Job 31:22
in Job 31then may my arm fall from my shoulder and be torn from its socket.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade, And mine arm be broken from the bone.
KJV
Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.
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This verse in Job 31
Commentary
9 notes on this verseLet mine arm fall - Mr. Good, as a medical man, is at home in the translation of this verse: - “May my shoulder-bone be shivered at the blade, And mine arm be broken off at the socket.” Let judgment fall particularly on those parts which have either done wrong, or refused to do right when in their power.
This site's exposition
lifted up my hand against the fatherless
on Job 31:21-23
The oath names the temptation of a powerful man at the gate of 29:7. The curse “then may my arm fall from my shoulder” fits the fault. “For calamity from God terrifies me” names the fear, which Henry reads as the root of his ethics, reverence for God before reputation.
This site's exposition
may my arm fall from my shoulder
Henry calls the curse just. It matches the hand lifted against the fatherless in Job 31:21, and Henry recalls how God withered the arm Jeroboam stretched out against a prophet. Barnes hears in the strong language a clear conscience.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
It is just that a man should be deprived of the limbs which he uses for injustice, and so he speaks not only of the loss of his hand as a punishment, but also the arm to which the hand is attached, and of the …
Then let my shoulder fall from its joining, and mine arm be broken in pieces along with its bones. Because bodily action is carried on by the shoulder and the arm, if the good things which he put forth with the lips he did not fulfil in deed, he wishes to himself 'the shoulder to fall,' and 'the arm to be broken in pieces.'
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And he intimates that it is a righteous thing with God to break the arm that is lifted up against the fatherless, as he withered Jeroboam's arm that was stretched out against a prophet.
Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Job alludes to Eliphaz' charge (Job 22:9). The first "arm" is rather the shoulder. The second "arm" is the forearm. from the bone--literally, "a reed"; hence the upper arm, above the elbow.
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
Then let mine arm - The strong language which Job uses here, shows his consciousness of innocence, and his detestation of the offences to which he here refers, Job 31:16-22. The word rendered “arm” here (כתף kâthêph) means properly the shoulder. Isa 46:7; Isa 49:22; Num 7:9; compare the notes at Isa 11:14. There is no instance, it is believed, unless this is one, in which it means arm, and the meaning here is, that he wished, if he had been guilty, his shoulder might separate from the blade. So Herder, Rosenmuller, Umbreit, and Noyes render it; and so the Vulgate and the Septuagint. From my shoulder-blade - The scapula - the flat bone to which the upper arm is attached. The wish of Job is, that the shoulder might separate from that, and of course the arm would be useless. Such a strong imprecation implies a firm consciousness of innocence. And mine arm - The word arm here denotes the forearm - the arm from the elbow to the fingers. From the bone - Margin, “the chanelbone.” Literally, “from the reed” - מקנה miqâneh. Umbreit renders it, Schneller als ein Rohr - quicker than a reed. The word קנה qâneh means properly a reed, cane, calamus (see the notes at Isa 43:24), and is here applied to the upper arm, or arm above the elbow, from its resemblance to a reed or cane. It is applied, also, to the arm or branch of a chandelier, or candlestick, Exo 25:31, and to the rod or beam of a balance, Isa. xlvi. 6. The meaning here is, that he wished that his arm should be broken at the elbow, or the forearm be separated from the upper arm, if he were guilty of the sins which he had specified. There is allusion, probably, and there is great force and propriety in the allusion, to what he had said in Job 31:2 l: “If his arm had been lifted up against an orphan, he prayed that it might fall powerless.”
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כְּ֭תֵפִי | ketefi | shoulder my | H3802 → | |
| מִשִּׁכְמָ֣ה | mishikhmah | from its shoulder <towards> | H7929 → | |
| תִפּ֑וֹל | tipol | let it fall | H5307 → | 435 times |
| וְ֝אֶזְרֹעִ֗י | veezroi | and arm my | H248 → | |
| מִקָּנָ֥ה | mikanah | from arm its | H7070 → | |
| תִשָּׁבֵֽר׃ | tishaver | let it be broken | H7665 → | 147 times |
כְּ֭תֵפִיshoulder my
ketefiH3802 →
מִשִּׁכְמָ֣הfrom its shoulder <towards>
mishikhmahH7929 →
תִפּ֑וֹלlet it fall
tipolH5307 →435 times
וְ֝אֶזְרֹעִ֗יand arm my
veezroiH248 →
מִקָּנָ֥הfrom arm its
mikanahH7070 →
תִשָּׁבֵֽר׃let it be broken
tishaverH7665 →147 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
Job 38:15Light is withheld from the wicked, and their upraised arm is broken.
it leads to
- Psalms 10:15
Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call him to account for his wickedness until none is left to be found.
- Psalms 37:17
For the arms of the wicked will be broken, but the LORD upholds the righteous.
- Job 18:5
Indeed, the lamp of the wicked is extinguished; the flame of his fire does not glow.
- Proverbs 4:19
But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom; they do not know what makes them stumble.
- Job 18:18
He is driven from light into darkness and is chased from the inhabited world.
- Psalms 10:15
Through
Psalms 137:6May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy!
it leads to
- Ezekiel 3:26
I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, and you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, though they are a rebellious house.
- Psalms 22:15
My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You lay me in the dust of death.
- Ezekiel 3:26
Through
Job 31:10then may my own wife grind grain for another, and may other men sleep with her.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 8:10
Therefore I will give their wives to other men and their fields to new owners. For from the least of them to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; from prophet to priest, all…
- Jeremiah 8:10
Where this verse is studied
About Job
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXI; 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.