to burst (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + verb, piel sequential imperfect, 1st person common singular + paragogic he
jaws
מְתַלְּע֣וֹתme.ta.le.'ot
H4973
properly · noun, common feminine plural construct
wicked
עַוָּ֑ל'a.Val
H5767
evil (morally) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
plucked
אַשְׁלִ֥יךְ'ash.Likh
H7993
to throw out · verb, hiphil imperfect, 1st person common singular
spoil
טָֽרֶףTa.ref
H2964
something torn · noun, common masculine singular absolute
teeth
וּ֝מִשִּׁנָּ֗יוu.mish.shi.Nav
H8127
a tooth (as sharp) · conjunction + preposition + noun, common feminine dual construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine 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 3:7 Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.
Proverbs 30:14 There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from a…
1 Samuel 17:35 And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smo…
Psalms 58:8 As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
Psalms 124:6 Blessed be the LORD, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.
Psalms 124:3 Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 29:7-17
We have here Job in a post of honour and power. Though he had comfort enough in his own house, yet he did not confine himself to that. We are not born for ourselves, but for the public. When any business was to be done in the gate, the place of judgment, Job went out to it through the city (Job 29:7), not in an affectation of pomp, but in an affection to justice. Observe, Judgment was administered in the gate, in the street, in the places of concourse, to which every man might have a free access, that every one who would might be a witness to all that was said and done, and that when judgment was given against the guilty others might hear and fear. Job being a prince, a judge, a magistrate,…
Image from combating with wild beasts (Job 4:11; Psa 3:7). So compassionate was Job to the oppressed, so terrible to the oppressor!
jaws--Job broke his power, so that he could do no more hurt, and tore from him the spoil, which he had torn from others.
John Gill on Job 29:17
And I brake the jaws of the wicked,.... Their jaw teeth, or grinders, alluding to beasts of prey, who have such teeth, very large; the meaning may be, that Job confuted the arguments which wicked men made use of in their own defence, and against the poor, exposed the weakness of them, and made them ineffectual to answer their purposes; disabled tyrants and cruel oppressors from doing any further hurt and damage to the fatherless and helpless; was an instrument in the hand of God of breaking the power, and weakening the hands of such persons, and hindering them from doing the mischief they otherwise would; see Proverbs 30:14;
and plucked the spoil out of his teeth; as David took the lamb out…
15 I was eyes to the blind,
And feet was I to the lame.
16 I was a father to the needy,
And the cause of the unknown I found out,
17 And broke the teeth of the wicked,
And I cast the spoil forth out of his teeth.
The less it is Job's purpose here to vindicate himself before the friends, the more forcible is the refutation which the accusations of the most hard-hearted uncharitableness raised against him by them, especially by Eliphaz, Job 22, find everywhere here. His charity relieved the bodily and spiritual wants of others - eyes to the blind (לעוּר with Pathach), feet to the lame. A father was he to the needy, which is expressed by a beautiful play of words, as if it were: the carer for t…
The Church Fathers
And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth. [ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION] Oh what a spoil did he take from the mouth of the devil, when by converting she carried off Saul himself the spoiler; when still breathing threats he was on his way to Damascus, having received letters, and whereas by persecuting the faithful he was gathering prey for the devil, he was, by being made acquainted with the faith, himself gathered to Christ. As many times did the Church 'pluck the spoil out of the mouth of the wicked,' as often as by preaching she snatched off a soul from the gripe of error. For who can be more truly called a wicked one than the devil? whose 'jaws we break,' as often as by arguing against his deceits, we bring to light his secret contrivances. And so we 'pluck the spoil out of his teeth,' because the soul, which he had already bitten by breaking it to sin, by converting we recover to the saving health of life. Since by 'the jaws' are exhibited his hidden plots, while by the teeth the now open commission of sin. Of which same jaws and teeth it is said by the Psalmist; But God shall break their teeth in their mouth; the Lord shall break the jaw bones of the lions. But the holy man declares Himself to 'break the jaws' first that he might afterwards be able to 'carry away the spoil from the teeth' of that one; because we then truly snatch the prey from his teeth, when we first know how to break his jaws. For it is necessary first to bring to light the secret artifices of his contrivances, that afterwards we may be able to recover the soul of our hearer from open falling. The jaws of this wicked one the chief pastor of the Church himself did by preaching break in pieces, when he said, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion goeth about seeking whom he may devour; whom resist, stedfast in the faith. Against this 'lion' Holy Church, because she sees his plottings, guards the folds of the faith. Whose 'jaws she breaks' as often as she destroys the arguments of heretics, and as many times 'seizes the spoil out of his teeth,' as she by preaching converts a man from error. And because there shall then be many of the just, who reckoned that they would depart out of this world in the time of the Church's peace, blessed Job, while he tells his own case, likewise points out the voices of the just coming…
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
Beneficence · .Job — .Job
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 actively searched out and assisted strangers who needed help.
Rashi on Job 29:14
I put on righteousness and it clothed me I pursued righteousness and it is present with me as a coat and a turban, which are beautiful ornaments; so was my judgment beautiful and pure.
