Job 8:4

4. The construction of the English version is possible, which makes the whole of Job_8:4 the supposition or protasis and begins the second member of the sentence with Job_8:5. But more probably Job_8:4 is complete in itself: if thy children have sinned so (or, then) he hath, &c.

cast them away for] Rather lit., he hath sent them away, or, let them go, into the hand of their transgression. The idea is that evil carries its own retribution with it, and that a sinner is destroyed by the very sin which he commits, a common idea in the Book, cf. ch. Job_4:8, Job_15:31; Job_15:35, Job_18:7-8, Job_20:12 seq. Though Bildad puts his reference to the children of Job hypothetically there is great harshness in the allusion, and we may understand how the father would smart under it from his own reference later in the Book to the time when his children were yet alive: “When my boys were about me,” ch. Job_29:5. A wiser and more human-hearted Teacher than Bildad has instructed us from the instances of the affliction of blindness (Joh_9:2-3) and the accident in the tower of Siloam (Luk_13:4) that calamity is no proof of guilt in those on whom it falls, and that evil may serve in the hand of God wider uses than the chastisement of individuals. This is the very lesson of the Book of Job, though it seems that men in the days of our Lord had not yet learned it. The verse refers back to ch. Job_1:19, and is evidence that the Prologue forms an integral part of the Book.

4–7. In opposition to Job’s impious principle Bildad brings forward his doctrine of the Divine rectitude on both its sides, the one illustrated in the fate of Job’s children (Job_8:4), the other, as he hopes, to be illustrated in the history of Job himself (Job_8:5-7).

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.

Job 8:4 If thy children have sinned against him, and he have cast them away for their transgression;

Ver. 4. If thy children have sinned against him] As what man is he that liveth and sinneth not? But Bildad meant that Job’s children had heinously sinned, had been grievous sinners against their own souls (as afterwards were Korah and his accomplices), had not sinned common sins, and therefore died not common deaths; indeed, they died early and suddenly, and eating and drinking (wherein there might be some excess), and before sacrifice offered for them, as formerly; all this was sad, and moved Job more than anything else. But did it therefore follow that God had cast them away? &c.

And he have cast them away for their transgression] Or, and he have expelled or abandoned them into the hand (so the Hebrews hath it elegantly) of their transgressions or rebellions, as so many executioners. Some render it thus, He hath driven them out of the world for their transgression. The Chaldee paraphrast goeth further, interpreting hand here for place (Pagnin.). If God have sent them, saith he, into the place of their wickedness, that is, into hell prepared for the wicked. Now surely, saith Lavater, Inhumanissimus fuit Bildad, qui ista calamitosissimo obiecere non dubitabat, Bildad was a most unmerciful man, who doubted not to lay these things in the dish of him that was before so heavily afflicted, and to heap more load upon him who was ready to sink under his burden; but he did it, say some, of a good intent, to bring Job to a sense of his sin, and to put him in hope of appeasing God s wrath, who had yet spared his life that he might make his peace, and not suddenly slain him, as he had done them; and therefore he assureth him in the following verses, as Eliphaz had done before, that all things shall go well with him if he repent. Albeit thy children have sinned, &c., yet

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 8:4. If thy children have sinned against him — If thou wast innocent, thy children, upon whom a great part of these calamities fell, might be guilty; and therefore God is not unrighteous in these proceedings. And he have cast them away — Hebrew, hath expelled, or cast them out; (namely, out of the world, or out of his favour; as a man gives his wife a bill of divorce, of which the same word is used;) for their transgression — Hebrew, by the hand, that is, by means of, their wickedness. Bildad argued in this way according to the maxim which he had entertained: but it does not appear that he had any foundation for judging thus of them.

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

That is, hath rewarded them according to their iniquity: meaning, that Job ought to be warned by the example of his children, that he offend not God.

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

If--Rather, "Since thy children have sinned against Him, and (since) He has cast them away (Hebrew, by the hand of) for their transgressions, (yet) if thou wouldst seek unto God, &c., if thou wert pure, &c., surely [even] now He would awake for thee." UMBREIT makes the apodosis to, "since thy children," &c., begin at "He has cast them away." Also, instead of "for," "He gave them up to (literally, into the hand of) their own guilt." Bildad expresses the justice of God, which Job had arraigned. Thy children have sinned; God leaves them to the consequence of their sin; most cutting to the heart of the bereaved father.

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 4. If thy children have sinned] I know thy children have been cut off by a terrible judgment; but was it not because by transgression they had filled up the measure of their iniquity?

And he have cast them away] Has sent them off, says the Targum, to the place of their transgression-to that punishment due to their sins.

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

(4) And he have cast them away.—Literally, then he sent them away. By means of their transgression; it became their destruction.

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

If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes,.... Here Bildad seems to think more mildly, and speak more kindly to Job, that though he had sinned, yet not in so gross a manner as his children, since he was spared, and they were not; and therefore if he would apply himself to God, and supplicate his grace and mercy, and live a godly life, it might yet be well with him, and he be restored to his former or to better circumstances; his sense is, that he would advise him, as Eliphaz had done before, Job 5:8; to seek unto God "by prayer", as the Targum adds, and of which it is explained in the next clause, and that he would do this "betimes", or "in the morning" (n); which is a proper time for prayer, and was one of the seasons good men in former times made use of for that purpose; see Psa 5:3; or that he would seek him in the first place, and above all things, take the first opportunity to do it, without any procrastination of it, and that with eagerness and earnestness, with his whole heart and soul; for God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him, and those that seek him early shall find him:

and make thy supplication to the Almighty: not pleading any merit of his own, as deserving of any blessing on account of what he had done; but ask what he should as a favour, as a free gift, in a way of grace and mercy, as the word (o) signifies; call for the pity of the Almighty, as Broughton renders it.

(n) "mane quaesieris", Pagninus, Piscator, Mercerus. (o) So Schmidt in loc.

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

If thy children have sinned against him - Bildad here assumes that the children of Job had been wicked, and had been cut off in their sins. This must have cut him to the quick, for there was nothing which a bereaved father would feel more acutely than this. The meaning here is somewhat weakened by the word “if.” The Hebrew אם 'ı̂m is rather to be taken in the sense of “since” - assuming it as an indisputable point, or taking it for granted. It was not a supposition that if they should now do it, certain other consequences would follow; but the idea is, that since they had been cut off in their sins, if Job would even now seek God with a proper spirit, he might be restored to prosperity, though his beginning should be small; Job 8:7.

And he have cast them away - Bildad supposes that they had been disowned by God, and had been put to death.

For their transgression - Margin, in the hand of their. The Hebrew is, by the hand of their transgression; i. e, their sin has been the cause of it, or it has been by the instrumentality of their sin. What foundation Bildad had for this opinion, derived from the life and character of the sons of Job, we have no means of ascertaining. The probability is, however, that he had learned in general that they had been cut off; and that, on the general principle which he maintained, that God deals with men in this life according to their character, he inferred that they must have been distinguished for wickedness. Men not unfrequently argue in this way when sudden calamity comes upon others.

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

Iniquity, and suffered them to perish. (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).

What though thou wast in a great measure innocent, thy children, upon whom a great part of these calamities fell, might be guilty of great sins; and therefore God is not unrighteous in these proceedings.

He hath cast them away, expelled, or cast them out, (to wit, out of the world, or out of his favour; as a man gives his wife a bill of divorce, of which this word is used,) by means (Heb. by the hand, which is oft so used) of their wickedness. Or, hath left them in the hand of their sin, to wit, to be punished by it and for it. Compare Num 32:23, Your sin shall find you out.

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

4. If — The hypothetical way of putting the case by no means deadens the stroke dealt by the following word, thy children. Compare the delicate and impersonal allusion of Eliphaz in Job_5:4. And — Better, then. Thus the verse is complete in itself.

For their transgression — Then hath he given them into the hand of their transgression, as in margin. Divine wisdom has ordained that wickedness should be its own punishment. The law is as unerring as that of gravitation. The retributive sting may be concealed, but it is none the less the endowment of evil. From the moment of transgression the elements of evil bestir themselves to punish, though the stroke be delayed.

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

If thy children have sinned against him. Bildad assumes this absolutely; Eliphaz had only hinted at it. (Job_10:4) Both presume to know what could be known only to the Searcher of hearts. And he have cast them away for their transgression; literally, and he have delivered them into the hand of their transgressions abandoned them, that is, to the consequences of their wrong-doing. The allusion is, of course, to the fact recorded in Job_1:19.

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

If - If thou wast innocent, thy children, upon whom a great part of these calamities fell, might be guilty; and therefore God is not unrighteous in these proceedings.

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

for he gave them into the hand of their sins

Here "hand" represents the power or results of sin. Bildad implies that God killed Job's children because of their sin. AT: "for God caused the consequences of your children's sins to kill them" (See: Metonymy and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

But suppose you diligently sought God and presented your request to the Almighty

Bildad is saying what would have happened if Job had correctly spoken to God, but Bildad does not believe that Job really did this. (See: Hypothetical Situations)

diligently sought God ... presented your request to the Almighty

These two phrases both refer to Job asking God for help or pleading with God for mercy. (See: Doublet)

diligently sought God

"earnestly asked God for help"

translationWords

children

sin

God

Almighty

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

He sent them away in the hands of their transgression Through their transgression. (The transgression) became the agent to carry them off.

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.