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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Job 5:12 - 5:12
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
12 Who bringeth to nought the devices of the crafty,
So that their hands cannot accomplish anything;
13 Who catcheth the wise in their craftiness;
And the counsel of the cunning is thrown down.
14 By day they run into darkness,
And grope in the noon-day as in the night.
15 He rescueth from the sword, that from their mouth,
And from the hand of the strong, the needy.
16 Hope ariseth for the weak,
And folly shall close its mouth.
All these attributes are chosen designedly: God brings down all haughtiness, and takes compassion on those who need it. The noun תּוּשִׁיָּה, coined by the Chokma, and out of Job and Proverbs found only in Mic 6:9; Isa 28:29, and even there in gnomical connection, is formed from יֵשׁ, essentia, and signifies as it were essentialitas, realitas: it denotes, in relation to all visible things, the truly existing, the real, the objective; true wisdom (i.e., knowledge resting on an objective actual basis), true prosperity, real profiting and accomplishing. It is meant that they accomplish nothing that has actual duration and advantage. Job 5:13 cannot be better translated than by Paul, 1Co 3:19, who here deviates from the lxx. With נִמְהָרָה, God's seizure, which prevents the contemplated achievement, is to be thought of. He pours forth over the worldly wise what the prophets call the spirit of deep sleep (תַּרְדֵּמָה) and of dizziness (עִוְעִים). On the other hand, He helps the poor. In מפיהם מחרב the second מִן is local: from the sword which proceeds from their mouth (comp. Psa 64:4; Psa 57:5, and other passages). Böttch. translates: without sword, i.e., instrument of power (comp. Job 9:15; Job 21:9); but מן with חרב leads one to expect that that from which one is rescued is to be described (comp. Job 5:20). Ewald corrects מָֽחֳרָב, which Olsh. thinks acute: it is, however, unhebraic, according to our present knowledge of the usage of the language; for the passives of חָרֵב are used of cities, countries, and peoples, but not of individual men. Olsh., in his hesitancy, arrives at no opinion. But the text is sound and beautiful. עֹלָתָה with pathetic unaccented ah (Ges. §80, rem. 2, f), from עֹולָה = עַוְלָה, as Ps. 92:16 Chethib.