Job 3:23
To a man whose way is hidden, and God hath surrounded him with darkness?
Open Job 3:23 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- viro cujus abscondita est via et circumdedit eum Deus tenebris ?
- Septuagint (Swete)
- θάνατος ἀνδρὶ ἀνάπαυμα, συνέκλεισεν γὰρ ὁ θεὸς κατ᾽ αὐτοῦ.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- לְ֭גֶבֶר אֲשֶׁר דַּרְכּ֣וֹ נִסְתָּ֑רָה וַיָּ֖סֶךְ אֱל֣וֹהַּ בַּעֲדֽוֹ
Haydock's commentary
To. Why is life given to? &c. The uncertainty whether a man be worthy of love or hatred, (Ecclesiastes ix. 1.) and whether he will persevere to the end, is what fills Job with distress; though we must trust that God will suffer none to be tempted above their strength, 1 Corinthians x. 13.
He finds himself surrounded with precipices, and in the dark. (Calmet)
So God often tries his faithful servants. (Du Hamel)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St John Cassian The Conferences of John Cassian. Part I. Containing Conferences I-X, Chapter VI. The answer to the question proposed
Theodore : Sometimes holy Scripture is wont by an improper use of terms to use “evils” for “affliction;” not that these are properly and in their nature evils, but because they are imagined to be evils by those on whom they are brought for their good. For when divine judgment is reasoning with men it must speak with the language and feelings of men. For when a doctor for the sake of health with good reason either cuts or cauterizes those who are suffering from the inflammation of ulcers, it is considered an evil by those who have to bear it. Nor are the spur and the whip pleasant to a restive horse. …