Job 14

3 dost Thou open Thine eyes. That is, observe or watch closely, so as to bring to account.

4. Who can bring, etc.? As, then, perfection of character is impossible, the source being polluted, why should God be strict in judgement?

9 the scent of water. The plant is represented as inhaling the vital influence from the water.

11. As the waters fail from the sea. The term “sea” is applied, in the Hebrew Scriptures, to the Lake of Tiberias, the Dead Sea, and the flooding rivers Nile and Euphrates. The figure here used is peculiarly applicable to inland waters in the parched countries of the East. For “flood,” read “river,” as R.V.

12. Till the heavens be no more. Evidently meaning, they shall never appear again on earth. The form of words appears to indicate a belief in the general resurrection (see xix. 23-27). For when “the heavens are no more,” the dead shall live. Cp. note on ver. 14.

13 the grave. Heb., “Sheol.” The language is that of earnest longing for a second life, with at least the hope that there may be a happy deliverance from the “under-world.”

14 my appointed time. Rather, “my warfare.” Job here likens his condition in Sheol to that of a soldier on duty, waiting to be relieved from his post.

will I wait, etc. Rather, “would I wait,” if this were so.

15. Thou shalt call, etc. Rather, “Thou shouldest call, and I would answer Thee,” etc., as R.V.

16. For now. Or, “But now,” as R.V.

17 sealed up in a bag. See note on ix. 7, and 2 Kings xii. 10. The sense is, that Job’s sins were accurately estimated, so that none might be omitted in the reckoning.

18 surely the mountain falling, etc. This dissolution of what is firmest and most solid in Nature is illustrative of the transiency of human strength and hope (ver. 19). “So Thou destroyest the hope of man.”

19. Thou washest away the things that grow out of the dust. Rather, as R.V., “The overflowings thereof wash away the dust.”

22 his flesh upon him, etc. This may be translated, “But his flesh suffereth for himself, and his soul mourneth over himself”; i.e., he notices not the grief or sufferings of others. So R.V. marg.