Job 19:18

Job 19:18 Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me.

Ver. 18. Yea, young children despised me] Fools, saith the Vulgate, who are never more pleasant than when they play the buffoons at my expense. Ungodly men, some render it, as Job 16:11. Others, the baser sort of people. And surely none so base as they that deride virtue, especially because forsaken of fortune, as one phraseth it. What a bitter jeer was that of Tobiah, the servant, or slave, the Ammonite! Neh 4:3. The basest can mock, as the abjects did David, Psa 44:15-16, and the alestakes also, Psa 69:12. But it is a happiness to do well, and yet hear ill. All God’s people must be ready to pass through good report and evil report, 2Co 6:8. And every Job must reckon, that as the reproacher is homine peior, a more worse man, not so much as a man (saith Chrysostom); so the reproached, that bears it well, is Angelis par, equal to the angels.

I arose, and they spake against me] I arose, sc. to rebuke them, or to pacify them, or to pass away from them, and my back is no sooner turned, but they reviled me. Some render it, Sto coram illis, I stand before them; that is, they stay not till I am gone past, but reproach me to my face, such is their boldness and baseness. See Isa 3:5.

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 19:18. Yea, young children despised me — Or, the wicked, as in the margin; and as the word עויליםalso signifies, being derived from עול, gniv-vel, inique egit, he acted unjustly. Some render it, fools, reading

אוילים, evilim, from אול. If we take the word in any of these senses, we must think that Job had good reason to complain, whether he was despised by children, by wicked men, or by fools. I arose, and they spake against we — To show my respect to them, though they were my inferiors, I rose from my seat, or I stood up, as the word אקומה, akumah, means. I did not disoblige, or provoke them, by any uncivil behaviour toward them; but was very courteous and condescending to them, and yet they made it their business to speak against me, and give me abusive words in return for my courtesy.

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

young children--So the Hebrew means (Job 21:11). Reverence for age is a chief duty in the East. The word means "wicked" (Job 16:11). So UMBREIT has it here, not so well.

I arose--Rather, supply "if," as Job was no more in a state to stand up. "If I stood up (arose), they would speak against (abuse) me" [UMBREIT].

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

18. Another affecting touch—the little children mock his ineffectual attempts to rise from the ground.

children despised] Better, despise.

I arose, and they spake] Better, if I would arise they speak—they jeer at his painful efforts to rise.

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.

All my inward friends abhorred me,.... Or "the men of my secret" (m); who were so very familiar with him, that he imparted the secrets of his heart, and the most private affairs of life, unto them, placing so much confidence in them, and treating them as his bosom friends; for this is always reckoned a great instance of friendship, Job 15:15; and yet their minds were set against him; their affections were alienated from him; they abhorred the sight of him, and declined all conversation with him, even all of them; not one showed respect unto him:

and they whom I loved; or "this whom I loved" (n); this and that and the other particular friend, that he loved more than others: though all men are to be loved as the creatures of God, and as fellow creatures, and especially good men, even all the saints; yet there are some that engross a greater share of love than others, among natural and spiritual relations; as Joseph was more loved by his father than the rest of his children; and, even by our Lord, John was loved more than the other disciples: and so Job, he had some particular friends that he loved above others; and yet these not only turned away from him in the time of his adversity, and turned their backs on him, and would have nothing to say to him for his comfort, nor afford him any relief of any kind in his distress, but

are turned against men; were turned against him, and became his enemies; and, as David says of some that he had a love for, for my love, "they are my adversaries", Psa 109:4.

(m) "viri secreti mei", Montanus; "homines secreti mei", Cocceius, Schmidt; "viri arcani mei", Beza, Mercerus; "homines arcani mei consilii", Michaelis. (n) "et quem", V. L. "et hie seu is quem", Mercerus, Drusius.

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

Yea, young children - Margin, or “the wicked.” This difference between the text and the margin arises from the ambiguity of the original word - עוילים ‛ăvı̂ylı̂ym. The word עויל ‛ăvı̂yl (whence our word “evil”) means sometimes the wicked, or the ungodly, as in Job 16:11. It may also mean a child, or suckling, (from עוּל ‛ûl - to give milk, to suckle, 1Sa 7:7-10; Gen 22:13 : Ps. 77:71; Isa 40:11; compare Isa 49:15; Isa 65:20,) and is doubtless used in this sense here. Jerome, however, renders it “stulti - fools.” The Septuagint, strangely enough, “They renounced me forever.” Dr. Good renders it, “Even the dependents.” So Schultens, Etiam clientes egentissimi - “even the most needy clients.” But the reference is probably to children who are represented as withholding from him the respect which was due to age.

I arose, and they spake against me - “When I rise up, instead of regarding and treating me with respect, they make me an object of contempt and sport.” Compare the account of the respect which had formerly been shown him in Job 29:8.

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

Fools; wicked men, (Menochius) or the meanest of the people, (Calmet) whom (Haydock) these unnatural children (Calmet) resembled. Hebrew, "young children." (Protestants) (Haydock)

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).

Young children; or, fools; the most contemptible persons. I arose, to wit, from my seat, to show my respect to them, though they were my inferiors; to show my readiness to comply with that mean and low condition, into which God had now brought me. Or, I stood up; for so this word sometimes signifies. I did not disoblige or provoke them by any uncivil and uncomely carriage towards them, but was very courteous to them; and yet they make it their business to rail against me, as you also do.

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

18. I arose — The original intimates difficulty in so doing. The boys ridicule the efforts he makes to arise.

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

Yea, young children despised me. (So Rosenmuller, Canon Cook, and the Revised Version.) Others translate, "the vile," or "the perverse". (comp. Job_16:11) But the rendering of the Authorized Version receives support from Job_21:11. The forwardness of rude and ill-trained children to take part against God"s saints appears later in the history of Elisha. (2Ki_2:23, 2Ki_2:24) I arose, and they spake against me; or, when I arisethey speak against me (compare. the Revised Version).

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

Arose - From my seat, to shew my respect to them, though they were my inferiors.

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

children despised me I was despised in the eyes of children, all the more so in the eyes of princes.

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.