Job 21:6
in Job 21When I remember, terror takes hold, and my body trembles in horror.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Even when I remember I am troubled, And horror taketh hold on my flesh.
KJV
Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh.
⋯
This verse in Job 21
Commentary
10 notes on this verseVer. 6. Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold of my flesh. 44. That blessed Job was not forgetful of his deeds, the last utterance of his lips proves. Wherefore this which he now says to his friends, Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold of my flesh, must clearly be said in mockery. As if it were in plain words; 'If I remember that I have had any thing of the hypocrite in me, directly I tremble in tears of penitence.'
This site's exposition
Is my complaint against a man
on Job 21:4-6
Job asks, "Is my complaint against a man", and since his complaint is with God, he asks "why should I not be impatient". Barnes reads "When I remember, terror takes hold" as Job admitting that the case troubles him as much as it will trouble them.
This site's exposition
When I remember, terror takes hold
Barnes reads the terror as Job's shudder at recalling his own sufferings, and notes that some join it to the verse that follows. On that reading the horror is the question of verse 7, why the wicked live on. Chrysostom hears Job giving the reason for hard words to come.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"When I think of it, I am dismayed and pains seize my flesh." Notice how he always stands up, how he puts forward his sufferings, how he indicates the reason for the terrible words he is going to speak, because he does not talk in this manner by himself or from a fixed position but because his soul is dismayed and his thoughts are darkened.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Lest it seem that he speaks boastfully as if giving honor to his own authority, he shows that he also is awed at the high nature of the question, and so he says, "When I call this to mind, even I am amazed," lest I …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
He owns that God does sometimes hang up a wicked man as it were in chains, in terrorem --as a terror to others, by some visible remarkable judgment in this life, but denies that he always does so; nay, he maintains that commonly he does otherwise, suffering even the worst of sinners to live all their days in prosperity and to go out of the world without any visible mark of his wrath upon them.
Even when I remember,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Can you wonder that I broke out into complaints, when the struggle was not with men, but with the Almighty? Reconcile, if you can, the ceaseless woes of the innocent with the divine justice! Is it not enough to make one tremble? [UMBREIT].
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
I am afraid - I am about to speak of the mysterious workings of Providence; and I tremble at the thought of entering into a detail on such a subject; my very flesh trembles.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Even when I remember, I am afraid - I have an internal shuddering and horror when I recall the scenes through which I have passed. I am myself utterly overwhelmed at the magnitude of my own sufferings, and they are such as should excite commiseration in your hearts. Some, however, have connected this with the following verse, supposing the idea to be, that he was horror-stricken when he contemplated the prosperity of wicked people. But there seems to me to be no reason for this interpretation. His object is undoubtedly to show them that there was enough in his ease to awe them into silence; and he says, in order to show that, that the recollection of his sufferings perfectly overwhelmed “him,” and filled him with horror. They who have passed through scenes of special danger, or of great bodily suffering, can easily sympathize with Job here. The very recollection will make the flesh tremble.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאִם־ | veim- | and if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| זָכַ֥רְתִּי | zakharti | I remember [this] | H2142 → | 230 times |
| וְנִבְהָ֑לְתִּי | venivhalti | and I am disturbed | H926 → | 39 times |
| וְאָחַ֥ז | veachaz | and it takes hold of | H270 → | 67 times |
| בְּ֝שָׂרִ֗י | besari | flesh my | H1320 → | 270 times |
| פַּלָּצֽוּת׃ | palatzut | shuddering | H6427 → |
וְאִם־and if
veim-H518 →1069 times
זָכַ֥רְתִּיI remember [this]
zakhartiH2142 →230 times
וְנִבְהָ֑לְתִּיand I am disturbed
venivhaltiH926 →39 times
וְאָחַ֥זand it takes hold of
veachazH270 →67 times
בְּ֝שָׂרִ֗יflesh my
besariH1320 →270 times
פַּלָּצֽוּת׃shuddering
palatzutH6427 →
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 119:120My flesh trembles in awe of You; I stand in fear of Your judgments.
it leads to
- Habakkuk 3:16
I heard and trembled within; my lips quivered at the sound. Decay entered my bones; I trembled where I stood. Yet I must wait patiently for the day of distress to come upon the…
- Daniel 10:8–11
So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision. No strength remained in me; my face grew deathly pale, and I was powerless.
- Hebrews 12:21
The sight was so terrifying that even Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”
- Hebrews 12:28–29
Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be filled with gratitude, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.
- Philippians 2:12
Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
- Habakkuk 3:16
Through
Habakkuk 3:16I heard and trembled within; my lips quivered at the sound. Decay entered my bones; I trembled where I stood. Yet I must wait patiently for the day of distress to come upon the…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 23:9
As for the prophets: My heart is broken within me, and all my bones tremble. I have become like a drunkard, like a man overcome by wine, because of the LORD, because of His…
- Daniel 10:8
So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision. No strength remained in me; my face grew deathly pale, and I was powerless.
- Jeremiah 23:9
Through
Psalms 88:15From my youth I was afflicted and near death. I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair.
it leads to
- Job 6:4
For the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
- Job 6:4
About Job
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; 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 XV; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Commentary on Job; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 21:3-6; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.