to withdraw (both literally and figuratively · verb, hiphil imperfect, 1st person common singular
commandment
מִצְוַ֣תmitz.Vat
H4687
a command · noun, common feminine singular construct
lips
שְׂ֭פָתָיוSe.fa.tav
H8193
the lip (as a natural boundary) · noun, common feminine dual construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
esteemed
צָפַ֥נְתִּיtza.Fan.ti
H6845
to hide (by covering over) · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
words
אִמְרֵי'im.rei-
H561
something said · noun, common masculine plural construct
mouth
פִֽיוFiv
H6310
the mouth (as the means of blowing) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
necessary
מֵ֝חֻקִּ֗יme.chu.Ki
H2706
an enactment · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
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
Jeremiah 15:16 Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD…
Psalms 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
Psalms 119:103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
John 4:34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
Psalms 19:9-10 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
Job 22:22 Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.
John 4:32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.
John 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 23:8-12
Here, I. Job complains that he cannot understand the meaning of God's providences concerning him, but is quite at a loss about them (Job 23:8, Job 23:9): I go forward, but he is not there, etc. Eliphaz had bid him acquaint himself with God. "So I would, with all my heart," says Job, "If I knew how to get acquainted with him." He had himself a great desire to appear before God, and get a hearing of his case, but the Judge was not to be found. Look which way he would, he could see no sign of God's appearing for him to clear up his innocency. Job, no doubt, believed that God is every where present; but three things he seems to complain of here: - 1. That he could not fix his thoughts, nor form…
esteemed--rather, "laid up," namely, as a treasure found (Mat 13:44; Psa 119:11); alluding to the words of Eliphaz (Job 22:22). There was no need to tell me so; I have done so already (Jer 15:16).
necessary--"Appointed portion" (of food; as in Pro 30:8). UMBREIT and MAURER translate, "More than my law," my own will, in antithesis to "the words of His mouth" (Joh 6:38). Probably under the general term, "what is appointed to me" (the same Hebrew is in Job 23:14), all that ministers to the appetites of the body and carnal will is included.
John Gill on Job 23:12
Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips,.... From any of the commandments his lips had uttered; meaning not the ten commandments given to Israel, which perhaps as yet were not given, or had not come to the knowledge of Job; some speak of the seven commandments, given to the sons of Noah; See Gill on Genesis 9:4. It seems to design any and every commandment that God had given to Noah or Abraham, or any of the patriarchs, before the times of Job, and which he had knowledge of, and which he carefully observed, kept close to, and did not deviate from; but made it the rule of his walk and practice:
I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food; the words of…
Neither have I gone back from the commandments of His lips. I have hid the words of His mouth in my breast. As servants that serve well are ever intent upon their masters' countenances, that the things they may bid they may hear readily, and strive to fulfil; so the minds of the righteous in their bent are upon Almighty God, and in His Scripture they as it were fix their eyes on His face, that whereas God delivers therein all that He wills, they may not be at variance with His will, in proportion as they learn that will in His revelation. Whence it happens, that His words do not pass superfluously through their ears, but that these words they fix in their hearts. Hence it is here added; I have hid the words of His mouth in my breast. For we 'hide the words of His mouth in the bosom of our heart,' when we hear His commandments not in a passing way, but to fulfil them in practice. Hence it is that of the Virgin Mother herself it is written, But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. Which same words even when they come forth to the practising lie hidden in the recesses of the heart, if through that which is done without, the mind of the doer be not lifted up within. For when the word conceived is carried on to the deed, if human praise is aimed at herein, the word of God assuredly is not 'hidden in the bosom of the mind.' But I would know, O blessed man, wherefore thou examinest thyself with so much earnestness, wherefore thou takest thyself to task with so much anxiety?
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
Devotedness To God · A characteristic of saints — A characteristic of saints
Scriptures, The · Saints: Esteem, above all things — Saints: Esteem, above all things
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).
Keil & Delitzsch on Job 23:10-13
10 For He knoweth the way that is with me:
If He should prove me, I should come forth as gold.
11 My foot held firm to His steps;
His way I kept, and turned not aside.
12 The command of His lips - I departed not from it;
More than my own determination I kept the words of His mouth.
13 Yet He remaineth by one thing, and who can turn Him?
And He accomplisheth what His soul desireth.
That which is not merely outwardly, but inwardly with (אם) any one, is that which he thinks and knows (his consciousness), Job 9:35; Job 15:9, or his willing and acting, Job 10:13; Job 27:11 : he is conscious of it, he intends to do it; here, Job 23:10, עם is intended in the former sense, in Job 23:14 in the latter…
tests me: Job did not want the kind of chastising that would cleanse him like a refiner’s fire (Prov 17:3; Zech 13:9; Mal 3:2-3). He wanted an examination that would prove that he had been as pure as gold and did not need to amend his life (Job 22:23).
Rashi on Job 23:12
more than my daily bread I kept the words of His mouth More than my daily food I was eager to keep the words of His mouth. [The expression חקי] is like (Prov. 30:8), “my daily bread (לחם חקי),” my food.
