5:1 Call now, if there be any that will a answer thee; and to
which of the saints wilt thou turn?
(a) He wills Job to consider the example of all who have
lived or live godly, whether any of them are like him in
raging against God as he does.
5:2 For b wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the
silly one.
(b) Murmuring against God in afflictions increases the pain,
and uttered man's folly.
5:3 I have seen the c foolish taking root: but suddenly I d
cursed his habitation.
(c) That is, the sinner that does not have the fear of God.
(d) I was not moved by his prosperity but knew that God had
cursed him and his.
5:4 His e children are far from safety, and they are crushed
in the f gate, neither [is there] any to deliver [them].
(e) Though God sometimes allows the father's to pass in this
world, yet his judgments will light on their wicked
children.
(f) By public judgment they will be condemned and no one
will pity them.
5:5 Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out
of the g thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their
substance.
(g) Though there are only two or three ears left in the
hedges, yet these will be taken from him.
5:6 Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, h
neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;
(h) That is, the earth is not the cause of barrenness and
man's misery, but his own sin.
5:7 Yet man is born unto i trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
(i) Which declares that sin is always in our corrupt nature:
for before sin it was not subject to pain and affliction.
5:8 I would seek unto k God, and unto God would I commit my
cause:
(k) If I suffered as you do, I would seek God.
5:9 Which l doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous
things without number:
(l) He counsels Job to humble himself to God to whom all
creatures are subject and whose works declare that man
is inexcusable unless he glorifies God in all his works.
5:10 Who m giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon
the fields:
(m) He shows by particular examples what the works of God
are.
5:14 They meet with n darkness in the daytime, and o grope
in the noonday as in the night.
(n) In things plain and evident they show themselves fools
instead of wise men.
(o) This declares that God punishes the worldly wise as he
threatened in (De 28:29).
5:15 But he saveth the p poor from the sword, from their q
mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.
(p) That is, he who humbles himself before God.
(q) He compares the slander of the wicked to sharp swords.
5:16 So the poor hath hope, and iniquity r stoppeth her mouth.
(r) If the wicked are compelled by God's works to shut
their mouths, how much more they who profess God.
5:19 He shall deliver thee in s six troubles: yea, in seven
there shall no evil touch thee.
(s) He will send trouble after trouble that his children
may not for one time, but continually trust in him: but
they sill have a comfortable issue, even in the
greatest and the last, which is here called the
seventh.
5:22 At destruction and famine thou shalt t laugh: neither
shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth.
(t) While the wicked lament in their troubles, you will
have occasion to rejoice.
5:23 For thou u shalt be in league with the stones of the
field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with
thee.
(u) When we are in God's favour, all creatures will serve
us.
5:24 And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle [shall be] in
peace; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not
x sin.
(x) God will so bless you that you will have opportunity to
rejoice in all things, and not be offended.
5:26 Thou shalt come to [thy] grave in y a full age, like as a
shock of corn cometh in his season.
(y) Though the children of God have not always carried out
this promise, yet God recompenses it otherwise to their
advantage.
5:27 Lo z this, we have searched it, so it [is]; hear it, and
know thou [it] for thy good.
(z) We have learned these points by experience, that God
does not punish the innocent, that man cannot compare
in justice with him, that the hypocrites will not
prosper for long, and that the affliction which man
sustains comes for his own sin.
