Job 19:4

And be it indeed [that] I have erred,.... Which is a concession for argument's sake, but not an acknowledgment that he had erred; though it is possible he might have erred, and it is certain he did

And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself. Erred. The Hebrew expresses unconscious error [ shaagaah (H7686)]. Job was unconscious of willful sin.

If my opinion in this point be faulty and erroneous, as you pretend it is. Or, if I have sinned, (for sin is oft called error in Scripture,) and am therefore punished. Mine error remaineth with myself; either, 1. It is likely to continue, I see no cause from your reasons to change my judgment. Or, 2. I suffer deeply for my sins, and therefore deserve your pity and help, rather than your reproaches, whereby you add affliction to the afflicted.

Job 19:4 And be it indeed [that] I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.Ver. 4. And be it indeed that I have erred] Of human frailty; for that there is any way of wickedness in me (as you would have it) I shall never yield. But nimis angusta res est, nuspiam errare. Involuntary failings I am not free from; who knoweth the errors of his life? Psalms 19:12. What man is he that liveth and sinneth not? It is the sad privilege of mortality, saith one, Licere aliquando peccare, to have licence sometimes to sin (Euphorm.). Mine error remaineth with myself] q.d. It is little that you have done toward convincing me of any error in all this time, and talk, which until ye have done, I must still remain of the same mind. Or thus, You shall neither answer nor suffer for mine error; what need, then, all this heat and harshness? Not that every man must be left to himself, and let alone to live as he wishes. Admonition is a Christian duty, and the word of exhortation must be suffered, sharp though it be, and to the flesh irksome; better it is that the vine should bleed than die. Had Job been guilty, he would or should have been, as Vespasian is reported, patientissimus veri, patient of a reproof. But his friends falsely accused him for a hypocrite, and fell foul upon another man’ s servant, whom they had nothing to do to condemn, Romans 14:10. And hence this expression of his discontent.

Verse 4. And be it indeed that I have erred] Suppose indeed that I have been mistaken in any thing, that in the simplicity of my heart I have gone astray, and that this matter remains with myself, (for most certainly there is no public stain on my life,) you must grant that this error, whatsoever it is, has hurt no person except myself. Why then do ye treat me as a person whose life has been a general blot, and whose example must be a public curse?

4. In this verse Job must mean to repudiate the offences insinuated against him. The precise force of the second clause, however, is obscure. It might mean, “my error is my own and no matter for your intermeddling”; or, “I alone am conscious of it and you can know nothing regarding it,”—in either case a mere passing rejection of the charges of his friends. Or, “had I indeed sinned my error would remain with myself, I should be conscious of it,” cf. ch. 9:36. Ewald’s idea that the “error” which Job alludes to is his mistaken hope of judgment and righteousness on God’s part is less suitable to the connexion.

And be it indeed that I have erred - Admitting that I have erred, it is my own concern. You have a right to reproach and revile me in this manner.

4. Remaineth — Literally, Passes the night, úìéï, with me. The busy and absorbing scenes of the day divert the mind from its errors, guilt, and wretchedness.