Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 16:17
Not for [any] injustice in mine hands: also my prayer [is] pure.
17. Not for any injustice ] i. e. though there is no wrong in my hands, cf. Isa 53:9. The first clause denies that he had done anything amiss in action; and the second affirms that his “prayer,” i. e. his whole religious walk with God, was pure. The last words give a reply to the insinuations of Eliphaz, ch. Job 15:4, and the former to his allusion ch. Job 15:34.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Not for any injustice … – Still claiming that he does not deserve his sorrows, and that these calamities had not come upon him on account of any enormous sins, as his friends believed.
My prayer is pure – My devotion; my worship of God is not hypocritical – as my friends maintain.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 16:17-19
Not for any injustice in mine hands.
A good mans confidence
In these words Job delivers us–
1. The confidence of a godly man.
2. That kind of infirm anguish and indignation, that half-distemper, that expostulation with God, which sometimes comes to an excess even in good and godly men.
3. The foundation of his confidence, and his deliverance from this his infirmity. (John Donne.)
My witness is in heaven and my record is on high.
The trite witness of life
I. In reference to Job.
1. A declaration of his belief.
2. An avowal of his sincerity.
3. A proof of his devotion.
II. In reference to ourselves.
1. In seasons of self-suspicion.
2. Under the assaults of calumny.
3. In the prospect of death. (G. Brooks.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 17. Not for any injustice] I must assert, even with my last breath, that the charges of my friends against me are groundless. I am afflicted unto death, but not on account of my iniquities.
Also my prayer is pure.] I am no hypocrite, God knoweth.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And all this is not come upon me for any injurious dealing with others by oppression, or deceit, or bribery, wherewith I am implicitly charged, Job 15:16,20,34; but for other reasons known to God only, for I cannot discover them.
Also my prayer is pure; I do not cast off Gods fear and service, as I am accused to do, Job 15:4. I do still pray and worship God, and my prayer is accompanied with a sincere heart and undefiled conscience: see Psa 109:7; Pro 28:9; 1Ti 2:8. So that I have lived inoffensively towards God and towards men; and therefore your assertion is both uncharitable and false, that eminent afflictions are peculiar to ungodly men.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Not for [any] injustice in my hands,…. Came all those afflictions and calamities upon him, which occasioned so much sorrow, weeping, mourning, and humiliation; he does not say there was no sin in him, not any in his heart, nor in his life, nor any iniquity done by him, he had acknowledged these things before, Job 7:20; but that there was nothing in his hands gotten in an unjust manner; he had taken away no man’s property, nor injured him in the least in a private way; nor had he perverted justice as a public magistrate, by taking bribes or accepting persons, and could challenge any to prove he had, as Samuel did, 1Sa 12:3;
also my prayer [is] pure: he prayed, which disproves the calumny of Eliphaz, Job 15:4; and his prayer was pure too; not that it was free from failings and infirmities, which attend the best, but from hypocrisy and deceit; it came not out of feigned lips, but was put up in sincerity and truth; it sprang from an heart purified by the grace of God, and sprinkled from an evil conscience; it was put up in the faith of Christ, and as a pure offering through him; Job lifted up pure and holy hands, and with these a pure and holy heart, and for pure and holy things; so that it was not for want of doing justice to men, nor for want of devotion towards God, that be was thus afflicted by him; compare with this what is said of his antitype, Isa 53:9.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Testimony of Conscience; Job’s Comfort in Conscious Integrity. | B. C. 1520. |
17 Not for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is pure. 18 O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place. 19 Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high. 20 My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God. 21 O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour! 22 When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.
Job’s condition was very deplorable; but had he nothing to support him, nothing to comfort him? Yes, and he here tells us what it was.
I. He had the testimony of his conscience for him that he had walked uprightly, and had never allowed himself in any gross sin. None was ever more ready than he to acknowledge his sins of infirmity; but, upon search, he could not charge himself with any enormous crime, for which he should be made more miserable than other men, v. 17.
1. He had kept a conscience void of offence, (1.) Towards men: “Not for any injustice in my hands, any wealth that I have unjustly got or kept.” Eliphaz had represented him as a tyrant and an oppressor. “No,” says he, “I never did any wrong to any man, but always despised the gain of oppression.” (2.) Towards God: Also my prayer is pure; but prayer cannot be pure as long as there is injustice in our hands, Isa. i. 15. Eliphaz had charged him with hypocrisy in religion, but he specifies prayer, the great act of religion, and professes that in that he was pure, though not from all infirmity, yet from reigning and allowed guile: it was not like the prayers of the Pharisees, who looked no further than to be seen of men, and to serve a turn.
2. This assertion of his own integrity he backs with a solemn imprecation of shame and confusion to himself if it were not true, v. 18. (1.) If there were any injustice in his hands, he wished it might not be concealed: O earth! cover thou not my blood, that is, “the innocent blood of others, which I am suspected to have shed.” Murder will out; and “let it,” says Job, “if I have ever been guilty if it,” Gen 4:10; Gen 4:11. The day is coming when the earth shall disclose her blood (Isa. xxvi. 21), and a good man as far from dreading that day. (2.) If there were any impurity in his prayers, he wished they might not be accepted: Let my cry have no place. He was willing to be judged by that rule, If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me, Ps. lxvi. 18. There is another probable sense of these words, that he does hereby, as it were, lay his death upon his friends, who broke his heart with their harsh censures, and charges the guilt of his blood upon them, begging of God to avenge it and that the cry of his blood might have no place in which to lie hid, but might come up to heaven and be heard by him that makes inquisition for blood.
II. He could appeal to God’s omniscience concerning his integrity, v. 19. The witness in our own bosoms for us will stand us in little stead if we have not a witness in heaven for us too; for God is greater than our hearts, and we are not to he our own judges. This therefore is Job’s triumph, My witness is in heaven. Note, It is an unspeakable comfort to a good man, when he lies under the censure of his brethren, that there is a God in heaven who knows his integrity and will clear it up sooner or later. See Joh 5:31; Joh 5:37. This one witness is instead of a thousand.
III. He had a God to go to before whom he might unbosom himself, Job 16:20; Job 16:21. See here, 1. How the case stood between him and his friends. He knew not how to be free with them, nor could he expect either a fair hearing with them or fair dealing from them. “My friends (so they call themselves) scorn me; they set themselves not only to resist me, but to expose me; they are of counsel against me, and use all their art and eloquence” (so the word signifies) “to run me down.” The scorns of friends are more cutting than those of enemies; but we must expect them, and provide accordingly. 2. How it stood between him and God. He doubted not but that, (1.) God did now take cognizance of his sorrows: My eye pours out tears to God. He had said (v. 16) that he wept much; here he tells us in what channel his tears ran, and which way they were directed. His sorrow was not that of the world, but he sorrowed after a godly sort, wept before the Lord, and offered to him the sacrifice of a broken heart. Note, Even tears, when sanctified to God, give ease to troubled spirits; and, if men slight our grief, this may comfort us, that God regards them. (2.) That he would in due time clear up his innocency (v. 21): O that one might plead for a man with God! If he could but now have the same freedom at God’s bar that men commonly have at the bar of the civil magistrate, he doubted not but to carry his cause, for the Judge himself was a witness to his integrity. The language of this wish is like that in Isa 50:7; Isa 50:8, I know that I shall not be ashamed, for he is near that justifies me. Some give a gospel sense of this verse, and the original will very well bear it; and he will plead (that is, there is one that will plead) for man with God, even the Son of man for his friend, or neighbour. Those who pour out tears before God, though they cannot plead for themselves, by reason of their distance and defects, have a friend to plead for them, even the Son of man, and on this we must bottom all our hopes of acceptance with God.
IV. He had a prospect of death which would put a period to all his troubles. Such confidence had he towards God that he could take pleasure in thinking of the approach of death, when he should be determined to his everlasting state, as one that doubted not but it would be well with him then: When a few years have come (the years of number which are determined and appointed to me) then I shall go the way whence I shall not return. Note, 1. To die is to go the way whence we shall not return. It is to go a journey, a long journey, a journey for good and all, to remove from this to another country, from the world of sense to the world of spirits. It is a journey to our long home; there will be no coming back to out state in this world nor any change of our state in the other world. 2. We must all of us very certainly, and very shortly, go this journey; and it is comfortable to those who keep a good conscience to think of it, for it is the crown of their integrity.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
(17) Not for any injustice.Literally, for no injustice, just as in Isa. 53:9 : because he had done no violence, should be not because he had done any violence, or because deceit was in his mouth.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17. Not for injustice The Hebrew is the same as in Isa 53:9. where the words are spoken of Christ. Read, Though there be no violence in my hands.
Second division JOB’S HOPE IS IN THE GODHEAD THE GOD WHO SEES HIS GRIEFS SHALL TREAT WITH GOD IN HIS BEHALF, Job 16:18 – Job 17:9.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 16:17. Not for any injustice, &c. Although there is not iniquity in my hands; although my prayers are pure before God. Houbigant.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 16:17 Not for [any] injustice in mine hands: also my prayer [is] pure.
Ver. 17. Not for any injustice (Heb. Violence or wrong doing) in my hands] Job could wash his hands of that rapine and bribery wherewith they had injuriously charged him, Job 15:34 , and safely say of it, as afterwards Father Latimer did of sedition (3 Serm. before K. Edw.), As for that sin, for aught that I know, methinks I should not need Christ, if I might so say. Some failings there might be in him in doing justice, but no intentions of doing injustice.
Also my prayer is pure
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
injustice = violence. Only occurrence of English word in O.T.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Not for: Job 11:14, Job 15:20, Job 15:34, Job 21:27, Job 21:28, Job 22:5-9, Job 27:6, Job 27:7, Job 29:12-17, Job 31:1-40, Psa 7:3-5, Psa 44:17-21
my prayer: Job 8:5, Job 8:6, Psa 66:18, Psa 66:19, Pro 15:8, 1Ti 2:8
Reciprocal: Job 4:6 – the uprightness Job 9:17 – without cause Job 13:15 – but I will Job 19:7 – I cry Job 33:9 – clean Job 34:5 – I Job 35:2 – My Jam 4:8 – Cleanse
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 16:17-18. Not for any justice in my hands And all this is not come upon me for any injurious dealing, but for other reasons, known to God only; also my prayer is pure I do not cast off Gods fear and service, Job 15:4. I do still pray and worship God, and my prayer is accompanied with a sincere heart. O earth, cover not thou my blood The earth is said to cover that blood which lies undiscovered and unrevenged: of which see on Gen 4:10-11; and Isa 26:21. But, says Job, if I be guilty of destroying any one man by murder, or oppression, as I am traduced, O Lord, let the earth disclose it; let it be brought to light, that I may suffer condign punishment for it. And let my cry have no place That is, either, 1st, Let the cries and groans which I have forced from others by my oppressions, have no place to hide them. Or, rather, 2d, Let the cry of my complaints to men, or prayers to God, find no place in the ears or hearts of God or men, if this be true.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
16:17 Not for [any] injustice in {q} mine hands: also my prayer {r} [is] pure.
(q) Signifying that he is not able to understand the cause of this his grievous punishment.
(r) That is, unfeigned and without hypocrisy.