Job 9:17

Job 9:17 For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause.

Ver. 17. For he breaketh me with a tempest] q.d. This is one thing also that maketh me think I am not heard, because I am not helped; but after my prayer I am in as bad a case as before and seem to have a repulse from God. Afflictions continued are no evidence that prayer is not heard; yet usually it is very inevident to an afflicted person that his prayer is heard. The Hebrew (and so the Vulgate) hath it, He will break me, that is, saith one, If I should plead before him as pure, although I might temporally, or for a time, be delivered, yet I should not finally escape destruction, although I should give him none other cause. Whereby we may see upon what danger of being torn in pieces by God’s judgments our justiciaries put themselves that will needs go to God in their own righteousness, as the proud Pharisee, Luk 18:11-12 The calamity of these merit mongers shall rise suddenly. Behold, a whirlwind, or a tempest of the Lord, goeth forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind; it shall fall grievously upon th e head of these wicked ones, Jer 23:19. This St Paul knew, and, therefore, did his utmost that he might be found in Christ (sc. when sought for by the justice of God), not having his "own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith," Php 3:9.

And multiplieth my wounds without cause] i.e. Without any other cause than to try me, and prove my patience, which now Job began to perceive, as Philip gathereth; or, without any manifest cause, and perceivable by an afflicted man, so Aquinas senseth it. God hath not told me the reason of his chastenings; but, to increase my grief, he concealeth from me the cause of them; and yet he multiplieth still my sores and my sorrows. Or, without cause, that is, without any such cause as his friends alleged against him, viz. that he was a rank hypocrite.

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 9:17. For he breaketh me with a tempest — As with a tempest; that is, unexpectedly, violently, and irrecoverably. This is the reason of his forementioned diffidence, that even when God seemed to answer his supplication in words, yet the course of his actions toward him was of a quite contrary nature and tendency. And multiplieth my wounds without cause — He does not mean, simply without any desert of his, as if he had been free from all sin, and perfectly innocent and holy, the contrary to which he oft declares; but without any special cause of such singular afflictions; without any peculiar and extraordinary guilt, such as his friends charged him with.

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

Strophe b — In the ravings of his despair, (see Job_6:3,) Job declares his sufferings to be a tangible proof that God may be almighty but not just, Job_9:17-20.

17. Breaketh me — שׁו, same as in Gen_3:15, bruise; the word also signifies “rub in pieces” — destroy. “He who would crush me in a tempest, and multiply my wounds without cause, will not suffer me to take my breath, but would surfeit me with bitterness.”

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

9:17 with a storm: Perhaps the words translated “with a storm” (bis’arah) are a double entendre with besa‘arah (“for a hair”; i.e., “for the littlest thing”), which would parallel without cause.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

I am not able to feel my sins so great, as I feel the weight of his plagues; and this he speaketh to condemn his dullness, and to justify God.

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

Verse 17. He breaketh me with a tempest] The Targum, Syriac, and Arabic have this sense: He powerfully smites even every hair of my head and multiplies my wounds without cause. That is, There is no reason known to myself, or to any man, why I should be thus most oppressively afflicted. It is, therefore, cruel, and inconsequent to assert that I suffer for my crimes.

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

(17) He breaketh me . . .—This is one of the three passages in which this word is found, the other two being Gen_3:15, “It shall bruise,” &c., and Psa_139:11, “If I say the darkness shall cover me.”

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

17. he breaketh] Rather, he would break. Similarly, and multiply. The word translated break may mean to seize and swallow up, that is, to sweep away, cf. ch. Job_30:22.

17–21. These verses describe what would ensue in the supposed case that God had actually responded to Job’s citation. He would not listen to Job’s plea but would crush him with His infinite power. The words do not describe what Job actually suffers at present or has suffered, but what he would have to endure then, though the colours of the terrible picture are drawn from his actual sufferings.

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.

He will not suffer me to take my breath,.... Which some think refers to Job's disease, which was either an asthma, or a quinsy in his throat, which occasioned great difficulty in breathing: I should rather think the allusion is to the hot burning winds in those countries before mentioned, which sometimes blew so strongly as almost to take away a man's breath; so the above traveller (u) reports, that between Suez and Cairo (in Egypt) they had for a day's time and more so hot a wind, that they were forced to turn their backs to it, to take a little breath. The design of Job is to show, that his afflictions were continued, and were without any intervals; they were repeated so fast, and came so thick upon him, one after another, that he had no breathing time; the import of the phrase is the same with that in Job 7:19,

but filleth me with bitterness; to the full, to satiety, to loathing, as a man may be with a bitter potion, with wormwood drink, and water of gall, with bitter afflictions comparable to such, whereby Job's life was embittered to him, see Jer 9:15.

(u) Travels. par. 1. B. 2. c. 34. p. 177.

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

For he breaketh me - He is overwhelming me with a tempest; that is, with the storms of wrath. He shows me no mercy. The idea seems to be, that God acted toward him not as a judge determining matters by rule of law, but as a sovereign - determining them by his own will. If it were a matter of law; if he could come before him as a judge, and maintain his cause there; if the case could be fairly adjudicated whether he deserved the calamities that came upon him, he would be willing to enter into such a trial. But where the matter was determined solely by will, and God acted as a sovereign, doing as he pleased, and giving no account of his matters to anyone, then it would be useless to argue the cause. He would not know what to expect, or understand the principles on which an adjudication would be made. It is true that God acts as a sovereign, but he does not act without reference to law. He dispenses his favors and his judgments as he pleases, but he violates none of the rules of right. The error of Job was the common error which people commit, that if God acts as a sovereign, he must of course act regardless of law, and that it is vain to plead with him or try to please him. But sovereignty is not necessarily inconsistent with respect for law; and He who presides with the most absolute power over the universe, is He who is most directed by the rule of right. In Him sovereignty and law coincide; and to come to Him as a sovereign, is to come with the assurance that supreme rectitude will be done.

And multiplieth my wounds without cause - That is, without sufficient reason. This is in accordance with the views which Job had repeatedly expressed. The main ground of his complaint was, that his sufferings were disproportionate to his faults.

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

Without cause. That is, without my knowing the cause; or without any crime of mine. (Challoner) --- To argue from my afflictions, that I am a criminal, is unjust, chap. ii. 3. "Notions mistaken, reasonings ill apply’d,

And sophisms that conclude on either side." (Pope, Pleasures, &c.)

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).

This is the reason of his foregoing diffidence, that even when God seemed to answer him in words, yet the course of his actions towards him was of a quite contrary nature and tendency.

With a tempest; as with a tempest, i.e. unexpectedly, violently, and irrecoverably.

Without cause; not simply without any desert of his, or as if he had no sin in him, for he oft declares the contrary; but without any evident or special cause of such singular afflictions, i.e. any peculiar and extraordinary guilt, such as my friends charge me with.

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

For he breaketh me with a tempest. God" that is, "would not be likely patiently to hear my justification, and calmly to weigh it, when he is already overwhelming me with his wrath, breaking and crushing me (Gen_3:15, where the same word pWv is used) with a very storm of calamity." The sentiment can scarcely be justified, since it breathes something of a contumacious spirit. But this only shows that Job was not yet" made perfect through sufferings". (Heb_2:10) And multiplieth my wounds without cause. A further assertion, not of absolute sinlessness, but of comparative innocence of the belief that he had done nothing to deserve such a terrible punishment as he is suffering. (comp. Job_6:24, Job_6:29)

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

Breaketh - Unexpectedly, violently, and irrecoverably. Cause - Not simply without any desert of his, but without any special cause of such singular afflictions; and peculiar and extraordinary guilt, such as his friends charged him with.

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

He Who would crush me with a tempest My form was changed (other editions: my status) before Him.

would crush me Heb. ישופני, would crush me. “I crushed it and ground it” (Deut. 9:21) is translated into Aramaic as: ושפית יתֵה.

my wounds Heb. פצעי, a wound that oozes blood and pus.

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.