Biblical commentary on the Book of Job Author:Franz Delitzsch Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THIRD PART.—THE TRANSITION TO THE UNRAVELMENT. Chap, xxvu.-xxxi. Job's Final Speech to the Friends.—Chap, xxvii. xxviii. Schema: 12. 10. 12. 10. | 10. 8. 8. 8... more ». 8. 8. 10. [Then Job continued to take up his proverb, and said :] 2 As God liveth, who hath deprived me of my right, And the Almighty, who hath sorely saddened my soul— 3 For still all my breath is in me, And the breath of Eloah in my nostrils— ( 4 My lips do not speak what is false, And my tongue uttereth not deceit! 5 Far be it from me, to grant that you are in the right: Till I die I will not remove my innocence from me. 6 My righteousness I hold fast, and let it not go : My heart reproacheth not any of my days. 1 Mine enemy must appear as an evil-doer, And he who riseth up against me as unrighteous. The friends are silent, Job remains master of the discourse, and his continued speech is introduced as a continued i?W5 nNB' (after the analogy of the phrase ip Ktw), as in Num. xxiii. 7 and further on, the oracles of Balaam, f'o is speech of a more elevated tone and more figurative character; here, as frequently, the unaffected outgrowth of an elevated solemn mood. The introduction of the ultimatum, as fe'o, reminds one of " the proverb (el-methel) seals it" in the mouth of the Arab, since in common life it is customary to use a pithy saying as the final proof at the conclusion of a speech. Job begins with an asseveration of his truthfulness (i.e. VOL. II. E the agreement of his confession with his consciousness) by the life of God. From this oath, which in the form bi-hajdt allafi has become later on a common formula of assurance, R. Josua, in his tractate Sota, infers that Job served God from love to Him, for we only swear by the life of that which we honour and love; it is more na...« less