Job 31:22

Job 31:22 [Then] let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.

Ver. 22. Then let mine arm fall from the shoulder blade] That unworthy arm of mine (as Cranmer cried out of that unworthy right hand of his, which he therefore burnt first), so injuriously lifted up against the fatherless, Job 31:21, let it never be useful to me any more, but let me be punished with that wherewith I have sinned. God sometimes takes notice of the offending member; as in Jeroboam’s withered hand, Abimelech’s head, which had stolen the crown, Samson’s eyes, the rich man’s tongue, the adulteress’s thigh, Num 5:27. This Job knew, and therefore subjoineth this imprecation, Diris se devovens, thereby to clear himself from Eliphaz’s false imputations, Job 22:6-7. The like may be done by us, but sparingly, and not without great necessity, for the helping of the truth in necessity, lest if we do it falsely or rashly, God say, Amen, and set his fiat to it; as he had done in sundry instances in several ages; witness Alexander, the cruel keeper of Newgate, and his son-in-law, John Peter, who rotted above ground, according to their wish. So Anne Averies, in Queen Elizabeth’s days; Sir Gervaise Elloways, in King James’s, hanged on the Tower hill, which he confessed was just upon him, for that in carding and dicing he had often wished himself hanged, if it were not so and so.

And mine arm be broken from the bone] Broken to shivers, as the word signifieth, and by the infamous hands of the hangman, for a terror to all false judges, as some do sense it; Rumpar medius, saith Brentius, as Judas burst in the midst with a huge crack, Act 1:18, his guts gushing out; as did likewise Foxford’s, a great persecutor in Henry VIII’s time. Some men’s sins go before to judgment, God hanging them up, as it were, in gibbets, that others may hear and fear, and do no more so.

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.

31:22-23 If an arm was used in sinful action (31:21), having it torn from its socket would be a fitting punishment and better than facing God’s judgment (cp. Matt 5:28-30).

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

Let me rot in pieces.

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

Apodosis to Job 31:13, Job 31:16-17, Job 31:19-21. If I had done those crimes, I should have made a bad use of my influence ("my arm," figuratively, Job 31:21): therefore, if I have done them let my arm (literally) suffer. Job alludes to Eliphaz' charge (Job 22:9). The first "arm" is rather the shoulder. The second "arm" is the forearm.

from the bone--literally, "a reed"; hence the upper arm, above the elbow.

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 22. Let mine arm fall] Mr. Good, as a medical man, is at home in the translation of this verse: -

"May my shoulder-bone be shivered at the blade,

And mine arm be broken off at the socket."

Let judgment fall particularly on those parts which have either done wrong, or refused to do right when in their power.

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

22. The imprecation is closely connected in form with the preceding verse—if I have lifted up mine hand, then let mine arm, &c.

mine arm fall] Or, my shoulder fall.

from the bone] Marg. the chanel bone, “an old term for the collar bone” (Wright, Bible Word-Book). The word is lit. tube, or shaft.

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 I have made gold my hope,.... Job here purges himself from idolatry in a figurative sense, as he afterwards does from it, taken in a literal sense; for covetousness is idolatry, and a covetous man is an idolater; he worships his gold and silver, placing his affections on them, and putting his trust and confidence in them, Eph 5:5; for to make gold the object or ground of hope is to place it in the room of God, who is the Hope of Israel, and in whom every good man should trust, and whom he should make his hope, Jer 14:8; not gold on earth, but glory in heaven, is what the good man is hoping for; and not riches, but Christ and his righteousness, are the foundation of such an hope; to make gold our hope, is to have hope in this life, and to make a thing present the object of it; whereas true hope is of things not seen and future, and if only in this life good men have hope, they are of all most miserable; but they have in heavens better and a more enduring substance, and a better ground for hope of that substance, than worldly wealth and riches can give:

or have said to the fine gold, thou art my confidence; as bad men do, and good men are prone unto, and therefore to be cautioned against it, Psa 49:6; for this is not only to trust in uncertain riches, and in unsatisfying ones, but to put them in the stead of God, who is or ought to be the confidence of the ends of the earth: not gold, but the living God, who gives all things richly to enjoy, is to be trusted in; when men covet riches, and trust in them as their security from evil, and that they may live independent of the providence of God, it is virtually to deny it, and carries in it secret atheism; as well as such a confidence is destruction of the worship of God, and such a temper makes a man an unprofitable hearer, plunges him into errors and hurtful lusts, and endangers his everlasting happiness, Hab 2:9; in later times the Romans worshipped the goddess "Pecunia", or money, as Austin (z) relates.

(z) De Civitate Dei, l. 4. c. 21.

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

Then let mine arm - The strong language which Job uses here, shows his consciousness of innocence, and his detestation of the offences to which he here refers, Job 31:16-22. The word rendered “arm” here (כתף kâthêph) means properly the shoulder. Isa 46:7; Isa 49:22; Num 7:9; compare the notes at Isa 11:14. There is no instance, it is believed, unless this is one, in which it means arm, and the meaning here is, that he wished, if he had been guilty, his shoulder might separate from the blade. So Herder, Rosenmuller, Umbreit, and Noyes render it; and so the Vulgate and the Septuagint.

From my shoulder-blade - The scapula - the flat bone to which the upper arm is attached. The wish of Job is, that the shoulder might separate from that, and of course the arm would be useless. Such a strong imprecation implies a firm consciousness of innocence.

And mine arm - The word arm here denotes the forearm - the arm from the elbow to the fingers.

From the bone - Margin, “the chanelbone.” Literally, “from the reed” - מקנה miqâneh. Umbreit renders it, Schneller als ein Rohr - quicker than a reed. The word קנה qâneh means properly a reed, cane, calamus (see the notes at Isa 43:24), and is here applied to the upper arm, or arm above the elbow, from its resemblance to a reed or cane. It is applied, also, to the arm or branch of a chandelier, or candlestick, Exo 25:31, and to the rod or beam of a balance, Isa. xlvi. 6. The meaning here is, that he wished that his arm should be broken at the elbow, or the forearm be separated from the upper arm, if he were guilty of the sins which he had specified. There is allusion, probably, and there is great force and propriety in the allusion, to what he had said in Job 31:2 l: “If his arm had been lifted up against an orphan, he prayed that it might fall powerless.”

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

With. Hebrew, "from its bone," at the elbow. (Septuagint) (Calmet)

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).

I am contented that that arm which hath been so wickedly employed may either rot off, or fall out of joint, and so be useless and burdensome to me.

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

22. Mine arm — There is a striking grandeur in this imprecation on the arm that was lifted up to threaten an orphan in the court of justice. (Scott.)

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

Then let mine arm (rather, my shoulder) fall from my shoulder-blade. Job was, perhaps, led to make this rather strange imprecation by the fact that, in the disease from which he was suffering, portions of bone sometimes detach themselves and come away. And mine arm be broken from the bone. My forearm, i.e, detach itself from the bone of the upper arm, and come away from it.

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

then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade, and let my arm be broken from its joint

This can be stated in active form. AT: "then let someone tear off my shoulder from the shoulder blade and break my arm from its joint" (See: Active or Passive)

For I dreaded ... his majesty

This is the reason that Job did not do any of the wicked things he spoke of in verses 7 through 21.

translationWords

majesty

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

from its shoulder blade That is the width of the shoulder.

from its bone That is the upper bone, which is round as a reed (קנה), and because it is round as a reed, it is called so.

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.