Job 29:21

Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my counsel.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
ear	שָׁמְע֥וּ sha.me.'U	H8085	to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
waited	וְיִחֵ֑לּוּ ve.yi.Che.lu	H3176	to wait · conjunction + verb, piel perfect, 3rd person common plural
silence	וְ֝יִדְּמ֗וּ ve.yi.de.Mu	H1826	to be dumb · conjunction + verb, qal, 3rd person masculine plural
at	לְמ֣וֹ le.Mo	H3926	to or for · preposition
counsel	עֲצָתִֽי 'a.tza.Ti	H6098	advice · 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 29:9-10 The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.
Job 32:11-12 Behold, I waited for your words; I gave ear to your reasons, whilst ye searched out what to say.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 29:18–end

That which crowned Job's prosperity was the pleasing prospect he had of the continuance of it. Though he knew, in general, that he was liable to trouble, and therefore was not secure (Job 3:26, I was not in safety, neither had I rest), yet he had no particular occasion for fear, but as much reason as ever any man had to count upon the lengthening out of his tranquility. I. See here what his thoughts were in his prosperity (Job 29:18): Then I said, I shall die in my nest. Having made himself a warm and easy nest, he hoped nothing would disturb him in it, nor remove him out of it, till death removed him. He knew he had never stolen any coal from the altar which might fire his nest; he saw no s…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 29:21

Job reverts with peculiar pleasure to his former dignity in assemblies (Job 29:7-10).

John Gill on Job 29:21

Unto me men gave ear,.... Or give ear, or shall give ear, being all ear; all attention to him, listening to what he said with the utmost diligence and earnestness; even all sorts of men, high and low, rich and poor, princes, nobles, and common people; this they had done, and Job concluded they still would do the same; see Job 29:9; and waited; patiently, without any weariness, with pleasure and delight, without giving any interruption, or wishing his discourse was ended; and though continuing ever so long, were not impatient until it was finished: and kept silence at my counsel; which was the thing waited for, and which when given, it was to the highest satisfaction; they acquiesced in it,…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Job 29:21–end

21 They hearkened to me and waited, And remained silent at my decision. 22 After my utterance they spake not again, And my speech distilled upon them. 23 And they waited for me as for the rain, And they opened their mouth wide for the latter rain. 24 I smiled to them in their hopelessness, And the light of my countenance they cast not down. 25 I chose the way for them, and sat as chief, And dwelt as a king in the army, As one that comforteth the mourners. Attentive, patient, and ready to be instructed, they hearkened to him (this is the force of שׁמע ל), and waited, without interrupting, for what he should say. ויחלּוּ, the pausal pronunciation with a reduplication of the last radical, as Jd…

The Church Fathers

They that heard me awaited my sentence, and listening kept silence at any counsel. For this awe of those under him we unquestionably believe to have been towards blessed Job. But as we have already often said, Holy Church being driven to extremities by the inflictions of heretics or carnal persons, remembers the times past, in which all that is spoken by her is listened to with fear by the faithful, and lamenting the frowardness of her adversaries, she says, They that heard me awaited my sentence, and listening kept silence at my counsel. As though she expressed herself in plain speech, 'Not like these forward and swoln ones, who whilst they refuse to admit the words of truth, do as it were in teaching forestall the sentences of my preaching.' Whose disciples now 'intent upon her counsel keep silence,' because her words they dare not to impugn, but take on faith. For that they may be able to profit by these same words, they hear them, doubtless, not with a view to judge them, but to follow them.
— Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XX

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Job 29:21

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 29:18–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 29:21

John Gill on Job 29:21

Keil & Delitzsch on Job 29:21–end

The Church Fathers

Job 29:21

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 29:18–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 29:21

John Gill on Job 29:21

Keil & Delitzsch on Job 29:21–end

The Church Fathers

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Job 29:18

Rashi on Job 29:21