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1 Loe, mine eye hath seene all this, mine eare hath heard and vnderstood it.
2 What yee know, the same doe I know also, I am not inferiour vnto you.
3 Surely I would speake to the Almighty, & I desire to reason with God.
4 But ye are forgers of lies, yee are all Physicians of no value.
5 O that you would altogether hold your peace, & it should be your wisdome.
6 Heare now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips.
7 Wil you speake wickedly for God? and talke deceitfully for him?
8 Will ye accept his person? Will yee contend for God?
9 Is it good that hee should search you out? or as one man mocketh another, doe ye so mocke him?
10 He will surely reprooue you, if yee doe secretly accept persons.
11 Shall not his excellencie make you afraid? and his dread fall vpon you?
12 Your remembrances are like vnto ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay.
13 Hold your peace, let me alone that I may speake, and let come on me what will.
14 Wherefore doe I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand?
15 Though hee slay mee, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintaine mine owne wayes before him.
16 Hee also shall be my saluation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.
17 Heare diligently my speach, and my declaration with your eares.
18 Behold now, I haue ordered my cause, I know that I shall be iustified.
19 Who is hee that will plead with me? for now if I hold my tongue, I shall giue vp the ghost.
20 Only doe not two things vnto me: then will I not hide my selfe from thee.
21 Withdrawe thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make mee afraid.
22 Then call thou, and I will answere: or let me speake, and answere thou mee.
23 How many are mine iniquities and sinnes? make mee to knowe my transgression, and my sinne.
24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemie?
25 Wilt thou breake a leafe driuen to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the drie stubble?
26 For thou writest bitter things against mee, and makest me to possesse the iniquities of my youth.
27 Thou puttest my feete also in the stockes, and lookest narrowly vnto all my pathes; thou settest a print vpon the heeles of my feete.
28 And hee, as a rotten thing consumeth, as a garment that is moth-eaten.
Job reproves his friends. (1-12) He professes his confidence in God. (13-22) Job entreats to know his sins. (23-28)1-12 With self-preference, Job declared that he needed not to be taught by them. Those who dispute are tempted to magnify themselves, and lower their brethren, more than is fit. When dismayed or distressed with the fear of wrath, the force of temptation, or the weight of affliction, we should apply to the Physician of our souls, who never rejects any, never prescribes amiss, and never leaves any case uncured. To Him we may speak at all times. To broken hearts and wounded consciences, all creatures, without Christ, are physicians of no value. Job evidently speaks with a very angry spirit against his friends. They had advanced some truths which nearly concerned Job, but the heart unhumbled before God, never meekly receives the reproofs of men.
13-22 Job resolved to cleave to the testimony his own conscience gave of his uprightness. He depended upon God for justification and salvation, the two great things we hope for through Christ. Temporal salvation he little expected, but of his eternal salvation he was very confident; that God would not only be his Saviour to make him happy, but his salvation, in the sight and enjoyment of whom he should be happy. He knew himself not to be a hypocrite, and concluded that he should not be rejected. We should be well pleased with God as a Friend, even when he seems against us as an enemy. We must believe that all shall work for good to us, even when all seems to make against us. We must cleave to God, yea, though we cannot for the present find comfort in him. In a dying hour, we must derive from him living comforts; and this is to trust in him, though he slay us.
23-28 Job begs to have his sins discovered to him. A true penitent is willing to know the worst of himself; and we should all desire to know what our transgressions are, that we may confess them, and guard against them for the future. Job complains sorrowfully of God's severe dealings with him. Time does not wear out the guilt of sin. When God writes bitter things against us, his design is to make us bring forgotten sins to mind, and so to bring us to repent of them, as to break us off from them. Let young persons beware of indulging in sin. Even in this world they may so possess the sins of their youth, as to have months of sorrow for moments of pleasure. Their wisdom is to remember their Creator in their early days, that they may have assured hope, and sweet peace of conscience, as the solace of their declining years. Job also complains that his present mistakes are strictly noticed. So far from this, God deals not with us according to our deserts. This was the language of Job's melancholy views. If God marks our steps, and narrowly examines our paths, in judgment, both body and soul feel his righteous vengeance. This will be the awful case of unbelievers, yet there is salvation devised, provided, and made known in Christ.
Commentary by Matthew Henry, 1710.