TRV
Translation
King James Version
Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!
Complete Jewish Bible
that God would decide to crush me, that he would let his hand loose and cut me off!
Berean Standard Bible
that God would be willing to crush me, to unleash His hand and cut me off!
American Standard Version
Even that it would please God to crush me; That he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!
World English Bible Messianic
even that it would please God to crush me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!
Geneva Bible (1599)
That is, that God would destroy me: that he would let his hand go, and cut me off.
Young's Literal Translation
That God would please--and bruise me, Loose His hand and cut me off!
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In the KJVVerse 12,988 of 31,102
Study This Verse
Commentary on Job 6 verses 8–13
8 ¶ Oh that I might have my request; and that God would grant me the thing that I long for!
9 Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!
10 Then should I yet have comfort; yea, I would harden myself in sorrow: let him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.
11 What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my life?
12 Is my strength the strength of stones? or is my flesh of brass?
13 Is not my help in me? and is wisdom driven quite from me?
Ungoverned passion often grows more violent when it meets with some rebuke and check. The troubled sea rages most when it dashes against a rock. Job had been courting death, as that which would be the happy period of his miseries, ch. 3. For this Eliphaz had gravely reproved him, but he, instead of unsaying what he had said, says it here again with more vehemence than before; and it is as ill said as almost any thing we meet with in all his discourses, and is recorded for our admonition, not our imitation.
I. He is still most passionately desirous to die, as if it were not possible that he should ever see good days again in this world, or that, by the exercise of grace and devotion, he might make even these days of affliction good days. He could see no end of his trouble but death, and had not patience to wait the time appointed for that. He has a request to make; there is a thing he longs for (Job 6:8); and what is that? One would think it should be, "That it would please God to deliver me, and restore me to my prosperity again;" no, That it would please God to destroy me, Job 6:9. "As once he let loose his hand to make me poor, and then to make me sick, let him loose it once more to put an end to my life. Let him give the fatal stroke; it shall be to me the coup de grace - the stroke of favour," as, in France, they call the last blow which dispatches those that are broken on the wheel. There was a time when destruction from the Almighty was a terror to Job (Job 31:23), yet now he courts the destruction of the flesh, but in hopes that the spirit should be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Observe, Though Job was extremely desirous of death, and very angry at its delays, yet he did not offer to destroy himself, nor to take away his own life, only he begged that it would please God to destroy him. Seneca's morals, which recommend self-murder as the lawful redress of insupportable grievances, were not then known, nor will ever be entertained by any that have the least regard to the law of God and nature. How uneasy soever the soul's confinement in the body may be, it must by no means break prison, but wait for a fair discharge.
II. He puts this desire into a prayer, that God would grant him this request, that it would please God to do this for him. It was his sin so passionately to desire the hastening of his own death, and offering up that desire to God made it no better; nay, what looked ill in his wish looked worse in his prayer, for we ought not to ask any thing of God but what we can ask in faith, and we cannot ask any thing in faith but what is agreeable to the will of God. Passionate prayers are the worst of passionate expressions, for we should lift up pure hands without wrath.
III. He promises himself effectual relief, and the redress of all his grievances, by the stroke of death (Job 6:10): "Then should I yet have comfort, which now I have not, nor ever expect till then." See, 1. The vanity of human life; so uncertain a good is it that it often proves men's greatest burden and nothing is so desirable as to get clear of it. Let grace make us willing to part with it whenever God calls; for it may so happen that even sense may make us desirous to part with it before he calls. 2. The hope which the righteous have in their death. If Job had not had a good conscience, he could not have spoken with this assurance of comfort on the other side death, which turns the tables between the rich man and Lazarus. Now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
IV. He challenges death to do its worst. If he could not die without the dreadful prefaces of bitter pains and agonies, and strong convulsions, if he must be racked before he be executed, yet, in prospect of dying at last, he would make nothing of dying pangs: "I would harden myself in sorrow, would open my breast to receive death's darts, and not shrink from them. Let him not spare; I desire no mitigation of that pain which will put a happy period to all my pains. Rather than not die, let me die so as to feel myself die." These are passionate words, which might better have been spared. We should soften ourselves in sorrow, that we may receive the good impressions of it, and by the sadness of the countenance our hearts, being made tender, may be made better; but, if we harden ourselves, we provoke God to proceed in his controversy; for when he judgeth he will overcome. It is great presumption to dare the Almighty, and to say, Let him not spare; for are we stronger than he? Co1 10:22. We are much indebted to sparing mercy; it is bad indeed with us when we are weary of that. Let us rather say with David, O spare me a little.
V. He grounds his comfort upon the testimony of his conscience for him that he had been faithful and firm to his profession of religion, and in some degree useful and serviceable to the glory of God in his generation: I have not concealed the words of the Holy One. Observe, 1. Job had the words of the Holy One committed to him. The people of God were at that time blessed with divine revelation. 2. It was his comfort that he had not concealed them, had not received the grace of God therein in vain. (1.) He had not kept them from himself, but had given them full scope to operate upon him, and in every thing to guide and govern him. He had not stifled his convictions, imprisoned the truth in unrighteousness, nor done any thing to hinder the digestion of this spiritual food and the operation of this spiritual physic. Let us never conceal God's word from ourselves, but always receive it in the light of it. (2.) He had not kept them to himself, but had been ready, on all occasions, to communicate his knowledge for the good of others, was never ashamed nor afraid to own the word of God to be his rule, nor remiss in his endeavours to bring others into an acquaintance with it. Note Those, and those only, may promise themselves comfort in death who are good, and do good, while they live.
VI. He justifies himself, in this extreme desire of death, from the deplorable condition he was now in, Job 6:11, Job 6:12. Eliphaz, in the close of his discourse, had put him in hopes that he should yet see a good issue of his troubles; but poor Job puts these cordials away from him, refuses to be comforted, abandons himself to despair, and very ingeniously, yet perversely, argues against the encouragements that were given him. Disconsolate spirits will reason strangely against themselves. In answer to the pleasing prospects Eliphaz had flattered him with, he here intimates, 1. That he had no reason to expect any such thing: "What is my strength, that I should hope? You see how I am weakened and brought low, how unable I am to grapple with my distempers, and therefore what reason have I to hope that I should out-live them, and see better days? Is my strength the strength of stones? Are my muscles brass and my sinews steel? No, they are not, and therefore I cannot hold out always in this pain and misery, but must needs sink under the load. Had I strength to grapple with my distemper, I might hope to look through it; but, alas! I have not. The weakening of my strength in the way will certainly be the shortening of my days," Psa 102:23. Note, All things considered, we have no reason to reckon upon the long continuance of life in this world. What is our strength? It is depending strength. We have no more strength than God gives us; for in him we live and move. It is decaying strength; we are daily spending the stock, and by degrees it will be exhausted. It is disproportionable to the encounters we may meet with; what is our strength to be depended upon, when two or three days' sickness will make us weak as water? Instead of expecting a long life, we have reason to wonder that we have lived hitherto and to feel that we are hastening off apace. 2. That he had no reason to desire any such thing: "What is my end, that I should desire to prolong my life? What comfort can I promise myself in life, comparable to the comfort I promise myself in death?" Note, Those who, through grace, are ready for another world, cannot see much to invite their stay in this world, or to make them fond of it. That, if it be God's will, we may do him more service and may get to be fitter and riper for heaven, is an end for which we may wish the prolonging of life, in subservience to our chief end; but, otherwise, what can we propose to ourselves in desiring to tarry here? The longer life is the more grievous will its burdens be (Ecc 12:1), and the longer life is the less pleasant will be its delights, Sa2 19:34, Sa2 19:35. We have already seen the best of this world, but we are not sure that we have seen the worst of it.
VII. He obviates the suspicion of his being delirious (Job 6:13): Is not my help in me? that is, "Have I not the use of my reason, with which, I thank God, I can help myself, though you do not help me? Do you think wisdom is driven quite from me, and that I am gone distracted? No, I am not mad, most noble Eliphaz, but speak the words of truth and soberness." Note, Those who have grace in them, who have the evidence of it and have it in exercise, have wisdom in them, which will be their help in the worst of times. Sat lucis intus - They have light within.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 8–13. Public domain.
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Didymus the BlindAD 398
COMMENTARY ON JOB 6:8-9
He who asks to be wounded does not pray out of exhaustion that his prayer might be granted but in order to fulfill his task. This task was to fulfill the right deeds or to make visible to the friends for their benefit the reason for the hardships, [namely,] that they had been imposed as a test. Then they would not make mistakes against the righteous. Instead, with divine zeal they would be committed to emulate the endurance and steadfastness that the holy one exhibited and that led him to say, “O that I might have my request,” rather than … “that God would grant my desire.” Job prays for two reasons. On the one hand, he prays that he himself may win the crown in the competition. On the other hand, Job prays that his friends may not consider his endurance in hardship as meaningless. His steadfastness even in such great hardships can be seen and admired in the fact that Job did not deny his friend an answer, even though preoccupation with his hardships could have served as an excuse. But even now Job speaks like a brave athlete who warlike meets his opponent, and with the consciousness that the imposed suffering did not occur without God’s compliance. “That it would please God to crush me,” yet “may he not extinguish me entirely,” instead of, “May God mercifully allow me to endure the affliction until the end.” Similar to this is the expression “and lead us not into temptation,” which often has been interpreted in this way: “May it not come so far that we fall prey to the temptations.”
John ChrysostomAD 407
COMMENTARY ON JOB 6:10A
“I do not care to oppose your words,” Job says. “It seems to me, in fact, that I have committed nothing resembling what you say. I don’t state this openly. I simply say that I am suffering punishments that go beyond what human nature can endure. The vastness of my temptations extends far beyond what human bodies can actually bear.” However, observe how, even in the midst of such grief, Job has not decided, in any case, to come and relate his good actions. He has hidden them so far. In addition, he who often with great honesty exposed his fault to public mockery before a brilliant audience is silent about his good actions, even while living in such misery. In fact, Job does not say, “I experienced these sufferings, even though I am righteous.” Rather, Job says he cannot bear them.… His language is not that of a man who asserts that he is unjustly punished but that of one who recognizes, on the contrary, the justness of his punishment. He simply cannot bear any more punishment and therefore demands that he obtain forgiveness.
Gregory the DialogistAD 604
20. For very often the Lord begins to work in us the bruising of our vicious habits, but when the mind is lifted up at the very first step of its progress, and when it already exalts itself as on the ground of its virtuous attainments, it opens an entrance to the adversary, that rages against it, who penetrating into the depths of the heart, dashes in pieces all that he may find therein springing from the earnestness of a good beginning, and shows himself the more violent in the breaking of it in proportion as he is the sorer grieved that it had made progress, though but a little way. Whence too, as the Gospel is witness, by the voice of ‘Truth,’ the unclean spirit, which went out alone, returns with seven other spirits to the neglected dwelling-place of the conscience. Lest then, after the beginnings of divine correction, the old adversary snatch him unawares, and drag him along for the breaking in pieces of his virtues, the holy man fitly beseeches, saying, That He That hath begun would bruise me. As if he said in plain words, ‘That which He has begun in me may He not cease to perfect by smiting me, lest He deliver me over forsaken to the adversary to bruise me.’ Hence it is fitly subjoined,
That He would let loose His hand, and cut me off.
21. For oftentimes being swoln with the confidence of lengthened prosperity, we are lifted up in a certain kind of frame of self-elation, and when our Creator sees that we are lifted up, but does not exercise His love towards us by stripes, He as it were keeps His hand hid, as to the smiting of our evil ways. Did He not tie the hand of His affection, when He said to the people, when guilty of transgression, I will not any more be wroth with thee; and, My jealousy is departed from thee. [Ezek. 16, 42] Therefore, ‘That He would let loose His hand,’ means, ‘that He would exercise His affection.’ And it is rightly added, ‘and cut me off.’ For whenever either the sudden pain of the scourge, or the trial of our weakness, falls upon us in a state of security, and elated with the abundance of our virtuous attainments, the pride of our hearts, being cut down, is precipitated from the height of its seat, so that it dares do nothing of itself, but levelled by the blow of its frailty, seeks the hand of one to lift it. Hence it is that, when holy men are looked upon with admiration on the grounds of the secret dispensation of God's providence towards them, they the more dread their very prosperity itself: they long to be subjected to trial, they covet to be stricken, that fear and pain may discipline the unwary mind, lest when an enemy breaketh out of ambush on this road of our pilgrimage, its self-security cause its greater downfal. Hence the Psalmist says, Examine me, O Lord, and prove me. [Ps. 26, 2] Hence he says again, For I am ready for the scourges. [Ps. 38, 17] For because holy men see that the wound of their inward corruption [b] cannot be without putridity, they gladly set them under the hand of the physician for lancing, that the wound being opened, the venom of sin may run out, which, with a whole skin, was inwardly working their destruction.
Ishodad of MervAD 850
COMMENTARY ON JOB 6:9
“He would let loose his hand and finish me!” That is, may he put an end to my life by his intervention. Again Job speaks, “I would be finished again with violence and no mercy.” In a word, “I desire that God inflict death on me violently and mercilessly.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
Job 6:9 captures the raw, agonizing cry of a man overwhelmed by suffering, expressing a desperate longing for death as the ultimate release. In this poignant lament, Job directly appeals to God, whom he perceives as the orchestrator of his pain, to mercifully end his life. This verse encapsulates the profound despair and spiritual confusion that can arise when a righteous individual faces inexplicable and relentless affliction, revealing the depths of human anguish and the yearning for divine intervention, even if that intervention is annihilation.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
The verse employs several powerful literary devices to convey Job's profound despair. Hyperbole is evident in Job's extreme desire for God to "destroy" and "cut me off," emphasizing the overwhelming nature of his suffering to the point where death is seen as the only viable escape. The phrase "let loose his hand" is a vivid example of anthropomorphism, attributing human actions (unleashing a hand) to God, thereby making God's power and Job's plea more tangible and relatable. This phrase also functions as a metonymy, where "hand" stands for God's power or agency. The overall tone of the verse is one of intense lament, characterized by raw, unfiltered emotion and a direct, almost accusatory, address to the divine, typical of the genre of lament found throughout the Psalms and prophetic literature.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Job 6:9 confronts us with the profound theological challenge of suffering, particularly when it appears to be undeserved. Job's cry for death highlights the human struggle to reconcile God's omnipotence and goodness with the reality of intense, inexplicable pain. It forces us to consider the nature of divine sovereignty over life and death, and the limits of human understanding concerning God's purposes. While Job's plea is born of despair, it paradoxically affirms God's ultimate control, even over the very breath of life. This verse also underscores the biblical theme that honest, even agonizing, lament is a legitimate form of prayer and interaction with God, demonstrating that God can bear the full weight of human anguish.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Job 6:9 offers a profound window into the depths of human despair and the raw honesty of faith under duress. It reminds us that suffering can push even the most righteous individuals to the brink, where death appears as a merciful alternative to continued agony. This verse validates the experience of those who feel utterly broken, providing a biblical precedent for expressing the most desperate emotions directly to God, without pretense or theological niceties. For those who minister to others, it serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of empathy, active listening, and refraining from simplistic explanations or judgmental advice when confronted with profound pain. Instead of offering quick fixes, we are called to sit with the suffering, acknowledging their pain and pointing them to the God who hears even the most agonizing cries. Ultimately, Job's journey, beginning with this desperate plea, reveals that even in the darkest moments, God remains sovereign, and His purposes, though often inscrutable in the moment, are ultimately good, leading to restoration and a deeper understanding of His character.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Does Job's wish for death constitute a sin?
Answer: While Job's wish for death in Job 6:9 is an expression of extreme despair and a longing for relief from unimaginable suffering, the Bible does not explicitly condemn it as a sin. Instead, it portrays it as a raw, honest, and understandable human reaction to overwhelming pain and confusion. The book of Job validates the authenticity of such desperate cries before God. Job is not seeking to escape his responsibilities or to defy God, but rather to find an end to his torment, which he believes only God can provide. His integrity is affirmed by God at the beginning and end of the book, suggesting that his lament, though agonizing, was not deemed sinful. The narrative allows for the full spectrum of human emotion in the face of suffering, even those that seem to challenge conventional piety.
How does Job's desire for death compare to other biblical figures who wished for death?
Answer: Job's desire for death is echoed by several other significant biblical figures, though their contexts and reasons vary. For instance, Elijah famously wished to die after his triumph on Mount Carmel, feeling overwhelmed by Jezebel's threats and a sense of isolation and failure. Similarly, Jonah repeatedly wished for death, not primarily due to physical suffering, but out of anger and frustration when God showed mercy to Nineveh. Moses also expressed a desire for death, feeling the immense burden of leading a rebellious people. In each case, the longing for death stems from a profound sense of overwhelm, despair, or frustration, demonstrating that even God's chosen servants can reach such depths of human anguish. Job's experience, however, is unique in its focus on inexplicable physical and emotional torment as the primary driver for his plea.
What does this verse teach us about God's character?
Answer: While Job's words in Job 6:9 may seem to portray God as a harsh or indifferent deity, the broader narrative of Job ultimately reveals a God who is sovereign, just, and compassionate, even when His ways are beyond human comprehension. This verse, by its very inclusion in the inspired text, teaches us that God is big enough to handle our most desperate and even angry prayers. He does not silence Job's lament but allows it to be recorded for all generations. It underscores that God's ways are not always our ways, and His purposes for suffering may be deeper than we can grasp in the moment. Ultimately, the book reveals God's faithfulness and His ability to restore, even after profound suffering, demonstrating His enduring love and wisdom, as seen in Job 42:10.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Job's desperate cry in Job 6:9 for God to "cut me off" finds its ultimate, albeit paradoxical, fulfillment and transformation in the person and work of Jesus Christ. While Job longed for his own annihilation to escape suffering, Christ willingly embraced the ultimate "cutting off" – separation from God and death on the cross – not as an escape from His own suffering, but as an act of redemptive love for humanity. Jesus, the righteous sufferer par excellence, endured the full wrath of God for sin, crying out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). Unlike Job, whose suffering was a test of faith, Christ's suffering was a substitutionary atonement, bearing the curse that we deserved (Galatians 3:13). Through His death, Christ "cut off" the power of sin and death, offering eternal life and true relief from suffering for all who believe (Hebrews 2:14-15). Thus, Job's lament, a cry for an end to torment, foreshadows the one who would truly end torment by enduring it fully, transforming the seemingly destructive hand of God into the saving hand of the resurrected Lord, who promises that He will wipe away every tear (Revelation 21:4).