Job 9:27
in Job 9If I were to say, ‘I will forget my complaint and change my expression and smile,’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad countenance, and be of good cheer;
KJV
If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my heaviness, and comfort myself:
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This verse in Job 9
Commentary
7 notes on this verseIt is easy to preach patience to those that are in trouble, and to tell them they must forget their complaints and comfort themselves; but it is not so soon done as said.
This site's exposition
My days are swifter than a runner
on Job 9:25-31
"My days are swifter than a runner" returns to the speed of life. Resolving to "forget my complaint" brings no comfort, since "I would still dread all my sufferings". Even "If I should wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye," God would plunge him "into the pit".
This site's exposition
I will forget my complaint
Job tries the remedy the friends keep offering, a brave face. Henry notes how easily comforters tell a sufferer to forget his complaint and how hard it is to do. Clarke reads the change of expression as a forced smile.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Because his adversaries thought he was presumptuous as in these words he had implied that he was just and innocent, he begins to confer with God about his innocence for God alone can judge the conscience. So he continues, "If I say," in my heart, …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
If I say, I will forget my complaint,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
I will forget my complaint - I will forsake or forego my complaining. I will leave off my heaviness. Vulgate, I will change my countenance - force myself to smile, and endeavor to assume the appearance of comfort.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
If I say, I will forget my complaint - If I resolve that I will leave off complaining, and will be more cheerful, I find it all in vain.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| אָ֭מְרִי | ʾameri | to say I | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֶשְׁכְּחָ֣ה | ʾeshkechah | I will forget | H7911 → | 102 times |
| שִׂיחִ֑י | sichi | complaint my | H7879 → | 13 times |
| אֶעֶזְבָ֖ה | ʾeezvah | I will let loose | H5800 → | 215 times |
| פָנַ֣י | fanai | face my | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| וְאַבְלִֽיגָה׃ | veavligah | and I will be cheerful | H1082 → |
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
אָ֭מְרִיto say I
ʾameriH559 →5305 times
אֶשְׁכְּחָ֣הI will forget
ʾeshkechahH7911 →102 times
שִׂיחִ֑יcomplaint my
sichiH7879 →13 times
אֶעֶזְבָ֖הI will let loose
ʾeezvahH5800 →215 times
פָנַ֣יface my
fanaiH6440 →2123 times
וְאַבְלִֽיגָה׃and I will be cheerful
veavligahH1082 →
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 7:11Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
it leads to
- Psalms 40:9
I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; behold, I do not seal my lips, as You, O LORD, do know.
- 1 Samuel 1:10
In her bitter distress, Hannah prayed to the LORD and wept with many tears.
- Job 10:1
“I loathe my own life; I will express my complaint and speak in the bitterness of my soul.
- Isaiah 38:15
What can I say? He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done this. I will walk slowly all my years because of the anguish of my soul.
- Job 21:25
Yet another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, having never tasted prosperity.
- Psalms 40:9
Through
Job 7:13When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint,
it leads to
- Psalms 6:6
I am weary from groaning; all night I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.
- Psalms 6:6
Through
Jeremiah 8:18My sorrow is beyond healing; my heart is faint within me.
it leads to
- Isaiah 22:4
Therefore I said, “Turn away from me, let me weep bitterly! Do not try to console me over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
- Jeremiah 6:24
We have heard the report; our hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped us, pain like that of a woman in labor.
- Isaiah 22:4
Where this verse is studied
On this page
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; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.