Job 9:18

18 He doesn't let me catch my breath, for he fills me with bitterness.

Job 9:18 Meaning and Commentary

Job 9:18

He will not suffer me to take my breath
Which some think refers to Job's disease, which was either an asthma, or a quinsy in his throat, which occasioned great difficulty in breathing: I should rather think the allusion is to the hot burning winds in those countries before mentioned, which sometimes blew so strongly as almost to take away a man's breath; so the above traveller F21 reports, that between Suez and Cairo (in Egypt) they had for a day's time and more so hot a wind, that they were forced to turn their backs to it, to take a little breath. The design of Job is to show, that his afflictions were continued, and were without any intervals; they were repeated so fast, and came so thick upon him, one after another, that he had no breathing time; the import of the phrase is the same with that in ( Job 7:19 ) ;

but filleth me with bitterness;
to the full, to satiety, to loathing, as a man may be with a bitter potion, with wormwood drink, and water of gall, with bitter afflictions comparable to such, whereby Job's life was embittered to him, see ( Jeremiah 9:15 ) ( Lamentations 3:15 Lamentations 3:19 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F21 Travels. par. 1. B. 2. c. 34. p. 177.

Job 9:18 In-Context

16 If I were to call and he answered me, I couldn't believe that he heard my voice.
17 Who bruises me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds for no reason?
18 He doesn't let me catch my breath, for he fills me with bitterness.
19 If the issue is strength—behold power! If justice—who calls God to meet me?
20 If I'm innocent, my mouth condemns me; I have integrity; but God declares me perverse.
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