Job 6:28

Job 6:28 Now therefore be content, look upon me; for [it is] evident unto you if I lie.

Ver. 28. Now therefore be content, look upon me] Let it suffice you to have thus hardly handled me; cast now a more benign aspect upon me, and be not henceforth so hot and so harsh. Now therefore be content, regard me, so Mr Broughton translateth it, or look upon me, sc. with a critical eye: what guiltiness can you find in my face? do I look like a hypocrite, and can you read my conscience in my countenance?

It is evident to you if I lie] You may soon see mine integrity if you please, for my heart sitteth and showeth itself in my forehead, neither can I collude. I am one of those children that will not lie: so be God my Saviour, Isa 63:8.

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 6:28. Now therefore be content, look upon me — Hebrew, Be willing; look upon me, or, to look upon me, the second imperative being put for the infinitive. Be pleased to consider me and my cause further and better than you have done, that you may give a more true and righteous judgment concerning it; for it is — Or rather, will be; evident — You will plainly discover it; if I lie — A little farther consideration and discourse will make it manifest if I have uttered any thing untrue or without foundation, and I shall readily acknowledge it.

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

Third strophe — He makes an appeal for justice, and justice only, Job_6:28-30.

28. Now therefore — And now be pleased to look upon me. He deems that they will see, notwithstanding his disfigurement, integrity in his look and bearing. Evident unto you, etc. — I will not speak falsely to your face, is the reading of most modern critics. Hengstenberg prefers to read, “let it be before your face,” that is, be determined by you, “whether I lie.”

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

Consider whether I speak as one that is driven to this impatience through very sorrow, or as an hypocrite as you condemn me.

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

be content--rather, "be pleased to"--look. Since you have so falsely judged my words, look upon me, that is, upon my countenance: for (it is evident before your faces) if I lie; my countenance will betray me, if I be the hypocrite that you suppose.

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 28. Look upon me] View me; consider my circumstances; compare my words; and you must be convinced that I have spoken nothing but truth.

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

(28) Now therefore be content to look upon me; for it will be evident unto you if I lie; or, for surely I shall not lie to your face.

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

28. The verse means as a whole,

Now, therefore, be pleased to look upon me,

I will not surely lie to your face!

“Be pleased,” or, as we say, be good enough. “To your face,” as in ch. Job_1:11. Job desires that instead of speaking at him with averted faces they would look him in the face, and judge from his countenance whether he would lie directly in asserting his innocence—a test that only conscious honesty would propose.

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.

Return, I pray you,.... From the ill opinion you have of me, and from your hard censures, and entertain other sentiments concerning me: or it may be, upon these words of Job his friends might be rising up as usual to take their leave of him, and break off conversation with him; and therefore he entreats they would return to their seats, and resume the debate, and give a friendly hearing of his case:

let it not be iniquity; either let it not be reckoned an iniquity to return and go on hearing his case; or he entreats that they would take care not to sin in their anger and resentment against him, nor go on to charge him with iniquity: or it may be rendered, "there is no iniquity" (h); that is, it should be found that there was no such iniquity in him as he was charged with; not that he was free from all sin, which no man is, but from that which his friends judged he was guilty of, hypocrisy:

yea, return again; he most earnestly importunes them to return and patiently hear him out:

my righteousness is in it; in the whole of this affair before them, and which was the matter of controversy between them; meaning, not his justifying righteousness before God, but the righteousness of his cause before men; he doubted not but, when things were thoroughly searched into, that his righteousness would be as clear as the light, and his judgment as the noonday; that he should appear to be a righteous man, and his cause a just one; and should stand acquitted and free from all charges and imputations.

(h) "non erit iniquitas", Beza, Mercerus; "nulla", Schultens.

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

Now, therefore, be content - Rosenmuller has better rendered this, “if it please you.” The sense is, “if you are willing, look upon me.” That is, “if you are disposed, you may take a careful view of me. Look me in the countenance. You can see for yourselves whether I am sincere or false. I am willing that my whole demeanor should be subjected to the utmost scrutiny.”

For it is evident unto you if I lie - Margin, as in Hebrew before your face. That is, “you yourselves can see by my whole demeanor, by my sufferings, my patience, my manifest sincerity, that I am not playing the hypocrite.” Conscious of sincerity, he believed that if they would look upon him, they would be convinced that he was a sincere and an upright man.

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

Look upon me; be pleased either,

1. To look upon my countenance, if it betrays any fear or guilt, as if I spoke contrary to my own conscience. Or rather,

2. To consider me and my cause further and better than you have done, that you may give a more true and righteous judgment concerning it.

Is evident unto you; you will plainly discover it. A little further consideration and discourse will make it manifest, and I shall readily acknowledge it.

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

Now therefore be content, look upon me; rather, be pleased to look upon me. Professor Lee translates, "Look favorably upon me." But this addition is unnecessary. What Job desires is that his friends would look him straight in the face. Then they would not be able to doubt him. They would see that he was telling the truth. For it is evident unto you if I lie; rather, it will be evident unto you, etc. Others render the passage, "For surely I shall not lie to your face" (Schultens, Canon Cook, Revised Version).

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

Look - Consider my cause better than you have done, that you may give a more righteous judgment. Evident - You will plainly discover it.

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

28 And now be pleased to observe me keenly,

I will not indeed deceive you to your face.

29 Try it again, then: let there be no injustice;

Try it again, my righteousness still stands.

30 Is there wrong on my tongue?

Or shall not my palate discern iniquity?

He begs them to observe him more closely; בּ פּנה, as Ecc 2:11, to observe scrutinizingly. אם is the sign of negative asseveration (Ges. 155, 2, f). He will not indeed shamelessly give them the lie, viz., in respect to the greatness and inexplicableness of his suffering. The challenging שׁוּבוּ we do not translate: retrace your steps, but: begin afresh, to which both the following clauses are better suited. So Schlottm. and von Gerlach. Hahn retains the Chethib שׁובי, in the signification: my answer; but that is impossible: to answer is השׁיב, not שׁוּב. The עוד drawn to שׁובו by Rebia mugrasch is more suitably joined with צדקי־בה, in which בּהּ refers neutrally to the matter of which it treats. They are to try from the beginning to find that comfort which will meet the case. Their accusations are עולה; his complaints, on the contrary, are fully justified. He does not grant that the outburst of his feeling of pain (Job 3) is עולה: he has not so completely lost his power against temptation, that he would not restrain himself, if he should fall into הוּות. Thus wickedness, which completely contaminates feeling and utterance, is called (Psa 52:4).

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.)

Now

This word is used by Job to introduce new information.

please look

The verb "to look" is in second person plural form. (See: Forms of You)

I would not lie to your face

The word "your" refers to Job's friends. Here his friends are represented by their faces to emphasize that they are looking at him. AT: "I would not lie to you while I am looking at you" (See: Synecdoche)

Relent, I beg you

"Please be merciful to me" or "Stop speaking like this, I beg you"

let there be no injustice with you

This can be stated in positive form. AT: "treat me fairly" (See: Double Negatives)

Indeed, relent

"Please relent."

Is there evil on my tongue?

"Do I say wicked things?" Job uses this question to rebuke his friends and to emphasize that he is not wicked. This question can be written as a statement. AT: "I do not say wicked things." (See: Rhetorical Question)

on my tongue

Here Job's speech is represented by his "tongue." AT: "in my speech" (See: Metonymy)

Cannot my mouth detect malicious things?

Job uses this question to rebuke his friends and to emphasize that he can tell the difference between right and wrong. Here Job refers to himself by his "mouth" to emphasize his speech. This question can be written as a statement. AT: "I know what is right to say and what is wrong to say." (See: Rhetorical Question and Synecdoche)

translationWords

face

beg

evil

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

agree Be willing to turn to me and to hear my words. Then you will see whether I lie to your face.

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.