Table of Contents
Job 10
Job 10
1 My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.
3 Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?
4 Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?
5 Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man's days,
6 That thou enquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin?
7 Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand.
8 Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.
9 Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?
10 Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?
11 Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews.
12 Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.
13 And these things hast thou hid in thine heart: I know that this is with thee.
14 If I sin, then thou markest me, and thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity.
15 If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction;
16 For it increaseth. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion: and again thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me.
17 Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; changes and war are against me.
18 Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me!
19 I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
20 Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,
21 Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;
22 A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.
Notes
Cross Reference
Concordance
Commentary
Rashi
Verse 1
<html><b>My soul quarrels</b> Heb. נקטה. My soul quarrels about the fact that I am alive. That is an expression of (Ezek. 20:43), “and you shall quarrel (ונקטתם) with yourselves. <b>I will leave my speech</b> i.e., my trouble, to cry and lament, and I cannot forget it or restrain it.</html>
Verse 3
<html><b>Is it good</b> Heb. הטוב, an interrogative form. [Is it good to You] that You should oppress and rob the righteous man of his righteousness, [while] upon the council of the wicked, who vex You, You shine Your splendor to show them a friendly countenance?</html>
Verse 5
<html><b>Are Your days like the days of a mortal</b> to provoke him and pursue [him]?</html>
Verse 7
<html><b>It is in Your knowledge</b> You know.</html>
Verse 8
<html><b>shaped me</b> Heb. עצבוני, They made me a shape, a mold, like “nor straighten (מעצבין) an infant’s limbs,” in Tractate Shabbath (22:6). But now Your hosts are together round about. <b>and You destroy me</b> These are the worms.</html>
Verse 9
<html><b>You will return me</b> in the end.</html>
Verse 10
<html><b>Did you not pour me like milk</b> Concerning the drop from which I was born.</html>
Verse 12
<html><b>and Your providence</b> The providence of Your watch, for You appointed watchers for me. <b>watched my spirit</b> in my mother’s womb, and afterwards…</html>
Verse 13
<html><b>But You hid these in Your heart</b> to destroy me as though You did not remember them, but… <b>I knew that this was with You</b>, everything as it was delineated, and You did not forget.</html>
Verse 14
<html><b>If I sinned, You watched me</b> You laid Your eyes on me so as not to ignore [my sins] nor to forbear retaliation, and [from now on] You are not cleansing me of my iniquity but are requiting me for everything.</html>
Verse 15
<html><b>sated with disgrace</b> am I. <b>and seeing my affliction</b> Heb. וראה. This is not an expression of the imperative, but is an adjective. וראה עניי is badlace (?) in Old French, “that I see it all the time.” As you say (below, at the end of the Book), “וּשְׂבַע יָמִים, and I am sated with days,” like “וְשָׂבֵעַ יָמִים” (with a “kamatz” under the “sin”) so do you say; וּרְאֵה, like וְרוֹאֶה, “and seeing my affliction.”</html>
Verse 16
<html><b>And it is so great that You hunt me like a lion</b> And it is so great in Your eyes to be to You as a burden and a disappointment, that You hunt me like a lion; You spread out a net for me as though I was as mighty as a lion. <b>and You repeatedly</b> from day to day. <b>pronounce a verdict upon me</b> Heb. תתפלא, to exact and to pronounce judgment, an expression of (Num. 6:2). “shall pronounce (יפלא).”</html>
Verse 17
<html><b>Your witnesses</b> to testify about the changes of the ailments and the pains. <b>with set times are with me</b> Times set for these my tortures, which serve (once) and [then] repeatedly shift with changes different from these, and serve again.</html>
Verse 18
<html><b>Would that I had died and no eye had seen me</b> If only I had died [upon emerging] from the womb.</html>
Verse 19
<html><b>would that I was brought from the womb to the grave</b> Would that I was brought.</html>
Verse 20
<html><b>withdraw from me</b> Withdraw Yourself from me and from upon me, like (Isa. 65:5), “Keep to yourself” Remain by yourself and distance yourself from me.</html>
Verse 21
<html><b>before I go</b> While I am still alive, and the time for me to die has not yet arrived, desist from me and I will rest.</html>
Verse 22
<html><b>darkness</b> Heb. עפתה. This is a noun meaning darkness, like (Amos 4: 13) “dawn and darkness (ועיפתה).” <b>the shadow of death</b> it is, without orders in it (that there are no orders of man; i.e., there are no customs, for there is no civilization, and its light is like darkness). <b>and where the light is as darkness</b> The illuminated place [therein] is like darkness.</html>