Job 19 · Verse 17

Job 19:17

My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children’s sake of mine own body.
Job 19:17, King James Version

Job 19:17 in other translations

BSBMy breath is repulsive to my wife, and I am loathsome to my own family.
WEBMy breath is offensive to my wife. I am loathsome to the children of my own mother.
ASVMy breath is strange to my wife, And my supplication to the children of mine own mother.
YLTMy spirit is strange to my wife, And my favours to the sons of my mother's womb.
DARBYMy breath is strange to my wife, and my entreaties to the children of my mother's womb.
BBEMy breath is strange to my wife, and I am disgusting to the offspring of my mother's body.
WebsterMy breath is strange to my wife, though I entreated for the children's sake of my own body.

What does Job 19:17 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
17. strange--His breath by elephantiasis had become so strongly altered and offensive, that his wife turned away as estranged from him (Job 19:13; 17:1). children's ... 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 taken of his wife. Besides their children were dead. 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"; that is, my own brothers--a heightening of force, as compared with last clause of Job 19:16 [Umbreit]. Not only must I entreat suppliantly my servant, but my own brothers (Psa 69:8). Here too, he unconsciously foreshadows Jesus Christ (Joh 7:5).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 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 fayne to speake fayre to the children of myne own body.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 19:8-22

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…

Read the full comment on Job 19:8-22 →

Job 19:17 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

ר֭וּחִֽיRu.chibreath myH7307
זָ֣רָהZa.rahit is loathsomeH2114
לְאִשְׁתִּ֑יle.'ish.Tito wife myH802
וְ֝חַנֹּתִ֗יve.cha.no.Tiand I am repulsiveH2603
לִבְנֵ֥יliv.Neito [the] sons ofH1121
בִטְנִֽי\׃vit.Niwomb myH990

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Job 19:17

  • Job 2:9-10

    Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

  • Job 17:1

    My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
breath.
2:9,10; 17:1
body. Heb. belly.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Job 19:16

    I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I intreated him with my mouth.

  • Job 19:17

    My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children’s sake of mine own body.

  • Job 19:18

    Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me.

Read all of Job 19

Job 19:17 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Mi aliento vino á ser extraño á mi mujer, aunque por los hijos de mis entrañas le rogaba.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Mon haleine est étrangère à ma femme, et ma supplication, aux fils du sein de ma mère.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Mein Atem ist meinem Weibe zuwider, und mein übler Geruch den Kindern meiner Mutter.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Halitum meum exhorruit uxor mea, et orabam filios uteri mei.