A verse by verse commentary on Job 13 dealing with Job's continued speech in which he states "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.."

1. JOB 13 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
1 "My eyes have seen all this,
my ears have heard and understood it.
BAR ES, "Lo, mine eye hath seen all this - I have seen illustrations of all
that I have said, or that you have said about the methods of divine
providence.
CLARKE, "Lo, mine eye hath seen all this - Ye have brought nothing new
to me; I know those maxims as well as you: nor have you any knowledge of
which I am not possessed.
GILL, "Lo, mine eye hath seen all this,.... Or "all those things" (h) he had
been discoursing of, concerning the wisdom and power of God, and his
friends also; some of these he had seen instances of, he had been an
eyewitness of them, and could give an ocular testimony to them; and others
he had discerned with the eyes of his understanding, being opened and
enlightened, and had a clear and distinct view of them, so that he had seen
and knew as much of these things as any of them had. Some (i) interpret it
"all" other things, pertaining to the same subject; by what he had said, it
might be concluded he knew more; this was but a sample or specimen of his
knowledge, which, when observed, it might be perceived what an
understanding he had in such divine things: the words are indeed absolute,
"my eye hath seen all things" (k), which must not be taken in the largest and
comprehensive sense of all things to be seen, heard, and understood; for
though Job's knowledge was very great, yet it did not take so great a
compass as this; many things in nature his eye had not seen, others in
providence he could not discern, and but a small portion of God, of his
nature, perfections, ways, and works, was known by him, as he himself
confesses elsewhere, Job_26:14; this therefore must be limited and
restrained to the subject matter in hand, and to what he and his friends had
been treating of:
mine ear hath heard; some things he had knowledge of by the report of
others, from his forefathers, his ancestors, men of capacity and probity,
that could be credited, and safely depended on, and even some things by
revelation from God; for if Eliphaz his friend had an heavenly vision, and a

2. divine revelation, which his ear received a little of, why may it not be
thought that Job also was sometimes favoured with visions and revelations
from God, whereby he became more intimately acquainted with divine and
spiritual things?
and understood it; that is, what he had seen and heard; some things may be
seen, and yet not known what they are; and other things may be heard, and
not understood; but Job had an understanding of what he had seen with his
own eyes, or had received by revelation, human or divine: and all this is
introduced with a "lo" or "behold"; not as a note of admiration at his
knowledge, though the things known by him were wonderful, but as a note
of attention to them, and to his remark on them, and as expressive of the
certainty of his sight, hearing, and understanding of these things.
HE RY, "Job here warmly expresses his resentment of the unkindness of
his friends.
I. He comes up with them as one that understood the matter in dispute as
well as they, and did not need to be taught by them, Job_13:1, Job_13:2.
They compelled him, as the Corinthians did Paul, to commend himself and
his own knowledge, yet not in a way of self-applause, but of self-
justification. All he had before said his eye had seen confirmed by many
instances, and his ear had heard seconded by many authorities, and he well
understood it and what use to make of it. Happy are those who not only see
and hear, but understand, the greatness, glory, and sovereignty of God.
This, he thought, would justify what he had said before (Job_12:3), which he
repeats here (Job_13:2): “What you know, the same do I know also, so that
I need not come to you to be taught; I am not inferior unto you in wisdom.”
Note, Those who enter into disputation enter into temptation to magnify
themselves and vilify their brethren more than is fit, and therefore ought to
watch and pray against the workings of pride.
JAMISO , "Job_13:1-28. Job’s reply to Zophar continued.
all this — as to the dealings of Providence (Job_12:3).
K&D, "Job has brought forward proof of what he has stated at the
commencement of this speech (Job_12:3), that he is not inferior to them in
the knowledge of God and divine things, and therefore he can now repeat as
proved what he maintains. The plain ‫ּל‬ⅴ‫ּל‬ⅴ‫ּל‬ⅴ‫ּל‬ⅴ, which in other passages, with the
force of ‫ּל‬ⅴ ַ‫ה‬‫ּל‬ⅴ ַ‫ה‬‫ּל‬ⅴ ַ‫ה‬‫ּל‬ⅴ ַ‫,ה‬ signifies omnes (Gen_16:12; Isa_30:5; Jer_44:12) and omnia
(Job_42:2; Psa_8:7; Isa_44:24), has the definite sense of haec omnia here.
‫ה‬ ָ‫ל‬‫ה‬ ָ‫ל‬‫ה‬ ָ‫ל‬‫ה‬ ָ‫ל‬ (v. 1b) is not after the Aramaic manner dat. pro acc. objecti: my ear has
heard and comprehended it (id); but dat. commodi, or perhaps only dat.
ethicus: and has made it intelligible to itself (sibi); ‫ין‬ ִ‫ין‬ ִ‫ין‬ ִ‫ין‬ ִ of the apprehension
accompanying perception. He has a knowledge of the exalted and glorious
majesty of God, acquired partly from his own observation and partly from

3. the teachings of others. He also knows equal to (instar) their knowledge,
i.e., he has a knowledge (‫ע‬ ַ‫ד‬ָ‫י‬‫ע‬ ַ‫ד‬ָ‫י‬‫ע‬ ַ‫ד‬ָ‫י‬‫ע‬ ַ‫ד‬ָ‫י‬ as the idea implied in it, e.g., like Psa_82:5)
which will bear comparison with theirs. But he will no longer contend with
them.
GUZIK 1-12, "a. Behold, my eye has seen all this . . . What you know, I also
know: Job here complained against the claim of superior knowledge on the
part of his friends. To them – especially perhaps to Zophar – the situation
seemed so simple; therefore Job must be somewhat ignorant to see what
they believed was so easy to see.
b. I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God: Job
here developed a theme that would end with a virtual demand that God
make sense of his suffering. God’s response to Job’s demand (and Job’s
response to God’s response) makes up the last few chapters of the book.
i. We sense the deep frustration in Job that prompted this plea, “I desire
to reason with God.” It was bad enough when he could make no sense of his
situation; but it was worse when his friends persistently insisted on their
own wrong answer to Job’s crisis. As much as anything, it was their
insistence that prompted Job to demand an answer (and vindication with it)
from God.
c. You forgers of lies, you are all worthless physicians: The same
devastating frustration that led Job to wish he were dead now leads him in
bitter response to his friends’ accusations.
i. We can sympathize with Job’s situation and turmoil, all the while
recognizing that we are called to a better standard than Job: Repay no one
evil for evil (Romans 12:17; see also 1 Peter 2:21-23).
d. Will you speak wickedly for God . . . Will you contend for God? Job’s
friends were very confident in their ability to speak for God; but since what
they said was not true, they actually misrepresented them. They acted like
lawyers on God’s behalf; but since they did not truly represent Him, Job
could rightly ask: “Will it be well when He searches you out?”
i. “Job warned them about lying even while they uttered beautiful words
in defense of God. If they were going to plead God’s case, they had better do
it honestly. God would judge them for their deceit even if they used it in his
behalf (Job 13:8-9).” (Smick)
e. He will surely rebuke you if you secretly show partiality: The partiality
Job’s friends showed was toward themselves. Job knew they would never
want to be treated the way they were treating Job.

4. f. Your platitudes are proverbs of ashes: The friends of Job claimed to
know wisdom and speak wisely; Job dismissed their supposed guidance as
mere platitudes. Their wisdom had no substance, no use, and left Job
feeling burned-over – truly, proverbs of ashes.
i. “The idea is that men may argue in defence of God upon false lines,
through limited knowledge. That is exactly what these men had been doing.
The result was that they were unjust to Job. They did not know it: they did
not intend that it should be so. But it was so.” (Morgan)
PULPIT, "Job 13:1, Job 13:2
The first two verses of Job 13:1-28. are closely connected with Job 12:1-25;
forming the natural termination to the first section of Job's argument, that
all results, whether good or evil, must be referred to God. Job 13:1 is little
more than a repetition of Job 12:9 and Job 13:2 of Job 12:3.
Job 13:1
Lo, mine eye hath seen all this, mine ear hath heard and understood it. All
the particulars mentioned concerning God's government of the world in Job
12:6-25 are derived by Job from his own experience. His eye has seen them
or his ear has heard them. He is not indebted to others for information on
these simple points, which he regards as necessarily impressed by their
experience on all grown men (see Job 12:9).
2 What you know, I also know;
I am not inferior to you.
BAR ES, "What ye know ... - See the note at Job_12:3.
GILL, "What ye know, the same do I know also,.... Concerning God and his
perfections, his sovereignty, holiness, justice, wisdom, power, goodness, &c.
and concerning his providences, and his dealings with men in an ordinary
or in an extraordinary way:

5. I am not inferior unto you; as might be deduced from the preceding
discourse; See Gill on Job_12:3.
Job is saying “tell me something I don’t know.” You are just giving me platitudes
that are common knowledge, and you are acting as if knowing them makes you
superior to me, but not so. I know everything you know, and so don’t pretend that
you are teaching me anything. His friends are acting prideful in giving advice to
Job, for they are implying that he is ignorant of things that they know. Giving
advice is dangerous, for it does imply that the one you are advising is not as wise as
you are. It can be a put down to tell others what is the right way of thinking and
doing things.
ELLICOTT, "(2) I am not inferior unto you.—I fall not short of you. But it is this
very sense of the inscrutableness of God’s dealings that makes him long to come face
to face with God, and to reason with Him on the first principles of His action. As it
is manifestly the traditionally orthodox position that his friends assume, it is
refreshing to find that there may be some truth spoken for God by what is not so
reckoned, and that more ultimate truth may exist in honest doubt than is sometimes
found in the profession of a loosely-held creed. So the Laureate:
“There lives more truth in honest doubt,
Believe me, than in half the creeds.”
PULPIT, "What ye know, the same do I know also. Job's friends have claimed to
instruct him and set him right, on the ground of their age and experience (Job 4:8;
Job 5:27; Job 8:8-10), He protests that, in the matters on which they have lectured
him, they have no advantage over himself—he knows all that they know—in truth,
the knowledge is open to all (see Job 12:3). I am not inferior unto you. An exact
repetition of the second clause of Job 12:3.
3 But I desire to speak to the Almighty
and to argue my case with God.

6. BAR ES, "Surely I would speak to the Almighty - I would desire to carry
my cause directly up to God, and spread out my reasons before him. This
Job often professed to desire; see Job_9:34-35. He felt that God would
appreciate the arguments which he would urge, and would do justice to
them. His friends he felt were censorious and severe. They neither did
justice to his feelings, nor to his motives. They perverted his words and
arguments; and instead of consoling him, they only aggravated his trials,
and caused him to sink into deeper sorrows. But he felt if he could carry his
cause to God, he would do ample justice to him and his cause. The views
which he entertained of his friends he proceeds to state at considerable
length, and without much reserve, in the following verses.
CLARKE, "Surely I would speak to the Almighty - ‫אולם‬‫אולם‬‫אולם‬‫אולם‬ ulamulamulamulam, O that: - I wish
I could speak to the Almighty!
I desire to reason with God - He speaks here to reference to the
proceedings in a court of justice. Ye pretend to be advocates for God, but ye
are forgers of lies: O that God himself would appear! Before him I could
soon prove my innocence of the evils with which ye charge me.
GILL, "Surely I would speak to the Almighty,.... Or "therefore I would
speak" (l), since he knew as much as his friends, and they knew no more
than he, if so much, he would have no more to do with them, they should not
be his judges; nor would he be determined by them, but would appeal to
God, and plead his own cause before him, by whom he doubted not he
should be candidly heard; he knew that he was the Judge of all the earth,
and would do right; and that he sat on a throne judging righteously, and
would maintain his right and his cause; that he would judge him according
to his righteousness and integrity, of which he was conscious, and would
pass a just decisive sentence in his favour, and give the cause for him
against his friends, as he afterwards did; for this is not to be understood of
speaking to him in prayer, though that is a speech either of the heart or of
the tongue, or of both, to God; and which he allows of, yea, delights in, and
which is a wonderful condescension; and therefore it may be used with
boldness and freedom, and which gracious souls are desirous of; and the
consideration of God being "almighty", or "all sufficient", is an argument,
motive, and inducement to them to speak or pray unto him, since he is able
to do all things for them they want or desire of him; but here it is to be
understood of speaking to him, or before him, in a judicial way, at his bar,
before his tribunal, he sitting as a Judge to hear the cause, and decide the
controversy between Job and his friends. So, he render it, "I would speak
for the Almighty, and desire to reason for God" (m); seeing he knew so
much of him; not speak against him, as his friends suggested he had, but for
him, on behalf of his sovereignty, justice, holiness, wisdom, and strength, as
he had done, and would do yet more; by which he would have it known, that
as he had as much knowledge as they, he was as zealous as any of them to

7. plead for God, and defend him, and promote his honour and glory to the
uttermost; but the other sense is best:
and I desire to reason with God: not at the bar of his justice, with respect to
the justification of his person by his own righteousness; so no man can
reason with God, as to approve himself just with him; nor will any sensible
man desire to enter into judgment with him on that foot; a poor sensible
sinner may reason with God at the throne of grace, and plead for pardoning
mercy and justifying grace through the blood and righteousness of Christ,
and from the declarations, proclamations, and promises of grace through
him; but of neither of these sorts of reasoning, are the words to be
understood, but of debating the matter in controversy between Job and his
friends before God, that he might hear it, and decide it; this was what Job
was desirous of, of having the cause brought before him, the case stated and
pleaded, and reasoned on in his presence; this he signifies would be a
pleasure to him; he "should delight" to have it so, as the word (n) here used
may be interpreted.
HE RY, "II. He turns from them to God (Job_13:3): Surely I would speak
to the Almighty; as if he had said, “I can promise myself no satisfaction in
talking to you. O that I might have liberty to reason with God! He would not
be so hard upon me as you are.” The prince himself will perhaps give
audience to a poor petitioner with more mildness, patience, and
condescension, than the servants will. Job would rather argue with God
himself than with his friends. See here, 1. What confidence those have
towards God whose hearts condemn them not of reigning hypocrisy: they
can, with humble boldness, appear before him and appeal to him. 2. What
comfort those have in God whose neighbours unjustly condemn them: if
they may not speak to them with any hopes of a fair hearing, yet they may
speak to the Almighty; they have easy access to him and shall find
acceptance with him.
JAMISO , "Job wishes to plead his cause before God (Job_9:34, Job_
9:35), as he is more and more convinced of the valueless character of his
would-be “physicians” (Job_16:2).
K&D 3-6, "He will no longer dispute with the friends; the more they
oppose him, the more earnestly he desires to be able to argue his cause
before God. ‫ם‬ ָ‫אוּל‬‫ם‬ ָ‫אוּל‬‫ם‬ ָ‫אוּל‬‫ם‬ ָ‫אוּל‬ (Job_13:3) is disjunctive, like ᅊλλάᅊλλάᅊλλάᅊλλά, and introduces a new
range of thoughts; lxx ουουουου ʆʆʆʆ µήµήµήµήνννν δᆯ ᅊλλάδᆯ ᅊλλάδᆯ ᅊλλάδᆯ ᅊλλά, verum enim vero. True, he has said in
Job 9 that no one can maintain his cause before God; but his confidence in
God grows in proportion as his distrust of the friends increases; and at the
same time, the hope is begotten that God will grant him that softening of the
terror of His majesty which he has reserved to himself in connection with
this declaration (Job_9:34, comp. Job_13:20.). The infin. absol. ַ‫ח‬ ֵ‫ּוכ‬‫ה‬ַ‫ח‬ ֵ‫ּוכ‬‫ה‬ַ‫ח‬ ֵ‫ּוכ‬‫ה‬ַ‫ח‬ ֵ‫ּוכ‬‫ה‬, which
in Job_6:25 is used almost as a substantive, and indeed as the subject, is

8. here in the place of the object, as e.g., Isa_5:5; Isa_58:6 : to prove, i.e., my
cause, to God (‫ל‬ ֵ‫ל־א‬ ֶ‫א‬‫ל‬ ֵ‫ל־א‬ ֶ‫א‬‫ל‬ ֵ‫ל־א‬ ֶ‫א‬‫ל‬ ֵ‫ל־א‬ ֶ‫,א‬ like Job_13:15, ‫יו‬ָ‫נ‬ ָ ‫ל־‬ ֶ‫א‬‫יו‬ָ‫נ‬ ָ ‫ל־‬ ֶ‫א‬‫יו‬ָ‫נ‬ ָ ‫ל־‬ ֶ‫א‬‫יו‬ָ‫נ‬ ָ ‫ל־‬ ֶ‫)א‬ I long. With ‫ם‬ ָ‫אוּל‬ְ‫ו‬‫ם‬ ָ‫אוּל‬ְ‫ו‬‫ם‬ ָ‫אוּל‬ְ‫ו‬‫ם‬ ָ‫אוּל‬ְ‫ו‬ (Job_13:4) the
antithesis is introduced anew: I will turn to God, you on the contrary (καᆳκαᆳκαᆳκαᆳ
ᆓµεሏᆓµεሏᆓµεሏᆓµεሏςςςς δᆯδᆯδᆯδᆯ). Since the verb ‫ל‬ ַ‫פ‬ ָ‫ט‬‫ל‬ ַ‫פ‬ ָ‫ט‬‫ל‬ ַ‫פ‬ ָ‫ט‬‫ל‬ ַ‫פ‬ ָ‫,ט‬ from its primary meaning to spread on, smear
on (whence e.g., Talmudic ‫ה‬ ָ‫ל‬ ֵ‫פ‬ ְ‫ט‬‫ה‬ ָ‫ל‬ ֵ‫פ‬ ְ‫ט‬‫ה‬ ָ‫ל‬ ֵ‫פ‬ ְ‫ט‬‫ה‬ ָ‫ל‬ ֵ‫פ‬ ְ‫,ט‬ the act of throwing on, as when plastering
up the cracks of an oven), cogn. ‫ל‬ ַ‫פ‬ ָ‫ל‬ ַ‫פ‬ ָ‫ל‬ ַ‫פ‬ ָ‫ל‬ ַ‫פ‬ ָ (whence ‫ל‬ ֵ‫פ‬ ָ‫ל‬ ֵ‫פ‬ ָ‫ל‬ ֵ‫פ‬ ָ‫ל‬ ֵ‫פ‬ ָ , plaster, and perhaps also in
the signification tasteless, Job_6:6 = sticky, greasy, slimy), does not signify,
at least not at first, consuere, but assuere (without any relation of root with
‫ר‬ ַ‫פ‬ ָ‫ר‬ ַ‫פ‬ ָ‫ר‬ ַ‫פ‬ ָ‫ר‬ ַ‫פ‬ ָ ), we explain, not with Olshausen and others, concinnatores mendacii,
such as sew together lies as patchwork; but with Hirzel and others,
assutores mendacii, such as patch on lies, i.e., charge falsely, since they
desire throughout to make him out to be a sinner punished according to his
desert. This explanation is also confirmed by Job_14:17. Another
explanation is given by Hupfeld: sarcinatores false = inanes, inutiles, so
that ‫ר‬ ֶ‫ק‬ ֶ‫שׁ‬‫ר‬ ֶ‫ק‬ ֶ‫שׁ‬‫ר‬ ֶ‫ק‬ ֶ‫שׁ‬‫ר‬ ֶ‫ק‬ ֶ‫שׁ‬ signifies what lies = what deceives, as in the parallel member of the
verse ‫ל‬ ִ‫ל‬ ֱ‫א‬‫ל‬ ִ‫ל‬ ֱ‫א‬‫ל‬ ִ‫ל‬ ֱ‫א‬‫ל‬ ִ‫ל‬ ֱ‫,א‬
(Note: In the Talmudic, the jugular vein, the cutting of which produces
death, is called ‫ל‬ ַ‫ל‬ ֲ‫א‬‫ל‬ ַ‫ל‬ ֲ‫א‬‫ל‬ ַ‫ל‬ ֲ‫א‬‫ל‬ ַ‫ל‬ ֲ‫א‬ (later ‫עצב‬‫עצב‬‫עצב‬‫,עצב‬ Arab. ‛‛‛‛ᑑᑑᑑᑑbbbb), according to which (b. Chullin
121a) it is explained: healer of the jugular artery, i.e., those who try to
heal what is incurable, therefore charlatans, - a strange idea, which has
arisen from the defective form of writing ‫ל‬ ִ‫ל‬ ֱ‫א‬‫ל‬ ִ‫ל‬ ֱ‫א‬‫ל‬ ִ‫ל‬ ֱ‫א‬‫ל‬ ִ‫ל‬ ֱ‫.א‬ The lxx translates ᅶαταᆳᅶαταᆳᅶαταᆳᅶαταᆳ
κακራκακራκακራκακራνννν.)
nothingness, and also ‫ל‬ ָ‫מ‬ ָ‫ע‬‫ל‬ ָ‫מ‬ ָ‫ע‬‫ל‬ ָ‫מ‬ ָ‫ע‬‫ל‬ ָ‫מ‬ ָ‫ע‬ (Job_16:2) in a similar connection, is not an
objective but attributive genitive; but Psa_119:69 is decisive against this
interpretation of ‫ר‬ ֶ‫ק‬ ֶ‫שׁ‬‫ר‬ ֶ‫ק‬ ֶ‫שׁ‬‫ר‬ ֶ‫ק‬ ֶ‫שׁ‬‫ר‬ ֶ‫ק‬ ֶ‫שׁ‬ ‫י‬ ֵ‫ל‬ ְ‫ּפ‬‫ט‬‫י‬ ֵ‫ל‬ ְ‫ּפ‬‫ט‬‫י‬ ֵ‫ל‬ ְ‫ּפ‬‫ט‬‫י‬ ֵ‫ל‬ ְ‫ּפ‬‫ט‬. The parallelism is not so exactly adjusted, as e.g.,
even ‫י‬ ֵ‫א‬ ְ‫ּפ‬‫ר‬‫י‬ ֵ‫א‬ ְ‫ּפ‬‫ר‬‫י‬ ֵ‫א‬ ְ‫ּפ‬‫ר‬‫י‬ ֵ‫א‬ ְ‫ּפ‬‫ר‬ does not on account of the parallel with ‫י‬ ֵ‫ל‬ ְ‫ּפ‬‫ט‬‫י‬ ֵ‫ל‬ ְ‫ּפ‬‫ט‬‫י‬ ֵ‫ל‬ ְ‫ּפ‬‫ט‬‫י‬ ֵ‫ל‬ ְ‫ּפ‬‫ט‬ signify patchers,
ምάምάምάምάπταιπταιπταιπται, but: they are not able to heal Job's wounds with the medicine of
consolation; they are medici nihili, useless physicians. Pro_17:28, “Even a
fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise,” applies to them, si
tacuisses, sapiens mansisses; or, as a rabbinical proverb of similar
meaning, quoted by Heidenheim, says, ‫השׂגה‬‫השׂגה‬‫השׂגה‬‫השׂגה‬ ‫בהשׂגה‬‫בהשׂגה‬‫בהשׂגה‬‫בהשׂגה‬ ‫הלאות‬‫הלאות‬‫הלאות‬‫,הלאות‬ “the fatigue of
comprehension is comprehension,” i.e., the silent pause before a problem is
half the solution. The jussive form ‫י‬ ִ‫ה‬ ְ‫וּת‬‫י‬ ִ‫ה‬ ְ‫וּת‬‫י‬ ִ‫ה‬ ְ‫וּת‬‫י‬ ִ‫ה‬ ְ‫,וּת‬ it would be (Ges. §128, 2), is used in
the conclusion of the wish. Thus he challenges them to hear his ‫ת‬ ַ‫ח‬ ַ‫וכ‬ ִ‫ת‬ ַ‫ח‬ ַ‫וכ‬ ִ‫ת‬ ַ‫ח‬ ַ‫וכ‬ ִ‫ת‬ ַ‫ח‬ ַ‫וכ‬ ִ (‫ה‬ ָ‫ח‬ ֵ‫ּוכ‬‫ה‬ ָ‫ח‬ ֵ‫ּוכ‬‫ה‬ ָ‫ח‬ ֵ‫ּוכ‬‫ה‬ ָ‫ח‬ ֵ‫ּוכ‬ )
and his ‫ּוה‬‫ב‬ ִ‫ר‬‫ּוה‬‫ב‬ ִ‫ר‬‫ּוה‬‫ב‬ ִ‫ר‬‫ּוה‬‫ב‬ ִ‫.ר‬ Hirzel is quite right when he says the former does not mean
defence (justification), nor the latter proofs (counter-evidence); ‫תוכחת‬‫תוכחת‬‫תוכחת‬‫תוכחת‬ is,
according to his signification (significatus, in distinction from sensus),
ᅞᅞᅞᅞλεγχοςλεγχοςλεγχοςλεγχος, correptio (lxx, Vulg.), and here not so much refutation and answer,
as correction in an ethical sense, in correspondence with which ‫רבות‬‫רבות‬‫רבות‬‫רבות‬ is also

9. intended of reproaches, reproofs, or reprimands.
You pretend to represent God and speak for him, but I want to confront God in
person and argue my case. I have had enough of this lower court nonsense. I want to
appeal my case before the highest court of all. I want to go to the supreme court of
the universe and argue my case before God himself.
BI 3-4, "Surely I would speak to the Almighty.
Man speaking to God
There is a great deal of human speaking that has to do with God. Most speak
about God, many speak against God, and some speak to God. Of these there
are two classes—Those who occasionally speak to Him under the pressure of
trial; those who regularly speak to Him as the rule of their life. These last
are the true Christ-like men.
I. Speaking to God shows the highest practical recognition of the Divine
presence. It indicates—
1. A heart belief in the fact of the Divine existence.
2. A heart belief in the personality of the Divine existence. What rational
soul would speak to a vain impersonality? Man may justly infer the
personality of God from his own personality.
3. A heart belief in the nearness of the Divine existence. It feels that He is
present.
4. A heart belief in the impressibility of the Divine existence. It has no
question about the Divine susceptibility.
II. Speaking to God shows the truest relief of our social nature. Social relief
consists principally in the free and full communication to others of all the
thoughts and emotions that must affect the heart. Before a man will fully
unbosom his soul to another, he must be certified of three things—
1. That the other feels the deepest interest in him. Who has such an
interest in us as God?
2. That the other will make full allowance for the infirmities of his
nature. Who is so acquainted with our infirmities as God?
3. That the other will be disposed and able to assist in our trials. Who can
question the willingness and capability of God?
III. Speaking to God shows the most effective method of spiritual discipline.
1. The effort of speaking to God is most quickening to the soul.
2. The effort of speaking to God is most humbling to a soul.
3. The effort of speaking to God is most spiritualising to the soul. It
breaks the spell of the world upon us; it frees us from secular
associations; it detaches us from earth; and it makes us feel that there is

10. nothing real but spirit, nothing great but God, and nothing worthy of
man but assimilation to and fellowship with the Infinite.
IV. Speaking to God shows the highest honour of a created spirit. The act
implies a great capacity. What can show the greatness of the human soul so
much as this exalted communion? (Homilist.)
But ye are forgers of lies.—
Lies easily forged
Lying is so easy that it is within the capacity of everyone. It is proverbially
easy. “It is as easy as lying,” says Hamlet, when speaking of something not
difficult. You can do it as you work or as you walk. You can do it as you sit in
your easy chair. You can do it without any help, even in extreme debility.
You lie, and it does not blister your tongue or give you a headache. It is not
attended with any wear and tear of constitution. It does not throw you into a
consumption—not even into a perspiration. It is the cheapest of sins. It
requires no outlay of money to gratify this propensity. There is no tax to
pay. The poorest can afford it, and the rich do not despise it because it is
cheap. Neither does it cost any expenditure of time. After the hesitancy of
the first few lies you can make them with the greatest ease. You soon get to
extemporise them without the trouble of forethought. The facilities for
committing this sin are greater than for any other. You may indulge in it
anywhere. You cannot very well steal on a common, or swear in a drawing
room, or get drunk in a workhouse; but in what place or at what time can
you not lie? You have to sneak, and skulk, and look over your shoulders, and
peep, and listen, before you can commit many sins; but this can be practised
in open day, and in the market place. You can look a man in the face and do
it. You can rub your hands and smile and be very pleasant whilst doing it. (J.
Teasdale.)
PULPIT, "Job 13:3-13
The second section of Job's argument is prefaced, like the first (Job 12:2-5),
with a complaint with respect to the conduct of his opponents. He taxes
them with the fabrication of lies (verse 4), with want of skill as physicians of
souls (verse 4), with vindicating God by reasonings in which they do not
themselves believe (verses 7, 8), and consequently with really mocking him
(verse 9). Having warned them that they are more likely to offend God than
to please him by such arguments as those that they have urged (verses 10-
12), he calls on them to hold their peace, and allow him to plead his cause
with God (verse 13).
Job 13:3

11. Surely I would speak to the Almighty. It is not Job's wish to argue his ease
with his three friends, but to reason it out with God. His friends, however,
interfere with this design, check it, thwart it, prevent him from carrying it
out. He must therefore first speak a few words to them. And I desire to
reason with God. Compare God's own invitation to his people, "Come now,
and let us reason together, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 1:18), and again, "Put me
in remembrance, let us plead together; declare thou, that thou mayest be
justified" (Isaiah 43:26); which indicate God's gracious willingness to allow
men to plead on their own behalf before him, and do their best to justify
themselves.
4 You, however, smear me with lies;
you are worthless physicians, all of you!
BAR ES, "But ye are forgers of lies - The word lies here seems to be used
in a large sense, to denote sophisms, false accusations, errors. They
maintained false positions; they did not see the exact truth in respect to the
divine dealings, and to the character of Job. They maintained strenuously
that Job was a hypocrite, and that God was punishing him for his sins. They
maintained that God deals with people in exact accordance with their
charactor in this world, all of which Job regarded as false doctrine, and
asserted that they defended it with sophistical arguments invented for the
purpose, and thus they could be spoken of as “forgers of lies.”
Physicians of no value - The meaning is, that they had come to give him
consolation, but nothing that they had said had imparted comfort. They
were like physicians sent for to visit the sick, who could do nothing when
they came; compare Job_16:2.
CLARKE, "Ye are forgers of lies - Ye frame deceitful arguments: ye reason
sophistically, and pervert truth and justice, in order to support your cause.
Physicians of no value - Ye are as feeble in your reasonings as ye are
inefficient in your skill. Ye can neither heal the wound of my mind, nor the
disease of my body. In ancient times every wise man professed skill in the
healing art, and probably Job’s friends had tried their skill on his body as
well as on his mind. He therefore had, in his argument against their
teaching, a double advantage: Your skill in divinity and physic is equal: in
the former ye are forgers of lies; in the latter, ye are good-for-nothing
physicians. I can see no reason to depart from the general meaning of the

12. original to which the ancient versions adhere. The Chaldee says: “Ye are
idle physicians; and, like the mortified flesh which is cut off with the knife,
so are the whole of you.” The imagery in the former clause is chirurpical,
and refers to the sewing together, or connecting the divided sides of
wounds; for ‫טפלי‬‫טפלי‬‫טפלי‬‫טפלי‬ topheleytopheleytopheleytopheley, which we translate forgers, comes from ‫טפל‬‫טפל‬‫טפל‬‫טפל‬ taphaltaphaltaphaltaphal,
to fasten, tie, connect, sew together. And I question whether ‫טפלי‬‫טפלי‬‫טפלי‬‫טפלי‬ topheleytopheleytopheleytopheley
here may not as well express Surgeons, as ‫רפאי‬‫רפאי‬‫רפאי‬‫רפאי‬ ropheeyropheeyropheeyropheey, in the latter clause,
Physicians. Ye are Chirurgeons of falsity, and worthless Physicians.
GILL, "But ye are forgers of lies,.... This is a hard and very harsh saying;
Job was now in a passion, provoked by his friends, and retorts upon them
what they had charged him with, Job_11:3; so often in controversies and
disputes between good men undue heats arise, and unbecoming words drop
from their lips and pens; to tell lies is a bad thing, but to forge them, to tell a
studied premeditated lie, is dreadfully shocking, contrary to the grace of
God, and which good men cannot allow themselves in, it is the character of
bad men, see Isa_63:8; but it may be Job may not design lies in a strict and
proper sense, but falsehoods and untruths; for though no lie is of the truth,
yet every untruth is not a lie; because a man may deliver an untruth, not
knowing it to be so, but taking it for a truth, speaks it, without any design to
impose upon and deceive others. Doctrinal lies may be intended, such as the
false prophets told, whereby they made the hearts of the righteous sad, and
were the untempered mortar they daubed with, Eze_13:10; and the word
here used has the same signification, and may be rendered, "daubers of
lies" (o); that colour over things, and make falsehoods look like truths, and
deliver them for such, and like others speak lies in hypocrisy: now those
here referred to were these, that God did not afflict good men, at least in any
very severe manner, and that Job, being thus afflicted, was a bad man, and
an hypocrite; both these Job charges as lies:
ye are all physicians of no value; or "idol physicians" (p); not that pretended
to the cure of idols, but were no better than idols themselves, and
understood no more how to cure than they, than an Heathen deity, the god
of physic Aesculapius, or anyone that might be reckoned such; but was no
other than an image of wood or stone, and so could not be possessed of the
faculty of healing, and such were Job's friends; an idol is nothing, and is
good for nothing, and such were they as physicians, they were idol
physicians, like the "idol shepherd", Zec_11:17; of no value at all: the
Rabbins (q) say, the word used signifies a nerve or sinew of the neck, which
when broken is incurable; and such physicians were they, that could do him
no service, no more than cure a broken neck; this is to be understood of
them, not as physicians of his body, that they pretended not to be; he was
greatly diseased from head to foot, and had no hope of a recovery of his
health, nor did they pretend to prescribe for him, nor does he reproach
them on that account; but as physicians of his soul, afflicted and distressed,
they came to administer comfort to him under his afflictions, but they were
miserable comforters, as he elsewhere calls them, Job_16:2; instead of
acting the part of the good Samaritan, and pouring in oil and wine into his

13. wounds, Luk_10:34, they poured in vinegar, and made them bleed and
smart the more, and added affliction to his affliction; instead of healing,
they wounded him yet more and more; and, instead of binding up his
wounds, opened them wider, and gave him sensible pain; instead of giving
him the cordials of the Gospel, they gave him the corrosives the law; and
instead of pointing out unto him the gracious promises of God, for the
support of his afflicted soul, they loaded him with charges of sin, and set
him to work by repentance and reformation to obtain the forgiveness of
them: they said many good things, but misapplied them, being ignorant of
the case, and so were physicians of no value; as such are who are ignorant of
the nature and causes of a disease, and therefore make wrong prescriptions,
though the medicines they prescribe may in themselves be good: indeed, in
the cases of souls, or for the healing of the diseases of the soul, which are
natural and hereditary, epidemical and universal, nauseous and loathsome,
and of themselves mortal, all physicians are of no value; but Jesus Christ,
who is the only physician of souls, the able, skilful, and infallible one, that
cures all fully freely that apply unto him; bodily physicians are no use in
such cases, nor merry companions, nor legal preachers, who direct to
supple the wounds with tears of repentance, and bind them up with rags of a
man's own righteousness; Christ is the only Saviour, his blood the balsam
that heals every wound, and his righteousness that affords peace, joy, and
comfort to afflicted minds, and delivers from those weights and pressures
of mind with which they are bowed down.
HE RY, "III. He condemns them for their unjust and uncharitable
treatment of him, Job_13:4. 1. They falsely accused him, and that was
unjust: You are forgers of lies. They framed a wrong hypothesis concerning
the divine Providence, and misrepresented it, as if it did never remarkably
afflict any but wicked men in this world, and thence they drew a false
judgment concerning Job, that he was certainly a hypocrite. For this gross
mistake, both in doctrine and application, he thinks an indictment of
forgery lies against them. To speak lies is bad enough, though but at second
hand, but to forge them with contrivance and deliberation is much worse;
yet against this wrong neither innocency nor excellency will be a fence. 2.
They basely deceived him, and that was unkind. They undertook his cure,
and pretended to be his physicians; but they were all physicians of no value,
“idol-physicians, who can do me no more good than an idol can.” They were
worthless physicians, who neither understood his case nor knew how to
prescribe to him - mere empirics, who pretended to great things, but in
conference added nothing to him: he was never the wiser for all they said.
Thus to broken hearts and wounded consciences all creatures, without
Christ, are physicians of no value, on which one may spend all and be never
the better, but rather grow worse, Mar_5:26.
JAMISO , "forgers of lies — literally, “artful twisters of vain speeches”
[Umbreit].
BENSON, "Job 13:4-5. Ye are forgers of lies — That is, authors of false
doctrine, namely, that great afflictions are peculiar to hypocrites and

14. wicked men. All physicians of no value — Unfaithful and unskilful;
prescribing bad remedies: and misapplying good ones. O that ye would
altogether hold your peace — The best proof of your wisdom would be never
to say a word more of these matters; for then your ignorance and folly
would be concealed, which are now made manifest by your speaking
concerning what you do not understand. Thus Solomon, Proverbs 17:28,
“Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that
shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.”
I don’t mean to be offensive, or do I? I guess I do, for you guys are nothing but
quacks handing out prescriptions that are less than sugar pills. It is all hot air that
you offer a drowning man.
These friends of his were there to comfort him, but their false reasoning only hurt
him more, and their efforts to heal him only made his wounds deeper and more
painful. They were failing him on both the mental and physical level. Their
doctoring skills were woefully ineffective. If you have ever been to a doctor who did
not have a clue how to help you, you can identify with Job at this point. They are
prescribing a medicine for him that is not only bitter, but has side effects that are
worse than the disease. They are saying that God only afflicts evil men with
suffering like his, and therefore, he is guilty of hypocrisy, for he is hiding secret sins
that nobody knows about. He is pretending to be a godly man, but behind closed
doors he is wicked. This is the type of prescription you throw away and never get
filled, for it is more harmful than helpful.
COFFMA , ""Ye are forgers of lies" (Job 13:4). This is the topic sentence of the
whole paragraph. Literature has no more severe a castigation of irresponsible
language than this which Job here heaped upon his friends. He called them
physicians of no value (Job 13:4), stated that their silence had more wisdom in it
than their words (Job 13:5), indicated that they were speaking unrighteously and
deceitfully for God (Job 13:7), noted that God would certainly reprove them (Job
13:10), flatly declared that their proverbs were proverbs of ashes, and that their
defenses were defenses of clay (Job 13:12).
"Will ye show partiality ... contend for God" (Job 13:8)? Job here spoke of their
untruthful allegation that God always dealt with men in this life according to their
character, a crooked proposition indeed, as proved by God's great blessings upon
thieves, robbers, and all kinds of wicked men. In the view of his friends, they were
defending God's honor in this affirmation; but in these last few verses of the
paragraph, Job appealed to their consciences, that in the majesty of God and their
fear of him, they should be ashamed and afraid to defend such a lie.
JOB AGAI AFFIRMS THAT HE IS RIGHTEOUS

15. In these affirmations, Job does not claim sinless perfection; because, he mentioned
the iniquities of his youth (Job 13:26). What he does affirm is that the terrible
misfortunes which have come upon him could not possibly have resulted from any
gross wickedness on his part. In the concluding revelation, God Himself allowed the
fact of Job's righteousness (Job 42).
ELLICOTT, "(4) Ye are forgers of lies.—He now retorts upon his friends in terms
not more deferential than their own, and calls them scrapers together, or patchers
up, of falsehood, and physicians who are powerless to heal, or even to understand
the case. He feels that they have failed miserably and utterly to understand him.
EBC, "Job finds them guilty of speaking falsely as special pleaders for God in two
respects. They insist that he has offended God, but they cannot point to one sin
which he has committed. On the other hand, they affirm positively that God will
restore prosperity if confession is made. But in this too they play the part of
advocates without warrant. They show great presumption in daring to pledge the
Almighty to a course in accordance with their idea of justice. The issue might be
what they predict; it might not. They are venturing on ground to which their
knowledge does not extend. They think their presumption justified because it is for
religion’s sake. Job administers a sound rebuke, and it extends to our own time.
Special pleaders for God’s sovereign and unconditional right and for His illimitable
good nature, alike have warning here. What justification have men in affirming that
God will work out His problems in detail according to their views? He has given to
us the power to apprehend the great principles of His working. He has revealed
much in nature, providence, and Scripture, and in Christ; but there is the "hiding of
His power," "His path is in the mighty waters, and His judgments are not known."
Christ has said, "It is not for you to know times and seasons which the Father hath
set within His own authority." There are certainties of our consciousness, facts of
the world and of revelation from which we can argue. Where these confirm, we may
dogmatise, and the dogma will strike home. But no piety, no desire to vindicate the
Almighty or to convict and convert the sinner, can justify any man in passing
beyond the certainty which God has given him to that unknown which lies far above
human ken.
PULPIT, "But ye are forgers of lies. A harsh expression, indicating that Job was
thoroughly exasperated. The lies which his friends had forged were, partly,
misrepresentations of what he had said, as for example Job 11:4, but mainly
statements, more or less covert, which implied that he had brought all his calamities
on himself by a course of evil-doing (see Job 4:7, Job 4:8; Job 8:13, Job 8:14; Job
11:11, Job 11:14, Job 11:20). Ye are all physicians of no value. Job's friends had
come to him to "comfort" him (Job 2:11), and act as physicians of his soul. But they
had entirely failed to be of the least service. They had not even understood his case.

16. 5 If only you would be altogether silent!
For you, that would be wisdom.
BAR ES, "Oh that ye would altogether hold your peace! - You would show
your wisdom by silence. Since you can say nothing that is adapted to give
comfort, or to explain the true state of the case, it would be wise to say
nothing; compare Pro_17:28 : “Even a fool when he holdeth his peace is
counted wise.”
CLARKE, "Hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom - In Pro_17:28
we have the following apophtheym: “Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace,
is counted wise; and he that shutteth his lips, a man of understanding.”
There is no reason to say that Solomon quotes from Job: I have already
expressed my opinion that the high antiquity attributed to this book is
perfectly unfounded, and that there is much more evidence that Solomon
was its author, than there is that it was the composition of Moses. But,
whenever Job lived, whether before Abraham or after Moses, the book was
not written till the time of Solomon, if not later. But as to the saying in
question, it is a general apophthegm, and may be found among the wise
sayings of all nations. I may observe here, that a silent man is not likely to
be a fool; for a fool will be always prating, or, according to another adage, a
fool’s bolt is soon shot. The Latins have the same proverb: Vir sapit, qui
pauca loquitur, “A wise man speaks little.”
GILL, "And that ye would altogether hold your peace,.... Since what they
said of him was not true, nor anything to the purpose, or that tended to the
comfort of his afflicted soul, but the reverse; and therefore he could have
wished they had never broke silence, but continued as they were the first
seven days of their visit; and now, since they had spoken, and had done no
good by speaking, but hurt, he desires for the future they would be silent,
and say no more:
and it should be your wisdom: it would be the greatest evidence of it they
could give; they had shown none by speaking; it would be a proof of some in
them, should they hold their peace; a very biting expression this see Pro_
17:28.
HE RY 5-6, "IV. He begs they would be silent and give him a patient
hearing, Job_13:5, Job_13:6. 1. He thinks it would be a credit to them if they

17. would say no more, having said too much already: “Hold your peace, and it
shall be your wisdom, for thereby you will conceal your ignorance and ill-
nature, which now appear in all you say.” They pleaded that they could not
forbear speaking (Job_4:2, Job_11:2, Job_11:3); but he tells them that they
would better have consulted their own reputation if they had enjoined
themselves silence. Better say nothing than nothing to the purpose or that
which tends to the dishonour of God and the grief of our brethren. Even a
fool, when he holds his peace, is accounted wise, because nothing appears
to the contrary, Pro_17:28. And, as silence is an evidence of wisdom, so it is
a means of it, as it gives time to think and hear. 2. He thinks it would be a
piece of justice to him to hear what he had to say: Hear now my reasoning.
Perhaps, though they did not interrupt him in his discourse, yet they
seemed careless, and did not much heed what he said. He therefore begged
that they would not only hear, but hearken. Note, We should be very willing
and glad to hear what those have to say for themselves whom, upon any
account, we are tempted to have hard thoughts of. Many a man, if he could
but be fairly heard, would be fairly acquitted, even in the consciences of
those that run him down.
JAMISO , "(Pro_17:28). The Arabs say, “The wise are dumb; silence is
wisdom.”
In Proverbs 17:28 we read,"Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise; and he that
shutteth his lips, a man of understanding."
These friends missed their chance to be wise by opening their mouth. It would have been wisdom to
have kept silent. So often we seek to comfort people in suffering and loss of some kind and we say
foolish things. We can be of more comfort by just being there and not trying to solve their problem
with superficial statements and clichés.
When you don’t know what you are talking about, the key to being wise is to
stop talking. Silence is golden when speaking only reveals your ignorance. It
is better to be silent and be thought to be ignorant than to open it and prove
your ignorance.
PULPIT, "Oh that ye would altogether hold your peace! The friends had "held
their peace" for seven days after their arrival (Job 2:13). Oh that they would have
held it altogether! Their words had done nothing but exasperate and goad almost to
madness. There is a mournful pathos in Job's entreates to them to be silent (comp
verse 13). And it should be your wisdom. "Speech," it has been said, "is silvern,
silence is golden." o doubt" there is a time for everything … a time to keep silence,
and a time to speak" (Ecclesiastes 3:1, Ecclesiastes 3:7); nor is the rule of La Trappe
altogether a wise one. But probably ten times as much harm is done in the world by
speaking as by keeping silence. "Words for God" need especial care and caution. If
they do not do good, the harm that they may do is incalculable.

18. 6 Hear now my argument;
listen to the plea of my lips.
CLARKE, "Hear now my reasoning - The speeches in this book are conceived as
it delivered in a court of justice, different counselors pleading against each other.
Hence most of the terms are forensic.
GILL, "Hear now my reasoning,.... Job entreats his friends that they would be no
longer speakers, but hearers; that they would vouchsafe to sit still, and hear what he
had to say; though he was greatly afflicted, he had not lost his reason, wisdom was
not driven out from him, Job_6:13; he had still with him his reasoning powers,
which he was capable of making use of, and even before God, and desires that they
would attend to what he had to say on his own behalf:
and hearken to the pleadings of my lips; he was capable of pleading his own cause,
and he was desirous of doing it before God as his Judge; and begs the favour of his
friends to be silent, and hear him out, and then let judgment be given, not by them,
but by God himself.
BE SO ,"Job 13:6-8. Hear now my reasoning — Attend to it, and consider it more
seriously than you have done; and hearken to the pleadings of my lips — That is, to
the arguments which I shall produce. Will ye speak wickedly for God? — Will you
utter falsehoods upon pretence of pleasing God, or of maintaining God’s honour or
righteousness? Doth he need such defences? Will ye accept his person? — ot
judging according to the right of the cause, but the quality of the person, as corrupt
judges do. Will ye contend with God? — Or, will ye plead, as the word, ‫,תריבון‬
teribun, is rendered, 6:31 . He means, is his cause so bad as to call for your
assistance to defend it? Will you plead for him, as one person pleads for another,
making use of little arts and subtle contrivances in his defence? He wants no such
crafty, unprincipled advocates. “Job here convicts his friends of wickedness, in
taking upon them to defend God in an improper manner, as if he needed their rash
censures to vindicate the ways of his providence. This was such a fault, as they had
but too much reason to fear might one time or other draw down his severe
chastisements on their own heads.” See Peters.
PULPIT, "Hear now my reasoning. As his friends have not kept silence, but have
spoken, Job claims a right to be heard in his turn. If it be thought that he is

19. somewhat impatient, it must be remembered that his opponents are three to one, all
eager to catch him in a fault, and not very mild in their reprimands. And hearken to
the pleadings of my lips. Job's "pleadings" are addressed, not to his friends, but to
God, and are contained in verses 14-28 of the present, and the whole of the
succeeding chapter.
The speeches in Job are like arguments in a court of law. Job is the defense lawyer
defending himself and his friends are the prosecuting attorneys. Job would enjoy
the many lawyer jokes of our day, for he felt his friends were like the jokes about
them.
7 Will you speak wickedly on God's behalf?
Will you speak deceitfully for him?
BAR ES, "Will ye speak wickedly for God? - That is, will you maintain
unjust principles with a view to honor or to vindicate God? Job refers
doubtless to the positions which they had defended in regard to the divine
administration - principles which he regarded as unjust, though they had
employed them professedly in vindicating God. The sense is, that unjust
principles ought not to be advanced to vindicate God. The great cause of
truth and justice should always be maintained, and even in attempting to
vindicate the divine administration, we ought to make use of no arguments
which are not based on that which is right and true. Job means to reproach
his friends with having, in their professed vindication of God, advanced
sentiments which were at war with truth and justice, and which were full of
fallacy and sophistry. And is this never done now? Are sophistical
arguments never employed in attempting to vindicate the divine
government? Do we never state principles in regard to him which we should
esteem to be unjust and dishonorable if applied to man? Do not good people
sometimes feel that that government must be defended at all events; and
when they can see no reason for the divine dealings, do they not make
attempts at vindicating them, which are merely designed to throw dust in
the eyes of an opponent, and which are known to be sophistical in their
nature? It is wrong to employ a sophistical argument on any subject; and in
reasoning on the divine character and dealings, when we come, as we often
do, to points which we cannot understand, it is best to confess it. God asks
no weak or sophistical argument in his defense; still less can he be pleased

20. with an argument, though in defense of his government, which is based on
unjust principles.
And talk deceitfully for him - Use fallacies and sophisms in attempting to
vindicate him. Everything in speaking of God, should be true, pure, and
sound. Every argument should be free from any appearance of sophism, and
should be such as will bear the test of the most thorough examination. No
honor is done to God by sophistical arguments, nor can he be pleased when
such arguments are employed even to vindicate and honor his character.
CLARKE, "Will ye speak wickedly for God? - In order to support your own
cause, in contradiction to the evidence which the whole of my life bears to
the uprightness of my heart, will ye continue to assert that God could not
thus afflict me, unless flagrant iniquity were found in my ways; for it is on
this ground alone that ye pretend to vindicate the providence of God. Thus
ye tell lies for God’s sake, and thus ye wickedly contend for your Maker.
GILL, "Will you speak wickedly for God?.... As he suggests they did; they
spoke for God, and pleaded for the honour of his justice, by asserting he did
not afflict good men, which they thought was contrary to his justice; but:
then, at the same time, they spoke wickedly of Job, that he being afflicted of
God was a bad man, and an hypocrite; and this was speaking wickedly for
God, to vindicate his justice at the expense of his character, which there was
no need to do; and showed that they were poor advocates for God, since they
might have vindicated the honour of his justice, and yet allowed that he
afflicted good men, and that Job was such an one:
and talk deceitfully for him? or tell lies for him, namely, those just
mentioned, that only wicked men, and not good men, were afflicted by him,
and that Job was a bad man, and an hypocrite.
HE RY 7-8, "V. He endeavours to convince them of the wrong they did to
God's honour, while they pretended to plead for him, Job_13:7, Job_13:8.
They valued themselves upon it that they spoke for God, were advocates for
him, and had undertaken to justify him and his proceedings against Job;
and, being (as they thought) of counsel for the sovereign, they expected not
only the ear of the court and the last word, but judgment on their side. But
Job tells them plainly, 1. That God and his cause did not need such
advocates: “Will you think to contend for God, as if his justice were clouded
and wanted to be cleared up, or as if he were at a loss what to say and
wanted you to speak for him? Will you, who are so weak and passionate, put
in for the honour of pleading God's cause?” Good work ought not to be put
into bad hands. Will you accept his person? If those who have not right on
their side carry their cause, it is by the partiality of the judge in favour of
their persons; but God's cause is so just that it needs no such methods for
the support of it. He is a God, and can plead for himself (Jdg_6:31); and, if
you were for ever silent, the heavens would declare his righteousness. 2.
That God's cause suffered by such management. Under pretence of

21. justifying God in afflicting Job they magisterially condemned him as a
hypocrite and a bad man. “This” (says he) “is speaking wickedly” (for
uncharitableness and censoriousness are wickedness, great wickedness; it
is an offence to God to wrong our brethren); “it is talking deceitfully, for
you condemn one whom yet perhaps your own consciences, at the same
time, cannot but acquit. Your principles are false and your arguings
fallacious, and will it excuse you to say, It is for God?” No, for a good
intention will not justify, much less will it sanctify, a bad word or action.
God's truth needs not our lie, nor God's cause either our sinful policies or
our sinful passions. The wrath of man works not the righteousness of God,
nor may we do evil that good may come, Rom_3:7, Rom_3:8. Pious frauds
(as they call them) are impious cheats; and devout persecutions are horrid
profanations of the name of God, as theirs who hated their brethren, and
cast them out, saying, Let the Lord be glorified, Isa_66:5; Joh_16:2.
JAMISO , "deceitfully — use fallacies to vindicate God in His dealings; as
if the end justified the means. Their “deceitfulness” for God, against Job,
was that they asserted he was a sinner, because he was a sufferer.
K&D 7-11, "Their advocacy of God - this is the thought of this strophe - is
an injustice to Job, and an evil service rendered to God, which cannot
escape undisguised punishment from Him. They set themselves up as God's
advocates (‫ל‬ ֵ‫א‬ ָ‫ל‬‫ל‬ ֵ‫א‬ ָ‫ל‬‫ל‬ ֵ‫א‬ ָ‫ל‬‫ל‬ ֵ‫א‬ ָ‫ל‬ ‫יב‬ ִ‫ר‬‫יב‬ ִ‫ר‬‫יב‬ ִ‫ר‬‫יב‬ ִ‫,ר‬ like ‫ל‬ ַ‫ע‬ ַ ַ‫ל‬‫ל‬ ַ‫ע‬ ַ ַ‫ל‬‫ל‬ ַ‫ע‬ ַ ַ‫ל‬‫ל‬ ַ‫ע‬ ַ ַ‫ל‬ ‫יב‬ ִ‫ר‬‫יב‬ ִ‫ר‬‫יב‬ ִ‫ר‬‫יב‬ ִ‫,ר‬ Jdg_6:31), and at the same time accept His
person, accipiunt (as in acceptus = gratus), or lift it up, i.e., favour, or give
preference to, His person, viz., at the expense of the truth: they are partial
in His favour, as they are twice reminded and given to understand by the
fut. energicum ‫אוּן‬ ָ ִ‫אוּן‬ ָ ִ‫אוּן‬ ָ ִ‫אוּן‬ ָ ִ . The addition of ‫ר‬ ֶ‫ת‬ ֵ ַ‫ר‬ ֶ‫ת‬ ֵ ַ‫ר‬ ֶ‫ת‬ ֵ ַ‫ר‬ ֶ‫ת‬ ֵ ַ (Job_13:10) implies that they
conceal their better knowledge by the assumption of an earnest tone and
bearing, expressive of the strongest conviction that they are in the right.
They know that Job is not a flagrant sinner; nevertheless they deceive
themselves with the idea that he is, and by reason of this delusion they take
up the cause of God against him. Such perversion of the truth in majorem
Dei gloriam is an abomination to God. When He searches them, His
advocates, out (‫ר‬ ַ‫ק‬ ָ‫ח‬‫ר‬ ַ‫ק‬ ָ‫ח‬‫ר‬ ַ‫ק‬ ָ‫ח‬‫ר‬ ַ‫ק‬ ָ‫,ח‬ as Prov.Job_28:11), they will become conscious of it; or
will God be mocked, as one mocketh mortal men? Comp. Gal_6:7 for a
similar thought. ‫ל‬ ֵ‫ת‬ ָ‫ח‬‫ל‬ ֵ‫ת‬ ָ‫ח‬‫ל‬ ֵ‫ת‬ ָ‫ח‬‫ל‬ ֵ‫ת‬ ָ‫ח‬ is inf. absol. after the form ַ‫ל‬ ַָ‫ל‬ ַָ‫ל‬ ַָ‫ל‬ ָ , and ‫וּ‬ ֵ‫ת‬ ָ‫ה‬ ְ‫וּ‬ ֵ‫ת‬ ָ‫ה‬ ְ‫וּ‬ ֵ‫ת‬ ָ‫ה‬ ְ‫וּ‬ ֵ‫ת‬ ָ‫ה‬ ְ is also to be
derived from ַ‫ל‬ ַָ‫ל‬ ַָ‫ל‬ ַָ‫ל‬ ָ , and is fut. Hiph., the preformative not being syncopated,
for ‫וּ‬ ֵ‫ת‬ ָ‫וּ‬ ֵ‫ת‬ ָ‫וּ‬ ֵ‫ת‬ ָ‫וּ‬ ֵ‫ת‬ ָ (Ges. §53, rem. 7); not Piel, from ‫ל‬ ַ‫ת‬ ָ‫ה‬‫ל‬ ַ‫ת‬ ָ‫ה‬‫ל‬ ַ‫ת‬ ָ‫ה‬‫ל‬ ַ‫ת‬ ָ‫ה‬ (as 1Ki_18:27), with the
doubling of the middle radical resolved (Olsh. in his Lehrb. S. 577). God is
not pleased with λατρείλατρείλατρείλατρείαααα (Joh_16:2) which gives the honour to Him, but not
to truth, such ζᇿζᇿζᇿζᇿλοςλοςλοςλος Θεοሞ ᅊΘεοሞ ᅊΘεοሞ ᅊΘεοሞ ᅊλλλλλλλλ ʆʆʆʆ ουουουου ʆʆʆʆ κατκατκατκατ ʆʆʆʆ ᅚπίᅚπίᅚπίᅚπίγνωσινγνωσινγνωσινγνωσιν (Rom_10:2), such advocacy
contrary to one's better knowledge and conscience, in which the end is
thought to sanctify the means. Such advocacy must be put to shame and
confounded when He who needs no concealment of the truth for His

22. justification is manifest in His ‫ת‬ ֵ‫א‬ ְ‫שׂ‬‫ת‬ ֵ‫א‬ ְ‫שׂ‬‫ת‬ ֵ‫א‬ ְ‫שׂ‬‫ת‬ ֵ‫א‬ ְ‫,שׂ‬ i.e., not: in the kindling of His wrath
(after Jdg_20:38; Isa_30:27), but: in His exaltation (correctly by Ralbag:
‫ורוממותו‬ ‫התנשׂאותו‬‫ורוממותו‬ ‫התנשׂאותו‬‫ורוממותו‬ ‫התנשׂאותו‬‫ורוממותו‬ ‫,)התנשׂאותו‬ and by His direct influence brings all untruth to light. It is
the boldest thought imaginable, that one dare not have respect even to the
person of God when one is obliged to lie to one's self. And still it is also self-
evident. For God and truth can never be antagonistic.
You are pretending to represent God in your accusations against me, and so you are
willing to tell lies about me in order to win your case. You will ignore the evidence
that I have lived a righteous life and out or your own imagination you will conjure
up some great evil that I must have done to be worthy of such judgment. You do not
care about the truth, but only that you win the argument. You are willing even to be
wicked and deceitful yourselves in order to win. Winning is everything to you, even
if it has to be done by means of lies.
WILSO , "Job finds them guilty of speaking falsely as special
pleaders for God in two respects. They insist that he
has offended God, but they cannot point to one sin which
he has committed. On the other hand, they affirm
positively that God will restore prosperity if confession
is made. But in this too they play the part of advocates
without warrant. They show great presumption in
daring to pledge the Almighty to a course in accordance
with their idea of justice. The issue might be what
they predict ; it might not. They are venturing on
ground to which their knowledge does not extend.
They think their presumption justified because it is
for religion s sake. Job administers a sound rebuke,
and it extends to our own time. Special pleaders for
God s sovereign and unconditional right and for His
illimitable good-nature, alike have warning here. What
justification have men in affirming that God will work
out His problems in detail according to their views ?
He has given to us the power to apprehend the great
principles of His working. He has revealed much in
nature, providence, and Scripture, and in Christ ; but
there is the "hiding of His power," " His path is in the
mighty waters, and His judgments are not known."
Christ has said, " It is not for you to know times and
seasons which the Father hath set within His own
authority." There are certainties of our consciousness,
facts of the world ari^d of revelation from which we can
argue. Where these confirm, we may dogmatise, and
the dogma will strike home. But no piety, no desire

23. to vindicate the Almighty or to convict and convert
the sinner, can justify any man in passing beyond the
certainty which God has given him to that unknown
which lies far above human ken."
They argued that Job had to be a sinner because he was such a sufferer, and in
order to prove their case they assumed he was guilty of great secret sins. They were
following the philosophy that the end justifies the means. In other words, proving
that suffering is the result of sinfulness was their theology, and by this reasoning
they justified God for the evil of suffering. It was always just and right that people
suffer, for it was just punishment for their sins. They were defending their view of
God and suffering, and they were willing to stoop to deceit and lies even in order to
defend what they felt was crucial to a right view of God. The end was the highest
end they could imagine, and so anything was justified in defending such a noble
cause. What a paradox! Doing evil in order to defend the righteousness of God.
They were sincere, but were operating on a false assumption and error in their
thinking about God. In the end of the book God makes it clear that he was not
pleased with their reasoning and theology. If you have to lie and deceive to defend a
view of God, then you have the wrong view of God.
ELLICOTT, "(7) Will ye speak wickedly for God?—And now, in these verses, he
gives utterance to a sublime truth, which shows how truly he had risen to the true
conception of God, for he declares that He, who is no respecter of persons, desires to
have no favour shown to Himself, and that in seeking to show favour they will
greatly damage their own cause, for He is a God of truth, and by Him words as well
as actions are weighed, and therefore nothing that is not true can stand any one in
stead with Him.
PULPIT, "Will ye speak wickedly for God? We are not to suppose that Job's friends
consciously used unsound and untrue arguments in their disputations with him on
God's behalf. On the contrary, they are to be regarded as convinced of the truth of
their own reasonings—as brought up in the firm belief, that temporal prosperity or
wretchedness was dealt out by God, immediately, by his own will, to his subjects
according to their behaviour. Holding this, they naturally thought that Job, being so
greatly afflicted, must be a great sinner, and, as they could not very plausibly allege
any open sins against him, they saw in his sufferings a judgment on him for secret
sins. "His chosen friends, as Mr. Froude says, "wise, good, pious men, as wisdom
and piety were then, without one glimpse of the true cause of his sufferings, saw in
them a judgment of this character. He became to them an illustration, and even
(such are the paralogisms of men of this description) a proof of their theory that 'the
prosperity of the wicked is but for a while;' and instead of the comfort and help that
they might have brought him, and which in the end they were made to bring him, he

24. is to them no more than a text for the enunciation of solemn falsehood", i.e. of
statements which were false, though solemnly believed by them to be true. And talk
deceitfully for him. "Deceitfully,'' because untruly, yet so plausibly as to be likely to
deceive others.
8 Will you show him partiality?
Will you argue the case for God?
BAR ES, "Will ye accept his person? - That is, will you be partial to him?
The language is such as is used in relation to courts of justice, where a judge
shows favor to one of the parties on account of birth, rank, wealth, or
personal friendship. The idea here is, “will you, from partiality to God,
maintain unjust principles, and defend positions which are really
untenable?” There was a controversy between Job and God. Job maintained
that he was punished too severely; that the divine dealings were unequal
and disproportioned to his offences. His friends, he alleges, have not done
justice to the arguments which he had urged, but had taken sides with God
against him, no matter what he urged or what he said. So little disposed
were they to do justice to him and to listen to his vindication, that no matter
what he said, they set it all down to impatience, rebellion, and
insubmission.
They assumed that he was wrong, and that God was wholly right in all
flyings. Of this position that God was right, no one could reasonably
complain, and in his sober reflections Job himself would not be disposed to
object to it; but his complaint is, that though the considerations which he
urged were of the greatest weight, they would not allow their force, simply
because they were determined to vindicate God. Their position was, that
God dealt with people strictly according to their character; and that no
matter what they suffered, their sufferings were the exact measure of their
ill desert. Against this position, they would hear nothing that Job could say;
and they maintained it by every kind of argument which was at their
command - whether sound or unsound, sophistical or solid. Job says that
this was showing partiality for God, and he felt that he had a right to
complain. We need never show “partiality” even for God. He can be
vindicated by just and equal arguments; and we need never injure others
while we vindicate him. Our arguments for him should indeed be reverent,
and we should desire to vindicate his character and government; but the
considerations which we urge need not be those of mere partiality and
favor.

25. Will ye contend for God? - Language taken from a court of justice, and
referring to an argument in favor of a party or cause. Job asks whether they
would undertake to maintain the cause of God, and he may mean to
intimate that they were wholly disqualified for such an undertaking. He not
only reproves them for a lack of candor and impartiality, as in the previous
expressions, but he means to say that they were unfitted in all respects to be
the advocates of God. They did not understand the principles of his
administration. Their views were narrow, their information limited, and
their arguments either common-place or unsound. According to this
interpretation, the emphasis will be on the word “ye” - “will YE contend for
God?” The whole verse may mean, “God is not to be defended by mere
partiality, or favor. Solid arguments only should be employed in his cause.
Such you have not used, and you have shown yourselves to be entirely
unfitted for this great argument.”
The practical inference which we should draw from this is, that our
arguments in defense of the divine administration, should be solid and
sound. They should not be mere declamation, or mere assertion. They
should be such as will become the great theme, and such as will stand the
test of any proper trial that can be applied to reasoning. There are
arguments which will “vindicate all God’s ways to men;” and to search them
out should be one of the great employments of our lives. If ministers of the
gospel would always abide by these principles, they would often do much
more than they do now to commend religion to the sober views of mankind.
No people are under greater temptations to use weak or unsound
arguments than they are. They feel it to be their duty at all hazards to
defend the divine administration. They are in circumstances where their
arguments will not be subjected to the searching process which an
argument at the bar will be, where a keen and interested opponent is on the
alert, and will certainly sift every argument which is urged.
Either by inability to explain the difficulties of the divine government, or
by indolence in searching out arguments, or by presuming on the ignorance
and dullness of their hearers, or by a pride which will not allow them to
confess their ignorance on any subject, they are in danger of attempting to
hide a difficulty which they cannot explain, or of using arguments and
resorting to reasoning, which would be regarded as unsound or worthless
any where else. A minister should always remember that sound reasoning is
as necessary in religion as in other things, and that there are always some
people who can detect a fallacy or see through sophistry. With what diligent
study then should the ministers of the gospel prepare for their work! How
careful should they be, as the advocates of God and his cause in a world
opposed to him, to find out solid arguments, to meet with candor every
objection, and to convince people by sound reasoning, that God is right!
Their work is to convince, not to denounce; and if there is any office of
unspeakable responsibility on earth, it is that of undertaking to be the
advocates of God.
CLARKE, "Will ye accept his person? - Do you think to act by him as you
would by a mortal; and, by telling lies in his favor, attempt to conciliate his
esteem?

26. GILL, "Will ye accept his person?.... Accepting persons ought not to be done
in judgment by earthly judges; which is done when they give a cause to one
through favour and affection to his person, because rich, or their friend,
and against another, because otherwise; and something like this Job
intimates his friends did in the present case; they only considered what God
was, holy, just, wise, and good in all he did, and so far they were right, and
too much respect cannot be given him; but the fault was, that they only
attended to this, and did not look into the cause of Job itself, but wholly
neglected it, and gave it against him, he being poor, abject, and miserable,
on the above consideration of the perfections of God; which looked like
what is called among men acceptation, or respect of persons:
will ye contend for God? it is right to contend for God, for the being of God
against atheists, for the perfections of God, his sovereignty, his
omniscience, omnipresence, &c. against those that deny them, for his truths
and doctrines, word, worship, and ordinances, against the corrupters of
them; but then he and those are not to be contended for in a foolish and
imprudent manner, or with a zeal, not according to knowledge, much less
with an hypocritical one, as was Jehu's, 2Ki_10:28; God needs no such
advocates, he can plead his own cause, or make use of persons that can do it
in a better mann
JAMISO , "accept his person — God’s; that is, be partial for Him, as when
a judge favors one party in a trial, because of personal considerations.
contend for God — namely, with fallacies and prepossessions against Job
before judgment (Jdg_6:31). Partiality can never please the impartial God,
nor the goodness of the cause excuse the unfairness of the arguments.
You are supposed to be objective and look at the evidence alone, but you want to
win your case so badly that you are becoming totally subjective and showing
partiality to God by twisting everything to favor his argument, which is not his at
all, but your as self appointed lawyers to argue his case. It is unfair to show favor to
one party in the case to the detriment of the other. Each needs to be treated as
equals.
COKE, "Job 13:8. Will ye contend for God— The Hebrew for contend is a judicial
term, and oftentimes used for putting a sentence in execution. Of this there is a
particular instance in the case of Gideon, who was demanded by the men of his city
to be put to death for casting down the altar of Baal, Judges 6:31.; where, though
our translators render it plead, the sense necessarily requires it to be rendered
execute vengeance; for the question was, not about pleading, but instantaneously
putting to death. If he be a God, let him execute vengeance for himself. Job here
convicts his friends of wickedness; of taking upon them to defend God in an
improper manner, as if he needed their rash censures to vindicate the ways of his

27. providence. This was such a fault as they had but too much reason to fear might,
one time or other, draw down his severe chastisements on their own heads. He will
surely reprove you, Job 13:10 if you secretly accept persons: i.e. if you judge thus
rashly and unjustly even for him, or in vindication of his ways. See Peters.
9 Would it turn out well if he examined you?
Could you deceive him as you might deceive
BAR ES, "Is it good that he should search you out? - Would it be well for
you if he should go into an investigation of your character, and of the
arguments which you adduce? The idea is, that if God should make such an
investigation, the result would be highly unfavorable to them. Perhaps Job
means to intimate that, if they were subjected to the kind of trial that he had
been, it would be seen that they could not bear it. “Or as one man mocketh
another.” The idea here is, “it is possible to delude or deceive man, but God
cannot be deceived. You may conceal your thoughts and motives from man,
but you cannot from God. You may use arguments that may impose upon
man - you may employ fallacies and sophisms which he cannot detect, but
every such effort is vain with God;” compare Gal_6:7.
CLARKE, "Is it good that he should search you out? - Would it be to your
credit if God should try your hearts, and uncover the motives of your
conduct? Were you tried as I am, how would you appear?
Do ye so mock him? - Do ye think that you can deceive him; and by
flattering speeches bring him to your terms, as you would bring an
undiscerning, empty mortal, like yourselves?
GILL, "Is it good that he should search you out?.... That is, God; searching is
ascribed to him after the manner of men; not that he is ignorant of persons
or things he searches after, or exercises that application, diligence, and
industry, and takes those pains which are necessary in men to find out
anything; when he makes search, it is not on his own account, but others; at
least it is only to show his knowledge of persons and things, and to make
men known to others, or things to them themselves; and is here to be
understood in a judicial sense, as it frequently is the case, so it was here, a
man that is "first in his own cause", as the wise man says, Pro_18:17,
"seemeth just"; to himself and others; it looks upon the representation he
makes of things as if he was in the right: "but his neighbour cometh and

28. searcheth him"; traverses his arguments in his own vindication, and shows
the fallacy of them; so Job's friends, making the worst of his cause, and the
best of their own, seemed right in their own eyes; but God, who is the
searcher of hearts, and who knows all things, could see through their
coverings of things, and could not be deceived by them, but would find them
out, and expose them; as he did afterwards, when he gave judgment against
them, and declared they had not said that which was right, as his servant
Job had, Job_42:7; and therefore it was not to their profit and advantage,
and to their honour and credit, to be searched out by him, or to run the risk
of it, as they did, which is the amount of this question:
or as one mocketh another, do ye so mock him? men may be mocked by
their fellow creatures, either by words or gestures, as good men usually are
in all ages, especially the prophets of the Lord, and the ministers of his
word; or they may he deceived and imposed upon by the false glosses and
colourings of artful men, as simple men are deceived by the fair speeches of
false teachers, which is no other than an illusion of them, or mocking them:
in the first sense God may be mocked, though he should not; there have
been and will be such bold and daring creatures as to mock at his promises
and his providence, to mock at his word, ordinances, and ministers, which
is interpreted by him a mocking and despising himself; but in the latter
sense he cannot be mocked, and it is a vain thing to attempt it; "be not
deceived, God is not mocked", Gal_6:7; he sees through all the fallacious
reasonings of men; he judges not according to outward appearance; he sees
and knows the heart, and all the views and designs of men, and can detect
all their sophisms and false glosses; he is not to be deceived by specious
pretences of doing such and such actions for his glory, as casting out good
men, and their names, or traducing their characters that he may be
glorified, or killing them to do him service, Isa_66:5; he is not to be
flattered as one man may flatter another; to do this with him, is to mock
him, he is not to be mocked in this way.
HE RY 9-11, "VI. He endeavours to possess them with a fear of God's
judgment, and so to bring them to a better temper. Let them not think to
impose upon God as they might upon a man like themselves, nor expect to
gain his countenance in their bad practices by pretending a zeal for him and
his honour. “As one man mocks another by flattering him, do you think so
to mock him and deceive him?” Assuredly those who think to put a cheat
upon God will prove to have put a cheat upon themselves. Be not deceived,
God is not mocked. That they might not think thus to jest with God, and
affront him, Job would have them to consider both God and themselves, and
then they would find themselves unable to enter into judgment with him.
1. Let them consider what a God he is into whose service they had thus
thrust themselves, and to whom they really did so much disservice, and
enquire whether they could give him a good account of what they did.
Consider, (1.) The strictness of his scrutiny and enquiries concerning them
(Job_13:9) “Is it good that he should search you out? Can you bear to have
the principles looked into which you go upon in your censures, and to have
the bottom of the matter found out?” Note, It concerns us all seriously to
consider whether it will be to our advantage or no that God searches the
heart. It is good to an upright man who means honestly that God should

29. search him; therefore he prays for it: Search me, O God! and know my
heart. God's omniscience is a witness of his sincerity. But it is bad to him
who looks one way and rows another that God should search him out, and
lay him open to his confusion. (2.) The severity of his rebukes and
displeasure against them (Job_13:10): “If you do accept persons, though
but secretly and in heart, he will surely reprove you; he will be so far from
being pleased with your censures of me, though under colour of vindicating
him, that he will resent them as a great provocation, as any prince or great
man would if a base action were done under the sanction of his name and
under the colour of advancing his interest.” Note, What we do amiss we
shall certainly be reproved for, one way or other, one time or other, though
it be done ever so secretly. (3.) The terror of his majesty, which if they
would duly stand in awe of they would not do that which would make them
obnoxious to his wrath (Job_13:11): “Shall not his excellency make you
afraid? You that have great knowledge of God, and profess religion and a
fear of him, how dare you talk at this rate and give yourselves so great a
liberty of speech? Ought you not to walk and talk in the fear of God? Neh_
5:9. Should not his dread fall upon you, and give a check to your passions?”
Methinks Job speaks this as one that did himself know the terror of the
Lord, and lived in a holy fear of him, whatever his friends suggested to the
contrary. Note, [1.] There is in God a dreadful excellency. He is the most
excellent Being, has all excellencies in himself and in each infinitely excels
any creature. His excellencies in themselves are amiable and lovely. He is
the most beautiful Being; but considering man's distance from God by
nature, and his defection and degeneracy by sin, his excellencies are
dreadful. His power, holiness, justice, yea, and his goodness too, are
dreadful excellencies. They shall fear the Lord and his goodness. [2.] A holy
awe of this dreadful excellency should fall upon us and make us afraid. This
would awaken impenitent sinners and bring them to repentance, and would
influence all to be careful to please him and afraid of offending him.
JAMISO , "Will the issue to you be good, when He searches out you and
your arguments? Will you be regarded by Him as pure and disinterested?
mock — (Gal_6:7). Rather, “Can you deceive Him as one man?” etc.
BE SO , "Job 13:9-10. Is it good that he should search you out? — Will it be to
your credit and comfort, that he should narrowly examine your hearts and
discourses, whether you have uttered truth or falsehood, and whether your speeches
have proceeded from true zeal for the glory of God, or from your own prejudices
and passions? Do ye so mock him? — By covering your uncharitableness and
corrupt affections with pretences of piety, as if God could not discern your artifices;
or, by pleading his cause with weak and foolish arguments, which is a kind of
mockery of him, and an injury to his cause; or, by seeking to flatter him with false
praises, as if he distributed the things of this world with exact justice, prospering
only the good, and severely afflicting none but wicked men. He will surely reprove
you — Hebrew, ‫יוכח‬ ‫,הוכח‬ hocheach, jocheach, redarguendo redarguet, in confuting,
he will confute you; that is, he will surely confute, or punish you, as the word often

30. means. “He will severely chastise you, for designing to gratify him by condemning
me.” — Bishop Patrick. If ye do secretly accept persons — Though it be concealed
in your own breasts, and no eye see it; yea, though your own minds and consciences,
through ignorance or inadvertency, do not perceive it; yet he, who is greater than
your consciences, sees and knows it.
PULPIT, "Is it good that he should search you out? "Are your motives in thus
acting," Job asks his opponents, "so pure that they will stand the severity of God's
judgment when he turns his scrutiny upon you' and searches out the grounds of
your proceedings? Is not your real motive to carry favour with him because he is so
great and powerful?" Or as one man mocketh another, do ye so meek him? You
may impose on a man by so acting, but you will not impose on God.
10 He would surely rebuke you
if you secretly showed partiality.
BAR ES, "He will surely reprove you, if ye do secretly accept persons - If
you show partiality, you will incur his disapprobation. This seems to have
much era proverbial cast, and to mean that under no possible
circumstances was it right to show partiality. No matter for whom it may be
done, it will be displeasing to God. Even if it be in favor of the righteous, the
widow, the fatherless, or of himself, if there is not a disposition to judge
according to truth and evidence, God will frown upon you. No matter who
the parties might be; no matter what their rank; no matter what friendship
there might be for one or the other of them, it was never to be assumed that
one was right and the other wrong without evidence. The exact truth was to
be sought after, and the judgement made up accordingly. Even when God
was one of the parties, the same course was to be pursued. His character
was capable of being successfully vindicated, and he would not be pleased to
have his cause defended or decided by partiality, or by mere favor. Hence,
he encourages people to bring forth their strong reasons, and to adduce all
that can be said against his government and laws. See the notes at Isa. 41:1-
21.
CLARKE, "He will surely reprove you - You may expect, not only his

31. disapprobation, but his hot displeasure.
GILL, "He will surely reprove you,.... Or "in reproving he will reprove you"
(r); he will certainly do it, it may be depended upon, and be expected; he
will never suffer sin to go unreproved and uncorrected; he will do it to the
purpose, with sharpness and severity, as the nature of the crime requires;
he reproves by his spirit, and it is well for men when he thoroughly, and in a
spiritual and saving way, reproves them by him, and convinces them of sin,
righteousness, and judgment; and he reproves by his word, which is written
for reproof and correction; and by his ministers, one part of whose work it
is to rebuke and reprove men for bad practices, and bad principles; and in
some cases they are to use sharpness, and which when submitted to, and
kindly taken, it is well; and sometimes he reproves by his providences, by
afflictive dispensations, and that either in love, as he rebukes his own
children, or in wrath and hot displeasure, as others, which is here designed;
and as it is always for sin he rebukes men, so particularly he rebukes for the
following, as might be expected:
if ye do secretly accept persons; acceptance of persons in judgment is
prohibited by God, and is highly resented by him; yea, even the acceptance
of his own person to the prejudice of the character of an innocent man;
which seems to be what Job has respect unto, as appears from Job_13:8;
and some versions render it, "if ye accept his face" (a); and though this may
be done no openly and publicly, but in a covert and secret manner, under
disguise, and with specious pretences to the honour and glory of God.
JAMISO , "If ye do, though secretly, act partially. (See on Job_13:8; see
on Psa_82:1, Psa_82:2). God can successfully vindicate His acts, and needs
no fallacious argument of man.
EBC 10-15, "The Book of Job, while it brands insincerity and loose
reasoning, justifies all honest and reverent research. Here, as in the
teaching of our Lord, the real heretic is he who is false to his own reason
and conscience, to the truth of things as God gives him to apprehend it, who,
in short, makes believe to any extent in the sphere of religion. And it is upon
this man the terror of the Divine majesty is to fall.
We saw how Bildad established himself on the wisdom of the ancients.
Recalling this, Job flings contempt on his traditional sayings.
"Your remembrances are proverbs of ashes,
Your defences, defences of dust."

32. Did they mean to smite him with those proverbs as with stones? They
were ashes. Did they intrench themselves from the assaults of reason
behind old suppositions? Their ramparts were mere dust. Once more he
bids them hold their peace, and let him alone that he may speak out all that
is in his mind. It is, he knows at the hazard of his life he goes forward; but
he will. The case in which he is can have no remedy excepting by an appeal
to God, and that final appeal he will make.
Now the proper beginning of this appeal is in the twenty-third verse (Job
13:23), with the words: "How many are mine iniquities and my sins?" But
before Job reaches it he expresses his sense of the danger and difficulty
under which he lies, interweaving with the statement of these a marvellous
confidence in the result of what he is about to do. Referring to the
declarations of his friends as to the danger that yet threatens if he will not
confess sin, he uses a proverbial expression for hazard of life.
"Why do I take my flesh in my teeth,
And put my life in my hand?"
Why do I incur this danger, do you say? Never mind. It is not your affair.
For bare existence I care nothing. To escape with mere consciousness for a
while is no object to me, as I now am. With my life in my hand I hasten to
God.
"Lo! He will slay me: I will not delay-
Yet my ways will I maintain before Him". [Job 13:15]
The old Version here, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him," is
inaccurate. Still it is not far from expressing the brave purpose of the man-
prostrate before God, yet resolved to cling to the justice of the case ashe
apprehends it, assured that this will not only be excused by God, but will
bring about his acquittal or salvation. To grovel in the dust, confessing
himself a miserable sinner more than worthy of all the sufferings he has
undergone, while in his heart he has the consciousness of being upright and
faithful-this would not commend him to the Judge of all the earth. It would
be a mockery of truth and righteousness, therefore of God Himself. On the
other hand, to maintain his integrity which God gave him, to go on
maintaining it at the hazard of all, is his only course, his only safety.
"This also shall be my salvation,
For a godless man shall not live before Him."
The fine moral instinct of Job, giving courage to his theology, declares

33. that God demands "truth in the inward parts" and truth in speech-that man
"consists in truth"-that "if he betrays truth he betrays himself," which is a
crime against his Maker. No man is so much in danger of separating himself
from God and losing everything as he who acts or speaks against conviction.
Job has declared his hazard, that he is lying helpless before Almighty
Power which may in a moment crush him. He has also expressed his faith,
that approaching God in the courage of truth he will not be rejected, that
absolute sincerity will alone give him a claim on the infinitely True. Now
turning to his friends as if in new defiance,
The verb means ““““to coat, smear, plaster.”””” The idea is that of imputing something
that is not true. Job is saying that his friends are inventors of lies. The LXX was
influenced by the next line and came up with ““““false physicians.””””
The idiom used here is ““““Will you lift up his face?”””” Here Job is being very sarcastic,
for this expression usually means that a judge is taking a bribe. Job is accusing them
of taking God’’’’s side.
11 Would not his splendor terrify you?
Would not the dread of him fall on you?
BAR ES, "Shall not his excellency - His exaltation ‫שׂאת‬‫שׂאת‬‫שׂאת‬‫שׂאת‬ śśśśeeee
''''êêêêthththth from ‫נשׂא‬‫נשׂא‬‫נשׂא‬‫נשׂא‬ nâśânâśânâśânâśâ''''
to exalt, to lift up), or his majesty, Gen_49:3.
Make you afraid - Fill you with awe and reverence. Shall it not restrain
you from fallacy, from sophisms, and from all presumptuous and
unfounded reasoning? The sense here is, that a sense of the greatness and
majesty of God should fill the mind with solemnity and reverence, and make
us serious and sincere; should repress all declamation and mere assertion,
and should lead us to adduce only those considerations which will bear the
test of the final trial. The general proposition, however, is not less clear,
that a sense of the majesty and glory of God should at all times fill the mind
with solemn awe, and produce the deepest veneration. See Jer_5:22; Jer_
10:7-10; Gen_28:17.
And his dread - The fear of him. You should so stand in awe of him as not
to advance any sentiments which he will not approve, or which will not bear

34. the test of examination. Rosenmuller, however, and after him Noyes,
supposes that this is not so much a declaration of what ought to be, implying
that the fear of God ought to produce veneration, as a declaration of what
actually occurred - implying that they were actually influenced by this
slavish fear in what they said. According to this it means that they were
actuated only by a dread of what God would do to them that led them to
condemn. Job without proof, and not by a regard to truth. But the common
interpretation seems to me most in accordance with the meaning of the
passage.
CLARKE, "His dread fall upon you? - The very apprehension of his wrath
is sufficient to crush you to nothing.
GILL, "Shall not his excellency make you afraid,.... To commit sin, any sin,
and particularly that just mentioned, which they might expect to be
reproved for; there is an excellency in the name of God, which is fearful and
dreadful, and in the nature and perfections of God, his power, justice, and
holiness, in which he is glorious and tremendous, and should deter men
from sinning against him; and there is an excellency in his works of nature
and providence, which are wondrous, and show him to be near at hand, and
can at once, if he pleases, take vengeance for sin: or "shall not his height"
(b), &c. his sublimity, his superiority to all beings; he is the most high God,
higher than the highest among men, he is above all gods, all that are so
called; and therefore all the inhabitants of the earth should stand in awe of
him, and not sin: or "shall not his lifting up" (c)? &c. on a throne of
judgment, as the Targum adds; he is the Judge of the whole earth, and will
judge his people, and right their wrongs; he sits on a throne high, and lifted
up, judging righteously; and will maintain the cause of the innocent, and
avenge himself on those that injure them, and therefore it must be a fearful
thing to fall into his hands: some render it, "shall not his burning" (d); or
flaming fire, &c. as Jarchi observes, and apply it to hell fire, and the
everlasting burnings of the lake which burns with fire and brimstone; and
which are very terrible, and may well frighten men from sinning against
God; but the first sense seems to be best:
and his dread fall upon you? the dread of men, of powerful and victorious
enemies, is very terrible, as was the dread of the Israelites which fell upon
the inhabitants of Canaan, Jos_2:9; but how awful must be the terror of the
great and dreadful God, when that falls upon men, or his terrible wrath and
vengeance are revealed from heaven, and threaten every moment to fall
upon the transgressors of his law, upon those that mock him and injure his
people.
JAMISO , "make you afraid? — namely, of employing sophisms in His
name (Jer_10:7, Jer_10:10).