,
establish ; or,
make, do, execute ;
or, grant.
a supra viii. 20 ; iv.
7 ; v. 11, 15, 16 ;
viii. 16 — 19 ; xxii.
19,20; xxvii. 7—
10 ; xxxiv. 11, 28.
b supra xxxiv. 21,
notes c, d ; xvi. 9.
c comp. iii. 23 ; xiii.
24; xxix. 3; Ps.
i.6;Isa.xl.27,fe.
d 1 Sam. xvi. 1, fe.
e supra v. 11 ; 1 Sam.
ii. 8 ; Ps. cxiii. 7,
8 ; cvii. 41, fe.
P He hath caused
them to ait. See
Append.
y have been higb.
/ supra y. 11 ; Luke
i. 52 ; Ps. cvii. 41.
g supra xiii. 27 ;
xxxiii. 11 ; Ps. cvii.
14,16; Jer.ii.20,

But will a establish Me right of Me afflicted ".
7 He 'withdraweth not His eyes from Me
righteous "',
But, with d kings e P setteth He them up upon the
throne
For ever, so that they 7 are •''exalted.
8 And if they are sometimes bound in fetters 9,
Sometimes caught in Me cords of affliction *,
9 ' s l It is that He may shew them what their
work would be,
If their transgressions should cgainthemastery*.*
10 £ So that He ' openeth their ear to instruction,
And v telleth Mem, that they should 6 shrink f
from evil.
1 1 If they hearken, and serve Him m,
n Then they will " K spend their p days in x pros
perity,
And their p years in pleasures.^
12 But, if they q hearken not, they will p perish by
Me " sword,
And " die, for r want of knowledge.
13 So that Me " ""hypocrites P in heart lay up anger,
1 Or, Thus He sheweth (= it is that He may shew) them their work,
And their transgressions, that they are about to gain the mastery.
See Append. Editor, 1862.
* i.e., He sends afflictions upon them for the purpose of
pointing out to them, that, if sin should once get the mastery
over them, they would abandon the virtuous life they had hitherto
led for a course of licentiousness and corruption.
X I have here used shrink instead of the more lit. turn,
because the latter would I think generally be understood to
1 Sam. ix. 15 ; imply that evil had already been reached, i.e., committed,
1 Chron. xvn. 25, wnereas j}r Bernard understands the meaning of the Heb. verb
v hath said. *° ^e> to turn back, when on the road to evil. Comp. infra xxxix.
9 turn, or, turn back. 22, where ^ is used much in the same sense. — Editor, 1862.
" 6?™^™ vffi' 5 % If' ilX Spite °f the afflictions tllat are sent uPon tflem> tne7
6 '¦ xi. 14 ; xxii. 21 continue devoted to God, they will have a speedy deliverance
—23; Gen. xx. 7. fTOm their sufferings, and be restored to their former prosperity.
n infra xin. 10 ; su- ° ' tr tr j
pra viii. 6, 7; xi. 15—19; xxii. 21, 23— 30 ; comp. ix. 24; xii. 6; xxi. 7 — 13. o supra
xxi. 13. k consume, p Ps. xc. 9 ; supra x. 5. X good, q Gen. xx. 7 ; Lev. xxvi. 14 — 33,
fe. ; Deut. xviii. 19. p paaa over, away. u supra xxxiii. 18 ; xv. 22 ; xix. 29 ; xxvii. 14.
v expire. r supra xxxv. 16 ; xxxiv. 35 ; iv. 21. * supra xiii. 4 ; Matt. vi. 5, 16.
impure, defiled, profane. p of heart.

h Ps. cvii. 10.
8 then (or, bo) He
hath declared ( =
He declareth) to
them.
i supra xxxiii. 14 —
18 ; Gen. xx. 3—
6 ; Dan. iv. 5, 25
¦ — 27, fe. ; comp.
supra v. 17 ; Pa.
xciv. 12 ; Prov. iii.
11 ; Heb. xii. 5 —
11 ; 1 Cor. xi. 32 ;
alao 2 Kinga xx.
(Isa. xxxviii.) 1 —
3,5.
t make themselves
mighty, prevail.
k Pa. xix. 13 ; cxix.
133 ; Rom. vi. 14.
Z and He hath un
covered, opened.
I infra ver. 15 ;
supra xxxiii. 16

¦rt or,

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXXVI. 14  18. 487
Because they " cry not out unto Him,* when He a swPra xxx™- 9—
J J ' 12, xxxiv. 9—12,
4 a bindeth them. &c. ; comp. v.
14 Wherefore their soul ° dieth in youth d, 21—23, 'fe! ; ix!
P And their life is among the 7 unclean ". Hi ^^fxxTii!
15 So then He delivereth Me afflicted by his afnic- r 2j xxx- 21>'*°- .
' o TO^»-a ver. 8 ; l.
tion^, 14— 19 ; ii. 7 ; hi.
And 9 8 openeth ehis ear by chastisement*. w hath bound!
16 Yea, thee also hath He removed from Me c ^xviSTo! 'fe19 ;
adversary's mouth l , d "^ ver. 6 ; °°mp.
' ' rayra xxi. 21, 23,
.From * f ease, in whose place Mere was no strait- 13 ; ix- 23 ; xT-
r 32, 33; viii. 12,
neSS, 13; xxvii. 19—21,
v And from that which was set upon thy table, Deut. iv^W- xxx!
full of fatness **. + ^ 19' &c' 5 "PE"
I also supra xxi. 7,
17 But thou hast been full of Me 6 pleadings of Me „ &c-
por, while their hfe
wicked ; fe.
Therefore judgment and justice m lay hold upon laen°x°S!i2, 13
thppn + xiT' 12> &c-
*"ce • + / supra vers. 9, 10
18 For now there is "wrath; take heed, therefore, xxxiii. 16,17; Pa.
P CXIX- 67, 71; Jer.
lest He remove thee with a blowp, § xxxi. is, 19 ; Heb
xii. 11, fe.
ff supra ver. 10
* i.e., unto God, for help, or mercy, but, on the contrary, xxxiii. 16, fe.
indulge, as Job had done, in loud and bitter complaints against £ their ^ar
their Maker. See Comm. — Editor, 1862. h supra ver. 8; v.17
t That comfort and ease, unbroken until lately by trouble or HebxhS— 11 fe
distress, were the most dangerous enemies thou couldst have i supra v. 15 ; Gen
had ; yea they were ready to devour thee, when God in His , p' ^,' 09
mercy snatched thee from their jaws, by sending upon thee Neh. ix. 25, 26
these afflictions, of which thou so bitterly complainest. P6"'- ..xxxu- 15
7 j r Lukexu.15; comp,
X Hadst thou resigned thyself to the decrees of God, these supraiii. 26;iv. 6.
sufferings of thine would have lasted but a moment ; but, far ? wi?th> roominess,
. . not anythmg-com
from evincing resignation, thou hast indulged in hasty mur- pressed, — strait
murines against God and His Providence, and therefore do thy ened; (1,e-> ?tralt'
-.. . ness) under it.
afflictions still press heavily upon thee. n and [the] coming
§ For now, owing to thy rebellion against Him, God is down of (on) thy
11 , - , 7 , , %,. ¦ 1 • i 1 i table. ie-> tha*
really wroth with thee ; so that these afflictions, which had wmch came down
their origin in the love He bore thee, now abide with thee as a uPon tbJ table,
*~i » tt. . ,. . was placed upon it.
token of His indignation. m Luke xii. r19_
21 ; Isa. xxii. 13 ;
lvi 11, 12 ; comp. Ps. lxix. 22 ; Rom. xi. 9 ; Prov. xxx. 8, 9 ; Deut. xxxi. 20 ; xxxii. 15.
6 strife, contention, contending[s]. I supra xxxiii. 9 — 12 ; xxxiv. 5 — 9 ; xi. 4 ; ix. 17, 22 ;
x. 3; xiii. 27; xvi. 17; xix. 7; xxvii. 2 ; xxx. 20, 21, fe. m supra xxi. 6; xviii. 20; Ps.
cxix. 53. n supra xxxiv. 11; xix. 29; Ps. Ixii. 12; Judg. i. 7, fe. 0 infra xxxviii. 2;
xl. 2, 8 ; xlii. 3, 7, fe. p comp. supra viii. 12 ; xv. 29, 30 ; xxvii. 18—21 ; Numb. xvi. 35 ;
also ix. 23 ; xxi. 13.

488 TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXXVI. 19  25.
p when multitude, p "When no " ransom, however great, will
or greatnesa, of
ransom will not turn it away from thee ;
^ [from it?" 1 9 Wil1 He eSteem thy " rlCneS ? N°> UOt ' S°ld'
<* »i»-« xxx"i- 24; i Nor all Me efforts of strength" !
Ps. xlix. 7 ; Prov. °
xiii. 8; comp. vi. 20 Pant not for 7 that night d*
23
i sup\a xxxiv. 19 ; 8 Which cutteth off whole ' nations in their
Ps.xhx. 6,7; Prov. .
xi. 4 ; Ezek. vii. 19 ; place.
epeaphxxxiii.'i6, i7; 21 "Take heed, turn Mee not to that iniquity,
xliv. 3; Prov. xxi. -por thou 2 fseemest to ¦''choose n it rather than.
31; comp.sMproix.
12,13; xi. io ;xii. affliction.
ythen^ht!' ' 22 Behold! God e is g exalted in His power ;
d supra^ii. 15 ; ix. mQ .g K & h ^^ like Him I
S offhHorS]for0 °ov 23 Wno hata X enjoined on Him His way * \
at [the] going up Or who hath ever said unto Him : " Thou hast
of nations, i.e., . . ..,.„,
when nations go wrought iniquity '.
i862P]ensl1' 24 Remember that thou oughtest rather to exalt
e TfleT^- S ^ His works ''
20'; 2 Kings xix. Which men m"do contemplate 
35, fe.
£ be guarded, guard 25 Yea, all men " "" behold them ;
Z Ht.r<iid'st choose. Even frail-man regardeth P them from afar. -J*
/ supra vii. 15 ; Jer.
Pf" 3' 1 Or, "Nor all the might of thy wealth," as I believe Dr. Dernard used
9 lit. exalteth [Him- to translate it.— Editor, 1862.
self]. 2 Or, " didst choose it," for Job actually did choose it, though he
g infra ver. 26 ; immediately repented.— Editor, 1862.
xxxvii. 23,; supra
ver. 5 ; ix. 4, 19 ;
xii. 13, 16 ; * Job having repeatedly declared his great longing for death
1 Chron. xxix. 11 ; an(j tQg grave; an(j even confessed the temptation he sometimes
k one instructing, felt to commit suicide (chap. vii. 15), Elihu warns him against
teaching. ^ commission of such a rash and atrocious act, reminding him
h supra xxxiv. 32 ; °
Ps. xxv. 4 ; xxvii. that death, which unsought comes and sweeps away whole
ll,fe.; supraxxi. natjonS) will assuredly one day come and carry him away ; so
22 ; xxxiv. 13, fe. ; . -i_i^
comp. supra vers, that there can be no occasion tor him to hurry to meet it halt
4, 5 ; infra xxxvii. wayt
XohargeduponHim. t Instead of busying thyself with scrutinizing the dispensa-
i supra xxxiv. 13 ; tions of Providence, which are altogether beyond the reach of
rf1-14 • 'Rom. xi! man> tnou shouldest rather contemplate the visible works of
34 ; Jer. xxiii. 18. God, and admire His wonderful power as displayed in them.
k supra ix. 12 ; Dan.
iv. 35 ; Isa. xlv.
9 ; comp. supra xxxiv. 12, 17 ; viii. 3 ; iv. 17 ; infra xl. 8, fe. ; comp. also supra ix. 2, 3 ; xiv.
3 '4. p His work. I supra v. 9 — 16 ; xi. 7 — 10 ; xxv. 2, 3 ; infra xxxvii. 14, 16, fe. ; and
comp. supra ix. 4—13, 19 ; xii. 13—25 ; xxvi. 5—14 ; Ps. xxxiv. 3 ; lxxxvi. 8—10, fe. m Ps.
viii. 3 • Ixxvii. 11 ; cxliii. 5 ; xix. 1 ; infra xxxvii. 14. v have contemplated. n Ps. xlvi.
8, ic. ' tt looked upon it, have beheld it. p [it].

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXXVI. 26  33. 489
26 Behold! God is a">so great that we cannot a ™2>™vers. 22, 5,
0 and references there.
knOW Him ; <<» great, so that we
The " number of His years P is unsearchable. j supra v. 9 ; ix. 10 ;
27 * When He y draweth up drops of water d, f c tplat 5 s xix.
They distil rain 8 into His mist e. 2E> ¦ ff la- V ;
J on. 25 — 27 ; Isa.
28 Which Me f clouds do £dropp, xh- 4; xliii. 13 ;
And * fpour down upon man abundantly. ^ that [there is] no
29 Yea, can- v any understand Me spreadings of Me search' = 'without
Q clouds * search. See Ap-
' pend.
Or the K rumblings * of His ' pavilion If y tateth away.
, .. d infra ver. 30 ; Ps.
30 § Lo ! He hath spread over it His m x lightning, cxxxv. 7 ; Jer. *.
And hath covered Me p offspring of the sea". [| Eccles. i. 7 eomp'
31 For by them He "executeth judgment upon '^t^lCml
nations ", mist- mit-> ~- 862-
e Gen. ii. 6.
By them also He giveth food in abundance v. ^J / infra xxxvii. n—
32 ^With His hands He P covereth up Me ^ light- 9/37.' 'xxxnu'
ninp. ? e flow.
o » g supra xxvi. 8 ;
But on T hurling it He 0 giveth it a charge r.** |ude-.y.- *•
33 Its s crash telleth concerning it that it is jealous- Z distil.
ti one.
anger, 9 thick-cloud.
i w/ra xxxvii. 16 ;
* Elihu here draws the attention of his unfortunate friend supra xxvi. 8.
to the rain, thunder, and lightning, which were now, probably, * n.°f es-
, - - , 1,, ~ , * «»/ra ver. 33;
beginning to be seen or heard as the commencement of the xxxvii. 4; Ps.
tempest out of which we shall soon hear God address Himself hixvu. 18 ; civ. 7.
T , 12 Sam. xxii. 12 ;
todoD< Ps.xviu.ll;xcvii.
t i.e., by evaporation from the sea, rivers, &c. 2; xxvii. 5; 1 Kings
t The clouds are termed the pavilion of God in Ps. xviii. 11 . " '.. „
T r m mfra xxxvn. 3 ;
§ At this moment it would seem it lightened. [The Heb. xxxviii. 25, 35, 36 ;
word translated over it properly refers to clouds (in Heb. a sing. y^f^. XTU' 24' &c'
collective) and not to pavilion, as over it does. The sense is, /* roots (see Comm.).
however, the same, as pavilion = clouds.— Editor, 1862.1 n supra ver. 27;
n-i ii i , „ ¦ r. , , • comP- Eccles. i. 7.
|| i.e., the cloud, termed the offspring ot the sea, as being „ judgeth nations.
composed of drops of water derived by evaporation in great ° *V™ xxxvii. 13 ;
measure from the sea. Exod. ix. is', 33',
% Sometimes He sends rain as a punishment, sometimes as a 34 > Ezra x- 9 ;
11 . comp. Lev. xxvi.
blesslnS- 19; Deut. xxviii.
** He tosses the lightning about in His hands like a ball, yet 23 ; 1 Kings viii.
He does not throw it at random, but points out to it the precise „ ^nJra 'xxxyj\ '13 \
spot it is to strike. Lev. xxvi. 3, 4 ;
Isa. xxx. 23 ;
Ezek. xxxiv. 26. 7r by means of [His] hands. p hath covered. a light. q supra ver.
30, note m ; comp. supra xv. 24 ; Isa. xxii. 18. t making [it] to strike. 0 hath enjoined upon
it, charged it. r infra xxxvii. 3 ; xxxviii. 25, 35, 36. * supra ver. 29, note k.

490

TRANSLATION. CHAPS. XXXVI. 33 ; XXXVII. 1  6.

a supra i. 16 ; 2
KiDga i. 10, 12;
2 Sam. xxii. 14,
15 ; Pa. xviii. 13,
14 ; xcvii. 3, fe. ;
comp. Ezek. xxi.
31 ; xxii. 31 ;
xxxviii. 19 ; Ps.
lxxxix. 46.
b supra xxiii. 16 ;
Ps. xxii. 14 ;
xxxviii. 10 ; lv. 4,
fe.
c supraiY.U; xxi. 6.
d Exod. xix. 16 5
xx. 18.
P hearyeattentively.
y commotion (fre-
missement) , raging,
roaring.
e supra xxxvi. 33.
/ infra vers. 4, 5 ;
xl. 9 ; Ps. xviii.
13 ; xxix. 3 — 5,
7—9; lxviii. 33.
g infra ver. 4 ; Hos.
xi. 10 ; Isa. xlii. 13 ;
Jer. xxv. 30, fe.
h supra xxviii. 24 ;
infra xli. 11.
i supra xxxvi. 32;
infra xxxviii. 35,
36 ; oomp. supra
i. 16 ; 2 Sam. xxii.
15 ; Ps. xviii. 14 ;
cxliv. 6.
8 hath directed it.
k supra xxxvi. 30,
32 ; xxviii. 26 ;
infra xxxviii. 25,
35, 36.
e light.
Z upon, over.
ti wings, skirts.
9 [the] voice [of
God].
I supra ver. 2 ;
xxxvi. 29, 33 ;
xxvi. 14 ; infra
xxxviii. 25 ; xl. 9,
fe.
m supra ver. 2, note
/•
n supra ver. 2, note
k.
k one cannot trace
them.
o supra xxvi. 14 ;
comp.mfraxxxviii.
25.
p supra xxvi. 14.
X doing.
p. and we know not,
or, that we cannot
know.
q supra v. 9 ; ix. 10.

That it is wrath, because of iniquity ". *
CHAPTER XXXVII. f
1 Yea, mine * heart c trembleth at this d,
And leapeth from its place.
2 P Hear; oh, hear ye Me 7 tumult6 of His
f voice !
And Me 9 roaring that goeth out from His
mouth !
3 h Under the whole heaven He ' s directeth it,
His * e lightning also funto Me v ends of the
earth.
4 After it, 6 the ' thunder m roareth ;
He thundereth with Me "voice of His majesty;
Yet though His n voice is heard, K none can
0 trace f. them out.
5 God thundereth with His voice p marvellously ;
Great-things A doeth He, p which we cannot
comprehend q.
6 For to the T snow He saith : Be thou upon the
earth,
To the " gentle rain 5 also, and to the * "" heavy
rains of His strength.
* That God sometimes gives vent to His indignation in
thunder and lightning, we see from 1 Sam. xii. 17, 18.
Ifgp" Dr. Bernard inclines to the opinion that this verse
should rather be translated as follows :
Its crash telleth concerning it that it is jealous-anger,
That it is on account of rising wrath. (See Comm. —
Note of Editor.)
X A storm (the same probably as that from which God in
the next chapter addresses Job) had apparently been gathering
during the delivery of the last few chapters (see notes * and §
in the preceding page) and may very well be supposed to have
burst forth just at this time ; and, if so, Elihu will conclude his
speech amidst thunder, lightning, and heavy rain. — See Comm.
Editor, 1862.
X i.e., the thunder and the lightning.

r infra xxxviii. 22 ; supra ix. 30. v shower of rain.

28 ; Lev. xxvi. 4. t Gen. vii. 11, 12 ; Ezra x. 9, 13 ; Exod. ix. 18, 33, 34, fe.

s supra xxxvi. 27,
tt shower of rains.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXXVII. 7 — 15. 491
7 "> And so He 'shutteth up every man c in his place, w in £thf0 Place °f
c every man He
P That all men whom He hath d made may sealeth [him] up.
„ i tT. b supra xxiv. 16;
"know Him. tfen. vii. i4_i6>
8 Then ymust Me wild-beast enter into its 8 covert7, ^; \^; ™pra
And in its » den7 £ abide. c wp-a xxxiv. 26.
p for all [the] men of
9 From the v store-house s* cometh Me * whirlwind, His maketo know.
And from Me * constellations, cold. xmiL ™ ;' *. 3'
10 vv By Me | breath of God « is * ice produced, fj^* xlv"
66 And Me "waters' breadth *is 1 straitened '. e sjora xxi.19.
y hath  come,
11 Yea, p the bright-sun weareth away Me thick- cometh.
i j m $ lurking-place.
ClOUd , / infra xxxviii. 40 ;
It scattereth » His J lightning-cloud "; 22, fe Ps' ciT'
12 And it § turneth itself "^ round about according ^weu^8' den8'
tO His plans, V store-room.
r g Jer. x. 13 ; Ps
p That it may do whatsoever He "" commandeth cxxxv. 7 ; comp
it upon Me face of Me world, on earth p. i«^»sSm' is
13 Either for ^chastisement, or for His ''land, t 2XEng280xxiii. 5
Or for ' kindness, He causeth it 0 to come. II infra XXX™L 31>
' " 32; supra ix. 9.
14 ' Give ear unto this, O Job ! nv from, by means
"Stand still and "consider Me x wondrous-works e onegiveth,maketh,
c /~i j i produceth, ice.
oi crou . t, inj,ra xxxviii 29 .
15 x Knowest thou when God " setteth Me fsun ^0x1™. 1 7, is.
yy or, when.
Upon His cloud, « width of waters.
X [is] in a com-
1 Or, " hardened, congealed." — Editor, 1862. pressed-, or firm-,
. mass-, or, in a nar-
In which, as some of the ancients thought, the winds were rowed-place ; or,
confined. in . narrowness,
straitness.
T As supra, vers. 2, 4, 5, thunder is represented as the voice I infra xxxviii. 30.
of God, so here wind is termed His breath.— Editor, 1862. ^ serenity .brightness
, m comp. mfra vers.
X Or, as we say, thunder-cloud. — Editor, 1862. 15, is, 21, 22;
§ i.e., the lightning-cloud. And this, if less elegant, would ?fe^- f1™- J-
, ,n it-,, i " [the] cloud of His
perhaps be more clear, bee Append. — Editor, 1862. light, lightning.
|| He sends rain, sometimes as a general chastisement, some- * comp. supra xxxvi.
times as a mark of His favour upon one particular land only, 0 Comp. supra xxxvi.
sometimes, again, as a general blessing. Comp. Amos iv. 7. 29s infra Ter- 16;
comp. Eccles. i. 6.
tt [in] circuits, eircuitously. p for their doing, that they may do. a commandeth them.
p supra xxxvi. 31, 32 ; xxxvii. 3 ; infra xxxviii. 23, 35—37. q supra xxxvi. 31 ; infra xxxviii.
23 ; Gen. vii. 4, 11, 12 ; Ezra x. 9, 13. r a rod. r Exod. viii. 22, 23 ; ix. 4 ; x. 23 ;
xi. 6, 7 ; xii. 13 ; Amos iv. 7 ; Rom. ix. 18, fe. « 1 Kings xviii. 44, 45 ; Lev. xxvi. 4 ; Deut.
xxviii. 12 ; Joel ii. 23, fe. <p to befall, happen to, [men]. t supra xxxiv. 16 ; xxxiii. 33,
31, 1 ; comp. xxxiv. 2, 16 ; xiii. 6, 17, fe. « Exod. xiv. 13. v supra xxxv. 5 ; xxii. 12 ;
Ps. viii. 3 ; Eccles. vii. 13, fe. x infra ver. 16 ; Ps. xxvi. 7 ; cv. 2 ; cxix. 27, fe. % lit.,
knowest thou when God setteth over them (i.e., the clouds), and maketh to sbme [upon] His
cloud, [the] sun. y vers. 11, 18 ; comp. supra ix. 7. i> light.

492

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXXVII. 16  22.

ui upon them.
z supra ver. 11.
P concerning;
a comp. supra ver.
12 ; xxxvi. 29.
P/S or, oscillations.
y thick-cloud.
b supra ver. 14, (x).
c supra xxxvi. 4; xi.
7.
8 of knowledges, i.e.,
every kind of
knowledge.
88 [are] warm.
£ on [his] making
still.
Z by means of.
d Luke xii. 55.
e supra ver. 11.
/ supra ver. 11 ;
xxxvi. 28 — 32;
xxxv. 5, fe.
ZZ strong.
ti poured out.
y make us to know.
g supra xxxiii. 5 ;
xxiii. 4 ; xiii. 18.
h supra xxii. 11 — 14.
k related, recounted
with regard to
him.
X speak.
p hath a man said,
saith a man.
i comp. supra xxv.
5.
v swallowed up.
¦k have they not seen
= if, though, they
have not seen.
p lit. light.
a hatha wind passed.
k supra xxvi. 13.
I Zech. iv. 12.
t with God awful
(or, fearful, ter
rible) [is the]
glory.
m infra xl. 10 ; Ps.
Ixvi. 5 ; xciii. 1 ;
xcvi. 4, 6 ; 1
Chron. xxix. 11,
fe.

And maketh it to shine <*> thereon z ?
16 Knowest thou ought Poia the PP balancings of Me
y clouds ?
( Oh, the b wondrous-works of Him that is
c perfect 8 in knowledge !)
17 Or, how thy garments ^ grow warm,
e When he * maketh still Me earth £ with a
d south-wind ?
1 8 Dost thou with him * ' beat thin Me f clouds,
Which are ££ firm as a v molten mirror ?
19 6 Teach us what we shall say concerning him*;
For we cannot 9 order our speech h by reason of
darkness.-j-
20 Shall it be K told of him  shall I indeed
x declare 
Or P any say, that he is ' " destroyed X J
21 But now, "¦ though men see not Me P sun,
Yet he is bright among the clouds ;
And, °" when a wind hath passed and cleansed
them away * 
22 Yea, by means of a north-wind — he * will come
forth — l gold. §
But, Tthe m glory which is with God is awful. ||
* i.e., the sun.
f We are at a loss to say what hath become of the sun on
account of the darkness of the intervening clouds. [In Chap.
xxii. 11 — 14, Job is represented by Eliphaz as adducing the
very same reason for calling in doubt the existence of God, so
here Elihu, by showing that the sun, when hidden from the
eyes of men by thick clouds, still shines in all his brightness
behind them, endeavours to prove that God, though unseen by
men (it may be through His being enveloped in thick clouds,
see 1 Kings viii. 12 ; Ps. xviii. 11, &c), does not the less exist,
a Being awful in His glory. — Editor, 1862.]
X Could any one be simple enough to say, that the sun had
fallen from his seat, and was destroyed, because he did not see him ?
§ He will emerge from the clouds dazzling as a globe of
gold, yet as nothing is his splendour when compared with the
glory of his creator, God.
|| His (God's) glory dazzles not the eye alone, it dazzles the
mind also, and impresses it with deep awe.

TRANSLATION. CHAPS. XXXVII. 23, 24 ; XXXVIII. 1 — 7. 493
23 TAeAlmightv!  we 0 cannot find Him out*! * 1> have not found
. . Him.
He is x great in power2' and z justice, x supra xxin.z,s,9-
And in the "multitude of His righteousness c^mp.'ps!' cxxxix!
He will not afflict ". f „ l~ \\ „nwor
¦ X great ot power.
24 Men, therefore, can only fear Him " : u mvra ix- 4> 19}
' -^ . ' m. 13, 16 ; xxxvi.
But noneeven of Me <" wise in heart can seeHim.t 5; jer. xxxii. 19 ;
"*¦ Dan. ii. 20.
CHAPTER XXXVIII. * if™!^
1 Then Jehovah answered Job from out the ?•' comp ^s
'storm, and said: £#£"£
2 Who is this a that ' darkeneth My counsel, l7- xix:..7>1xx7nii-
" 2 ; xxxni. 9 — 11 ;

By 9 words without knowledge ? xxxiv. 5, fe
"Gird up now thy loins like a man, ixix.13. '
/3For 'I will ask of thee, and do thou y declare *S?ii8.!5?a

unto Me! P5iv;11; Juds-
1. 7, fe.
4 Where wast thou 8when I founded Me earth*1? c supra xxviii. 39
1 t-. 1 -pi 1 1 ¦ , . [281 ; Ps- ™- 9.
Declare, it thou e hast m understanding. 10 ; cxi. 10 ; cxix.
5 Who £ determined her measures", if thou i0;; Eccles. 'xfi.
knOWeSt? 13- eomv supra
iv. 6; xv. 4.
Or who " stretched over her Me line ? d s.uPra xxiii- 8. 9
6 pv Whereupon were her 'foundations # settled? comp.*«praxxxv
Or who K laid her r x corner-stone, 1 King" viii! 12
1 (p When Me • morning-stars sang together ', w l°s™J\£rt'
And all Me sons of God shouted for joy ' §) e*"/r"1- 6: comP-
J J y ' 1 Kings xix. Il
ls ; Exod. xix. 16,
* We cannot say of Him, when, how, and to whom, He will 18,19; xx. 18,19.
reveal Himself. *<%£*££**>
t He will not afflict the sons of men willingly. Comp. f infra xhi. 3.
Lam. iii. 33. g supra xxxy. IS;
xxxiv. 35 ; xxxin.
X All that men can do is to worship Him with reverence and 33 ; xv. 2, 3, 7—
with awe, inasmuch as their wisdom cannot enable them to see „ !<>xl' JLTm-'- *>
Y. & ; comp. xii. £1,
Him. 3 ; xiii. 2, fe.
§ That it was the custom among the Jews to celebrate the \f^2 RiJs ^29'
foundation of stately edifices with songs and shouts of joy and /3anrt,seeingthat,fe.
music, we learn from Ezra iii. 10—13. ' ifra x1' 7 ; XJ^
4 ; supra xxxni.
32 ; xiii. 22.
y make me to know. 8 on My founding. k comp. supra xv. 7 ; xxviii. 26. 27 ; Prov. viii.
22—31; iii. 19; Ps. cii. 25, fe. I infra ver. 1 8. e knowest understanding. m supra
xxxiv. 2, 10. Z put, set. n comp. Iaa. xl. 12 ; supra xi. 9 ; xxviii. 25. 0 2 Kings xxi. 13 ;
Isa. xxxiv. 11 ; Lam. ii. 8 ; Zech. i. 16 ; 2 Sam. viii. 2 ; Jer. xxxi. 39, fe. p 1 Sam. ii. 8 ;
Ps. xxiv. 2 ; comp. supra ix. 6. ti upon what. q Ps. civ. 5 ; Prov. viii. 29 ; Isa. li. 13, fe.
9 caused to sink. k cast (cf. the Fr. jeter les fondementa). r Psa. cxviii. 22 ; cxliv. 12.
X [the] stone of her corner. p on [the] morning-Btars singing together. * Rev. ii. 28 •
xxii. 16. t comp. Ezra iii. 10—13 ; Neh. xii. 27.

494 TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXXVIII. 8 — 15.
0 hedged. g And 0 fenced in Me sea with doors*
x mfra ver. 10 ;
*Mpravii.i2;xxvi. ty When it burst forth, — a issued from Me ^womb?
xxxiii. 7;civ. 9; 9 a When I made Me clouds its garment",
y.r22, fe!29 ' JCT' And " thick-darkness its swaddling-band ;
* forth *S bur3ti"s 1° & When I assigned unto it My bound c,
a isBueth. And set a bar thereon and doors d,
y infra vers. 9, 29. _, „ , .
a on my putting 1 1 And said : " 7 1 hus far shaft thou come, ° but
[the] cloud. farthpr
z comp. Prov. xxx. Ilu lcl1 U1BI 5
4; Ps. civ. 6; "* And here shall thy e proud waves be stayed'"?
supra xxvi. 8 ; J r j
infra Yer. u. 12 Hast thou £ ever commanded Me morning r? *
p when (or, and) I Hast thou caused Me dawn to know its place,
termmed^foritmy 13 v That it should seize upon Me s6 far-corners of
bound- . .. the earth,
c supra xxvi. 12 ; >
Gen. i. 9 ; Prov. And Me wicked should be shaken out from her&?f
viii. 29 ; Jer. v. . '
22, fe. 14 % She Kis changed as Me % clay of a seal ;
ra|TOver. . ..-»«!' ^fi(j ^e^ ^ x stand forth, as though clothed with
Ibutthou^baitnot a * garment. ||
add [to come] i 5 But from Me wicked their light ff is withholden ',
£ shall one lay [nis . .
hand] upon [the] So that Me high arm is broken m.
pride of thy waves.
e supra xxvi. 12 ; ix.
8 ; Jer. v. 22 ; Ps. * That is, to appear.
lxv. 7 ; lxxxix. 9, a inasmucb as wicked men, such as thieves, adulterers, and
fe. '
Z aince, of, thy days the like, are terribly afraid of day -light, as we were told in
(de tes jours). chap. xxiv. 15 — 17, and skulk awav into their retreats on
f supra ix. 7; Gen. . . ' ,. / „,,.,.,
i. 3; Ps. lxxiv. 16. perceiving the very first glimmer thereof, the light is here
ti [so as] to seize, described as seizing upon the earth by its corners, and shaking
xxviii. 24 • 1 Sam! tne wicked, like so many crumbs, out of it, as though it were a
ii. 10; Ps. xix. 6, table-cloth. J She, i.e., the earth.
q sk;|.ts § They, i.e., the corners of the earth, mentioned in ver. 13.
h supra xxiv. 13, 15 [| The earth, which in the darkness of night appears a
K toJe'th, changeth, shapeless mass, receives a form from light, just as clay (or as
herself. we should say, wax) does from the impression of a seal. In
"l^xlv^fe*11' like manner> a11 the obJects on the surface of the earth, which,
\ set themselves up, while the darkness lasts, cannot be distinguished from one
stand. another, are decked by light with various colours, constituting
k Pa. civ. 2 ; comp. ' jo 1-0
supra Yer. 9. for them, so to say, a dress, by which they are as easily dis-
l supra xxiv. 13, 15 tinguished as human beings are by theirs.
iii. 19—21 \ Jer. If Their light, i.e., the light of the morning and the dawn
xlix. 9; Obad. 5, (mentioned in ver. 12), and this is said to be withholden from
m Pa. x. 15 • xxxvii. tne wicked, seeing that they shun it, and, greatly alarmed at
17; Ezek. xxx. 21; jts approach, take refuge in their lurking-places. Comp.
comp. supra xxii. , . . „
9. * chap. xxiv. 13.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXXVIII. 16 — 28. 495
16 Hast thou come unto Me mazes of Me sea" ? aPa- .lxxvii- !9;
cxxxix. 9; comp.
Or y walked m Me a recesses of Me deep" X s«ymxxvi.5;Jon.
1 7 Have Me 'gates of death been disclosed unto thee % $ t'es-'tu promend ?
Or canst thou see Me gates of the ' shadow-of- ££71x^13°; cvii.
death? 18; comP- Isa-
xxxviii. 10.
18 Hast thou understood even Me i3 breadth of Me c supra m. 5; x.2i;
earth d ? ™: ^V"1- ^
L a lull - xxiv. 17; xxvm.
« Declare, if thou knowest it all ! p Lead^wTde-ex-
19 l 7 Which is the way to where light dweileth7'? ^ Panae8> of-
J a d supra ver. 5.
And darkness — where is its 8 abode? e supra Yei.4.
y where.
20 € Doubtless thou canst take £ them to v their bound! /comP.»/Wsver.24.
And doubtless thou perceivest Me 0 pathways to £ surely.
K their house ! l *'• , ,
ti its bound.
21 Yes, this thou knowest 9, for x long since p wast o pathways of.
thou born * ! g supra xxxii. 4, 6,
And Me number of thy days is very great * !) x lit. them '
22 Hast thou come unto Me * treasuries of Me snow, * art *,h°u born- (tu
' es ne).
And Me treasuries of Me hail canst thou wbehold, h suPra Ter. 5 ; xv.
- TTT, • 1 T 1 1 • 7 • C 7 J COmP- XT- 10.
23 Which I have "reserved against Me time of i comp. supra xiv. is
, , i ; x. 5, fe.
trOUDie , fc oomp. ps. exxxv.
7 ; Jer. a. 13 ; li.
16.
24 ™ By what way is Me m light distributed 1 pp see-
mt -i ii " witlllleU, kept
P The east-wind spread abroad upon Me earth : back, spared, for.
25 - Who hath * cut out a channel for the torrent "^ l ^T^^uS
And a way for Me flash of Me ' thunder* ? f*°Kixl 38'i2i3''
•> fe. ; Josh. x. 11 ;
26 0 To cause it to rain q upon a land, where * no Ps- xviii- 12 ;
r lxxviii. 47, 48;
man is I cxlviii. 8, fe.
Upon a wilderness • x where Mere is no man ' ; Zw° where [ia] the
27 To y water to its " fill Me desert and Me waste, ™Jj ^ r^?1
"To cause Me grass-germ to spring up *. tributed?
~ „ „ „ oo ioi m »™-<r, vers. 19,
28 P Hath the rain a father * ? % 12> 1;5-
... . p doth [the] east-
1 Or less literally, Which is the way to the dwelling-place of hght. — Ed., wm(j scatter spread
1862. " [itself].
* Comp. Josh. x. 1 1, where we read that the armies of the " irfra Ter- 28-
Amorites, who had taken the field against the will of God, g mpra 'XXThi. 37
were destroyed by hailstones. [26] ; Ps. cxlvii. 8.
t i-e., for rain, falling in torrents. ± Other than Myself. T Toices> thun.ders'
1 ' ' o + P supra xxvm. 37
[26], ip to cause to rain, q supraY. 10 ; Ps. civ. 13, 14; cxlvii. 8; Jer. xiv. 22. r Jer. xliv. 22 ;
xlvi. 19, &c. s supra vi. 15, 19 ; Ps. cvii. 35 ; Isa. xb. 18 ; comp. Gen. xxi. 14, 19. % not man in
it. t comp. supra xii. 24 ; Ps. cvii. 40. ip satiate, saturate, u Prov. xxx. 16 ; comp. Ps. civ.
13. ui and to cause, fe. v Ps. civ. 14 ; cxlvii. 8. /3 is [there] to the rain ? x supra
vers. 25, 26 ; xxxvi. 27, 28 ; v. 10 ; xxviii. 26 ; Ps. lxv. 9, 10 ; lxviii. 9 ; Jer. v. 24, fe.

' Against Me day of battle and of war ' ?*

496 TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXXVIII. 29 — 38.
a supra xxxvi. 27 ; Or who hath begotten Me drops of dew " ?
Judg. vi. 37—40 ; e
i Kings xvii. i. 29 a Out of whose 6 womb came forth the ice c \
u of whom? W< And Me hoar-frost d of heaven — who brought it
tpr^rei78; forth?
comp. supra 39  jfte waters hide themselves
xxxvii. 9, 10.
d Ps. cxlvii. 16 ; When Me face of Me deep P congealeth e like
comp. supra
xxxvii. io. a stone  .
P hoiidth'0f,CatiS 31 Canst thou y tighten Me bands of Me ' Pleiades ' ?
setteth fast, con- Qr s loose Me fetters of f Orion5 %
gealetn.
e comp. supra xxxvii. 32 Canst thou € bring forth Me h constellations fin
7 bind, constrict. their season ?
/»^ix.9;Amos Eyen , Arcturus with , his sons-canst thou
g com^supra xxxvii. gui(je tJTern 1
8 open, uDdo. 33 Knowest thou Me * ordinances of heaven?
i cause to go forth. ..,,... .
h supra xxxvii. 9; Canst thou # determine its dominion over the
2 Kings xxiii. 5 ; , n
isa. xin. io. eartn :
Z [every one] in its u c t th0u lift up thy voice unto "the clouds -,
season. tr j >
i supra ix. 9 ; ¦ » g0 that an abundance of water shall x overhang
i) her sons. "
k Jer. xxxi. 35, 36; thee?
e s*t. 35 Canst thou send forth Me lightnings ", so that
l Matt. xvi. 2, 3. .1 ..Viall aril *
k the thick-cloud. lne7 SIaal1 g° •
m comp. supra vera. Or will they say unto thee: "xxHere we axepV
12, 13 ; ix. 7 ; in- J J
fra ver. 37 ; 1 36 Who hath 9 put wisdom in m their inward-parts ?
44^e45Tm««p»-o Or who 9v imparted understanding "'to their

xxxvi. 28, note/. mind?t
sunra xxn. 11 : '

n supra jer. x. 13; li. 16. 37 Who can T number Me clouds by wisdom?
X cover thee. .
os«yra ver. 25; Or who «n layers range Me bottles of heaven", J
" '. i6'; 38 ""When Me dust floweth into a molten-mass,

XXXVII.

xx™i52fps2.xvui: And the clods T cleave fast together ?
14 ; cxliv. 6.  §
XX behold us! . «*
» comp. Ps. civ. 4 ; Whither thou directest them.
cxlvm. 8. j. Having, in the preceding verse, so far personified the
q comp. mfra xxxix. ' . ° , A, „ . .
17 ; sapra xxxv. lightnings as to represent them as capable of receiving com-
H- . mands, and of expressing their readiness to execute them, God
v hath given, gave! now asks who it is that has imparted to them wisdom and
7r to the imagination, intelligence sufficient to justify His so representing them.
r coampd'Gen.xiii.l6; X The bottles of heaven, i.e., the clouds.
xv. 5 ; infra xxxix. § Rosenmuller makes, and perhaps j ustly, the following verses
P fan cause to lie. commence the next chapter.
* supra xxxvi. 29 ; xxxvii. 16. t comp. mpraxxvi. 8. « Gen. vii. 11. a on [tbe] pouring out,
melting, fusing, flowing of [the] dust. r are made to stick together.

TRANSLATION. CHAPS. XXXVIII. 39 — 41; xxxix. 1 — 10. 497

39 Dost " thou hunt down prey for Me * lion 1
Or x satisfy Me appetite of Me * young lions,
40 When they c Y crouch <¦> in their dens,
When they P lie in the covert, yin ambushrf?
41 Who 8 provideth for the " raven his food,
When his young-ones ¦''cry aloud unto God,
When they wander for lack of meat ? *
CHAPTER XXXIX.

a Ps. cxxxvi. 25 ;
cxiv. 15, 16 ; oxlvi.
7 ; cxlvii. 9.
b supra iv. 10, 11 ;
comp. Ps. xxxiv.
10 ; civ. 21.
X fill.
c Pa. civ. 22 ; supra
xxxvii. 8 ; comp.
Amos iii. 4.
ip bend down, bow
(themselves) .
w in the dwellings,

P Bit.

of Me rock bring forth ?
Watchest thou £ the pangs of Me ; hinds in travail?
Canst thou * number Me 'months Ma? they fulfil?
Or ""knowest thou v the time when they bring forth?
They "bow themselves-

9 Knowest thou e the time when Me * wild-goats y for ambush.
d Ps. x. 9.
8 prepareth.
e Ps. cxlvii. 9 ; Luke
xii. 24 ; Matt. vi.
26 ; comp. cxxxvi.
25 ; cxiv. 15, 16 ;
cxlvi. 7.
/ Pa. cxlvii. 9.
-they e cast out f their g infra ver. 2.
t [the] time of [the]
yOUng— bringing-forth of
[the] wild-goats, fe.
h 1 Sam. xxiv. 2; Ps.
civ. 18.
Z [the] being in pains
of labour, [the]
travailing, of [the]
hinds.
i Ps. xxix. 9 ; Jer.
xiv. 5.
k comp. supra
xxxviii. 37 ; Gen.
xiii. 16 ; xv. 5.
I supraxxi.21;xiY. 5;
iii. 6; vii. 3; xxix. 2.
m supra ver. 1.
t] [the] time of their
bringing forth.
n 1 Sam. iv. 19.
9 make their young
tocleave[thewomb]. Comp. Exod. xiii.
2 ; xxxiv. 19, fe.
0 Isa. xiii. 8 ; Jer.
xiii. 21 ; xxii. 23.
b children.
X become great (Pr.
grandir).
p in the open-field.
p Cant.ii.7; iii. 5,fe.
v have gone forth.
tt have not returned

They dismiss their ° pangs.
4 Their K young ones wax strong ;
They x grow up p in the p plains ;
They "go forth, and "return no more?-
5 Who hath sent forth Me r wild-ass free ?
And Me wild-mule's bands who hath P loosed ?
6 Whose house I have °" made Me ' wilderness,
And T his dwelling Me * salt-waste.
7 He mocketh at Me tumult of Me city,
And Me ™- cries of Me ™ driver he 4> heedeth not.
8 xWhat he findeth on Me "mountains is his
pasture ;
Yea, he searcheth after every green-thing.
9 Will Me w wild-bull be willing to serve thee ?
Will he y abide by thy x crib ?
10. Canst thou mhold Me ""wild-bull by his rope
Me furrow ?
* Comp. Ps. cxlvii. 9. t i-e-, give birth to.
r 1 »o them (lit., for them-
Belves). q comp. Gen. viii. 12. r supra xxiv. 5 ; xi. 12 ; vi. 5 ; Gen. xvi. 12 ; Jer. ii. 24 ;
Hos. viii. 9 ; Ps. civ. 11, fe. ; comp.SM/>™xxx.7. p opened, undone, a Bet, appointed, s supra
xxiv. 5 ; Jer. ii. 24 ; xiv.6 ; Dan. v. 21, fe. r hi3 dwelling-places, t Jer. xvii. 6 ; Deut. xxix. 23 ;
Judg. ix. 45; Ezek! xlvii. 11. rr noiaes. u supra iii. 18, where tranal. task-master ; cf. Lat.
urgeo= to drive and to oppress ; and also agere and exigere. tp heareth not, hearkeneth not to.
X [the] searching of mountains ; i.e., what is obtained by searching the mountains, v infra xl. 20.
<o Numb, xxiii. 22 ; Deut. xxxiii. 17 ; Pb. xxii. 21 ; xxix. 6 ; xcii. 10, fe. \p dwell at. x Isa. i. 3 ;
Prov, xiv. 4. in bind, y comp. infra xli. 1 — 4 ; Isa. xxxvii. 29.
K K

to

498

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXXIX. 11  18.

in believe, have con
fidence, in him.
P that he will bring
back.
z Matt. vi. 26 ; xiii.
30.
y ostrichea.
8 has been exulted,
delighted, in ; has
been, is, delightful.
i [is it the] wing
[of tbe] stork, or
[its] feather ?
a Zech. v. 9 ; Ps.
civ. 17 ; Jer. viii. 7.
Z leave.
tj by means of.
9 And, but, or seeing
that, she hath for
gotten.
b Lam. iii. 34.
k it ; i.e., every one
of the eggs.
c supra y. 23 ; infra
xl. 20.
X One hath harden
ed [her heart.]
d Lam. iv. 3.
p. [are] for (i.e., as)
not to her. See
Append.
e comp. supra ix. 29 ;
Iaa. xlix. 4 ; lxv.
23 ; Hab. ii. 13.
v for vanity, empti
ness.
/ infra ver. 22.
it made her to for
get.
g supra xvii. 4 ;
comp. xxxviii. 36.
p not imparted to
her in (or, of) un
derstanding.
u at the time.
h supra vers. 7, 22 ;
infra xli. 29 ; 2
Kings xix. 21 ; Ps.
ii. 4, fe.
i Gen. xlix. 17 ;
Exod. xv. 1 ; Jer.
U. 21 ; Hag. ii. 22.

Or will he harrow Me valleys after thee ?
11 Wilt thou trust in him, because his strength is
great ?
Or wilt thou leave unto him thy toil ? *
12 Canst thou "rely on hira Pto bring Mee back
thy seed,
And * gather it into thy barn ?
A3 The wing of Me y ostrich 8 is goodly;
But eis it the pinion, or Me plumage, of the
stork ° ?
14 No! for she must £ commit her eggs unto
the earth,
And must warm Mem v with Me dust.
15 X6 Yet she forgetteth that Me 'foot may
crush K them,
And that the " wild-beast of Me field may
trample on Kthem.
J3+/I6 xShe hath been hardened **; her young
are p as though they were not hers.§
e"In vain may he her labour ||, yet is she
without fear f.
17 For God hath ""withholden from her wis
dom 9,
And hath p given her no part in under
standing 9.
18 Could she °"in due time Praise herself on
high,
\ She might* mock at the 'horse and his rider!
* Wilt thou entrust unto him the tillage of thy ground ?
t For a Eabbinical note upon these six verses, see the end of
the Chapter.
X She might therefore be expected to be very anxious about
the fate of her eggs, but is this so ? Notwithstanding the risk
her eggs run, she is so far from being anxious, that she even
forgets they are in danger. See ver. 16. — Editor, 1862.
§ Having denied her wings, by which she would have been
enabled to build her nest on high, God, in His mercy, made
her callous and indifferent to her young.
|| Her labour in arranging and concealing her eggs in the
dust.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXXIX. 19 — 30. 499
19 Dost thou give " might unto the horse ? a Ts; xx?™- 17 ¦
o » cxlvii. 10.
Dost thou y clothe his neck with the a rust- t1 make his neck to
. . put on.
ling-mane ? ui thunder. SeeAp-
20 Makest thou him Pto leap like the p ^hake, quiver.
b locust 1 b Joel ii. 4, 5 ; Rev.
ix. 7 ; comp. J er.
The glory of his " snorting is 7 terrible ! u- 27-
-ii » tt rf i-i n i ii c Jer. viii. 16.
21 ° He paweth in the valley, and " exulteth y terror.
in his f strength ; d ^Z^f. 22 ; Jer.
He «rusheth on* to meet Me £ weapons ! e j^ ^'^ 2'
22 He * mocketh at fear, and is not dis- / suPra ver. 19,
note a.
mayed ; e goeth forth.
Neither turneth he back '/from Me l sword ! f wtapon"
23 Upon him rattleth Me quiver, IhTATzI] *
6 The flaming spear-head and Me javelin ! 24 M. 33 [25].
° L V from [the] face of,
24 With clatter and with fury he K devoureth from before.
, , fr i supra xix. 29.
Me ground , 6 [the] flame of
And x cannot stand still p at Me sound of [^le^TeLl'6"
Me trumpet ! « drinketh up
r k Jer. iv. 13 ; Hab.
25 "When Me trumpet soundeth amain, he i. 8, 9.
. , . . , . , , X cannot be steady,
Saitll, Alia ! i.e., contain himself.
And m from afar he scenteth Me » battle, ** S^T "[the]
The ° thunder * of Me "• chieftains, and Me trumpet
7 v in [the] abun-
\ p Shouting ! dance of [the]
26 Is it p by * thy "¦ wisdom that the hawk flieth, 1 pr9. xxxv. 21, 25 ;
And rspreadeth out his wings T towards Me south? m *£fr* ^r ^

su-

27 Is it 4> at thy command that the "eagle x soareth, ?/a xx™- 2|- ,
^ ~ ' » Jer. vui. 6; Zech.
And that he y maketh his nest on high *1 *¦ 3 ; Rev. ix. 7, 9.
28 On the "rock he dwelleth and abideth, ° psmxxix 3" 4. W.
On Me •«• crag of Me rock, and Me fastness, f "" ^'g^xvii. 20
29 Thence 0 looketh he out for his w7 prey ; ^ u- 2> &0- „
, a * p from, by reason of.
Afar off his eyes behold it. q comp. Jer. viii. 7.
on xn 1 • „i iii " ht., understand-
oU .Lven his young ones ^suck up blood ; ing> intelligence.
And where Me slain are, there is he *. $ r SS. 2?&e. 4° ;
* i.e., the stentorian voices. r .to [the] 80uth-
, . . _ 0 in accordance with,
T i.e., one of nature s fastnesses, a lofty and inaccessible dm. or because of, thy
X Comp. Matt. xxiv. 28. mouth.
s supra ix. 26; Prov.
xxiii. 5 ; Isa. xl. 31 ; Obad. ver. 4 ; comp. supra v. 7. % maketh high [his flight, of, to fly].
f raiseth up his nest. t Jer. xlix. 16. » comp. Obad. vers. 3, 4. v Comp. 1 Sam. xiv. 4.
in tooth. p he hath searched, searcheth. w supra ix. 26 ; Hab. i. 8. y food. x supra
xxxvi. 25 ; 2 Kings iv. 25, fe. y comp. Numb, xxiii. 24. z Matt. xxiv. 28 ; Luke xvii. 37.
K K 2

500 TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXXIX. 13 — 18.
* I83P Upon this, and the five succeeding verses (vers . 1 3 — 18),
Dr. Bernard has the following manuscript note (from his own pen),
which he has kindly allowed me to transcribe. It is accompanied
by a literal translation, which is intended for the benefit of the
Rabbinical student, and which I have had the more pleasure in
making, as I feel assured that he will seldom or ever meet with'
a comment in this dialect offering fewer difficulties of construc
tion. For my own part, however, I must say that I am dis
posed to think, with Rosenmuller, that the description of the
horse, contained in vers. 19 — 25, is a mere episode, to which
the use of the word DID horse in ver. 18 gave rise. Dr.
Bernard's note runs thus : —
(B) )ViP3 P'iiSJJP P'plPPP >S DlfHP VJ'P o\iv "afi P1P 'P
P'-JPPPP (ii33 7Pl) p"' piPP 7m"' piPP U"P ,OP'iP OD1P ")Df>
¦?pf> if1 ]133P P3iP ip 17PP' , <J» 'iP3 PP'")33 1'7' PDPP1 bf> 7133
-)Yj P"PPP 7"pi piPP IVb IP , P1PPP -J1PPP DJDV 13 ")Df> p"3 piPP
P'iOPp lioipD' Ptip |Plf>3 pif>P Plfnppp 01")P '7' il? '31 , 1DJP
]13J T7P bo VP1")33 PDP ")Df» (! PiPP') P")13P Plpipjp P'-JIPPP Vp'1
qjs J3 -jipj bit ,wpi P3-JP in -|iip is , irp -jpp ]>p , taippi r»if>»
P3D') -737PP 'P3 D'7PPi l'PI WP3 |'P pip i3 lp37' "JDP31 ; lPJ'pi
]HPi DPI? pjppp pp ]'P DW ]31 21V' ]i (!lPD D7pn'l i7JP'l
,1J'JPi "JDP O'piPPP PDD3 -f-137' 13 ")DP <]1PP '3 PVP31 — ' PP1DP
oJip ip-jpppi ii7J pppp rp iP3 is ip up -jp'i ppd IP' ii '3 pj
fJPlP' ">DP il7» ]13p3 qiP i3 PJTJPP 1PJ07P PP^i 71P , W71331 1P13
PP7PP PP 31tPi IP qiP P'3Jpi 17' ipi ]'P -JDP3 , P'PDP P'p") OP iP
"Jj3.ii rip uipoi i3i: upp3 '3 7P , ppp pji ips qfi P'ip ipy idp
PTi' Pip PlipP3 PPP piPP , PP03P P|-)D1D3 PP315 1P3 PIP '3
PPli — D'PDP qiP ]'31 pPP iP DPI") i3 ]'3 'PiPP , P"PP 'iP3
ivfi P"3 piPP IPP ]13; -JPl'p i"jp P'pippp 3iPl 7PPP 'ilP P'P'
D'-JIPPP li 'PP' 01131 / PP7PP DP-JP IDP i3 '-J1PP J PiDi "JDfi
* See p. 498, note t.
t n?T-
J It will be observed that D7ttJ3 is in the sing., whereas
l^n/Y1 is in the plur., though they both refer to a plur. noun.
Still, I believe that Dr. Bernard intentionally wrote C7EJ3 ,
as it is found also in the copy which Mr. Randolph made from
the original for himself. Rabbinical writers are not very par
ticular in observing grammatical rules, and Dr. Bernard no
doubt considered that he should be writing a more idiomatical
Rabbinic, if he followed in their footsteps, especially as passages
are not wanting in the Bible in which a similar construction
is found. Comp. infra xlii. 15, where the writer goes farther
still, and not content with using a sing, verb with a plur. noun,
also puts the verb, as well as three pron. affixes which occur in

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XXXIX. 13 — 18. 501
P$-)3 ]3 — • 3P 'PP3 iP Pfipil PlP7i OP'PJS ID-)?' IDP P1P1PPP
' 7"jP?i *
"Who is he, that can shut his eyes from seeing, that the verses,
which are comprehended under tbe mark (B) that has been
placed over them, namely ver. 13 to ver. 18 (inclusively), and
which declare the glory of God, and the work of His hands, in
the creation of winged things, will stand in their proper place,
either after ver. 25, by which the description of the horse is
completed, or after ver. 30, which concludes the picture of
the eagle,— and that, by means of the transposition of these
verses after this manner, the subjects will be linked together,
so that the narrations of the wonders of the Creator, — may
He be exalted ! — which He has wrought in His creatures, will
be in a proper, beautiful, and acceptable order, kind after its
kind, everything which goes on all fours, according to its kind,
and every fowl, every winged thing, according to its kind ;
and, in proportion as all these are joined, kind to its kind, and
are made a whole in the mouth of the Speaker, — may His name
he blessed, exalted, and sanctified ! — so will the graceful
arrangement of this discourse be sweet and pleasant to the ear
of the hearer. But, seeing that, with regard to the bird spoken
of in the six verses before us, although it has more dignity
and more strength than any other winged thing, by reason of its
size and its beauty, and the might of its power and strength, its
station is still lower than the station of any bird, small or great,
which can fly in tbe open firmament of heaven, inasmuch as it has
not the power of taking a high flight, nor of leaving the ground,
upon which it hops, even for one moment, so that we might
almost pronounce and say respecting it, that it is as a link in
the chain of creation, one step of the steps of the ladder of the
creation of living things, midway between everything that
moves on the earth and the fowls of heaven,  therefore, the
place and station of the six verses mentioned above would,
perhaps, be most appropriate after ver. 25, after that the
descriptions of everything that moves upon the ground have
been completed, and before the descriptions of the birds, which
can spread out their wings to hover and mount above the
heights of the clouds, begin.  So it seems in my humble
opinion. — Note of Editor.
the verse, in the masc. gend., although the persons spoken of
are women. See also note in Comm. on supra xx. 10. —
Editor, 1862.
* Abbreviated for ^Fi^. rWSV "lQ1? lit., according to [the']
poorness, or wretchedness, or humility, of my opinion. — Ed., 1862.

502

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XL. 1 — 7 [6 — 12].

a supra xxxviii. 1.
b comp. Exod. xix.
16, 18; xx. 18;
1 Kings xix. 11,
fe. ; Ps. 1. 3 ; Nah.
i. 3, &c.
ip or, tempest.
c supra xxxviii. 3 ;
comp. supra xii.
18; 2 Kings iv.
29; ix. 1; Jer.
i. 17.
d supra xxxviii. 3 ;
infra xlii.4; xxxiii.
5, 32; xxiii. 4;
xiv. 15 ; xiii. 3,
18,19,22; ix.35,
fe.
ui make Me to know.
P break, destroy,
annul.
e supra xxx. 20, 21 ;
xxvii. 2 ; xxiv. 1,
and whole chap. ;
xxiii. 2, 10—17 ;
xxi. 7—13, 23, 24,
30—34 ; xix. 6, 7,
22; xvi. 7—16,
17 ; x. 3, 15 ; ix.
22—24, fe.
y be just,bejustified,
comeout,forth,just.
f supra chap. xxxi.
passim ; xxvii. 3
— 6 ; xxiii. 10 —
12 ; xvi. 17 ; xiii.
15; x. 15; ix.21,
30, 35 ; vi. 10, 29,
30 ; iii. 26 ; comp.
ix. 2 ; xiv. 3, 4 ;
infra xl. 4 [xlii.
10] ; xlii. 6.
8 [is] then an arm
to thee as [to]
God.
g 1 Cor. i. 22.
h supra xxxviii. 25 ;
xxvi. 14.
c make to thunder.
i supra xxxvii. 2, 4,
5 ; Ps. xxix. 3 — 5,
7—9, fe.
Z height, highness,
loftines8,exaltation, elevation.
Tc Ps. xchi. 1 ; comp.

[Ver. l.J
[Ver. 2.]
[Ver. 3.]
[Ver. 4.]
[Ver. 5.]
[6]

CHAPTER XL.
These numbers in square brackets
indicate the corresponding verses
¦ in the Hebrew text. In the
present translation they form
Vers. 7 — 1 1 in Chap. xlii.

2 [7]

T61 a Then Jehovah answered Job from out
Me bY storm, and said:
" Gird up now thy loins like a man !
d I will ask of thee, and do thou <° declare
unto Me !
3 [8] Wilt thou indeed 0deny* My "justice?
Wilt thou condemn Me, that thou mayest
7 seem just-''?
4 [9] 8 Hast thou then an arm like God 9 ?
Or canst thou k e thunder with a l voice like
Him?
5 [10] Deck thyself now with pride and £ majesty*;
Yea, 7 array thyself with ' glory and splen
dour !
6 [11] ^Pour out around Mee Me K fury of thine

proud man, and

And KK search out every
0 x bring him low !
7 [12] KK Search out every "proud man, and
pp humble him! -j-
Yea, crush thou Me wicked " where they
stand * !
* See note in Comment, and Appendix, on supra xv. 4. —
Editor, 1862.
supra xxix. 14. + i.e., Shew the keenness of thy glance by singling out
' on°U mayeS pU straightway the proud man, though his pride be hidden in his
I Ps. civ. 1; supra heart (supra xxxiii. 17), and shew thy power by laying him at
xxix. 20; xix. 9, „nmnr„,tl.9(fl. geeC,

once prostrate.

vih;g puoiia^, ucc \j\iuiui. p. Oil.  MiCtltOr, 1 otju.
9 scatter.
k furies of. m supra xx. 23. kk look, discern, look out for. n supra ix. 13 ; Isa. ii. 11
— 17 ; v. 15 ; x. 33, fe. ; comp. supra ix. 31 ; xvi. 15. o comp. supra xx. 6 — 10 ; xxii. 29.
X make him to be low, humble. p 1 Sam. ii. 7, 8 ; Ps. Ixxv. 7 ; comp. supra v. 11. f cause
him to bow. v in their place. q supra xxxiv. 26, note p.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XL. 8 — 16 [13 — 21]. 503
8 [13] a Hide them altogether in the * dust! a °°mP- "w* xiT-
Bind a them P in some " secret-place ! s comp. m/™ xlii. 6;
_-,_,, ... _ supra xvi. 15; ix.
9 [14J 1 hen will I, even I, 7 confess unto thee, 31 ; a. 8; Ps.
That thine own right hand d can s help thee. Mio! i. 10. ™
10 [151 * Behold now Me • beasts which I have w their faoe9' Per"
L J sons.
made to be with thee !  P in the hidden-
e The one-j- eateth grass like the ox/. c comp! supra xiv.
11 [16] Behold now his strength is in his loins*, y OTj' prais™ "hee.
And his might in Me £ muscles h of his belly ! d ^Al^T. 3 .
12 [171 v When he lusteth, his tail is as a * cedar; xvii. 7 ; ix. 5, fe. ;
m; • r 1 • a xxxm. 16, 17 ;
The sinews of his stones e are entwined ! supra v. 12—14.
13 [18] His limbs are strong-pieces of * brass m, e Gen^Tk, 25.
His bones, as < bars of " iron ! } ^£' 1B [20] .
14 [191 He is x chief among Me p works of *«^«vi.6;Numb.
L J ° xxu. 4 ; Ps. cvi.
God°t  20; Jer. 1. 11;
_ , . . iii i • Dan. iv. 25 ; comp.
Let " him that would p dress him, *" ap- supra xxxix. 8.
proach him with his knife ! § 9 j^X. a*™' Dan!
15 [20] For Me mountains P bring forth their pro- Zgrm-thms arts
duce for him q, °f-
A comp. »/?•» xli. 23.
And all Me T " beasts of the field ' sport y desireth, lusteth
i i . ii he = if, when, he
t around him. || de^eth, lusteth.
i Cant. v. 15.
.  . k supra x. 11.
9 axe made (i.e., be-
_ _ r -. jii t i i i-i come, grow) en-
lo [21 J Under 9 shady-trees x the other ^[ lieth, twined.
I supra vi. 12 ;
* Not only hast thou not unlimited power over men, thou hast w^Isa xlviiT4
it not even over the brute creation. m comp. infra xli.
t The elephant. K gj sw?ra Ti' 12'
X He is a wonderful creature, not only on account of his n infraxM. 27; Dan.
size, but also on account of his sagacity and intelligence, which "• 40 ; T1.V. „ ;
6 * ° supra xxvm. 2 ;
surpass those of all other animals, and are inferior only to the comp. Isa. xlviii.
intellect of man. * ' ^^ xx™i'r23/
T . P \ beginning, chiet,ot.
§ Let him that has a mind to slaughter and dress him for ^ ways of.
food, let him try and approach him with his butcher's knife. ° c°mP- infraxll 33.
ii . , „ . . v the dressing him,
|| As he is a graminivorous, gentle, and inoffensive animal, j e-j the one wish-
why should not man come and butcher him, as he would do ™& t0 d^.SB him-
,„ p Gen. xvm. 7; 2
an ox, a calf, or a lamb ? Sam. xii. 4 ; xiii,
f The hippopotamus. 5> 7 > x KiaSs xvii-
rif r 12 ; xviii. 23, 25.
rr cause to approach his knife [to him]. p bear. q supra ver. 10 ; xxxix. 8 ; Ps. cxlvii. 8 ;
1- 10, 11 ; Prov. xxvii. 25. r supra v. 22, 23 ; Ps. viii. 7 ; Isa. lvi. 9, fe. a wild-beast of.
» comp. supra xxi. 11 ; Ps. xxix. 6. r there [where he is], tp shades. t Dan. iv. 12 ; Mark
iv. 32 ; Hos. iv. 13 ; Jon. iv. 5, 6, fe. % he lieth.

504

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XL. 17  23 [22 — 28].

m reed.
a comp. Isa. xix. 6,
7 ; xxxv. 7 ; supra
viii. 11.
b infra xli. 30.
P [each with] its
shade.
c Dan. iv. 12 ; Mark
iv. 32; Hos.iv. 13;
Jon. iv. 5, 6, fe.
y shades.
8 hedge, fence, him
in.
d Lev. xxiii. 40 ; Isa.
xliv. 4 ; Ezek.
xvii. 5.
£ be [the] river vio
lent [lit. oppress].
e Jer. v. 22; Ps.
xlvi. 3; Judel3,fe.
Z he is, or would be,
confident.
f infra xli. 33, 24;
Ps. xlvi. 2, 3.
n should break forth,
burst-
g comp. Ps. cxxiv.
4, 5; Lam. iii. 54, fe.
h comp. supra xxxi.
1 ; 1 John ii. 16 ;
Matt. v. 28.
0 can (or, must) he
(i.e., one) take
him.
k nostril.
i infra ver. 21.
\ can (or, must) he
(i.e., one), bore.
k infra ver. 21 ; 2
Kings xix. 28 ; Isa.
xxxvii. 29.
I infra ver. 24 ;
comp. supra xxxix.
10.
p cause to sink.
m supra vers. 19, 20.
v lit. a thorn,
perhaps, a barbed
hook, a barb. See
Comm. .Ed. 1862.
tt or, pierce.
n comp. supra xxxiv.
37 ; xxxv. 16.
o supra viii. 5 ; ix.
15, fe.
p Ps. lv. 21 ; Isa.
xxx. 10 ; comp.
supra ix. 4.
p cut.
q supra v. 23 ; xxxi.
1, fe.
<r slave of perpe
tuity, eternity, =
a perpetual slave.
r supra xxxix. 9, 10 ;
Jer. xxvii. 6 ; Exod.
xxi. 6 ; Deut. xv.
17.

In Me covert of Me <° reeds0, and in the
6 mire.
17 [22], P With their " shade Me 7 shady-trees * do
8 cover him ;
The d willows of Me brook encompass him
about.
18 [23] Lo ! 6 though Me river rage*, he hasteth
not;
£ Unmoved f were he, though Jordan
v rushed up to his mouth 9\
19 [24] By his h eyes alone e can he be taken, f
By snares, his K nostrils * * bored.
20 [25] XLL ' X Canst thou draw out Me crocodile
with an hook *
1 And with a ' rope,§ which thou might
est P sink into his tongue ?
21 [26] 2 Canst thou put an hook™ in his
nose?
Or with a v ring m n bore through his
cheek ?
22 [27] 3 Will he " multiply " supplications
unto thee ?
Will he speak unto thee p soft-
things? ||
23 [28] 4 Will he p make a q covenant with
thee?
Canst thou take him for a °" slave for
ever r ?
1 Or, perhaps, — Or canst thou with a rope sink down his tongue ? i.e.,
depress it, keep it down, as with the curb of a bridle. — Editor, 1862.
* A corresponding and somewhat stronger jingle is found in
the original. — Editor, 1862.
j It is only by placing before his eyes something enticing
and alluring that he can be subdued and mastered.
X Here Chap. xli. begins in the Auth. Ver. Its correspond
ing verses will be indicated by the small figures which follow
the square brackets.
§ The rope being fastened to the hook. — Editor, 1862.
|| Will he shew his attachment to thee by fawning upon thee
like a dog ?

TRANSLATION. CHAPS. XL. 24 — 26 [29 — 31]; XLI. 1 — 5 [4 — 8]. 505
24 [29] 5 Canst thou " play with him as with a °°mP- Isa- xi- 6~
m a bird h\ m the bird.
Or canst thou cbind him for thy jto.'k 7. T
maidens?* • ^.10Ter' 19
25 [30] 6 Will companions make a ''banquet d Ps- lxxiv- 14
L -i l ± comp. supra ver.
P of him ? 14 ; vi. 27.
„,.,. . ...,-. , /3 on him.
Will they "divide him among Me eMarkvi. 41.
merchants ? f
26 [31] 7 Canst thou fill his 'skin with darts? / ™{™3X0H' 15_17 ;
Or his head with 7 fish-spears f1 y spear of fishes.
CHAPTER XLI.
1 [J4] 12 8 I will not be silent concerning his s Je ne tairai Point-
e parts, £ limbs.
Nor Me matter of his £ might, nor Me Z mights.
gracefulness of his V proportions 9. n arrangement, sym-
2 [5] 13 Who hath 6 stripped off Me surface of g comp. Cant. v. io
his garment ? § e ^ ^.eTealedi un.
Into * his jaws, who would enter ? || c°™red- See AP"
3 [6] 14 Who hath opened Me * doors of his K [the] doubling of
. . bis bit (see Com-
iace ? ^| mentary).
Round about his teeth is terror \ supraxi. io°0mp'
4 [7] I5 His x strong shields are his pride, * C°™P; ^ '™- 4 •
p Locked together as with a close * seal. x strong-things, or,
e ml ib rni i -pieces, of shields.
5 [oj lhey " are so near, *¦ one to another, p shut up [each one
of them].
k 1 Kings xxi. 8;
* Fasten or encage him for the amusement of thy children. Rev. xx. 3.
f Will companies feast upon his flesh, or traffic with it as * o'^to'one.
they do with the flesh of fish ?
X The numbers in square brackets indicate the corresponding
verses in the Hebrew text. The small figures following the
square brackets indicate, as before, the corresponding verses in
the A.V. The first three verses of this chap, according to the
Heb. text, form the last three of our chap. xli.
§ The surface of his garment  i.e., his scales, which
form the uppermost layer of that close-fitting garment of his,
his skin ; who has ever been able to lift up any of them ?
|| Who would trust a limb within his jaws ?
1T i.e., his mouth. [Comp. supra iii. 10, " the doors of my
[mother's] womb " = the mouth of the womb ; and also Mic.
vii. 5, "the doors of thy mouth."— Editor, 1862.]

506 TRANSLATION. CHAP. XLI. 6 — 14 [9 — 17].
w that air cannot a T/hat no air can come between them.

come.

p made to cleave. 6 [9] ,r They are P fast joined 7 e very one to its
y man to his brother. _
8 cannot separate tellOW ;
^eve^oVeofthem] They take hold on one another, so that
maketh Ught to th a cannot be sundered.
Bhme. J
a see ver. 9, note d, 7 [10] 18 His neesings * e give forth light0,
and comp. ver. 10. LJ to ° ,»,.,/.,
b supra iii. 9. And his eyes are as Me eyelids of Me
c infra ver. 10. i
Z Bave themselves, Qawn.
STcape116"1' 8 M " 0Ut °f hIS m°Uth S° ' firebrands'-
<zps. xviii. 8, 15; Sparks of fire £ leap out.
eJer. i. 13; «»fra 9 [12] 20 From his nostrils goeth forth smoke d,
ti a Mown pot. As /»"0m e v a bubbling pot, or f caldron.|
' kekmxi. 3,' 7, n! 10 C13] " His breath would1 kindle <> coals';
e live-, burning, Yea, a * flame goeth forth from his
coals. °
ff Ps. xviii. 8, 13; Isa. H10Uth.
Hab iii. 5. C°mp' H [14] 22 In his *neck K abideth strength;
LTp^xxxix. And * before him exulteth Borrow. J
,1?;^16' «12 [15] 23 The x folds of his flesh 'm stick fast
/doageth,sojournetn, L -1
dweUeth. together ;
x fallings of, i.e., the " They are firm upon him; they cannot
pendulous parts of. h.Pmmnvpd
I supra ver. 6. De mOVed.
p have cleaved. 13 [16] 24 His heart is as firm as a "stone;
v [every one ot them L -1 '
is] firm; it cannot Yea, firm as Me ° nether millstone.
<mPs. a. 6; cxii. 6; 14 [17] 25 ""At his rising Me mighty are afraid *;
Prov. xii. 3, fe.
«Zech.vii.l2;Comp. 1 Or, kindleth coals. — See Append. Editor, 1862.
supra xxxviii. 30 ;
xxxix. 22 ; xl. 23 ; * An old word = sneezings. When the crocodile sneezes, or
mfra ver. 22. snorts, a volume of breath issues from his nostrils in the form
o Deut. xxiv. 6. .
¦n by reason of his of steam. This was regarded as smoke, for it seems that in
raising [himself] former times, as well as in our days, steam and smoke were
p comp. supraxi. 23. frequently confounded. Thus we commonly say of a horse
when reeking with sweat, that it is smoking ; and, indeed, to
reek primarily means to smoke (Fries, riecke, A.-S. recan,
Swed. roka, Germ, rauchen). But where smoke is, there there
must be^re, and commonly is flame; and hence, I think, we
may understand what is said in vers. 7 — 10. — Editor, 1862.
-j- i.e., as steam from boiling water. [Here again steam is
called smoke.— Ed., 1862.]
J The sorrow, or anguish, which his approach excites in
every beast, is here personified and represented as triumphantly
preceding him. See Comm. — Editor, 1862.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XLI. 15 — 21 [18 — 24]. 507
"> At Me " waves* P they are beside <¦» hJ rea80n of [thel
J breakers.
themselves. a Ps. cvii. 26, 27;
15 [18] 26 vHe that cometh up to him'  his g they^miss tbem-
sword shall not stand, y affior the] one
Nor his spear, dart, nor coat-of-'mail. reaching, attaining,
/» n n~n it tt • s. overtaking him.
16 [19] He accounteth ciron ° as straw, b infra vers. 24,— 26.
j -r, , ., -, c supra xl. 18 ; xxviii.
" Brass  e as ' rotten wood. {. Dan. ii. 40 ;
17 [20] 28 £ The f arrow will not make him flee ; f; Dent^S
Into 9 stubble n are * sling-stones turned „ „23-
° With him.-j" d note c and supra
18 [21] 29 As ' stubble K are accounted x clubs ; eforwoodofrotten-
And he laugheth at Me Fwhiz of Me e ™°a xiii 2a
i avelin . % [the] 8on °f a how.
J f Ps. xci. 5.
19 [22] 30 Under him are " sharp-pointed sherds ; ^«/^mxiii.25;xxi.
u J ,, n , ^ , Al . 18; Ps. lxxxiii. 13.
imy, he spreadeth "" sharp-things upon v were, have been
.7 • .  turned.
ine mire. + h 2 Chron XXTi. 14
20 [23] 31 ^e would make Me deep to ' boil p like » for him
L J * k were, have been
a pot ;  accounted.
2 Would make Me sea "Tike a jar-of- p noise.
. . . r v pointed-things, or
Ointment. § pointednesses, of
21 [24] 32 After him T would he cause a path to aBherd-
L J r w a Bharpened-thmg.
shine * II * supra ver. 9 ; Jer.
' i 13
One would 9 think Me deep were hoary. P hie the pot.
<r like the jar of oint-
gr ment.
1 1 r would make a path
light, bright.
._. _. ip count [the] deep
1 Or, He maketh the deep to boil, fe. Editor, 1862. for hoariness.
2 Or, Maketh the sea, fe.
After him be causeth, fe. — Editor, 1862.
* At the waves, which are produced by his rising out of the
water. f Stones from a sling produce as little effect upon him, as
stubble would, if thrown at him.
X How can he be afraid of the javelin, when he likes to lie
upon sharp-pointed things ?
§ He would stir the sea about (if he came into it), with the
same ease that an apothecary stirs ointment in a jar.
|| He leaves a foamy and glistening wake behind him.
1 We consider it so imperatively necessary to state to the
reader the reasons which induced us to transfer the following
verses to another place than that which they occupy in the text,

508 translation, chap. xli. 22 — 25 [25, 26; xl. 32; xli. 1].
«. [he who] not his 22 [25] 33 »S«* whose like Mere is not upon
likejupon earth. L J A
p dust. , P earth "  •
a supra . , i . ^-^ ^aj. .^ ma^Q without dread b f  .
^Xcomp3^: 23 [26] " He who seeth every thing high', J
u supra xxxv. 5; y j^ho is d king over all Me " * proud
xxn. 12; Isa. xl. ° r
26 ; Ps. viii. 3, fe. beasts 
y he [who is] king,
fe. (On him I call, and say)
e supra xxviii. 8. '24 [Chap. xl. 32]§ 8 " Put thine hand upon him^
f 8c°omp°f s^a ver. " " « Think on Me battle —
15 ; *}r 19- £ thou wilt do so no more." " II
e remember. "
Z thou wilt not add. 25 [Chap. xli. 1] 9 Lo! * his hope v is deceived ; f[
^comp. Nah. i. 9; L r J r "
1 Sam. xxvi. 8.
h supra xvii. 15 ;
xix. 10 ; xiv. 19, that we hope to be excused for quoting here our own words from
,&(\ t t ,- i tn«> Commentary, p. 387.
n hath been bebed. tl , , , , ,.,.-,,
"We have already stated the reasons which induced
Wolfssohn to assign to these six verses another place than that
which they occupy in the text. To every one indeed, who
reads the last four of them in the connection in which they
there stand, it must, we should think, seem very extraordinary,
that God should first challenge man to engage with the cro
codile, and then proceed to enter upon a minute description of
its structure, nor is Wolfssohn the only Commentator who saw
the necessity for altering their position, since Bouillier did so
likewise. There is, however, another point, which seems to us
still more extraordinary than this, namely, that an animal,
which is in reality nothing more than a monstrous reptile, should
(in the second verse of the group), be styled the king of all the
proud beasts, and be said to see every thing high ; and it is
therefore our firm belief, that the subject of the whole of the
verses under our consideration is not the crocodile, but man
generally, Job of course being more particularly had in view.
God says : He (man) &c."
* i.e., man.
f Who braves all dangers.
X Who does not hang down his head and look towards the
earth, but walks erect and regards the heavens and the heavenly
bodies. § The small figures indicate as before the corresponding
verses of chap. xli. in the A.V.
|| Observe the change to the 2nd pers. in this verse, and the
resumption of the 3rd in the next. Comp. supra pp. 474, 483,
note X-— Editor, 1862.
^[ His hope of conquering him.

TRANSLATION. CHAPS. XLI. 26, 27 [2, 3] ; XLII.

509

26 [Chap. xli. 2]

27 [Chap. xli. 3]

Is he indeed cast down "at
Me very " sight of him ?
To himself he is not so cruel6,
that he should arouse
him 
Who then is he, that can
P stand before Me c ?
Who hath 7 prevented Me,*
that I should have to
repay himd1
That which is under the whole
heavens8 is mine e !

CHAPTER XLII.

oi even at bis appear
ances.
a Heb. xii. 21; Exod.
xx. 18.
b comp. supra xv.
20 ; Prov. xi. 17.
P set himself up.
e supra xxxiii. 13 ;
xxiii. 3, 5 ; Isa.
xlv. 9 ; 1 Sam. vi.
20 ; Ps. Ixxvi. 7 ;
Nah. i. 6 ; comp.
Deut. vii. 24, fe.
y or, come before,
anticipated, me.
d Rom. xi. 35 ;
1 Chron. xxix. 14.
8 it [is] to me.
e Gen. xiv. 19;
Exod. xix. 5 ;
Deut. x. 14 ;
1 Chron. xxix. 11,
14 ; Ps. xxiv. 1 ^
1. 12 ; lxxxix. 11 ;
comp.supraxxYiii.24 ; xxxvii. & ;
Dan. ix. 12.

DIALOGUE, t
$j^° We must again offer our apologies to the
reader for quoting from our Commentary. The
passage to which we would call his attention will
be found p. 390, and runs as follows : —
" Of these eleven verses (i.e., the first eleven of this chapter),
which form a dialogue between Jehovah and Job, five (7 — 11)
we have transposed from the beginning of chap, xl., for the

* i.e., prevented (anticipated) Me with a service, or to use
Paul's words in Rom. xi. 35, " Who hath first given unto
Me?"— Editor, 1862.
X In some parts of this dialogue, the names of the speakers
must be supplied, as they must be also, and to a much
greater extent, in the first six verses of the 63d chapter of
Isaiah, where, in a dialogue between Jehovah and the Prophet,
it is everyichere left to the common sense of the reader to
determine what is said by each. Of the first three verses of
this chapter the following is a translation : —

(The Pkophet.)
1. Who is this ethat cometh from Edom,
£ With dyed garments from Bozrah ?

t coming.
Z dyed of garments.

510

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XLII. 1 — 3.

simple, but very forcible, reason, that, as they stand in the text,
they render utterly unintelligible the verses which immediately
follow them. For, how could Jehovah, immediately after Job
had (in ver. 4) expressed his great contrition and sincere
repentance for his rash and inconsiderate language, by any
possibility say (ver. 8), 'Wilt thou indeed deny My justice?
Wilt thou condemn Me, that thou mayest appear just?' and
again, chap. xlii. 3, ' Who is this, that veileth My counsel for
want of knowledge ? ' Surely, so full a confession on the part
of Job, instead of calling forth such a severe rebuke, would (as
is actually the case according to our arrangement) be much
more fittingly followed by a declaration of forgiveness and
acceptance from the lips of Jehovah."

a Gen. xviii. 14 ;
Isa. xliii. 13 ;
Jer. xxxii. 17, 27 ;
Matt. xix. 26;
Mark x. 27 ; xiv.
36 ; Luke xviii.
27.
b comp. supra ix.12 ;
xi. 10 ; xii. 14 ;
xxiii. 13; Jer. li.
29 ; Ps. cxv. 3 ;
cxxxv. 6 ; xxxiii.
9—11; Dan. iv.
35.
c supra xxxviii. 2.
Tp [is] hiding.
d see note d, p. 511 ;
Ps. xxxiii. 11 ;
Prov. iii. 19 ; viii.
22 ; Jer. h\ 15, fe.
co without know
ledge.
e supra xxxv. 16 ;
xxxiv. 35 ; xv. 2,
3 ; xi. 2 ; viii. 2 ;
comp. xxvi. 3.
P honoured, made
glorious, glorified.

7 .
8 to.
t like one treading.
Z not a man with
Me.
ti tread, or, kept
treading.
9 trample, or, kept
trampling.
K is sprinkled, or,
kept Bprinkling,
spurtling.
\ My clothes, gar
ments.
p or, bave Btained.

1 Then Job answered Jehovah, and said :
2 I know that Thou canst do everything a,
And that no purpose of Thine can be withholden
from Thee6. (Jehovah.)
3 cWho is this that Y veileth My d counsel <° for want
of knowledge e ? *
This, that is P glorious in his apparel,
Striding in the greatness of his might ?
(Jehovah.)
I, y that speak in righteousness,
Mighty to save. (The Prophet.)
2. Why is there redness 8 in Thine apparel ?
For Thy garments are £ as of one that treadeth in the
wine-fat. (Jehovah.)
3. I have trodden the wine-press alone,
And of the peoples there was Z none with Me ;
So I n trod them down in Mine anger,
And 0 trampled upon them in My wrath,
That their blood « was sprinkled upon My garments,
And all *¦ My raiment I p- stained. &c, &c.
* i.e., who is it denies that everything is done by My counsel
(wisdom), and attributes all to chance ?

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XLII. 4  10.

511

(Job.)
For this reason did I a speak so, P because I did
not understand ;
It was 7 too wonderful for me d, so that I could d
not know it. (Jehovah.)
4 " Hear now, and I will speak ;
fI will ask of thee, and do thou s declare unto
Me. (Job.)
5 €By Me 9 hearing of Me ear had I heard of
Thee*,
But now mine eye hath seen Thee.*
6 Wherefore I do reject my words \
And repent eE in dust and ashes *.

7 [f 1] Then Jehovah answered Job, and said :
8 [2] CDoth he that
mighty stand
Let v him, that

c9

contended with Me Al
m corrected ?
did 'dispute with God, « upon.
x k comp.

ui declare.
j3 seeing I could not
understand.
y wonderful -things
more than I ; i.e.,
above,beyond,me. Ps. cxxxix. 6 ;
Prov. xxx. 18 ;
supra xi. 6 — 9 ;
comp. xv. 8 ;
xxviii. 23—28;
xxxvi. 4 ; xxxvii.
16 ; Isa. xxviii.
29; xl. 13, 14;
Jer. xxxii. 19, fe. ;
but comp. also
supra ix. 4 — 10;
xii. 12 — 25 ; xxvi.
5—14.
e comp. supra xxxiii.
31, note k.
f supra xxxviii. 3 ;
xl. 7, note d.
8 make Me to know.
£ according to, at,
[the] hearing of.
ff Ps. xviii. 44 ; Isa.
xi. 3, fe. ; comp.
supra xiii. 17.
h comp.s«p»-axxviii. 22.
i comp. infra ver. 10
[xl. 4] ; supra
vii. 16; 1 Thess.
iv. 8.

give answer

'i

comp. Matt. xi.
21 ; Luke x. 13 ;
Dan. ix. 3 ; Jon.
iii. 6 ; comp. 2
Sam. xii. 16 ; 2
Chron. xxxiii. 12 ;
xxxiv. 19, 27 ;
comp. also supra
ii. 8, 12 ; ix. 31 ;
xvi. 15 ; xxx. 19.
Z [is] one-contend
ing with [the] Al
mighty a corrected-
mau ?
I supra x. 2 ; xiii.
24 ; xvi. 9 ; xix.
11 ; xxx. 21 ;
xxxi. 35, et passim.
tn supra vers. 3, 6 ;
infra vers. 10, 11.
tj [the] one-arguing
with God, or,
God's arguer, dis
putes
9 answer it (i.e., this
question).
, n supraver. 4, notef.
k have been vile. o supra ver. 6. p supra xiii. 3, 22 ; xiv. 15 ; xix. 2* ; xxiii. 3 — 5 ; xxxi.
35—37 ; but comp. ix. 3, 14, 15, 32, 34, 35 ; xiii. 21 ; xiv. 3, fe. X return Thee.

9 [3] Then Job answered Jehovah, and said :
10 [4] Behold, I "am "vile! What can I pX an
swer Thee ?
¦ * Hitherto I had only heard of Thy power and glory, and was
ignorant of the dignity of my own nature ; but now, after Thou
hast condescended to reveal Thyself to me, I am convinced that
my existence will not end with this life, and that therefore the
afflictions that have come upon me may be as a mere nothing
compared with the blessings which Thou mayest have in store
for me, when Thou shalt have brought me to my eternal home.
[I do not think that Dr. Bernard is warranted in drawing this
conclusion. See Append. — Editor, 1862].
f The numbers in square brackets indicate the corresponding
verses in chap. xl. according to the Hebrew text, and Auth.
Vers.

512

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XLII. 11 — 15.

v I have put.
Tp to my mouth.
k supra xxix. 9 ; xxi.
5 ; Judg. xviii. 19 ;
Prov. xxx. 32 ;
Mic. vii. 16.
a supra xxxiii. 14 ;
comp. xxxiii. 29 ;
v. 19 ; Prov. xxx.
15, 18, 21, 24, 29,
fe.
ui will not speak.
P I will not add [to

b comp. supra xli. 8.
y and it was.
c comp. supra xxxii.
2, 3 ; viii. 22 ; xi.
20.
8 hath been kindled.
e an established-, a
firm-, i.e., a true-,
sincere-, thing ; or
truth, sincerity.
d comp. supra xiii.
4, 7—12 ; xix. 5,
28, 29; and also
iv. 17—21; xv.
14—16 ; xxv. 4—
6.
e comp. ix. 22 — 24 ;
x. 3 ; xvi. 9, 11—
17 ; xix. 7 ; xxvii.
2 ; xxx. 20, 21 ;
supra vers. 6, 10.
Z so now, take, fe.
f Numb, xxiii. 1, 4,
14, 29 ; 1 Chron.
xv. 26 ; 2 Chron.
xxix. 21 ; Ezek.
xlv. 23, fe.
t/ and ye shall make
to go up, offer
up.
g supra i. 5 ; Lev.
iv. 12, 21 ; 1 Sam.
vii. 6, 9.
h comp. supra xxii.
29,30; xxxiii. 23;
Gen. xx. 7 ; xviii.
23—25 ; 1 Sam.
vii. 5, 8, 9.
i supra xiii. 8, 10;
xxxii. 21, 22 ;
xxxiv. 19 ; Ps. xii.
3, fe.
9 to do with you
disgrace.
k supra ver. 12, note
d.
I supra ver. 12, note
e ; comp. supra i.
8 ; ii. 3.
m supra ver. 13, note
i ; also supra xxii.
27 ; xxxiii. 26.
o supra vers. 13, 14.

x I lay mine hand r*upon my mouth z.
11 [5] " Once have I spoken, but I <*> will speak no
more ;
Yea, " twice  but P I h will not again.

12 (*7) 7 And it came to pass after Jehovah had
spoken these words unto Job, that Jehovah
said unto Eliphaz the Temanite: My
" wrath sis kindled against thee, and against
thy two friends, because ye have not
spoken concerning Me e sincerely d,-f as
hath My servant e Job.
13 (8) £ Therefore, take now unto you ¦''seven
bullocks, and seven rams, and go ye unto
My servant Job, v and offer up a yburnt-
offering for yourselves, and Job, My servant,
shall * pray for you ; for his person will I
surely * accept, so as not 6 to deal out
disgrace unto you, because ye did not
speak concerning Me * sincerely, as did
My servant l Job. -j-
(9) So they went, Eliphaz the Temanite, and
Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the
Naamathite, and did according as Jehovah
had spoken unto them; and Jehovah-
m accepted Me person of Job.
And Jehovah " turned Me captivity of Job,
K after that he had " prayed x for his friends;

14

15 (10)

* The numbers in round brackets indicate the corresponding
verses of chap. xlii. according to the Hebrew text and A.V.
-j- Rash and sinful as were the words of Job, they were at
least sincere; but not so yours, since it was rather from a desire
to please Me that you imputed so many atrocious crimes to your
unfortunate friend, than from a conviction that your assertions
were true.
n Deut. xxx. 3 ; Ps. cxxvi. 1, 4 ; Jer. xxix. 14, fe. k on his praying.
X for his friend, i.e., for every one of them.

TRANSLATION. CHAP. XLII. 16 — 22 (11 — 17). 513
and Jehovah increased 0all that Job had 0 ail that [there had
been] to Job to
had * twofold. double.
16 (11) Then came there unto him all his 2ii.24,25 ;'comP!
y brethren, and all his sisters, fand all they jer.xviAslzechi
that had * known him before ; and they did ix- 12- . „„
-1 y supra xix. 13 ; vi.
"eat bread with him in his house, and 15.
. l-.ii- i f ii. ty an(l all his know-
0 °> mourned with him, and comforted him ers.
for all the "evil, that Jehovah had '^ ¦%?££&
P brought upon him ; and they gave unto n ; lxxxvhi. 8, is.
him every one 7 a piece of money, and Eccles. ix. 7 ; via.
. d . - 15, fe. ; comp.
every one "an ear-ring * ot gold. supra i. 4, is.
17 (12) So Jehovah blessed Me e latter-end of Job * af 5%^' Rom!
more than his e beginning ; e for he had ™- ,15-;, . , , ,
0 ° w shook [their heads]
f fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand at him

camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and "if.i", &e.
,111 S caused to come.
a thousand she-asses. £ one pieee
18 (13) fHe had also ' seven sons, and three » ^£f*. aen.
daughters. XXXT- \ &c-
_ . - e supra viii. 7 ; v.
19 (14) And he called Me name of v the first, rr— 26 ; via. 21,
6 Jemimah ; and Me name of the second, xxii. 23—287 ;
« Keziah; and Me name of the third, e^to££ there
x Keren-happuch. / suPra l 3-
.11 Sand there was to
20 (15) And p there were no women found in all him.
the land so fair as Me daughters of Job ; 9 *Tc"hron. xxv?™P
and their father gave them 'inheritance ?£ perhaps, beau-
"among their brethren. .tiful as ?he day-
° k i.e., cassia.
21 (16) And Job lived after this an hundred and x i.e., hom of paint,
j. . , . . . or paint-box.
torty years, and saw his sons, and his p there was not
> z. n .. found  women
sons sons, even *four generations. fair (beautiful) as,
22 (17) So Job died, 'old and -* full of days. *°- .. . _
' ' •> h Numb, xxvii. 4, 7 ;
xxxvi. 8; Josh. xv.
18, 19.
v in [the] midst of.
* In Ezek. xvi. 12, the word apparently means nose-ring.— l °°™p-2^"J 2\ \
Editor, 1862. ps.' Cxxva. 3—5 \
cxxvia. 6, 3, 4.
k comp. Gen. 1. 23 ;
Prov. xvii. 6.
I supra v. 26 ; xi.
17 ; and comp. vi.
11,12; vu.7,16;
x. 20 ; rvi. 22, fe. m Gen. xxv. 8 ; xxxv. 29 ; 1 Chron. xxiii. 1 ; 2 Chron. xxiv. 15 ; comp.
Gen. xxiv. 1 ; Josh, xxiii. 1 ; supra xiv. 1 ; xxxii. 6, 7. v sated of (with) days.
L h

APPENDIX

CHAPTER I.

Ver. 1. The land of Uz is generally considered to have been in the north-western
corner of Arabia Deserta, on the confines of Idumsea and Moabitis,* and between
these regions and the Euphrates. See Rosenmuller's Prolegom., Spruner's
Atlas, &c.
intp 2i»S for i»tf7 2i»H -itgM whose name [teas'] Job. Comp. Amos v. 27,
" Saith Jehovah, i»t» ni«2!5 Tjbg for fop ni«2S Tib« "Itt^ whose name |>] '
God of Hosts." Comp. also Jer. xlvi. 18 ; li. 57.
^T1 . Infra ver. 8, and ii. 3, the is left out. The Heb. are fond of repeating
the 1, where we, at any rate in ordinary language, should leave it out. Comp.
infra vers. 10, 20 ; Gen. viii. 22, &c. But sometimes they leave it out when we
should put it in, e.g., infra xxix. 8, ^"lES? 113J? they rose \_and~\ stood, on which
see note. Sometimes, again, the last word will be without the T , although in
Eng., whatever may be the case with the intermediate words or clauses, the
last is always preceded by and. Comp. Ps. xlv. 9, J"ny?i? ffl '^l ~>a lit.,
myrrh, and aloes, cassia, but where we should say myrrh, aloes, and cassia.
But in Heb., also, the 1 is sometimes found with the last word only. Comp.
infra xli. 18, ^fW) 3?B» rnn ; Deut. v. 19 ; xi. 4, &c. Lastly, the 1 is oc
casionally found with some words or clauses in a sentence, and not with other.-!.
Comp. Deut. v. 18, in the Heb. and in Luther's Trans. The first construction
(i.e., 1 with every word, or clause, but the first) is by far tbe most common.
Ver. 3. riioiriS niwa feni  O^baa "'obs ntffbtp. After numerals
higher than ten we expect to find the noun in the sing., but to this rule there are
very numerous exceptions, and we have here two of them. See Gesenius's
Lehrgeb. pp. 694 — 699. Some nouns seem to be always found in the plur.,
whether the num. exceeds ten or not. Thus, when joined with numerals exceeding
one, wfi always t find D^bpa, and not blS2 (comp. infra xlii. 12, Gen. xxxii.° 16,
Neh. vii.° 69, Ezra ii.° 67; 1 Chron. v." 21); rriahtf., and not liHS (comp.
infra xlii. 12, Gen. xxxii.° 16) ; D'H'tan he-asses, and not TioO (comp. Numb,
* N.E. of Idumsea and E. of Moabitis.
t In 2 Kings viii. 9, however, we find ">m nmniN Nton [the'] burden of forty camels.
This passage is not given by Buxtorf, in whom I am wont to put my trust. It will be
observed, however, that here it is not upon the number of camels that the stress is laid,
hut upon the burden, and indeed it is not absolutely certain that the burden was carried
by camels, so that in either case the words might be rendered a forty camel burden, i.e., a
burden which would require forty camels to carry it, just as we say forty horse (and not
forty horses) power.
L L 2

516 APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 3.
xxxi.°34, °39,°45; 1 Chron. v.° 21, &c.) ; DVTV goats, and not TO (Gen. xxxii.0 15,
1 Sam. xxv. 2) ; D^^ he-goats, and not t^FI (Gen. xxxii.0 15, 2 Chron. xvii.° 11);
^VO-] ewes, and not brn (Gen. xxxii.0 15) ; Dv"1^ rams, and not b?N (comp.
Num. vii. 87,° 88°; 2 Kings iii. 4 ; Mic. vi. 7, &c); 0^"}B bullocks, and not "© (comp.
Num. vii. 87,88; xxix.°20; 1 Chron. xxix.° 21; 2 Chron. xxx. 24, &c); ritlS cow,
and not rns (comp. Gen. xxxii.0 16); CHWB he-goats, and not WIS (comp. Num.
vii.° 88) ; Q1"!^ awe*' colts, and not "i"!? (comp. Judg. x. 4 ; x-ii. 14) ; B'Hj) , and
not "1? (comp. 2 Kings iii. 4) ; D^Hn? lambs, and not t&M (comp. Num.
xxix. 15 ; Ezra viii.0 35, &c.) ; D^DTO Aorses, and not D-1D (comp. 2 Kings
xviii. 23 ; Isa. xxxvi. 8) ; D^YIS) mwZes, and not T?S (comp. Ezra ii.° 66 ;
Neh. vii.° 68) ; trb^tP foxes, and not brW (comp. Judg. xv. 4).*
It is quite possible that there are passages in which one or more of these nouns
occur in the sing, after a numeral higher than ten, but, if so, it will not alter the
fact that the names of a great many animals, when not used collectively, are
nearly always used in the plur. after all numerals above one.
TJ-? and INS , as being used collectively, are always found in the sing., even
after numerals below ten (comp. Num. vii. 7, 8 ; 1 Sam. xxv. 18). So EJ^f
2?~! (Exod. xiv. 7; Judg. iv. 3, 13 ; 1 Sam. xiii. 5) ; T19S (in the pres. ver.
and infra xlii. 12), but &1K? J (1 Kings xix. 19).
But other nouns are also found in the plur. after num. exceeding ten, e.g
CEHQ horsemen (1 Sam. xiii. 5 ; 2 Sam. viii. 4 ; 2 Kings xiii. 7, &c
and always); W?$ sons (Judg. viii. 30 ; x. 4 ; xii. 9, 14 ; 2 Sam. ix. 10
2 Kings x. 1 ; 2 Chron. xi. 21 ; xiii. 21, &c.) ; J"lia2 daughters (Judg. xii. 9
2 Chron. xi. 21) ; ClV; (2 Kings ii. 24) ; Dnfr princes (1 Chron. xii.° 34)
B^t&a princes (Gen. xvii. 20 ; xxv. 16) ; a%H?T males (Ezra viii. 8)
ff?bp kings (Josh. xii.° 24 ; Judg. i. 7) ; "^b!? queens (Cant. vi. 8) ; D^jlbv
* I should, perhaps, scarcely quote the passages marked with °, as in them the noun
precedes the num., and is therefore naturally put in the plur. See Mason and Bernard's
Gramm. Lett, xxii., § 7, III., vol. i., p. 143.
f With regard to th* the rule seems to be that, when the number is great, the sing, is
always used, unless the numeral follow (comp. 1 Chron. iv. 42 ; vii. 40), whilst, when only
comparatively few men, such as twelve, thirty, two hundred, &c, are spoken of, both Diiw
(for examples see text) and tth? (e.g., Num. i. 44 (12); Judg. vii. 6 (300); Gen. xxxii. 7
(400) ; 1 Sam. xxx. 17 (400) ; 2 Kings x. 24 (80), &c.) are used, though even here (if the
numbers in the two sets of examples be compared), it will be observed that the higher the
number, the greater the tendency to use tfs . pfct has no plural, and rn is only found
once in the plur. (Cant. i. 9), and with one doubtful exception (Judg. v. 28) does not occur
with numerals less than ten; whilst o^jn, the plur. of iga, only occurs three times, and
these in the later books, (viz., Amos vi. 12 ; Neh. x. 37 ; 2 Chron. iv. 3,) and is never found
after numerals. In English we say in like manner one sheep, ten sheep, a hundred sheep,
a thousand head of cattle, &c. ; and the word fish is commonly, whilst the names of many
kinds oi fish (perch, pike, trout, roach, dace, salmon, cod, &c), are always, used in the sing.
So in Germ., in counting troops, Mann is always used, and not Manner. For other Heb.
words which are commonly used in the sing, see Ges. Comp. also the Eng., ten stone, and
the vulg., six foot, ten ton, &c.
% In this passage, however, the number is twelve, and Ges. remarks that with the excep
tion of a few nouns (™?, Di', &c.) the plur. generally follows numerals from 11 to 19.

APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 3, 4. 517
concubines (Cant. vi. 8 ; 1 Kings xi.° 3 ; 2 Chron. xi.° 21) ; E^tM women
(1 Kings xi.° 3 ; 2 Chron. xi.° 21 ; xiii.° 21 ; xxviii. 8) ; E^Nf men (Deut.
i. 23 (12); Josh. iv. 2 (12) ; 1 Sam. xxx. 21 (200) ; 2 Sam. iii. 20 (20);
2 Kings ii. 16 (50); Jer. xxxviii. 10 (30), &c.) ; D'^'-IS righteous-men (Gen.
xviii. 24 (twice), 26, 28) ; WV1Q friends (Judg. xiv. 11); EH?S (2 Sam. ix. 10).
This is also the case with some lifeless things, such as Ey?^ cakes of figs
(1 Sam. xxv. 18); D^B? dried grapes (1 Sam. xxv. 18 ; 2 Sam. xvi. 1);
ni"]S (eonstr.) stalls of (horses) (1 Kings v. 6 ; 2 Chron. ix. 25 (ninN),
&c, &c.) ; Q,??» shields (1 Kings x. 17 ; 2 Chron. ix. 16) ; HlM-lB * chariots
(2 Chron. xiv. °8) ; niDttJb chambers (Ezek. xl. 17; xlv. 5) ; nfrria censers
(Numb. xvi. 17) ; CQ/Tp hooks (Exod. xxvi. 6) ; ™bb hops (Exod. xxvi. 5) ;
BHaS niSvC! changes of garments (Judg. xiv. 12, 13) ; n,?,7P under-garments
(Judg. xiv. 12, 13); COlS sockets, bases (Exod. xxvi. 19,21); Ern? f cities (Josh.
xxi. 19; Judg. x. 4 (D''*?;?) ; 1 Kings iv. 13; 1 Chron. ii. 22) ; JTib-iS (eonstr.)
foreskins (1 Sam. xviii. 25 ; 2 Sam. iii. 14) ; Er^TO' + shekels (Exod. xxi. 32 ;
Josh. vii. 21 (twice) ; 1 Sam. xvii. 5, 7 ; 2 Sam. xiv. 26 ; 2 Kings xv. 20 ;
Ezek. xlv. 12 (twice) ) ; £P?\} reeds (Ezek. xlii. 17, 18, 19), &c; and other words
will no doubt occur to my readers. It should be observed that the majority of
these words are of somewhat rare occurrence.
It seems, then, to be the rule, or, at any rate, a very general occurrence, that
words which designate living beings distributively, and not collectively, are put in
the plur. after all numerals exceeding one.
We find, however, Judg. xxi. 12, nbvi? rTO3 nis» ySTlH, instead of nhS? ;
2 Kings xxiv. 14, nbia ETpbN rnbl? , and not Dv^3 , exiles, captives,
with which we may contrast «?? '^bH niMB rtfoBft D^sbs DttJtt? (1 Chron.
12, 24) ; and other exceptions might no doubt be found.
In Arabic, at least in the Arabic of the present day, the rule mentioned
above, that nouns are put in the plur. after numerals from 2 to 10 inclusive,
and in the sing, after numerals higher than ten, holds good without exception.
D^p. ''aa. This expression occurs also Gen. xxix. 1; Judg. vi. 3, 33;
vii. 12 ; viii. 10 ; 1 Kings v. 10 [A. V. iv. 30] ; Isa. xi. 14 ; Jer. xlix. 28 ; Ezek.
xxv. 4, 10. From these passages, the land inhabited by the " Sons of the East,"
is generally thought to have been Arabia Deserta, which stretches across from
Palestine to the river Euphrates. It appears, however, also to have included part
of Mesopotamia (in which Haran § is generally considered to bave been situated),
and Chaldsea.
Ver. 4. JTa . The note on this word in tbe Comm. does not appear to me to
convey exactly the real state of the case. The reader might be led to imagine
that rpna is the expression usually found, and that i"l,3 is merely an exception to
a general rule. This is, however, by no means the fact, for rP2 alone occurs
* rns-ra is the distributive, mt the collective word for chariot.
t But we also find-w after numerals exceeding ten, e.g., Numb. xxxv. 6, 7; Deut. iii. 4, &c.
X But ^ti occurs about twice as frequently, and apparently in much the same cases ; still
the sing, is, with one exception (Ezek. iv. 10), only found in Gen., Exod., Lev., and Numb.
§ Comp. Gen. xxix. 1, with Gen. xi. 31, xxiv. 10, and xxix. 4, 5.

518 APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 4.
more frequently than JToa } as the reader may speedily convince himself, if he
refers to Buxtorf 's Concordance.
I there * find fVa used for f"^22 ^ after verbs of rest, in twenty-nine
passages, t
In fifteen of these (Gen. xxiv. 23 ; xxxviii. 11 (twice) ; xlv. 16 ; Num. xxx.
11, 17 ; Ruth i. 9 ; 2 Sam. vi. 11 ; ix. 4 ; xiii. 20 ; 1 Kings xi. 20 ; xvi. 9 ;
2 Kings vii. 9, 11 ; xi. 20 ;) ¦i"l,2 js used of an ordinary dwelling-house-X
In nine (1 Kings vii. 48, 51 ; 2 Kings xi. 3, 15 ; xii. 11 ; xiv. 14 ; xvi. 8 ;
xxiii. 24 ; xxv. 13) •H>,2 js ugeQ 0f the house of God (pip*. ^i>i?1)j or temple.
In four (1 Sam. xxxi. 9 ; 2 Kings v. 18 (twice) ; xix. 37) fT,5 is used of the
house of an idol (EP2KS7 JT3 , lia-! TVSL he.), or temple.
In one instance (2 Kings xvii. 4) n,2 is used of a prison (^/2 n"1?).
In the same books f"|,22 occurs, after verbs of rest, eighteen times.
In four of these (Gen. xxxix. 2 ; Num. xxx. 4 ; Judg. xvii. 4, 12) M"1? is
used of an ordinary dwelling-house. §
In seven (2 Kings xi. 4, 10 ; xxi. 4 ; xxii. 5, 8 ; xxiii. 2, 7) ¦rl>l? is used of
the house of God (Hirr JT2).
In seven (Gen. xxxix. 22 ; xl. 5 ; xlii. 19 ; Exod. xii. 29 ; Judg. xvi. 21 ;
2 Sam. vii. 2 ; 2 Kings xv. 5 ; xvii. 32) fV? is used (as part of a compound
word) of prisons, an infirmary or hospital, and a king's palace.
If we compare these two classes we see that :
1. When rP3 is used of an ordinary dwelling-house, it is much more usual to
omit the prep. ? .
/ 2. When J~P2 is used of the house of God, it is found both with and without 2,
{ but more frequently without.
\ 3. When tV^ is used of the temple of an idol, it is always found without 2.
4. When ^2 js used (as part of a compound word) of prisons, &c, it is very
much more frequently used with 2 .
Probably (2) and (3) ought to be thrown together and then the rule would be :
when .TP2 is used in the sense of temple, it is found both with and without 2, but
more frequently (in the prop, of 13 to 7) without 2 .
In tbe fifteen passages, in which jT,2 , meaning an ordinary dwelling-house,
" I have only quoted the passages contained in the books comprised between Genesis and
the 2 Kings inclusive, inasmuch as these being purely historical books, fewer irregularities
ought to be found in them than in the other more poetical books. Chronicles I did not
examine, as they contain many passages which are also found in Kings.
f I have omitted prnpu rra in 2 Sam. xv. 17, as it is not quite clear what the meaning is.
So, too, 2 Kings x. 12, ?,»in ij» ma appears to be the name of a place.
X In five of these pass., viz., Gen. xlv. 16; 1 Kings xi. 20; 2 Kings vii. 9, 11; xi. 20,
rra really means a palace C$sn ri'j , ris^S rra) ; but it does not form a really compound word
with the noun to which it is joined, and, therefore, does not belong to the same category
as the really compound word which is quoted below as meaning palace.
§ In Gen. xxxi. 14; Judg. vi. 15, xi. 2, the word rra is scarcely to be taken in its
literal meaning oi house, but rather means family, and this is perhaps why the 3 is prefixed.

APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 4. 519
occurs without 2 , we might * translate it in all by the French chez ; and the
same may be said of the four pass, in which f"P2 } having tbe same meaning,
is found with 2 .
In all the other cases chez could not be used.
When H',2 forms with a second noun a distinctly compound word  such as
-inbn rV2 (Gen. xxxix. 22, xl. 5) = [W| round-house, "Vi2n IT2 (Exod.
xii. 29), [the] pit-house, ErniDyri rP2 (Judg. xvi. 21), &c, all meaning a kind
of pn'sorc or dungeon, or, as Er>nN rP2 (2 Sam. vii. 2) a house of cedars (a
palace), rPtpQnn fT'a (2 Kings xv. 5), a kind of infirmary or hospital, and
niZ32n ^2 (2 Kings xvii. 32)  we should expect to find the prep. 2 f because
in these cases n1*? js used distinctly as a substantive, and refers especially to the
building which it helps to designate, so that it could not be rendered as in
the others, by a preposition such as apud or chez. But why does not this rule
apply also to Tj.iT; J"1"1?, )tB~[ rP3, &c., which many would pronounce com
pound words likewise ? I think, because they are not so distinctly compound as
the preceding words ; for they are compounded with a proper name, and, therefore, as
God and idols were considered to dwell in the houses erected to their honour, fV2
might possibly be rendered by apud or chez, though usage does not sanction such
a rendering. In fact when the Hebrews used these expressions, they sometimes
had the idea of the Deity predominating in their minds, and sometimes that of the
mere house, the temple, f and so, in the former case, they omitted the prep., whilst
in the latter they used it.
The conclusions I would draw from this investigation concerning the use of
FPU after verbs of rest are the following : —
1. That when ^2 forms part of a distinctly compound word, or (what is much
the same thing), when it is used of a house, as a building, and not as an abode
(e.g., Lev. xiv. 34), J so that it cannot possibly be rendered by the Lat. apud, the
Fr. chez, or the Germ, bei, it is nearly always accompanied by 2 .
2. That when ¦TT'S , though closely connected with another word, does not
form together with it a distinctly compound word, though it may be regarded as
such, it is sometimes accompanied by 2 , and sometimes not.
3. That when in the house of can be rendered by the Lat. apud, Fr. chez, or
Germ, bei, we much more commonly find fT1? alone than ^T'22 .
If, therefore, I were asked to translate into Heb. "he is in his father's bouse "
* I say, might, because dans la maison, &c, de would no doubt sometimes be preferable.
t Similarly, when a German uses Gottesacker for cemetery, it is probable that he more
commonly thinks of the place, than of God. A Frenchman too, when he uses the expres
sion H&tel-Dieu, certainly has rather a hospital than Qod before his eyes. It will be
observed that the temples of idols are (by the omission of a before them) treated more
like the houses of men, than the temple of God is  perhaps because, in the opinion of the
Hebrews, the idols could have no other dwelling-places than their temples, and so these
were always regarded as their abode ; whilst, from there being no palpable evidence of
God's dwelling in His temple, the house of Qod might sometimes be regarded merely as
a sacred building. See infra, Conclusion 1.
X This pass, is not exactly in point, as the verb is not a verb of rest, still it serves to
convey my meaning. See also p. 518 (3), and comp. infra ver. 19 with the note upon it.

520 APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 4.
(il est chez son pere), I really think I should be rendering it more idiomatically
by V2N rV2 K:in than by V2N rP22 Nin .
When J"V3 , however, is used with, pronom. affix., it would seem that 3 is
always used. Chez moi, chez toi, chez Iui, would, therefore, be rendered T^?? ,
fnraa, VT23.
But, if the Fr. chez in the sense of "in the house of" (Germ, bei) is
generally expressed in Heb. by ¦Tl,2 alone, without a prep., much more frequently
is chez so rendered, when it means " to or into the house of."
In the books above quoted, viz., from Gen. to Kings, both included, I find
^I,2 alone, without a prep., after verbs of motion * (among which are included
one or two signifying to put) in forty-three passages.
Of these, twenty-seven occur after the verb ^12 (viz., Gen. xliii." 18 ; Exod.
xxiii. 19, xxxiv. 26 ; Deut. xxiii. 19 ; Josh. ii.° 1, vi.° '22 ; Judg. ix.° 5, 27,
xix.° 3 ; 1 Sam. i. 24, v. 2, 5 ; 2 Sam. xii. 20 ; 1 Kings xiv.° 4, 28 ; 2 Kings
v. 18, x. 21, 23 ; xi. 4, 13, 16 ; xii. 5 (twice), 10, 14 ; xix. 1, xxii. 4).
Six after the verb nby (Judg. xiv.° 19 ; 1 Kings x. 5 ; 2 Kings xix. 14,
xx. 5, 8, xxiii. 2).
Three „ "ibn (J„dg. xix. 18, (rP3 n$) 2 Sam. xiii.0 7, °8).
One „ aiB (1 Sam. xviii.0 2).
One „ nna (Gen. xxiv.0 27).
One „ nbtP (2 Kings xxii. 3).
Two „ EW (1 Sam. xxxi. 10 ; 1 Kings xxii. 27).
Two „ ina (to put) (2 Sam. xx. 3 ; 1 Kings x. 17).
In these forty-three passages J"!"1? could be rendered by chez in only eleven
(marked with °), because in these only is ns3 used of an ordinary dwelling house,
whilst in the remaining thirty-two it refers either to the house of God, the king's
house, a temple for idols, or a prison.^
Now ¦fT,3 7^ occurs only seven times : —
Viz., Four after the verb ^13 (Judg. xviii. 15 ; 1 Sam. vii. 1 ; 2 Sam. iv. 5,
xvii. 18).
One „ 210? (Lev. xxii. 13).
One „ "ITO (Gen. xix. 2).
One „ nbt»(i Sam. xix. 11).
And in all these pass., with the exception of 1 Sam. xix. 11, JT'jl might he
rendered by chez, and in all of them ^1^2 signifies an ordinary dwelling house.
ri',22 in the sense of into [the] house of, I can only find in Exod. vii. 28,
(M12), 1 Sam. i. 7, P^V), and 2 Kings xvii. 29 (Tan, to place, put).
In the sense of on \fhe~\ house of, it occurs Lev. xiv. 34, after the verb l^13 ;
* There is no doubt that verbs of motion are in the case of other words also frequently
followed by an ace, as we shall often have occasion to see in the book of Job, still, in
the historical books at least, rra is much more frequently so found than any other noun I
know of, shewing that there is something peculiar in its use. No other word can be
compared to it in this respect, though tw and rnten are not unfrequently found in the
ace. after a verb of motion.
f rnrr ma occurs twenty -one times; idol-temples (&c, fean, jin-i, jiai rra) seven times;
a palace (jfl^H rra , )i:a^ri -is; ma) twice ; prisons, (f)¥3 rra , rnnipo ma) twice  in
all thirty-two times.

APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 4. 521
and in the sense of over the house of (Jehovah) it is found in 2 Kings xxii. 5,
after the verb ^"79 .
ZV-W7 in the sense of to, or into the house of, is not found in a single passage
in the books mentioned.
The conclusions which may be drawn from this examination into the use of
*T,2 after verbs of motion seem to be the following : 
1. That after verbs of motion (excluding those oi putting, placing) fV3 , when
it is closely connected with a second noun and forms with it an expression which
is either distinctly a compound-word, or partakes of the nature of such, is always
used without a preposition.
That in the case of verbs signifying putting and placing, JT2 is found with
and without a prep., but more com. without (as 4 to 2).
2. That when JT2 signifies an ordinary dwelling house, (as a place of abode)
it sometimes takes a preposition, but more usually (as 11 to 6) does not.*
3. When ri',2 is used of a house, not so much as a place of abode, but only a
building, it would seem to require a preposition (comp. 1 Sam. xix. 11, t and
especially Lev. xiv. 34).
4. When a preposition is used, the prep, bfc* seems to be preferred.
5. That the Fr. chez, in the sense of to or into the house of, may generally be
rendered by fr1? without a preposition.
As before, it would seem that when rP2 is used with pron. affix, a preposition
is always used, bS being preferred.
One reason why I have compared the use of •H>12 with that of the Fr. chez is
that chez itself is derived from casa (in Lat., a hut; in Fr., Span., and Port., a
house). The steps of the process by which casa has become chez are as follows :
Casa, X ckesa, § ches, || chez.
* After the verb nu , rra (when meaning an ordinary dwelling house) occurs six times
without a prep., and five times with (four with ^? and one with a) ; only, when it occurs
with a (Exod. vii. 28), this prep, evidently means into and not to. The difference between
the single ace. ma and rra >s seems to be that the former rather means to = INTO, and
the latter to = UNTO, the house, though the toi may also imply entrance into the house, as
Gen. xix. 2. Comp. esp. 2 Sam. ch. iv., where after it has been said in ver. 5, that Rechab
and Baanab came TO the house of (ma btj) Ishbosheth, we are told in ver. 6, that they
entered into the house. Comp. also 1 Sam. xix. 11, where 'x* does not imply entrance
into the house.
t " Saul also sent messengers unto David's house, to watch him." Here of course they
did not go into the house, but remained outside watching the building.
X In mid. Lat. we find chesa (chesia) = a bishop's palace ; chesamentum = casamentum,
cheseati = casati. Similarly, CArus has become in Fr. CHEr ,- the low Lat. CAmisia (ca-
misa) CHEmi'se ; CAminus, CKEmin. So in Engl, we have CHSEse, from CAseus ; Old H.
Germ, kas, KAsi ; Ger. KAEse, &c. ; CB.Est(nut), from CAst(aneus), &c. (See Migne, Lex.
Med. et Infim. Lat. Paris, 1858.)
§ The termination dropped as in Fr. point from Lat. punct(um) ; Ital. punt(d) , &c.
|| In French words derived from Lat. roots ending in s, this s, if the last letter in the
Fr. word, seems, as a rule, to become z. Thus nai{us) becomes nez, ras(us), rez (de
chaussee, &c.) In cerise from ceras(us), the s is not the last letter, and yet is pron. like
an Eng. z. The reason why this final s is changed into a is perhaps that, though es final

522 APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 4.
Comp. the Dan. and Swed. hos = chez (Ger. bei, in the house of), and hus,
house. But a considerable number of towns are mentioned in the Bible, whose names
are compounded of rP2 and a second word. According to the rules, therefore,
which I have laid down, they ought to be used with the prep. 3 after verbs of
rest, and to stand alone in the ace. after verbs of motion. Now, is this really
the case? Unfortunately, by far the greater number occur in passages in which
neither rest in, nor motion to, are spoken of. Beth-el, Beth-lehem, and Beth-shemesh
appear to be the only ones, which in the Eng. Vers, are preceded by in or to. Let
us examine what in and to represent in these cases.
Beth-el (/MVP?) occurs ten * times after a verb of motion,
„ seven times „ „ rest,
Of the 10, in 7 without a prep. (6 after nby, 1 after "H"1),
„ „ 3 with „ (N12 twice, with bt< , nbt» once, with TP)
„ 7 6 with „ (2),
„ „ 1 (2 Kings ii. 3), without a prep.
Beth-el, therefore, conforms to the rules pretty closely.
Beth-shemesh (H?l3t$W2) occurs once after a verb of motion (p'V), without a
prep. „ „ twice „ rest with 2 ,
Beth-lehem (EinbWS) occurs twice after a verb of motion,
„ „ three times „ rest,
Of the two pass., once with a prep. (bN \>T\) and once without it (^12),
Of the three „ once „ 2 (3 ~13pn), and twice without it
(DTI, nv>).
Beth-shemesh, therefore, is quite regular, Beth-lehem somewhat irregular.
No doubt, however, the rules by which the names of other towns j are regu-
i.s pron. like ay in day in some few trililerals, such as les, des, mes, tes, ses, yet its ordinary
sound is not this, but e in de (or u in our bun, pun, &c.) That this is so, is shown by its
never occurring in unisyllabic quadriliterals, in which it is always replaced by ez (as in chez),
or by es (as in gres, pres, tres), and by its never equalling ay in words of more than one
syllable, but always having the sound of e in de. In this last class too, when it is replaced,
it sometimes is replaced by es (as in agres, &e), but much more commonly by ez, as in the
2nd pers. plur. of many of the tenses, e.g., habetis, Span, habei^, Fr. avez, &c. Where, there
fore, es would have had the sound of ay, ez was preferred. Even in the case of the triliterals
this tendency to replace es, when = ay, by es and ez is clearly shown, as in des, net, rez.
* There are two other pass. (1 Kings xii. 29, 32) in which a is found after a quasi verb
of motion, signifying to place, put, station (O'to, TD»n), but here we should expect a a ,
although, as we have seen above (p. 520), it is freq. omitted.
•]- Motion towards, or up to, a. town is expressed in three different ways in Heb. The
town either stands alone in the ace, or it has the n of place affixed to it, or it is preceded
by a preposition, commonly, I think, to . Thus, Gen. xxxiii. 18, we bave tirti ap»: to»i and
Jacob came TO Shalem ; xxxv. 6, nrt ajw; rfaj. So Jacob came TO Luz ; Isa. Iix. 20, tola fl"?? »?'
And u, Redeemer shall come TO Zion; 1 Sam. xxiii. 10 rfryp *»* to Keilah, though ibid.
vers. 7, 8, we find tfrojj alone in the ace. The construction with a prep, is certainly by far
the most rare ;.the other two constructions are very frequently met with. The names of
some countries are treated in the same manner. Thus, TO Egypt is rendered by Dnsp
(Gen. xliii. 15, &c), ™?P-2>? (Gen. xli. 57, &c), Dns? to (Gen. xxxvii. 36) ; the first two

APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 4. 523
lated, influence also those compounded with fpai, and again certain verbs like
certain constructions. Thus nbj? is very commonly found without a prep, not
only before the names of cities, but even before certain substantives, such as
"TO, nib , especially when these have the def. art. Comp. also N13 and TV .
The noun nriS an opening, entrance (door), seems to be used nearly always *
without a prep, after verbs of rest, and nearly always with a prep, (generally bS)
after verbs of motion. We might have expected the contrary, t
'EY1 =1Bl,3 on his day, which is always found elsewhere, as in the well-known
phrase iat1? Di"1 13^ (Exod. v. 13, 19 ; Lev. xxiii. 37, &c.) ; lit., [the]
thing (matter) of a day, in its day. Comp. Gen. xxvii. 45 "ins OV =
ins DV3 in one day; Ps. lxxxviii. 2, ^Ha.3 nVv>3 ^P^S Di\ where E1V
corresponds to ""V?? 2 and must therefore be equivalent to 0is2 in (during) the
day, by day. Similarly, ">p.2 sometimes = ">i?32 (Ps. v. 4, &c.) ; i"rby? _ nblb?
(infra xxvii. 20 ; xxx. 17 ; xxxiv. 25, &c). It is, however, I think difficult to
find instances, in which, as here, a noun with a pron. affix is used without a prep.
OiTrvns nt£?7tp7 ^"If^l and they used to call for their three sisters; i.e., used
to send for them, invite them to come. The verb W'P with 7 not only means
to call a person, but also to send for a person, invite (or summon) him to come.
Comp. Judg. xvi. 25 lit27D27? -IHHp*1! and they sent for Samson. Comp. also
Gen. xx. 9 ; Exod. vii. 11 ; Lev. ix. 1 ; 1 Kings ii. 36; and with 7S Josh. iv. 4.
It has sometimes also the same meaning when it is followed by the ace, e.g.,
Gen. xli. 14. ^P in these passages = Fr. faire venir ; Ger. rufen lassen. The
ace. and dat. occur in the same sentence, 1 Kings i. 9. I make this note because
to call a person, or to call for a person, in both of which ways N~)p in this sense
constructions being by far the most common. Some names of cities, however, seem
to have a preference for one particular construction. Thus ffrti (or more freq. rfts)) Shiloh,
is always found in the ace. after a verb of motion (Josh, xviii. 1 ; Judg. xxi. 12; 1 Sam.
i. 24; iv. 12; 1 Kings xiv. 2,4), and therefore Mendelssohn is quite justified in trans
lating rftnS rir '3 is (Gen. xlix. 10) until he (i.e., Judah) comes to Shiloh, instead of with
the A. V., until Shiloh come. His translation of the whole verse runs as follows :
" Der Zepter wird nicht weichen von Judah, der Gesetzgeber nicht von zwischen seinen
Fussen (d. h. von seinen Nachkommen), bis er (Judah namlich) nach Shiloh kbmmt," &c.
He understands the passage to refer to Rehoboam, who abandoned his capital, Jerusalem,
and was made king at Shechem (1 Kings xii. 1), from which Shiloh was but a little way
distant. Then the ten tribes separated themselves from him, and made Jeroboam king
over them. Curiously enough, the word which is rendered by Mendels. Zepter, and in
the Auth. Vers, sceptre, viz., rati, also means tribe, and " there shall not depart a tribe
from Judah " would make very good sense, and more literally accord with what really
took place ; only the twelve tribes did not exist when the prophecy was made, vtai ]-ao
from between his feet, Mendels. interprets is>I>? from his seed, comparing Deut. xxviii. 57.
The prophet, too, who predicted to Jeroboam his approaching elevation to the throne was
Ahijab, a native of Shiloh (1 Kings xi. 29 — 32.)
* The word occurs with great frequency, esp. in Exod. and Lev.
t However, we cannot complain of the use of nre to or nns is after the verbs of
motion, for the prep, in these pass, seem generally to have their natural force, and to
convey the meaning that the door was only reached, and not passed, and are accordingly to
be translated up to or unto. Now the simple ace. might readily convey the meaning that
the door had been passed. See note *, p. 521.

524 APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 4, 5.
is usually translated in the Auth. Ver., does not now convey to us the meaning
of inviting, or summoning, him to come.
ninK sister, is irreg. in its plur., which appears to be derived from two different
forms, nvns ; and HlnS the same as the sing, (as though from a sing. nnN)}
but neither of these forms occur in their absolute state. Indeed the word sisters
only occurs ten times in the whole of the Old Test., and I think therefore that
it is worth while to quote the forms which are found in these ten pass. They are :
"•ni^nM (K'ree) but VliDS (C'theeb), Josh. ii. 13.
1jniny(b) and nr^ns Ezek. xvi. 52. '
TTininS Ezek. xvi. 51, 55, 61.
n^riiny Hos. ii. 3.
vrpns Job xlii. 11.
Dn^rpns Job i. 4.
tanvvns i Chron. ii. 16.
With regard to the pass, in Ezek., however, it seems doubtful whether they
are really all in the plur., though a plur. suits the context better. ''TO'lfNb might
well be a sing., but the other two forms (and the same may be said of the form in
Hos,) are neither reg. sing, nor reg. plur., for ^TOrnS is plur. excepting in the
suffix which is sing, fem., whilst 'sTO'inN is sing, in all but the suff. which is fem.
plur.* In all the other instances the words would be reg. derived from a plur.
¦TP™. , which, however, does not occur. Kimchi and Ben-Zev give both forms
under the root nns , and Kimchi remarks that the "• following the n in some of
the forms is instead of the n in nnN . We might then, perhaps, comp. !P^tp,> (infra
xii. 6,) from nbtt? . Gesenius of course assumes two sing. HPIS and ^t™ •
Ver. 5. •12,|(9n had gone about, i.e., when the circle of their mutual feasts had
been completed. Comp. Isa. xv. 8, ""IpJWn nQ^pn the cry has gone round, though
here the verb is followed by an ace. The Hiph. is frequently used in a neut.
sense. See note in Comm. on I^BFl infra vi. 27. Some take ^pn here act.,
" When they had made to go round," i.e., had completed — comparing infra xix. 6,
on which see note in Comm. and Append.
OBnp^l . I do not see why the verb t^TIP should not here have its usual
sense of sanctifying. From Exod. xix. 10, and more particularly from 1 Sam.
xvi. 5, we see (as Schultens well remarks) that "S tE?JJ2 to sanctify a person, some-
* Tjrnngb may be regarded as a sing, in Heb., and yet well be transl. by a plur. in Eng.,
because it is very common in Heb., when two subjects which have just been spoken of are
really referred to, to use the verbs, pronouns, &c, by means of which the reference is made,
in tbe singular, as though only one of the subjects were referred to, and this singular may
agree in gender with either of the two subjects, if they are of different gender. See note
on "Priori infra iv. 14. ^rt™ is probably the plur., for it is well known that plur. nouns
are sometimes found with sing, affix., the ' , the distinctive mark of the plur. affix., being
left out. Comp. Deut. xxviii. 59, *jnten for T"^°> and f°r other examples see Ges.
Lehrgeb. p. 215. As for TXn™ , this might possibly be a sing., for in Ps. ix. 15 we find
frftnn for ^nbnn , or, which is more probable, it is the plur., runs being used for nvroj ; and,
indeed, nin« has so much the appearance of a reg. plur. and niTta so much the appearance
of an irreg. one, (comp. vVifr infra xii. 6, and note upon it), that we cannot wonder if some
confusion has arisen between them. From what I have said, I think it is pretty clear that
in writing Heb. we should always use nvrtN as the plural.

APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 5. 525
times means to take care, see, that he sanctifies himself, or is sanctified,* and
also that sanctification preceded the performance of a sacrifice. In Exod. xix. ] 0,
Moses is commanded to sanctify the people, but in Lev. xi. 44 ; Num. xi. 18 ;
Josh iii. 5, vii. 13 ; 1 Sam. xvi. 5, the people are told to sanctify themselves,X by
which is shown that the intermediation of a priest or patriarch was not necessary,
as Dr. Bernard supposes. In all these cases it is true that prepare yourselves
might be used instead of sanctify yourselves, but only because the sanctification
was a preparation, and not because the verb really means to prepare. It is
nowhere expressly stated in what way the people sanctified themselves before a
sacrifice, but I think I can furnish indirect evidence, that it consisted chiefly in
ablutions and in the washing of clothes. In Exod 4 xxx. 20, 21, we read that
the priests were commanded to wash their hands and their feet (that they might
not die) before they offered up burnt offerings ; and as it appears from Lev. iv.
24, 29, 33 that when a man of the people had to bring a sin-offering unto the
Lord, he himself (in precisely the same manner as a priest who had sinned, Lev.
iv. 3, 4) laid his hands upon the head of the victim and slew it, whilst the priest
only sprinkled of the blood upon the altar (Lev. iii. 2, 8, 13), it is probable that
this man had also to prepare himself by washing his hands and his feet, for (Lev.
vi. 17, 25) a sin-offering is called most holy, and (ver. 18) we are told that " every
one who toucheth offerings of the Lord made by fire must be holy." See also
ibid. xxii. 3. But how could be be holy enough to offer up a sacrifice to God
who approached the altar with unwashen hands, when we read in the New Testa
ment (Matt. xv. 20) that the Jews considered it defiled a man even to eat bread
with unwashen hands ? As for the washing of clothes, comp. Exod. xix. 10. §
The morning mentioned may either be the morning following the day on which
Job sanctified his children, in which case to sanctify would mean to make them
pure and holy, so that they might be in a fit state to offer up the sacrifice, or it
may be the morning of tbe same day, and the meaning be that he sanctified them
by offering up tbe sacrifice. If this be the meaning, we should expect that he
sanctified them would follow the description of the means employed for this object
—still the Hebrews are not very scrupulous as to the order in which they narrate
facts. Thus, 2 Sam. xvii. 23, we are told that Ahitophel " gat him home to his
* Similarly in Josh. v. 3 we are told that Joshua made him sharp knives C>J53) and
circumcised the children of Israel, i.e., took care that they were circumcised, for he could
not possibly have circumcised them all himself. So in English we say, " He is building
himself a new house," instead of " He is having a new house built for himself."
f To sanctify oneself seems sometimes (as in Lev. xi. 44) merely to mean to keep oneself
holy, clean, to avoid pollution.
X Comp. ch. xxix. 4.
§ Mendelssohn holds the same opinion as Schultens with regard to tfip. , for (Exod. xix. 10)
he translates DFWSjri. (A. V. and [thou shalt] sanctify them) lass sie sich heilig halten, let
them (or, see that they) keep themselves holy. Now if we adopt this rendering here, there
is no occasion to interpret rtshi and he sent for [them], for though in 2 Sam. xv. 12, ribw
may have this meaning, it is very rare. Is it not much better to translate " he sent and
hade them sanctify themselves " (or, keep themselves holy), for in this way the verb nto is
found very freq. used ?

526 APPENDIX. CHAP. 1. 5.
house, to his city," though the more natural order would certainly be, to his city,
to his house. Comp. also Ps. vii. 15, "Behold, he teavaileth with iniquity and
conceiveth mischief" (but see note on iT^n infra iii. 3). So, too, Isa.
xliv. 13, 14, where the carpenter is said first to make an idol and then to cut
down the wood for it, though ver. 14 is also connected with tbe three verses follow
ing it. Again in Exod. xix. 10 (as commonly translated — but see note § p. 525)
God says to Moses " Go and sanctify them (or, bid themselves sanctify them
selves) . . . and let them wash their clothes," though this was, no doubt, part
of the sanctification. Comp. note on ttjbn*l infra xiv. 10. I am, however,
inclined to believe that the sacrifice took place upon the following morning,
because in several of the passages quoted above (Exod. xix. 10; Num. xi. 18;
Josh. iii. 5, vii. 13), the sanctification was against tbe morrow (comp. Exod.
xxxii. 5), and, besides, we know from Leviticus that those who were unclean were
considered to remain so, even after washing, until the evening.
"ip.22 D>3t»n'] . This expression is somewhat tautological, as EPStEH alone
means to rise early in the morning, as Gen. xix. 2 ; Exod. xxxii. 6, Sue. ; hut
~V?22 ;a not unfrequently added, as Josh. iii. 1 ; 1 Sam. xxix. 10 ; Isa. v. 11.
">»« . See note (3) in Translation p. 395.
i13"]2 . I have translated this blasphemed, and not cursed, because, as the Heb.
word is used euphemistically, it seemed to me desirable to use as mild a word in
English as possible. The Auth. Vers, here use curse, but in the corresp. pass.
in 1 Kings xxi. 10, 13, they translate ~P2 blaspheme.
The indisputable euphemism quoted by Dr. Bernard from the Talmud,
seems to me to throw great light upon 1 Sam. xxv. 22, where David says, " So
and more also do God TH ""Et^N? unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that
pertain to him by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall." Here we
should rather have expected, " So and more also do God unto David,* (or unto me,
as in 2 Sam. iii. 35) if &c," for the phrase *PPS ni1 ^H^ nbv> iT3 May
God do thus and thus may He add ! (i.e., continue to do, or do more), is always
used in a bad sense,t and as David wished to express that he would certainly
leave none alive, we might have expected him to say, "may God bless the
enemies of David, if I leave, &c, or may God curse me, if I leave, &c." The
expression, the enemies of David, I take, therefore, to be an euphemism for David,
who by this means spared himself an imprecation upon his own head.
With this use of "P2 we may compare the Gr. ayios sacred, holy and
accursed, execrable. So the Lat. sacer, and the French sacrer, to consecrate and
to curse ; saere, sacred, and cursed. I have been told by Frenchmen that French
priests, whose pent-up feelings long to relieve themselves by the discharge of an
oath, will be sometimes heard to say sac a papier ' an expression which sufficiently
resembles sacri in sound, but is wholly unobjectionable. And certainly there are
* For instances in which a man uses his own name (as young children do), instead of
a pers. pron., see 1 Sam. xx. 13; 2 Sam. iii. 9; and comp. infra xxxviii. 41 ; xxxix.
17 ; xl. 9, &c.
t Comp. Ruth i. 17 ; 1 Sam. iii. 17, xiv. 44, xx. 13 ; 2 Sam. iii. 9, 35, xix. 14 ; 1 Kings
ii. 23; 2 Kings vi. 31.

APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 5. 527
people in England who use the exclamation " bless the thing ! " when others less
scrupulous would call out " d  it ! " So to swear is used in a good and bad
sense. Luther translated *T~I2 in the pass, quoted from Kings segnen (to bless),
but, as those who read bis translation saw clearly that to bless there meant to
curse, the verb segnen has actually been admitted into Germ. diet, (e.g.,
Hilpert's), in the sense of to curse,* these two passages being quoted in support
of the meaning.
E12272 lit., in their heart ; Eng. Vers, in their hearts, though infra viii. 10,
and xvii. 4, we find D37 translated their heart. Is there this uncertainty
also in Hebrew ? I have gone through the whole of Job, and I find that the words
which have the plur. pron. affixes corresponding to the Eng. our, your, their, may
be divided into five classes, and to one or other of these classes I think nearly
every word in the Bible with one of these affixes may be referred : —
Class 1. Comprehending names of objects of which the possessors have, but
cannot have more than, one each. In this class we find nouns used
both in the sing, and plur.
a Sing, referring to several objects, and, therefore, really = a plural.
C33b (i. 5); D2b (viii. 10; xvii. 4) ; DiTB (v. 15; xvi. 10;
xxix! 9, 23); t=ait£?b (xxix. 10); ESri (xxix. 10); nVlp
(ii. 12) ; nat?2 (xv. 35) ; 21270? (xxxvi. 14) ; DJTn (xxxvi. 14).
b Plur. orptrs-; (n. 12); nysa (xiii. 12) ; cni2S (xv. 18 t; xxx. 1).
c Where one object belongs to many in common. Only one example in
Job, viz., DJT2N (infra xlii. 15) ; but Comp. Gen. ix. 23 ; EIDHS
(Isa. 1. 1) ; ^a^ba (ps. lxxxix. 19.)
Class 2. Comprehending names of objects, of which the possessor has two
and can have no more. In this class we find both the sing, and
plur. used.
a Plur. DrpT: (v. 12 ; xxx. 2) ; DiTT1?? (xix. 15) ; D^bjn (Gen.
xviii. 4 ; xix. 2, &c).
b Sing. DT (xxi. 16) ; D3W (xxxvi. 10, 15 1) ; nba"l (Deut. xxxii. 35 ;
Ps. ix. 16).
Class 3. Comprehending names of objects, of which the possessor may have
one, two, or more. This class may be divided into three sub
classes.
Sub-class a. Comprehending names of objects of which the possessors
each have only one assigned to them, as is evident from the use of
the sing. Dfiipa (vi. 17) ; D3"H (vi. 18 ; xix. 12 ; xxix. 25) ;
D3JtpB (viii. 4). '
Sub-class b. Comprehending names of objects, concerning which it is
uncertain whether the possessors bave each one, two, or more.
Plur. Drrri2 (iii. 15 ; xxi. 9) ; DrV32 (xxxix. 4) ; DrTTb? (xxi. 11) ;
* Probably this meaning was never generally adopted, and if it was, it has fallen into

t Here, indeed, QrtaM may, and probably does, mean their ancestors, but xxx. 1 is, at
any rate, a case in point.
X In the first of these two pass, the A. V. has their ear, and in the second their ears.

528 APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 5.
irrnb:: (xxxix. 3); DrTb'n? (xxi 11); npransT (xiii. 12);
o'^rvhwi-i (Xxi. 34) ; D=rnb:inari (xxi. 2).
Sub-class c. Comprehending names of objects more than one of which
are distinctly assigned to each of the possessors.
Plur. DirnN (xlii. 15) ; DiTp;> (xxi. 13 ; xxxvi. 11) ; DiTatf (xxxvi. 11)
UpTPW (Xxiv. 11) ; D5"n3^T (xxxii. 11) ; D^nia^ (xxxii. 11)
D.^-iBS (xxxii. 14) ; DrrstpS (xxxvi. 9) ; En^^ (xxiv. 23)
?iT32itt7 (xxvi. 5) ; DiTT^Q (xxxiv. 25) ; Drpb2n (xxxix. 3).
Class 4. Comprehending nouns which have no plural.
Sing. Db^D (v. 5) ; DJTpri (xi. 20) ; Din? (xxi. 8) ; D^T2 (Xxi. 16) ;
DTN (xxi. 17 ; xxx. 12) ; Db5?Q (xxiv. 5 ; xxxvi. 9) ;
D»?b (xxx. 5) ; Dnpb (xxxiii. 16) ; Dnis (xxxviii. 15) ;
Dna^aa (in sense of song, by-word — xxx. 9) ; D^*n (xxxvi. 14) ;
D3n (xxix. 10); DiTB (HB in sense of mouth, v. 15; xvi. 10;
xxix. 9, 23) ; Datp2 (Xv. 35) ; Dbip (bip in sense of voice,
ii. 12).
Class 5. Comprehending nouns which have no singular.
Drr33 (xl. 13) ; DiT'n (Exod. i. 14 ; Eccles. ii. 3).
We may add, I think, another class, of which no examples are found in
Job, viz.
Class 6. Comprehending names of objects of which the possessors always
have more than two each, such as tooth, finger, toe, hair, ha. Here
of course the plur. must be used, except, as in the case of hair, a
sing, collective noun, be employed instead of the plur.
Let us now examine the different classes and see whether any rules can be
deduced from tbe facts I have collected, and whether there is any difference of
idiom between Hebrew and English.
Class I. This is by far the most important class. From (a) and (b) we see
that, in Job at least, when an object, of which everybody has one and nobody
can have more than one, such as the heart, mouth, tongue, voice, &c, is spoken of
as belonging to more than one person (or in other words, when it takes a plur.
poss. affix), it generally itself remains in the sing. But is this so throughout the
Bible ? Do the Hebrews more frequently say their heart, their tongue, he., or
their hearts, their tongues, he. ? Before we can decide this point, I think we
must re-arrange the nouns composing this class in three sub-classes.
Sub-class m. Containing those nouns which denote objects either purely
immaterial, or generally considered as immaterial, such as soul,
life, breath, voice, &c.
Sub-class n. Containing those nouns which denote objects generally looked
upon as so entirely material, that they are but seldom used
figuratively. Such are nose, chin, father, mother, he. In English
we might add wife.
Sub-class o. Containing those nouns which, though denoting objects, strictly
speaking, as purely material as those in the last class, yet in most

APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 5. 529
languages are very frequently used, more or less figuratively, and
so often become really immaterial. Such are heart, mouth,
tongue, head, neck, breast, belly, he.
In sub-class m, I think tbe sing, will be found to be much more common than the
plural. K?B5 soul, is indeed often found in the plur. with poss. affixes, but this seems
to me to be the case chiefly when it is used either = person or self (Lev. xi.
43, 44; xvi. 29, 31 ;* Jer. xxxvii. 9, &c), whilst, when it means soul or life,\
it is usually found in the singular bip voice, in the plur. seems always to be
used of thunder.
Sub-class n, contains so few words, so that it is difficult to come to any decision.
In Ps. cxv. 6, we have DPO P)S lit., [there is~\ a nose X to them, in the Auth. Vers.
they have noses, and in Ezek. viii. 17, we find DBS; in the Auth. Vers., their nose ;
but from these examples we can infer little, as the word *1&? has no plur., but
only a dual, D,2S) which, where it is to be taken in its literal sense, is generally
translated nostrils, as in Gen. ii. 7, &c. We find also D?apt (2 Sam. x. 5,
1 Chron. xix. 5,) A. V., your beards, and D3pJ (Lev. xxi. 5 ; 2 Sam. x. 4,) A. V.
in the former pass, their beard, and in the latter, their beards, only ItJJ has no
plur. But this very fact shews that the Hebrews were content to use the
singular § in the case of words of this class, though in English the plural is I
think, nearly always used, in books, at least, which are not translations. If,
however, we have interpreted 05^33 (infra xiii. 12) rightly, we have an example
of a plural ; and in Ezek. x. 12, we certainly have a plural, viz , Onaa (for
DiT22) = their backs. Comp. also Ps. cxlvii. 4, N*^ niBfi? cbab to all of
them (the stars) He calleth names, though probably each star had only one
name. |] In Auth. Vers. " He calleth them all by their names." Their fathers
and their mothers could not, I think, well be rendered otherwise than by a plural
affix, as their father would inevitably be understood to refer to one man, tbe
common father of the persons included under their. So infra xv. 18 ; xxx. 1,
we find DfynMj where many fathers are spoken of, and DiTaN (infra xlii. 15),,
where one father is spoken of.
* Of these pass, the first two are rend, in A. V. yourselves, and the last two, your soul's,
though it rather means appetites.
t Still comp. Gen. ix. 5, (nynfej) and Prov. i. 18 (omiiB:), where its: is generally
translated life; and Exod. xxx. 15, 16, where oyntea is commonly rendered your souls,
though it might well mean your persons, yourselves ; and, indeed, I find that Mendelssohn
renders it euere Personen. We often materialize the word soul, as the Hebrews do ; comp.
Gen. xii. 5; xxxvi. 6; xlvi. 15, &c.
X Here both languages expose themselves to the charge of ambiguity, for from the Heb.
it might be inferred that several persons had only one nose in common, and from the
Eng. that they had several noses apiece. In the same Psalm, ver. 5, we have on^ ns, in
A. V., they have mouths, but here the Heb. had no choice, as rt3=mouth, has no
plural. § Thus Dtitfi is freq. used of purely material heads, and a:wb (infra xxix. 10) of purely-
material tongues. See next page.
II Strictly speaking, the noun in this passage belongs rather to Class 3, sub-class 6, still
it serves here as an example, and the Hebrews of course knew nothing of these classes.
M M

530 APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 5.
Sub-class o, is the most important. Here, I think, the rule appears to be that
when the noun is used in its strictly material sense, the plural is more commonly
used, but that when it is used figuratively, the singular is the more common.
Thus we find D37 and D2a"J much more frequently than Dryi27 which only
occurs twice (Isa. xliv. 1 8 ; Ps. cxxv. 4 ), for the hearts with which the Bible
deals are, almost without exception, immaterial ones. From pt^b too we only
have Daiti?7 ; * though this is, at any rate, once used of purely material tongues
(infra xxix. 10). DiTtpNT and DttJrfl appear to occur with nearly equal
frequency,! but DiTE7NT seems always to be used of material heads,:); whether
these be tbe heads of people, of pillars (chapiters), or of a nation or tribe (chiefs) ;
whereas Dtpsi } though it is also used of material heads (as in Josh. vii. 6,
Jer. xiv. 3, 4, Lam. ii. 10, &c), is also used figuratively (as Isa. xxxv. 10, li. 11,
Neh. iii. 36 (A. V. iv. 4), &c). Comp. too the singular Dn^a (Ezek. iii. 8,)
A. V. (heir foreheads, used figuratively, with the plural rilHSB (only found in
Ezek. ix. 4), used of material foreheads. HQ has no plur. when it means mouth,
and 'ijn palate, and 1^?2 belly, are likewise only found in the sing.
Let us now examine whether in this class we should generally in English
use the plural or the singular. I am of opinion that throughout the whole class
we should generally use the plural. The English language, as it seems to me, prefers
the plural, whether the nouns denote material or immaterial objects. In the second
sub-class (n), we should very rarely use the sing., although in Ezek. viii. 17,
I find EBS rendered in the Auth. Vers, their nose, in imitation, probably, of
the Hebrew. In Hebrew I could not consider the word ivife, because the
Hebrews often had more than one, but in English it would be ridiculous to
say, " they went to the theatre with their wife," if several women were meant. The
fact is, whenever the object is eminently material, so that the mind has a very
distinct idea of its individuality, we always use the plur. Thus we always
say their hats, their wives, their sticks, he., although we only mean to assign
one of each of these objects to each individual, because, as we frequently see
a number of hats, wives, or sticks, together, the mind very readily represents
to itself a number of these objects, and, therefore, the sing, does not satisfy
it. We sometimes say, however, and I think more poetically, their heart, their
mind, their soul, he., because, as we have no distinct notion of an individual heart
(in its fig. sense), mind or soul, we cannot have a distinct notion of a number
of them, just as it would be impossible for us to conceive a number of gases
* We do indeed find oniia) (Gen. x. 20, 31), but here rfoVafc means tongues= languages,
as, indeed, it does in three out of the four passages in which it occurs. In the fourth
(Ps. xxxi. 21) it means tongues in the usual sense of the word, but there has no poss.
affix. So we find riabfive times without a poss. affix, and this use of the plur. when there
is no poss. affix seems reasonable.
t The phrase, "they put, sprinkled, &c, dust upon their heads" occurs four times in
the Bible; in two (Josh. vii. 6; Lam. ii. 10), we find Dtfrii , in two (Job ii. 12; Eztk.
xxvii. 30), cmitinT .
X Comp., however, Ps. cxxxix. 17, where Drnft<; lit., their heads=theiv totals, their sums,
or, as we should say, the sum of them. ,

APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 5. 531
side by side with well defined boundaries between them. The consequence is
that the plur. readily fuses into a sing., especially as the minds, &c, which
are thus defined by a possessive pronoun, are commonly supposed to be in
unison. Similarly we speak of one idea as entertained by a number of persons,
although it is clear that there must be as many ideas (identical it may be), as
there are persons. In French and German the singular is certainly more
frequently used than the plural, in the case of nouns which are used figuratively.
Thus in De Saci's translation of the Bible, I find D2ab2 (Job i. 5) translated
dans leur cceur* whilst in Schlottmann and Umbreit's translations of Job we
have in ihrem Herzen, and if the different examples quoted from Job in p. 527
be compared in these translations it will, I think, be found that the rule I
have laid down is generally followed. That the subject has always been one
of difficulty in most languages may be inferred by a comparison of the
Septuagint with the Vulgate. Thus Job i. 5, we find lv rfj Kaphla avruiv, in
cordibus suis, whilst in ii. 12, we have ita, ras Ke<£aAas ovtuiv, super caput
suum. Class 1. (c) p. 527. Here the sing, would be used in all languages.
Class 2. Here the sing, and plur. are both used in Heb. ; the plur., I think,
rather more frequently than the sing., which is chiefly found in the poetical
books. In this class, too, the plur. seems to be used especially, when the nouns
are to be understood in their most literal and prosaic sense. Thus, where the
washing of feet is spoken of (Gen. xviii. 4, xix. 2), we find D?"1;?:!-], whilst in
the more poetical language, " their foot shall slide in due time " (Deut. xxxii. 35),
we find D7a"l . So in " and all their earrings which were in their ears " (Gen.
xxxv. 4), we find DrP3?N ; vvhilst in " He openeth their ear to instruction " (Job
xxxvi. 10), we find D3JH . In English we should, I think, generally use the
plur. At any rate, the sing, would only be found in elevated prose or in poetry.
In the Auth. Ver. we find infra xxxvi. 10, their ear, and xxxvi. 15, their ears,
though in both cases the sing, is used in Heb. In the Germ, and Fr. trans, quoted
above, the sing, is used in these two pass., as also in the Vulg.
Class 3. In this class only sub-class b deserves attention, as in the other two
sub-classes -j- the rules which are observed in Hebrew apply also to all other
languages, and no ambiguity arises from their employment. In sub-class b, how
ever, the case is different, and there is always, or nearly always, some, and at
times great, ambiguity, though the context and common sense generally suffice to
remove it. Let us take Job iii. 15, "Princes  who filled their houses
with silver." It is here certainly of no importance whether these princes had
each one or more houses, but at the same time it is impossible to determine from
this sentence, or from the context, how many houses each of them really had ;
and sentences might readily present themselves in which it would really be of
* Renan has dans leurs cceurs, yet infra ii. 12, he translates Dm-An leur Ute. Infra
viii. 10; and xvii. 4, however, he has leur cceur.
t In sub-class a, I must not be understood to say that the sing, is used, because one
object only is assigned to each person ; my meaning is that because the sing, is used, there
fore it must be inferred that each person only has one object.
M M 2

532 APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 5.
importance to ascertain the exact meaning intended by the plural. Now there is
only one way, as it seems to me, by which (in prose at least) this ambiguity can
be avoided, and that is, by introducing the word t^N each, every one, he. This
circumlocution is very common * in Hebrew, much more common, I think, than
in any other language with which I am acquainted ; and in Hebrew, no
doubt partly for this very reason, this more exact mode of expression is
by no means always devoid of elegance. The passage quoted above would
thus become " Princes  who filled every one his house with silver,"
i.e., if it were intended to assign to each prince one house only. Comp.
Ps. cv. 33, " He smote their vines also and their fig-trees," t with 2 Kings
xviii. 31, "And then eat ye every man (tt^N *l '?N1) of his own vine and
every one of his fig-tree,'' &c. In the first passage it is not clear how these
trees were distributed among the people, for they might bave had every one one
vine and one fig-tree, as in the second passage, or every one more than one vine and
one fig-tree ; or again some might have had one vine, or more than one vine, each,
but no fig-tree, whilst others had one or more fig-trees and no vine, and so on.
But in the second passage it is expressly stated that every one had his own vine
and his own fig-tree. The second form of expression, though circuitous, is often
more forcible than the first. Comp. Job ii. 11 ; Deut. i. 41 ; Judg. ix. 55 ;
Isa. liii. 6 ; Jon. iii. 8 ; Gen. xli. 11, 12, &c, and for numerous other examples
see Nold. s.v., E^N . In poetry, however, such circumlocutions would no doubt
often have been tedious ; and there we accordingly find a much more condensed,
and, in our eyes, a highly ungrammatical mode of expressing the same thing. This
mode consists in joining a plural subject with a sing. verb. This idiom is very
frequently to be met with in Job, as may be seen by referring to the index. Comp.
infra xli. 10, "nN bnfl "PrittPtaV lit., his sneezings maketh light to shine, i.e.,
every one of them maketh, &c. See also Ges. (Lehrgeb., p. 714), who
mentions the fact, and quotes numerous examples, but does not attempt
any explanation. A favourite example of Dr. Bernard's was "^'NB rp^Qni
(Prov. iii. 18), lit., And those laying hold upon her [is] blessed, i.e.,
every one of them is blessed. This seems to us as ungrammatical as to
say they was (= every one of them was), yet is not the case really just the
same when we say " Job's friends lifted up their voice and wept," where their
voice = every one his voice ? The only difference is, that in this case the plur.,
their voices, could not be said to be more correct than the sing., X their voice, as it
might mean that each had several voices. But if I say " they lifted up every
* See Nold., s.v. w.
f The reader should bear in mind that, as my only object in quoting these passages is
to explain my meaning generally, I am considering here rather the Engl, of the A. V.,
than the Hebrew text, which would be ill chosen for the purpose, as the nouns in both
pass, are in the sing. And even the Eng. I am understanding quite literally, for I should
certainly not be justified in inferring from the second pass, that every man had only one
vine and one fig-tree, as the point put prominently forward is the possession of the vines
and fig-trees, and not the number of tnem possessed.
X Their voice would, strictly speaking, mean one voice common to them all.

APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 5. 533
man his voice," then the same idea is expressed without any violation of gram
matical rules. The Hebrews sometimes reverse the above-mentioned idiom, and
use plural verbs, plural pron. affixes, he., of a subject which the moment before
had been treated as a singular, but in these cases the sing, subject is, I think,
always, or very nearly always, used in a collective sense, so that the sudden transition
from sing, to plur. (and vice versa) is easily explicable. Comp. infra viii. 19,
•inn?'! ins "IBSB} iS-H, where the sing. ^1/1 and the plur. «?) apparently
(see note upon the pass.) refer to the same subject. Comp. also infra xxii. 2, ]^\ s2
TSEJD iB1!?^? , Surely an understanding-MAN is profitable to themselves, where
an understanding -man is merely the type or representative of the class of under
standing men, and is therefore equivalent to the plur. understanding men. Comp.
again infra vi. 17, DBlpBB ^aSia iana , lit., on it (i.e., every one of the brooks)
becoming toarm, they (the brooks) ARE extinguished from their place. This
verse, indeed, exhibits the idiom in its two forms, for in the first hemistich the
plur. is used, then the sing. (iBIlS) is suddenly substituted, and as suddenly again
replaced by a plural.* And lastly, see infra xxiv. 7, ^rT Di")37 , and note upon it.
In this class we always use the sing, in sub-class a ; in sub-class b we generally,
and in sub-class c we of course always, use tbe plural.
Class 4 requires no comment, and the same may be said of Class 5 and
Class 6. -j-
* Strange to say, I cannot discover that any commentator before Dr. Bernard had
interpreted this itana rightly. Mr. Carey, however, whose Comm. appeared in 1858, does
translate in THEIR getting hot.
+ In class 6, however, the sing, is sometimes. used, at any rate, in English. Thus we
say, " With tooth and nail." So, too, in Exod. xxi. 27 we find in the A.V., " And if he
smite out his man-servant's tooth" (as if he had only one tooth), for which with greater
accuracy, but far less elegance, might be substituted, one of his man-servant's TEETH.
De Sacy translates, " S'il leur fait sortir une dent de la bouche." Still the corresponding
Hebrew his fifl, must also I think be rendered [the] tooth and not A tooth, of his man-servant,
though it = vns ^iSd pfl , a somewhat tedious and unnecessary circumlocution. Besides
the Hebrews sometimes use their favourite constructive form, where we should use the
prep, from (Heb. n), e.g., infra xix. 9, " He hath removed '*»*i mra» lit., [the] crown of
my head = <\&rra rrrasj [the] crown ekom my head, so that here 'vqz ]tt) might be
equivalent to \ f tooth FROM my servant. I much prefer, however, to regard the
idiom as the same as that which I notice infra p. 536, as common in medical English,
for I might well say, if describing a specimen, " enamel from THE tooth of a child,"
where the tooth = one of the teeth, which would be too tedious and pedantic, especially if
sentences of the sort were constantly recurring. I use the definite article, however, here
probably, because the tooth has for me become well-defined and singled out from all other
teeth, as being the subject of my investigations. It is THE tooth from which I have taken
the enamel. So Moses too had singled out one tooth from a number of teeth, by supposing it
to be knocked out, and, therefore, as he had no doubt determined the penalty before he
began to speak about tbe tooth, it had become THE tooth for him, tbe tooth whose case
he was considering. Still the def. art. may be equally well explained (and perhaps better
in many cases), as I have explained THE lion, &c, infra p. 536.
Again, we find rnito sas« (Exod. viii. 15, [A. V. 19], xxxi. 18), [THE] finger of God,
though here the use of tbe sing, is perhaps due to our more frequently using our fore
finger than any other, singly.

534 APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 5.
The main result of my investigations seems to be, that there is really no
ambiguity excepting in the case of the nouns included in Class 3,* i.e., in the case
of objects of which the possessors may have one, two, or more assigned to them ;
that common sense is sometimes sufficient for the removal of this ambiguity (as in
sub-classes a and c), but that, when it is not (as in sub-class b), f the only way
by which this ambiguity can be got rid of (unless, indeed, an explanatory sentence
be added), is by the introduction of the words each, every one, every body, or
of some word equivalent to them, such as respective, &c.f I then endeavoured
to show that this more exact, though circumlocutory, mode of expression is
common and often pleasing in Hebrew (especially in Heb. prose), whilst in
English, though it sometimes imparts additional force and elegance, J it is
generally rejected for the less accurate but more concise mode of expression,
which consists in the use of tbe plural possessive pronouns, our, your, their, with
a plural, or less frequently, a singular noun ; and, lastly, I tried to explain certain
apparently ungrammatical expressions in Job, by referring them to this predi
lection of the Hebrews for the use of the circumlocution with each, or every one,
of which I endeavoured to show they were merely condensed forms.
D^Sa^n 73 lit. all the days, but = always, at all times, for ever, ever, continually,
occurs very freq., e.g., Deut. iv. 40 ; vi. 24, &c. See Ges. I lately heard a
child of about five years old use every day (comp. the Fr. tous les jours, toujours)
for always.

* In Class I. common sense will always suffice for the removal of the ambiguity which
often arises (without the help of a circumlocution), whether the sing, or the plur. is used.
In Classes 2 and 6 there can be no ambiguity, unless when the sing, is used, which is but
rarely done, and then, as in the former case, common sense suffices for its removal. In
Classes 4 and 5 no ambiguity can possibly arise.
f Thus, if I say, "And they cast down their rods," it is uncertain whether each person
had one, or more than one, rod ; but if I say, " And they cast down every man his rod "
(Heb. irrcan uro wVaji , Exod. vii. 12), it is clear that they had only one rod apiece. Again,
to take another example, they burned our houses, strictly speaking, means, I think, only
that a certain number of houses belonging to us were burned, without specifying whether
one or more houses belonged to each person, though the phrase might certainly be used
to express either of these two suppositions, common sense determining the meaning
intended ; but if I say, they burned the , of every one of us, then the only ambiguity
which remains is, how many houses they each had, if they had more than one apiece ; and
this is an ambiguity which can be removed only by the use of a numeral. Of course any
ambiguity that may occur in the case of the nouns included in Class I. may likewise be
removed by the use of each or every one.
X Thus, 1 Sam. iv. 10, "And they fled every man into his tent," is not only more
accurate than " And they all fled into their tents," but also more forcible and elegant.
Comp. ibid. viii. 22, " Go ye every man unto his city," with its equivalent, " Go all of you
unto your cities." But this circumlocution is certainly of very rare occurrence in English,
excepting in Biblical or sacred prose, and even there it has been no doubt borrowed in a
great measure from the Hebrew, and is therefore essentially a Hebraism, although, from its
constant employment in the A. V., it has become so familiar to us, as scarcely to be recog
nised as such.

APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 6. 535
Ver. 6. DTi^v1 "'3.2 !)S2»1 Di»n py . Dr. Bernard understood this, " Now
when it was the day that \the~\ sons of God came ; " i.e., when the day arrived
upon which it had been appointed that they should come, as though they came
upon stated days. Most commentators, however, take the Disn indefinitely,
" Now there was a day when," &c. (Auth. Vers.). " Eines Tages als die Sbhne,"
he. (Wolfssohn) ; " Es geschab aber eines Tages " (Umbreit), &c. Now I find
this same phrase three times elsewhere, viz., 1 Sam. i. 4, xiv. 1 ; 2 Kings iv. 8.
In the first of these passages, 1 Sam. i. 4, the words are na?s] DVr} VP1
nap^bN Now when it was the day that Elka?iah sacrificed, l-Hai then he used to
give, he. Here it seems to me that the day makes by far the best sense, although
Gesenius in his Lehrgeb., p. 655 (§ 166, obs. 1), quotes this very pass, as an
instance in which D1sn means eines Tages, einst ( = one day, once). But Gesenius
seems to have overlooked the use of the conv. past 103'] in the same verse, and
of the fut. 1£P. in the next verse. Unless we translate both these verbs as pasts,
which I should be very loath to do, I do not see how it is possible to translate
Qisn one day, for how can I say, " Now it came to pass one day that Elkanah
sacrificed and used to give ! ! " Yet that lO^I should be considered as a con
verted past is evident not only from the following i£P he used to give, but also
from the preceding verses, where we are told that Elkanah was in the habit of
coming up to Shiloh every year for the purpose of sacrificing to God, so that
in ver. 4 we have recorded, not what he did once, but what he was in the habit
of doing. The Auth. Vers, here agrees with me.
In 1 Sam. xiv. 1 we find Tn3"P -lE^l tai'n VT]!, which must, I think, be
translated, Now it came to pass one day that Jonathan said ; for, if we translate,
Now when it was the day that Jonathan said, we find that we lack an
apodosis. In 2 Kings iv. 8 the words are St^bs *133J»1 Dinn VT:1 . Here, again, onb
day makes better sense than the day, for the same reason as in the preceding
instance. But DIVJ . even when translated one day, is taken, neither quite definitely, nor
yet quite indefinitely. It is not taken quite definitely, because the particular day
is not specified. It is not taken quite indefinitely, because a particular day is
singled out.
The conclusion I arrive at from the consideration of the foregoing examples is,
that Dr. Bernard is right, and that in the passage before us, D"pn should be
taken definitely, for the object of the writer is evidently not so much to tell us
that the sons of God came to present themselves before Jehovah, as that on the
day when they did come to present themselves, Satan came among them. NlaO
D2in? ]tibri D3, therefore, forms an excellent apodosis to DiVJ NTJ1, &e.
But, if we translate, "Now it fell out one day that the sons of God came,' &c,
then, at least, as much stress is laid upon the coming together of the sons of God
as upon the presence of Satan.
Infra ver. 13 DiVjT should also be translated the day, for it means the
day when it was the turn of the eldest brother to entertain his brothers and
sisters.

536 APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 6.
That the def. art. in Heb. is often used indefinitely, or at least must be
rendered by an indef. art. in other languages, is generally admitted, although
Gesenius sometimes seems inclined to dispute it. Comp. Gen. vi. 17, b-12Brt ns ;
A flood; ix. 23, nbipt&n , A garment; xv. 1, rrtQB? , {n A vision; xxii. 13,
TT3B3, in A thicket; Judg. vi. 19, bS3 ; -inBa , in A basket, in A pot; 38,
^BSri, A bowl; viii. 25, nbiptpn, A garment; ix. 48, rPBTip.rT, lit. axes;
1 Sam. xxv. 18, Dnbqn, asses; 20, liann, Anoss; 1 Kings i. 1, D,1222,
with garments ; xiii. 14, nbNn DHri , under An oak, &c, &c.
In Eng. we often say in fables the lion (comp. 1 Sam. xvii. 34, ,"1^;!7)> THB
fox, he., although we do not mean any particular lion or fox ; and in medical
English the def. art. is very commonly used in a somewhat similar way. Thus,
speaking of microscopical preparations, we say, " Epithelium from the bladder * ;
hairs from the scalp ; section from the tibia of a fcetus," &c, though it would
certainly be more correct to say " from a bladder, a scalp, one of the tibia of
a foetus,'7 &c.
DV7 7N<!7 "'3.2 sons of God, here, as infra xxxviii. 7, evidently = angels, but in
Gen. vi. 2, Mendelssohn understands the expression of a nobler and higher
race of men who had not abandoned the worship of the true God, like the
degenerate race whose daughters are there called DISH JTiaa [the~\ daughters
of man (men). That the term son of God is sometimes applied to a man who
lives after God's own heart is clear from Hos. ii. 1 (Auth. Vers. i. 10) ; John
i. 12, &c, and is what we should expect from the highly figurative manner
in which the word ?2 is freq. used in Heb. Comp. also Isa. i. 2 ; Prov.
xiv. 26, &c.
Ver. 6. n}T . Dr. Bernard, has, I think, pronounced himself rather too
authoritatively with regard to the derivation of this word, inasmuch as he
entirely ignores the doubts which are entertained upon the subject by most
Christian f Commentators of modern times. He may, however, very probably X

* Just as we use the wise-man = the type or representative of the class of wise-men,
so we use the lion and the bladder = the typical lion and the typical bladder. By the
typical lion, I mean the lion, as he is portrayed in the mind of every one who has seen,
beard, or read of a lion — an ideal lion made up of all the different impressions which have
been communicated by one or other of the senses to the mind, with all the modifications,
and it may be alterations, which these impressions have undergone in the mind, through
its chewing its cud, &c. By the typical bladder again, I mean the bladder of which every
medical man has the picture in his mind, a picture compounded from all the bladders
which he has seen, and from all that he has heard or read about the bladder.
t The Jewish Commentators seem as a. rule to avoid discussing the matter. One,
however, Kalisch (Comm. on Exodus, London, 1855, p. 53), enters into considerable detail,
though without displaying much originality, and concludes by rejecting the ordinary
punctuation. Mendelssohn on Exod. iii. 15, says, that mm (which he carefully avoids
transcribing and expresses by fflnpn nan) has no points of its own, but is sometimes
found with the points of 'jto and sometimes with those of D'rito .
X I never discussed the matter with him, and am, therefore, unable to speak positively.

APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 6. 537
be regarded as expressing tbe opinion of many of tbe most eminent of the
modern German Jews, * at whose feet, so to say, he was brought up.
Those who wish to become acquainted with the different views, which have
been put forward with regard to the origin of iTiT , will do well to consult
Smith's Diet, of the Bible, s. v., and Kalisch upon Exodus, p. 53. I have
neither space, nor inclination, to discuss the subject at length, and I will,
therefore, merely point out a few objections which may, it seems to me,
be reasonably made to the arguments brought forward by Mr. Wright, t the
author of the article in Smith's Diet., against the present punctuation of the
word (viz., niT), and in favour of the punctuation adopted by him, viz.,
i"0.T , the conjectural future of the old verb >Tn = HVT , and therefore
= He is. I will first consider Mr. Wright's arguments against the present
punctuation. If I understand him aright, Buxtorf and those who maintain that fliT does
not bear its true points, base their strongest argument J upon the fact that HIT ,
when it stands alone, is pointed T^T , i.e., with the points of ^lN } but, that,
when preceded by ^TM , it is pointed ^jiT ; i.e., with the points of DTI^N. .
They also derive arguments from " the fact that the letters 27D1J3 when prefixed
to niiT1 take, not the vowels which they would regularly receive were the
present punctuation true, but those with which they would be written if "'JIM
, adon&i, were the reading ; and that the letters ordinarily taking dagesh lene,
[i.e., 023133], when following nin'' would, according to the rules of the
Hebrew points, be written without dagesh, § whereas it is uniformly inserted.
Whatever, therefore, be the true pronunciation of the word, there can be little
doubt that it is not Jehovah." Now do these facts prove, or go far to prove,
as these Commentators contend they do, that np') has not its true points ? I
think not. They seem to me to prove merely what we knew before, namely,
that, the Jews, when, in reading the Bible, they came to the word nirp }
always avoided (as they still avoid) pronouncing it, and read in its stead "'aiy .
In the first place, it will, I think, be conceded that nii"P and ''aiN may
have had the same points ? These points are by no means uncommon ; we
have nihv, mT272, n-nB, &c. We find also vibfcj (in pause), so that if
two of God's names have, under certain circumstances, the same points, why
may not a third ? Is it not then possible that ^"TS. which, as compared with
HIiT. , occurs but rarely, may have been substituted for it, because it had the
same points, so that the true points of nlil1 might be preserved ? or may not
indeed "^'"IN have been originally written ^"IN. vvitri a Pathach under the 3 —
* This opinion will be deemed of no slight value by those who are acquainted with
the Commentaries of Mendelssohn, Wolfssohn, Bril, Homberg, &c, &c, and know how
far they surpass any Commentaries written by Christian Hebraists.
f Mr. Wright, if I mistake not, was a pupil of Dr. Bernard's.
X If they have any stronger argument, Mr. Wright does not cite it ; and, as I rely
upon his statements and do not consult the original works, he must be held responsible
if I do not do these learned men justice.
§ See note f, P- 540>

538 APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 6.
when it. would have meant my Lords (as in Gen. xix. 2),* or, as a plur. of
majesty, f my Lord — and the Pathach have been lengthened into a Kawmets
in order that the word might be substituted for T^T , and so the vowel points
* Ben-Zev indeed says, that 'fft* is used of God, in order that it may be distinguished
from 'Jto my lords, applied to angels in Gen. xix. 2. Ewald also (Krit. Gramm., p. 299)
emits the same opinion, which he formed, perhaps, independently of Ben-Zev, for he
does not mention Ben-Zev's name, though this lexicographer wrote many years before him.
Kimchi takes 'ito = n^to * like 'jfon (Jer. xxii. 14) = D'pftn , and says that the plur. is used
for the sake of honour (pluralis excellentice), and that the Kawmets also is used for the sake
of singling out the name of God ; but he also observes that the ' may be the poss. pron.
affix = my. It may be that '}to is really in pause for 'Jto , and that a pause was always
made after pronouncing this word, whether it was accompanied by a distinctive accent or
not, in order to shew reverence for the ineffable name mm which it commonly represented.
At all events, this Kawmets is a great difficulty, and the very fact that it is so
seems to me a strong argument in favour of the suggestion I have made above, that,
namely, the Pathach of 'ito was lengthened into a Kawmets,^ in order that the
word, so changed, might preserve the true points of mm. Why should we constantly
find lnto My God, with a Pathach (when not in pause), and ':to , if it equal My
Lord, always with a Kawmets f To Ben-Zev's (and Ewald's) suggestion I attach but little
weight, as no pains are taken to distinguish w™ when it means Our Lord, and is applied
to God (e.g., Ps. viii. 2 ; Neh. x. 30, &c), and when it means our lord == our master, and
is used oi men (e.g., 1 Sam. xxv. 14, 17 ; 1 Kings i. 43, 47). It is true, however, that
in the case of this word it would have been hardly possible to show the distinction by the
punctuation. In Zeph. i. 9, Dirjiy is rendered by some their Lord, and applied to God; but
Rosenmuller, after saying of these translators that they consider ditjtn to be 'jto with a
suffix, adds, " Sed notum illud JovEe nomen nunquam cum pronomine suffixo legitur." By
this he evidently means that orrjto cannot possibly be used of God, and in this he is
most egregiously mistaken ; for, surely, if wjiHow Lord, which has a suffix, is used of
God, oirrw MIGHT also be used of God. And does not the fact that we find w:to =
our Lord, go far to show that 'ji» , in spite of its anomalous punctuation, really
means my Lord? From the freq. use of the word, however, the poss. affix may
have ceased, or almost ceased, to have any force, just as when a Frenchman says,
" Un monsieur vous demande," the mon certainly does not convey the sense of my to
him, even if it does so in monsieur when used = Sir, which, to judge from my own
experience, I doubt. The Heb. had words ending in ¦— , such as, ^flS , '1^ , &c, so that
this termination would not necessarily be always looked upon as a poss. affix = my.
f Comp. Job iii. 19, where vato = his master (sing.), and so it is very frequently used,
comp. Gen. xxiv. 9 ; xxxix. 2, 3, 7, 8, 16, 19, &c. ; whilst tr™ is used = master or lord
(sing.) 1 Kings xxii. 17, Isa. xix. 4, and Mai. i. 6, (of God). So too vte? is constantly
found = his master, owner. Ewald's objections, (Comp. d. Genesis p. 34,) have no weight,
unless indeed we agree to reject the points altogether, and to regard him (at the age of
twenty) as a better Hebrew scholar than those who put them. See Ges. Lehrgeb. p. 663.
* Comp. Isa. xxvi. 13, where, from the use of D'jto ; aUusion would seem to be made to God's name
of 'jig .
t We do, however, find a good many proper names, in which a Pathach in the last syll. has apparently
been lengthened into a Kawmets, e.g., pns; (Isaac) for pro he laughs, tosp* (Ishmael) for
to sn* God hears, p|ip'. (Ishbak) for pa'J?; he leaves, &c, &c. But we also find instances in which
the Pathach has not been so lengthened, as nailj; (Ishbach), perhaps he praises (naiB is not used in Kal) ;
rrsoflj; (Ismaiah) God hears, &c. So, too we have *J8S , nto (Sarah), *& (Jesse), &c, with Pathach.

APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 6. 539
of tbe latter be preserved ? Whatever the vowel-points of HIT may have
been, it is clear that they were not held sacred, for they can scarcely have been
such as not to have occurred in another word.* The consonants, however, do
seera to have been held sacred, for it is well known that 15 is never written
iT (the first two letters of TIT), but always ID , whilst by Jews 16 is also always
written ID (i.e., 9+7) and not V , which Buxtorf always uses in his concor
dance. The great object the Jews had in view was to prevent the pronunciation
of the word nin11 , and they did all that they considered requisite in order to
accomplish this object. I am aware that I am here putting an objection into the
mouth of my adversaries, and that they may very fairly say, " How could this
object have been effected better than by substituting the different points of some
other word for those which really belonged to the letters nliT , just as D^B^
emerods (i.e., hasmorrhoids, piles), is always pointed Ds ?337 , apparently with the
points of D"HirTt2 ?" I admit this to be a strong objection ; still, if it be true,
as I believe it to be, that nin'1 still has its original points, the Jews have shown
far greater ingenuity ; for, without losing the original, points, t which upon the
plan just mentioned must inevitably have been lost, they have at the same time
so hedged about the word both before and behind (see next page), that no Jew runs
any risk of reading it. Besides, it must be remarked that HirP does not bear
the precise points of the word substituted for it in reading, ",3"TN. t although a
Chateph-Pathach (-¦ ) under N is equivalent to a simple Sh'vah under "* . If it were
intended to put under !TliT the points of ^-JiN. , why was not the word written

* The points of mm or mm , which many, and among them, Mr. Wright, suppose
mm to have borne, are of course of much more frequent occurrence than the points
ordinarily attributed to this word.
•f It may here be objected that, if the original points are still retained, there would
have been a tradition to that effect among the Jews, whereas some of them (and among
these Mendelssohn) declare that the word does not bear its true points. To this I may
answer that there is probably such a tradition among the Jews, of whom I have reason to
think the greater number do believe that run' still has its true points, the better educated
(and education is certainly inimical, too inimical, perhaps, to tradition) only being led to
doubt the fact from the same reason that many Christians do. Others again may say
that, if mm and 'JIM originally had the same points, this, too, would have been attested
by tradition; but this conclusion does not seem to me to be a necessary one. With
regard to D^BS Deut. xxviii. 27, &c, Buxtorf and Ben-Zev point this in their lexicons
D'bbs. (though in the Bible we have O'Vis), as if the word really (i.e., making allowance for
the difference between the letters s and to ) had had the same points as, and not the points
of, Dnirra , the word substituted for it in the K'ree. Why, then, did Buxtorf refuse to mn'
what he has granted to crtos ? i.e., Why did he refuse to allow 'that mm (which, unlike
trios, has not even the exact points of, but merely bears tbe same points as, the word sub
stituted for it, viz., 'Jto) really had the same points as 'Jis ? But it may be said that he wrote
tries instead of trtbs , merely for the sake of avoiding the anomalous S , and indeed in some
copies triBS is found 1 Sam. v. 9, probably for the same reason. Gesenius and others point
D'te (from ?ss), after the analogy of D'?!:;n (from liiji). But we do not know that triBS
comes from ">ss , though it may very likely come from the same root. Gesenius gives
D'-iimp in the plur. and does not suggest a sing, for it ; why then should he for Q'tos ?

540 APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 6.
nirp ? This would be an anomaly no doubt, but do we not always find iTiT.
(when it is intended that QVlbs should be substituted for <"lln,,)) although a
simple Sh'vah under ^ is just as much the equivalent of a Chateph- Segol ( -.-. ) under
N, as it is of the Chateph-Pathach ? A similar anomaly presents itself too in the
case of D^bb^ (Van der Hooght, &c), which, strictly, should be written D^bbs (for
I do not know an instance in which an initial 3? has a simple Sh'vah), but which
bears the precise points of D"nni? , the word which it is intended should be
substituted for it). * The fact, therefore, that the "* of mn"1 does not bear the
Chateph-Pathach (-: ) of the N in ^3'"TN f seems to me to support the view that
iTT still bears its original points. It may, indeed, be objected that it was not,
perhaps, thought necessary to write the word niTP. (on the same principle as
¦~n^l?. ) because, as it occurs so often, everybody would quickly, even without any
points at all, learn to read "l3"t^ for it ; but that, as HliT1 "OlN but rarely occur
together, it was thought necessary to point nin'1 ; when so connected, "T'T. j m
order distinctly to shew that DVlbN. was in those few instances to be read for it, as,
if niT had been written (after the analogy of <"1VP ); the word to be substituted
would probably, frequently, not so quickly have suggested itself. This is plausible,
but does not invalidate my argument ; for, even if ^Vr were always found, I could
still with equal j ustice maintain that the real punctuation was iTT , and that the
Chateph-Pathach had been substituted for the simple Sh'vah, simply for the
purpose of more effectually ensuring the substitution in reading of "'atN for
nip... ¦ But when the letters 3731Q were prefixed to nin"1 , it became
absolutely necessary to point them as if they came before ^"TN. , since, if we
bad had nyPS t &c., the sacred name would inevirably have been pro
nounced. So, again, with regard to the letters ri G a 7 a a , if they had
not been given a dagesh lene f when immediately following nii"P f the
* Comp. 1 Sam. v. 9; vi. 4, 5. We sometimes find d^m , e.g., Deut. xxviii. 27,
1 Sam. v. 6, 12. This is an argument in favour of the view that O'tos and amnio really had
(like mm and ':in) the same (i.e., equivalent) points, that is, that crtDS w;tn its real points
was written Dvfcs ; for else why do we not find tribya (with the points of nnirraa), after the
analogy of nirra ? cri&sa is quite as anomalous as D'tesa would be, for the absence of a
dag. lene in the B of the former, shews that the simple Sh'vah under the B is moving,
which is altogether contrary to rule (see Mason and Bernard's Gramm. vol. 1. p. 33). It
may, however, perhaps have been thought that the : under the s and the Masoretic note
(which never fails) were sufficient to prevent D'tos from being read, and, therefore, the
extra anomaly of putting a Short Cherik under the » was avoided, and a Pathach put
instead. Comp. msa (from o;s:, Kimchi, Buxtorf, Gesenius, &c), Isa. xi. 15.
f It should be borne in mind here that in by far the greater number of cases in which
mm is followed by n d a i a a, it has a distinctive accent, (e.g., Ps. i. 6, v. 2, vi. 3, 10,
vii. 7, ix. 2, x. 1, xi. 4, xii. 2, 4, xiii. 2, &c, &c.,) which would be sufficient to
account for the non-removal * of the dagesh lene from these letters, even if the word
were pronounced Jehovah. I make this remark because Mr. Kalisch; who seems to be
* The letters n B 3 1 1 a have the Dagesh-lene inherent in them, and therefore, strictly-spealdng,
it is its absence rather than its presence which requires to be accounted for. See Mason and Bernard's
Gramm., vol. i., p. 50.

APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 6. 541
reader might, perhaps, bave been tempted to read Jehovah, as the pronun
ciation of n B a 3 , and, probably, also that of 13, was affected by the
presence, or absence, of the dagesh. For these last two facts, however,
another explanation may be given. In the Talmud, namely (Sanhedrin 90, a),
we find it declared that he who even thinks of this name of God with its true
letters forfeits his future life, and this doctrine, no doubt, existed practically
before it was committed to writing. If, therefore, the punctuation and inter-
punctuation of the Bible were executed by Jews, it is clear that they had no
alternative but to act as if the word niT did not exist, and its place was
actually filled by the word which was substituted for it in reading, namely "^"TN .
Hence, too, it follows that when the two words occurred together, ,31S preceding
nin'' ; it was necessary to substitute some other word than ,31N. for nin^ ,
because ^31N ^aiN would be merely a repetition, and would not express that two,
different epithets were applied to God. In this case, therefore, D-1!! /N took the
place of mrr — perhaps because ETON was sometimes used together with ,3TW
(see Dan. ix. 3, DVlbsn "Oby ) — and so nin"1 was pointed nin.}. .
I have here been arguing upon the supposition that niT bears its true points,
and I have, I trust, shown that upon this supposition, coupled with the fact that
the Jews were forbidden not only to pronounce the word, but even to think of its
pronunciation, the three facts upon which Mr. Wright bases his principal argu
ments, are as easily explicable as if we suppose nin} not to bave its true points
— in other words, that these three facts do not bear upon the question at all.
But if so, then tbe argument in favour of the present punctuation, derived from
the proper names D2E7in} , D"lin} , 3?1E7in} } he., has much greater weight
than Mr. Wright attributes to it. And, indeed, it is much easier to suppose that
in} is part of the word nin}, than to regard it as standing for nfJV or nin}., for
an accomplished Hebrew scholar, has not noticed this fact, and has actually given as an
example to mm ma: (Ps. xii. 4), where mm has the distinctive accent Tipcha (~c), which
of itself would be sufficient to maintain the dag. lene in the noaia , even though they
followed a mute. Comp. Job i. 18; ii. 2; Ps. viii. 2 ; xvii. 8 ; xviii. 22, &c, &c. Nay,
even slighter distinctive accents, such as JRevee-ee (—), Zarka (-£5.), Pashta (-*-),
Shalsheyleth (_*_), &c , similarly neutralize the effect of a mute. Comp. Job i. 6, 16, 17;
ii. 1 ; iii. 9 ; Ps. ii. 11 ; v. 13 ; xiii. 2 ; xiv. 4 ; xvi. 2 ; xvii. 3, &c, &e. Moreover, it is
well known that after ft, the nto-m and other letters very frequently take a dagesh, and
chiefly when they are joined to it by a mahhiph (see note *, p. 310), but also without a
makkiph, and when without, the ft is very generally preceded by a kawmets. Comp.
Exod. xv. 1 nns rrte , Job xxvii. 5 ^ fmVt- Ezra ix. 13, v} nnru; Obad. 15, •$ nta£, &c.
In these examples, the accents are all conjunctive, but n— is sometimes followed by a
dagesh, even when the accent is disjunctive. Comp. Ps. iii. 3, ^ nnsiip" . Ewald says
(Krit. Gramm., p. 79) that this is never the case, mm , however, though it is similarly
followed by a dagesh in the noaiaa , even when it is joined to these letters by a conjunc
tive accent (e.g., Ps. ii. 11 ; vii. 18 ; xii. 8; xviii. 21 ; xix. 8, 9 ; xxi. 14, &c), yet, as far
as I know, never communicates a dagesh to any other letter which follows it. I, there
fore, subscribe to the opinion that it is followed by dag. in the reyra because 'Jin is
read for it.

542 APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 6.
verbs H"b generally form their contracted fut. in ^ and not in 1 , as Nin}
(Eccles. xi. 3) for VT} , from nin = nvi , inni?} for ni.qnttf} , though we do
find the subst. nribiv (Job v. 16) = nnbl.V (Ps. xcii. 16 K'ree), and ia in ia2
Nia2 , Niab , &c. (Dan. iii. 25 ; iv. 7 ; iii. 11, 15, &c.) from 1? .
The punctuation nin} 0r nin.} (third pers. sing. masc. fut., from nin = nTf),
the former of which is accepted by Mr. Wright, is based chiefly upon the well-
known passage in Exod. iii. 14, n}nN ~it£7N n}nN } and upon a comparison of
D?*b^ ^anbip n.}nN (ibid.) with D^bN ^anbt?  nin} (in the next verse)
passages which certainly prove that Moses believed there was some connexion
between the words n.}nN and nin} . Mendelssohn might be understood as
regarding nin"1 as the third pers. sing, fut., for he says, as plainly as it is
possible to do without once mentioning the word nin'' , that it has the same
meaning as n}nN (which he translates ich bin ewig,* I am eternal, or rather
perhaps, I am eternally), only that the latter is in the first, the former in the third
person sing. Still he does not say, what third pers. sing, it is, and nin1 according
to the view which I uphold, is certainly a third pers. sing., for Mendelssohn
appears to mean by this expression only that mn"1 is a word in the sing, used of
a third person, and not of oneself (the first person) as n|jnN is. He accordingly
translates nin^ in ver. 15, das ewige Wesen, the Eternal Being, and in
his translation of the Psalms, der Ewige, the Eternal [one]. But as he
evidently avoided mentioning the word itself, he was of course unable to give a
satisfactory statement of his views, f
Upon reconsidering these passages in Exodus since writing the preceding paragraph,
I have come to the conclusion that an argument may be derived from them in favour
of the view which I uphold, at least as strong as in favour of the view upheld by
Mr. Wright.
God first says of Himself " mnN J am that I am," and then tells Moses to say to
the children of Israel, "I AM hath sent me unto you." But in the next verse He
tells Moses to say (apparently instead of what He had just before told him),
"Jehovah hath sent me unto you." The natural inference is that that rr™ lam,
and, mm Jehovah, have essentially the same meaning, and so both Mr. Wright and
* Mendelssohn seems to give the future here the sense of frequency, habit, which it so
commonly has. rrriM would thus, strictly speaking, mean, I constantly, habitually, ever
am. He then goes on to say that there is really a great difference between rrrw and
mm , because the former has its true points and the latter has not, whence he seems to infer
that a greater degree of mysteriousness is attached to the word mm .
f There is, however, no reason to suppose that he did not adopt the view upheld by Dr.
Bernard, as here he only spsaks of the word as a whole, and does not say whether or not
he considered it capable of being resolved into different parts, whilst his translation is
identical with that given by Dr. Bernard, who always quoted him when he spoke of the
meaning of mm . Mendelssohn says indeed that mm has not its 1rue points, but as, with
his usual sound judgment, he does not suggest any other punctuation, he may still have
believed that the word was compounded of the past, pres. part., and fut, of mn or mn.
And this is a sort of intermediate view which I would recommend to those who, while
rejecting the present punctuation of mm are yet too cautious to accept any wholly
conjectural punctuation, such as mm &c., in its place.

APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 6. 543
I think they have. He would probably translate the first, I am, and the second,
He is, whereas I should translate the first I am, i.e., I am eternally, and the second
He was, He is, He will be = He is eternally. Mr. Wright and I, therefore, both
agree that mm means (as Mr. Wright himself puts it), " ' He that is,' ' The Being '
whose chief attribute is eternal existence"; and we differ only in the punctuation of
the word mm. But now let us see whether these passages favour either punctuation,
and if so, which they do favour, and if I can shew that they favour my view as much
as they do Mr. Wright's, this will satisfy me, as I do not base my view upon these
passages alone.
Strictly speaking, of course God cannot be designated at all — not even in the most
imperfect and partial manner — by any word expressing time, for He was before all
time, and without Him there would have been no time. Time, therefore, for Him
does not exist. But in the case before us it was necessary that God should give
Himself some name, and He accordingly chose a word expressing infinity of time
as the name best suited to Him. And, indeed, it seems to me that the human mind
can better conceive infinity of time than any other infinity, which can be attributed
to God. The mind is accustomed to range backwards and forwards in time, and
that within, I think, wider limits than in anything else. In space indeed we also roam,
both with our eyes and with our minds, but here I think it is less easy to conceive
infinity, as (from the very fact of our generally using material [or comparatively
material] organs for the consideration of space) material bounds are constantly
opposed to us which are wanting in time — besides which it would be difficult to
find one word expressing at the same time infinity of space and the fact that a
Being has the range of this infinity. Existence (if we exclude the Divine existence)
is inevitably connected with time ; but we can conceive existence without space.
Infinity of power, too, appears to me much more difficult of conception than infinity
of time, because we seldom realize power, unless we see it exercised, or feel its
effects — and similar objections might I think be raised against any other infinity
which could be attributed to God.
But, if God chose infinity of time, what one word would so well express it, and at
the same time His coexistence, His coeevality (if I may use the word) with it, as the
one word mnst lam. He could not say of Himself, I was and I will be, for, for
Him, the past and the future do not exist. Past and future imply change ; He is
immutable, and, therefore, always IS.* I am, therefore, is equivalent to I always,
eternally am, and expresses with grandeur unsurpassable one of the great attributes,
or, as Mr. Wright terms it, the chief attribute, of God. But I AM would have been
unintelligible to man as a proper name, as the name of a third person ; f to Moses
* I may here notice that long before I had turned my attention especially to this passage in Exodus,
I had observed that the present participle (tbe only true present in Hebrew), is very commonly used
of the intended, (i.e., future) actions of God. Comp. Exod. viii. 17, (A. V. 21) nhaa ':jn Behold
I [am] sending = Behold, I will send ! It is also sometimes used of God's past actions. Comp. Ps.
cxlvi. 6, v"iwt XDjya nilh? (though mijS is more common), lit., making heaven and earth, i.e., who
maJceih heaven and earth, though He made them long ago. Comp. also Isa. xliv. 24, where there are
several pres. part, equivalent to pasts. We may perhaps also compare John viii. 68, where Christ says ;
" Before Abraham was, I am," not I was. It must be allowed, however, that the pres. part, may also
be used = a fut. or a past, of men, though I think this is much less frequent. Comp. infra iii. 15;
Josh. viii. 4, &c.
t We do indeed find a few proper names or names of countries, wliich in form recal the first pers. of
the fut., but there is nothing to shew that they were so understood by the Hebrews. Comp. VaiN
(1 Chron. xxvii. 30) ; tya (Gen. x. 27) ; "i'Din (1 Kings ix. 28), as if from a root IB' , which, however,
does not exist ; anas (Josh. xix. 29), &c.

544 APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 6.
a man on whom a portion of God's spirit bad descended (see Numb. xi. 17, 25), it
might be intelligible, but to the people of Israel, "I AM hath sent me unto you,"
scarcely would have been. This is why,* I think, God, after telling Moses to say to
the people " I AM hath sent me unto you," corrects Himself (God in the Old Test.
frequently changes His mind, repents, &c.,) and tells Moses to say instead " mm
(Jehovah) hath sent me unto you." Now, if we point this, mm or mm , and
translate He is, with Mr. Wright and others, the correspondence is indeed complete,
for He is = , in the third person, what / am is in the first. Nor can I indeed here
make the same objection that I did to mrts , for we do find proper names which
without doubt are derived from, or actually represent, tbe third pers. fut. of certain
verbs f ; but would He is, as a name for God,- express to the human mind as fully as
might be, the eternity of God ? I think not. The case is no longer the same as with
mm? ; there God was speaking of Himself, and only to Moses ; He could not, therefore,
have used anything else than I AM, the meaning of which would no doubt be clear
to Moses, especially as he had already heard God say " I am that I am." He is may
indeed to the man who reflects convey the idea of eternity, but to the unthinking
multitude it would only convey the notion of one little point of time. Besides, in
Heb. the future, though sometimes used as a present, and even as an habitual,
continual present, is more commonly used as a future, for tbe only real present in Heb.
is the present participle, mm might, therefore, mean He is, or He will be, and so people
would have been puzzled to know which it did mean, especially as in this case they
could not, as in ordinary cases, derive any help from the context. And even if they
had combined the two meanings and considered the name to involve the ideas of
presence and futurity, they would have had but a very incomplete idea of the eternity
of God, who is eternal backwards as well as forwards. To man again, who loves to.
dwell upon the past, and hopes for, or fears, the future, and for whom the present
scarcely exists, since it is for ever flying from his grasp, the past and the future
would fill up an immeasurably greater space in eternity than the present, and,
therefore, a word intended to express to him the eternity of God (as the word
mm was no doubt intended by God to do) should include the past, the present, and
the future in direct terms, and not include the past and future indirectly, or by
implication, only, as is the case with the present, He is (mrr). Now such a word is
found in mm if it= f™"1} He was, mn being i.e., He is, and nlrp \ He will bei.
It may indeed be objected that the word nin; would be still more puzzling to the
people than mm. or mm ; but, as God had clearly explained His meaning to Moses
by the use of the words mn« -i©« mn« I am that I am, Moses may well be supposed
* God may also bave thought that if He called Himself n™ I am, His name, as being a word
already in common use, would he too frequently pronounced. See infra p. 545. Again I AM would
(as I have remarked below concerning Se is) scarcely express to the ordinary, unreflecting human mind
the eternity of G-od.
f Comp. prrs; (Isaac) he laughs (see Gen. xvii. 17) ; ap£. (Jacob) he supplants (see Gen. xxvii. 36) ;
^NSrra); (Ishmael) God hears ; pMJ; (Ishhak) = prob. he leaves. Comp. also "I31OT»; (Issachar) ; Fpi'
(Joseph) ; hvrfcr (Israel) ; Tr (Jair) ; tejTtm (Ezekiel), &c, &c. Now with regard to some of these
names, unlike those which have the form of the 1st. pers. fut., we either know (comp. Gen. xvii. 17,
xxvii. 36), or have very good reason for supposing, that the Hebrews themselves regarded them either
as futures or as compounded with futures. We also find verbal nouns of this form, e.g., "ins; oil,
prob. = it shines ; a'T (he contends) adversary ; TOJ (Ges., but?) ('"Vid; Jer. xvii.- 13, C'theev) me
drawing lack. But Kimchi regards the > in 'an; (Ps. xxxv. 1), Tp'-i; (Isa. xlix. 25) — for the absolute
form a'T given above does not occur — merely as a formative prefix like the * in rap' produce (from
Dip), and probably it might be so taken in other cases also.

APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 6. 545
to have explained the meaning of nin; to the people, by whom it would be handed
down to their posterity. But could not mm or mrr. just as well have been explained
to the people by Moses ? It certainly could, but how difficult (for the uneducated at
least) to remember that a word in every-day use in one sense, or rather two
senses, (He is and He will be), was, when applied to God to be understood altogether
in another (He is eternally) ! for it must be borne in mind that, according to Mr.
Wright's view, the holiest name by which God could be called, the name of which
Moses was believed to have forbidden the pronunciation (Lev. xxiv. 16), was, as the
pres. or fut. of the verb nin , every day and all day long, on the lips of the people in
another sense ! Was it likely that God should give Himself such a name as this ?
But whether Moses explained to the people the meaning of nin; or not, there is
every reason to believe that the meaning which I uphold as the meaning of mn'
(Jehovah), dates from the highest antiquity. Mr. Wright indeed would refer its
origin to the subtilizing, hair-splitting imaginations of a number of Christians who
lived some 200 or 300 years ago  and would trace it to the pass, in Rev. iv. 8,
o rjv Kal 6 bv Kal 6 ipxp^evos  but is it not more likely that John wished to express
by these words the meaning which had been handed down to him by tradition as
belonging to Jehovah ?
In conclusion, is it likely that God, when speaking of Himself in the first person,
should use the fut. of the more modern form mn (viz., mn«), but that when He speaks
of Himself in the third person, He should use the fut. of the more ancient form
mn (viz., mm) ? It may indeed be asserted that probably when the book was
written the more ancient verb mn was used in both places, but that afterwards the
more modern form (n;n«) was substituted for mnn , whilst mm was left — either
because it was a sort of proper name and so not subject to change like tbe working
parts of the language, — or, in order to distinguish the name of God from the
ordinary third pers. fut. mm . Or it might be said that, though God used rrrw ,
He preferred to use mm , the older form, in order that He might preserve His
name from the danger of being continually pronounced. These would be plausible
objections, but they are only suppositions or assertions, and is not one fact worth a
thousand such baseless suppositions or assertions ?
With regard to the word PP, and the termination in} (as -in}J?t27} , &c.), these
are generally supposed to support the derivation nin} , and certainly tbe Mappik
in the former shews us that the n is the first n of mn"1 > and not the second, so that
"T cannot, as some seem * to have supposed, be made up of the first and last letters
of nin1 f with the vowel belonging to the 1 . At the end of words, however,
n} is written without a Mappik (as in n}Ytt7} , &c.), and would, therefore, seem to
be composed of the first and last letters of nin'' with the Kawmets of the 1 .
in}, if in pause, might perhaps come from nlrP , just as we find -inPltp} (in
pause), for n.}nrip}5 but it is just as easy to suppose that the Kawmets is
derived from the last vowel of nin} t for why should in} , a mere termination,
be pointed as if it were in a constant state of pause ? But see supra p. 538,
note -j", and infra p. 546, note J .
The conclusion I come to, then, is, that the chief argument in favour of the
* I do not know that this view has been advanced totidem verbis, but what else does Mr.
Wright mean when he says that in the opinion of Delitzsch " the form m is not an
abbreviation, but a concentration oi the Tetragrammaton ?"
N N

54b' APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 6.
present punctuation, viz., the proper names compounded with in} , or r , far out
weighs any that have been adduced on the other side.
Mr. Wright mentions the view adopted by Dr. Bernard, that, namely, nin'' is
" compounded of the Present Participle, the Future and Preterite tenses of the
substantive verb," and supposes it to have been suggested by the expression in
Bev. iv. 8 (6 r/v Kal 6 &iv kcu 6 epxo/xevos). He rejects it, however, somewhat
summarily, saying, "But having agreed to reject the present punctuation, it is
useless to discuss any theories which may be based upon it, had they even greater
probability in their favour than the one just mentioned." Now I think that Mr.
Wright would have some difficulty in proving that this view is based upon the
present punctuation,* and, even if it was, he would still be wrong in so summarily
rejecting it for this reason, inasmuch as it certainly derives at least as much support
from the consideration of the word without its points, nin} reminds us only,
or at any rate, chiefly, of the pres. part, ni.n , whilst there is but little in
the pronunciation to recall to us either the past or the fut., f and it would be
impossible to extract either of these tenses in their more modern forms from
the word. But take away tbe points, and in. nin'' , the pres. part., past and
fut. of the old verb nin = n^n are at once before us, viz., nin , nin (in
Chald. nin), and nin1' . Of this old verb traces are still preserved in the
Bible. Thus, in Gen. xxvii. 29 we find nin ; in Job xxxvii. 6, Nin. ; in
Isa. xvi. 4, ^n ; and in Eccles. xi. 3, Nin} the apoc. fut., with paragogic N .
If, now, the rule laid down by Mason and Bernard in their Gramm.
(Lett. xxix. § 15) be true, that, namely, the future is formed from the imperative,
we should infer from these forms that the fut. of the old verb nin was nin} , and
not n}.ri} , the form adopted by Mr. Wright and others ; and, indeed, in Chaldee
(see Buxtorf and Gesenius) the fut. appears to be found only with the Segols
(e.g., N}nN Exod. vi. 7, Jer. xi. 4, &c), although the imperative has sometimes
a Chateph-Pathach under its first letter. But if the fut. were only n.)n}, how
could n} and in} come from it ? X

* It may be true that Grotius, Galatinus and the other writers mentioned by Mr. Wright
(p. 955) based the view upon the present punctuation, but I cannot believe that these
authors were the originators of the view, which, as I have said before, I regard as of
very ancient date.
j- Unless, indeed, the ' and final n are sufficient to remind us of the third pers. sing.
fut., and the two n's with the Kawmets may be thought to recall the past. But see
note * p. 548.
X It should be borne in mind, however, that it does not follow that, because the
imperative of mn is mn, therefore, the future must have been mm ; for, is not the
imperative of n'n , mn ? and yet its future is mm , the Sh'vah under the n being of course
quiescent (see Mason and Bernard's Gramm. vol. i. pp. 33, 61). The future of mn may then
well have been mm, and indeed the fut. Nin; in Eccles. xi. 29, points, in my opinion, to
this form; for, as mm, when apocopated, becomes 'm , so mm apocopated would become
nn; (comp. mrm* , wirrai;), the ' and the l taking the long vowels with which they most
readily blend and become mute, viz., Long Cherik and Shurik (see Ewald, Krit. Gram.

APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 6. 547
But, though the view adopted by Dr. Bernard is not necessarily based upon the
present punctuation, yet it seems to me that the present punctuation strongly supports
this view. For let us suppose this problem set : " Compose a Hebrew word with
vowel-points which shall combine in itself as far as possible the pres. part., the
third pers. sing. masc. past and fut. of the verb nin " — would it be possible to
find a word more nearly fulfilling these conditions than nin} , pointed as it
p. 94).* Kimchi says (lib. rad.) that «m; stands for mm (with Sh'vah quiescent), the n
taking the place of the n of mn . Comp. the form Nin given above. But in his Michlol
(fol. 134, col. i), he takes it to stand for Ni'm , like 'fin , for "!ftn , the x being paragogic
as in SiniS Niaa (Isa. xxviii. 12). He mentions, however, the view which I have given, as
advocated by Rabbi Jehudah. There is reason, therefore, to believe that in Hebrew, the
first n of mn had in the fut. a quiescent Sh'vah. The form mm , then, presents
two difficulties. In the first place, it has a moving Sh'vah under the first n ; and in the
second it has two Pathachs, in favour of which no evidence worth naming can be adduced
(for what is Epiphanius' 'Ia/3e worth?), and which (as Mr. Wright indirectly confesses)
have been adopted chiefly in order to suit the termination irr .
But, if I reject Mr. Wright's derivation of im from mm , a word which cannot be shewn
ever to have existed, can I produce any really existing form, from which im may have been
derived ? Well, I think that I may, without presumption, suggest that it may have been
formed from in; (the first three letters of nin; with the points of the first two), found in many
proper names, such as awjirr; &c. And first we should observe that the form in; is always
found at the beginning of the proper names compounded with it; whilst im is always
found at the end. Can any reason be assigned for these two facts ? I think so. At the
beginning of long words, (and the names compounded with im and im are all long words)
a short form, like im would be very acceptable, for, as in Hebrew tbe accent was always
upon the penultimate or ultimate syllable of a word, the first syllables of polysyllabic
words t were always necessarily shortened J as much as possible, the voice hurrying over
them to lay its stress upon the accented syllables. But at the end of words, i.e., in their
accented syllables, a short form like im could not be admitted. A form like im?#; would
have been intolerable, im , therefore, (so I would suggest) was lengthened into im , the
Sh'vah becoming Kawmets (as in np», nns),§ whilst the i was exchanged for the longer
and at the same time softer i . || So mnna); becomes (in pause) inn* and not inn* .
Indeed I do not know that the termination irrr ever occurs, though vrr , and in preceded
hy other vowels are common enough. Comp. Viis and in™ . But I need not have taken
all this trouble to shew Mr. Wright that im might become im , for he himself indirectly
allows it, when he derives both im and im from mm . As for m it is probably im with the
i dropped. * Mr. Wright says that mm , or nifp , becomes in; , and in; , in; ; but mnnifi; , which has two
Pathachs exactly Hke mm , makes inn* and not inn* . And can Mr. Wright shew me any verb
in which a Pathach under the formative ' of the future has become, through apocopation, Sh'vah ? or
can he shew me any case in which a 1 forming part of the root of a verb n"i has in the future become
through apocopation i P Besides, Mr. Wright would also form the termination im out of the same
mm . Is the same verb ever apocopated in two ways, and in two such very different ways ? Let Mr.
Wright choose which apocopated form he pleases, hut let him be modest and content himself with one 1
t The same is very commonly the case even when, if the shortening had not taken place, there would
have been only three syllables. Comp. nnai , D'ato , &c.
t See p. 556, lines 8—10.
§ The accent in the proper names ending in im is on the penultimate syllable.
II Comp. Prov. xiv. 3, msotip (in, pause) for the more regular, hut harder, ?")iD<pn .
N N 2

548 AFPENDIX. CHAP. I. 6.
commonly is ? And, even if the more common form of the verb, viz., n}n, were
given, it would still be a question whether nin} would not be preferable to n}i"l} ,
as the form n}.n for the part, does not exist. *
In the translation I have always used Jehovah instead of the Lord, or the
Eternal. I have rejected the Lord, which was no doubt borrowed from the Heb ,
"'J |N (the word which the Jews always substitute in reading for nin} when it
stands alone), or, at any rate, from the corresponding 6 /aSpios in the Septuagint,
because nin'' , however pointed, cannot possibly have signified Lord, or
anything in the slightest degree approaching to it. The Eternal I also
determined to reject, because, in the first place, though in Shakespeare,
Milton, &c, we find this expression applied to God, the custom of the present
day scarcely allows an adjective to be used with the def. art. as a substantive
singular, -f so that the Eternal — the Eternal One, has now somewhat the
appearance of a Gallicism or Germanism. But I had a second and much more
weighty reason ; it seemed to me, namely, that, although nin} (Jehovah) may
have had, and probably had, the meaning of the Eternal, X jet it could not possibly
have conveyed this meaning to the minds of those, who saw or heard it, with
such extreme distinctness as the Eternal does to us. The latter expression
forces its meaning upon us; we cannot escape from it ; the former says but little,
and we force its meaning upon it. It may be, indeed, that there was a tradition
current among the Jews to the effect, that nin"1 was supposed to be compounded
of three distinct parts of the verb n^n (or nin), but of these its pronunciation
only recalls one, the pres. part, n.in (6 oV), and even this with no very
remarkable distinctness. It is probable, therefore, that even if the Jews had used
the word, it would have very speedily ceased to suggest anything at all
* It must not be supposed, because in the last paragraph and in this, I seem to derive nin;
rather from the old verb mn than from mn , that I prefer to take it to be compounded of the
past, pres. part, and fut. of mn. I merely chose mn, because, as Mr. Wright maintains
that film is derived from it, I conceived that I had a right to make use of the same verb
in arguing against bim, and because at the same time it suited my purpose better. If nin; be
derived from mn , then the whole word (esp. if considered without points, mm) reminds us of the
fut. (mm) ; the last three letters with the long Chowlem (nin) remind us of the part, (njn); whilst
the same three letters (esp. the first and last) with the Kawmets (nin) remind us of the past
(mn). If, on the other hand, nin; be derived from mn , then, as I have already shown, we
have only to omit the points and we at once recognise in the unpointed letters, the unpointed
past, pres. part, and fut. of mn . I really cannot say which derivation I prefer ; but, perhaps,
as in the pass, in Exod. we find the fut. mn«, from the more modern form mn, I incline
to believe that nin; is derived rather from mn than from mn.*
f In the Auth. Vers, we constantly find such expressions as the wise, the foolish=Xke wise
man, the foolish man, and therefore joined with a sing. verb. But now, the wise, the
fboIish-=wise men, foolish men, and we cannot therefore join a sing, verb with them.
X Mendelssohn translates it der Ewige, and so does Wolfssohn, whilst Mr. Carey, in his
translation (London, 1858), has adopted the Eternal.
* But may not both forms be blended in it, just as they blend in conjugation, mn giving the part.
and mn the rest ?

APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 6, 10, 11. 549
to them  just as, when we pronounce bN (God), a word which actually means
might, we but seldom think of this meaning, and just as, when in English we
use the word God, we do not always bear in mind that it is commonly supposed
to mean good  and thus Jehovah would have become a proper name.
Ver. 6. The word 7*2^? (Satan) in the meaning of adversary, enemy, is found in
the sing, in 1 Kings v. 18, (Auth. Vers. v. 4), xi. 14, and elsewhere.
Our word fiend had originally much the same meaning, for it corresponds
to the Germ. Feind, Dut. vijand, Dan. Fjende, Swed. Fiende, Ang.- Sax.
feond, Iceland, fiandi,* all of which mean enemy, whilst the last two (feond
and fiandi) are esp. used of that foul fiend, the devil.
Ver. 10. if?? npty. After verbs signifying to hedge in, enclose, shut up,
confine, seal, protect, he., 1?2 is very commonly used. Thus we find it after the
verbs 13D (1 Sam. i. 6); ""na (Lam. iii. 7); "¦¦*? (Gen. xx. 18),- nnn (Job
ix. 7) ; W (Ps. iii. 4). Comp. also infra iii. 23, it??  "5IPJ5 .
Ver. 11. N7 DN may be explained otherwise than interrogatively. Verbs of
swearing, or phrases by which an oath is implied (such as "^N Tl, &c., (comp.
2 Sam. xi. 11), 'b nb'bn (2 Sam. xx. 20)), are followed by EN when the oath
is a negative one. Thus in ' Gen. xxi. 23, Abimelech says unto Abraham,
b ipajj-l CS  trribN:? >b n^t2?'n swear unto me by God that thou
wilt not deal falsely with me A The origin of this use of EN is best seen when
it follows the common phrase *TP^ nbl DTlbN >b nt£717} nb may God do so
unto me, and so may He add (sc. niE737;b to do), i.e., continue to do ; and this
phrase may either be followed by DN (1 Kings xx. 10), if (I do), or by Nb QN
(2 Sam. xix. 14), if (I do) not, do so or so, or if such and such a thing do (or
do not) happen. Similar modes of expression in English and French must be
familiar to every one, e.g., Je veux etre pendu si j'y comprends quelque chose I
(affirmative in appearance, but negative in reality, for it = je n'y comprends
ahsolument rien). Que le diable m'emporte si je-w'en tire pas vengeance !
(negative in appearance, but affirmative in reality for it = j'en tirerai bien cer-
tainement vengeance). If, therefore, ON after verbs of swearing, he., conveys a
negative meaning, Nb DN must bave an affirmative one, as it actually has. See
Feond and fiandi, seem to have been originally participles from feon and fia,
to hate.
t i.e., imprecate the wrath of God upon thyself if (dm) thou dealest falsely, &c. In
fact, whenever saiw (a pass, or reflective form) is followed by dm or ift dm it must either
be rendered to imprecate curses on oneself, or, if translated to swear, some phrase like, May
God do so and so unto me ! must be supplied after it, as after *»» TT (see p. 550, note f) — i.e.,
if it be wished to give to dm , and m1) dm , respectively, their literal meanings, if and if not.
The sentence quoted above from Gen. xxi. 23, would then become, swear unto me by God,
(i.e., say, may God do so and so unto thee) IF thou shalt deal falsely with me, — call down
God's curse upon thins head, if thou dealest falsely with me !

550 APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 11.
Josh. xiv. 9 ; Isa. xiv. 24 ; Gen. xxiv. 38, 39.* In the present passage, therefore,
we may either supply >'n'S73tt721 and I will swear that he will curse Thee, &c, or
"'?*? "Tl , (Numb. xiv. 28), [as~\ Hive he will curse, &c, or some such phrase as the
one above mentioned, e.g., May I be confounded IF he will NOT curse Thee, &c.
Nb ON is elsewhere found in this elliptical manner, e.g., Numb. xiv. 35, where God
says, n?J?^N . . . Nb DN [May . . . ] if I will not do ! i.e., I will surely do. Here
to translate shall I not do ? would take away all force from the passage, and the ellipse
is (at any rate partially) supplied in the same chapter ver. 28, ... Nb DN ^N TJ f
ntWN [as"] I live . . . if I will not do, i.e., I will most assuredly do. Comp.
also Gen. xxiv. 37, where Abraham's servant says "^N -oyaip}} And my
master made me sivear, saying, n|5Tl N7 thou shalt not take a wife to my son
from  (ver. 38), 'H.-.n . . . Nb DN but thou shalt go, he., where the
Nb DN seems to depend upon the ,?'572tp}1 , the author apparently having
forgotten that ""IDN2 intervenes. It is as if the words were, " and my master
made me swear, saying, and bidding me say after him, may such and such happen
to > and more also, Nb DN if K not go," &c. Comp. Josh. xiv. 9,
and Isa. xiv. 24, where "!DN7 is similarly interposed between the verb (372B7n)
and Nb DN . The presence of this 1DN? shews indeed very clearly that, when
y2Wn is used with ON 0r Nv DN, there is always an ellipsis.
The meaning, however, is much the same whichever way we understand the
N7 ON , for a neg. interrogation often expresses a strong affirmation in Heb.
(e.g., 2 Kings xv. 36 ; xvi. 19 ; xx. 20, &c). Comp. infra xvii. 2 ; xxii. 20 ;
xxx. 25 ; 1 Kings xx. 23, 25, &c. Nb DN in many of these cases is most
conveniently rendered in English by surely.
Ver. 11. T?S bS . Dr. Bernard's interpretation, because of Thine anger, is
very ingenious, and the words might no doubt have this meaning ; still I am
obliged to confess that the ordinary translation to Thy face appears to me much
more natural. It is, indeed, very true that it can make no difference to God

* In the first two of these pass. M1? dm is rend, in the A. V. surely. But in an
affirmative oath sawn is frequently followed by '? (instead of & dm), just as our swear
is by that. Comp. Gen. xxii. 16; 2 Sam. xix. 8, &c. In the latter of these two pass.,
however, we have dm '3 , apparently = that not, i.e., = really dm alone.
f This expression is somewhat difficult to understand. We say " as f live, /WILL do,"
the Hebrews say, ntoM xb dm 'jm ti [as~]Ilive  if I will not do, and yet the meaning
is the same. The fact is '?m tj is regarded as an oath, and is used and treated like one,
so that *ft dm is used after it according to the rules given above. We must, therefore,
supply some such intermediate phrase as "you shall see, I will make you see," when
the whole phrase would run, " As I live, you shall see if I will not do," or " So surely
as I live, may God do so and so to me if I do not, &c." It is not surprising then that
'?« tj is like sarcn also followed by '? (Isa. xlix. 18) which = m1; dm . See Ges. (Tregelles'
trans.) s. v. "? 1. B., who makes the ellipsis in this case I declare.

APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 11. 551
whether a man blasphemes Him openly, or in his heart ; i.e., as far as God's
knowledge of the blasphemy is concerned, still, in the poetical books of tbe Bible
such nice distinctions would very probably not be attended to. God is so gene
rally represented in the Old Test, as an Omnipotent Being, with all the feelings
and passions of a man, that we cannot be surprised if we find Him addressed in
language which, strictly speaking, is only applicable to man. Now to a man it would
make the greatest difference whether he were cursed to his face by another man,
or whether the curse were uttered behind his bach ; in the first case the insult
would be immeasurably greater, and as such no doubt would the man-God of
the Old Test., like man, consider it (comp. Isa. lxv. 3, Exod. xx. 3). And
indeed, God, divested of all human passions, and regarded as a perfect Being,
would doubtless hold the man who blasphemed Him to His face, i.e., openly
and publicly, a greater sinner than the one who blasphemed Him only in his
heart, for the latter would necessarily still retain some fear for God, the other
would publicly have rejected all reverence for Him.
In the present passage, however, I do not think it is sufficient to understand
to Thy face = merely openly or publicly, as most Commentators have
understood it. It seems to me that the grandeur of the plan of the work will
be increased, if we understand it quite literally, and if we suppose Satan to
have been fully aware, as he of course must have been, that it was quite
possible for God and Job to meet face to face. To thy face would therefore
mean when or if he (Job) comes into Thy presence, when he stands face to
face with Thee. Satan challenges God twice, here and infra ii. 5. The first
time he says, "Put forth Thy hand and smite all that he hath, and he will
curse Thee to Thy face,'' (i.e., if, or when, Thou shewest Thyself to him).
God accepts the challenge and permits Satan to destroy all that Job had, but
as this did not elicit even a single murmur from Job, there was not the slightest
probability that he would curse God to His face, and, therefore, God does not
appear to him, but contents Himself with pointing out to Satan what a false
estimate he had formed of Job. Satan is, however, by no means discouraged.
He replies that a man will bear a great deal as long as his own body is spared,
but triumphantly asserts that, if Job's bone and flesh be only touched, he will
certainly curse God, and that to His very face. God accepts this second
challenge, and allows Satan to afflict Job with a very grievous disease. Job
now certainly realizes in a measure Satan's predictions — and, though he does
not actually curse God, yet he indulges in extremely unbecoming language
towards Him, and besides utters terrible imprecations against the day of his
birth, imprecations which might well be regarded as indirectly uttered against
Him who had ordained his birth. Still his language is not of a nature to lead
us to believe that, if brought into the presence of God, be would venture to
curse Him. He does indeed repeatedly express his longing to stand before God,
but it is that he may plead his cause before Him, though he is afraid that be
will be overawed by His mighty presence (Ch. ix. 34, 35, &c), and wishes that
he could be allowed to plead his cause before God as one man pleads before
another. When, therefore, God at last appears to Job, He seems to have a double

552 APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 11  13.
purpose in view. — He answers Job's repeated prayers,* and He puts Job to the
test to which Satan (according to my view) wished him to be put ; for, if God
had not appeared, Satan might well have exclaimed, " Oh ! but he would surely
have cursed Thee if Thou hadst appeared unto him." But when Job sees God,
he is totally unable to plead his cause before Him, although God challenges him
to do so— he feels his utter worthlessness and nothingness, and so far from cursing
God, he declares that he abhors himself, and repents in dust and ashes. God
thus obtains a most striking triumph over Satan, and although the King of Hell
does not venture to appear in this last scene, we may imagine him gnashing his
teeth with rage at this most signal defeat ; for it has been demonstrated to him
that man is not the vile creature he imagined, and that there are at least some
human beings who reverence and adore God for Himself alone, and not because
they hope to reap the fruits thereof in this world and hereafter.
I think, therefore, that by the words TJS '? , Satan should be understood to
challenge God to inflict the most manifold and exquisite torments upon Job, and
then to appear to him and see whether he would not curse Him. This view may
have been advanced by others, but I am not aware that it has.
For the expression T5? bs? , comp. Isa. lxv. 3, ""JS b? to My face, also used
of God ; and also infra xxi. 31, Exod. xx. 3.
Ver. 12. 1} Vr>b to put forth [the'] hand is sometimes followed as hereby
bN (e.g., Gen. xxii. 12, 2 Sam. xviii. 12, &c), and sometimes by 737 in much
the same sense, as in 1 Chron. xiii. 10, &c. ]¦ Similarly, in this chap., ver. 8,
we have b» ab cb, and in chap. ii. 3, bs db a^b . Comp. also b? T WW
n| infra xxi. 5, Judg. xviii. 19, Mic. vii. 16 ; and nsb (or nS in?) infra
xl. 4, and comp. Prov. xxx. 32, infra xxix. 9.
\59 D57D . For this in Chap. ii. 7 we have ,3? HNQ Comp. also ii. 10,
DTibNn nN» .
.... T .. ..
Ver. 13. D^ntl?} D"b3N . Observe that these part, agree, as we should expect,
with the masc. V32 and not with the fem. Vni32 , although this immediately
precedes them ; and so again ver. 18. Comp. infra xxiv. 19, 1'W"! On 03 n*2 _
But this is not always so. Comp. Jer. vii. 20, n3W3 "Tinrjl "'QN lit., My anger
and My wrath [is] poured out, where the part, agrees, both in gender and
number, with the fem., which is nearest to it.

* In the earlier parts of the book Job is more timid and expresses his apprehension
that, if he were to come into God's presence, he would be unable, through awe and dread,
to plead his cause (see infra ix. 32 — 35, xiii. 21, 22); but in the later chapters he is
represented as having become much more bold, and he hardily asserts that, if he could
but find God, he would approach Him with all the dignity of innocence and would fill his
mouth with arguments. It was necessary, therefore, that God should come forward to
confound him, and abase this overweening pride and self-conceit, for else Job, in his own
mind at least, would have borne off the victory.
t The ¦» is, however, sometimes better rendered against than upon, e.g., 1 Kings
xiii. 4. We also find a after t rfyie , e.g., Gen. xxxvii. 22; 1 Sam. xxiv. 7, &c.

APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 13  15. 553
DiTnN n^Da. See note on these words infra ver. 18, and on ^3 supra
ver. 4. Observe tbe masc. pron. affix.
Ver. 14. On"1!}  n1t£7*in Vn "i|73n . For a similar sudden change of gender,
see Gen. xxxii. 9, "If Esau come man} iinNn npn.Tan bN , to the one company
and smite it," where n.3.nD being of com. gend. (masc. Gen. xxxiii. 8,) fem. Ps.
xxvii. 3 ? * ) we have nnN agreeing with it in the fem., whilst the pron. aff. in"
which refers to it, is masc. Strictly speaking, we should have either TJNn , or
nsni . In the same verse njno is again used as a masc, being coupled
with the masc. part. "'Ntp? . Another instance occurs in Lev. xx. 6,
iniN VTpni N^nn K7Q3.a ^S nN pr\y\,. Here the change of gend. is,
perhaps, owing to the writer's thinking he had used tt^N (to which K7D3 js here
equivalent) when he had really used E?t>? , and if so, it would be a constructio ad
sensum; still, E??3 is occasionally found as a masc.
A good example of collective nouns followed by plur. participles is found in
2 Sam. xv. 23, onai7 D?rrbai: biis bip o^aia r?Nrrbai and all the
country [was] weeping (wept) [w«'£A] a loud noise, and all the people [were]
passing (passed) over, — where V"?.N; being com., though generally fem., is joined
with a masc. part., probably as = V~ll?rT '^N [the] men (inhabitants) of
the land. (See pass, quoted in tbe next note from 1 Sam. vi. 13). Comp. also
1 Kings x. 24, D'-ttfnaa V"JNn ba} . Comp. also Jer. 1. 6, nil3N Jrte , which
is a case exactly in point, as 1"^ corresponds to "^"ja .
Ver. 15. N3tt7 . The name of a country is here put for only part oi its
inhabitants. Similarly D'HSp is used = all the inhabitants of the land of
Egypt (e.g., Exod. i. 13 ; iii. 21, 22, &c.) ; and also of only a part of the
Egyptians, e.g., Exod. xiv. 25, 26, 30, &c. When we use England = the
English, as in Nelson's famous watchword, " England expects, &c ," we always,
I think, mean the whole of the inhabitants of England.
The name of a town is similarly sometimes used for its inhabitants, or a part
of them. Comp. 1 Sam. vi. 13, On^p bab /V31 and [they of] Bethshemesh
[were] reaping, where ^Dtt7 fVSi stands for K7DE7 n^a ''tpSN which occurs
lower down, ver. 15. See Ges. Lebrgeb. p. 718, Anm. 2. So we say, "All
London is gone to the Derby."
In Exod. xii. 33 we have an exactly parallel passage 0}"i?p PTO^I followed
by l^pN , a piur. ac[ sensum, just as here we have 12n . According to Gesenius'
rule (Lehrgeb., p. 469) that the name of a country, when it means the nation, is
* This pass, might be thought to prove nothing, for it is commonly said (see note in
Comm. on infra xx. 9) that, when a verb precedes its nom. case, it need agree with
it neither in gend. nor numb., so that njrra in this Ps. might, according to this rule, be
masc. Still, I think that Gesenius is right when he says (Lehrgeb., p. 718) that it is very
rare for a verb in the fem. to refer to a noun in the masc, when they agree in number ;
and, if this be so, then this pass, may be regarded as almost proving that rcno is sometimes
fem., and a comparison with the second hem., where we find a fem. verb, preceding and
agreeing with norrtp , WU1 materially support this view.

554 APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 15  18.
masc, but when merely the country, fem., we ought here to have Nap /S}1, but
he alludes to this passage (with which be compares 1 Sam. xvii. 21) and explains
it by saying that the land here stands for the inhabitants, as though we translated
and Sabcca fell. The distinction is, perhaps, somewhat subtle. See note on
1-iSn»1 infra vi. 19.
From the foregoing we see that there is no occasion to supply nsrjo , as Dr.
Bernard would.
nobSNI , lit, and I saved myself, i.e., I escaped. The Niph. seems here to be
used reflect. = Hithp., which we find in the same sense infra xix. 20 (nobnnNI).
Comp. infra xxix. 8 1Nan.31. and they used to hide themselves. This use of the
Niph. is very common. Sometimes on the contrary the Hithp. is used passively
= Niph., e.g., infra v. 4, INS'1!}'] , lit. and they shall crush themselves, i.e., they
shall be crushed. So in French, La porte s'ouvrit = the door was opened, opened.
Ver. 16. INSa -1373PI1. The verb 193 to burn, is nearly always followed by
the prep. ? . Comp. Numb. xi. 1, 3 ; Ps. cvi. 18 ; Isa. xlii. 25 ; xliii. 2. With
an ace I find it once only, Ps. lxxxiii. 15. Perhaps we may so interpret Ps.
xxxix. 4, E?N "I3?an ^"Orja fire burneth (burned) my thought[s], i.e., my thoughts
glowed, my mind, my imagination was on fire ; ",^,?n here answers to >x~y my
heart, heart being here used for tbe seat of intense feelings. So infra xxxviii.
36, ,"P?? , which, probably, primarily meant thought, is used as the seat of
the thoughts, the mind. At any rate, the passage may grammatically be taken
thus. It is very important that the student should notice by what prepositions verbs
are generally followed, as else he will often endeavour to translate them when they
are really far better left untranslated. The use of the a in this case may, perhaps,
have arisen from the fact that, except in the case of very inflammable substances,
or gases, such as gunpowder, coal-gas, or fire-damp, fire only gradually spreads,
and is therefore more correctly said to burn in a thing than to burn a thing. See
Numb. xi. 1, 3, where the a is generally translated among, and indeed, in the
pass, quoted from Ps. xxxix. 4, to burn in would make good sense.
D"H1?331 1^55? . Obs. the repetition of the a before tbe second noun. Prep.
are generally thus repeated in Heb. Comp. supra ver. 10, infra xix. 20 ; Deut.
vi. 10, 22 ; vii. 18 ; ix. 5, 27 ; x. 15, &c. ; 1 Sam. v. 7 ; Gen. xlvii. 24 ; Exod.
vii. 19, &c. Sometimes, however, only the first noun has a preposition, and this is
commonly the case in Eng. Comp. infra xix. 24, n"?.^1. b.p.3 D93 where n^Q^I
= m.Q>31. Comp. also infra xxi. 12, liaa") Fjha , x. 11, ] Sam. i. 4, &c. In
Lat. the prep, are frequently repeated before every noun (see Madvig's Gram.,
§ 470), and so they are in French. The repetition of the preposition, of course,
gives additional significance to those nouns before which it is repeated, i.e., it
places them on a level with the first noun.
For a similar use of nj  n.T one, another cf. 1 Kings xxii. 20 ; and also
infra xxi. 23 and 25.
Ver. 18. OiTriN n'oa . I endeavoured to shew in my note on ver. 4 that, while
JT'a alone, without a preposition, corresponds very closely to the Fr. chez, JT>32:

APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 18 — 20. 555
is a more forcible expression, and refers more particularly to the house itself, and
less to those in the house. Thus OnTIN rP3 chez leur frere, would not direct
the attention of the reader so much to the fact that Job's sons and daughters were
in their brother's house, as that they were on a visit to him. But here the house
is the principal object, as in the next verse we are told that it was overthrown by
the wind, and this is why, I think, n'OS ;s used. So Le Maistre de Saci, in his
translation of the Bible, renders ver. 4, " Ses enfans allaient les uns chez les
autres," whilst he renders ver. 18, " Lorsque vos fils et filles mangeaient et
buvaient dans la maison de leur frere alne," and not chez; and in ver. 13 he
also has dans la maison. M. Kenan, however, uses chez in all three places.
There is, however, this difference between rpjl and chez — that, while the
former, of course, at once calls up the idea of a house, chez does not necessarily,
do so, as to people in general its connexion with casa is unknown.
In ver. 1 3. OninN. iT3 chez leur frere, might have sufficed, but even there
the 3 is prob. prefixed for the same reason as here.
Ver. 19. 37?}1 . This masc. verb refers to nil which also agrees with the
feminines nbnSJ and nN2 . Nor is this the only inst. in which nil is used in
both its genders in the same ver., for in 1 Kings xix. 1 1 we have Pjni. n?il| nil
and infra iv. 15, the verbs m'O^ and ~>??pn probably both refer to it. See note
in Comm. on Dil'H} 727 supra ver. 14. The verb 3W3 is comm. found with the
prep. 2. See note on ~'?2W1 supra ver. 16.
Op3?3 . In the Pentateuch "}I>.3 is found twenty-two times in the sense of
girl (= the ordinary nn?3 ), and in all these instances Gesenius would, it seems,
read ~l?? , which he conceives originally was used of both sexes, comparing Nin ,
which is nearly always found in the earlier books, for NT! , and which Gesenius
would point Nin, as be thinks this originally meant both he and she. What
he says is certainly plausible, still, if he always adopted the C'theev, he might
get into difficulties. Comp. 1 Kings xii. 7, 7?^:- •
Ver. 20. ib^D = ib^D ; and so again infra ii. 12. Short Cherik is very
freq. used instead of Long Cherik. For examples in this book, see Index. This
substitution is, I think, particularly comm. in the part., and perhaps fut., Hiph. of
verbs. Similarly, we find Kibbuts for Shurik (comp. DltED , supra ver. 7, with
OBpD, infra ii. 2). Deficient Chowlem, too, is very commonly found for Full
Chowlem. Whether these shortened (or perhaps better defective) forms corres
ponded to a shortened pronunciation, I cannot undertake to decide. The question
only applies to short Cherik and Kibbuts * (or Deficient Long Cherik and
Deficient Shurik, as they are sometimes called), for I believe it is allowed on all
hands that there was no difference of sound between Full and Deficient Chowlem
(see Mason and Bernard's Gramm. vol. i. p. 29, but see also note * p. 557).
There is, however, some reason for believing that Short Cherik and Kibbuts in these

* Ewald ingeniously suggests (Krit. Gram. p. 57) that the reason Kibbuts was used =
Deficient Shurik was that, if the l of the Shurik had been omitted like the ' of Long
Cherik, the dot remaining would have been regarded as a Dagesh.

556 APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 20.
cases were really pronounced short, at any rate, shorter than Long Cherik and
Shurik are, when pronounced alone. It is to be observed that the scriptio plena
is commonly retained (that is, the fidl forms ^~ and 1 are used) in strongly
accented syllables and especially in the end-syllables of words ; but that the
farther the syllables originally are, or become,* removed from the end, the
more usual it is to drop tbe > and the 1 (i.e., to use the defective forms), f But,
if the Hebrews pronounced according to the accents (which there is every reason
to suppose they did) they must have glided over the first syllables, whether long or
short, for else they could not possibly have laid the accent upon one or other of the
two end-syllables. Whether, therefore, Deficient Long Cherik and Deficient Shurik
(Kibbuts) are really as long, (i.e., as far as quantity 4s concerned) as Full Long
Cherik and Full Shurik, is quite immaterial, for it is evident that, if they were
especially used at a distance from the accent, they must have been pronounced very
much like real Short Cherik and real Kibbuts ; X and I think, therefore, that it is
extremely probable that the"1 and 1 were dropped in these cases in order to indicate the
shortened pronunciation. In the word Augustus in Latin, the au is quite as long
(as far as quantity is concerned) as the au in claudus, or laude (laus) still, if we
suppose that Augustus was accented Augustus, it is clear that its au must have been
pronounced shorter than that of claudus which has the accent, and in Italian,
this difference is indicated in writing. Augustus (the month) has become dgosto,
whilst in claudicare, the au remains au, and in lode, it has become o long. So in
English too, in familiar language, certain words are pronounced differently
according as they have, or have not, the accent. Thus, if, in " will you give
me, &c. ? " we lay the chief accent on the give, the ou of the you has rather the
sound of the u in full (Kibbuts) than that of oo in fool. But, if we lay the
accent on the you, then the ow = the oo in fool (Shurik). So in "give mS an
apple,'' the e of me= nearly i in pill (Short Cherik); but, in "give me an
apple," the e of me=ee in peel (Long Cherik). We do not now indicate this
difference of pronunciation (which is but seldom appreciated by foreigners) in
writing,^ but, if English were dying out, and it were thought desirable to preserve
* Become removed  , by means of prefixes or postfixes, &c. Thus we always find
0'j?n , but often 'niapn ; always a'* , but always (3 times) ':a* ; always ia'* , but ma*i_
occurs twice, whilst ma'*!, and inia'ip;i_ do not occur at all.
¦f Ewald, from whose Krit. Gram. (pp. 60, 61), I take tlie above paragraph, though
before I consulted his book, I had already observed these facts, here quotes d^sib (Cant.
ii. 15) as an example. Ewald, however, seems to consider that there is no difference in
pronunciation between Long and Short Cherik under any circumstances (der I-Laut
(Chirek) wurde nicht in zwei Ausspraehen zerlegt, p. 56), nor between Shurik and
Kibbuts (der U-laut konnte nicht in zwei Ausspraehen getheilt werden, p. 58), though he
allows that the I-Laut and the U-Laut are under certain circumstances more and less
gedehnt, than under others. Is not this virtually allowing a difference in pronunciation?
X By real Short Cherik and REAL Kibbuts, I mean Short Cherik and Kibbuts when,
as in fdl , to , &c, they do not stand for Long Cherik and Shurik.
§ The Dutch, however, sometimes do in similar cases. Thus gij (pron. chy — ch as in
Germ. Loch), which corresponds to our you, is in familiar language shortened intone (yS— e
as in Fr. de), and so it is often written. Similarly ztj, they, is frequently pronounced sse,
and is also so written.

APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 20. 557
its pronunciation as far as possible, is it not likely that some plan would be
adopted for the sake of indicating this difference ? And even now, in
phonography, we do not write oo in goose, as we do oo in gooseberry, nor ea in
break-water, as ea in break-fast. Such seems to me to have been at least one
object aimed at in the scriptio plena and defectiva, and I doubt not that, if all the
passages in which the scriptio defectiva occurs were attentively considered, and
the accents preceding and following the words in which it is found were carefully
weighed, we should be better able to account for its occurrence than we now
always are.* See note on infra xvi. 5.
At all events, however we pronounce, we ought to distinguish between these
defective (or deficient) forms and those cases in which Short Cherik, and Kibbuts -
do not stand for Long Cherik and Shurik, and were undoubtedly pronounced
short, as in "IS? , 1v3 , &c. I myself am in the habit, however, of pronouncing
all Short Cheriks and Kibbuts', without distinction, short, as else I should find it
very difficult to remember, in what words the defective forms chiefly occur.
To the same category, also, I would refer such examples as T?^. in ver. 21,
for the longer, fuller TINS} . Gesenius is, I believe, right when he says
(Lehrgeb., p. 51), that it is chiefly in the older books that the defective forms are
found ; still, comp. infra viii. 8, "P^p (C'theev) for the usual ]wN~l , though
the ^ here is commonly regarded merely as supplying the place of the N .
n2~iN 7Q}1 lit. And he fell towards, or to [the] earth = he fell upon the
earth, the ground  inFItt?*! and he worshipped. In Eng. we generally say, to
fall upon the ground (at any rate of persons), but in the Auth. Ver., probably
out of compliment to the Heb., to fall to the ground t is much more commonly
met with. ns"}N is not unfreq. found, where, according to our ideas, V~!Nn 71?
cm the ground, would be more suitable. Comp. Gen. xxviii. 12, "And behold a
ladder n21.S 2273 set up on [the] earth;" and in 2 Sam. xii. 16, xiii. 31, we
find n^")S 33E7 = to lie on the ground. Comp. also Exod. ix. 23, Judg. iii. 25,
1 Sam. v. 3, 4, xiv. 32, xxviii. 20, 2 Sam. xiv. 14, &c. In like manner, we
have nns'tan Lev. i. 9, 13, 15, commonly rendered on the altar. For other
examples see Ges. Lehrgeb. p. 633. We may perhaps also cite as somewhat
similar V"3¥t ""^ (infra, ii. 13) to sit on the ground, and ND3? (infra xxxvi. 7)
on the throne. After the verb b23 , however (and the same may be said of
mnnt!7n) + , n^"]N seems to be nearly always used, at any rate when persons
are spoken of. I find YIN1? twice after b23 (Ezek. xxxviii. 20, Amos iii. 14)
* Ewald points out (and correctly), that ninpo is more frequently found than niiaipo and
nfripn , i.e., that Deficient Chowlem is found rather in the penultimate unaccented than in the
ultimate accented syllable, so that Deficient Chowlem would also, like Deficient Long Cherik
and Deficient Shurik, seem to be sometimes used to indicate a shortened pronunciation.
t To fall TO the ground seems to me to be used chiefly when it is wished to express
that the object falling falls as far as, i.e., reaches, touches, the ground, and so it is, I think,
commonly used of things. Thus of any light object we might well say, " It floated about
for a long time, but at last it fell TO the ground."
X After mnmun , however, I twice find <*™ (ace. of motion), viz., 1 Sam. xxv. 23, Isa.
xlix. 23.

558 APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 20.
when things are spoken of. If V^n b37 occurs after these two verbs, it is, I
think, extremely rare. To fall on one's face is almost always rendered bj7 7D3
VBN b? * V33 ; still we do find V33b= (e.g., 1 Sam. v. 3)t, V3B bN (2 Sam.
xiv. 22), and VBN^ (1 Sam. xx. 41f, 2 Sam. xviii. 28, and comp. Gen. xlviii. 12).
But n^lN 723 seems to have two meanings in Hebrew. It sometimes means
to fall flat, with one's whole length, upon the ground, accidentally or involuntarily,
as Judg, iii. 25 ; and this is more fully expressed by the addition of I^S 75? 0n one's
face (as 1 Sam. xvii. 49, and comp. v. 3, 4), or of innip N7D (1 Sam. xxviii. 20)
lit. [ivith the] fulness of one's stature = all along, at full length. Sometimes,
however, n^")N 733 , either alone as here, or with V33 b? (as Josh. vii. 6,
Judg. xiii. 20, 2 Sam. xiv. 4, Ruth ii. 10, &c), is used of a voluntary act, and
then vC3 can scarcely, especially when "PSS /V is added, be translated to fall,
for one could not fall on the ground, at any rate on one's face, without sustaining
injury. 733 in these cases, therefore, seems to mean to let oneself down, get
downJ^mpn (Deut. ix. 18, 25, &c), just as nalpa, bn| bj7n bD3 (Gen.
xxiv. 64, 2 Kings v. 21) = to get down, alight from a camel, a chariot,
for which we elsewhere (as 1 Sam. xxv. 23) have T^ . n|"]N T39 by bS3
would, therefore, only mean to put oneself upon the ground upon one's face. But
whether this expression, in this case also, is intended to denote actual prostration,
i.e., an actual lying at full length with tbe face against the ground, is I think
very doubtful. The Arabs have a similar expression, viz., j,ji\ j^ ir,} jc j,
lit. to fall upon one's face upon the ground, but by which, at the present
time at least, they only mean to go down upon one's knees, kiss the
ground and touch it with one's forehead X Now if this be the meaning of
n'2-)N V3Q b]7 bD3 (when used of adoration), then, nS"iN VQN by ninnt2?n
* vbm te occurs only in 2 Sam. xiv. 33, 1 Kings i. 23 ; and mBM 'is only once, viz.,
2 Sam. xiv. 4.
f But I think it is quite possible here to take vaj} = before it, i.e., the ark, so that
nin; }ilM *:p) would be merely a repetition explaining v:d} . Such explanatory repetitions
are very common in Hebrew. Comp. Ps. cvi. 7, Isa. xliv. 17, &c. So tb«^ in 1 Sam.
xx. 41, might be rendered before him (Jonathan), for in 1 Sam. xxv. 23, we find "rn '.bm} teni
and she fell BEFORE David, and in Gen. xlviii. 12, Mendelssohn translates 1'BMb vor ihm.
X When the Arabs (or other Mussulmen) pray, they fall upon their knees, and then,
letting themselves down upon the palms of their hands, they first kiss the ground and
afterwards touch it with their foreheads* This ceremony they designate by the verb
". , or more commonly \^\_ \ to fall down adoring, or in adoration, the \^\_ being
added much as mnrron often is in Hebrew. The Arabs are, however, better off than the
Hebrews ; the latter have only one verb te: which they use both of voluntary and involuntary
falling, but the Arabs usey- t of voluntary falling (genuflexion, &c.) only, whilst for
* The nose prevents the accomplishment of these last two acts (kissing and touching the ground
with the forehead) at, once. Tbe latter is considered as a mark of deeper respect than the former,
perhaps because in order to accomplish it, the head must be bowed still lower down. When a
Mahometan salutes a friend, he commonly puts his (own) hand first to his mouth and then, as a
mark of deeper respect, to bis forehead.
t "i is, however, used of a falling or shooting star, as in j^1 ^^ .

APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 20. 559
(which we meet with twice, viz., 1 Kings i. 23, 2 Sam. xiv. 33), lit., to bow
oneself upon one's face to the ground, would seem to convey the meaning better.
At all events, to fall upon one's face upon the ground, expresses a very different
proceeding. To fall down upon the ground, however, seems, especially when to
worship is added, to = to fall down upon the knees only, and this is the meaning
conveyed by the Fr. tomber, in tomber aux pieds or aux genoux de quelqu'un,
and by tbe Germ, einen Fussfall thun. That the Hebrews sometimes went down
upon their knees to pray to God, we learn from 1 Kings viii. 54, 2 Chron. vi. 13,
Ezra ix. 5, and that the worshippers of idols also fell upon their knees before
them we see from 1 Kings xix. 18 ; but I do not know any passage which
warrants the conclusion that the Hebrews, on such or like occasions, kissed the
ground or touched the ground with their foreheads. Yet Gesenius gives as the
primary meaning of ninnt£7n inclinavit se, prostravit se, and adds : " solebant
qui aliquem hoc modo salutabant, in genua procumbere et fronte humum
tangere (unde saape additur n^~iN D}QN , nS~lN VQNb; , vel simile quid." This
explanation of his is evidently derived from the Arabic lexicons in which ¦*?¦"
(Heb. 130) is thus explained, though from what Golius says, it evidently did not
always mean to touch the ground with the forehead, but was sometimes used only
of bowing the head and body;* and that this latter meaning is the primary
signification of ninnt&n (and not the secondary as Gesenius would have it) is
clear from a consideration of the root, and esp. from Gen. xlvii. 31, 1 Kings i. 47,
where it can mean nothing else. Nor does the frequent addition of nSTN D}QN
seem to me in any way to prove that the ground was necessarily always touched
with the face, for the words might very well be used merely of a very deep
the involuntary act, or falling in the ordinary sense of the word, they use «ij or U..
Thus in 1 Sam. xvii. 49, where Goliath is said to have fallen on his face on the earth,
when slain hy David, ns}M tea is used — the same expression which here denotes to fall down
on the ground and worship. But in Arabic J- could not be used in the pass, in Sam.
In the Arabic version, indeed, which is given in Walton's Polyglott Bible, we find
u"jW J* sifi-} Jf !«s- in both places, hut Mr. Catafago, a native of Syria, from whom
I have all these details, tells me that tu_. , which rather = iS} , only that it is used of
falling from a greater height, would not now be used in our present pass. (Job i. 20),
but that "^ would be substituted for it. The Arabs also fall down, kiss the ground and
touch it with their foreheads, when they come into the presence of the Sultan, and |^__\_ "
is also used of this proceeding.* In this position, however, they naturally only remain for
a very short time, but in the course of their prayers they repeat the process (which
reminds us somewhat of our practice of bowing at the name of Jesus) perhaps four or
five times. In the intervals they remain upon their knees, hold their faces towards
heaven and keep their hands, not palm to palm, but widely apart,f and perpendicularly to
the earth, with the palms directed straight in front of, and away from, them. And this is
perhaps, the position of the hands which is designated in Heb. by the phrase vt ins to
spread out one's hands (unto God).
* Mr. Catafago says that j*" still occasionally, though more rarely than formerly, means
to bow the head only, but that it now nearly always implies falling upon the knees.
* Mr. Catafago assures me that the Mahometans never lie upon their tellies, either when they pray,
or when they salute the Sultan.
t i.e., at the distance which separates the arms when held out parallel to one another.

560 APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 20.
obeisance, just as the Fr. expression saluer jusqu'd terre implies nothing more
than a very low bow. But, though I do not think that there is any proof that
ninntpn is (as Gesenius seems to maintain) nearly everywhere, excepting in
tbe two pass, just quoted, used of what he calls prostration, yet I think it is not
impossible, and, it may be, not improbable that it frequently has the meaning he
assigns to it. For, from Gen. xxxvii. 7, 9, 10, we see that ninj~lt27n is sometimes
regarded as equivalent to n2")N mnnt27n , and then we have '? mnntPn
n2-)S VBN (1 Kings i. 23, 2 Sam. xiv. 33),* apparently = nflN YOS by bS3 .f
* In Numb. xxii. 31, vb>A mro;i is translated in the A. V. "And he fell flat on his
face,'' as though the translators believed that he actually lay his whole length on the
ground; yet in Gen. xlviii. 12, they translate the very same words "and he bowed himself
with his face (to the earth)." But Mendelssohn has (in Numb.), " er biickte sich mit
seinem Angesichte."
f But rnrjM ten ^>» mnnmn is a much more concise, a much more accurate, and a much
more pleasing, expression. For we learn from it, firstly, that the person of whom it is
used does not fall down, but bows himself, or lets himself gently down, to the ground ;
and, secondly, that he does so for the sake of praying to God, or of shewing respect to man
(see p. 562, note -f) : whereas ns-i« v:9 b$ to is a loose expression, which may be so readily
understood of an accidental, or involuntary fall upon the face, that, if it is intended to
express a voluntary act performed for the sake of salutation or adoration, it is usual to
add mm/ran , so that ns-ia ven ¦» inn*! is really = inn*i ns'iM v:b *» te»i. mnniun,
however, when thus added, necessarily loses, more or less, its meaning of bowing oneself,
which merges in that of falling expressed by te: , and so merely serves to impart to te: the
notion of salutation or adoration, which it has itself, but that verb has not. It becomes,
therefore, a sort of adverbial appendage, and so the Arabs replace it by an adverbial participle
1j^.L. j- and the Italians by apart, (cadde  salutando, adorando) whilst we might
say, he fell down  in prayer or adoration, though we could not say in salutation.' In
the A. V., it is, in these cases, commonly rendered by to do reverence, or obeisance, when
used of man ; and by to worship, when used of God.
* But, if this is so, then in our present pass. inF,ip>i ns-iN -e;i , the action expressed by innai'i occurs
simultaneously with, and not posteriorly to, that expressed by te?l . Well, upon reconsideration, I
think that is, or may be, so. In a note on S13W1 'nNS; infra iii. 11, I shew that > often couples
two verbs expressing simultaneous actions, and in the Comm. Dr. Bernard goes farther than this, and
maintains (see note on ttftrpi infra xiv. 10), that the vav conversivum sometimes " has the power of
making a future tense refer to a past time, antecedent to the time referred to by another verb preceding
it." Comp. also my note on Mjijjn supra ver. 5. And, indeed, unless we deprive mnnicn here (and
in similar pass.) entirely of its original meaning of bowing, the two verbs must express simultaneous actions,
for how could one bow oneself afteb. he had fallen on his face on the ground ? (See p. 562, note *)
I would take the meaning, therefore, to be he fell, lowing himself in adoration, to the ground. This
use of a part, was, however, repugnant to the genius of the Hebrew language, and so, instead of saying
n?™ mnrTOp te;i, in which way mnniyp is never found), they said, but with the same meaning,
inmii'J nsn« "JS?! (a construction which very frequently occurs). The action expressed by inn*l ,
however, although beginning at the same moment as that expressed by feai is continued longer, for it
is probable that it included the position maintained whilst the words of the prayer, supplication, &c,
(when anything was said) were uttered (comp. Job i. 20, Exod. xxxiv. 9, Gen. xxiv. 26, &c.) The
position maintained by the Mahometans of the present day when pronouncing their prayers, &c, is as I
have stated (p. 658, note f) a kneeling one; and that this was the position maintained by the Hebrews

APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 20. 561
Besides y"!3 which, like mnntfn means to bow down, is freq. found with
0}?~!2 vy 0n the knees, = to fall down upon the knees, and in 2 Chron. vii. 3,
we have ^nj-itpii ns^nn by ns-iN D}qn iy?a}i, where ninnrcn , if it had
likewise is probable, both a priori (for who could speak with his mouth touching the ground, or say
more than a very few words with his mouth just above the ground (see infra) ), and especially from
2 Chron. vi. 13, where we are expressly told that Solomon fell down upon his knees before he
commenced his prayer, whilst from the corresponding pass. 1 Kings viii. 54, we learn that when he
"had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication. . . .he arose. . . .from kneeling on his knees
with his hands spread up to heaven." In 1 Kings viii. 22, indeed, we are told that Solomon stood whilst
he uttered this prayer, but, if we comp. ibid. ver. 54, and esp. 2 Chron. vi. 13, where it is also said that
he stood upon the brazen scaffold before be fell down upon bis knees, this seeming contradiction
contracts into a mere omission. It appears, however, from 1 Kings viii. 14, that the congregation of
Israel stood during this prayer, and from 2 Chron. vii. 3, that they fell down upon their knees at its
conclusion. In 1 Kings viii. 55, also, Solomon is represented as standing whilst he pronounced a
blessing upon the children of Israel, but this seems to be the natural position under such circumstances
(comp. Lev. ix. 22, Numb. xxiv. 2, &c), though "pa to bless, is closely connected with Tia a knee.
The Jews of the present day repeat their prayers sitting, or in the case of prayers of a more solemn
character, standing, but they never kneel down to pray as we do. On two days of the, year, however,
the day of Memorial (their new year's day), and the day of Atonement, the reader (minister) and, if the
ceremonial is strictly observed, the whole congregation, do fall prostrate three or four times ; that is,
they fall on their knees, and then letting themselves down upon the palms of their hands, they bring
their faces till within a short distance of the ground, and hold it there whilst they repeat a, few set words ;
bat they very quickly rise and resume Iheir former position. They differ from the Mahometans,
therefore (see p. 558, note f), in that they do not touch the ground either with their mouths or their
foreheads, and in repeating a few words while prostrate, for the Mahometans say nothing until they
have raised up their heads and assumed tbe position I before described. Both agree, however, iu that
they never lie flat upon the ground with their whole body touching it. As it is when the Jews come
to the words in their service D'innsStai D'S-iia lanjNi, that they thus prostrate themselves, it is
reasonable to suppose that they understand mnnian (or the two verbs together) to designate that mode of
prostration which they adopt; but it is only upon the days above named that they prostrate themselves,
and not whenever the word mnniDn occurs in their prayers. Now, if the Hebrews adopted the same
mode of prostration, as the Jews of our day, they may hke them have uttered a few words whilst
prostrate, but it would certainly be extremely fatiguing, if not impossible, to repeat a long prayer in
such a position. Bat as the Jews sometimes clearly differ from the Hebrews (as e.g., with regard to
kneeling) we are not entitled to conclude that, what the Jews do, the Hebrews did.
There is, however, a pass, in 2 Chron. xx. 18, which seems to oppose the view given in the early part
of this note, for there we have a sentence of the form nimb ninfil^rr) n2"lN bb1*! and he fell on the
ground for the purpose of worshipping Jehovah, as though he did not begin to worship, until after
he had fallen on the ground. But even here it is clear that the act of worship or adoration really
began at the moment he began to fall, although very likely continued after he had reached the ground ;
and that the translators of the A. V. took my view is shown by their rendering nirynilin1; in this pass.
worshipping. And here it may be remarked that, though to worship very conveniently translates
mnninn in this and similar pass., yet this verb does not convey exactly the same idea to us that mnrran
did to the Hebrews ; for mnniDn being a Hithpael, or reflective verb, and as such, being followed, not
by an ace., but by a prep., such as h , 'art , &c, it never can, I think, have ceased altogether to convey
the notion of bowing oneself down before some one, a notion, which is not by any means a prominent,
or even obvious, one, in our verb to worship.
With regard to the practice in the Greek Church at the present day, my friend, Mr. Randolph, tells
me that he has frequently seen Russian sailors (members of course of the Greek Church) prostrating
themselves in a Catholic Church before the Blessed Sacrament upon the altar. " They kneel," he
says, " on both knees, and then bow down their heads and touch (or sometimes even audibly knock)
the pavement with their foreheads ; after which, raising np their heads, but still remaining on their
knees, they pray for some time. Finally, they again bow down their heads and touch the pavement with
their foreheads, as before; and then they get up and go away." They thus agree very closely with the
Mahometans. O O

562 APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 20.
not been better employed, might evidently have been used instead of y^a , and
where the addition of on the pavement seems to show that the people at any
rate knelt down whether they touched the ground with their faces or not.
Solomon, upon the same occasion, had already gone upon his knees (2 Chron.
vi. 13), and it is probable that the people followed his example. The addition
too of 1in^llj£7»1 in the sentence just quoted appears to indicate that it was
necessary to kneel down with one's face to the ground before the action indicated
by mnnt27n (in one of its meanings at least) could be performed (but see p. 560,
note \ (*) ). And when it thus stands at the end alone, mnnt&n is commonly
rendered to worship, and this meaning must be given to it in some pass, as
Gen. xxii. 5, 1 Sam. i. 3. As for our own pass., if n^"]N /D3 may mean
merely to fall upon the knees, then nin/1t£7n may imply the additional inclination
of the head and body requisite for the purpose of kissing the ground, or touching it
with the forehead, or of bringing the face close to the ground (see p. 560, note f (*) )
as though I said he fell down on the ground, i.e., on his knees, and bowed himself;
or as Job bowed himself here before God, it may be rendered to worship*
In nearly all, if not all, the cases in which ninnt2?n is thus added at the end,
its presence is necessary, as one might fall down on the ground, or bend one's
face down to the ground for other purposes than for the sake of worshipping
God, or of showing respect to a superior (or equal) t. And I may here
* It is, however, I think more natural to regard na-iN ba: as equivalent to the fuller
expression nsi» yob te tea ; and if so, then inn*i is to be explained as in p. 560, note f (*)-
And I am inclined to think also that there is frequently but very little difference, if
any, in meaning, between mnnwi, mrjsi mnn»n (see p. 560), and the fuller expression,
n§7« } 1,g"N"' i,'s ' for if we consider the present Jewish mode of prostration (see p. 560,
note f (*) )> &c., it is by no means clear that even when vjb b£, or vem te is added, the
face actually touched the ground, as these expressions might well be used of holding the
face close over the ground.
f mnrnrin (much like the corresponding Eng. to bow) seems always to denote a feeling
of respect, reverence, dread or awe on the part of the person who bows himself. It is, I
think, always used of the bowing down of man, either before God (or an idol), or before
man. It thus differs from sia , which merely means to bend Qr bow for any purpose, and
is sometimes used even of the crouching or bowing of an animal (comp. Numb. xxiv. 9,
Job xxxix. 3), so that it is very rarely used alone (as mnnicn freq. is) of bowing down
before God (an idol) or man (see 1 Kings xix. 18), and in this sense is generally either
followed by mnniDrr , or by vsri te on one's knees. As for the verb "np , it is by some said
to be used of tbe bowing of the head only to the ground (comp. "tp7PT vertex), whilst
mnnwn is used of the spreading out of the whole body fiat on the ground (see Ben-Zev,
s. v. "np), but as I am doubtful whether mmran (or even ns-js vjb te tea) ever has this
meaning, I cannot discuss this alleged difference between the two verbs. (The Chaldee
interpreters certainly appear to have thought that the Hebrews did sometimes fall down
flat on the ground when they prayed, &c, for they commonly translate te: in the phrase
vae te tea , &c, by narrate to spread oneself out, from mora expandere, extendere = the
Arab, iij s'itendre sur le ventre). By others, as Kimchi, Buxtorf, "np is explained to
bow the head alone (and so it is freq. translated in the A. V.), but, as it is found several times
joined with ns?« and (fu?) "?"!» D'£$ (Exod. xxxiv. 8, 1 Sam. xxiv. 9, xxviii. 14, 1 Kings

APPENDIX. CHAP. I. 20—22. 563
observe that tbe Hebrews seem to have paid the same external marks of respect
to their kings, or even to much humbler personages (Comp. Ruth ii. 10,
Gen. xlviii. 12, &c), as they did to God, for all the phrases I have quoted are
certainly very frequently used of the respectful salutation of one man to another.
In this point there is an agreement between the Hebrews and the Mahometans
of the present day. See p. 558, note J.
The principal conclusions to which I have been led by my somewhat unsatisfactory
investigation are : that the Hebrews very rarely, if ever, lay flat upon the ground
when they prostrated themselves in prayer or as a mark of respect ; but that,
whilst they sometimes, probably, contented themselves with a profound bow, they
at other times knelt down ; and that then they either touched the ground with
their faces (foreheads, mouths, or both) as the Mahometans and Greek Christians
now do, or merely bowed down their faces so as to be within, perhaps, two
inches of the ground, like the Jews of tbe present day.
Ver. 21. T«} for VIN^} . Comp. infra viii. 8 (C'theev) littf'H for pb*n. ;
"<ma (Numb. xi. 11) for VlNSfi ; mi»n (Deut. xxviii. 57) for nNS»n ; 13ab?3
(infra xxxv. 11, on which see note in Comm.) for 13SpNS3, &c. See Ges.
Lehrgeb., p. 137. Comp. also the Rabbinic naib for ibsb .
nNt"732 foe all this (bei alle Dem — avec (malgre) tout cela), i.e., notwith
standing all these calamities. See note in Comm. on same words, infra ii. 11.
Comp. Numb. xiv. 11, nin'Nn b33 in Eng. Ver., For all the signs, i.e., not
withstanding all the signs ; and also Is. ix. 1 1, nM"733 F0R (notwithstanding)
all this.
Nl^n. See note (in Comm.) on this word, infra ii. 10.
Ver. 22. n7Sn occurs again infra xxiv. 12, where we have again rendered it
injustice, wrong. A very fair interpretation of the passage may, I think, also be
obtained by rendering the word foolishness, a meaning which is certainly more easily
derivable from the notion of insipidity * contained in the root 7QT1 (see infra vi. 6),
i. 31, &c), and the head cannot be bowed so low without bending the body — and as,
moreover, it is, with the exception of one pass. (2 Chron. xx. 18 — and indeed there
mrman is found in the same verse) always joined with mnn»n (which follows it)  I
doubt whether this second explanation is correct. It seems to me rather to mean, like
mnnwn to bow both the head and body ; only, from the fact that it is always found with, or near,
fnnncn , it would seem that, like Sia and vae te tea , it would, if used alone, not necessarily
be understood of bowing out of reverence to God, or respect to man. But, like mnmWT and,
unlike TO , it always has man for its subject. ix> , which is only found four times,
all in Isaiah (xliv. 15, 17, 19, xlvi. 6) seems to mean to bow (or fall) down for the sake of
worshipping (God or an idol), for it is once, like mnnmn, used alone in this sense (Isa.
xliv. 19). In the other three pass, mnnffln also occurs, but is not coupled to to by l ,
as it is to tip. mnmnn, np and sia , when followed by any noun signifying face, seem
always be joined with C'BN ; whilst tea is never found with am , but always with D':b .
* Comp. the Gr. pwp6t, which means both dull, foolish, and tasteless, insipid, fiat; and,
the Lat. fatuus, which, besides its common meaning of silly, simple, foolish, is also used by
Martial in the sense of insipid, tasteless. Insulsus, too, means tasteless, and silly, absurd.
So also sapio primarily means to taste, and secondarily to be prudent, discreet, or even wise,
o o 2

564 appendix, chap. i. 22 ; ii. 2, 3.
than that of injustice, wrong. For, when a pious and upright man, like Job, a man
whom even God Himself allows. to have been without his fellow upon earth,
when such a man, I say, is all at once, without any apparent cause, without his
having committed any sin, overwhelmed by a sudden accumulation of the most
unheard-of calamities, might be not well be led to ascribe to God, in this
particular instance, a want of judgment and discrimination in the dispensation of
His rewards and punishments, just as a man is said to spend bis money foolishly,
when he lays it out without judgment ? Foolishness would therefore here mean
want of judgment in one particular instance, and we shall see (infra ix. 16, 17)
that Job does afterwards accuse God of capriciousness. I have no objection to
render the word injustice, which would be the result of the foolishness, but I think
that the rendering malice found in the translation can scarcely be forced out of
the word.

CHAPTER II.
Ver. 2. n-TD ^N , lit., where from here * seems to me to obtain its meaning of
from where, whence, in the same way that ^J^O 15I7N , lit., who from him, comes
to mean from whom. Both can be explained by the paraphrase given in the
Commentary. The only difference is that it is impossible to express from whom\
in any other way, whereas whence can also be rendered by T.ND, as it is in the
corresponding passage supra i. 7.
DtffD . Supra i. 7 we have D1E7D . See note on ibX7S? supra i. 20.
Ver. 3. 3i9S "^a? 7H . The same words occur again infra xlii. 8. We
sometimes, however, find the prep, repeated before the proper name, e.g., 2 Sam.
vii. 5, "1T1J bN "^a? 'N ; but the prep, is, I believe, never repeated when the
proper name precedes. Thus we must sny ^^V TlTf 7N (1 Chron. xvii. 4, and comp.
Ps. lxxxix. 4). Comp. also (with 7), 2 Sam. vii. 8, 1 Chron. xvii. 7, Isa. xxii.
20, Ezek. xxxvii. 28, with Gen. xliv. 24, 30, and (with 3) Numb. xii. 8. To
us it seems strange that a prep, should be inserted between two nouns, of which
one is in apposition with the other. See note on DrpQD 3"l.nS3 infra v. 15.
ij"iari2 p^lna holding fast his integrity. Verbs signifying to hold fast,
seize, lay hold of, grasp, are very commonly followed by the prep. 3 . Thus
we find 3 TP1N (infra xvi. 12, xviii. 9, xxiii. 11, xxxviii. 13; Exod. iv. 4 ;
whence sapidus (used in both senses), sapientia, &c. The Heb. Dsa taste, favour, is
frequently (e.g., infra xii. 20) used in the sense oi judgment, discernment. Lastly, com
pare the more modern words taste, gout, gusto, Geschmack, smaak, smak, &c. I lately
heard a child about four and a half years old, who was going to have a sore finger bathed
in warm water, say of the water, " Let me taste it first with one of my other fingers ! "
Here taste was evidently used = try. And is not the original meaning of to taste, to
touch = the Fr. tdter, Ital. tastare ?
* nip, lit., from this [place']=iiom here, hence, in Gen. xxxvii. 17; Exod. xi. 1, &c.
f "m5ND wou\d=from him (her, them, &c), who, or from that (those things) which. See
1 Chron. xvii. 13; Jer. xl. 7; Gen. xxxi. 1 ; Isa. xlvii. 13.

appendix, chap. ii. 3, 4. 565
Eccles. ii. 3, &c.) ; 3 "-JOn (Exod. xvii. 12 ; Isa. xxxiii. 15 ; Ps. xli. 13 ; Prov.
xxviii. 17, &c.) ; 3 pnnn (infra ver. 9, xxvii. 6 ; Exod. iv. 4 ; Deut. xxii. 25 ;
xxv. 11 ; Prov. vii. 13, xxvi. 17, &c.) ; 3 E7Qn (Deut. ix. 17 ; Isa. iii. 5, &c).
P^Tnn is used infra xviii. 9 with b? instead of 2 , but see note in Comm. and
Append. In vulg. Eng. we hear said, to lay hold on a thing.
However, infra xviii. 20, xxi. 6, *nN governs an ace, and so do sometimes the
others. ,?n>,pni . This verb occurs also infra xxxvi. 16, 18, in the sense of to
remove. Ver. 4. niy "Ty2 liy . For a summary of the different views which have
been held with regard to these three words, the reader may consult Conant's
translation. I myself prefer the view advocated by Dr. Bernard, although it is
no doubt somewhat harsh to take niy = limb. Still, the word may have had this
meaning, even though the Chald. Vers, (here, at least, no Paraphrase), is our chief
authority for it. Infra xviii. 13, nl37 certainly means body, just as in Greek ypoia.
and xpais sometimes do. The Germans go even farther than this, for they will call
a person, eine lose, lustige, gute, ehrliche Haut. In Lat., too, scortum, which
prop, means a hide, leather, also = a harlot; whilst in French peau, and in low
Germ. Fell (lit,, skin, hide), are used in the same signification. Much more sin
gular, again, are the French expressions une vieille moustache (an old soldier),
gros bonnets (big wigs), cordons bleus, bas bleus (blue-stockings), &c So, again,
in Heb. 0237 , which usually means bone, is generally taken in Lam. iv. 7 to
mean body, and infra vii. 1 5, Dr. Bernard has rendered ,nlD?J??a from my [own]
limbs. So D~i3 , prop, bone, is frequently used in Rabb. in the sense of body.
But in all these instances the part is used for the whole, whilst here, if niy
means limb, we first take skin (used generally of the skin of the whole body) to
mean the skin of a single limb ; and, secondly, consider this particularized portion
of skin to express the whole limb, which it merely invests. Now, in Arabic there is
a word which is used exactly in this way, viz., Aj or $ J^j (the Heb. nt£72 flesh),
which commonly means skin, but is also used = membrum virile* This is still
more surprising, for here skin = one particular member, whilst in our case it is
only taken to = a member, or limb, generally.
I may perhaps also cite the Gr. apOpov, prop, joint (articulation), but frequently
used of what lies between two joints, or follows a joint, viz., a limb. So the
Lat. artus. So we too say " a joint of meat,'' " he has lost the top-joint of his
finger," &c, where joint means what follows a joint (articulation).
Again, is not membrana, properly, the skin which covers a membrum, or limb ?
This is the converse of our present case.
I have not here brought forward a single argument in favour of the interpreta-
* I have this on the authority of Mr. Catafago, the author of the Arabic Dictionary
which bears his name. It is well known that we euphemistically use person in the same way.
jtLi also means homo.

566 appendix, chap. ii. 4.
tion I prefer, but I have perhaps shown that to take niy in the sense of limb is
not quite so harsh, as it is usually supposed.
On reconsideration, however, it seems to me scarcely necessary to translate
niy limb, for = if, when we render the passage, limb for limb, we are obliged to
explain that this means one less precious, for another more precious, limb (or
member, part of the body), such as the arm, for the head, eye, &c, we might just
as well translate literally at once, skin for skin, and explain it, one less precious,
for another more precious, portion of skin, such as the skin of the arm for the
skin of the face, &c. ; for, when a man exposes one part of his body to save
another, it is the skin of this part which is the first to suffer, and that the skin
of one part of the body is esteemed of more value than that of another, is just
as true as that one limb is accounted more precious than another, and is well
illustrated by what is said to have occurred at the battle of Pbarsalia, where the
young Roman nobles are represented as preferring to expose the skin of their
backs to that of their faces. The meaning is, of course, the same ; but my
suggestion has not only the advantage that it does not attribute an unusual
meaning to the word niy , but it seems also to be supported by the next verse,
in which 0^5? bone, and nt£73 flesh, appear to be used in strong contrast to niy
skin. But skin for skin, if understood in this way, may well mean skin for life,*
for the portion of skin for the preservation of which one would be willing to
expose another smaller or less precious portion, might be so extensive that its
destruction would be followed by death, or it might cover some vital part. "H?? "liv
niy would thus be equivalent to (or i2733) E7Q3. 1372 "lis , and the second niy
would be used for the purpose both of imparting an epigrammatic terseness to
the passage, and of avoiding the disagreeable repetition of itE93 "T172 . The 1 in
bb1] , moreover, I would not translate yea ; for if yea is used, then Satan is made
to say that the loss of a man's property is more felt by him than injury to his
person, which, if we consider the following verse, cannot be his meaning ; I
would, therefore translate the 1 so, or so that, which would also better accord
with Dr. Bernard's mode of rendering the verse. The verse will then (if we
supply B^N and in} from the second and third clauses to the first t) run as
follows, " skin will a man give for skin, (i.e., for his life), and so he may [well]
give all that he has for his life." X Satan's reasoning seems to be as follows:
A man will not only give up the whole of his property and all his children to
save his own life, but he will do more than this, and will even sacrifice part of
his own skin (body), if he has the assurance that he will thereby preserve the
* So according to Jarchi's explanation (see Comm.) limb for limb virtually = limb
for life.
f As though the verse were written iatea iga jb; ib tAj to) lis isa US'* )m lis . For an
example in which the subject is found in the 2nd hem., instead of in the first, see infra
xxiv. 6, and note upon it ; and comp. also note on infra xv. 20.
X In English the more natural order would perhaps be " a man will give up all that he
has, aye, even his skin, for his life," but that the Hebrews sometimes invert what seems to
us the natural order I have shown in my note on 0*531 supra i. 5, (p. 521).

appendix, chap. ii. 4. 567
rest of it, i.e., his life. Thou (God) mightest, therefore, smite a part of Job's
skin,* and he would bear the affliction without murmuring, as he bears his present
losses. But do more than this — smite, or allow me to smite, not a part of his
skin, but the whole of it, and, what is more, bis flesh and bis bones, bis whole
body in fact, so that he may have nothing left to offer in exchange for his life,
and may be brought to despair of recovery and to look upon death as his only
hope  then, having, as it were, " his flesh in his teeth and bis life in his
hand," (see infra xiii. 14), having no longer aught to hope or aught to fear, he
will cast off all restraint before Thee and give utterance to his inmost thoughts
 and then he will curse Thee to Thy face.
It must be borne in mind that leprosy (a disease of the skin) was common in
those days, and that God is more than once represented in the Old Testament as
smiting those who had offended Him with leprosy (see Numb. xii. 10, 2 Kings
v. 27, Deut. xxviii. 35). We should remember too that in leprosy the skin is first
affected, and that only when the disease is very severe or of long duration, the
underlying parts, the flesh and tbe bones, t suffer. In no disease, perhaps, is the
whole body more universally affected. These considerations may perhaps aid us
to understand why Satan spoke of the skin, and why he counselled God to smite
Job's flesh and bone. It was essential to his plan that Job should be stricken by
a disease which, implicating the whole of his body (see infra xix. 20) most
severely, should leave him no hope of recovery (see group of verses, marked (9),
p. 571). As long as Job had any hope, he might, and very probably would, be
* In some mod. lang., such as Eng., Fr., Germ., skin and its equivalents are familiarly
used = life, and if "lis could be so taken in Heb., there would be no occasion to
understand lis nsa lis = a part of his skin for the rest of it, but we could translate skin
for life, when the meaning would be, " a man will not only give up all his property,
children, &c, to save his life, but he will also give up his skin (i.e., consent to be afflicted
with a skin-disease, such as leprosy of the milder kinds) to save his life. Do Thou,
therefore, go deeper than his skin, and smite his flesh and his bone, and then he will
curse Thee to Thy face."
f In one species of Lepra indeed (Lepra ansesthesiaca) the fingers and toes fall off joint
by joint, but even here it is doubtful whether the bones are much affected, as mortification
takes place only at the joints (articulations). But in the other species of Lepra it would
seem that the bones very rarely become diseased. Dr. Wolff in his description of Lepra
Arabum (the species from which Job is supposed to have suffered), as it now occurs in the
Island of Madeira (see Virchow's Archiv, vol. xxvi., pp. 61, 62,) has the following, " das
Geschwiir kann tiefer greifen, nach alien Richtungen sich ausdehnen, es kann zur
Zerstorung ausgedehnter Hautpartieen und der unter der Haut liegenden Gebilde
kommen. Der Knorpel wird leicht afficirt ; dass auch der Knochen ergriffen wiirde,
habe ich nicht gesehen." And he then goes on to say that such a spreading of the
ulceration is an exception, and that, as a. rule, as soon as the affected tubercle has
ulcerated off, a cicatrix is formed. He gives, moreover, p. 59, a case in which the
tubercles had remained for six years without showing any tendency to ulcerate ; and in
p. 61, he says that they often last for years without ulceration, though to this, he adds,
they all come at last. We are entitled, therefore, to regard Job's case as one of
exceptional severity, though of course the disease may commonly have been, and probably
was, more severe in his time.

568 APPENDIX. CHAP. IT. 4.
measured in his language ; but all hope once removed, he would be likely, if ever,
to curse God.
If we do not understand niy 1373 ~)iy to refer to a disease of the skin, with
which Job was to be; or might be, smitten, then it is difficult to explain why
Satan, after advising God (in the next verse) to smite Job's bone and flesh,
himself, nevertheless, smites Job with a disease which, in the first instance, more
particularly involves the skin than the flesh and bones. But if we do understand
"li37 "iy3 niy to refer indirectly to a disease of the skin, then " touch his bone
and his flesh," in the following verse is taken in a pregnant sense, and implies the
precedence of a disease of the skin ( = do not touch his skin only, but touch
also, he.), inasmuch as the disease, with which Job was to be smitten, could not
reach his flesh and bis bones, without first passing through his skin.
ib ~it?7N ba all that he has, must of course be taken as including only a
man's property and children, and not his own person. Comp. Gen. xx. 7;
xlv. 10, 11; 1 Sam. xxv. 6, &c. In Gen. xlv. 10, indeed, it does not seem
even to include children and cattle.
Another interpretation of niy 133 niy} given by some Commentators (and
among them by Schultens), is, I think, worthy of mention. "T?3 is taken
namely in the sense of after, upon, and the whole expression translated, skin after
(or upon) skin, which Schultens takes to mean one skin after another (in a
figurative sense), whilst Tirinus understands it = the whole skin. This latter
Commentator compares x&pw "v" x*PtT0S (John i. 16), which is frequently
translated grace upon grace, i.e., "omne genus gratiarum." In Liddell and
Scott a passage will be found quoted from Theognetus, in which ami has this
sense, viz., avr aviwv avtai, which they render griefs upon griefs. This meaning
is readily deducible from the ordinary meaning of oWi instead of, for griefs
instead of griefs = griefs in the place of griefs = griefs replaced, succeeded or
followed by, or exchanged for griefs = griefs upon, or after griefs. We may
compare also the Germ, um, which means for, and also after, as in Einer um den
Andern, one after (succeeding) another. Still, it is of course doubtful whether, in
the pass, from John, avrl has this meaning ; and whether, even if it has, it is, as
some think, a Hebraism corresponding to the Hebrew "1373 , which, as far as I
know, never, unless it be here, has the sense of after or upon. But, if "Ty3 can
have this sense, then I would not take niy 1373 ~W = sMn upon skin = the whole
skin for this would be somewhat forced ; but I would understand it owe portion of
skin after another, when the meaning of the passage would be " A man will give
skin after skin * (i.e., one piece of his skin after another) to save his life, and so
* Another possible rendering is skin after skin, and all that a man hath will he give for
his life ; skin after skin being taken to refer to Job's children and cattle, and all that a man
hath to refer to all Job's property, EXCLUSIVE of his children and cattle. There is no doubt
that all that u man hath is sometimes apparently used in this restricted signification (see
Gen. xlv. 10, and comp. ibid. xlv. II; 1 Sam. xxv. 6, &c), still this interpretation of
lis isa lis seems to me forced, and does not agree with what follows.

APPENDIX. CHAP. II. 5 — 7. 569
he may well give all that he has to save hia life," iE7?3 "^72 being thus taken
with both clauses of the verse.
According to this view, 122 would have one meaning (viz., after or upon) in
the first clause of the verse, and another meaning (viz., for) in the last clause,
but this can scarcely be urged as an objection to the view, as we know that the
Hebrews were rather fond of using the same word in two different senses in the
same verse. See note on ba^ infra v. 7.
Ver. 5. 7N S73"] . In French toucher a une chose means, just to touch a thing
and no more, whilst toucher une chore does not generally or necessarily imply
that the contact is slight. But if bN has this meaning here, Satan did not follow
the advice which he gave to God, for he did anything but merely touch Job's
flesh and bone.
Ver. 7. TOP is used in the Targum = the Heb. On heat (e.g., Isa. xviii. 4),
whilst its verb ]nt£7 means to be hot, so that here it no doubt means a sore, an
ulcer, accompanied by inflammation and heat, as Buxtorf explains it.
The principal passages, from which we ean draw any inferences with regard
to the nature of the disease from which Job suffered, and with regard to the
intensity of his sufferings, are the following : —
a ii. 7 So Satan  smote Job with grievous sores from
the sole of his foot even unto the crown of his head ;
b 8 And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal.
(Then Job spake and said :)
c vii. 5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust (earth).*
d xxx. 30 My skin is black upon me.
e 28 I go about black, but not through the sun.
/ xvi. 8 And that Thou hast filled me with wrinkles is become a witness
against me.
' a vii. 5 My skin is broken and become loathsome.
b xvi. 15 1 have sewed sackcloth upon my scabs.
c xiii. 27 Thou puttest my feet in the stocks.
On mine ankles they (the stocks) imprint themselves ;
d 28 And these (the ankles) consume like a rotten thing,
Like a garment which the moth hath eaten.
. e xix. 26 Yea, even after my skin is thus pierced.
a xvii. 1 My breath is become corrupt.
b xix. 17 My breath is become offensive to my wife,
And so were my caresses to my children.
c xxx. 18 With great effort only can my garment be changed ;
It bindeth me about as the collar of my tunic.
* From this verse we may, I think, fairly infer that Job's skin was covered with irre
gularly-shaped, earthy-looking prominences, separated from one another by cracks and
fissures — in fact that it somewhat resembled a ploughed field.

570 APPENDIX. CHAP. II. 7.
'a x. 1 7 Thou renewest Thy witnesses against me,
Troop after troop are they with me.
ix. 17 [For] He breaketh me with a tempest,
And multiplieth my wounds without cause.
xvi. 14 He breacheth me with breach upon breach.
xxx. 30 My bones are burned with beat.
" a iii. 24 Before my food my groaning cometh,
And my roarings are poured out like water.
b vi. 4 For the arrows of the Almighty stick fast in me,
Whose venom my spirit drinketh in ;
The terrors of God array themselves against me.
c xvi. 9 In His wrath hath He torn me and showed His hatred of me.
d 12 I was at ease and He brake me in pieces ;
Yea, He took hold of my neck and dashed me to atoms,
And set me up for His mark.
e 13 His archers compass me round about ;
One cleaveth my reins and spareth not ;
Another poureth out my gall upon the earth.
/ 16 My face is red with weeping,
And on mine eyelids is the shadow of death.
g xxiii. 2 Will to-day, too, my complaint be rebellion ?
My stroke is heavier than my groaning.
h xxx. 27 My bowels boil, and are not quiet ;
The days of affliction came unawares upon me.
i 28 I go about black, but not through the sun,
I rise up and cry aloud in the assembly.
k 29 I am become a brother to dragons,
And a companion to young owls.
I 31 So that my harp is turned into mourning,
And my lute into the voice of them that weep.
m xxx. 17 My bones are pierced in the night-season,
And my sinews take no rest.
n vii. 4 When I lie down I say :
When shall I arise ? But the night is lengthened out,
And I am filled with tossings until the morning twilight.
o vii. 13 When I say : My bed may comfort me,
My couch may remove my grief ;
14 Then Thou scarest me with dreams,
And frightest me through visions ;
p 15 So that my soul would prefer strangling ;
Even death by mine own hands.
vi. 7 (Thy consolations) are as my loathsome food.

APPENDIX. CHAP. II. 7. 571
a xvi. 8 And that Thou hast filled me with wrinkles is become a
witness,
Yea, my leanness is risen up against me ;
b xvii. 7 And all my limbs are like a shadow.
c xix. 20 To my skin and to my flesh my bone cleaveth,
And I am escaped only with the skin of my teeth.
a vi. 1 1 What is my strength that T should hope ?
And what would be my end, if I should prolong my life ?
6 12 Is my strength the strength of stones ?
Is my flesh brass ?
c xvi. 7 Surely now He hath wearied me out.
d xvii. 13 Truly, I long for the grave to be mine house.
e 14 To corruption I would cry, " Thou art my father ! "
" O my mother " and " 0 my sister " to tbe worm.
f xix. 10 He breaketh me down on every side, so that I pass away,
And mine hope hath He removed like a tree.
g vi. 26 But as wind then are the words of the despairing.
h vii. 6 My days were swifter than the weaver's shuttle,
But now they waste away without hope.
i 7 Oh, remember that my life is but a breath !
Never again shall mine eyes see good.
k 21 For presently I shall lie down in the dust ;
And, though Thou mayest diligently seek me,
I shall not be.
I xvii. 15 For where is now my hope ?
Yea, my hope, who will see it fulfilled ?
m 16 These limbs, destined to tbe grave — let them go down !
Verily, altogether in the dust is peace.
From these passages we may, I think, infer :
* 1. That the skin of Job's body had become dry (b, c, f (?)), swollen (probably
tuberculated, see c, and note on c), fissured (c, f), scaly (b, 2(b)), and
earthy (c), or dark-coloured (d, e).
2. That he was covered with ulcers (a, b, d, e, 1 (a), 3 (c), 4 (b, c), and comp. 6
(b, c, d, e)), from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head (1 (a), but
that they were especially numerous and grievous about his ankles (c, d).
o ( That he, perhaps, also had ulcers in bis mouth, palate, or fauces (a, b).
I That the ulcers yielded an offensive discharge (a, b, c, 1(c), 2 (a)).
* As these nine numbers correspond with the numbers of the nine groups of passages
in pp. 569 — 571, any small letter in brackets, as (a) &c, which occurs, unaccompanied by
a figure, in the nine conclusions which I here draw, must be considered to refer to that
group of passages, whose number corresponds to the number of the conclusion in which
the small letter occurs.

572 APPENDIX. CHAP. II. 7.
4. That the ulcers came out in crops (a, b, c).
5. That at times (perhaps in the night) he was burned up with fever (5, and
comp. 6 (m) ).
6. That his pains were often excruciating (a, f, g, i — n, and comp. b — e, h,
1(a), 3(c), 4(b, c), 9(b), 5, he.), and were aggravated in the night
(m, n and comp. o), so that he did not sleep (n, o, m), or that, if he did
sleep, his rest was disturbed by horrible dreams (o, p).
7. That he loathed his food (7, comp. 6(a) ).
8. That he had become greatly emaciated (8).
9. That his debility and prostration were extreme (a — c, f, and comp. i, k, m
4(b, c), 6(d, m — p)), and lastly, that he despaired of recovery (a, d — m,
and comp. b, c, 6(f)). (See note on Ver. 4, p. 567.)
From Chap. ix. 18 we might, perhaps infer that Job had difficulty in breathing,
but it is very doubtful whether the passage is to be taken literally.
I will now give a few extracts containing a description of Elephantiasis
(tubercular leprosy), as it at present occurs in the East Indies and elsewhere.
" The whole surface of the body was covered with indurated tubercles (1 (c, a)),
and blotches. The face, thighs, hands and feet (2 (c, d)), were the parts that
suffered most ; the face was completely disfigured and presented a really hideous
aspect ; the mucous membrane of the nose was extensively attacked, and discharged
an ichorous and foetid fluid 3 (a, b). The roof of the mouth was covered with a row
of agglomerated tubercles of a dark colour (3 (a, b)). On the thigh and below the
ankles there were many sanious and horrid-looking ulcers (2 (c, d)). The hands
and fingers, being covered with large tubercles, were no longer able to perform
their functions ; the nails had grown out of all shape or had fallen off. The feet,
enormously swollen, flattened and very painful, prevented the possibility of walking
or standing (2 (c) ). The wretched Sinassany could not move from place to place
except by dragging himself along the ground (2 (c) ). His voice, entirely changed
from the natural tone, showed that the disease had begun to attack the larynx ; an
extreme difficulty of breathing (comp. ix. 18), which came on at intervals left no
doubt that tbe bronchi and lungs were affected. . . . Over the whole body . . .
the skin was tumefied and heaved up by the turgescence of the cellular tissue ( 1 (c) )."
(Notice on treatment of Elephantiasis by Hydrocotyle Asiatica, Paris, 1862,
pp. 2, 3). This patient (a Hindoo) is said to have recovered.
In the following case, the patient was a Frenchman, and had his face covered
with tubercles. " Ces tubercules (1 (c, a)) sont les uns .... ayant une couleur
rouge fauve . . . . ; d'autres, plus gros .... sont livides, et en certains points
. . . . ils sont, ulceres (2) et laissent ecouler un liquide jaune sale et poisseux (3),
auxquels succedent des croutes noiratres (2 (b), 1 (d, e)) fortement adherentes.
Cet ensemble de tubercules .... donne a la peau de ce malade l'aspect du
plastron tuberculeux de quelques pachydermes (1 (c)).* .... Entre ces masses
tuberculeuses la peau est ridee (If, c), epaissie, blafarde." (Devergie, maladies
de la peau, 2e. Edit., Paris, 1857, p. 758.)
* Hence of course the name, Elephantiasis.

APPENDIX. CHAP. II. 7. 573
In the case of a Frenchman from tbe He de la Reunion, who had suffered from
Elephantiasis eight years, we read, " La base du front, les arcades sourcilieres et
le menton sont couverts de tubercules blanc-jaunatres .... separes entre eux par
des sillons sinueux et profonds, qui donnent a la peau de ces parties un aspect
mamelonne(l (f,c)). . . . L'ensemble du malade est affreux. Qu 'on se figure un
homme aveugle, d'une maigreur extreme (8), la peau livide, • terreuse (1 (c)),
lachement appliqu6e (1 (f, c) ) sur les muscles atrophias .... la face longue,
maigre, couverte d'un masque degoutant de tubercules, d'ulceres, et de concretions
purulentes ; la bouche continuellement beante ; * la voix rauque, sourde et
profonde ; .... les bras decharnes recouverts d'ulcerations ; les mains deformees ;
les doigts couverts de plaies suppurantes (2. a, b)) ; enfin une odeur fetide
(3 (a, b), 2 (a) qui s'exhale de toute sa personne, et l'on comprendra que eet
homme, sorte de spectre hideux, soit un objet d'horreur pour tous ceux qui
l'approchent." (Ibid. pp. 761, 762).
Again, speaking of a large, irregularly shaped, ulcer situated on the thigh of a
patient, M. Devergie says, " On dirait qu'un emporte-piece y a taille d'une
maniere irreguliere une serie de trous, qui s'etant reunis forment un bord
irregulierement decoupe. Enfin au centre se trouvent par-ci par-la des points qui
ne sont pas encore ulceres et qui forment des ilots violaces." (Ibid. p. 758).
Does not this agree well with the "garment which the moth has eaten, (infra
xiii. 28) ? "
Of another patient he says : "La maigreur est extreme (8), les yeux sont caves
.... les pommettes saillantes et recouvertes d'une peau jaune-serin, unie, fortement
appliquee sur les os (8)  Sur les bras, la peau est uniformement
ecailleuse (1 (b), 2 (b) et noiratre (1 (d, e))" (Ibid., p. 751),
In p. 756 the tubercles are described as coming out in crops (4).
In other cases the ulcerations are described as attacking also the inside of
the cheeks, the tongue, palate, nasal fossas, trachea, &c
Some of the patients suffered pain when the tubercles were pressed, but in most
cases the skin was abnormally insensible. One patient, however, had at one time
a good deal of general pain (douleurs generates). It does not appear that they
suffered much from fever, or that they slept badly. One patient is described as
having very little appetite ; but others enjoyed their food. Most were in a state
of great debility, but it does not seem that their spirits were greatly depressed ;
indeed, one patient is stated to have become used to her condition, whilst another
says that he had not suffered much. M. Devergie, indeed, asserts (p. 758) that
those who are attacked with Elephantiasis always become dull and stupid, but he
contradicts himself at least twice, for (p. 751) he says of a patient who had had
the disease five years that "son intelligence est saine; " and of another who had
the disease eight years, and died of it shortly after he came under M. Devergie's
care, " Ce jeune homme qui avait une certaine instruction." Besides, we must
remember that the great majority of those who now suffer from the disease are
not men of intellect like Job, but belong to the lowest classes of society ; and
again, that diseases are now generally borne with greater calmness and resignation
* The tongue was covered with tubercles.

574 APPENDIX. CHAP. II. 7 — 9.
than they were in the time of Job, because, in the first place, they are now, more
commonly than they used to be, attributed to natural causes, and not to the special
interposition of God ; and, in the second, because, even when they are attributed
to God, He is generally considered to send them for some good purpose. Elihu,
indeed, advocates this last view. But it cannot have been a common one, or else
some one of Job's three friends would have advanced it, unless, indeed, we
suppose part of their guilt (see infra xlii. 7) consisted in their wilfully main
taining that calamity and disease had been sent on Job as a punishment for crimes
he had committed, whilst they inwardly believed that God had visited Job with
these afflictions really only with the view of warning and of proving him.
Enough has now, I think, been said to show that the disease from which Job
suffered was very probably tuberculous leprosy (Elephantiasis Grseeorum*).
Ver. 7. "^IP "'SI "-P- H?0 from [the] sole of his foot to his crown. Comp.
Deut. xxviii. 35, where it is said that God will smite those who transgress His
commandments with the same disease with which Job was smitten, viz., yn ^nt? ^
from the sole of their foot unto their crown. Comp. also Numb. xii. 10, and
2 Kings v. 27, where we read that Miriam and Gehazi were smitten with leprosy
because they had sinned ; though this leprosy was probably of a much less severe
kind. See Devergie, op. cit. p. 747.

Job has now lost all his substance, his children have perished, and he himself
is afflicted with the most grievous of diseases ; the calamities which have over
taken him are such as God promises to those who do not keep His commandments
(Deut. xxviii. 15 — 68t). Can we wonder, then, if his three friends suppose him
to have " kept to that track of old which wicked men have trodden " ? and, yet,
it would appear from the sequel that they were insincere, and that they did not
really believe him guilty.
Ver. 8. npNil . See note on Oisn supra i. 7, where we have shown that the
def. art. is very freq. used in Heb., where in Eng. the indef. art. may, or must be,
used. Ver. 9. nai. Comp. infra xxii. 21, Dbpi lit. and prosper, i.e., and thou
shalt prosper. Comp. also Gen. xx. 7, n}.ni and thou shalt live. So Gen. xii.
2, n3"l3 n?.n.) lit. and be a blessing, i.e., and thou shalt be a blessing. We may,
perhaps, also translate in a similar way Gen. xxvii. 29, TON? n">33 nin thou
shalt be a lord over thy brethren, and not literally as in the Auth. Ver., " Be a
lord over thy brethren," for Jacob could scarcely be commanded to gain the
* In the Comm. called by inadvertence Elephantiasis Arabum, which is a different
disease, and only affects certain parts of the body, such as the leg, &c. See Wilson, Leet.
on Leprosy, "Lancet," 1856, vol. i., p. 33, &c. ; and Copland's Med. Diet., vol. ii., pp. 701,
704, &c. But Lepra Arabum (see p. 567, note +)=Elephantiasis Groecorum ; for Lepra
Gra3corum=merely the squamous diseases, which we now call Lepra, &c.
f Comp. esp. vers. 27, 31, 32, 35, 37, 41, 59, 60, 66, 67.

• APPENDIX. CHAPS. II. 9—13 ; III. 3. ' 575
mastery over his brethren ; and, besides, every other verb in the verse is in the
fut. At any rate, if we translate be a lord, he., it must, of course, be under
stood, I ordain that thou shalt be, I appoint, create thee, lord, he., and so the
inf. approaches very nearly to a fut. Conversely, the fut. is sometimes used
affirmatively = an imperative. Thus, infra vi. 22, 23, we have three imperatives,
i31Dba, 1int27,--13n, followed by 'WTSn, which manifestly = "WT?. So
again, where we should use two imperatives joined by and, the Heb. very freq.
substitute a converted past for the second. Comp. Isa. vi. 9, niaNI Tyb lit., go,
and thou shalt tell, but better translated go and tell, as in the Auth. Ver.
In negative phrases it is well known that the fut. is always used instead of the
imp. Ver. 10. "'nsin nib33il nnN 131? . For a similar construction, comp.
Ps. ciii. 13, nin} Dm D^33 b? 3H Dm?. Comp. also Prov. vii. 23,
ns bN -lis? ina? ; infra x. 4, nsin E7i3N niN!3 on ; xiii. g, bnn? dn
13 1v>nnn E713N3 , &C-, for the construction freq. occurs.
03 = 0377; Nb> = Nbq. See Index. But 03, perhaps, need not be taken
interrog. Ver. 13. VnNb = VnNn b». See note on nssb, infra vii. 21 ; on NS?b,
infra xxxvi. 7 ; and on n21N , supra i. 20.

CHAPTER III.
3. I think Dr. Bernard has been too severe upon the Commentators who have
taken nin in its usual sense of conceiving, and who make the night speak. It
9eems to me that an inhabitant of the east might readily use such language.
Still I am disposed to accept Dr. Bernard's mode of explaining the verse, because
I think it is more in accordance with the Hebrew. According to Dr. Bernard's
view, it is really necessary (for an Englishman, at least) to supply nothing, for,
though the words naN nb}bn would be more fully expressed i3 naN ItPN nb^brr,
still we can in English (as in Hebrew) say equally well " the night in which one
said," and " the night one said," and perhaps the latter is the more poetical.
Now, those who make the night speak are obliged to supply an nt?7N before naN }
and this is an ellipsis which I think is very uncommon after a noun with a
definite article (n7}bn). ntZ7W js very frequently understood after indefinite
nouns (e.g., infra ver. 16, ix. 26, 33, xi. 16, &c), but in the historical books it is
scarcely, if ever, to be supplied between a definite noun and its verb, and very
seldom is such an ellipse to be met with in the poetical books.* See Gesenius
* In tav rrjisS ntea (Isa. liii. 7), "wk is by some supplied after ntea (see Mason and Bernard's
Gramm., vol. ii., pp. 343, 344), but there is no necessity for it. In ycra ninnas (Ps. xlix. 21),
¦*< is without doubt omitted, though the def. art. before ninna is by no means so definite
as that here in nWrt , for beasts generally are referred to (so that in Eng. the art. would or
might be left out), and not any particular beasts. I do not think that in the whole of Job

576 APPENDIX. CHAP. III. 3. •
Lehrgeb., p. 747. On the other hand, the ellipsis of 12 127N (which Dr. Bernard
supplies here), n2 1E7N in whom (masc. and fem.), in which, is frequently met
with throughout the Bible, and DE7 1E?N. is also not unfrequently omitted. In
Eng. the relative seems to be very rarely omitted when it would form the nom. to the
verb ; * it is generally in its oblique cases that it can be dispensed with. Thus, the
man I saw = the man whom I saw ; the day I went = the day on which I went, &c.
Many Hebrew scholars, and Gesenius among them, deny that the verb nin
in the sentence quoted in the Commentary, 0}l;a HN inni , really means to bear
(bring forth). Gesenius, in his Thes., observes, " Plane de nihilo est, quod nonnulli...
huic verbo etiam pariendi significationem tribuerunt, provocantes ad 1 Par. iv. 17,
O^na nN nnni ; ibi enim partus mentio omissa est." This objection seems to me,
however, futile, for the question is not so much whether in Hebrew the verb
retains its ordinary signification or not in the passage above quoted, as how it
must be rendered in other languages, and here all must agree that bear, bring
forth, and its equivalents, must be employed. Even Gesenius allows that the
verb is in this passage used in a particularly pregnant signification, and that
though it does not express, it yet implies the birth. The question is therefore
whether it may not be used in a similarly pregnant sense here, and imply a birth,
even if it do not express it. I think it may. But, if not, I would still take
nnn-f as a part. Kal, and not as a past Pu-al, and translate " and the night one
said (it was said) she conceiveth a male child," when the one might refer to any
one of the invisible beings whom Job supposed to be witnesses of the act of
conception — for this explanation seems to me j ust as reasonable as first to per
sonify the night and then to make her speak.
I allow that it is perhaps more natural, at any rate to English minds, to
imagine that Job would, after cursing his birth, curse the time of his conception
also, than to suppose that he speaks twice of his birth, still we must remember
that in Hebrew binary verse the second hemistich very commonly repeats in other
words the sentiment contained in the first. In Jer. xx. 15 (which is evidently
copied from Job) we read : " Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my
father, saying, A man child is bom unto thee," &c, which is in our favour.
Several other examples of the third pers. sing, of verbs being used impersonally
will be found in this book, e.g., infra ver. 20 (1^}) ; vii. 4 ("HF?) ; and see
Index.
there occurs one single passage in which i«Sh is omitted after a really def. art., although it is
very freq. omitted after nouns used indefinitely (see Index). Comp. Ps. i. 4, nn i3OTn "raw yiaa
with Job xxi. 18, nsiD ina:j yfta. In the former case the def. art. is used, and i*j follows;
in the latter there is no art., and tbe TJ>$ is omitted.
* We do, however, find examples in Eng. poetry where such an ellipsis occurs. Thus,
in Lord Byron's " Age of Bronze," stanza iii., lines 25, 26, we find: —
" Is this, indeed, the tamer of the great,
Now slave of all could tease or irritate ? "
where all could manifestly stands for all who could.
•j- If nan is accented correctly, it cannot be the part. Kal, because then the accent would
be ultimate. But see the remarks in p. 1 of the Comm.

APPENDIX. CHAP. III. 4, 6. 577
In Icelandic, Rask tells us (Iceland Gramm. Dasent's Trans., 1843, p. 102), that
the indef. person one (Fr. on, Germ, man) is often denoted by the third pers. sing, of
verbs without any pronoun, and he gives as an example " ok heyrgi )>at sr3an —
and that [one] heard afterwards ; and it was heard afterwards."
Ver. 4. NWrr oisn . Rosenmuller and, it seems, most commentators understand
these words to refer to the actual day of Job's birth only, and they are therefore
obliged to take many of the expressions which are applied to it, such as " let it
be darkness," &c, in a figurative sense, since a day long past could not well become
dark, &c. To me it appears preferable to understand tbe passage to include the
anniversaries oi the day of Job's birth — his birthdays, as we call them. From Gen.
xl. 20, we see that the Egyptians, at any rate, kept their birthdays (comp.
Matt. xiv. 6), whilst in Herodotus we read (Lib. I., ch. 133) that it was the
custom of the Persians to honour their birthdays above all other days.
If, therefore, birthdays were kept, it is probable that they would be included in
any curse uttered against tbe day of one's birth.
Thus, Young says : — Alas ! this Day
First gave me Birth, and (which is strange to tell)
The Fates e'er since, as watching its return,
Have caught it as it flew, and marked it deep
With something great ; extremes of good or ill.
ysin . The verb ysin occurs again infra x. 3, 22, and xxxvii. 15. In the
first two passages we have taken it intrans. = to shine, but in the last transitively
= to cause to shine. It occurs, besides, four times in the Bible, viz., Deut.
xxxiii. 2 ; Ps. 1. 2, lxxx. 2, xciv. 1, in all as an intrans. verb. See note (in
Comm*.) on ib^SPI infra vi. 26. Some take it here in a trans, sense, and translate
" And do not (Thou, God) cause light to shine upon it ; " but this change of
persons, though pretty common in Hebrew, does not seem to me necessary
here. nin^l Ught, is a a.ira£ Xeyopevov . In Dan. ii. 22 we find Nlin? in the same
meaning, nnp jn Chaldee = to shine, and so the Heb. root nn3 is explained by
many in Ps. xxxiv. 6, Isa. Ix. 5. The Arab .l^i means the light of day, or
day as contrasted with night.
Ver. 6. ^n} . Dr. Bernard regarded the points of the Hebrew Bible as sacred and
inviolable, and be would not for the world have laid a finger upon them. I do
not go quite so far as this ; still I think no one should alter them, unless he believes
himself to be better acquainted with Hebrew than those who placed them. In
Gen. xlix. 6 (quoted in the Comm.), we find N2F! corresponding to Tiri let be
united, as here N2} to ^n} ; and from this, some slight argument might be derived
for reading here "in.} (or 10} = 1JT} , as OPT} and OP!} from orr , DD". and 2D}
from 301, siNl" and -INI} (2 Kings xvii. 28) from NT>), for the parallelism
between to come into and to be united is considerably stronger, than between to
rejoice and to come into. "VJ] probably stands for in} , and this for n}fr}P , jU8t
as we have ?$} (Num. xxi. 1, &c), for n2t|7}. The Pathach in ^n} is probably
put for the sake of euphony, because n is a guttural (see note on infra xvii. 7),
P P

578 APPENDIX. CHAP. III. 6  10.
just as we find nn} from nin, and 1*1} from n3n ; for who could comfortably
pronounce nil} or ]D\ ? The T in ^1} seems to have a Dagesh, because the
"f (which belongs to the letters nE3133j begins a syll. in the full form nin} (the
Sh'vah under the n being quiescent — see note on nON'1 infra xii. 1 8), and so retains
its Dagesh in the apocopated form, like the 2d. rad. in 2t^}1, T]}1 , 1;2}1, n^7.}1,
&c), although it is the only instance in which one of the nS3133 has retained its
Dag. after the assumption of a vowel by the 1st rad.* And here I may lay
down as a rule that two Sh'vahs never come together at the end of a word,
unless the letter bearing the second Sh'vah (i.e., the second (or last) letter)
belongs either to nQ3133, 0r is D or p ; the reason being, no doubt, chiefly that
if the second (or last) letter were any other than one of these, an inharmonious
pronunciation would be the result. Thus, n32 cannot make */.3}, but makes
13} ; nSl cannot make Vn} , but makes VTH (Vn.ni, Ps. 1. 18), &c
Ver. 7. llOy? is more usually interpreted solitary, desolate, and this makes
equally good sense here. In the Talmud it is used of a menstruating woman, as
it were a woman separated from her husband.
Ver. 8. TflB is nowhere else followed by an inf. For examples of the inf.,
with and without b, see note on infra iv. 2, pp. 584, 585, and Index.
nnt£7 \B37pp [the] eyelids of [the] dawn. Gesenius says, " Used of the rays
of the rising sun." These would be better expressed by eyelashes, and so the word
is translated by some. Sophocles (Antig. 104) uses dpipa<; /3\.e<papov of the sun,
and Eurip. (Phoon. 543) vuktos d<^6yyes fiXicbapov of the moon ; X still, as we have
here the plur., the sun itself can scarcely be meant. In Arabic jj; (eye) is
used of the sun, like ofj.p.a (Ar. Nub. 285), and, mundi oculus (Ovid, M. 4, 228),
oculi stellarum (Pliny, 2, 5, 4). The French, too, call the sun I'ceil du
jour, Vail du matin. But the sun, as an eye, would naturally be supposed to
have eyelids, and these eyelids, widely open at mid-day, would only be opening at
dawn, whilst in the night they would be quite closed. The dawn would then
especially have eyelids ascribed to it, more than the night or mid-day, because in
the night the eyelids would be quite invisible, and at mid-day so far opened
as to be nearly so. Perhaps the horizon, which, during the rising and
setting of the sun, cuts its disc into segments gradually increasing and dimi
nishing in size, was regarded as the lower eyelid, and if so, the sun would form
the iris J and pupil.
Ver. 10. Here, I think Dr. Bernard, to be consistent, should have referred the
closing of the doors of the womb rather to the act of birth, than to that of con
ception, for in ver. 3, he has refused mn the sense of conceiving, and given it
* Thus we find a-;'., rfv, &c, and not ay , nv , &c. In Exod. xviii. 9, however, we do
find "p>\, while the Dag., as being in a Resh, is, of course, much more anomalous than
in im . The t and the i retain their Sh'vah also, which they could scarcely do unless they
had a Dagesh.
f In these passages, however, ffkitfiapov is commonly supposed to be used in the sense of
eye. See Lid. and Scott, s.v.
X We, and other nations also, commonly speak of the iris as though it formed the whole
eye, for we say, " She has blue, black eyes," when we merely mean that the irides of her
eyes are blue or black.

APPENDIX. CHAP. III. 10, 11. 579
that of bringing forth. Indeed, I think it better to regard the act of birth as
here spoken of, for Job goes on at once to speak of what took place immediately
after his birth, whereas, as Dr. Bernard has well remarked, he does not mention the
time when he was an immature foetus until ver. 16. Some Commentators consider
that ver. 10, proves that nin in ver. 3, has the sense of " conceiving,'' but it
seems to me that it may equally well be regarded as proving the opposite view ;
for the closure of the doors of the womb may just as well apply to the act of
birth as to the act of conception ; and the second hemistich will acquire much
additional force if we suppose Job to bave been ready for birth, and, therefore,
on the point of beholding this world of misery, from which the closure of the
womb upon him would have saved him. This view is confirmed by what we
read in Jer. xx. 17, a passage evidently borrowed from Job. The words are,
"Because he slew me not from the womb, (i.e., at the very moment I was about
to leave the womb), so that my mother might have been my grave and her womb
eternally with child."
For the sing. n3D wh. prob. refers both to the day and the night, comp. Nin ,
infra ver. 19, and note on ^N infra iv. 19.
"^Oa "'n?! " the doors of my belly," may be understood either of the os uteri,
or of the introitus vagina, the vulva. In the latter sense, an obscene Italian poet
of the last century uses the very similar expression la porta del ventre.
With ^D? we may compare Juv. Sat. vi. 124, Ostenditque tuum, generose
Britannice, ventrem, and shews thy belly (i.e., the belly which once held thee), &c.
Venter here, like T£3 , = uterus. In Eng. we do not say my womb of the womb
which bore us, but we do say, " this is my chair,'' when the chair does not actually
belong to us, and when we only mean, " this is the chair I have been sitting in."
Ver. 11. In the preceding verse Job cursed the night, because it did not shut up
the doors of his mother's womb when he was ripe for birth, and so prevent his
coming into the world at all, alive — he now goes on to say, But "why, if I
was ill-fated enough to issue alive from the womb, did I not die whilst I was
passing out of tho womb, or, at any rate, the moment after I was born ? "
Dr. Bernard need hardly bave attempted to justify his translation of
OniD, for surely the words from [the] womb are usually understood to mean from
the moment one leaves the womb, and not from the time one is in the womb.
Comp. Ps. Iviii. 4, " The wicked are estranged, oqia from [the] womb, they go
astray 1D3a from [the] belly, (of their mother) " or as is well translated by Dr.
French, and Mr. Skinner, even from their birth (Auth. Vers, as soon as they
be born). Comp. also Judg. xvi. 17, "for I have been set apart unto God
"'SN 103a from, my mother's womb." Comp. also Ps. xxii. 11. As to the passage
Jer. xx. 17, DD"1? ^nnia Nb 127N , oma does not mean so much in the womb,
as at the very moment I was leaving it, though before I had actually altogether
left it, and so it may be understood here, and in all the passages just quoted.*
* It is well known that the period which elapses between the time when tbe head of the
fcetus first begins to quit the womb, and the moment when the child has entirely quitted
its mother's body, ordinarily comprises several hours. During this period, the foatus is as
perfectly passive as though it were dead ; but the ancients thought otherwise, and believed
p p 2

580 APPENDIX. CHAP. III. 11, 12.
37l?N1 ,nN2} 1D2a lit., from [the] womb I came forth and I ought to have
expired ; i.e., when I came forth .... then I ought to have expired.
Comp. infra v. 3, 21pN1 .... "^N"}! "ON As for me, I have seen ....
and declared the fate, he. ; i.e., when I have seen .... then have I declared
the fate, &c. Comp. also vi. 20, ^nsn.}} rP"TS7 1N2 lit., they came to it
and were ashamed; i.e., when they came to it, then they were ashamed. So
also infra xxiii. 15, 13&P TISNI. ]313nN lit., i" consider and I am afraid of
Him; i.e., when I consider, then I am afraid of Him. Comp. also Gen. xix. 23,
N3 Dib} .... NH} ttfat^n lit, the sun came forth (rose) cind Lot came =
when the sun rose, then Lot came. So also 1 Kings xiv. 1 7, n}3il ?)D3 nN3 rTTl
na "13731} she [was] coming to [the] threshold of the house, and the child died,
i.e., when (as soon as) she came to the threshold of the house, then the child died.
In all these instances the 1 couples the same or equivalent tenses, but this is
because both events are represented as really happening. Here, on the contrary,
the second verb is put in the fut., because the event expressed by it did not really
occur, but only ought to have occurred.
Most Commentators supply the ^b nab from the 1st hem., but then we
should expect the two verbs to be in the same or equivalent tenses, just as we
should say, - " why did I not come forth from the belly and expire ? " where and
expire of course = and did I not expire. It is true that in the poet, books no great
regard is paid to the tenses, still they freq. are used with great exactitude, and
it is always best to interpret them literally if one can.
I make this note solely because no one, that I am aware of, has translated the
hem. as we do.
Ver. 12. D}31.3 . Comp. Gen. xxx. 3, where Rachel says to Jacob : "Behold
my maid Bilhah, go in unto her ; -l?"]3 bi7 l^il} and she shall bear upon my
knees." Some say the father's knees are meant here, and refer to Gen. 1. 23, "the
children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were brought up upon Joseph's
knees." For an instance in which na stands for nab why, wherefore, see Exod.

" that the infant, by its own struggles, contributed a great share in procuring its freedom.''
(Ramsbotham's Midwifery, 3d edit, Lond., 1851, p. 84). Hence we can well understand
the pass, in Jer. xx. 18, quoted in the text, " Because he slew me not from the womb (i.e.,
when I was quitting the womb) ; so that my mother had been my grave, and her womb
always great with child " (for so the passage ought to be translated). Jeremiah doubtless
imagined that a child killed whilst leaving the womb (an operation which is sometimes
intentionally performed now-a-days by accoucheurs), but before it had appeared externally,
would, or might, never make its exit at all. But in this he was mistaken, for Ramsbotbam
(loc. pit.) tells us "that a dead child is expelled, generally speaking, with nearly the same
ease as a living one." Immature foetuses, however, occasionally remain in the womb for
months after they are dead, and, in some rare cases of extra-uterine fetation, the foetus has
been known to remain in the belly of its mother for twenty, thirty years, or more — in fact,
until her death from some other cause.

APPENDIX. CHAP. III. 14  17. 581
xiv. 15, ^N p??Jl na wherefore criest thou unto Me? Cf. also Ps. xlii. 12.
So the Germans familiarly use was what, for warum why, e.g., "was qualen
Sie mich so ? " why do you worry me so ? For the dagesh in the ® of the foil.
word D}11E> , See Comm. p. 310, note * ; note in Append, on infra vi. 11 ; and
Index s. v. Dagesh.
Ver. 14. O^Sn This present part, may be translated either by a present or a
past, which build or which built. If taken as a pres. it will have a more general
meaning, and will refer to such kings and counsellors as build mausoleums for
themselves, i.e., wealthy and mighty kings, &c. " I should have slept with
kings and counsellors, which build mausoleums for themselves." I should have
shared the lot of the highest and mightiest of kings and counsellors. Here it is
not asserted that they actually did build mausoleums. If, on the other hand,
we take it as a past, the meaning will be, " I should have slept with those kings
and counsellors who have built mausoleums for themselves," the kings and
counsellors being more distinctly specified than in the former instance. Here it is
affirmed that they did build mausoleums. In the first case the class to which the
kings and counsellors belong is defined, in the second the kings and counsellors
themselves are specified. I think the former interpretation is more in accordance
with Hebrew idiom. Still pres. part, are not unfrequently to be met with used
in a past sense. Comp. Deut. viii. 14, "and thou forget Jehovah, thy God
fJN.^Sian lit., the making thee to go out;" i.e., which brought thee out. So
'Si3, lit., falling, is frequently used -fallen; e.g., Deut. xxi. 1 ; Josh. vii. 10 ;
Judg. iii. 25 ; iv. 22, and comp. infra xiv. 10, he. The above observations
of course apply equally to On / 3ilt which have [or had] gold and to O^Nyaan *
which fill (or had) filled.
Ver. 16. In order that the connection between this verse and ver. 11 may
be more clearly seen, the intervening verses, which are either amplificatory
(ver. 12), or parenthetical (vers. 13, 14, 15), — as well as the second half of
ver. 11, should be left out. We then have : bp3.3 iN rfiBN Dma Nb nab
n}.ns Nb I^DD Why should I not have died from [the] womb, or [why] should
I not have been like an hidden untimely-birth ?
Ver. 17. O^Stt?! Dr. Bernard's reason for rejecting here the ordinary meaning
of this word, viz., wicked, was doubtless on account of the word T.31 trouble, with
which it is connected, as there are many people who lead wicked and profligate
lives and yet cause but little trouble to others, being rather their own enemies
than their neighbours'. These are not the wicked here referred to, who are
rather such, whose wickedness consists in the trouble and injury they can cause to
their neighbours. D^ET) would, therefore, here best be translated by a word

•Observe the absence of the Dagesh in the first «a and the b in rj'stenn. Comp.
tranan, infra ver. 21 ; D'matefr , ver. 22 ; and see note in Comm. on fres) , infra xxvi. 13.
Gesenius says (Thes., s. v. miEWJ) that the Dagesh is scarcely ever omitted in the letters
n o a i a a , and I believe he is right. If the a here had a Dag., there would virtually have
been three ta's coming together. But cf. inf. xxxi. 15, Ps. ix. 14, and Ges., Lehrg. p. 145.

582 APPENDIX. CHAP. III. 17, 19 — 22.
which should express at the same time restlessness, energy and activity, together
with wickedness. The wicked may in fact (exclusively of those who are guilty
only of sins of omission) be divided into the actively and passively wicked, and
the actively wicked are those referred to here.
^blll have ceased. The past is well used here, for they have ceased ere they
reach the grave.
m may be the ace Comp. Judg. ix. 9. We also sometimes use to cease without
the prep. from. " Cease then this impious strife ! " (Milt.) But whether 7in
would then have to be regarded as a trans, verb, as Johnson regards to cease in
the pass, just quoted, or whether it would still be an intrans. verb, and '31 be
merely an indirect (the so-called Greek) accusative after it, and so = as to trouble,
I will not take upon me to decide. Ewald (Krit. Gramm., p. 586) takes the latter
view, and compares the accusatives which are found after the verbs of kindred
meaning, IDn (Deut. ii. 7 ; viii. 9, &c), and 7327 (Gen. xxvii. 45) ; and also
those which follow the verbs of opposite meaning, N7a , yat£7 , &c. Comp.
7}ll -1132 infra xxi. 7 ; and see note on l"1?? , infra xv. 10. Ewald's view,
however, seems to me the more correct one.
Ver. 19. Nin. Here we should expect Oil, but comp. n3D , supra ver. 10,
and see note on infra iv. 8, § 3, on HN iv. 19, and Index.
Ver. 21. niS>7 D^sncn . Verbs signifying to wait, expect, hope for, are freq.
followed by b or, bN. So ? nip (supra ver. 9 ; Ps. xxvii. 14 ; Prov. xx. 22,
&c), b bn} (infra xiii. 15 (k'ree), xxix. 23 ; xxx. 26, &c), b nS? (Lam. iv. 17).
P) , b^nin and nan indeed seem to be always followed by 7 or ^N , but
nip also takes an ace. e.g., infra vii. 2 ; xvii. 1 3 ; xxx. 26 ; Ps. xxv. 5, he. ;
still the const, with v, bN seems more common. Infra xxxii. 4, we have, indeed,
3i*N nN. nsn in1* ,-Nl , but see note on this in Commentary. In Eng. we
commonly use for after to wait, hope, long, he. ; and so in Germ., auf Einen
warten, sich nach Etwas sehnen, he. In fact, these verbs express a movement,
impulse, yearning (elancement) of the mind (soul) towards something, and that
something commonly somewhat remote, and so are naturally followed by a dative
(or a preposition), just as "J7n , which signifies movement of the body, is commonly
followed by b , or bN , or n of motion, when it = to go to, or towards. It will be
observed that these verbs (with the exception of <->inin) are all in the Pidl.
Whether this conj. in this instance adds intensity to the signification (hope is often
an intense feeling), I will leave to others to decide.
Ver. 22. 1E7',i£7} .... DTia'tpn . This change from a present part, to a fut.
(simple or converted) is not uncommon. Comp. infra xxiv. 22, ntfl followed
by 3SD}} ; Isa. xliv. 25, nsa foUowed by bbin} ; 3^E7J3 by b?D} ; and ver. 26,
D^pa by O^blp}. Infra xii. 17, we have TJ^bia and bbin} ; but ver. 22,
nbm and N^i'1. Comp. also ibid. vers. 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, in which the
converted fut. is chiefly used when it begins the hemistich, the simple fut. when
it is not tbe first word. In ver. 21, however, we have the part. 'HS127 followed

appendix, chaps, iii. 23 — 26; iv. 2. 583
by a past nSl : and infra xxvi. 9, 'DNa by ttths . iQ ps. civ. 3, on the
other hand, we have the part, with the def. art. three times repeated in one
verse, and in Ps. ciii. 3, 4, twice in each verse.
Ver. 23. il?2 nib.N ?T!D>1 Comp. Hos. ii. 8, (Eng. Vers. ii. 6,) nN ^b ^3n
O^Tp? tySll Behold I will hedge up thy way with thorns, mi? nN ^-1121
and I will build up her wall (so that she shall not find her paths). ni2 113 is
here used in a bad sense, whilst it is used in a good sense in Ezek. xiii. 5. "1?2 113
is always used in a bad sense. Comp. Lam. iii. 7, 9 ; Job xix. 8. Comp. also
infra xii. 14, E^N 73? 12D} He shutteth up a man; and note on i"1??, supra
i. 10. Ver. 24. "'¦TH^tE . . . 13n}1 . Here we have a masc. verb followed by a fem.
subst. See note (in Comm.) on infra xx. 9, (p. 176). I will observe, however,
that my experience leads me to believe that Gesenius is right when he says
(Lehrgeb., p. 718) that the converse is very rarely found, viz., a, fem. verb followed
by a masc. subst. — when they agree in number.
0}a? . It is well known that the def. art. is very commonly used after the 2
of comp., the reason being probably that assigned by Gesenius, viz., that the
objects which serve as standards of comparison are generally familiar and well-
known objects. So we say, "As swift as the eagle," "as black as the raven's
wing," &c. Comp. infra x. 9, 10 ; xix. 20; xxi. 11, &c. ; and see Index.
Still this is by no means always the case ; nor are the same subst. always used
with a def. art. when joined with 3 . Thus Ps. i. 4, we have 'ISQin lt?N VIO?
nil and infra xxi. 18, nSID ina33 V*0? . When a subst. is thus defined by a
sentence following it, the def. art. almost appears unnecessary. Comp. infra xi. 16,
11337 D}a? * Uke waters [which] pass away, though in the verse before us we
have D}a? .
Ver. 26. ^h® . See note on vbt{7} infra xii. 6.

CHAPTER IV.
Ver. 2. nS3ri . Some connect the lT with nNbn and regard the intervening
words TbN 131 nD3 as parenthetical and conditional, nD3 being equivalent to
nS3 DN , just as infra vii. 9, 1?5 nb| = 132 nb|! DN . . The translation would
then be, " whether  did one try (i.e., ' if one tried) a word with thee 
would'st thou be weary ? " We may comp. infra xxiv. 1, where ?1ia is by many
Commentators connected with l"1^"!1'] (the intervening sentence being taken
conditionally), whilst Homberg goes farther still and joins it to nbl33 at the
beginning of the next verse. That such a construction is impossible, Dr. Bernard
* With regard to the ellipsis of the i$2t here after a noun used indefinitely, see supra
note on ver. 3.

584 APPENDIX. CHAP. IV. 2.
himself could scarcely have asserted, since he has understood ver. 13 of chap. 6,
in a similar way and connected the n of ONil with n*t£7W1 , whilst the ON with
the other intervening words form a conditional sentence. That an interrogation
may thus be carried across an intervening sentence is well shown in Gen. iv. 7,
jlNtp S^Jl DN Nibn lit., [Zs there] not  if thou doest well  lifting up
(of the countenance) ? where the Nibn must be connected with the nNB7 .
Mendelssohn says : — • tjp ton tf 3'13T> Ofi flip
lit. Wilt not — if thou doest well — thou then lift up thy face ?
Perhaps again the H here may be considered = ON , when, Has one tried ?
would = if one has tried. This construction is very common in Germ., e.g.,
" Gefallt es dir, so behalte es ! " where the first clause has at least an interrogative
form. Comp. Prov. xxv. 16, nN^a 8731 rend, in the A. V. Hast thou found
honey ? but = if thou hast found honey. This is really nearly the same case as
that first mentioned in this note, as there np3 is taken = did one try ? = if one
tried, though a German would prob. say there was no interrogation. ON ia
certainly freq. used = n as infra vi. 12, &c, and n undoubtedly sometimes, in
indirect questions, = ON (Lat. num, Germ, ob, our whether) as e.g., Exod.
xvi. 4, &c. In this case nNbn would stand for nNbnn .
Again np3n might be taken = nD3 Nbn ffas 0ne not tried? = has one
never tried ? Comp. infra xx. 4, nyT nNTn rendered in A. V. and in our
translation, Hast thou not known ? So 1 Sam. ii. 27, &c. Similarly, in Vulg.
Eng. " Was I a fool ? "= was'nt I a fool ?
Dr. Bernard's rendering is certainly the most simple and makes very good
sense. Vba? nbjyi. So infra xxix. 9, D^ba? 11?*. The verb nsy is also
followed by 3 infra xii. 15, D}33 n!23} ]?} oehold ! He restraineth (stayeth)
the waters. Comp. 1 Sam. ix. 17, where it signifies to rule over. 7t£?a to rule
is also commonly followed by 3 with the noun expressing what is ruled over,
and the same is the case with nil (to rule over), Gen. i. 28 ; Lev. xxvi. 17 ;
nfDVi to restrain, keep back, however, appears to take an ace, e.g., infra vii. 11 j
xvi. 5 ; Prov. x. 19, &c.
The verb ^a"1 is frequently followed by a constructive inf. without v, like our
can (Fr. pouvoir, Germ, konnen, he). Comp. Exod. ii. 3 ; xviii. 23, n73}}
TbS; . So in Numb. xxii. 37, we have 113? baiN and ver. 38, b?1N bbVf
nai . Indeed this chap, swarms with examples of naked inf. Thus we find
ver. 13, snnb 7Na, but ver. 14, ^bn }Na, ver. 15, nbtp liy FVP'1,
and ver. 19, nai nin} V\DS ; again, ver. 25, nn'snb HO'I , but ver. 26, -Vh
113V . ba1* is, however, also, and I think more freq., followed by 7 (as our to be
ablehy to), e.g., Gen. xiii. 16 ; Numb. xiii. 31, &c. Comp. infra ix. 18, "'PSn} N7
3tt7il ; xv. 22, 31E7 TON} Nb ; xiii. 3, V?HN .... min} 0n which see note.
Comp. also Exod. iv. 24, in^an E7p3}1 ; Deut. ii. 25, nn bnN ; Jer. i. 6,
n?l ''ny T fcO , Je ne sais pas parler. So in French aller chercher, envoyer

APPENDIX. CHAP. IV. 3 — 6. 585
chercher, oser dire, he. Again, in tbe Internat. Exhibition, we read in Span.,
No es permitido fumar. The Span, too say Celebro mucho ver a V. Comp. also
Shaksp. Merch. of Ven. Act. i. sc. iii.
" Whose own hard dealings teaches them suspect."
These remarks of course only apply to languages in which an infinitive can he
used with a particle corresponding to our to, and not to those (such as Greek,
Latin, Russian, &c), in which the to is included in the infinitive. In Heb. the
eonstr. with b should be regarded as the rule. ,
Ver. 3. The expression illO! 0}!} slack, relaxed, feeble, hands, occurs also in
Isa. xxxv. 3, where it is used of those who are irresolute and timid. This pass.
in Isa. is so similar to ours that I transcribe it —
sisbn nibaJs D}3i?i nisn D}ij ip-tn
Strengthen ye [the] weak hands, and confirm (the) stumbling (tottering) knees !
The following verse commences with " say to the fearful of heart, Be strong,
fear not," so that tbe meaning of the weak hands and tottering knees is
evident enough. Comp. also Heb. xii. 12, Aid ras irapaixeva-; ^€tpas ko.1 to
7rapaX<-Xvp<h'a -yoVaTa avopOiiicraTe, where the slackened hands and the feeble,
paralyzed knees would seem to refer to tbe despondency and loss of energy
consequent upon affliction and trials. Comp. also Ezek. vii. 17 ; xxi. 7 ;
Ps. cix. 24 ; 2 Sam. iv. 1 ; Isa. xiii. 7, &c. In all these passages the
expressions weak knees and feeble hands seem to be used of those who have
lost all energy and courage, but in no instance do they refer to religious faith,
as Dr. Bernard would understand them here. It is, therefore, perhaps, better
to understand them in their usual meaning, although Dr. Bernard's rendering
suits the context better.
Ver. 5. N13n Tr cometh. A fem. used as a neut. The it evidently refers
to whatever is supposed to have made the hands of those whom Job exhorted and
encouraged, weak, and their knees to bow, for the argument is : Thou didst
encourage and exhort those who were desponding and despairing, and yet, when
thou art placed under similar circumstances, thou behavest in precisely the same
manner. I would, therefore, supply nv~^ evil, ni3y affliction, ni!J distress, or
some other word of similar signification. Comp. Micah i. 9, ni-in} 137 nN3 ¦>?
pbt£7'.n} 13? 17337 137E7* 1? 3723 for it (i.e., mischief, evil) has come unto Judah,
has reached unto [the] gate 'of my people, [even] unto Jerusalem ; only here the
second verb ^33 is in the masc. But the pass, is com. taken otherwise. We may
also compare the vulgar Eng., " You'll catch it," and the Fr. " Vous i/avez
echappe belle."
Ver. 6. Another instance of a transposition, or at any rate, of an awkward
parenthesis, according to our notions, occurs in 1 Kings vi. 1, where we read : —
bN-ib-" b» nb'bttJ tfbab ^bn aJihn Nin it anna n^yain ns^a
— t:- - : ' - * -¦-— ... — • . . - • : t tt-
Word for word, In the fourth year in [the] month Ziv which [is] the second
month of [the] reign (lit., reigning) of Solomon over Israel ; but much more
clearly rendered in the Auth. Vers., " In the fourth year of Solomon's reign over
Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month."

586 APPENDIX. CHAP. IV. 6 — 8.
Comp. also Gen. vii. 6, 0}D n}il 713an} Ht., when the flood was water, but
translated in the Auth. Vers., when the flood of waters was (upon the earth).
To this may be objected that D}a 713art would be bad Hebrew, but in Gen.
vi. 17, we find D}a 713an nN , * where, however, we may explain the
irregularity of language, we must translate the flood of waters, in the same way
that we must translate O^iUN.t^n 237711 (Ps. cxxiii. 4), the mocking of them that
are at ease.\
Comp. also 2 Kings viii. 12. A good instance of a transposition occurs also
Gen. xiv. 12, DT.3N "TIN ]3 it£731 nN} Dib nN mp}l lit., and they took Lot
and his substance [the] son of [the] brother of Abram, but which must be
transposed thus : And they took Lot, the son of the brother of Abram, and his
substance. In Prov. xix. 12, and xx. 2, we find n^p?? D13 which is usually
translated, as though it were written l"1?? Dil3? as [the] growling of a young
lion, though the construction is perhaps best explained by regarding the words as
equivalent to l1?? D!13? D!13 growling, like [the] growling of a young lion-X
Comp. also Judg. xviii. 16, nyt»il nilS Q135S3  BTN niNa WW)
]1 ^.ap lt£7N; lit., and six hundred men  [were] standing in the entrance
of the gate, which [were] of the children of Dan; where the last clause
(which is more ambiguous in Hebrew than in English, as the ntt7N; might readily
refer to n35E7), must in English come before were standing, he.
Ver. 7. It does not seem to me absolutely necessary, though it is, perhaps,
more Hebrew, to supply nt£7N. before ^"in?? .
Ver. 8. 11.N vanity, iniquity, and ba37 labour (for a bad purpose) mischief, evil,
are frequently found in corresponding hemistiches, or coupled together. Comp.
infra v. 6 ; xv. 35 ; Numb, xxiii. 21 ; Isa. x. 1 ; Ps. lv. 11 ; x. 7. Infra xi. 14,
nb}y corresponds to ]1N ; and xxxi. 3, bl37 corresponds to 71.N "b.37S , so that there
is some reason for supposing that ba37 when joined with }}N may sometimes have
the meaning of sin, wickedness, although Gesenius is scarcely willing to allow it.
]1N has, however, sometimes the meaning of misery, calamity, (as infra v. 6,
Gen. xxxv. 18), and so it might be understood here, and then bay would mean
trouble. The meaning would then be that they who plough and sow trouble and misery

* The first of these two passages, however, may be translated, " Noah was 600 years old
when the flood was  water upon the earth ; " and in the second D?n may also be taken
merely in apposition to tan , "Behold, I am about to bring the (a) flood — [namely]
water," &c. Mendelssohn says that o;n is added, because tan alone might mean anything
coming down from heaven in large quantity, such as rain, hail, snow, fire, &c. He
explains the construction, however, by supplying a second tan, Djn 'jian tann .
f For other examples, see Ges. Lehrgeb. (Leipzig 1817), pp. 657, 658.
t As we say to growl like a lion, = to growl like a lion growls, so the Heb. say growling
like a lion, = growling like a lion growls = growling like the growling of a lion. Comp.
Ps. xcii. 11, where ovrp is rendered by Mendelssohn wie des Waldstiers Krone, as though
it was Otf) rjj» , ftg being supplied from 7?B .

APPENDIX. CHAP. IV. 8, 9 — 13. 587
for others reap them themselves. This interpretation seems to accord better with
the affix in* in lm2p}} as if bay and li.N mean wickedness, this affix must
be understood to refer to the fruits of such wickedness, as a wicked man can
hardly be said to reap iniquity. These nouns might, however, no doubt, be taken
in the double sense of wickedness, and its recompense, in the same way that |i?7
frequently is.
The affix -in- refers either to bay. alone, or to each of the two subst. See
note on H*? infra ver. 19.
Eliphaz no doubt means to insinuate here that, as he has never seen the
righteous perish and has always seen the wicked reap the fruits of what they
had sown, therefore, Job must have been wicked, and he proceeds to confirm his
assertion by declaring the justice of God. Indeed, whenever the three friends
speak of the wicked, we shall do well, I think, to conceive them to be making a
covert allusion to Job ; and that be understood them to do so is clear from the
irritation which their discourses produced in him. It may be too that Job
alluded to his friends likewise, whenever he spoke of the prosperity of the
wicked, though he was too much occupied with his own sufferings to be able to
repay in kind all the galling taunts of " them that were at ease."
Ver. 9. As to the different kinds of lions (N^b , t27}b , bntZ7) , the reader
may consult Bocbart, Hieroz. He interprets ^nti? black lion, 27}7 strong lion,
and N'Ob lioness.
Ver. 10. Those who regard yn3 as = Vn3 have the passage in Ps. Iviii. 7, in
their favour, for yPO is there used in a sentence almost exactly like the one
before us, of the breaking out of teeth. The passage is V"in3 D'H,'p? niynb; a
[the] grinders of the young-lions break-out, Jehovah ! For the interchange of
y and 2 comp. Heb. VTJN, Chald. N371N , &c.
Other instances of Zeugma occur in this book, viz. infra x. 12, and see Index.
Ver. 13. The sense appears to be : Whilst I was musing upon the visions
which had just appeared to me in my dreams — in the dead of the night, at a
time when other men lay buried in profound sleep. Comp. Shakespeare :
" Now stole upon the time — tbe dead of night,
When heavy sleep had closed up mortal eyes."
(Rape of Lucrece. )
Job was, therefore, lying awake, or half awake. Many Comm. seem to think
the spirit appeared to him in a dream.
The word D^SyE? is written with a D instead of a ^ in 1 Kings xviii. 21,
and also Isa, xvii. 6 ; xxvii. 10 ; though in the last two places there is no dagesh
in the S and the meaning is branches. In Ps. cxix. 113, we have the form
CD^D [vain] thoughts (Auth. Vers.), Ausschweifungen (Mendels.), Trugge-
danken, Sophismen, zweifelhafte Gedanken (Ben-Zev), Sceptics, doubters
(Ges.). Ben-Zev connects the two meanings branches and thoughts, inasmuch as
thoughts, he says, shoot out in different directions from one root, the brain, in
the same way as the branches of a tree from its stock.

588 APPENDIX. CHAP. IV. 14 — 19.
Ver. 14. "^^P- The verb Nip stands for nip to meet, happen to, befall, in
Gen. xlii. 4 liDN IBNnp} }B Ust mischief befall him, and xlii. 38. The two
forms occur in the same sentence, Numb, xxiii. 3, "'nNlp? nin} nij?'} "blN .
Tnsn agrees in gend. with TIB , although niy-] is nearer to it. Comp.
infra vi. 3, where 133} agrees with "^J?? and not with ,niil . See note on
*]N infra ver. 19.
Ver. 15. naD occurs once in Kal, viz., Ps. cxix. 120 *intP3 ITinsa lap.
Auth. Ver. My flesh trembleth for fear of Thee, but surely it would be more in
conformity with the primitive meaning of the word to translate My flesh
becometh rough (bristleth up, horret, shuddereth), (i.e., I get a goose-skin) for fear
of Thee. Some understand it of the hairs with which one's body is garnished.
In this verse nil is used as a masc. in the first hem, and as a fem. in the
second hem. Comp. 1 Kings xix. 11, Pjni nbil2 nil ; and see note on nf)2 supra
i. 14. Comp. also supra i. 19, nbi!2 nil followed by 51*1 (masc). There is,
therefore, no occasion to regard napn as agreeing with niy.E? . It would seem
from these examples that nil is fond of displaying its two genders in the same
verse. In the next verse the masc. gend. is again used. For a similar alternation
of genders see Exod. ii. 17.
Ver. 16. Most commentators understand by "I could not recognize its form,"
I could not distinguish its shape ; its outlines were indistinct, and shadowy ; and
this interpretation seems to me more forcible than Dr. Bernard's.
naai is translated by Umbreit (and he has only followed other commentators)
lindes Sauseln, a gentle rustling, as of a breeze in the tops of trees. This
meaning he obtains from the well-known passage in 1 Kings xix. 12, naa^ 7ip
n^l Auth. Ver., A still small voice, Sept. <biavrj avpws .Wi-iys, Vulg., Sibilus
aurse tenuis, the sound or murmur of a gentle breeze. Umbreit says he prefers
this interpretation, because it suits the context better, and because it gives the
whole scene a more ghostly air ; but here I think he is wrong. If there were
any gentle rustling, surely it would have accompanied the movements of the
apparition, and would not have begun only when this stopped. The sense of the
passage seems to me rather to be this : — Whilst the apparition was gliding along,
there may have been no rustling, its movements may have been noiseless, but
Eliphaz must have been too eagerly, too intently, watching it to notice that
silence did prevail ; but, as soon as it stopped in front of him, he would naturally
expect it to speak, and during the interval which elapsed before its voice was
heard, the deep silence would naturally force itself upon him, and that in a very
oppressive manner. If, therefore, naai be taken to express the pause during
which tbe ears of Eliphaz were strained to catch the slightest sound, the force of
the passage will, it seems to me, be greatly increased. For other examples of
the omission of naN7 , comp. Gen. xli. 17 ; 1 Sam. xx. 21 ; 1 Kings i. 17 ; Lam.
ii. 15, &c.
Ver. 18. The noun nbnn seems to be the only one of its form.
With the expression nbnn D"1^} we may compare nbon ^J13 (supra i. 22)
and nbsn D^} (infra xxiv. 12),
Ver. 19. n^ • I must confess I do not see the force of Dr. Bernard's reasoning.

APPENDIX. CHAP. IV. 19. 589
I do not see why ^N must refer to both clauses of the preceding verse. When
two substantives allied in meaning are used together, we freq. find that the verbs, or
other parts of speech, which follow, only refer to one of them, whether this be the first
or the second. Comp. supra ver. 8, where we have the sing, affix *m~ (in mi^p})
after the two subst. 11.N and bay. , and so ver. 1 4, TTIDil apparently refers to
the first noun. Comp. also infra vi. 3, 133} ; viii. 12 ^Vf3 ; xi. 8, 9; where
nj?ay , nSlN , nam , evidently only refer to n^ban in ver. 7 ; xv. 24 ,
inDpnn ; and I have no doubt many other examples might be found.
See Index, s. v., Singular. Why then should not H^? refer to only one of
the clauses ? As for the 2 , this must be really supplied in any case (for in
ver. 18 both verbs have it), although by using let alone in Eng. we apparently
do not supply it. But that Dr. Bernard is wrong is clearly shown by infra
xv. 15, 16, where we have the same idea expressed in rather different words,
and where the ,? *1N (ver. 16) manifestly only refers to the second hemistich of
ver. 15, and is so taken by Dr. Bernard himself. [I have since been led to
modify my opinion. It is, indeed, true that in the examples quoted above, only
one of the two subst. is referred to inform, and that infra xv. 16 the ^3 *1N also
seems grammatically only to refer to the latter clause of the prec. verse ; still I
now believe that in these pass., and others like them, both subst. and both clauses
are really referred to, just as much as supra i. 13 0"b3N and D^ntS really refer
to 1,n33 , although grammatically they only refer to VSa . Dr. Bernard is,
therefore, right here. I would, therefore, lay down as a rule that " the adjectives,
pronouns, verbs, he., by means of which reference is really made to both of two
substantives (or it may be clauses *) which have immediately preceded, may be,
and frequently are, used in the singular, though they thus apparently refer to
only one of such subst. or clauses ; and also that, if the substantives referred to
are of different genders, the words referring to them may agree in gender with
either of them (no matter which comes last), and so be either masculine or
feminine." f See supra ver. 14 ; infra vi. 3 ; xi. 8, 9, &c, and note on xix. 15.
Dr. Bernard seems to have recognised this idiom (see note in Comm. on infra
vi. 3), although he nowhere speaks explicitly on the subject. From what he says
there, however, he seems to have referred these cases to the same category as that
idiom (so common in Job), according to which, by the use of a sing, pron., pron.
affix, verb, &c, every individual comprised in a plural which has just
preceded is singled out (see note in Comm. on ian? supra vi. 17), and I think
he is right — only here we have to deal with a plur. which comprises only two
individuals (i.e., a dual), and not many.]
D1N3T lit. they crush them, i.e., they are crushed. Other examples of this
impersonal use of the 3d pers. plur. are found infra vi. 2 "in} INC^} ( vii. 3
¦b 13D , xix. 26 nNT 1Sp3 ; xxxiv. 20 n">2N -1T<P} , &c. Comp. also Prov. ix.

" I think the subst. and the clauses will commonly be found to be similar in meaning.
t At present, however, I have never found the fem. used, unless the fem. subst. came
last. See infra xi. 8, 9 ; xv. 24.

590 APPENDIX. CHAP. IV. 19, 20.
11, lb 1Q',pi',1 , lit. and they shall add to thee (years of life), i.e., years of life
shall be added to thee ; Lam. ii. 15, marf'tP [concerning] which they (i.e., men)
say ; 1 Kings xiii. 2, and men's bones Tb? 13"1E7} they shall burn (i.e., shall
be burnt) upon thee; Lev. xx. 14 inN 1B1P} they shall burn him (and them),
i.e., he and they shall be burned, &c. Similarly in Lat. we have dicunt, they
say = it is said, and in Greek, Xiyovui, <pao-L The Italians, too, commonly use the
third pers. plur. when they wish to express the French on, and we (as well as the
Spanish) sometimes employ it.
Before = at an earlier period, sooner, can scarcely be said to be the usual
meaning of >I3.S7 , for this is before = in the presence of. Still, "^Sb is frequently
used of time, e.g., supra iii. 24 ''anb 'Osb ; Gen. xxix. 26 ni^sn ^sb before
the first-born (fem.). Comp. Prov. viii. 25 ; Amos i. 1. Even ^S 7y is once
(Gen. xi. 28) used of time. Comp. particularly infra viii. 12, " Yet it withereth
""P.?/ before all grass."
Ver. 20. ^3}. This would more properly be WM11 (in pause for W3V) after the
analogy of ISP'P (given in the Grammars). Comp. infra xi. 15, where we find
psa in Van der Hooght, whilst Wolfssohn has p^ia , as Van der Hooght has it
infra xxxvi. 16 ; xxxvii. 18 ; and for an explanation of this irregularity, see
note in Commentary on n31N. infra xi. 9, and on ISSpJl"] infra xxiv. 24. n?}
and m?} are, however, the only forms found, and they only occur four times,
viz., here, Isa. xxiv. 12 ; Jer. xlvi. 5 ; Mic. i. 7. Gesenius calls it a Chaldaism.
See his Lehrgeb., pp. 370—371. He seems inclined to regard the dagesh in the
3 as supplying the place of the second radical (or, as he says, of the dag. in the
second rad.) as in n3N1, Deut. ix. 21, &c, but then the word should be
written Vl|} , as it is in some copies. The omission of the second rad. (n)
can be compensated only by one dag., whether this be inserted in the radical
preceding or following the omitted letter. See Mason and Bernard's Gramm.,
Letter xli. Comp. Wnil 2 Chron. xx. 17 with Wnn (in pause), Josh. x. 25.
Infra xix. 23 we find Ipn.} where we should expect ^pn.} . The Kawmets
under the n seems in some measure to compensate for the missing Dagesh.
Here a Shurik is replaced by a Kibbuts followed by a Dagesh, but sometimes
we find a Shurik followed by a Dag., when we should expect a Kibbuts with
a Dag., or at any rate a Shurik without a Dag., but then there is, I think,
always, a Masoretic note. Comp. * Dually, naked, infra xxii. 6, Gen. ii. 25,
* D'an» which, of course has the accent on the last syllable, violates the well-known
and fundamental rule that a long vowel cannot be followed by a dagesh unless it has the
accent. See Mason and Bernard's Gram., Lett, xi., § 7, 8; xli., § 5. Kimchi, quoting
from the Masora, says that the dag. is put to distinguish ?'ans> naked, from D'nrffl pru
dent. His words are — punt i'«Vq-» 1'b-i )'n'an miDnm
" And the Masora [says] : [when meaning] wise without dagesh; [when meaning] naked with

Comp. D'n«}x 2 Chron. ix. 10, 11. Gesenius says that the i is here really short, but this
seems to be merely an assertion. For other examples see his Lehrgeb., p. 61, Anm. i.,
and cf. aw Isa. xxviii. 27 ; "^v Judg. xviii. 29 ; "£i' infra v. 7 ; Judg. xiii. 8, &c.

appendix, chaps, iv. 20, 21 ; v. 1, 2. 591
with na^y. Hos. ii. 5, and 0">aiy Gen. iii. 7. Oralis; prudent, infra v. 12,
xv. 5, and Prov. xiv. 18, has no Dag. in the O.
D-'ba ''bsa . This ellipsis of 3b after the verb 0127 is found also Isa.
xli. 20, and Judg. xix. 30.
Ver. 21. nil} = excellence, superiority occurs, also in Prov. xvii. 7; Gen.
xlix. 3.
na?na N7 lit., not with wisdom, i.e., without wisdom. It, therefore, is equi
valent to naan (ib?) Nb3 . Comp. infra xxxiv. 20 1}2 Nb = 1} Nb2 without
a hand; and xxxiv. 35 nyi? Nb and Vston? Nb . From these last two
instances it might be inferred that 3 N7 is, properly speaking, a more gentle way
of expressing without, than N72 . If I say, " Job does not speak with wisdom,"
I evidently consult Job's feelings more than if I said, " Job speaks without
wisdom." Still, it is very doubtful whether 2 Nb was used with this intention.
I much prefer to understand the passage, " No, Job does not speak with wisdom,
and his words are not [spoken] with understanding." In 2 N7 there is much
more emphasis on the N7 than in N72 . Comp. Isa. xxviii. 27. Indeed, in
some cases (and perhaps in all) 2 N7 seems more forcible than N72 . Thus, in
Isa. xlv. 13, God says that man does so and so intt?'? N7} "TTia? N ^ (but) not
for a price, not for a bribe, but because He wills that he should do so. So, too, infra
xxxiv. 20, " The mighty are removed T}2 ^b (but) not bt {any mortal) hand,"
is much more forcible than "are removed without (any mortal) hand." In the
former case a kind of pause or break is produced in the sentence, which adds
to the force. And so, too, in the pass, before us : they die,  but not with
wisdom. Comp. also infra xxiv. 22.

CHAPTER Y-
The connection of this Chapter with the preceding will, I think, be more
clearly perceived, if vers. 9—21, (both inclusive) of chap. iv. be regarded as
parenthetical. Ver. 1. D^lp in the sense of holy (good) men is found also in Ps. xxxiv. 10,
Deut. xxxiii. 3.
Ver. 2. Other instances in which active verbs are followed by V instead of
an ace. may be found infra xii. 23 ; xxi. 22 ; Gen. xxix. 13 ; xlv. 7 ; xlviii.
10 ; Judg. vii. 2 ; xvi. 16 ; 1 Sam. xx. 30 ; 2 Sam. iii. 30 ; 1 Kings i. 9, 28,
32 ; 2 Kings v. 18 ; Jon. iv. 6 ; Ruth i. 20, 21. See note on infra xii. 23, and
Index. In Span., act. verbs are without exception followed by the dat. of the object
when it has life.

592 appendix, chap. v. 3 — 5.
^ ?? occurs also infra vi. 2 ; x. 1 7. It is only found in Job. See note on
naaip infra xviii. 8.
Ver. 3. 3lpN1  "''TNT "Og lit., I have seen .... and cursed = when
I have seen I have cursed. See note on TINS} supra iii. 11.
3ipN1 . Dr. Bernard says that this verb is here used in its sense of distinctly
naming, pronouncing, but he has not really himself taken it so, for in the
translation which I made with his approval, it is rendered (then) I distinctly
pronounced the fate of his dwelling, and not distinctly pronounced his dwelling. The
fact is the verb 3p3 seems to be used here in both senses ; they are combined
together. Eliphaz does not mean to say he cursed the dwelling, and that the evils
which resulted arose from his curse ; he merely means to say, I distinctly pro
nounced the curse which was to fall upon his dwelling, I at once pronounced
its doom, I declared what its fate would be.
ini3 his dwelling. n]3 seems here to be taken in the same sense that n}3 very
frequently is used, viz., that of house = family, property, station, &c. Comp.
2 Sam. iii. 1, "and blNt£7 n1*? [the] house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker."
DNnQ suddenly, i.e., at once. Comp. Josh, x., where in ver. 6, the men of
Gibeon say to Joshua, " Come up to us n"}np hastily," and in ver. 9, we read,
"Joshua, therefore, came (went) unto them ONilS suddenly, i.e., at once." So
the Italians use subito. Vengo subito = I am coming directly, Je viens tout de
suite. Ver. 4. Comp. Lam. iii. 17, ^BS DibffiJa n3?ni and Thou hast thrust my
soul away from peace ; Eng. Ver. removed my soul far off from peace.
Comp. also Prov. xxii. 22, lyttb ^Vr N3in bN crush not [the] afflicted in
the gate ; also Amos v. 12, &c
For the form 1N31} comp. infra xxxiv. 25 ; n3ia for l?ina Numb. vii. 89,
2 Sam. xiv. 13, Ezek. ii. 2 ; naiN Isa. xiv. 14, for nainN ; n3t?7in Isa.
xxxiv. 6, for n3TCinn ; Dann ps. xviii. 25, for Dannn (in pause for
oannn) ; also mann Habak. i. 5, for inannn ; nbis} Lev. xxi. 1, &c, for
Naan} . From these examples we see that where in the Hithpael the n of
the nn is followed by 1 , O , n , it (the H of the l^n~) is very commonly
dropped, and its place supplied by a Dagesh forte. This is, however, not always
the case, for we find O^pBina Judg. xix. 22. See Ges. Lehrg., p. 246.
For other instances in which the Hithpael is used as a Niphal, cf. 1 Kings
ii. 27, n^synn and n3ynn , and see Index.
Ver. 5. I cannot say that I object so strongly to the translation in the A. V.
as Dr. Bernard did. The meaning intended to be conveyed in it is evidently
that, in the first place, the wicked man's harvest would be very scanty, and in the
second place that the little he did have would be devoured by the hungry, who
would be sure to leave him nothing.
That the nt£7N need not he joined with the affix in TVSft is evident from Ps.
lxiv. 4, Dsittfb nN -133127' 727N who 'have whetted (whet) their tongue, and so
many take 03377 1?7N. infra ix. 5. Comp. also infra ix. 17.
It should be observed that in ver. 4, 5, Eliphaz has described with great

APPENDIX. CHAP. V. 6, 7. 593
accuracy, though very briefly, the fate which had overtaken Job himself, viz.,
the sudden and violent death of his children, and the sudden destruction of bis
wealth. It is very probable, therefore, that Eliphaz intended to allude to Job.
Vers. 6 — 7. Many Commentators agree in giving VlN in ver. 2, a different
meaning from that which they assign to it in ver. 3. In the latter case, they
translate wicked-man, in tbe former case, fool. They cannot, therefore, complain
of our giving to ^a37 in ver. 6, the signification of misery, and in ver. 7, that
of labour. Besides, the Hebrews, as is well known, are fond of playing upon the
different significations of the same word. Comp. Ps. Ixii. 10, where b3!l js
first taken in its usual sense of vanity, and then at the end of the verse in its
original meaning breath. Comp. also Eccles. vii. 6, n^pn nnn DvTpil bip?
as [the] sound (crackling) of thorns under a pot, where the word n^D is used
in two different senses, that of thorn and that of pot. Comp. also Judg. x. 4,
" and he had thirty sons that rode on thirty O^S ass-colts, and they (the sons)
had thirty O^y cities," — where the same word means ass-colts and cities. So
also Judg. xv. 16, D}rnbn liarj liann Tib? with [the] jaw-bone of an (lit.
the) ass, a heap, [nay] two heaps (I bave smitten, &c), where nian means ass,
and heap ( = nan).
In Biorn Haldorsen's Icelandic Diet. s. v. geta (to get) I find the following : —
Adam gat J?ria syni, beirra var g&tid.
" Adam begat three sons, of whom mention has been made " (i.e., of whom we have
got an account),
where the verb geta is used in two different meanings in the same sentence,
viz., 1st. in that of begetting, and 2ndly in that of making mention.
Eliphaz, having just spoken of the harvest of the wicked, is naturally led to
speak of the ground from which a harvest springs, and (if Dr. Bernard's inter
pretation is correct) he no doubt here hints to Job that, if he had always
occupied himself with the tillage and cultivation of his land, and had not dis
quieted himself (see supra iii. 25, infra xv. 20) with searching into things which
did not concern him, God would very likely not have visited him with the
punishments which now weigh so heavily upon him. The idea, however far
fetched it may seem to those who live in large cities, is not unnatural in the
mouth of one, to whom, no doubt, as to Job, husbandry and agriculture had
ever been matters of primary importance. At the same time, Herz Homberg
suggests another interpretation which is equally deserving of attention.
He takes, namely, ,1N and bay in ver. 6, to be equivalent to Dan and bl.37
violence (wrong) and iniquity, comparing Ps. x. 7, l1.?1 bay. i3iE?b nnn llnder
his tongue [are] mischief and iniquity, (and see supra iv. 8), and adds that they
do not spring up of their own accord out of the ground, but that man produces
them (see supra iv. 8, where the wicked are said to plough the one and sow the
other), and is, therefore, justly punished for them. He accordingly translates
ver. 6 :
Q Q

594 APPENDIX. CHAP. v. 6, 7.
Wabrlich ! Gewalthat steigt nicht aus dem Boden hervor, Unrecht keimt
nicht aus der Erde.
On the next verse (ver. 7) he comments as follows : —
uT7'i pipPPD 1P133 (^'s/p P'Obll) V1u»T5 vi oito 3i 13' '3 7"u -7iv bvub
(P1Pir>P DPI , CJD-) 03 B3153 CD IM ,1MD3 PIP 5WP lifo ,ilB ™B»i ]31P PIP
ip DP'11W3 DW 07PP '33 ]3 , piiwi ijivb OViU D'i'DP DOIWPD , <]1I> P'32pi
•(15 "3 ,P"i 'P")3) '7' ipi C , U'iP pi D7f>i iPDI 1P3 ,ipr>i 07P1 . JlUl IIP PPP
pF7jfr) IPUIPI -D7PP DB 7iw , ilUP PIPI ,iPBPD 1PUD jPS) "7'i if> V nUW
IP7 T]iWUP ]U7 P'll ,]mpfol»3P )BD:UP 07 Ut'P 153P1J1P 013 JOU'O P'7
' (]M'Jp
«¦*< teri. After the manner of vwan »i dtwj nb -er '3 (Gen. viii. 21), For [the]
imagination of man's heart [is] evil from his youth, that is to say, that from the [very]
commencement of his life (lit., birth) he is disposed to do evil, as though evil were in his
nature ; just as it is in the nature of fftfj ¦:} (and they are birds), to make high their flight,
for from [their] youth they accustom themselves to fly up on high— so the sons of men
from their youth incline to violence, evil, and iniquity. Now, ^ DTK is the same
as D"i«} baa , and so we find, 'T M> * (Gen. xxxi. 29), which is equivalent to 'TJ to * •
and here the meaning is, that mischief (ta»), i.e., iniquity, is born with man. The
translation [therefore is] : Sondern die Neigung zum Unrecht ist dem Menschen ange
boren, wie den Vbgeln das Fliegen."
Homberg does not state why he takes *1$1 }33 = birds* rather than sparks,
as the expression is usually rendered. If we substitute sparks for birds, the two
verses, according to his view, would run nearly as follows :
Ver. 6. Surely, iniquity doth not come forth from [the] earth,
Nor doth mischief spring up from [the] ground ;
Ver. 7. For man is born unto mischief,t
As [the] sparks fly upwards.
Dr. Bernard's' rendering has this advantage, that it accords better with the
general tenour of tbe speeches of tbe three friends, who would, I think, be rather
unwilling to allow that Job, if he had acted wickedly (as they asserted he had),
bad only done what they, or any other man, might have done ; for they rather seem
* But Wolfssohn, who also translates birds, says the root f]tr\ is used in Arabic of any
thing which ascends up on high. This Arabic root is no doubt •, <?,.,, ,- which, in the
eighth conj., means to be raised up on high, but I am sorry to see that these two learned
commentators should have been beguiled into the track which has been so unscrupulously
trodden of late.
t As I do not see that Homberg gains any other advantage from the inversion which
he adopts, than that of producing a neater German translation, and the sense appears to
me to remain the same whether the inversion be made or not — I have not retained it in
the free translation which I have given of Homberg's rendering. We can Say " Man is
born unto mischief," but we cannot say " Mischief is born unto man " (i.e, is innate in
man) as the Germans can, by using the part, angeboren, which Homberg seems to have
been anxious to use.

APPENDIX. CHAP. V. 7. 595
to delight in contrasting their immunity from punishment, and (according to their
view) consequent innocence, with Job's sufferings and consequent guilt. Comp.
infra xix. 5, where Job accuses them of magnifying themselves over him. It
seems to me, therefore, that Homberg's view puts a somewhat too indulgent
speech in the mouth of Eliphaz, who, in saying that man is irresistibly * led to
mischief, would be rather pleading Job's cause than God's. \
Ver. 7. nbl"1 . This is taken by most Comm. (and among them, by Kimchi,
Ben-Zev, and Buxtorf) to be the past Pu-al, for lb} ; by others to be the fut.
Hoph. for lbl1 . In either case, the Dag. in the b is irreg. as foil, a long vowel
which has not the accent. If the Kibbuts in ^-7} is lengthened into Shurik,
then the Dag. ought to be dropped (M. and B. Lett. xli. 5) ; whilst in the Hoph. a
Dag. in the second rad. is altogether anomalous. See note on W3} supra iv. 20.
The form 17V (or ib-V) occurs twice elsewhere, viz., Judg. xviii. 29, where the
context requires a past, and Judg. xiii. 8 171*71 , where we must transl. which is to
be, shall be, born, and where, therefore, the word seems to be a fut. though pron.
by the authorities above named to be a past. That it may be the Hoph. is shown
by our finding in Ezek. xvi. 4, the form ni.bin .+ If it is a fut. here, the sense
will be man is born, is in the habit of being born, is continually being born, homo
* I must allow that Homberg does not say this, and that he evidently did not wish his
words to be so interpreted ; still, I think I am warranted in interpreting them as I do.
He says, the tendency (inclination) to evil is innate in man, just as in birds the tendency
to fly (or more lit., just as flight is born with birds). Now, as birds have an irresistible
tendency to fly (for what birds, able to fly well, do not fly ?), the conclusion must be, if the
comparison holds good, that men have an equally irresistible tendency to commit sin.
And is not this true ? Does not everybody commit sin ? The only question is, whether this
truism is here likely to have been uttered by Eliphaz. It must be observed, moreover,
that, though Homberg chooses to translate, baa Neigung zum Unrechte (inclination, ten
dency, to wrong), yet the Heb. word itself means merely wrong, evil, iniquity, and that,
therefore,' the only sense which can be derived from the passage by Homberg's method
is that evil (sin) is as much a part of man's nature, as flight is of that of birds.
t By this I mean nothing more than that Eliphaz would be putting into Job's mouth
a pretext for inveighing against God, because He had created him thus — a pretext of
which Job, in the irritable frame of mind in which he then was, would not have failed to
avail himself. But upon reconsideration this argument seems to me but of little value,
for, whatever were the intentions of the three friends, they certainly were remarkably
successful in irritating Job against God, and were, no doubt, the cause that their unhappy
friend was guilty of an intemperance of language into which he would never have allowed
himself to fall, if he had not been teased and tormented by them. In acting thus they
might, indeed, be held to 'have been guilty only of an error of judgment, or of a want of
tact, but from the condemnation passed upon them in Chap. xlii. 7, it would seem that
God deemed them to have been actuated by the base motives attributed to them by Job,
infra xiii. 7—11 ; xix. 5, &c, namely, self-interest and self-exaltation.
X We may comp. also rein , Ps. cii. 5, Hoph. from rm , for nan . Ges. maintains
(Lehrgeb. p. 61), that in this, and in several other inst. which he gives, the i is really
short, as being merely Kibbuts written in full (plene), and certainly several of the
examples favour his view. Q Q 2

596 APPENDIX. CHAP. V. 7.
nascitur, der Mensch wihd geboren ; if it is a past, tbe sense is man has (up to
the present time) been born, and is born — the same sense, but acquired in a
different, and less direct, way. The fut. therefore, seems to me preferable, as it yields
the proper sense at once, without being strained.
f)13? •in,,33;} . lit., they mahe high to fly (or flying) = they fly high. This
eonstr. of a Hiph. with an inf. is a well known Heb. idiom. The inf. is, however,
comm, prec by b . Comp. nitpyb N^bsn , Vl3n , n3in , (2 Kings xxi. 6,
2 Chron. xxxiii. 6 ; Ps. exxvi. 2, 3, Joel ii. 20, 21 ; Judg. xiii. 19), he did
MUCH, GREATLY, WONDERFULLY ;* T'npb , n?tl?b p^Byn , (Jer. xlix. 8, 30;
Isa. xxix. 15), he dwelled, hid deeply. Comp. also Ps. lxxviii. 38, 1 Kings xxi. 26,
Exod. viii. 24, &c ; and with a Niph. ntpnb N'ban 2 Chron. xxvi. 15. We
do, however, sometimes find a naked inf., like the ^V here ; e.g., in Ps.
cxxvii. 3, n?tt7 "HnNp Dip ^3b'Q that rise up early, [and] sit up late, though
the second verb is a Pi-dl. So the Hiph. Tpin is freq. found with a naked
inf., as infra xxvii. 1, nN^7 31aN ^D»1 And Job again took up, 1 Sam. iii. 6, 8,
Numb. xxii. 19, Isa. vii. 10, viii. 5, &c And this inf., whether naked, or with b,
may be replaced by a tense, as in 1i?in -lain bN , 1 Sam. ii. 3, speak not much
(speak no more, A. V.) ; and after, ?VDin, (Prov. xxiii. 35; Isa. Iii. 1; Hos.
i. 6). Comp. also WflB ^ayn (Hos. ix. 9), they have deeply corrupted
themselves, or their ways. But it may also be replaced by a substantive (which is
very much akin to the naked inf.), as in Ps. xiv. 1, nbby -la^ynn Wnt?7n ,
lit., they make (have made) corrupt, abominable [their] deed[s], = they act cor
ruptly, abominably. So Isa. i. 15, "Although nbsn 13in ye make much
prayer, i.e., pray much. Comp. also infra xxxiv. 37.
In all these cases, the Hiph. (which, when there are two verbs, is the first)
can be rend, in Eng. by an adverb ; and this is the case even when the Hiph.
comes last, as in Joel ii. 26, " who N"bpnb nt£7J7 has done wonderfully." Comp.
Mr. Davidson's Comm. (Lond. 1862), p. 62, where Gen. ii. 3, niti737.b N13 is
ingeniously referred to the same category as the above pass., and expl., He made
creatively, i.e., by an act of creation ; though it may, I think, be equally well
interpreted He created so as to make, created and so made, just as I have
explained DID1? infra v. 11. But the meaning is almost exactly the same.t
As for the second ivordX (whether it be an inf. with b , a naked ini., a tense,
or a subst.), it can always be rend, by a finite verb (a tense) in Eng.
For the sentiment contained in the second hem. of this verse (according to
Dr. Bernard's interpret.), comp. Pope's Essay on Man, Ep. 1, lines 173, 174 :
What would this Man ? now upward will he soar,
And little less than Angel, would be more !
And ibid. (Ep. 2, 1. 23) :
Go, soar with Plato to the empyreal sphere ! &c.
* or great, wondrous, things = rtuja , nibia n»» .
t Comp. also infra xxxiv. 3, bb»b nra; tastes and so (then) eats, the ¦> expressing the
immediate result. SoalsoEccles.ii.il.
X i.e., the word joined with the Hiph., which, as we have seen, is almost without
exception the first word.

APPENDIX. CHAP. V. 8  11. 597
Ver. 8. The verb t»m is also followed by bN in Isa. viii. 19 ; xix. 3 ; Deut.
xviii. 11, in all of which places it is used of consulting soothsayers, diviners, or
" them that had familiar spirits." It is used in the same sense with an aec, e.g.,
Gen. xxv. 22 ; Exod. xviii. 15.; 2 Kings xxii. 13 ; Ps. xxxiv. 5. I quote these pass.
because "seek unto God" in the A. V. is not very intelligible, or, at all events,
was originally a Hebraism. In three of the last four pass, the verb is transl. in
the A. V. to enquire of, and in the fourth to seek. Still the bN may have the
force given to it in note on iii. 2 1 .
Ver. 10. mail Why the art. before this part., and not before any of the others ?
To us, indeed, the presence of the art. is more intelligible than its absence ; for,
where it is absent, we have to supply in Engl. " which (who)," or " he ;" still in
Heb., it would seem, in cases like the present, to be more frequently omitted.
Comp. infra xii. 17- — 24. The def. art., when joined with a part., of course
usually serves to define, with greater precision and force than had been before
done, the subj. to which it refers, as in supra iii. 21, 22 ; vi. 16, and much more
markedly in Ps. xviii. 33, 48. It must be observed, however, that Dr. Bernard
takes the present verse and also supra iii. 21, 22, in which this n is also
used with part., to be parenthetical, and to me, indeed, the def. art. in these
places seems to give the verses a certain air of parentheticality. But comp.
Ps. cxlvi. 7 — 9 ; cxlvii. 2 — 4, where, as here, we have the part, only once with,
and several times without, the def. art. Comp. especially Ps. cxlvii. 8, which
contains the part, with the def. art. three times, whilst the next verse begins
with a part, without the art. So ibid. vers. 14, 15, 16, part, with art., and
ver. 17 without.
ni2in occurs also Prov. viii. 26, in parallelism as here with V1.N . Gesenius
says the latter means tilled land, the former uncultivated or desert places, and
certainly n? its equivalent in Chald. has this meaning, as has also nlE7 } when it
is used with n*n = wild beast(s) of the field, (e.g., infra ver. 23). Yarchi
understands V1N of the land of Israel, and niSin of the other countries of the
earth. If, instead of bNHC?7} V"™ he had said bN?at?7} V1N he might have
been listened to, but he forgot that Eliphaz was not a Hebrew.
Ver. 11. Olt&b . For another example of this construction (and change of eonstr.
from inf. to a tense (past or fut.,)) see Isa. xliv. 14, nnn np-}1 onTN ib-n^pb
iibN"j lit. so as to cut him down cedars, and he taketh beech (or cypress) and oak,
the connexion apparently being that he who makes idols is infatuated to such
a point that he goes and cuts him down cedars, &c, warms himself, and roasts
his food with one part of the wood and makes his idols with the other,
without noticing the absurdity of the proceeding. Comp. Prov. ii. 2, 8 ; and
particularly infra xxviii. 25 nia3 ">?n D}ai bp^D nnb nittfyb so as to
make, he., where the connexion seems to be that God sees (i.e., notices, attends to)
everything under the whole heaven, and therefore makes a weight for tbe winds
and a measure for the waters. Comp. also infra xxxiv. 28 npy? VbyT N">37}7
yat?7} a"1}?? npy.21 bl, on which see note. In all these cases the
gerund might (as Umbreit remarks upon Oltob), and without any great defcri-

598 APPENDIX. CHAP. V. 11.
ment to the sense, be translated as a finite verb, and, indeed, the passage from
Isa. above quoted begins in the Eng. Ver. " he heweth; " still, the ? nas always,
and very markedly in the passage now under our consideration, a peculiar force,
which the reader feels more or less, though he finds it very difficult to render
it in words. I think, however, that the meaning is pretty accurately given, if
we render 01277 . n7?7 , nittfyb in the pass, above quoted, and therefore (or,
and so) he setteth, cutteth, maketh. Frequently, however, the b beginning a verse
(or a clause) has a much more definite signification, = in order to, for the purpose
of; and then, I think, it is often repeated in the second hemistich, or through
more than one verse. Comp. infra xxxiii. 30 ; xxxviii. 13, 25 — 26 ; Isa. xlii.
6 — 7 j lvii. 15, &c. Ewald recognises these two meanings of b with inf. eonstr.
when he says that it expresses either a purpose, or a result. 01277 , then,
expresses the result. See note on 1-13? •ln,?3} supra ver. 7.  As for the change
of construction, the Hebrews were not very particular about the sequence of their
tenses. In those early days they thought more of the idea than of the mode of
expressing it — as fast as their thoughts came up, they clothed them in words and
left them in the order they came up in. Comp. Isa. xliv. 13 — 15, and note
on OH71p}1 supra i. 5. We order and digest our thoughts before we commit
them to writing. The result is what we might expect ; Hebrew is natural, in
volved, very forcible ; the English of the present day artificial, clear, dilute.
Shakespeare writes more like the Hebrews, and so (though of course in a less
degree) amongst moderns, Lord Byron.
In all these inf. eonstr. with b, the pron. affix is left out, as the subj. can
readily be supplied from the context. Comp. nt&y supra ver. 9, and see note on
nD3 infra ix. 8. On the other hand, where 3 is used with an inf. eonstr., the
pron. aff. is, I think, commonly used, or the subject follows.
Lastly, we might, perhaps, translate Oiiab D^bsE? D12>b by a passive (0127
being taken impers.) so that [the] humble are set on high, for in this way we must
translate the very similar construction in Judg. ix. 24. DD11  Dan Ni3b
"ilba'aN by D1277 That [the] violence (done to the threescore and ten sons of
Jerubbaal) might come, and their blood be laid upon Abimelech, though the b in
the two pass, has not the same meaning.
D^llp Comp. Ps. xxxv. 14 ; xxxviii. 7 ; xlii. 10.
yttf} -13327 = yU7}.3 nrnb -13312 are exalted so as to be in safety. Kimchi
says it == 37£>}2 13327 . But 22>.} may be regarded as a Gr. ace. = as to safety;
for the exaltation might take place for another purpose. Comp. infra xxi. 7
Vn 1133, and supra iii. 17, Ml -iblfl . Or, better, it may be taken as an ace.
after a verb of, or rather implying, motion, and so = into, to safety = y27}b 13327 .
Comp. Barr? Diia 1Nt?7 (Isa. xl. 26) with DB^y D}atE>b 1N27 (lsa. li. 6). This
ace. has prob. arisen from the dropping of the prep., for we freq. find it even i"
answer to the question where ? See note on n1*? supra i. 4, and Ges. Lehrg., pp.
685, 686. The Vb) may, however, be almost said to be superfluous (as far as the

APPENDIX. CHAP. V. 12 — 14. 599
sense is concerned), seeing that, the verb 3327 alone in Niph. signifies to be put
in a high (i.e., safe) place, Prov. xviii. 10, and 2227 means to set on high, i.e., to
protect, make safe, Ps. xx. 2 ; lxix. 30 ; xci. 14 ; whilst 2227a prop, a high
place *= refuge, Ps. ix. 10 ; xviii. 3, &c. Similarly OOil to raise, lift up, exalt,
is used for to put in safety, Ps. xviii. 49 ; xxvii. 5.
Ver. 12. When D^any means prudent, crafty, as here, there is no Dagesh in
the O ; but when it means naked as infra xxii. 6, Gen. ii. 25, (comp. Gen. iii. 7),
it is written Dually. . See note * p. 590.
Ver. 13. Oa")37 . Comp. Hos. ii. 7, where 'vnipB according to some (e.g.,
Buxtorf) stands, for ^nnpB , for nn27B the abs. form given by Gesenius does
not occur, whereas nn273 does. The absol. form Oiy does not occur. See
note in Comm. on nia infra xi. 9. 073137 might, however, be the inf. of
Oiy (found in Kal, 1 Sam. xxiii. 22), with poss. aff.
O1 ?nB3 deceitful, cunning, crafty. Perverse or froward is not a good translation
here, for the counsel of the perverse and froward would very frequently be
inconsiderate and hasty, even without the intervention of God. Here it stands
in parallelism with O^aBfl f (which is also taken in a bad sense = crafty), and
must therefore mean deceitful or cunning, a meaning which is easily derived
from the original signification of the verb, which is to twist, so that ^nB3 would
properly mean twisted (Germ, verdreht), tortuous. Ben-Zev translates it here
per/id, hinterlistig .
' "^?it"?? *s nere the, past in pause, J as shown by the position of the accent
which is penult. The part. fem. would have the ace. ult. Comp. Isa. xxxii. 4,
O^ina? 3371 and [the] heart of [the] hasty, rash.
Ver. 14. tjt&n . It is not quite cert, whether this is the obj. ace. after 127|B} f
or an ace. of place = 'H^n? . Obs. that, while in 12723} the second rad. 3 has a
dag., in 12727a} the second rad. 27 has no dag. ; and note that tbe K7 does not
belong to tbe n33133 , and that it is foil, by another 27 . See note on D^Nbaan
supra iii. 15.
nb}73. It is very rare to find a preposition inserted between the 2 0f
comparison and the noun to which it is joined, indeed, I do not recollect an
instance in which such an insertion occurs. See note on 03ia? infra xii. 3,
* Comp. the Germ., Berg ; Hat., berg ; Dan., Bjerg ; Swed., berg ; A. S., beorh (or
beorg, which also means refuge) ; Icel., biarg ; all meaning a high place, a mountain ;
with the verbs, Germ, and Dut., bergen ; Dan., bjerge ; Swed., berga ; A. S., beorgan ;
Icel., biarga; all of which signify to protect, shelter, save.
t Comp. Gen. xli. 8, Exod. vii. 11, where it means wise men, magicians, men whose
wisdom was of no good kind. Comp. also 2 Sam. xiv. 2, nnjn nti« a wise woman. Or
it may mean, as Hirzel suggests, those who think themselves wise, who are wise in their
own eyes, (Isa. v. 21).
X If the verb here were not in pause, i.e., if it were written fT)™??, the accent would
be ult. In nyjn? the ace. is penult., because the Comp. Sh'vah has been lengthened into a
vowel. The rule is that in the tenses of verbs the second radical, whenever it has a
vowel, always (excepting in the 2nd pers. plur. past), has the accent. Comp. Mas. and
Bern. Gr. vol. 2, pp. 221, 228. .

600 APPENDIX. CHAP. V. 14, 15.
in Comm. and Append., and refer to Index. Infra xxix. 23, the prep, must,
as here, be borrowed from the subsequent part of the verse.
nb}bn is as far as I know, never found in the sense of in the night or by
night, but when used adverbially, always means to-night (just as DVn means
to-day. We must, therefore, supply the 2 . n7}72 occurs infra xxiv. 14 ;
Isa. xxviii. 19 ; Eccles. viii. 16, &c.
Ver. 15. Surely Dr. Bernard is guilty of an excess of refinement when he
supplies tbe 1 from 1*ai in the second hem. before Dil^BO in the first; for
DiTBa 2ina lit. transl. means from [the] sword  from their mouth  and
may, therefore (as I shall shew by examples), very readily be understood to
mean from the sword [that is], from their mouth; whilst first to supply a 1
before Dn^QD (so as to make DiTBDI), and then to give this 1 the signification
of that is, is to say the least, very forced. In Heb. two nouns do not unfre
quently stand together unconnected by any copula — the second being in appo
sition with, and explaining, the first. Thus Deut. xxii. 28, nbin? ni3?3 =
a girl — a virgin, i.e., a girl that is a virgin. Comp. iai itt7B3? (Gen. ix. 4), with
its life [that is] its blood.* But it is not so easy to find an instance in which both
nouns have the same prepositional pref., and yet stand in apposition. Still in
Gen. vi. 19, we find n273 .-3a ^ilil 7?a from every living thing [that is], from all
flesh, where n272 73a seems to be in apposition to, and to explain pn bsa which
might include incorporeal beings.t Comp. also Judg. xvii. 8, DOb n^SD T'yna
from the city [that is] from Bethlehem J = from the city Bethlehem ; Deut.
iv. 20, 0}l^aa bjl3il 113D from [the] iron furnace [even] from Egypt. A
better example occurs in Judg. xi. 36, "forasmuch as the Lord hath taken
vengeance for thee |1^y ,3?a Tp3}N!3 of thine enemies — of [the] children of
Ammon," or as we should say, without repeating the prep. " of thine enemies,
the children of Ammon." Similarly, Gen. xxi. 10, " the son of this bondwoman
shall not be heir pn^5} Dy ^32 037 with my son  with Isaac, or, as we should
say " with my son Isaac." Comp. also Gen. xlvii. 29, " And he (Jacob) called
Pipi-1? i33? to his son  to Joseph, i.e., to his son Joseph. So Gen. xxiv. 4, "And
take a wife pn?7? s~Xf> unto my son  unto Isaac," i.e., unto my son Isaac. Comp.
also Gen. xix. 9, " And they pressed sore Bib? E?'iN2 upon the man [even] upon
Lot;" Gen. xl.2, BH^a ^ba^ DrP31Nb against their lord, against [the] king of
Egypt; Ps. xviii. 1, "HI? nin} n?3?b to [the] servant of Jehovah, to David: where
we should leave out the 2nd. upon, against, and to. But though, as we now see, the
preposition is frequently repeated, it is by no means always so, indeed, it is perhaps
more frequently not repeated. Thus Gen. xxvi. 3, we find TQN Dil72Nb to
* See Lev. xvii. 10.
+ Comp. Gen. ix. 15, 16, where "ita to? also seems to define more accurately what is
meant by rvp uSsa to ; Job x. 4 ; Gen. vi. 3 ; Isa. xxxi. 3 ; Ps. lvi. 5, lxxviii. 39, ciii. 14.
X Ambiguously rend, in A. V. "out of the city from Bethlehem."

APPENDIX. CHAP. V. 15. 601
Abraham, thy father, and so ver. 8, "Isaac was sporting in27N nf721 nN with
Rebecca his wife.'' Still, we observe a difference between these examples, and the
former ones in which proper names were introduced. In those first quoted, it
will be observed that the proper name comes last, in the other examples, first.
In the first class of cases, we can well supply in English that is, even, I mean, or
namely; in the latter class, these words are scarcely admissible. It would seem,
therefore, that if I want to turn into Heb. to thy son Joseph, I must say,
Plpi^b T^P? ; but that if I wish to translate to Joseph thy son, I must not
repeat the prep., but must render, (or ^I??) 1?? Plpi"1 v . Can this difference be
explained ? I think an explanation may at any rate be offered. Of the
two nouns, one is a proper name, and the other expresses the relationship
of the owner of the prop, name to some other person. Each of the two nouns
defines, or is defined by, the other — according as it stands in the second or first
place. But, when the prop, name comes first, the noun of relationship is evidently
by no means so necessary, as the prop, name is, when the noun of relationship comes
first. Thus, if I say, Joseph, thy son, thy son (i.e., the noun of relationship)
would often really be somewhat superfluous, as Joseph alone would commonly
suffice to designate the person intended. But, if I say, thy son, Joseph, then
Joseph (i.e., the prop, name) is absolutely necessary, unless there is only one son.
At the same time, the prop, name is naturally always more important than the
noun of relationship. It is natural, therefore, so it seems to me, that the
preposition should be repeated only when the second noun is the more necessary
and the more important of the two, i.e., the proper name  for the repetition
of a prep, certainly imparts additional significance to the word before which
it is repeated (see note on supra i. 16), and in these cases, singles it out,
much like our that is (i.e.) I do not think, however, that we should
ever find such an expression as Oni2N7 vpaNb , because as all people have
only one father, and they commonly know his name, it would be useless to add
the prop, name, or at any rate, if it were added, to repeat the prep. The
Hebrews would prefer, therefore, TON DrH3N7 . If, however, it were wished
to distinguish between two persons having tbe same name, I have no doubt the
preposition would be repeated, even though the proper name preceded. Thus,
if I found T?Nb Drn3N? , I should be led to infer that there were two
Abrahams. In our case Oil^B corresponds to the prop, name, and is absolutely
necessary, in order to define what is meant by Oin , and therefore the prep, is
repeated. See note on supra ii. 3. Besides, if we had On"1? 2~)iia , 2in would
cert, be regarded as in eonstr. with Oil^B , and not as in apposition with it.
This repetition of a prep, before a noun in apposition seems strange to us
Englishmen, yet it is easily explicable and is grammatically quite correct.
If I say to thy father Abraham, Abraham is really in . the dat, though it may
not appear so, for in Gr. we should say, tc3 'A/Spaa^u, t<3 Ttrarpl a-ov (Gen. xxvi. 3,
Sept.). In Heb., however, as tbe nouns are not inflected, there is no other means
of shewing that the two nouns are in the same case than by repeating the prep.
Now that such a repetition was not displeasing to the Heb. ear is evident, for

602 APPENDIX. CHAP. V. 16 — 20.
when two or more nouns are dependent upon the same preposition it is much more
freq. than not repeated before every noun. See note on infra ver. 22. I should
not have given so many examples, but that none of the Commentators seem to be
acquainted with this Hebrew idiom which certainly exists, whether we have an
example of it in the present verse or not. Dr. Bernard has therefore only raised
an additional difficulty by his introduction of the 1 ; still I quite agree with his
interpretation of the passage, and have no hesitation in rejecting Oina .
Ver. 16. "'nni and [there] hath been. This is a conv. fut., or past, corre
sponding to the conv. fut., or past (y2>*1 and [so] He hath saved) used in the prec.
verse. In Eng. we require a present, but we can understand the force of these
conv. futs., if we translate them by the perfect, as they then represent what has
been in the habit of taking place up to the time when they are used. See note
on n3Na infra vi. 7.
Ver. 19. Dr. Bernard has made an unfortunate choice in selecting Prov. vi. 16,
for, according to the Auth. Ver., Rosenmuller, &c, the abominations enumerated
are really seven in number. There is, however, no doubt, that we have a more
natural construction if, with the Septuagint, we separate ver. 19 from the two
preceding ones. At all events, in Amos i. 3, 6, 9, 11, 13, three, yea four is
apparently used to express an indefinite number, and so seven and eight in Eccles.
xi. 2 ; but in Prov. xxx. 15 — 16, 18 — 19, 21 — 23, 29 — 31, three, yea four, is used
to express the number four. Gesenius (in his Thesaurus), tells us that 7, 70,*
and 40 are very frequently used as round numbers in Heb., but unfortunately he
quotes many passages in which there is every reason to believe he is wrong.
The French are fond of using particular numbers as round ones. Thus they
say, manger comme quatre, tiree a quatke epingles, faire le diable a quatre ;
voir trente-six chandelles (of a person who has received a blow in the eye) ;
bete comme trente-six oies, he.
20. T'a lit., from [the] hands of, and in our translation rendered from the
power of (the sword). I doubt, however, whether "'TO is really more than
a periphrasis for 70 from. It occurs apparently in its lit. sense in Gen. xlix. 24,
Op?.} n>>3N: iT>a from [the] hands of [the] mighty [God] of Jacob, and in Ps.
cxl. 5, y^n 1)B from [the] hands of [the] wicked-man ; whilst in Ps. cxli. 9,
nB "'TO cannot well be translated otherwise than hy from [the] snare (von den
Schlingen — Mendels.). So again, in Ps. lxiii. 11, Ezek. xxxv. 5, Jer. xviii. 21, we
find 2in "H} by , which some translate by [the] hands of, i.e., by (alone), — others,
into [the] hands of, i.e., into the power of [the] swordX — according as the Hiph. of
tbe verb n23 is translated, made to flow away, perish (diffluere fecit), or delivered
up (Jerome, Gesenius, &c). Comp. 2 Chron. xxix. 27, "P'n "b? ,1} by , where
,1} by can scarcely be explained otherwise than as = v37 . Buxtorf, in his
Chald. and Rabbin. Lexicon has tbe following : "•!} by f "H} by Per manum,

* Comp. Gen. iv. 24.
t But even, if so taken, the TJ "® might be well rend, to (the sword).

APPENDIX. CHAPS. V. 20 — 23. 603
Per manus, id est, Opera, Ministerio, Per, Juxta, Propter. Nam manus com
mune variarum rerum agendarum instrumentum est." "I}? is certainly sometimes
used = 2, for we find "B T? n?l (Exod. ix. 35 ; Lev. x. 11 ; Numb. xvii.
5 ; xxvii. 23 ; Josh. xx. 2, &c), lit., to speak by [the] sand of a person = to speak
through, by means of, a person ; and so "B T2 ni!J (Lev. viii. 36 ; Numb. xv. 23;
xxxvi. 13 ; Josh. xiv. 2 ; xxi. 2, 8, &c), though in the Auth. Ver. this phrase
seems generally to be rendered to command by the sand of; Mendelssohn, bow-
ever, renders it more appropriately by befehlen durch. See Ges. also for examples
of "P2 with pron. aff. C"I}2 , &c.) ; and also s. v., 1}B , where we see that the
expression is applied to lions, bears, dogs, sheol, and aflame of fire (Isa. xlvii.
14), none of which have hands. Comp. also Isa. i. 12, "Who bath required
this OBl:}.a lit., from (at) your hand," i.e., from you ; though here the Heb.
accords with the Eng. idiom, for we say, to require at one's hand = to require
of one. We also use hand = power, as, "You are in my hand," &c. See note
on ''3.3 by infra xv. 14; and cf. nai by , niliN by , which scarcely mean
more than ?? -
Ver. 21. 7i27"b BittJ? = "|i2?b Dl27* ni^n? on [there] being [the] scourge of
[the] tongue = when there is the scourge of the tongue, when the scourge of the
tongue prevaileth, when the tongue scourgeth. Comp. infra xxix. 4, nibN 11D2
11 ?nN 1737. when [the] secret-blessing of God [was] on my tent. There is,
therefore, no occasion to supply Ni2} "'p as Dr. Bernard does, and no occasion to
regard Oi27 as a verb. See note on Nb? infra xv. 32.
Ver. 22. IBpb 1 127"b . Observe the repet. of the prep., which is, I think, the
rule in Heb. See note on supra i. 16.
?BB famine, occurs also infra xxx. 3, where its meaning is better shown by the
context, as it is joined with npn want. It is found nowhere else in the Bible,
but N3B3 , ]B? ia freq. used in the Targ. as the equiv. of the Heb. 3371 hunger,
famine, whilst the verb 7?? is COm. used in the sense of to be hungry, suffer
from hunger. In Heb. the verb only occurs once, Ezek. xvii. 7.
N"V\n 7N lit. be not afraid, i.e., I bid thee be not afraid, I tell thee thou need'st
not, shalt not he afraid. Comp. the very sim. pass. Prov. iii. 25. The speaker seems
to fancy the time he is predicting as already come, or on the point of coming, and
bids Job not be afraid. This use of bN is really much the same as that of the
inf. = an authoritative fut, as in 0727-1 infra xxii. 21 (a very simil. pass), lit.,
and sb at peace, i.e., and thou shalt be at peace. See note on nai supra ii. 9.
NT^n N7 might only mean thou wilt be at peace, and at any rate would not
convey so strong, and vtvid, an assurance as Nl^n bN . Still bN in poetry is
sometimes used very nearly = N7 , with which, as here, it interchanges. Comp.
Prov. xxii. 24, and see Index, Ges. &c.
Ver. 23, Some commentators understand " With tbe stones of the field thou
wilt have a covenant " to mean that the stones will not injure thy crops and render
thy fields desolate ; and I must say there seems to me some ground for this
opinion, for the second hemistich of ver. 22 certainly seems to refer to the second

604 APPENDIX. CHAP. V. 23, 24.
hemistich of ver. 23, and therefore, probably, the first hemistiches of the two
verses also correspond. Eliphaz says, thou need'st not fear the wild-beasts
(ver. 22, 2d hem.), because the wild beasts will be at peace with thee (ver. 23,
2d hem. ;) nor need'st thou dread desolation and famine — nay, thou shalt laugh
at them (ver. 22, 1st hem.),* for, even though thy fields be covered with stones,
yet shalt thou enjoy abundant crops (ver. 23, 1st hem.). Comp. Isa. v. 2 and
2 Kings iii. 25. Those who adopt the above explanation would do well to give
127 the meaning of desolation, rather than that of destruction. By Dr. Bernard's
transl. all connection between the first hem. of the two verses is destroyed, indeed he
connects the second hem. of ver. 22 with the first of ver. 23 ; still, I must
own that his explanation is the more simple one, and there are many
passages in the Bible in which prosperity is designated by firmness of step ;
adversity, on the other hand, by tripping up and stumbling. See marg. ref.
in transl.
t|b"na727n . Shall have been made to be at peace with thee, for the time
indicated by it precedes that denoted by the futures in the prec. verse. The "i]y
is prob. a dat. commodi=for thee, though we once find bN. D"b27n to make peace
with, viz., Josh. xi. 19. For the Dag. in the b of "=1? , see note on infra vi. 1 1,
Comm., p. 310 (note), and Index, s. v., Dagesh. In these cases there is generally
a Makkiph between the two words ; but this is not always the case. See note
on niiT1 , p. 540 (f ). The syllable preceding the Dagesh generally ends in a
quiescent H , but sometimes there is no n , comp. Gen. xx. 9 ^37 ^WV . At
all events, the prec. syll. must end in a vowel, commonly Pathach, or Kawmets,
but sometimes Segol (as, e.g., infra vi. 5).
Ver. 24. Dlbtt7 is apparently used as an adj. in 1 Sam. xxv. 6 ; 2 Sam.
xvii. 3 ; xx. 9.
Infra vii. 18, the verb "IpB corresponds to the verb ina to try, prove, and in
Ps. xvii. 3 t it is found between the verbs ina and ^P^ to try, prove, and it
also frequently means to review (an army, &c.) ; so that it would seem some
times to have the sense of inspecting, searching, exploring, like the French
visiter in visiter une malle, un vaisseau. We might therefore, perhaps, translate
nipBI here, and when thou shalt visit and inspect (search) thy dwelling, &c.
The Eng. verb miss means not to hit, and also not to find, to search in vain for.
The Germans use nicht treffen in both senses, and it would seem that the NOn
has both these meanings, and that it is used in the second here.
NDnn Nbl lit. means, and thou wilt not miss = and thou wilt miss nothing,
just as infra viii. 9 we have V"]?. "bi. (0n which see note) lit., and we do not
know = and we know nothing.
Mr. Randolph suggests that the obj. affix (it) is left out in NDnn , and that
the meaning is, and thou shalt not miss it, thy tent, which might have been
* Or ; for even the stones will not invade thy fields and injure their fertility.
¦j- Here, indeed, Mendelssohn translates nW rngg mit truber Nacht hast du es heimge-
sucht, i.e., giving ipo the sense of visiting with = inflicting.

APPENDIX. CHAP. v. 24 — 27. 605
carried off in thine absence by robbers. This is very ingenious, but, as from
chap. i. vers. 10, 13, 18, 19, it appears that Job and his sons lived in houses, * I
think we must regard bi}TN and ni3 here merely as poetical substitutes for n}2 ,
and not to indicate that Job really lived in a tent.
Some take ni.3 here in the sense of fold (comp. Isa. lxv. 10; Ezek. xxv. 5),
and translate " Wben thou visitest thy fold thou shalt miss nothing," i.e., no
sheep, oxen, camels, &c.
Ver. 25. This verse might also be understood, " And thou shalt know that
thy seed is numerous," because thou wilt live to see it.
Ver. 26. n7y seems here to be used in rather an unusual sense, i.e., of taking up,
removing, but compare infra xxxvi. 20, where (in Hiph.) it means to remove, cutoff.
See also Ps. cii. 25 vSJjn 7N make me not to go up, i.e., do not take me away. So
a garment, when raised for the purpose of being put upon one, is said "B 7y n7y
to go up upon one, Lev. xix. 19. So also nbi37 n737.il to mahe a sacrifice to go
up, i.e., to place it upon the altar. Comp., too, Judg. xiii. 5 ; xvi. 17 ; 1 Sam.
i. 11, where a person, whose head has never been shaved, is described as one upon
whose head a razor has never gone up, i.e., has never heen put up, raised up, and
laid. In Ps. Ixii. 10, also nibyb D}3?^a2 lit., to go up into the scales --to be
laid, placed in the scales.
For the eonstr. b"1!^ nlby? comp. supra ii. 10, nnN 121? , on which see
note. EP7| a heap, or sheaf, of corn. In Rabbin, the verb 271| is used in the
sense of heaping up. Corn is not removed in sheaves, or heaps, until it is
ripe, and old age is generally considered to correspond to the ripeness of fruits,
although we are, perhaps, accustomed to regard ripe fruits rather as in their
prime than as in their old age ; but the rapidity, with which putrefaction, that is,
death, follows upon the ripeness of fruits, testifies in favour of the latter opinion.
Ver. 27. nrft , Observe the use of the fem. where in Lat. and Germ, we
should have a neut. So supra v. 9 ; infra ix. 10, &c. In Heb. the fem. is gen.
thus used, but sometimes we find the masc. as infra xviii. 21 ; xxvii. 13,
P?n nj , but here nt may be said to agree with P?n . But comp. Eccles.
vi. 9, b2n nj 02, infra xv. 17; Exod. iii. 15 ; 1 Sam. ii. 34, &c ; also infra
xxxi. 28, where Nin = it. And see note on n^T infra xix. 26, and Index.
^4 . This is pleonast, though it certainly gives additional force to the
^\. Comp. Lev. xv. 14, ib np_} he shall take to himself, shall take him, as we
sometimes say, = np} alone, he shall take. So *Y?~W?. Gen. xii. 1, <•¦ 'H??.l Exod.
xviii. 27. Comp. also Gen. xxxi. 32, ^b'npn . ps. Iviii. 8, i»b 13bnn} ; and
see Index.

* Here rra can scarcely have meant tent, because, in the first place, it had four corners,
and, in the second, it fell upon Job's sons and daughters and killed them, an effect which,
would scarcely have been produced by the falling of a tent.

606 APPENDIX. CHAP. VI. 2.

CHAPTER VI.

Ver. 2. bp!$} bip27 . Obs. that the inf. Kal js here joined with a Niph.
Strictly speaking, I suppose it ought to be bpffii} bp.^n , like b?N} bbNil fot.
(Lev. vii. 18; xix. 7), IP^. ^ONl * (2 Sam. xvii. il), pi^n pisn , rian rial
(Isa. xxiv. 3), &c &c. Still, we do not unfrequently find the inf. of Kal coupled
with a tense of another conj. as nai"1 nia (Gen. xxvi. 11 ; Exod. xix. 12, and
very freq., see Buxt. Concord.) ; Tna T13}5 (Josh. xxiv. 10) ; and esp.
bpS1} bipp Exod. xix. 13 ; xxi. 28. For this irregularity I will venture to
suggest two possible causes, though I do not wish to insist upon them. The
first is a regard for euphony— -for frequently, esp. in poetry, the conjunction of two
long forms, such as two Niph., two Hiph., or two Hithp., would be disagreeable
and tedious. See note on 3la27 1377327 infra xiii. 17. The second cause, to which
I attach more weight, is that, by joining the Kal with any other voice, the object,
which is to strengthen the sense, is as fully gained as by using the inf. and tense of
the same voice, inasmuch as in most cases it is not the mode in which the notion
expressed by the verb is connected with the subject (and the object of the voices
is to denote this mode), but rather the notion expressed by the verb — which we wish
to strengthen, and by what voice is this notion expressed so purely as by the Kal,
when it is in use ? The example quoted above from Josh. xxiv. 10, supports this
argument, for though 1.13 (to bless) is very rarely used in Kal, and very freq.
in Pi-dl, yet we once find the inf. Kal preferred to the inf. Pi-al, and joined
with a tense of the Pi-al. If this be so, then in these cases where the inf. of
one voice is joined with the tense of another, we should expect the inf. so used
to be the inf. Kal, and such is I think almost universally the case — though I am
not prepared to say that in the case of verbs in which tbe Kal is not used, the
inf. of the voice which is used in its stead might not take its place in an
irregularity of construction of this kind.
,'27y3 . Many Comm., and among them Wolfssohn, give to £>?? the same
meaning as supra v. 2, viz., vexation, indignation, (Unmuth), or wrath, and make
Job express the wish that bis indignation might be weighed against his sufferings,
in order that it might be evident that his complaints were less bitter, than they
might justly have been. This interpret, is supported somewhat by infra xxiii. 2,
where he says, "my stroke is heavier than my groaning;" but here the context
does not I think, favour it, for, instead of going on to say that his sufferings far
outweigh his indignation, he makes no comparison between their weights at all,
and contents himself with declaring them both to be so heavy, that their weight
cannot be estimated. It is true that many refer 123] in ver. iii. to "''PV? alone,
and it certainly may be so taken, and then a sort of comparison is made between
* The irreg. forms to«rr , rpttn are, perhaps, used for the sake of avoiding the concur
rence of four Tsayrehs, which would have formed four out of six vowels, had totjrj , fptfi
been used.

APPENDIX. CHAP. VI. 2, 3. 607
their weights, for Job's meaning will be, " even my indignation is heavier than
the sand of the sea," so what must be the weight of my calamity, which so far
outweighs it ! But this explanation seems to me unnatural.*
Dr. Bernard, on the contrary, regards ver. 2, and tbe 1st. hem. of ver. 3, as
containing merely the reason assigned by Job for his want of eloquence. His
grief '(or indignation) and his calamity combine to choke his utterance. See infra
ver. 26.
in} is of course understood by tbe Comment, just alluded to, to mean together,
i.e., one in one scale, and one in tbe other. Dr. Bernard gives it the meaning of
altogether, wholly, as infra x. 8. The word has both meanings, and the
connection between them is as obvious as that between all together (for which
altogether is sometimes found), and altogether.
Ver. 3. nap} . For an example, in which a verb refers to the first of two
subst. which have immediately preceded it, see note on TTipn supra iv. 14. Some
times, as infra xi. 8, xv. 24, the second subst. only is referred to. The question is
whether in these cases both subst. are not really referred to, though apparently
(i.e., in form) reference is made to one only. Dr. Bernard seems to be of opinion
that they both are ; in my note on HN (supra iv. 19) I have spoken as if they
were not necessarily. It is hard to say which view is the correct one, but certainly
in some cases (as supra iv. 14), it is difficult to translate without making the
verb refer to both subst. At all events, in all the examples I have quoted, the
two subst. are more or less similar in meaning and at any rate are not con
trasted, so that, if any inference can be drawn from this, it is in favour of Dr.
Bernard's interpretation of ver. 2, and this. [But see the last part of the note on
fIN, which was written after this]. Comp. 2 Kings xx. 19 ; Isa. xxiii. 18.
0^0} bin is found also Jer. xv. 8 ; Ps. lxxviii. 27. The plur. is perhaps
used to intensify the meaning.
> lyb . In commenting on this word Dr. Bernard has stated tbe fact that,
when nnN jn pause is lengthened into nnN , the accent is, in consequence of
this lengthening of the vowel, transferred from the ult. to the penult, syll. ; he
ought, I think, considering the great ignorance which seems to prevail upon this
point, to have given the rule which renders the transference of the accent in
such a case imperative. The rule may be found in Mason and Bernard's
Grammar, Letter xi. § 8 : " Nor can Dagesh-Forte come after a long vowel
(though not followed by any of the quiescents) unless that vowel have the accent."
If therefore in nnN the accent were not upon the first syllable, the Kawmets
under the N would not be a long vowel ; in other words it would be Kawmets-
Chatuph or Short-Kawmets (see ibid. pp. 61, 62), but this we know it is not.
Umbreit and Hirzel both adopt tbe root nyb and must, therefore, also be
regarded as guilty of the gross error, which Dr. Bernard has well shown is
committed by those who adopt this root here.

* Some refer iav to 'np alone ; hut this is, I think, impossible, although the sense thus
obtained is not bad.

608 APPENDIX. CHAP. VI. 4 — 6.
Ver. 4. siay with me = in me. Comp. infra xxix. 18, ""PP Oy in my nest;
Deut. viii. 5, IPO1? Dy in thy heart (comp. infra x. 13). So nip. "bnN 037
(Ps. cxx. 5) is generally rendered, in [the] tents of Kedar.
¦>3ia-iy}. Comp. Ps. v. 5, yn T}?} Nb, where Tl?,'! is equivalent to
••jay, *TP)N 113}. So Gen. xxx. 20, ^bp?} he will dwell [with] rae=b3T}
''ay ; Lev. xviii. 23, n373lb to lie with «7=nay, nnN yaib. [But some,
or all, of these aff. may be real ace, for verbs of dwelling freq. take an ace, and
in Lev. xx. 16 we find nnN nypl7 .J For other examples see Index,
Ver. 5. The verb pn3 occurs again, applied to men, infra xxx. 7, but no
where else in the Bible ; but it is used in the Targum in the translation of these
two passages, and, besides, -IpN?} D^iia n^ya infra xxiv. 12, is rendered by the
Chald. translator TP.™ N273 \32 NJ-Hpa ; whilst npf,n3 is used of the braying of
an ass.
For the dag. in ni27 see note on fly nabt&'n supra v. 23, and Index.
Ver. 6. nba "b?a . If we transl. this hem. " can that which is tasteless be
eaten without salt ? " the nba "b?a seems to qualify eaten, and the a in
¦b?a loses all, or nearly all, its force. But, if we join n773 "b?a with '?n ,
then the sense will be that which is tasteless for want of salt, and the a preserves
its meaning. That there is, however, sometimes, very little diff. between , 720 and
"b? is shown by comp. infra xxiv. 7, 2712y "b?a 13"b} Dil3? , with ibid. ver.
10, 2712? "b? 13pn D1~iy , though even here we can express the diff. between
them, if we rend, the first pass. " naked they pass the night for lack of clothing,"
and the second, " naked they go without clothing." Vpa is used several times
in Job, viz., iv. 11, 20, vi. 6, xviii. 15, xxiv. 7, 8, xxxi. 19, and can, with the
exception of iv. 20, and xviii. 15, everywhere be transl. for want, lack, of. As
for xviii. 15, see note upon it. In O^a "bpa (iv. 20) it is somewhat difficult
to give the a any force, yet it may be transl. so that no one gives heed, and
others have explained it because no one gives heed. See note on "ntppa infra
xix. 26.
"b? alone occurs very freq. in Job, viz., viii. 11, xxiv. 10, xxx. 8, xxxi. 39,
xxxiii. 9, xxxiv. 6, xxxviii. 2, xxxix. 16, xli. 18, xlii. 3 ; whilst "bp? is found
xxxv. 16, xxxvi. 12, and Vpb xxxviii. 41, xli. 25. There is indeed, an evident
partiality for the word "b? and its comp. in Job, for, according to Nold,
Buxtorf, &c, they only occur fifty-two times in the whole Bible, and of these
twenty-one are found in Job.
Those who wish to give niabn the sense of an insipid herb (perhaps
purslain), adduce in support of their interpretation the Talmudic mabn mallow,
the Syriac ) £^aS.»» > and Arabic <Ule- , both of which are translated cicer,
chickpea, or portulaca purslain, but of which the meaning seems almost aa
uncertain as that of mabn itself. The n'n is then translated Schleim, and
this supposed to be used fig. for thick broth.

APPENDIX. CHAP. VI. 7. 609
Ver. 7. n3Na = has refused and still refuses, or as we should say refuses. The
Hebrews often use the past in this way ; e.g., ^371} very commonly means /
know (novi), I have known up to the present time, and I know now. Comp. also
Gen. xxii. 2, "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac nailN 12>N lit. whom
thou hast loved (from his birth up to the present time), i.e., as we say, " whom
thou lovest" (A. V.). Comp. Exod. xxi. 5, where ''nail^l fove. A more
striking example is found in 2 Sam. xv. 10, "But Absalom sent spies
throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, As soon as ye hear the sound of the
trumpet, then ye shall say, Dib273N f]ba Absalom has become king, has begun
to reign," i.e., Absalom is king, reigneth.* So Gen. xxvii. 46, Rebekab says,
TCP P^P. lit., I have been weary of (loathed) my life = 1 am weary of my life
(comp. infra x. 1, ^(1? ^2703 nDp3 ). And in Gen. xxiii. 11, Ephron says to
Abraham ffb PO* njbrj lit., the field have I given thee, though it is the
first time he informs Abraham of it. He evidently means he had come to
the determination to give the field to Abraham, and he, therefore, really had
given away the field before he began to speak. For other examples in Job, see
Index. The Gr. perf. is sim. used. See Matth. Gr., § 497.
This use of the past tense, where we should use a present has certainly
much to recommend it. If one man says to another " I love," or " I hate
you," he doe3 not generally mean to say that the love or the hate has sprung
up whilst he is speaking, but commonly only a very minute portion of the time
the love or the hate has lasted is occupied by the expression of it. He tells
of the love or the hate which has filled him up to the time he begins to speak ;
he communicates the result of the feelings which have animated him for a long
time. Well, therefore, may he use the past (or rather perfect) tense. See
Nordheimer's Gr., § 964.
After yi33b We must supply DniN them, i.e., the 'BJ1 insipid-food, and the
niD7n 1,1 white of an egg — the terms by which Job designates the weak and
lame arguments of his opponent. This ellipsis of an objective pronoun (or affix)
is one of the most common in Heb. ; the Bible literally swarms with examples
of it. Comp. Gen. xxiv. 51, where after np take, nnN her, must be supplied.
So ibid. ver. 53, DniN must be supplied after in}1 . So again Gen. xxi. 27,
in}1 = DriiN ?n}1. Comp. also infra xi. 3, where ob?a = finiN D'bga .
nOil . Similarly infra xii. 3, Job speaks of his adversary's arguments as
n?N these things. Comp. also infra xxiii. 14, n3il3 , and viii. 16, Nin (on wh.
see note). For the use of a masc. = a neut , see note on n^T supra v. 27. We might
perhaps expect nbN these, rather than nan those, but infra xxii. 21, we have
312 = by these things, and in Eng. we are often puzzled to know whether to use
this or that of a thing which has just been mentioned. Nin does, however,
mean this, as well as that. In Eng. that and those express contempt more strongly
than this and these.
* The sound of the trumpet was to indicate the commencement of Absalom's reign,
and therefore he would already HAVE begun to reign, when the proclamation was made.
R K

610 APPENDIX. CHAP. VI. 8.
Ver. 8. Besides the verb N13J1 , the three verbs .m, ^ and nm, appear
to be dependent upon 1^} ">D . Dr. Bernard had not, it seems, quite made
up his mind about it, for in p. 55, they are translated as though they were
so dependent ; whilst in p. 57, ^1 and nn} are taken as independent of in} "-a .
W} im. ''a appears to us harsh, but probably in} ''a had become quite a phrase,
so that when using it people scarcely considered what it meant. Comp. Numb.
xi. 29, where we find nin} in} ^p  in} p . The phrase occurs again
xi. 5 ; xiii. 5 ; xiv. 4 ; xiv. 13 ; xix. 23 (on which see note) ; xxiii. 3 ; xxix.
2 ; xxxi. 31, 35. Besides being construed as herewith a tense (gen. fut, but
sometimes past, as infra xxiii. 3), with or without a 1 , it is also found :
With a substantive, Deut. xxviii. 67, Ol.S 1FI} p and np? }J1} ">a lit., who
will give evening ? who will give morning ? i.e., would that it were evening !
would that it were morning ? Numb. xi. 29, 0^3? nin} Dy ba 11-1} "'DI lit.,
and who will give [make] all [the] people of Jehovah prophets, i.e., would that
they were all prophets !
With an inf., infra xi. 5, nnB}} 131 nib.N; in} p Oh, would that God
would speak and open  ! Here two of its constructions occur together.
With an inf. having a pron. affix, 13ilia in} p (Exod. xvi. 3), would that
we had died! Comp. 2 Sara. xix. 1.
Sometimes the in} has a pronominal affix as Jer. ix. 1, n3ia3 ^Mfl} a lit.,
who will set me in the desert? i.e., would that I were in the desert. Comp.
infra xxix. 2.
Sometimes the phrase appears to retain its literal meaning, at any rate it might
be translated literally, e.g., infra xxxi. 35, "b ya27 "b in} ip lit., [Oh .'] who
will give to me one listening to me ? i.e., would I had one listening to me. So
the passage quoted above from Jer. may be rendered. Comp. also Isa. xxvii. 4,
m.27 l^att? ^IH} ^a who will give me briers [and] thorns ? i.e., would that I
had, &c, transl. in A. V. " who would set the briers and the thorns against me ? "
Simil. some translate infra xiv. 4, Nat|a linD in} p who can make,
produce, a clean-thing from an unclean? upon which Dr. Bernard remarks "that
in} "'a , though of very frequent occurrence, is never used excepting in an
optative sense" (i.e., = would that!), but I must say that, although it very likely
is so, there does not seem to me to be any proof of it ; besides which, if we
really wished to say in Heb. " who will give ?" what could we say but in} ^a ?
Moreover, that in} ^a originally meant who will give or grant? is, I think,
indicated by Ruth i. 9, where we find a very similar expression, in which
the in} preserves its literal signification. The passage is IN^al D37 nil} in}
ni!13a lit., Jehovah grant you, and find ye rest, i.e., Jehovah grant you that ye
may find. In this sentence the construction (with the exception of the imp. for the
fut.) is just the same even to the singular use of the 1, as if in} ""a had been used.
Again, in the passage quoted above from Job xxxi. 35, we might readily
'substitute nin} in} for in} ^a, and read ""b yat»' ">b nin} in} Jehovah
grant me one listening to me ! I therefore think that it is by no means certain
that WI may not, when preceded by ""a, sometimes retain its literal meaning.

APPENDIX. CHAP. VI. 8 — 10. 611
The fut. alone in Hebrew sometimes has an optative sense, as in 2 Sam. xviii. 32,
ff?On 'Oiy ^N 1373? I^n"! would that [the] enemies of my lord the king might
be as that young man! So fjban T1} (1 Sam. x. 24; 2 Sam. xvi. 16;
2 Kings xi. 12, &c), [long] live the king? See Nold.'s Concord., s. v. W} p .
^^ • Tnis fomi only occurs here, though we find 0/lbN2> (ps. Cvi. 15).
The more common form VTIlNtp occurs four times, viz., 1 Sam. i. 27 ; Esth.
v. 7, 8 ; vii. 3.
Ver. 9. 7N,1 . ^Nin is sometimes construed with a tense, or imperat., but more
comm. with an inf. and b , as Josh. xvii. 12, npttfb "Oyspn bNi'l and the
Canaanite[s] were willed (were of a mind) to dwell. When it is construed with
a tense, this is sometimes joined to it by 1, and is either simple, as here (and here
only), or convert, as Josh. vii. 7 (only), 32*31 13bwin , &c. Sometimes, however,
the 1 is wanting, e.g., Deut. i. 5, ns? n2?a bsNin Moses began [and] ex
plained, i.e., began to explain. So Hos. v. 10, f,bn b^Nin he was willed [and]
went = was willed to go. The imper., too, is found with 1, as Jud. xix. 6,
lvi N3 bsin 2 Kings vi. 10 ; and without 1 as 2 Kings vi. 23, np bsin , and
infra ver. 28, "2 13B ib^Nin . b^Nin does not seem ever to be found with an
inf. without 7 . For the first two constructions we may perhaps compare the
Germ, phrases " Wollen Sie so gut sein, mir das Brod zu geben," and " Wollen
Sie so gut sein, und mir das Brod geben." See note on 2127 infra vii. 7.
We might, therefore, well translate here, "and that God were willing to
crush me."
nn} the verb nn3 i8 used infra xxxvii. 1, in the sense of to leap. Comp. the
Pi-dl in Lev. xi. 21. The Hiph., therefore, means to make to leap, i.e., when used
of the hand, to put forth, extend quickly. Comp. Ps. cxlvi. 7, B^l-lDy n^na
loosening [the] bound. The connection between to make to leap, and to loose, set free,
seems to be, that he who is able to leap can no longer be in chains ; or that he who
is set free leaps, rejoicing in his restored liberty of movement (cf. Acts iii. 8) ; or the
verb, though used of a person, may (like nns ps. cv. 20, and comp. infra xii. 14),
rather refer to the bonds with which he is bound, and then it would = tbe Germ.
sprengen, which, as the trans, form of springen, lit. means to make to jump, leap,
but = to burst asunder. So in Fr. faire sauter - to burst open. To let loose,
when said of the hand = not to restrain it, hold it in, as though the hand when
quiet, were kept quiet by an effort — were, so to speak, bound in chains.
Ver. 10. >,nan3 . This word occurs only once more, viz., Ps. cxix. 50, nNt
"'.''?? 0 ""nan? This [is] my consolation in my affliction. There is scarcely any
occasion to supply n^t before it here, as Dr. Bernard recommends us, for we
may translate quite lit., " Then my consolation still would be (or : Then there
(or, it) would still be my consolation)  that, &c." The last clause
beginning with "P is prob. the subject to Pfi . At any rate, if any such word
ns.this is required, it is only in Eng. and not in Heb.
n"lbpN.1 though I should burn. 1 = though in Mai. ii. 14, N^ni though she.
R R 2

612 APPENDIX. CHAP. VI. 10, 11.
Comp. Ezek. xiv. 14, Vni though (these three men) should be, and so ibid.
ver. 18. See Nold., and Index.
nVn . This word is found nowhere else, but b"p in the same sig. is found
five or six times.
bian} rib = bian} Nb} . For ellipsis of 1 see note on N-P1 supra i. 1, and on
infra xxix. 8. Comp. also Deut. xxii. 20, -lN^a? rib = 1Nl?a3 rib], bbn}' rib]
is found infra xvi. 13 ; xxvii. 22 ; Prov. vi. 34 ; Jer. xxi. 7 ; and van} ri7,
much as here, occurs in Isa. xxx. 14 ; Hab. i. 17. In all these cases either God
or a man is the subject to bail} ; indeed, I cannot discover that a thing is ever
the subject to this verb. I make this remark, because many supply nK7N here,
between nVn and bian} rib.
^111? . This verb occurs more freq. in Job, than in any other book, see Index.
Ver. 11. The 2nd hem. of this verse is perhaps better translated thus, "what
is my end likely to be " — what end, what future have I to expect — " that I
should prolong my life ? " — that I should wish my life prolonged ? The meaning
of the whole verse seems to be this — Eliphaz had told Job that his piety ought to
be a source of consolation and hope to him, and Job says that it is indeed a
consolation to him, that he had observed all God's commandments, but as for his
deriving any hope from it, in the first place his strength was not sufficient to
enable him to pass through this time of trial, and bear up against his torments,
and in the second place, even if he had strength, he did not see any prospect
of a future sufficiently bright to make him wish to live.
The explanation adopted by Rosenmiiller and others is deserving of mention.
He takes -,n}N in the sense of waiting, having patience; and to "l?7?3 T15JN
he would give a similar sense, comparing D^BN fflN , nil fJ~!N = slow to
anger, and nil "I2p , D}BN ~)2p , both meaning impatient, prone to anger.
In this way a complete parallelism is established between ^n}N. and s27p3 T1NN ,
and both the "'P 's would be rendered that, but it seems impossible to make out
any correspondence between P^> and v?p . Rosenmuller translates ""Sj? np
quantum virium mihi res/at (which cannot be tbe meaning), and thinks that Job
is afraid that the intensity of his sufferings may lead bim to make some impious
speech ; but it would be better, I think, to refer this verse, if the verbs are
thus understood, to what Eliphaz said at the beginning of chap. v. He, there,
reproached Job for bowing down too quickly before his calamities, for allowing
them to prostrate him so thoroughly, although he had been in the habit of
consoling and encouraging those who were labouring under similar calamities.
Job now excuses himself for this, and asks how can he be patient and endure in
silence when he has no strength to do so, and when, even if he had strength, he
has no prospect before him but that of prolonged and increased suffering. The
only question is whether, as we do not find 27B3 TJ"}N = patient, 27B? T"]^n can
mean to be patient, like ^N T^Nn (Isa. xlviii. 9), to defer anger ? There" is
certainly no authority for it, but then neither do we find 27B3 T^N.n = to prolong

APPENDIX. CHAP. VI. 11  15. 61
[one's] life, for which the ordinary expression is O^D} TnNn , and rarely,
TnNil alone (as Eccles. vii. 15, viii. 12).
The Dagesh in the P in ""SR is of course on account of the na which
precedes it. na , as is well known, is very freq. followed by Dagesh. Comp.
12"}p3"na and rT3i!'"nai infra ver. 25 ; and see note on v. 23 and Index.
Ver. 12. ON as an interrog. is generally found in the second hemistich of a
verse, of which the first hemistich has begun with the interrog. part., n e.g., infra
ver. 30 ; 2 Sam. xix. 36. But it also occurs alone (as here) infra xxxi. 5, on
which see note in Comm. Comp. also the next note.
Ver. 13. ONil . Most comm. transl. this = <l 0r ON (as in ver. 12), but Dr.
Bernard seems to give each part, its usual meaning, and then the n belongs to the
second hem., the ON to the first. "If (as is really the case, i.e., because) there is
no help in me ; must therefore, &c. ? " So Wolfssohn, " Soil, weil keine Hiilfe
 darum u. s. w. ? " ONil therefore = whether, if?* For similar examples
in which a parenthet. clause is introduced between an interrog. part, and the
clause it belongs to, see note on np3il supra iv. 2, and on "Pl? — (according to
some) whether, because ? infra ver. 22.
n}271il] . ¦) jn apodosis has very freq. the sense of then (of time, or = in
that case), as Gen. iii. 5, ^npB?] tsen shall be opened; xxiv. 8, mp3] tsbn thou
shalt be cleared, free ; Deut. xxii. 8, 22, 25, &c. In this case it is often preceded
by "P or ON. But it also sometimes means then = therefore, as here. Comp.
Ps. ii. 10, he., and see Index.
H»27in is a very favourite word in Job. See Index.
Ver. 15. Many do not supply n2?N: before ^33?} , but make TIN the subject
to this verb. My brethren  pass away, i.e., vanish like these torrents.
This eonstr. is possible ; but cf. infra xi. 16 ; Ps. Iviii. 8. Besides, the more
swiftly a stream runs, the greater its instability.
If I wished to refine, I might say that O'bn? p^BN the stream of torrents X (or
brooks) is here added, because ^na alone might (as our river) include the stream
and the bed it runs in, whereas here the comparison is with the stream alone.
* But, if we take osn merely = q intensified, i.e., = whether INDEED, as in Numb.
xvii. 28, and like '?D ver. 22, the sense is much the same, for '? 'rnp> j'k (without the ?»)
may be taken absolutely and conditionally = IF my help is not in me, (or, my help not
being in me), just as noa supra iv. 2, is taken by some = "B? en  and I rather expect
that this is how Dr. Bernard understood the hem. See M. and B.'s Gramm. Lett. xlvi. 9,
44, (P.S). Comp. also 2 Sam. xix. 8, " for I have sworn by Jehovah ifl'« ;> dk msi' ?[j'» '3
that, IF thou go not forth, there will not abide a man ; " where the '? does not mean if,
but belongs to the dn , and the «?v spa must be taken absolutely and conditionally, like
LnT.» i'« here, = if thou go not forth. See note on infra xxvii. 3. vna my help, =
either help for me, or help derived from myself.
t The meaning of this comparison is sufficiently obvious. As the streams (or torrents)
of the desert deceive the hopes of those, who, having seen them full to overflowing in the
winter at a time when they were not needed, count upon them in the time of drought
 so the three friends have deceived the hopes of Job, who, remembering their
voluble protestations of friendship in the days of his prosperity, when he needed not
their aid, had counted upon their sympathy at least in the season of distress.

614 APPENDIX. CHAP. VI. 16, 17.
Ver. 16. Some supply n27N before ia"by and translate in which (the snow hides
itself) ; but the construction adopted by Dr. Bernard is certainly a much more
Hebrew one (see note on infra xxvii. 22), and has tbe support of Wolfssohn,
who translates " Getriibt von Eise, angeschwellt vom hineinstiirzenden
Schnee," as though O^lip meant turgid as well as turbid, but here he
translates rather in accordance with the sense than with the words. I
do not see why the notion of blackness which is certainly contained in the verb
nip should not be here retained, for water which is frozen certainly does look
black, though this is, probably, chiefly due to the absence of reflection from its
smooth, unrippled surface, and to the contrast which it presents to the snow which
often surrounds it ; and the water resulting from tbe melting of snow or ice is
often, when clear, dark-coloured (like rain-water), though it is much more freq.
turbid. We might then, perhaps, transl. O^llp dark and turbid.
iO'bJ? , upon, or within, them. by not unfreq. means with (apud), within,
as Ps. xlii. 5, 12, xliii. 5, vS , within me. The snow would first be upon and
then within the water.
Ver. 17. lO-jV} nyp is equivalent to (H3) 121t] lUfh? nyp At the time that
(when, or in which) they become heated, still the verb is apparently governed by
nyp, ny being in stat. eonstr. The lit. transl. is therefore at [the] time of
they become heated = at tbe time of their becoming heated, at the time when
they become heated. Comp. 2 Chron. xxiv. 11, N"1?} ny? lit. at [the] time of
one used to bring, = at the time one used to bring, ny? is also found four times
with an inf., viz., Gen. xxxi. 10 ; xxxviii. 27 ; 1 Sam. xviii. 19 ; Jer. xi. 14.
Comp. also Ps. iv. 8, where nya governs a whole sentence.
Similarly, 0^2 is very frequently* used with an inf., but it is also used with
a tense, e.g., Numb. iii. 1 ; Deut. iv. 15 ; nil] 121 Di"1? In [the] dayf of
( = that) Jehovah spake ; 2 Sam. xxii. 1 ; Ps. xviii. 1, ink nin] V>3n DT? in
[the] day of ( = that) Jehovah delivered him; Ps. lvi. 10; cii. 3, N"]pN DV? ;
Iix. 17 ; cii. 3, "b 12 DV? ; exxxviii. 3, VIN^ D^p ; Lam. iii. 57,
*JNip« Di"1?.
01*2 , with a tense, occurs in 2 Sam. xix. 20, fjban "OIN N2} 12>N Dl's? ;
Esth. ix. 1, TI327 12?N. Di»2 ; Eccles. xii. 3, iyt'27 Di"? ; Cant. viii. 8,
np n?l}27 Di»2 . So Deut. iv. 32 N"i2 12}*N Di»il iab; ; 1 Kings viii. 16,
i/INpin 12?N Di»n 7a ; Jer. vii. 25, IN?; 12>N Di»n lab ; 1 Chron. xvii. 5,
Wbyn 127N Oi'n p , &c. % It will be seen from these examples that ois3
is most commonly (or, perhaps, always) followed by nt£7N (0r its equiv. ©), which
* Twenty times in the first four books of the Old Testament, whilst in the same books
it only occurs once (the passage quoted above) with a tense.
t We can render these expressions in Eng. by merely leaving out the of, on the day
Jehovah spake, &c, only here there is in Eng. an ellipsis of that, or, on which, after day,
whereas in Heb. there is no ellipsis.
X n?3 appears to be never used in this way with "iil)» . In Zeph. iii. 20 we have the
very irreg. tar** <sag nsa for cans >sag nsa lit., at [the] time of My gathering you.

APPENDIX. CHAP. VI. 17, 18. 615
we must translate in Eng. that or when, unless indeed we supply ia ( = on which);
Oi"1? is, however, never followed by ntTJN , so that there seems but little doubt
as to its governing the tense which follows it. The state of construction replaces,
in fact, the n27N .* And what I here say of 0V2 applies of course equally
to n?2 . Observe that DV2 with a tense occurs chiefly in the poet, books ;
Di*2 with ntpN more comm. in the hist, books. See note in Comm. and App.
on ,3l»e?} nib.N p>? infra. xxix. 2.
ian? . For examples of similar sudden changes from the plur. to the sing.
and the sing, to the plur., comp. infra ver. 20, W? nt32 "O 1272, and
xxxix. 20, 21, &rtp;i pay2 nsn}  i-in3; and see Index.
Ver. 18. V1P7} they are turned, turn themselves. Dr. Bernard seems to have
understood IB before mn"}N (see transl.). Comp. supra iii. 17, t?b -ibin ,
and 2 Chron. viii. 17, flV?^ ^I?0 lip rib]. Wolfssohn understands 2, or
else takes mniN as an ace. t ( = as to tbe paths of), for he translates
"Sie kriimmen sich in ihrem Laufe." It would have been better in the
Commentary not to have translated, " They change the paths," because
it looks as if -inB7} were taken as an active verb governing niniN,
which I am sure was not Dr. Bernard's meaning. The hemistich might be
translated, " The paths of their way are changed." niniN has, indeed, the
ending of a fem. plur., but, as it comes from the comm. ni_N , it may be masc.
(see Ges. Lehrgeb., pp. 528 — 532). But, even if it were fem., this eonstr. would
still be admissible, for, when the verb precedes J , it need not agree with its
subject, either in number or gender (see note in Comm. on xx. 9). Comp. Judg.
xxi. 21, ib^K? ni3p INS} DN ; also, Cant. vi. 9, where nn$N}1 and n-lbbn}1
refer to ni32 and ni3./B , resp., though, as in this case the nouns are not in
the same clause with the verbs, the irregularity is still greater than here. For
other examples see Ges. Lehrgeb., p. 716, and comp. Index.
Rosenmuller, following Schultens, does not approve of the translation adopted
by Dr. Bernard, because, he says, the extinction of tbe torrents has already been
described in the preceding verse, and is not, therefore, likely to be repeated. He,
* Mr. Davidson would supply "«$$ here after nsa , but I cannot see what he gains by
doing so. We do indeed find 1*« oipna and W o\pa both = in [the'] place of (in)
which (i.e., where), = "v "npS taipaa, the eonstr. state replacing the prep, a ; but we never
find Dip*? (in this sense) alone with a tense; it has always either "rate, «5 (Eccles. xi. 3),
or nj (Ps. civ. 8), with it, whilst ova is never found with -wftj , or with any substitute for
TgH . The use of Di'a with i*« is an argument in favour of the view that "i^« is but
rarely omitted after a noun with the def. art. See note on supra iii. 3.
t fn is very freq. used in the ace. adverbially = by the way of, e.g., Deut. i. 2, 40 ;
ii. I, &c.
I A masc. verb is freq. found preceding a fem. noun, but a fem. verb is very rarely met
with preceding a masc. noun, i.e., when the noun and verb agree in number. Gesenius
lays down this rule (Lehrgeb., p. 718, Anm. i.), and my experience confirms it.

616 APPENDIX. CHAP. VI. 18  20.
therefore, translates nim.N viatorum catervce, as in the next verse, and renders
ver. 17 : Deflectunt ad illos viatorum catervse iter suum,
Ascendunt in vastum desertum et dispereunt.
This objection appears to me to be futile. It is true that tbe extinction of the
torrents is described in ver. 17, but the description is only a general one, while
in ver. 18 the manner in which they vanish is described with greater detail.
It seems to me far more harsh to destroy the troops of travellers in ver. 18,
and then to make them ashamed in ver. 20. Again, Schultens, Rosenmuller,
Umbreit, Lee, &c.,* commit a very gross blunder in treating nin"}N as a
nomin. absol., for it is always (comp. infra viii. 13 ; xxx. 12) used as the
construct, form of nirnN. (Judg. v. 6, 7), and therefore nini.N and 0311
cannot be separated. As for those commentators, who think that a word cannot
be used in two different senses in two successive lines, I refer them to my note
on supra v. 6, 7.
We find fill coupled with another word of similar signification in Prov.
xii. 28, n2"<ri3 TH], and Isa. iii. 12, TfiiniN TJ11] and the way of thy
paths. Comp. our word pathway.
inn a desert waste, or emptiness, has been taken here by some to mean the
air, called by Lucretius (i. 433) and Virg. (.ZEn. xii. 904) vacuum inane,
by Virg. (Eel. vi. 32), magnum inane, by Ovid. (Met. ii. 506), inania, and by
Shakspeare, desert air ; and it would, perhaps, be less forced to give the word
this meaning here, than to take it as Dr. Bernard has done, especially as by so
doing we avoid the necessity of giving the 2 a meaning which it has but rarely.
Wolfssohn, however, translates in Diinsten. See note in Comm. on "111N2 infra
xxiii. 13.
If niniN be here taken = travellers, or travelling companies, 03"]1 mn")N
might possibly be translated [the] travellers of their way, i.e., the travellers on
the way to them (the torrents or streams), i.e., the travellers, who are bound to
the torrents, turn aside (for the purpose of reaching them) ; but the sense which
is thus squeezed out of the words is very poor.
Ver. 19. niaiN and nia^n which, properly speaking, mean paths (ways),
and goings (ways), are here used for those who tread upon them, travellers.
Comp. infra xxxi. 32 niN , lit. way -wayfarer. So fj^n (2 Sam. xii. 4) =
flbil 2TN a traveller. Comp. also Lev. xxi. 20, where 213 and nab} prop.
dry and moist itch (Mendels.), are used for men afflicted with them, and so =
nab} by? , 3"}3 by? . See infra note on HBn.}1 , and on supra i. 14.
Ver. 20. nap . This sing, forms an exact parallel to ian? (Ver. 17), for here

* In excuse for Schultens, it may, perhaps, be said that he appears to have translated
from unpointed Hebrew; at any rate, he never gives points. Hirzel would read nin*
plur. absol. (comp. Isa. xxi. 13), from nrnfo a company, band (Gen. xxxvii. 25), but in both
these pass, it is the eonstr. form which is used.

APPENDIX. CHAP. VI. 20, 21. 617
as there, there is first a plur., then a sing., and then again a plur. See note on
0337? supra i. 5.
n^V to it, = thither. The fem. in Heb. is frequently used as a neut. ' Comp.
Gen. xlvii. 26, ^IpT1 nnN 027*1 and Joseph made it (a statute) ; Num. xxii.
18, nbil] iN n3Dp ni27yb to do a great or little TSiNQt. Num. xxiii. 19,
nsa^p] rib] and shall He not establish it? And in the next verse naa^N . S0
nst is continually used for this, neut. See Index.
I^Bn.}} . Notice that this verb and nop are masc, although they refer to
two nouns niniN and niBain , 0f which the second at least is fem. The masc.
is prob. used ad sensum, because men are spoken of. Thus, Exod. xiv. 9, 23 we
find 0}"2?a 131;-}91 , where we might have expected 0}ipa ^lini (comp. Exod.
xii. 33),* like N327 73£11 supra i. 15 — the masc. plur. being apparently used be
cause D}"ipa , the name of a country, is here used = 0}npa "'ttfpN , 0r onpail
the Egyptians. Comp. also Exod. vii. 5, 18, 24 ; xiv. 18, 27, where the plur.
masc. is also used after 0}"T_pa . [But ni31;N may be masc. (see note on ^npb} ,
supra ver. 18), and so the verbs may refer to it alone, in form (i.e., in gend., he.).
See note on IN supra iv. 19].
Ver. 21. 17 scarcely refers, as Dr. Bernard says, to -^3 in ver. 15, but is used =
D??> jnst as we had the sings, nap and ian? in vers. 19 and 17 resp., where
we might have expected a plur. In Engl, we should say, " Ye have become like
them ; " but the Heb. freq. reject the 3 of comp., and thereby greatly increase
the force of the comparison. Comp. Cant. v. 11, tS Oil? i27ri~) his head [is]
most fine gold — is as the most fine gold. See note in Comm. on infra viii. 9 ; in
Append, on infra ver. 26 ; and Index.
Those who read rib interpret it nothing. " Ye have become nothing ! " i.e.,
as good as nothing. But this is not the only place in which the Masorites bid us
read ib for ri7. See Lev. xi. 21 and Isa. lxiii. 9, on which last Rosenmuller
remarks that there axe fifteen such pass., though he does not give them. That
1 and N freq. interchange is known. See Rosenmuller on our pres. pass.
* dh?d is, however, also found in the sing, as a masc, as Exod. xiv. 30, na D"Tsn n» ,
and ibid. ver. 9. Indeed Gesenius says (Lehrg., p. 469), that, when the name of a country
is used of the nation which inhabits it, it is masc. ; but, when it merely designates the country,
it is fem.; and he, therefore, explains xaiB toni (supra i. 15), by saying that the land is
used poet, for its inhabitants, as though we said, and Sab-xafell. The distinction is, perhaps,
somewhat subtle, and we can scarcely understand it, unless we suppose that in such sen
tences as Q'.isp idtm , or amn iSai (Jer. xlviii. 13), the names of tbe countries Egypt and
Moab conveyed to the minds of the Hebrews exactly the same notion that the names of
the inhabitants of these countries, viz., Egyptians and Moabites, do to us, or would have
done to them ; whilst, when a fem. was used, as in nm5 torn , the name of the country
remained for them the name of the country. This must have been the case to some
extent, as the Hebrews much more freq. use the names of countries to designate their
inhabitants, than we do. D'nipto, however, occurs much more freq. than ntito, and in
many cases we only hear of the names of the peoples, such as the Perrizites, Jebusites,
Hittites, &c. But to Gesenius' rule, which, though subtle, is plauiible, the exceptions
are numerous.

618 APPENDIX. CHAP. VI. 21 — 23.
Note the paronomasia in the words INVJ-ll ••• -1N"in , the more remarkable
as it is made by a man suffering the most intense torments. Doubtless,
however, it is used for the purpose either of imparting additional force,
or, perhaps, of expressing irony. Paronomasiae are, as is well known, very
common in Hebrew. The same verbs constitute a paronomasia in Ps. xl. 4,
!|N"i}}] D^in IN!} ; ps. Iii. 8, INT}] 0^13 IN!}] ; and Isa. xli. 5.
INT}] D^}N INI . Comp. also Zech. ix. 5, NTn] libptpN Nnn . Perhaps the
most famous example of a paronomasia is found in Isa. v. 7,
np3>2 nam npisb nB27a nam DB27'ab ip">i .
't t : " • : 't t : • t : • •¦ * : t ; • : '- : -
Comp. also Judg. xv. 16, 0}rnbq liar] liaqn ^nb;? ; and see note on
i-IXWW nNi27 , infra xxx. 3 ; and Index.
Ver. 22. "'niaN "On. . Have I indeed said ? i.e., you know very well that
I have not said. The "P thus merely adds intensity to the n ; like the HN in
f]Nn infra xxxiv. 17, xl. 8, and the ON in ONn Numb. xvii. 28, and perhaps
supra ver. 13 (on which see note). Comp. 2 Sam. ix. 1, liy ^1 ''PQ , "Is
there indeed yet any that is left of the house of Saul ? " David being uncertain
if there was, and afraid that there was not. But comp. ibid. ver. 3, where
David uses 113? OBNn Ls there not yet ? though here, too, the question is not so
much that of a man who is sure of an affirmative answer, as that of one who longs for
an affirmative, but dreads a negative, answer. But some translate the Tl^ 27} 'Oil.
is there not yet? Gesen. renders the ^prr. in these two pass., " num [verum est]
quod? is [it so] that? = Fr., est-ce que? and in Gen. xxvii. 36 ; xxix. 15 ; 2 Sam.
xxiii. 19, nonne [verum est] quod? is it not [true] that ? Fr., n' est-ce pas que?
Others render it here, Whether (or, is it) because ? which meaning it certainly
sometimes has, as Gen. xxix. 15, and (according to Mendelssohn) Gen. xxvii. 36.
All three explanations are certainly possible, and the first and second run into one
another. See note on "P Q3p>N infra xii. 2. I prefer the first, and do not object
to tbe second ; but the reader must choose.
Ver. 23. 'OIlBn . A fut. is not unfreq. used very nearly = an imperat., as
here, particularly when an imp. precedes it. Comp. infra xvii. 16, and more
esp. xxi. 3, where ^y <p , lit. thou mayest mock, very nearly = 237 7J1 mock (if
thou wilt).
Similarly, a converted past (= a fut.) very freq. follows, and has the force of,
an imperative. Comp. Exod. ix. 1, nipl]  ri3 g0 in  and tell (lit. and thou
shalt tell). So ibid. ver. 13. But in these cases the action expressed by the
imp. is always supposed to be completed, before that indicated by the conv. past
is begun, so that in Engl, we might always insert a then before the second verb.
But we also find two imp. joined by 1 , as Exod. ix. 13, 23}nn] lp?2 0?27n rise
early in the morning and place (get) thee before Pharaoh, n~]aN] and (then, when
thou hast done this) thou shalt say, i.e., and say. So Gen. xii. 19, T?1 np, &c.
Again, when two commands are given which are to be executed simultaneously,
or, in uninterrupted succession, then two imperatives are used without a 1 . Comp.
Exod. iv. 19, 22J TJ7 go, return (into Egypt).

APPENDIX. CHAP. VI. 25 — 29. 619
Of these three modes of expression, therefore, the interval between the execu
tion of the two commands is greatest when the conv. past is used, and least when
the two imperatives touch and as it were run into one another. This is what we
should expect.
That a neg. imperat., such as do not! must be rendered by a fut. is well known.
Ver. 25. n?in rppV . Other instances in which the tense precedes the inf.
may be found, Josh. xxiv. 10, Tnp fj!.3]1 ; Ezek. xxv. 12, Di27N ia27N}1 ;
Dan. xi. 13, Ni3 Ni3} , &c. Comp. also yiB27 -Iya27 , infra xiii. 17 (on which
see note) ; xxi. 2 ; xxxvii. 2.
Ver. 26. O'bp . There is, I think, no occasion to supply 3 } though an
equivalent prep, may be necessary in Engl. Comp. infra xix. 5, where m3in i9
foil, by an ace, and means, as here, to use as an argument. In xiii. 15, too,
the verb is foil, by an ace. The lit. transl. here would then be, " Do ye think to
argue words," i.e., to use words as arguments ? Some understand n?ln here to
mean to reprove, censure, criticise, carp, test ; and D',7a = rny words.
111171 . 1327nn might be supplied from the first hem., for the verb is freq.
foil, by b , e.g., xiii. 24 ; xix. 15 ; xxxiii. 10 ; xli. 19. The meaning would
then be, Then ye must (will) esteem for (as) wind [the] words of a despairing-
man. It is, however, more forcible, and at the same time, I think, more simple, to
supply the verb mn only, when the meaning will be Then [the] words of a
despairing man are (or will be) wind, b mn freq. =, as is well known, to become,
be converted into, anything = the Germ., zu etwas werden. We should say, are
As wind, but the Hebr. are very fond of leaving out the B of comp. See note
on ib supra ver. 21, and comp. infra viii. 2, where Job's words are said to be a
violent wind, and not to be like one.
Ver. 27. 1$ also, even, = as well. If you can act like this, then you might
also (even, as well) cast yourselves, &c. Wolfssohn well translates, " 0 ! dann
konntet ihr, &c."
ib^Sn . Pg. cvi. we find two instances in which the Hiph. voice is used
intransitively, viz., Wljn , 1337t£nn . See Index.
Ver. 28. ^B ib^Nin = 13B1 iVNin 0r ni3Bb ib^Nin , be pleased and, or
to, turn. See note on bri"1] supra ver. 9. Comp. also infra xxi. 5, "bN 133
turn to me, = look upon me, consider me.
D?}23 by. Comp. infra x. 7, ^nyi by [it is] before Thy knowledge, i.e.,
Thou knowest.
Ver. 29. Let there be no wrong, i.e., be not unjust, do me no wrong.
I must confess that Dr. Bernard's explanation of n2 does not satisfy me.
H2 may be taken as a neuter (see note on mi.y supra ver. 20), as it may
be taken in Gen. xxiv. 14, yiN nai * and by it (thereby) shall I know.
* So the Auth. Ver. Mendelssohn, however, translates an ihr, by her, which makes at
least equally good sense.

620 appendix, chaps, vi. 29; vii. 1 — 3.
n2 PI'S would then mean " my righteousness [is] in it, i.e., in this matter,
is concerned, is at stake. Es gilt meine Gerechtigkeit. II y va de ma justice. Or
n2 may refer to 1327 ; my righteousness (i.e., my justification) depends upon it,
i.e., upon your returning to hear me.
liy may be joined either with 1027, or with "'PIP, for, as we have already
said, the accents cannot be depended upon in this book. If Dr. Bernard's interpre
tation be the correct one, liy would, I think, be best joined with ''PIP .

CHAPTER VII.
Ver. 1. N23 is by many taken here to mean warfare, i.e., military service
and, by implication, its hardships. This meaning it certainly freq. has. Comp.
Numb. i. 3, where N22 N31 may certainly quite as well be translated one going
out on service (Mend., Dienst), as one going out to [the] host, or to war; comp.
also Numb. xxxi. 14, nanban N25?a D^Npn, which may well be understood
which came from the service (or work) of the battle (or war), i.e., from serving,
fighting in the battle, or, as we should say, in one word, from the action (if we use
battle), and from the campaign (if we use war).* Some translate it Kriegskeer, but
there is no reason to suppose that the officers came back and left the army behind.
Though from Numb. i. 3, it would seem that the young men became soldiers at
twenty, yet I do not know that it is anywhere stated that they had any fixed
time to serve, or that they did serve any fixed time. N235 is, however, also used
of the service of the priests (Numb. viii. 24, 25), and from this pass, we learn
that the length of this service was fixed at twenty-five years (ibid. chap. iv. the
time named is twenty years) ; still, even here Np2 seems to mean rather service
generally, than any fixed period of service. Indeed, if we comp. the expression
lyia bnri may? Nps ri2pb (Numb. viii. 24) with  nihy nihy ihyb
13?ia bnN? (Numb. iv. 47), it is very clear that Nap and nTay. service have
sometimes very nearly the same, if not the same, meaning. Comp. also Numb. iv.
3, 23, 30, 35, 37, 41, 43, he. But if Nap = niay , this is just what we want, for
in the next verse man is comp. to an Ipy . It may, however, be objected that
the n"i3y , spoken of in Numb., is not the service of an !?37 , 0r slave ; but
still, there is no reason for supposing that N32 cannot refer to the service of
slaves, or hirelings, and, if it can, I prefer this meaning to that of military service.
In Isa. xl. 2, Npp seems to have much the same sense as I give it here, namely, a
time, a season of labour (distress) and toil, and is certainly better so translated than
by appointed time, a meaning which I am inclined to refuse to the word N32 .
Vers. 2, 3. These two verses offer very considerable difficulty. They are
* Mendelssohn translates vom Feldzuge, and certainly campaign suits the context better
than battle.

APPENDIX. CHAP. VII. 2, 3. 621
connected by the adverb 1? , and might, therefore, be expected to correspond,* bud
this they do not do completely. The verbs in ver. 2 express a desire, a longing;
the verbs in ver. 3 express attainment, or possession, but the objects attained or
possessed are scarcely such as would be desired or longed for by any one. Dr.
Bernard felt this difficulty, and could see no other way of surmounting it than
by taking ^NP} and n-jp] in ver. 2 in a pregnant sense = to long, or hope for,
and obtain, and vice versd, by supplying the notion of longing to inbCOn j
longed and obtained. The chief objection to Dr. Bernard's interpretation is, that
he takes f?3?3 = fpy 12>N3 , though 3 seems very rarely to be prefixed to a
whole sentence. 3 is, indeed, very freq. found joined to an inf. in the sense of
when, but it is very rarely coupled with a tense ; so rarely, indeed, that Nold.
seems to deny that it is ever so coupled ; for, he says in a note on the use
of the 3 with the inf., " Quod si vero infinitivi loco substituas tempus finitum,
suppleas post 3 relativum n27N necesse est, cum praspositio non nisi nomini aut
infinitivo verborum jungi potest." [He prob. means, however, that 3 and a tense
cannot form one word]. Gesenius, indeed, quotes a passage from Isa. viii. 23, but
the verse is such a difficult one that I should be very sorry to draw any inference
from it. I find a passage, however, viz, Ps. lxxxiii. 15, 16, where there are
two 3's fo ver. 15 corresponding to 1? in ver. 16 (just as here), and where the
B 's are considered by Mendelssohn and others to stand for !27N3 ; but even here
ntpN , 0r n27N3 , might be supplied between each noun comp. with 3 and the
verb which follows it, and indeed I think this way of understanding the passage
is the better one. Comp. also Isa. lxi. 1 1, where there is the same ambiguity,
though 3 is comm. taken = n27N? . But, even if 3 can = n27N? , it seems to me
more natural to understand n27N; after "fp57 and ns327 . Comp. infra ix. 26,
271D} 12>3? for 271D} 12?N; 1273? ; also infra xi. 16. The translation will
then be : Like the slave who panteth for the shade,
And like the hireling who longeth for his wages,
So have I been allotted, &c.
and the meaning :
Like the slave is wont to be worn out with toil, and, therefore, longs for tbe shade,
so I, too, am weighed down with disease and grief ; and the inference which is not
expressed, but which we are left to draw, is, that Job like the slave longs for
the shade, i.e., the shadow of death. Here, too, the correspondence between the
two verses is not complete.
Another explanation is that offered by Wolfssohn. He takes Npp in ver. 1 =
ein Heer von Leiden, a host of sufferings, and so it certainly seems to be used
infra x. 17. I should prefer, however, to translate it either warfare, or, rather,
military service (Kriegsdienst), a service full of toils and hardships, or servitude,
* Still, as we see from infra ver. 9, |3 sometimes introduces an apodosis, although it has
not been preceded by 3 or i*$ .

622 APPENDIX. CHAP. VII. 2 — 5.
the service of a slave. See note on ver. 1. The sense remains, however, much
the same. The three verses would then run :
Ver. 1. Hath not frail man a term of \ ., , \ upon earth ?
I servitude ) r
Yea, his days are as the days of an hireling ;
Ver. 2. Like the slave, he panteth for the shade.
&c. &c
Ver. 3. So I bave been allotted, &c.
Here, vers. 1 and 2 have much the same meaning, because if a man is said to
pant for the shade like a slave, we naturally infer that he has the same reasons for
so doing as the slave, i.e., that he is worn out with toil and distress, and this is
what we infer also from ver. 1. The opening of this chap, would then much
resemble the first verses of chap, xiv., only here Job declares a little more plainly
that in describing the lot of man generally, his intention is to describe his own
particular case. The chief objection to this interpretation is, that the 1? does
not form the apodosis of ver. 2, more than of ver. 1, and does not correspond to
the two 3 's.
~iny ini31 as the rabbins say — the reader must choose !
V is pleonastic, though expressive. See note on TJ7 yi supra v. 27.
Vp.r._4:DN. when fnllnwpd by a p^t t gBPmafrpqnpntly to have the force of when
= whenever, as often as. Comp. Gen. xxxviii. y, Nil UN flrll and it used to be,
if he had gone (or, if per chance he went), i.e., whenever he went, the use of
tlie freq., mn] shewing us that this must be the meaning. So Ps. lxiii. 7,
Tn!?? DN ff J have remembered Thee, i.e., whenever I have remembered, as
often as I remember, Thee. A past when it precedes its nom. has also freq.
this meaning. Comp. infra ver. 9, 1337 n^-3 = 13V n73 DN , and see note upon
it. Comp. also the use of ^? with a past, as in infra ver. 13, "'ni.DN "p =
whenever I have said, or say. But sometimes ON with a past means when = as
soon as ; e.g., Isa. xxiv. 13, Amos vii. 2.
0>l113 is a dirai Xey.
Ver. 5. Though 2712 occurs nowhere else in the Bible, it is found in the
Talmud in the sense of dust, clod, whilst 2727i2iin means to dust oneself, to roll
oneself in the dust with another, to wrestle.
y3! has (i.e., is) broken. Infra xxvi. 12, the verb is used in the same sense,
but act., D}1 y21 He broke-asunder (clove) the sea.
In Ps. Iviii. 8, the word 10^0} is on all hands allowed to mean let them melt
away, whether DNa there stands for DDa, or, as is more probable, is merely equi
valent to it in signification. So in Chald. ONp means to reject, and to melt, moisten.
Buxtorf says in his Chald. Lex., s.v., "Idem nempe quod Dpa , sicut paulo
ante INa idem quod "pa , altera geminates in N commutata." This observation
has been copied by Gesenius without acknowledgment. The meaning melt, or
make toet, would make good sense, as, if abscesses formed and the skin burst, or

APPENDIX. CHAP. VII. 5  7. 623
the skin was destroyed by ulceration, the surrounding parts would be wet with
matter. The term melt would not be inaptly applied to the gradual disappearance
of the skin under the influence of the ulcerative process. The meaning would
then be, " My skin breaks and melts away ; " or, " and is wet " with matter, i.e.,
suppurates. So Wolfssohn, " Es eitert meine Haut."
Ver. 6. Comp. infra ix. 25, V"} ""an ibp ''a}] .
naia ini rib ima
T T : T
Dr. Bernard's explanation does not quite please me — it seems somewhat forced.
I rather think (and all other Comm. agree with me) that the days referred to are
not his days of happiness, but his present days of misery. It does, it is true,
seem strange to say that days of misery pass rapidly, but under certain circum
stances they may do so. A person who is in great danger of death, and sees that
he must be saved very speedily or die, would (if he wished to live, as Job
evidently did), think every moment precious, and to such an one time passed
even in torments would appear to fly away. A student (to speak of minor
things) the last few days before an examination which he dreads, may be in
torture, but he will not complain of the time's passing too slowly for him. Job
resembles a man borne away by an impetuous current, or gliding down a rapid,
and looking with straining eyes for something to cling to for safety — his mental
torture is extreme, yet, feeling that he has no hope, and is being hurried on to
death, time passes like lightning. This is why Job says in the second hem. that
his days are consumed without hope, for he has nothing to cling to. That this
is the meaning is evident from the following verses, in which Job appeals to God
to rescue him before the very few days, which he has yet to live, have passed
away, and with them the opportunity for rescue. In Ps. cii. we hear similar
complaints from the lips of the " Afflicted." He says, ver. 4, " That his days are con
sumed like smoke," and ver. 1 1, that they are " like a shadow which declineth," and
he appeals to God (ver. 3) to answer bim speedily. Comp. also infra vers. 16, 21 ;
xiv. 14, 15, &c Job does sometimes, indeed, appear to long for death, e.g., in
this very chap, infra ver. 15, supra vi. 9, &c, yet it is evident, from the general
tenour of his discourses, that he would prefer to bave justice done to him, and his
health and prosperity restored.
3n.N a weaver's shuttle, is a aimf Xey., but all are agreed as to its meaning.
Ver. 7. The verb 2127 , when it is used with another verb in the sense of
again, is joined to this verb in three different ways. It is either connected with
it by the prep, b as here ; or it is joined to it by the particle 1 ; or it is followed
immediately by the second verb. Of these constructions, the second seems to be
by far the most common, and in this case the two verbs are, I think, usually, as
in the example chosen for illustration by Dr. Bernard, found in the converted
future. Comp. 1 Kings xiii. 33 ; xix. 6 ; 2 Kings i. 11 ; ii. 13 ; xix. 9 ; xxi. 3 ;
2 Chron. xix. 4 ; xxxiii. 3, &c. For the construction without the 1 comp. Gen.
xxx. 31, nyiN na127N / will return feed= I will again feed ; infra x. 16,
N7Bnn 327'n . And lastly, for the construction with b , which we have here,
comp. Ezra ix. 14, Tn'iPP npnb 3127311 lit. Shall we return to break Thy

624 APPENDIX. CHAP. VII. 7  10.
commandments, i.e., shall we again break them ? The verb Vsin * is eonstr.
in the same way ; see note on supra vi. 9. Comp. also note on ^V -im?}}
(supra iv. 7), where the Hiph. is simil. rend, by an adverb.
Ver. 8. ,Nl ly (the) eye of one seeing me, or, of my seer, i.e., the eye of him
who now seeth me.
After T^y it is, perhaps, better to supply are than may be with Dr. Bernard,
because "'S^N rather =/ am not, than 7" shall not be. Comp. infra ver. 21,
viii. 22, &c. The pres. in these cases is, of course, = a fut., but is much more
forcible. VN may, however, be transl. by a past, pres. or fut., according to the
context. See Mas. and Bern. Gr. Lett. 44 (P.S.), and Ges.
Ver. 9. This verse I prefer to translate as follows : " When a cloud is con
sumed, then it is gone (for ever) ; so he that goeth down to the pit shall not come
up (i.e., shall never again come up)." In this way the parallelism between the two
hemistiches is rendered more complete t than it is in the translation given in the
Commentary. I must, however, say that, when I submitted this mode of
rendering the verse to Dr. Bernard, he did not like it so well as his own
mode, although he did not object to my following my own course in the
Translation. 1337 nbs would thus stand for 133? n73 ON , if or when a cloud is consumed.
The omission of ON is very common, as before VlNDil infra ver. 20 ; translated
by Umbreit, " Habe ich gesiindiget " = If I have sinned. See note in Comm. on
""msi supra v. 3. So the Germans say, " Ist eine Wolke geschwunden," for
"Wenn eine Wolke geschwunden ist;" and this construction is sometimes used in
the Auth. Ver.
"jbn is frequently used in the sense of to go away, to vanish, and even to die.
Comp. infra x. 21 ; xiv. 20 ; xix. 10 ; also Ps. xxxix. 14, ^.VN] TjbN 01.IQ3
before I go hence and be no more. So we say he is gone = he is dead. The
French, too, use s'en alter in this sense, and the Germans, say, "Er ist hin" ( =
he is off, gone). The verb n^„ to pass, pass over, pass away, is used in the same
sense, e.g., infra xxxiii. 18, 28, xxxiv. 20, xxxvi. 12. Comp. the Fr. trepasser
= mid. Lat. transpassare.
Ver. 10. Why 13"T?} in this verse should rather have the meaning of beholding,
or discerning, than recognising, I do not exactly know. Either makes good sense,
but perhaps a place can scarcely be expected to recognise its owner, though it
may be well said to behold him. Comp. infra viii. 18 ; xx. 9 ; in both of which
* The verb "inn to hasten, is also eonstr. in the same three ways, and like ail!) and
'j'Nin can also comm. be rend, by an adverb, quickly, speedily. See Ges. s. v. And the
same, no doubt, is the case with many other verbs. Comp. Numb. xvii. 28, sia1? wf>Ei d«lF
are we then WHOLLY to perish f
f The parallelism is not absolutely complete in any case, because ^?.l and (or then) it
is gone, does not completely correspond to nV n'i it will not come up (again), though the
latter implies the former. At all events there is no necessity for supplying 3 , for we may
translate, '- A cloud consumes and passes away— so, &c," and this rendering is, I think,
more forcible from its very abruptness. In smoothing down asperities of language we are
apt to lose force.

APPENDIX. CHAP. VII. 12, 13. 625
pass, the place is merely said to see, or behold, the owner. The same phrase
iaipp liy iai}?} rib] occurs in Ps. ciii. 16, where Mend, transl. ian."1?} kennet
sie. Ver. 12. I must confess that I do not see any particular difficulty here, although
Dr. Bernard considers this to be the most difficult verse in the whole book. na27
sometimes means, to observe, to watch (narrowly) as infra xiii. 27 ; xxxiii. 1 1 ;
niatpa too means watch, in the sense of guarding. There is, therefore, no
reason why natpa may not here be translated watch (Ben-Zev Wache) ; when
latpa 'bs D^tpn ''p would mean, that Thou shouldest set a watch over me, that
Thou shouldest watch me ; and this interpretation seems to me to give excellent
sense. If God watches, keeps His eye upon a man, it must either be for that
man's good or for his hurt, and here watch is of course used in an
unfavourable sense, and we are told in the following verses in what it
consists. Job complains that God is constantly frightening him with dreams
and terrifying him with visions, and that He does not turn away from
him for a moment, and does not leave him even so long as to allow
him to swallow his spittle. So again infra xiii. 27, Job complains that
God has put his (Job's) feet in the stocks, and that He HD2>} watches all his
paths. To watch is, therefore, equivalent to, to beset, to dog. Job infers from
the fact that he is suffering such torments that God is watching him. So !pB to
visit, i.e., to go to see, is very frequently taken in a bad sense = to chasten, to
punish, or to look after (in a bad sense ; as infra ver. 18). Comp. also infra
x. 14, where Dr. Bernard himself translates ^niatpl then wouldest Thou have
marked me (for punishment) ; i.e., have kept Thine eye upon me — ready to punish
me when the time came. But was God supposed to keep watch over the sea
and the monstrous creatures it contains ? Yes, He was supposed to keep a very
strict watch over the sea. The Hebrews seems to have supposed that the sea
was always endeavouring to pass its bounds and invade the land, for God is
freq. said to have set it bounds which it cannot pass, and He sometimes boasts of
having done so. Comp. infra xxxviii. 11 ; Jer. v. 22 ; infra xxvi. 12 ; Ps.
lxv. 7 ; lxxxix. 9, &c. So, too, from Ezek. xxxii. 2, it would seem that the
Q,?n , whatever sea-monster may have been so called, was also supposed to have
a tendency to leave the sea, for the sake of ravaging the land and its inhabitants,
so that God was probably supposed to keep His eyes constantly upon him also.
The meaning therefore is, " If I were the sea or a sea-monster, You could not
keep stricter watch over me." *"
If latpa can have the meaning assigned to it by Dr. Bernard, namely that of
dam (Renan, des digues), I would not understand this as he does, of the dust
which might possibly have surrounded Job, but of his ulcers and sores which were
as stocks or a clog to his ankles (infra xiii. 27), and so formed an impediment
and barrier to his movements, just as the sands which bound the sea prevented
(according to the notions of the Hebrews) any incursions either on its own part,
or on that of its ferocious denizens.
Ver. 13. The 2 in imto? may, I think, be partitive, and = a part of, as it is
s s

626 APPENDIX. CHAP. VII. 13 — 14.
taken by Schultens, and after him by Rosenmuller, Gesen., and others, and then
2 N2'3 would here mean to alleviate, lighten, soothe, instead of entirely removing.
Wolfssohn translates it lindern (to alleviate, soothe), but does not say why. The
reader must choose, for the 2 as we have seen supra iv. 2, is frequently quite
untranslatable. For instances in which 2 is supposed to be used partitively, see
Nold.'s Concord, and Ges. I must, however, say that, of the three passages
quoted by Rosenmuller and Umbreit, two at least do not favour the explanation
they give, for in Numb. xi. 17, OSil N27a? T^N 1Ntp3] , the 3 certainly cannot
positively be said to be partitive, for the meaning is, And they (tbe seventy elders)
shall together with thee (i.e., they and thou together) bear [the] burden of the people,
i.e., the ichole burden of the people, which Moses had said (ver. 14,) he could
nut bear alone. If 3 be taken partitively, the sense would be " they shall bear
together with thee of the burden," * i.e., they shall share the burden with thee,
help thee to bear it ; but I do not see that any advantage is gained by this
rendering, excepting that of translating the 3 , for to bear a burden with one
means all that to help to bear a burden with one can mean, and more besides, for
it positively fsserts that the two together bear the whole burden. [Moreover,
the notion of help is derived rather from the T!"? than the 2 .] Again, in Eccles.
v. 14, ''0372 NtS; N7 nalNai appears to me to mean nor shall he take away
anything by his labour, i.e., he may labour very hard all his life, but when he
dies, he will not take anything away with him in consequence of all his labour.
Or it may mean notwithstanding all his labour, f If the 2 is taken partitively
= of his labour, then 7337 would have to be taken in the more unusual sense of
produce of labour. As for the passage in Nehem. iv. 11, it is not conclusive,
but the 2 may well be transl. partitively = at.
Dr. Bernard seems to have ignored this use of 2 ; at any rate he considers it
" to be the mark of the objective case " in one pass, in which, if in any, it might
well have a partitive meaning. This pass, is Prov. ix. 5, " Come ye, eat,
''Onb? of my bread, and drink ye 1}}2 of [the] wine which I have mingled."
Here I think the 2 has decidedly a partitive sense, and in this I agree with the
A. V., and with Eichel, who says it = 0, and comp. Lev. viii. 32. See Mason
and Bernard's Gramm. Lett. xlvi. § 14. On the whole, however, Dr. Bernard
has certainly the advantage here, for in all, or almost all, the cases in which,
as here, a trans, verb is followed by a noun with 2, the 2 may well be left un
translated, whereas in very few can it be advantageously taken and translated
partitively. Ver. 14. For a similar use of the prefix a , comp. also infra xiv. 9, mia
0}D through, by means op, [the] scent of water; xxxix. 26 ; Gen. ix. 11,
&c. Similarly the Fr. prep, de, the Ital. da, and the Germ, von, mean both
from and through, by.
* The a uraa in this case better expressed in Germ, mit daran tragen (see Ges. s. v. nw:),
lit., to join in carrying AT a thing, i.e., to help in carrying it.
t Mendelssohn understands it much in the same way, for he renders it fur alle seine
Arbeit, which apparently means in exchange for (or, notwithstanding) all his labour.

APPENDIX. CHAP. VII. 15 — 19. 627
Ver. 15. '•niapya . The interpretation adopted by Dr. Bernard, " by my
own limbs," i.e., by my own hands, is of course forced, inasmuch as nla^V ,
whenever it is used in the Bible means bones, and not limbs, but no other
translation which has been proposed presents less difficulty. The usual rendering
is '' death rather than my bones," i.e., rather than these bones of mine, this
dreadful emaciation, and Prof. Conant goes so far as to say that "no other
construction of IP is allowable," an assertion which Dr. Bernard's quotation
disposes of.* But this interpretation appears to me harsh. ,Job was no doubt
dreadfully emaciated, for he says infra xvii. 7, " all my members are as a shadow,"
and xix. 20, " my bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh ; " he may, therefore,
have been on the point of saying, " death by my own bands," but have
substituted bones from suddenly casting his eyes, after be had pronounced the
word death, upon his wasted fingers. The passage is and always must remain
an obscure one. Wolfssohn is with us, and translates "iniap37a n].a Selbstmord,
and Umbreit " Tod von meinem eigenen Gebein," which he explains to mean
Selbstmord. Some consider ^niBpy as = P¥'9 , which is frequently used in
Rabbinical writings in the sense of myself, and is joined with prep., but I know
of no instance shewing that 0!|y was ever so used in the plural. 012. , however,
which also means bone, is found both in the sing, and plur. with pronominal
affixes in the sense of self. Thus the Targum renders ("fm. bpna) nan in
Ps. Ixii. 10, lin^-ia 1131 they themselves. Comp. also the Ch. N73N , which
means both limb and bone.
,n?Na / have rejected, i.e., at the time I speak I have already rejected in my
mind ; but we are obliged to say I reject. See note on n3Na supra vi. 7.
Comp. infra xlii. 6, where DNpN is used absolutely, and we have, as here, to
supply the thing rejected. Comp. also 1 Thess. iv. 8, where the use of 6 aOnruiv
offers some slight analogy. As for the word to be supplied here, we might
understand 'Hpl my words, and this ellipsis would also be admissible infra
xlii. 6.
""O} 7pil "p . Dr. Bernard's rendering of b3n here derives support from
supra ver. 7, ^D nil "<? .
Ver. 18. O^y^lb every moment, is found also Isa. xxvii. 3 ; Ezek. xxvi. 16,
xxxii. 10. 0,!pTpb in addition to the passage quoted in the Comm. occurs also
Pa. lxxiii. 14, ci. 8 ; Isa. xxxiii. 2. npab 1)727 , is found in tbe same sense,
1 Chron. ix. 27, and was perhaps the original expression, whence the other
sprang, the plural being used distributively, just as we use it in such expressions
as "Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays," ' = every Monday, Wednesday, and
Friday. Ver. 19. na? . Dr. Bernard's interpretation of this word is certainly very
* To die of hunger, by the sword, famine, &c, is no doubt nearly always rendered in
Heb. by a raa (comp. Numb. xiv. 37; xxv. 9; Josh. x. 11; Isa. iv. 30; Jer. xi. 22;
xxxiv. 4; xxxviii. 2; Ezek. xxxiii. 27; Amos vii. 11; ix. 10, &c.) Still, I find in Jer.
xxxviii. 9, asi 'Jso  hot .
S S 2

628 APPENDIX. CHAP. VII. 19.
ingenious, and he might perhaps have supported it by a few examples in which
B is prefixed to words signifying time, such as 37?n la? (Lam. iv. 6), as [it were
in] a moment; y?n aya? (Isa. xxvi. 20, Ezra ix. 8), translated in Auth. Ver.,
"as it were (3) for a little moment;" 3??"]? (Numb. xvi. 21), in a moment
(Auth. Ver.)  in which phrases the 3 has either very little force,* or is almost
equivalent to 3 . Wolfssohn too translates nap here einen Augenblick, but
does not say how he obtains this meaning. The only question is whether there
is any reason why na? should not be rendered, as it is in the Auth. Ver. and by
most Commentators, how long, a meaning which appears to me to make excellent
sense? In Ps. xxxv. 17, np? is rend, in the A. V. "how long?" and by
Mendelssohn " Wie lange ?" Infra xxi. 17, it means how often; and xiii. 23,
how many. But perhaps in Ps. xxxv. 17, Dr. Bernard would translate na?
nNin Look [on me] but for an instant, he., which rendering could not be
objected to on grammatical grounds, for the fut. is freq. used = an imp. (see
note on "OIlBn supra vi. 23). Or nNl.n might be taken optat., in which case it
would = mayest Thou look! Oh, that Thou wouldest look! — but I do not defend
either of these renderings.
"iy7? my swallowing. This, strictly speaking, should be "'y?? like ''li?? .
Some verbs, however, take Short Cherik, or Pathach, instead of Short Kawmets —
apparently for the sake of euphony. Comp. oyp? , Amos i. 13 ; n3??17 Lev.
xviii. 23 ; and with Pathach, iayBp Jud. xiii. 25. Comp. also infra xxix. 3,
ibn? for ibn? (like 3iD , i3D) ; and with Segol, n7?nb (?) infra xxxiv. 8,
on wh. see note. I am not at all sure, however, that "'y?? may not be regarded
as a subst. from yb? (comp. Is7??) Jer. li. 44, and yb? in pause Ps. Iii. 6, like
y?"}! in pause for y5! . What, a substantive govern an accusative, the reader may
exclaim ! Yes, in Hebrew I think it may. In most languages, substantives though
very useful parts of speech, are dead-weights ; they let a great deal be done with
them, but they do very little themselves. In Heb., on the contrary, they are very
active, striving little bodies, who meddle a great deal in other people's affairs — the
women of the language, so to speak. They not only govern other substantives,
but as we shall freq. have occasion to see in this book, they govern verbs (as
infinitives, participles, and tenses), and they govern whole sentences. See note on
121t] nyp supra vi. 17, and on ^latp} nib.N p^ infra xxix. 2 ; and
Index. Why then should they not govern an accusative ? It is true that
in the cases mentioned above they put on a kind of robe of office (state of
construction), before they take upon themselves to govern, whereas in the
case before us there is nothing to indicate that the noun has done so, but
this is merely because it has a poss. affix, which masks its governmental dress.
We might just as well object to those nouns which preserve the same form
when in the state of construction. Besides, we find many instances in which
nouns do govern accusatives. In the plirase TilbN nil'! nN n3nN7 (Deut.
xix. 9 ; xxx. 6, 16, &c), nprjN may indeed be tbe inf. eonstr. of BIN with
* Strictly speaking, perhaps, about, Germ, um, see Ges.

APPENDIX. CHAP. VII. 19, 20. 629
paragogic n , and as such Buxtorf in his Concord., gives it ; but what are we to
say of such phrases as bNlt?7} JIN nin] npnN? (] Kings x. 9); nin] npUN?
bNIC?} \3? ilN (Hos. iii. 1) ; D31N nil] npilNa (Deut. vii. 8) ; and with
poss. affixes, it»B3? ink inpriN? (1 Sam. xviii. 3, and comp. xx. 17) ? All
these are given by Buxtorf as nouns, and as nouns they must well be taken.
Ges. too calls them verbal nouns (Lehrgeb. p. 688). But whether they are
nouns or infinitives we see that, when they take poss. affix., the constructive form
is masked. So too we find nNT7 followed by an ace. (Deut. xiv. 23, xvii. 19,
&c.,) and with poss. aff. mN ij!Nl}a (2 Sam. iii. 11). But the examples most in
point here are two quoted by Ges. loc. cit, viz., *jm27a nN y27.b (Hab. iii. 12),
and more distinctly in the absolute state, nin} nN n3?l (lSa. xi. 9, Ezek. xvii. 9),
where n371 is given as a subst. by Buxtorf, and Ges., while Kimchi is undecided,
but prefers .to call it an inf., as be also does the forms given above from 3nN .*
The reason this difficulty does not often arise in Heb. is that nouns and infinitives
are but rarely found identical in form. Comp., however, nyi noun and inf.
In Eng. we have something similar. We have verbal nouns and participles
both ending in ing, although in Anglo-Sax. they had different endings (see
Marsh's Lectures by Smith, Lond. 1862 ; Latham, Elem. Eng. Gramm. 1860,
p. 103), and if we say "his singing a song was ill-timed," singing is certainly a
verbal noun, and yet it governs an ace
Ver. 20. VINO!! . For a similar omission of the ON see infra xix. 4, where
VYOtt? = YYQJP ON, and comp. note on supra ver. 9. The Eng. Ver. and some
other translators render, " I have sinned," but Job was not likely to admit this

•e
-=1

* Kimchi distinctly states, however (Michl. large ed., fol. 11, p. 2, col. 2), that a noun
is sometimes used = an inf., and like it, is followed by an ace. ; and he quotes n» SBnVr
niansri (Numb. x. 2), banfe; sa1! nN ibddi (Numb, xxiii. 10), rrojrwto nni« Tftmch. (Ezek. xvii.
9), explaining these subst. to be = J'Drfri , -liEpbi (but better in Eng., and has numbered),
N'feij1), respectively. Gesenius, however, declares nixten to be an Aram. inf. Kal, like
W)}!? in nnsn ntjjoJ) (Numb. x. 2) * ; and, indeed, Kimchi seems to take -iedo in the pass.
quoted from Numb, xxiii. 10, to be an inf. (although he gives it as an example of a subst.
used = an inf.), and he gives reasons for so taking it, one being that, as it has a Kawmets,
it cannot be a noun in the eonstr. state ¦  whilst Mendelssohn, who quotes Kimchi,
states expressly that "cpn is an inf. Kimchi seems, therefore, to have thought that a
noun could not govern another noun in the accus., unless it were itself in stat. eonstr., and
all the nouns he quotes, excepting "iedo are in stat. eonstr. according to him, for he takes
»B? to be tbe eonstr. form of sdo , though Ges. in his Thes. regards »5Q as the absolute
form. But I am by no means convinced that Kimchi is right in this matter, for the
eonstr. form is not of much avail when foil, by n« , though it always gives a noun a sort
of right to meddle with what follows— and it seems to me less harsh to take "ispo to be an
absolute noun governing an accus., than to assume it to be an Aram. inf. Conversely,
Kimchi says that the inf. is sometimes used = a noun, and he quotes D'tpp nt» (Ps.
ci. 3) = D^p nteo , [the] doings of them that tum aside.
* But N-jjp may surely well be regarded as a noun in stat. eonstr., and xypb be rend, for the
of, just as Gesen. himself takes rfroiD = a sending of, in ni:o n>ap in Esth. ix. 19, 22.

630 APPENDIX. CHAP. VII. 20.
Wolfssohn has, " Habe ich gefehlt,'* and Umbreit, " Habe ich gesiindiget," =
Wenn ich gefehlt, gesiindigt, habe, the Germ, idiom corresponding to the
Hebrew. Comp. infra xxxv. 6, 12 b3?Bn na riNDI! DN If thou hast sinned,
what canst thou do against Him ? Here the ON is in the text. Job and Elihu
use nearly the same words, but tbe ideas which the words are intended to convey
are different. Job wonders that the actions of such a frail and contemptible being
as man can affect God, and be is surprised that God punishes man for them.
Elihu's argument, on the contrary, is that man's wickedness and man's righteousness
do not affect God, and that, therefore, if God punishes man for sins which he has
committed, it Can be only for man's good. Still, a comparison of the two pass.
shews that the way in which we understand the pres. pass., and in which it is
understood by most Commentators, is the correct one. Ewald's strange inter
pretation, " If I have sinned in what I do unto thee," na being taken as the
ace. after "'nsan , will scarcely find much favour, although he lays it down in
his usual offhand and dictatorial style, as if he had taken away all Hebrew to
himself. In the first place, na but seldom = w^orf = that which, its ordinary mean
ing being what interrogative. Secondly, though the verb NOn is freq. followed
by an ace. of the sin committed, when the words NOn , nNDn, liy, &c, are
used with it, and though wherein (in which) when following these nouns is
commonly rendered by n27N. in the ace.*, yet in other cases a prep, is commonly
used with the thing in which one has sinned. Comp. Lev. iv. 23, v. 22 ;
Neh. ix. 29, where 2 , and Num. vi. 11; Neh. xiii. 26, where by is used.
Comp. also supra i. 22, ii. 10, where, according to Ewald's own interpretation,
2 is thus used after NOn . And, thirdly, the pass, quoted above from infra
xxxv. 6, clearly shews, I think, in what way na is here to be understood.
At any rate, until Ewald can shew a passage in which na is to be taken as he
takes it here, I cannot admit his interpretation to be even possible. It is just
such an interpretation as we might expect the author of a theoretical Heb.
Gramm., like Ewald's, to adopt.
y2!pa . Wolfssohn gives this word much the same meaning as Dr. Bernard,
for he renders it Anstoss, lit., something against which one knocks or strikes
(y23 = stossen), a uKavZaXov, our offence in its lit. meaning. So Ben-Zev,
Gegenstand des Anstosses. Eichhorn and Schlottmann also render the word
Anstoss, but most other Commentators translate it mark (Zielscheibe), which also
makes good sense ; and this rendering derives support from infra xvi. 12,
niiaab ib "pa^p]} And He has set me up for His mark, but is less easily
derived from y33 .
* Comp. Numb. xii. 11, " Do not lay the sin upon us i3^i3 -n5n wherein we have done
foolishly;" Jer. xxxiii. 8, "And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity (Wis)
'¦j iNion -raw wherein they have sinned against Me ; and I will pardon all their iniquities
(Drrrm'w,) -h iNipn -nc« wherein they have sinned against, Me, 'a wste -wS«i_ and wherein
they have transgressed against Me," though in the last pass. "ft>« might well be rendered
which. I do not think that Ewald can quote any pass, more favourable to his view, unless
be thinks that ¦) warr 'mti rrai (supra vi. 24), but make me to understand IN whaI
{wherein) I have erred, may be cited in his favour.

APPENDIX. CHAP. VII. 20, 21 ; VIII. 2 — 4. 631
^737 . 737 is either used here for bN (see note in Comm. on supra ii. 5 ; and
Index), or it may be taken in its usual sense of upon, as a burden is generally
said to be put upon a person. Still in Eng. we must translate to, as " so that
I am a burden upon myself," does not sound well.
Ver. 21. For the form na , see Ges. Thes.
For a similar use of nny, comp. infra viii. 6; Mic. vii. 10, and for other
examples, see Nold. and Gesenius. So the Lat. jam (now) frequently means
immediately, instantly, soon. The Ital. adesso likewise means now and immediately. ¦
HOT in faC{ corresponds to our now and just now. The Fr. presentement =
maintenant, a present, our now, whilst our corresponding word presently = just
now, soon. See infra note on '^."'N .
332JN 7B3?b. Comp. Ps. vii. 6, 1?t?! nBybv 'HiBpi ; infra xxxvi. 7, Np?b =
on the throne. In our case the prep, v is equivalent to '? rather than to 3 ,
for though we say in the dust, the equivalent Heb. expression is certainly
7Q37 ,y lit., on [the] dust, and not ns.373 , which seems always to mean deep in
the dust, buried in the dust and not upon its surface, comp. infra xl. 13 ; Isa.
ii. 10 ; Lam. iii. 29 ; — and indeed nB37 7y - in the dust is found much more freq.
in Job than in any other book, e.g., infra xvii. 16 ; xx. 11 ; xxi. 26 ; xlii. 6,
and for this reason I am inclined to give these words the same sense in infra
xxii. 21, and xxxix. 14, in preference to the meaning assigned to them in these
two pass, by Dr. Bernard. ^
"^N lit. I[am] not = I shall not be. Comp. supra ver. 8, infra viii. 22, Ps. xxxvii.
10, &c. The speaker, in the fervour of his imagination outstrips time, and represents
as actually happening, what he expects shortly will happen. In this way, we
may I think explain the use of nny now, in this verse = in our less imaginative
language, presently. But sometimes the Hebrews go farther still, and not content
with catching up the future, actually pass it and leave it behind. The future is
then to them as though it had already happened, and they consequently use the;
verb in the past. See note in Comm. on T]B supra v. 20.

CHAPTER VIII.

Ver. 2. n1*?? nil] , see note (in Comm.) on bs infra ver. 9. For other
examples of the omission of the B of comparison, see Index. See also note on
^t1? infra xxxiv. 17.
Ver. 4. "He despatched them by their transgression." Dr. Bernard (and
te has the support of Ben-Zev) has here taken nb27 in the Pi-dl to mean

632 APPENDIX. CHAP. VIII. 4.
to send away for ever, dismiss (from the world), despatch = the Fr. expedier
in both its meanings, and in this sense the verb is certainly found infra
xiv. 20. By, by their transgression, I think he must have meant that
their transgression formed as it were the instrument of their destruction ;
they sinned and their sin drew down upon them the immediate punishment
of God, so that it was in fact its own punishment. A great number
of Commentators, and among them Wolfssohn, give n727 here the meaning of
give up, give over,' deliver up, and in favour of this interpretation we may
certainly quote the passage in Prov. xxix. 15, n72}a ny3, which Dr. Bernard
hiin>flf infra p. 161, note on n727 xviii. 8, translates a boy let loose, i.e., left
entirely to himself, abandoned, given over to himself; and likewise n727 infra
xxxix. 5. Comp. also Ps.lxxxi. 13, 03b niT'1273 mrf? 27N1 * where nbttf
is commonly (e.g., by Ben-Zev, Mendelssohn, in A. V., &c), rendered to
give over, abandon, leave; and Deut. xxi. 14, Isa. xxvii. 10. 1?? would
then be translated literally into [the] hand (i.e., power) of; the whole verse
running thus : " If thy sons sinned against Him, He delivered them over into
the power of their transgression," i.e., He did not save them from its consequences.
So Wolfssohn, "Deine Kinder haben gegen ihn gesiindigt, darum iiberliess er sie
ihrer Missethat Strafe." f Again the verb 120 , which in the Pi-dl and Hiph-il
means, to deliver over, is frequently followed by !}2 . Comp. (for the Pi-al) 1 Sam.
xvii. 46, xxiv. 19, xxvi. 8 ; and for the Hiph. 1 Sam. xxiii. 11, Ps. xxxi. 9,
Lam. ii. 7.
Nor can this interpretation be objected to on the ground that it is harsh
to speak of the hands of transgression, for in Ps. lxxxix. 49, we find hands
assigned to blStp , whilst supra v. 20, (on which see note) the sword, I Sam.
xvii. 37, the lion and the bear, and Isa. xlvii. 14, flame are said to possess
hands. So we too speak of the hands of justice (les mains de la justice). So
again Locke, as quoted by Johnson, speaks of a young man, when he became his
own master, as being "put into the hands oi his own inclinations," where put
into the hands of= merely abandoned to.
A third interpretation is that given in the translation, where Dr. Bernard
allowed me to translate !}? because of. This interpretation can also be defended.
1}? , though originally meaning, by the hand of, and still very frequently found
in its original meaning, came no doubt through frequency of use, at last to be in
many cases nothing more than a periphrasis for 2 . Thus we find "B 1}? n?l ,
lit., to speak by [the] hand of any one = to speak by, through, him. See Exod.
ix. 35 ; Lev.' x. 1 1 ; Numb. xvii. 5 ; Josh. xx. 2, and comp. Numb. iv. 37, 45 ;

* But here n^iiS might he translated to despatch, and the a be translated by or because
of; and, if so, la}^ in the 2nd hem. would mean, they pass away, perish, in which sense
"rxt is sometimes found (see note on supra vii. 9). But this is an unlikely rendering.
f stis might doubtless be understood in the sense here given to it hy Wolfssohn, viz.,
" the consequence oi a transgression," i.e., its punishment, just as ]i» sometimes is, e.g.,
Gen. iv. 13.

APPENDIX. CHAP. VIII. 4—6. 633
Josh. xxii. 9, in all of which passages TP must be translated by or through, even
though in Isa. xx. 2, imy27] 1}2 be translated (with Ges.) to Isaiah, which I think
is by no means necessary. We see, therefore, that 1}2 is used instead of ? = by, and
hence we might expect to find it used = 2 in other meanings belonging to this
prep., and if so, why not in the sense of because of, which 2 freq. has ? Comp.
Jer. xli. 9, " whom he had smitten, imb: 12 1}2 because of Gedaliah," where
because of (as in A. V.) certainly makes the best sense, and is taken to be the
meaning of !}? by Kimchi, who interprets the pass. imbl3 n3D2 lit. by cause
( = because) of Gedaliah* — although he suggests other modes of understanding it.
There is one other passage in which 1}? has, as here, been rendered = by, into the
power of, and because of, and where, as here, it is not easy to come to a decision.
Thi3 passage is in Isa. lxiv. 6, 13'piy. 1}? 133ianl . I must, however, say, that it
seems to me scarcely possible to take T? here = into [the] power of, and this is
? a strong argument against interpretation No. 2. Yet Ewald renders, "Und
unsinunsrer Siinden Hand hingabst."(! !) See note on T. by infra xvi. 11.
Ver. 5. ^N 7N 11127n . Here the Heb. and Eng. idioms agree, for we can say,
" seek for " a person ; still the verb nJ127 is (with the exception of infra xxiv. 5,
¦T^i ''nntpp), everywhere else joined with the ace. (as supra vii. 21) ;
and so is also nearly always ^p? , though it too occurs with the dat. (i.e., b),
e.g., infra x. 6. The verb E7ni is also sometimes followed by 'N or b in the
same sense as here, e.g., Isa. viii. 19. See note on the very similar expression
'N 7N 2771N supra v. 8. The Eng. expression to seek unto God used in A. V.
here, supra v. 8, Isa. viii. 19, &c, seems to be merely an imitation of the Hebrew.
lannn . For the Kawmets under the 2 see Index.
Ver. 6. Some (as Wolfssohn, Ges., Hirzel, &c.,) translate Tby. T'y} He will
watch over thee, and the words may perhaps have this meaning, although I believe
no passage can be quoted in support of it. Indeed, ^y l^yn in every other pass.
in which it occurs, and it occurs several times (e.g., Isa. xiii. 17, Jer. 1. 9, li. 1,
Ezek. xxiii. 22), means to excite, stir up, against. Comp. our wake and
watch, which are from the same root ; and so the Fr. veiller = to watch,
whilst s'eveiller or se reveiller - to awake ; and so again in Germ, wachen = to
watch, erwachen, to awake, by would then have its ordinary meaning of upon,
over, as after lp27 to watch, e.g., infra xxi. 32 ; Jer. xxxi. 28. Dr. Bernard's
rendering seems to me, however, much more poet. We might also take nsy} =
it£7S3 l^y} or niiyn} (comp. infra xvii. 8) will bestir Himself (for thee, on
Thy behalf), and so Ben-Zev seems to take it. And, indeed, when we
translate, He will awake for thee, we do not understand awake = merely to. open
one's eyes, for this would not necessarily convey the idea of any assistance being
rendered, but rather to wake up, to arouse, bestir oneself. Comp. Ps. vii. 7,
vN niiy , for the various interpretations of which see Rosenmuller in locum.
* i.e., Gedaliah was the cause that Ishmael smote them.

634 APPENDIX. CHAP. VIII. 6.
obttT" . Comp. Tip supra vii. 4 ; !?y infra xxi. 10. This shortening of
Tsayreh into Pathach is by no means infreq. in the Pi-al. Comp. Ges. Lehrgeb.
p. 314, who says it takes place esp. before Makkiph (see vii. 4), and in the middle
of sentences, whilst at the end Tsayreh is found. Under gutturals and ! (see
xxx. 1 1, xxxix. 5, xxi. 10), he says it is the rule. The object no doubt is to lighten
the pronunciation, i.e., to enable the voice to pass on more quickly to the next word, ¦
and thus a closer connection is effected with the next word. Hence the use of the
Pathach (or Segol, see ver. 2) when Makkiph is used.* Of the same kind is the
shortening which takes place in the last syllable of words in stat. eonstr., as in 131
word of, from n31 . Nor in the case of verbs is it confined to the Pi-al. Comp.
VI? b?ri>l infra xviii. 13, "^y ]bn xvii. 2, and Index. Sometimes, the Pi-al
exchanges its Tsayreh for Segol, instead of Pathach, as in n?l (see note on
ibn infra xvii. 2), bbpn supra ver. 2, &c. It is possible, I think, that the Dag.
forte in the 2nd rad. may have some influence in determining this shortening .
of the end syll. of the Pi -41, as this Dag. must lessen the amount of accent which
can be bestowed on the last syll. We should distinguish between these cases and
those in which, as in Oii IpN^ supra iii. 3, there is a withdrawal of the accent.
And indeed those cases in which a Makkiph is used should also be kept apart ; so
that there are really three classes of verbs (and I might almost say words), in which
the long vowel that regularly would stand in the final compound syllable is
shortened — the 1st., when this syllable retains its accent ; t the 2nd and 3rd,
when this syllable loses its accent,t in the one instance, from the withdrawal of
the accent, and, in the other, from the use of a Makkiph. In all three classes,
however, the principle upon which the shortening depends is essentially the
same ; the vowel loses a portion of its accent (or accentuation), and in that
proportion, is more or less shortened.
Many transl. 0727] here and He will make peaceful, secure, give peace,
security to ; and Dr. Bern, could not have objected to this rend, as he has transl.
Di727 in the similar pass, supra v. 24, infra "xxi. 9, in peace. Why he here
transl. and will make prosperous, I do not exactly know ; perhaps, because, as
Job had lost all his possessions, peace and security were not of much value to*
him. Wolfssohn transl. wieder gliicklich machen, from tbe meaning of restoring,
repaying, which 0727 freq. has. It might, perhaps, be rend, to make whole
(Ben-Zev. vollkommen machen), restore to its former condition, and then nip
would = m? house, possessions, station, he.
* If a long vowel were allowed to remain in a compound syll. which had lost its accent,
this vowel could not possibly obtain its due quantity of voice, and would, therefore,
virtually be pron. short. Hence, as the points were intended to indicate the actual
pronunciation, in such a case a short vowel is substituted for it. This is the meaning of
the rule that a long vowel cannot be followed by a quiescent Sh'vah, unless this vowel
have tbe accent. See Mas. and Bern. Gr. Lett. 12, § 6, § 2 (rule 5), &c. ; and note on
V»p supra i. 20, p. 556.
t i.e., the principal accent, the accent, of the word, for of course every syllable is more
or less accentuated, if not accented.

APPENDIX. CHAP. VIII. 7 — 9. 635
Ver. 7. TTE7N-1 nVl] . Obs. a masc. verb followed by a fem. noun. See
note in Comm., on infra xx. 9 ; and Index. Gesenius would explain the anomaly
by taking the verb impersonally, and it shall be, namely, thy beginning. See his
Lehrgeb. p. 716. Comp. Eccles. vii. 8, npi miQN 3ia ; and also Lev. xiii. 19,
nja? j!N27 .... mm and in the last clause nsnp] (masc.) referring to
a fem. noun, which precedes.
n3?pa lit. smallness, or a little thing, a subst. for an adj. See Index.
i"l22>}. This would more regularly be n2.i?7ri, for miriN is everywhere else
fem. Perhaps the speaker was led to use the masc. from his having employed it
in the first hemistich with a fem. noun with the same termination m— . For
examples, when the verb follows the noun, see Gesenius, Lehrgeb. p. 716; and
Index. Ver. 8. bN27 is also followed by b 2 Kings viii. 6, n27'sb fjban bN2>}1 and
the king asked the woman. Else the person asked, seems commonly to be put in
the ace. (as Gen. xxxviii. 21, xl. 7, he.), excepting, indeed, when his health
forms the subject of inquiry, and then the dat. is invariably used, the expression
being Dlbttfb "Bb bN27 . See Gen. xliii. 27 ; 1 Sam. xvii. 22, xxx. 21 ; 2 Sam.
xi. 7; Exod. xviii. 7 ; Judg. xviii. 15. Comp. the Fr. demander a une personne,
to ask, inquire of, a person ; for demander une personne, means to ask for a person.
We say to ask a person, or to ask of, inquire of him. In the three very similar
passages, viz., Deut. iv. 32, T.?3b; Vil 127N D-2t»'Ni D^b N3 bstp i? For
ask now OF former days, which were before thee — infra xii. 7, mail? N3 7N27}
and Deut. xxxii. 7, T?N ^N27 — it will be observed that we have the b once
(in the first), and the ace. twice. See note on in27n supra ver. 5 .
Ii27v-|, K'ree, li^Nl . See note on ibya and VIS}, supra i. 20, 21.
1?1B appears to be similarly used in Isa. li. 13. For a similar intransitive use
of the Pi-dl, comp. Jer. ii. 22, "'DpBn ON ff thou washest [thyself], though
here the Eng. idiom agrees with the Heb.
Many supply Tfb after 12/13 , Comp. infra xi. 13, TPb rria'grj . The
meaning would then be direct, set, thine heart. So Ben-Bev, s. v. np.n , richte
deinen Sinn.
DniBN npn . Some take this passively, and understand the searching of their
fathers = what their fathers have searched out, their investigations, or the results
of their investigations. So Wolfssohn, " was deren Aeltern erforscht haben,"
Ben-Zev, " die Erforschung eurer (sic) Vater," Erforschung being afterwards
explained by him in Rabbinic as = what they have thought out, elaborated,
found out by their wisdom. If we give the word this meaning, we must take
1?lB in the second of the two meanings given above, take to heart, = mark,
consider, ponder over. Comp. infra xi. 7, where nil] Ipn means Jehovah's
searching out, npn being (according to us) taken actively.
Ver. 9. bian = biana of yesterday, or at least the Eng. idiom demands
the preposition. The Targum has 'banNa . Comp. Isa. xxx. 33, bianNa -.

636 APPENDIX. CHAP. VIII. 9  12.
But I prefer to take 7ian = biail?, just as In the second hem. bp = 'P?, than
which, however, it is of course much more forcible. The sense would then be,
" For we (i.e., our days, our lives) are as yesterday," i.e., they are so short that
they may be considered as already gone. Comp. Ps. xc. 4, where a thousand
years are said to be in God's eyes n3y} **2 bianN OV? as yester —day, as it
passeth. Comp. also Ps. cxliv. 4, where man is said to be like a breath, and his
days nply Pp? Uke a passing shadow. Here too man = the life of man.
Some take Plan = an adj. hesterni, and this is possible, for a subst. freq. replaces
an adj. in the pred. See Index.
yp. & '] lit., and (or, so that) we know not, but = so that we know nothing,
are ignorant, rib is sometimes joined very closely to the verb that follows it, so
as to form with it a kind of compound verb, directly opposed in meaning to the
simple verb. Comp. ayvoiw, a. /vom and ignoro, ignorantia. So supra, v. 24,
NOOil ri7] lit., and thou shalt not miss = and thou shalt miss nothing, only
here we have no one verb = miss nothing. See also Index.
Ver. 11. n23 ri72. Hirzel, quoting Ewald, connects rib with n-pp, and
translates, im Nicht — Sumpfe, d. h. ausserhalb des Sumpfes, im Trocknen ; but why
should we connect ri7 to ns? rather than with rib , with which it forms one word ?
N7 = not, 3 = with, N7? = with not, i.e., just the opposite of with = without. [But
see note on rib? infra xv. 32]. We may sometimes well supply the inf. eonstr.
of mn (nVT]) after rib? (comp. Numb. xxxv. 23, nisi, rib? without seeing),
that it would equal on [there] not being, when there is not ; and so it might be
rendered here. Sometimes we find ? N7 , lit., not with, but used in much the
same sense. See note on infra xxxiv. 35, n37ip N7 ; and on supra iv. 21.
N227} = n^27} (as ver. 7) which some copies have. Comp. infra xii. 23, (N^tpa) ;
xxxvi. 24 (N^tpn) ; and ^227 infra xxxvi. 26, xxxvii. 23. N?^7} occurs in
Dan. iii. 31, vi. 26 ; Ezra iv. 22, and ^227, twelve times in Dan. ; so that these
forms in Job are Chald.
Vp is freq. used alone = without, as infra xxiv. 10, xxxi. 39, xxxiii. 9,
xxxiv. 6; but, as it strictly =7?* or ri7. "b?? (like rib?) would be more
correct, and this is indeed also found, e.g., xxxv. 16, xxxvi. 12, &c. See note
on supra vi. 6.
Ver. 12. -131.9 . It will be observed that this apparently only refers to one of
the two nouns NB2 and IHN just spoken of — still I believe it really refers to
both. There are a great many similar pass, in this book. See note on "fOpil
and Hri. supra iv. 14, 19 ; and Index, j
* Ges. and others refer it to the root fita to grow old, wear away, and so take it to be
the same word, as '^a consumption, Isa. xxxviii. 17, and so give as its primary meaning,
failure, defect, nothing, whilst Kimchi, Buxtorf, and Ben-Zev say it is b\ with paragogic '.
f The two nouns in these cases are nearly always, I think, very similar in meaning ;
hence they scarcely represent more than one distinct idea in the mind, and so the sing, is
used in referring to them. Even in Eng. there is some tendency to use the sing, in such cases.
Thus, I find in a very well-written little work intended for children, " and the noise and
clatter he made was almost deafening." Noise and clatter here only represent ONE distinct
idea, and so the sing. — accidentally I presume — was used. Cf. esp. Ch. 23, vers. 12 and 13.

APPENDIX. CHAP. VIII. 12  14. 637
13N2 In its greenness. The word 3N occurs no where else in the sing, but is
found in the plur. eonstr. "'SN in Cant. vi. 11, where it is translated fruits in the
Eng. Ver. In Chald. we find N2N and N23N , (comp. Dan. iv. 9, 11, 18,) in
the sense oi fruit, produce, and the verb 22N to produce fruit.
^Pll} Nb . In accordance with Ralbag's comment given in the Commentary it
would be better, perhaps, to translate this, [so that] it should not, ought not to, be
cut off, i.e., so that one does not at all look forward to its being cut off (i.e., dying
suddenly — the verb cut being used fig.). In the translation the meaning is taken
to be without its being cut down, i.e., it does not dry up, because it is injured or
cut down (the verb cut being used lit.). Wolfssohn takes it to mean "noch
zum Schneiden nicht reif," and Ewald, Umbreit and Hirzel, have adopted the
same view. I make this note, because the translation given in the Commentary
does not altogether agree with Ralbag's remarks, although it apparently was
intended that it should. These inconsistencies would, no doubt, have been
removed, if Dr. Bernard had lived to see the work through the press ; as it is, I
can only point them out in my notes, though I certainly am to blame for not
having perceived the inconsistency at the time I was assisting Dr. Bernard in
writing the Commentary.
Ver. 13. nipn may be taken here either in the sense of hope (the feeling), or
hope = the object of hope, that on which one builds his hopes, his plans, or better,
schemes, pldts, as here the word refers to the wicked man. If taken in the latter
sense nipn will form, I think, a better parallelism with nimiN in the first hem.
Comp. the next verse where Inapa his trust, is taken by Dr. Bernard = that on
which he trusts. Comp. also infra xvii. 1 1. " "'niat niy plans have been
broken off, the treasures of my heart."
The correspondence between this verse and the preceding one would have been
more complete, if the wicked man himself, instead of his ways and his hopes, had
been compared with the rush and the flag. Still the ways of these plants have
been described, though the word is not mentioned, and it is with their ways and
prospects, and not with themselves, that we must suppose the ways and hopes of
the wicked to be compared.
*l?.n . I think this word would here and in many other places be better rendered
impure, polluted, defiled, =profane or impious, than, as it invariably is in the
Auth. Ver., hypocrite, because hypocrite, as at present used, does not imply any
great degree of guilt, and is at least as much employed with reference to the
dealings of man with his fellow-men, as with reference to his behaviour towards
God, whereas profane or impious refers exclusively to a man's dealings with God.
In Jer. xxiii. 1 1, 1B3n is translated in the Auth. Ver. are profane, and not
hypocritical (though here to be hypocritical = to prophecy deceitfully, falsely,
would make good sense). Comp. also Ps. cvi. 38, VlNil !}3nni A. V. And
the land was polluted with blood (mit Blutschuld befleckt, Mend.).
Ver. 14. The verb Dip is found no where else in the sense of cutting off, and
even here it is taken by some of the older Commentators in its usual sense of
loathing. Indeed, if I am not mistaken, Dr. Bernard himself formerly translated
it, one must despise. Gesenius, if he had known Eng., would certainly have

638 APPENDIX. CHAP. VIII. 14 — 16.
comp. our verb to cut, which is very similar in appearance. The more reg. form
of the fut., would be Oip} ; Comp. OlpN (Ps. xcv. 10). Still the fut. is
sometimes in 1 , as 327} which occurs freq. (e.g., Numb. xxv. 4 ; Deut. xx. 4,
&c), and 32*1-1 infra x. 16, from 2127 . Comp. Pi2 , 27i3} . I do not see why
the verb need be taken actively.
ibp? might (like inDpB) be taken here in the neut. sense of that in which
he confides, upon which he places his hopes, his prop, stay, support, and then
Oip} would be rendered intransitively, whose stay shall be cut off. So the
hemistich has been understood by Wolfssohn, who translates Seine Stiitze wird
ihm durchschnitten. So also Umbreit, Worauf er baut, wird ihm zerlrummert.
See note on mpn ver. 13.
Ver. 15. 1?^"} lit., he is stayed = he stays himself; Niph. = Hithp. See note
on supra i. 15, and Index. For the converse, Hithp. = Niph. see note in Comm.
on 1N?l} supra v. 4. Wolfssohn ingeniously refers imp to the ET?3y n11? of the
preceding verse, and translates, " An diesem Gewebe lehnt er sich," he leans
upon this web of his. As usually translated, house is of course equivalent to
wealth, possessions, power, &c.
01ps . See note in Comm. on this word infra xix. 25.
Ver. 16. Another passage may, I think, be quoted here in defence of Dr.
Bernard's* very beautiful way of understanding this Chapter, viz.", Ps. vii. 12
(A. V.,1 1, &c.)t This is translated in the Auth. Ver. " God judgeth the righteous
and God is angry with the wicked every day," the italics shewing that the words with
the wicked have been supplied by the translators and do not exist in the original.
The next verse is, " If he turn not, He (God) will whet His sword, &c.'' Now,
strictly speaking, the he\ in If he turn could refer only to the righteous man,
* I see that the vers. 16 — 19, are taken to apply to the just man, in the Bishop's Bible
published in 1599, and Rosenmuller also mentions this view, but only to call it far-fetched
and to condemn it. The marginal comment in the Bible just mentioned runs as follows:
" He compareth the just to a tree which, although it be remooued out of one place unto
another, yet florisheth : so the affliction of the godly turneth to their profite." Still,
there are several differences of translation.
f Mendelssohn, indeed, following Kimchi, translates
" Gott richtet den Gerechten,
Und den, der taglich frevelt,"
but I do not think his translation of the second hem. is defensible, for it is extremely
harsh (to use a mild term) to translate DSi by one exasperating God, if it were ^> D»i .
X It must be remembered too that in this pass, from the Ps. (ver. 13, Heb.) and in some
of the others which I quote, there is simply a verb in the third pers. sing, fut., so that, as the
personal pronoun is only contained in the verb and does not appear in a separate form, no
emphasis whatever can be laid upon it. The ambiguity, therefore, is much greater than
here, where we have tbe pers. pron. Nin he, or that man (comp. 2 Chron. xxviii. 22, and
infra xiii. 28), upon which great emphasis coidd be laid by the voice, emphasis, no doubt
sufficient, if taken in conjunction with what follows, to express to tbe bystanders, who as
Hebrews, and in consequence of the less cultivated state of their language, were
accustomed to rely as much at least upon the tone and gestures of the speaker, as upon

APPENDIX. CHAP. VIII. 16. 639
because he alone is actually mentioned, still, the translators, finding that the fate
assigned to him could not be that sent by God upon the righteous, took upon
themselves (and very rightly) to insert the words the wicked. If, however, the
ver. be translated : God is a righteous Judge,*
And an angry God continually.
the meaning being, that He is just in the judgments which He dispenses in His
anger,t that He is at the same time just, and yet angry— & translation which I prefer
(as the construction of the two hem. then more exactly corresponds), then, as
neither the righteous nor wicked are actually mentioned, we must go farther back
to see which was last spoken of, and we find in ver. 9, " Oh, let the wickedness
of the wicked come to an end ; but establish the just ;" so that in this case, too,
according to all grammatical rules, the If he turn not, in ver. 12 (A. V.,13) ought
to refer to the just, but still (in consequence of the use of the words an angry
God), is referred by the common sense oi the reader to the wicked.
For another well-marked instance of a similar ambiguity, see 1 Kings xx. 34,
where, as will be seen by the italics used in the Auth. Ver., the reader can only
judge by the context when Ben-hadad and when Ahab speaks, seeing that neither
of their names are mentioned in the Hebrew.
Comp. also infra xx. 23, where God is evidently the subject to n727} , although
He has not been mentioned since ver. 15 of the same chapter, and therefore,
strictly speaking, the wicked man should be the subject, as he is of all the
intervening verses, and even of the first hemistich of ver. 23. Comp. also
ver. 28 of the same chapter, where im? refers to the wicked-man, and iBN to
God. Comp. again infra xii. 3, where n yN refers to what has been said in the
preceding chapter. So again infra xxiii. 14, n3n3=Z8'£e these things, where
Job's hearers are left to infer that he refers to his afflictions ; just as in vi. 7,
nan has puzzled most commentators, because it is not clear to what it refers.
the actual words he uses — whom the pron. was intended to designate. It would have been
possible to say 257. (see infra xxiv. 8.) instead of Nin afeT . Bildad and his friends were
constantly comparing the fate of the wicked, and the fate of the just ; they were continually
exalting the just and abasing the wicked, and, therefore, by them the just man, their favourite,
might well be triumphantly pointed to as Kin , he, a pron. which is freq. (in the Psalms and
elsewhere, see Gesenius s.v.), used emphatically of God, who is HE par excellence. For Job,
on the contrary, who laid bis emphasis rather upon tbe prosperity of the wicked, Nin would
mean the wicked man, and wn be accordingly calls him infra, xxi. 31, 32, though there
there can from the context be no ambiguity.
* Comp. Jer. xi. 20, where we have pi? rain ninas nin; Jehovah [God] of hosts judging
righteously; and where the context is very similar. Comp. also Ps. ix. 5, " Thou satest on
the throne 7J$ icffwS judging righteously ; " and Ps. cxix. 75, &c.
t This rendering might, however, be understood as that of the A. V. is understood. It
need not surprise us to find csi bt-t erf*?, for in Exod. xx. 5, Deut. v. 9, we have
Mj> ^ ?pf;K nin; >pa» '3, and Deut. iv. 31, frfta nin; Dim bn 'a. Comp. also Jer. li. 56,
Nah. i. 2, Ps. xcv. 3.

640 APPENDIX. CHAPS. VIII. 16, 17.
The great, difficulty is, of course, the fact, that tbe wicked man only has been
mentioned, whilst the righteous man has nowhere been named, in this chapter,
whilst in all the examples given both by Dr. Bernard and myself there has been
a previous mention of both. This is a very great difficulty,* and therefore I am
obliged to look with doubt upon Dr. Bernard's rendering, although it converts an
otherwise disjointed, unequally written, and more or less contradictory chapter
into a connected, very harmonious, and grandly written whole.
The sense usually given to vers. 16 — 18 is about as follows : He (the wicked-
man) may indeed be fresh and full of sap in spite of the sun — his roots may
entwine themselves fast round the stones, &c, but when he is destroyed — his very
place denies him. Then verse 19 is understood ironically, Such is his happy
lot, &c. But, in order to obtain this sense, the meaning of several Heb. words
has to be perverted. I must allow, however, that it is more natural to us non-
Hebrews to refer Nin to the wicked-man.
It will be observed that the righteous-man is not here said to be like a tree, he
is actually made a tree of. Much additional force is thus obtained. The same is
the case infra xv. 33. See note in Comm. on 72 supra ver. 9.
1il23 kis garden, i.e., the garden in which he stands. Comp. note on ^20?
supra iii. 10.
Ver. 17. 0*33N m? . Against Dr. Bernard's interpretation, a house of stones
= a stone house, nothing can be said, if it be allowed that O^TTNIl m? , in
1 Chron. xvii. 1, means a house of cedars = a house built of cedar-wood ; whereas
against such interpretations as " Haufen Steine" (Umbreit) ; " Steine" (Ewald) ;
"fundum petrosum" (Rosenmuller); "locus lapidosus " (Ges. Thes.); there is
everything to be said. Comp. also 1 Kings vi. 36 ; vii. 2, 12 ; Cant. i. 17, &c,
where O'TTN cedars, is used where we should use cedar. Similarly, 0'127i"'? lit.,
firs, is found where we should usey?r, or firwood. Comp. 1 Kings v. 22, vi. 15,
34 ; Cant. i. 17, &c. But we also find O'ppN stones, where we should use stone;
e.g., Deut. x. 1, O^SaS nn-17 , in A. V., tables of stone, and the same words
occur in other places, e.g., Exod. xxxiv. 1, 4 ; Deut. iv. 13, v. 19 (A. V. 22),
* But after all is this really such a great difficulty? Upon further consideration, I
think not. This is a difficulty which has been created by the introduction of chapters ;
for, though the righteous man has not been mentioned in the present chapter, yet he has
been already contrasted with the wicked (supra iv. 7 — 11), and, surely, this interval of four
chapters, if we remember that they are supposed to be spoken one after another con
tinuously, and that two of them belong to Job, is not so very much longer than the
few verses which intervene in the Psalm I have quoted above, a Psalm that was
probably only written and not recited. Comp. infra xxiii. 3, where the affix in- Him, in
mstsnai refers to God, although He has not been mentioned in the chapter, and the last
mention of Him was made by one of the friends (xxii. 27), and not by Job, who
speaks in chap, xxiii. Comp. also infra xxv. 2, when ios is universally allowed to refer to
God, although He has not been mentioned since ver. 12 of the preceding chapter, which
was spoken by a different speaker. And so again in xxvi. 6, ira, and in xxx. 11, 19,
nns, ':tt refer to God, though He has not been mentioned by name since xxv. 4, and
xxix. 5 respectively.

APPENDIX. CHAP. VIII. 17  19. 641
&c, though in two pass, we find IpN nin? or 1?Nil (Exod. xxiv. 12,
xxxi. 18). We find also (Exod. xx. 25 ; Deut. xxvii. 5), O'pBN. npia an altar
of stones, the plur. being palpably used, because it was intended to express rather
that the altar was built of a number of stones, than that it was built of the material
called stone, and here we see the real difference between the plur. and the sing, in
these cases. V5. wood, when it stands alone, is, I believe, in such cases almost
always (comp. Lev. xi. 32, xv. 12 ; Deut. x. 1 ; Isa. xliv. 19 ; Neh. viii. 4, &c),
if not always, used in the sing., though, when it forms a comp. word, it is some
times used in the plur., when we should say wood. Comp. Opb ^V. shittim-wood,
Exod. xxv. 5, 10, 13; Deut. x. 3, DniN ipy, and D^il? iSP. 1 Kings v.
22, he.
njD?. . Can this verb have the meaning overlooks, or overtops ? There cer
tainly is no instance that I know of, in which nin has this sense, but to nsi
is generally conceded the meaning of looking down upon, despising, and if so,
why may not mn here have the same meaning, which would make excellent
sense ? Comp. Cant. i. 6, where ^Nin 7N ;s commonly rendered look not upon
me (with the eye of contempt), despise me not. Again, infra xl. 11, 12, nN! is
translated by many Commentators (though not by us) look down upon, and the
same may be said of nN"}} infra xli. 26. At any rate, it is much more natural -
thus to take n<n , than to squeeze out of its meaning of to see such interpreta
tions, as are given of it by most Comm., such as, " Am Gemiiuer rankt er hin "
(Umbreit) ; " Steine trennt er von einauder " (Ewald), &c.
Ver. 18. i2 27113] . This verb is freq. followed by 3 . Comp. Lev. v. 21, 22 ;
Josh. xxiv. 27 ; Isa. Iix. 13 ; Jer. v. 12, &c. Infra xxxi. 28 we find it followed
by ' ¦ "ins (supra vi. 10), which has much the same meaning, takes an ace
Obs. the Segol under the second rad., and comp. note on 0727 ver. 6, though
here there is a withdrawal of the accent for the sake of euphony, as in Lev. v.
22, and supra iii. 3, 12 iblN . See Mas. and Bern. Gr., Lett. 58, § 18.
Ver. 19. i3"ll 27i27Z? lit, [the] joy of his way. This Dr. Bernard takes to = his
joyful way, as though it were 127127a TJ1.1 , and he has the support of Homberg.
This inversion is adopted by some Comm. who apply this verse to the wicked-man,
though they do not seem to have noticed the inversion. Thus Wolfssohn rend.,
" Dies war nun sein frohes Loos ;" Umbreit, " Solches ist sein froh Geschick," &c,
TH way, being taken ¦= course, career, lot, much as nlniN in ver. 13. Comp.
n,5? V?!!? 27yni (Prov. xxxi. 13) lit., and she wrought with [the] willingness
of her hands, i.e., with her willing hands, the governing noun being, as here, rend.
by an adj. This example is taken from Mas. and Bernard Gr., Lett. 47, § 1 (vi.),
which see. Still, Dr. Bernard's rend, does present some difficulty.
inN nssa . These words occur together also in Lev. xiv. 42, " And be shall
take " nnN 1B37 other dust, earth, or mortar, as it is commonly rendered.
The plur. map} may, I think, be explained in a more simple way than
by referring it, as Dr. Bernard does, to VttJltt? in ver. 17. Bildad has
hitherto been speaking of one good man as the type of his class, but now he
changes the number and speaks of the whole class, map} may, therefore, well
T T

642 APPENDIX. CHAP. VIII. 19.
be rendered he would spring up, as they would be unintelligible in Eng. Comp.
also infra xxxvi. 7, P^P and Dp/trf*] ; ibid. ver. 15, "¦?? and D3]N ; xxxix. 20,
21, i-in? with mpn} and KPt?}, &c. So also Ps. xiv. 1, b23 7DN followed
by imntpn . Why Dr. Bernard did not explain map} here in this way I
cannot conceive, for he continually notices in the Comm. the Heb. idiom which I
have just been illustrating, and even transl. the word, he will grow up.
As for the construction now comm. adopted, viz., inaS} inN others will spring
up* although I allow it to be perhaps just possible, it is a construction
that one would feel disposed to adopt only as the very last resource. If
the view which I propose is correct, Rosenmiiller's quotation nD2 "O 1272
(supra vi. 20) is very appropriate, though he makes an improper use of it ; it
is really the converse of the present case, for there the whole class is spoken of
first, and then one individual selected out. In Deut., chap. 7, the persons are more
than once very curiously interchanged. Thus, ver. 3 we have, "Neither shalt thou
(Israel) make marriages 03 with them ; thy daughter thou shalt not give 133 .'i
unto his son " (instead of thy (or your) daughters and their sons). Then in
tbe next verse we have n^D} "p "For he (i.e., his son, instead of they) will
turn away thy son from following me, l^py] and they (i.e., thy sons) will
serve other gods ; so will the anger of the Lord be kindled Op? against you,
*l"pa2?Jl] and He will destroy thee suddenly." Here the may] seems exactly
to correspond to map} , for we cannot suppose that his son and thy son form the
subject to ''"'P.y/] , + inasmuch as his son already did serve other gods. Comp.
also ver. 10 of the same chapter, " And repayeth them that hate Him, 1^3B 7N
lit to 'Bis face," i.e., not to God's face, but to the face of every one that hateth
Him. That God's face is not meant is seen from the second half of the verse,
which is in the singular, " He (God) will repay him to his face," and, therefore,
* Any one who will give himself the trouble to examine tbe examples given below
of changes of person from sing, to plur. and plur. to sing., and the other examples which
occur in this book, and of which a list is given in the Index, will speedily convince
himself that the const, mmr in« cannot by any possibility be referred to the same
category, as in none of them is a sing. subj. coupled in the same clause with a plural verb,
although a plur. verb freq. refers to a sing. subj. which is in another clause. And, as for
those who say that in» is taken collectively, let them give me an example in which an adj.
used collect, in the sing, is immediately followed in the same clause by the verb of which it
is the subject in the plural ; and let them also shew me a pass, in which "ins , which has
a plur., is used collectively. All the Comm., excepting Rosenmuller, glide over the
difficulty, and he only shews his incompetency to deal with it.
t The singular is evidently here used because God had been addressing Israel in the
singular. X The Septuagint, Vulgate, and Luther all translate as I do. The Sept. rend.,
'A7ro(rrijo-« yap tov vlov uov cm' ifn-ov Kal Xarpevcrec Oeols (repots, &c ; the Vulg., " Quia
seducet filium tuum ne sequatur me et ut magis serviat diis alienis; " and Luther, "Denn
sie werden eure Sbhne mir ablallig machen, dass sie (i.e., your sons) andern Gottern
dienen ; " all of them correcting the irregularity of the text, with the view of making the
meaning clearer. The Auth. Ver., however, I am sorry to say, translates literally, and so
confusion is produced.

APPENDIX. CHAP. VIII. 19  22. 643
the translators of the Auth. Ver. have well translated the first V23 bN to theik face.
Indeed, throughout the greater part of Deuteronomy, from chap. v. to chap. xxxi.
inclusively, Moses, in addressing the children of Israel, constantly shifts from the
plur. to the sing, and from the sing, to the plur., at one time calling them you,
at another thou and thee, and this change of persons frequently occurs within the
limits of one verse. Nay, sometimes, as in chap. vi. 3, such a change is made
twice in one verse. Comp. also infra xxii. 2, where there is a much more extra
ordinary change of person, viz., b*?27a ia"by. IBp} ''p Surely to themselves does
a wise-man profit, where the speaker uses the sing, wise-man as the representative
of a class ( = the Fr. I'homme sage), and, therefore, having a plural in his mind,
couples it with a plural pronoun. Comp. also infra xx. 23, where in the first
and second hemistiches tbe wicked man is spoken of in the sing., whilst in the
third God is said to rain lam?? ia'by lit., upon them (wicked-MEN) [while]
at his (the wicked-MAN's) meal — first the plur., and then the sing, being used.
So also infra xv. 29, 07}a their achievement^], although in the pre
ceding verses and in the first part of that verse, the whole class of wicked men
had been represented by one wicked-man as their type. Comp. also infra
xiv. 12, where we have 2327 in the first hemistich, and I^P} and my} in the
second and third, all referring to the sing. 27SN .
If Rosenmiiller was determined to make nnN the nom. to -map} he might
have found a better example of a sing. nom. preceding a plur. verb., in the very
book he was commenting upon, than any he has been at the pains to seek
elsewhere. Comp. infra xix. 19, ""P -lBBn3 \n?nN nt] , where everybody
allows that nt is the nom. to -1BB7T3. . Still, map] inN = map} onnN: will
ever remain very objectionable.
This verse reminds us of infra xiv. 7 — 9, where it is said that there is hope
for a tree, if it is cut down, that it may again spring up, &c.
An instance in which a good man was, as it were, violently uprooted from his
place, so that it knew him no more, and transplanted to another soil, where he
grew and prospered, so that his forced journey must have been a joy to him, is
afforded us by the history of Joseph.
Ver. 20. D^ypa (root yyn) evil-doers; D^yia (root nyi , 0r yyi = nyi,
Judg. xiv. 11), companions, friends.
nba] for Nba} . So np? (infra xxvi. 9 ; 1 Kings x. 19) for Np? . We
may comp. also "W? (Ps. xxxii. 1), as if from n273 ; N2ia (Eccles. vii. 26)
with the 2 pointed as if from n2B . np? (Ps. iv. 7)— for N273 (Ps. x. 12), or
the more reg. N27 — i8 still more irreg. ; for, not only does n stand for N , but
also D for 27.
Ver. 22. ISP/N . See note on same word, supra vii. 21.

T 2

644 APPENDIX. CHAP. IX. 1  3.

CHAPTER IX.
Ver. 1. 03aN Of a truth, indeed, must be taken either ironically, or else (and
perhaps better) despondingly, despairingly. Job says, I know that all you say is
very true — God may indeed reward him whom He regards as innocent ; but the
great difficulty in my case is to prove my innocence, because God is at the same time
my adversary, and my judge (cf. ver. 15, with supra viii. 5), so that, if He acquits
me, He condemns Himself. You celebrate too His mighty power, but this I
already recognise, and complain of, for it terrifies me and would prevent my
finding words to answer Him, even if I could come into His presence ; besides
which with the mighty, might is often right, and so it seems to be with Him, for
He overwhelms me with calamity, and will not suffer me to defend myself.
Ver. 3. It is not very easy to determine here whether man or God, is the
subject to the verbs YBCP and -IS.??} . Most Comm. however, agree with Dr.
Bernard in taking man to be the subj. of V^n} , but nearly all disagree with
him with regard to 12?.?1, which they apply to man. If we refer V^n} to man,
we should understand V^n} ON I think = even though he desire, long (comp. infra
xiii. 3), i.e., if we take the second verb to refer to God. But V^n} might also
well be referred to God, and then the sense would be, "If He be willed to
contend with him (man)," i.e., if He chooses to contend with man (i.e., to give
man cause for complaining of Him, to afflict him),' still He refuses to answer
any questions man may put to Him, as to why He has chosen to afflict him.
God would thus be accused of capriciousness and injustice, as He undoubtedly is
in this chapter vers. 15 — 26. The verb Y"Bn is freq. used of the will of God,
as e.g., Ps. cxv. 3, cxxxv. 6 ; Judg. xiii. 23 ; 1 Sam. ii. 25.
I certainly think Dr. Bernard is right in referring 13237} to God, as Job's
object in this chapter is I conceive, less to show the impotency of man, than to
display the capricious and unjust use God makes of His Omnipotence. An
argument, however, in favour of man's being the subj. to 1239} is that, when God
does appear to contend with Job, Job is totally unable to find a single answer to
the numerous questions put to him by God (see infra vers. 34, 35).
ni!N fom. = neut. See note on np supra vi. 29 ; and Index.
*r?N . This is prob. to be taken neut. (like nnN) = a thousand things ; for we
can scarcely supply things, from thing implied in nnN, as, in Ps. lxxxiv. 11,
*lbNa . . . . Di"1 3ia better [is] a (or, as we should say, one) day  than a
thousand [days] — we supply Di"1 after H/N . ffbN , however, being unchangeable,
cannot shew by its form when it is to be taken neut., and this must be decided
by the context. In the case of those numerals, however, which have two genders,
both the masc. and fem. are found used neut. Thus, in Prov. xxx., we find in
ver. 15, nan 27ib27 and y?nN, and in ver. 21, the fem. 27ibt27 and 3?2*]N are

APPENDIX. CHAP. IX. 3 — 5. 645
again used = three and four things; but in ver. 18, we have the masc. n27727.
nai and n^2"]N, and in vers. 24, 29, the masc. is again used. Comp. also
Prov. vi. 16, where we bave nan"2727 and y22> (fem.), and Eccles. xi. 2,
(137227 and n3ia27 » (masc). It is, however, I think doubtful whether inN and
B}?tp are ever found = one thing, two things ; at any rate, nilN and 0\Flt?7 are
very much more freq. found in this sense. Comp. infra ver. 22, xiii. 20, xl. 5 ;
Ps. xxvii. 4 ; also infra xxxiii. 14, and see note on inN? , infra xxiii. 13.
In the case of pronouns, both masc. and fem. are used neut, but more comm.
I think, the fem. In the case of adject, the masc. is very rarely so used ; whilst
in verbs, the masc. is more comm. used neut. (impers.) than the fem. See Index.
For the use of 10 here we may comp. infra xxxiii. 23, *1^N "'Sa 1PIN , and
Eccles. vii. 28, *lbNa 1I1N DIN . We commonly say one of (or in, among) a
thousand, the Heb. one fkom, or out of, a thousand. The Fr. say un suk

Ver. 4. n27pn . In addition to the passage quoted by Dr. Bernard, we find
also in Gen. xlii. 7, H127p OnN 121]1 and he spake hard-things with them, i.e.,
roughly, harshly, to them, aud nearly the same words occur in ver. 30 of the
same chapter, and comp. also 1 Sam. xx. 10, 1 Kings xii. 13, 2 Chron. x. 13, &c. ;
still I think it would be more simple to supply here with most Commentators,
¦P? or IBny. his neck, as HP.^ is very frequently found conjoined with n27pn ,
or else 27 0r 12b his heart, though this is of less common occurrence.-! The
sense would be the same, for the man who could use harsh words to God must
of necessity first have stiffened his neck, or hardened his heart. Dr. Bernard
supplied I"1")?? no doubt on account of the verb -1339} in the preceding verse,
which shewed that tbe supposed contest would be one of words. From my
manuscript notes, Dr. Bernard seems formerly to have supplied 27 .
Bbt?7?1 ; in pause, for 0b27}1 . The verb O ,-27 , like most intrans. verbs,
makes its fut. Kal. in Pathach. Comp. 1 Kings vii. 51, 2 Chron. v. 1, Neh.
vi. 15 ; and infra xxii. 21, where we have the imp. D72M .
Ver. 5. 13?!}. "The verb 37T like tbe Lat. noscere (novi) is very commonly
employed in the past to express a present sense. Comp. note on n3Na supra
vi. 7.
The words *>V~£ Nbl seem to be entirely parenthetical, so that by omitting
them we see the proper construction of the verse, which Dr. Bernard is, I think,
the first to point out. The verse would then run, "Who removeth [the]
mountains which He hath overturned in His wrath."
* Taken neut. by Mendels. = seven, yea eight, parts.
t In the older books, however, a^ mapn is, rather more com. than f[p '»pn , which is
chiefly found in the later books, such as 2 Kings, Jer., Neh., Chron., though it does occur
once in Deut. (x. 16), and once in Prov. (xxix. 1). ^ nfflpn seems to occur only three
times, once in Exod. (vii. 3) ; once in Ps. (xcv. 8— a late Ps. ace. to Ewald) ; and once in
Prov. (xxviii. 14). f|-j> rwp., however, occurs six times, and only in Exod. and Deut,
whilst a^ rrajji is only found once, and that in Ezek. (iii. 7). In no case do these expressions
seem to be foil, by a prep.

646 APPENDIX. CHAP. IX. 5 — 8.
Others, as Ewald, connect iyT with n2}N , and translate " and they know not
that He has overturned them in His anger," which is a little tame ; besides which,
I apprehend that that, after 37T to know, is much more commonly rendered by
"P than by nt£7'N;, which comparatively, rarely means that ; and indeed in this very
chap, we have this verb twice followed by '¦¦? , viz., ver. 2, 1? "p ,,nyi}, and
ver. 28, "3p3n Nb •»? "»nyi} . Comp. also infra x. 13, xiii. 18, xlii. 2 ; Gen.
xii. 11, xv. 8, xxii. 12 ; Exod. iv. 14, ix. 29 ; Deut. xxxi. 29 ; Josh. ii. 9 ;
Judg. xvii. 13, &c. Let Ewald bring forward examples in which W is followed
by n27N. = that. Others again transl. the ntp'N. when.
It is, however, a question whether the transl. adopted in the A. V. (and
supported by Homberg, Umbreit, &c), viz., "Which overturneth them in His
anger," is not admissible. Against it is the use of the past OBBn (though this
objection is but slight) ; against it is also, I think, that, if nt?7N: with a tense
occurs in this way corresponding to a part, with a def. art. like P,nyan , or to
a nude part, like np3 , infra ver. 8, such a use of it is very rare. Comp.,
however, infra vers. 15, 17, where it begins a verse as a nominative according
to our trans. In favour of this rendering (as comp. with Ewald's, &c.) is
the fact, that several times in this book we find N7] coupled with the verb V~P ,
and that in all of them the expression stands alone, though sometimes an accus.
may be supplied after it. Comp. supra viii. 9, infra xiv. 21, xv. 9, xxxvi. 26, in
the last of which pass, it corresponds to npn ^7] , a phrase also complete in
itself. Comp. also Index, s. v. Idiomatic phrases, where other similar complete
and pithy expressions may be found. But this fact is equally in favour of Dr.
Bernard's rendering, which is certainly more Hebrew.
Ver. 6. ll^bpn} tremble, are shaken. The verb V*73 only occurs here, but
we find the derivative niS27B trembling, infra xxi. 6, and in other places. In
Tregelles' Gesenius there is the curious misprint of trample for tremble
(contremuit, Thes.). For the Kawmets under the b , and the par. 3 , see Index.
Ver. 7. Dhll}  nONil . For the change of eonstr., comp. infra
xii. 19 — 21, and see note on supra iii. 22, and Index. "Who commandeth the
sun, and he shineth not," seems better to me than, "who commandeth the
sun, that he shine not," as it is translated in the Commentary, because the former
rendering gives both the order and its result, whilst the latter only expresses the
order. Now any one could give the order, but God only could prevent the sun
from shining. In the Transl. I was allowed to render the pass, in the way
which I prefer.
"1??. See note on if?.? n?27 supra i. 10.
Ver. 8. np3 spreading out, or bowing down. A part, standing thus alone is,
of course, neither of the first, second, nor third person, and therefore cannot,
strictly speaking, refer to anybody or anything. Here, however, it evidently is
intended to refer to God, and is, therefore, equivalent to nD2il (comp.
la.Nil ,r>3.!Bil ,T)pVpn in the three preceding verses), or to npb Nin*
He [is] spreading, he. The latter ellipsis is, however, I think the better, for we
* or nio: mn -iw« .

APPENDIX. CHAP. IX. 8. 647
frequently find a personal (or demonstrative) pronoun omitted in Hebrew, when
it is clear from the context to whom, or to what, reference is made. Comp. infra
ver. 19, npn Y^PN, x. 15, lib|7 y?27 , and notes upon them, and see supra
v. 9, 12, 13, and infra xii. 17 — 24, in which latter group of verses the part, all
stand alone without the def. art. See also Index. In familiar Eng. we frequently
omit personal pronouns in a similar manner. Thus in diaries we commonly find
such phrases as these : " Got up at half past six ; breakfasted, went out, met
Jones, capital fellow, asked me to luncheon," &c, where not only the I's, but also
the he's are omitted as unnecessary.
Similarly we may explain the omission of object, and possessive pron. affixes
(of which the former at least is very comm.), and also the omission of the pron.
affix, after inf. eonstr., when used with b , as ni27yb for ini2?3?7 , &c. See
note on yi^?7, supra vi. 7, on DE27a, infra xiii. 18 (in Comm.), on D12775 supra
v. 11, and Index.
n03 , can I think scarcely be understood of the spreading out of the heavens,
for this could only take place at their creation (comp. Isa. xlii. 5), and here the
context refers to what God is supposed to be doing continually. I prefer,
therefore, to understand it, with Homberg and others, bowing down. In Ps.
xviii. 9, we have, " He bowed the heavens and came down," and that He came
down, seems to be implied here, for He could not tread upon the sea unless
He came down. Comp. Mic. i. 3, where God is said to leave His place, come
down, and tread upon YIN ''iiaSl [the] high-places of [the] earth. God is said
to bow the heavens, and come down, when the clouds in which the Hebrews
thought He had His dwelling place (cf. Ps. xviii. 11, &c.) descend, and seem to
brood upon the earth. [I have since altered my opinion. In the first place, it
cannot be urged that nD3 cannot refer here to the creation of the heavens — an act
which took place once for pil, and long ago — because the following part. T?11
denotes an action which God was supposed to be performing continually, for does
not the n27y in ver. 9 indisputably refer to single acts of creation performed
long ago, and yet tbe ntpy in the next verse (ver. 10) with equal certainty
denote the habitual performance of certain actions by God ? Some, indeed,
maintain that the present participle is used in such expressions as Y"!.N1 0}D27 nt£7y
(Ps. cxlvi. 6), for the purpose of marking the continual changes which are taking
place throughout all creation ; but this interpretation is a little too subtle to
please me, and besides, in Isa. li. 13, we have V"$ 7^\ °S-^ n v1^ spreading
out [the] heavens and founding [the] earth, where, however, we may explain
103 , we must consider the pres. part. ID"* (which I should be very sorry to
take to be in stat. eonstr.) to denote a single act long since past. Moreover, it is
well known that the Heb. freq. use the pres. part, oi past time (see note cm D',32n
supra iii. 14). Comp. also esp. Jer. li. 15, (past) nD3  TOO  n27J7 .
Again, the use of il?1? is certainly in favour of Dr. Bernard's rendering, for
why should God be said to bow down the heavens alone? Comp. Isa. xliv. 24,
where 0}a27 nD3 indisputably refers to the creation of the heavens, and is
followed by m?b , and ibid. li. 13 ; Zech. xii. 1, where nop has the same
sense.

648 APPENDIX. CHAP. IX. 8 — 10.
We might, therefore (with Conant), transl. the four part, in vers. 8 — 10, viz.,
nto"y----n^y---:?T!il-"-nD3, He spread, He treadeth, He made, He doeth, i.e.,
by two presents and two pasts ; but spreadeth and maketh, though less correct,
seem to me more forcible than spread and made, and our familiarity with the
A. V. has taken away all harshness from this use of the present, as applied to
time long past].
"'iiap . This very singular form seems to have had its origin in a regard for
euphony. How tame and prosaic would not D} niap by , the regular form,
sound here ! The form ""nap only occurs six times, and always in highly
poetical passages. It is found three times as here, with the verb ~P1 , and
twice with the verb 23~1 , (in Hiph) to cause to ride. It is followed four times by
Vl^, once by DJ, and once by 237 cloud[s]. The transition from map to
''na? seems to have been somewhat in this manner ; first, map , then "•niOS
(with a double mark of the plur.), of which traces are found in Deut. xxxii. 13;
Isa. Iviii. 14 ; Mic. i. 3 ; and lastly, in order to give increased rapidity or fluidity
to the pronunciation, "'nap . The ^ was perhaps added, because map alone
would not have tbe slightest appearance of being in construction ; at all events,
the addition of the , softens down the harsh abrupt line of separation so
distinctly felt between niaa and the word next following it, if we read map
for ''nap , wherever this occurs. Most plurals in ni , when in eonstr., run on
into * the word which they govern, in consequence of the shortening of the first
syllable or syllables, but in niaa the first syll. remains long, and therefore the
word refuses to run on at all. Now the addition of a vowel makes it run well.
Ges. compares >ini27N.-]a 1 Sam. xxvi. 12.
Ver. 9. ion more correctly laVI (which is found in some copies), as infra
xxxix. 26 ; for the root is ID"* . But the * of the root is sometimes left out
(as servile vs freq. are). Comp. Onttfa (Prov. i. 3) for 0^27^ (root !»•>);
and Index.
Ver. 10. This verse is, with trifling variations, a repetition of Eliphaz's own
words, supra v. 9 ; the only differences being that we have here npil ^N ly
instead of npn fN] , and niNbB3] for niNb33 . Whether this repetition was
intentional on the part of Job, in which case he could only mean by it, " We
entirely agree with regard to the Omnipotence of God, although the conclusions
we draw from it are very different," t  or whether the phrase was a stereotyped
one, common in the mouths of all  1 must leave to the judgment of the reader.
For my own part, however, I am disposed to regard tbe repetition as intentional.
The force of the "iy seems to be, till they are past finding out, till they can no

* Comp. ¦»> r\ixbp: with (the impossible) bx nisbD? . The two words are more closely
connected by this gliding over the first. See note on 'a'» ;!>n infra xvii. 2, on atin infra
ver. 13, on ':??*: ver. 18, and on n* ver. 33.
t Eliphaz had inferred from it that God was mighty to save the innocent, Job infers, on
the contrary, that He is mighty to destroy them.

APPENDIX. CHAP. IX. 10 — 13. 649
longer be numbered. Some few of His wonders you may trace out, some few of
them you may count, but this soon ceases to be possible.
iBpa ^N iy occurs also Ps. xl. 13. We also meet with nBpa l^b (1 Chron.
xxii. 4); nspa VN] (Ps.cv. 34); and nQpa l^N afone (Jer/ii. 32 ; Cant. vi. 8),
in the same sense as infra xxi. 33, in which passage it is something like our
vulgar phrase, no end.
npn l^N 137 only occurs here, but we have already had npn l^N] supra v. 9,
and npn l^N occurs Ps. cxiv. 3, Prov. xxv. 3 ; whilst infra xxxiv. 24, we
have npn Nb , and xxxvi. 26, npn Nb] .
Ver. 11. v3? by me, near me, or before me, something like our against, and
vulg. over against = opposite, in front of. Comp. supra iv. 1 5, ^bn} "OB by ;
and so freq. (see Ges.) In 1 Kings xix. 19, we find vbN 733?.}} ; and n3y also
sometimes takes an ace, e.g., Judg. iii. 26, and comp. infra xxi. 29, 'HTJ Tlp/iy .
So we say to pass by a place, and to pass a place.
HN-iN rfb] for 13N1N sb]. See note on yi3?b supra vi. 7, and Index.
'' TpN . See note in Comm. on -,>l1.^.< supra v. 2. T*2 is also followed
by ? infra xiii. 1, and xiv. 21, and the very same words that we have here
occur again infra xxiii. 8. So 'N P'Ott'n = to attend to, notice, in Ps. xli. 2,
Neh. viii. 13. See note on 1? infra xxxviii. 18.
Ver. 12. lap^K?} . Can it mean, " can make Him return," i.e., restore ? I think
it can, for 2127 in Kal, sometimes means to return, bring-back, as in the phrase
TO327 3127 infra xlii. 10 ; and if so, why may not the Hiph. mean to make to
return ? Indeed, I believe that Dr. Bernard formerly translated it can make Him
restore. But comp. Isa. xliv. 25, UnN D^aan. B^tpa turning wise-men backwards,
i.e., frustrating their counsels, plans, as is evident from what follows, " and He
maketh their knowledge foolish." It would thus answer exactly to the Fr. faire
reculer. That this latter meaning is probably the true one may be inferred from
infra xi. 10, xxiii. 13, where -l^p?] cannot mean can make Him to restore, but
must mean can prevent, hinder Him. Again, 13p"'£?} (cf. infra xxxi. 14, xxxii. 14)
might mean can answer Him, i.e., say ought to Him ; but this is only a possible
rendering. 127yn na . Comp. Isa. xlv. 9, " Shall the clay say to him that fashionetb
it njpyn na what doest (or makest) thou;" and Daniel iv. 32 (A. V. 35) " and
none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, ni.py na what hast Thou done?
The dag. in the n in n27yn , is not the dag. lene inherent in the ns3133 , but
a Dag. forte after na . This is shown by the Makkiph after the na .
Ver. 13. The connection seems to be, It is of no avail to say to God, what
doest Thou ? for, no matter what remonstrances are made to Him, God, when
He is bent on punishing (see infra xxiii. 13), will turn a deaf ear to them, and
will not withdraw His anger, and all who presume to help him whom God is
punishing, will sink beneath Him. How then can such a weak, helpless,
miserable creature as I am, venture to speak to Him, or how can I hope to turn
away His anger from me ?
•inq27 have sunk, i.e., sink. See note on n3S.a supra vi. 7, and Index.

650 APPENDIX. CHAP. IX. 14, 15.
Ver. 14. The '¦¦? *1M is, I think, more naturally referred (unless indeed ver. 13
be regarded as somewhat parenthetical, and it certainly is abrupt) to Bi}H pTS
[the] helpers of pride, mentioned in the prec. verse, and as this very indefinite
expression no doubt included any beings conspicuous for their might and pride,
whether of human or angelic nature, who might presume to interfere with God,
we cannot be surprised that Job should use the expression how much less of
himself, as compared to them — the meaning being, if these proud confederates sink
before Him, how much Jess can I oppose Him, &c. For a very long note on Bill "Hp?
see Davidson's Comm. Or we may understand the pass. — if a man, even when
assisted by proud confederates, cannot stand before God, how much less can I,
who am weak and have no friends, hope to contend against Him. n3y to answer,
is here really equivalent to to contend, because Job's only weapons against God
were his words. See infra xl. 2, where God accuses Job of contending with
Him ; and the next note.
n337 may, I think, have its usual meaning of answering, responding,
here. Job has had great calamities sent upon him, and any complaint, any
murmur that they wring from him, is a kind of answer to Him who sent them.
Job says, How can I answer Him, how I can say to Him, what doest Thou ? No
representations of mine can have any effect. Dr. Bernard, no doubt, translates
my to speak, here, because God had not as yet actually spoken to Job ; and
because we have IBN11 in ver. 12.
Ver. 15. Here too it seems to me much more simple to take my in its
ordinary sense of answering, and to translate either " I, who though I am just,
may not, cannot (am not allowed, or, am not able to) answer," or perhaps better,
" whom, though I am just, I am not allowed to answer, but must content myself
with supplication to my judge." Cf. the word judge here with Almighty, viii. 5.
Dr. Bernard's view, that Job complains here of having no resource left him but to
make supplication to God, and that he does not mean to say, as most Commentators
make him, that God is so mighty, so all-powerful, that he dare not address himself
to Him, but would even if he were perfectly just, content himself with making
supplication to Him, is supported by infra xix. 16, where (to compare small things
with great) he complains in a similar way that, when he calls out to his servant,
he can obtain no answer from him, but is obliged to make entreaty to him  the
same expression ib IP.nnN being used. What should we say, in England, if, though
innocent of any crime, we were refused a trial, and had no other alternative but
to linger in prison all our days, or to confess our guilt, and appeal for mercy to
our judges ? Job's language is the language of indignation.
If n27N. is taken in the nom., comp. infra ver. 17.
''nplS DN does not mean if I were just, but though I am just, the past being
used = pres. Job was not likely to concede the possibility of his being guilty.
iI2Q27"a . Kimchi, Ben-Zev, and, after them, Gesenius, take this word to be the
Po-al from OB27, after the anal, of the Pi-dl (or Po-dl) of the verba geminata,
e.g., aaiD from 33D . They expl. the ,?c?79 iQ -Ps- c'- 5> *n the same way.
This would be only tit for tat, for the verba geminata are sometimes conj.
like the reg. verbs. Thus we have ,313ap ps. xviii. 6, and more freq. than
"OIBD (Ps. lxxxviii. 18, &c.) the reg. form. So again in the Pi-dl (and this is an

APPENDIX. CHAP. IX. 15—18. 651
example more in point here) we once find 3?p (2 Sam. xiv. 20) instead of
2aiD. Cf. ™) supra xxxix. 10. I must say I prefer this view to Dr.
Bernard's, ingenious though it be.
Ver. 16. VTN} . We iu Eng. are obliged to translate this by a past, but that
this is only a peculiarity of our language is shown by comp. Ewald's transl.
" wiirde glauben nicht er hore meine Stimme."
Ver. 18. 327rt for 027nb . 1,13 = to permit, is generally foil, by b ; comp.
infra xxxi. 30, &c. In Numb. xx. 21, we have, however, "and Edom refused
lin? to allow Israel nay [ft,] pass." 3E7n is prop, the absolute inf. (see Mas.
and Bern. Gramm. vol. i. p. 339), but here I think it must be the eonstr. inf.
shortened from 2y27n the regular form, so that its connection with iSN (to which
it is joined by a conj. ace.) may be more close. See the next note, and comp.
bnarr? (Deut. xxxii. 8), nfcyb (for ibynb) ibid. xxvi. 12, n27y? (Neh.
x. 39), all of course eonstr. inf. I cannot, however, find any instance of a
Tsayreh in the const, inf. Hiph. of a verb Ty . It may, at first sight, seem
strange that the absol. inf. of a verb 1"S should have Tsayreh, as in, e.g., B27il ,
and that the eonstr. inf. (the shorter, form) should have Long Cherik (apparently,
a longer vowel), as in, e.g., 2',27n ; but it would seem that originally the absol.
inf. Hiph. of all verbs had a ^ after the Tsayreh, i.e., a Tsayreh impueum as
Gesen. calls it, and such a Tsayreh is of course longer than a Long Cherik. Of
this older form, many examples still remain, e.g., ONSET'S! Jer. xliv. 4 ; Prov.
xxvii. 14, for the more comm. oatpil ; Tatpn Amos ix. 8, in eonstr. TfiBJn
(see Ges. Lehrgeb. p. 319). 227rr , therefore, if an inf. absol., stands for 2,27il t
but, if it is a eonstr. inf., tbe Tsayreh is not impure, i.e., there is no *• omitted
after it, and this 227n would be shorter than a^pn . See note on n27] ver. 33.
\3?2tjP. The regular form would be ^T-Ppl, like ^y^!} infra ver. 20,
and like 1,?3??lf ?1 Gen. xxiv. 37. *?— is the suffix which, as the rule, we find
in the past as in ',31prB he visited me, still we find Pathach instead of Tsayreh
in the fut. in other places, e.g., supra vii. 14, infra ver. 34, xiii. 21, ""Snvan,
though in these places the 3 has a Dag., perhaps by way of compensation for the
shortening of the Tsayreh.
It would seem almost that the V had retained the Pathach, which it freq. has in
the past and fut. Hiph. of y227 , when without a suffix,— as in y?i?n, JTatp},
&c. • The shortening has no doubt taken place for the purpose of connecting the
verb more closely with its noun which follows, and for the same reason I expect
the Dag. has been omitted in the 3 , for ^ny.pn in the pass, quoted is tbe last
word in the verse, and so is glad to have a Dag. in the 3 , to give fulness to its
penultimate syll.
After the verb y327 to be sated, that with which one is sated is put either
in the ace, as infra xxvii. 14, Onb iy?t?7}, Exod. xvi. 12, &c. ; or with IP,
as infra xxxi. 31 , ypi?73 Nb i"!27?a , pr0v. xiv. 14, &c. ; or with 2 , ps. lxv.
5, &c. The Hiph. is construed in the same way, i.e., it is foil, by a double ace.
as here, or by 10 , or by 2 . Nba to be full, is, as is well known, commonly foil.
by an ace. oi the thing with which one is full (e.g., infra xx. 11, xxi. 24,

652 APPENDIX. CHAP. IX. 18 — 21.
xxxii. 18, xxxvi. 17, supra iii. 15, viii. 21, &c), still we do find IO after it,
e.g., Isa. ii. 6. Similarly, 1327 to be drunk, is followed by an ace. Isa. xxix.
9 ; xlix. 26 ; and by 10 , li. 21. Comp. also a 2D7 to be moist, wet, from,
with, infra xxiv. 8. The IP in these cases seems almost to denote the author, the
cause, and to be like the 10 which freq. follows a Niph. as infra xxviii. 4 ; Lev.
xxvi. 43, &c. We say to be full of, and full with.
nbb ON . Gilt's Kraft, Handelt es sich um Kraft, Kommt's auf Kraft an ; s'il
s'agit (or, s'agit-il) de force, s'il est question de force. In Eng. these words
cannot be so easily rendered, as we want precise equivalents for the very useful
German and French expressions just quoted. Comp. Prov. xxv. 3, 0117 and
pa377 = wiTH regard to height, with regard to depth.
Ewald joins Y^ON to na , and translates " Gilt's des Starken Kraft," while he
takes n?n and "Ol"^^ p to refer to God, as though Job said, " If I appeal to
strength, He calls out, ' Here I am, ready to contend with you ; ' and if I appeal
to justice, He calls out, 'Who will call me into court?'" This rendering is
spirited certainly, but is too artificial to please me, besides which, Y^PN is then
thrown quite away, as " Gilt's des Starken Kraft," means the same thing as
" Gilt's Kraft," and is much less forcible.
npn Y^PM . In prose this would be Y'P^ Nin nan (the Nin emphatic—
cf. Exod. xxxiv. 10), or Y^ON ian (supra ii. 6; Numb, xxiii. 17, &c). The
Nin is left out, because it is clear to whom YP& refers. The principle is the
same as in supra vers. 8, 9, 10, where we have the participles np3 (on which
see note), and nt£7y standing quite alone, without a def. art. as in vers. 5, 6, 7
(p^nyan , raian , ia'Nn), 0r without Nin (comp. infra ver. 22, nbaa Nin),
or Nin "I27N — probably, because it is quite clear to whom they refer, and therefore
a Ae or a who, which we are obliged to supply in English, was thought
unnecessary. Comp. also infra ver. 32, "piaB 27"^ N7 "'p , where Nin must
be supplied after 'piap (see Comm.) ; and infra x. 15, li'jj y?2>, where ,?N!
must be supplied ; and Index.
"Ol'SV p . Who will appoint me a time [to plead] ? This seems to me a
delicate way of expressing that God is wanting in justice. There can be no
doubt, says Job, with regard to God's great power, but as for His justice 
let Him give me a proof of it by allowing me to plead before Him, and then I
will call Him just. It must be observed, moreover, that Job does not mention
God's name in the whole verse, but that he inserts for it the indefinite P who,
in the second hem., whilst in the first nan Y^ON lit., means, " Behold a
mighty-one." Ver. 20. ^tppy}} . Wolfssohn takes "'B my mouth in the first hem. to be the
subj. of this verb, and I think he is right. Dr. Bernard's interpretation is, I
think, forced.
Ver. 21. "'PN DPI may be taken as it stands, without supplying ON, = I am
pure. 571N Nb would then be a little abrupt, but, as already observed, the Heb.
freq. leave out a 1 . See note on Nl,1 supra i. 2, and Index, s.v., Abrupt
Clauses or Verses.

APPENDIX. CHAP. IX. 21  25. " 653
^tpsa . This certainly may mean myself (see note on ''SB? infra xvi. 8),
but the question is, whether in this sense K733. with a pron. affix is ever
found as a nominative ; in the example quoted by Dr. Bernard from infra
xxxii. 2, iE7B3 is the accusative. Gesenius, indeed, takes "'27B3 = "pS in
Isa. xxvi. 9, but I do not think he is warranted in so doing. Still, even
if "'t??? cannot be a nom. = myself, it may be well taken as an ace, as it is
in the pass, in Isa.,* and be interpreted as there, in my soul, when it would
greatly intensify the force of yiN . The meaning would then be, " I must not
know it even in my inmost soul," for even that, God, who penetrates the most
secret thoughts (see infra x. 4, 5, xii. 22, xxvi. 6) would regard as a sin. In the
preceding verse, Job had said he must not declare his innocence with his mouth,
he now goes farther, and says he must put a bridle even on his mind, and forbid
it to think him innocent. I
,*n DNBN . DNa in Job seems nearly always to be foil, by an accusative, as
here, supra v. 17, viii. 20, infra x. 3, xxx. 1, xxxi. 13 ; still, we find it once
with 3 , infra xix. 18, and this construction is freq. found, but esp., I think, in
the later books, particularly in Jer. (e.g., iv. 30, vi. 19, 30, viii. 9, xxxi. 37),
and Isa) Still, I find it in Lev. xxvi. 43 ; Numb. xiv. 31 ; Judg. ix. 38 ;
and in Ps. lxxviii. 59, 67, cvi. 24. Verbs, signifying to loathe, be disgusted with,
very commonly take 2 , e.g., Dip infra x. 1, ''"np ,|27B3 npp;3 ; Ps. xcv. 10 ;
Ezek. vi. 9, xx. 43, xxxvi. 31; Ps. cxxxix. 21. V^P , Gen. xxvii. 46,
"113 "'flpp ; Lev. xx. 23 ; Numb. xxi. 5 ; Prov. iii. 11 ; 1 Kings xi. 25. But
Yi?.E> always takes an accusative, e.g., Lev. xi. 11, 13 ; Deut. vii. 26 ; Ps. xxii.'
25 ; but then it is a Pi-dl. So, on the contrary, some verbs signifying to choose^
to love ardently, delight in, he., are commonly followed by 2 , esp. in2 (Deut.
vii. 6 ; 1 Sam. x. 26 ; Ps. lxxviii. 67, &c.) ; Ycn (Gen. xxxiv. 19 ; 1 Sam. xviii.
22, &c.) ; p27n (Gen. xxxiv. 8 ; Deut. vii. 7, xxi. 1 1 ; Ps. xci. 14). 2nN too,
though commonly taking an ace, is found once at least with 3, viz., Eccles.
v. 9. Comp. also 2 nNl geniessen (Ben-Zev, Jer. xxix. 32, &c) and 2 b3N
(xxi. 25) = to taste, enjoy (fig.).
Ver. 22. nilN one thing, fem. = neut. See note on same word, supra ver. 3.
Ver. 23. The connection here seems to be, " But stay, I should not say that
God consumes tbe righteous and the wicked alike, that their fate is the same ;
for if, as is often the case, the scourge slays the wicked man suddenly, after he
has spent his whole life-time in enjoyment, he may well laugh at the lingering
torments, which innocent men like me endure. Comp. infra xxi. 13, where we
find stated as an instance of the good-fortune of the wicked, " That they spend
their days in wealth, and are crushed down in a moment to the grave."
Ver. 25. npiD INI N7 [my days] have seen no good, accords better with the
view that the days spoken of are the calamitous ones Job is now passing through —
* The pass, is ?|n'i» ioe? , which is generally, and I think correctly, rendered, as
though it were 'ito with (or, in) my soul have I desired Thee. Comp. p»]« nin; by 'iip>
(Ps. cxiii. 2) [with] my voice cry I unto Jehovah.
t Dr. Bernard's interpretation is essentially the same, but he construes the words
differently. See Comm., p. 87.

654 APPENDIX. CHAP. IX. 25, 26.
though these words are not so strongly in favour of it as the corresponding ones,
supra vii. 6, mpn D3N2, lb?}1 and they have been (are) consumed without
hope. But, if they refer to Job's days of prosperity, then " they saw no good,"
prob. means, as Dr. Bernard says, they have left no mark behind them, they
are as a pleasant dream to one who awakes to a life of misery. In the days of
youth should be laid the foundations for an honourable repose in old age
— but what had Job's youth secured for him ? It had been profitless, it had
left no mark upon his future. The course of his life had been reversed ; lie
had descended from better to worse, instead of ascending from worse to
better. The wicked on the contrary continually increase in wealth, and
honour, and might, and are fortunate even in tlieir mode of death. For
a somewhat different explanation, see note on next verse. It is, however,
I think, better to transl. simply " they saw no good," than " as though
they had seen no good," for this is less forcible, though, after the analogy
of the omissions of the B of comp. (see note on Dy ver. 26), it is perfectly
defensible, and it may convey the meaning intended better.
Ver. 26. Oy seems to have nearly the force of as, like, in Eccles. ii. 16,
"For there is no remembrance to the wise Oy together with the fool," i.e.,
as well as to the fool, any more than to the fool ; and so again at the end of
the same verse, " And how dieth the wise man Oy with, i.e., like the fool." In
both these places, Mendelssohn translates OS wie (as, like). Comp. 111} together,
which also sometimes means alike, e.g., infra xxxiv. 29. But some Com
mentators will not admit that O? has the force of as or like in the passage now
before us, and the one quoted in the Comm. ; and, indeed, I myself think that it
may be translated as usual, with. We have already seen that the Hebrews
frequently omit the 3 of comparison, in order to make their language more forcible.
See Comm. note on 'P supra viii. 9, and in addition comp. supra viii. 2, where
Job's words are said actually to be a violent wind, and not merely like one. Comp.
also Deut. iv. 24, where God is said to be maN 27N a consuming fire. Job might
then, I think, well say, " They have passed aw&yioilh the ships of Aveh," instead
of, as we should express ourselves, " They have passed away, as it were, with the
ships of Aveh." The presence of a 3 in the second hem. favours this view. Comp.
infra xl. 18, "His bones are ntpiTO ,p,BN. strong-pieces of brass; his bones
are bj*]2 T'pa? as 6ar[s] of iron," where we have a 3 in the second hem.
and not in the first, though every one understands ,P.,BN to be equal to "'P.'BNp
only a more forcible mode of expression.
It is not altogether easy to decide whether Job here speaks of the days which
he had passed in his prosperity, or of the days which had passed, since calamity
overtook him. The very similar verse which occurs supra vii. 6, I have taken
to refer to his life of adversity, and so the present verse may certainly be under
stood. The pasts are, indeed, rather in favour of the other view, still they may
be translated as presents, 17p and mi3 equalling have been swift, and have
fled, up to the present time, i.e., as we say, are sioift and flee. See note on
n3Np supra vi. 7. But, if Job refers to his days of prosperity, why does he
complain that they passed rapidly ? for the very fact that they did pass rapidly ,

APPENDIX. CHAP. IX. 26. 655
would seem to prove that they were happy, for happy days are generally
considered to pass rapidly ; and why does he contrast his happy days with the
prosperous life of the wicked ? I think for the following reasons : When a man
leads a life of uninterrupted happiness, he scarcely looks back with regret to the
past, and why should he, seeing that his present happiness is equal to his past ! but
when, after enjoying great prosperity and happiness, calamity suddenly comes
upon him, he then looks back to his days of happiness, and regrets that he did
not value them more ; if he had them to live over again, how he would hug, and
sip, and savour every one of them, and drain it of its happiness, before he would
let it go. So, when we suddenly lose one dear to us, we wish we had paid more
attention to him whilst he lived. But Job had not acted thus in his happy days
¦ — he had lived carelessly, and had allowed them to glide away unheeded almost ;
he had, perhaps, scarcely realized that he was happy,* till his happiness was
gone — till the bitter contrast of his misery shewed him that he had been happy.
Therefore it is that his former life seems to him to have passed so quickly away.
But the wicked man, into whose hands the earth is given, lives in uninterrupted
prosperity — his days may, perhaps, pass rapidly — but, if they do, he has no
cause to regret it, for others as happy lie before him — till, at last, without illness
and without suffering he glides down into the grave. Comp. infra xxi. 7 — 13,
23 — 26; also chap, xxiv., esp. vers. 19, 20. In chaps, xxix., xxx. also Job con
trasts the days of his honour and glory with his present state of humiliation and
suffering. It may be remarked that Job has chosen two similes, which well express both
the swiftness with which his days had passed, and the entire evanescence of his
happiness ; for, does not a ship cleave her way through the sea without leaving
any lasting track behind her, and does not an eagle swoop down upon his prey
without leaving behind him in the air any traces of his passage ? See Prov. xxx.
19, where Solomon declares, "The way of an eagle in the air," and "the way
of a ship in the midst of the sea," to be too wonderful for him. — With equal
swiftness had Job's days passed, and had left as little trace behind them.
naN nl*3N . Some translate ships of reeds (fr. Arab. 'i^)\ reed), which are
said to have been used and to have been very swift — and compare NIS3 "b? vessels
of reeds (Isa. xviii. 2) ; others, ships of hostility (from np'iN (Gen. iii. 15) enmity),
i.e., piratical ships. Kimchi and Ben-Zev mention the second of these renderings,
and also suggest that n3N may = niNn desire, and so npN ni*3S = ships of desire,
i.e., desirous, eager to reach their port. Dr. Bernard's interpretation will not, I think,
readily be received ; and, indeed, I myself was never quite able to discover whether
he really believed n?N to mean Joppa, or whether the wonderful interchanges |
of letters by which he has arrived at this meaning were not rather intended as a
* He says, however, supra iii. 25, that he had lived in constant apprehension of misfor
tune, which looks as though he had known how to value his happiness whilst he was
enjoying it.
t Two letters of a word I have seen interchanged, but never all three. Comp. npj (Ps.
iv. 7) = ata (Ps. x. 12), for the more usual «?, from «to— where i» has become o, and
«, n.

656 APPENDIX. CHAP. IX. 26 — 29.
satire upon those who constantly have resort to such expedients. At all events,
let the reader look upon his explanation in this light. The suggestion that
npN should be regarded as the name of a place is, however, I think, a good
one, the more especially as I think no better one is likely ever to be offered.
271D} . The verb 271D only occurs here. nNl to fly, is the verb usually
applied to the eagle. See Jer. xlviii. 40, xlix. 22.
Ver. 27. "HON. laN would, no doubt, regularly give "HON , just as l&TP gives
i27in (1 Kings v. 7, &c), and bn'N gives V™ — and Kimchi gives "naN under
naN ; still, it may be remarked that "HON is found in five other passages besides
the present one, viz., Josh. vi. 10 ; Ezek. iii. 18, xxxiii. 8, 13, 14, and that in all
these instances it is evidently the infinitive of naN with a poss. affix — why then
should it not be the infinitive here ? The construction is almost equally
unpleasant whether the word be a subst. or an inf. Comp. Dan. xi. 1, where
maB lit., my standing [was], apparently means / was standing, I stood. InpN
infra xx. 29, which by some lexicographers is given under naN , is by Kimchi
(and after him by Gesenius) derived from naN (which does not occur), and so
are also DnaN and "HON .
n3]3?N . The translation given by Mendelssohn of the remarkable and
much disputed passage in Exod. (xxiii. 5), quoted Dr. Bernard, is as follows :
" Siehst du den Esel deines Feindes, erliegend unter seiner Last, so hiite dich,
ihm solchen allein zu iiberlassen : hilf ihm vielmehr abpacken. In Eng. (freely),
" If thou seest the ass of thine enemy, crouching (exhausted) under his burden, for
bear to leave (abandon) him (the ass) to him (thine enemy) alone, but rather help
him (thine enemy) to unload " ; so that 3137 would in the same verse have the sense
of to leave, abandon, and unload. The connection between leaving and unloading
is pretty evident. To leave sometimes = abandon, to cast off (comp. leave hold,
leave (let) go, leave off a dress, &c), and to unload = to take off, cast off, a burden ;
decharger in French = to unload, whilst to discharge, in English = to make to
leave. Comp. also the French quitter un pantalon, une robe = to put off, take
off one's trousers, a dress. In this pass, in Exod., however, 3t37 does not
exactly answer to quitter in the above sense (for we cannot say quitter un pantalon
a quelqu'un), but rather to faire quitter, just as to discharge is not to leave, but
to make to leave. We might, therefore, have expected to find B^tyn the Hiph.,
rather than the Kal, in the sense of unloading.
Ver. 27. ^B . Some take O'pB here = rather sorrowfid countenance, sorrow,
grief, than anger. Comp. 1 Sam. i. 18, with ibid. vers. 6, 15.
Ver. 28. The meaning seems to be, Then all the tortures I am enduring force
themselves upon my notice and fill me with dread of new ones, so that I cannot
cheer up.
''nip} . We have had this word already, supra iii. 25.
Ver. 29. 37277N ''pbN . I shall be esteemed ivicked. The force of the ''BbN
seems to be, whatever might be the case with others, I at any rate shall be
accounted wicked, whatever I do.
n-t nab exactly corresponds to the Arabic | JUJ why. The nt is pleonast.

APPENDIX. CHAP. IX. 29 — 32. 657
but expressive = thus, or then. See note on nst infra xix. 26. The Dagesh in the
nt , of course, is euphonic, and is frequently found after nab , and still more
freq. after na . See Index.
bprj , which is no doubt, properly speaking, an accusative, is here used adv.,
as infra xxi. 34, xxxv. 16. O^ltE^a equity, is also used adv. = justly, as Ps.
Iviii. 2; and so is P12 righteousness, justice = justly, Deut. i. 16. Comp. Lam. i. 9,
D^NvB lit., wonders, i.e., wonderfully ; and niN7B3 infra xxxvii. 5. Somewhat
similar is the Lat. cassum (ace. of cassus), used for incassum in Sen.
Ver. 30. The sense seems to be tbe same as supra ver. 20, where Job said that,
though he were to prove his innocence, his own mouth would condemn him, i.e.,
God would hold him guilty for presuming to declare himself just before Him.
So here, Job says that, though he were to make himself white as snow, yet he
would be all the more guilty in God's sight, who, judge as well as adversary,
would not behave impartially to him, and could not declare him innocent,* because
by doing so He would declare Himself guilty. Comp. Isa. i. 18, xliii. 26. Job
changes his mind afterwards, as was very natural in a man suffering such
torments, for infra xxiii. 4, 10, he tells us that, if he could only come before God,
he would defend himself so effectively that he would come out as pure as gold ;
whilst infra xxxi. 37, we hear that he would approach God in all the conscious
ness of his innocence. But from infra xl. 4, 5, xlii. 5, 6, we see that his first
view (as given in this and the following verses) was the correct one, and that he
really was overawed by the majesty of God to such a degree, as even to do that
which he had said (xxvii. 5, 6) he never would do, i.e., pronounce himself guilty
—and to declare his abhorrence of himself.
Ver. 31. "piayri] . So in Ezek. xx. 26, DniN NapNI is rendered by many,
And I caused them to be polluted, i.e., I suffered them to pollute themselves
(see note on D271p]1 supra i. 5). Comp. ibid. xvi. 25. Comp. also Prov. xxxi.
31, rPttfya D'HJJE/'a nibbmi and let her works praise her in the gates, i.e.,
cause her to be praised. So PUP infra xxxii. 2, xxxiii. 32, &c, means to make
to be just, declare just, ayn , however, like bbn to praise, has no Kal, so that
the Pi-al has, so to say, to do double duty, and means to abhor (which a Kal
might mean), and to make to be abhorred. Ewald takes it in the same sense as
Dr. Bernard, but Ewald's Job did not come into my hands until this year (1862),
when the whole of tbe Commentary and Translation was already printed.
Ver. 32. 13.3y.N . n337 here again might be translated as usual to answer,
though Dr. Bernard's rendering is, no doubt, more poetic and forcible.f One of
* " Thou wouldst plunge me in the ditch, &c," seems to mean, Thou wouldst not
content Thyself with condemning me privately (in Thy heart), but Thou wouldst make
me appear guilty to all the world ; my guilt would be to me as a. mud-covered garment,
which every one would notice. There may be some allusion to the " clods of dust "
(vii. 5), with which Job's body was covered, for they (and his sores) were to him as a gar
ment of guilt, since every one who saw them proclaimed him guilty. See infra x. 17.
t But we might transl. answer, and yet take the second hem. as Dr. Bernard does; but
then, of course, to answer would virtually = to speak to. When Dr. Bern, says n» = to
'peak, he means merely that it must sometimes be Englished, to speak.
U U

t £

658 APPENDIX. CHAP. IX. 32, 33.
the best instances in support of the view that n33? sometimes means to speak is
found in Exod. xxiii. 2, though even there it may be taken = to answer, for one
who speaks in a cause, commonly answers some objections, unless indeed he be
the first speaker.
This verse might, therefore, well be translated :
" For He is not a man like myself, that I should answer Him,
That we should come together into judgment."
Job had just been saying what would be the consequences, if he endeavoured to
answer, i.e., defend himself against, God, and here he ends by concluding that it
would be labour in vain if he were to do so, for that there was no judge to decide
between him and God, as there would be, if God were a man like himself. The
DBp5aa 1111} Nia3 , thus explains what Job meant by ISP.'SN , for two persons
may dispute and wrangle together, without appearing in court before a judge.
I therefore think the above rendering (which I believe Dr. Bernard formerly
advocated), is better than that given in the Comm. and Transl. Job then goes
on to say that, although it was impossible for bim to plead with God before a
judge, yet notwithstanding, if God would refrain from terrifying bim, and playing
the judge in His own cause, he would speak out.
Dr. Bernard's explanation of the affix in 133y.N is, it seems to me, quite uncalled
for, as, though my is followed by 7 or bN , two or three times in Kal (as Exod.
xv. 21, Numb. xxi. 17, Ps. cxlvii. 7 (=to sing), and twice in Niph. (Ezek. xiv. 4,
7), yet it is very much more freq. foil, by an ace (e.g., supra i. 7, infra xxxviii. 1,
xl. 1, 3, xlii. 1, Gen. xxiii. 14, xxvii. 39, 1 Sam. ix. 19, &c, &c), whilst it is
found a great many times with an object, pron. aff., as here. It was no doubt,
in consequence of Dr. Bernard's having taken nay here = to speak, that he was
led to make his note, seeing that both iaN and nai are, I think, nearly always
foil, by a prep., and T3n commonly is so.
I^n} . This form occurs with much greater frequency than imm , which I
only find given in Buxtorf three times, viz., Jer. xlvi. 12, 21, xlvii. 3. Kimchi
says that the 1 in mn} is the mark of the plur., just as in Tb37 , &c, and that,
if we generally find mn} without the ^ , we also find lb37 for I'by , e.g.,
1 Sam. ii. 10. The "* is, he thinks, left out, in order that the word, which
combines in itself the idea of individuality and plurality, may in form be both
like a sing, and a plural. See note on DmJimN SUpra i. 4; on ian supra ver.
9 ; and Index.
Ver. 33. 27} ^5b . I do not know that this periphrasis for VN occurs else
where ; but in Ps. cxxxv. 17, we have 27]. l^N , which is much more remarkable.
27?. ^b is, no doubt, more forcible than l^N ; even its greater length would make
it so. Comp. infra xxviii. 14, N^n "Q ikb ¦ and see note on B^p}} N7 infra
xxiv. 21.
m?ia an umpire. Comp. Gen. xxxi. 37, 1^32^ ]P impi"1} and let them
judge (or decide) betwixt us both.
"Put His hand upon us both," i.e., keep us both within due bounds, but
especially Him.

APPENDIX. CHAP. IX. 33 — 35. 659
nt£7} for the more usual m27} , like np} ; in the next verse, for n^D] . In Ps.
xviii. 12 we find ng7} (acc. withdr.) Comp. also Exod. viii. 4, x. 17 ; Numb. xxi. 7.
So also Op.} (1 Sam. i. 23 ; Ps. cvii. 29 ; Jer. xxviii. 6) ; 327} (Dan. xi. 18, 19),
&c. In all these cases the verbs are connected with the following word by a
conjunctive accent. That tbe forms in Tsayreh are shortened from the forms in
Long Cherik ; in other words, that Tsayreh (purum) is shorter than Long Cherik,
may, I think, be inferred from the forms in Tsayreh being sometimes used after
7N , which is well known to like apocopated or shortened forms ; as well as from
our occasionally finding* the Tsayreh forms, with 1 conv. Comp. n27n bN
(Numb. xii. 11), with nttfn bN (Exod. xxiii. 1); and N2}1 (Gen. ii. 19,
iv. 3 and very freq.) ; whilst N"1?*] only occurs once (Neh. viii. 2). When
the shortened verbs occur alone as here, i.e., without prefix or suffix, or
7N, I think they are generally closely connected with the following word by
a conj. accent (see note on 227il supra ver. 18), but n27} here has a disjunctive
accent (Van der Hooght), though in some copies there is a conj. accent. Comp.
V9?, infra xxxviii. 24 and ptm xviii. 9, which have also a disjunctive accent.
But we know that in compliance with the rules which regulate the consecution
of the accents, a word sometimes must have a Tipcha (a disjunctive accent),
however intimately it may be connected with tbe following word, and n27} is in
this predicament here. See Mas. and Ber. Gr., vol. ii., pp. 239, 240 ; and
comp. Ewald, Krit. Gramm., p. 441, who speaks of these shortened forms being
used, not only " bei accent, conjunctivi," but also " im Fluss der Rede."
Ewald (Krit. Gr., p. 526 (note)) says that the shortened form n27} is used
here, because it forms part of a " bedingter Zwischensatz," and is what he calls
an optat. (like np} in the next verse), the meaning being, " es ist kein Richter
der legen konnte," "non est arbiter qui  imponat" (Rosenm.). This view
is very plausible, but must not be accepted unreservedly. See note on ptrj}
infra xviii. 9.
Ver. 34. The sentiment expressed in this verse is found again infra xiii. 21
in pretty nearly the same words, the second hemistiches being (with the exception
that God is there addressed in the second person) precisely the same, whilst the
first differ but little in meaning, ^B? Thy hand (or stroke, blow, see note in
Comm.) nearly corresponding to 1np27 His rod.
np] . See note on n27] , ver. 33, and on ptQ} infra xviii. 9.
Ver. 35. may . With me, i.e., in my heart, mind, conscience. The Dy here
seems to have much the same force as in "ijay infra x. 13, on which see note.
ADDITIONS TO THIS CHAPTER.
To note on ver. 8, p. 647.
The omission of pron. affixes after the inf. with ' takes place, I think,
* This can, of course, only take place when the verb ends in a mute, unless, indeed, as
is not unfreq. the case, the i conv. does not cause the withdrawal of the accent. Comp.
""Sft! (2 Kings x. 28). See Mason and Bernard's Gramm., Lett, xxxv., § 1—6.
u u 2

660 APPENDIX. CHAP. IX.
especially when they would, if used, form the subject to the inf. Objective pron.
aff. are very comm. after an inf. with 7 . In Jer. li. 1 6, we have an instance
which shews us how the Heb. avoided tbe use of a pron. affix in the former of
these cases. We find, namely, inn bipb , which is universally transl. as though
it were bip inn? at (on) His uttering [His] voice, and where the b seems
to have been prefixed to bip , partly, at least, in order to avoid using inn? =
when He utters, but partly, no doubt, for the sake of euphony; we do, however,
find examples in which the affix forms the subject to the inf. Thus, in Deut.
iv. 14, we have 0/1N D?ri27bb = that ye might do them; and in Isa. vii. 15,
my 7.7 when (or until) he knoweth. Still, it is clear that, by confining the use
of the pron. aff. chiefly to the cases in which they are objective, ambiguity is
avoided, whilst conciseness without obscurity is attained.
To note on 3271 , Ver. 18, p. 651.
We do, however, occasionally, though, I believe, very rarely, find an absol. inf.
governed by a tense. Thus, in Isa. xlii. 24, we have 'iTibn TO"}!? 12N ^7],
and they would not walk in His ways, instead of npPP 12N Nbl , or
TO-H? ?pbn: 13N Nb] (comp. Numb. xxii. 14) ; the inf. absol. "qibn being
apparently used in consequence of its position at the end of a clause, where the
less full and sonorous form 'pin could scarcely have stood. "ijibil might,
therefore, in this pass, really be looked upon almost as 'Hlbn. in pause. Comp.
also Isa. vii. 15, linpl --» DiND inyib, and ver. 16, 371}, foil, by the same
inf. The eonstr. 'spbn 7T.<?.1 (see note on infra xiii. 17) of course belongs to
a different category. To note on "ptPpy}! , ver. 20, p. 652.
Some (as Ben-Zev, Ges., &c.) take this to be the Kal. Kimchi says it is the
Hiph., and I incline to his opinion, as the meaning seems to demand something
more than a Kal, and besides we have the Hiph. "py}^!} in the first hem.
The prop, form would then be "P^py}} , 0r * ^27py}1 . Comp. ip?!}1 (1 Sam.
xiv. 22, xxxi. 2) for V*T-1 ; and 13n27*y} (1 Sam. xvii. 25), n3727yn (ps. lxv.
10) for 13~P2757}, nai;27yn . Neither the Kal, nor the Hiph. of 27py occur,
unless it be here, the Pi-dl being the voice in comm. use.
If "Ptppy}} is the Hiph., then the shortening is prob. due, partly to the
increment at the beginning ( 1 conv.), partly to the increment at the end (suffix), as
by both of these some portion of the quantity of voice, which might otherwise
have been bestowed upon the body of the word, must necessarily be diverted.
See note on ibya supra i. 20 (esp. p. 556, note *), and on ibn infra xvii. 2.
* This only differs by one point from the form which we have in the text. If the view
which I have advanced with regard to one use of Short Cherik (p. 556) be correct, then
the three steps would be '!*f;w , 'aiSny^ , 'rjfifw ; and we do, indeed, find iw (Prov. xxi.
17, in pause), i&p (Ps. xlix. 17, with conj. ace), and iyii&>: (as above).

APPENDIX. CHAP. X. 1. 661

CHAPTER X.
Ver. 1. nDp3 . In favour of Gesenius' view that this word comes from Op3
= Dip , it may be mentioned that in Chald. there is the verb Op? to loathe.
Ben-Zev derives it from Oip , and Kimchi gives it both under Dip and ODp ,
but evidently prefers ODp , to which root he would also refer DrP332 1Dp31
Ezek. vi. 9. He does not translate either of the pass., but says the verb has the
sense of cutting. But, if the root be DDp, might not this = Dip , to loathe, just
as npa and ^Jia are very similar in meaning.
At all events, whether nDp3 comes from Oip 0r from ODp , it is a shortened
form, and as such we may, with Kimchi, compare it to n3p3 (Ezek. xli. 7), for
npD3 (or nap3), from 33D ; or to npa? (Isa. xix. 3), for npBJ. (0r npT?3) from
PP3 ; and np?3* (Gen. ix. 19) for n2B3 (?) from Y^ - We may also, I think,
compare nb?3 Gen. xi. 7, though this is considered by Ben-Zev and most Com
mentators to stand for nb33 , the first pers. plur. fut. from bb3 with n
paragogic. Ewald, however, takes it to be the same part of the verb as npp3 }
and translates it sie wird verwirrt sein. "f
This shortening is, probably, due to the desire so constantly felt by the Hebrews
of connecting a word closely with that next following it. Thus, the close connection
which a word in construction has with the word which it governs is almost always
made palpable, so to say, by the shortening of the word in construction — which
thus in some sort is made to run into the following word, and to cleave to it.
Similarly, a verb is shortened when it is wished to connect it more closely with
the word next after it. See note on ""nap (supra ix. 8), and on IO] (supra
ix. 34). And here too, as in many similar cases, euphony is the gainer, for
^pa npp3 certainly slips more smoothly off the tongue than (nDp3 0r) nDp3
"'^BS would have done. J
Mendelssohn's note on nb?3 (Gen. xi. 7) is so much to the purpose, that I
quote it here : §
nbh3] nvnb •¦inu bpn paai fmN ia fiam bbB 127127 -nbpj]
* Comp. Gen. x. 18, isb:. Still, as there is a recognised verb ys», and it is used in
more than one place intrans. = to be dispersed, spread abroad, there is certainly no occasion
to refer nssj to Vis, as Hirzel does. Kimchi, Ben-Zev, Mendelssohn, Gesenius, &c,
all refer it to yna . I have only cited it therefore as a possible example.
t Ewald is not, however, the originator of this view, for it is suggested by Kimchi, who,
after saying rtaj may be the fut. Kal., adds, anao bs msnai mp:b bsa: i», " or, [it may be
the] Niphal feminine, and its meaning [refer] to Dnsto." Mendelssohn too, as will be
seen from his note, mentions both explanations.
X esp. as rnoijj has the ace. ultimate, whilst the other two forms would bave it penulti
mate. § The original is in Rabbin, type, which ought, therefore, to have been used here ; only
I omitted to give directions that it should be used.

662 APPENDIX. CHAP. X. 1.
N"nm ,d'b i""> 'n bNia27) ono n-tha] bp273 bysn ]Vb inonb 27"aia
mno3 n3p3b b37B3 T^aa 1337 nvnb 13m in ,mi3 bw N"n3 nsois
027 bsbBnni ni73 b'bi ons27 nba b37 a27i iM37b msana i'^nw NbN
NbN X'a i"a bNptm) ¦bN naps obsa /bn 27"3ia nb?3] iDB2>ai onB2>
nann /('a d"i '->vw<) 'nsa nn nppai bp2>a b37 amna nban nbpin27
bibaaB p'lin 3"b -naoai npa3i * DDB27D27 X't s"a bNptm) nap3i
bibBaB 3ns 113) , 773 27127 0^2712731 ,(n"s a"p t\-v\ a"s t"yp r\t pp i)
,b"33? nbB31 DbB3 l"l3 OmN327 inN 27127 Dn27 DnaiN W*W (3"37 t"37p fp)
t : t : ¦
'nai37n D^bssn p '"mi , i*nyb isinai bpn paa 133? nb33i 'w b"ni
37ia2>b is^a 3?"3Nin in -(on327 nba bj7 3"a 32?i , cbsaa maiB ono»
mn^n 113373 nboa Nb "o 03127b babanm 113 D3?d na >2 nasa nt
nrmb wm b3?B3b i"i3n27 onnaib D3 ,'n bbo 027 rpoa iaiN 3in3m
rrNiB) nbsNi laib iban ^abnb ban ni327b '>aptn 13-isin nab inoa
Db27 nvnb ^ini 'im b^an foao nban27 ana iab , (N"y a r\i Vaaa
inN nN naD3i a"3? nba3i 10327a B"y ionn273i nsDi3 N"nm nbbaai
• t ¦ ¦ t : t ¦* t :
N-'Ba (027) bibBaB p"nn oai - nban nbpintp pi - ('a a""> "s n"i) 'n
:nNt nyi oa
" niaii . Its root is bbi , and the Nun belongs to the )"n'« [the prefixes of the fut.],
and it is of the conjugation Kal, and properly should be written rfan , with a dagesh, on
account of the absence of the second radical of the verb (b), after the analogy of
?na nia:i (1 Sam. xiv. 36) [And let us spoil (among) them], and the n is paragogic
like the n in nyi; [in the same verse]. Or, it may be the past of the conjugation
Niphal in the third pers. [sing.] fem. ; only that the i converts it into the future, and
then it would refer to the word taneip , and the meaning would be onoip Dtf Wanni rm:
We will go down, and their language shall be confounded there; and its proper
form would be <~iw with a dagesh in the 3rd rad. (">) , according to the analogy of ^ nam
(Ezek. xxvi. 2) [she is turned to me~], only that the word has been lightened of
its dagesh, after the analogy of nnsn rrn nga:i (Isa. xix. 3) [And the spirit of
Egypt shall be emptied, poured out], and nami narni (Ezek. xli. 7) [and it is widened
and (i.e., as it) turns round], of which the proper forms would be nj?a:i and nami ,* for thus says
Kimchi in his ' Michlol' (small edition, fol. 177, col. 2, and fol. 180, col. 1) f, and in his
'Book of Roots,' under the root to . (And he has besides written in his 'Michlol' (fol. 177,
col. 2), that there are some who say these words belong to other roots whose first radical
* I don't know why Mendelssohn prefers these forms in- Tsayreh, unless it be because
nam is once found (Ezek. xxvi. 2). for most Gramm. give nam (laga is found/oar times,
and nam only once), as the regular form (though it really never occurs), so that ppa would
give n|5aj , instead of njja: .
* As tbe 1 prefixed to these two verbs is a, 1 conv., it is possible that tbe shortening may (in
part at least) be due to it. It is well known that the l conv., when joined to a past, sometimes
shifts the accent from the penult, to the ultimate syll. (see Mas. and Bern. Lett. xxxv. P.S. (a)) ;
but in such forms as nj?a5 , nam , tbe accent could not be shifted to tbe end, unless the penult.
syll. were shortened (see Mas. and Bern. Lett. xi. § 8).
+ In my small edition of the ' ' Michlol " published in the year a":pn = 1793, it is fol. 144, col. 2 ;
whilst in my large one, publ. at Venice 1545, it is fol. 46, page 1, col. 2.

APPENDIX. CHAP. X. 1. 663
is a , after the analogy of nteai (here end his words). But, if this be so, then nhji would
be the past of the conjugation Kal, but converted into a future, and it would come from
one of those intransitive verbs which are like Niphals [he means from ta:], and in
this case, too, it would refer to the word ongto.) But Rabbi Aben-Ezra refused to listen
to this, when he said, what sense would there be in mini'; ba^anni tu We will go down and
their language shaU be confounded, for it was not confounded on account of the going down,
and besides, the context tells us at the end [ver. 9] that Jehovah % Dti did there confound,
&c. Also, with respect to their words, [who say] that the Nun is the sign of the Niphal,
and that the word is in the third pers. sing, fem., why were the elders compelled to alter
the word for Ptolemy the king* saying, rfeutt (as it is in Megillah, fol. 9, col. 1)? therefore
he (Aben-Ezra) wrote that the word was in the conjugation Hiphil, and that in its perfect
form it would be nVtaai , and that the n is paragogic, and that, as the second radical is
wanting, its proper form would be ntaaj after the analogy of "n jYth m napai (1 Chron.
xiii. 3), [And let us turn (bring back) the ark of Jehovah]," f only that the word has been
shortened. And Rabbi D. Kimchi also, in his 'Michlol' (loc. cit.), brings forward this
opinion." "rPtp ny^ nptyN / will unburden my grief [which is] upon me, seems pretty
nearly to correspond to ''B 7J27I1 N N7 (supra vii. 11) I will not restrain my mouth,
as it is followed by nearly the same words. For the construction P*b "b3?
(as explained by Dr. Bern.), we may compare Deut. vii. 25, Bjltl P)D3 lbnn Nb
BiTby for Dn"b? 12>N; 3nt] f)p? lbnn Nb thou shalt not desire [any]
silver or gold that [is] upon them ; and in familiar language we have the same
ellipsis, for we might very well say the silver or gold on them, for the silver or gold
which is on them, just as we say that cheese on the table = that cheese which is on
the table. And, indeed, we might say, take off that cheese on the table ; but unload,
unburden could scarcely be so used. Comp. also infra xxiv. 9, lb2IT "p3? byi and
* In the pass, quoted from the Talm., we are told that Ptolemy took seventy- two (Jewish)
elders and put them into seventy-two houses, one in each bouse ; and that then lie went in unto
them one by one, and said, "Write me out the Book of tbe Law." And they wrote him out
every one the Law, and though they were not allowed to communicate one with tbe other, yet
God put it into their minds to write it out one exactly as the other. And they made certain
changes, of which a list is given, and amongst these changes (or substitutions) is that quoted here,
viz., nbaxi for ntayt, Le., the first, pers. sing., for tbe first pers. plur. It is not, indeed, stated in.
the text of the Talmud, or in the commentaries on it, why irtaNl was thus substituted, but on
another substitution, viz., murs for TWS: (Gen. i. 26), i.e., I will make, or, Ut me make, for let us
make (man in our image, &c), a Commentator remarks that tbe elders substituted the sing., in
order that Ptolemy might not think there was more than one God. At any rate, tbe substitution
proves that the elders regarded nte as the first pers. plur. fut. and not as a Niph., and this is why
Aben-Ezra — for it is Aben-Ezra who is supposed to be speaking here, and not Mendelssohn
himself— praises their substitution and quotes it, for it shewed that they agreed with bim.
In the text of tbe Talmud, one, and only one, of these substitutions is explained. It is said,
namely, that the elders would not write na:"*! (Lev. xi. 6, Deut. xiv. 7) hare, because Ptolemy's
wife's name was narw (perbapB, an allusion to the surname Lagus (Xoydbs- hwre) borne by some of
the Ptolemies), and they were afraid, therefore, that be might say, " These Jews are making
sport of me."
t Por so he evidently wishes it to be understood ; but, as a Niph. is often followed by a noun
with ns, which must, notwithstanding, be translated as a nom., so napai might possibly be tbe
past Niph. as above, and the pass, translated, and the wrk shall be turned, or, and let the ark be
twned (brought back).

664 APPENDIX. CHAP. X. 1.
[that which is] on [the] needy they take to pledge, on which see note. Gesen. would
explain by nba in Lam. ii. 14, iv. 22, in the same way (i.e., to take off that
which is upon), and this explanation certainly derives support from the use of
np? with an ace. and by (e.g., Ezek. xxiv. 7) lit. to cover one thing on another
(as I have heard a child say in Eng.) = to cover a thing with another, i.e., by
putting another on it, — for similarly by nba would = to uncover one thing on
another, = to uncover a thing by taking another off it.
"'by^ might however = sbJ?a from upon me = from off me, as we more commonly
say. Comp. Dan. vi. 19, ^niby. ill3 nn3271 and his sleep fled [from] upon
him, where Tliby. certainly = V737B . Verbs of removing, such as l^Dn &c.,
are freq. followed by bya . Comp. supra ix. 34 ; and indeed we can understand
"•by upon me, being used =from upon me, from off me, for in the removal of any
thing from a person, there are two stages. First, the object is laid hold of upon
him (and perhaps moved upon him), and then taken off him. Now sometimes
the first stage of this process is considered the more important, or the more note-
ivorthy, and sometimes the second. Thus, when we are flea-hunting, we only
record the first stage, and invariably say, " I have caught a flea upon, he., he.,"
although we never allow the flea to remain there, and although the removal of
the flea is sometimes such a comfort, that it might be deemed worthy of record.
But in the case of a burden, the first stage, the seizing hold of it, is generally
considered immaterial, whilst the second stage, tbe removal of the burden, is
considered of primary importance, and thus we generally say to remove (take off) a
burden from one, and not upon one. Still, there is no reason why upon should not
be used. In the case of a heap (of coals, for example) too large to be removed at
once, we might well say to take off coals upon the heap, or upon the place where
the heap was, although usage sanctions in preference the expression to take off
coals prom the heap. And so we might say of Job's grief which was too great
to be discharged at once, but was to be removed little by little, each outburst of
complaint or indignation, nay each word almost, lightening the load  to take off
of it upon him, to unburden it upon him, i.e., * to lessen the burden, to remove it
from him by degrees. If "baa from off me, bad been used, it would rather have
conveyed the idea that the grief could be shot o^his mind at once, like a load of
bricks out of a cart. Comp. in prec. chap. ver. 34, in?27 "bra ID'' let Him
remove His rod from off me, where V^P expresses the sudden and complete
removal of the rod.
Comp. the French expression prendre une chose sue une table = to take a thing
off, or from a table. Comp. also the French prov. il tondrait sur un osuf, lit.,
he would shear, (i.e., remove hair, &c.,) on an egg, i.e., he would find something
on the egg to shear off. Comp. also our to live on bread (Heb. Drib by mn).
with the Fr. vivre de pain, he. We can also say, to live off a thing. Comp.
too the Fr. boire dans un verre, with our to drink out of a glass.
* Indeed, if we translate 'rrfo 'to miss , I WM lessen the burden of my grief UPON me,
we understand the use of the bs at once.

APPENDIX. CHAP. X. 1. 665
Some take "by = ^pl.p? and translate bei mir, with me, within me; but certainly
/ -will let loose my complaint within me, as Conant renders our hem., does not
necessarily imply that the complaint was to be heard by the world without,
whereas Job evidently did not mean to express that his murmurings would be
internal only (see note*). This explanation is perhaps supported by the
phrase, ^B? TTSJllpn "by (infra xxx. 16), and still more by ^B? "by n3B2>N
(Ps. xlii. 5), which exactly corresponds in form to our expression here — for \?y
in both of these pass, is freq. rendered within me, though Mendelssohn (and with
him Gesenius) renders it in the Ps. iiber mich. But that it might also be
taken nearly = >bya is shown, I think, by 1 Sam. i. 15, "¦asb ^2733 nN ?IBt?7N1
nin] and J poured out my soul before Jehovah (and therefore out of herself) ;*
and by Lam. ii. 12, OribN pp bs D27B3 ^BPlttJn? on [the] pouring out of
their sout\s] into [the] bosom of their mothers, for it is clear they could not pour
out their souls within themselves, and at the same time into the bosom of their
mothers, and indeed Mendelssohn's iiber mich seems to imply that the outpouring
was external and not internal. Still, the very similar expressions "bi? ?]Dynn?
Tin (Ps. cxiii. 4), nninpn "<27B3. -<bv (Ps. xlii. 7, and cf. ibid. vers. 6, 12), &c,
where "'by cannot well be rendered otherwise than within me, shew that, even in
the case of the verb "TB27 } by may be translated in. Comp. Ps. cvii. 5, where
we find 0n2 instead of OPiny. after the verb noynn , and see note on ver. 7.
Gesenius' Lexicon Manuale is not so perfect that it can afford to be mistranslated ;
yet I find that Dr. Tregelles in his translation gives as tbe third meaning of
IT27 quarrel, and quotes several passages in Job. Suspecting the mistranslation,
I turn to the Thesaurus (which no doubt agrees with the Lexicon in this respect),
and I find, as I expected, " QUERELA quam quis effundit." Now, querela is no
doubt the same word as quarrel, still I prefer rendering it complaint.
As for the form nptyN , I think there is little doubt but that the parag. n
much increases the force of the expression. It is as though in Eng. when we say
I will unburden, with strong emphasis on the will.i At the same time, however,
* i.e., out of her mind, yet within her body, for we are told (ver. 13) that, though
her lips moved, her voice was not heard. But in the pass, in Lam. audible complaints are
prob. alluded so, as children are not wont to hide their sorrows. But the by may = to at,
upon. + Ewald, (Krit. Gr. pp. 526, 527) calls this form with parag. n (which is chiefly found
in the first pers., though it occurs in this book in the 2nd and 3rd, viz., infra xi. 17,
™»n , xxii. 21, insian) the first pers. of the optative, the second pers. being the imperat.,
whilst the third pers. is found in those shortened futures which we have already had,
e.g., n*, -id; supra ix. 33, 34, on which see notes. In the one case emphasis is given by
lengthening, in the other by shortening. But it is of little importance by what name we
call a form, if we are agreed as to the signification, and as I agree with Ewald that the
n is equivalent to the addition of some such particle as dock, mm, denn (op. cit. p. 287), I
will not quarrel with his optative, though the form very freq., as here, denotes rather a
firm determination (a will), than a wish, and it is evident the Heb. had no fixed rules for the
employment of this form. Comp. infra xxxii. 20, where Elihu uses rraa» (absolutely) in the

666 APPENDIX. CHAP. X. 2 — 6.
the n conduces to euphony, by connecting the verb more closely with the
word next following it — by bevelling off as it were, the perpendicular edge
between itself and the next word, an edge which is so grating to an Italian
ear, that they will even say (as I have heard an Italian say quite seriously)
Birminghamo, Liverpoolo. As Job has much more reason to be vehement, and
is more vehement, than his friends, who speak less of their own feelings, the use of
the fut. with paragog. n , is much more freq. in Job's speeches, indeed nearly
entirely confined to them. Comp. supra ix. 27, 35, infra xiii. 13, and Index,
and see Ges. Lehrgeb. pp. 285, 286.
Ver. 2. "ppnn . 3n is found with an ace. also in Isa. xxvii. 8 ; else, it is
generally followed by Dy or j!N , but also, though less frequently, by ? and bN ,
Comp. Ps. cix. 3, ',aianb}1 and they have fought me = (P or) PV iapb}1,
which are more usual eonstr. than the ace. For similar examples in this book
see Index.
Ver. 3. It is perhaps in consequence of Job's designating himself by the
expression TBP ya], [the] work of Thy hands, that he is afterwards led
(vers. 9 — 11) to describe the different stages of the process which resulted in his
birth. Ver. 4. For the eonstr. 2713N niN"i? , comp. supra ii. 10, nilN 131?
m 'p?!! , and my note upon this passage.
Ver. 5. ia3 p^3 , I do not see why there should be any ellipsis here, such as
Dr. Bernard supposes. He no doubt thought it strange that the years of God
should be compared to the days of man, seeing that we are told (Ps. xc. 4 ;
2 Pet. iii. 8) that to God a thousand years are as one day. But in the first place
days were in phrases of this sort constantly used by the Hebrews, as they still are
by us, as equivalent to years, seeing that it makes very little difference whether
a man's life be counted by days, or by years. Comp. Gen. vi. 3, " Yet his days
shall be an hundred and twenty years." And, in the second place, it seems to me
that the years of God and the days of man are here very finely contrasted. The
finite life of man may well be counted by days  it is so short ; but the
units (if units are to be sought for) in the immeasurable existence of God can be
nothing less than years.*
Ver. 6. I do not see why the ''P in this verse, should not be taken in its
usual sense of that. If we translate it that, then ver. 6 gives the reason why in
vers. 4 and 5, Job asked God if He were like a man ; but if we translate
N? surely, then vers. 4 and 5 have no apodosis (excepting we imagine one), and
very little connection with ver. 6. Besides, if "p = that, then vers. 4, 5, with the
''p (Hast Thou eyes, he., he.,  that ?) of ver. 6 exhibit a construction exactly
first hem., and nncst (with an ace.) in the 2nd, no doubt because nrtnSN would have been too
long. He and Gesen. both connect this paragogic n -with that which, affixed to nouns,
means towards. Ewald says of it (as added to a verb) that it expresses, " ein Streben nach
einer Handlung, die Richtung des Gemuths."
* Job asks in the first instance, " are Thy days as the days of man ? " and then, intensify
ing his language, he adds, " are even Thy years as the days of man ? "

APPENDIX. CHAP. X. 6, 7. 667
corresponding to the very much briefer "'P T? Bian (in Ver. 3), Is it good for
Thee that, he. ?
Dr. Bernard himself formerly translated the "P that.
b or bN. , when following 2711 seems to express great earnestness in the
search (ein Streben nach Etwas, as the Germ. say). Thus, bN bN 2711 (supra
v. 8 (on which see note), and elsewhere) means to seek after God, to pray earnestly to
Him. The same is probably the case also with 0^73, which is less frequently found
with the dative. So in Eng. to look for, to seek, search after, is much stronger
than to seek with an ace. nim. nN 2711 is freq. found, e.g., (Ps. xxxiv. 5, lxix. 33,
&c), but it seems to me to be (or originally to have been) much less strong. To
seek God might only mean, to pray to God from the earth, i.e., to inquire, beg of
God from a great distance, but to seek unto God, as bN bN 2771 is commonly
rendered in the Auth. Vers., would rather mean to seek to come quite close up to
God, to accompany one's prayers in the spirit to heaven.* If this be so, then
(as what one earnestly seeks after, one commonly desires to find), bN 2711 is
almost equivalent to, to long for, desire, yearn after. The nach in the Germ, sich
sehnen nach (our long foe) appears to have much the same force. See note on
supra iii. 21.
Ver. 7. inyi 73 . The by here seems = within, in, as in some of the
examples quoted in note on ^33? supra ver. 1, explanation 3. Or it may mean
before, as supra i. 6. But comp. especially supra vi. 28, DB\3S 73, which we have
translated before your face, and taken in a sense very similar to that which we
give 'jnyi bs . We may perhaps comp. the phrase 3b by nby (Jer. vii. 31,
xix. 5, xxxii. 35) to come up upon (i.e., into) the heart, (for we could not say
upon). So 3b by &b ISa. lvii. 1, 1 1, to lay upon heart = to lay it to heart,
or lay it up in the heart ; and i27 by 121 (I Sam. i. 13) to speak within one's
heart, to oneself, though, as in Gen. xxiv. 45, we find iab bN 121 in the same
sense, by may be = bN in this case.t Comp. also infra xiv. 22, where we have
rend, the second by within. Some Commentators, as Gesenius, and perhaps Ewald,
translate by notwithstanding here ; and this sense certainly may be extracted
from it, for it = against, and against = much the same as in opposition to, still this
sense seems to me more forced than tbe first. See note (in Comm.) on na by
infra xiii. 14.
b'aa l^l'P 'PN'!. The phrase b^pa l^NI is of very common occurrence.
Comp. supra v. 4 ; Judg. xviii. 28 ; 2 Sam. xiv. 6 ; Ps. vii. 3, 1. 22 ; Is. v. 29,
&c. With the addition of 7} , it is less frequent, but it is found, besides here,
Deut. xxxii. 39 ; Isa. xliii. 13 ; Dan. viii. 4, 7, and in the first two examples is
used, as here, of God.
* Indeed, Gesenius suggests (s. v. wn) that to wn = to go to some one to inquire, the
eonstr. being more or less pregnant.
t And, indeed, we also find a^ to D'to = lb to D'to , so that to prob. = upon, though it
might mean within, and the to into. Comp. also ib? to (infra xvii. 16, xx. 11, &c), which
we render in the dust.

.;fcbi„.

668 APPENDIX. CHAP. X. 8 — 11.
Ver. 8. sai3-py . The verb 23jy (in Pi-al) means to form with labour, toil (i.e.,
great care) to work out — the Lat. elaboro. We have the same idea in 1TB? S'p}
(supra ver. 3), the labour, toil, work of Thine hands, with which we may comp.
the Lat. opera, commonly labour, work, toil, but also, though rarely, the result of
such labour, &c, whilst the Fr. osuvre, which is derived from it, is commonly used in
the latter meaning. So our work = labour, and the product of labour, as A work.
2>?D IIT . The im altogether, seems to refer to the whole body, and the
B^pp round about, to every little recess or detail in it.
Ver. 9. Many Comm., without any occasion, make the 2nd hem. of this verse
interrogat. As we have translated it, Job emits a sentiment which we have already
heard, though in different words. Comp. supra vii. 7, 21, and vi. 11, 12. ian
clay, and 733 dust, are no doubt placed intentionally in juxtaposition (see
infra xxx. 19). Man is moulded as beautifully as any object in clay, but clay
is very readily reduced into dust, and so is man.* Comp. supra iv. 19, " the
dwellers in houses of clay," and infra xxxiii. 6, " I too am cut out of clay."
Indeed, we might transl. " Remember now that Thou hast made me like clay,"
i.e., frail and perishable as clay ; and then, perhaps, it would be better to rend.
1B37 earth, (a meaning which it sometimes has), as more nearly corresponding to
clay than dust does. Others transl. nan? = ipn(n )a? wie aus Thon (Schlottm.J.
This is possible, as prep, are omitted between 3 and the word to which it is
prefixed, but I do not like it.
Ver. 10. Here, if anywhere, we might have expected the past tense to be
used, seeing that the operations described in this verse had taken place long ago,
and could take place but once, and yet we have the fut. (pres.) It is as though
Job stands by in thought, and witnesses the wondrous work of his formation in
the womb. In the somewhat similar pass. Ps. cxxxix. 15, 16, the past is used ;
and supra vers. 8 and 9, we had the past. It may be observed, however,
that Job uses the fut. (pres.) in this and the next verse, where he speaks of
processes which concern the whole human race equally with himself, and which
are, therefore, constantly going on, and that in ver. 12, when he speaks of
what more peculiarly concerns himself, he uses the past.
Bbn? . It is well known that the article is com. used in Heb. with objects
which are selected as standards of comparison, prob. because, as Ges. says, (Lex.
s.v. n), such objects must be well known; still this is by no means always the
case, esp. when the noun is defined hy the addition of a verb, &c. See infra
xi. 16, m?37 D}D? , and Index. So we say, " black as the raven's wing.''
Ver. 11. 272b with an ace. meaning to put on, to clothe oneself with, (as
supra vii. 5), 27,2bn of course means to cause to put on, and so takes two ace.
Q-ma] niapypl . Observe that the prep. 2 is not repeated before oma .
Comp. nn.Qy] b]12 Dy? infra xix. 24, and ni33] F)ha xxi. 12 ; and see note
on Dnyaai IN^? supra i. 16 ; and Index.

* Comp. Gen. iii. 19, " For dust ("i3») thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."

appendix, chap. x. 12 — 14. 669
In this verse, indeed, the fut. is really much more correct than the past,
because our flesh, bones, and sinews are constantly being renewed, but of course Job
had, if any, but a very faint idea of this.
Ver. 12. !p!l n27y to do (shew) kindness is commonly followed by Oy with.
We say to shew kindness to, but to deal kindly with, a person. Comp. infra xlii. 8,
nbpa D?ay nit»5 ""nbpb , where 03 is similarly used. Else, to do a thing
to a person is generally rendered in Heb. by b n27y , as in tbe well-known phrase,
B'nbN ib nttf?} ]3 Thus may God do unto me, he.
Ver. 13. nbN . These things, i.e., these evils, afflictions, though Job has not
made any direct mention of them in this chapter. We may, therefore comp. this
pron. with the nan supra vi. 7, the Nin supra viii. 16, and tbe nsn3 infra xxiii.
14 (where Job apparently also refers to his afflictions) ; only, here, we do not, as,
at any rate, in the first of those cases, stand alone in our interpretation. Most
Commentators, however, refer the nbN and the nfrSt to what follows. See Ewald,
who divides vers. 14: — 16, into four parts (1st — ver. 14; 2nd and 3rd — ver. 15 ;
4th part — ver. 16) — which he calls the grausames Tetralemma and vierfaches
Netz, which God bad laid up for Job), and transl. about as follows : " I know
that this was Thy purpose, first, that if I sinned, Thou wouldst watch me most
narrowly, &c. ; 2ndly, that, if I did wickedly — woe should be unto me," and so
on — but this seems to me much too artificial. That n^N may refer backwards
is shown by supra viii. 2, n7N 77an .
For the change from the plur. n^N to the sing. nNt , see note on map} supra
viii. 19 ; and comp. infra xii. 9 (on which see note), where nNt corresponds to
"ib^ as here.
Tjpy with Thee, laid up with Thee, stored up in Thy mind, so that, the sense
is the same as if we supplied nasp (or rather miBS), from n]B2 in tbe first
hem. Comp. Prov. ii. 1, vii. 1, 'HnN IBpn 1.nipai and My commandments
thou shalt lay up with thee. Comp. also infra xxiii. 13, and xxvii. 13, in both
of which passages the oy appears to have exactly the same power as here, so
that Dr. Bernard has explained it = laid up with. Comp. again Deut. xv. 9, " lest
there should be  *^?: D^ IN ity heart;" and so ibid. viii. 5. Comp.
also infra xxix. 18, S?P oy , lit. with my nest = in my nest ; and xxvii. 11.
Ver. 14. ''anpapi . We may comp. this with supra vii. 12 nat?7*a 'b37 D>bn P
(on which see note). The verb is found in much the same sense infra xiii. 27,
xiv. 16. There is no occasion to transl. na27 , as Dr. Bern, does ; "pniatpl may
well be rend., " then Thou wouldst have watched me (wouldst now have been
watching me)," i.e., wouldst have shown that Thou wert watching me by
continually plaguing and tormenting me, by never leaving me alone for a single
instant. See supra vii. 17 — 19, infra xiii. 27. Nor am I sure that it is necessary
to transl. the conv. past, and future in this verse, as fut. exact., futures of past
time, would have watched, &c. We might say, I think, " Had I sinned, Thou
wouldest (now) be watching me  Thou wouldest not acquit me ... . woe
would be unto me ... . &c," though I expect Dr. Bernard understood the
would have's to refer to the period, which bad elapsed between the commencement

670 appendix, chap. x. 14, 15.
of Job's sufferings and tbe time at which he is now speaking, and if so, the
would have's and the mould's would have much the same meaning.
Ver. 15. 'b^N . I very much doubt whether this word comes from bb'' , as
Dr. Bernard supposes. Ben-Zev does not give it under bbs ; Kimchi gives it
under root bbN , along with bnN , though he does not appear to connect them
in any way. He says, however, that bis brother (Rabbi Moses) thought the N was
instead of ^ — just as in 1 Chron. ii. 13, we find ""EPS for ''tt?} (Jesse) — the root
being bb1* , and the "'— , the poss. affix = my. He might also have compared
the Heb. tt7} and Chald. VTN (or mN). But in both these cases, the N is rather
prosthetic than instead of the s - It seems to me much simpler to suppose (with
Ges.) a root bb« = bbv
libf7 y?27 might, perhaps, possibly he, in apposition with the "ON implied in
N27N ; I cannot lift up my head, [being] full of disgrace. Comp. supra iv. 7,
laN ^pa Nin p who [is] he [that] has perished [being] innocent, where spa is in
apposition to Nin , or, to n2}N. supplied after Nin . But I would much rather supply
•ON or ''BbN (from N*t0N) before y?tp . Comp. supra ix. 32, "OIOS 2>"N «b "<3 ,
where Nin is omitted (see note in Comm.) ; nan VDN ix. 19 (on which see
note), and supra ix. 8, nD3 (on which see note). See also infra ver. 1 7, nis'bn
and note upon it; and infra xi. 8, "'Hpa for mpa N^n, and note upon it.
nN7 . Ges. takes this to be the eonstr. form of a verb. adj. nN! ; -whilst
Umbreit (comparing b/] Deut. xxxii. 10, and mry Ezek. xxi. 15), considers it
to be an irreg. infinitive, governed by y22>, and translates "von Schmach
ges'attigt und vom Anblick meines Elends." Wolfssohn translates nearly in the
same way, " Warum immer mit Schmach beladen, immer ein Zeuge meines Jammers
sein ? " though he does not explain how he obtains this meaning. Hirzel would
read nijl seeing. There is no doubt that, if we take it as an imperat. (and this
I think we bave no alternative but to do, seeing that nN"] occurs eighty times,*
in the Bible as the imperat. of nN7 to see, and not once in any other sense) 
the sentence may perhaps produce a certain impression of abruptness and
harshness, according to our present style of writing, but is there a greater degree
of it than is usually indicated by our dash ( — ), a sign which the Hebrews did not
possess ? I think not. The Hebrews like this abruptness. Comp. supra viii. 22,
where having read that those that hate God, put on shame, we expect to find the
destruction of their habitations portrayed at least at equal length, whereas the
poet breaks abruptly off, and says lap^N ¦[ they are not, whereby he produces a
much greater effect, an effect that many translators, e.g., Conant, attempt to
render by a dash, " but the habitation of the wicked  it comes to naught."
See Index, s. v. Abrupt Clauses, he. Nor is the present the only place where
Job, after describing the wretched state to which he has been reduced, breaks off
and appeals for pity and for mercy, for infra xix. 21, he again stops short in the

* ^ forty-nine times, nsni thirty-one times, exclusive of this place.
t lit., of course, it is not.

APPENDIX. CHAP. X. 15, 16. 671
description of his sufferings, turns round to his friends and cries, " Have pity
upon me, have pity upon me," &c.
Hirzel objects to the rendering we support, because, forsooth, " die copula 1
dazu nicht passen wiirde ; " but it surely is well known that 1 does not by any means
always signify and, but sometimes, but, so, therefore. Comp. Ps. iv. 4, 1ST1 which
cannot be translated and know, but must be rendered, but know, so know, know
then, or know alone. So Ps. ii. 10, O"? ,a nny] now therefore, O kings.
To be sure in these instances the 1 begins a sentence, while here it apparently
couples two phrases, and we may, therefore, perhaps more appropriately compare
'TO! (infra ver. 20) thebefore desist, or yi] (infra xi. 6) then know.
But the best proof that nN"] is here an imperat. as usual is found, I think, in
Lament, i. 9, where the words >l}?3 nN nin] nNl. behold, Jehovah, my affliction
(an interpretation which I believe nobody will dispute), occur quite as unexpectedly
as ,|]ayr nNl jn the passage before us ; and so ibid. ver. 1 1, nDipil] nNl. , and
ver. 18, where Jerusalem suddenly turns round to the nations and bids them,
" hear, I pray you, all people ''BNpa 1N")1 and behold my sorrow." Comp. also
ibid. ver. 20.
I should not have thought it necessary to write a note at all on this so very
common a word, only that it has caused all the Comm. so much trouble — apparently
because they are unacquainted with the idiom, that a pers. pron. is freq. omitted
before participles, adj. &c, when the pron. is readily to be supplied, as here, from
the context.
Ver. 16. nN?}! . To those who think that this stands for nN3} DN] and if it
(i.e., "TON! my head, in the prec. verse) lift itself, or be lifted, up — it may, I think,
be objected that the verb nN3 would be quite unsuitable here in such a sense, since,
if it could be used of tbe lifting up of the head (which I doubt, for with the
exception of two passages, where it is used of God (Exod. xv. 1, 21), and means
to be high, exalted, great, it is only used of the growing up of a plant, supra
viii. 11, and of the rising, swelling up of water (Ezek. xlvii. 5)) — it would, to
judge from its derivatives nN| proud, niN3 pride, he., — mean that the head
was raised in a proud and haughty manner; and if Job did raise his head in
such a manner, he could scarcely complain of God's punishing him. Besides,
according to our interpretation at least, he bad just said that, though innocent, he
could not lift up his head. If Job had wished to say what these Comm. put in
his mouth, he would, I imagine, rather have said NtBN/j or N27N ON] and
if I do raise up my head again, meaning in a meek and humble manner, as
people generally do who have been greatly degraded ; for then the contrast
between Job and God would have been much greater. God's wanton cruelty
would have been compared with Job's humility.
Wolfssohn understands this verb as we do, " Oder ist es was Grosses u. s. w. ?"
I allow that this interpretation is somewhat forced, but certainly not so much so
as that which I have just condemned. Comp. supra ver. 3. T? BiDn fs it good
(seemly) for Thee ? where the sense is much the same, and where we have the
masc. = a neut, as here. [That verbs are freq. used impers. in the masc. is well
known. See note on HPN} infra xxvii. 19].

672 APPENDIX. CHAP. X. 16.
That the n of interrogation is not unfrequently omitted is well known. See
note (in Comm.) on 1"py supra ii. 9, and Index.
After nNJ} we must supply ""? , which is sometimes omitted. Comp. infra
xix. 25, p 'bN.'a ''nyi} "ONI for p p$l "3 that I know that my Redeemer
liveth. Comp. Ps. ix. 21 ; and see note on Nlp.P1 infra xiv. 15. But in Eng.
it is much more common to omit the that. Thus we say, I know he did it,
I wish he hadn't ; I fear he won't, he. So the Germ., Er sagte er sei, He said
he was.
"•p NbBiin 327'm. This may perhaps be rendered, "and that Thou shouldest
again and again shew Thyself wonderful on me," i.e., repeatedly exhibit Thy
wondrous power at my expense ; still it is as difficult to understand 2127 which
usually = again, here to = again and again, as it is to take it in the sense Dr.
Bernard gives it. The words might I think be taken = that Thou shouldest turn
back (i.e., alter Thy course), and shew Thyself mysterious to me. In the very
next verse, Job speaks of his sufferings as being renewed, and as coming on in
succession, like so many bodies of troops. It would seem then that he had
periods of relief (unless indeed one body of ills remained, like so many sentinels,
until relieved by the next), and if so, he might well charge God with first fiercely
hunting him, as a lion might,* and manifesting His presence to him, by the arrows
(supra vi. 4 ; infra xvi. 13, 14) which He shot at him ; and then suddenly
ceasing, and hiding Himself impenetrably. From supra vii. 13, 14 ; ix. 27, 28,
infra xvi. 13, 14, xxx. 17, it may be inferred also that the assaults of God were
intermittent, in other words, that Job was liable to paroxysmal aggravations of
bis disease, and that, from time to time, fresh crops of ulcers shewed themselves
(see note on ii. 7). Comp. Hos. ii. 11, where >nnp_b] 2127N evidently = 2" will
turn (i.e., pursue an opposite course) and take away, as we might say, / will
take away again (what I had given), without meaning to say that He had ever
taken away before. It is true that in our passage there is no 1 between the
two verbs, but even in Hos. the 1 seems chiefly to be put for the purpose of
converting the past ; and besides, when 2127 = again (a second time), 1 is
sometimes found between the two verbs. Comp. also Isa. vi. 13. Job would
very likely consider this intermission of God's attacks, as a proof of the
capriciousness with which he charged God in the last chapter.
227'J! for 2ia\F) . 327 J! does not seem to occur again, but 227*} occurs very
freq. See Numb. xxv. 4 ; Deut. xx. 5 ; 1 Sam. v. 11, &c. These forms in
Chowlem are, no doubt, shortened forms, and correspond to the shortened futures,
such as n27}, ID} , which we have already had, supra ix. 33, 34. Comp. Ges.
Lehrgeb. pp. 287, 288, and so also for Bin] f in the next verse. If the rules
which he there lays down do not always apply, it is worth while to bear them
in mind. See also note on ibya supra i. 20, and on DBPDNN. and n3ivj infra
* Some take ^m?? to be the accus., " That Thou shouldest hunt me sicut leonem."
t These apocopated forms really belong to the same category as such forms as a»n , "iej,
&c, for it is impossible to shorten the fut. of the verbs n"b , either in Kal, or in Hiph.,
otherwise than by apocopating them.

APPENDIX. CHAP. X. 16 — 19. 673
xvi. 5, 21. If what Gesenius says (p. 288, b) is true, then the 1 in Bp.il] can
scarcely mean and,* but this fut. must be dependent upon some verb which
goes before, and indeed I do not see why it might not depend upon nN?} in
the prec. verse, and the connection be, "and is it then so glorious  that
Thou shouldest renew Thy witnesses, 2P.il] and that Thou shouldest increase
Thine indignation against me, &c. ? "
i? N7Biin. Observe that the Tsayreh of the second rad. (b) has been
lengthened into Kawmets, as though the verb were the last word, and were in
pause. See note on *2 Ivjinn infra xiii. 9, where I have suggested that a
verb may take the pausal form, when it is separated from the place which
would entitle it to take the pausal form, only by a monosyllabic word, such as
"•S , or 12 . For this assumption of Kawmets in the Hithp., see Index.
Ver. 17. The omission of a prep., or 2 before nis'bn and N3.2 greatly
increases the force of the pass. See note in Comm. on bp supra viii. 9. Some
consider these words to be dependent on B"}n] , but a far better construction
seems to be that adopted in the A. V. " Changes, and a host are with me."
+ B1 0r nail (referring to Tiy.) might, however, very well be supplied before
niCbri ; I have already shown (see note on supra ver. 15, llbp 37227 , and on
nan yp& supra ix. 19) that the Hebrews frequently leave out a pers,, or
demonstr. pron. before adj. or participles, when they think that the ellipsis can
readily be supplied from the context ; and, if so, why should not the same ellipsis
be found before substantives ? See note on T7?| infra xi. 8, and Index.
Ver. 18. This verse seems to confirm the view I have taken of supra iii. 10 ;
on which see note.
The lit. transl. of the second hem. seems to be, " I ought to have expired
when (or, so that) the eye would not have seen me."
Ver. 19. Wolfssohn connects this verse with the preceding, and translates,
"So ware ich ja, wie nie gewesen, aus Mutterleib in's Grab getragen;" i.e., if
Thou hadst not brought me forth out of my mother's womb, if I had died when
no eye had yet seen me, why then I should have been as though I had never
been, I should have been carried straightway from my mother's womb to the grave.
Dr. Bernard's version, " I ought to have been as though I never had been,"
of course is intended to express, that Job wished he had died before he had lived
long enough to be said to have lived, i.e., that he had died an immature foetus
* But i when joined to an apocopated or shortened fut., sometimes undoubtedly does
mean and. Comp. infra xiii. 5, where Dab >nni is very generally transl., and it will (or would)
be, though Ewald, true to his rule, transl. it damit es golte euch, and obtains very poor
sense. See also infra xxiv. 25, where Ewald himself does not transl. nfe;i so that he might
make, so as to make, though it might perhaps be taken so.
t It seems to me more poetical not to supply the on , as then there is greater abruptness.
Nor is there, perhaps, any occasion to supply are, as the two nouns might be taken to
be in apposition with fV- and *|^£3 • But, whatever the eonstr., I take the sense to be that
given by Dr. Bernard. If niD'fri and was refer to *n? (the first noun) only, and not to
^P?? (the second noun), we may comp. note on n« supra iv. 19.
X X

674 APPENDIX. CHAP. X. 19  22.
in the womb, a 11DD bsa (supra iii. 16) a hidden abortion, and therefore
expresses in other words much the same sentiment as the second hem. of the
preceding verse. [It would be better, perhaps, to understand the verse as
expressing that Job wished he had died directly he came out of the womb (as
supra iii. 11). He would then wish that he had either died in the womb (ver. 18),
or just after he had come out from it (ver. 19). We should then have to supply
an or at the beginning of this verse (ver. 19). An objection to Wolfssohn's
transl. is, that it seems the Hebrews believed it possible for a child which died
in the womb to remain there for years, and, indeed, until the death of the mother.
See note on supra iii. 11, p. 579. At any rate, his interpretation is only
possible on the supposition that ver. 18 (second hem.) implies, that if Job had
died in the womb, he would not have remained there, but would have been born
dead, for how could he have been carried to the grave, if he had never come out
of the womb ?]
Ver. 20. D3 a here is either a subst. = a little, a little thing (comp. nypa supra
viii. 7), or an adj., when it would stand for D^pya few, just as, infra xxiv. 7,
we have wb} Dil3 for Dually . Comp. Ps. cix. 8, D^aya. VB} 1T1]. Ewald,
indeed, asserts (das Hohelied, p. 17) that D^pya is a much later form, which
arose merely " aus Missverstand," i.e., because the Hebrews of the time when
the above Psalm and Ecclesiastes (in which, Chap. v. 1, D^pyB also occurs) were
written, knew so little of their own language, that they took D3B to be an
adjective ! ! This is an assertion worthy of a young man of twenty -three
(Ewald's age when he wrote the book above quoted). But the Germans use their
word wenig, in very much the same way that the Heb. do Oyp ; that is, they
decline it, and use it as an adj., and they also use it as a subst., or an adverb.
Thus they say, wenig, or ein wenig, Wasser, little, or a little water, and wenige
Fehler, few faults ; and we use little in much the same way — little, or a little, water,
little men. Thus, the Germans and English have also, according to Ewald, been
guilty of some misapprehension ! In our day, writers, and esp. poets, are allowed
to use old words in fresh ways ; was this privilege denied to the Hebrew poets ?
Besides, in all languages time greatly modifies the meaning of words.
Ver. 22. In the Comm. Dr. Bernard seems to have supplied n2 12?N in which,
or 027 12?N. where, after Y"?w •* In the Translation, however, it will be noticed
* Nor is this explanation to be despised, for comp. Deut. viii. 15, Van "ipsa sp'tos!
ajjJS) *1"W wj «-juni who led thee in the great and terrible wilderness [wherein were] fiery
serpents and scorpions — where we have no alternative but to supply ia "i»n or raj "i^Si
though no doubt (as Mendelssohn hints) great emphasis is given by the omission of these
useful but very unmeaning little words, as thereby a number of very forcible and sonorous
words follow, one after the other, undiluted by weaker ones, and at the same time an
abruptness, a disjointedness (a kind of staccato) is obtained which adds much to the effect.
And, similarly, if we take yiN here to be in the absolute state, and nnns , nirts and d'TJP
to be all of them independent of it, we may lose in smoothness of construction, but I think we
shall gain in rugged grandeur. The difficulty is that yw is one of those words, concerning
which it is impossible to decide whether it is in eonstr. or not. See note on 'srn i*1) 'nra
infra xii. 24; and comp. infra xxxviii. 26, where, as stated in the next page, y>» is
prob. in the absol. state. Cf. also xxxi. 39, where toaa may be either dbs. or in eonstr.

APPENDIX. CHAP. X. 22. 675
that he has sanctioned my translating as if nnsy and niabp were both governed
by yn^ m stat. eonstr. That a noun in construction may govern a word separated
from it by other words, as map? is from Y"?.N , I have endeavoured to shew in
my note on niabp? infra xx. 17. See also note on D^D} vpPNB !i?3 infra
xv. 10.* By many Commentators Qnip rfb] is also made dependent upon
Y^N, and onip Nb lit., not-orders, is taken to be a kind of compound word =
disorder. In the same way they would understand 'H"]! Nb infra xii. 24, and
UN N7 ibid. ver. 25. That there are compound words formed in this way is
incontestable. Thus Mendelssohn translates bN Nb? (Deut. xxxii. 21) mit
Ungottern, and 037 N72 in the same verse, mit einem Unvolke; and so we have
D!N N7 and tt7^N N7 in Isa. xxxi. 8 = no-man, and much resembling the famous
Ovrts of the Odyssey. Comp. our nobody, and nothing, which are always regarded
as one word. For other examples, see Ges. s. v. Nb (Tregel. (5)). Still, this
is no reason why onip N7 should be a compound word, and it would make such
an awkward-looking compound word, from the subst. being in the plur., that I
prefer to supply np after it, and not order in it =&nd in which there is no
order. Comp. Deut. xxxii. 21 02 "|BN N7 U-'l'S. children, not faithfulness in
them = in whom there is no faithfulness. But the best example is to be found
infra xxxviii. 26, 12 DIN Nb 721B D^N Nb VP.N , where, as ia (referring to
1B"!P) is actually found after DIN , it ia nearly certain that np (referring
to Y"]w) should be supplied after t^N and where, consequently, YPN
(which corresponds to nplB) is most likely in the absol. state. See note on
T]."1 N7 infra xii. 24. But there is scarcely any necessity even to supply
the n2, for N7] seems to be almost equivalent to Nb? without, just as N7
itself alone sometimes certainly is. Comp. infra xxxiv. 24, npn N7 =
T.n Nbp , and for other examples, see Ges. s. v. Nb (Tregel. (3)). Comp.
also npjl Nb] infra xxxvi. 26, and note on lp.0 l^N iy , supra ix. 10.
We might also comp. such phrases as b^SB l^N] supra v. 4, which we have
(rather freely perhaps) translated " without any to deliver.'' At all events, these
examples shew that Nb] may sometimes be Englished by without.
From the use of ia? , bs'N would seem to be a stronger word than nnpy .
We have therefore rendered the latter gloom, and the former deep-darkness.
Still, the use of this ia? is curious, and seems to weaken the force of the
sentence. Even to us it would be much more forcible to say, A land whose
gloom is (actually is) deep-darkness, than a land whose gloom is like deep-
darkness, and yet the Hebrews, who so much more commonly than we do leave
out the 3 0f comparison and say, a thing is another, instead of saying, it is like
another (see note in Comm. on bp , supra viii. 9), here use twice a weakening
*l°? . But this is not the only instance, for comp. Numb. xi. 1, " And the
* The difficulty is less if, as is suggested in the last paragraph of this note, tofc iaa nnas
be regarded as forming a sort of compound word governed by yv» .
x x 2

676 APPENDIX. CHAP. X. 22.
people were O'oaNna? lit., as £it were] complaining; and Ps. Iviii. 8,
ibbbm iB? VSn -JJlT. which, by supplying n#N: before ^P!} = let his
arrows which he shootelh (lit., bendeth, i.e., draweth up to the bead on the bow)
be as [it were] cut off (i.e., be cut off at the point, pointless, or, with Mendels
sohn, cut themselves to pieces, be zersplittert, shivered). For other examples, see
Ges. s. v. B (Tregelles, B (4)). He plausibly suggests that B in these cases
corresponds to the Gr. dis, oo-ov, and the Lat. quam (as in ois paXurra, quam
maxime, Sis Ta^iora quam celerrime, he.) = as (much, &c.,) as possible. Unfortunately,
it is a suggestion which is ineapable of proof. But if 3 (or IO?) have this
meaning, then we might translate bBN IB? here as deeply dark as possible,
intensely dark; for it is well known that in Heb. subst. very frequently =
adjectives. Comp. note in Comm. on nan infra xix. 29, and see Index. But
even those who would refuse to the B this meaning, leave it untranslated in some
of these instances. Thus, in the pass, quoted above, from Numb. xi. 1, Mendels
sohn translates 0"p3NnB? misvergniigt und beklagend sich, and so in the
pass, from Psalm Iviii. 8. Similarly, the A. V. in Neh. vii. 2, renders
nBN t^N? Nin "p For he [was] a man of truth. Gesenius says, the older
Grammarians (he does not name them) called this 3 the Capk veritatis. Does he
mean by this that they considered B to = imply likeness in every respect, identity,
and so to = indeed, in very sooth ? If so, we might comp. our real in he is a real
gentleman. Somewhat similar to the B thus undertood, is the so-called Beth
essentia, of which Dr. Bernard considers we have an instance, infra xxiii. 13,
where he takes HIS? Nin = ins Nin .
Onip . I do not think that this word should be restricted in its meaning
to disorder in the division of time only ; it no doubt includes every kind of
disorder and confusion, likely to prevail in a land of deep-darkness.
'BN IB? ysni So that it shineth like deep-darkness; a, fem. used = a neut.
Comp. Ni3P1 and 3?an supra iv. 5. If n? -ittJy be not supplied after VIN ,
na is almost required after yshl , though in Heb., as in Eng., it is clear, even
without the pronoun, where the shining took place.
If we disregard the accent in nnsy (which, however, we have no right to do,
unless we consider ourselves better Heb. scholars than those who put the points
and accents), or place it on the ultimate, instead of the penultimate syllable, we
might translate (a land) her darkness = a land whose darkness ; for the mappik in
the term. n__ = her, is sometimes left out. See note in Comm. and Append.
on nan. infra xxxi. 22. According to my manuscript notes, however, Dr. Bern.
formerly transl., " A land whose gloom, &c."
Or.e difficulty with regard to bEN IB? is that the ia? strictly-speaking (i.e.,
if ntt?N , or np 727$ is not understood), should refer rather to Y"]N the go
verning, than to nnpy , the governed word. Still, we do find instances in
which adj. at least agree (in number, &c.) with tbe governed noun, as
O^nn oniaa nt£7p (1 Sam. ii. 4) [the] bow of [the] mighty [is] broken ; only there
the adj. agrees in sense with the governing noun, which is not the case here. I
do not see, however, why Vl.N may not be regarded as governing all three words
bEN iap nnsy , which really form only one idea. It is well known that a

appendix, chaps, x. 22 ; xi. 2 — 4. 677
noun in eonstr. freq. governs a whole clause ; see note on infra xxix. 2. On the
whole, I think, the eonstr. adopted in the Comm. (see the beginning of this note)
is the most vigorous, and at the same time that which is the least open to
objection.

CHAPTER XI.
Ver. 2. 0}nB2> 27''N . A man of lips, a man of much, and probably, idle talk.
Comp. 0}nS27 -)?1 (2 Kings xviii. 20 ; Prov. xiv. 23), lit., word of lips = foolish,
idle talk. Comp. also D}ilBtt7a ND? (Lev. v. 4 ; Ps. cvi. 33) to babble, talk idly,
inconsiderately, rashly with the lips. This expression, man of lips, seems
to me a very forcible one ; for when a man talks much, and at the same
time idly, it is chiefly the incessant movement of his lips that is noticed.
In many languages, the verbs which signify to talk much and idly, begin with, or
contain, one or more labials, i.e., letters which require a movement of the lips for
their utterance. Comp. our babble (with three labials) ; Ger., babbeln; Fr., babiller,
&c. Soout jabber, blab, prate ; Ger., plaudern, plappern ; Dan., pladdre, pjatte,
&c. So the Greek (5a.Tro\oyiio (comp. the Heb. ND3 quoted above), and the Lat.
effutio (an / also occasions a slight movement of the lips). Comp. also our
murmur, mutter, mumble, stammer (with their equivalents in other lang.), blubber,
Fr., barboter, he. — words which also express movements of the lips, and at the same
time require considerable movement of the lips for their pronunciation.* Indeed,
the equivalent of lip in many languages contains a labial.
Dr. Lee, to judge by his quotations (to which might well be added Isa. xxix.
13) seems to think that a man of lips here rather = a man who makes professions
(indeed he translates it a man of much profession), than a babbler ; but there is, I
think, no reason for believing this to be so. The use of the word Tl? thy
fictions, or lies, may indeed lend some colour to this suggestion ; still, babbler
accords better with multitude of words, with which it stands in parallelism, and
it was quite unnecessary for Zophar to make the charge of insincerity in the
second verse, since he does so in the third. I will, however, observe that
]it£7b 27,N lit., a man of tongue, in Ps. cxl. 12, is generally understood to mean
a slanderer ( = by implication, a liar).
Vers. 3, 4. I here prefer Dr. Bernard's rendering, because I think that D^nB
* Comp. also such words as chatter, It. cicalare, ciarlare, cianciare, &c. Indeed, in
pronouncing ch in such words (and./, as in jabber, &c, is allied to it), the lips are, perhaps,
more forcibly moved than in pronouncing a labial.* A labial too, when followed by I or r,
* In Eng. ch and j (and tbe corresponding Ital. c and g, as in ce, ci, ge, gi) are certainly Up
turning letters, but in Swed. I believe that tbe sound which corresponds to ch in Eng. (viz., * before
e> h y) is pronounced with but very slight, if any movement of the Ups.

678 APPENDIX. CHAP. XI. 3, 4.
men, here forms a strong contrast to nibN in ver. 5 ; still, I would rather avoid, if
possible, translating 3ybni and nBNni and (or so that) thou mayest mock andmayest
say, without taking any notice of the 1 conv. It is, however, much better to take
them thus than to make them = dost thou mock and dost thou say ? * as some do.
Zophar here charges Job with hypocrisy, that is, with boldly asserting his
innocence, and declaring it even in the face of God (as criminals often do), in the
hope of blinding those who hear him, and deluding them into the belief of his
innocence. Ver. 3. O^na is commonly rendered Leule, les gens, people. Dr. Bernard
seems to derive it from nia , but neither Kimchi nor Ben-Zev do this, though
Kimchi says he once did.
aybni and T^S are commonly referred to God, as though Job had mocked
at God by saying to Him, " I am pure in Thine eyes " (comp. supra x. 7). This
is possible ; but the reader must decide whether he will apply the 2nd hem. of
ver. 3, and ver. 4, to God ; to D^riB (with Dr. Bernard) ; or, generally, to God
and man alike. Dr. Bernard's rend, seems to me more Heb., than the 1st
interpret., because, as O^np is used in the first hem. of ver. 3, we naturally
supply it as an object to aybni and naNni . For the omission of the object,
see note on Ob?B T'NI . We need not supply so much after npNn] as Dr.
Bern, does, but, simply Dnb , and then T^y? will be used for Oppiy? . See
note on map} supra viii. 19. The two verbs might, however, well be taken
generally. Job had not used the words attributed to him by Zophar, but he had said as
much. See supra ix. 21, x. 3 (by implication), 7, 15, &c.
Db?B l^NI. For the omission of the object, see note on yiafb supra vi. 7.
For the Short Cherik, see note on ibya supra i. 20. For similar expressions see
supra v. 4, x. 7. For the TN] comp. note on Onip N7] supra x. 22.
as in blab, blubber, plaudern, prate, &c, is also more explosive than a simple labial. It
will be observed also that in all the words I quote, the labials, or lip-moving, letters,
are tbe initial letters. In whisper (susurrare, chuchoter, Ger. raunen, &c, and many other
of its equivalents) there is either very slight movement of the lips, or, if there be a labial,
it comes near the end ; whilst there is freq. a hissing sound either at, or near, the beginning.
It must be allowed, however, that there are a great many words beginning with labials, with
labials followed by I or r, and with ch or j, which do not denote either talking or, indeed,
the production of any sound. It may be, then, that the occurrence of these letters in
words, denoting talking or the production of some sound, is merely a curious coincidence ;
but, if so, may it not be noted as such ?
* Still, we might perhaps translate, Thy fictions may put * men to silence (i.e., they
are such that they might have this effect, and thou holdest them to be capable of producing
this effect) and so (or so that) thou mockest  and sayest, &c. The eonv. fut. (or
pasts) would then really be more correct than our presents, as they would refer rather to
what Job had been doing, than to what he then was engaged in.
* We can scarcely transl. with Schlottm. "Thy fictions put men to silence," because they did
not put to silence those who beard tbem.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XI. 5 — 7. 679
Ver. 5. in] p . See note on supra vi. 8. The eonstr. is best seen by transl.
lit. into Lat. " Quis dabit Deum loqui ? " 1?1 ilib.S in} p , is of course much
more emphatic, and at the same time more euphonious than nib.N 121 If]} p .
Ver. 6. That is, if God would but enable thee to see as He seeth, then thou
wouldest know, &c.
0}bB? . Two-fold, double, is only found once more, viz., Isa. xl. 2. The sing.
'¦?? occurs infra xli. 5.
y"I] . See note on nai supra ii. 9, and on NmPI bN , supra v. 22.
n27}. The verb n273 undoubtedly means to forget (Lam. iii. 17), as well
as to lend or borrow, and in Hiph., to cause to forget (as infra xxxix. 17),
as well as to lend, so that most translate here that He causeth to forget for thee a
part of thine iniquity, i.e., causes it to be forgotten,* remits it ; but, as nt??}
would then really stand for 1tt?B3 nt&} causeth Himself to forget (since it could
be God only who would forget the iniquity), we should have the very round
about expression He causeth Himself to forget for thee, &c, instead of He
forgetteth for thee, &c, and therefore it seems much simpler to me to understand
it (with Dr. Bernard) lendetk, crediteth thee, although it must be allowed that in
the sense of lending to a person the verb ntt?3 (Jn Hiph.) is always followed by
2, e.g., Deut. xxiv. 10, xv. 2 ; Ps. lxxxix. 23. Still, the b may well be taken
to mean in behalf of, as it is by the supporters of the other view.
For the partitive B , comp. the French de in donnez-moi de ces confitures, he.
Ver. 7. Ben-Zev .thinks the primary meaning of npil is the end, boundary, or
origin of a matter, the Ger. Grund, and Dr. Bernard seems to agree with him
(see note in Comm. on infra xxxviii. 16), for he translates Oinn Ipn in the
passage just quoted, the recesses of the deep. It might, therefore, here mean the
depth, profundity, of God (die Tiefe Gottes, Ew.), i.e., as here the depth is
without limit, the unfathomable depths of God's wisdom, and so would well
correspond to mbpn , which means end, limit (infra xxvi. 10 ; Neh. iii. 21),
and might be so translated here, npn and mb?n would then be taken pas
sively and not actively as Dr. Bernard understands them, still there would be no
great difference in the meaning ; for, in order to penetrate into the depths of
God's wisdom, i.e., to discover the secret springs of God's actions, one must have
the wisdom of God, with which Dr. Bernard makes Zophar say Job wished to
compare his own wisdom. Ewald gives mbpn the meaning of the highest point
(Gipfel), in opposition to npn the deepest point, of God's wisdom, but how he
obtains this' meaning out of mbpn he does not condescend to explain ; perhaps
because mbpn may be translated consummatio, and summus means highest! still
the notion of perfection contained in mbpn is quite as readily derived from the
notion of extreme extension in the horizontal (end, limit), as in the upward
direction, and there is nothing in the root nba indicative of height. His object
is, of course, to contrast height with depth in this, as they are contrasted in the
* But why should to cause to forget = to cause to be forgotten ? though to be sure we
might comp. '?ia»ni supra ix. 31, and ^nen infra xxxi. 39. Some, however, though without
any auth., take the Hiph. here = the Kal, and so give forgets for thee as the lit. transl.

680 APPENDIX. CHAP. XI. 7, 8.
next verse, but in doing so he injures the parallelism, yet contrast, between
vers. 8 and 9, for why should height and depth be twice spoken of, and length and
breadth only once ? The reason why he transl. Gipfel, is evid. on ace. of TJpa .
Some Comm. take n,7?n 13 = completely, perfectly, but without authority.
iy NSB is certainly never found = to attain unto, but if N3JB may mean to
reach, to attain, as is allowed on all hands, and it is also used neutrally with
b in the kindred meaning of to suffice (e.g., Numb. xi. 22 ; Judg. xxi. 14) =
Ger., hinreicken (see Ges.), we can conceive it might be followed by ny , when
it means to reach, although in this sense it commonly takes an ace. So we
say to reach, attain, a thing, and to a thing. It is, indeed, found = to reach,
with b , but some might say that it was not the less an active verb, just as a
Spaniard would probably style matar an act. verb, and yet say, matar a un
hombre, to kill a man. So we should scruple to call 3in to kill, a neuter
verb, even in supra v. 2, when it is followed by b .
Ver. 8. In the Comm. the first hem. of this verse is made to refer rather
to the supposed endeavours of Job to attain to the perfection of God (i.e., to the
whole of the preceding verse) than to the perfection itself, whilst the second hem.
seems to refer to the perfection, and not to the endeavours ; but as this creates
some confusion, it seems more simple to refer the whole verse to nnpn (and
np.D). "It (the perfection of God) is the heights of heaven  deeper than
the pit  " Dr. Bernard would almost seem to have regarded nj?ay , n31N. ,
nBIl! us feminines used instead of neuters (see note on naab27] infra xxxiv. 33),
but it is more simple to refer them to mbpn . We then have an instance in
which adjectives (npTB37 , &c.) though in sense really referring to both of two nouns
preceding them (npn and mbpn) are used in the sing., and made in form to
refer to only one (mbpn). See note on *1N supra iv. 19. ynn IB might,
however, also have been referred to Job's endeavours, like b3?Dn na , for the
verb yi1 sometimes = to know how (like the Fr. savoir) almost = to be able (comp.
infra xxxii. 22). The sense would then be, how canst thou know how, or, how
canst thou be able (to attain to the perfection of God) ?
na means both how = ?pN , nB^N , and what, but, as it much more freq. =
what, perhaps it is better to take it so here. Still, I should have translated
bs?n na how canst thou do [if]? i.e., effect thy purpose of attaining to the
perfection of God, and ynn na how canst thou know [it] ? i.e., the perfection of
God — so as to agree with the Comm., only the meaning of the first it would
not have been clear.
The dag. in the n in b37Bn and ynn is not the dag. lene inherent in the
nB3133, but dag. forte foil. nB .
D}B27 "'npa [the] heights of heaven, may be regarded as a more forcible way
of saying D}B27 "'Daa? as, like [the] heights of heaven, i.e., as high as the heights
of heaven, as high as heaven. Comp. Cant. v. 14, His hands are Bnt n^ ??,
rolls of gold, and ver. 15, his legs are tt727 n.1B3? pillars of ivory. Comp. also
Cant. v. 1 3, vii. 2 (where B is both used and omitted), and see note in Comm. on
bp supra viii. 9 ; and Index. We really have very similar expressions in English,

APPENDIX. CHAP. XI. 8, 10. 681

or

although they do not strike us. Thus we say a man is a goose, an ass,
a pig, whereby we merely mean as silly as a goose, as stupid as an ass, as dirty
as a pig. From the second hem. it would appear that the heavens were con
sidered to be higher than the pit was deep. D}D27 Tipa might possibly (though
less well) be taken = D^Btp "'naa? , just as infra xxii. 12, D]B27' nab is generally
transl. [in the] height of heaven. The meaning would then be :* It (the perfection
of God) is in the heights of heaven, far beyond thy reach. Ewald, however,
takes 0]B2} naa = as high as heaven (himmelshoch), and it certainly may be so
understood. Before TTpa we must supply N^n referring to mbpn (or to the whole of the
prec. verse). That a demonstrative (or personal) pronoun is thus freq. left out,
when it is quite clear what, or who, is spoken of, I have already shown. See
note on nis'bn supra x. 17 ; on libfl yato supra x. 15 ; on nan ypt* supra
ix. 19, &c.
Ver. 10. I'D}. The meaning of this verb is here uncertain. The most
obvious rend, is, of course, to pass by, as supra ix. 11, iv. 15, but this does not
seem to me appropriate here. Others (as Gesen.) render to rusk upon, assail, but
neither the examples he quotes, nor the comp. with nay (e.g., infra xiii. 13),
convince me that ^bn can have this meaning, at any rate when applied to persons.
But *1 ^n, in Kal, sometimes means to pass away, vanish (as supra ix. 26), or to
be changed (as Ps. cii. 27), so that, if it can be used trans, (or causat.) in Kal, it
may well mean to make to pass away, vanish, or to change (comp. 3127 = to return
and to cause to return), and so in both cases to destroy, cut off. Comp. VIB'bn
infra xiv. 14 ; n?27B ibid. ver. 20, used of the change from life to death ; and the
verb 1 'n , 73y which sometimes mean to pass away, perish, as infra xiv. 20, xix. 10,
xxxiv. 20, xxxiii. 18, xxxvi. 12. The question is, therefore, can ^bn be used trans.
in Kal ? Well, it is considered by many to be used trans, infra xx. 24, Judg. v. 26, in
the sense of to pierce (in which sense it might he taken here), and in Isa. xxiv. 5, to
transgress (a law). In Chald. also (or Rabb.) Buxtorf gives it the meaning of
mutare in Kal. Kimchi maintains that the root *)bn has also the notion of
cutting, and that thence is derived the Heb. D^bqa (Ezra i. 9), and the Rabb.
ni217n, both meaning knives; but these words might, as Ges. suggests, be
derived from the meaning of passing, passing near, grazing. Comp. the Lat.
radere, the Fr. raser, our razor, and to shave = to cut superficially, horizontally,
and to touch slightly, though in these cases the notion of scraping, cutting, seems
to be the primary and not tbe secondary meaning.
I have made this note, because the meaning of *lbr]} in Isa. ii. 18, on which
pass. Dr. Bern, bases his rendering here, is also disputed, the verb being taken
intrans. by many Comm., e.g., by Rosenmuller, Gesenius, Ewald. I myself prefer
Dr. Bernard's rendering.
n^D}] . Comp. infra xii. 14, tP'-N by lap} [if] He shutteth up a man ;
and some take the Hiph. here in this sense, which it certainly has in Lev.
xiii. 11. Comp. supra iii. 23, infra xiii. 27, &c.

682 APPENDIX. CHAP. XI. 10  12.
b'np}}. Comp. Lam. i. 15, nyia "by N"ip He hath called against me
an assembly (to break (crush) my young-men) ; and better Jer. 1. 9,
D}ia bn,7 bpp by nby.BI T>3B >33N nan Behold, I will stir up, and cause
to come up against Babylon an assembly of nations. Most Comm. take b^npn
here to call an assembly together against a person, for the sake of judging,
and executing judgment upon, him. Comp. Ezek. xvi. 40, xxiii. 46, where
'B 73 7nj? nbyn certainly may have this meaning, though bilp may very well
mean an assembly, a body, a multitude of enemies, as in the passage from Jer.
Hirzel quotes 1 Kings xxi. 9 — 13, where Naboth is judged in presence of the
people, and stoned by them. Let the reader judge. Job, no doubt, uses this
verb and the other two, generally, still I think he alludes to God's treatment of
him in particular. Comp. note on D37 infra xii. 2, ibid. ver. 14, and supra
ix. 11.
laB^tt?] "'BI then who can prevent Him, is rather a favourite expression in
Job, for it occurs twice besides here, viz., supra ix. 12 (without the conductive
or apodotic 1), and infra xxiii. 13, and in no other book. But n22"27} ''BI who
then can turn ii back, occurs in Isa. xiv. 27, xliii. 13 ; in the first pass, used lit.
of the hand of God, but in the second of the work (actions) of God, and so =
who can hinder, prevent it? See note on supra ix. 12. For the apodotic 1 , see
note on infra xxxiv. 29.
Ver. 11. The verb }312nn is perhaps better rendered here to give heed to,
note, mark, as infra xxxii. 12, than to perceive ; for in these verbs, when taken
in an unfavourable sense, there may lurk a little notion of punishment, which
there is not in perceive. Comp. the Lat. animadvertere = to perceive and punish.
" Though He may not shew His sense of it," would express the meaning here;
or, giving the Hithp. (with Dr. Bern.) the meaning of to seem to do a thing, we
might transl. though (or when) He seems not to heed, note, mark, it; or without
seeming, he., as N7] may often be Englished. See note on onip Nvl supra
x. 22. ]312nn is a favourite verb in Job, for it only occurs twenty-two times
in the whole Bible, and of those it is found eight times in Job (here, xxiii. 15,
xxvi. 14, xxx. 20, xxxi. 1, xxxii. 12, xxxvii. 14, xxxviii. 18), four times in
Isaiah, four times in Jer., five times in Psalms, and once in Kings (1 Kings
iii. 21). See Index.
Ver. 12. 2123 . This seems to be contrasted with 227] in sense, though it
forms a jingle with it in sound, and, therefore, it may be well rendered, foolish,
foolish of course being taken in a bad sense = wicked, as freq. in the Bible. Thus
b23/oo/, is so used in Ps. xiv. 1, lxxiv. 18, and prob. also supra ii. 10.
N~!3 1}3 might perhaps be joined with D"JN , = a wild ass's colt of a man.
Comp. Gen. xvi. 12, where we have 0"]N N"i3 = a wild ass of a man. The sense
would then be, even though he should have been (were) born a wild ass's colt of a
man. The chief objection to this rendering is, that the second hem. is then made
dependent upon the first, whereas from the use of 27,N in the first, and DIN in
the second, it looks as if the two hem. were intended to be independent in
construction, though connected (parallel) in sense. Comp., however, Ps. xxii. 7,

APPENDIX. CHAP. XI. 12, 13. 683
where tt7sN and DIN , though used in the first and second hem. of the same verse
respectively, do not correspond.
None of the renderings given by other Comm. commend themselves to my
judgment, for in them either 227} is taken = is void of understanding, for which
there is no auth.,* or the second hem. is transl. lit. the colt of a wild ass is
(or must be) born a man, and taken to mean the colt .... becomes (or must
become) a man, as though nbin to be born could = to be born again, become ! !
I prefer, therefore, Dr. Bernard's rend., although for me the pass, will ever
remain a doubtful one.
Observe the absence of the 3 of comp. as before ''npa supra ver. 8, on which
see note. We might say of a man He was born an ass.
Ver. 13. nisnn . Many take inn here in the sense of to set, direct, and
connect it with V^N. 37 inn certainly does sometimes mean to set, direct,
the heart, as 1 Sam. vii. 3, 2 Chron. xx. 33, where it is followed by bN , and
cannot, therefore, well be rendered prepare. Infra xv. 35, however, inn is trans
lated prepare. If we do not connect ni3nr] with inN , we might translate
it thou directest, i.e., settest aright, correctest, makest right, true, and sincere,
for 11B3 is allowed on all hands to mean true, sincere. Comp. infra xlii. 8,
¦13133, Ps. v. 10 (Mendelssohn, Nichts Redliches), he., and 1? the adj. = right,
upright, true (see note in Comm. on this word, supra ix. 35). So in A. V.
I find 127 inn Nb 111 (Ps. lxxviii. 8) translated, " a generation that set not
their heart aright." (Ben-Zev explains it, aufrichtig denken.) Comp. the
expression 37 n.27} lit. [the] straight of heart, i.e., tbe upright. But, which
ever rendering is chosen, the sense is much the same.
The past tenses in this verse may be translated or understood as pasts. " If thou
hast setthine heart aright, and hast spread," he. (or hast thou set, and hast thou spread),
i.e., as soon as thou hast set, hast spread, &c, then (ver. 15) thou shalt surely, &c.
* Gesen. (Treg. transl.) says, " I formerly objected to this interpretation, which alone is
suitable to the context, on the ground that there is no example of the privative power of
Piel being transferred to Niphal; but this is removed by Arabic examples, as tiyi^o
[from ,xii£ liver] wounded in the liver." That is to say, whatever holds good in Arabic,
must hold good in Hebrew ! ! How very logical ! ! Besides, Gesen, should have remembered
that (as a rule) all the Pi-dls (and Kals) in Heb. and Rabb. derived from nouns denoting
a part of the body, signify, when used privatively, the removal, or lesion of this part of the
body in its literal, and not in its figurative sense. Thus F]"» (Kal) means to break the
neck, ds? (Jer. 1. 17) to break bones (and so also vra), aji (Rabb.) to remove the tail. But
in these examples, some one may say, the verb could not have a figurative meaning. True,
but in Rabb. we also find jw to remove the ears, but not to remove the hearing, to make
deaf. If, therefore, aaS (which means in Rabb. animum addere, animosum reddere (Buxt.)),
and aaVt, could be used privatively, it would be a question whether they would not express
the removal of the fleshy, material heart, rather than the removal of the heart in its figurative
meaning = understanding. But comp. Cant. iv. 9, where atf is used privat., and where
it may be doubted whether the heart spoken of is a figurative or a material one. I incline
to the latter view, because the heart which is wounded or ravished by love is — if I am to
judge from the frequency with which the first of these sad events is represented pictorially
—regarded as eminently material.

684 APPENDIX. CHAP. XI. 14, 15.
Ver. 14. The preceding verse forms merely a conditional clause, and is
completed hy the apodosis in ver. 15. The present verse also contains a condition,
but is complete in itself, for it contains as well two exhortations, the first forming
an apodosis to the conditional clause. It does not, therefore, require * a second
apodosis (though it gets it in ver. 15), and consequently, does not harmonize in
construction with tbe last verse, but, running, as it were, across the rail, between
vers. 13, and 15, it throws ver. 13 off the line. To make the two verses (13, 14)
run smoothly together, they should be both purely conditional, as if I said, " If
thou prepare thine heart, and spread out thine hands unto Him ; If there be
iniquity in thine hand, and thou put it far away from thee, and suffer not wrong
to dwell in thy tents. Then, surely, &c. ;" and Renan has thus smoothed away
the harshness in his transl. But the Hebrews sometimes write as we should,
for supra viii. 5, 6, we have a passage in which the conditional form is strictly
preserved right up to the beginning of the apodosis. But, infra xxii. 21 — 26,
the jumbling together of conditional with hortative sentences is still more
marked, than in the passage now before us. In ver. 21, there is an exhortation
followed by a little quiet, unpretending apodosis of one word, as though Eliphaz
wished to prepare Job for the string of exhortations he was going to overwhelm
him with, by giving him a foretaste of the good things he was going to promise
him. Then, in ver. 22, there are two more exhortations. In ver. 23, come
two conditional clauses beginning with ON , with an apodosis of one word (as in
ver. 21), squeezed in between them. This is backed up by a third batch of
exhortations in vers. 24, and 25,  and lastly in ver. 26, we have the com
mencement of the grand apodosis. f This confusion of constructions is natural,
and occurs every day in the spoken language of most people ; only we, when we
come to write, sit down, and plane, and file away all that is rough and rugged,
whilst the Hebrews wrote rather as they spoke.
Ver. 15. As this verse forms the apodosis to both ver. 13, and ver. 14, and
these two vers, differ considerably in their construction, it is not to be wondered
at, if the ,? which commences the apodosis does not exactly suit both
constructions. If translated surely, it suits ver. 13 very well, but does not suit
ver. 14 quite so well ; and, if translated for, it suits ver. 14 very well, but
* When I say, does not require, I mean does not require, grammatically SPEAKING,
for the apodosis contained in ver. 15, being of quite a different nature from the two
apodoses contained in ver. 14 — inasmuch as the former describes the results which will
arise to Job from a reform in his conduct, whilst the latter merely bid him reform— does
not in the least clash with them, as far as the sense is concerned, and, indeed, is just as
much required to complete the sense by ver. 14, as by ver. 13. That much additional
force is obtained by the use of the two imperat. mpmn and jstfn b») (for bit with the 2nd
pers. fut. — an imper.) is at once seen if we substitute for them inp'rnni and p!in tfti , the
construction which would suit our Eng. idiom better. Comp. si ver. 6.
+ This pass, in xxii. 21 — 26, is, indeed, not strictly analogous to the pass. I am now
considering, for the apodoses d^i and n:an in vers. 21, 23, are not hortative, as our two
apodoses in ver. 14, but express results, like the grand apodosis in vers. 26 — 31, and like
ver. 15 here. Still there is sufficient resemblance between the two pass, to render a
comparison between them instructive.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XI. 15  17. 685
ver. 13 not at all. Surely, is therefore the preferable rendering. Comp. the same
words tN n infra xxii. 26, and nny n supra viii. 6, in both of which
pass, the ''P begins a very similar apodosis, and is translated by us, surely. The
n is of the same nature as in n 03S2N , infra xii. 2, on which see note.
The prefix B (or ]B) has also a privative sense in the following examples,
infra xxi. 9, nilBB without fear ; Ps. xlix. 15 ; Isa. xxiii. 1, &c. See note
on ntt7?B infra xix. 26. O N273 Ut, to lift up [away] from, seems to be used
pregn. = to lift up so as to be away from, without. It is as though nVilb were
omitted, and such an ellipsis between a verb and its prep, is sometimes met with.
See note (in Comm. and Append.) on 'HOP infra xl. 15. And, indeed, when B is
used in this privative sense, some part of the verb to be must comm. be supplied
in Eng.
pSB lit. poured out, cast, molten. This is a favourite word in Job. Comp. infra
xxxvi. 16, xxxvii. 10, 18, xxxviii. 38. So also pl^} , which has lit. much the
same meaning, is also vised = firm, infra xli. 15, 16. The Hebrews were very fond
of expressing fear, unsteadiness, want of firmness, he., hy words conveying the
notion oi fluidity, liquefaction, he. (comp. Ps. xxii. 14, "lam poured out like
water  my heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels ; "
infra xxx. 16 ; Josh. v. 1, "their heart melted," vii. 5 ; Nah. ii. 10, &c.) So
that it is natural that in order to express the opposites oi fear, unsteadiness, he.,
they should make use of words denoting the solidification, concretion of fluids.
But p2T> , though meaning to melt, when figuratively used as here, always denotes
hardness, firmness, (as, indeed, our molten freq. seems to do) not softness, irresolu
tion, &c. As for the form PPP , instead of the more comm. and reg. p21B (root
p2,)I it is difficult to say whether it is an instance of Dagesh instead of a
Quiescent (see note in Comm. on n?"]N; , ver. 9), or whether, as some parts of
pSs are formed, as though from the root P^a (see Mas. and Bern. Gramm., vol. i.,
p. 293), the Hoph. part, has, in this case, followed the same irregular course.
At any rate, we find the same form in 1 Kings vii. 16, ntpna ppa .
Ver. 16. natn for ia~!??n . See note on ?iS?b supra vi. 7, and Index.
Ver. 17. onnsa lit. more than noon-day, i.e., as noon is especially distin
guished for its brightness, more bright than noon-day. Comp. Isa. x. 10.
nsyn thou shalt fly (soar). Comp. Ps. xc. 10, npyai and we fly away,
and lv. 7, "Oh, that I had wings like a dove, nB137N f would fly away, and
be at rest." Comp. also infra xxx. 22 ; Isa. xl. 31 ; Deut. xxxii. 13 ; Isa. Iviii.
14 ; The verb W never means to be dark, and tbe only words derived from it to
which the meaning of darkness is attributed are H^P and ^P/IO Isa. viii. 22, 23,
and ng^y which only occurs twice, supra x. 22 ; Amos iv. 13, so that there can
he no doubt as to how nByn should be translated. It is true that the second
pers. fut. very rarely takes the paragog. H , which is so common in the first pers.,
hut Gesen. (Lehrg. p. 286) allows that we have an example of it here. See note
on rtB?yN supra x. 1. Jarchi, ingeniously comp. nntP nysy supra iii. 9.
Ben-Zev translates, like A. V., thou wilt shine, though he does ^ not say
how he gets this meaning, but he evidently connects it with "-UW "'Bysy,
which he explains, the brightness of the dawn. Still though ''Bysy . may indi-

686 APPENDIX. CHAP. IX. 17  20.
rectly mean brightness, yet we have no indication of this signification in the
root ffW .
The comparison with the morning is very striking, for the Hebrews freq. use
darkness = adversity, and light = prosperity, and accordingly the future prosperity
of Job is depicted as the light or brightness of morning succeeding to the dark
ness of night. Observe, however, that according to our notions, the cart is put before
the horse, for the greater brightness (viz., that of noon-day), to which Job would
probably attain last, is nut first. Job had said, supra x. 22, that he was fast going
to a land of darkness and gloom, and so Zophar holds out a brighter picture to him.
Ver. 18. mpn 27} n when there is hope, as in Prov. xix. 18, "Correct thy
son mpn 27} n when (while) there is hope ; only, in our pass., we must supply
1? to thee, " when there is hope to thee " = when thou hast hope. Comp. Ruth
i. 12, "If I should say nipil ni^.] I have hope." We might translate, how
ever, " thou wilt feel confident, that there is hope (for thee)," but this is much
less forcible, for one may entertain a confident hope, and yet not see it realized.
Comp. the parallel pass, infra xxii. 27, 28, where Eliphaz assures Job that all
bis prayers will be heard, and his purposes established.
niBJl] . Renan also translates, " Tu regarderas autour de toi." Schlottmann,
" Spah'st umher." Conant, " And thou wilt search," and others similarly.
Ver. 19. V^n i8 also used of man, Isa. xiv. 30. It is generally used of
animals, such as sheep, the lion, &c, and is, therefore, well applied to men who
lie down to rest with as little fear of any impending danger, as animals do.
nnna l^N] . TjriiN must be supplied, as after obpa l^N] Ver. 3, on which
see note.
Ver. 20. !?N D13a . These words followed by 10 , or, as here, by the prefix
O, occur also Jer. xxv. 35 ; Ps. cxiii. 5 ; Amos ii. 14. 10 13N to perish from,
occurs also in other places, e.g., Jer. xlix. 7, xviii. 18 ; Ezek. vii. 26, i.e., it is
met with chiefly in the poetical and prophetical books ; still it does occur once in
Deut., viz., xxii. 3, " And so shalt thou do with every Iprin 127N TfTIN nipN
laaB lost-thing of thy brother's which shall perish from him," or, as very properly
rendered in the A. V., " which he shall lose," for to lose, or to be lost by, is the
plain prosaical interpretation of the phrase. And, indeed, the verb alone means at
least once to be lost, e.g., 1 Sam. ix. 3, mbnNil n3"J?rfn! Now the she-asses were
lost. Comp. also Ps. cxix. 176, !?N n2> a lost sheep, and nipN something lost.
Indeed, as the Hebrews have no active verb signifying to lose, B IBN is the
ordinary way in which to lose is expressed in writing Hebrew. Observe the use
of the past 13N . It is as though Zophar, after saying, " but the eyes of the
wicked shall fail," corrected himself by adding, but what do I say ? shall fail, the
wicked shall hope in vain ! nay, their refuge has already perished from them,
and with it all hope, but the hope of speedy death. See note on 11B (Jn Comm.)
supra v. 20. Comp. supra viii. 13, 14 ; Ps. cxii. 10, &c.
Wolfssohn translates the second hemistich, "Ihre einzio-e Hoffnuno- ist  der
letzte Hauch." Comp. infra xxxi. 39, ""nnsn mb3?? 27B31 or [jf] f have
caused the owners thereof to breathe out [their] life.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 2. 687

CHAPTER XII.
Up to the present time, Job had, with one exception (supra vi. 15—30) scarcely
addressed himself to his friends, or taken any notice of their arguments, but had
contented himself, either with indulging in loud and general complaints concerning
the bitterness and hardness of his lot, or with addressing himself to God, accusing
Him of capriciousness, injustice and the like, and complaining that he could not
he allowed to plead before Him. But now, galled at last by the taunts and the
humiliating advice of his friends, be turns round to them, and in this chapter
and the beginning of the next, charges them with teaching him nothing which
he did not know before, and with defending God through interested motives.
Then, however, he reverts to the principal object of his thoughts, and again
addresses himself to God in the hope of inducing Him to cease from torturing
him, and to allow him to plead bis cause before Him.
Ver. 2. n 03BN . Most Comment, seem to ignore the presence of the n ,
without, however, assigning any reason, and translate, as though it were not there,
of a truth, no doubt, wahrhaftig, vraiment, he. Gesenius says that 03BN, though
an adverb, is twice foil, by ''P , " quasi integram sententiam contineret adverbium,
verum (est) quod; " and, besides our pass, he quotes Ruth iii. 12, where the A. V.
likewise transl. "P 03BN it is true that. Dr. Bernard, too, in the Comm. has
translated 03BN infra xix. 5, the truth is. Ges. also comp. "P nan Ps. cxxviii. 4.
The n in these and similar cases seems to depend upon some verb (or other part
of speech) expressing asseveration (such as / say, declare, assert, &c), understood;
an ellipsis, which Ges. himself (s.v. "'P) adopts in the case of the ^P which is
used after "ON *>n [As] Hive ! See note on Nb ON supra i. 11, esp. p. 550, note.f
That the Heb. freq. do use conj. particles in such a way, that their employment can
only be explained by the ellipsis of some verb before them, is well known. Thus
OH and Nb ON after verbs of swearing are com. used elliptically, as is shown in my
note just quoted. So again before the conj. IB lest, we must freq. supply a verb,
such as take heed, he. Comp. infra xxxvi. 18, and see Nold. and Ges. But as in
Eng. we are not in the habit of using that elliptically, so, when n meaning
that, is used elliptically, we must either supply a verb before the that (which
would commonly be very tedious), or we must leave the ^P untransl. and omit
the that; or else we must replace the "'P by some Eng. particle (such as surely,
&c.) which conveys the sense, without translating the word ; and the other Heb.
particles which are used ellipt. must be treated in the same way. Comp. 1 Sam.
x. 1, nin] fjn27'a n Nibn lit. [is it] not that Jehovah hath anointed thee ?
n'est-ce pas que le Seigneur t'a oint ? = is it not true that Jehovah hath anointed
thee, or more briefly, and omitting the that, surely Jehovah hath anointed thee.
The VuR well transl. " Ecce, unxit te Dominus," but the A. V. absurdly, " Is

688 APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 2.
it not because the Lord hath anointed thee?" as if Samuel had suddenly and
unexpectedly poured the oil upon Saul's head, and then explained to him why he had
done so, lest Saul should take offence. But if P &;n = surely = NPn alone (see
Ges.); then P 03BN may = verily, truly, = D3BN alone, for Nbn (in this case)
= 03BN . So in the pass, quoted above from Ps. cxxviii. 4, npa TjnB] ]3 n nai
nin] NI] * Behold [I maintain, assert, or, know ye, be assured] that thus shall
[the] man be blessed that feareth Jehovah ; but where the P that, is conveniently
omitted, « Behold, thus shall," &c. So also infra xxxv. 15, iBN IpB 1]N p nJ!3]
(on which see note), where the P may be explained as in the foregoing examp., but
may well be left untranslated, or be rend, by indeed, which gives the force of the
understood verb. So, again, in the puzzling-looking pass, in Ruth iii. 12, P nn3J]
''P3?? bNa p Q3BN, both P's may be left untranslated, and the pass, rend., "And
now of a truth, I am a near-kinsman, (but, &c.)," though the first P might
perhaps be rend, though, " and now though I am, &c, &c." We may comp. also
those cases in which P is used pleonast. after IBN •(- (like on in the New Test, after
Aeyw) though the actual words of the speaker are given. But in all these inst.
the P , though perhaps not necessary (for nan , 03DN , &c., are much more freq.
found without P |), yet is expressive, and moreover serves to connect the adverbs
with what follows. In Eng., indeed, we always say truly, verily, behold, the man
is mad; but is there any reason, excepting that of custom, why we should not
say truly, verily, behold, that the man is mad, § just as we say, I declare the man
* The A. V. transl. lit., " Behold, that thus, " &c, but this would now be indifferent English
(see note §). The ttyi here conveys a triumphant assertion and is what Nold. calls a nan eer-
titudinis, and is really equivalent to mom (which might be substituted for it), only much more
vivid and forcible. Thus 'p in Chald. = behold ! and so, indeed, and, Ges. says, surely. See
Buxtorf Lex. Chald. See also Ges. s. v. rfn which he says (and correctly) freq. = njn, and
is = surely. Gesenius' suggestion mentioned above, that, namely, the adverb in these cases,
is equivalent to a whole sentence, is well worthy of attention, for dm , fcftn , and ns-r in the
pass, quoted above, might certainly be replaced by any strongly asseverative sentence, such
as if is true, certain, &c, and then no verb need be supplied after them; but why did he not
apply this principle to '?« 'n , after which he does supply a verb ?
f But these cases are, I think, much more rare in Heb., than is the corresponding use of
on in the New Test. — as may, indeed, be inferred from the fact that out of the three pass.
selected by Gesenius as illustrating this idiom, viz., Gen. xxix. 33; Ruth i. 10; 1 Sam.
x. 19, it seems to me that in the first two, the '3 is much better transl. because (Mend.
weil), and [nay] but, respectively, and is certainly pleonastic only in the last— though, even
there, it may well be rend, surely, or [nay] but (as in the A. V.), as I believe it may in
every case in which it is seemingly pleonastic after the verb 'tok . For another example
in which la after "ion = because, though at first sight it looks pleonastic, comp. Exod.
i. 19. X ™n , indeed, is only found with it once, viz., in the pass, quoted above.
§ The very fact of our putting a comma after truly, verily, &c, in these cases shews that
a certain want of connection, a kind of gap, is felt between these words and those which
follow. Now this gap, the '3 in Heb. fills up. So the que in Fr. which freq. follows
void, voild. And, indeed, in the pass, quoted above from Ps. cxxviii. 4, the A. V. has
Behold, THAT thus.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 2. 689
is mad, and I declare that the man is mad? In the case of verbs, indeed, it
would seem, from the analogy of other lang., that the full form with that is the
older, and that the shorter form has arisen from the omission of the that, and this
may possibly be the case with the adverbs 03BN , n3il , &c., in Heb. They
may originally have been always followed by P, just as Heb. verbs nearly
always are (or by some other equivalent particle), when we should use that in
Eng* — and the P may gradually have been dropped, until it now remains in a
few pass. only.
To the same category I would refer those pass, in which p is not preceded by
an adverb of asseveration, but stands alone at the beginning of a sentence and
means surely — a meaning which has, perhaps, rather too often, been assigned to
P by Dr. Bernard in this book. Comp. supra viii. 6, " If thou art pure and
upright n^y] nny p j [yn]] [then know] that presently, He will awake," = surely
He will presently awake. J Ges. indeed, (s. v. P) takes it here = then, or so, but I
do not see why we should give p this unusual meaning. Comp. also vi. 21,
xv. 5, xxxvii. 20, and see Index.
I must, however, remark that P is sometimes used after a negative sentence,
or a sentence implying a negation, and then = but. Thus in Ruth, chap. 1, Naomi
having (in ver. 8) bid her two daughters-in-law return to their families, in ver.
10, they answer her 'HP?? 31273 TjnN p § [Nay] but with thee will we return
unto thy people. So infra xxxi. 18, niy?B p [no] but from my youth.
Comp. also 1 Sam. x. 19, infra xiv. 16, and see Ges. And I think that the P in
^ B3BN may be explained in this way, for in the first place 03BN is here used
ironically and so implies a negation ; and again asseverative particles, even when
not used ironically, often imply a negative. Thus if I say, " Really, you are a
fine fellow ! " my meaning is, " I did not give you credit for being a fine fellow,
but now I see you are," and, therefore the really might he followed elliptically by
but, and indeed, I think, " really, but you are," &c, is intelligible English, if not
very freq. heard. And if 03BN can have this negative force, as I think it may, then
p 03BN might be rend, really but, or better nay but, nay verily but\\; and,
indeed, in the A. V., it is rend, no doubt but. An argument in favour of this
rendering may be derived from the pass, in Ruth iii. 12, already discussed ; for
there in the Ctheev, we find not P 03BN , but ON p 03BN of a truth but, no
* The eonstr. I know he does, &c, for I know that he does, is found in Heb. (see infra
xix. 25, and note on KJpn xiv. 15), but is very rare. The that is freq. omitted in Danish,
whence, perhaps, we have derived the idiom. In Germ, it also occurs, but much less freq.
than in Eng., and when the that is omitted, the subj. is commonly used, as ich dachte du
seiest, I thought thou wast.
t Or some such word. See supra v. 24, 25, where in a, simil. pass, we have st foil, by
'? twice ; and comp. supra xi. 6, *fj n\z£ 'a ini .
| (nns) '3 is here apodolical, but supra vi. 21, (nns) '3 is not.
§ Ges. quotes this pass, as one in which '? is used pleonast. after "ion , like the Gr.
on in the New Test., but so all force is taken from the pass. Mendelssohn trans. " Nein
wir wollen," &c. See note f, in tbe preceding page.
'I Nay, which includes in itself a negation and a strong asseveration, is freq. foil, by but
in the A. V. Comp. Acts xvi. 37, " Nay verily, but let them come," &c, and see Cruden.
T Y

690 APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 2.
doubt but, though the K'ree bids us strike out the ON (see note*). So again
"pN in [as] Hive, is foil, both by P , and by Nb DN in the same sense, so that the
P might be rend. = Nb DN ,* i.e., if not, or but (see Gen. xxiv. 38). And so, indeed,
tbe P may be explained (i.e., may be taken = but) in all the instances I have given,
provided that, where I have supplied an affirmative sentence, a negative sentence is
substituted for it. The connection between but and surely, is seen by comp.
ON i? which comm. means but, but sometimes seems to mean (or is well transl.)
surely.\ e.g., Judg. xv. 7, 1 Sam. xxi. 6 ; and also "ST^ which has both meanings,
and Nb DN if not (nisi), i.e., nearly = but, and also = surely. Comp., too, the Lat.
verum and vero; and also quin, which = but after neg. sentences, but also = of a
truth, really. So, too, quin immo, of which the latter word may itself be rend, (see
Riddle) by the apparently contradictory expressions, by no means, on the contrary,
nay rather — and yea, to be sure, he.
I prefer, however, the first' view, because the primary meaning of P is perhaps
that, but certainly not but.
Dr. Bernard's rendering of P 03BN here, viz., truly because, certainly gives
excellent sense, but seems to me less Hebrew than the meanings which I have
proposed, because he separates the 03BN from the P , whilst to me they seem to
cling together.
03? . Comp. infra xvi. 10, where Job accuses his friends of having gathered
themselves together against him ; and also ibid. ver. 4, n"]i?nN } and note
upon it, and binp} xi. 10.
opiO? . We sometimes omit the repetition of a preposition in a similar way.
Comp. Shakesp. Mer. of Ven., Act iii., sc. ii., " No more pertains to me, my lord,
than you," where than you stands for than to you. So, too, we say, " Shall I give
* Whenever ':n V is foil, by '3, tbe A. V. leaves the '3 untransl., but when tft las (which
has quite the same meaning) follows, then the A. V. frequently translates it surely, as, e.g.,
Ezek. v. 11, xvii. 16, 19, &c. But if they transl. if> dn in these cases, why not rend, the
'3 surely (or but) also? But this I see they have done once, viz., 1 Sam. xxix. 6, though
they have put the surely at the beginning of the clause, and not where the '3 stands in the
Heb. That the '3 after ':« V may have the force of but, may, I think be inferred from
our, once at least, finding it replaced by dn 'a, which means but, e.g., 1 Sam. xxvi. 10,
lasa' rrtrn dn '3 nin; 'rr as Jehovah liveth* but Jehovah shall (or must, may) smite him, where
the DN certainly does not mean not, as it generally does after verbs of swearing. See note
on infra xxvii. 3. So also in 2 Sam. xv. 21, nin; >n is followed by on '3 = but, or '? alone,
but the Masorites, not understanding the dm (any more than inRuth iii." 1 2 J bid us suppress it.
But in 2 Kings v. 20, we have it without a Masoretic note ; and so also in Jer. li. 14, after
saion . Comp. also 1 Sam. xxv. 26, where I am by no means certain that the l in vrp nnsi
. does not depend upon ?pto <rji nirr 'n , and, if so, l replaces '3 , and is more readily
transl. but, than that. In Ezek. xxxv. 11, the i in 'n'to»i certainly depends upon the
';n Tt , and so = '3 .
t In consequence, no doubt, of the ellipsis of some forcible expression like w '0 ,
nin; tj , &c. See note *
* Tbe ellipsis is prob. something hke this—" as Jehovah liveth, far be it from me that I should
lay mine hand upon the anointed of Jehovah, but Jehovah," &c. But here, and in the other pass.,
if we do not supply the ellipsis, the DN '3 is best transl. surely, or may be left imtrcmsl.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 2  4. 691
it to him, or you ? " for, or to you. The Hebrews, however, commonly repeat their
prepositions before every word. See note on 1^-2? supra i. 16. But there is
something peculiar with regard to the 3 of comparison (and the same may be
said of 10?), for I do not remember a single instance * in which a preposition
is inserted between the 3 and the word to which it is joined, although in many
cases, as in nDB? infra xxix. 23, we are obliged to supply a preposition in
English. The prep, was probably omitted, both for the sake of euphony, and
because by its omission there was but little loss of clearness. Thus, ntpab? (in
the pass, just quoted) would have been anything but euphonious, and nDBB is
almost equally clear. This idiom occurs freq. in Job. Comp. infra xxx. 5, 14,
xxxi. 18(?), 37 (?), xl. 9, xli. 12, and see Index. Comp. also Josh. i. 15 ; Hos.
ix. 9 ; Mai. iii. 4 ; Ps. lxxviii. 15. Similarly, when, regularly, there would be
two prepositional affixes at the beginning of a word, the Heb. sometimes omit one.
See note on lilNDna infra xxxv. 3.
Ver. 3. D3B bB3 falling [short] of you. The meaning is clear enough, but
how does O bB3 come to have this meaning ? It may be explained in different
ways. bB3 sometimes means to sink, to be cast down, to be lowered, to fall in
estimation (as in Neh. vi. 16), and so B b33 might mean to fall more than (you),
to fall, sink, below (you), be inferior to you f. Comp. B Oil to rise, be raised
more than, i.e., above, in Ps. lxi. 3. Or, as bB3 sometimes means to fail, come
to nought, it may perhaps mean to give way, to be weak, and then B 3B3 would
mean to be weaker (in mental power) than, inferior to. Comp. the Lat. deficere =
to fail and to be weak. Some Comm. take bB3 to give way, yield, to be inferior,
but take the B not = than, but with respect to (gegen, gegeniiber), in comparison
with, and comp. "^Sb bB3 (Esth. vi. 13) to fall before one, give way before him,
be overcome by him, though Mr. Davidson quotes the same example to shew that
0 here has a causal force = I suppose, by, as though bB3 really meant to be overcome.
0 bB3 , again, means to fall away from any one, desert him (ef. the Lat. deficere),
and so fig. it might, perhaps, mean to fall away from the standard, or level, of
another, to sink to a lower level, to become inferior. Comp. the Germ, abfallen,
which means both to desert, and to become of worse quality. The reader must
decide. nvN . See note on Nin supra viii. 16, and on nail supra vi. 7.
Ver. 4. P'n27 laughter, derision, here, as in Jer. xx. 7, is used concretely for an
object of derision, a laughing-stock, a person laughed at. Here, as in many other
* We do, indeed, find 'anas , I Sam. xiv. 14, but there a = about, as it were, and not like.
t The part, d itself, of course, means neither more nor less, and expresses neither
superiority nor inferiority, but merely an interval (Abstand) between the two things
compared. Comp. the use of the ablat. in Lat. after a compar. o , therefore, does little
more than represent our than in a comp., and the superiority or inferiority is denoted by
the adj. or verb, which prec. the » , or sometimes merely by the context. See note in
Comm. and App. on onrrsn supra xi. 17 ; and Ewald Kr. Gr., p. 599, who gives much the
same account of «a , in comparisons, though I did not borrow from him.
Y Y 2

692 APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 4.
passages in this book (see note in Comm. on bp supra viii. 9), the 2 of comparison
has been omitted in order to give more force. The lit. transl., therefore, is, " I am
a-person-laughed-at to his neighbour," i.e., I am one who is a laughing-stock to
his neighbour ; or, to use our idiom, I am as one, &c.
Wolfssohn, Umbreit, Hirzel, and others think that Job speaks of himself both in
the first and third person, and they therefore transl. ^nypi , as though it were
''PP/? to my friend, and may.}} = i33y}1 that he should (or to) answer me; and
that somewhat similar constructions are found cannot be denied. See note on
Dbp 03N] infra xvii. 10 ; and on infra xxxv. 3 ; still, I prefer Dr. Bernard's
explanation. in33}1 nibN.b N!p . Dr. Bernard's explanation of these words, though very
ingenious, and far more vivid and picturesque than any other, is, perhaps, a little
forced,* and, I think, very nearly tbe same meaning may be obtained in another
way. Nip may, namely, I think, be taken to agree with pn2> , when the
meaning will be, "I am [as] one who is a laughing-stock  calling upon God,
&c, that He should answer him," when calling would = as calling, or because (or
when) He calls. Or, the words may be taken thus : " I am [as] one who is a
laughing-stock to his neighbour, [as] one who calleth," &c, the two objects
of comparison being regarded as equivalent. This latter construction is, I
think, the easier, but the repetition of the pin2] is certainly in favour of the
former. The Commentators above mentioned, of course, refer this clause to
Job also directly. Wolfssohn, however, translates, -in.3y:}l zu antworten,t that is,
in the same way as Dr. Bernard does, and not as most Commentators do, and He
answers, or answered, him ; I might, indeed, prefer to have inp.y.}] , if the
meaning is, that He should answer him ; but in poetry we cannot expect any very
strict adherence to the rules concerning the tenses. Comp. supra xi. 3, 4, aybni
* Dr. Bernard's interpretation derives, however, great support from Ps. xxii. 7—9, where
David, after exclaiming, " But I am a worm and no man ; a reproach of men, and despised
of the people ; All they that see me mock at me, open wide their lips and shake their
heads,"  suddenly and without any introduction whatever, gives us the words which
be supposed those, who ridicule and despise him, use when scoffing at him, viz., "Let him
entrust himself to Jehovah; He will rescue him ; He will deliver him, for He delighteth
in him !! ! " See also infra xv. 23, where n»N is equally abrupt, and the same may be said
of an an in Prov. xxx. 15, about the rendering of which there can be no doubt. If vp is
thus taken, of course Nin is understood before it; but I have shown that this is a freq.
ellipsis before participles. See note on nrca supra ix. 8; and Index. Still, although
these examples incline me greatly towards Dr. Bernard's view, yet I think it well to give
the other possible, though more prosaic, interpretations, so that the reader may choose for
himself. t He translates the whole clause freely, "Weil ich Gott zu antworten auffordere."
When I say, however, that he transl. tfTOi as Dr. Bernard does, I mean merely that he
transl. the i conv. and the fut. in the same way = that He should answer, or to answer;
for, though Wolfssohn does not translate the affix in , yet, the only pron., which can
be supplied in his rend, after antworten is mir, and not ihm = him in Dr. Bernard's
rendering.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 4 — 6. 693
and nBNnl, which are translated by most as though ! stood instead of the
1 conv. Still we might render " he calls to God and He answers him" (ironically).
Dipn piip. pint? . Here, again, Dr. Bernard's interpretation seems a little
artificial, and unnecessarily so, for is it not easier to take it, "lama laughing
stock  [but] a righteous [and] upright laughing-stock ?" Others take it =
" Yes, I am a laughing-stock, I, the righteous, the perfect ! " lit., a righteous,
perfect (man). Why Dr. Bernard has taken Dipn adverbially, I know not.
We do, indeed, find OiB.FI Tjbn twice, viz., Ps. xv, 2, Prov. xxviii. 18, where the
A. V. translates it uprightLT, but even in these pass, it may be regarded as an
adj., or as a subst., since we find also O^Bn? Tjbn Ps. lxxxiv. 12. At any rate
I here prefer to regard it as an adj., and the conj. 1 as omitted before it. For
such omission, which is not uncommon, see note on mB3? IBp^ infra xxix. 8.
That Job's friends had, in their speeches, virtually ridiculed the idea that God
would answer Job, as long as he addressed Him in the tone that he was then
adopting, is clear enough, for they had told him to " prepare his heart, and put
away iniquity from bim," &c., and that, then, if he turned unto God he would
be heard.
Ver. 6. 1"b27} . In pause for intp} . This form occurs also in Ps. cxxii. 6.
The more reg. form would, of course, be ibtp} , but this is not found. Indeed the
verb nb27 is very irregular, for in the past we find in the sing. ''n]b27 only (supra
iii. 26), though in tbe plur., lb27 (which is quite reg.) is the only form met with-
This 1 is preserved in the derivatives lb27 and ni7>27 . Comp. 1Yn.N.] infra xvi. 22,
in?] (in iB]p3} Exod. xv. 5) for IB?] ; VBin (in "pliann. Isa.xlvi.5) for lain.
Kimchi (Michlol., fol. 127, col. 1 *) gives a whole string of them, e. g., I^pn.}
(Ps. xxxvi. 8), l^JD}. (Isa. xxvi. 11), Fntp] (Ps. lxxviii. 44), I^O.m (ps. xxxix.
7, lxxxiii. 3, Isa. xvii. 12), 1.]]!} (Ps. xxxvi. 9), ll'ypn (Isa. xxi. 12), 1]?!}'
(Deut. viii. 13), &c. Comp. also the first pers. fut. n}Bi!N (Ps. Ixxvii. 4), in
which Kimchi says (and he is foil, by Ges.) that the "• replaces the n< of the
root, and that the final n is paragog., as though the changes ran thus :
narjN , ipnN , manN (in pause). Comp. 1n» (in pause nt?) =. ni27 . And
so we find in the past, mpn (in pause for mpil) = nnpil(Ps. lvii. 2), TOrt (iQ
pause for ^pTJ) = 1DI1 (Deut. xxxii. 37), ^O? (Ps. lxxiii. 2), &e. Sor too, the
imperative W? = iy? (Isa. xxi. 12). See Kalisch, Gr. vol. ii. p. 247.
The , in these cases really replaces the n (the third, rad.); as it regularly does
in the past part. Kal, as e. g., ''lb? from nba , instead of niba after the analogy
of UpS from npB. Kimchi, therefore, calls these forms, as compared with
the more common, such as lb?] &c, perfect, because they contain all three
radicals. pflb (supra iii. 26) would regularly be ppb , so that the 1 occupies the
place of the ^ , and therefore of the n , for which the "• stands. The same
substitution (?) we sometimes find in the inf. abs. of the verbs nb, as in to (Jer.
* Large edit., fol. 40, p. 2, col. 1.

694 APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 6.
vii. 5, xxii. 4, &c.) for n27^, i32 (Isa. xxx. 19, Jer. xxii. 10, &c.) for nb? ,
&c. * There is, moreover, in the case of these verbs a tendency to introduce a
superfluous 1 , as in ninn2?n from nn27 , where the 1 and tbe n represent a
doubling of the n 0f the root, i.e., of the last rad. See note on infra xvi. 12.
In -UNa also (Isa. Iii. 7) from nN3, the first 1 may be regarded as replacing
the n of the root.
Gesenius (Lehrgeb. p. 419) says that nba stands for P\, simply because in
Arabic the verbs in nb are replaced by v'b (or 1"b), so that e.g., we have ^j
(iBl) = nai ; and thus he would explain the form int?] . Similarly he would
explain ",n]b2* . But this is simply conjecture, t Kimchi explains these

* Some say that the n in these cases is rejected, and that the l corresponds to the i in
lips , but this is not Kimchi's opinion.
f Gesenius recognises only two classes, viz., V"> and '•"b , and says, " im Hebraischen ist
nach einer besonderen Orthographie das urspriingliche l und ' in den Formen, wo es das
Wort schliessen sollte, in n iibergegangen." Ewald does, indeed, recognise three classes,
\i'b , V"; , ''") , but, as he evidently regards the first as » very limited class, he virtually
agrees with Gesenius, though he explains the presence of the n in the classes V? and ""'i
somewhat differently. But, because in Arabic there is no class n"b , must this class,
therefore, be denied, or be assigned a very limited, existence, in Hebrew ? Again, if the n ,
is, according to Gesen. in every case, and according to Ewald in the great majority of cases,
not really radical, but rather used, or added, as the last letter for the sake of euphony,
why is it retained in the form of n in the 3rd pers. sing, past fem., when it ceases to form the
last letter ? and why is not the original radical t or ' resumed ? That is, why do we have
nrfta , and not rrta * 0r ni}a ? This puzzles Ges. very much (Lehrg. p. 422). Ewald offers
an explanation (p. 428), but as it is based upon his mere conjecture as to the formation of
the masc. rib: (p. 421), it is of course worth but little. Now Kimchi's view that there is
but one class, viz., rt"b , and that all the forms, which apparently come from V'i and ''% are
due to the substitution of l and ' for n , is much more plausible, and will explain every
case ; still the existence of such a form as 'n^fli f , of the derivatives, ^b\6 and rrW , and of
i» from n», seems to point to the roots *d,i»; and I think, therefore, that it is allowable
to suppose that there may originally have been three classes, n"b , V") , ''"; , and that these have
become blended into one,X called n"b , but in which are still very visible the remnants of
* Comp. rrDn Ps. lvii. 2, in pause for rrpn = nnpn .
t ,ni'?n may, indeed, have been substituted for 'nrt'iti , but why tbe 1 in this particular case,
and ' in every other, unless there had been once a root ibv ? Ewald, indeed, says (Kr. Gr. p. 423)
that tbe 1 is retained in order that the verb might not be confounded with ftb\E to err, but as this verb
is not found at all in Kal, and besides 'nj^iB we find the forms l^iti and l'1)* , which every one would
refer to n^HJ , rather than to Vni) , his assertion is evidently of no value. Comp. also ''inn (Isa.
liii. 10) as though from ''n .
J My meaning is that either tbe same verb originally existed in two (and perhaps sometimes)
three different forms (i.e., as nb:, Via or '7a) ; or that if each of tbe verbs n"!> originally had only
one form (i.e., either n'n , l^a or '*»), then that it borrowed some of its parts from at least one, and
sometimes perhaps from both, of the other two forms. Let us take the verb nbrS . This must either
have originally existed in the two forms lto, '')», and perhaps in a third n^o, and of each of
these only parts have been retained ; or else, if ibtt were the original form, then 1'W' must have
been formed as if from '}» , and ibti prob. as if from nte or 'Sd (iVa being generally considered
to be contracted from i"a).

APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 6. 695
anomalous forms by referring them to tbe well-known tendency of the letters
iWN to interchange ; and he says that in these forms the third radical becomes
manifest, because it (or rather tbe letters which replace it) is heard in
pronunciation. The construction of the first clause is open to doubt, for it may be taken
either as Dr. Bernard takes it, the tents belonging to spoilers are prosperous,
or the (their) tents are prosperous to (or for) spoilers; i.e., 0111.27? may be
connected with DibilN or inP} . For my own part, I must confess, that I
prefer the latter construction, for Oni^'b QibriN = Dnib* ibnN is, to say
the least, an unusual construction. Ewald says, indeed (Krit. Gramm., § 308,
pp. 582, 583), that b is only used in the sense of belonging to (i. e., =
a genitive), when the state of construction cannot be used, and I believe
there is much truth in what he says ; for, certainly, some of the ex
amples quoted by Gesenius (Lehrgeb., p. 673) can be very plausibly explained
away in this manner ; still, Ewald's rule does not always hold good, for
in Numb. xxii. 4, Balak is called ONiab ^7Q , which, according to Ewald's
doctrine, ought to mean a king of Moab. Now, the Moabites may, for aught I
know, have rejoiced in the possession of two or more kings at one time, but
unfortunately, ibid. ver. 10 and chap, xxiii. 7, the same Balak is called
asia IjbB , which, according to tbe same Ewald (ibid., p. 583) must mean *
the other two, esp. of ^'b . * And it would seem that euphony has had some share in
determining which parts of each class should survive. Thus the n seemed more appro
priate (euphonious) at the end, than either t or ', and so this is its especial, and,
indeed, I think its only place. Comp. rra with Vja and % ; nby with fy. and '^a'. . The ' ,
softened into '— , sounds better in the middle than n and i , and so it is there used.
Comp. Trta (for 'O^a) with 'Ptnbi and 'niba ; vrnn (lain) with main , and nsin. . In the past part.
of verbs of all other classes, excepting n"!i , the three rad. are not only seen, but heard ; but
in ffiia , the n would only be seen, and to the ear would sound the same if written Ni'ja
(from N^a), besides which n is but very seldom f found after i in the rest of the language ;
and accordingly the form in ' ('fa) is preferred. The i sounds nowhere well, and is,
therefore, very rarely used. Euphony has also had influence in the Niph. at least of the
class called '"n , but in which two classes, '"s and i"b are blended. Thus in Niph. we
have -fan , and not the less agreeable "frn , in which the Cherik would have striven hard
to coalesce with its favourite ' . The student will do well to read what Gesen., Ewald,
and Nordheimer say about these verbs, for though they (especially the first two) indulge in
much theory, they record many noteworthy facts.
• Ewald's words are (referring to *&:\ £ 1 Sam. xvi. 18), " * 11 ware nothwendig den
Sohn des I."
* Thus -ibn and -fl> (in which tbe n and ' form tbe first, instead of the last letters of tbe root)
have indisputably become blended; whilst in the verbs "'D, two classes "'d and V'D, are ahnost
certainly blended. Comp. tJ; from -fr, yrinn, rrrnn from w, nr, rrai. (Ealb.) from na', &c.
So in other languages two verbs are freq. blended into one. Thus in the conjug. of tbe Lat. esse, tbe
Sanskr. as to be, and bhu to become (whence fui, futurus, &c.) are blended. So the French Ure
derives its forms from the Lat. esse, and stare ; and our be, from tbe A.S. beon and viesan.
t It is sometimes found following tbe 1 of the 3rd pers. plur.

696 APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 6, 7.
the king of Moab. Comp. also 1 Sam. i. 3, ni.mb D^nS priests of Jehovah*,
for which we frequently find nin] iprp . See, too, Gesenius (Tregelles' transl.,
s. v., b , A (4 {b))). The more full form would be b 12}N . Comp. the Eabbinic
btt? . Comp. also infra ver. 20, OipBNab nB27 . Dr. Bernard is quite wrong in
comparing Dil127'b with nintpyb /
nina? . For instances of plural forms, where we should use a sing., see
Index. I scarcely think that Dr. Bernard's construction of the last clause can be
admitted ; at any rate, it is very unnatural and forced. I cannot see myself why
Job should not be allowed to say that God brings good things into the hand of
the wicked ; he says distinctly in chap. ix. 24, that the earth is given into the
hand of the wicked, and I scarcely think be would — at any rate in his present
frame of mind — draw the distinction between God's giving and suffering to possess
which Dr. Bernard draws, and which is very usually drawn at the present time.
Surely if Eliphaz, the orthodox Eliphaz, is obliged to allow (infra xxii. 18)
that God does fill the houses of the wicked with good-things, Job may be allowed
to say here that God fills the hands of the wicked with good things.
I would translate, therefore, in]? ni ?N Nipn ~i27Nb into whose hand (i.e.,
into the hand of every one of whom) God has brought, i.e., to whom God has
given, whom He has blessed ; or to him (those) into whose hand, he. Comp. infra
xxi. 7 — 13, with ibid. 14, 15.
in]? lit. in his hand, i.e., in the hand of every one of those who provoke God ;
but it may also well refer to Di"T!27 , and the last clause be in apposition to the
first two. See note in Comm. on ian? supra vi. 17.
I cannot accept any interpretation in which the meaning of to carry = to have
(in one's hand), is given to Nipn , for this verb in the pass, from which Ges.
deduces this meaning, viz., 2 Chron. xxxvi. 7, Dan. i. 2, = the Fr. trax sporler,
Exporter (see these pass, in De Saci's transl.), and not = porter. I might as
well give the Fr. faire venir, or faire alter, the meaning of to carry (in one's
hand.) Ver. 7. The connection of this and the two following verses with ver. 6, has
been, indeed; explained in the Comm., still I think Dr. Bernard might have
expressed himself a little more clearly. His meaning I take to be this. After
saying in ver. 6, that the wicked are so prosperous, Job would seem to have
pursued his train of thought inwardly, and to have said to himself, " That this
should be so is extremely surprising — it might almost lead one to suppose that
God does not interfere in the affairs of this world, but has deserted it, and given
it up into the hands of the wicked (see supra ix. 24, xxiv. 1, &c), so that one is
really almost tempted to doubt the existence of God." (See infra xxii. 12 — 14).
"Yet," and here he again breaks out into words, "I have only to consider
the inhabitants of the air, the sea, and the land, and they loudly proclaim the
existence of a Supreme Being who created, and watches over them, one and all."
* We could very well say " priests to Jehovah." Comp. such expressions as " coach-
maker to Her Majesty," &C. We may also comp. the Vulg. Germ., dem Johann sein
Kock " = John's coat.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 7 — 9. 697
Some consider vers. 4 — 6 to be a digression, and see in ver. 7 et seq. a
continuation of ver. 3, as if Job said, You are continually preaching the might
and wisdom of God to me, as if I were unacquainted with them, but I can ex
patiate upon these subjects in as glowing terms as you do.
In favour of this view is the circumstance that Job, after he has finished what
he has to say about God, His power and His wisdom, uses (chap. xiii. 2) nearly the
same words as in xii. 3, as though he meant to say, There now, you see that I do
know as much as you do, and that I am by no means inferior to you.
According to this view, the sense of vers. 7 — 9 would probably be, You think
that I know nothing of the power and wisdom of God, but how can I live in the
midst of His works and be ignorant of them ? But see note f in Transl.
p. 421.)
Ver. 9. 3H] Nb SB Who does not know ? i.e., Who does not at once see ; but
perhaps it includes also a hit at Zophar, — Who does not know as well as you ?
n^T this, i.e., this earth, this sky ; everything in fact to which Job could point,
and so the whole world. We should remember here that Job was probably in
the open air (see note in Comm. on supra ii. 12), and that it was, therefore, easy
for him to indicate the world by his gestures. I am sure that a Frenchman
placed in the open air would (especially if there were a starry sky above him)
have no difficulty in putting the whole universe into the little word ceci.
Dr. Bernard's suggestion that nNt has the same meaning as nbN in the first
hem., and like it refers to the beasts, birds, fishes, &c, is strongly supported by
supra x. 13, where we have nbN in the first, and nNT in the second hem.
exactly as here, and where they are understood by many Comment, (and may well
be understood), to correspond to one another and have the same meaning, although
Dr. Bernard does not give them quite the same meaning.* Besides, such a
change from plur. to sing., and its converse, are particularly common in this book
(see Index) ; and, again, the writer could not possibly repeat nbN , and if he
used DniN nntp37 , the ear of his bearers or readers would have been sadly
tried, though Oi!2>57 (if this would be the form), or nri273? without an affix,
would have been less objectionable.
Another interpretation of n&T nri273? nin] 1} i? , which pleases me less, but
which I give in consideration of the difficulty of the pass., is, That [the] kand of
Jehovah has wrought this, t i.e., has inflicted this suffering upon me. So Wolfs
sohn, who transl. : " Dass Gottes Hand dies so geordnet bat," and explains, •
<px"> nf> op3 'piai fap o-pifi jiii 'a ,pfr bu wui iiao oid3 yy ft >v
' WPP pip 7'P ipi'ipii
" Who does not understand when he setteth his intelligence and his eye upon this, that
it is the pleasure of God not to regard the persecuted man, nor to rescue him from the hand
of him that is stronger than he."
* Comp. also infra xviii. 21, where ni in the second hem. corresponds to n^N in the
first. t So the Auth. Vers. ; though it is impossible to say what they understood by it.
Among later Comment, this view has been adopted by Mr. Davidson.

698 APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 9.
That is, just as among the beasts of the earth, the fowl of the air, and the fish
of the sea, the stronger gain, the mastery over the weaker, so it is with men,
among whom also tbe stronger, i.e., the wicked — for, unfortunately, the wicked
are the stronger  gain the mastery over the weaker, i.e., the righteous — for,
unfortunately, the righteous are the weaker. And, as in the former case, so in
the latter, this victory of might over right is achieved with tbe sanction of God.
If this be the meaning, then Job is considering here less his sufferings than the
degraded position to which, as a righteous man, he has been reduced, and over
which he had lamented supra vers. 4, 5, and laments again infra xvii. 6 — 8, and
chaps, xxiv. and (esp.) xxx.
Or, the meaning may be that, as in the rest of creation might is right, so it is
also between God and man, God taking advantage of His might and power to
treat man as He pleases. See supra ix. 19, infra ver. 14, &c. Between this
and the former view there is a distinction, but no great difference.
This view has in its favour that a more natural meaning is thereby given to
nNt , for every one must allow that with all the goodwill in the world, to
interpret nNt this [world] is very forced, and even to take nNt = nbN,
though quite allowable, is not altogether simple. Comp. infra xvii. 8, and supra
x. 13, where nrft has a somewhat similar meaning.* Against this view, however,
is the use of V"!*? in ver. 8, for, though V"2N may be understood to mean every
living thing | on earth, yet it seems more natural (esp. as the beasts (nlBn?)
have already been mentioned) to understand it of the land of the whole earth in
contradistinction to the heavens and the sea ; X and again, as in the rest of the
chap, from this verse onwards, Job exalts the power and wisdom of God, and
the writers of the Old Test, were wont to appeal to the wonders of creation, or
of nature, not as exemplifying the injustice of God in allowing might to prevail
over right, but rather as proving His infinite power and wisdom ; § it appears to
me probable that Job also appealed to the works of God for the sake rather of
exalting, than of debasing Him. There are two other pass, in which Job speaks
of the wonderful works of God, viz., in chaps, ix. and xxvi., and in both his
immediate object seems to be rather to shew his friends that he, too, fully
* Comp. infra xxiii. 14, where he calls his afflictions nan these things.
t i.e., every living being, for Job could scarcely be expected to include plants, though,
as Mr. Darwin has well shown, the principle of might is right prevails equally among
them, as among animals.
X The whole earth, regarded as mere inanimate land, or as land clothed with vegetable
life (see note f), would furnish no instance of might versus right, whereas it would furnish
innumerable instances of the power and wisdom of God. Among the D>n 'y; fishes of the
sea (which is coupled with y]N), however, we find plenty of instances of the triumph of
might over right ; but I think OT has been added, because in the sea alone, there would,
according to the notions of the Heb., be but little to indicate the power and wisdom of God,
excepting its inhabitants, for in the fury of its waves, they (the Heb.) saw not the hand of
God, but an act of rebellion on the part of the sea against God. See infra xxvi. 12.
§ Comp. supra v. 9, 10, ix. 5—10, xxv. 2—6; Ps. viii. 3—8, xix. 1 ; Prov. viii. 22—
30, &c.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 9. 699
recognises the infinite power and wisdom of God, than to cavil at His use of His
almighty power, although, in chap, ix., he afterwards seizes upon the occasion
to declare that God makes no good use of His power, as far, at least as he (Job)
is concerned. I believe that Dr. Bernard formerly advocated this view ; at any rate, I have
undeniable evidence to shew that he formerly (i.e., fifteen years ago) translated,
" that the hand of God hath wrought this."
I think, however, that this translation may be adopted without supposing Job
to have wished to express by it anything offensive to God. For may not Job
merely mean that, in the miserable state to which his body is reduced, he recognises
the same almighty and mysterious hand, which no mortal who ever contemplated
the wonderful works which surround him, has failed to recognise ? Zophar had
told Job in the preceding chap. vers. 11, 12, that God does not punish vain men
(among whom of course Job is especially included) at the time they commit their
sins, but afterwards ; the consequence being that, when the punishment at length
arrives, the vain men do not recognise that it is a punishment from God, because
they are not conscious of having committed any sins just then, and perhaps have
forgotten any little peccadilloes (as they might call their former sins) which
they might have committed previously. Comp. infra xiii. 26, where Job
charges God with "entailing upon him the sins of his youth," and infra
xxvii. 6, where he says his " heart cannot reproach any of his days." Job,
therefore, answers Zophar, and tells him that he certainly does recognise
the hand of God in his sufferings, although he cannot admit the conclusion
that his sufferings have been sent upon him as a punishment for bis guilt.
See infra xiii. 4 — 12. And, indeed, these last two or three sentences contain
the gist of the whole of the controversy between Job and his friends. His
friends keep asserting and reasserting that Job's sufferings come upon him
from God, and are inflicted as a punishment ; whilst Job keeps admitting and
readmitting that his sufferings do indeed come from God, but denies that they
came because of sin, and attributes them rather to some caprice on the part of
God. The friends are indignant at these denials, and at Job's attributing injustice
to God, and so they continually overlook Job's admissions that he believes his
sufferings do come from God, and ultimately they go so far (infra xv. 12, xviii. 4,
and comp. xxii. 11 — 14) as to assert that Job does not believe that God busies
Himself at all with the affairs of this world. Then Job, roused to the highest
pitch of indignation, declares (infra xix. 25 — 27) that he knows "that his
Redeemer lives,"  and that, even if he could not recognise God in the wonderful
works of His creation — though he had frequently told them he did — yet still
1!E72B prom his fjlesh,* from the dreadful state to which his flesh was reduced,
he could see God, could see that He, and none but He, could have done this,
eould have inflicted such sufferings upon him. Comp. infra xix. 21, nib.N 1] i?
^P ny?3 F0r [the] hand of God has smitten me, between which and !} i?
rts-t nn273? nim there is much apparent similarity.
* This view of the meaning of itoaD in xix. 26, I have derived from the consideration
of rob nntaJ here. See note on the pass.

700 APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 9  14.
This interpretation of our present pass, is somewhat confirmed by the next
verse (ver. 10), where Job goes on to say, that the same hand which has inflicted
these sufferings upon him, hold all mankind in its grasp, so that it is useless to
ask of God, who does what He will (see infra xxiii. 13, supra x. 7, &c.) why He
does this or this. And, indeed, the explanation given in the Translation, p. 421,
note t, accords equally well with this interpretation, as with that adopted there.
nin]. This word occurs nowhere else in the poetical part of Job. Seethe
last paragraph of Ben-Zev's preface.
Ver. 10. Hirzel says 27Qp. and nil are exactly parallel here and both designate
" die physiscbe Lebenskraft." I think, however, that nil stands in strong
contrast to 073? life, which is common to all living things, and designates the
spirit, the understanding, which distinguishes man, though it very likely includes
his breath of life. See infra xxxii. 8.
Ver. 11. The ib here is scarcely necessary, though it gives increased force.
It is not found in the nearly identical passage infra xxxiv. 3, but blBNb is
substituted. For similar examples, see supra v. 27, and Index.
It should be remembered that in the days of Job, there were but very few
books, and that wisdom (knowledge) was not acquired as now-a-days by reading
and study, but by listening to the words of those who were older than oneself
and who handed down the traditions of the past (see supra viii. 8), or of those
who had travelled and had thus added to their experience (see infra xxi. 29).
The ear was, therefore in those times a more valuable member for the acquirement
of wisdom (knowledge) than the eye, which observed perhaps but little — and this
is why, I think, the ear is here selected. At the present day (in this age of
observation), the eye is, at any rate after one has left one's teachers, of much more
use in acquiring knowledge than the ear.
rba , therefore, should be understood of words generally, and not of the
speeches of orators only (see Comm.), for if one possessed no other wisdom than
such as had been derived from this source, one would have, in these days at least,
but a very scanty stock.
Some Commentators take this verse and the next to apply to Job's friends, as
though Job meant to say that though his friends had been given ears to hear
with, they had made no use of them ; and that though they were old and conse
quently ought to be wise, they were not.
Infra xxxiv. 3, almost precisely the same words are used by Elihu to excite
his hearers to attention, and so they might possibly be understood here, as though
Job said, " Should not the ear try words, &c. ? Do ye then give ear and hearken
unto me." But Dr. Bernard's explanation is much simpler.
Ver. 12. '=jnN] . This might be understood, and [the] length of days [is]
understanding ; but it is much more simple to supply 2 from 0"E7i27i? ; the
presence of the 1 has perhaps prevented its insertion, acting in this instance like
the B of comp., which always prevents the intrusion of a prep, between itself and
tbe word to which it belongs. See note on OBiB? supra ver. 3.
Ver. 14. n?2] . Observe that the masc. is here used = a neut. Comp. ni3} ,
supra iii. 13, and see Index. In the case of verbs, the masc. is more freq. thus

APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 14  17. 701
used than the fem., see Ges. Lehrgeb. pp. 796, 797, but in the case of adjectives,
the fem. much more commonly than the masc. In the case of pronouns, we
find both genders used in this way, and I cannot say which gend. is more freq.
found. See Ges. Lehrgeb. p. 731.
by 13D seems here to have much the same meaning as supra iii. 23, "pDH
"iyB. TDn is also construed with by (ps. v. 12) and so is np? to cover
(infra xxi. 26), iaa to shield, protect (2 Kings xx. 6). We too say to cover a
thing over ; and, indeed, up in to shut up is the Germ. auf= also upon = by ,
though AUFSchliessen, means to open. The use of the by here, therefore, is very
intelligible, for whenever a man is confined, shut up, the place in which he is
confined is closed upon him, about him, or against him.
nnB} he shall be loosed, set free. nnB in Pi-dl, freq. means to loose as bonds
(infra xxxviii. 31, xxxix. 5, &c, and comp. xxx. 11), and in Ps. cv. 20, Jer.
xl. 4, it is used (prob. ellipt.) = of those whose bonds are loosed, and so = fo loose,
set free. As chains (i.e., fetters), &c, are frequently secured by means of a lock
or clasp, we ean understand the use of nnB to open, in this sense. Similarly
we find in Ps. cxlvi. 8, " Jehovah only np.B Ht. [is] opening [the] blind," i.e.,
openeth the eyes of the blind, ''aiy [the] eyes of being added in prose, as 1 Kings
vi. 17, 20, &c.
Ver. 15. O^B? 1237}. Comp. supra v. 2, rVp? 1*231. For the quiescent
Sh'vah under the y , see note on nDN*1 infra ver. 18.
1*^3}] , more reg. would be 127pi]] . See note on ibya supra i. 20. Has
the 1 had any share in producing the Short (or Deficient Long) Cherik ?
Ver. 16. The meaning of the second hemistich appears to be this. The
deceiver glories in what he conceives to be his own cunning, and thinks he acts
independently of God ; the deceived thinks he is forsaken of God ; yet tbe action
which excites these different feelings in the two men's minds has been done with
the sanction (or permission) of God, it is His n'27in which directed it.
In the preceding verses, instances of God's might bad been cited. In this verse
we are again told that God is not only mighty— but also wise, and in the second
hem. we have one instance shewing that He rules by wisdom also. In the
following verses, too, His wisdom is referred to more particularly than His
might. i
The verse might, however, also be explained by referring 3327' to *3 , and
n?^P to n*27in , when the meaning would be that God has might enough to set
him who has been deceived (and so brought low) on high again (supra v. 1 1, 15)
and wisdom enough to set at naught and frustrate tbe wicked devices of the
deceiver (supra v. 12 — 15).
Ver. 17. bbi27 , prop, one spoiled, stripped, whether of one's clothes, or of other
things, is apparently used in Mic. i. 8 = Oi"i3 (i.e., stripped of one's clothes)
naked, with which it is joined, though some take it there as well as here = bereft
of reason, mad. bb27 means to spoil, but, as far as I know, is never applied to the
stripping off of clothes, which is the primary meaning of the Lat. spolio. Spolium,
too, is used of the stripped-off skin of an animal, and the Fr. depouille (It.

702 APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 17, 18.
spoglia) has not only this meaning, but also that of the clothes (of a dead or
living person). Our stripped too means both naked and spoiled.
bbi27 seems almost to be used adverbially here ; else the plur. would be more
regular. So in Germ, we must say, Er fiihrt sie nace.t (and not, nackte) fort.
Comp. infra xxiv. 7, l^b] Di-137 , and xxiv. 10, 13y>n Dil3 , though in the
second hemistich we find 1N2>3 Ony! . If bbl27-is not taken adverbially, it
must refer to every one oi the counsellors. See note in Comm. on Ian? supra
vi. 17. Hirzel says that tbe sing, is used because bbl27 is so closely connected
with Tbin, that the two only make up one notion, which he expresses by
einen gefangen fuhren, to carry one away captive. This is somewhat plausible,
but be weakens his argument very much by explaining that bvi27 properly
means deprived of shoes and clothing, for this by no means forms one idea with a
verb signifying to make to go, to carry away.
bbin]  tJipiB . It is not unusual to find a change of this sort from the
part, to the fut. Comp. supra ix. 7, and see note on supra iii. 22. Farther
on we shall find the simple fut. replaced by a past (ver. 21), and by a conv. fut.
vers. 22, 23, 24.
Ver. 18. 1D1B . What authority Dr. Bernard had for translating this, league,
I know not. nplB certainly generally means correction or instruction, and the
former sense is given to it here by Gesenius, who translates, the correction of kings,
i.e., their rule (regvLA), authority. Dr. Bernard would seem to have regarded it here
as equivalent to nplB (cf. IpiB infra xxxiii. 16 = npiB) fetter, bond, band, and
as band and bond in Eng, and Band in Germ., mean both chain and league, con
federacy, so he apparently thought he might attribute the same double meaning to
npiB, and hence to np-1B .* Some translate it bond = girdle; others (as Aben-
Ezra, Ralbag, Ben-Zev) with the Targum, fetter. Gesenius says npia bond,
stands for npNB (from the root nDN), but is it not better to derive it (with
Kimchi and Ben-Zev) from nDi = "1DN to bind? t Thus the roots nnN and nni
are evidently closely connected. Comp. esp. nilN and ITT] .
The use of the verb nnp, which is commonly employed to denote the
loosening of bonds (chains), is certainly a strong argument in favour of the view
that npiB =-. bond here (whatever may be the meaning of bond), and against the
view adopted by some, as Ges., that it has its usual meaning correction. Those
who take npiB here = bond (fetter) are obliged to give nitN the unsupported
meaning of cord or bond, instead of its usual meaning, girdle. Dr. Bernard here
has the advantage.
nDN]1. This form occurs, in three other places (Gen. xlvi. 29 ; Exod. xiv. 6 j
2 Chron. xiii. 3), whilst nDN'l is only found once (Gen. xlii. 24). Similarly,
we find nbNb (Numb. xxx. 3 ; Judg. xv. 10), and n'DNb (Ps. cv. 22, cxlix. 8).
So BnN makes an.N] and 3 .IN.} (Prov. xv. 9, 12, xvi. 13), only the former is
* Comp. t$7 conspiracy, from "rop to bind.
t Kimchi takes dtp;n in Hos. vii. 12, and 'n-\D; , idem vii. 15, in the sense of to bind,
and in the latter passage the Auth. Vers, agrees with him.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 18. 703
much more frequent. In tbe verb 027N , throughout the whole fut., the N has a
simple Sh'vah. The simple Sh'vah under the N in these cases is of course
quiescent. See Mason and Bernard's Gramm. vol. i. pp. 33. But it is not only
found under the first letter of verbs beginning with N * , it is also found under the
other gutturals n , n , y .
Thus, from verbs beginning with n , we have ibann (infra xxvii. 12),
&c,from ban, nam., &c., from nan, *i'im, &c., from nnn, iinn (Exod.
xxiii. 3, &c.) from nin , n]n} , &c., from nin , in all of which cases the
simple Sh'vah is found throughout the fut. And, indeed, when the vowel is
Segol, the simple (i.e., quiescent) Sh'vah seems much more commonly to be used
(comp. "ijlnp Niph. from IBn), though we do find nan.], &c., from nan
(though twice ''Bnn Ps. xlii. 6, 12, in some copies), Oin.] , obm , &c. When,
however, the vowel is Pathach, the Sh'vah seems almost always to be moving
(i.e., compound). Thus we have ^,bm , &c. (but ^binN -j-) from ibn , llribn}
(Ps. lxxiv. 6) from obn, TJBrv}, &c, from IBn, 317}}, &c. (but ailN. f)
from 3in , IDiqi (2 Kings iii. 25) from Din . Still we find IT^nN | "(0nce
only, Zeph. iii. 9), 1~!?nn (once only, infra; xix. 3), and in Van der Hooght
llfibn} (once only Ps. lxxiv. 6, but Kimchi has llobn}). With Short Cherik, we
find a compound Sh'vah in one instance, viz., "JTbnn (Exod. ix. 23, Ps. lxxiii. 9).
From verbs beginning in n , comp. bann , &c. (Exod. xxii. 25, &c.) with
'BQ} (Deut. xxiv. 6), the moving Sh'vah occurring only once; O'am, &c. (eight
times), with 27211.] (once, Job v. 18), and 272H} , 1272m. (once each) ; nan}, &<>.,
(Sh'vah always quiescent) from nan ; bim , &c. (once nbinN , Job xvi. 6),
Sh'vah always quiescent, from bin ; HJO.} , &c. (Sh'vah always moving) from
mn; ptm, &c. (Sh'vah always moving X) from pin ; ND?!], &c. (Sh'vah
always moving) from NDn ; mm, &c. (Sh'vah always quiescent) from mn ;
D3IT , &c. (Sh'vah always quiescent) from D3n ; ipn] , &c. (but mpn})
Sh'vah always quiescent, from nDn ; ^bm. &c. (Sh'vah always moving) from
*)bn ; ban} , &c. (but bbnN f), Sh'vah always quiescent, from ban ; nam ,
&c (Sh'vah always moving), from nan , he., he. From these examples we
see that in verbs beginning with H , both the simple and compound Sh'vahs are
in use, and that they occur with about equal frequency, both after Segol and
Pathach (the quiescent perhaps a little oftener after Pathach), though, if I had
quoted more examples, I think the moving Sh'vah's would have slightly predo-
* In these verbs, however, the n has much more freq. a moving, than a quiescent, Sh'vah.
Comp. !?3N , -iaN , -ok (Hiph.), aiN (Hiph.), inN (inf. Kal, and Niph. past), toN (Niph. past and
Hiph.), &c, &c, in all of which the Sh'vah is moving. In the fut. Kal, however, the n
has, of course, frequently no Sh'vah at all.
t From the examples marked with a t it would seem that there was a strong objection
to giving the n of the first pers. sing. fut. Kal a Pathach. We do, however, find nVirtN
(infra xvi. 6), hwn (once, infra xxxii. 17, unless it be Hiph.), and nr™ Gen. xxvii.
41,&c. X But once piny (Isa. xlii. 6).

704 APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 18.
minated, for I find VQn , 13H , 273n , ipn , B27n in which the quiescent Sh'vah
is nearly always found, against obn, ^bn , 27b n , Bin, Tin, inn, \nn,
pin , 27~in in which the Sh'vah is almost without exception moving. Nordheimer's
statement (vol. i., p. 142) that simple Sh'vah is esp. frequent under n , is, however,
I think, correct ; for he is comparing n with the other gutturals, and under them
(taken together) we see that the moving Sh'vahs are more common, than they are
under n .
From verbs beginning with V we have, nay] , &c. (but nB37N f), Sh'vah
always moving* from n2y ; 1237} , &c. (but 123N j) nearly always with moving
Sh'vah, but seven times we have ni?3?N , and four times n"]?y3 , with Sh'vah
quiescent ; 'iH^NI , iiyni , &c, Sh'vah always quiescent, from ni3 ; Bty} (but
Bt.PN |) Sh'vah always moving, from 2ty ; f)D3} , &c, Sh'vah always moving, from
r\v>V; nby:}, &c. (but nbysf), nay}, &c. (but myNt) with Sh'vah always
moving, from nby , my ; apy} , Sh'vah moving, but "PPpy}} (Gen. xxvii. 36)
with Sh'vah quiescent, from 2py ; 213} , &e., Sh'vah always moving, from 2iy ,
&c, &c. From these examples, it is evident that in verbs beginning with y , the
y nearly always takes Sh'vah moving, but occasionally has Sh'vah quiescent. J
Now in the case of regular verbs which begin with letters not gutturals
(ynnN), the rule certainly is that the Sh'vah under the first radical in the
fut. Kal is quiescent (comp. lap} , p?"]} , Bin?} , &c.). For with the exception
of the first person (which has Segol), the vowel taken by the prefixes is
Short Cherik,^ and this seems to want the support of a consonant bearing a
* But in Niph. once ilSa , and once las;: .
t See note f , p. 703.
| As I have not myself examined all the pass, in which the examples quoted in this
and the other classes occur (for it would have been a labour of days), but have for the most
part taken them from Buxtorf, I cannot vouch for their absolute accuracy ; still, I have no
doubt that they are for the most part correctly pointed by him. These examples, too,
refer rather to the fut. Kal than the other parts of the verb ; still, as a rule, I have exa
mined the other parts in which a Sh'vah is found under the first radical.
§ The preformative letters of the fut. are commonly said (by Gesenius, Ewald, &c),
(in tbe regular verbs at least) naturally to have Sh'vah, so that the Short- Cherik, Segol,
Pathach, &c, which we find with them, are really slight vowels. But, if they are slight
vowels, how can we explain the so frequent occurrence of a quiescent Sh'vah after them ?
for do we not read in Mason and Bernard's Gramm., vol. i., pp. 66, 67, that the slight
vowels are so degraded that they are not worthy of the support of a quiescent Sh'vah. I
conclude, therefore, that Mason and Bernard do not regard the vowels of the preformatives
of the fut. in the reg. verbs as slight vowels, though I cannot discover that they directly
discuss the subject. I must say, however, that I cannot regard the fact that the slight
vowels, as a rule, do not obtain the support of a quiescent Sh'vah, as any mark of
degradation, for if they dispense with this support, it is clear that they form a syllable
without it (the a in °aa}a is a syllable, though a weak * one), and are more independent
than the short real (or original) vowels. Now independence cannot be a mark of degradation.
One would have thought a priori that they would require more support than the vowels
which have a more genuine existence.
* i.e., much weaker than b\\ in Tjfta . Comp. MA-chine with MASK-tub.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 18—20. 705
quiescent Sh'vah, as though it were scarcely able in these cases to form a syllable
hy itself. Segol, too, will, I think, if the above examples be compared, be seen to be
followed by a consonant with quiescent Sh'vah oftener than Pathach * is, as though
it were less independent. If this be so, then in the case of verbs beginning
with gutturals, those forms in which the first radical (i.e., the guttural) bears a
quiescent Sh'vah (as nDN] , &c.) may really be considered as more regular (i.e.,
as more analogous to the regular verbs beginning with any other letter) than
those in which the guttural has a moving Sh'vah (as onN] , &c.), although these
latter forms are certainly considerably more common, and accord better with the
nature of a guttural.
11IN nDN}1 . Observe the paronomasia.
Ver. 20. DipBNpb ndtf "Vp» . nB27 seems here to be connected with Oi3BN:3b,
and to equal 013BN.3 nBtp, just as supra ver. 6 we have Oil!27'b DnnN = [the] tents
of spoilers. One is certainly somewhat tempted to take nna with Oi3BN3b = taking
away prom [the] confident, after the analogy of the Lat., auferre aliquid alicui ;
the Fr., oler quelque chose "A quelqu'un ; the Ger., einem Etwas nehmen ; but I am
not sure that the dat. is so used in Heb. after verbs of taking away ; for, as far as I
know, we always find B y3B, B liDn , &c.,t (or byB). We once find vbN after
Id , viz., 2 Sam. vi. 10, but there it means to himself, for himself, and this is
the meaning the dat. has after npb , as in Gen. vii. 2, xv. 10. Much ambiguity
might, therefore, have arisen if the dat. had been used (after these verbs) = to, for,
and from.
Bpa.N.3 . Dr. Bernard is not the only one to translate this eloquent men,
orators. Wolfssohn renders it Wohlredner, and Ealbag has the following :
31I3J 'P'1373 ''JpfOD ''DJPP PI3 P3T IP P1P3 lllb ''1PPPP ''DJPP Op ''JPPji
• onpapi OPUI3
" m^) • They are the men who are prompt [lit. hastening] to speak eloquently X ; or
he means by it, the men who are sure with their words [i.e., who are never at a loss, never
But, however, this may be, there is no doubt but that Short- Cherik (whether or not it
be a slight vowel) requires as the slightest (thinnest, weakest) of the three vowels, the most
support, and never (excepting in the irreg. ^nn) seems (in verbs) to form a syllable alone ;
the Segol comes next, and lastly the Pathach, which frequently forms a syllable by itself.
In English we have something similar, for our short a's, e's, and i's (as in man, pen, sin)
cannot, unless exceptionally, preserve their sound, unless they have the support of a con
sonant immediately following them and forming the last letter of the same syllable.
Comp. manner and maple ; pSnnon and penal ; sinner and sinecure ; tittle and title.
* Pathach seems to like to form a compound syllable with n more than with any
other letter. Nordheimer (vol. i., p. 13) accounts for this by saying that Pathach is a
guttural vowel, and there is some truth in this.
t Since writing the above, I have found one pass, supporting my view, viz. Ps. lxxxiv.
12, D'ipra rnbhb aim san'. n1; He will not withhold good from them that icalk uprightly. The
^ might, indeed, be taken as a dat. commodi =for them, in their behalf (He will withhold
no good) ; but, on the same principle, the "> here might be taken = a dat. incommodi.
X lit., clear, bright, things, i.e., clearly, brightly, elegantly, eloquently. See Isa. xxxii. 4,
whence the language has been borrowed. Comp. the Lat. oratio mitens, verba nitida.
Z Z

706 APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 20 — 23.
trip up in speaking], on account of the excellence of their understanding and their
wisdom." Kimchi also gives the word under the root ON3 , and says :
. iBin nasnB 0131111 D3io>ba D^nsn om
" And they are such as are eloquent [lit. clear, bright, see p. 705, note X] "with their
tongue, and are skilled in the science of eloquence " [lit. in wisdom of speech] ?
If Dr. Bernard did not quote these passages, it was, no doubt, because he
had arrived at the same conclusion with the writers of them — independently. Had
he borrowed the idea, he would not have failed to acknowledge it.
Umbreit takes 013BN3. to mean welche sicker sind in ihrer Beredsamkeit, and
he translates it zuversichtlich, confident* — a meaning but little different from
the second given by Ralbag. I, too, rather prefer to translate sure, or confident,
as these meanings give excellent sense, and may easily be derived from the original.
nB27 is used in the sense of language, speech, in Ps. lxxxi. 6.
Ver. 22. "iTPn i2B n^aa . The verb nba is here used in a pregnant sense
= to bring out and disclose. See note on infra xiii. 1 3.
nippy. . The dagesh in the P is really based upon the principle that a short
vowel likes the support of a consonant with a quiescent sh'vah, for
nipB3 =nippay: . See note on nDN]l supra ver. 18.
niabp niNb Np'»i. Comp. infra xxviii. ll, niN Npi naby.ni.
D}iab N1327B ) ,
Ver. 23. niiab naa?' [ ^ne *s ^ere ^e mark °f *ne objective case. Can
any explanation be offered of this use of b after an active verb, where we should
use an accusative ? I think so. The b seems to me to represent a dat. commodi.
The nations might be said to make themselves great and themselves to extend their
limits ; but here God is said to do these things for them, and so the b is used.
So we find a'mn to widen, enlarge, most commonly used with b of persons, as
in Gen. xxvi. 22, l^b nin] Bimin Jehovah hath made room for us (A.V.),
der Eivige hat uns Raum gemacht (Mendelssohn) ; Ps. iv. 2, P npni.n IS?
lit., In [my] distress Thou hast made wide for me, hast given me room, put me at
my ease, delivered me, and Prov. xviii. 16 ; though it is also found with an ace.
as Deut. xxxiii. 20. So, again, 312711 to save, help, is very freq. found with '
(like the Germ, helfen) ; the reason in both these cases being obviously that
which I have given. But supra v. 2, we had ^yB'3-in} bil.N.b , i.e., b after a
verb signifying to kill. Can this be explained in a similar way ? I think so.
The b is here a dat. incommodi. A man might kill himself, and then, of course,
the ace. would be used, but here the killing is done for him, and so the dat.
is used, though of course the ace. would be the more common construction,
for people are really much more commonly killed (wounded, beaten, he.) by
others than by themselves, and hence the action comes to be considered
* confident merely = sure in their own eyes; and, indeed, Ralbag may have used
D'jow = confident.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 23. 707
just as direct, as if performed by the actor on himself. Comp. the vulgar
English to do for one, perhaps = to do the job for one, and so = to kill
him. So to cook one's goose for one, in the same meaning. In Spanish
the prep, a ( = to, for) is invariably used after every transitive verb, when
the object is a person, whilst the ace. without a is used whenever the object
is a thing — because, I take it, every action must conduce either to the
advantage or disadvantage of him who is the object of it, whilst when things are
acted upon, advantage or disadvantage may result therefrom to persons, but
cannot result to the things themselves* Thus, the verb aTTO quoted above is
invariably used with the ace. of the thing made wide, or enlarged, as nB the mouth
(Ps. xxxv. 21, lxxxi. 11, Isa. lvii. 4), b-12? a limit (Exod. xxxiv. 24, Amos i. 13),
B11372 steps (2 Sam. xxii. 37, Ps. xviii. 37), &c. Ewald (Krit. Gramm., p. 594
note) explains many of these cases by saying that the verbs (esp. when in Hiph.)
include their object (accusative) in them, as e.g., b man = to give rest, quiet, to.
But this explanation (which is virtually the same as mine) would include a great
number of transitive verbs (for a great number of transitive verbs which are used
of persons, can be resolved into a second verb with a substantive in the accu
sative, and so be followed by a dative),f and would include some of the cases which
Ewald excludes from it, such as Jon. iv. 6, Ps. cxxxv. 1 l.f Still, my explanation
has the advantage that it includes cases which Ewald is obliged to exclude, such
as b after such verbs as Bty to leave (1 Chron. xvi. 37), npb to take (Jer. xl.
2), bnan to set apart, separate (1 Chron. xxv. 1) Tbpn to make king
(1 Chron. xxix. 22), &c. ; for, as these verbs express actions which a man cannot
perform upon himself, and therefore must be done for him, the use of the b may
be understood; though, from the very fact that these actions can only be done by
other people than one's self, this mode of performing them has naturally come
to be considered as the direct one, and so the accusative is commonly used after
these verbs and others of tbe same class. Ewald is, however, right in making
the distinction which he does, for in many cases, as in m3n aimn , &c., the
reason why b is used is obvious ; but in others, as in the case of those quoted
just now, viz., Bty , npb , &c, the reason is not by any means obvious.
* Franceson, in his Span. Gramm., p. 49, suggests as an explanation of this idiom, that
it was thought desirable to make some distinction between the nominative and accusative,
and that, as this could not be done in Spanish (as in Latin, &c.) by means of a difference
of form, the a was introduced for this purpose. This is plausible, and would apply
somewhat to Hebrew, though in Hebrew n« is often used as the mark of the ace. ; but
if this is the sole reason, why is the a in Span., and (I believe) the ^ in Hebrew, only
used of persons ?
t Thus, to kill, to give, cause death to ; to beat, to give blows to. But Ewald does
not explain the dat. after ain to kill, in this way. The verbs, which cannot be so resolved,
seem chiefly to be such as express actions which a person cannot perform upon himself,
e.g., to lead, take, fetch, &c.
X In this Ps. ver. 10, the verb ain is foil, by an ace, but in ver. 11, it is followed by
three b's each coupled to a noun which is in apposition with the ace. ta'ajiij in ver. 10.
The b would seem, therefore, besides indicating the objective case, to be used much as our
*> mit, namely. See note on Drrsp j-jno supra v. 15 (p. 691).
z z 2

708 APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 23, 24.
In all the examples quoted here and given by Ewald, the b is only used of
persons, and I do not know that it is used of things. If it is not, this is an
argument in favour of the explanation I have given.
This use of b instead of an ace. is no doubt more comm. in later than in earlier
Heb., still there must have been some reason for its adoption.
Diiab np27 . In Numb. xi. 32 we have niD27 Dnb mp2>}l where Olb
is taken as an ace. by Mendelssohn, the Vulg., and Luther, and as a dat. by the
A.V., the Septuagint, &c.
Om}1 . Dr. Bernard used to translate this, And leads them back within their
former limits. But his present rendering, and leads them away captive, is sup
ported by 2 Kings xviii. 11, where 0(13*1 corresponds to b.3}1 , and he carried
away captive. Comp. Ps. cvii. 38, 39.
Ver. 24. V!Nil D3 it$NT. ab . For a similar accumulation of nouns in
eonstr. comp. Isa. x. 12. 1127N Tjba B?b b"]3 np [the] fruit of [the] greatness
(haughtiness) of [the] heart of [the] king of Assyria ; and see Ewald, Krit.
Gramm., p. 578.
Tn.l Nb inh? . Comp. infra xxxviii. 26, &$ Nb V"]N , 2 Sam. xxiii. 4,
may. rib lp2 . Hirzel considers T[~!n Nb to be in the state of eonstr. after
inn? , so that the lit. transl. would be in the desert of noway, i.e., in the (a) track
less desert (unwegsame Wiiste). Olshausen (the Editor of the 2nd edit, of Hirzel),
does not agree with Hirzel, but says that the Nb ia equivalent to "33, which in
its turn = V? or VN (this last would be just as difficult to explain as the N ,),
and that the TJ!"! nb may be regarded either as an adjectival appendage (Zusatz),
as in the two pass, quoted above, which he would therefore, I suppose transl. a
manless land (ein menschenleeres Land), a cloudless morning ; or as an adverbial
appendage to D?n}1, as infra xxxiv. 24, npn Nb (Ipn Nb an}?? yh] He
breaketh [the] mighty in pieces unsearchably), and Cap rib 1 Chr. ii. 30
(Di33 rib ibp na}1 And Seled died without sons, or sonless (sonlessly),
childless, (childlessly)).
Now, with regard to the second class of examples, I agree with Olshausen,
because npn Nb and 0133 rib evidently qualify the verbs P'n} and nB}} , and
not the nouns Onn? and npD , and besides we frequently find N p with a
noun qualifying a verb, or in other words performing the part of an adverb, so
that, if we substituted in these pass, npn Nb? and Qi33 rib? , the construction,
though a little more prosaical, would not greatly suffer, especially in the second
instance.* But I strongly object to interpret our pres. pass, in the same way, for
* We do not actually find "ipn ifia , but as I have already shown in my note on supra
ix. 10, that we find ipn )'n is, ipn )W, ipn ]'N, and perhaps ipn n'ii (infra xxxvi. 26), all
with the same meaning, and so again tbpo fN is , iBpo ]'Ni and lapo }'n — it is evident
that ipn n'i is an abbreviated expression, and it is prob. = either ign tfta , or perhaps
better "ipn nV] and [there is] no searching-out. Comp. Q'-np n! and note upon it (supra
x. 22). And so O'n n'i may either = D'aa rite or (V>) D'aa n^i . Comp. ispp ;'N d'o; Jer.
ii. 32, with ispia or\b j'ni ibid. xlvi. 23.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 24. 709
it seems to me much more natural to regard "if!,! rib as qualifying inh , than to
take it with Dyn}1 , and to translate, as I suppose Olshausen would, and He
causes them to wander without a way (waylessly, tracklessly), i.e., up and down,
hither and thither, without pursuing any fixed track — an interpretation of without
a way, which seems to me a little out of the way, a little forced. I prefer,
therefore, to refer our pass, to the same category as Olshausen's first class of
cases; only these I would not explain as he does, inasmuch as I do not think that
rib? with a subst. is used to qualify another substantive, i.e., to fulfil the
functions of an adjective* and 27"N rib? V~!N , ni23 rib? ip? = a land
without a man (inhabitants), a morning without clouds, however well they
accord with our idiom, seem to me to be both un-Hebrew, and harsh. I would
explain these cases, therefore, rather as Dr. Bernard explains them by
the ellipsis of 02* ltt*N where, or of n27N and 2 (or b) with a pron. affix as
ib . ) nb)
,:a ""?- c > —L r ~"?^ • in which, to which (there is), &c. My reason is, that
we sometimes find similar phrases in which half of the ellipsis has been preserved.
Thus, in one of the verses quoted by Olshausen, viz., infra xxxviii. 26, the
ellipsis in 2?iN rib yiN. is clearly shown to be na""~i27N, in which, because in
the second hemistich we find i2 DIN rib -121;B for ia DIN rib ltt*N 131B .
So Deut. viii. 15, 0]B ^N 12/N liNap], where the iB is omitted, as is
evident if we comp. Zech. ix. 11, ia 0}B l^N liaa , where the n27N is omitted,
but the 12 is preserved. Comp. also Numb. xxii. 26, TH TN n27N. 12 DipB2
niaab .
* If n^3 had been used in this way we should no doubt have found examples in the
historical books, and it is scarcely allowable to explain an ellipsis by a full form which we
never find. Comp. however, Ps. xvii. 1, nmo >ro4) >tta 'rton my prayer without lips of
deceit, though here we must in Eng. supply made or spoken (without, &c.) It seems that
the Hebrews used, instead of N^a in these cases, ™ , 'tri nj , ft , 'iai na , ia J ' ; I -ij5n
these constructions being either used in full, or with the omission of the ia!*! at the
beginning, and of the prep, with their affixes, or of Bib at the end. See infra (in text).
Just as to us such expressions as a morning which has (or in which there are) no clouds,
hosts which have (or to which there is) no number, would seem extremely tedious, and we
have, therefore, replaced the relative pron. and the verb by an adjective ending in less,*
&c, or by without, so the Heb. found the full forms given above too tedious, especially in
poetry, and therefore they shortened them down until, in some cases, there only remained
the substantive and the negative (as though we said a morning no clouds) — the two
being quite as short and perhaps more expressive than our compound words in less, &c,
and shorter than without and a noun. But though the Heb. do not appear to have used
•fa in this way, they did, though very rarely, so use '}a without. Comp. infra xxxviii. 2,
ran 'ba I'taa with words without knowledge, where nsi '}a is, I think, universally considered
to qualify fro , and not ftirvg . Comp. also Ps. lxiii. 2.
* Less in. these cases is tbe A.S. leas, Germ. Ios (our loose), and so signifies, detached,, free from,
void of.

710 APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 24, 25.
An instance, in which 027 ")27N. , 0r n27N: with 3 and a pron. affix, must be
supplied, is found in Gen. xli. 29, VPN bp? biia y?27 niNB Ds3tt5 y?27 71371
0}ipa Ht. Behold, seven years [are] coming great plenty in all [the] land of
Egypt ; which stands for biia ya27 ]na n]n} 12>N , Behold, seven years are
coming in which there will be great plenty, though we might supply only
in? and omit the ntpfrj and the verb, when we should have lna biia y327
'131 bp? . So Deut. viii. 15, " Who led thee -T& tf™ Nliai] bian 131B?
B^p3] lit. in that great and terrible wilderness, fiery serpent(s), and scorpion(s)
where we must supply ia 127N in which, or 027 n27N. where (there were fiery
serpents, &c), or, at any rate, 13 alone. See note on supra x. 22.
The Hebrews were, no doubt, aware in these cases, that they were using
elliptical expressions, and could have filled up the ellipses, just as, when we say,
the man I killed, the day I saw him, we are aware that we are guilty of a couple
of ellipses, and that these passages, expressed in full, would run, the man whom I
killed, the day on which (13 127N) / saw him.
I should not, however, like to say that it is impossible to regard 'si!.! rib as
governed by inn in construction, especially as there is no doubt that compound
words are not unfrequently formed with Nb. See note on OniD ribl, supra
x. 22. Still, it is, I think, impossible to bring forward any strong evidence in favour
of this view, whilst there is strong evidence in favour of the view Dr. Bernard
advocates, and I therefore prefer to follow Dr. Bernard. At the same time I
would rather take mn to be in eonstr. than supply rib? after it.
In Ps. cvii. 40, we have a verse made up of the first hemistich of supra
ver. 21, and the second hemistich of the present verse. The verse runs,
Tni rib inn? Dyn}i Qipna by rra 71327 .
Ver. 25. 7J27'n 1272>a] . Supra v. 14 we have onnp? 12725a} , and in
Deut. xxviii. 29 we have 0}inS3 27EJBB , nbDN2  27'27B] ; we might,
therefore, take "n"P}n here = T[2?n? , even though it be regarded as an ace.
Comp. infra xxix. 3, ^I^?n 7J7N . In this case the meaning would be, " They
grope (feel about) in darkness." Still, the verb 2727B is also found with an
ace, in the sense of to feel, to feel about, search by feeling, e.g., Gen. xxxi. 34,
37 ; and in Exod. x. 21, we have T[27n 27' D]] which may, I think, be well
translated (with Aben Ezra) and (or that) it (Egypt) shall touch (grasp — the Lat.
contrectare, the Fr. manier) [the] darkness,* for D}12B is sometimes joined with
a masc. verb, e.g., Exod. xiv. 25 (quoted by Aben Ezra), 30, &c. And so,
indeed, the pass, has commonly been rendered, though, perhaps, 27B} has been
generally regarded as impers. Thus, the Sept. has i/^Ack^toi/ encd-ros ; the Vulg,
" tenebrse tarn densse, ut palpari queant ; " " Recke deine Hand gen Himmel, dass
es so finster werde  dass mans greifen mag" (Luther); "even darkness
* His words are TOP? 07-3 1DDP'
" they shall touch the darkness with their bands."

APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 25. 711
which may be felt (and in margin, that one may feel darkness) " (A.V.). Our
passage would then mean they touch, feel, handle darkness, i.e., they are brought
into contact with, are closely environed by, darkness, and that darkness so thick that
they can feel it (so we talk of a fog being so thick that it can be cut with a
knife). This rendering seems to me much more forcible than the first, but the
B?n}1 (in the 2nd hem.) He makes them to wander about (or stagger),* seems
perhaps, to accord better with the first rend, they grope about.
There is the" same difficulty with regard to "i]bn in the very similar pass.
supra v. 14, "ST^n 127^3} Dnl'i , on which see note.
"UN rib] . This we may take in two ways. It may either (1) be taken as
qualifying TJt^n , when the meaning will be darkness in which there is no light; or
(2) it may be connected like *sj?7n itself, with 1272JB] , when the meaning will be
they feel about (grope) in darkness and not in light, or they touch, grasp darkness
and not light. So Rosenmuller, Palpant tenebras et non lucem. I must confess
that I am inclined to favour the latter view, as then the 1 is very natural,
whereas, when I consider the former view, the 1 strikes me as somewhat in the
way, and I should have preferred niN rib TJip'n , just as in the preceding verse
we have ~WX\ Nb inh . Still, as is shewn below, the use of rib] is by no means
fatal to the first interpretation. According to the second view, therefore, niN NI]
and not light — another, but to our minds, a weaker, manner of expressing "ilP^n
darkness — would be added merely for the sake of emphasis, and there is no doubt
that the Hebrews did thus add to words the negative of their contrary, for the
sake, no doubt, of increasing the effect, though to us the effect is thereby
• The verb nsn is also used of a drunkard in Isa. xix. 14, nisnna .... Dnsp m isnn]
isipa liaiB and they cause Egypt to err .... like the erring (wandering, staggering (A. V.))
of a drunkard in his vomit. The verb nsn , however, does not seem to me to be quite so
strong as our verb to stagger, and is certainly less strong than to reel, which implies a great
tendency to fall,* but it rather, I think, implies that irregularity of course, that deviation
from a straight line, that moving from side to side, which characterizes the minor degrees of
drunkenness, and which equally marks the gait of those who are blind, or who walk in
deep darkness, f We might, therefore, well transl. Dsn>i and He causes them to grope,
only that to grope is not used of the devious gait of a drunkard, although it implies tbe
adoption of a very similar gait by those who are blind, or who cannot direct their steps
for deep darkness. The meaning will be completely expressed if we translate, and He
causes them to lose the power of directing their steps (like a drunkard).
* The verb Sia to move to and fro, and also to wander, is also applied to drunkards and to the
blind (see Ges.) and is perhaps, a rather stronger verb than njn , so that if (for want of a better
verb), we translate nsn to stagger, we might transl. sia to reel, at least when applied to drunkards.
We are scarcely, however, at liberty to infer from the fact, that tbe Heb. use tbe same verbs to
denote the gait of drunkards, and that of the blind and those who grope in the dwrk, that tbe
Heb. drunkards were never so drunk as to stagger or reel. See note + . We should perhaps
rather infer inaccuracy of comparison, or poyerty of language, aan , lit. to dance, is also once
(Ps. cvii. 27) applied to drunkards.
t Now these, no doubt, have a very irregular gait, but they have no very great tendency to faH,
unless they stumble over something ; and we should be unwilling to apply tbe verbs stagger or reel
to their gait.

712 APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 25, 4, 18.
weakened* Comp. infra xiv. 2, nby] rib] b-P? m}?}1 , where n'BS} rib]
might be dispensed with, for it is self-evident tbat, if man flees away like a
shadow, he cannot abide. Comp. also supra xi. 15, N"]iJl NI] pSB m}!],
and note upon it. Comp. also DBrt rib] baa D3 (Deut. xxxii. 6), where
D311 rib] nearly = baa , but (to us) is much less forcible. See, too, the Comm.
But if niN rib] be taken to qualify TJPJn , as it is taken, I think, by nearly all
the Commentators, then we must explain it much as I have explained TJ!"] rib
in the last verse. The most simple ellipsis would be i2 , just as, supra x. 22,
Dnip rib] (on which see note) may well be taken = na Onip rib], i.e.,
V"].Na . The meaning would then be lit. darkness and no light in it, = darkness
in which there is no light, just as infra xxix. 12, ib 1137 rib] Dim (0n which
see note in Comm. and Append.) means [the] orphan who has no helper. Or we
may transl. without light, for I have shown in my note on Onip Nb] , that N7]
may often be englished by without.
Dr. Bernard, in the Comm., seems to combine the two views, for whilst he
translates where (in which) there is no light, he gives examples which suit the
other view better ; for darkness in which there is no light is not really a pleonasm,
but designates darkness of the deepest possible degree, inasmuch as darkness is
commonly more or less mingled with light.
ADDITIONS TO THIS CHAPTER.
To note on Dipn (Tip pin?? , p. 693. Upon reconsideration, I think I am
wrong in saying that Dr. Bernard took Dipn adverbially. I now believe that he
took P^ip to be a subst, and Dipn to be an adj. agreeing with it, and that if
he transl. a perfectm righteous-man, it was only because we cannot say a perfect
righteous -man, though the Fr. do say un parfait honnete homme, honnete homme
being regarded as a sort of compound word. Grammatically, therefore, Dr. Ber
nard's rend, cannot, I think, be objected to ; still, I do not like his may be, and
at any rate I would reverse the order followed in the transl. and say, " But a
laughing-stock may be a perfectly righteous man." Or, still adopting this rend.
of Dipn piip , we might transl., a laughing-stock [but] a perfectly righteous
man! or, [yes] a laughing-stock, [I] a perfectly righteous man!
Observe, that in this verse we have in the first clause pnt£7 with deficient
Chowlem and conj. accent, and in the last pint? with full Chowlem and a
disjunctive accent. Is not this an argument in favour of my suggestion (see
note on ib3B supra i. 20) that deficient Chowlem represents a somewhat shorter
sound than full Chowlem? Comp. Judg. v. 23, where we have TON, when it
stands alone, but nN when it is very closely connected with the next word (nmN).
So again, apiD and Bab in Eccles. i. 6 ; and Npii and Npi (2 Sam. xvi. 5).
To note on nDNfl , p. 704, note J . But many would deny that ? in Baa1??
does form a syllable, and would describe the Sh'vah under the b as neither
* There is, however, but little doubt, I think, that the Hebrews regarded these words
¦compounded with & , as quite equivalent to the words whose meaning they circuitously
¦express. Comp. Ges. Lehrgeb., p. 832.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 18. 713
quiescent, nor yet altogether moving, the b belonging partly to the first and partly
to the second 2 , almost as though the word were written DBBT?? or 033? ? .
This view, which is maintained by, and seems to have originated with, Ewald
(Kr. Gr., pp. 86, 87), and is mentioned by Kalisch (Gr., Partii., p. 74), is very
plausible, and has besides the merit of offering an explanation of the irregular
Dagesh in such words as ''333 * (Deut. xxxii. 32), npy (Gen. xlix. 17), &c. Comp.
also Drinpn infra xvii. 2. In English also we are sometimes puzzled to decide
to which of two vowels a consonant lying between them belongs. Thus, in
Fleming and Tibbin's Eng. Fr. Diet. I find malice divided mal-ice, but malicious,
ma-lich-euce \ ; lapidify divided lap-i-difai-f, but lapidification, la-pi-di-fi-ke-
cheune\. In pronunciation, however, these consonants sound as if they were
doubled, i.e., as if they had a dagesh J. In French, on the other hand, the first
voweL i.e., the vowel corresponding to the Short Cherik, in 0331? , receives
greater stress, and is distinctly separated from the consonant following it. Thus,
malice is pronounced and divided ma-lice, not mal-ice, malicieux, ma-li-ci-eux, not
mal-i-ci-eux. And so in Italian. The reason seems to be, in the first place, that
the vowel a in these lang. nearly always has the same sound, whether it is followed
by a consonant or not, whereas in Eng. a has, as a rule, a different sound,
when it ends a syllable (as in ma-ple), or, when, in a monosyllabic word, it
is between two consonants, of which the second is followed by e (as in make),
and when it is between two consonants of which the second is not followed
by a vowel (as in mal); and, in the second place, that the French and Italians
are greater lovers of symmetry and order § than the English, and like,
especially the former, to divide their words into distinctly marked syllables
and to give to each its full value, whilst we English, free and energetic
in our speech as in our actions, single out one syllable upon which we lay all the
stress ||, and leave all the rest to take care of themselves. In German, also, we
frequently find a short vowel distinctly terminating a syll. Comp. bedeuten,
gegeben, he., to be divided be-deuten, ge-geben.
To the end of the first § on p. 705. A guttural, being commonly also
* Thedag. in these cases merely indicates the pronunciation more clearly, and shews
that the first syll. does not terminate with the first short vowel.
t Spelled so as to indicate the pron. to a Frenchman.
X Still, in Eng. the rule certainly is that these short vowels do not terminate a syll.
See the first note, p. 705.
§ Those who like constraint, or regulation, in their actions, like constraint or regulation
in their language ; those who like to be unfettered in their actions, like to be unfettered
in their language also. The French organize everything ; and this love for organization
shews itself even in their language ; every syllable must have its passport, so to say,
whereas we English, who abhor organization as interfering with liberty, allow our syllables
to conceal their individuality, if they will.
|| It will, perhaps, be objected here that in every language, excepting French, one syl
lable has the principal accent. True, but in no language, with which I am acquainted,
does one syllable swallow up the rest to the same extent as in Eng. Those who bave
learned Italian from an Italian, must remember having been corrected for not distinctly
pronouncing the vowel which terminates each syllable. If, for example, an Englishman

714 APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 18.
more or less of an aspirate *, a quiescent Sh'vah is less natural under it than a
moving Sh'vah, because the former implies a sudden suspension of the breath,
which is not easily effected after an aspirate, which is an explosion of breath.
After the letter n , indeed, (the Germ, ch, in Loch), which is more of a guttural
(consonant) than an aspirate (vowel), so that in pronouncing it the breath is chiefly
directed slantingly upwards against the uvula, pushing it forwards and upwards.
and causing it to vibrate strongly, instead of coming forward more horizontally,
as when n is pronounced, so as to pass through the lips f — it is possible to check
is asked to pronounce the Ital. maladetta,* his tendency is to pron. it maV-dU-te1, instead
of ma-la-det-ta. A friend of mine, a Frenchman, who, being a native of Alsace, speaks
(or understands) French and German equally well, was greatly struck, when in England,
by this great concentration of accent upon one syllable. " Well," I said, " I know that in
French you lay pretty nearly the same stress upon every syllable, but surely in German they
lay the accent upon one syllable as we do.'' " Yes, but the other syllables are all distinctly
pronounced," was his reply, " whilst in Eng. your accented syllable is a regular Moloch, to
which all the others are sacrificed."
* Thus the sounds, which are called gutturals, are expressed by adding the aspirate h to
mutes, as in ch, gh, &c. In Heb., too, n (h), which in other lang. is called an aspirate,
is classed with the gutturals. The pure gutturals in mod. lang. (such as ch, gh (Arab.))
are modifications of the aspirate h, just as the simple consonants are modifications oi the
vowels. The aspirate h, though often regarded as a consonant, and though partaking of
the nature of a consonant in that it cannot be pronounced without the aid of a vowel,
and so is written with them like a consonant, yet really belongs to the same category as
the vowels, of which it is only an intensification (exasperation), the expiratory muscles,
especially those of the abdomen, being forcibly exerted for its production. H differs from
the consonants, which are essentially checks to the free emission of the voice (and, there
fore, naturally take a quiescent Sh'vah under them), in that in pronouncing it no
obstruction whatever is offered to the free passage of tbe breath. But, if we define a
consonant to be a modification produced in the breath by the interposition of a certain
check to the free passage of the breath from the larynx to the external air (see Stoddart,
Glossology, Enyc. Metrop., p. 125), then I am afraid we should have only one pure vowel,
viz., 8 as in the Fr. de (= the sound of a in yeoman, &c), and its intensification he", for in
uttering these two sounds only do the vocal chords and the other parts of the throat and
mouth appear to remain in the same position as in ordinary breathing,-]- whereas, even in
pronouncing a, as in father, the root of the tongue is visibly raised and the vocal aperture
consequently diminished, whilst in forming the other vowels the free emission of the voice
is still more seriously impeded. The other vowels may, therefore, be regarded as
modifications of this e, which represents the slightly intensified breathing (expiration)
which is required for speaking.
f When n (b) is pron., the tip only of the uvula moves slightly forward, and does
not vibrate. In pronouncing the vowels the uvula does not appear to move. In pron. rr ,
too, the back of the tongue is raised up, so that there is a check opposed to the free emission
of the breath, but in pron. n , the back of the tongue is depressed, and a freer passage left.
* This is also, and more correctly, written mals-detta. Tbe e seems to me to bave been changed
into a, upon this very principle that I bave been laying down, for, in rapid pronunciation, it would
be difficult to pronounce the syll. le in such a way that the voice should rest as long upon it as
upon the prec. syll. via, and so it has been altered to la.
+ This e appears to be merely ordinary breathing slightly intensified, whilst ht is a stiU further
intensification, for, when we are a little out of breath, we produce involuntary &s, and if we are so
much out of breath as to puff and blow, then we produce involuntary h&s.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XII. 18. 715
the breath almost entirely, and thus quiescent Sh'vah is most common under n ;
but it is very difficult to pronounce n as an aspirate, and to stop short after it.
In Germ, the voice is freq. suddenly checked after ch hard, so that this terminates
a closed syll., and virtually has a quiescent Sh'vah under it, as in Nach-bar,
ruch-los ; but when h has a quiescent Sh'vah under it, as in miih-sam, Friih-ling,
&c, then the h is not pronounced as an aspirate ; for, if it were, these words
would sound almost as if written miih-e-sam, Friih-e-ling, that is, the n would
have a moving Sh'vah. So in Heb., in such words as n}"n} , the n cannot well
be pron. as an aspirate, and must either be left unpronounced, or be given a sort
of guttural (consonantal) sound (such as h is supposed to have had in the middle
and at the end of words in Anglo-Saxon, &c), and this seems to be one reason
why n in Heb. has crept in among the gutturals. In "ipn} on the contrary,
the Sh'vah being moving, the n has its full aspirate sound. With regard to
N and y, one cannot speak so decisively, as their exact pronunciation is
unknown, but, as there is but little doubt that they were (esp. N) weaker
gutturals (consonants) than n , they probably compensated in some measure for
this, by being stronger aspirates (vowels) * ; and, if so, we see why the Sh'vah
under them is more commonly moving.f
We see, therefore, why the gutturals prefer, on the whole, a moving Sh'vah ; but
for the reason why their moving Sh'vah is a compound Sh'vah (i.e., a slight vowel
sound) and not a simple Sh'vah, I must refer the reader to Ewald (Kr. Gr., § 75, 77,
&c), and to Nordheimer (vol. i., p. 22). It is really because a guttural is at the same
time an aspirate, i.e., is accompanied by an explosion of breath, and that this explosion
of breath cannot take place without giving rise to a slight and audible vowel sound,
the vowels themselves being weak aspirates (or rather expirates), or explosions
of breath. Of course, in an ordinary simple moving Sh'vah, as in "HB (p'ree)
there is also a slight explosion of breath, a vowel sound, but this is less strong
than under a guttural, and has not been deemed worthy of a special sign marking
it as a vowel.
For a more detailed account of the use of Simple Sh'vah under the gutturals
(SnrtN), see Appendix 2.
* I have been at some pains to learn the pronunciation of » in Arabic, and certainly
when one pronounces it, one does not feel that check to the voice, of which one is conscious
when one pronounces n (ch), i.e., s in the free onward flow (emission) of tbe breath
more resembles n, i.e., is more of an aspirate.
t But it may be said n is a much stronger aspirate than n or s , how then is it that
it has more freq. a quiescent Sh'vah? Well, this has arisen, I believe, from the very
strength of its aspiration, for being, on this account, unpleasant to pronounce in the
middle or at the end of words, it gradually became quiescent (as h in the Germ. Floh, Zehn,*
&o.) ; whereas n and S being less strong, prob. retained (esp. the latter) their guttural
sound in the middle in a greater or less degree. At the end of words n seems to have
been quiescent, but s very prob. retained its guttural sound, as it has in Arabic.
* In Switzerland, the h in zehn, gchen, is still strongly pronounced, so that it almost resembles
<A (hard). Comp. the Goth, taihun (ten).

716 APPENDIX. CHAP. XIII. 1.

CHAPTER XIIL
Ver. 1. n! ipni. If the b is here the mark of the obj. case, then ba is
made fem., or rather neut., the fem. being used = a neut. See Index. But the
nb might at least equally well refer to "PIN , and be rendered for itself. This
use of the dat. is well known. Comp. ib D3D} supra xii. 11 ; Tjb yi supra
v. 27, and ii. 8, iii. 14, &c. Wolfssohn translates und merkte sich's.
Ver. 2. Dpnyi? . See note on 121? supra ii. 10. Still it may (though less
well I think) be taken as a subst.
Ver. 3. The force of the DblN seems to be : to proclaim the omnipotence of
God is all very well in its proper place, but (OblN) this is not its proper place,
for, firstly, I know all about it already as I have shown you, and, secondly, my
mind is bent upon something else, namely upon speaking to, and pleading before
God. It should be remarked, however, also that Bildad had said, supra xi. 5,
that he would that God would speak to Job, and he had introduced this wish with
the words 071N] , so Job may well refer to these words, as though he said,
You say, you wish God would speak to me, but (DblN), this is just what I want ;
far from shunning His presence, I long to speak to Him, and if He would but
shew Himself, I would address Him at once.
!13in is of course governed by VB(]TN . It is prob. the inf. absol., as supra
vi. 25 (cf. Onnn infra ver. 5), though, as it is not in pause, but is the first word in
the clause, I think it may possibly be a shortened form for main the inf. eonstr. See
note on 327n supra ix. 18 (pp. 651, 660), where I have pointed out that the inf.
absol. is rarely governed by another verb. VBn is found in other places joined with
the inf. eonstr. with and without b . With b supra ix. 3, Bnb yBn} DN , Deut.
xxv. 8, nnnpb inpoil rib , 1 Sam. ii. 25, &c. ; and with the inf. preceding as
here, Ps. xl. 9, "'npsn iflbN. Tj?is!. nifryb . Without b , infra xxi. 14,
13psn rib fppil nyi] (the inf. preceding), infra xxxiii. 32, ;Jpn? ^23(1 i?
&c. (on which see note), and comp. n231 supra iv. 2, on which see note.
yBnN . It is remarked by Heiligstedt and others that in pause we always
find the form Vpn] and not yisn} , which is otherwise always used. See
Ps. xxxvii. 23, Ixviii. 31, cxlvii. 10, Isa. Iviii. 2. V?nN , however, does not
stand for V^ON (for, as I have already remarked, we but seldom find Pathach
under the N in the first pers. fut. (see note on 1DN.}1, p. 703, note j) — but for
V'BnN Ezek. xviii. 23, 32, xxxiii. 11).
Ver. 4. DblN] . The 1 here may, I think, be rendered then ; I wish to speak
to God, and proclaim my innocence before Him ; but you then, who bid me spread
out my hands to Him, and supplicate Him, for that in this way alone can I be freed

APPENDIX. CHAP. XIII. 4 — 8. 717
from my sufferings — must, to my mind at least, be patcbers up of lies and worthless
physicians, all of ye.
The pronouns "ON and OriN (in vers. 3 and 4) are evidently used for the sake
of emphasis, and to contrast with one another.
ip27 ibBD . Comp. Ps. cxix. 69, np.2? ib3 ibBD they have patched up lies
against me, " dichten Liigen wider mich," Mendelssohn. The verb is only found
once more, viz., infra xiv. 17, on which see note in Comm. bBD seems to be
freq. used in Rabbinic, but it does not there mean to sew, to patch up, but to be
joined, adhere, to join together, cause to adhere, but more generally to smear (as
mud, oil, &c. = n27B). And, indeed, this last meaning to smear would not be
inappropriate here, and would form a better parallel with ""NBl . Ip2? vBD
would then mean either smear ers of falsehood, lies, who spread the irritative
ointment of lies upon my wounds, instead of the soothing balm of truth ;
or else (np2? being used instead of an adj.) smearers of falsehood = false, vain,
lying smearers (smearer being a contemptuous epithet for physician), i.e., physi
cians who wantonly deceive their patient by offering him as consolations that
which they know will gall and chafe him. np27 would then correspond to bb.N ,
and be used in exactly the same way. In the pass, in Psalms, too, we might
translate, they have stuck lies together against me, i.e., have fabricated, concocted,
lies, and infra xiv. 17, to smear, would not make bad sense. Whence the notion
of sewing so commonly given to the verb in Heb. is derived, I know not, though
Buxtorf quotes one pass, (quoted also by Gesen.) from the Targum in support
of this meaning (in its fig. sense). Gesenius, indeed, says that ban is used in
the Talm. = to sew, but Buxtorf gives no example of this use. Ges. asserts also
that the prim, meaning of N31 is to sew, and thus produces a parallelism between
,!??0 and ""NO! , but this is mere conjecture.
bbN iNB'l . Comp. Zech. xi. 1 7, bib.Nn iy'l shepherd of vanity, good for
nothing shepherd. Comp. also infra xvi. 2, B?b? 7B3 iBnpB comforters of
trouble ( = troublesome comforters) [are] ye all. b IN for bnN. Comp. niBl
(ver. 6) for ni2n , and see note on ibya supra i. 20, and Index.
Ver. 5. Il'-^nnn . Some Grammarians maintain that this paragogic 3 imparts
additional force to the verb, and if this is so, it is well placed here and in vers.
8, 10, where we have 11N2i>n , 112nn . Gesenius, however, denies that the 3 has
any such force, though he expatiates at great length on the virtues of n_
paragogicum (Lehrgeb. pp. 870—875). See note on ni21N; supra x. 1.
Thll . This is gen. transl. as a comm. fut. (as infra xxi. 2), and not as an
cptat, although it is an apocop. form. See note on PT.C7} infra xviii. 9.
Ver. 6. ni21 = ni2n . See note on bb^ , ver. 4, &c.
Ver. 7. nbiy iipnn . Comp. infra xxvii. 4, i3i2?bl nb]y viBtp mipin DN
njp! nan.} dn .
Ver. 8. 112nn . 2il must here be taken in a bad sense, for nobody could be
reproached with pleading for God if his motives were pure.

718 APPENDIX. CHAP. XIII. 9.
Ver. 9. P 2ion; . Comp. supra x. 3, P lb 2iDil , though we do not there
translate in quite the same way as here.
bnil? for this construction, see OBPiyi? Ver. 2, and note on 121? supra
ii. 10.
ibnnn . Comp. lbnn] Jer. ix. 4, though Gesenius writes it, I know not on
what authority, ibilil] without the dag., but some copies leave the dag. out here.
ibnnn , if written with a dag. in the b , looks as if it were compounded from the
two roots bnn (ibnnn), and bbn (lbnn) . Kimchi and Ben-Zev, however,
write ibnJin and consider this, as well as bilil (bnn), and bnil to be the
Pi-al of bnn , the long vowels under the n being, I suppose, put as a com
pensation for the dagesh omitted in the n , on the principle of ^31 niian m ;
just as is regularly done when the second radical, being a guttural, or ! , cannot
take a dag., as e.g., nana (Gen. iv. 14), 271.3] and ^ns (Exod. xi. 1). That
such a compensation does sometimes occur in the Pi-dl and Pu-al of verbs, in
which (as in bnn) the second rad. is not a guttural or n , is indisputable. Thus
infra xx. 26 we have mbpNn , for mb?Nn , T]?m. (Ps. xciv. 20) for T)2n] *
inppn ps. Ixii. 4 (for in-pin or mpin t). And be it observed that in all
these cases the first rad. is a guttural or n , as in our case if the root be bnn .
Comp. also ipQ2?'B supra ix. 15 (on which see note), and "PpbB (Ps. ci. 5).
Comp. also the Pi-al oi the verba gemin., in which the full Chowlem replaces the
Dagesh, as in 2?iD , &c. In this way, then, we should obtain ibjinn (instead
of ibnnri), and this would be in pause (see infra) ibnnn . And even, if we
accept the more usual reading ibnnn , this dag. in the b would not be suffi
cient to prevent the word from being the Pi-dl of bnn , for do we not find infra
xxix. 21, ibll}] (on which see note) which is the Pi-dl of bm and = the more
regular form 1 'D}] , which we find ibid, ver. 23 ? Only ibn}] is in pause, and
ibnnn is not. See Ges. Lehrgeb. p. 85. It should be remarked, however, that
when there is only a very short monosyllabic word intervening between a verb
and the pause accent, the verb apparently may be lengthened just as if it were
really in pause. X Thus supra x. 16, we find "'P NbEnn , where the last vowel
of the Hithpa-dl has become Kawmets, just as it so commonly does when in pause.
See Index, s. v. Hithpa-al. It would seem almost as if the little word in these
* Some say for ^parn . Kalisch (Gr., Part ii., p. 73, note 5) says it stands for 5pam (=
*paarn), but this is an impossible form, as two Sh'vahs cannot come together at the
beginning of a syllable, but the first must be changed into a slight vowel. See second
Preface to Vol. I.
t Comp. also 'Jtso (Jer. li. 34, according to Buxtorf and others ; Van der Hooght
reads 'rwo ) with d'jtsd (Prov. xxix. 17, &c.) ; and the converse tann (infra xxii. 3),
for onn , ian (Exod. xxiii. 21) for ion .
X This is very natural ; as the monosyllabic word could not by any possibility take a
pausal form. But whether this irregularity takes place before any other pause accent
than silluk, that is, anywhere else than at the end of a verse, is, I think, doubtful.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XIII. 9. 719
cases were considered as part of the verb. * ibnnn might, therefore, certainly
become ibnnn here, and probably -ibnnn +. I have shown then, I think, that
Kimchi's view is perfectly tenable, and it has this advantage, that every part of
the verb may thus be referred to the root bnn , whilst it cannot to the root bbn .
Besides the forms quoted in the Comm. we find also nbnn (Judg. xvi. 10, 13,
15), which is quite regular if bnn (bnn) iS) as Kimchi thinks, the Pi-dl of
bnn , but can scarcely come from bnn if this be the Hiph. of bbn , for then
it should be nibiiri — though it might, perhaps, be taken to be compounded
from the Pi-dl of bnn (nbnn), and the Hiph. of bbn (bnn). As for bnm
(Isa. xliv. 20), it would, indeed, be the reg. Hoph. of bbn , but might well be
the Pu-al of ^n (inn), the dag. being compensated for by the quiescent.
Comp.Oi27|!1i (Eccles. ix. 12), which is by many considered to stand for Di2?|7]B.|
The two derivatives Onnn (infra xvii. 2), and nibnna (lsa. xxx. 10), point
rather to the root bnn than to bbn , in spite of the dagesh in the b ; for, in
the first place, is it not easier to suppose that Dibnq stands for Oibmn (cf.
Dip1273 infra xxxv. 9), the dagesh replacing the quiescent, than to derive (with
Gesenius) the n from bnn and the dag. in the b from bbn § ; and, secondly,
we do find the nouns nK71] (Deut. ii. 5, &c), from 271i , and nbilp (Deut.
xxxiii. 4, &c), from bnp , which, as far as the dag. in the third radical is
concerned, are identical with Oni^n. . Besides, the reading adopted by Van der
Hooght and others is Oibnn , without a dagesh. As for nibnna , it may be
regularly derived from ?nn, just as we have niaiy.B (1 Sam. xv. 32) from
py, and nip2h7B (prov. xxviii. 16) from p27y .
At the same time the view now generally adopted, and mentioned by Dr. Ber
nard, that ibniin stands for lbnn (the Hiph. of bbn), the n 0f the Hiph.
being retained, is in itself very simple and very plausible, and all that can be
urged against it is the uncertainty of the root bbn (in this sense), and the

* " Selten hat das vor einem einsylbigen Endworte stehende Wort schon die Kraft der
Pausalform, wie era unci 2 Beg. vii. 4 " (Ewald, Kr. Gramm., p. 667), though I do not
think his example is as good as mine, inasmuch as wnoi when undoubtedly in pause
becomes lanoi , as will be seen twice in this same verse.
t ia itann would have been anything but euphonious, and -bmr\ (and perhaps still more
itann) i8 certainly much more full and sonorous, and therefore much more befitting the
close of a verse, than *nrtn or itonn would have been.
X Comp. also the converse, asc , as; (from as', as') for asm, asi'. So also ps« xi. 15
(from ps') for psio infra xxxvi. 16, xxxvii. 10, 18. See note in Comm. on naiN xi. 9.
§ It could scarcely come from Vn (the Hiph. of bbn) alone, because in Heb. there is,
I believe, only one noun which is certainly formed from the Hiph., viz., nten , and this
comes from a verb a"o (tea), though in Rabb. such nouns are very common. As for
T^D, which is by some derived from the Hiph. of "Da, see note in Comm. on i-onn infra
xix. 3.

720 APPENDIX. CHAP. XIII. 12.
circumstance that, as far as I know, the n is only found retained in the fut.
Hiph. of verbs V'B . See Kalisch, Gr., Part ii., § xlv. 4 (p. 179).
The reader, therefore, must decide.
Ver. 12. 23 is here rendered o-iu/xa body, in the Septuagint, and Ralbag
interprets it *)12 body, although he understands the passage altogether differently
from Dr. Bernard. 23 in two or three passages (viz., Ps. cxxix. 3, Ezek. x. 12,
&c.) means, or is taken to mean, back, so that if it means body at all, we may
compare 1? which generally means back, and by some is taken to mean body, in
Isa. li. 23, whilst the other forms belonging to the same root, viz., nia (infra xx.
25) and n}ia , undoubtedly mean body.
Homberg takes 23 in the sense of hill, elevation, height, eminence (comp. infra
xv. 26, where it means the boss of a shield), but understands it figuratively of
lofty and aspiring language, and translates " und euere Hbhe (euer Schwung *)
reicht nur bis zu einem Leimhugel." "And your height (your poetic flight
(elevation)) reaches only to [the height of] a mud-hill ; " i.e., though in your
language you attempt to soar on high, you will never rise higher than a very
low level. According to this interpretation, opna would stand in parallelism
with DDi.anp] . But Dr. Bernard's and Homberg's suggestions might perhaps
be combined thus : And your elevations, j (i.e., your poetic flights) are (or
turn out) but elevations of (i.e., befitting) clay ; i.e., however lofty you may think
your similes and figures, they will only appear so to you and mortals like you.
A sense would thus be obtained almost identical with that given to the first
hemistich by Dr. Bernard.
The b would then be the same construction that we find in ? mil (supra
vi. 20) X to become anything, like the Germ, zu etwas werden. And become
would be very suitable, inasmuch as the poetical figures are supposed to fall short
of their aim and become (turn out) what they were not intended for.
This rendering of Homberg is very ingenious, and deserves, I think, mention,
but it is certainly more farfetched than Dr. Bernard's. §
For the meaning bulwarks (propugnacula, arces) given by Gesenius and
others to PI , there does not seem to be the slightest foundation.
The passage is, however, one which must eternally remain doubtful and obscure.

* The Fr. Essor.
t If we were to give the word a more unfavourable sense we might render literally,
tumidities, turgidities, &c.
X Sb Dn'.'n ye are become it.
§ aa back, boss (of a shield), which Kimchi and others refer to an unused root aaa , is
thought by many to be connected with the Lat. gibbus (or gibba) a hump on the back
(cf. the Fr. bosse, bossu, and the Germ. Bucket, a boss, and u hump on the back). Now,
though gibbus and its derivatives do not appear to have been used figuratively, yet from
tuber, which is used of the hump of a camel, we find in Mid. Lat. tuberosus (Ducange) =
superbus, (cf. the Fr. faire le gros dos). Tuber again is generally regarded as connected
with tumor, the primary notion in both being that of swelling (see Pott's Etymol. Forsch.
vol. i. p. 170, and Ducange, s. v. tumex), and tumor (like the Germ, Schwulst) is used =
both a swelling (tumour), and bombast.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XIII. 13  15. 721
Ver. 13. ",?BB 127nqn lit. be silent from me, i.e., leave off speaking to me.
As we say to speak to a person, we can readily understand the use of such an
expression as to be silent from a person, to designate ./asi the opposite. To speak
to means to direct one's words to ; to be silent from, to turn one's words from.
Comp. Ps. xxviii. 1, and 1 Sam. vii. 8. Hirzel well comp. Isa. xli. 1, where we
have the converse nN 127'nqn keep silence [and hearken] unto me (though the
sense is much the same as here), 2?nnn being used in a pregnant sense in both
cases. Comp. also O T3n infra xv. 18 ; and see note on supra xii. 22.
by !?y is used in Ps. cxxiv. 4, 5, of the passing, flowing of waters (used fig.
for calamity) over one, and so it is an expression which exactly corresponds to
our overwhelm. See Gesenius.
Ver. 14. na by . Considering that nB ny. has just preceded this, one is
almost tempted to regard na by as standing for na n3 lit. on me anything,
i.e., on me what may. He had said, " Let come on me what may," and, like an
echo, he repeats on me what may, i.e., Aye, come on me what may. Pron. affixes*
are freq. omitted after nouns and verbs (see Index) ; the question is whether they
can also be omitted after prepositions. Comp. infra xx. 2, where !12y;2 is thought
by many to stand for 1? 1123.2 , the 1? being borrowed from ipb which has
just preceded. Comp. also Isa. Iix. 18, 0727] by3 nibaa by? according to
[their] deeds, [yea] according [to them] He will repay, where the second by?
stands quite naked, and requires nibaa, or a pron. affix to be supplied to it.
So again in Ps. lxxiii. 15, ia? is taken by Mendels. and others = DillD? like
them. See note on ^nyi by supra x. 7.
1327? n.27? NE7N / will carry my flesh in (i.e., between) my teeth, i.e., I will
hazard my life. This expression is probably derived from the circumstance that
the flesh, which a dog, or ravenous animal, carries in his mouth, is very liable,
either to drop, or to be snatched from him.
For the phrase iB3? i27B3 Di27, see Judg. xii. 3 ; 1 Sam. xix. 5, xxviii. 21.
In Ps. cxix. 109, we have "'BB? 12733 my life [is] in my hand, without the verb
B,tp . Cf. the Fr. avoir la mort entre les dents, sur les levres = to be at the
point of death. This is just tbe converse. In the Heb. life is represented as
being in the hands, i.e., just on the point of leaving the body ; whilst in the French
death is represented as just on the point of effecting an entrance into the body.
Ver. 15. Those who adopt the C'theev b(l}N rib translate, " Behold ! He
will slay me ; I may not hope, yet in His presence I will defend my ways," or
better as Wolfssohn, " Let Him slay me, I can no longer hope." The meaning is
evidently, Let Him kill me if He will ; at any rate till He does, I will maintain the
righteousness of my life. The bn}N. , 1 might, therefore, very well be omitted
without injury to the sense. The verb bm sometimes has the meaning of to
* And so are personal pronouns when it is clear from the context who is meant. See
note on niaa supra ix. 8, and Index.
3 A

722 APPENDIX. CHAP. XIII. 15  17.
wait [for], expect, (see Ges.), and if it could also mean to wait = to delay, then we
might transl., " Behold ! though He kill me, I will not wait, but, &c." For the
rib C'theev, and ib (K'ree), comp. supra vi. 21.
Some, translating biTN ib / will trust in Him, look upon the sentence as
expressing Job's piety, as though he meant to say, whatever God may do to me,
yea, even though He kill me, yet even to the last will I not cease to trust in Him
— but the context forbids us to give Job's words an interpretation so favourable
to him. The meaning seems rather to be merely that which is expressed in stronger
language infra xix. 27, where Job says, " For Him are my reins consumed
within me," i.e., I long to come into His presence, that I may prove my innocence
to Him. bn}N il would then be parenthetical, and the transl. be " Lo ! He
may kill me (I long for Him), but I will maintain my ways before Him ; " i.e.,
I long to prove my innocence before Him so much, that, whether He kills me or
not for it, I will maintain, &c. Job longed to come into the presence of God,
but was somewhat afraid of the consequences. He was afraid either that God
might smite Him, or that, at the very least, His presence would inspire him with
such dread, as to render him unable to speak. See supra ix. 34. But here, for
the nonce, he becomes a little more courageous (see vers. 13, 14), though only
speedily to relapse again into his former milder attitude (see infra vers. 21, 22).*
Or might blTN. IP mean I will await, abide Him, or it\ (His killing me) ; i.e.,
He may kill me — this shall not deter me ; unshrinkingly and undauntedly will I
await Him, will I look my death in the face, but I will maintain, &c. ? In
Germ, we might say, Ich sehe ihm getrost entgegen.
Ver. 16. Many Commentators, as Wolfssohn, Homberg, Umbreit, &c, refer
the Nil to the second hemistich of the preceding verse, and then the sense would
be, This very thing, the very fact of my being eager to plead before Him ought
to be a help to me, to speak in my favour, seeing that no hypocrite (impious man)
would dare )
Id b 'll'mcr ( t0 come before Him. The second hem. would then run, " for
a hypocrite would not come before Him." Others refer Nin to what follows. This
too is fortunate for me, this again is a help to me, that, namely, a hypocrite cannot
come before Him, &c. But see notef, which speaks in favour of our rend.
Comp. infra xxiii. 4, where Job says that, if he could only find God, he would
at once boldly address Him, with ibid. ver. 7, where he says the righteous plead,
or may plead, before God, and see note in Translation on the second pass.
Comp. also xxvii. 10, where Job consoles himself by the reflection that the
hypocrite cannot cry unto God when he is in trouble.
Ver. 17. yi027 iyB27 . So infra xxi. 2, xxxvii. 2 ; Isa. vi. 9. It is not
often that an infinitive is used with an imperative to add intensity to the
• Dr. Bernard's rend., " He may kill me, yet will I hope for Him, but," &c, may
of course be understood in the same way ; but I do not like the introduction of yet, as it
weakens the connection between He may kill me, and but.
f Better, I think, Him, for I believe the/em. is more com. used when a pronoun refers
to a whole clause. See note on nan^ infra xxxiv. 33.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XIII. 17. 723
signification, but when an infinitive is so used, it would seem always * to
follow the imperative, though, when an inf. is joined with a past or fut., it
commonly precedes. Comp. Jer. xxii. 10, (for nB3) iaa IB? weep ye sore,
Isa. vi. 9, (for n'Ni) iNl !)N"11, Numb. xi. 15, ain laain, Judg. v. 23,
ninsi un, &c.
The inf. sometimes follows the indicat. also, as supra vi. 25, n?in m3is"nB ,
Numb. xi. 32, niD2> Dilb inDtt?}], Numb, xxiii. 11, xxiv. 10; Jos. xxiv. 10,
•nan?!?, &c.
Ewald in his Krit. Gramm. (Leipzig, 1827), p. 563 et seqq., draws a distinction
between the cases in which an inf. precedes, and those in which it follows.
When it precedes, it increases the intensity of the action, but when it follows,
he says it denotes rather a repetition or continuance of the action. He derives
this notion from the fact that verbs, and more esp. substantives, are repeated in
order to express continuance or succession, and he cites amongst other examples,
Eccles. i. 6, 22D 22lD er wendet sich, wendet sich, wendet sich immer fort, or, as
we should say, keeps turning and turning. So also n327 n327 year [by] year,
yearly ; OV Dr day [by] day, daily. He would in fact take these inf. in the
same sense as in those well-known phrases, in which a second verb follows the
inf., as Judg. xiv. 9, biBN] TTlbil T\7*H and he went on, eating f ; Joel ii. 26,
?«27] biBN DnpBN.I und dann esst ihr immerfort und werdet satt X (and then
you will constantly go on eating and become satisfied) ; and he would, therefore,
translate 3iB27 iyD27 here, hort immer fort (hear uninterruptedly, unre
mittingly, hear on), and not hear diligently, attentively.
He certainly has some shew of reason on his side, and some of the passages he
quotes might be interpreted so as to favour his view — still there is never any
* Kimchi, Michlol, fol. 11, p. 2, col. 2 (large edition), says ana generally ; but I have not
yet found or noted an instance, in which the inf. precedes the imper.
t This rendering (A. V.) is very ambiguous (esp. without the comma), for it would
generally be taken to mean, and he continued to eat, and, indeed, the Heb. might mean
this, or Ae ate more and more ; only, as no previous mention of Samson's eating is made,
it is clear that the -T>n is to he taken in its literal meaning oi going (walking), and that
the sense is, "and he went aloDg, eating, or "and he ate as he went along," Vulg.
" comedebat in via."
X Ewald thinks that the repetition, or continuance, oi the action expressed by these two
infinitives is due to their being placed after the tense; whilst I think that the repetition,
or continuance, is rather due to the form of the sentence— i.e., to the addition of the
inflnitive of a second verb, and to its connection with the inf. of the first verb by means
of i. When, therefore, there is no second inf., I do not think any repetition is implied,
unless the tense used implies repetition, or frequency. Thus ftw dfi^ni. alone might
imply a repetition of the act of eating, not because WaN follows the tense, but because the
tense, a conv. past, is sometimes used in a frequentative sense ; and again, if these words
implied a continuance of the act of eating, as they perhaps might, it would simply be
because one would scarcely be said to eat energetically, vigorously, or heartily, unless the
action were prolonged for a certain space of time, just as to listen attentively, or diligently,
would seldom be used of attention to a very few words.
3 a 2

724 APPENDIX. CHAP. XITI. 17.
absolute necessity for translating them thus, and sometimes it is scarcely possible to
do so.* Thus in Numb, xxiii. 1 1, we can scarcely translate ^Tl.B np!2 Bu
segnest immerfort, einmal und noch einmal (thou art continually, constantly, bless
ing, thou keepest on blessing) as Ewald does, for this is tbe first time Balaam has
blessed Israel (or at any rate only one blessing j has been recorded), whilst in Numb.
xxiv. 10, the Q1B3B 2n27* nt these three times (which is added to TJlp n?1?)
would only weaken the force of the expression by limiting the number of
blessings J, instead of strengthening it, as it does when we translate, and thou hast
altogether (or greatly, fervently,) blessed. It seems to me that the quality oi the
blessings is of much more importance than their number, and that one very fervent
blessing is worth a thousand lukewarm ones.
Besides, as, in the case of the imperative, the infinitive always (as far as I
know) follows, the imperative would (according to Ewald's view) be worse off
than the other parts of the verb (which may he preceded or followed by the inf.),
for only the repetition or continuance (and not, as in their case, sometimes the
repetition or continuance, and sometimes the intensity) of the action denoted by the
verb, could be expressed by the addition of the infinitive to the imperative. And
again, the sole meaning thus accorded by Ewald to the imperat. foil, by an inf.
has much less force than that given to it according to the common view ; for,
as only continuance or repetition, and not intensity is expressed, the continued
or repeated action may, for aught we know, be only a very weak one.
I am inclined myself to believe that the position of the infinitive in these
cases is regulated somewhat by the dictates of euphony; when the tense
is a long word, considerably longer than the infinitive, then I believe the
infinitive will commonly be found to precede. But when the tense is a
* According to Ewald's view, the pass, quoted above from Numb. xi. 15, viz.
a1n 'ott , ought to be translated kill me over and over again, keep on killing me, which would
sound well in the mouth of an Irishman. Ewald, however, who quotes this pass, as an
example in his favour, translates it, '' tbdte mich ganz, wie du angefangen," which, to my
mind, is a very unsatisfactory rendering, and does not accord with Ewald's other renderings.
How much better the A. V., " kill me out of hand." If Moses had said '.a.a'in alone, he
would not have expressed that he wished to be slain there and then, which the addition of
ann is evidently intended to express. So again, in 2 Kings v. 11, it is impossible to transl.
Nipj ipsi Nis; ns; he would keep going (coming) out and standing and calling, for Naaman
could not have expected Elisha to come out and stand and call more than once, and
therefore we must transl. Nis; ns; as though it were ns; nis; , and render, with the A. V.,
(I thought) he would surely (or, at once) go, (come) out, and stand and call, &c." i.e., the
inf., though following the tense, expresses intensity, and not repetition or continuance. The
conv. pasts are used, not as frequentatives, but as = conditional futures (i.e., and would
stand, and would call).
f Unless, indeed, Ewald reckons every sentence which contains a blessing, as a separate
blessing. But even then the blessings would be very few in number.
X For if I say, " thou hast kept on blessing them these three times," these three times
had better have been omitted, for thou hast kept on blessing would commonly be understood
to include many more blessings than three. But Ewald no doubt takes it, " thou hast kept
on blessing them every one of the three times," i.e., on every occasion thou didst keep on
blessing them.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XIII. 17. 725
short word, scarcely exceeding, or only equal in length to, the infinitive, then I
think this will be frequently found to follow. Now in the case of the imperative,
a mood which deals in Sh'vahs and short vowels, the infinitive is nearly always as
long or longer, if not in the actual number of its letters, yet in quantity, for the
infinitive is a mood, which, in its absolute form (and in its absolute form, it is
found in these cases), deals greatly in long vowels — and so, the infinitive follows.
Thus to take the example before us 3iB27 iyB27* , the lyBO* with one slight
vowel and a Sh'vah is much shorter than 3iB27 with its long vowels, and,
therefore, the ear, which prefers to proceed from the less to the greater, and not
from the greater to the less,* has chosen 3iB27 iyB27 rather than 13BB7' 3iB27 .
In the case of the tenses, however, the superiority in length commonly rests with
the tenses, and, therefore, the infinitive commonly comes first, but in some few cases
there is but little difference in length, and then the infinitive very freq. comes last.
Thus we find , VIBn nia , Gen. iii. 4, for nia inian would be insufferable.t
And, indeed, sometimes the paragogic 3 would almost seem to be added for the
sake of adding sonority to the second and longer word, as supra ver. 5,
1127iinn 27inn . Similarly, we may too, perhaps, explain some of those cases
in which the infinitive of a shorter voice is joined with the tense of a longer one.
Comp. supra vi. 2, bp27] bip27 (0n which see note), instead of bpttf} bp.27'n J,
which in poetry would have been heavy and cumbersome. So, too, we very
frequently § find nav nia, but never naii nam (nor nia naii), which
* When, in the case of two words closely connected together, the longer and more sonorous
comes first, the voice cannot be allowed to rest upon it as long as it should, because the
second word has to be pronounced, and a break cannot be made between them. The longer
word therefore suffers, and the shorter and more trivial one is absolutely crushed by the
weight and volume of its predecessor. But when the shorter comes first, it loses nothing of
its volume, whilst the voice may be allowed to rest upon the second, and to do it justice.
This rule (or law) obtains not only in pronunciation, but in almost everything. Good
wine is not set upon the table before bad wine, but after ; a good tale is not told first,
and then a bad one, &c, &c.
f Another reason why the inf. precedes here is no doubt on account of the paragogic
: , which is almoBt always used at the end of a clause or verse, prob., in part at least, for
the sake of imparting sonorousness to the closing word.
X or bpfi . Ges., Ewald, Nordh., Kalisch, &c, give the forms ft): (see p. 726, note X), and
TtAri as the regular absol. inf. Niph., and call the form -rcAn the coristr. inf. only, so that in
the cases in which a Niph. inf. of the form ip^n occurs coupled with a Niph. tense, they
say that the inf. eonstr. is irregularly used for the inf. absol. See Kalisch (Gr., Part ii.,
p. 292, § 6 (b)). Mason and Bernard, on the other hand, following no doubt the Hebrew
grammarians, give ip^t both as the reg. absolute and eonstr. inf. Niph., and they would,
therefore,! expect, have regarded the forms Tta^n and -*?? rather as exceptions. So again, they
give rran as the inf. absol. Niph., whilst the grammarians above quoted give tfwa , or this
and n'an , and do not even mention the form rr}an . It is clear then, that, in writing Hebrew,
they would always write "raV j .7 , whilst I have always been taught to write 1?* "ra|n,
as being the more regular form. Before I can make up my mind upon the question, I
must examine every Niph. inf. in the Bible, and this I hope to do before the last part
of the Appendix appears, and if I do it, I will present the results to the reader.
§ About twenty times. See Buxtorf.

726 APPENDIX. CHAP. XIII. 17.
every ear would pronounce far less pleasing in sound. But in such cases as
IlBin m?ii* (supra vi. 25), T!? npi? (Numb, xxiii. 11), rf?n Tybn (2 Sam.
iii. 24), + Ni2] N2} (2 Kings v. 11), the infinitive is either longer, or but very little
shorter than, or quite as long as, the tense, and so the infinitive commonly sounds,
I think, better J when placed as it is in the pass, quoted, that is, following the tense.
The examples which are most in favour of Ewald's view are, undoubtedly,
those in which the tense is followed by two infinitives, coupled by 1 (Class 1).
But, even here it may be shown that in many cases, perhaps most, it was
impossible to place the inf. before the tense. Let us take one of the examples
I have quoted above, viz., biBN] Tpbil Tib?.] (Judg. xiv. 9). In the first
place, if we wish to use the 1 conv., we are absolutely prevented from placing
"Hlbn before W^*} , and in the greater number of these cases the 1 conv. is used.
In the second place, if we drop the 1 conv., or exchange it for ] , biBN] 7J7/1 Tp bil(] )§
could scarcely be used, as then we should be coupling an inf. to a tense (viz.,
biBN to "nbn), || besides which, if this expression could bave any meaning, it
* n'ai' nain nn would not have sounded (or looked) well, on account of the concurrence
of the two n's.
t But Numb. xxxv. 26, we have ns' n's; ; still observe that above the inf. has full, and
here deficient Chowlem, which latter, if it does not really make the word shorter, certainly
makes it look so. I have, however, already suggested that deficient Chowlem represents a
somewhat shorter sound than full Chowlem. See note on Sbsa supra i. 20 (p. 557, note *),
and on pinto supra xii. 5 (p. 712).
X The best way to form an opinion is of course to repeat the inf. and tense aloud in
both orders. Comp., however, art]) ah): (Judg. xi. 25), W: tal? (1 Sam. xx. 6, 28),
no-R nib-i: (Hos. x. 15), f\:: F]ia? (Judg. xx. 39), &c, where the inf., though a little
longer, precedes. But it must be remarked here that the infinitives have much
shorter vowels than infinitives Niph. usually have, and, indeed, have so little the appearance of
infinitives (absolute), that they can scarcely be regarded as such, as far as sound is concerned.
With regard to the use of these unusual forms in these pass., I am disposed to think that
it is principally due to that fondness for alliteration (paronomasia), which tbe Hebrews
so frequently display ; and thi3 view derives great support from Ps. Ixviii. 3, fpan .... pf3'7? i
where jingle is still more obviously aimed at (for not only the Niph. inf., but also
the fut. Kal, is irregular), than in the other pass. At the same time, however, the
much more cumbrous forms, BTibri , 'jni&t , nnin , and f)aari , which, coupled with the light
and regular NiphaTs given above, would have massacred euphony, are avoided.
But whether my explanation be the correct one, or not, it must be allowed that a very
pleasing effect is produced by the concurrence of these pairs of lightly-vowelled and almost
identical words. Comp. also 'n'^aa rfjaa (1 Sam. ii. 27), nnsrjaa fpaa (Gen.xxxi. 30), though
these follow the rule I have given. And lastly, though there is no inf. in the pass., comp.
'fto* 'fibatf (Gen. xliii. 14). See p. 725, note j.
§ A better example is sSsto) ^iaN tarfoNi quoted above (p. 723), where, if we reject
the l conv. and place the first inf. before the verb, we obtain siatoi i^Nfi ftiNi , which
is very inharmonious, and in which the alliteration between the tense and the
inf. of the same verb is lost. It is evident that harmony is best consulted in these
cases by putting the two infs., which are of the same length and form, together, and as
they could not well both come before the tense (see note t> p- 727), they are both put after.
|| We do, however, sometimes find this, as Jos. ix. 20, rrnrri  ntosa. But in this case
the inf. does not follow the tense immediately, and so it is rather the clause containing the

APPENDIX. CHAP. XIII. 17. 727
would only mean (and) he did indeed go and he ate, and would not express
what the idiom is especially intended to express, the simultaneity of the
two actions, going and eating. * If I say b3N"sl 7jb?.1 \and he went and
ate, the eating would commonly be understood to have begun as soon as
the going was ended. If, therefore, it is intended to express that the going
and eating, or any other two actions, proceed simultaneously, we must use
two such parts of the verb as can express such simultaneity, and connect
them with a 1 , and these parts were considered in Hebrew to be especially the
infinitive (which, as in itself expressing no time, must, when connected with a
tense expressing time, be referred to such time) j, and the pres. part., the only
real present in Hebrew. (See note ***, p. 733.) We may, therefore, translate
7i3S] Tjllil 7J5.1! and he went [along] going and eating, § i.e., eating as he went
— the going and eating being presents, and simultaneous presents, in past time. For
other examples, see 2 Sam. xv. 30 1| , Gen. viii. 7, 1 Sam. vi. 1 2, 2 Sam. iii. 16-tT We
can understand, therefore, that the second infinitive should be sometimes replaced by
a pres. part. (Class 2), as in bbpBI Nl'2} Npi (2 Sam. xvi. 5) he went out**, going
out and cursing, i.e., cursing as he went out ; and also that sometimes the two in
finitives are replaced by two present parts. (Class 3). Comp. ?Fbn \n27bBn Tjb}1 -J-j-
B!i]] (1 Sam. xvii. 41) And the Philistine went (came) on, going (coming) and
approaching, i.e., approaching as he went (came), i.e., coming nearer and nearer.
inf. than the inf. itself, which is coupled by the i to the tense. But in Jer. xiv. 5 we have
a genuine instance of the sort, viz., aiisi rnV , but such a construction is very rare, whereas
the idiom we are treating of is of rather frequent occurrence. See also 2 Chron. vii. 3.
* Both would be referred to past time, but not necessarily to the same point of time.
See note J. There is only one other order in which the two infs. could be placed, and
that is both of them before the tense, and this order, which upsets Ewald's theory, is
actually found. See infra, Class 9.
t Comp. Gen. xxii. 13, ^ntt nN np2 DrnaN tpn_, and ibid, xxvii. 14, ta* »w np>i_ •tfm.
X Because it cannot be referred to any other. The Hebrews were economical. They
thought it unnecessary to particularize the time more than once.
§ Comp. our use of the pres. part., or, at least, of verbal nouns having the form of the
pres. part., where in other lang., the infinitive is used. Thus we say, Singing is useful.
|| Here we have naai rr» *» , where the verb nbs replaces the verb ~pn . So the verb
w is found instead of -pn (see Gen. viii. 7, and Class 2), and other verbs of motion
might, no doubt, also be so used.
f A Sub-class (la) might be based on the example TiDrn irVjn vn fforn (Gen. viii. 5),
where the verb nn replaces the first •pn , so that the three verbs are all different. We
find another example in Ezra x. 1, teanni naa inHinna , where, however, the inf. with 3
has taken the place of the past, and the two infs. are replaced by parts. This example
really belongs to Class 3. Comp. also Ezek. i. 14, aittSi Nisi ni»nrn And the wild beasts
[were] running and returning, i.e., running backwards and forwards, vn being probably
understood after ni'nrn .
** lit. [was] going out. Of course as* or ns; might well stand instead of ns1 . See
note§ p. 729, 2 Sam. xviii. 25, angr fn $a , and Table.
tt The verb -pn is in this pass., as in the first I quoted (see p. 723, note f), used of
actual walking, hut it is much more commonly in these cases used of less material pro
gression = to goon, in the sense of to progress, to increase.

728 APPENDIX. CHAP. XIII. 17.
But in these cases the verb is, I think, more freq. the past of mn (Class 3d), some
times expressed (see Table), but more often understood, and then it is more difficult
to translate literally, especially when njbn is not used of actual walking, or material
motion. Comp. Biai bl3] Tjbh bN1B2> lyam » (1 Sam. ii. 26) And the boy Samuel
[was] going on and growing and [being] good, i.e., grew and was good as he went
on, i.e., in proportion as he went on, he added to his growth and his goodness, i.e.,
he grew more and more and was better and better, &c. Comp. also 2 Sam. iii. 1,
Jon. i. 11, 13. The fact is, the infin. and part, of the verb "ibn in these cases
answer to our prep, along (when "fbn is used literally), and to on (when !bl
is used fig.). Thus, my first example (p. 723) might well be rendered in English,
" And he went along, eating," and the last (if we substitute ^lb.}1 for the n}71
understood), " and the boy Samuel went on growing, &c." But, it may be asked,
why could not the Hebrews content themselves with a single participle after the
tense, and say b?1N T[b}] ? f Well, I am not prepared to maintain that this might
not be said in Hebrew, though I do not find any exactly similar example,
but I do not think this, like biBN] Tjibn Tib.}}, or b?iN] Tlbil 7,b?l,
would necessarily mean and he icent along eating, for '»I7M being a converted fut.,
only denotes a single act of going, and not a succession of acts, such as is denoted by
going along, so that b31N '=Tb.}1 would, strictly-speaking (seep. 729, note*), only
mean, and he went eating, i.e., he went, and at the moment he went, he was eating.
The French would, or might, translate he went along eating, il allait
mangeant X, but, as the Hebrews do not use their corresponding tense, a past with
a pres. part. (71 bin mn) §, quite so frequently as the French do their imperf.
* It will be noticed here that the verb ~pn only occurs once, and not twice, as it (or
the verb replacing it) does in the preceding examples. It is a question, therefore, whether
the ~rpn corresponds to tj^h in the last example (from 1 Sam. xvii. 41), or to *|$3, and I
am inclined to think it corresponds to TrVn , inasmuch as rm understood can alone scarcely
be said to correspond to "$%., for which ybjrt (rrn) is rather the full equivalent,-(see j>. 729,
note §, and Table). The full form, therefore, of such constrs. as a* T|ih in (1 Sam.
xvii. 15), which is a less cumbrous example than that given in the text, would be
n* tpii ^n (n;n) tit (see the example to Class 3), the second iph being left out as super
fluous (see note §). Thus, in 2 Sam. xv. 30, we find naiai ribs  nte ivri , where nte (which
here takes the place of "rtn) is found twice in the part. ; but, as several words intervene
between the two nte's, it may be that the presence of the second is due only to this
cause. Comp. the example quoted from Isa. iii. 16, in Class 9. If the repetition is not
due to this cause, then the example is merely a variety of Class 3, the first part, (n^is) being
substituted for the conv. fut. tea . See p. 729, note § ; p. 730, line 3 ; p. 733, note || , and p. 739.
t Comp. aaiu) tjVn lsa. lvii. 17, where aaito, though not a part., is very much akin
to one. But we might as well ask, Why do we, in Eng., say, " He went on (or along)
eating," and not, " he went eating" ?
X De Saci has, in Judg. xiv. 9, et il en MANGEAIT en marchant, but this corresponds
rather to our and he ate of it as he went along. II allait mangeant is, however, of course
somewhat familiar, and scarcely fit to be used in the Bible.
§ At any rate they could not say toiN iffrn rrn ( = fi allait mangeant), any more than
we could say he was going eating, so they connected the two parts, by a l , toiNi ^in rrn he
was going and eating.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XIII. 17. 729
(allait), they discovered a means of using their converted future in a frequentative
sense, * by adding to it, namely, an inf. or a part.
With regard to the example quoted, in the last paragraph, from 1 Sam. ii. 26, the
question arises whether BID is an adj. or apart, (for it might be apart., inasmuch
as the verb BID has ¦ in the past). But, however we may settle this, there is,
undoubtedly, a class of examples (Class 4), in which an adjective is substituted
for the second participle of (3a). Comp. Opl) Onbh blN2> nni (2 Sam.
iii. 1), but the house of Saul [was] going [on] and [being] weak, i.e., becoming
weaker and weaker. Comp. also all Tfbirf D3n] (2 Sam. xv. 12). In these
cases Oni and BI are universally (as far as I know) regarded as adjs., though
they might equally well be participles from bbl and BB! , only the words
bl and B!_ commonly occur as adjs., but are never found as indisputable
participles.t But, if BI, in the above example, is an adj., we must con
stitute a new Class (5), for B"]l Tjibil ^b}1 (1 Sam. xiv. 19), in which an
adjective takes the place of the second inf. in (1), or the part, in (2). Comp.
Judg. iv. 24, n27p1: Tfibn bN!27} i.3a 1] 7jbm lit. and [the] hand of [the]
children of Israel went going and [being] hard, i.e., went on getting hard, kept
getting harder and harder. See, too, Isa. lvii. 17, 33127 Tj!?.}1. But adjs.
would, doubtless, only be used in cases in which there were no parts, to express
the meaning ; and, indeed, we have to transl. the adjs., as though they were parts.
Again, the Hebrews sometimes substitute for the second infinitive of (1) a
converted fut. (Class 6). Thus we have Na3n}1 Tpbil 7jb}1 (1 Sam. xix. 23) And
he went along and prophesied. Here, strictly speaking, N?3n}1 should only refer
to one act of prophecy, and mean and he prophesied (once) ; still, from the context,
I think we must infer that he went on prophesying till he came to Naioth, in
Ramah.J The Sept. has /cat eiropeiero irporprrreriuiv, the Vulg. et prophetabat, and
De Saci et il prophetisAit durant tout le chemin. Sometimes, in these cases, the
first conv. fut. is exchanged for apart. §, so that the conv. fut. and the part, in
(Class 2, see Table) seem to have changed places, but the past mn must really be
supplied before the part., as in (3a). Comp. bbp}1 tjibn  Tjbh iyB27] (2 Sam.
* That the Hebrews probably do sometimes use their converted past not only of a
single action, but also of a succession of actions, will be seen from the following note.
So we use he went = il alia (one act), and il allait (a succession of acts).
t But cf. Esth. ix. 4, brw tffrr 'arip wn '3 , where we have an indisputable adj.
ins. X The fact is, the Naana feels the influence of the adjoining ipbn like ipn does. The
addition of ipbn gives tfja a frequentative, or continuative, meaning in past time, and so
from the context Naarm is understood frequentatively, or continuatively. It is as though
we had Naanni T|V>n traarm ipbn Tjtei and he went along and prophesied as he went along. See
lines 1 and 2 of this page. So we say, prophesied and not was prophesying.
§ But this is also the case with some of the other classes (see Table, p. 732, Classes 1,
2, 3, 7, &c), though I have not noticed it in speaking of them. Indeed, if the Table be
consulted, it will be seen that for this first conv. fut., we sometimes find substituted a past, a
part, (with mn expressed or understood), a conv. past (p. 726, note ||), a simple fut. (Class 9),
an inf. with a (Class la, p. 727, note ^[), and even a simple absolute infinitive (Class 10). Of

730 APPENDIX. CHAP. XIII. 17.
xvi. 13), where really the libn seems to be introduced only for the sake of
shewing that bbp]l is to be understood of a number of acts of cursing and not of
one only, and if so, byp]1 Tjilil tjbn is only a very roundabout (though more
forcible) way of saying bbpBI Ty}n . (See Class 3a.) The A. V. has, " Shimei
went along  and cursed as he went."
In another Class of cases (7) a converted past takes the place of the second inf.
of (1 ), or of the conv. fut. of (6). Thus, we have n,!3T] Tfibn Tjbl-ll (2 Sam.
xiii. 19) And she went along and kept crying [as she went]. Here we have
nothing to complain of, as a conv. past, legitimately expresses a succession (or
number) of actions.
In another Class (8) the first ibn is replaced by a tense, part, he., of the verb
which is used with nbn , so that this verb is found twice, and ibn only once. Comp.
na?3n 3iD3] Tjibn OnaN 3p}1 (Gen. xii. 9) And Abraham journeyed, going
and journeying towards (the) south, i.e., journeying towards the south as he went.
Here 1/?.] could scarcely be substituted for yp*! , because the object of the writer
was not to say that Abraham went away only, but that he broke up his establish
ment and left without the intention of returning, the two infinitives being added
for the sake of expressing that, as he went on, he journeyed farther and farther to
wards the south. Hierauf reiste Abraham immer mehr gegen Mittag (Mendelssohn).
Comp. also Gen. viii. 3, 3i27*1 libri Di.an 1327*1 . It must be observed in this
class that the inf. corresponding to the tense is put last (second) and not first, as
seems to be universally the case when the tense is from the verb ibn . This
does not strike us much in the two examples I have just quoted, because in them,
as the other verb used is ibn, we can understand its maintaining as usual its
first place among the infinitives. But we find examples in which the same
thing occurs, although the second verb is not ibn. Comp. Jer. xxix. 19,
llb27] DBtpn  ''nnbp; ; ibid. vii. 13, 25, xxv. 3, xxxii. 33, xliv. 4, in all of
which pass, the second verb is 032^/1 . These examples I have taken from
Ewald, who notices this class. It is very comprehensible why 032771 is not put
last. If the Table at the end of this note be glanced over, it will be seen at once
that in all the cases the most important verb in the phrase (i.e., the verb which
denotes the result) always comes last, ibn (at any rate, when used fig.) is never
the important verb, and therefore it never ends the phrase (but see next Class).
So in the example just quoted DB27n is not the important verb, but nb27 (which
0327!! merely modifies like an adverb), and, therefore, ni!27 is pUt last.
We find yet another class (Class 9), in which the two infin. precede the tense.
Comp. m?bn F]iBD] libn (Isa. iii. 16) going and tripping they go. It is, indeed,
true that librt and f^BD are by some considered as depending only on n3?bni
these the conv. fut. is certainly the most common, whilst the simple fut. and of course the
simple inf. are the most rare. It is probable, therefore, that for the first conv. fut.,
wherever (i.e., in whatever Class) it occurs, if not all these different parts of the verb, at
any rate a past, a part., or a conv. past (the three parts next to the conv. fut. in frequency)
may be substituted.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XIII. 17. 731
which precedes, but if so, then we have n3?bn  napbni , a rather awkward
repetition, and which cannot be got over as the A. V. (which adopts this latter
construction) gets over it, namely, by translating the second napbn as they go.
The truth appears to be that, as several words intervene between n3?bni and
librt , the writer thought it would be better to repeat n3?bn ,* and that, if
repeated, it would come with more elegance (as it certainly does) after the
infinitives, than before them. But, if the two infinitives can thus precede the
tense, what becomes of Ewald's theory, according to which they must follow the
verb ? Would he translate them here otherwise than he would if they followed
n33bn ? It is certainly more natural to put the infinitives after the tense,
because it is more natural first to state the occurrence of an action, and then to
add the words which denote the continuance of the action, the manner in
which it is performed, or what takes place during, or results from, its perform
ance ; still, in accordance with our view, we could imagine that the infinitives
might be placed first, and here we certainly have one example in which they
are so, and perhaps other examples might be met with. [Another, and this
time, an unquestionable, example is to be found in Jer. 1. 4, IBb] 1331 libri ,
where the order is evidently due to a regard for euphony, as any one may
convince himself by substituting 1331 llbn IBp} .]
Again, I find one example (Class 10), in which an infinitive, used as a tense, is
followed by two infinitives. It is in Jer. xxxii. 33, nab] D?2>n DilN iab] .
This example, strictly speaking, belongs to Class 8, as the inf. is merely sub
stituted for the tense in that class ; but, as the construction is an uncommon one,
I have preferred to keep it separate. And, lastly, there is a class (Class 11),
which may, I think, be mentioned here — in which a tense, not of ibn , but
of any verb, is followed by one or more infinitives (also of any verb or verbs)
depending upon it — infinitives which may freq. be conveniently rendered in Engl.
hy participles. Comp. Hos. x. 4, mi3 n'i? N]2> nibN Dnpl 1121 they have
spoken words, swearing falsely [and] making a covenant, i.e., when, in, making
a covenant; where nibN and mp are in apposition to, and explain
Bnai, and so are dependent on m?l , nibN is used instead of niN (Hos.
iv. 2) ; perhaps in order to make the two verbs agree in termination. Comp.
Jer. xxiii. 14, npj&2 ibn] f)iN3 niliy.27 imNl / have seen a horrible
g — the committing of adultery and walking in lies; where the infs. are in
apposition to nnl"iy27 (which they explain), and so depend upon TPN"! . And
I would so explain infra xv. 3, where nain seems to depend upon n.33} and
NvJP] in the preceding verse. Cf. also Hos. iv. 2, where the A. V., I think,
wrongly transl. "By swearing,'7 &c. It should rather be "[But there is]
swearing," &c. ; unless, indeed, which I rather like, these inf. are nom. to ISnB ,
and this means, as freq., to abound, be rife.
* That words are sometimes repeated in Hebrew for this reason is clear from Gen. xxii.
16, 17, 2 Sam. iii. 9, in both of which pass, the second and apparently superfluous and
unintelligible ^ is evidently due to this cause. In Eng. we freq. repeat for this reason,
and gen. add I say to the repd. words, in order to mark the repetition. See p. 728, note ».

TABLE EXHIBITING the IDIOMATIC USE of the VERB "|!n and OTHER VERBS, which have been TREATED of in pp. 722—731.

--3

Examples taken from the Bible.

Examples constructed, as far as pos
sible, with the same two verbs -rjrr
and ^n , with the intention ' of
showing the different forms as
sumed by the idiom more clearly.

Class 1. *Tense (conv. fut., past, or part, f &c.) of verb "pn %, followed by two inf.§ connected by 1

lffl. „
2. „
3. „
3<s. „
4.T „
4a. „
5- „
6. „
7- „

9.
io.K 11.

„ „ „ -ant » one inf. and a part. „
1 Cpnt)
„ „ „ „ two participles „
(1st. of them -[ViJ )
„ „ „ n'n „ one or two (?) parts. „
(expressed or understood)
,, ,, rrn (understood) two part, and then an adj.
(1st. of them -pn)
„ ,, ,, ,, one part, and an adj.
(fn)
„ ,, •pn followed by one inf. „
(I'jn)
,, ,, ,, ,, ,, one inf. and a conv. fut.
Cpn)
„ „ ,, ,, one mf. and a conv. past
Cpn)
„ of second verb followed by two infinitives, conn, by i
(1st of them -pri
or verb replacing it)
,, Two infinitives (1st of them "pn) followed by Tense (fut. of -pn)
Infinitive absolute instead of Tense followed by two infinitives
(1st of them ""pn (?) or verb
replacing it)
Tense of any verb followed by one or more inf. from different verbs.

Judg. xiv. 9) tow ifbn $2'
1 Sam. vi. 12) toil ijiVt laVn
2 Kings ii. 11) "BTJ Ifrbn O'aVl
Gen. viii. 7) 3Wj wa; *=ffi
2 Sam. xv. 30) >tm As iVji
Jer. xii. 17) "^l *™'  '1?*™/
Gen. viii. 5) "tarn ipV vn
Gen. xxvi. 13) ^ ^ fe
2 Sam. xvi. 5) %?> **& »* VW\
Jer. xli. 6) naiai ipbn ipn bwn&)
1 Sam. xvii. 41) ¦*$! ^ fe
2 Sam. xv. 30) " ™*> nft rp -nil

Class 1.

Class la.

§§tow ipbn ipa^
tow ipbn ipn
tow ipbn ipn
tow ipbn ip?.
torn ipbn Trrn
tow irftn >n?J&
tow ipbn rrn

Class 2. VaiNi ipbn ip})

Ezra x. 1)

taniai nah iniinnaj

2 Chron. xvii. 12) "nil, ^f1 ttBtfrr Tn )
.1 Sam. xvii. 15) 3* ^ "i™J
1 Sam. ii. 26) ** aiim Viii 'rrn bmm)
2 Sam. iii. 1) o^n rraVn fcwfi mi
1 Sam. xiv. 19) ++ SJJ f ^ ^
ISam. xix. 23) Na?ryi 1-Sbn l|Vi)
2 Sam. xvi. 13) "&T. ^ fe '^l 1
2 Sam. xiii. 19) ^11 fe fe
Josh. vi. 13) »i?™ fe Q'abh
Gen. xii. 9) ?*»! fe ^1
Jer. xxix. 19) nitei DSIIin 'nrrraSj
Isa. iii. 16) "»fe F|iDBi tjiVn
Jer. xxxii. 33) fe °?*n DniN tbV.
Job xv. 2, 3) fain  ra>;)
Hos. x. 4) ma-ni1!M--i-cnj

w 2!
O M

o
Class 3. teim ifjin ljVi| llll ' W
toiw ijtoi irjin -rraj ^
Class 3a. "ata $in vn] M
Vjiw ipSn "Sntij E
Class 4 
Class 4a  I— '
Class 5 
Class 6. Vawi ijiVn TjVl llll
Class 7. te«3 fe l]Vl llll
Class 8. tow ipbn tewi llll
Class 9. lrlr ^ tow iftbn
Class 10. tow D?«Jn toN llll
Class 11 

. For the different tenses, or parts of the verb, which may open these idJomatical I*"--. ' •» ;«•*•£ ^'^ihe ^ ^J^tM.^ ^fcommom"6'
most common, and they are arranged, I beUeve, according to the frequency with which they occur. At any rate, the conv. juv. see
J F^^Z'ttm* class, and, indeed, I think in any of the classes in which fn is used in its Uteral sense of going, jvoZki^, to. mother verb of motion^
such as rf» (2 S J. xv. 30), «• (2 Sam. xvi. 5, Gen. viii. 7), tc, may be substituted, filling of course toft tke places (where there are ^occupied by fn And,
indeed, we find other verbs than those of motion (as ordinarily understood) substituted for -,*,, as in Joel ii. 26, siatti to« DntoW, Jer. xu. 17, law «nr»  WB,
Isa. xix. 22, wffii F|ii  rrin; n^i.
S The first of tbem T>1 , or tbe verb replacing it. . ,.,.,. ... ., „ „„„,_
ii There is no doubt, I think, that naiai 1* ^h .1, might stand, and there may perhaps be examples, or an example, m the Bable, m whxch iftri #r thus occurs.
And it seems to me that Class 3a is only a variation of this construction, the 2nd IjVh being omitted as superfluous. See p. 728, note *.
IT The example which here forms Class 4, wasincluded above (p. 728) under 3a, and then there was no 4a ; but I think tbe present arrangement » better, as ail* is
dmiht an adi With regard to tbe part, of T>n in this Class and 4a, see p. 728, note *, and p. 739.
»Zu^7l7e^SaJ^. If tal, **, &c, are, as some tbink, verbal adject., or adj., then 4 and 4a, fuse into one class; but there is no reason why
tbey should not be regarded as part. „. , „
/tEortbe^Mhere (,,,) we might no doubt substitute a ^ ( Jn) a part. (,*,), ora ™^(fe); £ ^J^£ ^ ^^ed
JJ Tbe example given in Class 10, belongs, strictly speaking, to Class 8, the mi/.
to make a separate class, in order to render tbis singular example more conspicuous.

of tbe conv. fut., or past (see note *) ; but I have preferred

middle one remains throughout almost unchanged, \»u. - ¦-.-¦•> ¦• ',',„„' , j .„ j ii,m mi„ hv
idiom, it will be seen that the inf. absol. ipbn remains unchanged in eigkt of the ten classes, and that in tWo classes only (3, 3a ; 4 4a) is it replaced and then only by
a prL part, (see p. 727) ; whilst both the l,Vi and tbe tow undergo numerous changes. This central inf. absol. is, tberefore, tbe - P^ar, or tbe pivot of tbe
idiom ; and I think, therefore, tbat tbe foUowing table will give tbe simplest idea of its nature.
3. . 2-

1.

¦tout  inf. absolute
toiw,  part.
aici  adj.
towi  conv. fut.
baw  conv. past.

inf. absol  (fe)
or (more rarely) pres. part.

conv. fut  ¦$!!
past  ipn
part, (with n'n understood)  ipSn (rrn)
conv. past  IpS)
simple fut  't?-
inf. absolute  'fe

With regard to tbe order of frequency in (1) and (3), it accords, I tbink, pretty nearly with the order in which I have ™ed ^^^fo^^Z
p. 729, note §. Of course we cannot take any one of tbe six forms in (1) and couple it with any one of tbe five forms of (3), still a great number
may be effected between tbe two sides.

> fcrjoX

w

CO

734 APPENDIX. CHAP. XIII. 17  19.
I have now analyzed all the passages * noted down by me in the course of my
reading ; I cannot of course undertake to say that my analysis will include
every case, but I think that very few passages will be found which will not come
under one or other of the 1 1 Classes. Perhaps it will be as well here to make
a recapitulation of them ; and this I shall, I think, do best by putting them in
the form of a Table, f See pp. 732, 733.
,n7£5 . See note on the same word, infra xxiv. 25.
'ninS is a aira.% \ey. For the quiescent Sh'vah, see note on nDN.}l supra xii. 18.
Q.^atS? "'iiinS} . I do not see any necessity for supplying S12.PI here, for
•lyjptt? may be supplied from the first hemistich, and the phrase to hear with
one's ears (a more emphatic expression than to hear simply) frequently occurs, as
e.g., xxviii. 22, 2 Sam. vii. 22, 1 Chron. xvii. 20, Ps. xliv. 1. So we say, "I
heard it with my own ears, saw it with my own eyes." The distinct, accent
Revee'ee on T'lns is certainly in favour of this view. At all events, if we do
supply a verb, the verb supplied should be nOT .
[I do not know why Dr. Bernard supplied SDi-1 , but I think I have now
discovered the reason. In 2 Sam. xxii. 7, we find a pass, very much resembling
our own, viz., V3TS2 "'nyi^l pp il^na ynt^l, and where one feels very
much inclined to supply 2EJJ7}1 (as here 13?!?ttf) to the second clause. But in
the corresponding pass., Ps. xviii. 7, we find the first clause the same (with the
unimportant exception of ^»tp} for S?ttJ?i), but the second runs VaS1? Wlttf}
VatS? S2.PI . At any rate, this pass, may be adduced in support of Dr.
Bernard's view. J
Ver. 18. tOStpQ for "'BStttt? , as infra xxiii. 4. Possessive pron. aff. are not
unfrequently omitted. Comp. infra xxvi. 12, 2il"} for 131"] its pride ;
infra xxix. 18, xxxiv. 29, xxxix. 21 ; 1 Kings xx. 42 ; Isa. xl. 31, &c, and
Index. They are left out, no doubt, as unnecessary, because the possessors
can readily be inferred from the context. We may, therefore, comp., as strictly
analogous, the omission of personal and demonstr. pron. before parts., adjs., substs.,
&c, and the omission of objective pron. affixes. See note on yiaai supra vi. 7,
on nQa and V,J?^ supra ix. 8, and 18, resp., and Index.
Ver. 19. a^!} «W p for a"1!} nttte Sin p . The nt£S: seems to be freq.
left out after SOT p . Comp. supra iv. 7, n2S pi SOT p ; xvii. 3,
Si?n} ""T1? sin p ¦, xli. 2, >£>n} ""as1? not pi ; isa. i. 9, ^yah} sin ip .
It is like the French qui est-ce qui fera ? instead of qui fera ? The SOT adds
emphasis. Comp. ,301? nby} Ittfrj nyi n.T p (jer. l. 44), where the nE7S is used.
* i.e., in which the verbs "pn , &c, are used idiomatically with another verb or verbs.
t It should be noticed, however, that an expression of tbe form »ajn»i ipbn t|Vi (Class 6),
nraji ijiVn tjtaii (Class 7) need not always express a continuance or repetition of the action
expressed either by "pn or »a:nn (i.e., is not always an idiom of the class which we are
considering), for in 2 Kings v. 11, we find ntjji ipsi wsj wr, which would at first sight
be taken by every one to belong to the class of idioms which we have been considering,
but which must be transl. (I thought) he would indeed (certainly, or at once) go (come)
out, and stand and call. See p. 724, note *,

APPENDIX. CHAP. XIII. 20, 21. 735
Ver. 20. "Hay . The verb nWV is very freq. joined with By , where we
should use to. Comp. supra x. 12.
Ver. 21. PCnn . The reg. and usual form is, of course, pnn.n > as jn prov# iV-
24, v. 8, xxx. 8. The Pathach is due to the pause, for Tsayreh in pause
sometimes becomes Pathach. Cf. <¦ Win (Isa. xviii. 5), for WOT, Hiph. of Mn or
'in (see Kimchi and Ges.) to cut off. For other examples, see Ges. Lehrgeb.,
pp. 177, 312 ; Kalisch, Gr., Part ii., p. 87 ; and, indeed, "'anyan in this very
verse is very prob. an example, for reg. it should be ^OV. ?n , but Tsayreh has
become Pathach in pause, and the Pathach, as a short vowel on which great stress
is laid in pause, is followed by a Dag., just as the term. 1~ in pause frequently
becomes ;p~ . Comp. ,?iyi'1 (Jer. 1. 44), also in pause* ""any.an occurs also
supra vii. 14, ix. 34. Kalisch, indeed (Gr., Part ii., p. 191), following Kimchi
and Aben-Ezra, seems to regard the Nun, or the dagesh in the Nun (which =
a second Nun) of "'anyajn as epenthetic or paragogic, but I prefer, with Mendels
sohn (on ,3pn.2n, Qea xxvii. i9} 31^ t0 regar(j tne "0 as tne usual pron.
affix of the first pers. in the fut., and the dag. as pf>npp p-jfipni , i.e.,
for the sake of euphony, or as giving support to the short vowel Pathach
(na mian 1231). The dag. in the Nun of ,3?n2n is, however, more difficult
to understand than that of "'pnyajn , because this is, in every case, the last word
in the verse, whilst "'Ppnnn in both places is only the second last, and is followed
by 1279? , itself lengthened by the pause. I have, however, already remarked
(see note on 12 Ivnnijl supra xiii. 9) that, when a verb is separated from the
pause accent by a monosyllabic word, it sometimes takes its pausal form, and
this may, perhaps, account for the dag. in >l2?n2jTi ^ for TjtP$3 , the word which
follows it, is only a dissyllable, and has besides principally short vowels. This
view is somewhat confirmed by not finding the dag. in other cases, where the
term. ,3— is USed in the fut., but where there is either more than one word
separating the verb from the pause accent (end of the verse), or the one word
which so separates it has long vowels, or is a very long word. Thus, Gen.
xix. 19 we find fnai nsnn ^apsin -\B . Exod. xxxiii. 20, fni dlSjl •>3S1} ;
Gen. xxix. 32, : ^S "OanSJ ; supra ix. 18, : Dnil^n -j- ^ipb\ . We see,

* The terminations 'a~ and '3~r , if pron. in the way suggested in note \ could have
much more stress laid upon them, and so would form much more sonorous closings to
a verse than ';~ , which is much less springy and elastic, if I may use the terms, just
as in Ital. Giovani would be, comp. with Giovanni.
t It is quite clear that, if the letters doubled by dag. in Heb. were pron. as doubled
consonants are in Italian, as in An-na, Qiovan-ni, &c, i.e., with a strong accent on the
first of the two syll. containing the doubled letter, which I am rather inclined to believe was
the case— this dag., if written, could not be given its full value in such an instance as
this, in which the next word, from its length, its ultimate accent, and its position as the
last word in the verse, drags away all the accent to itself. Besides which, if the Pathach
ia, as I suggest, used in some of these cases for the sake of closening the connection, i.e.,
of enabling the voice to pass rapidly from one word to the next, the addition of the dag.
would counteract the object.

736 APPENDIX. CHAP. XIII. 21 — 27.
at any rate, that the fut. takes the term, ia-1" and C?~ ) in a good many cases
(more of them will be found in Kalisch (loc. cit.)). The adoption of the Pathach
seems to me (apart from the influence of pause) in some of these cases to have
arisen from the close connection between the verb and the word or words
following (as suggested in my note on "iay2tt?} supra ix. 18), which connection
is frequently denoted by a conj. accent : whilst in other cases (comp. especially
la2,Kh->'1 (K'ree) 1 Kings ii. 24 ; ^SlJjl} Numb. xxii. 33), the shortening seems
due rather to the 1 conv., which we know is apt to have such an effect
upon the final syllables of the verb to which it is prefixed. For shortening in
consequence of close connection, see notes on Ev>K7 supra viii. 6, ntpp3 x. 1.
Ver. 22. There is a seeming difficulty here. In ver. 21 Job says, Do not do
two things unto me, whilst here he begs of God to do one thing (viz., to remove
His hand from off him), and not to do another (viz., not to terrify him). The
fact is, pni.n pfS'O 1?3 Remove (eloigne) Thy hand from off me, is equivalent to
•'¦ i ^y V.T i bs
1i}j "T nt»nj '
ibsh nbbn bs [ Lay not Thy hand upon me, or 11} pV 122J-1 bs Let
'T p\
17.} "a )nr\ bs
not Thy hand be heavy upon me, so that the two not's are virtually expressed in
the verse, though apparently only one is present.
>l??,'t?[!T! . When n21 is expressed, the person, to whom the answer is given,
is still put in the ace. Comp. 1 Kings xii. 6, n2^ n-OT DSil nH 2i2?nb: to
give this people an answer. So, also, ibid. vers. 9, 16, 2 Sam. xxiv. 13, 1 Chron.
xxi. 12. The verb nsy to answer, is also used with two accusatives. 2,tEn , in
the sense of answering (or making to answer), is found also infra xx. 2, xxxiii. 5.
Ver. 27- ntWTI. . This stands for Dtpn "2} and that Thou puttest, the ^
being supplied from the 1st hem. of the preceding verse. Some attribute the
shortened form (or so-called optative) to this p , and there is no doubt that the
fut. would, in some lang., as in Lat. and Fr. (see Rosenmiiller and Renan), be
rend, by a subj. See notes on nt!?} supra ix. 33, 2ffi»"n x. 16 ; but also on
PJ.U1 infra xviii. 9. Still Cfon"] might, I think, no doubt have stood here ; for
supra vii. 17, in a clause of a very similar kind, we have the full form ,?1
(13/ I^S) n^WH, though Rosenmiiller renders it, ejus ut rationem habEAS,
and Renan, pour que tu daignES (subj.) faire attention a Iui, i.e., by subjunctives
as here. And so we have rend. " And that Thou shouldest set Thine heart upon
him," though we intend to express a real action, an actual fact. Again, many
translate 1 for here, and if this rend., which does not please me, be correct,
then DE?n would be quite an exception to Gesenius and Ewald's rule. See
Index. These shortened forms are, I think, almost always used when the verb is
closely connected with what follows, so that it is very rare to find them at the end
of a clause (see note on T(1M infra xxiii. 9, and on PDin supra ver. 21) ; the
shortening seems to me, therefore, to depend rather upon the position of the verb,

APPENDIX. CHAP. XIII. 27. 737
than upon its corresponding to an optative or subjunctive in Greek and Lat.,- in
which langs., as we know, the optatives and subjunctives are certainly, as a rule;
longer than their corresponding indicatives. A wish, or command, is, no doubt,
commonly uttered rapidly, as Ewald says (Krit. Gr., p. 281), still it has by no
means always been thought necessary to make that part of a verb, which is used
to express a wish, or command, as short as possible. Comp. fit lux, with fiat
lux ! * In Hebrew, we should, indeed, always say niS OT} — and nis nil} = let
there be light, would be intolerable ; but if we put the verb last, then we should
prefer the longer form. nVP llSn sounds infinitely better than OT} 11S/1 .
Comp. n}n} Qbi^b iban Neh. ii. 3 ; and see note on ptn} infra xviii. 9.
"TS2 in the stocks (or clog). Here the Eng. idiom coincides with the Hebrew.
W« say the stocks, although we do not mean any particular stocks, but merely
that well-known instrument of punishment called the stocks. See note on D1OT
supra i. 5, p. 536.
Dr. Bernard has not expressed himself very clearly with regard to this passage.
He would seem to have understood no altogether figuratively of some quite
imaginary stocks, which Job supposed to be upon his swollen and ulcerated ankles,
no that putting his feet in the stocks would be nearly equivalent to hedging him up,
impeding his progress (in a fig. sense), as supra iii. 23, vii. 12, &c.t But is it
not better to understand Job to refer to his disease, which would be likely to cause
such swelling and ulceration in his legs and feet X (see note on supra ii. 7), and
so to impede his movements, that he might well be said to have his feet in stocks,
or to have a clog about them ; or may we not understand the passage both
literally and figuratively ?
i?1 ^n.K?. There is some support for the meaning ankle assigned by
Dr. Bernard to bai ttntD lit. [the] root of [the] foot. The Germans have a
precisely similar expression, viz., Fusswurzel, lit. foot-root, and this they use to de
note what we call the tarsal bones, or bones of the tarsus. These are seven bones, of
which the uppermost one, the astragalus, is a very important constituent of the
ankle-joint, whilst part of their upper surface forms the instep. The greater
portion of their lower surface does, indeed, enter into the sole of the foot, if this
be considered to extend from the hindermost extremity of the heel to the end of
the toes, but into the shoemaker's sole it does not enter. The Dutch use their
corresponding Voetwortel (foot-root) in the same sense. Similarly, the Germ.

* And LET there BE light with there IS light. Still Ewald's remarks are very ingenious,
and there is, I think, much truth in them.
t Still these -pass, may well be understood as containing at least an allusion to Job's
disease, which clogged and impeded all his movements, and so hedged bim in as it were.
X There seems to be no doubt that in elephantiasis the legs, feet, and ankles are very
commonly affected, and elephantiasis, as it occurs in this country, is almost entirely confined
to the legs. Those who have seen cases of leprosy (elephantiasis), or photographs repre
senting lepers, will, I am sure, with me regard this appellation of stocks or clog as most
strikingly designating the disease, or its results.
3 B

738 APPENDIX. CHAP. XIII. 27, 28.
Handwurzel— the carpal bones (or carpus), i.e., the eight small bones which help
to form the wrist, and are commonly called the small bones of the wrist.
It is, therefore, probable that the Hebrews used their bai b~}b in much the
same sense, and that they meant by it either the ankle or the instep, or both. The
A. V. has heel, and this meaning might be defended, as the heel is formed by one
of these seven bones (the calcaneus, or heel-bone). But the meaning adopted,
strange to say, by most of the German Commentators (to whom, however,
as being ignorant of anatomy, the word Fusswurzel was probably not familiar),
viz., sole of the foot, seems to be entirely destitute of authority. Schultens quotes
somebody, who says, " Per Radices pedum illam partem notari, per quam homo
stans terras adfixus est, sicut arbor per radices cohseret cum terra." But, then, it
should rather have been radices hominis, the roots of a man. It seems to me that
the natural interpretation of the root of the foot, is that part of the foot from
which the rest seems, as it were, to spring, i.e., the heel and instep, or, better, I
think, the ankle, just as we should certainly interpret the root of the hand = the
wrist (and not the palm). Comp. the French cou de pied (It. collo dipiede), neck
of the foot, but = ankle, just as though the foot springs from its neck (the ankle),
like the head does from its neck.
nj^nnfl . If this could be referred to God, there is no doubt this verse would
read more smoothly, as every verb then would have the same subject, and be in
the same person. Could it not be translated, Thou inscribest, imprintest, Thyself
(upon my ankles) ? i.e., the swollen and ulcerated state of my ankles is the visible
imprint of Thy wrath. But this is merely a suggestion, for I prefer Dr. Bernard's
interpretation. The verb npn is found in the Targums and in Rabbinic, and according to
Buxtorf = "imprimere, exprimere, exsculpere, describere ; idem quod ppn , " and
is used both literally (as of carving on a wall), and figuratively.
Ver. 28. I do not know why Dr. Bernard was so particularly anxious to refer
the SOT to "bai instead of to P)~i$ , or P}! P?~\b , for, in the first place, no
better sense is obtained by it, whilst by so doing we make a masc. pron. refer to
a subst. which ia generally fem. Now, t£?!t£7 jg masc, so that by referring SOT
to ,!?Hl& we not only avoid the difficulty of gender, but also act more in
accordance with grammar, seeing that "'2?"^ is the principal word, and is only
qualified by ^ i?l , so that SOT would more naturally refer to "'Snip .

ADDITIONS TO THIS CHAPTER
To note on ibnnn, Ver. 9, p. 718.
Other nouns, much resembling O^nn in form, and, like it, with a dag. in the
last rad., are nbnn infra xxxviii. 9, nann Cant, iii. 1 1 , niab? and n^bn
2 Chron. xxxv. 5, D^p'iltp Isa. xvi. 8, nana Exod. xxix. 9, &c. I should not have
quoted all these examples, only Ewald (Kr. Gramm., p. 487, note 2) denies that
<nn can possibly be the root, on account of the dag. in Q'bnn. , nivnna, &c.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XIV. 1, 2. 739
To note on ver. 13, p. 721.
How is it that "P G^inn and bs tfmnn , apparently just opposite in form,
Can have much the same meaning ? Because silence is the result of two opposite
conditions. There is silence when one does not begin to speak (i.e., keeps silent),
and there is silence when one leaves off speaking (i.e., becomes, is silent). In Isa.
xli. 1, t^inn seems to be used in the first of these meanings ; in our pass, in
Job, in the second. P$ iW>~KJf\ , therefore, means, either keep silent for me,
i.e., that I may speak, or to, towards, me., i.e., don't begin to speak to me.
"^a W^nn be silent from me, keep your words from me (away with your
words !), leave off speaking to me. In the first case, the direction is towards the
speaker, in the second, from him. In both pass., however, the implied, or
secondary, meaning is much the same, viz., hearken unto me.
To p. 728, note *
On reconsideration, it seems to me more natural, in the construction
2$} ibh 111 = 227} ibn -qbh nOT Til, to suppose that it is the first, and
not, as I said in the above note, the second ibh which is left out ; — unless,
indeed, the nOT , which is understood, may be regarded as separated from, and
independent of, the parts., and as expressing the state in which David was (i.e.,
= the Germ., sich befinden, the Fr., se trouver), just as in Ital. we have stava
leggendo = his state was that he was reading (cf. also the Span, estar). In this
case nOT would, contrary to my former opinion, correspond to lb?.5 in
-npT1 ibh OTtpbfn lb»1 (1 Sam. xvii. 41), and no ibh would be left out at
all. In such an example as npiS} llin nOT (see p. 728, note §), where ibn
is used of actual, material motion, i.e., = to walk, we may, indeed, explain the
eonstr., 121S nOT} 11OT nOT , just as the equiv. Eng. he was going and eating =
he was going and he was eating; and the two actions would be regarded as taking
place simultaneously, because the two compound tenses, which are coupled by the
conjunction, are the same. But this explanation is by no means so satisfactory when
applied to sentences in which l^n is, as it more commonly is, used figuratively.
For a few further remarks upon this class of constructions, see note on infra
xv. 3.

CHAPTER XIV.
Ver. 1. It seems to me more forcible to take (with Dr. Bernard) nns to be
the subject to SS} in ver. 2, and to regard nsp and y2tP1 as in apposition
with DIS , or with nt#S Tl} DIS , considered as one word, or one expression ;
still we may of course, with most Comm., take "PP and y2£p-1 to be predicates,
and translate SS} he goeth forth.
Ver. 2. ba}1 . Kimchi and Buxtorf derive this from the root ^E3 , whilst
Ben-Zev, Gesenius, &c, refer it to the root bbta . I must say, however, that,
3 b 2

740 APPENDIX. CHAP. XIV. 2  4.
though the word at first sight would, probably, be set down by most as belonging
to via , yet, as it is easier to dispense with this root (in the sense of cutting) than
with bD3 , I think the preference should be given to baa . See infra xviii. 16,
xxiv. 24.
Toy.} S /"] . Comp. the same words supra viii. 1 5, where nay has much
the same sense as here, viz., that of lasting, enduring. This phrase is
somewhat tautological, for if a man flees away like a shadow, it is evident he
eannot abide. See supraxi. 15, Sl\l SI}, and xii. 25, TS Sbl . Observe
the Full Chowlem in Tay} which ends the verse, and so ought to obtain as full
a sound as possible. See note on inya supra i. 20, p. 557, note*, and on
Pint? xii. 4, P. 712.
Ver. 3. HS here = ^|Sn , which we have infra xxxiv. 17, xl. 8, Gen. xviii. 13,
&c. For other insts. of the omission of the interrog. part, n , see Index.
Ver. 4. Una ]J1} p would that a pure thing [were] ! i.e., Oh that there
could be (arise, come out) a pure thing ! This construction with an aee.(?) is, I
think, best explained by comparing those phrases in which 1F}\ P is used with
pronominal affixes, as e.g., infra xxix. 2, Jer. ix. 1, ''apn} p WOuld that I [were],
ian} ^a (Cant. viii. 1) would that thod [wert],  because these examples shew*
that nothing (or at any rate, nothing more than the verb nOT) need be supplied
here in Heb., although, in most other languages, some such verb as come or arise
must be supplied. See note in Comm. on ''aan} p infra xxix. 2 ; and in Appen
dix on supra vi. 8.
I am not at all sure, however, that Dr. Bernard is right when he says that
in"; ''a always corresponds to the Lat. utinam, and never can mean who can give,
produce? for, though we may not find any example in which it indisputaWy has
this latter meaning, yet I do not see how, if the Hebrews wanted to express who
can give, they could express it otherwise than by in} p . The expression must
originally have meant who will give, for the sense of utinam is always deducible
from this meaning, and I do not see, therefore, why, in a few cases ]$} "'a may
not have retained its original signification. Thus, in Ps. lv. 7, n2S P ]n} p
who will give me a wing ? the literal rendering affords excellent sense, although in
English we should prefer to use, " Oh that I had a wing ! " but what we say in
English has of course nothing to do with the real meaning of the Hebrew.
Comp. also Deut. xxviii. 67, and see note on supra vi. 8.
If in} p heve = ioho can produce, then of course W} must be supplied again
after nilS SI ; but if it be rendered oh that, then ins ^b must be regarded
as an abrupt expression = [there is] not one. I do not, however, think much of
Dr. Bernard's objection that, if T1S SI be taken in the first way, Job would be
setting bounds to the Omnipotence of God, for Job would not have scrupled to
do this. Comp. supra vii. 21, where Job tells God that even He would seek for
* For by substituting lino for the pron. affix '? — we at once obtain, Would that a
pure thing were (might be) !

APPENDIX. CHAP. XIV. 4 — 6. 741
him in vain after his death ; and, indeed, in this very chapter, ver. 15 maybe
well understood to mean (though Dr. Bernard does not take it so), that God cannot
long for a man after he is dead, because He would long in vain. It must be
remembered that Job was in a state of great irritation, and was constantly using
very disrespectful language towards God. Besides, even if nns S"b be under
stood here no one can produce, &c, Job may have said no one loosely, without
thinking of God — just as we say, " There is none that doeth good, no not one,"
without intending to convey the meaning that God is not good.
Ver. 5. ins . The ns here seems to have much the same force as the Dy in
lay supra x. 13, so that ins would mean in Thy mind, i.e., known to Thee,
or determined by Thee, or perhaps, laid up, stored up, with Thee. Comp. supra
xii. 3, where p ns. seems to have much the same force as ''ab , with xii. 13, 16,
where lay evidently = lb , and 1 ' = He has, i.e., has in His power, or possession.
Comp. also lay , infra xxiii. 14, xxv. 2. Dy has in these cases the force of the
Fr. chez, and Germ. bei.
VjOT evidently refers to the bounds, limits of man's life.
The sense seems to be, If it be true, as I know it to be, that Thou hast set a
limit, and that limit a very narrow one, to the days of man, do not then torment
him all his days, but suffer him to pass the little time he spends on earth in peace
and quietness. If he were to live for ever, then I could understand Thy
constantly keeping Thine eye upon him. See supra x. 20, where the same
sentiment is expressed.
123?} = D12y}.
Ver. 6. bill.}} . Comp. supra x. 20, where for '"liT the K'ree reads '"[DI .
Now nilT would make very good sense here, only there is no K'ree.
iy = l^S iy (Exod. xxiv. 14, 2 Kings xvii. 20, Mic. vii. 9), or W ny (Ps.
cxxiii. 2), as in 1 Sam. xx. 41, &c. This hem. has been variously interpreted.
A comm. rend, is, " So that he may enjoy his day as an hireling," i.e., so that,
although he may have to endure toil and hardship (the common lot of man) until
the evening of his life, like the hireling until the evening of his day ; yet, like
the hireling, he may be content* to endure them in the anticipation of the
assured repose which he will enjoy when his work is done, i.e., in his old age
(which corresponds to the evening of the hireling). But, in the first place,
"•¦t has very rarely the meaning of so that in Hebrew, though Vg ly in
Rabb. is very freq. so used ; and, secondly, IDV is thus understood in two diff.
meanings, viz., in that of the whole life, when applied to man, and of a
single day, when applied to the hireling.^ And again, Job would, I think, scarcely
say that the hireling enjoyed his day of toil ; seeing that he had already spoken
of his panting and longing for a release from it (supra vii. 2). Hope in misery
may make misery bearable, but can scarcely make it enjoyable. Besides,
* But pleasure, not contentment, is spoken of in the Heb., unless, indeed, ns-> may mean
merely to be content, which I very much doubt, though Umbreit takes it so.
t And if we take ioi' his fate, lot (see note in Comm. supra'C< i. 1), there is the same
difficulty.

742 APPENDIX. CHAP. XIV. 6 — 9.
according to this rendering, Job would be wishing merely that the life of man
were what he had already (supra vii. 1) declared it to be, viz., as the days of an
hireling, and so would be contradicting himself. He evidently wishes here that
man's life were otherwise than he has described it in ver. 1 of this chap. He
is, no doubt, especially speaking of himself, and to him, no doubt, in his present
condition, the life, even, of an hireling would be a god-send ; still, his allusion
to himself is onty indirect, and he is also speaking generally of the life of man.
Homberg, following Aben-Ezra, renders to complete, " until he shall complete
his day," i.e., die, a rend, which makes very good sense, and has been adopted in
the A. V., but is based upon a somewhat disputed pass., n\in2t£> ns nS"}!}
(Lev. xxvi. 34).
Upon the whole, I prefer Dr. Bernard's interpretation, which has the merit of
giving 1aV only one meaning, and is supported by Lev. xxv. 50, 53, Isa. xvi. 14,
xxi. 16, from which pass, it would appear that the hireling (n<,327) was in the
habit of engaging himself, not only by the day (cf. Matt. xx. 2, &c), but also
for much longer periods — very probably, it would seem, esp. from Lev. xxv. 53,
Isa. xxi. 1 6, by the year ; and if so, he would be likely to look forward with
pleasure to the expiration of his engagement, as he would, doubtless, give
himself a short holiday before entering upon another. And, if T2Ip be taken
less strictly, so as to include slavery *, then his day (^) would be the year of
jubilee, to which he would indeed look forward. Jarchi seems to have
taken this hem. much as Dr. Bernard does, for he rend, lav , iriip ov the day
of his death ; and Ben-Zev explains n2T : ^IBn"* mps he longs for, desires, as
though he understood the pass, in the same way.
Ver. 7. Some Comment, make a pause after nipn . " For a tree hath hope ;
if it be cut down, then it will again flourish," &c, the 1 being taken apodot., as
freq. after DS . Or it might be taken, " For a tree hath hope if it be cut down,
and will again flourish," &c, or the 1 may, perhaps, possibly be rend., seeing that,
since, "For a tree hath hope if it be cut down, seeing that it will again flourish," &c.
Ver. 8. Tpp . TPTn occurs only once more (viz., Prov. xxii. 6), and is there
also used intrans. Comp. 1"}?^ in the next verse, and see note in Comm. on
l-^Dn supra vi. 27 ; and Index.
Ver. 9. IT"] scent. Some comp. Judg. xvi. 9, E?S OT'Hns lit. on its smelling
(i.e., feeling) [the] fire, so that the meaning here would almost he from contact with
water. At any rate exhalation, vapour, would be a better rendering than scent,
* There is but little doubt, I think, that the Hebrews had slaves, whom they treated
with quite as much harshness (?), as the Americans of the Southern States do theirs.
This seems to bave been generally allowed (see Calmet's Dictionary, and even the late
edition of it by Buckley, Lond., 1851, s. v.), until the American war broke out, and then
it was thought important to shew that slavery could find no sanction hi the Bible. At any
rate, the Hebrews bad the right of separating a slave, even if one of their own countrymen,
from his wife and children, unless, indeed, he preferred to remain a slave for ever!
See Exod. xxi. 4. Fancy a master having the right of pinning his slave's ear to a door
post with an awl, not as a punishment, but merely as a way of sealing his contract with
him!!! Did this law come down from Sinai?

APPENDIX. CHAP. XIV. 9, 10. 743
in which water ought to be wanting ; but scent is more poetical and expressive.
The poet has in fact merely transferred a word, which, according to our notions,
would be more appropriately used oi flowers, to water ; and the scent of a flower
does really correspond to the vapour from water ; both are exhalations, but the
scent of course is much more subtle, and always invisible, whilst the vapour of
water is invisible only when uncondensed. Comp. the Germ. Duft, scent, Dunst,
vapour, but Duft also means vapour, though thinner and more delicate than that
designated by Dunst. The term scent may, however, possibly be used for the
purpose of marking more strongly the great inherent vitality of the apparently
dead tree, so that, if it can only scent water from afar, it revives. Cf. infra
xxxix. 25. And so in Judg. it may be used to mark the great weakness of the tow.
ni?} . This Hiph. is used both trans, and intrans.
nWV . We sometimes say of a tree that it makes wood, and of an animal
that it makes fiesh ; and to make is really the most appropriate word, for
the tree does actually make the wood, and the animal does actually make the
fiesh, out of the food which is supplied to it, j ust as much as glass, for example, is
made out of sand, &c. Comp. infra xv. 27.
y?3 . If this means what we now call a plant, there is some difficulty, at any
rate in Eng., as we scarcely speak of the boughs or branches oi a plant, though
the Heb. T2pT may perhaps, possibly, have included the tender shoots, sprigs or
twigs of a plant. Again, a plant might be old, and then it would not set a good
example to a tree. Many plants, however, die down to the ground every year
and shoot up again the next, and reference may be made to them. (See the
pass, from Moschus, p. 750). But there is no reason why the Heb. 37?? , though
it exactly corresponds to our plant, for the verb ^3 means to plant, should be
so restricted in signification as our plant, in ordinary language, now is, and it
may well mean a young, i.e., newly planted,* tree, just as our plant formerly was
used = a young tree, or sapling. The Sept. has v<;6<]>vtov. Besides, there is,
evidently, a strong contrast here between an old, dried up tree, and VQ3 , which
must, therefore, mean a young and vigorous (or, at least, a vigorous) Gewdchs t
of some kind. Comp. Isa. v. 7, where VSIEJyttf yD? lit., the plant of His
delights, is evidently used of a vigorous plant, and = the choice vine in ver. 2.
Comp. also Ps. cxxviii. 3, where we find D\1\T pr\V? lit., plants of olive trees
(for bnt£7 = to plant), i.e., olive-shoots, or young olives.
Dr. Bernard formerly transl. "as any other plant," as though V®?. might
include trees of any age.
Ver. 10. Most Comment, transl. the two 1's in this verse, But (man dieth, &c.)

* A young tree would often be = a newly-planted tree, i.e., if the Hebrews understood,
as they doubtless did, the art of raising trees not only from seed, but also from slips, &c.
The French use their word plant in this way, whilst plante has much the same meaning
as our plant, though it may include trees. Bescherelle defines plant, "arbre fruitier
nouvellement plante, bois jusqu'a l'age de vingt ou trente ans. '
T We have no word corresponding to the useful, general (generic), Germ, word, Gewdchs,
which may be applied to a plant, vegetable, or tree.

744 APPENDIX. CHAP. XIV. 10.
and (where is he ?), but this seems to me much tamer than Dr. Bernard's rend.,
But when (man dieth, &c), then (where is he ?). In my note on infra xxxiv. 29,
I shall endeavour to shew that 1 .... 1 used in this way, often mean not only
when .... then, but and (or but, now) when .... then. Thus supra v. 24,
we have transl., SDnri fcO} Tj}3 nipOl and when thou shalt visit thy dwelling,
then thou shalt miss nothing, though the then may commonly be omitted in Eng.
I make this note, because this use of 1 .... 1 is completely ignored by the
Commentators on this book, at any rate, by the Eng. ones. See note on ver. 12,
where there are also two 1's.
^nn*1 . Kimchi's explanation of this and similar expressions certainly
shews us how they must, or may, be rendered in other lang., but I doubt
whether it gives us the true meaning of the Hebrew idiom. I have before stated
(note on D??^P}1 , supra i. 5, and comp. note on infra xvi. 12) that the Hebrews
were not very scrupulous as to the order in which they narrated facts,* and I
think that we may in this way account for the inverted order here, and in the
other pass, quoted by Kimchi. Kimchi's explanation may, indeed, be very well
applied here, because, as nia} is a fut. and ttJ^njI a conv. fut. ( = a past), we have
only to translate quite literally, and we at once have the meaning Kimchi gives ;
" But a man dieth and (or when he) hath been ill." = But a man dieth after he
hath been ill. But in the other passages Kimchi quotes, all the tenses are conv.
futs. or pasts, so that his explanation is in their case by no means so obvious,
Comp. infra ver. 20, where Dr. Bernard would translate 1 'Dill and innytffni in
the same way. Nold. gives a great many examples in which 1 has, or is said to
have, the sense of postquam, but his examples must, as is well-known, be received
with caution. In Jos. vii. 25, we have a very good example, " and they burnt
them with fire, and they (had) stoned them with stones," i.e., when, after, they
had stoned them. The fact is, the Hebrews strung their phrases together, and left
their hearers or readers to arrange them ; we, on the contrary, arrange, or
endeavour to arrange, our sentences, before we present them to our hearers or
readers. Our plan is no doubt the better one, still, as the Hebrew public was
thus thrown more upon its own resources, it would necessarily become quicker of
apprehension than, e.g., the Eng. public, which demands clearness and perspicuity,
so that it may have the less trouble. The Hebrew plan is like Sir Rowland Hill
with his postal districts ; the public must help. But, in the case of speeches or

* I am sure that in conversation one frequently inverts the order of facts, simply
because one has not ordered them in one's mind before one begins to speak, and for the
same reason one does not, even in writing (I judge from my own experience), always record
events in the first instance in the order in which they occurred, and in which, upon
re-reading what one has written, one ultimately arranges them ; and this want of proper
sequence is especially observed in letters written by the uneducated. Now I have already
remarked more than once that, in my opinion, the Hebrews wrote very much as they spoke,
and that they did not, as we do, spend much time in re-arranging and polishing their
words,., and hence we cannot be surprised if we sometimes, as here, observe a want of
sequence in their ideas.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XIV. 10, 11. 745
books, the English public will not help ; if the speaker or writer is obscure, they
refuse to help him out with his meaning, and grumble.
It seems to me, however, not improbable that the Hebrews were also led to
use this inverted order somewhat by their great love for the 1 convers., and by a
regard for conciseness and for euphony ; for, if the present sentences, or any of the
sentences quoted by Kimchi, be considered, it will, I think, at once be seen to be very
difficult to express the same meaning in as few words, and as smoothly, as by this
to us singular employment of the 1 conv. If I say, for example, ^bn} 12a,}
iw (tais yia:}} or) yi?} dis} * nia}} , or again i*s} dis yi3»i nb;i bbn -aa} ,
these constructions, if more intelligible, are far less harmonious and elegant than
what we find in the text. So again below ver. 20, if I said (SOT) inis inbE?2
V33 na^D , how prosaic and unpleasing the effect ! and if I used •OTnbtP'ni , and
71327} , I do not see how the words could be arranged, so as to produce anything
equal to what we now have.
It may be objected that, if we translate, "But a man when he dieth, after that
he hath been sick," the last clause is wholly unnecessary and somewhat ludicrous.
Unnecessary it certainly is, to our minds at least, but at the same time very
Hebrew. The Hebrews were fond of tautological expressions. Comp. infra
xxvii. 15. " They shall be buried  at their death." So again xv. 18,
" which wise men relate and have not hid," for what they told they could not
hide (but see note on the pass.). Comp. also note on supra xiv. 2. Besides, if
the author here uses an inversion, as I suggest, we are by no means bound to
follow him, and if I transl. in Eng., " But when a man is sick and dieth," then
there is nothing singular in the expression.
As for the A. V. "dieth and wasteth away," I scarcely know whether the
wasting refers to sickness before death (for they may have recognised the inversion),
or to decomposition after death, but suppose the latter ; besides the verb t£7in does
not mean to waste away. It means to be weak, and to be weak is more likely to
refer to sickness, than to utter destruction, as Ges. and Ewald take it (confici,
vernichtet sein). Comp. the Lat. infirmus which is used of bad health, and our
in rmary, a place for the sick.
Ver. 11. ibTS , In Isa. xix. 5, we find nearly the same words, viz. :—
2721 2-in"1 "OT31 DOTS D^D OTIB731
* ¦ t : - v; v t t : t - ¦ ¦
"And the waters will fail from the sea, and the river waste and dry up."
And there these are mentioned as events which will occur, so that Dr.
Bernard is not quite correct in saying, it is absurd to represent a Hebrew poet as
making the sea and a large river dry up. But this does not affect the translation
here. I would still translate as Dr. Bernard does, though perhaps a sort of
compromise may be effected by translating, " The waters may fail from the sea,
the river may waste and dry up." This is very unlikely, but still, even if it did
* Here a less pleasing effect is produced in consequence of the less marked difference in
length between theirs* word, «ftrp, and the second word, nin;i , for euphony is best con
sulted if the 2nd word is markedly longer than the 1st, as it is, if ttftrm is used. See
note on supra xiii. 17, pp. 724, 725.

746 APPENDIX. CHAP. XIV. 11.
happen, man would still lie in his grave, &c. We should thus, indeed, translate
11t;S a past, as a future, but this is perhaps allowable, as it corresponds to two
futures in the 2nd hem. But D}a :) 1|S might be taken conditionally, = 1 ??S DS
D}a if (or though) the waters have departed (depart, or should depart) from the
sea, and if a river wastes (should waste), &c, yet man, when he, &c. ; the sense
being the same as before. Or again, as Job, infra xxvi. 12, speaks of the sea as
having been cloven by God, though he does not say when or where, he perhaps
believed that the waters might quit, and had, on one or more occasions, really
quitted, the sea ; and if so, then we might translate quite literally, and give to the past
and the fits, their strict signification. " The waters have departed from the sea
(i.e., such a thing has happened), and rivers habitually (as we all know) dry up and
waste ; " and yet,* incredible as it may seem, if we consider the disappearance of
such vast masses of water, the sea is now again full, and the rivers, as we know,
are habitually replenished. But is it so with man ? His life departs like the
waters, but does it again return ? No, when man has lain down, he will not
again arise, &c. It must be borne in mind that Job (or rather the author of the
Book of Job I, who would be apt to give us, in the name of Job, his own notions
concerning the drying up of the sea and rivers) would not be likely to have the
same grand idea of the sea that we have. He probably lived, either in the
northern part of Arabia, or in Palestine, and so would take his idea of a sea from
the seas nearest to him, for we cannot suppose him to have travelled much. Now
the sea, with which he would most probably be acquainted, would be the Red Sea,
and, indeed, those parts of it called the Sinus Heroopoliticus and JElaniticus,J
gulfs so small, that whoever had seen no other sea than them, would not have the
same idea of the immeasurable vastness of the sea (used as a general term), which we
have, both from the larger seas which we have seen, and from what we know of
the enormous extent of the different oceans. And hence, doubtless, one reason why
in the East several comparatively small bodies of water, such as the Dead Sea (at

* Here we must supply an apodosis, and that this is sometimes necessary, I have shown
in my note on •b 'nSn:n p (supra vii. 3).
t That Job wrote his own book, nobody, I imagine, at the present day supposes. If
the book, as Ben-Zev thinks, is older than Moses, and was translated by bim from the
Arabic, it is probable that the author knew no other sea than the Red Sea. If Moses
himself wrote the book, then the sea he would be best acquainted with would still be the
Red Sea. And lastly if, as many think, the book was written several hundred years after
Moses, an opinion which there is very little to justify, the Red Sea would still, as the
favourite sea of the Israelites, probably be the one from which the author would draw his
conception of a sea, especially as, from the very elaborate description of the crocodile in
Chap, xli, there is some reason for thinking that he bad himself visited Egypt, in
which case, he would doubtless have proceeded thither by way of the Red Sea.
X Now the Bahr-el-Akaba, and the Bahr-el-Suez, or the seas of Akaba and Suez. The
former is about 1 20 miles long by 15 broad ; the latter 180 miles long and 20 broad. The
depth of the Gulf of Suez is very inconsiderable, being only three fathoms at its head (by
which one would pass in crossing the isthmus), and nowhere more than 40 fath. ,- but the
Gulf of Akaba is considerably deeper.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XIV. 11. 747
most 100 miles long), and the sea of Galilee or Tiberias * (now about 12 miles long
by 5 miles broad), have received the more dignified title of sea, while such immense
bodies of water as the North American Lakes are only termed Lakes.f It wou'd
not, therefore, have been nearly so difficult to the author of the book to conceive
the sea as dried up, as it would be to us ; and I do not, therefore, agree with Dr.
Bernard in thinking it absurd to suppose that he could regard it as possible, that
the sea might dry up. But if the Red Sea was the sea, with which he was
probably best acquainted ; would not the river Jordan be the river with which
he would be most familiar ? I think so, for does not he name it infra xl. 23.
And these two names suggest another interpretation to me. May not the author
here allude to the drying up of the Red Sea and the Jordan, when the Israelites
passed over them ? According to Ben-Zev's view given p. 746, note f , he could
not. If Moses wrote the book, he could only allude to the passage of the Red
Sea, but, if, as is not improbable, the book was written after the time of Moses,
then both of these occurrences might be alluded to here. The meaning would
then be, " The waters vanished from the sea, the river wasted and dried up," but
in both cases they returned again to their former place ; " but man when he has
lain down will not arise again," he will not return to his place again (supra
vii. 10, viii. 18). The sing. nn3 rather supports this view. The two futs. in
the 2nd hem. are rather against it. But I find that this view is given in the
Chaldee Version, though I formed it quite independently, and solely from
considering what sea and what river the author of the Book of Job was most likely
to be acquainted with. But, really, if the author of the book thought, that such bodies
of water as he called seas might dry up, perhaps the simplest way of understanding
the verses is, " The waters vanish from seas, rivers waste and dry up," i.e., when
the water of a sea, or of a river, has vanished, it is gone for ever, and leaves not
a trace behind (see p. 745, note *), " and so man, when he has lain down, will not
arise," i.e., he too is gone for ever, and leaves no trace behind him. Comp. supra
vi. 17, 18, where the drying up of brooks, streams, or rivers (Dvll3 J) is described
by Job himself.^ And if Job merely compares the waters of a sea or a river to
man, the comparison is true, because, even though the sea and the river become
full again, the same water of course does not return. This is the interpretation
given by most Commentators, only that they substitute lake or pool for sea. Some
think that Job speaks of the absolute (i.e., permanent) desiccation and extinction
of lakes and rivers (comp. infra xxviii. 4), and compares this to the destruction
of the body of man. Just as the bed of a lake or river, as soon as it has lost its
* Called ma D^ in Numb, xxxiv. 11, and ddXauaa in John vi. 1, but Xt/wi; in Luke v. 1.
And even the much smaller lake a little to the north, Lake Merom, which is so small and
shallow that it is often nearly dried up, is called Bahr (js?) or Sea. The Hebrews seem
to have had no word for lake, so that they were obliged to call it bj, and so the Germ.
(also a comparatively inland nation) use the same word See for sea and lake, though in the
former sense the word is fem., and in the latter masc. Cf. also the A.-S. mere = both
sea (as in mermaid, &c.) and pool, lake (as in Windermere, Buttermere, &c).
t Lake Superior, the largest, is 541 miles long, and on an average, 141 miles broad.
+ A ''nj is no doubt smaller than a "in:; see note on xx. 17, where both words occur.
§ See additional note at the end of this Chapter (p. 757).

748 APPENDIX. CHAP. XIV. 11, 12.
water which made it what it was, becomes so changed, that the very existence of
the lake and river is quickly forgotten (see infra xxviii. 4) — so the body of a man,
when it has lost that which vivified it, its spirit, speedily becomes changed (comp.
infra ver. 20), and passes away for ever. These last two views (esp. the last)
certainly derive great support from supra vii. 9, for, as Job says there,
" [As] the cloud consumes and passes away,
So he that goes down to Sheol shall not come up ; "
so here he says, " [As] the waters vanish from the sea,
And the rivers waste and dry up,
So man, when he lies down, will not arise, &c. ; "
and the only question is, whether Job would be likely to speak of the drying up
of seas and rivers as as much an every-day occurrence, as the melting away of a
cloud, which is so very frequently to be witnessed. Dr. Bernard rejects this opinion
as absurd ; I am not sure that Job might not speak so (see pp. 747, 757), still, I
do not see that, even if we adopt the above rend ., it is necessary to suppose that
Job regarded the drying up of seas and rivers as a familiar occurrence ; he may
be understood to mean simply, "as surely as the waters vanish (for ever), when
they do vanish from seas and rivers, so surely will man never rise again." And
to my supplying for ever here, no one can object, as it is evidently implied in the
1st hem. of vii. 9, which see in the translation.
But all these interpretations agree in expressing that man, when he dies, never
lives again.
Dr. Bernard's rendering is certainly the most energetic and vivid, still I
scarcely like translating inTS wm have vanished* if it can be helped, though in
most of the interpretations I have given, the past and the futures are rendered by
the same tense in English.
Gesenius, indeed, and other modern writers think that D} is sometimes used
of a large river, but his arguments do not quite convince me. See note on
D} infra xli. 23.f
Ver. 12. 2327 ttf'W . Dr. Bernard seems to supply !$£ before 23ttf , but this
seems to me unnecessary, for we can well translate, and (or but) man has lain down
and will not arise, i.e, and (but) when man has (once) lain down, (then) he will not
arise, or, and (but) man, when he has lain down, will not arise. See note on OTN2}
3?iaSl. supra iii. 1 1 ; and on the two 1's in ver. 10. Or we may say, but (or so)
man lies down and will not arise, the past 33tt7 then equalling a pres., as is
often the case. See Index. Or we might again translate, But a man, has he lain
down, i.e., if, when, he has lain down ; the past being used conditionally (see
Index), but this is, I think, less natural.
D}.atp "inb2 ly . Comp. Ps. lxxii. 7, Hi} ^2 iy lit. until not moon, i.e.,
as long as the moon endureth. Comp. also Ps. lxxxix. 29, " His seed also will I
* Comp. however, supra v. 23, irVnn,!*)n which is generally allowed to mean shall have
been made to be at peace with thee.
| See additional note at the end of this Chapter (p. 758).

APPENDIX. CHAP. XIV. 12 — 14. 749
make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven? and ibid. vers.
36, 37, " His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me ;
It (his seed) shall be established for ever as the moon!' Comp. also Dan. xii. 3,
"and they shall shine .... as the stars for ever and ever." From these pass, we
see that, by the old Hebrews at least, the heavens and the heavenly bodies were
considered to last for ever, so that the expression used here, till the heavens be no
more = for ever. We may also perhaps compare DBS ny in Dlpa DSS ny Isa.
v. 8, lit. till not place, i.e., till there be no place ; and similarly the npn ps ly ,
"13Da PS ly (supra ix. 10) are equivalent to until there be no searching, and
until there be no number (numbering, counting), i.e., until it is impossible any
longer to search out or count.
Vers. 12 — 14. Some Commentators — but chiefly, I think, members of the
English Church, who imagine that, by making Job orthodox, they establish their
own orthodoxy* — conclude from vers. 12 — 14, that Job believed in the resurrec
tion of the dead. This conclusion they base chiefly (1) upon the expression till
the heavens be no more; (2) upon the use of the words, their sleep, and my change;
and (3) upon the wish expressed in ver. 13. As for till the heavens be no more,
I have already shown from analogous pass, that (with the addition of not,
as here) it must mean, never ; and that till the heavens be no more they shall
not awake cannot mean, as these Commentators most artificially understand it,
they shall awake when the heavens are no more, but not till then, as though Job
knew that the heavens were to come to an end.t But, even, if the words could
have this meaning, the context would entirely oppose it, for how could Job place
the lot of a miserable tree, which, though it may shoot up again after it has been
cut down, yet speedily dies for ever (in its most literal sense), far above that of man,
if he knew that man, after death, rises up again to live to all eternity ? The
contrast between man and the tree would lose all its force,;}: and Job would, indeed,
* This is no exaggeration. Scott says, " All these expressions imply Job's belief of
that great doctrine [i.e., the doctrine of'the Resurrection]; though both ancient and
modem Sadducees have contrived to misunderstand him." So, if I deny that Job believed
in a future life, I myself must disbelieve in a future life!!! What a logical conclusion!!!
f Those who conclude from this pass, that Job knew that the heavens would pass away
before man arose from the dead, should bear in mind that, infra xix. 25, Job says (as they
interpret his words), that at the last day (i.e., on the day of judgment) God will rise up (or
stand) on earth, so that it would seem he believed the earth would still remain after the
heavens had passed away. But, perhaps, they conceive him to speak of the new earth of
which Isaiah tells us (lxv. 17, Ixvi. 22) ! !
X I would ask those, who maintain that Job here means nothing more than that man, once
dead, never lives again on earth, what ground for such bitter lamentation, a virtuous man,
a man thoroughly convinced of his innocence, like Job, could find in this, if he knew of
the resurrection. Surely he would not wish, or at any rate would not long, to return to
earth, especially if, like Job, he had lost all that could make life dear to him. But if, on the
other hand, Job regards death, either as utter annihilation (as we suppose), or as the
passage to a region of gloom and misery (such as many Commentators suppose Sheol to
be), where the shades of men are tortured both in soul and body (see note on ver. 22,
near end), and whence, as from Dante's Hell, all hope is eternally shut out— then what
more natural than that, conscious of his entire innocence, and convinced that his dreadful

750 APPENDIX. CHAP. XIV. 12 — 14.
utter words without rhyme or reason in them. How different the language of
St. Paul who did know of the resurrection ! So far from contrasting the fate of
a tree with that of a man, he rather compares them. Just as a seed, he says,
must die ere it can again quicken, so the body of man must die before it can
again arise. But, though Paul thus compares the body of a man to a seed, he
would certainly have given the preference to the man, and not, as Job does, to
the seed (tree), because man when he again rises is immortal, whereas the seed
rises (as a tree) but to die again.
The true meaning of our passage is well illustrated by some lines in Moschus,
to which my friend, Mr. Randolph, has called my attention.
Al, at, rat paXa^'xt. p.ev CTW Kara koitov SXnivrai
H to xXwpa areXlva, to t tupVAes oiiAov avrj9ov
YoT€|0OV av tfllOVTl, KO.1 EtS CTOS a\\o IpVOVTl'
"Apy^r; S' ot /xeyaAoi Kal Kaprupdi -q <ro<f>ol aVSpes,
Oir7rdre TTpurra #aVcitytes, avaxooi ev yOovi KoCka.
Ei'So/*€s iv pd\a paKpbv, a.Tip/J.ova, vqyperov v-rrvov (Idyl 3.)
Alas ! alas ! the mallows, indeed, when they perish in the garden,
Or the green parsley, and the thriving crisped anise,
Live again afterwards, and grow up for another year ;
But we, the great and valiant, or wise, men,
As soon as we are dead, deprived of hearing in the hollow earth,
We sleep a right long, endless, indissoluble, sleep.
With regard to the arguments marked above (2), they are easily over
thrown. The comparison of sleep with death was not confined to the
Hebrews, but is found also in the writings of heathen poets, who had no
idea of a resurrection. Thus tmros (as above, in the lines from Moschus) is
used by Homer = death (see Liddell and Scott), whilst sleep, as a god, was
made out to be the twin-brother of death. Somnus, in Lat., is also thus
torments have been sent upon him merely by a caprice of God's (see ix. 17, &c), and yet
are hurrying him on to an untimely and unmerited death, when his justification * will be
impossible, and all hope of a restoration to his former state of happiness (see chap, xxix.)
will have entirely passed away — what more natural, I say, than that, if this be so, Job
should indulge in such bitter lamentations and should envy even the lot of a tree, which,
though cut off by an unexpected blow (like himself), or rotting to the ground, has yet the
hope left it of one day again arising in all the freshness and vigour of youth. Why else
does Job remind God more than once that his life is but a breath, and that, if He does not
take mercy upon bim whilst He can, it will soon be too late, seeing that even He will be
unable to find him, when once that he is dead ? See supra vii. 8, 21, infra xvi. 22
(Comm.), xvii. 15, &c, &c. Comp; also infra vers. 14, 15, as we understand them.
* Job's greatest desire was to be justified before God, and it is chiefly for this reason that he
desires to remain on earth, where alone he can be justified, though he also wishes to be restored
to his former prosperity, both, because be can look for no happiness after death, and because such
restoration would be a proof (before men) of his innocence.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XIV. 13. 751
used. Nor can I again see that any argument can be based upon the use of
the word nsy?n change. It seems to me to be a neutral word, which, taken
alone, might be used of the change from death to immortality, or merely of the
change from life to death, but of which, when it stands in a sentence, the meaning
must be determined from the context. It is nowhere else found in either of these
two meanings, and is commonly used of changes of garment, whilst once it i3
applied to the changes of the moon. In ver. 20, to change (a diff. Heb. root,
however,) is not taken by any one, I think, to apply to the resurrection. In
heathen writers, again, we find almost exactly equivalent words used merely of
the change from life to death. Thus we have a7raXAay^ (from aXXdcrcr-a to change)
airo To? fiiov (Xen. Cyr. 5, 1, 13) = departure from life, and airaXKayq alone (Diog.,
L. 4, 64) is used of death; and in the same sense p,erd\Xayri change, exchange,
ls used, with fSlov, by Plut. cons, ad Apoll. near the beginning, and without
jSi'ou by D. Cass. 57, 4 (see Pape's Gr. Lex.), whilst /teTaAAao-crav, with and
without fSLov, is used = to die. Comp. also ovpaviov <p£s a.Wd£ai in Soph. Ant. 944.
But this same verb dAAoWeiv is used by Paul, 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52, to express the
change which will take place at the resurrection ; so that, I think, I have at
least some grounds for saying no argument can be based upon the use of the
word change here.
And lastly, with regard to the argument (3), Job, in ver. 13, merely longs, for
that, which he has no hope ever will be granted to him. If the passages, in
which in} p Oh, would that! occurs in this book, be compared, it will be seen
that in all of them, as in ver. 4 of the pres. chap, (see the translation), it is used
to introduce a wish, which he who utters despairs (or has but very little
expectation) will ever be fulfilled. Comp. supra vi. 8, xi. 5, xiii. 5, xiv. 4,
xix. 23, xxiii. 3, xxix. 2, xxxi. 31, 35. This verse, therefore, tells in our
favour ; for, if Job had believed in the resurrection, he would have known
that, whether he wished for it or not, he would one day be hidden in the
grave, and after a set time again arise from it. But, not believing in, or
rather not knowing of, the resurrection, he sees that he has prayed for
an impossibility, and so naturally continues, " When a man dieth, can he live
again ? " his train of thought, expressed more fully, being : " I have prayed to be
allowed to hide myself in Sheol for a certain time, but how came I to make such
an absurd prayer ? If I go down to Sheol and remain hid there, it must be as
a dead man, and when a man is once dead, he can never live again ; so that, if
my prayer were granted me, I could never, never, stand before God."
That the answer to nOTOT can he live? is no ! is shown by the fact that the
interrog. part, n, always, or at least with extremely few exceptions, demands a
negative answer, like the Lat., num.
See Comm., pp. 15 — 17, and note in Append, on infra xix. 25 — 27.
Ver. 13. ""aaSSn . IBS is found only once more in Hiph., viz., Exod. ii. 3,
fa>92n , the voice in common use being Kal ; "^no , 0n the contrary, when used
as a transitive verb, is with one exception (Isa. xvi. 3) always found in Hiph.
It is probable, therefore, that the verb 1°^ was here put in the Hiph., in order to
accord in form with ^Tnpn .

752 APPENDIX. CHAP. XIV. 14, 15.
Vers. 14, 15. I cannot see any necessity here for connecting nn}S with the verbs
in the next verse ^np-Pl , ^ay>$ , &c, as Dr. Bernard has done, for very excellent
sense may be obtained if we make a pause after nn}S;, and connect simply
"'¦O^in. S12 iy with the next verse. The verses will then run thus :
Ver. 14. Only all the days of my lifetime can I hope ;
Only until my transition comes,
Ver. 15. Canst Thou call and I answer Thee ?
Canst Thou again yearn towards the work of Thine hands ?
According to Dr. Bernard's view, biTS. is connected with S^pn , p that,
being omitted. Such an ellipsis of P is, I think, very rare, as compared with
our ellipsis of the corresponding that under similar circumstances ; still, the
Hebrews do sometimes omit P = that, as infra xix. 25 (on which see note),
ot •'bsa v-iyi^'iai "-s "nyi} ; Ps.1.21, liaa n}ns nvn jrai thou thoughtest
[that] I was altogether like thee, for '131 "'B JTai , and where, besides niOT. stands
for hOT. So, too, in Ps. xvii. 3, Mendelssohn connects SSan ba with OTET,
as though P stood between them, and translates, " and dost not find that I have
thought wickedly." So again, 2 Sam. xvi. 4, ID SSDS OT^.qntpn, I humbly
beseech thee [that] I may find favour*; and ibid. xvii. 11, ^3 ^IPS} P|DS1 OTSy}
bs-ntp} / counsel [that] all Israel be diligently gathered; though it might be
rend., " So I counsel : let all Israel be, &c ," but this is really much the same,
for the two verbs would still depend on ''n^y} . Comp. also infra xxxv. 14,
1311E7n t5b "ia^n canst thou say [that] Thou seest Him not. Comp. again
2 Kings xix. 25, Isa. xxxvii. 26, wipy nn's pin-jab nyarc S"bq Hast thou
not heard long agoi [that] I have done it. Infra xxxv. 2 also, P is probably
omitted before nnas , though this is scarcely a parallel case.
That it is sometimes necessary to disregard the division of chapters into verses
has been already pointed out. See note in Comm. on ns supra vi. 29, and p. 250 ;
* But we may well transl., " I bow myself (prostrate myself) before thee ; let me find
favour"; still 'n'inrmSn has evidently some connection with »?dn. See tbe example from
2 Sam. xvii. 11.
f So according to the accents ; but many join pin-jo} to what follows = that I did it long
ago, i.e., planned it, settled it, in my mind, and this certainly makes better sense. But I
would rather transl. nsnffl i-ftn Dost thou not perceive, understand f N'entends tu pas ? =
ne comprends-tu pas? son) has this meaning in Gen. xi. 7, xlii. 23. The sense would
then be : Dost thou imagine that it is of thine own accord that thou art come up against
Jerusalem, and dost thou boast of it ? Dost thou not understand then that I long ago
planned this, and that now I have brought it to pass, &c. ? For how could Sennacherib
have heard that God had planned his (Sennacherib's) expedition against Jerusalem?
Some Comment, say, through the prophets, and Jarchi names Amos as having prophesied
it more than seventy years before — but this is mere conjecture. Still, I do not insist
upon my explanation ; I only offer it for what it is worth. Some, again, take it, " Hast
thou not heard how of old I did things of this sort?" how of old I have acted thus,
&c. ? but this is not the natural sense of nr*; .

APPENDIX. CHAP. XIV. 15 — 17. 753
and comp. infra xv. 20, 21, where we have again fused two verses into one.
Comp. also ibid. vers. 17, 18. But, if it be not allowed to fuse the two verses
together,* then the easiest way to understand the passage is, it seems to me, to
take n}n}q iga nna} DS parenthetically, and the futs. blTS. , Snpn , fpsn
conditionally. The translation would then be, " Oh, that Thou wouldest hide me in
the grave, &c." (But what do I say — " if a man dieth can he live again ? " Still,
if my wish could be granted, then), " I would wait all the days of my appointed
time (i.e., the time appointed for me to be in the grave), until my change came
(i.e., until Thou didst release me from the grave), [and] Thou wouldest call and I
answer Thee ; Thou wouldest yearn towards the work of Thine hands." But
now — how different is the reality ! now Thou countest all my steps, &c. This
explanation, however, seems to me much less natural than the other two.
,S2S . See note on S22 , supra vii. 1 .
Ver. 15. n/.ay.S . This dagesh in the 1 , which is so freq. found in pause after
the vowel Segol when it immediately precedes the 1 (i.e., when no "* intervenes),
is apparently due to that craving for the support of a dagesh (i.e., of a double
consonant, as in our manner, &c), which short vowels have f. See note on
prTjn supra xiii. 21, on ibnnn supra xiii. 9, on ibn}} infra xxix. 21, and
Index. [But the support of a Dag. really = the support of a single consonant
only, and in manner, the a has the support of one n only].
Vers. 16, 17. The connection seems to be, But now, so far from Thy calling,
and my answering Thee, and from Thy yearning after me, it is I who call in
vain upon Thee, it is I who yearn for Thee, whilst Thou, in Thy cruelty,
countest all my steps, and hoardest up every little trespass I commit. Or, the
nny p may refer to the wish expressed in ver. 13 ; and vers. 14 and 15 be
regarded as parenthetical. "Oh that Thou wouldest hide me in the grave,
&c  For now Thou countest my steps, &c."
Ver. 17. by bSDni . The by seems to be used here much as it is after the
verb nS3 to cover, and other verbs of covering (see Ges.), which it so frequently
follows (comp. infra xxi. 26) ; and if so, it is about = our Eng. up, in, to cover up,
to sew, patch, up. See note on "bpb , supra xiii. 4. The meaning to smear,
which is there suggested, would not make bad sense here, for, as in the first
hem., we have "my trespass is sealed up in a bag," and from infra xxxviii. 14, we
learn that the Hebrews used clay instead of sealing-wax— the verb bsD , which
is frequently used in Rabbinic of the smearing of clay on broken vessels for the
* It is well known that the division between two verses is very frequently indeed
equivalent to no more than a comma in English (see A. V., infra xxxviii. 6, 9, 10, 19, 22,
37, 39, &c, &c.), and this is so very slender a barrier, that its removal cannot be regarded
as a very audacious enterprise.
t Orm, or Ormin, the author of the Ormulum, felt this craving so strongly, that he
made it his almost invariable practice to double the consonant after short vowels, and ac
cordingly wrote his own name and that of his book Orrm and Orrmulum. See Marsh's
Orig. and Hist, of the Eng. Lang., p. 177, 178. Comp. the Germ. Mann, wenn, Sinn, with
the Eng. man, wen, sin.
3 c

754 APPENDIX. CHAP. XIV. 18, 19.
purpose of mending them, would correspond very well to Diin to seal. The
meaning would then be, and Thou smearest over, smearest up, mine iniquity, i.e.,
puttest a seal of clay upon the bag to prevent the escape of the iniquity.
Ver. 18. bci3 may well be translated fallen, for it is well-known that it is
more freq. found in this pass, meaning *, than in its act. one oi falling. Comp.
Deut. xxi. 1, Judg. iii. 25, iv. 22, 1 Sam. v. 3, xxxi. 8, 1 Chron. x. 8, Ezek.
xxxii. 23 (where it is joined with ^TOT slain), 27, &c. See note on D'Oan
supra iii. 14.
Ver. 19. 1pn27 for Ipritt? 2S . See note in Comm. on supra v. 3 ; in
App. on vii. 9.
Vns IDE nOT^QD V\hbn . The chief difficulty presented by Dr. Bernard's
very ingenious and striking interpretation consists in his making nsy. , which is
given in the lexicons as a masc. noun, feminine, by referring the verb n,I2^711 and
the suffix n\" to it. I have carefully gone through all the passages (as quoted
by Buxtorf in his Concordance), in which nD57 occurs, and I find that there are
only two from which its gender can be determined, and in both these passages
(Lev. xiv. 42, Job viii. 19) nOJ? ;s coupled with the same word nns , and is
therefore, masc. In the second passage, however, the nns is by many Com
mentators (though not by us) disjoined from noy . In the plur. it only
occurs twice, and both times in the const, form nilpy (Prov. viii. 26, Job
xxviii. 6), a fem. form. I think, therefore, that I am not guilty of any great
boldness in supposing that nay may have been one of the very numerous
nouns of com. gend. That a noun of the same form may be comm. is seen by
comp. nj"}3 , 0r better ^DJ7 which is everywhere masc, excepting in one instance
(Eccles. x. 15), where it is fem.
It may, indeed, be said that, as the verb H^tpn precedes its nom. case, it need
agree with it neither in gender nor number, but I am inclined to believe with
Ges. (Lehrgeb., p. 718 sqq.) that (when the verb and the noun agree in number)
this rule is almost entirely confined to masc. verbs preceding a fem. subst. ;
besides which, the fem. suffix could scarcely thus be explained.
It is possible, however, that, as nsy is so closely connected with the foil. V"V? ,
the feminines refer to this latter noun, which is common. Comp. the well-
known example DOTn Dnaa nbp. (1 Sam. ii. 4) [the] bow of [the] mighty is
broken, where E\Fin agrees with the governed noun, which, however, it follows.
But comp. 2 Sam. x. 9, nanbai "03 Vbs nnOT p , where nnOT agrees with
nania the governed noun which it precedes, as here, rather than with ^30 ,
though 0^33 is once fem., viz., Ezek. xxi. 21. See Kimchi's Comm. on the pass.,
and comp. Ges. Lehrg., p. 72 1 .
But those Commentators (Schultens, Rosenmiiller, Gesenius, Umbreit, &c),
who interpret "TITCD , its floods — refer its suffix to E}a a masculine noun, and
make it, itself, the subject of the verb HQtpn , are much worse off than
ourselves ; for not only are they obliged to give UpTi a meaning, for which there
* It is, indeed, sometimes translated lying, but this only seemingly makes a pres. part.
of it, for the lying in these cases virtually —fallen and lying.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XIV. 19, 20. 755
is not the slightest authority *, but they have in addition to explain how
a fem. pronom. suffix can refer to a masc. noun D}a , which they do not even
suggest is ever feminine. And when they have explained all this, they have
merely succeeded in producing an interpretation which is not to be compared
with that offered by Dr. Bernard, who has only to suppose nQV to he feminine,
if even he is obliged to suppose that. Dr. Bernard's explanation is certainly
exposed to the charge of being far-fetched, but really, without admitting some
anomalous construction as great as those pointed out above, I cannot devise
any other way of taking the hem.
According to Dr. Bernard's rendering, iTITDp is either an ace. after fybtfJn ;
or 2 must be supplied before it. I prefer the former eonstr., as after verbs
oi flowing, running down, we sometimes find what is prob. an accus. Thus,
Jer. ix. 17, we have nyai n31"}.FI g0 (run) down [with] tears, and D}D ^b-i}
flow down [wite] water; Isa. xlv. 8, P7.2 lb-?} + flow down [with] righteousness.
See Ges. under these verbs, and s. v. ibn (4). We might say, I think, " The
rivers run milk." The noun here limits and defines the notion contained in the
verb, and so plays much the part of an adverb. See Ges. Lehrg., p. 809.
?lt3E7 ig used intrans. in Ps. lxxviii. 20, = to gush, flow out abundantly, and
the part. I^E? is also so used.
The meaning usually given to vers. 18, 19 is, that, since even that which is
firmest and most durable in nature, such as mountains and rocks, gives way and
falls to pieces, man, frail man, whose strength is not the strength of stones, nor
his flesh brass (supra vi. 12), cannot expect to escape the same fate — a very just
sentiment, and one that does not ill suit the context (see Comm.). The only diffi
culty is how to make the second hem. of ver. 19 accord with this sentiment,
and this cannot, I think, be done without the adoption of means, which, though,
it would seem, regarded as perfectly justifiable by the great mass of Commen
tators, cannot recommend themselves to my judgment.
Ver. 20. najtfa for narca SOT. See note on na3; mpra ix. 8. It is, how
ever, I think, possible to supply nns , instead of SOT , before n327a , when this
part, would refer to God, and the meaning be " Thou changest his person, when
* (tod is found four times elsewhere, and always in the sense of second, or after crop
springing up spontaneously, viz., Lev. xxv. 5, 11,2 Kings xix. 29, Isa. xxxvii. 30 ; but
from none of these passages can the gender be determined. In Lev. xxv, 11, the form
which occurs is precisely the same as here, nri'BD . Ben-Zev mentions, but does not
adopt, the interpretation flood, which he says is taken from the root nnD (comp. fpjb iaa
sweeping rain, Prov. xxviii. 3) by transposition ni© ; but the Comm. above mentioned,
of course, have had recourse to their favourite Arabic, their only refuge in, cases of
difficulty !
t In Jer. ix. 17 (18) the A.V. has " gush out with waters ; " but Isa. xlv. 8 they tran
slate pour down righteousness as though bv were a trans, verb, as indeed they make it in
Numb. xxiv. 7, where they render d^d bv he shall pour the water, I suppose because they
thought bv a sing, could not agree with d?o , a dual or a plur. j but Mendelssohn
translates, "Aus seinen Eimern rieselt Wasser," and on ref. to Ges. it will be found that
c.'>3 is sometimes joined with a sing. verb.

756 APPENDIX. CHAP. XIV. 20 — 22.
Thou hast despatched him"; but the sense is much the same. Comp. x. 15,
where ^ must be supplied before VWT J7227 , and comp. Ps. cxiv. 16, where
11/113 _ nniD nns . See also note in Comm. on infra xviii. 4.
Ver. 21. I cannot comprehend why Dr. Bernard preferred taking 123 in an
unusual sense here. The reason he gives is worth nothing, for he has no
authority for interpreting ~>V2 to be few, rather than to be small, mean, low.
Indeed, in one of the other two passages in which it occurs, viz., Jer. xxx. 19,
it is also opposed to the verb n23 , and there is, therefore, the same ambiguity
as here * ; whilst in the second] Zech. xiii. 7, it certainly does not mean few.
Again, the derivative n^ys more commonly, I think, means small, low, mean,
humble, than yew.
iab ^2}. Comp. supra ix. 11, ib r?S S"b}, and Index.
Ver. 22. Dr. Bernard's rendering of this verse certainly gives the best
meaning ; only, Can the verse have this meaning ? We certainly cannot
suppose that there is an actual ellipsis of niy 13 as long as, an expression
borrowed from infra xxvii. 3, and when Dr. Bernard supplies these words, he
must not be understood to mean that they are actually omitted, but he merely
expresses in a fuller form what he considers to be the meaning of the passage ;
and this, as I have elsewhere pointed out, is constantly his practice (see esp.
Pref., p. viii). Where other Commentators explain in Eng., Fr., Germ., &c,
he sometimes explains in Hebrew, by expanding the poetry of the original into
very (and intentionally very) prosaic prose. Now, Dr. Bernard takes only his
flesh upon him, and [only] his spirit upon (or within) him, to = only, whilst his
flesh is upon him, and [only] whilst his flesh is within him, the two I"1!?? 's being
taken with mK73 and 12733} respectively, and not with 3S3} anQ" '?$?» as
they are taken by others, and certainly might be taken. mi£73 and 127??,
then, are, as it were, two nominatives or accusatives, absolute, as though we
translated his flesh [being] upon him, his soul [being] within him. t Now the
time when or during which is, as is well-known, frequently (in Heb.) put
in the accusative (as it is generally considered, for the form says nothing).
Thus, in Exod. xvi. 6, we have " And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children
of Israel DnyTl 219 = [it being], or [when it is] evening, then shall ye know ; "
and so in the next verse, DJTST "ip.2^ and [when it is] morning, then shall ye
see. In these pass, the same sense would be obtained if we supplied 2 with the
art. before 3iy and np2 , as though it were 31373 and np.33 . And this
would also be the case in the pass, we are considering, for l^bs 112732 would
be good Hebrew = when or while his flesh [is] upon Mm ; and the same may be
said of Vb? 127333^ . Comp. infra xxix. 4, sbns "by. nibs 11D3 , when or
* But, as in the preceding clause, we have " and I will multiply them, and they shall
not be few," I certainly think it is more reasonable to translate the last i-»s; n1)] D'rraarn /
will glorify them, and they shall not be small, with the A.V., than to suppose that these two
verbs also mean to multiply and to be few.
f See note on supra vi. 13, p. 613, note*, where at least one sentence is given, cor
responding to the Lat. ablat. absol.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XIV. 22. 7 57
whilst [the] secret favour of God [was] upon my tent, on which see note. I
think, therefore, that Dr. Bernard's interpretation is defensible, though it
would, perhaps, have been more obvious if the words had stood 1\?y IS *
basn it273a vbyi 2S31 11272 .
t v: : - t t : t : ¦ t : •
There is, however, no doubt, I think, that the words might be understood,
only his flesh [which is] upon him, i.e., his own flesh, feels pain, [only] his spirit
[which is] within him, i.e., his own spirit, mourns ; for by is not unfrequently
found = by 127S , just as in Eng. we say, Give me that book on the table = that
book which is on the table. Comp. Deut. vii. 25, " Thou shalt not desire
OTIS? 2np. ?)D3 [awy] silver or gold [which is] upon them ; and see note on
"OV supra x. 1. This verse would then mean, that man is insensible to what
passes around him, and is wholly occupied with himself ; but what connection
there would then be with the context, is not clear (see next par.).
Again, the verse might be translated (and this is, perhaps, the most natural
translation), only his flesh is pained upon him, and his spirit mourns within him ;
but here again the meaning is obscure. Some think (but without any authority)
that the Hebrews believed the dead went down to Sheol, body and soul, and were
there so entirely occupied with their own bodily and mental pangs, as to be
wholly insensible to anything beyond themselves.
Others translate 1"^? over, about himself, but ^y with pron. aff. is so freq.
found after 2733 , apparently in the meaning of with, within (apud), that I
prefer to take it so here. Comp. infra xxx. 16, Ps. xlii. 5, 6, 7, &c.

ADDITIONS TO THIS CHAPTER.
To note on lb?S ver. 11 (see p. 747, note §).
There can be no doubt, I think, that in hot countries streams of large size
frequently become entirely desiccated in the dry season, or, at any rate, are
transformed into a greater or less number of disconnected pools. I am told by a
friend of mine, who, as one of an exploring party, recently travelled 1500 miles
across the interior of Australia, following nearly in the track of Burke and Wills,
that they frequently had to traverse the beds of rivers, or rather torrents, which
had run themselves dry after the close of the rainy season ; and he assures me
that some of these beds were very wide and deep, the greatest width being as
much as a quarter of a mile, and the greatest depth t ninety feet. There is
probably some, and there may be much, exaggeration here, but, whatever
* The meaning would then have been at once only upon him does (or can) his fiesh
feel pam, and [only] within him, &c, i.e., only when upon him, when within him, &c. But
in the words thus arranged there would, I think, have been less rhythm.
t The depth he estimated chiefly by the height at which objects, such as trunks of
trees, &c, which had evidently been brought down by the stream, had lodged upon the
Bides. The largest of these streams must, therefore, have contained a body of water at
least equal to that of the Rhine at Cologne.

Ver. 11. The waters ^ fail V* from the sea,

758 APPENDIX. ADDITIONS TO CHAP. XIV.
allowance we make for this, we cannot, I think, but be led to the conclusion that
we must be very careful how we measure the ideas and language of the natives of
an Eastern country with regard to the desiccation of large bodies of water (and,
indeed, with regard to other matters) by our own standard, and how, judging
only from our own experience, we call, off-hand, that hyperbolical or absurd,
which further investigation may very likely shew to contain a large proportion of
truth. To the same note (see p. 748, note t).
To those who think with Dr. Bernard that Job cannot speak of the vanishing
of the waters of the sea and rivers as an every-day occurrence, and who, like
Dr. Bernard again, refuse to D} the meaning of lake, pool, or large river, I propose
the following interpretation of vers. 11 and 12.
( have failed )
< fail
( may fail
And large rivers { ^^ } 'and dry up ;
Ver. 12. . , > *man, when he has lain down, will not arise ;
Till the heavens be no more, they will not awake,
Nor be aroused from their sleep.
However incredible it may, at first sight, appear that such enormous masses of
water as the sea, large rivers, &c, should ever dry up, still these things have
happened, do happen, or may possibly happen. But not so the resurrection of
man. This neither has happened, does happen, nor ever can happen ; it is utterly
impossible. It seems to me more natural to take the 1 in 27,S'l as introducing a
strong contrast to that which precedes, than as Dr. Bernard takes it ; and, indeed,
I think that the two 1 's, in the first hem. of ver. 12 are more naturally rendered
as above f than by Dr. Bernard. J Still, this interpretation differs from Dr. Ber
nard's only in that it makes Job regard the drying up of the sea merely as of very
rare occurrence or very unlikely, and not as absolutely impossible. Wolfssohn's
rendering, though quoted by Dr. Bernard as identical with his own, is really
(at least as far as form goes) intermediate between his view and that which I
have just given. It runs as follows: " Gewasser schwinden aus dem Meere,
Strome versiegen zu diirrem Lande ; Und noch liegt er da, der Mensch, un-
auferstanden, u. s. w."
I must say, however, that chap. vii. 9 seems to me a formidable objection to
these three views.
* The reader may choose which he pleases of these bracketed renderings.
t See ver. 10, where Dr. Bernard has himself taken them as I do here.
X Dr. Bernard's construction (see Comm.), according to which the l in Dip; iAl seems
to be ignored, may, however, be defended, if we take ni'N to be a nom. absol, when the
lit. transl. will be, " And yet as for the man who has lain down — he will not arise" (in
Germ., where the apodotic l can be rend., " So steht er nicht wieder auf) — for i, like the
Germ, so, is freq. used apodotically after a nom. absol., though it cannot well be transl. in
Eng. See note on ipri infra xix. 23, and Ges. Lehrgeb. p. 723.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XV. 2, 3. 759

CHAPTER XV.
Ver. 2. nay.} . nay may, 0f course, here be rendered to answer, to retort ;
Germ, erwidern.
mi nyi. Comp. Eccles. i. 17, iv. 16, nil 7Vyi .
tHPT or Upjl nil , the east wind, is frequently mentioned in the Bible as a
violent and destructive wind, par excellence, and in the present day it enjoys
with us a somewhat similar reputation. Here, however, the violence and
impetuosity, and not the overturning and destructive power, of the east wind are
had in view, and the expression therefore = violent and impetuous, but at the
same time windy (i.e., empty and impotent) speeches. [As, however, Eliphaz
accuses Job in ver. 4 of breaking down, and destroying all reverence for God,
B'Hi? may, perhaps, be allowed its full force.]
We should say rather " as it were with the east-wind," but the Heb. freq. omit
the 3 of comp. See Index.
,tt3 must be taken in the sense of inward-parts, breast, heart. See infra
ver. 35, xxxii. 18, 19.
Ver. 3. n3OT . I think that Rosenmuller is wrong in supplying b before
nail. This inf. really depends upon the verbs nay.} and Sv>D} in the prec.
verse, or upon the clauses in which they are ; and the reason, why it is not at
once obvious that this is the construction, is because n3ln is at such a distance
from these verbs, and because there are not two infinitives, one of them
belonging to one of the verbs, on which n3OT depends. Thus, if the sentence
had been n3OT} TXiV  n3y.} , the nature of the construction would, in spite
*f the distance, have at once been evident. But the intervention of the second
verb Sba} perhaps contributed to the adoption of the simpler, but less obvious,
eonstr. with n3OT alone. I will first give an example of the more common
const. Comp. 1 Kings xx. 37, 3?231 n|il tt^Sil OT3}} And the man smote
Mm, smiting [him] and wounding [him] ; i.e., the man smote him blow after
blow (i.e., kept on smiting him), and at each blow wounded him ; the nsn
marking the repetition of the one act denoted by the conv. fut. OT3}} , whilst
the y^3 defines the nature of the blows more precisely, and shews that they were
blows producing wounds. So 1 Sam. vi. 12, 193} 1OT 13in they went, going
and roaring, i.e., they kept going on, and, as they went, they roared, the infinitive
™3 being used for the purpose of giving us a more accurate notion of the
manner in which they proceeded, and of expressing at the same time the simul
taneity of the roaring. So here, the npin defines what had only been expressed
in general terms in the former verse, and shews in what the filling one's belly
with the east wind and giving utterance to windy thoughts consisted,* whilst at
* Ewald (Lehrb. (1863), p. 690), well says that the inf. absol. (and its dependings, if, as
here, it has any) in these cases, must be regarded as an accusative dependent upon the
principal sentence, which it defines, just as in >n nia infra xxi. 7, Wj is in the ace,
defining naa .

760 APPENDIX. CHAP. XV. 3.
the same time it expresses the simultaneity of the reasoning with the uttering,
filling, &c. The inf. (which of itself expresses no time) seems to be used in these
cases in order to shew that the action denoted by it takes place at the same time as
that denoted by the principal verb, for a tense (which has a time of its own) would
not necessarily express this. Thus, if we had 1373.}} Ilbn 13bn , the meaning
would (strictly speaking) no longer be they kept going on and roaring, but they
kept going on, and roared; and it would then be uncertain whether the roaring
took place at the same time that they went on, or afterwards, as also whether the
roaring took place more than once, or only once.
This latter construction is, however, found,* as e.g., 1 Sam. xix. 23,
S23il»} librt 1T1 and he (Saul) went on, and prophesied (until he came to
Naioth in Ramah), where it is a little uncertain whether he really prophesied
as he went along — as the meaning may be, and he went on (and prophesied) until
he came to Naioth, i.e., he went on until he came to Naioth, and then prophesied f;
for, of the messengers whom he had previously sent, we do not read that they
prophesied as they went along, but merely that they did prophesy (when they
reached Naioth and saw Samuel), without its being specified how often. Now, if
the words were S33nn} liln 1/*1, the meaning could only be, and he went
on, prophesying, i.e., he kept on prophesying as he went along. So 2 Sam.
xvi. 13, n7p}1 llin  l!?n, he kept going on, and he cursed, where it is,
in like manner, uncertain whether he cursed more than once.J
For examples, which I would comp, with TO in here, although in them the
infinitive is not separated by so great a distance from the verb on which it
depends, I must refer the reader to my note on supra xiii. 17, Class 11, p. 731.

* Other tenses, such as a simple fut., and more freq. a conv. past, are also found taking
the place of the second inf. ; but the inf. is a much more comm. eonstr. A pres. part, is,
however, by no means unfreq., and, indeed, one can understand the substitution of this*,
and a simple fut. or a conv. past, i.e., of tenses or parts of verbs which commonly indicate,
or may indicate, the repetition of an action — better than the substitution of a conv. fut.,
which, strictly speaking, is used to denote one act and no more. See a long note on this
subject, supra xiii. 17.
f There would then be some little irregularity in the order of the words, but not more
than is sometimes found in Hebrew. See note in App. on ta^lli'i , i. 5, and *)Jn»i. xiv. 10 ;
and comp. esp. supra x. 21, where 'iai yiN bx aw)« nb\ iptx dtqs = aw3<j ttr\ 'iai yy* bx rf» orm};
and infra, ver. 18.
X There is, however, I think, but little doubt, that these conv.futs. are intended to de
note a repetition of the action expressed by them ; for, the form and air of the expressions
point very strongly to this conclusion (see, however, p. 724, note *), whilst the use of the
inf. ipbn is not otherwise readily explicable, especially as it follows the tense. Another
argument, again, is furnished us by a comparison of 2 Sam. xvi. 5, where we find, used of
the same man (Shimei), the expression Wrkb «is^ «3' , which certainly does denote a
repetition of the act of cursing. See the note quoted above in note f, and esp. p. 729.
* The subst. of the pres. part, for the inf. absol, is especially natural, because, like the inf. absol.,
it can scarcely be said, when standing alone, to contain any notion of time, so that, whether it
is to be understood of the past, the present, or tbe future, depends upon the context.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XV. 3, 4. 761
^isD} rib 121 might be taken = i2 ,i3p} S"b (1E7S;) 121 a ma«er whereby he
(the wise man) cannot profit, for, infra xxxiv. 9, we find 113D} = he profits (i.e.,
is profited). The 12 would be supplied from D3 in the second hem. (comp. infra
xxxviii. 26). In xxii. 2 lISp1! = he is profitable, and in xxxv. 3, it is profitable
(impers.). nai may, of course, be taken = word or matter, but the sing, points
rather to the latter meaning.
The verb pD occurs again in the same tense, voice, and person, and in much
the same sense, infra xxii. 2 (twice), xxxiv. 9, and xxxv. 3, the only five passages
in which the fut. Kal. occurs, and in which the verb has this meaning.
O'bpi for D'baai , the 2 being understood from n212 in the first hemistich.
Comp. infra xxxviii. 26, where ^9 must be supplied from the first hem. before
"121a in the second. Still, it may be an ace. after TOOT , jugt as supra vi. 26,
where we find Dyba npin in the same sense.
sP'V also need not be taken impers., but the hem. may be translated and on
matters (or, and with words) by which he cannot profit ; for, in the somewhat
similar pass, infra xxxv. 3, TSS na = what can I profit, what advantage can I
derive ? Or, it might be rendered and with words whereby he cannot profit
[others], do good to others. See infra xxx. 13. Ges. seems to interpret T3p}
in the same way, for he gives as the meaning here, to do kindness. For D^v>a = •
matters, see infra xxxii. 11, and note upon it in Comm. ; but this is a rare and
uncertain meaning of the word in Heb.
But might not D2 T9V riv be rend, there is no use in them = in which there
is no use ? So the Sept., ev Aoyois oh ovSev o</>eAos, Ges. and others. The expres
sion would then = b',9ia D2 "PS1 (Jer. xvi. 19), and [things] in which there is no
profit (lit., nought profiting), and Vyi"1 S"b would almost = a subst., and so
Ben-Zev seems to take it, for he transl. b^yV S?(2) in Jer. ii. 11, unniitzes
Wesen, and he says that he thinks by}b2 is compounded of by "02 and = ein
Taugenichts, like b^yV S*b2 . Still, VyV in b^yv sb3 may well be taken per
sonally by supplying n27S , Vyi1 sb "I27S3 for that which does not profit ; just as
sobil S|b>37i"» S"b "nnsi (Jer. ii. 8) = 'iai 127S ^insi , and after [things or them]
which do not profit. The reader must decide. We see at any rate, from the
above examples, that Jeremiah is fond of the verb by . See Ewald, Lehrb.
(1863), p. 807.
Ver. 4. npn . Comp. infra xl. 8, ''DBtya isn ^Sl translated by Dr. Ber-
nard, Wilt thou indeed dent my justice, but literally, wilt thou break down,
destroy, annul, abrogate, do away with, and so = deny, as we say, to deny God
in the sense of denying, abrogating, His existence.
nST according to Dr. Bernard = ^.27 nSl} (comp. infra xxviii. 28,
tffej riST) [the] fear of [the] Almighty, but the same meaning can be obtained
with less difficulty by supplying after it, from the second hemistich, bs >&b
(fear) before God. Wolfssohn translates, Frommigkeit (piety). Comp. supra iv. 6,
insi} thy fear of God. The fact is, nSl} is here taken abs. = fear of God.
3 D

762 APPENDIX. CHAP. XV. 4 — 7.
niT27. Dr. Bernard takes this alone to mean prayer ; others think it only
means prayer through the addition of bs "Opb , meditation, musing, or speech,
before God being = to prayer. Still, I think it may probably mean prayer by
itself, just as ns-)} by itself = (when God is spoken oi) fear of God. \35b,
therefore, may, I think, possibly be taken = "Opba from before. See note on
Vt* n?*»? (supra x. 1), where I have endeavoured to shew that after verbs
of taking away by may = bya . Comp. also Ps. cii. 1, where we have
in^27 1327} nin} \J3bl:, and \a?b does not go with lira?.
Ver. 5. P . Dr. Bernard has very frequently, too freq. perhaps, rendered ^
in this book, surely, a meaning which is scarcely given in the Lexicons. Comp.,
however, supra viii. 6, where nny p is translated in the A.V. stjkely now.
In my note on P °aas supra xii. 2, I have endeavoured to shew how P derives
this meaning from its more common meaning of that and but. Here, however,
I think P might well be rendered for, as giving the reason why Job was de
stroying the fear of God, &c. ; the reason being that he was proclaiming his
wicked doctrines to whoever liked to listen to them, and not keeping them to
himself. 'iai ^iE7b ITOrn . The verb nn2 is here followed by an ace, as supra
ix. 14, infra xxix. 25 ; but it is more commonly foil, by 3 ,
Ver. 7. li27Sl . Dr. Bernard seems to have forgotten Jer. xvi. 16, Ps.
lxxxix. 51, where we find D',21 preceding the noun with which it is joined *; and
Jer. iii. 7, 10, where niia3 precedes nriins . See Ges. Lehrg., pp. 705, 706.
It seems, therefore, as if DIS ]i27Sl may be interpreted = Vbttn DIS , and if
so, the li27Sl is put first for the sake of emphasis. At the same time Dr.
Bernard's rend, here, " O man ! " is quite admissible, for we find DIS So used
in Mic. vi. 8, and 27^ in Dan. x. 19 ; whilst Paul is fond of <S avOponre (Rom.
ii. 1, 3, ix. 20, &c).
nbOT . Here we might have expected the past. Comp. supra iii. 3, 1 1, though
in these passages the fut. can be translated as such. Comp. also infra xxxviii.
21, nbw IS ''S , on which see note. The fut. (here better called the indefinite
tense, or aorist) is prob. here used, because not so much the act of birth, which of
course only takes place once, as the result of that act is considered, viz., the state
of existence which continues whilst life lasts. The Fr. have the same idiom. Thus
Renan translates, es-tu done ne? When we say of a man he was bornf, we
record merely one act, or fact, in his past life ; when the French say il est ne
(almost = he has been born), they record his entry upon a state, which will
certainly continue as long as he lives, and may be regarded as continuing beyond
* In Mason and Bernard's Gramm., however, vol. ii., p. 27, this peculiarity of the adj.
ai is noticed.
t When, however, the act or (fact) is predicated, not of one particular person, but of
people generally (or man in the abstract), then we use the present. Thus we say, " men
are born to misery."

APPENDIX. CHAP. XV. 7 — 10. 763
his death (just as a man, when he has once taken a degree, say D.D., retains that
degree until the day of judgment), for they sometimes use il est ne" ( = il naquit)
of a person who is dead. We use born as a participle; they use ne almost as an
adjective (see Bescherelle, s.v.). But, though we cannot say he is born (excepting
to denote the accomplishment of the act of birth), we can say he is dead (like the
Fr. il est mort), because dead is an adjective, and so can denote a state. In
French, however, il est ne and il est mort are exactly parallel expressions, ne
and mort being, both of them, past participles. That il est ne does not mean
merely that the act of birth is completed, as the house is built = the building is
completed, is clear, for else we could not say say il est ne a, Bruxelles, he.
•R^bin ni92? ''asb . Here the past is used, because the act of his formation
is spoken of, and not his state as a formed creature. Comp. Prov. viii. 25,
vibbin ni92a ">asb .
• : t t : : •
Ver. 8. TD3n . The dagesh in the 3 is very irreg., still examples are common.
Comp. Numb. xiii. 19, Canasn , whether in encampments ? Gen. xvii. 17, ??vn ,
whether to [the] son of? and see Mason and Bernard's Letter xvii., P. S. (a), and
Ges. Lehrg., p. 623. Besides, many copies read here TD2n . Ges. (in Lex.)
says that this dagesh after H interrog. is found principally when the letter next
following the n has Sh'vah, and this would seem to be true ; and, if so, the
dagesh is used on the same principle as in DnilJpTO/l infra xvii. 2, on which see
note. Comp. also note on nbS}1, supra p. 713, on n;.3y.S, supra xiv. 15, and
Ewald Lehrb. (1863), pp. 82, 83.
I do not see why ya27n here may not be rendered dost thou overhear,
as if it were Job's practice. But, if what I have said about l/OT is not true,
then we may translate it by a past. 3 yD27 here seems to mean to overhear, but,
infra xxxvii. 2, it = fc> listen, hearken to, which is more commonly rendered by
(or f) vS 9D27 . But we might translate here simply to hear.
Ver. 9. yi3 S"bl . Here the 1 is well rendered that, although and would also
make sense, and we know [it] not. The phrase is found three times more in this
book (viz., supra viii. 9, infra xxxvi. 26, xxxvii. 5), and nowhere else. For
omission of the pron. aff. see Index.
I^y, ]it. with us, i.e., in our hearts, minds, known to us. So supra x. 13,
1??, on which see note. Comp. also xii. 13, 16.
M!|n . We have here the masc. used as a neut. See supra viii. 19. It is
well known that in Heb. the fem. is more freq. so used. See note on ^bs , supra
ix. 3, and Index.
Ver. 10. Some do not take 327 and 2?"'27*} as collect., but refer them to Eliphaz
himself. q,?t 1S-?^ "1"'33 • I* is not altogether easy to determine whether E1 a} is
here governed by T23 in eonstr., or whether it is the ace. after T23 , when it
would mean as to days. If it is in eonstr., I can only say that it is very unusual
to find a subst. or an adj., separated in this way from the subst. it governs, and I
cannot quote any example precisely similar. Comp., however, supra x. 22,
3 D 2

764 APPENDIX. CHAP. XV. 10.
where Y"}^ is thought by some to govern n}.ab? , and see note upon it. Comp.
also note on infra xx. 17, niai32 .
If, on the other hand, D^D} is the ace. after T23 , then I cannot quote an
example either, in which a pure adjective is thus construed with an ace.*, though
after verbs we find accusatives of this kind. Comp. infra xxi. 7, T.n 112| (
they are mighty as to strength, i.e., in strength ; Lam. iv. 7, E?? I^IS , they are
ruddy as to body, i.e., in body ; and see Ges. Lehrgeb., p. 687 ; Ewald, Krit.
Gramm., p. 586.t Another objection is that in the very similar pass., infra
xxx. i, D^a;1? ''aaa on^y? , xxxii. 4, op>b laaa nan D^a.pt. p m which
the adj. are manifestly in their absolute form, we do not find D^D} , as here, but
D"1!?}! = as to days. So again, infra xxxii. 6, we have -^P^ ^S. T92 . T23
is one of those unhappy adjs. concerning which, when used in the sing., it cannot
be determined whether they are in the eonstr. state or not, and other adj. of the
same form are S^ati?, Yp& , &c. Thus, we find infra xxxiv. 17, 2b 1*3 T33,
supra ix. 4, TO ypW Isa. xl. 26, 02 ypH , infra xxxvii. 23, TO S^ato,
and comp. also TO 3T , in all of which examples it is impossible to say
from the form whether the adjs. I have mentioned are in eonstr. or not, and
it is only from the analogy of such examples as 13 "H^a (Ps. ciii. 20), n3"via
(K'ree — Nah. i. 3), and esp. supra ix. 4, TO ^DSl 331 D3I1 where the eonstr.
form E3n. strongly indicates that V"'aN is in eonstr. also — and from our know
ledge that certain examples, in which adjectives are followed by accusatives, either
closely, such as 13 liia , or at a distance, are not forthcoming — that we believe
these adjs. of unchanging form to be in a state of eonstr. when joined with
nouns. Ben-Zev seems to take T23 to be in eonstr., for he says : —
cp; -vaa b"-\
" He means great (much) of (in) days."
As for myself, I also rather incline to the opinion that T33 is in eonstr.,
firstly, because adjs. seem to be nearly always, if not always, thus construed with
substs. and secondly, because I feel sure that no Hebrew writer using T33
in eonstr. in a similar phrase, would hesitate for a moment to separate it, as here,
from its subst., inasmuch as such a phrase as I^Sa D^a'* T33 would, in
poetry, be simply intolerable. At the same time, I doubt very much whether
T3Sa could have been thrust in between, if T22 had been capable of changing

* We do, indeed, find xbn , which has the form of the pres. part, of xba , but is by some
called an adj., by others a verbal adj., more than once followed by an ace, as infra
xxxvi. 16, Deut. xxxiv. 9, Ps. Ixxv. 9, Ezek. xxviii. 12, &c. ; but this is scarcely a case in
point, because it is well known that the verb ate is nearly always foil, by an ace. We do,
however, once find D'p; xba , viz., Jer. vi. 11.
f Ewald takes D'p; here to be the ace, but he can give no example in which an adjective
is thus construed.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XV. 10, 11. 765
dn form when in eonstr. Thus, I doubt whether such a eonstr. as da} ''aaa vYy?
(see infra xxx. 1) is possible.
T23 is only used in Job and Isaiah, and occurs six times in the former, and
four times in the latter. Aben-Ezra calls it an Arabic word, and jj£ is no
doubt used in the same sense.
Observe that T23 is here in the sing., though it refers to two nouns (or
adjs.) 327 and 27,27} , but this is by no means a proof that these words refer to
one man, Eliphaz, as some take them ; for I have already pointed out several
times, that adjs., prons., &c., though probably referring to both of two nouns which
have preceded, are freq. put in the sing., as though they referred to only one of
them. Comp. supra iii. 19, SOT D27 biia} ]bpT and infra ver. 24, and see note
on ^S supra iv. 19. This construction belongs to the same class, as those in
which a plur. noun is followed by a sing, verb, as supra xii. 7, &c. See Index.
Ver. 11. IfD Dyan , lit., Whether less than thou, i.e., less than thy wants, than
thou requirest, too little for thee. Comp. Numb. xvi. 9, Isa. vii. 13, Ezek.
xxxiv. 18. 2"} much, great, is used just in the same way. Comp. 2 Kings xix. 7,
linn iaa 21 p , lit., for the way (journey) [is] more than thou, i.e., more
than thy strength, too much for thee ; and so Deut. xiv. 24, 17/jn iaa n2T .
Comp. also infra xlii. 3, "'SBD niS15p3 more wonderful than I, = too wonderful
for me. Somewhat similar are our above me = too much for me, for my compre
hension, and below me = too mean, too vile for me.
Some Commentators translate ns niainan [my] god-like, divine, heavenly, most
excellent, consolations, and think Eliphaz refers to the consolations he has offered,
and esp. to his words in supra iv. 1 7 sqq., where he speaks of the heaven-sent
vision. Is it not possible that the words may mean [our] consolations of God = our
consolations made up, composed, of God, containing, involving God, to be found in
God, i.e., the consolations which my friends and I offer to you when we tell you
that, if you will turn unto God and become pure and upright, then He will have
mercy upon you, and restore you to your former happiness ? See supra v. 8, 17
— 26, and viii. 5 — 7, xi. 1 3. This is the meaning which Dr. Bernard gives to
the pass., but his rendering, though ingenious and possible, seems to be rather
harsh. ESI . I do not think that *3Sb can possibly be an adj. of which it has not the
form*, though it may be translated as one, for the sake of conciseness. DS alone
means gently, softly, slowly, as 1 Kings xxi. 27, ^S. 1?n}} and he went gently
(slowly), with the languid, feeble gait of one in mourning (Ben-Zev, nieder-
geschlagen, tiefsinnig). Similarly DS? is found applied to the gentle flowing of
waters in Isa. viii. 6 (but Ben-Zev, geheimnissvoll) ; and in 2 Sam. xviii. 5, we
have nyab ib DSb , lit., gently for me to the youth, i.e., deal gently for me
with the youth, though some refer this to the verb £>S7 . Some think, therefore,
* Dr. Bernard is certainly wrong in saying that Kimchi takes it to be an adj. ; for
Kimchi gives it under the root on , and therefore cannot regard it as an adj., whilst
Ben-Zev, as far as I can see, does not quote the pass, at all, either under ni> , vrb , or on.

766 APPENDIX. CHAP. XV. 11.
that DS1 here may be taken = E>Sb, just as we find psnb (Lev. xxvi. 16, 20, where
it is not in pause), and P'in? infra xxxix. 16 ; and having thus squeezed gently
out of the word, and finding a word gently somewhat incomprehensible, they
supply spoken and say DS7 131 means a word spoken gently. But in the first
place toSl } which has quite the form of a verb, is not found elsewhere = gently,
and therefore we cannot say positively that DS7 might become DS1 , and,
secondly, even if it does mean gently, it seems to me harsh to take a word gently
= a word spoken gently.
There is, however, a verb Dsb found in 2 Sam. xix. 5, V33 ns DSb* l^an}
and the king covered, muffled up his face; and to this passage Homberg refers
our ^Sl, and translates sind jene gottlichen Trostungen nicht genug? Bleibt
dir noch etwas verschleiert ; meaning, I suppose, have not God's dealings with
thee been entirely cleared up by the consolatory speeches thou hast heard, or
does something still remain unexplained to thee ?
Now, I am inclined to agree with Homberg and Rabbi Jehudah in referring
DS7 here to the root DS1 , and, as it seems by no means improbable that the root
DS1 is closely connected in signification, if not identical, with DV7-J-, and
verbs 1"5 are more often neut. than act. (in Kal), I have but little hesitation
in taking DS7 intrans. here, as Homberg does. I would not, however,
render exactly as he does, but rather or is a matter covered up, hid with
thee = or is there any secret thing with thee ? (A.V.) ; i.e., dost thou harbour
any secret thought in thy breast which thou art afraid to speak out openly
to us, but which yet prevents thee from listening to our consolations, by which
we would induce thee to turn unto God ? This interpretation seems to me
* uxb in this sense, seems to be akin to irf> , which is once found in Hiph., meaning to
cover, viz., 1 Kings xix. 13, vss vM and he covered his face (comp. also Isa. xxv. 7), and
whence we have tote (and once, Judg. iv. 21, ENte) secretly. And, indeed, Kimchi says
that Rabbi Jehudah refers ioxb, in 2 Sam. xix. 5, to the root vsto, when, of course, it
would be more regularly pointed toJ = taj, like DN|? (quoted below) for eg; and this
suggestion is approved of by Kimchi. Ben-Zev, too, gives tote under the root wb .
Kimchi, who himself refers bmJ in our pass., to the root ion , says that Rabbi Jehudah
considered it to come from vxb , but does not give his interpretation. We may, perhaps,
comp. the form DNg (Hos. x. 14) for D£; and BtwS (Ezek. xvi. 57, xxviii. 24, 26) part.
from vend to despise, for ra*> . Indeed, Buxtorf, and also Kimchi and Ben-Zev, give these
latter pass, under the root enib , though they all agree that wn is prob. the root. (See
next note).
\ inxb might, namely, have arisen out of »S , first by the insertion of an n (as in oxij =
Djj , ninsT (Prov. xxiv. 7) = nio^ , &c), either as a substitution for the 1 of the root
(eV>), or (more Arabico) for the sake of lengthening the Kawmets  which would give
us rab  and secondly, by the introduction of a Pathach under the » , either for the sake
of lengthening the word into a dissyllable, and giving it the appearance of a regular verb
(like 132), or merely for the sake of euphony, just as we have rrjin , rrv , &c., instead of
f1'?^, -P > &c- Comp. nojn (Zech. xiv. 10) from Dtfj = on to be high, and see Kalisch,
Part ii, § lxvii. A. 1 (s), p. 261. Kimchi gives np^i under the root on . At all
events 'qps idn^ irn would have a much less pleasiDg sound.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XV. 11  17. 767
not only to accord excellently with the first hem., but also with the following
verse, in which Eliphaz goes on to point out what he fears is the secret hidden in
Job's breast, viz. (as well explained by Dr. Bernard), the notion, which Eliphaz
again (infra xxii. 13, 14) and more explicitly charges Job with entertaining —
that, namely, God does not overrule anything that passes in this world, but leaves
things to manage themselves. This is, indeed, Dr. Bernard's explanation of the
pass., but I do not think that his " But is there a gentle word with thee " accords
well with this explanation.
Ver. 12. 12? 1117} na might, perhaps, be translated To what, whither, does
thy heart take (lead, hurry) thee? So Wolfssohn, "Wohin reisst dein stolzes Herz
dich?" It would then be the ace. after a verb of motion. For this signification of
npv = to take to a place, comp. infra xxxviii. 20. That it freq. has the opposite
meaning to take from a place = to fetch, we see from Gen. xx. 2, xxvii. 13, &c.
Ver. 14. In the second hemist. there is a transposition, for the words must be
understood as though written P1^} i? ntES TTJ nai, but this transp. evi
dently adds greatly to the beauty of the pass.
Ver. 15. I^tpip His holy ones. In the corresp. pass, supra iv. 18, Eliphaz
used l^naiy.ia , which prob. means angels, as it answers to V3S?a His angels, in
the 2nd hemistich. DUpip , therefore, very prob. here means angels, though supra
v. 1, we have understood it of holy men.
Ver. 16. nisai 29113 lit., [the] abominated and defiled (polluted) one, though
we find it more convenient to rend, the parts, by adjs.
Ver. 17. HI may perhaps here be considered as equivalent to nips. . See note
in Comm. on OT2ns nT} , infra xix. 19.
nnBDNl. . The 1 here, if taken, as Dr. Bernard suggests, and as nearly all
Comm. take it, is somewhat unusual, and certainly not quite the same as the
ordinary 1 of the apodosis (which is so readily intelligible), so that the example
quoted in the Comm. is a little inappropriate. Comp., however, infra xxxvi. 7,
D3iBh°; Prov. xxiv. 27, 1^2 rT32n° nnS*; 1 Sam. xxv. 27, n3n31:°; infra
xxxvi. 16, ipn S'b} V327 13Da ; supra iv. 6, T3.ni Oh} inipn (where the 1 is
by some regarded as apodot.) ; Exod. ix. 19, 1T,1°; ix. 21, 2h?}1°. . .127S;1;
2 Sam. iv. 9, 10, where i3 nOTSI ° . . . P nin} OT = ta OTTI1S . . . p nin} OT,
and see note on Ipn}} 12D3, infra xix. 23. In most of, if not in all, these
passages, the 1 follows a noun (or accus.) absolute, and is therefore apodotic X.
See Ges. Lehrgeb. p. 723. And so the 1 may very well be taken here,
* Here the l seems to have been transposed from before the in» , its natural place, in
order to convert the past ; the meaning being the same as if it were ?|n>a njan 11™ and
afterwards thou shalt build thine house. Comp. f?B vtri T?W mPra iy- 6 ¦ and 'TO ^l
infra xix. 23, on which see note. However, in« may be taken = a whole sentence such as
when thou shalt have done all this, and then the 1 comes in naturally enough as apodotic
= then. See note t, and Ewald, Lehrb. (1863), p. 830.
f- The 1 in these cases is used because the nom. (or accus.) absolute really forms a whole
clause, even when it consists of one word only ; and thus the 1 corresponds to the so in

768 APPENDIX. CHAP. XV. 17.
the meaning being " both (or, and) as to that which I have seen — I will relate
[it], [and] that which, &c." The fact is the 1 seems to be used in these
cases, or in many of them, chiefly for the sake of euphony, in order to do
away with the hiatus which, without the 1 , would occur between the pro
tasis and apodosis. Thus, if I say nigpS OTiTll nt} , one is conscious of an
unpleasant hiatus between the last two words, though it is caused in part no
doubt by the concurrence of the two vowels, and this hiatus, this rough edge, if I
may so call it, is smoothed down by the use of the 1 . Besides, the 1 serves to
mark the commencement of the apodosis, and so replaces our comma, or a slight
break in speaking. We say, " If thou wilt go with me, I will go," but the Heb.
OT3bni. iay i3b:n DS (Judg. iv. 8) where the 1 introd. the apod, and at the
same time converts the past. So the Germ., " Wenn Du mit mir ziehst, so will
ich ziehen," (Luth ) Comp. also the pass, in viii. 4, quoted by Dr. Bernard.
But in Heb. it is not always 1 which is so used ; other particles, such as P , are
sometimes found. Comp. supra viii. 6, nny p nnS n27}1 IT DS If thou art
pure and upright, surely (He will) presently, &c, and so the P in xi. 15, xxii. 26.
In these places Gesen. would transl. the p then, i.e., = 1 , but for this there is no
occasion, though one might supply a then before the surely. The Heb., however,
do not so constantly use a 1 in this way, as the Germ, do so, and other particles ;
in other words, they abhor the vacuum between protasis and apodosis less than
the Germans. Comp. Judg. iv. 8, where, though an apodotic 1 is used in the
first clause of the verse, it is left out in the second, lbs i4b iay pbn S"b DS}
but, if thou wilt not go with me, I will not go, " So will ich nicht ziehen " (Luth.).
Still, they used it so often, that we must not be surprised if a 1 slips in sometimes
for the sake of rounding off a period, where we cannot well translate it, though
we may appreciate its use.
The above seems to be the true explanation of the 1 , still, as the pass, is a
difficult one, I will suggest that this verse and the next may be read together
(see supra xiv. 14, 15, infra vers. 20, 21) as follows : "I will shew thee (hear
me !) both that which I have seen, and I will declare that which wise-men," &c. —
when the 1 in TO3DS} would serve to couple it to I^DS. , and 'b 91327 would
be parenthetical. Certainly nOT * is commonly used in this book of the ex-
Germ, in such phrases as, Was dich betrifft, so sage ich dir, u. s. w. It must be remarked,
however, that in the six pass, marked with (°) — and the same is no doubt the case in many
other pass, (as Gen. xxii. 24, Jer. vi. 19, Gen. iii. 5, Exod. xvi. 6, 7, xvii. 4, &c.)— the l
besides being apodot. serves to convert a tense, so one hardly knows to what degree its use
may not be due to the known fondness of the Heb. for using converted tenses. Comp.
also Exod. i. 19, " Before the midwife comes in unto them vrV| they bring forth," where
the l seems to be used quite as much for the sake of conv. the past, as for the purpose
of introducing the apodosis. Comp. also esp. Exod. ix. 20, D'?n .... wvrj (as for him that
feared  he made to flee), with ibid. ix. 21, aip. . . ."ra5«l (but as for him that. . . he left);
and again in Judg. iv. 8, 'najrti  'a}n ds, with ip* ib  r^n rf; dni  the i in both
these cases being used only when it is necessary to convert the tense.
* The verb nin is only found six times in the Bible, five times in Job (viz., here, infra
xxxii. 6, 10, 17 ; xxxvi. 2), and once in the Psalms (xix. 3) ; and at any rate in all the

APPENDIX. CHAP. XV. 17 — 20. 769
pression of one's own opinion, or of the results of one's own observation, and
experience, whereas n3D is perhaps more freq. used of the opinions, observations,
or exploits, of others, than of one's own experience, observations, &c, like our
relate, recount, in English — and if so, then it is better to connect THIll nil
with 1OTS. than with ni3DS} . The only question is, do the Hebrews ever put
a 1 before the first objective case, as we do both in Eng. ? *
Ver. 18. Most Comm. do not supply 1 before nttfS , but take it to be in
apposition to what immediately precedes, " and that which I have seen I will
relate," viz.— n27S. what the wise-men tell, &c. ; what he has seen, and the
wise-men tell, being the same thing. In either way there is much harshness.
3ni3Sa .... -IT?} they tell from their fathers = they tell having heard from
their fathers. Comp. supra xiii. 13, "'aaa -12?iinn , where the verb is taken in
a pregnant sense as here. We may perhaps also comp. our " to speak from
memory." 1in3 S?}. For parenthetical sentences, see p. 760, note f, and Index.
Indeed, the next verse is parenthetical.
Ver. 20. bbinna SOT 3? an. ia} b3 All [the] days of [the] wicked-man, he
is tormenting himself. This is quite a Hebrew construction. We should say,
AU his days, the wicked-man is tormenting himself, which, lit., trans!., would be
in Heb. bbinna (SOT) ytEhn Va} bs . There is, so to say, a transposition
of the subject and the possessive pronoun which refers to the subject, only that in
changing its place the poss. pron. naturally becomes the corresponding pers. pron.
Comp. infra xxxvii. 7, Cnn} DIS 13 1}2 fn [the] place of every man He
seals [him] up, instead of In his place, He seals every man up. Comp. also infra
xxiv. 6, where I have pointed out something of the same kind, and see p. 566,
note X • So again infra xxxiv. 26, we have DPT?9 n,,V2?l nnn In the place of
[the] wicked He smiteth them, = OiyaHn p3D Dnnn fn their place He smiteth
the wicked. This pass, has puzzled the transl. of the A. V., who do not seem to
have been familiar with the idiom, though they have recognised it here and in
Ps. x. 2, ^ pbl} y2n nisas fn [the] pride of [the] wicked-man he pursueth
[the] afflicted ='131 y271 iiTS.32 fn his pride [the] wicked-man (pursueth), &c.
One reason why the Hebrews adopted this idiom (which is by no means free from
ambiguity) may have been that they did not like such sentences as, In his pride
the wicked, &c, in which we do, or may, not know, until we have read the whole
sentence, to whom the his refers. But that they did not always object to this kind
of construction, in which the poss. pronoun comes first is shown by infra xxiv. 6,
passages in Job it refers to the opinions of the speaker. As for the verb ibd as used of
the relation (recital) of the deeds, works, opinions, &c, of others, comp. supra xii. 8.
Ps. cxix. 13, Judg. vi. 13, Ps. xliv. 2, lxxviii. 3, cxviii. 17, &c, &c. At the same time
"IP is used of the relation (recital), by oneself of what concerns oneself, as in Ps. cxix. 26.
* 1 .... l are used before nominative cases = both .... and, as in Ps. Ixxvi. 7, Jer.
xl. 8, 1 Sam. xxv. 6, &c. ; but I do not remember an example in which they couple two
objective cases in this sense.

770 APPENDIX. CHAP. XV. 20, 21.
where we have, In the field they reap 1 'V? his grain, and gather the vintage of
the wicked, where his refers to the wicked-man, who is not mentioned till the
second hem. This is the converse of our example here. And here again comp.
note on supra ii. 4, p. 566, note.t
D1327 13DD1 and [during the] number of [the] years. The eonstr. of nspa is
the same as that of P'1. '3 , i.e., they are both aces, expressing duration of time,
but the latter does not strike us, because in Eng. we also say, " all the days of his
life " = during all the days of his life. For the plur. -133^3 , though n3pa is sing.,
see infra xxi. 21, xxxviii. 21, and notes upon them. Wolfssohn takes the 2nd
hem. of this verse with the next like Dr. Bernard. Many Comm., as Ewald, &c,
whilst supplying, as we do, n27S before 133^3 , take the mid. clause, " he is
tormenting himself," to be common to both the other two clauses, i.e., they supply
bbinna SOT after V","!9 . Such a eonstr. is perhaps possible, because, infra
xxii. 23, we have n32n standing in a somewhat similar central position, and
forming the apodosis to two conditional clauses, one preceding and one following
it. I must say, however, that Dr. Bernard's manner of understanding the pass.
makes much better sense, and as then the division between the two verses is
quite equal to a comma, and in my note on supra xiv. 14, 15, I have shown that
such a division is allowed on all hands to be very freq. equivalent to not more
than a comma — I am constrained to give my vote in favour of this view.
Ver. 21. DilTO lip a (or, more strictly speaking, the) voice, sound, of terrors, a
terrible, dreadful voice, sound. The plur. prob. is used to add force to the expression,
while, from its greater length, E^nilB is found nowhere else. Similar plurals are
ninb2 (which is only found once in the sing.) infra xviii. 1 1, 14, xxiv. 17, xxvii. 20,
xxx. 15 ; iliaiS* (Ps. lv. 5) ; ninD2 supra xii. 6 ; nia3Il (Ps. xlix. 4, Prov.
i. 20, ix. 1, xxiv. 7) ; niaian (Ps. xlix. 4), &c. But the plur. may be well used
here to denote a variety of terrors, just as masrt is supposed to include the
different kinds of wisdom, and if so, then the sound of terrors, would = the sound
of many or various terrors, i.e., many (or various) terrible sounds, nip being
used as a kind of collective in the sing., just as we find D321 lit., their heart
= their hearts. See note on E22b2 supra i. 5. Or, might not D^lilS bip be
regarded as = nnB nillp the plural of nnB lip, a sound of terror, the two
words being regarded as a sort of compound word, and so the second noun taking
the mark of the plural instead of the first, just as I often see now a days carte
de visiles used by those ignorant of the French lang., instead of cartes de visile.
But the meaning is much the same in either case. If either of these last two
explanations is adopted, it will not be necessary to join the two hems, as Dr.
Bernard does, but we may translate, " sounds of terror are in his ears ; even in
peace the spoiler is coming on him," i.e., he thinks the spoiler is coming upon
him. And so I would understand the 2nd hem. of the next verse, and the 1st
* We ourselves often say fears, and terrors, but the corresp. Germ, words Furcht,
Schrecken have no plur., although Angst makes angste.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XV. 21  23. 771
hem. of ver. 23, and would translate these two verses, " He does not believe he
will return out of darkness, for he is watched for the sword," that is, he believes
his enemies lie in wait to- kill him with the sword, or he believes himself destined
to the sword (see infra s. v. 12^). " He is wandering about for bread [and crying],
' where is it ? ' " i.e., though in peace and prosperity, he imagines himself already
wandering about for bread — and all this, " because he knoweth that the day of
darkness is ready at his hand." This rendering seems to me more vivid than
Dr. Bernard's, and also more natural, esp. with regard to ver. 23, for a rich man
would never have to stir abroad for bread, inasmuch as he could and would always
send for it, unless, indeed, he were afraid of being poisoned. Some Comment.,
indeed (as Rosenmiiller) think that ver. 23 expresses, not what the wicked man
fears will happen, but what actually does happen to him, but if so, what does the
second hem. mean ? It seems to me^that the realities do not begin till the next
verse, or even later.
13Si2} = (Vby) libs Si2}, but the affix is prob. an ace. after a verb of
motion. S12 is sometimes foil, by an ace. of motion, when this is a subst. (comp.
Ps. xviii. 30, nil? VIS I run [at, or through] a troop), but I doubt whether
such a phrase as iniS S12} is to be found. Wolfssohn takes this hem. as I do,
and translates, " Auch im tiefsten Frieden fiurchtet er der Feind iiberfiele ihm."
But see note in Comm. on supra iii. 25, 26.
Ver. 22. 2=127 pas} S"b . We could say, " He thinks not to return," though
believe does not admit of this construction. In French it might be rendered,
" II ne croit pas devoir revenir."
I find T*asn only once more with an inf., and then it is foil, by b , viz., Ps.
xxvii. 13. Supra ix. 16, it is connected with the foil. verb, by "'3, as in Exod.
iv. 5. For infs. with and without ' , see Index.
12^ . Ben-Zev, quoting our pass, says, " fiir bestimmt halten," and gives as
its Heb. equivalent, nsia27, i.e., reserved, laid up, for na27 means both to watch
and to reserve. Ges. too gives 122 here the meaning of selected (i.e., looked
out, ausersehen), destined; and I think the verb may have this meaning. And
if so, then |132 might stand instead of 13? , and yet the sense be much the same.
Ver. 23. n.}S where [is it] ? This exclamation favours the view I have been
advocating, for, if the wicked-man is so frightened that he does not stir abroad
till hunger drives him out, why should he call out (attracting the very
observation which he shuns), and ask where bread is to be had ? unless, indeed,
he is so stupified with terror that he knows not where to turn — a very forced
explanation. But, if he imagines himself already in want, and wandering about
in search of bread, he might readily go a step farther and fancy himself actually
calling out aloud for bread.
The exclamation n?S is very abrupt, but we have an exclamation just as
abrupt in Prov. xxx. 15, 3rl 2n ni32 in27 nj>lb9.b [the] horse-leech hath two
daughters, " Give, give ! " i.e., which cry, " Give, give ! " * See note on Sip ,
* Some, however, take aD, in give, give, to be the names of the two daughters.

772 APPENDIX. CHAP. XV. 23, 24.
supra xii. 4. That nbsb saying, or something equiv., is freq. left out, is well
known. Comp. supra viii. 1 8.
1T3 at (or in) his hand. So we say at hand. But "Q T2 often = merely
"3 D9 , ns . See Ges. We might, however, perhaps, take iT2 at his side, as
T sometimes = side, just as we say on the right hand, when hand also = side.
Comp. infra xviii. 12, "calamity, i9?S7 }i23 [is] ready at his side."
Ver. 24. n|?1Hai 12 OTJiy?} . Obs. the verb in the masc, whilst the two
subst. are the one masc, the other fem. This is what we should expect. See
infra xxiv. 19, 1^*3} Dn D3 n}2 (where, however, the substs. precede), and comp.
supra i. 18. But the verb precedes here, so that we can scarcely decide why the
masc. is used. See note in Comm. on infra xx. 9.
OT3pnn . This agrees with nrjl^a and not with na , 0r with both, but,
notwithstanding, it no doubt really refers to both. This is another inst. of the
Heb. idiom, by which the verbs., prons., &c, which really refer to two subst. are
made to agree with one only, as if they only referred to that one. See note on
IS , supra iv. 19, and Index.
TT? . Dr. Bernard has certainly some support for his rend., 5a/Z=T13 ,
because the older writers who interpret it here battle, derive this meaning from the
sense of ball (which they consider the primary meaning of TT?), the troops being
gathered together in a globose form. Comp. the Lat. globus = a body of men in
close array ; and the Fr. peloton, which means a body of troops (platoon), and
also a ball (of cotton, &c). TT? thus meaning, or being supposed to mean, an
arrangement in a globose form, is taken to mean battle, just as acies means line,
array, and battle.
Gesenius, however, does not allow the existence of such a word as HI? a ball,
but declares Tl to be the real word, and the ? to be 2 with the def. art., and
he, therefofe, of course denies that HT? can = a ball*. But there is much more
weighty authority than his in favour of the view that the 3 is part of the root,
for the Rabbins freq. use HI? = a ball, nil? spherical, and nnin? sphericity,
roundness ; and TT? is also used by them in the same sense. But because,
forsooth, the Arab, root .£& does not mean to be round, therefore, Ges. thinks
1113 cannot either ! It is, indeed, possible, that some Rabbinic words have
been based upon a certain interpretation of the Bible, but this is not the case
here, as in Chaldee also HI? and HT? mean ball, see Castelli. Lex. Heptaglott.
For the rendering battle, however, there is no authority, further than that of the
old translators. The word occurs nowhere else in such a sense. Somme toute,
the pass, is a very doubtful one, but I must say I do not reject the comm. rend.,
" like a king ready for battle," which has, to some extent, tradition in its favour,
so absolutely as Dr. Bernard.
Comp. infra xxix. 25, where Job compares himself to a king ; and, if Dr.
Bernard's rend, be adopted, and .1 <?£?? be takSn alone, we may comp. T333 like
a mighty man, infra xvi. 14, Ps. xix. 6, lxxviii. 65, &c. — ib^ being used not
* See addendum at end of this chapter.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XV. 24—28. 773
merely = a king, but a mighty, powerful king, an ideal king, just as when we say
" he is brave as a lion," we do not refer to an old, weak, or cowardly lion.
Ver. 25. vS in both hemistiches = by , against. Comp. next verse I'bs ,
supra ver. 13, inil bs bs 2127P1 ; supra i. 8, with ii. 3 ; and see Index. Still
7N expresses motion towards much more strongly than ny , and in the present
case the movement is a hostile one. Comp. our at in to run at one.
n3?n} . For the Kawmets in the last syll., see Index.
Ver. 26. nS1?2 . Comp. Ps. Ixxv. 6, " Speak not pnv 1H123 with stiff
(stubborn) neck ", mit starrem Halse (Mend.), i.e., with defiance in your words
and looks. A gesture of defiance is always accompanied by a contraction
(stiffening) of the muscles of the neck. With a (or, the, his) neck would naturally,
I think, be understood, with the neck held in such a position as to attract the
greatest notice, i.e., stretched out, held up aloft — the neck doing all that it can
do in the way of expression. Comp. our to do a thing with a will, where with
a will = with a great will, very willingly, with great readiness and energy. It is
one of those cases in which one is expected to understand a demi-mot. The
hem. would have been too long, if an adj. had been added after ns^2 .
I"1??? "'?? ""^S? lit., with [the] thickness of [the] bosses of his shields, i.e.,
with the thick bosses of his shields. For the accumulation of stat. eonstr., see
supra xii. 24, and note on it. 23 also means the back. Similarly the Germ.
Buckel, which is sometimes vulgarly used for back ( = Riicken), also means a hump
on a man's or camel's back, and a knob or boss on a bridle ; whilst bosse in Fr.
means a hump on the back. Obs. the plur. shields, and see note on E^ITO yer. 21.
Infra xli. 7 we have also the plur. D^aaa , but there it is well used of the
crocodile, whose scales could not be comp. to one shield. But here the plur. seems
to be merely poetically used, as it so freq. is in Lat. Comp. Vni3327a infra
xxxix. 6, and note upon it.
Ver. 27. The P may refer either to the preceding verse, i.e., he runs against
Him, &c, because he has covered, &c. ; or it may introduce the second reason
why calamity will overtake him, i.e., calamity shall overpower him, &c., because
he has covered, he. In the latter case, ver. 26, would be more or less paren
thetical. I incline to the second view. Some, indeed, connect the present
and the next verse with ver. 29, i.e., because he has covered, &c, therefore
(ver. 29) he shall not be rich, &c. Others again take the p here = though,
and make ver. 29, the apodosis, " though he have covered, he., yet shall he not
be rich, he.''
nai? 279}1 and he has made him rolls of fat. We say an animal makes fat, i.e.,
becomes fat, and the expression is most correct, as the tissues of its body do
really make the fat out of the food it takes. See T2pT n279 , supra xiv. 10.
For similar expressions in other languages, comp. Gesenius.
'03 for ibp? . For omission of poss. affixes, see Index.
Ver. 28. 1327 is sometimes eonstr. with an ace. and sometimes followed by a
prep. An ace. is not unfreq. in poetry after verbs of dwelling. Comp.
127a ini? p (Ps. cxx. 5) because (that) I dwell [in] Meshech ; yn 113} S"b

774 APPENDIX. CHAP. XV. 28, 29.
(Ps. v. 5) evil shall not dwell [with] Thee; bnS 22T (Gen. iv. 20) [those]
dwelling [in] tent[s] ; and see Ges. s. vv., p27, 113 , 327V The verb W> ,
however, seems never to take an ace, but nearly always to be followed by 2 .
Comp. infra xxix. 19, xxxi. 32, xli. 14, &c. Similarly, 32?i when meaning to sit
sometimes takes an ace. and so 2327 } y21 to lie. See Ges.
I^ab . Some take this to be pleonastic =for themselves, like " sit thee down,"
and so b is freq. used with pron. aff. (see Index) ; but 22?i = to inhabit, is but
seldom followed by an ace. (see- last note), whilst it is freq. foil, by ', where
we should expect 3 or by. Comp. supra ii. 13, V"!^ 1227}} ; ps. ix. 5,
SD3? n?27} ; infra xxxvi. 7, &c. ; only in these examples the meaning is to sit
on, and not to dwell in, as here. Still, in Lev. xxv. 18, we find ^y 327s, lit.
to dwell on = to dwell in. See note on n^lS , supra i. 20.
Di^ab linynn 12JS. . Umbreit, die bestimmt zts Trtjmmern waren. The
Germans, therefore, have the same idiom, whilst we are forced to supply be,
destined to be heaps. This use of a Hithp. = a Niph. is very common in Rabb.
(see Ben-Zev's Pref. in vol. i., p. lxi, note ra). Similarly, the French very freq.
use a reflective verb, where we should use a pass. Thus il s'est noyi may mean,
he drowned himself, or he was drowned.
For the sentiment contained in this verse, comp. infra xxiv. 18, where the
wicked are said to live in desolate places ; only here if they lived in them, it was
merely because they had devastated the land and driven all the inhabitants
away. Ver. 29. V").sb here = Vn.S2 0r ?nsn by . See supra ver. 28, note on ia1? ,
and Index s. vv. / and '9 .
Dlaa . Ben-Zev says it = niipn, which means both perfection and end. If
then we take the meaning end, we may translate their end does not decline to the
earth, that is, they do not gradually wane away like the day, and quietly sink
into the grave like the sheaf in its season (supra v. 26), but, as we are told in the
next verse, they suddenly fall and perish. The verb nD3 is used of the declining
of the day, and of the lengthening of the shadows of evening, in Judg. xix. 8,
Jer. vi. 4. Comp. the verb n33 , and Ps. xc. 9, " For our days, lap decline."
Homberg understands the hem. in this way, only he takes n$} act. and transl.
" Sein Ende beugt ihn nicht nach und nach zur Erde — er wird schnell
hingerafft." These renderings may be far-fetched, but the pass, is a most
doubtful one.
That nfip could mean end, and this = issue, posterity, I do not think possible,
though this would yield good sense.
It might, however (if it = nnsn , as is gen. allowed by the old writers) mean
prosperity, in the same way that Dn which means perfection is taken by some =
prosperity, infra xxi. 23 ; and that D1127 , from a root which contains the notion
of perfection, completion, certainly does sometimes mean prosperity. Schultens
does, indeed, trans, prosperity, but he obtains this meaning in quite a different
way.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XV. 29 — 31. 775
Modern translators generally render possessions, but this is only a guess from
the context, though they comp. an Arab, root, which Schultens, by his own
confession, raked up in Golius !
Of the same form as nbaa (fr0m nba) we have napa from nap, np?a
(from nD3), n3?a (from nD2), n.}pa (from mp), n27pa (from n27p), &c.
Ver. 30. V? ni!3 . Some transl. by the breath (blast) of His mouth, and
take f? to refer to God, comparing Isa. xi. 4, where God is said to destroy the
wicked 1^927 1T13 with [the] breath of His lips. Comp. also supra iv. 9.
Against this is that God has not been mentioned for some time, and that the
rend, is very tame, and scarcely suits the context. In a breath of his mouth may,
perhaps, mean in the time which a breath (an inspiration, an exspiration, or both)
lasts, i.e., in an exceedingly short time, just as the Germans express moment,
instant, by Augenblick, lit., a glance of the eye, and as we say, in the twinkling of
an eye. Cf. Ps. xxxiii. 6, where VS rni? very likely implies that the heavens
were created in the space of a breath, i.e., instantaneously (cf. ibid. ver. 9). Still,
in our passage at least, n3. ni~)3 would have been better used in this sense ; and
I, therefore, prefer Dr. Bernard's rend, with the (i.e., one) breath of his mouth, one
gasp, and it derives great support from Eccles. vi. 4, S3 13ri3 i? f0r it (the
abortion) comes with a breath, i.e., one breath and it dies. We may, perhaps,
comp. the Rabb. n3il , Tpn (Buxt.) = velociter, statim, cito.
If 1OT to go, sometimes. means to pass away, die (e.g., supra xiv. 20), much
more may "11D, which means to turn away, depart. HD}1 is evidently intended
to contrast strongly with HDi b?b , as though I said, "he shall not depart out of
darkness — or, if he does depart — he shall depart with the breath of his mouth " ;
that his only hope shall be the breathing out of his life, as we were told supra
xi. 20. I think, therefore, I ought to have used depart in the transl. in both
places. Ver. 31. Others take the first hem., "Let him (the wicked-man) not trust in
vanity ; he is deceived," but n9na. so taken, is very abrupt, and the use of the
past is against it. Still, n9TI3 = TOn? nt£7S is not an easy eonstr., yet quite as
easy as infra xxiv. 19, 1SD!1 biS2J , if we translate it, as is ordinarily done, [so
does the] grave [snatch away] [those who] have sinned, where na}S ia similarly
supplied before IStpn . Comp. infra xxvii. 22, where Dr. Bernard supplies
n#« before n-}2} nil2 iTa ; and see Index, s. v. 127M. . But could not
nyna. , esp. as it is in pause, be the part. Niph. for nyn3 ? So some take
HST - nsia in Numb. xiv. 14, nib? = nib? in Isa. lvi. 3, &c, and certainly,
as far as the first pass, is concerned, with some shew of reason, seeing that those
who insist that nSl? is the past are put to great straits. See Kalisch, Part ii.,
§ lxvii., 17 (c). Most of the Commentators are strongly averse to admit these
parts, in n— , still Kimchi s. v. nib seems to prefer to take nib? to be the
part, although the necessity is by no means so great as in the case of nsn? ,
inasmuch as, as he says, nib?n may well = nib? 127S, n being freq. joined
with a tense.

776 APPENDIX. CHAP. XV. 31, 32.
S127 seems to be taken in two different senses, or, at least, the first S}27 includes
the meaning of vanity = wickedness, as supra xi. 11; whilst the second merely
means vanity = nothingness.
n.}nn of course agrees with OTHan and not with S}27 as it might seem
from the translation.
Ver. 32. iDV Sv2 . Gesenius gives as the first explanation of Sv2 , " non in
(aliquo tempore), i.e., prceter, extra tempus," and then after quoting Lev. xv. 25,
nnia'ny S12 , which he transl., " extra tempus impuritatis ejus," he continues,
" it. ante (i.q., Qn?32) Job xv. 32 ; iDi"1 S12 ante diem ei destinatum." This
gives the sense no doubt, but he seems to me to explain S12 wrongly. How
can ^b3 mean non in, which is the lit. transl. of ? SI which we find in this
book, e.g., supra iv. 21, infra xxxiv. 35.? Surely it rather means in non i.e.,
in not= when not, when there is not ; the 3 being used as it is before inf. — and
indeed, the inf. nvrj to be, being, might freq. be supplied after ^n?.* Infra
xxix. 4 (on which see note) we have "bnS ny nil.S TD3 on [the] secret-
blessing of God [being] on my tent, i.e., when the secret-blessing was, &c, where
3 is used with a subst. without an inf. ; and if TD3 = on [the] secret-blessing
[being], when the secret -blessing was, surely TD S13 might mean when the
secret-blessing was not. The Hebrews were obliged to join the 2 and the S?
together, and could not say SI TD3 , which would better agree with the Eng.
idiom. -f Now the pass, in Lev. xv. 25 (quoted above), if interpreted according
to this explanation, whould mean when [il is] not [the] time of her impurity,
which makes excellent sense. And so in our pass., iaii S72 would be lit. on
his day not [being] = when his day is not. Comp. Eccles. vii. 17, iny S13 =
when it is not thy time, i.e., before thy time.
But of course the 2 in S12 may be given the other meanings of 2 , and so mean,
for example, with not (here Ges. again says not with, reversing the order of the
words as before), = without, but this meaning often blends with the preceding
one. Thus supra viii. 11, n22 S13 may be rendered either with not mud=
without mud, or it may be transl. as above, when [there is] not mud, the sense
remaining the same.
At any rate, that explanation of S12 is to be rejected, according to which
^b is intimately connected with the foil, word, and forms a sort of comp. word
with it, like the Greek priv. a ; though the Hebrew did no doubt form a few
compound words of this sort. See note on supra x. 22. Thus Hirzel says El11

• *fta is sometimes found with an inf., e.g., Numb. xxxv. 23, rtoq xb} in not seeing =
without seeing, or when he does not see.
¦f- But )'«! is more commonly used in this sense, as in Prov. viii. 24, niohn )'«a when
there were no[t] depths ; Prov. xi. 14, ntonn r«a when there are ndfi] counsels, &c. &c. —
though l'»i means rather when there is NO, and (to when there is NOT.

APPENDIX. CHAP. XV. 32. 777
here = Ende, and so Dii-S'l="das Nicht-Ende, d.i,, eine von dem Ende nocli
sehr entfernte Zeit." This is really dreadfully far-fetched.
The meaning of the hem. is clearly that that which he has obtained in exchange
for his wicked actions, the advantages which have resulted from them, will all
vanish long before he dies. See infra xx. 15, 18, &c.

INDEX OF PASSAGES*
REFERRED TO, OR EXPLAINED IN THE COMMENTARY.

Genesis.

Page.

Genesis.

Chapter.

Verse.

Chapter.

Verse.

Page.

i.

5

228

xix.

23

63

11

55, 222

XX.

2
393
30
345
3
307
31
63
5
2
ii.
1
63
6
85
6
340
9
393
9
369
13
349
15
340
17
202
19
32, 147, 197
xxi.
The Ok;;,
106
24
89
14
275
iii.
1
327
17
275
6
99, 232
xxii.
17
257
10
69, 254
21
1
12
380
xxiv.
16
275
23
2
23
2, 62, 146
iv.
5
95, 122
27
367
5, 6
202
xxv.
23
261, 300
7
333
xxvi.
The
Chap.
106
8
267
12
251
10
289
13
281
11
147
14
2
12
22, 290
xxvii.
29
344
13
64, 99, 123, 165,
[173
4043
369
366
18
365
xxviii.
6
340
vi.
9
277, 314
xxix.
16
109
vii.
13
188
20
287
viii.
22
231
xxx.
27
200
ix.
16
364
28
21
23
53
xxxi.
7
118, 165, 173
X.
3
138
19
7
23
1
32
67
xi.
6
392
47
149
xii.
1
366
xxxii.
5
321
xiii.
12
223
6
250
xvi.
5
208
11
205
14
19
23
378
xvii.
17
261
xxxiii.
10
155
20
185, 298
19
394
xviii.
5
154
xxxiv.
19
321
7
381
29
61
8
5
30
151
12
261
xxxv.
4
394
27
118
18
187
32
203
xxxvi.
28
1
xix. The
Chap.
319
xxxvii.
4
90
1
378
16
10
9
61, 148
xxxviii.
14
231, 281
21
117
30
80
The Books are here arranged according to their order in the Hebrew Bible.
I I
11

COMMENTARY ON JOB.

Genesis.

"N

Chapt
er.
Verse.
Page.
xxxix.
20
251
xl.
20
2
xlii.
11
91
14
204, 230
18
204
23
150
xliii.
18
62
34
233
xliv.
8
25
xlvi.
29
319
xlvii.
10
4
xlviii.
19
146
xlix.
2
364
3
161
6
21
12
69
21
161, 365
22
262
22
-26
389
27
191, 223
Exodus.
392
254, 327
12246394
6098, 306
306, 310
360
23, 146
12136427774 317 133
8 312, 338
113, 358
6 127
6
95267 163163
12732037334620
340, 341 (bis)
34
150 196
193 162
319
46, 89
364
EXODUS.
Chapter. Verse.
xxv. 8, 9
13
20 3
3
2
11
17
25
XXVI.
xxvii.
xxviii. xxxii.
xxxm. xxxv.
xxxviii. xxxix.
22 8
Leviticus.
IV.vi.
ix. x.
xiii. xix. XX.
xxi.
xxiv. xxv.
xxvi.
16
12 4
22 3 6
2
1332
17 5
2011 51
10
NlTMBEKS.
IV.vi.ix.
xm. xiv.
27 5
1533 7
24 3234
xvu. xix,
xxii,
xxiii xxiv
xxv.
xxxiii.
Deuteeonomt.
i.
iii.
iv. v.
12 5
1110
28 1223
Page.
63 157
385 386
8
55 106
34135 265 362, 383
349
349
369
437127
287 8
350
64, 214
157
37381
21
132 363-
42
315
8 176
34613338565307
xvi. The Chap. 318
13 13
3513 1328 30
22 10
17
13 52
6
267363 165, 275
20321 323
71
310 363 (bis)
346
228
226 314
188 317
93
INDEX OF PASSAGES.

HI

Deuteronomy.

Chapter.
viii.

Verse. 5

Page.
257

9

353

12

-14

292

16

326

X.

17

117

xi.

12

19

xiii.

18

277

xvi.

18

254

21
369
xvii.
14
348
xix.
6
321
14
214
xxi.
7
18,53
19
41
23
214
xxii.
6
264
xxiii.
13
344
18
334
22
93
xxv.
4
213
xxvi.
5
18
xxvii.
17
214
xxviii.
65
107
67
65
xxix.
19
40
23
366
xxxi.
17
338
xxxii.
2
259
15
292
17
176
20
75
24
300
50
13,99
•yTYJJT
2
80
3
287
12
278
16
204
Joshua.
i.
15
378
ii.
2
106
10
348
v.
2
381
X.
11
359
13
287
XV.
19
77
xxiv.
27
182
Judges. -
iii.
18
108
19
31
iv.
21
127
V.
7
173
25
180
28
321
31
143
vi.
15
261
31
117
vii.
16
6
25
173
ix.
9
110
17
310
53
386
xi.
25
309
xii.
3
120
Judges.
Chapter.
Verse.
Page.
xiii.
18
90,95
xiv.
4
307
xvi.
21
278
xix.
17
286
25
149
30
43
XX.
5
148
16
14, 50, 220
xxi.
12
275
1 Samuel.
i.
5
378
6
13
10
12, 316
16
38
ii.
3
165
10
185
iv.
13
6
19
366
21
205
vi.
4
3
18
3
vii.
8
119
ix.
17
317
24
108
xii.
17,18
340
xiv.
19
7
29
198
30
91, 130
32
277
47
26
xvi.
20
74
23
303
xvii.
46
102, 146
47
118
xix.
24
113
XX.
2
303
xxi.
14
55
16
12
xxiii.
27
7
xxiv.
12
13, 197
xxv.
14
277
27
176
42
161
xxvi.
10
125
txviii.
3
48, 334
8
267
15
25
xxxi.
4
149
2 Samuel.
i.
15
71
iii.
1
177, 182
30
40
32
238
v.
2
194 (See Errata)
vi.
7
223
viii.
18
114
xii.
4
286
xiii.
39
6
xiv.
5
115
11
231, 232
30
218
xvii.
23
69
xviii.
23
120
IV

COMMENTARY ON JOB.

2 Samuel.

Page.

Isaiah.

Chapter. Verse.

Chapt

sr. Verse.

Page.

xix.

44

80

xiii.

20

223

XX.

6

251

22

61,344

xxiv.

13

238

xiv.

1

262

16
310 (bis)
14
266
1 Kings.
XV.
2, 3
220
xvi.
7
220, 262
i.
1
321
xvii.
10
114
6
357
12
73
ii.
8
61
xix.
6
250
18
193, 310
xxi.
4
386
viii.
1
364
11
180
X.
4
197
12
269
19
228
xxii.
5
269
xi.
11
94
18
137, 138
36
385
xxiii.
8
383
xii.
21
364
xxiv.
18
372
xiii.
10
290
21
372
xiv.
10
176
xxvi.
10
308
xviii.
27
118
xxix.
15
196
34
259
xxx.
11
210
xix.
11
6
22
55
18
284
xxxi.
4
146, 343
XX.
10
180
xxxii.
3
62
xxi.
10
4
xxxiii.
1
140
13
4
23
223
2
Kings.
314
66
302159114223
xxxvi.
xxxvii.
xxxviii. xl.
xlii.
2
30 1 8
25 27
31 4
180
i.
ii.
iii. iv.
-s 7
13
16212128
132
115 171
56
27 126, 257
331
v.
1
194
xliii.
12
201
vi.
vii. xi.
xvii. xix. XX.
xxiii. xxv.
5
23 54 ,
24—26 29
35 1 5
8
Isaiah.
298
6266275319132317308 344326
236
xliv.
xlvi.
xlvii.
xlviii. xlix. li.
27 16
24 7 2
8
10 8
12
202114
151 197
81 (bis)
111 43
306 306
24
169
26221
i.
8
139
12
93
21
272
18
178
Iii.
5
220
30
340
liii.
2
77, 340
ii.
8
111
9
149
16
363
lv.
8,9
99
18
102, 126
lvi.
7
55
iii.
7
317
lvii.
15
331, 372
9
165
iviii.
5
12, 382
v.
2—4
9
13
188
12
53
14
266
vii.
14
275
Ix.
16
214
X.
12
56
Ixii.
2
21
14
369
lxiii.
3
20
22
132
16
323
xi.
10
340
17
369
xiii.
6
213
Ixiv.
4
127
10
223
7
323
14
256
lxv.
14
220
INDEX OF PASSAGES.

Jeeemiah.

N

Chapter.

Verse.

Page.

ii.
11
56
16
220
17
310
31
262
hi.
5
95
iv.
1
204
29
53
v.
22
68
vi.
4
2
vii.
29
7
viii.
7
369, 372
16
372
ix.
10
344
X.
4
35
xiii.
16
124
xiv.
3
261
5
141
xvi.
6
7
xvii.
6
366
xviii.
20
90
22
90
XX.
17
25
xxii.
13
64
xxiii.
13
9
31
114
xxv.
20
1
xxx.
18
394
xxxi.
18
143
xxxii.
21
283
xxxviii.
27
119
xlviii.
28
89
31
220
li.
27,28
2
Ezekiel.
N
i.
14
314
iii
13
284
viii.
3
341
12
196
ix.
4
288
9
196
X.
3
254
xiii.
3
53
11
252
xiv.
14
1
xvi.
4
356
25
90
xvii.
3
369
6
157
7
369
XX.
43
92
xxi.
3 (Auth.Vers.xx.47)-
-59
xxvii.
16
251
xxix.
4
383
xxxi.
3—9
77
xxxv.
10
167
xxxix.
11
251
xliii.
11
209
xliv.
7
12
Hosea.
194
ii.
5
vii.
14
220
X.
6
394
Hosea.
Chapter.
Verse.
Page.
xi.
8
20,59
10
95, 343
xii.
9
177
xiii.
2
47
7
308
xiv.
2
204
Joel.
i.
6
362
8
275
iv.
9
2
Amos
ii.
~~15
180
iv.
6
204
7,8
345
8
360
13
97
v.
2
3
8
81
19
181
vi.
1
381
Obadiah.
 *. 
Verse 16
Jonah.
Nahum.
ii. To
Habakkuk.
53
i. 3
iii. 7
iv. 2
10
89 326
7385
Micah.
i. ~8
16
iv. 11
113, 220
7
209
209
ii. 11
iii. 4
101114
15
289222
222332, 373
161
239
Zephaniah.
'i. 15
iii. 2
360 281
Zechabiah.
iv. 12
x. 1
xi. 15
350 344
285
Malachi.
i. ~^7
iii. 23
20 213
VI

COMMENTARY ON JOB.

Psalms.

N

Verse.

Page.

i.

1

26

4
80
20
9
ii.
2
36
6
23
7
173
12
159, 214
iii.
3
48
iv.
2
85, 238
V.
1
268
5
281
10
393
12
213
ix.
6
146
11
213
19
300
X.
5
180
9
81
xi.
2
264
xiv.
1
41, 262, 372
xvi.
2
66,40
xvii.
10
139
xviii.
6
272
10
266
12
339
17
372
30
214
xix.
3
89
5
222, 223
13
99
15
171
xxi.
9
100
12
3
xxii.
10
355
21
265
xxv.
8
277
xxvii.
2
170
8
3S9
13
312
xxix.
9
268
xxx.
13
265, 268.
xxxi.
9
146
10
380
16
213
xxxii.
6
360
9
262, 265
xxxiv.
12,13
389
15—17
72
xxxv.
6
173
8
80
23
74
27
194
xxxvii.
8
89
13
125
20
59
xxxix.
1—3
18
2
14
7
46
xli.
4
55
xlii.
1
114
2
365
5
267
7
155
8
386
Psalms.
?
N
Verse.
Page.
xlii.
12'
71
xliv.
12
157
24
74
xlv.
6
361
9
393
xlix.
3
320
13
267
21
267
li.
5
124
7
321
8
363
14
265
Iii.
4
48
lvi.
8
268, 303
10
322
lvii.
5
48
Iviii.
3
48, 341
7
34, 362
8
80, 66, 382
12
326
Iix.
4
197 (bis)
10
217
Ix.
7
192
lxi.
8
202
Ixii.
9
70
lxiv.
7
48, 341
Ixviii.
5
211
7
373
15
214
35
9
lxix.
4
155
14
264
lxxi.
13
5
lxxiii.
4—9
293
7
363 (bis)
lxxiv.
12
23
Ixxv.
4
30
9
149
Ixxvii.
10
167
lxxviii.
19
168
21
342
31
342
36
4
lxxx.
6
284
11
6,136
lxxxiii.
5
104
lxxxiv.
3
171
Ixxxv.
11
284
lxxxviii.
6
69
lxxxix.
10
81
46
177
48
105, 251
xc.
5
126
10
92
15
254
xci.
12
50
15
238
xcv.
2
312
4
205, 359
6
139
11
231
xcvi.
5
116
xcix.
8
304
ci.
5
83
INDEX OF PASSAGES.

VII

Psalms.

'

N

Verse.

Page.

cii.

2

122

25

338

ciii.

5

265

civ.

4

37

12
9
17
369
18
365
29
381
cvi.
6
88
cvii.
25
355
34
366, 367
42
48, 220
cix.
19
114
cxii.
9
147
cxiii.
5-8
331
cxix.
11
210
41
29
83
303
103
61
cxxiii.
4
108
cxxvii.
3
167
cxxxii.
11
167
17
147, 327
cxxxiii.
1
13
cxxxv.
2
267
17
90
cxxxvi.
25
360
cxxxvii.
5
66
cxxxviii.
6
331
cxxxix.
3
203
9
23, 105
11, 12
318
12
340
14
171, 343
15
9
cxi
4
178
cxliii.
2
37
cxiv.
The Psalm
3
16
159
17
381
cxlvii.
8
382
9
364
cxlix.
7
393
Pboveebs.
Chapter.
i.
4
3
5
151
28
165
ii.
18
227
20
173
iii.
12
48
18
59
29
33
32
254
iv.
12
161
18
392
v.
10
61
19
365
vi.
1
154
7
362
16
49
28
209
vii
6
198
Pboveebs.
Chapter
Verse
Page.
vii
8
100
9
66
12
100
15
71, 155
23
32
viii.
17
321
22
230, 359
22—30
243
ix.
13
70
17
118
xi.
13
254
26
21
31
37
xiii.
1
269, 348
6
102
xiv.
29
185
34
3
XV.
1
310
xvi.
11
348
15
259
18
203
26
306
xvii
11
208
22
220
28
116
xviii.
13
121
19
105
22
388
xix.
2
14, 220
29
386
xxii.
5
44
22
177
xxiii.
4
210
18
393
xxiv.
4
344
7
251
16
49
22
109, 269
31
262
xxv.
16
210, 370
19
220
20
223
xxvii
2
171
15
20
23
70
xxviii.
6
56
14
28
xxix.
9
148
15
161
xxx.
8, 9
293
16
360
19
276
31
137
33
179
xxxi.
15
214
30
42, 267
Canticles.
i
8
343
13
152
iv.
12
77
16
349
Vill

COMMENTARY ON JOB.

Canticles.

N

Chapter.

Verse.

Page.

v.

14

75

16

125, 163

vi.

8

276

vii.

2

303

3
381
4
303
viii.
1
253
6
6
14
366
Ruth
*
N
i.
13
25
ii.
3
218
8
7
9
75
13
10
21
7
iii.
8
59
16
246
iv. 1-
-11
41
7
155
Lamentations.
A
i 8
ii. 9
1112
18
iii. 1—13 27
132330
333641
iv. 1
14 1621
v. 10
Ecclesiastes.
3
16
171922 1
111214 7 8
17 2
8
17 10
10 7
13
v.
vii.
x.
xi.
xii.
29, 233
,65 14926728913821527
38670
146
44, 350, 353
282 12
139
45, 146, 304
5
1 20
4472327 39
249326321 133
326
267 185
26316
26100 39 38
269, 312
240
Estheb.
Chapter. Verse.
iii. 8
iv. 3
vi. 2
viii. 68
Page.
31212
340 208
308
Daniel.
' -\
i. 4
ii. 8
151738
iv. 5
v. 12
vi. 1415
ix. 2
277 300
300
300366
3071592699
307
EZEA.
f N
iii. 10
iv. 23
355 283
Nehemiah.
i. 7
vii. 3
ix. 19
321228
338
1 Cheonicles.
/ -\
i 6
iv. 17
xv. 2
xvi. 27
xxix. 30
138 19
262 363
213
2 Chbonicles.
i 10
xvii. 12
xviii. 31
xxii. 3
cxxvi. 16
159
281
10
315342
THE NEW TESTAMENT
St. Matthew.
ix. 17
xi. 15
30
xxiv. 28
30374318
374
St. Luke.
vi. 29
xviii. 2
146
110
St. John.
31
238
lxv,

,, 5

lxvii,

.. 3

lxix,

„ 21

lxx,

» 16

xciii,

note |

ERRATA, ETC.*
IN PREFACES.
Page xxxi, line 2 from bottom (of notes) for "L'Shon'' read "L'shon "-
top (of notes) after " awkward " supply " in ".
bottom (of notes) for 'o read )o (see p. 3, note *).
top (of notes) for ra read )ra , the 1 having been drawn
out in printing.
bottom (of notes) for 'iti1? read pit) (see p. 3, note *).
note Xi hne Hi for " 1 think" read " I believe".
IN COMMENTARY.
Page 7, line 3 from bottom, for nj. f read w .
„ „ "such objection" read "such an objection".
top „ nobi read rrajj ¦
„ „ toi read bb\ .
„ „ " Hombwrg " X (and wherever it occurs) read
"Homberg".
„ „ the b of Xfp, is broken.
bottom „ rAnn read nSnn .
„ „ " I said unto the fools, &c." read " Like, I said unto
the fools, &c."
„ „ * has fallen out after " The."
„ „ -®*3 read -wto .
„ (of text) for the first D'iodV read wexfi , though in my edi
tion of Kimchi there is also D'Brt.§ See Addenda.
„ for tnp> (twice) read Dnj?.
top supply " Ver. 6 " at beginning of line.
" Vpr 7 "
„ for tnx read tin.
105, The three notes on xi. 17 ought to be in the foil, order: — 1. note on n;Tisp;
2. note on nhn- 3. note beginning, " The Auth. Vers , &c."
114, „ 11 „ top for Tragi Van der Hooght has ttjhji .
116, 12,11 „ bottom „ "say'',, "speak".
top the point of the Cherik under the 2 in '? is broken off.
„ in ^win , the Sh'vah under the second n has nearly dis
appeared.
bottom for " He " read " He ".
„ the Segol under the second » in 'aan is broken.
„ the Sh'vah under the * in rprin is broken off.
top for liDin Van der Hooght reads liD-ri .
bottom for " both " read " both ".
top the Segol in the "¦$£} is broken off.
bottom the word if should be enclosed in square brackets.
„ for 'tiro Van der Hooght reads 'tfro .
„ „ >:stb; read 'jstb; .
.* I have not, of course, included the letters which have been broken, or the points which have
disappeared, during the process of striking off the sheets — excepting, indeed, in extreme cases. I
must, however, do my printers the justice to say, that I have rarely, if ever, seen Hebrew, when
mixed with English, more correctly and better printed. The two types do not work well together,
as Hebrew should be printed much blacker than English.
+ This ' was not in the sheet which was sent by me to press, so that neither I nor my printers
can account for its insertion.
X As p. 68, Une 4 from bottom ; p. 69, line 9 ; p. 123, bne 7 from bottom ; p. 198, line 1 ; I think
the name of tbe celebrated watering-place must have been in my head, still the Germans have a
Menschenname, Hombarg.
§ Mr. Randolph, however, tells me that in his edition of Kimchi, there is D'lcnb .
m m

12,

it

9

25,

)»

10

32,

)>

3,5

35,

»

1

»

„

6

36,

JJ

16

it

))

8

40,

J)

9

41,

it

4

«,

11

14

45,

tt

16

55,

))

7

»

)>

16

78,

))

18

118,

))

9

11

11

13

119,

7

11

))

3,2

132,

J>

6

136,

tt

13

)'

11

137,

it

8

143,

it

18

144,

it

3

148,

)»

17

<J ERRATA.
Page 162, line 15 from bottom the ' in ')ap has dropped out.
„ 165, „ 20 „ „ for iipJ7^ read -ltorfi .
„ 167, last line (note) the "| in *]?ipa is broken.
„ 179, line 8 from bottom, for "while" read "while".
„ 194, „ 20 „ „ „ 2 Sam. v. 2 read 2 Kings v. 1.
„ 198, „ 11 „ top The Sh'vah under the a in Praia is broken.
„ „ „ 22 „ top for OTOBto „ D'BDltf .
„ 203, ,, 6 „ bottom (of text) for " Kehren" read "kehren".
„ 206, „ 3 „ top „ mrji read rr*.
„ 207, „ 16 „ bottom (of text) for "but" read "But", and for " Would"
read " would "¦
„ „ „ 7 „ „ „ " which was '' read " which was ".
208, „ 15 „ „ „ " where " read " when ".
„ 209, „ 18 „ top „ '3 read '? .
„ 220, „ 5 „ bottom (of text) for "Hiph." read "Hoph.''
„ 226, „ 7 „ top The Short Cherik under the o in nnnp is almost invisible.
„ 227, „ 15 ,, bottom for " till " read " till".
» 251, „ 9 „ top „ itix, „ Tttltj.
„ 261, „ 16 „ „ the P of pntorn is broken.
„ 264, „ 13 „ bottom for D1P3 read P1P2 .
» 270, „ 3 „ top „ \ja*ifo „ wifln.
„ 281, „ 7 „ bottom (note), for b-a read bi:, and in the foil, line the
Tsayreh under the i in a-jj is a little indistinct.
„ 286, „ 11 „ top for 'ti-J read "tfi .
„ 287, „ 3 „ bottom (note), /or 'imp1? read Jino1? *.
„ 299, line 10 from bottom (note), for nan read iron, the i having fallen out.
„ 301, „ 1 „ top for ronrj read njrrt, though nin does occasionally (but
rarely) occur, as Gen. xix. 2, where
it has a conjunctive accent, and is
very closely connected with the
following word.
„ 307, „ 13 „ bottom (of text), for "and" read "and."
„ 308, „ 16 „ top, for fira; read heo; .
„ 309, „ 16, 15, 12 from bottom, for " C'theeb" read " C'theev."
„ „ „ 11 from bottom, for ^ynto; read bvrfa- .
„ 310, „ 11 „ top, for D'npni read oTippS (which was in the sheet sent to
„ 312, „ 13,18,, „ for " C'theeb" read " C'theev." [press).
„ 325, „ 10 — 11,, „ for "unto God" read "unto God."
„ 327, „ 21 ,. „ for rfrta read nVta .
., 335, „ 11 from bottom, for nwrn read rrnnn .
„ 337, „ 5 „ top for *\!?o\ read sjrw; .
„ 341, „ 7 „ „ /or «3iJOT read MpiJ.
„ 343, „ 10 „ „ for nn»n rearf iT^NJ.
„ 344, „ 1 7 „ „ for ionn read towi.
„ 349, „ 13 „ bottom (of text). The Short Cherik under the v in ia? is very
indistinct.
„ 350, „ 13 „ top for am read ani.
„ 355, „ 8 „ bottom (of text), in the * of 7"!.PP there is a speck, which looks
like a Dag., but should not be there.
„ 356, „ 22 „ top for nw read nbi .
„ 359, „ 14 „ „ supply "Ver. 21," before im.
„ 364, „ 12 from bottom (of notes), for Ps. clxvii. 9, read Ps. cxlvii. 9.
„ „ „ 5 „ „ „ for rro-io read rine .
„ 366, „ 12 „ top for ia read tf;a , the n having fallen out.
* Seep. 3, note*.

ERRATA AND ADDENDA.

Page 367, line
„ 369,
» 372,
„ 380,
„ 389,
„ 392,

43

5
2
20 2
4 1

14

from top for "vm read "wn .
bottom (of note), for "»'a read JTS*.
top /or rnrj: Van der Hooght reads rnro .
bottom (note), /or ;ipai reaa" 'Jipai , the ' having fallen out.
„ for " be " read " see."
top the Short Cherik under the first a in *pso is hardly visible.
ADDENDA.
bottom wiaDb (the second) is the plur. of vsab (Ajonjr), instead
(of text) of nwxh , the last letter d being simply changed
into d , instead of the addition of D'— , as in the
plur. of Heb. words — the reason, no doubt, being that
in this way an apparently plur. ending O'— is ob
tained, whilst a cumbersome word is avoided. We
do, however, find )V?i?'> in the Targ. of Job v. 5.
„ 53, note on w^ • It must be allowed, however, that in Ps. xxxvii. 20 we find first
to (with the accent on the ult. syll.), and then in pause s'tya (with the
accent on the penult), as though the pause caused a withdrawal of the
accent (but see Hitzig on the pass.). Still, this example, even if it shews that
1$ may, possibly, come from to1;, does not lessen Gesenius' blunder, which
lies in comparing : i$b with s nnjj . -j-
„ 80, „ 6 from bottom. It should be noticed that the name is really rni (see
Numb. xxvi. 20), for which rnj is in pause.
„ 289, „ 9, a-y must, I think, be pointed 335 , for the expression is, no doubt,
borrowed from Ps. lxv. 5, aipra Ton "tsSm , where Mendelssohn
and Ben-Zev give aip, the meaning of aufnehmen, to admit, receive,
adopt. In the Psalm, however, aign comes last — as it should, if
it = to adopt, seeing that one chooses first and adopts afterwards —
whilst here aip' comes first. But Wolfssohn very likely regarded
them as pretty nearly synonymous, like select and choose ; or else
he may, possibly, have used aip. here in the sense of bringing near
for the sake of examination, comparison, and then it would rightly
precede the verb denoting choice .- or, lastly, his memory may have
failed him, and he may have thought he was using the words in
the same order as in the Psalm. Comp. Ben-Zev's Pref., p. xlvii,
, note 26, where I call attention to a similar transposition.
„ 290, note *. In the pass, quoted from the A. V., 7ier was, no doubt, used, because,
its being at that time either unknown X > or but recently introduced, the
choice of the Translators was limited to it (chiefly familiar), his, her, or
thereof (all of which were used where we use its), and of these her (earth
being regarded either as a fem. or a neut.) naturally appeared the most
suitable, nay, perhaps, was deemed the only one admissible. Still, if the
Translators thought it well, or found themselves constrained, to use her in
the latter part of the passage in question, surely they would have done better
to retrace their steps and substitute she for it, in the former part. At all
events, when its came into common use, there was no longer the slightest
excuse for allowing the incongruity to remain. See Marsh's Leet. on the
Eng. Lang, by Smith (1862), p. 278 et seqq.
Here the dot of the Long Cherik has fallen out from under the s , and the tail of
the ] has been broken. J without a tail, looks very much like ' .
t Dr. Bernard should scarcely have quoted •abit) in Obad., ver. 16, as having the accent on the
pentdtma, for — as the accent actually stands on the ultima, though it has very probably (i.e., if the
root be vib) been only transferred there, either on account of the 1 conv. (see Mason and Bernard's
Gramm., Lett, xxxv., P. S. (a), and comp. wyi , Isa. xix. 1, Amos iv. 8, viii 12), or anomalously
(for the sake of euphony perhaps), as it not unfrequently is in the case of verbs l"» (e.g., Sj» , Isa,
xxix. 9, Prov. v. 6, Lam. iv. 14, 112 , Lam. iv. 18, &c, and see Kalisch, Part ii, §lxv. 15)— it is,
of course, impossible to ascertain precisely whether tbe root is Vib or rort , especially as 1 conv. in
the ca.se of the verbs l"s> , as well as in that of other verbs, by no means always drives the accent
to the ultima (e.g., rapi and ia* have tbe accent always penultimate).
. J In Lev. xxv. 5, we do, indeed, find ITS own accord, but in the original editions of the A. V.,
it seems there was it and not its. I have just heard a little girl say, " I Mamma pet," where
the s of the genitive is similarly left out.

4 ERRATA AND ADDENDA.
Page 375, line 2 from bottom, " why did He conclude with this verse ? " is literally
" why did He make to cease (or stay) His hand ? "
„ 386, „ 14 from bottom (of text). We have a very good example here of that
disregard for genders, which distinguishes Rabbinical
writers (for numerous examples see Ben-Zev's Preface,
esp. p. xxviii., note 11), and which foreshadows, in
some sort, our almost total abandonment of them,
as applied to inanimate objects. But here it is easy
to see why Ben-Zev wrote first Nin (masc), then
rnvton (fem.), and then aaiD (masc). It is because
he sometimes uses the word jan (fem.) stone = mill
stone, and sometimes, the more special word, nba
(masc). Thus win refers to nte , rovton refers to
jaN , for just before he had been speaking of jasn
n:vbvn , and aaiD refers again to rtD .
ERRATA, ETC., IN TRANSLATION.
Page 402, ver. 7, 2nd hem., for "which," read "which."
„ 404, ver. 8, 1 st hem. Great emphasis should be laid on the " I ", but this it was not
easy to mark by the type (see, however, infra ch. xiii. 13, 1st hem.,
p. 424).
„ 407, ver. 13, 2nd hem., for " mine,'' read "mine."
„ 415, ver. 29, 1st hem., for "that," read "that."
„ 426, ver. 12, line 2, for "Yea" read " Yea."
„ „ last line (of text), " (But will this be so)" should come before the 1st hem. of
ver. 14*.
„ 429, ver. 26, 2nd hem., for " shield," read " shields."
„ 446, note fi should be J, and note J, -f ; i.e., notes f and X should change places.
„ 448, ver. 19, 1st hem., for "shall see they have reason," read " shall see that they
have reason ".
„ 450, ver. 7, 2nd hem., for "judge " read " Judge ''.
„ 462, ver. 7. The note of admiration at the end of this verse connects it with " Oh
that I were," &c, in ver. 2 ; but, as the verse evidently belongs rather
to what follows, a semi-colon should be substituted for the note of
admiration.
„ 462, ver. 11, 2nd hem., for "me," read "me."
„ 467, ver. 24, 2nd hem., dele f .
„ 480, ver. 17, 2nd hem., for "How" read " ffowf
ADDENDA.
Page 455, line 5 from bottom (note), " A&addon " would be more correctly written
" Awaddon," but I have left the 6, as I find the word is
generally spelled with it.
„ 459, ver. 13 [2] for "maybe taken" and "be molten" we might very well sub
stitute " is taken " and " is molten," the is being equi
valent to the Germ. wird.
„ 474, line 2, " convicted " or " confuted " would perhaps express the meaning more
accurately than " convinced," but " to convince " is frequently used in
the A. V. = "to convict," than which it is much more common.
„ 510, marginal note 8 (the reference to which should stand before "Why"), for
"to," read " Why [art Thou] red as to Thy clothing?" Cf. Ps.
cxiv. 16, where nn« thou, must be supplied before nniB, and see note
in App. on chap. xiv. 20. As for the b in fafta$ = as to, see Job
xxx. 1, xxxii. 4, 6. I translated, " why is there reiiness, &o."? because
we cannot well say in Eng. " why art Thou red as to &c. ? "
* This transposition was accidentally made by the compositor in correcting the proof-sheet.
Macintosh, Printer, Great New Street, London.

LIST OF THE MOST IMPORTANT NOTES IN THE
APPENDIX.

515,

chap. i.

517,

» *•

527,

ii *¦

536,

i, i-

557,

,. »•

565,

ii u-

569,

„ ii.

588,

„ iv.

593,

ii v.

600,

,, v-

610,

„ vi.

641,

„ viii

68-7,

„ xii.

702,

„ xii.

706,

„. xii.

708,

„ xiii

718r

,rxiii.

722,.

„ xiii.

744y

„ xiv.

745,

„mv.

767,.

„ xv.

77S>,

„ XV.

3 (sing, and plur. after numerals).
4 (on an idiomatic use of fT1-?).
5 (whether the Hebrews preferred the plur. or
sing, in the case of expressions similar to
" their heart " (or " their hearts ") ).
6 (Tri/ty
20 (how the Hebrews prostrated themselves in
prayer.)
4 (" skin for skin ").
7 (on the nature of the disease from which Job
suffered).
19 (on an idiomatic use of the sing.).
6, 7 (on the use of the same word in two different
meanings in the same verse or in two succeeding
verses).
15' (on the repetition- of a prep, in apposition).
8 (on W. ^).
19 (change from sing, to plur.).
2 (on an idiomatic use of "'3).
18 (on Sh'va under the first radical,, when a guttural,
in the future ; see also pp. 712-715).
23 (on '= ace).
24 (on an idiomatic use of Wkv).
9 (on iVnrnp).
17 (on 37iB2? TOPOT and an idiomatic use of the verb
ibn ; see also p. 739).
10 (on a supposed peculiar use of the conv. fut.).
11 (on the drying up of the sea^ or large bodies of
water;, and see p. 757).
17 (on an idiomatic use of T).
32 (on tfb?)i

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