| Scripture |
Expanded Comments |
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| 1 And Elihu answereth and saith: |
Elihu – The youngest of four friends of Job who called upon him in his adversity to comfort him. R5878:2
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| 2 Hear, O wise men, my words, And, O knowing ones, give ear to me. |
My words – As wise, or wiser, than any spoken by Job's comforters, but they were merely human wisdom. R5402:6, R5878:2
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| 3 For the ear doth try words, And the palate tasteth to eat. |
Ear trieth words – The ear is the mouth of the mind by which it receives the word. R2949:2*
Mouth tasteth meat – Meat that goes no further than the mouth cannot nourish. R2949:2*
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| 4 Judgment let us choose for ourselves, Let us know among ourselves what [is] good. |
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| 5 For Job hath said, 'I have been righteous, And God hath turned aside my right, |
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| 6 Against my right do I lie Mortal [is] mine arrow without transgression.' |
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| 7 Who [is] a man like Job He drinketh scoffing like water, |
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| 8 And he hath travelled for company With workers of iniquity, So as to go with men of wickedness. |
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| 9 For he hath said, 'It doth not profit a man, When he delighteth himself with God.' |
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| 10 Therefore, O men of heart, hearken to me; Far be it from God to do wickedness, And [from] the Mighty to do perverseness: |
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| 11 For the work of man he repayeth to him, And according to the path of each He doth cause him to find. |
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| 12 Yea, truly, God doth not do wickedly, And the Mighty doth not pervert judgment. |
Not do wickedly – God is responsible for evil (calamity, trouble) in the sense of permission and arrangements as the penalty for violating his laws; but not in the sense of being the author of it. R871:6
Pervert judgment – The punishment must have some relation to the enormity of the offense--a principle out of harmony with the eternal torment theory. R523:4*
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| 13 Who hath inspected for Himself the earth And who hath placed all the habitable world |
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| 14 If He doth set on him His heart, His spirit and his breath unto Him He gathereth. |
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| 15 Expire doth all flesh together, And man to dust returneth. |
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| 16 And if [there is] understanding, hear this, Give ear to the voice of my words. |
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| 17 Yea, doth one hating justice govern Or the Most Just dost thou condemn |
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| 18 Who hath said to a king 'Worthless,' Unto princes 'Wicked ' |
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| 19 That hath not accepted the person of princes, Nor hath known the rich before the poor, For a work of His hands [are] all of them. |
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| 20 [In] a moment they die, and at midnight Shake do people, and they pass away, And they remove the mighty without hand. |
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| 21 For His eyes [are] on the ways of each, And all his steps He doth see. |
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| 22 There is no darkness nor death-shade, For workers of iniquity to be hidden there; |
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| 23 For He doth not suffer man any more, To go unto God in judgment, |
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| 24 He breaketh the mighty no searching! And He appointeth others in their stead. |
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| 25 Therefore He knoweth their works, And He hath overturned by night, And they are bruised. |
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| 26 As wicked He hath stricken them, In the place of beholders. |
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| 27 Because that against right They have turned aside from after Him, And none of His ways have considered wisely, |
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| 28 To cause to come in unto Him The cry of the poor, And the cry of the afflicted He heareth. |
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| 29 And He giveth rest, and who maketh wrong And hideth the face, and who beholdeth it And in reference to a nation and to a man, [It is] the same. |
When he – Jehovah; the "God of all comfort." (2 Cor. 1:3) R2058:2*, R5403:1
Although these words (of Elihu) are not inspired, they are very wise. R5403:1
Giveth quietness – The children of God take these words in a very different sense from that suggested to Job by Elihu. We have quietness and rest of heart even in severe trouble. R5879:1
The Lord's people have a peace and rest of mind through the knowledge of God's plan and his justice, mercy and love. R5403:2
Precious balm of Gilead for wounded spirits on the battlefield of life; the gentle whisper of hope and love and courage when heart and flesh are almost failing. R5803:1
Knowing that when our hearts are loyal and true, our God does not mark against us the unavoidable blemishes of our earthen vessel. R5802:5
There is a cry which never fails to bring this quietness. It is the prayer for sweet, trustful, loving acquiescence to the will of God. R2058:3*
When God purposes to give peace, the whole universe will be in obedience to his laws and none can make trouble. R5403:1
Can make trouble – Job's calamity was not accidental. R5878:3, R5403:1
God permitted trial to come to test his servant, just as he permits trouble to come upon his Church. R5878:6
While the world is troubled, God's children have a peace that the world knows not of and can neither give nor take away. R5403:3
Trouble is not necessarily a sign of the disfavor of God. "Many are the afflictions of the righteous." (Psa. 34:19) R5879:4
God did not always give our Lord Jesus quietness, but allowed trouble, like a great flood, to sweep over his soul. Some of the Lord's followers may have similar experiences. R5403:4
He will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able to bear (1 Cor. 10:13). R5878:6
To the world it might appear that the trials, testings, scoffs, to which faithfulness to the Lord exposes, would rob life of all its pleasures. But not so. R4103:1
The spirit which once tossed restlessly in chafing winds of lesser trials sinks in sweet submission under heavier griefs. R2058:6*
Against a man – Satan could not have sent all those calamities unless God had permitted it. Similarly we are under special divine care. R5403:1
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| 30 From the reigning of a profane man, From the snares of a people; |
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| 31 For unto God hath any said: 'I have taken away, I do not corruptly, |
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| 32 Besides [that which] I see, shew Thou me, If iniquity I have done I do not add ' |
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| 33 By thee doth He recompense, That thou hast refused That thou dost choose, and not I And what thou hast known, speak. |
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| 34 Let men of heart say to me, And a wise man is hearkening to me. |
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| 35 Job not with knowledge doth he speak, And his words [are] not with wisdom. |
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| 36 My Father! let Job be tried unto victory, Because of answers for men of iniquity, |
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| 37 For he doth add to his sin, Transgression among us he vomiteth, And multiplieth his sayings to God. |
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