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Job 6:8–9

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A Cry for Death

6:8“Oh that27 my request would be realized,28

and that God would grant me what I long for!29

6:9And that God would be willing30 to crush me,

that he would let loose31 his hand

and32 kill me.33

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Footnotes

  1. 27 The Hebrew expresses the desire (desiderative clause) with “who will give?” (see §151.d).
  2. 28 The verb בּוֹא (bo’, “go”) has the sense of “to be realized; to come to pass; to be fulfilled.” The optative “Who will give [that] my request be realized?” is “O that my request would be realized.”
  3. 29 The text has תִקְוָתִי (tiqvati, “hope”). There is no reason to change the text to “my desire” (as Driver and others do) if the word is interpreted metonymically—it means “what I hope for.” What Job hopes for and asks for is death. See further W. Riggans, “Job 6:8–10: Short Comments,” 99 (1987): 45–46.
  4. 30 The verb יָאַל (ya’al) in the Hiphil means “to be willing, to consent, to decide.” It is here the jussive followed by the dependent verb with a (ו) vav: “that God would be willing and would crush me” means “to crush me.” Gesenius, however, says that the conjunction introduces coordination rather than subordination; he says the principal idea is introduced in the second verb, the first verb containing the definition of the manner of the action (see §120.d).
  5. 31 The verb is used for loosening shoe straps in Isa 58:6, and of setting prisoners free in Pss 105:20 and 146:7. Job thinks that God’s hand has been restrained for some reason, and so desires that God be free to destroy him.
  6. 32 The final verb is an imperfect (or jussive) following the jussive (of נָתַר, natar); it thus expresses the result (“and then” or “so that”) or the purpose (“in order that”). Job longs for death, but it must come from God.
  7. 33 Heb “and cut me off.” The reads this verse as “Let the Lord begin and wound me, but let him not utterly destroy me.” E. Dhorme (Job, 81) says the is a paraphrase based on a pun with “free hand.” Job has, “God has begun to make me poor; may he free his hand and make me rich,” apparently basing the reading on a metaphorical interpretation.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

“Oh that I might have my request,

and that God would fulfill my hope,

that it would please God to crush me,

that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!

NIVNew International Version (2011)

“Oh, that I might have my request,

that God would grant what I hope for,

that God would be willing to crush me,

to let loose his hand and cut off my life!

CSBChristian Standard Bible

If only my request would be granted

and God would provide what I hope for:

that he would decide to crush me,

to unleash his power and cut me off!

NLTNew Living Translation

“Oh, that I might have my request,

that God would grant my desire.

I wish he would crush me.

I wish he would reach out his hand and kill me.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

“O that my request may come,

and that God may grant my hope,

that God would decide that he would crush me,

that he would let loose his hand and kill me.

KJV 1900King James Version

Oh that I might have my request;

And that God would grant me the thing that I long for!

Even that it would please God to destroy me;

That he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!