An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-fifth, thirty-sixth, and thirty-seventh chapters of…

There is yet another reading of the wo•ds; we say, they die in youth, that saith, they die with youth, or young men; that is, as dissolute, deboyst, vicious and riotous young men die, so hypocrites die. The hypocrite is opposed to the outwardly profane in his life, but he shall be like him in his death: As if Elihu had said, look as vain voluptuous youths, carnal youths, or young men, who give themselves up to their pleasures, look as or how they die, look what wrath is upon them when they die, even so shall the hypocrites in heart die, they die with the youth. I shall touch this further upon the last clause, where Elihu gives us this sense in other words, and in words that more fully reach this sense; for having said, they die in (or with) youth, he thus concludes, And their life is among the unclean.

There is yet another reading of the wo•ds; we say, they die in youth, that saith, they die with youth, or young men; that is, as dissolute, deboyst, vitious and riotous young men die, so hypocrites die. The hypocrite is opposed to the outwardly profane in his life, but he shall be like him in his death: As if Elihu had said, look as vain voluptuous youths, carnal youths, or young men, who give themselves up to their pleasures, look as or how they die, look what wrath is upon them when they die, even so shall the hypocrites in heart die, they die with the youth. I shall touch this further upon the last clause, where Elihu gives us this sence in other words, and in words that more fully reach this sence; for having said, they die in (or with) youth, he thus concludes, And their life is among the unclean.

Here it may be queried; forasmuch as he said before, they die in youth, how doth he here say, Their life is among the unclean? what life have they when dead? I answer, By their li•e, we may understand that life which hypocrites in heart shall have after death; which may be taken two ways. First, for the life of the soul, while the body remains a consuming or consumed carcass in the grave, that life (after death) the life of their souls is among the unclean. Secondly, for the life which they shall have after the resurrection of their bodies, that will be among the unclean too. Some translate the words thus, Their life is taken away among the unclean; we say, their life is among the unclean.