Whose hope shall be cut off - Schultens supposes that the quotation from the ancients closes with Job 8:13, and that these are the comments of Bildad on the passage to which he had referred. Rosenmuller and Noyes continue the quotation to the close of Job 8:19; Dr. Good closes it at Job 8:13. It seems to me that it is extended further than Job 8:13, and probably it is to be regarded as continued to the close of Job 8:18. The beginning of this verse has been very variously rendered. Dr. Good says that it has never been understood, and proposes to translate it, “thus shall his support rot away.” Noyes renders it, “whose expectation shall come to naught;” Gesenius, “shall be cut off.” Jerome, Non ei placebit vecordia sua. “his madness (do age, rage, or frenzy) shall not please him?” The Septuagint, “his house shall be uninhabitable, and his tent shall pass away as the spider.”
The Hebrew word translated “cut off” (יקט yāqôṭ) is from קוט kūṭ, usually meaning to loathe, to nauseate, to be offensive. Gesenius supposes that the word here is synonymous with the Arabic “to be cut off.” But this sense does not occur elsewhere in the Hebrew, and it is doubtful whether this is the true sense of the phrase. In the Hebrew word there is probably always the idea of loathing, of being offensive, irksome, or disgusting; see Psalms 95:10, I was grieved; Job 10:1, is weary; Ezekiel 6:9, shall loathe; so Ezekiel 20:43; Ezekiel 36:31; Ezekiel 16:47, a tiresome, or disgusting object. Taylor (Concord) renders it here, “Whom his hope shall loathe or abominate, that is, who shall loathe or hate the thing that he hopes for.” I have no doubt that the meaning here is, to be loathsome, offensive, or nauseous, and the correct sense is, “whose hope shall rot.” The figure is continued from the image of the paper-reed and the flag, which soon decay; and the idea is, that as such weeds grow offensive and putrid in the stagnant water, so shall it be with the hope of the hypocrite.
And whose trust - Whose confidence, or expectation.
A spider’s web - Margin, “house.” So the Hebrew בית bayı̂th. The spider’s house is the web which it forms, a frail, light, tenuous substance which will sustain almost nothing. The wind shakes it, and it is easily brushed away. So it will be with the hope of the hypocrite.