“If you set your heart aright, stretch out your hands toward him.
Parallel Translations
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“If you set your heart aright, stretch out your hands toward him.
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If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him;
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If thou set thy heart aright, and stretch out thy hands toward Him —
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Job 11:13 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 88:9 My eyes are dim from grief. I have called on you daily, Yahweh. I have spread out my hands to you.
- Psalms 143:6 I spread out my hands to you. My soul thirsts for you, like a parched land.
- 1 Samuel 7:3 Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you are returning to Yahweh with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you, and direct your hearts to Yahweh, and serve him only; and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”
- Psalms 78:8 and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that didn’t make their hearts loyal, whose spirit was not steadfast with God.
- Job 8:5-6 If you want to seek God diligently, make your supplication to the Almighty. If you were pure and upright, surely now he would awaken for you, and make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous.
- Luke 12:47 That servant, who knew his lord’s will, and didn’t prepare, nor do what he wanted, will be beaten with many stripes,
- 2 Chronicles 12:14 He did that which was evil, because he didn’t set his heart to seek Yahweh.
- Job 5:8 “But as for me, I would seek God. I would commit my cause to God,
- Job 22:21-22 “Acquaint yourself with him, now, and be at peace. By it, good will come to you. Please receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart.
- Psalms 68:31 Princes shall come out of Egypt. Ethiopia shall hurry to stretch out her hands to God.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain If thou repent, pray unto him.
If thou repent, pray unto him.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 11:13 If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch…
Job 11:13 If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him;
Ver. 13. If thou prepare thine heart] viz. To meet God, Amo 4:12, humbly submitting to his justice, and heartily imploring his mercy. The sum of what Zophar saith in the following verses is this: If thou truly repent, thou shall prosper; as if not, thou shall perish. This he might have said more fitly to most of us, who are deeply guilty, saith Lavater, than to Job, who was nothing so sinful as we are, and yet much more penitent. But Zophar calls upon him to quarrel with his faults, and not with his friends, and to break off his sins by repentance, without which, if he should have peace, it would be but like those short interims between the Egyptian plagues.
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And stretch out thine hands toward him] Heb. And spread thy palms to him: so in prayer for pardon of sin and power against sin; for this stretching out, or spreading of the hands, is a prayer gesture, wherein God’s people come forma pauperis, holding out the hand to receive mercy, as beggars do an alms; or as men beg quarter for their lives with hands held up; or, lastly, as he that is fallen into a ditch, or deep pit, and cannot get out, lifteth up his hands, and crieth out for help. See Exo 17:11-12 Lev 9:22 1Ki 8:22 Psa 141:2. It appeareth that the ancients prayed not with their hands joined together or a little way lifted up, but with their arms stretched abroad, and the palms of their hands turned up towards heaven.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain O Job, thy business is not to quarrel with…
O Job, thy business is not to quarrel with thy Maker, or his works, but to address thyself to him.
Prepare thine heart, to wit, to seek God, as it is expressed, 2Ch 19:3; 30:19; Psa 78:8. If thou prepare thy heart by sincere repentance for all thy hard speeches of God, and sins against him, and with a pure and upright heart seek unto him; without which thy prayers will be in vain. Or,
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If thou directest, or rectifiest, thine heart, turning thy bold contentions with God into humble and sincere supplications to him.
Stretch out thine hands, i.e. pray, which is here described by its usual gesture; as Job 15:25; Psa 88:9.
Towards him, i.e. to God, as appears both from the nature of the thing, and from the context.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain Zophar, as the other two, here encourages Job to…
Zophar, as the other two, here encourages Job to hope for better times if he would but come to a better temper.
I. He gives him good counsel (Job 11:13, Job 11:14), as Eliphaz did (Job 5:8), and Bildad, Job 8:5. He would have him repent and return to God. Observe the steps of that return. 1. He must look within, and get his mind changed and the tree made good. He must prepare his heart; there the work of conversion and reformation must begin. The heart that wandered from God must be reduced - that was defiled with sin and put into disorder must be cleansed and put in order again - that was wavering and unfixed must be settled and established; so the word here signifies. The heart is then prepared to seek God when it is determined and fully resolved to make a business of it and to go through with it. 2. He must look up, and stretch out his hands towards God, that is, must stir up himself to take hold on God, must pray to him with earnestness and importunity, striving in prayer, and with expectation to receive mercy and grace from him. To give the hand to the Lord signifies to yield ourselves to him and to covenant with him, Ch2 30:8. This Job must do, and, for the doing of it, must prepare his heart. Job had prayed, but Zophar would have him to pray in a better manner, not as an appellant, but as a petitioner and humble suppliant. 3. He must amend what was amiss in his own conversation, else his prayers would be ineffectual (Job 11:14): "If iniquity be in thy hand (that is, if there be any sin which thou dost yet live in the practice of) put it far away, forsake it with detestation and a holy indignation, stedfastly resolving not to return to it, nor ever to have any thing more to do with it. Eze 18:31; Hos 14:9; Isa 30:22. If any of the gains of iniquity, any goods gotten by fraud or oppression, be in thy hand, make restitution thereof" (as Zaccheus, Luk 19:8), "and shake thy hands from holding them," Isa 33:15. The guilt of sin is not removed if the gain of sin be not restored. 4. He must do his utmost to reform his family too: "Let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles; let not thy house harbour or shelter any wicked persons, any wicked practices, or any wealth gotten by wickedness." He suspected that Job's great household had been ill-governed, and that, where there were many, there were many wicked, and the ruin of his family was the punishment of the wickedness of it; and therefore, if he expected God should return to him, he must reform what was amiss there, and, though wickedness might come into his tabernacles, he must not suffer it to dwell there, Psa 101:3, etc.
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II. He assures him of comfort if he took this counsel, Job 11:15, etc. If he would repent and reform, he should, without doubt, be easy and happy, and all would be well. Perhaps Zophar might insinuate that, unless God did speedily make such a change as this in his condition, he and his friends would be confirmed in their opinion of him as a hypocrite and a dissembler with God. A great truth, however, is conveyed, That, the work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever, Isa 32:17. Those that sincerely turn to God may expect,
1. A holy confidence towards God: "Then shalt thou lift up thy face towards heaven without spot; thou mayest come boldly to the throne of grace, and not with that terror and amazement expressed," Job 9:34. If our hearts condemn us not for hypocrisy and impenitency, then have we confidence in our approaches to God and expectations from him, Jo1 3:21. If we are looked upon in the face of the anointed, our faces, that were dejected, may be lifted up - that were polluted, being washed with the blood of Christ, may be lifted up without spot. We may draw near in full assurance of faith when we are sprinkled from an evil conscience, Heb 10:22. Some understand this of the clearing up of his credit before men, Psa 37:6. If we make our peace with God, we may with cheerfulness look our friends in the face.
2. A holy composedness in themselves: Thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear, not be afraid of evil tidings, thy heart being fixed, Psa 112:7. Job was now full of confusion (Job 10:15), while he looked upon God as his enemy and quarrelled with him; but Zophar assures him that, if he would submit and humble himself, his mind would be composed, and he would be freed from those frightful apprehensions he had of God, which put him into such an agitation. The less we are frightened the more we are fixed, and consequently the more fit we are for our services and for our sufferings.
3. A comfortable reflection upon their past troubles (Job 11:16): "Thou shalt forget thy misery, as the mother forgets her travailing pains, for joy that the child is born; thou shalt be perfectly freed from the impressions it makes upon thee, and thou shalt remember it as waters that pass away, or are poured out of a vessel, which leave no taste or tincture behind them, as other liquors do. The wounds of thy present affliction shall be perfectly healed, not only without a remaining scar, but without a remaining pain." Job had endeavoured to forget his complaint (Job 9:27), but found he could not; his soul had still in remembrance the wormwood and the gall: but here Zophar puts him in a way to forget it; let him by faith and prayer bring his griefs and cares to God, an leave them with him, and then he shall forget them. Where sin sits heavily affliction sits lightly. If we duly remember our sins, we shall, in comparison with them, forget our misery, much more if we obtain the comfort of a sealed pardon and a settled peace. He whose iniquity is forgiven shall not say, I am sick, but shall forget his sickness, Isa 33:24.
4. A comfortable prospect of their future peace. This Zophar here thinks to please Job with, in answer to the many despairing expressions he had used, as if it were to no purpose for him to hope ever to see good days again in this world: "Yea, but thou mayest" (says Zophar) "and good nights too." A blessed change he here puts him in hopes of.
(1.) That though now his light was eclipsed it should shine out again, and more brightly than ever (Job 11:17), - that even his setting sun should out-shine his noon-day sun, and his evening be fair and clear as the morning, in respect both of honour and pleasure. - that his light should shine out of obscurity (Isa 58:10), and the thick and dark cloud, from behind which his sun should break forth, would serve as a foil to its lustre, - that it should shine even in old age, and those evil days should be good days to him. Note, Those that truly turn to God then begin to shine forth; their path is as the shining light which increases, the period of their day will be the perfection of it, and their evening to this world will be their morning to a better.
(2.) That, though now he was in a continual fear and terror, he should live in a holy rest and security, and find himself continually safe and easy (Job 11:18): Thou shalt be secure, because there is hope. Note, Those who have a good hope, through grace, in God, and of heaven, are certainly safe, and have reason to be secure, how difficult soever the times are through which they pass in this world. He that walks uprightly may thus walk surely, because, though there are trouble and danger, yet there is hope that all will be well at last. Hope is an anchor of the soul, Heb 6:19. "Thou shalt dig about thee," that is, "Thou shalt be as safe as an army in its entrenchments." Those that submit to God's government shall be taken under his protection, and then they are safe both day and night. [1.] By day, when they employ themselves abroad: "Thou shalt dig in safety, thou and thy servants for thee, and not be again set upon by the plunderers, who fell upon thy servants at plough," Job 1:14, Job 1:15. It is no part of the promised prosperity that he should live in idleness, but that he should have a calling and follow it, and, when he was about the business of it, should be under the divine protection. Thou shalt dig and be safe, not rob and be safe, revel and be safe. The way of duty is the way of safety. [2.] By night, when they repose themselves at home: Thou shalt take thy rest (and the sleep of the labouring man is sweet) in safety, notwithstanding the dangers of the darkness. The pillar of cloud by day shall be a pillar of fire by night: "Thou shalt lie down (Job 11:19), not forced to wander where there is no place to lay thy head on, nor forced to watch and sit up in expectation of assaults; but thou shalt go to bed at bedtime, and not only shall non hurt thee, but none shall make thee afraid nor so much as give thee an alarm." Note, It is a great mercy to have quiet nights and undisturbed sleeps; those say so that are within the hearing of the noise of war. And the way to be quiet is to seek unto God and keep ourselves in his love. Nothing needs make those afraid who return to God as their rest and take him for their habitation.
(3.) That, though now he was slighted, yet he should be courted: "Many shall make suit to thee, and think it their interest to secure thy friendship." Suit is made to those that are eminently wise or reputed to be so, that are very rich or in power. Zophar knew Job so well that he foresaw that, how low soever this present ebb was, if once the tide turned, it would flow as high as ever; and he would be again the darling of his country. Those that rightly make suit to God will probably see the day when others will make suit to them, as the foolish virgins to the wise, Give us of your oil.
III. Zophar concludes with a brief account of the doom of wicked people (Job 11:20): But the eyes of the wicked shall fail. It should seem, he suspected that Job would not take his counsel, and here tells him what would then come of it, setting death as well as life before him. See what will become of those who persist in their wickedness, and will not be reformed. 1. They shall not reach the good they flatter themselves with the hopes of in this world and in the other. Disappointments will be their doom, their shame, their endless torment. Their eyes shall fail with expecting that which will never come. When a wicked man dies his expectation perishes, Pro 11:7. Their hope shall be as a puff of breath (margin), vanished and gone past recall. Or their hope will perish and expire as a man does when he gives up the ghost; it will fail them when they have most need of it and when they expected the accomplishment of it; it will die away, and leave them in utter confusion. 2. They shall not avoid the evil which sometimes they frighten themselves with the apprehensions of. They shall not escape the execution of the sentence passed upon them, can neither out-brave it nor outrun it. Those that will not fly to God will find it in vain to think of flying from him.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine…
If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands towards him. In this and the following verses Zophar proceeds to give some advice to Job; which, if taken, would issue in his future happiness, but otherwise it would be ill with him; he advises him to pray to God with an heart prepared for such service; so some render the last clause in the imperative, "stretch out thine hands (w) towards him"; that is, towards God; for, though not expressed, is implied, whose immensity, sovereignty, and omniscience, Zophar had been discoursing of; and, though stretching out the hands is sometimes a gesture of persons in distress and mournful circumstances, thereby signifying their grief and sorrow, and of others in great danger, in order to lay up anything for safety; and of conquered persons resigning themselves up into the hands of the conqueror; and of such who are desirous of being in friendship, alliance, and association with others; yet it is also sometimes used as for the whole of religious worship, Psa 44:20; so particularly for prayer, Psa 88:9; and this was what all Job's friends advised him to, to humble himself before God, to pray for the forgiveness of his sins, and for the removal of his afflictions and deliverance from them; see Job 5:8; in order to which it is proper the "heart should be prepared"; as it is requisite it should be to every good work by the grace of God so to this: and then may it be said to be prepared for such service, when the spirit of God is given as a spirit of grace and supplication, whereby the heart is impressed with a sense of its wants, and so knows what to pray for; and arguments and fit words are put into the mind and mouth, and it knows how to pray as it should; and is enabled to approach the throne of grace with sincerity, fervency, and in the exercise of faith, being sprinkled from an evil conscience by the blood of Jesus, and resigned to the divine will, in all its petitions it is directed to make: now this is the work of God, to prepare the heart; the preparation of the heart, as well as the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord; he is prayed to for it, and it is affirmed he will do it, Pro 16:1; but it is here represented as if it was man's act, which is said not to suggest any power in man to do it of himself; at least this is not the evangelic sense of such phrases; for Zophar might be of a more legal spirit, and not so thoroughly acquainted with the evangelic style; but this might be said, to show the necessity of such a preparation, and to stir up to a concern for it, and to expect and look for it from and by the grace of God.
(w) "Expande ad eum manus tuas", De Dieu.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Heart - To seek God; turning thy bold contentions…
Heart - To seek God; turning thy bold contentions with God into humble supplications.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 13. If thou prepare thine heart] Make use…
Verse 13. If thou prepare thine heart] Make use of the powers which God has given thee, and be determined to seek him with all thy soul.
And stretch out thine hands toward him] Making fervent prayer and supplication, putting away iniquity out of thy hand, and not permitting wickedness to dwell in thy tabernacle; then thou shalt lift up thy face without a blush, thou wilt become established, and have nothing to fear, Job 11:14-15.
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There is a sentiment in Pr 16:1, very similar to that in the 13th verse, which we translate very improperly: -
לאדם מערכי לב leadam maarchey leb.
To man are the preparations of the heart:
ומהוה מענה לשון umeyehovah maaneh lashon.
But from Jehovah is the answer to the tongue.
It is man's duty to pray; it is God's prerogative to answer. Zophar, like all the rest, is true to his principle. Job must be a wicked man, else he had not been afflicted. There must be some iniquity in his hand, and some wickedness tolerated in his family. So they all supposed.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Job 11:13. If thou prepare thy heart — Thy…
Job 11:13. If thou prepare thy heart — Thy business, O Job, is not to quarrel with thy Maker, or his works; but to address thyself to him by prayer and supplication, sincerely repenting of all thy hard speeches, and other sins against God, and seeking him with a pure and upright heart; without which thy prayers will be in vain.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain If thou prepare thine heart - Zophar now proceeds…
If thou prepare thine heart - Zophar now proceeds to state that if Job even yet would return to God, he might hope for acceptance. Though he had sinned, and though he was now, as he supposed, a hollow-hearted and an insincere man, yet, if he would repent, he might expect the divine favor. In this he accords with the sentiment of Eliphaz, and he concludes his speech in a manner not a little resembling his; see Job 5:17-27.
And stretch out thine hands toward him - In the attitude of supplication. To stretch out or spread forth the hands, is a phrase often used to denote the act of supplication; see 1Ti 2:8, and the notes of Wetstein on that place. Horace, 3 Carm. xxiii. 1, Coelo supinas si tuleris manus. Ovid, M. ix. 701, Ad sidera supplex Cressa manus tollens. Trist. i. 10, 21, Ipsc gubernator, tollens ad sidera palmas; compare Livy v. 21. Seneca, Ep. 41; Psa 63:4; Psa 134:2; Psa 141:2; Ezr 9:5.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain But. Hebrew, "If thou direct thy heart, &c. Thou…
But. Hebrew, "If thou direct thy heart, &c. Thou mayst lift up thy face," (ver. 15.; Haydock) without fear, 2 Kings ii. 22. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain The apodosis to the "If" is at Job 11:15.…
The apodosis to the "If" is at Job 11:15. The preparation of the heart is to be obtained (Pro 16:1) by stretching out the hands in prayer for it (Psa 10:17; Ch1 29:18).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain Third division, in three strophes: AN EXHORTATION TO REPENTANCE…
Third division, in three strophes: AN EXHORTATION TO REPENTANCE AND NEWNESS OF LIFE, Job_11:13-20.
a. Repentance toward God, and the putting away of sin, are the conditions of spiritual confidence and security, Job_11:13-15.
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13. Prepare… heart — Zophar has just spoken (Job_11:12) of “getting a heart,” (becoming wise,) but this is not to be secured without the putting forth of effort. As if the pointed reference were not enough, the emphatic thou defines whom he meant by the cruel taunt of the preceding verse.
And stretch… thine hands — The stretching out of the hands toward heaven in prayer was a very ancient and appropriate mode of worship. It symbolized an earnestness of desire that would not be satisfied with folded arms or hands, but that stretched them forth toward heaven as far as possible, as if it would drag a blessing down. Or, as Witsius, (on prayer, page 93,) suggests, it may denote sincerity, the attribute being that of one who would lay open what was hid. Or it may indicate hope, which relinquishes every other object and turns to God.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 13. If thou prepare thine heart] Thou is emphatic,…
13. If thou prepare thine heart] Thou is emphatic, and meant by the speaker to place Job in a different class from the “hollow man” described in Job_11:12. Job hardly accepted the good intention, cf. ch. Job_12:3. “To prepare the heart” may mean, to bring it into a condition of right thought and feeling towards God. The word might also mean “fix thy heart,” let it no more be driven to and fro amidst false feelings and views, Psa_10:17; Psa_51:10; Psa_57:7; Psa_78:37.
and stretch out] In prayer, and seeking help, Exo_9:29; Isa_1:15; cf. Job_8:5.
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13–20. Zophar turns to Job in exhortation and promise.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain If thou prepare thine heart. Having indicated God"s righteousness…
If thou prepare thine heart. Having indicated God"s righteousness by these general remarks (vers. 7-12), and implied that Job"s complaints are vain and futile, Zophar, in conclusion, addresses Job once more directly: "If thou (hTa) prepare thine heart," cleanse it, that is, of all defilement, direct it, and set it straight (see Psa_78:8) before God, then such and such results (set forth in vers. 15-19) will follow. And stretch out thine hands toward him. The outward act of worship must follow the inward movement of the heart, for the turning to God to be complete.
Vers. 13-20. Zophar to Job: 3. An exhortation to repentance.
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I THE ACTINGS OF PENTIENCE.
1. Preparation of the heart. "If thou prepare literally, "direct thy heart i.e. towards God. True penitence is a heart-work, beginning in the heart, relating to the heart, and carried on by the heart, though not without Divine assistance. (Pro_16:1)
(1) An arduous work; the verb implying serious purpose, fixed resolution, continuous effort; and the concentration of the heart upon anything, much more upon what is spiritually good, being ever a task of supreme difficulty. (Jer_17:9)
(2) A complex work; the right setting or directing of the heart involving self-examination, to discover where the heart is wrong; serf-humiliation, or sincere sorrow on account of that wrongness of heart which is discovered; and self rectification, or the immediate, conscious, and deliberate reversal of that state of wrong. (Psa_119:59 Jer_31:18, 19 Hos_6:1)
(3) A necessary work; Scripture invariably representing this Godward direction of the heart as a constituent element in true repentance, (1Sa_7:3 2Ch_20:33) as the want of it is no less strongly stigmatized as a mark of impenitence and sin. (Psa_78:8)
(4) A personal work; sinful man having many aids in the task expected of him, such as the external teaching of the Word, and the internal illumination of the Spirit, but still being himself held responsible for its actual performance.
1. Elevation of the soul. "If thou stretch out thine hands towards him," i.e. God; the lifting up and stretching forth of the hands being a common devotional attitude, (Exo_9:33 Ezr_9:5 1Ki_8:22) and hence a frequent biblical symbol of the outgoing and ascending of the soul to God in prayer. (Psa_63:4 Psa_143:6 Isa_1:15) Such exercise implies a sense of the soul"s need of God, a yearning of the soul after God, a perception of the soul"s distance from God, an inward persuasion that this distance may be diminished, if not entirely removed, and the human soul again be at peace with God, and a fervent application that such confidential and loving relationship between the two may again be restored.
2. Reformation of the life. "If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles." This, no less than the two preceding, is indispensable to a complete work of penitence. Mere amendment of the external walk and conversation does not amount to, and will certainly not serve as a substitute for, the cleansing of the heart. On the other hand, the work of inward purification, though it could stand alone, would not suffice without a corresponding rectification of the daily life. True repentance consists in sorrowful acknowledgment of sin, and tearful supplication of mercy, followed by a steadfast resolution after new obedience. Beginning in the heart with the detection of sin, and proceeding to the lip with the confession of sin, it terminates in the life with the renunciation of sin. (1Sa_7:3 Psa_34:14 Isa_1:16 Jer_7:5 Mat_3:8) And this renunciation must be complete.
(1) The sin itself must be put away; all kind of it open wickedness, secret iniquity, personal transgression, domestic wrong-doing, so far as this latter lies within one"s power. (Gen_18:19 1Sa_2:12, 17 3:11, 14 Psa_101:2, Psa_101:7)
(2) The separation effected must be thorough and final; sin being required to be not merely put away; but put far away cast forth, like Hagar and Ishmael; like the scapegoat, into a land not inhabited, never to return.
II THE BLESSEDNESS OF THE PENITENT.
1. Cheerful confidence before God. (Ver. 15) Instead of cowering sorrow-stricken and shame-covered, like a trembling criminal, before his judge, filled with confusion and unable to lift up his head, (Job_10:15) Job would be able to stand erect and firm, like a molten statue sitting squarely on its base, with no trace of tears upon his countenance, and no stain of punishable guilt upon his conscience. Nothing fills the soul with trembling and apprehension, or relaxes the cords and sinews of the heart, like a sense of unpardoned sin. (Psa_38:8) Nothing sooner shades the brow with gloom, or banishes the light of joy from the countenance, (Gen_4:5, 6 Luk_18:13) than the loss of Divine favour. On the contrary, nothing so effectually restores serenity of aspect and courageousness of soul to the individual as a consciousness of pardon. When the spot of guilt is removed from the conscience, the tear of sorrow is soon wiped from the face. A forgiven penitent may afterwards encounter affliction; but, sustained by the peace of God which passeth understanding, he can even joy in tribulation. (Rom_5:3)
2. Perfect happiness in himself. (Ver. 16) That complete exemption from adversity would infallibly attend the repenting transgressor, was incorrect; that the inward comforts and enjoyments of the pardoned sinner would so surpass his former anguish as to cause it to be entirely forgotten, was as precious and consoling as it was true. The greatest happiness attainable or conceivable on earth is the joy of salvation, the joy which no man taketh from its possessor, the joy unspeakable and full of glory, which springs from a sense of acceptance with God. However deep the iron of conviction may have been driven into the penitent"s soul, however bitter the anguish that may have racked his spirit, the moment the stricken heart is visited with a sense of Heaven"s favour, it "remembereth no more the anguish for joy" that it has been forgiven. The only thing that can effectually drive out sorrow from the soul is the entrance of Heaven"s joy.
3. Radiant prosperity in life. (Ver. 17) Job"s after-career should be one of unclouded prosperity"which should shine around him with a brilliance outdazzling the noonday sun, and should never know decline or diminution; if it did, that decline would only be a gentle shading down as from meridian splendour to morning brightness, that diminution but a temporary obscuration, to be followed by the breaking forth of dawn. All this is, of course, true of the path of the just, only when spiritually considered.
4. Complete security on earth. "And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope." This marks the ground of the good man"s confidence. Assurance of God"s favour to an Old Testament saint was equivalent to a guarantee of permanent prosperity; to a New Testament believer it is tantamount to a promise of spiritual enrichment. Hence hope inspires the Christian with a feeling of security. (Psa_31:24 Psa_146:5 Rom_5:5 1Th_5:8) The following clauses indicate the completeness of the saint"s confidence. "Yea" thou shalt dig about thee or, "look around thee, inquiringly," searching into all possibilities of danger, and finding none, thou shalt take thy rest in safety. Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid." So did David, (Psa_3:5, 6 4:8) and so may all God"s people, however circumstanced.
5. Growing influence among men. "Yea, many shall make suit unto thee;" literally, "shall stroke thy race," or caress thy cheeks, by way of flattery or supplication, perhaps both. (Pro_19:6) A remarkable testimony to the influence of piety, which "would be more respected if it were more known" (Hutcheson). God"s Israels have power with men as well as with, (Gen_32:28) and Christ"s followers are the salt of the earth. (Mat_5:13) Hence the favour and friendship of saints and of the Church are frequently coveted and even solicited by the unbelieving and ungodly. (Gen_26:26-29 Psa_45:12 Mat_25:8)
III THE DOOM OF THE IMPENITENT.
1. Bitter disapointment the eyes of the wicked shall fail," shall waste away with vain and anxious looking and longing for help which cometh not. He who expects God to either visit him with benign salvation or bless him with temporal prosperity while indulging in sin, is cherishing an ill grounded hope. God may do the latter for wise purposes of his own; the former he cannot do. To anticipate that he will is to entertain a foolish. (Job_8:14, Job_8:15)
2. Certain destruction. "They shall not escape;" literally, "their refuge perishes from them." As wicked men will not reach the good they look for, so neither will they avoid the evil they are afraid of. "Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished;" "The expectation of the wicked is wrath." Sooner or later calamity will overtake and overthrow the ungodly. (Isa_13:9 Mal_4:1 Eph_5:6 1Th_5:3) Thanks to Divine grace, a refuge has been provided for the penitent God himself, (Psa_46:1) or the hope of the gospel; (Heb_6:18) but "how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?". (Heb_2:3)
3. Final despair. "Their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost;" literally, "the breathing forth of the soul or life," i.e. it shall cease, and become utterly extinct. "The expectation of the wicked shall perish." "A wicked man"s hope is but a cold coal, and an evanishing thing. It is but like a sob or two of a dying man, and then he is gone" (Hutcheson).
Learn:
1. True happiness and true religion begin at the same point and in the same thing, viz. penitence.
2. When a soul returns to God in penitence, God never fails to return to it with prosperity, if not temporal and material, at least spiritual and eternal.
3. Though true piety does not look for a reward on earth, it most commonly finds one.
4. The damnation of the impenitent is as certain as is the salvation of the penitent.
Vers. 13-19. The invitation to repentance.
All Job"s friends would lead him to repentance. They see the judgments of God upon him in his afflictions. They know of no other cause for afflictions than as a punishment for wrong-doing. The conclusion is clear, "Thou hast sinned." This underlies all their speeches. But they have rightly seized the truth God forgiveth the iniquity of the repentant. Therefore they urge their entreaty to their friend in one word, "Repent." And Zophar reveals to Job the method of repentance, the encouragement to it, and its reward.
I THE METHOD OF REPENTANCE.
1. "Prepare thine heart." Give the heart its true direction from evil towards God.
2. "Stretch out thine hands towards God in prayer the true sign of repentance, the sign of lowly self-abasement, the very confession of sin, the opening of the heart with the lips to renounce evil, to sue for pardon. The hands stretched towards God is the human sign of return to him.
3. Put away iniquity. The actual renunciation of evil, forsaking and abandoning it with the heart and hands and voice lifted to God, is the certain and indubitable evidence of true repentance. No sorrow for sin becomes repentance until sin is by the sorrowing heart renounced. "If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away.
II THE ENCOURAGEMENT TO REPENTANCE.
1. "Then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot," i.e. of guilt. Thy heart, cleared of its guilt, shall be free and joyful.
2. And with consciousness of the Divine forgiveness thou wilt be able to look up without fear lift up thy face to God.
3. Then sorrow shall be supplanted by peaceful joy. "Thou shalt forget thy misery." Thy grief shall leave no more trace than waters that flow by.
4. Then brightness shall dawn upon thy life, over its remainder shall be a time of gladness; "as the morning shalt thou be.
III THE REWARD OF REPENTANCE. The encouragements to repentance are in themselves part of its reward, though that reward will be only truly, because only perfectly, found in the subsequent days of the life. Beautifully and cheeringly does this friend paint the rich prosperity of later days even to the overwhelmed sufferer. Although an error lurks beneath it all, which the teaching of the entire book is designed to correct; yet out of the bright encouragements, as out of an early morning, the full promise of blessing to the repentant arises. "Thou shalt be secure." The sense of security will take possession of the breast from which condemnation is removed. The assurance of the Divine forgiveness is a pledge of the Divine love, and the forgiven one hides in the God against whom in his folly he had sinned. Hope illumines the future, and his spirit, braced with holy courage, takes its rest in safety. He can lie down in peace and sleep, for he has gained a new trust in God. He defies his foes. Prosperity returns; "many make suit unto him: Such is the rich reward promised to Job by his friend, should he repent of his sin. True, as a great principle for human conduct it, however, lacks a correctness of application, for Job is not suffering for his sins. But every smitten one may learn the wisdom, the comfort, and the happy consequence of true repentance. R.G.
Vers. 13-19. The blessedness of returning to God.
Zophar draws a beautiful picture of the joys and blessings of restoration to God, and, though its implied background must have spoilt it for Job by suggesting that the patriarch was a great sinner needing repentance, in itself the picture is true and helpful.
I THE PROCESS OF RETURNING TO GOD.
1. By a right condition of the heart. The heart is first to be set right. We can only return to God with our heart. The heart wandered; the heart must come back. Going to church is not necessarily going to Cod. Beginning to attempt good works is not always entering the kingdom of heaven. We must begin with inward and deeper things.
2. By a personal approach to God. The hands are to be stretched out to him. This is the posture of a suppliant. It is the attitude of prayer, but it signifies more than the offering of a petition; it suggests that the helpless man is stretching out to God for deliverance, that the penitent child is trying to get near to his Father. We cannot be saved while we remain at a distance from God as our sin and ruin consist in our departure from God, so our restoration is accomplished in our personal return to him.
3. By a repentant renunciation of sin. Sin must no longer dwell in our tabernacles. We cannot recover God while we retain sin. The repentance must not only consist in confession and sorrow. The sin itself must be cast off. Until we are willing to do this in heart and life no restoration is possible. It was wrong and unfair of Zophar to assume that Job needed to come to God as a penitent, for the suffering man had done this long before his troubles, and he was already a redeemed and honoured servant of God. But till we have thus actively repented we cannot be restored. Zophar"s principle applies to all who have not yet forsaken their sins.
II THE HAPPY RESULTS OF THUS RETURNING. Zophar must be blamed for the narrowness, the unspirituality, and the conventionalism of his picture. Restoration to God brings higher blessings than Zophar dreamed of naming, and, on the other hand, it does not always bring the swift and visible rewards which he portrayed with sympathetic eloquence. Yet we may gather some hints of the blessings of restoration even from the partial lights of his picture.
1. Freedom from guilt. The restored penitent will "lift up" his "face without spot." The old stain has gone. Confidence takes the place of the shame of sin.
2. Fearless steadfastness. "Yea, thou shalt be steadfast, and shalt not fear." An evil conscience is timorous. The cure of sin brings strength and stability.
3. Forgetfulness of the sad past. It will go like the waters of the winter torrent, that disappear and leave their stony course dry in the summer heat. The sorrow seems to be eternal while we have it. But not only is time a healer; forgiveness and restoration hasten the process.
4. A bright reputation. This was Job"s old possession, but he seemed to his friends to have lost it. Sin tarnishes a good character. But forgiveness and restoration prepare for a new Christian character. The darkness gives place to bright daylight.
5. Perfect security. The restored man can lie down in peace, fearing nothing, for God is with him. W.F.A.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine…
Job_11:13-15
If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands towards Him.
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The way to happiness
I purpose to show you that happiness is within your reach, and to point out the means by which it may be infallibly attained.
1. Prepare your hearts, or rightly dispose and order your hearts especially with reference to subsequent acts and exercises. If we would be truly happy, we must seek happiness within.
1. A prepared heart is thoughtful and considerate. The careless and trifling never attain peace of mind. A prepared heart is a penitent and humble heart. Sin is the great hindrance to human happiness; and the removal of it is therefore absolutely necessary.
2. A prepared mind is a decided mind. The mind thinks with reference to decision; otherwise thinking is a vain employ, a mere mocking of intelligence. If a man decides under that preparedness which serious thoughtfulness, prayer, and the aid of God concur to supply, it will determine to make the cultivation and salvation of the soul the great end of life.
2. Stretch out the hand towards God. This denotes the act and habit of prayer. The expression stretching forth the hand is strikingly descriptive of true and prevalent prayer. It was an action over a sacrifice, and it marked mans submission to the rites which God had appointed his trust in them, and his appeal to God upon their presentation. It was an action which acknowledged God as the source of supply and help. It was the action of desire. It was an action of waiting upon God.
3. Personal reformation. If iniquity be in thine hand put it far away. Those who sin are not generally the men who pray; but some do. They pray both in public and in secret, and yet do not renounce all evil. The most perverse attempt that man has ever made, is to reconcile religion with the practice of sin. This will appear if you consider the only principles upon which such an attempt can be made. It may suppose that God loves religious services for their own sake. Or that God can be deceived by a show of outward piety, if outward morality be superadded, or that men may sin because grace abounds. Or that the end of religion is to save men from punishment. If, then, you have practised iniquity, renounce it entirely, and renounce it forever. If it be shut up secretly in thine heart, let it not remain there any longer. Conscience is privy to it, and will smite you for it in your seasons of calm reflection. If the price of iniquity is in your hand, divest yourself of the evil thing. Make restitution to the men you have injured. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness. When iniquity is put away then comes true peace. The blessing of God is given, and conscience approves of the act. The consciousness of integrity and uprightness is a source of the purest enjoyment.
4. The fourth direction relates to a godly family discipline. In ancient times the heads of families were the priests. Nor did parents cease, in a very important sense, to be the priests in their families after the establishment of the Levitical priesthood. In this respect no change has taken place under the Christian dispensation. The office of the head of the family is to instruct his household in the truths of Gods law and Gospel. Our ancestors understood this duty. Together with religious concern, there is to be the actual putting away of evil from your families. From a proper course of family discipline and order Gods blessing will not be withheld. For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou shalt be steadfast and shalt not fear. Thy face shall be lifted up in holy confidence towards God; and it shall be undefiled by a spot of guilty shame towards men. (R. Watson.)
Heart and hands
Zophar tells Job of his faults, and of Gods secret knowledge of him, and winds up with the words of the text, which, while they are altogether inappropriate and undeserved in Jobs case, are in principle grandly true, in form sweetly beautiful, and may well provide us with pleasant food. If thou shalt prepare thy heart, and stretch out thine hands toward Him. That is the attitude of supplication, and doubtless has here the idea of prayer. But it has much more than that. It means that the heart and the hands are to go together, are to move in unison; that the hands must do what the heart prompts, and that as the heart is prepared to take in God, the hands are to be at the control of God. The prepared heart receives Christ as guest, and the willing hands are told off to wait upon Him all the time. The stretching of the hands here means also a habit of desire. It includes willing obedience. It is the attitude of one who is willing, waiting, and even eager to be of service. This consecration of the heart, and this dedication of the hands, will lead to the due fulfilment of the next verse, If iniquity be in thine hands, put it far away. That is to say, all the misdoings of the past are to be sorrowed over, repented of, and put away. Heart and hands are alike to be clean, and a new leaf is to be turned over in the volume of life, no more to be blotted by guilt, or inscribed with the writing of self-condemning sin. Adapt the meaning of Zophar to our day, and it comes to this, no wickedness is to be permitted to dwell under any roof we can call our own. We are to turn it out, and keep it out of our homes, let it have no place by our hearthstones, no shelter in kitchen or parlour. True religious principle will not turn and trifle, will not dally with wrong-doing. For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot. A manly religion, a godly fidelity will enable a man to look all the world in the face. Thou shalt not fear. Only true religion can so endow a man. Perfect love casteth out fear. Thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away. The good mans life is like a river, ever flowing, through various scenery of mingled barrenness and beauty. The rough, barren, sad, sorrowful, through which it passes, will never, never be reproduced. (Good Company.)
The two-fold development of godliness
I. Godliness developed in the spiritual activity of a mans life. The activity which Zophar recommends has a threefold direction--
1. Towards his own heart. If thou prepare thine heart.
2. Towards the great God. And stretch out thine hands towards Him.
3. Towards moral evil. If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away.
II. Godliness developed in the spiritual blessedness of a mans life. Zophar specifies several advantages attending the course he recommended.
1. Cheerfulness of aspect.
2. Steadfastness of mind.
3. Fearlessness of soul.
4. A deliverance from all suffering.
5. Uncloudedness of being. (Homilist.)
Change of heart
New mental level produces new perspective. There is a form of decision in which, in consequence of some outer experience or some inexplicable inward change, we suddenly pass from the easy and careless to the sober and strenuous mood, or possibly the other way. The whole scale of values of our motives and impulses then undergoes a change like that which a change of the observers level produces on a view. The most sobering possible agents are objects of grief and fear. When one of these affects us, all light fantastic notions lose their motive power, all solemn ones find theirs multiplied manifold. The consequence is an instant abandonment of the more trivial projects with which we had been dallying, and an instant practical acceptance of the more grim and earnest alternative which till then could not extort our minds consent. All those changes of heart, awakenings of conscience, etc., which make new men of so many of us, may be classed under this head. The character abruptly rises to another level, and deliberation comes to an immediate end. (Prof. James, Psychology.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Zophar Admonishes Job to Repent
Zophar Admonishes Job to Repent
v. 13. If thou prepare thine heart, bringing it into the proper condition over against God, and stretch out thine hands toward Him, in a gesture of pleading, of asking for mercy;
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v. 14. if iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles, for without this evidence of a repentant heart the Lord would not heed his prayer.
v. 15. For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; having received the assurance of the forgiveness of his sins, his face would show no consciousness of guilt; yea, thou shalt be steadfast and shalt not fear, without wavering, like metals which have hardened in the mold,
v. 16. because thou shalt forget thy misery, all the trouble which was now besetting him, and remember it as waters that pass away, that flow by in a stream and make no lasting impression upon the memory,
v. 17. and thine age shall be clearer than the noonday, literally, "brighter than noon shall be the duration or way of thy life," his entire future life would be lifted out of the darkness of the present misery; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning, that is, if any darkness should come, if any new adversity should befall him, it would nevertheless resolve itself into the brightness of a clear morning.
v. 18. And thou shalt be secure, have the firm confidence, because there is hope, the text emphasizing the real and lasting existence of this hope; yea, thou shalt dig about thee, looking about through his household to find whether everything was safe and sound; and thou shalt take thy rest in safety, able to lie down and sleep without the slightest worry.
v. 19. Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid, in full peace and security; yea, many shall make suit unto thee, literally, "stroke thy face," flattering him and begging a special favor from him.
v. 20. But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, wasting away in a vain search for help, and they shall not escape, every refuge being taken away from them, and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost, death remaining as their last hope, as bringing them deliverance from the evils which were laid upon them. This picture of a hopeful future, as painted by Zophar, was also an unconscious prophecy concerning the deliverance which finally came upon Job.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 suppose that you had set your heart right
suppose that you had set your heart right
The heart represents thoughts and attitudes. Setting it right represents correcting it. AT: "even if you had corrected your attitude" (See: Metaphor)
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had reached out with your hands toward God
This is a symbolic action representing asking God for help. AT: "had made an appeal and prayed to God" (See: Symbolic Action)
suppose that iniquity were in your hand
The hand represents what a person does. AT: "even if you had done some evil things in the past" (See: Metonymy)
but that then you put it far away from you
Putting sin behind represents stopping sinning. AT: "but that then you stopped doing evil things" (See: Metaphor)
did not let unrighteousness live in your tents
Unrighteousness living represents people doing unrighteous things. AT: "and you did not allow the members of your household to do unrighteous things" (See: Personification)
translationWords
heart
God
iniquity
righteous
life
tent
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 11:13-14 Zophar laid out three conditions for restoration (11:15):…
11:13-14 Zophar laid out three conditions for restoration (11:15): (1) prepare your heart, in an inward act that is not just a ritual; (2) lift up your hands, a symbolic gesture of prayer, appeal (Exod 9:29; Prov 1:24; Isa 1:15), or surrender; (3) leave all iniquity, not by sacrifice and remorse, but by quitting the sin (cp. Heb 11:6; Jas 4:8; 5:16).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.