Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 34:6
Should I lie against my right? my wound [is] incurable without transgression.
6. should I lie against my right? ] This sense is possible, the meaning being, “shall I admit guilt when I am not guilty but wrongly afflicted”? Perhaps the sense is rather: against (or, notwithstanding) my right I am made to lie: when I affirm my rectitude God’s treatment of me belies my affirmations by making me guilty, and this against my right; comp. ch. Job 9:20, Job 16:8.
my wound ] lit. my arrow, the arrow of divine affliction infixed in me, comp. ch. Job 6:4, Job 16:13.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Should I lie against my right? – These are also quoted as the words of Job, and as a part of the erroneous opinions on which Elihu proposes to comment. These words do not occur, however, as used by Job respecting himself, and Elihu must be understood to refer to what he regarded as the general strain of the argument maintained by him. In regard to the meaning of the words, there have been various opinions. Jerome renders them, For in judging me there is falsehood – mendacium est; my violent arrow (the painful arrow in me) is without any sin. The Septuagint, He the Lord hath been false in my accusation – epseusato de to krimati mou – my arrow is heavy without transgression. Coverdale, I must needs be a liar, though my cause be right. Umbreit renders it, I must lie if I should acknowledge myself to be guilty.
Noyes, Though I am innocent, I am made a liar. Prof. Lee, Should I lie respecting my case? mine arrow is mortal without transgression. That is, Job said he could not lie about it; he could use no language that would deceive. He felt that a mortal arrow had reached him without transgression, or without any adequate cause. Rosenmuller renders it, However just may be my cause, I appear to be a liar. That is, he was regarded as guilty, and treated accordingly, however conscious he might be of innocence, and however strenuously he might maintain that he was not guilty. The meaning probably is, I am held to be a liar. I defend myself; go over my past life; state my course of conduct; meet the accusations of my friends, but in all this I am still held to be a liar. My friends so regard me – for they will not credit my statements, and they go on still to argue as if I was the most guilty of mortals. And God also in this holds me to be a liar, for he treats me constantly as if I were guilty. He hears not my vindication, and he inflicts pain and woe upon me as if all that I had said about my own integrity were false, and I were one of the most abandoned of mortals, so that on all hands I am regarded and treated as if I were basely false. The literal translation of the Hebrew is, Concerning my judgment (or my cause) I am held to be a liar.
My wound is incurable – Margin, as in Hebrew arrow. The idea is, that a deadly arrow had smitten him, which could not be extracted. So in Virgil:
Haeret lateri letalis arundo. Aeneid iv. 73.
The image is taken from an animal that had been pierced with a deadly arrow.
Without transgression – Without any sin that deserved such treatment. Job did not claim to be absolutely perfect; he maintained only that the sufferings which he endured were no proper proof of his character; compare Job 6:4.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 34:6-9
What man is like Job?
Elihus estimate of Job
It was natural that, with all his reverence for Job, Elihu should be offended by the heat and passion of his words, by the absence of moderation and self-restraint, and tell him that this strained passion did him wrong. No doubt it is easier for a friend on the bank to maintain his composure, than it is for the man who has been swept away by the stream of calamity, and is doing instant battle with its fierce currents and driving waves. Job is not to be overmuch blamed if, under the stress of calamity, and stung by the baseless calumnies of the friends, he now and then lost composure, and grew immoderate both in his resentments and his retorts. Remembering the keen agony he had to endure, we may well pardon an offence for which it is so easy to account; we may cheerfully admit, as Jehovah Himself admitted, that in the main he spoke of God aright; we may even admire the constancy and patience with which, on the whole, he met the provocations and insults of the friends; and yet we cannot but feel that he often pushed his inferences against the Divine justice and providence much too far: as, indeed, he himself confessed that he had, when at last he saw Jehovah face to face, and carried his just resentment against the friends to excess. There are points in the progress of the story where he seems to revel in his sense of wrong, and to lash out wildly against both God and man. With fine moral tact, Elihu had detected this fault in his tone and bearing, and had discovered whither it was leading him. (Samuel Cox, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 6. Should I lie against my right?] Should I acknowledge myself the sinner which they paint me, and thus lie against my right to assert and maintain my innocence?
My wound is incurable without transgression.] If this translation is correct, the meaning of the place is sufficiently evident. In the tribulation which I endure, I am treated as if I were the worst of culprits; and I labour under incurable maladies and privations, though without any cause on my part for such treatment. This was all most perfectly true; it is the testimony which God himself gives of Job, that “he was a perfect and upright man, fearing God and eschewing evil;” and that “Satan had moved the Lord against him, to destroy him, WITHOUT A CAUSE. See Job 1:1; Job 2:3.
The Chaldee translates thus: –
“On account of my judgment, I will make the son of man a liar, who sends forth arrows without sin.”
Mr. Good thus :-
“Concerning my cause I am slandered;
He hath reversed my lot without a trespass.”
The latter clause is the most deficient, ; Miss Smith’s translation of which is the best I have met with: “A man cut off, without transgression.” The word chitstsi, which we translate my wound, signifies more literally, my arrow; and if we take it as a contracted noun, chitstsey for chitstsim, it means calamities. anush, which we translate incurable, may be the noun enosh, wicked, miserable man; and then the whole may be read thus: “A man of calamities without transgression.” I suffer the punishment of an enemy to God, while free from transgression of this kind.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Should I lie against my right? so Job had said in effect, Job 27:4-6. Should I falsely accuse myself of such sins of which I am no way conscious to myself? Should I betray mine own cause, and deny my integrity, and say that I deserved worse than I have done?
Without transgression, i.e. without any great, or heinous, or crying sin, as this word commonly signifies, which might reasonably bring down such terrible judgments upon my head.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. Were I to renounce my right(that is, confess myself guilty), I should die. Job virtually hadsaid so (Job 27:4; Job 27:5;Job 6:28). MAURER,not so well, “Notwithstanding my right (innocence) I am treatedas a liar,” by God, by His afflicting me.
my woundliterally,”mine arrow,” namely, by which I am pierced. So “mystroke” (“hand,” Job23:2, Margin). My sickness (Job 6:4;Job 16:13).
without transgressionwithoutfault of mine to deserve it (Job16:17).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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 vindicating my right, seeking and endeavouring to do myself justice, and clear myself from false imputations, I am reckoned a liar. And to this purpose is the paraphrase of Aben Ezra,
“because I seek judgment, they say that I lie.”
Others render them, “there is a lie in judging me”, so the Vulgate Latin version; that is,
“I am falsely accused, I am judged wrongfully:”
things I know not are laid to my charge, which has often been the case of good men: or, “I have lied in judgment”; that is, “failed”, as the word is sometimes used, Isa 58:11; failed in his expectation of judgment or of justice being done him; he looked for it, but was disappointed; but the first sense seems best;
my wound [is] incurable without transgression; not that he thought himself without transgression, but that his wound or stroke inflicted on him, or the afflictions he was exercised with, were without cause; were not for any injustice in his hands, or wickedness that he had committed; and that he utterly despaired of being rid of them, or restored to his former health and prosperity; and to this sense he had expressed himself, Job 9:17. In the Hebrew text it is, “my arrow” y, that is, the arrow that was in him, the arrows of the Lord that stuck fast in him; these were thrown at him and fastened in him without cause; and there was no hope of their being drawn out, or of the wounds made by them being healed; see Job 6:4. Now what Elihu was offended at in these expressions was, that Job should so rigidly insist on his innocence, and not own himself faulty in any respect; nor allow there was any cause for his afflictions, nor entertain any hope of the removal of them: whereas it became him to acknowledge his sins, which no man is free from, and that he was dealt with less than his iniquities deserved; and that, instead of indulging despair, he should rather say, “I will return” to the Lord; he hath “torn” and he will “heal”, he hath “smitten” and he will “bind up”, Ho 6:1.
y “sagitta mea”, Montanus, Schultens, Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(6) Should I lie against my right?Comp. Job. 27:2-6.
My wound is incurable.Literally, my arrow, i.e., the arrow which hath wounded me. (See Job. 16:11; Job. 17:1, &c.)
Without transgression.That is to say, on my part. (See Job. 16:17.) Some understand the former clause, Notwithstanding my right, I am accounted a liar, but the Authorised Version is more probably right.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Should I lie against my right, etc. Though this is not exactly, it is virtually, the language of Job. Compare, for instance, Job 6:4; Job 9:17; Job 9:20; Job 16:8. The sense of the first clause is, according to Schlottmann, “Shall I declare myself guilty while I know myself innocent?” But the reading of Hitzig is more exact and terse: “Against my right I shall lie;” that is, With right on my side I am accounted a liar in maintaining it.
My wound Literally, My arrow the cause, by synecdoche, put for the effect. Job 6:4.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 34:6. Should I lie against my right? As to my accusation, I am belied: my wound is mortal, though I have not transgressed. Heath and Houb.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 34:6 Should I lie against my right? my wound [is] incurable without transgression.
Ver. 6. Should I lie against my right? ] Ut meam causam prodam, so as to betray my cause, and yield myself guilty when I know myself innocent (R. Levi). This I will never do, said Job; no more would that peerless Lady Elizabeth, when as a traitor she was laid up in the Tower, and pressed to appeach herself. Better die than lie.
My wound is incurable without transgression
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
transgression. Hebrew. pasha’. App-44.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
I: Job 27:4-6
wound: Heb. arrow, Job 6:4, Job 16:13
Reciprocal: Job 9:17 – without cause Job 11:4 – I am clean Job 32:2 – because Job 40:8 – wilt thou condemn Jer 15:18 – my wound Jer 30:15 – thy sorrow
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
34:6 Should I lie against my {d} right? my wound [is] {e} incurable without transgression.
(d) Should I say, I am wicked, being an innocent?
(e) I am more punished, than my sin deserves.