Job Chapter 17

“My breath is corrupt, etc.] Through the force of his disease, which made it have an ill smell, so that it was strange and disagreeable to his wife, (<181917>Job 19:17); passing through his lungs, or other parts, which were affected with some disorder, or as frequently is the case of dying persons, and so Job thought himself to be. The word f667 used has the signification of pain, even of the pains of a woman in travail; and so may signify, that Job drew his breath with great pain, as people troubled with an asthma do, or dying persons in the hiccups, or just fetching their last breath; or “my spirit” f668, as it…”

“JOB'S ANSWER CONTINUED. (Job 17:1-16) breath . . . corrupt--result of elephantiasis. But UMBREIT, "my strength (spirit) is spent." extinct--Life is compared to an expiring light. "The light of my day is extinguished." graves--plural, to heighten the force.”

“My breath is corrupt - Margin or “spirit is spent.” The idea is, that his vital powers were nearly extinct; his breath failed; his power was weakened, and he was ready to die. This is connected with the previous chapter, and should not have been separated from it. There was no necessity of making a new chapter here, and we have one of those unfortunate breaks in the middle of a paragraph, and almost of a sentence, which are too common in the Scriptures. The graves are ready for me - The Hebrew is plural, but why so used I know not. The Vulgate is singular - sepulchrum. The Septuagint renders it, “I pray for a…”

“The graves - He speaks of the sepulchres of his fathers, to which he must be gathered. The graves where they are laid, are ready for me also. Whatever is unready, the grave is ready for us: it is a bed soon made. And if the grave be ready for us, it concerns us, to be ready for the grave. Job 17:2”

“17:1 My spirit is crushed: This can refer to a properly contrite attitude (Ps 51:17), but more often it connotes an unbearably sad heart (Prov 18:14).”

“breath is corrupt: or, spirit is spent, Job 19:17 my days: Job 6:11, Job 42:16; Isa 57:16 the graves: Job 17:13, Job 17:14; Psa 88:3-5; Isa 38:10-14 Job 17:2”

“1 My breath is corrupt, My days are extinct, The graves are ready for me. 2 Truly mockery surrounds me, And mine eye shall loiter over their disputings. Hirz., Hlgst., and others, wrongly consider the division of the chapter here to be incorrect. The thought in Job 16:22 is really a concluding thought, like Job 10:20., Job 7:21. Then in Job 17:1 another strain is taken up; and as Job 16:22 is related, as a confirmation, to the request expressed in Job 16:19-21, so Job 17:1, Job 17:2 are related to that expressed in Job 17:3. The connection with the conclusion of Job 16 is none the less close: the thoughts move on…”