exceptions, is such as they have said. The application, however, which they have made of this abiding fact of experience, as and remains all the more false: Wherefore then (זה makes the question sharper) are ye vain (blinded) in vanity (self-delusion), viz., in reference to me, who do not so completely bear about the characteristic marks of a רשׁע? The verb הבל signifies to think and act vainly (without ground or connection), 2Ki 17:15 (comp. ἐματαιώθησαν, Rom 1:21); the combination הבל הבל is not to be judged of according to Ges. §138, rem. 1, as it is also by Ew. §281, a, but הבל may also be taken as the representative of the gerund, as e.g., עריה, Hab 3:9.
In the following strophe (Job 27:13) Job now begins as Zophar (Job 20:29) concluded. He gives back to the friends the doctrine they have fully imparted to him. They have held the lot of the evil-doer before him as a mirror, that he may behold himself in it and be astounded; he holds it before them, that they may perceive how not only his bearing under suffering, but also the form of his affliction, is of a totally different kind.
Verses 13-18
Job 27:13-18 13 This is the lot of the wicked man with God,
And the heritage of the violent which they receive from the Almighty: 14 If his children multiply, it is for the sword,
And his offspring have not bread enough. 15 His survivors shall be buried by the pestilence,
And his widows shall not weep. 16 If he heapeth silver together as dust,
And prepareth garments for himself as mire: 17 He prepareth it, and the righteous clothe themselves,
And the innocent divide the silver among themselves. 18 He hath built as a moth his house,
And as a hut that a watchman setteth up.
