Job 9:29

Job 9:29 [If] I be wicked, why then labour I in vain?

Ver. 29. If I be wicked] Heb. I am wicked, sc. in your thoughts, and you have so earnestly and effectually affirmed it, and confirmed it, that I am almost ready to say as you say, I am wicked. Plato brings in Socrates in his apology to the judges, thus bespeaking them, My lords, I know not how you have been affected with mine accusers’ eloquence while you heard them speak; for mine own part, I assure you that I, whom it toucheth most, was almost drawn to believe that all they said, though against myself, was true, when they scarcely uttered one word of truth. The Chaldee paraphrase reads it, I shall be culpable, or, I shall be condemned.

Why then labour I in vain?] Or, for nothing, as the Chaldee hath it. See the like Psa 73:13-14. Why put I myself to so much fruitless pains, either in praying to God, or apologizing to you, my friends, since by God I am still afflicted, and by you reputed a wicked person? Job’s hope was low, his endeavour was therefore little. Si nihil sperarem, nihil orarem, saith one. Let us pray on. God sometimes defers to come till men have even left looking for him, till he scarce findeth faith upon earth, Luk 18:8.

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 9:29. If I be wicked, &c. — The Hebrew, אנכי ארשׁעanochi ershang, is, I am, or, I shall be wicked, or guilty, without any supposition. That is, Whether I be holy or wicked, if I dispute with thee I shall be found guilty; or, I shall be treated as guilty; I shall not be acquitted, or exempted from punishment. Why then labour I in vain? — Since my friends will still continue to think and treat me as wicked, and thou wilt still continue to afflict me with the calamities and miseries which gave them occasion to think so, why should I use any efforts to clear myself, and vindicate my innocence? Why should I speak in a cause that is already prejudged? Or, why should I comfort myself with vain hopes of deliverance? With men it is often labour in vain for the most innocent to go about to clear themselves: they will be adjudged guilty, though the evidence be ever so plain for them. But it is not so in our dealings with God, who is the patron of oppressed innocence, and to whom it was never in vain to commit a righteous cause.

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

Strophe b — Job is divinely judged to be guilty; all efforts to free himself from guilt will therefore be futile, Job_9:29-31.

29. If I be wicked — I, I am to be held guilty. Literally, I shall be guilty.

Omit if. There is no escape from the divine determination.

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

Why doth not God destroy me at once? thus he speaketh according to the infirmity of the flesh.

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

The "if" is better omitted; I (am treated by God as) wicked; why then labor I in vain (to disprove His charge)? Job submits, not so much because he is convinced that God is right, as because God is powerful and he weak [BARNES].

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. If I be wicked] If I am the sinner you suppose me to be, in vain should I labour to counterfeit joy, and cease to complain of my sufferings.

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

29. if I be wicked] Rather, I shall be guilty, that is, I have to be, shall be held, guilty; God has resolved so to consider me. Everywhere in these verses guilt and afflictions mean the same thing, the one being the sign of the other.

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.

If I wash myself with snow water,.... As it came from heaven, or flowed from the mountains covered with snow, as Lebanon, see Jer 18:14; or was kept in vessels for such use, as being judged the best for such a purpose; so it was used by the ancients (n), as being what whitens the skin, and strengthens the parts by contracting the pores, and hindering perspiration; it signifies, in a figurative sense, that let him take what methods he would to cleanse himself from sin, they were all in vain, his iniquity would be seen, and remain marked before God; and indeed there is nothing that a man can do that will make him pure and clean in the sight of an holy God; this is not to be done by ceremonial ablutions, such as might be in use in Job's time, before the law of Moses was given, and to which he may have some reference; these only sanctified to the purifying of the flesh, or only externally, but could not purify the heart, so as to have no more conscience of sin; nor by moral duties, not by repentance, as Sephorno; a fountain, a flood, an ocean of tears of humiliation and repentance, would not wash away sin; if, instead of ten thousand rivers of oil, so many rivers of brinish tears could be produced, they would be of no avail to cleanse the sinner; nor any works of righteousness done by man, for these themselves need washing in the blood of the Lamb; for nothing short of the blood of Christ, and the grace of God, can do it:

and make my hands never so clean; the hands are what men work with, Ecc 9:10; and so may design good works, which are sometimes called clean hands; see Psa 24:4; compared with Psa 15:1; and may be said to be so when they are done well, from a pare heart, and faith unfeigned, without selfish and sordid views, with a single eye to the glory of God; which is doing them as well, and making the hands as clean, as well can be; yet these are of no avail with respect to justification before God, and acceptance with him, or with regard to salvation, which is all of grace, and not of works, be they what they will; some render the words, "and cleanse my hands with soap" (o), which cleanses them best of anything, see Jer 2:22.

(n) "Discubuimus, pueris aquam nivalem in manus infundentibus", Petronius in Satyr. (o) Smegmate, Codurcus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Schmidt; so the Targum, and Mr. Broughton.

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

If I be wicked, why then labour I in vain? - The word “if,” here introduced by our translators, greatly obscures the sense. The meaning evidently is, “I am held to be guilty, and cannot answer to that charge. God regards me as such, and if I should attempt to meet him on the charge, it would be a vain attempt; and I must admit its truth. It would be labor in vain to deny it against one so mighty as he is.” This interpretation accords with the argument in the whole chapter. Job maintains that it would be in vain to contend with God, and he gives up the argument in despair. It is quite evident, however, that he does not do it so much because he is convinced himself, as because he knows that God is great, and that it would be useless to contend with him. There is evidently implied all along the feeling that if he was able to cope with God in the argument, the result would be different. As it is, he submits - not because he is convinced, but because he is weak; not because he sees that God is right, but because he sees that he is powerful. How much submission of this kind is there in the world - submision, not to right, but to power; submission to God, not because he is seen to be wise and good, but because he is seen to be almighty, and it is vain to attempt to oppose him! It is needless to say that such feelings evince no true submission.

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

Vain. Why have I endeavoured to repress my grief in silence? God does not forbid us to complain, but only to murmur. (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "Since I am wicked, why did I not die?" (Haydock) --- Should a wretch be even suffered to live" (St. Chrysostom)

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).

Heb. I shall be wicked, or guilty, to wit, before thee. Whether I be holy or wicked, if I dispute with thee, I shall be found guilty. Or thus, I shall be used like a wicked man, and punished as such. So this is opposed to his not being held innocent, Job 9:28, i.e. not being acquitted or exempt from punishment. Why then should I not indulge my griefs, but restrain them? Why should I comfort myself with vain hopes of deliverance, as thou advisest me, Job 8:6; or seek to God, as I was directed, Job 5:8, for that ease which I see he is resolved not to give me? Why should I trouble myself with clearing mine innocency, seeing God will still hold me guilty?

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

If I be wicked; rather, I am wicked; i.e. I am accounted so I am already condemned. The extreme afflictions raider which I suffer indicate that God has passed sentence upon me, and awarded me my punishment. Why then labour I in vain? i.e. Why argue? Why seek to justify myself, since no result is likely to follow? Nothing that I can say will alter God"s foregone conclusion.

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

I shall - I shall be used like a wicked man still. Why - Why then should I comfort myself with vain hopes of deliverance, as thou advisest me.

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

29 If I am wicked, why do I exert myself in vain?

30 If I should wash myself with snow water,

And make my hands clean with lye,

31 Then thou wouldst plunge me into the pit,

And my clothes would abhor me.

32 For He is not a man as I, that I should answer Him,

That we should go together to judgment.

33 There is not an arbitrator between us

Who should lay his hand upon us both.

The clause with strongly accented "I" affirms that in relation to God is from the first, and unchangeably, a wicked, i.e., guilty, man (Psa 109:7) (רשׁע, to be a wicked man, means either to act as such Job 10:15, or to appear as such, be accounted as such, as here and Job 10:7; Hiph., Job 9:20, to condemn). Why, therefore, should he vainly (הבל, acc. adv., like breath, useless) exert himself by crying for help, and basing his plaint on his innocence? In Job 9:30 the Chethib is במו, the Keri במי, as the reverse in Isa 25:10; mo itself appears in the signification water (Egyptian muau), in the proper names Moab and Moshe (according to Jablonsky, ex aqua servatus); in במו, however, the mo may be understood according to Ges. 103, 2. This is the meaning - no cleansing, even though he should use snow and בּר (a vegetable alkali), i.e., not even the best-grounded self-justification can avail him, for God would still bring it to pass, that his clearly proved innocence should change to the most horrible impurity. Ewald, Rdiger, and others translate incorrectly: my clothes would make me disgusting. The idea is tame. The Piel תּעב signifies elsewhere in the book (Job 19:19; Job 30:10) to abhor, not to make abhorrent; and the causative meaning is indeed questionable, for מתעב (Isa 49:7) signifies loathing, as מכסּה (Job 23:17) covering, and Eze 16:25 certainly borders on the signification "to make detestable," but תעב may also be in the primary meaning, abominari, the strongest expression for that contempt of the beauty bestowed by God which manifests itself by prostitution. Translate: My clothes would abhor me; which does not mean: I should be disgusted with myself (Hirzel); Job is rather represented as naked; him, the naked one, God would - says he - so plunge into the pit that his clothes would conceive a horror of him, i.e., start back in terror at the idea of being put on and defiled by such a horrible creature (Schlottm., Oehler). For God is not his equal, standing on the same level with him: He, the Absolute Being, is accuser and judge in one person; there is between them no arbitrator who (or that he) should lay, etc. Mercier correctly explains: impositio manus est potestatis signum; the meaning therefore is: qui utrumque nostrum velut manu imposita coerceat.

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.)

why should I toil in vain to come to judgment?

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.