If you have anything to say, answer me. Speak, for I desire to justify you.
Parallel Translations
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If you have anything to say, answer me. Speak, for I desire to justify you.
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If thou hast any thing to say, answer me: speak, for I desire to justify thee.
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If thou hast any thing to say, answer me; speak, for I desire to justify thee.
Cross-references (4)
Passages linked to Job 33:32 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Job 15:4-5 Yes, you do away with fear, and hinder devotion before God. For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty.
- Job 21:27 “Behold, I know your thoughts, the plans with which you would wrong me.
- Job 22:5-9 Isn’t your wickedness great? Neither is there any end to your iniquities. For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing. You haven’t given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry. But as for the mighty man, he had the earth. The honorable man, he lived in it. You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
- Job 27:5 Far be it from me that I should justify you. Until I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain If thou doubt of anything, or see occasion to…
If thou doubt of anything, or see occasion to speak against it.
That is, to show thee, wherein man’s justification consisteth.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 33:32 If thou hast any thing to say,…
Job 33:32 If thou hast any thing to say, answer me: speak, for I desire to justify thee.
Ver. 32. If thou hast anything to say, answer me] Heb. If thou hast words, yet not empty words, but such as may bear weight, and make for thy defence. Some men’s discourses are nothing else but words. Hermodorus of old was said to sell words for want of better commodities. Dογους εμπορευεται Eσυοδωπος. Erasmus was noted for a very wordy man, Verba habet sine rebus Erasmus. Turrian for a great trifler, Cornicutas citius in Africa, quam res rationesque solidas in eius scriptis reperias, saith one. Elihu would have no such words, nor any wise man else; for they are very irksome, yea, vexatious.
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Speak, for I desire to justify thee] Not to condemn thee, as these three have done; but to hear thee and clear thee as much as may be. This was fair dealing. Some are so eristical and testy, that they will not hear the adverse party, or bear with any that dissent; as the Jesuits, many fierce Lutherans, yea, Luther himself, as appeareth by his bitter invectives against Carolostadius, Zuinglius, all the Helvetian Churches, that would not receive the doctrine of consubstantiation. Tantaene animis coelestibus irae? He would not once hear the contrary party, nor read their books, but called them arch devils, and all that ever was naught, as he doth in his Epistle to the Senate of Frankfort.
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 If thou hast any thing to say for thy…
If thou hast any thing to say for thy own justification, or in answer to the charge that I have already brought against thee.
I desire to justify thee, to wit, as far as may consist with truth and justice. I do not speak with evil design, or a bitter mind, or as one resolved to condemn thee whatsoever thou sayest, and I shall be glad to hear any thing from thee which may make for thy just vindication.
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 If thou hast anything to say, answer me,.... Any…
If thou hast anything to say, answer me,.... Any thing to object to what he had delivered, or any answer to return to what he had charged him with:
speak, for I desire to justify thee. Elihu was a fair antagonist, and gave free liberty, time and space, to make whatsoever reply he thought fit, and which he should patiently and attentively hear: his view was not victory, but that truth might come out, and take place and prevail, having nothing more at heart than Job's good; and could wish it would appear that he was in all respects a just man, and even in that in which he thought he was not just; but could he fairly acquit himself it would be a pleasure to him.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 32. If thou hast any thing to say]…
Verse 32. If thou hast any thing to say] If thou hast any objection to make against what I have already stated, now answer, now speak freely; for it is my desire that thou shouldst stand clear of all charges.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain If thou hast anything to say, answer me -…
If thou hast anything to say, answer me - In the previous verse, Elihu had asked that Job would hear all that he had to say. Yet here, in view of what he had said, he asks of him that if there were any thing from which he dissented, he would now express his dissent. We may suppose that he paused at this part of his speech, and as what he had said related particularly to Job, he felt that it was proper that he should have an opportunity to reply.
For I desire to justify thee - I would do you justice. I would not pervert what you have said, or attribute to you any wrong opinions or any improper motives Perhaps there may be included also a wish to vindicate him, if he possibly could. He did not desire to dispute for the sake of disputing, or to blame him if he could avoid it, but his aim was the truth; and if he could, he wished to vindicate the character of Job from the aspersions which had been cast upon it.
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 Just, and to be so indeed. (Menochius) --- How…
Just, and to be so indeed. (Menochius) --- How much would his vanity be mortified, when Job answered him only with silence! (Haydock) though he urged him to reply so often. (Worthington)
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 justify--to do thee justice; and, if I can, consistently…
justify--to do thee justice; and, if I can, consistently with it, to declare thee innocent. At Job 33:33 Elihu pauses for a reply; then proceeds in Job 34:1.
Next: Job Chapter 34
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 32. If not, hearken unto me — Job maintains…
32. If not, hearken unto me — Job maintains silence, and thus tacitly admits his own dereliction and the reasonableness of Elihu’s views. The kind appeals of Elihu are sunlight to the heart, and melt while they enlighten. Here we may fix the beginning of Job’s repentance.
EXCURSUS No. VII.
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THE ANGEL MEDIATOR.
Some of the profoundest Biblical scholars, among whom may be mentioned Michaelis and Velthusen, look upon this, together with other passages in the book of Job, as relics of a primeval revelation, primitive oracles which have perished, except the few excerpta or fragments which still remain imbedded in this book and in Genesis. The pre-eminently great commentator upon this book, Schultens, gives it as his judgment that the Angel of the Covenant, the Messiah, is the person here described; and he alleges, (as summed up by J. Pye Smith, Scrip. Test., 1:497,) (1) the correspondence of the titles; (2) the suitableness of the descriptions; (3) the affinity with Job_19:25; (4) the scope and argument of the passage as determining reasons for his opinion. (Com. in Jobum. 2:918.) Had the word מלאךְ (malak) been rendered angel, as in the old versions instead of messenger, the sense would have been more clear. To this angel is assigned an office that plainly distinguishes him from other angels. It is that of interpreter, מליצ, melits, (see note on Job_16:20; Job_17:3,) which, according to Gesenius, Furst, etc., might have been translated also Intercessor or Mediator — for all these interpretations are justified by the root louts. Jewish prayers show that this Interpreter was always identified in their minds with the expected Redeemer of Israel, as in the following prayer: “Raise up for us the righteous interpreter — say I have found a ransom.” The whole passage in Job is quoted (says Canon Cook, in loc., who cites Wunsche) at the sacrifice offered still in many countries of Europe on the eve of the great day of atonement. The master of each house, as he recites these words, strikes his head three times with a cock he has meanwhile been holding in his hands, saying at each stroke, “Let this cock be a commutation for me: let him be substituted in my place: let him be an atonement for me: let this cock be put to death: but let a fortunate life be vouchsafed to me and all Israel.” For further particulars see “Allen’s Modern Judaism,” p. 393. Jewish faith has ever held most tenaciously to the conviction that the Angel Interpreter and the Messiah are one. His pre-eminence is strikingly set forth by the expression, “one out of a thousand,” (Son_5:10; Psa_45:2,) by which Elihu means to convey, not oneness of nature with the angels, but superiority of being. Had Elihu been a Jew, we would naturally suppose he meant the ANGEL OF JEHOVAH, of whose appearances on earth, even in patriarchal times, abundant traces remain, attesting a depth of affection for man that led him often to self-disclosure, thus anticipating his advent as “God manifest in the flesh.” “The angel of Jehovah of primeval history,” says Delitzsch, “is the oldest prefigurement in the history of redemption of the future incarnation, without which the Old Testament history would be a confused quod libet of premises and radii, without a conclusion and a centre; and the angelic form is accordingly the oldest form which the hope of a deliverer assumes, and to which it recurs, in conformity to the law of the circular connexion between the beginning and the end in Mal_3:1.” (See M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyc., 4:534.)
The probable descent of Elihu from a collateral branch of the family of Abraham renders it not improbable that he possessed the patriarchal knowledge of this strange superhuman being who called himself God, and who was worshipped as God. The extreme exposure — that of death and the pit — (of which the context speaks,) a juncture where human and angelic help are useless, demands divine interposition. The office of this Angel Mediator is not alone to make known the will of a superior — his conditions of deliverance — but to be an agent or mediator of that deliverance. With great assurance Zockler (in Lange, p. 564) assumes it to be “certain that the mediatorial angel of salvation is put essentially on an equality with the angel of disease and death mentioned just before, [but] not exalted above him,” and compares Job_33:22 b, with Mat_8:9, and parallel passages. Zockler seems to overlook the striking resemblance between the relation this Angel Intercessor bears to “the destroyers,” and that borne by the “Captain of our salvation “to him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. Heb_2:14. With Elihu the province of this mighty Angel is twofold — to rescue dying man from fearful superhuman beings — “the slayers” — and to save him from the more darkly adumbrated doom of going down into the pit. With the apostle the mission of the great Mediator is substantially the same, but more fully disclosed. The oneness of the mission — though there be the interval of many centuries — points to oneness of being, In both cases it means deliverance — deliverance in a field and from dangers in the presence of which human prowess and power can accomplish nothing.
Elihu claims to have spoken by special inspiration. Although, as an Aramean, he might be outside of Israel, he was signally honoured (as is plain throughout the whole address) as an organ for the communication of divine truth. On the other hand, overlooking the fact that Job and his book are altogether extra Israel, some rationalizing commentators are disposed, because of its Aramaic origin, to count this wonderful revelation through Elihu with the many sage vaticinia of the heathen world; one of which, from Sophocles, (OEdipus Coloneus,) Zockler cites: One soul, in my opinion, for ten thousand, will suffice to make atonement, if with kindly feelings it draws nigh.
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 32. to justify thee] Elihu could not say that…
32. to justify thee] Elihu could not say that he desired to justify Job in his plea against God; the words must refer to the cause between Job and himself. Elihu would be glad if Job could give such a reply to his arguments that he could say he thought him in the right. The words seem to imply little more than the speaker’s desire to be fair, and to conduct the argument on equal terms with Job; comp. Job_33:6-7.
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 (32) I desire to justify thee.—He wishes to justify…
(32) I desire to justify thee.—He wishes to justify Job before his friends, that is, to maintain that his afflictions are not on account of past sin, but as a preservative against possible future defection. This being so, he considers that Job’s case may justly be defended, and Job himself vindicated against his friends.
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 If thou hast anything to say, answer me. Nevertheless,…
If thou hast anything to say, answer me. Nevertheless, i.e. , if there is really anything that thou wouldst fain urge on thine own behalf at this point, speak I am ready to hear for I dare to justify thee; i.e. "I am anxious, if possible, or so far as possible, to defend and justify thy conduct." Then, probably, Elihu made a pause, to allow of Job"s speaking; but, as the patriarch kept silence, he continued.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 33:32 For Elihu to say that he was anxious…
33:32 For Elihu to say that he was anxious to see Job justified sounds ironic; he had entered the discussion in the first place “because Job refused to admit that he had sinned” (32:1-5).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.