Job 31:35

Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
that	יִתֶּן yi.ten-	H5414	to give · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
hear	שֹׁ֘מֵ֤עַֽ sho.Me.a'	H8085	to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
desire	תָּ֭וִי Ta.vi	H8420	a mark · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
Almighty	שַׁדַּ֣י sha.Dai	H7706	the Almighty · proper noun, a title
answer	יַעֲנֵ֑נִי ya.'a.Ne.ni	H6030	properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
adversary	אִ֣ישׁ 'ish	H376	a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular construct
written	כָּ֝תַ֗ב ka.Tav	H3789	to grave · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
book	וְסֵ֥פֶר ve.Se.fer	H5612	properly · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute

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 13:21-22 Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid.
Job 40:4-5 Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
Job 13:3 Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God.
Job 13:24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?
Job 17:3 Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?
Job 19:7 Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.
Job 19:23-24 Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!
Job 23:3-7 Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 31:33–end

We have here Job's protestation against three more sins, together with his general appeal to God's bar and his petition for a hearing there, which, it is likely, was intended to conclude his discourse (and therefore we will consider it last), but that another particular sin occurred, from which he thought it requisite to acquit himself. He clears himself from the charge, I. Of dissimulation and hypocrisy. The general crime of which his friends accused him was that, under the cloak of a profession of religion, he had kept up secret haunts of sin, and that really he was as bad as other people, but had the art of concealing it. Zophar insinuated (Job 20:12) that he hid his iniquity under his to…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 31:35

Job returns to his wish (Job 13:22; Job 19:23). Omit "is"; "Behold my sign," that is, my mark of subscription to the statements just given in my defense: the mark of signature was originally a cross; and hence the letter Tau or T. Translate, also "Oh, that the Almighty," &c. He marks "God" as the "One" meant in the first clause. adversary--that is, he who contends with me, refers also to God. The vagueness is designed to express "whoever it be that judicially opposes me"--the Almighty if it be He. had written a book--rather, "would write down his charge."

John Gill on Job 31:35

Oh, that one would hear me!.... Or, "who will give me a hearer?" (l) Oh, that I had one! not a nearer of him as a teacher and instructor of many, as he had been, Job 4:3; or only to hear what he had delivered in this chapter; but to hear his cause, and hear him plead his own cause in a judiciary way; he does not mean an ordinary hearer, one that, comes out of curiosity into courts of judicature to hear causes tried, what is said on both sides, and how they will issue; but, as Bar Tzemach paraphrases it, "who shall give me a judge that shall hear me,'' that would hear his cause patiently, examine it thoroughly, and judge impartially, which is the business of judges to do, Deuteronomy 1:16;…

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The Church Fathers

"Who will give me someone: to hear me? Who can make me listen? "If I did not fear the hand of the Lord," she who wrote, "If you do not forgive, your Father will not forgive you (2). "If I have my written sentence," Here is the order: "If I have my written sentence;
— Augustine of Hippo, ANNOTATIONS ON THE BOOK OF JOB (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Who would give me a helper that the Almighty might hear my desire. The holy man after he related so many high achievements of the virtues in him, knowing well that he cannot attain to the things on high by his own deserts, seeks for a helper. And whom verily does he fix his eye on but the Only-begotten Son of God, Who whereas He took upon Him human nature travailing in this mortal state, did give help? For He helped man, being made Man; that because to mere man there was no way open of returning to God, there should be made a Way of returning by means of The God-Man. For we were far removed from the Righteous and Immortal One, being mortal and unrighteous. But between the Immortal and Righteous One and ourselves the mortal and unrighteous, appeared the Mediator of God and man, mortal and righteous, Who might at once own death with mortals, and righteousness with God; that whereas by our things below we were far removed from things above, He might in Himself singly unite the things below with the things above, and that herein there might be a Way made for us of returning to God, in the degree that He joined ours beneath with His own on high. This One then blessed Job, in his personating of the whole Church, asks for as Mediator, who when he had said, Who would give me a helper, suitably added, that the Almighty might hear my desire. For he knew that for the rest of Eternal deliverance, the prayers of man can never be heard excepting through his Advocate. Concerning Whom it is said by the Apostle John; If any one sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous; and He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world. Concerning Whom Paul likewise saith; It is Christ Jesus that died for us, yea, rather, that is risen again, Who is even at the right hand of God, Who also maketh intercession for us. For, for the Only-begotten Son to 'intercede' for man, is to shew Himself Man in the presence of the Coeternal Father, and for Him to have besought for human nature, is to have taken upon Him that same nature in the loftiness of the Divine Nature. And so the Lord intercedes for us not with the voice but by the act of compassionating; because that which He would not should be condemned in the Elect, he set free by taking upon Himself. And so a helper is sought for, that 'the desire may be heard;'…

Dictionary and topics

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).

Job 31:35

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 31:33–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 31:35

John Gill on Job 31:35

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Job 31:35

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 31:33–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 31:35

John Gill on Job 31:35

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Job 31:35-37

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Job 31:35

Rashi on Job 31:35