Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 21:2
Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations.
2. your consolations ] They believed they were offering him the consolations of God (ch. Job 15:11); the consolation he seeks from them is that they listen to him.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Hear diligently – Hebrew Hearing hear – that is, hear attentively. What he was about to say was worthy of their solemn consideration.
And let this be your consolations – That is, You came to me for the professed purpose of giving me consolation. In that you have wholly failed. You have done nothing to sustain or comfort me; but all that you have said has only tended to exasperate me, and to increase my sorrow. If you will now hear me attentively, I will take that as a consolation, and it shall be in the place of what I had a right to expect from you. It will be some comfort if I am permitted to express my sentiments without interruption, and I will accept it as a proof of kindness on your part.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 2. Let this be your consolations.] uthehi zoth tanchumotheychem may be translated, “And let this be your retractations.” Let what I am about to say induce you to retract what you have said, and to recall your false judgments.
nacham signifies, not only to comfort, but to change one’s mind, to repent; hence the Vulgate translates et agite paenitentiam, “and repent,” which Coverdale follows in his version, and amende yourselves. Some suppose the verse to be understood ironically: I am now about to give you consolations for those you have given me. When I have done, then turn them into mockery if you please.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Or, this shall be your consolations, i.e. I shall accept of your patient and diligent attention to me, instead of all those consolations which you owed to me in this condition, and which I expected from you.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. consolationsIf you willlisten calmly to me, this will be regarded as “consolations”;alluding to Eliphaz’ boasted “consolations” (Job15:11), which Job felt more as aggravations (“mockings,”Job 21:3) than consolations(Job 16:2).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Hear diligently my speech,…. The following oration or discourse he was about to deliver concerning the prosperity of wicked men; to which he desires their closest attention, that they might the better understand the force of his reasoning, the evidences and proof of fasts he should give; whereby, if their minds were open to conviction, they would clearly see their mistake, and that truth lay on his side:
and let this be your consolations; or “this shall be your consolations” k; meaning, either that they would receive instruction and benefit by his discourse, which would yield them pleasure and comfort; and to an ingenuous mind, to be convinced of an error, to have mistakes rectified, and to get knowledge of the truth, it is a real satisfaction, and affords pleasure; or else, that whereas their end in paying him a visit was to comfort him, and they had taken methods, as they thought, in order to it, but in Job’s opinion to very little purpose, yea, they were, as he says, miserable comforters; now he observes, that if they would but be silent, and attentively listen to what he had to say, that would be in the room of all comforts they could give unto him; it would be a consolation to him, and be reckoned by him, instead of all they could give, or could propose to him, if he might have but this favour, to be heard with candour, diligence, and attention.
k “et hoc erit consolationes vestrae”, Beza, Mercerus; so Jarchi; “idque pro consolatione vobis”, Tigurine version; “pro consolationibus vestris”, Schultens.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(2) Hear diligently my speech.Listen to my words, and let that be the consolation you give me.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Exordium If the friends will but give him a proper hearing, Job will speak of an astounding anomaly in the moral world, the mere contemplation of which fills his soul with terror, Job 21:2-6.
2. Your consolations The consolations you give. As you have no other solace to administer, yield me what little there is in attentive listening. The best consolation is often that of silence.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 21:2. And let this be your consolations And let this be the consolation you administer. Heath. Schultens renders it, And this shall be for your consolations. “What I have to say, is in return for these wonderful consolations that you bring me;” understanding the passage ironically, which very well agrees with the next verse, the last clause whereof he renders, And after I have pleaded my cause, let it be your mockery.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 21:2 Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations.
Ver. 2. Hear diligently my speech ] Heb. In hearing hear. The Greek hath it, Hear, hear; that is, hear me out, have so much patience with me as not to interrupt me any more; yea, hear with understanding; let your and meet; draw up your inward ears to your outward, that one sound may pierce both. Lay aside passion and prejudice, suffer a word of information, for it is but one word that I have to say, &c, The Hebrew is singular, and promiseth brevity. Only this one word Job would that they should hear double; sc. by an after deliberate meditation, as David did, Psa 62:11 , “God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this,” &c. Gravis rationis humanae morbus est, quod plerunque soleat ea damnare quae aut non intelligat, aut non placuerint (Brent.).
And let this be your consolations
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Hear diligently. See note on Job 13:17.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Hear: Job 13:3, Job 13:4, Job 18:2, Job 33:1, Job 33:31-33, Job 34:2, Jdg 9:7, Isa 55:2, Heb 2:1
let this be: Job 15:11, Job 16:2
Reciprocal: Job 10:1 – I will leave Job 13:5 – General Job 13:6 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
AUDI ALTERAM PARTEM
Hear diligently my speech, etc.
Job 21:2
I. Job asks his friends to suffer him again to speak, because his complaint is not for them only, but for all.And he goes on to say that they are not justified by the facts in affirming that wickedness always brings about adversity. On the contrary, he urges that wicked men spend their days in prosperity. In the farm, and the fold, and the home, there are the sounds of joy. Their death is not prolonged torture, but sudden. Their lamp is not often put out in darkness, nor are they driven as stubble before the wind.
II. Continuing his answer, Job declares their philosophy to be wholly at fault, by asking how often it is true that the lamp of the wicked is put out.He surmises that they may reply that the judgment falls upon their children, and repudiates such suggestion by declaring that the man who sins is the man who should be punished, and that God has no pleasure in the punishment of posterity. Thus they have been attempting to teach God knowledge, for it is perfectly evident that the rule they had enunciated does not always apply. He ends his answer by addressing himself to them more personally. He declares that he knows their meaning when they say, Where is the house of the prince? and Where is the tent wherein the wicked dwelt? He is perfectly aware that they are referring to himself. Then follows a touch of satire as he suggests that they have learned their philosophy from travellers and declares their conclusions to be wrong. Therefore their attempted comfort is vain, seeing that their answers contain falsehood. Thus ends the second cycle, in which the three friends of Job have declared that it is the wicked who are afflicted. By this narrower statement they have left him less room for escape. He has replied by declaring that the righteous also are afflicted, and that the wicked are not always afflicted, and by rebuking them for stating one side only in order to bring about his discomfiture.
Illustration
Job challenges the contention of his friends that the children of the wicked suffer, and denies that it would establish their fathers wickedness, and alleges that they have attempted to instruct God in the dealings of His providence. He turns from his own assertions and appeals to the verdict of passers-by. Surely, says he, it is a matter of common observation that wicked men do prosper and die in peace. The clods of the valley are sweet to him. Even after death they have their memory preserved by monuments over their grave. From all this he infers that adversity is no proof of special sin. And it is just at this point that we can build the argument for immortality. Job was undoubtedly right in his contention, and there must be, therefore, a future when the inequalities of time are adjusted.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Job 21:2-3. Hear diligently my speech If you have no other comfort to administer, at least afford me this: be so kind, so just, as to give me a patient hearing: and let this be your consolations I shall accept of it instead of those consolations which you owed to me in this my distressed condition, and which I expected from you. And it will be a consolation to yourselves in the reflection, to have dealt tenderly with your afflicted friend. Suffer me to speak Without such interruption as you have given me. And after I have spoken, mock on If I do not defend my cause with solid and convincing arguments, go on in your scoffs.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
21:2 Hear diligently my speech, and let this {a} be your consolations.
(a) Your diligent marking of my words will be to me a great consolation.