Job 10:20
in Job 10Are my days not few? Withdraw from me, that I may have a little comfort,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Are not my days few? cease then, And let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,
KJV
Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,
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This verse in Job 10
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Are not my days few? - My life is short, and hastens to a close. Let not then my afflictions be continued to the last moment of life, but let thine hand be removed, that I may enjoy some rest before I go hence, to return no more. This is an address to God, and the meaning is, that as life was necessarily so short, he asked to be permitted to enjoy some comfort before he should go to the land of darkness and of death; compare the note at Job 7:
This site's exposition
Are my days not few
on Job 10:20-22
"Withdraw from me, that I may have a little comfort" asks a small mercy before an end Job assumes is near and final. He pictures "a land of utter darkness, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness," death as he understands it.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Job wants to find relief before he has to go from where he cannot return. Therefore, he does not pray for himself, but to teach the friends who think that those who suffer hardship are evil but those who are free from hardship are righteous. …
The Medieval Church2 voices
Will not the small number of my days be finished in a short time? He shews himself to live with good heed and circumspection, who, in considering the shortness of the present life does not look to the furtherance but to the ending of it, so as to gather from the end, that all is nought that delights while it is passing.
There is no one who delights in the torments of another who is so cruel that he would give him at least a brief respite from afflicting him. So even if one supposes that God were not the cause of the birth of man, the …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
3 Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked? 4 Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth? 5 Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man's days, 6 That thou enquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin?
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
Lord, let them not be all miserable, all in the extremity of misery. I have but a little time to live; let me have some comfort of life while it does last." This plea fastens on the goodness of God's nature, the consideration of which is very comfortable to an afflicted spirit. And, if we would use this as a plea with God for mercy (" Are not my days few?
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Are not my days few?....
Grant me some respite, some breathing-time, some little enjoyment of myself." This he would reckon a great favour. Those that are not duly thankful for constant ease should think how welcome one hour's ease would be if they were in constant pain. Two things he pleads:-- (1.) That life and its light were very short: " Are not my days few?
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Are not my days few? - My life cannot be long; let me have a little respite before I die.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֲלֹא־ | halo'- | ¿ not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| מְעַ֣ט | meat | few | H4592 → | 101 times |
| יָמַ֣י | yamai | [are] days my | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| וַחֲדָ֑ל | vechedal | and cease | H2308 → | 58 times |
| וְשִׁ֥ית | yashit | and put | H7896 → | 83 times |
| מִ֝מֶּ֗נִּי | mimeni | from me | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| וְאַבְלִ֥יגָה | veavligah | so I may be cheerful | H1082 → | |
| מְּעָֽט׃ | meat | a little | H4592 → | 101 times |
הֲלֹא־¿ not
halo'-H3808 →5168 times
מְעַ֣טfew
meatH4592 →101 times
יָמַ֣י[are] days my
yamaiH3117 →2304 times
וַחֲדָ֑לand cease
vechedalH2308 →58 times
וְשִׁ֥יתand put
yashitH7896 →83 times
מִ֝מֶּ֗נִּיfrom me
mimeniH4480 →1188 times
וְאַבְלִ֥יגָהso I may be cheerful
veavligahH1082 →
מְּעָֽט׃a little
meatH4592 →101 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
Job 14:1“Man, who is born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble.
it leads to
- Job 5:7
Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.
- Job 25:4
How then can a man be just before God? How can one born of woman be pure?
- Ecclesiastes 2:23
Indeed, all his days are filled with grief, and his task is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile.
- Job 7:1
“Is not man consigned to labor on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired hand?
- Matthew 11:11
Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
- Job 5:7
Through
Psalms 39:5You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah
it leads to
- Psalms 89:47
Remember the briefness of my lifespan! For what futility You have created all men!
- Psalms 144:4
Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.
- Psalms 90:9–10
For all our days decline in Your fury; we finish our years with a sigh.
- Psalms 89:47
About Job
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on A. B. Davidson, The Book of Job, Cambridge Bible; Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON JOB 10:18-22; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book IX; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.