Job 6:8
in Job 6If only my request were granted and God would fulfill my hope:
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Oh that I might have my request; And that God would grant me the thing that I long for!
KJV
Oh that I might have my request; and that God would grant me the thing that I long for!
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This verse in Job 6
Commentary
9 notes on this verseOh that I might have my request, and that God would grant me the thing that I long for! Even that He That hath begun would destroy me. Let him let loose His hand, and cut me off! Let this be my comfort; that He should afflict me with sorrow, and not spare. But perchance he entreats such things through stubbornness, perchance, in that he wishes to be entirely annihilated, he charges the injustice of the smiter. Far be the thought!
This site's exposition
If only my request were granted
on Job 6:8-10
Job's wish turns toward death, "that God would be willing to crush me". The friends will treat the request as scandalous, though the book never rebukes it. His comfort is "that I have not denied the words of the Holy One," his claim that the wish comes from honest suffering.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
He who asks to be wounded does not pray out of exhaustion that his prayer might be granted but in order to fulfill his task. This task was to fulfill the right deeds or to make visible to the friends for their benefit the reason …
The Medieval Church1 voice
He shows this same thing when he says, "Who will grant that my prayer find fulfillment?" He shows that this prayer is made not only with the lips, but also from the bottom of his heart when he continues, "may God grant me my hope!" …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
10 Then should I yet have comfort; yea, I would harden myself in sorrow: let him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One. 11 What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my life? 12 Is my strength the strength of stones? or is my flesh of brass?
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
And that I might have my request,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
To desire death is no necessary proof of fitness for death. The ungodly sometimes desire it, so as to escape troubles, without thought of the hereafter.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
O that I might have - As Job had no hope that he should ever be redeemed from his present helpless state, he earnestly begs God to shorten it by taking away his life.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Oh that I might have my request - To wit, death. This he desired as the end of his sorrows, either that he might be freed from them, or that he might be admitted to a happy world - or both. Would grant me the thing that I long for - Margin, “My expectation.” That is, death. He expected it; he looked out for it; he was impatient that the hour should come. This state of feeling is not uncommon - where sorrows become so accumulated and intense that a man desires to die. It is no evidence, however, of a preparation for death. The wicked are more frequently in this state than the righteous. They are overwhelmed with pain; they see no hope of deliverance from it and they impatiently wish that the end had come. They are stupid about the future world, and either suppose that the grave is the end of their being, or that in some undefinable way they will be made happy hereafter. The righteous, on the other hand, are willing to wait until God shall be pleased to release them, feeling that He has some good purpose in all that they endure, and that they do not suffer one pang too much. Such sometimes were Job’s feelings; but here, as in some other instances, no one can doubt that he was betrayed into unjustifiable impatience under his sorrows, and that he expressed an improper wish to die.
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מִֽי־ | mi- | who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| יִ֭תֵּן | yiten | will he give | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| תָּב֣וֹא | tavo' | it will come | H935 → | 2568 times |
| שֶֽׁאֱלָתִ֑י | sheelati | petition my | H7596 → | |
| וְ֝תִקְוָתִ֗י | vetikvati | and hope my | H8615 → | 34 times |
| יִתֵּ֥ן | yiten | he will give | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| אֱלֽוֹהַּ׃ | ʾeloah | God | H433 → | 57 times |
מִֽי־who?
mi-H4310 →423 times
יִ֭תֵּןwill he give
yitenH5414 →2011 times
תָּב֣וֹאit will come
tavo'H935 →2568 times
שֶֽׁאֱלָתִ֑יpetition my
sheelatiH7596 →
וְ֝תִקְוָתִ֗יand hope my
vetikvatiH8615 →34 times
יִתֵּ֥ןhe will give
yitenH5414 →2011 times
אֱלֽוֹהַּ׃God
ʾeloahH433 →57 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 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 119:81My soul faints for Your salvation; I wait for Your word.
it leads to
- Psalms 84:2
My soul longs, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
- Psalms 119:40
How I long for Your precepts! Revive me in Your righteousness.
- Psalms 119:114
You are my hiding place and my shield; I put my hope in Your word.
- Psalms 73:26
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
- Song of Solomon 5:8
O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love.
- Psalms 84:2
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
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 on the Book of Job; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON JOB 6:8-9; 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); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.
