strength · noun, common masculine singular absolute
liveth
חַיchai-
H2416
alive · adjective, masculine singular absolute
away
הֵסִ֣ירhe.Sir
H5493
to turn off (literal or figurative) · verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
judgment
מִשְׁפָּטִ֑יmish.pa.Ti
H4941
properly · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
Almighty
וְ֝שַׁדַּ֗יve.sha.Dai
H7706
the Almighty · conjunction + proper noun, a title
vexed
הֵמַ֥רhe.Mar
H4843
to be (causatively · verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
soul
נַפְשִֽׁיnaf.Shi
H5315
properly · noun, common feminine 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
Job 34:5 For Job hath said, I am righteous: and God hath taken away my judgment.
Numbers 14:21 But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.
2 Kings 4:27 And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet: but Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of God sai…
Ruth 1:20-21 And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.
Ruth 3:13 Tarry this night, and it shall be in the morning, that if he will perform unto thee the part of a kinsman, well; let him do the kinsman’s pa…
1 Samuel 14:39 For, as the LORD liveth, which saveth Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die. But there was not a man among all the pe…
1 Samuel 14:45 And the people said unto Saul, Shall Jonathan die, who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel? God forbid: as the LORD liveth, there sh…
1 Samuel 20:21 And, behold, I will send a lad, saying, Go, find out the arrows. If I expressly say unto the lad, Behold, the arrows are on this side of the…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 27:1-6
Job's discourse here is called a parable (mashal), the title of Solomon's proverbs, because it was grave and weighty, and very instructive, and he spoke as one having authority. It comes from a word that signifies to rule, or have dominion; and some think it intimates that Job now triumphed over his opponents, and spoke as one that had baffled them. We say of an excellent preacher that he knows how dominari in concionibus - to command his hearers. Job did so here. A long strife there had been between Job and his friends; they seemed disposed to have the matter compromised; and therefore, since an oath for confirmation is an end of strife (Heb 6:16), Job here backs all he had said in maintena…
(Sa1 20:3).
taken away . . . judgment--words unconsciously foreshadowing Jesus Christ (Isa 53:8; Act 8:33). God will not give Job his right, by declaring his innocence.
vexed--Hebrew, "made bitter" (Rut 1:20).
John Gill on Job 27:2
As God liveth,.... Which is an oath, as Jarchi observes, and is a form of one frequently used, see 2 Samuel 2:27; and is used by God himself, who, because he can swear by no greater, swears by himself, and by his life, which ever continues, as in Ezekiel 18:3; and many other places; and so the Angel of the Lord, even the uncreated Angel, Daniel 12:7; and so should men, when they swear at all, it should be in this manner, see Jeremiah 4:2; though this ought not to be but in cases of moment and importance, for the confirmation of the truth, and to put an end to strife, when it cannot be done any other way than by an appeal to God; as was the present case with Job, it being about hypocrisy, and…
1 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.
7 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…
The Church Fathers
As God liveth, Who hath taken away my judgment, and the Almighty, Who hath brought my soul to bitterness. By which same words blessed Job at once tells his own circumstances, and represents the times of Holy Church under affliction, wherein she is borne down by the open frowardness of unbelievers, and vexed by the bitterness of persecution. For in two ways the Church is subject to be tried by her adversaries, viz. that she should suffer persecution either by words or swords. Now Holy Church aims with the greatest diligence to possess wisdom and patience. And her wisdom is exercised when she is tried with words, her patience is exercised when she is tried with swords. Now, however, he is speaking of that persecution, wherein she is provoked not by swords, but by false statements. Now we know numbers, who when they encounter some things adverse in this life, do not believe that God is, but there are some that hold that God is, but does not concern Himself in the least with the affairs of men. For of the one it is said by David, The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. But the latter say in him, How doth God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High? And again; Yet they say again; The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it. Thus this person who bore a type of Holy Church, whilst set fast in the very bitterness of his affliction, made answer against them both, For as life has 'being,' but death has not, to avow that God is, he saith, As God liveth, but that he might tell that God concerns Himself with the affairs of mortals, he added, Who hath taken away my judgment, and hath brought my soul to bitterness. For these ills which he suffers he bears record that he suffers not by accident, but by God Who ordereth all things, nor does he attribute the power for his bitterness to his tempter, but to his Creator. For he knows that the devil, though he is ever aiming at the afflicting of the just, yet if he do not receive the power from our Maker is not empowered in the least degree for any tittle of temptation. And hence all the devil's will is unjust, and yet whilst God permits it, all his power is just. For of himself he does unjustly seek to try men indifferently, but those that require to be tempted, in so far as they require to be tried, God does not permit to be tried otherwise than justly. Whence also in the Books of the Kings…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
The Bible permits a vow by the living God (Ruth 3:13; 1 Sam 20:21; 25:26; 1 Kgs 17:1; 18:15; Jer 4:2), although sometimes it is done foolishly or falsely (1 Sam 14:39, 45; Jer 5:2). • Elihu later criticized Job for saying that God had taken away his rights (Job 34:5). • embittered . . . soul (7:11; 10:1; 21:25): Cp. Naomi (Ruth 1:20-21) and the widow from Shunem after the loss of her son (2 Kgs 4:27).
Rashi on Job 27:2
As God lives I swear that indeed He took away my right. From here Rabbi Joshua derived that Job served the Omnipresent out of love. No one swears by the king’s life unless he loves the king.
