For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are swallowed up.
Ver. 3. For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea] How light soever thou, O Eliphaz, esteemest it, as being in a prosperous condition. It is easy to swim in a warm bath; and every bird can sing in a sunshine day. But grief lieth like a load of lead upon the soul, heavy and cold; afflicting it, as an unsupportable burden doth the body. It so oppressed the poor Israelites in Egypt, that they had no mind to hearken to Moses, Exodus 6:9. Solomon cries out, "A wounded spirit who can bear?" Proverbs 18:14. My soul is very heavy, and exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, saith our blessed Saviour, Matthew 26:37,38, then when the Father made all our sins to meet upon him, and he bare our griefs and carried our sorrows, Isaiah 53:4; Isaiah 53:12. Sure it is, that had he not been God as well as man, he had been utterly crushed by that inconceivable weight of sin and wrath that he then groaned under. Oh what will all Christless persons do in hell, where God shall lay upon them and not spare! they would fain fly out of his hand, Job 27:22, but that cannot be.
Therefore my words are swallowed up] Vix loqui possum, vox faucibus haeret: I want words, which yet, if I had them at will, would be far too weak to utter the grief of my mind. Broughton rendereth it, Therefore my words fall short; they are semesa, saith Junius, half eaten before spoken; I am, as it were, gagged with grief; or, my words are even smothered up with sighs and sobs. Thus Job rhetoricates, and yet thinks himself greatly word bound.