Job 6:13

Job 6:13 [Is] not my help in me? and is wisdom driven quite from me?

Ver. 13. Is not my help in me?] Have I not something within wherewith to sustain me amidst all my sorrows, viz. the testimony of my conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity I have had my conversation in the world, 2Co 1:12. Lo, this is my rejoicing, this is my cordial, &c. Innuit innocentiam snare, ac vitro integritatem, saith Drusius: he meaneth the innocency and integrity of his heart; and this was the help Job knew he had in store, this was the wisdom or right reason he speaketh of in the following words: and is wisdom, or virtue, driven quite from me? no, no; that boldeth out and abideth when all things else in the world pass away and vanish, as the word Tushijah importeth. Job had a subsistence still; for his life consisted not in the abundance which he had possessed, but was now bereft of. The world calleth wealth substance, but God giveth that name to wisdom only. The world he setteth forth by a word that betokeneth change, for its mutability, Pro 3:8, and the things thereof he called Nonentia, Job 23:5. Wilt thou set thine eyes, saith he, upon that which is not? and which hath no price but what opinion setteth upon it? Grace, being a particle of the Divine nature, is unlosable, unperishable. - Virtus post funera venit.

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 6:13. Is not my help in me? — Though I have no strength in my body, or outward man, yet I have some help and support within me, or in my inward man, even a consciousness of my sincerity toward God, notwithstanding all your bitter accusations and censures, as if I were a hypocrite and had no integrity in me, chap. Job 4:6. And is wisdom driven quite from me? — If I have no strength in my body, have I therefore no wisdom or judgment left in my soul? Am I therefore unable to judge of the vanity of thy discourse, and of the truth of my own case? Have I not common sense and discretion? Do not I know my own condition, and the nature and degree of my sufferings, better than thou dost? And am I not a better judge whether I have integrity or not than thou art? It may not be improper to observe here, that there is considerable difficulty in determining the precise sense of the Hebrew of this verse; and that, accordingly, different learned men have proposed different translations of it. Houbigant renders it, Because my help is not at hand, is wisdom, therefore departed far from me? Dr. Waterland reads it, Is my help in me vain, and the substance quite gone from me? And Heath, Do not I find that I cannot in the least help myself, and that strength is quite driven out of me? In justification of our translation, and of the interpretation given above, it may be sufficient to observe, that the same form of expression in the Hebrew is used Isa 50:2, האם אין בי כח, haim en bi choach, and is translated, and according to the context must necessarily be translated, in a similar manner. An vero, nulla (est) in me potestas? Is there no power in me? (saith the Lord.) or, Have I no power to deliver? If, however, a different translation of the words be contended for, perhaps that mentioned by Poole, which is perfectly agreeable to the Hebrew, and admits of an easy explication, is preferable to any other that has been proposed; which is, What, if I have not help in me, is wisdom driven quite from me? That is, if I cannot help myself, if my outward condition be helpless and hopeless, as I confess it is, have I therefore lost my understanding? Cannot I judge whether it is more desirable for me to live or to die; whether I am sincere in my religion or not; whether your words have truth and weight in them; and whether you take the right method of dealing with me?

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

Or, wisdom, or law.

Have I not sought to help myself as much as was possible?

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

Is not my help in me?--The interrogation is better omitted. "There is no help in me!" For "wisdom," "deliverance" is a better rendering. "And deliverance is driven quite from 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 13. Is not my help in me?] My help is all in myself; and, alas! that is perfect weakness: and my subsistence, תושיה tushiyah, all that is real, stable, and permanent, is driven quite from me. My friends have forsaken me, and I am abandoned to myself; my property is all taken away, and I have no resources left. I believe Job neither said, nor intended to say, as some interpreters have it, Reason is utterly driven from me. Surely there is no mark in this chapter of his being deranged, or at all impaired in his intellect.

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

(13) Is not my help in me?—It is in passages such as these that the actual meaning of Job is so obscure and his words so difficult. The sense may be, “Is it not that I have no help in me, and wisdom is driven quite from me?” or yet again, “Is it because there is no help in me that therefore wisdom is driven far from me?” as is the case by your reproaches and insinuations. (See especially Job_5:2; Job_5:27.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. This verse reads something as follows,

Is not my help within me gone,

And recovery driven away from me?

Both clauses seem to refer to the exhaustion caused by his disease. He feels that all resource within himself and all possibility of recovery is gone. The word “recovery” is that used in ch. Job_5:12, “anything effectual” (see notes), and probably signifies substance, or powers of recovery. The word might also be applied, as in ch. Job_11:6, to a condition of the mind and signify mental resource, but this sense does not seem to suit the connexion.

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.

To him that is afflicted pity should be showed from his friend,.... An "afflicted" man is an object of pity, one that is afflicted of God; either inwardly with a wounded spirit, with a sense of God's displeasure, with divine desertions, with the arrows of the Almighty sticking in him, the poison thereof drinking up his spirits; or outwardly with diseases of body, with want of the necessaries of life, with loss of near relations, as well as substance, which was Job's case; or afflicted by Satan, shot at, sifted and buffered by him, distressed by his temptations, suggestions, and solicitations; or afflicted by men, reproached and persecuted for righteousness sake: in all such cases and circumstances "pity" should be showed; which is an inward affection of the mind, a sympathy of spirit, a sensible feeling of the afflictions of others, and which is expressed by gestures, motions, and actions, as by visiting them in their affliction, speaking comfortably to them, and relieving their necessities according to ability, and as the case requires: and this may be expected from a "friend", and what the law of friendship requires, whether it be in a natural and civil sense, or in a religious and spiritual one; the union between friends being so near and close, that they are, as it were, one soul, as David and Jonathan were; and as the people of God, members of the same body are, so that if one suffers, all the rest do, or should suffer and sympathize with it: and though this duty is not always performed, at least as it should be, by natural and spiritual friends, yet this grace is always shown by God, our best of friends, who pities his children and by Christ, who is a friend that loves at all times, a brother born for adversity, and that sticks closer than any brother, and cannot but be touched with the feeling of the infirmities of his friends. The words may be rendered, "to him that is melted" (c); afflictions are like a furnace or refining pot for the melting of metals, and are called the furnace of afflictions: and saints are the metal, which are put into it; and afflictions also are the fire, of fiery trials, which heat and melt, and by which means the dross of sin and corruption is removed, and the graces of the spirit are tried and made the brighter; though here it rather signifies the melting of the heart like wax or water through the affliction, and denotes the anguish and distress, the trembling and fears, a person is in through it, being overwhelmed and borne down by it, which was Job's case: or "he that melts pity", or "whose pity melts", or "melts in pity to his friend, he forsakes" (d), &c. that is, he that fails in pity, is destitute of compassion, and shuts up the bowels of it to his friend in distress, has not the fear of God before his eyes; and this sense makes Job himself to be the friend in affliction, and Eliphaz, and those with him, the persons that are deficient in their mercy, pity, and compassion. Some render the words (e), "should reproach be cast on him that is afflicted, as that he forsakes the fear of the Almighty?" the word for pity is so used in Pro 14:34; and the reproach on Job was, that he had cast off the fear of God, Job 4:6. This grieved him most of all, and added to his affliction, and of which he complains as very cruel usage; and very cutting it was that he should be reckoned a man destitute of the fear of God, and that because he was afflicted by him; though rather the following words:

but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty, are a charge upon his friend Eliphaz for not showing pity to him in his affliction, which was tacitly forsaking the fear of God. Job here recriminates and retorts the charge of want of the fear of God on Eliphaz himself; for to show mercy to an afflicted friend is a religious act, a part of pure and undefiled religion, a branch of the fear of God; and he that neglects it is so far wanting in it, and acts contrary to his profession of God, of fear of him, and love to him; see Jam 1:26; or "otherwise he forsakes", &c. (f).

(c) "liquefacto", Vatablus, Mercerus, Beza; so Ben Gersom. (d) "Cujus liquescit benignitas", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, "qui misericordia erga amicum contabescit", Schultens. (e) Mercerus, Vatablus, so Ben Gersom. Some interpret it as a charge that he forsakes both mercy and the fear of the Lord; so R. Simeon Bar Tzemach, Sephorno, and Ben Melech. (f) So Pagninus & Beza.

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

Is not my help in me? - This would be better rendered in an affirmative manner, or as an exclamation. The interrogative form of the previous verses need not be continued in this. The sense is, “alas! there is no help in me!” That is, “I have no strength; I must give up under these sorrows in despair.” So it is rendered by Jerome, Rosenmuller, Good, Noyes, and others.

And is wisdom quite driven from me? - This, also, should be read as an affirmation, “deliverance is driven from me.” The word rendered wisdom (תשׁיה tûshı̂yâh) means properly a setting upright; then help, deliverance; and then purpose, enterprise; see the notes at Job 5:12. Here it means that all hope of deliverance had fled, and that he was sinking in despair.

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

Myself. "Have I not placed my trust in him?" God alone. (Haydock) --- All my other friends have abandoned me, ver. 15. (Calmet) --- Can they wonder if I express my grief? (Haydock) --- Familiar. Hebrew, "is wisdom removed far from me?" (Haydock) --- Has my strength abandoned me, so that I cannot be recognized? (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).

Though I have no strength in my body, or outward man, yet I have some help and support within me, or in my inward man, even the conscience of my own innocency and piety, notwithstanding all your bitter accusations and censures, as if I had no integrity, Job 4:6.

Is wisdom driven quite from me? If I have no strength in my body, have I therefore no wisdom or judgment left in my soul? Am I therefore unable to judge of the vanity of thy discourse, and of the truth of my own case? Have I not common sense and discretion? Do not I know my own condition, and the nature and degree of my sufferings, better than thou dost? Am not I a better judge whether I have integrity or no than thou art? But this verse is rendered otherwise, and that very agreeably to the Hebrew words, What if I have no help in me, (i.e. if I cannot help myself, if my outward condition be helpless and hopeless, as I confess it is,)

is wisdom driven quite from me? Have I therefore lost my understanding and common reason? Cannot I judge whether it is more desirable for me to live or to die, whether I am a hypocrite or no, whether your words have truth and weight in them or no, whether you take the right method in dealing with me, whether you deal mercifully and sincerely with me, or no? Yet again, (because the construction and sense of these words is judged very difficult,) this verse may be joined with the following, and rendered thus, What if there be no help in me, (or, if I be not able to bear my miseries,) and if counsel be driven from me, so that I know not what to do, or how to help or ease myself? or, and subsistence, or power of subsisting, be driven or taken away from me, so that I can neither help myself out of my troubles, nor subsist under them? yet to the afflicted pity should be showed, &c.

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

13. Is not my help in me — Rather, Is it not so that there is no help in me?

Wisdom — Strength, or soundness — toushiyyah; same as in Job_5:12. A comprehensive word embracing the entire internal resources of a man. We may call it the very substratum of man’s being, the substance, (Latin, substantia,) that which is beneath, upon which all that appears rests. With Job all is gone.

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

Is not my help in me? rather, Is it not that I have no help in me? (Revised Version). Job feels that, instead of having exceptional strength of constitution to enable him to bear up against his exhausting malady, he is absolutely without strength. All his vital power is used up. There is no help in him. And is wisdom driven quite from me? rather, Is not soundness driven quite from me? Tushiyah seems to mean here "strength of constitution that internal soundness which resists the inroads of disease, and sometimes triumphs over the most serious maladies. Whatever reserve of this kind he may have possessed by nature, it is now, Job feels, altogether lost and gone from him.

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

What, &c. - If my outward condition be helpless and hopeless? Have I therefore lost my understanding, cannot I judge whether it is more desirable for me to live or to die, whether I be an hypocrite or no, whether your words have truth and weight in them; whether you take the right method in dealing with me?

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

Have I no help This is an expression of wonder. Will this too come upon me, that I have no help? Those friends that I had to help me are not helping me.

or is counsel lost The counsel of counselors is lost from me, because you have risen against me to provoke and to reject.

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.