Job 10:8
in Job 10Your hands shaped me and altogether formed me. Would You now turn and destroy me?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thy hands have framed me and fashioned me Together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.
KJV
Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.
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This verse in Job 10
Commentary
8 notes on this verseThine hands have made me and fashioned me, altogether round about: and dost Thou thus suddenly cast me down? As if He said to Him in humility; 'Whereas that which I have done being submitted to a just examination is not meet for the propitiating of Thee, consider in Thy mercy lest that should perish which is Thy doing.' By which same words too the wicked doctrine of Manichaeus is destroyed, who feigning that there are two Principles, strives to maintain that the spirit was made by God, but the flesh by Satan.
This site's exposition
Your hands shaped me and altogether formed me
on Job 10:8-12
"Your hands shaped me" opens an argument from workmanship to care. "Your care has preserved my spirit" turns toward tenderness, the Hebrew carrying the sense of watchful, sustaining care. A potter who shaped the vessel so closely has no reason to smash it, and Job puts that question to God.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
Since he had already stated that he was the work of God's hands to show by this that it cannot seem good to God to oppress him for his own sake, as though he delighted in suffering, he clearly explains what he had merely stated …
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 1 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
The authority of the one commanding ought to move us to observe the commandments of God: because it is God who commands that the precepts be observed. For He is of great authority, which is evident from three things: first, because He Himself by His …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Thine hands have made me, and fashioned together round about,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Thine hands have made me - Thou art well acquainted with human nature, for thou art its author. And fashioned me together round about - All my powers and faculties have been planned and executed by thyself. It is thou who hast refined the materials out of which I have been formed, and modified them into that excellent symmetry and order in which they are now found; so that the union and harmony of the different parts, (יחד yachad), and their arrangement and completion, (סביב sabib), proclaim equally thy wisdom, skill, power, and goodness.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Made--with pains; implying a work of difficulty and art; applying to God language applicable only to man. together round about--implying that the human body is a complete unity, the parts of which on all sides will bear the closest scrutiny.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Thine hands have made me - Job proceeds now to state that he had been made by God, and that he had shown great skill and pains in his formation. He argues that it would seem like caprice to take such pains, and to exercise such amazing wisdom and care in forming him, and then, on a sudden, and without cause, dash his own work to pieces. Who makes a beautiful vase only to be destroyed? Who moulds a statue from marble only to break it to pieces? Who builds a splendid edifice only to pull it down? Who plants a rare and precious flower only to have the pleasure of plucking it up? The statement in Job 10:8-12, is not only beautiful and forcible as an argument, but is especially interesting and valuable, as it may be presumed to embody the views in the patriarchal age about the formation and the laws of the human frame. No inconsiderable part of the value of the book of Job, as was remarked in the Introduction, arises from the incidental notices of the sciences as they prevailed at the time when it was composed. If it is the oldest book in the world, it is an invaluable record on these points. The expression, “thine hands have made me,” is in the margin, “took pains about me.” Dr. Good renders it, “have wrought me;” Noyes, “completely fashioned me;” Rosenmuller explains it to mean, “have formed me with the highest diligence and care.” Schultens renders it, Manus tuae nervis colligarunt - “thy hands have bound me with nerves or sinews;” and appeals to the use of the Arabic as authority for this interpretation. He maintains (De Defectibus hodiernis Ling. Hebr. pp. 142, 144, 151), that the Arabic word atzaba denotes “the body united and bound in a beautiful form by nerves and tendons;” and that the idea here is, that God had so constructed the human frame. The Hebrew word used here (עצב ‛âtsab) means properly to work, form, fashion. […]
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יָדֶ֣יךָ | yadeikha | hands your | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| עִ֭צְּבוּנִי | ʾitzevuni | they formed me | H6087 → | |
| וַֽיַּעֲשׂ֑וּנִי | vaiyaasuni | and they made me | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| יַ֥חַד | yachad | together | H3162 → | 141 times |
| סָ֝בִ֗יב | saviv | all around | H5439 → | 336 times |
| וַֽתְּבַלְּעֵֽנִי׃ | vatevaleeni | and you have swallowed me | H1104 → | 49 times |
יָדֶ֣יךָhands your
yadeikhaH3027 →1618 times
עִ֭צְּבוּנִיthey formed me
ʾitzevuniH6087 →
וַֽיַּעֲשׂ֑וּנִיand they made me
vaiyaasuniH6213 →2628 times
יַ֥חַדtogether
yachadH3162 →141 times
סָ֝בִ֗יבall around
savivH5439 →336 times
וַֽתְּבַלְּעֵֽנִי׃and you have swallowed me
vatevaleeniH1104 →49 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
Psalms 119:73Your hands have made me and fashioned me; give me understanding to learn Your commandments.
it leads to
- Psalms 138:8
The LORD will fulfill His purpose for me. O LORD, Your loving devotion endures forever— do not abandon the works of Your hands.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 139:14–16
I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, and I know this very well.
- Job 31:15
Did not He who made me in the womb also make them? Did not the same One form us in the womb?
- Psalms 138:8
Through
Isaiah 43:7everyone called by My name and created for My glory, whom I have indeed formed and made.”
it leads to
- Ephesians 2:10
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.
- Isaiah 43:21
The people I formed for Myself will declare My praise.
- Ephesians 1:12
in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, would be for the praise of His glory.
- 1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
- Romans 9:23
What if He did this to make the riches of His glory known to the vessels of His mercy, whom He prepared in advance for glory—
- Ephesians 2:10
About Job
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bonaventure, Collationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 1; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book IX; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.