he keeps back his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword.
Job had complained that God kept him wholly in the dark concerning the meaning of his dealings with him, and therefore concluded he dealt with him as his enemy. "No," says Elihu, "he speaks to you, but you do not perceive him; so that the fault is yours, not his; and he is designing your real good even in those dispensations which you put this...
Commenting on Job 33:14-18
He keepeth back his soul from the pit,.... Or, "that he may keep back" (n); for this is another end and use of God's speaking unto men; it is to preserve them for the present from going down to the grave, the pit of corruption and destruction; so called because the bodies of men, being there laid, corrupt, and are entirely destroyed by worms, and...
his soul--his life. the pit--the grave; a symbol of hell. perishing by the sword--that is, a violent death; in the Old Testament a symbol of the future punishment of the ungodly.