Job 33:31

Mark well, O Job, hearken unto me: hold thy peace, and I will speak.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Job 33:31-33. Mark well, O Job — Consider what I have already said, for it very much concerns thee; hearken unto me; hold thy peace — Attend to what I have further to say to thee with patience and silence. If thou hast any thing to say — For thy own justification, or in answer to the charge I have already brought against thee; speak, for I desire to justify thee —

Namely, as far as may consist with truth and justice. I do not speak with an evil design, or as one resolved to condemn thee whatsoever thou sayest, and, therefore, I shall be glad to hear any thing from thee which may make for thy just vindication. If not, hearken to me — If thou hast no exception to make against my discourse, then continue thy attention, and silently listen to me; and I shall teach thee wisdom — That is, what thy wisdom and duty are in thy circumstances.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

33:29-33 Elihu shows that God's great and gracious design toward the children of men, is, to save them from being for ever miserable, and to bring them to be for ever happy. By whatever means we are kept back from the we shall bless the Lord for them at least, and should bless him for them though they be painful and distressing. Those that perish for ever are without excuse, for they would not be healed.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Mark well, O Job, hearken unto me ... - Elihu designs to intimate that he had much more to say which demanded close attention. He begged, therefore, that Job would hear him patiently through.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

30. Referring to Job 33:28 (Ps 50:13).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Hold thy peace; attend to what I have further to say to thee with patience and silence.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Mark well, O Job,.... Consider and weigh well what has been said; or rather attend to what is further to be said:

hearken unto me; to what he was about to say; for he was full of matter, and had not yet vented all he had to utter:

hold thy peace, and I will speak; be silent and do not interrupt, and I will go on with my discourse.

Geneva Study Bible

Mark well, O Job, hearken unto me: hold thy peace, and I will speak.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

31. mark well] These words do not mean, weigh and apply, but listen, namely, to that which Elihu will further say.

31–33. The speaker requests Job to hear his further arguments (Job 33:31); or if he can reply to what has been said, by all means let him do so, for Elihu desires that he should be in the right (Job 33:32); but if not let him listen and learn wisdom (Job 33:33).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 31. - Mark well, O Job, hearken unto me; i.e. "Mark well what I say. Note it, and lay it up in thy heart." Hold thy peace, and I will speak. It may be conjectured that Job at this point showed some inclination to break silence and answer Elihu. But Elihu thought that he had a great deal more to say, which was of importance, and wished not to be interrupted. He therefore checked Job's utterance. Then, fearing lest he had gone too far, he made the concession of the next verse. Job 33:31

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

29 Behold, God doeth all

Twice, thrice with man,

30 To bring back his soul from the pit,

That it may become light in the light of life.

31 Listen, O Job, hearken to me;

Be silent and let me speak on.

32 Yet if thou hast words, answer me;

Speak, for I desire thy justification.

33 If not, hearken thou to me;

Be silent and I will teach thee wisdom.

After having described two prominent modes of divine interposition for the moral restoration and welfare of man, he adds, Job 33:29, that God undertakes (observe the want of parallelism in the distich, Job 33:29) everything with a man twice or thrice (asyndeton, as e.g., Isaiah 17:6, in the sense of bis terve) in order to bring back his soul from the pit (שׁחת, here for the fifth time in this speech, without being anywhere interchanged with שׁאול or another synonym, which is remarkable), that it, having hitherto been encompassed by the darkness of death, may be, or become, light (לאור, inf. Niph., syncopated from להאור, Ew. 244, b) in the light of life (as it were bask in the new and restored light of life) - it does not always happen, for these are experiences of no ordinary kind, which interrupt the daily course of life; and it is not even repeated again and again constantly, for if it is without effect the first time, it is repeated a second or third time, but it has an end if the man trifles constantly with the disciplinary work of grace which designs his good. Finally, Elihu calls upon Job quietly to ponder this, that he may proceed; nevertheless, if he has words, i.e., if he thinks he is able to advance any appropriate objections, he is continually to answer him (השׁיב with acc. of the person, as Job 33:5), for he (Elihu) would willingly justify him, i.e., he would gladly be in the position to be able to acknowledge Job to be right, and to have the accusation dispensed with. Hirz. and others render falsely: I wish thy justification, i.e., thou shouldst justify thyself; in this case נפשׁך ought to be supplied, which is unnecessary: חפץ, without a change of subject, has the inf. constr. here without ל, as it has the inf. absol. in Job 13:3, and צדּק signifies to vindicate (as Job 32:2), or acknowledge to be in the right (as the Piel of צדק, Job 33:12), both of which are blended here. The lxx, which translates θέλω γὰρ δικαιωθῆναί σε, has probably read צדקך (Psalm 35:27). If it is not so (אם־אין as Genesis 30:1), viz., that he does not intend to defend himself with reference to his expostulation with God on account of the affliction decreed for him, he shall on his part (אתּה) listen, shall be silent and be further taught wisdom.

Quasi hac ratione Heliu sanctum Iob convicerit! exclaims Beda, after a complete exposition of this speech. He regards Elihu as the type of the false wisdom of the heathen, which fails to recognise and persecutes the servant of God: Sunt alii extra ecclesiam, qui Christo ejusque ecclesiae similiter adversantur, quorum imaginem praetulit Balaam ille ariolus, qui et Elieu sicut patrum traditio habet (Balaam and Elihu, one person - a worthless conceit repeated in the Talmud and Midrash), qui contra ipsum sanctum Iob multa improbe et injuriose locutus est, in tantum ut etiam displiceret in una ejus et indisciplinata loquacitas.

(Note: Bedae Opp. ed. Basil. iii. col. 602f. 786. The commentary also bears the false name of Jerome Hieronymus, and as a writing attributed to him is contained in tom. v. Opp. ed. Vallarsi.)

Gregory the Great, in his Moralia, expresses himself no less unfavourably at the conclusion of this speech:

continued...