King James Version
Job 26
14 verses with commentary
Job's Reply: God's Power and Wisdom
But Job answered and said,
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>But Job answered and said</strong>—This narrative introduction marks Job's response to Bildad's third speech (chapter 25), the friends' final attempt to convince Job of hidden sin. The Hebrew <em>anah</em> (עָנָה, answered) often introduces judicial responses or solemn declarations. Job's reply demonstrates his rhetorical skill and theological depth, soon launching into one of Scripture's ...
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XXVI.
(1) **Then answered Job.**—Job himself has virtually said much the same as Bildad (Job 9:2; Job 14:4), so he makes no further comment on his remarks here, but merely asks how he has helped him thereby, or others like him in a weak and helpless condition.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**28. be content--**rather, "be pleased to"--look. Since you have so falsely judged my words, look upon me, that is, upon my countenance: for (it is evident before your faces) if I lie; my countenance will betray me, if I be the hypocrite that you suppose.
How hast thou helped him that is without power? how savest thou the arm that hath no strength?
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Job's sarcastic response: 'How hast thou helped him that is without power? how savest thou the arm that hath no strength?' This mocks the friends' useless counsel. Their words provide no actual help to one truly powerless and weak. Theology that doesn't comfort fails its purpose.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**29. Return--**rather, "retract" your charges:
**let it not be iniquity--**that is, (retract) that injustice may not be done me. Yea retract, "my righteousness is in it"; that is, my right is involved in this matter.
How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom? and how hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is?
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<strong>How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom?</strong>—Job's sarcasm is biting. The verb <em>ya'ats</em> (יָעַץ, counselled) means to advise or plan, while <em>lo-chokmah</em> (לֹא־חָכְמָה) literally means 'no wisdom.' Job ironically thanks Bildad for counseling the 'unwise one'—himself, according to the friends' diagnosis. <strong>How hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is?...
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(3) **The thing as it is?**—Rather, How hast thou plentifully declared sound knowledge?
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
30. Will you say that my guilt lies in the organ of speech, and will you call it to account? or, Is it that my taste (palate) or discernment is not capable to form a judgment of perverse things? Is it thus you will explain the fact of my having no consciousness of guilt? [Umbreit].
To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee?
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Job challenges his friends with biting irony: "To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee?" The interrogative construction demands identification of the source of their wisdom. Job implies their words lack divine inspiration—they speak from human prejudice, not heavenly revelation. The phrase "whose spirit" (<em>ruach-mi</em>, רוּחַ־מִי) asks whether the Holy Spirit truly ani...
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(4*)* **To whom.**—That is, “Is it not to one who had said the same thing himself? Was it not my own breath, my own teaching, that came forth from you?” He then proceeds to show that it is not only the starry heavens that declare the glory of God, but the under world likewise, and the universe generally.
Dead things are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof. and the: or, with the inhabitants
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Job describes the cosmic reach of God's power: "Dead things are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof." The Hebrew <em>rapha'im</em> (רְפָאִים, "dead things") refers to the shades of the dead, spirits in Sheol. The verb <em>chul</em> (חוּל, "formed") means to writhe, tremble, or be in anguish. Job portrays even the realm of death trembling before God's power. This theological i...
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(5) **Dead things are formed.**—The Hebrew word is *the Rephaim, *who were among the aboriginal inhabitants of the south of Palestine and the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea, and it is used to express the dead and the inhabitants of the nether world generally. The word rendered *are formed *probably means either *are pierced *or *tremble: ***that is, they are **pierced through with terror, or they t...
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CHAPTER 7 Job 7:1-21. Job Excuses His Desire for Death.
**1. appointed time--**better, "a warfare," hard conflict with evil (so in Is 40:2; Da 10:1). Translate it "appointed time" (Job 14:14). Job reverts to the sad picture of man, however great, which he had drawn (Job 3:14), and details in this chapter the miseries which his friends will see, if, according to his request (Job 6:28), they will l...
Read full commentary →Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.
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<strong>Hell is naked before him</strong>—The Hebrew <em>Sheol</em> (שְׁאוֹל), here translated 'hell,' refers to the realm of the dead, the underworld where departed spirits go. <em>Arom</em> (עָרוֹם, naked) means exposed, bare, without covering—total vulnerability before divine omniscience. <strong>Destruction hath no covering</strong> uses <em>Abaddon</em> (אֲבַדּוֹן), the place of destruction o...
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**2. earnestly desireth--**Hebrew, "pants for the [evening] shadow." Easterners measure time by the length of their shadow. If the servant longs for the evening when his wages are paid, why may not Job long for the close of his hard service, when he shall enter on his "reward?" This proves that Job did not, as many maintain, regard the grave as a mere sleep.
**3.--**Months of comfortless misfort...
Read full commentary →He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.
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Job declares: 'He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.' The verb natah (נָטָה, stretcheth) means to spread out or extend. Tsaphon (צָפוֹן, north) may refer to the northern sky or celestial regions. Tohu (תֹהוּ, empty place) means emptiness or formless void—the same word in Genesis 1:2. The phrase 'hangeth the earth upon nothing' (toleh eretz al-belimah...
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(7) **He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.**—If these words mean what they seem to do—and it is hard to see how they can mean anything else—then they furnish a very remarkable instance of anticipation of the discoveries of science. Here we find Job, more than three thousand years ago, describing in language of scientific accuracy the condition of ou...
Read full commentary →He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.
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Job marvels at God's power: "He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them." The verb <em>tsarar</em> (צָרַר, "bindeth up") means to wrap or bind securely. The noun <em>av</em> (עָב, "thick clouds") denotes dense cloud masses. Despite containing massive water weight, clouds don't burst (<em>baqa</em>, בָּקַע, "rent"). Job observes meteorological wonder revealin...
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(8) **He bindeth up the waters.**—The idea of the waters being bound up in the clouds, so that the clouds are not rent thereby, is similar to that in Genesis 1:7. The conception is that of a vast treasury of water above the visible sky, which is kept there in apparent defiance of what we know as the laws of gravitation, and which all experience would show was liable to fall of itself.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
4. Literally, "When shall be the flight of the night?" [Gesenius]. Umbreit, not so well, "The night is long extended"; literally, "measured out" (so Margin).
He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it.
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<strong>He holdeth back the face of his throne</strong>—The verb <em>achaz</em> (אָחַז) means to grasp, seize, or restrain, while <em>pene kise</em> (פְּנֵי כִסֵּא) literally means 'the face of [his] throne.' Job describes God veiling His throne's glory from human sight. <strong>And spreadeth his cloud upon it</strong> uses <em>parshez</em> (פַּרְשֶׁז, spreading) with <em>anan</em> (עָנָן, cloud),...
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(9) **He holdeth back the face.**—Or, *covereth the face of his throne in the heavens, spreading his rack of cloud upon it.*
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
5. In elephantiasis maggots are bred in the sores (Ac 12:23; Is 14:11).
**clods of dust--**rather, a crust of dried filth and accumulated corruption (Job 2:7, 8).
**my skin is broken and ... loathsome--**rather, comes together so as to heal up, and again breaks out with running matter [Gesenius]. More simply the Hebrew is, "My skin rests (for a time) and (again) melts away" (Psa 58:7).
He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end. until: Heb. until the end of light with darkness
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Job declares God "hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end." The verb <em>chaq</em> (חָק, "compassed") means to inscribe or decree a boundary. God has set limits (<em>choq</em>, חֹק) upon the waters—the same word used for divine statutes and laws. This poetic description recalls Genesis 1:9 where God gathered waters into one place, and Jeremiah 5:22 where God s...
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(10) **He hath compassed the waters with bounds.**—Rather, *He hath described a circle upon the face of the waters, unto the confines of light and darkness. *The phenomenon described is that of the horizon at sea, which is a perfect circle, and which is the limit apparently of light, and beyond which is darkness, for all is invisible.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
6. (Is 38:12). Every day like the weaver's shuttle leaves a thread behind; and each shall wear, as he weaves. But Job's thought is that his days must swiftly be cut off as a web;
**without hope--**namely, of a recovery and renewal of life (Job 14:19; 1Ch 29:15).
The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof</strong> (עַמּוּדֵי שָׁמַיִם יְרוֹפָפוּ וְיִתְמְהוּ מִגַּעֲרָתוֹ). Job concludes his cosmological hymn with vertical imagery—after describing God's power over earth and sea, he ascends to the celestial realm. <em>Ammudei shamayim</em> (pillars of heaven) likely refers to mountains conceived as supporting the sky-dome, a common...
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(11) **The pillars **of **heaven tremble.**—The phenomenon of storm and tempest is alluded to.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
7. Address to God.
**Wind--**a picture of evanescence (Psa 78:39).
**shall no more see--**rather, "shall no more return to see good." This change from the different wish in Job 3:17, &c., is most true to nature. He is now in a softer mood; a beam from former days of prosperity falling upon memory and the thought of the unseen world, where one is seen no more (Job 7:8), drew from him an exp...
Read full commentary →He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud. the proud: Heb. pride
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<strong>He divideth the sea with his power</strong> (בְּכֹחוֹ רָגַע הַיָּם)—the verb <em>raga</em> (רָגַע) means to stir up, disturb, or still, implying sovereign control over chaos waters. This echoes creation (Genesis 1:2) and Exodus (14:21), establishing God's authority over cosmic and historical chaos. <em>Koach</em> (כֹּחַ, power/strength) emphasizes raw divine might.<br><br><strong>By his un...
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(12) **He divideth the sea.**—The word is taken in the two opposite senses of *stirring up *and *calming; *perhaps the latter is more appropriate to the context, which seems to speak of God’s *mastery *over nature.
**By his understanding he smiteth through the proud.**—Literally, *Rahab, *which certainly is at times a name for Egypt (see Isaiah 51:9, *e.g.*)*, *and which, if used in that sense her...
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8. The eye of him who beholds me (present, not past), that is, in the very act of beholding me, seeth me no more.
**Thine eyes are upon me, and I am not--**He disappears, even while God is looking upon him. Job cannot survive the gaze of Jehovah (Psa 104:32; Re 20:11). Not, "Thine eyes seek me and I am not to be found"; for God's eye penetrates even to the unseen world (Psa 139:8). Umbreit unnat...
Read full commentary →By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.
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Job praises God's creative power: 'By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.' This acknowledges divine sovereignty over chaos (the serpent/Leviathan). Even while questioning God's providence, Job affirms His cosmic authority.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **The crooked serpent.**—By this expression is doubtless meant the forked lightning-flash, though it is difficult to determine whether any, or what mythological ideas may underlie the expression, or whether it is anything more than a figure derived from the natural world, which suggested the similitude of the flying serpent. Others understand by it the constellation of the Northern Dragon, to...
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9. (2Sa 12:23).
**the grave--**the Sheol, or place of departed spirits, not disproving Job's belief in the resurrection. It merely means, "He shall come up no more" in the present order of things.
Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?
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Job concludes: 'Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?' The phrase 'parts of his ways' (qetsot derakhav, קְצוֹת דְּרָכָיו) uses qetsot meaning 'edges' or 'extremities'—we perceive only the fringes of God's works. The word shemets (שֶׁמֶץ, portion) means a whisper or faint sound. Ra'am (רַעַם, thunder) suggests ove...
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(14) **These are parts.**—Literally, *ends*—just the merest outskirts. For “is heard” we may render *do we hear; *and for “the thunder of His power,” *the thunder of His mighty deeds. *We can only hear the faintest whisper of His glory, and cannot understand or endure the full-toned thunder of His majesty. Here, then, is Job’s final reply to the arguments of his friends. He shows himself even more...
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10. (Psa 103:16). The Oriental keenly loves his dwelling. In Arabian elegies the desertion of abodes by their occupants is often a theme of sorrow. Grace overcomes this also (Lu 18:29; Ac 4:34).