1Then Job answered: 2“Yes, I know that it is so, but how can a mortal be righteous before God? 3If one wished to contend with God, he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand. 4God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has resisted Him and prospered? 5He moves mountains without their knowledge and overturns them in His anger. 6He shakes the earth from its place, so that its foundations tremble. 7He commands the sun not to shine; He seals off the stars. 8He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea. 9He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, of the Pleiades and the constellations of the south. 10He does great things beyond searching out, and wonders without number. 11Were He to pass by me, I would not see Him; were He to move, I would not recognize Him. 12If He takes away, who can stop Him? Who dares to ask Him, ‘What are You doing?’ 13God does not restrain His anger; the helpers of Rahab cower beneath Him. 14How then can I answer Him or choose my arguments against Him? 15For even if I were right, I could not answer. I could only beg my Judge for mercy. 16If I summoned Him and He answered me, I do not believe He would listen to my voice. 17For He would crush me with a tempest and multiply my wounds without cause. 18He does not let me catch my breath, but overwhelms me with bitterness. 19If it is a matter of strength, He is indeed mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon Him? 20Even if I were righteous, my mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would declare me guilty. 21Though I am blameless, I have no concern for myself; I despise my own life. 22It is all the same, and so I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’ 23When the scourge brings sudden death, He mocks the despair of the innocent. 24The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; He blindfolds its judges. If it is not He, then who is it? 25My days are swifter than a runner; they flee without seeing good. 26They sweep by like boats of papyrus, like an eagle swooping down on its prey. 27If I were to say, ‘I will forget my complaint and change my expression and smile,’ 28I would still dread all my sufferings; I know that You will not acquit me. 29Since I am already found guilty, why should I labor in vain? 30If I should wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye, 31then You would plunge me into the pit, and even my own clothes would despise me. 32For He is not a man like me, that I can answer Him, that we can take each other to court. 33Nor is there a mediator between us, to lay his hand upon us both. 34Let Him remove His rod from me, so that His terror will no longer frighten me. 35Then I would speak without fear of Him. But as it is, I am on my own.
Matthew Henry's Commentary
Job acknowledges God's justice. (1-13) He is not able to contend with God. (14-21) Men not to be judged by outward condition. (22-24) Job complains of troubles. (25-35) 1-13 In this answer Job declared that he did not doubt the justice of God, when he denied himself to be a hypocrite; for how should man be just with God? Before him he pleaded guilty of sins more than could be counted; and if God should contend with him in judgment, he could not justify one out of a thousand, of all the thoughts, words, and actions of his life; therefore he deserved worse than all his present sufferings. When Job mentions the wisdom and power of God, he forgets his complaints. We are unfit to judge of God's proceedings, because we know not what he does, or what he designs. God acts with power which no creature can resist. Those who think they have strength enough to help others, will not be able to help themselves against it. 14-21 Job is still righteous in his own eyes, ch. #32:1|, and this answer, though it sets forth the power and majesty of God, implies that the question between the afflicted and the Lord of providence, is a question of might, and not of right; and we begin to discover the evil fruits of pride and of a self-righteous spirit. Job begins to manifest a disposition to condemn God, that he may justify himself, for which he is afterwards reproved. Still Job knew so much of himself, that he durst not stand a trial. If we say, We have no sin, we not only deceive ourselves, but we affront God; for we sin in saying so, and give the lie to the Scripture. But Job reflected on God's goodness and justice in saying his affliction was without cause. 22-24 Job touches briefly upon the main point now in dispute. His friends maintained that those who are righteous and good, always prosper in this world, and that none but the wicked are in misery and distress: he said, on the contrary, that it is a common thing for the wicked to prosper, and the righteous to be greatly afflicted. Yet there is too much passion in what Job here says, for God doth not afflict willingly. When the spirit is heated with dispute or with discontent, we have need to set a watch before our lips. 25-35 What little need have we of pastimes, and what great need to redeem time, when it runs on so fast towards eternity! How vain the enjoyments of time, which we may quite lose while yet time continues! The remembrance of having done our duty will be pleasing afterwards; so will not the remembrance of having got worldly wealth, when it is all lost and gone. Job's complaint of God, as one that could not be appeased and would not relent, was the language of his corruption. There is a Mediator, a Daysman, or Umpire, for us, even God's own beloved Son, who has purchased peace for us with the blood of his cross, who is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God through him. If we trust in his name, our sins will be buried in the depths of the sea, we shall be washed from all our filthiness, and made whiter than snow, so that none can lay any thing to our charge. We shall be clothed with the robes of righteousness and salvation, adorned with the graces of the Holy Spirit, and presented faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. May we learn the difference between justifying ourselves, and being thus justified by God himself. Let the tempest-tossed soul consider Job, and notice that others have passed this dreadful gulf; and though they found it hard to believe that God would hear or deliver them, yet he rebuked the storm, and brought them to the desired haven. Resist the devil; give not place to hard thoughts of God, or desperate conclusions about thyself. Come to Him who invites the weary and heavy laden; who promises in nowise to cast them out.