Job 33:11

He putteth my feet in the stocks, he marketh all my paths.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(11) He putteth my feet in the stocks.—Referring, probably, to Job 13:27.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

33:8-13 Elihu charges Job with reflecting upon the justice and goodness of God. When we hear any thing said to God's dishonour, we ought to bear our testimony against it. Job had represented God as severe in marking what he did amiss. Elihu urges that he had spoken wrong, and that he ought to humble himself before God, and by repentance to unsay it. God is not accountable to us. It is unreasonable for weak, sinful creatures, to strive with a God of infinite wisdom, power, and goodness. He acts with perfect justice, wisdom, and goodness, where we cannot perceive it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He putteth my feet in the stocks - This also is language which Job had used; see Job 13:27. "He marketh all my paths;" in Job 13:27, "Thou lookest narrowly unto all my paths;" see the notes at that verse.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

11. (Job 13:27).

marketh—narrowly watches (Job 14:16; 7:12; 31:4).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

He narrowly pries into all my actions, that he may find matter for further severities against me.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

He putteth my feet in the stocks,.... This also he had said, Job 13:27; by which he would suggest not only that his afflictions were painful and disgraceful, and from which he could not extricate himself, being close fettered by them; but that they were inflicted on him as punishments, and he was treated as a criminal, as a malefactor, who had been guilty of some notorious breach of the law:

he marketh all my paths; looked narrowly at them, numbered and counted them; this also he had said, Job 13:27; meaning not only his natural and civil paths and steps, but his moral ones, that he could not step the least awry, but presently it was marked and observed, Job 10:14; but though God does take notice of the sins of his people, and chastises them for them, yet he does not mark them in strict justice, for, should he, they could not stand before him, Psalm 130:3.

Geneva Study Bible

He putteth my feet in the stocks, he marketh all my paths.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

11. See ch. Job 13:27.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 11. - He putteth my feet in the stocks. A reference to Job's words in Job 13:27. He marketh all my paths (comp. Job 31:4, and Job 7:17-19). Job 33:11

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

8 Verily thou hast said in mine ears,

And I heard the sound of thy words:

9 "I am pure, without transgression;

"Spotless am I, and I have no guilt.

10 "Behold, He findeth malicious things against me,

"He regardeth me as His enemy;

11 "He putteth my feet in the stocks,

"He observeth all my paths."

12 Behold, therein thou art not right, I will answer thee,

For Eloah is too exalted for man.

With אך אמרתּ Elihu establishes the undeniable fact, whether it be that אך is intended as restrictive (only thou hast said, it is not otherwise than that thou ... ), or as we have translated, according to its primary meaning, affirmative (forsooth, it is undeniable). To say anything בּאזני of another is in Hebrew equivalent to not saying it secretly, and so as to be liable to misconstruction, but aloud and distinctly. In Job 33:9, Elihu falls back on Job's own utterances, as Job 9:21, תם אני; Job 16:17, תפלתי זכה; Job 12:4, where he calls himself צדיק תמים, comp. Job 10:7; Job 13:18, Job 13:23; Job 23:10, Job 27:5, Job 29:1, Job 31:1. The expression חף, tersus, did not occur in the mouth of Job; Geiger connects חף with the Arab. hanı̂f (vid., on Job 13:15); it is, however, the adj. of the Semitic verb חף, Arab. ḥff, to rub off, scrape off; Arab. to make smooth by scraping off the hair; Targ., Talm., Syr., to make smooth by washing and rubbing (after which Targ. שׁזיג, lotus).

(Note: Vid., Nldecke in Genfey's Zeitschrift, 1863, S. 383.)

אנכי has here, as an exception, retained its accentuation of the final syllable in pause. In Job 33:10 Elihu also makes use of a word that does not occur in Job's mouth, viz., תּנוּאות, which, according to Numbers 14:34, signifies "alienation," from נוּא (הניא), to hinder, restrain, turn aside, abalienare, Numbers 32:7; and according to the Arab. na'a (to rise heavily),

(Note: Nevertheless Zamachschari does not derive Arab. nâwâ, to treat with enmity, from Arab. n', but from nwy, so that nâwa fulânan signifies "to have evil designs against any one, to meditate evil against one." The phrases iluh ‛alêji nijât, he has evil intentions (wicked designs) against me, nı̂jetuh zerı̂je aleik, he has evil intentions against thee, and similar, are very common. - Wetzst.)

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