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Selected Verse: Job 27:1 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Job 27:1	Strong Concordance	Moreover Job [0347] continued [03254] [05375] his parable [04912], and said [0559],
	King James	Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
(Job 27:1-23) parable--applied in the East to a figurative sententious embodiment of wisdom in poetic form, a gnome (Psa 49:4). continued--proceeded to put forth; implying elevation of discourse.

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

(Job 27:1-23)

parable--applied in the East to a figurative sententious embodiment of wisdom in poetic form, a gnome (Psa 49:4).

continued--proceeded to put forth; implying elevation of discourse.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
Job continued - Margin, as in Hebrew "added to take up." Probably he had paused for Zophar to reply, but since he said nothing he now resumed his argument. His parable - A parable properly denotes a comparison of one thing with another, or a fable or allegorical representation from which moral instruction is derived. It was a favorite mode of conveying truth in the East, and indeed is found in all countries; see the notes at Mat 13:3. It is evident, however, that Job did not deliver his sentiments in this manner; and the word rendered "parable" here (משׁל mâshâl) means, as it often does, a sententious discourse or argument. The word is used in the Scriptures to denote a parable, properly so called; then a sententious saying; an apothegm; a proverb; or a poem or song; see the notes at Isa 14:4. It is rendered here by the Vulgate, parabolam; by the Septuagint, προοιμίῳ prooimiō - "Job spake by preface;" Luther, fuhr fort - Job continued; Noyes, discourse; Good, high argument. The meaning is, that Job continued his discourse; but there is in the word a reference to the kind of discourse which he employed, as being sententious and apothegmatical.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
1 Then Job continued to take up his proverb, and said: 2 As God liveth, who hath deprived me of my right, And the Almighty, who hath sorely saddened my soul - 3 For still all my breath is in me, And the breath of Eloah in my nostrils - 4 My lips do not speak what is false, And my tongue uttereth not deceit! 5 Far be it from me, to grant that you are in the right: Till I die I will not remove my innocence from me. 6 My righteousness I hold fast, and let it not go: My heart reproacheth not any of my days. 7 Mine enemy must appear as an evil-doer, And he who riseth up against me as unrighteous. The friends are silent, Job remains master of the discourse, and his continued speech is introduced as a continued שׂאת משׁלו (after the analogy of the phrase נשׂא קול), as in Num 23:7 and further on, the oracles of Balaam. משׁל is speech of a more elevated tone and more figurative character; here, as frequently, the unaffected outgrowth of an elevated solemn mood. The introduction of the ultimatum, as משׁל, reminds one of "the proverb (el-methel) seals it" in the mouth of the Arab, since in common life it is customary to use a pithy saying as the final proof at the conclusion of a speech. Job begins with an asseveration of his truthfulness (i.e., the agreement of his confession with his consciousness) by the life of God. From this oath, which in the form bi-hajât allâh has become later on a common formula of assurance, R. Joshua, in his tractate Sota, infers that Job served God from love to Him, for we only swear by the life of that which we honour and love; it is more natural to conclude that the God by whom on the one hand, he believes himself to be so unjustly treated, still appears to him, on the other hand, to be the highest manifestation of truth. The interjectional clause: living is God! is equivalent to, as true as God liveth. That which is affirmed is not what immediately follows: He has set aside my right, and the Almighty has sorely grieved my soul (Raschi); but הסיר משׁפטי and המר נפשׁי are attributive clauses, by which what is denied in the form of an oath introduced by אם (as Gen 42:15; Sa1 14:45; Sa2 11:11, Ges. 155, 2, f) is contained in Job 27:4; his special reference to the false semblance of an evil-doer shows that semblance which suffering casts upon him, but which he constantly repudiates as surely not lying, as that God liveth. Among moderns, Schlottm. (comp. Ges. 150, 3), like most of the old expositors, translates: so long as my breath is in me,...my lips shall speak no wrong, so that Job 27:3 and Job 27:4 together contain what is affirmed. By (1) כּי indeed sometimes introduces that which shall happen as affirmed by oath, Jer 22:5; Jer 49:13; but here that which shall not take place is affirmed, which would be introduced first in a general form by כּי explic. s. recitativum, then according to its special negative contents by אם, - a construction which is perhaps possible according to syntax, but it is nevertheless perplexing; (2) it may perhaps be thought that "the whole continuance of my breath in me" is conceived as accusative and adverbial, and is equivalent to, so long as my breath may remain in me (כל עוד, as long as ever, like the Arab. cullama, as often as ever); but the usage of the language does not favour this explanation, for Sa2 1:9, נפשׁי בי כל־עוד, signifies my whole soul (my full life) is still in me; and we have a third instance of this prominently placed כל per hypallagen in Hos 14:3, עון כל־תשׂא, omnem auferas iniquitatem, Ew. 289, a (comp. Ges. 114, rem. 1). Accordingly, with Ew., Hirz., Hahn, and most modern expositors, we take Job 27:3 as a parenthetical confirmatory clause, by which Job gives the ground of his solemn affirmation that he is still in possession of his full consciousness, and cannot help feeling and expressing the contradiction between his lot of suffering, which brand shim as an evil-doer, and his moral integrity. The נשׁמתי which precedes the רוח signifies, according to the prevailing usage of the language, the intellectual, and therefore self-conscious, soul of man (Psychol. S. 76f.). This is in man and in his nostrils, inasmuch as the breath which passes in and out by these is the outward and visible form of its being, which is in every respect the condition of life (ib. S. 82f.). The suff. of נשׁמתי is unaccented; on account of the word which follows being a monosyllable, the tone has retreated (נסוג אחור, to use a technical grammatical expression), as e.g., also in Job 19:25; Job 20:2; Psa 22:20. Because he lives, and, living, cannot deny his own existence, he swears that his own testimony, which is suspected by the friends, and on account of which they charge him with falsehood, is perfect truth. Job 27:4 is not to be translated: "my lips shall never speak what is false;" for it is not a resolve which Job thus strongly makes, after the manner of a vow, but the agreement of his confession, which he has now so frequently made, and which remains unalterable, with the abiding fact. Far be from me - he continues in Job 27:5 - to admit that you are right (חלילה לּי with unaccented ah, not of the fem., comp. Job 34:10, but of direction: for a profanation to me, i.e., let it be profane to me, Ew. 329, a, Arab. hâshâ li, in the like sense); until I expire (prop.: sink together), I will not put my innocence (תּמּה, perfection, in the sense of purity of character) away from me, i.e., I will not cease from asserting it. I will hold fast (as ever) my righteousness, and leave it not, i.e., let it not go or fall away; my heart does not reproach even one of my days. מיּמי is virtually an obj. in a partitive sense: mon coeur ne me reproche pas un seul de mes jours (Renan). The heart is used here as the seat of the conscience, which is the knowledge possessed by the heart, by which it excuses or accuses a man (Psychol. S. 134); חרף (whence חרף, the season in which the fruits are gathered) signifies carpere, to pluck = to pinch, lash, inveigh against. Jos. Kimchi and Ralbag explain: my heart draws not back) from the confession of my innocence) my whole life long (as Maimonides explains נחרפת, Lev 19:20, of the female slave who is inclined to, i.e., stands near to, the position of a free woman), by comparison with the Arabic inḥarafa, deflectere; it is not, however, Arab. ḥrf, but chrf, decerpere, that is to be compared in the tropical sense of the prevailing usage of the Hebrew specified. The old expositors were all misled by the misunderstood partitive מימי, which they translated ex (= inde a) diebus meis. There is in Job 27:7 no ground for taking יהי, with Hahn, as a strong affirmative, as supposed in Job 18:12, and not as expressive of desire; but the meaning is not: let my opponents be evil-doers, I at least am not one (Hirz.). The voluntative expresses far more emotion: the relation must be reversed; he who will brand me as an evil-doer, must by that very act brand himself as such, inasmuch as the מרשׁיע of a צדיק really shows himself to be a רשׁע, and by recklessly judging the righteous, is bringing down upon himself a like well-merited judgment. The כּ is the so-called Caph veritatis, since כּ, instar, signifies not only similarity, but also quality. Instead of קימי, the less manageable, primitive form, which the poet used in Job 22:20 (comp. p. 483), and beside which קם (קום, Kg2 16:7) does not occur in the book, we here find the more usual form מתקוממי (comp. Job 20:27). (Note: In Beduin the enemy is called qômâni (vid., supra, on Job 24:12, p. 505), a denominative from qôm, Arab. qawm, war, feud; but qm has also the signification of a collective of qômâni, and one can also say: entum wa-ijânâ qôm, you and we are enemies, and bênâtna qôm, there is war between us. - Wetzst.) The description of the misfortune of the ungodly which now follows, beginning with כי, requires no connecting thought, as for instance: My enemy must be accounted as ungodly, on account of his hostility; I abhor ungodliness, for, etc.; but that he who regards him as a רשׁע is himself a רשׁע, Job shows from the fact of the רשׁע having no hope in death, whilst, when dying, he can give no confident hope of a divine vindication of his innocence.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

1 Then Job continued to take up his proverb, and said:

2 As God liveth, who hath deprived me of my right,

And the Almighty, who hath sorely saddened my soul -

3 For still all my breath is in me,

And the breath of Eloah in my nostrils -

4 My lips do not speak what is false,

And my tongue uttereth not deceit!

5 Far be it from me, to grant that you are in the right:

Till I die I will not remove my innocence from me.

6 My righteousness I hold fast, and let it not go:

My heart reproacheth not any of my days.

7 Mine enemy must appear as an evil-doer,

And he who riseth up against me as unrighteous.

The friends are silent, Job remains master of the discourse, and his continued speech is introduced as a continued שׂאת משׁלו (after the analogy of the phrase נשׂא קול), as in Num 23:7 and further on, the oracles of Balaam. משׁל is speech of a more elevated tone and more figurative character; here, as frequently, the unaffected outgrowth of an elevated solemn mood. The introduction of the ultimatum, as משׁל, reminds one of "the proverb (el-methel) seals it" in the mouth of the Arab, since in common life it is customary to use a pithy saying as the final proof at the conclusion of a speech.

Job begins with an asseveration of his truthfulness (i.e., the agreement of his confession with his consciousness) by the life of God. From this oath, which in the form bi-hajât allâh has become later on a common formula of assurance, R. Joshua, in his tractate Sota, infers that Job served God from love to Him, for we only swear by the life of that which we honour and love; it is more natural to conclude that the God by whom on the one hand, he believes himself to be so unjustly treated, still appears to him, on the other hand, to be the highest manifestation of truth. The interjectional clause: living is God! is equivalent to, as true as God liveth. That which is affirmed is not what immediately follows: He has set aside my right, and the Almighty has sorely grieved my soul (Raschi); but הסיר משׁפטי and המר נפשׁי are attributive clauses, by which what is denied in the form of an oath introduced by אם (as Gen 42:15; Sa1 14:45; Sa2 11:11, Ges. 155, 2, f) is contained in Job 27:4; his special reference to the false semblance of an evil-doer shows that semblance which suffering casts upon him, but which he constantly repudiates as surely not lying, as that God liveth. Among moderns, Schlottm. (comp. Ges. 150, 3), like most of the old expositors, translates: so long as my breath is in me,...my lips shall speak no wrong, so that Job 27:3 and Job 27:4 together contain what is affirmed. By (1) כּי indeed sometimes introduces that which shall happen as affirmed by oath, Jer 22:5; Jer 49:13; but here that which shall not take place is affirmed, which would be introduced first in a general form by כּי explic. s. recitativum, then according to its special negative contents by אם, - a construction which is perhaps possible according to syntax, but it is nevertheless perplexing; (2) it may perhaps be thought that "the whole continuance of my breath in me" is conceived as accusative and adverbial, and is equivalent to, so long as my breath may remain in me (כל עוד, as long as ever, like the Arab. cullama, as often as ever); but the usage of the language does not favour this explanation, for Sa2 1:9, נפשׁי בי כל־עוד, signifies my whole soul (my full life) is still in me; and we have a third instance of this prominently placed כל per hypallagen in Hos 14:3, עון כל־תשׂא, omnem auferas iniquitatem, Ew. 289, a (comp. Ges. 114, rem. 1). Accordingly, with Ew., Hirz., Hahn, and most modern expositors, we take Job 27:3 as a parenthetical confirmatory clause, by which Job gives the ground of his solemn affirmation that he is still in possession of his full consciousness, and cannot help feeling and expressing the contradiction between his lot of suffering, which brand shim as an evil-doer, and his moral integrity. The נשׁמתי which precedes the רוח signifies, according to the prevailing usage of the language, the intellectual, and therefore self-conscious, soul of man (Psychol. S. 76f.). This is in man and in his nostrils, inasmuch as the breath which passes in and out by these is the outward and visible form of its being, which is in every respect the condition of life (ib. S. 82f.). The suff. of נשׁמתי is unaccented; on account of the word which follows being a monosyllable, the tone has retreated (נסוג אחור, to use a technical grammatical expression), as e.g., also in Job 19:25; Job 20:2; Psa 22:20. Because he lives, and, living, cannot deny his own existence, he swears that his own testimony, which is suspected by the friends, and on account of which they charge him with falsehood, is perfect truth.

Job 27:4 is not to be translated: "my lips shall never speak what is false;" for it is not a resolve which Job thus strongly makes, after the manner of a vow, but the agreement of his confession, which he has now so frequently made, and which remains unalterable, with the abiding fact. Far be from me - he continues in Job 27:5 - to admit that you are right (חלילה לּי with unaccented ah, not of the fem., comp. Job 34:10, but of direction: for a profanation to me, i.e., let it be profane to me, Ew. 329, a, Arab. hâshâ li, in the like sense); until I expire (prop.: sink together), I will not put my innocence (תּמּה, perfection, in the sense of purity of character) away from me, i.e., I will not cease from asserting it. I will hold fast (as ever) my righteousness, and leave it not, i.e., let it not go or fall away; my heart does not reproach even one of my days. מיּמי is virtually an obj. in a partitive sense: mon coeur ne me reproche pas un seul de mes jours (Renan). The heart is used here as the seat of the conscience, which is the knowledge possessed by the heart, by which it excuses or accuses a man (Psychol. S. 134); חרף (whence חרף, the season in which the fruits are gathered) signifies carpere, to pluck = to pinch, lash, inveigh against. Jos. Kimchi and Ralbag explain: my heart draws not back) from the confession of my innocence) my whole life long (as Maimonides explains נחרפת, Lev 19:20, of the female slave who is inclined to, i.e., stands near to, the position of a free woman), by comparison with the Arabic inḥarafa, deflectere; it is not, however, Arab. ḥrf, but chrf, decerpere, that is to be compared in the tropical sense of the prevailing usage of the Hebrew specified. The old expositors were all misled by the misunderstood partitive מימי, which they translated ex (= inde a) diebus meis. There is in Job 27:7 no ground for taking יהי, with Hahn, as a strong affirmative, as supposed in Job 18:12, and not as expressive of desire; but the meaning is not: let my opponents be evil-doers, I at least am not one (Hirz.). The voluntative expresses far more emotion: the relation must be reversed; he who will brand me as an evil-doer, must by that very act brand himself as such, inasmuch as the מרשׁיע of a צדיק really shows himself to be a רשׁע, and by recklessly judging the righteous, is bringing down upon himself a like well-merited judgment. The כּ is the so-called Caph veritatis, since כּ, instar, signifies not only similarity, but also quality. Instead of קימי, the less manageable, primitive form, which the poet used in Job 22:20 (comp. p. 483), and beside which קם (קום, Kg2 16:7) does not occur in the book, we here find the more usual form מתקוממי (comp. Job 20:27).

(Note: In Beduin the enemy is called qômâni (vid., supra, on Job 24:12, p. 505), a denominative from qôm, Arab. qawm, war, feud; but qm has also the signification of a collective of qômâni, and one can also say: entum wa-ijânâ qôm, you and we are enemies, and bênâtna qôm, there is war between us. - Wetzst.)

The description of the misfortune of the ungodly which now follows, beginning with כי, requires no connecting thought, as for instance: My enemy must be accounted as ungodly, on account of his hostility; I abhor ungodliness, for, etc.; but that he who regards him as a רשׁע is himself a רשׁע, Job shows from the fact of the רשׁע having no hope in death, whilst, when dying, he can give no confident hope of a divine vindication of his innocence.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
Parable - His grave and weighty discourse.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
Continued his parable - After having delivered the preceding discourse, Job appears to have paused to see if any of his friends chose to make any reply; but finding them all silent, he resumed his discourse, which is here called משלו meshalo, his parable, his authoritative weighty discourse; from משל mashal, to exercise rule, authority, dominion, or power - Parkhurst. And it must be granted that in this speech he assumes great boldness, exhibits his own unsullied character, and treats his friends with little ceremony.

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⁴ I will incline [05186] mine ear [0241] to a parable [04912]: I will open [06605] my dark saying [02420] upon the harp [03658].

⁴ That thou shalt take up [05375] this proverb [04912] against the king [04428] of Babylon [0894], and say [0559], How hath the oppressor [05065] ceased [07673] ! the golden city [04062] ceased [07673] !

³ And [2532] he spake [2980] many things [4183] unto them [846] in [1722] parables [3850], saying [3004], Behold [2400], a sower [4687] went forth [1831] to sow [4687];

¹² Men [04962] groan [05008] from out of the city [05892], and the soul [05315] of the wounded [02491] crieth out [07768]: yet God [0433] layeth [07760] not folly [08604] to them.

²⁷ The heaven [08064] shall reveal [01540] his iniquity [05771]; and the earth [0776] shall rise up [06965] against him.

⁷ So Ahaz [0271] sent [07971] messengers [04397] to Tiglathpileser [08407] king [04428] of Assyria [0804], saying [0559], I am thy servant [05650] and thy son [01121]: come up [05927], and save [03467] me out of the hand [03709] of the king [04428] of Syria [0758], and out of the hand [03709] of the king [04428] of Israel [03478], which rise up [06965] against me.

²⁰ Whereas [0518] our substance [07009] is not cut down [03582], but the remnant [03499] of them the fire [0784] consumeth [0398].

¹² His strength [0202] shall be hungerbitten [07457], and destruction [0343] shall be ready [03559] at his side [06763].

⁷ Let mine enemy [0341] be as the wicked [07563], and he that riseth up [06965] against me as the unrighteous [05767].

²⁰ And whosoever [0376] lieth [07901] carnally [02233] [07902] with a woman [0802], that is a bondmaid [08198], betrothed [02778] to an husband [0376], and not at all [06299] redeemed [06299], nor freedom [02668] given [05414] her; she shall be scourged [01244]; they shall not be put to death [04191], because she was not free [02666].

¹⁰ Therefore hearken [08085] unto me, ye men [0582] of understanding [03824]: far be it [02486] from God [0410], that he should do wickedness [07562]; and from the Almighty [07706], that he should commit iniquity [05766].

⁵ God forbid [02486] that I should justify [06663] you: till I die [01478] I will not remove [05493] mine integrity [08538] from me.

⁴ My lips [08193] shall not speak [01696] wickedness [05766], nor my tongue [03956] utter [01897] deceit [07423].

²⁰ Deliver [05337] my soul [05315] from the sword [02719]; my darling [03173] from the power [03027] of the dog [03611].

² Therefore do my thoughts [05587] cause me to answer [07725], and for this I make haste [02363].

²⁵ For I know [03045] that my redeemer [01350] liveth [02416], and that he shall stand [06965] at the latter [0314] day upon the earth [06083]:

³ All the while [05750] my breath [05397] is in me, and the spirit [07307] of God [0433] is in my nostrils [0639];

³ Asshur [0804] shall not save [03467] us; we will not ride [07392] upon horses [05483]: neither will we say [0559] any more to the work [04639] of our hands [03027], Ye are our gods [0430]: for in thee the fatherless [03490] findeth mercy [07355].

⁹ He said [0559] unto me again, Stand [05975], I pray thee, upon me, and slay [04191] me: for anguish [07661] is come [0270] upon me, because my life [05315] is yet whole in me.

¹³ For I have sworn [07650] by myself, saith [05002] the LORD [03068], that Bozrah [01224] shall become a desolation [08047], a reproach [02781], a waste [02721], and a curse [07045]; and all the cities [05892] thereof shall be perpetual [05769] wastes [02723].

⁵ But if ye will not hear [08085] these words [01697], I swear [07650] by myself, saith [05002] the LORD [03068], that this house [01004] shall become a desolation [02723].

⁴ My lips [08193] shall not speak [01696] wickedness [05766], nor my tongue [03956] utter [01897] deceit [07423].

³ All the while [05750] my breath [05397] is in me, and the spirit [07307] of God [0433] is in my nostrils [0639];

⁴ My lips [08193] shall not speak [01696] wickedness [05766], nor my tongue [03956] utter [01897] deceit [07423].

¹¹ And Uriah [0223] said [0559] unto David [01732], The ark [0727], and Israel [03478], and Judah [03063], abide [03427] in tents [05521]; and my lord [0113] Joab [03097], and the servants [05650] of my lord [0113], are encamped [02583] in the open [06440] fields [07704]; shall I [0589] then go [0935] into mine house [01004], to eat [0398] and to drink [08354], and to lie [07901] with my wife [0802]? as thou livest [02416], and as thy soul [05315] liveth [02416], I will not do [06213] this thing [01697].

⁴⁵ And the people [05971] said [0559] unto Saul [07586], Shall Jonathan [03129] die [04191], who hath wrought [06213] this great [01419] salvation [03444] in Israel [03478]? God forbid [02486]: as the LORD [03068] liveth [02416], there shall not one hair [08185] of his head [07218] fall [05307] to the ground [0776]; for he hath wrought [06213] with God [0430] this day [03117]. So the people [05971] rescued [06299] Jonathan [03129], that he died [04191] not.

¹⁵ Hereby [02063] ye shall be proved [0974]: By the life [02416] of Pharaoh [06547] ye shall not go forth [03318] hence, except your youngest [06996] brother [0251] come [0935] hither.

⁷ And he took up [05375] his parable [04912], and said [0559], Balak [01111] the king [04428] of Moab [04124] hath brought [05148] me from Aram [0758], out of the mountains [02042] of the east [06924], saying, Come [03212], curse [0779] me Jacob [03290], and come [03212], defy [02194] Israel [03478].