Job 19:17

_MY BREATH IS STRANGE TO MY WIFE, THOUGH I INTREATED FOR THE CHILDREN'S SAKE OF MINE OWN BODY._ Strange. His breath, by elephantiasis, had become so strongly altered and offensive that his wife turned away as estranged from him (Job 19:13; Job 17:1). CHILDREN ... OF MINE OWN BODY - literally, belly. But 'loins' is what we should expect, not 'belly' (womb), which applies to the woman. The "mine" forbids it being of his wife. Their children, besides, were dead (Job 1:19). In Job 3:10, the same words, 'my womb,' mean, my mother's womb: therefore translate, 'and I must entreat (as a suppliant) the children of my mother's womb' - i:e., my own

8-22 How doleful are Job's complaints! What is the fire of hell but the wrath of God! Seared consciences will feel it hereafter, but do not fear it now: enlightened consciences fear it now, but shall not feel it hereafter. It is a very common mistake to think that those whom God afflicts he treats as his enemies. Every creature is that to us which God makes it to be; yet this does not excuse Job's relations and friends. How uncertain is the friendship of men! but if God be our Friend, he will not fail us in time of need. What little reason we have to indulge the body, which, after all our care, is consumed by diseases it has in itself. Job recommends himself to the compassion of his friends, and justly blames their harshness. It is very distressing to one who loves God, to be bereaved at once of outward comfort and of inward consolation; yet if this, and more, come upon a believer, it do...

Verse Job 19:17. _THOUGH I ENTREATED FOR THE CHILDREN'S_ SAKE _OF MINE OWN_ _BODY._] This may imply no more than adjuring her by the tenderest ties, by their affectionate intercourse, and consequently by the _children_ which had been the seals of their mutual affection, though these children were no more. But the mention of his _children_ in this place may intimate that he had still some remaining; that there might have been _young_ _ones_, who, not being of a proper age to attend the festival of their elder brothers and sisters, escaped that sad catastrophe. The _Septuagint_ have, Προσεκαλουμην δε κολακευων υἰους παλλακιδων μου, "I affectionately entreated the _children of my concubines_." But there is no ground in the Hebrew text for such a strange exceptionable rendering. _Coverdale_ has, I am fa

MY BREATH IS STRANGE TO MY WIFE - Schultens renders this, “my breath is loathsome to my wife,” and so also Noyes. Wemyss translates it, “my own wife turns aside from my breath.” Dr Good, “my breath is scattered away by my wife.” The literal meaning is, “my breath is “strange” (זרה _zârâh_) to my wife;” and the idea is, that there had been such a change in him from his disease, that his breath was not that which she had been accustomed to breathe without offence, and that she now turned away from it as if it were the breath of a stranger. Jerome renders it, “Halitum meum exhorruit uxor mea - my wife abhors my breath.” It may be worthy of remark here, that but “one” wife of Job is mentioned - a remarkable fact, as he probably lived in an age when polygamy was common. I ENTREATED HER - I appealed to her by all that was tender in the domestic relation, but in vain. From t

EXPOSITION JOB 19:1 Job begins his answer to Bildad's second speech by an expostulation against the unkindness of his friends, who break him in pieces, and torture him, with their reproaches (verses 1-5). He then once more, and more plainly than on any other occasion, recounts his woes. (1) His severe treatment by God (verses 6-13); (2) his harsh usage by his relatives and friends (verses 14-19): and (3) the pain caused him by his disease (verse 20); and appeals to his friends on these grounds for pity and forbearance (verses 21, 22). Next, he proceeds to make his great avowal, prefacing it with a wish for its preservation as a perpetual record (verses 23, 24); the avowal itself follows (verses 25-27); and the speech terminates with a warning to his "comforters,'' that if they continue to pe

MY BREATH IS STRANGE TO MY WIFE,.... Being corrupt and unsavoury, through some internal disorder; see Job 17:1; so that she could not bear to come nigh him, to do any kind deed for him; but if this was his case, and his natural breath was so foul, his friends would not have been able to have been so long in the same room with him, and carry on so long a conversation with him; rather therefore it may signify the words of his mouth, his speech along with his breath, which were very disagreeable to his wife; when upon her soliciting him to curse God and die, he told her she talked like one of the foolish women; and when he taught her to expect evil as well as good at the hand of God, and to bear afflictions patiently, or else the sense may be, "my spirit" f, his vital spirit, his life, was wearisome and loathsome to his wife; she was tired out with him, with hearing his continual groans and...

Job 19:1. _Then, Job answered and said, How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?_ They struck at him with their hard words, as if they were breaking stones on the roadside. We ought to be very careful what we say to those who are suffering affliction and trial, for a word, though it seems to be a very little thing, will often cut far more deeply and wound far more terribly than a razor would. So Job says, «How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?» Job 19:3. _These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me._ He means that they had reproached him several times over, and hints that they ought to have been ashamed to act so strangely, so coldly, so untenderly, towards him....

CHAPTER 19 JOB'S REPLY TO BILDAD _ 1. How long will ye vex my soul? (Job 19:1)_ 2. And I am not heard! (Job 19:7) 3. Forsaken of men he pleads to be pitied (Job 19:13) 4. Faith supreme (Job 19:25) 5. The warning to his friends (Job 19:28) Job 19:1. Bildad's scathing speech did not bring Job into the dust. He acknowledges the words vexed his soul and broke him in pieces, but he does not change his viewpoint. He repudiates the guilt with which they charged

JOB 19. JOB'S ANSWER. Here the gradual progress of Job's soul towards faith reaches its climax (Job 19:25 f.). It is to be remembered that Job's problem is in reality twofold: it has a personal side, the problem of his individual relation to God, but also a more general aspect, the problem of the Divine providence. In this chapter we read the solution of the first half on the basis of a great venture of faith; the second half is really never fully solved. JOB 19:1. Job sorrowfully remonstrates with his friends. Even if he has sinned, his sin cannot hurt them (Job 19:4). But the truth is that it is God who is responsible for Job's calamity (Job 19:6)....

BREATH. Hebrew. _ruach._ App-9. STRANGE. offensive. THOUGH I, &C. See rendering below. CHILDREN'S. sons': i.e. had his sons not died....