In six troubles, he will deliver thee;
yea in seven, there shall no evil befall thee.
In famine, he will free thee from death,
and in war, from the power of the sword.

From the scourge of the tongue thou shalt be hidden,
and shalt not be afraid of destruction when it cometh.
At destruction and at famine thou shalt laugh;

and of the beasts of the earth thou needst not be afraid.
For with the stones of the field shalt thou be in league,
and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.
So shalt thou know, that thy tent is in peace,
and shalt visit thy pastures, and miss nothing.
And thou shalt know, that numerous is thy seed,
and thy offspring as the green herb of the earth.
Thou shalt come to the grave in hoary age,
as the sheaf is gathered in, in its season.

Lo this, we have searched it out; so it is:
hear it, and know thou, for thyself.

THEN answered Job, and said:

O that my grief could be fully weighed,

and all my calamity be laid in the balances.

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For now, it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; for this cause, my words have been rash.

V. 21. From the scourge of the tongue &c.; the meaning partial view of God's providence, and admirably adapted to is: thou shalt be safe from the lash of calumny.

V. 22. Beasts of the earth, and beasts of the field, are frequent expressions in the Scriptures, denoting such as roam the earth and the fields without restraint (wild beasts), in distinction from domestic animals (cattle), which are connected with man and subject to his care and restraint. So the two are distinguished in Gen. 1: 25, and 2: 20; compare Deut. 28: 26; Ps. 79: 2, and Deut. 7:22; Ezek. 29: 5. In some instances, the latter phrase does not necessarily exclude domestic cattle (e. g. Ex. 23:11; Hos. 4: 3), and in others obviously includes them (e. g. Joel 1: 20, 2: 22; Dan. 4:25).

V. 23. With the stones &c.: with the very stones, implying that nothing shall be left at variance with thee, to incommode and annoy. All things, animate and inanimate, shall be at

peace with thee.

good men in prosperity. But Job had now reached a point, not rare in the experience of the pious, demanding deeper insight into the mysteries of the divine government; where all such common-places (as declared, 6: 5–7), are stale, flat, and unprofitable.

Chs. VI and VII. Job's reply. The admonitions of Eliphaz were founded on the assumed guilt of the sufferer, and were therefore unseasonable and unjust. Job replies: by appealing to his severe afflictions, and his need of sympathy, confessing that he had spoken rashly, under the pressure of overwhelming calamity (1-7); repeating, but in more guarded terms, his desire to be at rest, and declaring his own innocence (8-13); reproving the unkindness of his friends, in withholding their sympathy (14-23), and demanding proof of the charge made against him, the justice of which he denies (24-30); closing (ch. 8), with a description of his sufferings, in which he again

V. 26. Thus closes this beautiful picture, founded on a complains of the hardship of his lot.

VV. 5-7. Nature has a voice, for the expression of want and time of greatest want they disappoint the perishing traveler's suffering, with which it pleads for sympathy and succor.- hope. The folly and impertinence of his friend's unseasonable reproofs and counsels, are like insipid food to him, which the appetite rejects with loathing.

V. 17. Poured off: i. e. so soon as their useless abundance is expended. The contrast is with the quiet, unpretending stream, fed by unfailing fountains, and imparting its blessings when they are most needed.

V. 18. Caravans, which take the route along, or across, the beds of such streams, ascend them in fruitless search for water, and perish.

V. 19. Tema, was the name of a tribe descended from Ishmael (Gen. 25 : 15, 16), and also of the district inhabited by them, in Arabia (Is. 21 : 13, 14.)—Sheba: see note on 1: 15. -A caravan of Midianites (another Arabian tribe descended from Keturah, Gen. 25: 2, 6), is mentioned in Gen. 37: 25 and following verses, as taking the route over Gilead, and thence through the valley and plain of Jezreel (Judges 6: 33; Hos. 1:5), on their way to Egypt.

they were ashained that they had trusted;
they came thither, and were confounded.
For now, ye are become nothing:
ye see a terror, and are dismayed.
Have I said: Give to me;

or, Bestow of your wealth for my sake:

or, Deliver me from an enemy's hand,

and from the hand of the violent set me free?

Teach ye me, and I will keep silence;

and make me know wherein I have erred.
How forcible are right words!

but what does your upbraiding prove?

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for it is manifest to you, if I lie.

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warfare': service

V. 27. Cast lots &c.: viz. for the possession of those, who like a term of service, the end of which is eagerly looked are left thus unprotected and helpless. Such inhumanity, to for.

Ch. VII.-V. 1. The meaning is: Man's earthly life is ch. vi., 1-13, and has reference only to this life.

As for me, I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak, in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Am I a sea, or a monster of the deep, that thou shouldst set a watch over me? When I say: My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall lighten my complaint; then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me by visions.

So that my soul chooseth strangling,death, rather than my bones!

I waste away; I shall not always live;

cease from me; for my days are a vapor.

What is man, that thou shouldst magnify him, and set thy thoughts upon him;

shouldst, every moment, try him?

that thou shouldst visit him every morning,

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V. 9. Shall not come up, is explained by the next verse. | observed, in no other translation.-Strangling: a frequent The meaning is: he shall not return to earth; his life on earth effect of his disease. is forever ended.

V. 11. Am I a sea, &c.: so fierce and ungovernable, that I need to be watched, and to be restrained with such severity. The raging sea as an image of pride and insolent power, is again mentioned by Job in ch. xxvi., 12.

V. 15. My bones: this skeleton body, which is all that disease has left me. "My life", in the common version (margin, my bones, as in all the earlier English versions), is a mere conjecture, without any authority; it is found, as far as I have

V. 19. Till I can swallow my spittle is equivalent to the English phrase, till I can take breath.

Ch. VIII. Bildad reproves Job for falsely arraigning the justice of God, who had only visited upon his sons the desert of their own sins; and would restore Job himself to prosperity, if he should deserve it, at the hands of God (VV. 1-7). He then shows, by three illustrations, how uncertain, unstable, and brief is the boasted prosperity of the wicked man (VV. 8–19).