Job 9:18
in Job 9He does not let me catch my breath, but overwhelms me with bitterness.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He will not suffer me to take my breath, But filleth me with bitterness.
KJV
He will not suffer me to take my breath, but filleth me with bitterness.
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This verse in Job 9
Commentary
9 notes on this verseHe will not suffer me to take my breath - I have no respite in my afflictions; I suffer continually in my body, and my mind is incessantly harassed.
This site's exposition
How then can I answer Him
on Job 9:14-19
"How then can I answer Him or choose my arguments against Him" draws the conclusion. If mountains and stars obey without argument, a man has less standing still. "For even if I were right, I could not answer" states Job's fear that real innocence would find no hearing.
This site's exposition
He does not let me catch my breath
Barnes links this verse to Job 7:19, where Job asked for a moment to swallow. He cannot catch his breath, and bitterness overwhelms him. Clarke reads it as pain without pause in body and mind.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"He will not let me catch my breath." That is, I am filled with a multitude of afflictions. "He has filled me with bitterness, for indeed he is superior in power. Who, then, shall resist his judgment?" Job does not want to say simply that God is superior to him in power but also that God is able to do whatever he wants.
The Medieval Church1 voice
So he not only suffers exteriorly but also interiorly, like an invalid, who does not know that he will achieve health from a bitter cure, would not only suffer from the bad taste of the medicine, but also in his spirit. He continues, "He will …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
He will not suffer me to take my breath,....
Yet it is true that as, on the one hand, there are many who are chargeable with more sin than the common infirmities of human nature, and yet feel no more sorrow than that of the common calamities of human life, so, on the other hand, there are many who feel more than the common calamities of human life and yet are conscious to themselves of no more than the common infirmities of human nature.
He knew how to make his part good with his friends, and thought himself able to deal with them; but, though his cause had been better than it was, he knew it was to no purpose to debate it with God.
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
He will not suffer me to take my breath; - see the notes at Job 7:19.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לֹֽא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִ֭תְּנֵנִי | yiteneni | he permits me | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| הָשֵׁ֣ב | hashev | to bring back | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| רוּחִ֑י | ruchi | breath my | H7307 → | 378 times |
| כִּ֥י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יַ֝שְׂבִּעַ֗נִי | yasbiani | he surfeits me | H7646 → | 97 times |
| מַמְּרֹרִֽים׃ | mamerorim | bitter things | H4472 → |
לֹֽא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
יִ֭תְּנֵנִיhe permits me
yiteneniH5414 →2011 times
הָשֵׁ֣בto bring back
hashevH7725 →1056 times
רוּחִ֑יbreath my
ruchiH7307 →378 times
כִּ֥יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
יַ֝שְׂבִּעַ֗נִיhe surfeits me
yasbianiH7646 →97 times
מַמְּרֹרִֽים׃bitter things
mamerorimH4472 →
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
Hebrews 12:11No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who have been trained by it.
it leads to
- Romans 5:3–5
Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
- 2 Corinthians 4:17
For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond comparison.
- Hebrews 12:5–6
And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you.
- 1 Peter 1:6
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in various trials
- Hebrews 12:10
Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness.
- Romans 5:3–5
Through
Job 3:20Why is light given to the miserable, and life to the bitter of soul,
it leads to
- Jeremiah 20:18
Why did I come out of the womb to see only trouble and sorrow, and to end my days in shame?
- Job 7:15–16
so that I would prefer strangling and death over my life in this body.
- Jeremiah 20:18
Through
Lamentations 3:15He has filled me with bitterness; He has intoxicated me with wormwood.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 9:15
Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will feed this people wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.
- Jeremiah 9:15
Where this verse is studied
On this page
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; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 9:18-19; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.