to lift · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural + paragogic nun
person
הֲפָנָ֥יוha.fa.Nav
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · interrogative particle + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
contend
תְּרִיבֽוּןte.ri.Vun
H7378
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural + paragogic nun
God
לָאֵ֥לla.'El
H410
strength · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Exodus 23:2-3 Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:
Proverbs 24:23 These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment.
Leviticus 19:15 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in right…
Job 32:21 Let me not, I pray you, accept any man’s person, neither let me give flattering titles unto man.
Job 34:19 How much less to him that accepteth not the persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than the poor? for they all are the work of his…
Malachi 2:9 Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 13:1-12
Job here warmly expresses his resentment of the unkindness of his friends.
I. He comes up with them as one that understood the matter in dispute as well as they, and did not need to be taught by them, Job 13:1, Job 13:2. They compelled him, as the Corinthians did Paul, to commend himself and his own knowledge, yet not in a way of self-applause, but of self-justification. All he had before said his eye had seen confirmed by many instances, and his ear had heard seconded by many authorities, and he well understood it and what use to make of it. Happy are those who not only see and hear, but understand, the greatness, glory, and sovereignty of God. This, he thought, would justify what he had sa…
accept his person--God's; that is, be partial for Him, as when a judge favors one party in a trial, because of personal considerations.
contend for God--namely, with fallacies and prepossessions against Job before judgment (Jdg 6:31). Partiality can never please the impartial God, nor the goodness of the cause excuse the unfairness of the arguments.
John Gill on Job 13:8
Will ye accept his person?.... Accepting persons ought not to be done in judgment by earthly judges; which is done when they give a cause to one through favour and affection to his person, because rich, or their friend, and against another, because otherwise; and something like this Job intimates his friends did in the present case; they only considered what God was, holy, just, wise, and good in all he did, and so far they were right, and too much respect cannot be given him; but the fault was, that they only attended to this, and did not look into the cause of Job itself, but wholly neglected it, and gave it against him, he being poor, abject, and miserable, on the above consideration of t…
7 Will ye speak what is wrong for God,
And speak what is deceitful for Him?
8 Will ye be partial for Him,
Or will ye play the part of God's advocates?
9 Would it be pleasant if He should search you out,
Or can ye jest with Him, as one jesteth with men?
10 He will surely expose you
If ye secretly act with partiality.
11 Will not His majesty confound you,
And His fear fall upon you?
Their advocacy of God - this is the thought of this strophe - is an injustice to Job, and an evil service rendered to God, which cannot escape undisguised punishment from Him. They set themselves up as God's advocates (לאל ריב, like לבּעל ריב, Jdg 6:31), and at the same time accept His person, accipiunt (as in acc…
The Church Fathers
"Do you pretend that you do not want to judge? Can you still hide, and not agree that I have spoken of you in truth?
"If he follows your traces," Job says. Therefore you, who speak so now would have not spoken so, if you were directly involved in the case that is judged. That is, if you were in my place and God were judging your matters with severity, you would have not judged my words as you do now. Or, to say things in a different manner, you, who speak so, would have not been judges of my words. In fact, Job says, even if you speak more, and you do everything to speak in God's favor, he will not confound you any less and will ask you for explanations.
Will ye take His person? will ye strive to judge for God? For when foolish men behold the doings of the wise, they all seem to them to be worthy of blame; who, forgetting their own emptiness and deficiency, pass judgment on the concerns of others the more eagerly, in proportion as they are more deeply ignorant of their own. But on the other hand, when the righteous reprove the deeds of the wicked, ever conscious of their own weakness, they administer reproof, though in launching forth against them outwardly, yet in sympathizing with them inwardly; in that it belongs to Him alone to scrutinize the sins of men without fellow-feeling, Who by the omnipotence of His nature knows not to commit sin. Therefore, as the friends of blessed Job had so reproved his deeds as if they had nothing in themselves to be reproved, it is well said in this place, Will ye take His face? Will ye strive to judge for God? For to 'take the face of God' is to assume His authority in the act of judging; and he as it were 'strives to judge for God,' who when he reproves the several weak points in another, does not feel weak in himself within from fellow-feeling.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Blasphemy · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).