8 passages from writers of 3 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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The Talmudgathered c. 200–500JewishTract Baba Bathra · on Job 29:13Rabha lectured: It is written … "The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me; and the heart of the widow I caused to sing for joy." From the first half of this verse we learn that be used to rob a field belonging to orphans, improved it, and returned it to them; and in the latter half we learn that if there was a widow whom no one wished to marry, he put his name upon her, saying that she was his relative, and then it was easy for her to marry.
Rabha lectured: It is written … "The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me; and the heart of the widow I caused to sing for joy." From the first half of this verse we learn that be used to rob a field belonging to orphans, improved it, and returned it to them; and in the latter half we learn that if there was a widow whom no one wished to marry, he put his name upon her, saying that she was his relative, and then it was easy for her to marry.
The Talmud, Tract Baba Bathra, Baba Bathra 16a (“be used” is the printing’s misprint for “he used”); translated by Michael L. Rodkinson (Boston, 1918); the text of the Internet Sacred Text Archive. The edition
The rabbis' discussions of the law and the Scriptures, gathered in Babylonia over three centuries, each saying under the name of the rabbi who said it.
Gregory the Greatc. 540–604Early church, WestMorals on the Book of Job · on Job 29:15–16Herein the mind of the reader might perchance put the question, wherefore it is that blessed Job reckons up his own virtue with so much particularity. For it is a mark of holy men to conceal the good things they may have done, lest it chance that they bring upon themselves the downfall of exaltation. … Though, as we have already often said above, the despair urged on him by those upbraiding him, forced him to recall his own deeds to remembrance. For amidst so many pains of wounding and words of despair, when he tells the things which he did, his mind as it were sunk down by words and wounds he sets anew to hope. … For not a patron, or a neighbour, or an helper to the poor, but ‘a father’ he testifies that he had been; in this way, because by the great attentiveness of his charity he converted the purpose of mercy into the affection of nature, that he should look on those as children by love, whom he was the head of as a father by protecting.
Herein the mind of the reader might perchance put the question, wherefore it is that blessed Job reckons up his own virtue with so much particularity. For it is a mark of holy men to conceal the good things they may have done, lest it chance that they bring upon themselves the downfall of exaltation. … Though, as we have already often said above, the despair urged on him by those upbraiding him, forced him to recall his own deeds to remembrance. For amidst so many pains of wounding and words of despair, when he tells the things which he did, his mind as it were sunk down by words and wounds he sets anew to hope. … For not a patron, or a neighbour, or an helper to the poor, but ‘a father’ he testifies that he had been; in this way, because by the great attentiveness of his charity he converted the purpose of mercy into the affection of nature, that he should look on those as children by love, whom he was the head of as a father by protecting.
Gregory the Great, Morals on the Book of Job, book 19, on 29:15–16, the historical 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.
Gregory the Greatc. 540–604Early church, WestMorals on the Book of Job · on Job 29:25even taken according to the history it may very greatly edify the reader, if he considers well how with good rulers both authoritativeness of ruling and loving-kindness of consoling are mixed together. For he says; And when I sat as a King with an army around; see the authoritativeness of governance; nevertheless I was a comforter of them that mourned; mark the service of pitifulness. For discipline or mercy is much bared, if the one be maintained without the other. … It is hence that to the wounds of that half-dead man, who was carried by the Samaritan into the inn, there is both wine applied and oil, that by the wine the wounds should be bitten, and by the oil they should be soothed … So then let there be love, but not that softens, let there be vigour, but not that grates, let there be zeal, but not that storms to excess, let there be pitifulness that does not spare more than may be expedient.
even taken according to the history it may very greatly edify the reader, if he considers well how with good rulers both authoritativeness of ruling and loving-kindness of consoling are mixed together. For he says; And when I sat as a King with an army around; see the authoritativeness of governance; nevertheless I was a comforter of them that mourned; mark the service of pitifulness. For discipline or mercy is much bared, if the one be maintained without the other. … It is hence that to the wounds of that half-dead man, who was carried by the Samaritan into the inn, there is both wine applied and oil, that by the wine the wounds should be bitten, and by the oil they should be soothed … So then let there be love, but not that softens, let there be vigour, but not that grates, let there be zeal, but not that storms to excess, let there be pitifulness that does not spare more than may be expedient.
Gregory the Great, Morals on the Book of Job, book 20, on 29:25, the historical 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 29:2–5Losers may have leave to speak, and there is nothing they speak of more feelingly than of the comforts they are stripped of. … That he had comfort in his God. This was the chief thing he rejoiced in, in his prosperity, as the spring of it and the sweetness of it, that he had the favour of God and the tokens of that favour. … The secret of God was upon my tabernacle, that is, God conversed freely with him, as one bosom-friend with another. … God's presence with a man in his house, though it be but a cottage, makes it both a castle and a palace. … It is a comfort to tender parents to see their children about them. Job speaks very feelingly of this comfort now that he was deprived of it.
Losers may have leave to speak, and there is nothing they speak of more feelingly than of the comforts they are stripped of. … That he had comfort in his God. This was the chief thing he rejoiced in, in his prosperity, as the spring of it and the sweetness of it, that he had the favour of God and the tokens of that favour. … The secret of God was upon my tabernacle, that is, God conversed freely with him, as one bosom-friend with another. … God's presence with a man in his house, though it be but a cottage, makes it both a castle and a palace. … It is a comfort to tender parents to see their children about them. Job speaks very feelingly of this comfort now that he was deprived of it.
Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on 29:1–6; 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 29:12–13he made a pause for awhile, waiting to observe whether any of his three friends would return an answer to what he had said; but perceiving they were not inclined to make any reply, he began again, and gave an account of his former life, in order to show that he was far from being the wicked man, or being so accounted by others, as his friends had represented him … This honour and esteem he had not because of his grandeur and riches, because of his worldly wealth and substance, but because of the goodness of his disposition, and because of the good he did to men, his acts of pity and compassion to the poor, and of the justice he did to all men … and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy; by relieving her wants, defending her cause, and punishing those that oppressed her; which is the reverse of the character Eliphaz gives of Job, Job 22:9.
he made a pause for awhile, waiting to observe whether any of his three friends would return an answer to what he had said; but perceiving they were not inclined to make any reply, he began again, and gave an account of his former life, in order to show that he was far from being the wicked man, or being so accounted by others, as his friends had represented him … This honour and esteem he had not because of his grandeur and riches, because of his worldly wealth and substance, but because of the goodness of his disposition, and because of the good he did to men, his acts of pity and compassion to the poor, and of the justice he did to all men … and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy; by relieving her wants, defending her cause, and punishing those that oppressed her; which is the reverse of the character Eliphaz gives of Job, Job 22:9.
John Gill, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, on 29:1 and 29:12–13; 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 Gill1697–1771BaptistAn Exposition of the Old and New Testament · on Job 29:18Job, amidst all his prosperity, knew he should die, death and the grave being appointed for all men … that he should die with all his children about him, like a bird in its nest full of young; whereas now he was stripped of them all, and likely to die childless … and I shall multiply my days as the sand; which is not to be numbered; an hyperbolical expression, to denote the long life he expected to enjoy … Some versions render it, "as the phoenix" … a bird of that name, spoken of by many writers as a very long lived one … but inasmuch as this seems to be a fabulous bird, and that there is not, nor ever was, any such in being, it cannot well be thought that Job should allude unto it … but since the Hebrew word here used is never used but of sand, it is best so to understand it here, seeing it as fully answers Job's purpose; which was to express his confidence of a very long life.
Job, amidst all his prosperity, knew he should die, death and the grave being appointed for all men … that he should die with all his children about him, like a bird in its nest full of young; whereas now he was stripped of them all, and likely to die childless … and I shall multiply my days as the sand; which is not to be numbered; an hyperbolical expression, to denote the long life he expected to enjoy … Some versions render it, "as the phoenix" … a bird of that name, spoken of by many writers as a very long lived one … but inasmuch as this seems to be a fabulous bird, and that there is not, nor ever was, any such in being, it cannot well be thought that Job should allude unto it … but since the Hebrew word here used is never used but of sand, it is best so to understand it here, seeing it as fully answers Job's purpose; which was to express his confidence of a very long life.
John Gill, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, on 29:18; 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.
Keil and Delitzsch1807–1888 and 1813–1890LutheranBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament · on Job 29:15–17The less it is Job's purpose here to vindicate himself before the friends, the more forcible is the refutation which the accusations of the most hard-hearted uncharitableness raised against him by them, especially by Eliphaz, Job 22, find everywhere here. His charity relieved the bodily and spiritual wants of others - eyes to the blind … feet to the lame. A father was he to the needy … The unknown he did not regard as those who were nothing to him, but went unselfishly and impartially into the ground of their cause. … He spared not to render wrong-doers harmless, and snatched from them what they had taken from others.
The less it is Job's purpose here to vindicate himself before the friends, the more forcible is the refutation which the accusations of the most hard-hearted uncharitableness raised against him by them, especially by Eliphaz, Job 22, find everywhere here. His charity relieved the bodily and spiritual wants of others - eyes to the blind … feet to the lame. A father was he to the needy … The unknown he did not regard as those who were nothing to him, but went unselfishly and impartially into the ground of their cause. … He spared not to render wrong-doers harmless, and snatched from them what they had taken from others.
Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, on 29:15–17; 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 29:18In itself, Job 29:18 might be translated: "and like to the sand I shall live many days" … so that the abundance of days is compared to the multitude of the grains of sand. … We would willingly decide in favour of this rendering, which is admissible in itself, … if an extensive Jewish tradition did not secure the signification of an immortal bird, or rather one rising ever anew from the dead. … That this bird … is none other than the phoenix, is put beyond all doubt by the Midrashim … "it lives a thousand years, at the expiration of which time fire springs up in its nest, and burns it up to about the size of an egg;" or even: that of itself it diminishes to that size, from which it then grows up again and continues to live … In the full enjoyment of the divine favour and blessing, and in the consciousness of having made a right use of his prosperity, Job hoped … to expire or die … in my nest, i.e., in the bosom of my family
In itself, Job 29:18 might be translated: "and like to the sand I shall live many days" … so that the abundance of days is compared to the multitude of the grains of sand. … We would willingly decide in favour of this rendering, which is admissible in itself, … if an extensive Jewish tradition did not secure the signification of an immortal bird, or rather one rising ever anew from the dead. … That this bird … is none other than the phoenix, is put beyond all doubt by the Midrashim … "it lives a thousand years, at the expiration of which time fire springs up in its nest, and burns it up to about the size of an egg;" or even: that of itself it diminishes to that size, from which it then grows up again and continues to live … In the full enjoyment of the divine favour and blessing, and in the consciousness of having made a right use of his prosperity, Job hoped … to expire or die … in my nest, i.e., in the bosom of my family
Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, on 29:18–20 (he translates 29:18 “Then I thought: With my nest I shall expire, And like the phoenix, have a long life”); 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 29
Job 29:2–25, World English Bible
Job 29 in the Bible · Told in the Story: Chapter 19, Job Holds On
What others have written
8 passages from writers of 3 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.
The Talmudgathered c. 200–500JewishTract Baba Bathra · on Job 29:13Rabha lectured: It is written … "The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me; and the heart of the widow I caused to sing for joy." From the first half of this verse we learn that be used to rob a field belonging to orphans, improved it, and returned it to them; and in the latter half we learn that if there was a widow whom no one wished to marry, he put his name upon her, saying that she was his relative, and then it was easy for her to marry.
The Talmud, Tract Baba Bathra, Baba Bathra 16a (“be used” is the printing’s misprint for “he used”); translated by Michael L. Rodkinson (Boston, 1918); the text of the Internet Sacred Text Archive. The edition
The rabbis' discussions of the law and the Scriptures, gathered in Babylonia over three centuries, each saying under the name of the rabbi who said it.
Gregory the Greatc. 540–604Early church, WestMorals on the Book of Job · on Job 29:15–16Herein the mind of the reader might perchance put the question, wherefore it is that blessed Job reckons up his own virtue with so much particularity. For it is a mark of holy men to conceal the good things they may have done, lest it chance that they bring upon themselves the downfall of exaltation. … Though, as we have already often said above, the despair urged on him by those upbraiding him, forced him to recall his own deeds to remembrance. For amidst so many pains of wounding and words of despair, when he tells the things which he did, his mind as it were sunk down by words and wounds he sets anew to hope. … For not a patron, or a neighbour, or an helper to the poor, but ‘a father’ he testifies that he had been; in this way, because by the great attentiveness of his charity he converted the purpose of mercy into the affection of nature, that he should look on those as children by love, whom he was the head of as a father by protecting.
Gregory the Great, Morals on the Book of Job, book 19, on 29:15–16, the historical 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.
Gregory the Greatc. 540–604Early church, WestMorals on the Book of Job · on Job 29:25even taken according to the history it may very greatly edify the reader, if he considers well how with good rulers both authoritativeness of ruling and loving-kindness of consoling are mixed together. For he says; And when I sat as a King with an army around; see the authoritativeness of governance; nevertheless I was a comforter of them that mourned; mark the service of pitifulness. For discipline or mercy is much bared, if the one be maintained without the other. … It is hence that to the wounds of that half-dead man, who was carried by the Samaritan into the inn, there is both wine applied and oil, that by the wine the wounds should be bitten, and by the oil they should be soothed … So then let there be love, but not that softens, let there be vigour, but not that grates, let there be zeal, but not that storms to excess, let there be pitifulness that does not spare more than may be expedient.
Gregory the Great, Morals on the Book of Job, book 20, on 29:25, the historical 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 29:2–5Losers may have leave to speak, and there is nothing they speak of more feelingly than of the comforts they are stripped of. … That he had comfort in his God. This was the chief thing he rejoiced in, in his prosperity, as the spring of it and the sweetness of it, that he had the favour of God and the tokens of that favour. … The secret of God was upon my tabernacle, that is, God conversed freely with him, as one bosom-friend with another. … God's presence with a man in his house, though it be but a cottage, makes it both a castle and a palace. … It is a comfort to tender parents to see their children about them. Job speaks very feelingly of this comfort now that he was deprived of it.
Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on 29:1–6; 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 29:12–13he made a pause for awhile, waiting to observe whether any of his three friends would return an answer to what he had said; but perceiving they were not inclined to make any reply, he began again, and gave an account of his former life, in order to show that he was far from being the wicked man, or being so accounted by others, as his friends had represented him … This honour and esteem he had not because of his grandeur and riches, because of his worldly wealth and substance, but because of the goodness of his disposition, and because of the good he did to men, his acts of pity and compassion to the poor, and of the justice he did to all men … and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy; by relieving her wants, defending her cause, and punishing those that oppressed her; which is the reverse of the character Eliphaz gives of Job, Job 22:9.
John Gill, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, on 29:1 and 29:12–13; 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 Gill1697–1771BaptistAn Exposition of the Old and New Testament · on Job 29:18Job, amidst all his prosperity, knew he should die, death and the grave being appointed for all men … that he should die with all his children about him, like a bird in its nest full of young; whereas now he was stripped of them all, and likely to die childless … and I shall multiply my days as the sand; which is not to be numbered; an hyperbolical expression, to denote the long life he expected to enjoy … Some versions render it, "as the phoenix" … a bird of that name, spoken of by many writers as a very long lived one … but inasmuch as this seems to be a fabulous bird, and that there is not, nor ever was, any such in being, it cannot well be thought that Job should allude unto it … but since the Hebrew word here used is never used but of sand, it is best so to understand it here, seeing it as fully answers Job's purpose; which was to express his confidence of a very long life.
John Gill, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, on 29:18; 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.
Keil and Delitzsch1807–1888 and 1813–1890LutheranBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament · on Job 29:15–17The less it is Job's purpose here to vindicate himself before the friends, the more forcible is the refutation which the accusations of the most hard-hearted uncharitableness raised against him by them, especially by Eliphaz, Job 22, find everywhere here. His charity relieved the bodily and spiritual wants of others - eyes to the blind … feet to the lame. A father was he to the needy … The unknown he did not regard as those who were nothing to him, but went unselfishly and impartially into the ground of their cause. … He spared not to render wrong-doers harmless, and snatched from them what they had taken from others.
Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, on 29:15–17; 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 29:18In itself, Job 29:18 might be translated: "and like to the sand I shall live many days" … so that the abundance of days is compared to the multitude of the grains of sand. … We would willingly decide in favour of this rendering, which is admissible in itself, … if an extensive Jewish tradition did not secure the signification of an immortal bird, or rather one rising ever anew from the dead. … That this bird … is none other than the phoenix, is put beyond all doubt by the Midrashim … "it lives a thousand years, at the expiration of which time fire springs up in its nest, and burns it up to about the size of an egg;" or even: that of itself it diminishes to that size, from which it then grows up again and continues to live … In the full enjoyment of the divine favour and blessing, and in the consciousness of having made a right use of his prosperity, Job hoped … to expire or die … in my nest, i.e., in the bosom of my family
Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, on 29:18–20 (he translates 29:18 “Then I thought: With my nest I shall expire, And like the phoenix, have a long life”); 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.