Bible Commentaries
Job 36

Verse 3

36:3 I will fetch {a} my knowledge from afar, and will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.

(a) He shows that when we speak of God, we must lift our spirits higher than our natural sense is able to reach.

Verse 4

36:4 For truly my words [shall] not [be] false: he that is {b} perfect in knowledge [is] with thee.

(b) You will perceive that I am a faithful instructor, and that I speak to you in the name of God.

Verse 5

36:5 Behold, God [is] mighty, and despiseth not [any: he is] {c} mighty in strength [and] wisdom.

(c) Strong and constant, and of understanding: for these are the gifts of God, and he loves them in man: but as much as God punished Job now, it is a sign that these are not in him.

Verse 6

36:6 He {d} preserveth not the life of the wicked: but giveth right to the poor.

(d) Therefore he will not preserve the wicked, but to the humble and afflicted heart he will show grace.

Verse 7

36:7 He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous: but with {e} kings [are they] on the throne; yea, he doth establish them for ever, and they are exalted.

(e) He prefers the godly to honour.

Verse 9

36:9 Then he sheweth them their {f} work, and their transgressions that they have exceeded.

(f) He will move their hearts to feel their sins that they may come to him by repentance as he did Manasseh.

Verse 12

36:12 But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die {g} without knowledge.

(g) That is, in their folly or obstinacy, and so shall cause their own destruction.

Verse 13

36:13 But the hypocrites {h} in heart heap up wrath: they {i} cry not when he bindeth them.

(h) Which are maliciously bent against God, and flatter themselves in their vices.

(i) When they are in affliction they do not seek God for help, as Asa in 2 Chronicles 16:12.

Verse 14

36:14 They die in {k} youth, and their life [is] among the unclean.

(k) They die of some vile death, and that before they come to age.

Verse 16

36:16 Even so would he have removed thee out of the strait [into] a broad place, where [there is] no straitness; and {l} that which should be set on thy table [should be] full of fatness.

(l) If you had been obedient to God, he would have brought you to freedom and wealth.

Verse 17

36:17 But thou hast fulfilled the {m} judgment of the wicked: judgment and justice take hold [on thee].

(m) You are altogether after the manner of the wicked: for you murmur against the justice of God.

Verse 18

36:18 {n} Because [there is] wrath, [beware] lest he take thee away with [his] stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver thee.

(n) God punishes you, lest you forget God in your wealth and so perish.

Verse 20

36:20 {o} Desire not the night, when people are cut off in their place.

(o) Do not be curious in seeking the cause of God’s judgments, when he destroys any.

Verse 21

36:21 Take heed, regard not {p} iniquity: for this hast thou chosen rather than affliction.

(p) And so murmur against God through impatiency.

Verse 25

36:25 Every man may see it; man may behold [it] {q} afar off.

(q) The works of God are revealed, that a man may see them afar off, and know God by the same.

Verse 26

36:26 Behold, God [is] great, {r} and we know [him] not, neither can the number of his years be searched out.

(r) Our infirmity hinders us so that we cannot attain the perfect knowledge of God.

Verse 27

36:27 For he maketh small the drops of water: they {s} pour down rain according to the vapour thereof:

(s) That is, the rain comes from those drops of water which he keeps in the clouds.

Verse 29

36:29 Also can [any] understand the spreadings of the clouds, [or] the noise of his {t} tabernacle?

(t) Meaning, of the clouds, which he calls the tabernacle of God.

Verse 30

36:30 Behold, he spreadeth his light upon {u} it, and covereth the {x} bottom of the sea.

(u) Upon the cloud.

(x) That men cannot come to the knowledge of the springs of it.

Verse 31

36:31 For by them judgeth he {y} the people; he giveth meat in abundance.

(y) He shows that the rain has a double use: the one that it declares God’s judgments, when it overflows any places, and the other that it makes the land fruitful.

Verse 32

36:32 With clouds he covereth the light; and commandeth it [not to shine] by [the cloud] that cometh {z} betwixt.

(z) That is, one cloud to dash against another.

Verse 33

36:33 {a} The noise thereof sheweth concerning it, the cattle also concerning the vapour.

(a) The cold vapour shows him: that is, the cloud of the hot exhalation, which being taken in the cold cloud mounts up toward the place where the fire is, and so anger is engendered; that is, noise and thunderclaps.