Job 14:3

3 Do you fix your eye on them? Will you bring them[a] before you for judgment?

Job 14:3 in Other Translations

KJV
3 And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee?
ESV
3 And do you open your eyes on such a one and bring me into judgment with you?
NLT
3 Must you keep an eye on such a frail creature and demand an accounting from me?
MSG
3 Do you occupy your time with such fragile wisps? Why even bother hauling me into court?
CSB
3 Do You really take notice of one like this? Will You bring me into judgment against You?

Job 14:3 Meaning and Commentary

Job 14:3

And dost thou open thine eyes on such an one
So frail and feeble, so short lived and sorrowful, so soon and easily cut down and destroyed: and by opening of his eyes is not meant his providential care of men; whose eyes indeed are everywhere, run to and fro throughout the earth, and are careful of and provident for all sorts of men, which is very wonderful, ( Psalms 8:4 ) ; nor the displays of his special grace and favour towards his own peculiar people, on whom his eyes of love, grace, and mercy, are opened, and are never withdrawn from them, which is marvellous lovingkindness; but the exercise of rigorous justice in punishing, afflicting, and chastising with so much severity, as Job thought to be his own case; the eyes of God, as he thought, were set on him for evil, and not for good; he looked wistly on him, and in a very frowning manner; he sharpened his eye upon him, as the phrase is, ( Job 16:9 ) ; and as some render the word F6 here, looked narrowly into all his ways, and watched every motion and every step he took, and pursued him with great eagerness, and used him with great strictness in a way of justice, which he, a poor, weak creature, was not able to bear; which sense is confirmed by what follows:

and bringeth me into judgment with thee?
by this it appears Job has a view to himself all along, and to the procedure of God against him, which he took to be in strict justice, and that was what he was not able to bear; he was not a match for God, being such a frail, weak, sinful, mortal creature; nor was God a man as he was, that they should come together in judgment, or be fit persons to contend together upon the foot of strict justice; sinful man can never be just with God upon this bottom, or be able to answer to one objection or charge of a thousand brought against him; and therefore, as every sensible man will deprecate God's entering into judgment with him, so Job here expostulates with God why he should bring him into judgment with him; when, as he fled to his grace and mercy, he should rather show that to him than in a rigorous manner deal with him.


FOOTNOTES:

F6 (Kynye txqp) "super illo acuis oculos tuos", Cocceius; "super hune apertos vibras oculos", Schultens.

Job 14:3 In-Context

1 “Mortals, born of woman, are of few days and full of trouble.
2 They spring up like flowers and wither away; like fleeting shadows, they do not endure.
3 Do you fix your eye on them? Will you bring them before you for judgment?
4 Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!
5 A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.

Cross References 2

  • 1. Psalms 8:4; Psalms 144:3
  • 2. S Job 7:18; Psalms 143:2

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew "me"
Scripture quoted by permission.  Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.  NIV®.  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica.  All rights reserved worldwide.