Job 10:1
in Job 10“I loathe my own life; I will express my complaint and speak in the bitterness of my soul.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
My soul is weary of my life; I will give free course to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
KJV
My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
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This verse in Job 10
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
My soul is weary of my life - compare the note at Job 7:16. The margin here is, Or,” cut off while I live.” The meaning in the margin is in accordance with the interpretation of Schultens. The Chaldee also renders it in a similar way: אתגזרת נפשי - my soul is cut off. But the more correct interpretation is that in our common version; and the sense is, that his soul, that is, that he himself was disgusted with life. It was a weary burden, and he wished to die.
This site's exposition
I loathe my own life
on Job 10:1-2
"I loathe my own life" turns lament into a legal petition, the demand of a defendant: "Let me know why You prosecute me". The verb prosecute is the language of a lawsuit, with God cast as the party Job must answer without ever hearing the indictment.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
But he also said above, "God would not hearken to him, so that he should answer to one of his charges or of a thousand." How can Job speak so here? "In the bitterness of my soul," he says. Therefore it is not him who speaks but his bitterness, insofar as the reflections of Job allow us to express what he means. "Would that one were present who should hear the cause between both" not in order to examine his life in detail and to show that he is unjustly suffering. He does not say that actually, as in the previous passages. He has often said that it is "because of his iniquity." He wants to demonstrate that the persisting oppression overwhelms him. And this is what Isaiah says, "You became angry, and we, we are distraught," and in another passage, "Why did you lead us astray from your path?" "I fear, [Job] says, lest I fall or capsize; I am afraid to be forced, one day, to blaspheme or to commit suicide."
The Medieval Church2 voices
Job earlier proposed that both the innocent and the unjust are assailed by trials in this world, and touched upon one reason for the punishment of the innocent which he could think of, i.e. that the earth, as if forsaken by God, had been exposed …
My soul is weary of my life. Now whensoever the present life has once begun to grow tasteless, and the love of the Creator to become sweet, the soul inflames itself against self, that it may accuse self for the sins, wherein it formerly vindicated itself, being ignorant of the things above. Whence he yet further adds with propriety, I will let my speech go against myself. He as it were employs his speech in behalf of himself, who tries to defend by excuses the evil things he has done.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
My soul is weary of my life,....
If I speak amiss, it is not I, but sin that dwells in me, not my soul, but its bitterness. A humble petition to God. He will speak, but the first word shall be a prayer, and, as I am willing to understand it, it is a good prayer,
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
My soul is weary of my life - Here is a proof that נפש nephesh does not signify the animal life, but the soul or immortal mind, as distinguished from חי chai, that animal life; and is a strong proof that Job believed in the distinction between these two principles; was no materialist; but, on the contrary, credited the proper immortality of the soul. This is worthy of observation. See Job 12:10. I will leave my complaint - I still charge myself with the cause of my own calamities; and shall not charge my Maker foolishly: but I must deplore my wretched and forlorn state.
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| נָֽקְטָ֥ה | naketah | it loathes | H5354 → | |
| נַפְשִׁ֗י | nafshi | self my | H5315 → | 754 times |
| בְּחַ֫יָּ֥י | bechaiyai | <in> life my | H2416 → | 498 times |
| אֶֽעֶזְבָ֣ה | ʾeezvah | I will let loose | H5800 → | 215 times |
| עָלַ֣י | ʾalai | on myself | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| שִׂיחִ֑י | sichi | complaint my | H7879 → | 13 times |
| אֲ֝דַבְּרָה֗ | ʾadaberah | I will speak | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| בְּמַ֣ר | bemar | in [the] bitterness of | H4751 → | 37 times |
| נַפְשִֽׁי׃ | nafshi | being my | H5315 → | 754 times |
נָֽקְטָ֥הit loathes
naketahH5354 →
נַפְשִׁ֗יself my
nafshiH5315 →754 times
בְּחַ֫יָּ֥י<in> life my
bechaiyaiH2416 →498 times
אֶֽעֶזְבָ֣הI will let loose
ʾeezvahH5800 →215 times
עָלַ֣יon myself
ʾalaiH5921 →5755 times
שִׂיחִ֑יcomplaint my
sichiH7879 →13 times
אֲ֝דַבְּרָה֗I will speak
ʾadaberahH1696 →1141 times
בְּמַ֣רin [the] bitterness of
bemarH4751 →37 times
נַפְשִֽׁי׃being my
nafshiH5315 →754 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Kings 19:4while he himself traveled on a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life,…
it leads to
- Jonah 4:3
And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Numbers 11:15
If this is how You are going to treat me, please kill me right now—if I have found favor in Your eyes—and let me not see my own wretchedness.”
- Jonah 4:8
As the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint and wished to die, saying, “It is better for me…
- Jeremiah 20:14–18
Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me never be blessed.
- Jonah 4:3
Through
Job 7:11Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
it leads to
- 1 Samuel 1:10
In her bitter distress, Hannah prayed to the LORD and wept with many tears.
- Psalms 40:9
I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; behold, I do not seal my lips, as You, O LORD, do know.
- Isaiah 38:15
What can I say? He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done this. I will walk slowly all my years because of the anguish of my soul.
- Job 21:25
Yet another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, having never tasted prosperity.
- 1 Samuel 1:10
About Job
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book IX; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 9:32B-10:1; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.