oppression · noun, common masculine singular construct
God
אֵ֑ל'El
H410
strength · noun, common masculine singular absolute
terror
פַ֣חַדFa.chad
H6343
a (sudden) alarm (properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
highness
וּ֝מִשְּׂאֵת֗וֹu.mi.se.'e.To
H7613
an elevation or leprous scab · conjunction + preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
could
אוּכָֽל'u.Khal
H3201
to be able · 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
Job 13:11 Shall not his excellency make you afraid? and his dread fall upon you?
Psalms 119:120 My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments.
2 Corinthians 5:11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your con…
Psalms 76:7 Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?
Isaiah 13:6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
Genesis 39:9 There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I…
Job 20:23 When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.
Job 21:20 His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 31:16-23
Eliphaz had particularly charged Job with unmercifulness to the poor (Job 22:6, etc.): Thou hast withholden bread from the hungry, stripped the naked of their clothing, and sent widows away empty. One would think he could not have been so very positive and express in his charge unless there had been some truth in it, some ground, for it; and yet it appears, by Job's protestation, that it was utterly false and groundless; he was never guilty of any such thing. See here,
I. The testimony which Job's conscience gave in concerning his constant behaviour towards the poor. He enlarges most upon this head because in this matter he was most particularly accused. He solemnly protests,
1. That he had…
For--that is, the reason why Job guarded against such sins. Fear of God, though he could escape man's judgment (Gen 39:9). UMBREIT more spiritedly translates, Yea, destruction and terror from God might have befallen me (had I done so): mere fear not being the motive.
highness--majestic might.
endure--I could have availed nothing against it.
John Gill on Job 31:23
For destruction from God was a terror to me,.... Though he feared not men, they being at his beck and command, ready to do any thing for him he should order, yet he feared God; and the dread of his resentment, and of destruction from him the lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy, had such an influence on him as to deter and keep him from all unkindness to the poor, and in justice to the fatherless; he dreaded the destruction of himself, his family, and substance in this world, and everlasting destruction of soul and body in the world to come; which of all things is to be feared, Matthew 10:28; and Old Testament saints were much under a spirit of bondage to fear, and were actuated ther…
19 If I saw one perishing without clothing,
And that the needy had no covering;
20 If his loins blessed me not,
And he did not warm himself from the hide of my lambs;
21 If I have lifted up my hand over the orphan,
Because I saw my help in the gate:
22 Let my shoulder fall out of its shoulder-blade,
And mine arm be broken from its bone;
23 For terror would come upon me, the destruction of God,
And before His majesty I should not be able to stand.
On אובד comp. on Job 4:11; Job 29:13; he who is come down from his right place and is perishing (root בד, to separate, still perfectly visible through the Arab. bâda, ba‛ida, to perish), or also he who is already perished, periens and perditus. The…
The Church Fathers
"Fear has restrained me," so as not to raise an arm against the orphan. "And I could not bear the weight," if I wanted to oppress the orphan. .
For I always feared God like waves swelling over me, and I could not endure the weight of Him. From the terror that belongs to such a likeness let us reflect what wonderful force of fear there was in the holy man. For when waves swelling hang over us from on high, and when they threaten that death, which they bring down, there is then no concern for temporal things with the voyagers, no enjoyment of the flesh is brought back to mind. Those very things as well they cast forth from the ship, for the sake of which they took long voyages; all things are brought into contempt to their mind by love of living. Accordingly he 'fears God as waves swelling over him,' who whilst he desires the true life, despises all things that here he carries possessing. For when caught by a tempest, we as it were cast out the freight of the vessel, when from the soul that is overborne we remove earthly desires. And it comes to pass that the vessel being lightened floats, which by being loaded was sinking, seeing that doubtless the cares that weigh down in this life, drag the mind into the depth. Which mind is borne so much the higher amidst the billows of temptations, in proportion as it is more heedfully emptied of thought of this world. But there is another circumstance also that ought to be viewed with a regardful eye relating to the tossing of the sea. For when a storm arises, first slight waves, and afterwards greater billows are stirred up, finally the waves lift themselves up on high, and by their very height overturn all them that are at sea. Thus, thus surely does that last tempest of souls hasten that it may overwhelm the whole world. For now it shews us its beginnings by wars and havocs as by a kind of waves, and in proportion as we are daily made nearer to the end, we see heavier billows of tribulations rushing in upon us. But at the last all the elements being in commotion, the Judge from Above when He comes bringeth the end of all things, because at that time surely the tempest lifts the waves to the heavens. Whence too it is said, Yet a little while and I will shake not only the earth, but heaven also. Which same tempest because holy men regard with lively attention, they as it were dread 'the waves swelling over them' day by day, and by these tribulations, which strike the world, they forecast what things may follow. Now it is well added; And I could not bear the…
Dictionary and topics
Idolatry — Image-worship or divine honour paid to any created object. Paul describes the origin of idolatry in Rom. 1:21-25: men forsook God, and sank into ignorance and moral corruption (1:28). The forms of…
Beneficence · .Job — .Job
Integrity · 16:19,20; — 16:19,20;
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).
If an arm was used in sinful action (31:21), having it torn from its socket would be a fitting punishment and better than facing God’s judgment (cp. Matt 5:28-30).
Rashi on Job 31:23
fear to me His misfortune, which He brought upon the wicked, was fear in my eyes; therefore, I refrained from doing it.
