Job 9:29

29 If I am wicked, why do I exert myself in vain? 30 If I should wash myself with snow water, And make my hands clean with lye, 31 Then thou wouldst plunge me into the pit, And my clothes would abhor me. 32 For He is not a man as I, that I should answer Him, That we should go together to judgment. 33 There is not an arbitrator between us Who should lay his hand upon us both. The clause with strongly accented "I" affirms that in relation to God is from the first, and unchangeably, a wicked, i.e., guilty, man (Psa 109:7) (רשׁע, to be a wicked man, means either to act as such Job 10:15, or to appear as such, be accounted as such, as here and Job 10:7; Hiph., Job 9:20, to condemn). Why, therefore, should he vainly (הבל, acc. adv., like breath, useless) exert himself by crying for help, and basing his plaint on his innocence? In Job 9:30 the Chethib is במו, the Keri במי, as the reverse in Isa 25:10; mo itself appears in the signification water (Egyptian muau), in the proper names Moab and Moshe (according to Jablonsky, ex aqua servatus); in במו, however, the mo may be understood according to Ges. 103, 2. This is the meaning - no cleansing, even though he should use snow and בּר (a vegetable alkali), i.e., not even the best-grounded self-justification can avail him, for God would still bring it to pass, that his clearly proved innocence should change to the most horrible impurity. Ewald, Rdiger, and others translate incorrectly: my clothes would make me disgusting. The idea is tame. The Piel תּעב signifies elsewhere in the book (Job 19:19; Job 30:10) to abhor, not to make abhorrent; and the causative meaning is indeed questionable, for מתעב (Isa 49:7) signifies loathing, as מכסּה (Job 23:17) covering, and Eze 16:25 certainly borders on the signification "to make detestable,"…

In this and the following chapter we have Job's answer to Bildad's discourse, wherein he speaks honourably of God, humbly of himself, and feelingly of his troubles; but not one word by way of reflection upon his friends, or their unkindness to him, nor in direct reply to what Bildad had said. He wisely keeps to the merits of the cause, and makes no remarks upon the person that managed it, nor seeks occasion against him. In this chapter we have, I. The doctrine of God's justice laid down (Job 9:2). II. The proof of it, from his wisdom, and power, and sovereign dominion (Job 9:3-13). III. The application of it, in which, 1. He condemns himself, as not able to contend with God either in law or battle (Job 9:14-21). 2. He maintains his point, that we cannot judge of men's character by their outward condition (Job 9:22-24). 3. He complains of the greatness of his troubles, the confusion he was in, and the loss he was at what to say or do (Job 9:25-35).