Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 10:20

[Are] not my days few? cease [then, and] let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,

20 22. He begs for a little easing of his pain ere he departs to the land of darkness.

are not my days few ] The same argument as ch. Job 7:16.

cease then, and let me alone ] Another reading is, let him cease then, &c. In the last case the speaker turns away from God and speaks of Him. In the rest of the chapter, however, Job everywhere addresses God.

take comfort ] The same word as ch. Job 9:27, brighten up.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Are not my days few? – My life is short, and hastens to a close. Let not then my afflictions be continued to the last moment of life, but let thine hand be removed, that I may enjoy some rest before I go hence, to return no more. This is an address to God, and the meaning is, that as life was necessarily so short, he asked to be permitted to enjoy some comfort before he should go to the land of darkness and of death; compare the note at Job 7:21. A somewhat similar expression occurs in Psa 39:13 :

O spare me, that I may recover strength,

Before I go hence, and be no more.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 20. Are not my days few?] My life cannot be long; let me have a little respite before I die.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

My life is short, and of itself hastens apace to an end; there is no need that thou shouldst push it forward, or grudge me some ease for so small a moment.

Let me alone; or, lay aside, or remove, thy hand or anger from me.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

20. But, since I was destinedfrom my birth to these ills, at least give me a little breathing timeduring the few days left me (Job 9:34;Job 13:21; Psa 39:13).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

[Are] not my days few?…. They are so, the days of every man are but few; see Job 14:1; the remainder of Job’s days were but few; considering the course of nature, and especially the sore afflictions he had on him, it could not be thought his days on earth were many; in all likelihood, according to human probability, he had but a few days to live: or “are not my days a small little thing” g? it is as an hand’s breadth, as nothing before God, Ps 39:5;

cease [then]; that is, from afflicting him; since he had so short a time to live, he requests there might be some intermission of his trouble; that he might have some intervals of comfort and refreshment, that not all his days, which were so few, should be spent in grief and sorrow: some connect this with the preceding clause, and which is most agreeable to the accents, “shall not the fewness of my days cease” h? I have but a few days, and these few days will soon cease; therefore give me some respite from my afflictions; and so the Targum,

“are not my days swift and ceasing?”

[and] let me alone; do not follow me with afflictions, or disturb and distress me with them; but take off thine hand, that I may have some rest and ease; see Job 7:10; or “put from me”; thine anger, as Kimchi, or thine army, as Junius and Tremellius; or thy camp, as Cocceius; that is, decamp from me, remove thy troops, the changes and war that are against me, by which I am besieged, surrounded, and straitened; let me be delivered from them:

that I may take comfort a little; that he might have some breathing time, some respite from his troubles, some refreshment to his spirit, some reviving to his fainting soul, some renewing of strength, before he departed this life; see Ps 39:13; so Aben Ezra and Gersom render it: “that I may be strengthened”; or that his heart might gather strength.

g “nonne parum dies mei?” Montanus, Bolducius, Schmidt; “paucum quid”, Vatablus, Beza, Mercerus. h “An non param, vel paucitas dierum meorum cessabit?” Cocceius; “annon pauxillulum dierum meorum deficiet?” Schultens.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(20) Cease then, and let me alone.According to another reading, Let him cease, and let me alone. In reading this reply of Jobs, one cannot but feel that it moves upon the very verge of blasphemy, and is only redeemed therefrom by its pervading reverence and deep undertone of faith. Job never gives up his faith in God, though, like Jacob, he wrestles with Him in the dark, and the issue shows that God is not displeased with such an unburdening of the soul that keeps close to the straight line of truth, which is, after all, one of the many manifestations of God.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

20. Take comfort Same as Job 9:27. Cease Let him cease. “Job at the end of his complaint, not venturing to speak to God, but of him, in the third person.” Schlottmann.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments