Job 16:13

Job 16:13 His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground.

Ver. 13. His archers compass me round about] i.e. His instruments of my woe, whether persons or things, but especially my grievous sores putting me through intolerable pain; these are God’s arrows or archers, and do make my poor body not unlike that shield of Sceva, at the siege of Dyrrachium, which had two hundred and twenty darts sticking in it, when Caesar came to his rescue, Densamque ferens in pectore silvam (Luc.).

He cleaveth my reins asunder] As a skilful archer, he hits the white, he cleaves the pin, as they call it, he shooteth exactly (to the very chilling and dissecting of my backbone), and so putteth me to most exquisite pain and torment, Lam 3:13.

He poureth out my gall upon the ground] My bowels, saith the Vulgate. The gall is affixed to the liver, and when that is poured out; the man cannot live, because his wound is mortal and incurable. Job held himself so, but it proved better; the Lord chastened him sore, but he gave him not over to death, Psa 118:18.

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 16:13-14. His archers compass me round about — His plagues or judgments, elsewhere compared to arrows, and here to archers, surround me on all sides, and assault me from every quarter. Whoever are our enemies, we must look on them as God’s archers, and see him directing the arrow. He cleaveth my reins asunder — He wounds me inwardly, mortally, and incurably; which is also signified by pouring out the gall; such wounds being deadly. “The metaphor,” says Heath, “is here taken from huntsmen. First they surround the beast; then he is shot dead; his entrails are next taken out; and then his body is divided limb from limb.” He breaketh me with breach upon breach — My indignities and miseries have no interruption, but one immediately succeeds another; he runneth upon me like a giant — Who falls upon his enemy with all his might, that he may overthrow and kill him. He assaults me in so violent and powerful a manner, that I can make no more resistance than a dwarf against a giant.

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

16:13 pierce me: Literally pierce my kidneys. • my blood: Literally my gall. The picture is of wounds to vital organs.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

I am wounded to the heart.

His manifold afflictions.

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

his archers--The image of Job 16:12 is continued. God, in making me His "mark," is accompanied by the three friends, whose words wound like sharp arrows.

gall--put for a vital part; so the liver (Lam 2:11).

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

Verse 13. His archers compass me] רביו rabbaiv "his great ones." The Vulgate and Septuagint translate this his spears; the Syriac, Arabic, and Chaldee, his arrows. On this and the following verse Mr. Heath observes: "The metaphor is here taken from huntsmen: first, they surround the beast; then he is shot dead; his entrails are next taken out; and then his body is broken up limb by limb."

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13. The second figure—Job has been set up by God as a mark for His arrows.

his archers] Rather, his arrows, cf. ch. Job_6:4. These arrows fly about him and cleave his vital parts and pour out his life to the ground. The Oriental speaks of the gall and gall-bladder where we might refer to the blood and the heart.

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.

He breaketh me with breach upon breach,.... Upon his substance, his family, and the health of his body, which came thick and fast, one after another; referring to the report of those things brought by one messenger upon the back of another, see Eze 7:26;

he runneth upon me like a giant; with great fury and fierceness, with great strength and courage, with great speed and swiftness, causing great terror and distress; he not being able to resist him, any more than a dwarf a giant, and no more, nor so much, a match for him; see Isa 42:13.

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

His archers - He does not come alone to shoot at me; he has employed a company of bowmen, who also direct “their” arrows against me. The word used here רב rab means properly “much, large,” great; and is applied to that which is powerful or mighty. It is nowhere else used in the sense of “archers,” and might be rendered “his many;” that is, his bands, hosts, or armies. But as all the ancient versions render it “arrows,” or “archers,” probably that sense is to be retained. Allusion is here made to those who claimed to be the friends of Job, but who now showed to his apprehension that they were merely sharp-shooters under the control of God, to deepen his woes.

He cleaveth my reins asunder - With his arrows. They penetrate quite through me.

He poureth out my gall - The word “gall” means the “bile” - the yellowish green bitter fluid secreted in the liver. A similar figure occcurs in Lam 2:11, “My liver is poured upon the earth.” Among the pagan poets, also, the “liver” is represented as pierced, and as pouring out gore. Thus, Aesch. Agam. 442: θιγγάνει πρὸς ἧπαρ thinganei pros hēpar. So also 801: Δῆγμα λύπης ἐφ ̓ ἧπαρ προσικνεἴται Dēgma lupēs eph' hēpar prosikneitai. So in the Iliad, xiii. 412, xx. 469, 470. The meaning here is, “I am transfixed with a deadly wound, and must die. God has come upon me as an armed man, and has pierced my vitals.”

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

His archers, i.e. his plagues or judgments, elsewhere compared to arrows, and here to archers.

He cleaveth my reins asunder with his arrows, i.e. he wounds me inwardly, and mortally, and incurably; which also is noted by pouring out the gall; such wounds being deadly.

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

13. My reins — The kidneys. “The Scriptures bring the tenderest and the most inward experience of a manifold kind into association with them.” — DELITZSCH, Bib. Psychology, pp. 317-319. Here, in strong figurative language, cutting affliction cleaves the kidneys asunder; language akin to that of our own, “a broken heart.” The psalmist supplicates God to try his reins and his heart, (Job_26:2.) The ancients said the reins give counsel, but the heart carries it into execution.

My gall upon the ground — Used figuratively; the Hebrew doctors understand it literally, and say that Job was sustained in being by a miracle.

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

His archers compass me round about. God is represented, not as himself the shooter of the arrows, but as surrounding Job with a body of archers, who are under his command and carry out his will. So, generally, Scripture represents the judgments of God as carried out by interior agents. (see 2Sa_24:16 1Ch_21:15 2Ki_19:35, etc.) He cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare. The allusion is probably to Job"s physical sufferings, which included severe pains in the lumbar region. He poureth out my gall upon the ground. The rupture of the gallbladder causes the contents to be sprit upon the ground.

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

His archers - Whoever are our enemies, we must look on them as God's archers, and see him directing the arrow.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

His archers surround me all around

Job speaks of himself being the focus of God's attacks as if God has set him up as a target and God had archers surrounding him to attack him. AT: "It is as though his archers have me surrounded" (See: Metaphor)

God pierces my kidneys and does not spare me; he pours out my bile on the ground

Job speaks of the pain he is feeling by comparing it to God piercing his body with arrows. Here "God" represents the arrows that he shoots. AT: "It feels like God's arrows have pierced my kidneys and my liver, spilling my bile on the ground. He does not spare me" (See: Metaphor)

He smashes through my wall

Job speaks of the pain that he feels by comparing himself to a wall that God smashes through. AT: "I feel like a wall that God smashes through" or "I feel like a wall that God breaks through" (See: Metaphor)

he runs upon me like a warrior

Job describes God as a soldier that attacks him. AT: "it is like he is a warrior who runs at me to attack me" (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

archer

God

pierce

soldier

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

His archers רביו, the one who shoots his arrows, as in (Gen. 21:20), “and he became an archer (רבה קשת).”

my gall Heb. מְרֵירָתִי, my gall.

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.