BUpport of the Septuagint, rra'l'fl'ri-r-GJM'1&1 •is riohea shall make tbemaelves wings, and ui'Ta ,..,.,,iv. But it requiree a slight ohange take their departure. Reither shall he pro- in the pointing. He ku.oweth that the day long the perfecition thereof upon the earth ; of darku.BB& is nigh at hand. " The day of rather, Mit11«' ehaU their poaBeBeiona be ea:• darkneee " is probably the day of his decease : tmided upon tlM, Mrth. (So Rosenmllller, this he "knowa," or at any rate, surmises, Profel!8or Lee, and Rem\D.) The transition to be near. from the singular t.o the plural is not un• Ver. 24.-Tronbleand angniBh shall make usual, when it is a ol&SI!, and not an indi- him afraid ; they shall prevail against him, vidual, that is really spoken of. u a king ready to the battle. Ehphaz eooms Ver. 80.-He shall not depart out of dark- ooverth- to allude to Job's misfortunes, whioh neBB (comp. ver. 28, where the wicked me.II' oame agaim1t him with snob force, and is threatened with "a day of do.rkneBB "). crushed him BB a mighty king orushee his When the darkness once falls, it shall con- foes in battle. tinue; there shall be no esoo.ping out of it. Ver. 25.-P'or he stretcheth out his hand The flame shall dry up his branohea; rather, against God. The wicked man ventures even aflame. The "flame" intended seems to be to threaten the Almighty. So iu Ee.stern the wrath of God. And by the breath of his legend Nimrod was supposed to have done, mouth; i.e. " of God's mouth" (comp. oh, and in Greek legend the giants. And iv. 9). Shall he go away; or, pass away; et:rengtheneth himself against the Almighty ; i.e. diso.ppear, be consumed, perish. rather, be]i,atJeth hi1M&j pmudly. See the Ver. 81.-Let not him that is deoeived Revised Version, and compare Sohultens, trust in vanity; mthcr, let him not trU11t in who renders the Hebrew ,:.m• by "ferocius tJanity (or, in .falsehood), deceiving 11imself et insolentius se gessit." (see the Revised Version). All the suppo1·ts Ver. 26.-He rmm.eth upon him, even Oll and stays or the wicked e.re ve.nity-unsub- his neok; rather, with hill 'Ueck. It is not God st.e.ntial, futile, utterly vo.in and useless. It who runneth upon the wicked man, as our is only e. man who•• deceives himself" that translators seem to ho.ve supposed, but the can trust in them. P'or vanity shall be his wicked man who rushes furiously ago.inst recompenBB. Such as do so trust gain God. Like an infuriated bnll, he makes his nothing by it; they sow vo.nity o.nd reap chargt: ttnll, his neck, i.e. with heod lowered vanity. and neck stiffened, thin.king to cany ell Ver. 32.-It shall be aocomplished before before him. Upon the thick bosses of his his time. "It [i.e. the recompense] she.U bualden; rather, with the thick bosaes of 1,,is be accomplished (or, 'puid in full'] before ahield.. The metaphor of the bull is dropped, its time [i.e. before payment is due]." A and God's enemy represented o.s charging vague threat, probably intended to signify him like a warrior, with the shield-a.rm out- that death will come upon the wicked man strelche<l, and the heavy bosses of the shield prematurely, before he ho.s lived out ho.If pressing him down. the days of his nature.I life. And his branch Ver. 27.-llecause he oovereth his face shall not be green ; i.e. he shall wither and with his fatness. The ground and origin of fade, like a tree not planted by the water- the wicked mo.n'e audacity is his luxurious side (Ps. i. 3). and intemperate living. In the days of his Ver. 88.-lle shall shake o1f his unripe prosperity he pampered his body, freely in- grape as the vine. Blight and untimely dulged all hie co.ma! appetites, and gave cold cause the vine to drop its grapes before himself up to gluttony and gourmandism. they are mature. So the wicked m~n will '.!.'his depraved hiil more.I nature, separated be deprived, one by oue, uf hie possessions. Letwt:en him and God, and finally produced And shall oa&t o1f his flower as the olive. in him tLe iusolt:nce e.nd presumptiou de- The olive often sheds its blossollls in vast scribed in vcrs. 25, 26. And m.aketh collops numbers. "In spring," so.ye Oanon Tris- of fat on hi;; flanks. The same idea, only tram, "one may see the bloom, on the very slightly varied, 118 so often in the slightest breath of wind, shed like snow- second mt:mlier of o. ver~e. flakes, and perishing by millions" (' N aturo.l Ver. 28.-And he dwelleth in desolate History of the Bible,' p. 375). According cities. Not only we.s he sen~ual o.nd glut- to some commentators, this he.ppens regulo.rly iouoll6, but he was covt:toua and ro.pacioUB in alternate years. 11!.so. He dwelt in eitie.s which hiH hand V.er. 84.-P'or the congregation of hypo- had <lesoluted-i.n houses which no me.n in- orites sLe.11 be desolate; or, ahall be aterile, habiteth---Bince he had driven their owners or barren, like the vine an<l olive of the froru tLt:IIl-and which were ready to become preceding verse. The entire cornpany of heaps, i.e. wt:re in a ruinoUB condition.. the wicked shall suft'er this punishment. Ver. 29.-Re Bhall not be rich; ,.e. he And fire shall oonsume the tabernacles of lihull uot increaBe, or mo.intain, his riches. bribery. God'H lightning shall fall from Jlleither she.11 his substance colliinue. Hill heaven, e.n<l burn up the tcuts (i.e. the ho.bi- OR. :rt. 1-35,] THE BOOK OF JOB. 265
tatione) or those who take bribes to pervert i11iq1.dly. And their belly prepareth deoeit. juetice. It le suggested tho.t Eliphaz in- Interna.lly, i.e. in their inner nature-in tends to ncouse Joh of the two secret sine their heart, e.e we shonld say-tboy mo.ke of hypooriey and corruption. ree.cly cleceits. "The viscera.," e.e Professor Ver. 85.- They oonoeive miaohiet, and Lee observes, "a.re often ma.de by the He- bring forth vanity; rather, 111 ln the margin, brews the see.t of thought."