Job 6:11
in Job 6What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What is my future, that I should be patient?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is mine end, that I should be patient?
KJV
What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my life?
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This verse in Job 6
Commentary
9 notes on this verseWhat is my strength, that I should hope?.... For a perfect restoration of health, suggested by Eliphaz; since it was so sadly weakened by the present affliction, which made death more desirable than life lengthened out in so much weakness, pain, and sorrow; or "that I should bear" (w), such a weight and heavy load that lay upon him, and crushed him, and to which his strength was not equal; or continue and endure (x): what is mine end, that I should prolong my life? what end can be answered by living, or desiring a long life?
This site's exposition
What strength do I have
on Job 6:11-13
Job asks: "What strength do I have, that I should still hope". His question, "Is my strength like that of stone, or my flesh made of bronze," denies the very endurance Eliphaz has assumed he has. With "success is driven from me," he finds no help left within himself.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
What is my strength, that I should hold up? And what is mine end that I should deal patiently? It is necessary to bear in mind, that the 'strength' of the righteous is of one sort, and the strength of the reprobate of another.
Next he gives the reason from his frailty that he would be led to contradict the decrees of the Holy One. Fear of this kind can be overcome by two causes. First, if the strength of reason is so great in itself that it could …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Strength - My strength is so spent, that it is vain for me to hope for such restitution as thou hast promised me, chap. v,
That he had no reason to desire any such thing: " What is my end, that I should desire to prolong my life? What comfort can I promise myself in life, comparable to the comfort I promise myself in death?" Note, Those who, through grace, are ready for another world, cannot see much to invite their stay in this world, or to make them fond of it.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
What strength have I, so as to warrant the hope of restoration to health? a hope which Eliphaz had suggested. "And what" but a miserable "end" of life is before me, "that I should" desire to "prolong life"? [UMBREIT].
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
What is my strength - I can never suppose that my strength will be restored; and, were that possible, have I any comfortable prospect of a happy termination of my life? Had I any prospect of future happiness, I might well bear my present ills; but the state of my body and the state of my circumstances preclude all hope.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
What is my strength, that I should hope? - Job had hitherto borne his trials without apprehension that he would lose his constancy of hope, or his confidence in God. He here seems to apprehend that his constancy might fail, and he therefore wishes to die before he should be left to dishonor God. He asks, therefore, what strength he had that he should hope to be able to sustain his trials much longer. And what is mine end, that I should prolong my life? - Various interpretations have been given of this passage.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Then should I yet have comfort And this shall yet be to me for comfort.
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. 6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מַה־ | mah- | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| כֹּחִ֥י | kochi | [is] strength my | H3581 → | 126 times |
| כִֽי־ | khi- | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אֲיַחֵ֑ל | ʾayachel | I will wait | H3176 → | 41 times |
| וּמַה־ | umah- | and what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| קִּ֝צִּ֗י | kitzi | [is] end my | H7093 → | 67 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אַאֲרִ֥יךְ | ʾaarikh | I will prolong | H748 → | |
| נַפְשִֽׁי׃ | nafshi | life my | H5315 → | 754 times |
מַה־what?
mah-H4100 →752 times
כֹּחִ֥י[is] strength my
kochiH3581 →126 times
כִֽי־that
khi-H3588 →4482 times
אֲיַחֵ֑לI will wait
ʾayachelH3176 →41 times
וּמַה־and what?
umah-H4100 →752 times
קִּ֝צִּ֗י[is] end my
kitziH7093 →67 times
כִּֽי־that
ki-H3588 →4482 times
אַאֲרִ֥יךְI will prolong
ʾaarikhH748 →
נַפְשִֽׁי׃life my
nafshiH5315 →754 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
Psalms 39:5You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah
it leads to
- Psalms 89:47
Remember the briefness of my lifespan! For what futility You have created all men!
- Psalms 144:4
Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.
- Psalms 62:9
Lowborn men are but a vapor, the exalted but a lie. Weighed on the scale, they go up; together they are but a vapor.
- Psalms 90:9–10
For all our days decline in Your fury; we finish our years with a sigh.
- Psalms 39:11
You discipline and correct a man for his iniquity, consuming like a moth what he holds dear; surely each man is but a vapor. Selah
- Psalms 89:47
Through
Job 17:1“My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished; the grave awaits me.
it leads to
- Isaiah 38:10–14
I said, “In the prime of my life I must go through the gates of Sheol and be deprived of the remainder of my years.”
- Psalms 88:3–5
For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol.
- Job 19:17
My breath is repulsive to my wife, and I am loathsome to my own family.
- Isaiah 38:10–14
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Job
This page draws on 10 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); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book VII; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.