Job 19:3
in Job 19Ten times now you have reproached me; you shamelessly mistreat me.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
These ten times have ye reproached me: Ye are not ashamed that ye deal hardly with me.
KJV
These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me.
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This verse in Job 19
Commentary
12 notes on this verseLo, these ten times ye confound me. On enumerating the successive times of the speeches of Job's friends, we learn that as yet they had spoken but five times. But for this reason, that he had five times heard rebukes from them, and five times himself replied to their rebukes, he says that he had been ten times confounded; because both herein, viz. that he had been causelessly reproached, he suffered deeply, and in this, that he uttered words of instruction to those that gave no ear, he underwent confusion.
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
Ten times now you have reproached me
Ten times is a round number for very often, as Henry reads it, like Jacob's complaint against Laban in Genesis 31. The friends have spoken five times, and Henry counts each speech as reproaching Job twice. They mistreat him shamelessly.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Only know that the Lord has dealt with me thus.… You speak against me; you do not feel for me but bear hard upon me.… May the dignity of him who punishes me make you change your mind," he says. We do not have to trample underfoot the people who are punished by God, but we must shed tears and grieve over their fate. Above all, we must not rejoice over the death of anybody, because such an action will not be left unpunished. Who would have not respected Job's misfortune, at least because of the dignity of him who chastised him?
The Medieval Church1 voice
It is tolerable if someone speaks against his own friend once, but if the man says the same things over and over he seems to be firmly established in malice, and so he then says, "Behold! You have confused me ten times," both by speaking …
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.
): These ten times you have reproached me, that is, very often, as Gen. xxxi. Five times they had spoken, and every speech was a double reproach. He spoke as if he had kept a particular account of their reproaches, and could tell just how many they were.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
These ten times have ye reproached me,....
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
To an ingenuous mind reproach is a cutting thing. They made themselves strange to him, were shy of him now that he was in his troubles, and seemed as if they did not know him ( ch. ii. 12 ), were not free with him as they used to be when he was in his prosperity.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
These ten times - Many times; the word “ten” being used as we often say, “ten a dozen” or “twenty,” to denote many; see Gen 31:7, “And your father hath changed my wages “ten times.” Lev 26:26, “and when I have broken your staff of bread, “ten women” shall bake your bread, in one oven;” compare Num 14:22; Neh 4:
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
(See Margin for a different meaning [that is, "harden yourselves against me"]). 4.erred--The Hebrew expresses unconscious error. Job was unconscious of wilful sin. remaineth--literally, "passeth the night." An image from harboring an unpleasant guest for the night.
These ten times - The exact arithmetical number is not to be regarded; ten times being put for many times, as we have already seen. See particularly the note on Gen 31:7 (note). Ye make yourselves strange to me - When I was in affluence and prosperity, ye were my intimates, and appeared to rejoice in my happiness; but now ye scarcely know me, or ye profess to consider me a wicked man because I am in adversity. Of this you had no suspicion when I was in prosperity! Circumstances change men’s minds.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| זֶ֤ה | zeh | this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| עֶ֣שֶׂר | ʾeser | ten | H6235 → | |
| פְּ֭עָמִים | peamim | times | H6471 → | |
| תַּכְלִימ֑וּנִי | takhlimuni | you have insulted me | H3637 → | |
| לֹֽא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תֵ֝בֹ֗שׁוּ | tevoshu | you have been ashamed | H954 → | |
| תַּהְכְּרוּ־ | tahkeru- | you have ill-treated | H1970 → | |
| לִֽי׃ | li | <to> me |
זֶ֤הthis
zehH2088 →1180 times
עֶ֣שֶׂרten
ʾeserH6235 →
פְּ֭עָמִיםtimes
peamimH6471 →
תַּכְלִימ֑וּנִיyou have insulted me
takhlimuniH3637 →
לֹֽא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
תֵ֝בֹ֗שׁוּyou have been ashamed
tevoshuH954 →
תַּהְכְּרוּ־you have ill-treated
tahkeru-H1970 →
לִֽי׃<to> me
li
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 69:8I have become a stranger to my brothers and a foreigner to my mother’s sons,
it leads to
- Psalms 31:11
Among all my enemies I am a disgrace, and among my neighbors even more. I am dreaded by my friends— they flee when they see me on the street.
- John 1:11
He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
- John 7:5
For even His own brothers did not believe in Him.
- Psalms 31:11
Through
Daniel 1:20In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his entire kingdom.
it leads to
- Exodus 8:19
“This is the finger of God,” the magicians said to Pharaoh. But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.
- Isaiah 47:12–14
So take your stand with your spells and with your many sorceries, with which you have wearied yourself from your youth. Perhaps you will succeed; perhaps you will inspire terror!
- 1 Kings 4:29–34
And God gave Solomon wisdom, exceedingly deep insight, and understanding beyond measure, like the sand on the seashore.
- Genesis 41:8
In the morning his spirit was troubled, so he summoned all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him.
- Exodus 8:19
Through
Genesis 31:7And although he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, God has not allowed him to harm me.
it leads to
- Genesis 31:41
Thus for twenty years I have served in your household—fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks—and you have changed my wages ten times!
- Genesis 31:41
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 (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 Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 19:3A; 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.