Behold, I cry out concerning wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no justice.
All Commentaries on Job 19:7 Go To Job 19
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Job says this as a concession. He always acts in this manner, by multiplying his concessions. He does not allow the discussion to languish on the same point but begins his fight again. Let us admit, he says, that you reprove my words for being foolish, vain and inopportune. You, nonetheless, had no reason to insult me, even if things were so, but it was necessary to respect my distress, to fear him who had struck me, to forgive because of the greatness of my misfortunes.
“But alas! Since you magnify yourselves against me and insult me with reproach,” he says, “know then that it is the Lord that has troubled me.” What do these words mean? That it is necessary to have respect and fear? In my opinion, Job wants to suggest in this passage that if he was suffering so much, it was not because of his faults—in fact, if God strikes one, does one always suffer because of his faults? Not Job, and not many others—but in order to be tested and to achieve more victories.
