Job 23:9

On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
hand	שְׂמֹ֣אול se.Mol	H8040	properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
work	בַּעֲשֹׂת֣וֹ ba.'a.so.To	H6213	to do or make · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
behold	אָ֑חַז 'A.chaz	H2372	to gaze at · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
hideth	יַעְטֹ֥ף ya'.Tof	H5848	to shroud · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
hand	יָ֝מִ֗ין ya.Min	H3225	the right hand or side (leg · noun, common feminine singular absolute
see	אֶרְאֶֽה 'er.'Eh	H7200	to see · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular

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

Psalms 89:46 How long, LORD? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire?
Isaiah 8:17 And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.

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…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 23:9

Rather, "To the north." work--God's glorious works are especially seen towards the north region of the sky by one in the northern hemisphere. The antithesis is between God working and yet not being beheld: as in Job 9:11, between "He goeth by," and "I see Him not." If the Hebrew bears it, the parallelism to the second clause is better suited by translating, as UMBREIT, "doth hide himself"; but then the antithesis to "behold" would be lost. right hand--"in the south." hideth--appropriately, of the unexplored south, then regarded as uninhabitable because of its heat (see Job 34:29).

John Gill on Job 23:9

On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him,.... The northern part of the world, where his seat is, or the circle of the earth, says Bar Tzemach, and who has stretched out the north over the empty place, Job 26:7. Jarchi's note is, when he created it, he did not make it the place of his throne: God works everywhere in a way of providence, but in some places more eminently than in others; the northern part of the world is observed to be more inhabited than the southern, and the people of it to be more active in war and business than elsewhere; and more and greater things are done by God among them as instruments than among any other; and Mr. Caryl observes, that the Gospel h…

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The Church Fathers

"What is he doing? on the left, I can not know it. He takes again what he said above. He can not know anything by staying left attached to the things of this world. "He will turn to the right, and I will not see him. So I do not have to go to the left. It is said "He will turn," because with him are the spiritual goods from which I departed by placing myself on the left.
— Augustine of Hippo, ANNOTATIONS ON THE BOOK OF JOB (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

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

East — (1.) The orient (mizrah); the rising of the sun. Thus “the east country” is the country lying to the east of Syria, the Elymais (Zech. 8:7). (2). Properly what is in front of one, or a country that…
Hand — Called by Galen “the instrument of instruments.” It is the symbol of human action (Ps. 9:16; Job 9:30; Isa. 1:15; 1 Tim. 2:8). Washing the hands was a symbol of innocence (Ps. 26:6; 73:13; Matt.…
Left hand — Among the Hebrews, denoted the north (Job 23:9; Gen. 14:15), the face of the person being supposed to be toward the east.
Northward — (Heb. tsaphon), a “hidden” or “dark place,” as opposed to the sunny south (Deut. 3:27). A Hebrew in speaking of the points of the compass was considered as always having his face to the east, and…
Sun — (Heb. shemesh), first mentioned along with the moon as the two great luminaries of heaven (Gen. 1:14-18). By their motions and influence they were intended to mark and divide times and seasons. The…
God · Is declared to be: Invisible — Is declared to be: Invisible

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).

Job 23:9

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 23:8-12

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 23:9

John Gill on Job 23:9

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Job 23:9

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 23:8-12

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 23:9

John Gill on Job 23:9

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Job 23:6-9

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Job 23:6-7

Rashi on Job 23:9