Job 16:12
in Job 16I was at ease, but He shattered me; He seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has set me up as His target;
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I was at ease, and he brake me asunder; Yea, he hath taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces: He hath also set me up for his mark.
KJV
I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder: he hath also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark.
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This verse in Job 16
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
I was at ease - I was in a state of happiness and security. The word used here (שׁלו shâlêv) means sometimes to be “at ease” in an improper sense; that is, to be in a state of “carnal security,” or living unconcerned in sin (Eze 23:42; compare Pro 1:32); but here it is used in the sense of comfort. He had everything desirable around him. But he hath broken me asunder - He has crushed me. He hath also taken, me by my neck - Perhaps as an animal does his prey.
This site's exposition
I was at ease, but He shattered me
on Job 16:12-14
Job's settled life becomes a target: "He seized me by the neck and crushed me" and "He has set me up as His target". Henry notes that Job never doubts God's power here, only His purpose, though Job will call Him his witness at 16:19.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XIII · Written before 604.
proposed
Ver. 12. God hath shut me up with the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked. The people of the Elect is 'shut up with the ungodly man,' when its flesh is given up in this present time to the persecutions of our old adversary; and it is 'turned over,' not to the spirit, but 'the hands of the wicked;' in that in proportion as they cannot take it captive in mind, they are the more pitilessly inflamed against the flesh thereof.
He gives an understanding of this in four clear signs. First, because he fell from the greatest prosperity, not little by little as is usually the case in human affairs, but suddenly. It does not seem to have happened by sudden chance, but only by …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder,....
He still holds fast his integrity, concerning which he appeals to God's righteous judgment from the unrighteous censures of his friends,
Whoever are our enemies, we must look upon them as God's archers, and see him directing the arrow. It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good. As if he were cruel, and his wrath as relentless as his power was resistless.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
I was at ease--in past times (Job 1:1-3). by my neck--as an animal does its prey (so Job 10:16). shaken--violently; in contrast to his former "ease" (Ps 102:10). Set me up (again). mark-- (Job 7:20;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
God delivers me to a fool The Holy One, blessed be He, delivered me to a fool, a scorner, a mocker, to be scornful of me.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 7 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שָׁ֘לֵ֤ו | shalev | at ease | H7961 → | 8 times |
| הָיִ֨יתִי׀ | hayiti | I was | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| וַֽיְפַרְפְּרֵ֗נִי | vayfarpereni | and he smashed me | H6565 → | 50 times |
| וְאָחַ֣ז | veachaz | and he took hold | H270 → | 67 times |
| בְּ֭עָרְפִּי | bearepi | on neck my | H6203 → | |
| וַֽיְפַצְפְּצֵ֑נִי | vayfatzpetzeni | and he shattered me | H6327 → | 67 times |
| וַיְקִימֵ֥נִי | vaykimeni | and he set up me | H6965 → | 628 times |
| ל֝֗וֹ | lo | of him | ||
| לְמַטָּרָֽה׃ | lematarah | to a target | H4307 → |
שָׁ֘לֵ֤וat ease
shalevH7961 →8 times
הָיִ֨יתִי׀I was
hayitiH1961 →3559 times
וַֽיְפַרְפְּרֵ֗נִיand he smashed me
vayfarpereniH6565 →50 times
וְאָחַ֣זand he took hold
veachazH270 →67 times
בְּ֭עָרְפִּיon neck my
bearepiH6203 →
וַֽיְפַצְפְּצֵ֑נִיand he shattered me
vayfatzpetzeniH6327 →67 times
וַיְקִימֵ֥נִיand he set up me
vaykimeniH6965 →628 times
ל֝֗וֹof him
lo
לְמַטָּרָֽה׃to a target
lematarahH4307 →
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
Lamentations 3:4He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones.
it leads to
- Psalms 51:8
Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 38:13
I composed myself until the morning. Like a lion He breaks all my bones; from day until night You make an end of me.
- Jeremiah 50:17
Israel is a scattered flock, chased away by lions. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria; the last to crush his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”
- Psalms 38:2–8
For Your arrows have pierced me deeply, and Your hand has pressed down on me.
- Psalms 51:8
Through
Job 7:20If I have sinned, what have I done to You, O watcher of mankind? Why have You made me Your target, so that I am a burden to You?
it leads to
- Lamentations 3:12
He bent His bow and set me as the target for His arrow.
- Lamentations 3:12
Through
Psalms 44:19But You have crushed us in the lair of jackals; You have covered us with deepest darkness.
it leads to
- Psalms 23:4
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
- Job 3:5
May darkness and gloom reclaim it, and a cloud settle over it; may the blackness of the day overwhelm it.
- Psalms 23:4
Through
Job 9:17For He would crush me with a tempest and multiply my wounds without cause.
it leads to
- Job 16:14
He breaks me with wound upon wound; He rushes me like a mighty warrior.
- Job 16:14
About Job
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XIII; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.