the Week of Proper 24 / Ordinary 29
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King James Version
Job 31:26
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
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- InternationalParallel Translations
"Have I looked at the sun shining in the skies, or the moon walking down its silver pathway,
If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;
If I have seen the sun when it shined, Or the moon walking in brightness,
I have not thought about worshiping the sun in its brightness nor admired the moon moving in glory
if I looked at the sun when it was shining, and the moon advancing as a precious thing,
If I have beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking [in] brightness;
If I have seen the sun when it shined, Or the moon moving in splendor,
If I beheld the sun [as an object of worship] when it shone Or the moon going in its splendor,
if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor,
if Y siy the sunne, whanne it schynede, and the moone goynge clereli;
if I have regarded the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor,
I have never openly or secretly
If I have beheld the sun when it shined, Or the moon walking in brightness,
If, when I saw the sun shining, and the moon moving on its bright way,
or if, on seeing the shining sun or the full moon as it moved through the sky,
If I beheld the sun when it shone, or the moon walking in brightness,
I have never worshiped the bright sun or the beautiful moon.
If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;
If I beheld the Sunne when it shined, or the Moone walking in brightnesse:
if I have looked at the sun shining or the bright moon going on its way,
if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor,
If I did behold the sunne, when it shined, or the moone, walking in her brightnes,
If I have adored the sun when it shone, or the moon when in full brightness;
I have never worshiped the sun in its brightness or the moon in all its beauty.
If I looked at the sun, when it flashed forth light, or at the moon, majestically marching along;
If I beheld the sun when it shined and the moon going in brightness:
if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor,
Dyd I euer greatly regarde the rysing of the sunne? or had I the goyng downe of the moone in great reputation?
(do we not see the shining sun eclipsed, and the moon waning? for they have not power to continue:)
if I have gazed at the sun when it was shiningor at the moon moving in splendor,
If I have seen the sun when it shined, Or the moon moving in splendor,
if I looked at the sun when it shone or at the moon moving in splendor,
if I looked to the light when it shone, or the splendid moon marching,
If I see the light when it shineth, And the precious moon walking,
Dyd I euer greatly regarde the rysinge of the Sonne? Or, had I the goinge downe of ye Moone in greate reputacion?
If I have looked at the sun when it shone, Or the moon going in splendor,
If I have observed the sun [fn] when it shines,Or the moon moving in brightness,
If I have looked at the sun when it shone Or the moon going in splendor,
If I have looked at the sun when it shoneOr the moon going in splendor,
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
beheld: Genesis 1:16-18, Deuteronomy 4:19, Deuteronomy 11:16, Deuteronomy 17:3, 2 Kings 23:5, 2 Kings 23:11, Jeremiah 8:2, Ezekiel 8:16
sun: Heb. light
the moon: Psalms 8:3, Psalms 8:4, Jeremiah 44:17
in brightness: Heb. bright
Reciprocal: Joshua 10:12 - Sun 2 Kings 21:3 - and worshipped Psalms 104:19 - General Psalms 136:9 - The moon and stars Song of Solomon 6:10 - fair Isaiah 40:26 - Lift Jeremiah 7:18 - queen of heaven Ezekiel 20:24 - their eyes Acts 7:42 - the host Romans 1:20 - from the 1 Corinthians 15:41 - General
Cross-References
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.
And Pharaoh called Abram and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?
And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.
Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me.
And it came to pass at the time that the cattle conceived, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the rams which leaped upon the cattle were ringstraked, speckled, and grisled.
For all the riches which God hath taken from our father, that is ours, and our children's: now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do.
And Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban: and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? what is my sin, that thou hast so hotly pursued after me?
And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that was in the house.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
If I beheld the sun when it shined,.... Some take this to be a reason why Job did not make gold his hope and confidence, because all sublunary and earthly enjoyments must be uncertain, fading, and perish, since the sun and moon are not without their deficiencies and changes, to which sense the Septuagint version inclines; others, as Nachmanides, that they are a denial that Job ascribed his wealth and substance to the influence of the heavenly bodies; and many interpreters are of opinion that they are a continuation of the same subject as before; Job hereby declaring that neither his eye nor his heart were set upon his outward prosperity, comparable to the light of the sun, and the brightness of the moon; that he did not secretly please himself with it, nor congratulate himself upon it nor applaud his own wisdom and industry; and of late Schultens and others interpret it of flattering great personages, complimenting: them, and courting their favour, which we call worshipping the rising sun; but I rather think it is to be understood, as it more generally is, of worshipping the sun and moon in a literal sense; which was the first kind of idolatry men went into; those very ancient idolaters, the Zabii, worshipped the sun as their greater god, as Maimonides a observes, to whom he says they offered seven bats, seven mice, and seven other creeping things, with some other things also; in later times horses were offered to it, see
2 Kings 23:11. So the ancient Egyptians worshipped the sun and moon, calling the one Osiris, and the other Isis b. The word for sun is "light", and it is so called because it is a luminous body, and the fountain of light to others; it is called the greater light, Genesis 1:16; and from this Hebrew word "or", with the Egyptians, Apollo, who is the sun, is called Horus, as Macrobius c relates; it is said to "shine", as it always does, even when below our horizon, or in an eclipse, or under a cloud, though not seen by us. Job has here respect to its shining clearly and visibly, and perhaps at noon day, when it is in its full strength; unless regard is had to its bright and shining appearance at its rising, when the Heathens used to pay their homage and adoration to it d: now when Job denies that he beheld it shining, it cannot be understood of the bare sight of it, which he continually had; nor of beholding it with delight and pleasure, which might be very lawfully done, Ecclesiastes 11:7; nor of considering it as the work of God, being a very glorious and useful creature, in which his glory is displayed, and for which he is to be praised, because of its beneficial influence on the earth; see Psalms 8:3; but of his beholding it with admiration, as if it was more than a creature, ascribing deity to it, and worshipping it as God; and the same must be understood of the moon in the next clause:
or the moon walking [in] brightness; as at first rising, or rather when in the full, in the middle of the month, as Aben Ezra; when it walks all night, in its brightness, illuminated by the sun: these two luminaries, the one called the king, the other the queen of heaven, were very early worshipped, if not the first instances of idolatry. Diodorus Siculus e says, that the first men of old, born in Egypt, beholding and admiring the beauty of the world, thought there were two gods in the nature of the universe, and that they were eternal; namely, the sun and moon, the one they called Osiris, and the other Isis; hence the Israelites, having dwelt long in Egypt, were in danger of being drawn into this idolatry, against which they are cautioned, Deuteronomy 4:19; and where was a city called Heliopolis, or the city of the sun, as in the Greek version of Isaiah 19:18; where was a temple dedicated to the worship of it; and so the Arabians, the neighbours of Job, according to Herodotus f, worshipped the sun and moon; for he says the Persians were taught by them and the Assyrians to sacrifice to the sun and moon; and so did the old Canaanites and the Phoenicians; hence one of their cities is called Bethshemesh, the house or temple of the sun,
Joshua 19:22, yea, we are told g, that to this day there are some traces of this ancient idolatry in Arabia, the neighbourhood of Job; as in a large city in Arabia, upon the Euphrates, called Anna, where they worship the sun only; this being common in those parts in Job's time, he purges himself from it.
a Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 29. p. 424. b Diodor. Sic. l. 1. p. 10. c Saturnal. l. 1. c. 21. d "Illi ad surgentem conversi limina solem", Virgil. Aeneid. 12. e Bibliothec. l. 1. c. 10. f Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 131. g De la Valle Itinerar. par. 2. c. 9. apud Spanheim. Hist. Job. c. 6. sect. 14. No. 6. p. 108, 109.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
If I beheld the sun when it shined - Margin, light. The Hebrew word (אור 'ôr) properly means light, but that it here means the sun is manifest from the connection, since the moon occurs in the parallel member of the sentence. Why the word light is used here rather than sun, can be only a matter of conjecture. It may be because the worship to which Job refers was not primarily and originally that of the sun, the moon, or the stars, but of light as such, and that he mentions this as the essential feature of the idolatry which he had avoided. The worship of light in general soon became in fact the worship of the sun - as that is the principal source of light. There is no doubt that Job here refers to idolatrous worship, and the passage is particularly valuable, as it describes one of the forms of idolatry then existing, and refers to some of the customs then prevalent in such worship.
The word light is used, also, to denote the sun in Job 37:2 l; compare Isaiah 18:4; Habakkuk 3:4. So, also, Homer speaks of the sun not only as λαμπρὸν φάος ἡελίοιο lampron faos hēelioio - bright light of the sun, but simply as φάος faos - light. Odyssey r. 335. The worship here referred to is that of the heavenly bodies, and it is known that this existed in the early periods of the world, and was probably one of the first forms of idolatry. It is expressly mentioned by Ezekiel as prevailing in his time, Ezekiel 8:16, “And they worshipped the sun toward the east.” That it prevailed in the time of Moses, is evident from the caution which he gives in Deuteronomy 4:19; compare 2 Kings 23:5. It is well known, also, that the worship of the heavenly bodies was common in the East, and particularly in Chaldea - near to which Job is supposed to have lived, and it was a remarkable fact that one who was surrounded with idolaters of this description had been enabled always to keep himself pure.
The principle on which this worship was founded was, probably, that of gratitude. People adored the objects from which they derived important benefits, as well as deprecated the wrath of those which were supposed to exert a malignant influence. But among the objects from which people derived the greatest benefits were the sun and moon, and hence, they were objects of worship. The stars, also, were supposed to exert important influences over people, and hence, they also early became objects of adoration. An additional reason for the worship of the heavenly bodies may have been, that light was a natural and striking symbol of the divinity, and those shining bodies may have been at first honored as representatives of the Deity. The worship of the heavenly bodies was called Sabaism, from the Hebrew word צבא tsâbâ' - host, or army - as being the worship of the hosts of heaven.
It is supposed to have had its origin in Persia, and to have spread thence to the West. That the moon was worshipped as a deity, is abundantly proved by the testimony of the ancient writers. Hottinger, Hist. Orient. Lib. 1:c. 8, speaking of the worship of the Zabaists, adduces the testimony of Ali Said Vaheb, saying that the first day of the week was devoted to the sun; the second to the moon; the third to Mars, etc. Maimonides says that the Zabaists worshipped the moon, and that they also said that Adam led mankind to that species of worship. Mor. Nev. P. 3: Clemens Alexandr. says (in Protrepto) κὰι προσεκίνησαν ἥλιον ὡς ἰνδοὶ κὰι σελήνην ὡς φρύγες kai prosekinēsan hēlion hōs indoi kai selēnēn hōs fruges. Curtius says of the people of Lybia (Liv. iv. in Melp.) θυὸνσι δὲ ἡλίῳ κὰι οελήνη μόυνοισι thuousi de hēliō kai oelēnē mounoisi.
Julius Caesar says of the Germans, that they worshipped the moon, Lib. 6: de B. G. p. 158. The Romans had a temple consecrated to the moon, Taci. Ann. Lib. 15: Livy, L. 40: See Geor. Frid. Meinhardi Diss. de Selenolatria, in Ugolin’s Thesau. Sacr. Tom. 23:p. 831ff. Indeed, we have a proof of the worship of the moon in our own language, in the name given to the second day of the week - Monday, i. e. moon-day, implying that it was formerly regarded as devoted to the worship of the moon. The word “beheld” in the passage before us must be understood in an idolatrous sense. “If I have looked upon the sun as an object of worship.” Schultens explains this passage as referring to splendid and exalted characters, who, on account of their brilliance and power, may be compared to the sun at noon-day, and to the moon in its brightness. But the more obvious and common reference is to the sun and moon as objects of worship.
Or the moon walking in brightness - Margin, bright. The word “walking,” here applied to the moon, may refer either to its course through the heavens, or it may mean, as Dr. Good supposes, advancing to her full; “brightly, or splendidly progressive.” The Septuagint renders the passage strangely enough. “Do we not see the shining sun eclipsed? and the moon changing? For it is not in them.”
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Job 31:26. If I beheld the sun when it shined — In this verse Job clears himself of that idolatrous worship which was the most ancient and most consistent with reason of any species of idolatry; viz., Sabaeism, the worship of the heavenly bodies; particularly the sun and moon, Jupiter and Venus, the two latter being the morning and evening stars, and the most resplendent of all the heavenly bodies, the sun and moon excepted.
"Job," says Calmet, "points out three things here:
"1. The worship of the sun and moon; much used in his time, and very anciently used in every part of the East; and in all probability that from which idolatry took its rise.
"2. The custom of adoring the sun at its rising, and the moon at her change; a superstition which is mentioned in Ezekiel 8:16, and in every part of profane antiquity.
"3. The custom of kissing the hand; the form of adoration, and token of sovereign respect."
Adoration, or the religious act of kissing the hand, comes to us from the Latin; ad, to, and os, oris, the mouth. The hand lifted to the mouth, and there saluted by the lips.
