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Selected Verse: Job 33:4 - New American Standard Bible©
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Job 33:4 |
New American Standard Bible© |
"The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life. |
| |
King James |
The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
| The Spirit of God hath made me--as He did thee: latter clause of Job 33:6 (Gen 2:7). Therefore thou needest not fear me, as thou wouldest God (Job 33:7; Job 9:34). On the other hand, "the breath of the Almighty hath inspired me" (as Job 32:8); not as English Version, "given me life"; therefore "I am according to thy wish (Job 9:32-33) in God's stead" to thee; a "daysman," umpire, or mediator, between God and thee. So Elihu was designed by the Holy Ghost to be a type of Jesus Christ (Job 33:23-26). |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
| The Spirit of God hath made me; - see the notes at Job 32:8. There is an evident allusion in this verse to the mode in which man was created, when God breathed into him the breath of life and he became a living being; Gen 2:7. But it is not quite clear why Elihu adverts here to the fact that God had made him, or what is the bearing of this fact on what he proposed to say. The most probable supposition is, that he means to state that he is, like Job, a man; that both were formed in the same way - from the same breathing of the Almighty, and from the same clay Job 33:6; and that although he bad undertaken to speak to Job in God's stead Job 33:6, yet Job had no occasion to fear that he would be overawed and confounded by the Divine Majesty. He had dreaded that, if he should be permitted to bring his case before him (Notes, Job 33:7), but Elihu says that now he would have no such thing to apprehend. Though it would be in fact the same thing as carrying the matter before God - since he came in his name, and meant to state the true principles of his government, yet Job would be also really conducting the cause with a man like himself, and might, unawed, enter with the utmost freedom into the statement of his views. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
4 The Spirit of God hath made me,
And the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.
5 If thou canst, answer me,
Prepare in my presence, take thy stand!
6 Behold, I am like thyself, of God,
Formed out of clay am I also.
7 Behold, my terror shall not affright thee,
And my pressure shall not be heavy upon thee.
He has both in common with Job: the spirituality as well as the earthliness of man's nature; but by virtue of the former he does not, indeed, feel himself exalted above Job's person, but above the present standpoint taken up by Job; and in consideration of this, Job need not fear any unequal contest, nor as before God, Job 9:34; Job 13:21, in order that he may be able to defend himself against Him, make it a stipulation that His majesty may not terrify him. It is man's twofold origin which Elihu, Job 33:4, Job 33:6, gives utterance to in harmony with Gen 2:7 : the mode of man's origin, which is exalted above that of all other earthly beings that have life; for the life of the animal is only the individualizing of the breath of the Divine Spirit already existing in matter. The spirit of man, on the contrary (for which the language has reserved the name נשׁמה), is an inspiration directly coming forth from God the personal being, transferred into the bodily frame, and therefore forming a person.
(Note: God took a small piece of His own life - says the tradition among the Karens, a scattered tribe of Eastern India - blew into the nostrils of His son and daughter, and they became living beings, and were really human.)
In the exalted consciousness of having been originated by the Spirit of God, and being endowed with life from the inbreathed breath of the Almighty, Elihu stands invincible before Job: if thou canst, refute me (השׁיב with acc. of the person, as Job 33:32); array thyself (ערכה for ערכה, according to Ges. 63, rem. 1) before me (here with the additional thought of מלחמה, as Job 23:4, in a forensic sense with משׁפּט), place thyself in position, or take thy post (imper. Hithpa. with the ah less frequent by longer forms, Ew. 228, a).
On the other side, he also, like Job, belongs to God, i.e., is dependent and conditioned. הן־אני is to be written with Segol (not Ssere); לאל is intended like לו, Job 12:16; and כּפיך signifies properly, according to thine utterance, i.e., standard, in accordance with, i.e., like thee, and is used even in the Pentateuch (e.g., Exo 16:21) in this sense pro ratione; כפי, Job 30:18, we took differently. He, Elihu, is also nipped from the clay, i.e., taken from the earth, as when the potter nips off a piece of his clay (comp. Aram. קרץ, a piece, Arab. qurs, a bread-cake, or a dung-cake, vid., supra, p. 449, from qarasa, to pinch off, take off, cogn. qarada, to gnaw off, cut off, p. 512). Thus, therefore, no terribleness in his appearing will disconcert Job, and his pressure will not be a burden upon him. By a comparison of Job 13:21, it might seem that אכפּי is equivalent to כּפּי (lxx ἡ χείρ μου), but כּבד is everywhere connected only with יד, never with כּף; and the ἁπ. γεγρ. is explained according to Pro 16:26, where אכף signifies to oppress, drive (Jer. compulit), and from the dialects differently, for in Syr. ecaf signifies to be anxious about anything (ecaf li, it causes me anxiety, curae mihi est), and in Arab. accafa, to saddle, ucâf, Talmud. אוּכּף, a saddle, so that consequently the Targ. translation of אכפּי by טוּני, my burden, and the Syr. by אוכפני, my pressing forward (Arabic version iqbâli, my touch), are supported, since אכף signifies pressure, heavy weight, load, and burden; according to which it is also translated by Saad. (my constraint), Gecat. (my might). It is therefore not an opponent who is not on an equality with him by nature, with whom Job has to do. If he is not able to answer him, he will have to be considered as beaten. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Life - I am thy fellow creature, and am ready to discourse with thee upon even terms, according to thy desire. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| The Spirit of God hath made me - Another plain allusion to the account of the creation of man, Gen 2:7, as the words נשמת nishmath, the breath or breathing of God, and תחיני techaiyeni, hath given me life, prove: "He breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives, and he became a living soul." |
23 "If there is an angel as mediator for him, One out of a thousand, To remind a man what is right for him,
24 Then let him be gracious to him, and say, 'Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom';
25 Let his flesh become fresher than in youth, Let him return to the days of his youthful vigor;
26 Then he will pray to God, and He will accept him, That he may see His face with joy, And He may restore His righteousness to man.
32 "For He is not a man as I am that I may answer Him, That we may go to court together.
33 "There is no umpire between us, Who may lay his hand upon us both.
8 "But it is a spirit in man, And the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding.
34 "Let Him remove His rod from me, And let not dread of Him terrify me.
7 "Behold, no fear of me should terrify you, Nor should my pressure weigh heavily on you.
7 Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
6 "Behold, I belong to God like you; I too have been formed out of the clay.
7 "Behold, no fear of me should terrify you, Nor should my pressure weigh heavily on you.
6 "Behold, I belong to God like you; I too have been formed out of the clay.
6 "Behold, I belong to God like you; I too have been formed out of the clay.
7 Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
8 "But it is a spirit in man, And the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding.
26 A worker's appetite works for him, For his hunger urges him on.
21 Remove Your hand from me, And let not the dread of You terrify me.
18 "By a great force my garment is distorted; It binds me about as the collar of my coat.
21 They gathered it morning by morning, every man as much as he should eat; but when the sun grew hot, it would melt.
16 "With Him are strength and sound wisdom, The misled and the misleader belong to Him.
4 "I would present my case before Him And fill my mouth with arguments.
32 "Then if you have anything to say, answer me; Speak, for I desire to justify you.
7 Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
6 "Behold, I belong to God like you; I too have been formed out of the clay.
4 "The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
21 Remove Your hand from me, And let not the dread of You terrify me.
34 "Let Him remove His rod from me, And let not dread of Him terrify me.
7 Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.