Job 36:21

21 Garde-toi de te tourner vers l'iniquité; car tu la préfères à l'affliction.

Job 36:21 Meaning and Commentary

Job 36:21

Take heed, regard not iniquity
Not any iniquity, as to show any approbation of it, love for it, and desire after it. All appearance of sin, of every sin, is to be abstained from; but particularly by the iniquity here meant may be the sin of impatience under his affliction; murmuring at the dealings of God with him; arraigning his justice, and saying very indecent things of him, as in ( Job 34:5 ) ( 35:2 ) . Or it may mean the evil he had been guilty of in so earnestly desiring the night of death:

for this thou hast chosen rather than affliction;
chose rather to die than to be afflicted as he was; or chose rather to complain of God, as if he dealt hardly with him, and did not do justly by him, than to submit patiently to the will of God, as he, ought to have done: or this he chose "through affliction" F4; through the force of it, because of it, and by means thereof; and so is a sort of excuse that Elihu makes for him; though at the same time he would have him by no means to regard such iniquity, and indulge to it.


FOOTNOTES:

F4 (ynem) "prae afflictione", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "prae miseria ex adflictione", Michaelis.

Job 36:21 In-Context

19 Ferait-il cas de ta richesse? Il n'estimera ni l'or ni les moyens de l'opulence.
20 Ne souhaite point la nuit, en laquelle les peuples sont enlevés sur place.
21 Garde-toi de te tourner vers l'iniquité; car tu la préfères à l'affliction.
22 Voici, Dieu est élevé en sa puissance; qui pourrait enseigner comme lui?
23 Qui lui a prescrit sa voie? Et qui lui dira: Tu as fait une injustice?
The Ostervald translation is in the public domain.