to gaze at · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine plural
altogether
הֶ֣בֶלHe.vel
H1892
emptiness or vanity · noun, common masculine singular absolute
vain
תֶּהְבָּֽלוּteh.Ba.lu
H1891
to be vain in act · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural
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
Job 16:3 Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest?
Job 19:2-3 How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?
Job 21:3 Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.
Job 6:25-29 How forcible are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove?
Job 13:4-9 But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.
Job 17:2 Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?
Job 21:28-30 For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?
Job 26:2-4 How hast thou helped him that is without power? how savest thou the arm that hath no strength?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 27:11–end
Job's friends had seen a great deal of the misery and destruction that attend wicked people, especially oppressors; and Job, while the heat of disputation lasted, had said as much, and with as much assurance, of their prosperity; but now that the heat of the battle was nearly over he was willing to own how far he agreed with them, and where the difference between his opinion and theirs lay. 1. He agreed with them that wicked people are miserable people, that God will surely reckon with cruel oppressors, and one time or other, one way or other, his justice will make reprisals upon them for all the affronts they have put upon God and all the wrongs they have done to their neighbours. This trut…
"Ye yourselves see" that the wicked often are afflicted (though often the reverse, Job 21:33). But do you "vainly" make this an argument to prove from my afflictions that I am wicked?
John Gill on Job 27:12
Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it,.... As they were men of observation, at least made great pretensions to it, as well as of age and experience, they must have seen and observed somewhat at least of the above things; they must have seen the wicked, as David afterwards did, spreading himself like a green bay tree, and the hypocrites in easy and flourishing circumstances, and good men labouring under great afflictions and pressures, and Job himself was now an instance of that before their eyes:
why then are ye thus altogether vain? or "become vain in vanity" (k); so exceeding vain, so excessively trifling, as to speak and act against the dictates of their own conscience, against their ow…
8 For what is the hope of the godless, when He cutteth off,
When Eloah taketh away his soul?
9 Will God hear his cry
When distress cometh upon him?
10 Or can he delight himself in the Almighty,
Can he call upon Eloah at all times?
11 I will teach you concerning the hand of God,
I will not conceal the dealings of the Almighty.
12 Behold, ye have all seen it,
Why then do ye cherish foolish notions?
In comparing himself with the רשׁע, Job is conscious that he has a God who does not leave him unheard, in whom he delights himself, and to whom he can at all times draw near; as, in fact, Job's fellowship with God rests upon the freedom of the most intimate confidence. He is not one of the godless;…
The Church Fathers
"As you all know from now on, you have needlessly made vain speeches. That's why you must beg your forgiveness. How will he be able to present the merits of his actions, the one that says nothing but vain things
I will teach you by the hand of God, that which is with the Almighty; I will not conceal. Behold, all ye yourselves know: why then do ye utter vain things without cause? This is the portion of an ungodly man with God, and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive of the Almighty. In such a way does blessed Job speak in his own words as to denote something connected with what relates to us. For Holy Church in teaching, in so far as it is expedient to know it, hides not a particle of truth. Thus because 'the Hand of God' is a name for the Son; for, by Him were all things made; she tells that by the Hand of God she teaches those, whom she sees continuing foolish in their own wisdom. As if she said in plain words; 'I know not any thing of myself; but whatever I perceive of the Truth, this I comprehend by the bountifulness of that same Truth. Ye for this reason are not embued with right wisdom, because this same wisdom that you have you ascribe not to the Hand of God, but to your own selves.' For the adversaries of Holy Church, if they do at times perceive any thing true, this they attribute to their own powers, and they deprive themselves so much the more of the Wisdom from Above, in the same proportion as they wish to have it appropriated to themselves as being derived from their own wits. Unto whom it is sometimes vouchsafed for their judgment, that they should indeed know some things aright, but by this very same knowledge be rendered the more obnoxious to punishment. It is written; And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself; neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did not worthily, shall be beaten with few stripes. And again it is written; Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. And so for the heightening of greater guilt Holy Church tells it that her enemies at once know what they ought to follow, and will not follow what they may know. Of which same persons it is elsewhere said; Let them go down quick into hell. Those are 'quick' that are sensible of the things that are done towards them. For the dead neither know nor are sensible at all, and so 'the dead' who do not feel are used to be put for persons that know not, but 'the quick,' who are sensible, for those that know. Therefore to 'go down quick into hell' is for persons…
