Job 13:18(v4)See now, I have set my cause in order. I know that I am righteous.
Job 16:21(v3)that he would maintain the right of a man with God, of a son of man with his neighbor!
Job 10:1(v2)“My soul is weary of my life. I will give free course to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
Job 7:11(v2)“Therefore I will not keep silent. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
Job 9:33-34(v6)There is no umpire between us, that might lay his hand on us both. Let him take his rod away from me. Let his terror not make me afraid;
Show all 41 cross-references
Job 10:2(v5)I will tell God, ‘Do not condemn me. Show me why you contend with me.
Job 13:3(v3)“Surely I would speak to the Almighty. I desire to reason with God.
Job 13:21(v6)withdraw your hand far from me, and don’t let your terror make me afraid.
Job 13:22-23(v5)Then call, and I will answer, or let me speak, and you answer me. How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me know my disobedience and my…
Job 31:35-37(v3)oh that I had one to hear me! Behold, here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me! Let the accuser write my indictment! Surely I would…
Psalms 32:4(v2)For day and night your hand was heavy on me. My strength was sapped in the heat of summer.
Jeremiah 14:7(v3)Though our iniquities testify against us, work for your name’s sake, Yahweh; for our rebellions are many. We have sinned against you.
Daniel 9:18-19(v4)My God, turn your ear, and hear. Open your eyes, and see our desolations, and the city which is called by your name; for we do not present…
1 Corinthians 4:3-4(v5)But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by man’s judgment. Yes, I don’t judge my own self. For I know…
2 Corinthians 12:9-10(v6)He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in…
Hebrews 4:6(v3)Seeing therefore it remains that some should enter into it, and they to whom the good news was preached before failed to enter in because…
Genesis 18:25-32(v4)May it be far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May…
Genesis 32:12(v4)You said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which can’t be counted because there are so many.’ ”
Exodus 32:12-13(v4)Why should the Egyptians talk, saying, ‘He brought them out for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the surface…
Numbers 14:13-19(v4)Moses said to Yahweh, “Then the Egyptians will hear it; for you brought up this people in your might from among them. They will tell it to…
Joshua 7:8-9(v4)Oh, Lord, what shall I say, after Israel has turned their backs before their enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the…
Job 6:2-3(v2)“Oh that my anguish were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances! For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas,…
Job 9:4(v6)God who is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who has hardened himself against him and prospered?
Job 9:19(v6)If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty! If of justice, ‘Who,’ says he, ‘will summon me?’
Job 11:6(v2)that he would show you the secrets of wisdom! For true wisdom has two sides. Know therefore that God exacts of you less than your iniquity…
Job 37:19(v4)Teach us what we will tell him, for we can’t make our case by reason of darkness.
Job 40:1-5(v3)Moreover Yahweh answered Job, “Shall he who argues contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.” Then Job answered…
Job 42:2-6(v5)“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be restrained. You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without…
Psalms 25:11(v4)For your name’s sake, Yahweh, pardon my iniquity, for it is great.
Psalms 43:1(v4)Vindicate me, God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation. Oh, deliver me from deceitful and wicked men.
Psalms 77:2-9(v2)In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My hand was stretched out in the night, and didn’t get tired. My soul refused to be comforted.…
Isaiah 26:8(v3)Yes, in the way of your judgments, Yahweh, we have waited for you. Your name and your renown are the desire of our soul.
Isaiah 27:4(v6)Wrath is not in me, but if I should find briers and thorns, I would do battle! I would march on them and I would burn them together.
Isaiah 27:8(v6)In measure, when you send them away, you contend with them. He has removed them with his rough blast in the day of the east wind.
Isaiah 43:26(v4)Put me in remembrance. Let us plead together. Declare your case, that you may be justified.
Isaiah 55:6-7(v3)Seek Yahweh while he may be found. Call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let…
Lamentations 3:19-20(v2)Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the bitterness. My soul still remembers them, and is bowed down within me.
Ezekiel 20:33(v6)As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, surely with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out, I will be king over you.
Ezekiel 20:35(v6)I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face.
2 Corinthians 5:19-20(v3)namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the…
Psalms 138:3(v6)In the day that I called, you answered me. You encouraged me with strength in my soul.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (17 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv2, 6He showeth the just cause of his complaining, and…
He showeth the just cause of his complaining, and as touching that Eliphaz had exhorteth him to return to God, Job 22:21, he declareth that he desireth nothing more, but it seemed that God would not be found of him.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv2–6Job 23:2 Even to day [is] my complaint bitter:…
Job 23:2 Even to day [is] my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.
Ver. 2. Even today is my complaint bitter] q.d. After all mine endeavour to satisfy you, I am still misinterpreted, and accounted by you, my friends, no better than a malcontent and a murmurer against God; albeit my laments do no way equal my torments. True it is that Eliphaz had given him excellent counsel, Job 22:21-22, &c., but it was to flatter him into the same error that he himself held; viz. that bodily and temporal sufferings are a sure sign of a notorious hypocrite. Hence Job never taketh notice of it in this reply; but begins his apology pathetically and abruptly; and soon falls into an appeal to God, the righteous Judge, who well knew (though his friends would take no notice of it) that he complained not without cause; but the contrary.
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My stroke is heavier than my groaning] Most men’s groaning is greater than their strokes or sufferings. Invalidum omne natura querulum est (Senec.). Some are ever whining and growling; their lips, like rusty hinges, move not without murmuring and mutining, yea, they not only creak, but break, as rotten boughs do, if but a little weight be hung upon them; or as some men’s flesh, which if never so little razed with a pin, it presently rankleth and festereth. Job was none of these; if he groaned, as he did (and will they deny him that ease of his dolour? Expletur lachrymis egeriturque dolor. Ovid), there was very great cause for it, since his pressures were greater than could be expressed by any sighs or words.
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 Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv2–6i.e. Even at this time, notwithstanding all your promises…
i.e. Even at this time, notwithstanding all your promises and pretended consolations, I find no ease or satisfaction in all your discourses; and therefore in this and the following chapters Job seldom applies his discourse to his friends, but only addresseth his speech to God, or bewaileth himself.
Is my complaint bitter, i.e. I do bitterly complain, and have just cause to do so. But this clause is and may be otherwise rendered, Even still (Heb. at this day) is my complaint called or accounted by you rebellion or bitterness, or the rage of an exasperated mind? Do you still pass such harsh censures upon me after all my declarations and solemn protestations of my innocency?
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My stroke, Heb. my hand, passively, i.e. the hand or stroke of God upon me, as the same phrase is used, Psa 77:2; and mine arrow, Job 34:6.
Is heavier than my groaning, i.e. doth exceed all my complaints and expressions; so far are you mistaken, that think I complain more than I have cause. Some render the words thus, my hands are heavy (i.e. feeble and hanging down, as the phrase is, Heb 12:12. My strength and spirit faileth) because of my groaning.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv2–6O that I knew where I might find him,....…
O that I knew where I might find him,.... That is, God, who is understood, though not expressed, a relative without an antecedent, as in Psa 87:1; Jarchi supplies, and interprets it, "my Judge", from Job 23:7; and certain it is Job did desire to find God as a judge sitting on his throne, doing right, that he might have justice done to him: indeed he might be under the hidings of God's face, which added to his affliction, and made it the heavier; in which case, the people of God are at a loss to know where he is, and "how" to find him, as Mr. Broughton renders the words here; they know that he is everywhere, and fills heaven and earth with his presence; that their God is in the heavens, his throne is there, yea, the heaven is his throne; that he is in his church, and among his people, where they are gathered together in his name, to wait upon him, and to worship him; and that he is to be found in Christ, as a God gracious and merciful; all which Job knew, but might, as they in such circumstances are, be at a loss how to come at sensible communion with him; for, when he hides his face, who can behold him? yet they cannot content themselves without seeking after him, and making use of all means of finding him, as Job did, Job 23:8; see Sol 3:1;
that I might come even to his seat; either his mercy seat, from whence he communes with his people, the throne of his grace, where he sits as the God of grace, dispensing his grace to his people, to help them in time of need; the way to which is Christ, and in which all believers may come to it with boldness, in his name, through his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice; they may come up even to it, in the exercise of faith and hope, though the distance is great, as between heaven and earth, yet by faith they can come into the holiest of all, and by hope enter within the vail; and though the difficulties and discouragements are many, arising from their sins and transgressions: or else his judgment seat, at which no man can appear and stand, without a righteousness, or without a better than his own, by which none can be justified in the sight of God; who, if strict to mark iniquity, the best of men cannot stand before him, at his bar of justice; indeed, in the righteousness of Christ, a believer may come up to the judgment seat of God, and to him as Judge of all, and not be afraid, but stand before him with confidence, since that is sufficient to answer for him, and fully acquit him: but Job here seems to have a peculiar respect to his case, in controversy between him and his friends, and is so fully assured of the justness of his cause, and relying on his innocence, he wishes for nothing more than that he could find God sitting on a throne of justice, before whom his cause might be brought and heard, not doubting in the least but that he should be acquitted; so far was he from hiding himself from God, or pleasing himself with the thoughts that God was in the height of heaven, and knew nothing of him and his conduct, and could not judge through the dark clouds, which were a covering to him, that he could not see him; that he was not afraid to appear before him, and come up even to his seat, if he knew but where and how he could; see Job 22:12.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv2, 3, 5, 6Today - Even at this time, notwithstanding all your…
Today - Even at this time, notwithstanding all your pretended consolations. Stroke - The hand or stroke of God upon me. Groaning - Doth exceed my complaints.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv2, 3, 5, 6Verse 2. Even to-day is my complaint bitter] Job…
Verse 2. Even to-day is my complaint bitter] Job goes on to maintain his own innocence, and shows that he has derived neither conviction nor consolation from the discourses of his friends. He grants that his complaint is bitter; but states that, loud as it may be, the affliction which he endures is heavier than his complaints are loud.
Mr. Good translates: "And still is my complaint rebellion?" Do ye construe my lamentations over my unparalleled sufferings as rebellion against God? This, in fact, they had done from the beginning: and the original will justify the version of Mr. Good; for מרי meri, which we translate bitter, may be derived from מרה marah, "he rebelled."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv2, 3, 6Job 23:2. Even to-day is my complaint bitter —…
Job 23:2. Even to-day is my complaint bitter — Even at this time notwithstanding all your promises and pretended consolations. For your discourses give me neither relief nor satisfaction. Hence in this and the following chapter Job seldom applies his discourse to his friends, but either addresses his speech to God, or bewails his misery. My stroke is heavier than my groaning — The hand or stroke of God upon me exceeds my complaints.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv2–6Even to-day - At the present time. I am…
Even to-day - At the present time. I am not relieved. You afford me no consolation. All that you say only aggravates my woes.
My complaint - See the notes at Job 21:3.
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Bitter - Sad, melancholy, distressing. The meaning is, not that he made bitter complaints in the sense which those words would naturally convey, or that he meant to find fault with God, but that his case was a hard one. His friends furnished him no relief, and he had in vain endeavored to bring his cause before God. This is now, as he proceeds to state, the principal cause of his difficulty. He knows not where to find God; he cannot get his cause before him.
My stroke - Margin, as in Hebrew “hand;” that is, the hand that is upon me, or the calamity that is inflicted upon me. The hand is represented as the instrument of inflicting punishment, or causing affliction; see the notes at Job 19:21.
Heavier than my groaning - My sighs bear no proportion to my sufferings. They are no adequate expression of my woes. If you think I complain; if I am heard to groan, yet the sufferings which I endure are far beyond what these would secm to indicate. Sighs and groans are not improper. They are prompted by nature, and they furnish “some” relief to a sufferer. But they should not be:
(1) with a spirit of murmuring or complaining;
(2) they should not be beyond what our sufferings demand, or the proper expression of our sufferings. They should not be such as to lead others to suppose we suffer more than we actually do.
(3) they should - when they are extorted from us by the severity of suffering - lead us go look to that world where no groan will ever be heard.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv2, 6Bitterness. Instead of comfort, he only meets with insult…
Bitterness. Instead of comfort, he only meets with insult from his friends. He therefore appeals to God, (Worthington) but with fear. (Calmet) --- Scourge, is not in Hebrew. (Menochius) --- But it explains the meaning of "my hand," (Haydock) or the heavy chastisement (St. Gregory) which I endure. (Menochius)
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 Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv3–6The same wish as in Job 13:3 (compare Heb…
The same wish as in Job 13:3 (compare Heb 10:19-22).
Seat--The idea in the Hebrew is a well-prepared throne (Psa 9:7).
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. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv2, 3, 4, 6First division — THE OBVERSE AND PERSONAL SIDE OF…
First division — THE OBVERSE AND PERSONAL SIDE OF THE MYSTERY OF EVIL — GOD CONDEMNS INNOCENT SUFFERERS.
The resource for calumniated Job would again be to refer the mystery of his lot to God for solution; but He of set purpose hides himself behind the veil of arbitrary will, lest he should be constrained to deal justly with his suffering servant, chap. 23.
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First strophe — Could Job have access to God, he would elaborately prepare, and earnestly present, his case, Job_23:2-5.
2. To-day — Ewald thinks that the controversy was continued for several days. The sublime allusion to the stars; in the address of Eliphaz, points to the night as the time of its delivery. There may have been a considerable interval between the discourse of Eliphaz and the reply of Job. Hence the emphatic גם, “also, or again to-day.”
Bitter — Or, rebellion, for such his friends accounted his complaint. His complaint, he admits, is still rebellious.
My stroke — Literally, my hand, that is, God’s hand. Job (Job_19:21) had spoken before of the hand of God as the source of his affliction. Happy he who can call God’s chastening hand “my hand.” Hitzig and Delitzsch read, My hand lieth heavy upon my groaning, thus rendering על, upon, rather than with the sense of a comparative. Job’s groaning is due to the heavy hand of God. “The hand upon me presseth forth my sighs.” — Stickel.
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 Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv2, 3, 5, 62. The A. V. is almost certainly wrong in…
2. The A. V. is almost certainly wrong in its rendering of this verse, though a more satisfactory rendering is hard to give. The text is probably faulty. Literally tendered according to the usual meaning of the words the verse reads, even to-day is my complaint rebellion, my hand is heavy upon my groaning. The A. V. has assumed, after the Vulgate, that the word usually meaning “rebellion” (mri) is a form of the word “bitter” (mar), or that the latter word should be read. It has also assumed that “my hand” may mean the hand (of God) upon me, i. e. “my stroke.” But this is scarcely possible; “my arrow,” ch. Job_34:6, being no true parallel. Further, it has assumed that the well-known phrase “to be heavy upon,” e.g. Psa_32:4, may mean “to be heavy above,” i. e. heavier than my groaning. This also is scarcely to be believed. On the other hand it is difficult to extract sense from the literal rendering given above. The expression “my complaint is rebellion” may be used from the point of view of the three friends: even to-day (still) is my complaint accounted rebellion, though my hand lies heavy upon my groaning, i. e. represses it; the meaning being, that Job was accounted rebellious by his friends, while in fact his complaint and groaning in no way came up to the terrible weight of his calamities—the same idea as in ch. Job_6:2. Then the following verses proceed to describe the cause he has for complaint. Or the words “my complaint is rebellion” may express Job’s own feeling: “I refuse to submit to my afflictions, or acknowledge that they are just.” In this case the next words: “my hand lies heavy on my groaning” must mean “my hand presses out my groaning in a continual stream.” But this is an extraordinary sense to put on the phrase “to lie heavy upon.” Others, assuming that the text is corrupt, make alterations more or less serious in words, as “His hand” for “my hand” in the second clause. So already the Sept.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv2, 3, 6(2) Even to day.—Or, Still is my complaint bitter…
(2) Even to day.—Or, Still is my complaint bitter or accounted rebellion; yet is my stroke heavier than my groaning: my complaint is no just measure of my suffering.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv2–6HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY Ver. 2. The bitter complaint.
HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY Ver. 2. The bitter complaint.
Job"s comforters have failed. Their many words have not lightened his troubles. On the contrary, they have aggravated them. To external disaster has been added cruel misunderstanding and false accusation. Of all this Job naturally complains most bitterly. Many troubles are softened with time. It is not so with his. The same melancholy despondency, the same cry of agony, the same grievous complaining, are still with him.
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I IT IS NATURAL TO GIVE EXPRESSION TO GRIEF. In the East this is done with great demonstration, and even ostentation. Any extravagance is foolish; self-restraint is certainly more manly than a wild abandonment to sorrow. Yet it is neither necessary nor desirable to suppress all signs of feeling. God, who has made the fountain of tears, cannot require it to be always sealed. There is a relief in the natural expression of sorrow. To hide it in the bosom is to injure the soul. Extreme reserve and self-restraint may lead to insanity. We are more likely to think unjust thoughts of God when we brood over our wrongs in secret than when we venture to give an external expression to them.
II THE GREATEST GRIEF EXCEEDS EXPRESSION. Job feels that this is the case with his sorrow. Bitter as his complaint is, his stroke is heavier than his groaning. We are tempted to exaggerate the smaller troubles of life; but we cannot find adequate expression for the greater ones. They who have never suffered from those troubles cannot understand how keenly they are felt. It is, therefore, unjust to judge of the complaining spirit of other men, as the three friends did of Job"s. On the other hand, inexpressible grief is perfectly understood by God. It is no drawback to his sympathy that men cannot give full expression to their feelings, because he reads the heart.
III THE BITTER COMPLAINT OF GRIEF SHOULD LEAD TO PRAYER. This is the case with Job; and after one brief utterance of his burdened soul, the suffering man turns at once to God (see ver. 2). Then he must do more than give expression to grief. While God listens patiently to the complaints of his suffering children, it is not a worthy thing on their part only to burden him with those complaints. Submission, obedience, and trust should have a part in the utterance to God.
IV NO HUMAN GRIEF CAN EQUAL THAT OF CHRIST"S SORROWS. Job"s sufferings seemed to be unique. But they were fearfully surpassed by what Christ endured. To know that some one has suffered more is not to lighten the present sufferer"s load. On the contrary, this fact only makes the world look the darker and the more miserable. But there are characteristics of Christ"s sufferings that should help other sufferers. He shows us how to bear suffering. More than that, his suffering brings healing to others. "With his stripes we are healed". (Isa_53:5) Thus the sufferer may look for saving deliverance from his own trouble to the Christ who suffered for 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 Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn v6Will He plead against me with His great power?
Job_23:6
Will He plead against me with His great power?
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Jobs confidence in God
The idea of a God of power is common to all religions. Job felt that underneath all the mysteries of life there is a Divine righteousness. When any godly man feels that, he can bear a great deal. It is useless shutting our eyes to the great difficulties there are in human history, and indeed in every individual life. We cannot always say that we feel God to be good and wise; but we know Him to be so; and that is all that is required of our faith.
I. Life in its phases of development. In one sense prophecies must fail. We cannot prophesy, from the career and circumstances of the grown man, what the coming days will bring with them, or how they will affect him. The one matter we are sure of is that God will not plead against the souls that love Him. The immediate exercises of the Divine will in providence are as wisely employed as the mediate ones through natural laws. The future can unfold nothing that is not quite as much the work of Divine goodness as of Divine power.
II. God in His fatherly character. The more we understand our own nature in its nobler aspects, the better should we understand Gods relation to His children. If it were not for our human relationships, how could we understand the relationship of God to us? The parental relation is common to all nations. Will a parent plead against his child? Will the Great Father do what the earthly father will not?
III. God in His almighty character. With His great strength. That is all the more reason that He should be delicate, tender, considerate, and kind. The strength of God, if we meditated upon Him apart from His moral perfections, might lead us to the worship, not of a Father, but of infinite power.
IV. The heart in its emphatic No! An emphatic answer that. There are some things that the heart decides at once, and this is one of them. Has God forgotten to be gracious? Let us answer at once, and No.
V. Life in its hidden springs. He would put strength in me. This is what we want. Not absence of temptation or trial. The springs of life, fed by God, need feeding in proportion to the very strain and exercise of our inner life. The Christian who has to struggle up the Hill Difficulty, and who passes through those experiences that tend to exhaust his forces, has much need of the grace and strength of God.
VI. Life in its past histories. We find this truth in experience as well as in the Bible. The ancestry of godliness is not a vain thing. The spiritual escutcheons of our families have symbols of moral victory in them.
VII. Life in its retributive aspects. Here we come to a positive instead of a negative view of the text. Will God plead against us if we live in sin and guilt, neglectful of Christ, and the great salvation? How can He do otherwise? (W. M. Statham.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv3, 6Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Job continues speaking.
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Oh, that I knew where ... Oh, that I might come
These two lines mean the same thing and emphasize Job's desire to meet with God. (See: Parallelism)
I might find him
"I might find God"
lay my case ... fill my mouth
These two lines mean the same thing and emphasize Job's desire to explain his situation to God. (See: Parallelism)
fill my mouth with arguments
Here "fill my mouth" refers to speaking. AT: "I would speak all of my arguments" (See: Metonymy)
I would learn the words ... would understand
These two lines mean basically the same thing and emphasize Job's desire to hear God's answer. (See: Parallelism)
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv2, 6 He showeth the just cause of his complaining, and…
He showeth the just cause of his complaining, and as touching that Eliphaz had exhorteth him to return to God, Job 22:21, he declareth that he desireth nothing more, but it seemed that God would not be found of him.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv2–6 Job 23:2 Even to day [is] my complaint bitter:…
Job 23:2 Even to day [is] my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.
Ver. 2. Even today is my complaint bitter] q.d. After all mine endeavour to satisfy you, I am still misinterpreted, and accounted by you, my friends, no better than a malcontent and a murmurer against God; albeit my laments do no way equal my torments. True it is that Eliphaz had given him excellent counsel, Job 22:21-22, &c., but it was to flatter him into the same error that he himself held; viz. that bodily and temporal sufferings are a sure sign of a notorious hypocrite. Hence Job never taketh notice of it in this reply; but begins his apology pathetically and abruptly; and soon falls into an appeal to God, the righteous Judge, who well knew (though his friends would take no notice of it) that he complained not without cause; but the contrary.
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My stroke is heavier than my groaning] Most men’s groaning is greater than their strokes or sufferings. Invalidum omne natura querulum est (Senec.). Some are ever whining and growling; their lips, like rusty hinges, move not without murmuring and mutining, yea, they not only creak, but break, as rotten boughs do, if but a little weight be hung upon them; or as some men’s flesh, which if never so little razed with a pin, it presently rankleth and festereth. Job was none of these; if he groaned, as he did (and will they deny him that ease of his dolour? Expletur lachrymis egeriturque dolor. Ovid), there was very great cause for it, since his pressures were greater than could be expressed by any sighs or words.
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 On vv2–6 i.e. Even at this time, notwithstanding all your promises…
i.e. Even at this time, notwithstanding all your promises and pretended consolations, I find no ease or satisfaction in all your discourses; and therefore in this and the following chapters Job seldom applies his discourse to his friends, but only addresseth his speech to God, or bewaileth himself.
Is my complaint bitter, i.e. I do bitterly complain, and have just cause to do so. But this clause is and may be otherwise rendered, Even still (Heb. at this day) is my complaint called or accounted by you rebellion or bitterness, or the rage of an exasperated mind? Do you still pass such harsh censures upon me after all my declarations and solemn protestations of my innocency?
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My stroke, Heb. my hand, passively, i.e. the hand or stroke of God upon me, as the same phrase is used, Psa 77:2; and mine arrow, Job 34:6.
Is heavier than my groaning, i.e. doth exceed all my complaints and expressions; so far are you mistaken, that think I complain more than I have cause. Some render the words thus, my hands are heavy (i.e. feeble and hanging down, as the phrase is, Heb 12:12. My strength and spirit faileth) because of my groaning.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv2–6 O that I knew where I might find him,....…
O that I knew where I might find him,.... That is, God, who is understood, though not expressed, a relative without an antecedent, as in Psa 87:1; Jarchi supplies, and interprets it, "my Judge", from Job 23:7; and certain it is Job did desire to find God as a judge sitting on his throne, doing right, that he might have justice done to him: indeed he might be under the hidings of God's face, which added to his affliction, and made it the heavier; in which case, the people of God are at a loss to know where he is, and "how" to find him, as Mr. Broughton renders the words here; they know that he is everywhere, and fills heaven and earth with his presence; that their God is in the heavens, his throne is there, yea, the heaven is his throne; that he is in his church, and among his people, where they are gathered together in his name, to wait upon him, and to worship him; and that he is to be found in Christ, as a God gracious and merciful; all which Job knew, but might, as they in such circumstances are, be at a loss how to come at sensible communion with him; for, when he hides his face, who can behold him? yet they cannot content themselves without seeking after him, and making use of all means of finding him, as Job did, Job 23:8; see Sol 3:1;
that I might come even to his seat; either his mercy seat, from whence he communes with his people, the throne of his grace, where he sits as the God of grace, dispensing his grace to his people, to help them in time of need; the way to which is Christ, and in which all believers may come to it with boldness, in his name, through his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice; they may come up even to it, in the exercise of faith and hope, though the distance is great, as between heaven and earth, yet by faith they can come into the holiest of all, and by hope enter within the vail; and though the difficulties and discouragements are many, arising from their sins and transgressions: or else his judgment seat, at which no man can appear and stand, without a righteousness, or without a better than his own, by which none can be justified in the sight of God; who, if strict to mark iniquity, the best of men cannot stand before him, at his bar of justice; indeed, in the righteousness of Christ, a believer may come up to the judgment seat of God, and to him as Judge of all, and not be afraid, but stand before him with confidence, since that is sufficient to answer for him, and fully acquit him: but Job here seems to have a peculiar respect to his case, in controversy between him and his friends, and is so fully assured of the justness of his cause, and relying on his innocence, he wishes for nothing more than that he could find God sitting on a throne of justice, before whom his cause might be brought and heard, not doubting in the least but that he should be acquitted; so far was he from hiding himself from God, or pleasing himself with the thoughts that God was in the height of heaven, and knew nothing of him and his conduct, and could not judge through the dark clouds, which were a covering to him, that he could not see him; that he was not afraid to appear before him, and come up even to his seat, if he knew but where and how he could; see Job 22:12.
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 On vv2, 3, 5, 6 Today - Even at this time, notwithstanding all your…
Today - Even at this time, notwithstanding all your pretended consolations. Stroke - The hand or stroke of God upon me. Groaning - Doth exceed my complaints.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 5, 6 Verse 2. Even to-day is my complaint bitter] Job…
Verse 2. Even to-day is my complaint bitter] Job goes on to maintain his own innocence, and shows that he has derived neither conviction nor consolation from the discourses of his friends. He grants that his complaint is bitter; but states that, loud as it may be, the affliction which he endures is heavier than his complaints are loud.
Mr. Good translates: "And still is my complaint rebellion?" Do ye construe my lamentations over my unparalleled sufferings as rebellion against God? This, in fact, they had done from the beginning: and the original will justify the version of Mr. Good; for מרי meri, which we translate bitter, may be derived from מרה marah, "he rebelled."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 6 Job 23:2. Even to-day is my complaint bitter —…
Job 23:2. Even to-day is my complaint bitter — Even at this time notwithstanding all your promises and pretended consolations. For your discourses give me neither relief nor satisfaction. Hence in this and the following chapter Job seldom applies his discourse to his friends, but either addresses his speech to God, or bewails his misery. My stroke is heavier than my groaning — The hand or stroke of God upon me exceeds my complaints.
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 On vv2–6 Even to-day - At the present time. I am…
Even to-day - At the present time. I am not relieved. You afford me no consolation. All that you say only aggravates my woes.
My complaint - See the notes at Job 21:3.
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Bitter - Sad, melancholy, distressing. The meaning is, not that he made bitter complaints in the sense which those words would naturally convey, or that he meant to find fault with God, but that his case was a hard one. His friends furnished him no relief, and he had in vain endeavored to bring his cause before God. This is now, as he proceeds to state, the principal cause of his difficulty. He knows not where to find God; he cannot get his cause before him.
My stroke - Margin, as in Hebrew “hand;” that is, the hand that is upon me, or the calamity that is inflicted upon me. The hand is represented as the instrument of inflicting punishment, or causing affliction; see the notes at Job 19:21.
Heavier than my groaning - My sighs bear no proportion to my sufferings. They are no adequate expression of my woes. If you think I complain; if I am heard to groan, yet the sufferings which I endure are far beyond what these would secm to indicate. Sighs and groans are not improper. They are prompted by nature, and they furnish “some” relief to a sufferer. But they should not be:
(1) with a spirit of murmuring or complaining;
(2) they should not be beyond what our sufferings demand, or the proper expression of our sufferings. They should not be such as to lead others to suppose we suffer more than we actually do.
(3) they should - when they are extorted from us by the severity of suffering - lead us go look to that world where no groan will ever be heard.
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 On vv2, 6 Bitterness. Instead of comfort, he only meets with insult…
Bitterness. Instead of comfort, he only meets with insult from his friends. He therefore appeals to God, (Worthington) but with fear. (Calmet) --- Scourge, is not in Hebrew. (Menochius) --- But it explains the meaning of "my hand," (Haydock) or the heavy chastisement (St. Gregory) which I endure. (Menochius)
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 On vv3–6 The same wish as in Job 13:3 (compare Heb…
The same wish as in Job 13:3 (compare Heb 10:19-22).
Seat--The idea in the Hebrew is a well-prepared throne (Psa 9:7).
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 On vv2, 3, 4, 6 First division — THE OBVERSE AND PERSONAL SIDE OF…
First division — THE OBVERSE AND PERSONAL SIDE OF THE MYSTERY OF EVIL — GOD CONDEMNS INNOCENT SUFFERERS.
The resource for calumniated Job would again be to refer the mystery of his lot to God for solution; but He of set purpose hides himself behind the veil of arbitrary will, lest he should be constrained to deal justly with his suffering servant, chap. 23.
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First strophe — Could Job have access to God, he would elaborately prepare, and earnestly present, his case, Job_23:2-5.
2. To-day — Ewald thinks that the controversy was continued for several days. The sublime allusion to the stars; in the address of Eliphaz, points to the night as the time of its delivery. There may have been a considerable interval between the discourse of Eliphaz and the reply of Job. Hence the emphatic גם, “also, or again to-day.”
Bitter — Or, rebellion, for such his friends accounted his complaint. His complaint, he admits, is still rebellious.
My stroke — Literally, my hand, that is, God’s hand. Job (Job_19:21) had spoken before of the hand of God as the source of his affliction. Happy he who can call God’s chastening hand “my hand.” Hitzig and Delitzsch read, My hand lieth heavy upon my groaning, thus rendering על, upon, rather than with the sense of a comparative. Job’s groaning is due to the heavy hand of God. “The hand upon me presseth forth my sighs.” — Stickel.
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 On vv2, 3, 5, 6 2. The A. V. is almost certainly wrong in…
2. The A. V. is almost certainly wrong in its rendering of this verse, though a more satisfactory rendering is hard to give. The text is probably faulty. Literally tendered according to the usual meaning of the words the verse reads, even to-day is my complaint rebellion, my hand is heavy upon my groaning. The A. V. has assumed, after the Vulgate, that the word usually meaning “rebellion” (mri) is a form of the word “bitter” (mar), or that the latter word should be read. It has also assumed that “my hand” may mean the hand (of God) upon me, i. e. “my stroke.” But this is scarcely possible; “my arrow,” ch. Job_34:6, being no true parallel. Further, it has assumed that the well-known phrase “to be heavy upon,” e.g. Psa_32:4, may mean “to be heavy above,” i. e. heavier than my groaning. This also is scarcely to be believed. On the other hand it is difficult to extract sense from the literal rendering given above. The expression “my complaint is rebellion” may be used from the point of view of the three friends: even to-day (still) is my complaint accounted rebellion, though my hand lies heavy upon my groaning, i. e. represses it; the meaning being, that Job was accounted rebellious by his friends, while in fact his complaint and groaning in no way came up to the terrible weight of his calamities—the same idea as in ch. Job_6:2. Then the following verses proceed to describe the cause he has for complaint. Or the words “my complaint is rebellion” may express Job’s own feeling: “I refuse to submit to my afflictions, or acknowledge that they are just.” In this case the next words: “my hand lies heavy on my groaning” must mean “my hand presses out my groaning in a continual stream.” But this is an extraordinary sense to put on the phrase “to lie heavy upon.” Others, assuming that the text is corrupt, make alterations more or less serious in words, as “His hand” for “my hand” in the second clause. So already the Sept.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 6 (2) Even to day.—Or, Still is my complaint bitter…
(2) Even to day.—Or, Still is my complaint bitter or accounted rebellion; yet is my stroke heavier than my groaning: my complaint is no just measure of my suffering.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv2–6 HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY Ver. 2. The bitter complaint.
HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY Ver. 2. The bitter complaint.
Job"s comforters have failed. Their many words have not lightened his troubles. On the contrary, they have aggravated them. To external disaster has been added cruel misunderstanding and false accusation. Of all this Job naturally complains most bitterly. Many troubles are softened with time. It is not so with his. The same melancholy despondency, the same cry of agony, the same grievous complaining, are still with him.
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I IT IS NATURAL TO GIVE EXPRESSION TO GRIEF. In the East this is done with great demonstration, and even ostentation. Any extravagance is foolish; self-restraint is certainly more manly than a wild abandonment to sorrow. Yet it is neither necessary nor desirable to suppress all signs of feeling. God, who has made the fountain of tears, cannot require it to be always sealed. There is a relief in the natural expression of sorrow. To hide it in the bosom is to injure the soul. Extreme reserve and self-restraint may lead to insanity. We are more likely to think unjust thoughts of God when we brood over our wrongs in secret than when we venture to give an external expression to them.
II THE GREATEST GRIEF EXCEEDS EXPRESSION. Job feels that this is the case with his sorrow. Bitter as his complaint is, his stroke is heavier than his groaning. We are tempted to exaggerate the smaller troubles of life; but we cannot find adequate expression for the greater ones. They who have never suffered from those troubles cannot understand how keenly they are felt. It is, therefore, unjust to judge of the complaining spirit of other men, as the three friends did of Job"s. On the other hand, inexpressible grief is perfectly understood by God. It is no drawback to his sympathy that men cannot give full expression to their feelings, because he reads the heart.
III THE BITTER COMPLAINT OF GRIEF SHOULD LEAD TO PRAYER. This is the case with Job; and after one brief utterance of his burdened soul, the suffering man turns at once to God (see ver. 2). Then he must do more than give expression to grief. While God listens patiently to the complaints of his suffering children, it is not a worthy thing on their part only to burden him with those complaints. Submission, obedience, and trust should have a part in the utterance to God.
IV NO HUMAN GRIEF CAN EQUAL THAT OF CHRIST"S SORROWS. Job"s sufferings seemed to be unique. But they were fearfully surpassed by what Christ endured. To know that some one has suffered more is not to lighten the present sufferer"s load. On the contrary, this fact only makes the world look the darker and the more miserable. But there are characteristics of Christ"s sufferings that should help other sufferers. He shows us how to bear suffering. More than that, his suffering brings healing to others. "With his stripes we are healed". (Isa_53:5) Thus the sufferer may look for saving deliverance from his own trouble to the Christ who suffered for 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 On v6 Will He plead against me with His great power?
Job_23:6
Will He plead against me with His great power?
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Jobs confidence in God
The idea of a God of power is common to all religions. Job felt that underneath all the mysteries of life there is a Divine righteousness. When any godly man feels that, he can bear a great deal. It is useless shutting our eyes to the great difficulties there are in human history, and indeed in every individual life. We cannot always say that we feel God to be good and wise; but we know Him to be so; and that is all that is required of our faith.
I. Life in its phases of development. In one sense prophecies must fail. We cannot prophesy, from the career and circumstances of the grown man, what the coming days will bring with them, or how they will affect him. The one matter we are sure of is that God will not plead against the souls that love Him. The immediate exercises of the Divine will in providence are as wisely employed as the mediate ones through natural laws. The future can unfold nothing that is not quite as much the work of Divine goodness as of Divine power.
II. God in His fatherly character. The more we understand our own nature in its nobler aspects, the better should we understand Gods relation to His children. If it were not for our human relationships, how could we understand the relationship of God to us? The parental relation is common to all nations. Will a parent plead against his child? Will the Great Father do what the earthly father will not?
III. God in His almighty character. With His great strength. That is all the more reason that He should be delicate, tender, considerate, and kind. The strength of God, if we meditated upon Him apart from His moral perfections, might lead us to the worship, not of a Father, but of infinite power.
IV. The heart in its emphatic No! An emphatic answer that. There are some things that the heart decides at once, and this is one of them. Has God forgotten to be gracious? Let us answer at once, and No.
V. Life in its hidden springs. He would put strength in me. This is what we want. Not absence of temptation or trial. The springs of life, fed by God, need feeding in proportion to the very strain and exercise of our inner life. The Christian who has to struggle up the Hill Difficulty, and who passes through those experiences that tend to exhaust his forces, has much need of the grace and strength of God.
VI. Life in its past histories. We find this truth in experience as well as in the Bible. The ancestry of godliness is not a vain thing. The spiritual escutcheons of our families have symbols of moral victory in them.
VII. Life in its retributive aspects. Here we come to a positive instead of a negative view of the text. Will God plead against us if we live in sin and guilt, neglectful of Christ, and the great salvation? How can He do otherwise? (W. M. Statham.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv3, 6 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Job continues speaking.
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Oh, that I knew where ... Oh, that I might come
These two lines mean the same thing and emphasize Job's desire to meet with God. (See: Parallelism)
I might find him
"I might find God"
lay my case ... fill my mouth
These two lines mean the same thing and emphasize Job's desire to explain his situation to God. (See: Parallelism)
fill my mouth with arguments
Here "fill my mouth" refers to speaking. AT: "I would speak all of my arguments" (See: Metonymy)
I would learn the words ... would understand
These two lines mean basically the same thing and emphasize Job's desire to hear God's answer. (See: Parallelism)
the words with which he would answer me
"the answer that he would give me"
translationWords
word
understand
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 On vv2, 4, 6 23:2 Job dropped the doubt he had expressed earlier…
23:2 Job dropped the doubt he had expressed earlier (9:14-20, 32) and here expressed confidence that he could successfully present his complaint.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.