Job 13
Job declares that he has seen and heard; God would reprove them  1
He wishes his friends would be silent and listen to him  13
Job prays for two things  20
Show me my sins, he prays  23
The natural decay of humans  28

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Text
Explanation
.1 ¶ Lo, mine eye hath seen all this, mine ear hath heard and understood it.
.2  What ye know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior unto you.
.3  Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God.
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  I would speak to the Almighty We do not know Job's attitude but this may have been on the side of presumption. See comment of Eliphaz jb1504.
 4  But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.
.5  O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.
 6  Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips.
 7  Will ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him?
 8  Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for God?
 9  Is it good that he should search you out? or as one man mocketh another, do ye so mock him?
 10  He will surely reprove you, if ye do secretly accept persons.
.11  Shall not his excellency make you afraid? and his dread fall upon you?
 12  Your remembrances are like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay.
  5 - Hold your peace See pr1728.
  10 - Utterly reprove Fulfillment in jb4207.
  11 - Excellency ... dread A good definition of the fear of God. The relationship however is one of love.
.13 ¶ Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, and let come on me what will.
 14  Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand?
.15  Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.
 16  He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.
 17  Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your ears.
 18  Behold now, I have ordered my cause; I know that I shall be justified.
 19  Who is he that will plead with me? for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost.
  15 - I will trust him The first part of the verse may also be translated to say essentially the opposite. Other manuscripts (Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac, and Targums) support the reading of the KJV.
  This is considered to be the the first step out of Job's despair. And for you and me? How much do we trust Him? Do we feel mistreated if he lets us suffer or die?
  16 - Hypocrite The word has a different meaning that we expect. See on pr1109.
.20  Only do not two things unto me: then will I not hide myself from thee.
.21  Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid.
 22  Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me.
  20 - Do not two things Job felt on the defensive – as if he had to hide. Compare ge0310. The "two things" are expressed in the next verse.
  21 - Withdraw Job wanted to escape his oppression (that he did not know was from Satan). And he wanted to be at ease with God, not to be afraid v11.
  22 - Then This is the relationship Job wanted.
.23 ¶ How many are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin.
 24  Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?
 25  Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?
 25 - Will You frighten a leaf driven to and fro? And will You pursue dry stubble? (NKJV)
 26  For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth.
 27  Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly unto all my paths; thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet.
  27 "You fasten my feet in shackles; you keep close watch on all my paths by putting marks on the soles of my feet." (NIV)

  23 - Make me to know Job feels that if he could know his sins he could get right with God. We, too, may pray for God to reveal our iniquities ps13923.
  24 - Wherefore hidest ... enemy? God had hidden His face as we saw in chapter 1. We know what Job didn't know – that God was allowing him to be tested. Did God consider him an enemy? Not at all. We may use the shadows in our lives as reason to seek strength from God. On being considered an enemy, see ch. 7:17, 21.
  25 - Break From 'arats, "a primitive root; to awe or (intransitive) to dread; hence, to harass:--be affrighted (afraid, dread, feared, terrified), break, dread, fear, oppress, prevail, shake terribly."
  25 - Break a leaf?  A dry leaf amounts to nothing, not even for building a fire. It was as if God were trying to use Job like dry stubble for firewood.
   One literal reading of verse 25 respecting the Hebrew word order is: "A leaf driven about You will terrify? and the chaff dry You will pursue?" This is from the J.P. Green Interlinear of the "received text," The Hebrew composite text from which the KJV and NKJV were translated.
   The word for "to break" is aw-rats' and is defined as "a primitive root; to awe or (intransitive) to dread; hence, to harass:--be affrighted (afraid, dread, feared, terrified), break, dread, fear, oppress, prevail, shake terribly."
  26 - Makest me possess Job didn't feel he owned the sins of his youth for which he had apparently secured forgiveness. Were they now back on his account in the record book? Compare ps02507.
  27 - Feet ... stocks Punishment. Looking narrowly would mean "watching."
  27 - Putting marks Many animals track their prey by a trail of scent left along their way. Job apparently felt like God considered him like an animal to be tracked by the scent from its feet or by following his footprints.
Leaf image © Corel
.28  And he [man], as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is moth eaten.   Our bodies naturally decay 1co1553, ps10315.
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