Job 23:16

16 God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me;

Job 23:16 Meaning and Commentary

Job 23:16

For God maketh my heart soft
Not tender as Josiah's was, ( 2 Kings 22:19 ) , or as the heart of every penitent is, when God makes it humble and contrite by his spirit and grace, or takes away the stony heart, and gives an heart of flesh; though Job had such an heart, and God made it so; but he means a weak, feeble, fearful heart, pressed and broken with afflictions, that could not endure and bear up under the mighty hand of God; but became as water, and melted like wax in the midst of him, and was ready to faint, and sink, and die away:

and the Almighty troubleth me;
by afflicting him; afflictions cause trouble, and these are of God; or he "astonishes" F1, amazes me, throws me into the utmost consternation, the reason of which follows.


FOOTNOTES:

F1 (ynlyhbh) "me attonitum reddidit", Vatablus; "consternavit me", Drusius, Mercerus, Cocceius, Michaelis; "externavit me", Schultens.

Job 23:16 In-Context

14 For he will complete what he appoints for me; and many such things are in his mind
15 Therefore I am terrified at his presence; when I consider, I am in dread of him.
16 God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me;
17 If only I could vanish in darkness, and thick darkness would cover my face!

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Traditional rendering of Heb [Shaddai]
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.