Job 19:2
in Job 19“How long will you torment me and crush me with your words?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
How long will ye vex my soul, And break me in pieces with words?
KJV
How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?
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This verse in Job 19
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
How long, &c.--retorting Bildad's words (Job 18:2). Admitting the punishment to be deserved, is it kind thus ever to be harping on this to the sufferer?
This site's exposition
Then Job answered
on Job 19:1-5
Gill notes that "Ten times now you have reproached me" is a round number of completeness. His answer to their exalting themselves is "my error concerns me alone": a hidden fault, if there were one, would be God's business alone. Henry sets their treatment against the better silence of 2:13.
This site's exposition
crush me with your words
Job answers Bildad's question at Job 18:2 with his own how long. Bildad asked when Job's words would end; Job asks when the friends' words will stop crushing him. Barnes hears a reply to Bildad's taunt.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words? HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION The sayings of the holy man, as we have already often said, are to be understood sometimes in his own person, sometimes in the voice of the Head, and sometimes in a figure of the Church Universal. Now the soul of the righteous is deeply distressed, when those persons launch severe sentences against the good, who have not learned to lead good lives, and by the words of the mouth claim righteousness to themselves, to which in practice they are enemies.
In the previous discourse Baldath seems to have intended two things. First, he intended to refute Job for stupidity, pride and anger. (18:2) He intended to afflict him by this like his other friends had, and so Job says, "How long are you going to …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
"I see you will magnify yourselves against me, notwithstanding all I have said in my own justification." Those that speak too much seldom think they have said enough; and, when the mouth is opened in passion, the ear is shut to reason.
How long will ye vex my soul,.... Which of all vexation is the worst; not only his bones were vexed, but his soul also, as David's was, Psa 6:
What is not liked is commonly thought long; but Job had more reason to think those long who assaulted him than they had to think him long who only vindicated himself.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
How long will ye vex my soul - Every thing that was irritating, vexatious, and opprobrious, his friends had recourse to, in order to support their own system, and overwhelm him. Not one of them seems to have been touched with a feeling of tenderness towards him, nor does a kind expression drop at any time from their lips! They were called friends; but this term, in reference to them, must be taken in the sense of cold-blooded acquaintances.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
How long will ye vex my soul? - Perhaps designing to reply to the taunting speech of Bildad; Job 18:2. “He” had asked “how long it would be ere Job would make an end of empty talk?” “Job” asks, in reply, “how long” they would torture and afflict his soul? Or whether there was on hope that this would ever come to an end! And break me in pieces - Crush me, or bruise me - like breaking any thing in a mortar, or breaking rocks by repeated blows of the hammer. “Noyes.” He says they had crushed him, as if by repeated blows.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עַד־ | ʾad- | until | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| אָ֭נָה | ʾanah | when? | H575 → | 41 times |
| תּוֹגְי֣וּן | togyun | will you torment ! | H3013 → | |
| נַפְשִׁ֑י | nafshi | self my | H5315 → | 754 times |
| וּֽתְדַכְּאוּנַ֥נִי | utedakeunani | and will you crush? me | H1792 → | 18 times |
| בְמִלִּֽים׃ | vemilim | with words | H4405 → | 38 times |
עַד־until
ʾad-H5704 →1261 times
אָ֭נָהwhen?
ʾanahH575 →41 times
תּוֹגְי֣וּןwill you torment !
togyunH3013 →
נַפְשִׁ֑יself my
nafshiH5315 →754 times
וּֽתְדַכְּאוּנַ֥נִיand will you crush? me
utedakeunaniH1792 →18 times
בְמִלִּֽים׃with words
vemilimH4405 →38 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
Proverbs 18:21Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
it leads to
- Ephesians 4:29
Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing grace to those who listen.
- Matthew 12:35–37
The good man brings good things out of his good store of treasure, and the evil man brings evil things out of his evil store of treasure.
- Colossians 4:6
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
- Proverbs 10:19–21
When words are many, sin is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise.
- James 3:6–9
The tongue also is a fire, a world of wickedness among the parts of the body. It pollutes the whole person, sets the course of his life on fire, and is itself set on…
- Ephesians 4:29
Through
Proverbs 12:18Speaking rashly is like a piercing sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
it leads to
- Proverbs 16:24
Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
- Psalms 57:4
My soul is among the lions; I lie down with ravenous beasts— with men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 16:24
Through
Revelation 6:10And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You avenge our blood and judge those who dwell upon the earth?”
it leads to
- Revelation 19:2
For His judgments are true and just. He has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality. He has avenged the blood of His servants that was poured out by her…
- Revelation 19:2
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies4
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; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XIV; 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.