Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid.
Ver. 21. Withdraw thy hand from me, and let not, &c.] Neither afflict me nor frighten me. See the same request, Job 9:34, and granted by God, Job 38:3; Job 40:7. They must be very sorry prayers indeed that God will not hear, if they come from honest hearts: Psalms 31:22, "I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee." For the sense of this whole verse - See Trapp on " Job 9:34 "
And let not thy dread make me afraid] Appear not unto me in thy majesty, but in thy mercy; come not upon me in such a terrific manner, as through astonishment at thy surpassing glory to kill me, for who can see thy face and live? Surely, as the sight of the eye is dazzled with the sun, or a crystal glass broken with the fire, so there is so much dread in the face of God that the best cannot behold it. Destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure, Job 31:23 .