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Rashi on the Prophets and Writings

CC BY · The Judaica Press Complete Tanach, trans. A. J. Rosenberg
Chapter 33

Job 33

The spirit of God made me and I am no stronger than you.

Behold I am like your mouth to God As your mouth asked to debate with one who would not terrify you, behold I am instead of the Holy One, blessed be He, and on His behalf, to speak His words.

and my coercion Heb. אכפי, my coercion, like (Prov. 16:26), “his mouth forces (אכף).”

I am clean Heb. חף, pure and cleansed, like (Bezah 35b), “A nazirite may not cleanse (יחף) his head...” and like (Shabbath 50a),” we may cleanse (חפין) vessels with anything.”

pretenses Heb. תאונות, pretenses to turn away from the Omnipresent, an expression of (Jud. 14: 4), “that he sought a pretense (תאנה).”

for God exceeds man God does not have to be so exact with man because the Holy One, blessed be He, has more virtues than man.

Then He opens the ear of men as He did to Abimelech in the dream of the night.
and with their chastisement He seals [them] He seals them and binds them with suffering because of their iniquity.

To restrain man in his illness.
a deed that he had intended to do.
and He covers haughtiness from man with his suffering, in order to vanquish him and humble him to repent, so that he withhold his soul from utter death.
haughtiness Heb. וְגֵוָה, like גַאֲוָה.

and his life from perishing by the sword by the weapon and the sword of the Angel of Death; that is to say, He brought suffering upon you for your good.
by the sword Heb. בשלח, a weapon, and so in Ezra (Neh. 4:11): “and one was holding the weapon (השלח).”

And he is chastised an expression of reproof that he repent of his iniquity,
and most of his bones, which are strong, He chastises with pain.

And his living spirit causes him to abhor food The soul and the life of the sick person cause him to abhor all food.
and his soul abhors all tasty food.

His flesh is consumed from sight Heb. יכל בשרו מראי, His flesh is withdrawn from sight, like (Lam 2:11): “My eyes are spent (כלו) with tears”; (Lev. 26:16), “that cause the eyes to pine way (מכלות).
and his bones are dislocated Heb. ושפו. They are dislocated from their place. [The word] שֻׁפּוּ is like (Hullin 42b), “that sprung (שף) from its place.”
to unsightliness They have neither appearance nor form.

one out of a thousand of those who testify to his guilt, and he intercedes with his uprightness.

He is gracious to him i.e., the Omnipresent.
Redeem him Heb. פדעהו, like פְדָאֵהוּ. The “alef” is replaced by an “ayin.” The context proves it. “I found ransom,” which is redemption.

His flesh is agitated from shaking Heb. רֻטֲפַש means escos in French, shaken.
from shaking His flesh was agitated from the shaking, that it was shaken [by the suffering of] his illness. This word [רֻטֲפַש] has no similarity in Scripture, and according to the context, we found it necessary to explain according to the meaning of the topic. But the one who interprets it as an expression of mire (רפש) and claims that the “teth” is added to it, as in (Gen. 44:16), “How can we clear ourselves (נצטדק)?” is in great error, because the “teth” is added to a word only in the reflexive voice, and to a word in which there is a radical “zaddi,” but nor in other words. for example, צדק and נצטדק, and like (Lev. 13:44) צרוּע, stricken with “zaraath,” and נצטרע, was stricken with “zaraath.” (Prov. 25: 13), “an emissary (ציר) faithful,” and (Josh. 9:4), “and they went and disguised as ambassadors (ויצטירו)”; (Gen. 45:21) “צֵדָה, provision,” and (Josh. 9:12) “הִצְטַיַדְנוּ, we took... for our provision.”
he will be restored with his strength and with healing to the days of his youth.

He makes a row of men He makes a row of men when he is saved from his illness and confesses [before them] to his Creator.
but I did not profit I had no profit in its matters.

twice or thrice He chastises him for his iniquities with his illness in order not to destroy him, but if he provokes Him further, he should be concerned with Gehinnom or death, as it is written, “Yea for four, I will not return them” (Amos 1:3).

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