Job 33:27

27 Even then a man shall blame himself, saying, What kind of things have I done? and he has not punished me according to the full amount of my sins.

Job 33:27 Meaning and Commentary

Job 33:27

He looketh upon men
According to our version, and other interpreters, the sense is, God looks upon men as he does on all men in general, their ways and their works; and particularly he takes notice of men under affliction, and observes how they behave; if they are penitent and confess their sins, he restores them to health, and does them good both in body and soul. But most carry the sense another way, and interpret it of the sick man recovered, who looks upon his friends and relations about him, and any others that come within his reach; of he goes about them, as Aben Ezra explains the word; or will accompany with men, as Mr. Broughton; or sets them in rows, as Gersom, in order, as at a levee, that he may the better address them; or he shall direct himself to them, as the Targum; or shall sing over them or before them, so Schultens F20; in a joyful manner, in an exulting strain, express himself, as follows; for the phrase,

and [if any] say
F21, should be rendered, "and he shall say"; make the following confession of his acknowledgment of the goodness of God unto him;

I have sinned;
against God and man, and that has been the cause of all my afflictions; I am now sensible of it, and ingenuously own it:

and perverted [that which was] right:
have not done that which is right in the sight of God, nor what is just and right between man and man; have perverted the right ways of God, swerved from his commandments, and gone into crooked paths, with the workers of iniquity; and declined from, or perverted, justice and judgment among men;

and it profiteth me not;
as sin does not in the issue; though it promises profit and advantage, it does not yield it; but, on the contrary, much harm and mischief come by it.


FOOTNOTES:

F20 (le rvy) "cantabit super vel coram", Schultens.
F21 (roayw) "et dicat", V. L. Beza, Montanus, Mercerus, Michaelis, Schultens.

Job 33:27 In-Context

25 And he will make his flesh tender as that of a babe, and he will restore him among men in full strength.
26 And he shall pray to the Lord, and his prayer shall be accepted of him; he shall enter with a cheerful countenance, with a full expression : for he will render to men due.
27 Even then a man shall blame himself, saying, What kind of things have I done? and he has not punished me according to the full amount of my sins.
28 Deliver my soul, that it may not go to destruction, and my life shall see the light.
29 Behold, all these things, the Mighty One works in a threefold manner with a man.

The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.