Job 6:9

9 And he that hath begun to punish, all-break he me; loose he his hand, and cut he me down? (And he who hath begun to punish me, now all-break he me; let him loose his hand, and cut me down!)

Job 6:9 Meaning and Commentary

Job 6:9

Even that it would please God to destroy me
Not with an everlasting destruction of body and soul; for destruction from the Almighty was a terror to him, ( Job 31:23 ) ; but with the destruction of the body only; not with an annihilation of it, but with the dissolution of it, or of that union there was between his soul and body: the word


FOOTNOTES:

F14 used signifies to bruise and beat to pieces; his meaning is, that his body, his house of clay in which he dwelt, might be crushed to pieces, and beat to powder, and crumbled into dust; and perhaps he may have regard to his original, the dust of the earth, and his return to it, according to the divine threatening, ( Genesis 3:19 ) ; a phrase expressive of death; and so Mr. Broughton renders it, "to bring me to the dust", to "the dust of death", ( Psalms 22:15 ) ;

that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!
he had let loose his hand in some degree already; he had given his substance and his body into the hand of Satan; his own hand had touched him, but he had only gone skin deep, as it were; he had smote him in his estate, in his family, and in the outward parts of his body; but now he desires that he would stretch out his hand further, and lift it up, and give a heavier stroke, and pierce him more deeply; strike through his heart and liver, and "make an end" of him, as Mr. Broughton translates the word, and dispatch him at once; cut him off like the flower of the field by the scythe, or like a tree cut down to its root by the axe, or cut off the thread of his life, ( Isaiah 38:12 ) .


F14 (ynakdy) "me conterat", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus, Schmidt; so Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Michaelis, Schultens.

Job 6:9 In-Context

7 those things which my soul would not touch before, be now my meats for anguish. (those things which I enjoyed before, now be the foods which make me sick.)
8 Who giveth, or granteth, that mine asking come to me; and that God give to me that thing, that I abide? (and that God give me that thing, that I wait for?)
9 And he that hath begun to punish, all-break he me; loose he his hand, and cut he me down? (And he who hath begun to punish me, now all-break he me; let him loose his hand, and cut me down!)
10 And this be comfort to me, that he torment me with sorrow, and spare not, and that I against-say not the words of the Holy. (And this be my comfort, that though he torment me with sorrow, and spare me not, I have not said anything against the words of the Holy One.)
11 For what is my strength, that I suffer? either which is mine end, that I suffer it patiently? (For what is my strength, so that I can endure? and what is my end, so that I can endure it patiently?)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.