Job 22:27

Job 22:27 Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows.

Ver. 27. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee] Yea, though thou multiply prayers, Multiplicabis verba tua (Mer.), and intercessions for thyself and others (as the word signifieth, and as afterwards Job did for Eliphaz and his fellows, or else it had gone worse with them), yet he shall hear thee in all. Thou shalt, as his favourite, have the royalty of his ear, and he shall say unto thee seriously, as Zedekiah did once to his courtiers soothingly, The king can deny you nothing. Iste vir potuit apud Deum quod voluit, said one concerning Luther, That man could have of God whatsoever he wanted. This David took (as well he might) for a singular mercy, Psa 13:6; Psa 66:20.

And thou shalt pay thy vows] i.e. Thou shalt return thy thanks, and so shalt drive a holy trade, as it were, between heaven and earth. Nulla tibi a Duo nisi gratias agendi occasio dabifur. Thou shalt have unmiscarrying returns of thy suits; so that thou must be ready with thy praises after their prayers; for that is all thou shalt have to do. "Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion; and unto thee shall the vow be performed. O thou that hearest prayers, unto thee shall all flesh come," with their thanks in their hands as it were, Psa 65:1-2.

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 22:27. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him — Hebrew, תעתיר אליו, tagnter eelaiv, thou shalt pray earnestly and importunately, or, thou shalt multiply thy prayer. Under all thy burdens, in all thy wants, cares, and fears, thou shalt apply to heaven for wisdom, strength, and comfort. Thou shalt pay thy vows — Thou shalt obtain those blessings for which thou didst make vows to God, and therefore, according to thy obligation, shalt pay thy vows to him.

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

22:27 Ironically, Job will pray, God will hear, and Eliphaz will reap the benefits (42:8). • you will fulfill your vows: Vows were often stimulated by repentance and forgiveness (Hos 14:2; Jon 1:16; 2:9) and when seeking divine intervention (Judg 11:29-40; 1 Sam 1:1-28). Vows are binding (Num 30:2; Deut 23:23; Pss 22:25; 61:5, 8; 116:14, 18; Eccl 5:4-5).

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

(Isa 58:9, Isa 58:14).

pay thy vows--which thou hast promised to God in the event of thy prayers being heard: God will give thee occasion to pay the former, by hearing the latter.

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 27. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him] תעתיר tatir, thou shalt open or unbosom thyself. And when the heart prays, God hears; and the person, being blessed, vows fidelity, prays on, is supported, and enabled to pay his vows.

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

27. pay thy vows] In making requests in prayer it was customary to make a vow to sacrifice or offer unto the Lord if the prayer was granted. Job shall have cause to fulfil his vows, his prayers being heard.

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.

Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee,.... Strictly speaking, this is only true of God, whose decrees are unfrustrable, whose counsel shall stand, and the thoughts of his heart be established to all generations; and frequently so it is, according to an usual saying, man appoints, but God disappoints; this may be understood of Job, either as a civil magistrate, that he should decree a thing in a court of judicature with so much wisdom and equity, that it should stand firm and sure, and, though made on earth, should be ratified in heaven, as the decrees and doctrines of the apostles of Christ are said to be, Mat 16:19; see Pro 8:15; or, as a private man in civil affairs, signifying that he should be so guided by the Lord, and prospered and succeeded in all his ways and works, that what he determined to do, and formed a scheme for the execution of, it should be brought about and confirmed; he committing his ways to the Lord, his thoughts should be established, or his purposes and designs effected, see Psa 1:3; or rather as a praying man; and so it agrees with what goes before, that he should lift up his voice to God, and pray unto him with success, and have just occasion to praise him, or pay his vows to him, since he should have the desires of his heart; whatever was upon his mind, and he prayed in faith for, he should have it; as Elijah prayed, both that it might not rain, and that it might rain, and both were according to his word, or the decree of his lips in prayer: see Kg1 17:1;

and the light shall shine upon thy ways; which is the reason of all things prospering and succeeding, and being established according to his wish and will; the light of grace shining in him, to put him upon and instruct him in denying and avoiding that which is sinful, and doing that which was just and good; and the light of the word without him, being a light unto his feet, and a lamp to his paths, to guide and direct him, and especially the light of God's favour and blessing on him, succeeding him in all his ways and works, and making them prosperous.

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

Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him - God would then hear him, for he would be righteous. This was one of the blessings which would follow reconciliation. It is, in fact, one of the blessings of a return to God. He hears the cry of his people, and answers their supplications. To be permitted to go to God and to tell him all our needs, to plead for all we need and to implore blessings on our families and friends, is a privilege of far higher value than anything which wealth can bestow; is worth more than all the honors of this world.

And thou shalt pay thy vows - That is, thy vows shall be accepted; thou shalt obtain those blessings for which thou didst make thy vows.

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

Vows, after obtaining thy requests. (Menochius) --- Et positis aris jam vota in littore solves. (Virgil, Æneid iii.)

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).

Hear thee, i.e. answer thy prayers, and not disregard them, and hide himself from thee, as now he doth.

Thou shalt pay thy vows, i.e. thou shalt obtain those blessings for which thou didst make vows to God, and therefore, according to thy obligation, shalt pay thy vows to him. The antecedent is here supposed and understood out of the consequent.

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

Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee. Now Job prays, but is not heard; he asks for death, but it does not come; he begs for a respite from suffering, but it is refused him; he beseeches God to enter into argument with him, (Job_9:32-34 Job_10:2) but God vouchsafes no answer. Let him follow Eliphaz"s advice, "return to the Almighty" (ver. 23), humble himself in the dust, repent and "put away his iniquity" (ver. 23), and then, Eliphaz promises him, all shall be changed God will become gracious to him, will listen to him, and grant his requests, will remove his heavy hand, and crown him with mercy and loving-kindness. Then, he adds, thou shalt pay thy vows. Thou shalt have wealth enough, and strength enough, to pay any vows that thou hast made, which now in thy afflicted state thou canst not do. Vows are part of natural religion, and were widely prevalent over all the East in ancient times. The performance of vows, which was strictly enjoined in the Mosaic Law, (Deu_23:21) must at all times have been felt as obligatory by the natural conscience.

The prayer that shall be hears.

This verse is one of a series that describe the happy results of the penitent return to God referred to in ver. 23. Thus Eliphaz means that after we have returned in penitence to God our prayer will be heard. His principle is quite in accordance with the teaching of Scripture, though, as usual, his application of it to Job is unjust.

I PRAYER IS AN ELEMENT OF PROSPERITY. It is not only a condition on which prosperity is given; it is a part of the prosperity itself. Trouble drives us go prayer; but happiness cannot let us dispense with it. It is possible for one go be too miserable, too depressed, too hopeless, go pray. The best praying seems to need an element of joyous confidence. When it springs from this happy condition it enhances the joy of it. It is a very low and selfish notion that leads people to economize their prayers, and reserve them for times of dire necessity. Surely it should be a happy thing for the child go talk with his Father!

II PRAYER EXPECTS AN ANSWER. We may pray without looking for any reply pray because we cannot contain ourselves in silence, because the strong feelings of the soul will burst out into utterance. Then there may be a certain relief in the mere opening of the floodgates of emotion. But this is not the chief end of prayer. Further, we may just confide our case to God, consoled by the thought that he hears, even though we do not believe that any help is possible. Thus comfort is sought in the silent sympathy of a friend to whom the burdened soul can pour out its griefs. Still, the chief end of prayer is not reached in this way. It is difficult to carry on a one-sided conversation with an auditor who makes no reply, who does not even give us a sign that he hears or is at all interested in what one says. Prayer would languish and perish if God did not answer it. This he will not now do in an audible voice, nor always by such evident tokens that we can have no doubt that what he has done is in response to the cry of his children. Yet all who are in the habit of praying can bear witness to the fact that God hears prayer, and replies often in the most surprising and unmistakable way.

III THE PRAYER THAT IS TO BE ANSWERED MUST BE SINCERE. Cain"s sacrifice was rejected. The Pharisee"s prayer could not reach heaven. We cannot pray to God effectively until we renounce sin and return to him. Then the prayer must be a real, inward, spiritual act. Such prayer is not valued by the correctness of its phraseology; much less is it estimated quantitatively by the time it occupies and the number of its words. The one essential quality is reality. The simple reason why many so-called prayers are not answered is that they are not really prayers at all. They do not come out of a worshipper"s heart. Therefore they cannot reach the ears of God, and incline him to respond to them. If all such pretended prayers were left out of account there would be leas scepticism and more glad confidence that God does hear prayer. W.F.A.

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

Make - The word is, thou shalt multiply thy prayer. Under all thy burdens, in all thy wants, cares and fears, thou shalt send to heaven for wisdom, strength and comfort. Pay - Thou shalt obtain those blessings for which thou didst make vows to God, and therefore, according to thy obligation, shalt pay thy vows to him.

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

and you will pay your wows You will be confident that your sacrifices, the payments of your vows, will be accepted.

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.