Job 19:17

How could Job have children here when they were all killed earlier?

PROBLEM: In Job 1:2; Job 1:18 (cf. 8:4) all of Job’s children were killed in a great windstorm. Yet here he speaks of his breath being “repulsive to the children of my own body.”

SOLUTION: The term “children” can mean “grandchildren” or even his “blood relatives.” With seven sons and three daughters, including their own families (cf. 1:2, 18), Job undoubtedly had many grandchildren. Job lived 140 more years after his sickness (Job 42:16). So, in his long life, he had many years to have many grandchildren and great grandchildren.