Job 34:5-11 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 34:1-9

Here, I. Elihu humbly addresses himself to the auditors, and endeavours, like an orator, to gain their good-will and their favourable attention. 1. He calls them wise men, and men that had knowledge, Job 34:2. It is comfortable dealing with such as understand sense. I speak as to wise men, who can judge what I say, 1 Cor. 10:15. Elihu differed in opinion from them, and yet he calls them wise and knowing men. Peevish disputants think all fools that are not of their mind; but it is a piece of... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 34:10-15

The scope of Elihu's discourse to reconcile Job to his afflictions and to pacify his spirit under them. In order to this he had shown, in the foregoing chapter, that God meant him no hurt in afflicting him, but intended it for his spiritual benefit. In this chapter he shows that he did him no wrong in afflicting him, nor punished him more than he deserved. If the former could not prevail to satisfy him, yet this ought to silence him. In these verses he directs his discourse to all the company:... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 34:5

For Job hath said, I am righteous ,.... Not in express words, but what amounted to it: no doubt he was a righteous man in an evangelic sense, being justified by the righteousness of Christ, as all the Old Testament saints were, who looked to him and believed in him as the Lord their righteousness, and said, as the church in those times did, "surely in the Lord have I righteousness and strength"; Isaiah 45:24 . And moreover he was an upright man, to which the Lord himself bore testimony, ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 34:6

Should I lie against my right ?.... No; I ought not: this though Job had not said in so many words, yet this seems to be his sense in Job 27:4 ; that should he own and say that he was a wicked man, a hypocrite, and destitute of the grace of God, he should not only speak against himself, but, contrary to his conscience, say an untruth, and not do justice to his character. Some read the words without an interrogation, as Mr. Broughton, "for my right I must be a liar;' that is, for... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 34:7

What man is like Job ,.... This is said as wondering at the part he acted, that a man so wise and good as Job was esteemed to be should behave in such a manner as he did; who drinketh up scorning like water ? For a foolish and wicked man to do so is not strange nor uncommon; but for a man of such sense and grace as Job was to do this was astonishing; to have no more regard to his character than to expose himself to the scorn and ridicule of men: for a man to become a laughing stock... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 34:8

Which goeth in company with the workers of iniquity ,.... The worst of men, who make it their constant business and employment to commit sin: and walketh with wicked men ; the most abandoned of mankind. Not that Job kept company with such, and walked with them in all excess of not; nor did Elihu think so; Job was "a man that feared God, and eschewed evil", and evil men; he was "a companion of them that feared the Lord"; his delight was "with the excellent of the earth": nor should a good... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 34:9

For he hath said ,.... Not plainly and expressly, but consequentially; what it was thought might be inferred from what he had said, particularly in Job 9:22 ; it profiteth a man nothing that he should delight himself with God ; in his house and ordinances, ways and worship; he may as well indulge himself in the pleasures of sin, and in the delights of the world, if God destroys the perfect and the wicked, as Job had said in the place referred to; if this be the case, it is in vain to... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 34:10

Therefore hearken unto me, ye men of understanding ,.... The same persons he addresses as wise men and men of knowledge, Job 34:2 ; and here as men of understanding, or "heart" F26 אנשי לבב "viri cordis", Pagninus, Montanus, Michaelis. ; the heart being the seat of wisdom and knowledge; and such Elihu desired to be his hearers, to attend to what he was about to say; which was to refute the words of Job, or his sense expressed in the preceding verses; far be it from God that... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 34:11

For the work of a man will he render unto him ,.... The reward of his work, as Ben Gersom interprets it, whether the work of a wicked man or of a good man: and cause every man to find according to his ways . Which is a truth frequently inculcated in the Scriptures; and will take place especially at the resurrection of the dead, which is for that purpose, and at the final judgment, by the righteous Judge of all; for, though wicked men may not be punished now according to their deserts,... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 34:5

Job hath said, I am righteous - Job had certainly said the words attributed to him by Elihu, particularly in Job 27:2 , etc., but it was in vindication of his aspersed character that he had asserted his own righteousness, and in a different sense to that in which Elihu appears to take it up. He asserted that he was righteous quoad the charges his friends had brought against him. And he never intimated that he had at all times a pure heart, and had never transgressed the laws of his... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 34:1-9

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 34:10-15

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 34:5

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 34:6

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 34:7

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 34:8

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 34:9

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 34:10

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 34:11

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 34:5

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