Job 9:1

Then Job answered and said,

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Job	אִיּ֗וֹב 'i.Yov	H347	Ijob · proper noun, a man's name
answered	וַיַּ֥עַן vai.Ya.'an	H6030	properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
said	וַיֹּאמַֽר vai.yo.Mar	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 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).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 9:1-13

Bildad began with a rebuke to Job for talking so much, Job 8:2. Job makes no answer to that, though it would have been easy enough to retort it upon himself; but in what he next lays down as his principle, that God never perverts judgment, Job agrees with him: I know it is so of a truth, Job 9:2. Note, We should be ready to own how far we agree with those with whom we dispute, and should not slight, much less resist, a truth, though produced by an adversary and urged against us, but receive it in the light and love of it, though it may have been misapplied. "It is so of a truth, that wickedness brings men to ruin and the godly are taken under God's special protection. These are truths which…

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John Gill on Job 9:1

Then Job answered and said. Without taking notice of Bildad's harsh expressions and severe censures, or his unfriendliness to him; he enters directly into the argument, grants some things, confutes others, and defends himself and his conduct.

Keil & Delitzsch on Job 9:1-4

1 Then Job began, and said: 2 Yea, indeed, I know it is thus, And how should a man be just with God! 3 Should he wish to contend with God, He could not answer Him one of a thousand. 4 The wise in heart and mighty in strength, Who hath defied Him and remained unhurt? Job does not (Job 9:1) refer to what Eliphaz said (Job 4:17), which is similar, though still not exactly the same; but "indeed I know it is so" must be supposed to be an assert to that which Bildad had said immediately before. The chief thought of Bildad's speech was, that God does not pervert what is right. Certainly (אמנם, scilicet, nimirum, like Job 12:2), - says Job, as he ironically confirms this maxim of Bildad's, - it is s…

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Tyndale Open Study Notes on Job 9:1-35

Job responded to Bildad by describing God’s cosmic and judicial power. His speech sounds like a complicated legal case, with a summons and response (9:3, 14-16, 19b, 32), the possibility of self-incrimination (9:20), an arbiter (9:33-34), an accusatory question (9:12), a legal sentence (9:22), and a declaration of guilt (9:28-30).

The Church Fathers

"Then Job answered, 'Indeed I know that this is so, and that a mortal formed by God will not be justified.' " He asserts that he does not agree entirely with Bildad's judgment but only with a part of it. In fact, Bildad had maintained that God, who is equally endowed with justice and power, opposes the impious and supports the righteous. The holy Job agrees that this is true. But Job declares that the assumption that God wanted to show that he was a sinner on the basis of what had happened to him is false. In a different sense, Job does not agree with the judgment of Bildad's speech but states that the words that he had pronounced earlier are true. That is, "Inquire now of past generations, and consider what their ancestors have found." No one is found among mortals who, in Job's judgment, does not choose to oppress the inferior in an attempt to please the superior.
— Julian of Eclanum, EXPOSITION ON THE BOOK OF JOB 9:1

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