Job 40:5-8

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 40:1-5

Here is, I. A humbling challenge which God gave to Job. After he had heaped up many hard questions upon him, to show him, by his manifest ignorance in the works of nature, what an incompetent judge he was of the methods and designs of Providence, he clenches the nail with one demand more, which stands by itself here as the application of the whole. It should seem, God paused awhile, as Elihu had done, to give Job time to say what he had to say, or to think of what God had said; but Job was in... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 40:6-14

Job was greatly humbled for what God had already said, but not sufficiently; he was brought low, but not low enough; and therefore God here proceeds to reason with him in the same manner and to the same purport as before, Job 40:6. Observe, 1. Those who duly receive what they have heard from God, and profit by it, shall hear more from him. 2. Those who are truly convinced of sin, and penitent for it, yet have need to be more thoroughly convinced and to be made more deeply penitent. Those who... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 40:5

Once have I spoken; but I will not answer ,.... Some think this refers to what he had just now said of his vileness, he had owned that, and that was all he had to say, or would say, he would give no other answer; Jarchi says, some suppose he has respect to his words in Job 9:22 ; yea, twice; but I will proceed no further ; the meaning seems to be, that he who had once and again, or very often, at least in some instances, spoken very imprudently and indecently, for the future would take... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 40:6

Then answered the Lord unto Job out of the whirlwind ,.... Some think that the whirlwind ceased while the Lord spake the words in Job 40:2 ; which encouraged Job to make the answer he did; but others are of opinion that it continued, and now increased, and was more boisterous than before. The Targum calls it the whirlwind of tribulation: comfort does not always follow immediately on first convictions; Job, though humbled, was not yet humbled enough: God will have a fuller confession of sin... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 40:7

Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and , declare thou unto me ,.... And prepare to give an answer to what should be demanded of him. The same way of speaking is used in Job 38:3 ; See Gill on Job 38:3 . read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 40:8

Wilt thou also disannul my judgment ?.... The decrees and purposes of God concerning his dealings with men, particularly the afflictions of them, which are framed with the highest wisdom and reason, and according to the strictest justice, and can never be frustrated or made void; or the sentence of God concerning them, that is gone out of his mouth and cannot be altered; or the execution of it, which cannot be hindered: it respects the wisdom of God in the government of the world, as Aben... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 40:5

Once have I spoken - See on Job 42:3 ; (note), etc. I will proceed no farther - I shall attempt to justify myself no longer; I have spoken repeatedly; and am confounded at my want of respect for my Maker, and at the high thoughts which I have entertained of my own righteousness. All is impurity in the presence of thy Majesty. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 40:7

Gird up thy loins - See Job 38:1-3 . Some think that this and the preceding verse have been repeated here from Job 38:1-3 , and that several of the words there, here, and Job 42:3 , have been repeated, in after times, to connect some false gatherings of the sheets of parchment, on which the end of this poem was originally written. See on Job 40:1 ; (note), and at the end of the chapter. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 40:8

Wilt thou condemn me - Rather than submit to be thought in the wrong, wilt thou condemn My conduct, in order to justify thyself? Some men will never acknowledge themselves in the wrong. "God may err, but we cannot," seems to be their impious maxim. Unwillingness to acknowledge a fault frequently leads men, directly or indirectly, to this sort of blasphemy. There are three words most difficult to be pronounced in all languages, - I Am Wrong. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 40:1-5

Between the first and the second part of the Divine discourse, at the end of which Job wholly humbles himself ( Job 42:1-6 ), is interposed a short appeal on the part of tile Almighty, and a short reply on Job's part, which, however, is insufficient. God calls upon Job to make good his charges (verses 1, 2). Job declines, acknowledges himself to be of no account, and promises silence and submission for the future (verses 3-5). But something more is needed; and therefore the discourse is... read more

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