8 passages from writers of 2 traditions, in their own words, each with their dates and tradition. The site doesn’t say who is right: read them beside the verses. About these
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Oldest first.
Gregory the Greatc. 540–604Early church, WestMorals on the Book of Job · on Job 26:2To help one that is weak is an act of charity, to wish to help one that is powerful, of Pride … As if he said in plain words; ‘While thou settest thyself to help Him, under Whose greatness thou dost sink to the earth, all the encouragement which thou affordest comes of ostentation, not of piety.’ … But herein it is requisite to be known, that even God, Who surely is not ‘powerless,’ we help whilst acting with humility. … But they who have high thoughts of their own power of mind, will not be helpers of God with humility; because whilst they reckon themselves to be of use to God, they are making themselves strangers to the fruit of usefulness.
To help one that is weak is an act of charity, to wish to help one that is powerful, of Pride … As if he said in plain words; ‘While thou settest thyself to help Him, under Whose greatness thou dost sink to the earth, all the encouragement which thou affordest comes of ostentation, not of piety.’ … But herein it is requisite to be known, that even God, Who surely is not ‘powerless,’ we help whilst acting with humility. … But they who have high thoughts of their own power of mind, will not be helpers of God with humility; because whilst they reckon themselves to be of use to God, they are making themselves strangers to the fruit of usefulness.
Gregory the Great, Morals on the Book of Job, book 17, on 26:2 (his Latin Bible has “Of whom art thou the helper? whether of one that is powerless?”); translated in the Library of the Fathers (Oxford, 1844–1850); the text of Lectionary Central. The edition
Bishop of Rome from 590, whose Morals on the Book of Job and sermons on the Gospels were read across the medieval church.
Gregory the Greatc. 540–604Early church, WestMorals on the Book of Job · on Job 26:11What else does he call ‘the pillars of heaven’ but the holy Angels, or the principal preachers of the Church, over whom in the heavenly world the whole structure of the spiritual edifice increasing arose … But with whatever degree of goodness a man may be advanced, with whatever knowledge he may be made to grow, he cannot fathom to the bottom, what a governance of judgments the Lord rules us with. Therefore let him say, The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at his nod; because in most things not those even are able to reach the lofty height of His will, who whilst announcing see the rewards of that will. Which, as we said above, there is nothing hinders being interpreted of the Holy Angels as well; because the very Powers of the heavenly world themselves, which behold Him without ceasing, in that very contemplation of theirs are made to tremble. But that that should not be a trembling of woe to them, it is one not of fear, but of admiration.
What else does he call ‘the pillars of heaven’ but the holy Angels, or the principal preachers of the Church, over whom in the heavenly world the whole structure of the spiritual edifice increasing arose … But with whatever degree of goodness a man may be advanced, with whatever knowledge he may be made to grow, he cannot fathom to the bottom, what a governance of judgments the Lord rules us with. Therefore let him say, The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at his nod; because in most things not those even are able to reach the lofty height of His will, who whilst announcing see the rewards of that will. Which, as we said above, there is nothing hinders being interpreted of the Holy Angels as well; because the very Powers of the heavenly world themselves, which behold Him without ceasing, in that very contemplation of theirs are made to tremble. But that that should not be a trembling of woe to them, it is one not of fear, but of admiration.
Gregory the Great, Morals on the Book of Job, book 17, on 26:11, the mystical sense; translated in the Library of the Fathers (Oxford, 1844–1850); the text of Lectionary Central. The edition
Bishop of Rome from 590, whose Morals on the Book of Job and sermons on the Gospels were read across the medieval church.
Matthew Henry1662–1714English PresbyterianCommentary on the Whole Bible · on Job 26:14He concludes, at last, with an awful et caetera (Job 26:14): Lo, these are parts of his ways, the out-goings of his wisdom and power, the ways in which he walks and by which he makes himself known to the children of men. … This that we have said is but part of his ways, a small part. What we know of God is nothing in comparison with what is in God and what God is. After all the discoveries which God has made to us, and all the enquiries we have made after God, still we are much in the dark concerning him, and must conclude, Lo, these are but parts of his ways. … Even the thunder of his power (that is, his powerful thunder), one of the lowest of his ways here in our own region, we cannot understand.
He concludes, at last, with an awful et caetera (Job 26:14): Lo, these are parts of his ways, the out-goings of his wisdom and power, the ways in which he walks and by which he makes himself known to the children of men. … This that we have said is but part of his ways, a small part. What we know of God is nothing in comparison with what is in God and what God is. After all the discoveries which God has made to us, and all the enquiries we have made after God, still we are much in the dark concerning him, and must conclude, Lo, these are but parts of his ways. … Even the thunder of his power (that is, his powerful thunder), one of the lowest of his ways here in our own region, we cannot understand.
Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on 26:5–14; 1706–1714; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
An English Presbyterian minister whose commentary on the whole Bible Protestants have read for three centuries.
John Gill1697–1771BaptistAn Exposition of the Old and New Testament · on Job 26:2This verse and Job 26:3 either are to be understood of God, as many do … a fine advocate for him thou art, representing him as if he was without power, and could not help himself, but stood in need of another … or else Job refers to the cause undertaken by Bildad; and which he, in a sarcastic way, represents as a very weak and feeble one … though I choose to join with such interpreters, who understand the whole of Job himself, who was without might and power … being pressed and broken with the weight of his affliction, but was poorly helped, succoured, strengthened, and comforted, with what Bildad had said: it is the duty of all good men, and it is what Job himself had done in former times, to strengthen weak hands and feeble knees, by sympathizing with persons under affliction … but miserable comforters of Job were Bildad and his friends
This verse and Job 26:3 either are to be understood of God, as many do … a fine advocate for him thou art, representing him as if he was without power, and could not help himself, but stood in need of another … or else Job refers to the cause undertaken by Bildad; and which he, in a sarcastic way, represents as a very weak and feeble one … though I choose to join with such interpreters, who understand the whole of Job himself, who was without might and power … being pressed and broken with the weight of his affliction, but was poorly helped, succoured, strengthened, and comforted, with what Bildad had said: it is the duty of all good men, and it is what Job himself had done in former times, to strengthen weak hands and feeble knees, by sympathizing with persons under affliction … but miserable comforters of Job were Bildad and his friends
John Gill, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, on 26:2; 1746–1763; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
An English Baptist pastor in London and a scholar of Hebrew and the rabbis, who wrote a verse-by-verse commentary on the whole Bible.
John Wesley1703–1791MethodistExplanatory Notes upon the Old Testament · on Job 26:7North - The northern part of the heavens, which is put for the whole visible heaven, because Job and his friends lived in a northern climate. Nothing - Upon no props or pillars, but his own power and providence.
North - The northern part of the heavens, which is put for the whole visible heaven, because Job and his friends lived in a northern climate. Nothing - Upon no props or pillars, but his own power and providence.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, on 26:7; Bristol, 1765. The edition
The Anglican priest who began the Methodist movement; his notes on the Bible were written for ordinary readers.
Jamieson, Fausset and Brownpublished 1871Presbyterian and AnglicanA Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments · on Job 26:11pillars--poetically for the mountains which seem to bear up the sky (Psa 104:32). astonished--namely, from terror. Personification. his reproof-- (Psa 104:7). The thunder, reverberating from cliff to cliff (Hab 3:10; Nah 1:5).
pillars--poetically for the mountains which seem to bear up the sky (Psa 104:32). astonished--namely, from terror. Personification. his reproof-- (Psa 104:7). The thunder, reverberating from cliff to cliff (Hab 3:10; Nah 1:5).
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments, on 26:11; 1871; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
Three ministers, two Scottish Presbyterians and an Irish Anglican, whose commentary on the whole Bible was written to be short and plain.
Keil and Delitzsch1807–1888 and 1813–1890LutheranBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament · on Job 26:1–4As in the speech of Bildad the poet makes the opposition of the friends to fade away and cease altogether, as incapable of any further counsel, and hence as conquered, so in Job's closing speech, which consists of three parts, Job 26:1, Job 27:1, Job 29:1, he shows how Job in every respect, as victor, maintains the field against the friends. … Job first answers Bildad, Job 26:1. He characterizes his poor reply as what it is: as useless, and not pertinent in regard to the questions before them: it is of no service to him, it does not affect him, and is, moreover, a borrowed weapon. For he also is conscious of and can praise God's exalted and awe-inspiring majesty.
As in the speech of Bildad the poet makes the opposition of the friends to fade away and cease altogether, as incapable of any further counsel, and hence as conquered, so in Job's closing speech, which consists of three parts, Job 26:1, Job 27:1, Job 29:1, he shows how Job in every respect, as victor, maintains the field against the friends. … Job first answers Bildad, Job 26:1. He characterizes his poor reply as what it is: as useless, and not pertinent in regard to the questions before them: it is of no service to him, it does not affect him, and is, moreover, a borrowed weapon. For he also is conscious of and can praise God's exalted and awe-inspiring majesty.
Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, on 26:1–14, closing remarks; translated by James Martin and others (Edinburgh, 1866–1891); the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, two German Lutheran scholars of Hebrew whose commentary on the Old Testament is still read for its learning.
Keil and Delitzsch1807–1888 and 1813–1890LutheranBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament · on Job 26:10Job 26:10 passes from the waters above to the lower waters. … The idea is, that God has appointed a fixed limit to the waters, as far as to the point at which they wash the terra firma of the extreme horizon, and where the boundary line of the realms of light and darkness is; and the basis of the expression, as Bouillier, by reference to Virgil's Georg. i. 240f., has shown, is the conception of the ancients, that the earth is surrounded by the ocean, on the other side of which the region of darkness begins.
Job 26:10 passes from the waters above to the lower waters. … The idea is, that God has appointed a fixed limit to the waters, as far as to the point at which they wash the terra firma of the extreme horizon, and where the boundary line of the realms of light and darkness is; and the basis of the expression, as Bouillier, by reference to Virgil's Georg. i. 240f., has shown, is the conception of the ancients, that the earth is surrounded by the ocean, on the other side of which the region of darkness begins.
Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, on 26:8–10; translated by James Martin and others (Edinburgh, 1866–1891); the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, two German Lutheran scholars of Hebrew whose commentary on the Old Testament is still read for its learning.
Job 26
Job 26:1–14, World English Bible
Job 26 in the Bible · Told in the Story: Chapter 19, Job Holds On
What others have written
8 passages from writers of 2 traditions, in their own words, each with their dates and tradition. The site doesn’t say who is right: read them beside the verses. About these
Oldest first.
Gregory the Greatc. 540–604Early church, WestMorals on the Book of Job · on Job 26:2To help one that is weak is an act of charity, to wish to help one that is powerful, of Pride … As if he said in plain words; ‘While thou settest thyself to help Him, under Whose greatness thou dost sink to the earth, all the encouragement which thou affordest comes of ostentation, not of piety.’ … But herein it is requisite to be known, that even God, Who surely is not ‘powerless,’ we help whilst acting with humility. … But they who have high thoughts of their own power of mind, will not be helpers of God with humility; because whilst they reckon themselves to be of use to God, they are making themselves strangers to the fruit of usefulness.
Gregory the Great, Morals on the Book of Job, book 17, on 26:2 (his Latin Bible has “Of whom art thou the helper? whether of one that is powerless?”); translated in the Library of the Fathers (Oxford, 1844–1850); the text of Lectionary Central. The edition
Bishop of Rome from 590, whose Morals on the Book of Job and sermons on the Gospels were read across the medieval church.
Gregory the Greatc. 540–604Early church, WestMorals on the Book of Job · on Job 26:11What else does he call ‘the pillars of heaven’ but the holy Angels, or the principal preachers of the Church, over whom in the heavenly world the whole structure of the spiritual edifice increasing arose … But with whatever degree of goodness a man may be advanced, with whatever knowledge he may be made to grow, he cannot fathom to the bottom, what a governance of judgments the Lord rules us with. Therefore let him say, The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at his nod; because in most things not those even are able to reach the lofty height of His will, who whilst announcing see the rewards of that will. Which, as we said above, there is nothing hinders being interpreted of the Holy Angels as well; because the very Powers of the heavenly world themselves, which behold Him without ceasing, in that very contemplation of theirs are made to tremble. But that that should not be a trembling of woe to them, it is one not of fear, but of admiration.
Gregory the Great, Morals on the Book of Job, book 17, on 26:11, the mystical sense; translated in the Library of the Fathers (Oxford, 1844–1850); the text of Lectionary Central. The edition
Bishop of Rome from 590, whose Morals on the Book of Job and sermons on the Gospels were read across the medieval church.
Matthew Henry1662–1714English PresbyterianCommentary on the Whole Bible · on Job 26:14He concludes, at last, with an awful et caetera (Job 26:14): Lo, these are parts of his ways, the out-goings of his wisdom and power, the ways in which he walks and by which he makes himself known to the children of men. … This that we have said is but part of his ways, a small part. What we know of God is nothing in comparison with what is in God and what God is. After all the discoveries which God has made to us, and all the enquiries we have made after God, still we are much in the dark concerning him, and must conclude, Lo, these are but parts of his ways. … Even the thunder of his power (that is, his powerful thunder), one of the lowest of his ways here in our own region, we cannot understand.
Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on 26:5–14; 1706–1714; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
An English Presbyterian minister whose commentary on the whole Bible Protestants have read for three centuries.
John Gill1697–1771BaptistAn Exposition of the Old and New Testament · on Job 26:2This verse and Job 26:3 either are to be understood of God, as many do … a fine advocate for him thou art, representing him as if he was without power, and could not help himself, but stood in need of another … or else Job refers to the cause undertaken by Bildad; and which he, in a sarcastic way, represents as a very weak and feeble one … though I choose to join with such interpreters, who understand the whole of Job himself, who was without might and power … being pressed and broken with the weight of his affliction, but was poorly helped, succoured, strengthened, and comforted, with what Bildad had said: it is the duty of all good men, and it is what Job himself had done in former times, to strengthen weak hands and feeble knees, by sympathizing with persons under affliction … but miserable comforters of Job were Bildad and his friends
John Gill, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, on 26:2; 1746–1763; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
An English Baptist pastor in London and a scholar of Hebrew and the rabbis, who wrote a verse-by-verse commentary on the whole Bible.
John Wesley1703–1791MethodistExplanatory Notes upon the Old Testament · on Job 26:7North - The northern part of the heavens, which is put for the whole visible heaven, because Job and his friends lived in a northern climate. Nothing - Upon no props or pillars, but his own power and providence.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, on 26:7; Bristol, 1765. The edition
The Anglican priest who began the Methodist movement; his notes on the Bible were written for ordinary readers.
Jamieson, Fausset and Brownpublished 1871Presbyterian and AnglicanA Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments · on Job 26:11pillars--poetically for the mountains which seem to bear up the sky (Psa 104:32). astonished--namely, from terror. Personification. his reproof-- (Psa 104:7). The thunder, reverberating from cliff to cliff (Hab 3:10; Nah 1:5).
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments, on 26:11; 1871; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
Three ministers, two Scottish Presbyterians and an Irish Anglican, whose commentary on the whole Bible was written to be short and plain.
Keil and Delitzsch1807–1888 and 1813–1890LutheranBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament · on Job 26:1–4As in the speech of Bildad the poet makes the opposition of the friends to fade away and cease altogether, as incapable of any further counsel, and hence as conquered, so in Job's closing speech, which consists of three parts, Job 26:1, Job 27:1, Job 29:1, he shows how Job in every respect, as victor, maintains the field against the friends. … Job first answers Bildad, Job 26:1. He characterizes his poor reply as what it is: as useless, and not pertinent in regard to the questions before them: it is of no service to him, it does not affect him, and is, moreover, a borrowed weapon. For he also is conscious of and can praise God's exalted and awe-inspiring majesty.
Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, on 26:1–14, closing remarks; translated by James Martin and others (Edinburgh, 1866–1891); the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, two German Lutheran scholars of Hebrew whose commentary on the Old Testament is still read for its learning.
Keil and Delitzsch1807–1888 and 1813–1890LutheranBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament · on Job 26:10Job 26:10 passes from the waters above to the lower waters. … The idea is, that God has appointed a fixed limit to the waters, as far as to the point at which they wash the terra firma of the extreme horizon, and where the boundary line of the realms of light and darkness is; and the basis of the expression, as Bouillier, by reference to Virgil's Georg. i. 240f., has shown, is the conception of the ancients, that the earth is surrounded by the ocean, on the other side of which the region of darkness begins.
Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, on 26:8–10; translated by James Martin and others (Edinburgh, 1866–1891); the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, two German Lutheran scholars of Hebrew whose commentary on the Old Testament is still read for its learning.