Job 11:14

Job 11:14 If iniquity [be] in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles.

Ver. 14. If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away] Cast away all thy transgressions, and throw thy lusts out of service, hands lifted up in prayer must be pure, 1Ti 2:8, for the fountain of goodness will not be laden at with foul hands, Isa 1:15-16. Good therefore is the counsel of Jeremiah, Jer 4:14, and of St James, Jas 4:8. The priests had their laver to wash in before they sacrificed, and their brazen altar to offer on before they burnt incense. He that comes to pray, having not first purged himself of all filthiness of flesh and spirit, doth (say the Jewish doctors) as he that cometh to offer a clean beast, but holds an unclean one in his hand. By iniquity in the hand here Beza and others understand wrong dealing, either by fraud or force, by strength or sleight of hand; and their Zophar presseth Job to restitution: Away with it, saith he, send it home to the right owner; else you will cough in hell, and the devils will laugh at you, saith Latimer.

And let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles] i.e. In thy family, and wherever else thou hast to do. I and my house will serve the Lord, saith Joshua; I and my maids, saith Esther, Jos 24:15 Est 4:16. David’s care for the reforming and well ordering of his household, and of his whole kingdom. Psa 101:1-8 Such a man is really as he is relatively. Those governors of families and countries show themselves perfect strangers to the practice of repentance, who make no other use of their servants and subjects than they do of their beasts; while they may have their bodies to do their service, they care not if their souls serve the devil. This will lay heavy one day.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Job 11:14. If iniquity be in thy hand — If thou hast in thy hand, or possession, any goods gotten by injustice or oppression, as it seems they supposed he had; or, he means, more generally, if thou allowest thyself in any sinful practices, the hand being put for action, whereof it is the instrument; put it far away — Keep thyself at a great distance, not only from such actions, but also from the very occasions and appearances of them. Let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles — That is, in thy habitation, either in thyself or in thy family; whose sins Job was obliged, as far as he could, to prevent or reform, as it seems he had done, Job 1:5. He saith, tabernacles, because anciently the habitations of great men consisted of several tents or tabernacles.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Renounce thine own evil works, and see that they offend not God, over whom thou hast charge.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Rather, "if thou wilt put far away the iniquity in thine hand" (as Zaccheus did, Luk 19:8). The apodosis or conclusion is at Job 11:15, "then shalt thou," &c.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

14. The reformation which Zophar impresses on Job has several steps: first, the preparation of his heart; then, prayer unto God; then, the putting away of his personal sins; and finally, those of his home. These are enumerated, one after another, but nothing lies in the order of enumeration.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If iniquity be in thine hand,.... For, as the heart must be prepared for the stretching out of the hand in prayer to God, so it is not any hand that is to be stretched out or lifted up unto God; not hands full of blood, or defiled with sin, but holy hands; see Isa 1:15, Ti1 2:8; it is not said, if iniquity be in thine heart, or on thy conscience,

put it far away; for sin cannot be put away out of the heart, it will have a place there as long as we live; though it should not be regarded, cherished, and nourished there; if so, God will not hear prayer, Psa 66:18; and nothing can put away or remove afar off guilt from the conscience but the blood of Jesus; which, being sprinkled, purifies the heart and purges the conscience from dead works; but it is said, if it is in thine hand, which is the instrument of action, and may signify the commission of sin, and a series and course of sinning, which Job's friends suspected he was privately guilty of; and therefore advise him to leave off such a sinful course, and abstain from all appearance of evil, and live a holy and godly conversation:

and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles; in any room or apartment of his house; some restrain this, and iniquity in the former clause, to ill gotten goods, obtained by rapine and oppression, which he is advised to restore to those that had been injured by him; but there is no need to limit it to any sin: besides, wickedness may be put for wicked men, and the sense be, that, as he should not indulge to any iniquity himself, so neither should he suffer wicked men to dwell in his house, but make a general reformation in himself and in his family.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

If iniquity be in thine hand - If you have in your possession anything that has been unjustly obtained. If you have oppressed the poor and the fatherless, and have what properly belongs to them, let it be restored. This is the obvious duty of one who comes to God to implore his favor; compare Luk 19:8.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Iniquity. Of this Job was not conscious, and therefore could not confess it. (Worthington)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Either,

1. If thou hast in thine hand or possession any good, got by injury or oppression, as it seems they supposed that he had. Or,

2. More generally, If thou allowest thyself in any sinful practices. The hand is put for action, whereof it is the instrument.

Put it far away; keep thyself at a great distance, not only from such actions, but also from the very occasions and appearances of them.

Let not wickedness dwell, let it not have a quiet and settled abode, or allowance, in thy habitation, i.e. either in thyself, or in thy family; whose sins Job was obliged as far as he could to prevent or reform; as he had done, Job 1:5. He saith

tabernacles, because anciently the habitations of great men consisted of several tents or tabernacles, as we see, Gen 24:67; 31:33.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

14. Tabernacles — The word tent, in course of time, was used for dwellings of any kind. It is quite certain that Job dwelt in the country. See Job_29:7.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If iniquity be in thine hand. Zophar assumes this to be probable, nay, almost certain. He has already told Job that God has exacted from him less than his iniquity (wa, the same word) deserves (ver. 6). Conformably with this view, he now suggests that it would not do for Job to stretch out to God in prayer a hand full of iniquity, and that therefore, previously to making his supplication, he would do well to lay his iniquity aside. In a general way, the advice is excellent; but it was insulting to Job, who denied that he had any definite act of sin on his conscience. Put it far away; i.e. repent of it, confess it to God; if the case admits of it, make reparation or restitution. And let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles; or, in thy tents. The insinuation seems to be that Job is a robber chief, and that his tent and the tents of his followers are full of ill-gotten spoils, the fruit of his raids upon the defenceless.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Distance iniquity from your hand, and do not allow injustice to dwell in your tents.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.