Job 10:2
in Job 10I will say to God: Do not condemn me! Let me know why You prosecute me.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; Show me wherefore thou contendest with me.
KJV
I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.
⋯
This verse in Job 10
Commentary
11 notes on this verseI will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore Thou so judgest me. Whereas he declares himself a sinner 'in the bitterness of his soul,' what else does he say to God, but that he may not be condemned, in that the bitterness of his present penance does away with the pains of ensuing wrath? Now God judgeth man in this life in two ways, seeing that either by present ills He is already beginning to bring upon him the torments to come, or else by present scourges He does away with the torments to come.
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.
This site's exposition
Let me know why You prosecute me
Job asks God to name the charge before He will condemn him. Barnes reads the plea as a protest against being held wicked with no reason shown. Wesley adds that when God contends with a man there is always a reason.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
But lest this unleashing of speech again be interpreted as reason being overcome by sorrow, he adds, "I will say to God: Do not condemn me." For when reason is overcome by passion, man murmurs against God and at times goes so far as blasphemy. …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Wherefore - For what ends and reasons, and for what sins; for I am not conscious to myself of any peculiar sins by which I have deserved to be made the most miserable of all men. When God afflicts, he contends with us: when he contends with us, there is always a reason for it.
I will say unto God, do not condemn me,....
He is never angry without a cause, though we are; and it is desirable to know what the reason is, that we may repent of, mortify, and forsake the sin for which God has a controversy with us. In enquiring it out, let conscience have leave to do its office and to deal faithfully with us, as Gen. xlii.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
AND WILL GOD CONTEND with man? If God be angry, can he not take away the breath of his nostrils, and lay him low in the dust of earth? If the heart of the Almighty be moved unto hot displeasure, can he not speak in his anger, and will not the soul of man sink into the lowest hell? Will God contend—will he set himself in battle array against his creature? and such a creature?—the creature of an hour—a thing that is not, that is here to-day and gone to-morrow? Will the Almighty contend with the nothingness of man? Will the everlasting God take up the weapons of war, and go out to fight against the insect of a day? Well might we cry out to him, “after whom is my Lord the King gone forth? After a dead dog: after a flea?” Wilt thou hunt the partridge on the mountains with an army, and wilt thou go forth against a gnat with shield and spear? Shall the everlasting God who fainteth not, neither is weary, at whose reproof the pillars of heaven’s starry roof tremble and start—will he become combatant with a creature? Yet our text saith so. It speaks of God’s contending with man. Ah, surely, my brethren, it needs but little logic to understand that this not a contention of anger, but a contention of love. It needs, methinks, but a short sight for us to discover that, if God contendeth with man, it must be a contention of mercy. There must be a design of love in this. If he were angry he would not condescend to reason with his creature, and to have a strife of words with him; much less would he put on his buckler, and lay hold on his sword, to stand up in battle and contend with such a creature as man.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
AND WILL GOD CONTEND with man? If God be angry, can he not take away the breath of his nostrils, and lay him low in the dust of earth? If the heart of the Almighty be moved unto hot displeasure, can he not speak in his anger, and will not the soul of man sink into the lowest hell? Will God contend—will he set himself in battle array against his creature? and such a creature?—the creature of an hour—a thing that is not, that is here to-day and gone to-morrow? Will the Almighty contend with the nothingness of man?
Do not condemn me - Let me not be afflicted in thy wrath. Show me wherefore thou contendest - If I am afflicted because of my sins, show me what that sin is. God never afflicts but for past sin, or to try his followers; or for the greater manifestation of his grace in their support and deliverance.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
I will say unto God, Do not condemn me - Do not hold me to be wicked - תרשׁיעני אל 'al tarshı̂y‛ēnı̂y. The sense is, “Do not simply hold me to be wicked, and treat me as such, without showing me the reasons why I am so regarded.” This was the ground of Job’s complaint, that God by mere sovereignty and power held him to be a wicked man, and that he did not see the reasons why he was so considered and treated. He now desired to know in what he had offended, and to be made acquainted with the cause of his sufferings. The idea is, that it was unjust to treat one as guilty who had no opportunity of knowing the nature of the offence with which he was charged, or the reason why he was condemned.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֹמַ֣ר | ʾomar | I will say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אֱ֭לוֹהַּ | ʾeloah | God | H433 → | 57 times |
| אַל־ | ʾal- | may not | H408 → | 724 times |
| תַּרְשִׁיעֵ֑נִי | tarshieni | you condemn as guilty me | H7561 → | 34 times |
| הֽ֝וֹדִיעֵ֗נִי | hodieni | make known to me | H3045 → | 945 times |
| עַ֣ל | ʾal | concerning | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| מַה־ | mah- | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| תְּרִיבֵֽנִי׃ | teriveni | do you contend with me | H7378 → | 67 times |
אֹמַ֣רI will say
ʾomarH559 →5305 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
אֱ֭לוֹהַּGod
ʾeloahH433 →57 times
אַל־may not
ʾal-H408 →724 times
תַּרְשִׁיעֵ֑נִיyou condemn as guilty me
tarshieniH7561 →34 times
הֽ֝וֹדִיעֵ֗נִיmake known to me
hodieniH3045 →945 times
עַ֣לconcerning
ʾalH5921 →5755 times
מַה־what?
mah-H4100 →752 times
תְּרִיבֵֽנִי׃do you contend with me
teriveniH7378 →67 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
Romans 8:1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
it leads to
- John 3:18–19
Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
- 2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!
- Galatians 3:13
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
- Romans 5:1
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
- 1 Corinthians 1:30
It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God: our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.
- John 3:18–19
Through
Psalms 143:2Do not bring Your servant into judgment, for no one alive is righteous before You.
it leads to
- Ecclesiastes 7:20
Surely there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.
- Romans 3:20
Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin.
- Job 25:4
How then can a man be just before God? How can one born of woman be pure?
- Ecclesiastes 7:20
About Job
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Charles Spurgeon, The New Park Street Pulpit, Sermon No. 283: “The Sweet Uses of Adversity” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book IX; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.