Click
here to show/hide instructions.
Instructions on how to use the page:
The commentary for the selected verse is is displayed below.
All commentary was produced against the King James, so the same verse from that translation may appear as well. Hovering your mouse over a commentary's scripture reference attempts to show those verses.
Use the browser's back button to return to the previous page.
Or you can also select a feature from the Just Verses menu appearing at the top of the page.
Selected Verse: Job 10:3 - Strong Concordance
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Job 10:3 |
Strong Concordance |
Is it good [02895] unto thee that thou shouldest oppress [06231], that thou shouldest despise [03988] the work [03018] of thine hands [03709], and shine [03313] upon the counsel [06098] of the wicked [07563]? |
| |
King James |
Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked? |
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] |
Job is unwilling to think God can have pleasure in using His power to "oppress" the weak, and to treat man, the work of His own hands, as of no value (Job 10:8; Psa 138:8).
shine upon--favor with prosperity (Psa 50:2). |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress - The sense of this is, that it could not be with God a matter of personal gratification to inflict pain wantonly. There must be a reason why he did it. This was clear to Job, and he was anxious, therefore, to know the reason why he was treated in this manner. Yet there is evidently here not a little of the spirit of complaining. There is an insinuation that God was afflicting him beyond what he deserved; see Job 10:7. The state of his mind appears to have been this: he is conscious to himself that he is a sincere friend of God, and he is unwilling to believe that God can wantonly inflict pain - and yet he has no other way of accounting for it. He is in a sort driven to this painful conclusion - and he asks with deep feeling, whether it can be so? Is there no other solution than this? Is there no way of explaining the fact that he suffers so much, than either the supposition that he is a hypocrite - which he feels assured he is not; or that God took a wanton pleasure in inflicting pain - which he was as little disposed to believe, if he could avoid it? Yet his mind rather verges to this latter belief, for he seems more disposed to believe that God was severe than that he himself was a hypocrite and a wicked man. Neither of these conclusions was necessary. If he had taken a middle ground, and had adverted to the fact that God might afflict his own children for their good, the mystery would have been solved. He could have retained the consciousness of his integrity, and at the same time his confidence in God.
That thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands - Margin, labor. That is, despise man, or treat him as if he were of no value. The idea is, that it would be natural for God to love his own work, and that his treatment of Job seemed as if he regarded his own workmanship - man - as of no value.
And shine upon the counsel of the wicked - By giving them health and prosperity. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
3 Doth it please Thee when Thou oppressest,
That Thou rejectest the work of Thy hands,
While Thou shinest upon the counsel of the wicked?
4 Hast Thou eyes of flesh,
Or seest Thou as a mortal seeth?
5 Are Thy days as the days of a mortal,
Or Thy years as man's days,
6 That Thou seekest after my iniquity,
And searchest after my sin?
7 Although Thou knowest that I am not a wicked man,
And there is none that can deliver out of Thy hand.
There are three questions by which Job seeks to exhaust every possible way of accounting for his sufferings as coming from God. These attempts at explanation, however, are at once destroyed, because they proceed upon conceptions which are unworthy of God, and opposed to His nature. Firstly, Whether it gives Him pleasure (טּוב, agreeable, as Job 13:9) when He oppresses, when He despises, i.e., keeps down forcibly or casts from Him as hateful (מאס, as Psa 89:39; Isa 54:6) the work of His hand; while, on the contrary, He permits light to shine from above upon the design of the wicked, i.e., favours it? Man is called the יגיע of the divine hands, as though he were elaborated by them, because at his origin (Gen 2:7), the continuation of which is the development in the womb (Psa 139:15), he came into existence in a remarkable manner by the directly personal, careful, and, so to speak, skilful working of God. That it is the morally innocent which is here described, may be seen not only from the contrast (Job 10:3), but also from the fact that he only can be spoken of as oppressed and rejected. Moreover, "the work of Thy hands" involves a negative reply to the question. Such an unloving mood of self-satisfaction is contrary to the bounty and beneficence of that love to which man owes his existence. Secondly, Whether God has eyes of flesh, i.e., of sense, which regard only the outward appearance, without an insight into the inner nature, or whether He sees as mortals see, i.e., judges, κατὰ τῆν σάρκα (Joh 8:15)? Mercier correctly: num ex facie judicas, ut affectibus ducaris more hominum. This question also supplies its own negative; it is based upon the thought that God lookest on the heart (Sa1 16:7). Thirdly, Whether His life is like to the brevity of man's life, so that He is not able to wait until a man's sin manifests itself, but must institute such a painful course of investigation with him, in order to extort from him as quickly as possible a confession of it? Suffering appears here to be a means of inquisition, which is followed by the final judgment when the guilt is proved. What is added in Job 10:7 puts this supposition aside also as inconceivable. Such a mode of proceeding may be conceived of in a mortal ruler, who, on account of his short-sightedness, seeks to bring about by severe measures that which was at first only conjecture, and who, from the apprehension that he may not witness that vengeance in which he delights, hastens forward the criminal process as much as possible, in order that his victim may not escape him. God, however, to whom belongs absolute knowledge and absolute power, would act thus, although, etc. על, although, notwithstanding (proceeding from the signification, besides, insuper), as Job 17:16 (Isa 53:9), Job 34:6. God knows even from the first that he (Job) will not appear as a guilty person (רשׁע, as in Job 9:29); and however that may be, He is at all events sure of him, for nothing escapes the hand of God.
That operation of the divine love which is first echoed in "the labour of Thy hands," is taken up in the following strophe, and, as Job contemplates it, his present lot seems to him quite incomprehensible. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Good - Dost thou take any pleasure in it? Far be it from Job, to think that God did him wrong. But he is at a loss to reconcile his providences with his justice. And so other good men have often been, and will be, until the day shall declare it. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
Is it good unto thee - Surely it can be no gratification to thee to distress the children of men, as if thou didst despise the work of thy own hands.
And shine upon the counsel - For by my afflictions the harsh judgments of the wicked will appear to be confirmed: viz., that God regards not his most fervent worshippers; and it is no benefit to lead a religious life. |
2 Out of Zion [06726], the perfection [04359] of beauty [03308], God [0430] hath shined [03313].
8 The LORD [03068] will perfect [01584] that which concerneth me: thy mercy [02617], O LORD [03068], endureth for ever [05769]: forsake [07503] not the works [04639] of thine own hands [03027].
8 Thine hands [03027] have made [06087] me and fashioned [06213] me together [03162] round about [05439]; yet thou dost destroy [01104] me.
7 Thou knowest [01847] that I am not wicked [07561]; and there is none that can deliver [05337] out of thine hand [03027].
29 If I be wicked [07561], why then labour [03021] I in vain [01892]?
6 Should I lie [03576] against my right [04941]? my wound [02671] is incurable [0605] without transgression [06588].
9 And he made [05414] his grave [06913] with the wicked [07563], and with the rich [06223] in his death [04194]; because he had done [06213] no violence [02555], neither was any deceit [04820] in his mouth [06310].
16 They shall go down [03381] to the bars [0905] of the pit [07585], when our rest [05183] together [03162] is in the dust [06083].
7 Thou knowest [01847] that I am not wicked [07561]; and there is none that can deliver [05337] out of thine hand [03027].
7 But the LORD [03068] said [0559] unto Samuel [08050], Look [05027] not on his countenance [04758], or on the height [01364] of his stature [06967]; because I have refused [03988] him: for the LORD seeth not as man [0120] seeth [07200]; for man [0120] looketh [07200] on the outward appearance [05869], but the LORD [03068] looketh [07200] on the heart [03824].
15 Ye [5210] judge [2919] after [2596] the flesh [4561]; I [1473] judge [2919] no [3756] man [3762].
3 Is it good [02895] unto thee that thou shouldest oppress [06231], that thou shouldest despise [03988] the work [03018] of thine hands [03709], and shine [03313] upon the counsel [06098] of the wicked [07563]?
15 My substance [06108] was not hid [03582] from thee, when I was made [06213] in secret [05643], and curiously wrought [07551] in the lowest parts [08482] of the earth [0776].
7 And the LORD [03068] God [0430] formed [03335] man [0120] of the dust [06083] of [04480] the ground [0127], and breathed [05301] into his nostrils [0639] the breath [05397] of life [02416]; and man [0120] became a living [02416] soul [05315].
6 For the LORD [03068] hath called [07121] thee as a woman [0802] forsaken [05800] and grieved [06087] in spirit [07307], and a wife [0802] of youth [05271], when thou wast refused [03988], saith [0559] thy God [0430].
39 Thou hast made void [05010] the covenant [01285] of thy servant [05650]: thou hast profaned [02490] his crown [05145] by casting it to the ground [0776].
9 Is it good [02895] that he should search you out [02713]? or as one man [0582] mocketh [02048] another, do ye so mock [02048] him?