Job 33:8

In these verses,

I. Elihu particularly charges Job with some indecent expressions that had dropped from him, reflecting upon the justice and goodness of God in his dealings with him. He does not ground the charge upon report, but was himself an ear-witness of what he here reproves him for (Job 33:8): "Thou hast spoken it in my hearing, and in the hearing of all this company." He had it not at second hand; if so, he would have hoped it was not so bad as it was represented. He did not hear it from Job in private conversation, for then he would not have been so ill-bred as to repeat it thus publicly; but Job had said it openly, and therefore it was fit he should be openly reproved for it. Those that sin before all rebuke before all. When we hear any thing said that tends to God's dishonour we ought publicly to bear our testimony against it. What is said amiss in our hearing we are concerned to reprove; for you are my witnesses, saith the Lord, to confront the accuser. 1. Job had represented himself as innocent (Job 33:9): Thou hast said, I am clean without transgression. Job had not said this totidem verbis - in so many words; nay, he had owned himself to have sinned and to be impure before God; but he had indeed said, Thou knowest that I am not wicked, my righteousness I hold fast, and the like, on which Elihu might ground this charge. It was true that Job was a perfect and an upright man and not such a one as his friends had represented him; but he ought not to have insisted so much upon it, as if God had therefore done him wrong in afflicting him. Yet, it should seem, Elihu did not deal fairly in charging Job with saying that he was clean and innocent from all transgression, when he only pleaded that he was upright and innocent from the great transgression. But those that speak passionately and unwarily must thank themselves if they be misunderstood; they should have taken more care. 2. He had represented God as severe in marking what he did amiss and taking all advantages against him (Job 33:10, Job 33:11), as if he sought opportunity to pick quarrels with him. He findeth occasions against me, which supposes seeking them. To this purport Job had spoken, Job 14:16, Job 14:17, Dost thou not watch over my sin? He counteth me for his enemy; so he had expressly said, Job 13:24; Job 19:11. "He putteth my feet in the stocks, that, as I cannot contend with him, so I may not be able to flee from him;" this he had said, Job 13:27. He marketh all my paths; so he had said, Job 13:27.

II. He endeavours to convince him that he had spoken amiss in speaking thus, and that he ought to humble himself before God for it, and by repentance to unsay it (Job 33:12): Behold, in this thou art not just. Here thou art not in the right, so some read it. See; the difference between the charge which Elihu exhibited against Job and that which was preferred against him by his other friends; they would not own that he was just at all, but Elihu only says, "In this, in saying this, thou art not just." 1. "Thou dost not deal justly with God." To be just is to render to all their due; now we do not render to God his due, nor are we just to him, if we do not acknowledge his equity and kindness in all his dispensations of his providence towards us, that he is righteous in all his ways, and that, however it be, yet he is good. 2. "Thou dost not speak the language of a righteous man. I do not deny but thou art such a one, but in this thou dost not make it to appear." Many that are just yet, in some particular instances, do not speak and act like themselves; and as, on the one hand, we must not fail to tell even a good man wherein he mistakes and does amiss, nor flatter him in his errors and passions, for in that we ar not kind, so on the other hand we must not draw men's characters, nor pass a judgment on them, from one instance, or some few misplaced words, for in that we are not just. In many things we all offend, and therefore must be candid in our censures. Two things Elihu proposes to Job's consideration, to convince him that he had said amiss: - (1.) That God is infinitely above us, and therefore it is madness to contend with him; for if he plead against us with his great power we cannot stand before him. I will answer thee, says Elihu, in one word, which carries its own evidence along with it, That God is greater than man; no doubt he is, infinitely greater. Between God and man there is no proportion. Job had himself said a great deal, and admirably well, concerning the greatness of God, his irresistible power and incontestable sovereignty, his terrible majesty and unsearchable immensity. "Now," said Elihu, "do but consider what thou thyself hast said concerning the greatness of God, and apply it to thyself; if he is greater than man, he is greater than thou, and thou wilt see reason enough to repent of these ill-natures, ill-favoured, reflections upon him, and to blush at thy folly, and tremble to think of thy own presumption." Note, There is enough in this one plain unquestionable truth, That God is greater than man, if duly improved, for ever to put to silence and to shame all our complaints of his providence and our exceptions against his dealings with us. He is not only more wise and powerful than we are, and therefore it is to no purpose to contend with him who will be too hard for us, but more holy, just, and good, for these are the transcendent glories and excellencies of the divine nature; in these God is greater than man, and therefore it is absurd and unreasonable to find fault with him, for he is certainly in the right. (2.) That God is not accountable to us (Job 33:13): Why dost thou strive against him? Those that complain of God strive against him, implead him, impeach him, bring an action against him. And why do they do so? For what cause? To what purpose? Note, It is an unreasonable thing for us, weak, foolish, sinful, creatures, to strive with a God of infinite wisdom, power, and goodness. Woe to the clay that strives with the potter; for he gives no account of any of his matters. He is under no obligation to show us a reason for what he does, neither to tell us what he designs to do (in what method, at what time, by what instruments) nor to tell us why he deals thus with us. He is not bound either to justify his own proceedings or to satisfy our demands and enquiries; his judgments will certainly justify themselves. If we do not satisfy ourselves in them, it is our own fault. It is therefore daring impiety for us to arraign God at our bar, or challenge him to show cause for what he doeth, to say unto him, What doest thou? or, Why doest thou so? He gives not account of all his matters (so some read it); he reveals as much as it is fit for us to know, as follows here (Job 33:14), but still there are secret things, which belong not to us, which it is not for us to pry into.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Job 33:8 Surely thou hast spoken in mine hearing, and I have heard the voice of [thy] words, [saying],

Ver. 8. Surely thou hast spoken in my hearing] Here beginneth the charge, and it is for words; Quae leviter volant, non leviter violant. Nihil tam volucre quam maledictum, nihil facilius emittitur saith Cicero, pro Plancio, Nothing is so swift as an evil word, nothing is more easily uttered. But should a man set his mouth against heaven and utter error against the Lord? Isa 32:6. Should he toss that reverend name of God to and fro, with such impiety and profaneness, as if his speech could have no grace, but his disgrace? as if Augustus Caesar were dealing with some god Neptune, or the three sons trying their archery at their father’s heart, to see who can shoot the nearest? Surely, as God is the avenger of all such; so Elihu cannot hear it, and not be kindled. Good blood will not belie itself. Psa 139:20-21, "They speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? I hate them with a perfect hatred," &c. The very Turks have the Christian’s blaspheming of Christ in execration; and punish it in their prisoners, when through impatience or desperateness they break out in this kind, What a shame is it, then, that our ranters (that last brood of Beelzebub) should, till of late, be suffered to affirm that Christ is a carnal or fleshly thing; and to contemn him by the notion of the man dying at Jerusalem? &c. Can we hear these hellish blasphemies without ears tingling, hearts trembling? &c. When Servetus condemned Zuinglius for his harshness, he answereth, In aliis mansuetus ero, in blasphemiis in Christum, non ita, In other things I can bear as much as another, but when I hear Christ blasphemed I am altogether impatient; for what reason? in this case patience would be blockishness, moderation mopishness, toleration cowardice. Madness here is better than meekness.

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 33:8-11. Surely thou hast spoken in my hearing — I shall not charge thee with hypocrisy, as thy friends do, which God only can discern; but with those words which I myself have heard from thee; I am clean without transgression, &c. — Job had not affirmed this simply and absolutely, for he had often confessed himself to be a sinner; but no such transgression as might give God just occasion to punish him so severely, as is signified, where he blames God for finding occasions against him, implying that he had given him none by his sins. And thus far Elihu’s charge was just, and herein it differs from the charge of Job’s three friends, who often accuse him for asserting his own innocence; but they did it because they thought him a hypocrite; whereas Elihu does it upon other grounds, even because Job’s justification of himself was accompanied with reflections upon God. Behold, he findeth occasions against me — Thou hast said, Behold the Almighty, who, I thought, would have vindicated my innocence, severely marks my defects and faults, that from thence he may take occasion to punish me, notwithstanding my integrity. He counteth me for his enemy — Though I have endeavoured to be his faithful servant all my days, yet he treats me like an enemy. He putteth my feet in the stocks — He so confines me in the prison of this affliction that I cannot stir: he marketh all my paths — Watches me so narrowly that I can find no way to escape. Elihu, though less partial than the other speakers, is, however, too severe in the construction which he puts upon Job’s words. The first branch of this passage, Behold, he findeth occasions against me, or, as Heath and others render it, He inventeth cruelties against me, is not to be found in Job’s speeches; and as for the other branch, which occurs Job 13:24, we have there observed, that though there may be something faulty in the expostulation, yet it is much alleviated by the expressions of humility which precede and follow it. See the note on that place.

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

MAIN DISCOURSE, Job_33:8-33.

Elihu’s long-protracted preamble is followed by citations from Job’s impetuous and imprudent words. (Job_33:9.) In his efforts at self-justification Job had exaggerated his own righteousness and impeached the righteousness of God. Divine silence is no sign of divine forgetfulness. God has various ways of addressing men, and, while apparently antagonizing them, of really consulting their highest interests — those of the soul. Through dreams, (type of inward monitions,) through sickness, and through the mediation of the angel whose supremacy is marked, God communes with man that he may withdraw him from the pursuit of evil. Affliction has other ends than those of punishment. They are preventive (prophylactic) and remedial. Inward monitions and painful chastisements prepare the way for the angel mediator. Hearkening to him, man shall find favour with God, and a renovation of body and soul that shall well forth with the highest joy.

First division — ELIHU REHEARSES SEVERAL OF THE OBJECTIONABLE UTTERANCES OF JOB, AND IN SO DOING LAYS OUT TO A CERTAIN EXTENT THE GROUNDWORK OF HIS DISCOURSES. Job_33:8-11. (See STICKEL’S Hiob, 232-236, or DAVIDSON’S Job, pp. xxxviii-xli.)

8. In mine hearing — With the Hebrew, to “speak in the ear” was to speak openly, not secretly, which might give rise to misconstructions. Elihu was so astonished that he could scarcely believe his ears when he heard Job in the first place declare his innocence, and, secondly, charge God with cruelty.

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

CHAPTER 33:8-33

1. Elihu rebukes Job (Job 33:8-13)

2. How God deals with man (Job 33:14-22)

3. How God in grace recovers (Job 33:23-30)

4. Mark well, Job, hearken unto me (Job 33:31-33)

Job 33:8-13. Elihu treats Job in a dignified, yet firm manner. He speaks as one who is sure of the whole matter. He has heard Job’s speeches; he knows the mistake Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar made, in treating Job as a suspicious character, a hypocrite and a godless man. No such wrong accusations are made by Elihu. He knows where Job’s trouble lies and already spoke of it (32:2); it is his self-justification and pride stands behind it. But Elihu’s zeal is for the honor of the name and character of God. What Job had said in charging God he must rebuke. He therefore quotes Job’s utterances in his previous addresses. Without entering into a lengthy argument to disprove the charge of Job, or to explain the mystery of the sufferings Job underwent, he utters one masterly sentence. “Behold in this (his wrong charges against God) thou art not Just. I will answer thee, that God is greater than man.” Well spoken! God is greater than man, therefore His ways are past finding out, yet all must be perfect and righteous. And because God is God--”Why dost thou strive against Him? for He giveth not account of any matter of His.”

Job 33:14-22. But God, though He is greater than man, does not pass by man or ignore him. Elihu speaks of two different ways in which God deals with man. The first is in a vision of the night, in a dream. When there was no Bible, the revelation of God, God spoke to man individually by dreams and visions. He does not do so any longer for we have His completed Word in which His will is made known unto us. The purpose of this way of dealing with man is to withdraw him from an evil way and to warn him so that he may leave the pride which man nourisheth in his bosom; to keep his soul from the pit and his life from perishing by the sword.

But there is another way in which God deals with man, the way of affliction and suffering. The description Elihu gives of a sufferer fits Job’s case exactly. To understand this method of God in dealing with man there is need of a messenger from God, a mediator, one who comes in, a daysman to interpret the meaning of the affliction and God’s object in it. It is not a common interpreter who can do this, but one of a thousand--yea, He is needed who is “the chiefest among ten thousand.” This interpreter is to show unto man his uprightness. But whose uprightness, or righteousness, is meant? It has been translated by “to show unto man what is right for him”; and so most expositors explain that it means the interpreter tells the sufferer how to do right before God; and critics even suggest that the word “uprightness” should be changed to “fault.” There is a deeper meaning here. The word “his” should be spelled with a capital “H”--not man’S, but God’s righteousness, the interpreting messenger is to show to the afflicted one. The following paraphrastic translation puts it in the right way:

Then, then, He speaks to him by messenger

Who can interpret; One ‘mong thousands chief,

Who will reveal to man HIS righteousness.

Then He doth show him grace (divine and saith:)

“Deliver him from going down to death;

A ransom I have found--redemption’s price.”

In these words we have Him declared who is the revealer of God’s love and righteousness, the Son of God, though His Name is not mentioned, yet He is the only One who reveals to sinful man His righteousness. He has paid redemption’s price, He has made atonement and therefore He can deliver the sinner from going down to the pit. Here we have the gospel in the book of Job. Then the blessed results. His flesh becomes as fresh as a young child; this is the new birth. He prays to God as His redeemed child and He shows Him grace and beholds His face with joy, even the face of a loving Father. This is the way God bestows upon man His righteousness through Him, His well-beloved Son, who has found the ransom. He sings a new song. “I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not. He hath redeemed my soul from going into the pit, and my life shall behold the light.”

Job 33:31-33. After this glowing utterance in which Elihu brings in God in His grace, he turns to Job. “Hast thou anything to say, then answer me.” But Elihu waits in vain. Job’s lips are sealed.

Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

thy words-- (Job 10:7; Job 16:17; Job 23:11-12; Job 27:5-6; Job 29:14). In Job 9:30; Job 13:23, Job had acknowledged sin; but the general spirit of his words was to maintain himself to be "clean," and to charge God with injustice. He went too far on the opposite side in opposing the friends' false charge of hypocrisy. Even the godly, though willing to confess themselves sinners in general, often dislike sin in particular to be brought as a charge against them. Affliction is therefore needed to bring them to feel that sin in them deserves even worse than they suffer and that God does them no injustice. Then at last humbled under God they find, affliction is for their real good, and so at last it is taken away either here, or at least at death. To teach this is Elihu's mission.

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 8. Surely thou hast spoken] What Elihu speaks here, and in the three following verses, contains, in general, simple quotations from Job's own words, or the obvious sense of them, as the reader may see by referring to the margin, and also to the notes on those passages.

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

8–12. To Job’s complaint that God shewed a hostility to him which was arbitrary and without cause Elihu replies that such a thing was unbecoming God and not to be thought of, for God is greater than man.

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.

Surely thou hast spoken in mine hearing,.... After the above preface, Elihu proceeds to the point in hand, and enters a charge against Job; which he took up, not upon suspicion and surmisings, nor upon report, nor upon accusations received from others, but what he had heard with his own ears, unless he was greatly mistaken indeed, which he thought he was not:

and I have heard the voice of thy words; the sound of them, clearly and distinctly, and took in the sense of them, as he really believed:

saying; as follows.

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

Surely thou hast spoken in mine hearing - Margin, as in Hebrew “ears.” This shows that Elihu had been present during the debate, and had attentively listened to what had been said. He now takes up the main point on which he supposed that Job had erred - the attempt to justify himself. He professes to adduce the very words which he had used, and disclaims all design of judging from mere hearsay.

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

I shall not charge thee with hypocrisy, as thy friends do, which God only can discern; but with those words which I have heard from thee.

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

Vers. 8-12. His exordium over, Elihu proceeds to point out what he blames in Job"s discourses, and at present notices two departures from truth and right only. Job, he says, asserts his absolute innocence (ver. 9); he also maintains that God deals with him harshly, as an enemy (vers. 10, 11). Neither assertion is justifiable.

Surely thou hast spoken in mine hearing, and I have heard the voice of thy words, saying. Elihu does not quote exactly what Job had said. He probably intended to be perfectly fair and just, but in reality he greatly overstates the truth. Job had never said the words he ascribes to him in ver. 9; at best they are an inference, or deduction, from what he had said. And he had said a great deal on the other side, which Elihu overlooks (see the comment on ver. 9).

HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON Vers. 8-33. Elihu"s first discourse: the guilt of man in the sight of God.

I JOB"S CONFIDENCE IN HAS INNOCENTS CENSURED. (Vers. 8-11) Elihu gathers up in brief some of those sayings of Job which had shocked his ear and scandalized his spiritual conscience. Job had asserted his own purity, and had accused God of enmity against his person. (compare Job"s words, Job_9:21 Job_10:7 Job_16:17 Job_23:10 Job_27:5, 6 10:13, seq.; Job_19:11 Job_30:21)

II THE TRUE RELATIONS OF MAN TO GOD SET FORTH. (Vers. 12-30) By many intimations of inward and outward experience God seeks to warn man and to bring him to himself He is no Being of passions such as Job represents him; "higher than a mortal," it is no part of his nature to crush in anger and revenge a defenceless creature. Nor is he dumb, voiceless, cold to his creatures" cries and appeals, as Job thinks. He speaks again and again; but the fault is in the deafness and dulness of the listener (vers. 12-14). Some medes of Divine instruction are then described.

1. The voice of conscience in dreams. (Vers. 15-18) The ear is opened; the sensuous nature is stilled, the imagination is kindled into life; memory unlocks her stores; the past suggests the future; and thus hints and warnings are" stamped upon the instruction" of the soul. These are not merely facts of a past age of the world. If the Divine instruction by dreams was ever real, it is real still. The study of the physiology and psychology of our dream-life may yield a fund of interest of a directly religious kind to all who believe our nature to be in immediate intercourse with the unseen and the Divine. We are still warded and comforted of God in dreams. The purpose of these communications is to restrain man from evil; to hide pride from him, that is, so that he ceases to indulge it; to keep back his soul from the grave; to warn him against death and all that is deadly against the sudden oncoming of the fatal blow. Whatever view be taken of the subject of special visions and communications from the other world, it is open to us all to observe how in our physical constitution we are never without warnings, forebodings, timely hints, of coming pain and disease; how in our moral constitution in like manner coming events of retribution cast their shadows before, and rouse us from the stupor of guilt and shame. A kindly voice is ever calling us in these ways to flee from the wrath that is to come.

2. Severe sickness as the visitation of God. (Vers. 19-22) Buffering is felt to be chastisement. When all the frame is unstrung, when the sweet sense of life turns to loathing, and the body wastes away, and death draws near, then man feels his dependence on a higher power; then often for the first time learns to pray, to believe in God, and to feel his nearness and his goodness. No doubt there was much of superstition in ancient times with regard to supposing suffering to be a direct visitation of the anger of God. But while we get rid of the superstition, let us preserve the truth of which it is a distortion that in this mixed constitution of ours the proper effect of pain is to lead the mind to the Author of all that we both enjoy and suffer. "In some constitutions affliction seems peculiarly necessary as a hint of God. Some trees will not thrive unless their roots be laid bare; or unless, besides pruning, their bodies be gashed and sliced. Others that are too luxuriant need their blossoms to be pulled off, or they will yield nothing. Rank corn, if it be not timely eaten down, may yield something to the barn, but little to the granary. Every man can say he thanks God for ease; but for me, I bless God for my troubles" (Bishop Hall).

3. The ministry of angels. (Vers. 23-28) Literally in the last verse the "destroyers" are the "angels of death," sent upon their fatal errand by the Almighty. In contrast we have now the mention of the good, delivering angel who brings release from the doom. The ministering angel draws near to the penitent sufferer in compassion, and says, "Relieve him from going down into the pit; I have found a ransom? In the forms of the poetical imagination, an unexpected recovery from deadly sickness is thus described. Then returning health covers his flesh again with the bloom of youth; the sorrow vanishes from his mind; it is once more summer in the soul. He prays to the Almighty, and is graciously heard and accepted; he basks in the sunshine of God"s countenance; and the lost peace is restored to the purified conscience. And the heart breaks out into singing, for a new song is put into the restored one"s mouth a song of praise to God. And this is its burden: "I had sinned and perverted right; but it was not requited to me; he redeemed my soul, that I might not go into the grave, and my life sees his pleasure in the light". (comp. Isa_22:23, seq.; Isa_51:17) Such is the portion of the man who hears the rod, and who has appointed it; who bows beneath affliction only to rise to s purer height of spiritual joy. His sins are pardoned, his good endeavours accepted, his crosses sanctified, his prayers heard; everything that he has is a blessing to him, everything that he suffers an advantage.

CONCLUSION. (Vers. 31-33) These are the dealings of God with man; this the purport of all his afflictions. Experience seals the truth. Let Job or any other gainsay or refute it if he will or can! But rather this strong deep personal conviction of Elihu will vibrate and awake a response in the sufferer"s heart. There is a contagion in true faith. Oh for the victory that overcomes the world! Once realize God to be our God, our Refuge and Strength, our present Help in trouble, and earth or hell in vain labour to make us other than blessed. J.

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

8 Verily thou hast said in mine ears,

And I heard the sound of thy words:

9 "I am pure, without transgression;

"Spotless am I, and I have no guilt.

10 "Behold, He findeth malicious things against me,

"He regardeth me as His enemy;

11 "He putteth my feet in the stocks,

"He observeth all my paths."

12 Behold, therein thou art not right, I will answer thee,

For Eloah is too exalted for man.

With אך אמרתּ Elihu establishes the undeniable fact, whether it be that אך is intended as restrictive (only thou hast said, it is not otherwise than that thou ... ), or as we have translated, according to its primary meaning, affirmative (forsooth, it is undeniable). To say anything בּאזני of another is in Hebrew equivalent to not saying it secretly, and so as to be liable to misconstruction, but aloud and distinctly. In Job 33:9, Elihu falls back on Job's own utterances, as Job 9:21, תם אני; Job 16:17, תפלתי זכה; Job 12:4, where he calls himself צדיק תמים, comp. Job 10:7; Job 13:18, Job 13:23; Job 23:10, Job 27:5, Job 29:1, Job 31:1. The expression חף, tersus, did not occur in the mouth of Job; Geiger connects חף with the Arab. hanı̂f (vid., on Job 13:15); it is, however, the adj. of the Semitic verb חף, Arab. ḥff, to rub off, scrape off; Arab. to make smooth by scraping off the hair; Targ., Talm., Syr., to make smooth by washing and rubbing (after which Targ. שׁזיג, lotus).

(Note: Vid., Nldecke in Genfey's Zeitschrift, 1863, S. 383.)

אנכי has here, as an exception, retained its accentuation of the final syllable in pause. In Job 33:10 Elihu also makes use of a word that does not occur in Job's mouth, viz., תּנוּאות, which, according to Num 14:34, signifies "alienation," from נוּא (הניא), to hinder, restrain, turn aside, abalienare, Num 32:7; and according to the Arab. na'a (to rise heavily),

(Note: Nevertheless Zamachschari does not derive Arab. nâwâ, to treat with enmity, from Arab. n', but from nwy, so that nâwa fulânan signifies "to have evil designs against any one, to meditate evil against one." The phrases iluh ‛alêji nijât, he has evil intentions (wicked designs) against me, nı̂jetuh zerı̂je aleik, he has evil intentions against thee, and similar, are very common. - Wetzst.)

III to lean one's self upon, to oppose any one; it might also signify directly, "hostile risings;" but according to the Hebr. it signifies grounds and occasions for hostile aversion. Moreover, Elihu here recapitulates what Job has in reality often in meaning said, e.g., Job 10:13-17; and Job 33:10 are his own words, Job 13:24, ותחשׁבני לאויב לך; Job 19:11, ויחשׁבני לו כצריו; Job 30:21, תהפך לאכזר לי. In like manner, Job 33:11 is a verbatim quotation from Job 13:27; ישׁם is poetic contracted fut. for ישׂים rof .. It is a principal trait of Job's speeches which Elihu here makes prominent: his maintenance of his own righteousness at the expense of the divine justice. In Job 33:12 he first of all refutes this צשּׁק נפשׁו מאלהים in general. The verb צדק does not here signify to be righteous, but to be in the right (as Job 11:2; Job 13:18) - the prevailing signification in Arabic (sadaqa, to speak the truth, be truthful). זאת (with Munach, not Dech) is acc. adv.: herein, in this case, comp. on Job 19:26. רבה מן is like Deu 14:24 (of the length of the way exceeding any one's strength), but used, as nowhere else, of God's superhuman greatness; the Arabic version has the preposition Arab. ‛an in this instance for מן. God is too exalted to enter into a defence of Himself against such vainglorying interwoven with accusations against Him. And for this reason Elihu will enter the lists for God.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

General Information:

Elihu continues speaking to Job.

in my hearing

"where I could hear you"

I have heard the sound of your words saying

"I have heard you say"

clean

A person who God considers spiritually acceptable is spoken of as if the person were physically clean. (See: Metaphor)

there is no sin in me

"I have not sinned"

translationWords

clean

transgress

innocent

sin

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