Job 13
Job Rejects His Friends' Counsel 1–5
The Danger of Speaking Falsely for God 6–12
Job’s Resolve: Faith Despite Death 13–19
A Direct Appeal to God 20–28
Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain
Study Notes for Job 13
Verse 2
I am not inferior unto you — Job repeats his line from 12:3, 'I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you'. 'Inferior' is naphal, to fall, so he claims not to fall short of them. The friends' speeches rest on commonly held truths about God and the wicked, and Job says he knows the same, then turns in v.3 to a different matter.
Verse 3
reason with God — Yakach, to argue a case or set it right, the verb that returns as 'reprove' in v.10 and 'maintain' in v.15. He addresses 'the Almighty' (Shaddai) and wants a hearing, as in 31:35, 'my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me'. The wish is for God himself, not for the friends' explanations.
Verse 4
physicians of no value — 'Forgers' is taphal, to smear or patch over; a psalmist uses it of 'The proud have forged a lie against me' (Ps 119:69). 'Of no value' is elil, the word elsewhere for idols (Lev 19:4; Ps 96:5): their healing is empty and counterfeit. They set out to heal him with accusations.
Verse 5
hold your peace — Charash, to be silent, said twice in the one verse for force. Their wisest course is the one they began with: for seven days and nights they sat with him and 'none spake a word unto him' (Job 2:13). The proverb agrees: 'Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise' (Prov 17:28).
Verse 7
speak wickedly for God — 'Wickedly' is evel, injustice, and 'deceitfully' is remiyyah, treachery: Job charges them with arguing for God by false means. At the end the LORD says to Eliphaz, 'ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath' (Job 42:7).
Verse 10
secretly accept persons — The verb is yakach again, 'reprove', as in v.3. 'Accept persons' is literally to lift the face (nasa, panim), the idiom of Lev 19:15, 'thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty'. Job says God will not be swayed by partiality for his side, 'secretly' (seter) or not.
Verse 12
remembrances… ashes — 'Remembrances' is zikkaron, a memorable saying, and the friends' maxims are 'like unto ashes' (epher). 'Clay' is chomer, the material Job says God used to make him: 'thou hast made me as the clay' (Job 10:9). The sayings last no longer than the bodies that speak them.
Verse 14
my flesh in my teeth — These are two sayings of risk: taking flesh in the teeth, and putting 'my life in mine hand'. The second occurs in Judg 12:3, 'I put my life in my hands', and 1 Sam 19:5, 'he did put his life in his hand, and slew the Philistine'. Job accepts that speaking to God may cost him his life.
Verse 15
yet will I trust in him — 'Trust' is yachal, to wait or hope; Job uses it in 14:14, 'will I wait, till my change come'. 'Slay' is qatal, which the KJV has only here, at 24:14 and at Ps 139:19. 'Maintain' is yakach, as in v.3: he will argue his ways before God, while waiting for him.
Verse 16
He also shall be my salvation — Yeshuah, deliverance, the word of Ex 15:2 and Isa 12:2. 'Hypocrite' is chaneph, a godless man, found in Job more than anywhere else (8:13; 13:16; 15:34; 17:8; 20:5; 27:8; 34:30; 36:13). Job's ground for hope is that such a man could not stand before God, and he is not that man.
Verse 18
I have ordered my cause — Arak, to set in order, as a case is laid out; Job wished in 23:4, 'I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments'. 'Cause' is mishpat, judgment or the case at law, and 'justified' is tsadaq, to be declared right. His confidence is that he is righteous in the matter of his accusers' charge.
Verse 20
two things — The two are given in v.21: the hand withdrawn, and the dread removed. On these terms Job will 'not hide' (satar) himself from God. The request echoes 9:34–35, 'Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me… Then would I speak, and not fear him'.
Verse 21
Withdraw thine hand far from me — 'Withdraw… far' renders rachaq, to remove to a distance. 'Dread' is eymah (fright) and 'make me afraid' is ba'ath, to terrify. The same two wishes appear in 9:34: take away the rod, and 'let not his fear terrify me'.
Verse 23
my transgression and my sin — Three words for wrong are used: 'iniquities' (avon), 'sins' (chattath) and 'transgression' (pesha, a breach or rebellion). Job asks to be told the list. He asks for the charge without claiming to be sinless. In Ps 25:7 the psalmist asks the opposite: 'Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions'.
Verse 24
holdest me for thine enemy — 'Hidest' is satar, the verb of v.20, where Job promised not to hide himself; now it is God who hides. 'Enemy' is oyeb. Job says the same in 19:11, 'he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies', and Elihu later repeats it (33:10).
Verse 25
a leaf driven to and fro — 'Driven to and fro' is nadaph, to scatter. Lev 26:36 uses it of 'the sound of a shaken leaf' that 'shall chase them', the same pair of verbs in the covenant curse. Job asks whether God will set such power in motion against something so slight as a leaf or 'dry stubble'.
Verse 26
the iniquities of my youth — 'Writest' is katab, to record, as of a charge sheet; Job wished in 31:35 that 'mine adversary had written a book'. 'Bitter things' (merorah) are bitter judgments. 'The iniquities of my youth' have a place in prayer: 'Remember not the sins of my youth' (Ps 25:7).
Verse 27
in the stocks — Sad, stocks, which the KJV has only here and in 33:11, where Elihu repeats Job's words: 'He putteth my feet in the stocks, he marketh all my paths'. 'Print' (chaqah) is a mark cut or traced; God marks Job's heels, so that every step can be traced.
Verse 28
as a rotten thing — Raqab, decay, the word elsewhere for 'rottenness' in bones (Prov 12:4; 14:30). 'Moth eaten' recalls Isa 50:9, 'they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up'. The verse turns to the third person, and ch.14 carries the thought: 'Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble' (14:1).