Job 10:13

13 And such Thou hast hidden in Thy heart, I perceive that this was in Thy mind: 14 If I should sin, Thou wouldst take note of it, And not acquit me of my iniquity. 15 If I should act wickedly, woe unto me! And were I righteous, I should not lift up my head, Being full of shame and conscious of my misery. 16 And were I to raise it, Thou wouldst hunt me as a lion, And ever display on me Thy wondrous power, 17 Thou wouldst ever bring fresh witnesses against me, And increase Thy wrath against me, I should be compelled to withstand continuously advancing troops and a host. This manifestation of divine goodness which Job has experienced from the earliest existence seems to him, as he compares his present lot of suffering with it, to have served as a veil to a hidden purpose of a totally opposite character. That purpose - to make this life, which has been so graciously called into existence and guarded thus far, the object of the severest and most condemning visitation - is now manifest. Both אלּה and זאת refer to what is to follow: עמּך זאת used of the thought conceived, the purpose cherished, as Job 23:14; Job 27:11. All that follows receives a future colouring from this principal clause, "This is what Thou hadst designed to do," which rules the strophe. Thus Job 10:14 is to be rendered: If I had sinned, Thou wouldst have kept me in remembrance, properly custodies me, which is here equivalent to custoditurus eras me. שׁמר, with the acc. of the person, according to Psa 130:3 (where it is followed by the acc. of the sin), is to be understood: to keep any one in remembrance, i.e., to mark him as sinful (Hirzel). This appears more appropriate than rigide observaturus eras me (Schlottm.). ושׁמרתני, according to Ges. 121, 4, might be taken for לי ושׁמרת (viz., חטּאתי); but this i…

Job owns here that he was full of confusion (Job 10:15), and as he was so was his discourse: he knew not what to say, and perhaps sometimes scarcely knew what he said. In this chapter, I. He complains of the hardships he was under (Job 10:1-7), and then comforts himself with this, that he was in the hand of the God that made him, and pleads that (Job 10:8-13). II. He complains again of the severity of God's dealings with him (Job 10:14-17), and then comforts himself with this, that death would put an end to his troubles (Job 10:18-22).