Job Expounded, Commentary on Job · Chapter 19
THE SVMME AND ORDER of the xix. Chapter.
NOthing can be more effectuall and more forcible to mooue affections, then this answere of Iob: wherein he acknowledgeth with wordes which would mooue a stonie heart to compassion, that not onelyonly these miseries which Bildad had reckoned vp, but even farre more grievous were befallen him, and that not by chaunce or fortune, but by the will and appointment of God. Neuertheles he rightly denieth, that he is therefore to be accompted in the number of lewd and wicked persons, or that he had deserved to be dealt withall in so taunting and reprochfull manner: nay rather that his case was so much the more to be pitied, by how much the greater his affliction was. And surely in this last answere, Iobs faith and constancie appeareth marveilously: for he witnesseth most plainely, that neither the vnluckie threatnings of his adversaries, nor the bitternesse of his so many and so great afflictions can so farre discourage him, but that, albeit he despaire of this life, neuerthelesse, relying him selfe vponupon the power and goodnesse of God, how hardly soeuer now he dealeth with him, he retaineth a most sure and stedfast hope of his resurrection, & of taking againe the verie same flesh & body, therin to be made partaker of eternall life, to enioy the sight and presence of God his redeemer. For I am out of doubt that this is the true meaning of this place, and surely the whole Scripture doeth not yeelde vsus a more notable or a more cleare and manifest testimonie to confirme vntounto vsus the resurrection of our bodyes, then this.
CHAPTER XIX.
1 BVt Iob answered and said.
2 Howe long will ye vexe my soule, and torment me with wordes?
3 Ye hauehave nowe ten times reproched me, and are not ashamed: ye deale with me, as if I were a straunger to you.
1 Then Iob making answere to these things which were most wrongfully laide against him, 2 Thou demaundest, Bildad, saith he, how long it will be, before I make an ende of answering, but I say to you againe, when wil ye leaue off thus miserably to grieve me, and with these your reprochful speeches to kill my heart. 3 For now ten times one after another hauehave you not doubted most shamelesly to assaile me with bitter & taunting invectives, & ye take me vp so short, as if ye dealt with a stranger & forrener, and not with a friend.
4 And be it that I hauehave erred: let mine errour remaine with me.
And truely let it be granted, that these things hauehave happened to me through mine own fault, & for mine own offences. Notwithstāding, I beseech you, let me alone, & giuegive me leaue to beare the punishment which God hath laid vponupon me, and adde not you any more to these afflictions, which alreadie I suffer.
5 But forasmuch as ye advaunce your selues in wordes against me, and rebuke me for my reproch.
6 Knowe nowe that God hath ouerthrowen me, and hath set his net round about against me, (that is, hath compassed me with his net.)
5 But forasmuch as it pleaseth you to set out my miseries with such stately eloquence, and to catch at this my misfortune and vnhappie estate, throughly to gaule me and reproch me therewithall: 6 I denie not that, which you say, and I would hauehave you more and more to knowe it, that I am ouerthrowne and cast downe by Gods owne hande, and that with his net, whereof thou Bildad diddest so often make mention, he doeth compasse and hold me in on eueryevery side.
7 Beholde, I crie out of violence, but I am not heard, I crie, but there is no due moderation.
Loe, I crie out, that I am oppressed aboue my strength, & that my affliction is greater, then that I am able to beare: yet can I obtaine no releasment: I crie aloude, yet am I neuer a whit the better, or more gently dealt withall.
8 He hath hedged vp my way, and he hath set darkenesse in my pathes.
What way soeuer I seeke to escape, he hath beset me with obstacles, which hinder me so that I cannot passe: and I find all my wayes beset with darkenesse.
9 He hath spoyled me of mine honour, and taken the crowne away from my head.
I confesse, that he hath spoyled me, as thou hast said, of all the honour and dignitie, vntounto which he had advaunced me, and that all the glory, wherewith as a King he had crowned me, is suddenly taken away.
10 He hath destroyed me on eueryevery side, and I am gone: and he hath remooued mine hope like a tree.
As a man that will pull vp a tree by the rootes, diggeth round about it till it be ouerthrowne and fal downe vponupon the grounde; so hath he dealt with me, so that now I am vtterly vndone, neither is there any more hope for me to recouer, (as also I remember that thou diddest say) then for a tree that is once pulled vp by the rootes.
11 He hath made his anger to kindle against me, and he hath counted me, as one of his enemies.
12 His armies came togither, and made their way against me, and camped about my tabernacle.
11 Beeing displeased with me, he hath poured out all his anger against me, neither hath he otherwise dealt with me, thē he vseth to do with his greatest enemies. 13 His troupes are ioyned in one to set vponupon me, they hauehave set their waie against me, & hauehave pitched their tēts roūd about my habitatiō.
13 He hath remoued my brethren from me, and my kinsfolke are become straungers to me.
14 My neighbours hauehave forsaken me, and my familiers hauehave forgotten me.
15 They that dwel in mine house, and my maides take me for a straunger, (I say) I am a straunger in their eyes.
16 J called my seruant, but he would not answer, I spake him faire with my mouth.
17 My breath is straunge vntounto my wife, though I beseech her for the childrens sake of mine owne bodie.
13 Yea, and as yet more harder & more greeuous things hauehave followed, he not beeing ignorant thereof, but ordering and disposing all at his owne pleasure. For my brethren hauehave put them selues out of my sight, and those, who were moste known vntounto me, hauehave now estraunged them selues from me. 14 My kinsmen hauehave forsaken me, my very familiar friendes hauehave forgotten me. 15 Those of my houshold, yea, and my maides account me as a straunger, and looke vponupon me with no other countenance, then vponupon a forreiner and vnknown guest. 16 My seruants, though I crie to them, although I intreat them and speake them faire, yet they will not heare me, nor make answere vntounto me. 17 My verie wife doeth loath my breath and cannot abide it, as beeing straunge and vnpleasant, yea, euen when I beseech her by those common pleadges our children got betweene vsus.
18 The meaner sort despise me, and when J rise they speake against me.
19 All the men of my secrets doe abhorre me, and they whome I loued are turned against me.
18 Neither is my estate any whit better abroad, forasmuch as euen those, who both for their yeares & calling, are most base and contemptible, doe despise me, and when I rise vp to them, they reproch and reuile me with words. 19 All those, with whome before time I communicated my secrets as with my dearest friends, doe now turne their face from me, neyther doe any deale more despitefullie with me, then those of whome I hauehave best deserued.
20 My bones cleaue to my skinne and to my flesh, and J hauehave escaped with the skinne of my teeth.
To be short my skinne, which is all the flesh that is left me, cleaueth vntounto my bones; neither is there from the crown of my head to the sole of my feet, any thing sound in my body beside the skin of my gums, into which my teeth are ingraffed.
21 HaueHave pitie vponupon me, hauehave pitie vponupon me, O yee my friendes, because the hand of God hath touched me.
22 Why doe yee persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?
21 And this most miserable spectacle, ought it not, I pray you, rather mooue you to pitie mine estate, though your harts were as hard as flint, then in this sort to taunt, and reuile me? if then yee be my true friends, and vnlike to those of whom I spake before, if perfit louelove & friendship hath brought you hither to me, take pitie of me, againe I say, take pitie of me, whome yee behold thus grieuously wounded by the hand of God. 22 For I beseech you, is not this hand of God heauie enough, but is it meet that yee also afflict me? And albeit, I had through mine owne follie made you my deadlie enemies, ought not this plague, which yee see with your owne eyes in this my bodie, satisfie your hatred and malice?
23 O that my words were now written, O, I say, that they were written euen in a booke:
24 Were grauen with an iron pen, either (in) lead (or) in stone for euer.
23 Neither surelie doe I here babble I can not tell what, but I would to god, I would to God, I say, that these my words receiued from my mouth were written, 24 or rather with an iron pen were ingrauē in lead, or in stone to remain for euer.
25 J also know, that my redeemer liueth, and that he shall at the last continue after the dust.
26 And after my skinne is eaten, that J shall neuerthelesse see God in my flesh.
27 Whome I shall behold for my selfe, and my eyes shall see him, and not an other (though) my reines are consumed within me.
25 But, least happilie yee imagine, forasmuch as I am out of all hope as touching this life, that therefore I despaire, as the wicked vse to doe, or that yee alone know, what is to be hoped and looked for after this life; I tel you that I also know that he liueth for euer immortall, by whome I shalbe redeemed from death, who as he was before this dust, as being the creator thereof, so shall he not be dissolued with it, but shall remaine after it is destroied and brought to nothing. 26 So that I, whome yee iudge accursed, euen I, I say, after my skin is consumed, and this not so much my body, as the image of my body, is dissolued, shall see God, hauing on this very same flesh. 27 Whome I say, I, euen my selfe, and with these mine eyes, and not beeing transformed into any thing else, shal behold: albeit, as now my state is, whatsoeuer is remaining of this life within me, is spent, euen to my verie bowels.
28 Surelie yee should hauehave saide, why doe we persecute him? For the root of the matter shall be found in me.
29 Take heede of the sword: For anger is among the iniquities of the sword, that yee maie know that their shalbe a iudgement.
28 Surelie equitie it selfe and true friendship, ought rather to hauehave withheld you from reuiling and reproching me in this manner. For if yee wil diligentlie and with iudgement weigh and consider the whole matter, yee shall finde that I stande in a good quarrell and maintaine a cause, which is iust and which is stronglie and deepelie rooted. 29 Therefore I feare not that destruction, which as thou saidst, doeth hang ouer the heads of them who despise God. Looke to your selues rather, least God strike you with his sword. For this your spitefull dealing with me, is no lesse wickednes, then if yee should thrust me through with a sword: which I tel you to this end, that yee may thinke with your selues, that he to whome I appeale, will be a iust and righteous iudge, before yee be constrained to feele it.