John Trapp on Job 9:23

Verſe 23. If the ſcourge ſlay ſuddenly] By ſcourge here is meant a common calamity, ſuch as rides circuit, compaſſing a country as a ſcourge doth a mans body round about. Any ſweeping judgment is a ſwinging ſcourge in Gods hand; ſuch as is the ſword, Iſai. 10.26. which when it rides circuit (as a judge) it is in commiſſion,Turk. hiſt. 211 Ezek 14.17. Jer. 47.6, 7. devouring fleſh, and drinking blood. Thus Attila the H[illegible: 1 letter]nne ſtiled himſelf Gods ſcourge. Tamerlane was commonly called The wrath of God, and terrour of the world; Think the ſame of famine, peſtilence, wilde beaſts, Ezek. 14.12. &c. theſe oft ſlay ſuddenly Iſai. 30.13. Jer. 18.22. as did the ſweating ſickneſſe here in England, the Maſſacre of France, and that later of Ireland, that ſcourge, if ever any, ſlew ſuddenly the perfect and the wicked. When an over-flowing ſtorm ſweeps away the wicked, the tail of it may daſh their beſt neighbours.

He laugheth at the trial of the innocent] The Vulgar readeth, He will not laugh at the trial of the innocent: but there is no Not in the Original: others thus, Will he laugh at the trial of the innocent? q. d. No, he will not. God may ſeem to ſlight his own in affliction, as Pſalm 77.2, 3. The Lion lets her whelps roare ſometimes, till they do almoſt kill themſelves with roaring. The truth is, (and I think the true ſenſe of this Scripture) God ſcorneth the allegation of innocency, or the juſtification and plea of the moſt upright man breathing,Mr. Abbot. in the way of exemption or prevention of his juſt and wiſe diſpenſations, when he pleaſeth to inflict them, involving good and bad in the ſame common calamity.