the Second Week after Easter
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Job 4:7
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Consider: Who has perished when he was innocent?Where have the honest been destroyed?
"Remember, now, whoever perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off?
Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?
"Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off?
Call to mind now: Who, being innocent, ever perished? And where were upright people ever destroyed?
"Remember now, who, being innocent, ever perished? Or where [and in what circumstances] were those upright and in right standing with God destroyed?
"Remember now, who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright destroyed?
"Remember, now, whoever perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off?
Remember, I pray thee: who euer perished, being an innocent? or where were the vpright destroyed?
"Remember now, who ever perished being innocent?Or where were the upright wiped out?
Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Or where have the upright been destroyed?
No truly innocent person has ever died young.
"Think back: what innocent person has perished? Since when are the upright destroyed?
Remember, I pray thee, who that was innocent has perished? and where were the upright cut off?
Can you think of any innocent person who was ever destroyed? Do you know of any place where good people are punished?
Remember, I pray you, whoever perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright ever put to shame?
Think back now. Name a single case where someone righteous met with disaster.
"Think now, who has perished who is innocent? Or where are the upright destroyed?
I beg you, remember, Who ever perished, being innocent? Or where were the righteous cut off?
Considre (I praye the) who euer peryshed, beynge an innocent? Or, when were the godly destroyed?
Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off?
Have you ever seen destruction come to an upright man? or when were the god-fearing ever cut off?
Consider I pray thee who euer perished beyng an innocent? or when were the godly destroyed?
Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off?
Remember, I pray thee, who euer perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?
Remember then who has perished, being pure? or when were the true-hearted utterly destroyed?
Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the upright cut off?
Y biseche thee, haue thou mynde, what innocent man perischide euere, ethir whanne riytful men weren doon awei?
Remember, I pray you, who [ever] perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off?
Remember, I pray thee, who [ever] perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off;
"Remember now, who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright ever cut off?
"Stop and think! Do the innocent die? When have the upright been destroyed?
"Think now, who without guilt was ever destroyed?
"Think now, who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off?
Remember, I pray thee, who, being innocent, hath perished, or when, the upright, have been cut off.
Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished being innocent? or when were the just destroyed?
"Think now, who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off?
Remember, I pray thee, Who, being innocent, hath perished? And where have the upright been cut off?
"Think! Has a truly innocent person ever ended up on the scrap heap? Do genuinely upright people ever lose out in the end? It's my observation that those who plow evil and sow trouble reap evil and trouble. One breath from God and they fall apart, one blast of his anger and there's nothing left of them. The mighty lion, king of the beasts, roars mightily, but when he's toothless he's useless— No teeth, no prey—and the cubs wander off to fend for themselves.
"Remember now, who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright destroyed?
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
who ever: Job 9:22, Job 9:23, Psalms 37:25, Ecclesiastes 7:15, Ecclesiastes 9:1, Ecclesiastes 9:2, Acts 28:4, 2 Peter 2:9
Reciprocal: Job 8:6 - thou wert Job 8:20 - God Job 11:14 - iniquity Job 13:4 - ye are forgers Job 13:7 - General Job 22:5 - not thy Job 22:20 - our substance
Cross-References
Then God said to the woman, "I will cause you to have much trouble when you are pregnant, and when you give birth to children, you will have great pain. You will greatly desire your husband, but he will rule over you."
The Lord asked Cain, "Why are you angry? Why do you look so unhappy?
Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out into the field." While they were out in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Later, the Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" Cain answered, "I don't know. Is it my job to take care of my brother?"
Then the Lord said, "What have you done? Your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground.
And now you will be cursed in your work with the ground, the same ground where your brother's blood fell and where your hands killed him.
You will work the ground, but it will not grow good crops for you anymore, and you will wander around on the earth."
Then Cain said to the Lord , "This punishment is more than I can stand!
The angel said to Lot, "Very well, I will allow you to do this also. I will not destroy that town.
"But if you don't do these things, you will be sinning against the Lord ; know for sure that you will be punished for your sin.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent?.... Here Eliphaz appeals to Job himself, and desires him to recollect if ever anyone instance had fallen under his observation, in the whole course of his life, or it had ever been told him by credible persons, that an "innocent" man, by whom he means not one entirely free from sin original or actual, for he knew there was no such persons in the world, since the fall of Adam, but a truly good and gracious man, who was not guilty of any notorious and capital crime, or did not live a vicious course of life; if he ever knew or heard of any such persons that "perished", which cannot be understood of eternal ruin and destruction, which would be at once granted, that such as these described can never perish in such a sense, but have everlasting life; nor of a corporeal death, which is sometimes the sense of perishing, since it is notorious that innocent and righteous persons so perish or die, see Ecclesiastes 7:15
Isaiah 57:1; and could it be meant of a violent death, an answer might have been returned; and Eliphaz perhaps was not acquainted with it himself, that that innocent and righteous person Abel thus perished by the hands of his brother: but this is rather to be understood of perishing by afflictions, sore and heavy ones, not ordinary but extraordinary ones; and which are, or look like, the judgments of God on men, whereby they lose their all, their substance, their servants, their children, as well as their own health, which was Job's case; and therefore if no parallel instance of an innocent person ever being in the like case, it is insinuated that Job could not be an innocent man:
or where were the righteous cut off? such as are truly righteous in the sight of God, as well as before men, who have the gift of righteousness bestowed on them, and live soberly, righteously, and godly; in what age or country was it ever known that such persons, in their family and substance, were cut off by the hand and providence of God, and abandoned and forsaken by him, and reduced to such circumstances that there could be no hope of their ever being in prosperous ones again? and Job now being in such a forlorn and miserable case and condition, it is suggested, that he could not be a righteous man: but admitting that no such instance could be produced, Eliphaz was too hasty and premature in his conclusion; seeing, as it later appeared, Job was not so cut off, abandoned, and forsaken by God, as not to rise any more; for his latter end was greater than his beginning: and besides, innocent and righteous persons are often involved in the same calamities as wicked men are, and their afflictions are the same; only with this difference, to the one they are the proper punishment of sin, to the other they are fatherly chastisements and trials of their grace, and issue in their good; the Targum explains it of such persons, as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, none such as they perishing, or being cut off.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? - The object of this question is manifestly to show to Job the inconsistency of the feelings which he had evinced. He claimed to be a righteous man. He had instructed and counselled many others. He had professed confidence in God, and in the integrity of his own ways. It was to have been expected that one with such pretensions would have evinced resignation in the time of trial, and would have been sustained by the recollection of his integrity. The fact, therefore, that Job had thus “fainted,” and had given way to impatient expressions, showed that he was conscious that he had not been altogether what he had professed to be. “There must have been,” is the meaning of Eliphaz, “something wrong, when such calamities come upon a man, and when his faith gives way in such a manner. It would be contrary to all the analogy of the divine dealings to suppose that such a man as Job had professed to be, could be the subject of overwhelming judgments; for who, I ask, ever perished, being innocent? It is a settled principle of the divine government, that no one ever perishes who is innocent, and that great calamities are a proof of great guilt.”
This declaration contains the essence of all the positions held by Eliphaz and his colleagues in this argument. This they considered as so established that no one could call it in question, and on the ground of this they inferred that one who experienced such afflictions, no matter what his professions or his apparent piety had been, could not be a good man. This was a point about which the minds of the friends of Job were settled; and though they seem to have been disposed to concede that some afflictions might happen to good men, yet when sudden and overwhelming calamities such as they now witnessed came upon them, they inferred that there must have been corresponding guilt. Their reasoning on this subject - which runs through the book - perplexed but did not satisfy Job, and was obviously based on a wrong principle - The word “perished” here means the same as cut off, and does not differ much from being overwhelmed with calamity. The whole sentence has a proverbial cast; and the sense is, that when persons were suddenly cut off it proved that they were not innocent. Job, therefore, it was inferred, could not be a righteous man in these unusual and very special trials.
Or where were the righteous cut off? - That is, by heavy judgment; by any special and direct visitation. Eliphaz could not mean that the righteous did not die - for he could not be insensible to that fact; but he must have referred to sudden calamities. This kind of reasoning is common - that when men are afflicted with great and sudden calamities they must be especially guilty. It prevailed in the time of the Savior, and it demanded all his authority to settle the opposite principle; see Luke 13:1-5. It is that into which people naturally and easily fall; and it required much observation, and long experience, and enlarged views of the divine administration, to draw the true lines on this subject. To a certain extent, and in certain instances, calamity certainly does prove that there is special guilt. Such was the case with the old world that was destroyed by the deluge; such was the case with the cities of the plain; such is the case in the calamities that come upon the drunkard, and such too in the special curse produced by indulgence in licentiousness. But this principle does not run through all the calamities which befall people. A tower may fall on the righteous as well as the wicked; an earthquake may destroy the innocent as well as the guilty; the pestilence sweeps away the holy and the unholy, the profane and the pure, the man who fears God and him who fears him not; and the inference is now seen to be too broad when we infer, as the friends of Job did, that no righteous man is cut off by special calamity, or that great trials demonstrate that such sufferers are less righteous than others are. Judgments are not equally administered in this world, and hence, the necessity for a future world of retribution; see the notes at Luke 13:2-3.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Job 4:7. Remember, I pray thee — Recollect, if thou canst, a single instance where God abandoned an innocent man, or suffered him to perish. Didst thou ever hear of a case in which God abandoned a righteous man to destruction? Wert thou a righteous man, and innocent of all hidden crimes, would God abandon thee thus to the malice of Satan? or let loose the plagues of affliction and adversity against thee?
