He [is] swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.
Ver. 18. He is swift as the waters] He stays not long in a place, but flees away swiftly (like the river Tigris, swift as an arrow out of a bow), to avoid punishment. Heb. He is light upon the face of the waters. The meaning is, saith one, they are as a light thing upon the streams of water running swiftly, and carrying it away with speed. Some, that it is spoken in respect to their swift passing on from one wickedness to another, or their never being settled after such wickedness committed, but always ready to be overturned, as a ship that is unballasted, and so to be drowned in the sea.
Their portion is cursed in the earth] Cain like, they wander up and down, a corde suo facti fugitivi, but their sin will surely find them out; neither can they run out of the reach of God's rod, &c. This Job saith, lest any should gather, from what he had said before, that it should be always well with the wicked and ill with the godly. Some take it as a curse, Let their portion on earth be accursed, neither let them turn themselves to the vineyards; sc. either to dress them or to taste of the fruits of them.
He beholdeth not the way of the vineyards] That is, say some, to run away by them, which were common ways to cities, but by some other obscure byway, that he may not be found. In vineyards something is to be done at all times, that way therefore they take not, lest they should be discovered and punished. Beza rendereth it, He turneth not into the way (that is, the nature) of the vines, which, by cutting and pruning, sprouteth out, and becometh more profitable. Others sense it far otherwise. The concise brevity and ambiguity of the words, together with the change of number, hath caused a cloud upon them.