“Shall not his excellency make you afraid? and his dread fall upon you?”
"Will not his majesty terrify you, and the dread of him fall upon you?" Job invokes the terrifying otherness of God, the quality that should humble the friends' confident pronouncements. If they truly contemplated God's majesty, they would recognize that their neat formulations cannot contain divine reality. Fear and dread should precede speech about God, not confident systematization.
Church Fathers on Job 13:11
He will surely reprove you, if ye do secretly take His face. Presently when He ariseth He shall make you afraid; and His dread shall fall upon you. This part, wherein He declares that ‘the face of God is taken in secret,’ may be understood in two ways. For there be some, who at one and the same time perceive truth in their hearts, and yet utter outwardly concerning God things that are false. For lest they should appear to be subdued, they both know the truth within, and yet…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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