Job 19:3

Job 19:3 These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed [that] ye make yourselves strange to me.

Ver. 3. These ten times have ye reproached me] i.e. Oftentimes. Herein Job endured a great fight of affliction, as the apostle styleth it, Heb 10:32-33; a manifold fight, as the word there signifieth. Cato was two and thirty times accused publicly, and as oft cleared and absolved. Basil was counted and called a heretic, even by those who, as it appeared afterwards, were of the same judgment with him, and whom he honoured as brethren. Dogs in a chase bark sometimes at their best friends, &c.

Ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me] Or, Are you not ashamed that ye harden yourselves against me? or, that ye jeer and jest at my misery? or, that ye make merchandise of me, and take your penny worths out of me? Significat etiam emere, vel cauponari. Beza (agreeable to our translation) paraphraseth it thus, Ye take me up so short, as if ye dealt with a stranger and foreigner, and not with a friend. And so the word is taken, Gen 42:7.

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.

19:3 The number ten did not represent a specific count but an indefinite large number (e.g., Gen 31:7; Lev 26:26; Num 14:22; Dan 1:20).

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

That is, many times, as Neh. 4:12.

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

These--prefixed emphatically to numbers (Gen 27:36).

ten--that is, often (Gen 31:7).

make yourselves strange--rather, "stun me" [GESENIUS]. (See Margin for a different meaning [that is, "harden yourselves against me"]).

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 3. These ten times] The exact arithmetical number is not to be regarded; ten times being put for many times, as we have already seen. See particularly Clarke's note on "Ge 31:7".

Ye make yourselves strange to me.] When I was in affluence and prosperity, ye were my intimates, and appeared to rejoice in my happiness; but now ye scarcely know me, or ye profess to consider me a wicked man because I am in adversity. Of this you had no suspicion when I was in prosperity! Circumstances change men's minds.

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

3. Job_19:23-27. Hopeless in the present he turns his eye to the future. He desires that his protest of innocence might find indelible record in the rock, that the generations to come might read it. Yet how small a thing that would be to him, whose chief sorrow lay in the alienation of God from his spirit. He shall have more. He knows that God shall yet appear to vindicate him, and that he shall see Him with his eyes—in peace.

Third, Job_19:28-29. Finally he adds a brief threat to his friends.

3. Ten times is a round number for often, Gen_31:7; Num_14:22.

make yourselves strange to me] An expression of uncertain meaning, as the word does not occur again, unless, as some suppose, it be found in Isa_3:9. The meaning may be, ye wrong me, the root having some resemblance to an Arabic verb rendered by Lane “to wrong,” also “to be persistent in contention.” Ew., ye are unfeeling towards me.

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.

And be it indeed that I have erred,.... Which is a concession for argument's sake, but not an acknowledgment that he had erred; though it is possible he might have erred, and it is certain he did in some things, though not in that respect with which he was charged; "humanum est errare", all men are subject to mistakes, good men may err; they may err in judgment, or from the truth in some respect, and be carried away for a while and to some degree with the error the wicked, though they shall be turned from it again; they may err in practice, and wander from the way of God's commandments; and indeed their strayings and aberrations of this sort are so many, that David says, "who can understand his errors?" Psa 19:12; and they may err in words, or make a mistake in speech; but then no man should be made an offender for a word for he must be a perfect man that is free from mistakes of this kind: now Job argues that supposing this to be his case in any of the above instances; yet, says he,

mine error remaineth with myself; I only am chargeable with it, and answerable for it; it is nothing to you, and why should you trouble yourselves about it? it will not be imputed to you, nor will you suffer on account of it; or, admitting I have imbibed an error, I do not publish it abroad; I keep it to myself; it lies and lodges in my own breast, and nobody is the worse for it: or "let it remain", or "lodge with me" (k); Why should my mistakes be published abroad, and all the world be made acquainted with them? or else this expresses his resolution to abide by what his friends called an error; and then the so is, if this is an error which I have asserted, that God afflicts both good and bad men, and that afflictions are no argument of a man's being an hypocrite and a wicked man, I am determined to continue in it; I will not give it up, I will hold it fast; it shall remain with me as a principle never to be departed from; or it may be rather his meaning is, that this notion he had imbibed would remain with him, and was likely to do so, for anything they had said, or could say to the contrary.

(k) "mecum maneat", Beza; to the same sense Mercerus, Schmidt, Junius and Tremellius, Piscator, Michaelis, Schultens.

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

These ten times - Many times; the word “ten” being used as we often say, “ten a dozen” or “twenty,” to denote many; see Gen 31:7, “And your father hath changed my wages “ten times.” Lev 26:26, “and when I have broken your staff of bread, “ten women” shall bake your bread, in one oven;” compare Num 14:22; Neh 4:6.

You are not ashamed that you make yourselves strange to me - Margin, “harden yourselves strange to me.” Margin, “harden yourselves against me.” Gesenius, and after him Noyes, renders this, “Shameless ye stun me.” Wemyss, “Are ye not ashamed to treat me thus cruelly? The word used here (הכר hâkar) occurs no no where else, and hence, it is difficult to determine its meaning. The Vulgate renders it, “oppressing me.” The Septuagint, “and you are not ashamed to press upon me.” - ἐπίκεισθέ υοι epikeisthe moi. Schultens has gone into an extended examination of its meaning, and supposes that the primary idea is that of being “stiff,” or “rigid.” The word in Arabic, he says, means to be “stupid with wonder.” It is applied, he supposes, to those who are “stiff or rigid” with stupor; and then to those who have a stony heart and an iron an iron fore-head - and who can look on the suffering without feeling or compassion. This sense accords well with the connection here. Gesenius, however, supposes that the primary idea is that of beating or pounding; and hence, of stunning by repeated blows. In either case the sense would be substantially the same - that of “stunning.” The idea given by our translators of making themselves “strange” was derived from the supposition that the word might be formed from נכר nâkar - to be strange, foreign; to estrange, alienate, etc. For a more full examination of the word, the reader may consult Schultens, or Rosenmuller “in loco.”

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

Ten times; very often. --- Oppress me. Hebrew word occurs no where else, and is variously translated. It may signify, "to dig a pit for me," chap vi. 27., and Psalm vi. 6. Job repeats nearly what he had said before, only with greater vehemence. He admits that Providence treats him in an unusual manner. Yet he still retains an assured hope, and arraigns his adversaries before the divine tribunal. (Calmet) --- Yet he rather hesitates; (ver. 4, 6.) and this species of ignorance is the folly of which he, at last, accuses himself, chap. xlii. 3. It was no real fault, chap. xlii. 8. (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).

These ten times, i.e. many times. A certain number for an uncertain. So this phrase is oft used, as Gen 31:7; Num 14:22, &c.

That ye make yourselves strange to me; that you carry yourselves like strangers to me, and are not concerned nor affected with my calamities, and condemn me as if you had never known my former piety and integrity.

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

3. Ten times — Used for many times. Thus Maimonides: “He who profaneth the name of God in the presence of ten Israelites, behold, he profaneth it in the presence of many.” Or it may stand as the number of human possibility, says Delitzsch, from its being the number of fingers on the two hands of man.

Make yourselves strange to me — Ill-treat me. (Dillmann.) Stun me. (Zockler.)

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

These ten times have ye reproached me. (For the use of the expression "ten times" for "many times." "frequently." see Gen_31:7, 41 Num_14:22 Neh_4:12 Dan_1:20, etc.) Ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me; rather, that ye deal hardly with me (see the Revised Version). The verb used does not occur elsewhere, hut seems to have the meaning of "ill use" or "ill treat" (see Professor Lee"s "Commentary on the Book of Job" p. 328).

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

Ten - Many times. A certain number for an uncertain. Strange - That you carry yourselves like strangers to me, and condemn me as if you had never known my integrity.

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

General Information:

Job continues to speak to his three friends.

These ten times you have reproached me

The phrase "These ten times" refers to the way that the friends have completely rebuked Job. AT: "You have completely reproached me" or "You have reproached me many times" (See: Idiom)

you are not ashamed that you have treated me harshly

Job is rebuking them for this. This can be written in positive form. AT: "You should be ashamed that you have treated me so harshly"

have treated me harshly

"have despised me" or "have publicly ridiculed me"

have erred

"have sinned by accident" or "mistakenly sinned"

my error remains my own concern

Job implies that his friends are not responsible for continuing to rebuke him since he is the one who made the error. AT: "my error is my own responsibility, so you should not continue to rebuke me" or "my error did not hurt you, so you should not continue to rebuke me" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

my error

"my sin" or "my mistake"

translationWords

reproach

shame

true

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

ten times There are ten chapters until here.

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.