Job 5:7 | KD | STEP | Job 5:6-11 6 For evil cometh not forth from the dust, And sorrow sprouteth not from the earth; 7 For man is born to sorrow, As the sparks fly upward. 8 On the contrary, I would earnestly approach unto God, And commit my cause to the Godhead; 9 To Him who doeth great things and unsearchable; Marvellous things till there is no number: 10 Who giveth rain over the earth, And causeth water to flow over the fields: 11 To set the low in high places; And those that mourn are exalted to prosperity. As the oracle above, so Eliphaz says here, that a sorrowful life is allotted to man, so that his wisdom consequently consists in accommodating himself to his lot: if he does not do that, he is an אויל, and thereby perishes. Misfortune does not grow out of the ground like weeds; it is rather established in the divine order of the world, as it is established in the order of nature that sparks of fire should ascend. The old critics understood by רשׁף בני birds of prey, as being swift as lightning (with which the appellation of beasts of prey may be compared, ; ); but רשׁף signifies also a flame or blaze (Sol 8:6). Children of the flame is an appropriate name for sparks, and flying upwards is naturally peculiar to sparks as to birds of prey; wherefore among modern expositors, Hirz., Ew., Hahn, von Gerl., Ebr., rightly decide in favour of sparks. Schlottmann understands “angels” by children of flame; but the wings, which are given to angels in Scripture, are only a symbol of their freedom of motion. This remarkable interpretation is altogether opposed to the sententious character of , which symbolizes a moral truth by an ordinary thing. The waw in וּבני, which we have translated ”as,” is the so-called waw adaequationis proper to the Proverbs, and also to emblems, e.g., Pro 25:25. Eliphaz now says what he would do in Job’s place. Ew. and Ebr. translate incorrectly, or at least unnecessarily: Nevertheless I will. We translate, according to Ges. §127, 5: Nevertheless I would; and indeed with an emphatic I: Nevertheless I for my part. דּרשׁ with אל is constr. praegnans, like , sedulo adire. דּברה is not speech, like אמרה but cause, causa , in a judicial sense. אל is God as the Mighty One; אלהים is God in the totality of His variously manifested nature. The fecundity of the earth by rain, and of the fields (חוּצות = rura ) by water-springs (cf. ), as the works of God, are intentionally made prominent. He who makes the barren places fruitful, can also change suffering into joy. To His power in nature corresponds His power among men ( ). לשׂוּם is here only as a variation for השּׂם, as Heiligst. rightly observes: it is equivalent to collacaturus , or qui in eo est ut collocet , according to the mode of expression discussed in Ges. §132, rem. 1, and more fully on Hab 1:17. The construction of is still bolder. שׂגב signifies to be high and steep, inaccessible. It is here construed with the acc . of motion: those who go in dirty, black clothes because they mourn, shall be high in prosperity, i.e., come to stand on an unapproachable height of prosperity.

‏ Job 5:7

Job 5:6-11 6 For evil cometh not forth from the dust,

And sorrow sprouteth not from the earth; 7 For man is born to sorrow,

As the sparks fly upward. 8 On the contrary, I would earnestly approach unto God,

And commit my cause to the Godhead; 9 To Him who doeth great things and unsearchable;

Marvellous things till there is no number: 10 Who giveth rain over the earth,

And causeth water to flow over the fields: 11 To set the low in high places;

And those that mourn are exalted to prosperity.

As the oracle above, so Eliphaz says here, that a sorrowful life is allotted to man, ^{▼▼Fries explains יוּלּד as part., and refers to Geiger’s Lehrb. zur Sprache der Mischna, S. 41f., according to which מקטּל signifies killed, and קטּל (= Rabb. מתקטּל) being killed (which, however, rests purely on imagination): not the matter from which mankind originates brings evil with it, but it is man who inclines towards the evil. Böttch. would read יולד: man is the parent of misery, though he may rise high in anger.} so that his wisdom consequently consists in accommodating himself to his lot: if he does not do that, he is an אויל, and thereby perishes. Misfortune does not grow out of the ground like weeds; it is rather established in the divine order of the world, as it is established in the order of nature that sparks of fire should ascend. The old critics understood by רשׁף בני birds of prey, as being swift as lightning (with which the appellation of beasts of prey may be compared, Job 28:8; Job 41:26); but רשׁף signifies also a flame or blaze (Sol 8:6). Children of the flame is an appropriate name for sparks, and flying upwards is naturally peculiar to sparks as to birds of prey; wherefore among modern expositors, Hirz., Ew., Hahn, von Gerl., Ebr., rightly decide in favour of sparks. Schlottmann understands “angels” by children of flame; but the wings, which are given to angels in Scripture, are only a symbol of their freedom of motion. This remarkable interpretation is altogether opposed to the sententious character of Job 5:7, which symbolizes a moral truth by an ordinary thing. The waw in וּבני, which we have translated ”as,” is the so-called waw adaequationis proper to the Proverbs, and also to emblems, e.g., Pro 25:25.

Eliphaz now says what he would do in Job’s place. Ew. and Ebr. translate incorrectly, or at least unnecessarily: Nevertheless I will. We translate, according to Ges. §127, 5: Nevertheless I would; and indeed with an emphatic I: Nevertheless I for my part. דּרשׁ with אל is constr. praegnans, like Deu 12:5, sedulo adire. דּברה is not speech, like אמרה but cause, causa, in a judicial sense. אל is God as the Mighty One; אלהים is God in the totality of His variously manifested nature. The fecundity of the earth by rain, and of the fields (חוּצות = rura) by water-springs (cf. Psa 104:10), as the works of God, are intentionally made prominent. He who makes the barren places fruitful, can also change suffering into joy. To His power in nature corresponds His power among men (Job 5:11). לשׂוּם is here only as a variation for השּׂם, as Heiligst. rightly observes: it is equivalent to collacaturus, or qui in eo est ut collocet, according to the mode of expression discussed in Ges. §132, rem. 1, and more fully on Hab 1:17. The construction of Hab 1:11 is still bolder. שׂגב signifies to be high and steep, inaccessible. It is here construed with the acc. of motion: those who go in dirty, black clothes because they mourn, shall be high in prosperity, i.e., come to stand on an unapproachable height of prosperity.