Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
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- Adam Clarke Commentary
- Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible
- John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
- Geneva Study Bible
- Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
- Wesley's Explanatory Notes
- John Trapp Complete Commentary
- Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible
- Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
- Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments
- George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary
- Mark Dunagan Commentary on the Bible
- Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged
- Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Bible Study Resources
Adam Clarke Commentary
Affliction cometh not forth of the dust - If there were not an adequate cause, thou couldst not be so grievously afflicted.
Spring out of the ground - It is not from mere natural causes that affliction and trouble come; God's justice inflicts them upon offending man.
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Clarke, Adam. "Commentary on Job 5:6". "The Adam Clarke Commentary". https:/
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible
Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust - Margin, “or iniquity.” The marginal reading here has been inserted from the different meanings attached to the Hebrew word. That word (און 'âven ) properly means nothingness, or vanity; then nothingness as to worth, unworthiness, wickedness, iniquity; and then the consequences of iniquity - adversity, calamity, affliction; Psalm 55:4; Proverbs 22:8; Psalm 90:10; Job 15:35. The Septuagint renders it κόπος kopos “labor,” or “trouble.” The Vulgate, Nihil in terra, sine causa - “there is nothing on the earth without a cause.” The general sense is plain. It is, that afflictions are not to be ascribed to chance, or that they are not without intelligent design. They do not come up like thistles, brambles, and thorns, from the unconscious earth. They have a cause. They are under the direction of God. The object of Eliphaz in the statement is, to show to Job that it was improper to complain, and that he should commit his cause to a God of infinite power and wisdom; Job 5:8 ff. Afflictions, Eliphaz says, could not be avoided. Man was born unto them. He ought to expect them, and when they come, they should be submitted to as ordered by an intelligent, wise, and good Being. This is one true ground of consolation in afflictions. They do not come from the unconscious earth: they do not spring up of themselves. Though it is true that man is born to them, and must expect them, yet it is also true that they are ordered in infinite wisdom, and that they always have a design.
Neither doth trouble spring out of the ground - The Septuagint renders this, “Nor will affliction spring up from the mountains.”
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Barnes, Albert. "Commentary on Job 5:6". "Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible". https:/
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust,.... Or rather, "for" or "indeed"
neither doth trouble spring out of the ground; the same thing as before in different words, neither sin, the cause of trouble, the effect of sin; sin may very fitly be expressed by a word
The New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible Modernised and adapted for the computer by Larry Pierce of Online Bible. All Rights Reserved, Larry Pierce, Winterbourne, Ontario.
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Gill, John. "Commentary on Job 5:6". "The New John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible". https:/
Geneva Study Bible
Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, h neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;(h) That is, the earth is not the cause of barrenness and man's misery, but his own sin.
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Beza, Theodore. "Commentary on Job 5:6". "The 1599 Geneva Study Bible". https:/
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Although — rather, “for truly” [Umbreit].
affliction cometh not forth of the dust — like a weed, of its own accord. Eliphaz hints that the cause of it lay with Job himself.
These files are a derivative of an electronic edition prepared from text scanned by Woodside Bible Fellowship.
This expanded edition of the Jameison-Faussett-Brown Commentary is in the public domain and may be freely used and distributed.
Jamieson, Robert, D.D.; Fausset, A. R.; Brown, David. "Commentary on Job 5:6". "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible". https:/
Wesley's Explanatory Notes
Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;
The dust — It springs not up by merely natural causes, as herbs grow out of the earth: but from God. Eliphaz here begins to change his voice, as if he would atone for the hard words he had spoken.
These files are public domain and are a derivative of an electronic edition that is available on the Christian Classics Ethereal Library Website.
Wesley, John. "Commentary on Job 5:6". "John Wesley's Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible". https:/
John Trapp Complete Commentary
Job 5:6 Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;
Ver. 6. Although addiction cometh not forth of the dust] It cometh not by fate or blind fortune, it haps not as it may that men suffer. Philistines indeed will say, haply, It is a chance, 1 Samuel 6:9, a common occurrence, that had a time to come in, and must have a time to go in; but every Naomi will in such case conclude, "The hand of the Lord is gone out against me," Ruth 1:13, and carry her sails accordingly, Job 5:20-21; and every good soul will cry out, I will bear the indignatiou of the Lord (who is the efficient cause of all my miseries), because I have sinned against him, which is the meritorious cause. The word here rendered affliction signifieth also iniquity; and well it may, since they are tied together with chains of adamant, as that heathen said; Flagitium et flagellum sunt sicut acus et filum, saith another. Man weaves a spider’s web of sin out of his own bowels, saith a third; and then he is entangled in the same web; the troubles which ensnare and wrap about him are twisted with his own fingers. "Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him?" Amos 3:5. Turdus sibi malum cacat, Of the blackbird’s dung is made the bird lime whereby he is taken; so out of the dung of men’s sins are made the lime twigs of their punishment.
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Trapp, John. "Commentary on Job 5:6". John Trapp Complete Commentary. https:/
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible
Although, or for, or rather, because. So the following words may contain a reason why he should seek unto God, as he exhorts him, Job 5:8. Or, surely, as that particle is oft used. And so it is a note of his proceeding to another argument.
Affliction, or iniquity, as this word oft signifies; and of this the following sentence is true. And so this first branch speaks of sin, and the next branch of trouble, which is the fruit of sin; and both sin and trouble are said to come from the same spring. But this word signifies also affliction, or misery, or trouble, as Psalms 90:10 Proverbs 12:21; which seems most proper here, both because it is so explained by the following words,
trouble; and again, trouble, Job 5:7, the same thing being repeated in several words, as is usual in Holy Scripture; and because the great thing which troubled Job, and the chief matter of these discourses, was Job’s afflictions, not his sins. Cometh not forth of the dust; it springs not up by chance, as herbs which grow of their own accord out of the earth; or, it comes not from men or creatures here below; but it comes from a certain and a higher cause, even from God, and that for man’s sins; and therefore thou shouldst seek to him for redress, as it follows, Job 5:8.
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Poole, Matthew, "Commentary on Job 5:6". Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible. https:/
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
Second strophe — Suffering is of divine appointment, Job 5:6-7.
This is shown by its being inseparable from the constitution of nature.
6.Although — Rather, for. He proceeds to give the reason why it is foolish to murmur over affliction: evil is not fortuitous, but due to the wickedness of man.
Affliction — ; evil.
Spring out — Sprout up like weeds. Man’s trouble is not a growth or offshoot of nature, but a divine appointment on account of sin. It belongs to a scheme subsequent to that of nature, in which man, a sinful race, grows up to trouble as naturally as the plant sprouts from the earth, or the spark springs upward from the burning coal. The true well-spring of misery is not in nature, but within man himself.
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Whedon, Daniel. "Commentary on Job 5:6". "Whedon's Commentary on the Bible". https:/
Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments
Job 5:6. Although affliction cometh not forth out of the dust — The word
און, aven, here rendered affliction, rather signifies iniquity, and the clause is literally, Iniquity cometh not forth out of the dust; neither doth trouble spring out of the ground — That is, says Dr. Dodd, “As the wickedness of men does not proceed from any natural cause, but from their own free-will; so neither are their miseries to be considered as the effects of natural causes, but as the distributions of a free agent likewise, namely, of a just God, who suits men’s punishments to their crimes; and hence man, being prone to sin, is necessarily born to suffer,” as is signified in the next verse.
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Benson, Joseph. "Commentary on Job 5:6". Joseph Benson's Commentary. https:/
George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary
Ground. If you had not sinned, you would not suffer. (Calmet)
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Haydock, George Leo. "Commentary on Job 5:6". "George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary". https:/
Mark Dunagan Commentary on the Bible
"For affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground": The source of the troubles does not come from the ground but from within the man.
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Dunagan, Mark. "Commentary on Job 5:6". "Mark Dunagan Commentaries on the Bible". https:/
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged
Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;
Although - rather, For truly (Umbreit).
Affliction cometh not forth of the dust - like a weed, of its own accord. Eliphaz hints that the cause of it lay with Job himself. The cause of afflictions is not to be sought for extrinsically, but in man himself.
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Jamieson, Robert, D.D.; Fausset, A. R.; Brown, David. "Commentary on Job 5:6". "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged". https:/
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;- affliction
- or, iniquity. trouble.
- 34:29; Deuteronomy 32:27; 1 Samuel 6:9; Psalms 90:7; Isaiah 45:7; Lamentations 3:38; Amos 3:6
- spring out
- Hosea 10:4; Hebrews 12:15
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Torrey, R. A. "Commentary on Job 5:6". "The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge". https:/
the Third Week after Epiphany