Job 6:29

Job 6:29 Return, I pray you, let it not be iniquity; yea, return again, my righteousness [is] in it.

Ver. 29. Return, I pray you] Change your minds of me, and your language to me, Bona verba quaeso; I seek good words, what need all this heat of speech, and height of spirit? be better advised, I beseech you, Job 17:10; Job 19:28. Some think that Job’s friends were rising to be gone; and he hastily calleth them back again.

Let it not be iniquity] Judge charitably, and make not the worst of matters: I may be weak, but am not wicked. Or thus, take heed that God fault you not for usurping his right; taking upon you to judge secret things even against your neighbour, with calumniations and cruelty.

Yea, return again] See you do it at your peril: either you must do it, or do worse.

My righteousness is in it] I am surely in the right; and that will appear to you upon better consideration. I shall be recta in curia, and you utterly mistaken. Uprightness hath boldness, and dares put itself upon God’s examination, as David did, Psa 139:23, yea, Abimelech, Gen 20:5.

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 6:29. Return, I pray, let it not be iniquity — Or, Recollect yourselves, I beseech you; call it not wickedness: yea, return again; my righteousness is in it — Or, Consider it yet again, righteousness may be in me. — Chappelow. Notwithstanding your suspicion, if you will examine more candidly and strictly, you may, perhaps, be convinced that I am not the sinner you think; but that righteousness is still in me, though I have fallen under these sore afflictions.

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

Return--rather, "retract" your charges:

let it not be iniquity--that is, (retract) that injustice may not be done me. Yea retract, "my righteousness is in it"; that is, my right is involved in this matter.

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 29. Return, I pray you] Reconsider the whole subject. Do not be offended. Yea, reconsider the subject; my righteousness is in it - my argumentation is a sufficient proof of my innocence.

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

(29) Return, I pray you.—“Do not regard the case as settled, but come again and examine it; try once more before you decide there is no unrighteousness in my case;” or, as some understand it, in my tongue, which is expressed immediately afterwards, and is here anticipated in the pronoun her. This rendering is certainly confirmed by Job_6:30.

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

29. Return, I pray you] The verse means,

Turn, I pray you, let there be no injustice;

Turn again, I say; my cause is righteous.

The word “turn” appears to mean not “begin anew,” but “adopt another course,” that is, proceed on other suppositions than that of my guiltiness, and seek another explanation of my calamities. Hence, he adds, let there be no injustice, or wrong, that is, on the part of his friends in imputing guilt to him. The phrase “my cause is righteous” means literally my right is in it, that is, is here, is present; in other words, I have a righteous cause. In it can hardly mean, in the matter under discussion, as if the meaning were: the question is one that concerns my rectitude. By his right or righteous cause Job means his plea against God in reference to his afflictions; in this plea he has right on his side.

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.

Is there iniquity in my tongue?.... Meaning in his words; either those which he uttered when he cursed the day on which he was born, or in charging his friends with unkindness and falsehood; otherwise the tongue is a world of iniquity, and the best of men are apt to offend both God and men in word:

cannot my taste discern perverse things? which is to be understood not of his natural taste, which very probably through his disease might be greatly vitiated, and incapable of relishing his food as in time of health, and of distinguishing good from bad; but of his intellectual taste, or of his sense and reason, his rational and spiritual taste; he had his senses exercised to discern good and evil; he could distinguish between right and wrong that was said or done, either by himself or others; be had the use of his rational powers and faculties, and therefore not to be treated as a mad or distracted man, but as one capable of carrying on a conversation, of opening his true case, and defending himself; see Job 12:11.

Next: Job Chapter 7

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

Return, I pray you - That is, return to the argument. Give your attention to it again. Perhaps he may have discerned a disposition in them to turn away from what he was saying, and to withdraw and leave him. Job expresses his belief that he could convince them; and he proposes more fully to state his views, if they would attend to him.

Let it not be iniquity - Let it not be considered as wrong thus to come back to the argument. Or, let it not be assumed that my sentiments are erroneous, and my heart evil. Job means, that it should not be taken for granted that he was a hypocrite; that he was conscious of sincerity, and that he was convinced that he could satisfy them of it if they would lend a listening ear. A similar sentiment he expresses in Job 19:28 :

But ye should say, Why persecute we him?

Seeing the root of the matter is found in me.

My righteousness is in it - Margin, that is, this matter. The sense is, “my complete vindication is in the argument which I propose to state. I am prepared to show that I am innocent.” On that account, he wishes them to return and attend to what he proposed to say.

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

Turn from your former course of perverse judgment; lay aside passion and prejudice against me; let me beg your second thoughts and a serious review of my case.

Let it not be iniquity, to wit, in your thoughts or debates; I beg not your favour, but your justice; judge according to right, and do not conclude me to be wicked, because you see me to be miserable, as you have falsely and unjustly done. Or, there shall be no iniquity, to wit, in my words which I have spoken, and which I am further about to speak; which you will find upon the review.

In it, i.e. in this cause or matter between you and me; the relative without the antecedent, which is frequent in the Hebrew language. You will find the right to be on my side.

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

29. Return… return — Renan supposes that Job’s friends, astonished by his apostrophes, turn away as if about to depart, and Job calls them back.

Let it not be iniquity — Let there be no wrong (between us.)

My righteousness is in it — That is, in the matter about which we treat, (Dillmann, Hirtzel.) My position is impregnable, for my cause is a righteous one.

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

Return, I pray you; i.e. "go back upon my case: reconsider it." And then, Let it not be iniquity; or, let there be no iniquity; i.e. let no injustice be done me. Yea, return again, my righteousness is in it If my cause be well considered, it will be seen that I am in no way blameworthy.

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

Return - Turn from your former judgment. Iniquity - Or, there shall be no iniquity, in my words. Righteousness - In this cause or matter between you and me; and you will find the right to be on my side.

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

Return now to test, and you will determine that there shall be no more injustice; return to investigate, and behold, my righteousness will be found in it.

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.